 

         

                     ,  ,    ,       ,   .
Troops from Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Sudan are among those participating in the "Thunder of the North" exercise, which began on Saturday and involves ground, air and naval forces, SPA reported. (Photo: AP)

Riyadh: Armed forces from 20 countries have begun manoeuvres in northeastern Saudi Arabia that the official Saudi Press Agency described as one of the world's biggest military exercises.

Troops from Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Sudan are among those participating in the "Thunder of the North" exercise, which began on Saturday and involves ground, air and naval forces, SPA reported.

Forces from the other five Gulf Arab states are also taking part in "one of the world's most important military exercises based on the number of forces participating and the area of territory used," the news agency added.

It said a major goal of the exercise was to improve training in responding to the threat posed by "terrorist groups."

Saudi Arabia has carried out air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria as part of a US-led coalition fighting the jihadists.

Last December, it also formed a new 35-member alliance to fight "terrorism" in Islamic countries.

Since last March, it has been leading a military campaign against Iran-backed rebels in its southern neighbour Yemen.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain, seen in Karachi on September 30, 1991, has been filmed explaining intercourse to the workers in Karachi via phone from London. (Photo: AFP)

Karachi: The exiled chief of the main political party in Pakistan's largest city is facing investigation for allegedly talking about sex to a group of male and female staff, police said on Sunday.

Altaf Hussain, the head of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), had been filmed explaining intercourse to the workers in Karachi via phone from London, according to police.

A woman who saw the footage online of the alleged talk alerted police, who have now filed a case against Hussain. "We have registered a case against Altaf Hussain and 20 of his party colleagues under the charges of publicly uttering immodest words after a woman named as Nasreen filed an application against them," Rao Muhammad Anwar, senior superintendent of police in the Malir area of Karachi, said.
Libertine said: Clinton will win the nomination handily, but the election is a different story altogether.



Clinton isn't likable or honest and the election will be no holds barred, unlike debating nice guy Bernie.



The mess Clinton made in Libya as SOS, the email scandal, and Clinton influence peddling will be hot topics. The economy is still teetering and could come into play.



Wonder who President Trump will nominate to the Supreme Court? Click to expand...

Like many other people, I would have never thought it would come down to that decision. But, I think you are right. To much disgust with Washington. The ardent Socialists will not support Hillary, they will not vote for Trump. They will become the Democrats/socialist party evangelicals so to speak. Trump is playing off as the most anti-Washington candidate you can get. That is what the people have been voting for since 2008. The electorate is craving less politician, less Washington. Clinton will be in trouble. I really think that Trump will win this thing. I cant hardly believe it myself, but that is what is going to happen
Don't be fooled by Hillary Clinton's dominant South Carolina win. She's still eminently beatable.



Clinton flattened Bernie Sanders in South Carolina.



It wasn't even close. Clinton demolished Sanders, obliterating him by nearly 50 points, 73.5 percent to 26 percent. This was far and away the most dominating primary or caucus victory for any candidate of either party in this 2016 race.



But (with a Clinton, there are always buts), in a telling sign of just how warmed-over her campaign has become, Clinton beat Sanders by a 93-point margin among black voters over 60 but only a 13-point margin among black voters under 30, according to exit polls. There's something happening here, and what it is is embarrassingly self-evident: Young people are not moved, touched, or inspired by Hillary Clinton.



As much of a good hatewatch as the GOP might get from the Clinton show, however, her asphalt-paving advance toward the nomination holds up an ugly mirror to the GOP. Republicans envious of Clinton's clear path and ready patronage badly want to ensure that their party, too, nominates the most unapologetically conventional candidate possible.



A fresh face and cunning candidate like Marco Rubio was sure to enjoy built-in appeal at a moment when many voters don't care if you lack a strong record of prudential judgment forged through experience in statecraft. But for the established Republican leadership, Rubio's personality is just the whipped cream and the caramel drizzle atop the frappucino of his policy program  namely, an utterly unrepentant embrace of the most stereotypical Republican talking points ever to be typed into a PowerPoint presentation.



The Clintonian character of the GOP's brightest new star has some smart Republicans shuddering. Rubio was always the Republican who campaigned most like Clinton, playing a national game, not a local one, on the back of tightly scripted and lethally competent debate performances (New Hampshire notwithstanding). But, as with Clinton, that affect was the effect of his establishmentarianism. He has always done his best, like Clinton, to present himself as a general election candidate, as early and often as possible. That's because the way he and she want to govern is sharply at odds with a huge slice of their respective parties' constituencies.



Alas, Democrats are in denial about this. Instead of sharing a cold chill of recognition, they're high-fiving each other over GIFs of Donald Trump in various stages of Rubio-induced discombobulation. They think they can co-opt Sanders voters in a way Republicans no longer can mollify their base. And they think that'll give them the win in November.



It's easy and strangely reassuring to try to make sense of the GOP primary by tossing out crazy scenarios  the third-party crackup, the brokered convention, the team of plainclothes ex-special ops mercenaries of Polish descent stuffing Trump in the back of a van. It's harder, but actually far more plausible, to envision a bench-clearing brawl this March from which one candidate emerges ready to unload on Clinton without missing a beat. The true outcome will probably wind up somewhere in the middle of those two extremes, and in that case, Clinton could turn out to be more similar to Rubio  in an unflattering way  than Democrats are willing to imagine.



Like Rubio, she will have to double down on mechanical proficiency, trying to lug along an uncertain base. Like Rubio, she will have to present "same old same old" as the greatest thing since sliced bread, acting as if the slightest and most cosmetic of updates represent bold leaps into a new era.



But unlike Rubio, Clinton is an old campaigner and not a good one. She blows leads, she gets boring, she disconnects. All the Republicans have to do is prevent a total meltdown in Cleveland to be competitive.



Still, there's something incredibly sinister about an election cycle wherein the strongest simultaneous popular insurgencies in living memory might culminate in both parties nominating the candidates who are least representative of the insurgents. The frustration and fury on the right and the left, especially among politically active younger voters, is not a fad. Even on the left, it cannot just be flattered and scattered. If Clinton faces a ticket that can offer even one significant policy connecting up with today's widespread anger and responding to it, polling suggests that once again she will follow a string of convincing victories with eventual defeat.
Ted Cruz Suggests Donald Trump Has Mob Ties In His Tax Returns





ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ted Cruz is suggesting that Trump has mob ties and doesn't want to expose them.



Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) speculated on Sunday that Donald Trump hasnt released his tax returns because they show he has strong ties to the mob.



Maybe it is the case that Donald, there have been multiple media reports about Donald's business dealings with the mob, with the mafia. Maybe his taxes show those business dealings are a lot more extensive than has been reported, Cruz told "Meet The Press."



A semi-taken-aback Chuck Todd asked Cruz if he had any basis to suggest Trump has mob ties.



Oh sure, Cruz replied. ABC, CNN, multiple news reports have reported about his some dealings with, for example, S&A Construction, which was owned by 'Fat Tony' Salerno, who is a mobster who is in jail. It is owned by two of the major New York crime families. And that has been reported in multiple media outlets.



Trump has, indeed, been slow to release his tax returns. And he has blamed the delay to the fact that he is currently under audit.



His ties to the mob have been mentioned for a while now, and they stem largely from deals that he did in Atlantic City. But those were back in the 1980s. The mob isnt nearly as powerful now. And it would seem quite illogical that Trump would reveal any ties in his tax returns, of all places (though, I suppose, we should wait and see). rumt



For the record, Cruz has released only partial summaries of his tax returns.
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.




SWEET HOME  It wasnt that long ago that nearly every piece of lumber needed to construct a house was manufactured in or near Sweet Home, including cedar shingles, plywood, particle board and dimensional lumber.

But over the past 25 years, the number of mills and wood products jobs in the community of 9,000 has dwindled. There have been far more newspaper stories about mill closures than openings.

That is, until two weeks ago, when Scott and Valerie McCool and their son, Mike, opened McCool Millworks at the former Overhead Door company site on Highway 20 in the heart of town.

The 16-year-old business, which crafts custom wood moldings, moved from Goshen and expects to employ up to 25 people within a year.

My great-great-great-grandfather handmade custom moldings, Scott McCool said. Ive been involved in this type of work all of my life.

The elder McCool, 64, said he moved around a bit growing up, but considers Prineville his hometown.

We followed the work and we ended up in Lakeview, Oregon and Northern California, he said. My dad started Eagle Moulding Company in Yuba City. My brother, Kevin, runs it today.

Scott McCool enrolled at Oregon State after graduating from Placer High School in Auburn, California, and spent a couple years there before enlisting in the Air Force.

He spent a dozen or so years in the family business in Yuba City before returning to Prineville to work for another molding company.

Then, I had a unique opportunity to work in China, to set up a molding company and mill, he said. We were there from 1997 to about 2000. It was a great experience, a completely different culture.

He was accustomed to living in small Oregon and California towns. But in China he lived and worked in a seaport city of more than 3 million residents.

McCool said he helped train about 600 people to work at the business.

Upon returning to the U.S., he worked in a wood products sales position in Seattle and quickly learned he is more comfortable making sawdust than making sales calls.

Thats when we moved to the Eugene area to help close down a bankrupt molding company called Cascade Pacific, he said.

While doing that, the family set up a small hobby milling business at their home.

We were in Goshen, south of Eugene and it just took off, McCool said. We went from making a pickup load of stuff to employing up to 16 people before the recession hit.

Over time the company expanded its product lines to include custom flooring and paneling. Much of their handiwork can be found in airports.

We are definitely a niche company, McCool said. All of our products are custom. Our clients send raw wood products to us and we make whatever they need from it.

According to McCool, the company can handle moldings up to eight inches wide and four inches thick.

We only use solid wood materials and we can make virtually anything our clients need, he said.

He also said the company moved from Goshen because a new owner purchased their leased factory space, and rent was going to increase markedly.

While visiting family in the Foster area, the McCools noticed the 5-acre former Smurfit and Overhead Door complex was empty and for sale.

I plan to retire in a few years, so we wanted to find a place to stay after retirement, he said. This is a beautiful area. I envision being able to put my boat in the river someday after I retire and do some fishing.

Mike McCool said the family is in it for the long haul.

Although operational, the McCools say they have a lot of work to do before theyre fully up and running, including adding more millwork lines.

The new complex offers more than 81,000 square feet of work space, including ample storage areas.

We want to take our time and do things right, Scott McCool said. Theres no sense getting in a hurry and then having to move everything in a year.

He said the company wants to be good neighbors and in addition to installing equipment from its Goshen facility, has added another $160,000 in air handling equipment.

The McCools have a three-year plan to develop the plant.

We wanted to get open and get some cash flow going, Scott said. Our clients have been very supportive and understanding. Basically, weve been offline for nearly two months.

The McCools hope to employ about 16 people by summer and up to 25 people by next year. Wages start at about $11.50 per hour and go up to as much as $20 per hour.

You wouldnt think that moving 45 miles up the road would be a big issue, but its been a challenge, Scott McCool said. We had to do a lot of work to get the building functional. We had to install a new water main and there were major electrical issues and roofing problems.

He also said the city of Sweet Home and Linn County have been excellent to work with and extremely supportive.

Norms Electric from Brownsville has been great to work with, he said. Mike and I have been working 14 hours a day, seven days a week. We were just talking that its about time to take a little break.

The company works primarily with six to eight major clients and the average order is about 50,000 to 60,000 linear feet of custom materials.

We will run anything from 50 pieces to up to 200,000 linear feet, Scott said.

Like other businesses, he added, the company had to get really lean and mean during the recession, but fortunately we came out of it intact. Several other companies we know of didnt make it.

He said several of the companys employees have been with him for six years or more. They are currently commuting from their homes in the Eugene/Goshen area.

We live in Eugene, but we are planning to relocate here, Scott McCool said. We like the country life. We would like to find a place on the river.

Mike McCool and his wife Colette have lived in Albany for four years. He said Sweet Home offered the family business labor, land and capital.

We wanted to move out of Lane County. Its not business-friendly at all, Scott McCool said.

Although McCool Millworks products arent meant for local commercial sales, the elder McCool said the company wants to become involved in the community.

We hosted a small, open-house like event before we started moving things into the buildings and we have already joined the chamber of commerce, he said.

McCool said one of his clients is currently repurposing old wooden beams from an historic bridge to remodel portions of the Sacramento International Airport.

Our customers are great, they often send us photos of the products we made for them after they have been installed, he said. We really enjoy seeing that.

This past week, McCool Millworks employees were turning stacks of Alaskan yellow cedar into custom floor deckings. The most common wood species are Douglas fir, pine, hemlock western and red cedar.

These will end up in the San Francisco Bay area, McCool said. It is used for decking on outside porches because it withstands the weather well.

McCool said once the plant is fully operational, his crew will be working on as many as three to four orders at a time.

McCool said taking a rough piece of lumber and turning it into a quality, high-end finished product, is extremely gratifying.

We take great pride in what we do, McCool said. We know our products are used for finish work in everything from historic houses to office complexes.

The company is taking advantage of the community Enterprise Zone program, which provides tax exemptions for up to three years.
The Albany Public Schools Foundation plans to close its fire fund for South Albany High School this Monday.

The foundation set up the fund after an arson fire on April 1, 2015, destroyed the building that housed the high schools cafeteria, music rooms and child development classrooms.

Contributions poured in, now totaling more than $213,000. An oversight committee was established to monitor and distribute the fire funds in accordance with donor wishes and will now be moving forward with its budget.

The SAHS Fire Fund will be used to help defray the cost of replacing materials lost in the fire that were not covered by insurance.

The committee members are Principal Brent Belveal, Business Director Russ Allen, Foundation President Bob Stalick; Foundation Treasurer Elaine Wells and community member Mike Newman.

For more information visit www.albanypsf.org.
Technology is constantly changing, and that means the news business is changing along with it.

Weve gone from clunky, basic newspaper websites to cleaner versions that are easier on the eyes. Weve also ventured into apps for your mobile devices. Whatever technology youre using, we want news across the mid-valley to be accessible to you.

Thats why we are about to unveil a revamped version of our websites in the next week. The new look will feature a cleaner layout  one that we hope will make it easier for you to connect with what you care about. We hope you like the changes, and as always, were interested to hear what you think.

There are plenty of aesthetic reasons for changing the look and feel of our sites. The former sites were oriented toward text, and over the years they have become mired in clutter. Because delivering news and information digitally is still in its early stages, learning what you as readers want in a website is often a matter of trial and error.

The good news for us is that we have access to information about how readers use our sites. There are a lot of analytics that allow us to know how readers access online information, and we weighed every bit of that data as we redesigned our websites. We hope youll agree that its an exciting change for the better.

The redesign also incorporates some pretty cool technological aspects. In the past, the desktop version of our website and the version you accessed on a mobile device were different, although they did have some similarities. Now, thanks to new technology, all four of the Mid-Valley Medias websites automatically adjust to fit the size of the screen on whatever device you are using.

These changes mean that now is the perfect time to activate your digital account. Digital Access is part of your Full Access subscription package and entitles you to all of our digital products and services, the daily e-edition and unlimited stories, galleries and videos on our websites. All you have to do is click on the big blue Activate button featured on nearly every page of our sites. Even if you love the print product (and were glad you do!), were happy to be able to help you stay up to date while youre out of town or to help you keep others in touch with the latest local news.

While our sites have continually evolved in look over several years, the first implementation of the design were now abandoning launched in 2008. I think wed all agree that any technology in use from 2008, upgraded or not, is ready to be retired.

We hope you like the look and technology behind the new websites and appreciate the hard work that went into making a better experience for you, our readers. Most important, were interested in your feedback. I hope youll click around the new features and see everything the redesigned sites have to offer. Wed love to hear what you think.
The campaign for Ann Roe, who is running for Congress against Lyin' Bryan Steil has come out with the best one-liner of this cycle so far: I can't argue...

11 months ago
Life in the Desert

I danced in the desert,

I swam by the shores,

I spent warm nights under starlit blankets of silver,

I made friends from far-away places

I ate and drank and savored it all

I loved and was loved

What more could anyone ask for?



(Desert Girl, Kuwait)


Reflections and Rants from the Entreprenerd, Dan Hanson - the Great Lakes Geek
Iran will pay $7,000 to the families of Palestinian terrorists who were killed while carrying out attacks, and $30,000 to families of terrorists whose houses were demolished by Israel, the Iranian ambassador to Lebanon announced on Wednesday.

The decision firstly includes giving an amount worth $7,000 to every family of a martyr of the intifada in Jerusalem, said ambassador Mohammad Fathali during a Beirut press conference.

The Islamic Republic will also pay $30,000 to every family whose home the occupation (Israel) has demolished for the participation of one of its sons in the violence, Fathali added.

Dozens of Israelis have been killed and hundreds more injured in terrorist attacks over the past five months, while many Palestinian assailants were shot dead as they carried out their attacks.

provided Palestinian families of suicide bombers with tens of thousands of dollars, a policy the Bush administration castigated for rewarding and soliciting terror.

As a result of the nuclear deal it signed with world powers last July, Iran has received a financial windfall of $100 billion. White House officials and Middle East experts have previously stated that Iran is likely to use some of the funds released as part of the deal to support terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, a charge echoed by Israeli officials.

For us, this is not theoretical, explained Yair Lapid, the leader of Israels centrist party Yesh Atid. This money will translate itself to rockets aimed at our children. The next conflict in the North or South of Israel is just a matter of time.

Iran has also increased its presence in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, establishing a new proxy group called Al-Sabireen. The group is directly funded by Iran and has recruited 400 fighters in Gaza, fired rockets into Israel, and clashed with Israeli forces at the border between Gaza and Israel. According to Arab-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh, the group is also establishing terror cells in the West Bank. Palestinian Authority security forces arrested five of its members in Bethlehem last month.

In another example of Irans efforts to infiltrate the Palestinian territories, Israeli security forces broke up a terrorist cell based in the West Bank and commanded and funded by Hezbollah. The terrorists, who were recruited by Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallahs son, were planning to carry out suicide bombings and shooting attacks against Israelis.
Schneider (New Dem) & Dold (R)-- same gray flannel suit garbage



It shouldn't surprise anyone that DCCC Chair Ben Ray Lujan endorsed Hillary Clinton yesterday. Corrupt conservatives stick together-- and who cares who Lujan endorses anyway? His silly statement claimed that "Hillary embodies New Mexico values. She puts people first and will roll up her sleeves to change their lives for the better." Yeah... More impactful is how Lujan continues to put his fat finger on the scale to advantage Republican-lite candidates over progressives. The DCCC used to keep out of tightly contested primary races, or at least they claimed they did, so that local Democrats could make their own choices. Now they don't even pretend to be neutral. In Illinois' 10th district, for example, where conservative and much-disliked New Dem Brad Schneider-- defeated in 2014 when Democratic base voters stayed home in droves to protest his backing for the Boehner agenda-- the DCCC kicked the more progressive candidate, Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, to the curb to line up behind Schneider. If the idiot Lujan has his way, Schneider will once again face Republican Robert Dold, the guy who beat him in 2014, and either lose to him again or win on Bernie's or Hillary's coattails and then lose the seat in 2016.





"Brad Schneider," mouthed Lujan insipidly, "is a proven leader on progressive issues that matter to Illinois voters: fighting for common sense gun violence reform, standing up for a woman's right to choose and protecting seniors' health care. As a former member of Congress, Brad has the track record, relationships and resources to proudly take back Illinois' 10th district in 2016." As a former member with a track record, voters can clearly see that Lujan is flat-out lying about Schneider who is the opposite of progressive. Progressive and the opposite of progressive are not the same (as we discussed the other day )-- but, then again, no one ever accused Lujan of having a functioning IQ.





Sun-Times editors announcing that it is Both Chicago dailies endorsed Rotering this week, theeditors announcing that it is time to move on from the see-saw battle between the two conservatives, Dold and Schneider. "Our endorsement goes to Nancy Rotering, the mayor of Highland Park, who took a terrific stand against gun violence by pushing through a municipal ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines. A federal appellate court upheld the ban-- an important symbolic step toward sanity in our nations gun laws-- and the U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to the law. Now Rotering is pushing a similar statewide ban in Illinois. This is leadership. Schneider, for his part, disappointed many supporters-- now former supporters-- when he unwisely opposed President Barack Obamas nuclear deal with Iran. Whatever enthusiasm we had for Schneiders candidacy waned as well."





The more conservative, and historically pro-Schneider paper, the very corporate Chicago Tribune, decided to abandon him this time around. "Rotering," they wrote, "who says her No. 1 legislative priority would be combating gun violence, impressed us with the passion she would bring to that perennial lost cause. As mayor of the North Shore suburb, she passed an assault weapons ban meant to invite a lawsuit from the firearms lobby. The measure survived legal challenges all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and has become a model for other municipalities, she says. She's spoiling for a fight at the federal level... Both say changes are needed to preserve the Affordable Care Act, but Rotering-- who has a master's degree in health services management, worked in benefits analysis for General Motors and has practiced health care law-- would likely bring more to those discussions. Our endorsement goes to Rotering."





that stunning: The DCCC isn't just getting it wrong--and jeopardizing Democratic wins-- in Chicagoland. Their Rahm Emanuel/Chris Van Hollen/Steve Israel-inspired policy of butting into local primaries on behalf of conservative candidates has been devastating to the Democrats, who have lost dozens and dozens on House seats since the DCCC started undermining progressives. And this cycle, under a vapid moron as chairman, it's worst than ever. A few weeks ago we told you about Lujan's primitive racism in central Florida . In fact... let's go over it again... it'sstunning:

East Orlando Post reported that This week thereported that FL-10 voters are furious that the DCCC is interfering in their congressional primary on behalf of the incompetent conservative candidate, Val Demings to the detriment of beloved civil rights heroine Geraldine Thompson and highly-respected former Florida Democratic Party chairman Bob Poe. Demings may be seen as an easily-controlled shill by DC powermingers but she is not well-liked by many central Florida Democrats. Jacob Engels reported that Demings "suffered a tough loss to Republican Dan Webster in 2012 [and] angered many local Democratic voters and activists when she dropped out of the Orange County mayoral race at the last minute in 2014, leaving the party with no one to challenge long-term incumbent Republican Mayor Teresa Jacobs."

Regardless, an insider close to the DCCC told us that Demings earned the respect from running a campaign in a tough race against Republican statesman Daniel Webster. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan recently held an event for Demings in Central Florida, signalling DC insiders determination to hand the crown to the former police chief.



"We are not handpicking a candidate, but Chief Demings has earned the respect of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and others on capitol hill. She seems to have the support locally."



Former Florida Democratic Party Chairman and serial entrepreneur Bob Poe, who is one of the candidates challenging Demings for the nomination, grew up in Florida's 10th district as a teen working at a gas station.



"This race is ultimately going to be decided by the voters in the 10th Congressional District and not a small group of power brokers in Washington," said Poe.



He continued by pointing to the fact that the party has far too many other "too close to call" races on their hands that have no contested primaries, and should be focusing their efforts there instead of in Florida 10.



"The DCCC should be spending their limited resources to defeat Republicans, not fellow Democrats."



Mr. Poe has spent the past three decades as an entrepreneur in the marketing and communications industry-- a sought after show-runner and ideas man. He has raised nearly $300k in the three weeks since he announced his bid.



A Democratic aide, who once worked in the office of Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi told the East Orlando Post that Poe does not have the right racial makeup for the district.



"Simply put, Poe can't buy this race. The hill has decided that we want Chief Demings, come hell or high-water. Thompson and Fahmy are not options either. They should wait their turn."



State Senator Geraldine Thompson, an African American civil rights icon, is also a candidate seeking the Democratic nomination. Thompson has served in elected office for 10 years in the area, and like Poe, she is determined to not let Washington dysfunction determine who the candidate ultimately is.



"This type of behavior signals a total disregard for the people in our district. To not allow a level playing field by openly supporting one candidate over the other three is flat out wrong. The Democratic party is supposed to be a big tent. I have been breaking down barriers and obstacles my whole life.



"While the open bias with which they are treating me and the other candidates is disappointing, I am not deterred. In this race is an openly gay man, a proud Latina woman and a veteran African American female elected leader. We are insistent that the people in the District will decide... not the Washington elite." Thompson told us on break from committee meetings in the Florida Capitol.



A donor familiar with the endorsement process and patterns of the DCCC told us that there is not really any rules against the committee supporting one candidate over another, but admitted that most of the time it is preferable to let the people decide.



"It is a little perplexing to see how they are handling this. Endorsements and support from Washington are in large part meaningless to the majority of voters. We have races that have no primaries and are extremely tough roads to victory against Republicans in the general election... why not focus on those?," the top bundler for Democrat candidates confided via text message, echoing Bob Poe's sentiment about smart allocation of precious party resources.



Fatima Rita Fahmy, a lawyer and former stockbroker who moved to Central Florida from Brazil when she was just five years old, is another Democrat making a run for congress in Florida's 10th district. Fahmy calls the DCCC's behavior "next level arrogance."



"They want to impose their will and I will push back hard against those movements. I am in total agreement with Mr. Poe and Senator Thompson, it shows a horrible disconnect between the power-brokers and everyday people."



Fahmy crashed a Demings event Monday morning where DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Lujan was in attendance and publicly called attention to the committees unusual financial and structural support for a candidate who is facing a primary from other credible choices.

So, the DCCC claims that Poe, who is white and gay, "does not have the right racial makeup for the district" so they're stepping on a progressive African-American state senator and a Latina so they can support a conservative religious nut who also happens to be African-American. The district is 27.1% voting age African-American, 22.8% voting Hispanic, 44.3% voting age white and I was unaware Pelosi countenanced this kind of racial game-playing. The DCCC press secretary for the Southeast, Jermaine House, actually said, "We will never support Poe because he's white." I'd like to hear Pelosi defend that like DCCC statement. On top of that, the DCCC is complaining Poe "can't buy this election" when the hallmark of the DCCC in the last decade has been to always favor wealthy candidates over middle class candidates. The hypocrisy is overwhelming.





And Lujan's disgraceful perfidy doesn't stop there. Right now the DCCC is working to guarantee another term for Tea Party Republican Steve Knight, but steamrolling the local Democrats in Santa Clarita, Simi Valley and the Antelope Valley and working to install some random self-funding candidate from Orange County in place of local progressive Lou Vince, an Agua Dulce councilman and a policeman. The biggest local newspaper in the district, The Signal ran this OpEd last week from David Barlavi, a local Democrat, disgusted with the DCCC's shenanigans.

Lou Vince has been fighting for progressive values here in the 25th Congressional District for years. Lou ran for L.A. County Sheriff in 2014 on a progressive platform. Over the last year, Lou has been fighting as our strong, local, progressive candidate for Congress. Lou has been phone-banking and door-knocking for a year.



Lou has attended countless Democratic meetings and been pounding the pavement for a year. He has earned the endorsements and support of every Democratic Club in the 25th District-- some unanimously.



Hes earned the endorsement of our states California Democratic Party with the vote of more than 80 percent of our Democratic delegates. Lou has the endorsements of many prominent Democrats, both locally and state wide.



But most importantly, Lou has earned the support and confidence of local residents in the 25th. Lou is a Marine, an LAPD lieutenant with 21 years of service, a local town council member and a wonderful family man and father of four great kids.



Lou has lived in the 25th for over a decade, knows our issues, and cares deeply about our/his community.



Why, then, would the Washington elites parachute in a Johnny Come Lately, unknown carpetbagger into our district to jeopardize the Lou Vince campaign?



Heres why:



Remember when the DCCC political elite in Washington did not support Lee Rogers for Congress? The DCCC didnt support Lee in 2012 when he raised good money, and they didnt support Lee in 2014 when he raised nearly $400,000.



Therefore, its logical to conclude that the DCCC supports issues, not as they contend, fundraising ability.



So why did the DCCC abandon the 25th in those last two elections and not support Lee Rogers? It is clear to me that its because the DCCC opposes progressive politics.



So lets be honest witch each other here in the 25th. When the DCCC comes out of nowhere and parachutes in a wealthy, unknown, inexperienced lawyer from outside of our district, the message is clear.



The DCCC is not concerned about Lou Vinces fundraising ability; they are opposed to Lous progressive politics.



The second important question is whether the DCCC is concerned about Lou Vince losing the general elections in November. Absolutely not. We all know 2016 is the year Democrats can defeat the Republicans and turn the 25th blue.



Democrats will have record turn-outs in June and November. The DCCC has not parachuted in a carpetbagger because they fear Republicans; they have forced a carpetbagger on us because they fear Lou Vinces progressive politics.



Finally, why this particular out-of-towner? Well, to put it bluntly, hes rich, with rich friends outside of our district. Now, there is nothing wrong with being rich, but those rich out-of-district friends have funded this out-of-town campaign.



Yes, he has raised a lot of out-of-town money all at once, but his well in the district is dry. He has little support from local Dems.



Lou Vince has raised campaign funds from more than 600 local contributors. That is a strong grass-roots campaign.



The carpetbagger has come in with bags of outside money, rented a place in Valencia, and proceeded to try to make us think he cares about our local issues and concerns. Absurd!



We need to nip this issue in the bud. It goes against our Democratic values in the 25th to parachute an unknown, out-of-town candidate into our district to undermine the already-existing, strong, year-long grass-roots Democratic campaign of Lou Vince for Congress.



A carpetbagging campaign itself is an affront to Democrats in the 25th. Add to that the big money bags thrown on us from outside the district, and the urgency becomes clear.



Make no mistake about it; this is a slap in the face of Democrats in the 25th.



Lets not find out the dark truth in July when its too late. Lets not unnecessarily sacrifice a real and local progressive. An honest-to-goodness, home-grown, 25th district Democrat, Lou Vince.



Please write to the DCCC and ask them to withdraw their candidate from our district and put their support behind Lou Vince for Congress. Their address is:



430 S. Capitol St. SE

Washington, D.C. 20003

Phone: (202) 863-1500

If Pelosi had any interest in winning back the House, all it would take is a competent, uncorrupted staff. Too much to ask for? Nope. Banish people like Steve Israel, Chris Van Hollen and Ben Ray Lujan from the building and appoint someone who knows how to win and wants to win-- a Keith Ellison or a Mark Pocan or Ted Lieu or Matt Cartwright, not another loser crony from her own circle. Enough of this loser bullshit!




The economic outlook from Kevin Lansing of the SF Fed:

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) has proved useful as an early indicator of recessions. It is distilled from 85 monthly series drawn from four broad data categories: consumption and housing; employment, unemployment, and hours worked; sales, orders, and inventories; and production and income. The index is constructed to have an average value of zero, with a positive reading indicating growth above trend and a negative reading indicating growth below trend. The three-month moving average CFNAI is currently at 0.24, well above the threshold of 0.7 that has typically signaled the onset of a recession. But as a caveat, it should be noted that the index has often dropped quickly in the months leading up to past downturns. For example, the index stood at 0.2 in July 2007, only five months before the start of the Great Recession.

Few, if any, past recessions have been successfully predicted by professional forecasters. Forecasting recessions is difficult because each one tends to differ in important ways from previous episodes. Past recessions have been triggered by upward spiking oil prices, increases in policy interest rates designed to bring down high inflation, and bursting asset price bubbles. None of these scenarios would seem to fit the present circumstances.

The views expressed are those of the author, with input from the forecasting staff of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. They are not intended to represent the views of others within the Bank or within the Federal Reserve System.
Sexual violence, including rape, is often used by armed actors as a tactic of war, intentionally terrorizing and brutalizing men, women, and entire communities.

Many efforts focus on survivors and their communities by helping survivors access services and rebuild their lives, as well as bringing perpetrators to justice.

These are important issues to address, which is why the United States government has launched two initiatives: the Safe From the Start initiative, which aims to transform the way the humanitarian system addresses gender-based violence from the outset of a crisis; and the Accountability Initiative, a project to enhance prevention, bring justice to survivors and strengthen justice systems in post-conflict countries.

These and many other projects demonstrate how the international community is working to prevent sexual violence in humanitarian crises and to support justice after damage has been done. But is it possible to prevent sexual violence as a tactic of war in the first place?

Sexual violence can be used strategically in conflict or in crises to achieve specific ends, said Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues Catherine Russell at a recent event on this issue. When this happens, its a specific type of violence thats used to punish and terrorize a population or to destroy communities by tearing the fabric that holds them together and trying to strip away their identity.

So what can be done to prevent this scourge? Challenging convention wisdoms about sexual violence in conflict is critical to understanding how we can prevent it.

First, said Ambassador Russell, we must reject the assumption that the strategic use of sexual violence by armed groups is inevitable. Emerging research shows a variation of sexual violence used in wartime, suggesting that the motives and drivers of this violence in different contexts are distinct.

Second, we must realize that sexual violence victimizes not just women and girls, but also the elderly, boys, men, and detainees.

Third, data on gender can help predict conflict in the first place; places with high rates of gender inequality are more likely to experience conflict.

And we must come to the realization that this crime occurs everywhere in the world.

By challenging our assumptions, and by broadening the conversation, we can have a better understanding of the conditions on the ground before conflict starts, said Ambassador Russell.

And perhaps then we can begin to find ways to prevent sexual violence as a tactic in conflict.
The United States remains concerned about actions taken by the Venezuelan administration to silence its opponents, which have led to a climate of intimidation, repression and political polarization.

In a statement issued February 17th, U.S. State Department Deputy Spokesperson Mark Toner noted dozens of leaders from Venezuelan society have been imprisoned for their political beliefs. These include: Leopoldo Lopez, who completed his second year in detention February 18; Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma, who was arrested a little over one year ago and remains silenced and on house arrest; former Mayor Daniel Ceballos; and numerous students.

In the meantime, said Mr. Toner, those who commit crimes against members of the opposition often appear to act with impunity. The most recent example occurred February 14, when criminals broke into the home of El Hatillo Mayor David Smolansky and covered the walls with hate slogans based on his religion.

The United States continues to call for respect for the will of the people, the rule of law, the separation of powers within the government, and the democratic process. The United States is deeply concerned by decisions of the Venezuelan Supreme Court limiting the authority of the recently elected National Assembly, which have undermined Venezuelan democracy.

Mr. Toner said the United States joins other countries in the region and around the world in their calls for dialogue among all branches of government, in order to address the social and economic challenges facing the Venezuelan people. The solution to these challenges will require the inclusion of all interested parties. Rather than suppressing peaceful democratic dissent in order to silence opposing views, now is the time for leaders to listen to diverse Venezuelan voices and work together to find solutions.
On Monday, Egypt had nothing to speak about how the sun failed to show up in Abu Simbel Temple's biannual solar perpendicular due to early mist.Some considered it as sort of paranormal reaction on the claims of current minister of archeology El-Damati that the solar perpendicular in not less than 15 ancient Egyptian archeological sites in Egypt were just "mirage" and coincidence !! While other considered it as a bad omen that the sun refused to show for the first time since thousands of years allegedly.It has nothing to do with omens and actually it happened before, from a decade ago.Anyhow personally, I believe there is other significant thing happened in Abu Simbel but the mainstream media does not want to cover it properly.A group of Nubian Egyptians protested at Abu Simbel temple protested against a presidential decree that stands against their return to the land of Nubia they want to return to.That group of Nubian Egyptians protested against Presidential decree No.444 which was issued in 2014 and was passed by the House of Representatives from a couple of weeks ago.Presidential decree No.444 issued on 29 November 2014 designates 16 Nubian villages out of 44 villages as restricted military border zones with Sudan.Those villages from the southern borders between Egypt and Sudan over 110km on the eastern side of the Nile and 25km on the Western side of the Nile.You can read more about presidential decree 444 in Mada Misr in that important op-ed in Arabic by Nubian Egyptian activist Fatmah Emam Sakory In a true victory for the Nubian Egyptians, the current Egyptian Constitution stipulates that the state works on developing and implementing projects to bring back the residents of Nubia to their original areas and develop them within 10 years in the manner organized by law.But on the ground, there are not tangible steps to implement this. Instead, we found that Presidential decree which is unconstitutional according to my legal knowledge.Interestingly, the authorities agreed on that protest.Still, despite newspapers and news websites reported the protest yet it did not catch the attention of the political parties or powers or the MPs or the government as it seems.As the Egyptian government celebrates the golden jubilee of Abu Simbel temple salvage operation , we all should remember the Nubian Egyptian rights and respect the 2014 Constitution.Instead of investing of billions of pounds in mega-projects like in Toshka "I read the international bank and Saudi Arabic rejected to fund the project" let the Nubian Egyptians return back to their villages and land and they will reclaim it in less time and costs !!That protest in Abu Simbel was a rare escalation from the Nubian Egyptian community. Currently, there is online campaign "NubaAgainst444" against Presidential decree no.444 on twitter and Facebook




Scene at a workshop on business cooperation between Vietnam and Angola.

(Photo: VNA)

The President, who is also Chairman of the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), congratulated the Communist Party of Vietnam on its successful 12th national congress.



He recalled his Vietnam visit in 1987 and said he is impressed by the Southeast Asian countrys achievement in its economic growth and international integration.



He appreciated Vietnams assistance to Angola when the later met with difficulties and the contribution of Vietnamese experts to his countrys development.



Angola put stress on the partnership with Vietnam, which has produced sound outcomes, he said.



Ambassador Cuong conveyed President Truong Tan Sangs greetings and wishes for stronger ties with Angola to his host.



He pledged to do his utmost to cement the relations between Vietnam and Angola./.




Ambassador Nguyen Van Trung (third from right) meets with the Frelimo officials

(Photo:VNA) The course, the second of its kind, is part of a cooperation agreement inked between the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Mozambican ruling party.

The training programme will focus on Vietnams experience in ideological and political affairs and the making of development and international integration strategy.



This is the second training programme for Frelimo officials hosted by the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics.

In the cooperation framework between the Vietnamese academy and the Central Frelimo Party School, the Frelimo will send four specialists to Vietnam to learn experience in teaching and conducting scientific research.

On February 24th, the Vietnamese Embassy in Mozambique met with the Frelimo officials before they set off for studying in Vietnam.

Vietnamese Ambassador Nguyen Van Trung briefed the trainees of Vietnams revolutionary history and socio-economic development process.



He expressed his hope that the trainees will receive helpful experience to contribute to their countrys policy-making efforts./.
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
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi(R) meets with the New Development Bank president K.V. Kamath in Shanghai, Feb 27, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

SHANGHAI -- China and the BRICS New Development Bank signed documents on the bank's headquarters in Shanghai on Saturday, marking the completion of the legal procedures before the operation of the bank.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and the bank's President K.V. Kamath signed an agreement while Shanghai Mayor Yang Xiong and Kamath signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the headquarters of the bank in Shanghai.

The documents, signed on the sidelines of the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Shanghai, governs the establishment of the headquarters of the bank in Shanghai and make provision for the requisite immunities, privileges and other facilities to be accorded to the bank.

The bank, launched last July, is a multilateral development institution operated by the BRICS members (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as an alternative to the existing multilateral development bodies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The bank, with an initial subscribed capital of $50 billion to finance, will "start appraisal of the potential projects in April," Wang said, adding that China hopes the bank will support the development and connectivity of BRICS countries and developing countries at large.

The bank, aiming at funding infrastructure and sustainable development projects, should strive to make itself a new type of multilateral development institution, operating in a professional, transparent, efficient and green manner, Wang said.

China supports India to host a successful BRICS leaders' meeting this year and China, as rotating chair next year, will work with other BRICS countries to promote the economic and political cooperation in parallel, Wang said.

Commenting on the downward pressure faced by BRICS economies, Wang said economic slowdown is not a unique problem of the BRICS members, but a problem worldwide.

"The BRICS countries are poised for growth and increasing role in international political and economic affairs," Wang said.

Kamath said he hoped the bank would soon start operation and contribute to the development of BRICS countries and other developing nations.

[ Editor: Xueying ]
China Ambassador to the UK Liu Xiaoming delivers a keynote speech at the inaugural event of the Generation UK : China Network in London on Feb 26, 2016. [Photo by Song Wei/chinadaily.com.cn]

London  China and the UK can plan for "a hundred years - even a thousand years of relations" by "growing people", Liu Xiaoming, China ambassador to the United Kingdom said, addressing the inauguratiion of Generation UK : China Network in London on Friday.

Citing British Prime Minister David Cameron, when he adapted a traditional Chinese saying at a Chinese New Year reception this year "If you want one year of prosperity, you grow grain. If you want ten years of prosperity, you grow trees. If you want one hundred years of prosperity, you grow people. If you want a thousand years of prosperity, you grow relationships between peoples," the ambassador highlighted the importance of people-to-people exchanges as "a most active and key role to play as China and the UK embark on a 'Golden Era' of relations".

The inauguration of the Network on Friday is the "natural outcome of decades of student exchanges between China and the UK", said Liu.

Statistics show about 35,000 British students have studied in China over the past 40 years, and now among the more than 377,000 world students in China, 7,000 are from Britain.

As China will soon begin a new journey with the adoption of the 13th Five-Year Plan, and China and the UK are also beginning a new journey, when much can be achieved as the two countries work together, the ambassador said.

"I hope that young Chinese and British students will pool their wisdom and strength, and work together to create a more splendid 'Golden Era' of China-UK relations."

The ambassador also announced a new short-term Chinese government scholarship scheme - the first of its kind for UK students as "a special gift" for the inaugural event. In the academic year 2016-2017, this short-term scheme will fund 150 British university students for a two-month study or internship in China.

The Generation UK : China Network, jointly organized by the British Council and the Chinese Embassy in the UK, is an association of alumni joined by British individuals who have studied and worked in China .

Aiming to extend and deepen the engagement of young British nationals with China once they have returned to the UK, the network revolves around an interactive and events-focused LinkedIn group.

Elena Christodoulou, Business Manager of BT Global Services UK and Global Banking Financial Markets, shared how valuable experience of China can be as one of the Leading Lights for the Network. The Leading Lights are successful individuals who have benefited from their time in China.

"The benefits of being in China were vast. I got to see first-hand how one of the world's fastest growing economy was transforming; how people were founding a new way of working blurring industry lines and pushing boundaries, empowered by the ethos of entrepreneurism and enabled by technology," said Elena, recalling her six-month work rotation in Beijing back in September 2014.

James Kynge, Emerging Market Editor of the Financial Times, another Leading Light of the Network, said by drawing on his 25-year experience living abroad, "China is a place for great humor and immense fun... China is by far the most conversationally free and vigorously debating society I've ever been in."

Kynge emphasized the slogan "Be China ready, and play total China" for members of the Network. "It doesn't matter whether you are in China, or here or in a third country, you need to be able to interact with Chinese, you need to have an understanding of Chinese economy and business, and most important of all, you need to operate in Chinese."

Kynge, who went to study in China in 1982, is also the President of the Association for Speakers of Chinese as a Second Language. China has been the consistent thread in his career as a researcher, journalist and businessman.

Sir Ciaran Devane, Chief Executive of the British Council, said: "The idea of the Network is more than an alumni association... It's about remembering to stay engaged with China, to continue to be involved with that engagement."

Devane asked the fellows of the Network to maintain the connection and love with China, and encourage others to do so.

The Network is a key element of a larger campaign of British Council named "Generation UK-China," which was launched in 2013. Through this campaign, the number of British students who have study or work experience in China is expect to reach 80,000 by 2020.

3

1

[ Editor: Xueying ]
Staff workers run final check before the two sessions in Beijing Media Center Hotel, Feb 27, 2016. [Photo/Chinanews.com]

Press center for the two sessions will open in Beijing Media Center Hotel on March 1, 2016.

The two sessions, namely the fourth session of the 12th National People's Congress and the fourth session of the 12th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, will begin respectively on March 5 and March 3 in Beijing.

Seven rooms have been set aside for journalists from home and abroad to conduct interviews during the two sessions.

2

1

[ Editor: Xueying ]
London  China and the UK can plan for "a hundred years - even a thousand years of relations" by "growing people", Liu Xiaoming, China ambassador to the United Kingdom said, addressing the inauguration of Generation UK : China Network in London on Friday.

Citing British Prime Minister David Cameron, when he adapted a traditional Chinese saying at a Chinese New Year reception this year "If you want one year of prosperity, you grow grain. If you want ten years of prosperity, you grow trees. If you want one hundred years of prosperity, you grow people. If you want a thousand years of prosperity, you grow relationships between peoples," the ambassador highlighted the importance of people-to-people exchanges as "a most active and key role to play as China and the UK embark on a 'Golden Era' of relations".

The inauguration of the Network on Friday is the "natural outcome of decades of student exchanges between China and the UK", said Liu.

Statistics show about 35,000 British students have studied in China over the past 40 years, and now among the more than 377,000 world students in China, 7,000 are from Britain.

As China will soon begin a new journey with the adoption of the 13th Five-Year Plan, and China and the UK are also beginning a new journey, when much can be achieved as the two countries work together, the ambassador said.

"I hope that young Chinese and British students will pool their wisdom and strength, and work together to create a more splendid 'Golden Era' of China-UK relations."

The ambassador also announced a new short-term Chinese government scholarship scheme - the first of its kind for UK students as "a special gift" for the inaugural event. In the academic year 2016-2017, this short-term scheme will fund 150 British university students for a two-month study or internship in China.

The Generation UK : China Network, jointly organized by the British Council and the Chinese Embassy in the UK, is an association of alumni joined by British individuals who have studied and worked in China .

Aiming to extend and deepen the engagement of young British nationals with China once they have returned to the UK, the network revolves around an interactive and events-focused LinkedIn group.

Elena Christodoulou, Business Manager of BT Global Services UK and Global Banking Financial Markets, shared how valuable experience of China can be as one of the Leading Lights for the Network. The Leading Lights are successful individuals who have benefited from their time in China.

"The benefits of being in China were vast. I got to see first-hand how one of the world's fastest growing economy was transforming; how people were founding a new way of working blurring industry lines and pushing boundaries, empowered by the ethos of entrepreneurism and enabled by technology," said Elena, recalling her six-month work rotation in Beijing back in September 2014.

James Kynge, Emerging Market Editor of the Financial Times, another Leading Light of the Network, said by drawing on his 25-year experience living abroad, "China is a place for great humor and immense fun... China is by far the most conversationally free and vigorously debating society I've ever been in."

Kynge emphasized the slogan "Be China ready, and play total China" for members of the Network. "It doesn't matter whether you are in China, or here or in a third country, you need to be able to interact with Chinese, you need to have an understanding of Chinese economy and business, and most important of all, you need to operate in Chinese."

Kynge, who went to study in China in 1982, is also the President of the Association for Speakers of Chinese as a Second Language. China has been the consistent thread in his career as a researcher, journalist and businessman.

Sir Ciaran Devane, Chief Executive of the British Council, said: "The idea of the Network is more than an alumni association... It's about remembering to stay engaged with China, to continue to be involved with that engagement."

Devane asked the fellows of the Network to maintain the connection and love with China, and encourage others to do so.

The Network is a key element of a larger campaign of British Council named "Generation UK-China," which was launched in 2013. Through this campaign, the number of British students who have study or work experience in China is expect to reach 80,000 by 2020.
DASHANBAO, Feb. 28, 2016 -- Zheng Yuanjian, a researcher of Dashanbao Black-necked Crane Nature Reserve Administrative Bureau, monitors black-necked cranes in Dashanbao Nature Reserve, southwest China's Yunnan Province, Feb. 25, 2016. According to Dashanbao Black-necked Crane Nature Reserve, there were more than 1,100 black-necked cranes living through the winter here. Black-necked crane is evaluated as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. (Xinhua/Hu Chao)
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 28

Trend:

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received a delegation led by State Secretary of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic Claudio De Vincenti.



Expressing his confidence that the second meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council to be held in Baku would be fruitful and give good results, the head of state stressed the importance of the fact that the delegation led by State Secretary of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic Claudio De Vincenti would also attend the event.



State Secretary of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic Claudio De Vincenti said he was pleased to attend the second meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council to be held in Baku. He recalled Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi`s last year meeting with President Ilham Aliyev, and extended the Italian Prime Minister`s greetings and best wishes to the head of state. He said the Southern Gas Corridor was of strategic importance to both Italy and the European Union. Claudio De Vincenti voiced Italy`s support for the project, particularly the construction of Trans-Adriatic pipeline, adding that the country would take all necessary steps on this front. He also emphasized the significance of the project in terms of diversification of energy supply and transportation.



The sides pointed to high-level cooperation between Azerbaijan and Italy in the field of culture. The importance of Azerbaijani first lady Mehriban Aliyeva`s role in this regard was hailed.



They also discussed Azerbaijan-Italy energy cooperation, work done and outstanding tasks under the Southern Gas Corridor project.



President Ilham Aliyev thanked for the greetings of Matteo Renzi, and asked Claudio De Vincenti to communicate his greetings to the Italian Prime Minister.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 28



By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

The new heads will be elected for the Azerbaijani parliament's working groups on interparliamentary relations.

This issue has been included in the agenda of the next meeting of the Azerbaijani parliament, scheduled for March 4.

It is offered to elect new heads for more than 30 working groups. At present, the working groups on interparliamentary relations with 82 countries operate in the parliament.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 28

By Huseyn Hasanov- Trend:

The workshop entitled "Caspian Sea - Sustainable Development and Management" will be held in Turkmenistan's resort city Avaza March 7-18, the Turkmen government said Feb. 27.

The purpose of the workshop is to further develop the cooperation of the Caspian Basin countries and cooperate in the field of environment and sustainable development of the region.

The event will be held with the participation of representatives of relevant organizations of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Russia in collaboration with the International Ocean Institute (IOI) and the State Enterprise for the Caspian Sea under the president of Turkmenistan.

The Turkmen foreign ministry and the State Enterprise for the Caspian Sea under the president of Turkmenistan will organize the workshop.

The important international documents were worked out upon Ashgabat's initiative earlier. Among them are the agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological resources of the Caspian Sea and the agreement on cooperation in the sphere of prevention and liquidation of emergency situations in the Caspian Sea.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, Feb. 28

By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:

A report on the construction pace of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline was delivered at a meeting of the Turkmen Cabinet of Ministers, the Turkmen government said Feb. 27.

It is reported that the work is carried out in the Turkmen section in accordance with the approved plan. Six kilometers of pipes were laid.

The work is conducted by the contractor of the Turkmen section of the project - Turkmennebitgazgurlushyk state concern.

After hearing the report, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized the international significance of the TAPI project in the context of forming new architecture of the global energy security and creating the conditions for the global sustainable development.

"Having big hydrocarbon reserves, Turkmenistan is successfully implementing an energy strategy, aimed at increasing production volumes, oil and gas processing and export of Turkmen energy resources to the world markets," the president said.

Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline will make it possible to deliver gas from Turkmenistan, which ranks fourth in the world on biggest gas reserves, to large and promising markets of South and Southeast Asia.

"The construction of the TAPI gas pipeline will give a powerful impetus to the economic development of the region," the president said. "It will help resolve social and humanitarian issues and establish peace and stability."

The annual capacity of the gas pipeline will be 33 billion cubic meters.

It is planned that the total length of the TAPI pipeline will be 1,814 kilometers. Some 214 kilometers will pass through the territory of Turkmenistan, 774 kilometers - Afghanistan, 826 kilometers - Pakistan up to Fazilka settlement on the border with India.

The pipeline is to run from Galkynysh - the largest gas field in Turkmenistan - the through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar, and finally reach the Fazilka township located near the India-Pakistan border. The estimated cost of the project will be up to $10 billion.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 28

By Aygun Badalova - Trend:

The talks on Turkmen gas delivery to Europe are progressing quite well, says Maros Sefcovic, the European Commission's vice-president for Energy Union.

"We are currently working together with Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia and Turkmenistan on the ways how Turkmenistan could become also a supplier of the gas for Europe, and how we can use Southern Gas Corridor route for the deliveries," Sefcovic told Trend in a phone interview.

Turkmenistan ranks fourth in the world in terms of its gas reserves and the country is looking for new markets. The best route for delivering Turkmen gas to Europe would be laying a 300-kilometer gas pipeline across the Caspian Sea to Azerbaijan, where it would further connect to the Southern Gas Corridor gas pipeline system.

"We started the so-called Ashgabat declaration process last year, where we set up the working group which is looking for all the possible options, legal and economical issues linked with this question," Sefcovic said further commenting on the issue.

He said this expert group had its last meeting few days ago in Istanbul, where two options of how Turkmen gas could be supplied to Europe were put on the table.

"Now, of course, this possibility will have to be assessed by all the governments, and we hope that we will come to this discussion back quite soon," noted Sefcovic.

"I think the priority would be to make sure that Southern Gas Corridor is built on time and there is a possibility to make it even ahead of the schedule, and also to see how we can make sure that the Southern Gas Corridor will open possibility for Turkmenistan to supply gas to Europe as well," he added.

Sefcovic also said the new developments in Iraq, Iran and East Mediterranean also create opportunity to receive gas from new potential suppliers.

"But of course, in the end what would need to be judged would be overall demand of the gas in Europe, which we projected for 2030 to be more or less the same as it is today, that is from 380 billion cubic meters to 450 billion cubic meters per annum, and of course what would be the most cost efficient way, how to supply this gas to Europe or to use the Southern Gas Corridor, or to go and use the LNG alternatives."

As for Iran, Sefcovic expressed opinion that at the first stage the country will focus on returning to the global oil markets, because currently its gas consumption is quite high.

"Iran is one of the countries where gas represents more than 60 percent in domestic energy mix, and despite the fact that it has one of the biggest gas reserves in the world, Iran is currently in a position of net importer, which I am sure will change in the near future," added Sefcovic.

He also says that the LNG supplies would be most practical and most probable way for Iran's entering European gas market, because gas fields are primarily located in the south of that country.

"For Europe, most important issues would be the quality of services, reliability of supplies and price of gas," added Sefcovic. "We want to be open to all potential suppliers."

Iran's proven gas reserve stood at 34 trillion cubic meters as of early 2015, according to BP. The country's share on the world gas market is 17 percent.

Earlier, Iran stated that LNG export to Europe is its priority. The National Iranian Gas Exports Company (NIGEC) plans to build five plants for LNG production within three years.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 28

By Farhad Daneshvar - Trend:

Despite the fact that polling time in Iran ended 48 hours ago, heated debate between conservative and moderate newspapers still continue with claims of "decisive" victory.

While conservative and hardline newspapers claim making big gains across the country, the papers affiliated with moderates and reformists have concentrated on the overwhelming results achieved in Tehran in the first elections since the Islamic Republic clinched a nuclear deal with world powers.

Iranians voted on Friday in elections for the 290-seat parliament and the 88-seat Assembly of Experts, a powerful clerical body that appoints the country's supreme leader.

Although the outcome of the polls in most of the cities remains unclear, according to the latest reports published by the interior ministry the List of Hope, a pro-Rouhani coalition of moderates and reformists has won a landslide victory in Tehran, securing the capital city's all 30 seats in parliament.

Meanwhile, President Hassan Rouhani and his key ally Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani have already polled resounding vote for the Assembly of Experts with most ballots counted.

Therefore, it appears that several important conservative candidates from Tehran have failed to secure any seats in the clerical body and also parliament.

Conservatives claim victory

Nevertheless, the conservative and hardline media outlets have refused to make any mentions of the failed candidates insisting anti-Rouhani members will form the majority in the new parliament and the assembly.

"Iran voted in the favor of conservatives," the hardline Vatan-e Emrouz newspaper claimed in a bold front page banner headline on Feb. 28.

"The outcome of the counting of the votes across the country suggests conservatives won securing 60 percent of the votes for parliament," Vatan-e Emrouz added.

The hard-line daily Kayhan, which is seen by many as a mouthpiece for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also says the conservatives have gained a "decisive victory" in the elections across the country.

"Political experts and activists say the failure of the economic policies of the [Rouhani's] administration and its lack of attention to address the livelihood problems of the nation caused the reformists' defeat," Keyhan added.

Moderates hail victory

In a striking contradiction, the reformist and moderate media have hailed the victory of the List of Hope suggesting the massive vote in the favor of pro-Rouhani candidates shows the nation's support for the plans of the pragmatic Rouhani.

The Qanoon newspaper carried a front-page report announcing a "conclusive victory" of reformists and moderates allies of Rouhani in Tehran.

The Qanoon also carried a photo of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani and Hassan Rouhani. A caption on the photo reads people voted in the favor of the presidents' thoughts.

Reformist newspapers including Sharq and Ebtekar hailed the victory of the List of Hope in Tehran. Ebtekar went on to say the nation believed in moderates publishing a commentary headlined "people responded to hardliners by their votes".

In its commentary, Ebtekar urged the President Rouhani's administration to peruse his economic plans and improve the economic situation of the nation predicting the new parliament will back the president's administration.

High turnout & sense of pride

Meanwhile IRIB, the Iranian public broadcaster, remained impartial in its dealing with the outcome of the elections.

There is a sense of pride on Iran's state-run TV and radio channels broadcasting patriotic music videos adding color to rolling coverage of the high turnout of the nation in the elections, a move aimed at showing the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic.

Farhad Daneshvar is Trend Agency's staff journalist, follow him on Twitter:@farhad_danesh
Iran said on Sunday that it had signed a basic agreement with South Korea to attract funds worth a total value of 5 billion for its development projects, Press TV reported.

The agreement was signed between Iran's Finance Minister Ali Tayyeb-Nia and the visiting South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Joo Hyung-hwan.

Tayyeb-Nia told reporters that similar agreements have been previously signed with South Korea including one with the country's Exim Bank to provide a total of 8 billion to Iran to implement its development projects.

The Iranian minister further emphasized that South Korea is expected to provide Iran with loans worth a total of $15 billion based on the agreements that have been sealed so far.

Tayyeb-Nia also said Minister Joo had told him that South Korean wants to invest in Iran's auto industry as well as its tourism sector and its oil and gas projects.

In a separate development, Valiollah Seif, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), has been quoted by the media as saying that Iran and South Korea have agreed to create a joint bank account to settle the outstanding payments for Iran's oil sales to South Korea.

Seif said the agreement was reached during a meeting with South Korea's Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Joo.

The joint account, he added, will be created in the central banks of the two countries.

South Korea is a key trade partner of Iran in Asia. Seoul imports as much as 10 percent of its required oil supplies from Iran.

The current volume of trade between the two countries stands at around $9 billion which is expected to be increased to well above $10 billion in the near future.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 28

By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:

The JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) is crucial in itself for non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and regional security, and it should also be considered a potential starting point, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

She made the remarks Feb. 27 in anticipation of her visit to Baku to participate in the second Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Meeting on Feb. 29.

Iran and the P5+1 group (the US, the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany) implemented the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA aka nuclear deal) on Jan. 16, which eliminated sanctions on the country, including the restrictions over banking sector, releasing blocked assets abroad, etc.

She went on to add that the EU also re-launched its bilateral engagement with Iran.

"I just received Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Brussels a few days ago, to discuss both regional and bilateral issues, and I am planning to travel to Teheran soon, together with a number of other European commissioners," she said.

"There is common willingness to have a regular political dialogue and restore close economic ties," she said.

Trade, energy, environment, migration and the rule of law are some of the issues where the EU would like to deepen its cooperation with Iran, according to Mogherini.

"I am sure that such renewed engagement will not only benefit the citizens of Iran and of our European Union: the positive spill-overs can reach the entire region - starting from Iran's neighbours, of course," she said.

Mogherini further said that the last seven months indeed became a different phase for regional dynamics.

"We have finally managed to bring all relevant international actors to the table, towards a negotiated solution to the conflict in Syria," Mogherini said. "I don't need to explain how crucial it is to bring that war to an end - you know all too well its destabilising effect in the region and the radicalising potential of a long-lasting sectarian confrontation in the Middle East."

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @Anahanum
President Hassan Rouhani in a message thanked the Iranian nation for their epic turnout in Iran's Assembly of Experts and parliamentary elections, IRNA reported.

'The name of the Islamic Republic of Iran become more famous with the manifestation of the power to choose of the Iranian nation,' President Rouhani said in his message.

'The government of prudence and hope will make a covenant with anyone whose name will come out of the ballot box to help create a future full of hope and dignity for dear Iran and Iranians,' the Iranian president said.

President Rouhani said whatever will be the outcome of elections, the Islamic Republic of Iran will become more famous and the Islamic system, leadership and nation have won and the people of Iran have once again displayed their will and power to choose to empower the elected government and grant more credit to it.

'The competition came to an end and now it is time to open a new way through consensus and convergence of the nation and government and by relying on opportunities created from outside, to open a new chapter in the growth and flourishing of national economy,' he added.
Minister of Defense and Logistics of the Armed Forces Brigadier-General Hossein Dehqan said on Sunday that Russian Federation does not refuse to deliver S-300 missile defense system, Irna reported.



Speaking to reporters, Dehqan said that military cooperation between Iran and Russia has gained momentum over the past two years.

He said that the two countries have begun negotiations on purchase and transfer of technology and have even signed contracts whose implementation is underway.

Asked about media speculation that Russia has cancelled contract on delivering S-300 missile defense system to Iran, the minister said the media speculating such allegations must give evidence.
The Islamic Republic of Iran and Switzerland signed on Sunday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on expansion of shipping and sea transport cooperation, Irna reported.



The MoU was singed between the representatives of shipping companies from Iran and Switzerland.

The two sides exchanged views on expansion of cooperation on transport, construction of Express train, renovation of road transport, and carrying development plans on infrastructure and rebuilding the ports.

The MoU was signed between Iran Ports and Maritime Organization (IPMO) and Swiss MSC shipping lines as the second biggest shipbuilding company.

The MoU gives green light to Swiss shipping companies to come to Iran for joint venture cooperation after implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

MSC is one of the biggest shipping companies in the world with 14.9 percent share of the global market in marine transport and have terminals in some 55 ports round the globe.

MSC is the owner of chained cruise (recreation) ships in the world.

The MoU authorizes the MSC of Switzerland to broaden scope of cooperation in the Iranian ports of Bandar Abbas, Chabahar and Imam.

Officials of the Swiss shipping lines voiced readiness for joint venture investments in the Iranian shipping and marine industry.
Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Hossein Zolfaqari said on Sunday that a terrorist plot in border town of Sumar, west Iran was discovered and neutralized, IRNA reported.

Speaking to reporters on the measures adopted to maintain security during nation-wide elections on Friday, the official said, 'A terror team which had infiltrated the Iran-Iraq border and was approaching its destination on foot was spotted and prevented from its targets.'

'There were two agents who were exterminated and their arms were seized,' he added, 'We are working on identifying them which will be announced.'

'It will be determined what was their target, but there is no doubt that they had a terrorist intention,' Zolfaqari said.

The official hailed the efforts of law-enforcing personnel saying that they managed to provide an overwhelming security all over the country during the elections.

He did not confirm that the two terrorist killed on Sunday in the western province of Kermanshah bordering Iraq were connected to the Daesh terrorist group suggesting that the question can be directed to the Minstry of Intelligence.

'Before the elections, there was a terror attempt to the east of the country,' he added.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 28



Trend:

New airline Air Georgia will operate on Georgia's aviation market, Georgia-Online reported.

Air Georgia will operate in the field of business aviation. It will be based at the Tbilisi international airport.

Modern and comfortable six-seat business jets will make flights in the direction of all countries of Europe and Asia from March 1. The prices will be quite affordable.

The service package includes transfer and VIP-services.

In the future, the airline intends to increase the fleet.
Aircraft attacked a convoy carrying suspected Islamic State militants near the northwestern Libyan town of Bani Walid early on Sunday, an official said, Reuters reported.



No group claimed responsibility for the attack though both the United States and Libyan government forces have launched air strikes on jihadists in recent months.



Three huge explosions rocked the area around dawn, the member of Bani Walid's municipal council told Reuters.



People living in Ras al-Tbel, about 80 km (50 miles) south-east of Bani Walid, had seen the same convoy of up to 15 vehicles carrying the black flags of Islamic State over the past two days, the official added.



It was not immediately clear if the convoy was hit.



Jihadist groups have taken advantage of political chaos to expand their presence in Libya and fighters loyal to Islamic State have taken control of the coastal city of Sirte, about 260km (160 miles) east of Bani Walid.



Western officials say they are discussing air strikes and special forces operations in Libya against the group that is seeking to set up a cross-border Islamic caliphate and has already seized large areas of Syria and neighbouring Iraq. [nL8N1624G8]



U.S. aircraft attacked a suspected Islamic State training camp on the outskirts of the western Libyan city of Sabratha this month, and launched two more air strikes against jihadist commanders in Libya last year.
The Japan Meteorological Agency issued an eruption warning of Mount Io in southern Japan on Sunday, Sputnik reported.



Experts observed an increase in volcanic earthquakes in the Kirishima mountain range on Kyushu island, urging tourists and hikers to avoid the 0.6-mile area around Mt. Io's crater.



The agency said at least 37 volcanic tremors have been recorded at the site by mid-Sunday.



Intensified activity around the 4,300-foot volcano dates back to July 2015.


Frank-Walter Steinmeier is set to visit New York and Washington, DC, from February 28 to March 1, Sputnik reported with the reference to the German Embassy in the United States.

"My discussions in Washington will certainly be focused on the situation in Syria shortly after the ceasefire... But the refugee crisis, relations with Russia and the situation in Ukraine will also play an important role in the talks," Steinmeier was quoted in the press release as saying.

The German top diplomat is also scheduled to visit in New York, where he is going to "use the opportunity" to present the priorities of Germany's chairmanship in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) at the UN Security Council and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission.

According to Steinmeier, the OSCE and the United Nations are such multilateral organizations that act as platforms for dialogue and tools for conflict resolution in "difficult and turbulent times."

On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the ceasefire in Syria and continued to discus the modalities of its full implementation, including the enhancement of military cooperation between Russia and the United States.




A police officer was martyred and two others injured in a rocket attack by suspected PKK terrorists in southeastern Turkey early Sunday, Anadolu ahency reported with the reference to police source.



The attack at around 6.00 a.m. local time (0400GMT) in Nusaybin, a town on the Syrian border in Mardin province, targeted an armored vehicle in the Dicle neighborhood, the source said on condition of anonymity due to restrictions on speaking to the media.



The victims were taken to Nusaybin State Hospital, where one later died from his wounds.



Security forces launched a search for the attackers.



Southeast Turkey has been the scene of significant counter-terrorism operations since December as security forces clear urban centers of the PKK, which is designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU.



The group renewed its armed campaign against the Turkish state in July and since then more than 270 members of the security forces have been martyred and thousands of PKK terrorists killed.
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Egypt MP and high-profile TV anchor Tawfik Okasha insisted that his meeting with the Israeli ambassador last week did not go against the constitution or parliamentary rules

When Egypt's parliament holds a plenary session on Sunday, colourful MP Tawfik Okasha will have to face the music, having scandalised his colleagues by inviting the Israeli ambassador to dinner.

A mixture of MPs, both independent and party-allied, have tabled requests with parliament speaker Ali Abdel-Al that asking that Okasha be punished for "committing the unprecedented crime of meeting with Israel's ambassador in Egypt" at his home in Daqahliya governorate.

The majority of MPs, led by novelist Youssef El-Qaeed, were angered by Okasha holding a meeting with Ambassador Haim Koren and talking about politics with him, in what they called "a violation of the Egyptian people's campaign aimed at halting any moves towards normalisation with Israeli officials.

El-Qaeed, a presidential appointee to the house, told reporters on Saturday that a statement entitled "MPs against normalisation" will be delivered by the Social Justice parliamentary bloc during Sunday's session.

"After gathering the signatures of many MPs in support of our statement," said El-Qaeed, "we will ask speaker Abdel-Al to refer Okasha to either an ethics committee or let MPs vote whether Okasha be stripped of his parliamentary membership altogether."

Okasha is also facing the charge of insulting the speaker during an exchange last week.

According to El-Qaeed, "Okasha's meeting with Israel's ambassador represents a crime against Egypt's new parliament and its MPs."

"This was the first time in the history of Egypt's relations with the Israeli enemy that Israel's ambassador went outside Cairo to meet with an MP in his home," said El-Qaeed.

"While each Egyptian MP represents the nation as a whole, the nation still considers Israel as Egypt's first enemy, as long as it abuses the rights of the Palestinians," said El-Qaeed.

According to the statement, MPs were also appalled that Okasha had asked the Israeli ambassador to visit parliament. "MPs would rather set the building of Egypt's parliament on fire than have the Israeli ambassador visit it," said the statement.

The statement also directed a question to Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and Interior Minister Magdi Abdel-Ghaffar, requesting to know "how the Israeli ambassador was able to leave his home in Cairo to go to another governorate."

"Okasha is by no means authorised to invite any ambassadors - and Israel's ambassador in particular - to the Egyptian parliament," the statement argued.

The Social Justice bloc includes around eleven MPs, but its statement was able to gather the support of more than a hundred.

The Support Egypt" coalition, another parliamentary bloc with more than 250 MPs, also announced that they condemn Okasha's meeting with Israel's ambassador and have said that they will not hesitate voting in favour of any decision against him.

Ihab Ghatati, an MP from Giza and a member of the Support Egypt coalition, told reporters last week that he would organise a sit-in for two hours each day if parliament failed to approve that Okasha's membership of the body be terminated.

Mostafa Bakry, an independent MP and journalist well-known for his fiery anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric, said he has also tabled an "urgent statement", requesting that Okasha be referred to questioning before a special parliamentary committee.

"Okasha's three-hour meeting with the Israeli ambassador on 24 February represents a violation of the national security of Egypt," said Bakri.

According to Bakri, Okasha has committed three crimes.

First, he urged the Israeli ambassador to request his government mediate between Egypt and Ethiopia to help solve the problem of Ethiopia's Grand Nile Renaissance dam in exchange for providing Israel with 1 billion cubic metres of Egypt's quota of Nile water," said Bakry.

"The second crime is that he urged Israel to build 10 schools on Egyptian land in compensation for the Israeli air strikes that demolished Bahr Al-Baqr elementary school in Sharqiya governorate [in April 1970], and the third is that Okasha always likes to describe Egyptians as schizophrenic, refusing to consort with Israel despite having approved of a peace treaty with the Jewish state in 1979 in a public referendum."

Bakry queried Okasha's right to discuss highly sensitive and sovereign political and economic issues with the ambassador of a foreign country without prior approval.

MPs said Okasha's meeting with the ambassador contravenes Article 110 of the constitution and Article 370 of parliament's internal bylaws, stating that MPs who violate or fail to abide by the rules of their duties could lose their parliamentary membership upon the approval of two-thirds of MPs.

Okasha, a controversial media figure and presenter on his own Al-Faraeen channel, who often pins the blame for Egypt's problems on an

American-Zionist conspiracy strongly defended himself on Saturday in a meeting with a limited number of parliamentary correspondents.

Okasha said he had full constitutional authority to invite Israel's ambassador to his home, have dinner with him and discuss a variety of political issues.

"I know that such a move could represent an affront to the feelings of most Egyptians who still reject normalising relations with Israel," said Okasha.

"I tell those who aim to go too far to the extent of describing my meeting with Israel's ambassador as a crime and even threatening to organise a sit-in that what you do is just a kind of media show, and that you are still in 'kindergarten' politics."

Okasha cited Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Magdi El-Agati as stating that "Egypt parliament's by-laws does not include any article that prevents MPs from consorting with Israel."

By contrast, argued Okasha, the Egyptian constitution stresses that the state must fully respect its international agreements, not to mention that Egypt and Israel have full diplomatic relations.

Okasha claimed that many constitutional experts assured him that it would be a grave mistake by Abdel-Al if he allowed MPs to target him with requests and urgent statements on Sunday.

"They told me that Article 93 of the constitution obliges the state to respect its international agreements and that Article 151 grants the president of the republic the right to sign and ratify foreign agreements and treaties only upon parliament's approval," said Okasha, adding that "this means that MPs and parliament are granted a say in the state's policies and treaties and how they should be implemented."

According to Okasha, the Camp David accords in 1978 and the peace treaty in 1979, signed by late president Anwar El-Sadat, is clear in stating that both Egypt and Israel must do their best to have normal ties in terms of forging full diplomatic, economic and cultural relations, and halt any kind of boycott or hurdles that might block free movement of goods and individuals between the two countries.

Leftist MP Kamal Ahmed told reporters that although he is against Okasha meeting with Israel's ambassador on personal grounds he agrees that neither the constitution nor parliament's internal by-laws impose penalties on MPs who might contact Israel officials.

Deputy speaker El-Sayed El-Sherif accused Okasha of grandstanding.

"This is a maverick MP who wants to steal the show all the time," said El-Sherif. But he warned that "any action against Okasha could send a message that Egypt's parliament is acting against the state's policies and its accords with foreign countries."

"I think Okasha's punishment should be left to the people and voters, rather than to parliament and MPs," he said.

An Israeli state-affiliated news website, Al-Masdar, reported on 24 February that Koren was surprised by Okasha inviting him to a dinner meeting at his home.

"I know that Egyptian MPs still insist on boycotting Israel, but I know that MP Okasha has his own parameters," said Koren according to the report, adding that "Okasha was able to win the admiration of millions of Egyptians who are always keen to watch his talk show on his private channel Al-Faraeen."

"Okasha on last week's show extended an invitation to me to meet him in his home to discuss the economic problems that Egyptian people are suffering from," said Koren.

"Okasha told me that he believes that Israel is the key to solving Egypt's problems, the ambassador said.

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On Saturday, 2 conscripts were killed in explosion in Rafah

Related Five Egyptian policemen killed in North Sinai attack

In the early hours of Sunday, police captain Abdallah Khalil Abdel-Gawad was shot dead in front of his house by unknown assailants in the North Sinai town of Al-Arish, the interior ministry said in a statement.

On Saturday, two conscripts were killed and two others injured when a roadside IED (improvised explosive device) detonated next to their vehicle in North Sinai's Rafah, a security source told Ahram Arabic website.

The assailants in both attacks are still at large.

Egypt's army has been fighting a decade-long insurgency in parts of North Sinai, which has resulted in the deaths of hundreds of militants and security forces.

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Ahead of his visit to Tokyo Sunday, Egypt's president talked cooperation and regional crises - warning a collapse in Libya could allow terrorist groups to use the country as a 'springboard'

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi aims to send 100,000 Egyptian students to study in Japan, he told Japanese news outlet The Asahi Shimbun.

The interview was conducted last week in Cairo but published on Saturday.

El-Sisi said that he hopes Egypt could benefit from cooperation with Japan in education, saying that Tokyo's educational system "stresses discipline."

During his trip to Japan, where he is expected to arrive later on Sunday following a two-day visit to Kazakhstan, El-Sisi is set to meet with senior officials including Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Emperor Akihito.

Egypt's president will also meet the head of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Tokyo's governor, and will give a speech in front of the Japanese parliament on Monday.

"Gravest danger for all humanity"

During his interview with The Asahi Shimbun, El-Sisi said the US-led international coalition against IS group in Syria and Iraq "has been ongoing for more than one year, but [IS group] activities has not declined."

He described the spread of terrorist groups such as the IS group as the "gravest danger for all humanity."

Egypt supports the US-led coalition against the IS group but has not taken part in its military operations.

Some of Egypt's regional allies, including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Jordan are part of the US-led coalition.

On the Libya crisis, the president said "If Libya collapses it could act as a springboard for terrorism to expand to neighbouring countries such as Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt and even outside to Europe."

"Our strategy is to protect our own soil - we will continue our fight against terrorism and will not interfere in the internal affairs of any other states," El-Sisi added, ruling out any Egyptian military intervention in Libya.

More than years after the fall of Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is deeply fractured, with a self-declared government in Tripoli and an internationally recognised government in the east  each backed by coalitions of former rebels and militias.

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MP Akmal Kortam was accused of forgery after attempting to annul a contract for the purchase of a piece of land

A Dokki misdemeanour court referred on Sunday MP Akmal Kortam to prosecution on forgery charges ahead of referring the case to a criminal court, with his initial sentence being overturned.

Judge Mohamed Nafei ruled that the misdemeanour court lacked jurisdiction in the case, arguing that forgery was a felony, not a misdemeanour.

The court's decision follows a December appeal by Kortam that a one-year jail sentence against him be suspended with a bail of EGP 1,000.

Kortam is the CEO of Tahrir newspaper and president of the Conservatives Party.

The case was filed against Kortam on 12 November 2015 by private citizen Michael Wasfy Michael over the sale of land.

Kortam's lawyer, Mohamed Abdel-Moly, said after the sentence was handed down that Kortam had paid money twice for the land.

Initially, according to Abdel-Moly, Kortam paid the money to Michael for the land and went to the mortgages authority to legalise the contract for the sale, but was told that the land belonged to another person.

Kortam then paid money to the actual owner of the land and filed a case to annul the contract and retrieve his money from Michael, Abdel-Moly said.

The inheritors of Michael then filed the case against Kortam, accusing him of forgery.

A ruling by the criminal court can still be appealed by the MP if the prosecution decides to refer the case to court.

The court is to request lifting parliamentary immunity from Kortam if he is tried on criminal charges.

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MP Okasha, referred to parliamentary investigation for hosting the Israeli ambassador at his home, was attacked on Sunday by the oldest member of the house with a shoe

Upon entering the plenary chamber of Egypt's parliament on Sunday morning, controversial MP and TV host Tawfik Okasha was struck with a shoe wielded by MP Kamal Ahmed, the oldest member of parliament.

The assault on Okasha comes after days of condemnation by some MPs and critics of Okasha over a dinner and a political discussion he had with Israel's ambassador to Egypt last week.

Chaos and noise erupted in the parliamentary debating chamber as MPs demanded that Okasha leave.

Both Okasha and Ahmed were ordered to leave the session by Speaker of the House Ali Abdel-Al, who referred them both to investigation.

Abdel-Al had earlier referred Okasha to a special investigative committee following his controversial hosting of the Israeli ambassador.



In statements to journalists outside the parliament debate chamber, Kamal Ahmed said that he wanted to send a message to the Israeli government on behalf of the Egyptian people that "normalising relations between Egypt and Israel is completely unacceptable."

He also added he would repeat what he had done in hitting Okasha with his shoe because people like Okasha deserved it.

Photos emerged online in the past few days apparently showing Okasha in a visit to Israel before 2011.

On Saturday, a group of MPs, both independent and party members, submitted requests to speaker Abdel-Al asking that Okasha be punished for "committing the unprecedented crime of meeting with Israel's ambassador in Egypt" at his home in Daqahliya governorate.

Mostafa Bakry, the independent MP known for his anti-American and anti-Israeli rhetoric, went even further by asking Abdel-Al to strip Okasha of his parliamentary membership, claiming that he lied about his credentials.

Bakry claimed that Okasha bought his PhD from a fake university in the United States.

Okasha slammed his critics on his TV channel and defended himself for hosting the Israeli ambassador at his home.

Okasha claimed that Bakry, a prominent Nasserite journalist, received money from late presidents Hafez Al-Assad of Syria and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya to spread their views in the Egyptian media.



'Israel key to solving issues'

In an over one-hour interview on his channel, Okasha spoke about his controversial meeting with the Israeli ambassador, claiming that Israel was the key to solving issues regarding Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam, which Egypt is concerned could reduce its share of Nile water.

Okasha, a self-described expert on "freemasonry and American-Zionist conspiracies in Egypt", said that the Israeli ambassador asked him to help Israel in finding the biblical Solomon's Temple.

Okasha said that he agreed to help the Israeli government in finding the holy Jewish temple on four conditions; ending the Ethiopian dam issue, dropping a $1.8 billon claim in a gas dispute with Egypt, building 10 schools in Egypt as compensation for the Bahr Al-Baqr primary school that Israel bombed in 1970, and reaching a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

He also repeated his assertion that he informed the Egyptian security apparatus of the meeting four days prior to its taking place.

In February, Okasha publicly invited Israeli ambassador in Cairo Haim Koren to his home in Daqahliya to discuss several political matters, at the top of which was the Ethiopian dam controversy.

Koren accepted the invitation and had a three-hour dinner with Okasha, with photos of the meeting published by the Israeli embassy in Egypt's Facebook page.

Being no stranger to controversy, Okasha often makes news with his behaviour and statements, often leading to him being kicked out of parliament's plenary chamber.

Last week, speaker Abdel-Al ordered that Okasha to be referred to a special investigative committee over the latter's comments that Abdel-Al came to parliament "by mistake" after he would not let Okasha address the chamber.

Okasha later apologised to Abdel-Al.

In late December, Egypt's Media Free Zone's administration suspended Okasha's show on his channel Al-Faraeen for six months as well as barring him from appearing on any other TV channel.

The decision was taken after he made statements during a TV interview on the privately owned ONTV channel where he accused all the Egyptian security apparatuses of "working against the country's interests and working for their own narrow ideas."

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On Wednesday, a Republican-led House Committee approved the legislation designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation

Egypt welcomed on Sunday a move by the United States Congress Judiciary Committee to label the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organisation.

The move shows that the entire world has started realising Egypts point of view, presidency spokesman Alaa Youssef told state news agency MENA.

On Wednesday, a Republican-led House Committee approved the legislation.

The legislation, submitted in late 2015, cites multiple countries who have declared the Brotherhood a terrorist organisation, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

If passed and made into law, the US would have to deny admittance to non-US citizens who are tied to the Brotherhood.

Egypt declared the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group in late 2013, and many of its leading figures, including ousted president Mohamed Morsi, are currently being tried on multiple terror-related charges.

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Police are currently sweeping the area to catch the assailants and are investigating the incident

Unknown assailants shot dead four policemen on duty in Egypts Qalyoubiya governorate on Sunday, a security source told state news agency MENA.



According to the source, a citizen was also killed when masked assailants opened fire on the policemen, who were raiding a hideout of drug traffickers north of Cairo.

Police are currently sweeping the area to catch the assailants and are investigating the incident.

Security forces have often been targeted by militants since the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, though most of the attacks have taken place in the troubled North Sinai governorate.

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Syria's fragile ceasefire entered its second day on Sunday, with battlezones across the war-scarred country largely quiet for the first time in five years despite some sporadic breaches.

The temporary truce, brokered by Washington and Moscow, is seen as a crucial step towards ending a conflict that has claimed 270,000 lives and displaced more than half the population.

It survived a shaky first day, during which state media said shells were fired on the capital while rebels also accused government forces of "violations".

"I think this is the first time we've woken up without the sound of shelling," said Ammar al-Rai, a 22-year-old medical student in Damascus.

An international task force set up to monitor the fighting co-chaired by the United States and Russia said Saturday had been largely successful.

"The United Nations, the United States and Russia have made a positive assessment of the first hours of the cessation of hostilities," a Western diplomat said after a meeting of the International Syria Support Group in Geneva.

The UN reported "some incidents" in apparent violation of the truce, but "they have been defused", he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's office said he and US Secretary of State John Kerry had "hailed" the ceasefire in a phone call, and discussed ways of improving cooperation between their militaries.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has said peace talks will resume on March 7 if the ceasefire prevails and more aid is delivered -- a key sticking point in negotiations.

A spokesman for the UN's humanitarian affairs office said the next convoys are expected to leave on Sunday, after aid reached tens of thousands of people in besieged cities over the past week.

"If it (the truce) holds, it will create the conditions for full, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Syria," said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

The ceasefire faces formidable challenges, however, particularly as it excludes the powerful Islamic State (IS) militant group and Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

Russia, which has waged nearly five months of intense air strikes in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said it had halted bombing in all areas covered by the truce.

Moscow has vowed to keep striking IS, Al-Nusra and other "terrorist groups", but said it grounded its warplanes in the Syria campaign on the first day of the truce to avoid potential "mistakes".

Among the ceasefire breaches, state media said "terrorist groups" fired shells on Damascus, but caused no casualties. Rebels also accused government forces of intermittent "truce violations".

In second city Aleppo, two people were killed and four wounded when shells hit the majority-Kurdish neighbourhood of Sheikh Maqsud, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor said.

State media said one person was killed by sniper fire in the same district.

The city is now almost completely encircled by pro-regime troops after a massive Russian-backed offensive that has caused tens of thousands to flee.

On Saturday, however, locals came out to enjoy the calm and children played in parks.

"I hope the truce continues even for a limited time so we can get back part of our old lives from before the war," said Abu Nadim, a father of four.

Islamist militants attacked the border town of Tal Abyad in Raqa province, sparking clashes that killed at least 70 IS members, 20 Kurdish militiamen and two civilians, the Observatory said.

US-led coalition warplanes launched at least 10 air strikes against the Islamist militants, it reported.

Twin suicide bombings meanwhile killed six people outside the town of Salamiyeh in Hama province, where IS is present, state news agency SANA said.

The complexities of a conflict which escalated from anti-government protests into a full-blown war drawing in rival world powers make brokering a lasting ceasefire a major challenge.

Assad has been bolstered by support from Russia and Iran while the West, Turkey and Gulf states back rebel groups.

"The pressure being placed by Russia and the US on regional actors is such that many of these regional actors can't reject the political process entirely," said Firas Abi Ali, an analyst for IHS Country Risk in London.

"This is putting them in a bind where they're compelled to behave as if they're part of the process, regardless of what they actually want from it."

Syria's top opposition grouping, the High Negotiations Committee, said Friday that 97 opposition factions had agreed to respect the truce, for two weeks initially.

A commander in the hardline Islamist faction Ahrar al-Sham said his group -- allied with Al-Nusra -- had not conducted any military operations since the truce started.

"But the ceasefire is stillborn, because it began with violations from the regime. It will be very difficult for the ceasefire to hold," Hussam Salameh warned.

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Armed forces from 20 countries have begun manoeuvres in northeastern Saudi Arabia that the official Saudi Press Agency described as one of the world's biggest military exercises.

Troops from Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Sudan are among those participating in the "Thunder of the North" exercise, which began on Saturday and involves ground, air and naval forces, SPA reported.

Forces from the other five Gulf Arab states are also taking part in "one of the world's most important military exercises based on the number of forces participating and the area of territory used," the news agency added.

It said a major goal of the exercise was to improve training in responding to the threat posed by "terrorist groups."

Saudi Arabia has carried out air strikes against the Islamic State group in Syria as part of a US-led coalition fighting the Islamist militants.

Last December, it also formed a new 35-member alliance to fight "terrorism" in Islamic countries.

Since last March, it has been leading a military campaign against Iran-backed rebels in its southern neighbour Yemen.

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Saudi Arabia on Sunday accused President Bashar al-Assad's regime and its ally Russia of "ceasefire violations" in Syria.

"There are violations to the ceasefire from Russian and (Syrian) regime aircraft," Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir told reporters in Riyadh.

"We are discussing this with (the 17-nation) Syria Support Group," co-chaired by Russia and the United States, said Jubeir.

Russia, which has waged a five-month bombing campaign to support Assad, blamed "moderate" rebels, Turkey and militants for nine ceasefire violations.

But "on the whole, the ceasefire regime in Syria is being implemented," Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko, head of Moscow's coordination centre in Syria, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said that several air strikes hit central and northern Syria on Sunday.

Warplanes, believed to be either Syrian or Russian, bombed seven villages in the provinces of Aleppo and Hama, the monitor said.

A ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washington took effect at midnight on Friday, but the Riyadh-based opposition and Russia have reported several breaches from opposing sides.

The ceasefire agreement does not include territory held by the Islamic State jihadist group and Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, which together control more than half of Syria.

Russia said Saturday it had halted bombing in all areas covered by the truce.

But it has vowed to keep striking IS and Al-Nusra and other "terrorist groups".

It was unclear if Sunday's raids hit areas covered by the truce.

But Jubeir said that Russia was targeting Syria's "moderate opposition" groups.

UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura was "in contact with the Russians and the Syrian regime on this matter to reach an agreement that would limit or end military operations against the moderate Syrian opposition and focus instead on Daesh (Arabic acronym for IS) and Al-Nusra," Jubeir said.

"Things will become clearer in the coming days on whether the regime and Russia are serious or not about the ceasefire," he said.

Jubeir added countries supporting the Syrian opposition had an "alternative" without Assad if the truce failed, referring to US State Secretary John Kerry's comments on Tuesday about a "Plan B".

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Riyadh's statement on the existence of a Plan B ran counter to two UN Security Council resolutions, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

"We all said there was no 'Plan B'. We must implement what we have decided together," he said.

Saudi Arabia is a main supporter of the Syrian rebels battling Assad's regime since 2011.

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Gunmen killed a pro-government Sunni Salafist cleric on Sunday in Yemen's main southern city of Aden, home to a growing militant presence, a security official said.

Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Adani was shot dead as he was heading to a mosque near his home, the official said.

Adani headed a Salafist religious school which attracts both local and foreign students.

He was known for his stance against the Shiite Houthi rebels as well as against the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda which are becoming increasingly active in Aden, sources there said.

According to Zaid al-Sallami, an Aden-based expert on Islamist groups, Adani was known for "rejecting violence and terrorism".

His murder was an attempt to "push moderate Salafist youths towards violence", Sallami said.

Al-Qaeda and IS have stepped up attacks in Aden despite the efforts of the government and its backers in a Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis and their allies to secure it.

In another sign of growing unrest in Aden, clashes broke out near the entrance to the presidential palace in the port city's Crater district between presidential guards and soldiers demanding their salaries, an official told AFP.

The fighting spread to nearby residential districts and there were casualties, the official and residents said.

President Abd-rabbo Mansour Hadi's internationally recognised government has declared Aden the country's provisional capital after the Houthis and their allies drove it out of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen since September 2014.

The rebels controlled Aden for months before government loyalists pushed them out in July.

Because of the unrest gripping Aden, Hadi himself and many senior officials in his government spend most of their time in Riyadh, which has led an anti-rebel coalition since March 26 last year.

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The Palestinian Authority on Sunday said direct financial assistance by Iran to the families of Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces in a five-month wave of violence would be unacceptable.

Tehran announced last week assistance would be offered to families of Palestinians killed in the wave of violence that erupted in October, but the PA says such aid must follow official channels.

Palestinian presidency spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina, cited by local media, said bypassing the authority in handing out such funds would constitute illegal interference in internal Palestinian affairs.

Iran should "send this money through official channels to the (PA's) Martyrs and Prisoners Foundation rather than relying on informal and circuitous routes," Abu Rudeina said.

Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Fathali, said Wednesday that Tehran would offer $7,000 to the families of each Palestinian killed in what he called the "Jerusalem intifada".

Iran will also give $30,000 to Palestinian families whose homes have been destroyed by Israel because a member is accused of carrying out an anti-Israeli attack, he told a news conference in Beirut.

The money pledged is in addition to the monthly aid paid since 1987 by an Iranian institution to families of Palestinians killed, he said.

In an almost five-month long surge of Israeli-on-Palestinian deadly repression, Israeli occupation forces have killed 177 Palestinians since the start of October. Meanwhile, 28 Israelis, an American, a Sudanese and an Eritrean were killed, according to an AFP toll.

Iran has been accused of providing support to Hamas, which won the elections in the besieged Gaza Strip in 2006 and is a rival to Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party. Fatah dominates the Palestinian Authority.

Palestinian economists have questioned whether Iran would be capable of distributing the aid to the families directly via banks since it could be considered "terrorism financing".

The day after Iran's announcement, Israel denounced the decision, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying it showed Tehran was "continuing to aid terrorism".

*The story was edited by Ahram Online.

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Hillary Clinton scored a resounding victory against Bernie Sanders in Saturday's Democratic primary in South Carolina, seizing momentum ahead of the most important day of the nomination race: next week's "Super Tuesday" showdown.

Four weeks into the White House primaries, the former secretary of state earned her first decisive win of the campaign, after a nail-biter victory in Iowa, a thumping loss to Sanders in New Hampshire, and then a five-point win in Nevada.

South Carolina was the first southern state to vote for a 2016 Democratic nominee, before the race broadens to 11 contests across the country.

"Tomorrow this campaign goes national," Clinton said to a loud roar as she thanked supporters in Columbia, South Carolina, where she emerged with a clearer path to the nomination.

"We are going to compete for every vote in every state. We are not taking anything, and we are not taking anyone, for granted."

US networks called the race for Clinton immediately after polls closed in the Palmetto State, where the majority of Democratic voters are African-American, a voting bloc that she and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have successfully courted for decades.

Clinton also looked beyond her battle with Sanders, tweaking the man many now see as the likely Republican nominee: Donald Trump, whose campaign slogan is "Make America Great Again."

"Despite what you hear, we don't need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great," she said, reading off a teleprompter.

"But we do need to make America whole again," she added, laying out an argument against the divisive rhetoric favored by Trump, who has antagonized immigrants, Muslims and campaign rivals.

"I know it sometimes seems a little odd for someone running for president these days and in this time to say we need more love and kindness in America," she added. "But I am telling you from the bottom of my heart, we do."

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton stood at 73.5 percent compared to 26 percent for Sanders.

The comprehensive victory marks a moment of redemption for Clinton who in 2008 lost badly in the state to Barack Obama -- his win here serving as a turning point for his ultimately victorious campaign.

Exit polls in South Carolina showed African-Americans -- who represented 61 percent of all Democratic voters in the primary -- backed Clinton by a stunning 86 percent, more than had supported Obama eight years prior.

Clinton assiduously courted black voters, in part by praising Obama and promising to build on his legacy.

She also campaigned alongside black surrogates, and visited African-American churches and historically black colleges.

South Carolina marked a "great test" for the coming votes in other southern states and showed that Clinton "can get a broad base of support of all demographics," her communications director Jennifer Palmieri told reporters, as the candidate shook hands and posed for selfies with supporters.

"This was significant. We were not expecting that decisive a victory," Palmieri added.

Sanders a self-described democratic socialist seeking to launch a "political revolution" in America, was already looking past South Carolina.

Early Saturday he headed to Texas, where he addressed a crowd of 10,000 people, and then Minnesota, two states in play next Tuesday when the Vermont senator needs to keep his head above water if he wants to challenge Clinton deeper into the nomination race.

Sanders swiftly offered Clinton his congratulations, but also insisted he was in it for the long haul.

"Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning," he said in a statement after results came in.

Speaking at a rally in Rochester, Minnesota, Sanders made no mention of his loss in South Carolina, instead touching on familiar campaign themes.

"When you have billionaires and Wall Street and corporate America pouring hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars into the political process, that is not democracy, that is oligarchy," he told the crowd.

As the Democrats voted, the Republican race churned on as Trump traded barbs with rival Marco Rubio, who in recent days has launched a fierce assault on the billionaire real estate mogul.

"I want to save the (Republican) party from a con artist," Rubio, seen by many as the man best-positioned to topple Trump, said at a stop in Kennesaw, Georgia.

Rubio accosted Trump for "flying around on hair force one," and having "the worst spray tan in America."

Trump pushed back Saturday, blasting Rubio as a "lightweight" and a "liar."

Among Democrats, Clinton leads in the national delegate count at this early stage, having now won three of the first four nomination contests.

Gloria Major, a grandmother and campaign volunteer who supported Clinton in 2008, was among the ecstatic crowd listening to her victory speech in Columbia.

"She has been in battles, she is one woman that can lead this country," Major, who is black, told AFP. "For years she has had our best interest at heart."

The 11 states that hold Democratic nominating contests Tuesday will send a whopping 18 percent of the delegates to July's nominating convention in Philadelphia.

Clinton is ahead in most, but Sanders has the edge in Massachusetts and his home turf of Vermont.

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"Spotlight" triumphed Saturday at the Spirit Awards, the latest of a string of honors it has picked up in Hollywood's annual prize giving season, with the Oscars just one day away.

The movie, about the Boston Globe's investigation into child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, took best film as well as best director for Tom McCarthy and best screenplay.

McCarthy paid tribute backstage to the Globe's reporters and to his star-studded cast featuring Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber and Rachel McAdams.

"I was really fortunate to get this cast. If you've seen my other movies I don't always go with the most well-known cast. But this really needed it," he said.

One of the stories of the ceremony, which opened amid thick fog on Santa Monica beach, was Ghanaian youngster Abraham Attah winning best actor for his portrayal of an African child soldier in "Beasts of No Nation."

Attah had never acted before he attended one of the open casting calls held in his hometown of Accra at the age of just 13.

His castmate, British actor Idriss Elba, picked up best supporting male as an army commandant in the film, and paid tribute to the people of Ghana.

"I'm half Ghanaian, it was my first time in Ghana. It was incredible, it was like a homecoming for me," he said.

Best actress went to Brie Larson, who is also tipped to win the category at the Oscars for playing a kidnapped mother in "Room."

One of the loudest cheers went to transgender actress Mya Taylor, who won best supporting female for drawing on her own experiences to portray a trans sex worker in "Tangerine."

"The struggle was real for me, and I got out of it," she told reporters.

The Film Independent Spirit Awards are seen as an strong indicator of independent movies that could win Oscar glory.

"Spotlight," which is competing with "The Revenant" and "The Big Short" in many of the main categories at Sunday's 88th Academy Awards, also won best editing and a special prize for its ensemble cast.

It has swept a string of honors ahead of the Oscars, including top prizes from the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America, as well as a screenplay award at Britain's BAFTAs.

McCarthy told reporters on the arrivals red carpet he hadn't felt any nerves ahead of the Spirit Awards -- but would be "a wreck" at the Oscars.

One disappointment at the Spirits was "Carol," the story of a 1950s housewife who falls for a store clerk.

Starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, it was nominated in six categories, including best feature, best director and best actress, but won just one trophy for Ed Lachman's cinematography.

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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Flights have been suspended since the crash of a Russian airliner in October 2015

UK-based airline EasyJet will resume flights to Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh on 29 May if the current ban on flights from the UK to the resort is lifted, the company said.

"If the UK government does not approve the resumption of flying, we will have to cancel the flights from and to Stansted airport nearer the time and you will have the option to either use the full value of your booking to travel to any other destination on the EasyJet network, or receive a full refund," a copy of a statement to customers reads.

Meanwhile, EasyJet's Egypt ground operations manager, Mina Roufail, told Ahram Online that flights between London and Sharm El-Sheikh are planned to take place twice a week.

"Flights will only be operating from London Stansted Airport; all other flights from other airports in London were cancelled due to the reduced number of customers now wanting to make the trip," he said.

A number of countries suspended flights to Sharm El-Sheikh in November over security concerns after the crash of a Russian airliner in Sinai in October, killing all 224 people on board.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for downing the plane, and Russian officials confirmed in November that it was a terrorist attack.

Egypt has not yet released its final official report on the disaster, maintaining in its most recent statements that its technical investigative committee "has so far not received any evidence indicating criminal or terrorist activity."

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A number of imprisoned journalists in Al-Aqrab prison have gone on hunger strike to protest mistreatment

Egypts Journalists Syndicate has filed a complaint with the prosecution and the interior ministry criticising the mistreatment of a group of imprisoned journalists.

The syndicate, in a statement on its website, said that journalists in Al-Aqrab prison were housed in mouldy, poorly ventilated cells, and had not seen their allotted time for exercise decreased or cancelled altogether.

The syndicate didnt give exact figures of the journalists in Al-Aqrab prison, who have declared hunger strike to protest their conditions.

According to the international Committee to Protect Journalists, Egypt was the "second worst" jailer of journalists worldwide in 2015, after China. In an interview with Ahram Online in 2015, syndicate official Khaled El-Balshy said that there were then 32 journalists in detention in Egypt, including 18 in cases related to their journalism. Between seven and nine were in dire need of medical care.

The Egyptian government has repeatedly denied that journalists behind bars have been arrested or detained as a result of their journalistic work, citing other charges against them. The authorities have also denied that systematic violations take place inside Egypt's prisons.

The syndicates complaint urged an inquiry into the violations against journalists inside prison, and called for their conditions to be improved, for suitable healthcare to be provided, and for their families to be allowed to visit them.

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With the exception of Texas, political surveys show Trump leading throughout the states that vote Tuesday, but Cruz said he is "running neck and neck with Donald in a number of states."

Cruz said he expects to beat Trump in the Republican primary in his home state, the large southwestern state where more convention delegates are at stake in both parties' primaries than in any of the other 10 states voting Tuesday.

"It's the most important day in the campaign," a conservative firebrand, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, told CNN on Sunday.

Eleven states vote on what is called "Super Tuesday," awarding nearly a quarter of the delegates the presidential contenders need at the Republican and Democratic national party conventions in July to win their party nominations before the victors square off in November's national election.

Tuesday is the biggest day so far in the 2016 U.S. presidential nominating campaign, with challengers looking to curb the momentum for the front-running candidates, billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump in the Republican race and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Democratic contest.

 Disparages Trump

He disparaged Trump, a one-time television reality show host, as likely to lose to Clinton in the November election and said Trump "doesn't even know what he'd do" as president should he win the race to the White House.

But Cruz acknowledged in an interview with CBS' Face the Nation that "there is no doubt that if Donald steamrolls through Super Tuesday, wins everywhere with big margins, that he may well be unstoppable" to win the Republican nomination.

Trump has already won three of the first four states to hold Republican nominating contests.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is calling Trump a "con artist," is not predicting he will win any of the Super Tuesday contests, but told CBS that Trump, with a penchant for insulting his opponents, would not eventually be the Republican nominee.

"It's not going to happen," Rubio said. He added that if Trump were to become the Republican presidential nominee, "it will split us [the Republican Party] and splinter us in a way that we may never be able to recover and the Democrats will be joyful about it."

Rubio is making campaign stops in several states before the Tuesday elections, hoping to win convention delegates that are being awarded proportionally based on the vote count in each state.

He is also looking ahead to March 15, when his home state of Florida votes in a winner-take-all primary, although surveys taken before Rubio unleashed a verbal assault on Trump at last week's debate show Trump ahead in the southeastern U.S. state as well.

The Republican front-runner drew questions on Sunday news shows about support for his campaign voiced by white supremacist David Duke and Trump's passing along a quote from Benito Mussolini, the World War Two-era Italian dictator, on Twitter.

Trump, who has never held public office, declined a chance to disavow Duke's embrace, saying he did not know him and knows "nothing about white supremacists."

Trump said he retweeted the quote from the fascist Mussolini, "It is better to live one day as a lion than one hundred years as a sheep,, because he thought it was a "very interesting" remark

 Big Win

Clinton scored a resounding victory in Saturday's Democratic primary in the Atlantic coastal state of South Carolina, beating her lone rival Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, by a 3-to-1 margin.

She is favored in most of the 11 states voting in Tuesday's Democratic contests, but Sanders's campaign said it has a good shot at winning five of the states, especially ones outside of the southern tier of states where black voters favoring Clinton comprise a large part of the Democratic electorate.

Sanders is expected to win in Vermont, his small home state in the Northeastern U.S. where few delegates are at stake, and also contend in the neighboring state of Massachusetts, the Western state of Colorado and the northern state of Minnesota.

Clinton, in celebrating her South Carolina victory, seemed to be looking ahead to a general election match-up with Trump, who also is predicting a face-off with her.

Clinton, the country's top diplomat from 2009 to 2013, mocked Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again" and his call to build an impenetrable wall along the southern U.S. border with Mexico to halt the stream of illegal immigrants into the United States.

"Despite what you hear, we don't need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great," she said. "But we do need to make American whole again. Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers."
A delicate ceasefire in Syria between military forces, opposition fighters and external supporters remains in effect for a second day, despite repeated claims of breaches from both sides.

Russia blamed Turkey for nine violations since the truce began early Saturday, according to the French news agency AFP.

Syrian state media claimed "terrorist groups" fired mortars from hills close to the Turkish border into rural areas of the country's coastal Latakia province.

A senior Saudi Arabian official in turn alleged Syrian and Russian forces committed "ceasefire violations" in Syria.

"We are discussing this with [the 17-nation] Syria Support Group," co-chaired by Russia and the United States, said Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir said in Riyadh.

While many Syrians are enjoying the relative calm of a ceasefire, that quiet was broken in several towns hit by airstrikes Sunday, a day after the cessation of hostilities went into effect.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least six villages were targeted in the strikes. The identity of the jets was not known and it was unclear if the raids hit areas covered by the truce, which does not apply to assaults on militants from Islamic State and the al-Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front.

It was not immediately clear whether the Russian count included the same sites in the Syrian Observatory toll.
Former Finance Minister Rishi Sunak is a potential contender while Penny Mordaunt has become the first official candidate.
#Navy plans Navy eyes creation of unmanned command in 2040s South Korea's Navy is seeking to create a new command running unmanned ships, submarines and aircraft in the 2040s, the armed service said Friday, in an effort to address a potenti...

#SK data center fire SK C&C's data center raided over massive server outage Police on Friday raided regional offices of SK C&C, the host of the data center for Kakao Corp., in an investigation into a data center fire last week that caused massive servi...
It's been reported that Frank Kelly, best known for his role in the Channel 4 comedy, Father Ted, has died.

He was 77.

Kelly's first film role was in the 1969 crime caper classic, The Italian Job, where he played a prison guard that escorted Michael Caine out of the prison in the film's opening sequence. Kelly was a well-known fixture in Irish comedy circles, including performances in Hall's Pictorial Weekly and the RTE radio show, The Glen Abbey Show.

In October of 2015, Kelly revealed that he was suffering from Parkinson's, having previously battled bowel cancer in 2013. He is survived by his wife, Bairbre Neldon and his seven children.

Kelly's passing comes on the 18th anniversary of his Father Ted co-star, Dermot Morgan.
Although this season of Better Call Saul's been somewhat slow to start off, we're pretty hopeful it's leading to big, big things.

Last season was laying a pretty decent foundation as well, but that episode about Mike Ehrmantraut's past? That's Breaking Bad Season 5 levels of quality right there. In fact, it's looking like they're maybe something similar planned for this season as well, with Aaron Paul dropping little hints in a recent Reddit AMA session.

When quizzed about the possibility of turning up in Better Call Saul, the former Mr. Jesse Pinkman didn't exactly say no. In fact, he said "...maybe I already shot it? ...maybe it's airing this season? I don't know. Well, actually, I do know but you'll have to watch and see."

In fairness to Aaron Paul, he's a very decent actor but he hasn't a huge amount of luck crossing over into films. Need For Speed, his first lead role in a film off the back of Breaking Bad was absolute muck. Triple 9, currently in cinemas, is very decent - although he's not in it that much and he's basically playing a form of Jesse Pinkman. So, why deny yourself an opportunity to return to your greatest role?

As to what form a cameo from Jesse Pinkman might take is anybody's guess. We know that Pinkman knew Saul Goodman as he successfully defended his former partner in the meth business twice, so we're guessing it'll probably be about this. It could also be those mysterious black-and-white flashforwards we keep seeing at the start of each season; maybe Jesse turns up at his Cinnabon and just wants some of the doughy goodness.

Via Reddit
Description

Featuring the students of the Department of Music.

With songs from Spring Awakening, Carousel, South Pacific and many others, join Adelphis talented students as they celebrate the traditional meaning of Spring, as well as interpretations on the themes of rebirth, awakening, and life choices. Directors Erin Quill (original Broadway company, Avenue Q) and Jad Bernardo (award-winning music director) return to guide the students on their journey to discover Spring in the heart of Winter.

Dates and Times (All tickets are $20 each):

Saturday, February 27

8:00 p.m.



Sunday, February 28

4:00 p.m
Description

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is pleased to announce that they will be hosting Journey Into Africa in celebration of Black History Month. Experience traditional rhythms, songs, instruments and dances of African life during a performance by the Okra Dance Company. This event takes place at Nissequogue River State Park at the Administration Building on Sunday, February 28 from 1pm-2pm. For information call 631-269-4927. This program is free. Space is limited so please arrive early to ensure your entry into the program.
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Every person in the world has one thing in common is the need for fat loss. Unfortunately, this is a common scenario for many people. Thats why its important to know what hormones or steroids are available that can help you reach your goal sooner and more efficiently. If you are interested in buying weight loss steroids, then a Great place to buy weight loss steroids at LAWeekly . Five essential hormones can help increase your metabolism and burn calories at a faster rate. They are all easy to use, just like any other hormone supplement would be.Testosterone is a natural hormone that is mainly produced in males. It is the best testosterone booster you can get when burning fat  even if you have a low testosterone level. You need some testosterone to make your muscles hard and your body feel healthier. The best thing about this hormone supplement is that its use does not require a prescription for any condition. More importantly, this drug has no side effects and should be used only by adults.This hormone regulates fertility. However, this is not the only reason why it is so popular. Oxytocin helps you increase your connection and trust with other people, which makes some people addicted. Sometimes, oxytocin is used instead of morphine because of its analgesic effect. Nowadays, oxytocin fat burners are very popular among women and men who want to get rid of extra calories. Oxytocin is beneficial to lose weight faster without any side effects.Cortisol reduces stress and increases blood pressure levels in the body. It also increases blood sugar levels, contributing to more energy during a workout session or sports activities. The best thing about cortisol is that it can increase your metabolism, making it the perfect hormone for people who dont have the time and energy to go to the gym to lose fat.This is a direct response to the leptin level in your body. If it becomes too low, your hunger will increase, and you will feel inclined to eat more food than needed. Leptin can help suppress that feeling and regulate your eating habits and diet plans for losing weight fast.T3 and T4 are the hormones that promote healthy metabolism, essential for burning more calories. The only drawback to these two hormones is that they require prescriptions like any other hormone supplement and from a specialist. So whenever you want to take thyroid hormone pills, you should always check with your doctor first if it is right for you or not. There is no point in risking your health just because you dont have enough money for prescription drugs.Eating less and working out more is not the only way to lose weight. You need to do it faster and easier if you want to see results in a short time. The five hormones listed above can help you burn calories faster than ever without any effort at all.
James Edward Hansen is an American adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University.

You all yawned when all we wrote about was the housing bubble when we first started. And then when the bubble burst, our predictions rang true. We are way ahead on big issues because we both have big heads full of predictions. Remember that.Every year the University of Miami hosts a 2 day seminar on Climate Change training people like me how to talk about the subject. They have for the last 6 years. I went this year and it is not a jolly-fest that is for sure. I learned a lot and sat next to the charming and intelligent Jose Regalado. The seminar was sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Geological Sciences, and the Cleo Institute Besides the impressive presentations about sea level rise by scientists, there was one by 16 year old Delaney Reynolds who is making an amazing contribution. She founded The Sink or Swim Project I give the whole seminar 5 stars (the food was amazing too). Best cookies, lox and bagels, etc. breakfast and lunch were both a feast. I recommend you all go next year, and go without eating first. Join the Cleo Institute and they will announce the dates.I asked Geology Professor Harold Wanless about the the clay layer 140 feet or so down that Miami Beach folks are talking about. Would that be a stable base for a seawall? You can't hold back the sea water with a wall on limestone, the water will just seep up under it, limestone is too porous. Wanless believes you have to go 1,000 feet at least to find a proper bed for a seawall. I think that would be expensive. So there is your answer to mitigation Marco Rubio. You can't pump, pump, pump water out forever. Have you given the mitigation you recommend any thought whatsoever? I came away with the belief that: Most of Florida is up shit's creek with our limestone geology and Marco Rubio has given up on his home State when it comes to sea level rise.
Tijuana crime scene Mexico

Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Mexicos fastest-growing and most violent cartel, appears to be moving into Sinaloa cartel territory in Tijuana, just across the border from San Diego.

CJNG is reportedly teaming up with former members of the Arellano Felix Organization (AFO) and recruiting current members of the Sinaloa cartel in the city in order to take control of drug-trafficking routes to the US, according to a February 13 report by Sandra Dibble of The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Nueva Generacion does not have a significant physical presence in [Baja California, where Tijuana is located], but has focused on forging alliances with members of the Tijuana underworld in a challenge to the Sinaloa cartel, Daniel de la Rosa, the public safety secretary in Baja California, told Dibble.

Bodies found in the city recently have borne narcomensajes, messages from the persons killer, so named because they usually indicate a drug-related killing.

The cleaning continues in Baja [California] on the part of El Mencho. Sincerely, CJNG CTNG, read one message, referring to both CJNG and its local affiliate, Cartel Tijuana Nueva Generacion.

El Mencho is believed to be CJNGs current leader, Nemesio Osegura Ramos.

Tijuana US Mexico border crossing

Another group that has left messages on dead bodies, known as La Barredora, is purportedly made up of state and local police officers working on behalf of the Sinaloa cartel.

Rising homicides

This spike in homicides comes amid a longer-term increase in killings in the border city.

San Diego Tijuana US Mexico border

Tijuanas homicide rate has jumped from 28 per 100,000 residents in 2012 to 39 per 100,000 in 2015, which made it the 35th-most-violent city in the world that year, according to a Mexican think tank.

Story continues

Drug-related homicides were more than 536 of the citys 670 homicides last year. Moreover, Dibble reports, 71 homicides in January were the most the city has seen in the first month of the year since 2010.

State officials are confident that the rise in killings (which has occurred alongside a drop in other common crimes) is the result of organized criminal activity  and of CJNGs ambitions.

Violence has gone "up because a third group" that had not previously been in the city "is in the process of becoming established," the states deputy attorney general for organized crime, Jose Maria Gonzalez, told Dibble.

Tijuanas police have also attracted criticism over reports that members of state and local forces are working for cartels. The citys top police official even resigned this week, saying he wanted to avoid the continuation of the perverse media campaign the he believed had been mounted against the police force.

'Increasingly there's the sense that they're rivals'

A strike against the Sinaloa cartels dominance in Tijuana by CJNG, allied with former Arellano Felix members, would be a confluence of many past and present players in Mexicos drug trade.

mexican tunnel el chapo

The Arellano Felix Organization controlled trafficking in the Tijuana area in the late 1980s and 1990s, but a feud with El Chapo Guzman's cartel ignited a full-scale war. (Guzman allegedly offered information on the AFO to the DEA to help to bring down his rivals.)

By the mid-2000s, the US and Mexican governments had largely brought down the AFO. Since then, Guzman's Sinaloa cartel has managed to maintain its status as Mexico's, and likely the world's, dominant drug-trafficking organization, despite its leader's stints in jail and on the run.

Around 2010, the CJNG emerged, reportedly from the remnants of a trafficking organization headed by Ignacio Coronel, an ally of Guzmans Sinaloa cartel (and reportedly Guzmans current wifes uncle) in Jalisco state in southwest Mexico.

tijuana border

Since then, CJNG has established itself as one of the most fearsome cartels in Mexico.

The group has seized control of much of Jalisco state, corrupting many police forces and engaging federal and military forces in bloody shootouts.

CJNG gunmen even shot down a Mexican army helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade last year, killing six soldiers.

CJNG also is now one of the major players in the meth trade in North America, Alejandro Hope, the security and justice editor for El Daily Post, said during a discussion at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC, in late January.

Rumors have swirled about the relationship between CJNG and Sinaloa. After Guzmans escape from prison in July, it was reported that CJNG had helped finance his escape, but cooperation between the two groups, if it ever existed, has likely ended.

It was usually thought they were collaborators, that Jalisco was a junior partner with Sinaloa  but more increasingly there's the sense that they're rivals, and that  they're fighting, at least in some areas, said Hope.

NOW WATCH: Forget 'El Chapo'  this is Mexico's most powerful drug lord





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Bernie Sanders has charted his own, highly unbeaten path in politics. A self-described Socialist, Sander hasn't just eschewed the familiar trappings of capitalism - high-paid speaking gigs, investment partnerships, a spouse on Wall Street, the corporate ladder. He runs in direct opposition and hostility to them. "The business model of Wall Street is fraud," he famously proclaimed in a debate.

And yet, by dint of his success as an anti-capitalist politician, Sanders has managed to make a quite comfortable living. While Sanders wouldn't describe himself as rich, the scourge of the 1% has income that puts him in the top 3.8% of American households, according to CNBC.

Just as Sanders has managed to accumulate significant assets and pull down a six-figure income while being hostile to business and capitalism, his campaign has done the same. Eschewing PACs and high-dollar fundraisers on Wall Street, Sanders has managed to raise a stunning $95 million, from a virtual army of 3 million small donors.

Heres how Sanders became Americas six-figure socialist:

The making of an anti-capitalist: Most politicians on the make head for law school or start trying to work their way into establishment. Sanders? Not so much. After graduating from the University of Chicago in 1964, it seemed as if he was intentionally trying not to make money.

He volunteered on a kibbutz in Israel in the 1960s, spent a lot of time at protests and in activist movements, worked in New York and wound up in Vermont, where he worked as a carpenter, a writer, and ran for various offices as a third-party candidate. For a period, he ran the American People's Historical Society, a non-profit that made films about forgotten American heroes like Socialist leader Eugene Debs.

Steady employment begins after the age of 39: In 1981, when Sanders won an election for the Mayor of Burlington, Vermont, the 39-year-old went on the public payroll  earning about $33,700 per year, according to Politico. And he hasn't left since. After serving eight years as Mayor, he successfully ran for Vermont's lone seat in the House of Representatives in 1990 (his salary bumped up to about $96,000).

Story continues

While other politicians wrote books or engaged in real estate deals to make extra cash, Sanders. . . recorded a folk album in 1987.

After eight terms in the House, ran for -and won--a Senate seat in 2006, where his salary bumped up to $165,000. In the meantime, his wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders, whom he married in 1988, was a community organizer who worked in education. For seven years, from 2004 to 2011, Jane was president of tiny Burlington College, where her salary was about $160,000. (She's now retired.)

The six figure Socialist: More than $200,000, mostly from his Senate salary of $174,500 and Social Security and pension payments paid to Sander and his wife, Jane. Sanders' financial disclosure shows several holdings in mutual funds and retirement accounts that add up to six figures, but no individual holdings of stocks or outside income. Opensecrets.org tabbed his net worth at about $436,000 in 2014.

Virtually all of the couple's assets are in Jane's name, and they own a condo in D.C. and a rental property in Vermont.

How his business model works: Eschewing the for-profit private public sector and sticking it out in the public sector has proven to be a brilliant financial move. Popular in his home state and facing election once every six years, Sanders has a great deal of job security. The Senate is one of the few places in the U.S. where people can work at six-figure salaries well past the official retirement age. And with 26 years of Congressional service under his belt, Sanders will be entitled to a Congressional pension in the mid-five figures whether or not he becomes the next president.

But what are the risks?

Sanders modus operandi and avowed lack of experience in the real world of profits, loss, and investment leaves him at something of a loss when it comes to talking about the economy. His plans for everything from reforming health care to boosting economic growth and providing free college tend to have an air of unreality about them. As a result, mainstream economists and business leaders arent feeling the Bern.

This article is the final part in a series that examined the presidential candidates personal business model, how theyve pursued power while maintaining a lifestyle that well-educated executives and their children have come to expect.

Read the others in the series:

See original article on Fortune.com

More from Fortune.com
bernie sanders

Sen. Bernie Sanders said Saturday that the Democratic presidential primary campaign is far from over despite several recent state losses.

Following what looked like landslide victory for Hillary Clinton in the South Carolina Democratic primary, Sanders congratulated the secretary of state. But he made clear that the campaign was still in its infancy.

"Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning," Sanders said in a statement distributed by his campaign.

Sanders attempted to cast the race as even, emphasizing his massive victory in the New Hampshire primary earlier this month. The senator also pointed to "Super Tuesday" primaries and caucuses next week that award a solid chunk of the delegates needed to clinch the nomination.

"We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina," Sanders said. "Now its on to Super Tuesday. In just three days, Democrats in 11 states will pick 10 times more pledged delegates on one day than were selected in the four early states so far in this campaign."

"Our grassroots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won't stop now," he added.

Sanders did not stay in South Carolina on Saturday night. He was set to hold a rally in Minnesota, one of the states that caucuses next Tuesday.

NOW WATCH: Sanders predicts he'll win the democratic nomination in one of the great 'political upsets in the history of the US'





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Captain Phillips

Seven years after fending off pirates off the coast of Somalia, Capt. Richard Phillips is still on the speaker circuit inspiring people with his story.

Very few of us will be tested with the kind of life-or-death situation that Phillips faced.

But Phillips says that we're all still fighting our own kind of battles. It might not be pirates on the high seas, but it's other difficulties in work or life.

"The take away is that we are all stronger, there's more that we can do," he says. "So you dont have to worry about it. If you can get rid of the emotion and concentrate on the problem, you can solve the problem. Nothing is over until you quit."

Phillips was speaking at the Qualtrics tech conference in Salt Lake City earlier this month where I met with him.

I asked what happened to him after he was rescued, his thoughts about the lawsuit filed by crew members, and his life after the incident, the books and the movies.

Stronger than we know

During his talk, he recounted the events of 2009, when Somali pirates boarded his ship, the Maersk Alabama, and held him hostage. Along with retelling the story (captured in the 2013 movie "Captain Phillips" starring Tom Hanks), he shared the lessons his experience holds for every leader.

And he got a standing ovation from the 2,000 people in attendance at the tech conference, which he never saw, because he was rushing off stage to meet me for the interview.

When I told him about the ovation, he laughed, "I was told to meet out here immediately after the talk, so I did. I guess I'm still trained to follow orders." Phillips, who returned to work 14 months after the incident, retired in 2015.

Qualtrics Captain Phillips

He's delivered some 300 speeches in the past seven years. It's a polished, funny and moving presentation, all in the Boston accent that Tom Hanks captured perfectly in the movie.

Story continues

The messages he has for everyone:

"You might not be fighting pirates, but in everyone's work, you have serious decisions with serious consequences. Not just the managers but the people who are getting the work done."

"You are much stronger than you know. You can do more and you can take more."

"Failure is only final when we give up, when we quit."

Determination and controversy

To recap the famous incident: After Somali pirates boarded his ship, Phillips wound up as their hostage. He spent days in the sweltering heat of the Alabama's lifeboat. The pirates gave him just enough water to keep him alive, messed with his mind, and, after a failed attempt to escape, tied him so tight his wrists have some numbness to this day.

He still vividly remembers those days in that lifeboat.

"I saw the commitment in their eyes. I saw the maleficence. They were never going to give up. No way. We had a relationship but it was adversarial. There were times we laughed and times they scorned me but we did talk," he says.

Captain Phillips

The Navy and Navy Seals rescued him, capturing one pirate and killing the others.

Phillips credits the Navy and Seals, his training drills, the smarts of his crew, and his ability to keep a cool head under pressure as reasons hiw whole crew of 19 American sailors returned home. Most pirate attacks don't end that well, he says.

Shortly after the rescue, some of those sailors told a different tale, blaming Phillips' leadership for the mishap, as part of a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the company that owns the ship, that was eventually settled.

Tears of relief

The movie ends with a visibly shaken and crying Phillips (Tom Hanks) being given medical attention aboard the Navy ship. But it didn't happen exactly like that, Phillips told Business Insider.

That first night after his rescue, "I slept like a baby," he said.

"I was on the navy ship for another five days. Initially, I was fine. I slept like a baby, but then I would wake up at 5:00 in the morning, crying and balling like a baby, just like you saw Tom Hanks do in the movie," he said.

Disturbed, he told himself to get over it and stop crying.

Captain Richard Phillips is portrayed by Tom Hanks in new film

Then he got to know a few of the Navy Seals on the ship. "I got to see a very small glimpse into the community. The Seals have a sense of community Ive never seen anywhere. Not just the guys but the wives, widows, kids of fallen heroes."

One of the guys in that community "kept harassing me, telling me to talk to a psychologist" and reminding Phillips that "not every rescue mission was successful." Sometimes Seals needed to talk, too.

Phillips agreed. The doctor chatted with him for a while, asked questions like was he sleeping (yes, sort of), eating normally (no), and listened to Phillips tell him about the morning crying.

"He explained to me that were hard-wired with fight-or-flight instincts, and those chemicals may cause problems, or they may not. They get released via our tears, and also talking about it helps, two things I never believed in. But the next time it happens, he told me to let the tears flow, take natural course."

So the next morning, "I woke up 5 a.m., crying like baby, and I let myself cry. It lasts for about 45 minutes, and then it just stops. It never happened again. I never had nightmares, and I only had one dream about it. Maybe it was PTSD, but by crying and letting it take its course, it released me."

As for the whole incident: "I don't let it define my life." So, when he boarded ship for his next assignment, he didn't worry about bad things happening. "I was happy to get back to work."

In fact, being held captive wasn't the first scary thing that happened at sea. He's got at least another book's worth of stories, he says.

Tom Hanks Barkhad Abdi Captain Phillips

Before the pirates, the scariest thing that happened was when he was about 30 hours outside of Japan and the ship's engine room caught on fire.

"I thought I had five dead guys in the engine room. We had no help. We're in the middle of the ocean. Thank god my crew did an excellent job fighting the fire. The ship was seriously damaged, we had to get an emergency tow. But for that 30 minutes, I thought I had five dead guys," he says.

It turned out, the guys were all fine. They were hiding in the safe room, unsure if the ship was under pirate attack or what and they didn't know the safety word to come out. It made him realize, "I'm not doing enough training!"

So, he did more training. Training helped him feel confident when he returned to work.

"I was on the right path, I didn't think I was there, but it made a difference," he says of the training.

"It empowered my crew to go above and beyond. I never trained what to do if pirates held me hostage and you guys are hiding in a room. They were able to work on their own. My chief engineer, chief mate, first engineer, usurped command and took control and did the right things. They were instrumental in the positives outcomes for them and me," he says.

Lawsuit from his crew didn't surprise him

As for the accusations his crew leveled against him in their lawsuit, he says he wasn't surprised, nor were his feelings hurt.

Captain Phillips

"A week after I got home, it started. And then it continued in 2010, and in 2013. The crew was suing, mainly the unlicensed," he said, referring to the members of the crew who were not licensed and ranked to do specialized jobs.

"They said unbelievable things. They said I was doing it to save fuel or that I wanted to be captured by the pirates. They were really demeaning me, questioning my professionalism, " he said.

Today, he shrugs it off.

"We're a litigious society. To me it was just trying to get a fast buck," he says. "I've been sued for a lot different things in the work. One guy for hurting his back."

He pretty much expected some kind of a lawsuit.

"I told the Navy captain three days after I was rescued when he said to me, 'You did an incredible job.' I told him, "Oh no, in a few months, it will be that I completely screwed up,'" he remembers.

The suits filed in Alabama and Texas didn't name Phillips or formally accuse him of wrongdoing but sought damages from Maersk Line and Waterman Steamship. They were eventually settled under confidential terms.

A happy ending

After the incident, which made national news at the time, Phillips got so many phone calls from press and publishers that he eventually he agreed to write a book with ghostwriter Stephan Talty. The book turned into a string of demands for speaking engagements and then a movie. Phillips was back at sea while most of the movie was being shot.

Captain Phillips and Julie Bort

He says the movie was "close" to the real incident "for a movie" and watching it did not disturb him, although it did make his daughter cry.

And for the record, he says, on most ships, the crew does have guns and are trained how to use them. "This was the first ship I was ever on that didn't have weapons," he says.

While he enjoyed meeting Tom Hanks, he wasn't enamored of Hollywood.

"Tom Hanks came to my house three times and he invited me to see his play," he remembers. "I've seen him a few times since. He's a nice guy, a funny guy, and can he talk! Hes hyper. He reminds me of the class clown in high school."

While shooting the movie, Hanks would track him down at sea to ask about details. Did crew members really play poker? (Yes.) Would he ever tell the crew to stop playing and go to bed. (No.)

"Being in that other world of media, TV, Hollywood, it's not a real world. For me going back to work, it was a pleasure to get the back to the world I knew. Thats the real world. Thats normal for me. In my world, everything is isnt always 'beautiful!' or 'excellent!' or 'great!'," he says.

"We have other adjectives," he laughs, referring to a sailor's vocabulary.

But the happy ending is that between his retirement pay, the speaking gigs, royalties from the book and movie, he's financially comfortable in retirement.

"Of course, we dont have credit card bills and are less worried about retirement. The money doesn't change you. It gives you a little freer sense, less worry," he says.

NOW WATCH: Apple has confirmed that setting your iPhone to this date will kill your device





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Milan (AFP) - Dolce and Gabbana, the designers who were once Italy's most famous gay couple, put the fairytale back into fashion on Sunday, days after Italy's Senate voted to legalise same-sex civil unions.

The duo must have called upon every available golden-locked model in Milan for an ode to all things princessey that was also an unabashed celebration of living happily ever after.

With the tone set by invitations which, on opening, played "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes," from Disney's 1950 animated version of "Cinderella", this was a celebration of true and enduring love in all its forms.

The catwalk backdrop featured a recreation of Cinderella's bed, a golden horse and a tapestry featuring representations of Domenico Dolce as a man and Stefano Gabbana as a woman.

"The princess was walking in the woods accompanied by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana when they met a handsome prince, riding his white horse ...and they lived happily ever after ... " read the script.

Fable references abounded, commencing with the giant pumpkin and Cinderella-inspired mirror at the entrance to the converted cinema that staged the show.

The graffiti on the mirror asked, "Who is the most beautiful? YOU!" - just perfect for a self-affirming selfie.

As ever with D&G, all was not quite as it appeared. The Prince Charming in this show was a girl sporting a bolero jacket over cropped pants, one of a number of outfits with a 19th Century cavalry feel about them.

Away from the military and piratical elements, dresses featured embroidery inspired by the mice that stitched Cinderella's ball gown, the apple in Snow White and the clock in Alice in Wonderland.

Many of the props used were borrowed from sets belonging to Milan's La Scala opera house with the help of the venerable institution's own set designer Angelo Scala.

- 'A different attitude' -

The idea was "to evoke a dream-like feeling in every woman," the designers said.

Story continues

"Every woman wants to be a princess deep inside, albeit a modern one, a princess that instead of waiting in her castle for her prince to come and give her the kiss of true love, is independent and looks for her prince herself."

In developing their vision of a new generation of princesses, D&G said they had been particularly inspired by Disney's 2013 hit "Frozen", a film in which the main character Elsa's magical powers are rejected in a way some have interpreted as an allegory for society's treatment of homosexuals.

"The new girls are not only independent, but have a personal point of view: first of all, they consider themselves as individuals; what makes them different is their attitude," the designers said.

The show culminated in a glittering finale of 95 models dressed in mid-thigh mini-dresses covered in fuchsia, silver and pink sequins and crystals.

Italy's debate over civil unions has proved bruising for two men who, particularly because of Dolce's roots in socially conservative Sicily, have been pioneers as prominent gay men in Italian public life.

Dolce caused a furore last year by saying in an interview that he did not like the idea of gay couples seeking to have children through surrogacy and that he felt every child should have a mother and a father.

Gabbana disagreed but defended his former life partner's right to his opinion, leading to accusations of betrayal from some inside the gay community and brand-damaging criticism from the likes of Elton John and Victoria Beckham.

The duo last month unveiled a line of handbags and T-shirts celebrating diverse family models in what some interpreted as an attempt to undo the impact of last year's spat.

As things have turned out, Dolce and Gabbana's different perspectives on gay parenthood were mirrored by broader Italian society's reservations about allowing gays to adopt the biological children of their partners.

The bill which got through the Senate and now has to be approved by the Chamber of Deputies approves legal partnerships but does not ensure equal adoption rights for homosexuals.

Recent polls suggest 70 percent of Italians think the parliamentary fudge was the right outcome.
donald trump

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace asked Donald Trump on Sunday why the Republican presidential candidate appeared to go out of his way to highlight a judge's Hispanic background the day before.

The judge, identified by the Daily News as US District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, is overseeing a lawsuit against Trump University.

"I think the judge has been extremely hostile to me. I think it has to do with, perhaps with I'm very, very strong on the border  very, very strong on the border," Trump told Wallace.

"We have a very hostile judge. Now, he is Hispanic, I believe," he added. "And he is a very hostile judge to me."

Wallace seemed perplexed.

"Why even bring up that he's Hispanic? I mean, it does raise the question," he asked Trump.

Trump said he brought up the judge's ethnic background because the media reports on how Hispanic voters have an unfavorable opinion of his candidacy. Trump famously launched his campaign last summer while accusing the Mexican government of sending rapists and murderers across the border.

"Because you always bring it up, Chris. Because you always say how the Hispanics don't like Donald Trump. You always bring it up in your poll numbers. You say the Hispanics don't like Donald Trump. You're the one that brings it up," Trump said.

"I don't think I ever brought it up," Wallace replied.

At a Saturday rally in Arkansas, Trump had discussed the "Hispanic" judge while panning a lawsuit against Trump University, which critics accuse of being a scam.

"There is a hostility toward me by the judge  tremendous hostility  beyond belief. I believe he happens to be Spanish, which is fine. He's Hispanic, which is fine. And we haven't asked for a recusal, which we may do," he told his supporters.

Here's some background on the case against Trump's school, via The Washington Post:

About 80,000 people attended free introductory seminars held in hotel ballrooms across the country. About 9,200 of those participants then paid $1,495 for three-day real estate seminars, and nearly 800 paid up to $35,000 for all-inclusive packages that included one-on-one mentoring. Trump University changed its name to the Trump Entrepreneur Initiative in May 2010  the New York State Education Department had deemed the "university" part of the name misleading  and, soon after, stopped operating.

Story continues

The venture is still caught up in three pending lawsuits, including the $40 million suit brought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

NOW WATCH: John Kasich is surging in New Hampshire, according to a new poll





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Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton threw in subtle shots at Donald Trump in a victory speech amid a blowout win in the South Carolina primary Saturday.

In her address to supporters, the Democratic presidential frontrunner emphasized the need for the country to remain united and resist division.

She even took a shot at Trump's campaign slogan.

"This campaign and our victory is for the reverend, a presiding elder, of the AME church, who looked at all the violence and division in our country and asked me, 'How? How are we ever going to strengthen the bonds of family and community again?'" Clinton said.

"Well, we're going to start by working together with more love and kindness in our hearts and more respect for each other, even when we disagree."

Clinton then took aim at Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again." Trump is the frontrunner in the Republican race for the party's presidential nomination, as both he and Clinton have respectively won three of their party's first four contests.

"Despite what you hear, we don't need to make America great again," Clinton said. "America has never stopped being great. But, we do need to make America whole again."

She also referenced Trump's repeated calls to build a large wall along the southern border of the US to prevent illegal immigration from Mexico.

"Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers," Clinton said. "We need to show by everything we do that we really are in this together."

Clinton beat her Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont, by a wide margin in the South Carolina primary Saturday night. With almost all votes recorded, she racked up more than 73% of the vote to Sanders' 26%.

Clinton narrowly won the Iowa caucuses earlier this month and beat Sanders by a wider margin in the Nevada caucuses, but she lost to Sanders by 22 points in the New Hampshire primary.

Story continues

NOW WATCH: A global intelligence analyst explains why Clinton is sinking in the polls





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Iranians walk past electoral posters for the upcoming parliamentary elections in a street near the Hazrat Fatimah Ma'sumeh mausoleum in Qom (AFP Photo/Atta Kenare) (AFP)

Tehran (AFP) - The field for Iran's parliamentary election on Friday has narrowed sharply with more than a fifth of the candidates pulling out, apparently urging voters to back the main political lists instead.

The head of the interior ministry's election headquarters, Mohammad Hossein Moghimi, said on Thursday that 4,844 hopefuls would contest the 290 seats, meaning 1,385 candidates have withdrawn.

Polls will open at 0430 GMT and are scheduled to close at 1430 GMT but voting could be extended if required, Iranian media quoted him as saying.

His comments followed a state television appearance late Wednesday by Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli who revealed the fall in numbers.

"It now leaves around 17 people competing for each parliamentary seat," Fazli said.

"Ten percent of the total candidates are women," he added, a figure that amounts to a cut of about 100 female candidates, leaving some 500 still running.

Iranian politics is dominated by factions rather than political parties and Friday's poll will see conservatives up against moderates and reform-minded candidates on a series of lists.

A pro-government List of Hope comprising moderates and reformists is supporting President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate who is looking for his allies to make gains against conservatives.

The main conservative list is headed by Gholam-Ali Hadad Adel, a former parliament speaker, whose daughter is married to one of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's sons.

Election results from outside Tehran are expected within 24 hours of the close of polls but the count in the capital, which has a population of 12 million and is electing 30 lawmakers, will take three days.

For the first time, voting will also take place on the same day for the 88 members of the Assembly of Experts, a powerful committee of clerics that will choose Iran's next supreme leader.

Fazli said the number of candidates in that ballot had also fallen, from 161 to 159.
Jeb Bush George HW Bush

This was supposed to be Jeb Bush's race.

The former Florida governor was outraising his competition by a landslide. In mid-July, he held a nearly 10-point lead over second-place Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

Then, Donald Trump happened.

The business mogul took aim at Bush, the front-runner at the time, calling him "weak" and "a low-energy" person.

Soon, all the money in the world seemed as if it couldn't save Bush's tailspin. He went from roughly 18% to a low-point near 3% in early January, according to the RealClearPolitics average of various polls.

Now, he's out of the race altogether after a disappointing fourth-place finish in last Saturday's South Carolina primary.

jeb bush.

Bush's biggest problem was that he couldn't win over the increasingly ideological, conservative voters needed to carry a Republican primary a group that has been largely gathered by Trump, the frontrunner, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

His more "establishment" appeal and his past political experience did not convince many of the grassroots Republican voters that he'd "make America great again" as Trump promises.

But Bush wasn't the only member of his family who had to deal with this exact problem on the presidential circuit. He wasn't even the only one who has had to face the "make America great again" slogan.

Bush's 2016 presidential bid was a somewhat similar story to that of his father, George H.W. Bush, when the elder Bush launched a failed 1980 run for office.

That's when Ronald Reagan, the favored leader of the more conservative branch of the Republican Party, ran on bringing the US back to prior glories.

By 1980, George H.W. Bush had held a wide variety of political offices in his distinguished career. He was a former two-term congressman from Texas, US ambassador to the United Nations, head of the Republican National Committee, chief liaison in China, and director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He served in both the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations.

Story continues

There are striking similarities between that campaign and Jeb Bush's, as made apparent in "Destiny and Power," Jon Meacham's recently released biography of George H. W. Bush.

AP_800304051

Bush's 1980 run for president had been in the works since President Jimmy Carter replaced Ford in early 1977. Bush's early campaign platform was that he'd be "a president we won't have to train," which was a shot at both Carter and his chief competitor, Reagan.

Jeb Bush frequently took a similar, two-sided shot at his primary foes. The younger Bush argued in his campaign America shouldn't elected another first-term senator as president, which called out both President Barack Obama, a former senator, and both Rubio and Cruz.

But experience wasn't as important as ideology in the 1980 Republican primary race, much as has been the case in 2016.

Meacham wrote:

Movement conservatives accepted Reagan as one of their own, and were willing to forgive  or sometimes even ignore  his occasional lapses from the conservative creed. No such mercy was on offer for Bush. His inability to project great conviction, even when he was, in fact, greatly committed to a given principal, was a perennial problem. Reagan could nearly do no wrong in their eyes, Bush could nearly do no right.

George H.W. Bush's "inability to project great conviction" in 1980 was parallel to his son's "low-energy" label in 2016. Bush was painted as weaker than Reagan in 1980, while his son was painted as weaker than Trump in 2016.

And, just like with Reagan in 1980, Trump has so far been able to retain his hardline support  even when lapses from the conservative platform are brought forth by opponents  because he has identified with grassroots opposition to the Washington establishment.

A campaign memo from the 1980 primary race provided to Meacham read: "Bush has to be 'acceptable' to Right Wing  not necessarily 'favorite of.'" Newsweek wrote: Bush "is hoping that voters will perceive him as more 'reasonable' than Reagan, not simply more liberal."

It didn't happen.

As Meacham wrote, "Reagan's image of strength was garnering more support" after "a series of polls showed Americans were becoming hawkish" due to conflicts in both Iran and Afghanistan.

After the Paris terror attacks last November  which came a day after Trump said at a rally that he would "bomb the s---" out of the Islamic State terror group  polls showed that Trump was the favorite of the greatest number of Republicans when it came to fighting terrorism at 33%. Jeb Bush garnered just 9%.

In addition, Jeb Bush, who raised tens of millions from the financial elite, wasn't been able to shake labels that he was the rich man's candidate. Neither could his father in 1980.

AP_8007260352

William Loeb, then-publisher of the Manchester Union-Leader, wrote that George H.W. Bush was "the candidate of the self-appointed elite in this country."

The elder Bush would end up getting throttled in his race against Reagan. Although Bush won Iowa, Reagan took 44 states in the end.

It wasn't a total wash for Bush then, however. He would end up serving as Reagan's vice president for eight years before winning the presidency in 1988.

At the time, Trump had suggested to a Bush adviser that he would be willing to serve as Bush's vice president, Meacham wrote. The elder Bush called Trump's offer "strange and unbelievable."

NOW WATCH: Business Insider's full interview with Jeb Bush





More From Business Insider


Ted Cruz.

Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Marco slammed rival Donald Trump on Sunday for declining to denounce former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke earlier in the day.

"Really sad," Cruz wrote on Twitter.

Cruz further told Trump that "you're better than this. We should all agree, racism is wrong, KKK is abhorrent."

Rubio later wrote: "We cannot be a party that nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan."

BuzzFeed reported last week that Duke, a prominent white nationalist and former KKK grand wizard, urged his supporters to back Trump.

Though Trump said Friday that he disavowed Duke, the GOP frontrunner repeatedly dodged questions about Duke during a Sunday interview on CNN's "State of the Union."

"I don't know anything about David Duke, OK? I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists," Trump told anchor Jake Tapper.

"I have to look at the group. I mean, I don't know what group you're talking about," Trump said after Tapper asked him about it again.

The CNN host tried one more time before moving on.

"OK, I mean, I'm just talking about David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan here, but ..." he said, trailing off and inviting Trump to comment.

"Honestly, I don't know David Duke. I don't believe I've ever met him. I'm pretty sure I didn't meet him. And I just don't know anything about him," Trump replied.

Later in the day Sunday, Trump pointed to his comments last Friday:

As I stated at the press conference on Friday regarding David Duke- I disavow. pic.twitter.com/OIXFKPUlz2  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2016

NOW WATCH: The founder of a white nationalist website says Donald Trump is helping his cause





More From Business Insider


Motley Fool

The share prices of a handful of automakers were rising today after a new Wall Street Journal report today indicated that some Federal Reserve officials may be wary of continued aggressive interest rate hikes. Investors across all sectors are keeping a close eye on what the Fed will do at its next meetings, which will be in November and December, and are hoping that the pace and size of rate increases will slow down. Additionally, Rivian's (NASDAQ: RIVN) stock is likely gaining today because the company said that it has completed repairs on most of its recently recalled vehicles.
Martin Winterkorn gives his closing speech during the Volkswagen group night ahead of the Frankfurt Motor Show (IAA) in Frankfurt, Germany, September 14, 2015. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Volkswagen's (VOWG_p.DE) former chief executive Martin Winterkorn was informed that the carmaker had told regulators it was using defeat devices two weeks before the scandal became public, German tabloid Bild am Sonntag reported on Sunday.

It said it was in possession of a letter sent by an unnamed manager directly to then-CEO Winterkorn on Sept. 4 that said:

"In the conversation on 03.09.2015 with the regulator CARB (California Air Resources Board), the defeat device was admitted."

Volkswagen's U.S. CEO Michael Horn told a U.S. House of Representatives hearing in October the company had told regulators on Sept. 3 it was using defeat devices.

A letter pointing to the then-CEO could lend weight to the cases of shareholders planning to sue Volkswagen for compensation for the plunge in its share price, saying VW should have told the public as soon as it became aware.

The law firm acting for Winterkorn, who resigned on Sept. 23, was not immediately reachable for comment.

A Volkswagen spokesman said the company declined to comment on an ongoing investigation.

German financial watchdog Bafin is investigating whether Volkswagen breached disclosure rules when it admitted to falsifying U.S. emissions tests in September. It said last month the probe would probably take several more months.

In parallel with investigations by various authorities, Volkswagen has hired law firm Jones Day to carry out an internal probe into identifying who ordered engineers to develop and install software designed to cheat U.S. diesel-emissions tests, and who knew.

The discovery of the cheating, which U.S. authorities announced on Sept. 18, unleashed one of Volkswagen's biggest-ever scandals, leading to the resignation of several top managers and likely to cost it tens of billions of dollars.

The news wiped 17 percent, or more than 13 billion euros ($14.2 billion), off Volkswagen's market value on the next trading day.

Volkswagen is expected to present the first results of its investigation in April. It has said so far it has no reason to believe that more than a few people were involved in the cheating, and not at top level.

(Reporting by Jan Schwartz; Writing by Georgina Prodhan; Editing by Clelia Oziel)
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Our local Anglican Church parish, as well as their neighbouring ones are sponsoring refugee families. Ours as a 27 year old widow with a 3 year old and a 20 month old. Father died in the war under circumstances unknown to us. She is in a camp in Turkey, already processed by the Canadian government and ready to go. Something has happened, though. There are members of her extended family (male, for sure) insisting that they have some sort of ownership over her and demanding that they be let in, as well. As you can well imagine, a 27 year old Syrian mother is probably not at all worldly and she is getting flack from the same extended family about coming to a totally unknown place like Canada ( Maybe, her relatives are trying to get to Germany?) Anyway, the poor young woman doesn't know what to do. It is a massive leap of faith to come to a completely alien place ( or so she believes). Rest assured that the vetting process is working and she will not be allowed to enter accompanied by "insisting" relatives. She won the lottery. She will be sponsored by a rich and generous Church group in one of the nicest and most peaceful towns in North America and she is balking. If she does, it is probably the biggest mistake that she will ever make.
Would life outside the European Union be a leap in the dark, condemning Britain to a precarious and precipitous future, or might Brexit be an opportunity to liberate ourselves from an undemocratic and anachronistic institution that no longer serves our interests? These are the two scenarios now being presented to the British public, should it vote to leave the EU on 23 June. Yet both prospects rest on a dubious presumption: that the EU would survive intact following Britains departure...



The EU is well past its sell-by date



We dont need Brussels to stave off another World War.

columnistSpikedWould life outside the European Union be a leap in the dark, condemning Britain to a precarious and precipitous future, or might Brexit be an opportunity to liberate ourselves from an undemocratic and anachronistic institution that no longer serves our interests? These are the two scenarios now being presented to the British public, should it vote to leave the EU on 23 June. Yet both prospects rest on a dubious presumption: that the EU would survive intact following Britains departure.Prior to Frances regional elections in December, Marine Le Pen, theleader, gave an interview to the. She explained her support for the UKs secession: Brexit would be marvellous  extraordinary  for all European peoples who long for freedom, she said. It will be the beginning of the end of the European Union I compare Brussels to the Berlin Wall. If Great Britain knocks down part of the wall, its finished, its over.The EU existed in various forms before the UK joined, and it could of course function were it to leave, but the secession of the worlds fifth largest economy would severely compromise the EUs integrity. It would also set a humiliating precedent: no state has ever left the EU.Britains obstinacy and perseverance has already exposed cracks in a tottering union thats throwing back up internal borders as we speak. The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, accuses Britain of opening a Pandoras box, and no wonder hes fretful: a poll published on Monday showed that 53 per cent of people in the Netherlands would also like a plebiscite on EU membership. At present, 44 per cent of the Dutch population want to remain in the EU, with 43 per cent wanting out.Elsewhere, the Czech prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, also warned this week that Britain leaving could prompt a Czexit in a country now deeply hostile to the EU. Three-fifths of Czechs say they are unhappy with EU membership and 62 per cent said they would vote against it in a referendum. The French, for all their customary jibes about perfidious Albion, are now beginning to talk about Franxit. Even Serbia, that one-time pariah nation in the eyes of Western Europe, has gone cold on the union. Aleksandar Vucic, the Serbian Prime Minister, now says that EU membership is no longer the big dream it was in the past.Of all those we should pay heed to on the EU, its the Serbs who are most instructive. They were the most senior partner in a rancorous, unhappy, out-dated, multi-ethnic federation  Yugoslavia  the collapse of which was preceded by one member (Slovenia) seceding unilaterally. A consequent domino effect is inevitable when one member leaves a quarrelsome, dysfunctional federation. It happened in the Eastern Bloc in 1989 and in the Soviet Union in 1991.Whatever positive or negative outcomes Brexit may bring, the EU is past its sell-by date. It never helped to bring peace to Europe; its establishment was a symptom of a desire for peace, not the cause of it. Just as the Thirty Years War of the 17th century prompted Europe to make the collective mental decision never again to go to war with itself over religion, the carnage of the First and Second World Wars ushered in a new thinking among Europes great powers never again to fight over nationalism. Eighty years on and Germany no more desires to invade Poland than do French Catholics seek to massacre French Protestants  as they did a few centuries ago.The EU was erected on an unfounded fear that Europe might descend once more into continent-wide, nationalist bloodletting. As Denis Healey, the former Labour defence secretary, once said of EU-philes: Their Europeanism is nothing but imperialism with an inferiority complex. The EU was built on the twin pillars of pessimism and fear, which is why you still hear little else from the pro-EU camp today.With the collapse of the EU, we will still go on trading and co-operating with each other in this digitalised, decentralised, globalised world, because historic enmities have vanished. We Europeans will certainly be happier once were no longer compelled to live in the same house and share a bank account. The desire for European fraternity was a noble idea and of its era, but 1945 was a different time and a different place.
Google robot is 'the end of manual labor'Boston Dynamics' new "Atlas" robot is a game changer, not just for companies, but for society, Insider.com CEO Jason Calacanis said Wednesday."This is really the end of manual labor. When you watch this video, he's walking through the snow; he's wobbly, but he gets back up," the tech investor told CNBC's "Squawk Alley.""Manual labor is going to end in our lifetime, and in this video you can see how close we really are. It's a huge societal issue with jobs, but it's going to be a huge lift in terms of efficiency of companies that nobody expected."




William and Kate to visit Taj Mahal, where Princess Diana signalled her marriage to Prince Charles was over





By Gordon Rayner , Chief Reporter26 Feb 2016The TelegraphThe Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are to visit the Taj Mahal, where Princess Diana famously signalled that her marriage to Prince Charles was over.In 1992 the Princess posed for pictures on her own in front of the world's most romantic building to send a message that she and her husband were drifting apart.Almost a quarter of a century on, her son will visit the same spot with his own wife, creating a new and rather happier royal moment at the UNESCO world heritage site in India.Kensington Palace announced today that the Duke and Duchess will visit India and Bhutan for an official tour starting in Mumbai on April 10.They will travel to New Delhi, the Kaziranga National Park and Thimphu, capital of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, before finishing their visit at the Taj Mahal on April 16. Prince George and Princess Charlotte will not be accompanying them on the tour.It will be the first time either the Duke or the Duchess have visited either country.The Taj Mahal was built in white marble between 1631 and 1648 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal.The Prince and Princess of Wales's 1992 tour to India was a disaster from the Prince of Wales's point of view. The Princess visited Agra on her own because her husband was 1,200 miles away at a business leaders' forum in Bangalore.When she was asked by the media what she had thought of the Taj Mahal, the Princess said: "It was a healing experience, very healing." Asked what she meant by that, she replied: "Work it out for yourself."She had effectively confirmed that her marriage was falling apart, and later in the tour she humiliated her husband by turning her head away as he tried to kiss her on the cheek, so that he ended up kissing her awkwardly on her ear.The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have already shown they are not afraid of visiting places associated with the Duke's parents, despite their reluctance to be compared with them. During a tour of Australia they posed in front of Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock , on the same spot as Prince Charles and Princess Diana years before them.Kensington Palace said the royal visit would focus on young people, sport, entrepreneurship, urban poverty relief, the creative arts and rural life.In Bhutan they will meet the young and glamorous King and Queen of Bhutan , dubbed the William and Kate of the Himalayas.A spokesman for Kensington Palace said: "The Duke and Duchess are very much looking forward to their tours of India and Bhutan.Their visit to India will be an introduction to a country that they plan to build an enduring relationship with."They will pay tribute to India's proud history, but also are keen to understand the hopes and aspirations of young Indian people and the major role they will play in shaping the 21st century."Their visit to Bhutan will allow them to continue a relationship between two Royal Families by meeting the King and Queen. The Duke and Duchess have heard many wonderful things about the country and are grateful to have this opportunity to get to know the Bhutanese people."This tour, coming shortly before the Queen's 90th birthday, will also allow the Duke and Duchess to pay tribute to Her Majesty's huge contribution to diplomacy in Britain and the Commonwealth."
Christopher L. Hodapp is the author of Freemasons For Dummies, the worldwide, best-selling introduction to the Masonic fraternity; Solomon's Builders: Freemasons, Founding Fathers and the Secrets of Washington D.C. ; and Deciphering the Lost Symbol. His most recent book, Heritage Endures, was published in January 2018.

Since 2009 he has been on the Board of the Masonic Library & Museum of Indiana, and serves as its Associate Director and Treasurer. In 2021, Chris was named as Public Relations and Marketing Director for the Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of the State of Indiana.

Chris is also the co-author with Alice Von Kannon of The Templar Code For Dummies and Conspiracy Theories And Secret Societies For Dummies.

As a Freemason, Chris is a Past Master of Broad Ripple Lodge No. 643 and of Lodge Vitruvian No. 767 under the Grand Lodge F&AM of Indiana; he is a member of Indiana's Schofield Lodge 1818 U.D.; and of Internet Lodge No. 9659 in the Province of East Lancashire of the United Grand Lodge of England. Most recently, he was named the Worshipful Master of the Dwight L. Smith Lodge of Research U.D. in Indiana for 2019-21.

In 2018 he was awarded the Caleb B. Smith Medal of Honor by the Grand Lodge F&AM of Indiana for his "distinguished service to Freemasonry in Indiana and worldwide."

Chris is a 33 Mason in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite (NMJ), Indianapolis Valley. He is a Past Sovereign Master of Imhotep Council No. 434 of the Allied Masonic Degrees. He is a founding member of Levant Preceptory, a medieval Knights Templar period recreation degree team in the York Rite, and he is an officer of the Indiana College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis. He belongs to numerous other Masonic appendant organizations.

As a Masonic author, in 2012 he was named as Friar No. 101 in the Society of Blue Friars. Chris is a Founding Fellow of The Masonic Society, and was the founding Editor in Chief of The Journal of The Masonic Society. He remains a regular contributor today, and its Editor Emeritus.

He was the editor and a contributor in 2004-5 to "Laudable Pursuit: A 21st Century Response to Dwight Smith" by the Knights of the North, a Masonic leadership think-tank focusing on modern lodge solutions. He has written for Indianapolis Monthly, Heredom, Masonic Magazine, Templar History, the Scottish Rite Journal, the Knight Templar Magazine, the Indiana Freemason , the Phylaxis, and numerous other publications.

Chris was a commercial filmmaker for twenty-three years with Dean Crow Productions in Indianapolis. Hodapp and Alice Von Kannon developed scripts for the History Channel program, Brad Meltzer's Decoded in 2010, and contributed material on conspiracies and secret societies for TruTV and the American Heroes Channel. They have both appeared on National Public Radio, the History Channel, Discovery, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and the American Heroes Channel - most recently in 2017 on America: Facts vs Fiction.

Chris and Alice live in Indianapolis with Sophie the Flying Poodle who has them both answering to basic commands. However, they can frequently be found alarming the wildlife and dazzling the rustics in their Airstream trailer as they crisscross the country. Appropriately, their newest book together is RVs and Campers For Dummies, released in June 2021.
Sermons, book reviews and randomness from the Reverend Garibaldi McFlurry.
We had a story in the local paper on Friday about our Fiji Geelong Friendship Club and our effort to collect money and goods for Fiji.Yesterday was the annual Pako Festa, a huge ethnic festival in Geelong, Australia and for many years our Fiji Geelong Friendship Club has contributed by participating in the march, performing dance and singing, running a stall, displaying crafts etc. But we intended to have a rest this year. However because of the Hurricane Winston last weekend some members of our Fiji group met on Wednesday and decided we needed a presence at the festival, found costumes, made a banner, designed a new logo, printed posters, made 500 flyers, got in touch with the Pako leaders to get permission to fund-raise with tins, and we were accepted. On Saturday one community radio station broadcast from Pako Festa and George was interviewed so that gave more publicity to our fund-raising. We are also collecting labelled boxes to send to a group in Melbourne who are preparing two containers for Fiji. So here are some photos of the event where about 100,000 people attended. We raised a few thousand dollars towards our project to help Fiji. Isa, our former President, Rev Peceli Ratawa is no longer with us as he had energised the group for over twenty years in participation at Pako. The next generation have taken over this reponsibility now.
At midday on Friday 5 February, 2016 Julian Assange, John Jones QC, Melinda Taylor, Jennifer Robinson and Baltasar Garzon will be speaking at a press conference at the Frontline Club on the decision made by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the Assange case.
We do not know if we will ever again see the equivalent of the siberian traps. We can see a super volcano at work, but that is likely to be...
CLEAR LAKE  H.J. "Jerry" Dwyer, 85, of Clear Lake, Iowa, went home to be with our Lord and Savior on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016, at the Muse Norris Hospice Center in Mason City, Iowa.

A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, March 5, at 11 a.m., at the Surf Ballroom and Museum in Clear Lake with the Rev. Dr. Pat Hall of Zion Lutheran Church, Clear Lake, officiating. Military honors will be provided by the Clear Lake V.F.W.

Visitation will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, March 4, at Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel in Clear Lake, and then one hour before the service at the Surf Ballroom.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Winter Dance Party  Jerry & Barbara Dwyer Scholarship Fund or to Hospice of North Iowa.

On Oct. 11, 1930, Hubert Jerome (Jerry) Dwyer, was born the son of Martin James and Martha Louise (Rexroat) Dwyer, in Chicago, Ill. He was the youngest of four children. At age 11, he went to Mattoon, Ill., to live with his grandparents, James and Edna Rexroat. They lived next to the Mattoon airport, which sparked his interest in aviation. When he was 15 years old, he bought his first airplane, but was too young to own it so they had to license it in his grandmothers name.

Jerry graduated from Mattoon High School in 1948. He participated in football and track, where he was an Illinois State Track Champion. After studying Aeronautical Engineering at the University of Illinois, Champagne, Jerry worked for Ozark Airlines, under the direction of famed aviation pioneer, Roscoe Turner.

During the Korean Conflict, Jerry joined the National Guard and was activated into the Air Force. He was based in Sioux City, Iowa, and helped open the base and train mechanics and crew chiefs.

While in Sioux City, Jerry met the love of his life, Barbara Sams. It was love at first sight and six months later they were married. To this union four children were born: Jeffrey Jerome (deceased), Kim Alan, Kirk Martin, and Dawn Renee.

In 1955, Jerry founded Dwyer Flying Service. They operated in Oelwein, Charles City, and in 1957 they moved the company to the Mason City Airport, where they remained until his retirement in 2003.

In 1959, Jerry had the unfortunate, first-hand experience of the famous aviation accident, where his employee and friend, Roger Peterson, Buddy Holly, J.P. Richardson (The Big Bopper), and Ritchie Valens were killed in his airplane. This would forever change the course of his life. Instead of allowing this to define him in a negative way, he embraced and loved the families and spent time with them each year at the Winter Dance Party, where he loved to dance with Barbara and enjoy the music!

Jerry was an entrepreneur and very diversified in his aviation business. During the Vietnam years, he obtained an aircraft paint contract with the US Government and painted a third of all of the US Army aircraft. He was also one of the first aircraft operators to be licensed to fly hazardous materials. This led him to work as a contractual feeder air service with Purolator Courier, UPS, FED EX, and AIRBORNE. Jerry also started DWYAIR, a branch operation located at the Minneapolis International Airport.

He taught thousands of people how to fly and many of those pilots he mentored have gone on to pursue careers in professional aviation. He was a great encourager and cared very much about all of his employees. Jerry was the corporate pilot for Northwestern States Portland Cement Company in Mason City, and flew for many corporations, government agencies, and dignitaries. He was a Certified Aircraft Examiner with the Federal Aviation Administration. Jerry was a big promoter of many air shows and aviation days. One of his favorite experiences was when he got to fly with the THUNDERBIRDS! Another highlight for him was when he turned 50 he flew the GOODYEAR BLIMP!

In 2005, Jerry was inducted into the IOWA AVIATION HALL of FAME.

In 2008, he was the first ever recipient of two Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) awards at the same time. He received the Wilbur and Orville Wright Brothers Master Mechanic Award and the Charles Taylor Federal Aviator Award.

He also received commendations and was honored by the US Congress and the Iowa State Legislature for his outstanding contribution to aviation.

Jerry logged more than 44,000 hours of flight time in his career, making him one of the highest time pilots in the world.

Jerry was a member of the Jaycees, the Mason City Rotary Club, the Shriners, and the VFW. He served on the Board of the National Business Aviation Association, was past President of the board of the American Red Cross, on the Iowa Board of the American Cancer Society. He served as a FIRST MATE and volunteer for the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce.

Jerrys accomplishments in aviation paled in comparison to his love of people.

His true joy in life was his family and friends. He enjoyed attending events at Clear Lake Schools and following all of the kids, not just his own. He especially enjoyed being recognized by the Clear Lake Schools as a SUPER FAN!

He was preceded in death by his grandparents; his parents; his son, Dr. Jeffrey Dwyer; his father and mother-in-law, Harold and Esther Sams; a sister, Mary Louise Cole; his brother and sister-in-law, Leland and Marilyn Sams; and nephew, David Sams; along with many uncles and aunts.

Jerry is survived by his wife of 63 years, Barbara; son Kim (Suzy) Dwyer, Clear Lake; son Kirk (friend Tracey) Dwyer, Anchorage, AK; daughter Dawn (Douglas) Southwick, Clear Lake, IA.; and daughter-in-law, Cheryl (Bo) Cote, Indian Wells, CA.

Grandchildren include: Andrew (Angela) Dwyer, Alex Dwyer, Michael (friend Janelle) Dwyer, Scott (friend Anna) Dwyer, Cory Dwyer, Matthew (fiancee Lynne) Dwyer, Danielle (Derek) Adolf; Donna, George, Angel, and Nancy Jackson-Dwyer; Hillary Southwick, Harrison Southwick and Halston Southwick.

There are five great-grandchildren and two more expected to arrive in April 2016; two brothers, The Very Rev. Martin James (Becky) Dwyer, Boise, ID, and John Patrick (friend Patricia) Dwyer, San Diego, CA, and many nephews and nieces.

He will be remembered for his faith in GOD, his thankful heart, generous spirit, and caring influence. Jerry was a friend to all he met.

Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. Fourth St., Clear Lake, Iowa, 641-357-2193, ColonialChapels.com.
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Three people were killed and a fourth was seriously injured by hit-and-run drivers in separate incidents in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Just before 1:30 a.m. the NYPD says they responded to a pedestrian collision in the Bronx. Pedestrian Jose Contreras was struck near the corner of East 175th Street and Webster Avenue, suffering severe bodily trauma. Contreras was rushed to nearby Saint Barnabas Hospital, where he was declared dead. A police investigation determined that the man had been standing near an entrance ramp to the Cross Bronx Expressway and had attempted to cross Webster Avenue when he was struck by a black SUV.

The driver fled the scene. Cops say that no arrests have been made, and the investigation is ongoing.

Contreras's family told ABC7 that he had been celebrating his sister's 80th birthday just before the accident, and had been attempting to go back to a nearby catering hall to check on his family when he was struck. The 63-year-old father of two sons had been a custodian in Yonkers and was about to retire.

Roughly three hours later, officers in Queens responded to a pedestrian incident near 107-42 111th Street, where they found an unidentified 48-year-old man unconscious and unresponsive. The man was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Cops say the victim had been attempting to retrieve his things from the back seat of his car when he was fatally struck by an unidentified driver, who fled the scene. No arrests have been made , and that investigation is ongoing.

Finally, just before 5 a.m. a bicyclist was struck by a driver near the corner of 9th Street and 5th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The 41-year-old man was found unconscious, taken to Methodist Hospital, and later pronounced dead. No arrests have been made yet, but police are looking for a gold-colored sedan in connection with the fatal hit-and-run.

Speaking with 1010Wins, a nearby Park Slope resident identified as James tried to blame the fatal car accident on...bike lanes. "As they make more and more bike lanes and such, it pushes the traffic deeper into the neighborhoods where there is more pedestrian traffic and bikes," he told reporters.

The Daily News reports that a 22-year-old woman was also struck unconscious early Sunday morning by a driver in a silver mini-van at Guy R. Brewer Boulevard in South Jamaica, Queens. She was rushed to Jamaica Hospital and is currently in critical condition. The hit-and-run driver is still at large.

Earlier this month, a teen was killed in a fatal hit-and-run accident in Queens. In late 2015, New York lawmakers voted to double the civil penalty for drivers involved in hit-and-run accidents from $10,000 to $20,000.
Dairy-lovers everywhere were shaken earlier this month when a new investigation revealed that unlawfully high amounts of wood pulp was turning up in cheeses across the country, particularly parmesan cheese. The pulp, which in this case is cellulose used as an anti-clumping agent in many cheeses that claimed to be 100% pure parm, had many of us wondering if our spaghetti bolognese would pair best with cedar, spruce, oak, or pine.

Now, some of the purveyors responsible for the no Gouda cheese have pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges, and may even do time in jail. Food Safety Network reports that Michelle Myrter of Castle Cheese Co. pleaded guilty in a Pennsylvania U.S. District Court for "aiding and abetting the introduction of adulterated and misbranded cheese products into interstate commerce, in violation of provisions of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act." Myrter is the daughter of Castle Cheese CEO George Myrter. She was released on bond and could face up to one year in prison and/or a $10,000 fine.

Criminal charges were filed against Myrter and two companies (Universal Cheese & Drying Inc. and International Packing LLC) back in October 2015. Myrter's own Castle Cheese Co. went bankrupt last year.

The story of wood pulp hiding out in piles of parm was in the news earlier this month after Bloomberg published an extensive story on the FDA's investigations of a rural Pennsylvania plant, which happened to be owned by Castle Cheese. In that report, an industry insider estimated that 20% of hard cheese production in the U.S. is fraudulently labeled, and in the case of some cheeses, "less than 40 percent of the product was actually a cheese product."
News

Woman claims losing Dhs542000 due to relationship in Abu Dhabi

The woman said she knew the appellee for a long time and trusted in him, so she lent him Dhs542,000, which he asked to pay off his financial obligations, as he claimed.
The best way to revise a concept is to write about it! Paul Krugman has this description of the IS (investment-savings)-LM (liquidity pref...
I have previously discussed the advantages of being tax diversified. In that article, I suggested that it may be advantageous not only to have your retirement assets held in traditional IRAs and 401(k)s, but also in Roth IRAs and Roth 401(k)s. I also noted the prudence of diversifying your assets and portfolio. A consistent question I received afterwards was, what is the difference between asset diversification and portfolio diversification, or are they one and the same?

The short answer: yes, there is a difference between asset and portfolio diversification. For example, when you apply for a loan, such as a mortgage, you are asked to complete a fairly lengthy application.

On it, you record all of your assets. Typically starting with your checking and savings accounts, and then listing your investments, real estate and other assets. You also record your debt -- such as your current mortgage, auto loans, etc. While the assets represent all of the items that you own, your portfolio represents those marketable securities, such as stocks, bonds and mutual funds. One might quickly make the wrong conclusion that if the portfolio is properly diversified, there shouldn't be much need to ensure the assets are properly diversified.

An example of an individual who may lack asset diversification could be a contractor who owns a considerable amount of real estate such as: lots, homes under construction, residential and/or commercial rental properties and a personal residence.

I love this example, because there are so many elements to consider. First, from the perspective of the economy, this client is likely very exposed to the real estate sector. There are a number of sectors of the economy, and they dont necessary all move in unison with the general economy. Certainly, the real estate sector is a significant component of the U.S. economy, and it typically moves in conjunction with the overall economy. The sectors that move with the general economy are called cyclical. Cyclical sectors are robust when the economy is growing, but when the economy is slowing they stagnate or even drop. Therefore, in this example, this clients assets are very sensitive, in terms of value, to the overall movements of the general economy.

This fact alone should cause pause. Layer on the likelihood that all of the real estate assets are held locally, and you compound this risk. If they are all held locally, these assets lack geographic diversification as well. During the most recent recession, now being dubbed the great recession, the real estate sectors in some areas of the country were hit much more severely than others. Housing and real estate prices in areas like Florida, Nevada, and Michigan saw drops in values of up to 50 percent, while other areas such as Texas and North Dakota saw very little fluctuations in value, if any. Of course, living in Helena, we avoided much of this violent drop in housing valuations. All that being said, Im not saying that a person cannot, or should not, make a living inside the real estate sector. What Im suggesting is that if the opportunity arises to diversify your assets into other economic sectors, it is typically a smart move.

Using your portfolio might be one tool to help you become more diversified. For clients with a lot of real estate exposure among their assets, I am careful to select marketable securities that do not have much real estate exposure, if any at all. However, depending on the specific circumstances, we may still want some real estate exposure inside the portfolio. In those cases we typically look for exposure to different parts of the country, or world for that matter to spread the exposure over several different Investor expertise is another element to consider, particularly in the case above. Here, although the individual or family, for all intents and purposes, appears to be over exposed to the real estate sector, his or her expertise must be taken into consideration. A seasoned professional with decades of experience in a particular sector should be afforded much more latitude than a younger less-experienced investor.

The topic of expertise is a nice segue into another area in asset diversification that is often overlooked, and that is the individual himself or herself. We are, as individuals, typically our biggest financial asset. Here, I stress to my clients to be very careful with employer company stock. You are already receiving your largest cash flow, your paycheck, from this source, your employer. As such, by increasing your exposure to this asset by also owning company stock you are reducing your total asset diversification.

Most financial advisors suggest that your portfolio should have no more than 20 percent in any one stock, specifically to address the risks surrounding diversification, or the lack thereof. Though the ownership of employer company stock is not widely discussed, it is my belief that this number should be reduced down to a range of 0 to 10 percent. Again, expertise, should be taken into consideration. Here, a seasoned senior executive should be afforded more flexibility on this issue. Therefore, if you see large positions in employer company stock held by some, or all, senior management please dont let that be your signal that all is clear. They may have those stock positions for a variety of reasons. Their belief in the company certainly can be one, but other reasons likely exist as well. One reason that they may hold employer company stock is that they were awarded company shares as part of their compensation, much like a bonus. Another reason maybe simply for appearance sake. If company stock is awarded to you as a small part of your overall compensation, or through an employee stock ownership plan, I believe thats fine. Outside of those circumstances, it is my belief one should be very careful with the ownership of employer company stock and recognize the benefits of diversification among all your assets, including your most important financial asset -- you.

Clint Morrison, CPA and financial consultant operates Summit Financial Advisors and is a registered investment advisor representative of Royal Alliance & Associates, Inc. member FINRA and SIPC. He can be reached at 422-5069, clintm@sumfinadv.com, or 825 Great Northern Blvd. Suite 315, Helena, MT 59601. Royal Alliance Associates does not provide tax service. Summit Financial Advisors is not affiliated with Royal Alliance Associates, Inc. or registered as a broker-dealer. Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy, including asset allocation or diversification, can guarantee a profit or protect against loss. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized investment planning advice. Please consult a professional.
Democratic candidate for Congress Denise Juneau, touting union endorsements Friday, expressed confidence in winning a House seat thats eluded her party for 20 years.

When I look at this race for this year, what I see is a person who has won statewide elections twice already, and we havent had somebody in this position to challenge this seat that has actually done that, Juneau told the Gazette.

Juneau, Montanas twice-elected state superintendent of public instruction, was flanked by representatives from three different labor unions that are backing the Democrats challenge to U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke. A Republican, Zinke is Montanas only congressman. The unions represent 55,000 workers and have traditionally given their support to Democrats, but that hasnt been enough to win the seat in the past. The last Democrat to win the U.S. House seat was Pat Williams in 1994. He retired in January 1997.

But only one of the Democrats to run for the House seat since 1996 had previous success in a statewide race. Nancy Keenan, like Juneau, ran for the office after successful campaigns for superintendent of public instruction. Keenan is now the executive of the Montana Democratic Party. Keenan won a little more than 46 percent of the vote in 2000, but lost to Republican Denny Rehberg. Rehberg served for a decade.

Juneau won re-election as the states top education administrator with 235,397 votes in 2012. That was a presidential election year with more people voting than in 2014 when Zinke first won office. The number of people actually voting for Juneau was more than the 203,871 who elected Zinke in 2014. However, Zinke trounced Democrat John Lewis by 55,000 votes.

My election has actually put me in this office twice in a most trusted position, Juneau said. This is the position that oversees public education. It deals with the most precious resource that families have -- their children -- and I have a good record to stand on. I have a record of raising graduation rates to historic levels. Those graduates are contributing millions and millions of dollars to the economy annually because of jobs and paying taxes and not being on public assistance.

Education dominated Juneaus conversation with the Gazette, though she did discuss some issues currently before Congress.

On the Department of Interiors decision to suspend government coal leases so the agency could determine whether the public was getting a fair price for its resources, Juneau said she supported the time out.

On trade, Juneau said she saw no Montana benefit in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership pursued by President Barack Obama. Unions share Juneaus sentiments, though the states largest agriculture groups want TPP passed.

On whether Congress should pass laws directing technology companies to crack encryption on phones and computers for court-approved searches by the FBI, Juneau said she wasnt sure, but acknowledged Montanans feel strongly about their privacy.
The Montana Department of Environmental Quality is in the midst of analyzing a mine operating permit submitted by Tintina Montana Inc. And as the company looks to get the project underway, it is already touting the mining potential near White Sulphur Springs that could last for decades.

The Black Butte Copper Project is a small mine proposal by most estimations, targeting high-grade ore underground. The project has stirred emotions for years between supporters who look forward to an economic boon for Meagher County, and opponents who point to minings poor environmental record in Montana and argue the mines proximity to a tributary of the Smith River jeopardizes the iconic waterway.

As Black Butte works its way through permitting, a process estimated to last two years, Tintinas President and CEO Bruce Hooper has pitched interested investors in part on long-term exploration and mining potential for the area. Materials for prospective investors echo the possibilities, mentioning numerous untested extensions along strike over 20km and district-wide potential to extend mine life and establish a 50-year district.

In many ways wed love to get out and do some more exploration  but its not part of our short- and medium-term plans, Hooper said in an interview. Permitting is really our focus right now.

If permitted, Tintina will mine copper deposits called the Johnny Lee located about 15 miles north of White Sulphur Springs. Another deposit, called the Lowry, was discovered a short distance away but is not part of the current mine proposal.

In 2014, Tintina purchased 40 federal mining claims adjacent to Black Butte. At the time Vice President of Exploration Jerry Zieg said the purchase guarded against competition. He also mentioned potential exploration but noted the company had no immediate plans.

Tintina still sees the claims in a similar way, Hooper said, adding that the purchases are probably it for the time being.

Black Buttes small size using modern mining techniques has been a staple of Tintinas public message as it seeks a permit. But with an estimated mine life of between 11 and 14 years, long-term potential is something important to investors and employees, Hooper said.

For the investment community, spending a lot more money if you dont know it can be permitted does not make sense, he said. Once its in operation, then well certainly look to extend the mine life. Thats a positive for the community weve invested in as well that its not just a short-term operation and theyll benefit from any new discovery.

Many White Sulphur Springs residents have thrown their support behind the mine, with Meagher County commissioners among the staunchest advocates.

In an interview with commissioners last year, Chairman Herb Townsend said he was convinced Tintina was taking extra steps to ensure responsible mining and questioned the messaging of outside groups opposed to the mine as relying on scare tactics.

Hooper emphasized that any new mining would be the subject of the same permitting process and scrutiny as Black Butte. Mine expansion is also a common practice in the industry as mines often explore and grow over time, he added.

Because of legal agreements with area landowners, future mining would be underground, he said.

You just cant have an open pit mine in this area, Hooper said.

Opponents of the mine questioned whether Black Butte is simply a foot in the door for a larger vision of a half-century of expansive mining encompassing multiple tributaries.

Our primary concern here is what theyre selling Montanans is a small footprint, underground mine with a relatively minor impact, when in reality what theyre telling investors is this is a much larger project that will create an industrialized zone, said Derf Johnson, Clean Water Program director and staff attorney for Montana Environmental Information Center.

While mines initially seeking permitting go through a gamut of analysis, amending existing operating permits is a common practice with a lower environmental review, he said. As an example, Johnson pointed to multiple amendments to the operating permit for Golden Sunlight Mine near Whitehall.

I think theyve been selling us something theyre not entirely interested in and they havent been telling the full truth, he said. I think they really want to turn this into a big money-maker.

As it considers permitting, DEQ should consider the talk of potential expansion as a potential impact, Johnson said.

But DEQ has nothing to suggest Tintina is planning beyond its permit application, nor could it consider potential expansion unless it was concurrently considering another project, DEQ Public Policy Director Kristi Ponozzo said. DEQ is limited by the Montana Environmental Policy Act to concurrent considerations, she said, with separate analysis for future proposed projects.

As Tintina submitted its operating permit for DEQs initial review in December, Trout Unlimited convened a technical review team to scrutinize the application. On Wednesday, the team released its findings, which highlight several concerns including what it calls incomplete and insufficient data for fisheries and hydrology.

Because the Smith is one of Montanas most beloved rivers, the Black Butte mine proposal requires world-class scientific scrutiny, Bruce Farling, executive director of Montana Trout Unlimited said in a statement. Were confident thousands of Montanans agree with our view that the state of Montana should not permit this mine unless it has been demonstrated with near 100-percent scientific certainty that it poses no risk to water or fish. Its clear to us the information Tintina has provided to the state falls far short of this threshold.

DEQ must make a determination within 90 days of receiving the application, at which time it notes any deficiencies and Tintina will have an opportunity to remedy them. If the permit application is accepted, Tintina must then pay for an environmental impact statement which will include chances for the public to comment.

Dave Chambers, president of the nonprofit Center for Science in Public Participation, coordinated with Trout Unlimited s review team and says he believes Black Butte is ripe for expansion. While he says he would not consider himself independent, he does believe his analysis is objective.

Its pretty obvious theres more potential for expansion, and our primary concern is how much and what kind of mining, Chambers said.

Tintina says it will not use open pit mining due to agreements with landowners, but it doesnt offer a guarantee, its just a statement, Chambers said, adding that several surface mineralized zones lend themselves to open pit mining.

An additional concern is the proximity of some of the claims to tributaries and the main stem of the Smith River, he said. The Black Butte site is 19 miles from the river, but Tintinas claims extend much closer.

DEQs response to Tintinas mine operating permit is due out in March.
Considering how the first two American Security Rally of Montana events turned out, its probably safe to say this is not the best way for participants to bring credence to their ideas.

We first heard about the Helena event from someone who said attendees would call for careful, intelligent analysis of all options before admitting refugees to this or any country in an attempt to determine whether the afflicted could be better-served closer to home.

And while its clear to us that some of the protesters had that goal in mind, their message was overshadowed by those screaming at flag burners to come and get it or calling for a religious jihad against Islam in the name of Jesus Christ. A similar scene played out at the Missoula event earlier this month, where some of the protesters carried signs that read these guys R racist. Plain and simple, They rape, kill, destroy and They hate Christians, Jews, women, gays.

As staunch proponents of the First Amendment, we fully support the free-speech rights of anyone who wants to spout off these kinds of generalizations and hateful rhetoric. If thats your objective, nobodys going to stand in your way.

But we believe most people are intelligent enough to recognize that spreading hate isnt going to accomplish anything, and we encourage those who are truly interested in finding meaningful ways of dealing with the refugee crisis to distance themselves from those who do it.

One of the Helena protesters said she has no problem with peace-loving refugees who are properly vetted and arrive here legally. A participant in Missoula also explained that she was not against legal and legitimate refugees.

That message is drastically different than what some of their comrades at the rallies had to say. In fact, it sounds a lot like the rhetoric coming from groups actively advocating for safe haven in Montana for refugees.

In recent letters to the editor, the vice president of Helena-based WorldMontana's board of directors explored the idea of welcoming refugees who have gone through a rigorous vetting process. Soft Landing Missoula has also brought attention to the security screenings that take place before refugees are admitted.

Instead of participating in events where activists condemn an entire group of people, we encourage those associated with the American Security Rally of Montana to reach out to refugee-friendly groups like WorldMontana and Soft Landing Missoula to see what common ground they can find.

There may be more than a lot of people realize.
The city of Helena and Lewis and Clark County will hold a joint public hearing Monday to review existing community assets and assess challenges and issues facing the area.

The 6 p.m. meeting in room 326 of the City-County Building will focus on how to make the community a better place to live as part of a community needs assessment, according to a news release.

Housing, economic development, neighborhood revitalization and public facilities will all be part of the community assessment.

City and county officials noted in the announcement they want participants to be prepared to discuss current or anticipated projects pertaining to these issues, particularly those targeting residents who have low or moderated incomes.

There will also be a discussion on prospective funding sources: the Community Development Block Grant program, the Home Investment Partnership program and the Treasure State Endowment Program.

Written comments are encouraged, and those who are unable to attend are invited to submit comments prior to the hearing.

For further information, contact Laura Erikson, Lewis and Clark County community development coordinator, at 406-447-8383 or by email at lerikson@lccountymt.gov, or Sharon Haugen, city of Helena community development director, at 406-447-8490 or by email at SHaugen@helenamt.gov.

People with disabilities requiring accommodations to participate in the meeting should contact Elroy Goleman, the city of Helenas Americans with Disabilities Act coordinator, to arrange for requested accommodations. Goleman can be reached at 447-8490; TDD Relay Service at 1-800-253-4091 or 711; or email at communitydevelopment@helenamt.gov.




my adventures & challenges

as a Peace Corps Volunteer

in Ethiopia



"he who knows patience knows peace" - Chinese proverb
- Praise the Lord for our supporting churches who make it possible for us to serve here in Peru.

- Praise the Lord for giving us good health.

- Praise the Lord for establishing a church both in Andahuaylas and in Huancayo.

- Wisdom with leading the ministry in Chontabamba.

- More laborers to work in the church.

-Matthew and Nathan are students with Maranatha Baptist University.

- Rebecca and Katie started their freshman year in the fall of 2020 as students with Maranatha Baptist University as well.

- Protection from Covid and for those infected.

- Provisions financially for those affected with the pandemic lockdowns.
















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MADISON / DODGEVILLE - Elspeth M. Colwell, formerly Elizabeth "Betty" Lornitzo, passed away on Jan. 25, 2016, in Madison, Wis.

Elspeth was born to Thomas Collins Colwell and Janet McKissock Hannah on Nov. 3, 1928, in Hedley, BC, Canada, a tiny settlement neighboring the Upper Similkameen First Nations Reserve. Most summers, when her United Church minister father was away circuit-riding, her Scottish-born mother took over the preaching and other duties at home. Elspeth treasured her mothers example.

Elspeth graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.A. in English and in anthropology and from the University of Toronto with a degree in theology. After her marriage to Frank A. Lornitzo on July 12, 1958, she taught grade school in Oregon, Verona, and Randolph, Wis.; in Madison, she taught nursery school and was a homebound instructor, and attended Edgewood College. After her divorce in 1983, Elspeth lived for 28 years in an earth-sheltered house at Rock Ridge Community in Dodgeville, Wis. She taught for the Dodgeville school district and was teacher/director for the Pecatonica preschool in Blanchardville. She worked as a certified nursing assistant at Dodgeville Memorial Hospital Medical Care Facility and Home Health United; at Lands' End; and for the Dodgeville Chronicle as an assistant editor. Among many, many volunteer jobs over her lifetime, Elspeth worked for adult literacy and at Upland Hills Hospice.

Elspeth was deeply Christian, and deeply grateful for encountering the Great Spirit through First Nations peoples. In the 1960s, she became a member of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), adapting to an unstructured religion in which need will find thee. For many years she traveled widely among small Quaker groups in the Upper Midwest.

Elspeth was a modest woman, and a strong one: hers was an unobtrusively active love. She was a gifted writer and artist, and a steadfast correspondent. She loved music, playing piano and organ for churches, singing in the Mount Horeb Chorale, and acting in local plays. She sang at home and attended concerts to the end of her life. She loved all of nature--astronomy, wildlife, birds, wildflowers, hiking, biking, and canoeing--and she taught others to love these things as well.

Elspeth is survived by her sister, Jan Bulman, and by her children and their families: sons Steven (Robin Model) and Morris (Kathryn Warren) and daughter Hannah Jan Lornitzo; grandchildren Sara, Adam (Laura), Isaac (Alyson Schuller), Anna (Luke), and Dexter Woodcock; great-grandchildren Gus, Mack, Edie, and Lola; and by the sibling offspring: Nancy, Kate, Jenny, Doug, Donny, Donnell, David, and David. She was preceded in death by her siblings, Bryan and Margaret; Frank Lornitzo passed away only a few months earlier on Nov. 8, 2015. We all will miss her bright chirpy attitude and wonderful smile.

A Quaker memorial will be held early in April. An online guest book is available at memorialwebsites.legacy.com/ElspethColwell/homepage.aspx and another at rukfuneralhome.com/obituaries/elspeth-m-colwell. Condolences may be mailed c/o Friends House, 1704 Roberts Court, Madison, WI 53711.
MADISON - Dr. Marie Gabriele Freiin Zu Rhein was born to Ludwig Freiherr Zu Rhein and Maria Therese Freiin von Bleul in Munich, Germany, on April 5, 1920, and died at Oakwood Village University Woods on Feb. 23, 2016, at the age of 95. Gabriele descended from a Swiss-German family that was granted nobility, which bestowed upon her the title of Baroness (Freiin). She pursued the study of Medicine at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich from 1939 to 1945. Her preclinical years coincided with the start of World War II, and in 1943, Allied bombings required Gabriele to spend many hours studying in air raid shelters and later in a mineshaft. After her medical school education was completed, she began a residency in Pathology at the Schwabinger Krankenhaus hospital in Munich.

When the American Army occupied Munich in May 1945, the U.S. 98th General Hospital took over the Schwabinger. Conversant in English, Zu Rhein was offered the position as Assistant Chief of Laboratory Service, a position she held for eight years. During this period of post-graduate education, she was fortunate to receive personal instruction from many American doctors in the 98th who had been university professors at major U.S. medical schools. In addition, several professors from German medical schools came to the 98th General Hospital to give instruction in neuropathology, a subspecialty that was to become Dr. Zu Rhein's major field of practice and research.

During the post-War period, the activities of the 98th General Hospital were scaled down, and Gabriele looked for other professional opportunities. Fortuitously, one of the U.S. doctors, who had been at Yale wrote Gabriele that he had moved to Madison to become Professor and Chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine. He told her of a job in the Department of Pathology and recommended her to the department chairman. She accepted an appointment and came to Madison in 1954 to begin a remarkable 41-year career at the University of Wisconsin until her retirement in 1995. Her responsibilities included teaching medical students and performing autopsies. Shortly after her arrival, the professor who carried out the brain examinations left the department, and Gabriele was assigned this activity.

Since her experience in neuropathology was limited, Gabriele was forced to become self-taught by reading German and later English texts as they became available. Dr. Hans Reese, a native of Germany and the Chair of Neurology, gave her additional books and journals to study. He also permitted her to use his lab technician for special stains necessary for microscopy. Zu Rhein benefitted by having a large source of cases from the Wisconsin General Hospital (now the University of Wisconsin Hospital) and from Wisconsin Central Colony (now Central Wisconsin Center) and from around the State. She also gained experience by attending conferences of neurology and neuropathology societies. In 1964, Gabriele was granted a one-year sabbatical to study with Dr. Harry Zimmerman in New York, where she became proficient in electron microscopy.

Zu Rhein's career flourished as a diagnostic neuropathologist and teacher. She also taught students in Veterinary Science and Allied Health. Residents in Pathology, Neurology, and Neurosurgery also took rotations in neuropathology during their training. With this enormous burden as a diagnostic neuropathologist and teacher, Zu Rhein had little time for any basic research. It is quite remarkable then that in 1962 she embarked on a research career that resulted in making revolutionary discoveries involving infectious agents as the cause of degenerative brain diseases.

In 1962, Zu Rhein received a brain consultation regarding a degenerative disease. A post-doctoral student in the Department thought that the microscopic changes resembled those of a newly described condition called Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML). Shortly thereafter, a second case was found at the University. When she examined ultrathin sections from these cases using the electron microscope, Zu Rhein observed crystalloid aggregates similar to those seen in tumors called papillomas in dogs, caused by DNA viruses. No virus of this type was known to infect humans. A well-known microbiologist had recently described a new category, the Papova Virus Group, combining the Papilloma and Polyoma DNA viruses, both capable of producing tumors in animals. Experts in the field agreed with Zu Rhein that her interpretation of the presence of viruses was correct.

In 1966, Dr. Zu Rhein began participating with other investigators studying "slow viruses," diseases that are defined by their long incubation and slow progression. At Wisconsin, she started a long, fruitful collaboration with a virologist in the Department of Medical Microbiology, Dr. Duard Walker, and his Research Associate, Dr. Billie Padgett. Using human fetal brain tissue culture, they were able to isolate viruses from brain tissue of a patient who died with PML. The virus was called the JC virus, using the initials of the patient. JC virus was later isolated from PML cases by other scientists. Electron microscopy also showed that the virus targeted cells in the brain whose destruction results in the loss of myelin sheaths that protect nerve cells.

Remarkably, in 1973 Gabriele embarked on a new phase of her career after obtaining an NIH RO1 grant to study viral pathogenicity in animals. She injected newborn hamsters with JC virus, and after four months, hamsters started dying from primary brain tumors. This demonstrated that a human virus that causes a degenerative brain disease in humans can also produce brain tumors in animals. No demyelinating disease was observed in the animals. In recognition of her achievements in research and her exemplary devotion to her discipline, in 1977, Dr. Zu Rhein was elected President of the American Association of Neuropathologists. She authored and co-authored dozens and dozens of articles for scientific various journals.

After her retirement in 1995, Zu Rhein continued to lecture in neuropathology. She also assisted the Department of Pathology Chairman with his responsibilities as Editor of the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology. Gabriele continued her interest in demyelinating diseases and spent many hours at the electron microscope. In the 1990s she was sent a presumed case of PML that showed unusual changes including proliferation of endothelial cells in capillaries near the areas of demyelination. Further studies identified a small bacterium known as Mycoplasma pneumoniae in brain cells in the region. This second discovery was the crowning achievement of a long, brilliant career.

Gabriele is survived by her brother, Hans Herterich Freiherr Zu Rhein von Bleul, in Munich, Germany, as well as her nephew, Hugo Maximilian Freiherr Zu Rhein von Bleul (Patricia) and their son, Ludwig Amadeo in Munich; and her niece, Felicitas Freiin Zu Rhein von Bleul (Wolfgang Helm) and their children, Valerie-Charlotte, Alexander and Marquard in Ochtrup, Germany.

Gabriele was preceded in death by her parents; her infant sister, Mechthilde in 1926; and her sister-in-law, Editha (Engel) Freifrau Zu Rhein von Bleul in January 2016.

Special thanks to Tabor-Oaks Assisted Living, especially nurses Wendy, Carla and Susan and the staff on the second floor, for their care of Gabriele during her last year. Burial will be in Munich, Germany. A memorial service with friends and colleagues will be held at a later time. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the UW Foundation, Olbrich Botanical Gardens and Wisconsin Public Radio. Aufwiedersehen Gabriele.

Please share your memories of Gabriele at www.CressFuneralService.com.
There are 115 universities in the United States that can lay claim to an R1 rating from the national organization that ranks research institutions, and Wisconsin is now home to two of them: UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee, which joined the elite Research Level 1 list in February.

Thats great news for Wisconsins two largest universities, and it doesnt diminish the efforts of the states smaller colleges and universities  both public and private  that are fulfilling their respective academic missions to provide teaching, service and research.

A recent presentation in Appleton demonstrated how other four-year schools in the University of Wisconsin System are enhancing their research agendas, not only in applied work that can lead directly to company and job creation, but also in basic research that is a necessary foundation.

It served as a reminder that state policymakers underfund the research and development missions of colleges and universities at the states economic peril.

At the Feb. 11 meeting of the Wisconsin Innovation Network in Appleton, listeners heard about the work of Algoma Algal Biotechnology, a company that is turning wastewater into green chemicals through a process that involves algae and a solar reactor. Possible products are chemicals that can be used to produce synthetic rubber, medical latex, lubricants, solvents, glues, animal feed and even flavors and fragrances. High on the product list is a system for capturing isoprene gas, which is used in making tires.

The technology and the company are tied to UW-Oshkosh, which is the third-largest research university in the UW System in terms of dollars spent on research. It is also an example of how the WiSys Technology Foundation is helping to move research ideas from the laboratory bench to the marketplace.

Created as an offshoot of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, which has handled UW-Madison invention disclosures and licenses for 90 years, WiSys performs a similar role for the rest of the UW System outside UW-Milwaukee. It manages disclosures from professors, other faculty and students; obtains patents where possible; and generally supports inventors as they move toward licensing their ideas or building a company.

(WiSys) is the missing ingredient from where I was before, said Chancellor Andrew Leavitt, who took the top job at UW-Oshkosh in late 2014 after working in Georgias public university system.

The numbers appear to back Leavitts impression. Invention disclosures on UW System campuses outside the Big Two in Madison and Milwaukee have climbed steadily of late, with 56 invention disclosures in the 2014-15 fiscal year.

Three patents were issued that year and others are in the pipeline; seven licensing deals were executed; about $560,000 in grants were awarded and 12 campus-based proposals were funded. Executive director Arjun Sanga, who came to Wisconsin after working in similar technology transfer roles in Texas and Kansas, has expanded the role of WiSys through outreach on individual campuses and through regional directors that understand links to industry.

While the pipeline is producing more inventions, disclosures and companies such as Algoma Algal Biotechnology, observers worry it could run dry in future years if state support for higher education declines.

Faculty members wont have time to conduct research if teaching loads become heavier, and the value of what they teach will be diminished if theres not a balance of research and service, which is broadly defined but includes starting young companies.

The number one resource is time, said Leavitt, who has led efforts in Oshkosh to make resources such as the campus Business Success Center and Small Business Development Center readily available to faculty and students alike.

As a result, UW-Oshkosh students are increasingly well-represented in contests and other activities tied to undergraduate research.

While economists dont often agree on much, theres not much dissent over the notion that research universities contribute to the prosperity of cities, regions and states around them.

Studies by the Federal Reserve Bank and others have cited the power of academic research and development in the economy, from direct spending tied to such research to the transfer of knowledge to companies of all sizes to the human capital that comes with creation of a highly skilled workforce.

Wisconsins economy may not feel the difference next year or even the next, but continued erosion of support for higher education will prove costly over time. A strong system is emerging to pull out the best campus ideas; lets invest in it.
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Aircraft attacked a convoy carrying suspected Islamic State militants near the northwestern Libyan town of Bani Walid early on Sunday, an official said.

By Reuters: Aircraft attacked a convoy carrying suspected Islamic State militants near the northwestern Libyan town of Bani Walid early on Sunday, an official said.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack though both the United States and Libyan government forces have launched air strikes on jihadists in recent months.

Three huge explosions rocked the area around dawn, the member of Bani Walid's municipal council told Reuters.

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People living in Ras al-Tbel, about 80 km (50 miles) south-east of Bani Walid, had seen the same convoy of up to 15 vehicles carrying the black flags of Islamic State over the past two days, the official added.

It was not immediately clear if the convoy was hit.

Jihadist groups have taken advantage of political chaos to expand their presence in Libya and fighters loyal to Islamic State have taken control of the coastal city of Sirte, about 260km (160 miles) east of Bani Walid.

Western officials say they are discussing air strikes and special forces operations in Libya against the group that is seeking to set up a cross-border Islamic caliphate and has already seized large areas of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

U.S. aircraft attacked a suspected Islamic State training camp on the outskirts of the western Libyan city of Sabratha this month, and launched two more air strikes against jihadist commanders in Libya last year.



--- ENDS ---
Water woes in Delhi is far from getting over. A day after the supply improved in the Capital, a sudden rise in the level of ammonia in Yamuna forced the Delhi Jal Board to shut Wazirabad and Chandrawal water treatment plants.

"Due to the sudden rise in the level of ammonia in Yamuna, supply at Wazirabad pond and production at Wazirabad and Chandrawal plants have been stopped," a senior Delhi Jal Board official said.

By Mail Today: Water woes in Delhi is far from getting over. A day after the supply improved in the Capital, a sudden rise in the level of ammonia in Yamuna forced the Delhi Jal Board to shut Wazirabad and Chandrawal water treatment plants.

This may aggravate the crisis in several north and old Delhi areas, including prominent government hospitals like GB Pant Hospital, Lok Nayak Hospital, Maulana Azad Medicial College and Hindu Rao Hospital may be affected. "Due to the sudden rise in the level of ammonia in Yamuna, supply at Wazirabad pond and production at Wazirabad and Chandrawal plants have been stopped," a senior Delhi Jal Board official said.

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Rising pollution level in water reservoirs is threatening to aggravate the crisis in the Capital. The crisis was triggered by the damage caused to Munak canal during the Jat quota stir which is yet to be fully repaired. Sources said that Drain 8, which supplies water to the Wazirabad pond, is being contaminated by sewer water because of which the pollution level is rising. The Wazirabad pond supplies water to Chandrawal, Wazirabad and Okhla water treatment plants, which have an output of 340 million gallons every day.

Water situation had improved in the national capital on Friday with most areas except Dwarka and Matiala receiving supply. The water level in Delhi Sub Branch (DSB) canal and recovery of the Wazirabad pond level have led to production from all water treatment plants except the one in Dwarka, Delhi Jal Board officials said.

"With the concerted efforts of Delhi and Haryana governments, around 400 cusecs of water was released through the Delhi Sub Branch (DSB) canal and around 500 cusecs via drain no. 2, through the Yamuna river course on Wednesday," officials said adding that Delhi Jal Board has already released an amount of `1 crore to Haryana for restoration of CLC.

Besides, four heavy earth movers and 18 dumpers have been deployed for restoring CLC and DJB officials are also monitoring the repair work taken up by the Haryana Irrigation Department.

ALSO READ:

Delhi's water woes far from over, may continue for next few days

--- ENDS ---
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday vowed to curb mining mafia in Punjab within 24 hours if his party comes to power in the 2017 Assembly election.

By Press Trust of India: Alleging that a "mining mafia" in Punjab was extorting money from owners of stone crushing units, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday vowed to put an end to the menace "within 24 hours" if his party comes to power in the 2017 Assembly election.

"I am shocked to know that legal crusher owners have to pay 'goonda tax or jizya' to the mining mafia in Punjab. I vow that within 24 hours of AAP's coming into power, this will be curbed in the state," Kejriwal, who is on a five-day tour of Punjab to reach out to voters ahead of the Assembly elections, said at a rally here.

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Members of the business community, incuding owners of crushing units, on Sunday met Kejriwal and alleged that no action was being taken against the extortionists. They also claimed that false cases were being registered against them.

Kejriwal said once voted to power, AAP would set up a commission to review such cases and take action against officials who had lodged them.

Reacting to reports of a large number of posters which had sprung up in Jalandhar questioning his governance record, the Delhi CM hit out at the Akali Dal saying they had ruined the state during their 10-year rule.

"People know who has ruined his state for about 10 years and who is a failed CM," he said.

Kejriwal also claimed that no government could have achieved in 65 years what his government had accomplished in one year in Delhi.

"What we have done in our one year rule in Delhi, I challenge that no state government could have done in the last 65 years. I am confident if Delhi goes to polls on Sunday, other parties will not be able to win even a single seat," he said.

He also met people from different walks of life, including industrialists, advocates, shopkeepers and members of the Christian community.

Earlier, BJP workers led by district president Suresh Bhatia and and Municipal Council president Naresh Mahajan, tried to gherao Kejriwal at Gandhi Chowk here, but were stopped by police who resorted to mild lathicharge, in which one person was injured.

Around 80 protesters were detained later released after the Delhi Chief Minister left, police said.

Earlier on Sunday, Kejriwal visited the Golden Temple and Durgiana Mandir in Amritsar.

Talking to media in Amritsar last night, he said he met various associations of traders who were not "happy" with the ruling government in Punjab because of "rampant corruption" in government departments. Moreover the state government had failed to "support" traders, he alleged.

Also read:



Arvind Kejriwal's office receives death threat e-mail



Kejriwal govt to reduce power tariff by 50 per cent in NDMC areas



--- ENDS ---

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The Congress today officially invited all political parties in West Bengal to form an alliance against the Trinamool Congress in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

By India Today Web Desk: The Congress today officially invited all political parties in West Bengal to form an alliance against the Trinamool Congress in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

Earlier in the day Sudip Bandyopadhyay, a Trinamool Congress leader claimed that Sonia Gandhi did not know about a possible alliance between the Congress and the CPI(M)-led Left Front in West Bengal ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections in the state.

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The Congress had fought the 2011 Assembly elections in West Bengal in alliance with Trinamool Congress, when the 34-year rule of Left Front came to an end.

Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee had left the UPA at the Centre in September 2012, which led to the resignation of Congress ministers from the state cabinet.

Congress vide president Rahul Gandhi had summoned the state Congress leadership to New Delhi to discuss the political situation in the state ahead of the Assembly polls, which is due in a couple of months.

--- ENDS ---
A 23-year-old Dalit woman, who aspired to be a police officer, was raped, filmed and blackmailed by her three batchmates in Karimnagar district of Telangana. The incident came to light when the victim told her parents two days ago, after which her family and the villagers thrashed the accused on February 24 evening.

By India Today Web Desk: A 23-year-old Dalit woman was reportedly raped for almost two weeks by her batchmates, in Karimnagar district of Telangana.

The victim, who aspired to be a police officer, was raped by her batchmates G Srinivas and M Anjaiah, while M Rakesh filmed the crime on his cell phone.

The incident took place on the outskirts of Veenavanka village when the three accused were returning to the village with the complainant and a friend of hers after watching a movie. The trio took the two women to a secluded spot. While one of the women sensed danger and ran away, the other was raped and filmed.

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Threatening to post the video clip on social media sites, the three accused, who were also training to join the police force, assaulted her for over 10 days.

The incident came to light when the victim told her parents two days ago, after which her family and the villagers thrashed the accused on February 24 evening.

The three were later admitted to a hospital in the neighbouring Warangal district.

Along with the rape complaint the accused have also been charged under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Information Technology Act.

Karimnagar Superintendent of Police Joey said the delay in registering the case happened only because the girl did not come forward to complain.

Two of the accused are still in hospital while the third Rakesh, who reportedly filmed the crime, is in police custody.

Chennur Sarpanch, Rayamallu said, "Unless there is immediate punishment, rapists will feel they can get away and have no fear of law.'

ALSO READ:

Rape victim files petition in Karnataka HC seeking transfer of her case to another court





--- ENDS ---
The woman, who is a native of Jatedi village in Delhi's Narela, called the SIT helpline to file a complaint. She alleged that seven men, including her brother-in-law, gangraped her on February 22-23 night in Murthal during Jat agitation.

By India Today Web Desk: Amid allegations of rape and molestation by Jat quota agitators near Haryana's Murthal, the state police today registered a case of gangrape after a woman from Delhi's Narela area filed a complaint.

The woman called up the helpline of the all-women Special Investigation Team (SIT), set up to investigate the alleged gangrape of at least 10 women commuters in Murthal in Haryana's Sonepat district last Monday (February 22) during the pro-reservation Jat stir.

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In her complaint, the victim alleged that she was raped on the intervening night of February 22-23 and the perpetrators included her brother-in-law. The complainant said she knew all of them. The woman, however, said her 15-year-old daughter, who was accompanying her was not raped but her clothes were torn.

The Haryana Police today confirmed that it received a call from the woman on Saturday morning and her statement was recorded today (on Sunday).

"An FIR has been lodged against seven persons in connection with a gangrape on the basis of a complaint filed by a Narela-based woman today," Haryana Police, DIG, Rajshree Singh told reporters.

The officer, who heads a three-member team of women police officers constituted by the Haryana government to go into alleged incidents of rape and molestation of several women by Jat protesters, however, said a "family dispute" could be the reason behind the woman filing the complaint.

The officer said the victim was not sure about the exact scene of the crime but claimed she was raped in a building near Murthal when she was on way to Narela in Delhi from Haridwar on a van.

"She complained that she was travelling from Haridwar when her bus broke down near Murthal. She said she boarded a van (taxi) in which other people, including women, were also travelling. However, the van was stopped by some people, who pulled them out and gang raped her in the fields," Rajshree Singh said, adding that investigations into the complaint had begun.

Glad Delhi woman gathered courage to report rape in Murthal. Rapist shud be ashamed not victim. DCW is with victim. Culprits must be punishd&; SwatiMaliwal JaiHind (@SwatiJaiHind) February 28, 2016

Earlier, some locals, including truck drivers, had claimed they had seen women being dragged to the fields by the protesters. TV channels showed footage of garments worn by women strewn in some places.

Some village heads had, however, trashed their claims and described it as an attempt to defame the people of the area.

Earlier in the day, three truck drivers had denied having witnessed any incident of sexual assault or rape even as Chief Minister M L Khattar said the guilty shall not go unpunished.

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The government also announced an interim assistance of Rs 1.12 crore to those whose properties had been damaged during the stir.

Having suffered massive financial loss during the agitation for inclusion of Jats in the Other Backward Classes list, the business community in worst-hit Rohtak demanded tax relief and electricity bill waiver.

"Three truck drivers have denied that they had seen molestation or rape of women (at Murthal)," Rajshree Singh said.

&; Manohar Lal Khattar (@mlkhattar) February 27, 2016

Truck drivers Sukhwinder, Abdul Wahid and Yadwinder have, however, said their trucks were burnt by protesters.

A team of three women police officers - Rajshree Singh and DSPs Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur - was formed by Haryana government to probe alleged incidents of sexual assault on some women near Murthal on the night intervening February 22 and 23.

Eye-witnesses begin to speak on camera on what happened in Murthal: now on @IndiaToday TV&; Rajdeep Sardesai (@sardesairajdeep) February 27, 2016

"The state government is taking serious action on the news report about alleged inappropriate behavior with some women during the protest at Murthal in Sonipat district.

"A Special Investigation Team comprising three senior women police officers has been constituted. One can give any related information or evidence to the team over the telephone or through letter or online. If any such untoward incident happened, the guilty would be punished," Khattar said.

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ALSO READ:

Three-member SIT to probe Murthal rape case

Murthal gangrapes: Women were dragged to fields and raped, confirm truck drivers



--- ENDS ---
"They are insecure and hence are stalling Parliament and not allowing the GST Bill to pass. Congress and not the minorities are victims of insecurity in the country," M Venkaiah Naidu, the Parliamentary affairs minister said today.

By India Today Web Desk: Launching a scathing attack on Congress, the BJP today said the sense of insecurity which is growing within the party is hindering the growth of the country.

"They are insecure and hence are stalling Parliament and not allowing the GST Bill to pass. Congress and not the minorities are victims of insecurity in the country," M Venkaiah Naidu, the Parliamentary affairs minister said today.

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Naidu today accused the Congress of using terrorism for votebank politics and slammed its leader P Chidambaram for his comments on Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.



"The Congress was always soft on terrorists and hard on nationalists," Naidu said.

Earlier today, Congress blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the JNU row, and said that he was "responsible" for the events as he had failed to rein-in his party members who have been issuing inflammatory and divisive statements since his government came to power.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad has termed the action against JNU students as "one-sided", and said Modi cannot "pick and choose" and questioned why he did not firmly deal with divisive elements within BJP. "During an all-party meet, I told the Prime Minister that whatever is happening in JNU or has happened in Hyderabad, who is responsible for that.

The Modi government and the opposition have been exchanging heated words in the Parliament over the past week as the raging JNU row and suicide of Dalit student Rohith Vemula was taken up for discussion.

Both sides have hurled accusations at each other. The Congress along with CPI(M) and JD(U) accused Irani of "willfully misleading the Parliament", hitting back at the Smriti Irani who had targeted Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and the Left during a debate on the JNU incident and the HCU controversy.

Also read:

JNU row: Delhi Police questions ex-JNUSU president Ashutosh Kumar

Not satisfied with Smriti Irani's answer, will she give her head now? asks Mayawati



--- ENDS ---
TN Santhosh's Kanithan resembles his mentor AR Murugadoss's Thuppakki in a lot of ways. The heroes and the villains of both the movies keep playing mind-games. They don't confront each other till the climax. The pub songs - etc., etc. - look similar. But Atharvaa's film is not as grippy as Thuppaki due to the badly-written screenplay.

By Kirubhakar Purushothaman : Director: TN Santhosh

Cast: Atharvaa, Catherine Tresa, Karunakaran, Bhagyaraj

Ratings: (2.5/5)

To pass through the first fifteen minutes of TN Santhosh's directorial debut, Kanithan, is a total pain. We are introduced to SKY News channel, and it's boss (Manobala), who is on cloud nine that his channel ranks 46 among 50 or so news channels. These scenes are supposed to be funny, but they are not. Then comes the hero Gautham (Atharva), an aspiring BBC reporter, and for the time being, he works with the not-so-popular SKY News.

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ALSO READ: Allu Arjun chooses Vikram Kumar over Lingusamy

ALSO READ: Have you seen the new motion poster of Trisha's Nayaki?



His father, Ramalingam, an anchor with Doordarshan, wants his son to be an IT professional and earn a lot. But Atharvaa is determined to follow his heart. Then there is a pub song, which is glammed up by Anu (Catherine Tresa). And before the director takes you into the story, you are already looking at your watch.

In a turn of events, Atharvaa, who gets through the BBC interview, is arrested for a loan scam. The police accuse him of getting loans from different banks using fake certificates. Now, Atharvaa has to prove himself as an investigative journalist and hunt down the gang behind the certificate scam, not as a job but to save himself.

TN Santhosh's Kanithan resembles his mentor AR Murugadoss's Thuppakki in a lot of ways. The heroes and the villains of both the movies keep playing mind-games. They don't confront each other till the climax. The pub songs - etc., etc. - look similar. But the latest film is not as grippy as Thuppaki due to the badly-written screenplay.

Sivamani has composed five songs for the film, and not even one song stays with you. When the villain (Tarun Arora) goes on a killing spree, Gautham and Anu go dancing for a peppy number. This is one of the many fatal mistakes in the screenplay, which have made Kanithan a disappointing thriller.

As far as Atharvaa is concerned, he does the job alright. But at times, it looks like the role is too big for him to carry. It is said that Dhanush was the first choice of the director, but he later settled for Atharvaa. Catherine Tresa is used only as a prop in the film. Whenever she comes on screen, you can expect a romantic number in a few minutes.

But the film has its own moments. Karunakaran's comedy, the action sequences keep you engrossed for some time, but they are not everlasting. Arvind Krishna's cinematography looks appealing to eyes, and it is one of the fresh elements in an otherwise arid film.

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TN Santhosh had claimed that he had done extensive research on the certificate scams and loan fraudulence. It is, of course, evident in the film. But in the end, you feel that the same effort could have been put into the screenplay.



--- ENDS ---
The Bihar Police seized the property of former labour minister and RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav, today in connection with the rape of a minor.

By India Today Web Desk: The Bihar Police seized the property of former labour minister and RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav , today in connection with the rape of a minor.

Ballabh Yadav, who is accused of raping a 15-year-old girl at his residence in Nawada on February 6, has been absconding.

Patna court ordered the police to seize Yadav's property on Saturday. Consequently, the police surrounded his residence-cum-party office located at Pathra English locality under Muffasil police station of Nawada.

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The state BJP party members had on Saturday held a protest at the Biharsharif hospital chowk led by ex- deputy chief minister Sushil Modi, who issued a warning that if the accused is not arrested within a week then Nalanda would

be closed next Monday.

Four woman, Sulekha Devi, her daughter Chhoti Devi, mother Radha Devi and younger sister Tushi Devi have been arrested in connection with the case.

The accused women had allegedly lured a school girl on the pretext of attending a birthday party and took her to the MLA's residence instead.

ALSO READ:

Bihar cops yet to arrest rape accused Raj Ballabh Yadav

--- ENDS ---
The debate surrounding the suicide of Hyderabad Central University (HCU) student Rohith Vemula does not seem to have died down in the Parliament.

By Mail Today: The debate surrounding the suicide of Hyderabad Central University (HCU) student Rohith Vemula does not seem to have died down in the Parliament.

The Opposition tried to corner the ruling benches on the sensitive issue as the major opposition parties on Saturday mooted bringing a privilege motion against HRD Minister Smriti Irani over her remarks in relation to Vemula in Parliament.

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The Congress along with CPI(M) and JD(U) accused Irani of "willfully misleading the Parliament", hitting back at the minister who had targeted Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and the Left during a debate on the JNU incident and the HCU controversy.

"The HRD Minister has not only been economical with truth but has also willfully misled Parliament on the unfortunate suicide of a young Dalit student, Rohith Vemula," said Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik.

Wasnik said the Congress planned to bring privilege motion in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha soon, while CPI(M) leader Mohammad Saleem said he would be doing so on Monday. "I will be giving a notice for breach of privilege against Irani to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for misleading the House on Rohith Vemula issue," Saleem said.

JD(U) leader and Rajya Sabha MP KC Tyagi said he and nominated member KTS Tulsi would give the privilege notice against Irani to Chairman Hamid Ansari on Monday. "There are contradictions in many statements of Irani regarding Rohith Vemula case. This is a fit case of breach of privilege," Tyagi said.

The Opposition has made the remarks of Vemula's mother Radhika as the chief plank to target the HRD Minister. Radhika had said: "Your Ministry had written that my Rohith and other Dalit students were anti-national extremists. You said that he is not a Dalit. You accused him of getting a false certificate." The Opposition alleged that these strong words of a mother who had "lost her son to BJP and in particular the HRD Minister's campus politics" was a stamp of the recklessness and ruthlessness of the party that was "hell bent on clamping down the voices of dissent".

The Opposition claimed that Irani had also insinuated that Vemula was not a Dalit, and pointed that it had been rubbished by Radhika.

Meanwhile, scores of NSUI supporters on Saturday protested outside Irani's residence, demanding her resignation over the Vemula row in the Parliament.

ALSO READ:

Smriti Irani's Durga comments expunged from Rajya Sabha records



I am a Durga worshipper, says Smriti Irani amid apology demands from Opposition



--- ENDS ---

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Three suspects arrested in Pakistan in connection with the Pathankot terror attack have been sent to a six-day police remand by an anti-terrorism court, days after an FIR was registered in the high-profile case.

The three accused - Khalid Mahmood, Irshadul Haque and Muhammad Shoaib - were on Saturday presented before ATC-2 judge Bushra Zaman in Gujranwala, some 70 kms from here, in the Punjab province.

By Press Trust of India: Three suspects arrested in Pakistan in connection with the Pathankot terror attack have been sent to a six-day police remand by an anti-terrorism court, days after an FIR was registered in the high-profile case.

The three accused - Khalid Mahmood, Irshadul Haque and Muhammad Shoaib - were on Saturday presented before ATC-2 judge Bushra Zaman in Gujranwala, some 70 kms from here, in the Punjab province.

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The judge granted six-day 'physical remand' of the suspects and handed them over to the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police, the Dawn reported.

They are said to be involved in the January 2 attack on the key Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

The three were arrested by the CTD from a rented house near Chand Da Qila bypass over suspicion that they were facilitators of the attack.

The three suspects denied the charges and were shifted to an undisclosed location for investigation.

The CTD earlier this month registered an FIR against the unknown attackers in Gujranwala.

The FIR number 06/2016 was lodged under sections 302, 324 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code, and sections 7 and 21-I of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

It is not known when the three were arrested but it is believed that that might have been arrested well before the registration of the FIR and probed which provided enough evidence to proceed against them in the court of law, officials said.

Seven security personnel were killed when suspected terrorists of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) stormed the Pathankot airbase on January 2.

Several alleged militants were arrested after the attack for which India blamed JeM.

India has also provided leads with phone numbers which have been included in the FIR.

Also Read

How Pakistani media reported Pathankot terror attack



--- ENDS ---
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.
Ahead of the Union Budget tomorrow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed 'Kisan Swabhimaan Rally' in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh where he vowed to double the income of farmers by the year 2022.

By India Today Web Desk: Ahead of the Union Budget tomorrow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed 'Kisan Swabhimaan Rally' in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh where he vowed to double the income of farmers by the year 2022. This rally is part of the Modi government's efforts to create awareness about the Centre's pro-farmer initiatives.

The Prime Minister said, "I wish to double the income of farmers by 2022 when India will celebrate 75 years of its Independence. Farmers today want at least one member of their family to take up job because they believe that their family cannot survive on agriculture alone".

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Hailing the farmers as the pride of the nation, Modi said that there are a lot of challenges ahead, but then these challenges can be transformed into opportunities.

"I appeal not only to the Uttar Pradesh Government but also to all the state governments to give utmost priority to addressing farmers' issues and issues related to agriculture", Modi added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses 'Kisan Swabhimaan Rally' in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh.

Talking about the erratic water supply in the Uttar Pradesh's most populated district, Modi said, "Bundelkhand region has five rivers but there is scarcity of even drinking water, and I am ashamed of it".

PM Modi also urged the farmers to avail all benefits under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana and asked them to use Soil Health card so that necessary measures can be put in place to improve the quality of land.

Modi also asked the opposition and different state governments to to use MGNREGA to double the income which will in turn develop agriculture and improve water supply in rural areas.

ALSO READ:

Budget 2016: Jaitley needs to create a balance between farm sector and industrial sector

Indian economy is poised for a turnaround, believes veteran banker KV Kamath



--- ENDS ---
The students were arrested for allegedly organised a controversial event at the JNU on February 9 where anti-India slogans were said to have been raised.

By India Today Web Desk: The custodial interrogation of two JNU students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, arrested in a sedition case, has been extended by two more days after police contended that they were required for further probe in the case. The students were arrested for allegedly organised a controversial event at the JNU campus on February 9 where anti-India slogans were said to have been raised.

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The police claimed that around 22 people present at the flashpoint JNU event, including some outsiders, have been identified after the joint interrogation of Khalid, Anirban and JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar arrested in the same case. Khalid and Anirban were earlier sent to three days' police remand on February 24, after their midnight surrender and subsequent arrest in the case.

Earlier, the Delhi High Court had ordered that "confidentiality" be maintained during the remand proceedings of Umar and Anirban, besides Kumar, while directing the police to ensure that no one "suffers even a scratch" and there is no ruckus this time. Lawyers had allegedly assaulted Kumar when he was brought to Patiala House Court for remand proceedings, in defiance of a Supreme Court order, on February 17.

Two days earlier, when Kumar was to be brought to the court, the same set of lawyers had thrashed journalists and JNU students and teachers. The high court order had came during the hearing on Kumar's bail plea after it was informed that the student leader and Umar and Anirban were apprehending threat to their safety and security during production before Patiala House courts for remand proceedings.

The police also inquired whether two of them were the main organisers of the February 9 event against the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru and whether they were involved in anti-India sloganeering which allegedly took place. The duo had returned to the JNU campus last Sunday after going missing since February 12.

Also read:

JNU row: Delhi Police questions another student in sedition case



Sedition accused Umar Khalid denies raising anti-India slogans

--- ENDS ---
Even as there is no clear evidence of any political backing to the Jat agitation which claimed several lives and caused massive damage to property in Haryana, politics is being blamed for the entire episode as people claim that selected vandalism of this scale cannot take place without political support.

By Kumar Vikram: Even as there is no clear evidence of any political backing to the Jat agitation which claimed several lives and caused massive damage to property in Haryana, politics is being blamed for the entire episode as people claim that selected vandalism of this scale cannot take place without political support.

The Jat agitation first started on a small note in Mayyar village in Hisar district when protesters blocked a railway track. However, soon the stir turned violent as protesters came out on the streets in Rohtak and Jhajjar districts bringing lives to a standstill. Within two-three days, the demonstration went out of control with mobs engaging in vandalism and arson.

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The frenzy soon spread to Sonepat, Panipat, Hisar, Kaithal, Jind, Kurukshetra and other districts of the state. Scores of shops were looted and set on fire.

Maximum damage was witnessed former Haryana chief minister BS Hooda's political strongholds - Rohtak and Jhajjar areas. Locals claim that Hooda and his family, including his son and Congress MLA Deepender Hooda, had left their hometown when the protests were scaling.

The fight largely appeared between Jat and non-Jat community as the selective vandalism showed. Haryana has about 29 per cent of Jat population mostly affluent as they are primarily landlords. Moreover, the state politics revolves around the Jat community.

The BJP came to power in the state in October 2014 and a non-Jat leader considered was made the chief minister of the state. Prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had a limited electoral presence in the state.

Many political names including BJP leader Raj Kumar Saini and former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda's aide Prof Virender Singh came into controversies for their alleged roles. Virender who had been booked on sedition charges for trying to incite violence during the Jat quota agitation has been asked to join investigation by Sunday. BJP Kurukeshtra MP Raj Kumar Saini on Saturday said he will reply to a show-cause notice issued by the party as he stood by his opposition to the Jat quota.

Considering the political sensitivity, the BJP senior leadership in Delhi had gone into an overdrive to send out assurances. To work out a solution, the BJP committee headed by Union minister M Venkaiah Naidu, has asked senior non-Jat BJP leaders to visit different places in Haryana to take stock of the situation.

Also read:

Jat quota stir: Three officials from Rohtak suspended

Jat agitation: Former Haryana CM Hooda's aide in soup over audio clip Govt agrees to grant OBC status to Jats, to table bill in Haryana Assembly

--- ENDS ---
By Kumar Vikram: The cloud of mystery surrounding the alleged mass rapes in Murthal during the Jat quota stir partially cleared on Saturday. Three truck drivers came forward claiming they were witness to the assault on women who were dragged into fields by a group of youngsters on bikes.

The revelation could form the basis for the state government, struggling to find leads in the absence of any complainant, to pursue investigation. No victim has come forward to lodge complaint even after a local newspaper blew the lid off the alleged mass rapes.

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"I saw some of the protesters ripping off the clothes of women and taking them into the fields. They were on two-wheelers and were aged between 20 -26 years," said a turban-clad eye witness, who identified himself as Sukhvinder Singh.

The three drivers - Sukhwinder Singh, Niranjan and Naresh Kumar - claimed that the agitators torched their trucks in Murthal following which they hid in the bushes.

One of them also alleged that policemen in plain clothes were putting pressure on them to remain silent about the incident. Niranjan claimed that he could identify the culprits if they were brought forward.

He said around 2pm, while he was stuck in jam, the miscreants set his truck and other vehicles on fire. "The women walking on road were told to take the village road by protestors to escape the attack. Thereafter, they were raped in the fields," he added.

While police are yet to receive any formal complaint on the alleged mass rapes, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar asked people to cooperate with the police.

"Those people who have any information (regarding Murthal incident) must come forward and share it with the police. But we do not understand why the information is not being shared with the police by the people (if they have)," Khattar said in Panchkula when asked that some witnesses have appeared in a section of media having information about the Murthal incident.

Khattar, whose government faced wrath for alleged failure in containing arson and violence during Jat agitation, said, "A special team has been formed and the officers' mobile numbers have been made public. If any complaint comes or any eyewitness provides any information, immediate action will be taken."

Haryana Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of Police Rajshree Singh, who is heading the committee to probe the rape incidents, said that if eyewitnesses come to them, they will record the statement. The three-member committee of women police officers led by DIG Dr Rajshree Singh and two women DSPs, Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur, visited the site of the alleged incident on Saturday.

Asked about recovery of some clothes belonging to women at Murthal, Rajshree said, "These had been sent to the forensic laboratory for examination. Let us see, what comes out."

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Asked how challenging would it be for the police to identify the culprits, she said, "It is challenging. But let us see, what happens. It will be our endeavour that truth comes out. We appeal to all citizens who have any clue to come forward. They should meet us and tell us whatever they have seen, they should share with us all details and we will try to bring out the truth."

The state government on Friday had said it would act swiftly as and when it receives complaint on the alleged sexual assault. The police had earlier maintained that no concrete evidence had been found so far which could prove sexual assault or rape of women at Murthal.

Punjab and Haryana High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of a media report which had said that several women were allegedly raped at a highway in Murthal during Jat stir. The court had asked the Haryana DGP and Home Secretary to submit separate detailed report on this incident. However, the state government had been maintaining that no such incident had taken place.



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ALSO READ:

Murthal gangrapes: Eyewitnesses come forward, probe committee formed

Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar asks people to share information about Murthal gangrapes



Three-member SIT to probe Murthal rape case



--- ENDS ---
CBS News

-

Feb 25, 2016

-- The Eddie was "a go" as a powerful and sustained swell produced huge surf on Oahu's North Shore on Thursday.Before the sun came up over the horseshoe-shaped Waimea Bay, organizers huddled together to make the final call on the invitation-only big-wave competition that hasn't been held in six years.The event in memory of local lifeguard and big-wave surfer Eddie Aikau went forward as towering waves met the founder's strict minimum requirements.The rules say waves must be 40 feet high, and the swell should have enough sustained power to last all day. The winds have to be right, the time of the tide is taken into account, and once everything falls into place the word is given.Crowds already started gathering at the bay on Wednesday night and continued flooding in by Thursday morning, CBS affiliate KGMB reported Eddie Aikua's brother, Clyde, announced to a large crowd early Thursday morning that his brother's namesake surfing contest was on."I've been riding Waimea Bay for over 40 years, and today has to be one of the best days I've ever seen," Aikau said. "It is a go!" he added as the crowd came alive with whistles, cheers and applause.They got what they hoped for as huge sets of monster waves crashed onto the outer reef of the bay, producing some waves that organizers estimate were about 60 feet tall.Clyde Aikau is the only competitor to surf in all eight previous competitions and is the oldest at 66 to compete in this year's event. Thursday will be his last time surfing in the contest, he said.Aikau said the event isn't about fame or money, it's about honoring his brother's legacy of helping others and his passion for the ocean. "We are humbled and privileged," he said.One competitor, Ramon Navarro, the son of a fisherman from south Chile, embodies Eddie's spirit, said event spokeswoman and longtime Aikau family friend Jodi Wilmott.Navarro is a "very unassuming, a very humble character," Wilmott said. "He has a higher vision."In 2009, when Navarro was invited to his first Eddie competition, he awed the crowd when he rode the biggest wave of the day, scoring a perfect 100 on the monster breaker that towered over him."Eddie was a higher vision guy, too," Wilmott said. "He had loftier goals for humanity, and he understood the power of relationships. That is just the spirit Ramon has tapped into."Navarro came to the North Shore and worked his way into the surfing community by building mud brick ovens and selling empanadas to beachgoers, Wilmott said.Navarro surfed in the first heat of the morning on Thursday, and despite only catching one wave out of a possible four, earning him a mere 5 points out of 100, Navarro said he was just happy to be involved in the event."This is my dream," Navarro said after drying off after his hour-long session.The competition began in 1984, six years after Eddie Aikau died.As a lifeguard, Eddie Aikau is said to have never had a fatality while on duty. 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.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 capsized. Aikau took his surfboard and paddled away for help. He was never seen again, though the rest of the crew was eventually rescued.In Round 2, Australia's Ross Clarke-Jones was leading with a combined score of 278, KGMB reported.
To the best of my ability I write about my experience of the Universe Past, Present and Future
About Me Hausfrau Roisin I am an Irish woman living by Lake Konstanz in the German-Swiss border region. I arrived here in 2008 after a 21 year 'stop over' in New York City. The aim of this blog is simple: To give those who 'pop by' a moment of pleasure in the comings and goings of their daily life. I post anything that I think is worth sharing - like MY opinions for example. Or stories about fun or interesting things I enjoyed. I post photos and links to videos too. On a good day my contribution of musings, photos, or video links may reach to give the reader/viewer a smile; on those rare excellent days, perhaps even a down right chuckle. Being born in Ireland, I can't help but to see the world 'a little bit other ways' than most. Like most people born on the island - I consider that a good thing. That perspective will surely present itself in my postings. Thus you have Irish Stew for the Soul, if you will. View my complete profile
What You Can't Discuss:

This is a partial list of taboo topics within progressive-left venues around the Arab-Israel conflict. You cannot discuss this material because it undermines the "Palestinian narrative" of perpetual victimhood. This narrative is a club used by the Arab and Muslim enemies of Israel, along with their western progressive allies, to delegitimize that country in preparation for its eventual dissolution.



1) The centuries of Jewish dhimmitude under the boot of Islamic imperialism.



2) The recent construction of Palestinian identity, its connection to Soviet Cold War politics, and how this is an Arab people with a Roman name that refers to Greeks.



3) Arab and Palestinian Koranically-based racism as the fundamental source of the conflict.



4) The ways in which contemporary progressive anti-Zionism serves as a cloak for gross anti-Semitism.



5) The Palestinian theft and appropriation of Jewish history.



6) "Pallywood."



7) The historical connections between the Nazis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Palestinian national movement.



8) The perpetual refusal of the Palestinian-Arabs to accept a state for themselves in peace next to the Jewish one.



9) The progressive portrayal of terrorists as those fighting a righteous war of "resistance."



10) The Arab-Palestinian indoctrination of children with Jew hatred.



11) Human rights violations against women, children, and Gay people in the Muslim Middle East.



12) The fact that violent Jihadis call themselves "Jihadis" and claim to love death above life.



This is only a partial list, so please let us know the many more that we are missing.
Itongadol.- Two days into a shaky ceasefire in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that while Israel was glad for the prospect of an end to hostilities there, any long-term solution had to provide security for the Jewish state as well.

We welcome the efforts to attain a stable, long-term and real ceasefire in Syria, he told reporters at the opening of the weekly cabinet in Jerusalem. Anything that stops the terrible carnage there is important, first and foremost from a humane standpoint.

Syrias fragile ceasefire entered its second day on Sunday, with battle zones across the war-scarred country largely quiet for the first time in five years despite some sporadic breaches. The temporary truce, brokered by Washington and Moscow, is seen as a crucial step toward ending a conflict that has claimed 270,000 lives and displaced more than half the population.

But at the same time, Netanyahu continued, its important that one thing remain clear: Any arrangement in Syria must include ending Iranian aggression against Israel from Syrian territory.

Iranian agents have been said to operate on the Syrian Golan Heights in recent years, seeking ways to attack Israel. Meanwhile, Lebanon-based Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy group that has been fighting rebel forces alongside the Syrian army, has been threatening cross-border attacks.

Jerusalem has long warned that Iran has been delivering advanced weaponry to Hezbollah in a bid to aid its struggle with Israel. The Israeli Air Force has launched multiple airstrikes in recent years in order to thwart such deliveries, according to foreign reports.

We will not abide the delivery of advanced weapons to Hezbollah, from Syria to Lebanon, Netanyahu said Sunday. We will not abide the creation of a second terror front in the Golan. Those were the red lines we set, and they remain the State of Israels red lines.

On December 19, 2015, Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar was killed in an airstrike on a building outside Damascus, prompting Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah to vow revenge against Israel. Israel did not officially claim the attack, although officials expressed satisfaction over Kuntars death. In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Nasrallah alleged that Israel may have coordinated the hit with Syrian rebel terrorists operating in the area. The Assad regime also blamed terrorist groups for the strike.

In January, Israel shelled the Lebanese border for several consecutive days, aiming to deter an attack by Hezbollah in the wake of Nasrallahs threats. On February 16, the Hezbollah leader warned his group could defeat the Jewish state in a future conflict by targeting Haifas ammonia storage tanks, resulting in massive fatalities.

This would be exactly as a nuclear bomb, and we can say that Lebanon today has a nuclear bomb, seeing as any rocket that might hit these tanks is capable of creating a nuclear bomb effect, he said in a rare speech.

Three days later, Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said that Iran tried to open a terror front against Israel on the Golan Heights. He added that given a choice between Iran and the Islamic State, I choose the Islamic State.
If you are walking - slow down.....if you are running, run faster.
Omaha attorney and former U.S. Senate nominee Dave Domina says he and his wife support both candidates but intend to caucus for Sanders. Domina says he's impressed by Sanders' ability to motivate young voters, believes the Vermont senator is sincere in his commitment to lower- and middle-income people, and appreciates that Sanders' career is "free of any sort of hint or suggestion of any concerns about his personal ethics. That's not a criticism of (Secretary) Clinton; it is a compliment of Sen. Sanders."
L. Kent Wolgamott Entertainment reporter/columnist L. Kent Wolgamott, the recipient of the 2018 Mayors Arts Award, has written about arts and entertainment for Lincoln newspapers since 1985, reviewing thousands of movies and concerts and hundreds of art exhibitions. Follow L. Kent Wolgamott 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

Five pictures are contending for an Oscar Sunday -- films about schoolgirls breaking traditional boundaries, a Nazi death camp prisoner trying to find a rabbi to bury his son; the impact of the war in Afghanistan on a soldier and his family; an adventure story about a boy trying to survive a peril-filled desert journey; and a tale of shamans and scientists.

One of those films is the best movie of 2015.

But its not contending for the Best Picture Academy Award. Its up for Best Foreign Language Film, the most interesting and diverse category among the 88th Academy Awards to be presented Sunday.

The favorite to take the foreign language is Son of Saul, the Hungarian film that provides a harrowing look into the operations of a Nazi death camp. Meticulously filmed, Son of Saul is difficult to watch and impossible to look away from, presenting a fresh view of the Holocaust that wont be soon forgotten.

Even if Son of Saul doesnt win the Oscar, the foreign language category is a demonstration of what the Oscars could be -- diverse, with films about real people and issues in multiple cultures and locales.

And, beyond A War, the Afghan War picture about a Danish soldier, its not #Oscarssowhite -- a vivid contrast to the rest of the nominations, which eschewed both films about and starring people of color.

The Academy has promised to remedy that next year by making changes in its voters and procedures. And its certain to be addressed by Chris Rock, whos again hosting the ceremony to be telecast on ABC, with live coverage beginning at 6 p.m.

The big Oscar news, of course, wont be the Best Foreign Language Film winner. It will be the Best Picture winner and the most honored picture. Those are likely to be one and the same -- The Revenant.

These are my predictions for the top Oscars:

Best Picture

Will win: The Revenant

Should win: Spotlight

Should have been nominated: Carol

Unlike most years, theres no clear Best Picture favorite going into Oscar night. The Revenant appears to be slightly ahead of a crowded field, but Spotlight, the early favorite could still take the award. And the Producers Guild selection The Big Short also has a shot. The omission of Todd Haynes Carol, a beautifully done 50s romance, is Oscars biggest snub in a year of overlooked performances and films.

Best Director

Will win: Alejandro G. Innaritu, "The Revenant"

Should win: George Miller, "Mad Max: Fury Road"

Should have been nominated: Todd Haynes, Carol and Ridley Scott, The Martian

With The Revenant as the leading Best Picture contender, its director, Innaritu, becomes the favorite to take his second directing Oscar in as many years for another bit of bravura filmmaking. But the most complete directorial vision brought to the screen was Millers great Mad Max: Fury Road, who would be the most deserving winner. Haynes again is the overlooked contender for the near-perfectly executed Carol. But Scotts work with The Martian also deserved recognition.

Best Actor

Will win: Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Revenant"

Should win: Michael Fassbender, "Steve Jobs"

Should have been nominated: Michael B. Jordan, Creed (#Oscarssowhite)

The lock of the night is DiCaprio, who will receive what is a career-achievement award for a performance that was as taxing as any actor could go through. Its helpful to DiCaprios cause that it wasnt a great year for men on screen, with Fassbender delivering the best work playing Steve Jobs in the little seen bio-pic of the Apple founder. Jordans overlooked performance in Creed is rightfully one of the triggers for the #Oscarssowhite protest.

Best Actress

Will win: Brie Larson, "Room"

Should win: Charlotte Rampling, "45 Years"

Should have been nominated: Bel Powley, The Diary of a Teenage Girl

Larson took the Screen Actors Guild Award, a leading indicator of the Oscar winner and also picked up the Golden Globe, a lesser sign that shes going to win Sunday. But shes the odds-on favorite with only Ronan possibly pulling off the upset. Rampling, however, deserved the award for her subtle performance in 45 Years. Powley was excellent in the little scene 70s coming-of-age story, The Diary of a Teenage Girl.

Best Supporting Actor

Will win: Sylvester Stallone, "Creed"

Should win: Mark Rylance, "Bridge of Spies" or Mark Ruffalo, "Spotlight"

Should have been nominated: Idris Elba, Beasts of No Nation.

Its going to be impossible for voters to resist giving another Oscar to Stallone for his emotional return as Rocky Balboa. If theres an upset, its likely to come from Rylances appealing turn as a Soviet spy in Bridge of Spies, or Christian Bale from The Big Short. But Elbas powerhouse work as a rebel commander in Beasts of No Nation should have been nominated somewhere -- and should have won.

Best Supporting Actress

Will win: Alicia Vikander, "The Danish Girl"

Should win: Vikander

Should have been nominated: Charlize Theron, Mad Max: Fury Road

Vikander burst onto the scene last year with three fine performances -- in Ex Machina, Testament of Youth and The Danish Girl. So this win will, in a way, recognize all those performances. But the most egregious snub of the acting awards is the failure to nominate Theron for her work in Mad Max: Fury Road, which could have easily been as best actress.

Best Original Screenplay

Will win: Spotlight

Should win: Spotlight

Should have been nominated: Love and Mercy

This is Oscars chance to honor Spotlight, the much-nominated ensemble picture without giving it best picture or an acting award. Its deserving as well. The inventive Brian Wilson biopic, Love and Mercy should have gotten a nod.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Will win: The Big Short

Should win: The Big Short

Should have been nominated: Steve Jobs and Chi-Raq

Heres another award where the Academy honors a much-nominated movie. But Aaron Sorkins screenplay for Steve Jobs was the best of this category, and Spike Lees Chi-Raq (#Oscarssowhite) the most original.
For decades, Mark Rothkos Yellow Band and Barnett Newmans Horizon Light hung on adjacent walls in a Sheldon Museum of Arts permanent collection gallery, becoming easily overlooked fixtures in a crowded, little-changing space.

Now the two abstract expressionist masterpieces share a gallery space, just the two paintings hung on opposite walls -- a pairing that unavoidably brings each piece the attention it deserves while engaging the two in conversation.

Conversation between works is most often an abstract notion, that looking at one painting, then another and then the two simultaneously lends insight into both. But in the case of Horizon Light, Rothko had a literal conversation with Newmans painting.

In 1950, Rothko hung the exhibition at the Betty Parsons Gallery that included the debut of the then-untitled Newman painting. Rothko installed the painting vertically, like all the other Newman zips -- paintings bisected by vertical bands of contrasting hues that ran across the full length of the otherwise monochromatic surface.

Newman claimed that he had been bullied and his wife, Annalee, later suggested that her husband had been 'tricked' by Rothko into accepting this, writes art historian Annika Marie in Paintings from the Sheldon Museum of Art." "Whatever his tactics, it is hard not to sympathize with Rothko: the work, had it been oriented horizontally, would have stood out incongruously amidst all the other vertical zips and might well have looked as if it had been wrongly installed.

Five years later, in the paintings second public showing, Newman insisted that the mistake be rectified and the canvas was installed horizontally. At some point in the ensuing years, he provided safeguards to ensure the paintings proper hanging. He gave it the title Horizon Light and, in the ultimate act of authority, he signed it -- at the line, of course.

Newmans signature can be seen, hidden in the reddish brown field just below the zip near the right edge of the painting, which is one of only four horizontal zips that Newman created in a brief period in 1949. Other horizontal zips are now in the collections of the National Gallery of Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Horizontal or not, Horizon Light is a perfect example of Newmans prime work, which began in 1948, with the zip pieces turning paintings into what Marie calls a declaration of space encountered as a single experience.

That sense is shared by Yellow Band, a painting in Rothkos classic style. But Rothko also aimed at pulling viewers into a quiet, almost spiritual beauty in his rectangular abstractions.

Large yet intimately enveloping, Yellow Band hovers before the onlooker like a vivid yet cryptic mirage laden with a sense of unspoken portent -- visual silence made eloquent, writes David Anfam in the Sheldon catalog.

Yellow Band has long been seen as one of Rothkos best works. To that end, Anfam, the worlds foremost expert on Rothko, has placed the painting in Abstract Expressionism, a survey exhibition of the mid-century movement that included the likes of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline.

The Rothko will travel to London for the exhibition that opens on Sept. 24, then travels to the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain from February to June 2017.

So the Rothko/Newman gallery will only be on view through the University of Nebraska-Lincoln spring semester.

In April and May, the pairing will provide the subject matter for CollectionTalk, a new lecture series that will bring scholars and art experts to Sheldon to explore notable works from the collection.

On April 19, author and curator Amy Newman will speak on Horizon Light and its place among Barnett Newmans zip canvases. Newman, the author of Challenging Art: ARTFORUM 1962-1974, is currently writing a biography of the artist (to whom she is not related).

On May 24 at 6 p.m., Anfam, who compiled Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas -- A Catalogue Raisonne, will address Yellow Band.

Those lectures are a strong indicator of the place the Rothko and Newman paintings hold in Sheldons collection and of their importance within each artists oeuvre and in 20th century American art.

Seeing them together, with fresh placement, bears that out -- and reveals their connections and mastery.
It was not unusual for a heated contest to arise over the selection of a county seat, but the city of Seward had a particularly contentious 15-year battle during which the county not only changed its name and boundaries, but for many years had county seat whatsoever.

In January 1856, the land west of Lancaster County was defined by the Nebraska legislature as Greene County. Although nearly all sources claim it was named for Missouri Sen. James S. Greene, a much better claimant is probably Manly W. Greene, a prominent businessman from Cass County. Sen. Greene had no real connection to Nebraska, while Manly Greene was a close friend of several of the legislature committeemen who formed and named the new county.

In the fall of 1858, Daniel Morgan and his sons preempted land in Greene County, becoming generally recognized as its first settlers. The following year, Thomas and James West acquired land on the extreme south edge of the county, along a popular trail on the West Fork of the Blue River and formed the community of West Mills, which soon had a thriving mill and general store. In 1860, the population of Greene County was reported to be 16.

During the Civil War, the Nebraska legislature witnessed Sen. Greenes affiliation with the Confederacy and, assuming he was the origin of the countys name, changed the name to Seward for William Henry Seward, Secretary of State for President Abraham Lincoln, and himself a candidate for the presidency.

As the county commissioners met in various homes in 1865, including the county clerks home at West Mills and the county treasurers home south of the village of Seward, numerous topics were considered, including a site for a county seat. Lewis Moffitt proposed a post office on his land near the geographic center of the county, to be called Seward Centre, which was ultimately approved by the U.S. Post Office simply as Seward in 1867.

With Nebraskas statehood in 1867, an October county seat election pitted Milford, Camden and Seward, with Milford winning, but not by the required majority. A second election was called for November, with residents of West Mills and Camden uniting to vote for Seward and thwart Milford, which they perceived as a threat to their ultimate success. After the election, but before the vote was reported, Milford hastily platted itself as the shire town, or county seat.

The vote canvas then threw out Camdens votes, saying they had reported their results numerically as "12" instead of spelled out as "twelve," as required, and shifting the victory from Seward to Milford by two votes. Though a third election was called for February to settle the still raging dispute, the argument moved into the courts.

County commissioners subsequently called for yet another election on Oct. 10, 1871. This ballot merely asked if the county seat should be moved to Seward. Yes or no. The required two-thirds voted yes, and although Tamora 5 miles west of Seward rather optimistically began digging a basement for what they dreamt might be a temporary county courthouse, records were gathered from around the county and moved to Seward.

Seward businessmen J.R. Paul offered his building for a courthouse and offices for the county clerk and treasurer, attorney O.T.B. Williams offered his building for use as a courtroom; and James Harris offered Block 41 as a potential site for a permanent courthouse. All were accepted.

Seward itself was on the move, having opened a school and approved bonds to aid in the construction of the Midland Pacific Railroad, which arrived on March 1, 1873. And in order to squelch persistent objections to its location, Seward built a two-story, frame courthouse on Main Street, costing $1,200 at city expense. The building was ultimately sold for $50 and replaced by the nearly $100,000 extant courthouse, whose cornerstone was laid Sept. 20, 1905.

The first Fourth of July celebration in Seward was in 1868, with a flag made by the ladies of the town flown on a new flag pole erected in the center of the public square and featuring a speech by Squire Ward, with the entire population of the town, about 20, in attendance. In 1973, Seward was proclaimed the official Nebraska Fourth of July city with elaborate fireworks and program and an estimated attendance of 40,000.
Cindy Lange-Kubick Columnist Cindy Lange-Kubick has loved writing columns about life in her hometown since 1994. She had hoped to become a people person by now, nonetheless she would love to hear your tales of fascinating neighbors and interesting places. Follow Cindy Lange-Kubick 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

When Hollywood came calling, Jim Hanson told them thank you, but no.

The Nebraskan was too busy. A magazine to edit, book reviews to write, a museum to run, that sort of thing.

The second time the phone rang: Still busy.

Even the third time wasnt exactly a charm for folks from The Revenant, an ambitious film with a $130 million budget.

When they reached the resident historian of the Museum of the Fur Trade in Chadron again, asking him to please come to Canada and help them depict the fictionalized tale of real-life fur trader Hugh Glass -- mauled by a bear and left by his fellow trappers for dead nearly 200 years ago -- Hanson had his excuse ready: His passport had expired.

In 24 hours, he had a passport.

Soon after, a script arrived in the mail for his perusal and the 68-year-old was tooling off to Calgary in his 1997 Lincoln Town Car.

The director was exceedingly kind and thoughtful and hes an artistic genius, Hanson said last week. And, really, he was busy when Alejandro G. Inarritus people called.

Which would have been the summer of 2014.

Sunday night, the film starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Glass is an odds-on favorite to go home with gold at the 88th Academy Awards. The Revenant scored 12 nominations in all, including best actor, best picture and a best director nod for Inarritu.

The son of the Museum of the Fur Trades founder will be watching.

Hanson grew up at the museum in the northwest Nebraska college town, listening to history professors jaw about the beaver trade in the exhibit rooms of his fathers dream.

He made friends with the Oglala Sioux from the Pine Ridge Reservation, who visited nearly every day, selling their wares and sharing their stories.

That was a real pleasure to me.

He loved the history, and when he was 12 and his family moved to Washington D.C., he spent every spare minute at the Smithsonian soaking up more.

Since collecting his Ph.D. at the University of Wyoming, Hanson has written 14 books, edited more than 100 articles and penned 160 of his own.

The fur trade is his specialty.

Hes read every nonfiction account of Glass 150-mile odyssey -- a story first published as a newspaper account in 1824 and embellished in fiction ever since.

He shares a particularly gruesome true story, recounted in a book published last October after being re-discovered in a Yale library. The book had been written by a doctor who claimed to have met Glass on a train, heard his story and ordered him to disrobe to prove his injuries.

His right bicep was missing, the top of his right shoulder blade was gone, there was a chasm where his right thigh muscle had been, Hanson said.

Oh, and the bear had picked him up by the throat and ripped his scalp off.

The same doctor says Hugh Glass was from Scotland and wore kilts and a scotch cap.

No kilts appear on screen, but it was a costume designer who tracked Hanson down in 2014.

Shed come across his book Clothing and Textiles of the Fur Trade -- Volume 4 of the Fur Trader encyclopedia set.

Someone told her, Talk to Jim Hanson. Hes old, he needs money, he joked.

The human encyclopedia of the fur trade answered clothing-related questions and offered a variety of other advice during his week in Calgary.

Such as: There wouldnt have been wild hogs in the Indian villages. How to correctly pronounce Arikara, the tribe portrayed in the movie. Nearly 10 percent of fur traders were African American. There wouldnt be animal bones in the camps -- the trappers took the meat and left the bones where they fell. How Mountain Men made fires. How they set their beaver traps.

The film crew listened.

And for weeks after he got home, Hanson fielded more questions. All these New York hairdressers: How should the Indians hair be fixed? What kind of war paint should the Indians wear?

It wasnt the first time hed been called upon for advice on a film about Hugh Glass.

In 1970, Man in the Wilderness starring Richard Harris was in production (in a stroke of ridiculousness, movie-makers had changed the protagonist's name to Zach Bass).

His job was to go over the script to make sure the Native roles were accurately depicted. Members of the Rosebud Sioux had been recruited as extras and had asked him for assistance.

Decades later, Hanson watched The Revenant at the Eagle Theater in Chadron with his wife, Ann. He loved the story and the soaring backdrops.

To be honest with you, my jaw was slack most of the time because the scenery was so gorgeous.

The couple waited in their seats as the credits rolled and his name appeared, long after DiCaprios three hairdressers got their due.

The history man was satisfied.

He loved the dream sequences in the movie, he said, the flashbacks to Glass and his Pawnee mate and their son.

Scenes dreamed up by a Hollywood scriptwriter, which was A-OK by Hanson.

The best thing the director said was, Look, this isnt a documentary, its a movie.

Sure.

But what about the scene where DiCaprio, abandoned and freezing, carves open the belly of a dead horse and climbs inside to stay warm?

That one happened, Hanson says. Hugh Glass really did that.

Then he adds an important caveat, one the 21st century film crew likely didnt need to worry about.

You couldnt stay inside for too long, or the horse would freeze up and you couldnt get out.
On Saturday, hundreds of people wearing their Feel the Bern T-shirts and holding Bernie for Prez signs lined the corner of 12th and Q streets.

The march and rally for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders -- initially pulled together by Cody Pratt and Ben Huber as a small Facebook event -- came one week ahead of Nebraska's party caucus.

At first, neither expected the number of participants, but more than 200 people said on Facebook they'd go and 400 said they were interested.

Phip Ross, co-chairman of the English department at Southeast Community College, spoke before the march.

Electing Sanders president is America's best hope for the future, said Ross, who co-wrote Far Beyond Words: Stories of Military Interpreting in Iraq."

Pratt said the march began as Hubers idea to drum up support for Sanders ahead of Nebraska's party caucuses.

Bernie is a pillar of integrity, Pratt said. Hes the model of democracy in a candidate.

Allison Black, a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said she went to the rally, in part, to gain reassurance that Sanders is the right person for the job.

We live in a pretty red state, Black said, so its kind of nerve-racking when you feel like youre part of what you feel is a minority. But then you see such a big crowd like this and so much support and it makes you feel better about the chances.

Nick Neben shares Blacks hopes that other Nebraskans realize each voter can make a difference.

I hope (passersby) see were here and they can have a voice, he said. Our voter turnout is such crap, especially on the Democratic side in Nebraska, because they think it doesnt matter.

"But we need them to get out there. ... So if they see a big group maybe theyll think, Hey, maybe Ive got some time on Saturday (for the caucus)."

Sanders is running against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president.

Clinton supporters will welcome Chelsea Clinton in campaign appearances set for Monday and Tuesday in Lincoln and Omaha.

In Lincoln, Chelsea Clinton will speak at 7 p.m. Monday at Fuse Coworking, 151 N. Eighth St. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. On Tuesday, she'll speak at 10 a.m. at Big Mama's Kitchen, 3223 N. 45th St., in Omaha.

More campaign appearances are expected in Nebraska in the days leading up to the Saturday caucuses.

A participant in Saturday's march, Randi Cifarelli said she admires Sanders ethics and inclusivity.

I think he hasnt done any damage to people of color, Cifarelli said. I think hes not classist, not ableist and I think hell provide the economy and the structure that we need to bring our kids into.

Pratt had slight concerns about negative feedback from people who walked or drove by, but he said he and the rest of the march organizers prepared themselves

We hope everyone can behave themselves and be adults, Pratt said. When you get real big crowds I get real worried. But for the most part I think Bernie fans are the most peaceful people Ive ever met in my life. The thing Im most worried about is other people messing with the Bernie people, yelling comments at them.

But Pratt thinks people should always have that freedom.

If there was a (Donald) Trump march right next to us, even though thats politically the opposite end of the spectrum, I wouldnt mind, Pratt said. I think everyone should be able to be there.
WASHINGTON -- State of the world, Year Eight of Barack Obama:

(1) In the South China Sea, on a speck of land of disputed sovereignty far from its borders, China has just installed anti-aircraft batteries and stationed fighter jets. This after China landed planes on an artificial island it created on another disputed island chain (the Spratlys, claimed by the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam). These facilities now function as forward bases for Beijing to challenge seven decades of American naval dominance of the Pacific Rim.

"China is clearly militarizing the South China Sea," the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command told Congress on Tuesday. Its goal? "Hegemony in East Asia."

(2) Syria. Russian intervention has turned the tide of war. Having rescued the Bashar al-Assad regime from collapse, relentless Russian bombing is destroying the rebel stronghold of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, creating a massive new wave of refugees and demonstrating to the entire Middle East what a Great Power can achieve when it acts seriously.

The U.S. response? Repeated pathetic attempts by Secretary of State John Kerry to propitiate Russia (and its ally, Iran) in one collapsed peace conference after another. On Sunday, he stepped out to announce yet another "provisional agreement in principle" on "a cessation of hostilities" that the CIA director, the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs deem little more than a ruse.

(3) Ukraine. Having swallowed Crimea so thoroughly that no one even talks about it anymore, Russia continues to trample with impunity on the Minsk cease-fire agreements. Vladimir Putin is now again stirring the pot, intensifying the fighting, advancing his remorseless campaign to fracture and subordinate the Ukrainian state. Meanwhile, Obama still refuses to send the Ukrainians even defensive weapons.

(4) Iran. Last Thursday, Iran received its first shipment of S-300 anti-aircraft batteries from Russia, a major advance in developing immunity to any attack on its nuclear facilities. And it is negotiating an $8 billion arms deal with Russia that includes sophisticated combat aircraft. Like its ballistic missile tests, this conventional weapons shopping spree is a blatant violation of U.N. Security Council prohibitions. It was also a predictable -- and predicted -- consequence of the Iran nuclear deal that granted Iran $100 billion and normalized its relations with the world.

The U.S. response? Words.

Unlike gravitational waves, today's strategic situation is not hard to discern. Three major have-not powers are seeking to overturn the post-Cold War status quo: Russia in Eastern Europe, China in East Asia, Iran in the Middle East. All are on the march.

To say nothing of the Islamic State, now extending its reach from Afghanistan to West Africa. The international order built over decades by the United States is crumbling.

In the face of which, what does Obama do? Go to Cuba.

Yes, Cuba. A supreme strategic irrelevance so dear to Obama's anti-anti-communist heart.

Is he at least going to celebrate progress in human rights and democracy -- which Obama established last year as a precondition for any presidential visit? Of course not. When has Obama ever held to a red line? Indeed, since Obama began his "historic" normalization with Cuba, the repression has gotten worse. Last month, the regime arrested 1,414 political dissidents, the second-most ever recorded.

No matter. Amid global disarray and American decline, Obama sticks to his cherished concerns: Cuba, Guantanamo (about which he gave a rare televised address this week) and, of course, climate change.

Obama could not bestir himself to go to Paris in response to the various jihadi atrocities -- sending Kerry instead "to share a big hug with Paris" (as Kerry explained) with James Taylor singing "You've Got a Friend" -- but he did make an ostentatious three-day visit there for climate change.

So why not go to Havana? Sure, the barbarians are at the gates and pushing hard knowing they will enjoy but 11 more months of minimal American resistance. But our passive president genuinely believes that such advances don't really matter -- that these disruptors are so on the wrong side of history, that their reaches for territory, power, victory are so 20th century.

Of course, it mattered greatly to the quarter-million slaughtered in Syria and the millions more exiled. It feels all quite real to a dissolving Europe, an expanding China, a rising Iran, a metastasizing jihadism.

Not to the visionary Obama, however. He sees far beyond such ephemera. He knows what really matters: climate change, Gitmo and Cuba.

With time running out, he wants these to be his legacy. Indeed, they will be.
In the next couple of weeks, Michael Bloomberg will decide whether to launch an independent bid for the presidency. Thats an enticing prospect, since the continuing strength of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders threatens to force a radical choice between two extremes. Nevertheless, before succumbing to centrist temptation, the former New York City mayor should take a hard look at the Constitution. He will find that his run for the White House could precipitate one of the worst constitutional crises in American history.

The problem is the 12th Amendment. Enacted in 1804, it establishes the rules for presidential selection if no candidate secures a majority of 270 electoral votes  a distinct possibility should Bloomberg enter the race. The sphere of competition will then move from the states to the House of Representatives, where Bloomberg will confront formidable challenges. He will have to persuade Republican and Democratic lawmakers to betray the tens of millions of loyalists who voted for their partys nominee. But hell have to do more than gain a majority of House members. Under the amendments special rules, each state delegation casts a single vote, and the winning candidate must convince 26 delegations to support him. Even if Bloomberg carries a few key states in November, his fate will be determined by representatives from regions that rejected his candidacy. In addition, there are 11 states with only one or two House members  and their idiosyncratic views will have a disproportionate say in the final choice.

Worse yet, if a states delegation is equally divided, it cant vote at all. This means that the process will degenerate into a free-for-all as rival candidates engage in desperate efforts to nudge one or another fence-sitter in their direction.

At this point, a final factor will make for more melodrama. If the House cant pick a chief executive by Jan. 20, the amendment provides an interim remedy. It says that the new vice president will become acting president while the political bargaining continues.

The three vice presidential nominees will be in the same position as their running mates  none will have gained a majority of the electoral college. Anticipating this eventuality, the authors of the 12th Amendment designed another system for resolving the vice presidential contest.

Under this secondary scheme, its the Senate, not the House, that does the deciding, and a simple majority of senators suffices to make the choice. But the Senate can choose only between the top two, not the top three, candidates. As a consequence, Bloombergs running mate might be barred from the competition from the start.

In any event, the major party in control of the Senate will almost certainly install its own candidate, not Bloombergs. Suppose, for example, that the Democrats regain control of the Senate and put Sanders running mate, Elizabeth Warren, into office. This might shock the previously paralyzed House into action: Perhaps the Republicans would abandon Trump and support Bloomberg in a desperate effort to save the country from Warren?

The emergence of a Bloomberg-Warren pairing illustrates a larger point. Given the arcane constitutional rules, the only way for Bloomberg to win is by manipulating procedures that will be utterly mysterious to the overwhelming majority of ordinary citizens. If the multibillionaire does succeed in backroom deals that procure him the presidency, his ascent will serve only as a dramatic display of the power of Wall Street to lord it over the American people.

Such a victory will have devastating consequences. Consider how the tea party pressured congressional Republicans to make life difficult for Obama. Life will be even more difficult for Bloomberg, who will also contend with the disappointed political revolutionaries among the Democrats inspired by Sanders. As the struggle between Congress and the president escalates, ordinary Americans will turn away in despair. This massive wave of alienation will permit the extreme right and the far left to become even more powerful forces in the next presidential election  with Trump and Sanders, or their successors, taking over both parties and competing with each other in their radical programs to sweep away the Washington elite.

The time for Bloomberg to consider this grim future is now. He has always presented himself as a thoughtful pragmatist who disdains ideological posturing. But only the blindest follower of Antonin Scalia  the most adamant constitutional originalist  can fail to recognize that the 12th Amendment, passed during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, cant cope with the realities of modern politics.

If Bloomberg is a true patriot, he will not allow his personal ambition to throw the United States into a grave constitutional crisis.
To use a phrase that doesnt come readily to my lips: Well Ill be danged.

New Hampshire, that bastion of sensible conservatism and rectitude, gave us not one unelectable candidate, but two  Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders. Trumpmentum has only edged up since then while the Bern has started to flicker.

How anyone expects either one of these guys to be elected president is beyond me.

Weve had some real eight-balls in the Oval Office, Ill grant you. Warren Harding comes to mind, as does James Buchanan. Id even throw George W. Bush in there.

But weve never had a foul-mouthed ignoramus who insults, women, Latinos, Muslims, war heroes, the disabled, and poor, downtrodden journalists.

Thats Trump. Thats presidential?

Well, I guess so. Veteran observers of the political scene, who are hardly ever wrong (ha), say that his smashing first-place finishes in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada have put him on a trajectory that will be tough to interrupt.

Personally, I dont still see Trump winning the nomination. I know, Ive said that before, but Im doubling down on that bet.

The reason Trump is leading in the polls is that hes got so many opponents running against him. As more of them drop out, the opposition may finally begin to unite behind an anti-Trump. At that point, his support base, however enthusiastic, might not be formidable enough.

Unfortunately, none of those opponents looks quite up to the task. Ted Cruz is apparently as disliked by his colleagues as everyone says he is. Marco Rubio has turned out to be a toy poodle rather than an attack dog. John Kasich does well when he can sit next to you in a diner and ask about your grandkids, but this country is too big for that kind of campaigning.

Which would seem to leave he field wide open for Hillary Clinton, a reasonable candidate despite her disastrous performance in the New Hampshire primary. (Have I told you it was a disaster? It really was.)

Her problem is that she carries more baggage than a Victorian dowager on an around-the-world cruise.

The FBI is investigating her rather cavalier approach to her email correspondence when she was secretary of state. Reporters are hounding her to release the transcripts of those $225,000-a-pop speeches that she gave to Wall Street fat cats when she was between jobs. And then theres Benghazi.

All of that makes for a truly entertaining (and utterly terrifying) election in the fall.
When Nebraskans hear the word obstructionist they normally think of the United States Congress and the political battles that have led to stalemates and popular frustration.

In the current legislative session of the Nebraska Unicameral the word obstructionist clearly applies to the Government, Military, and Veterans Affairs Committee. LB166, which calls for a yearly verifiable bank balance on all campaign accounts, is being held hostage by the committee despite the fact that 30 senators have signed on as cosponsors.

Over the last four years Common Cause Nebraska has worked with senators to ensure that campaign funds are protected from the kind of abuse exemplified by former Sen. Brenda Councils gambling away $63,000 from her funds. Members of the committee have argued that Councils example and two other felony convictions are not enough evidence that there is a problem.

For the last two sessions Sen. Sue Crawford, who drafted LB166, has attempted to reason with the committee asking for simply one number, a verifiable bank balance. LB166 would require all candidates and elected officials to provide a once-a-year balance on all campaign accounts. By cross-checking this balance against the candidates reports, the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission (NADC) could detect and address discrepancies before they rise to the level of felonies. The main objection voiced in opposition has been that providing this balance would be a burden to senators. The NADC has said it can provide a single document, requiring only the senators signature, to authorize a bank to provide everything needed.

LB166 has the unanimous support of the NADC. It has been endorsed by both the Lincoln Journal Star and the Omaha World-Herald. There was no opposition testimony at the public hearing. This year 30 senators have signed on as cosponsors including Sen. Tommy Garrett and Sen. Matt Hansen, who are members of the committee. Despite all of this support the committee chooses to play the obstructionist, refusing to advance the bill for debate on the floor.

Those senators who either remain publicly silent or oppose the disclosure measure are Sens. Tyson Larson, Beau McCoy, Joni Craighead, Mike Groene, Dave Bloomfield and John Murante. Larson and McCoy didnt bother to stay for the public hearing.

The overriding question is why? Is there really something to hide? Is one signature too much work? Does the will of the Unicameral and the will of the public no longer count? Is the Government Committee playing some obscure political game? The public deserves better.
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1876: The Union Pacific Railroad began running stages from Grand Island to the Black Hills for a fare of $25.

1886: A contract was let for a brick addition to the Townley House (which later became the Lindell Hotel) at 13th and M streets.

1896: Harry Harley sued Pope Manufacturing Co. for $2,000 because the front fork of a new bicycle broke and dropped him on the brick pavement.

The Roman carriage factory at 129 S.15th St. was destroyed by fire.

1906: Andrew Carnegie offered to give the last $10,000 needed to complete the C.C. White Memorial building for Nebraska Wesleyan University.

1916: Fire destroyed the Pacific Press Publishing Association building in College View, with a loss of about $50,000.

1926: W.A. Seavey, dean of the College of Law at the University of Nebraska, resigned to become head of the University of Pennsylvania law college.

1936: Traffic on U.S. 6 between Lincoln and Omaha was halted as the Ashland Bridge over Salt Creek was weakened by flooding.

1946: The Farmers Union lumber yard at Clarkson was destroyed by a $25,000 fire.

1956: Lincoln Southeast High School at 37th and Van Dorn streets was dedicated. Cost of the entire structure, equipment and the 35-acre tract was $1,775,918.

The Lincoln City Council decided to explore the possibility of substituting lakes for additional wells in the Ashland area for Lincolns water supply.

1966: Dikes were repaired and the Platte River flowed in its channel in eastern Nebraska, but snow and wind struck northwestern Nebraska and Harrison was isolated temporarily.

1976: The Nebraska Educational Television Network accepted $500,000 in television equipment plus legal fees from National Broadcasting Co. to settle the dispute over an N logo both used.

1986: Lincoln gas prices averaged 79 cents a gallon, down from over $1.20 in December.

Robbers Cave was reopened for tours by owners Ed and Vi Scarborough. The 5,000-square-foot cave had been closed to the public since 1973 because of ongoing vandalism.

1996: High winds fanned a brush fire that burned about five acres of grass at Holmes Lake.

Santee Sioux officials barricaded the entry to their tribal casino after rumors of an upcoming raid by federal agents. The casino had opened Feb. 2, featuring 29 video slot machines.

2006: Stephenson School Supply Co. is closing its doors after 86 years in business. Changing market conditions and school budget crunches have caused the business to no longer be profitable.

Southwest of Lincoln, in the Denton area, drivers and residents have reported seeing three emus running wild. Sheriffs deputies have not been able to spot the birds. It is not known who owns the birds.

Demolition began on the former Misle building at 48th and O streets to make way for a new redevelopment project, which includes the construction of a West Gate Bank, Runza Restaurant, Braeda Fresh Express Cafe and Walgreens store.
MOUNT PLEASANT  A car that struck an electrical pole at Highway 20 and Emmertsen Road late Saturday night resulted in the intersection being shut down overnight while utility crews worked on the damaged transformers that fell, according to Mount Pleasant police.

Police were in the 5600 block of Washington Avenue (Highway 20) when they reportedly heard what sounded like loud gunshots, police stated in a press release.

While searching the area, they discovered that a car had struck the pole, shearing it in half. That portion of the pole fell, along with the transformers on top of it, pulling down power lines in the area, according to police.

The driver, Joseph Davis, 49, of Mount Pleasant, was arrested on suspicion of operating while intoxicated and for various, unspecified traffic offenses, police stated. Court records show that the driver hasnt yet been formally charged.

Some, and at some points all, of the traffic lanes were shut down for varying amounts of time during the 11 hours immediately after the crash. All lanes of traffic had re-opened by 10:55 a.m., according to the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

We tried to get one lane open as soon as possible, Sgt. Paul Maccari said, noting that Davis took out a majority pole and the downed power lines created a hazard. Traffic was diverted around the area.

Were gratified that it was not a Monday morning or weekday morning, he said. Thankfully it wasnt a more heavy traffic volume.

We Energies spokeswoman Amy Jahns said utility crews were called out at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday and still were at the scene doing repairs at 8:30 a.m. Sunday.

It was just one customer the whole night, Jahns said.

Power was restored to that business customer by 11 a.m., she said Sunday afternoon. But utility crews remained on the scene Sunday afternoon, Maccari said.

Jahns said cars hitting electrical poles can be dangerous for occupants of the vehicles, as well as anyone nearby. In this incident, the wires were not down over the car, she said. She advised that anyone inside the car should remain in the vehicle and call police.

It can be dangerous. You should definitely take precautions, Jahns said. Youre supposed to stay at least 25 feet away from power lines.

The driver told officers he bumped his knee during the crash, but declined medical treatment, according to police. There were no passengers in the vehicle, Maccari said.
RACINE  Less than six months ago Jessica Walthers, a second-grade teacher at Johnson Elementary School, said she could count on barely half of her class time to be calm and orderly  mostly because of a couple of students.

Those couple of students were the frequent source of outbursts, tantrums, physical behavior and refusal to do their work in September. But Walthers said they are now calmer, more in control of their emotions and even teaching classmates mindfulness exercises.

A new sense of calm has extended beyond her classroom and throughout the school as Kim DeLao, principal of the school at 2420 Kentucky St., has noted a sharp declines in behavior problems and students coming to her office.

The change, Walthers and DeLao said, stems from the New Beginnings School Mental Health Clinic that opened within the school in October. It allows students to work through trauma and emotional stress that drive misbehavior.

Its magical. Ive been teaching 18 years  15 here and three at another place. This has got to be the best social, emotional, mental program I have ever seen, said Walthers.

The clinic at Johnson and another at Wadewitz Elementary School, 2700 Yout St., are piloting a new program organized by the Racine Collaborative for Childrens Mental Health, which aims to provide mental health services to struggling children in underserved communities.

A partnership of various community organizations, two licensed social workers from Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin work exclusively with students and staff of those two Racine Unified schools.

Having this therapy model to come in and release some of that, I feel like its really gotten kids back in class, DeLao said.

They just feel like oh, Im feeling better and you can tell everywhere in the building that theyre feeling better.

It just makes school business run a lot better, DeLao added.

The goal

The goal, according to Jackie Hartley, manager of the collaborative, is to make therapy accessible to families who might otherwise have trouble accessing mental health services. That eliminates the need for parents to take off of work and students to miss school for routine therapy sessions at outside clinics.

Beyond the convenience for families, Annie Hysaw, the licensed clinical social worker operating Johnson Elementarys clinic, noted that being in the school allows her to much more easily monitor how treatment is working for a student as well as collaborate with that students teachers and parents.

Cost and plans

Although its not yet clear how much the clinics will cost, Hartley explained the collaborative planned for the two-year pilot program will need $75,000 per year for each of the two clinics.

Hartley said that funding comes entirely from three local foundations: the Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare-All Saints Foundation, Racine Community Foundation and Johnsons corporate foundation  which is distinct from the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread, which has also offered support to the mental health collaborative.

Hartley and Unified spokeswoman Stacy Tapp said the district is exploring how to fund future school-based mental health clinics with grants and district funds.

Small office, big mission

Working out of a small, nondescript room in Johnson that shes made homey with a wall of various toys, stuffed animals and games, Hysaw currently serves about 25 students with another 10 in the referral process. She noted she cant work with a student unless they go through the referral process, which includes getting parent consent.

Students are referred to the clinic for a variety of behavioral issues that tend to be disruptive to learning, like bullying, fighting in the halls or inconsolably sobbing over seemingly minor misfortunes.

Hysaw said those behaviors are often triggered by stress, anxiety or emotional trauma in their personal lives, like a death of a parent. For students who dont know how to put their emotions into words, acting up is the way they often express those feelings.

Behavior is language for a child, Hysaw said. They dont always have the words and the vocabulary to express how they feel, and so they use their behavior to get it out, typically in ways that are maladaptive for kids who are struggling or under a lot of stress, or have trauma backgrounds or so forth.

Hysaw said those behaviors can become increasingly disruptive and inhibitive as a child grows older, and even though schools like Johnson do their best to help, the behaviors are often repeatedly punished while the underlying mental health issue worsens.

Once parents give consent for therapy and have an initial meeting with Hysaw to set up a treatment plan, Hysaw typically sees the student for one 45-minute session during or after school. In addition, she calls parents with an update each week and routinely meets with teachers.

Little success stories

Hysaw also said the six students shes been seeing since October have shown growth and improvement behaviorally and academically, including scoring at or above average on the triennial Measures of Academic Progress test measuring students growth over a year.

As staff explained the logistics of the clinic during a group interview, one of Hysaws students suddenly barged through the door  but stopped and profusely apologized for the intrusion when he saw the gathered adults.

Thats one of our little success stories, DeLao commented as the student calmly left the room. She explain that the student would likely have been screaming and kicking if he couldnt immediately see Hysaw six months ago.
This weeks schedule for The Morning Show

KENOSHA  WGTD (91.1 FM) is owned and operated as a public service of Gateway Technical College and is an affiliate of Wisconsin Public Radio. For an updated schedule, visit its website at www.wgtd.org.

The Morning Show airs every weekday between 8:10 and 9 a.m. Following is a schedule of show topics for the coming week:

Monday  Carthage College sociology professor Wayne Thompson will discuss the place of religion in modern America and how religious concerns are playing out in the current presidential race.

Tuesday  The 27 Club, a look at some major figures in popular music who all share one tragic statistic: They all died at the age of 27.

Wednesday  Raising Ryland, the story of Ryland, one of the youngest people with gender dysphoria to begin transitioning from one gender to another at the age of 5.

Thursday  A preview of Carthage Colleges next theatrical production, the world premiere of Breath of Stars.

Friday  A follow-up on Wednesdays topic of the transgender experience with a local story.

Saturday  Programming includes Financial Overview at 9 a.m., Breakfast Bytes at 9:45 a.m., Education Matters at 10:30 a.m. and Community Matters at 11:15 a.m.
RACINE COUNTY  Racine Unified would lose about $1.4 million in property tax levy authority under the latest version of a proposed change to the voucher school funding formula.

That estimate, from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, is down from the $3.7 million Unified stood to lose under an amendment pushed by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester. Vos has sought to reduce how much school districts can raise in property taxes to offset the loss of voucher students.

Under state law, school districts lose state aid for each student who attends a private school using a taxpayer-funded voucher and are allowed to make up for the loss by raising property taxes.

Vos reportedly reached a deal with state Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, for the Senate to take up an amended proposal in March. Under the latest measure, school districts could retain as much funding in state aid and property tax levy authority per pupil as the amount of each students private school voucher, according to a Wisconsin State Journal report.

Unified officials believe the district would actually lose about $1.8 million, saying the fiscal bureau doesnt factor in possible increases in voucher students.

The district has addressed its concerns with legislators. The latest proposal is more palatable given Unified had faced a larger cut, Unified spokeswoman Stacy Tapp said.

Vos has said Unified cashed in on an error in the funding formula when it increased its tax rate by 10.8 percent last year, a tax increase Unified officials have largely blamed on the state.

The Senate compromise, while scaled back from Vos original amendment, would still be an improvement in state law, he said.

In the long run, this is a win for property taxpayers and for the school district, Vos said.
To set the record straight, when the governor picked a judge, it was for a short-term vacancy until the election comes up and the people vote. When the presidents pick a Supreme Court judge, it is for life. It needs more thought than a quick pick for a friend in his last year.

To have confidence in Hillary Clinton is to now know or care what or who she is. She put all U.S. secret talks and strategies on her personal computer. Could have and probably was hacked by any enemy or a 16-year-old. This was our secretary of state.

Millions of dollars went into the Clinton Foundation from the Middle East through Canadian banks. It's called money laundering. Can only be okayed by the secretary of state ... who was? What did she promise them? Oh, the tapes were erased.

To say that you are okay with Hillary Clinton being the commander in chief of our armed forces  what about the wrong decision of our four promising young men in Benghazi, begging for help. Then she told her daughter that the truth is on tape, ISIS, but she told us, the American people, it was a video that caused their death. She has lied so many times that it seems to be second nature to her.

Presidential material? Please no. The FBI is checking.

Mary Hoffman

Mount Pleasant
The Wisconsin Historical Society holds millions of items.

They include Civil War documents, Wisconsin maps, Native American pottery, a carbon fiber Trek bicycle, Holocaust survivor oral histories, childrens clothing from the 1800s and a patch worn into space by Sparta astronaut Deke Slayton on a 1975 Apollo mission.

So when Paul Bourcier, the societys lead curator, laid out boxes last week filled with wooden contraptions made more than 150 years ago by a Marquette County farm boy, it was clear that the pieces were of importance. Each box was affixed with an orange piece of paper that lets curators quickly know which item out of the massive collection should be saved first in the event of a fire or other calamity.

The boxes held the wooden and metal pieces of a clock fashioned in the shape of a scythe; a wooden barometer and parts to a thermometer made up of wooden sprockets that somehow, its not entirely clear, indicated temperature. There was also a less complex dolly jig designed to make a small doll dance.

He had a very scientific mind, said Bourcier. But he also had a sense of humor.

John Muir may be best known for his environmental activism that led to the creation of national parks and the founding of the Sierra Club, but his time in Wisconsin was consumed with farming and tinkering.

Throughout this year, Muirs story will be shared in 25 state communities that have agreed to host a traveling exhibit on the man credited with convincing the U.S. government to protect and establish Yosemite, Sequoia, Grand Canyon and Mount Rainier as national parks.

Michael Edmonds, deputy director of the Historical Societys library and archives division, made a point of getting the exhibit into northern Wisconsin, home to the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway.

The people who live there and care about history, and the local historical societies, often are neglected, Edmonds said. The number of exhibits they get asked to host are minuscule.

Wisconsins John Muir explores Muirs youth on two Wisconsin farms, his studies at UW-Madison, his advocacy for national parks and his views on environmental issues such as logging, hunting and climate change in an eight-panel pictorial.

Each community that takes part receives free copies of Muirs memoir, The Story of My Boyhood and Youth, for a book club discussion. The exhibit runs through Tuesday at the W. J. Niederkorn Library in Port Washington before it traipses through the state over the next 11 months.

Muir was born in 1838 in Dunbar, Scotland, and immigrated to Wisconsin with his father 11 years later. They first settled on a 160-acre farmstead they dubbed Fountain Lake Farm (now Ennis Lake and part of John Muir Memorial County Park) between Montello and Portage. This is where Muirs appreciation for nature began to take root, thanks to woods overlooking a flowery glacial meadow and a lake rimmed with water lilies, according to the Sierra Club.

In his later teens, Muirs family moved to Hickory Hill Farm near Portage where Muir continued making wooden mechanisms. But because his father was such a harsh disciplinarian, he ordered all of the family to go to bed after chores were completed at dusk. He also had little tolerance for his sons inventions.

His father didnt care what time he got up, said Matt Blessing, an archivist who has written about Muir. So what does Muir do? He goes to bed at 8 p.m. and quickly discovers he can get by on four or five hours of sleep. He gets himself up at midnight and goes down into the cellar and (by candle light) begins making inventions he thinks his father will support because theyre going to improve the efficiency of the farm.

One of his creations was a saw blade out of a womens corset that he used in a table saw. A Scottish neighbor encouraged Muir to take his inventions to the 1860 Wisconsin State Fair, at that time held near Camp Randall in Madison. This is where Muir is first publicly noted in an article in the Wisconsin State Journal.

That same year, Muir enrolled at UW-Madison where he lived in North Hall and his room became a curiosity.

Muir had a device that at a set time tipped him out of bed and then lit a lamp. He also invented a clockwork desk that automatically dispensed books from a rack below and kept them on the desk for a set period of time before it would switch to another book. The unconventional-looking desk has been on display in the lobby of the Historical Society since the 1920s.

Its very famous, Edmonds said. You would think the amount of time he put into building it should have been spent on studying.

In an effort to pay for his education, Muir, during the winter of 1861-62, taught in a small log schoolhouse at the intersection of Storytown Road and Sun Valley Parkway about two miles west of Oregon that would later be home to the Lake Harriet School. One of his students described Muir as having an ungroomed look with hair reaching to his shoulders, an unkempt bearing, and poor clothes, according to account by the Oregon Area Historical Society.

Muir left Madison in 1863 for the University of the Wilderness as he called it, and spent time in woodworking factories in Canada and Indianapolis and conducting botanical studies in his spare time. In 1867, he was nearly blinded in an industrial accident and bedridden for nearly a month. The traumatic experience led him to devote the rest of his life to the inventions of God, and to leave his days of inventing behind.

Its travel, its natural science, its the environment, its poetry and a lot of American and European history, Blessing said.

Muir walked to the Gulf of Mexico, before he sailed to Cuba and then to Panama where he crossed the isthmus of Central America and sailed up the West Coast, landing in San Francisco in 1868, according to his Sierra Club biography. Muir herded sheep in Yosemite and by 1874 had launched a writing career that led to hundreds of articles and several critically acclaimed books.

Muir founded the Sierra Club in 1892 and in 1901 wrote Our National Parks, a book that drew the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt, who signed legislation between 1901 and 1909 creating five national parks. In 1916, Congress created the National Park Service that now oversees more than 400 units.

Muir died in 1914 in Los Angeles.

These are in the crown jewel category for us, Edmonds said as he surveyed some of Muirs work, spread out on a conference table in the Sellery Room of the Societys grand building at State and Park streets and across Langdon Street from Memorial Union.

The walls of the room, named after George Sellery, a former history professor and dean of the UW-Madison College of Letters and Science, are covered with historic images. They include an H.H. Bennett photograph from 1880 of Stand Rock in Wisconsin Dells, a poster from the 1900 Wisconsin State Fair and a painting from 1833 of Nasheakusk, the son of Black Hawk.

John Muir didnt make the walls of the conference room but his years in Wisconsin are seen as formidable and allow us to claim one of the most influential environmentalists in history as our own.

Were trying to make Muir relevant for today, Edmonds said. The idea is to take history and use it to inform conversations today.
TOWN OF SPRINGFIELD  The American Locomotive Co. was once one of the largest builders of steam engines in the world.

In 1907, six years after the New York company was formed by a merger of the Schenectady Locomotive Works and seven other companies, ALCO, as it was then known, set a production record. Its 6,200 workers built 942 locomotives, turning out an average of 18 of the steel and cast iron behemoths every week at a cost of about $20,000 each, according to the Schenectady Digital History Archive.

Restoring just one of the 60-ton pieces of history is taking considerably more time and money.

More than two years after one of ALCOs locomotives was taken apart and shipped 37 miles from North Freedom to a rural machine shop north of Middleton, nearly two years of work still remain on the $2 million rebuild.

The 1385, built for the Chicago & North Western Railroad and owned for over 50 years by the Mid-Continent Railway Museum in central Sauk County, is starting to look like its old self again. But the relic that used to pull the Great Circus Train from Baraboo to Milwaukee and back might not hit the Mid-Continent tracks until 2018.

A project of this magnitude takes patience.

Its been a very long, long process, said Peter Deets, a volunteer with the museum and the last person to fire up the locomotives engine before it was taken out of service in 1998. Everything thats been done here has equaled if not surpassed original build. And thats really what our aim is, to return the engine to original build specifications.

So when an open house is held Feb. 20 and 21 at SPEC Machine, 7175 Riles Road, fans of the massive undertaking will see progress but not a locomotive ready for a tender filled with coal.

The engines three sets of 63-inch-diameter drive wheels, one set of which weighs 15,000 pounds, are resting on tracks in the rear of the shop and are connected to the 40-foot-long chassis. The drive arms are attached, much of the locomotive has coats of fresh paint and there are newly minted parts made of steel and brass.

The wooden cab is nearing completion at a shop in Fond du Lac, while the design of the boiler could be completed this spring by Performance Engineering in Waunakee. Instead of using rivets, the boiler will be welded this summer by Hamon Deltak, a maker of industrial boilers and steam generators in Plymouth, Minnesota.

But the bulk of the restoration is being done at SPEC Machine, where owner Steve Roudebush has used lathes and milling machines to repair farm implements and create highly specialized parts and machines for biomedical, manufacturing and food companies. His shop has also made high-tech rat cages for experiments aboard the International Space Station.

Working on the locomotive for Roudebush, who has an affinity for anything steam-related, has been a passion more than a business decision.

Its important for me to see it run again, Roudebush said. Every part you need to make it, fit it, and see how it affected the 14 pieces in front of it and the 14 pieces that follow it. And thats what takes so much time, the researching.

The locomotive was a workhorse for the Chicago & North Western Railroad from 1907 to 1956. When it was retired, Mid-Continent members scraped together $2,600 to buy it in 1961. Beginning in 1963, the locomotive pulled cars on the museums 3.5 miles of track but was taken out of service in 1998 for what museum officials thought would be $125,000 in boiler repairs. A closer inspection revealed the engine needed a complete restoration that is now being paid for through donations and grants.

When completed, the 1385 will become the only operating C&NW steam locomotive in the country and one of only eight that have been preserved. But the restoration is about more than just bringing a piece of history back to life.

The 1385 is tied to the future success of Mid-Continent, a nonprofit museum that showcases railroad equipment made between between 1885 and 1915, when steam locomotives moved 90 percent of the nations passengers and freight. A working 1385 has the potential to draw thousands of tourists each year to the museum, located a short drive from the tourist hotbed of Wisconsin Dells, officials say.

Roudebush, 52, who grew up in Waunakee and remembers the Circus Train rolling through the village, has used old photos, history books and over 700 blueprint drawings from the Lake States Railway Historical Association in Baraboo to guide him on the restoration.

He also has a series of encyclopedias on locomotive construction from 1908 and another set of 14 books from 1910 that cover topics like engine management and installation, steam engine and valve gears, and riveted joints.

It all looks like big pieces but every big piece has a whole heap of little pieces rolled into it, and they all need attention and care, Roudebush said of the locomotives design. Its been a lot of work because nothing is straightforward.

The front truck (four smaller wheels that sit in front of the drive wheels) of the locomotive is in pieces, with the frame of the truck being recreated after decades of wear that has compromised much of the steel beyond repair, including the pins and bushings. The footplate of the locomotive, which serves as the connector between the frame and drawbar and needs to withstand massive forces, was littered with cracks and replaced with a stronger version.

An Underwood portable boring bar machine from the 1890s was recently used to bore out one of the locomotives cylinders. The machine is a collection of gears, drive shafts and cutting heads driven by an air motor. The antique device is from Mid-Continents museum collection and has been used on two other locomotives over the years.

The machine that they built to maintain the machine still can hold the accuracy and still does everything we need it to do to todays standards, Deets, the museum volunteer, said.

It was designed for this purpose and its also honoring the people who built these machines and maintained them.
SPRING GREEN  Jim and Mike Ring can only build so many muscle cars a year.

In 2015, their shop in this Sauk County village near the Wisconsin River rebuilt three vehicles, a pair of 1965 Ford Mustangs and a 1958 Ford pickup truck.

On the docket this year are four vehicles: a 1969 Chevy Camaro, a 1969 Dodge Charger and a 1965 convertible Ford Mustang. The fourth, scheduled to be completed by November, is a 1948 Cadillac for a North Dakota businessman. The project includes cannibalizing two 2016 Cadillac ATS-V sedans for parts to help give the 1948 car a more modern feel and comfort.

Our customers want the look and the prestige of an old car but something that works better, that feels more like a car built today, Jim Ring said. The only (original) thing left on some of these cars is the title and the look of an old car. Nothing else is left.

But while most of the Ringbrothers builds can cost $500,000 or more, come equipped with 600 horsepower engines and receive international attention, the companys growth is happening one door handle, spoiler and gear shifter at a time.

A parts business, that began about 12 years ago with hood hinges for a 1965 Mustang, it has ballooned into a more than $1 million business for the Rings, who design and manufacture parts for other shops, authorized dealers and gearheads building cars in their home garages.

Custom car-builds account for about 50 percent of the companys revenue with 10 percent of sales attributed to collision repairs on everyday vehicles. The remaining 40 percent is in the design, manufacture and sale of parts. But that percentage is growing and in the next five to 10 years, carbon fiber hoods and doors, aluminum clutch pedals, window cranks, valve covers and just about any another part needed to build a classic car could account for 75 percent of the companys revenues.

Its the cars theyre building and the things that theyre doing and the exposure theyre getting internationally, Lisa Wahl, Ringbrothers sales and operations manager, said, when asked about the growth potential. Every day, were getting orders from all over the world.

The Rings, who grew up in nearby Plain and barely graduated from high school, have been building high-powered Mustangs, Camaros and other beefed-up vehicles for more than 20 years. At one time, they begged publications such as Hot Rod and other major automotive magazines to feature their work but now struggle to keep up with the press clippings and Internet sites that feature their work.

Two recent builds have also placed in the top 10 at the Specialty Equipment Market Association show in Las Vegas, one of the largest custom car events in the world. A 1966 Chevrolet Recoil Chevelle built for an Ohio man was named the General Motors Best in Show in 2014 and featured on a episode of Jay Lenos Garage.

In November, at the 2015 SEMA show, a custom 1965 carbon fiber wide-body Fastback Mustang dubbed Espionage was among the top vehicles. The car, with a supercharged 959 horsepower engine, was built for a Russian businessman who wanted a unique ride to drive around the streets of London.

The Rings, who are booked for builds through 2018, recently shipped nearly all the parts for a 1965 Mustang similar to the Espionage to a deep-pocketed client in Kuwait.

He really loved this car and all the components we built for this car, Jim Ring said. And thats happening more and more, because honestly, we are so busy that I cant even do any more than were doing so at least I can help these people get the right stuff.

The growth in the parts business has resulted in expansion to the Ringbrothers campus along Highway 14 and across the street from the Round Barn Lodge.

A $500,000, 6,000-square-foot, building was added last fall and is home to a parts warehouse, manufacturing facility and a clean area for the assembly of custom-built cars. The production area includes a CNC machine that cranks out parts from aluminum billet but a second $100,000 CNC machine is scheduled to arrive in a few weeks.

That will help the Rings keep up with the demand. Many of the parts designed by the Rings and their engineers were being manufactured by other companies but much of that production is being brought back in-house. The Rings say the move will lower their costs and allow them to better manage inventory.

One of the keys to the business is that a single part custom built by the Rings can then be mass produced and sold to average car owners who want to spruce up their ride a couple hundred dollars at a time.

Most guys dont realize what it takes even for the most (insignificant) piece, Ring said. It starts out on a napkin, then you CAD draw it ... buy the piece of aluminum, then you machine it. That one piece might be $3,000, but then you can make it for $15. All of the time that goes into it is just mind-boggling.

As Ring showed off the shelves of the warehouse, he pointed out a wide range of parts. They included door lock pulls for a 1957 Chevy and vent covers for a 1969 Camaro. There are steering columns for a 1967 Mustang, hood hinge kits for a 1966 Oldsmobile Cutlass and door mechanism kits that fit Chevy and GMC pickup trucks built between 1967 and 1972.

But while parts for specific vehicles are many, universal parts that fit a variety of makes and models are seen as a growth area for the Rings. Those parts include rear spoilers, gas caps, turn indicators, aluminum power-steering reservoirs and carbon fiber hood scoops. Aluminum, exterior door handles that cost $350 a pair are among the biggest sellers for the Rings.

There are a lot of people who cant afford a custom build but would love to have the look and feel of a Ringbrothers car so the accessories do it, Wahl said.

Universal is where its at because then youre not car specific, Jim Ring said. If you create parts that fit several different things, youre opening up a lot bigger market.

Ring started his car business in 1991 with his brother, Mike, joining the business in 1994 after Jim built a 5,000-square-foot shop. In 2005, they received their first request for a full custom build, a 1967 Mustang. A 3,500-square-foot addition was built in 2009. The brothers started making their own parts after becoming dissatisfied with the quality of the parts they were buying from other manufacturers.

The quality wasnt so great because a lot of that stuff was made overseas so it kind of frustrated us, Jim said. We really wanted to pay attention to what we were making and build good quality parts for these early cars, the Mustangs, the Camaros and the Chevelles. Quality was a huge driver.

The parts business has grown 20 percent each year over the past two years with revenue growth for the overall business, now at about $3 million a year, expected to increase by 75 percent by the end of 2017. The company employs 13 people, four of them dedicated to the parts business that later this year may expand its presence in the Australian market.

One of the newest hires is Matt Moseman, who grew up on his familys farm 10 miles east of Spring Green. Moseman, 24, graduated from the Milwaukee School of Engineering and for a time worked for Vortex Optics in Middleton, a maker of high-end rifle and spotting scopes and binoculars. He now runs a CNC machine and designs parts for the Rings, whom hes known for years.

Its really just two down-to-earth guys and thats what really drew me, Moseman said. Theres really no egos here. Its just guys having fun and enjoying what they do and theres something really to be said about that.




You could lead an entire trip to Costa Rica just focusing on its





It posed prettily for me when I imitated its scraping chuckles. Here, we're talking up a blue and white storm. Rawwk! Oop! dok dok dok! I'm getting my Doolittle on on this trip.









Ol Mr. Bluejay, in them baseball clothes of his

Struttin' 'round the premesis...





Gotta love the head doo-dads. What a bird!





Meanwhile, down by the pool, SIX black-headed trogons were feasting on figs.

Here, a female gags one down whole. She'll choke up the pit somewhere else, maybe plant another tree.









I was just trying to get a photo of one black-headed trogon eating a fig when five more swooped in.









File under: Costa Rica problems. Durn trogons! Gotta swat 'em away!





And then there are the mantled howlers, waking me up at 3:28 AM. It's OK. I love the sound, like thunder in the treetops.





I think this is an adult male. Just a hunch. I made a video of one walking and howling at the same time. So amazing and so funny. I just love observing howlers.





There are horses on this dude ranch. I made friends with a shy gelding at sunset, scratching his withers and jawbars and brisket.





But my favorite shot from La Ensenada was the theft of a whole slice of soft white farmer cheese by a young magpie jay and its parent. Well, the adult was loading up on scrams. That interface of wildlife and people... I find it irresistible.





Amazingly, I'm blogging from Costa Rica. I know, never happens. But I was fresh out of one-eyed deer and I have fast Net at Villa Lapas and hey why not. It's what's in front of me, and it's awesome!I have the loveliest group this year (well, they're all lovely). But ohh these folks, so wonderful to be in the woods together.A saman tree. Also known as a Raintree, this enormous acacia-like tree () spreads four times wider than it grows tall. It's native from Mexico to Brasil, but has been widely distributed around the world. I looked at the ring of cabinas sheltering under its canopy (I was in #2, which must've been the Presidential Cabin because there were three beds!) and wondered who'd had the foresight to plant this thing in the middle of them, and how they knew the way it would define the entire space. And how long ago that might have been. One in Venezuela is a national treasure, and is thought to be more than 500 years old, having been described by Alexander von Humboldt around 1800--and it was old then!!The view from beneath, out my cabin door. I had to set my phone to Panorama to capture it.amazing trees. Any one of the hundreds of trees we've seen here could be a tourist attraction in the US. Mario says it's called Raintree because cicadas live in it and piss down liquid. He says sometimes it's still green beneath a raintree when everything else has dried completely up. Good to know, about the cicada pee, I'd think. Or maybe not. Maybe better to think it makes its own weather, no?So La Ensenada has an open-air dining room as do most eco-lodges we frequent, and there are white-throated magpie jays freely stealing stuff off plates and out of bread baskets. It's very amusing, at least to American tourists; less so to the staff I'm sure. See jay, second plate from front.Blue jays on steroids...crows in leisure suits. WTMJ's are pretty darned cool birds, smart and bold and opportunistic to a fault. Big as a magpie and twice as purty. I believe this to be an immature.Lucy and Jenny M. took pictures of the whole thing. I took one back, of tiny Lucy and big horse.
A Guantanamo Bay prisoner accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks testified on Friday that he has been subject to torment and mistreatment by prison guards. Ramzi bin al Shibh, from Yemen, is facing the death penalty with four other defendants for allegedly providing money and information to the 9/11 hijackers. His attorneys on Wednesday urged [Reuters report] the court to halt proceedings until the guards stop the abuse, which Bin al Shibh says includes noise and vibrations in the floors and walls that prevent him from sleeping or praying. According to Bin al Shibh, the torment has been going on since he arrived in 2006. The prosecution alleges [Reuters report] that he is either lying or delusional, but his attorneys claim that prison guards have ignored a 2013 court order to refrain from abusing him.

News of Bin al Shibhs testimony comes just days after US President Barack Obama [official website] delivered his plan to Congress to close Guantanamo Bay [JURIST report]. Currently, 91 detainees remain in Guantanamo Bay, and 34 await resettlement in foreign countries. In November the US Senate passed [JURIST report] the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (NDAA) [text, PDF], which prohibits Guantanamo detainees from being transferred into the US. Obama signed the bill into law, despite the fact that it could delay his plan to close the prison. The Department of Defense said [JURIST report] in October they were sending teams to review three Colorado prisons as part of Obamas efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in October. The Guantanamo Review Task Force (GRTF) was created in response to a 2009 presidential executive order [text, PDF] to review the status of all detainees. There have been multiple detainees released from Guantanamo recently, following reports that 17 were scheduled for release last month [JURIST report].
The Supreme Court of California [official website] on Friday ruled that Governor Jerry Brown [official website] can put his plan to ease prison over-crowding on the ballot this November, reversing a lower courts previous ruling. A court in Sacramento decided days earlier that Brown improperly amended the initiative [LAT report] and prevented his office from collecting the required number of signatures to put it before voters. Brown urged the Supreme Court to reverse the lower court ruling, stating that starting over would prevent [AP report] his office from collecting the required 586,000 signatures. With this ruling, the governors office can begin gathering signatures this weekend. The ballot measure proposes [LAT report], among other things, to allow nonviolent offenders to obtain parole earlier and make it easier for correction officials to award good behavior credits.

The treatment of prisoners and prison reform [JURIST podcast] has been a growing concern in the US for years. Last month the US Supreme Court ruled that a landmark decision banning mandatory sentences of life without parole for juveniles should apply retroactively [JURIST report]. In August the Department of Justice reached a settlement [JURIST report] with Los Angeles prisons on mentally ill inmate care. In May Human Rights Watch released [JURIST report] a report stating that mentally disabled prisoners experience unnecessary, excessive, and even malicious force at the hands of prison staff across the US. A federal court in February 2015 approved [JURIST report] a settlement agreement between the Arizona Department of Corrections and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in a class action lawsuit over the health care system within Arizona prisons. Also last February rights group Equal Justice Under Law filed suit [JURIST report] against the cities of Ferguson and Jennings, Missouri, for their practice of jailing citizens who fail to pay debts owed to the city for minor offenses and traffic tickets. The ACLU and the ACLU of Texas released a report in 2014 exposing [JURIST report] the results of a multi-year investigation into conditions at five Criminal Alien Requirement prisons in Texas.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit [official website] on Friday overturned [opinion, PDF] a 2014 verdict [materials] against Samsung in its patent infringement conflict with Apple [corporate websites]. The appeals court found that Samsung did not infringe on Apples quick links patent and that two other patents asserted by Apple were not valid. Accordingly, Samsung will no longer have to pay the nearly $120 million it had been ordered by a jury to pay to Apple. The court did, however, uphold the district courts verdict against Apple, ordering that the company must still pay Samsung money owed to it for infringing its patent on video compression. The 2014 verdict, passed down by the US District Court for the Northern District of California [official website], had ordered [JURIST report] Samsung to pay $119.6 million to Apple over patents for smartphone features, and Apple to pay $158,400 to Samsung.

This is the most recent installment of the ongoing patent dispute [JURIST op-ed] between the two electronics giants. In January the US District Court for the Northern District of California granted [JURIST report] Apples motion for a permanent injunction against Samsung for infringing upon three software patents. In December the companies and this court released a joint statement regarding damages that Samsung owed Apple [JURIST report]. In August 2014 the US District Court for the Northern District of California denied [JURIST report] Apples request to ban Samsung from selling any of its products that infringed on Apples patented technology. Earlier in August 2014 Apple and Samsung agreed to drop [JURIST report] all patent infringement lawsuits in courts outside of the US. In June 2014 Apple and Samsung also agreed to dismiss [JURIST report] their appeals of a patent infringement case at the US International Trade Commission [official website] that resulted in an import ban on some older model Samsung phones.
The UN Security Council [official website] on Friday unanimously approved resolution 2268 [press release], voting to endorse a Russian and American plan for a cessation of hostilities in Syria. The plan, which was drafted jointly by Russia and the US, also calls on the government and opposition to resume peace talks. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised [statement] the adoption of the resolution, calling its full implementation the best chance to reduce the brutal violence in Syria. UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura stressed [UN News Centre report] to the council that Saturday would be a critical day for the plans implementation, as there would likely be many attempts to undermine the process.

The Syrian Civil War [JURIST backgrounder] has been ongoing since 2011 when opposition groups first began protesting the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, and the increasingly bloody nature of the conflict has put pressure on the international community to intervene. Earlier this month the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic reported [JURIST report] that the Syrian conflict has had an unyielding effect on its civilians as it enters its sixth year. Also in February the UN rights office condemned [JURIST report] airstikes in Syria that hit hospitals and schools in the region, saying they may constitute war crimes. That same week the human rights office reported [JURIST report] that the Syrian government is systematically exterminating detainees.
Hillary has crushed Bernie in South Carolina, the Republicans are shaking with Trump fever, so it is safe for the NY Times to take a hard look at TINA Clinton and the US role in Libya.

And do they look - in the dead tree edition this story, part 1 of 2, gets a quarter of the front page and three more sheets inside (with some large pictures.) And yes, I see a book project here:

The New York Timess examination of the intervention offers a detailed accounting of how Mrs. Clintons deep belief in Americas power to do good in the world ran aground in a tribal country with no functioning government, rival factions and a staggering quantity of arms. The Times interviewed more than 50 American, Libyan and European officials, including many of the principal actors. Virtually all agreed to comment on the record. They expressed regret, frustration and in some cases bewilderment about what went wrong and what might have been done differently.

And so many questions:

Was the mistake the decision to intervene in the first place, or the mission creep from protecting civilians to ousting a dictator, or the failure to send a peacekeeping force in the aftermath?

Mrs. Clinton declined to be interviewed. But in public, she has said it is too soon to tell how things will turn out in Libya and has called for a more interventionist approach in Syria.

"Too soon to tell". Grr - in 2011 Obama told the US public that Iraq was "sovereign, stable and self-reliant" so he brought our troops home. Guess it was too soon to tell there, too.

As to Hillary's influence on Obama's thinking, this is not news but:

Mrs. Clintons account of a unified European-Arab front powerfully influenced Mr. Obama. Because the president would never have done this thing on our own, said Benjamin J. Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser.

Mr. Gates, among others, thought Mrs. Clintons backing decisive. Mr. Obama later told him privately in the Oval Office, he said, that the Libya decision was 51-49.

Ive always thought that Hillarys support for the broader mission in Libya put the president on the 51 side of the line for a more aggressive approach, Mr. Gates said. Had the secretaries of state and defense both opposed the war, he and others said, the presidents decision might have been politically impossible.

What had she learned from Iraq? Apparently that others can be duped by their own beliefs and enthusiasms, but not her:

President Obama was deeply wary of another military venture in a Muslim country. Most of his senior advisers were telling him to stay out. Still, he dispatched Mrs. Clinton to sound out Mr. Jibril, a leader of the Libyan opposition. Their late-night meeting on March 14, 2011, would be the first chance for a top American official to get a sense of whom, exactly, the United States was being asked to support.

In her suite at the Westin, she and Mr. Jibril, a political scientist with a doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh, spoke at length about the fast-moving military situation in Libya. But Mrs. Clinton was clearly also thinking about Iraq, and its hard lessons for American intervention.

Did the oppositions Transitional National Council really represent the whole of a deeply divided country, or just one region? What if Colonel Qaddafi quit, fled or was killed  did they have a plan for what came next?

She was asking every question you could imagine, Mr. Jibril recalled.

Mrs. Clinton was won over. Opposition leaders said all the right things about supporting democracy and inclusivity and building Libyan institutions, providing some hope that we might be able to pull this off, said Philip H. Gordon, one of her assistant secretaries. They gave us what we wanted to hear. And you do want to believe.

Those defiant dissidents. Cue the X-Files. Also, Back to the Future.

MORE: Excellent table-pounding from Reason, where Jacob Sullum brings the fire I seem to lack:

Hillary Clinton Is an Unrepentant Warmonger
Afghanistan: Two separate suicide attacks kills at least 21 people

A suicide bombing near the defence ministry in the Afghan capital of Kabul has killed at least 12 people, the government says.
Bajhang police arrest fake doctor

Police in Bajhang have arrested one Prawin Mandal who had been practising medicine at New Chain Medical in Chainpur without a medical degree.
Biennial NSU gen convention not held even once in decade

As the mother party Nepali Congress gears up for its 13th General Convention that begins next week, the Nepal Student Unions wait for its convention seems to be endless. Due to a factional dispute, the most vibrant sister wing of the largest party has not held its general convention for a decade.
Give up rigid position to seek solution, PM Oli tells Morcha

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli has urged the agitating Samyukta Loktantrik Madhesi Morcha to move ahead together by resolving problems facing the country through dialogue and consensus.
Govt to set up 7 new industrial estates: FM

Finance Minister Bishnu Poudel has said the government is preparing to build seven new industrial estates covering at least 1,000 bighas of land.
Less of a hero

Prithvi Narayan Shah and his successors were only interested in expanding their empire
Not enough to eat

Food scarcity has impact on social, economic, cultural and educational aspects of public life
Pilot Dineshs family grief-stricken by loss

Family members of Pilot Dinesh Neupane at Koriyanpur in Nepalgunj-16 have been grief-stricken following his death when an Air Kasthamandap plane crash-landed in Kalikot on Friday.
PM oli likely to visit China from March 20

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is likely to travel to China on a state visit in the third week of March, according to officials involved in the preparations.
Power of nonviolence

Civil resistance is important for the establishment of democratic peace in Nepal
Women freed from traffickers clutches

Eleven Nepali women, who were taken to the Indian Capital on the pretext of sending them for foreign employment in Iraq and Kuwait, have been rescued.
Mike Dunleavy the governor of the US state of Alaska is intending to introduce legislation that will repeal the two state boards which regu...
By Yang Dong-hee

This year marks a turning point for the South Korean population. The total economically productive population (15 to 64 in age) will peak at 37, 040,000 this year and then will reduce gradually.

Once the downward movement begins, the hope for the future in every other field will also rapidly shrink.

Iran is drawing global attention because it is a big market with a population of about 80 million, the largest among Middle Eastern countries.

Though Iran's economy has been under Western sanctions since the 1979 revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini, it has managed to maintain a strong "physical power" thanks to its comparably young manpower and ample natural resources.

It's revealing to find that there are only seven nations in the world bigger than Iran in population and gross national product (GNP). They are the U.S., China, Japan, Germany, Brazil, Russia and Mexico. More noticeably, Iran's population pyramid is healthy enough, having grown by five million for the past five years.

"Looking back to the 1970s, Teheran's nightclubs were filled with young and refined Iranian girls wearing miniskirts. There was no difference from the clubs in New York and London. Everybody was consuming French wines and champagne every Friday night," said a friend of mine who was teaching taekwondo to Shah Pahlevi's royal family members.

Seoul's most prosperous east-west boulevard in Gangnam was officially renamed Teheran Street, or Teheran-ro, in 1977 when the mayor of Teheran visited Seoul. In 1991, Iran's economy became the world's seventh largest.

Amid high expectations of major global companies advancing into the new Iranian market, the South Korean government announced a series of supportive measures, liberalizing trade and investment again in the country. Korean construction companies expect the Iranian government to spend $100 billion annually from this year.

Iran was Korea's key market in the Middle East until 2010 when the U.S. officially asked all of its allies to stop imports from Iran. (Even then, Seoul maintained a certain level of oil imports from Iran).

"The recent visits of Chinese President Xi Jinping and many big-name Western investors to Teheran are seen as an attempt to lure 80 million Iranians with a strong purchasing power," said a local paper.

The extreme vigilance towards Iran from the neighboring Saudi Arabia, the once self-claimed "Big Brother of Middle East," is explainable in terms of population after all. Saudi Arabia, whose population is only one third of that of Iran, is now in the position to helplessly watch the steady influx of funds to its rival.

The largest country in Europe with a population of 80 million, Germany naturally plays the role of "leader in Europe" and the secret of Japan maintaining the third largest economy is its population of over 100 million. Nobody in the world should treat two populated giants in Asia: India and Indonesia, respectively with 13 billion and 249 million in population, respectively, lightly.

South Korea, facing a "cliff population," apparently looks hopeless for the future. Young Korean people called themselves "Sam-po Generation," which means a generation that has given up three things in life: making any romantic relations with others, getting married and having a child.

We have seen enough catchwords and creative new measures to raise the birthrate of our country over the past decade.

The controversial idea of Rep. Kim Moo-sung of the ruling Saenuri Party of bringing more "joseonjok," or Korean Chinese, in order to increase the birthrate of Korea three weeks ago seemed to be drawing nobody's interest.

Is there any real and tangible solution to increase the population of South Korea? The answer is reunification. A unified Korea would have a population of 80 million.

The writer worked as a reporter for The Korea Times and the Hankook Ilbo-New York, and as a stringer/correspondent for the Wall Street Journal. He was the first managing director in Korea of the U.S.-based International Management Group (IMG). He can be contacted at dhyang28@gmail.com.
No

Yes, a light case

Yes, two or more light cases

One serious case

Two or more serious bouts

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Ken and Kathy Smith have opened Smith Family Furniture at 47 Copeland Ave., across from the Candlewood Suites hotel in La Crosse.

Ken Smith, who has been involved in retail furniture businesses in the greater La Crosse area since 1980, said the new store opened last month. Its grand opening is under way.

The store sells furniture for the entire house, such as living room and dining room furniture and beds. Free delivery is available within 100 miles, and the store also offers 12-months interest-free financing with approved credit.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Smith Family Furnitures telephone number is 608-782-6288 and its website is www.smithfamilyfurniture.com.

Classes begin March 7 at the new just drive drivers education school in Suite 180 at 1052 Oak Forest Drive in Onalaska.

The business is owned by Dan Balfanz, who said it serves Onalaska and surrounding communities. He bought a franchise from just drive, a drivers education school that was founded in 2005 in Port Washington, Wis., and now has many locations in Wisconsin. Each is locally owned and operated.

Balfanz lives in Onalaska and said he has many years of experience in the transportation field, which began when he was a school bus driver for 10 years. Most recently, he worked for the Wisconsin Division of Motor Vehicles as a driver license examiner.

For more information, call just drive in Onalaska at 608-352-8585 or visit www.justdrivewi.com.

Feb. 12 was the last day for the Wehrs Oasis cafe just south of Bangor.

It had been slow (at the cafe) for the last few years, owner Larry Wehrs said last week. The cafe had been open from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. While it did a fair amount of business from about 8 to 10:30 a.m., the number of diners during the noon hour had declined, Wehrs said.

The cafe was inside his Wehrs Truck & Auto dealership, which sells used cars and trucks and services and repairs automobiles. The cafe began in 1978, when the Wehrs dealership moved to its current location from downtown Bangor.

The Mega Co-op grocery store in Whitehall closed Feb. 20 and reopened last week as a Gordys Market.

The Whitehall store had been operated by the Clipper family as Clippers Foodliner since 1964, until it was purchased by Eau Claire-based Mega Co-op last fall.

In January, Chippewa Falls-based Gordys Market and Mega Co-op announced a deal by which Mega grocery stores would become Gordys Markets and Gordys Express convenience stores and fuel centers would become Mega Holiday stations.

As for the Whitehall grocery store, Gordys spokesman Matt Selvig said, The only real big difference people will see are the Gordys items like our smokehouse meats such as bratwurst, snack sticks and hot dogs. The chains well-known Donna Mae line of pot pies also are available in the stores deli, Selvig said.

For more information, visit www.gordys.com.

Monday was the last day for the Happy Hollow restaurant and bar between Melrose and Ettrick.

The business closed because of continued harassment by a few people, Traci Malin said Tuesday. She and her husband, Roy, bought Happy Hollow about 1 years ago.

Happy Hollow is for sale, Traci Malin said. Weve had great customers apart from those who caused problems, she said. For more information, visit Happy Hollows Facebook page.
WASHINGTON  Fear and loathing is striking congressional Republicans faced with the distinct possibility of Donald Trump as their presidential nominee.

My party has gone batshit crazy, says South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who called Trump a nut job and maintains that the billionaire businessman would inflict as much damage to the GOP as the iceberg did to the Titanic.

Republicans share a palpable fear that Trump would alienate Hispanics, minorities, independents and women, driving them to vote Democratic in November and costing the GOP the presidency, its Senate majority and suddenly competitive House seats. With the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, the ideological balance of the Supreme Court for decades also is at stake.

GOP incumbents clearly understand that the only option is to run a flawless campaign.

My campaign is going to be about who I am and what Ive done, said Rep. Ryan Costello, R-Pa., a freshman facing a potentially tight re-election race in the Philadelphia suburbs. And regardless of who the candidate is, Im going to seek to build my own record and carry my own message in a very personalized way.

Trump tightened his grip on front-runner status with a win in Nevada this week and secured the endorsement on Friday of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a jolt to his campaign ahead of Super Tuesday voting. Top rivals Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are scrambling for wins that could upend the race.

In accepting Christies backing, Trump insulted Rubio and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

Trump is offensive to an overwhelming majority of people in my district the way hes offensive to me, said freshman Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo. Donald Trump does and says things that we teach our children not to do.

On immigration, the New York businessman has vowed to end birthright citizenship, build a wall on the Mexican border financed by Mexico and potentially deport millions of immigrants living here illegally. Not surprisingly, 8 in 10 Hispanic voters have a negative view of Trump in a recent Washington Post/Univision poll.

That could cause significant problems for Curbelo, whose South Florida district is majority Hispanic and promises one of this falls most competitive congressional races.

Most people understand that Donald Trump is neither a true Republican nor a true conservative. So I think people view his candidacy in isolation, and theyre going to support other candidates they happen to agree with or believe in, regardless of party labels, said Curbelo, whos backing Rubio after initially endorsing Jeb Bush.

To be sure, some congressional Republicans see a possible silver lining, uncertain about the consequences of a Trump nomination. They point to record turnout in GOP caucuses and Trumps appeal to middle-class workers, including a traditional Democratic bloc  labor.

Donald Trump is, I think, tapping into an energy that is bringing more people out to vote, said Rep. Jeff Denham, whose northern California district went for President Barack Obama twice. Youve got a lot of first-time voters. Youve got some new energy. I think its a different turnout model.

Republicans are expected to easily hold their commanding House majority of 246-188 with one vacancy. The Senate is far tougher as Republicans, with a 54-46 advantage, have to defend 24 seats to the Democrats 10. Seven of the Republican seats are in states Obama won twice  Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Illinois, New Hampshire, Iowa and Florida.

In the House, Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole says the challenge will be winning in some two dozen districts where Obama won in 2012.

Trump being unconventional may not hurt you as much in the places that are normally at risk in an election year, Cole said. He will attract some Democrats.

Rep. Charlie Dent, a moderate Pennsylvania Republican who has endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich for president, said Trump may be better for down-ballot Republicans than Cruz, whom he called an inflexible ideologue.

A presidential nominee whos ideologically inflexible represents a greater challenge in the Northeast than a nominee whos ideologically malleable and scattered, which is Trump, Dent said.

In fact, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said it may be possible to work with Donald Trump in the White House.

Graham doesnt see it that way.

The GOP, according to the unsuccessful presidential candidate, has its best chance in years to win the White House as Democrats are likely to nominate Hillary Clinton, who has been damaged by questions about her trustworthiness. But his party is about to blow it, he said.

The most dishonest person in America is a woman whos about to become president. How could that be? My party has gone batshit crazy, Graham told an audience of lawmakers, journalists and congressional aides at the Washington Press Club Foundations annual dinner Thursday.

Said another South Carolinian, Rep. Mick Mulvaney: I think Lindsey and a lot of people in the establishment wing of the party are looking around and saying, What the hell is going on? 

Most people understand that Donald Trump is neither a true Republican nor a true conservative. So I think people view his candidacy in isolation, and theyre going to support other candidates they happen to agree with or believe in, regardless of party labels, said Curbelo, whos backing Rubio after initially endorsing Jeb Bush. U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla.
A battle is heating up between online travel sites and U.S. hotels over the best way to book your hotel room.

Like most things in business, the feud comes down to money.

The American Hotel and Lodging Association, the trade group for hotels in the United States, is pushing for legislation to crack down on fraudulent online booking sites that trick travelers into paying for hotel rooms but have no relation to the hotels. The group says the scams cost travelers up to $1.3 billion a year.

A coalition of online travel sites isnt buying it. The sites say the hotel industry is exaggerating the online scam problem to push travelers to book directly on hotel sites so that hotels can avoid paying sales commissions to the online booking sites.

Its just a veiled attempt at trying to scare consumers to book directly with the hotel chains themselves, said Philip Minardi, a spokesman for the coalition of online sites, including Expedia, Priceline and Airbnb.

The stakes are high in this feud. Travelers make an estimated 480 online hotel bookings per minute in the U.S. Hotels pay third-party booking sites commissions of up to 25 percent of the room price. Hotels also want travelers to book directly from them so they can pitch future deals and packages and develop guest loyalty.

Hotel industry officials reject suggestions that they are using the scams to scare travelers away from outside booking sites.

The fact is online scams are hurting consumers and jeopardizing their confidence in the online booking process, while also harming the reputation of hotels, said Katherine Lugar, president and chief executive of the hotel trade group.
Cayden C. Bauer, 9, of La Crosse passed away Friday, Feb. 26, 2016, at Gundersen Health System. She was born Oct. 15, 2006, in Winona, Minn., to Laura A. Bauer.

Cayden was a spirited, positive, outgoing young girl who filled the lives of all those around her with laughter and love. She was a sensitive soul with a strong sense of compassion, and she will be remembered as a strong friend who was fearless about using her compassion to protect others. Some of her favorite pastimes included sharing corny jokes, hiking in the bluffs and eating bologna sandwiches with her grandfather, telling stories, baking with her grandmother and aunt for her family, building robots and experimenting with electronics with her uncle, playing with her cousin, Emma, who called her big sister, making friends with all of the customers at Cabin Coffee, summer camping trips with her mom and Justin, and taking care of the people she loved.

Cayden held her Catholic faith close to her heart and tried to live her faith through action every day. Her beautiful, enthusiastic singing voice will be missed at Mass, but will be a stunning addition to the heavenly choir.

Cayden is survived by her mother, Laura, and stepfather, Justin Gilbert of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; grandparents, Edward and Catherine Bauer of La Crosse; aunt, Melissa, and uncle, Aaron Nielsen of La Crosse; and a cousin, Emma Nielsen.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday, March 2, at St. Joseph the Workman Cathedral, 530 Main St., La Crosse. Msgr. Charles Stoetzel will officiate, and burial will be in Catholic Cemetery, La Crosse. Friends may call from 4 to 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 1, at Dickinson Family Funeral Home, 1425 Jackson St., with a public prayer service starting at 3:30 p.m. A visitation will also be held from 9 a.m. until time of service Wednesday at the church.

Memorials may be given to Aquinas Catholic Schools, 521 S. 13th St., La Crosse, 54601.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.dickinsonfuneralhomes.com.
HOLMEN  Nathaniel Strauss  the valedictorian of Holmen High Schools 2012 graduating class  has impeccable timing.

Strauss knew that he wanted to study physics in a university setting  thats why he enrolled at Carleton College in Northfield, Minn.. Still, he could never have predicted that four years later hed be listed as co-author on the paper announcing one of the greatest scientific discoveries of all time.

I feel really lucky, Strauss said.

Fortunately for Strauss, his physics professor at Carleton, Nelson Christensen, was not only deeply involved in the field of gravitational wave research but enlisted Strauss to help him in that endeavor. At a larger institution, such important work would likely be assigned to a graduate student, but Strauss was only a sophomore when he began working with Christensen.

It was just over 100 years ago that Einsteins general theory of relativity predicted the existence of gravity waves. Sometimes called ripples in the fabric of space/time, such waves had never been detected  until last fall. Christensen, along with Strauss and a couple other Carleton undergrads, were part of a group of more than a thousand scientists from more than 90 universities around the United States and 14 other countries who had been working toward confirmation of their existence.

The project was called the LIGO Scientific Collaboration. LIGO is short for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, and the major breakthrough  announced on Feb. 11 this year  came early in the morning (4:51 a.m. Central Daylight Time) on Sept. 14. That was the moment that detectors in Hanford, Washington, and Livingston, Louisiana, picked up ripples from what subsequently was confirmed to be the collision of two massive black holes some 1.3 billion light years away.

Strauss explained that the discovery was somewhat serendipitous. The detectors were working, he said, but they werent really in science mode. They just happened to be on at that time to test them.

According to Strauss, the scientists working at the time noticed the signals immediately but doubted their significance. They looked like how gravitational waves should look, but no one believed it at first, Strauss said.

Within a few days, however, all other explanations had been ruled out. We knew pretty soon, but then there was months of double-, triple- and quadruple-checking to make sure, Strauss said.

Although exhilarated by the discovery, Strauss remains modest about his role. I was a pretty small cog in a big machine, he said.

Up until Septembers breakthrough, gravitational waves, which are extremely weak, had never been detected. Strauss job involved understanding the signal output from the detectors and filtering out unwanted noise so that the waves  if they even existed  stood out.

Most of what I do is write (computer) programs, Strauss said. After I hunt down noise in the LIGO data, I post my result to the online logbook for the whole collaboration to see.

He and one or two other Carleton students also meet semiweekly with 10 other members of the collaboration via the Internet. Strauss agrees with the general consensus that the discovery of gravity waves has implications far beyond confirmation of Einsteins relativity theory. Thats because so much of the universe  an estimated 95 percent  is so-called dark matter or dark energy that is invisible to normal telescopes.

This is a really a huge deal for human discovery, Strauss said. A lot of the stuff we dont know about has to do with dark energy and dark matter. These new detectors give us a whole new way of looking up at the sky. Its comparable to when Galileo first started looking through a telescope.

Strauss will graduate from Carleton this year and hes looking forward to the next stage of his scientific career. Certainly after this discovery, I want to stay within the study of gravitational physics, but probably not with LIGO, he said. I think Id like to get more into the theoretical side.

So far, Strauss has applied to nine universities all over the country to begin his graduate school studies. Its probably a safe bet that hell be seen as an attractive candidate by all of them.

I sort of hit the jackpot as far as going for my Ph.D., Strauss said.
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U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin told an enthusiastic crowd Saturday afternoon at the MOSES Organic Farming Conference that she will continue to push for broader funding for research in the fields of organic and sustainable agriculture.

As a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, I am proud to be your partner in the U.S. Senate, the Wisconsin Democrat told the assembled producers, marketers, researchers and others attending the 27th annual conference.

Baldwin cited the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship as programs that should be expanded and emulated. She promised to pressure the U.S. Department of Agriculture to fund research at land grant universities on plant varieties and animal breeds suitable for and publicly available to organic and sustainable producers.

Baldwin, who talked about a grown-in-Wisconsin economy, called the organic and sustainable movement an important part of keeping families on the farm.

Attendance

Before introducing Baldwin, Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service executive director Faye Jones announced that that 2016 MOSES conference attendance had topped 3,600, setting yet another record for the organization.

Milestone

On the last day of Jones last MOSES conference as executive director, La Crosse Common Council Member Fran Formanek pronounced Saturday Faye Jones Day in La Crosse, reading a proclamation issued by Mayor Tim Kabat.

While praising Jones work with the organization and on the annual conference, Formanek noted that the city is poised to spend millions updating the La Crosse Center, assuring the facility will have room for an event that has started to feel some growing pains.
BLACK RIVER FALLS -- Wildlife officials have completed the second and final round of elk trapping that will add to Jackson Countys fledgling herd.

Officials from Wisconsin and Kentucky trapped 40 animals that now will undergo a quarantine period before being hauled to the Black River State Forest in Jackson County.

The trapping comes as officials announced the local herd experienced two more deaths by wolves, dropping the current total in Jackson County to 15.

The mortalities are certainly disappointing -- its something we always knew was a possibility, but we were hoping we wouldnt see it for a while, said Scott Roepke, a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist who serves Jackson and Clark counties. The project certainly is not over. Were moving forward as best we can. Weve got a great group of elk currently in our quarantine pen in Kentucky, and we certainly think that is going to be a great benefit to the reintroduction.

The elk in Kentucky will receive daily care and monitoring, along with testing, before being taken to Jackson County in late March. The animals also will spend time in an acclimation pen in the state forest area where they will undergo similar monitoring before being released sometime in early summer.

Officials from both states trapped 28 elk in Kentucky last year and brought 26 back to Jackson County where some died and others were born to bring the current number to 15. Elk were last seen in Wisconsin in the mid-20th century and werent present in the state until a project reintroduced animals into the Clam Lake area more than 20 years ago.

Wisconsin and Kentucky have a three-year trapping agreement, and animals captured next year will go to the Clam Lake herd.

With two elk herds now on the landscape, the (DNR) and our partners will continue efforts to bring more elk to Wisconsin and, in the process, give the people of Wisconsin yet another reason to head into the outdoors and explore everything Wisconsin has to offer, DNR secretary Cathy Stepp said in a statement.

This years trapping in Kentucky garnered 14 more animals than last years effort thanks in part due to an earlier start, access to land with good elk population and good weather conditions.

There are a lot of variables at play trying to capture wild animals -- things such as weather and access to private property play a role in it, Roepke said. We put forth a similar effort the last year using the same number of traps and working the same areas. Its just partly a matter of a little bit of luck and putting forth as much effort as possible.

The recently trapped animals include a majority of females that officials hope are carrying calves to help bolster the herd even further.

We are very happy with how things went in the second year of this project, DNR bureau of wildlife management director Tom Hauge said in a statement. The majority of this years class are females, including many adult cows that are likely carrying calves."

Roepke said the project, funded through private money, continues to receive strong support from its private partner organizations.

This project would not be possible without all of our partner support, he said. We would like to take the opportunity to thank them and show our appreciation for them to see this project through.
I agree with letter writer Steve Kiedrowski (Feb. 21), who said the the Hiawatha Statue in Riverside Park is a noble tribute to Native Americans.

In 1980, artist Anthony Zimmerhakl designed a mural of Noahs Ark in the basement of St. Pauls Lutheran Church.

I was asked to do the painting of the ark and the boarding animals that covered the span of one wall. This was my first contact with Zimmerhakl, and I gleaned from his artistry and temperament that he was a man who would never portray his work with a racial bias.

The Big Indian statue in Riverside Park is a symbol of pride and dignity that tribes hold in their native culture. People who see a racial taint around this issue are looking for something that really isnt there.

Zimmerhakl left this artistic piece as a part of history, and he should be remembered as a local artist and community leader with a mission to highlight the heritage of Native Americans.
The anti-Trump onslaught is coming. Perhaps within weeks. Just not necessarily from Republicans.

Almost as soon as Donald Trump is the presumptive GOP nominee  which may be as early as March 15  Democrats will surely start to churn out their negative ads.

They will attack Trumps credentials as a tribune of the little guy by focusing on a money-grubbing venture like Trump University, designed to extract as much cash as possible from people who thought they would learn something from the shell of a school.

They will dissect his business record. They will fasten on his failed casinos and the bankruptcies he used to stiff creditors while maintaining a lavish lifestyle.

They will fry him for hypocrisy on immigration by pointing out that Trump Tower was built by illegal Polish immigrants worked to the bone and that, according to news reports, illegal immigrants are helping build his new hotel in Washington.

They will make the cheap threats he throws at anyone who crosses him a character and temperament issue. They will hound him about his unreleased tax returns. And, of course, they will use decades-worth of controversial statements to portray him as racist and sexist.

This will all be in the tradition of the early Democratic ad campaigns that successfully kneecapped Republican nominees in 1996 and 2012 (Bob Dole and Mitt Romney, respectively). A Democratic campaign to disqualify Trump would seek to make his unfavorable rating (already 60 percent with the general public) not merely alarming, but completely radioactive.

How will Trump fare against such ads? Maybe he will prove impervious to all such criticism, or maybe he will wilt under the assault. Who knows?

In this sense, Republicans are outsourcing the vetting of their front-runner to the other party. At this rate, they will make Trump their de facto standard-bearer in a little less than three weeks, never having run him through the paces of the painful testing that is usually inherent to the process.

Yes, Trump has been constantly criticized. But op-eds arent the same as attack ads. A Washington Post analysis found that of $215 million super PAC spending so far, only 4 percent has been directed at the man on the cusp of securing the nomination.

A variety of reasons account for the de facto moratorium on sustained Trump attacks to this point: clashing candidate interests; exhaustion after so many donors gave so much to the Jeb Bush super PAC Right to Rise with so little effect; fear of Trump. Democrats wont be similarly constrained.

The last two viable non-Trump Republican candidates have come up small against the mogul. You would think that the rise of Trump  a seismic political event  would inspire a larger argument about the future of the party, the nature of conservatism or the discontent of blue-collar America, but instead Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are squabbling over who photoshopped whom.

Cruz has engaged in hostilities with Trump when he cant possibly avoid them, as in Iowa and South Carolina, but let up in New Hampshire, when it didnt suit his purposes. Rubio continues to duck and cover, putting tactics (he, of course, wants Cruz out of the race) over leadership.

If Cruz and Rubio arent going to consistently attack Trump, at least they should have something to say to his working-class voters who feel they are being left behind and ignored. Yet Cruz and Rubio, loyal sons of their party, do not naturally think in these terms. They know how to have a debate over which of them is more adamantly against gay marriage, but a direct appeal to blue-collar voters on bread-and-butter issues appears outside their comfort zones.

If Trump romps to the nomination by mid-March, non-Trump Republicans will have lost to him in part through a lack of trying. That will never be true of the Democrats, who will gleefully and maliciously do the Trump vetting that the GOP race has, so far, been missing.
Something vile happened in Chippewa Falls last week  and its not what you think.

Rep. Kathy Bernier, R-Lake Hallie, walked out of a meeting with educators because they dared ask why Minnesota was faring better than Wisconsin on some economic metrics.

We began asking that question more than a year ago  and President Barack Obama referred to our editorial during his visit to the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in July.

But Bernier thinks such comparisons are political and hateful.

She made her feelings clear to educators who questioned her last week. And before she left the meeting in anger, she said: This vile political speech is not helpful.

Vile?

Maybe her dictionary is different than mine (Websters), but I dont think asking why the neighbor is faring better is morally despicable or abhorrent, evil or immoral, disgustingly and utterly bad and contemptible.

It might fall under the definition of unpleasant, but that doesnt mean its an unfair question  especially as Wisconsin continues to cut funding for education while Minnesota is working on a healthy surplus.

Of course, Ive had experience asking Bernier questions she doesnt appreciate.

During an editorial board interview with the Chippewa Herald a couple of years ago, I asked whether she thinks that Wisconsins priorities are out of whack now that the state spends more on corrections than it does on the University of Wisconsin System.

So, last weeks forum with educators wasnt the first time shes heard the topic.

I quickly understood that Bernier didnt agree  and thats fine. When were paying more for incarceration than education at our state universities, we should all be asking about our priorities. But she doesnt see it that way.

Ive heard plenty of vile political speech covering politics for 40 years  especially during the past few years in Wisconsin.

No party  not Republican or Democrat, not independent or green or tea  has an exclusive hold on vile politicking. Ive seen it and heard it from all sides.

But simply asking about the neighbors success doesnt qualify as vile.

What is vile is the notion that an elected representative of the public who belongs to the majority party believes she is above question, above scrutiny, above public debate  especially during a public forum.

Thats vile  as vile as trying to gut the states laws governing open meetings and open records, which her party attempted in July.

A day after her departure from the meeting with educators, Bernier told a Herald reporter: Its worse than going to a dentist, going to these meetings.

I happen to like my dentist and would gladly offer a referral, but I dont think that would help.

Dont be so cynical about the state of Wisconsin and how were doing, because were doing great, she said the day after, when she released information showing the two states are roughly equal in per-pupil spending for K-12  yet Wisconsin has a much better graduation rate.

We are doing well. And I am so tired of hearing how bad we are, she said.

But we could do better. From education to infrastructure and broadband accessibility to the availability of workforce to fill jobs, we can do better.

Saying that isnt vile. Its the truth.

If Bernier believes shes above questioning about issues involving the states spending priorities and strategies for growth, she was in the wrong meeting. In fact, if she cant be professional and engage in honest discussion, shes in the wrong business.
A majority of Madison School Board members say they want to add more discretion to the front end of the districts expulsion process, calling the current approach too rigid.

The discussion follows the highly publicized case of sixth-grader Dereian Brown, who was expelled last month for allegedly bringing a BB gun to school. However, board members said the issue has been bubbling up for some time and is broader than any one case.

At a work session this week and in later interviews, several board members said the current approach, while more flexible than the zero-tolerance policies of years past, still too often ignores individual circumstances and lands too many students in lengthy, stressful expulsion hearings.

Discretion currently resides largely at the end of the process with the board, board member TJ Mertz said. By that point, families have been put through hell, he said.

The district is in the second school year of a new conduct code called the Behavior Education Plan. The approach seeks to keep more students in the classroom by reducing suspensions and expulsions, though finding the right balance between consequences and compassion has been a struggle for the district.

The board hires independent examiners to hear expulsion cases and recommend punishment. The board can accept, reject or modify any expulsion recommendation after reviewing transcripts from the hearing. Comments by board members this week suggest they are seeing too many expulsion cases that they deem unnecessary.

It shouldnt come to us, these really borderline things, board member Dean Loumos said at Mondays work session. Some of these things are really head-shaking.

Board member Michael Flores said in an interview hed like to see a little bit of common sense in certain situations so that fewer families get caught up in these situations.

In the Dereian Brown case, administrators acknowledged that the boy did not threaten anyone with the BB gun and that no one on staff saw him in possession of it. He allegedly confessed after the fact to having had it at school.

Under district policy, a student who brings any type of gun to school, whether a firearm or a toy gun, is automatically recommended for expulsion. Dereians case led some community members to criticize the district for seemingly going overboard in its punishment.

Administrators initially sought to expel the boy for two semesters. While the board upheld a hearing examiners recommendation to expel the boy, it allowed Dereian to be eligible for immediate reinstatement and he returned within days.

Currently, the districts coordinator for progressive discipline reviews each expulsion recommendation before it goes to a hearing. If procedures were not followed or if there is not sufficient evidence, the coordinator can dismiss the case, said district spokeswoman Rachel Strauch-Nelson.

During the 2014-15 school year, 52 students were recommended for expulsion, of which eight cases were dismissed. Twenty-two students ended up being expelled.

While signaling that they want to expand discretion somewhere along the process, board members acknowledged that peoples biases could unconsciously bleed into a process that is too flexible.

One goal of the Behavior Education Plan was to strip out personal biases so that all students are treated consistently for similar behaviors regardless of race, gender or cultural background.

We want to have something objective in place, but on the flip side, we have to find that balance, because we cant completely disregard extenuating factors, including the students age, said board member Anna Moffit.

Board President James Howard said he would need some convincing to give school principals too much discretion, as that could lead to a patchwork of approaches. Board member Ed Hughes acknowledged that concern but said maybe that risk is outweighed by the genuine costs we see of still having kind of a policy that ties our hands from doing what people think is the right thing to do in individual circumstances.

Mertz floated the idea of a three-person panel that would need to sign off on an expulsion recommendation before it proceeded to a hearing. Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham called the idea worth thinking about, saying a small group of trained personnel such as psychologists and social workers could vet each case.

Cheatham said her administrative team will consider the board feedback and return this spring with formal recommendations on how the expulsion process could be revised.
Puerto Rico braces for wave of Zika virus  SAN JUAN  As the Zika virus sweeps through the hemisphere, Puerto Rico has become Americas own front line in the battle against it  home to 3.5 million U.S. citizens and with a tropical landscape that is an ideal breeding ground for the mosquito that spreads Zika, as well as the dengue and chikungunya already common here. Officials have barred local blood donations, ramped up efforts to eradicate the Aedes aegypti mosquito and are trying to monitor every pregnant woman on the island due to fears Zika might cause birth defects.

Early results point to gains by moderates  TEHRAN, Iran  Partial election results in Iran on Saturday point to major gains by reformists and moderates who favor expanding freedoms and engaging with the West, and who defended the recently implemented nuclear deal with world powers against opposition from hard-liners. Fridays election was the first since last summers agreement was finalized, lifting international economic sanctions in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear program. U.S. officials had hoped the deal would strengthen President Hassan Rouhani and other moderates, paving the way for greater cooperation on other regional issues.

Pilot kicks rowdy bachelor party off plane  BERLIN  German police say the pilot of a Ryanair plane from London to Bratislava made an unscheduled landing to eject members of a bachelor party  including the groom. Federal police say the six men had disturbed security on board the plane and ignored the crews instructions, prompting the pilot to land in Berlin late Friday. The other 164 passengers, including six members of the bachelor party who hadnt taken part in the rowdy behavior, were able to continue their flight to Slovakia.

Activists denounce sewage  RIO DE JANEIRO  Activists alleging that decades of neglect and authorities repeated failure to make good on cleanup promises have effectively killed one of Rio de Janeiros most iconic waterways staged Saturday a symbolic burial of the Guanabara Bay, the sewage-filled waters where Olympic sailing competitions are to be held. The demonstration was held on one of the citys most polluted beaches, Botagofo, which is enveloped in a sulfuric stench, dotted by household trash and looks out over the iconic Sugarloaf Mountain.

Leaders ex-lover held in corruption probe  LA PAZ, Bolivia  The former lover of President Evo Morales who was working as a high-ranking executive at a Chinese firm has been arrested as part of a probe into alleged influence trafficking involving hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts. Gabriela Zapata was expected to be charged Saturday with illegal enrichment, laundering of unjust gains and influence trafficking, according to her lawyer. She was taken into custody on Friday at the request of Bolivias anti-corruption agency, who argued she was a flight risk.

Poles protest conservative government  WARSAW  Thousands of Poles chanting We will defend democracy! and Lech Walesa! rallied Saturday in Warsaw to protest moves by Polands three-month-old conservative government that they say undermine freedoms and the constitution. The march was organized by the Committee for the Defense of Democracy, which was formed in November in reaction to moves by the ruling Law and Justice party that have essentially paralyzed the Constitutional Tribunal, preventing it from acting as a check on new government legislation.

Muscovites mark year since Nemtsov slain  MOSCOW  Chanting Russia will be free, about 30,000 people marched across Moscow on Saturday in memory of the slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in a strong outpouring of emotion on the anniversary of his killing. Some carried signs saying I am not afraid. The march was the largest opposition gathering since a similar number turned out to mourn Nemtsov two days after he was shot late at night as he and a companion walked across a bridge near the Kremlin.
Like anything new in life comes challenges, sometimes small and easy to attain, while others are other large and filled with new adventure. The new robotic class at Westby Area High School was filled with both and from its inaugural year forward any future challenges will be met with optimism knowing it can be done with teamwork, ingenuity and a love for the unknown.

For years, instructor Ed Pedretti has been encouraged by fellow educators from other school districts to develop a robotics class at Westby Area High School and for years he admits he thought about it, but it wasnt until the fall of 2015, that Pedretti took the leap, approached the school board, presented a plan and received board approval to create a robotics class at the high school level.

Known as the Thorbots a group of 13 high school age students were selected to participate in the class with Pedretti at the helm. The students, were required to fill out an application to participate in the new program and from there the field was narrowed based on a wide variety of criteria including academic strengths in science and math fields. Students selected were Kayla Buros, Joyce Todd, Madelyn Mills, Cody Sorenson, Sydney Sherry, Brady Wemette, Travis Forgues, Austin Klum, Lucas Seland, Owen Gluch, Reid Dosch, Elsa Luebke, Eva Gajewski. The program also required adult mentors to guide students through the robot construction process. So Pedretti coerced Craig Buros and David Roethel to bring their expertise to the table, Buros for electrical guidance and Roethel to help engineer the program to completion.

Clueless as to what challenges were on the horizon, Pedretti applied for and received a $6,000 grant to purchase the robotic starter kit and sought out financial assistance from area business to help sponsor it from start to finish, including covering the majority of the costs for the class to attend the Wisconsin Regional Robotics Competition, coming up March 23-26 in Milwaukee. Area sponsors include: Vernon Communications, Vernon Electric, WCCU, American Family Insurance/Phil Strand, Lely Robotics/Rick Rugg, Ann Kurth, S & S Cycle, and Chaseburg Manufacturing.

The Westby team selected First Stronghold Robotics as its program of choice. Founded in 1989 and based in Manchester, NH, FIRST is a 501(3) not-for-profit public charity designed to inspire young peoples interest and participation in science and technology, and to motivate them to pursue education and career opportunities in STEM fields. The global venture provides four levels of competition, involves 400,000 students; 44,000 teams; 100,000 mentors; and 100,000 volunteers. The First Stronghold scholarship program has also provided more than $$22 million to college bound students.

In 2016, more than 3,000 teams comprised of 78,000 students from around the world will compete in robotic competitions around the country. In just six weeks, Westbys first year students built, programmed and tested its robot, which to everyones amazement runs like a champ.

Students were divided into groups based and challenged to build and program a robot to perform prescribed tasks, including picking up a ball and maneuvering over numerous obstacles against a field of competitors. This years contest challenge was designed with castles and moats, which the robot had to successfully pass over to earn points. They attended a trial run competition at Onalaska Luther High School on Feb. 20, where the Thorbots were honored and humbled to receive the award for Engineering Innovation, an award seldom ever given to a first year school team.

Pedretti could not speak highly enough about the students and their dedication to the success of the robotics program. He said when he picked up the two crates that contained the robotic challenge, parts and guidelines in January and laid it all out on a table he was sure they could never finish building the robot in only six weeks.

I thought we had bit off more than we could chew. I had no idea where to begin. Craig and I read the manual so many times that our heads were spinning, but little by little and piece by piece it started to take shape and the kids were fantastic, Pedretti said.

Kayla Buros, was the project manager and worked closely with her father on the electrical. Cody Sorenson was the welding pro. Travis Forgues, a gamer by nature, was placed behind the wheel using a video game controller to operate the robot remotely with a laptop program design. Joyce Todd developed a website to track the process from start to finish. The fabrication team designed logos and the build team constructed amazing test obstacles out of wood.

Everyone had key roles in the develop and construction of the robot. It was like a big puzzle and we had to make all the pieces fit. So we bounced ideas off each other and the mentors assisted us when we couldnt figure something out, Kayla said.

The Thorbots had six weeks to finish the robot. They began building the robot on Jan. 9 and finished it a week before the Feb. 23 deadline. Westbys robot is 16 inches high and weighs 80 pounds, which is well within the rule guidelines. No robot can be over 54 inches high and cannot weigh more than 120 pounds. It is also 118 inches around the perimeter, which is two inches less than the maximum of 120 inches.

The robot operates on a single 12 volt battery and has a variety of wheels to make it roll. The team altered its wheel design and used the expertise of S&S Cycle to engineer a wheel prototype that allows the robot to better climb the required obstacles in the challenge. The robot has a special arm designed to lift and close panels on some of the tougher obstacles on the course and a built in camera provides visual assistance for the controller.

The Westby team is thrilled with its finished project and impressed by how sturdy its construction is in comparison to some of the other robots they saw at the scrimmage. On Feb. 23, the robot was placed in large plastic bag and sealed. The bag cannot be opened and no fine tuning can be done until after the regional competition in Milwaukee at the end of March.

Kayla said the entire experience has been worthwhile. She said the team had to use patience, be problem solvers and think outside the box to make it happen. She said it helps to have strong science and math skills plus technology interest, but even without that there are jobs to do and experiences to challenge you.

I would definitely encourage students to apply next year. Some people thought it was nerdy, but once they saw the robot operate they were amazed. This has been a great learning experience, Kayla said.

The impressive robotic project incorporates real-world business and engineering into one. Pedretti is grateful for all the time students and mentors spent to ensure the success of the program and he is looking forward to the future. Pedretti is hoping for more mentors to get involved as the program grows. He said the communication and interaction between the students and adults over the past six weeks has been is great and is much needed in a world where social media has inhibited peoples one-on-one communication skills.

For more information about the Westby robotics program or to become a future mentor contact Ed Pedretti at Westby Area High School. Call 608-634-0155 or email ed.pedretti@westby-norse.org




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Sunday, February 28, 2016

This column examines some of the statistical data about cousin marriage in the United States. An estimated 0.2 percent of marriages in the United States are between individuals who are second cousins or closer  that means there are about 250,000 people in America in those relationships. These are older statistics, but there are some experts who think that the numbers might be rising in the near future. The term that is often used to describe these sorts of marriages is consanguinity, and this article provides a map showing the global prevalence of these sorts of relationships. These types of relationships are rare in the United States, but there are other parts of the world where consanguinity is more common. In the United States 25 states currently ban marriage between first cousins and there are other states that have restrictions on it.

See Mona Chalabi, How Many Americans Are Married To Their Cousins?, Five Thirty Eight, May 15, 2015.

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law) for bringing this article to my attention.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/trusts_estates_prof/2016/02/statistics-about-cousin-marriage-in-the-united-states.html


Hers is a rags to riches story.

Madam C.J. Walker went from poverty -- being the daughter of freed slaves -- to being a wealthy African-American businesswoman.

She was a millionaire at a time when African-American women usually cleaned houses or worked other jobs for low pay.

Madam C.J. Walker made her money making and selling cosmetics to African-American women.

Her great-great granddaughter, ALelia Bundles, researched and wrote a book about her: On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker.

Madam Walker for me was a woman who embodied the great American dream. A person who had an idea, and she parlayed it into a fortune. But more important, she used that fortune and she used her influence to try to make a difference in her community.

Walker made her fortune developing and creating hair-care products for African-American women. Bundles says no one else was filling that demand. So, she says, Walker took a very small idea, and turned it into a big company.

Born to Freed Slaves

She was the first child in her family born into freedom, in 1867 in Delta, Louisiana. Her parents had been slaves, but gained their freedom in 1865. They named her Sarah Breedlove.

Sadly, Walker was orphaned at 7 years old. She married at 14, but her husband died when she was 20. In 1888, she moved north to St. Louis, Missouri. There she worked as a poor washer woman, cleaning other peoples clothes. Bundles says it was where Walker learned some of her marketing skills, and developed her drive to succeed.

She learned from women at church. They were involved in the National Association of Colored Women, and Walker learned about organizing and holding meetings, about gathering women to work together for a common cause.

She had had to survive as a washer woman. So she had to be good at marketing her skills, even then, but she took that to the next level. Marketing her products. She traveled all over the United States after she married her third husband, Charles Joseph Walker. They were in Denver and then they traveled throughout the Southern and Eastern United States.

"A Secret Formula"

Like other early cosmetic businesswomen, Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, Bundles says Madam Walker embellished her stories about her products.

Well, everybody said they had a secret formula that no one else could see, but it a really basic system of vegetable shampoo and ointment with sulfur.

ALelia Bundles grew up using Madam C.J. Walkers silverware on her dining room table, but never knew her. She has studied her great-great grandmother for more than four decades. She says Madam Walker was a marketing and distribution genius.

I have to say, Im continuously amazed, not only at the way that she can still inspire others, but at some of her really innovative approaches to advertising, to marketing, to developing products, and to having really high standards about the quality of her products.

Marketing and Distribution

Madam Walker knew how to get the word out about her products. She would advertise in the newspapers that African-Americans read. She had cards printed with her information on them. At a time without airplanes, telephones or the Internet, she traveled across the country and spread the word of her company.

In each town they visited, she and her husband went to both the Black churches -- the Baptist and the AME, or African Methodist Episcopal, churches. That way she could speak with all the women in the different churches. She used before and after pictures in ads, to show how well her products worked -- something still done by companies today.

Empowering Women

She also employed women at the top levels of her business. That was also rare then. Walker gave women power at a time when women could not even vote in the U.S. But her factory manager, her national sales manager and her bookkeeper were all women.

So she had a much bigger vision than just selling hair products. It was empowering women. It was helping them to understand their role in the community as leaders.

And lead she did. She organized and trained women to sell her products. She had her first conference for her sales women in 1917. That management practice became well-known decades later by a later cosmetic businesswoman named Mary Kay Ash. But Mary Kay did not start her company until 1963.

When Walker held her sales conferences, she gave out prizes not just to women who sold the most. She also rewarded those who gave to charity and were involved in political causes, Bundles says.

Her sales agents discussed making money for buying real estate and educating their children, as well as giving to charity.

By the time Walker died on May 25, 1919, she had trained thousands of women in the Walker System of Hair Culture. She left tens of thousands of dollars to charitable organizations, educational institutions and political causes.

Bundles says Walker was a workaholic, who was driven to succeed. When asked about the secret to her success, Walker herself said, whatever success I have attained has been the result of much hard work and many sleepless nights.

But she also had a sense of humor, and she loved art and music. She liked the old and the new -- opera and the new ragtime music coming out at that time.

Walker owned three automobiles in 1913, when less than 10 percent of licensed drivers were women. She even shipped one of them, along with her personal driver, when she took a business trip to Central America and the Caribbean.

Charity and Political Work

With her fortune, Walker supported both the arts and political groups. She worked hard to end lynching. Lynching is when a mob, usually a group of white people, would kill an African-American person by hanging or setting them on fire, for a made-up crime they did not commit.

The Equal Justice Initiative says that nearly 4,000 African-Americans were killed by lynching in the U.S. between 1877 and 1950.

Walkers company still survives to this day, but it is owned by a different company, Sundail Brands. Last Tuesday, the company announced it will start selling a new line of Madam C.J. Walker hair care products. Beginning in March, they will be available at Sephora stores in the U.S. They have new ingredients, but, the company says the products carry on Walkers spirit.

Richelieu Dennis is CEO of Sundail Brands. He said these products continue Madam C.J. Walkers legacy to help every woman feel sure of herself. Its also a dream come true not just for us, but for the millions of women who have been touched by the legacy of Madam C.J. Walker and the millions more who will be inspired to reach their own levels of greatness by hearing her story.

Madam Walker absolutely was a woman ahead of her time, says her great-great granddaughter. She was a rich and successful businesswoman when women -- especially African-American women -- could not get high paying jobs.

And, she made the hair-care products not just to build her own fortune, but also to use that money to help her community.

Im Anne Ball.

Anne Ball wrote this story. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

What do you think about Madam C.J. Walkers life? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section and visit our Facebook page

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

rags to riches  phrase. someone who was poor and then became wealthy

cosmetics  n. beauty products and make-up

embody  v. to represent something in a clear and obvious way

parlay  v. to use something to get something else of greater value

fortune  n. a very large amount of money

orphaned  v. to cause a child to lose its parents

embellish  v. to make something more attractive or appealing

ointment  n. a smooth substance that is rubbed onto the skin to heal a wound or reduce pain or discomfort

sulfur  n. a yellow chemical element used in medicine or gunpowder

genius n. a very smart person

innovative  adj. introduce or use new ideas or methods

bookkeeper  n. a person whose job is to keep financial records for a business

workaholic  n. a person who chooses to work a lot, and always thinking about work

legacy  n. something that comes from someone in the past, how the person is remembered


The United States government owns nearly a third of the nations land, including nearly half of Western states.

In the rest of the country, the federal government owns just 4 percent of the land. For most Americans, federally-owned -- or public -- land is not a major issue.

But for people who live in the West, federal or public land ownership can be an issue.

The federal government owns almost 47 percent in the Western states of California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah. In Nevada, the U.S. government owns 85 percent of the land.

Farmers and ranchers who depend on land for their livelihood have clashed with government officials about how to use the land.

Having land helped to create a strong federal government. But by the mid-1800s, the government was selling land in the West to encourage people to move there.

The Congressional Research Service is an agency that gives information to the U.S. Congress. It says the federal government gave away or sold about 522 million hectares of federal land between 1781 and 2013.

Few people live on or near federal land in the West. Much of the land is national forests, places for wildlife to live without being hunted, parks used to protect and grow plants and animals, and recreation areas.

Much of the land is used for fishing, grazing, hunting and logging.

The federal government still buys land. But since 1990, federal or public lands have decreased by more than 3 percent, or 9.5 million hectares.

Some state lawmakers in the West want the federal government to release more land. They have written bills, or legislation, that call on their state to take control of federal lands.

But fishermen and hunters who use the lands worry that if the state takes control, the land will be sold to private owners. They may then be unable to use the land.

Many people have different goals and plans for the land. It will continue to be an issue for citizens, industry and politicians.

Im Jonathan Evans.

Dora Mekouar reported on this story for VOANews.com. Kathleen Struck edited this report for VOA Learning English

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

encourage  v. to make (someone) more likely to do something

park  n. a large area of public land kept in its natural state to protect plants and animals

recreation  n. something people do to relax or have fun; activities done for enjoyment

graze  v. to eat grass or other plants that are growing in a field or pasture

log  v. to cut down trees in an area for wood


The Egyptian military admitted last week it made a mistake when sentencing a 4-year-old boy to prison for life.

A mistaken identity and confusion inside the Egyptian court system led to the error. A 16-year-old boy was to be sentenced for murder. But a 4-year-old was sentenced because he had a similar name.

Ahmed Mansour Qurani Ali was wrongly convicted for playing a part in a Muslim Brotherhood riot in 2014. Alis lawyer provided documents which proved Ali was 1 year old at the time.

The teenager the military meant to convict was Ahmed Mansour Qurani Sharara.

Fox News reported that the military has not announced what the next steps will be for the child and his family since the error was admitted.

The conviction of a 4-year-old child for the crime of murder is the latest embarrassment for the Egyptian court. The court has been accused of secrecy and too many arrests of citizens.

More than 40,000 people have been imprisoned in Egypt during the past two years, the BBC reported.

Im Jim Dresbach.

United Press International reported on this story. Jim Dresbach adapted the story for VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page.

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

convicted  v. to prove that someone is guilty of a crime in a court of law

teenager  n. a person aged from 13 to 19 years

embarrassment  n. the state of feeling foolish in front of others


Did you know that U.S. General John Pershing shot 49 terrorists with bullets covered in pigs blood?

No?

But presidential candidate Donald Trump told that story to at least 2,000 people at a campaign rally recently.

The story is nothing more than Internet rumor, according to Snopes.com. It found nothing that documents the story about General John Pershing in the Philippines more than 100 years ago.

Trumps story on General Pershing is one of a large number of untrue or unconfirmed statements from the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Is this an unusual campaign season?

There is no scientific way to know if more lies are being told in this campaign than any other, according to Dartmouth College political scientist Brendan Nyhan.

With that said, I think it is fair to say Donald Trump is going beyond norms for inaccuracy among top presidential candidates, he said.

Long history of telling a lie in politics

Telling a lie or falsehood is not new to American politics. Even the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, known as Honest Abe, did not always tell the truth.

He did not tell members of Congress about negotiations to end the Civil War in 1865, according to a 2014 James Conroy book on Lincoln. It is called, Our One Common Country: Abraham Lincoln and The Hampton Roads Peace Conference Of 1865.

A newspaper backing John Adams for president in 1800 said that if his opponent, Thomas Jefferson, was elected, terrible things would happen.

Murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest will be openly taught and practiced, the newspaper said. That information comes from the Miller Center at the University of Virginia.

Telling a lie in the 2016 campaign

PolitiFact.org is a news site that studies and rates the accuracy of claims from government officials and political candidates.

Among leading Republican presidential candidates, Politifact reviewed 93 statements from Trump and rated 77 percent of them as false. It rated 59 percent of Senator Ted Cruzs 79 statements and 42 percent of Senator Marco Rubios 136 statements as false. Cruz is from Texas, and Rubio from Florida.

On the Democratic side, the site rated 28 percent of Hillary Clintons 150 statements and 32 percent of Bernie Sanders 64 claims as false.

The website also has a Pants on Fire! rating for the most inaccurate claims from the candidates. Trump again leads all candidates in that rating.

During his victory speech in New Hampshire in February, Trump called the 5 percent unemployment rate reported by the government as phony. He said, "The number's probably 28, 29, as high as 35. In fact, I even heard recently 42 percent." Not true, according to PolitiFact.

Trump rejected PolitiFacts criticism. He said the group is a left-wing group and treats him unfairly. PolitiFact said it holds conservatives and liberals to the same fact-checking standards.

During a January debate in Iowa, Senator Cruz claimed that President Barack Obamas health care program is the nations biggest job killer.

Not true, Politifact said. Not only has the number of jobs gone up, but the number of unwilling part-timers has gone down.

In January, Senator Rubio said to the Meet the Press news program that he would not negotiate prisoner exchange with Iran. The Republican candidate said, When I become president of the United States,  it will be like Ronald Reagan, where as soon as he took office the hostages were released from Iran."

Not true. Politifact wrote, The Carter administration negotiated the deal months before Reagans inauguration, without involvement by Reagan or his transition team. Rubios claim is an imaginative re-reading of history.

PolitiFact labeled false Hillary Clintons statement: We now have more jobs in solar than we do in oil." And it also called false this statement by Bernie Sanders: Not one Republican has the guts to recognize that climate change is real."

Lou Jacobson, a senior correspondent for PolitiFact, said some voters want candidates to tell the truth and do not like it when they do not. Other voters, however, do not always trust or believe reports that their candidate is not telling the truth, he said.

Trump is not only delivering more false statements than his top competitors for president. He has been a victim of a few, as well.

FactCheck.org said this about a Ted Cruz advertisement ,saying Trump bulldozed the home of an elderly widow to build a parking lot for his New Jersey casino:

The ad leaves the false impression that the widow lost her home, and she didnt, FactCheck said. What did happen was that a government agency, acting on behalf of Trump, tried to obtain the home. But the courts blocked them.

I'm Bruce Alpert.

Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or our Facebook Page. Share your views on what is being said in the U.S. presidential campaign. What do you think is untrue?

_______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

rumor -- n. information or a story that is passed from person to person but has not been proven to be true

inaccuracy  adj. not correct

adultery  n. sex between a married person and someone who is not that person's wife or husband

incest  n. sexual intercourse between people who are very closely related

inauguration  n. to introduce a newly elected official into a job or position with a formal ceremony

transition  n. a change from one government to another

bulldoze  v. knock down

widow  n. a woman whose husband has died


The United Nations Childrens Fund says more than one half-million children have been suffering over the past two years because of the Ukraine conflict.

Their rights are unprotected and their basic needs unmet, says UNICEF.

And the 580,000 children living near the areas controlled by Russian-supported rebels may suffer emotional problems for the rest of their lives.

Giovanna Barneris is the UNICEF representative in Ukraine. She told VOA that children are not being properly educated or housed, and cannot play. She said they have seen violence and fighting, and need psychological help.

She said it is cold in eastern Ukraine. Fuel shortages and the high cost of coal put children at risk of becoming sick. And she warned that diseases could increase because the area lacks health services and medicine.

She said children are also at risk of stepping on land mines or other unexploded devices. She told VOA there is no system for counting the number of children killed or hurt by these devices. She said information from the Ministry of Health is unrealistic and not reliable.

Soon after the conflict began, the Ukrainian government stopped sending support to people living in areas controlled by rebels. People who depend on those payments are hurting.

Barneris says the government has not restarted the payments, but Russia is trying to ease the suffering by giving money to people in the area.

Im Mario Ritter.

Lisa Schlein in Geneva reported this story for VOANews.com. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted her report for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

basic  adj. forming or relating to the most important part of something

psychological  adj. of or relating to the mind

unrealistic  adj. not showing people and things as they are in real life

reliable  adj. able to be believed; likely to be true or correct


Hello and welcome to VOA Learning Englishs Words and Their Stories!

Every week, we bring you some common words, expressions and idioms used in the United States.

Today we are going to breathe. Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathing keeps us alive. Deep breathing can lower our blood pressure and calm an over-active mind.

Today, we visit the seaside as we explore many expressions that have to do with breathing. Two friends are taking a much needed break from work. We join them as they sit on the beach, burying their feet deep in the sand.

This morning they are taking scuba lessons. They breathe in the cleansing ocean air. And they breathe out the frustrations of the work they left behind.

Lets listen.

"This is the life! I am so glad we took this vacation."

"Me, too. Sitting here listening to the ocean and the seagulls, I can finally breathe easy."

"No work for the next 14 days! Thats breathing easy!"

"Work was killing me. Right up until I left for the airport, my boss was there  breathing down my neck the whole time. Yes, boss, I finished the report. Yes, I contacted the client. Yes, I submitted the proposal. Advertising is such a non-stop industry."

"Bosses need to know that it doesnt help to breathe down someones neck. People need a little breathing room to get things done."

"That is the truth. Well, I am breathing a sigh of relief to finally be away from work. Hey, how are things with your job?"

"Its better. Several months ago, I was so busy working on a political campaign that I hardly had time to breathe."

"I know! I didnt see you for months during that campaign. I wondered when you were going to come up for air."

"And working with politicians  that can be challenging. They start to breathe their own fumes."

"In what ways are they breathing their own fumes?"

"They believe what the public and media say about them. They wont listen to anybody and they think they know best."

"I dont have to deal with that type at my office. But one colleague of mine is really getting on my nerves. She sucks all the air out of the room. Shes loud, talks all the time, and always has to be the center of attention."

"I also worked with a guy who sucked the air out of a room, too. But he left. The person who replaced him is pleasant and has many new ideas -- a real breath of fresh air."

"Thats great. You know, talking about fresh air, how about this ocean air? So much better than a polluted city. I could stay here forever."

"Wouldnt it be nice if we could win the lottery? That way we could just stay here on the beach and not worry about making money."

"I wouldnt hold your breath for that to happen. The odds of winning the lottery are not in your favor. But it sounds like you need to breathe a little life into your career. Maybe its time to look for another job."

"Well, in fact, I have a lead on a great job. But I wont know until next month. So, dont breathe a word to anyone about it."

"I promise. My lips are sealed. But, really, would you listen to us? We want to get away from work and here we are talking about it."

"Ha, youre right. Its time to put work talk aside. Here comes our scuba instructor. Speaking of breathing and coming up for air, lets not forget to do that during our scuba lesson, literally."

And thats it for this Words and Their Stories. Let us know what you think of the program or practice using these expressions on our website, at LearningEnglish.VOANews.com

Im Anna Matteo.

"Sometimes, all I need is the air that I breathe

And to love you.

All I need is the air that I breathe,

Yes to love you,

All I need is the air that I breathe..."

Anna Matteo wrote this program for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor and joined her on the beach. The song at the end of the program is The Air That I Breathe, by the Hollies.
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
(NOTE: All of this was written in 2017. It's definitely not up-to-date!)

Greetings!





I am Leila Miller (pronounce it "Layla"), a 50-year-old Catholic wife and mother of eight children, whose ages span from 25 down to 7. Three of our children are married, and I am a grandma of five!





I often tell folks that I love my "little Catholic bubble" of faithful friends and family. It's where I choose to live, in relative peace and joy.





However, the "bubble" is not exclusive! It's open to everyone.





I relish engaging the wider culture, and I do have a lot of opinions. If you read this blog, you will hear them.




JF Ptak Science Books Post 2582

1935 was not a particularly good year for Austria. The country was fighting off the threat of Anschluss--the occupation of Austria by Nazi Germany--for several years, the cause hurt by the infamous assassination of the federal chancellor Englebert Dollfus in July 1934. When this pamphlet was printed in 1935, the threat to Austria from Germany was real and advanced. This publication, Luftschutz durch Selbstschutz ("Self Protection by Anti-Aircraft Defense" or so) addressed part of this issue. It sounds more militarily-based than it is; the story though is that the pamphlet was intended as a sort of civilian defense piece, for example, asking people to join an air defense club ("hinein in dem Luftschutverein") for the protection of all ("Schutz fuer jedermann") and to be general aware and prepared for the possibility of air raids.

What attracted me from the outset was the cover design which at first doesn't actually appear to be a map, though it is--and an effective one at that. In the middle of the circle is a red Austria with a white bar; on top of that, in yellow, is a bomb in a triangle; and surrounding Austria in a blue circle are the possible approaching/attacking/threatening air forces of its neighbors. Inside the pamphlet is another, more detailed map (below) showing the disposition of opposing air forces. It is interesting to note here that Germany is shown as having zero aircraft as dictated by the Treaty of Versailles, though it was in February of this year (1935) that the Luftwaffe was organized thus disbanding part of the treaty--at this point in 1935 the threat from Germany was not presently from the air.

The pamphlet runs 64 pages and contains information for Austrians in preparing for aerial assault, in general: what to do when the bombs fall, how to prepare, what sort of supplies are needed to survive a sustained attack, and the like--plus ads for gas masks, survival goods, and such.

In the end, Germany did not bomb Austria--it disappeared as part of the Reich in March 1938 as a result of intimidation, embargo, political subterfuge, and finally the threat of war.
Established in 2007 by Timothy William Ferres: writing about a variety of topics including the Monarchy, Nobility, Gentry, Heraldry, Pageantry, Heritage of the British Isles, Country Houses, Conservation, Travel.
Why You Should Support Israel Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I will lift My hand in an oath to the nations, and set up My...
Country

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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. 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The worlds most sought-after awards for cinematic achievement are once again up for grabs. The race this year is tough. Will the spotlight fix itself on Spotlight or The Revenant? Will the day belong to a small film about paedophilia, religion and good old-fashioned investigative journalism or to a gory, big-budget extravaganza about a clash between humans and nature, between settlers and the original inhabitants of a vast, challenging land?

The answers will come on the night of Sunday, 28 February in Los Angeles, that is Monday, 29 February, morning here in India.

The Academy Awards aka the Oscars are given away by the US Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences each year. Winners are picked by Academy members votes, with the final results already lying secured in well-guarded envelopes.

Before their secrets are unwrapped by some of Hollywoods most glamorous hands (remember, our very own Priyanka Chopra is a presenter this year), arguments will continue worldwide about who will walk away with the honours.

Until then, here are my predictions for the four most-watched trophies of Oscars 2016:

Best Picture:

Nominees:

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Brooklyn

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

The Revenant

Room

Spotlight

The Best Picture race this year appears to be a three-way fight between Spotlight, The Big Short and The Revenant.

Spotlight  a perfectly paced newsroom drama about The Boston Globes series of exposes on sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in the United States  was an early favourite in this category. The film was even praised by the RC Church whose failings it sought to highlight.

Its toughest initial competition was from The Revenant, a film that is almost seven times more expensive and infinitely larger in terms of spectacle.

However, the tide turned as the film awards season rolled on, with The Big Short winning the highly predictive Producers Guild of America (PGA) Award. The Big Short is a comedy drama, an unlikely genre considering that its setting is the US financial crisis of 2007-08. Going by certain trends, now this is the film to beat on awards night.

From 1990 till date, only seven times has the Best Picture Oscar not gone to a film that won the years PGA Award.

Here is an even more convincing statistic: since 2008, the PGA winner has gone on to collect the Best Picture statuette every time, with 2014 being an unusual year only because there was a tie at the PGA between Gravity and 12 Years A Slave. Then too, 12 Years A Slave went on to win the numero uno spot at the Oscars.

Before you think this means the deal is sealed though, keep in mind that Spotlight has picked up the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for its entire cast, widely viewed by commentators as another Oscar indicator.

And as if that is not enough to confuse the hell out of bookies, The Revenant  a late release compared to the other two  appears to be picking up momentum, riding high on its rising earnings. It won a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Drama in early January, scooped up the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Award in early February and the Best Picture BAFTA just two weeks back, which suggests that the buzz around it is peaking at the right time.

Let me place this on the record: two out of my three least favourite films in this category are poised to win the Best Picture gong. The Big Short, to my mind, lacked the clarity it was aiming for, both The Revenant and Mad Max lacked soul. Spotlight is a better film by a mile, followed by Room. Ah well, cest la vie.

Likely winner: The Revenant

Possible spoilers, and very close: The Big Short, Spotlight

My personal favourite: Spotlight

Should definitely have been nominated: Inside Out, Pixars delightful 3D animation flick about the inner workings of a little girls mind that has even received salaams from psychiatrists and child psychologists in the West.

Should have been in the reckoning: Carol, Beasts of No Nation (FYI the rules permit 10 Best Picture noms)

Best Director:

Nominees:

Alejandro Gonzales Inarritu for The Revenant

Adam McKay for The Big Short

George Miller for Mad Max: Fury Road

Lenny Abrahamson for Room

Tom McCarthy for Spotlight

This one appears to be a foregone conclusion in favour of Alejandro, considering that he has already swept the major awards so far: a Golden Globe and a BAFTA for Best Director, and  the clincher in this slot  the DGA Award. According to the Directors Guild website, Only seven times since the DGA Awards inception has the DGA Award winner not won the Academy Award. That would be only seven times since 1948.

Since 2004, there has been only one occasion when the DGA winner did not go on to get a Best Director Oscar. That solo exception came in 2013 because Ben Affleck was not even nominated for helming Argo, though his film did win the years Best Picture Oscar.

Most likely winner: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

Possible spoiler, by a long shot: George Miller who won the Critics Choice Award for Best Director

My personal favourite: Tom McCarthy for his phenomenally controlled direction of Spotlight

My second choice: Lenny Abrahamson for Room

Should have been nominated: Pete Doctor and Ronnie del Carmen for Inside Out, Todd Haynes for Carol. If youve read my Best Picture notes, you know whom I would have liked to drop.

Best actress:

Nominees:

Brie Larson for Room

Cate Blanchett for Carol

Charlotte Rampling for 45 Years

Jennifer Lawrence for Joy

Saoirse Ronan for Brooklyn

The top contender in this category is 26-year-old Brie with her restrained performance as a young woman kept hostage by her rapist in a tiny shed for seven years. It was an exacting role, especially since she had to share that space and its demands with a prodigious livewire by the name of Jacob Tremblay, playing her child from the rapist.

She has already got the years Golden Globe, Critics Choice, SAG and BAFTA Awards. A win by anyone else, wonderfully gifted though they all are, will come as a shocker.

Most likely winner: Brie Larson

Closest competitor: Saoirse Ronan

My personal favourite: Brie Larson

Should have been nominated: Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl (she has received a Best Supporting Actress nomination instead)

Should not have been nominated: Jennifer Lawrence who ought to have got minus marks for her inexplicably deadpan concluding scene in the unremarkable and joyless Joy

Most probably talked her way out of the reckoning: British veteran Charlotte Rampling with her comment that this years diversity row at the Oscars is racist to white people. An artists stupidity should ideally not affect her chances, but the already beleaguered Academy may avoid her, considering the tongue-lashing it is already getting for ignoring non-white actors for a second year in a row.

Best actor:

Nominees:

Bryan Cranston for Trumbo

Eddie Redmayne for The Danish Girl

Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant

Matt Damon for The Martian

Michael Fassbender for Steve Jobs

Will this be the year Leo finally makes it? The Titanic star has been nominated in this category a total of four times including this year, the other nods he has received so far being for Aviator, Blood Diamond and The Wolf of Wall Street. He was earlier a Best Supporting Actor nominee for Whats Eating Gilbert Grape.

Take it from me  his disadvantage all this time has been that he is too pretty for Academy voters. This lot seems to prefer rugged or pared-down looks, best exemplified by how gorgeous women greatly up their chances of winning when they tone down their glamour quotient. Cases in point: Nicole Kidman, Hillary Swank, Halle Berry, Charlize Theron.

This is not to say that Leonardo is not compelling in The Revenant. He is. He must be particularly lauded for rising above the limitations of the script to deliver such a heartfelt performance (there I go again, grimacing at this emotionally empty film). Good for him then that he has improved his odds by uglifying himself for this demanding role of a fur hunter in early 1800s America, battling the elements and his own people. His face is covered with muck, blood or gashes through most of The Revenant, he ate raw bison liver for one scene and went naked into the belly of a horse carcass in one of the films most unsettling moments. If that does not do it for our boy Leo, nothing will.

It will be a huge upset if one of his tremendously talented competitors pips him to the post.

Likely winner: Leonardo DiCaprio

Possible spoiler, by a long shot: Michael Fassbender

My personal favourites: Leonardo DiCaprio and Eddie Redmayne

Should have been considered: Jacob Tremblay for Room, Idris Elba for Beasts of No Nation, Tom Courtenay for 45 Years

One of them could have replaced: Matt Damon perhaps? I mean, Matts likeable as always in The Martian, but he has done more onerous roles in the past.
If you have seen the film Neerja, then you probably were unable to take your eyes off of Khalil  the volatile terrorist whose timely outbursts kept us on the edge of our seats. Jim Sarbh who plays the role of the terrorist who looms in each frame, demanding our attention as his impatient persona makes us anxious.

Neerja, the film about a 23-year-old head purser of an airline, who saved 360 lives after terrorists hijacked the plane has been receiving heaps of praise. While, Sonam Kapoor plays the titular character, taking the lead along with her is 28-year-old Sarbh who has worked in more than a dozen plays in Mumbai. Sarbh has featured in Death of a Salesman with Alyque Padamsee, The Living Room with Kalki Koechlin and in Rajat Kapurs production of Tennesse Williams The Glass Menagerie. He also recently featured in a Rajasthan tourism advertisement.

Trained as a psychologist from Emory University in Atlanta, the Mumbai-born Parsi took up acting after he moved to Mumbai. When asked whether the degree helped him as an actor, he quips, Psychology is good for a quick first read, or when you have to give an audition it will help. But ideally you rehearse to the extent that you exceed psychology. Go past your brain and you allow your body to make decisions for you because your body is aware of a much older wisdom which your brain can never touch.

Sarbh never thought that he was pursuing acting as a career  the versatile actor with many high profile acting gigs under his belt says, Only in the last week have I suddenly become aware of this stuff (acting) as a career. Up until then it was the only thing I could do. I get bored with everything else in the world. I would just act because people kept asking me to.

Becoming Khalil

Jims portrayal of the terrorist is quite remarkable, he brings out Khalils sociopathic tendencies with finesse. Khalil is like a honey badger. He might not be the biggest villain in town but he is ferocious  he is impatient, he is hard on himself and he is hard on everyone around him. It must be miserable to actually be Khalil, adds Sarbh.

It was not easy becoming Khalil confesses Sarbh; the role took its toll on him, I was quite miserable while I was shooting. I was in this bad mood all the time, always impatient, always nervous, and always ready for a fight. In the last two days of shooting, everybody on set was seeing a different Jim. I was smiling at everyone. I was so glad to be done (with Khalil).

Actor and auteur

Apart from acting, Sarbh has also directed three plays  Untold Stories, Cock, and Bull. He takes them up like art projects and loves the idea of creating plays that sound like jazz  grandly arranged, smooth and free-flowing. Sarbh embodies different personas as actor and director. As an actor I am like a selfish child, sometimes I give into some pretty bad habits  like I am irresponsible and just like do whatever I likethat kinda thing. As a director I am more like a loving parent. Pray to god that the child does well on the first day of school.

We will soon see him in other projects like Death of a Ganj  a Konkana Sen Sharma film, where he is working with stalwarts like Om Puri, Tanuja, Gulshan Devaiya, Ranveer Shorey and Vikrant Massey. He is also playing the role of a Mexican janitor in Rajat Kapurs play What Is Done Is Done.

The actor is capable of giving fantastic performances, Neerja being a minor case in point. Confident in his abilities, the actor says, As an actor I should be able to convey my characters dilemmas to my audience. If its time for them to feel sad, they will feel sad. If its time for them to feel happy, they will be happy.
By Puja Changoiwala

Now seventy three-year-old Zaibunnisa Anwar Kazi was arrested for the same offence as actor Sanjay Dutt  hoarding ammunition to be used for the 1993 Mumbai blasts. She was given the same quantum of punishment as Dutt  five years. And yet, even as the actor managed an acquittal under the Terrorism and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA), Zaibunnisa was branded as a terrorist. Even as Dutt could easily avail a healthy number of parole and furlough leaves during his sentence, Zaibunnisas family had to knock doors for at least seven months each time they got her the relief. And even as Dutt made his celebrated walk of freedom earlier this week, Zaibunnisa, even today, languishes in a state prison. Their crime was the same, and yet, their justice different, simply because Zaibunnisa is not Sanjay Dutt; worse, she is one of us.

She is not a terrorist, says Kamini Jaiswal, an eminent Supreme Court lawyer, Zaibunnisa is a victim of circumstances. Even Sanjay Dutt was not a terrorist. He was just a stupid macho man, and then he owned it up. But you had the chief minister talking in his favour. On the other hand, this lady was only a common person. But just because she doesnt have a fancy and elite backing, she does not deserve to be treated this way, and that too on basis of such frugal evidence. Zaibunnisa has more than suffered.

It was 17 April, 1993. Zaibunnisa, then a 50-year-old housewife, was at her Bandra home with her daughters. A team of policemen came knocking on her door. They asked her if she knew Abu Salem, the gangster who was accused of supplying weapons for the blasts. Zaibunnisa responded saying that she didnt know him well, just vaguely. He is a real estate agent. He has come to my house before, she told them. The policemen assured her that they would take her to the police station, and would let her go after she recorded her statement with them. The woman agreed, but within two days, she was booked and arrested under TADA.

According to the police, Zaibunnisa was privy to the conspiracy behind the terrorist act which claimed 257 lives. It was alleged that a consignment of AK-56 rifles, hand grenades and other arms was delivered to Zaibunnisas home, and that when she accepted the bag, she was aware that it contained ammunition to be used for the blasts. The cops had brought on record a confessional statement of co-accused Manzoor Ahmed, who claimed to have delivered the weapons to Zaibunnisa.

Manzoors confession read, We went to the apartment and handed over the bag to a lady and told that the bag contains arms for causing riots and they were sent by Anis bhai (main conspirator Dawood Ibrahims brother) and that they would take the bag after some days. After saying so, he gave the bag to the middle-aged lady. The lady opened the bag and after seeing its contents, closed the same and took it inside the room.





(Co-accused Manzoor Ahmed's retracted confession where he claimed to have dropped a consignment of AK-56 rifles, hand grenades and other arms at Zaibunnisa's Bandra home.)

The police said that the consignment, which was dropped at Zaibunnisas home, was picked up from the residence of Sanjay Dutt, who had ordered them for self-protection. The actor was booked and arrested for the same offence as Zaibunnisa. But he managed to secure bail while Zaibunnisa remained in judicial custody. It was four months before she could return home. While granting her bail on 17 August, 1993, Justice JN Patel noted that since the Honourable High Court had granted bail to Dutt, he had no hesitation to order Zaibunnisas release on bail. He stated that with the evidence present then, it could not be said that Zaibunnisa had abetted a terrorist act or was a participant in the conspiracy which led to the bomb blasts. At the most the applicant Zaibunnisa can be prosecuted for offences under the (less stringent) Arms Act or IPC, the order read.

(The order passed by Justice JN Patel while granting bail to Zaibunnisa in August, 1993, four months after her arrest.)

The order brought relief to the Kazi family. Justice Patel had deduced that Zaibunnisa, even if an accused, was not a terrorist. Further, Manzoors confession made no mention of her name. He even retracted the statement later, alleging torture preceding his confession. The Kazi family was certain that Zaibunnisa would be acquitted, but she wasnt. When the trial in the High Court ended in 2006, Zaibunnisa was convicted under TADA and sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment. When the matter escalated to the apex court, her sentence was confirmed in 2013, two decades after the blasts.

When the judgements arrived, we were stumped. Sanjay Dutt, who had confessed to calling for the weapons, who confessed to knowing these men who had delivered the consignment, was acquitted under TADA. But Zaibunnisa, who was tried for the same offence, was convicted. There was no evidence against her, except for Manzoors retracted confession. Manzoor was tortured into giving that statement. There is a roznama on record where he speaks about how he was stripped, beaten, his nails extracted, and how he was bleeding from head to toe. But even if you consider the confession, Manzoor could not identify Zaibunnisa before the court as the woman who the bag was handed to. In fact, even he was not convicted under section 6 of the TADA (for enhanced penalties), but Zaibunnisa was. Further, unlike Dutt, Zaibunnisa did not confess to anything herself. She wouldnt; she had committed no crime. Even the weapons were not retrieved from her possession, while an AK-56 was recovered from Dutt. And yet, unlike the film star, she was convicted, said a source close to the Kazi family, who did not wish to be named.

Farhana Shah, Zaibunnisas former counsel, said that the woman was awarded the sentence since the minimum punishment under TADA is five years. But Jaiswal says that she cannot comprehend why the woman was convicted for a terrorist act in the first place while Dutt was acquitted for the same offence. Dutt was the man who had called for the arms, while Zaibunnisa was accused of only storing them.

The court has looked at Dutts case with blinkers, says Jaiswal, And Zaibunnisa was denied a fair trial. She has not done anything for which she should be called a terrorist. Also, the magnitude of the proceedings in the case was such that a holistic view could be easily lost. All the bomb blasts were tried together, chargesheets ran into thousands and thousands of pages, so many accused were tried at the same time, and finally, the four thousand-page order. With such huge proceedings, it all becomes a big mess.

But Zaibunnisas ordeal did not end at the judgement. Soon after she surrendered in the TADA court in May, 2013, she was lodged in the Yerwada prison at Pune. Her daughter, Shagufta filed a leniency appeal stating that Zaibunnisa, then 71 years, was riddled with several health complications. The septuagenarian had cholesterol, blood pressure and thyroid issues and was also treated for a malignant tumour on her kidney. Shagufta pointed out that her mother needed to have biannual medical tests, and that because of her age, it would be difficult to survive jail. But her pleas fell on deaf ears even as another accused in the case, Sameer Hingora was granted relief of three and a half years in his sentence by the Supreme Court owing to his heart ailment. Sanjay Dutt, meanwhile, had also received a reprieve of one year in his six-year sentence pronounced by the high court.

Shagufta, 45, who had to deal with her mothers case as soon as she got out of college and hasnt married yet, says, Imagine a person as old as her living in your house, say, your grandmother. Theyre so restless at home; now imagine them living in a jail. Because she has been convicted under TADA, my mother cannot speak to us over the phone while other prisoners are allowed two calls a week. I was allowed to visit her for fifteen minutes once every month. Last year, they started allowing me two visits. Every time I go to see her, she asks me, Sarkar ne kuch kari kya? (Has the government done anything?) I dont know how to answer her anymore. So I tell her, Who are you, mamma? Who is going to listen to you? But she doesnt understand. She gets restless. Its very difficult, that life, especially for an old and ailing woman like her. The last time she came out on parole, she had lost a drastic amount of weight. She was so weak that two lady constables had to hold her and hand her over to me.

Shagufta says that even getting a parole sanctioned for her mother was not an easy task even as the leniency towards Dutt in terms of provisional leaves was constantly questioned in the press. Six months after Shagufta made a parole application in 2014, the Pune divisional commissioner replied saying that the plea had been rejected as there was a possibility that Zaibunnisa could abscond. Shagufta then approached the Mantralaya, and after several days of follow ups, her mother was finally granted leave. The same run repeated when Shagufta made another application last year. The provisional releases, says Shagufta, were vital since these are the only times when she can have her mothers medical tests conducted. Further, even as Dutt was allowed home-cooked food and mattresses, Zaibunnisa still sleeps on the stone floor and has to eat prison food, although her swollen legs require salt-less cooking.

It is not the five-year sentence, says Shagufta, speaking to Firstpost at a coffee shop close to her home, Its the twenty three years of constant torture, the tag of being a terrorist. In these two decades, we have lost our honour, all our respect. We have sold our properties to foot the legal bills. My father died waiting to see my mother free. Even if mumma returns home, who is going to erase those memories? The torture of judicial custody, the torture of 1993  nobody can wipe these out. And why my mother? When she sits, she cannot get up. When she stands, she cannot sit down. And what can I do about it? Nothing. In the past twenty three years, Ive knocked on every door; Ive written to every minister, every relevant person, but there has been no response. They need to pick up her file and see. What has she done? She is a housewife, a mother. I wish that she had served more sentence when she was arrested. At least at this age, when she cannot even go to the washroom on her own, she would have been free.

Former Chief Justice Markandey Katju, in March 2013, had sent an appeal to the Indian president, prime minister and home minister requesting pardon for Zaibunnisa. He wrote, In paragraph 125 of the Supreme Court judgment in her case it is clearly stated that she is innocent of the main charge of conspiracy in the 1993 bomb blasts. With due respect to the Honble Supreme Court I have some reservations about the finding of Supreme Court on this point. Be that as it may, in my respectful opinion Zaibunnisa Kazi fully deserves pardon and therefore I am appealing to you to grant her pardon under Article 72 of the Constitution. But the Union government did not respond to the appeal.

(The Supreme Court's judgement on Zaibunnisa pronounced in March, 2013.)

Its absurd how our legal system works. Justice JN Patel had granted bail to Zaibunnisa after deriving that she was not guilty under TADA. But another judge sitting in the same court convicted her under the Act. Similarly, former Chief Justice Katju doesnt find her guilty, but the Bench of Justice P Sathasivam, who affirmed her conviction, did. The evidence before all four judges was the same, and yet, the outcomes were different. Is it that judgements are given out on basis of the judges personal or individual perspective rather than the cases merit? Is this really how they deliver justice in our country? Weve been looking for these answers for several years now. But even as Zaibunnisa fights every day to survive those barracks, no one is willing to answer, says a source close to the family.

Shagufta says that she had also appealed for remission and early release for her mother. But unlike Dutt, who was granted a relief of 144 days for good behaviour, Zaibunnisas appeal has not seen a response. I just want her to come back alive and healthy. People talk, but they also forget. I hope my mother is forgotten by the time she is out. If she has to live in peace, she has to be forgotten, says Shagufta.

Senior advocate Kamini Jaiswal, meanwhile, said, Sanjay Dutts status had an over-awing effect on the people. He got a very sympathetic treatment. But it is very strange that the government, which has to treat all its citizens equally, has not looked at her condition in jail. If Dutt has behaved well in prison, she couldnt have had a bad record. What could she have done that would tell that she has a bad behaviour? If youre relieving one person on basis of good conduct, I dont see why Zaibunnisa is not eligible for the benefit. And what is remission? It is a grant the government gives. This old woman is not capable of coming out and committing an offence. Let her be able to live her life peacefully with her daughter. It is really unfortunate that celebrity status has got people backing for Dutt, and Zaibunnisa is just forgotten.

But despite all the prayers, when Zaibunnisa walks out of prison, she will not be greeted with a media frenzy or thousands of fans dancing to the dhol outside her home. She will not arrive as a resurrected superstar. Unlike her former co-accused, this 73-year-old, who has faced injustice in her arrest, trial, conviction, sentence and imprisonment, will return as a stamped terrorist.
By Saumil Shah

The industry expects the budget to add a new shade to the Merger and Acquisition (M&A) activities in India.

The country witnessed one of the most vibrant seasons of M&A in 2015. Though the steps taken by the government have helped improve investor perception towards India as well as the ease of doing business in the country to some extent, there exist certain bottlenecks which need urgent attention.

In an era of globalisation, cross-border M&A activities are common. While a merger/demerger between two foreign companies which have Indian investment is exempt from tax subject to certain conditions, there is no such exemption available with respect to merger/demerger between two foreign companies in which an Indian entity is a shareholder.

With several companies going global and actively participating in M&A activities, having specific provisions exempting such foreign restructuring in the hands of Indian shareholders shall help the India industry reduce tax cost of undertaking such activities outside India.

Earn-out structures are very common in M&A. Investors today are ready to share an upside with promoters who continue to create wealth for all. This upside is typically referred to as an earn-out.

Earn-out linked payments are common in deals with promoters and are essentially compensation models where a buyer agrees to pay part of the deal consideration depending on the future performance of the business. There exists ambiguity around taxation of such earn-outs.

As per the prevailing tax regime in India, sellers could potentially pay tax on the entire consideration, including an earn-out linked compensation received in future. This results in cash outflow of tax which is not in proportion to the cash received by the sellers.

Further, there is no mechanism for recouping of tax in the event of any reduction in the overall consideration in the future, say on account of under-performance of business.

The Indian tax regime has special provisions for taxing deferred compensation on a receipt basis, in case of compulsory acquisition of land by the government. A similar concept could also be introduced to provide a conducive tax regime for earn-outs as well.

Earn-out linked business models are prevalent internationally, and hence the Indian tax regime should also recognise such commercial requirements and provide for appropriate tax treatment for earn-outs.

Non-compete payments are usually one of the key parameters in the deal. While these payments are taxable in the hands of the recipient, there are divergent judicial precedence as to whether the taxpayer could get a tax break on such payments.

Receiving clarity in this regard, could help the buyer estimate the effective tax cost on its Internal Rate of Return (IRR), taking into consideration potential tax savings.

Contribution of the Indian services sector towards the Indian economy has been increasing. While the manufacturing sector is entitled to carry forward tax losses in the event of a merger, such a benefit is not available for the services sector.

Considering the amount of M&A activities in this sector, the Finance Minister may consider extending this benefit here as well.

There exists a disparity with respect to the period of holding criteria for shares which are offered for sale in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) vis-a-vis listed shares.

As per the prevailing tax regime, when shares are offered for sale in an IPO, such sale of shares qualify as a long-term capital asset only if the holding period exceeds 36 months. Whereas, for listed shares, the criteria is 12 months.

Since the Securities Transaction Tax (STT) is made applicable even in case of shares offered for sale in an IPO, this disparity may be streamlined.

Another challenge faced by the M&A industry is the requirement of obtaining a Tax Clearance Certificate from Indian tax authorities prior to transfer of certain assets.

As per the requirement, such a certificate is required prior to transferring specified assets and in the absence of such a certificate the transfer could be regarded as void by the tax authorities. Obtaining such a certificate could be time consuming and at times, affect the deal timelines. The Finance Minister could consider introducing the Safe Harbour Rules in relation to this requirement.

We hope that this Budget gives due consideration to all the above mentioned taxation hurdles in the M&A domain, providing the necessary impetus to the growth of the Indian economy.

The writer is Partner, Tax, KPG in India. Nitesh Mehta, Director, Tax, KPMG in India contributed to the article. Views expressed are personal.
New Delhi: Struggle-truce-struggle was a strategy adopted by Mahatma Gandhi in the national movement as he believed continuous struggle wouldn't get the desired result unless the masses were allowed to take rest or maintain peace for a certain time to bounce back with more energy again when time is appropriate.

For the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), who are fighting a draining battle with their own state, truce would come only after the battle is won. While the receding crowd at the administrative block of the varsity speaks of the dwindling energy that two weeks of protest had caused. But then, it is the hope of justice that is keeping them on the move.

Behind the brave faces of the protesting students, mostly in their twenties, there are now some tired souls. But desperation is not what they are allowing to creep in.

"We are tired, we are emotionally drained but nowhere defeated. We will fight this battle till our last breath," said students who, for the last fortnight, have been part of the protest at the administrative block.

In the exercise of branding the JNU as 'den of anti-national rogues' and making it the punching bag for ultra-nationalists, it is the students who have suffered the most. Since the arrest of JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar on 12 February on sedition charges and the subsequent surrender of two other students, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattachrya, on 24 February night, JNU students have been protesting against the government.

There seems to be an interesting paradox working there. What is draining them is what is sustaining them: the high pitched sloganeering. While overall inertia seems to be dissipating, the source of energy required for sloganeering seems unknown.

"They fear us, they fear our struggles, they fear us because we think," said another PhD scholar, referring the crackdown on the institution in the garb of nationalism.

While the students are displaying toughness, the fact remains that they are gradually losing hope with the delay in the bail of Kanhaiya followed by the surrender of his fellow comrades and now with good number of Kashmiri students leaving the campus fearing 'witch-hunt'. Many have changed their hostels or have gone to their friends in the city.

With the police stationed round-the-clock outside the main gate of the campus and uncertainly over the fate of other two accused Rama Naga and Anant Prakash Narayan is only adding to the anxiety.

"I had nothing to do with the events organised on 9 February where anti-national slogans were chanted. I have no connection any students organisation her, neither did I take part in any protest, but I along with others having sleepless night fearing a possible witch-hunt," said a PhD student.

Because of the nationalism hysteria, the students are apprehensive of their safety outside the campus. They are being beaten and those who live in rented accommodation in nearby areas are being asked to vacate the room by their landlords.

The internationally acclaimed institution "inculcates its students with perspective, the power of ideas and democratic deliberation. It makes students passionate about causes and never suppresses dissent". In this ideal model for institutions, the debates veer around to discussing the strengths and flaws of capitalism, visions of nationalism or the rights of minorities.

This culture of debate has produced bright leaders in both Left and Right camps of Indian politics. But many students are of the view even after the controversy ends and all their friends come out clean, JNU will not be the "same as what it stood for and what it stood against".
After six days of mystery on a series of alleged gang-rapes committed in Haryana's Murthal during the Jat quota stir, a victim has reportedly gathered courage and approached the state police on Sunday. An FIR has been lodged to this effect.

"A woman has come forward and told the Haryana Police that she was pulled out of a car and gang-raped in Murthal on the night of February 22."a NDTV report said.

Significantly, the FIR also names the victims brother-in-law including six others. The victim is a Delhi resident from Narela. With the alleged involvement of the brother-in-law, the police are also looking into the angle of a family dispute.

"The woman told the police she was accompanied by her 12-year-old daughter, who was let-off unharmed, when they were pulled out of the car by seven men including her relative."the NDTV report said.

According to a Zee News report "...clothes and undergarments of women were found strewn in the area but Haryana Police claimed that these could have fallen out from bags of the commuters who were stopped and chased away by the Jat protestors who set their vehicles on fire later."

Despite the FIR by one of the alleged victims, the gang-rapes still remain shrouded in mystery as details are emerging in a scarce manner.

Three truck drivers who claimed to have witnessed the crimes on Saturday, denied having witnessed any incident of alleged molestation or rape of women during the pro-quota Jat agitation at Murthal in Sonepat district, police said on Sunday.

"Three truck drivers have denied that they had seen molestation or rape of women (at Murthal)," Haryana Police,

DIG, Rajshree Singh said.

Truck drivers Sukhwinder, Abdul Wahid and Yadwinder have, however, said that their trucks were burnt by agitators.

A team of three women police officers --DIG Rajshree Singh, DSPs Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur was formed by

Haryana government "to gather information concerning the alleged incident of sexual assault on some women near Murthal on the intervening night of February 22 and 23."

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had on Saturday asked people to share information, if they have any, with the state police regarding the alleged incident.

With input from PTI
Editors note: Last year, Yasmin M Khan, a Paris-based researcher whose area of interest is Muslim education, visited a collection of small and large madrassas in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. She spent three months interviewing administrators, students, former students, and local Muslim leaders. Her inquiries ended in September, by which time she had gathered a large quantity of information and opinions on the relevance of madrassas, their role in Muslim radicalisation and the impact the government's madrassa modernisation programme has had on these institutions.

Khan found Muslim opinion divided. Many thought madrassas were being unfairly targeted because of anti-Muslim prejudice and that the debate ignored the role they played in providing Islamic learning and providing free education to poor Muslim children. Others argued that these institutions were an anachronism and called for greater regulation around their sources of funding and their curriculum.

There was near unanimity on one issue: it was all very well to modernise madrassas by introducing computers, but not at the expense of mainstream secular schooling. Parents in rural areas told Khan they were forced to send their children to madrassas owing to the lack of proper schools in villages.

Firstpost invited Khan to write a series of four articles drawing from her travels. We commissioned pencil drawings by Maitri Dore, a Bengaluru-based architect, to serve as visual elements accompanying Khans pieces; she was not allowed to photograph her subjects.

Read the articles:

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four
A group of diverse but like-minded individuals, the members of ARC have come together in their common desire to fight hatred, bigotry, intolerance and violence because of the harm these antisocial behaviors cause to our society. In that effort, we will not use or sanction the use of illegal actions (such as violence or intimidation) in pursuit of our desired aims and if we learn of anyone who does use these unethical methods we will report those individuals to the authorities. Instead, we will use the guarantees found in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that ensure freedom of legal speech and expression.
New York: An exhibition of the works of the late Mumbai-based artist Nasreen Mohamedi is being launched at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or simply The Met, here on Tuesday, supported by Nita Ambani-led Reliance Foundation.

The exhibition, which will be open to public from March 18 to June 5, is part of The Met's new series of modern and contemporary programmes, hosted at the landmark building designed by Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer here.

Sheena Wagstaff, the chair of the Met's modern and contemporary division, apparently got Nita Ambani interested in the whole project. They are both slated to be here for the grand preview at Manhattan's Madison Avenue and 75th Street.

"One of our goals with The Met Breuer is to present thoughtful exhibitions that posit a broader meaning of modernism across vast geographies of art," Wagstaff said.

"The poignant story of Mohamedi, a relatively little-known but significant artist, reveals a highly-individual artistic quest, drawing on historic sources from across the world, alongside her evocative photography as an unexpected form of visual note-taking."

The Met said the exhibition is being made possible by Nita and Mukesh Ambani and the Reliance Foundation, adding that it is also being co-hosted by the Queen Sofia Museum of Spain and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art.

"One of the most significant artists to emerge in post-Independence India, Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990) created a body of work that demonstrates a singular and sustained engagement with abstraction," the Met said.

What has come for praise is her minimalist practice, which not only adds a rich layer to the history of South Asian art, but also enrages the scope of the narratives into international modernism.

"The Met Breuer exhibition, the first museum retrospective of the artist's work in the US, is an important part of the Met's initiative to explore and present the global scope of modern and contemporary art," the Met said.

Mohamedi mainly worked with pencil and ink on paper, as also experimenting with organic forms, delicate grids, and dynamic and hard-edged lines -- drawing upon a range of aesthetic sensibilities.

Inspirations came from poetry of Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke and French philosopher-author Albert Camus, as also classical music and the modernist architecture of Le Corbusier's Chandigarh.

Mohamedi is also believed to have had an exposure to Western and Eastern philosophy, poetry and literature, which can be seen in her diaries that include quotes by Rumi, Ghalib, and Mohammad Iqbal.

Having traveled extensively from New York to Tokyo, she also had a cosmopolitan outlook that drew her equally to the 16th-century Mughal buildings of Fatehpur Sikri and the 20th-century modernist architecture of India.

"Spanning Mohamedi's entire career and bringing together over 130 paintings, drawings, photographs, and rarely-seen diaries, the exhibition traces the conceptual complexity and visual subtlety of the artist's oeuvre."

IANS

Disclaimer: Firstpost is part of Network18, owned by Reliance Industries Limited.
Now that Suncorp has set on his horizon, Patrick Snowball has found himself back in the Old Dart and surfaced in an interview in a local rag to let it be known there is life in the former tank commander yet.

"There is definitely a next challenge," said Snowball.

Patrick Snowball's looking for a new gig anywhere that is one flight away from London. Credit:John Shakespeare

"The way I describe it is that I am looking for somewhere where I can make a meaningful contribution. That is potentially working with private equity, it perhaps chairing a non-public company; it could be an invitation to join an interesting board where I can contribute as a non-executive.''

He's not restricting himself to the insurance game either. Not with his resume.
Long before he beat Tony Hawk to become World Skateboarding Champion in 1996, Melbourne's Tas Pappas says he was just a "little bogan running around" in local skate spots like the popular Lincoln Square in Carlton.

These days, the retired vertical champ skates regularly at the square on Swanston Street with his six-year-old son Billy and whatever mates show up. But not for long.

Tas Pappas and his six-year-old son Billyat Lincoln Square in Carlton. Credit:Darrian Traynor

The low kerbs and long ledges that have seen the square rated Australia's best skate spot are about to be destroyed.

Melbourne City Council plans to spend $300,000 to resurface it to make it unsuitable for skateboarders, with works to start in April.
Donald Trump has declined to disavow the support of David Duke, the white nationalist and former Ku Klux Klansman, who has called Mr Trump "by far the best candidate".

Mr Duke, a former Louisiana state representative who once ran for president, is famous for his white supremacist views and is generally considered a pariah in politics. In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Mr Trump pleaded ignorance about him.

"Well, just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke," Mr Trump said. "I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists."
Islamic State militants launched twin suicide attacks on the western and eastern outskirts of Baghdad on Sunday, killing dozens of people.

The extremists carried out a double bombing in Baghdads northeastern Shiite suburb of Sadr city, killing at least 24 people.

In a surprise assault hours earlier, three suicide bombers and gunmen riding pick up trucks stormed into Abu Ghraib, just 25 kilometers west of downtown Baghdad.

Shiite leader Moqtada al Sadr called upon his followers to protect Baghdad.

Residents said Baghdads International Zone (IZ), home to many embassies and international staff as well as Iraqi government officials, was temporarily put on high alert.



Increased numbers of Iraqi forces were also quickly deployed to Baghdads IZ as well as the capitals international airport, which lies west of the city.



By early afternoon, Iraqi officials declared the fighting in Abu Ghraib was over and Baghdad residents said the city was running as normal..

Yousuf al Abadi, a spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry told local media that all militants in the Abu Ghraib assault had been killed and that the situation there was under control.



He said some 30 Iraqi security forces had died in the fight.



But by early evening, local media reported that Iraqi fighter jets had joined the fray in Abu Ghraib, and that fighting was still going on in pockets of the city.



Abu Ghraib is west of Baghdad, roughly midway between the capital and Fallujah, which is under IS control.



The town became notorious following the 2003 invasion of Iraq after photographs showed U.S. troops abusing Iraqi detainees at Abut Ghraib prison.



In Sadr City, two bombs ripped through a crowded local mobile phone market.

The mainly Shiite suburb has been a focal point for sectarian violence for years, with hundreds of people killed in bomb attacks.



In August, a truck bomb at another market killed 80 people. IS militants claimed responsibility for that attack.
Voters in Switzerland have rejected a proposal to automatically deport foreign residents convicted of even minor crimes.

The initiative, put forward by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), was rejected Sunday by 59 percent of voters, the government website showed.

Under the proposal, foreigners would have been deported after completing sentences for serious crimes like murder, rape and armed robbery, or for two lesser crimes committed in a 10-year period, such as speeding, burglary or arguing with a police officer. The referendum offered no right of appeal: conviction would lead to deportation in every case, regardless of individual circumstances.

Supporters said it would make Switzerland a safer place, and they pointed to statistics indicating that foreigners take up more than their fair share of prison cells. Foreigners are about a quarter of Switzerland's population.

The Swiss government had opposed the measure. Federal councilor Simonetta Sommaruga told RTS television that voters had sent the message: "Human rights are important in our country: They should not be restricted.''

Also, activists and business leaders said the plan would violate human rights and complicate relations with Switzerland's main trade partner, the European Union.


Tuesday is the biggest day so far in the 2016 U.S. presidential nominating campaign, with challengers looking to curb the momentum for the front-running candidates, billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump in the Republican race and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Democratic contest.

Eleven states vote on what is called "Super Tuesday," awarding nearly a quarter of the delegates the presidential contenders need at the Republican and Democratic national party conventions in July to win their party nominations before the victors square off in November's national election.

"It's the most important day in the campaign," a conservative firebrand, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, told CNN on Sunday.

Cruz said he expects to beat Trump in the Republican primary in his home state, the large southwestern state where more convention delegates are at stake in both parties' primaries than in any of the other 10 states voting Tuesday.

With the exception of Texas, political surveys show Trump leading throughout the states that vote Tuesday, but Cruz said he is "running neck and neck with Donald in a number of states."

Disparages Trump

He disparaged Trump, a one-time television reality show host, as likely to lose to Clinton in the November election and said Trump "doesn't even know what he'd do" as president should he win the race to the White House.

But Cruz acknowledged in an interview with CBS' Face the Nation that "there is no doubt that if Donald steamrolls through Super Tuesday, wins everywhere with big margins, that he may well be unstoppable" to win the Republican nomination.

Trump has already won three of the first four states to hold Republican nominating contests.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is calling Trump a "con artist," is not predicting he will win any of the Super Tuesday contests, but told CBS that Trump, with a penchant for insulting his opponents, would not eventually be the Republican nominee.

"It's not going to happen," Rubio said. He added that if Trump were to become the Republican presidential nominee, "it will split us [the Republican Party] and splinter us in a way that we may never be able to recover and the Democrats will be joyful about it."

Rubio is making campaign stops in several states before the Tuesday elections, hoping to win convention delegates that are being awarded proportionally based on the vote count in each state.

He is also looking ahead to March 15, when his home state of Florida votes in a winner-take-all primary, although surveys taken before Rubio unleashed a verbal assault on Trump at last week's debate show Trump ahead in the southeastern U.S. state as well.

The Republican front-runner drew questions on Sunday news shows about support for his campaign voiced by white supremacist David Duke and Trump's passing along a quote from Benito Mussolini, the World War Two-era Italian dictator, on Twitter.

Trump, who has never held public office, declined a chance to disavow Duke's embrace, saying he did not know him and knows "nothing about white supremacists."

Trump said he retweeted the quote from the fascist Mussolini, "It is better to live one day as a lion than one hundred years as a sheep,, because he thought it was a "very interesting" remark

Big win

Clinton scored a resounding victory in Saturday's Democratic primary in the Atlantic coastal state of South Carolina, beating her lone rival Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, by a 3-to-1 margin.

She is favored in most of the 11 states voting in Tuesday's Democratic contests, but Sanders's campaign said it has a good shot at winning five of the states, especially ones outside of the southern tier of states where black voters favoring Clinton comprise a large part of the Democratic electorate.

Sanders is expected to win in Vermont, his small home state in the Northeastern U.S. where few delegates are at stake, and also contend in the neighboring state of Massachusetts, the Western state of Colorado and the northern state of Minnesota.

Clinton, in celebrating her South Carolina victory, seemed to be looking ahead to a general election match-up with Trump, who also is predicting a face-off with her.

Clinton, the country's top diplomat from 2009 to 2013, mocked Trump's campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again" and his call to build an impenetrable wall along the southern U.S. border with Mexico to halt the stream of illegal immigrants into the United States.

"Despite what you hear, we don't need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great," she said. "But we do need to make American whole again. Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers."

WATCH: Hillary Clinton overwhelms Bernie Sanders in South Carolina primary
An investment promotion seminar on Wealth in Andes-Precious Metal Investment Opportunities in Latin America was held last week by the Macau Association for the Promotion of Exchange between Asia-Pacific and Latin America (MAPEAL). According to organizers, the event was created in line with recent efforts to turn Macau into an effective hub for outbound investment to Latin America.

The speakers presented a synopsis of the mining industry in the Andean region and the investment climate of certain Latin American countries. MAPEAL President, Gary Ngai, indicated his belief that investing in gold mines in Peru and lithium mines in Chile is a profitable industry.

You can see its growing very fast; gold mines and lithium mines. The whole world is demanding these kinds of products and Macau can jump onto it. Jump on the bandwagon, we call it.

Ngai, whose biography A Witness to History: an overseas Chinese in mainland China and Macau was recently published, argues that Macau must diversify the regions economy from gaming and that one approach involves outbound investment. He has additionally identified further investment opportunities that Macau could seize in the future such as in agriculture, manufacturing and real estate.

Martin Alexander Wurm, Founder and CEO of Euromerica Capital Group Inc., hinted that Macau should take advantage of its citys historical ties with Latin American countries. In this culturally diverse region, Wurm has stated his belief that forums like this particular one are beneficial for Macau and should be continually promoted.

I think indeed for foreigners, for Europeans, for Latin Americans, this is a place where you would feel comfortable. I think its very attractive at some point and Macau should take advantage of it, said Wurm.

Theres a lot of money to be invested from China and theyre looking for channels and I would say that Macau can be such a channel, he added.

In hopes of encouraging the audience to become involved in these investments, a presentation of mining companies stock data was shown to the audience to present an overview of the possible investment returns.

To strengthen Macaus position as a platform for accessing Latin America, Xiaohuan Tang, Director and Chief Operating Officer of Wealth Minerals Ltd., affirmed that now is the right time to start such investments in Macau. He believes that since the city aims to nurture environmental businesses, an awareness of this industry should be raised.

We present to you a method that you can only find in Latin America, an environmentally and energy friendly business.

Tang, whose company focuses on the exploration and development of precious metal projects, also said that forums such as this would be needed if the city seeks to be internationalized with the intention of cultivating a favorable environment for investors and local government.

He said that he is a big believer in Macaus development in terms of these projects.

If you try, you may fail but if you dont try youll never win, so youll have to start, he added.

Last weeks event was hosted by the Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute. Staff reporter
A huge earthquake has devastated the southern Moroccan city of Agadir killing thousands. A major operation is now underway to rescue scores of people, including many tourists, still trapped under the rubble.

Most of the new town area of Agadir has been completely destroyed and the heavily populated Talborit quarter is believed to have been the hardest hit.

The number of dead currently stands at more than 1,000 although some have suggested the toll could rise to as many as 20,000. The earthquake, which measured 6.7 on the Richter scale, hit the city at 2339 hrs (local time) tonight.

It lasted for more than 10 seconds and was accompanied by a massive tidal wave which added to the destruction. Fire broke out across the city soon afterwards. Eye-witnesses report hearing screams and cries for help from those trapped.

A British tourist, staying in one of the citys luxury hotels, told the Times newspaper: It was very frightening, and within a few moments masonry was dropping all around us.

The lights went out and there was complete darkness. For a moment we just sat, not knowing what was happening. Another said: I was reading in bed in my room at my hotel when the earthquake came. The room seemed to swirl around and then the ceiling collapsed and the walls caved in.

Rescue teams have been drafted in from Moroccos main regions and from cities around the world. Agadirs airport, which was undamaged, has been set up as a temporary hospital for the injured. Many wounded were flown to Casablanca during the night.

Among the buildings reduced to a pile of rubble were the citys hospital, the newly-constructed luxury Saada hotel and The National Militia headquarters.

Courtesy BBC News

In context

Two days after the earthquake the Moroccan authorities ordered the total evacuation of Agadir in a bid to avoid the spread of disease.

Offers of financial, medical and military assistance flooded in from around the world in the days following the disaster.

A week after the earthquake King Mohammed of Morocco visited the site with members of his family. He pledged that the town would be rebuilt by 1961.

People, including several children, continued to be pulled alive from under the rubble for up to 12 days following the disaster.

The final death toll was 12,000. The earthquake was the worst to ever hit Morocco.

Modern-day Agadir was rebuilt 2kms south of the earthquake epicenter and is now a seaport and seaside resort with a large sandy beach.
The 40th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) kicks off with a bang with Trivisa, an innovative crime drama produced by Hong Kongs legendary Johnnie To, and mainland director Yang Qings Chongqing Hotpot, which is the eagerly awaited follow-up to his hilariously subversive One Night in Supermarket. The film being honored to close out the festival goes to 2015 Cannes Best Director winner (Journey to the Shore) Kiyoshi Kurosawa for his new thriller, Creepy.

To, who is famous for his iconic, internationally influential gangster movies and who is a film festival favorite in the West, breaks new ground with Trivisa by bringing in three up-and-coming Fresh Wave local directors: Jevons Au, Vicky Wong and Frank Hui. Each directed a 30-minute segment of the movie through the eyes of one of the three protagonist villains, who are loosely based on three real-life, high-profile gangsters who operated in 1997 at the time colonial rule was ending. The three come together for a mega-heist bringing they own very different agendas. Trivisa has its Asian premiere in Hong Kong after a well-received world premiere at the Berlinale.

Going on One Night in Supermarket, and from what the Chongqing Hotpot trailer hints at, the new movie appears to follow the pattern of Yangs 2009 hit  slick, artful and rollicking. The plot hinges on a failing basement restaurant that is to be sold on the condition that it will be enlarged. The sellers hit the jackpot by finding themselves in a bank vault, but theyre not the only ones intending to rob the bank.

Kurosawas Creepy is an adaptation of Maekawa Yutakas novel, in which a former detective finds himself increasingly entangled in a complex investigation into the disappearance of a young child. The master of fears latest work will be making its world premiere at the HKIFF.

As usual the film festival brings prize-winners fresh from this months Berlinale. This year, there will be seven films. Silver Bear winners Death in Sarajevo, A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery, Crosscurrent, and Batrachians Ballad, as well as jury winners Tomcat, Barakah Meets Barakah, and Those Who Jump,are all making their Asian premieres at the festival.

Bosnian Danis Tanovic (No Mans Land) won the Grand Jury Prize with Death in Sarajevo, a droll take on modern Europe on the 100th anniversary of the assassination that sparked World War One. Filipino Lav Diazs A Lullaby to the Sorrowful Mystery earned the Silver Bear Alfred Bauer Prize for an epic eight hours of the Philippines history, interwoven with music and folklore. The Golden Bear for Best Short went to Batrachians Ballad, musings on family by Portugals Leonor Teles. Also from the 2016 Berlin festival, independent jury winners include Austrian Handl Klaus absorbing drama, Tomcat, which took the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film. There were two winners of the Forum Ecumenical Prize: the ground-breaking Saudi romantic comedy, Barakah Meets Barakah, by Mahmoud Sabbagh; and the oddball Those Who Jump by Malian Abou Bakar Sidebe, Chilean Estephan Wagner and German Moritz Siebert, which documents the would-be EU refugees outside the Spanish enclave of Melilla.

Among the international cinematic greats attending HKIFF 2016 is French superstar actor Sophie Marceau, who arrives with a new film, Jailbirds. Directors attending their screenings include Bela Tarr from Hungary (The Turin Horse), Taiwans Tsai Ming-liang (Afternoon), Japans Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Creepy) and Sono Sion (Shin

Juku Swan, The Whispering Star, A Mans Flower Road). Also present will be French-Canadian Denis Cote (Boris Without Beatrice). Bela Tarr will also be giving a master class after the screening of The Turin Horse.

This years follow-up to the Beautiful omnibus series will see the world premiere of four shorts by Chinas Jia Zhangke, Nakata Hideo from Japan, Alec Su from Taiwan and Hong Kongs Stanley Kwan.

The couple of dozen categories of films include 240 titles from 66 countries, including 63 world, international and Asian premieres. The country in focus this year is South Korea, with all directors attending screenings. Director Park Ki-yong will host a seminar with HKIFF director Roger Garcia on Training for a Global Industry.

Wong Kar-wais films will also be given pride of place with In the Mood for Films  25th Anniversary of Jet Tone Films, his production company. Fifteen of Wongs films will be shown including two versions previously unseen here. In addition a seminar will be held.

HKIFF is the territorys largest cultural event, attracting an audience of 600,000. The festival runs from March 21 to April 4. Details are available at their website: www.hkiff.org.hk . Robert Carroll, Hong Kong

hkiff director on macau film festival

Roger Garcia, the veteran executive director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), has congratulated Macau on its recently announced Macau International Film Festival, which is expected to take place in December of 2016. We wish it all the best, he said, adding that the new festival will be more complementary than competitive to HKIFF, which is a festival of mainly international arthouse cinema driven largely by an appreciation of and interest in the works of filmmakers. By comparison, he understands that MIFF will be geared mainly towards popular cinema, such as big Chinese releases in the run up to Christmas and some genre works. He added that the IFF Macau is a good initiative that we hope will help develop film culture and creative industries in Macau.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY, 28, ARMENPRESS. In connection with the 28th anniversary of the Sumgait pogroms on February 28 Artsakh Republic President Bako Sahakya accompanied by Primate of the Artsakh Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Pargev Martirossyan and top officials of the republic visited the Stepanakert Memorial Complex and laid flowers to the monument of the innocent victims. Armenpress was informed about this Central Information Department of the Office of the Artsakh Republic President.
Brazilian police investigating a massive kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras are now looking closely at Peruvian President Ollanta Humala and a former Argentine transportation minister, according to an internal document obtained by The Associated Press.

The 44-page federal police report dated Feb. 5 now moves the sprawling corruption probe beyond Brazils borders, saying investigators suspect Humala received USD3 million in bribes from the large Brazilian construction company Odebrecht in exchange for contracts in Peru.

The document is being reviewed by Brazilian Judge Sergio Moro, who is presiding over the sprawling Petrobras case that has brought down top Brazilian politicians and company executives.

Moros office declined to comment. Legal experts say the judge could ask Brazils foreign minister to ask Peruvian authorities for an investigation or order prosecutors to go after Humala in Brazilian courts.

Brazil will probably request further investigation from Peruvian authorities as a first step, said Maristela Basso, a professor of International Law at the University of Sao Paulo, adding that if Humala is tried in a Brazilian court it could lead to an Interpol arrest warrant.

Hamilton Castro, the Peruvian anti-corruption prosecutor investigating illegal payoffs to politicians allegedly made by Odebrecht and other big Brazilian construction firms, has refused to discuss the case. He has traveled to Brazil several times to talk to prosecutors here.

The document says that police seized emails written by a former Odebrecht executive that made reference to $3 million for Project OH, which they believe referred to the Peruvian leader.

Odebrecht has dozens of contracts in Peru, including for ports, gas, bridges and roads. The company has denied any illegal payments to political parties or public authorities.

The company downplayed the naming of Humala in connection with the probe.

It is not a formal accusation, it is more initial evaluations based on the interpretation of notes by Brazils Federal Police, the construction firm said in a statement.

The document also alleges that Ricardo Jaime, a former Argentinian minister, had been bribed by Odebrecht for a contract to build a large tunnel project for Buenos Aires trains.

It says that former CEO Marcelo Odebrecht had direct control over negotiations with Jaime. Odebrecht has been jailed since June, convicted of criminal association, corruption and money laundering charges in the Petrobras scandal.

Jaime was transportation minister from 2002-2009 and has been charged with more than two dozen crimes related to corruption in Argentina. He was convicted and sentenced to six years imprisonment on a fraud charge related to a 2012 train accident in Buenos Aires that killed 51 people.

The probe, termed Operation Car Wash, began two years ago and has snared dozens of senior politicians along with executives of multi-national construction companies.

Joao Santana, the campaign strategist behind President Dilma Rousseffs electoral victories in 2010 and 2014, was arrested last week. He and his wife are suspected of using secret foreign bank accounts to receive millions of dollars in illicit funds from offshore companies controlled by Odebrecht.

In the last couple years in Latin America, we have seen a boom in cases of corruption, with Petrobras being the biggest, said Alejandro Salas, Americas director for Transparency International. Petrobras is important because it shows that this kind of corruption isnt just about one guy putting money in his pocket, but rather a system of organized crime. MDT/AP
Hong Kong customs has denied entry to two sisters from Taiwan who were holding passports decorated with Republic of Taiwan stickers, the Oriental Daily News reported.

The sisters, aged 30 and 40, flew from Kaohsiung to Hong Kong and were then deported to Taiwan after being denied entry to Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Immigration Department stated that any unauthorized change to passports is likely to violate immigration regulations and offenders may be prosecuted. According to the regulations, those who break the law can be fined up to HKD150,000, followed by a maximum jail sentence of 14 years.

As the Times reported on Friday, at least 15 Taiwanese residents have been barred from entering Macau because of the Republic of Taiwan stickers.
While Russia is preparing the cease fire in Syria, South Korea and US will rehearse invasion of North Korea staging a pre-emptive strike on simulated North Korean weapons silos, following Pyongyangs rocket launch and a nuclear test earlier this year. Since North Korea has been isolated by the West, they are becoming a bigger risk to the rest of the world. Has the latest joint military rehearsal got any substances in it or is it just another political posturing? [and from another] More than 90,000 South Koreans and 15,000 US troops will stage a pre-emptive strike on simulated North Korean weapons silos, following Pyongyangs rocket launch and a nuclear test earlier this year. https://www.rt.com/news/333291-us-nuclear-korea-drills/ More than 90,000 South Koreans and 15,000 US troops will stage a pre-emptive strike on simulated North Korean weapons silos, following Pyongyangs rocket launch and a nuclear test earlier this year. [and from another] The Obama administration initiated a clandestine diplomatic effort to engage North Korea on ending tensions on the Peninsulaonly to be rebuffed by the Communist regime days before it launched another nuclear test. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/21/north-korea-rebuffed-us-effort-for-peace-talks-wsj.html The Obama administration initiated a clandestine diplomatic effort to engage North Korea on ending tensions on the Peninsulaonly to be rebuffed by the Communist regime days before it launched another nuclear test. [and from another] The U.S. called off nascent talks with North Korea aimed at formally ending the Korean War when it became clear that the reclusive nation wasnt interested in stopping its nuclear program by conducting a ballistic missile test. The talks, which Pyongyang requested, ended after North Korea rebuffed a U.S. demand that denuclearization be a condition for the negotiations. The U.S. and North Korea reached an agreement in 2005 with other nations including Japan and South Korea that set the groundwork for future talks premised on denuclearization. http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2016-02-21/u-s-dropped-north-korea-peace-talk-plan-after-missile-test The U.S. called off nascent talks with North Korea aimed at formally ending the Korean War when it became clear that the reclusive nation wasnt interested in stopping its nuclear program by conducting a ballistic missile test. The talks, which Pyongyang requested, ended after North Korea rebuffed a U.S. demand that denuclearization be a condition for the negotiations. The U.S. and North Korea reached an agreement in 2005 with other nations including Japan and South Korea that set the groundwork for future talks premised on denuclearization. [and from another] North Korean state media confirms new military chief, following reports that previous army head was executed. Ri Yong-Gil was reportedly executed early this month in what would be the latest in a series of purges and executions of top officials. Ri Yong-Gil was accused of forming a political faction and corruption. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/12167014/North-Korea-confirms-new-military-chief-after-reported-execution.html North Korean state media confirms new military chief, following reports that previous army head was executed. Ri Yong-Gil was reportedly executed early this month in what would be the latest in a series of purges and executions of top officials. Ri Yong-Gil was accused of forming a political faction and corruption. [and from another] http://hotair.com/archives/2016/02/22/china-quietly-cuts-off-the-cash-flow-to-north-korea/ In a process which actually began in December, China took the nearly unprecedented step of having their banks freeze the assets of North Korean depositors and halt all cash transfers to Kim Jong-uns realm. China also has the only real leverage over the North Koreans. China really holds the leash is their economic ties to the regime. China accounts for nearly all of North Koreas trade and support. Its unclear if even that would deter Kims ambitions. Their people are already starving to death in large numbers, with millions more rotting away in prison camps. Until the sanctions and hard times begin to hit the leadership in Pyongyang personally the madman may simply stick to his guns.









Dictatorships are not, in short, toppled because the people are oppressed and starving, tortured and misused, however resentful they may be. Clever dictators reward those in the palace around them, and have periodic purges of those they suspect may be planning to overthrow the dictator, thus lessening the likelihood of a coup. They can survive until there is nothing left of their country. This is where N Korea would go except for the nuclear threat. China and the US are making a concerted push now to depose Kim. By both withholding the economic support that China has provided and holding military exercises that imply a pending invasion of N Korea, they hope to cause the paranoid Kim to attack those around him so viscously that they depose him, murder him. Mankind has many recent examples of dictators with ruthless control, and what they can do to their populace. Stalin is estimated to have killed tens of millions of his own citizens through various purges aimed at maintaining his control for 30 years. He died a natural death, still in control. Idi Amin in Uganda had a shorter reign and ruled by mass murder, reportedly eating body parts of his enemies, before escaping to exile in Saudi Arabia. Montezuma of the Aztecs exacted tribute by ripping the hearts of out of human sacrifices, but this royal family was only toppled when the Spanish conquistadors arrived.Dictatorships are not, in short, toppled because the people are oppressed and starving, tortured and misused, however resentful they may be. Clever dictators reward those in the palace around them, and have periodic purges of those they suspect may be planning to overthrow the dictator, thus lessening the likelihood of a coup. They can survive until there is nothing left of their country. This is where N Korea would go except for the nuclear threat. China and the US are making a concerted push now to depose Kim. By both withholding the economic support that China has provided and holding military exercises that imply a pending invasion of N Korea, they hope to cause the paranoid Kim to attack those around him so viscously that they depose him, murder him.

Simdi kuzey kore'nin davranslarnn sorgulandg bir dunyada yasyoruz. Hic suphesiz buyuk abiler kulak cekmek istiyorlar. Bunun icin kuzey koreye bir sans tanyor gibi duruyorlar. Ancak en ufak hareketi degerlendirmek icin kopekbalg misali teknenin etrafnda tur atyorlar.
TWIN FALLS | Through his sliding glass door, Kanegamba Mulabwe silently watched snow accumulate on his deck as a song by Florida Georgia Line drifted from a clock radio on the counter.

Next to the radio, the alarm clock Mulabwe and his family received the night they arrived in Twin Falls was also plugged into the wall, still in its box. No family photos hung on the walls. No toys were in sight.

Mulabwe, 26, cant understand the "Cruise" lyrics, but the country music fends off the silence of his new apartment. He and his wife, Beatrice Bahati, 22, and their children, 3-year-old Sarah and 1-year-old Daniel, are still learning English, adapting to a strange culture and figuring out how to start their lives over.

That afternoon, Dec. 29, marked 43 days since the family of four arrived in Twin Falls from the Dzaleka Refugee Camp in Malawi, on the day Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter joined other governors in urging President Obama to halt refugee resettlement.

The parents are refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo  where Bahatis family disappeared and Mulabwes parents were killed  and their children were born in the refugee camp. Now, they're building new lives in a community where opinions on refugee resettlement are deeply divided and opponents are vocal.

  

The camp in Malawi was crowded. In Twin Falls in late December, confined to their apartment by the cold, Mulabwe and Bahati faced isolation instead.

With no scheduled English classes  the College of Southern Idaho Refugee Center was closed for the holidays  the family hadnt left the house for two days. They dont like Idaho's winter weather and opted to spend their days inside.

They were already bored with watching The Lion King and The Jungle Book over and over  the two movies that volunteer mentor Allison Bangerter gave them with a VCR before she left on vacation. The small tube television sat silent on a set of plastic drawers in a corner.

Sitting on the floor, the pregnant Bahati propped her back against the living room wall. Sarah and Daniel rested near her, fiddling with a cellphone charging in a nearby outlet. With no intention of facing the snow, Bahati wore a skirt and flip-flops, and her daughter wore jean trunks.

Mary Lupumba, an English-speaking refugee who works for the Refugee Center, visited their apartment that day to interpret for the Swahili-speaking couple.

Mulabwe can't drive. And he misses the mingling he enjoyed in Malawi.

"I'm mostly at home, unless someone picks me up," Mulabwe said, as Lupumba interpreted. "There is a big difference between back home and here. Here you can't visit people; everyone is home."

On the radio, Tim McGraw's Just to See you Smile began to play as Mulabwe talked. In Malawi, you can just visit someone without planning ahead, he explained.

Mulabwe said he was eager to start working and earning money.

"What I've noticed is that everything here in America is about money," he said.

Another of Mulabwes goals is learning to drive. With a job, he could afford to buy a vehicle and make his family more independent. Instead of waiting for a ride to the store, they could come and go as they please.

"I am confident to go shopping," he said. "My only problem is bringing it back."

Mulabwe also needs to start working for another reason: the baby to be born in April. That means another mouth to feed and clothes and diapers to buy.

Back in the refugee camp, Mulabwe was a tailor  a skill learned by watching others. On Jan. 6, he would receive a sewing machine donated to the CSI Refugee Center, and within days he'd start making a new dress for his wife.

"It would be good to find a job like that since I already know how to do it," he said.

However, he knew that's unlikely. A Refugee Center employee told him that a job application was submitted for him as a housekeeper in Jackpot, Nev.

Mulabwe said he'd be happy to work, no matter the job.

"My main focus is to speak English and write it well," said Mulabwe, who hopes to get his U.S. citizenship in five years and his high school diploma. "I want to get a better job to earn me more money and provide for my family."

A knock at the door interrupted Mulabwe. Before he could rise, Sarah jumped up and opened the door.

Kathy Blamires from the Refugee Center had arrived to deliver the family a monthly check  $200 for each adult  and take Mulabwe to the bank. In March, this monthly check will stop  another reason Mulabwe was anxious to start working.

  

Before Bangerter was a wife and mother, she dreamed of living in another country to help establish a school or dig wells for clean drinking water.

Then she met her husband, Joel, they had four children, and life became busy. Now Bangerter, 37, drops children off at school, picks them up, makes lunches and teaches piano students.

But her desire to help people from other countries never lessened.

"I feel very spoiled with my whole life," she said. "When I look at my whole life, I was so blessed."

So when she heard a radio advertisement for refugee mentors last year, Bangerter got involved. She was there the November night that Mulabwe, Bahati and their children got off the plane after two days of travel. She was there when they walked into their new apartment.

Now, she's with them every week  guiding them through the complexities of laundromats and grocery stores or finding experiences they might not try without her encouragement.

In January, Bangerter took Bahati to the bank. They sat in Bangerter's van before going in, so Bahati could practice saying, "I would like to cash my check." Bahati was nervous in the van, but as soon as she stepped to the counter, she did fine.

"I felt like I did something that was so helpful to someone else," Bangerter said. "What they are doing is amazing. If I were in their shoes, I would want somebody to help me.

Bangerter is one of 16 mentors who volunteer at the CSI Refugee Center.

They are a friend, essentially, who can help them around the community and adjust to life here, Americorp volunteer coordinator Jenny Reese said.

Reese started working at the center in December. Her position is new  scheduling mentor orientations, training and activities involving mentors and the refugees they're assigned to  but the mentor program is not.

There is a desire from the community to be involved with refugees, Reese said.

Reese held her first mentor meeting Dec. 21 at CSI. Bangerter and two other mentors showed up to share stories of dealing with language barriers, differences in culture and walking the fine line between helpful and intrusive.

"I still haven't found something they like to eat," Bangerter said later. Except for oatmeal cookies. They liked them so much they wanted to take some home. They also like popcorn.

Bangerter spoke in her dining room, where a red flower bloomed on the table, soaking in light from a large window. The flower was one of two amaryllis Bangerter bought in January; she gave the other to Bahati's family. When Bangerter's husband found an air popper at Deseret Industries, he gave it, too.

The two families have been attending weekly story time at the Twin Falls Public Library. The Jan. 8 story time included songs and an activity where children made their own bear paws.

"If you wanna hear a song, move your eyebrows," said a woman sitting in front of the crowd of children and adults. Lupumba turned to Mulabwe and translated. He then turned to Sarah, a finger on his eyebrow to make it move.

It's a fun activity for the children, but Bangerter chose it for another reason, as well. She hopes the repetition of story time will help them with their English skills.

After a few songs, many of the children became restless  standing up or walking around the room. Daniel headed for the stacks of books, but Mulabwe motioned for him to come back. The storytelling wasn't over, and Mulabwe was listening intently.

After the singalong, participants made bear paws from paper bags. Bangerter helped Sarah and Daniel fasten bear paw pieces with a purple glue stick while Mulabwe and Lupumba watched from the side. The room quickly filled with sounds of cutting paper and children talking. Daniel was distracted by the commotion, but Sarah was focused on her bear paw's assembly.

"Are there bears in Africa?" Bangerter asked Mulabwe.

Mulabwe said no, so Bangerter told Daniel it could be a lion's paw. Mulabwe helped his son put it on his hand and make a clawing motion.

The children, Bangerter said, are a good bridge between her family and Mulabwe's. Story time isn't part of some perfect prescription for refugee mentors  she's never been given a to-do list  it's just one of Bangerter's best guesses for helping newcomers adjust.

"It's been a learning process. I don't know what I'm supposed to do," Bangerter said. "There is no right answer."

  

This matter of new experiences can be uncomfortable.

Bangerter and her family took Bahati and Sarah to Cabin Fever Day's free activities at Bowladrome and the Herrett Center for Arts and Science on Jan. 9  two days after Otter said his meeting with federal officials revealed a more thorough refugee vetting process than he'd realized.

Still, the Idaho Republican Party's central committee Jan. 9 passed a resolution asking the state Legislature to stop Idaho's refugee resettlement and disbursement of funding for refugee benefits until economic costs are analyzed and national security concerns put to rest.

That day was the first time Bahati and Sarah had ever watched a planetarium show. They sat near the front row of the Herrett Center's crowded planetarium. Before the first preview came on, Sarah fell asleep in the darkened room. But Bahati was startled by the images on the screen, especially when a preview for "Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure" flashed strange creatures across the ceiling.

After a tour of southern Idahos nighttime sky, the group got up close and personal with snakes, lizards and cockroaches in the Herrett Center's reptile room.

While other visitors held snakes in their hands or peered at them lying in glass boxes, Bahati shook her head, indicating she wouldn't go near them, let alone touch them. When Sarah slowly approached a girl holding a snake near the entrance, her mother called her back in Swahili.

When the group ordered lunch at a McDonalds drive-through, Bahati refused to eat a hamburger, but she accepted some fries. When they arrived at the bowling alley, she munched on an apple near a foosball table as the Bangerters waited in line for shoes and an open alley.

At first, Bahati didn't want to bowl, either.

"You gotta do it," Allison encouraged as others chimed in.

When she finally, reluctantly agreed, Bahati knocked down four pins on her first throw. Told she had another try, she knocked down three more. No big deal.

Lupumba, the interpreter, also took some convincing.

"Go Mary, go Mary," someone chanted.

Beatrice laughed as Lupumba finally stood up and chose a ball.

Sarah was trying to press buttons on a console when it was her turn. Hearing her name, she quickly grabbed a ball and scurried to the front of the lane. Her ball was not even halfway down the lane when she danced her way back to grab another.

By the third frame, Bahati, too, was warming up to the game. When she knocked down nine pins, she clapped her hands, grinning.

  

For Bahati, everything in Idaho is different: grocery shopping, laundry, going to the doctor.

For a Jan. 12 trip to Walmart with Bangerter, Bahati had a shopping list written in Swahili. Daniel and Sarah sat in the cart while Bahati browsed the produce. Whenever Bahati walked away, Sarah yelled, "Mama!"

Bahati stuffed plastic bags full of apples and bananas. What other shoppers might have put in two or three bags, she fit into one. She examined a head of purple cabbage  she was looking for green  but decided against it and put it down.

Other items on Bahatis list were challenging to find, too: lotion, fingernail clippers, lip balm, makeup. Nothing on the shelves looked familiar.

Lupumba translated to Bangerter that Bahati was looking for a razor. Bangerter asked: the kind to shave your legs? Lupumba shook her head. It was to cut nails.

Bangerter was stumped. We can look and see what they have, she finally said.

In the cosmetics aisle, Bahati and Lupumba scanned the shelves for Black Opal, the makeup line that Bahati uses. She carried an almost empty compact in her hands to show a Walmart employee.

The first employee directed them to a small African-American hair section next to toothpaste and toothbrushes. The second employee suggested the Queen Latifah makeup line.

Bahati eventually purchased Loreals brand in the most similar shade she could find. Instead of lotion, she bought Vaseline. She decided not to buy a fingernail clipper or lip balm when presented with the alternatives.

Not being able to find what she is looking for in the store is minor inconvenience for a woman who used to worry how she would feed her children. That worry is lessened now.

"When they tell me, 'I'm hungry,'" she said later. "I can give them food."

Bahati and her husband can sleep soundly at night without fear someone will enter their home and rob them. In the refugee camp, Mulawbe said, if someone finds out you have a little money, they come in and take it.

"Here, I can sleep without worry," he said Jan. 18, at home with his family.

  

It was difficult to find foods Mulabwe and Bahati liked during lunch at Bangerters home Jan. 15.

Bangerter pulled a plastic container of lasagna from her refrigerator. Bahati took one look and, without saying a word, declined the leftovers.

No way? Bangerter said, laughing. Its good, its good.

Then she offered boiled eggs and leftover stew. Bahati reluctantly took a bowl of stew after Bangerter explained what was in it: potatoes, carrots, celery, beef.

Do you want to try it? Bangerter said. Or does it look gross?

Bahati took cautious bites of the potatoes, careful not to drink the liquid. She later tasted peanut butter for the first time.

Mulabwe declined all the foods.

When Bangerters children asked for corn dogs, she heated one for Sarah, too. But Sarah backed away from the piece of corn dog on a fork that Bangerter held. The children instead ate boiled eggs.

Bangerter tried again to get Mulabwe to eat, this time offering a corn dog. When others pressed him to try it, Bangerters youngest daughter, Amaya, interjected: They dont have to. Bangerter agreed.

But when it came to making oatmeal cookies, Bangerter wanted them to help as they waited for loads of Bahati's laundry to wash and dry.

Do you want to make cookies? she said. Do you understand cookies? We can bake because we have to wait for the laundry.

Without an interpreter, Bangerter read the recipe for oatmeal cookies and explained where they could find the ingredients in her kitchen. She showed Mulabwe and Bahati how to combine the sugars and butter in a mixing bowl.

The butter is too cold, Bangerter said. We should have let the butter get warmer. Do you understand cold and warm? The butter was cold, so it wasnt as soft.

Mulabwe nodded to show he understood, as he talked to his wife in Swahili. They stood close to the bowl, peering in to watch the ingredients mix.

When Bangerter increased the mixing speed, pieces of batter flipped out of the bowl. Mulabwe and Bahati backed up, smiling.

  

Even giving birth will be different than in the refugee camp.

In Malawi, many women give birth before getting to the crowded hospital. Bahati was lucky; she reached the hospital in time for the births of both her children.

Expecting her third child, Bahati went to her first St. Luke's Magic Valley Medical Center ultrasound Jan. 7. In the dark room, the only light came from a wall-mounted screen and ultrasound technician Lisa Millers computer. Miller pushed the ultrasound wand across Bahati's bare belly.

The fetus on the screen was curled up, knees blocking its face.

"This is the baby's thigh and femur," Miller said. "The baby's foot is right there. See how his foot is right there?"

As Lupumba translated, Bahati smiled.

Another angle revealed the sex of the baby. Miller typed, "It's a boy," on the screen followed by exclamation marks.

"Can you feel that movement right now?" Miller asked. Bahati nodded, eyes glued to the screen.

"He's very active," Miller said.

While Bahati learned the baby's due date, April 18, and its heartbeat, 143 beats per minute, Mulabwe sat in the waiting room with their two children.

Bahati said he wasn't expecting a son when Daniel was born.

I'm sure he'll be excited," Lupumba translated for Bahati.

Later, Mulabwe reflected on the newest member of his family. The baby boy will be the first American citizen in the family.

"He will have a better life and better opportunities than Sarah and Daniel had back home," he said.

Mulabwe had never heard of the American dream before coming to the U.S. He liked the idea that he and his family could become anything they set their minds to.

"That's good," he said. "That means you work hard."

  

Some in Twin Falls want to close that door.

A group seeking to get a measure onto May ballots banning refugee centers in Twin Falls County has been gathering signatures since October. By mid-January, the group had gathered about 1,500 signatures of the of 3,842 required by the early-April deadline, but it hadn't turned them all in. The Twin Falls County Clerks Office had certified only 219 so far, and Prosecuting Attorney Grant Loebs  who reviews proposed ballot measures before they are approved  had expressed doubts about whether some of the provisions are legal or enforceable.

In Boise, all 105 Idaho lawmakers were invited to controversial anti-Islam pastor Shahram Hadian's Jan. 14 speech at the Capitol, but only a handful briefly stopped by to listen to parts of his presentation  a warning on the dangers of refugees. While about 100 protesters holding "Idaho is too great to hate" signs rallied inside the Statehouse, Hadian argued that states must protect their citizens from Muslim extremists because the federal government will not.

Meanwhile, hundreds of refugees in Twin Falls  304 arrived in the most recent fiscal year  are navigating the adjustment to American self-sufficiency.

Two of the biggest hurdles Bangerter foresees for Mulabwe and Bahati are learning English and being financially independent. When communicating without Lupumbas help, Bangerter has learned to use hand signs.

Bangerter also wants Mulabwe and Bahati  both stopped attending school in the ninth grade  to finish their high school educations so they arent limited to low-wage jobs.

"I think it's going to be important to get a GED, but it's not going to happen overnight," Bangerter said. "We got to get English going so it's really easy."

She also has high hopes for 21-year-old Lupumba, who graduated from high school in Zambia but didn't come to the U.S. with her diploma. Lupumba plans to take the GED. When Bangerter first met her, she asked what Lupumba's dreams were. Lupumba's answer: to be a doctor.

Bangerter gave her a GED study book to encourage her to remember that goal.

"I don't want the dreams to be sucked out of her," Bangerter said.

Back in Zambia, Lupumba worked for a theater company that led children's ministry classes such as acting and dancing; here, she attends Our Savior Lutheran Church.

Mulabwe wants Bangerter to teach him to drive and is taking classes at the Refugee Center to pass the written exam. When the weather gets nicer, Bangerter and Mulabwe plan to start lessons behind the wheel.

And before the baby comes in April, Bangerter wants to hold a baby shower for Bahati. The couple hopes to move into a cheaper apartment in preparation for the babys arrival  and for the first payment they'll need to make toward repaying their plane tickets to the U.S.

Mentors stay with their families for a year, but Bangerter plans to check in with Mulabwe and Bahati long after that. Shes known them for only three months but already is looking to the year ahead. When November comes, it will be marked with happiness and some sadness for her.

"I don't know, it will be sad, Bangerter said. It will mean they don't need me anymore.

  

A white CSI Refugee Center van pulled into the Fred Meyer parking lot the morning of Feb. 2. Mulabwe sat inside with other refugees.

It was Mulabwes first day of work in Jackpot, where he'd become a hotel housekeeper at Cactus Petes Resort Casino.

"He was happy with that. He knows we can't live without a job," Zeze Rwasama, director of the Refugee Center, translated Jan. 22, shortly after Mulabwe took a drug test for employment.

Mulabwe said he will be paid $8.40 an hour. After two months he will be eligible for benefits.

Cactus Petes for years has worked with the CSI Refugee Center to fill positions including housekeeping, houseman, stewarding, cook and security, Dawn Vandiver, the casino's human resources manager, said later. Cactus Petes' talent recruitment specialist goes to the Refugee Center and conducts employment screenings, assists with the online application process and even does uniform fittings.

Cactus Petes employees can advance through transfers, training and a tuition reimbursement program, Vandiver said. "Weve had many success stories of team members hired through the Refugee Center starting in one department and advancing their hospitality career in other departments."

Candidates from the Refugee Center typically have basic English skills, Vandiver said. Cactus Petes also uses interpreters and InterpreTalk, a telephone-based service. "We also have a number of team members who are multilingual and are helpful in assisting with translation needs."

Mulabwe waited inside the van for about 10 minutes before a large bus with "Cactus Petes" on the side pulled into the parking lot. As graveyard shift employees unloaded from the bus, daytime workers lined up to board.

Mulabwe shook the hand of an older refugee leaving the bus as he embarked on his first day of employment. Outside the bus's tinted windows, more vehicles pulled up and parked, while weary workers returning home scraped morning frost from their windshields.
Tired of campaign lies and the lying liars who tell them? You'll be sorry to hear that an Ohio law that prohibited false statements about a candidate for office was struck down this week by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, some 25 years after it was upheld by the same court.

The decision is probably correct in light of the Supreme Court's expansive new free-speech precedent. But it's worth pausing to note just how far the courts have gone in protecting falsehood.

The Ohio law, now defunct, worked like this: In response to a false statement about a candidate or the candidate's position, anyone could file a complaint with a state commission. So long at it wasn't too close to election time, the body first did a quick and dirty preliminary hearing to see whether there was probable cause to think the statement was false. If the election was imminent, or if the preliminary hearing found cause to go forward, the commission held a full hearing. If it found the statement false, the commission referred the person who had made it to prosecutors who could choose to bring charges that carried the punishment of up to six months' jail time or $5,000 for a first-time loser.

In 1991, the 6th Circuit considered the law's constitutionality, and upheld it. Its theory was that the First Amendment protects speech that has social value, and knowingly false statements about candidates for office don't.

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously wrote that the First Amendment doesn't protect falsely shouting "fire" in a crowded theater. The 1991 appeals court thought that false campaign speech was like that. In classic Holmesian free-speech terms, we might say that instead of contributing to the marketplace of ideas, knowingly false statements about candidates distort that marketplace.

Ordinarily an appeals court is bound by its own precedent, so you'd think the 1991 case shouldn't be reversed. But the 6th Circuit reasoned that the law of free speech had changed.

In particular, the court focused on the 2012 case of U.S. v. Alvarez. The case involved a challenge to the federal Stolen Valor Act, which made it a crime to falsely claim you have military decorations that you don't actually have, such as the Medal of Honor.

In the Alvarez case, the Supreme Court first held that false speech wasn't categorically excluded from free-speech protection. It went on to say that the Stolen Valor Act was unconstitutional. In case you were wondering, now you can lie about any military decorations you want without fear of prosecution.

Having determined that the First Amendment applied to the Ohio law, the 6th Circuit then subjected it to strict scrutiny, the most exacting form of constitutional analysis. In free-speech law, strict scrutiny is almost (but not quite) the bourne from which no traveler returns. If the courts apply it, the law is almost always struck down.

To survive strict scrutiny, a law must serve a compelling government interest and be narrowly tailored to doing so. The appeals court started well, acknowledging that Ohio has a compelling interest in defeating fraud and falsehood in electoral campaigns.

But the court held that the Ohio law wasn't narrowly tailored, for a laundry list of reasons. The most important was the last.

The court said the law was over-inclusive because the preliminary hearing might find probable cause to proceed against a campaign that would ultimately be found not to have broken the law, thus undermining "the integrity of the elections."

At the same time, the court said the law also under-inclusive, because it might not "timely penalize those who violate it" and because it doesn't "provide for campaigns that are the victim of potentially damaging false statements."

What the court was really saying was that, even carefully and narrowly redrawn, the law would still be unconstitutional. It can't be re-enacted, no matter what.

Given current Supreme Court doctrine, that's almost surely right. The result reflects the justices' growing free-speech absolutism.

At one time, the court might've protected falsehood by saying that it's too hard to tell truth from lies, or that punishing lies will deter some true speech. These are instrumental reasons to protect falsehood.

But the doctrine now increasingly treats falsehood as inherently worthy of protection, not just for instrumental reasons but also because lies are part of the universe of self-expression. Why else subject restrictions on false speech to strict scrutiny?

Holmes would be mystified to hear that a ban on falsely shouting fire in a crowded theater might be unconstitutional today. Yet by the 6th Circuit's logic, such a ban would be over-inclusive because it might punish people who are actually telling the truth. And it would be under-inclusive because it wouldn't punish everyone and because it provides no remedies for those who get trampled. The Supreme Court might well agree. Think about it the next time you sit down in a theater -- or when you hear a candidate lying about the competition.
Idaho may soon join the states that are petitioning Congress for a convention to amend the U.S. Constitution. Most folks behind these petitions act with a conviction that the words of the Constitution matter, a conviction shared by the recently departed Justice Antonin Scalia. Before supporting a constitutional convention, therefore, Idahoans should know what Justice Scalia said on the subject in 2014: I certainly would not want a constitutional convention. Whoa! Who knows what would come out of it?

Scalias opposition reflects his steadfast adherence to the words of the Constitution. Scalia was worried because the Constitution devotes so few words to the convention process. All it says is that Congress shall call a convention when asked to do so by the legislatures of two-thirds (today 34) of the states; constitutional amendments proposed by that convention take effect when ratified by three-fourths (today 38) of the states.

Most importantly, the Constitution does not address how to control what might come out of a convention. As former Chief Justice Warren Burger explained, Congress might try to limit the Convention to one amendment or one issue, but there is no way to assure that the Convention would obey. Likewise, individual states might try to limit their delegates authority at a convention by giving them detailed instructions beforehand. But it is unclear how limits imposed by Congress or the states could be enforced. This is why Scalia, Burger, and other jurists of all ideological stripes fear a runaway convention.

History supports their fear. The convention in Philadelphia that framed our Constitution in 1787 was arguably a runaway convention. At least some of its delegates ignored their states instructions. The convention as a whole ignored Congresss resolution urging it only to suggest changes to the Articles of Confederation. Instead, the Philadelphia convention proposed an entirely new document that created an entirely new system of government.

Of course, the new system proved far superior. But the 1787 convention in Philadelphia benefited from circumstances that would not exist today. For example, it operated in total secrecy, a circumstance that we would not tolerate today. Today the public would demand an open convention, which would labor under the constraints of continuous tweeting and real-time public polling. Plus, the Philadelphia convention of 1787 was led by farsighted people whose equal would be hard to find today, including Washington, Hamilton, and Madison.

Besides the risk of a runaway convention, one cant help wonder whether a constitutional convention addresses the real problem. One group supporting a convention, the Convention of States, says the problem is that [t]he federal government has overreached its constitutionally-established boundaries. If thats true, the source of the problem isnt the Constitution; its the people in the federal government who arent obeying it. Instead of changing the Constitution, we should get rid of those people, by using a process in which Justice Scalia had great faith: the ballot box. As to calling a convention, we should borrow Justice Scalias word and just say, Whoa.
Just some personal thoughts and musings on culture, and history.
YEREVAN, FEBRUARY, 28, ARMENPRESS. The Russian Center for Truce in Syria has turned to the US Reconciliation Center for explanations over the shelling of the Syrian territory by Turkey, which is a member of the US-led anti-terror coalition, Armenpress reports, citing TASS, Russian Center Head Lieutenant-General Sergei Kuralenko said on Sunday.

"Overnight to February 28, the Russian Center for reconciling the warring sides in Syria received information on an attack from the Turkish territory on the Syrian town of Et Tell el-Abyad by armed units with the support of large-caliber artillery. This information was subsequently verified and confirmed through several channels, including representatives of the Syrian Democratic Forces," the Russian general said.

"The Russian Center has turned to the US Reconciliation Center in Amman for explanations over the shelling of the Syrian territory by Turkey, which is a member of the US-led anti-IS [Islamic State] coalition," he said.

Russian and US Presidents Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama adopted a statement on February 22 on a ceasefire in Syria from February 27.

Both countries undertook to influence the Syrian political forces close to them to achieve truce in Syria. The truce regime does not apply to the groupings recognized by the United Nations as terrorist organizations, such as the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra (both outlawed in Russia).

In the follow-up of the joint statement by the Russian and US leaders, a special Center for Reconciliation of the Warring Sides was set up at Russias Khmeimim airbase in Syrias Latakia. Currently, 61 Russian officers are working at the Center.

The Center aims to assist armed groupings in Syria in concluding ceasefire agreements, maintain the truce regime, control its observance and organize the delivery of humanitarian cargoes to civilians.
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

Blog Archive
The state Department of Natural Resources blacklisted a group of 16 citizens and activists with complaints about how the agency managed wildlife and administered clean water and other rules.



Being put on the 'do not respond' list was supposed to mean that going forward agency staff would not respond to the complainants except for those responses required by the state's open records law.

Friends and concerned Citizens,



Once again, politics at its best when it comes to our current administration in Madison. Lynn and Nancy Utesch [of Kewaunee CARES (Facebook)] are great friends of mine and vocal advocates for the land and waters of the state that are becoming increasingly polluted by industrial agriculture. Please read the forwarded correspondences below and remember these tidbits of information when election time is upon us.



The Utesch family are family farmers in Kewaunee County, where 1/3 of private drinking water wells have been made unusable because of pollution attributed to manure runoff from the 16 dairy CAFOs in Kewaunee County. They, like 15 others, have been blacklisted by the DNR for requesting internal information pointing out the DNR's lack of enforcement. Does anyone think this is a level playing field for citizens of Wisconsin? With DNR enforcement down by half over the past few years, citizens are compelled to protect their water, and barring them from requesting information, or delaying it, contradicts the open records laws.



Agency people and politicians copied here, please explain how this is justifiable. Citizens blind copied here, please remember this when you vote.

Gov. Mark Dayton sought to unify Minnesotans around solving the states emerging water challenges at a St. Paul summit Saturday that brought together hundreds of activists, farmers, lobbyists, legislators and regulators.



But even as those present spoke of hope and resolve, the costs and conflicts surrounding water issues were immediately evident, as a group of demonstrators interrupted Daytons opening remarks to protest the construction of oil pipelines they said would threaten water quality and cultural touchstones like wild rice farming in tribal lands.



After Dayton promised to meet with the protesters, they left the stage, and he continued, not by proposing laws or regulations, but by sounding more like a pastor, [preacher], of water.



'What we really need is to establish an ethic of clean water practices,' he said. 'I urge you, and I ask you, to spend today establishing our ethic: that clean water practices are every Minnesotans responsibility. That anything less is unacceptable. And that its achievable if all of us do our part.'

Good for Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton (D) addressing clean water crises at his Minnesota Water Summit Right across the Mississippi, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is aggressively pursuing the interests of the polluters, and incredibly blacklisting Wisconsin clean water activists.On the very weekend of the Minnesota summit , it was reported the Scott Walker administration maintained a blacklist of Wisconsin citizens about whom the Department of Natural Resources agency staff was ordered to not to respond with any communications, and to ignore all communications from these 16 Wisconsin citizens.Report Jason Stein and Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Blacklisting citizens now.The news of the Walker administration's blacklisting of citizens follows by some two weeks Scott Walker's signing Republican-passed legislation "overhauling the state's century-old system of merit hiring and firing," which will incorporate a system where politically vetted state workers will have access to confidential citizen information maintained by the state bureaucracy, (Stein and Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel ).Easy to contemplate a blacklist of citizensviewed with suspicion and hostilityveering into an enemies list as state workers become political instruments of the Walker adminstration.Criticism of the black list is already growing across the state, especially among clean water advocates.Writes Criste Greening of the clean water citizens' group, Protect Wood County and Its Neighbors , in a widely circulated email this weekend:Back in Minnesota, reports J. Patrick Coolican in the Minneapolis Star Tribune Can anyone imagine Scott Walker understanding much less preaching the ethics of fresh, clean water?One has to ask is Scott Walker so deluded, so ignorant, this man-child is not aware clean water is the lifeblood of Earth?The Scott Walker administration'sincludes the following Wisconsin citizens:Greg GraunkeMark TillotsonRoger KerrPatricia RandolphPaul WennesheimerJohn WeisbrodDennis HoeserLyle ZimmermanArmond AlsteenLynn and Nancy UteschTom SchoolThe Sprecher family: Terry, Dawn, and MiltonJohn RasmuessenTom MillerOwen BuskeKaren Gething
From now on, every person who gets tested and is found to be HIV positive will not just get counselling and medication. They will also get a...
JOAN BENNERT

MCMA member Sandy Good and owner of the FOTO-SHOP , will be hosting some young artists.Savin Mattozzi, Samantha Creenan and Alexander Good, during Portland First Friday Art Walk, Oct.1st, 5:00 to 8:00 pm,517 Congress.





MCMA member and artistwill exhibiting , Water Colors and Acrylics of Maine and Puerto Rico in the library during First Friday Art Walk and during the month of October.
A government minister was speaking to the singsing bilas-adorned villagers and a handful of educated elites from the ministerial party.

This was evident when I attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony of a newly constructed bridge on a rural road in Papua New Guinea.

In every facet of our lives, we are seeking approval and acceptance of our conduct, both consciously and unconsciously, by our internal masta who is ever present in our minds.

SELF-preservation and self-worth begin when we admit and deal with the overarching presence of the demon masta planted in our collective psyche.

As the minister addressed the crowd in English, I stood there scratching my head. Why didnt he deliver the speech in Pidgin, a language all the people in attendance understood?

A minor incident, I agree, yet it spoke volumes about how we continue to enable the internal masta.

The Minster, a high office holder, felt obliged to demonstrate his great achievement to his internal masta, talking, and posturing as if to say how well am I doing?

This sad example was the manifestation of the inferiority complex buried in our collective psyche.

It was an attempt to show the achievement of the mastas skillsets, however inappropriate it was in this rural location.

The outsiders officially left PNG on Independence Day. Yet the scars of their psychological footprints were left behind to become part of our psyche and forever haunt us.

This is seen throughout the fabric of PNG society. A security officer gives a pass to an expatriate but not to a local fellow, irrespective of the locals qualifications or status in the community.

Local women are assumed to be shoplifters or at least untrustworthy. Their bilums are searched harshly, but not so the shopping bag of the expatriate lady.

Expats who are ill are reluctant to consult a local doctor, or forcefully second guess their considered medical opinion.

Such less preferential treatment is a regular experience of our people. But we accept it as normal.

We internalise it as our fault and feel obliged to apologise, mi sori tru boss, as if we had done something wrong.

And these are our own people treating fellow locals as if we were less worthy.

Such perverse behaviour is reinforced by the continuing presence of expatriate consultants of dubious expertise; their presence alone perpetuating the notion that locals are not good enough.

Many organisations spend a fortune hiring experts to continue to subjugate local knowledge and expertise.

That said, some of our own countrymen are the worst. They feel they have made it, so they project themselves like a masta.

Employment processes and system are used to validate the concept that Papua New Guineans can never measure up. Locals are confined to a junior status, to be managed by and answerable to expatriates of often unwarranted rank.

Promotion seems to be based on arbitrary standards, subjectively established to keep qualified locals away from upward mobility. In every profession, many Papua New Guineans experience such double standards.

And so we have riveted in our psyche the masta-kanaka relationship. It looks like it will require generations to detox ourselves and get it out of our systems forever.

The internal masta, who we constantly feel we have to please and which generate misplaced arrogance has to be understood.

Because it is about understanding ourselves, our self-worth, our dignity and our self-esteem.

We must embrace values grounded in the Melanesian virtues of humility, identity and peoplehood.
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Growing up as a Protestant kid, I had no experience with Lent. Lent was a Catholic thing. I remember kids appearing at school on a random Wednesday in February with black smudges on their foreheads and then spending the next five weeks complaining about how much they missed candy or television or whatever theyd given up for Lent. The school cafeteria menu (and this was a public school, mind you) changed to fish sticks, cheese pizzas and tuna melts.

I attended weekly worship at a reformed Presbyterian church in Syracuse, and the trappings of Lent were not a part of our worship life, focusing instead year-round on reading the Bible, singing psalms and hearing sermons in a simple, unadorned sanctuary. My father used to joke that we were likely to hear a Christmas sermon on Easter and an Easter sermon on Christmas.

It wasnt until I was an adult that I was handed a palm branch on Palm Sunday or attended a Good Friday Tenebrae service or entertained the idea of taking up a spiritual discipline for Lent. And I was well into middle age before receiving ashes on the back of my hand (still not ready for the forehead thing). I still draw the line at foot washing on Maundy Thursday, but I find great meaning in sharing a communion meal to remember Jesus last supper on that night.

My experience is not unusual. The break with many Catholic liturgical traditions goes back to the Protestant Reformation, when reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli called for a simpler, more personal relationship with God through reading the Bible and interpreting the word of God proclaimed in it. The reformers chafed at Catholic practices that they considered superstitious or rote. Protestant churches began to warm to the liturgical year in the past several decades, slowly incorporating more of the traditional elements of the church year into their services and the lives of their members, recognizing and embracing the richness and depth they add. Now many Protestant churches, including the one I attend, observe Lent as a period of spiritual discipline in preparation for Easter.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which this year was Feb. 11. Ash Wednesday recognizes our mortality; as we receive symbolic ashes, we are told, You are dust and to dust you shall return. We acknowledge the reality of our inevitable physical deaths and the preciousness of our limited lives.

During the forty days of Lent, we take up spiritual disciplines. Some give up something as a form of sacrifice; others take on something (study, prayer, service) as a means of performing discipleship. At my church, we offer a weekly Lenten study series; this year it focuses on sacred song and how music reflects, enriches and expresses our faith.

The last week of Lent (Holy Week) retells the events of Jesus final days. Palm Sunday remembers Jesus entry into Jerusalem, with crowds waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna. Shortly after this strange parade, however, the dark events of Holy Week unfold, leading to Jesus crucifixion. On Maundy Thursday (the word "maundy" is derived from the Latin word mandatum, which means commandment), worshipers remember Jesus last supper, when he gave his followers a new commandment to love one another as I have loved you. The Maundy Thursday service at Westminster is incorporated into a potluck meal, so that we actually experience communion as a shared meal.

Good Friday relates Jesus final hours. A traditional Good Friday worship service is called a Tenebrae (Latin for shadows or darkness) service. In a Tenebrae service, the story of Jesus crucifixion is recounted through readings and hymns, with candles extinguished after each reading, leaving the church in complete darkness at the end. It is a powerful, somber experience.

This Lent, five Auburn churches will gather together for a Good Friday Tenebrae service at 7 p.m. Friday, March 25, at St Lukes United Church of Christ, 25 Seminary Ave. Leading worship will be pastors Paul Dreher-Wiburg (St. Lukes), Kathlyn Schofield (SS. Peter & John Episcopal), Dwain Lee (Westminster Presbyterian), Richelle Goff (Auburn United Methodist) and Eileen Winter (First Presbyterian), members of each of these five churches and a combined community choir. All are welcome and invited to this ecumenical gathering.

Whatever your tradition, I wish you a Lenten season that deepens and enriches your spiritual life.
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
The business community is not taking the Legislature's refusal to fund one of Gov. Rick Scott's top priority well. The Legislature is holding budget negotiations this weekend, but already both the House and the Senate have agreed to set aside no money for the job creation fund. Scott had sought $250 million.

Without the money, the leader of Enterprise Florida said the state will miss out on attracting more businesses to Florida.

"As a result, there are 277 projects Enterprise Florida Inc. is actively competing for, that are effectively lost," Enterprise Florida CEO Bill Johnson said in a mass email to dozens of EFI board members. "This means the legislatures actions will result in losing the creation of approximately 50,000 jobs."

The Tampa Bay Partnership, which includes business leaders from 8 area counties, issued an "Urgent Alert" to its membership on Saturday, urging business and community leaders to start calling legislative leaders this weekend to register their support for Scott's job fund.

"By failing to fund the Florida Enterprise Fund, we not only jeopardize all the projects in our pipeline today, we send a message that were not prepared to compete for the highly coveted jobs of the future, said Rick Homans, President & CEO of the Tampa Bay Partnership.

House Appropriations chairman Richard Corcoran, a Pasco County Republican, and other House leaders had opposed the $250 million incentive fund, calling it "corporate welfare."

On Saturday morning, Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, said following an early round of budget negotiations in Tallahassee, that he still disagreed with the decision to zero out the incentive program.

"I'm still pretty disappointed," Latvala said.

Latvala, who has been a harsh critic of the program in the past, said he was surprised the Legislature ended up with zero in the fund. He said $250 million was a lot, but thought lawmakers could have provided a lesser amount.

"It didn't have to be $250 million, but there is a big difference between $250 million and zero," Latvala said.

The budget negotiations are far from over. The Florida Legislature still has two weeks remaining in its annual legislative session to complete the spending plan.
@ByKristenMClark

Legislative leaders were close to hashing out a deal Saturday evening to provide record-level K-12 education funding next school year -- without forcing businesses and homeowners to shoulder hundreds of millions of dollars in extra funding through local property taxes.

The proposal is a gesture of significant compromise by the Florida House.

But by using a greater share of state dollars instead, the $458 million proposed increase for 2016-17 is far less than what Republican Gov. Rick Scott or House or Senate leaders had originally sought.

Scott's recommendation to the Legislature was for a $507 million increase, almost 90 percent of which would have come from property taxes that homeowners and businesses pay.

By comparison, the House had originally proposed a $601 million increase, while the Senate wanted $650 million extra.

Both initial legislative budget plans mirrored Scott's funding formula, but Senate leaders have, for weeks, argued that increasing K-12 funding through the "required local effort" -- as Scott proposed -- would constitute a "tax increase."

Scott and some House members disagreed with that assertion, arguing that the tax rate wouldn't have changed. Even so, property tax bills would've gone up because property values have rebounded statewide.

On Saturday, House members -- led by education budget conference committee Chairman Rep. Erik Fresen -- shifted their tone.

"There was obviously a lot of concern by members of both parties as to how those funds were distributed," the Miami Republican said.

After re-analyzing their budget allocations, Fresen said he and committee Vice-Chairman Sen. Don Gaetz "made the policy decision overall to apply more general revenue ... (and) apply less of what could be considered -- whether construed properly or not -- as a property tax increase."
From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON -- Marco Rubio released summaries of his last five years of tax filings on Saturday, revealing him to be a candidate with a senator's steady annual income of $176,000 who reaped repeated windfalls from book deals. During his first four years in the Senate, Rubio and his wife, Jeanette, together earned an average of $531,000 a year.

Since winning election to an office in Washington, Rubio's income has ranged from $276,059 to $938,963, and he has paid between $46,500 and $254,894 in federal income tax. A comparison with personal Senate financial disclosures shows most of the income came from a business that collected royalties on two books: Rubio's memoir, "An American Son," and a pre-campaign tract, "American Dreams."

In 2012, Rubio's most lucrative year, his effective tax rate topped out at a little more than 31 percent. But by 2014  the last year for which a return summary is available  the family's income dropped to $335,963, an amount on which the Rubios paid a 24 percent tax rate. Rubio's earnings that year were padded by cashing out $68,241 from his retirement savings.

The tax documents Rubio has released are not complete tax filings, as Mitt Romney provided in 2012 and Hillary Clinton produced last year. Instead, Rubio released the first two pages of his 1040 form, which summarizes the details of his income and taxes.

More here.
Join us for a visit with some of our favorite authors whose books we love to read and share with everyone. You'll get to hear from authors who've become friends over the years, authors we're just discovering, and lots of prizes and books to win!
@PatriciaMazzei

Marco Rubio will spend the rare night at home this coming week -- on Super Tuesday.

Rubio will watch from Miami as election returns come in from more than a dozen states. The rally will take place at 8 p.m. at Tropical Park.

With Florida's do-or-die primary approaching March 15, expect Rubio to be spending more time in his home state.

Rival Donald Trump will also be in Florida on Tuesday night, in Palm Beach, his campaign announced Saturday.

This post has been updated.
Standing in the center of a barren prison courtyard at Sumter Correctional Institution in Bushnell two weeks ago, encircled by towering razor wire and brick buildings, state Rep. David Richardson was on a mission.

His legislative week hadnt begun yet, so he had arrived for an unannounced visit to the youthful offender wing of the massive prison compound. Since August, the retired forensic auditor had learned that if he wanted to understand how inmates were treated in the states troubled corrections system, he had to find a place to conduct one-on-one interviews with offenders.

His conclusion: Find a very public space within the prison confines, out of earshot of corrections officers or prison staff, away from any recording equipment and never ask what sent them to prison, unless its going to be your last question.

Over the past six months, Richardson, a Miami Beach Democrat who had never set foot in a prison, has quietly met with more than 120 inmates during more than 30 visits to 23 different corrections facilities in his quest to determine how to fix the ailing system. Story here.

Photo: Rep. David Richardson, D-Miami Beach, with Former Warden at Suwannee Correctional Thomas Reid during a tour of the facility. Photo courtesy of David Richardson
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A prototype of the latest version of the MQ-1C Gray Eagle will be headed to Europe soon for a series of demonstrations, according to the ...
Last year was full of challenges and disappointments for wood products markets.

New home starts in the U.S. failed to materialize at predicted levels. The Chinese economys slowdown reduced exports of logs, lumber and other wood products from U.S. and Canadian producers to Asia. The U.S. dollar gained against most currencies, particularly Chinas and Canadas, making the U.S. a prime destination for wood products and further challenging domestic producers abilities to sell into weakening domestic and foreign markets.

Finally, the Softwood Lumber Agreement (SLA) between Canada and the U.S. expired in October, causing significant uncertainty for U.S. lumber producers concerned about Canadian mills flooding the already oversupplied U.S. market. The Canadian wood products industry is thought by many in the U.S. to be unfairly subsidized by the Canadian and provincial governments, providing timber to mills at below market value.

To promote fairer trade and reduce uncertainty caused by disputes, the SLA imposed quotas and tariffs on Canadian lumber imports based on U.S. lumber prices. The expiration of the U.S. and Canadian SLA was of particular concern to Montana lumber producers, who produce many of the same products and species as mills in British Columbia and Alberta which now have unfettered access to the U.S. lumber market.

Along with these recent national and international hurdles, Montana wood products firms faced the more localized and ongoing challenges of limited log availability and relatively high log costs. Timber harvest in Montana has changed very little since 2009.

While 2015 lumber prices in the U.S. were about 13 percent lower than 2014, and panel prices were down about three percent, delivered sawlog prices in Montana were down only slightly.

Since the Great Recession, most Montana mills have only been able to operate at 60 to 75 percent of capacity, despite increased demand from slowly growing housing starts and several years of rising lumber prices.

During the summer and fall, several Montana sawmills announced curtailments, cutting production and employment from two shifts to one. Through the first three-quarters of 2015, Montana lumber production was down about 12 percent from 2014. However, employment was relatively unchanged for Montana wood products manufacturing overall because down time that panel facilities took during 2014 offset the 2015 sawmill layoffs.

The November announcement of the potential merger of Weyerhaeuser and Plum Creek created new uncertainties, with the deal expected to close in early 2016.

The failure of new home starts to significantly increase, slackening demand from China, and the strengthening U.S. dollar all contributed to the oversupplied wood products markets and depressed prices currently affecting U.S. mills and further reducing operating levels in Montana.

How long these factors will continue remains uncertain. The possibility of a new U.S. and Canadian lumber agreement is not clear, and the potential Weyerhaeuser  Plum Creek merger raises even more questions in the near term, but the combined impacts on Montanas wood products industry and forest-dependent communities could be long-lasting.
A group of Flagstaff volunteers, including college students, retired people and elected officials are feeling the Bern for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

In fact, for a meeting at the Kickstand Kafe last week, six volunteers even brought a special guest of honor, a cardboard cutout of the Vermont senator himself.

Hes morally sound, volunteer Chanelle Flori said. Hes not saying things just do get elected, hes doing what he knows is right.

Volunteers from the Flagstaff for Bernie group said the group has about 250 listed volunteers total, and said they have been gaining support since summer after hosting a rally for Sanders at Wheeler Park in June. The group is not officially affiliated with the national Sanders campaign, but they host events to promote voter registration and raise funds and support for Sanders.

The group has upcoming events, like Bands for Bernie at the Green Room next week as well as a rally at First Friday.

Linda Webb a volunteer for the group, said members have been hosting tables at the farmers market and on First Fridays, where they have sold T-shirts and other items to show support for Sanders.

Webb said the group does not have a formal office, and they have been keeping supplies in her garage and another volunteers car.

Volunteer Sallie Kladnik said she had been a member of the Progressive Democrats of Northern Arizona, and said she has been a supporter of Sanders for years.

Bernie has always been one of our champion senators, Kladnik said. This guy has been consistent for 35 years, he hasnt changed his position.

Volunteers said that consistency is one of the factors that attracted them most to Sanders, over his Democratic opponent Clinton. They said they admire his firm stance on issues like civil rights, the environment and the role of money in politics.

Hes eloquent, hes consistent, and he has such an energy to stand up for what he believes in, volunteer Kathy Sidney said.

Evan Tuohy, a volunteer, said the aspect that attracted him most to Sanders was his stance on getting big money and super PACs out of elections. Tuohy said he often donates small amounts to the campaign, which has turned away financial support from big businesses and super PACs.

Im buying the candidate this time, Touhy said. Thats what we want.

Jacob Ollanik, the student and campus coordinator for the NAU for Bernie group said the on-campus operation has about 10 regular volunteers, and said most of the efforts so far on campus were to promote voter registration before the February 22 deadline.

After each primary we have seen huge surges in interested volunteers, Ollanik said. People have been really receptive.

He said even people who are not explicitly supporting Sanders have been willing to listen and talk to him about the issues. He said the issues that have been most important for college students that Sanders represents are free public college tuition and solving income inequality.

There is a whole range of social, economic and political issues that bring people to Bernies platform, Ollanik said. If youre in some way disadvantaged by the socioeconomic structures in the United States and you want things to change for the majority of people, Bernie is the way to go.

While all the volunteers said they would be dejected if Sanders did not get the nomination, they said they would support Clinton in the general election.

This is the first time I dont feel like Im choosing the lesser of two evils, volunteer Bobby Eccleston said. Bernie is the right choice. Without him, I do feel like I would have to choose the lesser of two evils.

Sidney, who along with many of the group, said this was the first time she had ever volunteered on a campaign.

Im 71 years old, she said. Ive been waiting for Bernie for most of my adult life.
Advanced Technology Group is a little company in Missoula that is telling great big companies what they need to buy according to Tom Stergios, general manager of the Missoula Solutions Center.

And right now, business is booming. ATG is planning on expanding its offices in the historic Studebaker Building at 216 W. Main St. in the next few weeks, so they'll be moving into the space most recently occupied by Yo Waffle Yogurt.

The company is also on a hiring spree. Theyve added nine employees since January, and Stergios says they are projected to grow by 26 employees this calendar year in total.

We just submitted grants and were looking to be at 100 employees in Missoula by the end of next year, he said.

The companys customers are all out-of-state, and their average client generates $1.4 billion in revenue every year. Stergios and his team of 76 employees, 62 of whom are based in Missoula, are technology consultants that tell some of the most successful software, digital media, infrastructure, service and telecommunications companies in the world how to better manage their customers and billing systems.

Thirty-four of the firms employees in Missoula and another 10 contractors are full-time, and their average salary before bonuses is $81,000, about three times the countys median wage. Eight workers at the company bought houses in Missoula last year.

ATG is headquartered in Missouri, but the Missoula Solutions Center, which opened five years ago, is the companys largest office.

Stergios is a Missoula native and he has goals of eventually having 500 employees someday.

He has been working hard to develop relationships with the University of Montana and local high schools to help them develop curriculum that will translate into tech jobs.

Having been born and raised by Bonner Park, and then going out and living in San Francisco and seeing the world, were behind in technology, he explained. So we want to start by creating a company, then (continue) by creating more real-world education at the university. We know youre learning from a textbook, but why dont you come down and listen to billion-dollar companies talk about their needs? And then were going to push it in the high schools as well. And Im doing that because I love Missoula. But its mainly because I want to get a ton more jobs here at ATG. So, its philanthropic but profit-oriented as well.

The company provides three main types of service: Strategy, implementation and managed services.

Twenty percent of our work is strategy, and about 60-70 percent is implementing things, Stergios explained. So we go to our customers and say 'you need to manage your customers better, you need to handle your finances better, so heres what we recommend.' We recommend these technologies in the cloud. Then we work for about a year to implement it, and often they want someone to help maintain it over time. So thats our managed services division.

The strategy portion of the company requires the most experienced employees, but ATG is able to hire recent college graduates for managed services jobs. A hard-working employee can rise to become a top strategy consultant within five years.

They dont actually sell their own in-house software, rather, they recommend certain cloud-based softwares to other companies.

We call ourselves the source of truth that isnt in bed with one technology or the other, Stergios said. We work with tons of different technologies out there and now theyre really vying for our attention. Weve become a broker of information with buyers. Its an unusual situation were in. We have clients and technology partners but we dont have our own software. So were able to go to our customers without a dog in the fight and say heres the technology we think is right for you.

The relaxed work culture at ATG has more of a Silicon Valley startup feel than a rigid corporate atmosphere. They allow dogs, the company has a ping-pong table, and every Friday they have an end of the week wind-down that usually involves a Nerf gun war. There is a fully stocked kitchen, a beer fridge, and a buffet bar. Last year, the U.S. secretary of labor traveled to Missoula to highlight ATGs employee-friendly work culture. On-the-job training is also a key part of the culture.

Every week we dedicate roughly three to four hours of training for our employees in the dedicated training room, explained Cary Davis, director of operations and employee services. And usually its led by Tom but we also will bring in some of the service providers and vendors and partners that we work with, and we also ask some of our peers to come in.

Holly Foster, the executive director of solution delivery, was recruited by Stergios to join the company. She said she didn't think of Missoula as a "tech town" before she came here from Idaho.

"I only worked for really big companies before coming here, so it was scary and I didn't know if it was legit," she said. "But I was only here for a month or two before I knew I wanted to do this. It was awesome. I saw that we had at least had a foundation of clients to demand growth and a really good vision and quality people I was meeting as far as candidates. So here I am four and a half years later and now we have to find enough people to keep up with the growth."
We are all aware of the significant challenges facing the University of Montana because of declining enrollment, but I dont believe we fully recognize that this is not strictly a campus issue.

Lower student numbers and corresponding budget cutbacks at UM are a Missoula issue as well, and as active, engaged citizens we all have a responsibility to help the university.

The future of Missoula and UM are inseparable.

I often say that Missoula has an advantage over all other communities in Montana because we are home to our states namesake university. UM is one of the most important partners we have in our economic development efforts  and that partnership extends from President Royce Engstrom throughout the universitys administration and faculty.

In virtually every conversation I have with an existing business, a start-up or a firm looking to enter our area, our connection to UM and Missoula College is a key determining factor. The Missoula campuses are home to world-class researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs  and, importantly, the economic and civic leaders of the future.

Clearly, too, UM plays a vital role in our areas economy. Several years ago, the Bureau of Business and Economic Research put numbers to the impact of UM on Montanas economy. The conclusion:

The University of Montana is a major generator of economic wealth throughout the state of Montana. Its presence in the states economy makes the economic pie significantly bigger. Our analysis indicates that 9,700 jobs, more than $1 billion in after-tax income, and almost $200 million in state tax revenues are attributable to the presence of UM-Missoula in the Montana economy.  The bottom line is that the university has been, and continues to be, a vital catalyst for growth in the states economy.

As Missoula residents, we also recognize the importance of the many and diverse cultural amenities provided by UM. Our quality of life is enhanced every day by the presence of the University of Montana, its students and faculty. Their energy and excellence are evident throughout this great city.

So the ongoing enrollment and budgetary challenges cannot be ignored by our community. University leaders recognize that their outreach to prospective students must be more robust, and are taking the necessary steps to improve those efforts. But there is much that we can, and must, do as citizens of Missoula.

I was reminded of the importance of our individual contributions recently when a friend in Seattle said his daughter was considering where to attend college next fall. I suggested they take a look at UM, and they quickly realized Montana was the right fit  for the whole family.

We all can offer UM, and by extension Missoula, that kind of support. Every one of us should encourage our children, their friends, our nieces, nephews and grandchildren to consider UM. We must invite them to visit our city, and help coordinate with the folks on campus. We must talk about the excellence of the universitys teaching and research faculty, and the opportunities their programs provide students. We must show off our hometown university, and its successes.

These next few months are critical. Nows the time to encourage prospective students  your loved ones  to consider Missoula and the University of Montana as they make the life-changing decision of where to continue their education after high school. Your voice can make the difference in those decisions.

Several weeks ago, I read a quote that continues to resonate: To be a great city, you must have a great university. I absolutely believe this to be true, and also this: We do have a great city, and we do have a great university. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that both Missoula and the University of Montana continue to prosper and grow.

***

James Grunke is president and CEO of the Missoula Economic Partnership. He writes a monthly column for the Missoulians Western Montana InBusiness section.
Missoula has come a long way since last decades economic downturn, and there is reason for optimism in 2016. Some industry sectors are seeing solid growth, bringing greater diversity to our economic base and increased prosperity to our community. With that said, there are no shortage of challenges facing the business community going forward.

Lets start with the bright spots. Missoula saw a big increase in construction in 2015, and 2016 looks to be another good year in that regard. In January alone, the city of Missoula has already issued permits for projects worth $21.3 million, more than the entire first quarter of 2014.

There are many exciting projects moving forward. A few include the Stockman Bank building, the Consumer Direct building, renovations to Southgate Mall, and the 450-bed student housing project on Front Street. The upswing in construction indicates increased confidence within the business community.

Professional service firms continue to prosper, and are growing to be a larger piece of Missoulas economic base. Many of these companies do considerable business outside of Missoula, bringing outside dollars into the local economy.

One branch of Missoulas professional services sector, the high-tech industry, is particularly poised for more success. OnX Maps continues to grow, and is looking to hire more software engineers. In the last five years, Advanced Technology Group has expanded to more than 60 employees and intends to add another 30 positions over the next couple years. LMG Security is Montanas largest cybersecurity company and another success story in Missoulas burgeoning high-tech industry. Efforts by the University of Montana and Missoula College to better meet this industrys workforce needs are facilitating its success.

Manufacturing is likely to be another source of economic growth in 2016. Some of this growth will be from manufacturers coming to Missoula. Coaster Pedicab at the former mill site near Bonner is a recent example. We are also seeing expansion among Missoulas longer-term manufacturers. For example, Diversified Plastics is increasing exports to Asia and will participate in the Singapore Water Expo this July, a prestigious international trade show.

These trends indicate growth and much-needed diversification in our economy.

What are some challenges facing the Missoula business community in 2016 and beyond? One challenge will be funding transportation infrastructure.

Congress recently passed a transportation funding bill, but over the next decade the federal government is projected to provide less than one-third of the funding Montana needs. Worse, the states account for matching federal funds is running a deficit. And locally, the Russell Street rebuild will soak up much of our available funding into the future.

The bottom line is that Missoula will continue to face inadequate funding for our streets and roads. This is a problem from an economic-growth perspective. To succeed at recruiting, retaining and expanding businesses, our community must be timely in maintaining and modernizing our infrastructure.

As part of the process to update the Long Range Transportation Plan, local governments recently polled Missoula-area residents to gauge support for various means of raising local money for transportation infrastructure. One option that polled relatively well was a local option fuel tax.

State law allows counties to put a 2-cents-per-gallon fuel tax before voters. The revenue may only be used for building and fixing roads. The beauty of the local-option fuel tax is that it allows us to shift a portion of the cost of infrastructure off of Missoula County residents, and onto the millions of visitors that use our roads. Property taxes and development fees do not afford this opportunity.

Still, a local-option fuel tax has not been proposed at this time. If one were proposed, there are many details that would need vetting before it could earn the support of the business community. Its worth noting, though, that the need for greater levels of funding will only become more urgent as our population grows and our infrastructure continues to age.

But even with a new revenue source, there will not be enough to meet every community desire. With this in mind, businesses must come together to take a harder look at our communitys infrastructure spending priorities. Chamber members will receive more information and opportunities to make themselves heard as conversations about transportation continue.

Sam Sill is the director of government affairs for the Missoula Area Chamber of Commerce
Here's a poem of loss by Jo McDougall, from her collected poems, In the Home of the Famous Dead, from The University of Arkansas Press. Like many deeply moving poems, it doesn't tell us everything; it tells us just enough. Ms. McDougall lives and writes in Little Rock.

This Morning

As I drove into town

the driver in front of me

runs a stop sign.

A pedestrian pulls down his cap.

A man comes out of his house

to sweep the steps.

Ordinariness

bright as raspberries.

***

I turn on the radio.

Somebody tells me

the day is sunny and warm.

A woman laughs

***

and my daughter steps out of the radio.

Grief spreads in my throat like strep.

I had forgotten, I was happy, I maybe

was humming "You Are My Lucky Star,"

a song I may have invented.

Sometimes a red geranium, a dog,

a stone

will carry me away.

But not for long.

Some memory or another of her

catches up with me and stands

like an old nun behind a desk,

ruler in hand.

***

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 Jo McDougall,This Morning, from In the Home of the Famous Dead: Collected Poems, (The University of Arkansas Press, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Jo McDougall 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.
Smoke from a wood-fired forge and calls of "hot iron!" brought a north Missoula home to life Saturday morning.

Mark Vander Meer led a blacksmithing workshop in his backyard, an event coordinated by the Missoula Urban Demonstration Project that started several years ago. Sixteen people signed up this year.

"I think it's popular just 'cause it's a useful skill and an old-time skill," Vander Meer said.

"And it's different," said his brother, Dennis.

It's part of a crafty culture in Missoula, said MUD board secretary Elizabeth Weaver, who was forging a wood splitter Saturday morning.

"Anything that's relating to sustainable living ... and there's a big emphasis here, too, on craftsmanship and local," she said. "I feel like some of it is the university population, and some of it is just the nature of folks that live here."

Mark Vander Meer said there's something about Missoula that attracts craftsmen.

"Missoula is chock-full of really good blacksmiths," he said. "There are 10 I can think of off the top of my head."

Dennis started blacksmithing years ago when he was working at a High Adventure Boy Scouts camp.

"I've been doing it ever since," he said.

The skill also came in handy during his time at the Kit Carson Home and Museum in New Mexico.

"We were representing how life was in 1850," he said. "We had small-scale farm stuff, a blacksmith shop, a woodworking shop. I'm interested in old, cool skills like that."

Mark started blacksmithing "for practical reasons." He needed to "fix all the things I broke" on a small logging operation in the Swan Valley.

"We'd break things constantly," he said. "Rather than go to town to get it fixed, we'd just learn how to blacksmith."

The skill came in handy once on Halloween, too. Mark's wife came home with a pirate costume for a party, but no sword. Mark grabbed an old truck spring and forged a sword  a dull one, of course  to complete her transformation.

That interest in "old-world trades" is what brought Missoula resident Alyssa Haerr to Vander Meer's house this weekend. She wanted to try her hand at the craft, and hopefully one day be able to make and sell her own work.

University of Montana law student Angelica Gonzalez, on the other hand, was looking for something different to do on a weekend, "something out of my comfort zone." She heard about the workshop through MUD, and thought it was the perfect opposite of the last class she took: flower arrangement.

"The reason I also enjoy it is it's very different than what I do in my day job," Weaver said. "So if you're a person who's artistic or crafty or whatever that probably has a desk job, this is something completely different where you think, 'I'm going to go work with my hands.' "

Plus, it's a chance to try something that historically was seen as a "man's job," she said. On Saturday, half of the participants were women.

"Women didn't do it," Weaver said. "There are all of these things that women stereotypically shy away from, so it's cool to go try your hand at it."

While participants certainly weren't experts by the end of the three-hour workshop  Vander Meer was reluctant to even call himself an expert after years upon years of work  he said it gave them the basic principles behind blacksmithing.

"It's almost more exposure than skill, 'cause you don't learn a lot in three hours," he said. "You learn how hard it is."

Dennis said he's never seen a blacksmithing workshop like this.

"There are blacksmithing classes offered all over the place, but they're always a week long and they cost a lot of money," he said. "I've never seen a short three-hour workshop like this anywhere, for 20 bucks. It's the best way to get people exposed to it without costing a lot of money and time."
Despite a series of successes in the past year, the staff at the Montana Innocence Project know they have a lot of work still ahead of them. The nonprofit organization, established in 2008, focuses on exonerating prisoners in the state who it believes are innocent of the crimes they have been convicted of.

Each week, the organization receives three or four letters from inmates asking for their case to be reviewed. Of the more than 600 cases the group has screened since its founding, legal director Larry Mansch said less than a dozen have been accepted to be litigated. The final step in choosing to take a client is putting their information in front of a screening committee, which is made of members of the board of directors.

The big difference for us is actual innocence not a technicality for not guilty, said Frank Sweeney, a Whitefish attorney and one of the founding board members.

Another aspect of their work that many people dont always think about, executive director Joe Bischof said, is the flip side of what happens when an innocent person is put in prison.

That means theres an actual guilty person still out there, possibly committing more crimes, he said.

***

The Montana Innocence Project got its start in 2008, when Jessie McQuillan, then a reporter for the Missoula Independent, became more and more interested in the case of Barry Beach.

She began to talk with Dan Weinberg, a Beach supporter who saw the convicted murderers exoneration efforts as a sign that there were many cases in the state that needed to be reexamined. At the time, Mansch said Montana was one of the few states without an Innocence Project.

He thought Barry Beach gets all of the publicity but surely theres other people who are behind bars who are innocent, Mansch said.

Beachs case has brought more attention to the subject of exoneration in recent years, Mansch said, adding that the Montana Innocence Project has worked on the case in a secondary, supporting role.

The organization is almost entirely funded by individuals who believe in the Montana Innocence Projects mission, with some additional money from grants. Much of what they are able to accomplish, Bischof said, is due to the lawyers, law students, medical staff and others who volunteer their time for the cause.

***

The Montana Innocence Projects court wins in 2015 include a decision in July from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Bill Watson, convicted in 2006 of raping a teenage girl. In the decision, the court found that scientific advancements that mean previously untestable or inconclusive DNA must now be seen as newly-discovered evidence and not subject to previous time limits.

The science of DNA and the ability to test in detail has improved. It is now considered new evidence because you couldnt test it before, Sweeney said.

Last August, the Montana Innocence Project had another pair of victories when the Montana Supreme Court granted new trials in separate cases, sending them back to Missoula district court. The cases were those of Robert Wilkes, convicted in 2010 of shaking his 3-month-old baby to death, and Cody Marble, who was convicted in 2002 of raping a boy in juvenile detention.

The Innocence Project believed Wilkes received inadequate representation by his public defender, and that the conviction had relied heavily on testimony from then-associate state medical examiner Dr. Thomas Bennett. The Montana Attorney Generals Office ended Bennetts appointment last July after questions arose about his autopsies of children.

In Marbles case, the Montana Innocence Project found that the accuser had repeatedly recanted his story, although he later reneged on the recantation.

Finally, in October, a judge in Sanders County District Court overturned the conviction of another of the organizations clients, Richard Raugust. Raugust originally had been sentenced to life in prison in 1997 for the murder of a Trout Creek man. The Innocence Project won in court by claiming, among other issues, that evidence of innocence and witness testimony had been withheld at the first trial.

Apart from exonerating those already convicted, the Montana Innocence Project also is working with prosecutors offices and law enforcement agencies across the state to help ensure that wrongful convictions dont happen to begin with, including trying to improve how eyewitness testimony is collected.

The Montana Innocence Project also is planning to work to make changes at the legislative level, including a push for statewide requirements to preserve DNA evidence for a set period of time.

Ideally for us, that would be the life or incarceration time for a defendant, Sweeney said. Regardless of how convinced we are at the time, the science evolves.

***

Mansch and Bischof are the only two full-time employees of the Montana Innocence Project. At the start of October 2015, the organization lost one of its employees in a climbing accident when the body of 26-year-old Spencer Veysey, who was vacationing in Colorado, was found on the east face of Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Veysey, who graduated from the University of Montana's School of Journalism in 2012, had been working with the Montana Innocence Project since he was a student, eventually serving as the organizations on-staff investigator.

Mansch said he was a tireless worker with a great passion for the work he did for the Innocence Project.

At a memorial service in Missoula, I said the first word those people who are released should have come out of their mouths is Thank God for Spencer Veysey,  he said.

Without him, the organization has been without a dedicated investigator, an issue Mansch said they are hoping to be able to address this year.

The project also is continuing to work on the cases of Richard Burkhart, who in 2002 was convicted of killing a man with a ball-peen hammer in Great Falls. The Innocence Project has found witnesses who never were contacted by law enforcement and never testified in the case.

It also hopes to secure a new trial for Katie Garding of Stevensville, sentenced in 2011 for hitting and killing Bronson Parsons with her car in East Missoula in 2008.

Sweeney said they do not believe her car was involved, as he claims it was not damaged. They also question the testimony of Gardings boyfriend, who Sweeney said had an incentive to cooperate in her conviction as a "snitch" in a deal with prosecutors.

Mansch said they also are in the process of evaluating new cases to take up. The Innocence Project has a five-tier system for evaluation, with about 15 cases currently in the middle stages where claims of innocence and potential new information and evidence are examined.

We are dedicated to carrying on the fight, Mansch said.

Students in UMs School of Social Work have put together a guide of programs and other information for people released from jail who are working to reintegrate into society in Missoula, Mansch said. This year, the Montana Innocence Project is hoping to develop similar guides for other large cities across the state.

Bischof said 2015 was a record year for exonerations in the U.S., as a University of Michigan Law School study showed 149 cases where a person was declared innocent or had their conviction overturned.

Sweeney said the rate has become so prevalent that some communities in Texas, the state with the most exonerations last year, have set up special conviction integrity units within prosecutors' offices solely to look into claims of innocence.

Bischof said if national trends hold true for Montana, the Innocence Project is likely only on the tip of the iceberg in the number of cases where the innocent are imprisoned in our state.
The Holy Grail, the aha moment  call it what you want, Kris Crawford experienced it last week.

For eight years Crawford has been researching Target Ranges historic Little White Schoolhouse that stands across from the terminus of Clements Road next to the current school on South Avenue.

After hundreds of hours of interviews, hundreds of hours of combing through files at places like the Missoula County records center, where Crawford spent so much time, they finally hired her.

She can tell you who the teachers of School District No. 23 were for decades after it was formed in 1893. She can tell you all about the families attached to the earliest school, some with names that dot the landscape of southwest Missoula today at Kelley Island, McCauley Butte, Spurgin Road and Maclay Flats.

Her boss at the Missoula County records center, Keith Belcher, even found a photo of Minnie Spurgin, the first teacher in the district and later the county superintendent of schools. Spurgin Road is named for Minnies father, William, who while serving with the Missouri Infantry in the Civil War, broke and rebroke his left arm at the elbow within a five-week period in 1861, and then was captured by the Confederates.

Bill Spurgin moved his family, including 9-year-old Minnie, to Missoula in 1882.

But until the fateful Thursday evening in February 2016, Crawford could not find out who built the Little White Schoolhouse and the circumstances surrounding it.

Now, she said, I can write my book.

As shed been told but could never document, the school opened for its first classes in 1907. Before that, children in District 23 went to a school at or near Fort Missoula, according to a county superintendents notes from 1893.

Crawford said she had pored over county superintendent records for details.

Ive been looking at every county building from here to Helena, she said.

A few weeks ago, Belcher, an avid researcher himself, was at the archives at the University of Montanas Mansfield Center digging up information on Missoula County Sheriff William Houston. It was there that he came across Minnie Spurgins picture.

He also discovered a volume of county record books that filled in a set at the records center. One thing led to another and a transfer was arranged. Crawford said what they thought would be about 100 of the large books turned out to be 240.

We have to build more shelves. Those buggers are heavy, she said.

Three van loads and much of a Thursday workday later, the newly arrived books were temporarily stored on palettes and tables at the records center on Ernest Avenue.

We were so tired, and it was at the very end of the day when I looked at this one, and I said, Oh, wow, there it is,  said Crawford.

***

In a county treasurer's book she learned that John E. Moody was hired to build the new school. He was paid in installments of $700 in 1906 and $400 in 1907.

Not much is known about Moody. He was Missoula Countys public administrator in 1904, and is listed as a carpenter/contractor in Polk city directories. Moody and his wife, Lucy, lived at 904 Toole Ave. in 1909 and later moved their burgeoning family across the river to 530 Brooks St., near where Caffe Dolce is today.

John Moody bid $32,000 to build the eight-room Lowell School on Missoulas Westside in 1909. But he lost the contract to William Oliver of Spokane, who offered to do it for $29,590.

To build the Target Range schoolhouse, Moody needed a bridge across the irrigation ditch that still runs in front of the school along South Avenue. According to county treasurer records, John Preston did it  for $6. Preston, an occupation farmer, also was one of the schools early clerks.

Among several people who provided wood and supplies for construction was William Plunkett Maclay, who built the first Maclay Bridge across the Bitterroot River in 1893.

Crawford said Charles McCauleys name is all over the place during the construction.

He is listed for a year and a half moving furniture and getting furniture and getting supplies to the new school, she said.

A deed she found dated Feb. 2, 1907, recorded the sale for $100 to Target Range School District No. 23 of the one acre the school still sits on. It was signed by Charles McCauley and his mother, Mrs. Margaret McCauley, administrators of the estate of Michael M. McCauley, deceased.

Charles Chas McCauley was born in 1879 and, by the turn of the century, wanted the old schoolhouse at Fort Missoula to live in, according to stories Crawford has heard. The family house was getting crowded, she said.

As she understands it  but has yet to document  that earlier school was built near the post cemetery at the fort. Tax records dont say, but Crawford has been told McCauley moved it to the east side of McCauley Butte. Ruth Klapwyk told Crawford that when her family bought up the McCauley ranch and others during the Great Depression to run a dairy farm, the old building was moved to the other side of the butte. It ultimately became a chicken coop.

It was used for a few years, became dilapidated and was torn down, Crawford said. So we dont have a stick of it.

There are still some missing pieces to the Target Range school history.

For instance, if School District 23 was formed by petition of people named Kelley, McCauley, Spurgin and Slack in 1893, did it take over an existing school at Fort Missoula? When was that school opened?

Minnie Spurgin, who became county superintendent of schools in 1915, was teaching elsewhere in Missoula when the new school opened in 1907.

Crawfords timeline indicates the first teacher in the new building for the 1907-08 school year was Blanche Sprague. She had 27 students that first year. That number jumped to 42 in 1908-09. A school census for the following year listed 69 students, among them seven children of Harley and Margaret Sprague, five Kelleys, five OBriens and five children of Peter Alsteen, a widower.

Two of the students, Mary Kelley and Earl Schmidt, were 20 years old. Several others were 19.

***

Last week, Crawford laid out her the pictures, clippings, records and timelines on the table at her home on OBrien Creek, and she opened up a folder on her computer that contains years of research.

She reminisced about one of those hundred-plus interviews, with Emma Hardesty Kuhl not long before Kuhl died in 2014 at age 106.

Born in 1907, Kuhl attended Hawthorne Grade School in Orchard Homes.

She said Minnie Spurgin was my teacher, so I tagged right on to that, Crawford recalled.

How did she do her hair? she asked. What color eyes did she have?

And she described her, how she wore her hair up, how she was very fastidious, very aware of teaching the proper things to kids, Crawford said. So this is a girl who sat in front of Minnie Spurgin, and Im asking about this 100 years later, and theres somebody in this world who was still alive that was her student at Hawthorne.

Crawford dove into the history of Target Range schools several years ago, after helping her son, Cody, partially renovate the old school for his Eagle Scout project with the idea of turning it into a community center. Some $150,000 of donated goods and volunteer services went into the project, and Crawford estimates it would take another $100,000 to finish the renovation.

The school district uses the building for storage, and its future is a topic of discussion in Target Range.

"The final chapter is it needs help to survive," Crawford said. "It's a beautiful building."
PHOENIX  So when was the lasts time you checked if all three of your brake lights were working?

If you dont want to get pulled over, youd better start.

State lawmakers are moving to require that all lights are working. That even includes the Liddy light, the one in the middle.

And the reason is to ensure that police can stop a motorist even if just one light is out.

Whats behind all that is a 2011 ruling by the state Court of Appeals throwing out a motorists drunk driving conviction.

It turns out that the only reason a Tucson police officer bulled over the driver in the first place was that non-working middle brake light. It was only after the person was stopped that the officer realized he was impaired and made the arrest.

Appellate Judge Joseph Howard, writing for the court, said it is undisputed that the other two lights were functional.

The officer observed no other traffic infractions, not did the officer articulate any other reason for the stop, the judge wrote.

Howard said police are entitled to stop and detain any person for an actual or suspected violation of the states motor-vehicle laws. But he said stopping a vehicle is a seizure under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Such a seizure is constitutionally permissible only if the officer has a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, Howard wrote.

And he said a reading of the statutes shows there was no such activity.

Arizona law says any motor vehicle shall be equipped with at least one tail lamp mounted on the rear. And another provision says if a vehicle has a stop lamp the lamp shall be maintained at all times in good working condition.

Put simply, one is all that current law requires.

HB 2509 would say that if a vehicle has more than one stop lamp or tail lamp, each has to be working. And that includes the Liddy light, named after Elizabeth Liddy Dole who was secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation when federal law was changed to require that third stop lamp.

Mike Williams, lobbyist for the Arizona Police Association, said the law is archaic, potentially dating back to horse-and-buggy days. But he conceded in testimony before a House panel that this was all about giving police the legally required probable cause to stop motorists in the first place.

Williams said that ruling was not a one-time thing. He said theres a judge in Tucson who has been tossing drunk-driving cases when police tell him the only reason for the stop was a single busted tail light.

And he insisted that its not to provide an excuse to issue more citations.

Just to be sure, lawmakers amended the measure this past week when it came to the House floor to spell out that a ticket cannot be issued for a first violation. Instead, the measure awaiting final House approval says that officers may issue only verbal or written warning notices.

Williams said hes OK with that.

Thats primarily what police officers do anyway when we find its just a non-working piece of equipment, he said.

Not everyone was convinced the change is a good thing.

Rep. Charlene Fernandez, D-Yuma, said the way HB 2509 is worded it would let police stop a motorist if any light installed on a vehicle is not working.
The Cabinet Mountain Wilderness is a small gem in the northwest corner of our state that offers a rare glimpse of temperate forest, with towering red cedar, hemlock and moss-covered streams. This sliver of Wilderness is just 4 percent of the Kootenai National Forest, but it protects the headwaters of important river systems, provides refuge for native fish and wildlife, and is a lasting source of pristine water for those downstream.

The ecologically rich Cabinets also harbor a copper and silver deposit. For decades, mining companies have set their sights on those riches. Citizen action  along with legal, economic and ecological hitches  have held them back. But decisions made last week by the U.S. Forest Service and state of Montana have given the proposed Montanore Mine a partial green light to proceed.

Thats a problem. To reach the Montanore deposit, Mines Management, Inc. proposes to tunnel under the wilderness for almost three and a half miles. That means 1,500 acres of industrial disturbance and waste disposal in pristine areas. Worse, the environmental impact study predicts that tunneling and mining will tap deep, water-bearing fractures in the rock, diverting flow from wilderness headwater streams to the mine portal. Thats not fixable. There is no permanent plug that could stop the leak, and the damage would last forever.

These impacts are not conjecture. Groundwater modeling completed by the companys own consultants show the mine would drain headwater streams in the wilderness. On the west side of the Cabinets, the East Fork of Rock Creek would be 60-100 percent dewatered downstream from the wilderness boundary and 100 percent above it. East Fork Bull River, a vital stronghold for threatened bull trout, would be reduced by up to 90 percent within the wilderness. On the east side of the Cabinets, Ramsey, Libby and Poorman creeks would also see diminished flows.

Even with mitigation, wilderness streams would be dewatered for 1,200-1,300 years. Many would never fully recover. Goodbye, refuge for native fish and wildlife; farewell, cold, clean water for downstream communities.

Impacts dont stop at dewatering. Pollution from this massive mine development could also wipe out key populations of threatened bull trout and could mean extinction for the Cabinet Mountains struggling grizzly bear population  an estimated 21 bears at last count.

Fortunately, Montana has a non-degradation rule that prohibits this level of dewatering of Outstanding Resource Waters, as these streams are classified. The mining company has maintained that if they can tunnel a little deeper and collect more data, the modeling results will change. The Montana Department of Environmental Qualitys recent Record of Decision allows them to do this.

Yet its been done before. In fact, over the years, the more data MMI collected and the closer they looked at impacts, the worse this project appeared for wilderness waters. The Environmental Protection Agency rejected the original environmental impact statement in 2009 out of concern for dewatering and asked the company to further study the mines potential for drying up area streams. So MMI went back to the drawing board and developed a model that better predicts impacts on streamflows. The results showed more serious dewatering than previous models projected.

Montana DEQ and the Forest Service have enough information now to simply say no. And they should. The purpose of an environmental impact analysis is to take a hard look. Theyve done that, and this project fails.

Enter state politics. Rep. Ryan Zinke and Sen. Steve Daines, along with gubernatorial candidate Greg Gianforte, have blasted Montana DEQ for not permitting the entire project. This, despite the companys own scientific study showing that doing so would violate Montanas non-degradation standard. It is the height of irresponsibility to urge an agency to violate the law. And its wrong to turn a blind eye to such devastating impacts to our water resources.

DEQs partial approval at least comes with an acknowledgement that the full mine project will violate state water quality law. Unfortunately, the Forest Service appears to have succumbed to political pressure and approved the full mine, even though every analysis shows it will inflict irreversible damage on one of the last remaining refuges for threatened bull trout and grizzly bears in our region.

Most Montanans know that the days of mining at any cost are over. But its not too late to turn this around. The Cabinet Mountains Wilderness was one of the first 10 wilderness areas created by Congress. Its the real Montana treasure. Lets keep it that way.
At about this time last year, Montanas Legislature was grappling with whether to approve a second crime lab located in the eastern portion of the state. By the time the legislative session ended in April 2015, legislators had agreed to authorize spending for a satellite lab that would duplicate only a portion of the services provided by the State Crime Lab in Missoula. They did not, however, authorize any additional funding for it.

Then, just a few months later, both the states medical examiners resigned. For a few months last summer, Montana had to either ship bodies outside the state or bring in out-of-state examiners to conduct forensic autopsies.

Montana now counts three forensic pathologists: chief medical examiner Dr. Jaime Oeberst and Dr. Nikki Mourtzinos, both based in Missoula; and Dr. Robert Kurtzman, based in Billings. They are joined by two assistants, and the state medical examiners office has been completely restructured.

To say that the past year has been a busy one for the Montana Department of Justices forensic science division would be an understatement. In addition to overhauling and hiring for its medical examiners office, it has been working to secure appropriate space and staff for the new satellite lab in Billings. And it has been doing all this while pushing down average turnaround times despite an increasing caseload.

Lengthy case turnaround times were among the factors that helped convince the 2015 Legislature to approve a new clinic outside of Missoula to help with chemistry and toxicology testing. Legislators were also getting an earful from law enforcement officials in certain eastern counties who found it a hassle to transport evidence many miles across the state to Missoula.

Unfortunately, legislators neglected to provide any additional money to set up the new lab. The Legislature authorized the Department of Justice to lease space for up to $310,000, and $476,000 to fund the operating costs for two years, but that money is being spent out of the existing budget for the Justice Department.

While all involved had expected to have the lab up and running by the beginning of this year, the process of hashing out the details is taking a bit longer. Its worth the additional wait to make sure its done right.

***

The state is entering into a groundbreaking contract with the Billings Clinic. Its the first time Billings Clinic has leased space to the state, so its a learning opportunity as well as a golden one. The crime lab also saw some construction bids come in with higher costs than expected, and those financials must be lined up before remodeling can begin.

Equipment and staff are ready to go the moment the lab is ready, which should be no later than May. The labs focus will be on chemistry and toxicology, meaning drug and alcohol testing, for the most part.

Yellowstone County is undoubtedly among the eastern counties eagerly awaiting the labs opening. In January, it was waiting for toxicology reports in about a dozen death cases dating back to mid-September.

The crime lab in Missoula is able to resolve the majority of cases in far less time, according to Phil Kinsey, administrator for the forensic science division of the Department of Justice. However, in recent years it has seen an increase in cases, as well as an increase in the complexity of cases, that hampered its ability to provide some reports in a more timely manner. Problems with staff turnover didnt help.

Thanks to the forensic science divisions busy past few months, the crime lab has been able to drive down average case turnaround time, and it anticipates further decreases as it makes use of new technology and streamlined systems.

The crime lab receives roughly 6,000 toxicology cases per year. In 2015, the number of cases received by the lab increased by 10 percent over the previous year, Kinsey says.

Before the beginning of the 2015 Legislative session, the crime lab was working against an average turnaround time of about eight months. Now that the lab is fully staffed  and state legislation has provided drug analogs that help reduce the complexity of many cases  the lab has an average turnaround time of less than three months.

And it is actively working toward a goal of 30 to 60 days.

***

Of course, it is doing so at a time when many Montana counties, including Missoula, are reporting an increase in meth- and heroin-related cases. Forensic biology cases  involving the testing of blood, semen, saliva or other biological evident  have increased by 50 percent, to 480 cases in 2015. And that, of course, is before Montana has determined what to do with the 1,413 untested rape kits currently being held in storage throughout the state.

Attorney General Tim Fox recently launched a task force to look into the untested kits, and the forensic science division, through Kinsey, is lending its information and expertise to help guide the task force. Following the formation of the task force, some officials have announced new policies requiring that all kits be sent to the crime lab. This, of course, would further increase the crime labs caseload.

Administrators are already planning to apply for grants that would allow some evidence to be processed by private facilities. The lab is also attempting to hire a grant-funded position to join its staff of about 40 FTEs.

However, the new satellite lab in Billings promises to take the largest share of the burden once it is fully operational. It is a timely development that will hopefully establish a model for Montana.

With sustained strong support from the Attorney Generals Office, we are confident the lab in Billings will prove its value in short order. It will need equally strong support  and funding  from the legislature if it is going to be successful in the long term.
Love him or hate him, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is dead. Which, despite the inevitable unconstitutional delay to the process by the GOP Senate, leaves a vacant spot for President Obama to nominate a successor.

Personally, I disagreed with Scalia on a large number of things. I saw him speak when I was a freshman at the University of Montana in 2008 and I found him to be rather standoffish and arrogant, but then again thats how Ive found most lawyers to be by nature anyway. What I understand of the man on the outside of the court was that he was actually somewhat enjoyable and good humored.

One thing that has seemed to slip by a lot of peoples recounting of Scalia and the opinions of which he spoke, was how he thought that the Supreme Court was not an accurate representation of the people of the country it is supposed to serve. He was calling for diversity.

Yes, this is the same fervent anti-affirmative action activist Scalia. However, this diversity is not based on the color of someones skin, but rather based on someones education. Scalia was outspoken about the fact that his colleagues (himself included) all received their law degrees from either Harvard or Yale. He thought this was not an accurate representation of the American public.

No matter the objections by the Senate, Obama must nominate someone to begin to diversify the SCOTUS. Sri Srinivasan being an excellent choice. Once again, not because of the color of his skin, rather, because he is perhaps the most qualified for the position and because he graduated from Stanford. It is time to change things up in the SCOTUS, and add some fresh ideas to an otherwise stale, crusty and old school Ivy League court.

H. Neli Sauer,

Missoula
Until recently, Shawna Lester was stuck working three to four different part-time jobs at a time, just trying to make ends meet.

I still wasnt being successful, and I just got tired of it, she said.

The 42-year-old mother decided she wanted to learn skills that would bring her a high-wage career, and now, thanks to a $1,000 scholarship from the RevUp Montana program, shes learning how to be a machinist, a heavy equipment operator, a welder and a commercial truck driver all at the same time at Missoula College.

Actually, its a dream come true, she said of her Commercial Drivers License training, which she is midway through. Ive always wanted to have my own rig, Ive always wanted to drive. Its pure excitement. You know, its kind of important because I bring materials to locations that people want to buy or need. So its a benefit to everybody, and I have the opportunity to see the United States and make decent wages."

Lester said financial aid didnt cover the total cost of her education, so the scholarship has helped a lot.

She found out about RevUp only after she had enrolled at Missoula College.

I met (Workforce Navigator) Mickey Lyngholm when I came through the facility for my orientation during the summer, she said. Anything I need, she helps me with. She is my backup on tutoring, helping me relieve stress, everything.

Lester said she is enrolled in so many programs because if one doesnt work out, shell have a backup plan.

The experience will be educational, she said.

Also, the fields she is studying are all linked, because heavy equipment operators often need to be able to weld or machine to repair parts. Additionally, heavy equipment operators who have a CDL are more desirable to employers because they can drive backhoes and other equipment to the job site on semitrailers.

Lester said she is providing a good example to her children even though she enrolled in college later than most.

I am able to show my children that no matter what age you are you can do that, she said. There are more people out there that understand that its OK. Its not about age, its about understanding that you want to be better than you are now. You can better yourself. Youre not stuck in your job. If you go with a career that you love, youre going to be successful, youre going to be able to pay your debts back, youre going to be able to go above and beyond what youre doing now."

Lester said she is positive shes going to be able to find a good-paying job when she graduates in 2018.

I picked fields that are extremely important to the system, she said. Theres always construction that needs to be done, theres always welding to be done. Machining is no longer a dying breed. Its actually important that you have an education in it. With me having a certificate saying I have graduated from these programs will up my ante and make it easier to find what I need.

She doesnt think her debt load will be crushing either.

I dont think it will be that substantial compared to what Ive been doing all my life, she said. You know, I think it weighs out in the long run. Its probably the best thing I could have ever done for my self. Theres challenges, but when you go to a new job theres challenges. Youve just got to find help where you can get it, which the school has tons of help.

Mark Dodge, the Colleges CDL instructor, is paid through the RevUp program funding. He said hes trained 35 students and 34 of them got jobs after they graduated - and the other one probably just decided he didnt want to work in the field.

Its a lucrative industry, he explained.

***

Montana Department of Labor and Industry commissioner Pam Bucy said she feels like the RevUp program has been a success.

Yes, RevUp Montana has been successful both in modernizing training in the industry fields of energy and advanced manufacturing, but also in fundamentally changing the system of how we train, she said. We have collaborated to a much greater extent with business to design programs that align to their changing needs. In a very short amount of time, RevUp has helped implement significant changes and train over 2,000 students in just two years.

Bucy said her departments projections indicate that Montana will add 6,500 jobs per year during the next decade.

Montanas economy is strong and finished this past year with momentum for 2016, she said. Our unemployment rate is considered prime at a healthy 4.0 percent. And for the first time in our states history, we have over half-a-million employed Montanans including adding over 10,000 new jobs in 2015.

Her only concern is that there wont be enough replacements for the 130,000 workers who are soon to retire.

Currently, there are 123,000 Montanans ages 16-24 available to fill those positions, she said. Thus, it is incumbent upon us to ensure that every Montanan is working to their highest skill level in the shortest amount of time possible.

Thats where the RevUp program comes in.

We simply do not have time to allow folks to take two, four and six years completely out of the workforce to receive their training, she said. RevUp Montana is critical in making sure our states labor force pipeline is streamlined and providing opportunities for Montanans to join the workforce as quickly as possible. With RevUp Montana, our state is not only poised to meet our upcoming workforce needs but this training program is significant in helping to continue growing our economy.

Montanas two-year colleges play a pivotal role in the states economy, and will continue to do so, Bucy added.

Montanas two-year colleges are absolutely critical to providing a skilled workforce for Montana businesses, she said. However, it is also critical that industry play an increasing role in developing our future labor pool. It is only through the combined efforts of the private sector, two-year colleges, our universities and Montana Department of Labor and Industry that our state can chart a successful plan for workforce development into the future.
HAMILTON  On the second story of the Ravalli County Museum, theres a map of Hamilton that dates back to time of Marcus Daly.

Its stretched out on a low-lying table and protected by a heavy sheet of Plexiglass.

On this particular morning, it appears to be the most fascinating thing that a group of Washington Elementary School kindergartners has ever seen.

Leaning forward on their elbows, the youngsters are peering hard at the dark set lines that mark the streets and boundaries of an earlier version of their home.

I live right there, says one as she scoots her finger to the middle of the map.

Well, I live right here, says another while pointing at the location of the Marcus Daly Mansion.

Other members of Kimberly Dowlings inquisitive class have their noses pressed against another piece of clear plastic as they study a diorama that depicts a scene from the communitys earlier days.

We are looking at what life would been like a long time ago here in Hamilton, Dowling tells her class as she points out various objects of interest scattered across the room.

This is the first time that Ive ever been to a museum, announces one little girl as her head swivels to take in all the artifacts scattered around the room. I kind of like it.

Dowling has heard that before.

Shes been bringing her classes to the Ravalli County Museum since 1996.

Most of them have never been to a museum before, Dowling said. Theyve never been to a public place like this where there are things that they need to respect. Its a good learning experience for them. They learn how to handle themselves in that situation.

The learning doesnt stop there.

Dowling said the museum offers students a chance to learn about the Bitterroot Valleys rich history and more.

Over the last couple of years, the museum has upgraded its displays and brought in exhibits on national tours. Last year, the number of children who walked through its doors jumped by 400 percent as young families took advantage of Saturday offerings.

Its always been a great resource for us, Dowling said. We have a hard time taking field trips anymore due to cost. We can touch on so many things by going to the museum.

Dowling said her students often tell her that they asked their parents to take them back to the museum after their visit.

The national touring exhibits offer youngsters a chance to be exposed to something they might see in one of the larger museums in a metropolitan area.

Its a great advantage for our kids, Dowling said. Kindergartners are so excited about everything that they come in contact with. I know that every time I go to the museum, I learn something new.

Ravalli County Museum Director Tamar Stanley said the museum has really been focusing on connecting with young families and youth.

They have done that by adding an education position and programming thats attractive to both young families and local teachers.

The museum hosted a series of Saturday activities last summer that attracted several thousand children.

We had a huge attendance on Saturdays, Stanley said. It was amazing to see parents hanging out with their kids and creating a nice experience for families.

Thats where weve seen our biggest spike in attendance, she said. Young families are now using us as a site for an outing. That is something that we want to retain and build on.
Hello!

Welcome to The Epic! I am launching this blog as a manifesto for and a guide to living well. The title and motto of the blog are taken from the Epicureans, at least some of whom believed in the notion that not one minute of the future was guaranteed to them and that as a result they had the duty to live life to its fullest every moment.



I believe in discovering fun and pleasurable things wherever I find myself each day and I am told I have a knack for unearthing them. My hope is that by sharing in my pleasures and some of my ways of finding them you will begin to collect all the riches that lie in the moments of your life. They are there. Take them! All our lives should be.....Epic.


In a campaign season without peer in insult tragicomedy, consider Saturdays candidate-on-candidate exchanges:

Donald J. Trump has the nations worst spray tan and requires a Hair Force One. Marco Rubio is too dim to have attended Mr. Trumps Ivy League alma mater.

Mr. Trump calls to mind that lunatic in North Korea with nuclear ambitions. Mr. Rubio relies on his outsize ears to protect against flop sweat.

And then there was this broadside  perhaps the closest that one Oval Office aspirant has come in modern times to accusing another of being ugly as sin.

Donald Trump likes to sue people, Mr. Rubio told an audience in Kennesaw, Ga., as he appraised his rivals complexion. He should sue whoever did that to his face.
The story of how some of the countrys leading civil society advocates came to lose faith in the White Houses privacy initiative does not follow the typical plot of Washington gridlock. It is a tale of clashing visions for American society and commerce. And it provides an instructive preview of looming battles among government agencies for control over industries like drones, smartphones and gadgets yet to come.

The ability of companies to freely amass and analyze the personal details of consumers also provides a counterpoint to the current fight between Apple and the F.B.I., in which Apple says it wants to protect consumer information from government snoops.

In 2009, the Federal Trade Commission began looking more deeply at online services, advertising networks and data brokers that harvest consumers information in order to tailor services and market to them. Federal regulators said they were concerned that certain data-driven technologies were outstripping the ability of consumers to manage how companies were using their personal details.

At issue was not the classical notion of privacy as the right to keep out prying eyes.

When people freely search and share their personal concerns online, their data footprints can leave clues about their most intimate health worries, family matters and financial difficulties. Regulators warned that companies could use those details to narrowly categorize consumers, potentially leading to inferior or unfair treatment.

The free availability of this information can cause harm in a variety of ways, said Jessica L. Rich, director of the Federal Trade Commissions Bureau of Consumer Protection.
A new report written by a former Pentagon official who helped establish United States policy on autonomous weapons argues that such weapons could be uncontrollable in real-world environments where they are subject to design failure as well as hacking, spoofing and manipulation by adversaries.

In recent years, low-cost sensors and new artificial intelligence technologies have made it increasingly practical to design weapons systems that make killing decisions without human intervention. The specter of so-called killer robots has touched off an international protest movement and a debate within the United Nations about limiting the development and deployment of such systems.

The new report was written by Paul Scharre, who directs a program on the future of warfare at the Center for a New American Security, a policy research group in Washington, D.C. From 2008 to 2013, Mr. Scharre worked in the office of the Secretary of Defense, where he helped establish United States policy on unmanned and autonomous weapons. He was one of the authors of a 2012 Defense Department directive that set military policy on the use of such systems.

In the report, titled Autonomous Weapons and Operational Risk, set to be published on Monday, Mr. Scharre warns about a range of real-world risks associated with weapons systems that are completely autonomous.
Shimoni launches run for Council

Adam Shimoni will announce his intent to run for Flagstaff City Council at 4 p.m. Sunday at Heritage Square with Sambatuque, Flagstaffs Brazilian percussion troupe.

The group will then walk to Flagstaff City Hall where several speeches will be delivered. From there, the celebration will continue at the Green Room (15 N Agassiz St.), for a free event with food from Wills Grill and Fratellis, live music by the Yoties, DJ Emmett White, and DJ guest Dapper Dre.

Art Babbott, Coconino County Supervisor, will also announce his run for re-election during the rally.

A Flagstaff resident since 2005, Shimoni has been active in Flagstaff local politics for several years. He founded and facilitated Speak Up!, a civic engagement program under Friends of Flagstaffs Future, and was a board member of Friends of Flagstaffs Future from May of 2013 to February of 2016.

Shimoni is also an organizer, advocate, and a coordinator and supporter of the Flagstaff Community Supported Agriculture. In 2014, he received two Sustainable Leadership awards from Northern Arizona University for his work at Speak UP & Friends of Flagstaffs Future.

Since 2011, Shimoni has been an organizer and youth leader for Ultimate Peace, a non-profit organization that seeks to engage youth from disparate backgrounds to form friendships through playing ultimate Frisbee.

Shimoni graduated from NAU in 2011 with degrees in high school special education and career and technology education, and a minor in business. After graduating, he opened up his own bikes sales and repair shop called Flagstaff Bikes.
WELLESLEY, Mass.  Here among the historic brick towers and wooded hills of Hillary Clintons alma mater, Wellesley Students for Hillary has a robust campus organization. But so has Wellesley Students for Bernie.

On Thursday night, the pro-Sanders group brought the actress Susan Sarandon to campus and drew nearly 200 people, though many were from outside the college.

I salute all the women here who are all going to be in hell with me, Ms. Sarandon said with a smile as she resurrected the admitted blunder proffered this month by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright (a Wellesley College graduate and Clinton ally)  that there is a special place in hell for women who do not support other women.

Ms. Sarandons audience whooped and applauded.

The fervor for Mr. Sanders, a senator from Vermont, among millennials is well known; in the New Hampshire primary, he captured 83 percent of voters between 18 and 29, according to exit polls.








I knew that my great-great-grandfather, George L. Giddens, fought in the Civil War, was wounded at Malvern Hill, provided a substitute so that he only fought for one year, and applied for a pension.





However, I didn't know about the

Capt. Giddins' Company (Detailed and Petitioned Men) until recently when searching Google. Although the name is spelled Giddins instead of Giddens, my great-great-grandfather, was the only George L. Giddens of any spelling in Sampson County, NC.





Organized on October 8, 1864, in Sampson County, this company appears to be considered a local defense or militia. I was unable to find an explanation of "detailed and petitioned men."





George L. Giddens was elected captain of this company of over 70 men. Elected Lieutenants were David King, Isaiah McPhail, and James M. Williford.





Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp #2187 Stedman, NC to see a list of all of the men in this company.
Editor's note: This story has been modified to reflect a clarification to the original story. The clarification:

A policy change at Montana Developmental Center in Boulder does not mean the institutions policy is to allow consensual sex between clients, state officials clarified Wednesday.

A story in Sundays Montana Standard reported a change in policy recognizing that in some situations, adult clients are able to give affirmative permission, making a sexual act consensual. But, the officials said, MDC staff are trained not to allow such acts, whether they are consensual or not. The policy change means that if an act is deemed to be consensual, the case will not be reported as a case of abuse, as it would if the act were considered non-consensual.

While such consensual acts occasionally occur, the state officials said, staff are held accountable because they are charged with enforcing a no-touch rule at the institution with the aim of preventing the occurrence of all sexual acts between clients, whether they are consensual or not.

HELENA  In late 2015, the Montana Developmental Center in Boulder changed its policy on sexual abuse to change the way the occurrence of consensual sex or sexual contact between clients is reported.

Under the new policies, sex or sexual contact between clients is not reported as abuse if affirmative permission is given by the involved clients. Affirmative permission language was not included in the centers previous policies, last updated in 2013.

The center changed its policies in August to more closely align with new federal guidelines released that year. The center treats and houses people with serious intellectual disabilities who have been determined by a court to pose an imminent risk of serious harm to themselves or others.

While the center is an institution where we do not want clients having sexual contact with each other, occasionally it does happen, said Rebecca de Camara, administrator of the Developmental Services Division of the Montana Department of Health and Human Services, which operates the center.

Where it gets tricky is in evaluating incidents that happen, determining whether or not the activity was consensual.

De Camara said the centers policies must align with the federal guidelines because the center is funded with federal money. The center had to draft its own language on what defines affirmative permission because while the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services added the term to its guidelines, it didnt provide a definition. Sex or sexual contact between clients and employees still violates the centers policies. Policies also include Montanas state laws covering sex crimes such as sexual intercourse without consent, indecent exposure and incest.

Its a good addition to our policy, De Camara said.

The change allows the center and two Department of Justice investigators assigned there to more thoroughly analyze reported sexual abuse, she said.

I think its important because there are ramifications to accusing and substantiating sexual abuse against a client. It becomes part of their record at MDC. When we are in the process of trying to place clients within the community as were currently doing so aggressively, that is something that is going to hurt their chances for a community placement.

Affirmative permission means clients must give consent through words or actions to a specific sexual activity and must have the capacity to consent, according to the center's policies. The client must have sufficient intellectual ability to understand the nature of the sexual activity. The client must also have sufficient psychiatric stability to make a decision to engage in sex or sexual contact.

Those qualities are documented by a review of clinical records and consulting with care providers who are familiar with the clients abilities.

De Camara said the center contracts with a third-party doctor if it disagrees with the DOJ investigators findings after an investigation. The doctor is a psychologist whose specialty is treating people with developmental and intellectual disabilities who are sex offenders.

In 2013, the Legislature passed a bill to establish a DOJ investigator at the center, which has been criticized in the past over sexual interaction between clients, between clients and staff and other abuses, neglect and mistreatment. A bill passed in the 2015 Legislature requires DPHHS to develop a plan to close the center by June 30, 2017. The department must transition most of its residents out of the facility and into community services by Dec. 31.

***

The center has a committee that writes policies whenever there is a significant change to the federal guidelines. That committee includes the centers superintendent, clinical director, residential services director, treatment services director, legal counsel and any staff whose work is relevant to the change being made.

Staff members are trained on the new policies; clients are told about changes to policies in some instances. This change was not communicated to clients.

The policies are also used by the two Department of Justice investigators to define what is classified as sexual abuse. The new changes havent come up a lot yet in investigations, said Dana Toole, chief of the DOJs Childrens Justice Bureau, but they are cases that get a lot of attention.

Those tend to be the cases that are lightning rods because anything sexual between clients gets people quite concerned, and probably rightfully so, she said.

Clients do have privacy and privacy rights, though it doesnt necessarily mean they will be in a private place when they decide to be sexual.

Human beings that are living with a developmental or intellectual disability are still human beings who have a sexual part of their personality, Toole said. The sexual contact that happens in that setting, probably because of the setting, doesnt necessarily have the same patterns that sexuality does out in the regular world.

If staff sees clients engaging in sexual activity, they will separate the clients, De Camara said.

Any time theres client-to-client sexual contact, they are responsible to report it immediately. If an incident does happen, we always look at whether it was able to happen because of a lack of supervision from our staff.

Bernadette Franks-Ongoy, executive director of Disability Rights Montana, said she believes lack of adequate supervision from staff is part of the reason the policy was changed at the federal level.

The sex or sexual contact that happens at MDC is opportunistic, she said, and happens when staff are not closely monitoring clients.

Any kind of sexual activity that takes place in an institution is per se inappropriate, she said. That goes against the very nature of what it is some people are supposed to be having treated at the facility.

De Camara said sometimes sexual contact results from a lack of supervision, and some would be nearly impossible to stop.

Clients will do things under the table where staff would have to be under the table to be observing it, she said. We have to evaluate each incident as it happens.

If clients have a history of inappropriate sexual contact, their treatment plan will change to allow for things like closer monitoring, De Camara said.

Franks-Ongoy believes the nature of an institution like the center makes sexual contact within its walls inappropriate.

We certainly appreciate the fact people with disabilities have the right to engage in consensual sexual activity. That being said, we do not believe this is an appropriate policy to be implemented at MDC.

Disability Rights Montana has supported the closure of MDC and transferring clients to community-based care facilities. Franks-Ongoy said just because some clients have struggled with inappropriate sexual contact doesnt mean they present a danger to people in those communities.

One of the things our organization always says is people with disabilities, even with difficult behavior concerns, with appropriate support can be integrated into communities. Its always with appropriate support.

Franks-Ongoy said people with disabilities do have the ability to consent and have healthy physical relationships, but in a private home and not in an institution.

***

A client handbook given to all residents says the center has a strict no-touch policy and says no sexual relations between clients are permitted.

It continues: Because many of the people who come here have been physically or sexually abused and may feel very uncomfortable being touched, we ask you to respect other peoples boundaries and not touch other clients or MDC staff.

Toole said the difference between the policy and the handbook creates issues sometimes because touching isnt a policy violation, but clients might report it as abuse since they are told not to touch each other. That gets confusing, she said.

Clients are also not allowed in other clients rooms, according to the handbook.

Franks-Ongoy said clients at MDC often don't report something if they feel they will get in trouble, something that could happen if they think they are breaking a rule.

They more often than not will not report things because of that fear factor, she said.

De Camara said clients are told and encouraged to tell staff if anyone violates their personal space. She said the difference in policies and the handbook creates confusion. Personal space is referred to as a hula-hoop and clients should report anyone in their hula-hoop, she said.

An official with the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of the federal Department of Health and Human Services, said the change was made to be "more consistent with current practices and technological advances."

CMS worked with regional offices, state agencies and other stakeholders on input and feedback for these revisions, the official noted in an email.

The revised guidance, effective April 27, 2015, added language defining sexual abuse and clarified those incidents which must be considered sexual abuse and investigated as such, the official said.

The guidance also acknowledged that there may be instances where two consenting adults engage in sexual activity and this would not need to be investigated as sexual abuse as long as there was no coercion or lack of understanding, according to the official.

***

According to numbers from the DOJs investigations, there were 20 substantiated reports of sexual abuse at the center in 2015. That number has yet to be verified by DPHHS. From May 1, 2014, when the investigator started, through the end of that year, there were three substantiated reports.

Most sexual abuse reports are unsubstantiated, Toole said. In an eight-month period in 2014, the center received 159 reports, 59 of which were classified as information only, meaning the information in the reports didnt involve anything that was a violation of policy. In 2015, the center took 1,259 reports, 1,066 of which were information-only; 193 reports resulted in an investigation. Of those, 125 reports were unsubstantiated, three were inconclusive and 65 were substantiated.

The jump in reports received came after a change that stopped MDC from pre-screening some reports. Before November 2014, the center had an internal process that screened out some reports before moving them on to the investigator.

Clients make complaints to staff, who then tell supervisors. The report is documented in their case management system and sent to the DOJ investigator the same day theyre made. The investigators, based out of Helena, also keep an office at MDC and can receive complaints when at MDC.

The DOJs investigations are civil, but if criminal activity is found, the investigator takes the report to the Boulder police and the Jefferson County attorney.
HELENA  A six-month wait came to an end Friday for the families of six Montana Army National Guard soldiers.

Wives and children, mothers and fathers, waited for a plane to arrive that carried the soldiers who were returning from duty in Afghanistan, as did friends and others in uniforms of camouflage who said they too were in service.

John Bebich, a Marine Corps veteran, was among those who came for the ceremony in Helena. His son David was on the incoming plane. He said he understood what its like to leave for duty. He also understood what its like to return.

Bebich served from 1969 to 1972 and said as he waited for David that the going part isnt so fun.

To come back, its like Christmas. You wait for it to arrive.

On this day in February, where coats were optional in the warmth of the afternoon sun, he said he felt excellent.

This is Davids fifth deployment, he said, and attributed it to a military that lacks the staffing it needs.

Returning home means home-cooked meals, or at least meals cooked in the United States  both of which are missed by those overseas, he said.

Not everyone comes back, and not everyone comes back whole, Bebich said, adding, My sons coming back in one piece. Im very pleased about that. Im just waiting to see him.

He wasnt the only one of the couple of hundred people who would welcome the soldiers when they stepped off the airplane.

Sarah Murrays white sign with its red and blue letters expressed her feelings.

Welcome Home CW3 Murray. Your Mrs. Needs Kisses!

She held it at her side as she and other women talked and waited. Glances between them, pauses in their conversation, and shared sighs told of their anticipation.

Murray needed but few words to express how she felt at Scotts return. Theyve been together a little more than three years and married on the second anniversary of that meeting.

Good, just relieved. Happy, she said. This was a day shes been looking forward to since the day he left.

The soldiers are part of Operation Support Airlift Detachment 41, 1st battalion of the 189th General Support Aviation Battalion, according to a news release, who flew aircraft on reconnaissance and surveillance missions.

Maj. Chris Lende with the Montana Army National Guards public affairs unit said he couldnt discuss where the men flew but added that they were stationed at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

Although most units have seen a decrease in the number of deployments, our Army aviation units continue to be selected for mobilization in support of contingency operations, Col. Jamie Wilkins, the state Army Aviation Officer for Montana, wrote in a news release issued by Lende.

Mary Graff, married to CW4 Tim Graff for 24 years, was at the National Guard hangar to await her husbands return. This was his third deployment.

Its hard, she said. This has probably been the hardest deployment, although its been the shortest.

Coping with Tim being in Afghanistan meant not dwelling on it.

You cant think about it. You just have to set it aside and do what needs to be done, Graff explained.

This is not where you expect to be, she said. I didnt expect at 50 years old to be waiting for my husband to return from war.

But support from their 23-year-old daughter and extended family have made it easier, she added.

Hes proud to serve his country, and Im proud to have him as my husband, Graff said.

The roar of the aircraft as it descended drew the crowds attention. Those not wearing sunglasses shielded their eyes with hands to watch as it touched down.

Perhaps 18 fire trucks and law enforcement vehicles with emergency lights flashing and sirens howling escorted the plane toward the hangar where everyone waited.

Gov. Steve Bullock joined the reception line of military officers who shook the soldiers hands as they passed en route to the open arms and handshakes that awaited them. Soldiers with friends and family posed for photos. Those who had children lifted them in their arms or placed an arm around the childs shoulder.

CW4 Carl Wass, tall and tanned, smiled at the reception on his return from this deployment, his third.

Its great. Its great to be back again, he said. Its always nice to be back.

His mother and father, his wife and their two daughters, and the extended family were there to welcome him.

The whole crowd, he said still grinning.

Theyre excited to get me back, thats for sure. Its all good.

With Bagram and Afghanistan behind him, he plans to go home and return to his job at the airport outside of Bozeman.

Scott Murray stood beside his wife Sarah, and he too said it was great to be home and see everyone.

A long time coming, he said.

The 53 chairs set up behind a trio of flags inside the hangar for the ceremony went unused until afterward, when a few people sat for coffee and conversation.

At these events, people get excited. They all want to be right there on the line, Lende said as the crowd began to thin.

Outside the hangar, a drab green National Guard helicopter warmed up before lifting off.

In the shadow of the hangar as people continued to depart, one of those who returned on this day and a woman embraced  a moment that lasted far longer than the ceremonial hugs in front of a welcoming crowd.
St. James Healthcare announces that an organizational meeting of a new group, the Kids Coalition, will be held at 6 p.m. Monday, March 7, in the Webster-Garfield Center, Front and Montana.

Community partners and providers of childrens and teens clubs and activities are encouraged to attend.

The group is being formed in response to needs identified in the 2014 Butte Silver Bow Community Health Needs Assessment conducted on behalf of St. James Healthcare in partnership with the Butte-Silver Bow Health Department and Southwest Montana Community Health Center.

The goal of this group is twofold: to develop and maintain a quarterly calendar that provides information to the community about childrens activities, organizations, and clubs in Butte and to bring together resources to support the activities.

Cathy Tutty of Silver Bow Kiwanis, who is leading the effort, said, We have needed something like this in Butte for a long time. We have many activities and clubs for children and teens, and often parents are not aware of these or who to contact for more information. Our community also has a breadth of resources that could support these folks. We are committed that this approach will begin to remedy these issues.

As part of the work for the needs assessment, an action team made up of community organizations was formed to develop a plan to address needs related to the CHNA area of Physical Activity, Nutrition and Obesity. Formation of the Kids Coalition came from that group.

To augment this effort, the group will publish information in the Butte-Silver Bow Recreation Guide and ensure that the guide gets to all of the elementary students throughout the county before summer vacation begins.

One of the groups organizers, Cathy Maloney, County Superintendent of Schools, is pleased with the progress made so far.

So often we hear that children do not participate in some activities and events because their parents did not know about it. For several years, my office has compiled a summer calendar of activities for parents, but by joining forces, well be able to provide a much more comprehensive calendar that will be beneficial for the entire community, she said.

Details: Linda McGillen at 406-723-2525.
As a member of the Montana Developmental Center (MDC) Transition Advisory Council, I am compelled to respond to a letter recently authored by other members of the council. I regret some wish to continue debating the pros and cons of Senate Bill 411, but the fact is that its now law. A majority of legislators and the governor supported SB 411 to close Montana Developmental Center in Boulder because it was the right thing to do.

While their letter suggested that we have been immersed in the issue, frankly, for various reasons we have received primarily opinions of various stakeholders and anecdotal information  and still need more hard data regarding our service system now. Furthermore, weve had no expert presentations from other states that have completed this process of closing an institution and strengthening community capacity. To represent that the council has thoroughly delved into the system itself misstates what has occurred.

For too long, we have had a developmental disability system in Montana that has denied providers what they need to be successful in helping people live in the community. If an individual has needs, such as mental health issues or autism or other disorders, he or she has often failed in their community placement  not because they cannot be served to live in the community, but because providers lack sufficient resources to provide those services. For many years, a community placement failure meant that the person had to go to MDC  the most restrictive place in the state they could be  usually after a heartbreaking crisis that has terrible emotional consequences.

MDC has a long history of failing to meet Medicaid requirements, usually because of the inability to address abuse and neglect, Montana let that system exist. This is true for a lot of reasons, but often due to a lack of political will to fund it responsibly.

So why should we care about this? Because it is wrong to keep a bad system that makes the most vulnerable people suffer for the failure of others. It is an established civil right that people deserve to live in the community. Specifically, the Americans with Disabilities Act, 25 years old, requires the state to build a system that makes this a reality.

For those who would discount the abuse and neglect at MDC, I say that I am still shocked by the high prevalence of these events, especially since MDC holds itself out as a Center for Excellence expected to provide a safe place for treatment and habilitation. That is impossible where clients and staff are injured at an unacceptable rate. (Please go to http://www.disabilityrightsmt.org for reports of both.)

Of course, it will take money to fix the system, but we needed to spend this money a long time ago in supporting quality community placements. Frankly, this need exists whether MDC is closed, or not. The only reason we are talking about changing the mechanism we use to pay community providers right now is because SB 411 passed into law.

To date, we have seen many solid, positive steps to effectuate SB 411. This is because of the work of the Department of Public Health and Human Services, community providers, and the role of the council. Twenty-one people deemed ready to enter community residence for many months will begin moving out of MDC in the near future. At our last meeting, the council was informed of another proposal for four more people to move into community. In a process as critically important as this, we will face obstacles. Yet, I believe that with hard work, Montana can do right by people with developmental disabilities who have had to be too patient, far too long. I am hopeful we shall also do right concerning people yet to come into the system, including future generations of citizens who will need assistance.

Our charge on the council is to accomplish the statutory requirements in SB 411. That is our responsibility as council appointees. We can settle for nothing less.

-- Charlie Briggs, board member, Disability Rights Montana
A huge number of folks attended the meeting in Hamilton regarding the commissioners letter about refugees possibly being allowed into Missoula County. I so appreciate that we can gather and express our views in a democratic fashion, although apparently pitted against one another, and unable to hear viewpoints in a truly thoughtful fashion.

The United Nations states that by the end of April 2014, 8,803 children had been killed, while the Oxford Research Group stated that a total of 11,420 children died in the conflict by late November 2013. Whatever numbers are correct, it is devastating. What would you do if that many children were killed in Montana in a few years time? Wouldnt you take the hands of those who were left and start walking, hoping for any kind of safety you could find? Every refugee has a tale of family members who have been killed, tortured, raped or are missing. These folks arent interested in coming to the U.S. for revenge; they are coming for refuge. One third of Syrias population has been wiped out.

It is hogwash to think that those who enter our country will not be screened carefully! And should 100 of them actually make it, in small numbers at a time, to Missoula, do you think theyll not be seen on a daily basis by various agencies and sponsors? Do you think theyll be buying guns and bomb supplies locally? Did the Vietnamese who came to the Bitterroot in the '80s harm us in any way?

The fundamental rights of due process and equal protection that are embodied in our Constitution apply to every person in this country, regardless of immigration status. The commissioners letter is an expression of fear and ignorance. It has no standing whatsoever in the big picture. Discrimination against Muslims, refugees, whatever, is patently illegal.

-- Star Jameson, Hamilton
To a historic preservationist at heart and by trade, Buttes rich mining history, buildings, and sites dating back to its heyday give it gravitas on a large scale.

Its past is so unique and so treasured, nearly 10,000 acres and 7,900 buildings and other resources make Butte, America, and nearby areas the nations largest national historic landmark district.

Yet when Jim Jarvis left in December 2014 as Butte-Silver Bows historic preservation officer, a post at the heart of the countys efforts and projects to protect Buttes past, it took seven months to fill.

Three out-of-state candidates were offered the job, and two traveled here, but not one signed on. Chief Executive Matt Vincent said the $59,000 salary was competitive, and none cited discord over preservation issues as a factor in turning down the offer.

But that discord was well known in preservation circles, and the job comes with a balancing act that many in Butte dont know or care about and few cheer.

We are the largest historic district in the nation, and we have been combined with Anaconda, but we are still a town of 34,000, and we are a blue-collar town, said Butte-Silver Bow Commissioner Cindi Shaw, whose district covers much of historic Uptown. We dont have a lot of money. We are not a rich town.

There was once more than 70,000 people here, and the decline left many buildings empty but still standing decades later. That has pitted preservationists in Butte against those who want many of those vacant houses and buildings to come down.

The friction has gotten personal in recent years, playing out in meetings, blogs, and comments posted to The Montana Standards website.

It got so bad, when Jarvis left, Vincent made a public plea reminiscent of Rodney Kings famous Can we all get along? line during the 1992 L.A. riots.

If people want to air some grievances, that is fine, but I would really make a plea to just make a commitment to open our minds and change our attitudes and be more cooperative and collaborative about moving forward, Vincent said.

KNOWING THE LANDSCAPE

Mary McCormick knew this backdrop when she accepted the historic preservation position last July, but she saw a flipside so appealing it easily outweighed the cons.

She had been an architectural historian for two companies in Butte and had a similar role with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Seattle from 2011 to 2014. She was a cultural resources specialist for Montana Power in Butte in the late 1980s.

She had planned on staying in Seattle much longer than she did, but Butte kept tugging at her.

For me, Butte is so visually rich, McCormick said. Its really a dream job.

But not an easy one by any stretch.

The Council of Commissioners has bucked the historic preservation officer and Historic Preservation Commission in years past and has done so during McCormicks brief tenure so far.

Proposed demolitions have divided commissioners and the public for years now and are sure to again. But McCormick and others say the friction has subsided some, and they hope that continues.

There has been a lot of animosity, there is no doubt. There is absolutely no doubt, McCormick said. But there has been a shift, and I think its been a real positive shift towards trying to find some common ground.

THE TASK AT HAND

Before taking the position, McCormick was actually on the committee that spent weeks searching for Jarvis replacement. When Vincent and the committee started over, McCormick applied for the job herself.

The general job description went like this:

Coordinate programs to identify, evaluate, promote and protect historic resources within the City and County of Butte-Silver Bow and ensure compliance with local, state and federal historic preservation laws and ordinances. Manage and track changes of property within Butte-Silver Bow to enhance value and promote historic preservation.

That was just the lead-in. The list of specific duties, responsibilities and needed qualifications was far more detailed and much, much longer.

Vincent said McCormick was up to it and her profession and past in Butte would serve the county well.

McCormick first came to Butte in 1985 after receiving a masters degree in historic preservation from Colorado State University. She had been offered a position working for the Colorado State Archives in Denver.

It was a plum job for a graduate student, but I thought, I dont want to be stuck in a basement, she said.

She got a call and offer from Fred Quivik, who ran a historic preservation firm in Butte, and drove here in a 1977 Dodge Dart, pulling over every 200 miles or so to put more oil in.

She not only fell in love with Buttes historic buildings, she bought a Victorian-era house on Excelsior Avenue built in 1907. She walked in, saw a gorgeous staircase and beautiful light fixtures, and was hooked.

When she left for Seattle in 2011, she decided to rent it out, not sell it. She knew shed be back.

STARTING FRESH

McCormick inherited a cleaner slate than the one Jarvis left months earlier. After more than a year of debate, commissioners had enacted a revamped historic preservation ordinance on his way out.

The disputes primarily involved demolitions. Among other things, the law spells out criteria for reviewing and recommending which buildings can come down, what conditions must be met, and whether some material should be salvaged.

Sometimes its a simple matter, but there are times it's not. The latter cases often get pushed to the Council of Commissioners, and they dont always agree with the preservation officer, Historic Preservation Commission, or staunch preservationists in the community.

There have been lengthy, drag-out battles over large buildings such as the Brincks and Deluxe and smaller ones such as a house on West Broadway Street.

McCormick and the commission said the owner of that house should detail plans for replacing it before tearing it down. They wanted to ensure that whatever the replacement was, it fit the historic fabric of the area. Citing property rights, the council decided otherwise.

Commissioner Jim Fisher makes no apologies for such decisions, saying council members are elected officials who answer to the public at large, not just a subset of them.

I can see that historic preservation is a good thing, but we cant save them all, Fisher said.

Fisher realizes that Buttes local government gets state and federal money that sometimes comes with ties to preservation laws and regulations but says decisions arent always practical and dont always mesh with economic development.

I think there is middle ground that has to be found, he said.

McCormick, who served on the preservation commission from 2005 to 2011, has argued before the council on the other side of such disputes. She often sees things in a different light and says disagreements are not always black and white.

Buttes historic resources are one of its most valuable economic resources, and that gets reaffirmed when other people from outside the community come here, she said.

She does not oppose all demolitions, she says, but buildings need to have their day in court.

Butte architect Mark Reavis, who was once the countys preservation officer, said the council bucks that official and the board more often than others.

That doesnt seem right, he said. We have other boards that are given a whole lot more room and a lot more credence.

EARNING KUDOS

Reavis said there are many facets to historic preservation and laws to follow and believes McCormick has done a great job maneuvering among them so far.

Butte is obligated under federal law to have a preservation program, he said.

That doesnt mean there has to be massive local laws, he said. It means educating people and having an ordinance and following procedures. She understands that. I still think our commissioners could understand things a little better.

McCormick said she has worked to improve ties between her office and other departments, including Community Enrichment, Community Development and Public Works. They in turn, she said, have supported her wholeheartedly.

She says shes also trying to reach out to commissioners.

She has met often with Shaw, who chairs the council, to keep her apprised of preservation issues. They often involve buildings or sites in Shaws district, which covers much of Uptown Butte.

Shaw noted that the position went unfilled for seven months.

She inherited quite a bit when she came on board, Shaw said. There were a lot of loose ends on her plate, and shes been doing a good job of trying to play catch-up.

Butte architect Steve Hinick, who is chairman of the preservation commission, said it is frustrating when commissioners go against its recommendations after so much time and thought are put into them.

But its part of the process, he said, and it helps that McCormick is from the historic preservation community and has worked in the field locally.

I think Marys style is a bit different than Jims, he said. I thought he was a little more forthcoming about his opinions. She has come around to that  she is giving staff recommendations now, and I think that is great.

Mitzi Rossillon, who is also on the commission and has taught college classes with McCormick, said her education and background add weight to her findings and recommendations from the start.

McCormick has led projects that included other county employees and the nonprofit Butte Citizens for Preservation and Revitalization, which provides grants, tours, lectures and workshops to bolster preservation efforts.

McCormick is also committed to tackling big issues, Rossillon said, such as finding long-term ways to protect Buttes mine yards from vandalism and theft. And she doesnt see historic preservation and economic development as mutually exclusive.

She sees those things going hand in hand, Rossillon said.

McCormick said there are recent examples of that in Uptown Butte, including the new NorthWestern Energy building, the relocated Taco Del Sol, and the Headframe Spirits Distillery. Efforts and materials that went into them saved or fit Uptowns historic aura.

We have these great resources here that when we highlight them and restore them and make them beautiful once again, it draws people in, she said.
WASHINGTON  After decades of work and hundreds of millions of dollars, the end could be in sight for the federal office charged with relocating Navajo and Hopi families in a land dispute between the two tribes.

Chris Bavasi of Flagstaff, the executive director of the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation, told a House panel Thursday that he expects to have just over 100 families that will have to be dealt with in the next two years, and predicted he will make his final budget request for fiscal 2018.

Lawmakers and tribal officials alike welcomed that targeted end date  but expressed concern that it will actually happen.

A Navajo Nation official, who said the 2018 closing date came as a surprise to the tribe, cautioned that the relocation office has taken on new duties that are not fully funded in the fiscal 2017 budget request. That could leave work that has to be picked up by other agencies if the relocation office closes in 2018, she said.

They need to figure out what the cost is going to be going forward, said Carolyn Drouin, government and legislative affairs associate for the Navajo Nation Washington Office. Even if the office completes functions like hearing appeals and building homes, she said, there will still be outstanding responsibilities that cant just be dumped on BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) or some other agency.

Hopi officials did not return calls seeking comment on the proposal.

The relocation office has its roots in a long-running land dispute between the two tribes that resulted in litigation and legislation. In 1974, Congress passed the Navajo-Hopi Land Settlement Act, which set up a process for the tribes to work out boundaries between themselves. When they were unable to do so, a federal court stepped in and drew boundaries in 1978, ordering members of each tribe to move if tey had been drawn into the other tribes territory.

Congress created the Navajo Hopi Land Commission in 1981 to resettle those families. It was later replaced by the Office of Navajo and Hopi Indian Relocation, which was originally expected to wrap up its work in five years.

When Congress created the Office of Navajo and Hopi Relocation in 1988, they did not envision that it would still be operating 28 years later and that families would still be awaiting relocation, said Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minnesota, at Thursdays House Appropriations subcommittee hearing.

Bavasi agreed that the program was intended to be over much more quickly, but he noted that the office has resettled more than 3,800 families, well over the original estimate of about 1,000 families that might need relocation.

Bavasi said that because it is not a forced relocation program, families can go through the process at their leisure. And he, as well as committee members, noted the offices budget had been cut deeply over the years.

Bavasi thanked Rep. Ken Calvert, R-California, and chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, for doubling funding from $7.5 million in fiscal 2015 to $15 million in fiscal 2016 so his office could begin to chip away at the backlog of eligible families. The office has requested $15.4 million in next years budget.

But Bavasi reminded the committee that the program is not a perpetual housing program. He said most of next years money is to provide housing and housing infrastructure for Navajos who have been certified as eligible for relocation homes. With 92 families awaiting relocation and an estimated 20 appeals to address, Bavasi said the office is set to make its final budget request for fiscal 2018.

McCollum asked Bavasi what the office plans to do with the new duties it has taken on, citing a line in his testimony that there will be a need for both a Navajo and a federal presence after ONHIR closes since such lands are held in trust by the United States for the Navajo Nation.

Bavasi said those issues are not foreign to the Navajo Nation, or the chapter, or the BIA and weve been in discussions with all of them to figure out how to transition these programs to them.

But Drouin said Friday that she was glad to see McCollum raise the issue, because the cost associated with the additional duties needs to be quantified.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, said Bavasi has worked hard to bring this program to an appropriate successful conclusion. But even after doubling the office budget in recent year, he said he fears that the program wont be ready to end after fiscal 2018.

Thats how I would describe failure, Cole said. Theres some danger of that, given  and I dont point fingers at anybody here  but given the history of the program, theres every reason to believe that could happen.

But Bavasi said afterward the boost in funding has helped and he believes it can now meet the timeframe he has set out.

Last year, he said, some 60 Navajo households and families were relocated with the program, 44 of whom would have had to wait years to be moved without the extra funding. It looks like were actually going to be able to finish this building.

There were times in our tenure where we would build over 260 homes a year, and then our appropriations were reduced, he said. And so weve only been building, lets say, 28 (houses a year), so with the additional appropriation it would give us enough to build 60 houses a year.

We will be done in the time frame, Bavasi said.
Sheila Irene Aguilar, 69, of Flagstaff died February 25, 2016, in Williams, Arizona. She was born in Mt Vernon, Ohio on November 19, 1946. She married, the love of her life, Thomas Aguilar, on September 25, 1970. They made a home in Flagstaff and raised 4 children. Sheila was very well known in Flagstaff and was very much loved. She worked as a cashier for many years and even had her own taxi business they called "MOMS TAXI". Sheila loved bowling and going to Laughlin and enjoyed the casinos. She was very involved with her family and loved spending quality time with her children and grandchildren. She was always the happiest when she was surrounded by them all.
Important stuff you won't get from the liberal media! We do the surfing so you can be informed AND have a life!
Its been a busy couple of weeks on the Hub beat.

Public hearings, permit approvals by the planning commission, an appeal, a withdrawal by the developer of the permit requests and, coming up Tuesday, a possible vote by the Flagstaff City Council on a rezoning.

And all over a student housing complex in a city with plenty of them.

So whats the big deal?

The deal has to do with change and the pace of it in neighborhoods surrounding Northern Arizona University. The developer claims that, by right, it can build a 5-story, 664-bed project on the edge of low-rise Southside. It contends that it is expanding the housing supply and that, by enforcing crime-free standards for tenants, it will be a good neighbor.

NOTHING IF NOT

DISTINCTIVE

But what might be right if built in the middle of the Mountain Campus doesnt seem right to the dozens of residents who have turned out for the public hearings. Flagstaff is nothing if not a collection of distinct neighborhoods, and honoring that uniqueness while still accommodating growth and change is a constant struggle.

Also, whether the Hub is right by the zoning code as it is being applied to the city land use plan is another important consideration. Developers push the envelope and planners are the first line in sorting out what is compatible, but ultimately it is the elected city council that determines how fast, how far and where change will occur.

At this point, the two sides seem poles apart. The developer is sticking to its story that 664 bedrooms on 2.4 acres rising to five stories is not incompatible. The neighbors point out that traffic is already congested on the historically narrow streets and that the example of the Grove, another high-rise student project east of Lone Tree, gives them little confidence that a massive dormitory will be a net benefit to single-family, small-business Southside.

THREE STORIES?

The middle ground for a dormitory project would appear to be something rising no more than three stories; the tradeoff for fewer beds might be less on-site parking if a satellite lot can be provided, thus getting parked cars off the streets. If the developer says a smaller-scale project doesnt work financially, perhaps it might appeal to NAU for financial aid  not all university housing has to be on campus, nor does it have to be five stories tall or more

Unfortunately, the developer has not only denied the applicability of what it calls preamble wording in the zoning code about compatibility but also threatened to sue the city if it delays or alters the project.

On the other side, at least one property owner has hired an attorney and filed the first of what could be several appeals if the project goes forward. Once the final appeal is exhausted at the Board of Adjustments, the losing side can go to Superior Court, so it is unlikely we will see a project on Mikes Pike at Phoenix Avenue anytime soon. Does anyone know a good mediator?

CATCH UP ON PLANNING

In the meantime, the city of Flagstaff and NAU each have some work to do. The city has a draft neighborhood plan for Southside dating back to 2005 but never adopted  it should start immediately to formalize such a plan. We saw all too vividly in Plaza Vieja the disruption that can happen when a draft neighborhood plan sits unadopted on the shelf while a developer comes in with a similar, high-density student housing project.

The city also should put the committee developing a new high-occupancy housing ordinance on the fast track. With the Mountain Campus set to grow by 5,000 students in the next decade, Core Campus wont be the last developer of student housing to see Flagstaff as an attractive market. If growth is inevitable, theres no excuse not to plan for it.

NAU also should play a role in whatever planning is needed in adjacent neighborhoods to accommodate overflow students and hold them accountable to the university code of conduct.

The university now has about 10,000 out of 21,000 students housed on the Mountain Campus, and if that ratio holds after another decade of enrollment growth, there will be 2,500 more students living off campus than today. Flagstaff is a college town and it has enjoyed a special town-gown relationship for more than a century. Lets not let a project like the Hub undermine that trust and the ability to work out problems constructively.
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 []
To the editor:

With the distressing news of the departure of FUSD Superintendent Hickman, we witness the results of continuous attacks by Republicans in the Legislature upon public instruction: our best people are fleeing Arizona. It is clear that there is an ideological commitment on the part of Republicans to end support for public schools supported by our tax dollars. Instead they want to put our tax dollars into the hands of individuals regardless of need or financial status to spend or save as school vouchers.

Because our Republican leadership in the Arizona Legislature oppose public schools for ideological reasons, there is no way to reason with them. They cook up one scheme after another to strip funding from public schools. In part, they are driven by a distaste for any government program, but quite a few have made personal financial gain from those decisions. There are conflicts of interest when someone who owns a private school votes to expand the distribution of vouchers and to expand the amount of money allowable for Student Tuition tax deductions. Those donations accrue to Student Tuition Organizations, and there are legislators who manage STO's for a handsome "administrative" fee. This is beyond suspicious.

The people of Arizona need to realize that they are not supporting an exciting new system for educating their children. They are paying taxes for a system that is profitable for a few, has little oversight or education standards, and turns our public system into a for-profit, unregulated jungle.

Studies repeatedly show that major companies avoid states with such weak educational systems. Our educational system will return Arizona to its old image of cheap land, cheap labor, and golf courses.

HARRIET YOUNG

Flagstaff
The Democratic Alliance (DA) announced that it will request an investigation into the decision of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) to ban call-ins at all its radio stations.

Its request will be made to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) which has a Code of Conduct for Broadcast Service Licensees.

This comes after the Sunday Times and City Press reported that the SABC has ordered it radio stations not to have open line segments until after the local government elections.

According to the DA, the SABCs decision is in violation of its current Editorial Policy, its obligations as listed in the Broadcasting Act, and its license conditions in terms of the ICASA Code of Conduct for Broadcasting Service Licensees.

SABC Editorial Policy

The DA said that the SABCs Editorial Policy states that phone-in and discussion programmes are an accepted and important means of broadcasting individual points of view on topics.

They help uphold the SABCs editorial principles of fairness, impartiality and balance, and to ensure that a wide range of views are broadcast.

Broadcasting Act

According to the DA, the Broadcasting Act requires that the SABCs programming be varied and offer a range of content and analysis from a South African perspective.

It also requires that programming provide a reasonable, balanced opportunity for the public to receive a variety of points of view on matters of public concern.

Icasa Code of Conduct for Broadcasting Service Licensees

The ICASA Code of Conduct for Broadcasting Service Licensees requires that particularly when related to controversial issues of public importance, broadcasters must make reasonable effort to fairly present opposing points of view.

Banning call-ins limits the amount of varied opinions broadcast on SABC radio stations and news programmes, the DA said, and will result in the opinions of radio presenters, government and politicians being the only ones given airtime.

Not even a semblance of impartiality from top officials

It is disturbing how SABC COO, Hlaudi Motsoeneng and Communications Minister, Faith Muthambi no longer even pretend to present a semblance of impartiality when related to the SABC, the DA said.

The DA said it intends on fighting this matter, and all other instances of the full state capture of the SABC.

Muthambi and Motsoeneng will not be given full rein to turn the SABC into the ANCs propaganda tool, the DA said.

The SABC is the public broadcaster and must broadcast the opinions of all South Africans regardless of political affiliation, race, culture.

More on the SABC

SABC bans listeners calling in to shows to stop complaints about ANC: report

SABC denies claims of R100 000 reward for exposing employees who leak info

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan takes on the Guptas, SABC
The South African job market is under pressure, with lower commodity prices and slow economic growth putting pressure on employers.

For jobseekers to stand out and find a quality job in this market, the right skills and experience are necessities.

The IT and telecommunications market is a good example. There is still a strong demand for qualified and experienced professionals.

MyBroadband asked a few of South Africas top IT recruitment firms about the most in-demand IT skills. Here is what they said.

Most in-demand skills

Odile Badenhorst, Communications Manager at CareerJunction, said software development is undoubtedly the most sought-after IT skill set so far for 2016.

On CareerJunction, every second vacancy posted within the IT sector is for Software Developers, said Badenhorst.

Programmers with dNet and or C# skills are highly sought after, CareerJunctions research shows.

She said two other skills in high demand are business analysis and systems and network administration.

Sylvia Thomaides, operations director at Tricruit Recruitment Specialists, said they see many requests for skilled VB.Net developers.

Thomaides said VB.Net developers with database experience with Oracle and SQL are particularly valuable.

South Africa in line with international trends

The most in-demand skills listed by CareerJunction and Tricruit Recruitment Specialists are in line with international trends.

The following skills were listed by CIO in its 10 Hot IT Job Skills for 2016, based on information from IT recruitment specialists Mondo, Upwork, and Cybrary.

User experience and user interface (UX/UI) designers and developers

Full-stack Web and product developers

Network engineers

Security and cybersecurity professionals

Mobile engineers

Business analysts

IT project managers (vertical specific)

Cloud architects and integration

Data scientists

Content management system skills

More on IT skills

10 tech skills which will give you a big salary

Starting salaries for IT professionals in South Africa
Vodacom will not be able to take control of licences owned by Neotel as part of the companies planned R7-billion merger. This is according to a report by Bloomberg.

The High Court in Pretoria made the ruling this week, which follows a decision by Vodacom in December to drop plans to take Neotels spectrum and electronic communications network services permits.

The mobile operator will still acquire all assets relating to Neotels fixed-line business.

However, the group will still gain access to Neotels spectrum through a roaming arrangement.

The merger deal as originally conceived between Vodacom and Neotel is definitely dead in the water now, telecommunications attorney Dominic Cull told the Sunday Times.

If Vodacom had to go back to try and reapply for the licences it would take forever.

Vodacom originally agreed to buy Neotel from Tata Communications in May 2014. The deal was slowed down by competition inquiries, while Telkom and MTN appealed against the merger.

The court decision was in response to an appeal by MTN, Telkom, and Cell C against a ruling by Icasa to give Vodacom control of the licences, stated the Sunday Times.

The deal has also been hampered by Neotels CEO Sunil Joshi and chief financial officer Steven Whiley stepping down, after the pair were placed on special leave following R100 million in questionable payments to a company called Homix.

The full report is in the Sunday Times of 28 February 2016.

More on Vodacom

Vodacom LTE-Advanced arrives in more areas  details

WhatsApp regulation in SA  what Vodacom and MTN really want
To the editor:

Our state representative from Flagstaff, Bob Thorpe, wants to rob us of our state constitutional right to pass an initiative.

Our Legislature has already increased the number of petition signatures needed to get an initiative on the ballot. It has already defied voter-approved initiatives concerning education funding and state attempts to grab federal lands. Our courts have upheld the initiatives, but we still don't have the school funding that voters approved.

Bob Thorpe has introduced a bill, HB 2524, to say that Arizona voters can't pass an initiative requiring background checks for gun purchases. Nevada has a similar initiative pending: Nevadans for Background Checks. This is announced on the day of another mass shooting with an AK rifle in Kansas.

Thorpe is undisturbed that his bill would overrule the right of Arizona voters, as listed in the state constitution, to propose their own laws when their legislature refuses to act. Wouldn't this require an amendment to our state constitution? Don't we, the people, have some say in our government when our representatives don't represent us?

Thorpe doesn't represent me! I plan to vote for Alex Martinez, who is running against him this year.

SALLIE KLADNIK

Flagstaff
Pulled out of downtown Napa curbsides nearly 20 years ago, parking meters could return this year  for at least a few months and possibly for good.

The city is planning a pilot program that would create pay-to-park zones along Main, First and Second streets, the busiest routes in Napas business district. Drivers would be charged to use about 500 spaces during the test, which could begin as early as this summer and last three to six months.

The experiment would be a dress rehearsal for a possible shift to paid parking in the city core, which ended with the removal of meters in the 1990s. A study released last May suggested metering as one way to turn over prime spaces in busy neighborhoods more quickly, and encourage all-day visitors to use more distant, but less crowded, spots instead.

As the number of downtown hotels, restaurants and shops increases, were starting to anticipate in the near term that there will be a parking crunch, said the citys economic development manager, Jennifer LaLiberte, in discussing the parking-meter pilot Thursday.

Though Napa has not yet chosen which areas to meter, the likely candidates will be curbside slots and surface lots as far west as Randolph Street, she said.

A vendor, yet to be chosen, would install 50 to 60 meters, each governing up to 10 spaces, said Shari Cooper, development project coordinator. Each machine would accept cash and credit or debit cards, and possibly electronic payment via smartphone.

Parking fees for the pilot project have not been set, but probably will vary by time of day, and existing time limits will not change, according to LaLiberte.

The goal is to set the price at a level where theres about 20 percent vacancy in the test zone, she said. The hope is to adjust pricing at peak times; there may be times when the price goes up and times when it goes down, depending on the level of vacancies.

Walker Parking Consultants, the Illinois company that performed the city parking study, estimated a $1.25-an-hour charge for curbside spaces and a 50-cent rate at off-street lots could garner Napa more than $500,000 a year if it meters 800 busy slots. Startup would require about $840,000 and yearly upkeep $100,000, according to the report.

Authors also argued an overuse of street parking in high-traffic areas makes the supply look tighter and discourages would-be visitors, even if off-street slots nearby remain plentiful. On a Thursday afternoon in July 2014, 45 percent of downtown spaces were occupied for more than three hours, the report stated.

While the reaction of many downtown merchants remains to be seen, one longtime business owner appeared willing to give the paid-parking experiment a chance  so long as it doesnt scare off those trying to spend a whole day in town.

When we had (meters) before, a lot of customers liked to go out to lunch and shop. But usually they would exceed time on the meter and had a ticket when they came back  which didnt make them very happy, remembered Barbara Wiggins, who has run The Mustard Seed Clothing Co. on First Street for 30 years.

Key to the acceptance of paid parking, she added, will be customers ability to easily re-feed the meters, extend their stays and, thus, spend more money,

Its frustrating for people who are trying to take advantage of restaurants and shops, but then have to race back to their car, said Wiggins. If they have ways to take care of that without going back to their cars, that would be great.

While Nancy Haynes made no prediction of the pay-to-park experiments success, the owner of the Napa Valley Coffee Roasting Co. pointed to earlier challenges that faced people trying to reach her Main Street coffee shop.

We weathered the closing of the First Street bridge, the closing of a parking lot for a construction staging area; our customers are wonderfully persistent, said Haynes, who owns cafes in Napa and St. Helena. Speaking for myself, when I come downtown, I assume Ill have to park two or three blocks from where I want to go.

The good news and the bad news of Napa is that parking is difficult downtown  which is a sign that people want to come downtown, which is great.
Nearly half a year after it suspended operations, leaders of The Pathway Home in Yountville are organizing a comeback  with a new focus on helping those struggling to shift from military service to civilian college life.

The program had treated about 450 returning veterans with combat-related mental stress, but difficulty with raising moneymore than $1 million per yearcaused the board to stop accepting new veterans last fall and look at new ways to make the project sustainable.

Now a new team, including members of the Pathway board, state and federal veterans agencies, and Napa Valley College, hope to revive the therapy program by the end of 2016, organizers said. Plans call for the home to house clients in leased space at the Veterans Home of California, where Pathway operated from 2008 to 2015, and to partner with NVC in offering support services at the Napa campus, with help from staff from the federal Department of Veterans Affairs.

The focus on bringing veterans aid to campus could become Pathways road to the future as it seeks to make its services sustainable for the long haul, and possibly create a model for other therapy programs  and colleges  to copy.

From its opening eight years ago, Pathway set a new course for treating veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars suffering post-traumatic stress disorder, providing intensive inpatient treatment for up to four months at a time under the guidance of other veterans. But despite millions of dollars in donations, the program struggled to pay for itself, eventually halving its original 30-person capacity before going on hiatus in September.

In rebooting the therapy program, directors are aiming to use the expertise of other agencies while reaching out to clients trying to use college as their path to a stable civilian life.

Pathway clients would room at Pathways leased space at the Veterans Homes Madison Hall, then travel by van to NVC for classes, according to Oscar de Haro, the schools vice president of student services.

At the college, students would have access to a collection of counseling, tutoring and other services, according to Keith Armstrong, who directs the VAs satellite clinic at City College of San Francisco. The federal agency would supply a mental health counselor to work with student clients both at the college and at Pathway in Yountville.

Enrollment in a renewed Pathway has not been set, but Armstrong suggested the program could accommodate between 10 and 20 veterans initially.

The expanded support program proposed at NVC is modeled after similar veterans centers the VAs Bay Area division already runs at other two-year institutions, he said. By combining VA staffing with NVCs existing veterans services, it would parallel the San Francisco City College programs melding of psychotherapy, social work and medication management with more focused aid in finding housing, getting health care through the VA system, writing resumes, and other tasks.

Bringing the safety net close to the classroom can be the difference that lets more veterans attain a stable life while at their most vulnerable, Armstrong predicted.

The idea is to provide a one-stop shopping model so that people can get their services while theyre at school, and decrease the stress of juggling work, school, family life and VA appointments, he said Tuesday.

Veterans studying at NVC already are exempted from the colleges $46-per-unit fee. In addition, those being treated through Pathway likely could use housing stipends from the GI Bill to pay for their stays at the Yountville home, according to Patti Morgan, the schools dean of financial aid.

Additional support may come from reimbursements by the VA for veterans who enter work-study programs while signing up for at least nine units of courses, said Lynette Cortes, veterans services specialist for the college.

Any steps to help pick up expenses are vital in reviving a program that cost about $1.2 million per year in its original form, according to Mike Horak, Pathways director of administration and development.

Pathway got its launch funding from a private $5.6 million grant delivered through the Tides Center, a donor fund based in San Francisco. But after working through its seed money, the home was forced to rely mostly on local fundraising in the absence of reimbursement from the VA or Tricare, the federal health system for military personnel, retirees and dependents.

While the Napa Valley is a generous community, when you looked at the grand scheme of things, we only have a small building and the ability to bring in only so many people at one time, Horak said. It was a highly expensive program to operate, and we werent necessarily able to attract (donors) with a broad perspective.

Since graduating its last class of clients Sept. 17, Pathways board has continued its fundraising and garnered about $417,000. Its lease at the Veterans Home will remain in force through the end of 2017, he said.

An 11-member volunteer committee with representatives from the VA, Veterans Home and the state Department of Veterans Affairs is advising Pathway in its transition to campus-based aid. The committee also includes Veterans Home administrator Don Veverka, Tug McGraw Foundation co-founder Jennifer Brusstar and psychology professors from UC San Francisco, among others.

Ultimately, according to Horak, Pathway leaders hope to create a system that other colleges can emulate in order to spread the benefits to returning veterans elsewhere in the Bay Area.

Armstrong, of the VAs San Francisco division, hoped The Pathway Homes return will point the way to greater teamwork.

You want to help veterans use the GI Bill wisely, to graduate as quickly as they can to four-year schools or vocational training, said Armstrong, of the VAs San Francisco division. If we can provide academic and mental health counseling under one umbrella, these people will have a better opportunity to succeed. Thats the mutual goal of the state, the Veterans Home, Pathway and the VA.

Maybe its an example of the future of partnerships, the idea that the VA cant do it alone and the community cant do it alone, he said. Its within these partnerships that veterans will benefit.
A consulting firm recommends that Napa County consider placing a quarter-cent sales tax measure on the June ballot to raise money for a new jail.

Thats a smaller tax measure for a smaller jail project than county officials had originally wanted. Based on a survey of potential voters, however, TBWB Strategies is encouraging the county to scale down its ultimate ambitions for now.

In another twist, the consultants recommend running a general use sales tax measure that can pass by a majority vote. Money from a general use sales tax can be spent as the Board of Supervisors sees fit.

The alternative would be to seek a special use sales tax that has the advantage of assuring more-skeptical voters that the tax money could legally be spent only on the jail. But passing a special use tax requires a two-thirds vote.

Another option is seeking a property tax increase instead of a sales tax increase. Passing such a bond measure also requires a two-thirds vote.

County supervisors will discuss the matter when they meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the county administration building, 1195 Third St. They have already made it clear that they believe the existing, downtown Napa jail is aging, undersized and inadequate.

What we have right now for a jail is broken, Supervisor Brad Wagenknecht said on Friday.

On Tuesday, supervisors might agree on the fix.

Napa County wants to replace the downtown jail with a 366-bed jail along Highway 221 near the Syar quarry. A key strategy has been to pass a bond or sales tax measure to raise $137 million of the $178 million in estimated construction costs.

Garnering a two-thirds vote  66.7 percent  would be difficult, polling data indicates. The data shows 65 percent of voters support such a jail tax under the best of circumstances, with numbers closer to 50 percent after those surveyed are exposed to counter arguments.

As a result, the county is exploring Plan B. That involves building a 256-bed jail along Highway 221 and continuing to operate a 55-bed version of the downtown jail, until such time as the new jail could be expanded.

This smaller project would cost about $103 million, a county report said. It could be partially funded with a tax measure that would bring in about $68 million.

TBWB recommends the county choose a June ballot measure over a November ballot measure. The jail conversation has been taking place in the community for the last few months, so the time is ripe, a report from the consultants said.

Napa County built the first phase of its existing jail for $4.1 million in 1976. In 1989, the county completed an $8 million jail expansion and remodeling project.

Thirty percent of jail inmates suffer some sort of mental health problems, Wagenknecht said. Others have drug and alcohol problems. Others are hardened criminals.

The existing jail lacks adequate facilities for mental health and addiction treatment, county officials said.

Theres got to be a better way of doing jail then just cramming 260 people into that little rabbit warren we have on Third Street, Wagenknecht said. Its time to do it. We should do it now.

He wants Napa County to figure out the answer to the jail issue on its own terms.

At some point, the courts and other circumstances are going to come and say, You have to do it now,  Wagenknecht said.

Napa competed to receive $20 million in state funding for the new jail last year, but was awarded only $2.8 million.

That fall 2015 competition favored counties that had not previously received state money for corrections facilities. In 2013, the state awarded Napa County $13.5 million to build a 72-bed, minimum-security re-entry facility where inmates close to release time will be able to receive educational programs and other services.

Wagenknecht didnt know when and if state funding for jails might again be available. He invited anyone with ideas on how to pay for a new jail to come to Tuesdays meeting and share them.

The survey used by TBWB told potential voters what opponents might say about a jail tax measure. Napa County already has high taxes, and residents cant afford to spend more on a jail when so many other urgent issues exist, the argument said.

The state budget is running a surplus now, and Sacramento politicians are still handing state prisoners to Napa County to take care of, the argument said. Rather than taxing ourselves to build a new jail, we should tell the state to pay to solve its own problems.

These and other arguments lowered support for a half-cent sales tax from 60 percent to 51 percent. The survey doesnt mention the results for a quarter-cent tax after voters hear opposing arguments.

Among the arguments in favor of a jail sales tax that most swayed voters is that much of the sales tax revenue generated would be paid by tourists and visitors to Napa County.

If the supervisors choose to add it to the ballot, the jail funding measure would join a crowded field of fundraising efforts. Napa Valley Unified School District is expected to place a $269 million school facilities bond on the June ballot.

St. Helena is considering whether to seek a sales tax increase or a real estate transfer tax.

The Parks and Open Space District may place a quarter-cent sales tax for watershed and open space protection on the November ballot.
How Cold Are Black Holes? : Today were going to have the most surreal conversation. Im going to struggle to explain it, and youre going ...
From the sheer timeline, it would appear that the judiciary was waiting for the executive to prove before the legislature its commitment ...
Question -- What is the goal of this website? Why do we share different sources of information that sometimes conflicts or might even be considered disinformation?

Answer -- The primary goal of Nesaranews is to help all people become better truth-seekers in a real-time boots-on-the-ground fashion. This is for the purpose of learning to think critically, discovering the truth from withinnot just believing things blindly because it came from an "authority" or credible source. Instead of telling you what the truth is, we share information from many sources so that you can discern it for yourself. We focus on teaching you the tools to become your own authority on the truth, gaining self-mastery, sovereignty, and freedom in the process. We want each of you to become your own leaders and masters of personal discernment, and as such, all information should be vetted, analyzed and discerned at a personal level. We also encourage you to discuss your thoughts in the comments section of this site to engage in a group discernment process.





"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."  Aristotle

11
To Mr. Bray of the Arizona Cattle Growers' Association, I would like to say "No" we do NOT need to start from square one. This effort has been proven and supported over and over, you just do not like the answer. And I am curious as to why federal officials have not been searching and vetting new locations from the day the New Rule went into effect. While I do appreciate that, after 30 years, this is a step forward it seems that the dragging of feet is why we are 30 years behind in saving this endangered species.
Born in Montreal in 1949, Guy Badeaux (Bado) has been the editorial cartoonist at the French language daily "Le Droit" in Ottawa since May 1981. Winner of the National Newspaper Award in 1991, he is a member of the group "Cartooning for Peace" as well as treasurer of the Association of Canadian Cartoonists.

Since 2002, he has served as president of the jury of the cartoon contest of the Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom in Ottawa. He was also editor of the 22 first issues of "Portfoolio: The Years Best Canadian Editorial Cartoons".
Judge Bushra Zaman on Saturday granted six-day physical custody of the suspects to the counter-terrorism department (CTD) of Punjab province in Pakistan, Dawn online reported.

The suspects were arrested from a rented house over suspicion of facilitating the January 2 attack in Pathankot airbase, merely 55 km from Pakistan border.

Suspects Khalid Mahmood, Irshadul Haque and Muhammad Shoaib denied charges and were shifted to an undisclosed location for investigation.

The attack left seven Indian security personnel killed. All six terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, were also killed in the attack on the airbase.

--Indo-Asian News Service py/vt

( 136 Words)

2016-02-28-12:49:32 (IANS)
A day after Taliban attacked a bus of the Afghan Defence Ministry in Kabul, the toll has risen to 15 while 31 others were injured, the ministry said on Sunday. Those killed in Saturday's attack included 11 personnel from the ministry and four passersby, Xinhua reported. The injured included 26 military workers and five civilians, the ministry said. The following is the listing of major attacks in Afghanistan since January 1, 2016. On February 27, about 13 persons were killed and 40 others injured after a suicide bomber attacked a pro-government local leader, Khan Jan, in Kunar province. Khan died in the attack. On February 22, a Taliban suicide attacker killed 13 people, including six Afghan Local Police (ALP) officers, and injured 11 in Parwan province. On February 17, three civilians were killed and 12 injured by an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Faryab province. On February 11, five ALP officers were killed following a insider attack in Kunduz province. On February 10, two police officers launched an insider attack, killing five policemen and injuring six officers in Kandahar province. One attacker was killed in shootout. On February 8, six civilians were killed and nine injured in a suicide bombing in Paktika province. On February 8, three military officers were killed and 18 injured when a suicide attacker struck an army bus in Balkh province. On February 1, at least 20 people, mostly police officers, were and 29 others were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive jacket at the gate of Civil Order Police station in western Kabul. On January 30, a police chief and an intelligence director were killed in an IED attack in the Dangam district of Kunar. On January 26, Zubair Khaksar, a local Journalist and cultural advisor to governor of Nangarhar, was killed in a targeted killing. On January 26, some nine police were killed in an insider attack in Uruzgan province. On January 20, up to seven media workers and a policeman were killed and 24 injured as a suicide car bombing struck a bus carrying employees of a local TV channel in Kabul. On January 17, a suicide attack struck a guesthouse of a local leader Malik Usman Shinwari in Nangarhar, killing 12 civilians and injuring 13 others. Shinwari was among the injured. On January 13, seven security forces and two civilians were killed and 11 injured after three gunmen attacked a building near Pakistani consulate in Nangarhar. On January 4, one suicide bomber was killed after his car bomb went off along a main road near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. The target remained unknown. On January 4, three civilians were killed and 38 others, including two foreign soldiers and five policemen, injured after a suicide truck bomb hit Camp Baron, a heavily protected residential compound of foreign civilian contractors near Kabul airport. On January 3, gunmen seized a building near Indian Consulate office in Balkh, killing one security force soldier and injuring nine others. The gunmen were killed after one-day clash with security forces. On January 1, three civilians were killed and 18 injured after a suicide car bomb targeted a local French restaurant in the Qala-e-Fatullah Khan area of Kabul. --Indo-Asain News Service py/dg ( 548 Words) 2016-02-28-17:53:35 (IANS)
Congress General Secretary and Madhya Pradeshs former chief minister Digvijaya Singh today said the ongoing Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry, into the Professional Examination Board (PEB) inconsistencies, ought to be monitored by the Supreme Court. I will urge the apex court in this regard. The Special Task Force and its officers assets ought to be probed by the CBI. If the evidence submitted by me vis--vis the PEB irregularities is found false then action may be initiated against me else action should be taken against those levelling charges at me. Ruling party leaders benefitted from the PEB, he alleged while addressing a press conference at the Congress state headquarters. Stating that he had ideological differences with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Premier, Mr Singh added that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan is unhappy about his raising the PEB matter.UNI SN-AC SHS RJ BL2332 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-612103.Xml
A final year B.Tech. Student at VIT University here was declared the first prize winner of the KTH Masters Challenge 2016 in the Wireless Systems track at Stockholm in Sweden. A VIT release today said Mohammed Kamal Khwaja has been offered a full scholarship to pursue a Masters programme in Wireless Systems at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden is one of the most prestigious universities in the world and has had a long history of producing successful technocrats, entrepreneurs and researchers. The Wireless Systems programme, which was a part of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering at KTH, was ranked 16th in the world by the QS rankings 2015. The KTH Masters Challenge involved numerous stages and was an exciting journey for me. After undergoing numerous quizzes, essays, and interviews, I was declared one of the top three students in India during December 2015. The positions of the top three prize winners were announced at a prize ceremony in Bangalore. I am currently in Singapore pursuing my final year project at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, says Khwaja. It was a delight to be declared the first prize-winner in the presence of senior professors of KTH and global heads of companies like ABB, Scania and FormulateIP'', he added. ''As a part of the winners prize, I have been awarded a two-year scholarship to pursue masters studies at KTH, Khwaja said. Apart from the scholarship, Khwaja has been offered an internship to work at FormulateIP--an Intellectual Property (IP) and Innovation Management and Consulting Firm co-founded by a KTH alumni'', he said. Speaking about VIT Universitys role in his success, Khwaja says, I have had immense support from my university, family and friends. I have had the opportunity to pursue three research internships abroad and win several national and international laurels for my university.UNI GV VS RSS 1235 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-612352.Xml
State intelligence sleuths seized 250 kilograms of processed Sea Cucumbers, an endangered marine species from a house at Lourdammalpuram locality here today and arrested a person. On a tip off, the Q branch police raided the house and made the seizure, police sources said. The Sea Cucumbers were meant for smuggling to Sri Lanka. Police have arrested Manzoor Alikhan for illegally hoarding the marine species in his house. Sea Cucumbers are in great demand not only as delicacy, but also used for preparing traditional medicines in countries like China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Thailand etc. Poaching and trading of Sea Cucumbers, listed in Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 was prohibited in India, besides several foreign countries. UNI GSM CS 1305 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0414-612374.Xml
With Central Government trying to play the Nationalism card in Parliament in a bid to counter the Opposition attack on the police crackdown on the Jawaharlal Nehru university and the slapping of sedition charges on JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and five others, the Congress is planning to go on an offensive against the Government on the issue.After Human Resource and Development Minister (HRD) Smriti Iranis fiery response in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday to charges against the Government on the JNU and Rohith suicide issues, the Congress launched a strong attack on Thursday and Friday on the HRD Minister in the Rajya Sabha, charging her with making reference to documents that are blasphemous and insulting to religious figures. As Ms Irani tried to readout a pamphlet on celebrating Mahishasura divas in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Deputy leader of the Congress in the House Anand Sharma said that the Minister cannot bring up blasphemous narratives that are baseless and are confined to campuses. The Congress protests in Parliament on the issue led to the adjournment of the House without the Minister being able to complete her speech. Referring to the HRD Ministers speech in Parliament, AICC spokesperson Manish Tewari said,"the HRD minister got caught in the web of her own lies in the Rajya Sabha." In a meeting with party leaders on the weekend, Congress president Sonia Gandhi asked the leaders to fight with BJP and the RSS on the question of nationalism. In this context, activists of the National Students' Union of India (NSUI) last evening protested outside the residence of the Human Resource Development Minister to register their resentment against the blatant lies she spoke in the Parliament on Rohith Vemulas issue and deliberately misled the nation. Addressing the protesters, NSUI president Roji M John said, We condemn the manner in which Ms Irani twisted the facts related to Rohith Vemulas case and gave a highly dramatic speech full of lies.'' The NSUI president said, '' We want to remind the HRD Minister that Parliament is not a TV set where she can make such speeches without having a fact-check. By doing so she has demeaned the dignity of the respected institution. We demand that Ms Irani should come out and apologise to the people of this country."The NSUI protests against Ms Irani came on a day when the BJYM, the youth wing of the BJP, protested outside headquarters of the AICC to protest the support extended by Congress vice-president to JNU's students.Congress said it would move a privilege motion against Ms Irani in Parliament for misleading the House on the suicide of Rohith. Talking to reporters here yesterday, AICC general secretary Mukul Wasnik said, " The statement made by the HRD Minister in Parliament on Rohiths suicide was false and aimed at misleading the nation. The Minister incorrectly stated that no doctor reached Rohith's body till the morning after his suicide and that police reached Hyderabad Central university the morning after his suicide"."The CMO reached Rohith Vemula's room within minutes of hearing about his suicide that evening itself. She then examined the body and informed the Vice Chancellor that Rohith Vemula was no more. Rohith's brother and the CMO have also said police reached that evening itself. Ms Irani's statement is false and meant to mislead the nation. We will bring a Privilege Motion against the HRD Minister for her false statements in Parliament,Mr Wasnik, who addressed the press meet along with AICC spokespersons Kumari Selja and Manish Tewari, said. Asked if the party would bring the privilege motion in the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha, Mr Wasnik said,we will bring the Privilege motion in both the House of Parliament. While the Government has been charging the Congress with supporting anti-national elements in JNU, the Congress has accused the Government of ruthlessly clamping down the voices of dissent among the students . With the Congress planning to go on the offensive, the first half of the session is expected to see a war of words between the Government and the Opposition, thus making the chances of enacting of any legislative business bleak. UNI AR SV 1250 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0421-612237.Xml
The New Development Bank (NDB) has signed an agreement with the government of the People's Republic of China regarding the headquarters of the bank to be located in Shanghai. Wang Yi, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and K.V. Kamath, the President of the Bank signed the binding agreement. The NDB and the Government of the People's Republic of China signed the Headquarters Agreement which governs the establishment of the headquarters of the Bank in P.R.C. and makes provision for the requisite immunities, privileges and other facilities to be accorded to the NDB, a statement said. Along with this, Yang Xiong, the Mayor of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government and Mr Kamath also signed the Memorandum of Understanding between the New Development Bank and the Shanghai Municipal Peoples Government of the Peoples Republic of China concerning the arrangements in relation to Headquarters of the New Development Bank in Shanghai. Mr Kamath said, "Today's agreements related to our Headquarters in Shanghai are a landmark step in our nascent journey as a development bank. With this we are now ready for business and we look forward to building an institution of repute in the course of time." Mr Wang said NDB is primary platform and project for BRICS cooperation and expressed hopes that the Bank would enjoy greater progress as the BRICS cooperation continues to look forward, the statement said. UNI ABI SV 1411 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0388-612414.Xml
Senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member Subramanian Swamy today asked the Centre to move a contempt of court petition against former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram through Attorney General over the Ishrat Jahan case. " If the Centre do not act then I would go to the Supreme Court on the issue dragging the former Home Minister to disclose the real facts behind the criminal act," he said. " They had played with facts before the Supreme Court which is condemnable and attracts severe punishment from the judiciary," he stated. Talking to media here, Mr Swamy said the act of the previous UPA government by concealing the real facts of the Ishrat Jahan case has done a criminal act which can attract an imprisonment for seven years. The former Union minister further said that if Mr Chidambaran during his statement over the issue discloses that he had changed the affadavit filed in the court on the pressure of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, then she should also be made a co-accused in the case. When asked about attack on his cavalcade in Kanpur yesterday by the Congress workers, Mr Swamy said they are frustrated as their leaders, the Gandhi family members, are certain to go jail in the National Herald case." The Congress president's family has lost their cases three times in all the levels, even after engaging eight eminent lawyers against me and no one can save them from going to jail," he stated. " Congress are making hue and cry over intollerance but their act in Kanpur was an open proof of their intollerance," he stated. The BJP leader, however, said that the Uttar Pradesh government should give more security to the people during their visit to the state. UNI MB ADG AS1434 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-612394.Xml
Mr Kejriwal was here to address the AAP workers at Shashtri Nagar office. Hundreds of BJP workers, led by BJP district president Suresh Bhatia and President Municipal Council Naresh Mahajan, gathered in the Gandhi Chowk where from Mr Kejriwal was to proceed to the venue and forcible tried to reach the venue and gherao Mr Kejriwal. When police stopped them, they started shouting anti-Kejriwal slogans .

Police tried to pacify them but when the situation went out of control, they resorted to mild lathi charge in which a worker was injured.

Police also taken into custody about 80 workers who were freed after the visit of Mr Kejriwal.UNI XC ADG NS1412

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-612320.Xml
An amount of Rs 35 crore have been disbursed, so far, as relief from Chief Ministers Relief Fund for the September 2014 flood affected people out of Rs 48.98 crores allocated for this purpose. The flood relief distributed includes Rs 18.53 crores provided to Srinagar district which was worst affected by floods, followed by Rs 8.44 crores distributed in Budgam, Rs 2.87 crores in Anantnag, Rs 1.72 crores in Kulgam, Rs 2.83 crores in Bandipora, Rs 44 lakhs Pulwama, Rs 31 lakhs crores in Shopian and Rs 57 lakhs in Baramulla amounting to Rs 35.71 crores. An official spokesman said here today that a total fund of Rs 13.27 crores is available under the CM relief fund with the administration, while there is further requirement of Rs 120.43 crores. Several lakhs of houses and business establishments were damaged completely or partially in the devastating floods in September 2014.UNI BAS PS AE NS1433 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0331-612263.Xml
An amount of Rs 42 crore would be utilised to connect 50,000 household with Sewerage Treatment Plants (STPs) in summer capital, Srinagar, where ao slaughterhouse is being constructed to take care of animal waste after they are alaughter. Meanwhile, the Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) is also procuring machines under Rs 25 crore plan to remove blockage of drains, which often gets blocked resulting in flood-like situation on roads during rainy days. An official spokesman said here today that Divisional Commissioner Kashmir Dr Asgar Hassan Samoon has called for concerted efforts to make Srinagar city and all the towns of Kashmir clean and green. He said work is underway to tackle solid and liquid waste on scientific lines. Dr Samoon said Kashmir is known for its pristine environment and every effort should be made to preserve it. He said government is committed to connect all households in Srinagar to STP and directed the concerned officials to expedite work on other STPs, including the one proposed at Alochibagh. He asked the officials to tackle the draining of sewerage into Nigeen Lake to preserve its purity. The spokesman said with Rs 42 crore more coming to National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC), around 50,000 households in Srinagar would be connected to STP soon. The Divisional Commissioner directed the SMC to start sweeping and collecting garbage early in the morning to avoid inconvenience to people. He stressed on the need to segregate waste before its disposal. He said a proposed slaughterhouse at Alochibagh would take care of animal waste produced from the slaughter of 500 animals per day. SMC is also procuring machines under Rs 25 crore plan to remove blockage of drains. While expressing concern over the use of polythene in Kashmir, the Divisional Commissioner called for taking innovative ways to tackle the issue. However, despite ban on use of polythene, hundreds of quintals are being imported from outside the valley almost daily. Polythene bags are being used openly in the valley, particularly in the summer capital, Srinagar, where some time launch operation against it for few days before again sleeping over the issue, people alleged. He said that National Green Tribunal has given go-ahead to steps for disposing off the polythene by burning them at Jammu Kashmir cements factory. Meanwhile, the Vice Chairman Lakes of Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) said Rs 258 crore have been spent so far under National Lake Conservation Plan which envisages Rs 298 crore. Further Rs 15 crores have been released under the plan, he said.UNI BAS AE AS1447 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0331-612270.Xml
In a horrific incident of mass killings, a 35-year-old man allegedly slit the throats of 14 members of his family with a sharp knife before committing suicide by hanging himself from ceiling of his house in the Kasarwadavli area of the city in the wee hours today. The deceased were all from one family and included the accused's wife and their two kids, besides his parents and three of his sisters as well as their six children. Of the six kids, two were just few months old, the city police said. The incident has sent a shock wave across the city with the police personnel admitting that they had never seen such a gruesome incident. Talking to newsmen at the civil hospital where the bodies had been rushed, joint commissioner of police, Thane, Asutosh Dhumbre said that the alleged accused, who was well educated and was working at a chartered accountants firm, had called his sisters from Koparkhairne in Navi Mumbai and Mahapoli near Bhiwandi for a'dawat' which he organised frequently at interval of two or three months. Hence, the husbands of the accused's sisters left them after the 'dawat last evening only to pick them up this morning. Before they were taken back home, the incident occurred, he said. Among the victims was a sister of the accused who pretended to be dead and locked herself in a room and later raised an alarm, following which those in the neighbourhood rushed in and rescued her by breaking open the grill of the house. The accused was found hanging from the ceiling holding the murder weapon in his hand, he said. He further said that the police were carrying out further investigation into the incident to find the clues to the murder. "It is too early to state the motive behind the mass killings," he said adding that the blood samples, vicera and the food samples had been sent to the forensic lab.MORE UNI XR ADG NS1535 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-612502.Xml
Senior BJP leader and former Union minister Subramanian Swamy has recommended to the Centre to change the name of Jawaharlal Nehru University after the name of great freedom fighter Subhash Chandra Bose. "How can an education institution could be named on a person who has failed in Cambridge college," he questioned. Mr Swamy talking to reporters here, said that it would be appropriate that the name of the JNU should be re-christianed to Subhash Chandra Bose as there is no university on his name. "Jawaharlal Nehru was a failed student but Subhash Chandra Bose was an ICS passed," he claimed while recommending his demand to the Centre to change the name yesterday. Reiterating his demand that the JNU should be closed for four months for its cleansing from the anti-national elements, he said after all the exams are over, the JNU should be closed and all the hostels should be vacated. "After the four months recess, the authorities should allow only those students who are genuine students and are not staying in the hostels for more than four years," he said. Meanwhile, talking about the minority status of Aligarh Muslim University(AMU), the BJP leader, an eminent lawyer, said that no government institution can be termed as minority under Article 27 of the Constitution. "Only a private institution can be identified as minority. If AMU is ready to take no government subsidy or financial assistance from the Centre then,they can easily get the status of minority institution from the court," he stated. He further added that the government cannot identify any institution as only for Muslims or Hindus as per the Constitution.UNI MB ADG NS1455 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-612433.Xml
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a three-nation tour from March 30 during which he will visit Washington to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, where his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif is also scheduled to be among those present.Starting his visit with Belgium on March 30 for India-EU Summit, Mr Modi will travel to Washington for NSS from March 31 before his two-day bilateral visit from April 2 to Saudi Arabia, one of the most powerful Arab countries, where he will hold talks with the Saudi leadership on key regional and bilateral issues, including trade and energy.His visit, which comes nearly six years after last Prime Ministerial visit to Riyadh, assumes significance given the current regional situation and strained ties between SA and Iran, another strategically important country for India.Apart from being India's largest supplier of crude oil, accounting for almost one fifth of its need, it is also India's fourth largest trading partner. Saudi Arabia has the largest Indian diaspora.In Belgium, the Prime Minister will be attending the India-EU Summit after a gap of four years. The last Summit had taken place in 2012.India-EU ties witnessed some strain after the 28-member bloc had not responded to India's proposal for a brief visit by Mr Modi to Brussels, the EU headquarters, during his trip to France, Germany and Canada in April last year. This had prompted New Delhi to give a cold shoulder to the EU's efforts to finalise Mr Modi's visit last November when he travelled to the UK.Efforts were also on to work out issues and announce resumption of stalled India-EU free trade talks during the Premier's visit.UNI SY AE 1618 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0093-612568.Xml
BJP leader Subramanian Swamy today announced that the court's decision on the vexed Ramjanambhoomi issue is expected very soon as now Muslim leaders have also accepted the proposal for a day-to-day hearing. " I have personally met Asaduddin Owaisi, Mohammad Sahabuddin and senior leaders of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board(AIMPLB) and they all have accepted my proposal for supporting day-to-day hearing in the Ayodhya case for an early judgement by the Supreme Court," he told. Reporters after addressing the first ever conference of the Virat Hindustan Sangam, Uttar Pradesh unit yesterday. He said was confident that the judiciary would also give its judgement in favour of the majority community like the Allahabad High Court for paving way for a grand temple at Ayodhya. The former Union minister in his address to the members of the Sangam, commented that he will also meet Samajwadi party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav soon over the Ayodhya issue." Mulayam Singh ji had told me earlier that people term him as Mulla Mulayam but he is a true Hindu and recites Hamuna Chalisa daily," he disclosed and was confident that UP government will also support the court ruling. He, however, stated that in no way the Hindus would accept any mosque in the Ram Janambhoomi but they are ready for it across Saryu river. Recently, the Supreme Court had accepted the proposal of Mr Swamy to allow him to argue in the Ram Janambhoomi case. " The Narsimha Rao government in the past has given an affadavit in the court that they will hand over the Ram Janambhoomi to Hindus for Ram temple if it is proved that there was a temple at the place.Now time has come that Hindus should get their rights," he said claiming that after Ayodhya, the demand for Kashi and Mathura would be raised but there would be no agitation for it. " Hindus have left 40,000 temples which were razed and mosques were built but would leave their demand in these three temples of Ayodhya, Kashi and Mathura which should be free from mosques," he stated. Mr Swamy said due to his effort the Ram Setu was saved from demolition and now there is a proposal to construct a bridge over the setu so that Ram Devotees can go to Srilanka on foot from Rameshwaram to have a darshan of Ashok Vatika and other places related with Lord Ram. Talking about his new outfit Virat Hindustan Sangam, he clarified that it is like RSS and has full coordination with it. The BJP leader has floated a new outfit called as Virat Hindustan Sangam which has four ideologies which includes rediscover the identity of an Indian, Project the correct Indian History, Promote Sanskrit as a link language, Ram Rajya as a model for good governance and Intergal Hinduism as an economic philosophy of the country.UNI MB AE AS1637 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-612570.Xml
A journalist and his wife were killed along with their driver in a car accident on Pilibhit-Tanakpur highway under New Area police station near the Uttar Pradesh-Uttarakhand border.However in the accident, the 18-year-old daughter Twinkle was critically injured here last night and was admitted to a private hospital here. Police sources here today said Rakesh Chandra Gupta(45) along with his wife Anita(42) and daughter were returning to Sitarganj after attending a marriage when their car dashed against a stationary truck.In the incident along with the couple ,the driver Ajay Pal (28) was also killed.The deceased was a reporter of a daily hindi newspaper Uttar Ujjala. UNI MB PY BD1634 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0196-612586.Xml
Reacting to the controversy surrounding the suicide, Mr Kumar said it had become crystal clear that Ms Irani had distorted facts after scholar`s mother Radhika Devi described the Union Ministers statement in Parliament as bundle of lies on the suicide of her son.

The Chief Minister said Ms Irani had taken recourse to lies to defend the Narendra Modi government over the issue.

Earlier, RJD chief Lalu Prasad had also accused her of speaking lies blatantly on Vemula suicide.UNI DH-IS AKM PY AS1627

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0213-612549.Xml
Police said the accident occurred when the speeding tanker moweddown Gunashekhar (36), Thammaiah (35) and Lokesh (28) hailing fromthe city. They were on a pilgrimage by foot to Dharmasthala, about400 km from the city. The incident occurred in the wee hours of today.

The pilgrims were part of over 70 devotees who has started theirmarch from Mariyamma Temple in Kamalanagar in the city two days ago.They were supposed to reach Dharmasthala before Shivaratri festivalnext month.

One more person was also seriously injured in the incident andwas shifted to a hospital in the city, police said.UNI RS CS 1714

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-612698.Xml
Ruling Congress party is likely to facesevere attacks from opposition BJP and JD(S) on host of issues liketardy implementation of drought relief works and the handling of thenewest inter-state water dispute concerning to Kalasa Banduri canalproject in the six-day Karnataka Legislature session commencing here tomorrow. Besides this, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's acquisition ofcostly diamond studded Hublot watch which has taken strange twistsand turns in the recent days will be added issue of curiosity forthe political observers. Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Siddaramaiah's arch rival HD Kumaraswamy has already dropped enough indications that a toughand dirty battle is around the corner. The JD(S) leader has hinted that the watch worn by the ChiefMinister could be a stolen property of a rich West Asia returnedbusinessman in the city and has sought a CBI inquiry into the issue. Till such time the Chief Minister comes out clean on the issue, heshould quit the post, Mr Kumaraswamy demanded. Mr Siddaramaiah has dismissed the allegations as 'false andbaseless' and clarified that it was a gift handed over by an 'oldfriend' and Gulf based doctor who was ready to produce documents ofpurchase. He has also stated that he would hand over the watch tothe state treasury. Governor Vajubhai R Vala will address the Joint houses ofof Karnataka Legislature on the opening day as this happensto be the first session in 2016. Opposition parties including BJP and JD(S) have vowed to attackthe Siddaramaiah government by raising uncomfortable issues notwithstanding the ruling party emerging as the number one party inthe recently concluded Zilla Panchayat and Taluk Panchayat polls. The Government will be put to great embarassment if the twoopposition parties were to join hands in the 11 undecided ZPs. MORE UNI MSP-RS MCN cs 1753 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-612769.Xml
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Communist Party of India (Maoist) guerrillas Mutur Yadav alias Munu Yadav, a sub-zonal commander, and area commander Sanjay Paswan surrendered at a function at the district headquarters in Chatra in the presence of Special Task Force Inspector General of Police Praveen Kumar and other senior police officials.

The surrendered Maoists were given Rs.50,000 each as per the surrender policy of the state police.

Mutur Yadav, a resident of Bigha village in Chatra district, joined the CPI-Maoist in 1998. Besides 15 cases registered against him in Chatra district, he also faces several criminal cases in Nawada and Auranagbad districts of Bihar.

Sanjay Paswan of Lipda village in Pratappur in Chatra district, joined the Maoists in 2008. More than half a dozen cases are registered against him at Huntergunj and Pratappur police stations in the district.

--Indo-Asian News Service ns/tsb/dg

( 162 Words)

2016-02-28-18:41:32 (IANS)
Indian and Chinese officials today discussed strengthening of their respective relations with super powers of the world, connectivity in Asia, terrorism and other challenges facing the world, sources said.Joint Secretary in the External Affairs department, Santosh Jha and Director General of the External Affairs Ministry of China, Cheng Yanjuan led the delegations of their respective countries in the joint India-China dialogue. Mr Jha hosted a lunch for the visiting delegation.Both the sides discussed wide-ranging issues including ties with the advanced countries of the world, United Nations, World Bank, issues of world organisation, terrorism and net connectivity in Asia, among others. According to the sources, there has been an increased understanding between the officials of the two countries through this composite dialogue.UNI SY RJ RP1851 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0093-612862.Xml
Jet Airways, is set to further expand its operations between India and Oman with the launch of a new daily flight between Delhi and Muscat in Oman from next month. The addition of the new flight from Delhi to Muscat will further strengthen the airlines growing international network and enhance flight connectivity from Northern India, SAARC and ASEAN and to the Gulf region, a company release here today said. The Jet Airways will launch the new daily flight from March 21, providing greater choice for guests travelling from India to Oman. India and Oman are linked by historical maritime trade linkages and the important role of the Indian expatriate community in the development of Oman. Furthermore, Oman offers an attractive destination for travel and tourism. The connectivity offered by the new service will provide greater opportunity for expansion of business and tourism traffic between the two countries. With the launch of the new flight, Jet Airways will operate total four daily flights between India and Muscat. This includes flights from Mumbai, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. Gaurang Shetty, senior vice-president (Commercial) of the airline, said, "It is indeed a proud moment for us at Jet Airways to launch our maiden international flight between Delhi and Muscat. This is a significant milestone for enhancing the strong ties between India and the Sultanate of Oman. With the launch of thisflight, Jet Airways guests from Northern India, SAARC and ASEAN regions will have the option of travelling to Oman via Delhi." The airline will deploy a Boeing 737-800 aircraft on these new services, offering the passengers of Premiere and Economy class an in-flight product that is among the best in its class, warm service, as well as delectable cuisine and convenient schedules, the release added.UNI NP SS PY BL1907 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-612847.Xml
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Saudi Arabia in the first week of April, as part of his three-nation tour from March 30, during which he will also visit Washington to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, and Belgium for India-EU Summit. Mr Modis meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, who will also be in Washington to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, is not ruled out as the two leaders have recently met on two occasions in informal settings- once in Paris and second time in Lahore. However, there is so far no official confirmation from either side. The recent peace initiatives of Mr Modi regarding Pakistan recently suffered a setback, when the terrorists, who came from across the border, attacked the Pathankot airbase, leading to the postponement of the India-Pakistan Foreign Secretary level talks, which were scheduled to be held in the middle of the last month. If the Prime Minister meets Mr Sharif in the US, it will be his first meeting after his surprise Lahore visit. The Prime Minister will be going to Saudi Arabia six years after the last prime ministerial visit. It is learnt that Mr Modi will start his visit with Belgium on March 30 for India-EU Summit, after which he will travel to Washington for NSS from March 31, before his two-day bilateral visit from April 2 to Saudi Arabia. The Prime Minister's visit to Riyadh assumes significance as it is taking place at the time of political and security turmoil in the region, one of the most worrying aspect of which was the Saudi Arabia's strained relations with Iran. Saudi Arabia, which has the largest Indian diaspora, is India's largest supplier of crude oil, accounting for almost one fifth of its need. Besides, the country is also India's fourth largest trading partner. In Belgium, the Prime Minister will be attending the India-EU Summit after a gap of four years. The last Summit had taken place in 2012. According to sources, resumption of the stalled India-EU free trade talks during Mr Modi's visit might be announced as hectic efforts were on to sort out issues. UNI SY-NAZ RJ 2032 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0091-613031.Xml
A 65-year-old French woman was found dead under mysterious circumstances at a resort in the vicinity of Kanha National Park today, police said. The woman, identified as Michel, was staying in Tuli Resort along with her husband for the past two days. The womans husband informed the death of his wife to the Resort management this morning. Police rushed to the spot and sent the body for post-mortem. Police said the woman was sick and suspected that she might have died due to overdose of liquor. However, the autopsy report would reveal the actual reason behind the death of the foreign woman, police added.UNI BAG-BDG SHS AE AN1949 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-612877.Xml
The police today said Shyama Sikaka of Dangamati village and Ludu Wadeka of Khamesi, both Dongaria Kandhi were abducted by the Maoists

It was suspected that the Maoists have abducted the two tribals belonging to the primitive tribal group thinking them as police informers.

The incident came a day after the BSF and the District voluntary Force launched a massive combing operation in Diongamatia village inside the Niyamgiri forest after an intelligence input that several Maoists are hiding at a Maoist camp inside the forest.

During an encounter which lasted for about two hours, one Maoist was killed and huge cache of arms and ammunition seized from the camp deserted by the Maoists following a fierce encounter with the security forces.

Sources said the Maoists who fled from the spot in the face of a heavy encounter with the police, later arrived in the village and abducted the two tribals branding them as police informers.

The security forces have launched an extensive combing operation in the area soon after the incident to nab the Maoists.UNI DP BM SHS AE AN1953

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The Haryana Police on Sunday registered a case of gang rape after a woman from Delhi's Narela area filed a complaint, even as a senior police officer said she could not confirm if the incident was linked to alleged Murthal gang rapes. The woman called up the helpline of the all-women Special Investigation Team set up to investigate the alleged gang rape of at least 10 women commuters in Murthal in Haryana's Sonepat district last Monday (February 22) during the pro-reservation Jat stir. "I cannot say if this incident is linked to the alleged Murthal gang rapes. We are investigating. I am going to Delhi to record her statement," SIT head and Deputy Inspector General of Police Rajshree Singh told media persons. She said seven people have been booked in the gang rape case. Police sources said the complainant said she could identify all seven accused, including her brother-in-law, who committed the crime on February 22-23 night. "She complained that she was travelling from Haridwar when her bus broke down near Murthal. She said she boarded a van (taxi) in which other people, including women, were also travelling. However, the van was stopped by some people, who pulled them out and gang raped her in the fields," Rajshree Singh said, adding that investigations into the complaint had begun. Police sources said a personal dispute in the case could not be ruled out. The Haryana government on Friday set up an all-women inquiry committee to probe the alleged gang rapes on women who were commuting on the National Highway-1 early Monday. The inquiry committee, headed by DIG Rajshree Singh and comprising two women Deputy Superintendents of Police Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur, on Saturday visited Hasanpur village near Murthal, where the alleged assault took place. The Haryana government and police earlier maintained that no gang rapes occurred near Murthal. --Indo-Asian News Service js/tsb/dg ( 326 Words) 2016-02-28-20:51:32 (IANS)
The Shiromani Akali Dal today lambasted Delhi CM and Aam Admi Party Convener Arvind Kejriwal for trying to allure Punjabis with fake promises and said the residents of Delhi are crying, saying Delhi residents were crying for basic amenities whereas the AAP leader was promising the moon to Punjabis. In a statement released here today, the Secretary General SAD and Member Rajya Sabha S. Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa said it was not surprising that Arvind Kejriwal was making tall promise to the people of Punjab in his present tour as people of the country were already aware that this man had nothing to offer except for making tall promises. He said the AAP convener was in the habit of levelling false allegations against his opponents, Lashing out at Kejriwal for making false, baseless and intriguing promise of ending the drug menace in Punjab within two months of AAP coming to power, S Dhindsa said the AAP government had failed to contain the drug problem in Delhi. Today the national capital has become a main source of drug supply throughout the country. He said if Kejriwal was really concerned with the drug problem of the countrymen then he should seriously work in Delhi to break the network of drug suppliers and help people get rid of the problem. S Dhindsa further said the one point agenda of the AAP leader was to grab power by misleading Punjabis. He said before labelling Punjabis with various tags he should first read history of Punjabis who were major contributors in the freedom struggle of the country and Punjab. He politics is a tool to serve the people and help them to live a peaceful, prosperous and good life in society but Mr Kejrwal was using politics as a tool for self promotion which was shameful.UNI XC SHS RJ AN2152 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-613041.Xml
In a statement here today, Ms Badal said the railway ministry has given nod to railway over bridge (ROB) on Bhai Bakhtaur village railway crossing on Mansa road on the Delhi-Bathinda railway track. This ROB over the Bhawanigarh-Bhikhi-Kotshamir road will bring the much needed respite fot commuters on this stretch and add to the feather of best infrastructure in state.

She said besides the ROB, railway ministry has also approved 13 subways for the level crossings in Bathinda district.

Ms Badal said the two railway crossings located on Shergarh-Bathinda road will get a subway. Unmanned railway crossing on Katar Singh Wala Bathinda cantonment road , two on Maur-Maiserkhana road and Kotfatta Katar Singh Wala road too will have subway. Two subways will also come up on Sirsa bypass, she added.

Apart from Bathinda, district Mansa too has got subways on major railway crossings. All the five railway crossings near Ahmedpur village on Budhlada-Narinderpura Road in district Mansa will have subways.UNI XC DB SHS RJ AN2154

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A Delhi woman on Sunday lodged a complaint of gang-rape against her brother-in-law and six others at the Murthal police station in Haryana . Following the complaint, the Haryana Police registered an FIR against the seven persons, however, no arrest has been made so far. "I received a call around 11 a.m. yesterday from a woman, who wanted to meet me. When she arrived at the Murthal Police Station, she stated that she was gang-raped on the intervening night of 22-23 February," Deputy Inspector General (DIG), Haryana Police, Rajshree Singh said. "Prima facie it seems to be a family dispute, as she has mentioned her brother-in-law's name in the FIR. She recorded her statement today, we have registered an FIR. This is a matter of investigation now. Except for this lady, nobody has come forward. This is a matter of probe, the woman has identified seven people, including his brother- in- law R. Singh," she added. Earlier, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had taken suo moto cognisance of the report amidst complete denial of the incident by police and local bureaucrats. On Friday, the Haryana Government had set up a committee consisting of three women officers, including a DIG, for receiving any complaint of rape in Murthal near Sonepat during the Jat stir. (ANI)
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"On behalf of Pradesh Congress Committee, I am inviting all the democratic and secular forces in Bengal to join together in order to preserve democratic values and to establish the rule of law in West Bengal," Pradesh Congress Committee chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said in a press release.

Earlier, Chowdhury said the Congress and the Left parties in poll-bound West Bengal already have an alliance at the lower level and the party high command is not blind to the state unit's views in favour of a tie-up to take on ruling Trinamool Congress.

State units of the Congress and also CPI(M) have pitched for an alliance.

Congress had contested the last Assembly polls in alliance with Trinamool Congress which led to the ouster of CPI (M)-led Left Front from power after over three decades of rule.

Chowdhury, who was the Minister of State for Railways, dismissed the NDA Government claims that the provisions in the railway budget 2016-17 would help development of eastern India including West Bengal. (ANI)
The ruling Samajwadi Party of Uttar Pradesh today accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of misleading the farmers by repeating the same old false promises, as he had made during the 2014 general elections. The reaction came on Mr Modi's farmer rally in Bareilly. SP Spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury said the Prime Minister will never succeed in his mission of taking the farmers for a ride as they were aware of the credentials of all political leaders of the state. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has strengthened the agriculture economy of the state by following the path shown by former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh and former UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mr Chowdhury claimed.Questioning the pro farmer credentials of the Prime Minister, he wondered why Mr Modi has suddenly developed sympathy for the peasants. Terming the Prime Minister's concern for the ryots as shedding 'crocodile tears,' the ruling party Spokesman said that Mr Modi, who all his life has never shown any inclination towards agriculture and peasants, has suddenly discovered virtues in agriculture and was visiting the state.''The impact of change in the weather is also visible on politics as the persons who all his life never cared for the farmers, have overnight developed sympathy for the rural sector He said the sympathy of the BJP-led Central government was conspicuous by its absence, when the UP ryots suffered huge losses in March last year due to the unseasonal rain. Despite the repeated reminders by the Chief Minister, the Centre did not sanction a penny for compensating the peasants for the huge loss to their standing crops, Mr Chowdhary alleged, adding that the Union government agreed to provide some financial assistance, even as the state government paid twice the amount of the loss suffered by the farmers.The SP leader said the state government by declaring the next financial year 2016-17 as the 'year of farmers,' has demonstrated its priority. He said the state government, along with the special package for the drought-hit Bundelkhand region, has also funded the projects for the construction of check dams and ponds. Of the total budget, the state government has allocated 80 per cent for agriculture. Besides, it has waived the loan up to Rs 50,000 for farmers, provided free irrigation and accidental insurance of Rs five lakh, the ruling party leader added.He claimed that Mr Akhilesh, himself being from the family of farmers, is fully aware of the problems of the ryots and is also sensitive towards them. Mr Chowdhary said the people of the state won't be swayed by the gimmicks of opposition parties and they would remain with the SP.UNI MB RJ 2300 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0329-613115.Xml
Haryana police today registered an FIR at Woman police station in Murthal on a complaint filed by a Delhi woman, who alleged that she was gangraped in Murthal during the Jat agitation. In her complaint, the survivor alleged that she was gangraped by her bother-in-law and six others on the intervening night of February 22-23, when she was on her way back to Delhi from Haridwar. The woman said the accused took her in a van and committed the crime.The survivor claimed to have known all the accused. However, police apprehends the cause of crime as a family dispute, but have initiated investigations. Meanwhile, three eyewitnesses in the alleged Murthal mass gangrape case today refused to confirm any rape or assault on women. Eyewitness truck drivers Niranjan Singh, Yadavender Singh and Sukhvinder Singh told the police before a judicial magistrate that they only saw the protestors torching the vehicles and had not seen any rape or molestation incident during the riots. Earlier, the truck drivers had claimed that they saw a mob dragging women with torn clothes into fields along the National Highway-1 on February 22. Meanwhile, in his report sent to DGP YP Singhal on February 26, Sonipat Superintendent of Police Abhishek Gang said that after the media reports, a police team visited the crime site on February 24 and 25 to investigate the matter. According to local residents, he said no incident of either rape or molestation took place in Murthal during the Jat agitation. Haryana government had set up a three-member team, headed by DIG Rajshree on Friday, to probe media reports, saying that women were dragged out and raped by the protesters near Murthal on the National Highway 1. The team started its investigation in the case on Satuday and the DIG visited the crime site, where women clothing were found strewn along the National Highway in Murthal. The team collected samples from the spot. Police also questioned the residents of nearby villages about the crime.Addressing a news conference here today, Deputy Inspector General of Haryana Police (DIG) Rajshree Singh said, ''We have received a complaint from a woman that while she was travelling in a car, some of the protestors demonstrating on the night of February 22 and February 23 during the Jat agitation, came and broke the windows of the car.''There were other ladies in the car too, but they fled soon after the attack. She was the only person left behind, along with her 12-year-old daughter and were taken by these men to an isolated place in a building, where they gangraped her,'' she added.The survivor told the police that she was accompanied by her 12-year-old daughter, who was let off unharmed, when pulled out of the car by seven men, including a relative.Ms Singh said the survivor was a resident of Narela and some other survivors may also come forward with their complaint. The woman has also alleged that the culprits were known to her.Police have registered an FIR against seven people under various Sections of the Indian Penal Code at Mahila Police Thana in Murthal and further investigation was on.UNI DB-SM RJ 2220 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-613038.Xml
A public prosecutor said on Saturday that the suspect was summoned by the judge of the Court of Akbou in the province of Bejaia, Xinhua news agency reported.

The man was suspected of belonging to the terrorist group involved in the Paris bombing, the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor, however, declined to provide more details, including the identity of the suspect, until the end of the investigation.

--Indo-Asian News Service pgh/

( 98 Words)

2016-02-28-04:09:33 (IANS)
Fresh from an endorsement by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump accelerated his political slug fest with opponent Marco Rubio on Saturday just days before the delegate-rich Super Tuesday contests.With dueling appearances in Arkansas and Georgia, the billionaire businessman and US senator from Florida continued an onslaught of personal insults that began on a debate stage on Thursday and looks likely to continue for months."The majority of Republican voters do not want Donald Trump to be our nominee, and ... they are going to support whoever is left standing that is fighting against him to ensure that we do not nominate a con artist," Rubio told reporters in Georgia.Trump, speaking in front of his private plane in Arkansas, along with Christie, whose endorsement on Friday shocked Republican leaders anxious about his likelihood of winning the nomination, belittled Rubio and accused him of being fresh."I watched this lightweight Rubio, total lightweight, little mouth on him, 'bing, bing, bing' ... and his new attack is he calls me a con artist," Trump said. "The last thing I am is a con man."Their back and forth came while voters went to the polls in South Carolina's Democratic presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, taking place a week after South Carolina's Republican primary.Former Secretary of State Clinton is expected to beat Sanders handily there. The state's large African-American population is expected to favor her over Sanders, a US senator from Vermont.A big win would give Clinton added momentum ahead of Tuesday, when roughly a dozen US states make their choices for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations.ESTABLISHMENT WORRIES, CRUZ PREDICTS DOOMWith hundreds of delegates at stake in Tuesday's contests, the day could be a critical turning point for candidates in both parties.Nominations in both parties are contingent on winning a majority of the votes by the delegates sent to the party conventions in July.The Tuesday contests could upend the Republican race further if underperforming candidates drop out. Ted Cruz, the US senator from Texas who won the Iowa nominating contest, must do well in his home state on Tuesday to regain momentum. Texas will send 155 delegates to the Republican National Convention, more than 10 percent of the 1,237 delegate votes needed for the party's nomination.Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is behind in the polls, said his state's contest on March 15 would determine whether he stays in the race.With the high-profile exception of Christie, many "establishment" Republicans have coalesced around Rubio in the hope of stopping Trump from gaining their party's mantle in the general election.Rubio stopped short of calling on his fellow candidates to drop out on Saturday."When voters have a clear choice between two people, that's when Donald Trump starts to lose, so the sooner that happens, the better off we're going to be as a party," he said.Rubio, who has criticized Trump for resisting releasing his tax returns, had not released his own by Saturday afternoon. He said Trump did not want his to be made public because they might reveal him to be less wealthy than believed."I think part of it is he's not as rich as he says he is," Rubio said.At a campaign rally in Georgia, Cruz said a Trump victory would doom the party's chances of winning the White House."If we nominate Donald, we end up electing Hillary as president," he said. REUTERS JW PR0523 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-612161.Xml
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani earned an emphatic vote of confidence and reformist partners secured surprise gains in parliament in early results from elections that could accelerate the Islamic Republic's emergence from years of isolation.While gains by moderates and reformists in Friday's polls were most evident in the capital, Tehran, the sheer scale of the advances there suggests a legislature more friendly to the pragmatist Rouhani has emerged as a distinct possibility.A loosening of control by the anti-Western hardliners who currently dominate the 290-seat parliament could strengthen his hand to open Iran further to foreign trade and investment following last year's breakthrough nuclear deal."The people showed their power once again and gave more credibility and strength to their elected government," Rouhani said, adding he would work with anyone who won election to build a future for the industrialised, oil-exporting country.The polls were seen by analysts as a potential turning point for Iran, where nearly 60 percent of its 80 million population is under 30 and eager to engage with the world following the lifting of most sanctions.Millions crowded polling stations on Friday to vote for parliament and the Assembly of Experts, which selects the country's highest authority, the supreme leader. Both bodies have been in the hands of hardliners for years.Supporters of Rouhani, who promoted the nuclear deal, were pitted against hardliners close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who are wary of detente with Western countries.ACUMENRouhani and key ally and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were leading the race for the Assembly of Experts with most votes counted, and appeared to be sure of winning seats, early results released on Saturday showed.Until now, the contest for this seat of clerical power was an unremarkable event, but not this time. Because of Khamenei's health and age, 76, the new assembly members who serve eight-year terms are likely to choose his successor. The next leader could well be among those elected this week.Rafsanjani is among the founders of the Islamic Republic and was its president from 1989-1997. Nearly always at the centre of Iran's intricate webs of power, the arch-fixer is famous for his pragmatism and political acumen.Two prominent hardliners were on course to be elected with lesser scores in the experts assembly race: Ahmad Jannati was in 11th place and the assembly's current chairman, Mohammad Yazdi, was 15th. Arch-conservative Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi appeared unlikely to win a seat, according to partial results.The results were initially announced as final in an official statement. A later statement said the results were partial and a final tally would be announced in due course.INFLUENCEA Reuters tally, based on official results published so far, suggested the pro-Rouhani camp and allied independents were leading in the parliamentary vote. Some moderate conservatives, including current speaker Ali Larijani, support Rouhani.A breakdown of the results had independents on 44, reformists on 79, and hardliners on 106, the tally showed. A number of seats will be decided in run-offs in late April because no candidate won the required 25 percent of votes cast. Eight of the initial winners were women.Analyst say the large number of independents may be significant as they could cooperate across ideological lines with Rouhani's government.Whatever the outcome, Iran's political system places much power in the hands of the conservative Islamic establishment including the Guardian Council, which vets all laws passed by parliament.REUTERS JW PR0530 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0364-612163.Xml
Homestead National Monument of America staff, park volunteers and National Parks Service staff met throughout last week to discuss future plans for the park.

Homestead Superintendent Mark Engler led a public meeting at the Homestead Education Center on Thursday to discuss priorities and get feedback from community members on what should be included in the parks five to seven year plan.

We were talking about, where are we going to go with our education program, interpretive programs, public outreach, working on social media over the next five to seven years, Engler said. He said what ends up in the plan might actually guide the parks programs for the next decade or more.

Engler said two priority projects staff identified were potentially replacing one of the exhibits at the Homesteads Heritage Center and reevaluating how they should use the Freeman School, a restored one-room school house at the northwest corner of the park.

The one exhibit we talked about removing was Confronting Reality. Were not really sure how effective that exhibit is, Engler said. If we do move in that direction, we want to move forward with exhibit presentation that, hopefully, will better connect people to the story (of homesteading) and allow people to engage in the conversation.

That desire to engage citizens also drives proposals rethinking how visitors can experience the Freeman School, which has potential to see the biggest change over the next decade.

Engler suggested that the historic furnishings  which model how the school looked during the 1870s  could be reduced, in favor of more exhibits and new technology. In particular, Engler said he is intrigued by the idea of a presentation incorporating virtual reality.

He described how the presentation would work: When you go to the school, you would put on a headset, youd put on glasses, and you would get an immersive experience where you would come face-to-face with a teacher from the 1800s. And you could learn about what they were doing in their school, you could learn about how the kids behaved, you could learn about the books they were using.

I think from experiences like that ... people would recognize that maybe things dont change as much as we think they change.

Engaging a digital generation

But even if people arent much different than 140 years ago, technology certainly is. Much of the discussion at Thursdays meeting revolved around how technology could be used to engage the next generation of Homestead visitors.

Something like virtual reality is more idea than proposal right now, but there are other tools in the realm of digital and Web-based technology the Homestead currently employs and could expand.

We know that in order for us to attract the millennials, the future people who are going to be visiting this monument, we need to be communicating to them through social media, because thats the tool being used right now, Engler said.

In addition, Homestead is partnering with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the National Archives and Records Administration, and several genealogy websites to digitize 30 million historical documents such as birth certificates, citizenship records and land claims, and make them available through the Internet.

Andrea Bornemeier, Homesteads chief of interpretation and resource management, said the homesteading records that have been digitized are accessible using computers at the monument and via several websites, including that of the Bureau of Land Management General Land Office.

Engler said there is a lot that can be done to expand on those records.

We can use GPS systems to show where these people actually homesteaded and actually lived, he said. So in addition to seeing the record, (people) will be able to actually go to those coordinates on a bigger map and see ... roughly where they lived.

Several of the meetings attendees also discussed the idea of a homesteading video game, in which a players objective would be to gather resources, cultivate crops, survive and thrive as homesteaders did.

The suggestion has its merits. Decades of school children grew up playing versions of The Oregon Trail, a popular educational computer game that simulates the struggles of pioneers traveling in covered wagons to settle the West.

Engler agreed that a video game could be a great way to educate young audiences. He said this isnt the first time the idea has been suggested, and that a barrier in the past is the sheer cost of producing such a game  $100,000, according to one estimate Engler said he received.

One meeting participant suggested developing a game app for mobile devices, considering so many young people have access to smartphones and tablet devices. Mobile apps tend to be less expensive than full-fledged computer games.

Homestead Heritage Parkway

Laureen Riedesel, former president of the Friends of Homestead group that supports Homestead, asked about the status of the Homestead Heritage Parkway.

The parkway is a portion State Highway 4 near Beatrice designated by an agreement between the National Parks Service and the Nebraska Department of Roads. It is meant to include educational displays about agriculture, past and present, along the stretch of highway.

Riedesel asked if action on the parkway is possible or if the effort is somehow stuck in a legislative process.

Engler replied that Homestead has been sanctioned for projects related to the parkway, but hasnt done much. The big thing that has to happen with that is we need to find partners to help us, Engler explained. We cant own the land on that parkway  it has to be the state or the county or the city, or other entities.

Making the plan

Based on discussions last week and input at Thursdays meeting, Homestead staff will draft a five to seven year plan and develop an associated funding strategy, Engler said. That can include working with private foundations and public entities to raise funds for projects going forward.

Engler estimated creating the plan will take another month or more, and that Homestead staff welcomes public input during that time.

Other topics discussed for the plan were how Homestead exhibits could better accommodate and be more interactive for sensory-impaired visitors, how staff and volunteers can be engaged with the public through community events and school programs, and whether Homestead might change its official name to be less confusing.

Riedesel said after the Heritage Center was built more than a decade ago, she expected a push for Homestead to officially be renamed as a park, instead of a monument, to better reflect what it has to offer.

Engler acknowledged that being called a monument leads some first-time visitors to think theyre coming to see just a plaque on a rock, not expecting to find a whole park. He said pursuing a name change can be included in the five to seven year plan if the various stakeholders within the community want it to be so.

Homestead National Monument of America was established in 1936 on the land of Daniel Freeman, widely considered to be the first person to file a claim for free land under the Homestead Act of 1862. The monument commemorates the lives, cultures, and hardships overcome by pioneers who settled and cultivated federal territory in the West.
Stockholm (AFP) - Sweden on Sunday marked the 30th anniversary of the assassination of prime minister Olof Palme, gunned down in a murder that sent shockwaves through the country and which remains an enigma despite thousands of leads.

"It's still an open wound," current Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told reporters after paying tribute to his Social Democratic predecessor, laying a wreath of red roses in a solemn ceremony at a Stockholm cemetery just a stone's throw from the murder scene.

Palme was killed on February 28, 1986, after leaving a Stockholm cinema with his wife Lisbet to walk home alone, having dismissed his bodyguards for the evening.

An unidentified attacker approached the couple and shot Palme in the back, leaving the 59-year-old dying in a pool of blood on the sidewalk.

The gunman ran off, taking with him the murder weapon, a .357 Magnum revolver which has never been recovered.

The murder of their charismatic leader sent Swedes into shock, and their tranquil and open society is said to have "lost its innocence" that day.

- Police criticised -

The case has never been solved, and the investigation continues: more than 10,000 people have been questioned, 134 people have claimed responsibility, and the case files take up 250 meters of shelf space.

Christer Pettersson, a petty criminal and drug addict, was convicted of the crime in July 1989 after Lisbet identified him in a widely-criticised line-up.

But he was freed months later by an appeals court which dismissed Lisbet's testimony on a technicality. He died in 2004.

Police were heavily criticised for botching the early stages of the investigation, failing to cordon off the scene properly and allowing onlookers to walk around and destroy potential forensic evidence.

Over the years, investigators have suspected Turkey's Kurdish rebel group the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the Swedish military and police, and the South African secret service among others.

Story continues

Chief investigator Kerstin Skarp said nonetheless last week she remained "optimistic" the case would be solved one day.

Lofven said Sunday he thought the murderer had already been caught.

"We have a witness, Lisbet Palme, who said it was Christer Pettersson, and I believe that."

A left-wing activist in his youth, Palme was a controversial figure at home.

He was known as a great orator, but was disliked by some for his perceived arrogance, especially among conservatives who saw the wealthy-born Palme as a class traitor.

He infuriated Washington with his vocal opposition to the US war in Vietnam. He backed communist governments in Cuba and Nicaragua, and spoke out against apartheid and nuclear power.

At home, he laid the foundation for Sweden's modern-day gender equality, encouraging women into the workforce by overseeing the abolition of joint spousal tax declarations, the introduction of parental leave pay and universal daycare, and the right to free abortion.
Student Debt

This month, seven deputy US Marshals arrested Paul Aker in Houston, Texas, after coming to his home to collect on a federal student loan from nearly 30 years ago.

The arrest was over a $1,500 student loan he received in 1987, Aker said. He says he received no certified mail or notices about the outstanding debt in the past 29 years.

For its part, the US Marshals claim Aker told two deputies "he had a gun" when they showed up to arrest him after he failed to appear at at a court hearing related to his debt.

Aker's assertion that he was armed spurred US Marshals to call for backup, the US Marshals said in a statement.

Despite the marshals' statement, the story of Aker's arrest went viral  drawing shock and outrage  after he went on Fox to talk about it.

His arrest renewed interest in information about when the government has recourse to pursue legal action against your unpaid student loans.

Business Insider spoke with Joshua Cohen, a lawyer specializing in student-loan debt, to understand the consequences borrowers may face when they default on student loans.

Paul Aker

Cohen first explained that borrowers cannot simply be arrested for not paying their loans.

"Aker wasn't arrested because he owed a student loan," Cohen told Business Insider. "He was arrested because he ignored a court order to show up."

Indeed, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has cautioned that if "you ignore an order to appear in court, a judge may issue a warrant for your arrest" and that "you should never ignore a court order."

Still, Cohen explained that if you default on your federal student loan  meaning that you miss nine consecutive monthly payments  the federal government can come after you in four different ways.

W-2 wage garnishment

If you are W-2 wage earner, the government can garnish your wages with a 30-day warning, and it doesn't need a lawsuit to do so.

Story continues

tax refund

Typically, a debt collector will call a borrower's human-resources department to verify they are an employee. That information is passed along to a guarantee agency or to the US Department of Education, so either one can move forward to collect on the debt via the wages.

Cohen cautions borrowers in this situation to move quickly and request a hearing on the wage garnishment. This temporarily stops the process and allows the borrower to work out alternate payment strategies with the loan servicer.

"It's quite messy," he said. "If someone doesn't quickly get on their feet during that 30-day period, the garnishment will probably happen."

Social Security garnishment

If a borrower doesn't work, but collects Social Security, the federal government can garnish that money.

"That's really hard because you are dealing with people who are barely surviving as is and now you're taking more money from them," Cohen explains.

Social Security

Those instances bother him the most, because individuals living on Social Security typically don't have enough income to be responsible for making federal-loan payments.

He attributes this to a communication issue where not enough people know they qualify for income-driven-repayment (IDR) plans.

IDR plans allow borrowers to pay a percentage of their discretionary income toward student loan bills each month. If your discretionary income isn't above a certain level, however, your payment will be zero, until you start earning more income.

If you earn at or below 150% of the poverty-line income, your payment will be $0.

Federal tax-refund garnishment

Employees who file tax returns normally look forward to getting their refunds back in the spring. But if you've defaulted on your federal student loan, don't expect to get your refund, according to Cohen.

The federal government will use the return amount to pay down the principal and interest on student loans in default.

"My advice on that is don't file your tax return," Cohen said.

He explained that if you're due a refund, you have up to three years to file. Work on getting yourself out of default and then file the return. There's no penalty to postpone filing your refund.

Lawsuit

If you're not a W-2 wage earner, don't receive Social Security, and aren't due back a tax refund, the government's last option for collecting on a student loan is to sue the borrower.

It's the situation most self-employed individuals find themselves in, according to Cohen. And it's what happened to Paul Aker.

Aker was sued by the federal government in 2006 for the unpaid student loan. When Aker didn't show up in court, a judge issued a "default judgment" ordering him to pay about $2,700.

A statement from the US Marshals claims that they "spoke with Aker by phone and requested he appear in court, but Aker refused. A federal judge then issued a warrant for Akers arrest for failing to appear at a December 14, 2012, hearing."

Aker claims he never received any notification of the court order.

Private loans

Private-loan collection operates separately from federal-loan collection. Unlike the federal government, private lenders are under no obligation to offer deferments or income-driven-repayment plans.

Civil court

As they can't garnish W-2 wages or Social Security payments, private lenders must pursue legal action in court.

"The only remedy that a private lender has is to sue you, and they are suing you under state law and every state differs," Cohen said.

His advice for borrowers whether they have federal or private student loans is to pay attention to mail and to answer the phone.

If a borrower ignores calls they are taking a defensive rather than an offensive position. There are likely a number of solutions that can borrowers can take advantage of to get themselves out of default.

"It's all about power and who has control," Cohen said.

NOW WATCH: JIM CRAMER: This is whats preventing people from achieving the American dream





More From Business Insider


TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Aircraft attacked a convoy carrying suspected Islamic State militants near the northwestern Libyan town of Bani Walid early on Sunday, an official said. No group claimed responsibility for the attack, although both the United States and Libyan government forces have launched air strikes on jihadists in recent months. A Pentagon official said the U.S. military was not involved in the action but provided no other details. U.S. sources said later that no other U.S. government agencies were involved. Three huge explosions rocked the area around dawn, the member of Bani Walid's municipal council told Reuters. People living in Ras al-Tbel, about 80 km (50 miles) southeast of Bani Walid, had seen the same convoy of up to 15 vehicles carrying the black flags of Islamic State over the past two days, the official added. It was not immediately clear if the convoy was hit. Jihadist groups have taken advantage of political chaos to expand their presence in Libya, and fighters loyal to Islamic State have taken control of the coastal city of Sirte, about 260 km (160 miles) east of Bani Walid. Western officials say they are discussing air strikes and special forces operations in Libya against the group that is seeking to set up a cross-border Islamic caliphate and has already seized large areas of Syria and neighbouring Iraq. U.S. aircraft attacked a suspected Islamic State training camp on the outskirts of the western Libyan city of Sabratha this month, and launched two more air strikes against jihadist commanders in Libya last year. (Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Additional reporting by David Morgan and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing by Aidan Lewis; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney)
Will Oasis Petroleum Meet 4Q15 Earnings Estimates?

(Continued from Prior Part)

Analysts recommendations for Oasis Petroleum

In the weeks leading up to Oasis Petroleums (OAS) earnings release for 4Q15, Wall Street analysts provided target prices for the next 12 months.

Consensus rating for Oasis Petroleum

Approximately 36% of analysts rate Oasis Petroleum a buy, ~61% rate it a hold, and ~3% rate it a sell. The average broker target price of $7.64 for OAS implies a return of around ~65% in the next 12 months. OASs upstream peers Whiting Petroleum (WLL), EP Energy (EPE), and Energen Corporation (EGN) have average broker target prices of ~$13.50, $5.15, and ~$42.60, respectively. These figures imply returns of ~184%, 106%, and ~86%, respectively, in the next 12 months.

The high, low, and median analyst target prices for Oasis Petroleum are $18, $2.75, and $7, respectively.

Oasis Petroleum is a component of the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP). XOP invests ~2% of its holdings in the company.

Analysts target prices for OAS

Raymond James and Capital One Securities have given OAS one of the most optimistic target prices of $8. This implies a return of around 73% in the next 12 months. Evercore ISI has given OAS a target price of $7, implying a return of ~51% in the next 12 months.

J.P. Morgan (JPM) and Jefferies have given lower target prices of $6 each, implying a return of ~30% in the next 12 months.

Goldman Sachs (GS) has given Oasis Petroleum the lowest target price of $2.75, implying a fall of ~41% over the next year.

For the latest updates on the energy sector, follow Market Realists Energy and Power page.

Browse this series on Market Realist:
Washington (AFP) - Apple and the US government are squaring off in an epic legal battle with wide-ranging implications for how technology firms must work with law enforcement.

The US government earlier this month sought a court order to force Apple to help unlock an iPhone as part of the probe into last year's San Bernardino attacks.

The highly charged case has created a sharp divide between those who say that users of devices like smartphones should be able to keep information private through encryption, and others who claim legitimate law enforcement investigations should take precedence when courts approve.

Apple is challenging the California court order, saying the type of cooperation sought would undermine basic principles of data security and open new vulnerabilities for all its users.

The government is asking for the creation of software that doesn't exist, an abuse of the law and violation of the company's constitutional rights, Apple says.

It adds that creating a weaker "government OS" would undermine the encryption Apple and others have been introducing, and ultimately leak out to hackers and foreign governments.

"Apple wants to maintain the trust relationship with its customers, they feel deeply and firmly this is something that has to exist, and that no government should have access to this data," said John Dickson of the Texas-based Denim Group, which manages security and encryption for its customers.

"I anticipate there will be a technical response from Apple, so that it will be nearly impossible for them to be compelled to do anything."

Julian Sanchez of the libertarian Cato Institute says in a blog post the case is "a fight over the future of high-tech surveillance, the trust infrastructure undergirding the global software ecosystem, and how far technology companies and software developers can be conscripted as unwilling suppliers of hacking tools for governments."

Story continues

- Life, death and encryption -

Some say Apple's position is based on a core principle about security of its users' data.

"Lack of privacy can be a matter of life and death or imprisonment," said Jon Hanour, chief executive of California startup USMobile, which makes an application for encrypted mobile messaging.

"Apostasy results in a death in Saudi Arabia. Homosexual acts send people to prison in Pakistan. And in many countries, adultery is punishable by lashing and stoning."

But critics say Apple is simply providing an easy way for criminals and others to operate in the shadows.

Allowing Apple to refuse would "thwart the public interest in a full and complete investigation of a horrific act of terrorism," the Justice Department argued in its court motion.

New York County District Attorney Cy Vance, who has complained that encrypted phones have frustrated many investigations, said Apple and other makers of encryption should not be able to help skirt law enforcement.

"Apple and Google have created the first warrant-proof consumer products in American history, and the result is that crimes are going unsolved and victims are being left beyond the protection of the law," he said in a statement.

Apple argues that being forced to comply would set a dangerous precedent allowing broad access to law enforcement.

"Once the floodgates open, they cannot be closed, and the device security that Apple has worked so tirelessly to achieve will be unwound," Apple argued.

But James Lewis, a former US official who is now a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said there is nothing unusual about the case.

"The court decided this was a reasonable request," Lewis told AFP.

"The privacy people say it will set a precedent and it will be the end of life on this planet, and it's not true."

Computer forensics researcher Jonathan Zdziarski said complying would be more complex than it appears.

In a blog post, he notes that Apple would need to develop a tool to produce "reproducible, predictable results," which "must be forensically sound and not change anything on the target."

Additionally, he said that Apple "must be prepared to defend their tool and methodology in court... What FBI has requested will inevitably force Apple's methods out into the open."

- The China question -

Apple backers say weakening encryption will work against American interests by compromising security for users living under repressive regimes.

"Authoritarian regimes around the world are salivating at the prospect of the FBI winning this order," Nate Cardozo of the Electronic Frontier Foundation told PBS.

"If Apple creates the master key that the FBI has demanded that they created, governments around the world are going to be demanding the same access."

But Apple's critics say the company may already assist the Chinese government with modifications of the iPhone for that market and cloud computing center hosted in China.

Stewart Baker, a former Homeland Security official who is now in law practice in Washington, said Apple's lack of transparency in China raises questions.

"Maybe you can explain why a secret encryption system that everyone suspects of having a real back door is good enough for Apple's customers in China?" Baker says in a blog post.

- Snowden impact -

Some analysts say the conflict stems from revelations about widespread government surveillance by former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden.

"The Snowden disclosures revealed that many government agencies conduct extensive surveillance on citizens, which arguably not only undermine our privacy but compromise our entire information security infrastructure," says Rahul Telang, professor of information systems at Carnegie Mellon University.

Telang said it is a difficult issue to resolve but that he sees the privacy argument as likely to win.

"Now that we know about government snooping, there is a trust issue," he said. "Once we give you backdoor access, where will it stop?"
DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh police seized explosives and bomb-making materials on Sunday from a hideout used by Jama'atul-Mujahideen militants believed to be behind a spate of recent attacks in the south Asian nation, a police spokesman said. Muslim-majority Bangladesh has seen a rise in Islamist violence in the last year, including the killing of several liberal activists and attacks on minority Shi'ite Muslims, a Christian priest and Hindu temples. Police searched a house on the outskirts of Dhaka based on information from members of the banned Jama'atul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) captured in an earlier raid in the capital, said Maruf Hossain Sardar, a deputy commissioner of police. A large amount of bomb-making equipment and explosives were found in the raid, he added. The group is believed to be behind attacks such as the bombings of a Shi'ite shrine and the killing of two foreigners. Militant group Islamic State has claimed responsibility for some recent attacks, including the killing of a Hindu priest last week and an attack on a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in November. The government denies that Islamic State has a presence in Bangladesh, and instead blames Islamist political opponents for instigating violence in the nation of 160 million people. (Reporting by Ruma Paul; Editing by Ros Russell)
Dhaka (AFP) - A Bangladeshi father dubbed "Tree Man" for massive bark-like warts on his hands and feet may need a dozen more operations to remove the growths, a hospital director said Sunday.

A team of doctors operated on Saturday on Abul Bajandar's right hand to remove some of the smaller growths, his second such operation, said Dhaka Medical College Hospital facility director Samanta Lal Sen.

The 26-year-old was admitted to hospital last month to finally shed some of the growths weighing at least five kilograms (11 pounds) that first began appearing 10 years ago.

"We removed some small warts from his palm. We also did dressing of his fingers, which were operated on last week. He's now better," Sen told AFP.

But Bajandar would need up to 15 operations in total to rid his body of the growths, which may take six months to one year, Sen said.

Bajandar, from the southern district of Khulna, was diagnosed with epidermodysplasia verruciformis, an extremely rare genetic condition dubbed "tree-man disease" that causes the growths.

He has become a celebrity, with people travelling to Khulna over the years to see him and hundreds visiting him in hospital.

Bajandar said he was determined to continue with the treatment no matter how long it took.

"The first operation has given me hope," he told AFP by phone from hospital.

"I don't want to return to my village without clearing my hands and feet. I want to get back to my old life," the father-of-one said.

Bajandar was given the all-clear for surgery after tests confirmed the warts were not cancerous. He opted to have the surgery now after the Bangladesh government decided to pay the bill.

Bajandar initially thought the warts were harmless but slowly as the growths covered his hands and feet, he was forced to quit working as a bicycle rickshaw puller.

Sen said only three known cases of epidermodysplasia verruciformis existed in the world.

An Indonesian villager with massive warts all over his body underwent a string of operations in 2008 to remove them.
Gage County stores, gas stations, hotels and other destinations all use tourism dollars to stay afloat.

While the Sunland has its share of attractions, one feature stands out as the top draw for spreading the word of the areas rich history: the Homestead National Monument of America.

The national park located 4 miles west of Beatrice pays homage to the Homestead Act of 1862, and is located on the claim of Daniel Freeman, the first homesteader.

Mark Engler, park superintendent, described not only the parks historic significance, but the major role it plays in Gage County tourism.

I think that through tourism it brings a lot of community pride and community awareness, and then as well theres a true economic benefit that comes from having a place such as Homestead National Monument here, he said. We not only get an economic benefits from staff and budgets that Congress has put in place, but theres also the benefits that come to the community and region from people coming to the area to visit and spending money.

Last year attendance at Homestead was up nearly 14 percent, making it the second busiest year in the monuments 80-year history. Nearly 78,000 visited the park.

The park brings in an estimated $2 million to the Beatrice area and Gage County area each year, with high hopes for 2016, the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service and the 80th anniversary of the park itself.

Last year we had a terrific year when it comes to visitation and we are anticipating that this year might surpass last year, Engler said. Were readying ourselves for that. We know that in addition to the day-to-day operations we have put in place, there are many special programs that were sure will draw a lot of interest.

We know that homesteading is a big story and we know also that programs that are important to the National Park Service are also important. We believe its our responsibility to provide programs and activities for the community.

The Homestead Act gave those who filed a claim up to 160 acres of land at no charge, provided they built a home on the land, resided there for at least five years and improved the land through cultivation.

The Homestead Act is often regarded as one of the three most important pieces of American legislation, as demonstrated by the staggering figures from the 123 years the Act was in effect.

A total of 30 states have homesteaded land in them, and there were approximately 4 million claims filed.

Its estimated today that 93 million people are descendants of homesteaders, and more than 270 million acres of land were claimed under the Homestead Act, which was signed by President Abraham Lincoln.

Park ranger Susan Cook said Homestead draws visitors from all over the globe, eager to hear how homesteading helped settle the west.

It is amazing how many visitors come from outside the U.S. every week, all year long, she said. Citizens from other countries are interested in the U.S. west and how we built our country. Farmers were on the land and people developed towns around these farms, thats how our democracy grew and the economy grew.

Last year, one of the Homesteads largest events was the public release of a quarter paying tribute to the national park.

The 26th quarter in the U.S. Mints America the Beautiful series, the Homestead quarter features a log cabin, water pump and two ears of corn on the tail side.

Cook said regular events, including the annual fiddle festival each May, have become favorites. Homestead staff also works to keep new events on the calendar, all while promoting other area attractions as well.

They get here and then ask what else is around here, she said. Theres an interest and we direct them to what we have around. A lot of people are traveling through to other places. We do a lot of planning trips through Nebraska.  When they get here, they find that theres so much more to do, spending nights in hotels, shopping, eating and buying gas that all helps the economy.

Cook added the events wouldnt all be possible without the help of volunteers, who contribute to every event the Homestead hosts, from being at the event to working behind the scenes raising awareness and helping with plans.
La Paz (AFP) - A Bolivian prosecutor on Sunday ordered President Evo Morales's ex-girlfriend to be held in a public jail, saying she was a flight risk as she faces a string of corruption charges.

Gabriela Zapata, 28, is a senior manager at the local office of Chinese engineering group CAMC, which has won several contracts for large construction projects in Bolivia.

Zapata faces charges of money laundering, embezzlement and abuse of influence, said prosecutor Edwin Blanco.

Blanco said that jail was justified because there was evidence that Zapata was preparing to travel, and that unnamed government workers might "modify, hide and suppress documentation" relating to the case.

Zapata used offices at the Ministry of the Presidency for personal meetings with foreign investors, in complicity with two unnamed employees.

Blanco also said the probe showed that Zapata had income "that made it evident that there was suspicious economic activity."

Zapata was arrested Friday and initially held at a police station jail, the interior ministry said. She was formally charged on Saturday.

Four government offices, including the Ministry of the Presidency and the Public Works Ministry, asked for Zapata's arrest and warned that she was a flight risk.

Zapata's arrest comes weeks after local media revealed that the president's former girlfriend worked for China CAMC Engineering Co., which recently won a $560 million government contract for a railroad project.

The Chinese firm also has contracts to build a hydroelectric plant, a sugar refinery and a lithium plant in the Uyuni salt flats.

Opposition politicians quickly accused Morales of influence peddling, which he denied.

The 56-year-old president is single, and his elder sister performs the functions of Bolivia's first lady.

- CAMC controversy -

Investigators also discovered that Zapata had sent letters in the government's name to different government offices urging them to favor CAMC.

Story continues

President Morales asked the office of the Comptroller General and Congress to look into CAMC's activities, and vowed that he would protect no one in the probe.

Morales also ordered that CAMC make a $22.8 million payment for not completing their contract to build a railroad in central and western Bolivia, which is needed to move urea and ammonia from a production plant to market.

CAMC was also sanctioned by being banned from seeking government contracts for the next three years.

Morales denies the influence-peddling allegations, which contributed to his defeat in a recent referendum on reforming Bolivia's constitution.

The reform would have let Morales seek a fourth consecutive term in office.

Morales recently admitted to fathering a child with Zapata during a two-year relationship that began in 2005 when she was 18. Morales said the child later died.

However, one of Zapata's aunts on Saturday told reporters that the child was alive and well.

Transparency Minister Lenny Valdivia urged Zapata to bring the child to court to clear up the controversy.
We have some really exciting news, but be warned: it comes with a side of disappointment. So everyone promise to be cool, okay? Making a Murderer part two could be in the works.

According to Variety, the filmmakers behind the Netflix docudrama, Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, spoke about the possibility of a second season during a panel discussion at New York City's IFC Center on Thursday, saying they'd approached Steven Avery's new lawyer  Kathleen Zellner  about continuing the series as the defendant fights for his freedom. However, as Variety reported, they do so at their own risk.

"There is a lot of hostility toward these two women in Wisconsin," Stephen M. Glynn, Avery's civil lawyer, said during the panel. "The theory is that have played Wisconsin unfairly. But among those people who think and are a little more educated and thoughtful about these sorts of issues, there is appreciation."

Avery's ready for round two. Let's do this thing.

And as far as the filmmakers are concerned, there is also much left to be discussed when it comes to the Teresa Halbach trial. Avery filed an appeal on Jan. 11, alleging that he did not receive a fair trial, that the jurors on his case were biased against him and that the police tampered with key evidence. For her part, Zellner believes he has a reasonable shot at exoneration.

"Generally, since 2007, there have been significant advances in forensic testing," she told Dateline NBC in January, refraining from saying exactly what she would argue during the appeal but saying that "the clearest way to do this is with scientific testing."

Towel story:so unreliable barred; Molestation story:never charged. Prints & DNA ignored--all's fair in framing & blaming. #MakingAMurderer

So should a second season of Making a Murderer get the green light, we have many more adventures in blood sampling procedure, possible police malfeasance, sensational haircuts, despicable villains and meme making still ahead. Ricciardi and Demos are far from finished with Manitowoc County.

Story continues

"From our perspective this story is obviously not over," Ricciardi said, according to Variety. "It's real life and [Avery's and Brendan Dassey's] cases are both still pending. We have no idea when the magistrate will make a decision in Brendan's case. We do know that two potential outcomes are that the judge could order Brendan's release or he could order a new trial. So we are on the edge of seats about that."

Naturally, so are we. The original Making a Murderer was compiled over 10 years; because that foundation has already been laid, part two shouldn't take that long. What's presently unclear is whether the second installment would be released part-by-part, Jinx-style, as the trial progresses, or whether it would drop en masse at the case's (or, if Dassey's is included, cases') conclusion. Either way, our excitement is electric.

So what's the bittersweet aspect of this news? Defense dream duo  sexpot Dean Strang and heartthrob Jerry Buting  has been replaced by Zellner. They've left some intimidatingly large shoes for Zellner to fill. Can she live up to their illustrious legacy? Does she have what it takes to inspire devotional Twitter handles of her own? We can't wait to find out.
London (AFP) - Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday challenged supporters of a British exit from the European Union to admit the risks involved, as the battle for votes stepped up ahead of the June referendum.

In an article for the Sunday Telegraph, Cameron warned that gaps in the case for a Brexit made it the "gamble of the century".

"When the people campaigning for 'out' are asked to set out a vision outside the European Union, they become extremely vague," the prime minister wrote.

"It's simply not good enough to assert everything will be all right when jobs and our country's future are at stake."

Cameron dismissed suggestions that Britain could still have access to the EU single market while opting out of the free movement of people.

He questioned what would happen to European security cooperation, and challenged the idea that Britain would have more influence on the world stage if it went it alone.

"There is no doubt in my mind that the only certainty of exit is uncertainty; that leaving Europe is fraught with risk," he wrote.

The article is one of numerous interventions on the EU in the weekend's newspapers, as the key players step up their efforts to woo a divided public ahead of the June 23 vote.

Cameron is also trying to persuade members of his Conservative party. Six senior ministers are backing a Brexit, along with significant numbers of Tory MPs.

In a boost for Cameron's case, G20 finance ministers warned that a Brexit would be a "shock" that ranks among rising downside risks and vulnerabilities for the world economy.

But on Saturday, mayor of London Boris Johnson, a long-term rival to the prime minister who is leading the Brexit campaign, said the "Remain" camp was exaggerating the risks.

"I will do my absolute best to dismiss Project Fear, which I think is nonsense. Britain could have a really great future, with a more dynamic economy and a happier population," Johnson told The Times newspaper.
Montreal (AFP) - Canada has met a self-imposed deadline to accept 25,000 Syrian refugees fleeing their country's civil war, officials said, fulfilling a campaign promise by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"25000 reasons why Canadians should be proud today #WelcomeRefugees," Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Minister John McCallum tweeted after a charter flight carrying refugees touched down in Montreal on Saturday.

Trudeau had made a campaign pledge to take in 25,000 Syrian refugees from Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey before the end of 2015.

But his Liberal government pushed the target back two months after taking office following elections in October.

Canada has chartered around a hundred flights from Lebanon and Jordan since Trudeau met the first arriving plane in December.

The government's resettlement program will cover costs for more than half the refugees during their first year. Private groups or a combination of both will cover the rest, the country's immigration authorities said.

Syrian refugees will continue to arrive in Canada, albeit at a slower pace.

The country is set to take in some 12,000 more refugees by the end of the year under a program run jointly with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the immigration authorities said.

Some 250 Canadian cities and towns have taken in refugees so far.

The UNHCR has contacted nearly 70,000 Syrians living in refugee camps in Lebanon and Jordan about emigrating to Canada. Fewer than half said they were interested.

Europe's migrant crisis became a political issue in Canada during last year's election campaign.

Political parties competed over the number of refugees the country should accept after a photograph of the drowned Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi on a Turkish beach captured international attention.
Chinese authorities on Sunday shut down the social media accounts of a tycoon nicknamed "The Cannon" after he criticised the ruling Communist Party's tightening grip on the media.

The move by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) against Ren Zhiqiang came just over a week after President Xi Jinping visited state media and ordered them to follow the party line more closely.

The Internet regulator ordered the microblogging platforms of Sina and Tencent to shut down Ren's accounts "for spreading illegal information", state news agency Xinhua reported.

"Cyberspace is not a lawless field and it should not be used to spread illegal information by anyone," said CAC spokesperson Jiang Jun.

Ren's accounts were closed after netizens reported that he had regularly posted illegal information, "resulting in a vile influence", according to Jiang.

The spokesperson, vowing intensified efforts to monitor online content, told celebrity microbloggers to "shoulder their due social responsibilities, and promote 'positive energy' actively".

Last Monday state media blasted Ren, an outspoken property tycoon, for criticising the party's tightening media grip and Xi's tour of official outlets.

Ren, nicknamed "the Cannon" for his provocative opinions and blunt defences of economic inequality, was the target of twin columns in the state-affiliated news portal Qianlong for questioning on social media whether public money should be spent on party propaganda.

"When did the people's government change into the party's government?" the commentary quoted Ren's since-deleted post as saying. "Is their money the party's? ... Don't use taxpayers' money for things that don't provide them with services."

One of the Qianlong articles -- headlined "Who gave Ren the confidence to oppose the Party" -- accused the businessman of making capitalist arguments and pursuing Western constitutionalism.

Story continues

The other castigated him for failing to defend the interests of the party of which he is a member.

The party tolerates no opposition to its rule and newspapers, websites, and broadcast media are strictly controlled. An army of censors patrols social media and many Western news websites are blocked.

Ren has previously drawn flak for calling state-run broadcaster CCTV "the dumbest pig on earth" and for his blunt statements defending the high prices of real estate, once angering an audience member so much that they threw a shoe at him.

He retired from his Beijing-based property company in 2014 and has a following on Sina Weibo of 37 million.
From Barack Obama to Rand Paul, Ta-Nehisi Coates to Jason Riley: Across the ideological spectrum, scholars, pundits, and politicians seem to agree that black men are floundering. As the president observed in 2014, by almost every measure, the group that is facing some of the most severe challenges in the 21st century in this country are boys and young men of color.

In some ways, Obama is right. Rates of poverty, unemployment, and incarceration are higher among black men than among white men. Young African Americans are also far more likely than young white men to become victims of violent crime. But the conversation about black men often glosses over the fact that most African American men are not poor, out of work, or destined to spend time in prison.

Why do some black men flourish while others struggle? One answer is faith. African American men attend church at rates notably above the national average: 37 percent of those aged 18 to 60 attend several times a month or more, compared to 30 percent of non-black men, according to the 2008-2014 General Social Survey. And compared to their less religious peers, these 6 million or so black men are significantly more likely to thrive. Our new book, Soul Mates: Religion, Sex, Love and Marriage Among African Americans and Latinos, shows they are more likely to be working, avoid crime and incarceration, and get married.

Liberals and conservatives have different explanations for the racial divide in the United States. Conservatives like Jason Riley argue that dysfunctional values and norms have helped create Americas racial disparities in crime, incarceration, and employment. Conversely, Ta-Nehisi Coates contends that unjust and racist structural forcesincluding poor job opportunities, unsafe neighborhoods, failing schools, and discriminatory housing and policing policieshave produced Americas racial disparities.

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These dont have to be mutually exclusive explanations. Our analyses of trends in work, crime, incarceration, and family indicate that both structural and cultural factors have shaped the differing life experiences of white and black men. But focusing on racial differences can obscure the fact that many African American men are doing well. One of the reasons why some black men flourish is their participation in the black church. (We focus on the black church because there are not enough black men in other traditions, such as Islam, to make statistical claims about in the surveys we analyzed for our book.)

The messages of the black church afford black men a sense of dignity, purpose, and inspiration.

Churchgoing black men are significantly less likely to participate in what the sociologist Elijah Anderson has called the code of the street: an ethos marked by violence, criminal activity, a live-for-the-moment mentality, and a desire to protect oneself by projecting strength. This culture has emerged partly from the structural disadvantages black men face, including racism, concentrated poverty, police brutality, and fatherless households. Coates has written about the code in his reflections on his own life growing up in West Baltimore. Here, in a letter to his son:

The streets transform every ordinary day into a series of trick questions, and every incorrect answer risks a beat-down, a shooting, or a pregnancy. No one survives unscathed. When I was your age, fully one-third of my brain was concerned with whom I was walking to school with, our precise number, the manner of our walk, the number of times I smiled, whom or what I smiled at, who offered a pound and who did notall of which is to say that I practiced the culture of the streets, a culture concerned chiefly with securing the body.

This culture, and the injustices from which it flows, helps explain why some young black men end up struggling in America.

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Yet millions of black men in the U.S. live in communities with different norms, including industriousness, honesty, respect for the law, and temperance. For many of these men, faith is a defining feature.

Take criminal activity. Twenty percent of young, church-going black men report having committed a crime, compared to 24 percent of their peers who were not regular attendees, even after controlling for demographic factors like education and family background. Likewise, only 4 percent of young black men aged 22 to 26 who attended church earlier in their 20s ended up in prison, compared to 6 percent who did not regularly attend church, again after controlling for a wide range of social and economic factors. This suggests that churchgoing young black men are about one-third less likely to be incarcerated than their peers who dont regularly attend church. Although these percentages may seem small, they represent tens of thousands of men.

One 32-year-old African American man from Harrisonburg, Virginia, who we interviewed said he became a Christian while in prison. I only came to know Christ when I got locked up, he said. God met people like Paul on the Damascus road. He met other men on the crack pipe. He met me when I was selling drugs in prison. So, you know, that was a big thing for me, knowing that I have a relationship with God. (We interviewed him while researching our book in 2006, and are withholding his name to comply with Institutional Review Board standards.)

This man hasnt broken the law or used drugs since getting out of prison, he says, and gives credit for his transformation to his local Baptist church. He goes every Sunday, helps lead the mens group at his church, and attends a Wednesday night Bible study. I get a prayer in every day, he said. Im delivered on a daily basis and my delivery is like this: Lord, get me through the next 30 minutes. Lord, get me through the next hour. Lord, get me through this day.

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Faith also seems to reinforce black mens connections to work and marriage. As this chart shows, young black men who regularly attended church were about eight percentage points less likely to be neither working nor attending school compared to their peers who didnt attend frequently. More recent data from the 20082014 General Social Survey show a similar trend: 15 percent of 18-to-40-year-old black men who dont attend church were unemployed and not attending college between 2008 and 2014, compared to just 9 percent of churchgoing black men. All of this probably translates into higher incomes for churchgoing black men later in life, as our research and the work of others suggests.

Finally, regular religious practice helps make black men more marriageablea term social scientists use to explain why some men are more likely to get married than others. Generally, employed men are more marriageable. African American men who attend church regularly are eight percentage points more likely to get married than their peers who rarely or never attend church. Why is this noteworthy? Social science has produced considerable evidence on the benefits of marriage. Compared to their single contemporaries, married African American men have more money and are happier and healthier.

The comparative success that churchgoing black men enjoy, from employment to marriage, is partly attributable to the work the black church does to emphasize certain values. As one pastor, Revered Calvin Butts III of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, put it one Sunday:

[Most civilizations] are destroyed from within. The outward manifestations of this inner decay have been threefold. Three things that you see outwardly. One is drunkenness. . . . [or] getting high. I dont mean a sip here and there; I mean getting high all the time. [Another is] idleness. . . . And finally, immorality. This means that strong civilizations, those that are able to endure, and withstand attacks from without [have] sobriety, industry, and clean moral living. . . . Who among us would . . . eschew drunkenness, idleness, and immorality? Who would dare to stand in the face of the onslaught of the culture of sin that has enveloped our nation and say, I refuse to succumb. I will not yield to the temptation?

This is just one example of the rhetoric thats often heard from pulpits in primarily black churches. The ideals, images, and attitudes held up in services, Bible studies, and fellowship halls in congregations across the country have a powerful effect on black men who regularly attend church.

But talking is not enough. Men need to be integrated into their church communities. Our research has led us to conclude that the men who are most active in their churches are those most likely to be employed, married, and out of jail. And this varies somewhat by denomination. Pentecostal churches have a slight edge in fostering good outcomes for men compared to mainline black churches, perhaps because the men in those communities tend to participate more actively, according to data from the General Social Survey. In turn, churches that pay attention to mens employmenteither through formal jobs ministries or informal efforts to connect members to existing work opportunities within their communitiesseem to have the strongest communities of committed men.

The black churchs success validates the cultural arguments made by conservatives and the structural arguments made by liberals regarding race in America. The messages of the black church afford black men a sense of dignity, purpose, and inspiration. Church life is an alternative to what Coates calls the culture of the streets. Likewise, the support the church offers to black men, from mens fellowship groups to employment ministries, is crucial to their success, whether in finding jobs or having a community to support them in the face of racism and other adversity.

Not surprisingly, most of the black pastors and churchgoers we spoke to believed the churchs commitment to strong norms and values within the black community complements its equally strong commitment to social justice. As Thabiti Anyabwile, the pastor of Anacostia River Church in Washington, D.C., put it:

The men and families facing their brokenness and the world's brokenness don't have the luxury of pretending life can neatly be chalked up to either the man is trying to get me or I need to pull myself up by my bootstraps. They understand that some bootstrapping is necessarily precisely because of injustices . . . People have to be strong enough personally to face the onslaught, but also have to have enough fair play and support to be strong enough. It's no surprise to me that both those needs get met in faithful Black churches with one eye on the souls of their members and one eye on the assaults of Caesar.

Conservative and liberal commentators, take note: making progress in the fight for racial justice in America may require acknowledging the other side has a point.

Read more from The Atlantic:

This article was originally published on The Atlantic.
Washington (AFP) - A gunman opened fire at a Baptist church in Dayton, Ohio on Sunday, killing the pastor, local media reported.

The pastor of the St. Peters Missionary Baptist Church died as result of injuries sustained in the shooting, which took place after 12:30 pm (17:30 GMT), WHIO television said, citing police.

A witness reported hearing two gunshots after the shooter walked into the pastor's office.the station said.

Witnesses said police later escorted a man from the church in handcuffs and put him in the back of a police cruiser, the station said.

Another television station, WDTN, cited witnesses as saying that the pastor had walked toward the pulpit inside the church when his brother, who was seated in a pew, stood up and followed him.

They heard several shots soon after, which sent congregation running,according to that report.

More than 20 people were reported to be inside the church at the time of the shooting, WDTN reported.

Police could not immediately be reached for comment.
By John Whitesides and Amanda Becker COLUMBIA, S.C. (Reuters) - Riding high after a landslide victory in Saturday's South Carolina primary, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton has set sights on a possible face-off in the Nov. 8 presidential election with Donald Trump, the favorite for the Republican nomination. "Despite what you hear, we dont need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great," she told supporters in her victory speech in South Carolina, declining to mention Trump by name, but taking a jab at his campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again." Clinton said she was not taking anything for granted after crushing Democratic rival Bernie Sanders on Saturday by 48 percentage points, likely setting herself up for a good "Super Tuesday" night on March 1, a key date in the nomination battle. But if Clinton and Trump win big on Tuesday as opinion polls suggest, the chance of a general election matchup between them increases, adding another twist to a presidential campaign that has defied convention as U.S. voters vent frustration over economic uncertainty, illegal immigration and national security threats. Some Clinton backers, emboldened by the heightened chance of a Trump nomination, have reaffirmed their support for the former secretary of state, saying that it is she, not Sanders, who is best equipped to take down Trump in a head-to-head showdown in November. Rosilyne Scott, 58, of Texas, cast her vote early for Clinton ahead of Texas's upcoming Tuesday nominating contest, calling the prospect of a Trump presidency "frightening." "I just think she has more support, and she's been doing it a lot longer," she said. "If you get someone like Donald Trump in, I don't know. ... I think he's a joke, a bigot, a racist." Amid Clinton's renewed momentum against Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, donors have also found resolve. One Clinton fundraiser in California said her recent victories in Nevada and South Carolina have prompted more people to donate to her campaign and to attend Clinton events. He said he had raised $10,000 for the Clinton campaign in the past week alone. A Trump-Clinton election would embody the outsider-versus-establishment battle in American politics. Trump has never been elected to public office, while the former first lady has been a player in Washington for decades. SANDERS DOUBTS South Carolina was Clinton's third victory in the first four Democratic contests, raising more questions about whether Sanders, a democratic socialist, will be able to expand his support beyond his base of predominantly white liberals. Exit polls showed Clinton winning big in the state with almost every constituency. She won nine of every 10 black voters, as well as women, men, urban, suburban, rural, very liberal and conservative voters. Sanders was ahead among voters between ages 18 and 29, and among white men. When asked which candidate they thought can win in November, an overwhelming 79 percent said Clinton, with only 21 percent putting their faith in Sanders to defeat the eventual Republican nominee. Sanders, who has energized the party's liberal wing and successfully courted many of the party's youth, on Sunday acknowledged he had been "decimated" by Clinton in South Carolina. He set his sights on March 1, where a win in a key state is crucial to keeping his hopes alive. "I think were going to do well on Super Tuesday, were going to do well in many states after that and we look forward to those state-by-state struggles," he said in an interview on NBC News's "Meet the Press." But Sanders needs to have his breakout moment sooner rather than later, warned longtime Democratic activist Phil Noble, who said that Sanders' momentum in South Carolina "fell off the table" after Clinton's solid victory in Nevada on Feb. 20. "He's got to pull off a surprise against Clinton soon or he won't have time to recover," he said. (Additional reporting by: Alana Wise in Washington, Luciana Lopez in New York, Emily Stephenson in Texas; Editing by Alistair Bell, Mary Milliken and Jonathan Oatis)
Columbia (United States) (AFP) - Hillary Clinton scored a resounding victory against Bernie Sanders in Saturday's Democratic primary in South Carolina, seizing momentum ahead of the most important day of the nomination race: next week's "Super Tuesday" showdown.

Four weeks into the White House primaries, the former secretary of state earned her first decisive win of the campaign, after a nail-biter victory in Iowa, a thumping loss to Sanders in New Hampshire, and then a five-point win in Nevada.

South Carolina was the first southern state to vote for a 2016 Democratic nominee, before the race broadens to 11 contests across the country.

"Tomorrow this campaign goes national," Clinton said to a loud roar as she thanked supporters in Columbia, South Carolina, where she emerged with a clearer path to the nomination.

"We are going to compete for every vote in every state. We are not taking anything, and we are not taking anyone, for granted."

US networks called the race for Clinton immediately after polls closed in the Palmetto State, where the majority of Democratic voters are African-American, a voting bloc that she and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have successfully courted for decades.

Clinton also looked beyond her battle with Sanders, tweaking the man many now see as the likely Republican nominee: Donald Trump, whose campaign slogan is "Make America Great Again."

"Despite what you hear, we don't need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great," she said, reading off a teleprompter.

"But we do need to make America whole again," she added, laying out an argument against the divisive rhetoric favored by Trump, who has antagonized immigrants, Muslims and campaign rivals.

"I know it sometimes seems a little odd for someone running for president these days and in this time to say we need more love and kindness in America," she added. "But I am telling you from the bottom of my heart, we do."

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- Redemption -

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton stood at 73.5 percent compared to 26 percent for Sanders.

The comprehensive victory marks a moment of redemption for Clinton who in 2008 lost badly in the state to Barack Obama -- his win here serving as a turning point for his ultimately victorious campaign.

Exit polls in South Carolina showed African-Americans -- who represented 61 percent of all Democratic voters in the primary -- backed Clinton by a stunning 86 percent, more than had supported Obama eight years prior.

Clinton assiduously courted black voters, in part by praising Obama and promising to build on his legacy.

She also campaigned alongside black surrogates, and visited African-American churches and historically black colleges.

South Carolina marked a "great test" for the coming votes in other southern states and showed that Clinton "can get a broad base of support of all demographics," her communications director Jennifer Palmieri told reporters, as the candidate shook hands and posed for selfies with supporters.

"This was significant. We were not expecting that decisive a victory," Palmieri added.

- 'Just beginning' -

Sanders a self-described democratic socialist seeking to launch a "political revolution" in America, was already looking past South Carolina.

Early Saturday he headed to Texas, where he addressed a crowd of 10,000 people, and then Minnesota, two states in play next Tuesday when the Vermont senator needs to keep his head above water if he wants to challenge Clinton deeper into the nomination race.

Sanders swiftly offered Clinton his congratulations, but also insisted he was in it for the long haul.

"Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning," he said in a statement after results came in.

Speaking at a rally in Rochester, Minnesota, Sanders made no mention of his loss in South Carolina, instead touching on familiar campaign themes.

"When you have billionaires and Wall Street and corporate America pouring hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars into the political process, that is not democracy, that is oligarchy," he told the crowd.

As the Democrats voted, the Republican race churned on as Trump traded barbs with rival Marco Rubio, who in recent days has launched a fierce assault on the billionaire real estate mogul.

"I want to save the (Republican) party from a con artist," Rubio, seen by many as the man best-positioned to topple Trump, said at a stop in Kennesaw, Georgia.

Rubio accosted Trump for "flying around on hair force one," and having "the worst spray tan in America."

Trump pushed back Saturday, blasting Rubio as a "lightweight" and a "liar."

"The Republican Establishment has been pushing for lightweight Senator Marco Rubio to say anything to 'hit' Trump," the billionaire posted on Twitter Sunday.

- 'Super Tuesday' -

Among Democrats, Clinton leads in the national delegate count at this early stage, having now won three of the first four nomination contests.

Gloria Major, a grandmother and campaign volunteer who supported Clinton in 2008, was among the ecstatic crowd listening to her victory speech in Columbia.

"She has been in battles, she is one woman that can lead this country," Major, who is black, told AFP. "For years she has had our best interest at heart."

The 11 states that hold Democratic nominating contests Tuesday will send a whopping 18 percent of the delegates to July's nominating convention in Philadelphia.

Clinton is ahead in most, but Sanders has the edge in Massachusetts and his home turf of Vermont.
By Angus Berwick MADRID (Reuters) - When Jose Luis Penas recorded fellow councillors allegedly taking bribes from businessmen a decade ago, it marked the start of a series of corruption scandals that have engulfed Spain's ruling party and could thwart its chances of retaining power. The secret recordings in Madrid's Majadahonda municipality controlled by the People's Party (PP) culminated in a High Court investigation into allegations the party's top brass had a slush fund bankrolled by friendly businesses. Four senior former PP politicians are among 40 suspects awaiting trial. Since the beginning of the so-called Gurtel investigation in 2007, there have been a string of other graft inquiries into the PP, with the latest ones implicating the party's leadership in Madrid and Valencia this month. Penas said he knew Gurtel - investigators' code name for the case - would be big when he made the audio recordings, but had never imagined it might reach the upper echelons of the conservative party. "I didn't know how deep the corruption would go," Penas, who left the party after the scandal erupted, told Reuters in an interview in the community center he now runs. "From Gurtel came everything." The PP denies any senior party officials were involved in any cases of alleged corruption, including Gurtel. It says only a tiny number of its politicians are corrupt, and that it is tackling the problem. But the political cost has nevertheless been high for the party and its leader, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. Public anger at the PP was a factor in its failure to win a parliamentary majority in a December election. Since then, its attempts to form a governing coalition have floundered, snubbed by rivals who say they will not work with a party tainted by corruption scandals. Should no other party succeed in forming a coalition, as most political analysts expect, another election will be held this year. While the PP is still expected to win the most votes, opinion polls suggest it will again fail to gain a majority. According to a poll last week in right-wing newspaper El Mundo, the center-right party would actually lose votes and parliamentary seats, with many of those surveyed blaming corruption and Rajoy's inability to cobble together a coalition. Acknowledging the damage, PP lawmaker Andrea Levy said earlier this month the corruption allegations "shamed and embarrassed" the party's members and voters. "The people that have done these things should neither represent the PP nor should they be politicians," said the 31-year-old, one of the party's newest and youngest faces. "They should be expelled from politics," she told a Spanish radio station. MADRID CHIEF QUITS Fernando Jimenez, a political scientist at the University of Murcia and contributor to an annual EU anti-corruption report, said worse could be yet to come for the party. "Most likely new cases of corruption will continue to erupt," he said. "I don't think the PP's vote has bottomed out, it could fall quite a lot more." He said the party was losing support due to perceptions among voters that it was shielding those implicated in scandals, something denied by the party's leadership. "The PP is a family and when one member suffers the party shelters and hides them," he said. "But this strategy was born in an era when corruption was not a great concern for people." Times have changed. Corruption is now Spaniards' second biggest worry behind unemployment. When Rajoy assumed office in December 2011, just 6 percent of people said corruption was a major concern, in a survey by official pollster the Sociological Research Centre (CIS). Over the last year the figure has reached as high as 60 percent. Transparency International said in its annual report in January that Spain had suffered one of the sharpest declines in public perceptions of corruption in the world, having slipped from 30th on its index in 2012 to 36th. The 40 suspects awaiting trial over the Gurtel case include three former PP treasurers and a former health minister, as well as local party officials and businessmen. All the suspects, and the party, have denied wrongdoing. Earlier this month the PP's Madrid head Esperanza Aguirre resigned after police raided her headquarters and investigated some of her employees, including senior staff, for bribery and money laundering in an unrelated case. Aguirre and the party denied any wrongdoing, but she said she quit as a "gesture" of political responsibility. Almost simultaneously a similar scandal erupted at the party's Valencia offices, with police launching an investigation into alleged money laundering there, and saying senior officials could be involved. The PP denied any wrongdoing. COALITION SNUBS Liberal party Ciudadanos, which has won popular support by campaigning against graft, has distanced itself from any alliance with the PP. It has said Rajoy is not the right man to lead Spain's next government and the fight against corruption. "Right now, Mariano Rajoy cannot lead a project to regenerate Spain's politics and institutions, he has had four years to put an end to corruption and he failed," Ciudadanos' representative for Madrid, Ignacio Aguado, told Reuters. The main opposition Socialists have ruled out allying with the PP in a coalition over the corruption allegations. Its leader Pedro Sanchez called into the question the integrity of Rajoy himself during an election debate. "If you win, the cost to democracy is enormous because the prime minister must be a decent person and you are not," he said. After failing to form a coalition, Rajoy in January passed the baton to Sanchez, who has until March to form a government that receives the backing of parliament. If he too fails, other parties will have a further two months to form a government, before a new election will be called. Some of the PP's younger generation of politicians say the party is fighting graft in its ranks to regain the public's trust. Not far from Majadahonda, in the well-heeled Madrid suburb of Boadilla del Monte, PP Mayor Antonio Gonzalez Terol - who took over in 2011 after two predecessors resigned following investigations into their finances as part of the Gurtel probe - said his first action was to kick out the existing PP municipal team and cancel all contracts with firms accused of wrongdoing. "We became the active pursuers of those people that had slipped a hand into the public purse," the 37-year-old told Reuters. Others in the PP said the branding of the party as corrupt was unwarranted given Rajoy had passed legislation to tackle the problem such as bringing in new penalties. "We consider (corrupt) only a tiny number of all the politicians in the PP," the party's head of international relations, Jose Ramon Garcia-Hernandez, told Reuters. "There are corrupt people but there are not corrupt systems." Back in Majadahonda, however, Penas said the PP's woes were structural and would not be resolved by rooting out a few bad apples. "They have changed some of the party's faces but its nucleus remains the same." (Editing by Julien Toyer and Pravin Char)
WARSAW (Reuters) - The Council of Europe's advisory body has said reforms of Poland's constitutional court pose a danger to the rule of law in the European Union member state, dealing another blow to the eurosceptic Warsaw government's legal changes. Poland asked the Council's Venice Commission to comment on the legal changes after parliament overruled appointments made to the tribunal by the previous government, causing uncertainty over its proceedings. The new parliament, controlled by the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party after an October election, named new judges in December and the PiS-backed president Andrzej Duda immediately swore them in. The move, deemed illegal by the opposition, has already prompted the European Commission to launch a probe into the rule of law in Poland. The constitutional court itself, whose verdicts are final and cannot be appealed, ruled against the new appointments to its ranks. In a draft opinion, obtained by the Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, the Venice Commission called the court "one of the central elements for ensuring checks and balances ... especially important in times of strong political majorities." "... as long as the Constitutional Tribunal cannot carry out its work in an efficient manner, not only is the rule of law in danger but so is democracy and human rights." The Council of Europe's spokesman, Panos Kakaviatos, confirmed the wording of the draft to Reuters and the government confirmed it had received the document. The opinion can still be amended before its final version is ready by mid-March. The reports by the Council, a 47-nation European rights organization that works closely with the European Union, have no direct legal consequence, but EU policymakers work closely with the organization. Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo told TV Trwam that Poland would send its comments to the Venice Commission, adding that any ruling would not be binding. (Reporting by Adrian Krajewski; Editing by Gareth Jones)
San Francisco (AFP) - At the entrance of Dolby headquarters in San Francisco, a ribbon of television screens plays synchronized videos that change in time to sound effects.

The display mirrors Dolby's recent efforts to move beyond sound enhancement to improve what people see when they watch films.

Several of the movies up for Oscars on Sunday in Los Angeles were made with Dolby Vision, which has become an industry standard for image quality in movies.

Best picture nominees "The Martian" and "The Revenant," as well as Pixar's animated film "Inside Out" used the technology.

"We're predominately known and associated with audio, but we spent the last decade working on imaging," Dolby director of content and creative relations Stuart Bowling told AFP.

Since the company launched its Dolby Vision in 2014, an array of television makers and major Hollywood studios have adopted the technology, which produces wider ranges of color and contrast.

Even though the number of pixels that can be captured in films has exploded, "we found something was missing everywhere: contrast," Bowling said.

"Adding more contrast makes a significant impact on the image; it looks sharper, more vibrant, more color-saturated and then almost 3D," he added.

The difference becomes clear watching two high-definition televisions side-by-side.

With Dolby Vision, details jump out in a "Lego" movie scene showing car headlights, or during an explosion in "Man of Steel," while they are crushed or blurred in the standard version of the films.

- Industry standard -

Dolby Laboratories was founded half a century ago by its namesake, Ray Dolby who set out to develop technology for fuller, cleaner, crisper sound.

One of the company's early creations was noise reduction technology that made its cinema debut in the 1971 film "A Clockwork Orange."

Dolby went on to become a de facto standard for audio quality in films, music, theaters and consumer electronics.

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Now with its new Dolby Vision technology, it is setting the bar for image quality as well.

To make sure images come out well in theaters, Dolby uses a special projector with lasers rather than traditional Xenon light bulbs to increase brightness.

This results in intense, nearly fluorescent reds, blues and greens in such films as "Inside Out."

Dolby Vision imbues movies with "much brighter brights and much darker darks," according to chief marketing officer Bob Borchers.

"It allows you to do things impossible before," such as deep black in space scenes from the latest "Star Wars" film, Borchers said.

Dolby Cinema works with theaters on everything from acoustics and interior design to Vision projection gear. It also sets up its Atmos speaker systems which assign sounds to precise locations in a room, creating a real-life effect.

Theater screens in Europe and the United States have been equipped with Dolby Cinema, and the technology is heading for theaters in China through a partnership with the country's Wanda Cinema Line.

Dolby has even begun to offer its services for corporate meetings with a product called Voice, which builds upon technology that it designed for the movies.

Voice creates the effect of different people on a call speaking from different places in a room and eliminates background noises.

Dolby revenue was essentially flat at $967 million during its last fiscal year, which ended in September, but the company expects its conference and cinema businesses to add $20 million to its revenue this fiscal year.

Barrington Research analyst James Goss referred to Vision, Atmos and Voice as "potential stepping stones to returning to meaningful top-line growth."
Cairo (AFP) - Masked gunmen shot dead an Egyptian police officer Sunday in the Sinai, the interior ministry said, in an attack claimed by the Islamic State group which is leading an insurgency in the peninsula.

Gunmen opened fire on Captain Abdullah Khalil in the early hours of Sunday as he stood in front of his house in El-Arish, the provincial capital of North Sinai, the ministry said in a statement.

The Sinai Province, the Egyptian affiliate of IS, claimed the attack.

"A security detachment was able to eliminate the apostate Abdullah Khalil... in the centre of the city of El-Arish," it said in a statement posted on the group's Twitter accounts.

The IS affiliate is waging an insurgency in the restive peninsula that has killed hundreds of soldiers and policemen since the military overthrew Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

It has also claimed the downing of a Russian plane over Sinai on October 31, which killed all 224 people on board.

The Sinai jihadists pledged allegiance in November 2014 to IS, which controls parts of Iraq and Syria.
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian lawmaker Tawfik Okasha was attacked in parliament on Sunday, with one colleague hurling a shoe at him and others demanding he be suspended after he invited the Israeli ambassador for dinner. Egypt was the first of a handful of Arab countries to recognize Israel with a United States-sponsored 1979 peace accord, but Egyptian attitudes to the country's neighbor remain icy. Israel has an ambassador stationed in Cairo but Egyptian officials make a point of keeping their distance and the embassy has been the focal point of protests in the past. Okasha, a television presenter and lawmaker known for courting controversy, hosted the Israeli ambassador Haim Koren for dinner at his home in the northeastern Dakahlia province last week. He made the invitation live on his television show. The move sparked outrage in the media and in Egypt's parliament, sworn in last month, with several lawmakers demanding Okasha be dismissed from parliament and one colleague, Kamal Ahmed, hurling his shoe during the session in a fit of anger. The speaker threw both Ahmed and Okasha out of the session, according to the parliament website. Over 100 parliament members have also signed a statement seen by Reuters rejecting normalization of ties with Israel and demanding an investigation into Okasha's actions. Okasha told local media before the opening of Sunday's session that he had done nothing wrong since Egypt enjoys full diplomatic relations with Israel. Koren confirmed to Reuters that he and his staff had a three-hour dinner meeting at the Egyptian lawmaker's home on Wednesday evening. "He proposed the meeting, at which he raised ideas of us helping Egypt in the areas of water, agriculture and education - to try to set up a number of schools with Israeli training," Koren told Reuters by telephone. "I offered to work on putting this together, and that we meet again. I will soon be inviting him over to our place. He showed great courage. He knew he would be attacked, and nonetheless he stood firm on his convictions." (Reporting by Ali Abdelaty in Cairo and Dan Williams in Jerusalem; Writing by Ahmed Aboulenein; Editing by Ros Russell)
Los Angeles (AFP) - Erotic drama "Fifty Shades of Grey" triumphed Saturday at Hollywood's hall of shame, the annual Razzies anti-awards show.

The steamy romance -- described as a "warped, disturbingly abusive adult fairy tale" by movie website The Film Stage -- took the Golden Raspberry Award for joint worst picture alongside superhero flick "Fantastic Four."

The big screen adaptation of EL James' sexually explicit novel also took home worst screenplay, worst actor for Jamie Dornan, worst actress for Dakota Johnson, and worst screen combo for the pair.

"Fantastic Four," which ran "Fifty Shades" closest to top the roll of dishonor, also bagged worst director for Josh Trank and worst remake, rip-off or sequel.

The superhero flop was rated at nine percent on the Rotten Tomatoes movie ranking website, where it is described as "dull and downbeat," and a "woefully misguided," humorless adaption of the comic.

In the 36th annual Razzies, hosted at the Palace Theater in downtown Los Angeles, the worst supporting actress was won by Kaley Cuoco for "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip."

Eddie Redmayne -- an Oscar nominee for best actor for the "Danish Girl" -- was named worst supporting actor for his bizarre turn in "Jupiter Ascending" as Emperor Balem Abrasax.

The Razzies were created in 1980 as an antidote to Hollywood's star-studded, back-slapping annual awards season, which climaxes on Sunday with the 88th Oscars.

"The $4.97 gold spray-painted Razzie Award is handed out to otherwise great talent who should know better than to associate their name with sub-par projects," the awards show says on its Twitter bio.

All but one of the Razzie categories are chosen by the 800 or so members of the Golden Raspberry Award Foundation, who earn voting rights by paying a $40 membership fee, with a $25 annual renewal.

Nominees very rarely attend the Razzies. Sandra Bullock turned up to accept worst actress in 2010 for "All About Steve," a day before winning best actress Oscar for "The Blind Side."
Many eyes will be on the drinking water crisis in Flint, Mich., next weekend when Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders use the beleaguered city as the backdrop for a nationally televised debate.

The Democratic candidates have made the emergency over lead-contaminated drinking water in the city of nearly 100,000 mostly poor and minority residents a cause celebre. The biggest concern is that an estimated 8,000 children under the age of six may have been exposed to lead in Flints water during the past year  and possibly suffered brain impairment -- while city, state and federal officials put in charge of the municipal water system may have covered up the problem or been slow to respond.

Related: How the Flint Drinking Water Crisis Became a Political Punching Bag

Sanders, the socialist presidential candidate from Vermont, has called for Republican Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to resign over Flints lead-contaminated water supply. He called it one of the worst public health crises in the modern history of this country.

But for all the deserved attention Flints struggling residents are receiving, the problem of high levels of lead in municipal drinking water is unfortunately an all too common occurrence.

Just last Wednesday, Mississippi state authorities cautioned that pregnant women and young children in the city of Jackson  the state capital -- should refrain from drinking unfiltered tap water because of the high levels of lead that have been discovered.

Lead is a metal that can cause behavior problems and learning disabilities in infants and children. State health officials notified Jackson in January that 22 percent of water samples taken from homes last June had tested above dangerous levels. Some of the lead levers were as high as eight times the federal level of 15 parts per billion, according to the Associated Press. City officials blame the problem on old, unsafe plumbing in individual homes.

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Related: Flints Drinking Water Crisis Just Got More Toxic with Legionnaires Disease

Tony Yarber, the mayor, and other city officials repeatedly sought to downplay comparisons between Jacksons problems and those of Flint, where the lead poisoning of the drinking water went undetected  or unacknowledged  for well over a year. "We're not just like Flint," Sheila Byrd, a spokesperson for the mayor, told Mississippi reporters.

It should come as little surprise that many other cities are suffering similar problems in the face of the nations aging infrastructure. While lawmakers and policy makers typically focus their attention on dilapidated highways, bridges and mass transit, the problem of aging and corroding water pipes and systems pose serious public health problems.

Flint residents first began complaining in April 2014 after the emergency financial manager appointed by Gov. Snyder ordered a switch from Lake Huron to the Flint River as the source of the citys drinking water. When the highly acidic Flint River water wasnt properly treated, it corroded old underwater pipes that began leaching lead into the water system. By last March  with residents up in arms  the city government voted to switch back to the old source of water used by the city of Detroit, but by then it was too late.

Other cities have had similar  albeit less dramatic -- problems with ancient pipes and storage systems that are prone to mishaps or calamities.

Related: Michigan governor to request federal aid in Flint water crisis

For example, routine laboratory tests last August in Sebring, Ohio, turned up unsafe levels of lead in the towns drinking water after workers stopped adding a chemical to keep lead water pipes from corroding, according to The New York Times. It took five months before city officials warned pregnant women and children not to drink the water and to shut down taps and drinking fountains in the schools.

A similar problem with lead arose in 2001 in Washington, D.C., the nations capital, after public works officials changed how they disinfected drinking water. The levels of lead in the tap water of thousands of homes shot up by as much as 20 times the federally approved level. Yet many residents didnt find out about this problem for three years.

There have been other examples of this over the past decade. It took more than three years before testing in 2014 finally confirmed that drinking water in Brick Township, N.J., an ocean side community of 75,000, contained excess lead levels in many homes.

The Times reported that despite these and other problems, federal officials and many scientists agree that the majority of the countrys 53,000 community water systems provide safe drinking water. But episodes likes those in Sebring and Washington are unsettling reminders of what experts say are holes in the safety net of rules and procedures intended to keep water not just lead-free, but free of all poisons, the newspaper reported.

Related: Federal officials probe lead-tainted water in Flint, Michigan

One of the more glaring loopholes is an EPA lead regulation that requires water systems to test in only a small number of homes with lead pipes  usually 50 to 100 for larger systems. Sometimes the intervals between testing can stretch by as much as three years. By then, many residents could have consumed unhealthy lead levels.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
By Tina Bellon BERLIN (Reuters) - A 95-year-old former Nazi SS paramedic at the Auschwitz death camp, accused of being an accomplice to the murder of thousands, is to stand trial in Germany on Monday, one in a series of such recent cases. Hubert Zafke was serving as a medic in the SS at the biggest death camp in occupied Poland where he was deployed in 1943. During the trial, he will be faced with the accounts of at least two witnesses. Prosecutors in the northern German city of Schwerin say that Zafke, in his function as a medic, supported the slaughter at Auschwitz, where over 1.2 million people, most of them Jews, were killed. Zafke was responsible for treating SS members in case of sickness, not any of the inmates, but prosecutors say he was stationed directly on the path leading to the gas chambers. According to initial investigations, Zafke did not deny having been an SS member at Auschwitz but he maintains not to have witnessed anything about the killings. The prosecutors say that, among being a witness to these gas chambers walks, he also must have been aware of the constant smoke arising from the crematoriums. A precedent for such cases was set in 2011, when former Nazi guard John Demjanjuk was sentenced for being an accessory to the Nazis' mass murder during the Holocaust. Demjanjuk's conviction, allowing the pursuit of those involved in the death camp apparatus even if no individual murder could be proven, paved the way for late Nazi trials, with at least four Auschwitz cases scheduled this year alone. Germany's Nazi past has weighed heavily on the country and even today forms the backdrop to national debates on issues such as how to deal with refugees of war. These latest Nazi trials, among the last as that generation dies out, may help draw a line under this chapter in the country's history. Trials are kept short on health grounds because the age of the accused. Zafke's charges focus on a month-long period between August and September 1944, when 14 deportation trains from Poland, Slovenia, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands arrived at the camp. One carried Anne Frank, the German-born Jewish writer, whose "Diary of a young girl" became one of the most widely known witness accounts of the Holocaust, documenting her life in hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. Anne Frank and her sister Margot were eventually transferred westwards to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they died shortly before its liberation in April 1945. Zafke has already been charged abroad for his role at Auschwitz. In 1946, a Polish court sentenced him to four years in prison. Afterwards, Zafke returned to Germany, where he worked as an agricultural salesman. (Reporting By Tina Bellon; editing by John O'Donnell)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former finance co-chair of Chris Christie's presidential campaign on Sunday slammed Christie's recent endorsement of Donald Trump, according to NBC, calling for the New Jersey governor's supporters to reject the Republican front-runner. "Chris Christie's endorsement of Donald Trump is an astonishing display of political opportunism. Donald Trump is unfit to be president," Meg Whitman, chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, said in a statement reported by NBC's "Meet the Press" program. Christie, appearing on ABC's "This Week" program, responded by describing Whitman "a great friend" with a different political opinion. "And that's OK. That's what makes this country great is that people can have differences of political opinion," he said. Just days before the Super Tuesday nominating contests, Christie on Friday became the most prominent mainstream Republican to get behind the billionaire Republican front-runner and former reality TV star, declaring Trump to have the best chance of defeating Democrat Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 U.S. presidential election. But Whitman's statement said the New Jersey governor made his statement despite his own public misgivings about a Trump presidency. "Trump would take America on a dangerous journey. Christie knows all that and indicated as much many times publicly," Whitman said. Trump's unorthodox candidacy has shaken the Republican Party and has drawn increasingly vehement criticism from his rivals. But a growing number of senior Republicans are becoming resigned to the idea he will be their candidate in November. Christie, who withdrew his own White House bid earlier this month, denied that he reversed course on Trump after promising New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper publisher Joe McQuaid that he would not endorse him after the billionaire won the state's Feb. 9 primary election. "It's just not true. He called me two days after the primary and said, I was just told that you're about to endorse Donald Trump. And I said to him, that's absolutely untrue. I'm not about to endorse anybody," Christie told ABC. (Reporting by Alana Wise and David Morgan; Editing by Ros Russell)
PARIS (Reuters) - The French government is willing to support a 10-year extension to the life of the country's nuclear reactors, operated by utility EDF, Energy Minister Segolene Royal told France 3 television on Sunday. Nuclear power provides about 75 percent of France's electricity, but the industry has come under the spotlight since the 2011 Fukushima disaster in Japan and France has pledged to reduce its reliance on nuclear to 50 percent by increasing renewable energy. Asked if she was ready to raise the limit on existing reactors to 50 years from 40 years, Royal said: "Yes, I am ready to give this the green light, depending obviously on the opinion of the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) .... the French people have for years invested a lot in the nuclear reactors." The ASN watchdog has the power to halt nuclear installations at any time if it sees a risk and is the only authority which can allow an extension to the life of the reactors beyond 40 years. State-owned EDF operates 58 nuclear reactors in France. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by David Goodman)
Berlin (AFP) - Germany wants North African countries to speed up repatriations of rejected asylum seekers, its interior minister said ahead of a visit from Sunday to the region.

Thomas de Maiziere, who is to visit Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, said many applicants lacked travel documents or gave false names and other personal details, making it more difficult to send them back to their countries of origin.

Modern technology such as biometric identity papers could help, he told AFP, adding that "we could imagine offering our support" in the area.

"Our goal is to make the procedures more efficient and faster," he said in written responses to AFP questions ahead of his departure for Morocco later Sunday.

After taking in more than one million asylum seekers last year, Germany is trying to reduce arrivals, including with a law to declare Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia safe countries of origin.

A similar designation adopted for several Balkans countries raised the bar for asylum applications and sharply reduced the influx from the region of what Germany considers "economic refugees".

Arrivals from North Africa jumped in late 2015 but in January dropped off to 1,600 each from Morocco and Algeria and 170 Tunisians, according to government data.

Human rights groups have opposed a "safe" designation for the three Maghreb countries under a law awaiting upper house approval, pointing to discrimination against homosexuals and curbs on free speech and assembly.

De Maiziere rejected the criticism, saying that although designated safe countries are assumed to not systematically persecute their citizens, individual requests for protection would still be considered.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has come under intense pressure to limit the influx, mainly from war-torn Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, with the southern state of Bavaria demanding permanent controls on its border with Austria.

State premier Horst Seehofer has repeatedly called for a cap on arrivals and charged in comments to news weekly Der Spiegel that "the country is divided. The people are unsettled, polarisation is on the rise."

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Bavaria's interior ministry has instructed police to work out a scenario for quickly deploying thousands of officers to shut the border, public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk reported.

Merkel received high praise, however, for her liberal migrant policy from World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim

Kim called her welcome to people fleeing war and desperation "very inspiring", according to Welt am Sonntag newspaper, and described her as one of the "most extraordinary" world leaders.
Aden (AFP) - Gunmen killed a pro-government Sunni Salafist cleric on Sunday in Yemen's main southern city of Aden, home to a growing jihadist presence, a security official said.

Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Adani was shot dead as he was heading to a mosque near his home, the official said.

Adani headed a Salafist religious school which attracts both local and foreign students.

He was known for his stance against the Shiite Huthi rebels as well as against the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda which are becoming increasingly active in Aden, sources there said.

According to Zaid al-Sallami, an Aden-based expert on Islamist groups, Adani was known for "rejecting violence and terrorism".

His murder was an attempt to "push moderate Salafist youths towards violence", Sallami said.

Al-Qaeda and IS have stepped up attacks in Aden despite the efforts of the government and its backers in a Saudi-led coalition battling the Huthis and their allies to secure it.

In another sign of growing unrest in Aden, clashes broke out near the entrance to the presidential palace in the port city's Crater district between presidential guards and soldiers demanding their salaries, an official told AFP.

The fighting spread to nearby residential districts and there were casualties, the official and residents said.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's internationally recognised government has declared Aden the country's provisional capital after the Huthis and their allies drove it out of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen since September 2014.

The rebels controlled Aden for months before government loyalists pushed them out in July.

Because of the unrest gripping Aden, Hadi himself and many senior officials in his government spend most of their time in Riyadh, which has led an anti-rebel coalition since March 26 last year.
RALEIGH The matchup in the Democratic primary for North Carolina Attorney General pits an insider against an outsider.State Sen. Josh Stein, who worked in the North Carolina Department of Justice before being elected to the General Assembly, will face Robeson County attorney Marcus Williams.Stein, a four-term senator from Raleigh, is seeking to succeed four-term Attorney General Roy Cooper, who is running for governor. Stein wants to return to the Justice Department, where he served as senior deputy attorney general in the area of consumer protection.Stein's campaign website touts his accomplishments during his tenure from 2001-08 against predatory lenders, online identity thieves, and companies engaged in unfair practices in this state.He was elected to the state Senate in 2008 and has continued to be an advocate for consumer protection and civil rights in the legislature. Stein wants to continue those fights as attorney general, according to his campaign website. The three priorities Stein has embraced are promoting public safety, protecting seniors and consumers, and preserving clean air and water.Stein presently holds a significant fundraising advantage as his campaign reported $1.49 million on hand at the end of 2015. He raised more than $500,000 during the last half of 2015.Stein has experience with statewide races, having served on the campaign of U.S. Sen. John Edwards, and providing Edwards with legal counsel.Stein is a graduate of Dartmouth College, and earned his law degree from Harvard University. He currently practices law in Wake County.Stein has been active in the community, especially with Interact, a domestic violence prevention organization. He also serves on the advisory board of Triangle Family Services, which is dedicated to building healthy and secure families, according to his website.Stein's opponent is a self-described perennial candidate but he does not see that as a bad thing. Williams has run statewide numerous times as a long-shot candidate, including bids for governor and U.S. Senate. But he has yet to advance past a primary.Williams has used those runs as a platform to create awareness, and stimulate debate about issues affecting African-American residents. He also has been active in local Democratic politics, including service as precinct chairman and organizer.As an attorney, Williams touts his experience in both criminal and civil litigation.Williams said.Williams said.If elected attorney general, Williams said, he would push more accountability from police departments across the state. He also would continue to push for more stringent enforcement of environmental regulations in light of the coal ash spill into the Dan River at Eden. And he would like to work for a more tolerant society.Williams said his political hero was President John F. Kennedy because of the changes he brought about in the 1960s.Williams reported collecting less than $2,100 in contributions during 2015 and no cash on hand at the end of the year.
COLUMBIA, S.C.  Hillary Clinton trounced her rival Bernie Sanders in South Carolina Saturday, her second decisive win in a week as she heads into Super Tuesday.



Tomorrow, this campaign goes national, Clinton said to a fired-up crowd at the volleyball court in the University of South Carolina.

Her speech was largely aimed at GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, as if she were already the nominee making a general election pitch. We dont need to make America great again. America never stopped being great, she said. Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers.



She quoted Scripture and asked for more love and kindness, setting up a sharp contrast to Trump.

The win dims Sanders prospects but at the same time makes it even more urgent for Clinton to appeal to his supporters, a passionate part of the Democratic base she can ill afford to alienate before the general election.



Clinton campaigned hard in the state, drawing large, mostly African-American crowds to town halls and rallies across South Carolina. (ABC exit polling showed that Clinton won 84 percent of the black vote.) She stressed her personal commitment to the state, which she first visited as a young lawyer fighting against a system that sent juveniles to adult jails, and slammed Sanders on gun control in particular. She campaigned with African-American mothers whose children were killed by police or in incidents of gun violence, and made reforming the criminal justice system and ending systemic racism a centerpiece of her stump speech.

Her high-profile surrogates also made the case that Sanders courting of the black vote was driven by political necessity  flipping the script on the insurgent candidate who has run on his authenticity.

Hillary Clinton greets supporters at her election night party for the South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday. (Photo: Gerald Herbert/AP)



Slideshow: Clinton wins big in South Carolina >>>

Dont you come to my communities, talk about how much you care, talk your passion for criminal justice, and then I dont hear from you after an election. And I didnt hear from you before the election, Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey told a group of mostly black voters who gathered in a Methodist church in Florence to hear Clinton speak Thursday.

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In a statement, Sanders congratulated Clinton on her win but said the race was far from over. This campaign is just beginning, he said. We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now its on to Super Tuesday.

Sanders, surging after a big win in New Hampshire, hit a wall in this state, where exit polls suggested more than 60 percent of the Democratic primary voters were black. Despite outreach attempts and the testimony of African-American surrogates who crisscrossed South Carolina on his behalf, Sanders did not make significant inroads with black voters here. At a muted rally Friday night in Columbia, the Vermonter remained confident. Im going to need your help the day after the general election, Sanders told the mostly white crowd of a couple of hundred supporters.

His campaign team has long been prepared for the possibility that Sanders would lose in Nevada and Southern states, where Clinton has stronger minority support. But they like his chances in Super Tuesday states such as Colorado, Massachusetts and Sanders home state of Vermont. Sanders left South Carolina on Saturday morning for rallies in Texas and Minnesota, which both vote Tuesday. Still, in order to catch up to Clintons delegate count, Sanders would have to win by wider margins in these states than polling shows hes getting.

Clinton hugs a supporter during a primary night party in Columbia, S.C. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

If Clinton keeps amassing delegates and Sanders is forced to concede this spring, the former secretary of state faces the daunting task of drawing Sanders supporters to her without pivoting so far to the left that she alienates moderate Democrats in the general election. Clinton has had trouble attracting white men and younger voters. President Obama was reelected in 2012 with just 39 percent of the white vote, which has presented a new path to the presidency driven by galvanizing minority communities. Still, Sanders has attracted a disproportionate share of young voters, a demographic Clinton has acknowledged she needs to win over.

On Thursday, a high school senior asked Clinton what she would do to ignite the same kind of fire in young voters that Sanders has, suggesting that she start a youth advisory council and appoint him to it.

I want to  get all your information, Clinton said. Your suggestion is a very good one. Clinton added that she knows many young people are supporting Sanders and called millennials one of the most generous, tolerant, connected generations in human history.

I know they may not be for me now, but Ill be for them always, she said, a line shes repeated several times.

Clinton spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri said earlier Thursday that Clinton wants Sanders voters to get to know her better and believes she can talk them over to her side with time.

We just refuse to accept that we cant convince them, Palmieri said of Sanders supporters, particularly the young ones. He has very committed supporters, and we respect that.  These are people that are engaged enough to care. [Clinton] was one of those people.

She wants them to know her better, she said.

But some hardcore Sanders supporters, who label themselves Bernie or Bust, said they would rather sit out the general election than cast their vote for Clinton.

Shawn Crowe, a 49-year-old Columbia native who works on refrigeration equipment, said he was a lifelong Republican until 2012, when he became disillusioned with how the party treated Ron Paul. He threw his support behind Sanders last May.

Clinton supporters in Columbia, S.C., cheer as the networks project her as the winner of the South Carolina primary. (Photo: Randall Hill/Reuters)

If Clinton wins the nomination, he wont vote for her for president.

Thats not really for partisan reasons. I just dont trust her, he said at a rally for Sanders in Columbia. Theres going to be a lot of people [like me]. We call them Bernie or Bust people. Im one of them. I dont have a plan B.

The rapper Killer Mike, a Sanders surrogate, said he hadnt made up his mind what he would do if Clinton runs against a Republican.

To be honest with you, I dont know, he said while at a campaign stop at the Phlayva barbershop. Because I just dont support oligarchies. I dont wish to vote for another Clinton or Bush.

Others at the Sanders rally said theyd hold their nose and vote for Clinton. I wouldnt really want to, but Id have to, said Anna Mesa, 22. I dont trust her.

Still, some Sanders supporters have already made the jump, hoping to get the party united around one nominee to have a better shot at beating whomever the Republicans put up.

Columbia resident James Anthony was persuaded to shift his support from Sanders to Clinton by his friend Carole Benson. She told me that a vote for Bernie is a vote for Trump, Anthony said at a rally for Clinton Thursday night. I love his ideas, I love the idealism. But its not doable.

Clinton with supporters at a South Carolina primary night party. (Photo: Randall Hill/Reuters)


Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp won a key by-election on Monday, with one young activist who advocates independence from China also taking tens of thousands of votes in closely-watched polls at a time of rising political tension.

While it was a candidate from one of the established pro-democracy parties who won the election, the results showed growing support for the more radical "localist" movement, which advocates far greater autonomy from Beijing amid rising concerns over Chinese interference.

The movement grew out of the failure of pro-democracy rallies in 2014 to win concessions on political reform and advocates more radical tactics to force change.

Student Edward Leung, 24, one of the leaders of localist group Hong Kong Indigenous, took more than 66,000 votes in the election held Sunday in New Territories East -- far more than observers expected.

That secured him third place behind pro-Beijing candidate Holden Chow in second and Alvin Yeung of the established pro-democracy Civic Party who won the seat.

Yeung took 160,880 votes to Chow's 150,329 in the by-election, triggered when a prominent pro-democracy politician stood down.

The seat in the mainly middle-class constituency in the north of Hong Kong is traditionally a democratic stronghold.

Leung's slice of the vote was an indication of widening sympathy for localists, some of whom were involved in clashes with police earlier this month which left more than 100 injured.

Leung is currently facing a rioting charge for his involvement.

He said his group must be taken more seriously after the election result.

"In the past, the government, political parties, mainstream media have billed us as rioters. Now we have a mandate from 66,000 voters," Leung said.

Winning candidate Yeung has distanced himself from Leung's radicalism, but said the result should make the government sit up and listen.

"The number of votes obtained by myself and Edward Leung is not trivial. It is reflecting a serious governance issue," he said.

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Hong Kong was handed back to China by former colonial power Britain in 1997 and its freedoms are protected by a 50-year agreement.

But there is growing concern those freedoms are under threat as China seeks to stamp its authority on the semi-autonomous territory.

Political analyst Willy Lam said the pro-democracy camp must have been "very reassured" by the Civic Party's win in the face of the failure of the pro-democracy rallies.

But he added it was the localist movement that was gathering momentum.

"Hong Kong Indigenous garnered a lot more votes than people expected," said Lam.

"The fact they did so well shows these nativist 'Hong Kong first' sentiments have grown amongst young people," he added.

Lam said it could pave the way for more localist wins at legislative elections in September, in which student leader Joshua Wong's pro-democracy campaign group Scholarism will also stand for office.

The pro-Beijing camp casts democracy campaigners as a threat to stability and prosperity in Hong Kong.

Beijing has dismissed localists as "separatists" -- a label they do not shy away from.
By Sanjeev Miglani and David Brunnstrom NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - India and the United States are closing in on an agreement to share military logistics after 12 years of talks, officials said, a sign of strengthening defense ties between the countries as China becomes increasingly assertive. The United States has emerged as India's top arms source after years of dominance by Russia, and holds more joint exercises with it than any other country. It is in talks with New Delhi to help build its largest aircraft carrier in the biggest military collaboration to date, a move that will bolster the Indian navy's strength as China expands its reach in the Indian Ocean. After years of foot-dragging by previous governments over fears that the logistics agreement would draw India into a binding commitment to support the United States in war, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration has signaled a desire to move ahead with the Logistics Support Agreement (LSA). That would allow the two militaries to use each other's land, air and naval bases for resupplies, repair and rest, officials said. Admiral Harry Harris, head of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Command, said the two sides were working on the LSA, another agreement called the CISMOA for secure communications when the militaries operate together, and a third on exchange of topographical, nautical, and aeronautical data. "We have not gotten to the point of signing them with India, but I think we're close," Harris, due in India this week, told the U.S. House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. The progress comes as the countries consider joint maritime patrols that a U.S. official said could include the South China Sea, where China is locked in a territorial dispute with Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan among others. Both sides, though, said there were no immediate plans for such patrols, which drew strong condemnation from Beijing. An Indian government official said the main impediment to signing the LSA had been cleared, after Washington gave an assurance that New Delhi was not bound by it if the U.S. went to war with a friendly country or undertook any other unilateral action that New Delhi did not support. "It has been clarified that it will be done on a case-to-case basis; it's not automatic that either side will get access to facilities in the case of war," the official familiar with the negotiations said. India's previous center-left government was worried the agreements would undermine India's strategic autonomy and that it would draw it into an undeclared military alliance with the United States. Concerns linger over the proposed communications agreement, with some branches of the military including the air force fearing it would allow the United States to access their communications network. U.S. officials said they hoped that once the logistics agreement was signed, the others would follow. A U.S. defense industry source engaged in business in India said there were expectations the LSA could be sealed by the time U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter visited New Delhi in April. The source said Modi's office was directly involved in the matter and actively considering the agreements as a key for enhanced cooperation. India has been alarmed by Chinese naval forays into the Indian Ocean and its involvement in maritime infrastructure on island nations that it traditionally considered its back yard. It has moved to shore up naval forces and build defense ties with Japan and Vietnam, besides the United States. "There is growing convergence between Obama's Asia pivot and Modi's Act East policy," said Saroj Bishoyi, an expert on the proposed India-U.S. collaboration at the government-funded Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi. "The LSA currently appears to be a doable agreement." (Writing by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A man in India stabbed 14 members of his own family to death, including seven children, before hanging himself, police said on Sunday, in one of the country's worst - and grizzliest - massacres in recent years. Thirty five year-old Hasnin Warekar killed his parents and several of his sisters and their children at the family home shortly after midnight in the city of Thane, about 27 kms (16.8 miles) north of Mumbai, police spokesman Gajanan Kabdule said. One of Warekar's sisters survived the attack, and is being treated for her injuries in hospital. "He used a big knife. He killed his parents, his sisters and his sisters' children. He slit their throats," Kabdule told Reuters. Police are investigating the possibility that a property dispute lay behind the massacre, although a motive is yet to be established, he said. Local media reported that Warekar had laced his family's food with a sedative before slaughtering them, but Kabdule said this was unconfirmed as samples taken from the house were still being analyzed. (Reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Clelia Oziel)
By Samia Nakhoul TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and reformist partners won a big vote of confidence in elections that could speed up Iran's emergence from isolation, and a key ally told long dominant hardliners to accept that voters wanted them to step aside. The polls for parliament and a leadership body were seen by analysts as a potential turning point for Iran, where nearly 60 percent of its 80 million population is under 30 and eager to engage with the world following the lifting of most sanctions. While advances by moderates and independents in Friday's polls were most evident in the capital, the scale of the gains in Tehran suggests a legislature more friendly to the pragmatist Rouhani is now a distinct possibility. Top Rouhani ally Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a shrewd political fixer and veteran pro-reform figure, urged hardliners not to stand in the way. "No one is able to resist against the will of the majority of the people and whoever the people don't want has to step aside," he said in a message on Twitter, referring to the contest for the 290-seat parliament and 88-member Assembly of Experts. A loosening of control by the anti-Western hardliners who currently dominate both bodies could strengthen Rouhani's hand to open Iran further to foreign trade and investment following last year's breakthrough nuclear deal. In his first comments since the elections, Iran's deeply anti-Western Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised the high turnout but made no direct comment on the results. However in a statement he appeared to set out the values he would like to see in the newly elected bodies, suggesting they should not be influenced by the West. "Advancement doesnt mean getting absorbed by global arrogance", he said, using a term for the United States. A more toughly worded comment came from hardline judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Emoli Larijani, who accused reformists of working with "American and English media outlets" to block hardliners from winning seats the experts assembly. "Is this type of coordination with foreigners in order to push out these figures from the Assembly of Experts in the interests of the regime?" he said in a statement. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a powerful hardline paramilitary organization close to Khamenei, issued a statement praising the turnout and implicitly accepting the results, but it too described the anti-U.S. stance it would like to see. "The election winners will do their best to protect Iran's dignity, power and independence; resolve the main issues for society and the people; and defeat the global arrogance by their awareness and wisdom," it said, referring to the United States. A reformist-backed list of candidates aligned with Rouhani was on course to win all 30 parliamentary seats in Tehran, initial results released on Sunday showed. Top conservative candidate Gholamali Haddad Adel was set to lose his seat, preliminary results showed. "The people showed their power once again and gave more credibility and strength to their elected government," Rouhani said, adding he would work with anyone who won election to build a future for the industrialized, oil-exporting country. Principlists, otherwise known as hardliners, hold 65 percent of the outgoing parliament and the rest is divided between reformists and independents who traditionally support Rouhani. "It is a very big victory," said analyst Saeed Leylaz who was an adviser to former reformist President Mohammad Khatami. "It is very good news for President Rouhani. We will have a very rational parliament, a less factional parliament, a more expert and technocrat parliament." Tens of millions crowded polling stations on Friday to vote for parliament and the experts assembly, which selects the country's highest authority, the supreme leader. Supporters of Rouhani, who promoted the nuclear deal, were pitted against hardliners close to Khamenei, who are wary of detente with Western countries. ACUMEN Rouhani and Rafsanjani led the race for the experts assembly with most votes counted, and appeared to be sure of winning seats, early results released on Saturday showed. The contest may prove crucial. Because of Khameneis health and age, 76, the new assembly members who serve eight-year terms are likely to choose his successor. The next leader could well be among those elected this week. Rafsanjani is among the founders of the Islamic Republic and a former president. Often at the center of Iran's intricate webs of power, he is famous for his pragmatism and political acumen. In backing such a dealmaker, the reformists hoped that in alliance with moderate conservatives and independents they would be able to block the three main ultra-conservative leaders - Ahmad Jannati, Mohammad Yazdi and Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi - from emerging as Khameneis successor. Early results suggested some of that goal was met. Just one prominent hardliner was on course to be elected in the experts assembly race in Tehran -- Jannati, in 15th place out of the 16 seats reserved for the capital's candidates. The assembly's current chairman, Mohammad Yazdi, in 17th, and the arch-conservative Mesbah-Yazdi, in 19th, appeared unlikely to win a seat, according to partial results. Mesbah-Yazdi is a fierce critic of reformists and has even advocated violence against its supporters. INFLUENCE A Reuters tally, based on official results published so far, suggested the pro-Rouhani camp and allied independents were leading in the parliamentary vote. Some moderate conservatives, including current speaker Ali Larijani, support Rouhani. Reformists had nearly 25 percent, independents 21 and principlists 36, according to calculations based on final results, excluding Tehran where results remain preliminary. Eighteen percent of candidates will have to go to run-offs in late April because nobody won the required 25 percent of votes cast. Over a dozen of the initial winners were women. Analysts say the large number of independents may be significant as they could cooperate across ideological lines with Rouhani's government. But whatever the outcome, Iran's political system places much power in the hands of the conservative Islamic establishment including the Guardian Council, which vets all laws passed by parliament. (Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, Sam Wilkin and Parisa Hafezi; Editing by William Maclean and Anna Willard)
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel on Sunday welcomed the fragile ceasefire in neighbouring Syria but warned it would not accept Iranian "aggression" or the supply of advanced weapons to Hezbollah.

"We welcome the efforts to reach a stable, long-term and feasible ceasefire in Syria," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting.

"Anything that can stop the terrible slaughter there is important, first and foremost from a humanitarian point of view."

The premier added however that "it's important it remains clear any agreement in Syria must include an end to Iranian aggression aimed at Israel from Syria's territory."

"We won't accept the supply of advanced arms to Hezbollah from Syria and Lebanon. We won't accept the creation of a second terror front on the Golan. These were, and remain, Israel's red lines."

The ceasefire, brokered by Washington and Moscow, appeared to be largely holding on Sunday, its second day.

Israel is reported to have carried out a series of raids in Syria targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah and the delivery of weapons to the Lebanese Shiite militia, which is supporting Syrian regime forces.

Israel has coordinated its actions with Russia since Moscow launched an air campaign against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's armed opponents in late September to avoid unintentional clashes.

Iran has remained a staunch ally of Assad, providing military advisers on the ground and "volunteers" to fight alongside regime forces.
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's government is working on a new law on adopting children, to include gay couples, after cutting a controversial adoption provision from a bill on civil unions last week, a prominent minister said on Sunday. The bill on civil unions for same-sex and heterosexual couples split parliament down religious lines and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi stripped out the most controversial clause, which would have allowed unmarried couples some adoption rights. Reform Minister Maria Elena Boschi, a close Renzi ally, told La Repubblica newspaper new legislation would apply to gay couples and single people. "We are preparing a very complex law which does not only regard adoptions for gay couples," she was quoted as saying. Boschi added, "We need to get to grips with the entire adoption system, update it, review it, simplify it." The "stepchild adoption" clause, which would have allowed one partner to adopt the other's child, split Renzi's ruling coalition, partly because of fears it would encourage surrogacy parenting, which is illegal in Italy. Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks welcomed the Senate's approval of the bill on Twitter last week, adding, "I trust next step will be law allowing stepchild adoption." But continued opposition to the idea from politicians close to the Catholic Church was underlined on Sunday by Interior Minister Angelino Alfano, whose small New Centre Right party (NCD) governs in the coalition. Asked in an interview with Il Messaggero newspaper what he thought of Boschi's plan to review adoption legislation, Alfano said NCD had already dealt with "these subjects" by voting for the bill and would go no further. "We would never have voted for the (civil unions) if we had been told stripping out the 'stepchild' was temporary, pending a new law. We will absolutely not budge on this," he said. Italy is the only major Western country that does not yet recognize civil unions, and gay rights groups were bitterly disappointed that the eventual bill did not consider children. A poll found on Saturday that a majority of Italians surveyed opposed the stepchild adoption provision. (Reporting by Isla Binnie; Editing by Ros Russell)
RALEIGH During a televised debate Thursday night, the four Democrats seeking the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Richard Burr discussed immigration, health care, the economy, keeping firearms out of the hands of people with mental health issues, and their thoughts about the incumbent.The half-hour debate, moderated by David Crabtree of WRAL News, was largely civil and had few fireworks.The notable exception came during closing remarks when Durham business owner Kevin Griffin said his opponents hadn't interacted with the public nearly as much as he had. He singled out former state Rep. Deborah Ross of Wake County, who polls show is the front-runner in the race, although more than half of Democratic voters remain undecided in the contest.Griffin said.Crabtree gave Ross an opportunity to respond.Ross said.The debate also included Spring Lake Mayor Chris Rey and Ernest Reeves, a retired Army veteran living in Greenville.Rey said he favored a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants and allowing Syrian refugees to relocate in the United States. "We do have one of the most stringent laws in place on how to bring individuals into this country," Rey said.He said that it's important for both parties to work together to fix problems with the Affordable Care Act. Rey said he didn't favor allowing people with mental health issues access to guns, but said he wanted to be a champion for mental health.Rey supports increasing the minimum wage, and said there needs to be a plan to address the growing gap between North Carolina's urban and rural economies. He also said he would not vote to confirm a person to the Supreme Court who tries to make law rather than interpret law. Rey said Burr's vote during the budget battle supporting sequestration damaged the military and particularly veterans.Reeves said that while he did not favor a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, he did favor a "pathway to stay" in the country legally. He said that Syrian refugees should be allowed in the country if they can be verified not to pose any threats to public safety. He said he would repeal the "Cadillac tax" on higher quality health insurance coverage under Obamacare and work to bring down the cost of medications.He said he would prevent mentally ill people from gaining access to weapons by backing a mental health database. Reeves supports increasing the minimum wage to $10.25 an hour and said he wouldn't support a Supreme Court nominee who didn't treat all people fairly. Reeves charged Burr with being more focused on toeing the Republican Party line than in working for the interests of all North Carolinians.Griffin said he did not favor a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, but said they should be brought in under a work permit program. "That way they're able to make use of the social services that we have available because they are paying into those," Griffin said. Regarding refugees, Griffin said, "We are the light of the world. People want to come here for a reason." He said the country could bring them in through a comprehensive screening process.He called universal health care "an absolute necessity." Griffin said he supports expanding Medicaid coverage under Obamacare. He said the ACA works well for individuals but is "very confusing" for small business owners. He said he did not favor allowing mentally ill people to own firearms, adding that more mental health services are necessary. He supports increasing the minimum wage and said he would oppose a Supreme Court nominee who did not understand how their rulings affect people on an individual level. Griffin said Burr had not distinguished himself as a leader in Washington.Ross said she favored a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill that passed the Senate two years ago. "It was supported by the North Carolina Farm Bureau, but Richard Burr voted against it," she said. "I would have voted for it." She said the United States should adhere to strict refugee guidelines and "make sure we know who's coming in."She also listed some ACA accomplishments: It prevents insurers from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions; prohibits charging women higher premiums than men; and allows children to stay on their parents' insurance until they reach age 26. Ross said she would work to repeal the law's tax on medical devices.Ross called for more stringent background checks so people with serious mental illnesses cannot purchase firearms. To boost the economy, Ross supports public works programs that create jobs and rebuild the nation's infrastructure. She said someone who would not afford people before the Supreme Court an equal opportunity to make their case would not get her support as a justice. Ross said Burr's failure to support government job-training programs for unemployed veterans was "just plain wrong."In a statement, N.C. Republican Party executive director Dallas Woodhouse said the debate showed than none of the Democrats were worthy successors of Burr.The winner of the March 15 primary will face the winner of that same day's Republican primary between Burr, Greg Brannon, Larry Holmquist, and Paul Wright. The Democratic and Republican winners will face Libertarian Sean Haugh in the November general election.
Madrid (AFP) - Barcelona came from behind to equal a Spanish record of 34 games unbeaten in all competitions by moving eight points clear at the top of La Liga with a 2-1 win over Sevilla.

Sevilla were the last side to beat Barca back in October and deservedly struck first through Vitolo.

However, as so often of late, Barca recovered from a slow start thanks to Lionel Messi's brilliant free-kick and Gerard Pique's winner early in the second-half.

Luis Enrique's men have now matched Real Madrid's record run from the 1988-89 season and in doing so moved 12 points clear of third-placed Madrid.

Atletico Madrid remain Barca's closest challengers after beating Madrid 1-0 on Saturday.

"We are in great form, but records don't mean anything. At the end of the day everything is judged by titles," Pique told Movistar+.

"Our season is well on track, but we need to finish it off."

Sevilla were a constant threat on the counter-attack, but should have taken the lead from a set-piece when Timothee Kolodziejczak somehow blazed over from point-blank range.

Barca nearly went in front in spectacular fashion as Messi's audacious attempt from a corner hit the post and Luis Suarez then blasted the rebound off the crossbar.

Sevilla did eventually make the breakthrough 20 minutes in thanks to a fine breakaway as Benoit Tremoulinas's cross from the left was slotted home at the back post by Vitolo.

However, as ever Messi came to the fore when Barca needed him most and the five-time World Player of the Year levelled with a stunning free-kick high into the far corner 11 minutes later.

Sergio Rico prevented Messi turning the game around single-handedly before the break with a great save low to his left.

Barca upped the pace after the break and were rewarded when brilliant link-up play between Messi and Suarez teed up Pique to tap home from close range.

Sevilla still had the chance to take something from the game when Claudio Bravo flew from his line to block Kevin Gameiro as the Frenchman bore down on goal.

Story continues

Earlier, Valencia's four-game winning run came to a sudden halt as Gary Neville's men were beaten 3-0 by Athletic Bilbao in a dress rehearsal of their Europa League last-16 tie.

The Basques moved up to seventh in La Liga with three goals in seven second-half minutes at Mestalla.

However, Neville was furious at two strong Valencia penalty appeals that were waived away before the opener.

"I thought the referee was a joke," said the former Manchester United captain.

"I've not blamed refs in every game, but his management of the game was awful. Some of the things he did were incredible."

Sabin Merino headed the visitors in front before Iker Muniain then doubled the lead to register his first goal in 18 months.

And Aritz Aduriz compounded a miserable afternoon for Neville by rising highest to head home Benat Extebarria's corner for his 27th goal of the season.

Villarreal moved to within two points of Real Madrid by stretching their unbeaten league run to 13 games with a comfortable 3-0 win over Levante thanks to goals from Leo Baptistao, Samu Castillejo and Adrian Lopez.

Marcelino's men should at least be assured a place in the Champions League qualifiers next season as they now lead Sevilla by 11 points in the fight for fourth place.
Bill Clinton

A protester who identified himself as a former Marine confronted former US president Bill Clinton at a rally in South Carolina on Friday.

The exchange began as Clinton spoke in support of his wife Hillary Clinton's current run for the White House.

The protester, who according to American Military News was a US Marine veteran who served two tours of duty in Iraq, began talking to Bill Clinton about the US Department of Veterans Affairs.

The former commander in chief responded by asking, "What should we do about the VA?"

But the former Marine quickly pivoted into a speech about the 2012 terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans and seven Libyans.

The thing is, we had four lives in Benghazi killed and your wife tried to cover it up, the protester yelled. Attendees at the event started booing and security guards moved in to escort the man out of the rally.

Clinton urged the guards to let the veteran stay as Clinton tried to reason with the man.

Am I allowed to answer? Im not your commander in chief anymore, but if I were, Id tell you to be more polite and sit down.

I wouldnt listen! the man shouted back.

You can watch the full exchange here:

NOW WATCH: Sanders predicts he'll win the democratic nomination in one of the great 'political upsets in the history of the US'





More From Business Insider


Mathias Dopfner: How will Artificial Intelligence change society?

Mark Zuckerberg: From my experience, there are really two ways that people learn. One is called supervised learning and the other is unsupervised. You can think of supervised learning as they way you read a childrens book to your son or daughter and point out everything.

Heres a bird, heres a dog, theres another dog. By pointing things out, a child can eventually understand oh thats a dog because you told me 15 times that that was a dog. So thats supervised learning. Its really pattern recognition. And thats all we know how to do today.

The other, the unsupervised learning, is the way most people will learn in the future. You have this model of how the world works in your head and youre refining it to predict what you think is going to happen in the future. Using that to inform what your actions are and you kind of have some model: Okay, I am going to take some actions and I expect this to happen in the world based on my action. AI will help us with this.

Dopfner: Can you understand the concerns that business magnate Elon Musk has expressed in that context? He seriously fears that artificial intelligence could one day dominate and take over the human brain, that the machine would be stronger than men. You think that is a valid fear or do you think its hysterical?

Zuckerberg: I think it is more hysterical.

Dopfner: How can we make sure that computers and robots are serving people and not the other way around?

Zuckerberg: I think that the default is that all the machines that we build serve humans so unless we really mess something up I think it should stay that way.

Dopfner: But in chess, Garry Kasparov was beaten by the computer Big Blue in the end. So there may be more and more situations where a computer is simply smarter than a human brain.

Zuckerberg: Yes, but in that case people built that machine to do something better than a human can. There are many machines throughout history that were built to do something better than a human can. I think this is an area where people overestimate what is possible with AI.

Just because you can build a machine that is better than a person at something doesnt mean that it is going to have the ability to learn new domains or connect different types of information or context to do superhuman things. This is critically important to appreciate.

Dopfner: So this is science fiction fantasy and is not going to happen in real life and we dont need to worry about the safety of human intelligence?

Zuckerberg: I think that along the way, we will also figure out how to make it safe. The dialogue today kind of reminds me of someone in the 1800s sitting around and saying: one day we might have planes and they may crash. Nonetheless, people developed planes first and then took care of flight safety. If people were focused on safety first, no one would ever have built a plane.

This fearful thinking might be standing in the way of real progress. Because if you recognize that self-driving cars are going to prevent car accidents, AI will be responsible for reducing one of the leading causes of death in the world. Similarly, AI systems will enable doctors to diagnose diseases and treat people better, so blocking that progress is probably one of the worst things you can do for making the world better.
Actually, the question is, "how smart do others think you are?" I found this article in the WSJ fascinating: How to Look Smarter. The premise is that no matter how smart you may be, behaving in certain ways can cause others to perceive you as not so smart. It's often when people are trying to look smart that their actions and words backfire.I especially liked the point that using big words doesn't make people think you're smart: "...positive first impressions may be shattered, however, as soon as pretentious language starts interfering with others' ability to understand and communicate with you. People who embellish their writing with long, complicated words are seen as less intelligent by readers, according to a 2006 study in Applied Cognitive Psychology."As a communications professional in a large corporation, I have long advocated the use of what I call "kitchen English." When you're trying to explain a point, either in writing or in a conversation, you want the audience to understand you easily. You don't want them struggling to figure out what you mean or thinking you're unnecessarily wordy, confusing or uppity.When I read the example of someone repeatedly using the word ubiquitous because they'd just learned it, I laughed aloud and was reminded of one of my college English professors crossing through the word utilize on my paper and writing, "why not simply say use?" Perhaps that's what started me on my path to promoting kitchen English.It's not that I don't enjoy learning new words and using them in scrabble and WWF; I just don't sprinkle them throughout my daily conversations either at work or socially. I have a subscription to A Word a Day and enjoy their emails with intriguing words and quotes. And I routinely refer to myself as a word nerd and grammar geek, but that's more about being interested in words, keeping a dictionary handy and wanting to use words properly, not about wanting to show off.Does it tickle me when a friend emails or calls me to ask about a word? Well yes, but honestly if you read as many books as I do and you taught high school English in a past life as I did, you ought to know more words than the average bear. I still laugh when I think about the phone call I got one evening from a friend laughing with her husband and another friend. She said they were debating how to conjugate the word spin, and she just knew I'd have the answer. I don't know that I'd ever conjugated the word before, but I compared it to drink, drank, drunk and so came up with the right answer-spin, span, have spun.What other behaviors should you avoid if you want to appear smart? Talking too much, too loudly or trying to look serious. Once you nail how to converse more clearly and confidently and how to engage others by nodding, asking them questions and letting them get a word in edgewise, your natural intelligence can shine through.There are, however, still some age-old stereotypes about intelligence. Yup, wearing glasses or having a middle initial in your name will make folks initially perceive you as intelligent. Just don't blow that first impression by over talking, using big words or trying to refrain from gesturing with your hands and arms. The good news for me is I use my middle initial so that my maiden name isn't lost, I have no choice but to wear cheaters, I use kitchen English and I talk with my hands. That should translate into folks thinking I'm pretty darned smart, at least when they first meet me. Let's hope it extends beyond that.
Whitman introduces Christie at a rally in New Hampshire earlier this month. (Photo: Matthew Cavanaugh/Getty Images)

Meg Whitman, the Hewlett-Packard chief executive who served as the national finance co-chairman for Chris Christies failed presidential campaign, is calling the New Jersey governors endorsement of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump an astonishing display of political opportunism.

Donald Trump is unfit to be president, Whitman said in a statement Sunday. He is a dishonest demagogue who plays to our worst fears. Trump would take America on a dangerous journey.

Christie knows all that and indicated as much many times publicly, she continued. The governor is mistaken if he believes he can now count on my support, and I call on Christies donors and supporters to reject the governor and Donald Trump outright. I believe they will. For some of us, principle and country still matter.

Well, listen, I love Meg Whitman, Christie said on ABCs "This Week Sunday. Shes a great friend to me and to Mary Pat, always has been. We obviously, from that statement, have a difference of political opinion. And thats OK. Thats what makes this country great is that people can have differences of political opinion.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Whitman contributed $2,700 to Christies presidential campaign and $200,000 to the Christie super PAC America Leads.

Meg has always been free to express her views, and I honor her, Christie continued. And we absolutely adore our relationship with her and Im sure itll continue.

Trump and Christie wave as they arrive at a rally at Millington Regional Airport in Tennessee on Saturday. (Photo: Andrew Harnik/AP)



Christie, who dropped his bid for the GOP nomination earlier this month, announced his surprise endorsement of Trump on Friday at a joint press conference in Texas.

I am proud to be here to endorse Donald Trump for president of the United States, Christie said at a rally for Trump on Friday. Hell provide strong, unequivocal leadership. He will do what needs to be done to protect the American people first and foremost, both in the homeland and in creating jobs for this country. And he will make sure that people around the world know that America keeps its word again. Donald Trump is someone who, when he makes a promise, he keeps it.

Story continues

He added: I will lend my support between now and November in any way for Donald to help make this campaign an even better campaign than its already been. And then help him do whatever he needs to do to help make the country everything we want it to be for our children and grandchildren.

On Saturday, after Christie introduced Trump at a campaign rally at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Arkansas, the billionaire could be heard telling the New Jersey governor to go home, pointing to a plane waiting for him on the tarmac.
Melissa Harris-Perry is parting ways with MSNBC, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The news comes just two days after Harris-Perry reportedly walked off her show after disagreement with the direction her show was heading and pre-emptions for political coverage.

The anchor tweeted on Sunday morning: "Farewell #Nerdland. Inviting diverse new voices to table was a privilege. Grateful for years of support & criticism."

Farewell #Nerdland. Inviting diverse new voices to table was a privilege. Grateful for years of support & criticism. pic.twitter.com/DJ7MMvVreN

Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) February 28, 2016

The anchor and Maya Angelou Presidential Chair at Wake Forest University confirmed to CNNMoney that her reps are talking to MSNBC about an exit deal.

"All negotiations are occurring with third parties," Harris-Perry said in a statement to CNNMoney. "I am not personally in direct communication with anyone employed with MSNBC. The goal of the negotiation at this point is to determine the terms of severance, not reconciliation."

Harris-Perry recently sent an email to her staff noting that she felt "worthless" to NBC News executives. She posted her letter on Medium where she blamed NBC News chairman or MSNBC president Phil Griffin or the way her show is being handled. She also confirmed to the New York Times that she would not be appearing on her show this past weekend.

Read More: MSNBC Host Melissa Harris-Perry Plans to Walk Off Show Over Disagreement With Executives

Here is the reality: Our show was taken  without comment or discussion or notice  in the midst of an election season, she wrote in the letter to her staff. After four years of building an audience, developing a brand and developing trust with our viewers, we were effectively and utterly silenced.

I will not be used as a tool for their purposes, she added. I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head. I am not owned by Lack, Griffin or MSNBC. I love our show. I want it back.
By Kareem Raheem BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A twin suicide bombing claimed by Islamic State killed 70 people in a Shi'ite district of Baghdad on Sunday in the deadliest attack inside the capital this year, as militants launched an assault on its western outskirts. Police sources said the suicide bombers were riding motorcycles and blew themselves up in a crowded mobile phone market in Sadr City, wounding more than 100 people in addition to the dead. A Reuters witness saw pools of blood on the ground with slippers, shoes and mobile phones at the site of the blasts, which was sealed off to prevent further attacks. In a statement circulated online, Islamic State said it was responsible for the blasts: "Our swords will not cease to cut off the heads of the rejectionist polytheists, wherever they are," it said, using derogatory terms for Shi'ite Muslims. Iraqi forces backed by airstrikes from a U.S.-led coalition have driven Islamic State back in the western Anbar province recently and are preparing for an offensive to retake the northern city of Mosul. But the militants are still able to strike outside territory they control, often targeting members of Iraq's Shi'ite majority, most recently on Thursday when two Islamic State suicide bombers killed 15 people at a mosque in the capital. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the attacks were in response to Islamic State's recent defeats: "This gang targeted civilians after it lost the initiative and its dregs fled the battlefield before our proud fighters," he said on his official Facebook page. At dawn on Sunday, suicide bombers and gunmen attacked Iraqi security forces in Abu Ghraib, seizing positions in a grain silo and a cemetery, and killing at least 17 members of the security forces, officials said. Security officials blamed Islamic State, and a news agency that supports the group said it had launched a "wide attack" in Abu Ghraib, 25 km (15 miles) from the center of Baghdad and next to the international airport. Footage circulated online by the Amaq news agency appeared to show Islamic State fighters crouching behind dirt berms and launching the attack with automatic rifles, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Reuters could not verify the video's authenticity. Security forces had mostly regained control by Sunday evening but officials said there were still clashes. Baghdad-based security analyst Jasim al-Bahadli said the assault suggested it was premature to declare that Islamic State was losing the initiative in Iraq. "Government forces must do a better job repelling attacks launched by Daesh. What happened today could be a setback for the security forces," he said, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State. COUNTER OFFENSIVE Army and police sources said the militants had attacked from the nearby Islamic State-controlled areas of Garma and Falluja, driving Humvees and pickup trucks fixed with machine guns. A curfew was imposed as a regiment of Iraq's elite counter-terrorism forces was mobilized to retake the silo in Abu Ghraib and prevent the militants approaching the nearby airport, security officials said. Iraqi army helicopters bombarded Islamic State positions in the and Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Saad Maan said at least 20 militants had been killed in the government's counter offensive. Fighters from the Hashid Shaabi, a coalition of mainly Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias, were mobilized to Abu Ghraib to reinforce regular government forces in the area, said Jawad al-Tulaibawi, a local Hashid commander. Powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr also called on fighters loyal to him to be on alert to protect Baghdad. Shi'ite militias like Sadr's 'Peace Brigades' were seen as a bulwark against Islamic State's sweeping advance in 2014 which threatened Iraq's capital and its most sacred Shi'ite shrines. (Additional reporting by Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad and Ali Abdelaty in Cairo; Writing by Stephen Kalin and Isabel Coles; Editing by Ros Russell)
Rome (AFP) - Napoli star Lorenzo Insigne has become the latest in a long line of players from the Serie A club to be robbed at gunpoint, according to reports on Sunday.

Insigne, who has hit 11 league goals for Maurizio Sarri's title-challengers this season, was returning from a dinner with friends in his car on Saturday night when armed thieves struck.

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the thieves followed Insigne on two scooters before stopping his car, putting a gun to his face and robbing him and his companions of a luxury watch, cash and other valuables.

Reports elsewhere claimed one of the thieves, before fleeing the scene of the crime, told Insigne: "Dedicate a goal to me in the next match."

Former Napoli players Valon Behrami, Juan Zuniga and current captain Marek Hamsik have all fallen victims to armed robbers in the southern city of Naples, where Napoli are based.

The incident comes as Napoli -- who famously won their two league titles, in 1987 and 1990, when Argentine legend Diego Maradona was at the club -- enjoy one of their strongest seasons in years.

With 12 games remaining the Azzurri sit just one point behind four-time consecutive champions Juventus.

Juventus host Inter Milan later Sunday in the 'Derby d'Italia' looking to stretch their lead to four points before Napoli go to fourth-placed Fiorentina on Monday.
Pastor Mark Burns and Donald Trump (Photos: Yahoo News)

COLUMBIA, S.C.  Pastor Mark Burns is planning to have a talk with Donald Trump about the Ku Klux Klan on Sunday.

Burns is one of a number of black pastors who support Trumps presidential campaign and met with him last December. Since then, Burns has been traveling the country and speaking at Trumps rallies. Yahoo News called him on Sunday to ask about Trumps interview with CNNs Jake Tapper in which Trump declined to condemn the KKK and former KKK grand wizard David Duke. Burns, who was at an airport flying between Trump campaign events in Tennessee and Alabama, said he had a brief conversation with Trump about the issue on Saturday night and planned to discuss it further at a meeting Sunday.

We do have a meeting today about that very thing.  Were leaving one rally and flying to  Huntsville, Burns said. We had a brief conversation last night prior to this interview.  We were going to discuss some things that need to be spoken so that he continues to be a unifier and be a president for all the people.

Burns said he absolutely will be advising Trump to explicitly denounce the KKK.

Thats one of the reasons why I am here, so I can help be that ear for Mr. Trump to make sure, you know, that he is coming across, because obviously  he wants everybodys vote. Obviously, he wants to win. We want to win, Burns said. We want him to become the next president of the United States. But at the same time, he is not going to endorse any hate group, any hate group. And so, if that means coming out and saying,  I dont stand behind what the KKK stands for or what David Duke stands for, then that is what hes going to do and say. Thats our advice.

In a CNN interview on Sunday morning, Tapper asked Trump about comments Duke made on his radio show in which he told listeners that voting against Trump would be treason to your heritage.

Story continues

Just so you understand, I dont know anything about David Duke, Trump said. I dont know anything about what youre even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So I mean, I dont know  did he endorse me, or whats going on? You know, I know nothing about David Duke, I know nothing about white supremacists. And so when youre asking me a question Im supposed to be talking about people I know nothing about.

Tapper pressed Trump to just say unequivocally that you condemn them and you dont want their support.

I have to look at the group. I mean, I dont know what group youre talking about. You wouldnt want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. Id have to look. Trump said. If you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them and certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong.

Tapper expressed surprise that Trump professed to be unaware of the KKK, one of Americas best known white supremacist groups, and one Trump has previously discussed. In 2000, for example, Trump called Duke a bigot, a racist.

Hours after the CNN interview, Trump tweeted his disavowmentof Duke, noting he was asked to do so at a Friday press conference.





As I stated at the press conference on Friday regarding David Duke- I disavow. pic.twitter.com/OIXFKPUlz2  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2016



In his conversation with Yahoo News, Burns said it was important to realize Trump was saying he didnt know who David Duke was and not expressing support for him.

Obviously, he couldnt give an educated answer on who David Duke is in the first place, so you know, obviously were standing by what he said. But again, Donald Trump, none of the Trump campaign endorses anyone that obviously is designed to create a divisiveness, Burns said, adding, Mr. Trump is a unifier, and thats one of the things hes running on, to unify us. So, obviously David Duke represents a group of people that are Americans, and they have the right to believe what they want to believe, but theyre a divisive group.

Yahoo News asked Burns about Trumps comments on Duke over the years, which show an apparent familiarity with both his affiliations and his beliefs.

Im not going to begin to speak for Mr. Trump as to what he meant or what he said. I mean, he obviously said he wasnt familiar with David Duke. And he said, again, I really dont know who youre speaking of, so to really ask if Im going to accept an endorsement or reject an endorsement, I really got to know who they are. So thats what he said, and thats what he meant, Burns said.

Throughout his campaign, Trump has received support from white supremacists, neo-Nazis and Confederate groups. His campaign has not disavowed these groups. On Feb. 20, Yahoo News reported on a Confederate group in South Carolina that endorsed Trump. His campaign did not respond to requests for comment asking whether they accepted the endorsement and why they believe white supremacist groups appear drawn to Trump.
Cairo (AFP) - Egyptian lawmakers expressed outrage Sunday at their colleague Tawfiq Okasha for hosting the Israeli ambassador to dinner, and one hit him with a shoe -- an insult in the Arab world.

Lawmaker Kamal Ahmad struck Okasha, a controversial television anchor, with his shoe in the assembly amid a group of agitated lawmakers, television footage showed.

Okasha came under fire after he invited Israel's ambassador to Cairo, Haim Koren, to his home for dinner last week where they discussed Egyptian and Israeli politics.

Okasha talked about his meeting with Koren in an interview in independent Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, saying the two agreed that Israel "has a key role in the issue of the dam" being built by Ethiopia on the Nile.

Live footage broadcast by private television channel CBC Extra on Sunday showed some lawmakers escorting an angry Ahmad from the assembly as he waved his shoe.

"I expressed the Egyptian people's opinion. This shoe wasn't just intended for Tawfiq Okasha's face and head, but also for the Knesset and the Zionist entity," Ahmad said in a video posted on the newspaper Al-Shuruq's website.

Lawmakers said they had called for an internal investigation over the comments made by Okasha, who has previously aired anti-Israeli views.

"He has been referred to a special parliamentary committee for his statements, which are insults to parliament, the people and national security," lawmaker Mustafa al-Bakry told AFP.

"We can expect him to lose his membership, which would be the biggest punishment," another lawmaker, Khaled Youssef, told AFP.

The parliament said on its website it had also called for an investigation into the incident involving Ahmad.

Although Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, their ties have been formally cold over Israel's policies towards the Palestinians.

Egypt's political elite remains hostile to any normalisation of ties with Israel.

Story continues

Relations between the two further soured after the June 2012 election of the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi as Egyptian president.

Morsi was ousted in July 2013 by then army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was elected president in 2014.

In September 2015, Israel opened a new embassy in Cairo, four years after protesters stormed its mission following the ouster of longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.

The Israeli mission in Cairo, meanwhile, has described the Koren-Okasha meeting as "successful".

"The two parties agreed on staying in touch and pursuing cooperation," it said in a statement on Thursday.
Islamabad (AFP) - In the Hindu Kush mountains craftswomen painstakingly stitch flowing scarves, skilled artisans who were unable to sell their products beyond the remote region until mobile internet came to Pakistan and dropped the market into the palms of millions of previously marginalised people.

The women of northern Chitral are among the unlikely profiteers of an e-commerce boom since 3G and 4G Internet arrived in the deeply conservative Muslim country in 2014, suddenly able to market and sell traditional products without leaving their villages or in some cases even their homes.

"The online platform eliminates the middleman," says Nasrin Samad, the entrepreneur behind the artisan brand Kai, which works with women across the region.

Now, Chitrali women "have access to a global audience," she says.

Kai products are sold on polly & other stories (pollyandotherstories.com), which launched late in 2015 to connect traditional artisans like those in Chitral with consumers hungry for "authentic" products.

"Years of working with local community and craft groups had shown us how difficult it was for local small businesses, even the most talented, to access mainstream markets or connect with buyers, both within Pakistan and abroad," founder Amneh Shaikh-Farooqui told AFP.

To bridge the gap, says co-founder Ange Braid, the pair built a website to give "small, creative businesses, many of them led by women or young students, the chance to market and sell".

Opportunities like this in a country like Pakistan are "huge", says Adam Dawood, head of online marketplace Kaymu.pk.

In the first quarter of 2015 smartphone shipments to the country soared by 123 percent, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's annual report, one of the fastest growth rates in the developing world.

Broadband subscribers have topped 26 million people, the Ministry for Information Technology said in February, with broadband penetration going from three percent to more than 15 percent.

Story continues

The ministry cited World Bank studies showing that a 10 percent increase in high-speed internet connections can boost Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 1.38 percent, adding the arrival of broadband in Pakistan is set to have a "very positive impact on economic growth".

Dawood echoed the report's optimism. "There are tremendous opportunities for everyone to start selling and buying instantly and earn money," he said.

- E-mpowerment -

Women are seeing the benefits, but e-commerce presents potentially an even greater opportunity for young people in a country where roughly two thirds of the population -- of around 200 million -- are estimated to be under the age of 30.

A recent economic survey by the finance ministry singled out the challenges facing youth in Pakistan, including "limited job search expertise, a mismatch between education, aspirations and employers' requirements and a lack of mobility, among other factors".

Seventeen-year-old Daniyal Admaney says he was able to defy scepticism over his youth to launch his T-shirt design business on Kaymu, however.

"I... thought that I should do something productive during summer vacations when I have nothing to do except getting bored and sleeping," he says.

Kaymu, a venture of German company Rocket Internet, which builds online start-ups, has helped launch several other e-commerce companies unique to Pakistan such as consumer goods site Daraz.pk.

The online marketplace launched in the country about three years ago and now boasts 3,000 transactions every day, with around 11 million unique visitors in 2015, Dawood told AFP.

Kaymu now employs some 150 people in Lahore and Karachi working with 15,000 vendors like Admaney, and has a customer base of more than 300,000 people from around the country.

It has also helped bring some international e-commerce sites to Pakistan, such as carpooling site Tripda and restaurant delivery site foodpanda.

- Scramble for Pakistan? -

But global giants of e-commerce such as Amazon still do not have an established presence in Pakistan, hampered by a lack of regulations and infrastructure such as a payments system, says IT expert Shahzad Ahmad.

Unrest in the militancy-plagued country is also a factor, he says.

The promise of Pakistan remains enormous, he says, adding that the country's central bank "should undertake a study on the potential of online business and also come up with clear regulatory framework so that foreign giants are attracted to tap into Pakistani e-commerce market".

Some hurdles are in the process of being removed already. Last year the global Financial Action Task Force removed Pakistan from its list of high-risk and non-cooperative jurisdictions linked to money laundering.

Following the decision, the IT ministry announced in November it will ease e-commerce regulations and invite online payment giants PayPal and Alibaba to the country, where cash on delivery remains prevalent but use of debit and credit cards is growing.

In the meantime, ambitious Pakistanis are crowding the booming market with their own, localised, and in many cases successful products.

Launching an online business allows Nosheen Kashif, a former banker who quit her job to raise her family, to remain a housewife even as she launches an online jewellery selling business.

"The scope of selling online is nationwide," she says.
Last week, the North Carolina General Assembly reconvened for a special session to pass a new Congressional map to comply with a federal trial court's order. The eleventh hour decision by the three judge federal panel to redraw the districts within two weeks was very disappointing - even though five out of the six times that North Carolina's redistricting plans have been reviewed by the North Carolina Supreme Court, they have been validated as fair, legal and constitutional by our state's highest court. Moreover, the new map is also fair, legal, and most certainly constitutional - it splits fewer counties and precincts than any map since 1990 - it splits only 13 counties and 12 precincts. Since a stay was not granted by the U.S. Supreme Court, the primary date for only U.S. House of Representatives seats will take place on June 7, 2016. However, the primary date to vote for President and all other races will remain to take place on March 15, 2016. Below is a copy of the new congressional map.The North Carolina Agriculture and Forestry Awareness Study Commission held our meeting Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016 at the Wilkinson Center in Belhaven, N.C. I am honored to co-chair this commission and was pleased to host this meeting in Belhaven. This commission is dedicated to formulating proposals in support of our agriculture and forestry sectors. It was outstanding to see the great turnout of local farmers at the meeting - we had roughly 175 folks attend. In Eastern North Carolina, drainage is one the most vital and complex issues facing our farmers. Since the meeting, we have followed-up with a number of questions and concerns to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service pertinent to the management of wildlife refuges in the area and drainage issues affecting farmland in the surrounding area. Agriculture is the largest industry in the State of North Carolina. The industry contributes $78 billion to the state's economy and accounts for more than 17 percent of the state's income, and employs 16 percent of the work force. Therefore, we need to focus attention on our state's number one industry (agriculture) to spur job creation and economic growth.Construction is underway to replace the aging Herbert C. Bonner Bridge in the Outer Banks. Preliminary work started earlier this week to construct the $246 million replacement bridge. The project involves building a 3.5-mile bridge, which will run parallel to the existing one over the Oregon Inlet . The Bonner Bridge is an important lifeline to our state's economy, and is the only highway connection between Hatteras Island and mainland North Carolina. Finally being able to replace the Bonner Bridge is a significant gain as well as relief to the residents of the Outer Banks and the millions of visitors that travel to the area each year. The replacement of the Bonner Bridge has been deliberated for the past couple of decades. I'm thankful for the support of my colleagues in the N.C. General Assembly, Governor Pat McCrory, N.C. DOT Secretary Nick Tennyson, and N.C. DOT Division 1 Board Member Malcolm Fearing for actually getting us over the finish line with this project. Click on the picture below to see a visualization of the Bonner Bridge replacement project.Last week, the Office of State Auditor released the results of an audit of the Division of Marine Fisheries. This audit came at the request of Senators Norman Sanderson, Brent Jackson and myself. State Auditor Beth Wood, found several irregularities pertinent to the state's open meeting laws. Pursuant to North Carolina General Statute  143-318.10(d) definition of "official meeting" includes "simultaneous communication by conference telephone or other electronic means. Therefore, an email exchange constitutes as an "official meeting." The audit states, "there does appear to be emails between commission members that violate open meeting laws. Four separate email chains dated January 14, 2015, September 8, 2015, July 20, 2015, and February 10, 2015, occurred between Commission Members." In each instance, the Commission's legal counsel, Phillip Reynolds, notified Commission Members of the open meeting laws and to stop such communication via email. Needless to say, for the N.C. Marine Fisheries Commission to violate the open meeting laws on four different occasions, after being notified by their legal counsel is simply unacceptable and inexcusable.Jordan Hennessyjordan.hennessy@ncleg.net, 300 N. Salisbury StreetRoom 525  Raleigh, NC 27603Phone: Fax:
Phil Collins and ex-wife Orianne Collins-Mejjati have been through a lot together, including a record-setting public divorce and mutual health struggles, but it would appear that rather than tearing them apart, these life hurdles have actually brought the couple back together.



Speaking to PEOPLE on Friday at a press conference for their Little Dreams Foundation, which was established in 2000 to fulfill the dreams of young talents who don't have the financial means to achieve their goals, Collins said of his third wife, "Yes, we are back together!"



"It wasn't something we wanted to make a song a dance about," he adds of their under-the-radar reconciliation. "But obviously when you have children, there's two ways you can go. You can go the nasty way or you can go the nice way, and we always went the nice way ... and we realized we missed each other."



As to recent reports that Orianne said the couple, who split in 2008, will walk down the aisle again, the rock legend says that story is untrue. "Orianne did an interview in Switzerland and that got back translated from German," he explains. "She didn't actually say it."







Orianne, who is a successful jewelry designer, goes on to clarify the situation. "I said, 'You never know what the future is going to hold.' I never said, 'Yeah, we are going to get married.' It was like a mistranslation."



Romance lovers shouldn't lose hope just yet, though. "It's not impossible, it just hasn't been discussed," adds the former Genesis drummer. "We are still enjoying living in a house together and changing light bulbs."



Orianne agrees, "We are back together, we are very happy and time will tell as far as the future  who knows?"



Two people who couldn't be happier about the couple's reconciliation are their 11-year-old twin sons Nicholas and Matthew.



"The kids are over the moon," says Collins, while Orianne adds, "Matthew was saying it was his wish for his birthday, and he was born on the first of December and he said, 'Oh, my wish came true.' "









One element that likely brought the duo closer together was their mutual health struggles. After a spinal operation in 2014 left Orianne partially paralyzed, Collins came to Switzerland to care for their children, at which point Orianne (who has now regained movement in her legs and walks with a cane) says her ex was, "great supporting me through months of agony." Adding a lighthearted note to the ordeal, Collins says, "[The children] needed one of us. Now they've got both of us whether they like it or not."



The musician has also faced his own health issues over the years. "Something happened to my nerves in my left arm during the Genesis reunion in 2007. I couldn't even hold a pen," he says. As to reports that his injury left him unable to drum, he says, "I have had various operations and ... I certainly can't play like I used to, and I keep saying I can't play, but I am going to get a drum kit set up at home and actually practice and learn how to properly play again for pleasure." Turning to Orianne, he jokes, "together we make one person."



Collins' positive outlook is good news for fans of the Grammy winner the world over. After all, "It is possible [to play the drums] I'm sure, I just have to learn how to do it."
Manila (AFP) - The Philippines criticised Madonna on Sunday for disrespecting its flag during a concert in Manila, and said it would call on organisers of future events to avoid similar incidents.

Photos from one of her two concerts last week published in local media showed the 57-year-old American mega-star draped in the Philippine flag.

While press reports said the audience roared its approval at the music icon, who was in the country as part of her global "Rebel Heart" tour, Filipino authorities were less amused.

"Our flag law is strict as we want to instill respect for the Philippine flag," presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said in a statement.

"This should he made clear to organisers and performers in concerts so that there will be no repetition of the incident."

Coloma said in an earlier statement to AFP that the government was "keen" on banning the Queen of Pop from performing in the Philippines because of the controversy.

However Coloma later said the government did not want to ban her, and that the initial statement that it did was based on a wrong interpretation of comments by another presidential aide.

A 1998 law prescribes a one-year jail term, as well as a token fine, for wearing the Philippine flag "in whole or in part as a costume or uniform".

The flag flap was the second controversy provoked by Madonna's visit to the devoutly Catholic Asian nation.

A Catholic bishop last week called on the faithful to stay away from Madonna's sexually charged concerts, which often encompass religious themes, calling them the devil's work.

"Pinoys (Filipinos) and all God-loving people should avoid sin and occasions of sin," Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said in a statement posted on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines' official website.

Arguelles said the concerts, Madonna's first in the Philippines, were among "subtle attacks of the evil one".

Story continues

During her Manila shows Madonna gyrated around a stripper pole shaped like a crucifix, accompanied by dancers dressed as scantily clad nuns.

The controversial star did not forget the less fortunate on her Philippine trip, however, tweeting photos showing her visiting children at a Manila orphanage run by nuns.

The star, now touring in Singapore, has yet to comment publicly on the flag furore.

Officials of Music Management International, which produced Madonna's Manila concert, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Three young Muslim men were found shot to death in Fort Wayne, Indiana, this week in an "execution-style" slaying, reported WANE-TV.

Authorities say they found the bodies of Fort Wayne residents Mohamedtaha Omar, 23, Adam K. Mekki, 20, and Muhannad A. Tairab, 17, inside a local home on Wednesday. Whoever killed them shot each man multiple times.

NBC affiliate 21Alive further reported the home had become a known spot where young members of the local African diaspora gathered to party due to an "absentee ownership situation," though WANE wrote police do not believe the hangout spot is connected to gangs or crime.

Police currently do not believe the three deaths were related to the men's nationality or religion, according to the News-Sentinel, but each was a Sunni Muslim from Chad or Sudan.

But amid a growing wave of anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S., including numerous acts of violence directed against Muslim Americans, that the slayings were a hate crime remains a disquieting possibility.

In February 2015, a man named Craig Stephen Hicks was arrested for the alleged murder of three Muslim students at the University of North Carolina's Chapel Hill campus. One of the victim's families later launched an educational campaign to promote equitable treatment of Muslims in the U.S.

In the months following an Islamic State of Iraq and Syria terrorist attack in Paris in November 2015, numerous reports of violence and intimidation directed against Muslims sprung up across the U.S. They ranged from shots fired at the home of Amir Elmasri in Orange County, Florida, to a xenophobic meltdown at a planning meeting in Spotsylvania, Virginia, over a proposed mosque extension.

On Twitter, several people noted the violence was greeted with little coverage by the national media  yet another sign Muslim-Americans in the U.S. often have few allies in their corner when confronted with bigotry.

3 young Muslim Americans were killed execution style in Indiana on Wednesday, and I have yet to see the story on any mainstream media.

Where is the coverage on the three young Muslims shot execution style in Fort Wayne, Indiana? Where!!???

"Never in my wildest dreams would have thought that something this harsh could have happened to sweet kids," Valerie Handschu, a worker at the Salvation Army Youth Center, told WANE. "[Mekki] was just full of joy and energy and always had a smile on his face ... [Omar] could make anybody laugh. I think he just got along with everybody in that way and could find a connection with any type of person."

h/t WANE-TV
By Brendan O'Brien (Reuters) - An off-duty U.S. Army sergeant stationed at the Pentagon has been charged with fatally shooting a Virginia police officer on her first day on the job as she responded to a domestic disturbance at a home outside Washington, authorities said on Sunday. Ashley Guindon, 28, an officer with the Prince William County Police and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, died of her wounds after being shot on Saturday evening, a day after she was sworn in as a member of the force, the department said. Two other officers, Jesse Hempen, 31, and David McKeown, 33, were also shot during the altercation and remained hospitalized, Chief Steve Hudson said during a news conference. Guindon, Hempen and McKeown were shot at a home they were called to in Lake Ridge, about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Washington, the county police department said. Inside the home, police found a woman shot to death and an 11-year-old, who was unharmed, Hudson said. Army Sergeant Ronald Hamilton, 32, who is stationed at the Pentagon just outside Washington, has been charged in the shooting and was being held without bond, Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert said. Hamilton was expected to be arraigned on Monday, Ebert said. "It's a sad day for everyone in this room. It's a sad day for law enforcement," Ebert said during the press conference standing next to a photo of Guindon. Guindon was a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, where she earned a degree in aeronautics. She also served in the Marine Corps Reserve and has family members in law enforcement, according to the county. The officer was a 2005 graduate of Merrimack High School in New Hampshire, the principal, Kenneth Johnson, said in a statement. Guindon interned with the department's forensics services section while she was in graduate school. She graduated in June 2015 from the police academy, but resigned during officer field training for personal reasons. She was hired back about two weeks ago, Hudson said. "We were struck by her passion to do this job," Hudson said. "She clearly had a passion to serve others." On Sunday, the department posted a photograph of a black ribbon draped over a squad car in honor of Guindon. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God," the post said. Local media showed a procession of squad cars and officers standing at attention outside of Inova Fairfax Hospital where Guindon and two other officers where brought after they were shot. On Friday, the department sent a message on Twitter that included a photo of Guindon and a fellow officer after they were sworn in, saying that she would be working her first shifts over the weekend and adding "Be safe!" (Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee; additional reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Richard Borsuk, Paul Tait and Ros Russell)
Vatican City (AFP) - Pope Francis on Sunday urged European countries struggling with the migrant crisis to "share the burden fairly", amid growing divisions on how to handle the flow of people fleeing poverty and war.

The pontiff used his address in St Peter's Square to hail the "generous help" offered by Greece and "other countries on the front line", saying the situation "required cooperation among all nations".

Nearly 120,000 migrants have arrived in Europe so far this year, according to the latest figures from the UN refugee agency, adding to the one million who made the perilous journey in 2015, mostly across the Aegean Sea from Turkey to the Greek islands.

The influx has triggered rows and bitter recrimination among European Union states at odds over who should take in the newcomers.

"My prayer, and also certainly yours, does not forget the crisis of the refugees fleeing wars and other inhuman situations," the pope said.

"A unanimous response" from European countries is needed to "share the burden fairly", he added.

Francis, who has made migrant rights a major theme of his pontificate, said EU states must act decisively.

Greece on Sunday warned the number of refugees and migrants on its soil could more than triple next month, reaching as many as 70,000, as a limit on border crossings by Balkan countries left them "trapped" in the country.

On Friday four Balkan states including EU members Slovenia and Croatia said they would each restrict the number of migrants entering the country to 580.

The clampdown follows moves by Austria last week to introduce a daily cap of 80 asylum applications and let only 3,200 migrants transit the country each day.

The caps on migrant arrivals have fuelled a bitter diplomatic row between Athens and Vienna and hand-wringing in Brussels.

Greece accuses Austria of unleashing a domino effect of border restrictions along the migrant trail that has led to a bottleneck on Greek soil.
The Daily Beast

Mikhail Svetlov/Getty ImagesThe Kremlin is threatening retaliatory action after authorities arrested Artyom Uss, the son of a top Russian official, at the United States request, for allegedly participating in a sanctions evasion and money laundering scheme.Uss, who was detained in Milan, was charged in relation to a scheme to unlawfully obtain U.S. military technology and sanctioned Venezuelan oil in order to support Russias war effort in Ukraine, according to charges unsealed by the U.S. Depa
Hollywood (United States) (AFP) - Hollywood hit the Oscars red carpet Sunday for its annual show of glitz and pageantry honoring cinema's finest -- with a broiling row over diversity an awkward guest at the party.

Tinseltown's elite are looking forward to the usual sparkling night of celebration, with survival epic "The Revenant" leading the charge for golden statuettes and a panoply of rivals snapping at its heels.

But controversy over the "whitewashing" of nominations -- there are no ethnic minority nominees in the acting categories for the second year running -- threatens to steal the limelight.

An audience expected to number several hundred million around the world will be hanging on every word uttered by black comedian and actor Chris Rock, who is hosting despite calls for him to join a boycott.

Insiders say the 51-year-old has completely rewritten his opening monologue in the wake of the scandal, which could prove embarrassing for the Academy's 6,000-plus voting members, overwhelmingly white men.

The funnyman appeared in relaxed mood hours before the ceremony, posting a picture of Oscars note paper bearing the phrase "Get ready" and, soon after, a video of him ordering breakfast at a McDonald's drive-thru.

- Belle of the ball -

Formalities for the 88th Oscars got underway with celebrities arriving on the red carpet under hazy blue skies at Hollywood's Dolby Theatre.

Best supporting actress nominee Alicia Vikander floated in a strapless pale yellow Louis Vuitton gown that had Oscar watchers on Twitter comparing her princess look to that of Belle in the Disney classic "Beauty and the Beast."

Saoirse Ronan, a best actress nominee for "Brooklyn," paired her slinky emerald green sequined Calvin Klein gown with -- mismatched earrings, one green and one white!

- Team Leo -

Analysts have predicted that Sunday will be a night of long overdue glory for old Hollywood hands who have previously missed out.

Story continues

Jaws will drop if best actor doesn't go to Leonardo DiCaprio for "The Revenant," 22 years after his first of five acting nominations.

"Don't know about u but I'm rooting for LEO! He's blessed us w/ years of his storytelling, he deserves this!" tweeted pop diva Lady Gaga, an Oscar nominee.

A widely-anticipated best supporting actor Oscar for Sylvester Stallone, who reprises his turn as underdog boxer Rocky Balboa in "Creed," would be one of the stories of the night, almost four decades after his only other nominations -- for best actor and screenplay for the franchise's original outing, "Rocky."

The 69-year-old shared a picture on Instagram of him dressed in a dark blue dinner jacket with black and blue lapels and a black shirt and bowtie, captioned: "On my way to the Oscars... It's been a memorable year."

First-time nominee Brie Larson -- stunning in blue Gucci -- looks to be a lock for best actress, having dominated the awards season with her performance as a kidnapped mother in "Room."

Sweden's Vikander ("The Danish Girl") faces competition in the best supporting actress category from "Carol" star Rooney Mara, on her second nomination, and previous best actress winner Kate Winslet, acclaimed for her work in "Steve Jobs."

"Spotlight," about child abuse in the Catholic Church, and Wall Street satire "The Big Short" look like safe bets for the original and adapted screenplay honors after being recognized by the Writers Guild.

- 'Surprises will happen' -

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's "The Revenant" is the overall frontrunner, with 12 nominations, followed by George Miller's stark action epic "Mad Max: Fury Road" with 10 and Ridley Scott's space adventure "The Martian," with seven.

The Gold Derby website, which aggregates experts' predictions, has "The Revenant" in the lead for best film, but analysts are split on whether Inarritu will also pick up best director for the second year running following his win for "Birdman."

"I think 'The Revenant' will win best picture and the director will go to Miller," said Hollywood analyst Anne Thompson.

"It would be unlikely that the Academy would reward a genre sequel like 'Fury Road' with best picture, but they have gone with directors like Ang Lee and Alfonso Cuaron for well-mounted spectacles like 'Life of Pi' and 'Gravity.'"

"As many people are saying, this is an unusual year when surprises will happen," she added.

The night will also feature some social activism: several stars including Oscar winner Patricia Arquette and past nominee Steve Carell are to wear bracelets to promote a campaign against gun violence.

And Vice President Joe Biden will introduce a song by Lady Gaga to push an initiative tackling sexual assault on US university campuses.

Gaga sang a duet with Elton John on Saturday at his pre-Oscars pop-up concert in West Hollywood, which drew thousands of fans to the Sunset Strip.
London (AFP) - Wayne Rooney will miss England's friendlies against Germany and the Netherlands next month due to his knee injury, Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal told a British Sunday newspaper.

England captain and record goalscorer Rooney, 30, damaged knee ligaments during United's 2-1 defeat at Sunderland earlier this month.

England play world champions Germany in a friendly in Berlin on March 26 before hosting Holland three days later as they build up to Euro 2016 and Van Gaal said that Rooney will not be available for selection.

"No, he won't be ready for England next month," Van Gaal told the Daily Star Sunday.

"Wayne has a brace fitted now and he has to wear it for two and a half weeks. After that we then have to look again.

"Now he's resting and isn't able to do any work yet. He has to be ready for us -- not the English team."
Ive been gone a while from the blogging scene. Some of my more regular readers no doubt noticed but did not hassle me about it. Thank you for that. Sinc...

6 years ago
By Samia Nakhoul TEHRAN (Reuters) - President Hassan Rouhani won a resounding vote of confidence and reformist allies won 29 out of Tehran's 30 parliamentary seats in elections that could speed Iran's post-sanctions opening to the world, early results released on Saturday showed. Tens of millions thronged polling stations on Friday for a twin vote for the 290-seat parliament and the 88-member Assembly of Experts, which selects the country's highest authority, the supreme leader. President Rouhani's reformist allies made gains in the races for parliament and the assembly, both in the hands of anti-Western hardliners for years. He said Iran's election had given the government more credibility and clout. The competition is over. Its time to open a new chapter in Irans economic development based on domestic abilities and international opportunities," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. He added that the government would cooperate with anyone elected to build Iran's future. "The people showed their power once again and gave more credibility and strength to their elected government." Rouhani and key ally and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were leading the race for the Assembly of Experts with most votes counted and appeared to be sure of winning seats, early results released on Saturday showed. The assembly results were initially announced as final in an official statement. A later statement said the results were partial and a final tally would be announced in due course. An interior ministry statement said top reformist Mohammed Reza Aref led the race for parliamentary seats among candidates in Tehran. Aref was followed by five other reformists. Seventh on the list was a senior conservative, results showed. Aref, a Stanford-educated former presidential candidate and minister, who served as vice-president to the former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, led the reformist list in the contest in Tehran, where more than 1,000 candidates are competing for just 30 seats in parliament. The elections were seen by analysts as a potential turning point for Iran, where nearly 60 percent of the 80 million population is under 30. (http://tmsnrt.rs/20VK0vG) The contests were the first since a landmark nuclear deal last year that led to the removal of most of the sanctions that have damaged the economy over the past decade. Supporters of Rouhani, who championed the nuclear deal, were pitted against hardliners close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni, who are deeply wary of detente with Western countries. The conservative Guardian Council had restricted both races by disqualifying most reformist and many moderate candidates. Even if reformists do not emerge with a national majority in the legislature, dominated since 2004 by conservatives, analysts say they will secure a bigger presence than before. Conservatives usually perform well in the countryside while young town-dwellers tend to prefer moderate candidates. HIGH REFORMIST HOPES Reformists seeking more social and economic freedoms and diplomatic engagement had voiced high hopes of expanding their sway in parliament and easing conservative clerics' grip on the experts' assembly. Saeed Leylaz, a political analyst and economist who served as an adviser to former President Mohammad Khatami, said initial indications were beyond reformist expectations. "It seems the number of candidates who belong to the reformist and independent groups will be the majority in parliament and I am hopeful that the new parliament will be perfect for us," he told Reuters. "In the Assembly of Experts our initial expectation was 15 to 20 percent but it seems it will be beyond that." Rafsanjani, 81, a prominent leader ever since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, called for national unity now the divisive campaign was over. "The competition is over and the phase of unity and cooperation has arrived," state news agency IRNA quoted him as saying. "The time after elections is the time for hard work to build the country." Newspapers hailed what they saw as a huge turnout, including many young voters. Polling was extended five times for a total of almost six extra hours because so many people wanted to vote. Iran's Financial Tribune newspaper said three million first-time voters were among the nearly 55 million people aged 18 and over who are eligible to cast ballots. Interior Ministry spokesman Hosseinali Amiri said more than 33 million votes had been cast but that tally was not final. It would probably take three days to count all the votes, he said. MOUSAVI VOTES Authorities had promised that all Iranians would be able to vote and on Friday opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife voted for the first time since being put under house arrest in 2011, an ally of Mousavi's told Reuters. Iran, which has the world's second-largest gas reserves, a diversified manufacturing base and an educated workforce, is seen by global investors as a huge emerging market opportunity, in everything from cars to airplanes and railways to retail. For ordinary Iranians, the prospect of this kind of investment holds out the promise of a return to economic growth, better living standards and more jobs in the long run. An opening to the world of this scale -- and Rouhani's popularity -- have alarmed hardline allies of Khamenei, who fear losing control of the pace of change, as well as erosion of the lucrative economic interests they built up under sanctions. Whatever the outcome, Iran's political system places considerable power in the hands of the conservative Islamic establishment including the 12-member Guardian Council, which vets all electoral candidates. It had already tried to shape Friday's vote by excluding thousands of candidates, including many moderates and almost all reformists. (Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, Babak Dehghanpisheh, Sam Wilkin; Editing by William Maclean, Catherine Evans and Paul Taylor)
Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have released summary pages of their tax returns for the last few years as they put pressure on Donald Trump to do the same.

Despite making promises to reveal his records, the Republican front runner in the White House race said he will not disclose them until the Inland Revenue Service completes a routine audit of them.

His fellow presidential hopefuls, Florida Senator Rubio and Texas Senator Cruz, produced the first two pages of their filings to the IRS, which do not include key details about subjects such as their tax deductions.

Rubio campaign spokesman Alex Conant said: "We're putting these out today to put pressure on Trump and the other candidates to release theirs.

"To the extent there are additional questions about Marco, we won't rule out providing more information in the future."

Mr Cruz said: "If Donald is embarrassed about his tax returns, it's up to the voters to assess the facts. It's time to stop delaying and come clean with the American people."

He has speculated there could be "a number of bombshells" in Mr Trump's tax returns, from exaggerations about the property tycoon's earnings to "significant contributions to (reproductive health service) Planned Parenthood".

Mr Rubio released part of his 2010-14 returns, adding to 10 years of tax documents he had previously made public.

Since winning election to office in Washington in 2010, they show his annual income has ranged from $276,059 to $938,963, and he has paid between $46,500 and $254,894 in federal income tax.

Most of the income came from a business that collected royalties on two books: Rubio's memoir An American Son and another called American Dreams.

Mr Cruz released parts of his 2011-14 returns, which show he and his wife Heidi brought in, on average, an annual income of $1,131,792.

A large proportion came from Mr Cruz's work in 2011 and 2012 at the law firm Morgan, Lewis and Bockius, and his wife's work at Goldman Sachs.

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He also reported $190,000 in income coming from a book advance from Harper Collins in 2014.

Mr Cruz and Mr Rubio have not released their complete tax returns, as Republican candidate Mitt Romney did in 2012 and Hillary Clinton did last year.

:: Watch Sky News' special coverage from midnight on Tuesday as voting takes place across 13 states for Super Tuesday.
By Jeff Mason and Alana Wise WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio and his wife, Jeanette, paid $526,092 in taxes on $2.29 million of income from 2010-2014, his campaign said on Saturday, in a move meant to pressure billionaire rival Donald Trump to release his taxes, too. The family's home mortgage represents its only debt, and the couple pays to send their four children to private schools, the Rubio campaign said in a statement. Rubio's adjusted gross income in 2010 was $183,826 in 2010. It spiked to $929,439 in 2012, when his book "An American Son: A Memoir" was published. Rubio often discusses his past financial woes on the campaign trail, including the nearly $150,000 in student loan debt he incurred by the time he graduated from law school, paid off with proceeds made from his 2012 autobiography. In addition to student loans, Rubio has faced questions about the handling of his personal finances after it was discovered that he struggled for several months in 2008 to pay the mortgage on his $384,000 South Florida home, despite a $300,000 salary from his job at a Miami law firm. The financial issues were enough to give political strategists pause in 2012, when Rubio was considered a possible vice presidential pick. During his 2010 bid for the U.S. Senate, which followed his stint as a Florida state lawmaker from 2005-2006, Rubio also had to defend his use of a Republican Party-issued American Express credit card for more than $7,200 personal expenses, which he later paid back. "There is no doubt the Rubio family has come a long way from the days when their largest monthly expense was a check to (student loan provider) Sallie Mae and checks were sent in the mail to pay bills with the hope the payment did not arrive before the next paycheck was deposited into their account," the campaign said. (Reporting by Jeff Mason and Alana Wise; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Moscow (AFP) - Russia said on Sunday that a fragile ceasefire in Syria had been breached nine times over the past 24 hours including by Turkey but that the deal was mostly holding.

The defence ministry said violations were committed by moderate rebels as well as "terrorist organisations".

"Over the past 24 hours, nine instances of violations of cessation of hostilities have been uncovered," the ministry said, citing its coordination centre at the Hmeimim airbase in Syria.

"On the whole, the ceasefire regime in Syria is being implemented," it said of the deal brokered by Moscow and Washington which took effect from 2200 GMT Friday.

"At the same time there are a number of violations by groups of 'moderate' opposition and units of international terrorist organisations."

The ministry highlighted an attack on the town of Tal Abyad on the border with Turkey.

A group of up to 100 fighters, who crossed the border from Turkey, mounted an attack on the northern part of Tal Abyad, it said, adding they were acting in unison with other fighters.

- 'Fire from Turkish territory' -

"The activities of the armed groups were supported by artillery fire from Turkish territory," the chief of the coordination centre, Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko, said in televised remarks.

"Kurdish rebel units had pushed the fighters out of the city by morning of February 28."

Moscow said it had demanded an explanation from the United States, which leads an anti-IS coalition that includes Turkey.

Turkey has said it is not bound by the ceasefire deal if its national security was threatened.

The Tal Abyad attack was "confirmed through several channels including representatives of the Syrian Democratic Forces," Kuralenko was quoted as saying by Russian reporters, referring to a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Kurdish forces and their Arab allies successfully pushed back a fierce IS offensive by Saturday night with backing from the US-led coalition.

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In Latakia, Al-Nusra Front jihadists, acting from territory controlled by moderate rebels, shelled a unit of Desert Falcons, the Russian ministry said, apparently referring to an Iranian-backed regime force.

"As a result of the shelling there are a lot of dead and wounded among rebels and locals."

Russia also said Damascus was shelled six times Saturday, adding that the attack came from territory controlled by moderate rebels including Eastern Ghouta, east of the capital.

"All in all, 20 mine and missile explosions have been recorded," Moscow said, adding two civilians were killed and eight wounded.

"At the request of the Russian centre for reconciliation, Syrian government troops did not open return fire," the ministry said.

Moscow said its coordination centre had also received a US list of 69 armed groups who had confirmed their willingness to observe the ceasefire.
Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia on Sunday accused President Bashar al-Assad's regime and its ally Russia of "ceasefire violations" in Syria.

"There are violations to the ceasefire from Russian and (Syrian) regime aircraft," Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir told reporters in Riyadh.

"We are discussing this with (the 17-nation) Syria Support Group," co-chaired by Russia and the United States, said Jubeir.

Russia, which has waged a five-month bombing campaign to support Assad, blamed "moderate" rebels, Turkey and jihadists for nine ceasefire violations.

But "on the whole, the ceasefire regime in Syria is being implemented," Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko, head of Moscow's coordination centre in Syria, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said that several air strikes hit central and northern Syria on Sunday.

Warplanes, believed to be either Syrian or Russian, bombed seven villages in the provinces of Aleppo and Hama, the monitor said.

A ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washington took effect at midnight on Friday, but the Riyadh-based opposition and Russia have reported several breaches from opposing sides.

The ceasefire agreement does not include territory held by the Islamic State jihadist group and Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, which together control more than half of Syria.

Russia said Saturday it had halted bombing in all areas covered by the truce.

But it has vowed to keep striking IS and Al-Nusra and other "terrorist groups".

It was unclear if Sunday's raids hit areas covered by the truce.

But Jubeir said that Russia was targeting Syria's "moderate opposition" groups.

UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura was "in contact with the Russians and the Syrian regime on this matter to reach an agreement that would limit or end military operations against the moderate Syrian opposition and focus instead on Daesh (Arabic acronym for IS) and Al-Nusra," Jubeir said.

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"Things will become clearer in the coming days on whether the regime and Russia are serious or not about the ceasefire," he said.

Jubeir added countries supporting the Syrian opposition had an "alternative" without Assad if the truce failed, referring to US State Secretary John Kerry's comments on Tuesday about a "Plan B".

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said Riyadh's statement on the existence of a Plan B ran counter to two UN Security Council resolutions, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

"We all said there was no 'Plan B'. We must implement what we have decided together," he said.

Saudi Arabia is a main supporter of the Syrian rebels battling Assad's regime since 2011.
The day after a nearly 50-point drubbing in South Carolinas Democratic primary, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who labored unsuccessfully for weeks to win over the states African-American electorate, had no choice but to face the music.

We got decimated. The only positive thing for us is we won the  the 29 years of age and younger vote. And that was good. But we got killed, the 74-year-old said Sunday during an interview with ABCs This Week.

Related: Hillary Clinton Trounces Bernie Sanders in South Carolina Primary

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton steamrolled Sanders by virtually every available metric, winning the black vote 87 percent to 13 percent, and every single county in the Palmetto State on the way to her 73 percent to 26 percent rout of the self-described democratic-socialist.

"Tomorrow, this campaign goes national," Clinton said during her victory speech Saturday night, signaling a new phase of the nomination contest with a promise to make America whole again, a play on Republican Donald Trumps oft-repeated slogan to Make America Great Again.

Theres no time to rest for Sanders, who didnt stick around for the polls to close in South Carolina; he must immediately pivot to Super Tuesday, when 11 states go to the polls.

His campaigns deep coffers and fundraising apparatus ensures that Sanders will continue to seek the Democratic nomination well past this week, but he must win several of the Super Tuesday states, and make a strong showing in the others, if he hopes to keep neck-and-neck with Clinton in the race for delegates, something hes acutely aware of.

Related: Clinton Is Under Mounting Pressure to Release Her Wall Street Speeches

On Tuesday, we're going to have over 800 delegates being selected. I think we're going to win a very good share of those delegates, Sanders said on CBSs Face the Nation.

Clinton holds double-digit leads in Georgia, Tennessee and Texas, according to a spate of NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist polls released Sunday.

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But Sanders believes he can win Tuesday in Minnesota, Colorado, Oklahoma and his home state of Vermont. Hes also made clear he intends to keep his campaign going all the way to the Democratic Convention in July.

You're going to see us much better in New York State, where I think we have a shot to win, in California and in Michigan, he said on ABC. New Yorks primary doesnt take place until Apr.19; California is on June 7.

And its clear that Sanders supporters arent ready to throw in the towel, either. In fact, the day after his southern thumping, he picked up a surprise endorsement.

Related: Voters Say Clinton Is Dishonest and Trump Is Stupid - Why Are They Leading the Race?

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (HI), a vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee, resigned her leadership post and gave her support to Sanders.

"I think its most important for us, as we look at our choices as to who our next commander-in-chief will be, is to recognize the necessity to have a commander-in-chief who has foresight, who exercises good judgment, who looks beyond the consequences, looks at the consequences of the actions they're looking to take, before they take those actions, so we don't continue to find ourselves in these failures that have resulted in chaos in the Middle East and so much loss of life," Gabbard said on NBCs Meet the Press.

The endorsement by the 34-year-old Gabbard  the first American Samoan and Hindu in Congress and a major in the Army National Guard who served in Iraq  came on the same day that the first of a two-part series in The New York Times detailed Clintons critical role in pushing President Obama to intervene in Libya.

Gabbard is the fourth member of Congress to endorse Sanders and her resignation is another sign of the discontent that has roiled the DNC under the leadership of Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, who has been accused of tilting the presidential primary and debate calendar to favor Clinton. The pair clashed last year when Gabbard said she had been disinvited from a presidential debate after she pushed for more debates to be held.

In a statement, the DNC chair thanked Gabbard for her service and called her a role model.

Top Reads from The Fiscal Times:
02_27_Hillary_Clinton_02

Luck be a lady tonight." So it was for Hillary Clinton in South Carolina -- and so it promises to be in this week's Super Tuesday contests dominated by other Southern states where Democratic primaries have big African-American constituencies that are big for Hillary.

Luck matters in politics. Ask Al Gore about the butterfly ballot that in 2000 mis-recorded thousands of Gore votes for the anti-Israel Pat Buchanan in heavily Jewish Palm Beach county, opening the way for the Supreme Court to morph into a ward committee and install Bush II in the White House by judicial fiat.

Or think of Gerald Ford rhetorically freeing Poland-- "There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe"-- that blunted his comeback and let Jimmy Carter eke out a victory in 1976.

Or in terms of primaries, recall how John McCain slipped by Mitt Romney with marginal pluralities in South Carolina and Florida eight years ago because a stubborn Mike Huckabee stuck around and split the anti-McCain vote.

02_27_Hillary_Clinton_02

This year, Clinton is not only weak among younger voters, apparently including younger women, she also seems to have lost her hold on the white blue collar Democrats who sustained her long resistance to Barack Obama the last time she ran but are now attracted by Bernie Sanders' economic call to arms. For example, in 2008 she carried West Virginia 67 percent to 26 percent after Obama in effect already had the nomination in hand; in a mid-February poll in the state, she now lags Sanders 57 percent to 29 percent.

But the primary schedule mitigates her vulnerabilities and maximizes her advantage with African-Americans, who obviously identify less with Sanders's civil rights activism stretching back to the 1960s than with Hillary and Bill Clinton, who was famously hailed as "the first black President" before there actually was one.

Audio that surfaces her as a "Goldwater Girl" in 1964 just doesn't move the needle in a campaign four decades later, as she powerfully speaks the names of victims of police shootings and pledges to undo criminal law changes that have scarred the African-American community. Her husband signed the law, but she disclaims it.

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Now comes Super Tuesday. Given the demographic reality, Sanders has targeted states with 288 delegates, while Clinton is competing everywhere but Vermont and is favored in contests that award 571 delegates. With proportional representation, Sanders will win some delegates even where she wins. But if he improbably sweeps his targets-- and those races look close -- Clinton will still amass a daunting delegate lead.

How was this firewall created? It didn't exist in 2008, when Super Tuesday consisted of 25 primaries or caucuses that weren't skewed South and encompassed delegate-rich states like California, New Jersey and Illinois. (Clinton, with a different electoral coalition, did very well then, just not well enough.) Illinois is now later in the process and California and New Jersey have moved to the end of the line in June.

That's part of it, but not the key. More than anyone else, Republicans built the Clinton firewall. After 2012, when the influence of Southern states was fragmented and diluted in the GOP presidential race, Republican legislatures co-ordinated the creation of the so-called SEC primary. That also shifted the timing of the Democratic face-off to places where the party is heavily African- American.

Perhaps Clinton should send Southern Republicans a thank you note. Of course, Sanders could push the campaign to the end of the primaries or even the convention if he does gets past Super Tuesday with a showing that reaches or exceeds his potential -- and especially if he scores a later big state upset.

Yet Clinton has won -- and been gifted -- a lead that can become insurmountable as proportional representation makes it all but mathematically impossible to catch up.

There's one more piece of priceless luck in the offing. It turns out that Super Tuesday is also fertile hunting ground for Trump among Republicans--which is anything but what its architects intended. Except in Texas, the Donald seems set to romp, bringing him to the point where success in Marco Rubio's Florida March 15 -- and there too Trump's far ahead in the polls -- will lead on to his nomination.

So Republicans have blessed their Democratic nemesis not only with ideal terrain in the primaries, but with the ideal opponent for her to crush in November.

Yes, message matters. And so does organization. But for Hillary Clinton, luck was a lady Saturday night -- and maybe, likely, for all of 2016.

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Related Articles
Los Angeles (AFP) - "Spotlight" triumphed Saturday at the Spirit Awards, the latest of a string of honors it has picked up in Hollywood's annual prize giving season, with the Oscars just one day away.

The movie, about the Boston Globe's investigation into child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, took best film as well as best director for Tom McCarthy and best screenplay.

McCarthy paid tribute backstage to the Globe's reporters and to his star-studded cast featuring Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber and Rachel McAdams.

"I was really fortunate to get this cast. If you've seen my other movies I don't always go with the most well-known cast. But this really needed it," he said.

One of the stories of the ceremony, which opened amid thick fog on Santa Monica beach, was Ghanaian youngster Abraham Attah winning best actor for his portrayal of an African child soldier in "Beasts of No Nation."

Attah had never acted before he attended one of the open casting calls held in his hometown of Accra at the age of just 13.

His castmate, British actor Idriss Elba, picked up best supporting male as an army commandant in the film, and paid tribute to the people of Ghana.

"I'm half Ghanaian, it was my first time in Ghana. It was incredible, it was like a homecoming for me," he said.

Best actress went to Brie Larson, who is also tipped to win the category at the Oscars for playing a kidnapped mother in "Room."

One of the loudest cheers went to transgender actress Mya Taylor, who won best supporting female for drawing on her own experiences to portray a trans sex worker in "Tangerine."

"The struggle was real for me, and I got out of it," she told reporters.

The Film Independent Spirit Awards are seen as a strong indicator of independent movies that could win Oscar glory.

"Spotlight," which is competing with "The Revenant" and "The Big Short" in many of the main categories at Sunday's 88th Academy Awards, also won best editing and a special prize for its ensemble cast.

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It has swept a string of honors ahead of the Oscars, including top prizes from the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America, as well as a screenplay award at Britain's BAFTAs.

McCarthy told reporters on the arrivals red carpet he hadn't felt any nerves ahead of the Spirit Awards -- but would be "a wreck" at the Oscars.

One disappointment at the Spirits was "Carol," the story of a 1950s housewife who falls for a store clerk.

Starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, it was nominated in six categories, including best feature, best director and best actress, but won just one trophy for Ed Lachman's cinematography.
Beirut (AFP) - Syria's main opposition grouping recorded 15 violations by government troops and allied forces on the first day of a landmark truce, a spokesman told reporters on Sunday.

"There were 15 violations by the regime forces on day one of the ceasefire, including two attacks by (Lebanese militant group) Hezbollah in Zabadani" west of Damascus, said Salem al-Meslet, spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee.

Speaking by telephone from Riyadh, Meslet said the HNC would be lodging a formal letter of complaint with UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the foreign ministers of the International Syria Support Group.

The UN-backed deal came into effect on Saturday, with battle zones across the country going largely quiet despite some accusations of breaches.

The HNC announced earlier that 97 opposition factions had agreed to respect the truce, for two weeks initially.

Meslet said none of those groups had responded to the violations on Saturday.

"For the opposition forces there, nobody reacted because the decision is to remain quiet and I believe they will stick to the truce."

Meslet said the deal was "the first step in the right direction" to bring an end to the bloody conflict in Syria.

"The thing is, it is positive for us to see people relieved... We have violations here and there, but in general it is a lot better than before and people are comfortable," Meslet said.

"That is our main objective -- for our people there to be safe from this fear that has been there for five years now."
Los Angeles (AFP) - Three people were stabbed, one of them critically, and 13 others were arrested in California when a Ku Klux Klan rally erupted into clashes with counter-protesters, witnesses and police said.

Around midday, half a dozen members of the white hate group, whose ranks still number several thousand in the United States, arrived at the protest site in Anaheim, officials said.

At that point the Klan members were "swarmed" by protesters, who attacked them with at least one wooden plank, witness Brian Levin told AFP.

Local police spokesman Sergeant Daron Wyatt said it appeared that "six KKK people arrived and were immediately attacked by counter-protesters, which led to a counter-protester being stabbed."

The initial clash spawned several separate fights, Wyatt added, noting that the three stabbing victims were all counter-protesters, while another two KKK members were stomped by the crowd.

One of the victims, he said, was stabbed with the decorative end of a flagpole, according to The Orange County Register.

Of those arrested, six were KKK members and seven were from the rival demonstration, Wyatt said. All were men, except for one woman in each group.

The counter-protesters "smashed the side window of the Klan SUV and the front windshield," said Levin, who heads the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University in San Bernardino.

"At that point, the crowd got extremely violent."

Some of the protesters started kicking a man wearing a shirt that read "Grand Dragon," said Levin, describing the KKK members' wounds as ranging from minor to significant.

"He was kicked when he was down" on the ground, he said.

- MLK 'wouldn't approve' -

Levin said he had attended the rally as an observer, but ended up standing in between the Klansmen and the crowd of angry protesters to try to stem the violence.

"I helped two Klansmen get out of the way," said Levin as he headed to the police station to give his witness statement.

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"I told the crowd: Dr (Martin Luther) King wouldn't approve of this, please don't harm these men."

After pushing a Klansman away from the crowd, Levin said he asked him: "How does it feel that your life was just saved by a Jewish man?"

The man replied "thank you," according to Levin.

The city of Anaheim has a long history of KKK activity. In 1924, four of the five members voted to its City Council belonged to the Klan.

Local media reported that KKK fliers had been distributed at various points over the past year or so on dozens of area lawns.

"I've lived in Anaheim my whole life and I have never heard of anything like this," local resident Joe Castaneda told The Orange County Register after watching the fight break out.

The Klan, which was formed in 1865, had up to four million members in the 1920s, but its membership has dwindled to between 5,000 and 8,000 individuals today, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Although it has historically targeted blacks, the Klan has also launched attacks against Jews, immigrants, gays and lesbians. Until recently, it attacked Catholics as well.
Donald Trump speaks during an airport rally in Millington, Tenn. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht/Reuters)

Donald Trump said today he may ask the federal judge overseeing an upcoming civil fraud trial involving the now defunct Trump University to recuse himself because he is Hispanic and is therefore biased against him due to his plan to build a wall to keep out immigrants from Mexico.

Trump first raised the idea of filing a motion to recuse U.S. Judge Gonzalo Curiel during a campaign rally on Saturday in which, without mentioning him by name, the Republican candidate said the judge overseeing his case has shown tremendous hostility to him. Hes Hispanic, which is fine, Trump said.

Why would you need to ask for a recusal and what does his ethnicity have to do with it? moderator Chuck Todd asked Trump during an appearance on Meet the Press Sunday morning.

Because I think hes been very, very unfair with us, Trump replied. I think the judge has been extremely unfair. This is a case that many, many, many people said should have been thrown out on summary judgment. We have 98 percent approval. We have an A from the Better Business Bureau.

And you think its because he is Hispanic? Todd asked. Trumps reply: Well because of the wall, and because of everything thats going with Mexico and all of that, I think its frankly  look, this is a judge who has treated me very, very unfairly. This is a case that should have been thrown out a long time ago in the opinion of many great lawyers.

Curiel, who was born in East Chicago, Ind., and graduated from Indiana University and Indiana University Law School, was nominated to the federal bench by President Obama in 2011  and approved by the Senate the next year by voice vote without opposition. His confirmation followed a lengthy legal career that included 13 years as a federal prosecutor in San Diego, starting under President George H.W. Bush, and ultimately rising to become chief of the offices Narcotics Enforcement Division in charge of prosecuting narcotics cases involving Mexican drug smugglers. (At one point, Curiels efforts to extradite a top smuggler from Mexico led to a cartel threat to assassinate him.)

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Assigned two fraud lawsuits filed by former students of Trump University accusing the school of deceptive trade practices, Curiel has rebuffed multiple motions by Trumps lawyers to dismiss the case.

As far back as October 2014, long before Trump proposed building a wall on the Mexican border, one of Trumps lawyers raised the idea of seeking a recusal of Curiel after the judge agreed to certify one of the cases as a class action lawsuit on behalf of all former Trump University students.

Curiel has also required Trump to answer questions about how much money he made from the school. In a separate action, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has pegged that figure at $5 million.

Plaintiff argues that a showing that Trump invested millions of dollars in a fraudulent scheme and took millions more in profits from the scheme is relevant to Trumps motive or intent to defraud, the judge wrote in a ruling last July.

Trumps comments about Curiel drew a sharp rebuke from Schneiderman, whose lawsuit over Trump University has been separately filed in New York State Courts. There is no place in this process for racial demagoguery directed at respected members of the judiciary, Schneiderman said in a statement. The State Supreme Court has already ruled that Trump University operated illegally in New York as an unlicensed educational institution, and we look forward to prevailing on the rest of our claims as the legal process moves forward.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and "Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd. (Photos: Andrew Harnik/AP, William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC NewsWire via Getty Images)

Trumps comments today came after several days in which Sen. Marco Rubio sharply attacked him as a con artist over his operation of Trump University. And according to recent court filings he will be required to testify about the matter before Curiel in an upcoming trial that could take place this spring or summer. No trial date has been set, but a final pretrial conference has been scheduled in Curiels courtroom on May 6.

The case involves allegations by plaintiffs that they were tricked into spending up to $36,000 to attend seminars and receive mentoring by Trumps hand-picked experts in how to get rich in the real estate market. The seminars, the plaintiffs allege, amounted to little more than an infomercial, and Trumps experts provided little if any useful advice.

Trump today strongly defended the record of Trump University and said he has no plans to settle the case. ( He recently hired noted litigator Daniel Petrocelli to represent him in the upcoming trial.)

We had about 98 percent of the people took the courses, approved the courses, and they thought it was great, signed report cards, and they said it was great, he said during the Meet the Press interview. Those people are suing now to get their money back because a law firm said, Hey listen, if I could get your money back, what would you say.  And you would say, Oh great, get my money back.

Heres the only thing, Chuck, Trump added. I could settle the case, but I dont want to settle the case. The reason is I dont want to be held up. Once you settle cases, everybody sues you  and I dont want to be held up.
Washington (AFP) - Conservatives and liberals alike rounded on Republican Donald Trump for refusing to reject on Sunday an endorsement by David Duke, a white nationalist who once led the Ku Klux Klan.

Among Democrats, Hillary Clinton sailed toward the "Super Tuesday" primaries bolstered by a blowout win in South Carolina on Saturday.

With just two days to go before the biggest showdown yet in the US presidential race, Clinton gained crucial momentum in the race for the Democratic nomination by crushing rival Bernie Sanders 73.5 to 26 percent.

"We got decimated," Sanders conceded in an interview on ABC's "This Week" show, acknowledging that the outpouring of African American support for Clinton exposed a weakness in his campaign.

On the Republican side, Trump's trailing rivals desperately tried to raise doubts among voters about the frontrunner's ability to beat Clinton in the November 8 presidential election.

Senator Ted Cruz suggested in an interview with ABC's "This Week" show that Mafia dealings could be hiding in Trump's tax returns, which the billionaire real estate developer has so far resisted releasing.

- 'Unelectable' -

Trump said he knew nothing about KKK leader Duke when asked about the matter on CNN's "State of the Union" talk show.

"I don't know what group you're talking about. You wouldn't want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. I'd have to look," Trump said.

On Friday, he had appeared surprised when asked about the issue at a press conference, and quickly said: "I disavow."

His comments Sunday on CNN however drew prompt criticism from across the political spectrum.

"We cannot be a party that nominates someone that refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan," Senator Marco Rubio told a crowd of supporters in Virginia.

"Not only is that wrong, it makes him unelectable."

Story continues

Another rival, Ohio Governor John Kasich, tweeted: "Hate groups have no place in America. We are stronger together. End of story."

Cruz deplored the "really sad" comments. "@realDonaldTrump you're better than this. We should all agree, racism is wrong, KKK is abhorrent," he wrote.

Conservative media baron Rupert Murdoch urged Republicans to "cool it and close ranks to fight real enemy."

Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, wrote: "America's first black president cannot and will not be succeeded by a hatemonger who refuses to condemn the KKK."

In a rare sign of agreement between the rivals, Clinton retweeted Sanders's comment.

Last year, a technology blog unearthed a 1927 news report stating that Fred Trump -- Donald Trump's father -- was one of seven men arrested during clashes between 1,000 KKK members and 100 police officers in Queens, New York.

Trump has denied that "ridiculous" report, telling the Daily Mail, a British newspaper: "He was never arrested. He has nothing to do with this. This never happened. This is nonsense and it never happened."

- Trump's tax returns -

Trump has said he will not release his tax returns because they are being audited by the Internal Revenue Service.

"You can't tell anything from tax returns because you take deductions, massive deductions and lots of other things," he said on CNN.

Polls show Trump, who on Friday was endorsed by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, leading the Republican pack in most of the 11 Super Tuesday contests.

Trump however trails Cruz in the senator's home state of Texas, a top Super Tuesday prize with 155 delegates.

The conventional wisdom is that Trump's rivals -- Cruz, Kasich and Florida Senator Marco Rubio -- must at least win their own states to remain in the running. Cruz will be the first to face that test, as Florida and Ohio vote later.

"There is no doubt that if Donald steamrolls through Super Tuesday, wins everywhere with big margins, that he may well be unstoppable," Cruz acknowledged on CBS's "Face the Nation."

Kasich predicted that Trump would probably win all the Super Tuesday contests, but the governor said he intended to hang on in hopes Cruz and Rubio are knocked out first.

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson also has vowed to remain in the race, but support for his candidacy has fizzled.

With the stakes nearing a make-or-break point, Trump, Cruz and Rubio have viciously attacked each other with taunts, accusations and angry tweets that have given the Republican race a distinctly Darwinian flavor.

- Redemption -

While the Republicans were hitting all the political talk shows Sunday, Hillary Clinton was quietly savoring her victory in South Carolina.

It was the former secretary of state's first decisive win of the campaign, after a nail-biter victory in Iowa, a thumping loss to Sanders in New Hampshire and a five-point win in Nevada.

Exit polls in South Carolina showed African-Americans -- who represented 61 percent of all Democratic voters in that state's primary -- backed Clinton by 86 percent, more than had supported Obama eight years prior.

Clinton, who leads in the national delegate count, assiduously courted black voters, partly by praising Obama and promising to build on his legacy.

The 11 states holding Democratic nominating contests Tuesday will send 18 percent of the delegates to July's nominating convention in Philadelphia.
ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish security forces have foiled 18 suicide attacks since the start of the year, three of them by intercepting vehicles planned for use as car bombs, Interior Minister Efkan Ala said in an interview with the Kanal 7 television station on Sunday. Ala said that one of the three vehicles had been found this week at Istanbul's Bogazici University, parts of which were evacuated on Thursday in an apparent bomb scare. A car packed with explosives was detonated in Ankara this month next to military buses waiting at traffic lights in the administrative heart of the capital, killing 29 people, most of them soldiers. NATO member Turkey faces multiple security threats. It is part of a U.S.-led coalition fighting Islamic State in neighboring Syria and Iraq, and is battling Kurdish militants in its southeast, where a 2-1/2 year ceasefire collapsed last July triggering the worst violence since the 1990s. The government blamed the Ankara bombing on a member of a Syrian Kurdish militia working with PKK militants inside Turkey. A suicide bomber killed 10 German tourists in the historic heart of Istanbul in January in an attack Turkey blamed on Islamic State. (Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
By Joan Biskupic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday hears a major abortion case for the first time in nearly a decade, the regulations at issue will not involve fetuses or the mother, but rather standards for doctors and facilities where the procedure is performed.

That the high court is taking up a case about such arcane regulations reflects the success of a legal strategy that abortion opponents embraced about a decade ago and initially caught some abortion-rights advocates off guard.

"It took a while to see the impact" of state laws imposing regulations on abortion providers, said Elizabeth Nash, a policy analyst at the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion policy and supports abortion rights.

One of the two Texas regulations before the court requires doctors who provide abortions to have "admitting privileges" at a local hospital so they can treat patients needing surgery or other critical care.

Another regulation being challenged before the Supreme Court forces clinics to have costly, hospital-grade facilities, mandating a long list of building standards. Unlike the "admitting privileges" requirement, it has yet to go into effect.

Since the Republican-backed law was passed in 2013, many Texas clinics have closed.

Abortion providers challenging the Texas law say the Supreme Court should declare it unconstitutional. They contend the law was intended to shutter clinics and make it harder for women to end a pregnancy.

Texas officials and national abortion opponents counter that the regulations were necessary to protect maternal health.

Ten other states also require doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges. Many of those laws are on hold because of litigation. Abortion opponents in Missouri secured passage in 2005 of the first law requiring admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles (48 km).

The Supreme Court found a constitutional right to end a pregnancy in the landmark 1973 case Roe v. Wade.

Story continues

In the decades immediately afterward, the legal strategy of abortion opponents focused on trying to ban abortion outright or impose mandates on women such as waiting periods or parental or spousal consent. But federal courts struck down the most restrictive of those laws, and the Roe v. Wade ruling was upheld.

Responding to those setbacks, some anti-abortion leaders, such as those at the Washington-based National Right to Life Committee, urged state activists to shift to subtler tactics.

Key advocates on both sides of the debate point to a 2007 strategy memo by James Bopp, general counsel to the National Right to Life Committee.

Addressing what Bopp deemed "how best to advance the pro-life cause," the memo urged abortion opponents to stop proposing abortion bans that federal judges were rejecting, and instead push clinic regulations and other "incremental" efforts that Bopp said "often shut down clinics."

Another national anti-abortion group, Americans United for Life, began using the 2005 Missouri law as model legislation for state activists targeting abortion clinics.

In 2010 elections, abortion opponents received a boost when Republicans made historic gains in state legislatures and ramped up proposals targeting abortion providers.

In 2011 and 2012, Kansas, Arizona, Mississippi and Tennessee passed admitting-privileges laws.

'OUT OF NOWHERE'

"It was just out of nowhere," said Deborah Walsh, then overseeing a Knoxville, Tennessee, abortion clinic that ended up closing because its doctors lacked the requisite hospital affiliation.

Walsh said she wanted to sue Tennessee but after talking to national abortion-rights lawyers, the consensus was that litigation priorities were elsewhere.

The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights sued Mississippi in 2012. The group's lawyers said only one clinic existed in Mississippi and the admitting-privileges rule threatened to shut it down. They succeeded in blocking the rule's enforcement in a lawsuit that is still ongoing.

The Guttmacher Institute's Nash said if abortion rights supporters had mounted a stronger legal attack against earlier regulations, it might have blunted the momentum that led to the 2013 Texas law.

Lawyers for abortion providers said they picked their shots and sued in places where regulations would most curtail abortion availability.

"We have brought cases where the impact has been most extreme," said Julie Rikelman, litigation director at the Center for Reproductive Rights, representing Whole Woman's Health, suing Texas in the Supreme Court case.

In addition to Texas, five other states passed admitting privileges laws in 2013 and 2014.

Conditions for such privileges vary. Some hospitals require doctors to live within a certain distance of the hospital and admit a minimum number of patients per month. Some hospitals do not offer privileges to doctors who do abortions.

At the Supreme Court, the Feb. 13 death of conservative Justice Antonin Scalia could lead to a tie vote, with its four liberals and four conservatives on opposite sides. If the justices split 4-4, no national legal precedent would be set but the lower court decision upholding the Texas law would stand.

That would leave the Texas law intact and could embolden legislatures in other states with strong opposition to abortion to enact similar measures.

It also is possible that conservative Justice Anthony Kennedy, who has voted for the basic right to abortion but endorsed many restrictions, would join the court's four liberals to strike down the Texas law.

A ruling in the case is due by the end of June. The Supreme Court's last major abortion ruling was in 2007 when it upheld a federal law banning a late-term abortion procedure.

(Reporting by Joan Biskupic; Additional reporting by Jilian Mincer; Editing by Amy Stevens and Will Dunham)
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations and partner aid organizations plan to deliver life-saving aid to 154,000 Syrians in besieged areas in the next five days, the U.N. Resident Coordinator in Damascus Yacoub El Hillo said in a statement on Sunday. Pending approval from parties to the conflict, the U.N. is ready to deliver aid to about 1.7 million people in hard-to-reach areas in the first quarter of 2016, he said. The U.N. estimates there are almost 500,000 people living under siege, out of a total 4.6 million who are hard to reach with aid, but it hopes that a cessation of hostilities that began on Friday night will bring an end to the 15 sieges. "It is the best opportunity that the Syrian people have had over the last five years for lasting peace and stability," El Hillo said. "But we all know that without a meaningful political process and a political solution, both cessation of hostilities and entry of humanitarian assistance will not be enough to end the crisis in Syria." The U.N. hopes to deliver aid to Moadamiya on Monday, the "four towns" of Zabadani, Kufreya, Foua and Madaya on Wednesday, and Kafr Batna on Friday. But the biggest single siege, of about 200,000 people in Deir al-Zor, is not affected by the cessation of hostilities because the besieging Islamic State forces are excluded from the agreement. The U.N. attempted an air drop there last week but high winds meant all 21 tonnes of food went off target or went missing or their parachutes failed to open and they were destroyed. (Reporting by Tom Miles; editing by Ralph Boulton)
WASHINGTON  The White House on Friday urged Chinese President Xi Jinping to extend his pledge not to militarize the disputed Spratly Islands to encompass all of the South China Sea.

Dan Kritenbrink, President Barack Obamas top Asia advisor, issued the call at the end of a week in which China and the United States have sparred over Chinese deployment of missiles, fighter planes and radar on islands in the contested strategic waterway.

Xi had pledged during a US state visit last September not to militarize the Spratly archipelago, which is claimed by Manila and Beijing, but US officials have since said they see military intent in Chinas building of air strips and installation of radar there.

Friction has increased over Chinas recent deployment of surface-to-air missiles and fighter jets to Woody Island in the disputed Paracel chain. It has been under Chinese control for more than 40 years but is also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.

We think it would be good if that non-militarization pledge, if he (Xi) would extend that across the South China Sea, Kritenbrink told a conference at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Were going to encourage our Chinese friends and other countries in the region to refrain from taking steps that raise tensions.

Admiral Harry Harris, head of the US Pacific Command, said this week China was changing the operational landscape in the South China Sea and the United States would increase freedom-of-navigations patrols. His congressional testimony coincided with a US visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

China says its military facilities in the South China Sea are legal and appropriate, and on Tuesday, in a reference to US patrols, Wang said Beijing hoped not to see more close reconnaissance or dispatch of missile destroyers or bombers.

Kritenbrink also reiterated that China should respect an international court ruling expected later this year on its dispute with the Philippines over the South China Sea.

Story continues

China, which claims virtually all the South China Sea, is facing an arbitration case filed by Manila. Beijing rejects the authority of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, even though it has ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on which the case is based.

When that ruling comes out, it will be binding on both parties, Kritenbrink said. That will be an important moment that all of us in the region should focus on.

Increased freedom of navigation moves

At a hearing of the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee last Wednesday, Harris said the US will will increase freedom-of-navigation operations in the South China Sea.

We will be doing them more, and well be doing them with greater complexity in the future and ... well fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, he said. We must continue to operate in the South China Sea to demonstrate that water space and the air above it is international.

Wang met with US national security adviser Susan Rice on Wednesday and they candidly discussed maritime issues, the White House said in a statement. Rice emphasized strong US support for freedom of navigation and urged China to address regional concerns, the statement said.

Chinas official Xinhua news agency said of the meeting that both countries believed all sides should work hard to maintain the peace and stability of the South China Sea.

The South China Sea issue should be resolved via dialogue and peaceful means, Xinhua added.

Harris, asked what more could be done to deter militarization, said the United States could deploy more naval assets, although there were significant fiscal, diplomatic and political hurdles in the way of stationing a second aircraft carrier group in the region.

We could consider putting another (attack) submarine out there, we could put additional destroyers forward ...there are a lot of things we could do, short of putting a full carrier strike group in the Western Pacific, he said.

China claims most of the South China Sea, through which more than $5 trillion in global trade passes every year. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Taiwan have rival claims.

Harris comments came a day after he said China had deployed surface-to-air missiles on Woody Island in the South China Seas Paracel chain and radars on Calderon (Cuarteron) Reef in the Spratly islands further to the south.

On Tuesday, his command said Chinas repeated deployment of advanced fighter aircraft to Woody Island was part of a disturbing trend that was inconsistent with Beijings commitment to avoid actions that could escalate disputes.

Last month, a US Navy destroyer carried out a patrol within 12 nautical miles of Triton Island in the Paracels, a move China called provocative.

The United States has also conducted sea and air patrols near artificial islands China has built in the Spratlys, including by two B-52 strategic bombers in November.

 Reuters
THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS FROM AN AMERICAN Merchant Mariner
Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Louis van Gaal hailed Marcus Rashford as a "special talent" after the teenager marked his Premier League debut for Manchester United with a dazzling double in their 3-2 win over Arsenal on Sunday.

Rashford had already scored twice on his first ever United start in the Europa League against FC Midtjylland on Thursday, and he continued his astonishing rise to prominence by tormenting the Arsenal defence at Old Trafford.

The 18-year-old netted twice in the space of three minutes in the first half with a cool finish and a glancing header, before providing the assist for Ander Herrera's second half strike.

Rashford's heroics were well-timed for van Gaal, who has been under mounting pressure this season, and the United manager was quick to praise the Manchester-born youngster's potential.

"The experience of mine is youngsters always play well the first match. The second match is different. Marcus played well in both matches so he is a special talent," van Gaal said.

"We have a small squad because then you can give youngsters a chance. A big squad means they don't get a chance."

Asked where Rashford's debut ranked among the best he had seen, the former Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Ajax boss placed the teenager in an elite group.

"I can imagine a lot of them. Patrick Kluivert makes the winning goal (for Ajax) in the Super Cup in the Netherlands," he said.

"Xavi, fantastic against I think Valladolid (for Barcelona) and also Thomas Mueller a fantastic debut. He was playing in the second team (for Bayern Munich)."
By Philip Pullella and Jane Wardell ROME/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Cardinal George Pell said on Sunday the Catholic Church had made "enormous mistakes" as he became the highest-ranking Vatican official to testify on sexual abuse of children in the Church. Pell, 74, held up a Bible as he was sworn in to answer questions by Australia's Royal Commission into Institutional Response to Child Sexual Abuse in front of victims in a Rome hotel room. Around 15 abuse victims and support staff traveled to Rome on the back of a crowd-funding campaign to see the Vatican's treasurer give evidence after he said he was unable to travel to his native Australia because of heart problems. While strictly speaking an Australian affair concerning events decades ago, the hearing has taken on wider implications about accountability of Church leaders because of Pell's high position in the Vatican, where he serves as finance minister. "The Church has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy those but the Church in many places, certainly in Australia, has mucked things up, has let people down," Pell said as he began answering questions via video link to the commission in Sydney. "I'm not here to defend the indefensible." Pell has become the focal point for victims' frustration over what they say has been an inadequate response from the Catholic Church to the abuse claims. Pell himself is not accused of sexual abuse. There were scuffles between security guards and journalists when Pell arrived at the Rome hotel a few hours before the hearing began at 10 p.m. Italian time on Sunday, which is 8 a.m. Sydney time on Monday. "We need the Vatican to stand up and take responsibility rather than hide behind legal processes and please help us heal the future," David Ridsdale, one of the abuse victims, told reporters as he entered the hotel. "We dont want any more survivors. We need to be the last of the survivors. Thats our message." In Sydney, victims' supporters gathered outside the hearing rooms, holding hands in prayer and carrying signs saying "Pope Sack Pell Now" and "Pell go to hell". CARDINAL DENIES WRONGDOING Last year, Pell denied accusations made at Commission hearings in Australia that he had tried to bribe a victim to remain quiet, that he ignored another complaint and that he was complicit in the transfer of a pedophile priest in Ballarat, Australia. The alleged events took place in the 1970s and 1980s when he was a priest. Pell and his supporters say he has done no wrong and that he has become a lightning rod for all cases of abuse. Last year, Australia's bishops rallied behind Pell, calling him in a joint statement "a man of integrity who is committed to the truth". On Sunday Pell's office released a photo of the cardinal tying a yellow ribbon around a fence in the Vatican Gardens, joining a campaign started by the Australian Loud Fence victim support group. Church sexual abuse broke into the open in 2002, when it was discovered that bishops in the Boston area moved abusers from parish to parish instead of defrocking them. Similar scandals have since been discovered around the world and tens of millions of dollars have been paid in compensation. Pell has blamed a former culture of silence in the Church for the cover-up of child abuse by clergy, making it difficult to know the full extent of crimes. He has twice apologized for its slow response. Ironically, the Rome hearing starts just hours before the Oscar ceremony in Hollywood, where "Spotlight", a film about the systematic cover-up of sexual abuse in the Church in Boston, has been nominated for six Academy Awards. (Editing by Janet Lawrence and Gareth Jones)
BEIRUT (Reuters) - War planes attacked six towns in Syria's northern Aleppo province early on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, a day after a cessation of hostilities agreement took effect. Syrian insurgents said the air strikes were carried out by Russian war planes in support of Syria's government, but the Observatory which monitors the conflict said the identity of the jets was not clear. "We do not know which planes carried out the strikes and also we are not sure if this is considered a breach to the truce because it is not clear if these towns are included in the truce," the Observatory's director Rami Abdulrahman said. Syria's state media did not mention the strikes. Russia's defense ministry declined to comment. The cessation of hostilities, agreed as part of a U.S. and Russian plan, does not cover assaults on militants from Islamic State or the Nusra Front - an al Qaeda affiliate that has called for an escalation of attacks on Friday. Abdulrahman said some of the towns which were attacked, including Daret Azza, were controlled by Nusra Front and other Islamist groups. Other attacks hit the villages and towns of Qabtan al-Jabal, Andan, Hreitan, Kfar Hamra and Ma'aret al-Arteek, the Observatory said, all in the west of the province where insurgents from the Free Syrian Army, who are covered by the truce, have operated. Two videos sent by a rebel commander to Reuters shows a strike in another town, Harbnafseh, at 6.30 am (0430 GMT)and another at 07:00am (0500 GMT) according to the voice in the video. The footage shows plumes of smoke rising into the sky. Russia said on Saturday that it would suspend all flights over Syria for one day to ensure no targets covered by the truce were hit by mistake. (Reporting by Mariam Karouny and Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
AMMAN (Reuters) - Warplanes believed to be Russian pounded a rebel stronghold just north of the city of Homs in the second aerial bombing of the town within a few hours, a spokesman for the rebels said. The four strikes at around 16:15 GMT (11:15 ET)that hit the town of Teir Maalah had been followed two hours earlier by the dropping of several bombs by Syrian army helicopters, Abu Rafaat, a spokesperson for the Free Syrian Army run rebel's military operations room in the town led by Saraya al Haq brigade told Reuters. The strategically located town is the northern gate of the rebel-held northern countryside of Homs province that also saw a ground offensive by the army to capture the town of Harbnafseh further north that was backed by heavy Russian aerial bombing, according to rebel fighters. (Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; editingby Ralph Boulton)
DUBAI (Reuters) - Aden airport is expected to reopen fully for commercial traffic within weeks, Yemen's information minister said, a move that would shore up confidence in the ability of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government to control the volatile city. The southern port has been gripped by violence since Hadi supporters, backed by Saudi-led coalition forces, seized it from Iranian-allied Houthi forces in July. The airport has operated only sporadically since then, amid constant security fears. The minister, Mohammed Qobati, told Reuters the airport was being guarded by local fighters recently incorporated into a new Yemeni army which Hadi had been rebuilding since July, together with troops from the United Arab Emirates. He denied reports that the UAE had withdrawn its forces from the airport, saying there was only a routine rotation of forces. "We have done preliminary refurbishment work on the airport from outside, and now we are working on maintenance work inside the terminal," Qobati told Reuters by telephone. "We expect the work to be completed within weeks and we hope that commercial flights would return then," he added. The UAE is a member of an Arab alliance fighting the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in a bid to restore Hadi's internationally recognized government. The United Nations says nearly 6,000 people have been killed in the fighting, which began after the Houthis advanced on Aden, where Hadi had been based. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced. (Reporting by Sami Aboudi; Editing by William Maclean and Andrew Heavens)
Convicted killer laments sons murder

The inmate, Andrew Andy Paul Douglas, who was incarcerated at age 22 and has been in the system for 26 years said yesterday, Some people believe our country is lost. I dont believe it. I believe that if we come together and work together we can pull it back. Douglas spoke at a seminar organised by the Catholic Commission for Social Justice (CCSJ) and the Greater Caribbean for Life (GCL) to discuss the abolition of the death penalty in Trinidad and Tobago at Our Lady of Fatima RC Church in Curepe. He was escorted by two prison officers.

Other speakers were Fr Arnold Francis, parish priest of Our Lady of Fatima Church, Deacon Derek Walcott, and attorney Gregory Delzin.

Douglas, whose son, 28, was killed in September last year, said he knows what it is to be an offender and a victim of crime. His son was two-years-old when he was charged for the murder of a taxi driver.

From reading the newspapers and listening to the news, he said, Our kids are in a mess. I dont want to cast blame on parents or on any particular individual for what is happening. However, we have to understand our children. Now a victim, the pain of losing his only child, he said, was even worse than when he was committed to prison.

I have a comprehensive knowledge of what is going on. I have a lot to give in terms of advice to young people. I thank God I am alive to do that, he said.

Stressing the need for children to listen to their parents, Douglas said, As a young boy I never listened to my parents. I always wanted my own way. As a result of that I ended up on the streets in gang life which led me to prison on a capital charge for murder. In prison, he said, I recognized that I had wasted my time in school. I had wasted a lot of opportunities that was afforded to me when I was in the free world. He said, I found myself on death row for four and half years, then benefited from the Pratt and Morgan judgment. He said he did some soul searching and found he had to make some serious adjustments to his life.

A former Muslim, he said, soul-searching in the prison, and reading the Bible then converting to Christianity changed his entire outlook on life.

The prisons system, he said, has a lot of programmes and he decided to take part in them, many of which excelled in.

Douglas said it was sad that he never used to listen to his parents and it took the prison system for him to recognise and realise his potentials, which he could have achieved on the outside. Prison life is not a nice life. It is not a place for anyone to be.

We make poor choices.

I made bad decisions and I thank God that I have the opportunity to do something positive about it, he said.

While he has forgiven his sons killers, he now wants forgiveness for the crime he committed.

By sharing his story, he said, he hopes it will help young people to listen to their parents and make the right choices.

In a background on the seminar, Chair of the CCSJ and the GCL Leela Ramdeen noted that the issue of the death penalty comes to the fore when there was a spike in the crime rate and talks of reintroducing it was used as a political tool.

Studies, she noted, has shown that the death penalty was not a deterrent to crime and the root cause of crime must be addressed.

She noted that as of today about 540 persons were awaiting trials for murder.

There was no swift punishment for crimes and as such no real deterrent.

In addition the recidivism rate was high and the challenge is to prevent offenders from returning to prison, she said.

Ramdeen noted that 140 countries have abolished the death penalty in law and in practice. Thirteen Caribbean countries have retained it.

Two still have mandatory death penalty.

Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados, she said adding,We have to go to the Parliament to change that.
Drug dens, delinquent youths woes for Belmont

The meeting was held at St Francois Girls College, Belmont and scores of people attended.

Young said he was pleased to see the size of the crowd and he told them he wants the constituency to become an exemplar to the country. He noted he made a conscious choice not to wear red but quipped he was wearing red socks.

During the open session a female resident from Boissiere Lane expressed concern for the youth of the area noting that people can identify where drugs are being sold. She called for more enforcement of these drug areas and more positive messages for youths. Another resident reported there had been six murders in the area last year.

Young noted that as part of local Ggovernment reform they would bringing community policing up to 100 per cent and this lol include special training.

A female resident from St Francois Valley Road asked for pavements for pedestrians.

She noted the second problem is that we have no water.

She reported that water only comes on a Saturday at midnight and then stops at 6 am.

I am begging the authorities can I have some water please, she said.

Young responded that he was aware of the lack of pavements and would be raising it with the authorities.

He noted the solution is not an easy one as the roads are very narrow.

On the lack of water, he said he would be engaging the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) about notifying people of the schedule and about the water issues. He also agreed with one mans suggestion of people getting water tanks.

Other water issues raised included dark coloured water and being charged for a weeks supply of water by WASA when you only receive one days worth.

A resident from Brathwaite Street noted they had a problem with garbage. She explained that people were putting out their garbage on days when the trucks did not pass and in some instances the trucks did not pick up her garbage.

She noted stray dogs often burst the bags and spread the garbage and she is the only person on her street who cleans it up. She suggested that some bins be installed on the street.

Another issue she raised was a number of derelict vehicles on the street. She noted it was so bad that she had to park in the middle of the road just to open her gate.

She also called for a police youth club to be established in Belmont.

Young said he was aware of the garbage problem and noted there was a door to door system in place.

He also agreed with the installation of bins.

On the police youth club, he promised to have discussions with National Security Minister Edmund Dillon.
Principals back cop patrols for schools

Although he described as unfortunate, the fact that police patrols would now be a feature of school life, Griffith said the move was needed to deal with juvenile delinquency.

The reality is that there is need for protection for teachers, students and all who work at schools, he told Sunday Newsday.

If it is that children come from environment where the gun and violence is the norm, then there is need for policing of communities.

We cant expect that when the children come in charged with violence, that they will come into the school as angels.  He said until the society learnt methods of self-discipline, such stringent measures needed to be put in place.

Griffiths comment came one day after National Security Minister Edmund Dillon announced in the House of Representatives that police will patrol not only secondary schools and tertiary institutions but primary and pre-schools in an attempt to maintain law and order and protect the nations youths and teachers.

Dillon said while community police officers will continue to fulfil their obligations in communities, they will collaborate with educational organisations to improve relationships with young people at all levels. Griffith lamented that society had gone completely awry.

We seem to be living in a society that has gone wrong and we need to devise methods that will speak to the children from the time they leave home, he said.

The school is a microcosm of the wider society and when we have children making children we are now reaping that. When you have a grandmother who is just 34, that speaks to the fact that something is wrong in the society. Reiterating calls for a national parenting programme, Griffith while there must be a greater sex education component in schools, there was also a need to teach parents, especially fathers, how to be more responsible.

He said the National Parent- Teacher Association (NPTA) could play a more significant role in this regard by developing initiatives to help persons become more equipped for the challenges of parenting.
Manhunt continues for acid attacker

He need to give up himself and face the law, an emotional Chadee told Sunday Newsday yesterday. She said while the suspect remains at large, family members are fearful for their lives. My daughter is in hospital and this man is out there free and refusing to give up himself.

I have heard that he is telling people that the police cannot catch him and there are people hiding him even though they know what he did,said the mother.

She said her grandchildren are traumatised and fearful that the man would come after them. This man is going about his life as if he did nothing wrong and my daughter is in hospital.

People said that they have seen him walking in La Romaine. It is very scary for me and my family knowing that this man is still out there,she said. Bissoos photograph has appeared several times on the Wanted segment of TV6s crime programme Beyond the Tape. Rachael, 35, a mother of three, remains warded at SFGH under police guard and is still in a critical but stable condition. She has been unable to eat, drink or speak since her throat was severely damaged by the acid.

According to police reports, Rachael was slashed across her face, doused with acid and forced to drink it by a man who invaded her La Romaine home last Monday. Reports said a man forced his way into her home and dragged her into a bedroom and locked the door. He then slashed Rachael across her face, doused her with acid and even forced her to drink some of the toxic, corrosive liquid. Since the incident, Chadee and her grandchildren have moved to another location.

Chadee also called on persons who have seen the wanted man to contact police officers.

A senior police officer yesterday told Sunday Newsday that as the search continues for the wanted man, his photograph has been released to police officers from the Southern Division Task Force, San Fernando CID, Southern Western Division Task Force and police officers of the Chaguanas Police Station.
Wrecking in PoS West from March 1

You will not see wrecking all day and all night. Wrecking during the week will be done more or less during business hours, he said.

Valentine yesterday told the media at a press conference at City Hall, Port-of- Spain wrecking will resume because of complaints from residents, business owners, and establishments about the increase in indiscriminate parking.

He said the wreckers will target drivers parking at street corners, on the sidewalks, those blocking driveways and entrances to residences, parking on pavements, and those blocking fire hydrants.

The fine for retrieving a wrecked vehicle is $500 of which $300 will go to the wrecking company and $200 to the city corporation to be used for administrative purposes, Valentine said.

The corporation, he noted, stopped wrecking about two years ago because it had gotten out of control and it had come down more or less to a hustle. As then chairman of the security committee of the council, he was among those who had called for the wrecking to stop.

Assistant Superintendent, Port-of-Spain City Police Department, Erica Prieto, said the city police will handle the wrecking in Port-of-Spain under the Road Traffic Act which gives all police officers the authority to remove any vehicle found in contravention of the provisions, regulations, or orders under the Act. The city police, Prieto said, will be assisted by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.

The boundaries where wrecking will take place cover Richmond Street East to the Queens Park Savannah North, and from Wrightson Road South to the west of Mucurapo Road at the corner of Carlton Avenue and Jeffers Lane.

Wrecking will be done on Mondays to Wednesdays from 10 am to 6 pm; on Thursdays from 10 am to midnight; on Fridays from 10 am to 2 am; and on Saturdays and Sundays from 6 pm to 2 am.

Wrecking on Charlotte Street will be done from Mondays to Fridays from 7 am to 4 pm.

The motor vehicles wrecked will be stored to the TTPS Traffic Branch, and at the City Corporation car park at the end of Wrightson Road.

Each wrecker will be outfitted with cameras at its front and rear, Prieto said, and video footage will be handed over to the city police.

Police officers will also be in uniforms. People who feel trapped in their homes and inconvenienced because their driveways are blocked, Prieto said, can call the city police to assist on 290-3608.

The city corporation will engage the service wreckers from two private companies, until it secures its own according to Valentine.

Illegal vending, and public health issues on Charlotte Street will be dealt with at the same time, Prieto said.

She noted that the fine for illegal vending needs to be revised because it was just $200 which vendors can pay easily.
Hinds: Cable barriers for highways

During Parliament Question Time, the Minister said, Yes, this Government intends to do it for the benefit and safety of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. Hinds said former Minister Dr Suruj Rambachan pulled back a phase of installation before the 2015 election, using the funds to pave roads. In reply, Rambachan told Hinds to bring the evidence.

Madam Speaker, I would like to know from the Minister whether he is prepared to bring to this Parliament evidence of where he said that money was wired, the Opposition MP said. Hinds said, I have such evidence and will produce it at the first opportunity.

Opposition MPs cried, Bring it! Bring it! to which Hinds replied, Wicked! Similar sparring occurred in relation to the Couva Childrens Hospital and Multi-Training Facility and the provision of laptops in schools, the latter of which Education Minister Anthony Garcia said would be subject to a report drawn from a consultation process.

He said the majority of laptops were of poor quality and were not working, though he could not provide figures.

He said the devices had little impact on the student body.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh criticised the Opposition Peoples Partnership for commissioning the hospital.

You have the temerity and gall to ask me when I am going to commission what you commissioned? Deyalsingh said.

On the route of the last phases of the San Fernando to Point Fortin Highway, Hinds said that matter was under review.

So its likely not to be done, Rambachan said.
PNM one man one vote for Tobago

PNM chairman Franklin Khan made the announcement yesterday during the partys post general council news conference at Balisier House, Port-of-Spain.

The convention will be held at the St Johns Association and Brigade of Trinidad and Tobago National Headquarters, Fitzblackman Drive, Wrightson Road, Portof- Spain.

Within recent months, former PNM minister and Tobago East MP Rennie Dumas has expressed an interest in contesting the leadership of the Tobago Council, following word of Orville Londons decision to step down.

Previously, the leader of the Tobago Council was selected through the partys delegate system. London is now serving his fourth term as Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly.

Khan said the appointment of the PNMs new Tobago leader will take towards the middle of the year, ahead of the January 2017 THA election.

He said the new leader will serve a four-year term via the one man, one vote system while other members of council will be appointed under the delegate system for a period of two years.

During the briefing, Khan also announced that Anthony Ferguson had replaced Raymond Tim Kee as the new alderman at the Port-of-Spain City Corporation, following the latters recent resignation from the position of alderman and mayor over controversial statements made about the death of Japanese national Asami Nagakiya.

Also, following Keron Valentines elevation to the post of mayor, Khan said the general council approved Asha Permanand as the new Deputy Mayor of the Port-of- Spain City Corporation.

The chairman said the PNM, which is due to hold a threeday retreat in Tobago from Thursday, has performed reasonably well during its first six months in office even though the party had been hamstrung by financial issues, which plagued the country.
Govt, Opposition agree on ADHD

The issue was raised in the House of Representatives by way of a private motion filed by Tabaquite MP Dr Suruj Rambachan. In expressing the Governments agreement that this was an important issue and its support for the motion, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the society needs a clear understanding about this illness and how to treat with it.

ADHD is one of the most common childhood disorders and can continue through adolescence and adulthood.

Symptoms include difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty controlling behaviour, and hyperactivity (over-activity).

Parents have to be alerted as to what the symptoms of ADHD are. The best remedy is parental knowledge, parental intervention, Deyalsingh declared.

He continued that children with ADHD also need to be empowered to know that they are special and are not doomed to a life that would take them down an undesirable path.

He added, We need to change the way the students are engaged with the family, the community and in the school. Saying that persons with ADHD are brilliantly creative, Deyalsingh cited British business magnate Sir Richard Branson and former US Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps as persons who had ADHD who achieved greatness.

The Minister referred to the findings of a 2007 report which said ADHD symptoms, tend to ease with age and sometimes disappear altogether by late adolescence. However Deyalsingh noted there is a possibility of five to 30 percent of persons who have ADHD as a child, still have the illness when they are adults.

Praising the work of the ADHD Foundation of TT, Deyalsingh said the bulk of the Foundations inquiries come from Barataria/ San Juan, Couva, Chaguanas, Arima, Diego Martin, DAbadie and Penal. The Minister also said he was advised by a doctor at the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA) that out of 1,070 young persons who visited the Authoritys paediatric clinic for the period 2014-2015, 12 percent of those persons may suffer from ADHD.

Debate on the motion was suspended later in the sitting to permit Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley to answer questions during Prime Ministers Question Period, which normally happens at the start of the second sitting of the House each month. Rowley was not present during the regular period for these questions as he was attending the funeral of former senator Winston Steve Moore in San Fernando. The House adjourned to March 11.

The Cabinet will meet at the Madgalena Grand Hotel next Thursday (March 3) for its regular weekly meeting.

Following that meeting, the Government will hold a retreat at the same venue from next Friday to Saturday (March 4 to 5).
Summary: We tend to see the complex politics of America but assume Putin rules a simple autocracy. Here Stratfor describes the fragile Russian state, under incredible pressure from the collapse of oil prices  while a struggle appears to have begun to control its future.

The Kremlins Cracks Are All-Too Familiar

Stratfor, 27 February 2016

Summary

February 27 marks the anniversary of the assassination of Russian opposition heavyweight Boris Nemtsov. His killing sparked two weeks of intrigue in Russias top political circles, laying bare previously obscured Kremlin infighting and putting President Vladimir Putins continued control in question. The dispute, which went far beyond the death of one opposition leader or even broad factional competition, was in fact a struggle over who controls Russias future. In this it mirrored a three-year period of division in the early 1920s that ended in a leadership transition and set the trajectory of the Soviet Union.

Analysis

Struggles among the Kremlin elite are as old as the fortified stone citadel itself. The name Kremlin literally means fortress inside a city, a potent metaphor for the murky elite power struggles at the heart of Russias bustling government system. For the past decade, the Putin government has been divided into four camps: the powerful Federal Security Services (FSB), the so-called liberal reformists, the hawkish non-FSB security circles and a circle of those who are loyal to Putin alone.

These clans are constantly competing for power, assets and influence, with Putin playing the role of arbitrator. At the moment they are balanced  no one clan can change the power at the top. Russian history has shown, however, that this can change quickly. The pattern in recent years has held steady, with the FSB squaring off against the other clans and even against Putin himself in some cases.

Ukrainian Roots

This put the FSB on its heels, spurring it to engage in a series of power grabs that gave it control over key positions and increased its reach within various security circles. Toward the end of 2014, Putins control over the FSB also came into question. His behavior became increasingly odd as he missed major press conferences and spent his birthday alone in the Siberian forest. Putin ultra-loyalists among the Kremlin elite, particularly Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov , rallied around their leader, flooding social media with messages of support. The Chechen leader also gathered 20,000 troops from his infamous Chechen Brigades to support Putin and suggested deploying them directly to Ukraine.

The clash between Putins cadre and the FSB escalated in 2015, culminating in two full weeks of disarray in the Kremlin. Nemtsovs assassination on Feb. 27, 2015, was part of this. Authorities then arrested a ring of Chechens connected to Kadyrov for the murder, and Putin canceled his trip to Kazakhstan, disappearing from public view for 10 days . Russian media went into a panic, speculating that illness or even a coup had taken Putin out of commission.

These high-profile power struggles added to the standoff in Ukraine. The start of an economic recession in Russia at the end of 2014 worsened the situation, creating a perfect storm for Putin . Today, Kremlin elites are still divided along the lines that emerged from the Ukraine crisis, disagreeing over both who should be in power and how to tackle Russias various crises. Putin is still trying to manage these swirling controversies.

Stalinist Parallels

The current situation in the Kremlin bears distinct similarities to the period that saw the rise of Josef Stalin to replace Vladimir Lenin, a long process that was cemented in 1924 with Lenins death. Lenin had ridden to power on the back of the Bolshevik Revolution, which stemmed from Russias catastrophic role in World War I and collapse of the Tsarist system. As the Bolsheviks consolidated power in the early 1920s, they had to manage continual famines and an economy in shambles. Lenin ruled in conjunction with a system of elites who were rough analogues of the current Kremlin clans. Those in power were assiduous in moving to secure control over economic assets before the civil war among the Reds, Whites and an array of different forces had even ended. In fact, Lenin had begun his process of ruthless economic and political centralization as early as 1918.

But when the civil war ended and the Soviet system began to take shape, the elites within the Kremlin became deeply divided over what sort of economic system should come next. The region under Russian rule was in disarray, ravaged by war and blighted by famine. The Kremlin needed to catch up with the other great powers but was unsure how to rapidly modernize Russias industrial sector. In another parallel to today, the main split was between those who wanted to pursue further centralization and those who wanted to reverse course and liberalize the economy. Lenin came down in favor of a more open economic system, warning that Russia is being sucked into a foul bureaucratic swamp of entrenched corruption.

Elites were similarly divided about policies in Russias near abroad  much as Kremlin clans are today. In what came to be called the Georgian Affair, in 1922 Stalin proposed absorbing all the Caucasus states  Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia  into the Soviet Union in one overarching republic. His motivation was to prevent those populations from consolidating local power and challenging Moscow. Lenin accused Stalin of trying to create a Great Russia, a historical concept that advocated that Moscow control all the lands of Rus, especially the ethnic and linguistically related populations of Ukraine and Belarus. Stalin won the debate, although Lenin continued to push his point in the years up to his death.

Similar concerns about Russia pushing beyond its borders undergird the ongoing dispute over Ukraine policy. For the past two years, Putin and many within the conservative non-FSB security circles have evoked a concept similar to Stalins Great Russia, Novorossiya. The idea has its earliest roots in the ousting of the Ottomans by the Russian Empire and encompasses the swath of territory that includes southern Ukraine, modern day Transdniestria and the Donbas.

Ultraconservatives in the Kremlin originally wanted Moscow to militarily capture all of Novorossiya, though Putin instead decided on a somewhat more moderate approach: annex Crimea and maintain eastern Ukraine as a semi-frozen conflict. Many are still pushing him to launch a full-on military intervention in Ukraine. However, the Kremlins liberal circles have begun advocating a pullback on actions in Ukraine so sanctions can be lifted and the Russian economy can heal.

In the 1920s, the similarly divided elites shored up their respective positions. As Lenins health declined, he continued to denounce Stalin as an unsuitable successor both within the Kremlin circles and in his written testament, which detailed his view of where the country should go. But Stalin had already started to groom loyalists behind Lenins back and isolate Lenin from key decision-makers under the pretext of Lenins illness. Toward the end of Lenins life, there was a dilemma within Stalins circles over whether to move against the iconic revolutionary. This led to wild vacillations of position and loyalties among the elites until Lenins death and Stalins consolidation.

Infighting among the Kremlin factions is similar to that seen in the Stalinist circles of the early 1920s. Putin has long been the uniting factor within the Kremlin, arbitrating among the clans, but now he seems increasingly isolated. Over the past year, Putin has encircled himself with ultra-loyalists and distanced himself from power players such as the FSB. One of the greatest factors keeping the Kremlin clans from moving against Putin is his extraordinary popularity among the Russian people. With myriad problems plaguing Russia, Putin is still the only elite able to appeal to the dissenting points of view  at least for the moment

The echoes of the 1920s do not mean that Russia is going to witness the rise of another Stalin but that the Kremlin is in a period of division that makes it unclear precisely who is driving Russian strategy. Putin implemented a system over the past 15 years to stabilize Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the chaotic years under former President Boris Yeltsin. This is much like the Soviet system, which attempted to stabilize the union following war, the fall of an empire and a revolution. But cracks in the system are surfacing, and Putins ability to continue driving a united regime is in question. It is an uncertain period for Russia  on its borders, within the homeland, and inside the Kremlin itself.

-

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What crisis? When the going gets tough in Russia, the superwealthy go shopping.

Moscows Rolls Royce dealership had its best year ever in 2014, helped by a sprint of sales in the last two weeks of December.

People were in the mood for purchasing or shopping or maybe it was like an investment, says Tatiana Fitzgerald, managing director of Rolls Royce Moscow.

People were in the mood for purchasing or shopping or maybe it was like an investment." -Tatania Fitzgerald

The ruble was heading down, worth less every day, and it hasnt stopped falling.

But rather than watch their money devalue, Rolls Royce customers converted between 17 and 18 million rubles into the fast, slick Wraith, Rolls Royces newest model, perhaps hoping it would hold its value.

Rolls Royce attracts some well-heeled business elite and it is those powerbrokers who supported President Vladimir Putin. They are powerful friends, but they are also now watching Russias international politics isolating the country and hurting their bottom lines.

In a country so reliant on imports, goods priced in euros, pounds or dollars will see a steep increase this year. The ruble is down 50 per cent against the U.S. dollar.

Fitzgerald expects the cars in her showroom will be priced up.

Huge transformation

A Russian businesswoman in her 40s, she helps explain the vast transformation in this country since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of resource industries.



President Vladimir Putin hosted a Kremlin meeting for 40 Russian businessmen after the Russian central bank hiked interest rates and the ruble fell. (Getty Images)

Years ago, none of us had money; there was nothing and even if you did have money you couldnt buy anything, she says.

So when we got all these brands into the country people were like 'Wow! I can have it, I can afford it.'

Even 10 years ago, you couldnt imagine having three Rolls Royce dealerships in Russia, she says.

Fitzgerald is married to an American from Chicago, (thus the surname). They are living in Russia during the chilliest East-West relations since the post-Second World War Cold War.

"Im trying to explain to [my husband] what our country is trying to do, she says.

Of course, there are a lot of people who are disappointed, but its not like us who are closing the borders.

The way I feel its like Europe saying we dont want you; for ordinary people, well, what did we do wrong? Its not our fault the countries dont have good relations."

Blaming sanctions

Nearly everyone blames the sanctions imposed by Europe, the U.S and Canada to force Russias hand over Ukraine. European foreign ministers are meeting Thursday in Brussels debating whether to extend and toughen those sanctions.

Sanctions are partly responsible for squeezing the life out of Russias economy. And the elites, those who shop at Rolls Royce, are seeing part of their fortunes vanish.

This is the most dangerous time for the authoritarian political regime." - Kiril Rogov

This is the most dangerous time for the authoritarian political regime, when elites lose their belief in the future of the regime," says Kiril Rogov, senior researcher at the Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy in Moscow.

In Russia, he says the first signs of a splintering of power will be among this elite group. It may have begun already.

For the past few years, Putin has pulled the levers of power using oil and gas revenues to help businessmen get rich, and in return ensuring their loyalty.

As well, Putin mobilized the country into his version of an ultra-nationalist imperial superpower rising out of the collapse of the Soviet Union.



Sergey Markov, a pro-Kremlin analyst, warns that businessmen who criticize Putin risk censure by other Russians. (Corinne Seminoff/CBC)

Now, with those revenues shrinking, Putin may be losing leverage with the elites.

On Dec. 19 last year, as the ruble fell and Russias central bank raised the cost of borrowing to 17 per cent, Putin invited 40 of the countrys elite to a meeting at the Kremlin. They had already lost collectively more than $60 billion in 2014, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

We want to feel your support and we want to give you support. - Vladimir Putin

We want to feel your support and we want to give you support, Putin told the glum-looking group.

Then mindful of the record levels of capital fleeing the country  more than $130 billion  Putin reminded them of their responsibility to Mother Russia.

You have a very large population of people who depend on you. You have a massive responsibility for their welfare, for their standard of life, their salaries, and the government must understood you, too. So we must work very closely together."

Turning point

Putin is facing a dangerous turning point, says Rogov. He "understands he has no resources to stabilize the economy at this moment. It doesnt depend on his will at this moment. That makes him very angry and very nervous."

People close to Putin says hes given up expecting that the West will remove the sanctions and has instead amplified the roar of the Russian bear against the West.

Putins circle of advisers is reportedly tightening up, relying mostly on advice from the heads of intelligence, security and defence.

referendum in Crimea Sergey Markov, a pro-Kremlin political scientist who worked with Putin in the 2012 election and oversaw thethat saw the region secede from Ukraine and join Russia, says 90 per cent of Russians support backing the rebels in Eastern Ukraine.

Rolls Royce Moscow has record year in 2014 in spite of shrinking Russian economy. (Corinne Seminoff CBC News )

But in a country where polling often does not accurately measure public opinion, it is difficult to verify a real level of support.

But Markovs point is this: " Some of the billionaires are probably not happy about some sanctions and they may believe that Moscow should give up on Russians in Ukraine and allow the terrorist junta to suppress them," he says.

"If they say something against Vladimir Putin, they are not saying it against Vladimir Putin, but against the Russian people." - Sergey Markov

But they understand, he pauses for emphasis, if they say something against Vladimir Putin, they are not saying it against Vladimir Putin, but against the Russian people, and this is of course what they are afraid of very much.

Putin is facing the biggest political challenge of his 15 years in power.

The hawks in the Kremlin want him to act even more aggressively in Ukraine. Others want to reduce tensions to protect their own economic interests.

With 2015 shaping into a full-blown economic crisis, the question is which way will Putin go and who will be pushing him?
The collision on the southbound 5 Freeway at Garfield Avenue took place just after midnight, California Highway Patrol Officer Francisco Villalobos.

The CHP said that alcohol and drugs were not believed to have been a factor in the crash. Police said one person was killed when a auto lost control on the southbound lanes of the I-5.

The tractor trailer flew into the air and hit a gray Nissan, shearing the top of the Nissan off. The tractor trailer continued out of control and crashed onto a red Ford Explorer that was traveling northbound, and the tractor trailer immediately became engulfed in flames, the CHP said. The UPS truck slammed into the center divider, then flipped over into the northbound lanes and collided with several oncoming vehicles, causing an explosion, said Sgt. Luis Mendoza of the California Highway Patrol.

Cong to bring privilege motion against Smriti in Parliament on Rohith issue

Taking a tough stand against Smriti, Radhika said that the matter is not from a TV serial, but the matter of a person's life. Radhika had said: "Your Ministry had written that my Rohith and other Dalit students were anti-national extremists".

The driver of the tractor trailer - a man - and two people inside the Nissan were pronounced dead at the scene.

Three people died from the crash and two others were transported to LAC-USC Medical Center with major injuries, the CHP reported. The Los Angeles County Fire Department said the fire was quickly put out.

Debris was spread across all the southbound lanes.

Shenmue III New Work-In-Progress Screenshots Showcase Environments

Shenmue Dojo actually put together some comparison images between the latest game and Shenmue II , which we've included below. Today's update comes in the form of a series of handsome screenshots that show how detailed the environments are.

Fire crews responded to a five-car crash on the southbound 5 Freeway at Colorado Boulevard shortly before 4 a.m., according to an alert from the Los Angeles Fire Department. The fatal crash SigAlert was declared at 4:14 a.m. and the non-injury SigAlert at Buena Vista Street was called at 4:25 a.m., he added.

"The crash happened in the southbound lanes, just like the earlier collision", Villalobos said.

All four of these crashes have turned the 5 Freeway into a traffic nightmare for early morning commuters.
Turkey's leaders are vowing to retaliate.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said between 60 and 70 PKK militants were killed in the airstrikes, including some senior figures of the Kurdish militant group.

Erdogan said 14 people have been detained in relation to the attack, and he expects that number to grow.

"It has been determined with certainty that this attack was carried out by members of the separatist terror organization together with a member of the YPG who infiltrated from Syria", Davutoglu said, identifying the bomber as Syrian national Salih Neccar, born in 1992.

The group most recently claimed responsibility for a mortar attack at Istanbul's second airport in December that left an aircraft cleaner dead.

"We are not responsible for who will die in the attacks" in tourist areas, they said in the Friday statement. "Furthermore, no one bearing this name has ever joined the People's Protection Units (YPG) in Amuda".

Chris Christie for Donald Trump

Yet his many critics in the GOP establishment cheered Rubio's aggressive shift, something they have been encouraging for months. Even if that were possible, which it's not, Trump has been very reluctant to spend his money.

It has aided the PYD, the Syrian-based Kurds, because it has fought reliably against the Islamic State group.

The YPG denied its members carried out the attack in a statement issued on Thursday.

The Russians support the Syrian Kurds and the Syrian government headed by President Bashar al-Assad.

On Thursday, the US State Department called on Turkey to stop shelling of the YPG which has denied being behind the Ankara bombing.

PYD is the Syrian affiliate of the terrorist PKK organization, which has targeted security forces as well as civilians in Turkey since 1984. It has been pressing its ally, the United States, to recognize the Syrian Kurdish forces as terrorists. Instead, Washington has worked to help them militarily as they battle ISIS and other factions in Syria. Despite the tension, there are no signs Turkey intends to back down. "It is out of the question for us to excuse a terror organization that threatens the capital of our country".

One of the two leaders of a Kurdish political group overseeing the YPG, Saleh Muslim, said the YPG was not behind the bombing in Ankara and it was all fabrication. Both Erdogan and Davutoglu have called on the United States to cut ties with the insurgents. The authorities also caught two people in a vehicle loaded with 500 kg of explosives on Thursday evening in the Dicle district of Diyarbakir, security sources said.

Syrian peace talks will not resume next week  United Nations envoy

Ambassador told reporters his country was exercising its right to self-defense and responding to fire from Syrian soil. SANA says the army took the town of Khanaser on Thursday, after three days of heavy battles with the extremist group.

An official with a predominantly Kurdish coalition in northern Syria says Turkish troops are bombing their positions in border areas and inflicting casualties among civilians. The claim couldn't be verified.

Suicide bomber targets buses carrying military personnel in capital, killing 28 and injuring dozens.

"We have conducted no military attack and the ones who know it the best are the Turkish army and AKP government".

"Turkey will not shy away from using its right to self-defence at any time, any place or any occasion".

The worldwide community cannot tolerate the fact that Turkey may define the border lines of the countries in the Middle East on his own.

The bombing coincided with the launch by Turkey of artillery strikes into Syria to prevent Syrian Kurds advancing into a strategic corridor of territory near the Turkish border.
Hillary Clinton dealt Bernie Sanders a bruising defeat in South Carolina's Democratic primary Saturday, with early returns showing her crushing the insurgent senator by a 3-to-1 margin.

"We are going to compete for every vote in every state, we are not taking anything or anyone for granted", Clinton said. U.S. networks called the race for Clinton moments after polls closed in the Palmetto State, where the majority of Democratic voters are African-American, a voting bloc that she has successfully courted for decades.

Hillary Clinton won the South Carolina Democratic primary on Saturday, notching a decisive win in a state where she suffered a devastating loss just eight years ago.

Exit polls showed 6 in 10 voters in the primary were black, by far the largest proportion in any of the contests so far.

Gov. Chris Christie endorses Donald Trump for president

Cruz slammed Trump's past support for the Brady Bill, gun control legislation that President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1993. The Trump campaign welcomed Chris Christie to an event in Fort Worth, Texas ahead of the lone star state's Tuesday election.

"Thank you. Thank you". That is likely because Obama also attracted white voters in 2008, who may have voted Republican this time around, voting trends suggest. Sanders said on Saturday that his "grassroots political revolution" was growing "state by state".

While Sanders has the money to stay in the race deep into the spring, Clinton's campaign saw a chance to build enough of a delegate lead to put the race out of reach in the coming weeks.

In a statement to the press while on his way from Texas to Minnesota, Sanders said it was still early and that Clinton's big win matched his blowout in New Hampshire, telling reporters after he landed that he expected to get "lots of delegates on Tuesday". Recent national polls have shown Clinton leading Sanders by a slim margin among Democratic voters.

Instead of speaking in South Carolina, Sanders was en route to Rochester, Minnesota for a campaign rally. "Now it's on to Super Tuesday", said the self-described democratic socialist.

Oscars history beckons for Leonardo DiCaprio

Local silversmiths melted down the girls' jewelry, before molding and sculpting it to make a silver version of the Oscar trophy. That's right - the SMU Mustang won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Misery back in 1991.

By winning South Carolina, Clinton has won two contests in a row.

"The South Carolina primary is personally important to me because I want to send a strong signal that South Carolina is ready for change, ready for progress, ready to make a difference, " Mrs Clinton, 68, told a rally in the state capital Columbia on Friday. He pledges "to win many, many of them". One possibility is that the efforts of the Democratic Party, under the leadership of Mr. Obama, to register more black voters in states like SC is continuing to pay dividends, even without Mr. Obama on the ticket.

As on the Republican side, Texas will be considered a huge prize on Tuesday, but Sanders also is looking to potentially more friendly territory in the Midwest and Northeast, including his home state.

At Clinton's crowded headquarters in Columbia earlier Saturday, a sign addressed Sanders' appeal to liberals and working class whites. "We are not taking anything, and we're not taking anyone for granted", she said.

Carrick: Beating Arsenal will reignite Manchester United season

They should be too strong for a United XI stretched to its bare bones and relying heavily on a host of unproven youngsters. "Now the focus is on the Premier League and trying to win  that's important for me, the team, for everyone".

Thirty-five are awarded proportionally based on the results in each of the state's seven congressional districts, and 18 others are decided proportionally by the statewide outcome.
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If Sanders couldn't close the gap among African Americans in SC, where he had the most time, money, and resources devoted to introducing himself to the community, then it will be all the more hard in upcoming states.

Later, after landing in Minnesota, he said in Rochester that "in politics on a given night, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose".

In 2008, black voters made up 55 percent of the electorate in South Carolina's Democratic primary, according to exit polls.

Clinton had strong support across all education levels, but did particularly well among less-educated voters.

On Saturday, some Sanders' supporters in SC said they understood the Democratic Party establishment and the odds are against them.

Oscar predictions: What will win and what should win

There are very few clear frontrunners this year, and a couple of real wild cards that could take this race in any direction. Or Joshua Oppenheimer's documentary on Indonesian genocide, "The Look of Silence", might be a rival to " Bridge of Spies ".

Clinton also has won in Iowa and Nevada. "Now it's on to Super Tuesday", Sanders said in the statement.

Voters set a record in 2008 when 23.7 percent of the electorate voted in the South Carolina Democratic primary. Sanders, who has energized the party's liberal wing and brought young people to the polls by attacking income inequality and Wall Street excess, needs a breakthrough win in a key state in the next few weeks to keep his hopes alive.

"Tomorrow, this campaign goes national", Clinton said.

While Sen. Bernie Sanders' support rose in the polls for months in the early states, many Democrats crowed about Hillary Clinton's "firewall".

Reiterating his message of a "political revolution" and it's requirement for participation, Sanders said "we have one of the lowest voter turnout rates".

BJP, Opposition Lock Horns Over Smriti Irani's Goddess Durga Remarks

These are authenticated documents from the university (JNU) itself". Yechury said the minister is "making all foul fair".

As on the Republican side, Texas will be considered a huge prize on Tuesday, but Sanders also is looking to potentially more friendly territory in the Midwest and Northeast, including his home state. On Saturday night, Hillary Clinton was introduced in SC for her victory speech by Clyburn - who was smiling and dancing on stage. According to the Associated Press: "Clinton won a large majority of black voters, most women and voters 25 and older". Bill Clinton's "explainer-in-chief" 2012 Democratic National Convention healed most wounds that remained, and Hillary Clinton sealed the deal by positioning herself as the logical heir to Obama's policies- with 70% of those who voted Saturday saying they want the next president to continue those policies.

"Together we can break down all the barriers holding our families and our country back".

Sanders, expecting defeat on Saturday, left SC even before voting finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesday's delegate-rich contests. Even on Friday, the last full day of campaigning before South Carolina's polls open, Sanders began with a rally in Minnesota before heading south for a pair of events. Noting that more than 800 delegates are at stake Tuesday, he said "We intend to win many, many of them".

Clinton's win provided an important boost for her campaign - and a moment to wipe away bitter memories of her loss to Barack Obama in the SC primary eight years ago.

Without mentioning Trump's name, the former secretary of state made it clear on Saturday she was already thinking about taking on the real estate mogul whose recent string of victories made him the favorite to be the Republican nominee for the White House race. While Sanders won white men 56% to 44%, Clinton won white women 60% to 40%. She also has a regional advantage that's likely to become evident on Super Tuesday, where seven of the 11 states with Democratic contests are in the South.
Turkey not to comply with Syrian cease-fire if under threat: PM

Cavusoglu also said the actual implementation of a cessation of hostilities in Syria is more important than its announcement. An ongoing rift occurred betweenNATOallies Turkey and USA over the designation of the PYD and YPG.

IS fighters attack Syrian border town

But fighting continued in areas where IS and Al-Nusra are present, including in the patchwork of territory in Aleppo province. Other rebel groups reported that government forces dropped several barrel bombs in the western province of Latakia.

Andre Miller to join Spurs for playoff run after Wolves buyout

The Spurs were also reported to be a favorite for the services of another Wolves buyout candidate, shooting guard Kevin Martin . He averaged 3.4 points and 2.2 assists in 10.8 minutes in 26 games for Minnesota prior to the buyout.

Syria rebel warns against more truce violations

De Mistura also announced the resumption on March 7 of peace talks, which had collapsed after an increase in violence this month. The truce does not include either IS or al-Qaida's branch in Syria, known as the Nusra Front.

Final interview for Scott Kelly tomorrow before his return to Earth

While the duo are flying back to the planet on March 1st, NASA TV will begin broadcasting the event on February 29th. The gorilla suit was given to Kelly by his twin brother, Mark Kelly , for his birthday.

'Rubio stole from the Republican Party'

Ted Cruz - the two likeliest alternatives to Trump - "two of the people that create the gridlock" in Washington. In the debate Thursday in Houston, Rubio attacked Trump on immigration, foreign policy and hiring practices.

Kansas gunman kills 3, injures 14 on rampage

Walton would not identify the suspect or discuss a motive but said there were "some things that triggered this individual". At 3:30 p.m. a protection from abuse order from Wichita was served to Ford where he worked at the Excel plant.

United Nations backs Syria ceasefire, peace talks to re-start March 7

The Saudi-backed Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) also announced that it would temporarily adhere to the truce. Security Council on Friday and then announce a date for a new round of talks, but he declined to comment further.

Pope Francis Calls for End of Death Penalty

Russian Federation suspended the death penalty indefinitely in 1999, although it was retained in the Constitution. In a heartfelt plea, Pope Francis has called for the death penalty to be abolished across the globe.

Polish institute says Walesa worked with communist police

Deputy Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the new evidence meant that it was now clear "Lech Walesa had an agent's past". Lech Walesa worked as an electrician in the shipyards of Gdansk and founded the Solidarnosc (Solidarity) union.

Puerto Rico braces for wave of mosquito-borne Zika virus

In Arkansas we have had only one case, and that was from someone who traveled to an area where Zika infections are occurring. Denise Jamieson, a medical officer with the CDC division of reproductive medicine and part of the Zika response team.

Isis beheads 12 officers in vengeful town occupation

Western governments are wary of large-scale military intervention but fear inaction may allow Islamic State to take deeper root. Le Monde reported that bloggers had written about sightings of French special forces in eastern Libya since mid-February.

Clinton Wants South Carolina Boost Ahead of Super Tuesday

But Clinton's win wasn't limited to older voters as it has been in some of the earlier nominating contests. Instead of speaking in South Carolina, Sanders was en route to Rochester, Minnesota for a campaign rally.

Chris Christie for Donald Trump

Yet his many critics in the GOP establishment cheered Rubio's aggressive shift, something they have been encouraging for months. Even if that were possible, which it's not, Trump has been very reluctant to spend his money.

Syrian peace talks will not resume next week  United Nations envoy

Ambassador told reporters his country was exercising its right to self-defense and responding to fire from Syrian soil. SANA says the army took the town of Khanaser on Thursday, after three days of heavy battles with the extremist group.
Here's what people are doing Sunday night to avoid watching the Oscars

It's also up against a new episode of The Walking Dead , which I am going to record in order not to miss it. Billy Crystal always delighted as the Oscars host, but guys like Chevy Chase and David Letterman bombed.

Smartphones and virtual reality just became inseparable

LG also wants to capture the skies with the Smart Controller, which can be used to control and view the video feed from a drone. The company will also make smartphone cases with a hole to screw in special lenses, such as wide angle and fisheye views.

Stephen Curry talks Warrior haters, chasing 73 and having fun with its

Stephen Curry is literally a cheat code at this point, this is something that we all know by now. Durant responded with a 3-pointer with 14.5 seconds left to put the Thunder up 103-99.

Britain's European Union referendum to be held on June 23

Britain will vote on whether to remain in the European Union on Thursday 23 June, Prime Minister David Cameron has said. Many think that Britain is better off without the European Union as it is being constrained by it.

Lithium ion batteries banned from passenger aircraft holds

The decision to impose a global ban on their shipment was made by the International Civil Aviation Organization on Monday. Lithium metal batteries, which are used in watches, have already been banned on passenger planes globally.

Suspect in Kansas workplace shooting served protection order

In Kansas, he had a misdemeanor conviction in a 2008 fighting or brawling case and various traffic violations from 2014 and 2015. One of those workers was Matt Jarrell, who identified the shooter as his colleague and friend Cedric Ford to CNN affiliate KSNW.

Syria cessation of hostilities agreement comes into effect

Turkey's role in the ceasefire has been complicated by its deep distrust of the Washington-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG. The cease-fire is scheduled to take effect at midnight local time.

Mr. Movie: Terrific acting punctuates nail-biting suspense in 'Triple 9'

With The Proposition and Lawless, he brought period-set grit to the screen and made the future even less appealing in The Road . On the other hand it's a reasonably simple morality play, with many quirks of character and story archetypical and predictable.

Crooked cops gone worse in muddled 'Triple 9'

Take one step back and analyze the proceedings, and " Triple 9 " holds up about as well as a house of cards in a hurricane. The movie would have enough substance just focusing on the men and their exploits, but Triple 9 is too ambitious for that.

Will BC follow Ontario with tuition changes?

For students who's parents make $83 000 or less many will receive up front grant money to cover the cost. Whether you prefer to travel in style or on budget, the ideal March Break cottage getaway for...

Business leaders warn 'Brexit' puts jobs at risk

Around two thirds of the FTSE 100 failed to sign the letter and Leave campaigners said this demonstrated that business opinion is divided over whether Britain should leave the EU.

Unlocking killer's iPhone would be 'bad for America', claims Apple chief

But he said authorities are now asking the company "to write a piece of software that we view as sort of the equivalent of cancer".

WMU Track & Field heads to the Indoor MAC Championships

The Wildcats will have 26 men competing at this year's conference meet, one of the largest groups it has ever had. Sandra Akachukwu and Jenessa Jackson both starred in the field events as the duo captured a pair of events.

Bernie Sanders makes first trip to Texas in seven months

Bernie Sanders , according to the exit poll conducted for The Associated Press and television networks by Edison Research. Attracting white or younger voters, his biggest blocs of support, is not enough to push Sanders past Clinton.

Clinton wins South Carolina Democratic primary

The win gave Clinton a strong primary victory to match Sanders' decisive win in the New Hampshire primary earlier this month. Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire. "It's a 50-state election and we're feeling very confident, actually", she said.
Prince William County Police Officer Ashley Guindon started out as an intern with the department and was sworn in the day before she was killed.

The man accused of murdering a Virginia police officer on her first shift is an active-duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon.

Ashley Guindon, 29, was responding to a domestic violence call in Woodbridge, south of Washington D.C., when she was shot and killed. The condition of the other two officers is not known.

Guindon was sworn in Friday and was expected to begin her first shift during the weekend, police announced this week. She and two other officers were shot while responding to a domestic-related shooting that occurred in in Woodbridge, VA. The other two officers are being treated for their injuries at a local hospital, according to a statement from the department posted on Facebook. "Be safe!" the tweet read.

Dhoni puts Pakistan in to bat

Pakistan have got some new players on their side and some experienced once as well and now they are looking a much better side. Khurram Manzoor's pads weathered a lot of impact as he came in at No. 3 and played out a maiden over on his T20I debut.

More than 100 patrol cars lined the roads outside a Northern Virginia hospital early this morning as a somber escort for the body.

Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert told the Associated Press news agency that he had signed off on a capital murder charge against the suspect, along with counts involving the initial domestic argument.

Officials say Guindon died of the injuries she received in the shooting. County authorities were said to be preparing a capital murder charge and other charges against a suspect identified as a military serviceman, who is in custody.

Guindon had briefly been a county police officer a short time ago, but left for personal reasons during training Hudson said.

Ten days to save European Union migration system - commissioner

The EU's top migration official said on arrival at the meeting that Europe was at a "critical moment". There are also growing migrant tensions elsewhere, including between Belgium and France.

"We are grieving the same as all the people in Prince William County, as well as the law enforcement community across the United States", Hamilton said.

Identities of others involved in the incident, whether officers or civilian, have not been released.

Guindon was one of three officers shot.

A woman who lives on Lashmere Court said she was visiting a neighbour and heard sounds but did not think gunfire could have broken out on her quiet and close-knit street.
Never send a cop to do a man's job
A displaced hedgehog is a figure - or rather an image - from Tove Jansson's Moomin books. This is how I can best describe myself. This blog is mostly about being displaced.
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Confira o preco do seguro para o Chevrolet Onix

Saiba quando voce gastaria com o seguro do carro mais vendido do Brasil
 Brian Snyder / Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Tulsi Gabbard resigned from her post on Sunday to endorse Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, following months of rising tensions within the group.

"I think its most important for us, as we look at our choices as to who our next commander in chief will be, is to recognize the necessity to have a commander in chief who has foresight, who exercises good judgment," Gabbard, a U.S. representative for Hawaii, said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Gabbard, one of five vice chairs, and her committee colleagues have butted heads over a thin debate schedule in the months leading to Democratic voting contests for the party's nomination, with Gabbard calling for the group to add more debates to the calendar.

Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, is competing with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination to run for president on Nov. 8. Critics have said the scheduling of the debates has favored Clinton, who is better known than Sanders and is favored to win the nominating contest.

Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz issued a statement accepting Gabbard's resignation, calling her a friend and praising the active-duty veteran for her service in the armed forces.

"Congresswoman Gabbard is a role model who embodies the American ideal that anyone can dream big and make a difference," Wasserman said in the statement.

"She is also a colleague in Congress and a friend, and I look forward to continuing to work alongside her when our Party unites behind whoever emerges as our nominee."

(Reporting by Alana Wise; Editing by David Goodman and Jonathan Oatis)

This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.
By Jonathan Allen

By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Meg Whitman, the head of technology firm Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co , said on Sunday that Donald Trump was "unfit" for the U.S. presidency, and criticized New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose failed presidential bid she supported, for endorsing him.

But, later in the day, Trump picked up another high-profile endorsement, from U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a leading conservative.

Trump's insurgent campaign has riven the Republican Party, with party leaders openly discussing how to thwart the will of the tens of thousands of members who have voted for Trump, helping him comfortably win in three of the four states that have so far held nominating contests.

Party leaders are nervous that Trump, a billionaire real-estate developer from New York City who deviates from some of the central tenets of Republican conservatism, may alienate voters if he is their candidate in the Nov. 8 general election. He has proposed banning Muslims from entering the United States and declined a journalist's invitation on Sunday to condemn the Ku Klux Klan, the violent white-supremacist group.

Christie, who scrapped his own presidential bid earlier this month, became the most prominent Republican figure to break ranks with party leadership by endorsing Trump on Friday ahead of this week's "Super Tuesday" contests, when voters in 11 states go to the polls.

Whitman, who was a co-chairwoman of the national finance committee of Christie's campaign, said in a statement to reporters that Trump would take the country on "a dangerous journey" and that Christie was aware of this.

"Chris Christie's endorsement of Donald Trump is an astonishing display of political opportunism. Donald Trump is unfit to be president", said the statement from Whitman, who is chief executive and president of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and chairman of HP Inc .

She called on Christie's donors not to follow him to Trump, who has predominantly funded his campaign with personal loans. Representatives of Christie and Trump did not respond to requests for comment.

Earlier on Sunday, Trump was asked repeatedly if he would unequivocally condemn the Klan and other support from white supremacists.

"I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists," Trump told CNN's Jake Tapper after being asked about his endorsement by David Duke, a former Klan leader. "If you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them and certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong."

Previously, Trump had seemed less uncertain about his views on Duke. "David Duke endorsed me?" he said in a response to a reporter. "Alright. I disavow. OK?"

His latest backer, Senator Sessions, has had to defend his own controversial comments about the Klan in the past. In 1986, he admitted during an unsuccessful confirmation hearing to become a federal judge that he had said he thought the Klan was "OK" until he came to believe that some members smoked marijuana. He explained that these remarks were a joke and has since called the Klan "destestable."

In a separate interview on Sunday, Trump also defended posting on his Twitter account a quote sometimes attributed to Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. He told NBC News he did not realize that the quote - "It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep" - was associated Mussolini but said it did not matter because it was a good aphorism all the same.

Many party leaders hope U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida will somehow overtake Trump before the party's nominating convention in July, despite Rubio's not having won any states and lagging behind in Trump in opinion polls.

In recent days, Rubio has taken to adopting Trump's habit of using adolescent insults to denigrate his rival, suggesting on Friday that Trump urinated in his trousers during last week's televised debate.

Rubio and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the only Republican to yet beat Trump in a primary election, both criticized Trump's reticence to speak ill of the Klan on Sunday.

"We cannot be a party that nominates someone who refused to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan," Rubio told a crowd of voters in Purcellville, Virginia, MSNBC reported.

(Additional reporting by Alana Wise in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)

This article was funded in part by SAP. It was independently created by the Reuters editorial staff. SAP had no editorial involvement in its creation or production.






Web: www.nscuba.org/

As of January 1, 2011 - Nova Scotia Cuba Association's e-mail and web addresses will permanently change to:E-mail: novascotiacuba@gmail.com
The victory speech in Charleston. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images

If the ability to break through among minority voters is the key to Bernie Sanderss winning the Democratic nomination, there was no good news for him from South Carolina tonight. According to exit polls, African-Americans constituted a record 61 percent of voters, and Hillary Clinton won an astonishing 84 percent of them. Thats six points better than Barack Obama did there in 2008. In some demographics, Clintons vote was virtually unanimous: She reportedly won African-Americans over 65 by a 96-to-3 margin. Her overall 73.5 percent comfortably exceeds Bernie Sanderss much-ballyhooed 60 percent in New Hampshire earlier this month. The states rolling up on the calendar, especially on March 1, mostly look more like South Carolina than they do New Hampshire.

Sanders did continue to win white voters (58 to 42) and under-30 voters (63-37), though the latter margin is his lowest yet among the young. He and HRC were even among white women, and Sanders did not seem to have any special appeal to non-college-educated white voters (he won white college graduates by a slightly higher percentage). Clinton handily won every ideological category, including self-described very liberal voters, and beat Sanders among moderates nearly three to one.

Although this was an open primary (actually, South Carolina has no party registration), only 18 percent of voters were self-identified independents (Sanders won 62 percent of them), and only 15 percent were first-time Democratic primary voters (Sanders won 70 percent of them). In general, Clinton hit all her marks and Sanders hit few of his own. The polls showing a late trend towards Clinton if anything underestimated its speed.

The results leave little hope for Sanders other than slow delegate accumulation in such Super Tuesday states as Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Hell obviously win Vermont; he has a good chance in Massachusetts, might do well in Colorado and Minnesota, and might exceed expectations in Oklahoma. But the magic from the Granite State has worn off, and with it the idea that, as minority voters became more familiar with Bernie, theyll trend his way, too. As Nate Cohn of the New York Times pointed out on Twitter, Sanders would need to win Latinos by the same 2-1 margin Clinton enjoyed in 2008 to make up for the margins shes achieving among black voters. That seems improbable, to put it mildly, and I strongly suspect well find out in Texas next Tuesday that hes not going to carry the Latino vote at all.

The Bern may return in full force in some heavily white caucuses on March 5 (Kansas and Nebraska), March 6 (Maine), and March 26 (Alaska and Washington), but by then we may all be talking about when, rather than whether, Hillary Clinton wins the nomination.
Young Iranians hold up their ballots before voting for reformist candidates in Tehran. Photo: Scott Peterson/Getty Images

Early results from nationwide elections on Friday in Iran show that moderate and reformist political forces have made significant gains, according to semi-official Fars and Mehr news agencies. Coming at the expense of the countrys hardliners, the gains represent an important win for President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate who favors greater engagement with the West, and whose administration was responsible for forging the landmark nuclear deal with the U.S. and Europe over the summer. That agreement led to the dismantling of much of Irans nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions on the country, and there has already been a wave of foreign investment in the Iran as a result, as well as an overall significant improvement for the countrys economic outlook.

The gains came in both the countrys parliament and its assembly of experts, which is an essential clerical body that will select the next Supreme Leader  an important responsibility considering the fact that current supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, is 76 years old and has been suffering health problems for years. While no one political group appears to have won an outright majority in Irans parliament, the loss of power for the countrys hardliners is nonetheless a significant development. Indeed, the election appears to demonstrate a slow-but-continuing political shift in Iran. Iranwires Reza HaghighatNejad offers a preliminary analysis:

Overall, results indicate that Rouhanis government have won more support in parliament, and that its policies will be more readily accepted, particularly when it comes to economic and administrative policies. But because these newly-elected parliamentarians are so diverse in their policies and outlook, it is clear that differences over foreign policy and cultural, social and domestic issues will remain  meaning Rouhanis battles in parliament are not over.

Rouhani is also up for reelection next year, and Fridays vote was considered by many to be a referendum on his presidency thus far.

Slowly emerging that #IranElections2016 has produced a shift to the center, correcting the rightward push since '05.  Saam A. Borhani (@comprehendiran) February 27, 2016

As the Associated Press notes, reformists have not held significant power in Iran since 2004, and reformist politicians and media members have faced routine oppression since then, and likely still will in many ways. However, the shift also means that more hardline holdovers from the time of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejads era are now gone.

The godfather of #Iran's hardliners & a major supporter of AhamdiNejad was voted out of the Assembly of Experts. pic.twitter.com/QtupPcuviu  Bahman Kalbasi (@BahmanKalbasi) February 27, 2016

Beyond the one seat, this is an important psychological victory for #Iran's moderates/reformists. https://t.co/zjG3kiANDX  Bahman Kalbasi (@BahmanKalbasi) February 27, 2016

Either way, the rise of moderates and reformists in Irans government is good news for those who not only favor more international engagement, but expanded personal freedoms at home. As the National Iranian American Councils Reza Marashi told CNN, After these elections there will be a more diverse range of voices, and that will better reflect the will of people. Its not perfect, but will be better.

Iranians walking past campaign posters prior to election day in the city of Qom. Photo: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images

About 33 million Iranians  roughly 60 percent of eligible voters  participated in the elections, and the final results are expected on Tuesday.
Photo: CNN Screencap

Appearing on CNNs State of the Union Sunday morning, Donald Trump passed on a few opportunities, given by host Jake Tapper, to reject the support of white supremacists and recent endorser David Duke, a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and arguably the most famous white supremacist in America. Asked whether he would unequivocally condemn David Duke and say that you do not want his vote or that of other white supremacists in this election, Trump, who is the well-documented hero of the white-supremacist internet, claimed ignorance:

Trump: Well just so you understand, I dont know anything about David Duke, okay, I dont know anything about what youre even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So I dont know, I dont know. Did he endorse me, or whats going on, because, you know I know nothing about David Duke, I know nothing about white supremacists. So youre asking me a question that Im supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about. Tapper: But I guess the question from the Anti-Defamation League is, even if you dont know about their endorsement, there are these groups and individuals endorsing you. Would you just say, unequivocally, that you condemn them and you dont want their support? Trump: Well, I have to look at the group. I dont know what group youre talking about. You wouldnt want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. Id have to look. If you would send me a list of groups, I will do research on them, and certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong. But you may have groups in there that are totally fine and that would be unfair, so give me a list of the groups and Ill let you know.



Tapper: Okay, I mean Im just talking about David Duke and Ku Klux Klan here, but  Trump: I dont know any  Honestly I dont know David Duke. I dont believe I ever met him. Im pretty sure I didnt meet him. And I just dont know anything about him.

Except, of course, Trump did seem to know who David Duke was when he disavowed him last week:

(Update: Trump himself discovered the above video following his State of the Union appearance and tweeted it along with his re-disavowal of Duke.)

In addition, Trump also knew who Duke and KKK were when he rejected the idea of running for president as a candidate for the Reform Party in 2000:

Mr. Trump painted a fairly dark picture of the Reform Party in his statement, noting the role of Mr. Buchanan, along with the roles of David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and Lenora Fulani, the former standard-bearer of the New Alliance Party and an advocate of Marxist-Leninist politics. The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani, he said in his statement. This is not company I wish to keep.

Watch Sundays puzzling exchange below:

This post has been updated to include the evidence that Trump knows exactly who David Duke is.
Having 14 million social-media followers means never having to have to say, It was a mistake to associate myself with that really famous, really evil guy who killed a lot of people. Photo: Michael B. Thomas/AFP/Getty Images

Early Sunday morning, Donald Trump fired off a retweet that contained a close paraphrase of a quote from famed fascist, Italian dictator, and Hitler ally Benito Mussolini:

Photo: Twitter

Il Duce means the leader, and was Mussolinis nickname. The original quote, replacing one with an a, was cited in a 1942 Time article about the famous dictator.

When asked by Chuck Todd about retweeting the fascists line on Meet the Press Sunday morning, Trump insisted that it was all according to plan:

Trump: Its okay to know its Mussolini. Look, Mussolini was Mussolini. Its a very good quote. Its a very interesting quote. And I saw it. I know who said it. But what difference does it make whether its Mussolini or somebody else. Its certainly a very interesting quote.  Thats probably why I have, between Facebook and Twitter, 14 million people and a lot of people dont. Its a very interesting quote and people can talk about it. Todd: You want to be associated with a fascist? Trump: No, I want to be associated with very interesting quotes.  Hey, it got your attention didnt it?

But as it turns out, in this case theres another thing Trump gets to be associated with, and thats the fact that he fell into a trap  set just for him  by Gawker. Heres editor Alex Pareenes explanation of the prank:

Last year, we set a trap for Trump. We came up with the idea for that Mussolini bot under the assumption that Trump would retweet just about anything, no matter how dubious or vile the source, as long as it sounded like praise for himself. (It helps that that a number of Mussolinis quotes sound plausibly like lines from Trumps myriad books.) The account, @ilduce2016, was created by Gawker senior writer Ashley Feinberg and Gawker Media Editorial Labs director Adam Pash. It has tweeted solely at Donald Trump, multiple times a day, since December 2015. Our Fascist bot was anything but subtle. It was, after all, directly named after Mussolini. The New York Times today swiftly recognized that it was a parody account. At the time of the accounts creation, Gawker Media Executive Editor John Cook expressed some concern that the joke behind the account was far too obvious, and wouldnt trick anyone but a complete idiot.

And heres the video of Trump discussing the irresistible tweet and his love of interesting quotes, regardless of their source:

And, for reference, heres a video comparing the facial tics of Mussolini and Trump:
Donald Trump knows nothing. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg Finance LP/Getty Images

One question hanging over Donald Trumps candidacy is whether it represents the terrifying rise of an American authoritarianism, or a colossal prank Trump is playing on his supporters. Evidence for both hypotheses can be found in Trumps remarks this morning, in an interview with CNNs Jake Tapper, refusing to disavow support from David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan:

Trump: Well just so you understand, I dont know anything about David Duke, okay, I dont know anything about what youre even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So I dont know, I dont know. Did he endorse me, or whats going on, because, you know I know nothing about David Duke, I know nothing about white supremacists. So youre asking me a question that Im supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about. Tapper: But I guess the question from the Anti-Defamation League is, even if you dont know about their endorsement, there are these groups and individuals endorsing you. Would you just say, unequivocally, that you condemn them and you dont want their support? Trump: Well I have to look at the group. I dont know what group youre talking about. You wouldnt want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. Id have to look. If you would send me a list of groups, I will do research on them, and certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong. But you may have groups in there that are totally fine and that would be unfair, so give me a list of the groups and Ill let you know.  Honestly I dont know David Duke. I dont believe I ever met him. Im pretty sure I didnt meet him. And I just dont know anything about him.

Trump, of course, is lying when he claims to be unaware of David Duke. Duke is a famous figure whose ability to compete for statewide election in Louisiana drew national attention 25 years ago. Trump himself has expressed familiarity with (and disavowed) Duke in the past. The political logic of Trumps evasiveness is bizarre. Yes, Republican voters respond to dog-whistle racism. And yes, racial resentment is deeply embedded in the popular appeal of conservative politics. But Republicans are overwhelmingly convinced of their own racial innocence. There is no reason to believe they wish to tolerate open association with the KKK.

More interesting is Trumps language. Four times in the interview, he repeats the phrase I know nothing. That is the exact wording used by 19th-century nativists. The Know-Nothing Party is sometimes misremembered in the popular imagination today as signifying ignorance. In fact, the phrase was used by nativists who belonged to secret societies pledged to support only native-born Protestants for public office. When questioned about the groups, members were instructed to state I know nothing. It is striking to see modern nativist Donald Trump repeat this precise formulation as an answer to an analogous question (his subterranean support from a politically radioactive secret society).

Possibly Trump is making a clever historical reference that he will later explain when he reveals that his entire political profile from 2011 through 2016 was a form of guerrilla theater designed to smoke out the widespread appeal of Republican racism. Or else, more likely, he is even stupider than anybody previously believed.
Or I suppose I should say "Creo que no."Here's the background story. For years I watched Costa Rica through International Living 's magazine, as expats from the United States and other countries flooded there for the good weather and beautiful surroundings. For those who managed to get there a decade ago, they probably got some good deals on homes as well.Nadine Pisani recounts many of her adventures moving to Costa Rica in her books and on her blog post. You get a feel for what moving to Costa Rica is like and some good laughs as well, since she is a talented and often comedic author. The stories of her husband Rob are always funny. Nadine and Rob are creating a fabulous life in this little area of tropical paradise.The country is gorgeous and the people are friendly. I know a little Spanish, but enough to be polite, not enough to actually communicate. Speaking fluently in another language is a level of skill I just don't have. Still, a lot of people spoke English and I think they appreciated that we tried to speak the native tongue while we were there.After years of trying we finally managed to get a booking at the Hotel El Tucano Resort through one of our timeshares. Nice place, though I have to question why our timeshare cost us USD $55 apiece per person each day. That was supposed to be all-inclusive, but it didn't include any drinks aside from the juices, water, tea and coffee. Even a coke cost extra. Enough of that. Using AirBNB , I found a well-reviewed place to stay in Monteverde for our last three nights. I was concerned about traveling in Costa Rica. I contacted Anywhere Costa Rica and Katia Q. was good enough to help with all the travel. If we travel there again, I'll use them to book the entire trip. They were just that good, and I highly recommend them. They also manage your travel plans for a number of other countries in Latin America.So this was a scouting mission for Darling and me. Would we like to consider moving to the paradise that is Costa Rica.The bottom line is - we think not.We have a lot of reasons for the decision, but the bottom line is it just didn't feel like the place we need to be.We might try other areas of Costa Rica, but the area around Lake Arenal and the mountains around Monteverde are not going to work for us.We're not done searching yet.And I'll work on my Spanish.
Living the Orthodox Catholic Faith in the Anglican Tradition
lady gaga making everything about herself?? nah

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See I didn't want to be the one to say it, because maybe I'm taking it the wrong way and should try and see it from her point of view. But I swear to god my first thought was damn you're gonna ride this puppy all the way to the sympathy bank, aren't you?

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Same, I thought maybe I was being too harsh because I just don't like her. I feel like it's less sympathy and more being 'in the know', like the attention you get for knowing something that others don't?



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im just curious to see if she ever brings the Kesha situation up again after the Oscars









can never tell if Gaga is a decent person who just comes off like a tryhard asshole all the time or if she really is just an asshole

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That's what this pelican always does

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We don't know what they asked though. If she was asked how she felt about it, there's nothing weird about her answer.

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Yes and it drives me insane.

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Idk, I feel like I'm willing to give her the benefit of the doubt because I think it is her own personal way of coping with her own abuse (If I remember correctly, she mentioned a history of sexual assault).





In a way, I think fighting for Kesha is her own way of fighting for herself as well.



(No excuse for her history or past of endorsing other offenders though, which I just sort of learned about).



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she's insufferable



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Speaking out and standing up for victims of rape makes her insufferable?

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almost but not quite, just like bowie's tribute.



Edited at 2016-02-28 05:54 pm (UTC)

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Are you being deliberately obtuse?



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No, a lot of other things make her insufferable.

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Even tho I wouldn't mind ha winning the Oscar I really want by bb Abel to win

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Initiation is an ode to rape

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I beg your pardon?

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Abel's song is trash tho. Academy Awards are livestreaming worldwide so the coverage of her statement will be humongous if she'll support Kesha durning her speach

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The video is so sad. Shit made me cry, but that song is horrible. Sorry I can not with that song.

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ew girl he's a misogynist and low key groomed bella hadid

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Me too.

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same

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I do too!

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I love her, but the fact that she worked with Terry Richardson (and was/is good friends with him) and R Kelly and never spoke out against them makes what she is saying here pretty pointless imo.

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yeah I feel like she made some statement where she was like "my collaborators weren't being truthful" but that's still pretty vague and doesn't make up for the fact that during the televised Artpop special she was like "people say a lot of untrue things about R.Kelly"



like, gorl

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she was like "people say a lot of untrue things about R.Kelly"



ew, I didn't know she had said that :/

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I'm here for her next era, so Howard Stern can ask her about that, he is the only one who has the balls

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Ugh ya. Hopefully she's cut contact with them for good

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I feel like she's just one of those people who has trouble understanding and showing empathy for things she hasn't experienced. It seems that Kesha's situation in particular affects her a bit more strongly because she went through a very similar thing with a producer when she was about the same age Kesha was.

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I still don't know what she was thinking when she did that. Like even if she doesn't believe that Kelly and Richards are rapists she HAD to have been aware of the rumours surrounding them. It seemed like the whole point of the song/vid was to court controversy in the grossest way imaginable.

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That's a valid point. Where was her support for all the models who came out accusing Terry of abuse? I guess she didn't benefit from speaking up on their behalf since they weren't that well known personalities................



But on the other hand, I do like her too and still think it's great that she speaking up now about her own abuse and Kesha's. But still :/

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All I got from her comments is that their victims weren't famous or artists, so it's not important.

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Her hypocrisy on that is disgusting. But it's a result of internalized self-hatred, since she is a survivor of assault.

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mte. in fact she seemed to get off on how shocked and grossed out people were about the terry and r. kelly thing.

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okay this is nice and all but I really hope she doesn't win for that shitty clunky song

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I know she's got good intentions but some of her statements feel very "I'm uncomfortable when this isn't about me."

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That's because she is uncomfortable when everything isn't about her. lol She just has no ability to not relate things back to her.

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I don't doubt that she genuinely cares about Kesha but this

On her Oscar rehearsal: I got so upset thinking about Kesha I almost didnt go to rehearsals. But of course I did, because I had to.



girl

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Because I'm nominated for an Oscar. An OSCAR!

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lmaooo yes exactly

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an inspiration to all of us, honestly, suffering for her artpop





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i think she is being sincere and her intentions are good but she is one of those people who always have to ~relate~ everything back to them. They are exhausting to be around

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Is this the same Gaga who worked with R. Kelly.

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almost forgot about that

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The leaked part of this video where they literally drug her and hump her was beyond disgusting.

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oop

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Why, yes. Yes, it is.

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I got so upset thinking about Kesha I almost didnt go to rehearsals. But of course I did, because I had to.



rme

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The show must go on! *drama*

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beyonce looks much better with darker hair

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lmao not with this bitch when she had uncle terry direct her video

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Edited at 2016-02-28 06:52 pm (UTC)

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man, she is tiring

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she really does the most doesn't she

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she is so damn extra but god bless her big heart

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Just like everything else, the bankruptcy river flows downstream, and as upstream players look to pass their debt burdens onto midstream operations through a rash of Chapter 11 filings, investors are wondering what is going to happen to all the pipelines as the industry continues to batten down the hatches amid the continued oil price downturn.

Two such companies, Sabine Oil and Quicksilver, recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, arguing at bankruptcy court that they need to be relieved of their contracts with pipeline operators for shipping their oil and gas from the wellheada move that would leave the pipelines with no income, making it nearly impossible for them to stay afloat.

Sabine and Quicksilver insist they should not be obliged to continue using the services of the pipeline operators under Chapter 11 restructuring circumstances, arguing that they would be able to save money ($35 million in the case of Sabine Oil, according to a Reuters report) this way. This money, so the argument goes, could be put to better use finding an alternative way of transporting the companys crude oil and gas.

For the time being, Chapter 11 may save Sabine and Quicksilver from defaulting on massive debt loads, but what of the pipelines? Related: The Allure Of Shale Is Wearing Off

Until recently, pipeline operators felt safe in the knowledge that their contracts were long-term and untouchable, banning producers from transporting their oil and gas by any other route or network. That worked well for them, but not quite so well for the producers.

Although the two lawsuits arent large enough to cause much of a wake in the industry on their own, a favorable ruling for Sabine and Quicksilver would set a precedent for other energy companies to follow. As a consequence, many midstream companies may find themselves threatened by the upstream bankruptcies, fearing that they will be the ones left holding the bag.

The pipelines are already suffering from their close ties with producers and operators, as the recent stock price fall for Chesapeake Energy and Williams illustrates. As a bankruptcy lawyer with McKoos Smith told Reuters, Its a hellacious problem. It will end with even more bankruptcies. Related: Why Oil Booms And Busts Happen

This downhill action has already hit contracts for new pipelines, as seen by Gazproms cancelling its $832 million contract with Saipem to lay a new natural gas pipeline in the Black Sea, and Whiting Petroleums halting of its deal with Tesoro Logistics to build a pipeline.

Kinder Morgan, North Americas largest pipeline, remains confident despite the precarious position of pipelines in the overall chain. Kinder Morgan investors question how the company can withstand the onslaught of upstream bankruptcies and a hefty percentage of customers with questionable credit.

If an effort to allay investor concerns, Kinder Morgans Chief Financial Officer Kim Dang had this to say: We think if every single one of these guys went bankrupt on us at the beginning of the year, thats about 2.5 percent of our revenue. Related: UK Oil Industry At The Edge Of A Chasm

Investor Superhero Warren Buffett is buying inliterally. Earlier in February, undaunted by the possibility that pipelines may be soon eating their contracts with upstream companies, Buffets company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. purchased a $400 million stake in Kinder Morgan.

If the pipelines indeed are left to bear the weight of its debt-laden clients, are the refinerieswhich are further downstreamnext?

Buffetts January purchase of a 12 percent stake in refiner Phillips 66 says no.

To what degree the pipelinesand possibly refinerieswill be affected is anyones guess, but its clear they are now both at the mercy of the upstream momentum, and pipeline operators can no longer maintain the take-it-or-leave-it stance with its customers.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
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You should not send confidential information to us unless, and until, one of our lawyers requests it. We will not have an attorney-client relationship with you unless you have spoken with one of our lawyers and have received an engagement letter from us. The fact that unsolicited materials may be sent by you to us, or even that our lawyers may see such materials, shall not mean that we have agreed to represent you or that we will be conflicted from representing a different client in a matter in which you may be an adverse party or your interests may be adversely affected. Unless otherwise noted, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP attorneys are NOT certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization.

The information we make available on this site does not create an attorney-client relationship; nor does it substitute for obtaining legal advice from an attorney licensed in your state or country. We do not seek to represent anyone desiring legal representation, based upon viewing this web site, in any state or country where this web site would not be considered in compliance with all applicable laws and ethical rules.To read the complete disclaimer click here
Last month, a Madison man named Michael Schumacher and his lawyer won the right for Schumacher to wear a pasta strainer on his head for his Wisconsin drivers license photo. Schumacher claimed the kitchen utensil was required headgear as a Pastafarian and member of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Originally, the Department of Motor Vehicles in Madison refused to allow Schumacher to wear the colander on his head for his photo, but after attorney Derek Allen sent the Department of Transportation a letter, they obliged.

Schumacher is not the first person to wear a strainer on his head for his license photo. People have been sporting strainers around the world  from Texas to New York to Italy  claiming it is their right as Pastafarians.

Pastafarianism  a blend of the words "pasta" and "Rastafarianism"  promotes a playful view of organized religion. The basic message is that all religious beliefs are equally plausible, but none of them belong in public schools.

The concept was created by Bobby Henderson in 2005 to protest the Kansas State Board of Educations decision to permit intelligent design / creationism as an alternative theory to evolution in public school science classes. Henderson satirized the decision in a letter to the school board, stating that if the school system was going to offer multiple theories explaining how the world began, his belief deserved consideration.

The central belief of Pastafarians is that the Flying Spaghetti Monster  a supernatural creature with a "noodly appendage" who "boiled for our sins"  created the universe after binge drinking and the Monsters intoxication is the explanation for why the Earth and human beings are flawed.

Pastafarians also "believe" that pirates were the original Pastafarians and the decreased number of pirates in recent years is the true reason for global warming.

Last week, Steve Whitlow became the first person in Milwaukee  and possibly the first in Wisconsin (it is uncertain whether Schumacher returned for his photo before Whitlow)  to wear a colander on his head for his drivers license photo.

"I had been a casual fan of Pastafarianism for 10 years, so when this opportunity came to take a photo with a colander on my head, I had to do it," says Whitlow.

Two days later, Whitlow arrived at the DMV on Teutonia to get a replacement license with his teenaged son, a copy of Allens letter and his colander.

Whitlow says he had "no problem" with the DMV employees. When he was called to take his photo, he told the photographer that he was going to wear his colander, which has to be pushed far enough back on the head so it does not cover the persons face.

"He said, 'thats fine, sir, I just need you to stand on the X,'" says Whitlow.

Although the staff was unfazed by Whitlows choice of headgear, some of the other DMV customers clearly were not.

"I got some side-eyes and crazy looks," says Whitlow.

It took about a week for his new license to arrive at Whitlows home, and he was slightly disappointed with the outcome because new license photos are black-and-white.

"I was hoping the silver in the colander would pop against the blue in my shirt," says Whitlow.
Studies show that older African Americans  for genetic, biological and socioeconomic reasons  are almost twice as likely as whites to develop Alzheimers disease. In celebration of Black History Month, the sixth annual Solomon Carter Fuller Alzheimers event was held earlier this month on Madisons south side to provide important information and support.

The two-day event started at Fountain of Life Church on Friday night with Dr. Consuelo Wilkins, executive director of the Vanderbilt-Meharry Alliance leading "A Community Discussion about Alzheimers Disease" where she addressed Alzheimer disease and its effects in the black community with special attention to the effects on black men.

Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller was the first black psychiatrist in the United States and played a key role in the development of psychiatry in the 1900s. Dr. Carter Fuller also worked closely with Dr. Alois Alzheimer, the namesake of Alzheimers disease.

Many Americans dismiss the warning signs of Alzheimers, believing that these symptoms are a normal part of aging. This is of even greater concern for African Americans, who are two times more likely to develop late-onset Alzheimers disease than whites and less likely to have a diagnosis of their condition. This results in less time for treatment and planning.

At the Urban League of Greater Madison on Saturday, there were free and confidential memory screenings available to community members. There were also speakers who were very familiar with Alzheimers disease who shared their experiences with the attendees.

Keretha Cash was one of the speakers in the morning sessions on the caregivers panel where she shared some of her care-giving experiences with the attendees at the event.

"I was really impressed that they had such a variety of experiences," Cash tells Madison365. "My mother has already passed, but my experience was different from the young lady whose father just passed last week. And that was different from another speaker whose father is still living. So many different experiences that we were able to share with each other."

This was the first time Cash has been involved in the annual Solomon Carter Fuller Alzheimers event, but she has spoken before at a breakfast that the UW Alzheimers study hosted on brain donation. Cash is also a participant of that study.

"One of the comments I got afterwards made me remember how I knew that something wasnt right with my own mother," Cash says. "There are certain situations that you see how your parent or loved one handles something and how out of character they may act. These peculiar cues that somethings not right here."

In Cashs situation, her mother, who was in her early 70s, would not remember certain things or mishandle finances  something that had always been her strong suit.

"My advice to anybody who may be dealing with a situation like I did would be to call the Alzheimers Association. There are resources out there that can really help. Talk to [Alzheimers & Dementia Alliance of Wisconsin Diversity Coordinator] Charlie Daniel, too.

"When I was going through this with my mother, I went to a Children with Parents with Alzheimers Group and they were very helpful in helping me find coping skills and encouraging me not to feel guilty about taking time for myself," she adds. "Just hearing what over people are going through helped so much. Its important for people to know that they are not alone."

The sixth annual Solomon Carter Fuller Alzheimers event helped raise awareness of Alzheimers disease in communities of color and informed about risk factors, incidence rate, ways to reduce the risk and steps to take if memory problems occur. It helped to raise the comfort level for people in seeking help and put them in contact with organizations like the Alzheimers & Dementia Alliance, for support, information, education and advocacy.

Many people dismiss the warning signs of Alzheimers disease because they believe that the symptoms are a part of normal aging. Unfortunately, they are too often diagnosed too late and miss the opportunity to get the best care possible. This is of even greater concern for African Americans.

Sanford Jones was also talking to a group about his father whom he describes as being "sometimes there and sometimes not."

"Its been awhile since he was diagnosed," Jones tells Madison365. "Over time, my father began to become extremely agitated and have memory loss. He was doing a lot of medication.

"Today, I was talking to people about my journey and the things that Ive seen," he adds. "After watching my dads memory begin to fade, I wanted to know much more about Azheimers including the hereditary part of this disease."

Jones says that the progression of his dads disease has slowed down considerably since he sought help. "I know what we are headed into if he continues to live for a long time, but for him, it has slowed down considerably," he says.

What kind of advice does he have for others with loved ones facing Alzheimers?

"Be hands on. Hands on. We have to be involved. They need us now more than ever," Jones says. "If you turn their care over to somebody else and youre not there  than you really dont know what kind of care they are getting. My experience has been: the more family involvement, the better the care.

"Youre in this battle until its over. It wont get better any time soon  unless they find the cure," he adds. "So you need to be in there and fighting and trying to make the journey as easy as possible. People need to know that there are many things that you can do and that theres a lot of help to be had as far as Alzheimers goes. The most important message I could give to anybody is that family involvement is crucial."

For more information or to reserve a screening spot call the Alzheimers & Dementia Alliance of Wisconsin at (608)232-3400.
Growing up, I was not allowed to play with toy guns -- not even water guns -- so it's not surprising that I never fired a real gun for most of my adult life. Last week, however, this changed when I spent the morning at Fletcher Arms, 1441 E. Main St. in Waukesha, receiving a gun lesson and later, shooting in the indoor range.

Bob Llanas has worked as an instructor at Fletcher Arms for nine years, and he gave me two-and-a-half-hours of pre-shooting instruction that primarily focused on safety.



Llanas stressed the "golden rules" of firearms safety: assume all firearms are loaded, always point the firearm in a safe direction and keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot. It sounds like common sense, but as Llanas pointed out, accidents happen all the time that are a result of one of these three rules being ignored.

"Safety is top priority," says Llanas. "And here, at Fletcher's, it is just about as safe as you can make a range."

Fletcher Arms' has strict safety rules, including that all loading of ammunition must take placein the booth, with the gun pointed down. Plus, bullet-proof glass separates the shooters from the employees, who constantly observe the range action.

"If anyone appears unfamiliar with the sport or has a cavalier attitude we are quick to remind them of the rules or, if need be, request that they leave," says Llanas.

Wisconsin is one of two states where it is illegal for people to carry a concealed weapon, which includes transporting a gun in car. Hence, to transport a gun to a range, drivers must make sure the firearm is unloaded, enclosed in a case and put out of reach.



Fletcher Arms range fee is $13.99 for an hour. The cost to rent a gun is $8 for a handgun or $10 for a rifle. No one under 12 years old is allowed on the range (but they can be in the shop with an adult), and kids between the age of 12 and 17 must have an adult with them at all times. Individuals, groups and bachelor/bachelorette parties are welcome, but sobriety is a must.

"There is absolutely no shooting if there's partying first," says Llanas. "It's a rule for their safety and for everyone else's. That said, everyone's invited to come out and have a good time."

During my lesson, Llanas modeled for me how to pick up a gun with three different weapons, and then it was my turn to try. Also, he showed me how to load the guns. "Just drop em in like you're loading a Pez dispenser," he said.

Finally, he taught me how to shoot.

Posture is one of the most important aspects of shooting stance. A straight back with the knees slightly bent and your weight on the balls of your feet that are a shoulder-width apart is crucial. Knowing whether you are right- or left-eye dominant is important, too. I learned I was left-eye dominant.

We also talked about breathing, and Llanas said to take a deep inhale and exhale prior to pulling the trigger. He likened the deep breath to one that is usually associated with yoga or meditation. I found it interesting that yoga, meditation and firing a gun could have something in common. My strict anti-gun upbringing had made me suspicious, fearful and yet curious about guns. However, during my time with Llanas, I felt my perspective on shooting -- safe shooting for sport -- changing and expanding.

Llanas also spoke of the importance of intuition. He said that it's a key aspect to good shooting and that, in his experience, women have more intuition than men which, at times, makes them better at the sport.

"The fellas generally look for external results, like how well they are shooting, before they change something in their stance. The ladies, however, get more of a feel' for how they should stand to shoot and what they should do and they just do it," he says.

While receiving the lesson from Llanas, I heard lots of booms and bangs and pops and kabooms from beyond the bullet-proof glass. At first it made me a bit nervous, then just a little agitated and finally, I stopped hearing it altogether. By the time we were finished with the lengthy off-range lesson, I wasn't the least bit unnerved; I just wanted to start shooting.

I went to the counter and got eye protection, ear plugs and a paper target. The employee behind the desk asked me if I would prefer to shoot at a bulls eye or a person. I chose a bulls eye. Then, I met Llanas in the range area. He clipped my target to a pulley which he then sent about 100 feet away from us, into a huge enclosed space.

The indoor range has a ventilation system that removes debris and smoke from the air, but it is still a little hazy. A cascading water system washes the pieces of shrapnel into a trap. I was surprised by the little bits of warm brass casings that flew back at me after I shot.

I shot with two guns, a .22 and a .38, and I definitely got better the more I shot. One of my bullets struck just below the bulls eye, which I was quite proud of.

I felt very comfortable shooting, due to Llanas' clear command of the sport. Friends later asked if I felt a sense of "power" while shooting and, to an extent, I did. There is something very satisfying about aiming, shooting and striking. It gives one a sense of control.

Shooting a gun, when done in a safe, controlled environment, is fun. The sport takes an extreme amount of concentration and confidence. Admittedly, the underlying sense of danger adds to the rush.

Did my anti-gun upbringing affect my opinion of shooting a gun? No. However, living in an urban environment where gun-related homicides occasionally take place, I did struggle with my desire to "play with guns" prior to my lesson at Fletcher Arms. But despite some conflicting personal philosophies, I can honestly report that I enjoyed my lesson and the exhilaration of target shooting.

I wouldn't say I am a natural shot, but I wasn't terrible, either. And the best part of all was that I didn't shoot an eye out.
Donald J. Trump. Initially dismissed, laughed at and ridiculed by political leaders from BOTH the Democratic and Republican Parties when he announced, little more than an year ago, that he was running to be the president of the United States on the Republican Party's line. A former life-long Democrat, Trump, a New York billionaire television reality star of sorts was one of the people who were considered to be on the crazy, delusional fringe of the GOP, an organization with an over-abundance of really loony characters.

Today, a man who never held a political office in his life, and whose success as a businessman is questionable at best, appears poised to become the Republican Party's standard-bearer in the 2016 presidential elections. He's bested both GOP neo-conservatives and so-called "Establishment" and "moderate" candidates at every turn. And he's now transforming the Republican Party in ways that has its establishment elders scared as hell and scratching their collective heads for answers.

As Trump pushes and shoves the Republican Party further to the right, forcing the other candidates in the race to swing even father and farther right as a consequence, we're seeing a party that has become so extreme as to make it almost an anomaly in United States politics. The national political narrative is dominated by Trump's bombast and outrageous mouthing off, so much so that both Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz have now come down to his level of gutter politics both aiming to "out Trump Trump."

Not since days of President Ronald Reagan has the Republican Party undergone such a rabid and extreme political metamorphosis. The party is now defined by a narrow conservative base of mostly white people who have embraced and bought into the fear-mongering and xenophobia that is how the party's stock in trade. And the sad thing is that its erstwhile leaders seem powerless and impotent to stop the rightward lurch of the party by a fired up and angry base that's carrying Mr. Trump all the way.

On the other side of the political spectrum is Senator Bernie Sanders. A self-described Social Democrat, he's the opposite extreme of the Trump phenomenon. His entry into the race has forced the Democratic Party to confront its long-abandoned policies of struggling for and on behalf of the working class, preserving the social safety net for America's poor, and advocacy for a more just and human social system. Sander's consistent and sustained messaging against the "1%" of millionaires and billionaires" that drive income inequality has all but embarrassed the Democratic Party.

That's because the Democratic Party has, over the past decade, bent back over backwards to placate and curry-favor with the millionaire and billionaire classes and ingratiate itself as the more reliable flunky than the Republican Party. The Democratic Party has abandoned the noble programs of the New Deal replacing it with modern pragmatism that's built on an embrace of the technology class, white professionals and Southern conservative Democrats. All of this started when President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, removed all of the restrictions on Wall Street that hitherto helped to prevent the more damaging cycles of boom and bust in the American economy that reverberated across the world. The former president's wife, Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic Party's presidential candidate, has scolded and chided Senator Sanders as "a one issue" candidate.

I respectfully beg to differ.

Income inequality and the social injustice extremes spawned by the greed and speculation of a tiny minority, mostly from Wall Street, who now own nearly 90 percent of America's wealth while the bottom 99 percent struggles to get by on 10 percent, is, the REAL IMPORTANT pressing issue of our time. It goes to the very heart of the corruption and deformation of United States democracy, an imperfect experiment to start with. Infact, this is THE issue of the 2016 presidential election and its a shame that only ONE candidate seems to grasp that and is talking about it.

Income inequality is responsible for the over 46 million people now living in poverty in America. It is responsible for the corruption of the American electoral system that is loaded against the poor, where billionaires can "buy members of congress" with big money, and where the body politick as represented by the United States Congress now routinely acts against the interests of the American people with impunity. Lobbyists and deep-pocketed billionaires now run the United States electoral system and pay for the campaigns of senators, congress members AND U.S. presidential candidates.

Problems in education, healthcare, economic development, national poverty, militarism, police brutality against Black people ALL stem and originate from the now fixed relations between those who have and the millions that have nothing. Speaking about this is not socialism, or a "one issue," but pragmatism and reality asserting itself.

But let use examine the phenomenon of these transformations on both the Right and the Left. For whatever the outcome this 2016 presidential elections these deep-going social and political developments will remake BOTH political parties, America's duopoly, for all times.

MR. TRUMP AND THE CULT OF THE PERSONALITY

There is no easy answer to explain how a showboating, arrogant, loud-mouth reality TV star cum politician can gin up so much support in so short a time saying the most absurd and insulting things imaginable. Indeed, the unanswerable paradox is that the more unpleasant, coarse, and crude Donald Trump's personality is the greater his appeal appears to be among his core group of supporters. It's the same constituency that the Tea Party draws support from -- poorly educated, white and mostly southern Americans.

That's classic symptoms of the "cult of the personality." For example, poll after poll suggests that Trump's supporters genuinely believe that he is the ONLY candidate with "balls" and that he's a "tough guy." In times of uncertainty and instability, when the American people are just getting over the trauma of home and job losses occasioned by the same Republican Party's president in 2008, a confused and angry populace looks for salvation and protection "in a strong man." Anger is an irrational emotion, especially when people are angry with the political establishment that looks down on them with contempt. People are fantasizing about what a President Trump will be and what he can accomplish for them AGAINST the class that is oppressing them. Indeed, this is an inherently dangerous fantasy driven by a man brimming with a narcissistic personality disorder.

I'm not naive enough to think that US presidential politics is about humility and reason. Presidential elections are about personalities and, yes, egos. Voters vote for people that they like, who speak "their language," will make things better for "me and my family," and will defend the country from presumed terrorists and "those who want to do us harm." So in many ways Donald Trump is the creation of the Republican Party -- he is the illegitimate horn child birthed by a constant intercourse of fear-mongering, divisive pandering, hate speech directed against America's first Black president and obstruction of policies aimed at poverty alleviation and improved quality of life.

He's the Frankenstein that the Republican Party created to say bluntly and openly the racist and xenophobic things that the party's elected leadership dare not say in public but think in private. They forgot that in forging and stoking Mr. Trump's oversized ego and building the foundation for the cult of his personality that such a phenomenon relies on blind faith in the leader and not objective considered judgments. Today, support for Trump is not about issues critical or important to American society. Rather, it is about his ability to insult others with impunity, to dominate the public discourse with unsubstantiated rumors, personal attacks, and other propaganda tools reminiscent of Nazi Germany. He's going to "Make America Great Again" -- never mind the how, when and in what way.

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Last week's make-or-break elections in Iran determined the 290-seat Parliament and Assembly of Experts, the 88-seat clerical body responsible for selecting the country's next Supreme Leader. As the aging current Supreme Leader battles questionable health in a climate of post-sanction economic, political and social opening, the seemingly familiar showdown was pivotal for Conservative and Reformists vying to influence the next political era.

Despite classic Conservative efforts to foil Reformist gains, the overwhelmingly young, educated, democratically active (an estimated 70% of the population will vote today) populace craftily responded with a bold demand for progress. Hard-liner repression of the opposition followed standard practice. The Guardian Council, the institutional watchdog responsible to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for ensuring candidates reflect the Islamic system, banned 80 percent of reform-oriented candidates from participating in elections.

Reformists then devised a mechanism to circumvent the predominantly conservative offering. Organizers created "Lists" clearly highlighting the most reformist and moderate candidates while blacklisting hard-line clerics. Promising stars on the list of 16 reform-approved candidates for Tehran include Mohammad Reza Aref, a Stanford-educated former reformist vice president. Celebrated leaders within the reform movement like former president Khatami, currently banned from official Iranian media, rallied to produce crucial videos urging voters to abide the list. Vastly popular social media outlets guaranteed that lists were absorbed, equipping reformers to today select the approved candidates that will dilute the influence of the denounced hardliners. While conservatives responded by generating their own lists, the incumbent leadership unexpectedly produced a more favorable climate that may allow for greater reformist influence. The hard-liner list included loyalists to the troubling former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparking a major rift within the Conservative camp. The cohort of Moderate Conservatives, the majority of the electorate, refused to issue a joint list with conservatives and ran independently. Detached from hardliners, this massive bloc is more than ever free to be swayed by reformists increasingly loud demands.

Last week's elections may ostensibly appear to be another dogged Conservative effort guaranteeing continued power, but the Reformist response illustrates new levels of mobilizing a comprehensive coalition that is not inconsequential. With 60 percent of Iran's 80 million citizens under the age 30, this strategic, adept and loud voice will likely only increase its volume.
Reprinted from Smirking Chimp

The fight between Apple and the FBI has been framed as an epic battle between big tech and big government. Apple, says the Obama Administration, is siding with "its business model and public brand marketing strategy" ahead of public safety. That's not it, says Apple CEO Tim Cook. He says his company is "a staunch advocate for our customers' privacy and personal safety."

Donald Trump has weighed in on the controversy, ad-libbing a call for a boycott of Apple products including the iPhone, the device at the center of the debate. Two weeks ago, a federal court ordered Apple to write code that would allow the FBI to unlock an iPhone used by one of the gunmen in the San Bernadino mass shooting. Apple refused, saying the code could be used to unlock other iPhones as well, not just the one covered by the order. A Wall Street Journal report that the feds are currently going after a dozen or so iPhones in other cases seems to back up Apple's argument.

What this is really about -- but barely touched upon in corporate media -- is Edward Snowden.

A few years ago, no one -- left, right, libertarian -- would have supported Apple's refusal to cooperate with a federal investigation of a terrorist attack associated with a radical Islamist group, much less its decision to fight a court order to do so. If investigators hadn't combed through the data on the phone used by Syed Farook before he slaughtered 14 people, it would have been seen as dereliction of duty. Obviously the authorities need to learn everything they can about Farook, such as whether he ever had direct communications with ISIS or if there were any coconspirators. Looking at evidence like that is what law enforcement is for.

Rather than face Uncle Sam alone, Apple's defiance is being backed by Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter and Yahoo -- companies who suffered disastrous blows to their reputations, and billions of dollars in lost business, after NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that they spent years voluntarily turning over their customers' data to the spy agency in its drive to "hoover up" every email, phone call, text message and video communication on the planet, including those of Americans.

Most Americans tell pollsters Apple should play ball with the FBI. But Apple and its Silicon Valley allies aren't banking on the popular vote. Their biggest customers are disproportionately well-off and liberal -- and they don't want government spooks looking at their personal or business information.

Another underreported aspect of this story is the same sort of interagency squabbling that contributed to the failure of counterterrorism officials to see the whole picture before 9/11, and was supposed to have been fixed by such Bush-era bureaucratic revamps as the creation of the Department of Homeland Security and bringing America's 16 intelligence agencies under a single director.

When you stop to think about this, it's insane.

The NSA, specifically chartered to intercept signals intelligence that originates overseas -- that is specifically prohibited from gathering data that is sent from one American to another American -- continues to do so, probably at an even greater degree of efficiency than the period between 2009 and 2013, the era documented by the Snowden revelations leaked to the news media. Ignoring the anger of the American people, Congress did nothing to rein in the NSA. So they continue to break the law, and violate our privacy, on a massive scale.

Meanwhile, the FBI -- the agency that is legally authorized to eavesdrop on American citizens as part of investigations authorized by judicial warrants, can't get into a terrorist's smartphone...something everyone agrees it ought to be able to do.

The NSA almost certainly has the contents of Farook's iPhone -- and yours, and mine -- on a server at its massive data farm in Bluffdale, Utah. Thanks to a court order and inside-the-Beltway turf battles, however, the NSA can't/won't turn them over to the FBI.

This is what happens when government treats citizens with contempt. Citizens return the favor.
Reprinted from Gush Shalom

The Israeli Police needed a new commander. The last one had come to the end of his term of office, several senior officers had been accused of molesting their female subordinates, one had committed suicide after being accused of corruption. So somebody from outside was indicated.

When Binyamin Netanyahu announced his choice, everybody was amazed. Roni Alsheikh? Where the hell did he come from?

He does not look like a policeman, except for his mustache. He never had the slightest connection with police work. He was, actually, the secret deputy chief of the Shin Bet -- the internal secret service.

Malicious tongues whispered that there was a simple reason for this strange appointment: the Shin Bet chief was about to move on. Netanyahu did not want Alsheikh to succeed him. So he sent him to command the police instead.

The name Alsheikh is a corruption of the very Arabic al-Sheikh -- "the old one". His father is of Yemenite descent, his mother is Moroccan.

He is the first police chief to wear a kippah. Also the first who was once a settler. So we were all waiting for his first significant utterance. It came this week and concerned mothers mourning their sons.

Bereavement, Alsheikh asserted, is really a Jewish feeling. Jewish mothers mourn their children. Arab mothers don't. That's why they let them throw stones at our soldiers, knowing that they will probably be shot dead.

Sounds primitive? That's because it is primitive. It is also rather frightening that our new Chief of Police, the man responsible for law and order, has such primitive perceptions.

A FEW days later, our Minister of Defense, Moshe Yaalon, who controls a vastly larger empire, repeated this assertion. Arab bereavement, he declared, cannot be compared to Jewish bereavement. That's because Jews love life, while Arabs love death.

When our gallant soldiers (all our soldiers are gallant) sacrifice their life, it is to defend the life of our nation, while Arab terrorists carry out suicide missions in order to go to paradise. Their mothers encourage them. That's how Arabs are.

All these super-patriots are too young to remember that Jewish mothers in Palestine encouraged their sons and daughters to join the underground organizations in the fight against the British occupation (a fight for life, of course). Perhaps the British policemen imagined the same about the Jewish mothers -- forgetting that just a few years earlier millions and millions of white Christian Europeans joined the armies with their mother's blessing and killed each other. For life and freedom.

When two such high-ranking officials repeat such mindless nonsense almost verbatim, there can be only one reason: they are reading from the "explanation sheets" sent out daily by the Prime Minister's office to all government ministers and high-ranking officials. (In Israel we don't like to use the word "propaganda" -- we call it "explanation" -- hasbara in Hebrew -- instead.)

ONE WORD about police chief Alsheikh's kippah.

When I was an adolescent in Tel Aviv, I hardly ever saw anyone wearing a kippah. Neither in school (I left at age 14 to work for a living), nor in the Irgun underground, nor in the army did I see a fellow pupil or comrade wear such headgear. Young people were ashamed to wear it.

Nowadays almost half the people on TV proudly wear kippot. True, some of them wear them in such a way or of such a size that the camera cannot see them. But government appointees wear them like a badge of honor, to signify that they are true believers in the ruling ideology. Like a red star in China or a tie in the US.
Reprinted from Sputnik





You would have had until noon this Friday to contact the US and/or Russia military and win a prize; be part of a "cessation of hostilities," ersatz " ceasefire " that does not apply to ISIS/ISIL/Daesh and Jabhat al-Nusra, a.k.a. al-Qaeda in Syria, as well as assorted remnants of the former Free Syrian Army (FSA) who are for all practical purposes embedded with al-Nusra.

Compounding the drama, as background noise you have US Secretary of State John Kerry bluffing that Plan B is the partition of Syria anyway. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov once again had to call for order in the court.

So what do you do? You're a Washington-approved "moderate rebel". So you re-label yourself as FSA. Will you fool the task force set up by the US and Russia -- hotline included -- to monitor the "ceasefire"? Well, at least you've got a shot. The "ceasefire" mostly applies to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA), unspecified "moderate rebels" and the Syrian Kurds. Everyone must de-weaponize by midnight this Friday.

If you've skipped the deadline, you may be in serious trouble. Because for the Russians, that qualifies you as an ally of Salafi-jihadis. You will be bombed to smithereens. And there's nothing Uncle Sam can do to save you.

This positively Dadaist development is what passes for a road map to peace in Syria -- even though odds are on Washington and Moscow will be seeing red on virtually every noon and cranny of it.

What this might spell out though goes way beyond Syria; it's all about the White House, the Pentagon and NATO's spectacular demise as exceptionalist arbiters and executioners -- using Shock and Awe, R2P (responsibility to protect) or straight-up regime change -- of geopolitical tangles.

Or is it?

A hefty case can be made whether the "ceasefire" benefits Damascus and Moscow -- considering the "4+1" (Russia, Syria, Iran, Iraq plus Hezbollah) has been heavily on the offense. The "ceasefire" may certainly benefit Washington if the hidden agenda -- to re-weaponize gaggles of "moderate rebels" -- still applies. After all Pentagon supremo Ash "Empire of Whining" Carter, Marine General Joseph Dunford and CIA Director John Brennan are terminal Russophobes who will never admit defeat.



The vague terms of the "cessation of hostilities" do not explicitly specify that Washington, London and other members of the US-led-from-behind "coalition" should stop bombing Syrian territory. And there's nothing about suicide bombs and chemical weapons routinely used by any outfit, from ISIS/ISIL/Daesh to "moderate rebels," against the civilian Syrian population.

So there's got to be some heavy-duty horse-trading between Washington and Moscow behind all the shadowplay. And none of it has leaked, at least not yet.

Daddy Stole My Invasion

Meanwhile, the much-ballyhooed joint invasion of Syria by Turkey and Saudi Arabia is not going to happen because His Master's' Voice vetoed it -- as Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu was forced to explain. He essentially admitted that the invasion would need the agreement of all members of the US-led-from-behind coalition fighting ISIS/ISIL/Daesh. Unfortunately, they are scared to death of being decimated by the Russian Air Force. So they might as well cozily revert to the "cessation of hostilities" charade.

On what really counts -- the Syrian theatre of war -- the most pressing issue is whether the SAA will finally be able to control Aleppo and environs, continue to rule in Latakia, and manage to configure Idlib as a Saudi remote-controlled Army of Conquest enclave cut off from almost all sides and depending solely on Ankara, which for its part won't dare a face-to-face with the Russian Air Force.



It's no wonder Turkey's Sultan Erdogan fears this ceasefire business like the plague. Because he's got nothing; at best a vague promise, extorted by Team Obama, that Syrian Kurds won't keep advancing to smash either ISIS/ISIL/Daesh along the border, or pockets of al-Qaeda in Syria.

In return, Ankara shall desist from its Syrian invasion and that dream of a 10 km "safe zone" inside Syrian territory to keep away the Kurds and facilitate the re-weaponizing of its Islamist proxies. Ankara's favorite Jabhat al-Nusra, by the way, remains active north of Aleppo, and in the Turkmen regions of Latakia and Azaz (in the Turkish-Syrian border).

What Team Obama seems to have finally understood -- and "seems" is the operative word -- is that neither ISIS/ISIL/Daesh nor al-Nusra could ever "unify" Syria; assuming 60% of Syria's population is Sunni, what matters is that over half are secular and do support Damascus against all those Turk/Saudi-supported Salafi-jihadi crazies.

Will this all be enough to assure the success of the "cessation of hostilities" charade? Hardly. Keep calm and carry on (watching). Plan B remains Return of the Living Dead material.
Wow. I had a dream that went on all night.



There was a pink bear sighting in Alaska.





Then there were pink bear sightings

In South Dakota and Colorado,

All thought to be hoaxes but then

The New York Times published a photo, front page;

It looked real enough.

The article interviewed a hiker

Who reported talking to the Pink Bear.

He said it was standing up.

When asked what the bear said

The hiker said he couldn't repeat it;

The bear was talking trash.

The hiker said the bear was heading for Washington.

What happened next is hard to believe.

(I mean in my dream it was hard to believe.)

There were signs that great changes are coming:

Mount Shasta was waking up, sending out a plume of ash.

Native Americans warning, This is it.

There was a black-out in Washington

And when the lights returned

Someone had painted the Abraham Lincoln monument

Blackface, black hands.

And CODEPINK managed to cloak

Half the Washington Monument in pink.

Then the Pink Bear went on Fox News.



He said he was running for president.

And everyone got a close look at him,

And nobody could agree on what they saw.

Was he a bear or a man?

A man who looked like a bear or a bear who looked like a man?

He said:

It's time.

I came all the way because it's time.

Time to step up.

Time to make it right.

Time to throw the bums out.

I have the power and the money and the will.

I have the moxie. I have the credentials.

I will fire everyone who isn't on board.

Don't mess with me, Russia.

Don't mess with me, China,

And North Korea. . .You are nothing to me,

To us. I'm that big!

I am from a place so powerful

That the sun rises on demand.

The ice melts under my gaze.

I live in a silver ice tower.

I see everything.

That's why I came.

Then the reporter interrupted to ask:

"What is your name?"

And the Pink Bear, whose pinkness was now a bright aura

Burning around his pink face, said:

Just call me teacher, wonder,

Truth, victor, trouble-for-our-enemies,

Bringer of power back to the glory of the highest ideals

Of the shining hope of the capitalist

City of towers, home of the up-soaring eagles and eaglets

Of the antiterrorist, innocent, uneducated

Poor saps of forgotten Americans

Who just want me to reopen their bowling alley!

Isn't that pathetic! My God, that is pathetic!

My eyes are watering. I'm that sensitive, see?

I love to bowl!

Which I will do, by the way

Because I can do that.

And I will make their little towns start up again

Just like a music box that my grandfather gave me

That plays some patriotic song from the civil war era

That I can't remember, but that's why I have aides,

To remember stuff like that.

I was born with a very smart brain.

I will use that brain to make us

The best and the most powerful again

And. . .what was the question?

And everyone was stunned and touched

And filled with a new feeling

Of hope, because the Pink Bear was so brave and powerful

And average and humble and forgetful. . .

And the reporter said: "What a country! What a time to be alive.

If a Pink Bear can love us enough

And give up his life in the tundra,

And his ice tower,

Surely we can spare him a tiny, insignificant vote of confidence."

Then the Pink Bear interrupted:

Oh and by the way,

I just want to say,

I love Latinos and Blacks and Europeans and everyone.

And I'm really smart and nothing is going to get in my way.

When I want something I usually get it,

If I really want it,

And you know what?

I want this.
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To see if the article was renamed or re-published, please click here.
Reprinted from Smirking Chimp

Ever since the day Bernie Sanders announced his campaign for president -- and long before, in fact -- he has been attacked for his stance on single-payer health care. You can find no shortage of articles in print and online about how it's unrealistic, but far too few of those writers have explored the actual history of Bernie's Medicare-for-All plan -- or the insurance lobby talking points that have made their way back in to our national discussion.

For if they had done a little digging, those writers would know that it isn't Bernie Sanders' plan at all. Bernie is simply calling for what the architects of Medicare had in mind all along. That architect was actually Robert M. Ball, and he faced the same opposition we're hearing today when he and then-President Lyndon B. Johnson wanted to expand Medicare to cover all Americans.

Robert M. Ball was the Commissioner of Social Security through the administrations of three presidents: John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard M. Nixon. He'd worked his way up in the Social Security Administration to become its head guy, spending 30 years of his life there, and then after he retired was tapped by Ronald Reagan to be on the commission that, in 1983, overhauled Social Security to keep it solvent through the Baby Boomer retirement phase.

Medicare was created as an add-on to Social Security, not as a stand-alone program, and so Ball was intimately involved in its creation, as Commissioner of Social Security throughout the Johnson years. He sat in on the meetings with members of the House and Senate, he was involved in the process of writing the legislation, and he was the man charged with helping implement it after LBJ signed it into law on July 30, 1965, and gave the first Medicare cards to Harry and Bess Truman.

Given his cat-bird seat during this entire process, Robert M. Ball felt it important to put his recollections before us, which he did in a 1995 article for the Health Affairs journal, titled "Perspectives on Medicare." "Because I was deeply involved in the development, enactment, and implementation of the [Medicare] program," he wrote, "my recollections may be of use in rounding out the historical record." His article was appropriately subtitled "What Medicare's Architects Had in Mind."

Perhaps the most important thing the drafters had in mind, Ball wrote, was that Medicare was the first step in a more far-reaching solution to America's health care problem:

"For persons who are trying to understand what we were up to, the first broad point to keep in mind is that all of us who developed Medicare and fought for it -- including Nelson Cruikshank and Lisbeth Schorr of the AFL-CIO and Wilbur Cohen, Alvin David, Bill Fullerton, Art Hess, Ida Merriam, Irv Wolkstein, myself, and others at the Social Security Administration -- had been advocates for universal national health insurance. We saw insurance for the elderly as a fallback position, which we advocated solely because it seemed to have the best chance politically. Although the public record contains some explicit denials, we expected Medicare to be a first step toward universal national health insurance, perhaps with 'Kiddicare' as another step."

In his paper, Ball talks about how national health insurance had actually once been advocated by the American Medical Association (AMA), whose leaders "were favorably impressed by the systems that had been established in Germany (1883) and Britain (1911), and several other countries around that time."

This was 1916, he notes, and "ironically, much of the American labor movement in 1916 was opposed" to national health insurance, as "Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), preferred collective bargaining to political solutions and feared that if workers began leaning on government, they might begin to look generally in that direction, rather than to unions, for help."

A decade later, Ball notes, the AMA and AFL positions had reversed, and stayed that way up to and through the development of Medicare. The AMA was so vehemently against government-offered health insurance that it even hired Ronald Reagan and produced an LP record titled Ronald Reagan speaks out against Socialized Medicine, which would be played at coffee klatches held by doctors' wives to generate letters to Congress against the Medicare plan.

"The AMA's opposition approached hysteria," Ball wrote, noting that during the Truman administration the advocacy of the President for a national single-payer system so frightened the AMA that, "Members were assessed dues for the first time to create a $3.5 million war chest -- very big money for the times -- with which the association conducted an unparalleled campaign of vituperation against the advocates of national health insurance." This was, he notes, "a warm-up for the later campaign against Medicare."

So how did Medicare get passed?

Ball lays it out quite simply: old people were not profitable for the health insurance companies, so they were happy to get them off their rolls' and onto the government's. "[The elderly] used, on average, more than twice as many hospital days as younger persons used but had, on average, only about half as much income. Private insurers, who set premiums to cover current costs, had to charge the elderly much more, and the elderly could not afford the charges."

This set the stage for Medicare, and the health insurance companies were at first enthusiastic about it. But in the final days of the development of the Medicare program, word got out that the people putting it together, including President Johnson, saw it as a program that could easily be modified to cover all Americans by the simple process of lowering the eligibility age, presumably incrementally over a decade or two. This pushed the insurance companies over the edge, prompting on their part a "fervent desire to keep government from penetrating further into the insurance business." Ball adds, "Although most business groups opposed Medicare, the insurance industry was the AMA's main ally."

But because people knew and trusted Social Security, and this was just a health-benefit add-on to that existing program, it was easy to sell in Congress and to the American people. It was one of the most important legislative accomplishments of the Johnson administration.
12 reasons why Cameron will lose on Brexit The pundits have got it wrong: The Brits will vote themselves out of Europe. By DENIS...
The IPCC predicts that greenhouse gas emissions will continue to increase over the next few decades. As a result, they predict the average global temperature will increase by about 0.2 degrees Celsius (0.36 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade. Even if we reduce greenhouse gas and aerosol emissions to their 2000 levels, we can still expect a warming of about 0.1 degree Celsius (0.18 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade.The panel also predicts global warming will contribute to some serious changes in water supplies around the world. By the middle of the 21st century, the IPCC predicts, river runoff and water availability will most likely increase at high latitudes and in some tropical areas. However, many dry regions in the mid-latitudes and tropics will experience a decrease in water resources.As a result, millions of people may be exposed to water shortages. Water shortages decrease the amount of water available for drinking, electricity, and hygiene. Shortages also reduce water used for irrigation. Agricultural output would slow and food prices would climb. Consistent years of drought in the Great Plains of the United States and Canada would have this effect.IPCC data also suggest that the frequency of heat waves and extreme precipitation will increase. Weather patterns such as storms and tropical cyclones will become more intense. Storms themselves may be stronger, more frequent, and longer-lasting. They would be followed by stronger storm surges, the immediate rise in sea level following storms. Storm surges are particularly damaging to coastal areas because their effects (flooding, erosion, damage to buildings and crops) are lasting.Reducing our greenhouse gas emissions is a critical step in slowing the global warming trend. Many governments around the world are working toward this goal.The biggest effort so far has been the Kyoto Protocol, which was adopted in 1997 and went into effect in 2005. By the end of 2009, 187 countries had signed and ratified the agreement. Under the protocol, 37 industrialized countries and the European Union have committed to reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.There are several ways that governments, industries, and individuals can reduce greenhouse gases. We can improveenergy efficiency in homes and businesses. We can improve the fuel efficiency of cars and other vehicles. We can also support development of alternative energy sources, such as solar power and biofuels, that dont involve burning fossil fuels.Some scientists are working to capture carbon dioxide and store it underground, rather than let it go into the atmosphere. This process is called carbon sequestration.Trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide as they grow. Protecting existing forests and planting new ones can help balance greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.Changes in farming practices could also reduce greenhouse gas emissions. For example, farms use large amounts of nitrogen-based fertilizers, which increase nitrogen oxide emissions from the soil. Reducing the use of these fertilizers would reduce the amount of this greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.The way farmers handle animal manure can also have an effect on global warming. When manure is stored as liquid or slurry in ponds or tanks, it releases methane. When it dries as a solid, however, it does not.Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is vitally important. However, the global temperature has already changed and will most likely continue to change for years to come. The IPCC suggests that people explore ways to adapt to global warming as well as try to slow or stop it. Some of the suggestions for adapting include:
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...
Meteorologist Paul Douglas writes about Minnesota weather daily, trying to go beyond the "highs" and "lows" of the weather story to discuss current trends and some of the how's and why's of meteorology. Rarely is our weather dull - every day is a new forecast challenge. Why is the weather doing what it's doing? Is climate change a real concern, and if so, how will my family be affected? Climate is flavoring all weather now, and I'll include links to timely stories that resonate with me.
The mathematical (and other) thoughts of a (now retired) math teacher,
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Welcome

Welcome to Conservative Musings. The purpose of this blog is to discuss with everyone (conservatives, moderates, independents and progressives) the issues of the day in an intelligent discussion. We believe that discussion can lead to agreement or an agreement to disagree but it must be held in a mutually respectful environment. We learn nothing from name calling or argument for argument's sake therefore we will not allow that to happen here.







We will post our point of view and want a spirited discussion of the issues. Please express your opinions, hopefully we all can learn.




POST 1 - CLICK TO READ: Lisa Demer, journalist at the Anchorage Daily News, asked all the right questions about Sarah Palin's pregnancy with Trig, and asked directly for Trig's birth certificate - but was met by stonewalling and insults from Palin's staff





POST 2 - CLICK TO READ: More discoveries in Sarah Palin's released emails: Palin's team wanted to launch "pre-emptive strike" against ADN-story about Palin's pregnancy, was shocked that Lisa Demer tried to put together a "timeline" of Bristol's pregnancies and contacted schools and hospitals

POST 3 - CLICK TO READ: Newly released email suggests that five weeks after Trig's official birth, Sarah Palin didn't have a birth certificate for Trig Newly released email suggests that five weeks after Trig's official birth, Sarah Palin didn't have a birth certificate for Trig

- UPDATE: Palin's spokesperson wants to "cut the ADN off" if they continue to ask questions about Trig's birth
People killed by the six law enforcement agencies that operate within Miami-Dade County: 14.



Seven were black. Five were Hispanic.



One of the victims was 15 years old.



The first Miami-Dade Police fatality  Feb. 15  was a bipolar schizophrenic who swung a broom handle at officers. In a July fatal shooting by a Homestead officer (also within Miami-Dade), the same cop had shot and killed two other suspects since 2005 in separate incidents.

... union president Javier Ortiz has called for a boycott of Beyonce when the hitmaker kicks off her upcoming world tour in Miami on April 27, already sold out.



Ortiz slammed Beyonce for her purported anti-police messaging  in a country where, according to comprehensive yearlong tracking by The Guardian into use of deadly force by police, 1,134 black individuals died at the hands of law enforcement in 2015. Despite making up only two per cent of the total U.S. population, African-American males between the ages of 15 and 34 comprised more than 15 per cent of all police-involved death logged by the newspapers investigation. Their rate of police-involved deaths was five times higher than for white men of the same age bracket.

...a lot of cops  or at least their union leaders  are jumping on the trash- Beyonce bandwagon, claiming, on zero evidence, that such populist messaging threatens police lives. Of course, thats the shut-up admonition theyve always employed when confronted by perceived enemies of the thin blue line, notably against hip-hop and rap artists theyve vilified, but more generally against any individual or group that challenges their authority.

the National Sheriffs Association [blames] Beyonce for four officer deaths last week. And a Tennessee sheriff who held a press conference after shots were fired near his home claimed Beyonces video may have been partly responsible.

In many ways it is regrettable that the police apparently are not Spiderman fans. If they were, perhaps they would understand an early and painful lesson learned by Peter Parker, his alter ego: With great power comes great responsibility.Unfortunately, some police seem to love the power, but want nothing to do with its responsible discharge, as my many posts on their abuse of authority attest to. In fact, when it is pointed out to them, they get downright outraged. Consider, for example, how they have gotten their kevlars in a twist over Beyonce's Superbowl half-time performance. (Start at about the 1:40 mark on the video.):Whereas you and I might see an energetic celebration honouring and extolling black culture, police unions see a threat to their authority and respect, so much so that they are urging their members to boycott her upcoming concerts by refusing to provide security. To their credit, Toronto police are refusing to take part in such a boycott.Looking deeply into the mirror to see one's shortcomings is never a pleasant experience, and having those shortcomings pointed out by others seems intolerable to some members of the American constabulary. To be reminded that Black Lives Matter by an impertinent songstress and her troupe, adorned in costumes recalling the black power movement, is more than these sensitive souls seem able to bear.All of which inspired a spirited piece by Rosie DiManno in today's Star. She begins with these sobering facts:In each instance, officers claimed they feared for their lives.Being a police officer seems to mean never having to say you're sorry. Indeed, it appears that their best defence is a strong offence.seems to be the uniform response to such statistics.Meanwhile, despite the fact that policing is not even listed in the top 10All of which may strike many as self-serving rhetoric from an institution that seems to lack any capacity for introspection and self-criticism.Contrary to what some may think, I am not anti-police. What I am vehemently opposed to, however, is unbridled power that feels it should be answerable to no one.Many thanks to Anon for providing this link to a Guardian database tracking people killed in the U.S. by the police. Accompanying pictures of the victims are quite revealing.
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SALEM | Carol Ann Newton, 68, of Salem passed away peacefully with her family by her side at her residence on Wednesday, Feb. 24th, 2016. She was the daughter of the late Lyle E. Welch and Liliah V. Smith Welch. Carol was born March 12, 1947 in Potsdam. She received her education at St. Lawrence Central School in Brasher Falls, New York and continued on to attend classes at Potsdam State College. After completing her education she became an owner of a craft store in Brasher Falls.

When Carol moved to the Salem area, she focused on being a devoted homemaker. She went on to eventually rediscover crafts and worked as a floral designer in Arlington, Vermont. and Whitehall. She had also worked as a driver for a bus company that transported children between schools and day programs.

Carol had many interests, with art being one of her most treasured. She excelled in pastels as well as pen and ink drawing. In her heart, a close second was found in horseback riding. She owned horses throughout her life and found great peace in working with them.

In later years, following a cancer diagnosis, Carol worked with members of the C.R. Wood Cancer Center at Glens Falls Hospital to develop an activity program for cancer survivors which used baton twirling as a source of exercise and emotional support.

Above all else, Carols greatest interest was her family. They were always the most important aspect of her life and she will be forever remembered as a source of love, support, and inspiration.

Carol is survived by her five children; Raymond B. Martin of Massena, Terry Toby A. Martin and wife, Patricia ,of Bethel, Maine, Michael W. Martin and wife, Ashley, of Granville, Tammy M. McLean and husband, Marc, of Poultney, Vermont, and Christopher G. Newton of Salem. In addition, there are fourteen grandchildren and several great-grandchildren surviving. She also leaves behind one brother, Earl E. Welch and wife, Linda, of Dunnellon, Florida as well as a close family friend, John Harrington of Salem.

A private ceremony will be held at the family home in Salem with a larger celebration of life to be held at a later date. In memory of Carol, donations can be made to the C.R. Wood Cancer Center, 102 Park St., Glens Falls, NY 12801 or the American Cancer Society Relay for Life program through Delta Kappa Theta Fraternity, 53 Elm St. Potsdam, NY 13676.

To offer online condolences, please visit the website: www.gariepyfuneralhomes.com.

Arrangements are with McClellan-Gariepy Funeral Home Inc., 19 East Broadway Salem, NY 12865.
FORT EDWARD  A New Mexico woman with a lengthy history of fraud-related crimes around the country who is accused of giving police in Washington County false names on a number of occasions last month has been indicted on eight felony charges under 14 different names.

Authorities believe the womans real name is Ayn Stern, but she has used so many aliases around the country that the Washington County District Attorneys Office wanted to make sure that all of her potential identities were covered, District Attorney Tony Jordan said.

So the indictment lists Stern as well as a variety of other names, including the one she gave local police, Danby Flatcher.

In Washington County Court on Friday, she told Judge Kelly McKeighan that her maiden name was Ayn Stern, but her married name was Danby Flatcher.

When you got married, your first name changed? McKeighan asked her.

Stern replied that Flatcher was a name that has been in my family for 300 years.

Asked her date of birth, she replied, On paper? which seemed to draw the judges ire before she answered.

Stern, 67, faces four felony counts each of forgery and offering a false instrument for filing and a misdemeanor count of obstructing governmental administration in connection with allegations she gave police the false name Danby Flatcher last month when they questioned her about a confrontation with a business owner. She is accused of signing the alias on four different police and Washington County Jail records.

She has a lengthy criminal record, and among her convictions is one for conspiracy to commit murder in New Jersey in the 1990s, according to prior media reports.

After being released from prison she relocated to New Mexico, where she was charged in the Santa Fe area for presenting herself as an attorney and home foreclosure consultant, officials said. The case ended with an order from the state attorney general that she not pose as an attorney in the future.

Washington County First Assistant District Attorney Christian Morris said the date of birth that Stern gave in court Friday was different than the one she had been giving in Whitehall Village Court in recent weeks, and that it had been difficult to figure out exactly who she was.

Whitehall Police Sgt. Richard LaChapelle said Stern had been staying in a home on North William Street, but it was unclear how she wound up there.

The owner of that home, Alfred Blanche, attended Fridays hearing, and said Stern responded to an advertisement for a room for rent, and that she had been staying in a motel in the area without any transportation.

She was in Whitehall for about a six weeks, and had a 19-year-old dog that has been in tough shape since she was jailed in January, Blanche said.

I didnt know any of this, he said. In the time I knew her, all she tried to do was help people.

Stern drew police attention after she clashed with staff at Putortis Market over an electronic money transfer Jan. 7. During the dispute, she claimed she worked for U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which prompted store staff who doubted her story to contact police.

After her arrest received media attention in mid-January, police received a call from an elderly woman in Clifton Park who indicated that Stern had pitched her assistance getting a home mortgage, raising concerns she had been impersonating a financial planner, LaChappelle said.

Her lawyer, Robert Gregor, said Stern only seemed to have one criminal conviction in New Jersey from 1996, and charges in Pennsylvania and New Mexico did not result in convictions. He said she has significant medical issues.

Stern pleaded not guilty to the indictment Friday and was sent to Washington County Jail without bail pending a bail hearing March 4.
GLENS FALLS  The Glens Falls Police Department budget would be 11 percent higher by 2019 if everything remains the same as today, according to an analysis by The Post-Star.

The departments roughly $4.05 million budget would increase to nearly $4.48 million in three years. The analysis assumed that all current staff would remain in place as they are today and employees would receive the 2-percent annual salary increases. Also, the police personnel would receive the corresponding longevity bonuses and pay bump when they hit 5, 10, 15 and 20 years of service. It did not factor in if a person changes from being an officer to a detective.

The analysis looked at the average cost increases for the past five years for nonpersonnel, retirement and health insurance costs and assumed flat gasoline costs. The citys average contribution to the Police and Fire Retirement System over five years has been about 26 percent of total salaries.

Mayor Jack Diamond has been pushing to consolidate with the Warren County Sheriffs Office to try to reduce city taxes. His latest proposal would pay the county $22.5 million over 15 years to transfer 23 Glens Falls police officers to the Sheriffs Office. Diamond increased his offer by about $1.4 million from the proposal he submitted last fall that the county rejected.

There has not been much feedback on the plan.

Community response

The idea of consolidating the departments does not seem to have a lot of public support, if a meeting last Wednesday of Fifth Ward residents is any indication. Residents worried about the quality of life declining if Glens Falls did not have its own police.

Resident Walter Law said he believes that without the Police Department, Glens Falls would be overrun with drugs and that leads to violent crime. The Warren County Sheriffs Office would not be able to provide the kind of community policing that currently exists, according to Law.

This department knows the city. They know what houses to look for. They know who to look for and they are more of a preventive agency that a reactive agency, he said at the meeting at Big Cross Elementary School. The event was organized by Glens Falls City Councilman Jim Clark and Fifth Ward County Supervisor Matt MacDonald to hear constituent concerns.

For Law, it is more than just about tax money.

I really wish people would start talking about human beings and stop talking about dollars, he said.

Unfortunately, city officials have to talk about dollars. Clark said the council is trying to stay under the tax cap. Glens Falls may have to exceed the cap at some point in the future if officials are not able to get costs under control.

We want to figure out how we can provide the services that the residents expect and come to know, he said.

The police, fire and public works departments comprise about 80 percent of the citys budget, according to Clark. The city is only 4 square miles and does not have the ability to grow its tax base substantially. He said it could not hurt to explore the possibility for sharing services  not cutting  services.

Maybe something else will come out that might be more beneficial to the city and county as a whole that could save us money or enhance our services even more. If we just shut it down now, I dont believe weve done our job as elected officials to at least talk about it, he said.

MacDonald said it is so early in the process and the numbers are still fluid as to the potential costs and savings.

The mayor has not reached out to board members individually, he added.

He sends a proposal and thats pretty much all weve seen, he said.

Diamond did not return messages left Thursday and Friday for comment on the police consolidation issue.

Issue comes back in cycle

Resident Tim Benner said the discussion about shared services seems to come around every five years or so, but nothing ever comes of it. He suggested that the mayor look at another department, such as public works, and leave emergency services alone.

The issue was studied in 2013 by the Warren County Sheriffs Office. Sheriff Bud York concluded that the department could take over Glens Falls policing with the addition of 16 officers, which would eliminated most of the citys supervisory opinions. That did not go anywhere. The state Division of Criminal Justice Services also reviewed the issue last year and outlined different scenarios for consolidation that included cuts between five and 20 officers.

Other residents questioned whether the savings would be worth it.

People have to expect that things are going to increase. As far as Im concerned, what it costs for the Police Department is worth it, said Wayne Hosler.

Fourth Ward County Supervisor Jim Brock has floated a proposal that would not require any layoffs, but merge the Police Department into the Sheriffs Office.

It would be the full complement from top to bottom. They would all stay within the city, he said.

He estimated the savings at $300,000 because the Glens Falls officers have a more generous benefits package. The sheriffs officers pay more for their health care.

Glens Falls Detective Lt. Peter Casertino pointed out that the officers are paid higher salaries. He would make $20,000 more if he switched. The health care issue is a contractually negotiated item.

I cant see how we would save money, he said.

Consolidation takes time

Consolidating a police department is not an easy feat. The town of Jamestown is still working to merge its police force into Chautauqua County  more than three years after a study of the issue was completed.

County Executive Vincent Horrigan said the plan is as Jamestown police officers resign or retire, they would be replaced by a contracted sheriffs deputy at a lower salary. However, the exact details need to be worked out in an intermunicipal agreement.

Were not ready to move because were waiting on the outcome of those negotiations between the city and the police union, he said.

The Center for Governmental Research has assisted in the effort, according to Horrigan. One issue he said he has heard is the retired Jamestown police officers want to ensure that their benefits are protected.

Theyre worried about their bargaining position being eroded as time goes on, he said.

Another issue is the types of policing in a city such as Jamestown are different than in the more rural areas of the county, he added.

The county provides law enforcement for other municipalities, according to Horrigan. All towns and cities are struggling with their budgets as they try to stay under the tax cap.

We think there could be an opportunity to help reduce the cost to municipalities like the city of Jamestown, he said.

It wont solve everything right away, but it does begin to cap the future costs and the savings becomes more significant as times go on, he said.
We cannot recall a time in the past 20 years, until now, that we felt not only confident in the leadership of our local community college, but excited about all the things we see the college accomplishing under that leadership.

SUNY Adirondack, formerly known as Adirondack Community College, has been better known under past presidents for the turmoil its leaders have caused or the embarrassment they have brought to the college than the steps forward it has taken.

We wont rehash past sins in detail, but they include plagiarism, the withdrawal of a $1 million pledge by an angry donor and several bitter faculty-president clashes complete with votes of no confidence.

Kristine Duffy, now in her third year as president of the college, represents a break from all that. She has been remarkable for all the right reasons.

She is pro-active in reaching out to her various constituencies  which include students, faculty, the local community and political leaders of Warren and Washington counties, among others  and has been responsive to what they tell her.

In a work environment  academia  that can be rarefied and aloof, she has a refreshing pragmatism.

Discussing occasional behavior problems among students living in the colleges new dorm, Duffy pointed out that people at age 18 or 19 have a tendency to occasionally do stupid things.

But SUNY Adirondacks disciplinary issues are no worse than those at other colleges, she said, and the college has punished the students who have broken its rules.

She rebutted comments from some critics that students from downstate, urban areas have been creating more trouble at the college than upstate students.

We would note that these critics have often hidden behind anonymity on forums such as this newspapers website and would suggest that their comments are ill-informed.

Anyone who reads this paper knows our region has no shortage of young people who get themselves into various sorts of trouble. The notion that outsiders are responsible for our troubles, whether at the college or anywhere else, is false and provincial. Its the sort of charge that only makes the person who levels it look bad.

One of the outstanding qualities of the college is that its student population is more diverse than the population in the surrounding area. In a SUNY Adirondack population of about 4,000, about 9 percent are students of color, Duffy said. About 34 percent of the dorm residents are students of color.

Diversity goes beyond skin color, and one of the great advantages to having a college in our community is the diversity of culture and background it brings to the area through its students and faculty.

But diversity is only one item on a long list of advantages we get from having SUNY Adirondack here. At the top of the list is the opportunity for local people to get a higher education at a low cost.

Young people can save thousands of dollars by living at home for a year or two, starting their college career at SUNY Adirondack, then transferring. Or they may get all the study and training they need in two years to go straight into a job.

Adults can go to SUNY Adirondack for study and training that can enhance their careers, or lead them in a new direction, without having to take out a second mortgage.

Under Duffy, the college has been concentrating on expanding its outreach to local high schools  adding a third track in new media to its Early College High School program, which already offers students courses in advanced manufacturing and Cisco systems, for example.

The college has created an agricultural management degree program, which only needs approval from the state Education Department. The college also offers several agricultural continuing education courses, such as homesteading, organic farming and backyard chickens.

The college is expanding physically, too, as ground will be broken this fall on a new workforce readiness center and a building for nursing, science, technology, engineering and math.

Duffy has shown her adeptness at persuading political leaders to support the college financially  both Warren and Washington counties boards have committed to funding for the new buildings.

We were especially impressed by the unequivocal support voiced by the chairman of Washington Countys Board of Supervisors, Bob Henke.

The better the college becomes, the more young people will stay in the area and the more employers will locate here to take advantage of the educated work force.

Duffys higher education background is in student services rather than teaching, and that shows in her attention to details that improve the college experience for its customers  the students.

Under her, the college has qualified for a SUNY Equal Opportunity Program that will start this fall, offering intensive help staying on track to 80 students who meet income eligibility requirements.

Duffy spoke with us about a positive vibe at SUNY Adirondack  a feeling that, despite occasional differences and disputes, the various elements of the college community are working together to make the college, and the wider community, a better place.

We felt that positivity, too, in talking with her, and more importantly, were impressed with her broad grasp of the colleges programs and her list of current accomplishments and ambitious plans. Knowing that, under Duffys contract, she will be here at least through 2020, we have confidence those plans will be realized.

Local editorials represent the opinion of The Post-Stars editorial board, which consists of Publisher Terry Coomes, Editor Ken Tingley, Projects Editor Will Doolittle, Controller/Operations Director Brian Corcoran and citizen representative George Nelson.
Pottsville and Paris are closer than you think. Travel back and forth between the two cities in Nancy Honicker's monthly column appearing in The Republican Herald of Pottsville, Pennsylvania
Two days into a shaky ceasefire in Syria, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that while Israel was glad for the prospect of an end to hostilities there, any long-term solution had to provide security for the Jewish state as well.

We welcome the efforts to attain a stable, long-term and real ceasefire in Syria, he told reporters at the opening of the weekly cabinet in Jerusalem. Anything that stops the terrible carnage there is important, first and foremost from a humane standpoint.

Syrias fragile ceasefire entered its second day on Sunday, with battle zones across the war-scarred country largely quiet for the first time in five years despite some sporadic breaches. The temporary truce, brokered by Washington and Moscow, is seen as a crucial step toward ending a conflict that has claimed 270,000 lives and displaced more than half the population.

But at the same time, Netanyahu continued, its important that one thing remain clear: Any arrangement in Syria must include ending Iranian aggression against Israel from Syrian territory.

Iranian agents have been said to operate on the Syrian Golan Heights in recent years, seeking ways to attack Israel. Meanwhile, Lebanon-based Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy group that has been fighting rebel forces alongside the Syrian army, has been threatening cross-border attacks.





Jerusalem has long warned that Iran has been delivering advanced weaponry to Hezbollah in a bid to aid its struggle with Israel. The Israeli Air Force has launched multiple airstrikes in recent years in order to thwart such deliveries, according to foreign reports

We will not abide the delivery of advanced weapons to Hezbollah, from Syria to Lebanon, Netanyahu said Sunday. We will not abide the creation of a second terror front in the Golan. Those were the red lines we set, and they remain the State of Israels red lines.













Under cover of the Syrian ceasefire that went into effect Saturday, Feb. 27, and the Russian air umbrella, Irans Revolutionary Guards Corps finally managed to secretly install hundreds of armed Palestinian terrorists on the Syrian-Israeli border face-to-face with the IDFs Golan positions.





These Palestinians belong to Al-Sabirin, a new terrorist organization the Iranian Guards and Hizballah are building in the refugee camps of Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Their agents clandestinely recruited the new terrorists from among young Palestinians who fled the Yarmouk refugee camp outside Damascus and sought refuge in Lebanon. Hizballah organized their return to Syria through south Lebanon  but not before training and arming them for penetration deep inside Israel to carry out mass-casualty assaults on IDF positions, highways and civilians.





So Iran and Hizballah have finally been able to achieve one of the most cherished goals of their integration in the Syria civil war, namely, to bring a loyal terrorist force right up to Israels border.



Israels military planners went to extreme lengths to prevent this happening. Last December, Samir Quntar, after being assigned by Tehran and Hizballah to establish a Palestinian-Druze terror network on the Golan, was assassinated in Damascus.



Twelve months before that, on Jan. 18, an Israeli air strike hit an Iranian-Syrian military party surveying the Golan in search of jumping-off locations for Hizballah terror squads to strike across the border against Israeli targets. The two senior officers in the party, Iranian General Allah-Dadi and Hizballahs Jihad Mughniyeh, were killed.



The hubbub in the run-up to the Syrian truce, coupled with Russias protective military presence, finally gave the Islamic Republic and its Lebanese proxy the chance to outfox Israeli intelligence and secretly bring forward a terrorist force to striking range against Israel.





This discovery was one of the causes of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahus urgent phone call to President Vladimir Putin Wednesday, Feb. 24, two days before the ceasefire went into effect. He reminded the Russian leader of the understandings they had reached regarding the deployment of pro-Iranian terrorists on the Syrian-Israeli border. He also sent emissaries to Moscow to intercede with Russian officials.



Putins answers to Israels demarches were vague and evasive, on the lines of a promise to look into their complaints.



He also tried to fob Netanyahu off by inviting President Reuven Rivlin for a state visit to Russia. Putin promised to use that occasion for a solemn Russian pledge of commitment to upholding Israels security in a tone that would leave Tehran in no doubt of Moscow support for the Jewish state.

The Rivlin visit has been scheduled for March 16.





But it is clear that the prime minister and defense minister Moshe Yaalon were too slow to pick up on the new terrorist menace Iran had parked on Israels border. Now their hands are tied, say DEBKA file s sources. An IDF operation to evict the pro-Iranian Palestinian Al-Sabirin network from the Syrian Golan, before it digs in, would lay Israel open to the charge of jeopardizing, or even sabotaging, the inherently fragile Syrian ceasefire initiated jointly by the US and Russia.

.













Damascus was quick to jump aboard with the caveat that the fight would continue against all terrorist groups. And Assad has been adamant that no military supplies can be flowing into areas under truce, a tall order in itself, but a critically practical one. Both Turkey and Saudi Arabia had clarified last week that their sending ground forces into Syria would only be done under the US coalition banner  Special Ops troops at first, and for the purpose of fighting ISIL.





Since Syria, Russia and the US have waived the green flag on continuing the ISIL fight, would that allow the Turks and Saudis to bring in outside troops to do it? Would Syrian have no say so? And who would police their compliance to make sure they were not rearming their proxies?





A ceasefire monitoring group was built into the initial process which must start with a careful mapping out of where all the factional groups are located to establish what will not only be one big jigsaw puzzle, but one where some of the pieces will try to move around. Will the various groups in those areas be required to submit rosters as to whom the members of their group are? Will some kind of official IDs have to be created so al-Nusra fighters dont miraculously become members of non-terrorist groups before Friday, or after?





It seems that all ceasefire violations and actions taken on them will require the joint decision of both Russia and the US, but Syrias roll is still hazy at this point because there were still ongoing disputes between the two coalitions on the designation of who is a terrorist group. The UN did step up to the plate to announce war crimes investigations would begin with the ceasefire. We hope this was not blustering as that will be a very big job for Syria, and a dangerous one.





The division of responsibilities has the Russians handling the coordination center to monitor violations at its Khmeimin airbase near Latakia. It has not only the necessary facilities but the command staff there knows where all the various conflict lines are. The US gets to manage the hot line, the easy job, but then has a much more fractured coalition, and one that has been supporting the terrorists it claims to oppose.





Expect the outlawed terrorist groups to unleash their revenge on the peace process. That has already started with major bombings in Damascus and Homs.













Syrias main opposition grouping records 15 violations by government troops and allied forces on the first day of a landmark truce, a spokesman tells reporters Sunday.

There were 15 violations by the regime forces on day one of the ceasefire, including two attacks by (Lebanese militant group) Hezbollah in Zabadani west of Damascus, says Salem al-Meslet, spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee.

The Russian military says on Sunday that a fragile ceasefire in Syria had been breached nine times over the past 24 hours but the truce was mostly holding.

Over the past 24 hours, nine instances of violations of cessation of hostilities have been uncovered, Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko, head of the countrys coordination center in Syria, is quoted as saying by Russian news agencies. On the whole, the ceasefire regime in Syria is being implemented.

Greece on Sunday says the number of refugees and migrants on its soil could more than triple next month, reaching as many as 70,000, as a cap on border crossings by Balkan countries left them trapped in the country.

"We estimate that in our country the number of those trapped will be from 50,000-70,000 people next month, Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas says.

Today, there are 22,000 refugees and migrants, he adds in an interview with Mega Channel TV.

Some 6,500 people are stuck at the Idomeni camp on Greeces northern border with Macedonia on Sunday as Macedonian border officials let only 300 refugees and migrants pass the day before.








Dr Agyemang-Mensah, who is also responsible for Works and Housing, also blamed pollution caused by the discharge of waste water in to water bodies and illegal mining (galamsey) for the threat on the supply of natural water.

In a statement on the floor of Parliament on the current water shortage that has his parts of the country, the Minister assured the nation that the Ministry, with other stakeholders, is adopting measures to address the situation.

He said compliance of water protection regulations would be strictly followed and the buffer zone policy would be implemented.

Also, there would be more public awareness, sensitisation as well promoting school monitoring activities, promoting climate resilience and adaptation techniques.

Dr Agyemang- Mensah said the Ministry is undertaking various projects including the Sustainable Rural Water and Sanitation Project, the Northern Region Small Town Water and Sanitation Project, the Five District Water Supply Scheme and Strengthening Local Government Capacity to Deliver Water Services, to improve the quality of water supply in rural areas.

In the urban areas, the water coverage is estimated at 76 percent, with an estimated capacity of 65 billion gallons per annum.

According to the Minister, the water needs of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) alone accounts for 65 per cent of the urban water demand, and addressing that contributes significantly to addressing the water problems in the country.

The good news is that GAMA now produces more water that is required for now, the Minister said, but added that the water supply challenges we are facing in some parts of GAMA is as a result of distribution network challenges and I am happy to announce in this connection that Government has secured a grant from the World Bank to address it comprehensively.

The statement touched on the Kwahu Ridge, Konongo, Kumawu, Akim Oda- Akwatia-Winneba, Wa, Konongo, Breman Asikuma, Tarkwa, Yendi, Damongo, Offinso, Techiman Water Projects.

Dr Agyemang- Mensah cautioned that the current condition of drought should be a wakeup call, and we should start to put in pragmatic efforts to safeguard our environment we should protect ourselves from the negative effects of climate change.

MP for Nsawam-Adoagyir, Mr Frank Annoh-Dompreh, said there is the need for implementation of water regulations, and called for more pro-activeness in addressing challenges of water and its supply by stakeholders.

MP for Keta, Mr Richard Mawauli Quashigah, appealed to the Ministry to go back and implement water supply programmes in some communities in his constituency under the Small Town Water Projects.

Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin, who last week made a desperate call for urgent government assistance to his constituents, also lashed out at illegal mining operations that have polluted a number of water bodies, including the Rivers Offin, Densu and Pra.

He called for swift interventions to save the water bodies from further pollution.

Chairman of the Select Committee on Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr David Tetteh Assuming, wondered why water shortages occurred in spite of the heavy annual rainfall and presence of many water bodies, adding that there is the need to capture a lot of water during the rainy season to be used in the dry season.
The convicts, Atindor Assuah, 25, a farmer and Kwadwo Amoah, 26, a small -scale miner, were apprehended by the Police with the assistance of a 15-year old boy, who was an accomplice in the robbery.

After the trial, the convicts were found guilty by the Court on charges of conspiracy to commit crime and robbery.

Prosecuting Police Detective Chief Inspector Oscar Amponsah told the Court that in November last year, the Police at Asankrangwa had information that, some armed robbers had attacked workers at a mining site at Chiraa Nkwanta, near Gyedua-Kese in the Amenfi Central District.

The prosecutor said the informant added that a Chinese had also been shot dead by unknown assailants at another mining site.

The Police acting on the information proceeded to the scene and found the deceased lying dead besides his vehicle, with gunshot wounds on the body.

The body was later sent to the Enchi Government Hospital morgue for autopsy.

On November 27, the prosecutor said, upon a tip-off, the 15 year-old teenager was arrested in connection with the robbery and mentioned his accomplices as Assuah, Amoah and one Atimba, who is currently at large.

The prosecutor said the boy revealed that the convicts and Atimba asked him to keep watch over the road and alert them if anybody was approaching.

The 15-year-old boy later led the Police to the mining sites and showed them where the convicts committed the crime and killed the Chinese as well as the place where they hid their weapons after the robbery.

The teenager later led the police to arrest Assuah and Amoah at their hide-out, but Atimba managed to escape.

The search for Atimba is still ongoing.
Have you realised that the kids in the picture were in uniform and that they had exercise books and they were wearing sandals? he asked on Radio Golds Alhaji and Alhaji programme on Saturday.

Media reports earlier this week highlighted the plight of the pupils in the school who are on a daily basis forced to lie prostrate on the bare floor to write due to the unavailability of furniture.

The New Patriotic Partys (NPP) Vice Presidential candidate Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia subsequently visited the school and promised to provide them with desks for 500 pupils of the school.

But according to the Deputy Northern Regional Minister, the media report which informed Dr. Bawumias decision to order furniture for the school was disingenuous.
Mr Jantuah is reported by the Ghana Federation of Disability Organisations (GFD) to have said: I dont think a cripple can lead a political party, if you have a CPP with a leader who is a crippled, I wonder how he is going to rule.

But members of the Federation, in a statement described Jantuahs remarks as counterproductive, conservative and retrogressive which has no place in modern democracy that consistently and universally seeks inclusiveness in society.

The statement signed by the Federations national president, Mr Yaw Ofori Debrah called on the only surviving member of Dr Nkrumahs administration to render his apology.

The Federation said such comments are unacceptable, disparaging and demeaning and violates Ghanas constitutional provisions, particularly article 15(1) which states that the dignity of all persons shall be inviolable.

[We] call on the good people of Ghana and citizens of the global village to ignore unreservedly the conservative politician and his retrogressive tendencies which have no place anymore in modern and inclusive democracies in the world, he said.

Franklin Jantuah, the only surviving member of the CPP since Nkrumahs time who should have been a seasoned politician and a reservoir of political experience, is reported to have disappointed all modern thinking and progressive democrats by his expression of disabilism, he said.

Jantuah can debate the flagbearer on ideas and other areas of competency, however, the law frowns on anybody attacking a person because of that persons disability, [he] must render an unqualified apology to the disability fraternity without delay.

Section 37 of Ghanas PWDs Act, (Act 715, 2006) also frowns on using printable and unprintable derogatory statements on persons with disability (PWD).

It should be placed on record that the world has experienced great and successful leadership of PWDs including Franklin D. Roosevelt, former President of United States of America, who was the only American President to have been re-elected four consecutive times, Mr Debrah said.

Mr Greenstreet at the recent CPPs presidential polls polled 1,288 votes out of the 1,992 valid votes casted to beat his closest contender, Ms Samia Nkrumah who trailed with 579 votes.

Other contestants - Mr Joseph Agyapong garnered 83 votes while Mr Bright Akwetey managed with 42 votes.

Political observers say it would be a major political achievement if Ghanas first ever physically challenged presidential candidate gets elected in the November presidential polls.
The meter was changed and the bill went up, and so we would have to find out why it went up. Was it that the previous meter was faulty and was not reading properly or the new meter is reading astronomically. I think that when we do the audit, we can determine that; and so I have directed that the Energy Commission and the ECG do what they call a test , the minister told Accra based told Citi FM after visiting the company.

He added that "they will have a parallel meter alongside the current meter, and that will determine whether first of all, the meter is reading properly.. I am sure by Wednesday we will get the results.

The company which is located in Osu explained that after receiving couple of electricity bills hovering around 30,000 Ghc/month from ECG, they tried to explain to them [ECG] that "consumption of electricity is impossible."

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the company said: "Dear friends and clients, after receiving couple of electricity ECG bills, 30,000 Ghc/month (7,000 Euros/month), we are sorry to announce that Bread&Wine will close its doors at the end of March 2016.

"We tried to explain to ECG that we are only using our ACs during lunch and diner time, therefore that consumption of electricity is impossible. Their answer was "if you are not happy, go back to your country".
She urged investors to complement Government efforts by providing opportunities to the Ghanaian youth to reduce unemployment in the country.

Mrs Mugtari was speaking at the launch of a Toyota Forklift introduced by CFAO-Ghana in Accra.

She said Government was committed to continue creating an enabling environment for investment and for businesses to thrive in the country.

Mr Michel Olivier Louis, the Managing Director of CFAO-Ghana, said the equipment is being introduced in collaboration of Toyota Ghana- acknowledged for providing quality equipments.

He said Toyota is deeply committed to high quality products and services, adding that, these are the forces that drive all of CFAO's products, including their handling equipment.

Mr Louis said the forklift is designed for optimum performance and efficiency.

He also outlined the vision of CFAO as one of which was geared towards improving the quality of life in the communities in which they operate.

CFAO-Ghana is subsidiary of the CFAO Group which specializes in the distribution of high performance equipment. The CFAO Group was established over 150 year ago and has been operating in Ghana since 1909.

In 1913, the CFAO Group launched its automobile distribution business in Africa and over the subsequent three decades, expanded into industrial production, spreading into several French and English speaking countries in the world.
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The CPC said that the action was due to the AEDCs technical lapses and gross negligence.

This is contained in a statement signed and released by the Head of Public Relations of CPC, Mr Abiodun Obimuyiwa, on Sunday in Abuja.

The statement said that the directive was issued following a complaint filed by Mr Tade Ayodele.

Ayodele claimed a live electricity power cable fell from an electric pole at the old Panteker Area of Kabusa, Abuja, on Monday, Nov. 9, 2015, causing the electrocution and subsequent death of his son, Samuel Ayodele.

According to the statement, AEDC, when confronted, dissociated itself from the unfortunate incident through a letter dated Dec. 7, 2015.

The statement said that the company claimed that the electricity distribution network in the community, where the deceased lived, was a substandard self-help project.

``AEDC or its authorised agents should not be held responsible for any incident arising from the substandard project.

``Also, the illegal substandard installations were merely tolerated to some extent due to the exigencies of the electricity industry, the AEDC said in the statement.

The statement said that the CPC visited the site, conducted on-the -spot interviews with residents of the community and sought the technical opinion of the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA).

NEMSA was set up by the Federal Government to carry out testing and certification of electrical installations, electricity meters, instruments and commercial services on key critical areas of Nigerian electricity supply industry, it said.

According to the CPC, the technical opinion of NEMSA concluded that the accident occurred as a result of weak or bad low tension network and technical lapses on the part of AEDC, it said.

The statement quoted NEMSA as saying that AEDC allowed such a substandard installation in their network and did not respond promptly to the snap conductor after it was reported to it.

CPC, therefore, concluded that the outcome of all its investigations could not substantiate the disclaimer of the AEDC as contained in the companys letter of Dec. 7, 2015, it said.

The Council, in reaching this conclusion, agreed with and relied on the experts opinion of NEMSA, the sector regulator on quality and electricity materials, the statement said.

CPC said it also found AEDC liable for incorporating ``this self help project into its billing system, it said.

CPC explained that AEDC collected payment from the community while failing, refusing and neglecting to disconnect the purported illegal substandard installations, it said.

The statement said that CPC had, consequently, ordered the AEDC Plc to ``pay the sum of N10 million to the complainant as compensation for the death of his son, Samuel Ayodele.

``AEDC has been served with the order, and must comply and revert to the Council on or before the 30th day of April, 2016.

``The order has also been communicated to the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), who, at all times, was notified of the various steps taken by CPC, it said.

In the statement, CPCs Director-General, Mrs Dupe Atoki, said that the order would deter other businesses that provide services from being negligent.
Mr Usman Shehu, Manager, National Programme on Immunisation, (NPI), Sokoto State , told newsmen in Sokoto.

The newsmen, who were members of Journalists Against Polio ( JAP), a non-governmental organisation, had paid the manager a courtesy visit in his office .

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the team visited the area to monitor the four-day February 2016 round of the Polio Immunisation Plus Days (IPDs) that commenced on Feb.27 which would end on March 2.

Shehu said, ``We have set up ad-hoc teams that will help to vaccinate all eligible Fulani children against polio, starting with those from two months old up to 18 months old.

``Those who are between four years and six years are supposed to receive a booster dose.

``Each of the teams is made up of a female vaccinator and a female recorder.

``Their task is to visit the various Fulani settlements in the 11 wards of the local government and vaccinate the eligible children between Feb.27 and March 2.

`` This is part of the strategies introduced by the local government to reduce the cases of the rejection of the OPV.

The NPI manager said that the local government had also set up another seven committees on what he called Non- Compliance Resolution to convince the residents not to reject the vaccine.

According to Shehu, each of the committee comprises a health worker, a religious leader and a traditional ruler.

He said that in addition, medical teams from four hospitals had been set up to visit all the health facilities to fully immunise all the eligible children against the debilitating polio disease.

`` We have also set up eleven health camps across the area where children can be immunised, as well as where free drugs can be dispensed to them for the treatment of other diagnosed ailments.

``All these exclude the over 531 health officials conducting the exercise in various houses and fixed posts, Shehu said.

He expressed happiness that the cases of rejection of polio vaccine and vaccination had drastically reduced across the local government.
In a recent interview with Vanguard Newspaper, he said, "The economy is still in a very bad state and not close to getting better as the APC promised during the campaigns."

Continuing, he said, 'And to make matters worse, the government wants to borrow to fund the 2016 budget. This administration seems to have forgotten what we went through concerning our past debt burden.'

On the fight against corruption, Balarabe Musa said, 'It is obvious that this government is targeting select individuals who served in Jonathans administration. We are all aware that this country was wrecked by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and those now in the All Progressives Congress, APC.

'We also know that 70% of the leaders in the APC were in the PDP before they jumped ship, and that they participated in bringing down this economy, destroying the name of the PDP in the process. If really you are fighting corruption, you must not look at only one of the two sets of politicians.

'As things stand presently, record shows that only those who served under the PDP administration of former President Jonathan are being targeted in the anti-corruption war. However, corruption has been going on in Nigeria ever since the military seized power in 1966.
Admitting that the sects activities had led to loss of many lives and displacement of innocent people in the country, Buhari said his administration had cleverly reduced the havoc wrecked by the terrorists.

The conflicts in Yemen and Syria with their attendant humanitarian crisis need genuine international effort to solve," he said.

Speaking further, Buhari said, 'Nigeria as a peace-loving country identifies with the State of Qatar in all her peace efforts in the world to end terrorist activities.

'Nigeria is a victim of terrorism. It is with heavy heart that I stand before you and say activities of Boko Haram have led to loss of many lives and displacement of innocent people in our dear nation.

'We, however, take pride to inform you that since our coming to power, Boko Haram has been systematically decimated and are in no position to cause serious threat to our development programmes.
According to a statement by his spokesperson, Femi Adesina, Buhari made the statement during a meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim Bin Hammad Al-Thani, on Sunday, February 28, 2016.

Continuing, 'Our support for various Security Council resolutions restoring and respecting 1967 boundaries with Jerusalem as capital of Palestine is firm and unshaken.'

As members of OPEC and Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), our relations in the areas of oil and gas, which our two nations heavily rely on, need to be enhanced and coordinated for the benefit of our people.

The current market situation in the oil industry is unsustainable and totally unacceptable.

We must cooperate both within and outside our respective organisations to find a common ground to stabilize the market, which will be beneficial to our nations, the President said on the second day of his state visit to Qatar.

The Presidents stance on the Israeli-Palestine conflict is similar with that of most countries of the world including the European Union, and Qatar is believed to be one of the major backers of Palestine including backing Hamas which governs Gaza.

However Israel and the United States have repeatedly blocked any United Nations resolution mandating a two-state solution.
In a report by Nigerian Tribune, President Buhari disclosed that he has a different priority and approach to rewarding unemployed Nigerians other than to pay N5,000 monthly.

The President reportedly said he would rather channel resources into the building of infrastructure, education, agriculture and mining to create employment opportunities for able bodied young men.

In his words, "This largesse N5,000 for the unemployed, I have got a slightly different priority. I would rather do the infrastructure, the school and correct them and empower agriculture, mining so that every able bodied person can go and get work instead of giving 5,000, N5,000 to those who don't work."
El-Rufai made this disclosure during his sixth town hall meeting with the people of Kaduna in Saminaka, Lere Local Government Area on Saturday, February 27, 2016.

He revealed how the state school feeding programme, school uniforms, school rehabilitation, toilets constructions, solar boreholes had created jobs for several people in the state.

In his words, The job impact of ongoing interventions is over 125,000 direct jobs in Kaduna State within less than one year of the APC being in office. The estimates of these include: School feeding programme: at least 85,000 jobs, including the vendors, their staff and supervisors. School uniforms:11,100 jobs, rehabilitation of schools:7,542 jobs, construction of toilets:6,285 jobs, solar boreholes: 5,028 jobs, KASTELEA:2,550 jobs, waste collection:6,700 jobs, Science and Maths teachers: 2,300 jobs.

Meanwhile, the governor has disclosed that the state government is in talks with Dangote and Olam for integrated tomato agro-industrial projects around Galma Dam.

He said Olam has also decided to build the largest poultry and feed-mill facility in Sub- Saharan Africa in the state.
The governor attacked the President again while speaking at the Thanksgiving and Supreme Court victory celebration of Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike.

I want to reveal one secret here; they have started subtle moves to make Nigeria an Islamic nation. But God will not allow it. This was done in 1984, but it failed. I cannot run away; I am Ayo Fayose. If you hit me, you hit trouble, if I hit you, you will be in trouble.

Nigeria is a free nation and this nation will not be taken for an Islamic nation. Today, I decree the return of a PDP government in 2019. They (APC) are here by chance, they will go by chance, Fayose said.
This is coming less than a week to the exit of the last government, and entrance of the new government led by Gov. Samuel Ortom.

According to a report by Vanguard Newspaper, over 40 persons were killed while about 2,000 were displaced and not less than 100 seriously injured.

Havoc was wrecked on houses and huts, farmland and food barns, economic trees and farmland by the rampaging herdsmen who were bent on occupying the conquered communities.

Former state Police Commissioner, Hyacinth Dagala, had attributed the crisis to a squabble between some Tiv locals and Fulani herders in the community.

Efforts to stem the protracted crisis claimed the life of Assistant Superintendent of Police , ASP, Baba Ibrahim, who, until his death, was a member of the Task Force on Cattle Rustling and Kidnapping at the Force Headquarters, Abuja.

According to the report, crisis erupted in the community after the locals mobilized and besieged a Fulani settlement in the area to stop a large herd of cattle and herdsmen from gaining access into their village.

Governor Samuel Ortom has appealed to the feuding parties to sheath their sword in order to avert further loss of lives and destruction of property.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Assistant Director, Senior Secondary Schools in the state Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Alhaji Abdullahi Altine, and issued to newsmen in Sokoto on Saturday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the axe fell on Illo sequel to numerous other related alleged offences in managing the affairs of the boarding school.

It said that Illo has been directed to hand over to the Principal of the Junior Secondary School section of the school, Alhaji Umar Sa'idu.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, gave the advice in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Sunday.

Danbatta said that familiarising with the contents of the law would ensure that the professionals did not fall under its punishment.

The NCC boss said that the Cybercrime (Prohibition, Prevention, Detection. Response, Investigation and Prosecution of Cybercrimes and other Related Matters) Act 2015 was an Act of Parliament, which had become law.

He said that the Act was assented to by the former President Goodluck Jonathan, on May 15, 2015 and reads:

``It is therefore imperative for those in the New Media to familiarise themselves with the contents of the law as it affects their practice.

``The Act does not encumber the freedom of expression as enshrined in the constitution; rather, it seeks to protect those whose freedom may be damaged by the freedom freely expressed by others.

``Section 24 of the Act deals with Cyber stalking and also prescribes punishment for `Any person who knowingly or intentionally sends a message or other matter by means of computer systems or network, which, among others, he knows to be false.

``This might be for the purpose of causing annoyance, inconvenience danger, obstruction, insult, injury, criminal intimidation, enmity, hatred, ill will or needless anxiety to another or causes such a message to be sent.

``The person commits an offence under this Act and shall be liable, on conviction, to a fine of not more than N7 million or imprisonment for a term not more than three years or to both such fine and imprisonment.

Danbatta said that the Act shared out responsibilities to the various Information and Communication Technology (ICT) stakeholders, including cybercafe operators, financial institutions and telecom service providers.

``Section 38(1) expected a service provider to keep all traffic data and subscriber information as may be prescribed by the relevant authority, for the time being, responsible for the regulation of communication services in Nigeria, for a period of two years.

``Part 11 &111 of the Act deal with Designation of certain computer systems or networks as critical national infrastructure and offences and penalties for damaging such critical infrastructure, respectively.

Danbatta said it might be interesting to juxtapose this part of the Act with Section 1 of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act of 1975.

``The Criminal Justice Act provides stiffer penalties for damages to telephone communication works, electricity transmission lines and oil pipelines and enables armed patrols to arrest any person committing an offence under this Act.

``It will be interesting to juxtapose the two Acts and see how they work together to protect telecommunications infrastructure.

``Therefore, media professionals should help to canvass the position of the Law and bring needed attention to the severity of the offence and how willful destruction of these facilities impact negatively on the country in all ramifications, the NCC boss said.

In the statement, the commission said it was aware of the pervasive influence of the Social Media and had responded by setting up an Online and Special Publications Unit, which was domiciled in the Public Affairs Department.

The commission said part of the responsibilities of the unit was to engage those who employ the New Media on their platform to publish the commissions activities online and in real time.
Iziguzoro explained that creation of the commission is to tackle the infrastructure deficit in Igbo land.

Expected to have a mandate similar to the Niger Delta Development Commission and the proposed North-East Development Commission, Iziguzoro said lack of Federal Government presence in the South-East geopolitical zone was the main reason for the current agitation for the creation of the Biafra republic.

If there is a strong federal presence in the zone, our youths will not see Biafra as an alternative, while fortune and fame seekers will not capitalise on that to hoodwink our gullible youths," he said.

Continuing, Iziguzoro said, 'Talking about infrastructure, there is no federal presence in Igboland. There are no good roads there and there are no viable industries owned or situated in the zone by the Federal Government that can cater for the employment of the teeming youths.

'If the Federal Government can address these fundamental issues, we believe so much that the Biafra agitations would end,' he said.
In a recent letter made available by the AGN's National PRO, Moji Oyetayo, Fiberesima pledged her total support and partnership to Amata and his executives as they take over the reins of power in DGN.

The letter reads, "The National President of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, Chief Ibinabo Fiberesima on behalf of the National Executive Committee and the entire members heartily congratulate the newly elected President of theDirectors Guild of Nigeria, DGN, Fred Amata and his Executives for their victory at the just concluded DGN election."

Continuing, she wrote, 'We pledge our total support to the leadership of DGN as we continue to partner to uplift Nollywood through internal institutionalised reorganisation of various arms of film making for the betterment of practitioners.
Mr Iyiola Oyedepo, PDP Chairman in the state, told newsmen in Ilorin on Sunday that the account, set up to finance joint projects between the state and local councils, was unconstitutional.

According to him, the move is to strip local councils of their autonomy as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Oyedepo challenged the state government to declare to the public, the total number of projects executed through the joint account in any of the 16 local councils in the state.

He claimed that the arrangement had denied the people at the grassroots of basic necessities of life.

Oyedepo also faulted the deduction of local government councils fund for the state university project.
Jacob Zuma, delivering a statement by a delegation of African leaders that he led, did not say when the monitors would arrive or start work in the country, where more than 400 people have been killed since April. Zuma left Bujumbura after the remarks.

The violence has rattled a region with a history of ethnic conflict. Burundi's civil war, that ended in 2005, largely pitted two ethnic groups against each other. Neighbouring Rwanda was torn apart by genocide in 1994.

Western powers have urged Africans to act. The United States and European nations have withheld some aid to poor Burundi and taken other steps to try to put pressure on the government to resolve the crisis, but they say it has had little impact.

We believe strongly that the solution to Burundi's political problems can be attained only through inclusive and peaceful dialogue," Zuma said in the statement, which also expressed "concerns" about the level of violence and killings.

The decision to send monitors suggests a compromise had been reached with Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza, who triggered the crisis in April when he announced a bid for a third term. He went on to win a disputed election in July, in the face of street protests and violent clashes.

Details about the new mission were not immediately clear. Diplomats said other African monitors that had been sent to Bujumbura last year had been stuck in their hotel unable to work because Burundi refused to sign a memorandum allowing them to operate.

Burundi's government has previously said it was ready to for dialogue, but opponents say it has always set preconditions on who would attend and what could be discussed that made such discussions pointless.

Talks sponsored by nearby Uganda in December had been planned to continue in Tanzania in January. But the initiative stumbled at the start of the year when the government said it would not attend as some participants had been behind violence.

For their part, opponents accuse government forces of targeting and killing members of the opposition.
Even before the Iowa legislative forum began on Saturday, dozens of Davenport high school students wanted to set the tone.

Walking in the Rogalski Center, lawmakers were met by the students who were wearing T-shirts and holding posters adorned with the worth-less slogan that theyve rallied around for the past year.

During the second of four scheduled legislative forums at St. Ambrose University, a panel of state lawmakers fielded questions from the community. Although they touched on issues such as youth access to guns, Medicaid, wage discrimination and puppy mills, the discussion was dominated by the states school funding formula and its perceived inequity.

In fact, the roughly three hours of back-and-forth probably could be broken down into one exchange.

My question is, When will the state stop discriminating against me and my fellow students and all these districts across the state,'" Lorraine Pereira, a senior at Davenport Central High School, said. "It's just been too long."

And state Sen. Rita Hart, D-Wheatland, echoed many other legislators, saying a proper solution would take time.

I dont have an answer for you. We have a lot of elements at play, and its going to take a while to get this fixed, Hart said. Thats what it takes, advocacy and not giving up.

Students and school representatives say they're most concerned with the inequity of costs per pupil and transportation; the Davenport Community School District receives as much as $175 less per pupil than other districts in the state.

I understand your frustration, and it is valid, and just know that you are making a difference by being here, Sen. Chris Brase, D-Muscatine, said. You being here is making an impact, and you have to keep fighting.

Although other proposed bills to solve funding disparities have lost steam, Rep. Ross Paustian, R-Walcott, is backing a proposal that would use revenue from the local option sales tax to cover any spending differences.

But Rep. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport, said it wouldnt solve the problem.

I think these students are asking us to actually fix this," she said. "One of the major jobs we have is to fund schools, and we are not doing a very good job of that."

Ileaser Parker-Tatum, a senior at Mid City High School, said she doesn't understand why her school gets less money.

We see kids from other schools getting iPads and tablets, and we still have to share a textbook in our math class, she said. It seems like we just have the basics and other schools get the extras.

Ralph Johanson, president of Davenport School Board, said he was sorely disappointed" with the legislators answers. He continued to raise questions at an education-focused forum that followed the legislative forum.

I feel as if my head is going to explode, he said. Over the past 10 years, many of you have said to keep up the good fight, but Im getting cynical ... This system is almost rigged to kick this idea down the road far enough and it will never have to be addressed.

Rep. Phyllis Thede, D-Bettendorf, said shes becoming cynical, too.

If we really do want to get this done, we can get it done, she said. "I dont think it should take 20 years to get it done  thats ridiculous. I dont want to wait another year.

Davenport schools Superintendent Art Tate stood by his plans to dip into the districts cash reserve account to supplement funding for the 2017-18 school year, a move that would go against state law.

Its important to better understand their limitations in the political process; these are only a few of the many people at the Capitol, Tate said. Were pretty much at a standstill. Im willing to spend from our cash reserves because our students cant wait a year or two years, and neither can I.

Anthony DeSalvo, 16, started the worth-less movement about a year ago. He's seen it grow from a few students to more than 100.

I think some legislators think its coming from the adults and were just the kids in the T-shirts, but no  its coming from us, DeSalvo said. I want to ask them, if it was their kid in our position, what would they think?

Other legislators in attendance were Sen. Roby Smith, R-Davenport, and Reps. Norlin Mommsen, R-DeWitt; Linda Miller, R-Bettendorf; and Jim Lykam, D-Davenport.
State of the world, Year Eight of Barack Obama:

(1) In the South China Sea, on a speck of land of disputed sovereignty far from its borders, China has just installed anti-aircraft batteries and stationed fighter jets. This after China landed planes on an artificial island it created on another disputed island chain (the Spratlys, claimed by the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam). These facilities now function as forward bases for Beijing to challenge seven decades of American naval dominance of the Pacific Rim.

"China is clearly militarizing the South China Sea," the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command told Congress on Tuesday. Its goal? "Hegemony in East Asia."

(2) Syria. Russian intervention has turned the tide of war. Having rescued the Bashar al-Assad regime from collapse, relentless Russian bombing is destroying the rebel stronghold of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, creating a massive new wave of refugees and demonstrating to the entire Middle East what a Great Power can achieve when it acts seriously.

The U.S. response? Repeated pathetic attempts by Secretary of State John Kerry to propitiate Russia (and its ally, Iran) in one collapsed peace conference after another. On Sunday, he stepped out to announce yet another "provisional agreement in principle" on "a cessation of hostilities" that the CIA director, the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs deem little more than a ruse.

(3) Ukraine. Having swallowed Crimea so thoroughly that no one even talks about it anymore, Russia continues to trample with impunity on the Minsk cease-fire agreements. Vladimir Putin is now again stirring the pot, intensifying the fighting, advancing his remorseless campaign to fracture and subordinate the Ukrainian state. Meanwhile, Obama still refuses to send the Ukrainians even defensive weapons.

(4) Iran. Last Thursday, Iran received its first shipment of S-300 anti-aircraft batteries from Russia, a major advance in developing immunity to any attack on its nuclear facilities. And it is negotiating an $8 billion arms deal with Russia that includes sophisticated combat aircraft. Like its ballistic missile tests, this conventional weapons shopping spree is a blatant violation of U.N. Security Council prohibitions. It was also a predictable -- and predicted -- consequence of the Iran nuclear deal that granted Iran $100 billion and normalized its relations with the world.

The U.S. response? Words.

Unlike gravitational waves, today's strategic situation is not hard to discern. Three major have-not powers are seeking to overturn the post-Cold War status quo: Russia in Eastern Europe, China in East Asia, Iran in the Middle East. All are on the march.

To say nothing of the Islamic State, now extending its reach from Afghanistan to West Africa. The international order built over decades by the United States is crumbling.

In the face of which, what does Obama do? Go to Cuba.

Yes, Cuba. A supreme strategic irrelevance so dear to Obama's anti-anti-communist heart.

Is he at least going to celebrate progress in human rights and democracy -- which Obama established last year as a precondition for any presidential visit? Of course not. When has Obama ever held to a red line? Indeed, since Obama began his "historic" normalization with Cuba, the repression has gotten worse. Last month, the regime arrested 1,414 political dissidents, the second-most ever recorded.

No matter. Amid global disarray and American decline, Obama sticks to his cherished concerns: Cuba, Guantanamo (about which he gave a rare televised address this week) and, of course, climate change.

Obama could not bestir himself to go to Paris in response to the various jihadi atrocities -- sending Kerry instead "to share a big hug with Paris" (as Kerry explained) with James Taylor singing "You've Got a Friend" -- but he did make an ostentatious three-day visit there for climate change.

So why not go to Havana? Sure, the barbarians are at the gates and pushing hard knowing they will enjoy but 11 more months of minimal American resistance. But our passive president genuinely believes that such advances don't really matter -- that these disruptors are so on the wrong side of history, that their reaches for territory, power, victory are so 20th century.

Of course, it mattered greatly to the quarter-million slaughtered in Syria and the millions more exiled. It feels all quite real to a dissolving Europe, an expanding China, a rising Iran, a metastasizing jihadism.

Not to the visionary Obama, however. He sees far beyond such ephemera. He knows what really matters: climate change, Gitmo and Cuba.

With time running out, he wants these to be his legacy. Indeed, they will be.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, should stop voting immediately since he is up for reelection this year, at least until voters know whether or not the senator will be reelected. If this sounds ludicrous, its because it is. But this is precisely the flawed logic of Senator Grassley, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and at least 33 of their Senate colleagues. These senators argue that, since its a presidential election year, President Obama should not fulfill his duty of nominating the next Supreme Court justice and that we should instead wait for the next president to nominate this justice.

The Constitution is clear: The president has a constitutional responsibility to make a nomination whenever a vacancy occurs, and the Senate has a corresponding responsibility to give that nominee good faith consideration. These responsibilities do not go away in an election year.

And yet by denying a fair hearing and a vote, these senators are obstructing the processes put forth in our constitution. President Obama has made clear his intention to nominate Justice Scalias successor. Now, its time for Sen. Grassley and his colleagues to do their job as described in the Constitution by giving advice and consent to the presidents nominee.

Americans not only deserve a full Supreme Court; they also want the Courts empty seat filled. In fact, 62 percent of Americans are in favor of President Obama and the Senate acting now to fill the vacant seat on the court, according to a recent Fox News poll. Iowans have also been speaking out for Sen. Grassley to do his job.

The last 12 Supreme Court justices added to the bench were nominated, had a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee, and were confirmed by the Senate in less than 125 days. The average time from nomination to confirmation is 67 days. There are more than 300 days left in the current terms of President Obama and Senator Grassley, leaving more than enough time for both to do the jobs that the Constitution requires them to do.

Sen. Grassley argues that President Obama should wait just because it's a presidential election year. But Senator Grassley ignores the fact that he voted in favor of Justice Anthony Kennedy in 1988, a presidential election year. And in 2008another presidential election yearGrassley went on the record stating, The reality is the Senate has never stopped confirming judicial nominees during the last few months of the presidents term.

Its clear that the 1988 and 2008 versions of Sen. Grassley would disagree with the 2016 version. Its also clear that Sen. Grassleys threatened obstruction is part of a pattern of refusing to bring President Obamas judicial nominees to the Senate floor for an up-or-down vote. There were only 11 federal judges confirmed last year, the lowest number in half a century. This has led to 89 total vacancies on our federal courts.

The obstruction pursued by Sens. Grassley and McConnell amount to an assault on the Constitution written by our founders. As a result, we are left to wonder how long the Supreme Court will languish with eight justices and the possibility of 4-4 decisions. A tied vote by the Court does not establish precedent for future decisions, meaning that the lower courts ruling stands. In turn, this means that if the lower courts disagree over how to interpret the Constitution, the scope of Americans constitutional rights would vary, depending on where they live.

Further, if this obstruction continues and the vacancy created by Justice Antonin Scalias death stretches on for a historic length, it will set a dangerous precedent for future administrations. More Americans will be denied their day in court and will not receive the justice they deserve.

President Obama has announced his intention to nominate a successor to Justice Scalia. When he does, Sen. Grassley should do his job and live up to his constitutional responsibility to consider the nominee. He doesnt have to support the presidents nominee; but he is constitutionally obligated to, at minimum, consider the presidents nominee by holding a hearing. If Senator Grassley insists on keeping the seat vacant until people have had their voices heard in November, we can assume he intends on abstaining from voting until after Iowans cast their ballots as well.
How Poppy Bush Became Controlled by Exxon: Follow the Dresser Money

When George H. W. Bush went into business in Texas, the money was lined up for him by his Uncle Herbie Walker. Herbie learned investment banking from his father, Bert Walker. If we want to understand who pulled Bert's strings, which in turn controlled his grandson Poppy, we need to examine Bert's life in Long Island polo circles. That's where the billionaire class lived, and Bert was all about managing their money. It all began with the Dresser company.


and



You can learn more about these books at:



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Any number of betting sites will tell you who will win at the 88th Academy Awards Sunday, though some races (Best Picture in particular) are as wide open this year as they've been in a decade. I have my own predictions, but they're largely different from what I'd argue should win. With that in mind, here's who I'll be cheering on Sunday night.

Best Picture/Director: This is the most unpredictable Best Picture race in a decade, with "Spotlight," "The Big Short" and "The Revenant" splitting precursor awards. The best of the nominees, however, is "Mad Max: Fury Road," at once the most immaculately crafted action film of the year and a canny feminist statement. Director George Miller, meanwhile, would be the most deserving Best Director-winner for bringing clarity to the film's chaos.

Best Actor: After four losses and a few more omissions, Leonardo DiCaprio is likely to win his first Oscar for "The Revenant." He's solid, turning Hugh Glass' survival story into raw experience by putting himself through the grueling process. But while I greatly preferred "The Revenant" to the myopic "Steve Jobs," Michael Fassbender's performance as the Apple founder was the richest of the nominees, at once conveying restless, manic intelligence with his eyes and total control with his body, his capacity for unexpected warmth and casual cruelty. He's the only part of the film (and the only nominated performance) that hit more than two notes at once.

Best Actress: Brie Larson is currently favored to win for her work in "Room." She's very good in spite of a script and direction that undermines her at every turn. Charlotte Rampling's performance in "45 Years" is far more supported by the work around her, with long, pulled-back takes that emphasize her comfort curdling to discomfort after her husband's secrets start to spill out. Her final scene may be the best acted of any nominee in any category, a rigid performance at an anniversary party that suggests a woman trapped by the knowledge that her marriage is a sham.

Best Supporting Actor: There's a fair chance that Mark Rylance might pick up a trophy for his meticulous work in "Bridge of Spies," or Christian Bale and Mark Ruffalo for their oddball performances in "The Big Short" and "Spotlight." My guess, however, is that Sylvester Stallone will pick up a richly deserved Oscar for "Creed," in which Rocky Balboa recaptures the sweetness and humor of the first film while showing a big but noticeably slower, older presence, a man with little to prove but missing those who mattered to him.

Best Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander is a possible favorite to win for being the only truthful, nuanced element to the simplistic "The Danish Girl," but another LGBT-themed film features the best performance in this category. In "Carol," Rooney Mara gives a purposefully quiet, timid performance, but her eyes are always active, always searching and watching as she slowly realizes that she's falling in love with another woman. In a movie that's built on gestures in between the words more than dialogue itself, her smallest movements speak the loudest.
Bitterroot Valley hunters better take note of looming permit application deadlines.

There are a few changes to hunting regulations this year that could impact the upcoming season for those who dont act soon.

The most important is for those hunters hoping to fill their freezer with a cow elk from Hunting District 270. They will need to apply for an antlerless permit in the next couple of weeks.

Thats a change from the past few years when hunters were required to obtain a B license that had a June deadline.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Bitterroot-based Biologist Rebecca Mowry said the hope is the change in the regulations will take some of the pressure off the bull population in the popular hunting area.

Under the new format, hunters who draw an antlerless permit will not be able to hunt bull elk in HD 270. They will still be able to use their general elk license to hunt bull elk elsewhere in the state.

There will be a total of 450 antlerless permits divided in three areas included in HD 270. Half of those will be reserved for youth hunters.

Hunters who want to focus their energies on hunting bull elk in the district will once again be required to put in for one of the unlimited bull permits.

They will have to choose what they want to hunt this year, Mowry said.

Youth hunters will still be able to hunt bull elk in HD 270 with their general license, but if the youth hunter has an antlerless permit, that option to shoot a bull elk goes away.

If they get a cow permit, thats what they are going to have to hunt, Mowry said.

Like last year, hunters wanting to hunt mule deer in the Bitterroot will need to apply for a permit. The number of permits vary by hunting district, including some districts that dont have a limit on the number of permits allowed.

Elk hunters interested in trying their luck in HD 250 in the West Fork of the Bitterroot will need to apply for one of the 35 permits available this year.

There are also a small number of mule deer doe permits available for HD 261 in the East Bitterroot for hunting on private lands only.

There used to be no opportunity to hunt mule deer does there, Mowry said. There are a lot of does on private land.

March 15 is the deadline to apply for deer and elk permits.

Once hunters navigate the permit application process, the next round gets considerably more complicated when it comes to deciphering the myriad of options to hunt whitetail does on private land in the valley.

Thats something we are seeing across the region, said Wildlife Manager Mike Thompson. Its a reflection of wildlife numbers being a lot higher on private lands. Were trying to make licenses readily available to anyone who can get permission to hunt on private land.

Bitterroot hunters will have an opportunity to extend their season if they obtain one of the 400 special deer B licenses that run between Dec. 1 and Jan. 1 for antlerless white-tailed deer on private lands in hunting districts 204, 240, 261 and 270.

Under the special license, hunters are limited to archery, shotgun, traditional handgun, muzzleloader or crossbow. Hunters successful in the June 1 drawing can purchase up to 2 additional licenses.

We are seeing a lot of game damage on private lands from white-tailed deer, Mowry said.

There are additional opportunities for people to hunt white-tailed deer on private lands in nearly every hunting district in the Bitterroot during the general hunting season. All of those require a B license that must be applied for by June 1.

There are a lot of changes here in the Bitterroot and in the state, said Tony Jones of the Ravalli County Fish and Wildlife Association. I stay up with all of this as much as anyone and Im confused about some of them.

Jones said the club supported all the regulation changes that occurred in the Bitterroot and understands the challenges the state faces in managing ever growing numbers of deer and elk on private land.

There is getting to be some much urban wildlife anymore, Jones said. How do you manage that? You have to micro-manage it and that leads to even more confusing regulations.

Mowry said its really all about trying to maximize hunter opportunity.

For those hunters just wanting to shoot a bull elk or white-tailed buck, theres not much of a change, said Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Bitterroot Biologist Rebecca Mowry. Where it gets complicated are in areas where we attempted to get the most opportunity possible for hunters in places that could support some additional pressure.
Bitterroot Valley schools are preparing for the school elections on May 3.

At this date, only Corvallis is running a levy.

Regina Plettenberg, Ravalli County election administrator, said she will run all school elections except for Victor and Darby. March 24 is the last day to file to run as school trustee. Schools without a levy or contested race may cancel elections after March 24. Absentee ballots will be mailed April 13 and must be received by 8 p.m. on May 3 at the County Election Office, 215 S. Fourth St., Hamilton.

Voters can request an absentee ballot anytime between now and noon on Monday, May 2, for the upcoming school elections, Plettenberg said.

The Corvallis School District is running a general fund levy for $440,000. The school board will mail out letters of explanation to all Corvallis residents next week. There are two public information meeting scheduled so far. Both will take place in the high school library. The first is 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on March 8 and the second is 7 p.m. March 21.

Corvallis has two three-year trustee positions open. Incumbents Tonia Bloom and Jennifer Channer have both completed the paperwork to run in the May election. No one else has filed.

Voting will take place from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on May 3 in the Corvallis High School gym. Absentee ballots will be mailed out to voters on April 13 and are due May 3. Mail them early so they arrive by May 3.

The Hamilton School District is holding a trustee election on May 3 by mail ballot. Voting will end at 8 p.m. on Election Day. Ballots can be deposited at the Ravalli County Election Office at 215 S. Fourth St., in Hamilton.

Hamilton has two trustee positions open for three-year terms currently held by Demaris Moore and Mark Yoakam. Yoakam has filed to run again.

The Victor School District also has two positions open for three-year terms. According to Sue Neville, business manager and district clerk, both incumbents have chosen to run again and no others have filed to run.

Neville said that no levy is being run at this time. Voting hours are noon to 8 p.m. on May 3.

In the Darby School District there are two three-year terms open. The incumbents are Erik Abrahamsen and Kate Duggan.

District Clerk Lisa Poe said Darby is not running a levy.

Duggan is going to re-run for her position and Abrahamsen has not indicated if he will run again, Poe said.

Voting will be from noon to 8 p.m. May 3 in the high school gym foyer.

The Stevensville School District has three three-year positions that will be open.

Assistant District Clerk Karen Dozier said the county will run the Stevensville election.

One person is definitely not running the other two have not said one way or the other yet, Dozier said. They do have until March 24.

The Lone Rock School District has two open trustee positions to be filled each with three-year terms currently held by Wayne Stanford (elected May 3013) and Paula Short (appointed by the trustees to fill a position vacated by Dan Metully in June 2015). Stanford has filed to run again and Short has indicated that she will.

The Florence School District has two positions open for three-year terms. Richard Bailey and Leslie Zahn have applied for positions currently held by Melvin Finley and Pat Applebee, the current board chair.

Applebee said, the deadline to file for election is a month away so no comment at this time.

Florence District Clerk Jessica Pyette said the election will be done by mail.

Im assuming well have a contested race, Pyette said. Well do it by mail ballot and those ballots get mailed out Monday, April 13, and absentee ballots will be available by request April 13 to May 2.

Registration is required to vote in an election. Register to vote by submitting online or mailing a voter registration form to: Ravalli County Election Office, 215 S. Fourth St., Suite C, Hamilton, MT 59840.

Plettenberg said that for all the schools April 4 is the last day voters can mail in a registration form to register. Late registration begins April 5.

Late registration means that if you are not registered to vote for the school election by April 5, you will need to come in person to our office to late register, Plettenberg said. If voters are registering to vote in Hamilton, Corvallis, Stevensville, Lone Rock or Florence, then once we late register them, we will give the voter a ballot at the same time. If the voter is late registering for Victor or Darby, we will get them registered and give them a late registration certificate to take to the school clerk in Victor or Darby to get their ballot.

For more information visit the Ravalli County website elections page for more information or call 406-375-6550.

Plettenberg said election judge training is March 16 and 17 with a back up date of April 1.
Students concerned with the health of the community are hoping for smoke-free playgrounds and parks in Ravalli County. Wednesday afternoon they filmed brief skits creating an infomercial to present to the county commissioners.

Faylee Favara, the prevention program manager for Western Montana Addictions Services, directed the students from Hamilton, Victor and Darby in their acting roles.

Students in React Against Corporate Tobacco (ReACT) and Youth Advocate Prevention (YAP) work to prevent the use of tobacco, nicotine, e-cigarettes, alcohol and drugs as well, Favara said. It is a full-spectrum of prevention. We are trying to get our county to pass a smoke-free park ordinance. It is very important.

Lyndsay Stover, tobacco prevention specialist with Tobacco Free Ravalli, filmed the skits.

All the ReACT students put together a script to promote tobacco free playgrounds and parks, Stover said. Each student had a different topic: butts, children being exposed to second hand smoke, animals consuming tobacco trash and more. We helped them get creative and put together different scenes and where they will be acting out these scenarios.

Wednesday afternoon the students rehearsed the scenes with their partners in American Legion Park, across the street from the Bedford Building. When filming began, the actors played their scenes around the playground equipment as Stover filmed and Favara directed.

Darby student Anthony Westfall said it is important to have smoke free parks.

The need for it is tremendous because with two nieces, I really want to see them grow up in a healthy environment and not have the ability to see other people smoking and be addicted to that smoke, Westfall said. The infomercial will be interesting with all the different talents we have here today. We should be able to convince people there is a need for smoke-free parks.

Westfall said Favara and Stover did the research and shared the information on the top 15 reasons why parks should be smoke-free.

We wrote the scripts, Westfall said. I am portraying a child who sees a smoker partaking in a cigarette and I just have a conversation with him about putting it out and letting him know there are kids around playing.

Hamilton student Mariah Lund said, We need a smoke-free park to make our environment more healthy.

You dont want little kids picking up cigarette butts because bringing them in to life that early is really dangerous, Lund said. We wrote a script where I will pick up a cigarette butt off the ground and say my dog ate a butt and he died. If we had tobacco-free parks it wouldnt be a problem.

Lunds acting partner was Darby student Caitlin Smith.

I see from the signs that playgrounds in Ravalli County are alcohol-free but I dont see any signs about smoking, Smith said. That needs to change.

Lund said she enjoys being in ReACT.

I like the things we do in the community, Lund said. It shows we are out there trying to make a difference.

Westfall said, YAP is a fun program and everybody should join.

The high-energy performances should be edited and ready to show to the Ravalli County Commissioners and Park Boards in March.
Revenue declines, the pandemic, and rising competition create new realities in higher education.
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The New York Times

EDITORIAL

Indiaas Crackdown on Dissent

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD

FEB. 22, 2016

India is in the throes of a violent clash between advocates of freedom of speech and the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and its political allies on the Hindu right determined to silence dissent. This confrontation raises serious concerns about Mr. Modias governance and may further stall any progress in Parliament on economic reforms.

The crisis began with the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, the president of Jawaharlal Nehru Universityas student union, by the Delhi police on charges of sedition. Mr. Kumaras arrest followed an on-campus rally on Feb. 9 that marked the anniversary of the 2013 hanging of Muhammad Afzal, who was convicted of participating in the 2001 terrorist attack by an Islamist group based in Pakistan on Indiaas Parliament. The circumstances of Muhammad Afzalas trial and execution remain controversial.

The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a student group affiliated with Mr. Modias Bharatiya Janata Party, and new university leadership appointed by Mr. Modias government were involved in calling the police on campus and singling out Mr. Kumar.

The court in New Delhi where Mr. Kumaras hearing took place last week was a scene of chaos, as lawyers and B.J.P. supporters chanting aglory to Mother Indiaa and atraitors leave Indiaa assaulted journalists and students. The police refused to intervene. A B.J.P. member of Indiaas legislative assembly, Om Prakash Sharma, who was recorded on camera severely beating a student, said later, aThere is nothing wrong in beating up or even killing someone shouting slogans in favor of Pakistan,a as some students were accused of doing.

Responsibility for this lynch-mob mentality lies squarely with Mr. Modias government. On the day after Mr. Kumaras arrest, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said, aIf anyone raises anti-India slogans and tries to raise question on the nationas unity and integrity, they will not be spared.a Indiaas Supreme Court has limited the definition of Indiaas colonial-era crime of sedition to speech that is aincitement to imminent lawless action.a Mr. Singh apparently does not realize that, in a democracy, voicing dissent is a vital right, not a crime.

Meanwhile, hundreds of journalists marched last week in protest from the Press Club of India to the Supreme Court in New Delhi. Thousands of students and faculty at universities across India have turned out to protest in recent days. These Indian citizens are right to voice their outrage at government threats to the exercise of their democratic rights. Mr. Modi must rein in his ministers and his party, and defuse the current crisis, or risk sabotaging both economic progress and Indiaas democracy. The charge of sedition against Mr. Kumar should be dropped. As Pratap Bhanu Mehta, president of the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, warned in a recent opinion piece, members of Mr. Modias government ahave threatened democracy; that is the most anti-national of all acts.a

A version of this editorial appears in print on February 23, 2016

o o o

See also an editorial in the French daily Le Monde, 20 fAvrier 2016:

En Inde, lainquiAtant nationalisme de Modi

La libertA daexpression en Inde est le fruit daun long et riche hAritage qui remonte A laempire daAshoka, au IIIe siAcle avant notre Are. Elle est en passe de devenir un luxe rAservA A quelques tAmAraires. Les attaques contre la libertA daexpression ne datent pas daaujourdahui

http://www.lemonde.fr/idees/article/2016/02/20/en-inde-l-inquietant-nationalisme-de-modi_4868938_3232.html

Comment in 25 Feb 2016 issue of the Italian paper Il Manifesto:

Il campus minato dellaIndia di Modi

http://ilmanifesto.info/il-campus-minato-dellindia-di-modi/

comments in the German dailies Frankfurter Rundschau and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Indien - Indiens Nationalisten greifen zum KnAppel

http://www.fr-online.de/politik/indien-indiens-nationalisten-greifen-zum--knueppel,1472596,33792642.html

Indische UniversitAten Wie viel Religion vertrAgt ein Bildungssystem?

http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/forschung-und-lehre/indiens-bildungssystem-geraet-unter-druck-der-nationalreligioesen-bewegung-14085205.html

editorial in the Pakistan daily The News

The News February 19, 2016

Editorial : Fighting fascism in India

The reaction to the protests at the Jawaharlal Nehru University has shown the real face of todayas India, not the Shining India propaganda we hear about so much. First there was the police which manhandled protestors and arrested student union leader Kanhaiya Kumar. They then produced a report saying the protestors were seen eating beef, a big no-no in Modias India, and revealed they had been spying on students for two years. Then there was the BJP government which called the protestors anti-Indian and desperately tried to find a Pakistan link, first saying Hafiz Saeed was behind the protests and now accusing Umar Khalid, a PhD student at JNU of being part of a Pakistani militant group. Then you have the lawyers, who should be upholding the right to protest and rule of law, chanting slogans against Kumar at his hearing and pelting reporters with stones. Even the jailors have shown the same instincts, throwing Kumar into the same cell in which Afzal Guru a the anniversary of whose judicially dubious conviction and execution sparked the protest a was once held. These protests are now not only about Afzal Guru or the occupation of Kashmir; they are really a test of whether dissent is allowed in India.

To show their peaceful intentions, JNU students, joined by labourers in Delhi, marched on Thursday armed with nothing but flowers and tricolour flags. They were rerouted by an apprehensive police force but this was more than compensated by the solidarity shown at universities around the country. It is a sign of how this protest has grown that disenfranchised workers too have joined in. The BJP, mixing xenophobia with neo-liberalism, is the most anti-worker government possible. One of its MPs, Gopal Shetty, has even said that farmers are committing suicide not because of starvation and poverty but because it is in afashiona. The government also ordered that the Indian flag be flown at all central universities. None of this stopped students, not just from JNU, but around the country, from taking out solidarity rallies. They even had to endure clashes with BJP goons in places like Bihar. Congress has also taken the side of the protestors, although one cannot be sure if that is for opportunistic political reasons. The Aam Aadmi Party, which rules Delhi, has shown its name to be a misnomer. While it has attacked the government, it has done so on the wrong grounds. It taunted the BJP, claiming that if it cannot arrest a few anti-Indian protestors it will never be able to find those who carried out the Pathankot attack. Calling the brave students of JNU anti-Indian is a slur. They are holding up the best progressive traditions, aspiring to form a more democratic society.

see also Op-Eds and Reports:

Attempts to crush dissent in India will not succeed

The JNU controversy is a frightening and sad reflection on the countryas vast democratic landscape (Editorial, Gulf News - February 18, 2016)

http://gulfnews.com/opinion/editorials/attempts-to-crush-dissent-in-india-will-not-succeed-1.1675366

This is a watershed moment for India. It must choose freedom over intolerance by Priyamvada Gopal

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/17/india-kanhaiya-kumar-watershed-freedom-intolerance-bjp-hindu

Protests erupt over sedition charges for student leader by Brendan OMalley

http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20160218220831185

JNUCrackdown: politics of paranoia around sedition can singe Rajnath by Bharat Bhushan

http://www.catchnews.com/politics-news/jnucrackdown-politics-of-paranoia-around-sedition-can-singe-rajnath-1455731496.html

Presumed guilty, until cleared by NDA: Indiaas new template on dissent by KumKum Dasgupta, Hindustan Times, New Delhi - Feb 23, 2016

http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/guilty-until-govt-approved-centre-s-template-on-tackling-dissent/story-glkjoX8VPTKM9PlRFQWsCM.html

How television media uncritically reproduced the Sanghas narrative of anationalista versus aanti-nationalista by Sandeep Bhushan [28 Feb 2016]

http://www.caravanmagazine.in/vantage/media-uncritically-reproduced-nationalist
Reporters Without Borders - 26 February 2016

Prime Minister wages personal war against outspoken newspaper

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to stop hounding Daily Star editor Mahfuz Anam over his admission on 4 February that, like many of the countryas newspapers and TV stations, he published information in 2007 that seemed to implicate Hasina in corruption although it could not be verified independently.

The information was provided to him and to Bangladeshas other media outlets by the military, who were in power in Bangladesh from 2007 to 2009.

In a 22 February address, Hasina called on Anam to resign, blamed his editorial error for her imprisonment at the time, insinuated that his newspaper had colluded with the military and accused him of trying to sabotage the constitution during the period of military-backed rule.

Taking advantage of the outspoken and critical newspaperas mistake, Hasina went on to ask the leaders of her party, the Awami League, to unanimously condemn the actions of Anam, currently the target of a campaign of harassment that is without precedent in Bangladesh.

No fewer than 79 legal actions have been filed against Anam in the past three weeks in 53 districts throughout the country. Seventeen accuse him of sedition, which is punishable by three years in prison, and 62 accuse him of defamation, which carries a possible two-year sentence. More than a trillion taka (15 billion euros) in damages are being demanded by the plaintiffs, who do not include Hasina herself.

aThis public lynching, orchestrated by a prime minister who claims to respect democracy and media freedom in her country, is completely unacceptable,a said Benjamin IsmaAl, the head of RSFas Asia-Pacific desk.

aThe law is being flouted on the pretext of seeking justice in what is just a matter of journalistic ethics. Mahfuz Anam can in no way be accused of sedition because he did not violate the constitution. And he cannot be prosecuted 72 times for the same mistake. It is time the Awami League understood that political opposition is necessary in a democracy and that suppressing critical media is a direct violation of fundamental freedoms and human rights.a

Anam owned up to his error during a political discussion programme on the ATN News TV station on 4 February, acknowledging that he should not have run stories based solely on information provided by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence (DGFI), which was running the country at the time.

In his articles, Anam conceded that he had not been able to verify the authenticity of the confessions he was reporting. At the time only two publications, the daily New Age and the online newspaper bdnews24, refused to run stories based on the information.

The English-language Daily Star and its sister newspaper Prothom Alo (the leading Bengali-language daily) provide critical coverage of all the various branches of government in Bangladesh.

The countryas biggest companies, including mobile phone operations such Grameenphone, have been forbidden to advertise in either of these two independent newspapers for the past six months.

The ban, issued by the DGFI on 16 August 2015, the day after the Daily Star ran a story about crimes newly committed by the military in the eastern division of Chittagong, has resulted in an approximately 30 percent loss in revenue for the newspapers.

No Bangladeshi media outlets have reported the existence of this illegal and discriminatory order, which is designed to throttle the two newspapers economically.

Bangladesh is ranked 146th out of 180 countries in RSFas 2015 World Press Freedom Index.

o o o

Committee to Protect Journalists

79 cases and counting: Legal challenges pile up for Daily Star editor who admitted error in judgment

by Sumit Galhotra/CPJ Asia Program Senior Research Associate

When Mahfuz Anam, editor of one of Bangladeshs most respected newspapers, admitted recently to a lapse in editorial judgment several years ago, he could not have predicted the legal backlash that would ensue. Anams admission that he published unsubstantiated information accusing Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of corruption has led to a barrage of defamation and sedition cases against him, along with an arrest warrant and calls for his paper, The Daily Star, to be shuttered.

The cases filed against Anam this month illustrate the pressures faced by the countrys already squeezed independent media. Lawyers, party members, and political groups in more than 53 districts are among those who have filed sedition and defamation cases against Anam, and a court in Narayanganj issued an arrest warrant, according to news reports. The latest count by The Daily Star today shows the number of cases has climbed to 79 and the total damages being sought for defamation exceeds 1.3 trillion takas or almost USD$17 billion. Sedition can lead to life imprisonment in Bangladesh.

The legal challenges stem from Anams admission during a February 3 appearance on a ATN News show that during the military-backed caretaker government of 2007-08, he published information provided by the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence without seeking independent verification. At least 11 reports that painted Hasina, her political opponent Khaleda Zia, and others in an unfavorable light, were published without adequate substantiation, according to reports.

After the response to Anams admission on "News Hour Xtra", The Daily Star published an editorial laying out its position. The intelligence agency has not publicly commented.

Anam called his lapse in editorial judgment "a big mistake," reports said, a fact that should draw him credit, not condemnation. In its editorial The Daily Starnoted that several years after the end of the military-backed caretaker government, journalists continue to publish information from authorities without independent verification.

Other outlets reported that many Bangladeshi papers had reported the same information at the time. The editor of the daily, Bhorer Kagoj, Shyamal Dutta, said during a talk show this month his paper also published such reports. He said that at the time, editors felt that they had no choice but to go along with the military, The Associated Press reported.

As Anam is held up as an "enemy of democracy" in some pro-government media, other editors have come to his defense. Dhaka Tribune editor Zafar Sobhan dismissed the reaction to Anam in an editorial, writing: "To suggest that [Anam] did so as part of some agenda to derail democracy and institute non-democratic rule is both utterly unsupported by the facts and does a grave disservice to a man who has devoted his life to the service of this nation and who has a long and proud record of serving the public interest and the cause of democracy."

At a political event on Monday, Prime Minister Hasina called for Anams resignation and said editors "will be tried just like we are trying the war criminals." Hasinas son, Sajeeb Wazed Joy, who serves as an adviser to the government, demanded Anam be tried for treason, according to reports. Several lawmakers echoed the demand on the floor of parliament, where there were calls for the paper to be closed, the Star reported. In a February 18 post on his official Facebook page, Wazed said that the government had not filed a single case against Anam and that the cases were all civil in nature. He said Anams actions contributed to Hasinas imprisonment in 2007-08 and said the cases filed against Anam were not an attack on the media as a whole.

The pressure against Anam and his paper compound to the pressures already squeezing the countrys independent media. As I noted during my visit to Bangladesh last year, since her return to power in 2009, Hasina has virtually neutralized the political opposition and with it many opposition-affiliated media outlets. Journalists at The Daily Stars sister publication Prothom Alo told me they face legal harassment, with multiple cases filed against them from across the country including for contempt of court and defamation. Many of those cases remain unresolved. In late 2014, a special war crimes court convicted Dhaka-based British journalist David Bergman on charges of contempt after he reported on its work. And Matiur Rahman Chowdhurys current affairs talk show, "Frontline" which was known for its critical guests, remains off air more than a year after it was suspended for what was described at the time by the channels chairman as temporary technical difficulties.

In October last year, Al Jazeera reported that the Directorate General of Forces Intelligence had allegedly told advertisers to stop advertising in The Daily Star and the Bangla-language daily Prothom Alo. As a result, sales of Prothom Alowhich has daily sales of more than 500,000 copieshas lost more than a third of its usual advertising revenue. The Daily Stars revenue fell about 25 percent as of October 2015, according to Al Jazeera. (The intelligence agency denied the claims.)

If Hasina, whose party controls almost all the seats in parliament, regards herself a democratic leader, she should ensure the press is able to serve as the fourth estate. Anams admission should lead to meaningful debate on how to strengthen journalism in Bangladesh, not provoke a swarm of legal challenges and attacks on the independent media.

o o o

Bangladesh Politico - February 17, 2016

The increasing absurdity of the Mahfuz Anam affair

by David Bergman

A thoughtful Bangladeshi friend of mine told me the other day that he was glad what was happening to Mahfuz Anam. I asked him in astonishment, how could he say that. He said: "Politics in Bangladesh has become so absurd, and what is happening to the editor of the Daily Star may actually make people sit up and realise that things have simply gone too far."

Well, I doubt that will happen. But it is certainly the case that what is happening to the Editor of the Daily Star is as an unedifying reflection of how in Bangladesh, the leader, the party and the state has increasingly meshed into one and how (using the courts) the governing party and its supporters can trample on the rights of just about any one in whatever way they wish. As John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton said: Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Yes, it is simply unbelievable that there are 55 criminal cases lodged against Mahfuz Anam - 12 for sedition (each of which allows for three years imprisonment) and 43 for defamation (each of which allows upto 2 years imprisonment).

I have already written about some aspects of the hypocrisy and absurdity involved in this case, but here are four further points focusing on the legal cases against Anam.

1. Sedition charges: There is simply no way in which any conduct of Mahfuz Anam, even if given the most negative interpretation amounts to the offence of sedition - whether the offence is defined as it set out in the constitution or as it is in the penal code. (To read more about why, see point 12 here)

How is it that none of the 12 magistrates who have accepted a sedition case, have simply not thrown the case out right at the beginning?

2. Multiple cases: How can a person be prosecuted for exactly the same offence in different courts throughout the country. Apart from the 12 magistrates who have accepted a sedition charge against Anam, there are 43 separate magistrates who have accepted a defamation case against him.

It is obviously orchestrated harassment - but it also almost certainly in violation of the Bangladesh constitution: Article 35(2) states that:

No person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once.

One would imagine that these magistrates, who are under an obligation to uphold the constitution, would consider the appropriateness of initiating a second, third, forth etc case when he or she is fully aware that a similar case has been filed elsewhere in the country. One would hope that before a court summoned Anam, the magistrate would seek to find out whether the case before him is or is not identical in facts to the other cases filed in other courts which have been highlighted in the media

3. Third party defamation cases: There should be only one person taking a defamation case and one person alone. That person of course is Sheikh Hasina. If she feels that her reputation has been inappropriately traduced due to inaccurate reporting then she should file a defamation case - noone else. There cannot be many other places in the world where a criminal (yes, not civil, but criminal) case of defamation is lodged by a third party claiming that another persons reputation has been traduced.

4. Compensation: In all of the defamation case, the plaintiffs have sought compensation - a total of 73, 831 crore Taka. This means for those who bemused by the idea of crores - Tk 738,310,000,000 which converts as $9381 million.

But the penal code offence does not provide any opportunity for a person to seek compensation, and the magistrates has no power to deal with such claims.

o o o

The Daily Star - February 19, 2016

Withdraw all cases

35 noted citizens call for a halt to smear campaign

Staff Correspondent

Thirty-five eminent citizens yesterday condemned the recent barrage of cases against The Daily Star Editor Mahfuz Anam and demanded immediate withdrawal of those.

In a statement, they also called for an end to the smear campaign against Anam.

They said the Star editor should have been commended for a rare display of professional values after he had regretted apublishing without verification a few stories based on information provided by a state intelligence agency during the military-backed caretaker government rule in 2007a .

Instead, he is being harassed, which is sad, unexpected and frustrating, they said, adding that the present scenario would discourage journalists and even others from spontaneously admitting their mistakes in future and would give rise to falsehood in society.

The eminent persons also called for a constructive discussion on what legal and administrative actions should be taken to stop interference of the state intelligence agencies in the functioning of the free media.

"We think the rationale for the news media often publishing unverified confessions apparently given in the custody of intelligence agencies and police should also come under the discussion,a the statement read.

The signatories are: M Hafiz Uddin Khan, Akbar Ali Khan, Barrister Rafique-ul Huq, ATM Shamsul Huda, Hamida Hossain, Prof Syed Anwar Husain, Hossain Zillur Rahman, Shahdeen Malik, Zafrullah Chowdhury, Iftekharuzzaman, Brig Gen (retd) M Shakhawat Hussain, Badiul Alam Majumdar, Barrister Manzoor Hasan, Nur Khan, Sadaf Nur, Prof Firdous Azim, Swapan Adnan, Masud Khan, Syed Abul Maksud, Dr Tofail Ahmed, Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Khushi Kabir, Barrister Sara Hossain, CR Abrar, Shirin Haq, Shahnaz Huda, Ahmed Kamal, Asif Nazrul, Ruby Ghaznavi, Lubna Mariam, Farida Akhter, Maj (retd) Akter Ahmed Bir Pratik, Anusheh Anadil, Naila Zaman Khan, and Zakir Hossain.

ADVERTISEMENT

They said the defamation cases filed claiming crores of taka in compensation were a glaring example of using the legal and judicial system in narrow, personal interest.

They expressed concern over the aattempt to use the legal and judicial system as a political tool and strategya .

Such activities against Mahfuz Anam will prompt the international community to critically question the freedom of speech in Bangladesh and will cause irreparable damage to the countrys image, the citizens noted.

The statement was sent by Badiul Alam Majumdar and sent by Shahdeen Malik.

o o o

Dhaka Tribune - 18 Feb 2016

Editors condemn cases against Mahfuz Anam

Tribune Report

The Editors Council has condemned the countrywide filing of cases against The Daily Star Editor and also the councils General Secretary, Mahfuz Anam.

The council hoped that good sense would prevail among all quarters and all cases against the editor of the English daily would be withdrawn.

In a resolution adopted at a meeting of the Editorsa Council yesterday with its President Golam Sarwar in the chair, the council noted with concern that 66 cases including defamation charges involving Tk 82,646.5 crore have been filed at various places of the country against Mahfuz Anam.

The resolution reads: aThe meeting feels that such incidents go against freedom of the press. We expect that all cases against Mahfuz Anam will be withdrawn. The Editorsa Council expects that good sense would prevail among all quarters in this regard.a

Among others, Golam Sarwar, president of Editorsa Council and also the editor of daily Samakal; Mahfuz Anam, The Daily Star editor, also the general secretary of the council; Reaz Uddin Ahmed, editor, News Today; Moazzem Hossain, editor, The Financial Express; Matiur Rahman Chowdhury, editor, Manabzamin; M Shamsur Rahman, editor, The Independent; Naim Nizam, editor, Bangladesh Pratidin; Matiur Rahman, editor, Prothom Alo; Nurul Kabir, editor, New Age; Imdadul Haque Milon, editor, Kaler Kantho; Dewan Hanif Mahmud, editor, Banik Barta; A M M Bahauddin, editor, Inquilab; Shyamol Dutta, editor, Bhorer Kagoj; and Zafar Sobhan, editor, Dhaka Tribune were present at the meeting.

[ see also related material:

Bangladesh: Charging Editors Is Dramatic Backslide - Statement by Human Rights Watch http://www.sacw.net/article12412.html
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Another car wash company is coming to Salina

The growth of car wash services have been increasing in Salina the past few years, with another coming after approval by the city.
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This is a blog detailing the creation/evolution/ID controversy and assorted palaeontological news. I will post news here with running commentary.
Author's Note

A literary vent, a one-sided, free-wheeling discussion, everything posted on this blog is true. Don't mistake that to mean everything here is fact. Frequently, I paint with a broad brush, coloring things to a degree of my own choosingfor the sake of art.



My characters remind me of what Dr. J. Kennedy Schultz once said--and they insist I post it here:



When I say something about you, it may or may not be true about you, however, I always reveal something of myself.



Judging from some of the comments people have made to me, I wish to remind them this works in BOTH directions.



Thank you.




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My travels in Serbia through Princeton's Bridge Year Program and Dale Fellowship
This well-established Blog is worth visiting on a regular basis for a wealth of information of interest to Armenian nationals and to the Armenian Diaspora world-wide. Although it has a particular role in promoting international recognition of the Genocide, the Blog encompasses much more and includes many articles of general appeal to all those concerned with Armenian affairs. Much of the content is difficult or impossible to find elsewhere and the long list of links provided gives easy access to a plethora of material on social, political, religious, educational and cultural matters, and many news items from around the world.




Photograph: Keith Pakenham/AFP/Getty ImagesSaturday 27 February 2016 01.00 ESTOur poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, writes poems that must be blessings for schoolteachers, because almost every line has a splinter of brilliance in it, and even the most resistant pupil would notice a fragment of language jumping into life. Her poem called Mrs Midas evokes the difficulties for a wife whose husband turns things to gold when he touches them. They cant sleep together, so she puts him in the spare room, which he turns into the tomb of Tutankhamun. What young mind would not be captured by an idea as dazzling as that? I know, the young mind of the boy at the back of the class who has just set fire to his desk. Hes a kind of Midas himself, but whatever he touches turns to chaos. Its always rude to be optimistic on behalf of other people, and the teacher is facing difficulties every day that leave Mrs Midas looking genuinely well off, instead of just weighed down by useless wealth.At our weatherboard one-room infants school in the bush, the memorably severe Miss Cashman had to get us to safety when the bushfire came, as it did every year, invariably threatening to burn down the building. She had a gift for discipline but no gift for tact. She gave me a note for my mother, saying that I didnt have to come to school the next day because it had been largely destroyed by fire. My mother, once she had been assured that I had not been in danger, recovered in a matter of hours.The bushfires were impressive, but they had nothing on the floods. One year the whole central eastern seaboard of New South Wales was underwater. The motor launch by which my mother and I were rescued from our holiday home on the Hawkesbury river was surrounded by millions of oranges dotted in the water, all torn from the orchards by a current quicker than a running man. In those days none of us realised that this was climate change, which would menace the whole worlds future. We thought it was standard-issue fire and flood menacing our bit of Australia right there in the present.Clive James: Leslie Nielsen made a gun of his fingers and shot me. I shot backRead more It was long ago, and I am far away; and it might snow tonight. I hope it does, because recently I wrote a poem about snow which I think might have a few Carol Ann moments in it, although her enviable knack for making an everyday phrase split light like a prism is hard to match. Miss Cashman used to make us recite Dorothea Mackellars famous poem My Country. I love a sunburnt country, I would intone, while down in the gulley below the school the eternally recurring fire was turning its first gum-trees into columns of fury.
WASHINGTON -- State of the world, Year Eight of Barack Obama:

(1) In the South China Sea, on a speck of land of disputed sovereignty far from its borders, China has just installed anti-aircraft batteries and stationed fighter jets. This after China landed planes on an artificial island it created on another disputed island chain (the Spratlys, claimed by the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam). These facilities now function as forward bases for Beijing to challenge seven decades of American naval dominance of the Pacific Rim.

"China is clearly militarizing the South China Sea," the commander of the U.S. Pacific Command told Congress on Tuesday. Its goal? "Hegemony in East Asia."

(2) Syria. Russian intervention has turned the tide of war. Having rescued the Bashar al-Assad regime from collapse, relentless Russian bombing is destroying the rebel stronghold of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, creating a massive new wave of refugees and demonstrating to the entire Middle East what a Great Power can achieve when it acts seriously.

The U.S. response? Repeated pathetic attempts by Secretary of State John Kerry to propitiate Russia (and its ally, Iran) in one collapsed peace conference after another. Last Sunday, he stepped out to announce yet another "provisional agreement in principle" on "a cessation of hostilities" that the CIA director, the defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs deem little more than a ruse.

(3) Ukraine. Having swallowed Crimea so thoroughly that no one even talks about it anymore, Russia continues to trample with impunity on the Minsk cease-fire agreements. Vladimir Putin is now again stirring the pot, intensifying the fighting, advancing his remorseless campaign to fracture and subordinate the Ukrainian state. Meanwhile, Obama still refuses to send the Ukrainians even defensive weapons.

(4) Iran. Last Thursday, Iran received its first shipment of S-300 anti-aircraft batteries from Russia, a major advance in developing immunity to any attack on its nuclear facilities. And it is negotiating an $8 billion arms deal with Russia that includes sophisticated combat aircraft. Like its ballistic missile tests, this conventional weapons shopping spree is a blatant violation of U.N. Security Council prohibitions. It was also a predictable -- and predicted -- consequence of the Iran nuclear deal that granted Iran $100 billion and normalized its relations with the world.

The U.S. response? Words.

Unlike gravitational waves, today's strategic situation is not hard to discern. Three major have-not powers are seeking to overturn the post-Cold War status quo: Russia in Eastern Europe, China in East Asia, Iran in the Middle East. All are on the march.

To say nothing of the Islamic State, now extending its reach from Afghanistan to West Africa. The international order built over decades by the United States is crumbling.

In the face of which, what does Obama do? Go to Cuba.

Yes, Cuba. A supreme strategic irrelevance so dear to Obama's anti-anti-communist heart.

Is he at least going to celebrate progress in human rights and democracy -- which Obama established last year as a precondition for any presidential visit? Of course not. When has Obama ever held to a red line? Indeed, since Obama began his "historic" normalization with Cuba, the repression has gotten worse. Last month, the regime arrested 1,414 political dissidents, the second-most ever recorded.

No matter. Amid global disarray and American decline, Obama sticks to his cherished concerns: Cuba, Guantanamo (about which he gave a rare televised address last week) and, of course, climate change.

Obama could not bestir himself to go to Paris in response to the various jihadi atrocities -- sending Kerry instead "to share a big hug with Paris" (as Kerry explained) with James Taylor singing "You've Got a Friend" -- but he did make an ostentatious three-day visit there for climate change.

So why not go to Havana? Sure, the barbarians are at the gates and pushing hard knowing they will enjoy but 11 more months of minimal American resistance. But our passive president genuinely believes that such advances don't really matter -- that these disruptors are so on the wrong side of history, that their reaches for territory, power, victory are so 20th century.

Of course, it mattered greatly to the quarter-million slaughtered in Syria and the millions more exiled. It feels all quite real to a dissolving Europe, an expanding China, a rising Iran, a metastasizing jihadism.

Not to the visionary Obama, however. He sees far beyond such ephemera. He knows what really matters: climate change, Gitmo and Cuba.

With time running out, he wants these to be his legacy. Indeed, they will be.
In our minds, the fundamental question at the heart of debate about the Guantanamo Naval Base detention center is this: Are we as a nation at war against terrorism?

The answer is, without question, yes.

Today, we remain convinced the best place to house, interrogate, evaluate and prosecute enemy combatants taken prisoner during this conflict, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, not a domestic prison.

To this end, Congress should oppose President Obama's proposal, submitted to Congress on Tuesday, for closing "Gitmo." Under what, in our view, is an ill-defined plan, dozens of detainees would be moved from Gitmo to U.S. soil; other detainees would be moved to foreign countries. Future detainees? Unclear.

Today, Guantanamo holds 91 prisoners.

We will give Obama credit - to this point, at least - for involving Congress as opposed to attempting executive action because consultation with members of Congress about Gitmo is crucial. Perhaps through dialogue, the Obama administration and Congress can reach agreement on a reasonable plan for the future of Gitmo, Gitmo detainees and future detainees from the war on terror, but the plan offered by Obama last week is short on specifics and produces more questions than answers.

Congress has waited for seven and a half years for President Obama to provide a plan to achieve his goal of closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay," said Sen. John McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee who actually supports closure of Gitmo. "What we received today is a vague menu of options, not a credible plan for closing Guantanamo, let alone a coherent policy to deal with future terrorist detainees. After years of rhetoric, the president has still yet to say how and where he will house both current and future detainees, including those his administration has deemed as too dangerous to release. ...

The Senate Armed Services Committee will closely scrutinize and hold hearings on the details of what the president submitted today, but we can say now with confidence that the president has missed a major chance to convince the Congress and the American people that he has a responsible plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

Even within his own party, Obama's plan met with trouble.

"I've repeatedly said I do not support the transfer of prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military facility to Colorado," said Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., who supports closure of Guantanamo (one prison identified as a possible location for Gitmo detainees is the federal Supermax in Florence, Colo.). "I've voted to close the prison, but I believe military detainees should be held in military prisons. Colorado does not have that type of facility. This plan has done nothing to change my mind."

Frankly, we can't imagine the prospect of taking detainees from Gitmo excites the leadership of any state.

A majority of Americans do not support Obama, either. According to a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted after the president unveiled his plan last week, 56 percent of respondents want Gitmo to stay open. The same percentage said detainees should not be moved to U.S. soil.

This issue is bigger than Obama's desire to satisfy a promise from his first campaign for president before he leaves office. Discussion about Guantanamo must focus on what is the most effective way to hold enemies of America who are captured on the field of battle and keep the homeland safe until the war on terrorism is won.
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
More than once, Ive expressed my distaste for the cliche that Buenos Aires is the Paris of the South, when its really a New World immi...
CAIRO (Sputnik)  On Saturday, the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG) said Daesh launched a series of coordinated attacks on Tell Abiad late on February 26. The YPG claimed the assault was launched simultaneously from Turkey and the terrorists' stronghold of Raqqa.

"Turkey should become part of the ceasefire agreement. We will demand the permanent members of the UN Security Council to make Turkey cease violation of the border [with Syria] and respect Syrian sovereignty rather than support and assist the Islamic State and the Nusra Front," Isa said.

According to Isa, on Friday, an hour before the ceasefire regime has been established, Daesh terrorists attacked the Kurdish militias with some 50 militants coming through the Turkish border supported by the shelling from the Turkish territory.
The way people speak Russian in Russia's neighboring former Soviet countries, he noted, is slightly different from the way the language is spoken in Russia: the pronunciations are different, the vocabulary is different, and some of the grammar is slightly different.

So the linguists started thinking about how they can ensure the overall standardization of Russian language teaching in the world as a second and as a foreign language, as a native language and a second language for bilingual students.

According to the scientist, the problem of providing schools which teach the language with textbooks and providing libraries with Russian literature in a timely manner will probably always be insurmountable and intractable.

There will always be barriers of cost, transport, logistics, etc. The only tool to solve this problem in the very beginning is the development of modern communication technologies, the development of e-learning, in the online mode, with a constant presence to ensure those who are studying the Russian language do so with modern materials, modern developments, he said.

Many foreign language teachers continue to believe that a language cannot be taught via the Internet. Still, the best way of studying a language is either a mother or a live teacher. But we probably need to take the best from any innovation. Surely the Internet, remote forms of learning and the transmission of information have their advantages, which in combination with traditional methods can bring great benefits, Osadchy said.
A number of US banks approached the Treasury in Washington to ask if responding to the tender would be permissible under the sanctions regime, according to The Financial Times report.

The Treasury told the banks that while there was technically no ban against helping the Russian government raise money, the banks would have to be mindful of the fact that the money could be diverted into activities that were not consistent with US foreign policy, says the British daily.

A Department of State spokesperson confirmed to Sputnik on Thursday that the US government warned American banks that doing business with Russia presented a certain risk.

"We [the United States] continue to be clear in our engagements with US companies that we believe there are risks, both economic and reputational, associated with a return to business as usual with Russia," the official said when asked if the United States warned companies off bidding on Russian bonds.

The Russian bond deal is even more politically risky, as it would undermine international sanctions on Moscow, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
"There are plans when borders are closedWe are building emergency camps  not the usual reception centers  with tents in fields," he stressed, allaying fears that the migrants and refugees would stay in Greece indefinitely.

He said 3,000 undocumented migrants returned to their homelands voluntarily under the International Organization for Migrations (IOM) program.

Mouzalas further reassured that there would be "nothing wrong" with declaring a state of emergency in the southern region of Attica as a means of civil defense.

Commenting on the northern border that Macedonia sealed off earlier, the minister said Greece was preparing an online advertisement campaign with the United Nations for broadcast in Turkey so that migrants and refugees decide not to cross the Aegean.

IOM said this years migrant crossings from Turkey to southern Europe exceeded the 120,000 mark this week, nearly four months earlier than in 2015.


HMEYMIM (Sputnik)Russias ceasefire monitoring center at the Hmeymim airbase in Latakia launched a daily bulletin providing data on the progress of the cessation of hostilities that entered its second day on Sunday, the head of the center said.

"In accordance with the agreements reached, the Russian center for the reconciliation of conflicting parties in Syria began releasing a daily newsletter with timely data on the implementation of reconciliation measures," Lt. Gen. Sergei Kuralenko told reporters.

The ceasefire went into force at 22:00 GMT early Friday, or midnight Damascus time. It does not apply to designated terrorist organizations, including the Daesh and the Nusra Front.


MOSCOW (Sputnik)The US-run monitoring center in the Jordanian capital of Amman has been informed about all facts of ceasefire violation in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

"The US group on [Syria] reconciliation in Amman (Kingdom of Jordan) has been informed about all the facts of ceasefire violations," the statement reads.

On February 22, Russia and the United States reached an agreement on the ceasefire in Syria. According to the Moscow and Washingtons joint statement, the ceasefire was to take effect on February 27 and excluded the terrorist groups Islamic State (IS) and the Nusra Front (both outlawed in Russia).
The Syrian ceasefire deal, brokered between the US and Russia, almost certainly will not last long and definitely does not mean the end of the war on the ground, Alastair Crooke, former MI6 agent, who was Middle East advisor to Javier Solana, High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union (CFSP) from 1997 to 2003, said in a lengthy interview with the RT news channel.

The British diplomat analyzed the possible intentions of the parties of the deal.

And one of the intentions is to have a break, a pause, I think, so that your own proxies  the American, Turkish, Saudi proxies  can regroup, can rearm and prepare, he therefore suggested.
The Syrian government has confirmed its readiness to halt its military actions in accordance with the Russia-US agreement. Some opposition forces have been skeptical about the ceasefire, but in general have agreed to adhere to it. According to Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, the conflicting Syrian sides that are ready to abide by the ceasefire have contacted the Russian coordination center for reconciliation in Syria's Latakia province over 10 times during the first day it has been in operation.

Russia and the United States can bomb any Syrian militant groups that have expressed their unwillingness to observe the ceasefire, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov noted. Washington, in its turn, said it was discussing a so-called Plan B to be implemented in the event that the Syrian ceasefire agreement is violated. Moscow has ruled out any Plan B for Syria.
"What I call the moral left wants to force the population to be altruistic with respect to the refugees. But the population, who is never consulted on the issue of refugees and who is constantly asked to make sacrifices because 'there is no money' understandably does not accept this moral discourse," the intellectual noted.

Furthermore, Bricmont argues, "one can see signs of widespread popular revolt" rising among the population over politicians' policy of sowing chaos, then forcing Europeans to reap the consequences.

"Now, I am not optimistic about the way this revolt will go, because, since the left has been almost totally won over to the cause of humanitarian interventions and its corollary of welcoming the refugees, this revolt will almost certainly benefit mostly the (far) right."

Asked by his interviewer whether the German decision to accept over a million refugees is tied to guilt over the Holocaust, Bricmont retorted that first off, "it was not 'Germany' that made that decision, but Mrs. Merkel, to the consternation of many and perhaps most Germans."


MOSCOW (Sputnik)Frank-Walter Steinmeier is set to visit New York and Washington, DC, from February 28 to March 1, according to the German Embassy in the United States.

"My discussions in Washington will certainly be focused on the situation in Syria shortly after the ceasefire But the refugee crisis, relations with Russia and the situation in Ukraine will also play an important role in the talks," Steinmeier was quoted in the press release as saying.

The German top diplomat is also scheduled to visit in New York, where he is going to "use the opportunity" to present the priorities of Germany's chairmanship in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) at the UN Security Council and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission.
"Or, we hear from the messengers of the 'evil Putin' that he is bombarding the children of Syria (by the way, the Russians must have very good planes, if they can set their sights specifically to target only children), thus increasing the wave of refugees to Europe; forget about Turkey," the country that's directly along the route of the refugees' path.

"And if that were not enough, we are getting more and more Putin, who is not allowing Europeans to forget about him  here, he is helped by his 'media minions'; the global audience of the RT television channel is growing at such a rate that its rivals are looking for artificial causes, in order to stop their growing competitor. For example, in Germany, checks are being made to see if the Russian intelligence is manipulating public opinion by using the media."

Ultimately, the newspaper sarcastically suggests, "Putin is slowly becoming the explanation for all sorts of plagues and calamities. 'It's raining. Who is to blame? Putin, of course! Not directly, but it's not inconceivable that the Russians are up to something in the upper atmosphere,'" the logic goes.

However, Obserwator Polityczny adds, all is not working as planned. "In the long term," anti-Putin and anti-Russian propaganda "is only contributing to building respect for him and admiration for Russia."

"Even a superficial observer, seeing how much dirt is thrown at Putin, in the end has to ask himself: 'Why? What has he done wrong?' And when all is said and done, all of Putin's guilt can be summarized in one sentence: he is protecting Russian interests, which he, as the first leader of Russia after the fall of the USSR, is able to redefine."
However, a growing number of experts remain skeptical about the possibility of any viable Plan B.

"I think theres no Plan B," Vitaly Naumkin, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told RT. "I believe that Kerrys statement was a threat aimed at all parties involved including Russia: if the Syrian government doesnt play along, something bad will happen. But the worst thing that can happen is a US military operation on the ground, and Im absolutely certain that Obama wont invade anyone."

He also remarked that the talks about Syrias partitioning is pure speculation as no Syrians, not even the Syrian Kurds who merely seek a greater autonomy, want their country divided.

Fyodor Lukyanov, Chairman of the Presidium of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, also said that Plan B most likely doesnt exist.

"I believe that there is no Plan B. The partitioning of Syria is not Plan B, though it may be caused by the events that transpire in the country now. Even if the ceasefire deal works, restoring peaceful life would also be quite a challenge."

Russia and the United States reached an agreement on the ceasefire in Syria on February 22. The ceasefire took effect at midnight on Saturday Damascus time (22:00 GMT on Friday).

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2268 endorsing the Russia-US agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Syria on Friday, shortly before the ceasefire came into force. The cessation of hostilities does not apply to designated terrorist organizations operating in Syria, including Islamic State (IS) and the Nusra Front, a group affiliated with al-Qaeda.
Commenting on Parubiy's remarks in an interview with Radio Sputnik, Igor Markov, an ex-lawmaker from the Party of Regions party, which was dismantled and banned following the Maidan coup, suggested that the politician's comments are just stating the obvious.

In fact, Markov said, "Ukraine is causing not only disappointment in the West, but open irritation. And not just from Washington, but from the Europeans as well. Pro-Western forces in Ukraine could not win an absolute victory, and now controlling the radicals is no longer possible."

The country's current leaders, Markov noted, have proven unable to reach the compromise necessary to end the civil war in the country's southeast. "And so long as those who are in power today remain in office, nothing constructive will be possible," the politician lamented.

Moreover, he warned, the situation only threatens to get worse.

"I think that [the present situation] will lead to a deepening of the political crisis, and the consequences will be highly unpredictable. We can see today that Ukraine is governed by 'the rules of Maidan'  that some groups take the responsibilities and functions of both law enforcement and the courts. The country is completely unbalanced, and faces chaos."
"All the horrors which Muscovites had to endure during the occupation  everything that was stolen or destroyed of Russia's national heritage by the foreigners from Napoleon's 'European Union'  all this was a terrible price to pay for the country's salvation. Thousands of innocents killed by the Bonapartist soldiers were factually sacrificed on the altar of the coming victory."

"It's surprising," Yevdokimov quipped, "that no one ever blames Kutuzov for these victims, while everyone and their grandmother blames Joseph Stalin for the victims of the militias and the Podolsk cadets who came to stand on the path of the invaders, this time in the 20th century. In his time, Stalin made no less difficult a decision, which also turned out to be correct  to stop the enemy at any price. In 1941, Moscow was not only the Soviet Union's largest city, and its cultural center, but also a critical industrial and transport hub, and most importantly, the capital. Here, Kutuzov's cunning was not an option."

1918: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk With the Kaiser's Germany

"Vladimir Lenin's signing of the Treaty [of Brest-Litovsk] was criticized by everyone  from ultra-communists like Nikolai Bukharin to the most reactionary monarchists," the commentator recalled. "What is more, at that moment, he appeared to have lost the Bolsheviks gains, won following the October Revolution of 1917, because the Treaty became the basis of an attempt by the Left SR party to stage a coup in the Congress of Soviets. And it seemed as if everything that was possible was done in order to push Germany to break the pact  with Chekist SR terrorist Yakov Blumkin killing Germany's ambassador Wilhelm Mirbach" in 1918, shortly after the treaty's signing.

"But the plan failed; the coup against the Bolsheviks was quashed, and soon, when revolution broke out in Germany, even the strongest of Lenin's rationally-minded critics realized that what he had done was a stroke of genius. Sacrificing so much, finding himself even more a minority than Kutuzov, Lenin agreed to the most onerous conditions, in order to save the young Soviet republic. Factually, the anger in his direction from the counter-revolutionary elements in those years came largely from the fact that he managed to save the fragile new state from the Kaiser's boot."


SEATTLE (Sputnik)In the wake of a horrendous murder in which a father killed his wife two allegedly adopted children, US sheriffs office representatives have been unable to find documents confirming whether the teenage had Russian citizenship, a Russian Consulate General official told RIA Novosti on Sunday.

"There are no documents  Russian birth certificates, passports or Russian adoption papers  linking them to Russia. But that cannot be ruled out," the unnamed official said.

Earlier, officials conducted a second search of a property in Mason County southwest of Seattle, where a man fatally shot four of his family members and committed suicide in front of police.


MOSCOW (Sputnik)On Friday, David Wayne Campbell, 51, from the state of Washington called the police and reported that he had shot two children, a woman and another person. The man shot himself hours after police had arrived. The county coroner identified three victims: Lana J. Carlson, 49, Quinn Carlson, 16, and Tory Carlson, 18. Shortly after the incident, reports emerged claiming that the teens killed could have been adopted and of Russian origin.

Earlier in the day, it was reported that representatives of the Sheriff's Office had not found any documents confirming the Russian citizenship of the teenagers killed in the shooting.

"The problem of establishing the true citizenship and origin of children shot by their adoptive father David Wayne Campbell in the United States emerged due to the failure and unwillingness of the US authorities to create a single database of children adopted from abroad, primarily Russian ones. For over 4 years we have been striving to achieve it without having any information about the lives of thousands of our children," Astakhov posted on Instagram.
The material came from rock and brine extracted in oil and gas drilling operations in Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The process concentrated naturally-occurring radionuclicides. The material was further concentrated after being recycled by Fairmont Brine Processing of West Virginia.Kentucky Division of Waste Management Director Tony Hatton says this is the material that made its way to Irvine between July and November 2015.State officials say the material came in 47 sealed boxes each with 25 cubic feet of material.The Blue Ridge Landfill is not equipped to legally handle even this low-level radioactive material. State officials say they are working with landfill managers to see how the material was handled, and whether any workers or others were affected. A middle school and high school are located across Highway 89 from the landfill.Hatton doubts there is any ongoing exposure at the dumpsite.The best we know, the material has been buried since November, Hatton said.State officials sent warnings to landfill operators throughout the state to watch out for the material and to not accept it. They are also investigating a possible shipment of similar material to a landfill in Greenup County.Legal action against the firm that engaged in the illegal dumping and the landfill that accepted the contaminated material is under review, reads an advisory letter sent this week to state waste-management departments.We are working with the state and trying to determine whos on first base, said Charles Law, general manager of Blue Ridge Landfill.



Law told the Courier Journal that the issue was being handled by players higher up the corporate latter, but admitted there were gray areas in the investigation into how the waste got to the landfill.



When asked if the company knew the material was radioactive when it accepted it, he said We accepted it under normal landfill practices.



Radionuclidies in the waste have a half-life of more than 1,000 years. This is the amount of time required for half of the atoms in radioactive substance to disintegrate. Liners typically used in

municipal solid waste landfills are warranted for about 30 years.



Waste disposal expert Tom FitzGerald said that any landfills that accepted the waste would have to extend the length of time operators are responsible for any pollution to account for long-lived radionuclicides.
"They use that argument to support a second: that deployment of a THAAD battery and its associated radar in South Korea is actually a move that advantages the United States against China, rather than South Korea against North Korea," Lyon said.

In this vein, he pointed to THAAD's characteristics, saying that "a quick look at the system's flight test results shows that the bulk of its testing has been against short-range targets."

"By contrast, it's largely unproven against longer-range threats such as intermediate-range ballistic missiles," Lyon pointed out.

As for China, it is concerned that THAAD may degrade China's ability to target the United States by "offering early tracking data to other parts of the US ballistic missile defense system  in particular to the Ground Based Interceptors responsible for defending the US homeland, according to Lyon.

"Its anxiety is a classic case of a security trilemma, where actions taken by one country in response to the actions of another  here the deployment of enhanced US BMD capabilities to offset North Korea's growing missile capabilities  complicate relations with a third player," he said.

He recalled in this connection that the US already has a THAAD battery on Guam, two AN/TPY-2 radars in Japan and space-based assets as well as a number of "ship-borne radars and larger land-based radars in other parts of the Pacific theatre."

"Would a THAAD deployment in South Korea change much? The short answer is that it could improve early tracking of some Chinese missiles, depending on their launch point," Lyon concluded.
Legion Of Boom lowered the boom with a 42-1 upset in the Ontario Boys Series final on Saturday night (Feb. 27) at Woodbine Racetrack.

A compact field of six competed in the $45,000 final of the three-week series for Ontario-sired four-year-olds.

Headlining the group of six was a pair of Richard Moreau trainees. Cajon Lightning entered the final off a victory in leg one and a third in leg two, while Rafa looked to turn the tables after finishing second in both preliminary legs.

Legion Of Boom and driver Doug McNair left hard off the gate, but Rafa and Sylvain Filion also had the same strategy. McNair opted to drop in behind Rafa and take the two-hole trip.

Rafa, who was 8-5, posted an opening quarter of :27.1 and a half of :56. Outside challengers developed around the final turn with Mach Code first up and Cajon Lightning, the 4-5 favourite, second over.

After reaching the three-quarter pole in 1:24, Rafa led the field into the stretch looking for the gate-to-wire victory.

In the stretch, McNair came off the pylons with Legion Of Boom and the 42-1 longshot grinded away at Rafa. Cajon Lightning also came charging with late speed and Half A Billion was flying from the back to make it a four-across finish.

Legion Of Boom hit the wire first in 1:53.1 to win by a head over Cajon Lightning. Half A Billion finished a neck back in third, while Rafa was defeated by just a half a length, but finished fourth.

Legion Of Boom had just one win in six starts this season entering the Ontario Boys final. He finished sixth in both preliminary legs.

Legion Of Boom is co-owned by driver Doug McNair, who shares ownership of the gelding with Equus Standardbreds Inc. McNair's father Gregg is the conditioner of the four-year-old.

Saturdays victory was the sixth career win for Legion Of Boom and it increases his career earnings to over $92,000. The clocking of 1:53.1 also established a new career mark for the son of Artistic Fella.

Legion Of Boom paid $86.20 to win.

In order to be eligible to the Ontario Boys, the Ontario sired four-year-olds had to be non-winners of $60,000 lifetime as of October 31, 2015.

In regular racing action, Nickle Bag kept his current win streak rolling in the $34,000 Preferred Handicap Pace, going from last to first with Trevor Henry in the bike for a fifth straight victory.

The Bill Robinson trainee prevailed by one length in 1:51 over Erle Dale N, who had regrouped from an miscue before the start of the race and closed off the winner's cover for the runner-up honours.

Nickle Bag, who was assigned outside his five foes, trailed the six-horse field early on while The Rev came through with the inner advantage over a leaving Nirvana Seelster during a :26.1 first quarter. After watching the early duel up front, Rise Up Now assumed command for middle splits of :54.3 and 1:22.4. Meanwhile, Henry sent the 2-5 favourite underway down the backstretch and began to pick off rivals one by one, eventually wearing down Rise Up Now in the stretch and keeping Erle Dale N at bay. Prescotts Hope came on for third over The Rev.

A six-year-old gelded son of Rocknroll Hanover, Nickle Bag is owned by Linda Loyens and Harry Loyens. He now boasts six wins and two thirds in eight 2016 starts and a Canadian season-high annual income of $98,500. Saturday's win was his 25th lifetime and pushed his career bankroll to $558,130.

Nickle Bag paid $2.80 to win.

McNair and Jody Jamieson were three-time winners during Saturday's 10-race card. Both reinsmen contributed to Carmen Auciello's training triple.

To view Saturday's harness racing results, click on the following link: Saturday Results - Woodbine Racetrack.

(With files from WEG)
Healthy dividends -- including a late Pick 4 which paid nearly $4,000 on a 50-cent ticket and a 52-1 upset from Fan Of Terror in the featured ninth race -- contributed to a ninth consecutive card with over $3 million in handle at The Meadowlands on Saturday (Feb. 27) evening.

A total of $3,342,144 was wagered on the 14-race program, extending the streak of racing programs with over $3 million in handle to nine. Over seven cards in the month of February, total turnover on Meadowlands races exceeded $22.4 million.

In the featured $20,000 top-level conditioned pace, Louis Frascella's Fan Of Terror ($106) stunned at 52-1 odds, overcoming traffic trouble in mid-stretch to narrowly prevail in 1:51 over the favoured pair of Jet Airway and Ashleys Husband.

Andy Miller prompted the pace with the four-year-old Western Terror gelding before yielding to duelling leaders Itrustyou (Yannick Gingras) and Aslan (Andy McCarthy) through a :27.3 initial quarter. As Jet Airway (Marcus Miller) commenced outer flow through a :55.1 half, Fan Of Terror found himself hard-pressed for racing room, only able to shake free in the final 150 yards when he split mid-stretch leader Jet Airway and a flattening Calvin B (Corey Callahan). Fan Of Terror lunged to the line to just collar Jet Airway, and 8-5 favourite Ashleys Husband (Tim Tetrick) charged down the grandstand side off a fourth-over trip to claim third. Dovuto Hanover (Scott Zeron), who made his seasonal debut in the race, rallied up the pegs late for fourth, just missing Fan Of Terror by a length.

Andrew Harris trains Fan Of Terror, now a 14-time winner.

The featured win was one of two for Miller, who took the finale as well with Rockin Jimmy ($6.80) in 1:53.2. Top driving honours on the night went to Marcus Miller, who captured three of the evening's 14 races. Andy McCarthy, Anthony Napolitano, and Tim Tetrick each also notched driving doubles.

Earlier in the program, the KJ Stables and Purple Haze Stables' Missile J ($2.60) earned his second consecutive win, holding pocket rival Connecting Flight at bay for a 1:52.2 win in a $10,000 event for non-winners of two races or $20,000. Tetrick drove the quickly developing three-year-old American Ideal gelding for trainer Linda Toscano.

As the seventh race 20-cent Jackpot High 5 was hit for the second time in three cards -- this one paying $8,016.64 -- only one pool carries over to next Friday's card. The final race Jackpot High 5 will see $116,448 added to the pool on Friday evening should one lone player prove successful.

(Meadowlands Racetrack)
In memory of Fatty Arbuckle, a good and innocent man whose movie career as a comedian was ruined by an opportunistic prosecution. The woman he was accused of murdering almost certainly died of natural causes. He was eventually cleared but the damage was done.

A thought

I love the Mae West story where some judge wearing a robe during the middle of the day, and seated in a high chair peered down and asked her, 'Are you showing contempt for my court?' To which she replied, 'Im doing my best not to show it, your honor.' Maybe we need to give up trying to not show it."
One reason the Russians have combat troops in Syria is because this gives Russia a chance to put its post-Cold War military to the test. What the Russians are preparing for is the possibility of clashes between Russian and NATO forces in Eastern Europe. Both NATO and Russia are not sure how their respective post-Cold War forces would do against each other. Most East European nations are preparing for the worst and paying close attention to whatever Russia does in Ukraine and Syria.

The most likely targets for Russian invasion are three small nations (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) on the south coast of the Baltic Sea between Russia and Poland. In the 18th century the Baltic States were forcibly incorporated into the expanding Russian empire. They became independent after World War I (1914-18) but were taken over again in 1940. It wasn't until 1991 that the Baltic States regained their independence and they are determined to keep things that way.

The Baltic States have only 6.3 million people and fewer than 60,000 active duty troops. Well aware of their vulnerability the three Baltic States along with neighboring Poland joined NATO in 2004. This was done in the hope that the mutual defense terms of the NATO alliance would dissuade Russia. It did that, but it also angered many Russians. Government leaders there, like Vladimir Putin, considered it an act of NATO aggression.

All three Baltic States are rapidly upgrading their armed forces and building a reserve army (like Switzerland, Sweden and Israel use) so that in the event of a Russian invasion (or threat of one) enough armed and trained personnel would be deployed to make Russia think twice about going in. The modernization and build up is also considered aggressive by the Russians because given the forces available to Russia and NATO 50,000 or more trained and organized reservists in the Baltic States makes a big difference.

In effect, now that Russia has threatened the Baltic States enough to trigger a modernization and expansion of Baltic States forces and for NATO to revise its joint defense plan for the Baltic States, the chances of Russian success are declining. That is why Syria is so important to Russia. The Russian problem is that while they, and all other European nations greatly reduced their armed forces after the Cold War ended in 1991, Russian forces were hurt most of all. The forces of the now defunct Soviet Union were, by the end of the 1990s, were reduced to 20 percent of their Cold War size. Worse, very little new equipment was purchased for about 15 years after 1991. And a lot of the Cold War era weapons and equipment were questionable even when new.

Not only had Russian forces shrank but they had less training (no money for it) and less capable officers (the best ones left for more lucrative and fulfilling civilian jobs). Since 2005 Russia has been trying to modernize its forces while also providing adequate training and better leadership. It is questionable if the Russians have succeeded. The ground forces can only muster about 55 brigades, compared to 175 divisions (each the equivalent of about two current brigades) and over a hundred reserve divisions in 1990. The Russian reserves disappeared in the 1990s, along with their weapons and equipment. A new, smaller reserve force is now being developed.

Military simulations (wargames) of a Russian invasion of the Baltic States indicates that if everything went in Russias favor the Russian troops would overrun the three Baltic States in two or three days. This assumes that NATO only gets about a weeks warning that the Russians are massing forces (20-25 brigades and several hundred aircraft) on the borders of the Baltic States. NATO already has about a dozen infantry brigades ready to be rapidly (by air) moved to the Baltic States in an emergency. Heavier brigades, with tanks and other armored vehicles would take longer to reach the area. The Russians would seek to occupy the Baltic States, and defeat twenty or so combat brigades of the Baltic States and NATO within a few days. This would require Russian air power to be capable of neutralizing NATO air power for a few days. That is a major unknown and one reason Russia has several dozen of its newest warplanes in Syria operating under wartime conditions. But it is still unclear if Russian aircraft and anti-aircraft systems could defeat NATO air power. Russia is also testing new artillery, other weapons, communications and electronic countermeasures gear. All would be used for a go at the Baltics and Russian or NATO simulations of such an attack are much more accurate if you know how new Russian equipment and forces perform under fire.
A sentence to be pondered upon:

I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. (Evelyn Beatrice Hall)
Takin (Sichuan subspecies) All of the various kinds of caprine that I have described so far in this series have looked, more or less, ei...
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PLYMOUTH, Minn.  When Elisabeth Ansley says shes between covers, she doesnt mean her sheets and duvet.

Ansley shoots cover photographs for mass-market paperback books, often from her home in a newish Plymouth, Minn., housing development, using her three daughters as models. She has shot nearly 500 covers, published in 25 countries, in less than five years. Her latest work, for the thriller Private Vegas, co-authored by top-selling James Patterson, came out Jan. 26.

Ansley, 44, has created cover shots for other big names, including Stephen King, Nora Roberts, Mary Higgins Clark, Danielle Steel, David Baldacci and Anna Quindlen. Most have been for European editions. But the new Patterson  a guy so important to major player Hachette Book Group that they have a whole department, including three art directors, devoted just to him  is for the substantially larger American readership, and her biggest score to date.

Hes the Holy Grail, said Ansley, a soft-spoken, laid-back presence who can whip up a nuanced cover-shot mood by artfully draping curtains over the lights in her upstairs bathroom. Her basement laundry room contains a wardrobe of elaborately embellished satin gowns culled from vintage-store bins.

Ansleys success story reads like something from one of the adventure romance novels that make up one category of her business. A self-taught shooter, she wandered into her career after discovering a passion for landscape photography in Australia, where her husband, Christopher, an international tax consultant, was temporarily working.

That led to an online portrait business, and her first book cover, for a self-published Australian author.

Criticism of her portrait work actually led to her surprising profession.

I was often accused of doing photos that looked unnatural, more like dramatic storytelling  like book covers  than realistic portraits, she said. I really like telling stories, so the penny dropped and I realized I should be doing just that.

She began researching agents who sold work to publishers, found one in England who looked prosperous and prestigious, and gave him a call.

He must have been feeling charitable that day, because he took me on before I even knew he was the guy, she said.

Looks easy, takes a knack

The guy is Michael Mascaro, owner of Arcangel Images, a leading supplier to the publishing industry.

It can take photographers a long time to get to the point where they just see covers when they are shooting images, said Mascaro. Liz has developed this ability  its become second nature.

Like many talents that might seem easy to master, Ansleys is based on a lot of practice, research and developing an eye.

To be able to get to this stage, she has studied international trends and other photographers images, Mascaro said. She is also constantly improving her own technique and style.

Ansley grew up in Arizona. The family moved to Minnesota in 2003, but has lived around the world because of Christophers job  which helps with her ability to shoot salable images for different markets.

One of her best resources is the Internet, which has brought together a worldwide niche community of unsung cover creators like her. Through social media and fan pages (Ansleys is on Facebook), they trade ideas and support.

Were in competition with each other, but were also the only ones who understand what each other is doing, she said.

Ansley figures she clears about $200 a cover, though the Patterson job paid quite a bit more.

Im one of the few who makes a living at it, she said. I make about as much as a teacher.

Twirling expertise a plus

Ansleys most frequent models are daughters Chaeli, 20, Georgia, 17, and Niamh, 8, with other friends and family members filling in when older folks are needed. Most do it in exchange for some photos and the knowledge that theyve modeled for a book cover.

So what skills does this particular type of modeling require?

Theres a lot of twirling, said Georgia. And running away while looking over your shoulder.

Sounds simple, except when an antebellum look is required, and Mom wrestles one of the girls into a hoop skirt with bustle  in a public park.

The girls are good-natured if a bit blase about helping their mother. Its become an expected chore, like dusting or drying the dishes, only more fun. But Dad remains steadfast in his abstinence from posing as a pirate or private eye. Ansley pays professional models now and then, especially when a certain historical period must be invoked.

I have to try to look sad a lot, said Niamh, a chatty, high-energy pre-tween. I got so used to it that once when some people were smiling for a family picture I told them, No, dont smile, like Mom tells me.

What sells? Simple and bold

If Ansley gets on the Patterson bandwagon, it could ensure steady work for years to come in a field she says is fickle and getting more crowded all the time. Between the several new titles that Patterson produces each year (some co-written mostly by others, with his endorsement) and the repackaging of already-published work, Hachette creative director Anne Twomey estimates they put out at least one title a month under his name.

To publishers, the most important aspect of a cover image is how well it helps sell the book.

It needs to be direct and iconic, bold and bright for the mass market, said Twomey. To get your work used a lot, youve got to have that kind of imagery down.

Ansley typically shoots subjects from the back, or in silhouette, or both, because readers may prefer an indistinct image onto which they can project their own fantasies.

We dont want to spell out exactly what a character looks like, because readers like to picture it themselves, said Twomey.

Ansley has learned that diverse but generic imagery, uncluttered backgrounds and using a lot of reds and blues, help keep her work in demand. But when shes got three models right there at home living under the same roof, she cant resist showing them off, too.

Besides, she said, its like with advertising. Women just sell better than men.
To the sound of clapping hands, Margaret Young walked to the front of a crowded room. She approached the end of a narrow red carpet, where she was handed her award: a shiny, gold-colored statue resembling an Oscar.

Young earned the Great Genes award, an honor for being the oldest resident at Prestige Senior Living  Monticello Park. Young carefully grabbed her award and gave the shortest Oscar speech on record: Thank you. I cant help that.

At 101, Young has lived at the Longview senior living facility for three months. Before that, she lived alone in a retirement home. Young revealed little about the secrets to her longevity, only that she eats whatever she wants and loves to exercise.

Live your life, she said, bluntly.

Youngs friend, 78-year-old Carol Ray, said she enjoyed seeing Young receive the award.

I think its fun because her last name is Young, she said with a laugh.

Awards like Youngs were doled out to several other residents at the facility Thursday, just four days before the film Oscars are handed out in Hollywood tonight. As part of an Oscar-themed award ceremony, residents received such honors as the Betty Davis Eyes Award for the resident with the best eyes and the Take my Breath Away Award for the resident with the best attire.

Carl Gregory, 91, won the latter, which he said he didnt expect.

I never thought about style. I just put this on this morning, and Im wearing it all day, he said, motioning to his green button-up cardigan and black slacks.

Adele Hartwell, 78, took home the Frankly my dear, I dont give a damn award for the person who never complains.

I think its nice, Hartwell said. Im old.

Dick Skinner, 89, said his award for having a smile that lights up the whole room made him feel appreciated.

It surprised me very much, he said. I didnt have a clue. It makes me feel good people appreciate (my smile).

Marty Stredwick, life enrichment director at the facility, said the awards were decided based on votes from the residents. She said the event was intended to bring them together to socialize.

It helped them know that theyre appreciated, she added. Its all about self worth.

Nikkol Nagle, Monticellos life enrichment assistant, said its the first year the home has hosted such an event. Though she said it was tough to coax some residents from their rooms, she said it was fun to see them enjoy themselves.

Its really nice to see the look on residents faces when they win an award.
This week many were surprised when the Port of Longview commissioners voted to stop pursuing a deal with Waterside Energy. The vote was a resounding 3-0. Waterside had proposed building an oil refinery and liquefied petroleum gas project at the port, which appeared to have reasonable footing to move forward.

Anytime a situation like this happens, people look for whos to blame. We just want to know what happened, and at this point, we really dont know.

Waterside CEO Lou Soumas visited TDN shortly after the ports decision and we spent about an hour discussing the project. Soumas was frustrated with the ports decision, claimed he made it clear who his financial backing came from and met the goals set forth in a mostly non-binding term sheet.

Soumas was critical of how long the process with the port was taking, indicating projects at other ports take less time. He was also critical of the timing of the ports decision to cut off talks, indicating the term sheet allowed roughly 30 more days for the port and Waterside to hammer through the financial backing issue.

We contacted both port staff and commissioners to get their side of the story. Our question was, What happened?

Commissioner Bagaason was very generous with his time and willingness to discuss the situation. Bagaason cited Watersides lack of making a key deadline detailed in the term sheet and the need for transparency in how public entities are managed. Waterside did not want to identify the financial backer(s) in a printed email or letter because then it would be public information. Watersides strategy of redacting parts of the letter discussing financial ability did not sit well with Bagaason. We understand and agree.

Lou Soumas felt giving the port a partially redacted letter of financial backing, and telling the port verbally the financial institutions name, was good enough.

We probed to find out if there was more to the story from both the ports perspective and Watersides  and couldnt find anything.

Its hard to know with certainty if Waterside has the financial backing to follow through and develop the projects, we still dont know the financial backers identity. Soumas was confident the financial backers were more than capable of funding the projects. We do agree with Bagaason that the name of the financial institution should not be a secret. If someone wants to spend hundreds of millions developing business in our area, we should know who it is.

Doing business in western Washington means facing significant push back from anti-business groups. Especially with any group that wants to bring fossil fuel business to our area. No matter how much we oppose these types of businesses, our life still depends upon fossil fuels. Whether its harvesters in the fields, trucks delivering our produce, trains that deliver goods, or the cars we drive every day.

Investors know intense scrutiny will be laid upon them no matter what, so if they are serious about a project, being open about it from the start is a good strategy.

From a port perspective, if Waterside truly does not have the financial backing to move forward, cutting off discussions and moving on would appear to be a good decision. Why waste time on a project that doesnt have funding?

The real challenge with the Waterside situation is that we just dont have all the answers.

What we do know is the port has spent significant time on the Haven Energy and Waterside projects, yet we have no new jobs. Business activity is great, but results are what taxpayers expect, and the port has little to show for its business development efforts.

The port has indicated fossil fuel projects, as well as other types of investments, will be considered in the future. We hope so.

The Port of Longview is a key to area economic growth, we hope to see some positive results sooner rather than later. We are tired of asking Where are the jobs?
WASHINGTON  The judicial wars threaten to engulf us in ceaseless cycles of partisan warfare and recriminations. Herewith, two modest (read: unlikely) proposals to try to mitigate the damage, one involving the chief justice, the other the president.

To begin with, though, a stipulation and a sense of the stakes involved.

The stipulation is that no one in this almost 30 Years War  Robert Bork was nominated in 1987  comes with clean hands. The situational ethics of the capital are never more evident than when it comes to confirmation battles.

Republicans wave around quotes from Chuck Schumer and Joe Biden on stalling Republican Supreme Court nominees. Democrats respond with reams of Mitch McConnell pronouncements on the importance of deferring to presidential prerogative. Would Democrats eagerly usher through a high court nominee in the seventh year of a Republican presidency?

Of course not. Democrats might be less blatant about trumpeting their plans for blockage. And Senate Republicans current stance  dont even bother, Mr. President  takes things a significant and unfortunate notch higher.

As to the stakes: Failing to act on a nominee will not simply affect the current court term. It will, for all practical purposes, leave the court at less than full strength during the following term as well.

The new president will not be sworn in until Jan. 20, 2017. Even if the vacancy is at the top of his or her agenda, a nomination could not practicably be forthcoming until the following month. And even assuming a normally functioning Senate, the new justice would be lucky to be in place for the last arguments of the term, in April. (Elena Kagans confirmation proceedings took 87 days; Sonia Sotomayors 66; Samuel Alitos 82.)

Meantime, the absence of a ninth justice for two terms is no minor impediment, despite what Republicans say. Last term, 19 cases  26 percent of the courts docket  were decided by a vote of 5-to-4. The previous years number was 10, or 14 percent of the caseload. The year before, 23 cases, or 29 percent. These are some of the most important on the courts docket.

Which brings me to Chief Justice John Roberts. Sure, he wont be inclined to insert himself into this political mess. Still, he should. It would not only be appropriate for Roberts to speak out about the harm posed by a lengthy and contested vacancy, it would be in line with his previous statements on the problem of vacancies in lower courts and the politicization of nominations.

When you have a sharply political, divisive hearing process, it increases the danger that whoever comes out of it will be viewed in those terms, Roberts said earlier this month, before Justice Antonin Scalias death. If the Democrats and Republicans have been fighting so fiercely about whether youre going to be confirmed, its natural for some member of the public to think, well, you must be identified in a particular way as a result of that process. And thats just not how  we dont work as Democrats or Republicans. And I think its a very unfortunate perception that the public might get from the confirmation process.

What perception, Mr. Chief Justice, will members of the public have watching a vacancy languish for months because one party doesnt want to let a president of the opposing party fill the spot?

Speaking of the president, theres a way  albeit even less likely  for Barack Obama to reduce the political temperature. He could take the advice proffered by a lawyer who would later become his White House counsel, Robert Bauer, and ask that his nominee pledge to serve a limited term.

Term limits for justices are a good idea that will never happen because of the obstacles to amending the Constitution (and serious constitutional impediments to imposing such limits legislatively). Bauers intriguing idea is to achieve these limits through practice rather than dictate.

No law would be necessary to assure that justices act in the socially accepted fashion, just as no president served more than two terms for almost 150 years after Washington, Bauer wrote in 2005, when Roberts nomination was pending. Perhaps the offer of a nominee to serve a reasonable term of years  Bauer suggested 15  would dislodge the gridlock and pave the way for a more orderly, less acrimonious future.

A president willingly ceding power and influence is as antithetical to the politicians instinct as a justice thrusting himself into a raging political battle is to the judicial temperament. But something must be done. Crazy times call for crazy suggestions.
WASHINGTON  Senate Republicans say they will refuse to have a hearing for President Obamas nominee to fill the Supreme Court vacancy. So Democrats on Wednesday took matters into their own hands: They held a hearing all by themselves.

A dozen members of the Senate minority assembled on the dais in an ornate hearing room in the Russell Senate Office Building. They used their official nameplates  Ms. Klobuchar, Ms. Warren, Mr. Cardin  and they had cardboard name cards for the witnesses, a quartet of law professors. They put out a media advisory and hung an official-looking sign at the door. They filled the public seats in the audience with staffers and other extras, distributed written testimony for the press and even had a C-SPAN crew on hand to film the proceedings.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, arriving late, made himself at home in one of the empty seats typically occupied by the majority party, prompting Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, the former comedian, to tattle to Madam Chair. I think Senator Blumenthal is sitting on the Republican side, he reported.

Without actual Republicans, the hearing became an echo chamber, as lawmakers lobbed what Madam Chair  Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota  admitted were softball questions and witnesses gave emphatic concurrence.

Are the Republicans violating the Constitution? asked Sen. Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.

I would say they are violating the Constitution, replied University of Chicago law professor Geoff Stone.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts piously reminded the audience that for the rest of this year, President Obama is still president of the United States of America. Can I have an amen on that?

An amen is about all she can have.

Alas for the Democrats, they dont have the power to hold a real hearing. Klobuchar is in charge only of the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee, a party apparatus that doesnt have real committee powers.

Klobuchar herself has been mentioned as one of the possible nominees for the Supreme Court vacancy. But given the way the eventual nominee is likely to be treated, the president might instead consider nominating Klobuchars Minnesota colleague Franken, who isnt a lawyer but can appreciate farce.

Democrats have no authority to force the Republican majority to vote on Obamas eventual nominee, or even to hold a hearing. But they think they can make Republicans pay a political price for their reflexive decision not to hold a hearing for an Obama nominee. GOP leaders said Wednesday they would stick to that position even if Obama were to nominate Brian Sandoval, the Republican governor of Nevada.

Polls indicate the GOP position  which goes well beyond the more defensible position of voting down Obamas eventual nominee  both stirs up the Democratic base and offends independent voters. The incoming Democratic Senate leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, said Wednesday that this is going to be the dominant issue for the remainder of the year, overshadowing anything that may happen on the Senate floor.

To guarantee that, Democrats will launch all manner of stunts and theatrics.

On Wednesday, Democratic staffers and liberal activists assembled an impressive arsenal of props in a Capitol basement and called in reporters. There were six boxes containing, they said, printouts of 1.3 million electronic signatures of a petition demanding action on the Supreme Court vacancy. There were also nine posters telling Senate Republicans to Do your job and Follow the Constitution, along with four U.S. flags, four senators and eight earnest activists posing for photos with the props.

A moment of silence for the trees, requested liberal activist Adam Green as they posed with the massive printout.

There will, evidently, be little silence as Democrats try to make Republicans own the obstructionist label in November. Senate Republicans are giving a middle finger to the American people and giving a middle finger to this president, Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said at the news conference.
Naina Khedekar

Apple's big standoff with the FBI over unlocking an iPhone belonging to a terrorist has been hitting headlines for sometime now. For those living under the rock, Apple chief Tim Cook has refused a court order that wants the company to break into the iPhone owned by San Bernardino shooter, Syed Farook. Farook, along with his wife Tashfeen Malik, were responsible for killing 14 people on December 2 last year.

So, doesn't Apple want to help nab a terrorist by opening a 'single' requested iPhone? Well, it does want to help, but opening one unit means creating a backdoor for future requests that may follow and eventually compromising on user privacy, believes Cook. Now, the question is how tech companies will comply criminal investigation whilst upholding their customers' secure data. Yes, that pretty much sums up what's the fight about. But there has a lot of mud-slinging over the last one week. Here's a quick timeline showing how it all started.

February 16

Tim Cook wrote a long letter to its customers initiating a public discussion over court's orders that the company had decided not to comply with. He wrote how Apple has done everything possible in its power to help the FBI tackle the case.

"Up to this point, we have done everything that is both within our power and within the law to help them. But now the U.S. government has asked us for something we simply do not have, and something we consider too dangerous to create. They have asked us to build a backdoor to the iPhone. Specifically, the FBI wants us to make a new version of the iPhone operating system, circumventing several important security features, and install it on an iPhone recovered during the investigation," Cook wrote.

"In the wrong hands, this software  which does not exist today  would have the potential to unlock any iPhone in someones physical possession," he further explained.

Read the complete letter here.

February 17

While Apple was firm at its decision, the company saw support from arch-rival Google. Google chief Sundar Pichai said directed his followers to Apple Chief Executive Tim Cooks open letter arguing that helping the FBI try to get into the phone would sabotage the security of tens of millions of American citizen".

February 19

By now, there were debates and discussions and people had started taking sides. Users supporting and opposing Apples position flooded Twitter with rival hashtags #thankyouapple and #boycottapple and Facebook users wrote lengthy posts on the move.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook were also among the firsts who voiced their support for Cook along with Google chief Sundar Pichai.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) slamed back at Apple saying the company's refusal was nothing but brand marketing strategy. The Obama administration also told a US magistrate judge that it would be willing to allow Apple to retain possession of and later destroy specialized software it has been ordered to design to help the FBI hack into the said encrypted iPhone.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump called on to boycott Apple products until it agreed to help the US government unlock the phone of the killers. Boycott Apple until such time as they give that information, Trump said.

February 20

Tim Cook wrote an early morning email to employees, thanking them for their support, and urging the government to withdraw the demand that Apple help the FBI hack the locked iPhone.

February 22

Reports pouring in from all quarters spoke about worldwide protests planned by Internet rights groups. Other companies came forward supporting Apple's stance including Huawei and Microsoft.

February 23

Apple asked the US government for the creation of a government commission or panel of experts to discuss the implications of the demand on issues such as national security and personal freedoms, taking the case to public opinion.

February 24

In an interview with the ABC News, Cook explained how unlocking San Bernardino iPhone would be bad for America. Meanwhile, prosecutors took unusual steps in enlisting victims of the San Bernardino attack in the governments heated battle with Apple. Family members of at least two victims will join a legal brief to be filed next week urging Apple to help the government unlock the phone.

Here comes something that was worrying Apple. The US Justice Department started looking at court orders forcing Apple to help investigators extract data from iPhones in about a dozen undisclosed cases across the country, which were seized in a variety of criminal investigations. These cases also involve wherein prosecutors are compelling the company to help them bypass the passcode security feature, reports said.

February 25

By now, Apple was reported to have started taking precautionary measures. It was developing security measures to make it even harder for the government to break into iPhones. The FBI had attempted to crack the pass code but failed as Apple systems are designed in a way that automatically erases the access key and renders the phone permanently inaccessible after 10 failed attempts, adds the report.

Meanwhile, activists conitnued protesting against the FBIs attempt to install software with backdoors in all of Apples iPhones.

February 26

Refuting Cook's claim of a dangerous precedent, the FBI chief said that it's quite unlikely to be a trailblazer for setting a precedent for other cases.

And Apple continued to fire back at the US government in the encryption standoff asking the court to dismiss the order. No court has ever authorized what the government now seeks, no law supports such unlimited and sweeping use of the judicial process, and the constitution forbids it, Apples lawyers wrote in the motion filed in California federal court.

Several major tech companies including Google, Facebook and Microsoft plan to file a joint motion supporting Apple.

February 26 was said to be the last day for Apple to file its response to the motion filed by the Justice Department.

February 27

Meanwhile, some rivals backed Apple's stance, and many others, mostly Asian companies, chose to stay tight lipped and maintain a low profile.

February 29

In another case, a New York drug case, a federal judge in Brooklyn said the US government cannot force Apple to unlock an iPhone. In fact, a report hinted at that Members of the US House Judiciary Committee are considering filing a friend of the court brief in Apples encryption dispute with the US government to argue that the case should be decided by Congress and not the courts

March 1

White House soon said that the New York ruling won't affect San Bernardino case.

FBI Director James Comey told a congressional panel that forcing Apple to give the data of the shooter would be potentially precedential in other cases where the agency may require similar cooperation from tech companies. As you see, the statement seems contradictory to what he said last week about it is unlikely to be a trailblazer for setting a precedent for other cases. He also acknowledged that it was a mistake to ask San Bernardino County officials to reset the phones cloud storage account. This decision prevented the device from backing up information that the FBI could have read.

By March 3, anyone outside the case can submit their remarks, which will be considered by the judge. On March 10, the government plans to respond to Apple and by March 15, Apple can submit its final reply to government's response. On March 22 a District Court will listen to both sides and take a call on the decision accordingly.
hidden

As Apple resists the US government in a high profile stand-off over privacy, rival device makers are, for now, keeping a low profile.

Most are Asian companies -- the region produces eight of every 10 smartphones sold around the world -- and operate in a complex legal, political and security landscape.

Only China's Huawei has publicly backed Apple CEO Tim Cook in his fight to resist demands to unlock an encrypted iPhone belonging to one of those who went on a shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California in December.

"We put a lot of investment into privacy, and security protection is key. It is very important for the consumer," Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei's consumer business group, told reporters at the Mobile World Congress earlier this week.

But Yu stopped short of saying explicitly that Huawei would adopt the same stance. "Some things the government requires from vendors we cannot do," he said, citing an example of unlocking an encrypted Android device. "These are important things for the consumer, for privacy protection."

Lenovo Group CEO Yang Yuanqing declined to say whether he backs the Apple position, saying the issue required time and consideration.

"Today it happens to Apple, tomorrow it could happen to Lenovo mobile phones. So we must be very serious to consider. We need to take some time," Yang told Reuters.

Samsung Electronics Co and Chinese device maker Xiaomi declined to comment, while ZTE Corporation did not respond to requests for comments.

South Korean mobile maker LG Electronics Inc said it takes personal privacy and security very seriously, but declined to say whether it had ever worked with any government to insert so-called "backdoors" into its products or whether it had ever been asked to unlock a smartphone.

"Nobody wants to be seen as a roadblock to an investigation," said a spokesperson for Micromax, India's biggest local smartphone maker. "Nobody wants that kind of stigma. We have to take care of both customer security as well as (a) genuine threat to national security."

Many Asian countries don't have privacy laws that device makers can fall back on to resist demands from law enforcement authorities.

"As part of the evidence gathering process provided for under the law, law enforcement agencies in Singapore may request information from persons or organizations," Singapore's Ministry of Home Affairs Spokesperson told Reuters.

An official at India's telecom regulator said authorities can ask for private user data from technology companies, as can those in Indonesia, said Ismail Cawidu, spokesman for Indonesia's Communication and Information Ministry.

Eugene Tan, associate professor of law at the Singapore Management University, said he wouldn't be surprised if technology firms weren't being asked for access to their devices.

"It's just that these are not made public. You can imagine for the technology companies, they are also concerned about the publicity -- if they are seen to be caving in to law enforcement agencies, there is always a fear that people may not use their products and services," he said.

Micromax said this was commonplace in India. "I can't say no to a law enforcement request, and every day there is one," the company's spokesperson said. "You have to comply with requests in the larger interest of national security."

The Apple battle may even spur regulators in some markets to demand device makers to grant them access.

Thailand's telecoms regulator said it is studying the possibility of having separate agreements with handset makers and social media firms such as Facebook and Naver's LINE to help extract data from mobile phones.

"There is political pressure" for regulating devices, said Rob Bratby, manager of Olswang Asia, a technology-focused law firm based in Singapore.

He said there was no evidence of any such regulatory interest yet, but it was a matter of time.

Reuters
hidden

A doctor's initiative in harnessing technology has produced an application which can help locate a person trapped in debris in an earthquake or other disasters when communications fail.

Pradeep Bhardwaj, CEO of Six Sigma High Altitude Medical Services for Rescue, says his company has developed a software application which can be tracked through the mobile phone.

The concept is based on ham radio used by amateurs to communicate with one another. However, the application developed by Six Sigma, which can be downloaded to a mobile phone, is not for communication but for continuously sending out a signal which can be detected by special equipment.

"The application does not require mobile network or internet connection to communicate. This is based on satellite which will continuously transmit coded signals but which cannot be used to communicate," Bhardwaj to IANS.

The transmitted signals can be detected within a radius of 50 kilometres.

He said that keeping the security concerns in mind, the application had been designed in such a way that people tracking the signal can get information on its location with accuracy. Bhardwaj said the Telecommunications Ministry had already given them a licence to operate the system.

Six Sigma medical services have been recognised by the Central government, several state governments and countries like Nepal and China for its contribution in saving and counselling thousands of people during the Uttrakhand cloud-burst in 2013, Nepal earthquake in 2015 and China earthquakes, Bhardwaj said.

"The Real Time Location application is made keeping in mind the rescue operations in high altitude areas where mobile towers network or Internet fails being hit by a natural calamity. People or soldiers who get trapped in the debris or snow can easily be helped out using the application," Bhardwaj said.

Till now, Bhardwaj said, he and his team had saved more than 5,600 victims who were stuck in high altitudes.

The Six Sigma is also known for setting up a base camp at a height of 24,500 feet on Mount Everest during the Nepal earthquake, where they had played a major role in helping the Indian Army rescue people.

Bhardwaj said they would send a proposal on the application to the Health Ministry soon, urging it to get it installed in the cell phones of soldiers and people living in high altitude areas which are prone to earthquakes and landslides.

C.K. Misra, additional health Secretary in the ministry of health, told IANS: "This is a good initiative which will help people in high altitude areas. But, he said, the government would need to look into such applications."

Bhardwaj claimed the application could have helped track Indian soldiers caught in the avalanche recently in Siachen, had these been installed in their mobile phones.

IANS
Anirudh Regidi

The wild, adrenaline-fuelled rush of MWC is over and now its time to relax and take a breather. We saw a whole bunch of smartphones and mobile-related gadgets announced at the event, some interesting, some pointless. Our reporter got run off his feet, people fought for handsets and to get into press events but ultimately, it was all worth it, or so we believe.

Hotwire reports that with over 40,000 tweets apiece, LG and Samsung were the most talked about companies at MWC. Sony came in a distant second with 20,000.

As far as Im concerned however, MWC 2016 was a victory for Qualcomm and maybe Sony because the entire event boiled down to two things: The Snapdragon 820 and the Sony IMX sensor.

With little to offer in terms of innovation, all that mattered were specifications and design. Le Max Pro? The phone offers the best hardware in the market at rock-bottom prices. Xiaomi Mi 5? The same. Samsung S7 and S7 Edge? The same, but with a much higher price and support for GearVR. LG G5? The same as Samsung but with more accessories.

Wed rather have more powerful and feature-rich software (consider the popularity of Xiaomis MIUI), hence the requirement for more powerful devices. We want the Snapdragon 820, we need it. We want our experience to be something exceptional, to be lag and stutter free. Extending the argument to Apple, if the iPhone 5 would run iOS 9 stutter free, how many iPhone users would even want to upgrade?

Your choice of hardware really comes down to personal preference and more importantly, design and availability. Weve finally reached a stage in the smartphone wars where the specifications dont matter anymore, and it shows.

Today, anyone can slap together a smartphone with an appropriate Snapdragon chipset, powerful camera sensor and suitable screen. Throw in some marketing mumbo-jumbo like Quick Charge, PDAF, OIS, etc. and you've a winner on your hands. As long as it's appropriately priced. The real kicker? Everyones doing just that.

Apple has long been reviled, in many circles, as the company that copies, a company that doesnt innovate; I think MWC 2016 proved otherwise. Whats new in the S7 other than faster hardware? How useful are the G5s modules really? The Le Max Pro and Xiaomi Mi 5 need do nothing more than exist, as does Apple's iPhone 7 for that matter.

Were going to buy the phone we like, slap a cover on it and then immerse ourselves into Facebook, twitter, WhatsApp and whatever else we do on our devices. As long as the hardware is up to scratch, why would we ever want to upgrade?

Is this really all that smartphones have boiled down to? Let us know in the comments below.
tech2 News Staff

In a blog post published a few days ago, WhatsApp revealed that they will be withdrawing support for BlackBerry devices (BB10 included), Symbian 40, Symbian 60, Android 2.1 and 2.2 devices and Windows Phone 7.1 sometime this year.

WhatsApp wrote that the market right now comprises of 99% Android, iOS and Windows Phone 8 and above devices. They said that the decision was "not an easy one to make" and that the market has evolved. While other platforms will suffer, there is some respite for BB10 users as their devices are capable of running Android apps within the OS. They will, of course, lose out on Hub integration, but if they really want WhatsApp, that might be the only way.

"While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don't offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app's features in the future.", say WhatsApp. Finally, they add that, "This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp. If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone before the end of 2016 to continue using WhatsApp."

Switching to another platform might be a hard pill to swallow for lovers of BlackBerry and other mobile operating systems. But they will not be left with any other option.
About The Classical Reviewer

The Classical Reviewer has been involved in music for many years, as a classical record distributor, as a newspaper concert reviewer and writer of articles relating to music as well as reviewing for Harpsichord and Fortepiano magazine.



He assisted in the cataloguing of the scores of the late British composer George Lloyd and has co-authored a memoir of his friendship with the composer.



Having a particular interest in British music, he regularly undertakes talks on Elgar.






Iraqi and international officials said Thursday that radioactive material was stolen from a contractor working for an oil services company in Basra Province back in November.

The missing material was reported to the International Atomic Energy Agency in November, but the investigation continues into its whereabouts.

How does it go missing?





Yes, it's finally been found.









Officials in Iraq have confirmed that missing radioactive material was found intact near a Zubayr gas station. In November, 2015, the material was reported stolen from a secured bunker near Basra Province. The theft was specifically disturbing, as officials were concerned it was stolen by a terrorist organization.









"El-Humdelilah." That's what Iraq's deputy health minister, Dr. Jassim al-Falahi, told CNN on Sunday: "Thank God." Al-Falahi's sigh of relief was over the discovery of some potentially deadly radioactive material that had been missing for months. "We found the missing radioactive material inside its case with no damages," he said.



We share the relief.

But we also wonder how it happened?

How it was allowed to be missing for months?

Repeatedly, US President Barack Obama insists we in the US are at risk from the Islamic State.

We must bomb Iraq, Syria and Libya as a result.

But when radioactive material went missing -- back in November -- in Iraq and was assumed to have fallen into the 'wrong hands,' there was no effort made to discover where it was.



Sounds like, yet again, Barack Obama has failed on national security.

Fighting erupted in the ISIS-stronghold of Fallujah on Friday after the extremist militants attacked a local woman for not covering her hands, according to Iraqi officials.

"The clashes started when tens of Fallujah men stood against ISIS militants who started to beat a woman in a Fallujah market because she was not wearing gloves," said Sabah Karhoot, the chairman of the governing council of Anbar province where the city is located. "Therefore, the men could not stand and do nothing."

















Monday, February 22, 2016. Chaos and violence continue, Haider fails Anbar yet again, Mosul's liberation is talked about (if still not executed), WikiLeaks exposed Barack Obama's spying on other leaders, and much more.Today, WikiLeaks announced When Bully Boy Bush was tapping the United Nations ahead of the start of the Iraq War, there was outrage. There's not even a mild rebuke of US President Barack Obama over this.All this illegal spying is not about keeping anyone safe.In fact, Barack's got a real problem keeping people safe.Early Monday morning, THIRD posted " Another national security failure :"According to Barack, the Islamic State is a threat to the United States.But radioactive material disappears in November and Barack doesn't launch into a serious effort to find it?Was he waiting to see if they used it for a bomb to attack the US on US soil?Was he waiting to see if they used it to attack a base in Iraq with US trainers?What exactly was he waiting for as, for four months, he assumed the Islamic State had radioactive material?Not a lot of thought comes out of the White House.Which explains why, for 16 months, the US has bombed Iraq to bring 'peace.' The US Defense Dept claims the following today:All of these daily bombings and nothing to show for it.Mosul, for example, still remains under the control of the Islamic State.The terrorist group seized the city in June of 2014.Lacking a functioning government, Iraq's just let it remain under the control of the Islamic State all this time.Yesterday, Brett McGurk announced on Twitter:They're going to start preparing for a Mosul offensive?So the thought of three years under the control of the Islamic State is what frightens them, finally forces them to act?Or at least to say they're about to act.Finally.And after a Sunni politician takes to Facebook. SPUTNIK reports , "The Mosul-born politician pointed out that "the IS has executed nearly 4,000 people in Mosul. The city's residents are in urgent need of being liberated," Usama Nujayfi said in a statement posted on his official Facebook page on Sunday."4,000 citizens slaughtered while the government of Iraq looked on and took no action. Saturday's snapshot noted Iraq's Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi addressed Parliament and we mainly focused on the big news that he told Parliament the Shi'ite militias would be taking part in the liberation of Mosul. We touched on that briefly last night This address apparently remains uncovered by most of the western press (see this morning's entry ).But it did take place. Here's Haider's Tweet on it.It took place and the big news was that the Popular Mobilization Forces (Shi'ite militias) would be taking place in the talked of 'liberation.'That was the big news out of the address.It's a controversial move -- opposed by those in Mosul -- and it goes against what Haider had previously promised in public.Meanwhile, AFP reports , "Iraq deployed reinforcements to a military base in Anbar on Monday for an impending operation against the Islamic State group in the western province, a senior officer said."From Saturday's snapshot So it's good that Haider's sent in forces, right?Well it would be if he could have done so in a timely manner.Falluja was attempting to liberate itself at the end of last week.Because Haider al-Abadi's cowardly government would not provide assistance, that effort appears to have been ended.That's what both THE WALL STREET JOURNAL and AFP are reporting.So, as usual, Haider dithered and Iraq's hopes fell apart.
Volleyball results from Thursday

Friday, Oct. 7, 2022, 8:34 a.m. -- LAPEER COUNTY -- The Almont varsity volleyball team beat Madison Heights Lamphere and New Lothrop in a triple header at Almont Thursday. Dryden beat Bay City All Saints...

Golf and tennis regional results

Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, 5:41 p.m. -- LAPEER COUNTY -- Boys' high school tennis regionals and girls' golf regionals took place yesterday. Lapeer girls' golf placed 11th at the Div. 1 regional hosted by Oxford...

Friday night football scores

Friday, September 30, 2022 10:15 p.m.  LAPEER COUNTY  Lapeer beat Grand Blanc 39-17 at Lapeer to remain undefeated at 6-0. Almont upset Croswell-Lexington 37-26 North Branch routed Richmond 62-10 Imlay City/Dryden fell to Yale...

Summer sports camps/clinics

Wednesday, June 15, 2022, 4:40 p.m. -- LAPEER COUNTY -- Below is a list of the summer sports camps and clinics that will take place through early Aug. The regular sports update posting of high...
 Tree Fitzpatrick and The Culture of Love blog, from year 2006 to current date. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this sites author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Tree Fitzpatrick and "The Culture of Love" with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Saudi-led coalition air strikes kill 40 in Sanaa

Reuters, Cairo :

Air strikes by an Arab coalition fighting Iranian-allied Houthi forces in Yemen hit a market northeast of the capital Sanaa on Saturday, killing 40 people, residents said.

The strikes at Nehm district in Sanaa province also wounded 30, they said, adding that most of the casualties were civilians.

The Saudi-led alliance is fighting the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in a bid to restore the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

The United Nations says nearly 6,000 people have been killed in the fighting, which began after the Houthis advanced on the southern port city of Aden, where Hadi had been based. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced.

Saudi Arabia sees the Houthis as a proxy for Iran, its main regional adversary. The Houthis and Saleh accuse the coalition of launching a war of aggression.
3 killed in Munshiganj car crash

Three people were killed and two others injured as a car crashed into a tree on the Dhaka-Chittagong Highway in Doribausia area of Gazaria upazila on Sunday morning. Sub-inspector of Gazaria Police station Nasir said a Comilla-bound private car carrying five people rammed into a roadside tree as the driver of the vehicle lost control over the steering around 11am. Three riders of the car-- Kajol Rani Das,18, Ratan Chandra Das, 30, and the driver, aged around 25, died on the spot and two other riders were injured. The injured were sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital. All but the driver were identified to be of the same family. --Munshiganj, Feb 28 (UNB)
Egypt migrant departures stir new concern in Europe

Stranded refugees and migrants protest in front of the wire fence that separates the Greek side from the Macedonian one at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni on Saturday.

Reuters, Brussels :

The European Union fears Mediterranean migrant smuggling gangs are reviving a route from Egypt, officials told Reuters, putting thousands of people to sea in recent months as they face problems in Libya and Turkey.

"It's an increasing issue," an EU official said of increased activity after a quiet year among smugglers around Alexandria that has raised particular concerns in Europe about Islamist militants from Sinai using the route to reach Greece or Italy.

Departures from Egypt were a tiny part of the million people who arrived in Europe by sea last year; more than 80 percent came from Turkey to Greece and most others from Libya to Italy. Detailed figures on Egypt are not available.

But as security in anarchic Libya has worsened, EU officials say, more smugglers are choosing to bring African and Middle East refugees and migrants to the Egyptian coast.

Voyages from Egypt are long, but smugglers mainly count on people being rescued once in international shipping lanes.

Brussels, engaged in delicate bargaining with Turkey to try and stem the flow of migrants from there, is concerned that the Egyptian authorities are not stopping smugglers. But it is reluctant to use aid and trade ties to pressure Cairo to do more when Egypt remains an ally in an increasingly troubled region. "Our major concern is that among smugglers and migrants there may also be militants from the Sinai, affiliated to al Qaeda or Islamic State," a second EU official said.

"Controls in Egypt are strict, which limit the activities of smugglers ... But sometimes we suspect that they turn a blind eye to let migrants go somewhere else."An Egyptian security official told Reuters that Cairo had more pressing concerns, limiting resources to control migrants.

"Human smuggling is on the rise in Egypt," he said. "The authorities are too busy with other issues to deal with this."

A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini declined comment.

Meanwhile, Macedonia reopened its border to Iraqi and Syrian asylum-seekers on Saturday, hours after migrants protested peacefully on the Greek side of the border, demanding admission into Macedonia

Haider Sahd, a U.N. field officer in Macedonian town of Gevgelija, confirmed the border opening to the Associated Press. According to Greek police, Macedonia will admit 300 migrants Saturday.
DIS holds inter-branch ICT Olympiad

Md. Sabur Khan, Chairman of Daffodil International School and Daffodil Group inaugurates the \'DIS Inter Branch ICT Olympiad-2016\' at DIU Auditorium in the capital on Sunday.

Campus Report :

'Get Enlightened with ICT' - with this inspiring motto, Daffodil International School (DIS) ICT Club hosted a day-long grand event entitled 'DIS Inter Branch ICT Olympiad-2016' on Sunday at DIU Auditorium in the capital. Md. Sabur Khan, Chairman, Daffodil International School and Daffodil Group graced the occasion as chief guest while Prof Dr Yousuf Mahbubul Islam, Vice Chancellor of Daffodil International University (DIU) attended as guest of honor.

Munir Hasan, General Secretary of Bangladesh Open Source Network (BDOSN) and Prof Syed Akhter Hossain, Head, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, DIU attended as special guest. Shahana Khan, Principal of DIS welcomed all the guests.

Around two hundred students from Dhanmondi, Uttara, Sobhanbag and Chandpur branches of DIS took part to compete in different contest like ICT Quiz, Programming, Logo Programming, Web Design and Motto writing. The Olympiad started with an opening ceremony by distinguished guests' inspirational speeches and cutting memento cake.

Chief guest Md. Sabur Khan appreciated both students and organizers for arranging ICT focused Olympiad in Inter branch arena and motivated them to host national and international standard ICT Olympiad in near future. Besides he shared his experiences how ICT is leading the world and its value for daily life. BDOSN General Secretary Munir Hasan shared few of his thoughts on technology that undoubtedly acted as flicker of motivation in young minds of DIS.

DIU VC Prof Dr Yousuf Mahbubul Islam presented extraordinary examples of ICT for better life in his speech at the closing ceremony. Prof Syed Akhter Hossain, Head, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, DIU expressed his wish that students of DIS would shine in the world of technology with self-enthusiasm.

The daylong Olympiad ended with a closing ceremony by handing over prizes and certificates among all the winners and participants of the competitions. A short cultural program was presented by DIS students that came up with a round of applause.


Energy sector coop with BD focal point

UNB, Dhaka :The Russian Federation has described Bangladesh as a very 'promising' country and identified its energy sector as the 'focal point' of bilateral cooperation between the two countries."We believe that Bangladesh will be able to achieve its ambitious development goals and Russia remains Bangladesh's friend and partner (in its development drive)," said Russian Ambassador in Dhaka Alexander A Nikolaev. The Russian diplomat was addressing a media interaction - DCAB Talk - at the Jatiya Press Club. Diplomatic Correspondents Association, Bangladesh (DCAB) arranged the interaction with its president Angur Nahar Monty in the chair. DCAB general secretary Pantho Rahman also spoke.Nikolaev, who leaves Dhaka on March 10 completing his four-year diplomatic assignment here, also said a strong energy sector is a major precondition to overall development of any modern state and Bangladesh is doing its best to achieve universal electrification by the year 2021.Terming the Russia's relations with the current government 'excellent', the Russian Ambassador said this is 'guaranteed' that the ties will be continued under any 'potential government' in the coming 20, 30 or 100 years.He reassured that the Rooppur nuclear power plant (NPP) will be 100 percent safe and suggested the journalists to ask about the safety issue to technologically sound and educated persons to get 100 percent clear and understandable answers."I'm very satisfied that the NPP project is supported not only by the Awami League government but also the representatives of the BNP," Nikolaev said referring to his discussion with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and other leaders in the past. Expressing satisfaction over what has been achieved in the last four years, the envoy said the next Russian envoy to Bangladesh might face a 'big challenge' in taking forward the achievements but hoped that he will surely succeed. Responding to a question on Bangladesh's participation in the Saudi-led alliance (govt described it as center) to combat terrorism, the Russian Ambassador said it initially had astonished Russia.
Submission of charge sheet on April 7

Court Correspondent :

A Dhaka court on Sunday fixed April 7 for submission of the charge sheet in the case filed in connection with the murder of journalist couple Sagor Sarwar and Meherun Runi.

Metropolitan Magistrate Yunus Khan of the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (CMM) Court of Dhaka fixed the new date as the

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) missed the deadline of February 28.

Sagor, news editor of the Maasranga Television, and Runi, a senior reporter of the ATN Bangla, were killed at their West Razabazar house in the capital on February 11, 2012.

The following day, Runi's brother Nawasher Alam Roman filed the murder case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station of the city.

At first, a Sub-Inspector of the police station was made the Investigation Officer of the case, and four days after, the responsibility of investigation was given to the Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police. And then, following a direction of the High Court the responsibility of investigation was given to the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on April 18, 2012.


Readers Forum

Killing in wrong side driving is intentional 'murder' :

My point is very simple - when I am on the right side of maintaining law but mistakenly hit someone with my car and killed someone, that is an accident and in the eyes of law it is pardonable. But when I am breaking a law and hit someone to death, it is an outright murder, because I have done it knowingly and consciously, in other words, intentionally.

On Monday last (22nd Feb 2016) the killing of Riazuddin Topu by police vehicle is nothing but murder, because even being people of law enforcing body the police vehicle was on the wrong side and hit Topu.

I have written this issue of wrong side driving and killing many times in different dailies, and even requested the Honourable High Court to declare killing from wrong side driving as 'murder'. But so far I haven't seen any reflection of my concern and appeal.

My concern for wrong side driving started more than 3 years ago when my car was about to be hit by a Dhaka University double-decker bus. I narrowly escaped the accident and immediately approached DC-Traffic (West) (I live in Shyamoli). The senior police officer told me that he along with whole traffic department is helpless to the students of Dhaka University and Jagannath University! What a surprise in an independent State! The students simply don't care and the traffic police are afraid of the students! So you find every day the double-deckers carrying the students of Dhaka University and Jagannath University are plying on the wrong side shouting and waving at the on-coming vehicles plying on the right side.

This struck me with the thought whether the State is powerful or the students of Dhaka University and Jagannath University together. And since then wrong side driving became an issue of constant concern for me. I wrote to the top officials of police departments (including IGP), VCs of Dhaka and Jagannath Universities, home ministry, newspapers and even to the Prime Minister. Nothing happened. I wrote so many letters to editors imploring that wrong side driving should be stopped. I also saw a popular English daily ran a number of issues on wrong side driving. But nothing happened. In last 3 years time since my concern for such law breaking act started to grow a number of people were killed from wrong side driving. And on last Monday 22nd Feb 2016 a police vehicle itself killed a student who had bright future with his wife and minor child.

Now I would say, "Enough is enough". Once again I would request the Honourable High Court to declare under Suo Motu that killing from wrong side driving should be treated as 'murder' and the killer should be treated under existing law that deals with murder, i.e. intentional killing.

As an exemplary punishment the recent killing of Topu should be dealt under criminal act of murder and the court should pass judgment accordingly.

Shazzad Khan

Dhaka
Guns fell silent in Syria but big power game is to be ended

FIGHTING subsided across much of Syria yesterday as the first major ceasefire of the five-year war took hold and an international task force prepared to begin monitoring the landmark truce. Guns fell silent at midnight in suburbs around the capital and the bomb-scarred northern city of Aleppo, AFP Correspondents said, after a day of intense Russian air strikes on rebel bastions.The nationwide cessation of hostilities, brokered by Washington and Moscow, is seen as a crucial but fragile step towards ending a war that has claimed 270,000 lives and displaced more than half the population. It faces formidable challenges including the exclusion of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group and al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate Al-Nusra Front which control large parts of the country. Peace talks would resume on March 7 if the truce holds and more aid is delivered  a key sticking point in negotiations. The special task force was due to meet in Geneva yesterday at 1400 GMT to oversee developments.Its co-chairs Moscow and Washington have set up rival offices to monitor the truce along with a UN Operations Centre and would be first to deal with any infractions. Moscow has vowed to keep striking IS, Al-Nusra and other "terrorist groups", but said its warplanes would not fly any sorties over Syria on the first day of the ceasefire to avoid potential "mistakes". Calm held throughout the night in Aleppo, Syria's second city which has been almost encircled by pro-regime troops after a massive Russian-backed offensive that has caused tens of thousands to flee.While the major opposition groups in Syria - the HNC have chosen to respect the truce for two weeks ISIS and Nusra have not. A truce lasting for two weeks and dependent on aid and goodwill from the pro and anti-government forces will not last or make any major headway in combating the major problem which beleaguered Syria has to face  the final resolution of the problem of Syrian governance.It is wishful thinking to think that the tyrannical government of Assad will magically give up power and surrender to the anti-government forces in a massive support for democracy. This is unlikely to ever happen due to the backing of Russia and Iran. Similarly the anti-government forces, supported by the West, Turkey and the Gulf states, will also never back down as long as they are supplied with money, arms and ammunition. In other words, this truce will be yet another temporary ebb in the long drawn out war, which has engulfed Syria. As long as the forces which fight bearing different political ideologies, and are even fractured on religious lines (Shia-Sunni) the fighting will continue  leading into an ever large exodus of the Syrian people  over 11 million at last count, displaced internally or internationally. It is not a good time to be a Syrian.The peace in Syria does not depend on the people of Syria. As if the country does not belong to the people but Russia and its puppet President Bashar al-Assad matter more than the Syrian people. The power game of Russia has to be ended internationally through UN. Effective involvement of USA has become essential to face direct involvement of Russia in Syrian politics.
Committee size likely to be small: Lobbying for posts

Ehsanul Haque Jasim :

BNP Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir may get the full charge of Secretary General through the upcoming sixth national council of the party slated for March 19.

At the same time, the names of BNP's senior leaders Tariqul Islam, Goyeshwar Chandra Roy, Abdullah Al Noman, Hafizuddin Ahmed and Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed are also being discussed for the post.

Meanwhile, the BNP leaders of different levels have started lobbying for the other coveted posts in the party's Central and Standing Committees and Advisory Council ahead of the national council.

The aspirant leaders and their supporters have started gathering at party's Nayapaltan central office and

Chairperson's Gulshan office to draw the attention of influential senior leaders.

Party sources said that many leaders, who had been inactive for long, have also become active ahead of the Council Session slated for March 19. Many of the current central leaders are lobbying hard for the positions of Secretary General, Senior Joint Secretary General, Joint Secretary General, organising secretary and other coveted posts. However, position in the national standing committee, the party's highest policy-making body, is the final target of the party's senior leaders, the sources said.

The BNP has taken the situation positively. It hopes that the party would be able to make a turnaround by holding the forthcoming sixth national council.

Mirza Fakhrul said that many leaders and activists are now gathering at Nayapaltan and Chairperson's offices with a fresh zeal ahead of the Council. It proves that the party leaders and activists are eagerly waiting for the Council, he added.

BNP standing committee member Lt Gen (retd) Mahbubur Rahman admitted that many leaders phoned him seeking blessing. He said that he told them that the qualified, the dedicated and the committed party men would be in the leadership.

Sources said that the current 386-member National Executive Committee might be small. Many former student leaders are trying to persuade the party high command to take them in the Executive Committee.

Some new faces might be added in National Standing Committee. Three posts in the 19-member standing committee are now vacant following the death of three standing committee members, while three to four members are now suffering from chronic illness.

The BNP is moving fast towards the Council. The party has prepared the list of councillors, said party joint-secretary general Ruhul Kabir Rizvi Ahmed.

Party insiders said that BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia, in a bid to avoid internal conflicts, is now monitoring efforts to revamp the party and its preparation for the National Council.


1209 school managing bodies may be dissolved

M M Jasim :The Education Ministry is going to dismiss the managing committees of 1209 schools on account of their refusal to execute the direction of the ministry to return the extra fees which was taken from the students violating the rules. On February 25, the ministry also served notice on the schools as to why stern action, including dismissal of the managing committees, would not be taken. The ministry asked the school authorities to submit their explanation within 30 days. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said this in a press briefing held in the ministry's Conference Hall on Sunday. "The Education Ministry has served show-cause notices on 1,209 educational institutions, including many top ranking ones, for not responding to the ministry about the allegation of taking extra admission fees," he said. "It does not matter which institutions are powerful and which are not. All are the same to us. Therefore, same law will be applicable for all," Nahid said.If they do not respond to the show-cause notices or the ministry finds their answer unsatisfactory, the government will act as per the High Court order in this regard, the minister warned.A report prepared by education boards, Directorate of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE) and other government agencies was submitted with a list of institutions who took extra fees, who returned and who did not take it, he said.Around 3,038 institutions all over the country took extra fees, of which 830 have returned the money, Nahid said.A total of 999 institutions did not take any extra fees, the minister said. The government is investigating these claims, he said.Meanwhile, the officials of the ministry said, some powerful institutions think,it is not mandatory to follow the ministry's rules as some influential persons are behind the schools. But when the ministry took hard line, they are lobbying with the high-ups of the government.Some officials also said that it would be very difficult for the ministry to take stern action against the faulty schools because most of the schools are running with the backing of the pro-Awami League leaders. On the other hand, when asked about the schools who returned extra fees, the minister was reluctant to say anything. Nahid on February 3 issued a seven-day deadline to the private schools and colleges to refund the extra fees collected from students and asked all the boards to make lists of institutions failing to comply with.
The Diary Review is now over 10 years old. One of my main objectives for the website has been, and remains, to celebrate the incredible wealth of freely available diary texts online - to provide links to this material. However, many of the links in older articles have become outdated, and for this reason I am endeavouring to re-examine each article on or around its tenth anniversary. Occasionally, I am re-publishing these articles in the present with a new intro and date (in which case the article carries a note to this effect). Mostly, however, I am simply replacing outdated links where I can. If I cant find an original source any longer, I am removing the links. Thus, some of these older articles are now less hyperlinked than they once were. They remain, though, as an archive of where the information was originally found.
Looking for the vulture assist with Neolithic burials

2 years ago
The Gay Courier has been established to provide news, information and info on, from and about the gay community, and other social events and happenings from around the world, from all sorts of sources, to all who are interested in this news, information and info! The postings are as is, and all copyrights and or ownerships are and remain with the original copyright-holder and or owner!
If you are looking for the new Immoral Minority posts, you should know that they can be found here at our new home Please stop by to get caught up on politics, join the conversations, or simply check out the new digs.
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.
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Texas law regarding service dogs

 Requires public facilities and common transportation carriers to admit a person with a disability accompanied by a service dog for assistance and also to admit a trainer of service dogs accompanied by a dog for training purposes.

Requires evacuation, transport and temporary shelter of service animals in a disaster.

 Provides a criminal penalty for those who deny access to people with disabilities because of an assistance animal. Offenses are punishable by fines of not more than $300 and 30 hours of community service.

 Provides full and equal access to housing accommodations for people with disabilities with assistance animals.

 Provides that people with disabilities may not be charged extra compensation for assistance animals, however, any damages caused by an assistance animal are the responsibility of the person with a disability using the animal.

 State employees may obtain up to ten days of paid leave to attend a training program to familiarize themselves with an assistance dog.

 Provides protection if an assistance animal is attacked, injured or killed by an individual or an individuals animal.

 Provides that people with disabilities may not be required to show proof of certification for their service animal. Public establishments may only ask if the service animal is required because the person has a disability and what type of work the service animal is trained to perform.

 gov.texas.gov/disabilities/resources/assistance_animals
KSN&C is intended to be a place for well-reasoned civil discourse...not to suggest that we dont appreciate the witty retort or pithy observation. Have at it. But we do not invite the anonymous flaming too often found in social media these days. This is a destination for folks to state your name and speak your piece.

It is important to note that, while the Moderator serves as Faculty Regent for Eastern Kentucky University, all comments offered by the Moderator on KSN&C are his own opinions and do not necessarily represent the views of the Board of Regents, the university administration, faculty, or any members of the university community.

On KSN&C, all authors are responsible for their own comments. See full disclaimer at the bottom of the page.
Parece que todos los dias la tecnologia se hace cargo de otro trabajo, y estas ocupaciones obsoletas no son una excepcion. Y es que los tiempos cambian, y debido a
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.
Art is meant to be shared with the community. The School of Art and Design at Southern Illinois University Carbondale is celebrating its public mission this spring and summer with special recognition and programs.

The school is currently promoting the 24th year of its study abroad program, Scotland: art and culture in the Scottish landscape. This interdisciplinary program in Scotland is open to all SIU students and community members. Numerous students and alumni who have had this study abroad experience report it as very influential to their work and to the way they view the world around them. Interested community members are encouraged to contact the Center for International Education at 618-453-7670 or studyabr@siu.edu for more information.

Four graduate students in the schools nationally-ranked graduate program, Lijun Chao, Joshua Hale, Kendra Stenger and Kerra Taylor from within the 2D Studio Program, recently had their paintings accepted into a long-term art exhibition at the Illinois Board of Higher Education Headquarters in Springfield from December 2015 through November 2016. This exhibition was open to all higher education students in Illinois and submission was competitive. Two of those students also had work accepted into the National Wet Paint MFA Biennial Exhibition in Chicago: Joshua Hale and Kendra Stenger.

Coming up soon, on March 5, the School of Art and Design will be hosting an iron pour at the Foundry, located at 1560 W. Pleasant Hill Road in Carbondale, to which the public is invited. According to the school director, Marie Bukowski, an iron pour is marvelous to witnessa seamless choreographed ensemble in action. But the pour is also a traditional tutorial in sculptural processes, linking students to their own artistic visions. Each artist is assigned a job to make the pour go smoothly, whether it is charging the furnace, cleaning the airways, catching molten iron, or pouring it into molds. It is an interactive, labor intensive and, some would say, beautiful process.

The School of Art and Design will be featured in several events coming to SIU this spring. Creativity Week will take place on campus from April 4 through April 8 and the school will figure prominently. Toward the end of that week, on April 8 and 9, the program will be hosting its annual Design Days. This is a free event that brings professional designers to campus to interact with students to discuss real-world experiences in the industry and foster an exchange of ideas.

Also on April 8, the art education program at SIU will be hosting the Southern Illinois Art Education Conference. This conference provides art teachers in the region with professional development opportunities. Teachers will be provided spaces to learn new and innovative ideas, as well as share their own experiences. Area artists and art educators welcome. To participate, you can register by phone, 618-536-7751, or online at conferenceservices.siu.edu. The School of Art and Design looks forward to community members participating in its various events.
ELLOREEChris Antley, the winning jockey who competed on horse racings biggest stages, will be remembered by his hometown of Elloree with a memorial sign dedication ceremony the week of the 54th running of the Elloree Trials.

The dedication will be held at the entrance of the Elloree Training Center at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 13. Members of the Elloree Trials Committee, along with others from the community, will be on hand to honor Antley.

It was at the Elloree Training Center where Antley, as a teen, first showed an interest in working around horses and then began exploring a career as a jockey.

Antley left Elloree when he was 17 in search of more challenging races. He went on to achieve two Kentucky Derby wins and break several major jockey records.

Frankllin Goree Smith, owner of Elloree Training Center, said Antley is deserving of the March 13 recognition.

Theres no doubt about that. When he was at the top of his game, he was as good of a jockey as anyone else in the nation as far as his racing wins. He was just the ultimate jockey and athlete, Smith said.

Antley, who died of a drug overdose in 2000, was posthumously inducted by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York, in 2015.

Thats really the ultimate honor in the racing category as far as the sport goes, Smith said. Its really quite an honor, and he was certainly deserving of it. He was some athlete.

Chuck Field, a member of the Elloree Trials Committee, agreed, saying, That was quite an accomplishment for someone from Elloree. He had won two Kentucky Derbies and also a Preakness and close to 4,000 racing victories. That is very notable.

Antley became the first jockey to win nine races  four at Aqueduct, five at the Meadowlands  on nine different horses in a single day in 1987. That one-day feat still stands in the Guinness Book of World Records.

He won at least one race a day for 64 consecutive days in 1989.

Antley moved to California in 1990. After his career was interrupted by battles with keeping under weight limits (set for jockeys) and dealing with alcohol and drug addiction, Antley came back to win his first Kentucky Derby aboard Strike the Gold in 1991. Then in 1999, he returned to ride Charismatic to victory in that years Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. Charismatic finished third in the 1999 Belmont Stakes after injuring his leg in the stretch run.

Smith said he knew early on that Antley had a special talent.

He just had raw talent. You just know. You see it developing and just hope that everything will take care of itself and get him there  get there and just do it, and he did just that, he said. Were proud of that. Hes something else. A good kid.

In a career that spanned from 1983 until his death at age 34, Antley won 3,480 races with documented purse earnings of $92,261,894. He won 127 graded stake races and 293 overall stakes. The Elloree native led North American riders with 469 wins in 1985 and ranked in the top 10 nationally in wins each year from 1984 through 1987.

We dont want to forget that, Field said. Its quite an accomplishment for someone from a small little community.

Smith said the town of Elloree will celebrate the 54th running of the Elloree Trials on Saturday, March 19. The 11-race event features the best young thoroughbreds and quarter horses in the Southeast.

Were just proud its been around awhile and that people enjoy it. Its a good springtime event, Smith said.

For more information about the March 13 memorial sign dedication or the Elloree Trials, call Debbie or Anne at the Elloree Training Center at 803-897-2616.
In 1897, Elizabeth Evelyn Wright ventured into the town of Denmark seeking support for her dream of starting a school for the poor black children who were in dire need of education. Wright, a graduate of Tuskegee in 1894, was a protege of the nationally known Booker T. Washington.

On March 21, 1897, Wright spoke at Rome Baptist Church at the request of Rev. R.D. Rice, who supported her dreams. Other blacks recommended Wright talk to Sen. Stanwix Mayfield because they thought he might be sympathetic to her plan. The next day, Wright walked eight miles from Govan to Denmark to meet with the senator. At the conclusion of their meeting, Mayfield said, You bring me a recommendation from Booker T. Washington, and I will see what can be done to help you.

In early April, 1897, Wright met Mrs. Sontag, a German immigrant who was the owner of a general store in the Sato section of Denmark. As she did with others, Wright promoted her plan. Sontag, being compassionate, told her, You can use the second floor of the store to start your school. Wright was overjoyed and accepted the offer.

On April 14, 1897, Elizabeth Evelyn Wright opened her first school with 14 students and named it the Denmark Industrial School.

The school continued in Sontags store until Sept. 6, 1897 when Sen. Mayfield sold Wright a 20-acre tract of land with three buildings, including a two-story dwelling, a three-room shanty, which was turned into a school house and another four-room shanty. The property was located on Frederick Street and the corner of Railroad Avenue, behind Rome Baptist Church.

The third location of Wrights school was purchased from Dr. S.D.M. Guess on Oct. 12, 1901. Wright paid $4,500 for the 280-acre site, with the generous Ralph and Elizabeth Voorhees of New Jersey providing the funding.

On May 14, 1902, the schools name was changed from the Denmark Industrial School to the Voorhees Industrial School in honor of the Voorhees family. Voorhees College sits on that land today.

Over the years, the two-story wooden structure has served as a general store, a family home and an apartment building. Records show the building is more than 130 years old.

The former Denmark Industrial School building still stands, today on Church Street in Denmarks Sato community, embodying the memories of the vision of Elizabeth Evelyn Wright.
WASHINGTON  Is Hillary Clinton ready to rumble against Donald Trump? The nation and the world had better hope so.

The question is premature but not unreasonably so. Perhaps Bernie Sanders will stun Clinton in a couple of delegate-rich Super Tuesday states. Maybe Trumps main challengers, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, will start training heavy fire on the guy whos running away with the Republican nomination.

Such things are possible but do not seem very likely. The Democratic Partys process of selecting convention delegates is less democratic than the GOPs; elected officials who serve as superdelegates  and who constitute the party establishment  give Clinton a substantial built-in advantage. Sanders big victory in New Hampshire, sandwiched between defeats in Iowa and Nevada, hasnt been enough to start any kind of Obama-style stampede.

If Clinton does as well as pollsters expect in the next few primaries, the Democratic race could effectively be over by mid-March. Her challenge then would be to figure out why turnout in her partys primaries has been relatively anemic  and fix the problem.

Scaring Democrats and independents to the polls should be easy if Republicans continue on their present course, which is toward some unexplored realm that ancient mapmakers would have labeled Here Be Monsters.

Trumps win in the Nevada caucuses was dominating: He finished with 46 percent, tallying more votes than Rubio and Cruz combined. Rubio and his supporters were left trying to spin a second-place finish, with just 24 percent, into some kind of moral victory. His argument that more than half of GOP voters favored someone other than Trump does not even rise to the level of sophistry, given that more than three-quarters of voters favored someone other than Rubio.

As for Cruz, there wasnt much he could say at all, except perhaps a quiet prayer that what happened in Vegas would stay in Vegas. Entrance polling showed that Trump beat Cruz among evangelical Christian voters and self-identified conservatives. If Cruz cannot win these segments of the base, what exactly is the point of his campaign?

Perhaps the most ominous sign for those who oppose Trump is that Rubio and Cruz are spending most of their time and money attacking each other rather than aiming at the front-runner.

Rubio believes that if he can make the race a one-on-one contest against Trump, he can win. Cruz has the same strategy. But this logic is flawed. Polls show that Trump is the second choice of substantial numbers of Cruz and Rubio voters. If one of them drops out, the other will get a boost  but so will Trump.

Cruz might win his home state of Texas on Tuesday. Rubio and John Kasich might win their home states  Florida and Ohio, respectively  two weeks later. But Trump seems poised to roll up delegates almost everywhere else and amass what could be an insurmountable lead.

The Republican Party doesnt have superdelegates; officials play no special role. It is pointless to call for some kind of Trump-blocking backroom deal that nobody has the power to make. And deus ex machina is a plot device in bad novels, not a viable strategy. If Republican primary voters want Trump, they will have him.

So a Clinton-Trump matchup is not only thinkable at this point. It looks  and I cant believe Im writing this  almost probable. See? Im guilty of what I warn against. I wrote almost because it is so hard to view this campaign as it is, rather than as I might think it should be.

Clinton would be seen, at least initially, as the prohibitive favorite. But she had better not bring a knife to a gunfight. The biggest challenge for her campaign, which is nothing if not professional and by-the-book, would be to recognize what Rubio, Cruz, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and the rest of the Republicans failed to see: To beat Trump you have to go after him just as viciously  and cleverly  as he goes after you.

Refusing to descend to his level is a grave mistake. You have to get down and dirty, get under his skin, call him names. You have to worry less about running a campaign the nation can be proud of and more about running a campaign that wins, even if it wins ugly.

Desperate times require desperate measures.
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If you ever wondered what it's really like to live in Italy this blog is for you.
A campaign on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide within the "Justice for Khojaly" International Awareness Campaign was held in Toronto, Canada.





According to Azerbaijan`s embassy to Canada, the event organized outside the Ontario Parliament was attended by the Azerbaijanis living and studying in Toronto and Waterloo.





With Azerbaijani and Turkish flags in their hands, the rally attendees demanded an end to the occupation policy carried out by Armenia, and urged Canada`s local and federal MPs to recognize the Khojaly massacre.

/By Azertac/
An academic debate took place at Humboldt University in Berlin on the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The event commemorated the victims of the Khojaly Massacre in 1992.





Speaking before the audience of 200 attendees, including politicians, VIPs and press representatives director of the European Azerbaijan Society (TEAS) in Germany Shahin Namati-Nasab explained: TEAS is proud to organize this debate within the Justice for Khojaly campaign, which is an international awareness campaign initiated by vice-president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva.





The Justice for Khojaly international awareness campaign was launched on 8 May 2008. The campaign`s rapid development is a measure of international support for the restoration of justice in the region.





This support has been expressed at events in over 100 countries in Europe, America, Asia and Africa, and has come from individuals and international organizations, as well as states. This year, TEAS is organizing events within the Justice for Khojaly campaign in Strasbourg, Stockholm, Vilnius, Athen, London, Brussels, Paris, Istanbul and Florence.





Mr Namati-Nasab continued: It is an immense pleasure to welcome the audience, including H.E. Parviz Shahbazov, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Germany; Bundestag members, especially Mr. Florian Hahn MP and of course, the main speaker tonight  Professor Johannes Rau  who is an expert on the complex situation in the post-Soviet Caucasus region, and particularly Azerbaijan`s Nagorno-Karabakh region and the seven surrounding districts, which remain under Armenian occupation. Today, we commemorate the 24th anniversary of the Khojaly Massacre and though many actions have been taken, the international community continues to ignore the ongoing Armenian occupation of Azerbaijani territories and the plight of the nearly one million Azerbaijani refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs).





Afterwards Ambassador Parviz Shahbazov explained the significance of the genocide and the ongoing occupation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and seven surrounding districts. The situation keeps hardly endurable but does not prevent Azerbaijan to be a stable and economic successful partner for Germany and Europe. Azerbaijan wants to take a positive character in the settlement of the conflict, although Armenia has to take over its responsibility and withdraw from Azerbaijan territory.





Mr. Hahn MP took up the relevance of Azerbaijan for Germany in his greeting and stated, Germany has to play a constructive part in the settlement  especially within the scope of its OSCE-presidency.





Finally professor Rau depicted in haunting words the horror of the genocide and highlighted that not only human lives were erased, but unimaginable cruelties have been committed. Beside the high number of death, there have been plenty of human rights violations. At this point, he described the perspectives of both, the Armenian offenders and foreign eye witnesses. It would be high time, that the crimes of Nagorno-Karabakh are solved and responsibility is taken, so that the relatives of the victims could mourn in a decent way.




The JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) is crucial in itself for non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and regional security, and it should also be considered a potential starting point, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said in an exclusive interview with Trend.

She made the remarks Feb. 27 in anticipation of her visit to Baku to participate in the second Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Meeting on Feb. 29.

Iran and the P5+1 group (the US, the UK, France, China, Russia and Germany) implemented the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA aka nuclear deal) on Jan. 16, which eliminated sanctions on the country, including the restrictions over banking sector, releasing blocked assets abroad, etc.

She went on to add that the EU also re-launched its bilateral engagement with Iran.

I just received Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in Brussels a few days ago, to discuss both regional and bilateral issues, and I am planning to travel to Teheran soon, together with a number of other European commissioners, she said.

There is common willingness to have a regular political dialogue and restore close economic ties, she said.

Trade, energy, environment, migration and the rule of law are some of the issues where the EU would like to deepen its cooperation with Iran, according to Mogherini.

I am sure that such renewed engagement will not only benefit the citizens of Iran and of our European Union: the positive spill-overs can reach the entire region  starting from Iran's neighbours, of course, she said.

Mogherini further said that the last seven months indeed became a different phase for regional dynamics.

We have finally managed to bring all relevant international actors to the table, towards a negotiated solution to the conflict in Syria, Mogherini said. I don't need to explain how crucial it is to bring that war to an end  you know all too well its destabilising effect in the region and the radicalising potential of a long-lasting sectarian confrontation in the Middle East.

/By Trend/
Frank-Walter Steinmeier is set to visit New York and Washington, DC, from February 28 to March 1, Sputnik reported with the reference to the German Embassy in the United States.

"My discussions in Washington will certainly be focused on the situation in Syria shortly after the ceasefire But the refugee crisis, relations with Russia and the situation in Ukraine will also play an important role in the talks," Steinmeier was quoted in the press release as saying.

The German top diplomat is also scheduled to visit in New York, where he is going to "use the opportunity" to present the priorities of Germany's chairmanship in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) at the UN Security Council and the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, also known as the Helsinki Commission.

According to Steinmeier, the OSCE and the United Nations are such multilateral organizations that act as platforms for dialogue and tools for conflict resolution in "difficult and turbulent times."

On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the ceasefire in Syria and continued to discus the modalities of its full implementation, including the enhancement of military cooperation between Russia and the United States.

/By Trend/
These are the travels of the life Tina and Tom share. Please feel free to join us on this journey, share your thoughts and feelings ... or just view it at your leisure. Either way, it's our pleasure to share it with you.
Tourism, Travel, Hospitality, Conservation: News,Stories And Experiences From Allover The World
Sandan Development has officially launched its industrial park project in Oman at an event held under the patronage of Ali Al Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce and Industry, a report said.



The newly formed company recently announced plans to develop Oman's first integrated light industries park at an estimated cost of RO100 million ($259.7 million), added the Muscat Daily report.



A host of businessmen, entrepreneurs and government officials attended the inauguration ceremony at the Grand Hayat Muscat.



Al Sunaidy commended the efforts to develop a project for light industries, asserting that the development is a step forward in quality offerings and it will provide the market with many opportunities and huge investments, said the report.



A scale model of the Sandan Industrial Park attracted attention to the planned layout of the project, which includes segments for auto showrooms, workshops, office spaces, residential apartments and the other facilities, it added.



The project will cover more than 250,000 sq m, amd will be located 5 km away from Maabela exit on the Muscat Expressway.



Following the official launch, Sandan Development put out its available units for sale, which attracted the attention of investors, businessmen, entrepreneurs, and traders. As many as 50 auto showrooms were sold even before the launch, according to the company.
Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said it has awarded a Dh150 million ($41 million) contract for the construction of a temporary bridge to Deira Palm Islands and to open a new waterway underneath it.



Deira Islands project, which is developed by Nakheel, is the new waterfront of Dubai, comprising four man-made islands reclaimed from the Arabian Gulf across the stretch of Deira Beach spanning a 17 million sq m area.



The project, which is considered the biggest development project undertaken in Deira, encompasses the construction of hundreds of hotels, hotel apartments, multi-purpose buildings and marinas.



The area is expected to be inhabited by about 250,000 persons, and accommodate about 80,000 employees.



The Deira Palm Island Entrance Bridge Project involves the construction of a temporary entrance to Deira Islands and opening the waterway underneath the bridge to serve the Marina and the new Fish Market, stated Mattar Al Tayer, the director-general and chairman of the RTA board, after inspecting it.



Nakheel started the infrastructure and maritime works on the Islands by completing the entrance to the western bridge and linking it with Al Khaleej Road in the direction of the new marina and the fish market at the extension of Abu Baker Al Siddique Road starting from the R/A at the intersection of Al Khaleej Road.



The project also includes opening the waterway by removing about two million cubic meters of drilling materials at the three reclamation points, and constructing the side walls of the canal up to the marina of the new Fish Market, besides carrying out lighting, sewage and asphalt works, protecting and shifting the existing utility lines, and extending service lines via the bridges.



Once the project gets completed, it will have three main entrances, two at intersections with Al Khaleej Road with Abu Baker Al Siddique Road, and Al Quds Road, while the third extends from Al Mina Road parallel to Rashid Port.



On the project progress, Al Tayer said about 20 per cent of the project work has been completed with 320,000 cu m of earth materials removed from the filling areas, and the 32-m-wide temporary water canal being opened.



Construction works have exceeded 22 per cent on the bridge, and construction works in the project are expected to be completed in the last quarter of this year, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Dubai-based Aujan Coca-Cola Beverages Company (ACCBC), a leading beverage player in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena), has reaffirmed its plans to build further manufacturing facilities across the region.



In 2015, ACCBC kicked-off its pre-announced investment project in Egypt which will supply ACCBCs brands to the Egyptian market, with further expansion potential across other African markets, said a statement.



Furthermore in 2016, in line with its strategic growth plans, the company will be looking at acquisition and joint venture opportunities in the Mena region, it added.



Speaking on the side-lines of the recently held Gulfood, Tolga Sezer, chief executive officer, ACCBC, said: Despite political and economic disruption over the past few years, the regional beverage market has continued to grow, and we expect this to continue.



For the company, an increasingly youthful population across Mena, together with opportunities for new categories and fresh consumer-focused innovations, mean significant growth prospects, it said.



To fully leverage these opportunities, the company has put in place a robust, five-year growth strategy to drive profitability and retain our position as a world-class, regional beverage operator. By evolving our strategy, we are able to identify opportunities and avenues that allow us to grow without being constrained by product categories and geographies, he added.



Sezer continued: As part of our progress in delivering the strategy, we are pleased to announce plans to undertake a number of major investments over the next 18 months, each designed to enhance our capacity, geographical coverage, and brand development for the benefit of our customers and shareholders.



These additions to our portfolio will allow us to capitalise on the growth potential for the beverage industry across the Mena region, he concluded.  TradeArabia News Service
Irans export of petrochemical products is moving forward according to plans, the director of production control of Iran's National Petrochemical Company (NPC) said in a report.



The trend of petrochemical exports is satisfactory and with new petrochemical plants becoming operational, Iran will diversify its export destinations, NPCs Ali-Mohammad Bosaqzadeh was quoted as saying in an Iran Daily News report.



He added that an increasing number of countries in addition to the permanent customers of Irans petrochemical products want to buy these items.



Bosaqzadeh said that he also hoped that by the end of the Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (2016-21), Iran will turn into a major petrochemical power in the region and world.



He noted that petrochemical products which are currently being imported can be produced in Iran in the near future as planned, added the report.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir on Sunday accused Russia and the Syrian government air force of violating a cessation of hostilities in Syria and said Riyadh was discussing the issue with international powers.



Speaking at a joint news conference with visiting Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen in Riyadh, Al-Jubeir said there would be a "plan B" if it became clear that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad's government and its allies were not serious about the truce, but gave no details.



"I believe that abiding by the truce would be an important indicator of the seriousness to reach a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis that would include setting up a transitional authority and the transfer of power from Bashar to this council," Al-Jubeir said. "There is no place for Bashar in Syria."



Meanwhile, a spokesman for the High Negotiating Committee (HNC) said Syria's opposition will stick to the cessation of hostilities despite at least 15 violations, a spokesman for said.



Salim Al-Muslat said the HNC would complain to the UN and countries backing the peace process about alleged Russian air strikes around the city of Aleppo and attacks by Hezbollah in the town of Zabadani, without giving details.



The opposition is waiting for answers about how the cessation of hostilities in Syria, which came into effect at midnight on Friday, is being monitored, he said. - Reuters
Infiniti has delivered 1,521 units of the new QX80, the marques flagship full size SUV, in the Middle East during in 2015, up 7 per cent compared to the previous year.



We have delivered over 1,700 of the new QX80s across the Middle East since the introduction of the new vehicle. This number is even more significant because it marks the highest such results for this model, since we first launched it in 2010, said Juergen Schmitz, managing director, Infiniti Middle East.



Sales for the Infiniti QX80 are led by Saudi Arabia accounting for 32 per cent. This is closely followed by UAE and Oman which have both contributed strongly for 2015.



The successes of the QX80 are testament to the number of design changes to the exterior as well as the host of new features inside that deliver supreme comfort for up to eight passengers alongside the latest safety technologies, added Schmitz.



The QX80 features several new technologies starting with the advanced High Beam Assist and Predictive Forward Collision Warning (PFCW) systems.



The PFCW system, which comes as standard on the Luxury Grade, warns the driver of risks that lie beyond the driver's forward field of vision. It not only senses the relative velocity and distance of a vehicle directly ahead, but also of a vehicle travelling in front of the preceding one.



Rounding off the suite of advanced safety systems, the QX80 also includes Front Emergency Braking and Front Collision Warning System, alongside available features such as Blind Spot Warning, Blind Spot Intervention, Lane Departure Warning (LDW) and Lane Departure Prevention (LDP).



The Q80s 5.6-liter V8 engine combines the responsive acceleration of Infinitis VVEL (Variable Valve Event & Lift) technology with the efficiency of Direct Injection Gasoline (DIG) to produce 400 horsepower and 560Nm of torque. A seven-speed automatic transmission is standard on all models.  TradeArabia News Service
Abu Dhabi Media in collaboration with The International Advertising Association (IAA) is hosting the 44th world congress in Abu Dhabi for global media industry and advertising leaders during November in the UAE capital.



The event runs from November 13 to 15 at the Jumeirah at Etihad Towers. The congress is anticipated to attract 1,000 delegates in the marketing, advertising and communications field from over 50 countries.



Originally scheduled in March 2016, the Congress was moved to include this years global industry changes and developments, whilst providing ample opportunity to tackle the next generation of prospects and analyze what the trends and advances mean for the industry.



Under a theme of Breaking Boundaries, the Congress will help develop conversation between industry leaders, and provide opportunities to exchange expertise and cultivate partnerships for prominent marketing, advertising and communications experts. The theme alludes to the cutting-edge convergence of the advertising and communications industry.



The congress is expected to further strengthen the advancement of the marketing, advertising and communications trends and practices in the UAE.  TradeArabia News Service
Iran's investment company Ghadir and Azerbaijan's state oil company Socar have signed an agreement to jointly invest in oil and gas projects, a report said.



"Within the next six months, we will witness major developments on Khodafarin. The two sides will first build a dam, and then the construction of the power plant will start," Mohsen Pakaien, Iran's ambassador in Baku was quoted as saying in the Iran Daily report.



A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also signed towards setting up a pharmaceutical factory in Azerbaijan's Sumgait, he revealed.



"Next week a delegation from Iran will come to Azerbaijan to discuss the pharmaceutical factory in the Sumgait Chemical Industrial Park," Pakaien said, noting that the factory will be launched in three phases.



In the first phase, Iranian medicines will be imported while in the second phase, the technology for drug production will be transferred, he explained.



In the final phase, drugs will be produced in Azerbaijan in five years, he added.
Aden airport is expected to reopen fully for commercial traffic within weeks, Yemen's information minister said, a move that would shore up confidence in the ability of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government to control the volatile city.



The southern port has been gripped by violence since Hadi supporters, backed by Saudi-led coalition forces, seized it from Iranian-allied Houthi forces in July. The airport has operated only sporadically since then, amid constant security fears.



The minister, Mohammed Qobati, told Reuters the airport was being guarded by local fighters recently incorporated into a new Yemeni army which Hadi had been rebuilding since July, together with troops from the UAE.



He denied reports that the UAE had withdrawn its forces from the airport, saying there was only a routine rotation of forces.



"We have done preliminary refurbishment work on the airport from outside, and now we are working on maintenance work inside the terminal," Qobati told Reuters by telephone.



"We expect the work to be completed within weeks and we hope that commercial flights would return then," he added.



The UAE is a member of an Arab alliance fighting the Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in a bid to restore Hadi's internationally recognised government.



The UN says nearly 6,000 people have been killed in the fighting, which began after the Houthis advanced on Aden, where Hadi had been based. Hundreds of thousands have been displaced. -Reuters
Amazon River is the greatest river of South America and the largest drainage system in the world in terms of the volume of its ...
Editor:

Like many Wyoming residents, I enjoy the benefits of hunting, fishing, hiking and camping on public lands. I own an off-road vehicle, and I enjoy the vast amount of legal motorized access to public lands that is available to me. Despite the fact that some off-road users claim that there is a lack of motorized access to public lands, I oftentimes feel like the opposite is true.

When I am going hunting, hiking or searching for antlers, I look for the few areas of public lands that do not contain easy motorized access. I do this because I know that wildlife frequent these areas and that I can enjoy Wyomings wildlife and wilderness in a way that defines the old Wyoming and is under constant threat of development. I would like for Wyomings remaining wilderness areas to be protected in order to ensure that future generations enjoy the same access to wilderness that benefits so many users today.

In my opinion, federal land managers in Wyoming should strike a balance between reasonable public access, energy development and the preservation of wild lands. In my experience, some of the best hunting and fishing in Wyoming occurs in areas that are not readily accessible by motor vehicles. The value of these lands as wildlife habitat and as areas to recreate would be diminished by increased development.

The Rock Springs BLM is undergoing a Resource Management Plan in an area that contains many of Wyomings best wilderness lands and wildlife populations. For the most part, these lands are open to motorized access. I would like for the areas that qualify as Lands with Wilderness Characteristics or Wilderness Study Areas in the Rock Springs planning area to be protected so that they remain as wilderness for future generations.

This would benefit hunters and other wilderness users. It would also benefit elk, mule deer, pronghorn, sage grouse and other wildlife. Preserving wilderness lands is important to many Wyoming residents' quality of life. Doing so protects wildlife and fuels tourism and small businesses that make up a large part of Wyomings economy.
When you are "breaking" a horse, explains our Native-American hero, Johnny, at the beginning of the new independent film,, you should "leave some 'bad' in it. They'll need it to survive out here." Initially intimate but spacious, with breath-taking vistas of the badlands of South Dakota, and extremely low-key, this new movie from(born in China, now living in the U.S.) is her first full-length piece, one that took four years to complete, as she lived & worked on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.Those four years evidently helped give the movie the kind of authenticity that is not easily faked, as Ms Zhao (shown at right) shows us in leisurely, slow-moving fashion, the world of the kids who are "stuck on the res." The movie shows us their lives -- with their family and friends, at school, in church, at work and play, in love and sex -- without any expository or narrative comment, and we see how they must fit into a hugely downsized and circumscribed culture.The filmmaker never stoops to proselytizing or special pleading. She doesn't have to. The lives we see on display make their point lucidly enough. She uses non-actors who pretty much appear to be playing themselves (or a reasonable facsimile). While this makes them seem authentic, it also diminishes the drama and much of the specificity that a good actor might bring to the role. (That's, above on horseback, who plays our hero, Johnny.) Johnny's younger sister, Jashaun (, below) is the other character we learn most about, along with his girlfriend, who's soon to leave the res for college.Perhaps the most unusual character is the tattoo artist/clothing designer who befriends Jashaun and is partial to the number 7. The movie generally avoids melodrama (except for one revenge-of-a-rival-gang scene), sticking to its low-key, slow pace. Once the film, around the halfway point, begin to lose any edge at all, it seems to turn generic in both its dialog and situations. At this point, the slow pace simply sinks things. (I can't remem-ber another film during which I consulted my watch as often as here.)is a well-intentioned movie that achieves its goals well enough to be successful on the "intentions" front. Visually, too, the movie succeeds (the framing is quite good: cinematography by). Sound-wise, perhaps not. It may have been the quality of the screener disc I watched, the lack of enunciation by the actors, or the sound design itself, but I missed a certain amount of the dialog along the way and felt periodically frustrated.Another odd thing: our lead character's narration at both the beginning and end of the film sounds far too intelligent, poetic and writerly to be coming of this young man's mind or mouth. The rest of the dialog we hear from him is on a completely different level. But that, too, I suspect, is part of the "well-intentioned-ness" of this not uninteresting but likely to be overpraised film., fromand running 94 minutes, has its U.S. theatrical premiere this coming Wednesday, March 2, atin New York City. Clickthen scroll down to see all upcoming playdates, with cities and theaters listed.
Pennsylvania

Ukrainian who posed as teen faces sex charge

HARRISBURG  A 23-year-old Ukrainian national who posed as a teen to attend a Pennsylvania high school was charged Friday with sexual assault over a relationship with a student.

Artur Samarin, already jailed on identity theft and other charges, was arrested on charges of statutory sexual assault and corruption of minors, Harrisburg police said in a statement.

The new charges stem from a sexual relationship in 2014, when the student was 15 and Samarin was 22.

Samarin, using the alias Asher Potts, enrolled in Harrisburg High School in 2012 and was to graduate in June.

Kansas

Sheriff lauds cop for stopping mass shooter

HESSTON  A man who stormed into a Kansas factory and shot 14 people, killing three, had just been served with a protective order involving a former girlfriend that probably set off the attack, authorities said Friday.

The assault at the Excel Industries lawnmower-parts plant in the small town of Hesston ended when the police chief killed the gunman in a shootout.

Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton described the officer as a tremendous hero because 200 or 300 people were still in the factory and the shooter wasnt done by any means.

The gunman was identified as Cedric Ford, a 38-year-old worker at the factory. As a convicted felon, he was prohibited from owning any kind of firearm. A woman was charged with supplying him with an assault rifle and a pistol.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said preliminary information indicated that the officer was Hesston Police Chief Doug Schroeder, who did not wait for backup and seized the situation.

Florida

Court reinstates wait time for abortions

TALLAHASSEE  Most women seeking abortions in Florida will have to wait 24 hours and make at least two doctor visits after an appellate court Friday reinstated a law that imposes the waiting period.

The First District Court of Appeal struck down a temporary injunction against the law issued by a Leon County trial court judge last year, citing a lack of evidence.

The law has exceptions for cases of rape, incest, domestic abuse or human trafficking, but victims must provide a police report or restraining order to their doctor as proof of those circumstances.

A lawsuit challenging the law was brought by Gainesville Woman Care and the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida. ACLU officials vowed to keep fighting the case.

Wire reports
Mexico

2nd former president unloads on Trump

MEXICO CITY  Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Saturday joined his predecessor in office in criticizing Donald Trump, calling the Republican front-runners campaign racist and saying his discourse on immigration is fueling anti-American sentiment around the world.

Calderon, a conservative who was president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012, even said he thought Trump was trying to exploit the same social feelings and resentments as did Adolf Hitler.

I think his logic of exalting white supremacy isnt even acting against immigration  Donald Trump is the descendant of migrants  it is acting and speaking against immigrants who have a different skin color than him, which is frankly racist and is a bit like the exploitation of sensitive fibers that Hitler did in his day, Calderon told reporters.

Calderons comments parallel those made earlier by former President Vicente Fox, who preceded Calderon in office.

Congo

82 more kids to go

to adoptive parents

KINSHASA, Congo  Congos ambassador to the United States says 82 children soon will join their adoptive parents abroad in the latest cases to be cleared by the government after more than two years of waiting.

Ambassador Francois Balumuene said Saturday that the latest adoptees bring the total number of cases resolved to about 300 in four months.

But as many as 1,000 other children still await resolution on their cases so they can leave the country and join adoptive families in the United States, Canada and Europe.

The Congolese government halted international adoptions in 2013, saying the nations adoption system was beset by corruption and falsified documents. Children who already had been adopted by international families were not given the exit permits they needed to leave the country.

Cameroon

Hundreds of hostages freed; militants killed

YAOUNDE  Cameroonian and Nigerian forces have freed several hundred hostages in a border town held by Boko Haram, including young girls who were being trained as suicide bombers, the commander of Cameroonian forces said Saturday.

Soldiers from the two countries also killed about 100 militants while liberating the Nigerian town of Kumshe, Gen. Jacob Kodji told The Associated Press. The town is 9 miles from the border with Cameroon.

The jihadists, who have pledged loyalty to the Islamic State, have killed more than 20,000 people, officials say.

Yemen

Saudi-led airstrikes hit market, civilians

SANAA  Saudi-led airstrikes targeting Shiite rebels killed at least 30 people, mostly civilians, when they hit a market area outside the capital on Saturday, Yemeni security officials said.

They said the raid hit the popular market in the Nihm district, killing at least 22 civilians and leaving burned bodies strewn across the area. The officials, who are neutral in a conflict that has split the armed forces, spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Syria

Some breaches, but cease-fire is working

A cease-fire brought relative quiet to parts of Syria for the first time in years on Saturday, offering civilians rare respite from Russian and Syrian government airstrikes despite some limited breaches of the agreement brokered by Washington and Moscow.

Fighting continued against the Islamic State, which launched a surprise offensive on a northern town and carried out a suicide truck bombing in central Syria.

The extremist group, along with al-Qaidas branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, is not party to the cease-fire, which went into effect at midnight.

The cease-fire marks the most ambitious international attempt yet to reduce violence in the devastating conflict, which has killed more than 250,000 people, wounded a million and generated one of the worst refugee crises since World War II.

Vatican City

Top cardinal to testify on clerical sex abuse

One of the highest-ranking Vatican officials is being compelled to testify in public starting Sunday about clerical sex abuse, an unusual demonstration of holding even the most senior Catholic bishops accountable.

Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis top financial adviser, will testify for three nights running, answering questions via video link from Australias Royal Commission with his accusers on hand to confront him.

More than a dozen survivors are traveling to Rome to be on hand for the testimony, thanks in part to an Australian crowdfunding initiative that raised more than 200,000 Australian dollars (about $145,000) in a few days, as well as proceeds from a viral YouTube video, Come Home (Cardinal Pell).

One survivor heading to Rome is Andrew Collins, who was repeatedly raped as a child in Ballarat by priests and religious brothers and has suffered depression and post-traumatic stress ever since. He told the commission that he tried to kill himself four times, in part because his staunchly Catholic family effectively disowned him after he went public with his tales of abuse.

Wire reports
LEVY, Jack G., 97, died February 18, 2016. He is survived by his wife, Shirley, of Tucson, AZ; his son, Jack G. Levy, Jr., Indianapolis, Indiana; his daughter, Terri Lambert, Los Altos, CA and his son-in-law, Richard Lambert, Los Altos, CA. Levy was born in Shreveport, LA, June 9, 1918, the son of the late Jake G. Levy and Lee Harris Levy, both of Shreveport, LA. and one sister, the late Babette L. Wiener also of Shreveport. He attended local Shreveport Schools and graduated from L.S.U. in 1927. He was associated with the M.L. Bath Company of Shreveport for 30 years, becoming its president. He served in the armed services during WWII in Bougainville, Guadalcanal and the Philippines. Levy retired from M.L. bath Co. to return to school in 1969 at the University of Arizona where he received his Ph.D in psychology. He enjoyed working with children and families. Cremation will be at ADAIR FUNERAL HOMES, Dodge Chapel. Any contributions may be made to charities of one's choice.
passed away on February 19, 2016 after a brief illness. She was born on November 5, 1926 in Magnetic Springs, Ohio. She spent most of her youth in Ohio but moved to Arizona due to her mother's illness. The west suited Peggy and her family well. Peggy loved her first hometown of Flagstaff. Peggy lived for a brief time in Riverside, California during World War II where her father was a teacher. During that time, she met a returning marine, Lynn Folger, while attending Riverside Community College. They met in April; he proposed in June and they were married in September at the Grand Canyon. Peggy received her degree at the University of Arizona in Education. After teaching for a couple of years, she opted to put her education to good use by being an amazing mother; going to little league games, being a cub scout den mother and president of the mothers' club for her son's fraternity. Other important activities of Peggy's life included church and P.E.O. These two organizations were important throughout her life and a great source of friendship, purpose and happiness. Peggy's husband, Lynn, died at an early age from illness in 1978. They had three sons: Greg, Mark and Doug. Peggy's love of the Casas Adobes Congregational Church resulted in a special gift in 1981. She met the new minister, The Rev. Ray Plumlee. They fell in love and were married February 13, 1982. Their time together was a blessing to them and their families until his death on February 14, 2015. Peggy is survived by her three sons, Greg (wife Meredith), Mark (wife Anne) and Doug (wife Tricia). She was also blessed with 14 grandchildren and eight great grandchildren. A Memorial Service and a celebration of Peggy's life will be held at Casas Adobes Congregational Church, UCC on Saturday, March 5, 2016 at 1:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Church in her honor. Arrangements entrusted to ADAIR FUNERAL HOMES, Avalon Chapel (742-7901)
91, was the first archivist at Oberlin College in Oberlin, OH, serving from 1966 - 1984. He died Sunday, February 20, 2016, in Peppi's Hospice in Tucson, AZ. Born July 20, 1924, in Chicago, IL., he lived with his family in Orion, IL., until 1935 when the family moved to Tucson, AZ for his father's health. Bill graduated from Tucson High School in 1942 where he was a member of the THS swing band, playing bass. He attended the University of Arizona, majoring in American History and graduated with a Master's degree in 1943. After two years in the US Army, serving in Guam and Hawaii, he attended Stanford University, receiving a Master's in American History in 1953. He worked at the National Arvchives before taking a job as archivist at the Firestone plant in Akron in 1958. He became the archivist of Oberlin College in 1966 and the family moved to Oberlin, OH. He retired in 1986. His first wife, Mary Grady of Tucson died in 1983. He married Kay Woodruff Ruckman, OC 1961, in 1984. After his retirement, they moved to Tucson, AZ, with his son, Mark. In the summer of 2004, Bill was feted at the 80th birthday at his Tucson Racquet and Fitness Club, complete with strolling mariachis. A decade later he celebrated his 90th birthday with a large contingent of family and friends from across the United States. He became ill in February and late in the month entered the hospice where he died. ADAIR DODGE FUNERAL HOME in Tucson is in charge of cremation and burial arrangements in SOUTH LAWN Cemetery at 10:00 a.m. A Reception will be held at Grace St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Saturday, April 2, 2016, at noon. He is survived by his wife, Kay and son, Mark, both of Tucson; his stepdaughter, Eleanor Ruckman of Berkeley, CA and stepson, Andrew Ruckman of Flagstaff, AZ. Daughter, Leah Counts died in 1997. Two nieces also survive, Carrie Lewis Hasse in Claremont, CA and Shannon Lewis Sisk in Redding, CA. Other survivors include son-in-law, Dennis Counts of Wytheville, VA; granddaughters, Mary Counts Hagee of Wytheville and Molly Counts Henry of Roanoke, VA and grandson, Willy Counts of Pearl, MS. Published works include They Stopped in Oberlin (1981), Oberlin From War to Jubilee, 1866 - 1883 (1983), THE Journal of Russell T. Hall, 1893 (1985). And, with his wife, Kay, Catalina Vista (2003)
For the first time since May 2012, the state will accept applications for medical-marijuana dispensary licenses this summer.

The announcement by the Department of Health Services comes as Arizona patients spent $215 million on 19 tons of medical pot last year, nearly double the 10 tons purchased in 2014.

Even with record-breaking sales, lawsuits filed by business partners alleging breach of contract, mishandling of funds and other corporate malfeasance hint at cracks in the industrys foundation.

The lawsuits filed in Pima County and elsewhere in Arizona stem from a variety of root causes, industry insiders say, such as Arizona being one of the few states to use a lottery to award dispensary licenses or speculators bringing together a hodgepodge of ill-suited partners.

But others say lawsuits are bound to happen in a nascent industry, particularly one centered on a quasi-legal substance that is shut out of the normal financial world.

Medical-marijuana dispensaries are extremely hampered by a lack of easy access to banking services, said Scottsdale-based business lawyer Richard Keyt.

It opens the door to tax fraud, embezzlement, theft and all kinds of bad things, he said.

At the Downtown Dispensary in Tucson, one of the directors accused the board of failing to track cash transactions, misusing company funds and removing a director without notice. The claims were dismissed, but are being appealed, Pima County Superior Court records show.

In Marana, the Nature Med dispensary hired Trance Industries to grow marijuana at the dispensary. But insufficient electricity meant Trance Industries couldnt grow the agreed-upon amount, according to a Feb. 8 lawsuit.

The agreement fell apart, and Trance Industries accused Nature Med of selling $140,000 of marijuana from 1,100 plants without compensation.

The former manager of a Tucson dispensary sued the board members of a dispensary in Globe for $1.1 million, saying they made a deal behind his back to force him off the board, as the Star reported Jan. 29.

Gold rush and

lottery winners

The chance to make big money in Arizona drew a gold rush of consultants from the medical-marijuana industries in California and Colorado, said Vicky Puchi-Saavedra, owner of Tucson dispensary Earths Healing.

Those consultants gathered investors and promised huge returns, she said.

The consultants told investors: Come on in, its going to be easy as pie. Once we get that license, that golden ticket, everybody is going to get super-rich, super-easy, she said.

Its not as easy as it looks.

Instead of joining up with strangers, Puchi-Saavedra took out high-interest loans, rented property and started her own cultivation site.

With the upcoming round of dispensary licenses, my advice to investors is to make sure you know who youre investing your money with, she said.

Arizona has one of the largest of the 24 medical-marijuana programs in the country, with 91 nonprofit dispensaries serving 89,000 patients, including more than 10,000 in Pima County, according to Arizona Department of Health Services reports.

The 2010 voter-approved medical-marijuana law prohibits the ADHS from publicly disclosing dispensary locations. Informal counts by industry groups show about a dozen dispensaries in Pima County.

One dispensary license is allotted for each of the states 126 health districts. When the state issued 99 licenses in August 2012, officials used lottery balls marked with application numbers to award licenses in districts with more than one applicant.

The state received nearly 500 applications, but none for 27 districts, including one in Tucson. Eight of the licensees are not operating dispensaries.

Applicants needed local zoning approval, appropriate facilities, $150,000 on hand, and a criminal-record check, among other requirements.

A similar selection process will be used this time around, ADHS officials said, except for the $150,000 requirement that was removed in December 2012.

Officials are staying mum on how many licenses will be issued and when exactly the lottery will take place, but they said details will be released at least 30 days in advance.

The lottery is one reason Arizona is more prone to legal disputes than many other states, said Kris Krane, president of Phoenix-based 4Front Ventures and a medical-marijuana policy advocate in California, Arizona and elsewhere for 20 years.

A lot of the groups that won licenses were really not qualified to operate, Krane said.

Many dispensary directors did not know each other or how to grow marijuana, he said. As a result, dispensaries and growers joined in shotgun marriages.

The owner of a dispensary in Williams cut off an agreement with a cultivator nine months after signing it. Security cameras then recorded the owner chopping down the cultivators plants and loading them into an SUV, according to a Jan. 8 lawsuit filed in Pima County.

The cultivator, Agricann, put the value of the plants at $500,000, said Agricanns attorney Patrick Van Zanen.

Most attorneys in local lawsuits did not respond to requests for comment or would not comment.

In some cases, companies burned through their startup money and took on more investors, which led to even more disputes, Krane said.

Court records show creditors of Medpoint Management, which operates Arizona Natures Wellness dispensary in Phoenix, tried to force Medpoint into bankruptcy.

A federal judge dismissed the request because bankruptcy protections are not allowed when dealing with a substance that is illegal under federal law.

In another case, a dispensary in Gilbert was the subject of a long-running legal dispute between owners and developers that spilled over into Clifton and closed the dispensary there in 2014, the Eastern Arizona Courier reported.

The state should have used a merit-based system to avoid choosing people who had never run a legal business and didnt have a track record of writing things down, said Ryan Hurley, a Scottsdale-based attorney who specializes in the medical-marijuana industry.

Newly minted dispensary owners werent filing corporate documents or contracts and often didnt hire accountants, Hurley said.

Tucson dispensary owner Puchi-Saavedra lauded the state for issuing licenses randomly and giving everyone the same chance of winning.

Either way, there were going to be lawsuits. The demand to get into this business was so high, she said.

Jeff Kaufman, a Scottsdale-based lawyer who represents a variety of players in the industry, said the lottery is perfectly fair.

If Arizona used a merit-based system, a lot of friends and relatives of people involved in grading the applications would have the best scores, Kaufman said.

Kaufman had a simple explanation for partners breaching contracts.

It ultimately comes down to greed or lack of competence, he said. But mostly greed.

In one common scenario, groups of applicants applied in multiple districts with the understanding they would share a license, Kaufman said. But those agreements would fall apart when one partner won a license and refused to acknowledge the other partners.

The boardroom brawls began as soon as the first dispensaries opened, said Will Humble, who ran the ADHS until March 2015.

Although a loud group of investors lobbied for a merit-based system, I never even entertained that approach, he said.

With a state agency grading business plans, you are guaranteeing there will be endless litigation, he said.

The ADHS tried to include objective standards, such as preference for applicants who had never filed for bankruptcy or been behind on child support or back taxes, Humble said.

But a judge removed those standards except for the $150,000 requirement, which Humble said favored applicants who had a better chance of success than a guy watching cartoons in his living room.

A common request in the civil lawsuits, such as the Downtown Dispensary dispute, is for dispensaries to go into receivership and end up in the custody of a third party.

In Payson, a receiver  a person appointed by a judge to run the business while litigation unfolds  took charge of Uncle Herbs dispensary after a bitter dispute between the owners over how funds were handled, the Payson Roundup reported in October.

Tom Salow, head of the medical-marijuana program at the ADHS, said he could not disclose how many dispensaries ended up in receivership, but it has happened at least a handful of times.

We do see a lot of it going on, Salow said of the business disputes, but much of the litigation doesnt affect licensing, and the ADHS lacks the authority to intervene.

The ADHS can revoke a license, but state law prohibits officials from disclosing details, Salow said.

An ADHS-commissioned review of Arizonas program said the agency has not revoked any dispensary licenses. One dispensary forfeited its license, the Jan. 22 report by Beacon Information Designs said.

For repeat offenders of agency rules, the ADHS calls provider meetings to agree on heightened scrutiny. So far, 10 to 15 percent of dispensary licensees have been called to these meetings, the report said.

As new medical-marijuana programs learn from other states experiences, disputes likely will lessen, said Taylor West, deputy director of the National Cannabis Industry Association.

We are in a process of transition from a completely underground market to a sort of in-between market, to now in some states a fully legal market, she said.

She expects future regulatory frameworks to require common business practices, such as written contracts and up-to-date record keeping.
For years, Arizonas Legislature has repeated the mantra accountability whenever someone suggested paying more for schools.

Weve measured each public-school child with tests, graded the performance of every school from A to F and audited the spending of each dollar in charter schools and districts.

We are obsessed with outcomes.

Mostly, thats as it should be. We cant know if were doing a good job educating children unless we somehow measure our performance.

But now were poised to throw all that out.

The state Senate voted 17-13 Monday to expand the existing, relatively narrow voucher program to all Arizona students. These Empowerment Scholarship Accounts are limited now to certain categories of disadvantaged students and a total of 0.5 percent of Arizonas public-school students. Under the new plan, which must be approved by the House and signed by the governor, the $5,000-per-student voucher could go to any Arizona students by 2018.

You can criticize this approach for many reasons. Most importantly, because the voucher money comes out of the public schools that the student would otherwise go to, the program could undermine the states entire public-education system. Thats why I dont like it  I think we need that system for all.

A related argument is that in May, voters will likely look more skeptically at Prop. 123, the referendum to raise spending on public schools, if the Legislature first hollows out that spending by creating a universal voucher program. I know that might turn me from a supporter of the proposition to an opponent.

But one of the under-appreciated problems is that the voucher expansion skimps on accountability. From finances to performance, the proposal simply presumes the existing program to be a great thing and then biggie-sizes it.

You would think, for example, that the Legislature would know just how much the program is costing existing public schools before passing an expansion. State senators passed the proposal unaware of such details.

It wasnt till Wednesday, when the Arizona Republic published an analysis, that we learned which districts are losing the most money to vouchers. In the current school year, $27 million that would have gone to public schools instead was paid out in vouchers to families.

Love that or hate it, the information is key to knowing how and what the program is doing.

It turns out the Tucson Unified School District was the second-biggest loser, at $1.6 million for 229 children. Another Tucson-based school district, PPEP Inc., lost $1.1 million that went to 63 children. This was news to everyone involved.

Were not aware of us losing any kids to a voucher program, PPEP founder and CEO John Arnold told me Friday. Our enrollment is up.

This is consistent with the school officials contacted by the Republic. None had any idea how much their districts had lost because of students who instead took state vouchers.

If we dont know how much each district is losing now, of course we have no idea how much they will in the future. The only safe bet is to say a lot and note that there are no limits on how big the program can grow, unlike the hard limits on public-school spending contained in Prop. 123.

The accountability for vouchers also is shaky at the individual level. Thats because of the way the system must work in order to conform to Arizonas constitution. An earlier voucher program was found unconstitutional by Arizonas Supreme Court in 2009 because it paid taxpayer money to private and parochial schools.

The new system, which has been challenged and found constitutional, pays the money directly to the parents of the child by sending them a debit card. The parents dont have to send the kids to private schools  they can also home-school them. Using the debit cards, parents with voucher money can spend it for 10 categories of expenses.

Those include tuition and fees at private schools, tutoring services by accredited providers and contributions to Coverdell educational savings accounts. Those accounts, by the way, can be used for college tuition. In fact, in 2014, the Arizona Capitol Times found that millions in voucher money had been socked away, not spent at all.

The Arizona Department of Education does monitor the spending, department spokeswoman Alexis Burkhart told me. Voucher recipients receive the money quarterly and must also file an accounting of their spending quarterly, though they dont have to spend anything right away.

Every single account is audited four times a year, Burkhart said.

At times, unauthorized spending has been found. In an incident that must have floored Republican legislators, one Chandler woman was accused of using her voucher money to pay for, of all things, an abortion. She was indicted in October.

But lets be frank  this sort of program attracts scammers. You can be sure that some will try to categorize personal spending under the purchase of curriculum category or under tuition and/or fees for a private online-learning program located in the state of Arizona. Has anyone set up a fake online-learning program for laundering voucher money yet?

The current proposal allows the Department of Education to keep 4 percent of each voucher to pay for the administration of the program. Is that too much? Too little? Who knows!

A final piece of accountability thats missing is measuring the programs outcomes. For years now, weve done that in public schools via mandatory standardized tests. First there was Arizonas Instrument to Measure Standards, or AIMS. Now theres Arizonas Measurement of Educational Readiness to Inform Teaching, or AZMERIT.

Measures, measures. Both of those tests are intended to account for the performance of students, teachers and schools. However, they are not required of students in private schools or home-schooled children, the precise students who benefit from the voucher program.

So how, exactly, are we to know if the voucher program is producing good outcomes? We arent.

Accountability measures, it seems, are for the educational programs the Legislature doesnt like, such as district schools. The programs lawmakers do like  such as vouchers  are presumed good.
Faculty at Pima Community College are divided over whether the schools CEO is doing a good job, a recent survey shows.

Nearly half of the full-time instructors who responded said its time for a formal vote of confidence on Chancellor Lee Lamberts leadership, and many said theyre thinking of leaving the troubled institution, the results show.

Some fear the findings could harm PCCs efforts to convince its accreditor that the school has fixed the problems that have kept it under accreditation sanctions since 2013.

Some of the problems cited in the survey are the same ones that led to the sanctions, including low morale, mistrust of leadership, poor internal communication and inadequate faculty input on major decisions.

The survey, sent to about 350 full-time faculty members late last year, drew 263 anonymous responses. A summary of results recently was posted to the website of the Pima Community College Education Association, the group that represents faculty on issues such as compensation and working conditions.

Forty-eight percent of respondents favored holding a confidence vote, 32 percent did not and 20 percent were neutral.

Lambert said a certain amount of discontent is normal when an organization is making major changes and said he has redoubled efforts to improve communications in the three months or so since the survey ended. But he downplayed the significance of the survey findings.

The results arent statistically valid, Lambert said, because responses were anonymous, which means one person could have voted 10, 15, or 20 times.

Ana Jimenez, a spokeswoman for the faculty association, said the survey format is the same one used for years to solicit feedback on morale, working conditions and other issues of concern.

She disputed the suggestion that educators might try to skew the results by taking the survey repeatedly.

We believe in the integrity of our faculty colleagues and feel that the open and honest answers fostered by anonymity greatly outweighs the need to track responses, she said.

The survey also indicates:

Faculty morale is worse now than when Lambert arrived. The percentage who said theyre unhappy more than doubled between 2013 and 2015, from 24 percent to 57 percent.

Of the 46 percent who said theyre considering leaving PCC, the reasons included heavier workloads unrelated to teaching; not feeling valued or treated fairly; too many changes occurring too quickly; distrust, low morale and fear and general administration concerns.

Faculty are split on whether PCC is properly prepared to address its accreditors remaining concerns during a follow-up inspection later this year. Thirty percent said the college seems well-prepared, while 29 percent said the opposite. The largest group, 32 percent, was neutral on the question of preparedness.

While Lambert minimized the importance of the survey findings, internal emails obtained by the Arizona Daily Star through a public-records request show some school officials are deeply worried.

These issues have now risen to the point that the colleges future is at risk, PCC Governing Board member Sylvia Lee wrote in a November email to new board member Martha Durkin.

In a different email to a faculty member, Lee said its part of the boards job to protect the college from the damage that will ensue from questioning Lamberts leadership.

It is very distressing that the damage is already spiraling. It is so unfortunate that it will be played out in the media and is already pitting faculty against faculty and faculty against administration, she wrote.

Lee, an ardent supporter of Lambert who pushed for the Governing Board to hire him in 2013, suspects a small cadre of faculty is out to undermine the chancellor.

My guess is that (the confidence vote question) was crafted by a handful of individuals with motives that are destructive, she wrote to another employee.

Jimenez, the faculty association spokeswoman, said the confidence question was included because some faculty members have been asking it among themselves, and the association felt obliged to find out how widespread the concern is.

A few days after the survey results were released, Lambert held a two-hour open forum with faculty at PCC headquarters. He highlighted the progress the school has made in many areas and urged faculty to pull together.

PCC is going through a tough stretch, he said. The good news is that we can meet our challenges by working together, and that we share a common belief in the transformative power of Pima Community College education.
The saguaro is a freak of nature.

Really, its a freak and thats why we love it so.

The towering Carnegiea gigantea has always cast an improbable shadow on the landscape of the Sonoran Desert. With an adult height of 40 feet and a taproot less than two feet deep, its a wonder it stands and survives, let alone thrives in the upland desert surrounding Tucson.

Now were finding out it also has peculiar genes. It is absolutely unusual, said Mike Sanderson, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona.

When Sanderson and crew assembled the genome of Arizonas iconic cactus recently, they found that the genes responsible for saguaro photosynthesis are pretty much missing.

Sanderson led a large collaboration that sequenced the 1.5 billion base pairs of saguaros genome. Its a big one  bigger than rice and about half the size of the human genome.

The team, primarily a collaboration between the UA and its sister institution in Sonora, the Autonomous University of Mexico or UNAM, also includes researchers from Arizona State University and the University of Michigan.

The team is still analyzing and reconstructing the main part of the genome, but has completed the map of its plastid or chloroplast genome  the portion responsible for photosynthesis.

The plastid genome is the smallest genome on record for a flowering plant that uses photosynthesis, said Sanderson. Saguaro has, somehow, found a different pathway for creating sugars from sunlight.

Sanderson is a tree of life guy, most interested in assembling the ecological history of species. The saguaro genome will help him discover the origin of this particular species  when and where it branched off on the phylogenetic tree from some ancient ancestor of saguaro and related giant woody cacti such as cardon, senita and organ pipe.

He has seen some clues in the analyses done so far that indicate big differences in the genome of saguaros sampled south of Guaymas, Sonora, but he cautions that the observation is very preliminary. I actually just noticed it last weekend, he said in a Monday interview.

Once completed, the genomic analysis of saguaro will be openly available to researchers and will provide rich opportunities for exploring the plants biology, he said.

The saguaro is already the most studied plant in the Sonoran Desert, according to A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert, the bible of our region, put together by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and now available in a second edition.

Don Swann, biologist at Saguaro National Park, said this recent academic exploration of his parks signature plant continues a long collaboration between park rangers and the University of Arizona.

The east, or Rincon Mountain unit of the park, was established as a national monument in 1933, in large part because of the urging of UA President Homer Shantz, a biologist who recognized the need to protect the saguaro-studded flanks of the Rincon Mountains.

Research on the saguaro has continued over the past 83 years, with important contributions from the scientists at the Desert Laboratory at Tumamoc Hill (now owned by the UA) and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, neighbor to the parks west addition, which became part of the national monument in 1961.

Continual research and monitoring is necessary for a plant as long-lived as the saguaro, said Swann. He noted that retired UA researchers Tom Orum and Nancy Ferguson, who are still monitoring saguaro plots 37 years after taking charge of them, represent the third-generation of researchers on that project.

That continuous monitoring is important in understanding whats going on with the saguaro population, he said.

Saguaros are prodigious seed producers, putting out an estimated 40 million seeds over a lifetime, but most seeds are eaten and the few saguaros that do germinate seldom survive their slow-growing youth. It takes about 40 years for a saguaro to grow 3 feet high and resistant to weather extremes and animal damage, according to the Natural History of the Sonoran Desert.

At times, the saguaro population appears to be in sharp decline, said Swann, as was the case shortly after the monument was created in 1933. The big stands of giants that drew President Shantz to photograph the region were dying and the incoming young saguaros werent visible in photographs.

Populations came back in the wet years of the mid-1960s into the 1990s and scientists began to realize that it took years of optimum conditions to produce the next big wave of saguaros.

You really need kind of the perfect climatic conditions to get that wave of saguaros, he said.

It really takes generations of science and scientists to fully understand whats going on with plants that live longer than we do, Swann said.

Swann and Sanderson will be speaking Tuesday at the University of Arizona about current and past scientific collaborations between the Forest Service and the university. Also speaking is Michael Rosenzweig, director of Tumamoc Hill.

Saguaro National Park will also honor Ray Turner, a U.S. Geological Survey researcher and geosciences professor at UA, for his lifetime of scientific contributions to the study of the regions famous cactus.
Early manganese deposits discovered in Arizona included those in the Bisbee, Globe, Patagonia and Tombstone districts.

Found in concentrated deposits of loose fragments in multiple layers of rock, manganese was mined as part of gangue silver ore deposits and used as smelter flux.

Ferromanganese, from manganese ore containing 48 percent manganese combined with iron and carbon has been used in steel production such as in railroad tracks, bank vaults, tools and heavy duty equipment.

Manganese hardens steel, making it corrosion-resistant and shock proof. On average, 10 to 20 pounds of manganese added per ton of steel prevents its structure from shattering like glass.

Manganese has also been used in the manufacture of pig iron, lithium-ion batteries for electric and hybrid cars, disinfectants, coloring agents in cloth, dyes, glass, fertilizer, paints and pottery.

There is no substitute metal for its applications.

Several ores of manganese include pyrolusite, which has been used to add and remove coloration in glass. Others include manganite, psilomelelane and rhodochrosite.

Manganese is a steel-gray, shiny, hard and brittle metal with a melting point of 2,275 degrees Fahrenheit.

Found as combinations with other elements and forming part of the composition of more than 100 minerals, manganese does not occur as a native metal.

Commercial grade manganese ore is defined as materials containing more than 35 percent manganese composition. Pure manganese is acquired by heating manganese dioxide (MnO2) with carbon or aluminum, resulting in the removal of oxygen.

World War I saw an increase in manganese mining with Arizona at the forefront as a producer with deposits mined from limestone at Bisbee, including the Twilight, Atlas and Waterloo claims.

Manganese production in 1917 and 1918 in the Warren or Bisbee mining districts reached 32,000 tons, valued at $1 million.

Additional examples include the manganiferous ores of the Patagonia Mountains that were mined at the Black Eagle, Hardshell, Hermosa, and Mowry mines. The Hardshell Mine shipped 500 tons of manganese ore averaging above 40 percent manganese content during World War I. Historically, the manganiferous ores of the Tombstone District yielded less than commercial-grade quality of manganese.

Manganiferous veins were discovered in the California and Mineral Farm Groups around Globe, with a small quantity used as flux for the Old Dominion smelter.

The states best manganese deposits are located in the southern portion of Mohave County between the Williams River and the Artillery Mountains.

Between 1928 and 1955, Mohave County produced manganese from underground and open-pit mining operations, enhancing the nations strategic reserve and its thriving steel industry.

Wenden, in Western Arizonas La Paz County, served as a government stockpile for manganese from outlying mining districts, including the Artillery Mountains during World War II and into the 1950s.

The U.S. Defense Department classified manganese as a strategic metal because of its importance to the steel and aluminum industries. That resulted in the implementation of a government buying program.

Domestic manganese mining ceased in 1970. The United States presently lacks manganese reserves, and relies solely on manganese ore imported from Australia, Gabon and South Africa. It costs more than $1 billion annually.

Global demand for manganese continues to grow as China and other developing economies industrialize.

Arizona is credited with having historically produced a quarter-billion pounds of manganese.

Current Arizona manganese exploration involves the American Manganese Co. and its extensive drilling and metallurgical testing program over a 12-square-mile area of past producing mines in the Artillery Peak District. A 2009 study reported about 1 billion pounds of indicated contained manganese and 9.6 billion pounds of inferred contained manganese.

AZ Mining Inc. formerly Wildcat Silver Corp. is currently involved in the Hermosa Central, a silver-manganese manto oxide development project in the Patagonia Mountains expected to yield 7.2 billion pounds of manganese.

As of 2015, domestic consumption of manganese in the United States has been estimated at $950 million annually.
PHOENIX  So when was the last time you checked to see if all three of your brake lights were working? If you dont want to get pulled over, youd better start.

State lawmakers are moving to require that all lights are working. That includes the Liddy light, the one in the middle.

And the reason is to ensure that police can stop a motorist even if just one light is out.

Whats behind all that is a 2011 ruling by the state Court of Appeals throwing out a motorists drunken-driving conviction.

It turns out that the only reason a Tucson police officer pulled over the driver in the first place was a non-working middle brake light. It was only after the person was stopped that the officer realized he was impaired and made the arrest.

Appellate Judge Joseph Howard, writing for the court, said it is undisputed that the other two lights were functional.

The officer observed no other traffic infractions, nor did the officer articulate any other reason for the stop, the judge wrote.

Howard said police are entitled to stop and detain any person for an actual or suspected violation of the states motor-vehicle laws. But he said stopping a vehicle is a seizure under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Such a seizure is constitutionally permissible only if the officer has a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, Howard wrote.

And he said a reading of the statutes shows there was no such activity.

Arizona law says any motor vehicle shall be equipped with at least one tail lamp mounted on the rear. And another provision says if a vehicle has a stop lamp the lamp shall be maintained at all times in good working condition.

Put simply, one is all that current law requires.

HB 2509 says that if a vehicle has more than one stop lamp or tail lamp, each has to be working. And that includes the Liddy light, named after Elizabeth Liddy Dole, who was secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation when federal law was changed to require that third stop lamp.

Mike Williams, lobbyist for the Arizona Police Association, said the law is archaic, possibly dating back to horse-and-buggy days. But he conceded before a House panel that this was all about giving police the legally required probable cause to stop motorists in the first place.

Williams said the appellate ruling was not a one-time thing. He said a judge in Tucson has been tossing drunken-driving cases when police tell him the only reason for the stop was a single broken tail light.

And he insisted the new law is not to provide an excuse to issue more citations.

Just to be sure, lawmakers amended the measure this past week when it came to the House floor to spell out that a ticket cannot be issued for a first violation. Instead, the measure awaiting final House approval says that officers may issue only verbal or written warning notices.

Williams said hes OK with that.

Thats primarily what police officers do anyway when we find its just a nonworking piece of equipment, he said.

Not everyone was convinced the change is a good thing.

Rep. Charlene Fernandez, D-Yuma, said the way HB 2509 is worded would let police stop a motorist if any light installed on a vehicle is not working. She said that could be as simple as the turn-signal that some cars and trucks have on their side mirrors, in addition to the ones on the front and rear of the vehicles.

I have one of those lamps on my car, Williams told her. But he dismissed her concerns.

Officers are not going to be pulling someone over because their lamp on the mirror didnt work, he said.

And Williams had one more argument to push the measure.

Ted Bundy was caught because he did not have a working tail light, he said, referring to the serial killer, kidnapper and rapist who murdered young women in a multi-state killing spree in the 1970s before being captured.

The language in HB 2509 should do the trick. Even Larry Gee, the defense attorney who had that drunken-driving conviction voided, said at the time that it would take only a simple fix to allow a broken tail light to be grounds to stop motorists.
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.
Thanks to Tucsons unseasonably warm weather this month, the first hints of green are popping up on willow trees along the Lower Santa Cruz River in Marana. But many of those trees could dry up in the next few years  and not because of weather.

The rivers fresh water largely disappeared decades ago, mostly because of groundwater pumping, so treated wastewater has been used to nurture this stretch, which is lush with trees and wildlife as a result.

Now, though, the U.S. government is proposing to divert some of the rivers effluent supply onto neighboring farmland, to reduce groundwater pumping for the crops. The diversion would remove only about 15 percent of the effluent that runs down the Santa Cruz, but a lot more could be diverted later if the project works as planned.

The feds have another motive, too: meeting their obligation to keep Colorado River water flowing to the Tohono Oodham Nation through the Central Arizona Project. The federal fund to pay for that has run nearly dry because of the recession, higher costs, bureaucratic inattention and lack of congressional appropriations. They hope to raise money for it by diverting effluent from the Santa Cruz.

Its not that the effluent itself will be diverted to the Tohono Oodham, however. So how would drying up part of a river raise money for the tribe?

Through the selling of water credits.

Builders, cities and certain other entities want to buy such credits to help prove to the state that their projects have assured water supplies as required. They can get credits toward this proof by recharging effluent into the ground to replenish the aquifer. Or, they can buy credits from others who recharge. Those credits can be used to offset their groundwater pumping.

In this case, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation wants to sell its recharge credits to make money to keep CAP water flowing to the Tohono Oodham.

Under an arcane 20-year-old quirk in state water law, the federal agency can earn twice as much legal credit  and ultimately twice as much money  if it recharges the wastewater away from the river than if the effluent stayed in the river. At the going rate for selling credits, the feds could earn about $1.12 million a year by diverting 7,000 acre-feet. A former state water director, Kathleen Ferris, says that quirk in the law wasnt based on science but was pulled from the air.

So, to the dismay of environmentalists, the situation comes down to river vegetation versus competing needs and rights.

FUND FOR TRIBE

IS GOING BROKE

The Reclamation Bureau is reviewing a formal proposal to divert up to 7,000 acre-feet of the treated effluent from the Tres Rios sewage treatment plant along Ina Road northwest of Tucson before the effluent is discharged into the Santa Cruz. The effluent would go onto farm fields in the Cortaro-Marana Irrigation District.

The U.S.s legal obligations to the Tohono Oodham stem from decades-old water rights settlement laws, to compensate for years of overpumping of groundwater beneath the tribes San Xavier District by the city of Tucson and others.

As it stands now, about 40 percent of the tribes share of CAP water doesnt legally have a high-priority status. That means if there is a CAP shortage, that portion of the tribes water could be shut off much sooner than CAP water held by cities. So, the Bureau of Reclamation wants to use some money to obtain the rights to higher-priority CAP water for the tribe.

The money would also bolster a dwindling federal fund used to pay to deliver CAP water to the tribes San Xavier and Schuk Toak districts for farming and other purposes. It costs $4.5 million a year to deliver CAP water to the tribe. At the current rate of spending, the fund could be depleted in about four years, said Lawrence Marquez, Native American programs manager in the bureaus Phoenix office.

Weve been at them for the last two years to put more money into the fund, but its fallen on deaf ears, said Austin Nunez, chairman of the tribes San Xavier District, who supports the bureaus proposal. The tribe uses some of its CAP water to grow crops, including on a cooperative farm near Mission San Xavier.

I hate to sound harsh, Nunez added, but its come down to, do you choose being able to survive as humans with the water, or do you choose having the water in the river for wildlife and trees?

He believes the state law should be changed to provide equity for the environment, but that is a long haul, and we in the Indian community dont have the resources to hire the lobbyists and the lawyers.

LOSS OF RIPARIAN HABITAT

The Lower Santa Cruz is the closest thing Tucson has to a real river today.

The diversion proposal has drawn strong opposition from a local environmental group, the Community Water Coalition, because effluent removal could dry up as many as five miles of the Lower Santa Cruz, killing scores of native trees and shrubs. The area that would lose effluent contains 54 percent of all riparian trees and shrubs such as cottonwoods and willows living along a nearly 15-mile, effluent-dominated stretch of river, the bureaus environmental assessment said.

In all, that stretch of river contains about 137 acres of desert riparian vegetation, considered the most productive ecosystem in North America.

The bureaus environmental assessment on the project acknowledged that the small, positive impact of reducing the Cortaro districts groundwater pumping is outweighed by loss of riparian habitat.

The discharge of effluent into the river for the past several decades has created hundreds of acres of quality riparian habitat. Resident and migratory wildlife that utilize those areas will either be forced elsewhere or they will eventually decline or disappear, the statement said.

At the same time, the bureaus view is, Our obligation under the water rights settlements is deliver water to the tribe, Marquez said. Effluent is one of the few resources available to us, and its real and its wet every year.

The bureau will decide on the project later this year. For now, its a pilot project, to last five years and test its feasibility.

ITS THE DESERT

The treated wastewater would go from the sewage plant via pipeline to the Cortaro-Marana Irrigation District, which includes 100 farmers, ranchettes and other clients. Cotton, alfalfa and small grains are grown in the district, which lies mostly in Marana.

The key issue here is that there will still be a lot left in the river, said David Bateman, general manager of the district. Were taking a small portion out. And this is not a natural riparian area  its the desert.

One area thats likely to be affected by taking out that portion of effluent is the Oxbow.

Its a narrow, tree-lined stream that swings south from the main Santa Cruz channel, then reconnects to the river near the Sanders Road bridge in Marana. Loaded with willows, mesquite and non-native tamarisks, the mile-long Oxbow is a bird-watching hot spot and draws lots of other wildlife, said Brad DeSpain, a retired Marana utility director and former project manager of the Cortaro irrigation district. Hes now a co-owner of the Bridle Bit Ranch thats authorized to divert some of the effluent to grow pasture for cattle.

If we dry that river up, our wildlife here will probably be in trouble. And our business would probably be done, DeSpain said.

Even temporary removal of the effluent will cause enormous damage to the riparian area, wrote the Community Water Coalition, representing 15 groups, in a Feb. 5 letter to the reclamation agency.

The Oxbow also contains a series of basins run by the county to recharge 600 acre-feet a year and houses migrating ducks and shorebirds. The coalition values the habitat in the Oxbow at more than $1 million.

In a letter to the bureau, County Regional Flood Control District Director Suzanne Shields faulted the proposal for failing to offer compensation for the loss of habitat and the credits the county now gets for its recharge there. Even if the effluent is eventually restored to the river, it would take decades to rebuild the riparian woodlands, she said.

EMOTIONAL FOR

THE ELDERS

One of the largest stakes in the water issue for the tribe lies only a few blocks east of Mission San Xavier. Its the San Xavier Co-Op Farm, run by tribal landowners but considered an entity of the tribe, where 6,000 acre-feet of CAP water each year nourishes 860 acres.

The farm fields are mostly bright green, growing alfalfa, hay and other pasture grains sold as livestock feed. Also grown are various produce crops and traditional Indian crops such as tepary beans, corn and Oodham peas that are sold to tribal members and outsiders.

The history of this farm starts with water. Every conversation I have about the farm starts with water, said Ciena Schlaefli, the farms food production manager. You cant do anything without it.

Founded in 1971 and supplied only by pumped groundwater for many years, the farm operated on a fairly small size until large-scale delivery of CAP water to the district began in the middle 2000s and the district set up an irrigation system in 2007.

Today, the farm stretches a mile long. By next year, the farms operators hope to more than double its size.

If the CAP water were ever cut off, you wouldnt see green fields here any more, Schlaefli said.

Its emotional for a lot of the elders. When they were growing up, they saw the fields of green, Schlaefli said. Then they saw it dry up. Now they get to see it come back.

In addition to other farms, the tribe puts CAP water on three riparian restoration projects, including a large one that has brought back cottonwoods of up to 30 feet tall along the Santa Cruz southeast of Mission San Xavier, said district chairman Nunez.

Nunez shook his head at the irony of the tribe restoring cottonwoods while standing to benefit financially from the diversion of effluent that will likely kill cottonwoods and willows in Marana.
PHOENIX  The last thing Jake Reynolds remembers is chasing a frisbee through a bush at Sierra Verde Park in Glendale.

After that, he blacked out.

A car traveling 25 to 30 miles per hour struck Reynolds, then a junior at Mountain Ridge High School. Reynolds head went through the windshield, decimating his face. He was rushed to HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center in Phoenix.

Reynolds luck turned after he arrived at the hospital. Dr. Pablo Prichard was working as the trauma surgeon on the floor.

After patching up the internal damage, Prichard used a high-definition CT scan to develop a 3-D printed implant to reconstruct Reynolds face.

Today, Reynolds looks like any other 18-year-old high school senior.

3-D technology has not been used much at all in reconstructive facial surgery, Prichard said.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a 3-D printed facial implant in 2014, according to Medical Daily. But the popularity and use of it remained minimal, and surgeons are still experimenting with the technology.

The procedure

Doctors initially worried that the facial lacerations and damage to Reynolds skull would lead to brain damage. After they ruled that out, the next step was reconstructing his facial structure.

Prichard described Reynolds injuries as really devastating. He said the bones in his face were crushed to a pulp.

Prichard had to reconstruct the muscles, nerve endings and even the salivary glands.

Reynolds said people tell him his injuries remind them of the character Harvey Dent in the movie The Dark Knight. Reynolds said he hasnt looked at the pictures of his injuries and has no plans to do so.

I refuse to see the before pictures because I dont want to see myself like that, he said.

Generally, doctors would have used metal plates and screws to reconstruct Reynolds face. But the bones did not have enough blood supply and essentially died away, Prichard said.

Because of that, Prichard decided to reconstruct Reynolds face utilizing the 3-D printing technology.

The idea just came from the fact that weve used this technology before in the more common way as far as the skull defects and simpler objects, Prichard said. (Its) basically kind of extending our previous experience in a more complicated way.

Utilizing the CT scan, Prichard placed antibiotic bone cement to fill in the space where the bone had died to prevent scar tissue from building and the facial structure from collapsing.

He then sent detailed plans to a company to make the 3-D implant.

Although this is the first time Prichard used this technology to reconstruct someones face, Reynolds said he had complete faith in his surgeon.

I totally trust Dr. Prichard, Reynolds said. Ive seen from past three previous surgeries before that hes great and awesome. Hes made it better than I believe anyone else could. So I was like, Yeah, lets go for it. I know he wouldnt do something that he thought was iffy on me.

Im not his guinea pig, so I trust him.

Moving forward

Its been a year since the accident, and Reynolds looks like any other teen enjoying his senior year of high school. He drives a red convertible Mustang and is preparing for his final season of track and field, where he participates in the 300-meter hurdles.

Reynolds said he and his parents are thankful for the advancement in technology.

They just think its so amazing and how lucky I am to have all these advancements, especially in modern technology today, Reynolds said. Theres just tons out there for me, and if this was to happen 20 years ago  I sure would not look nearly as good as I do now.

The final surgery to place the permanent implant in Reynolds face is scheduled for early June.

Prichard said he sees this method as something he can use more regularly for similar situations.

Obviously, there are times where you can just reconstruct the area with the patients own natural bone because the bone isnt as crushed and still has a blood supply, he said. This is basically if all else fails.

Prichard plans to utilize the same method to reconstruct the face of a police officer who was shot in the face.

(The method is) definitely not common at all, and thats kind of why were excited about it, he said. Its kind of a new use of current technology for reconstruction.

As a surgeon, youre trying to be on the cutting edge of technology, and you want to use traditional methods and then kind of marry them with those newer technologies, that can make your reconstructions and results just that much better.

While Prichard is eager to see where he can utilize 3-D technology in the future, Reynolds is just glad he can enjoy his final year of high school.
James Hancock stood at the end of table, hands in his pockets, explaining hes not much of a public speaker.

He was quiet. He looked at the floor. He sighed. Then he had a realization.

I am going to do this like I do with my kids, he said.

A deep breath.

At the age of 13, he began, I was put into foster care.

Hancock, and four other storytellers who gathered to rehearse Tuesday, shared the hardships and the inspiration they have experienced being connected to Arizonas child-welfare system.

Now a foster parent himself, Hancock will share those remembrances again Friday as part of Celebrate Our Story, a fundraiser for Arizonas Children Association thats being carried out in collaboration with Odyssey Storytelling. The other speakers include Cindy Hansen, who oversees in-home services for Arizonas Children, and Dimon Sanders, a recently adopted foster teen who competes in state and regional Miss America pageants.

The rehearsal audience included Penelope Starr of Odyssey Storytelling and Tony Paniagua, producer of AZ Illustrated Nature, who was there as an Odyssey curator and volunteer. Odyssey Storytelling is a local nonprofit, founded by Starr in 2004, that brings monthly storytelling events to Tucson.

Lori Riegel, an Odyssey board member and the Southern Arizona development director for Arizonas Children, was also there to help the storytellers round out their stories.

I see myself

in some of my kids

The day after Hancock joined his foster family, they set off on a 3,000-mile trip that took them into California and Oregon. Hancock had never been away from Arizona before, but he had moved 32 times and attended 17 elementary schools before foster care.

Stability? he said, referring to life with his mom. None.

This was the start of a more normal life, he said.

Hancocks transition wasnt easy, though. There were rules and boundaries hed never before experienced. He railed against homework, often disrupting the homework table his foster parents had set up in their home. But, he said, his foster mother would not relent and, eventually, he got it.

They showed me that if I wanted something, I had to go for it, do it. I had to concentrate, he said. And, if you fail, you get up and you do it again.

Hancock and his wife run a therapeutic foster home. They have one biological child, and are in the process of adopting for the first time.

I see myself in some of my kids, he said. They say, Youve never been in my shoes and I sit them down and tell them, Oh, yes I have.

A great, great day

Kyle Hetherington started his story with life as it is now: Hes a senior at Rincon High School, angling to go into politics and learning from local politicians like Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, and state Sens. David Bradley and Steve Farley.

He is a confident speaker with a knack for making people laugh. But the story of his early childhood is far from funny.

Kyle was still a toddler when his maternal grandparents, visiting Tennessee from their home in Green Valley, realized their daughter was incapable of caring for their grandson. There was serious neglect, including Kyle being left with acquaintances for long periods.

They fought for custody and won. In third grade, when they legally adopted him, Kyles whole class attended.

It was a great, great day, he said.

But it has also been challenging to accept what didnt happen. His little sister went to live with her father, he said, and her visits to Southern Arizona were upsetting for Kyle. That, in itself, messed with me a lot, he said.

The turbulence of his middle-schools year subsided when he started high school. He joined Junior State of America and began debating. He met state lawmakers and became part of Tucsons Metropolitan Education Commission.

Last July, he was invited to study at Georgetown University and visited the sites in Washington, D.C. It was a fantastic trip, he said.

Even when things start off hard, he said, you can have two great people who come into your life, who help you and mold you.

Well take her

Greg Wilsons voice was powerful in the small rehearsal room at the Arizonas Children Association.

As a young man, he said, his primary focus was to succeed as a corporate executive and achieve a certain lifestyle. His wife was equally driven, he said, and they spent their time  then living in Los Angeles  pursuing that goal.

But it didnt last. They found they hated it.

With the boat and expensive cars sold, they aimed to simplify, with less stressful jobs and more time outside of work. They wanted to start a family, but were unable to conceive. Thats when they decided to become foster parents and, eventually, adopt a child.

The phone call came in the middle of the night: a preschool-age child who had suffered significant abuse needed help.

We just said, Well take her, he said. That was over six years ago. Wilson is now on the board for Arizonas Children and his life, he said, is about helping kids.

She has been such a blessing to us, he said. We both make a fraction of what we made in our corporate years, but our lives are 10 times richer.
The University of Arizona will hold a talk this week to discuss the ongoing privacy dispute between Apple and the FBI.

Thursdays panel will address the tension between privacy and security in the context of the FBIs request for Apple to unlock an iPhone owned by one of the shooters in the Dec. 2 attack in San Bernardino, California, that left 14 dead.

The head of the Pew Research Centers research on the Internet, science and technology will join four UA professors of law, communications, management information systems and online data, the UA Center for Digital Society and Data Studies said in a news release Friday.
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New Delhi : Another JNU student, facing sedition charges for allegedly raising anti-India slogans on the campus, joined the police investigation in the case which is being given to the Special Cell that probes terror cases while arrested JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar said his attackers in court seemed highly motivated while police didnt intervene.

Meanwhile, a court extended police custody, by two days, of the two other arrested Jawaharlal Nehru University students.

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Ashutosh Kumar joined the police investigation on Saturday morning after the investigating agency on Friday night asked him to do.

Sucheta De, the national president of radical Left All India Students Association (AISA), said Ashutosh has gone to the police station to join the probe, adding he, and other accused Rama Naga and Anant Prakash Narayan told police a few days ago their intention to join the enquiry, gave their contact number and told police to call them whenever needed.

Along with JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya, Ashutosh, Naga and Narayan have been facing sedition charges for allegedly raising anti-national slogans.

Khalid and Bhattacharya were on Saturday sent to further two days police custody, sources said.

The proceedings were not held in Patiala House Courts complex here due to security concerns but in a south Delhi police station, where a magistrate was called for conducting the remand proceedings, said sources.

Meanwhile, Kanhaiya Kumar, in a video aired by channel CNN-IBN, said the the mob that beat him up at the Patiala House Court seemed to be highly politically motivated and well prepared for the attack.

Kanhaiya Kumar and a few journalists were assaulted at the Patiala House Courts complex on February 15 and 17.

The Delhi Police did not take any action while the attackers escaped, he said in the video which CNN-IBN said is footage of Kanhaiya Kumar testifying before a Supreme Court-appointed panel investigating the court violence.

Kanhaiya Kumar said the lawyers mob was prepared since as soon as they saw him at the entrance of the complex, he heard them calling other people to tell them Kanhaiya had arrived.

The lawyers started attacking me while raising slogans, he added.

He also told the panel that the mob also attacked the police officials who escorted him.

The lawyers kept beating me right from the front gate till the court room. One of the attackers managed to enter the corridor of the court with me. He was also present in the room adjoining the court room, where proceedings were scheduled to be held, said Kanhaiya Kumar.

I informed the Delhi Police present in the court that he is the person who attacked me. The attacker was not even dressed in lawyers uniform. Delhi Police didnt even try to arrest him and the attacker fled from the spot. I was disrobed during the attack and also lost my footwear, he added.

Asked by the panel how police failed to provide securityand allowed the attacker inside, Deputy Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, Jatin Narwal said that he immediately rushed to the spot but could not recognize the attacker since he came with the South district personnel, while an official from the South district said the man claimed to be Kanhaiya Kumars lawyer.

Outgoing Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi on Saturday said he has asked the case be transferred to the Special Cell, since it needed focused investigation and local police would not be able to put the focus which the case demands as they have to deal with numerous routine law and order affairs.
Help India!

By TCN News,

Conveying their serious concern over violence against religious minorities in India, 34 top American lawmakers that include Eight U.S. Senators and 26 members of the U.S. House of Representatives have urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take immediate steps to protect their fundamental rights and bring the perpetrators to justice.

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We urge your government to take immediate steps to ensure that the fundamental rights of religious minorities are protected and that the perpetrators of violence are held to account, said February 25 letter written by lawmakers to the Prime Minister Modi.

The letter is issued by US lawmakers on the backdrop of Amnesty Internationals annual report that criticized India for growing religious intolerance.

Reminding Modi of his February 2015 statement that his government will not accept violence against any religion on any pretext, the lawmakers urged Modi to turn words into deeds by taking steps to enforce the rule of law and protect communities from religiously-motivated harassment and violence.

Applauding Indias commitment to pluralism and tolerance, and reminding Modi that he had promised to ensure complete religious freedom, the lawmakers urged him to turn these words into action by publicly condemning such violence.

The lawmakers letter on religious violence, specifically names Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal and asked control activities of such groups including of Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).

We also urge you to take steps to control the activities of groups, such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and instruct Indian security forces to enforce the rule of law and protect religious minority communities from religiously- motivated harassment and violence, the letter said.

On June 17th, 2014, more than 50 village councils in the Bastar district of Chhattisgarh adopted a resolution banning all non-Hindu religious propaganda, prayers, and speeches in their communities, the letter said, adding that the Christian minority community has been dramatically affected.

The ban effectively has criminalised the practice of Christianity for an estimated 300 Christian families in the region one day after a mob, which included members of the Vishva Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal, seriously injured six Christians in the village of Sirciguda, the lawmakers alleged adding,Since the ban was implemented, Christians in the Bastar District reportedly have been subjected to physical assaults, denial of government services, extortion, threats of forced expulsion, denial of access to food and water, and pressure to convert to Hinduism.

Lawmakers also expressed concern over beef ban in India and said this is increasing tensions and encouraging vigilante violence against the Muslim community.

We also are concerned that the nearly country-wide beef ban is increasing tensions and encouraging vigilante violence against the Indian Muslim community. On Monday, November 2nd, a Hindu mob killed Mohammed Hasmat Ali, a married father of three, in Manipur, India, after he was accused of stealing a cow. Mr. Ali reportedly is the fourth Muslim murdered in just six weeks by Hindu mobs angered over allegations of cows being slaughtered or stolen. We understand that the September 28th murder of 52-year-old Mohammed Saif in Uttar Pradesh sparked a national outcry over rising intolerance toward religious minorities which culminated in hundreds of prominent academics, business leaders, and authors protesting, the letter reads.

They also raised additional concerns about the lack of recognition of Sikhism as a distinct religion which prevents members of the community from accessing social services and employment and educational preferences available to other religious communities.

We urge you to turn these words into action by publicly condemning the ban on non-Hindu faiths in the Bastar District of Chhattisgarh, and the violent assaults and other forms of harassment against religious minorities throughout India, lawmakers said before concluding that such implementation by his (Modis) government would demonstrate commitment to fostering a stable and inclusive society and respecting international obligations on the rights of religious minorities.

Senators: Roy Blunt (R-MO), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Al Franken (D-MN), James Lankford (R-OK), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Tim Scott (R-SC) and

Representatives: Keith Ellison (D-MI), Joe Pitts (R-PA), Brad Wenstrup (R-OH), Jim McGovern (D-MA), Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Trey Gowdy (R-SC), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Trent Franks (R-AZ), Betty McCollum (D-MN), Mark Walker (R-NC), Doug Collins (R-GA), Tim Walberg (R-MI), Ted Poe (R-TX), Adam Schiff (D-CA), John Conyers, (D-MI) have signed the February 25 letter.


Help India!

Professor Anisuzzaman, president of Bangla Aceademy, Bangladeshs national language authority, was in Guwahati recently. He had been invited by the Char Chapori Sahitya Parishad (CCSP), a literary body of Assam, to be felicitated for his immense contribution to the field of literature. Anisuzzaman, who in 2014 became the first person from Bangladesh to be awarded the Padma Bhushan, interacted with Abdul Gani of Twocircles.net about the current socio-political situation in the two countries. Here are the excerpts:

How you describe the current scenario of India and Bangladesh?

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The rise of religious fundamentalism has been the common and most dangerous problem for both India and Bangladesh at the present hour. Its disturbing. Freedom of speech is one of the most important things in a country, but some sections are there to snatch it away.



What are your views on the India-Bangladesh relations?

India- Bangladesh relations have improved substantially and currently are on the best of terms. I wish this will continue and hope the issues between the two countries will be solved through peaceful negotiations and friendly dialogues. It is my earnest hope that India and Bangladesh have a lasting friendship, because without it both countries will suffer. When we talk about relationships, we dont mean the relations between one government and the other; but people-to-people relationship. But yes, the governments hold the key to it, so they must see to it that state-level relationships improve, so that people feel free to get along with each other.

What you feel about the current situation in India?

Its very difficult for me to make remarks on the Indian situation because I belong to another country. But since we have talked about international situations, I can say that we would expect liberalism to flourish and we expect the government and the people to be tolerant and decent. We will also expect that the freedom guaranteed by the constitution is not misused. All are freedom are subject to certain limitations.

How can culture play a role in improving India-Bangladesh relations?

Culture represents our thought process and peoples thought are very important in relationships with others. You remember that UNESCO preamble says that wars are started in the minds of the people. So, the minds of the people need to be shaped in a way that we can think of peace. Culture contributes a lot in mutual understanding.

To what extend it is true that the minorities face the religious persecution in Bangladesh?

We did have problems of minorities suffering at the hand of the majority in several places. It is on published record that not just Hindus, but also Christians and Buddhists have suffered. But that is not the general tendency of the people of Bangladesh. I will say that every time something like this has happened the people have come out to condemn it and protest against it.

(Photo Credit: bdnews24.com)
Help India!

New Delhi: Eleven youth organisations on Sunday demanded the removal of union ministers Smriti Irani and Bandaru Dattatreya as well as Hyderabad University Vice Chancellor Appa Rao Podile over the Rohith Vemula suicide case.

The also announced the formation of a joint platform  Youth Against Communalism  against what they dubbed the atrocities of the communal forces.

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We demand the removal of Smriti and Dattatreaya from the union cabinet and Podile as vice chancellor, Communist Party of India-Marxist MP and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) president M.B. Rajesh told reporters here.

We strongly condemn the attacks on universities unleashed by the Sangh Parivar and central government throughout the country. The Hyderabad University and Jawaharlal Nehru University are the latest victim in this ongoing series of communal attacks, he added.

Rajesh also demanded the withdrawal of sedition case against JNU Students Union president Kahaiya Kumar and others.

Certain rowdy lawyers who assaulted journalists, JNU teachers and students at the Patiala House court (on February 15) and the JNUSU president (February 17) should also be arrested and strict action taken against them, Rajesh demanded.

He also sought strong action against Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi as he was responsible for the entire fiasco in the court complex.

The government is spreading blatant lies about the incidents in the JNU and Hyderabad University. Even morphed videos were created as evidences. We are launching this forum to unite the democratic youth organisations against the atrocities of the communal forces, Rajesh said.

This joint forum will hold an all-India convention here on March 15. It will launch protests across the country from March 23 to March 31.

The Youth Against Communalism includes representatives of the Democratic Youth Federation of India, All India Youth Forum, Revolutionary Youth Front, youth wings of political parties like Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and MDMK among others.
Help India!

Kanhaiya Kumar: JNU and University Autonomy

By Ram Puniyani

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On the back of the death of Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad Central University (HCU), one of the most prestigious University of the country Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has been targeted by the ruling Modi Sarkar. The frightening things which happened in HCU were just the beginning of attack on autonomy of universities, on the free thinking in a democracy. Rohith was forced to kill himself by the machinations of ABVP, which had brought pressure through a BJP MP on the ministry to get Rohith expelled from hostel and to stop his fellowship. Similarly the local ABVP unit brought pressure through its usual channels to intimidate and stifle the democratically elected student union in JNU.

It is alleged that in JNU some anti India; Pro-Pakistan slogans were shouted. There are confusing versions as to who did it. Truth of the video has come out, it was doctored. On the pretext of that Kanhiaya Kumar, the president of the JNUSU was arrested and the charges of sedition were slapped on him. Now Kumar is a member of AISF, the student wing of CPI, which is opposed to the separatist-pro Pakistan stance and in no way can he be part of type of slogan shouting which is supposed to have taken place. The original video also makes it clear. He neither shouted the slogans nor can anybody be arrested on the charge of shouting slogans. The constitutional position as clarified by noted lawyer Soli Sorabjee is that incitement to violence alone can be termed anti-National.

How come Delhi police enter the campus? The Vice chancellor, a BJP appointee, is indulging in double speak on the issue. On TV he stated that he will be the last person to call police in the campus. The investigation shows that he wrote letters to police calling them to take suitable action. Delhi police, working under Home Minister Rajnath Singh; went on recklessly to put the charge of sedition against Kumar. The lawyers in the court indulged in violence against those who looked like JNU students. One BJP MLA is involved in mercilessly beating up a CPI activist. This MLA also said that had he got the gun he would have shot those raising anti India slogans. One journalist was also attacked by BJP supporters. The same violence was repeated by lawyers the next day also and when Kanhaiya was being brought to court he was also beaten.

Now what is happening is a blatant attack by RSS controlled ABVP-BJP to crush the democratic secular voices in the country. As in Rohith Vemula case the ABVP, has become emboldened to call all those opposing their politics as anti national and are getting the state support to intimidate the voices for social justice; the progressive voices. BJP related organizations are creating a mass hysteria around Anti national. All those who dont endorse the RSS promoted Hindutva nationalism are being called as anti national. Prashant Bushan calls it a fascist onslaught.

All this is a big erosion of the values and practices which India has been nourishing. RSS combine is seeing this as an opportunity to wipe out all the norms and ethos of democratic culture and dissenting voices. It is a matter of shame that the police lacks the spine and professionalism and arrests the likes of Kanhaiya Kumar.

Rahul Gandhi who went to the campus and showed solidarity with the students was shown black flags and stones were thrown at him in Lucknow. Those agitating said that they are very angry as Rahul is sympathizing with anti Nationals. The MLA who beat up the CPI worker also said that anti national activities are going on and so he is showing his anger against those who shouted the pro Pakistan slogans. In TV debates the BJP spokespersons are harping on the same slogans and social media is resorting to the similar language.

The argument has been uniformly spoken by the Delhi lawyers taking law in their hands to those indulging in violence, from the ministers and top BJP leaders to those indulging in street violence. The second observation is that JNU students have been demonized through the propaganda as being anti National, and JNU being the den of anti India activities. One recalls that all this demonization of JNU has started with this Government coming to power. The RSS affiliates, VHP etc have been taking the marches to JNU gate to protest against the anti National JNU students and faculty.

Both these arguments show the deeper agenda in a way. The anti national rhetoric has been created to generate a mass hysteria against those disagreeing with BJP politics. The resorting to violence on this pretext clearly shows that this is a concerted effort to browbeat the practices and ideas which are not in keeping with the RSS-BJP mindset. This hysteria has been created to distract the attention from the social movement building up around the death of Rohith Vemula. The all round anger on the Rohith issue had put the BJP on the back foot. This creation of mass hysteria around anti India slogans has been created and is leading to street violence. This is an attempt on the part of BJP associates to wrest the initiative away from the movement which is building around Rohith. Apart from the attempt to abolish autonomy of universities this is also an attempt to sidetrack the issue of Dalits. The latter has also been reflected in the resignation of three office bearers of ABVP of JNU. These office bearers in their letter point out their dissatisfaction with the Government-BJP-ABVP interference in JNU affairs and their attitude of undermining the dalit issue as reflected in their attitude to the death of Rohith.

The demonization of JNU again is on purpose. This institute has reflected the democratic spirit, the freedom of thought, and the progressive values, all of which are an anathema to the agenda represented by ABVP-BJP. They want to abolish the autonomy of academic institutions as reflected in their policies in case of FTTI, IIT Madras, IIT Delhi and HCU to name the few. JNU was a particular target due to its outstanding contribution to high level of scholarship and adherence to progressive secular values. The concerted move by the ruling dispensation and its political associates to create a mass hysteria around anti-Nationalism and to erode the image of a progressive institution like JNU is as such an attack on the principles of democracy in the country.

While hopefully Courts may give some relief to Kanhaiya Kumar, the issue remains whether the mass hysteria and the street violence which has been unleashed on the pretext of anti India slogans can be brought under control. The massive rallies of the students demanding the release of Kumar, demanding that government should not interfere in autonomy of universities and opposing the demonization of JNU drew a massive response. ABVP and family in a recalcitrant manner is mobilizing all through the country to protest against Anti nationalism. Those who were part of the JNU students meeting and of JNU have condemned the anti-India pro Pakistan slogans. The need is to take up the struggle for preserving democratic values to the masses.

.

(Ram Puniyani is a former IIT Professor, Mumbai-based author and peace activist.)
If you wish to make a comment, share data on the subjects in my blog or donate archives to AFU, you can reach me at email hakan1952@gmail.com
Despite what most political pundits said at the time, Republican front runner Donald Trump has overcome the odds and is leading all other conservative candidates. While Trump might say he will "Make American Great Again," many believe it will not be possible, as reported by The Huffington Post on Feb. 27.

CIA speaks

One part of Trump's campaign rhetoric has included his questionable and controversial foreign policy. The billionaire real estate mogul has advocated for "bombing the oil fields" controlled by the Islamic State (ISIS), as well as targeting family's of suspected terrorists.

Trump also commented on the process of waterboarding, which he would encourage the use of even though it has been proven not to produce effectiveresults.

During an interview on Friday night's episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO, the former head of the CIA and NSA had some strong words for the former host of "The Apprentice." Michael Hayden sat down with host Bill Maher and explained why the United States military would not be legally obligated to follow Trump's orders if he's elected president.

"If he were to order that once in government, the American armed forces would refuse to act," Hayden told Maher. "You are required not to follow an unlawful order that would be in violation of all the international laws of armed conflict," Hayden continued, noting that he would be "incredibly concerned" if Trump implemented the policies he has proposed on the campaign trail.

In Dec. 2014, the Senate released the bipartisan "Committee Study of the Central Intelligence Agency's Detention and Interrogation Program," detailing the torture program and other illegal activities allegedly used during the Bush administration between 2001 and 2006. Since that time, the use of torture has been frowned upon by even more conservative Americans, but hasn't stopped top Republicans running for office.

Primary status

While Trump's foreign policy ideas might be extreme to some, the other Republican candidates have offered similar ideas. Even with criticism coming from former government officials, Trump's poll numbers have only increased regardless of how outlandish his statements might be. Heading into Super Tuesday this Tuesday, Trump is leading all other GOP candidates, and if he has a strong night, is expected to all but lock up the nomination set for this July.
China cuts red tape on intermediary services for administrative approval Updated: 2016-02-28 21:40 (Xinhua)

BEIJING - The State Council, China's cabinet, has canceled the need to apply for intermediary services in 192 administrative procedures, in the latest move to cut red tape.

Applicants will no longer need to provide evaluation and credential papers in the majority of the cases, according to a document signed by Premier Li Keqiang.

In some, government departments will bear the responsibilities for acquiring technical papers, as opposed to the applicants.

In China, many applicants for government approvals must go to intermediary agents, either independent or affiliated with cabinet departments, leaving a vacuum for corruption. In a circular April, the State Council said it would reduce the problem by obliging intermediary services in fewer cases.

Seventy percent of such services have been canceled so far, according to the State Council.
When Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Washington last week, US news media were reporting on Chinese military facilities spotted in some islands and reefs in the South China Sea. The news was leaked by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Tensions over the South China Sea have been a hot topic at CSIS events in past years, yet Chinese perspectives are often overlooked or even distorted in the discussions. So when Wang chose to speak at CSIS last Thursday, it came as a surprise to some, but not so much to others.

Indeed, it might be the first time for many in the CSIS audience to hear Chinas views on various hot-button issues, such as the South China Sea.

A career diplomat, Wang did not shy away from any question, answering all, especially one on the South China Sea, in great detail.

According to Wang, there are Chinese defense facilities on those islands and reefs. But he suggests that CSIS also uses its strong intelligence and satellite imaging capability to show the military facilities on islands and reefs of other countries in the region.

While China has already stopped its land reclamation there, some other countries, which started land reclamation much earlier than China, are continuing their reclamation activities even today, a fact hardly covered by US news media.

The islands and reefs occupied by some of Chinas neighbors are highly militarized with artillery, amphibious tanks, missiles and gun helicopters in addition to airstrips. Surrounded by these islands militarized by neighboring countries, its only natural for China to install necessary defense facilities, according to Wang.

As Wang said repeatedly lately, people should pay more attention to the civilian-purpose facilities China has built and will build in the South China Sea to ensure safety and freedom of navigation. Those include plans for meteorological stations, emergency harbors, maritime observation and research facilities and other types of civilian uses that will benefit all nations.

Asked whether the arbitration at The Hague sought by the Philippines will hurt Chinas reputation, Wang explained that the truth is exactly the opposite. It is the Philippines which has violated global, regional and bilateral rules and norms. According to Wang, when China signed the United Nations Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) 10 years ago, it made the Article 298 declaration not to accept mandatory arbitration, a declaration that was also made by some 30 signatory nations including Britain, France and Russia. The US, of course, has not yet ratified the UNCLOS even to this day.

To stick to the declaration, Wang said China wont accept any mandatory arbitration, whether its in Chinas favor or not.

At the same time, bilateral agreements between China and the Philippines stipulate that disputes should be resolved peacefully and through dialogue. Yet the Philippines has rejected any negotiations with China.

According to Wang, international practice also requires the Philippines to secure Chinas consent for arbitration before initiating it, yet the Philippines has not done that at all.

The Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea signed by the Philippines, China and several other nations would require countries directly involved to solve their disputes through negotiations.

Rules also say that a country cannot seek arbitration before exhausting bilateral avenues of discussion. Yet the reality is that negotiations over a dozen issues brought up by the Philippines to The Hague have never started.

So we cannot but question the credibility of that country," Wang said, referring to the Philippines.

He was puzzled that the Philippines still pursues the case in The Hague knowing its a mission impossible. So we cannot but question maybe they have some other motives," said Wang, who described the Philippines action as political provocation.

Thats the only way we can make sense of it," he told the audience.

While US media often describe China as a bully, Wang told the audience that last year alone, Philippine military planes flew through Chinas airspace over the islands and reefs in the South China Sea more than 50 times. Is that a big country bullying a small one?" he asked.

Maybe they are trying to remind us of something," he said. Unlike the Philippines and some other countries, China did not have airstrips on the islands and reefs in the South China Sea until last year.

Though disappointed with the current Philippine leadership, Wang said Chinas door for negotiation was always open. We can start tomorrow," he said.

To Wang, China and the Philippines are two neighbors with a strong bond between their peoples and complementary economies. They should engage in mutually beneficial cooperation rather than confrontation.

So we advise the Philippines not to go down this cul-de-sac," he said.

Contact the writer at chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com.




China's Global Newspaper





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2016 'Year of Tourism' initiative launched Updated: 2016-02-29 04:48 By AMY HE in New York(China Daily USA)

China and the United States is scheduled to kick off the 2016 US-China Tourism Year at a ceremony in Beijing on Monday.

Brand USA, a public-private partnership that promotes the US as a travel destination, is expected to host the ceremony for the year-long program of activities that was an outcome of President Xi Jinpings state visit to the US in September 2015.

Throughout the year, the US Commerce Department and the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA), in collaboration with Brand USA and other partners, will host events and activities to promote travel between the two countries.

US President Barack Obama will be featured in a video message promoting the year on the US embassy website starting on Tuesday.

An estimated 2 million Americans have visited China annually in recent years, and 2.5 million Chinese traveled to the US in 2015. Chinese visitors spent $23.8 billion while in the country in 2014, according to the Commerce Department, accounting for 57 percent of services exports to China.

Travel and tourism is the USs largest services export, generating nearly $220.8 billion and supporting more than 1.1 million US jobs, according to the Commerce Department.

New visa policies are in place to help promote tourism between the two countries. The US and China have implemented a reciprocal visa extension policy, offering 10-year tourist and business travel visas and 5-year student visas.

I think our hope by extending the visa validity  and I think some of the numbers are starting to prove this is the case  well have increased visitation, Kelly Craighead, executive director of the Commerce departments National Travel and Tourism Office, told China Daily. Were really looking to get more visitors to come, to stay longer while theyre here, and to come back again.

Christopher Thompson, Brand USAs president and CEO, told China Daily that the tourism year gives enormous platform to the travel industry to increase visitor numbers and enhance travel experiences between the two countries.

If you look at the Chinese market, only 6 percent of people have passports  and we get 3 percent of that 6 percent  so theres just tremendous potential there, he said. The year in tourism is going to give us a big stage under bright lights and gives us a chance to raise our storytelling and build the relationships through CNTA and our Commerce Department, in ways that we probably couldnt have done without that increased focus, Thompson said.

Brand USA is leading a visit to China for American tourism industry partners, with more than 30 representatives visiting Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou on a trip that began on Feb 24 and concludes on Friday.
Russia, US exchange information to ensure Syrian ceasefire Updated: 2016-02-28 05:37 (Xinhua)

MOSCOW -- Russia and the United States have exchanged information on the current ceasefire in Syria, a Russian senior military official said Saturday.

The shared information relates to areas in Syria where the latest ceasefire is applied and where armed groups are deployed, according to Sergei Rudskoi, head of the Russian Defense Ministry's Main Operational Directorate.

For the exchange of information, Russia has developed a map depicting the situation in Syria and forwarded it to the US side on Friday during the two sides' consultations in Amman, Jordan, said Rudskoi.

In an official transcript, Rudskoi said the map marked areas where reconciliation work is being carried out among conflicting Syrian parties.

"During the Amman consultations, we received a similar map prepared by the American side. The list of armed units, according to the US delegation, was sent to us via diplomatic channels," he said, adding that the Russian side is working on matching the acquired information with the data they have.

According to Rudskoi, Russia has shared with the US side a list of armed groups totaling 6,111 people that had abided by the ceasefire, as well as 74 towns and regions that should be excluded from airstrikes.

He added that Russia also sent to the US side on Saturday a proposal with standard terms and procedures necessary to ensure the cessation of hostilities.

Should ceasefire violations be confirmed, he said, Russia and the United States will take measures to de-escalate tensions, while urging all powers with real influence on the conflicting parties in Syria to make all efforts possible to ensure the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.

Noting that Moscow has fully abided by its commitments to the ceasefire since it came into effect, Rudskoi said his country is using multiple means of intelligence devices, including drones and satellites, to monitor the ceasefire on a daily basis.

Meanwhile, Sergei Kuralenko, head of Russia's reconciliation coordination center at the Hmeimim airbase in Syria, said in a tele-conference with Rudskoi that fighting has stopped in 34 towns and settlements across the central Syrian province of Hama.

In addition, 17 Syrian armed groups have affirmed their commitment to the ceasefire to the coordination center, said Rudskoi.

Nearly 2.5 tonnes of humanitarian aid was delivered over the past two days to two cities -- respectively in the Syrian provinces of Homs and Latakia -- that Kuralenko said had signed up to the agreement on the cessation of hostilities.

The cessation of hostilities, backed by Russia and the United States and agreed by 97 armed groups and the Syrian government, came into effect Saturday midnight Damascus time (2200 GMT Friday).

The deal excludes the Islamic State group and the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, as both of them are listed by the United Nations (UN) as terrorist groups.

A UN resolution unanimously adopted by the Security Council on Friday demands that all parties to whom the agreement applies fulfill their commitments.
70,000 may become trapped in Greece Updated: 2016-02-29 02:49 By AGENCIES(China Daily)

Stranded refugees and migrants hoist a boy in a wheelchair during a protest at the Greek-Macedonian border fence near the Greek village of Idomeni on Saturday. YANNIS BEHRAKISL/REUTERS

Greece said on Sunday the number of refugees and migrants on its soil could more than triple next month, reaching as many as 70,000 people, as a cap on border crossings by Balkan countries left them trapped in the country.

"We estimate the number of those trapped will be between 50,000 and 70,000 next month," Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas said.

"Today, there are 22,000 refugees and migrants," he said in a television interview.

About 6,500 people were stuck at the Idomeni camp on the Greek border with Macedonia on Sunday as Macedonian border officials allowed only 300 refugees and migrants to pass the day before.

Numbers began to mount in earnest at the 1,500-capacity camp last week after Macedonia began refusing entry to Afghans and imposed stricter document controls on Syrians and Iraqis.

The bottleneck is expected to worsen after European Union members Slovenia and Croatia, as well as Serbia and Macedonia, imposed a limit of 580 migrants crossing their borders each day.

The measures came after a clampdown by Austria, which lies farther up the migrant trail that extends from the Balkans to Germany and Scandinavia.

Austria introduced a daily cap of 80 asylum seekers and said it would only admit 3,200 migrants transiting the country.

The tighter controls have had a significant effect in Greece, where migrants have been arriving en masse from neighboring Turkey.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told parliament on Wednesday, "Greece, from now on, will not assent to agreements if the proportionate distribution of the burden and responsibility among all member states is not rendered obligatory."

AFP  AP
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Hanoi, February 27 (VNA)  Vietnamese exporters should restructure their production to improve profit and enjoy preferential of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP), Tran Tuan Anh, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade said.



Anh said agro-forestry and fishery sector has strengthened and has been one of Vietnam's key export products.



However, the products would lose their strengths in the middle- and long-term if businesses do not restructure production, thus bringing in higher added value, he said.



"This was the reason that Vietnam has issued the export strategy by 2020 with a vision to 2025 to take advantage of international integration," he added.



The wood sector has been considered one of the key export staples with an average turnover of 6 billion USD.



However, domestic wood exporters have focussed on products of sawdust, wood plank, ply wood, and fibreboard, in addition to furniture. Apart from furniture, the remaining products have been exported to the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Japan as input materials for production of paper, medium fibreboard and interior furniture. These input materials will not be given tax reduction in the TPP.



Nguyen Tuan Viet, General Director of Vietgo, one of the companies specialising in import-export consultancy, said the various sectors in the country would have to change their structure as foreign firms with big capital and modern technologies would pour their investment into Vietnam to enjoy tax preferential under the TPP.



"There will be a wave of businesses from China and Sweden, the leading wood exporters in the world, to invest in furniture production in Vietnam," Viet said.



Nguyen Ton Quyen, Chairman of the Timber and Forest Product Association of Vietnam (VIFORES) said several wood producers have to strive to change their technology to produce products with higher quality and added value.



"This is one of the critical solutions needed to take advantage of integration," Quyen said.



In addition, several agricultural products such as coffee, dragon fruit and lychee would be hard to ship in big amounts to the big markets of the US and Japan which have strict food requirements. Vietnam would benefit most from the countries as the TPP comes into effect.



Being one of the key export products, the garment and textile sector has witnessed difficulties as most of the producers have been small- and medium-sized enterprises. With strict regulations on the certificate of origin, garment and textile firms would not enjoy a tax preferential if they still rely on imported materials.



Vietgo's CEO said they received five contracts from China in December to seek cotton and down and feather for jacket production.



"This has been a vital trend as the TPP will take effect soon. If local businesses do not change, they will become employees in their own country," he said.



He recommended that Vietnamese firms should invest in design, and material production to manufacture high quality products that penetrate demanding markets such as the US, Canada and Japan./.

VNA/VNP



Consumer goods are expected to step up the pace of acquisitions in the coming months as organic growth in the Rs 3.2-lakh-crore domestic fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) market remains muted.

While financial year 2015 was the slowest in a decade in terms of value growth, the first nine months of FY16 have been no better. Revenue and profit growth has widened sharply as low commodity prices have pushed up bottomlines even as topline growth has remained weak.

"In the last two years, value growth for the market has come down to about 4.5 per cent from five per cent. On the other hand, volume growth is around 2.5 to three per-cent from nil earlier," Sanjiv Mehta, managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO), Hindustan Unilever (HUL), said during the firm's third-quarter results recently.

The pick-up in volume growth, however, hasn't been as sharp as anticipated by most firms, prompting many of them to look at other levers of growth. The acquisition push comes as firms see a growth in their cash position. In the last five years, such as ITC, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer, Asian Paints, Godrej Consumer (GCPL), Emami, Marico, Britannia, Procter & Gamble, Nestle and Jyothy Labs have all seen their cash and cash equivalents growing double.

For some of these companies, the acquisition push will mark a return to an inorganic growth strategy after a brief lull. "Now we have improved our capability and foundation in the business, we can look at inorganic opportunities," said Saugata Gupta, MD & CEO, Marico. The maker of Parachute coconut oil and Saffola edible oil had last executed a major merger and acquisition about four years ago when it acquired the personal care brands of Paras Pharma for Rs 750 crore.

It is now open to making acquisitions in the Southeast Asian and east African regions in a bid to expand its footprint. In the past, acquisitions in Egypt, South Africa and Vietnam had helped Marico in gaining a strong foothold in those markets. The international business gives Marico around 25 per cent of its revenues.

The same goes for GCPL, which will step up acquisitions in the future. "The timing is right again. In the last two to three years, we were little slow on the acquisitions bid, having done a slew of them between 2010 and 2013. But now the integration of all the acquisitions in the first phase has gone quite well, I think we can move into second gear on the inorganic (growth) front," Vivek Gambhir, MD, GCPL, said.

GCPL is open to acquisitions in India, Africa and Indonesia, Gambhir said. While there were two acquisitions in Africa in the last one year - South African company Frika Hair and Kenya-based Canon Chemicals - Gambhir admits that these were largely small acquisitions intended to fill key gaps in its portfolio.

If earlier rounds were characterised by medium-sized like GCPL, Marico, Dabur and Emami making acquisitions, the next round could see bigger players like HUL and ITC stepping into the fray.

HUL had hinted at this possibility three months ago when it went back to making acquisitions after a gap of 12 years. Mehta reiterated the same at the company's third-quarter results recently. "We have always maintained that we're open to acquisitions if the fit is right. Indulekha (Ayurvedic hair oil brand acquired in December 2015) fitted the bill both in terms of our strategic intent and price. If anything else matches our priorities and intent, we will consider it," Mehta said.

ITC, on the other hand, sees as its back-up plan for the cigarettes business; and if it has to achieve the target of Rs 1 lakh crore in 15 years, set by Chairman Y C Deveshwar, inorganic growth, say analysts, will be key.

During the company's annual general meeting last year, Deveshwar said, "As we succeed, we will enter everything that can be termed as ." Acquisitions will be clearly critical in achieving this. In May 2014, ITC acquired B Naturals juice for Rs 100 crore, following it up with Johnson & Johnson's brands Savlon and Shower to Shower for about Rs 200 crore in February 2015. It is scouting for more brands in the marketplace.
Coroners tragic conclusion on mystery disappearance of teen backpacker A coroner has handed down her findings on the Belgian backpacker who disappeared almost without trace in an idyllic New South Wales tourist town more than three years ago.

Jim Chalmers warns disaster floods will weigh on GDP growth Treasurer Jim Chalmers has revealed the "initial estimate" the recent flooding would have on the economy but warns costs associated could be "even more significant" ahead of his first federal budget on Tuesday.

Limited value: Liberal Senator against royal commission into COVID Liberal Senator Jane Hume acknowledged the long-term effects of lockdowns and school shutdowns but said Australia fared well compared to other countries.

Heavy rain, hail and more flood warnings for four states this weekend Millions of residents along the east coast have been told to brace for more wet weather this weekend, with warnings of large hailstones for Friday and severe thunderstorms bringing heavy rain to already flooded river systems.
Our Adventures Moving to and Living in Ecuador ....we went to visit Ecuador, fell in love with Cuenca and decided to relocate there.
DAVENPORT  Never all that fond of U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, Iowa Democrats now are downright angry.

Ever since Senate Republicans decided not to act on any nomination President Barack Obama puts up to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Democrats across the country have fumed.

It can be seen among their leaders, in letters to the editor and posts on social media. And as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose Republican members last week said they wouldnt even give a nominee a hearing, Grassley has been a prime target.

Tom Fiegen, a former state senator from Cedar County, says he sees it traveling the state.

Everybody thats on our side is hot, he said. Theyre angry.

Of course, if Democratic anger at a Republican rival was sufficient to boot him from office, U.S. Rep. Steve King would have been gone long ago. Still, there is an increasing hope among the partys faithful Grassley will face a stiff challenge this fall as he seeks a seventh term.

The Des Moines Register reported last week former Lt. Gov. Patty Judge said she hasnt ruled out a run.

There also are questions about the intentions of former Gov. Chet Culver, who has been traveling the state recently criticizing Gov. Terry Branstads move to turn the states Medicaid program over to private management. Culver has been mentioned a possible candidate for the U.S. House, but some are now wondering whether he has interest in the Senate, too.

Well have to wait to see, Culver said when asked whether he would be on the ballot this year.

There already are three Democrats vying to take on Grassley, but early polls say each is far behind the states senior senator.

State Sen. Rob Hogg, a Cedar Rapids Democrat, Fiegen and Bob Krause, a former state lawmaker from Fairfield, all are seeking the Democratic Partys nomination.

The filing deadline for the June primary is March 18, less than three weeks away. So, if others are going to jump into the race, they will have to pull the trigger soon.

Regardless of whether anybody else jumps into the race, the Democrats anger at Grassley will likely be stoked by the party and its allies.

Pretty much daily, the party is sending out missives criticizing Grassley.

In Washington, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reids office has been regularly circulating Iowa newspaper reports on social media about the turmoil. And party leaders in the state are trying to make the case Grassleys refusal to even hold a hearing is a departure for somebody who likes to portray himself  to Iowans of all political stripes  as somebody who, no matter the politics, will always do his job.

Whether you agree with him on the issues or not, hes known for doing his job, says Andy McGuire, the state Democratic chairwoman. But hes not doing his job.

Grassley has rejected the idea failing to hold a hearing is any kind of abdication of his duties. He and other Republicans have argued by not holding a vote, they are within their constitutional rights and are putting the issue before the voters in the 2016 presidential election.

A spokesman for his campaign said Friday Iowans understand, contrary to Democrats claims, Grassley still is as hard-working and independent as he always has been.

I think what its going to do is to underscore to Iowans the important role that Chuck Grassley plays in the Senate, the fact that he works hard for them, said Eric Woolson, the spokesman, a Grassley biographer and former Courier political reporter and editorial page editor. This is a guy who has not missed a vote since 1993, so anybody who says hes not doing his job is wildly off the mark.

The idea this flap might upend Grassley, who after his first election has never won by fewer than 30 percentage points, is greeted with skepticism in many quarters.

Grassley, of New Hartford, has held elected office for nearly 57 years. A farmer, formerly employed by Waterloo Register Co. in Cedar Falls and a union member of the International Association of Machinists, he was first elected to the Iowa Legislature in 1959 and served continuously until winning a Congressional seat in 1974 previously held by H.R. Gross of Waterloo. Grassley won his first Senate term in 1980, unseating incumbent John Culver. His grandson, Pat Grassley, has served several terms in the Iowa House, also representing the New Hartford area.

At this period in time, I think Sen. Grassley is a good bet for re-election as an incumbent, says Donna Hoffman, head of the political science department at the University of Northern Iowa, Grassleys alma mater.

A Public Policy Polling survey in December, before this latest controversy, said Grassley led all three of the Democrats running by 25 points and his approval rating is at 53 percent. Thirty-three percent disapproved.

Still, Jeff Link, a longtime Democratic strategist, said last week in such an unusual political environment  in the year of Donald Trump  it would be a mistake to think the battle is won before its fought. He points to Republican Sen. Pat Roberts surprisingly close win in Kansas in 2014, when an independent mounted a surprisingly stiff challenge, forcing Republicans to pour millions of dollars into the state.

Roberts won, but he got a scare.

No one expected Roberts to be in trouble, Link said.

Rod Boshart contributed to this story.
DES MOINES  Two out of three Democrats seeking their partys nomination in the Iowa U.S. House 1st District have agreed to a series of forums and the third is a maybe.

Five forums are planned. The first will examine environmental issues, according to Kurt Meyer of St. Ansgar, who led the committee that organized the forums.

Two candidates, Monica Vernon of Cedar Rapids and Gary Kroeger of Waterloo, have agreed to participate. Pat Murphy of Dubuque doesnt like the format, but is considering whether to participate.

He participated in 12 debates and forums when he won the nomination two years ago, but doesnt like what campaign manager Mike McLaughlin called the narrow focus of the debates.

McLaughlin said Murphy has agreed to a forum being planned by KCRG-TV9 and Loras College in March. Unlike the party-sponsored events, he said, any and all topics will be fair game.

Kroeger is fine with whatever format Im asked to participate in because he hears voters asking for two things: new ideas and civility.

Each party-sponsored forum will be one hour and available on television and livestream, Meyer said. Audience members at the forum and at home will be able to submit questions.

Murphy, Vernon and Kroeger are seeking the nomination to face first-term Republican Rep. Rod Blum of Dubuque. In 2014, Blum defeated Murphy., who had defeated Vernon and three others for the nomination.

The primary election will be June 7.
WATERLOO -- Police are asking for the public's help in finding a missing Waterloo man.

Rashon Shamaras Montgomery, 22, was last seen at 6 p.m. Friday when he left work at the Isle Casino Hotel Waterloo.

Montgomery, who has diminished mental capacity and autism, is black, 5-foot-6, 167 lbs. with sandy brown hair, hazel eyes and a beard. He was last seen wearing a red coat, dark pants and carrying a back pack.

Anyone who has seen Montgomery or knows where he may be is asked to contact the Waterloo Police Department through Black Hawk County Consolidated Dispatch, 291-2515.
Hollywood owes a huge debt of gratitude to Tim Burton;s 1989 Batman movie. Prior to this, the only mainstream cinematic superhero most audiences had seen was Christopher Reeves' brightly coloured Superman. If Burton hadn't blazed a trail with this darker and more adult vision, would film studios today have the guts to make superhero movies into dark and socially relevant cinematic treats like The Dark Knight and Captain America: The Winter Soldier?

As Burton's Batman has earned such a legendary status in the decades since its release, it\s easy to imagine that the movie's production period was a happy time where everyone got on and everything went swimmingly. However, the true story behind the Batman movie of 1989 is completely different to what you might expect.

There were fallings-out, ideas that never came to fruition, and some very negative reactions to the film. Here are ten surprising facts about the film that you might not know

10. The Films Production Seriously Peeved Robin Williams

The role of the Joker wasnt always Jack Nicholsons. Before he had joined the film, Willem Dafoe had already been considered for the part and the executives at Warner Bros strongly felt like the future-Green Goblin actor was a perfect fit for the role. Tim Curry and David Bowie were also considered for the part. When Nicholson was eventually offered the part, he was hesitant to accept it (justifiably, as a darker superhero film like this was completely new ground at the time). Warner Bros reached out to Robin Williams, who accepted the part without delay, but what happened next really p*ssed off the late, great Good Will Hunting star. Rather than pressing ahead with Williams as agreed, Warners told Nicholson that they had another actor lined up and that this was his last chance to accept the role. Nicholson snapped out of his doubts and accepted the role, even though Williams already thought hed nabbed it. Inevitably, Williams was infuriated at having been used as bait in this way. Williams refused to work with Warner Bros for quite some time afterwards, until the studio officially apologise for mistreating him in this way. When he was later offered the role of the Riddler in Batman Forever, he turned it down.
Today marks a year since Erin and I moved into our new house in north Portland. Even after 365 days, we still marvel at our good fortune in finding this place, which has become a home in every sense of the word. Its also an example of how sometimes things work out in ways you cant begin to imagine, much less understand. It wouldnt have taken much for things to work out very differently. This was the second house we made an offer on; we had to convince ourselves to walk away from a decidedly emotional attachment to the first house. On the same day we did that, we walked into an open house near the University of Portland and fell in love with the place we now call home.

The past year has been unbelievably positive- we bought a house, got married, honeymooned for two weeks in Iceland and Norway, got a dog (yes, the best dog EVER)I could go on, but the short version is that it truly doesnt suck to be Jack and Erin. Ive come to accept and find no small amount of comfort in where I am in life. That contentment has made it easier for me to write and create. Its allowed me to more fully appreciate what I have, and to recognize that theres much in my life to be thankful for.

There have been a few things that havent gone my way. How many among us can say their life is perfect, right? Part of the challenge Ive faced has been recognizing that things that feel like setbacks can if viewed in the proper light turn out to be net positives. There was one big setback- at least it felt that way at the time- that took me some time to accept and begin to reorient my approach. Id spent almost a year and a half working assiduously towards a goal, only to have it denied to me for reasons that at the time felt both ridiculous and unfair. I still dont understand why things played out as they did, but I no longer really need to. Once Id been able to step back and process what had transpired, I finally began to understand that maintaining the status quo in many respects proved a far superior option.

When the gods want to punish you they answer your prayers, right? That mine wasnt is something I finally came to recognize as perhaps the best thing that could have happened. Turns out that not getting what you want isnt always such a bad thing.

When I look back on the past year, its with a profound sense of gratitude for the good people and good things I have in my lifeand theres no lack of either. Today presents yet another opportunity for me to reflect on my good fortune and the good place I find myself in. The hardships and setbacks Ive experienced B.E. (before Erin) lend a perspective that helps provide me both profound gratitude and a tremendous sense of peace.

Life does not suck. Far from it.
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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 27, 2016 | By Tess

While 3D printing may often seen like a technology of the future, helping to innovate in new areas of science and design, some artists and designers have used the technology to connect us back to something in our pasts, whether it be an old manufacturing technique, such as casting, or a pre-technology design motif, such as nature. Today, we will look at the stunning bridal accessories of designer and maker Kasia Wisniewski, who has expertly combined 3D printing with craftsmanship to bring her nature-inspired creations to life.

Wisniewski, who has found success with her Etsy Shop, Collected Edition, is a Brooklyn, NY based designer who previously worked in the bridal fashion industry under such illustrious names as Vera Wang and J. Mendel. Wanting to launch her own brand that focused more on accessories, Wisniewski was instinctively drawn to 3D printing as a way to design and create her unique pieces.

As she explains, I have a really strong background in construction and making dresses, but I always had this impulse to make jewelry, tooMy husband actually designed and 3D-printed my engagement ring; he suggested that I take another look at 3D printing to make my headpiece. I had tried to play with 3D printing a few times over the preceding years, but it never really quite clicked. For the wedding I just had to buckle down  I had a time frame! Thats when I made the first iteration of my broken arrow headpiece. I really loved the process, and I got addicted.

3D printing has offered Wisniewski a way to express her own design style, which has consistently centred on elements of nature, such as twigs, leaves, and most predominantly, flowers. The combination of cutting edge technology and nature inspired designs presents an interesting juxtaposition that Wisniewski herself relishes.

I think theres something really interesting and compelling about using digital technology to mirror nature, says the designer. Its really easy to make something on the computer thats perfect; its a much more interesting challenge to capture what makes flowers so beautiful, which is their imperfections. Like the Japanese concept of wabi-sabi.

The process behind Wisniewskis pieces begins with a simple hand drawn sketch, which are sometimes even based off of real flowers shell have sitting in front of her. Once the sketches are done, and she has properly conceptualized the piece she wants to make, Wisniewski begins the 3D modeling process, making each element of her accessory individually and gradually connected them with leaves and stems to create a composition.

From there, the designer explains that she will usually 3D print a nylon sample of her work, either at home or through a 3D printing service, to see how the details come out. Once the design is satisfactory to her, she will go back to the 3D modeling program and add in whatever additions the accessory needs, such as combs or bindings. For many of the final pieces, she will then 3D print the final model in wax and cast the pieces in metal using a lost-wax method, though some pieces are available on her Etsy store in the 3D printed nylon.

Wisniewski, who describes her work as unapologetically feminine, has been drawn to the bridal fashion industry because of its emotional significance in peoples lives. As she says of bridal gowns, For most people, its the garment that theyll remember the most in their entire lifetime; their kids will know what it looks like, their grandkids will know what it looks like, and its something thats really treasured. Her turn towards bridal accessories has also kept up this idea of emotional significance, as she is creating timeless pieces that she hopes will be passed down from generation to generation.

Wisniewski is also hoping to be an inspiration for women to get more involved in the 3D printing world, which continues to be a male dominated field, especially by making traditionally feminine pieces using the technology.

Whether you have a wedding come up or not, be sure to check out Wisniewskis stunning, and inspirational bridal and assorted accessories here.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Zvizdo wrote at 9/26/2018 7:34:05 PM:Hi Can you please share project codes for printing this amazing flowers etc...? RegardsStella Sutton wrote at 2/28/2016 12:06:24 AM:Just lovely.Stella Sutton wrote at 2/28/2016 12:05:08 AM:It's just amazing what progress has been made in 3D printing. These bridal hair decorations are beautiful.




Strategic Elements (ASX:SOR) shares are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange under the code SOR. The Company is registered under the Pooled Development Program run by the Australian Federal Government to encourage investment into SMEs. To assist Pooled Development Funds to invest and raise capital, the Federal Government enables most shareholders in a Pooled Development Fund to make capital gains and receive dividends tax-free.


Half Year Results Announcement

Sydney, Feb 25, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Blackmores Limited ( ASX:BKL ) has announced continued momentum across its business delivering $48 million net profit after tax (NPAT) for the first half of the financial year, up 160% on the prior corresponding period. The first half profit result exceeds the total profit last year, which was already a strong period.



Highlights



- Group sales of $341 million for the first half, up 65% on prior corresponding period



- First half net profit after tax $48 million, up 160% and earnings per share of 280 cents, up 159%



- Strong financial position with a positive net cash balance



- Interim dividend of 200 cents per share (fully franked), a 194% increase on the prior corresponding period



The results are driven by continued growth from all segments and all markets with first half sales of $341 million, up 65% on last year's first half.



"China, in particular, continues to grow in importance with sales to Chinese consumers, both direct and through Australian retailers, estimated to represent 40% of Group revenues," said Blackmores Chief Executive Officer, Ms Christine Holgate. "Excluding these China sales, we are pleased that both the Group and our core Australian business are still in double digit growth."



Blackmores Australia sales for the period were $238 million, a 73% increase compared to the prior corresponding period with earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of $64 million. Sales to retailers in Australia have been bolstered by Chinese tourists and entrepreneurs, as well as from continued innovation and marketing activity. This included the launch of a Superfood range, the opening of a flagship store, education programs and digital marketing.



Blackmores Asia direct in-market sales were $61 million, a 73% increase compared to the prior corresponding period. Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) from the region were $5.8 million, more than three times the prior corresponding period, highlighting the increasing profitability of the Asian business.



"The strength of the brand and proven demand for our products was reflected in sales growth in all of our markets in Asia," said Christine Holgate.



BioCeuticals sales were $33 million, up 24% compared to the prior corresponding period with EBIT of $5 million. The business has a continued focus on delivering new product innovation, professional advice and a commitment to servicing healthcare practitioners.



Blackmores New Zealand and Pure Animal Wellbeing also continued to demonstrate improved sales and earnings performances.



"Blackmores Institute has supported the expansion of Blackmores in Asia given the importance of education and knowledge underpinning the presence of our product range in new markets and the need to educate health care professionals," said Christine Holgate. "This was furthered in the period with a partnership agreement with Rangsit University in Bangkok to expand its pharmacy education program."



Total Group expenses grew 53%, to $273 million, predominantly reflecting the increase of raw materials and freight needed to support the strong growth.



"Meeting the needs of our consumers and the growing demand for our products has been our most important challenge, particularly given our commitment to uphold unrivalled quality standards," said Christine Holgate. "As well as working closely with our growers and ingredient suppliers, we have invested in additional plant and equipment to increase capacity. Combined with the addition of a third production and distribution shift, this has resulted in record productivity for the Group."



"Our partnership with Bega Cheese Ltd ( ASX:BGA ) to develop and manufacture a range of nutritional foods made exciting progress in the half, resulting in the early launch of an infant nutrition range in January 2016," said Ms Holgate, noting that there are no sales for this new segment included in the first half reporting period.



"We continue to invest in new platforms for growth and strategic partners including a long-term joint venture with Kalbe Farma to facilitate entry into the Indonesian market," said Ms Holgate. The joint venture is called Kalbe Blackmores Nutrition and will be consolidated into the Group's results, though there were no significant transactions during the period.



The Blackmores balance sheet is in a healthy position, with positive operating cash flow at $60 million compared to $29 million in the prior corresponding period. Net debt was cash positive at $23 million with net interest cover at 50 times, compared to 21 times in the prior corresponding period.



"Our continued success has further strengthened our balance sheet with Blackmores now net debt free," said Ms Holgate. "We are proud to be able to give our shareholders a 159% increase in earnings per share and a first half dividend of 200 cents, almost treble last year's first half dividend."



DIVIDEND



The Board has declared an interim dividend of 200 cents fully franked, which is an increase of 194% compared to the prior corresponding period. The record date is 10 March 2016 and the dividend is payable on 24 March 2016.



OUTLOOK



"We are pleased with our continued growth and progress on delivering our strategic objectives," said Ms Holgate.



"Our core business in Australia, New Zealand and the ASEAN region continues to enjoy double digit growth, while our emerging business in China has further propelled our success. We have strong, experienced leadership in China and have structured our operations to ensure a sustainable future."



"The Board maintains its confidence in our ability to achieve strong profit growth for the full year."





About Blackmores Limited





Blackmores Limited (ASX:BKL) (OTCMKTS:BLMMF) is Australia's leading natural health brand. Its quality range of vitamin, minerals, herbal and nutritional supplements, and continued support of the community and environment, are among the many reasons Blackmores is the most trusted name in natural health.


Signs 2,000 Tonne Rock Phosphate Sales Agreement

Perth, Feb 25, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Fertoz Ltd ("Fertoz" or the "Company") ( ASX:FTZ ) is pleased to announce that it has entered into a sales agreement to sell 2,000 tonnes of rock phosphate to a fertilizer manufacturer and distributor. It is expected that supply of the product will occur early in third quarter this year with the view that additional sales may occur after this point.



Stephen Keith, Managing Director, stated "We are please d to be able to commence delivering on our commitment to sell 10,000 tonnes of rock phosphate this calendar year. It is encouraging that we have signed an agreement that achieves 20% of our targeted sales so early in the year. This sale provides support that we have the right business model in the right market at the right time. This sale, combined with our newly appointed Director and our recently announced sales and marketing partnership, indicate our focus on developing our projects with a view towards long term sustainability and cash flow."





About Fertoz Ltd





Fertoz (ASX:FTZ) is an Australian-based phosphate exploration and development company with a range of projects in British Columbia, Canada as well as Queensland and the Northern Territory. The Company is focused on becoming a fertiliser producer as quickly as possible, initially focusing on the Canadian/USA markets.

Fertoz plans to develop its exploration assets in Canada in order to identify any potential Direct Shipping Ore (DSO) projects. It intends to seek joint venture partners to assist in funding the exploration projects in Australia.

Phosphate is a commodity necessary for feeding the world, and Fertoz is ready to capitalise on this growing demand.


Analysts Briefing - Delivering Group Profit up 160%

Sydney, Feb 25, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Record Half Year - Delivering Group Profit up 160%



Highlights:



- Strong sales performance across the Group



- Group Sales $341 million, up 65%



- Further operating leverage delivered EBIT of $69m, up 145% and improved EBIT margin to 20%



- Record NPAT of $48 million, up 160% YOY and greater than total F15



- Earnings Per Share up 159% at 280c



- Interim Dividend Per Share up 194% at 200c



- Fully franked, record day 10 March 2016, Payable on 24 March 2016



- Doubling of operating cash-flows, securing a 112% Cash Conversion ratio



- Debt free and Net Cash positive $23m



- Launched first products with Bega partnership



To view the presentation, please visit:

http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-BKL-908953.pdf





About Blackmores Limited





Blackmores Limited (ASX:BKL) (OTCMKTS:BLMMF) is Australia's leading natural health brand. Its quality range of vitamin, minerals, herbal and nutritional supplements, and continued support of the community and environment, are among the many reasons Blackmores is the most trusted name in natural health.


Strategy Announcement

Melbourne, Feb 29, 2016 AEST (ABN Newswire) - Cash Converters International Ltd ( ASX:CCV ) today announced a major change in strategy following a comprehensive review across all businesses. The company will focus on building on its brand and network strengths in Australia, and significantly reduce its operations in the United Kingdom.



Highlights



- Major change in strategy following a comprehensive six month review



- Future strategic focus on sustainable growth and profits delivered through industry leading customer service and satisfaction



- Increased investment to build on brand and network strengths in Australia



- Return to master franchisor role in the United Kingdom; sale of corporate stores and loan book



- Higher half-year net profit of $15.9 million (HY 14: $5.3 million loss)



- Return to dividend with 2.0 (two) cents interim payment



- Revenue up 5.8 per cent to $198.6 million (HY14: $187.7 million)



- Strong performance across all channels in Australia



- Online personal loans principal advanced up 42.5 per cent to $44.6 million (HY14: $31.3 million)



- New financing and transactional banking arrangements to underpin strategy and growth



- Productive engagement with Government agencies on review of small credit legislation

Cash Converters also announced a net profit of $15.9 million for the half-year ending 31 December 2015. This was a substantial improvement on the $5.3 million loss for the December 2014 half. It followed a 5.8 per cent lift in revenue to $198.6 million and a strong performance across all channels in Australia.



Managing Director Peter Cumins said: "Our new strategy is to build on our clear brand and network strengths in Australia where we are the industry leader. We believe we have the best prospect of sustainable growth and profits there.



"Our latest financial results confirm our strength in Australia across retail and financial services. Despite an encouraging improvement by our businesses in the United Kingdom they still have major structural and sectoral issues our new strategy will address," he said.



New Strategy



Cash Converters began a comprehensive review six months ago aimed at developing a new strategy to deliver sustainable growth and profits. Going forward, the focus will be on businesses with returns well above their cost of capital and leadership in customer service and satisfaction.



Australia already has industry leading market share, brand recognition and customer satisfaction. The company will increase investment to build on these strengths. It will expand its national network continuing the successful mix of corporate and franchise stores. It will also increase capabilities to cater for the rapid growth in online lending demand.



The company will broaden its current lending product range with the introduction of medium amount credit contract loans. These are government regulated and with loan periods of up to two years for amounts up to $5000.



In the United Kingdom Cash Converters will 'go back to the basics' and return to its original role as a master franchisor. It is currently negotiating to sell its corporate stores to franchisees within its network and will also divest the UK personal loan book. Once these sales are completed it will focus on servicing the needs of its franchisee network throughout the United Kingdom.



In Australia, Carboodle will cease operations with the current lease book wound down. The business will look to transition to a new secured motor lending business, Green Light Auto Finance. This will operate as a low overhead, capital 'light' business supported by a funding platform from a third party.



The company has a 25 per cent interest in Cash Converters New Zealand and plans to use that as a platform for future growth in that market.



The company expects to take into its full year 2016 financial results charges related to changes in the United Kingdom and Carboodle businesses. At the date of this report, Cash Converters is in the process of assessing the likely impact of these changes on the 2016 full year financial results, and further clarity will arise as the plans are implemented over the remainder of the current financial year. Based on current estimates the likely financial impact of the strategic changes noted above is not expected to be greater than $35 million before tax, including both cash and non-cash items. Further clarity on this will be provided as the restructuring is implemented.



In commenting on the new strategy, Peter Cumins said customer service was a key objective. "We aim to be the industry leader in customer service and satisfaction through ongoing investment in upgraded products, services and staff capabilities.



"If our industry is to be fully accepted by government and community as an integral part of the financial services sector, we need to ensure we continually deliver high quality products and services while maintaining the highest compliance standards.



"We also need to ensure our businesses consistently deliver returns above their cost of capital. Getting the balance right between these two objectives will be our strategic priority," he said.



Half Year Results



The net profit for the half year was $15.9 million compared with a loss of $5.3 million for the previous corresponding period.



The higher profit followed a 5.8 per cent rise in revenue from $187.7 million to $198.6. The main drivers of the revenue growth were retail sales up $11.4 million, pawn interest up $1.4 million and financial services commission up $1.5 million.



On a divisional basis normalised EBITDA (underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and impairment) was up 15.1 per cent to $37.3 million.



Strong performance in Australia and improvement in the United Kingdom



On a geographic basis normalised EBITDA was up 11.0 per cent to $38.3 million in Australia. The United Kingdom improved following a concerted effort to reduce costs and increase corporate store earnings. The business recorded an EBITDA loss of $1.1 million compared with a loss of $2.3 million in the previous corresponding period. International EBITDA was $211,942 compared with $295,727 previously.



Australia performed well across all channels. Corporate stores EBITDA was up 2.9 per cent to $10.5 million. The personal loan book was steady at $115.8 million with online growth being strong. Online personal loans were up 42.5 per cent to $44.6 million and online cash advances up 62.1 per cent to $8.2 million.



The Australian cash advance product EBITDA was up 15.7 per cent to $6.2 million.



Replacement of Banking Services



Cash Converters recently announced a new loan securitisation facility with the Fortress Investment Group that re-finances the existing banking facility on market competitive terms. The Fortress facility is for five years with an initial three year loan period and an option for a two year extension.



Cash Converters has also signed a five year agreement with a service provider to replace its existing transactional banking facilities. The transition is expected to be complete by July 2016.



Government review



The Australian Government announced in August 2015 a review of small amount credit contract laws. Cash Converters has been actively engaged in the review process and has lodged submissions as well as meeting with government representatives, agencies and the review panel. The review recommendations are due by the end of February 2016.



Dividend



The directors of the company recommend that an interim dividend of 2.0 (two) cents per share be paid on 29 April 2016 to those shareholders on the register at the close of business on 15 April 2016.



The company's Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) will apply to this dividend, providing shareholders with the option to reinvest all or part of the their eligible dividend at a discount of 2.5% of the price established by the 5 day volume weighted average price (VWAP) up to and including the record date.



Outlook



In commenting on the outlook for the company and its industry sector, Peter Cumins said the signs are positive.



"We will now focus on markets where we already have a strong position, good growth prospects and relatively predictable operating and regulatory environments. In Australia we believe we can use our market and brand leadership to not only improve our financial performance, but also assist in the necessary reshaping of short-term lending into a reputable and credible segment within the overall financial services sector.



"Recent government data shows the short-term lending market in Australia is growing and the range of consumers accessing these products is broadening. This is driving demand for online and more sophisticated lending products.



"Cash Converters is well positioned to meet this demand and respond to industry changes," he said.



Further information



Further information about Cash Converters new strategy and financial results is available in the two Investor Slide Packs (Building on our Strengths and Investor Presentation for the Half-Year ending 31 December 2015) lodged with this release. These packs are available at: www.cashconverters.com



Conference call details

Date: Monday 29 February 2016

Time: 9.00am AWST; 12.00 pm AEST

National Toll Free Number: 1800 280 741

Overseas Toll Free Number: +61 3 8687 7788

Participants are requested to dial in 5-10 minutes prior to the start time.

To register your attendance, please email general.enquiries@cashconverters.com



To view the half year report, please visit:

http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-CCV-754442.pdf





About Cash Converters International Ltd





Cash Converters International (ASX:CCV) is a franchised retail network listed on the ASX. It specialises in the sale of second-hand goods. The Cash Converters group employs modern retailing practices, professional management techniques and high ethical standards to the management of its stores throughout the chain which appeal to a wide cross section of the community. As a result, Cash Converters has been able to position its outlets as credible retail merchandise stores, resulting in a profitable market for the group.
Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL), the countrys largest passenger car exporter and the second largest car manufacturer, today inaugurated Indias first Digital Automotive Experience Outlet Unity Hyundai.

Unity Hyundai  Digital Experience Outlet is a New Thinking, New Possibility approach which offers an unique car buying experience to modern shoppers by adopting the digital screens and artworks as per the changing taste of customers. It will provide a customer-centric experience allowing visitors to research, test-drive, part-exchange their old car and purchase a new Hyundai car  either with cash or through various finance packages.

The outlet is staffed with highly trained and knowledgeable sales representatives expressing the Modern and New Age Hyundai Brand. It is designed to provide Hyundai Experience to customers giving them freedom of purchase. Unity Hyundais pioneering Digital Experience Outlet has been designed to be easy-to-use, flexible and convenient for the customers to Experience Hyundai.

Commenting on the opening of the first digital experience outlet, Mr. Y K Koo, Managing Director, HMIL commented: Hyundai has the customers truly at its heart. This outlet expresses Hyundais modern premium brand identity. Unity Hyundai is Indias first Interactive, Creative and Understanding space which boosts the Hyundai brand value by creating an emotional connect with the existing and future customers. The key drivers for the success of Unity Hyundai - Digital Experience Outlet will be Evolution, Innovation and Experience. This exciting new digital outlet from Hyundai exemplifies these themes to create a unique experience.


Indias premier consumer brand, Casio India Private Limited takes another step forward in reaching out to the youth by presetting the biggest buzz in the Rock music arena of the country. The brand is the title sponsor of the 7th G-Shock Rolling Stone Metal Awards 2016.

The brand is extensively leveraging this association for brand awareness with communication on venue as the title partner and aggressive online strategies. The daily updates on social media platforms of G Shock and Rolling Stone are being made along with high engaging content on microsites and online channel partners. At ground level, the brand is creating a great visibility at in-shop counters while reaching out to the target audience by radio and outdoor presence along with magazine print ads.

Kulbhushan Seth, VP, Casio India says, The objective of this association is to create a brand personality and identification with metal musicians and establish the brand G Shock as a part of the Indias youth culture. G-shock is a cult brand and so is the metal and with our association with Rolling Stone, we are looking forward to leverage this synergy. The Rolling Stone Awards 2016 are a fantastic means for the brand to reach the energetic, music freak and confident youth of the country.

Adding more excitement to the event, Casio also conducted fun activities at the pre-gig events in Delhi, Bangalore and Guwahati wherein a G-shock watch thrown in Moshpit and a lucky audience who recovered it first took the watch home. The brand also set up a display of watches at the venues to connect the audience with the brand. The G-shock Rolling Stone Metal Awards 2016 honours the winners in 10 different categories including Best Emerging Band to the big three of Best Song, Best Album and Best Band. Over the years, the awards have become a launch pad for aspiring bands. The awards also host performances by the most-talked about bands and nominees in the country to make it one loud night.

The popular rock and metal bands like Grammy Winning Effort, Gaijin, Primitiv and Shepherd will be performing at the awards night. So hang out with your favourite bands and experience unique engagement designed by G Shock at 7th G-Shock Rolling Stone Awards 2016.
To promote the new, innovative Create Your Taste service now available in New Zealand, McDonalds has launched a campaign where locals can become a part of history by creating their own burgers.

With literally millions of unique burger combinations to be made, the possibilities are endless and McDonalds has turned their burger-lovers in to burger designers. Now anyone can build their own bespoke burger and become part of Burger History.

To tell the story of Create Your Taste, a 45 TVC brings to life the tale of ordinary guy, John Smith. John had spent his life striving to be great, but ultimately failing to do so,until the day he finally differentiated himself by creating a burger named The Smittie, destined for the history books.

Shane Bradnick, DDB Executive Creative Director, says, The Big Mac, Quarter Pounder, Kiwi Burger and now The Shano  just some of the great Maccas burgers in history. Who would have thought simply building a burger could get you into the history books? With millions of options, were looking forward to seeing how creative Kiwis can be with the 31 ingredients and endless name possibilities.

Adam from Robbers Dog says, There is a little John Smith in all of us. Our entire lives we spend trying to be unique and stand out from the crowd, only to realise that youre not the only wrestler at the birthday party. Who wouldve thought creating a burger would be the way John and the rest of us could make our mark in the world!

The spot is supported by a shorter 15 edit, outdoor, digital and social assets, all light-hearted and relatable for Kiwis sense of humour.

Like John Smith, all New Zealanders are able to make burger history online at makeburgerhistory.co.nz. They can design and name their own unique Maccas burger and then using a QR code go to the counter and order their own little piece of burger history. Some clever creators may even have their burgers become the new face of future Create Your Taste ads.
Hurricane Hunters fly research missions into atmospheric rivers

The 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, Hurricane Hunters, spent Feb. 11-24 flying through "atmospheric rivers" in the Pacific Ocean stretching from Hawaii to U.S. West Coast in efforts to improve storm predictions.



The squadron teamed up with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Weather Service, Scripps Institution of Oceanography California, and Oregon and Washington emergency management offices for the research mission aimed at improving forecaster's ability to predict where these atmospheric river storms will make landfall.



Atmospheric rivers, a corridor of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere, can lead to flooding, mudslides and damaging winds, and El Nino events contribute to warmer ocean waters which fuel these rivers with moisture. The organizations are taking advantage of one of the strongest El Nino seasons in the past 60 years to view the evolution of storms.



"We are tasked to fly during these specific events within the El Nino period in certain areas over the Pacific Ocean to collect information such as water vapor and temperature. This will allow meteorologists to forecast the amount of rain that is going hit California," said Lt. Col. Jonathan Talbot, a 53rd WRS senior meteorologist.



Two Air Force Reserve WC-130J Super Hercules completed three missions with both crews flying 2,300 mile treks simultaneously within the atmospheric rivers. For two missions one crew flew out of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, and the other crew from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. The last mission required a crew to fly a mission from Travis Air Force Base, California.



To collect weather data, crews release a dropsonde, which is a parachute-borne cylindrical device that gathers weather data not available through satellite imagery. The dropsondes collect air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, and wind speed and direction as it drops toward the surface of the water.



An aircraft typically releases about 10-20 dropsondes; however, for these missions crews dropped anywhere from 40-60 dropsondes per flight across the width of the atmospheric river, said 1st Lt. Leesa Froelich, a 53rd WRS aerial weather reconnaissance officer. This data was sent real-time by satellite to the National Center for Environmental Prediction to create a multidimensional view of the rivers.



"This mission represents a new chapter in West Coast weather prediction by bringing capabilities of the Air Force's weather reconnaissance squadron and their impressive C-130J aircraft to beat on the challenges of West Coast atmospheric river landfall predictions," said Marty Ralph, the Center for Western Weather director and Water Extremes University of California San Diego/Scripps Institution of Oceanography.



Knowing the amount of rain California will receive during one of these events is vital, Ralph said.



The last El Nino event in the 1990s produced more rain than the California reservoir infrastructure could handle. To alleviate strain on the reservoirs, the water managers opened the dams and let the water out. The big problem occurred when the rains stopped and too much water was let out and then it didn't rain again for years, he said.



The data collected from the Hurricane Hunters missions will allow scientists to determine how much water needs to be drained, Ralph said.



"Better forecasts of landfalling atmospheric rivers can help with precipitation and river predictions in ways that support water managers in California," said Jay Jasperse, the Sonoma County Water Agency chief engineer, which oversees operations for a key reservoir that helps supply water to 600,000 people.



"The missions were an absolute 100 percent success," Talbot said. "All sorties flew and collected in the areas needed, helped to paint the full picture for forecasts."
At least 22 Taliban militants were killed over the past 24 hours in a fighting with the security personnel in Baghlan province of Afghanistan.

The battle occurred in Dand-e-Ghori district of the province, Xinhua quoted army spokesman Ahmad Jawed Salim as saying on Sunday.

Up to 22 Taliban rebels have been killed and seven injured over the past 24 hours, Salim said.

The Taliban outfit has not yet commented.

Dand-e-Ghori and Dand-e-Shahabudin districts have been regarded as Taliban hotbeds in Baghlan and adjoining Kunduz and Samangan provinces from where the militants organise operations.

The Afghan government launched a major offensive in mid-January to evict militants and restore government control in both Dand-e-Ghori and Dand-e-Shahabudin districts.
Bollywood is smitten with the biopic rage lately. Glamorous actress, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan who made a comeback with Jazbaa after a long hiatus is now gearing up for Sarbjit.

The movie also stars Randeep Hooda along with Aishwarya and is highly anticipated.

According to a report in IANS, the Sarbjit team has been permitted to shoot near the international border with Pakistan near Attari.

Further it suggests that, Aishwarya requested government officials for the permission.

Helmed by Omung Kumar, Sarbjit is a biopic on Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer who was convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan and was sentenced to death.

The film is slated to hit the screens on May 19.
The release date of Indian actress Priyanka Chopras Hollywood debut Baywatch has been set as May 19, 2017. The films principal photography has already begun, Paramount Pictures has announced.

The American studio made the announcement on Friday via a statement, adding that the movie will be shot in Miami and Savannah.

Baywatch is the film version of the popular 1990s TV series of the same name. And Priyanka, who has garnered success on the international fiction TV space with Quantico, will be seen in a negative role in the movie.

The film has an eclectic star cast with names like Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.

Horrible Bosses fame director Seth Gordon is directing the film from a screenplay written by Damian Shannon, Mark Swift and Barry Schwartz.

Beau Flynn, Ivan Reitman, Michael Berk, Doug Schwartz and Greg Bonann, creators of the iconic Baywatch television series, are producing the venture.

Baywatch follows devoted lifeguard Mitch Buchannon (Johnson) as he headbutts with a brash new recruit (Efron). Together, they uncover a local criminal plot that threatens the future of the Bay. And Priyanka is on board to play the bad guy in the film.

The film will be released in India by Viacom18 Motion Pictures.
Days after allegations of rape and molestation by Jat quota agitators near Haryanas Murthal, a woman on Sunday came forward and registered a case of gangrape against seven people, including her brother-in-law, in connection with the incident.

An FIR has been lodged against seven persons in connection with a gangrape on the basis of a complaint filed by a Narela-based woman today, Haryana Police, DIG, Rajshree Singh said.

She said the victim had alleged she was raped on the intervening night of February 22-23 and the perpetrators included her brother-in-law. The complainant said she knew all of them.

The officer, who heads a three-member team of women police officers constituted by the Haryana government to go into alleged incidents of rape and molestation of several women by Jat protesters, however, said a family dispute could be the reason behind the woman filing the complaint.

The officer said the victim was not sure about the exact scene of the crime but claimed she was raped in a building near Murthal when she was on way to Narela in Delhi from Haridwar on a van.

The woman, however, said her 15-year-old daughter, who was accompanying her was not raped but her clothes were torn.

The DIG said the woman had called her up on Saturday and her statement was recorded Sunday.

Singh said most of the complaints she was receiving were from men who claimed their vehicles had been damaged by the agitators.

Earlier, some locals, including truck drivers, had claimed they had seen women being dragged to the fields by the protesters. TV channels showed footage of garments worn by women strewn in some places.

Some village heads had, however, trashed their claims and described it as an attempt to defame the people of the area.

Earlier in the day, three truck drivers had denied having witnessed any incident of sexual assault or rape even as Chief Minister M L Khattar said the guilty shall not go unpunished.
After Independence, in 68 years India has won three wars against Pakistan, tested two nuclear bombs, sent umpteen numbers of satellites into space and won numerous Nobel prizes and what not if it is not for our nationalism and patriotism? On the contrary, what RSS or Right wingers ideology has achieved other than inciting people to kill each other? We dont need lessons on what is sedition even if somebody is going to shout anti-national slogans, because no one is supporting such slogans. Whoever said it must be identified through proper forensic investigation of the videos and dealt with appropriately (not through charges of sedition, which as per the Supreme Court, can be invoked only when there is incitement of violence). However, here it is very clear that Kanhaiya Kumar neither organised the event nor raised or supported such slogans. His arrest, the demonising of JNU through a media trial and whipped up mass hysteria, the police crackdown on the campus and open mob-rule in the Patiala House court clearly points to another agenda, that is more anti-national than any slogan raised. At least, we know the intention of the sloganeering people, they wanted to destabilize nation, by supporting their agenda, if right wingers too do mob lynching or violence, then these people are too equally dangerous for democracy.

There is no question of debating ideas, even how much inflammatory it may be. What was being raised there was not a debate. Not even a single person coming out of that movement (which caused incident) gave any satisfactory facts about their motives. The students were opposing death penalty and protesting for whatever happened in HCU to Rohith Vemula. They all were against capital punishment. They are right or wrong, let court decide but the saffron brigade is here to divide India in the name of patriotism. However, till what extent you will divide them? You have divided state by state, district by district, city by city, street by street, religion by religion and caste by caste. You are imposing your agenda in which even family may divide themselves. Whatever happened in JNU, I dont want to comment on that as the matter is in courts consideration. Moreover, those Kashmiri students and outsiders raised the anti-India slogans yet to be identified are actual culprits. They should be booked under law of the land. Police and administration failed to arrest them and unwanted media trials were put on these students who did not participate in those slogans. Indeed, the present government does not want the students of any institutions of higher education to follow their path or ideology but want it mandatory to them. However, what worries me the most is use of its various outfits to generate anti-national hysteria. Its high time, we should question them how they are branding anybody as anti-national and project themselves as true nationalists? The policy of dividing students and using the power against them should stop immediately.

On the other hand, the comparison of the present situation to Indira Gandhis Emergency is misleading and wrong. To propagate herself in power in the aftermath of Allahabad High Court nullifying her election, Indira Gandhi promulgated Emergency and curtailed personal liberty and imposed censorship on freedom of press, besides hounding and arresting major opposition leaders and did not declare Emergency for preserving the unity and integrity of the nation against external threats and internal sabotage as we see every day.

Again, if we are comparing Emergency imposed by Mrs. Gandhi with the current scenario, then distributing national and anti-national certificate is also not approved. Since Modi government took over, India is defined as Hindu, Hindi, and Hindurashtra. Anyone against their ideology is anti-national. If people of each state call for separate sovereign state how that can be anti-national? JNU has been a significant incubator for the task of nation-building and the instution has also been an incubator of dissenting ideas, if the dissenting ideas are against nation building it cannot be allowed. There should be self-restraint among our leaders. Students should build a concept Nation First among the people. Let the people unite within the slogan  Nation First. And the same should be applicable to media and political parties too.

JNU students are one of the most fearless writers and speakers. They deserve praises for their bravery in the midst of human piranhas. They speak their mind; they are the voices of the poor, the helpless unheard millions in India. And there is no harm in voicing ones opinion, freedom of speech and expression, as these are all our fundamental rights. If speaking truth is subverting, then what integrity we are talking about? What is the qualification of those people, the one who is asking the patriotism of everyone? Whenever right wingers appropriated patriotism, it has always spelled doom. History is an unforgiving teacher. It is good to know the highest court does not subscribe the parochial right wingers idea of patriotism. By standing up for civil rights and personal liberties one must do service to the country, regardless of whether some persons shout and make noises. One of the many things that we have to learn, teach our children, the society around us is the value of listening. Every contention and contentious person brings a point to the table. Courts and justices have to prove better listeners than anybody. When there is evidence that the judge has listened then any verdict handed down will be paid attention to accordingly. Even now, I hope the truth will surface and justice would be done.

(Any suggestions, comments or dispute with regards to this article send us on feedback@afternoonvoice.com)
February 27, 2016

Congress is setting its sights on Bashar al-Assad and his regime amid concerns that the Obama administration has all but given up on deposing the Syrian strongman.

The House Foreign Affairs panel on March 2 is set to mark up a resolution from Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., calling on the Obama administration to push for the creation of a war crimes tribunal to investigate and prosecute violations "whether committed by the officials of the Government of Syria or other parties to the civil war." The move comes as Republicans and some Democrats are convinced that Secretary of State John Kerry is caving in to Russian demands to keep Assad in power.

"There is the potential to move forward in a way that would push back the gains both made by [the Islamic State] and by the Assad regime, but that would require leadership," committee chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., told Al-Monitor in an interview last week. "It would require cutting off material support for the Assad regime and increasing pressure on key players aligned with the regime and further isolating those involved in war crimes. How about making it clear that the hundreds of thousands of people who were killed by Assad because of chemical weapons and barrel bombs, that that constitutes war crimes? It takes that kind of leadership."

The committee is also scheduled to take up a resolution calling the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Syria and Iraq a "genocide" and urging that perpetrators be brought to justice. The resolution, from Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., and Assyrian-American congresswoman Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., is championed by a coalition of religious freedom organizations that hope to spark a global movement to create a safe zone for Middle East Christians in their historic homeland of the Ninevah plains of Iraq.

Also on March 2, the committee's global health panel will hold a hearing with a panel of public health experts on "the growing threat of cholera and other diseases in the Middle East."

The conflicts in the Middle East are having a hugely negative impact on health in the region, especially in light of the targeting of health workers and health facilities by terrorists," Smith, the panel's chairman, said in a statement. "A year-long cholera outbreak in 2015 may have abated, but ongoing fighting and rebel control of large, unaccountable areas prevent us from being certain. This hearing will examine the status of cholera and other disease outbreaks in the region to determine the most effective US policy options to meet this threat."

On March 1, the Senate continues its oversight of the Obama administration's FY 2017 budget request for the State Department and foreign operations with a hearing of the Foreign Relations Committee's management panel.

That same day, the House Financial Services Committee's task force to investigate terrorism financing has scheduled a hearing on "helping the developing world fight terror finance."

On March 2, the House Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on worldwide threats with Defense Intelligence Agency Director Vincent Stewart and Joint Staff Intelligence Director James Marrs.

And on March 3, the Senate Judiciary Committee has scheduled a markup of legislation from panel member and presidential candidate Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to strip convicted terrorists of their US citizenship.

Finally, the full House kicks the week off Feb. 29 by taking up a resolution calling on Iran to do more to find and return missing American Robert Levinson to the United States.
February 23, 2016

In recent months, it has been hard to keep up with the recurring reports on changes in the Israeli education system. It began last June with a decision by Education Minister Naftali Bennett to remove the play A Parallel Time, performed by the Haifa Al-Midan Theater, from the culture basket, the list of performances made available to schoolchildren, because it is based, so he explained, on the story of a Palestinian terrorist. His decision ran contrary to the opinion of a committee of professionals that determined that the play should go into the basket, as it did not encourage terrorism. Later, Dorit Rabinyans novel Borderlife was excluded from the advanced literature curriculum of high schools on the grounds that it encourages assimilation. What's more, the ministry ordered a freeze on funding of bodies teaching pluralistic Judaism in schools. In addition, teachers claim that the list of concepts each student of civics is required to master has been updated, with a clear preference for concepts emphasizing Jewish nationalism over those highlighting the state's democratic character.

On Feb. 17, Education Ministry officials were reportedly quoted as contending that Bennett intended to appoint a new committee on civic studies consisting for the most part of right-wingers. This follows the public uproar sparked earlier this year over the ministrys biased revision of the high school civics textbook. While the current version has been under revision for several years now, debate on the issue becomes increasingly heated each time a new minister is appointed.

Or Kashti, education analyst for the daily Haaretz, points out that although all recent education ministers have attempted to impose their political ideas, the trend has lately become especially intensive. Kashti told Al-Monitor, True, the religious aspect was given prominence during the days in office of former ministers Limor Livnat and Gideon Saar, as well; however, it was not done in such a coercive manner then. We have a minister here who really emphasizes national and nationalist aspects and who is really a missionary.

On the other hand, Yoram Harpaz, a professor of education, is not as alarmed. Ben-Zion Dinur, the education minister in 1951, was acting to foster Jewish identity, and his successors in office followed suit. However, it was no cause for public concern as the political left was standing on solid ground at the time. What's different today is the context. The political right is currently very strong, and we see processes of 'religionization' taking place in numerous areas. No wonder then that those who oppose these concepts are in a panic. For those people, Harpaz has a reassuring message: School plays but a minor role in children's education. Its impact on shaping them probably accounts for a mere 5%. All other agents are much more significant: home, family, the environment, TV and recreational activities.

Zeev Degani, principal of the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium in Tel Aviv, told Al-Monitor, I don't see any actual evidence on the ground of the political statements released by top-ranking officials in the ministry. However, I do hear in the media about the intention to separate those on the right and those on the other side of the political map, between the religious and secular. Educators who find such trends in line with their perceptions may yet interpret it as granting them legitimacy.

Regardless of the heated public debate on each of the decisions described above, the majority of educators, school principals, teachers and even parents, on both sides of the political map, have generally refrained from voicing their opinion. True, the Borderlife affair provoked a public protest, sending droves of buyers to bookstores, and several school principals defiantly announced that they had acquired copies for the school library. But if any debate erupted within the system, it stayed within the boundaries of the teachers' lounge.

The moral abyss has not skipped the education system. I don't hear voices of school principals or teachers speaking up, Degani said critically. He believes that there are those in the system who disagree with the minister's moves although they remain silent. This is understandable, he believes. Those annoying to the system are laid off, he said. In addition, senior ministry officials take care not to voice opinions on controversial issues. According to a top ministry official (speaking on condition of anonymity), some ministry staffers back Bennett and his policies, while those opposing him are wary of expressing their views. However, he emphatically said, there is no atmosphere of terror in the ministry corridors.

It seems that these words might be attributable, among other things, to a series of political attacks on figures in education due to their views, notably relating to civic studies. These episodes have scared the public. For instance, in 2014, civic teacher Adam Verete was fired from the ORT school network following a complaint letter by a student upset by the leftist content he had allegedly been slipping into classroom lessons. The allegations triggered a large-scale protest against him on Facebook. Two years earlier, the Education Ministry's supervisor of civics instruction, Adar Cohen, was dismissed over political disagreements. This was also the case for Nir Michaeli, the Pedagogical Secretariat chairman dismissed last July, just eight months after the government had approved his appointment. Another senior figure sent home, despite her success in office, was Hagit Messer-Yaron, vice chair of the Council for Higher Education (CHE). Bennett, who serves as chairman of the CHE, asked Messer-Yaron to resign, as her dismissal was not under his ministerial authority. Bennett did not disclose his reasons and went on to appoint Rivka Wadmany Shauman to replace her. The appointment triggered a petition by hundreds of academics, headed by senior academic staff members at leading universities, who protested the aggressive dismissal, as they put it, and the appointment that, they argued, was not professional enough. On Feb. 21, six members of the CHE resigned in protest of Bennett's conduct.

The education system is preoccupied with a series of public scandals although it has a host of critical professional issues to deal with. In fact, Israel is ranked at the bottom of the list of developed countries on indices such as class size and investment per student. Students' achievements as measured in national and international tests are incredibly poor. Education and achievement gaps between the periphery and the center are widening. But reward for handling these problems, if any, might be expected long after the minister leaves office. Political conflicts, in contrast, yield immediate electorate gains. Come to think of it, that could be the explanation for the Education Ministry's agenda in recent months.
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JAZZ FUSION

Its difficult to describe the sound of Roman Street, but once you hear it, it becomes instantly recognizable. Native Mobilians and brothers Noah and Josh Thompson, both guitarists, formed the Billboard/iTunes chart-topping band that many have called the next generation of jazz fusion. Though they sometimes perform with a band backing them, their first local show of 2016 will feature the guitar duo.

Roman Street, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m., Manci's Antique Club, 1715 Main St., Daphne, $8, (251) 375-0543 or www.romanstreet.com.

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Michelle Matthews | mmatthews@al.com

HIP-HOP

The University of Mobile will host Lecrae, a two-time Grammy Award-winning hip-hop artist, and his Higher Learning Tour, which is visiting college campuses and college towns throughout North America. "This tour allows me to be involved and inspire some of the most impactful and influential leaders of tomorrow, said Lecrae. College is where many of the world-changing thoughts and ideas are birthed. I want my music and my message to help inspire those ideas.

Lecrae, March 2 at 7 p.m., Mobile Civic Center Theater, 401 Civic Center Dr., $20 for University of Mobile students, $25 advance, $30 day of show, $75 for VIP tickets including a meet-and-greet, tour poster, early entry and early access to merchandise, www.mobilecivicctr.com or http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1B00503395BA2D83

Photo of Lecrae courtesy University of Mobile

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Michelle Matthews | mmatthews@al.com

,D

The Mobile Writers Guild and the Friends of the Mobile Public Library are hosting a sizzling 1950s New York City-style cocktail party celebrating New York Times bestselling author Melanie Benjamin.

The author of "The Aviator's Wife" has written a new novel, "The Swans of Fifth Avenue," about New York's "Swans" of the 1950s  and the scandalous, headline-making and enthralling friendship between literary legend Truman Capote and peerless socialite Babe Paley. Cocktails and refreshments will be served, with food by Bay Gourmet. Fashion of the era is encouraged, and prizes will be awarded for best 1950s style.

Melanie Benjamin, March 3 from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Mobile West Regional Library, 5555 Grelot Road, $25 per person or $40 per couple, (251) 208-7097 or www.mplonline.org.



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Michelle Matthews | mmatthews@al.com

FIRST FRIDAY ARTWALK

Fairhopes First Friday Artwalk returns with four new exhibits opening at the Eastern Shore Art Center, including Inner Landscapes, featuring watercolor paintings by Jean Lawrence; Mess of Assumptions, a contemporary art installation by Gulf ArtSpace Reprise, a visual troupe of 20 exhibitors employing a variety of materials, abstract forms and social or political commentary; Extraordinary Insights: Art of the Quilt, with textile pieces curated by Marjorie Puryear; and Home is Where You Park It, featuring paintings by Cat Pope inspired by the charm of the coastal lifestyle. Artwalk also includes live music by Adam Schrubbe and friends, along with special performances and demos to coincide with Mess of Assumptions.

Fairhope First Friday Artwalk, March 4, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Eastern Shore Art Center, 401 Oak St., Fairhope, free, (251) 928-2228, www.esartcenter.com.

Shown: The Mess of Assumptions group show is curated by Lynn Yonge and features Doug Baulos (pictured), Pinky Bass, Bruce Larsen and more, at the Eastern Shore Art Center on Friday, March 4. (Courtesy Eastern Shore Art Center)

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Michelle Matthews | mmatthews@al.com

CHILI WEATHER

If you like chili, you'll love the American Cancer Society's 27th Annual Chili Cook-Off, where you can sample as much chili as you could ever want. Teams compete in four different categories for bragging rights to the best chili in the community, and the proceeds will help fund programs that teach the importance of early detection and prevention; patient services such as transportation, prosthetics, counseling and emergency financial assistance; and life-saving research.

American Cancer Society's 27th Annual Chili Cook-Off, March 5 at 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., The Grounds, 1035 Cody Road N., $10 at the American Cancer Society office and any Trax Tire Pro location, $15 day of event, (251) 344-9858, www.mobilechilicookoff.org.

Shown: Jody Johnson of team Hot Meat-Cold Beans serves wild game chili during the 26th annual American Cancer Society Chili Cook-Off in 2015. (Mike Kittrell/mkittrell@al.com)
6:14 p.m.: Marco Rubio shakes hands with people in the crowd as he departs for a private fundraiser in Huntsville.

6:11 p.m. "Sweet Home Alabama" fires up again as Rubio concludes speech -- but not before one more swipe at Donald Trump.

"Friends do not let friends vote for a con artist," Rubio said.

6:03 p.m.: Rubio wrapping up his speech by talking about his parents.

"My parents didn't achieve financial success and didn't become famous but they were successful," said Rubio, citing the success he and his siblings have found in the U.S.

"The American dream is not about how much money you make. It's about the God-given right to life liberty and to pursue happiness. If we lose the American dream, if we ever become like one of those countries whose future depends on who your parents are, then we stop being a special country."

5:59 p.m.: Rubio campaign announces that crowd at U.S. Space & Rocket Center estimated at 3,000.

5:57 p.m.: Rubio gets strong applause as he talks about growing military and defense program.

"When you elect me president, we are going to undertake a Reagan-style rebuilding of the military," Rubio said. "And that includes the space program. The space program is a key part of our national security. There is a reason the Chinese is practicing blowing up our satellites.

"Great nations do great things. We are going back to space."

5:54 p.m.: Rubio animated with his voice getting louder. Much more animated than at campaign stop in Guntersville in December.

"We have to win," Rubio said in wrapping up criticism of Clinton. "And if you nominate me, we will."

5:52 p.m.: Rubio pivots to focus attack on Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton.

Rubio said she is "unqualified" and "disqualified" from being president, citing the Benghazi attack in 2012 that left four Americans dead in Libya.

"Hillary Clinton doesn't want to run against me but I can't wait to run against her," he said.

5:48 p.m.: Rubio immediately goes after Donald Trump.

"He is pulling a con game on the conservative movement and the Republican Party," Rubio said.

He also hits Trump on having the worst spray tan.

Interesting that when Rubio last campaigned in Alabama in December, he never mentioned any of his opponents.

5:44 p.m.: Rubio kicks off speech talking about space program and how much he supports it.

5:43 p.m.: Rubio takes the stage in Huntsville to "Sweet Home Alabama."

Marco Rubio takes the stage in Huntsville. (Paul Gattis/pgattis@al.com)

5:39: Rubio convoy just arrived at U.S. Space & Rocket Center and state Rep. Will Ainsworth takes the stage for the introduction.

"It's a two-man race in Alabama," said Ainsworth, Rubio's co-campaign chair in Alabama. "We've surged past (Ted) Cruz in the polls."

5:21: There are Rubio signs here but also this one:

Donald Trump seen at Marco Rubio rally in Huntsville. (Paul Gattis/pgattis@al.com)

4:58 p.m.: Rubio campaign announces they have brought in extra buses to accomodate the crowd parking off-site at the rally at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville.

The rally, originally scheduled to take place inside the museum, was moved outdoors to accomodate the surging registration of supporters.

Madison, Isabella and Gabriel Miller hold up posters summing up the importance of the 2016 presidential election. They arrived an hour before GOP hopeful Marco Rubio held a rally in Huntsville. (Paul Gattis/pgattis@al.com)

4:52 p.m.: Brandon Miller's three children carried the message in their hands.

"OUR FUTURE @ STAKE."

The children held up posters that spelled out that phrase an hour before Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio spoke to supporters at a rally at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center on Saturday. The rally is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m.

"In the end, it's all about them," Miller said of his children Isabella, Gabriel and Madison. "This affects their future way more than ours."

Miller said he and his wife said they were still undecided who would get their vote in the Super Tuesday primary.

"We're interested in a lot of the candidates - except Trump," said Arthur Abrantes, who attended the Rubio rally with his wife and their four children.

Indeed, The Donald was an unmistakable presence at the rally even without actually attending. Trump has won three of the four states that have held primaries or caucuses so far and is an overwhelming favorite to win a sweeping number of states on Super Tuesday.

"It is," Abrantes said when asked, while attending a Rubio rally, if it was discouraging to see Trump's dominating poll numbers.

Donna Jones, along with her two children and husband, was among the early arrivals to see Rubio. She said she's made up her mind to get behind the Florida senator.

"We've been following his campaign and kind of gotten excited about it," Jones said. "I believe he has the best chance of winning the general election.

"And he's mature. I really like that about him. He's not a child."
Two Georgia State University freshmen claim they were kicked out of a Hillary Clinton rally on Friday for writing "Black Lives Matter" on the back of a Clinton sign.

"The ironic thing is that the staffer gave me the sign in the first place. If they hadn't given it to us, I would not have written it down," Ashona Husbands told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Her friend, Meagan Mwanda, who was also ejected, said: "Why are these three words such a threat to her and her campaign?"

The Clinton campaign told the newspaper the Secret Service nor the campaign kicked anyone out of the rally at Atlanta City Hall. Atlanta police did escort two people out of the rally for having signs, according to the report.

Husbands and Mwanda said they didn't want to hold the sign because they don't know who they are supporting yet. They said the men, wearing military-style uniforms, escorted them out and told them the signs weren't appropriate.

Besides "Black Lives Matter," Husbands also wrote the names of three black people whose deaths have been protested by the movement: #Sandrabland, #trayvonmartin, #Ericgarner.

Mwanda wrote "I am not a super predator" on another sheet of paper.

Clinton used the phrase to describe youth with "no conscience and no empathy" in a speech in advance of her husband President Bill Clinton's controversial 1996 crime bill.
Maci Lilley

Maci Lilley went missing on Friday. (Photo courtesy of the Roosevelt County Sheriff's Office)

A search is underway in Montana for a 4-year-old girl who was reportedly kidnapped.

NBC News said that Maci Lilley was reported missing on Friday on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Wolf Point. Witnesses told police, "a man took Maci against her will from a park where she had been playing," according to NBC Montana.

The reservation is located in northeast Montana.

One suspect, 20-year-old John Lieba, has been taken into custody, but Maci still has not been found.

The FBI has taken over the case, and multiple agencies such as Tribal Police and Border Patrol were assisting in the search.
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Hillary Clinton sailed to a commanding victory over Bernie Sanders in Saturday's South Carolina primary, drawing overwhelming support from the state's black Democrats and putting her in strong position as the race barrels toward Super Tuesday's crucial contests.



Clinton's win provided an important boost for her campaign -- and a moment to wipe away bitter memories of her loss to Barack Obama in South Carolina eight years ago. As she makes her second White House run, Clinton has warmly embraced Obama, who remains widely popular with Democrats and particularly African-Americans.



Eight in 10 black voters went for Clinton, according to early surveys from polling places. Black voters were more likely to say they trust Clinton than Sanders to handle race relations, 45 percent to 6 percent. An additional 44 percent said they trust both.

Among all Democratic primary voters Saturday, 8 in 10 said race relations were important to their vote. Among black primary voters, a third said it was the most important issue to them.

Moments after she clinched a win, Clinton tweeted: "To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you."

To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you. -H pic.twitter.com/JFTUZ2yBxf  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 28, 2016

Clinton's victory came at the end of a day that saw Republican candidates firing insults at each other from Super Tuesday states. Donald Trump, working to build an insurmountable lead, was campaigning in Arkansas with former rival Chris Christie and

Ted Cruz was asking parents in Atlanta if they would be pleased if their children spouted profanities like the brash billionaire, and Rubio was mocking Trump as a "con artist" with

Sanders, expecting defeat on Saturday, left South Carolina even before voting finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesday's delegate-rich contests. He drew 10,000 people to a rally in Austin, a liberal bastion in conservative Texas, the biggest March 1 prize.

After polls closed, Sanders congratulated Clinton on her victory. But he says the campaign is just beginning.

Sanders noted that he won a "decisive victory" in New Hampshire and she did the same in South Carolina.

Now it's on to Super Tuesday, he said. Sanders said his "grassroots political revolution is growing state by state," and he "won't stop now."

Clinton's will pick up most of South Carolina's delegates, widening her overall lead in AP's count. With 53 delegates at stake, Clinton will receive at least 31. Sanders picked up at least 12.

Going into South Carolina, Clinton had just a one-delegate edge over Sanders. However, she also has a massive lead among superdelegates, the Democratic Party leaders who can vote for the candidate of their choice at this summer's national convention, regardless of how their states vote.

While Sanders spent the end of the week outside of South Carolina, his campaign did invest heavily in the state. He had 200 paid staff on the ground and an aggressive television advertising campaign.



A self-described democratic socialist, Sanders has energized young people and liberals with his impassioned calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and making tuition free at public colleges and universities. But the senator from Vermont, a state where about 1 percent of the population is black, lacks Clinton's deep ties to the African-American community.



Exit polls showed 6 in 10 voters in Saturday's South Carolina primary were black. About 7 in 10 said they wanted the next president to continue Obama's policies, and only about 20 percent wanted a more liberal course of action, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.



Some other results from the exit polling:

-- Six in 10 South Carolina primary voters were women, and three-quarters of them said they voted for Clinton. She was also supported by about 6 in 10 men.



White women were evenly divided between the candidates, while 7 in 10 white men said they voted for Sanders.



Clinton ate into Sanders' advantage among young voters. Although he was supported by about two-thirds of primary voters under 30, she was supported by about two-thirds of those between the ages of 30 and 44, as well as three-quarters of those over age 45.



-- Clinton was supported by 9 in 10 voters saying experience was the most important quality in choosing a candidate, and 8 in 10 of those saying it was most important to choose a candidate who can win in November. She was also supported by 6 in 10 voters saying they want a candidate who cares about people like them.



Sanders held only a slight lead among those looking for a candidate who is honest and trustworthy, after Democrats looking for those two qualities overwhelmingly supported Sanders in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. He was supported by large majorities of white voters who cared most about a candidate being honest or caring about people like them.



Questions about Clinton's honesty have dogged her throughout the campaign and appeared to be a weakness in earlier contests. But in South Carolina, 7 in 10 voters said Clinton is honest, slightly more than the two-thirds who said the same of Sanders



-- Half of voters said they trust only Clinton -- not Sanders -- to handle an international crisis, while another third of voters said they trust both of them. Only 1 in 10 said they trust Sanders over Clinton.



Clinton won majorities of voters saying they think the economy, health care or terrorism are the most important issue facing the country, and she even appeared to lead among those saying income inequality is most important.



Four in 10 South Carolina primary voters said the economy is the most important issue, more than in any other state so far.



Clinton's sweeping victory suggested South Carolina voters had put aside any lingering tensions from her heated 2008 contest with Obama. Former President Bill Clinton made statements during that campaign that were seen by some, including influential South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, as questioning the legitimacy of the black presidential contender.



This time around, Clyburn endorsed Clinton, and her husband was well-received as he traveled around the state on her behalf. She also focused extensively on issues with particular resonance in the black community, including gun violence. She held an emotional event in South Carolina with black mothers whose children died in shootings.



Clinton's second White House bid lurched to an uneven start, with a narrow victory over Sanders in Iowa and a crushing loss to the senator in New Hampshire. She pulled off a 5-point win over Sanders in last week's Nevada caucus, a crucial victory that helped stem Sanders' momentum.



Clinton's campaign hopes her strong showing with black voters in South Carolina foreshadows similar outcomes in states like Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia that vote Tuesday and have large minority populations.



Taken together, 865 Democratic delegates are up for grabs in the Super Tuesday contests in 11 states and American Samoa.



Because Democrats apportion delegates proportionally, Sanders is simply hoping to stay close to Clinton in the South. But he's focusing most of his attention on states in the Midwest and Northeast, including his home state of Vermont.



Sanders, a fierce opponent of super PACs and high-dollar campaign fundraising, has built a massive network of small donors and has the money to stay in the race deep into the spring. Still, Clinton's campaign sees a chance to build enough of a delegate lead to put the race out of reach during the sprint through March.
For many years, Nellie Nelson worked as a sharecropper, often picking 300 pounds of cotton a day in the fields of Junior Bryant, a white man whose land she paid to live on in Lowndes County, Alabama.

The 85-year-old African American woman describes the arrangement as akin to the bad old days of outright slavery, and recalls owing the Bryant family money at the end of many growing seasons, falling deeper into debt as the callouses on her hands grew ever thicker and years of her life slipped away.

The story of Nelson's early life is similar to those of many black people who lived in Lowndes County and elsewhere in the Deep South in the mid-20th century. But their lives rapidly began to change in the 1960s, as the heroes of the civil rights movement broke barriers across Dixie, with Lowndes serving as one of the largely forgotten epicenters of their efforts.

An impoverished rural county whose residents have for generations been predominantly black, its white leaders clung hard through the first two-thirds of the 20th Century to the post-Reconstruction Era's segregation, racism and socioeconomic systems of control. But, improbably, lowly Lowndes would in the mid-1960s play host to the birth of the Black Panther Party.

That genesis story is well-known by many who live in or near the county sandwiched between Selma and Montgomery, but it is often forgotten by the history books. The Lowndes black population's agitations of 1965 and 1966 at first left dozens of black residents homeless and marginalized, forced to live in makeshift encampments where they endured violent threats and attacks. But their courageous acts sparked a revolution that would swiftly sweep the nation.

Beginning in 1965, Nelson joined scores of fellow black Lowndes County residents in attending "mass meetings" at Mt. Gillard Baptist Church off U.S. Route 80. The house of worship was a natural gathering place for the local African-American community, and it doubled as a way to skirt a draconian injunction that barred more than two black people from speaking together in a public place.

"I was very interested in the mass meetings because I wanted to learn all I could and do all I can because we needed better assistance here in Lowndes County and we needed to get together," Nelson recalled earlier this month.

Former sharecropper Nellie Nelson lived in Lowndes Country during the difficult period when many of the county's white residents kicked black families off their land in retaliation for registering to vote. (Ian Hoppe | ihoppe@al.com)

Within the relatively safe confines of that humble country church, they absorbed lessons about the goals of the struggle for equal rights and how to organize for change delivered via speeches by black civil rights leaders like Stokely Carmichael and Huey Newton.

Today, these giants of civil rights history are remembered as two of the founding fathers of the Black Panther Party, which many believe originated in Oakland, California in October 1966. But the true roots of the Black Panther Party go back to the poor, rural county Nelson has called home her entire life.

Right to vote

Lowndes County first emerged as a civil rights nerve center in the summer of 1965, when a young Carmichael -who had recently coined the term "black power" and would go on to become a patriarch of the Black Panthers - was sent there by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to attempt to register black voters.

Before the voting drive got underway in tandem with the Lowndes County Christian Movement for Human Rights, only a handful of black people - who had been inspired by a small-scale, locally organized registration drive that began that January - were registered to vote in the county. This despite the fact that more than 80 percent of its approximately 15,000 residents were African-American.

As part of this effort, Carmichael and the SNCC founded the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO) shortly after his arrival in the county in an attempt to register blacks to vote and nominate African-American candidates for local office.

It was the LCFO that first used the famous image of the coiled black panther that would go on to become the namesake of the national Black Panther Party. Newton would later say that the black panther symbolized the spirit of America's maligned black population, who after being backed into a corner for so long were finally fighting back against their oppressors.

By Aug. 6, 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law, codifying the right of Americans of all races to vote, only about 250 of Lowndes County's more than 12,000 black residents had passed literacy tests and become registered voters.

The impacts of the historic law were not immediately felt in Dixie. The poll tax was not specifically ruled unconstitutional in Alabama until a federal court ruled on the matter on March 3, 1966, and even then access to the electoral process was severely limited in much of the state.

In Lowndes County - which had long been known as "Bloody Lowndes" due to its reputation for racially driven brutality - white people angered by the new paradigm instigated race riots and wrought violence against many African-Americans who registered to vote. During that period, several movement figures of both races were killed by those who wished to enforce the existing order.

'Tent City'

Adding insult to grave injury, many black residents of Lowndes County were in a situation much like Nelson's, renting their land and homes from white men. In order to punish blacks who registered to vote, many landowners kicked them off their land.

"When the civil rights [movement] started, and the mass meetings were going on, I started going to the mass meetings," said Nelson, who retains a youthful energy and moves quickly with the assistance of a cane, though her neck is badly crooked after decades of hard labor.

"After going to the mass meetings, living on this man's place, he wanted to put me off because I was going to the mass meetings - but still I was working for him - and I don't see why because working on the farm is not easy. Picking cotton is not easy. Hoeing is not easy. But you have to do what you have to do."

Nelson spoke to AL.com in the living room of her Lowndesboro home, which prominently features a large framed photograph of President Barack Obama - whom she voted for in both 2008 and 2012 - and his family hanging above the couch, surrounded by pictures of her children and grandchildren.

She was fortunate enough to have relatives in Michigan who sent money for her to purchase land and build that house after she and her family were evicted, but many other black Lowndes residents were not so lucky. Between 10 and 20 families were forced to move into what came to be known as "Tent City," one of several such encampments across the South that blacks were forced to move into during this tumultuous period.

Lowndes County's Tent City was an assemblage of large, sturdy military-surplus tents donated by the National Guard to the newly homeless residents, who set up camp just off U.S.-80 for many months. They largely relied on the generosity of friends and strangers both local and across the nation for food and other necessities, according to Anthony Bates, park ranger at the Lowndes County Interpretive Center, an impressive National Park Service museum a stone's throw from the site where the tent city once stood.

Life in Tent City was difficult, and the men and women who lived there often endured threats and other intimidation tactics at the hands of white residents who disagreed with their cause.

"There were shots that were fired into the tents - or I should say really into the site - several times throughout the week," Bates explained. "Young men had to grow up very quickly, and so if you were 10, 11, 12 years old, you might learn how to shoot a shotgun just because you were living in Tent City, and you never know what could happen on a nightly basis."

But for many people, there was no other option, and Tent City is a specter that still hangs over Lowndes County to this day - a reminder of the cruelty its white residents perpetrated on their fellow citizens just 50 years ago this year. Nelson, who offers homemade pound cake to everyone who enters her home, still remembers what many of her friends went through during that period.

"God bless their souls, they had to move and had to have tents and live over there in Tent City, and that's where so many moved," she said. "But God bless us, we found somewhere we could move, and we didn't have to go to Tent City, my children and all of us."

The Panthers' first election

Despite the advent of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and the abuse black residents suffered for registering to vote in Lowndes County, the new black voting bloc would have no measurable impact on the outcome of the November 1966 state and local election.

This was more than a year-and-a-half after thousands of protesters marched through the heart of Lowndes County en route from Selma to Montgomery, passing Mt. Gillard along the way. The civil rights tide was rolling across the American south, and black empowerment was taking root in many Alabama communities.

The Lowndes County Freedom Organization used a modest building for its headquarters. (Public domain)

As they always had, the Lowndes Democratic and Republican parties proposed all-white slates of candidates for a variety of offices in the black-majority county. The LCFO and other advocates coordinated a slate of politicians who ran for county-level office on the new Black Panther ticket in the election, and "Lowndes County Negroes [were] serious about taking over their county," according to a 1966 SNCC newsletter.

But none of the candidates won their races, a result that led many black Lowndes County black residents to question the election's legitimacy.

"You have to think about what was going on in the area. Look back at Tent City, this location. If you support this new organization, if you support this movement and you are losing your job, you are losing your home, it makes it kind of intimidating to maybe go out and vote, especially for people who look like you," Bates explained.

"Also, too, there were some of the votes that weren't properly counted. Now I'll be honest, I wasn't there when everything was counted and things were put into place, but you can tell with just the difference in votes, there were some things that weren't in place."

But over time, black Lowndes residents gained increasing power over political outcomes in the county, and three of the five current members of the Lowndes County Commission are black, a sign of how far the community has come in the past five decades.

'A long way to go'

Yet today, Nelson, Bates and others in tune with the black communities of Lowndes County and beyond believe that appreciation for the progress made during the civil rights era has fallen precipitously in recent years. They are particularly concerned that young black people have lost touch with the struggles of their forebears and the gains they fought so hard to make.

Lowndes County Commission Chairman Robert Harris, who is African-American, says that though many strides have been made and obstacles overcome, black people in Alabama and across the nation still face many problems and inequities that must be addressed.

"The question remains: Why are we segregated in our school system, why are we still segregated in our churches when we all believe in God? Why is there such a difference in earnings when we do the same jobs as others?" he asked.

"As far as people being put off their property, that's not happening anymore because people either bought their property or moved from the South further north. So they have gotten past the Tent City type of deal, but we still have a long way to go to reach an equal playing field. We as a race don't want a handout; we just want an opportunity to start out on an equal playing field."

Nellie's son, Arthur Nelson Sr., currently serves as head of the Lowndes County Friends of the Civil Right Movement, an organization devoted to the county's civil rights history that is working to build a monument honoring Tent City. He vividly remembers going with his mother to the mass meetings at Mt. Gillard as a young boy, and says that it is vitally important for the lessons of the civil rights era to be passed down.

"If you don't know your history, you have a strong way of repeating it, and I think what has happened is we've become too complacent with the way things are now," he said.

"And we forget that there were times when we couldn't walk into McDonald's and buy a hamburger, and because we have all this freedom now, we just lose track or we forget from whence we've come. And that way our folks, and especially our new generation, they don't realize how important it is to keep the dream alive; they don't realize how important it is to keep pressing forward."

The way to combat that complacency and ignorance, Nellie Nelson believes, is to educate young people about civil rights history and the gains her generation made, and to emphasize the importance of continuing to strive for equality and better lives.

"Them that are old enough, they think about it. But you have to teach the younger ones. You teach them what happened back then, how bad it was back then, and how we was treated back then," she said.

"There's been some changes, but we still have a long way to go. With God, all things are possible, but you've got to stick together."
Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh and Terry Dunn clashed when they served together on the Alabama Public Service Commission.

They're on opposite sides again, with Dunn trying to unseat Cavanaugh as PSC president in Tuesday's Republican primary.

The winner will capture the seat, because no Democrats qualified to run.

The three-member commission regulates utilities, and Republicans hold all three seats.

Dunn says the commission, under Cavanaugh's leadership, leans heavily toward Alabama Power and the other companies it regulates.

"Ratepayers need a true representative," Dunn said. "The ones they've got in there now are basically just looking after the utilities."

Cavanaugh said she has kept promises to voters to keep energy bills affordable and stick to conservative principles, like speaking out against President Obama's environmental mandates and operating the PSC with fewer employees.

"I will promise the people of this state that whatever decision I have to make will be the most conservative decision and that my door will always be open," Cavanaugh said.

Both were elected to the commission in 2010. Two years later, Cavanaugh defeated Lucy Baxley for the president's seat.

Dunn sought a second term in 2014 but lost to Chip Beeker in the Republican primary.

Dunn's defeat came after public disagreements with Cavanaugh over how the commission regulates Alabama Power, Alabama Gas and Mobile Gas.

Dunn wanted formal rate hearings for the three utilities, a practice used in other states.

The PSC stopped rate hearings in 1982 when it adopted a process called rate stabilization and equalization. Under RSE, the PSC adjusts rates to keep the return on equity for the utilities within an allowed range.

Dunn says periodic rate hearings would bring some needed transparency to the RSE process.

"Every four to five years you need to have a rate hearing to make sure things are above board and give the public an opportunity to see where their money is being spent and why they're paying the rates they're paying," Dunn said.

Cavanaugh and Commissioner Jeremy Oden rejected Dunn's call for rate hearings three years ago.

Instead, the PSC held three public meetings, with Alabama Power officials making presentations and fielding questions.

Public interest groups participated. AARP and Alabama Arise, which advocates for low-income families, presented reports showing that the PSC allowed Alabama Power to earn returns that were 30 percent to 40 percent higher than the national average for utilities.

Alabama Power officials said at the time, and still say, that the company's overall return is "in line with peer utilities."

After the meetings, in August 2013, the PSC changed the way it calculated Alabama Power's range of earnings.

Cavanaugh and Oden hailed the change as a victory for consumers. Dunn, who voted against the change, said otherwise.

The company said the change would put downward pressure on rates over time.

In January 2015, Alabama Power's rates rose 5 percent, about $7 a month for the typical customer. It was the utility's first increase since October 2011.

Dunn said the increase, coming two months after he left office, proved his point.

"I said, if anything, rates would go up, and that's basically what happened," Dunn said.

Cavanaugh said Dunn is "not being truthful" about what happened because the PSC deferred recovery of some costs by Alabama Power from 2012 through 2014 to keep rates level during that period.

"We were hoping the economy would start improving and for three years we would give people that break," Cavanaugh said.

Cavanaugh said everyone at the commission, including Dunn, knew that "the bill would come due" on those deferred costs.

Even with the deferred costs, Dunn said he is not convinced the 5 percent increase was justified. He said if he wins, his first move will be to call for a review of it.

Dunn says Cavanaugh misled the public with a press release about a slight reduction in rates announced in December.

"While rates are going up in other states because of the federal mandates handed down by the Obama administration, our Commission has found a way to reduce rates for Alabama Power and Alabama Gas customers," Cavanaugh said in the release.

The reduction was a reimbursement to customers because they had paid Alabama Power too much for pass-through costs for fuel the previous year.

"It wasn't a rate decrease," Dunn said. "It was just a refund. By law, that money has to go back to ratepayers."

Cavanaugh said her statement was not misleading.

She said when the company is reimbursed for underpayment of the same costs, the media has called that a rate increase, so it's fair to call a reimbursement to consumers a rate decrease.

"Did they (consumers) pay it in?" Cavanaugh said. "Absolutely. But it's being given back. So it's a decrease."

Dunn said he wants to establish a special electricity rate for small businesses. He said Alabama Power's residential and commercial customers pay more to subsidize negotiated rates paid by industrial customers.

Asked about that, Alabama Power says the rates of all customer classes are based on what it costs to serve them.

Alabama Power's retail rates were 11.6 percent below the national average in 2014, the company says, citing statistics from the federal Energy Information Administration.

Alabama Power's residential and total retail rates were lower than others in the Southern Company system - Georgia Power, Gulf Power and Mississippi Power - according to the 2014 numbers from the EIA.

"So when you look at the four different companies, and Alabama Power has the lowest, what we're doing is a good job," Cavanaugh said.

Cavanaugh has the better funded campaign by a wide margin.

Her campaign finance reports show she has raised about $240,000 and spent about the same amount.

Her reports show many individual, business and PAC contributions, with a substantial portion from the coal industry.

Drummond Company has given her campaign at least $50,000.

Cavanaugh often speaks out for the coal industry, blasting the Obama administration's push for tighter regulations on coal-fired power plants.

"I'm proud for every donation that I've gotten from the coal industry and coal miners," Cavanaugh said.

Asked if that makes her a paid spokesman, Cavanaugh said it does not.

"What I am is a public servant for all the people of Alabama," Cavanaugh said. "But when Obama has his way and tries to do away with coal, then obviously, it drives up the cost that all Alabamians are going to pay for electricity."

Dunn's campaign is almost entirely self-funded. His reports show he has loaned his campaign about $60,000, and spent about $11,000.

Cavanaugh said the PSC has become a leaner, more efficient agency during her watch.

Staffing has dropped from 117 employees to 73, mostly by attrition, she said. The number of state cars assigned to the agency has dropped from 59 to 24, she said.

"Once again, I will promise the smallest government possible to get the job done," Cavanaugh said.
About 100 people marched through downtown Mobile in support of presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on Saturday afternoon. Participants emphasized the need for social and economic equality and advocated raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour pointing to Seattle as an example of a city that is phasing in an increase over several years with a current minimum wage of $11.

Three groups - Mobile for Bernie, the University of South Alabama Students for Bernie and Mobile Bay Socialist Alternative, organized the march. The event was one of about 70 marches for Sanders throughout the U.S. on Saturday.

Participants walked for about a mile, many carrying handmade signs. Michelle Piette of Mobile walked with her beagle/dachshund mix Duke who had two small "I bark for Bernie," signs strapped to his harness. "I love Bernie and I wish I had known more about him earlier. And, I'm terrified of Trump," said Piette. "He stands for so many people with disabilities, for health care and minimum wage."

Sanders supporters plan several activities leading up to Super Tuesday next week. Super Tuesday is the biggest single day for presidential candidates to receive delegates as 12 states including Alabama and one U.S. territory participate.

It's a race up until March 1st to get as many people out as possible," said Ryan Littlefield, a biology professor at USA. Littlefield is also the faculty advisor for the University of South Alabama Students for Bernie. Bernie supporters plan to take to the streets with signs, hold a phone banking event at USA's life Sciences Lecture Hall from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow and throw a Bernie Sanders watch party at the Merry Widow bar downtown on Tuesday night from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Peter Daigle of Mobile carried a sign that read, "Fight against money in politics." "Money and politics clog democracy and that's why I like Bernie Sanders so much because he's a true democratic candidate," said Daigle. "He's completely funded by the people for the people."
A GOP lawmaker looked around the chambers of the Alabama Senate last week, noted the weighty issues facing that august body and - so I'm told -- said ...

What is this, Archibald Day?

I blush. I do. Because it was just the kind of day I live for in that palace of the politically absurd. Welcome to the two houses of your Legislature: The inane and the insane.

They knew I wouldn't be able to resist.

If every bill before the Alabama Legislature last week actually came to pass - Heaven help us all - this is what'll change.

We'll be able to climb into cars with a fully loaded pistol in the front seat, without ever bothering to get a permit. But we'll still have to turn around to make sure everybody in the back seat had their seatbelt on.

Because it's safety first. Except for the thing about guns. And the fact it's still legal to plunk your kids in the back of a pickup truck and fly on down the road.

If all this stuff passes we can head on down to the bakery to buy a Lane Cake -- the official state cake of Alabama. So what if a Lane Cake has so much bourbon it would be illegal in parts of 24 counties? Or that I'd never heard of it, outside of To Kill a Mockingbird.

We could, if all these things pass, stop at a liquor store for free samples of our favorite booze - no doubt for the Lane Cake.

We could take our buzz to any one of the state's hundreds of historic monuments, which could not, under penalty of law, be removed by anyone who came to find them offensive.

Then, finally, we could head off into the woods to hunt deer or hogs over a baited field.

And call it sporting.

Heeeere, Bambi, Bambi, Bambi. Boom!

But wait. I can't really complain about hunting over a baited field. That's pretty much like covering the Legislature.

Or is it shooting fish in a barrel?

The Alabama Senate

Let's face it. That's just the fun stuff. It doesn't count the bill to strip the attorney general and the district attorneys of their ability to investigate ethics complaints - which is like giving politicians a license to commit corruption over a baited field.

They're hunting your money.

It doesn't count a bill from the legislator in Mountain Brook -- Alabama's richest city -- that bars poorer Birmingham from raising its minimum wage. That was passed and signed before you can say Business Council of Alabama.

Let me be clear:

The Birmingham City Council raised its minimum wage in a mad rush, before it could complete studies recommended by the city's own lawyers, to deflect from the city council's own pay increase.

And Alabama lawmakers - no doubt shouting "Give me liberty or give me death" as they did it -- somehow make the city of Birmingham look like ... the good guys.

Talk about absurd.

Another bill would give public school students class credit for leaving school to go to church. This Legislature loves to pretend it loves Jesus almost as much as it loves money.

Like Kinky Friedman almost said, watching the Legislature alone on days like this is enough to make you doubt intelligent design.

Yeah. It was my kind of day.
Jefferson County Courtroom

(Frank Couch/fcouch@al.com)

(Frank Couch)

Sen. Arthur Orr. (AL.com file photo)

By Senator Arthur Orr (R-Decatur), he sponsored the new Judicial Retirement Plan legislation. He co-chairs the Joint Committee on Alabama Public Pensions.

On March 1st when many Alabamians go to the poll to cast their votes for a favorite presidential nominee and other primary candidates, there will be a single constitutional amendment on the ballot (Amendment 1) that should save the state as much as $200 million over the next thirty years.

Endorsed and supported by the Retirement System of Alabama head, Dr. David Bronner, Amendment 1 revamps our retirement plans for judges, district attorneys and circuit clerks. The judicial retirement fund is just 58% funded and in need of an overhaul. Its cost to the taxpayer has more than doubled in the past 10 years. Furthermore, DA's currently contribute nothing for their retirement and clerks have a confusing plan in need of restructuring. Only those elected for the first time in the November 8th general election will be affected by these changes.

It is important that we attract high quality judges to the bench. Fortunately, Alabama judges are in the top 20 of states in salary compensation based on a cost of living index. They currently are able to receive a full retirement of 75% of their final salary (averaging $146,000 for trial judges) after 3 terms (18 years) of service. The new law, if approved by the voters, raises the minimum age to 62 in order to start drawing any retirement benefit. By raising the minimum age for a number of retirees, significant cost savings are realized. Certainly other legal career options are available for anyone leaving the bench before they reach the minimum age.

As stated above, district attorneys currently contribute nothing toward their retirement under the supernumerary system developed years ago. The new law would require a contribution of 8.5% from their salaries--salaries that even exceed those of trial judges by statute. Further, circuit clerks would have to contribute more of their salaries as well. A minimum age of 62 is also invoked to save on early retirements after years of service.

We are grateful to those leading the judicial branch of government and for their service to our state. But like new state employees and educators who saw their retirement plans changed in 2012 (estimated to save $4 to $5 billion over 30 years), we must recognize the financial realities surrounding the state's long-term retirement commitments.

Retirement plan participants are living longer and poor market returns have increased the unfunded liabilities. By putting newly elected individuals in a new plan, the estimated cost savings that could approach $200 million would help the financially distressed general fund and, indirectly, our state's education budget.

By approving Amendment 1, voters would help shore up the retirement plan of these important people in our judicial system but, more significantly, the taxpayers who fund our state government will reap the greatest savings.
The "Alabama Mafia" again looks to make its presence felt in the 2016 Bassmaster Classic, to be fished March 4-6 at Grand Lake northeast of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

With nine Classic contenders, more than any other state, Alabama is living up to its name as the tournament bass fishing capitol of the nation--perhaps not surprisingly since B.A.S.S. was born here in Montgomery, and has returned its headquarters to Birmingham after a brief flirtation with Florida.

Aaron Martens, a Californian now living near Leeds, Ala., is likely to rank near the top of the Classic field; he's the reigning Angler of the Year (AOY), and has consistently proven himself one of the best in the world over the last several years on the Bassmaster Elite Series Tour.

Also at the top of his game is Justin Lucas, now a Guntersville resident, who finished 2nd in this year's AOY race. Another young gun who may do well is Auburn grad Jordan Lee of Vinemont, who finished 9th in the AOY in just his third season of Elite competition.

Justin Lucas of Guntersville has had a highly succesful year on the tour, and is another likely top finisher in the Classic.

Other Alabama anglers who made the Classic cut are Matt Herren of Ashville, Greg Vinson of Wetumpka, Chris Lane of Guntersville, Randy Howell of Springville, Russ Lane of Prattville, and tackle-maker Boyd Duckett, also now of Guntersville.

One name conspicuously absent, to the misfortune of the weigh-in crowds, is funny-man Gerald Swindle of Warrior. Win or lose, Swindle is always a crowd favorite who can draw a laugh, but he did not make the Classic cut this year.

Two Oklahoma anglers loom large in the field this year because Grand Lake is virtually their home water: Edwin Evers lives at Talala, close enough to hit the lake with a long cast, and Jason Christie lives at Park Hill, a short drive south. The last couple of years, home-lake familiarity has been a key factor in the Classic competition, with S.C. native Casey Ashley winning at Hartwell in 2015 and Randy Howell winning at Guntersville in 2014. Cliff Pace of Petal, Miss., was the winning angler at Grand Lake in 2013, but he's not in the Classic field this year. The event is being held a week later than it was last time at Grand, and anglers are hopeful they'll get a break compared to the freezing temperatures and high winds they battled on the last visit-tough conditions usually favor local anglers who know how to deal with them.

The Tulsa Classic in 2013 recorded the second highest attendance in history, with more than 106,850 fans visiting one or more of the Classic venues. Total purse will be more than $1 million, with the winner receiving $300,000. The Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo provides an added attraction at the event in downtown Tulsa, with hundreds of boat, motor and tackle manufacturers displaying their new-for-2016 gear to the public for the first time.

For details on the event, visit www.bassmaster.com.
As the country considers new punishments in its war on drugs, critics say it should instead focus on helping addicts.

Jakarta, Indonesia  A prison guarded by crocodiles, tigers and piranhas.

Force-feeding drug dealers their own narcotics until they die.

Controversial as they may be, these are just some of the latest weapons Indonesia is considering in its war on drugs.

With the country home to 4.5 million addicts, according to government estimates, Indonesias National Narcotics Agency is suggesting these proposals to tackle the drug menace.

The government says 33 people die from overdoses each day, and it considers the narcotics problem a national emergency.

We need to be serious because drugs are the enemy, says agency spokesman Slamet Pribadi.

Indonesia already has tough narcotics laws, including death by firing squad for large-scale traffickers. But the government believes more needs to be done to deter local drug use.

Across Indonesia, police have stepped up raids on suspected drug dens. A recent raid in Jakarta resulted in four deaths  a police officer, an informer who provided intelligence, and two gang members.

We have to fight this war on drugs everywhere, says Hendro Pandowo, the local police chief who oversaw the raid. They have to be cleaned off the streets of Jakarta and eradicated throughout Indonesia.

Every week, law enforcement agencies gather the media and parade the low-level drug users, dealers and the narcotics they have snared.

Facing an HIV outbreak

But critics say the war on drugs is only creating a climate of fear with potentially fatal consequences.

Suhendro Sugiharto, an outreach worker with the Indonesian Drug Users Network, the countrys biggest group of advocacy organisations, says the number of HIV infections is rising, a development he attributes to more people sharing needles.

Users fear that if police catch them carrying a syringe, they could be sent to prison, he says.

Well be facing the next HIV outbreak if this doesnt change, says Sugiharto, whose groups provide clean needles.

He says drug programmes used to be successful in curbing overdose rates, HIV and hepatitis C because social workers knew where to find addicts.

But now, because of the crackdown, users have moved to more hidden locations.

Its creating difficulty for the outreach worker to give away clean needles and also to collect used needles  and it has put us in danger of an HIV epidemic, he says.

Punishing drug addicts

Others argue that Indonesias drug laws unfairly punish addicts because they do not distinguish between users and traffickers.

Our laws criminalise the victim, says Rudhy Wedhasmara, a defence lawyer who represents addicts pro bono.

If someone is buying a drug for their own use, its described in laws as being involved in an illicit trade. Our laws also say if you are caught with a gramme of a drug, they should be sent to rehab, but instead they are sent to jail.

Wedhasmara says prison is the worst place possible for addicts.

Prison is no solution as they remain addicted, he explains.

Up to 70 percent of Indonesias total prison population are low-level drug offenders, according to prison officials.

Inside the Indonesian prison using Scientology

Al Jazeera was granted rare access to Cipinang, the countrys biggest jail, which has a special section to accommodate the growing number of drug criminals.

Chief Warden Andika Prasetya admits that drug offenders struggle to get support in his overcrowded prison.

Were only capable of holding 1,084 prisoners. But today, we have 2,933 inmates. It causes many problems. Theres not enough clean water for them. Theres little room for resting or rehab activities.

About 1,000 prisoners are attending rehab classes in the jails treatment programme, which is based on the teachings of L Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology.

The chief warden is convinced the programme works.

When we use this method, we notice changes in their behaviour, he says. Theyre happy, more obedient and disciplined. They look cleaner and tidier compared to others who havent done the programme.

But the prison walls can prove no barrier to accessing drugs.

In 2013, a methamphetamine lab was discovered inside the jail, and three guards were found to be involved in the scandal.

This case is an indicator for us to be more aware of the involvement of prison staff in trafficking, Prasetya says.

But the warden concedes that guards are still involved in smuggling narcotics into the prison.

I dont deny bribes and corruption occurs in the jail. Our staff are human beings; they can get influenced by criminals. I am sure by boosting the morality of the guards, it will improve. Now, we conduct more training about the laws. We do more body checks, and we inspect personal belongings, says Prasetya.

Risking it all for an addiction

For Bambang, a 32-year-old addict who studied computer engineering at university, taking drugs in prison brought more risks than simply getting caught.

While serving time in 2009, he says he and many of his cellmates contracted HIV after sharing needles. Some have since died from the disease.

I knew about the dangers of HIV, but the urge to use was overpowering, says Bambang, who did not want his full name published.

Bambang has been taking a cocktail of drugs, from marijuana to heroin, since he was 13.

To avoid detection, he and his friends often head to back-alley dens at night to use methamphetamines.

Bambang believes the government needs to provide more information about the dangers of drugs. He says tough penalties will not stop people from taking narcotics.

The punishment wont deter them because they have an addiction, he says. It doesnt matter how harsh the punishments are.

From the 101 East documentary, Indonesias Drug War. Watch the full film here.

Follow Drew Ambrose on Twitter: @drewambrose Follow Liz Gooch on Twitter: @liz_gooch
Time stands frozen for thousands of Syrian refugees running from war. They have fled Aleppo and are desperately trying to enter Turkey, which has shut its border, claiming it is unable to absorb any more refugees. Only ambulances and some special vehicles are allowed to make the Bab al-Salam crossing.

The humanitarian crisis in Syria, which has been in the throes of war for nearly five years, has reached a peak. A Syrian government offensive in Aleppo has displaced tens of thousands of people, many of whom are now massing in camps at the Turkish border.

From time to time, the silence at the border is broken by the sounds of ambulances and explosions within Syria. A queue of aid trucks snakes towards the crossing, preparing to deliver items such as food, water and blankets.

Thousands of other internally displaced Syrians have been seeking shelter in the border town of Azaz.

The situation in Azaz is miserable. People sleep on the ground. A 40-year-old man died during a cold snap on the streets. [Aid agencies are] sending more tents each day, but there are a lot of people, activist Abu Mohamed told Al Jazeera. This current situation demands urgent international intervention  The world has abandoned us.
Despite womens attempts to find a voice in Irans politics, their presence has been minimal and cosmetic.

Irans parliamentary elections this year included the highest number ever of women candidates from the combined reformist-moderate camp. Supporters of President Hassan Rouhani joined forces with the reformists presenting a combined list of 30 candidates for Tehran, eight  less than one-third  of which are women.

More or less, the same pattern was seen across the country. Photos of women candidates were branded around on campaign posters and the reformist media hailed this as a major success.

Despite persistent attempts by women to find a voice in the politics of the Islamic Republic, their presence has been minimal and, for the most part, cosmetic. It is now almost the norm that at important historical junctures, the male-dominated conservative establishment calls upon women to perform their Islamic duty and participate in elections. Once the elections are over, however, womens demands are forgotten.





The encouragement to participate in this years elections came first from the spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

There is no need for women to take permission from their husbands to take part in the elections, he said in one of his guidelines on elections.

Some newspaper columnists took this to be a liberating step. But since it is not a general edict and it refers only to women casting their vote, it can only be interpreted as a measure to persuade higher participation.

World public opinion

Rouhani followed suit, stressing the importance of the post-nuclear-deal environment, saying: Womens presence in elections is important for world public opinion.

Iran 37 years later: Any hope for reforms?

Everyone whos qualified  whether male or female  should participate in the elections to the parliament and to the Assembly of Experts, said the president.

Iranian women who played a significant role in the revolution of 1979 have been pushed back time and again by the establishment not just on the Islamic dress code, but with all kinds of curtailments on their legal rights ... by

Both elections were held simultaneously on Friday. But the Guardian Council has not approved a single woman candidate for the Assembly of Experts. And for the parliamentary elections, the council only approved a minimum of the lesser-known women out of the 1,400 who had registered.

Soheila Jelodarzadeh, one of the moderate women candidates, announced that the elections should be regarded as the nuclear deal number two in which the government would give the nation its rights.

Another, Parvaneh Salahshoor, recalled how effective women had been in the outgoing parliament: Women gave 42 written warnings and posed 10 questions to ministers.

This clearly shows how limited the function of women is in the 290-seat parliament, which presently only has eight women MPs, one of the lowest levels in the world.

Yet, the publicity goes on.

Iran has attained great achievements in women empowerment, says Shahindokht Molaverdi, vice president for Women and Family Affairs. As one of the few women in a high-level post she admits there are difficulties in gender equality and women empowerment, which she believes are due to the natural differences that exist between men and women.

Natural differences

Those natural differences, plus the strict Islamist interpretations of womens role in society, have dwarfed womens progress in the parliament, making it go one step forward and two steps back. There have been no major political views expressed by women in the parliament nor any persuasive suggestions on new legislation. Those who were outspoken have been barred.

Iranian women who played a significant role in the revolution of 1979 have been pushed back time and again by the establishment not just on the Islamic dress code, but with all kinds of curtailments on their legal rights, even over their basic demands for equal treatment in family laws and the custody of their children. Many women activists who defended these rights have been labelled as feminists or agents of foreign countries.

Even at the height of the reform period in the two terms in office of President Mohammad Khatami (1997-2005) in which there were 11 women MPs, no laws were changed to bring women any closer to equal rights.

I was really keen to improve womens advancement to top jobs in the sixth Majlis, says Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, an outspoken woman MP in the Reformist-led parliament of May 2000, now in exile in the US.

I advocated equal chances for top jobs for women. But almost everyone in the parliament, even my own reformist colleagues, disagreed with me.

ALSO READ: Lady Macbeth or just Princess Ashraf Pahlavi?

Her point is crucial because it illustrates the fact that many of the women members of parliament do not necessarily seek equal rights even in the discriminatory laws of marriage divorce family or inheritance. This is either because they do not believe women should have equal rights or because they fear they will have no chance of success in Irans political structure.

Reversing the trend

Rouhani has tried to reverse the traditionalist trend by choosing three women deputies and a woman ambassador and has in his speeches invited women to be more active. But so far, he has failed to choose a woman minister, perhaps fearing rejection by the establishment.

That explains why the fight for equal rights has been mainly limited to the educated urban middle-class women whose frustration has intensified over the years.

Women bloggers, journalists and lawyers led the fight against the stoning of women to death. Thousands of women students marched across the country condemning violence against women and demanding equal rights. Women students called for academic freedoms to be included in candidates policies.

Many women were sent to prison for being part of the international campaign, One Million Signatures. Leading members of the Stop Stoning Forever campaign were arrested in 2007. And several prominent womens and human rights lawyers have been arrested, barred from their practices and silenced over the years.

So, 37 years on, women in the Islamic Republic are still discriminated against in most aspects of family, social, economic and political life.

Right to vote for all, Ayatollah Khamenei tweeted on Monday.

Right to vote is a joke without the right to free elections, replied the veteran womens rights activist, Shadi Sadr, now living in exile in London.

Dr Massoumeh Torfeh is the former director of strategic communication at the UN Assistance Mission for Afghanistan and is currently a research associate at the London School of Economics and Political Science specialising in Iran Afghanistan and Central Asia.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Regardless of who runs the government or enters parliament, a sense of stability is what Iranians are looking for.

Camelia Entekhabifard is an Iranian journalist, TV commentator and author of Camelia: Save Yourself by Telling the Truth - a Memoir of Iran.

The Islamic Republic of Iran has held many elections in its 37-year history. Some of the elections opened the doors to reform while others slammed shut those doors in favour of ultra-conservatives.

From the moment when Mohammad Khatami was elected president in 1997 that brought reformists to power, to the rise of conservative Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2005, it was clear that each election could mark a dramatic shift forward or backward.

The latest elections on February 26  both for parliament and the Assembly of Experts  once again polarised the nation, but not in the way the 2009 presidential election had.





People opted for rationality and moderation, avoiding any provocative actions, which helped moderate candidates win the elections.

Moving towards stability?

Are the results of the two elections an indication that Iran is moving towards stability? After all, regardless of who runs the government or enters parliament, a sense of stability and peace is what Iranians are looking for.

The Guardian Council, the most influential body in Iran, vetted the candidates and disqualified many popular reformist candidates. These disqualifications did not disappoint the public enough to get them to boycott the elections as some pundits had expected.

READ MORE: After elections, Iranian womens demands are forgotten

Instead, the participation of around 60 percent of eligible voters, according to the interior ministry, was a testament to the publics desire to express their will through the ballot box.

The higher-than-expected turnout rate was essentially a carte blanche given to President Hassan Rouhani for public satisfaction with the way the nuclear file was handled.

The slight improvement in the countrys economy was another reason the public responded to Rouhanis call to vote.

For voters, the parliamentary election was more important than the election of the Assembly of Experts since Irans parliament is mainly in charge of internal policy.

The election of the Assembly of Experts at this time matters more to political leaders, not least Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Assembly, elected every eight years, is the body tasked with choosing the Supreme Leader  a lifelong post  and monitoring his leadership.

Rumours of bad health

In the midst of rumours over the deteriorating health of Khamenei, who is nearly 77, this assembly may play a historic role by choosing the next Supreme Leader.

No matter who is Irans president and what parliament it has, constitutionally, the Supreme Leader has power above all institutions. Whether the next Supreme Leader will be chosen with public support or military support, he will be the one outlining Irans future.

The mass disqualifications of well-known reformers  or candidates close to reformers  speak of Khameneis wish to keep the conservatives in power. Khamenei and his supporters among the political elite in Qom and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) oppose any significant changes to the system.

The IRGC took action against the demonstrators, who, in 2009, protested against the election outcome. Several people were killed, activists were arrested en masse, and opposition leaders were placed under house arrest.

Understanding Irans political developments is not always easy.

Not only Iranians, but many in the region have been closely observing this years elections. From the Arab point of view, it is not important whether the reformers or hardliners control the parliament. For them, a stable nation and a friendly government with whom they can communicate are important.

Neighbours know that the Supreme Leader is the main indicator of Irans foreign policy, and, of course, they have an interest in which kind of leader succeeds Khamenei.

IRAN ELECTIONS: What you need to know about key vote

A parliament that supports Rouhanis social and economic reforms is the presidents major interest in this election. Irans next Supreme Leader is a matter of concern not only for Arab neighbours, but also for the international community.

When Khamenei became the Supreme Leader in June 1989, he provided enormous opportunities for the IRGC as his major base supporters. The next Supreme Leader  aside from his importance for Irans hierarchy  will also affect the IRGC and its future.

With these twin elections, Iran is walking towards an historic point in the life of its revolution. by

Some, like former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, predicted the street clashes between the regime forces and people back in 2009. In an address in 2009, Rafsanjani had spoken of seeing smoke from a faraway fire. He was correct in his prediction, and for months, the country was in a state of emergency.

The militarisation of the republic

Today, he is seeing something else in the sky, and it is the threat posed by IRGC against the republic and democracy.

A revolutionary veteran with political acumen, Rafsanjani used his influence to avoid such a destiny.

A strong Assembly of Experts may save the nation from any military takeover if Khamenei dies during the next term.

One figure whose popularity appears to be slowly but steadily growing is Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, currently the head of the judiciary. A man who has proven his ability to crush the opposition and is close to Khamenei, Larijani is touted as the IRGCs favourite as the next Supreme Leader.

What concerns people such as Rafsanjani is the militarisation of the republic in the absence of the current leader and the interference of IRGC in politics.

To avert such a threat, Rafsanjanis victory in the Assembly of Experts was crucial to forming the kind of coalition he is looking for.

And of course, a moderate and independent parliament that can stand for the people  in case it becomes necessary  is precious when history is being made. With these twin elections, Iran is walking towards a historic point in the life of its revolution.

Camelia Entekhabifard is an Iranian journalist, TV commentator and author of Camelia: Save Yourself by Telling the Truth  a Memoir of Iran.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
2016 ushered in the revamped United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which built on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted in 2000. Poverty eradication is the number one developmental goal of both the MDGs and SDGs.

Over the past two decades, global efforts have been successful as the number of people living in poverty declined by more than half, from more than 1.9 billion in 1990 to 836 million in 2015. Despite such progress, the Arab world continues to lag in its efforts to combat poverty.

In fact, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP), between 2010 and 2012, the percentage of the population in the region making less than $1.25 a day increased from 4.1 percent to 7.4 percent (PDF). Previously, countries in the region had made progress in reducing poverty, but high levels of political unrest had reversed many of these improvements.

Poverty and conflict: A direct correlation

The persistence of conflict in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen remains one of the main drivers of poverty regionally. In Syria, after five years of civil war, it is estimated that 80 percent of the population lives in poverty, and life expectancy has been cut by 20 years.

Almost a decade after the US-led invasion in 2003, poverty rates are on the rise in Iraq, with statistics from the World Bank showing that 28 percent of Iraqi families live under the poverty line.

The mass displacement from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) controlled areas, the decline in global oil prices and higher unemployment rates has meant that despite its oil wealth, the Iraqi government has failed miserably in addressing the poverty rate in the country.

Arab governments should understand that poverty also has a security and stability dimension. The 2011 uprisings have shown that Arab societies have the ability to challenge incompetent governance and corruption. by

Yemens poverty rate has increased from 42 percent of the population in 2009 to an even more alarming 54.5 percent in 2012.

Despite an initial wave of optimism after the 2011 Arab uprisings, countries in North Africa continue to face economic challenges that have seen poverty rates increase in many areas.

In Egypt, the Arab worlds most populous country, five years of political upheaval have taken a toll on the economy. Increased unemployment, lower tourist arrivals, dwindling foreign currency reserves and a weaker Egyptian pound has meant that 26 percent of Egypts 90 million people live under the poverty line.

Despite a relatively successful and ongoing political transition in Tunisia, one in every six Tunisians lives below the poverty line, as well. Tunisia is one of the highest contributors of ISIL fighters per capita, and Tunisian leaders continue to make a direct correlation between poverty and terrorism.

In the Palestinian territories, a lack of employment opportunities due to restrictions imposed by the Israeli occupation continues to drive rising levels of poverty (PDF). Nearly two years after the war in Gaza, reconstruction efforts have slowed to a crawl. Such efforts promised employment for thousands of Palestinians; however, the slow trickle of foreign donations and a deficiency of construction materials indicate that the situation will not improve any time soon.

OPINION: Smarter assistance for Syrian refugees

Although the outlook for the West Bank appears less grim than in Gaza, high levels of poverty persist as many Palestinians hold jobs that pay a meagre wage. This shortage of suitable employment forces many Palestinians to seek employment from companies operating in settlements on occupied Palestinian territory.

Even with some Palestinians performing these jobs out of necessity, per-capita income in the West Bank continues to decline. In Gaza, the situation is even worse with per-capita income 31 percent lower than in 1994.

One step forward, two steps back

The SDGs provide an ambitious blueprint for global development that includes a focus on education, the environment, womens rights, sustainable water, and many other critical areas. While all of these issues are of importance to the region, it will become increasingly problematic to progress these goals without a renewed emphasis on poverty eradication.

Countries currently in conflict pose the greatest challenge to poverty eradication efforts, as participants in these conflicts have pushed aside humanitarian concerns in the quest for victory. The international community should make preparations for post-war reconstruction in Syria and Yemen, while also remaining wary of incomplete political settlements that raise the prospect for the resumption of hostilities in the future.

OPINION: Instability threatens Iraqs oil production

Even though in Palestine it is unlikely that the Israeli occupation will end anytime soon, Fatah and Hamas should work towards a reconciliation to improve the system of governance in the territories. This will provide Palestinians with a united front to tackle the challenges posed by the occupation and ease the suffering felt in both Gaza and the West Bank.

Arab countries must recognise that absolute poverty is only one dimension of the problem and that redistributive policies can only go so far to address the issue. The uprisings have shown that Arab youth not only protested against economic inequality, but also against marginalisation and political disenfranchisement. Any renewed push for more economic opportunities must also provide Arab youth with a chance to shape their future.

Lower oil prices will likely affect the level of aid wealthier Gulf Cooperation Council countries give to poorer countries in the region. Nonetheless, such aid should not simply dry up. The Saudi-led coalition has destroyed a large portion of the Yemeni infrastructure, so the Kingdom and members of its coalition should bear a large part of the reconstruction effort.

Arab governments should understand that poverty also has a security and stability dimension. The 2011 uprisings have shown that Arab societies have the ability to challenge incompetent governance and corruption.

Food security remains a huge challenge for a region that imports much of its key food staples. Should poverty and food security issues not be addressed, any future wave of protests may constitute a revolution of the hungry, that is likely to be more violent than the wave of 2011.

Adel Abdel Ghafar is a visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Center.

Fraus Masri is a research assistant at the Brookings Doha Center.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Death toll surges in Baidoa as civilians die in hospitals after bombings claimed by the armed group.

At least 30 people were killed in twin bomb attacks claimed by al-Shabab at a busy traffic junction and a nearby restaurant in southern Somalia.

The attacks in Baidoa on Sunday were part of the armed groups campaign of violence in its effort to topple Somalias UN-backed government.

The official number of the dead has reached 30 people  all of them civilians  and 61 others have been wounded, 15 of them seriously, Abdirashid Abdullahi, governor of the Bay region, told the AFP news agency.

Baidoa lies about 245km northwest of the capital, Mogadishu.

The death toll went up overnight after more people died at the hospital, and could rise further with several of the wounded in critical condition, Abdullahi said.



Al-Shabab storms beachside restaurant

The attack follows a car bomb attack in Mogadishu near a park and hotel on Friday that killed 14 people, police said.

A police officer said a suicide car bomb blew up at the junction, while a second blast  possibly a bomb that had been planted or a suicide bomber  struck the restaurant.

We targeted government officials and forces, Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, al-Shababs military operation spokesman, told Reuters news agency.

He said there was a police station near by.

Abdirahman Ahmed, a witness who was inside the hotel at the time, said gunfire erupted after the explosion.

The blast was so huge and windows broken everywhere but the gunfire was outside. Everyone was safe inside, but terrified, said Ahmed.

Regional official Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden appealed to national and international support to care of the victims, saying the region did not have sufficient medical facilities.

The regional administration in Baidoa is protected by troops of the 22,000-strong African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM), which is protecting the internationally backed government of Somalia.
Claims of casualties in Saturdays air strikes in Sanaa province dismissed by spokesperson as a fabrication by Houthis.

The Arab coalition fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen has denied targeting civilians after air strikes hit a market northeast of the capital Sanaa, reportedly killing at least 40 people.

Saturdays attacks in the Nehm district in Sanaa province also wounded 30 people, residents had told Reuters news agency, adding that most of the casualties were civilians.

But Brigadier-General Ahmed Asseri, spokesperson for the coalition, said on Sunday the casualty reports were fabricated by the Houthis.

The coalition targeted a barracks occupied by the Houthis and troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, he said.

RELATED: Yemens displaced in dire need of food

The Arab coalition, assembled by Saudi Arabia, is battling the Iran-allied Shia Houthis in an attempt to restore the internationally recognised government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Asseri said the targeted area had no civilians and was mostly occupied by the rebels.

We know that these are the kind of tactics used by the militias when they are under pressure, and they start launching lies in the media, he told Al Jazeera.

Today we know that most of the agencies who reported this dont have any reporters on the ground. They said they took this information from local security agents and we know in Sanaa today  there are no official people who can report.

Aden violence

On the ground, residents said unidentified assailants in Aden fatally shot a prominent Muslim leader, Abdulrahman al-Adani, as he was heading to a mosque for afternoon prayers.

He was known for his stand against the Houthi rebels as well as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and al-Qaedas Arabian Peninsula branch, local sources said.

Al-Qaeda and ISIL have stepped up attacks in Aden despite the efforts of the Hadi government and its backers.

In another sign of growing unrest in Aden, clashes broke out near the entrance to the presidential palace in the port citys Crater district between presidential guards and soldiers demanding their salaries, an official told AFP news agency.

The fighting spread to nearby residential districts and there were casualties, the official and residents said.

The Houthis and their allies had driven the Hadi government out of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen by September 2014.

They controlled Aden for months before government loyalists pushed them out in July and declared the city the countrys provisional capital.

Because of the unrest gripping Aden, Hadi himself and many senior officials in his government spend most of their time in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.
Pastor jailed for 14 years and wife for 12 for disturbing social order after opposing removal of church crosses.

A Chinese pastor who opposed a government campaign to remove crosses on churches has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for illegal activities, including corruption and disturbing social order.

The Associated Press news agency reported on Sunday that Bao Guohuas wife received 12 years for similar crimes.

A court in eastern Zhejiang Province on Friday sentenced Bao and his wife Xing Wenxiang after concluding they had illegally organised churchgoers to petition the government and disturb social order, according to the provincial Zhejiang Daily newspaper.

INTERACTIVE: Chinas Muslim Uighur unrest and religious minority freedom

The couple was also accused of tricking members of their congregation into donating $336,000 and spending it on cars and other personal purchases, it said.

For the past two years, authorities have removed hundreds of crosses from churches in the province, where there is a large Christian community, saying they violate building codes.

Only last January, authorities demolished a Christian church in Fujian and removed crosses from two churches in Zhejiang.

Zhejiangs religious leaders, whose churches have long been sanctioned by the government, said the attitudes of local authorities have turned sharply negative in recent years as the Christian population has grown in number and influence.



Provincial authorities last month opened a corruption probe into the prominent pastor Gu Yuese, who openly spoke out against governments clampdown on Christian activity.

China Aid, a Texas-based group that has funded the churches efforts to resist the cross removals, said in a blog post on Friday that the government prosecuted Baos church because of its opposition to cross removals. The governments criminal prosecution against the pastor and his believers is actually religious persecution, the group said.

The government considers several religious organisations outside the ones approved by the government as evil cults, including the group called Falun Gong.

In August of last year, the National Peoples Congress approved proposed changes to article 300 of the Criminal Law, which punishes individuals for organising and participating in cults.
Conditional ceasefire still intact but opposition and Russians trade charges amid reports of attacks in Hama and Aleppo.

Major players in Syrias war have traded accusations over violations of the first major truce in the five-year conflict, but the conditional ceasefire remains largely intact.

The main opposition grouping, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), on Sunday described the ceasefire as positive but lodged a formal complaint with the UN and foreign governments about breaches on the first day.

Al Jazeeras Omar al-Saleh, reporting from the Turkish border town of Gaziantep, said the opposition had described the violence as a violation of the terms of the ceasefire.





Now the Russians are saying they targeted members of al-Nusra Front, which is linked to al-Qaeda and of course are excluded from the terms of this deal, he said.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, which has seized territory in both Syria and Iraq, is also excluded from the deal.

The war in Syria has claimed 270,000 lives and displaced more than half the population.

Aid organisations hope to use the lull in fighting to deliver desperately needed supplies.

A successful truce would also create a more favourable backdrop for peace talks that collapsed in acrimony in early February as a Russia-backed government offensive in northern Syria caused tens of thousands to flee.

Referring to the humanitarian situation, our correspondent said: We are told they [aid agencies] hope by tomorrow [Monday] to have another convoy to similar areas that received aid in previous days, but these are not in a dire situation like areas such as [the Damascus suburb of] Daraya, which has had no aid whatsoever.

This is a logistical nightmare and you need a lot of paperwork to get into those areas.

EXPLAINER: What you need to know about the ceasefire in Syria

Salem al-Meslet, a spokesman for the HNC, said: We have violations here and there, but in general it is a lot better than before and people are comfortable.

At the same time, an HNC letter to Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, accused Bashar al-Assads government and its allies of committing 24 violations with artillery shelling and five ground operations  in 26 areas held by the moderate opposition.

The letter, signed by HNC head Riad Hijab, also criticised Russia for conducting 26 air strikes on areas falling within the ceasefire.

Violations here and there

Hijab said the ceasefire breaches had killed 29 people and wounded dozens.

The HNC says it has not receive any maps outlining which areas are included in the ceasefire or documents explaining the monitoring mechanism.

Syrias Al-Watan daily, which is close to the government, said on Sunday that those maps were still being kept secret.

Separately, Saudi Arabia, a staunch opponent of Assads government, accused Russia of flouting the ceasefire and targeting moderate opposition groups.

OPINION: Syria ceasefire is impaired by oppositions pathologies

Things will become clearer in the coming days on whether the regime and Russia are serious or not about the ceasefire, Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi foreign minister, said.

For its part, Russia, which has waged a five-month bombing campaign to support Assad, blamed moderate rebels, Turkey and jihadists for nine ceasefire violations.

But on the whole, the ceasefire regime in Syria is being implemented, Lieutenant-General Sergei Kuralenko, head of Russias coordination centre in Syria, was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), the Britain-based monitoring group, reported air strikes  believed to be either Syrian or Russian  on seven villages in Hama and Aleppo provinces.

It was unclear if the raids hit areas covered by the ceasefire, which excludes territory held by ISIL and al-Nusra Front.

Rami Abdurrahman, SOHR head, said only one of the villages, Kafr Hamra in Aleppo, is controlled by al-Nusra while the others are held by moderate rebels.

As recriminations resume, the US has urged everyone to be patient.

Talk to Al Jazeera: The Syrian conflict  Russia vs the West?

Setbacks are inevitable, a senior US administration official said.

Even under the best of circumstances, we dont expect the violence to end immediately. In fact, we are certain that there will continue to be fighting, in part because of organisations like ISIL and al-Nusra.

A task force set up to monitor the deal described Saturdays first day as largely successful.

The UN reported some incidents in apparent violation of the truce, but they have been defused, he said.

Staffan de Mistura, the UNs Syria envoy, aims to relaunch peace talks on March 7 if the ceasefire lasts and more aid is delivered.
Former secretary of state gains momentum ahead of Super Tuesday, with huge win over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

United States Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has won the South Carolina primary over rival Bernie Sanders, propelling her into next weeks crucial Super Tuesday voting in 11 states on a wave of momentum.

With almost all of the votes counted on Saturday night, Clinton was easily winning with more than 73 percent.

To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you, Clinton tweeted after major US networks all called the vote in her favour at the close of polls.

Huge cheers broke out at the venue in Columbia, South Carolina, where Clinton was due to deliver a victory speech to supporters.

Its time, its time, its time for a woman in the White House, the crowd chanted.

To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you. -H pic.twitter.com/JFTUZ2yBxf  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 28, 2016

Sanders immediately congratulated his rival, while vowing to fight on for the partys presidential nomination.

This campaign is just beginning, he said in a statement.

We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now its on to Super Tuesday.

Al Jazeeras Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Columbia, South Carolina, said that Clintons win offers a tremendous psychological and political victory ahead of Tuesdays contests.

Sanders says he is not giving upbut he is struggling to prove that he is a viable candidate, she said.

The win was Clintons third victory in the first four Democratic contests, and solidified her status as the strong frontrunner to capture the partys nomination for the November 8 presidential election.

The former secretary of states victory also established her strength among black voters, a crucial Democratic constituency who make up more than half of the partys primary electorate in South Carolina.

The result raised more questions about whether Sanders, the democratic socialist US senator from Vermont, will be able to compete away from his home base of Northeastern liberals.
With the help of local and international artists, residents of Oklha have transformed their community into art havens.

Shipping containers rarely grab anyones attention but in India, the drab metal boxes are being transformed into eye-catching street art.

Playing on an idea that art takes people to places where they have never been before, a container terminal has been turned into a gallery.

About 100 metal boxes have been given a colourful makeover to lure the curious and transport them to another world by local as well as international artists.

This represents a bit of Mexico. I want to represent my culture and my roots, Senkoe, a Mexican artist, told Al Jazeera.

PHOTO ESSAY: Delhi streets become a canvas

The containers will now travel across India, not just transporting goods but also the artists ideas.

But the real impact is right in the city, where street art is becoming a part of peoples lives.

A new dialogue is being created, a person who probably never bothered about making a drawing, hes also stopping and looking at it, Blaise, an artist, told Al Jazeera.

For residents of this colony, the artworks serve more of a practical purpose.

This wall used to look empty. Now no one will dare to throw rubbish and make this wall dirty, although it would have been better if they made the painting bigger than this, Devi Prasanna, a resident of the Oklha neighbourhood, the location of Asias biggest inland port, told Al Jazeera.

India has a long history of art, but artistic opinions have mostly been reserved for the privileged.

But Oklha residents said the concept of street art was that it is accessible across social classes and encouraged everyone to be a part of the exhibition.
Latest returns indicate a sweep in Tehran for the president and his reformist partners, after landmark nuclear deal.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has earned an emphatic vote of confidence and reformist partners secured surprise gains in parliament in early results from elections that could accelerate the Islamic Republics emergence from years of isolation.

As of 0900 GMT on Sunday, latest results showed reformist candidates have taken all of the 30 seats in the capital Tehran, while Rouhani and his ally former president Hashemi Rafsanjani lead the winners in the assembly of experts, which is responsible for selecting the countrys next supreme leader.

It remains unclear if the results in Iran will be replicated in other parts of the country. But a Reuters tally, based on official but partial results, also showed independents winning 44 seats, reformists 79, and hardliners 106 in the 290-seat parliament.



Irans conservatives rally their supporters ahead of elections

A number of seats could be decided in run-offs in late April if no candidate wins the required 25 percent of votes cast. Eight of the initial winners were women.

A loosening of control by the anti-Western hardliners who currently dominate the parliament could strengthen Rouhanis hand to open Iran further to foreign trade and investment following last years breakthrough nuclear deal.

The people showed their power once again and gave more credibility and strength to their elected government, Rouhani said, adding he would work with anyone who won election to build a future for the industrialised, oil-exporting country.

The polls were seen by analysts as a potential turning point for Iran, where nearly 60 percent of its 80 million population is under 30 and eager to engage with the world following the lifting of most sanctions.

Nearly 33 million people voted to elect representatives to parliament and the countrys highest clerical body.

Supporters of Rouhani, who promoted the nuclear deal, were pitted against hardliners close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who are wary of detente with Western countries.

Until now, the contest for this seat of clerical power was an unremarkable event, but not this time.

Because of Khameneis health and age, 76, the new assembly members who serve eight-year terms are likely to choose his successor. The next leader could well be among those elected this week.

READ MORE: Opinion: A tale of two elections: Iran versus the US

Al Jazeeras Jonah Hull, reporting from Tehran, said while reformists and moderates were expected to hold sway in the capital, no one expected a countrywide landslide.

The choices being made here broadly between conservatives and the moderate reformist bloc could well determine whether Iran moves towards greater tolerance, openness and much-needed economic reform, but in a system geared towards the ultimate power of religious conservatism, [where] old thinking and the status quo remain deeply entrenched, Hull said.





Moderate voter Behrooz Broum told Al Jazeera that he would like to have a better economy, a better life, with friendship all over the world.

Yet, conservative support remained strong elsewhere. Zahra Ruzidar, a conservative voter, said she could not trust the United States.

They keep insulting us. We came forward with honesty and negotiated an agreement, yet they keep threatening us. We are not afraid of threats, Ruzidar told Al Jazeera.

The hardline conservative camp is largely made up of loyalists of Rouhanis predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who, during his two terms in office, stoked tensions with the US and cracked down on internal dissidents.

In a bid to crowd them out, reformists have allied with moderate conservatives, many of whom split with the hardliners because of Ahmadinejad.

Reza Marashi, research director of the National Iranian American Council, said the results showed voters wanted change.

Iranian voters delivered a strong message to the elite that political and social aspirations that have long been unmet neet to be addressed more robustly, he told Al Jazeera.

In a pre-election interview with Al Jazeera, Ghanbar Naderi, of the conservative Kayhan newspaper, however said that he was not expecting that things will change after the elections, even as he had predicted a reformist victory.

They are all career politicians, he said, adding that it is time for older politicians to give way to the younger generation.

We have great young minds in this country. But they are not given the chance.

READ MORE: Iran elections: Crucial polls a test for Rouhani

Reformists stormed to power with the 1997 election of President Mohammad Khatami, followed by the 2000 parliamentary elections that brought a reformist majority into parliament for the first time.

The movement pressed for an easing of Islamic social restrictions, greater public voice in politics, freedom of expression and better ties with the international community.

But that hold was broken in the next election in 2004, when reformist candidates were largely barred from running.

Ahmadinejads election victory in 2005 sealed the movements downfall. Reformists were all but shut out of politics for nearly a decade until Rouhani was elected.
Roadside bombs near Iraqs capital kill at least 70 while military comes under assault in Abu Ghraib and near Fallujah.

Two bomb blasts have killed at least 70 people at a market just outside Baghdad and security forces have been targeted elsewhere in one of Iraqs bloodiest days in recent weeks.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group claimed responsiblity for Sundays attacks, the deadliest of which hit the predominantly Shia neighbourhood of Sadr City, just north of the Iraqi capital Baghad.

The explosions, caused by two roadside bombs, left 100 people injured in addition to the deaths.



Battle for Iraq continues in Tikrit

Al Jazeeras Waleed Ibrahim, reporting from Baghdad, said the explosions occurred in a very busy market area.

According to sources, the first bomb exploded on a motorcycle followed by a suicide bomber blowing himself up as people gathered to help the injured from the first blast, he said.

Its a Shia-majority area that is subject to heavy security measures, but as we can see those measures arent quite enough to stop such attacks from happening.

The Baghdad blasts occurred just hours after government troops and policemen came under attack from ISIL, which has seized territory both in Iraq and Syria.

In Abu Ghraib, west of Baghdad, a number of policemen were kidnapped after an attack there.

A nearby village was also raided by ISIL, military sources told Al Jazeera.

They said both sites are now under ISIL control.

Policemen targeted

In yet another incident on Sunday, 18 policemen were killed in an ISIL assault on military barracks near Fallujah in the western Anbar province.

The attack happened close to water-distribution plants in the town of Amiriyat al-Fallujah.

Military sources said a number of policemen were killed in an ISIL suicide car bombing.





During the Abu Ghraib assault, a number of tribal fighters were abducted along with the policemen to unknown locations, sources said on condition of anonymity, citing security concerns.

However, Baghdads operations command centre denied that any of its forces were taken prisoner, saying two suicide attackers were killed during what it called a foiled assault.

Abu Ghraib  on the western outskirts of Baghdad  is considered administratively to be part of Baghdad city.

For more than a year now, ISIL has wanted to get closer to Baghdad city and Abu Ghraib prison.

The jail has gained notoriety since revelations that US troops abused Iraqi prisoners there after the 2003 invasion.

ISILs offensive near Baghdad came after government forces took back significant territory in Anbar, which largely remains one of the groups strongholds.

Iraqs government announced in late December that its troops had recaptured the provincial capital Ramadi, but fighting with ISIL has continued on the citys outskirts since then.
Many fear they will not be able to continue journey as new border controls by Balkan states leave thousands trapped.

The UN is warning of a growing humanitarian challenge along Macedonias border with Greece as thousands fleeing war in the Middle East and beyond remain stuck in limbo.

Tensions are high as temperatures dip and many refugees  fearing they will not be able to continue their journey  continued to demand on Sunday that they be allowed to cross.

Four Balkans countries have announced a daily cap on how many people can pass through and Austria has restricted entry for hundreds of thousands.

Following the border shutdowns, Greece, a primary gateway to Europe, has been inundated with refugees.

People are trying to make their way to western and northern Europe, but border controls are forcing many into already overcrowded camps. Only some Iraqis and Syrians have been allowed to cross.

Biggest migration crisis

Greek officials say the number of refugees trapped in the country may reach 70,000 in the coming weeks, although a NATO plan to crack down on smugglers could limit the flow of migration significantly.

Europe is in the second year of its biggest migration crisis since World War II.

We estimate that we will have a number of people trapped in our country which will be between 50,000 and 70,000.  I believe in the coming month, Yannis Mouzalas, the immigration minister, told Greek Mega TV on Sunday.

About 22,000 migrants and refugees were already in Greece, he said.

READ MORE: Why is Europe closing its borders to Afghans?

Reporting Idomeni, a small community on Greeces northern border with Macedonia, Al Jazeeras Hoda Abdel-Hamid said: People have blocked the railway to put pressure on authorities. By doing that, theyre hoping the border with Macedonia will open.

Many here are not aware that its not just Macedonia which has blocked borders.

She said nongovernmental organisations were running out of supplies for the refugees.

There were about 2,000 meals left for at least 7,000 people at the camp, she said.

Increasing curbs

More buses with refugees were on their way to Idomeni despite increasing restrictions on transit through borders.

Everybody is afraid of March 1, Al Jazeeras Abdel-Hamid said.

They have heard of reports that maybe tomorrow, borders will close to everyone.

Last week, NATO diplomats saidships already deployed in the Aegean Sea, including Turkish and Greek vessels, would pass intelligence and reconnaissance information to Turkish and Greek coastguards and to the EU border agency, Frontex, and also return to Turkey any people rescued by NATO crews.

The plan is aimed at complementing an EU accord with Turkey to stem the flow of refugees arriving in Europe.

If the NATO plan is implemented  it could reduce the inflow by about 70 percent, Greeces Mouzalas said in the TV interview.

Asked whether the operation could end arrivals, he said: No, migration cannot be sealed.

Greek funding plea

Greece has asked for emergency funding from Europe to tackle the unprecedented crisis, Mouzalas said, without providing details on the amount requested.

It has asked for tents, blankets, sleeping bags, transport vehicles and ambulances among other supplies, a government official told Reuters news agency.

Against this backdrop of a build-up of refugees, Pope Francis has called for a united response to help flows of people into Europe fleeing war and suffering.

Addressing crowds in St. Peters Square at the Vatican on Sunday, Francis, who highlighted the suffering of refugees at the border between Mexico and the US this month, said the refugee drama was always in his prayers.

Greece and other countries on the front line are giving these people generous help, which needs the collaboration of all countries. A response in unison could be effective and distribute the load fairly, he said.

To do this, we need to push decisively and unreservedly in negotiations.
Country tops list of Asian countries, with one in 10 women in 15-19 age group already a mother, according to UN study.

Manila  Teenage pregnancy rates across the world have declined in the past two decades except in the Philippines, according to a new survey.

The report by the UN says the Philippines topped the regional list of Asian countries that continued to have the greatest number of teenage pregnancies.

It also says that one in 10 young Filipino women  between 15 and 19 years of age  is already a mother.





A few factors adding to the continued increase in birth rates include having multiple sexual partners as well as low condom use.

Social attitudes towards family planning in the Philippines are heavily influenced by the Catholic Church.

Vanessa Aguilos, a 24-year-old Filipino mother of three, told Al Jazeera she did not know that having unsafe sex would lead to her pregnancy.

It did not cross my mind that this could happen. My mother just asked me one day why I was not having my period any more  After a pregnancy test, it turned out I was [pregnant], she said.

Aguilos comes from a low-income family and did not have access to family-planning advice. Nor were contraceptives given to her.

In 2012, the Supreme Court of the Philippines ruled that it was constitutional to implement the Reproductive Health Law, meaning that low-income earners had a right to family planning services and free contraception.

The government says it will address the matter again after the May election.
Several knifed and 13 arrested after scuffles between white supremacists and anti-racism demonstrators in California.

White supremacists from the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) group and anti-racism protesters clashed in the US state of California during rival demonstrations, with several people stabbed and injured in scuffles.

All four stabbing victims, including one suffering critical injuries, were part of a group that faced off with the rallying KKK members on Saturday in the city of Anaheim, police said.

All hell broke loose, said Brian Levin, director of California State University, San Bernardinos Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, who witnessed the violence. I thought they were going to stomp these Klansmen to death.

Thirteen other members of both sides were arrested.

It appears six KKK people arrived and were immediately attacked by counter-protesters, which led to a counter-protester being stabbed, police spokesman Sergeant Daron Wyatt said.

READ MORE: Racism in the US  the melting pot is boiling

The initial clash spurred several separate fights, Wyatt added, noting that two KKK members were stomped on by the crowd.



KKK gathers at South Carolina statehouse grounds

Levin said the counter-protesters smashed the side window of the Klan SUV and the front windshield At that point, the crowd got extremely violent.

The Klan, which was formed in 1865, had up to four million members in the 1920s, but its membership has dwindled to between 5,000 and 8,000, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Although it has historically targeted black people, the KKK has also launched attacks against Jews, immigrants, gays and lesbians. Until recently, it attacked Catholics as well.

Levin said he attended the rally as an observer, but ended up standing in between the Klansmen and the crowd of angry protesters to try to stem the violence.

I helped two Klansmen get out of the way, said Levin.I told the crowd: Dr [Martin Luther] King wouldnt approve of this, please dont harm these men.

After pushing a Klansman away from the angry mob, Levin said he asked him: How does it feel that your life was just saved by a Jewish man?

The man replied thank you, according to Levin.
At least five rescuers dead at Arctic mine where 26 miners were trapped three days ago.

Six people  most of them rescuers  have been killed in a new explosion in a mine in northern Russia where 26 miners went missing after an accident three days ago.

All of the missing miners are now also presumed dead, officials said on Sunday.

Six people died, five of them rescuers, Anton Kovalishin, a spokesman for the emergencies ministry in the Komi region where the Severnaya mine is located, told the AFP news agency.

Separately, Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said the 26 missing miners were most likely also dead.

The accident at the Severnaya mine was Russias worst mining accident in years.

On Thursday, four miners were killed and 26 went missing after a collapse at the Severnaya mine in the city of Vorkuta within the Arctic Circle.

Authorities launched a massive search operation involving hundreds of rescue workers and until now had refused to declare the missing miners dead.

But Puchkov, speaking to reporters on Sunday, said the 26 could not have survived.

Unfortunately, we are forced to acknowledge that all the conditions at that section of the mine would not allow a person to survive, he said, in remarks broadcast by LifeNews television channel.

Puchkov earlier said rescuers had risked their lives during the search operation working in tough conditions, including almost zero visibility, gas-polluted air, and rubble.

President Vladimir Putin has tasked the government with creating a special commission to investigate the accident.

In 2010, 91 people  miners and rescuers  died after a methane explosion at the Raspadskaya mine in the Siberian region of Kemerovo.

In 2007, 110 people died at the Ulyanovskaya mine in the Kemerovo region in the countrys worst mining accident since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
Thunder of the North exercise aims to bolster ground, air and naval coordination against threat of terrorist groups.

Armed forces from 20 countries have begun manoeuvres in northeastern Saudi Arabia that the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) has described as one of the worlds biggest military exercises.

Troops from Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan and Sudan are among those participating in the Thunder of the North exercise, which began on Saturday and involves ground, air and naval forces, SPA reported.

Forces from the other five Gulf Arab states are also taking part in one of the worlds most important military exercises based on the number of forces participating and the area of territory used, the news agency added.

It said a major goal of the exercise was to improve training in responding to the threat posed by terrorist groups.

Saudi Arabia has carried out air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria as part of a US-led coalition fighting the group.

Last December, it also formed a new 35-member alliance to fight terrorism in Islamic countries.

Since March last year, it has been leading a military campaign against Iran-backed rebels in its southern neighbour Yemen.
Citizens vote against plan to deport foreigners for minor offences, including drug possession and false testimony.

Swiss voters have rejected a proposal by a nationalist party to automatically expel foreigners who commit even low-level crimes, Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported.

SRF on Sunday cited political research group gfs.bern, which projected the measure would be rejected by 59 percent of voters based on partial results from some polling areas.

The outcome comes as a blow to the Swiss Peoples Party, which had campaigned for the plan, and a turnaround from opinion polls last year which had predicted it would be accepted.

The referendum vote, proposed by the party, sought to expel any foreigner found guilty of crimes usually punishable with short jail sentences or fines such as giving false testimony or carrying drugs.

Opponents warned if the text passed, people born to foreign parents in Switzerland risk being deported to countries they have never lived in for petty offences.

The proposal was opposed by the government, parliament, and major political parties, which warned the move would circumvent the fundamental rules of democracy.

READ MORE: Anti-immigration party wins Swiss elections

Sundays vote comes six years after more than half of Swiss voters backed a similar poll strengthening rules to automatically expel foreign nationals convicted of violent or sexual crimes.

SVPs campaign initially garnered strong support but appears to have lost some steam among voters.

More than 50,000 people, including hundreds of celebrities, signed a petition against the proposal.
While chances that the ceasefire will hold are slim, it may lead to humanitarian access throughout the country.

The ceasefire in Syria that took effect on February 27 was part of a negotiated deal, based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 2254, passed in December 2015.

The deal that contained three main commitments around humanitarian access, a negotiated ceasefire and a political transition was reached in Munich by the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), a group of international actors mandated to find a resolution to the Syrian conflict.

The ISSG, which includes major regional actors, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar, as well as regional bodies, such as the Arab League and the European Union, has emerged out of previous attempts, notably the Geneva process, to negotiate a political solution to the Syrian conflict.

The major difference between the ISSGs success in negotiating a deal in February had little to do with its structure or political agreement among the key sides.

Instead, the February deal has everything to do with the changing dynamics on the ground and the ability of Russia and its allies to impose a political vision for ending the conflict that suits their interests.

Below are answers to some key questions about what these commitments entail, what their chances of success are, and how the Munich agreement may shape the future of Syria.

READ MORE: Syrias future shaped by Russian designs

What does the ceasefire in Syria mean on the ground? Which areas will observe it and which areas will not?

In theory, the ceasefire should apply to all of Syria. However, Russia has insisted that, along with its allied forces, it reserve the right to attack the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and al-Nusra Front forces as these two groups are outside the framework of the ceasefire, as are other groups labelled as terrorist by the UN.

This means that the ceasefire is not geographically demarcated. This exception to the ceasefire is very problematic, however, because Russian forces have attacked many rebel groups and civilian areas under the justification of attacking ISIL and Nusra.

The commitment to a political transition envisaged through the UN Security Council Resolution 2254 is unlikely to generate resources and energy at this point when so much focus is on the ceasefire.

These two groups have become convenient scapegoats for Russian attacks throughout Syria. Russia has essentially reserved the right to militarily engage any armed groups in Syria under the pretext of fighting ISIL and Nusra.

The United States has been working with Russia in an attempt to designate whether certain areas are ceasefire-abiding areas or not, but they have yet to agree on the specific geographic contours of the agreement. The absence of such contours will give Russia greater military latitude.

Practically speaking, this means that large swaths of Syrian territory in which these groups are present, particularly in the eastern and northwestern parts of the country, will remain active conflict zones.

Groups outside of the ceasefire, such as Ahrar al-Sham and others labelled as terrorist groups, remain present in parts of Homs and Hama provinces, as well as near Damascus, meaning these areas also potentially lie outside of the ceasefire zones.

OPINION: A ceasefire in Syria is pure fantasy

What are the chances of the ceasefire holding and for how long? What could it hold and why might it not?

The ceasefire is unlikely to hold for three main reasons: First, Russia and its allies have reserved the right to attack forces outside of the ceasefire. This means that any violence on the ground that is committed by Russia or regime-led forces can be justified within the framework of the Munich agreement and the ceasefire under the pretence of fighting ISIL.

As such, Russia can have its cake and eat it, too; it has reserved the right to militarily engage armed groups while demanding that they cease all hostilities. Second, there are simply thousands of small, organised brigades in Syria that have little interest in a cessation of hostilities.

There is a network of armed groups who have benefitted handsomely from the conflict and for whom a ceasefire may threaten them and their activities.

It is counterintuitive; however, it is important to note that not all of the violence in Syria is driven by metapolitical issues, such as trying to overthrow the regime, and that there are micropolitical issues, such as security and smuggling, that also motivate armed groups.





With little incentive aside from the possible reprieve from Russian bombing, it is unlikely that many of these groups will be motivated to observe the ceasefire.

Third, most of the rebel groups inside of Syria cooperate with other groups on the battlefield. This cooperation has as much to do with their political or ideological affinities as it does their relative strengths and weaknesses and need to build alliances to make military gains.

Thus, very few armed groups inside Syria operate independently of other groups, blurring the distinctions between them. Isolating a few groups as outside of the ceasefire betrays the organisational structure of violence on the ground and the reality that most groups cooperate on the battlefield.

How many of the rebel groups have committed to the ceasefire?

According to the Syrian oppositions High Negotiations Committee (HNC), more than 100 rebel factions agreed to abide by the terms of the ceasefire. Many of the stronger rebel groups, such as Ahrar al-Sham and Jaish al-Islam, are outside of the terms of the ceasefire as they are labelled as terrorist groups and remain subject to attacks.

This will complicate and weaken the ceasefire as both of these groups are known to cooperate with opposition-backed armed groups committed to the ceasefire. The greatest chance for success of the ceasefire is if there is significant compliance over the initial two-week period and that this brings different groups  whether officially or not  under the umbrella of the ceasefire.





What are the chances that humanitarian aid will reach the besieged areas?

While chances that the ceasefire will hold are slim, the agreement will likely lead to enhanced humanitarian access throughout the country.

Humanitarian airlifts are about to begin the delivery of relief to besieged areas, and there are agreements between regime and opposition forces to lift sieges imposed on specific towns and villages. This includes Madaya, where a devastating siege by regime forces has been in place for months.

Creating and maintaining access to areas in need should be reinforced by a large commitment of ISSG members to provide medicines, food, and other necessities. Unfortunately, the agreement does not carry stipulations for levels of humanitarian aid as it focuses solely on creating access.

Will the ceasefire lead to a political transition?

Unlikely. Advancing a political transition is the third goal of the agreement but is the least likely to generate any interest among the main parties at this point. At this point, international efforts have been focused on efforts where there is relative agreement specifically on the need for a ceasefire and creating humanitarian access.

The contours of a political transition remain very contentious, and while the Western world is gravitating towards the Russian position on the architecture of a political transition, there is enough resistance from the political opposition and regional states to prevent a consensus on the issue.

The commitment to a political transition envisaged through the UN Security Council Resolution 2254 is unlikely to generate resources and energy at this point when so much focus is on the ceasefire.
On day two of the truce, aid groups are rushing to get relief to 480,000 trapped Syrians during a lull in fighting.

With a precarious ceasefire holding in Syria for a second day, aid organisations geared up on Sunday to get desperately needed food and medicine to besieged residents.

An estimated 480,000 Syrians are trapped in the country and the United Nations said it expects the truce will allow 17 areas to immediately receive humanitarian assistance.

The truce agreement among most combatants in the Syrian war came into effect early on Saturday, aiming to halt fighting for two weeks and lead to peace talks in March.

The deal marks the biggest diplomatic push yet to end Syrias five-year war, which has killed more than 260,000 people and displaced millions from their homes.



Russia halts air strikes as Syria truce takes hold

While scepticism abounds on whether it will hold, there is hope the ceasefire will allow humanitarian efforts to move forward.

I am actually hopeful, which is a rare thing to say in the course of this conflict, Middle East analyst Hillary Mann Leverett told Al Jazeera.

But to me the critically important point is this is the first time that the international community has actually tried a broad-based, almost nationwide ceasefire in Syria  its been more than four years since this has been attempted.

The very attempt to do so  the agreement to get this done  will at least pave the way in the interim period for aid to get to civilians in desperate need.

While some observers have expressed doubt about the truce holding, Leverett said the parties involved have stakes in seeing that it does. She said at the least it will give rebel groups time to re-arm, while government forces can consolidate their authority after recent territorial gains.

The incentives the parties have to stay a part of this ceasefire are important, theyre real, and theyre not something that will be easily reversed, said Leverett.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Sunday, however, fighting was continuing in the north of Latakia province, with government forces shelling rebel-held villages in an ongoing offensive.

Twelve fighters were reportedly killed, said the UK-based group that relies on contacts throughout Syria for its information.

President Bashar al-Assads ally Russia said on Saturday it halted air strikes in Syria in accordance with the ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washington.

Russia entered the Syrian conflict in September 2015 and its air power has played a significant role in the recent major gains by government forces.

READ MORE: Russia halts air strikes as Syria truce takes hold

At the Bab al-Salaama camp in northern Syria on the border with Turkey, thousands of tents are now home to internally displaced people.

We left our homes because of Russian air strikes, they were non-stop and relentless. They didnt spare anybody, Mohammed Abu Ali told Al Jazeeras Jamal Elshayyal.

Ali and his pregnant wife slept in a car for a week in Aleppo before she gave birth and they fled the besieged city for the camp with their newborn.

Before the ceasefire took hold, residents in the camp accused Russia of driving Sunni Muslims out of northern Syria with its air campaign. They are targeting civilians, especially Sunnis, said Ali.

Abduljajwad Hafath, another camp resident who lost his left leg in an air strike, concurred. The Russians are bombing our towns to empty them of the indigenous people, he said.
Opposition accuses Syrian government of multiple violations on second day of the temporary truce.

Syrias opposition has accused the government of multiple ceasefire violations on day two of a temporary truce as aid convoys were delayed from bringing supplies to desperate civilians caught up in the war.

The Syrian coalition on Sunday said Bashar-al-Assads regime had attacked 15 rebel-held areas across the country with heavy artillery, machine gun fire, and barrel bombs.

Activists also accused Syrias ally Russia of pounding at least two villages in Aleppo province with air strikes.

Al Jazeeras Omar al-Saleh, reporting from the Turkish town of Gaziantep near the Syrian border, said the opposition described the violence as a huge violation to the terms of the ceasefire.

Now the Russians are saying they actually targeted members of al-Nusra Front, which is linked to al-Qaeda and of course are excluded from the terms of this deal, he said.

READ MORE: Syrian ceasefire: Getting aid to desperate civilians

Meanwhile, Russia said the Syrian town of Tel Abyad had been attacked from Turkish territory with large-calibre artillery. Russias defence ministry told the Interfax news agency on Sunday it contacted a US coordination centre in Jordan for clarification over the shelling from Turkey.

At least 12 rebels were also reportedly killed as Syrian forces fired artillery and advanced on a northern village in Latakia province.

Claims that the precarious ceasefire, brokered by Moscow and Washington, had been breached came as vital UN aid deliveries were delayed because of logistical problems.

We are told they hope by tomorrow [Monday] to have another convoy to similar areas that received aid in previous days, but these are not in a dire situation like areas such as [the Damascus suburb of] Daraya, which has had no aid whatsoever, Saleh reported.

This is a logistical nightmare and you need a lot of paperwork to get into those areas.

The truce agreement among most combatants in the Syrian war came into effect early on Saturday, aiming to halt fighting for two weeks with the hope it would lead to peace talks in March.

The deal marks the biggest diplomatic push yet to end Syrias five-year war, which has killed more than 260,000 people and displaced millions from their homes.



Russia halts air strikes as Syria truce takes hold

While scepticism has abounded from the start on whether it would hold, there was hope a cessation in fighting would allow the UN to deliver assistance to an estimated 480,000 Syrians in 17 besieged areas.

I am actually hopeful, which is a rare thing to say in the course of this conflict, Middle East analyst Hillary Mann Leverett told Al Jazeera on Saturday.

But to me the critically important point is this is the first time that the international community has actually tried a broad-based, almost nationwide ceasefire in Syria  its been more than four years since this has been attempted.

The very attempt to do so  the agreement to get this done  will at least pave the way in the interim period for aid to get to civilians in desperate need.

Leverett said the parties involved had stakes in seeing that the ceasefire held. She said it would give rebel groups time to re-arm, while government forces could consolidate their authority after recent territorial gains.

The incentives the parties have to stay a part of this ceasefire are important, theyre real, and theyre not something that will be easily reversed, said Leverett.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday, however, that at least 180 people had been killed in the first day of the ceasefire.

Russia entered the Syrian conflict in September 2015 and its air power has played a significant role in the recent major gains by government forces.
The African Union (AU) will send 200 human rights and military monitors to Burundi, South Africas president said, after a trip to the country that is facing its worst crisis since a civil war ended a decade ago.

Jacob Zuma, delivering a statement on Saturday by the delegation of African leaders that he leads, did not say when the monitors would arrive in Burundi, where more than 400 people have been killed since April.

The government of Burundi has committed to the following: the government will continue the steps it has begun to open up space for free political activity by the people of Burundi and ensure the freedom of the media. The AU will deploy 100 human rights observers and 100 military monitors to Burundi to monitor the situation, Zuma said.

READ MORE: Why is Burundi rejecting African Union peacekeepers?

We are pleased with the participation and contributions of all the sectors. The high-level delegation of the heads of state and government expresses its concerns about the levels of violence, loss of life and the general state of political instability in the country. We are, however, pleased that all parties expressed strong commitment to resolving whatever political problems exist through inclusive and peaceful dialogue.

Details about the new mission were not immediately clear. Diplomats said other African monitors sent to Bujumbura last year had been stuck in their hotel unable to work because Burundi refused to sign a memorandum allowing them to operate.

The conflict

Burundis civil war, which ended in 2005, largely pitted two ethnic groups against each other. The violence has rattled a region with a history of ethnic conflict.

Western powers have urged Africans to act. The United States and European nations have withheld some aid to Burundi and taken other steps to try to put pressure on the government to resolve the crisis, but they say it has had little impact.

The decision to send monitors suggests a compromise had been reached with Burundis President Pierre Nkurunziza, who triggered the crisis in April when he announced a bid for a third term. He went on to win a disputed election in July, in the face of street protests and violent clashes.

The new initiative falls far short of the African Unions plan announced in December to send a 5,000-strong peacekeeping force, which Nkurunzizas government rejected.
The case against Assange is as political as it is legal; where does it go from here? Plus, Kenyas election influencers.
The former Thai PM speaks about military rule, his self-imposed exile, and the challenges facing the country.

Despite living in self-imposed exile for the best part of 10 years, Thailands former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, continues to shape and influence Thai politics.

If by Thaksin

really love the people and the country as they claim, they should let it return to a democracy.]

Elected to power in 2001, he was the first democratically elected prime minister to serve a full term in office before being re-elected in a 2005 landslide victory.

A former telecommunications billionaire, the business tycoon-turned-politician drew his support from Thailands rural poor, with his populist healthcare programmes and assistance for farmers schemes, winning him great levels of support.

However, loathed by the elite who saw him as a threat to the monarchy, Thaksin would face increasing allegations of corruption, with attention soon turning towards his tremendous wealth.

Coupled with accusations that he insulted the revered monarchy, protests would pave the way for the military to launch a bloodless coup in September 2006 while he was in the US.

Apart from a brief return to Thailand in 2008, Thaksin has based himself in self-imposed exile in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, ever since.

He has since been found guilty by Thai courts of abusing his power over a land deal while also being stripped of around $1.4bn for concealing ownership of shares in a telecommunications company and for amending government policies to benefit it.

Thaksin told Al Jazeera that fears over his safety were stopping him from returning to the country.

If I was there, who could guarantee my safety? he asked. When asked if his life was in danger, Thaksin replied: Definitely, pausing before adding that while he was prime minister, there were 14 attempts on his life, including a 2006 foiled car-bomb assassination near his residence.

Thaksins younger sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, would later become the countrys first female prime minister in 2011, but when her government tried to push through a bill that would have granted amnesty to those found guilty of political crimes, protests gripped the country.

Yingluck was removed from office in a coup in May 2014 when a military government, headed by General Prayuth Chan-ocha, came to power.

With the military continuing to run the country under the so-called National Council for Peace and Order, elections have repeatedly been delayed with rights groups accusing the military government of trying to solidify its hold on power.

The draft constitution is [a] bad constitution; I dont even know if we can compare [it] to North Korea, Thaksin said.

In this episode of Talk to Al Jazeera, Thaksin Shinawatra, who has largely remained silent since the coup forced him from office, talks to Wayne Hay about the challenges facing the country and what lies ahead.
Unlike many spas that pipe in artificial water sounds or rainforest mimicry, there was no music; the dominant sounds were the ones of actual water running through marble drains, rushing out of faucets, spilling over basins, falling from the ceiling in heavy, satisfyingly warm drops. The echoes from happily gabby conversations, laughter, and the occasional metallic ring of a dropped bowl reverberated across the dome.

Relaxing as it all was, I nonetheless started to feel restless. When would we be taken to the whirlpools? All of the water vapors and noises were great but felt like a big tease when I was so desperate to submerge my weary body completely. Bathhouse employees approached the slab, but they went to other clients. I sat up and started to explore. There was one section tucked away in a corner that came close the sort of indulgently hot steam room I needed. Its marble floor was almost too hot to walk on, but I was determined to overheat, so I stretched across the marble benches until I started to sweat. It worked, and after about two minutes, I was ready to drench myself, so I wandered around to various sinks, tested their water temperatures (some had hot water; others lukewarm and cool), and carefully watched what the other women were doing. I mimicked them by taking the silver bowls and dousing each body part.

I made my way back to my blanket on the marble slab and waited patiently for my scrub and massage. Eventually, a woman in an all-black getup that looked like a 1920s swimming costume approached me and told me take my top off. OK, here we go. Using a rough silk glove, she scoured my body stem to stern in short, vigorous motions, pausing intermittently to proudly show me the grayish pellets that were accumulating on my skinthe build-up of my own dead skin cells. Eventually, there were so many that it felt like they were playing as big an exfoliating role as the glove itself. When she had me flip onto my stomach so she could do my backside, I felt a little relieved to stash away my exposed chest (I am a semiprudish American inherently ill at ease with my own nakedness, after all), but then my bather hiked up my bikini bottom, effectively displaying me in a thong. My moment of modesty was short-lived.
A plurality of evangelicals voted for Donald Trump in the Nevada caucus. 41% voted for The Donald; 26% voted for Cruz.

What exactly does evangelicals support for a man like Trump signify?

First, it reveals the extent to which many evangelicals have been assimilated into secularist culture. The evangelical call to confront the corruption of culture rather than to rationalize and to assimilate it has been badly weakened over decades. Many evangelicals have absorbed and imitated the celebrity and secularist political culture, swimming with the tide rather than against it.

How did the assimilation of evangelicals into the secularist word happen?

It happened much as the Hellenization of the Jews of the Diaspora occurred. Alexander the Great and his successors insisted Jews assimilate into Greek culture. Circumcision, a religious rite considered barbaric mutilation by the Greeks, was forbidden; Jewish youths were expected to compete naked in Greek games; Jewish holidays were renamed and celebration of them forbidden. Under Antiochus, the Torah was banned under threat of death, and the Sabbath was not to be observed. Much pressure was put on the Jews, who were considered an indigestible cultural subgroup as long as they retained their religious differences, to convert to Greek ways. Many did, seeing that if success was to be had in the Seleucid world, capitulation to Greek mores was necessary.

Christians in America have been under similar pressure. They have seen their children forbidden to read the bible in public schools, forced to accept gender free bathrooms in which ten-year-old girls are to share restroom facilities with grown men who have declared themselves women; seen their holiday celebrating the birth of Christ turned into a secularist Saturnalia; watched as their college-age youths are ordered to stomp on pictures of Jesus, and seen their children forced to study and to recite the tenets of the Muslim faith.

At work, evangelicals are under constant pressure to be silent about their faith and to stifle talk of sexual morality under threat of losing their jobs or businesses because of so-called hate speech. It has been easier to stay silent or to capitulate to the multicultural, secularist world view.

In large numbers, evangelicals have surrendered rather than fight.

Further, the Hellenization of American Christians has meant the shared consensus among evangelical Christians and practicing Catholics concerning Christian social values has broken down. For instance, at one time, both could be counted on to oppose abortion, stand for marriage between a man and a woman and support the traditional family. Most could be counted on to support the Constitution.

But the numbers of evangelical Christians who voted for Trump South Carolina primary and the Nevada caucus reveal those assumptions are no longer true. The moral consensus that once existed among Catholics and evangelicals has broken down due to secularist assimilation outlined above.

The trend that has hastened nearly complete assimilation of evangelicals (and other formerly orthodox Christian churches) into secularist culture is long standing, having begun a century or more ago with the erosion of two foundational Christian beliefs. One was the denial of Christ as the Son of God. Albert Schweitzers Quest for the Historical Jesus and similar books trashed the orthodox Christian belief Christ was more than mere man; that indeed, Jesus was and is God incarnate. Rather, Jesus was seen only as a prophet and teacher among many equal prophets and teachers.

The multiculturalist view of Jesus, plus the destruction of another core foundation for evangelical belief -- namely, the idea that the Bible is supernaturally inspired revelation from God to us -- shook to the foundations evangelicals belief in the authority of Christ and scripture over the affairs of men.

After huge victories over societal corruptions such as slavery, the erosion of foundational beliefs meant that evangelicals began to back off from involvement in political affairs. Attempts to regroup were largely characterized by withdrawal into what now is essentially a subculture that does not effectively confront the intellectual challenges presented by an aggressive and anti-Christian secularism promoted in the past by such authors as Bertrand Russell and H.L. Mencken -- and in the near past by people like the late Christopher Hitchens and Madalyn Murray OHair.

The failure to meaningfully and powerfully engage challenges to Christianity effectively resulted in a kindergarten mentality Christianity that could not hold up under the kind of withering ridicule dealt out by Clarence Darrow to William Jennings Bryan in the famous Scopes Monkey Trial.

Evangelicals retreated into emphases on personal piety and self-examination that largely avoided confrontation of an increasingly secularist culture. Alas, for not a few of the extreme fundamentalist variety of Christians, the speeches of politicians like Huey Long, Orval Faubus, and now Donald Trump have had a revivalist fire and brimstone Devil-may-care tone some are attracted to, regardless of the fact such politicians secularist faith and mores are unalterably opposed to Christian values. Anger looks like strength.

There were and are notable exceptions to the secularist trends, of course. People of renowned scholarship like J. Gresham Machen, a great thinker and founder of Westminster Seminary, a man whom even H.L. Mencken admired, did take a stand against the erosion of Christianitys core foundations, worrying openly about issues like the corruption of public education. Calvinist theologian Francis Schaeffer attempted to confront the deterioration of Western culture; and notable writers like Alexander Solzhenitsyn also took a stand against the corruption of the West, noting the slide from Christian belief into reductionist secularist dogma. There were and are others, of course.

But such holdouts are now few, and those who do take a stand often speak in the incomprehensible language of academic theology or the subtext of narrow, hyper-denominationalism. Coupled with the prevalence of the kindergarten variety of evangelicalism among masses of Christians, the lack of meaningful and comprehensible intellectual and spiritual firepower has meant the tide of secularism has overwhelmed millions of evangelicals, including evangelical youths.

What does the assimilative trend going on in the world of evangelicals portend in the world of politics?

Essentially, shrewd political observers now understand clearly the emperor has no clothes. There is nothing to fear from the now naked Christian voting bloc. The stunning fragmentation of evangelicals and the ease with which they have been persuaded to vote for candidates who do not hold anything even approximate to Christian values essentially means evangelicals are not worth courting for votes. It also means any given candidate will no longer have to give even lip service to Christian values, as evangelicals have demonstrated millions of them no longer have a distinct moral voice from that of the surrounding culture.

The social issues deemed so important to Christians for decades, abortion being but one example, will no longer count in most politicians minds -- not when so-called people of faith by the hundreds of thousands have voted for Trump, a man who is almost rabidly pro-abortion.

Secular politicians, doubtless relieved they will no longer have to put up any pretense at holding Christian values, will see it is a far more politically savvy tactic to promote identity politics, seeking to cobble together the disaffected and the victimized. Aligning ones self with the social values of Christian voters will be considered drinking a cup of political hemlock.

Last, and perhaps most importantly, evangelicals have demonstrated they have really absorbed the Leftist position demanding draconian separation of church and state. They have revealed they are content with their subculture; content to leave the wider cultural arena, including politics and government, in the control of secularists. Even many evangelical preachers, once megaphones against corruption of the culture, have acceded to secularism out of fear of retribution or from weakness stemming from reluctance to confront the anti-Christian trends within and without the church.

What more loudly trumpets the surrender of evangelicals to the broader cultural capitulation to the world, the flesh, and the Devil than the support for Trump given by Jerry Falwell, Jr., president of Liberty University, one of evangelicalisms foremost institutions? Is there a more obvious and unrepentant secularist than Donald Trump?

Falwells complete capitulation, along with Catholics like Phyllis Schlafly who have joined the Trump secularist bandwagon, means the acceptance and reinforcement of a basic tenet of the Left; namely, that there really is to be a wall of separation between faith and the world. We leftists will take over and run the real stuff. You evangelicals can have your church rituals.

In sum, evangelicals have not only helped build the wall of separation, but they are living behind it in their own closed communities.

What the departure from former values and the support of a raging secularist means for the future of evangelicals in general is open to speculation.

But one can hazard a guess that after seeing the soft underbelly impotency of evangelicals in the realm of politics, the Left will ratchet up its attacks on Christian individuals and organizations opposing the leftist agenda. The reasoning will be something like this: What is there to fear? So many evangelicals are not that much different than us!

As Michael Novak wrote in National Review in 2002, we will see what happens as religion is increasingly pulled out from the foundations of the republic. Alexis de Tocqueville, Novak wrote, reflected more deeply on the inherent weaknesses of democracy, stripped of religion, than anybody at the ACLU today:

Tocqueville began with a shocker: That the first political institution of American democracy is religion. His thesis went something like this: The premises of secular materialism do not sustain democracy, but undermine it, while the premises of Judaism and Christianity include and by inductive experience lead to democracy, uplift it, carry it over its inherent weaknesses, and sustain it. [Because of its] own inherent tendencies, democracy tends to lower tastes and passions, to devolve into materialistic preoccupations, and to undercut its own principles by a morally indifferent relativism. Further, democracy left to itself tends to surrender liberty to the passion for security and equality, and thus to end in a new soft despotism, tied down with a thousand silken threads by a benign authority.

What are evangelicals thinking when they rush to support a politician whose secular materialism and morally indifferent relativism does not sustain democracy but undermines it? What are they thinking when they surrender the premises of Judaism and Christianity, premises that uplift the republic, carry it over its inherent weaknesses, and sustain it?

The answer to that is that too many evangelicals are not thinking. They have forgotten what Christianity means to the security of the Republic. As de Tocqueville wrote:

I have already said enough to put Anglo-American civilization in its true light. It is the product of two perfectly distinct elements which elsewhere have often been at war with one another but which in America it was somehow possible to incorporate into each other, forming a marvellous combination. I mean the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom... Far from harming each other, these two apparently opposed tendencies work in harmony and seem to lend mutual support.

In de Tocquevilles words lie a remedy for evangelicals capitulation to the premises of a secular materialism that ultimately promotes tyranny rather than republicanism.

If evangelicals, along with other Christians, return to promoting both the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom, there may yet be hope for our country.

If they once again seek to articulate a Christian world view that encompasses all aspects of society, including world of politics, they may yet have something to say.

They may even escape being ignored in the political process.
As Western politicians and other talking heads insist that the Islamic State ("ISIS") has "nothing whatsoever to do with Islam," not only does ISIS correctly implement Islamic law  whether by demanding jizya from subjugated Christians or by sexually enslaving "infidel" women  but even the "caliphate's" arcane jihadi tactics belong to Islam.

Consider a recently exposed "recruitment" tactic of ISIS: abducting, indoctrinating, and beating young children in order to mold them into explosive vest-wearing "martyrs" who hurl themselves onto "infidels":

The children who managed to escape describe how they were indoctrinated into the jihadi group's radical brand of Islam and taught that they should execute their "unbeliever" [infidel] parents. ... "We weren't allowed to cry but I would think about my mother, think about her worrying about me and I'd try and cry quietly," he [an escapee] said[.] ... Some children who managed to escape ISIS and are now living in the refugee camps in northern Iraq, have also been left badly psychologically scarred. The repeated beatings and endless propaganda have meant that some of the escapees wake up in the night with nightmares while others suffer seizures.

The report goes on to say, "The growing trend for ISIS to use child soldiers as suicide bombers, particularly in Iraq, has been suggested as a sign of how stretched their resources are in the region."

Or it could suggest that ISIS is simply following another page of the jihadi playbook. For centuries, Muslim caliphates seized Christian boys from their families, forcefully converted them and indoctrinated them in Islam, trained them to be jihadis extraordinaire, and then unleashed them back onto their former Christian kin to wreak havoc in the name of jihad on infidels. (Skanderberg was the exception.)

That this practice is Islamic is evident in that other modern-day Muslims  not just ISIS  follow it. In 2012, 300 Christian children were abducted and forcibly converted to Islam. After convincing impoverished Christian families in Bangladesh to spend what little money they had to send their children to study at supposed mission hostels, con men would "pocket the money" and "sell the children to Islamic schools elsewhere in the country 'where imams force them to abjure Christianity.'" The children are then instructed in Islam and beaten. After being fully indoctrinated, the once Christian children are asked if they are "ready to give their lives for Islam," presumably by becoming jihadi suicide bombers.

The West would not be oblivious to this "new" Muslim tactic  erroneously concluding that it means ISIS has "stretched [its] resources"  if it had Islamic studies departments that disseminated facts instead of pro-Islamic myths and propaganda. As with all unsavory aspects of Islamic history, this institution has been whitewashed. Although young, terrified boys were seized from the clutches of their devastated parents, the mainstream (but otherwise debunked) narrative is that poor Christian families were eager to see their boys taken to the caliphate, where they would have a "bright future."

Portraying uniquely negative aspects of Islamic doctrine and history as uniquely positive aspects is par for the course. For example, the Islamic institution of jizya  extorting money from subjugated Christians and Jews, often on pain of death  is presented by academics like Georgetown University's John Esposito as a show of "tolerance" (debunked here).

Because Western knowledge of Islam has been subverted by the "scholars"  especially those funded by petro-dollars  ISIS and other Muslims are free to practice any number of distinctly Islamic tactics that appear "novel" to the West.

According to a manual distributed by ISIS, would-be jihadi mass murderers in the West are urged "to blend in with the western way of life and to avoid 'looking like a Muslim' so as to stay below the radar of the security services.  Readers are urged to wear a Christian cross, splash on the aftershave, cut off beards and even shun prayer meetings and mosques to avoid detection." The manual says:

It is permissible for you to wear a necklace showing a Christian cross. As you know, Christians  or even atheist Westerners with Christian background  wear crosses on their necklaces. But don't wear a cross necklace if you have a Muslim name on your passport, as that may look strange.

Considering Islam's well known enmity for the Christian cross, the depth of deception here should be clear.

While the U.K.'s Express repeatedly refers to the strategic deception outlined above as "chilling," it's actually standard. Not only did the 9/11 terrorists and many others follow these tactics, but Muslims have been pretending to blend in with those infidels they plan to murder from the start. Indeed, in order to kill an elderly Jewish poet who had mocked him, the prophet of Islam allowed one of his jihadis to lie to the Jew as a way to get close enough to kill him. The jihadi did so  to the point of cursing Muhammad in front of the poet, who ceased suspecting that the young man was still following the prophet and eventually invited him into his home, at which point the jihadi dropped the mask and decapitated the elderly Jew. (Click here for other examples of Muhammad permitting Muslims to behave like non-Muslims as a stratagem of war.)

Crypto-Muslims (or Moriscos) pretending to be Christian but secretly working to subvert Spain back to Muslim rule were a continual source of danger for centuries. While the Spaniards knew that Islam prevented Muslims from being loyal to Christian rule, after the Reconquista, they also learned that many Muslims who had publicly converted to Christianity  going to church and participating in baptism and communion  were crypto-Muslims working for the victory of Islam, including by revolting with the aid of foreign Muslims, such as the Turks. As a result, Islam was expelled from Spain, and as a result of that, ISIS and other Muslims vow to return.

Yet because this historical event is now portrayed as an example of extreme Christian intolerance  the flip-side of Western academia's devotion to whitewashing Islam is its devotion to demonizing Christianity  another valuable lesson from Christian-Muslim history is lost.

The tactics employed by the Islamic State and other jihadi outfits  from indoctrinating Christian children to be martyrs for Islam to acting Christian, going to church, and wearing crucifixes  permeate Islamic history. But because the West refuses to acknowledge Islam's true doctrines and history, it must ever confront the jihad blindfolded and blindsided.

Raymond Ibrahim, author of Crucified Again, holds fellowships at the David Horowitz Freedom Center and the Middle East Forum.
BBC has just aired a documentary entitled Secret Letters of John Paul II by Ed Stourton. The film analyzes the story of friendship of John Paul II with Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka Houthakker on the basis of their 32-year-long correspondence.

The author of the documentary is mainly interested in whether the pope had a love affair with the woman. He was frustrated in his effort by lack of evidence. Mr. Stourton had access only to the letters that Pope John Paul II wrote to Mrs. Tymieniecka Houthakker. As a result, he mostly speculates on the content of her letters to the pope. The thesis is clear, and for lack of any material evidence, the journalist authoritatively presents his own vision of the past instead.

According to Stourton's imagination, Anna-Teresa told Cardinal Wojtyla in a letter that she was in love with him. And so the epistolary relationship continued for 30 years, with her visiting him in Rome under the pretext of scholarly meetings and him visiting her and her family in Pomfret when on a visit to the U.S. The narrative is intertwined with comments of a former seminarian and a former Jesuit priest (presently married) on the nature of celibacy and problems it may present. Other people analyzing the friendship of John Paul II and Mrs. Tymieniecka Houthakker share Mr. Stourton's conviction about the amorous nature of their relationship, Platonic as it may have been.

As a result, a certain bias of the film emerges. However, those who are not fixated on the problems the requirement of celibacy may create to Catholic priests may see quite a different story behind it  the friendship of a strong-willed woman and a saintly man. Born in an aristocratic family in Poland, she grew up and survived the Second World War there. Before moving to the U.S, she studied philosophy in Poland, Switzerland, and France with the greatest specialists in the field of phenomenology. She held two Ph.D.s in philosophy, from the University of Fribourg and from the Sorbonne. She married late for her times  at the age of 33. Certainly she was an interesting personality, attractive to men not only because she was a pretty representative of the opposite sex.

As we may deduce from various impressions of witnesses in the film, Mrs. Tymieniecka Houthakker was an independent spirit used to exercising her own will. It is evidenced by the fact that she came to communist Poland especially to meet Karol Wojtyla, whose philosophy had impressed her. As a holder of a Western passport, she did not seem to encounter any problems to return to her native country in the 1970s. She did develop problems, however, in her scholarly cooperation with Karol Wojtyla.

Her English translation of the pope's book suggests as well what kind of personality she was. Despite personal friendship, John Paul II questioned her work because she subtly distorted his ideas in accordance with her philosophical approach. Those small facts give us hints as to what her character might have been  strong, passionate, perhaps a little egocentric. Was she an important friend of John Paul II? Probably. Was she the only such friend? Not at all.

As a priest, Cardinal Wojtyla has been especially interested in the issues relating to moral choices, morality, marriage, and the protection of life. He is the author of the Theology of the Body, which was the first great issue he discussed during his pontificate. Throughout his life, he was working on those topics with scholars, men and women, to form ideas and lead the Catholic Church.

His other lifelong friend and a fellow scholar was Wanda Poltawska. Not only did he correspond all his life with her, but she was also present by his deathbed. A psychiatrist and a former Nazi concentration camp inmate at Ravensbruck, she discussed with him the matters of morality and personal accountability of a human being for his deeds. She greatly contributed to his work on family and marriage. Her professional scholarly work focused on family and went hand in hand with his teaching. She actively supported and cooperated with him to spread his vision of "the civilization of life." This friendship was a source of inspiration for John Paul's teaching, too.

The documentary of Mr. Stourton presents a version of events absolutely in line with contemporary times. Quick intimacy and shallow relationships seem to set the standard. This standard is to be applicable equally to everyone, including the clergy, making any contact with a woman a suspicious and dangerous thing for a priest. As a historian of the Church commenting on the friendship in the documentary assumed: "the idea that a pope had a woman friend must have been appalling to his entourage." I find those comments truly paradoxical in the era of women's liberation. The assumption that two adult and mature people of opposite sexes cannot exchange opinions and thoughts or meet from time to time without sexual interest is degrading.

Are men and women capable of establishing relationships with the representatives of the opposite exclusively for the reason of mating? Is mating the only reason for which we talk to one another, spend time together, and enjoy one another's company? Humans are social beings, and the drive to establish relationships is one of the basic human drives. We do not lose those drives when we get married. We do not lose them when we become priests. We just continue living and meeting others. At the same time, we respect the unique relationship we have with our spouse or with God, depending on the vocation.

This spiritual dimension of marriage and priesthood is entirely ignored by the author of the documentary. Digging through the piles of "secret" correspondence, he fails to see John Paul II for who every saint is  a man striving for virtue in a more effective way than most of us.

Maria Juczewska is an assistant with the Kosciuszko chair in Polish studies at the Institute of World Politics, Washington, DC., www.iwp.edu.
One of the great dangers of Donald Trump's candidacy is his casual willingness to exploit legitimate American frustration and anger and stir them into something ugly for his own benefit. But careless anger-baiting has consequences, one of which is that you risk turning your followers into an enemy-eating monster, greedy for your next attack on yet another victim and dying for this attack to be more vicious and bloodier than the last. You are then forced to feed this monster in order to retain its enthusiastic support. This is the mechanism whereby a thin-skinned, pampered showboat may become a genuinely tyrannical figure.

For months, reasonable people (plus this semi-reasonable one) have been arguing that a movement fueled by undirected anger  that is, anger that has forgotten exactly why it arose in the first place  will finally run out of "legitimate enemies" to eat and will start unwittingly devouring its friends and even, finally, itself.

This final inversion is underway. Trump, who has no knowledge of, or concern for, limited, constitutional government, has now officially shifted from dismissing constitutionality to openly opposing it. Appropriately enough, he is beginning at the beginning  namely, with the First Amendment right of free speech.

At a recent rally in Fort Worth, Texas, Trump whipped the crowd into a lather against two easy targets, The New York Times and The Washington Post, as a stage-setter for this fascinating announcement:

And believe me, if I become president, oh do they have problems, they're gonna have such problems! And one of the things I'm gonna do, and this is only gonna make it tougher for me  and [waving his finger] I've never said this before  but one of the things I'm gonna do if I win is I'm gonna open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. We're gonna open up those libel laws, so that when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace, or when The Washington Post writes a hit piece, we sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they're totally protected. You see, with me they're not protected because I'm not like other people, but I'm not taking money, I'm not taking their money.

What does he mean by "a hit piece"? (Every article I've written criticizing Trump has been called a "hit piece" many times, thus apparently setting it within range of Trump's threat against opinions he would punish.) What does he mean by "purposely negative and horrible and false articles"? Is he talking about genuine libel, which is already covered by (state, not federal) law? Or is he talking about "opening up" the libel laws to encompass editorial opinions that merely express harsh criticisms and "negative" judgments of a politician or party  i.e., using the courts and financial retribution to restrict the way private individuals may safely interpret events, assess motives, or critique policies? Does even Trump know what Trump is talking about? In legal and constitutional terms, the answer is obviously "no."

But in terms of tone, as usual, the Big Lie Candidate knows exactly what he is doing. Notice how the word "false" is barely an add-on throughout his rant. He is not focused on false accusations. He is focused on mean things people might say about him. The leading concern, and the gist of the whole spiel, regards not libelous speech, but "purposely negative" speech  i.e., criticism.

Even if, like most of Trump's banter, this is just a blowhard threat  "I'll sue you" seems to be the Trump Buffet's house whine  it serves its main purpose as just that: a threat. He is trying to shut people up with intimidation, scare tactics, and the insinuation that he controls an angry mob ready to lynch anyone who stands in his way whenever he chooses to unleash them. He clearly senses that the moment he clinches the nomination, the mainstream media, having given him a virtual free ride thus far, will descend upon him like a swarm of locusts with all the material they've been holding back until now. He is pre-emptively promising to fight back  not with facts, but with legal and financial punishment for speech that does not meet with his approval. (I note with extreme understatement that the crowd in Fort Worth reacted to this direct assault on liberty enthusiastically, cheering him on, seemingly on the premise that "He may be a dictatorial thug, but at least he's our dictatorial thug.")

The quintessentially Trumpian element of this very direct assault on the principle of freedom of speech is that the anger he is tapping into in this case  disgust with a duplicitous, subversive mainstream media  is completely fair and legitimate. The solution he offers  tossing limited government and the basic civility on which republicanism depends out the window  is the stuff of tragedy.

Yes, one wishes the American press were not dominated by apologists for socialism and political correctness; and no, the press should not be artificially shielded from culpability in cases of genuine libel. But if you think that's all Trump was saying in his big "I've never said this before" announcement, then perhaps you ought to consider how you'd react if a (non-covert) progressive politician gave that same speech, substituting Rush Limbaugh for the Post and The Heritage Foundation for the Times, and warned that "if I become president, they're gonna have such problems!"

Or just ask Mark Steyn (who has been very friendly to Trump's campaign so far) what this "opening up" of the libel laws might imply for the free discussion of political ideas. Or Pamela Geller, whom Trump criticized as partly responsible for the violent attack against her "Draw Muhammad" contest in Texas in 2015, on the grounds that those nasty free speech activists shouldn't have been "doing something on Muhammad and insulting everybody."

We have all seen that there is no one Trump would hesitate to slander and smear in a hundred ways, if he regarded that person as any kind of competitor, but his defense of his own behavior would apparently not be related to any general right of free speech, with which he has little patience, but rather to the simple fact that he's Donald Trump and you're not. If you can live with that mentality in your leader, go ahead and continue supporting Trump. (Although if you can live with that mentality, I have no idea what objection you have to the current president or Hillary Clinton.)

George W. Bush was rightly vilified for whitewashing the crony corporatism of the bank bailout as "abandoning capitalist principles in order to save the capitalist system." Trump and his followers, true to form, are proposing to abandon America herself  the entire tradition of the rule of law, separated powers, and constitutionally protected natural rights  in order to save America. I argued after the 2012 election that time had run out on short-term electoral solutions, and that a more fundamental, generations-long revival of the characteristics and sensibilities of civilized modernity (i.e., radical education reform) must be undertaken before electoral politics can be expected to provide substantial benefits again. Recent events have reaffirmed that belief.

A final note on Trump's easygoing constitutional pyromania. I'm no lawyer, but from what I understand, falsely accusing someone, in a public forum, of having been paid off by a candidate, party, or special interest to express a certain opinion, or of being a "fraud," as a means of undercutting that person's credibility and reputation, would fall within the typical range of libelous language. I, like anyone else who has criticized Trump in a public forum over the past few months, have been hit with such accusations regularly. I don't threaten to sue anyone over it, however, because I understand that the only civilized way to defeat stupid ideas is with better ideas, falsehood with truth, irrationality with reason  which is to say I'm a normal adult, not a petulant, power-intoxicated demagogue.
This is stunning: Hillary Clinton won a greater share of black votes in the South Carolina primary yesterday than Barack Obama did in 2008, running against Clinton. Nobody else in the media wants to examine the reason why. Hillary demonstrated the power of racial bloc voting in the South Carolina primary yesterday, approaching a three to one margin over Bernie Sanders with 73.48% of the vote to his 25.97%. Clinton did better among blacks, with 86% support, than Obama did in the 2008 South Carolina primary against Clinton. ABC News offers this comparison chart:

Clinton won the white Democratic primary vote in South Carolina as well, but only by 8 points. Her white support was heavier among older and less liberal voters.

Sixty-five percent of white voters identified themselves as liberals, vs. 46 percent of black voters. Clinton won white moderates and somewhat liberals by double digits, while she and Sanders split very liberal whites. (Earlier exit poll data indicated better results for Sanders among whites; this subsided in later results.)

But Clinton demonstrated weakness among independents who chose to vote in the Democratic primary:

In addition to liberals, turnout among whites included a substantial number of political independents  more than a quarter of whites in this Democratic primary  and Sanders won them by nearly 2-1, 64 to 36 percent.

This defines Clinton as overwhelmingly the choice of black Democrat voters, with the left wing of the party much less inclined to vote for her, and with significant weakness among independents that see the Democrats as a viable alterative. It is also important to keep in mind that overall turnout for the Democratic primary was light  about half as many South Carolinians voted in the election as voted in the GOP primary. A likely source of Clintons heavy support was absentee ballots:

So far, 54,000 absentee ballots have been returned which is up from 35,000 returned in 2008.

An organized effort to generate absentee votes by political machines in the African American community would have heavily favored Hillary.

So what accounts for levels of support among blacks greater than that achieved by Obama? I have to believe that there was a level of aversion to Sanders that factored in. Against Obama, Hillary was not as unacceptable to black voters as Sanders was running against her.

The factor almost nobody in the media wants to look at is the level of anti-Semitism among African Americans. The notion that bigotry could fuel the campaign of any Democrat, much less a Clinton, is anathema to the media establishment. But I am interested in how they would explain Clinton beating Obama's margin without factoring in black antisemitism.

ADL surveys show that approximately 12 percent of Americans hold deeply entrenched anti-Semitic views. However, over 30% of African Americans and Latinos hold such views. Given that they are almost 30% of the population, this suggests that of the 12% of Americans who hold deeply entrenched anti-Semitic views, 9% or so [i.e., three quarters of the anti-Semite  T.L.] are African Americans or Latinos.

In addition, the Sanders campaign is at best clumsy in its approach the blacks. Consider this vignette on a Sanders campaign phone back buried deep within a long Yahoo Politics article (hat tip: BFH of iOTW Report) on the Democratic primary in South Carolina:

Like many South Carolinians, Scott has received calls at home from phone bankers. She said one of these entreaties from the Sanders campaign led her to go off on a 10-minute tirade and demand an apology. One of my experiences that I think I wont forget for a long time is a call that I got from the Sanders campaign. This person that called asked me was I voting for Sen. Sanders. I said no. I was voting for Secretary Clinton. The phone went silent for a little bit, Scott recounted. You could hear this person struggling to come up with what theyre going to say next.  They call that a real pregnant pause, nine months worth of pregnant pause. And he finally came back and he says to me, You know, Senator Sanders is for welfare. This did not provoke a positive reaction from Scott. I lost it. So youre going to assume either from my voice or from my selection that the most important thing that Sen. Sanders is going to be working on that would interest me is more welfare? Scott said. I went on to read him the riot act. Listen, Im not only a college graduate; Ive got a masters. My daughter is a college graduate. I have never had one ounce of welfare before. I aint never lived in public housing. None of those things. According to Scott, the Sanders supporter who called her didnt know what to say. By the time he hung up, it was ten minutes later, she said. I got one of the managers to call me back and apologize.

Going forward, this leaves Clinton well positioned to pick up massive support from states with large black voting bloc in Democrat primaries. Joel Kotkin writes:

In Texas, Alabama, Georgia and, to a lesser extent, Virginia, minority voters could well propel the former secretary of state closer to the nomination. But such heavily Caucasian states as Massachusetts (80 percent white), Wyoming, North Dakota, Minnesota (85 percent white) and Sanders home state of Vermont (95 percent white) seem most likely to end up feeling the Bern.

But if, as seems likely, Clinton wins the nomination, the general election may be a different story if Trump continues his surge and achieves the GOP nod:
Trump says he admires America, but if you listen closely, you realize he admires Trump.

He will build a big, beautiful wall only he can build, and with a big beautiful door through which immigrants can enter -- after he deports them. That way, they come back in legally. This is narcissism on parade. Come across the border now, youre an illegal loser. Come through the Trump Doorway and Ill love you.

Healthcare premiums are through the roof because Trump is not yet in charge of healthcare, not because of government overreach. With TrumpCare, women, children and poor people will love Trump. No one will be better than Trump for healthcare.

Not specific enough for you? Sean Hannity asked him about his healthcare plan. Trump replied,  One of the things that Obama almost did which was actually good, but then the insurance companies got to him, and by the way, I dont take money from corporations  And he proceeded on a tangent about how great Trump self-financing is.

Big Pharma ripping you off? Trump will come to the rescue. Obama cant reign in Big Pharma. Only Trump can. A friend in New York told him we dont competitive bid. Trump will competitive bid. Now, for the first time, with Trump as President, government will competitive bid.

Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process broken? Only Trump can do the deal. No one else. It wouldnt be right for Trump to take sides, because whats important is that Trump does the deal, probably the hardest deal to do in the world. Only losers take sides. If Trump can do this deal, he can do any deal.

Nervous he might not support Israel? Nonsense. Trump was Grand Marshal of the 5th Avenue Parade, and it took bravery to do that, but then Trump is brave. Sean Hannity interviewed him in 2011:

Hannity: If the Israelis, if you're president, the Israelis see the need that they, for their national security, gotta take (Iran's nuclear facilities) out, would you support them, and do you think it's in our best, geographical, political interest to do so? Trump: Well, first of all, I was the Grand Marshal of the Israeli Day Parade 10 years ago when, believe me, it was dangerous, because there was a little war going on and a lot of problems and I walked down Fifth Avenue. And Jewish friends of mine still remember that day. I have a park named after me in Israel that I donated. And I'm a big fan of Israel.

The Trump White House will be guided by whatever makes Trump look good on the front page of the New York Times.

He'll be a winner. Everyone else will be a loser.
It is good, every now and then, to reflect upon the nature of the political machine that Barack Obama consciously and deliberately chose as the venue within which to build his political career. He wasnt born the Chicago Democratic politics; he sought it out as a match for his skills and inclinations.

When he was a fledgling lawyer, Obamas first boss was Allison S. Davis. As an article on Obamas coterie in Chicago explained:

in 1993 Obama launched his law career at a small Chicago firm then known as Davis Miner Barnhill & Galland. (snip) Allison Davis, a former partner in Miner's firm (and the son of a prominent U. of C. professor), occupied an office next to Obama's at 14 West Erie Street. "He spent a lot of time working on his book [Dreams from My Father]," Davis recalls. "Some of my partners weren't happy with that, Barack sitting there with his keyboard on his lap and his feet up on the desk writing the book." Davis speculates that Obama never joined a blue-chip Loop firm out of concern that he would then end up representing the sort of wealthy corporate interests that might appear unsavory from the point of view of a Democratic politician. One time, Davis worked with DePaul University to draw up a proposal to redevelop the Cabrini-Green public-housing area. "I asked Barack if he wanted to represent this entity," Davis recalls. "And he said no, because this is going to result in poor people being moved out." (The proposal never went anywhere.) Still, if Obama's aim was to avoid unsavory clients, he fell short of the goal, considering Antoin "Tony" Rezko's trial this year on charges of influence peddling in state government. Rezko's development firm joined the long line of recruiters while Obama studied at Harvard, and later at Davis Miner Barnhill, Obama did some legal work for nonprofits partnered with Rezko's firm. "If you look at Rezko through a 1994-1995 lens, you're going to get a different picture," says Miner, defending Obama's relationship with Rezko. "He was more like the poster child for low-income housing development. At that point, [Rezko] was well thought of." (However, Rezko was known to be under federal investigation by the time Obama made a tangled deal with him involving the purchase of the senator's new Hyde Park home in 2005a transaction that still darkens Obama's presidential campaign.)

That same Allison M. Davis was able to parlay his political connections into lucrative  for him and his cronies  investment management work that didnt work out so well for the clients. Tim Novak of the Chicago Sun-Times Watchdog group:

A real estate venture created by President Barack Obamas onetime boss and a nephew of former Mayor Richard M. Daley squandered $68 million it was given to invest on behalf of pension plans for Chicago teachers, cops, city employees and transit workers, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found. The five public pension funds havent made a dime on the investments they made nearly a decade ago with DV Urban Realty Partners, a company created by Obamas ex-boss Allison S. Davis and Daley nephew Robert G. Vanecko, records show. In fact, the financially troubled pension plans have lost most of the money they gave DV Urban, which used the money to invest in risky real estate deals, primarily in neglected neighborhoods. It invested in eight real estate deals that, for the most part, had gone belly up by Dec. 31, 2015, when the investment deals with the Chicago pension plans expired. Though the pension funds lost out, DV Urban and its affiliated companies got about $9 million of the pension money for management fees. And they were in line for more until pension officials, facing losses, got a court order in 2012 to remove Davis and Vanecko from managing the retirement investments. Following the sale of two properties last year, the pension funds recovered $6 million of their original investments  but $293,716 of that went to DV Urban, which had also invested some of its own money in the real estate deals.

Wow, making millions off of failed deals that squandered the pension funds of working people.

That pretty much sums up the guy whose office was next door to Obamas in his first legal job.
Many Republicans are urging John Kasich to drop out of the race in order to consolidate the anti-Trump vote behind Marco Rubio. These Republican pundits should reconsider. There are a number of reasons to believe that Kasich is better equipped to consolidate the anti-Trump vote than Rubio.

For the record, it must be acknowledged that Kasich tends to rub conservatives the wrong way. He has unapologetically defended his decision to expand Medicaid. He also told social conservatives that the gay marriage fight is over and it is time to move on. At the same time, people perceive Rubio as rock-solid on everything except immigration. The reality is a little different.

On gay marriage, the only difference between Rubio and Kasich is rhetorical. Rubio has explicitly stated that gay marriage is the law of the land; however, he did so in a more tactful way than Kasich. To use a Trumpism, Rubio took out the lumps.

Social conservatives don't want to hear this, but it is time to move on. There is no plausible way that the courts will ever consider this issue again; traditional marriage could only be restored through a constitutional amendment. More importantly, most Americans now support same sex marriage, which makes the possibility of passing such an amendment less than zero.

On Medicaid expansion, the public supports Kasich's position, not Marco Rubio's. Rubio's platform calls for limiting entitlement spending (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security), while at the same time eliminating the inheritance tax and the capital gains tax. These are not positions that will convert blue-collar Trump supporters.

On immigration, Kasich supports legalization but not citizenship, this places him to the right of Marco Rubio. Due to his involvement with the so-called gang of eight, Marco Rubio will never be fully acceptable to party conservatives. This is an even bigger liability with conservatives than Medicaid expansion.

Kasich has a massive edge in terms of experience over either Rubio or Trump. The Trump/Christie tag-team has successfully attacked Rubio as inexperienced, and unready to be president. This would be impossible with Kasich. I also suspect that Trump would have a harder time bullying Kasich then he does Rubio and Cruz.

Kasich's white working-class roots, along with his economically moderate policies, give him a greater ability to eat into Trumps support than either Rubio or Cruz. Trump supporters will instinctively trust Kasich more than Rubio or Cruz, and they will find his economic message more appealing.

Also, Kasich is a better general election candidate, who lacks the ideological baggage that Rubio and Cruz have. In 2014, Kasich swept every county in Ohio except two. Much as it annoys conservatives, Kasich's passionate defense of Medicaid expansion will reassure swing voters that he isn't a libertarian purist who fantasizes about eliminating Medicare and social security.

While I think Kasich is better equipped to beat Trump in a one on one, I realize that one of them needs to drop out very soon. I would support either Rubio or Cruz over the mystery box that is Donald Trump, but I'm skeptical that they have the chops to take down the Donald in a one on one race. If the anti-Trump forces are going to pick a candidate, they need to choose wisely.
Last year at Mobile World Congress, HTC announced their partnership with Valve for the Vive VR headset. It was one of the more popular VR headsets from 2015, although its taken quite a while to come to market. Pre-orders are set to start on February 29th (tomorrow) in many countries, and will be available in April. Unlike the Samsung Gear VR, LGs 360 VR or Google Cardboard, the HTC Vive is much more of a traditional VR headset  hence the huge price difference. The Vive headset is set to compete with the Oculus Rift, which is already up for pre-order, and the Vive doesnt run off of your phone, like the other cheaper headsets mentioned. The Vive has all sorts of great games and such for users to use. In fact, HTC has struck a deal with Audi in Europe which will use the Vive headsets in some of their showrooms to simulate driving their new models like the A6.

While weve known the pricing of the HTC Vive here in the US, which is around $799. More expensive than the Oculus Rift, but definitely worth it. Now, the Vive team have announced pricing for Europe. Were looking at a price of about a899, that translates to about $991 USD. Thats at todays currency exchange rate, additionally Europe rates include tax (unlike the US). Over in China were looking at 6888, which translates to just over a grand here in US Dollars. New Zealand sits at $749 USD and Canada sits at $949 CAD. Definitely not a cheap VR headset from HTC, but something thats really worth it.

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HTC has already traveled the US doing demos for those that arent lucky enough to attend CES, Mobile World Congress or IFA. If you havent done a demo, its definitely worth doing. The HTC Vive has seen a few changes since the initial model shown off last week. There is now a camera on the outside of the headset and this is to show you if anything or anyone is in front of you (last thing you want to do is trip over a couch or table). Pre-orders go up tomorrow, and orders are slated to arrive around April 5th.
Based on the Group B rally car and produced in limited numbers, the 1.8-liter RS200 became an instant bedroom poster hero for British lads in the 1980s. The Evolution, on the other hand, is motivated by a 2,134 cc BDT-E engine which produces up to 815 horsepower. Depending on the gearing of the five-speed manual gearbox, the RS200 Evolution can accelerate to 60 mph (96 km/h) in 2 seconds or so.And so, ladies and gentlemen, the Ford RS200 Evolution and its Cosworth engine held the Guinness world record for the fastest accelerating production car in the world. This example of the breed didnt leave the factory at full tune, but its 600 horsepower should be enough for a sprint to 60 mph (96 km/h) in almost 3 seconds. Two other differences over the standard Ford RS200 models come in the form of uprated suspension components and better brakes.The mid-engined, four-wheel-drive coupe featured in the photo gallery is estimated to fetch anything from $475,000 to $675,000 at Amelia Island on March 12 and I cant question that. After all, its one of the most desirable Evolution models considering that the odometer shows 430 original kilometers (267 miles).The original owner, philanthropist Dennis OConner, purchased three other RS200s from Ford to acquire this car. He passed in 1997 and the RS200 Evolution was sold to Steve Rimmer, the second owner and founder of the DirtFish rally school, in 2010. In 2014, the rally-bred machine was sold to a car collector in the U.K., and now here it is today, waiting for a new owner.Because of its place of residence, this translates to a 2.5 percent import duty on the highest bid provided that the buyer lives in the United States of America. On the upside, RM Sothebys notes that the DirtFish rally school in Snoqualmie, Washington, agreed to offer the highest bidder for the 1985 Ford RS200 Evolution a One Day Rally Fundamentals course. Owning an RS200 has its perks, I guess.
TDI

While Volkswagen did propose a fix for its four-cylinder and six-cylinderengines that were affected by the situation, authorities have yet to approve the repairs, invoking that the German corporation's plans did not adequately explain the effects of the action.Charles Breyer, a US District Judge in San Francisco, wants a definitive answer to the situation by March 24, 2016. He stated that six months is long enough, and expects the German company to provide full disclosure of their findings for the fix for the Dieselgate-affected vehicles.The new deadline puts the heat on engineers working for the German company to provide an adequate repair plan for the 600,000 affected vehicles sold in the USA.European authorities might put more gas on that fire and impose a similar deadline on Volkswagen.Either way, the German manufacturer is in a tight situation from a legal and image standpoint, as owners of the affected cars gather in class-action lawsuits and might oblige the company to provide compensation or buybacks.According to Automotive News , around 500 owners in the US alone want to get Volkswagen to court over the Dieselgate situation. Government authorities have filed lawsuits against the German company, which may be forced to pay massive fines for violating the Clean Air Act.Currently, Volkswagen is committed to resolving the issues and claims to have made progress in its attempt to reach a settlement with the US Justice Department, the EPA, and the California Air Resources Board.The carmaker will have to do the same in 100 countries, where they have sold up to 11 million vehicles that feature several types of so-called defeat devices, which were programmed to trick emission testing procedures to provide lower CO2 and NOx figures for their TDI-engined vehicles.
There are dramatic differences between regional fleet markets around the globe. Yet, despite these differences, there are also many similarities. Many of the challenges facing fleet managers are identical to the challenges facing their counterparts managing fleets elsewhere in the world.

Universal challenges include vehicle downsizing, fleet rightsizing, cost containment, sustainability initiatives, sole sourcing, fleet standardization, compliance with governmental regulations and taxation, the emergence of multicultural fleet teams, more international policies governing multinational fleets, and the entry of non-traditional OEM nameplates (such as Korean brands and forthcoming Chinese models) into the fleet market, etc. The following are examples of mega fleet trends that are universally experienced at every local level, which are, in reality, offshoots of much larger global trends.

Procurement Ascendency: Universally, cost containment is the No. 1 priority facing all fleet managers. One global mega trend is the shift in the type of decision makers influencing fleet policy and practice toward procurement. In the past, procurement would do its "sourcing task" and then step away from fleet. Now, procurement is staying involved with fleet after the contract process to ensure the company gets what it bought from its fleet OEMs and suppliers. Procurements involvement with fleet has grown deeper and its scope of responsibility has expanded. Impact of Taxation, Legislative & Regulatory Issues: Around the world, there has been an escalation in the taxation of fleet assets, especially for European and South American fleet vehicles, which are already heavily taxed. There are already a multitude of taxes on European fleet vehicles, such as a value-added tax, vehicle excise duty tax, company car tax (benefit-in-kind), and other country-specific taxes. In South America, there are ever-changing, complex sets of regulations on vehicle taxation, presenting not only fiscal challenges, but also creating administrative issues. Unpredictability of Fuel Price Volatility: Another universal fleet challenge is coping with the unpredictable and volatile cost of petroleum-based fuel prices, which often defies conventional wisdom, especially when attempting to budget for future expenditures. Currently, there is downward pressure on fuel prices due to global crude oil overcapacity. The recent drop in fuel prices has been as breathtaking as the earlier run-up in prices. If sustained, these reduced fuel prices will begin to make a dent in overall fleet fuel expenditures. However, there is the risk that lower prices may bring about driver complacency. A large part of fleet fuel expense is controlled by drivers. Many of the hard-won increases in fleet mpg can be negated by drivers reverting to less fuel-efficient driving behaviors. There is also a temptation by some governments to take advantage of lower retail fuel prices to increase fuel taxes to generate revenues to offset persistent budget deficits. They reason adding taxes while pump prices are low would result in less consumer pushback. Vehicle & Engine Downsizing and Extended Service Life: The ongoing fleet trend to downsize to smaller displacement engines is global, with it primarily occurring in Australia, Europe, and the U.S. This involves not only vehicle class size and engine displacement, but also rightsizing the overall fleet size. Higher fuel prices and fuel taxes have increased operating expenses. This is prompting fleets to specify smaller displacement engines. Ongoing refinements in engine technology now allows downsizing to a smaller engine without impacting the fleet application. In addition, vehicles are being kept in service longer due to increased vehicle quality. More Diverse Vehicle Selectors: Offering multiple makes and models to drivers is relatively common among European corporate fleets. One of the many reasons for growing selector diversity is due to the fragmented fleet market shares as more OEMs compete for the same slice of fleet business. Globalization of Shared Services: There is a trend to centralize shared fleet services among international business units to achieve greater consistency and value with core business processes on a global basis. Fleet Data Consolidation: Analyzing Big Data to better understand the strategic side of fleet management to implement further cost savings and efficiencies, has gained increased urgency and focus at many multinational fleets, especially to unify and manage data streams from a multitude third-party vendors. Company vs. Grey Car Fleet: Increased pressure on company car taxation, liability exposure, and inadequate administrative resources is prompting some companies to regularly review the viability of offering a company-provided car. In some markets, some employees, especially younger employees, consider having a company car as part of their compensation package as less important than 10-15 years ago and prefer a financial reimbursement. Sustainability/Green Fleet Initiatives: Globally, there is an ongoing proliferation of corporate initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with European fleets in the vanguard. European environmental regulations are migrating from CO2 reductions to reductions in aggregated emissions, which include not only CO2, but also NOx and particulates. Despite the high cost, many companies, in all global regions, remain fully committed to achieving self-imposed sustainability targets, especially multinational corporations. A number of global fleets have established emissions baselines and developing selectors to select the right vehicles to reduce these baselines. Another corollary trend in sustainability deals with broader concept of mobility management, which would involve multi-modal transportation, with fleet managers ultimately evolving into mobility managers of the future. One aspect of mobility management would be the creation of a mobility budget to be used as a financial incentive to stimulate employees to travel in a more sustainable way. Europe is in the vanguard, with other markets lagging, since there must be viable alternatives to company-provided vehicles, such as a well-connected public transportation network seamlessly interconnected by corollary mobility solutions. Standardized Safety Programs and Training: An increasingly more frequent request to suppliers from multinational fleets is for a standardized safety program everywhere they operate vehicles that are available in the local language with customization to local regulations and practice. Furthermore, multinational fleets want to collect motor vehicle records (MVR) or equivalent data in every country where it is available, to assess driver risk. Companies are also increasingly focusing on changing specific driving behaviors to improve fuel economy, reduce operating expenses, decrease GHG emissions, and promote safe driving.

At a Fundamental Level

In the final analysis, fleet management, at its fundamental level, has more similarities than differences, regardless of the global market. Oftentimes, fleet best practices emerge from outside your local market, which is good reason for you to familiarize yourself with whats occurring in other regional fleet markets.

Let me know what you think.

[email protected]
The Air Forces new long-range stealth bomber will be designated the B-21 and the first artist renderings of the aircraft show an angular flying wing with recessed engines and a smooth elongated teardrop fuselage. Reuters reportedthe bomber drawings were unveiled by U.S. Air Force Secretary Deborah James at the annual Air Warfare Symposium. The name of the half-billion-dollar-plus bomber will be chosen in a contest among service members, she said. The aircraft, which will form the core of the Air Forces strategic bombing capability, will be built by Northrop Grumman. Overall cost of the program, which includes 100 aircraft, is expected to be about $80 billion, but the Air Force has said its paying $511 million for each aircraft in 2010 dollars.

The program has been shrouded in secrecy for security and because of the bidding process but the Air Force has promised to provide more detail on the aircraft, its systems and capabilities next month. Some of the secrecy was lifted when Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which lost the contract to Northrop Grumman, announced they were dropping legal and procedural protests over the bid process. Legislators want a more transparent development process than the secretive one that led to cancellation of the B-2 program after only 21 of 132 aircraft were built.
28 February 2016 09:59 (UTC+04:00)

On February 27, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev made a telephone call to President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Hassan Rouhani.



During the phone conversation, President Ilham Aliyev thanked President Hassan Rouhani for the hospitality shown to him and his delegation during the visit to Iran, and said he was very pleased with the results of the trip. It was noted that a new page of cooperative relations between the two countries opened.



The sides also discussed prospects for the development of the bilateral and regional cooperation.



President Ilham Aliyev once again invited President Hassan Rouhani to pay a visit to Azerbaijan.

---

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28 February 2016 13:21 (UTC+04:00)

A peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, in accordance with international law, remains a top EU priority, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said in an exclusive interview with Trend.



She made the remarks Feb. 27 in anticipation of her visit to Baku to participate in the second Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council Meeting on Feb. 29.



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 withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.



The OSCE Minsk Group is a format accepted by all sides, and endorsed by the UN Security Council, Mogherini said.



The co-chairs have launched new mediation efforts: our support to this process, including through the EU Special Representative Herbert Salber, has been, and will continue to be, unwavering, she said.



Mogherini went on to add that the EU will also keep supporting peace-building activities and people-to-people contacts. There is no contradiction between these activities and the efforts of the Minsk Group; both are important for long-term reconciliation, she said.



Mogherini expressed her solidarity with all the people affected by this conflict.



An entire generation has grown up without knowing the true meaning of the word "peace", she said. It is no secret that the current status quo is unsustainable. Over the past year we have witnessed an escalation of violence along the line of contact: no one can afford to keep going down this path.



She said that a central part of the talks within the Minsk Group is to find agreement on practical steps towards a comprehensive settlement of the conflict.



Only a few months ago, in December 2015, both President Aliyev and President Sargsyan confirmed they will keep engaging on current proposals, Mogherini said. This is vital: ultimately, it is up to your countries' leaders to show courage and move towards peace.



She went on to add that everyone has a duty to refrain from provocative statements and to work to de-escalate the situation on the ground.



Over the past year heavy weapons were used, civilians were targeted, she said. The current instability has huge costs for both sides. Peace, on the other hand, would allow for the opening of borders, facilitate trade and communications. Peace could make your region a prosperous gateway between Europe and Asia.

---



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28 February 2016 14:21 (UTC+04:00)

Turkish Parliament should recognize Khojaly tragedy as genocide, Turkish presidential advisor Yalcin Topcu said Feb.27, Milliyet reported.



"Khojaly tragedy is a matter of day. Khojaly tragedy should be recognized in the Parliament as genocide", - he said.



On February 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops stationed in Khankendi committed an act of genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly.



The event became the largest massacre in the course of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.



As many as 613 people were killed, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people were killed as a result of the massacre. 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 remains unknown.



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.

---



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
28 February 2016 13:36 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan`s embassy to Spain has organized a commemorative event on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the Khojaly genocide in Madrid and Barcelona.



A group of Azerbaijanis held peaceful rally at Sol square in Madrid (Puerta de Sol) to inform the population on the genocide.



In Barcelona, the Society of Azerbaijanis has organized a flashmob.

On February 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops stationed in Khankendi committed an act of genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly.



The event became the largest massacre in the course of Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.



As many as 613 people were killed, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people were killed as a result of the massacre. 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 remains unknown.



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.---



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
28 February 2016 18:15 (UTC+04:00)

The Azerbaijani parliament is planning to reduce its expenditure, envisaged for 2016.



This issue has been included in the agenda of the next meeting of the Azerbaijani parliament, scheduled for March 4.



According to the offered change in the parliamentary decree "On expenditure estimates of the Azerbaijani parliament for 2016" dated October 20, 2015, the expenditure estimates of the Azerbaijani parliament and its staff for 2016 will amount to 22,694,934 manat.



Earlier, the expenditure estimates were approved in the amount of 22,745,955 manat.

The new heads will be elected for the Azerbaijani parliaments working groups on interparliamentary relations.



It is offered to elect new heads for more than 30 working groups. At present, the working groups on interparliamentary relations with 82 countries operate in the parliament.

---



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28 February 2016 10:59 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijani Minister of Economy Shahin Mustafayev has met Egyptian Ambassador to the country Suzanne Mouh Gamil.



Shahin Mustafayev stressed the importance of reciprocal visits and meetings in terms of the development of relations between the two countries.



The Egyptian Ambassador hailed political relations between the two countries, saying his country was interested in expanding ties with Azerbaijan.



On potential for the expansion of trade bonds between the two countries, the Ambassador expressed that the Egyptian businessmen were keen to the pharmaceutical sector of Azerbaijan.



The Ambassador emphasized the importance of the launching the Cairo-Baku flight in terms of the development of relations between the two countries.



The sides exchanged views on the 4th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission to be held in Egypt in 2016.

---



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29 February 2016 09:55 (UTC+04:00)

By Amina Nazarli

National dances is the essence of the culture of each people, the manifestation of their emotions, features, character and history.



The national Azerbaijani dances are in the blood of every Azerbaijani, and no important festal occasion is held without these graceful movements, performed for hundreds of years at folk festivals and games, weddings and entertaining mock battles.

The history of dancing art of Azerbaijan traces its roots from Stone Age. Drawings chiseled thousands of years ago into the rocks at Gobustan, located in 70 kilometers southwest of Baku, represent old Azerbaijani folk dances, which originally were ceremonial and hunting.

Azerbaijans folk dances reflect the peoples pride, culture and spirit as well as the traditions and courage, which are so well known for the Caucasian peoples.

If in many western cultures Felix Mendelssohn's "Wedding March takes the form of a wedding march, then in Azerbaijan its "Vagzaly" music and dance, which accompanies bride and groom to the wedding place.



The most common and most ancient collective dance of the Azerbaijani people is "Yalli", whose roots go back to ancient times. Yalli is performed as a cheerful circular dance often accompanied with a choral singing. Dancers hold hands or shoulders of each other, and make rhythmic synchronous movement, raising and lowering their arms.

The national clothes of Azerbaijan are still widely used in folk dances.

In womens dances movements of the head, arms and upper body are dominated, and legs hidden under long dresses, get the feeling as if a dancer is floating while moving. Women dances are very soft and graceful with plasticity-smooth motion as in Vagzaly, Uzundere and Gyashyangi dances.



The female dance performance is the personification of a real woman image with swan tenderness and if the dance is performed correctly, its looking like a swan floating in the national costume.

Men's choreography, technically complex and rapid, is more accentuated on the legs, which is the main power of the male dances, and hands are relatively inactive. During the performance, dancers easily get on their toes and quickly sinks to the knees.



Male dances are characterized by a fast rhythm, and expression of bravery, strength and temperament. The examples of men's dances are "Gaytagy" "Djengi", "Gazagy", "Khanchobany" and others.

Azerbaijani folk dance expresses symbolically a wide variety of emotional themes, ranging from the hospitality and generosity to friendship and the unity of the people, from the high spirits of young girls to the courage of the young men.

Folk dance has clear frameworks requiring to preserve the purity and originality of folk traditions, and an outstanding dancer, Afag Melikov strictly adheres to this concept, not allowing the slightest destruction of a unique national flavor.

All the Caucasus dances are beautiful, but the most stunner is Azerbaijani dances both male and female, Melikova admitted.

Renowned national dancer, Tarana Muradova fully devoted herself to folk dances believes that dance is a reflection of the soul, specificity and nature of the people.

I studied dances of many peoples of the world and I can say that a variety of technical elements, emotion, dignity and the ability to show the beauty of the woman, her grace, tenderness that present in Azerbaijani dance, can be fined nowhere. I have performed in many countries and every time after the show people came to us expressing their admiration for the beauty of our dances and costumes, she said.

One of the founders of modern Azerbaijani dance school was Alibaba Abdullayev, who played a significant role in bringing together the folk elements and dances.

The basis of all Azerbaijani cultural dances are taken from Azerbaijans regions," says Tarana Muradova. Like every artist tries to depict what he/she saw on the canvas, and the choreographer is also trying to bring it on stage. Such dances as Shalaho, Tarakama, Sari Gelin, and Uzundere have the elements which were taken from the people and embodied in the choreographic style.

--

Amina Nazarli is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @amina_nazarli



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
28 February 2016 12:30 (UTC+04:00)

Pakistani businessmen and bankers are in Iran to explore ways to broaden the scope of bilateral trade and economic relations.



Leader of a 26 members delegation of the Lahore Chamber Of Commerce and Industry Almas Haider, who is a director of Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation, said on the sidelines of a meeting with Iranian counterparts from the Tehran Chamber of Commerce that his country is very hopeful to expand ties with Iran.



After Tehran we are going to Shiraz and Mashhad for more talks, he told Trend February 27. We have seized the moment of Iran being freed from sanctions and we congratulate Iranians for having negotiated so wisely during the nuclear talks.



Iran is aiming at an economic growth rate of eight percent, which will be one of the best in the world, he noted, adding that As soon as sanctions were lifted we decided to team up and visit Iran. We were planning on a delegation of 10 people, but there were so many businessmen eager to accompany us that in the end, our delegation included 26 people.



Trade between Iran and Pakistan is aimed to rise to $5 billion a year in three years time, he said. Members of the current team are looking forward to setting up manufacturing plants or open offices in Iran, mostly in pharmaceuticals, plastics, as well as automation services.



Pakistani-Iranian trade started declining gradually from the level of $1321.3 million in 2008-2009 to a mere $218 million in 2013-2014. Pakistans exports to Iran in 2013-2014 declined to $53 million from $ 97.7 million in 2012-2013.



He went on to add that Pakistan is going to make a good partner for Iran, Especially now that there is less terrorism there. Also, the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is an example of the countrys growth. Already 40 percent of it is constructed and it will be completed in two years. The corridor will not only help Pakistan, but Iran, Afghanistan, even Central Asia and Azerbaijan in trade.



Haider said that in 10-15 years, most trade growth was observed inside the region rather than between the continents, stressing the need for regional countries to improve their relations.



We have to make travel easy, which means visa and road connections, he further said. We also need energy to be more easily shared. There is already a pipeline from Turkmenistan. Regarding the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, after sanctions everything will be easier. We told our government to do what it takes to make the plan come true.



Pakistan has decided to lift sanctions against Iran and has devised a strategy to promote trade ties with the oil rich country, according to a ministerial meetings decision in mid-February.



Islamabad will revive all economic and commercial relations with Tehran, including the areas of trade, investment, technology, banking, finance, and energy, according to a notification issued by the countrys Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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28 February 2016 18:00 (UTC+04:00)

The workshop entitled "Caspian Sea - Sustainable Development and Management" will be held in Turkmenistan's resort city Avaza March 7-18, the Turkmen government said Feb. 27.



The purpose of the workshop is to further develop the cooperation of the Caspian Basin countries and cooperate in the field of environment and sustainable development of the region.



The event will be held with the participation of representatives of relevant organizations of Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan and Russia in collaboration with the International Ocean Institute (IOI) and the State Enterprise for the Caspian Sea under the president of Turkmenistan.



The Turkmen foreign ministry and the State Enterprise for the Caspian Sea under the president of Turkmenistan will organize the workshop.



The important international documents were worked out upon Ashgabats initiative earlier. Among them are the agreement on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological resources of the Caspian Sea and the agreement on cooperation in the sphere of prevention and liquidation of emergency situations in the Caspian Sea.

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28 February 2016 18:27 (UTC+04:00)

A report on the construction pace of the Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline was delivered at a meeting of the Turkmen Cabinet of Ministers, the Turkmen government said Feb. 27.



It is reported that the work is carried out in the Turkmen section in accordance with the approved plan. Six kilometers of pipes were laid.



The work is conducted by the contractor of the Turkmen section of the project - Turkmennebitgazgurlushyk state concern.



After hearing the report, Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov emphasized the international significance of the TAPI project in the context of forming new architecture of the global energy security and creating the conditions for the global sustainable development.



Having big hydrocarbon reserves, Turkmenistan is successfully implementing an energy strategy, aimed at increasing production volumes, oil and gas processing and export of Turkmen energy resources to the world markets, the president said.



Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline will make it possible to deliver gas from Turkmenistan, which ranks fourth in the world on biggest gas reserves, to large and promising markets of South and Southeast Asia.



The construction of the TAPI gas pipeline will give a powerful impetus to the economic development of the region, the president said. It will help resolve social and humanitarian issues and establish peace and stability.



The annual capacity of the gas pipeline will be 33 billion cubic meters.



It is planned that the total length of the TAPI pipeline will be 1,814 kilometers. Some 214 kilometers will pass through the territory of Turkmenistan, 774 kilometers - Afghanistan, 826 kilometers - Pakistan up to Fazilka settlement on the border with India.



The pipeline is to run from Galkynysh  the largest gas field in Turkmenistan  the through the Afghan cities of Herat and Kandahar, and finally reach the Fazilka township located near the India-Pakistan border. The estimated cost of the project will be up to $10 billion.

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Hillary Clinton has won the Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina.

She won the overwhelming support of black voters on her way to a commanding victory over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The win for Clinton is her third in the first four contests of the 2016 campaign. And it gives her a blowout to match Sanders' dominating triumph in New Hampshire.

Early results of exit polls taken for The Associated Press and television networks find that Clinton won the support of 8 in 10 African-Americans, who made up the majority of voters in Saturday's primary.

That bodes well for Clinton headed into Super Tuesday contests across the South, where several states are home to large populations of black voters.

Clinton's win provided an important boost for her campaign  and a moment to wipe away bitter memories of her loss to Barack Obama in South Carolina eight years ago. As she makes her second White House run, Clinton has warmly embraced Obama, who remains widely popular with Democrats and particularly African-Americans.

Latest updates

The latest updates out of South Carolina and the 2016 presidential race are below (refresh your browser):

8:45 p.m.

After her big victory, Hillary Clinton has won at least 37 delegates in South Carolina. Bernie Sanders has gained at least 12.

Four delegates remain to be allocated in four congressional districts.

Including superdelegates, the party insiders who can back a candidate of their choice, Clinton holds a much bigger advantage.

She now has 542 delegates, according to AP's count. Sanders has at least 83.

It takes 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.

----------

8:22 p.m.

Hillary Clinton, who is now the Democratic front-runner for the party's nomination, took some digs at Donald Trump on Saturday night during her South Carolina victory speech.

Clinton said America does not need to be made great again, because "America has never stopped being great." She said American needs to be made "whole again."

In addition to keying off of Donald Trump's slogan, Clinton denounced the idea of building a wall, as Trump wants to do along the Mexican border. She says the country needs to be tearing down barriers, to equality and opportunity.

----------

7:30 p.m.

Bernie Sanders released the following statement following the South Carolina primary loss:

I congratulate Secretary Clinton on her victory in South Carolina. I am very proud of the campaign we ran. I am grateful for the grassroots supporters who took on the political establishment and stood up for working families. I appreciate the many friendships that Jane and I have forged with people across South Carolina, where I was all but unknown when this campaign began 10 months ago. I will always be especially thankful for the courageous support of state Reps. Terry Alexander, Justin Bamberg, Joe Neal, Wendell Gilliard, Cesar McKnight, Robert Williams and former Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian. Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning. We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now it's on to Super Tuesday. In just three days, Democrats in 11 states will pick 10 times more pledged delegates on one day than were selected in the four early states so far in this campaign. Our grassroots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won't stop now. When we come together, and don't let people like Donald Trump try to divide us, we can create an economy that works for all of us and not just the top 1 percent.

----------

7:25 p.m.

Hillary Clinton's victory in South Carolina means she will pick up most of the state's delegates, widening her overall lead in AP's delegate count.

With 53 delegates at stake, Clinton will receive at least 31. Bernie Sanders will pick up at least 12.

Clinton already holds a large lead among superdelegates, the party leaders and members of Congress who can support any candidate. Including superdelegates, Clinton now has at least 536 delegates, according to AP's count. Sanders has at least 83.

It takes 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.

----------

7:19 p.m.

Hillary Clinton sent the following tweet at 7:02 p.m., just two minutes after the polls closed in South Carolina:

To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you. -H pic.twitter.com/JFTUZ2yBxf  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 28, 2016

----------

7 p.m.

Early exit poll results in South Carolina's Democratic primary suggest Hillary Clinton won a large majority of blacks, most women and voters aged 30 and older.

Bernie Sanders was backed by voters under 30, those who identified themselves as independent and most whites.

Clinton was supported by both highly educated voters and those without a college degree, by those with high household incomes and the less affluent.

----------

6:15 p.m.

Bernie Sanders has some sharp words for Hillary Clinton as she resists releasing transcripts of her paid speeches to big banks.

He spoke before about 7,000 people in Grand Prairie, Texas, near Dallas, on Saturday, as people in South Carolina voted in their state's Democratic primary.

Sanders says: "If you're going to give speeches behind closed doors to Wall Street groups like Goldman Sachs and if you're going to get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for that speech, it must be a great speech and you want to share it with the American people."

Clinton has said she'll share transcripts of her lucrative speeches when other candidates do the same. Sanders drew applause when he said: "I'm making my transcripts available. There are none."

Sanders predicts he'll have a surprise showing Tuesday in Texas, the largest of the Super Tuesday states voting.

----------

5:45 p.m.

Black voters may make up an even bigger share of the electorate in the South Carolina Democratic primary than they did in 2008, when Barack Obama was running. Early exit polls in the contest Saturday suggest about 6 in 10 voters are black.

In the surveys, nearly half of voters  whether black or white  say racial relations have deteriorated in the last few years. Voters in South Carolina are more worried about jobs and the economy than people who voted in previous Democratic contests.

Income inequality, though, is less of a worry in South Carolina than it has been elsewhere. That issue is the centerpiece of Bernie Sanders' campaign against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination.

----------

5 p.m.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will both be in Florida on Super Tuesday.

Clinton will hold a campaign event in Miami. She is expected to speak about the results of the 13 contests where Democratic voters will cast their ballot, as well as discuss whats at stake in this year's election.

Trump will be in Palm Beach for a Super Tuesday "press event." No other information about the event has been released.

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



It may be election Saturday in South Carolina, but the Democratic candidates for president already have Tuesday on their mind.

That's when 11 states and American Samoa hold nominating contests in the 2016 race between Clinton and Sanders.

Clinton is stopping in Alabama on Saturday before heading to Columbia, the South Carolina capital, for an election party.



Sanders isn't even scheduled to put in any South Carolina appearances on Saturday. He's supposed to be in Texas and Minnesota, two of the Super Tuesday states.

He knows his prospects with South Carolina's heavily black Democratic electorate aren't great.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
UPDATE: 8:26 p.m. Officials have announced that they are now evaluating a new launch date for Falcon 9, one that will be no earlier than 48 hours from Feb. 28.

After postponing its second launch of the year twice last week, SpaceX tried again Sunday to send a communications satellite to space, only to scrub the launch at 7:34 p.m. EST.



SpaceX was attempting to launch a Falcon 9 rocket from the Space Coast at 6:46 p.m.



The launch was delayed for more than a half hour as officials cleared a boat from "the keepout area."



Then the launch was aborted in the night's second attempt. The launch was aborted because of "rising oxygen temps due to hold for boat and helium bubble triggered alarm," according to a SpaceX tweet.



The SES-9 satellite will provide service to Southeast Asia with high-speed internet and high-definition television.

The launch was to be the first by SpaceX from Cape Canaveral since Dec. 21, when the company landed the first stage of its rocket on the ground.
Unique N. Oregon Coast Events 200 Years in the Making Involve Lewis n' Clark

Published 02/27/2016 at 6:01 PM PDT

By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff





(Astoria, Oregon)  Two unique events on the north Oregon coast celebrate the legacy of Lewis and Clark in this area, over 200 years ago. One is a kind of fun run in the name of the Corps of Discovery to help usher in spring, and another looks closely at one of the spots talked about their journals: Dismal Nitch. (Photo: Fort Clatsop, Lewis and Clark National Historical Park )

On March 19, the Lewis and Clark Trail Run happens at Fort Clatsop, close to Astoria. The national park hosts the first of a trail run series on Saturday, March 19 to bid adieu to winter at Fort Clatsop and greet the arrival of spring. The Lewis & Clark Trail Series includes several different exhilarating events along beautiful trails through forest landscapes, complete with a welcoming and friendly race atmosphere. All events are open to walkers and runners of all ages and provide the opportunity to experience the northwest coast the way people have done it for thousands of years  on footpaths.

This first event in the Lewis & Clark Trail Series gives you the choice of either an approximately 5k or a 10k course that features the Kwis Kwis Trail. The 10k run will include some long steep sections. The start/finish line will be at the Fort to Sea Trail parking area off of Fort Clatsop Road.

Register that morning from 9:00am to 9:30am, at the Fort Clatsop Visitor Center. The cost to participate is the purchase of a $20 Annual Park Pass that grants entry into all of the 2016 Lewis & Clark Trail Series Events. Registration is free with any pass that allows entry into all of our nations National Parks. Participants younger than 18, also need their parent or guardian to sign the registration. 92343 Fort Clatsop Rd. 503-861-2471. nps.gov/lewi/planyourvisit/fortclatsop.htm.

The second event happens the following day on March 20, with In Their Footsteps: Explaining Dismal Nitch. Washington state historian Rex Ziak gives a talk on the famed spot.

In March 1806, Lewis and Clarks party bid good-bye to Fort Clatsop and began their return journey to St. Louis. On this 210th anniversary of the expeditions departure, Ziak will tell the story of its arrival into the Columbia estuary and show the precise location of three unmarked Lewis and Clark sites including Dismal Nitch.

Ziak has lectured around the world, received many prestigious awards, and authored three history books. These books are available at the Lewis & Clark National Park Association bookstore in the Fort Clatsop visitor center. There will be a book-signing at this bookstore following his presentation. His findings on these locales led to a restructuring of the local National Park system to embrace historic sites on both sides of the Columbia. Seaside Hotels for these events - Where to eat - Map and Virtual Tour

This monthly Sunday forum is sponsored by the Lewis & Clark National Park Association and the park. The programs are held in the Netul River Room of Fort Clatsops visitor center and are free of charge. 92343 Fort Clatsop Rd. 503-861-2471. nps.gov/lewi/planyourvisit/fortclatsop.htm.

More on this area below, and at the Astoria, Warrenton Virtual Tour, Map.

















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Sempra LNG

San Diego-based Sempra Energy said it signed a deal with Australia's Woodside to advance the development of the proposed Port Arthur liquefaction facility.

The project development agreement signed through Sempra LNG & Midstream, expands on the memorandum of understanding signed by the two companies in June 2015.
Four people, including two children, were killed in a plane crash near the Navasota Municipal Airport on Sunday morning, Grimes County Sheriff Donald Sowell confirmed.

The crash involved a single-engine Cirrus SR-20, a small aircraft seating four people, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Lynn Lunsford. The plane was discovered at around 9:20 a.m. by a pilot flying near the Navasota airport, who spotted the wreckage in a partly wooded area about a half-mile southeast of the airport's runway, Lunsford said.

All four passengers were confirmed dead, Sowell said, and their identities have not been released.

According to the FAA's registry, the plane is registered to Air Akhtar, a Houston heating and air conditioning company. Navasota is about a half-hour southeast of College Station.

The cause of the accident is still undetermined pending an investigation, but data obtained from the FAA shows the Cirrus-model planes have a long history of fatal crashes, dating back to 2001, with more than 280 recorded crashes.

Since then, more than 200 people have died in accidents involving a single engine Cirrus-model plane worldwide, including 158 deaths in the US. According to the data, Cirrus-modeled planes has the sixth most accidents among single engine planes within the last 10 years.

The plane departed from David Wayne Hooks Airport in Houston at 8:17 a.m before crashing nearly an hour later in a wooded field just off a winding asphalt road that leads to a quiet open field.

The stillness is only interrupted by gusts of wind and zooming single-engine planes soaring from a barely visible runway over the open pastures and above a gate that leads to marshy golf course.

Past the gate and off what starts as a gravel path far off from the runway are the remains of the destroyed plane, hidden behind the trees and barricaded by yellow tape.

Not much can be seen except the tip of the tail, and depending on the angle, a little of the plane's body.

Staff writer Andrea Rumbaugh contributed to this report.
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Oscar winner Eddie Redmayne has backed his rival Leonardo DiCaprio to take home this year's best actor prize.

Redmayne, who won in 2015 for his portrayal of Professor Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything, is nominated for the second year in a row for his role as transgender artist Lili Elbe in The Danish Girl.

DiCaprio, who has never won an Oscar despite numerous nominations, received a nod in the same category for his role as a fur trapper in The Revenant.

Arriving at the Film is Great reception for British Oscar nominees and members of the film industry in West Hollywood, Redmayne said: "I think it's pretty much certainly Leo's year and so well deserved."

The actor, who served as a co-host at the reception and was accompanied by his pregnant wife Hannah Bagshawe, said he was impressed by the British talent on display in the Oscar nominations.

He said: "This year in the Oscars there are 24 categories and British people are nominated in 21 of those categories so it's not just in front of the camera, but there is a huge breadth of talent so we are all getting together and probably having a drink or two.

"I am just trying to keep one foot in front of the other. It's been an amazing year and I've been very, very lucky."

Reflecting on his two consecutive Oscar nominations, he said: "It's impossible to get your head around what this circus is, but it's so much fun to be a part of and you try to just kind of pinch yourself and take stock of all the memories, so years from now you can look back on it and work out what it all was."

He was joined at the reception by his Danish Girl co-star and fellow Oscar nominee Alicia Vikander and their director Tom Hooper, as well as Luther star Idris Elba and talk show host James Corden.

Redmayne will next be seen in JK Rowling's Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them.

The Oscars will be hosted by Chris Rock at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on February 28.
Jamie Dornan and his Fifty Shades co-star Dakota Johnson win worst actor and actress in the Razzies.

Oscar nominee Eddie Redmayne has scored the dubious honour of the worst supporting actor prize at the Razzie Awards.

The British star, who won at the Academy Awards last year and is nominated again this year for his role in The Danish Girl, won the golden raspberry prize for his turn in Jupiter Ascending.

Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson, the stars of the film adaptation of Fifty Shades Of Grey, were named worst actor and worst actress and worst screen combo.

The adaptation of EL James' hit erotic novel was named worst screenplay and the movie tied with comic book remake Fantastic Four to be named worst picture of 2015.

Fantastic Four was also named worst remake, rip-off or sequel and director Josh Trank was named worst director.

The Big Bang theory star Kaley Cuoco was deemed worst supporting actress for her performance in The Wedding Ringer and her voice contribution to Alvin & The Chipmunks: Road Chip.

The Razzie Redeemer Award, which is given to a previous Razzie Award winner who has "gone on to do better work", went to Sylvester Stallone who is widely expected to win the best supporting actor Oscar for Rocky sequel Creed.
Danniella Westbrook has said she is "really excited" to be returning to EastEnders after a six-year absence.

The actress and reality television star, who has fought a high-profile battle with drug addiction, will step into Albert Square for several episodes of the BBC soap later this year.

She will make a "brief appearance" as Samantha Mitchell in special episodes showing the funeral of her on-screen mother Peggy (Barbara Windsor) after her death from cancer, a spokesman for the soap said.

Westbrook, 42, said: "I'm really excited to be going back to EastEnders. It feels right that the Mitchells are all back for Peggy's funeral and I can't wait to work alongside everyone again."

Westbrook has played Samantha, the sister of Phil and Grant Mitchell, in the soap on and off since 1990.

The actress has fought cocaine addiction, which at a low point left her with a completely eroded nasal septum. She has written books on her experiences and spoken about her struggle in interviews.

She also appeared on the latest series of Celebrity Big Brother, finishing fifth in February's finale.

EastEnders executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins said: "It is only right that all of Peggy Mitchell's children would be at her funeral. Danniella is the final piece of the Mitchell jigsaw puzzle so it will be great for viewers to see Phil, Grant and Sam all back on screen.

"Danniella will only be back for a few episodes but these scenes are bound to go down in EastEnders history."
Loose Women panellist Sherrie Hewson has described the "magic" of being cast as Mrs Slocombe in an Are You Being Served? one-off special.

The experienced actress - who played Coronation Street's Maureen Holdsworth from 1993 to 1997 - said she had "never been so scared" during her audition for the sitcom, based in a fictional London department store.

She told the Daily Mirror: "Mrs Slocombe and the show are so iconic. It meant everything to me.

"I got into such a state that by the time I got there I was beside myself. I started to read on camera and I had to stop and start again because I was just so excited, scared and nervous."

She said she "screamed down the phone" when her agent confirmed the role two weeks later.

"It was magical and wonderful and fabulous. I just didn't believe it," she said.

Are You Being Served? was broadcast between 1972 and 1985. The one-off special is set in 1988 and picks up where the comedy last left off.

It is due to be filmed next month in front of a studio audience in Media City, Salford. It will air on BBC One later in the year.

Hewson will be joined in the cast by the likes of John Challis and Mathew Horne.
Milestone birthdays often provoke mixed emotions, but Dr Christian Jessen felt only a surge of relief when he celebrated his 30th.

Reaching that age, unscathed by ill health, he believed he had escaped a debilitating condition which he saw devastate the life of one of his closest relatives.

The TV doctor, best known for his medical advice on Channel Four's Embarrassing Bodies, grew up watching his uncle, Volker, battle multiple sclerosis (MS).

The condition affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord, causing a range of symptoms, including problems with movement, balance and vision. Worldwide, more than 2.3 million people (around 100,000 in the UK) are affected by MS and symptoms tend to appear when people are in their twenties and thirties, although it can develop at any age. It is two to three times more common in women than men.

"My father's brother, Volker, who was a vet, lived with MS for more than 25 years and was just under 30 when he was diagnosed, before I was born," recalls Jessen (38), who's supporting new website, 1MSg (one message), providing information and advice for MS patients.

"It's still not known what causes this condition, there may be a slight genetic link, although it's very low. It does seem to run in families, but the risk is small. My parents were worried about my developing it later in life, but were reassured by a specialist when I was a toddler that it wouldn't happen to me," he says.

"To be honest, I'm not actually sure how that doctor could have been so certain of that diagnosis, but that reassurance helped them at the time. As I grew up, though, I became conscious that fate can sometimes be cruel.

"I thought, 'Volker and I share similarities'. He trained to a high level as a vet and then was struck down, and there I was, following in his footsteps by entering the medical profession to graduate as a doctor.

"When my inner pessimist - medical students tend to think they've got every disease they learn about - nagged me, I'd occasionally succumb to a fleeting fear that it was almost bound to happen.

"So although people don't normally breathe a sigh of relief when they reach 30, I did, and as the years have gone by, I'm now pretty certain I won't be affected."

Volker suffered his first symptoms in his late twenties - shaky hands, a gradual loss of dexterity and periods of blurred vision.

He had the most common type, relapsing remitting MS, where symptoms come and go and, in remission, may improve or disappear. Those with primary progressive MS, which affects 10% of patients, have symptoms that get steadily worse and the onset of the disease tends to be later in life, in those in their forties or fifties.

"For my uncle, it must have been devastating to finally get such a diagnosis. In those days it meant premature death, whereas today, MS doesn't significantly shorten life expectancy. When he was diagnosed in the late Seventies, there were only steroids and other medications to relieve symptoms and latterly he suffered agonising muscle spasms and pain.

"Now treatments, particularly for relapsing remitting MS, aim to modulate the immune system so it's less likely to attack the central nervous system."

Although his uncle was forced to give up veterinary surgery, he continued as a travelling vet in a specially adapted car until his mid-thirties.

"Giving up his profession must have been a hammer blow. I know how devoted I am to my career and can only guess at the pain that must have caused him," says Christian.

"His MS often made him weak and as the disease progressed, it affected his speech so sometimes he could sound a bit slurry. He died aged 55 in 2003 when I was 25.

"Today, just because someone has MS it doesn't mean they can't lead a happy, healthy life."

By revealing his family's tragedy he aims is to raise awareness and encourage MS sufferers to have regular assessments.

"Latest figures show nearly a fifth of patients haven't seen a specialist for a year and yet those appointments are so key, so medication can be updated and, if necessary, more help, including therapies or support groups can be accessed," he says.

Christian has previously focused on a variety of issues, including a controversial Channel Four documentary in 2014, Cure Me, I'm Gay - he is gay and lives with his partner in London - as well as a health series about extreme eaters, Supersize vs Superskinny.

"I'd welcome a return of Embarrassing Bodies which was a groundbreaking show that over eight years changed the way we thought about health," he says.

"It was a victim of its own success and became rather over-exposed. It's popular worldwide so we may be looking at some international versions. Generally, awareness and knowledge of health can literally change people's lives and playing just a small part in that is a privilege."

Dr Christian Jessen is supporting a new website, 1MSg (one message), which gives information and advice to multiple sclerosis (MS) sufferers. The 1MSg campaign is supported by Biogen. Visit 1MSg.co.uk
Killie player Josh Magennis claims he was racially abused during his club's match at Hearts on Saturday

Police have released a description of the man who is alleged to have directed racially aggravated abuse towards Kilmarnock footballer Josh Magennis.

The incident took place at 4.40pm on Saturday during the club's game against Hearts at Tynecastle Stadium in Edinburgh.

Magennis is understood to have made the allegation following his side's 1-0 defeat.

The 25-year-old is in his second season with the Ayrshire club and the striker is also a Northern Ireland international.

The man responsible is believed to have been seated in lower section E of the Wheatfield Stand.

He is described as being white, with a stocky build, aged in his mid 40s, with dark hair that is receding on top.

He was wearing dark glasses and a dark jacket that possibly had red lining.

Pc Gavin Stupart said: "Racial abuse is absolutely unacceptable, in any circumstances.

"The behaviour of the majority of fans at Tynecastle on Saturday was excellent and I want to thank both clubs for their co-operation.

"We're conducting various inquiries in an effort to trace the perpetrator and I'd ask any witnesses to this abuse, or anyone who recognises the description of the suspect, to come forward."

Hearts said in a statement on Saturday: ''The club can confirm that following this afternoon's game, a complaint was made to Police Scotland by a Kilmarnock player.

''The Kilmarnock player alleges that an abusive comment was made relating to his nationality by an individual seated within the home end at Tynecastle.

''The alleged abusive remark related to the player being Irish. The player is from Northern Ireland. To clarify, this allegation does not involve the player's colour, religion or sexuality.

''Senior figures from both clubs were present when the player made the complaint and discussed the matter fully thereafter.

''Heart of Midlothian FC has a number of players of different nationality playing in the current squad and is very proud of the international make-up of our team.

''We will fully support any police investigation into reports of abuse such as the one which has been reported today.''
Broward Sheriff's Office(NEW YORK) -- A man shot four times by his coworker at a manufacturing plant in Kansas recalled how the gunman hesitated before firing.



Adam Miller spoke to ABC affiliate KAKE-TV from his hospital bed after Thursday's shooting at Excel Industries in Hesston, Kansas. He said he heard someone yell about a shooter and then encountered Cedric Ford, who appeared confused when Miller told him to run.



I told him again and he said, 'I know,' and then he shot me, Miller said. He did hesitate before he shot me. It's like he recognized me."



Three people were killed and Miller was among 14 injured in the shooting. Police officers fatally shot Ford.



"I don't know what he was going through," Miller said of Ford. "Obviously, he felt this was the way out and so my heart just aches for him."



Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Labour's Alan Kelly celebrates being elected during the general election 2016 count at presentation Secondary school in Thurles, Tipperary

Labour deputy leader Alan Kelly has told Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to "cop themselves on now" and form a government.

The outgoing environment minister and would-be successor to Joan Burton said it was rubbish for the country's two biggest parties to suggest there are massive issues between them.

"It's 2016 lads, it is 100 years since the Rising. Civil war politics are over," Mr Kelly said.

"Fianna Fail and Fine Gael need to 'cop themselves on' now and form a new government for the next five years.

"All of this pretending that there are massive issues between them is rubbish. They need to come together, work together and put a government in place for the good of the people."

Mr Kelly issued the advice after narrowly retaining his seat in Tipperary where he failed to reach the quota of 12,000 votes.

He refused to be drawn on whether he would attempt to oust Ms Burton who has only led the party for two years.

"Rebuilding the party starts tomorrow and I am going to make sure I am working with everyone that we organise, we rebrand and we redevelop our party and redevelop our message because obviously we need to do that," Mr Kelly said.

He added: "Joan always has my support - that's always the way it is. But, those of us who won seats in this Dail need to step up to the plate collectively and look at what we need to do as a party."

Mr Kelly claimed that Labour went into Government with Fine Gael in 2011 more concerned with the national interest than the future of the party or political careers.

He said the two biggest parties should do likewise.

"We as a party put the country first five years ago," Mr Kelly said.

"It is now time the both of them put the country first. That is the only stable government, I believe can be formed. It is time for us now to go and be an opposition party and that's what I believe should happen."
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has blamed Fianna Fail supporters returning to the fold for his party's slump in the polls.

He said the result in the previous elections in 2011 was extraordinary. It followed the collapse of the Celtic Tiger and unhappiness over how his rivals handled the financial crash.

The re-elected Mayo TD pledged to stay at the helm to help steer the country to stability as the outcome of the election remained mired in uncertainty.

"Democracy is always exciting but it is merciless when it clicks in."

He refused to step aside and would not say how he planned to form a government.

"I have a duty and a responsibility to work with the decision that the people have made to provide the country with a stable government - that I intend to do fully and completely."

Mr Kenny was mobbed by Fine Gael supporters as he arrived with his wife Fionnuala at the Royal Theatre in Castlebar this evening for his re-election as TD for Mayo - returned with 13,318 votes.

But, nationwide, the party's share of the vote dropped back to levels of a decade ago.

Mr Kenny added: "Quite a lot of people who might have supported the Fianna Fail party who were ashamed to vote in 2011 came back out to vote yesterday.

"Clearly the 2011 result was extraordinary in getting 76 seats."

Over the years Fine Gael has normally averaged in and around 50.

Mr Kenny said: "This is a disappointing day for our party and it is particularly disappointing for those who are candidates and who have lost their seat."

He said he would meet ministers to discuss the results soon.

Mr Kenny arrived before 9pm at the theatre. He was greeted by a scrum of cameras and the applause of the party faithful.

Police pushed a passage through the crowds in front of him as he shook hands and greeted familiar faces.

John McHugh, 68 and from Castlebar, was tallying votes. A withered Kenny sticker which had seen many doorsteps was peeling from his jacket as he mused on coalition with Fianna Fail.

"I think the biggest problem Fianna Fail would have is that if they change the rules is it has to be agreed upon by the wider party - which would be more problematic.

"I think politicians are pragmatic, their supporters are not."

A Fianna Fail canvasser confirmed the fear. "I will never vote again if they do."
Katherine Zappone, left, is the new TD for Dublin South West

A feminist who proposed to her wife live on air as Ireland voted for same-sex marriage has been elected to the Dail.

New Dublin South West TD Katherine Zappone popped the question to partner Ann Louise Gilligan on RTE last year as the senator was discussing the historic Yes vote.

The human rights campaigner has joined a swathe of new independent voices outside the major parties in the Dail.

The Green Party's deputy leader Catherine Martin became the first representative elected in Dublin Rathdown since the grouping's Dail wipe-out in 2011 after sharing power with Fianna Fail and supporting the bank bailout. She was a teacher and strong advocate of education.

Gino Kenny was returned for the Anti Austerity Alliance/People Before Profit in Dublin Mid-West. The community carer has campaigned against water charges for decades and described himself as a "revolutionary socialist".

Independent Sean Canney from Galway told the Galway East electorate "your issues are my policies" in what critics would describe as a parish pump refrain common to many independents. He topped the poll. The former mayor of County Galway has signed up to the Independent Alliance's Charter for Change aimed at rooting out political cronyism.

Denis Naughten left Fine Gael in 2011 in opposition to a government decision to downgrade services at Roscommon Hospital. He was elected as an independent in Roscommon-Galway.

Fellow health campaigner Dr Michael Harty is a long-serving general practitioner based in Kilmihil near Ennis in Co Clare. He contested this election as part of the No Doctor, No Village campaign, which sought to restore rural GPs' income to pre-austerity levels. He described the 80% turnout in his home village as humbling.

Independent county councillor Michael Collins was returned in Cork South West. The supporter of community voluntary services pledged to keep jobs in West Cork.

Danny Healy-Rae joined his brother Michael in the Dail. Danny is part of a political dynasty which has dominated Kerry for years and campaigned on a ticket of experience and common sense.

The pair topped the poll in first and second place, with Michael Healy-Rae easily exceeding the quota.

Fine Gael bucked the national trend in Dublin Bay South when pharmacist Kate O'Connell followed Eoghan Murphy on to the Dail backbenches.

The mother of three claimed a young campaign team and social media were key to her success, not to mention a well divided hunt for votes in one of the more middle class constituencies in the country.

In Louth no woman has ever been elected to the Dail.

That is until Sinn Fein and Gerry Adams used all their vote management expertise to bring running mate Imelda Munster virtually all the way to the finishing line in a marathon count in Dundalk.
Ireland's two main political parties are coming under intense pressure to forge an unprecedented alliance as confusion reigns over the possibility of a new government.

A seismic split in the general election vote has thrust bitter enemies Fine Gael and Fianna Fail into a bout of soul-searching as to whether they can come together to restore stability to the country.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is to meet with his party leadership while Fianna Fail chief Micheal Martin will open talks this week with his own stalwarts about the way forward.

Fractures have already opened within both parties, civil war-era adversaries who have swapped power for decades, about a widely-forecast "grand coalition".

Fine Gael looks set to be the largest party despite suffering humiliating losses after five years in power implementing austerity, taking a narrow lead over arch-rivals Fianna Fail.

Outgoing junior coalition partners Labour have taken a drubbing with a number of its ministers being ejected, although party leader Joan Burton and deputy leader Alan Kelly won fights to retain their seats.

Ms Burton said she did not see her party in the next government.

Sinn Fein is on course to further increase its vote south of the Irish border.

With a large section of the electorate backing smaller parties and independents, the make-up of a new government remains in doubt, if an administration can be formed at all.

Among the battered coalition's biggest casualties were Fine Gael's deputy leader and former health minister James Reilly, the party's former justice minister Alan Shatter and Labour's communications minister Alan White.

Such is the uncertainty, senior political figures have talked openly about a new political system, citing continental European-style consensual arrangements or even a power-sharing executive similar to Northern Ireland.

After retaining his seat, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams ruled out propping up one of the traditionally dominant parties in coalition.

He said he would not "betray our electorate and betray the other people who need a progressive government."

"We are not going to go in and prop up a regressive and negative old conservative government, whatever the particular party political complexion," Mr Adams said.

Sinn Fein's rejection of what would be a left-right coalition maintains the position his party adopted during the lacklustre election campaign.

Mr Kenny has ruled out resigning or re-running the poll.

The outgoing premier said his party would remain a large bloc in the new Dail despite throwing away the largest majority it had ever secured.

"I'd like to think that it could be possible, given the final results, to be able to put a government together that could work through the many challenges we have," he said.

The clearest majority would come from Fine Gael and Fianna Fail setting aside their historical rivalries, borne out of the civil war and cemented over the last 90 years.

But several key figures from both parties have already hinted a split within their own ranks if an alliance is formed.

Fine Gael strategist Frank Flannery maintains an historic coming together of the ancestral adversaries remains a "fairly major option".

"If it is to be rejected, it would have to be for very cogent, clear and precise reasons," he said.

Mr Flannery, credited with the revival of Fine Gael during the noughties, conceded very large numbers within both parties would be extraordinarily nervous about an alliance.

"It would fly in the face of 100 years of parliamentary practice - long established cultures and traditions," he said.

But he added the enmity was more cultural than policy-driven.

"A lot of people, maybe including myself, would think change is for the good, bring us into a more modern type of politics," he said.

Parties will have until March 10 - when the Dail is scheduled to resume - to forge a power-sharing deal.
The controversial so-called "bedroom tax" will be under the spotlight at the UK's highest court on Monday.

Supreme Court justices are to tackle the question of whether vulnerable members of society are being discriminated against.

During a three-day hearing in London a panel of seven judges, headed by Supreme Court president Lord Neuberger, will hear argument in a number of appeals resulting from legal rulings over changes to housing benefit regulations.

Campaigners say the regulations, introduced in April 2013, have had a ''devastating'' impact, and argue that they "unjustifiably" discriminate against the disabled.

The Supreme Court will hear a challenge by the Government against recent findings of the Court of Appeal in favour of a victim of domestic violence and the family of a severely disabled teenager.

Another part of the proceedings relate to an earlier decision made by Court of Appeal judges over a complaint by a number of appellants that the regulations unlawfully discriminate against people with disabilities who have a need for an additional bedroom because of that disability.

The High Court dismissed their application for judicial review and their subsequent challenge against that decision was rejected by appeal judges in February 2014.

In the latest "bedroom tax" case last month, appeal judges declared that a woman referred to as "A", who lives in a council house fitted with a secure panic room to protect her from a violent ex-partner, and Paul and Sue Rutherford, from Pembrokeshire, who look after 15-year-old grandson Warren, had "suffered discrimination", contrary to Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

After announcing that the discrimination had not been "justified" by the Government, the judges said they were granting Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court announced soon afterwards that the Government's appeal in the cases of A and the Rutherfords would be heard alongside other "bedroom tax" challenges already due to be considered by the justices arising from the earlier Court of Appeal decision.

The action brought by single mother A concerned the effect of the regulations on women living in Sanctuary Scheme homes which have been specially adapted because of risks to the women and children who live in them. The other, brought by the Rutherfords, involved the impact on seriously disabled children who need overnight care.

The Government rejects the term ''bedroom tax'' and says the regulations remove what is in fact a ''spare room subsidy'', with the aim of encouraging people to move to smaller properties and save around 480 million a year from the housing benefit bill.

In the 2014 ruling, Master of the Rolls Lord Dyson said the court could only intervene if measures were "manifestly without reasonable foundation" - and that test was not satisfied. The Secretary of State had "justified the discriminatory effect of the policy".

A DWP spokesman said in a statement before the latest round of the litigation: " Removing the spare room subsidy has restored fairness to the system for claimants as well as the taxpayer, and the numbers subject to a reduction are falling.

"We know that there are cases where people may need extra support - but rather than put in place complex exemptions, we have given local councils the freedom to decide what is best for their communities.

"That's why we have given councils 500m of funding to provide discretionary payments to those that need them, with a further 870m to be provided up to 2020."
Boris Johnson wrote in his Telegraph column that "EU history shows that they only really listen to a population when it says 'no'"

I ain Duncan Smith has said he would sacrifice his Cabinet career for the sake of keeping Britain out of the European Union, as the bitter battle within the Conservative Party continued to rage.

Prime Minister David Cameron led an assault on pro-Brexit campaigners, accusing them of wanting to take "the gamble of the century" with the UK's future on the basis of only "extremely vague" proposals.

But the Work and Pensions Secretary - one of five Eurosceptic Cabinet ministers to have broken ranks to oppose the Government's position - said he was more committed to securing Britain's exit from the 28-nation bloc than completing his welfare reforms.

"If my face no longer fits, my face no longer fits. My big passion is welfare reform. But Europe goes over everything," he told The Sunday Telegraph amid suggestions of a post-referendum reshuffle purge of some leading rebels.

Mr Duncan Smith - a veteran of the rebellion against then premier John Major over the Maastricht Treaty - complained that ministers were undermining party unity by "briefing off" about the fate of colleagues.

And he pledged to defy a ban on "leave" campaigning ministers being shown official papers and briefings related to the campaign as Whitehall's top civil servant was summoned by a parliamentary committee to explain the move.

"I must have the right to continue to look at this. Constitutionally, I am in charge of that department," he said.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood faces a grilling by the Political and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday over his edict that it was "not appropriate or permissible" for officials to provide briefings, write material for speeches or supply access to official papers in relation to the referendum campaign to ministers opposing the official line.

Sniping within the party continued unabated into the weekend, with Mr Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne making barely-disguised attacks on London mayor Boris Johnson, one of the highest-profile pro-Brexit Conservatives.

Mr Osborne - hailing a warning from fellow G20 finance ministers that a UK divorce from Brussels could "shock" the world economy - said the issue was "deadly serious" for people's jobs and finances and not "some amusing adventure into the unknown".

The Chancellor in turn faced a backlash from Tory predecessor in Number 11 Nigel Lawson, who dismissed the G20 warning as "absurd".

It came as Philip Hammond was reported to have called arch-Eurosceptic backbencher Sir Bill Cash a "total s**t" for publishing confidential legal guidance about Mr Cameron's EU renegotiation deal.

A Foreign Office source said there should be a parliamentary investigation into why the EU scrutiny committee chaired by the veteran MP disclosed the advice prepared for European Council president Donald Tusk despite Mr Hammond handing it over in confidence.

The Mail on Sunday said he angrily confronted Sir Bill in Westminster during a break in a committee hearing.

An FCO source noted that the legal advice confirmed the deal was "legally binding and irreversible" but said Commons authorities "may now look into" what appeared to be a breach of rules allowing the Government to provide advice in confidence to committees.

The PM is on a whistlestop tour of the UK, warning voters against what he calls the "leap in the dark" of voting to leave the EU on June 23.

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, he said: "When the people campaigning for "out" are asked to set out a vision outside the European Union, they become extremely vague. It's simply not good enough to assert everything will be all right when jobs and our country's future are at stake.

He challenged them to set out what the trading relationship would look like, how long the economy would face uncertainty while it was negotiated, how joint-security arrangements would be replaced and how Britain's role and influence in the world would be maintained.

"With so many gaps in the 'out' case, the decision is clearly one between the great unknown and a greater Britain. A vote to leave is the gamble of the century. And it would be our children's futures on the table if we were to roll the dice," he concluded.

At least 130 of the 330 Conservative MPs have publicly declared their intent to defy Mr Cameron and back "leave" in the referendum campaign.

Europe Minister David Lidington said the UK could be plunged into 10 years of damaging uncertainty.

"You would be in complete limbo and I think what that would do for the pound and for business confidence would be very serious indeed. It could last a decade," he told The Observer.

Mr Johnson faced accusations of "flip-flopping" after he ruled out the possibility of a vote to leave on June 23 leading to a better offer from Brussels and a second referendum - a position dismissed as "total fantasy" by Mr Cameron when it was floated by former Tory leader Michael Howard.

Mr Johnson previous assertion that "EU history shows that they only really listen to a population when it says 'no'" was widely seen as backing a fresh vote.

But he told The Times: "Out is out. What I want is to get out and then negotiate a series of trade arrangements around the world."
The Government is pressing ahead with plans to allow councils to extend Sunday trading hours by the autumn

Extending Sunday trading hours will disrupt community life, a cross-section of Christian leaders has warned.

The group, including a Roman Catholic and a member of the Church of England, has written to the Sunday Telegraph to oppose Government plans to deregulate Sunday trading laws.

The letter - signed by Anglican Bishop of St Albans the Rt Rev Dr Alan Smith and Catholic Archbishop of Southwark the Most Rev Peter Smith, as well as a Methodist minister and Salvation Army colonel - claims the current arrangements strike a balance between the needs of consumers and communities.

The letter reads: "They make space for shopping, while preserving the common leisure time essential for family life and shared social activities.

"They also protect small stores from near-monopolies, and preserve the right of shop workers to spend time with their families."

The Government is pressing ahead with plans to allow local councils to extend Sunday trading hours by the autumn.

The Christian leaders reference a recent study that forecasts no net gain for the economy if the plans go ahead.

Instead, the changes will result in a loss of market share for smaller shops, they claim.

"Most fundamentally, however, we are concerned that the further deregulation of Sunday trading laws is likely to disrupt the rhythms of community life that are so integral to the common good," the letter says.

"In a world of increasing commodification the space for shared time and activities, central to human flourishing, is becoming increasingly rare."

The full list of signatories is: Rt Rev Dr Alan Smith, Bishop of St Albans; Most Rev Peter Smith, Archbishop of Southwark; Most Rev Dr Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales; Rev Steven J Wild, president of the Methodist Conference; Colonel David Hinton, chief secretary of the Salvation Army; R ev David Grosch-Miller, moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church.
Lord King blames the last crash on a broken financial system rather than greedy bankers

Another financial crisis is "certain" and will come "sooner rather than later", the former Bank of England governor has warned.

Mervyn King, who headed the bank between 2003 and 2013, believes the world economy will soon face another crash as regulators have failed to reform banking.

He has also claimed that the 2008 crisis was the fault of the financial system, not individual greedy bankers, in his new book, The End Of Alchemy: Money, Banking And The Future Of The Global Economy, serialised in The Telegraph.

"Without reform of the financial system, another crisis is certain, and the failure ... to tackle the disequilibrium in the world economy makes it likely that it will come sooner rather than later," Lord King wrote.

A remark from a Chinese colleague who said the West had not got the hang of money and banking was the inspiration for his book.

Lord King, 67, said without understanding what caused the crash, politicians and bankers would be unable to prevent another, and lays the blame at the door of a broken financial system.

He said: "The crisis was a failure of a system, and the ideas that underpinned it, not of individual policymakers or bankers, incompetent and greedy though some of them undoubtedly were."

Spending imbalances both within and between countries led to the crisis in 2008 and he believes a current disequilibrium will lead to the next.

To solve the problem, Lord King suggests raising productivity and boldly reforming the banking system.

He said: "Only a fundamental rethink of how we, as a society, organise our system of money and banking will prevent a repetition of the crisis that we experienced in 2008."
DJ Tony Blackburn said he refused an option to resign from the BBC, then return in a few months

DJ Tony Blackburn has thanked fans after being sacked from the BBC in the wake of the Dame Janet Smith inquiry into sexual abuse at the corporation.

Introducing his Retro Countdown show on Kent-based KMFM on Sunday afternoon, the 73-year-old said: "Thank-you very much for all your support this week.

"Thank-you as well to KMFM. I hope you enjoy the show."

He then played Blondie's Atomic, Shaddap You Face by Joe Dolce, and Tight Fit's The Lion Sleeps Tonight as the three-hour show kicked off with hits from this day in the 1980s.

His brief message came as he claimed he was given the opportunity to resign from the BBC and engineer a return in a "few months".

Blackburn, whose evidence to the inquiry was criticised by BBC director-general Tony Hall, said he had been made a scapegoat by the corporation.

Blackburn has strenuously denied he "seduced" Claire McAlpine after inviting her back to his flat following a recording of Top Of The Pops in the 1970s, and is taking legal action. The girl later killed herself.

Speaking to Radio 4's Broadcasting House programme, Blackburn said he was told that if he resigned from the BBC there would be an opportunity for him to return later in the year.

He said: "I had been asked to resign by Bob Shannon (head of Radio 2) of the BBC, but I said, well, why do I want to resign? There's no point. I love my job at the BBC, I love the BBC, why would I resign?

"They gave me the chance to resign, saying that that way you don't actually cut off all ties from the BBC and we could probably bring you back in a few months."

Blackburn said he refused to do that, " because I have got nothing to hide", and stuck by the evidence he gave to the review.

The DJ said he wished he had been investigated at the time of the allegation of sexual activity by the girl, to prove his innocence, "b ut I only heard of this in 2012, I think it was".

He said he would be open to a return to the BBC, but is concentrating on getting "my career back and my reputation back".

The veteran broadcaster, who won the first series of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2002, said: "The amount of support I've had has absolutely astounded me.

"I love the BBC, I was proud to work for the BBC. I was proud to open up Radio 1 and I don't know why this is happening to me.

"This one comment from Dame Janet Smith has ruined it all and I do object to that. I was very, very annoyed about it. But I'm not annoyed now, I'm sad.

"If the director-general came up to me and said, 'We've made a mistake, it's all gone wrong', I'd shake his hand, there would be no hard feelings at all."
Family court hearings are usually staged in private, with members of the public barred

Senior members of the judiciary should be asked for their views on a disagreement between High Court judges over how much the public can be told about people involved in big-money divorce battles, a High Court judge has suggested.

The disagreement emerged last year following rulings by two judges who sit in the Family Division of the High Court - where rich couples stage fights over cash after separating - and are based in London.

Mr Justice Holman, who analyses cash fights at public hearings, said there was a ''pressing need'' for more openness. But Mr Justice Mostyn, who analyses fights in private, said such disputes were ''quintessentially private business''.

Other judges in the Family Division of the High Court analyse fights behind closed doors - and appear to agree with Mr Justice Mostyn.

One of those, Mr Justice Moor, has now suggested that Court of Appeal judges need to examine the issue.

Mr Justice Moor outlined his thoughts while analysing a money fight at a private hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London on Friday - and he gave a journalist at the hearing permission to report his comments.

"Presumably, sooner or later, somebody is going to appeal," Mr Justice Moor told lawyers at the hearing. "It is overdue."

He added: "It just seems to me that this difference of opinion between the other judges and Mr Justice Holman needs to be dealt with."

Mr Justice Holman had outlined his views in a ruling on a case in June, after sitting in open court to analyse evidence and allowing reporters to name adults involved.

Mr Justice Mostyn had spelled out his stance in a ruling published in September. He had barred reporters from identifying the people involved in the case and had analysed evidence at a private hearing.

He had also said Court of Appeal judges should be asked for their views.

Sir James Munby - President of the Family Division of the High Court, and the most senior family court judge in England and Wales - has called for ''much more'' transparency in the family justice system.

He says the public has a right to know ''what is being done in their name''.

Family court hearings are usually staged in private, with members of the public barred.

Rules allow journalists to attend hearings, but reporters are not necessarily allowed to publicise detail of cases.
A published author has spoken of her shock and panic after an insect which flew into her eye almost caused her to lose her sight.

Charlynne Boddie, from Selsey, West Sussex, was on holiday in Cornwall when the bug flew into her left eye as she was walking along a beach.

Over the coming days her eye became increasingly painful and when she visited her GP, he sent her for immediate treatment at the Queen Alexandra Hospital (QA) in Portsmouth, Hampshire.

The 49-year-old said: "I began to panic and worried about what it could be. My assistant sped me off to QA. I was seen quickly as my doctor had already called ahead and was met by a lovely doctor, who gave me some steroids and drops to try and clean the eye out, but it wasn't that easy.

"I woke up a couple of days later with awful pain in both of my eyes."

Ms Boddie returned to the hospital where doctors found that a tiny abrasion, caused by the insect coming into contact with the eye underneath her contact lens, had become infected and caused an ulcer which spread to her right eye.

Ms Boddie said: "For each ulcer, I was prescribed a unique cocktail of medicine to try and cure the different infections I had.

"It was a very hard time for me, and any light caused excruciating pain so I was living in the dark."

The doctors found that Ms Boddie's eyes were rejecting the treatment and it took another change in medication to cure the ulcers.

Ms Boddie, originally from Denver, Colorado, said: "Three days later I felt like a new person. My sight started to come back, my eyes were no longer light-sensitive.

"I'm so grateful that the right team caught the problem at the right time. If it wasn't for the team at QA I wouldn't be able to do what I do. I travel all over the world so my sight is extremely important - I'll never take it for granted again.

"If it wasn't for the eye team at QA Hospital, I would have lost my sight."

Keith Malcolm, senior clinical manager at QA hospital's eye department, said: "Most people would probably be astounded to know that something as seemingly innocuous as a bug flying into your eye can cause blindness.

"It is uncommon for an insect to cause so much damage but it certainly can happen. The insect would have got stuck behind the contact lens and then rubbed between the lens and Charlynne's eye, causing a small abrasion.

"These scratches would have then got infected, which can then lead to ulcers. This infection can also spread between a person's eyes. It's just as well Charlynne came in when she did, otherwise she could have lost her sight completely."
People gather at the scene of deadly bombing attacks in Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq (AP)

Militants have attacked an outdoor market in eastern Baghdad, killing at least 59 people and wounding nearly 100.

A bomb ripped through the crowded Mredi market in the Shiite district of Sadr City, a police officer said. Minutes later, a suicide bomber blew himself up amid the crowd that had gathered at the site of the first blast.

Iraqi interior ministry spokesman Sad Main said the bombings killed 38 people and injured another 62.

Hospital officials later increased the casualty toll to 59 dead and 95 wounded.

The attack was the deadliest in a wave of recent explosions that have targeted commercial areas in and outside Baghdad.

In the town of Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles south of Baghdad, three shoppers were killed and 10 injured in a bomb explosion. Four others were killed in a separate bomb attack in Baghdad's southern Dora neighbourhood.

The Islamic State-affiliated Aamaq news agency later claimed responsibility for the Sadr City bombings.

The militant Sunni Muslim group controls key areas in northern and western Iraq and regularly targets government forces, civilians and especially Shiites, who the IS regards as heretics.

The attacks came hours after security forces repelled an attack by IS militants on the capital's western suburb of Abu Ghraib.
People gather outside the residence of Hasnain Warekar, in Thane on the outskirts of Mumbai, India (AP)

A man in western India has fatally stabbed 14 members of his family, including seven children, before hanging himself.

Hasnain Warekar, 35, went on his overnight killing spree after a family gathering at his home, said Gajanan Laxman Kabdule, a police spokesman in the city of Thane, outside Mumbai.

He said a motive was not known, but the Press Trust of India news agency reported that a family dispute over property was behind the attacks.

Warekar's extended family - three sisters, their children and his parents - were among those who had apparently got together for dinner, Mr Kabdule said.

Warekar's wife and two young daughters were also in the house and were among those killed.

The only survivor was a sister who was wounded, the officer said, adding that she was in a hospital and in "a state of shock".

Mr Kabdule said it appeared that Warekar began his stabbing spree after everyone had gone to bed. The victims' bodies were discovered early on Sunday morning.

The bodies were sent to a Thane hospital for post-mortem examinations.
Mexico's former president Felipe Calderon says Donald Trump's immigration comments are sowing anti-American hate around the world (AP)

Former Mexican president Felipe Calderon has savaged Donald Trump, saying the Republican US presidential front-runner's campaign is racist and his comments on immigration are fuelling anti-American sentiment around the world.

Mr Calderon, a conservative who was president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012, even said he thought Mr Trump was trying to exploit the same social feelings and resentments as Adolf Hitler.

"I think his logic of exalting white supremacy isn't even acting against immigration - Donald Trump is the descendant of migrants - it is acting and speaking against immigrants who have a different skin colour than him, which is frankly racist and is a bit like the exploitation of raw nerves that Hitler did in his day," Mr Calderon said after a meeting of the National Action Party (PAN), in Mexico City.

Mr Calderon's comments parallel those made earlier by former president Vicente Fox, who preceded him in office and also belonged to the PAN party.

In interviews with Univision and Mexican media, Mr Fox called billionaire businessman Mr Trump "crazy", a "false prophet" and an embarrassment to his party.

When asked about Mr Trump's assertion that he was going to get Mexico to pay for his proposed border wall, Mr Fox used an expletive to make his point that the country would never do so.

Mr Trump said Fox ought to be "ashamed of himself" for his vulgarity and demanded an apology.

Mr Trump has angered many Mexicans for his campaign rhetoric denigrating some immigrants as "rapists" who bring crime and drugs to the United States. Threats of mass deportations of Mexicans and other migrants illegally in the country, along with his promise to build a wall separating the nations, have added to the bad feelings.

Mr Calderon said Mr Trump's discourse was "sowing hate" against the United States around the world which was not in Washington's interest.

During a visit to Mexico's capital, US vice president Joe Biden apologised for the inflammatory rhetoric about Mexico in the presidential campaign.

"Some of the rhetoric coming from some of the presidential candidates on the other team are I think dangerous, damaging and incredibly ill-advised," he said on Thursday.

"But here's what I'm here to tell you: they do not, they do not, they do not represent the view of the vast majority of the American people."
What a wake-up call it was this week to find out that the acting Establishment is disproportionately composed of privately educated individuals. Who'd have thought our beloved Cumberbatches, Redmaynes, Hiddlesworths and Winslets were not salt of the earth lads and lasses who'd come direct from the dark satanic mills of the ragged North to the glittering Bafta stage?

The Sutton Trust revealed this week that 42% of British Bafta winners went to a private school and 67% of British Oscar winners. It also knocked us off our feet with news that politics and law are dominated by the lucky recipients of cash-based education: three-quarters of the UK's top judges went to a fee-paying school (78% are Oxbridge grads), as well as half the Tory Cabinet.

It's worth taking a pause here to remember that the private school sector educates 7% of the population in total.

My sarcastic tone might suggest a bitter attitude towards those who happen to have drawn top tickets in the lottery of British life, but that is not so.

I'm an enthusiastic, unapologetic fan of each of the actors named above, my heartfelt love for Harrowite Benedict, Etonite Eddie (and my beloved Etonite Dominic West) only recently intruded upon by Etonite Tom Hiddleston's brilliant performance in The Night Manager.

I'm aware of fellow working-class socialists who regard it a point of principle to rail against the privileged. I don't share this view, having been far too seduced by genuine talent and beauty to bear the good ones any grudge.

The system which produced this state of affairs however? It's a bone-deep disgrace and a shame on this country. While the institutions of power, wealth and celebrity are dominated by the rich, the UK surrenders its right to call itself a just society.

Just as the current voting set-up and skewed justice system long ago surrendered the right to claim they stood for fairness, equality, or even true democracy. Power talks straight to power and down to the rest of us, telling us to teach our children to aspire to greatness, as if being born into money is an achievement.

One institution the Trust didn't examine is the fashion world. In terms of the Instagram generation, I suspect the influence of the anointed Beautiful People is second only to that of pop stars.

My guess is that the percentage of privately taught will be rather high among this section too (though there will be rather less Oxbridgers). Because there is a different elite in fashion - just as rich and just as exclusive.

Let's look at the current stack of It girls and boys, many of whom we've seen gleaming in the glossies as they've paraded around London Fashion Week these last few days: Amber le Bon, Daisy Lowe, Anais Gallagher, Lily Collins, Tali Lennox, Georgia Jagger, Zoe Kravitz, Lily-Rose Depp, Rafferty Law, Dylan Brosnan, Romeo Beckham.

Any of those names ring a bell? They're all models with fabulous contracts, most of whom have graced the covers of leading fashion mags, and get photographed in the hallowed Front Row of the most prestigious fashion events on the globe.

This is an industry which claims it seeks out quirks, eccentricities, a uniqueness that can't be taught, bought, or bred. An industry so deluded it hails its current superstar, Cara Delevingne, as a rebellious black sheep.

Yes, the Belgravia-born god-daughter of Conde Nast executive Nicholas Coleridge and Joan Collins, whose granny was lady-in-waiting to Princess Margaret, sure blew in from the wrong side of the tracks.

All we have to do to achieve similar greatness in this wonderful meritocracy is take a deep breath and aspire.

How Virginia had me dancing for joy

My moment of the week was watching 106-year-old Virginia McLaurin jumping into the arms of Barack Obama.

McLaurin's visit to the White House was organised as part of America's Black History Month and, boy, was it worth it.

She whooped and greeted Obama like a long lost grandson, before dancing her way over to Michelle Obama, always the most delightful of hostesses; warm, unpatronising, always game.

They laughed together, had a little boogie, then Virginia paused and turned to gaze at Barack.

"I thought I'd never live to get in the White House," she said tearfully. "A black President." She turned to Michelle: "A black wife." Yes, Virginia, they're quite a thing.

Some men still think like Savile

As Janet Smith's review into the Jimmy Savile case clarified this week, the work culture Savile operated in - one in which some senior staff regarded young women as playthings for "talented" men, with one producer actually procuring teenage prey for his superstar DJ, was grotesque.

It was also common of workplaces of the time. We know it has not been wiped out. The attitude to vulnerable teenage girls was similar to the one which led to scores of girls being raped and passed around by the monsters heading the Rotherham sex ring.

This is why women find it hard to "lighten up" around banter based on the allure of their body parts.

Just so you know.
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Unlike Gordon, however, Cohen and DeLong believe that Americans have the power to do something about it. The key lies in better understanding their history.

If you ask Americans to identify the elixir of their countrys success, most would say something about freedom and entrepreneurship. Government would not feature. Their answer, in other words, would be ideological. A more accurate response, in the authors view, would be to draw on Americas creed of pragmatism. Franklin Roosevelt called it bold, persistent experimentation. Alexander Hamilton  perhaps the most modern of the founding fathers, and the only one who has a rap musical about him running on Broadway  developed the American system. Cohen and DeLong make a plea for Americans to abandon the ideological incantations and abstract obfuscations that have held since the late 1970s in favour of whatever works economics.

They make a persuasive case. From Hamiltons infant industries to Abraham Lincolns Homestead Act, the federal government played a guiding role in the American success:

The invisible hand was repeatedly lifted at the elbow by the government and replaced in a new position where it could go on to perform its magic,

they write. If Lincoln had auctioned off land in the west to the highest bidders rather than parceled it out to families, the US would have developed along Latin American-style lines. Government was behind many of the technological leaps that Gordon writes about. Even in the ideological era, government has prodded the market to go where it decrees. But it has taken wrong turns. Huge chunks of the US economy are devoted to financial trading, healthcare claims processing, real estate transaction and other busy but useless activity.

It is within Americas scope to reclaim its pragmatism, say the authors. Theirs is a lyrical manifesto. It is a million miles from Gordons techno-determinism and a different universe to Trumps vision. It is also a corrective. Read Gordon and weep. Then perk yourself up with Concrete Economics. Some things are beyond our power to foresee. Others are within the realm of the possible.
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Fresh off the back of their electoral comeback, Fianna Fail are no doubt feeling pleasantly surprised by this weekend's election that sees them in a position to form a 'grand coalition' Fine Gael.

But not everyone is happy and one Limerick man's emotionally charged Facebook post has struck a chord with those in disbelief at the amount of votes for the party who they see as responsible for the economic downturn and resulting emigration by the nation's young people.

Mike McLoughlin wrote the deeply critical post on the return of Fianna Fail last night as the result became clearer:

"Fianna f*cking Fail. The reason your grandkids that you've never met are in Canada and Australia. The reason your son lost his job and his house

He finished with a scathing criticism of those who voted them in:

"The reason your wife spent her last days on a trolley in a crowded hospital corridor.

You utter idiots."

The post has sparked quite the reaction, having been shared over 7,000 times in less than 24 hours.

If shares were votes, I'd be close to the limerick city quota right now   Mike McLoughlin (@zuroph) February 28, 2016

Mike has commented saying that that he has received many messages from expats on the back of his status.

600 shares now. What's truly upsetting is the amount of shares from young Irish abroad, saying that this is why they're never coming home  Mike McLoughlin (@zuroph) February 28, 2016

And Mike is not the only one a little disturbed by the Fianna Fail resurgence.

I don't like the way the people who tried to tidy up the gaff after party wrecked it, so let's reward the people who wrecked it. #fiannafail  Des Bishop  (@Desbishop) February 27, 2016

For full election results, visit our live blog here
By Juno McEnroe

Political Correspondent

Newly elected TD and leader of the Green Party Eamon Ryan has said that his party is unlikely to go back into Government.

Describing his delight at claiming a seat in Dublin Bay South, the former minister also said that the Labour Party, heading for a catastrophic election result, could regroup like his party had.

He said that his party had an amazing volunteer story and was the first party ever to lose all their seats and come back.

Its a story that money isnt anything the power of an idea works."

He also noted how his party deputy leader, Catherine Martin, had been elected in Dublin-Rathdown and how he could not have done it alone returning to the Dail.

Were back as a team in the Dail, we know we can do it and grow from here.

All the parties have an obligation to talk to each other.

He said that politicians had a responsibility in looking after the welfare of citizens to form a government.

He said it was unlikely he and Ms Martin would enter government.

He said his partys policies were about the next generation.

We can be a voice for that next generation.

He admitted that his wife thought he was "delusional" as he had thought he was to be elected in 2011 as well as at the European elections in 2014.

I told her at two in the morning at the last European elections, honey get ready for the morning, were going to be elected. And found myself at four oclock in the morning sneaking back into bed, keeping very quiet.

I can tell her this time, I wasnt delusional, I wasnt mad.

The seventh count also saw Fine Gael's Eoghan Murphy elected, who said that it was too early to say what Fine Gael's position would be on trying to form a Government.

His running mate, pharmacist Kate O'Connell, was also elected as well as lawyer and Fianna Fail councillor Jim O'Callaghan on the eighth count.

Fianna Fail's Jim O'Callaghan & Fine Gael's Kate O'Connell elected in Dub Bay Sth #GE16 ...they could work together pic.twitter.com/jRfLtVvae8  Juno McEnroe (@Junomaco) February 28, 2016

Outgoing minister and veteran Labour TD Keven Humphreys lost his seat in the constituency.
Update 11.45pm: A Garda in his 30s remains in a serious condition after he was attacked by a group of men in the early hours of yesterday morning in Dundrum in South County Dublin.

The incident took place in Ballinteer at around 6am when the officer and a colleague were attempting to arrest two men over a stolen car.

It is understood a number of men came out of a house and began to attack the Garda, stabbing him in the process.

Two men aged 18 and 20 were arrest a short time later - they will appear in Dun Laoghaire District court next month charged with Road traffic offences and Public order offences.

A Garda is being treated in hospital after he was attacked by a group of men in the early hours of this morning in Dundrum in South County Dublin.

The incident occurred at around 6am after the garda and his colleague were giving chase to two men after a suspected stolen car was abandoned in Ballinteer.

It's understood the Garda in his 30s suffered serious injuries after he was stabbed by up to seven men.

Two men aged 18 and 20 were arrested a short time later and will appear in Dun Laoghaire District court next month charged with Road traffic offences and Public order offences.

The Garda remains in a serious condition in St. James's Hospital in Dublin.
The Green Party leader has said a range of options should be considered for the make up of the next Government.

A Fine Gael - Fianna Fail partnership is still being seen as a strong possibility, despite both sides rejecting the notion during the campaign.
A pilot was forced to land his plane in Berlin after a British stag party caused problems on board.

Newspaper reports in Germany said the Ryanair flight from London to Bratislava in Slovakia was forced to land in the German capital to eject the bachelor party.

Six members of the group were said to have become unruly during the flight, forcing the pilot to make an unscheduled stop in Berlin and remove the passengers concerned from the flight.

German newspaper Bild said the men became aggressive when they were refused alcohol.

Local police said the drunken Britons, aged 25 to 28 and from Southampton, were met by officers upon landing at Schoenefeld airport.

They now each face fines of up to 25,000 and civil claims from the airline.

A statement from Ryaniar stated: "This flight from London Luton to Bratislava (26 Feb) diverted to Berlin after a number of passengers became disruptive in-flight.

"The aircraft landed normally and police removed and detained these individuals at Berlin Schonefeld Airport.

"We will not tolerate unruly or disruptive behaviour at any time and the safety and comfort of our customers, crew and aircraft is our number one priority. This is now a matter for local police."
Pakistans goods exports may have only risen 2.6 percent year-on-year in 1QFY23, but there is enough in it to...
TEHRAN: Iran has once again rejected allegations that it has supplied Russia with weapons "to be used in the war in...
NEW DELHI: A panel of Indias top court said on Thursday it was divided on a decision to allow hijabs in classrooms,...
The banks of Lake Burley Griffin exploded in colour on Sunday morning as thousands of Canberrans danced and skipped their way through 4 tonnes of colourful and glittery powder for the race dubbed the happiest five kilometres on the planet.

A record-breaking 7000 runners pounded the pavement for the 2016 Color Run, in what organisers described as one of the most successful Canberra legs of the popular event.

The Canberra Color Run at Commonwealth Park on Sunday morning. Credit:Rohan Thomson

Sunday's event was the third year the Color Run has been held in Canberra.

Color Run Australia general manager Luke Hannan said the race had been an overwhelming success.
AirAsia X's fortunes are improving in the Australian market, after the low-cost carrier and rival Malaysia Airlines dramatically cut capacity between Australia and Kuala Lumpur in 2015.

The December quarter financial figures for long-haul, low-cost carrier AirAsia X show its Australian division swung to a pre-tax profit of 53.4 million ringgit ($17.9 million), up from a $90.5 million ringgit pre-tax loss for the same period the previous year. However, for the full calendar year AirAsia X reported a loss before tax of $232 million ringgit, or $77.6 million in Australian currency.

AirAsia X says its Australian business is recovering after a period of heavy losses.

The latest available international capacity statistics for November show AirAsia X lowered capacity by 13.7 per cent compared with a year earlier, as it pulled out of Adelaide and trimmed some frequencies to other Australian cities from its schedules.

Malaysia Airlines' capacity decreased 36 per cent over the same period, after it dropped Brisbane and lowered frequencies to other destinations, and it offers fewer seats a month now than AirAsia X. Both carriers are benefiting from the fall in the fuel price, although some of those gains have been offset by the weak Malaysian currency against the US dollar.
Fund managers say the worst is not over for Australia's largest retailer, Woolworths, and that its supermarket margins could fall below 5 per cent  dragging down earnings across the group for another year or two.

"I think the journey of recovery will be a slow one," Ausbil Dexia's head of equities, Paul Xiradis said. "I don't think it will recover strongly."

Mr Xiradis believes Woolworths' earnings will hit a base in 2017, while some fund managers and analysts see earnings declining in 2017 and 2018 before starting to recover in 2019.

Australian food and liquor margins, which plunged 222 basis points to 5.2 per cent in the December half, dragging earnings down 32 per cent, could fall to 4.8 or 4.9 per cent as Woolworths cut prices to remain competitive with Coles.
Multinationals that failed to lodge detailed reports about their tax bills would be fined up to $270,000 under a plan being put forward by Labor.

As the election draws closer, both parties are trying to outdo each other on plans to curb multinational tax avoidance.

Shadow Assistant Treasurer Andrew Leigh wants greater transparency about global money flows. Credit:Luis Ascui

On Monday, Labor will introduce a private member's bill to change the maximum penalty for a failure to lodge a country-by-country report to $270,000.

The federal government's tougher anti-avoidance laws, which were introduced last year, require companies with global turnover above $1 billion to provide Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan with reports detailing their economic activity and tax paid in every jurisdiction where they do business.
Donald Trump: his campaign's success "doesnt say anything good about our progress towards gender equality". Credit:AP Bill Clinton's sexual behaviour before and during his presidency surged back into the conversation, and I was struck again by the fact that a woman dogged by as many accusations of philandering as he was would never have won the White House. And a woman who behaved as he did in the White House wouldn't now be seen as someone who could lend a positive jolt to her spouse's presidential campaign with frequent appearances on the trail. She'd be tucked away in an attic somewhere, damaged goods forevermore. Hillary Clinton: "Is a raised, emphatic voice heard as something more grating when it emanates from a woman?" Credit:Bloomberg I'm not arguing for greater chastity in men. I'm arguing for a fairer and more forgiving attitude towards women. I'm noting what the journalist Peggy Orenstein explores so forthrightly and explains so well in her timely new book, Girls & Sex.

"A sexually active girl is a 'slut', while a similar boy is a 'player'," Orenstein writes, acknowledging this as a timeless dichotomy. "Now, though, girls who abstain from sex, once thought of as the 'good girls', are shamed as well, labelled 'virgins' (which is not a good thing) or 'prudes'." Bill Clinton: "A woman dogged by as many accusations of philandering as he was would never have won the White House." Credit:AP How would a Trump presidency make the women of America feel? A young woman is supposed to be some sexual Goldilocks, finding a "just right" between frisky and frigid. A young man simply has fun. The Trump campaign's success doesn't say anything good about our progress towards gender equality, not merely because he gets away with things that a woman never would but because he thrives in spite of overtly sexist language and remarks that routinely objectify women.

Ivanka Trump: If I werent happily married and, ya know, her father ... Credit:AP These have been duly noted in many compendiums, including an especially clever one by Andrew Kaczynski and Nathan McDermott in BuzzFeed last week. They listened to hours of audio from Trump's appearances on radio shock-jock Howard Stern's show over the years, and they unearthed such gems as his boast  just months after Princess Diana's death  that he probably could have slept with her; his ratings of the attractiveness of the cast of Desperate Housewives on a scale of 1 to 10; his assertion that he probably couldn't work up an erection for Madonna; and his declaration, after he purchased the Miss USA pageant, that he wanted the "bathing suits to be smaller and the heels to be higher". More sombre examinations of Trump and sexism, however, have been crowded out by reflections on his diatribes against, say, Mexicans and Muslims. Commentators have wrung their hands to rawness over how a Trump presidency might inflame tensions on racial and religious fronts and what an intolerant portrait of America it would project to the world. But what about the way a Trump presidency would make the women of that country feel? Or how Trump's sexual braggadocio would diminish the dignity of the office and the country? Female voters have not flocked to him in the same percentages as male voters, according to exit polls from the caucuses and primaries thus far. And national surveys suggest the Republican Party could be looking at an especially ruinous gender gap if Trump is its nominee.

In a hypothetical match-up of Clinton versus Trump, she'd get 54 per cent of women to his 35 per cent, with the rest going elsewhere or sitting on the fence, according to a Fox News poll from less than two weeks ago. That 19-point advantage for the Democrat would be greater than the one Barack Obama got in his 2012 race against Mitt Romney (11 points) or his 2008 contest against John McCain (13 points). And we can presume that the gap isn't solely about Clinton's appeal. After all, she lost the women's vote to Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire by 11 points. To be fair to Trump, there are moments when he has exhibited something more than just a drooling interest in the opposite sex. But any bright spots of sensitivity are eclipsed by the creepy stuff, like his repeated references to his daughter Ivanka as someone who, in a different situation, he might well date. "What a beauty, that one," he told Paul Solotaroff, who profiled him for Rolling Stone, last year. "If I weren't happily married and, ya know, her father ..." Now put those words in The Donna's mouth instead. "What a hunk, that one," she says of one of her sons. "If I weren't happily married and, ya know, his mother ..."
Even the most ardent supporter of "Brexit" would concede some risks of severing official ties with the European common market infrastructure after a referendum due on June 23. But the supporters for Brexit argue those risks pale in comparison with the damage EU membership is doing to Britain through loss of sovereignty on borders and trade, cross-subsidisation of weaker, welfare-heavy nations, as well as costly regulations and small "l" liberal rules.

"We can have a greater Britain inside a reformed European Union, or we can have a great leap in the dark," British Prime Minister David Cameron said this week. He was trying to rally his "inners" against the "outers".

These are just some of the warnings directed at those who want Britain to quit the European Union.

Gamble of the century. A roll of the dice. The great unknown. A shock to the global economy. And what would leaving look like?

London mayor Boris Johnson's stance for Brexit has increased support for the UK to leave the EU. His book The Churchill Factor: How One Man Made History, came in at number five. Credit:AP

Mr Cameron has secured a better deal on migrant welfare and currency for Britain, but that has done little to quell the concerns. Up to half of Mr Cameron's backbench are outers. Many of his closest allies in cabinet are too. Even former Australian prime minister John Howard says if he were British he would vote to leave because the deal leaves Britain half in half out. Many others believe the EU is doomed whether Britain quits or not.

The ironic element is that usually risk-averse conservatives, including many who fought desperately against Scottish independence, now want to assert just that for Britain. Many analysts believe success for Brexit would spur another Scottish referendum and likely success there, too.

Yet nobody knows how an EU without Britain or Britain without the EU would look. Few believe the UK could strike enough trade deals with EU members and other nations within the two-year grace period after the referendum, especially if aggrieved European nations decide to get testy.

The latest opinion polling shows narrow public support for Brexit. The 52 per cent to 48 per cent result is a reversal of previous surveys, thanks in part to the 11th-hour decision last weekend of conservative London mayor and prime ministerial hopeful Boris Johnson to come out for Brexit. When the greater likelihood of voting among outers is taken into account, the gap becomes 54 per cent to 46 per cent, the poll in The Independent suggests. Boris Johnson's decision to support Brexit made one in four people (26 per cent) more likely to vote to leave.
For example, early reports of Abbott's upcoming essay for conservative journal Quadrant reveal that he remains convinced that he totally could have taken the next election. But what did he get instead? A one way ticket to Palookaville! "I'm confident we could have won the 2016 election with a program of budget savings and lower tax," the man removed as PM after staggeringly low opinion polls for over a year explains in his 4000-word revisionist history. "The Coalition won the 2013 election despite promising tough measures: to abolish the schoolkids bonus and the low-income supplement, to delay employer-provided superannuation benefits and to reduce Labor's promised funding boost to schools and hospitals beyond the next few years." Of course, an unkind person could point out that the Coalition actually won the election having promised no cuts to education, no cuts to health, no changes to the pension, no changes to the GST and no cuts to the ABC and SBS literally the night before, which you might notice is different to - some might say "largely the opposite of" - what Tone now claims. All that talk of hard choices happened after they were safely in power when the government suddenly discovered that mythical Budget Emergency, which then vanished just as abruptly at around about the same time that the federal deficit was confirmed to have doubled in just over a year of Abbott's painstaking stewardship. Abbott also rather cattily points out that it was "claimed on September 14 [when Turnbull challenged his leadership] that the government lacked an economic narrative," which would appear to be yet another Abbott-era policy which the current PM has proudly maintained.

Tony then gazed soulfully at Turnbull, his heart visibly breaking. "You was my brother, Malcolm, you shoulda looked out for me a little bit," he emoted. "I coulda had class! I coulda been a contender! I coulda been somebody - instead of a bum, which is what I am!" That bit's not in the Quadrant piece, admittedly, but it's strongly implied. Sure, ex-PM, why not pick a fight with China? And that's not all that Abbott is doing as Australia's PM in exile: he also made a little trip to Japan to give a speech criticising China, because he's apparently the foreign minister in exile as well.

"Over the past 18 months, Australia has quietly increased our own air and naval patrols in the South China Sea," he said, because if there's one thing that a representative of the Australian government should definitely do it's publicly provoke his nation's largest trading partner. "We should be prepared to exercise our rights to freedom of navigation wherever international law permits because this is not something that the United States should have to police on its own." And it's great to see li'l Tones staying on message. Sure, he was denied the chance to entangle Australia in a proper war in Iraq and Syria despite his best efforts, but he still might yet be able to get some argy-bargy happening in the South China Sea. He also slammed China for not sharing Australian values, which is really unfair. Heck, China also support indefinitely locking people up despite committing no crime, making it illegal to report on the government's activities and carrying out comprehensive state-sponsored monitoring of their citizens. If anything, we're human rights twinsies! At least Abbott's living up to his "no sniping" promise. After all, as one waggish internet genius pointed out, sniping requires sitting still and keeping quiet for an extended period of time. When the Brough breaks
Idris Elba has won a Spirit Award for his performance in Beasts of No Nation.

Spotlight, which is about the Boston Globe's probe into Catholic Church child abuse, is the Oscar best picture front runner. It won Spirit Awards for best director, best screenplay and best editing.

Journalism drama Spotlight led the winners at Saturday's Independent Spirit Awards with four accolades, including the night's top prize for best feature, at an event where diversity was front and centre as black and transgender actors won key awards.

It often recognise films that win Oscars the next day, such as dark comedy Birdman last year.

Spirit Award winner Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez in Tangerine.

"It's rare to make a film that impacts [on] the world as significantly as this one has," Spotlight producer Michael Sugar said on stage. "By honouring it, you're making more people aware of it, and as more people are aware of it, more can be spared from a life of abuse."

Netflix film Beasts of No Nation, which is about child soldiers in West Africa and stars a cast of black actors, took two awards. Teen newcomer Abraham Attah won best actor and Britain's Idris Elba was named best supporting actor. Attah beat out contenders including Jason Segel and Australia's Ben Mendelsohn.

Tangerine star Mya Taylor was named best supporting actress, becoming the first transgender artist to win a Spirit Award.
Former Prime Minister John Howard says he prefers a free parliamentary vote on gay marriage to a plebiscite.

Mr Howard's government introduced into law the definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman in 2004. He said on Sunday that he "would have preferred" the government to allow its members to vote according to their conscience on whether same-sex marriage should be legal because "I believe in representative democracy."

"I would've preferred it being dealt with in the Parliamenton a completely non-partisan basis, I think those issues are always better dealt with in a free vote," he said.

He told Sky News that the government should, however, honour its promise to hold a plebiscite on the issue after the election to avoid voters feeling let down.
And on that note it's time to call it a day. What happened?

the government has switched to more measured arguments against Labor's negative gearing policy ;

has switched to against ; although Treasurer Scott Morrison did call it "mad";

did call it "mad"; the government has defended its performance on the national broadband network after a confidential report revealed it was behind schedule and over budget;

has defended its performance on the after a confidential report revealed it was behind schedule and over budget; a government MP is trying to whip up support for legislation to ban the burning of the Australian flag ; and

is trying to whip up support for legislation to ban the ; and cross party MPs have written a bill to give the territories the power to introduce euthanasia legislation.

My thanks to Andrew Meares and Alex Ellinghausen for their fine work and to you for reading and commenting.

You can follow me on Facebook.

Andrew, Alex and I will be back in the morning. Until then - good night.
Salma Hayek is mourning the death of her dog Mozart, shot in the heart on the Mexican actress's ranch in Washington state in the US.

"I haven't posted for a week as I been mourning the death of my dog, Mozart, who I personally delivered out of his mother's womb. He was found dead in my ranch last Friday with a shot close to his heart," Hayek wrote on Instagram.

Salma Hayek's dog was shot dead on her Washington ranch.

In her message the actress, who had posted a photo of the dog while it was still alive, expressed her indignation about what had happened and asked police to do everything possible to find the gunman.

"I am hoping that the Washington State authorities do justice to this wonderful dog whom in 9 years never bit or attacked anyone, he loved his territory and never strayed away. He was the most loving and loyal companion. He didn't deserve a slow and painful death," she said.
Abuse victim David Ridsdale has spoken to reporters in Rome following Cardinal Pell's testimony:

"Compared to previous times we would have to acknowledge that its a more conciliatory tone," Mr Ridsdale said.

"We would have to acknowledge that there were some statements said that were certainly more constructive than previously. But saying that there was a very careful selection of words, a careful manner in which it was discussed.

"Issues such as kissing boys as being eccentric strikes us as more than eccentric, creepy at the very least.

"I think that some of the people he said he didnt know doesnt fit with our memories. I know that his comment that he hardly ever was around the St Alipius Boy's School does not fit well with some of our memories.

"Its a give and take process and weve got a long way to go."
A former hairdresser has been charged with a string of sex offences after over the alleged assault of a young boy more than 20 years ago.

Police had been looking into a number of alleged sexual and indecent assaults carried out in Cooma, in NSW's Snowy Mountains region between 1992 and 1996.

Following a lengthy investigation, detectives on Friday arrested a 67-year-old man in Cooma, south of Canberra.

It is understood the man previously worked at a beauty salon and some of the alleged offences were carried out there.

The man was charged with three counts of aggravated sexual assault and ten counts of aggravated indecent assault.
NSW Premier Mike Baird has dismissed a planned trial of pill testing at music festivals as "ridiculous".

"We are not going to be condoning in any way what illegal drug dealers are doing," he told reporters in Sydney on Sunday.

NSW Premier Mike Baird has dismissed the pill-testing proposal. Credit:Wolter Peeters

His comments follow reports in Fairfax Media that Sydney doctor Alex Wodak, president of the Australian Drug Law Reform Foundation, wants to begin a privately funded pill testing trial - and is prepared to break the law to do so - to save young people's lives.

AAP
Police have made a plea for drivers to stop when they are directed to by police, after a man was seriously injured in a crash while allegedly fleeing from a random breath test, the second such incident in eight days.

The 32-year-old man was allegedly driving his Holden Commodore in Gateshead, near Newcastle, just after midnight on Sunday when police signalled for him to pull over for a breath test.

The wreckage left behind after a crash at Windale, near Newcastle, early on Sunday morning.

He allegedly sped off and drove to the nearby suburb of Windale, where the car crashed into a pole, almost broke in two and burst into flames.
Premier Mike Baird has declared a $250,000 helicopter-shaped shark spotting drone to be "the future of rescue" in NSW and predicted every surf club in the state could eventually have access to the technology to save lives.

Mr Baird on Sunday launched the trial of an unmanned aerial vehicle, dubbed the "Little Ripper", at Westpac Lifesaver Helicopter base at La Perouse.

The Little Ripper unmanned vehicle. Credit:Wolter Peeters

The drone is the brainchild of businessman and philanthropist Kevin Weldon, the founding president of the International Life Saving Federation.

Made in the United States, the military grade Vapor 55 drone is more stable in cross winds than regular drones and is a cheaper and more agile alternative to helicopter rescue.
What started out as tricks outside a pub has turned into a lifelong career for dog trainer Steve Austin, whose work rescuing shelter dogs and giving them a new life is explored in his upcoming novel, Working Dog Heros.

"I used to head up to the pub on Thursday which was pay day, you used to be able to make a lot of money by doing tricks out the front of the pub door," he said.

Steve Austin's career in training dogs is chronicled in his upcoming memoirs, 'Working Dog Heroes'. Credit:Jennifer Polixenni Brankin

"Sooty would roll over and stand up and all that sort of business. That got me into the world of dog training if you look at it that way.

"He was a great little dog."
Researchers have discovered two new species of extinct, tiny, non-hopping kangaroos that could help uncover the evolutionary story of modern kangaroos and wallabies.

The genus was discovered after an analysis of ancient fossil deposits at the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in North-West Queensland, and is thought to be between 15 and 23 million years old.

A newly discovered species of kangaroo ancestor, Cookeroo hortusensis.

The two species, Cookeroo bulwidarri and the Cookeroo hortusensis were very small animals that moved on all fours, and outlasted a competitor species the Balbaroo fangaroo.

A team of researchers at the University of Queensland, the University of New South Wales, and the Western Australian Museum published a paper last week officially describing the new genus.
A Brisbane man is behind bars after allegedly running at police with a chainsaw.

The 39-year-old was arrested on Saturday night after police were called to a Logan home in response to reports a woman had been assaulted.

Police allege a man ran at them with a chainsaw on Saturday night. Credit:Jessica Shapiro

Officers alleged the man started up a chainsaw when they arrived about 11.30pm and "made an attempt to run at them with it".

Two officers drew their weapons, a Taser and a gun, and yelled for the man to stop. Police said an officer fired the Taser unsuccessfully before the man from Zillmere, in Brisbane's north, eventually surrendered.
Queensland's police minister says the Port Arthur massacre made him stop using guns to kill rats at his residential properties.

The state Opposition has Bill Byrne in its sights, after he admitted using firearms to dispose of vermin at residential properties more than 20 years ago.

Police Minister Bill Byrne occasionally used guns to shoot rats. Credit:Chris Hyde

He said he stopped the practice, gave up his recreational hunting trips and surrendered all the weapons he owned after the 1996 massacre claimed the lives of 35 people in Tasmania.

The former army officer said he was the victim of a long-running smear campaign in his Rockhampton electorate, that's also seen him falsely accused of firing a gun during a dispute with his wife.
Three unrelated fires across Queensland, all sparked within an hour of each other early Monday morning, are being treated as suspicious, police have said.

A Sunshine Coast classroom was destroyed, as was the lower level of a Logan home undergoing renovation, while a Townsville family was forced to flee their home when their car exploded in flames in their garage, spreading to the adjoining house.

Fire destroyed the lower level of a Beenleigh home. Credit:Nine News Brisbane

A crime scene has been established at Siena Catholic College on the Sunshine Coast, where fire destroyed a classroom about 2am.

Police suspected a group of people broke into the school shortly before 2am, where they set fire to the classroom before fleeing.
Staff will be offered counselling after a three-year-old girl drowned at a public pool south of Brisbane.

The little girl, who was at a family gathering at the Logan pool, was found floating face down in the water and died in hospital despite the frantic efforts of lifeguards to revive her.

Meanwhile, a 10-year-old girl is fighting for life after being found unresponsive in a private pool at Caloundra on the Sunshine Coast yesterday afternoon.

In a third incident yesterday, two boys, aged three and four, came close to drowning at a private pool in the Brisbane suburb of Rochedale and they remain in Brisbane's Lady Cilento Children's Hospital.
"Are you the train inspector?" the man asked, spotting my notepad, phone and biro.

"No, I'm a reporter coming to see how crowded these train carriages are," I said.

Ferny Grove rail line congestion. Credit:Tony Moore

"Good," he said, hanging onto the back of a train seat as we both bumped into Bowen Hills station along the Ferny Grove line.

"Take a look around. This is exactly what it's like every morning."
The introduction of a 'dislike' button to Facebook could lead to a "whole new wave of bullying", Cara Delevingne has said.

Delevingne, the model who has a huge social media following, warned young people could suffer if friends and acquaintances were encouraged to make negative comments on their posts.

Last year, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerburg hinted the social media site was considering adding a dislike button to the thumbs-up "like" already in place.

Last week, the network instead rolled out five new emoticons  love, haha, wow, sad, and angry which users could select to react to posts.
One of Melbourne's most celebrated restaurateurs is embroiled in an ugly feud with former staff over claims they were systematically underpaid and exploited while employed at St Kilda fine-dining establishment Cafe Di Stasio.

An Italian waitress employed by Ronnie Di Stasio has claimed she was forced to pay kickbacks of $500 a week in order to keep her work visa, while another foreign worker recently settled a legal case after she was owed about $4000 in holiday entitlements.

A Fair Work Ombudsman investigation found that Ronnie Di Stasio's Cafe Di Stasio underpaid and exploited six overseas workers.

Restaurant manager Mallory Wall told Fairfax Media: "We absolutely refute any allegation of wrongdoing."

Ms Wall then made the extraordinary claim that one of the women was addicted to heroin, while the other had been involved in a string of sexual relationships with staff.
A learner driver has lost control of the car she was driving and ploughed into a home in Clayton South.

Emergency services were called to the house on Bunney Rd shortly after 2pm on Sunday.

A car displaying L plates has crashed through a Clayton South home. Credit:7 News Melbourne

No injuries were reported in the crash, however the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was called after smoke began pouring from the car.

MFB spokesman Phil Buckley said power to the home was disconnected as a precaution.
The 7.32am Cranbourne to Flinders Street will run direct from Richmond to Flinders Street, not via the City Loop.

The 8.17am Flinders Street to Upfield has been altered to run direct between North Melbourne and Coburg.
A South Morang shopping centre security guard has been sexually assaulted by an older man, who first pretended to browse through a shop.

The 18-year-old victim, of Doreen, said a man complimented him on his body and touched his waist before entering a shop at the centre on McDonalds Road.

Police believe this man can assist with inquiries about the sexual assault of a shopping centre security guard. Credit:Photo: supplied

He allegedly sexually assaulted the victim as he left the shop, quickly walking away about 7pm on February 23.

Detectives have released an image of a man they believe can assist with their inquiries.
Jessica Kumala Wongso, is accused of murdering her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin in Indonesia. Credit:Courtesy Detik.com

Justice Minister Michael Keenan has now agreed to the Australian Federal Police assisting with the case of 27-year-old Jessica Kumala Wongso, who allegedly poisoned her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin at an upmarket cafe in Central Jakarta in January.

Indonesia has guaranteed that an Australian permanent resident charged with murdering her friend with cyanide-laced coffee will not face the death penalty.

Indonesian police sought assistance from the AFP because the two women had studied together at Billy Blue College of Design in Sydney and Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.

Jessica Wongso, right, takes part in a police-organised re-enactment at the Olivier Cafe, where the poisoning was found to have taken place. Credit:Twitter

Jakarta police chief Tito Karnavian last week flew to Australia where he met with Mr Keenan, who was required by law to personally sign off on the request.

A spokeswoman for Mr Keenan told Fairfax Media the minister agreed Australia would provide assistance in the investigation of the alleged murder in accordance with Australian law.

"The Indonesian government has given an assurance to the Australian government that the death penalty will not be sought nor carried out in relation to the alleged offending," she said.
Anaheim: Four people were stabbed on Saturday in a scuffle between members of the Ku Klux Klan and counter-protesters near a planned KKK rally in Anaheim, California.

Thirteen people were arrested following the melee, including one Klan member who is accused of stabbing a counter-protester with a flagpole, said Anaheim police sergeant Daron Wyatt.

Several counter-protesters were taken into custody after stomping a KKK member on the ground, Wyatt said.

Wyatt said the altercation took place as soon as several Klan members arrived at the park about a mile north of Disneyland, for a planned rally there.
Cairo: Egyptian lawmaker Tawfik Okasha was attacked in parliament on Sunday, with one colleague hurling a shoe at him and others demanding he be suspended after he invited the Israeli ambassador for dinner.

Egypt was the first of a handful of Arab countries to recognise Israel with a United States-sponsored 1979 peace accord, but Egyptian attitudes to the country's neighbour remain icy.

Israel has an ambassador stationed in Cairo, but Egyptian officials make a point of keeping their distance and the embassy has been the focal point of protests in the past.

Mr Okasha, a television presenter and lawmaker known for courting controversy, hosted the Israeli ambassador Haim Koren for dinner at his home in the north-eastern Dakahlia province last week. He made the invitation live on his television show.
During the trial to start on Monday, he will be faced with the accounts of at least two witnesses.

Hubert Zafke was serving as a medic in the SS at the biggest death camp in occupied Poland where he was deployed in 1943.

Berlin: A 95-year-old former Nazi SS paramedic at the Auschwitz death camp, accused of being an accomplice to the murder of thousands, is to stand trial in Germany, one in a series of such recent cases.

Prosecutors in the northern German city of Schwerin say that Zafke, in his function as a medic, supported the slaughter at Auschwitz, where more than 1.2 million people, most of them Jews, were killed.

Survivors of Auschwitz shortly after the concentration camp's liberation in 1945. Credit:Reuters

Zafke was responsible for treating SS members in case of sickness, not any of the inmates, but prosecutors say he was stationed directly on the path leading to the gas chambers.

According to initial investigations, Zafke did not deny having been an SS member at Auschwitz but he maintains not to have witnessed anything about the killings. The prosecutors say that, among being a witness to these gas chambers walks, he also must have been aware of the constant smoke arising from the crematoriums.

A precedent for such cases was set in 2011, when former Nazi guard John Demjanjuk was sentenced for being an accessory to the Nazis' mass murder during the Holocaust.
Dublin: Ireland's ruling coalition was ousted by voters angry at the country's uneven recovery, results indicated on Saturday, leaving Prime Minister Enda Kenny facing the unpalatable prospect of trying to secure a deal with his biggest rival.

His government appeared to be the latest victim of European voters' growing antipathy to mainstream politics, hit by a backlash against years of austerity and a perception that Ireland's poor are not benefiting from the fastest economic growth in Europe.

Prime Minister Enda Kenny arrives at the Mayo Convention Centre in Castlebar, Ireland, for the general election count. Credit:PA

Exit polls suggested the only viable option may be a problematic alliance of old rivals Fianna Fail and Mr Kenny's Fine Gael - although even their combined support was set to fall below 50 per cent of the vote for the first time.

If neither side is able to form a government, however, fresh elections would have to be called.
Virginia: Three Virginia police officers were shot  one of them fatally on her first day on the job  after they responded to a domestic incident in the US state of Virginia.

Officer Ashley Guindon died Saturday and the two other unidentified officers were wounded after responding to the call in the Woodbridge-Lake Ridge area south of the Prince William County government administration centre.

"When they got to the door, the suspect started shooting," Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert said.

The Prince William County jail later identified the suspect as Ronald Hamilton, an active-duty Army staff sergeant based at the Pentagon.
Moscow: Thirty-six people are dead after Russia's worst coal-mining accident in years, with authorities abandoning rescue efforts in the northern town of Vorkuta.

Descending into the smoking pit of a coal mine after methane explosions set off underground fires, six rescue workers were killed on Sunday in a failed attempt to reach 26 stranded miners in northern Russia.

The Russian emergency services say the dead include six rescue workers. Credit:AP

Russia's most senior federal disaster official declared on the same day that the rescue operation over and all of the missing miners, who had been trapped by a cave-in, dead.

"The circumstances in the affected part of the mine did not allow anyone to survive," Vladimir Puchkov, minister of emergency situations, said in televised comments. "In the underground space where the 26 miners were, there were high temperatures and no oxygen".
The pilot of a Ryanair plane has made an unscheduled landing in Germany to eject members of a British bachelor party - including the groom.

German police say six men disturbed security on board the plane and ignored the crew's instructions, prompting the pilot to land in Berlin late on Friday.

A Ryanair plane Credit:Reuters

The flight out of London was en route to Bratislava in Slovakia.

Police said the drunken Englishmen aged 25 to 28 are facing fines of up to 25,000 euros ($38,335) each as well as civil claims from the airline.
A senior official with the Syrian opposition has blamed the government and its allies for ceasefire violations that killed more than two dozen people, warning it will be difficult to resume peace talks next month.

Raid Riyad Hijab, who heads the High Negotiations Committee, an umbrella for opposition and rebel factions, said in a statement directed to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Sunday that Russian, Iranian and government forces had not stopped hostilities since the truce went into effect at midnight Friday.

The Syrian government and opposition, and their respective supporters, accused each other of violating the truce, a tit for tat of allegations that is likely to continue, because there is no independent monitor or clearly established mechanism for deciding what constitutes a violation.
South Carolina: It was not enough for Hillary Clinton to win the primary in South Carolina, the state she had lost to the upstart senator Barack Obama eight years ago, marking the beginning of the end of her race.

To steady frayed nerves within her party and her campaign, Clinton needed a significant victory over another upstart senator, Bernie Sanders. Preferably something counted in double figures.

In the end, she beat Sanders by an astonishing 73.5 per cent to 26 per cent.

Clinton's win suggests she is set to enjoy sweeping victories on March 1 - "Super Tuesday" - when 13 states will hold primaries and caucuses, many of them in the South, many of them with demographics very similar to South Carolina's.
That's not entirely true, however. For voters interested in policy, Mr Trump has indeed been frustratingly vague. The issues page on his campaign website is sparse. On some matters, he refuses to be pinned down. On others, he openly admits not knowing much, as he did when asked in Nevada recently about federal land ownership in the West. "I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money": Donald Trump. Credit:AP Nonetheless, in eight months of campaigning, 10 debates and scores of speeches and interviews, the New York billionaire has set out his top priorities and given a fairly clear sense of how a President Trump might approach his job. In ideological terms, Mr Trump scrambles traditional lines - borrowing some ideas from the left, others from the right. Republican presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio is the leading mainstream Republican contender. Credit:AP

He shows no particular interest, for example, in the long-standing conservative Republican goal of shrinking the size of the federal government. Asked in Thursday's debate how he would balance the federal budget, he fell back on the slogan of eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse" and named only two specifics that he would cut: the Common Core education standards, which aren't a federal spending program, and Environmental Protection Agency regulatory powers that he said he would shift to the states. Indeed, one of his most specific pledges - to reject any cuts to Social Security or Medicare - points in the other direction. Coupled with his pledge to increase military spending, Mr Trump's refusal to cut programs for the elderly would put about 60 per cent of the federal budget off limits. Going for broke in Florida and Ohio: Senator Ted Cruz speaks during a caucus night rally in Las Vegas. Credit:Bloomberg He has also, at least in general terms, endorsed a role for the federal government in guaranteeing healthcare coverage. In Thursday's debate, he resisted taking a more conservative position when Senators Cruz and Rubio prodded him on the issue. In contrast to his vagueness on the size of government, Mr Trump is absolutely clear on the central theme of how he sees the presidency: the personal use of executive power.

In almost every statement he makes, Mr Trump depicts the presidency as an arena in which he would fix problems through the exercise of his will and negotiating ability. A characteristic comment came in an interview with ABC's "This Week" in response to a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I have been an extremely successful deal maker. That's what I've done over years," Mr Trump said. "And I know people, because deals are people. And I think I'll get along very well, for the good of our country.... I'll get along fine with Putin." Mr Trump's rivals in the GOP race routinely denounce President Barack Obama as having exceeded the powers of his office. Mr Trump says Mr Obama acted "stupidly" and made the wrong decisions, but he's less likely to emphasise the claim that Mr Obama has tried to make the office too powerful. Even the most forceful modern presidents, however, quickly discover the limits of what they can do.

"It's not that he can come in, start with a clean sheet of paper," said Andrew Card, who worked for the last three Republican presidents, including 5 1/2 years as George W. Bush's chief of staff. Congress, the courts and the bureaucracy of federal agencies guard their own prerogatives. "Governors tend to understand that better than CEOs," who have far more authority over their companies than a president has over the government, Card said. "When you're the president, you're not a dictator." That's not to say a president lacks power. Some of Mr Trump's most controversial plans could be carried out by executive authority. Many legal experts believe, for example, that Mr Trump could impose his plan to bar most foreign Muslims from entering the US, at least for a while, because the president has broad authority over immigration, particularly where it intersects with national security. "He will have a very easy time doing whatever he can do through executive authority alone. That includes the conduct of foreign relations, up to a point," said William Galston of Washington's Brookings Institution, who worked in the White House under President Clinton.

By contrast, "he would have a hard time doing anything that requires the cooperation of Congress." If elected, Mr Trump would take office after what amounts to a hostile takeover of the Republican Party and over the opposition of Democrats. He probably would not be able to count on much support from either side on Capitol Hill. That would mean trouble for his promises to build a wall along the Mexican border or to round up and deport the roughly 11 million people currently in the US without legal authorisation. Both would require Congress to approve billions of dollars in new appropriations even if Mr Trump could pressure the Mexican government into reimbursing the U.S. for the cost of the wall, which Mexico says it won't consider. On foreign policy, a President Trump would face a different set of constraints - other countries. Mr Trump has repeatedly denounced current arrangements under which the US guarantees to defend its allies in Europe and Japan, saying Americans are getting taken advantage of. "Those days are gone," he said a few weeks ago at a New Hampshire rally.

If Mr Trump really wants to end that obligation, he would have to do away with treaties that have defined US foreign relations since the 1950s, including the US-Japan defense treaty. That possibility has already begun worrying the Japanese, said Kori Schake, a former aide to George W. Bush who recently met with Japanese officials to discuss defense issues. Any move to change the treaty could cause allies in Asia to reconsider their cooperation on issues the US cares about, she noted. The change also would not save the sort of money Mr Trump suggests. Japan, Germany and South Korea pay much of the cost of keeping US troops in their countries, so stationing forces in Japan costs only about 10% more than keeping them in rural Texas, said Mr Schake, a research fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution. Other Mr Trump promises go far beyond what a president can do. A staple of Mr Trump's recent stump speeches, for example, has been to criticise Carrier Corporation, a unit of United Technologies, for its plan to move two air-conditioner manufacturing plants from Indiana to Mexico, which he said would cost 1400 US jobs.

"If I'm the president, here's what we do," Mr Trump told about 5000 people at a recent rally at a casino resort in Las Vegas. "We write them a little note  we congratulate them on their move; we hope it goes well." There's never going to be a wall. Mexico is not paying for anything. Apple's not building iPhones in the United States. "And we tell them the following. We tell them that every time you make an air-conditioning unit, and every time you send that unit into the United States, you're going to pay a 35 per cent tax." A long, sustained roar of cheers filled the arena. But the president has no power to impose taxes, and retaliatory tariffs can only be applied in specific circumstances defined by complex laws and regulations. Congress has rejected far milder proposals to retaliate against companies that move manufacturing jobs overseas. Republicans in particular have opposed such ideas, which might preserve thousands of manufacturing jobs, but would also immediately and sharply raise costs for millions of US consumers.
Jeremy Corbyn's supporters have responded to his authenticity and left-wing policies. Credit:Getty Images Corbyn is that. "He's not a great orator. There's this very affable, mild-mannered man on the stage, a normal grandfatherly figure  He just seems so authentic, so comfortable in his own skin. The things he's talking about were things he had been speaking about for so many years, he spoke about them with true authority. "His competitors were constantly trying to work out where to position themselves, to work out where the electorate were. He was just relaxed. Comrade Corbyn explores Corbyn's unlikely rise. "There were people in the crowd who had believed [in] quite left-wing values for a long time but they were told under Blair 'you're not allowed to'. Corbyn gave them permission to dream."

Of course the irony is that Corbyn, the anti-politician's politician, is one of the most political people you'll ever meet  he divorced his first two wives over political disagreements. "He's the guy who when everyone is sick and tired of arguing will still go out to the last meeting." Comrade Corbyn author Rosa Prince. To be a Bernie Sanders supporter feels like sticking two fingers up to the establishment. Rosa Prince But he's not an inside-Westminster politician, and that's the point. You can buy a Jeremy Corbyn pint glass on the UK Labour website. It costs 6 ($11.50) and says "Straight Talking. Honest Politics." In the US the 'Straight Talk Express' was John McCain's campaign bus. He lost, famously, to 'Hope'. But Sanders, challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democrat nomination, is now both the "straight talk" and the "hope" candidate.

Prince  who's now based in New York  says she is fascinated with how closely what's been playing out in the US has followed the 'British model'. "Again you had this far-left figure, there's always Bernie Sanders, bless him  and then it's almost uncanny, month by month he crept up in the opinion polls, that built momentum, people got excited. In Hillary Clinton you have this establishment figure  and here in the States there is very much an anti-establishment feeling. "To be a Bernie Sanders supporter feels like sticking two fingers up to the establishment, one in the eye for politics as usual." The same applies even more so (and probably more successfully), to Trump, Prince says. "[His] appeal is that siren call that Corbyn captured, 'I'm giving you permission to feel the way you do. I'm going to tell you things are possible'."

Of course, the US has been here before. In 1972 anti-war, celebrity-backed "amnesty, abortion and acid" Democrat George McGovern handed the White House back to Nixon on a plate. Joe Twyman head of Political and Social Research at pollster YouGov, says in Britain Corbyn is "pretty much as unpopular today with the general public as he was when he was first elected. The only difference is that more people know that they dislike him now. "Every 30 years the left of the Labour party needs to be reminded that it can't win an election  There's this group that feels it's not about the winning, it's about the taking part, it's about sending a message about the type of society you wish to see. "But there's no point them becoming in effect a stylised pressure group if they wish to win an election." He, too, sees big parallels in the US and elsewhere.
Latest News NAB reveals six market megatrends for brokers More opportunities for investors, first home buyers

Firstmac shifts up a gear on auto loans National sales manager appointed to pursue growing market

Strong growth in residential and commercial settlements has pushed AFG s loans book past $110 billion.According to the ASX-listed broker networks FY2016 half-year results, residential settlements reached $17.7 billion, up 16% on the corresponding period last year. The commercial business settled $1.4 billion, up 35% on the first half of 2015.The groups total loan book is currently sitting at $114 billion.AFGs continued recruitment of top performing brokers across the country is testament to our key strategy of delivering market leading technology and support to our geographically diverse network, AFG managing director, Brett McKeon said.The past five years has seen consistent growth in both residential and commercial settlements, particularly in the countrys biggest markets  New South Wales and Victoria.The first half-year also saw AFGs own-brand mortgages, AFG Home Loans, contribute a $2.4 million profit before tax. This result reflects 79% profit before tax of full year AFG Home Loans forecast in the companys Prospectus.Our half year results are further evidence of the positive outlook for the broker distribution channel in the Australian market. The key drivers of the broker value proposition are policy, pricing and service  the right policy for the borrowers individual circumstances, at the right price, with the lender that can provide the best service to meet the needs of their customer, McKeon said.This capability is unique to the broker channel and Australian consumers are voting with their feet. More than half of all Australians taking out a mortgage are doing so with the help of a mortgage broker, and AFG is at the forefront of that movement.AFGs delivered a net profit after tax of $11.7 million, up 27% on the first half FY2015. AFG shareholders will be paid a fully franked interim dividend of 3c per share.
Gelato, smoothies, pizza and more: Check out the newest in Bucks' eats

These new Bucks County dining spots are serving up everything from gelato, pastries and pizza to green smoothies, cold-pressed juices and acai bowls.
Film crews will be on Berrow beach this week to record scenes for a new ITV documentary.

Crews from Oxford Scientific Films will be on Berrow beach this Wednesday (2nd March) to shoot scenes for their recently-commissioned ITV documentary called The Secret Lives of Dogs.

The production company wanted a beach with easy access to Bristol and Sedgemoor District Councils Berrow Beach met the criteria.

As part of the series they are running a story on Newfoundland Dogs and it will feature a lady who was rescued by a Newfoundland when she got into trouble while bathing, a council spokesperson told Burnham-On-Sea.com.

Once again Sedgemoors film friendly reputation has attracted film crews to the area.
After sluggish growth in the first month of this calendar year, the passenger vehicle (PV) sector seems headed the same way this month. The sales figures would be announced on Tuesday.

The biggest dampener would come from the negative to flat growth in domestic sales from Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest, with 46 per cent market share.

also faced challenges in distributing vehicles to some northern states, including Haryana, for five-odd days due to the Jat agitation. Maruti Suzuki, which has the capacity to produce 5,000 vehicles daily across its two factories in Haryana, had to stop operations for two days this month. With disruption in component supplies caused by the Jat agitation, it lost output of at least 10,000 units. Production resumed on Tuesday afternoon but it did not operate at full capacity for a day or two.

LACKLUSTRE PERFORMANCE may see flat or single-digit growth in Feb



The performance of Maruti, the largest player, is also likely to be flat



Jat agitation caused output loss of 10,000 units at Maruti plants in Haryana



Most faced distribution challenges in North India due to the Jat stir



Sales grew by 0.6 % in Jan



April-Dec growth of 9%, moderated to 8.13% in April-Jan

A spokesperson said the company was trying to post at least a flat growth in domestic sales this month. In February 2015, the company had growth of about eight per cent. With average industry sales of 225,000-230,000 units a month, Maruti's loss of 10,000 units is about four per cent of this. The ban imposed by the Supreme Court in mid-December on sales of diesel vehicles with engine capacity of 2,000cc and above in this city and the surrounding region is also impacting volumes for some others. Toyota, for instance, expected to show a decline in February. In general, this has impacted demand for most diesel vehicles. The ban is in place till March 31.

Industry watchers said Tata Motors, Volkswagen and General Motors might also see flat growth or a decline in February.

PV sales have, however, grown by double digits or a high single digit in most months of the current financial year (ending March 31). Growth in January slowed to 0.6 per cent, with low growth of 0.8 per cent by Maruti Suzuki being a primary reason. The company said there were fewer working days in the month, due to holidays.

Hyundai, the second largest, is confident of growth. "In spite of logistic challenges for transportation of vehicles to North India and loss of many business days of dealership operations across Haryana in the second half of the month, we are hopeful of a high single digit sales growth, on the strength of demand for the Creta, Elite i20 and Grand i10," said Rakesh Srivastava, senior vice-president (sales and marketing).

Abdul Majeed, a partner at Price Waterhouse and a sector expert, said January-February is a period of low demand for PVs. "This year, an additional factor behind the trend is the Haryana Jat agitation." Two months of low growth towards close of the financial year is likely to impact the segment's annual growth in FY16. Growth in April-January had already moderated to 8.1 per cent, against the nine per cent of the April-December period of the earlier year.
The government on Sunday announced the appointment of Vinod Rai, former Union comptroller and auditor general, the first chairman of the proposed Banks Board Bureau (BBB).

The appointment came about 32 months after Rai retired as CAG, a stint during which he exposed major scams under the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

Read more from our special coverage on "VINOD RAI" Vinod Rai to be chairman of newly constituted Banks Board Bureau

The government also appointed three expert members and as many ex-officio ones. None of these are full-time appointments.

BBB is meant to select heads of state-run banks. Also, to help these develop innovative financial methods to raise capital, including mergers and acquisitions. It will be operational from April 1 and will replace the existing appointment boards for selection of public sector bank (PSB) heads.

"With a view to improve the governance of Public Sector Banks(PSBs), the government had decided to set up an autonomous Banks Board Bureau. The Bureau will recommend for selection of heads - public sector banks and financial institutions - and help Banks in developing strategies and capital raising plans," an official statement said.

The approval for Rai and six others for the BBB comes when PSBs are struggling with a high and rising level of non-performing assets (NPAs) and with capitalisation concerns. The collective gross NPAs of state-run lenders are approaching Rs 4 lakh crore.

Besides Rai, the others selected are H N Sinor, a former joint managing director (MD) of ICICI Bank; Anil Khandelwal, former chairman and MD of Bank of Baroda, and Roopa Kudwa, former chief of rating agency CRISIL. The appointments are for a two-year term. Besides the three experts, the board will also comprise three ex-officio members - the department of financial services secretary, the department of public enterprises secretary, and a deputy governor of RBI.

Rai, a 1972-batch IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, was awarded the Padma Bhushan this year. He'd made the news for exposure of financial irregularities in the telecom spectrum allocation and coal mine allotment, among other things, during a five-year tenure till May 2013. Prior to becoming CAG, he'd been secretary in the department of financial services (DFS), under the ministry of finance.

The appointment is bound to evoke adverse reaction from the opposition. However, constitutional experts said there was no bar for CAG to take official position after a retirement.

CAGs AFTER RETIREMENT TN Chaturvedi (CAG 1984-1990): Joined BJP and was Rajya Sabha MP from 1992-98 and 1998-02; quit to become Governor of Karnataka and later Kerala; was CAG when the auditor looked into the purchase of the Bofors guns and found irregularities in procurement; controversy had contributed to the defeat of the Rajiv Gandhi government in the 1989 Lok Sabha polls

Joined BJP and was Rajya Sabha MP from 1992-98 and 1998-02; quit to become Governor of Karnataka and later Kerala; was CAG when the auditor looked into the purchase of the Bofors guns and found irregularities in procurement; controversy had contributed to the defeat of the Rajiv Gandhi government in the 1989 Lok Sabha polls CG Somiah (CAG 1990-96): Chairman of Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institution; was on UN Board of Auditors from 1993 and headed it in 1995; published an autobiography, The Honest Always Stand Alone, in 2010

Chairman of Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institution; was on UN Board of Auditors from 1993 and headed it in 1995; published an autobiography, The Honest Always Stand Alone, in 2010 VK Shunglu (CAG 1996-02): Was a member of UN Panel of External Auditors; Secretary General of Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institution; associated with several international audit institutions; probed the alleged irregularities in 2010 Commonwealth Games

Was a member of UN Panel of External Auditors; Secretary General of Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institution; associated with several international audit institutions; probed the alleged irregularities in 2010 Commonwealth Games VN Kaul (CAG 2002-08): Served on the Eminent Persons Advisory Group of the Competition Commission; member of the oversight committee for monetisation of immovable assets of Air India; invited by Lok Sabha Speaker to join the core group on knowledge research initiative of Parliament

Served on the Eminent Persons Advisory Group of the Competition Commission; member of the oversight committee for monetisation of immovable assets of Air India; invited by Lok Sabha Speaker to join the core group on knowledge research initiative of Parliament Vinod Rai (CAG 2008-13): Came out with a book Not Just an Accountant: The Diary of the Nations Conscience Keeper, where he wrote about several of the scams during the UPA2, including 2G spectrum, Commonwealth Games and coal auction. Rai was appointed first chairman of the Banks Board Bureau.

"Ex-CAGs can take up official appointments. Now whether they should take it up is for each individual to decide," said constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap.

There are 22 PSBs, including State Bank of India (SBI), IDBI Bank and Bhartiya Mahila Bank.

The 'search committee' for BBB members comprised Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan, DFS secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal and the secretary, personnel, in the government. The Board is aimed to be a step toward establishing a holding and investment company for banks, which will require legislative changes, the government had earlier said. BBB is to constantly engage with the board of directors of all PSBs, to 'formulate appropriate strategies' for their growth. And, to handle the strategy discussion on consolidation of PSBs, including merger.

The disappointing performance of PSBs in the December quarter put a spotlight on the effectiveness of the Modi government's 'Indradhanush' strategy since August last year, to revamp functioning of the state-run lenders. BBB was one of the seven elements in this. The strategy is also to comprise professional appointments, re-capitalisation, de-stressing of assets, empowerment, a framework of accountability and governance reforms.

RETIREMENT PERKS TN Chaturvedi: Retired from IAS; was CAG from 1984-90; BJP Rajya Sabha MP from 1992-98, 1998-04 but quit in 2002 when made Governor of Karnataka and later Kerala

Retired from IAS; was CAG from 1984-90; BJP Rajya Sabha MP from 1992-98, 1998-04 but quit in 2002 when made Governor of Karnataka and later Kerala Ranganath Misra: Chief Justice of India 1990-91, Congress Rajya Sabha member 1998-04

Chief Justice of India 1990-91, Congress Rajya Sabha member 1998-04 MS Gill: Retired from IAS; Chief Election Commissioner 1996-2001; elected to Rajya Sabha on Congress ticket in 2004, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports in UPA-1 and -2 governments

Retired from IAS; Chief Election Commissioner 1996-2001; elected to Rajya Sabha on Congress ticket in 2004, Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports in UPA-1 and -2 governments P Sathasivam: Chief Justice of India 2013-14, made Kerala Governor in 2014; first former CJI to be appointed a governor NOTE: The Chief Justice of India is number six on Indias order of precedence, while the Chief Election Commissioner and CAG are at number 9; the list compiles only those who held judicial/quasi-judicial positions and later accepted political appointments. There are several other bureaucrats who either joined politics or came to hold gubernatorial posts

The December quarter saw some PSBs reporting huge losses, such as Central Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Dena Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce. Punjab Bank posted a 93 per cent decline in profit and NPAs rising to 8.5 per cent of all loans. SBI, the country's larger lender, saw a 62 per cent decline in net profit and fresh slippage of Rs 20,700 crore.

Under Indradhanush, while the government's promise of recapitalising PSBs over a three-year period seems on track, it seems inadequate for the scale of the stress. Of the Rs 25,000 crore meant for 2015-16, the government has given Rs 20,000 crore to 13 PSBs so far. PSBs will get Rs 25,000 crore in the next financial year, followed by Rs 10,000 crore each in FY18 and FY19.
In a move aimed at arresting India's falling investment rate, the Centre is looking to revive the Investment Commission of India, which in its earlier avatar was headed by Ratan Tata, then chairman of the Tata group. It also had banker Deepak Parekh and former Hindustan Lever chairman Ashok Sekhar Ganguly as members.

The earlier Commission functioned under the finance ministry from December 2004 to December 2009. In its new avatar, however, the Commission could function as an arm of the NITI Aayog, said officials in the know.

The plan to constitute the Commission is at a preliminary stage at present, so the names of the chairman and members have not yet been finalised.

Set up to make recommendations to the government on policies and procedures to facilitate investment, the earlier Commission had given more than 1,400 suggestions on boosting investment in infrastructure, manufacturing, services and the knowledge economy. It had also pointed out the projects and investment proposals that needed to be fast-tracked, mentored and promoted to turn India into an attractive investment destination.

The new Commission, officials said, could have a wider role to play in the Indian economy than giving recommendations.

In one of the recommendations, the Commission had said investment in coal mining should be enhanced through bidding of blocks, a task that was accomplished later.

The Commission had also suggested carving out specified viable mining blocks from Coal India Ltd (CIL) for captive exploitation. While states have been given such blocks, those are yet to be given to private companies.

In power, the Commission had recommended setting up of 25-30 sites for mega projects, for a total of 35,000 Mw, with an investment of over $30 billion through competitive bidding on tariffs. Of the 16 ultra mega power projects (UMPPs) that the previous central government had planned to set up, four have been awarded. Three of those are operated by Reliance Power (in Sasan, Tilaiya and Krishnapatnam) and one by Tata Power (Mundra). These projects had been awarded on a competitive tariff-based bidding and executed by a special-purpose vehicle. Each UMPP is of 4,000 Mw and entails an investment of Rs 20,000 crore.

Investment scenario in the country has deteriorated in the past few years, thanks to over-indebtedness of companies and increasing non-performing assets of banks. Gross fixed capital formation, a proxy for investments, is officially estimated to fall below 30 per cent in the current financial year, the first time since the method for calculating GDP was revised from 2011-12.
None of the 20 candidates selected for the first phase of the smart city project has got any funding from the Centre so far, it is learnt. Officials working on the project pointed out that the money is linked to formation of the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) by the city municipalities concerned. The Centre's funding of Rs 200 crore for each city in the first phase was now expected in 2016-17, they said. According to the plan, this should have come in 2015-16.

In addition to the 20 cities announced last month, another lot is likely to be selected for the first phase of funding, from 23 states/Union Territories, which have been given a chance to fast-track their proposals. These should come in by April 15. For a total of 43 cities, the annual fund requirement from the Centre for FY17 would be Rs 8,600 crore. However, the requirement would rise substantially if the government was to roll out the next list of cities too in FY17, making it a total of 60, as originally planned. Another 40 cities are scheduled to be announced in the third year of execution, FY18.

Union Budget 2016-17 would accordingly keep aside money for the project. In fact, finance minister Arun Jaitley had kept aside Rs 7,060 crore for in the July 2014 Budget. That remained unused as the selection process took off in 2015, Union Budget of 2015-16 was silent on .

The Cabinet had in April 2015 cleared a proposal for Rs 50,000-crore investment by the Centre into the 100 project. According to plan, Rs 500 crore per city would be spent by the Centre, and that would have to be equally matched by a consortia of state governments and city municipalities. While the Centre would fund Rs 200 crore per city in the first phase and subsequently pump in Rs 100 crore each for three years.

Arindam Guha, senior director, Deloitte in India, said not more than three selected cities would get the central funding for smart cities during FY16. That, too, is not certain, at least three other sources said. The urban development ministry had recently said the project should take off by June. However, the government has not set a deadline for completion. But, as Guha said, cities in their respective development plans have given a timeframe of five to 10 years for each smart city, depending on whether it's a new project or expansion of an existing project.

ALLOCATIONS SO FAR Union Budget 2014-15 had allocated Rs 7,060 cr for smart cities but the funds were not used

In 2015-16, smart cities did not get any budgetary fund

In April 2015, the Union Cabinet cleared Rs 50,000-cr investment by the Centre for smart cities

According to the plan, Rs 200 cr each for the 20 selected cities was to be given in FY16

This was to be followed by Rs 100 cr each in 3 subsequent years, as part of the plan to spend Rs 50,000 cr on 100 smart cities in a phased manner

The 20 selected cities have come from 11 states, with BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh getting the highest share of three (Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur) in the first list

23 states/UTs have been given a chance to fast-track their plans by April 2015

According to Pratap Padode, founder and director at Smart Cities Council India, this time, budgetary allocation should be more realistic as the smart city project is actually taking off now. He said every city is eager to receive funds as the biggest challenge is financing of smart cities. Funding by the Centre is limited and without the participation of the private sector, smart cities cannot get into the real zone. While the funding by the Centre and the state/city municipality would be Rs 1,000 crore per city, cost is estimated to be much higher at Rs 4,000-5,000 crore.

While announcing Bhubaneswar (Odisha) as the top name in the smart city list, urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu said the winner was a surprise candidate. The 20 selected cities have come from 11 states, with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled Madhya Pradesh getting the highest share of three (Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur) in the first list. Those with two cities each include Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra (all BJP-ruled states) and Andhra Pradesh (led by BJP ally Telugu Desam Party).

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-ruled Tamil Nadu and Congress-ruled Karnataka have also made it to the list with two cities each. Punjab, Assam, Kerala and New Delhi Municipal Council area of Delhi are the other winners.

While West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh (going to polls in 2016 and 2017, respectively) and Bihar have not found any representation in the smart city list, 23 states/Union territories have been given a chance to fast-track their plans by April 15.
Power producers have made a fresh appeal to the Centre to release a coal linkage policy soon.

They have argued the coal linkage policy announced by the previous UPA government had covered 78,000 MW to be commercially operational by March 31, 2015. It did not include capacity addition of another 78,000 MW, of which 20,000 MW have valid coal linkages, which are due to be commissioned in 2016-17 and beyond.

Union Minister for Power and Coal Piyush Goyal has said a new coal linkage policy will be declared soon. He, however, did not indicate a date.

''The fuel supply agreement policy framework announced earlier was limited to 78,000 MW, with the expected commercial operation date set at March 31, 2015, said Ashok Khurana, director-general of the Association of Power Producers.

For projects beyond 78,000 MW, there is no policy. These include projects with coal linkages, projects that lost mines due to the Supreme Court order, and projects that have have achieved their commercial operation date but have no coal, he added.

Khurana said the absence of a coal linkage policy had caused uncertainty and the government must announce it at the earliest.

Access to coal is now provided as is where is or through e-auction. Power producers said it could not be a substitute for long-term coal supply. Power producers have long-term purchase agreements and need an assured minimum fuel supply to be able to quote a price.

A developer who is trying to complete a power project in central India pointed out power purchase agreements required producers to declare availability of 90 per cent coal, and there were penalties for mis-declaration.
Warren E Buffett took aim on Saturday at the "negative drumbeat" of this year's presidential campaign, saying that the view that children today would not live as well as their parents was "dead wrong."



In his annual letter to shareholders, the billionaire investor - who has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president - wrote that "the babies being born in America today are the luckiest crop in history."



Employing his typical folksy humour and optimism, Buffett's letter discussed such themes as income inequality, climate change, efficiency and prosperity, as well as investments like BNSF Railway and Kraft Heinz.

"For 240 years it's been a terrible mistake to bet against America, and now is no time to start," he wrote. "America's golden goose of commerce and innovation will continue to lay more and larger eggs."



Buffett cautioned, though, that while the "pie to be shared by the next generation will be far larger than today's," the way it is divided will "remain fiercely contentious." Many of the negative effects of innovation and greater efficiency tend to harm the worker, he said.

He gave the example of how competition had forced his Dexter shoe operation to fold, leaving 1,600 employees in a small Maine town without work, many of whom were past the point where they could learn another trade. He said the same situation unfolded at the original New England textile plant of his holding company, Berkshire Hathaway.

Buffett's suggested solution: providing safety nets for those who want to work but find their talents out of favour because of market forces.

"The price of achieving ever-increasing prosperity for the great majority of Americans should not be penury for the unfortunate," he wrote.

The letter to shareholders was released along with the fourth-quarter and annual results for Berkshire Hathaway. Berkshire's earnings rose to $24.08 billion last year from $19.87 billion in 2014, while annual revenue increased by $16 billion, to $210.8 billion.

In his letter, Buffett contrasted Berkshire's pursuit of efficiency with that of 3G Capital, the Brazilian investment firm that he partnered with to acquire Heinz, which was later combined with Kraft last year.

While praising 3G's method as "extraordinarily successful," Buffett said that it encompassed buying companies with the intent to immediately cut costs. Berkshire, he said, also "craves efficiency," but looks for companies that are avoiding bloat, ones that are already run by efficient managers.

His example was Precision Castparts Corporation, which was purchased a month ago for $32 billion - the company's largest acquisition to date. He added that Mark Donegan, the chief executive of Precision Castparts, would be among those deploying Berkshire's capital through acquisitions.

Much smaller acquisitions were also a focus last year, when Berkshire's subsidiaries made 29 "bolt-on" acquisitions, costing $634 million. Buffett said that the company would make dozens more such acquisitions in future years.

Berkshire Hathaway is a big insurer, meaning that changes in weather patterns that could cause catastrophes, such as hurricanes, could hurt the company.

Addressing a proposal to discuss climate change at the company's annual meeting in April, Buffett wrote that it seemed "highly likely to me that climate change poses a major problem for the planet." He said that because insurance policies are rewritten each year, Berkshire Hathaway should not be exposed to high losses. Buffett also defended the Clayton Homes subsidiary, whose mortgage practices have been scrutinised because they aim at lower-income home-owners.

He sought to differentiate Clayton from what he said were the destructive and corrupt practices that contributed to the Great Recession of 2008.

Clayton, he said, keeps all of the mortgages it originates, rather than siphon them off to banks that could structure them into new, complicated securities. Last year, however, Clayton foreclosed on 8,444 mortgages at a cost of $157 million, and paid almost $750,000 in fines and refunds to customers.

By giving so much attention to Clayton Homes in the letter, Buffett was making a "pre-emptive strike toward criticism there," said Cathy Seifert, an analyst with S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Berkshire's non-insurance companies also include what Buffett called the "Powerhouse Five": Berkshire Hathaway Energy, Marmon (an industrial holding company), Lubrizol (specialty chemicals), IMC (metalworking) and BNSF Railway, which together earned $13.1 billion last year.

Last year, Buffett increased Berkshire's stock stakes in what he called the "Big Four" - American Express, Coca-Cola, IBM and Wells Fargo. Berkshire's portion of the Big Four's 2015 earnings amounted to $4.7 billion, he said.

"Woody Allen once explained that the advantage of being a bisexual is that it doubles your chance of finding a date on Saturday night," Buffett said. "In like manner - well, not exactly like manner - our appetite for either operating businesses or passive investments doubles our chances for finding sensible uses for Berkshire's endless gusher of cash."



Despite Buffett's wide array of topics in his 30-page letter - including that he has yet to use the mobile matchmaking service Tinder - there were several topics that were notably absent.

At age 85, Buffett again did not identify his successor, a vital question among investors and Berkshire enthusiasts. He also did not go into great detail about the slump in commodity prices - nor the volatility in the markets - except to say how they could affect volumes at BNSF Railway and Berkshire's industrial products manufacturers.

When it comes to risks, however, Buffett said there is really only one enduring danger that he cannot fix: the threat from cyber, biological, nuclear or chemical attack on the United States.

" 'Innovation' has its dark side," he said.

2016 The New York Times News Service
TVS TYRES, a two- and three-wheeler tyre brand from TVS Srichakra, has released a new brand campaign with actor-comedian Kapil Sharma. It comprises two television commercials (TVCs), where Sharma offers a ride as well as advice to pillion riders while driving them to their destination.

One TVC shows Sharma doling out advice to a love-struck youth. During their conversation, he discovers that the youth is already in his fourth relationship with a girl. His earlier relationships lasted barely four to six months each. The young man narrates his woes of failing to sustain a relationship, as he completes a smooth ride on a bumpy road, with Sharma dodging potholes by steering the two-wheeler carefully. As they part ways, the rider tells the youth how important it is to have long-lasting relationships, just like the durable "TVS TYRES with the Eagle Logo" that promises a safe and smooth ride. The TVC ends with Sharma claiming, "Girlfriend ho toh TVS TYRE jaisi - totally tikau".

A second TVC similarly pairs Sharma with a college-going youth who is confused about the career options ahead of him.

This is the second brand campaign from TVS TYRES after having gone through a makeover in 2015. Last year, the company reintroduced its logo - the mnemonic "Eagle" denoting power, manoeuvrability and the superior grip of the products, while the pair of arrows integrated into the typeface conveying a perpetual forward motion. Having established its new identity through a thematic campaign focusing on durability - this time the brief to the creative agency (Redifussion Y&R, Chennai) was to reinforce this aspect strongly and appropriate the platform of durability.

"The TVC brings the 'the totally tikau' message strongly, albeit in a light-hearted manner," says P Vijayaraghavan, director, TVS Srichakra.

Given that tyre advertising in general follows certain category codes including high-energy stunts that come with disclaimers, Redifussion Y&R decided to break the norms by keeping the storytelling real and believable - and placing the consumer at the centre of the conversation. Also, since this is a saliency building campaign TVS TYRES wanted to keep the message simple and memorable.

Aside from the ordinary consumer, what inspired TVS TYRES to include Sharma?



"Kapil Sharma was an ideal fit, as he is a household name and someone whose appeal cuts across all age groups. Secondly, the good part about him is that he plays himself which adds a lot to believability. We wanted to keep our narrative realistic so that consumers feel a genuine connect with the brand," explains Vijayaraghavan.

With a celebrity, brands often face a double-edged sword. The message can get overshadowed by the celebrity's appeal. On the other hand, the company may end up underutilising the celebrity's brand value. Further, with Sharma now endorsing multiple brands, TVS TYRES ran the risk of getting crowded out.

To tackle this, Redifussion Y&R has attempted to strike a balance by giving equal screen time to the celebrity as well as the commoners.

Industry estimates peg the campaign at Rs 22 crore. The 360-degree campaign is being amplified through digital and outdoor channels. It is being promoted strongly through outdoor media including branding messages on billboards, bus shelters and transits.

TVS TYRES plans to unveil two more TVCs as part of the campaign. The communication message will continue to revolve around product features with Sharma acting as the anchor.

Currently, the two-wheeler tyre market comprising motorcycles, scooters and mopeds sees a monthly volume of over six million tyres. TVS TYRES is eyeing a significant share of the two-wheeler tyre market by focusing on new product launches, improving sales services and expanding its distribution network, even as it pitches itself as "the totally tikau" brand.

TVS TYRESRs 22 croreRedifussion Y&R
With virtual showrooms and augmented reality, internet-enabled connected cars are fast becoming a reality, Anurag Jain tells Sangeeta Tanwar



When people buy big-ticket items such as a car, touch and feel, brand reliability and trust matter a lot. As a pure-play online player, how do you reassure prospective buyers that what they see is what they get?



Our brand has been built with trust and transparency as its central tenets. We recently launched our "Feel the Car" virtual showroom to improve the transactional transparency as well as the reliability of our services. We are recreating the entire feel of test driving a car for our users and empowering them with the tools to make the most informed decisions. We are investing in virtual showrooms to provide a "fuller" car buying experience complete with 3D viewing, car sound on ignition-revving and embedded videos with expert information about the car.

Operating in an extremely consumer-centric business, we are focused on delivering the best and most tailored solution. Our products and services are aimed at improving user convenience and safety. The TrustMark warranty is meant to protect our used car buyers, while the platform also allows online booking of roadside assistance packages for owners to secure them against car emergencies. We have tied up with 100-plus service centres so far to facilitate this.

What have been the key learnings for you as a start-up and an early entrant in the online auto classified space?



Being a start-up in a highly competitive sector such as the online automobile industry exposes us to many learning experiences, as every day brings new challenges and opportunities. A few key insights, however, have stood out for the impact they have had in driving us to the next level of our business evolution.

First, the consumer is always the king, regardless of the industry a start-up is associated with. No matter how revolutionary a business idea is, consumer adoption is essential for it to be a success. Creating an awesome product that is simple to operate, works smoothly and solves a real consumer problem can help achieve this aim. The focus, therefore, should always be on investing in product and technology to provide a complete and highly satisfactory user experience.

Sound business fundamentals are also essential for start-ups as, at the end of the day, a start-up is a business and has only a limited amount of funds available. As such, entrepreneurs must ensure that their business spending is in sync with their unit economics and revenue streams to prevent cash burnout and operational instability. By placing a robust business model in place, start-ups can ensure sustainable operations without compromising on growth and scale.

The role of business agility and innovation in driving success must also not be discounted. Start-ups thrive on innovative, ground-breaking ideas for creating an impact. However, effective implementation is just as crucial for success as the ability to respond and adapt to frequent changes in the market. A start-up with a flexible business model will always be in a better shape to navigate the challenges in case of a market fluctuation than those that have a rigid model of operation.

Last but not the least, start-ups and entrepreneurs must always look to offer something extra to their major stakeholders. From OEMs to dealerships, consumers to finance and insurance companies, we have developed technology that benefits all key stakeholders within the auto ecosystem.

What are the emerging trends that will redefine the online auto classified space?



With newer and better technology constantly adding newer dimension to the consumer experience, we will soon witness complete migration of the offline automobile industry to an online platform. With virtual showrooms and augmented reality, internet-enabled connected cars are becoming a reality.

We will also see an increased adoption of mobile technology by dealerships and OEMs that will enable them to develop a seamlessly ubiquitous business approach and increase their productivity. Moreover, the used car business models are also set for massive overhauls as online marketplaces look to shift from just classifieds (C2C/C2D) approach to differentiated business models to optimise their operations. We will also see the peripheral auto ecosystem comprising verticals such as accessories, servicing, insurance and finance occupying a larger share of the business online.

What would be your major areas of investment?



Ever since our launch, our focus on cutting-edge technology has been one of the key differentiators that have set us apart from the competition. With a dedicated technology facility already in place in Jaipur, the latest investment will be used to fuel more tech-based innovations to build the perfect product for our consumers.

That apart, we will continue to invest in human capital. We have grown from 600 people to more than 2,500 in the last one year. As people are the cornerstones upon which our success so far has been built, we will continue adding both fresh talent as well as experienced professionals to our team at twice the momentum to support our exponential growth.
On February 15 in Doha, there was an agreement between the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) producers Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Venezuela and non-Opec producer Russia to freeze crude oil output at levels seen before January 11, 2016. These talks were followed by meetings between Iraq, Iran, Venezuela and Qatar day to discuss a collective production freeze. Just after the talks, Iran said it agreed in principle to help balance the oil market, but did not sign up to the proposal. Any production freeze based on pre-January 11 numbers was tantamount to Iran in particular not being able to bring an additional supply after the sanctions on it were lifted unless countries such as Saudi Arabia agree to production cuts, definitely not the case in the Doha talks.

Cracks clearly appeared in the days following the Doha talks. On February 23, Saudi Arabia's oil minister Al Naimi suggested the country would not cut production. He also said Saudi Arabia would continue to invest to maintain its total production capacity at 12.5 million barrels a day. Equally, Iran commented it was "ridiculous" to expect Iran to agree to any production freeze.

Indeed, freezing output at January 11 levels, which were 32.4 million barrels a day including Indonesia, (31.63 million barrels a day excluding Indonesia) could help balance the as early as the third quarter of this year with oil prices rallying $40 a barrel to justify the marginal barrel production. However, we don't think such a deal is in sight. As realise soon the probability for a deal between Opec members is very low and the only way a deal could be met is through production cuts by some members and realistically allowing countries such as Iran to increase production, probably slightly slower than initially Iran would have thought, we would once again see oil prices coming under pressure and reacting to the ever weakening fundamentals as we don't expect any production cuts being announced by Opec or non-Opec countries.

We are still expecting an excess in the market of 2.2 million barrels a day in the first quarter if CY2016 and 1.8 million barrels a day in the second quarter of CY2016, which could test on-shore storage capacities globally and push prices below $30 a barrel, possibly even closer to $20 a barrel once again towards the end of March or early April. We maintain our forecast for Brent crude to average $30 a barrel in the first quarter of CY2016 and then recovering slowly towards $34 a barrel in the second quarter of CY2016. This should help start the market balance process as we could see production shut-ins. With demand seasonally and year-on-year rising in the second quarter of CY2016, the should, then, start to balance together with a steep fall in non-Opec supply led by a US production decline. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Brent spreads have widened once again due to increased pressure on WTI thanks to crude storage running almost full in Cushing. These spreads should narrow once we are past the crude injection period of the first quarter of CY2016 and part of the second quarter of CY2016 when refineries go offline for seasonal maintenance.

The author is chief oil analyst, Natixis Commodities Research
As many as 23 Naxals, including two women, on Sunday surrendered to the Chhattisgarh police in Bastar district.

The surrendered Naxals have been given Rs. 10, 000 and jobs according to their qualifications and shelters by the administration. The 23 surrendered naxals will be provided facilities as per the policy," District Collector Amit Kataria said.

The surrender of the Naxals is continuing for the last three months, as they are unhappy with the Naxal ideology.
The Bihar Police on Sunday seized the property of former labour minister and RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav, who is accused of raping a minor.

An order for the same was passed by a Patna court on Saturday. Soon after the order was passed, the police had surrounded his residence-cum-party office located at Pathra English locality under Muffasil police station of Nawada.

The state BJP party members had yesterday held a protest at the Biharsharif hospital chowk led by ex- deputy chief minister Sushil Modi, who issued a warning that if the accused is not arrested within a week then Nalanda would be closed next Monday.

On Thursday, the police had arrested a woman named Sulekha Devi, her daughter Chhoti Devi, mother Radha Devi and younger sister Tushi Devi in connection with the case.

The accused women had allegedly lured a school girl on the pretext of attending a birthday party and took her to the MLA's residence instead where the 54-year-old MLA allegedly raped the minor on February 6.
Your proximity to a grocery store can actually change the way you eat, according to a recent study.

Living close to a supermarket is something you may associate with an unhealthy lifestyle, but the research has turned this thinking on its head, finding those who live close to the store make healthier food choices.

The foods on the first list are more exclusive in social media feeds of people living in northeastern food deserts, a term used by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to describe communities with limited access to grocery stores. The second list is more exclusive to non-food deserts.

The Georgia Institute of Technology study identified the food choices and nutritional profiles of people living in both types of communities throughout America. It included three million geo-tagged posts on the social media platform where food is king: Instagram.

The researchers found that food posted (and eaten) by people in food deserts is 5 to 17 percent higher in fat, cholesterol and sugars compared to those shared in non-food deserts areas.

Munmun De Choudhury, who led the study, said that the USDA identifies food deserts based on the availability of fresh food. Instagram literally gave them a picture of what people are actually eating in these communities, allowing them to study them in a new way.

"Fruits and vegetables are the biggest difference," De Choudhury said. "Forty-eight percent of posts from people in non-food deserts mention them. It's only 33 percent in food deserts."

Another observation made by the researchers was, irrespective of food availability, people in the US tend to eat the food their region is most known for - steak and coffee in the west, smoked salmon and cheesecake in the east, and okra and biscuits in the south.

The study has been presented at the ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW).
Taking the ongoing debate on 'nationalism and patriotism' a step forward, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday alleged that the Congress Party has always been soft on terrorists and hard on nationalists, adding that the grand old party is playing with the nation's safety and security.

"There is a peace, progress and prosperity in the entire country, but the Congress is unable to progress. The Congress was always soft on terrorists, and hard on nationalists. They are saying that justice is not done to Afzal Guru as if he is their 'Guru'. They are expressing their solidarity with the people, who are raising slogans like 'Maqbool Bhat zindabad'. They are also expressing solidarity with the Kashmiri separatists," Naidu told the media here.

"The Congress is strengthening the voice of such forces which are questioning the integrity of the country. For short term political gains, the Congress Party is playing with the safety and security of the nation," he added.

Naidu said senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram should know that it is not the minorities, who are feeling insecure, rather it is the Congress Party which is feeling insecure.

Array

"You want to obstruct everything. You don't want the bills to be passed. You don't want GST, you won't allow real estate and important legislations," he said.

Naidu alleged that the political leadership of some of the parties are hell bent to become part of problems.

"They are trying to disintegrate people. Everybody is a nationalist as long as he loves his motherland. Nobody has the monopoly to say that this is nationalist and this is not," he said.
The religious head of the Dawoodi Bohra Community, his holiness Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin who was accompanied by a nine-member delegation, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Sunday.

The Prime Minister appreciated the social reform efforts of the Dawoodi Bohra community, and said the Union Government fully supported these initiatives.

He also appreciated the progress made by the Dawoodi Bohra community, in the development of the Bhendi Bazaar area of Mumbai as a smart city.

The Prime Minister urged the Dawoodi Bohra community to work towards development of toilets in the villages along the banks of the River Ganga.
The Congress Party on Sunday criticised the Manohar Lal Khattar-led Haryana Government over the gangrapes in Murthal and accused them of attempting to cover up the unfortunate and shameful incident.

"It is shameful and condemnable that eyewitnesses are coming in the media and giving evidences whereas the Haryana Government and the state police are not able to find any evidence. Both the state government and the police are trying to get rid of these shameful incidents. But because of court's interference, the eyewitnesses are coming in the media and sharing the details," Congress leader Shobha Oza told ANI.

"What is more shameful is the fact that the one of the helpline numbers provided by the Khattar Government is wrong and nobody is answering on the other two numbers. All these only show that the Haryana Government and the police are trying to suppress the whole series of events. With none of the victims coming forward to register their complaints, it only shows that they don't have trust on the government and the police," she added.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had yesterday urged the eyewitnesses to provide information to the police.

The first eyewitness in the case yesterday said that the women were assaulted by a group of youngsters, who came on motorcycles and dragged them into the fields.

"I saw some of the protestors ripping off the clothes of the women and taking them in the fields. I saw it with my own eyes that they tore the clothes of the women," said an eye witness.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had taken suo moto cognizance of a report of mass gangrapes of women in Murthal near Sonepat on February 22.
More than 60 per cent of gay and bisexual men diagnosed with HIV reported meeting sexual partners online, according to a new study.

Study authors at Brown University, The Miriam Hospital, and the Rhode Island Department of said companies that produce hookup websites and apps should partner with public groups, to share public messages about the risks of sexual encounters arranged online. For instance, sites and apps could provide affordable advertising access to help prevent infection in communities that are most impacted by HIV.

In 2013, 74 Ocean State residents were newly diagnosed with HIV. Three in five were gay, bisexual, or other MSM, and of those 43 people, 22 told researchers they believe a man they met online gave them the virus, according to the study published online in the journal Public Health Reports. The research team interviewed 70 of the state's 74 newly diagnosed people for the study.

Researcher Amy Nunn said that this is a statewide study that included nearly all individuals newly diagnosed with HIV across an entire state. This is one of the first studies to document how common Internet site use is among people newly diagnosed with HIV and highlights important opportunities to partner with hookup sites to advance public health.

Five sites and apps, some of which are also used by women, were the most popular: Grindr, Manhunt, Scruff, Adam4Adam and Craigslist. Lead author Dr. Philip Chan said that the widely used sites are part of the lifestyle and culture among many gay and bisexual men and can lead to lasting relationships, not just health risks.

The goal of the research, therefore, is not to stigmatize sex or men who use the sites, he and Nunn said, but to instead to inspire partnerships with companies to include more information that could slow the spread of HIV.

Co-author Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott said that a study like this is an urgent call to action for greater collaboration around education to address the health needs of men who have sex with men. The rate of new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men represents an unacceptable health disparity that absolutely must be addressed.

The study is published in the journal Public Health Reports.
Actor Finn Jones aka Loras Tyrell in the HBO series 'Game of Thrones' has been roped in to play Iron Fist in Marvel's latest Netflix show.

The 27-year-old actor will be playing Daniel Rand, who in the comics leaves New York City as a nine-year-old boy with his family to move to a magical hidden city, K'un L'un, in the final of the four Netflix series joining Daredevil, Jessica Jones and the upcoming Luke Cage, reports Mirror.

After the announcement, social media erupted with demands that the role should have gone to an Asian actor instead of Jones.

Jonnes will also been seen in the 'Defenders' mini-series that will see all four heroes come together to defend their city from a threat bigger than any one of them can handle alone.

The actor said that initially he was a bit nervous, but as he started filming, things got on track.
Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who escaped unhurt after his car skid into a road-side drain early on Sunday, said that he had his seat belt on which probably caused his 'miraculous' escape in the mishap.

Array

"I was returning from Malappuram as I was with the President for the past two days. The car skidded near Ettumanur but I had put the belt so nothing happened to me or anyone of us in the car. It was a miraculous escape. I am safe and unhurt, however, my gunman sustained minor injuries," Chandy told the media here.

Following the close shave, Chandy continued his journey to his home town Puthuppally in Kottayam district, in an escort vehicle.

The exact reason for the accident is yet to be ascertained.
The nation on Sunday paid rich tributes to the first President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad on his 53rd death anniversary.

Born on 3rd December, 1884 at Ziradei village in Siwan district of Bihar, Prasad, a trained advocate, joined the Indian Congress and the Independence Movement.

He was elected the President of the Constituent Assembly, which prepared the Constitution of India.

Dr. Prasad was elected the first President of India in 1951, and re-elected in 1957.

He passed away on February 28, 1963 and was cremated at Bans Ghat in Patna, where a memorial has been constructed in his name.
Prime Minister on Sunday at a farmer's ralley asked them to convert the challenges into opportunities, calling them pride of the nation.

"There are a lot of challenges before our farmers, but these challenges can be transformed into opportunities," Modi said.

Prime Minister Modi also requested all state governments to give utmost priority to farmers' issues.

"I appeal not only to the Uttar Pradesh Government but to all the state governments to give utmost priority to addressing farmers' issues and issues related to agriculture," said Prime Minister Modi.

"I wish to double the income of farmers by 2022 when India will celebrate 75 years of its Independence," he added.

Prime Minister Modi emphasized that the farmers today want at least one member of their family to take up job because they know that the family cannot just sustain on agriculture.

"Since our government has come to power, we have made efforts to bring in reforms in agriculture through science," he added.
After quite a lot of struggle, the makers of 'Sarbjit' biopic have finally got the permission to shoot a sequence at the Wagah Border and are all set to start filming it.

As a confirmation to this, actress Richa Chadha shared a photo with her fans on Instagram and emphasized the Wagah border schedule was underway.

"Waving at the neighbour ... Shoot at Wagah border, Atari #Ilovemyjob #spreadlove #Punjabdiaries #Sarbjitthismorning #nofilter," reads her post.

'Sarbjit' is based on the life of an Indian farmer, who was convicted of spying by a Pakistani court and died after being attacked by inmates in the central Lahore Jail.

The film, directed by 'Mary Kom' famed Omung Kumar, features Randeep Hooda as the titular character and Aishwarya Rai in the role of the protagonist's sister.

Earlier, the makers were very worried about getting a green signal from the concerned authorities to shoot at the Wagah Border as it is one of the most sensitive areas as far as national security is concerned.

The team of the upcoming film has been in Amritsar for the last 20 days.
Mr Arun Jaitley, the finance minister is slated to present his third Union Budget (since 2014, when the alliance stormed back to power) in the lower house of Parliament on February the 29th.

The Modi-government rode to power on the crest of a development wave. Considering Mr Narendra Modis track-record in Gujarat, we have no reason to suspect that this was a mere election gimmick. To unleash Indias full potential and to make sure that Acchey Din Aane wale hain (Happy days are here again) doesnt end up being just another ephemeral catchphrase, it is imperative for the NDA government to ignite the spirit of entrepreneurship in the country.

We have had a raft of startups in India in the recent past. Flipkart, Snapdeal, CarDekho, Zomato, InMobi to name just a few. Theyve been able to bootstrap themselves into the upper echelons without much support from the government. Or rather despite the government, considering the environment in this country isnt very conducive to setting up a new business. In a list of 189 countries compiled by the World Bank, India ranks at 155 in terms of ease of starting a business (New Zealand ranks top in the list). India is slightly better than countries like Haiti, Myanmar, Chad and Suriname. Thats a cold comfort! Even in terms of ease of doing business, India ranks at 130, which means that the environment is not that conducive for the industry and many reforms need to be announced if India wishes to be in the list of top 20.

What the government needs to do?

Business startups provide an indication of competition and dynamism in an economy. New businesses are key for the economy to grow because a small segment of todays startups will become tomorrows successful business enterprises. Thanks to the zeal and passion of their promoters, all successful startups have been able to achieve rapid growth in a short span with all-embracing funding support from venture capital investors. But it goes without saying that hundreds of other newbie entrepreneurs have fallen by the wayside, not the least because of lack of support from successive governments.

The government launched the Startup India initiative in January this year. With the objective to promote a culture of entrepreneurship, the government announced a bag of incentives including a Rs 10,000-crore corpus for innovation-driven enterprises, a three-year break from paying income tax on profits, a Rs 500-crore per year credit guarantee mechanism, and exemption from capital gains tax for Startups. The moot point to consider here is, how many Startups will actually be able reap the benefit of this.

The government has recently notified the definition of a Startup and other requirements to be fulfilled in order to avail the said benefits. The notified definition states that a company shall be considered as a Startup if it satisfies certain conditions (must be in existence for upto 5 years, turnover not to exceed Rs. 25 crores and working towards innovation and development of new products, processes or services). Moreover, in order to obtain benefits, a qualifying startup is also required to obtain a certificate from the concerned authority.

Considering the culture and ecosystem of a Startup environment, these conditions seem to be harsh and must be relaxed to have a wide coverage. More impetus must be given to make the environment more conducive for the Startups.

It was also announced that a Startup will be exempt from paying income tax for a period of three years; however, it is very unlikely that Startups will have any profit situation in their initial teething trouble phase (which lasts for atleast 5-7 years). This three year exemption should apply to Startups once they start earning profits. Moreover, there is no mention of Minimum Alternate Tax exclusion for Startups. To see Startups as effective instruments for Indias transformation, the government needs to come out with a special package/ entrepreneur-friendly taxation regime.

Infrastructure companies in the business of constructing roads, bridges and generating power enjoy tax holidays for years on end. Would it be too big an ask for startup companies to expect the new government to dole out some tax incentiveson the direct as well as the indirect frontin the upcoming budget? We have had provisions, like Section 80IA/IB, in the Indian Income Tax Act allowing deductions to newly-established businesses. But they had a sunset clause. Its high time the government reintroduced those provisions for startups in the manufacturing as well as service sector.

Startups go through a roller-coaster ride as far as their bottom lines are concerned. As the business scales up, costs go up. Margins cant always keep pace with the surge in operational costs. So startups have a very good case of being allowed to carry-back their losses for up to 2 years to be set off with the profits, if any, they have made in the last couple of years. There is already a provision of carry forward of losses in the Income Tax Act.

In India we have a myriad of taxes, not the least of which is the property tax that we pay to the local municipal corporation and the electricity duty we pay to the state electricity board. It wouldnt be asking for the moon on the part of the startups to expect the government to make their struggle a little easier by waiving these taxes/ duties. The government might consider exempting the startups investing in new manufacturing facilities from either paying property tax altogether or allowing them a full/partial recovery a few years down the line. The refund of electricity duties that form a sizable portion of the electricity bills is also a moot point.

Startups within a prescribed limit of seed capital could be given interest subvention on bank loans or even government grants. We have thousands of brilliant entrepreneurs in this country with innovative business ideas germinating in their brains. But in the absence of affordable funding, those ideas remain just pie in the sky and never get translated into reality. Though the government has announced a 10,000 crore fund and 500 crore per year credit guarantee mechanism, the same is also coupled with certain conditions which many of the Startups may not be able to mollify and hence, would remain barred to take the benefit.

Angel Investors coming forward to stick their necks out to pump millions into a new venture based on the promise and potential they see in the promoters need to be compensated and encouraged to keep doing that. Entrepreneurship is all about risks and rewards. It wouldnt be out of place to ask for a tax credit of up to 35 paise for each rupee the initial investors put into a new business.

Business is more about people and less about numbers. Payroll costs eat up a large pie of the lean profits of a fledgling business still struggling to get its feet wet. What the government could do is allow the startups a tax deduction of 20% of the amount they have disbursed to the new recruits by way of salaries and incentives for the first three years. A flat rebate of Rs 50000/- for each fresh job created/new hire would go a long way to ease the payroll burden of a startup company. We already have a provision in the Income Tax Act, the coverage of which was expanded by 2015 Budget to include all assesses (even non-corporate assesses) having manufacturing units. But the provision still covers only manufacturing activities and keeps service activities out of its ambit. India is a service economy. It makes little sense to deprive those in the service industry from this tax benefit on their payroll costs.

How about letting the startup companies retain their VAT/Service tax collections for a few years till they are out of their gestation period and then converting that liability into unsecured loans, to be squared up by a stated deadline? It may also be a good move if startups are allowed to defer the regulatory compliances or even no tax or scrutiny notices for first five years. This would help to focus being aligned more towards the growth and development of business. The Goods and Service Tax (GST) is high on this governments agenda. Startup companies will benefit as much as anyone else from a unified Indian tax territory not only in terms of tax savings but in terms of reduced compliance burden as well.

The Finance Act 2012 had injected a clause in Section 56 (Income from Other Sources) of the Income Tax Act which states that any private company, issuing equity to investors other than venture capitalists, has an onus to prove that the amount it has received over and above the face value of the shares is not its income disguised as share premium. This has to go, at least for startup companies as most of the startup companies are funded by angel investors in their initial startup phase. Although the law does lay down a methodology for the taxpayers to convince the Income Tax officers across the table that the funding theyve got indeed represents the market value of their shares, it would be better if startups are let off the Section 56 hook.

Startups need to participate in trade shows in their quest for newer domestic and international markets. It would be wonderful if the government can launch a Trade Show Assistance Program that allows newly-setup businesses showcasing their wares/services in these shows. A reimbursement of 50% of the costs incurred on account of booth rental, equipment rental, promotional material costs, shipping and drayage costs in transporting the promotional material to the booth site and back and other utility costs incidental to partaking in the trade shows/exhibitions would give the startups a huge fillip.

To conclude, no doubt the government is taking initiatives to create a favorable environment for Startups but the need of the hour is a simpler and more-friendly regulation regime.

Dont mollycoddle the startups. Give them tough love.

Source : CarDekho
At least 130 Taliban rebels on Sunday gave up fighting, amid the group's desperate attempt to overrun Maimana city, the capital of Faryab province, a senior official said.

"We sincerely welcome our 130 brothers who renounced violence, handed over their weapons and joined the peace and reconciliation process today (Sunday)," Xinhua quoted the official as saying.

"The provincial government will spare no efforts to help the former insurgents to rejoin their families and provide them jobs to have regular income," the official added.

The surrendered militants were active in Khwaja Sabz Posh district of Faryab province over the past couple of years, the official asserted.

The official also called upon other Taliban fighters to follow the step and give up fighting to rebuild the war-torn country.

The surrendered militants also handed over dozens of assault rifles and ammunition to police.

Taliban surrender is reported amid the visit of Afghan first vice president Abdul Rashid Dostum to Faryab province and launching operations against militants in different districts.

Dostum also said on Saturday that 120 Taliban fighters including three commanders had been arrested and several villages liberated in Khawaja Sabz Posh district.

Surrendering and arresting more than 200 militants in two days, according to political observers, could be a major setback to the Taliban outfit in Faryab and adjoining areas.

Meantime, Taliban militants who have challenged the government forces in several districts of the province and have been attempting to overrun the provincial capital Maimana in an online statement without commenting on surrendering militants to government forces, have confirmed clash in Khawaja Sabz Posh neighbouring district Khawaja Musa.

Taliban outfit in the statement said the militants have destroyed a battle tank and killed six soldiers in Khawaja Musa district in the fighting, which continues in the district.
The Maritime Security Agency (MSA) has arrested 20 Indian fishermen for fishing in Pakistani waters, a media report said on Sunday.

"The Indian fishermen were arrested on Saturday by the MSA while they were fishing in Pakistani limits of the Arabian Sea," said an official at the Docks police station.

"Their four fishing boats have also been seized by the MSA. We are in the process of taking their custody from the MSA. They will be then produced in court," the police official said.

The fresh arrests were the second of their kind within a week. On February 20, MSA authorities arrested 88 Indian fishermen while they were fishing in Pakistani territorial limits of the sea, officials said.

Meanwhile, an official at the Fishermen's Cooperative Society said the release and exchange of arrested fishermen has been halted for the past many months as over 150 Indian fishermen were already in Pakistani prisons and more than 50 Pakistan fishermen were in Indian jails.
At least 22 militants were killed over the past 24 hours in a fighting with the security personnel in Baghlan province of Afghanistan.

The battle occurred in Dand-e-Ghori district of the province on Sunday, Xinhua quoted army spokesman Ahmad Jawed Salim said.

"Up to 22 rebels have been killed and seven injured over the past 24 hours," Salim said.

The outfit has not yet commented.

Dand-e-Ghori and Dand-e-Shahabudin districts have been regarded as Taliban hotbeds in Baghlan and adjoining Kunduz and Samangan provinces from where the militants organise operations.

The Afghan government launched a major offensive in mid-January to evict militants and restore government control in both Dand-e-Ghori and Dand-e-Shahabudin districts.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday welcomed the ceasefire in Syria, yet stressed that any agreement on the future of the country must assure Israel's security as well.

"We welcome the efforts to reach a stable, long-term ceasefire in Syria," Xinhua quoted Netanyahu as saying.

His comments came two days after a ceasefire agreement was struck in the country mired in a civil war since 2011, which claimed the lives of nearly 300,000 people.

Netanyahu said that while he welcomes the ceasefire that would "put an end to the horrible carnage" in the country, the most important thing as far as he was concerned is that any agreement would prevent Iran from establishing a front against Israel in Syria.

Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have objected to the nuclear weapons agreement signed between Iran and world countries in July, curbing the former's nuclear plan in exchange for the lifting of sanctions against Iran.
Known as "App commissioner" in Delhi Police circles for the mobile applications he launched, B. S. Bassi's tenure as police chief saw run-ins with the Aam Aadmi Party government and a raging controversy over his decisions concerning the .

Bassi, who will step down on Monday after about two-and-a-half year's as Delhi police commissioner, has been defending the decision to slap a sedition case against Jawaharlal Nehru Union Students Union leader Kanhaiya Kumar over alleged anti- slogans raised at an event held on the campus on February 9 to mark anniversary of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's execution.

Kanhaiya Kumar and a few journalists said they were assaulted at the Patiala House Courts complex on February 15 and 17 but Bassi had insisted that Kanhaiya Kumar was not attacked. A medical report revealed that the student leader had suffered multiple injuries.

"There are multiple abrasions on Kumar's nose and thighs. There is a tenderness on the right toe," said the report which had been released by Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, adding there were also several external injury marks.

Kanhaiya Kumar, who also recounted the attack in a video screened by TV news channels , said the mob that beat him at the Patiala House Court seemed to be highly politically motivated as they were well prepared for the attack.

Kanhaiya Kumar said that one of the attackers also entered the corridor of the court room where the hearing was scheduled to be held.

Both the Congress and the CPI-M, which have been most vocal in criticising the government over Kanhaiya Kumar's arrest, had demanded the ouster of Bassi as the Delhi Police chief.

Delhi police also faced criticism over failing to prevent and stop violence at the Patiala House court.

An Indian Police Service officer of the 1977 batch, Bassi began his career as Assistant Superintendent of Police at Pondicherry.

He has also served in Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Goa. He was appointed Delhi Police Commissioner in August 2013 when the Congress-led UPA government was in power nationally.

Bassi, 59, who was seen as a contender for the post of information commissioner, was ignored for the post following objections from the Congress.

"It doesn't matter to me," Bassi told the media when he was asked about reports that the government had axed his name from the list of candidates for the post.

Bassi also has been having regular run-ins with Delhi's AAP government over law and order issues. Delhi Police does not report to the Delhi government but to the central home ministry.

AAP leaders, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, have often accused him of being an "agent" of the BJP-led central government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Bassi has denied the charge.

Bassi apparently had a good rapport with his colleagues and juniors in the police.

An inspector, who worked with special cell of Delhi Police, said Bassi is a cool-minded and determined police officer.

"I worked under his guidance when he was DCP northeast. He is very composed and is a good administrator," the officer told IANS.

A special commissioner ranked officer, however, was cryptic in his comments.

"My style of work differs from him. I am a fast bowler and he bowls googlies," the officer said.

Bassi is also seen to be articulate and media-friendly. He continued to speak to the media even as the role of Delhi Police in the came under intense scrutiny. He has been forthcoming with news bytes and information on controversies such as Delhi police entering Kerala House over alleged serving of beef and the various twits and turns in the Sunanda Pushkar death case.

Early in his tenure as police chief, Delhi police achieved a major success with arrest of Abdul Karim Tunda, one of India's top 20 wanted terrorists, and mastermind of several bombings in the country, from Indo-Nepal border.

Bassi's tenure saw Delhi Police entering the Limca Book of Records last year for solving the biggest cash heist case in the country involving Rs.22.50 crore.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh had also appreciated Delhi Police's efforts under Bassi's leadership in the recovery of Rs.22.49 crore which were stolen from a cash delivery van.

The police cracked the case in less than 10 hours by tracing the suspected driver.

Police officers said Bassi laid thrust on the use of technology to improve services and police's connect with people and was often referred to as "App commissioner"

Apart from using technology to improve internal processes, Bassi launched mobile applications including "Himmat app" to improve safety of women.

Delhi Police developed an application "lost and found app" through which a citizen can lodge report for a lost article.

Other apps include "Traffic sentinel app" through which one can report traffic violations and "Delhi police one touch away app" which facilitates access to all services provided by Delhi police at one platform.
Britain's top civil servant will have to face a grilling by a group of members of the Parliament over why pro-Brexit ministers will be prevented from seeing certain government documents.

British Cabinet Secretary Jeremy Haywood, also head of the civil service, has been called by the Parliament's Public Administration Select Committee to explain the government's restrictive plans, the committee announced on Sunday.

Heywood is due to attend an oral evidence session on EU Referendum with the committee on Tuesday, Xinhua cited local media as saying.

Last week, Heywood issued new guidance banning ministers who oppose EU membership from obtaining official documents and related materials ahead of the referendum.

The British government's official position is that Britain should stay in a reformed EU, and civil servants were not allowed to support pro-leave ministers.

The guidance sparked controversy among government ministers, and was accused by Eurosceptics of "double standards" and unfairness.

Graham Brady, chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee of the Conservative MPs, said the restrictions would raise "difficult questions".

"It is important that ministers are not blindsided by new directives coming from the EU in the pre-referendum period," he said.

Britain will hold a referendum on whether to remain in the EU on June 23.
The possibility of recognising the 20-million strong Roma community spread across 30 countries as a part of Indian is gaining ground with the government in the process of evaluating such a recommendation.

After External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj stated that the people of the Roma community, whose ancestors are believed to have migrated some 1,500 years ago, were children of India, an international conference here ended with a recommendation to recognise them as part of the Indian .

"You are the children of India who migrated and lived in challenging circumstances in foreign lands for centuries. Yet you maintained your Indian identity," Sushma Swaraj said while inaugurating the three-day International Roma Conference and Cultural Festival 2016 here earlier this month.

"A strong 20-million Roma population is spread over 30 countries encompassing West Asia, Europe, America and Australia," she said.

Romas are said to be descendants of Dom, Banjara, Gujjar, Sansi, Chauhan, Sikligar, Dhangar and other nomadic groups from northwest India.

According to some scholars, the first migration followed the invasion of Alexander the Great who carried ironsmiths skilled in making weapons in large numbers in the 5th century BC .

An introductory paper released ahead of the conference organised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and the Antar Rashtriya Sahayod Parishad (ARSP) said that many Roma scholars, anthropologists and historians researching their origins have approved their roots in India.

"When the Greek scholar Paspati heard the Roma call the Cross Trushul under the clear sky of Constantinople, he realised it refers to Trishul, the trident of Shiva, the god of cosmic dance. Long last, here was their origin," ICCR president Lokesh Prasad said in his keynote address at the conference.

"The Roma scholar Dr. Vania of Paris called his people 'Ramno Chave' or sons of Rama," he said.

Chandra told IANS that even today these people use words like naak (nose), kaan (ear) and aakh (eyes).

These people are now known variously as "Zigeuner" in Germany, "Tsyiganes" or "Manus" in France, "Tatara" in Sweden, "Gitano" in Spain, and "Tshingan" in Turkey and Greece, "Tsigan" in Russia, Bulgaria and Romania and "Gypsies" in Britain.

However, these people have not been accepted by society in various parts of the world and continue to face persecution of various types. They continue to live on the fringes of urban centres.

"Perhaps the most devastating persecution of the Romani occurred during World War II when they were among the first targets of Nazi atrocities, according to the BBC," the introductory paper says.

"An estimated two million Romani died in concentration camps and through other means of extermination, even unethical medical experiments."

According to a paper presented at the conference by Valery Novoselsky, vice president and commissioner of culture of the Serbia-based World Roma Organisation, prominent personalities of the Roma community include Yul Brynner, Charlie Chaplin, Michael Caine and Elvis Presley.

While film and stage actor Brynner, of Russian origin, started his adventurous life playing guitar in Romany circles and working as a trapeze artist in circus, Chaplin was born in a Gypsy caravan in the British West Midlands and not Walworth, London, as was believed, according to Novoselsky.

On actor Michael Caine, he stated: "Born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, it was a tradition of his Romanichel family to call the first-born son Maurice."

Elvis Presley's ancestors went to the US from Germany in the 18th century and their original surname was Pressler.

"They were part of the Sinti people commonly known as 'Black Dutch', also called 'Chicanere' and 'Melungeons," Novoselsky stated.

"Roma people are an Indian nation, the autochthonous territory of southeastern and western Europe, but also in other parts of the world, with all attributes that make them a special national entity," Jovan Damjanovic, president of the World Roma Organisation, said at the conclusion of the New Delhi conference.

"We would like to be treated as the Indian and can make a contribution to our country of origin's growth," he added.

So, can the Romas be seen as part of the Indian diaspora?

"The conference was meant to create further awareness globally about the Romas and provide useful pointers towards developing educational and scientific structures and help in finding solutions for challenges being faced by the Roma community across the world," said Vikas Swarup, spokesman of the external affairs ministry under which the ICCR falls.

"The conference has made certain recommendations to the government. The government is currently in the process of evaluating those recommendations."

(Aroonim Bhuyan can be contacted at aroonim.b@ians.in)
Urging the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to drop the term 'censorship', Vani Tripathi Tikoo, a member, has said that the board should stick to certification of films rather than meddling with the creative freedom of the filmmakers.

Speaking to IANS on Saturday on the sidelines of the Taj Literature festival, Tripathi said the whole process of film certification needs revamping. The third edition of the festival was inaugurated on Friday.

"The term 'censor' is coined by the British and it's high time we did away with it. CBFC is a film certification body and its only duty is to ensure that the movies which go out for public viewing should be deemed suitable for the age of the audience," said the actor-turned-politician.

Tripathi also felt that the CBFC should stop taking the high moral ground and refrain from interfering with creative works. "We, the members of the board, think that we are the guardians of morality in the country. We take ourselves too seriously ... we have no business to take creative decision on any creative work," added the BJP leader.

Maintaining that certification of cinema is a sociological issue, she said that banning an artwork is unacceptable.

"We are not here to delete or add. The context of the narrative of the movie is of prime importance when you are certifying," she said.

Citing the example of the movie "Bandit Queen", made in 1994 by Shekhar Kapur and which was banned on grounds of obscenity, she said the board shouldn't take positions on any films.

"'Bandit Queen' was banned for a scene for frontal nudity which was intrinsic for the narrative of the movie. Finally, when it got a nod from the Supreme Court after a year, pirated copies were already out," she said.

She also maintained that the freedom to watch a movie should be left to the adult audience. "In the US, X-rated films are showed in theatres after midnight. If we have the right to choose a government at 18 years, then we should be given the freedom to watch movies of our choice too," she said.

CBFC came under criticism last year for banning a set of cuss words in movies. It was also rocked with allegations of political appointments including chairman Pahlaj Nihalani, who is allegedly a Modi acolyte.

However, Tripathi refuted allegations of political interference in the affairs of the CBFC. "There is no political pressure of any sort. The chairman has never interfered in the matters of the board," she maintained.

Tripathi also said that she is looking forward to the recommendations of the Shyam Benegal Committee, appointed to recommend steps to re-vamp the CBFC.

The committee comprises filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra, advertising expert Piyush Pandey and critic Bhawana Somaya, among others.

(Preetha Nair can be contacted at preetha.n@ians.in)

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Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was unhurt as the car he was travelling in lost control and skidded off the road on Sunday.

The incident occurred around 2.50 a.m. when Chandy, fast asleep, was travelling from northern Kerala to his home town, near here, after a busy day of attending a number of functions along with President Pranab Mukherjee who was visiting the state.

A tyre of his car got deflated following which the car skidded off the road and came to a halt close to a wall.

"It was a close shave and nothing happened, we are all lucky," Chandy told reporters on Sunday morning.

His security official told IANS that since the chief minister had used the seat belt, things turned out to be safe.

The official did suffer a small injury on his hand.

Chandy visited his parish church in Puthuppally, which he represents in the assembly, and then met his constituents.
Six years after a devastating earthquake shook Chile on February 27, 2010 and claimed over 500 lives, the Chilean government is close to completing reconstruction of infrastructure essential for restoring public life.

The government said the final stage of reconstruction, set to be finished in 2018, will involve an investment of about $224 million in the country's southern and central regions, Xinhua reported.

"In total, 91.7 percent of the budget assigned for rebuilding work has been spent. The final 8.3 percent will be used over the 2016-2017 period," said a release from the Ministry of Public Works.

President Michelle Bachelet will embark on a trip around all six quake-affected regions, including the capital Santiago.

She will also meet affected families who have still not received new housing, and inspect those already re-housed.

The region of Biobio was one of the worst-hit. While it was not hit by the tsunami, structural damage was serious there.

The authorities expressed satisfaction with the reconstruction, with only the repairing of the Bicentenario bridge yet to be completed.

Alvaro Ortiz, mayor of capital city Concepcion, said: "The reconstruction is practically finished."

Luisa Villegas, who lost her home in the village of Santa Clara de Talcahuano, said she received "a nice house after two years".

The municipality of Constitucion lies in the region of Maule, which took the brunt of the tsunami. Over 250 houses were given for free to those who had lost theirs in the quake.

However, Carlos Valenzuela, mayor of Constitucion, criticised the slow progress of the rebuilding plan for the area.

New evacuation routes were planned in the event of new earthquakes and tsunamis, but Valenzuela said only 40 percent has been completed.
A Chinese robotics firm is going to set up a factory to produce a US counterpart's models in China, the world's largest market for industrial robots.

Hunan-based Cothink Robotics Tech Co. and Rethink Robotics signed an agreement on Sunday in Changsha, capital of Hunan province, with the city government as a third party, Xinhua reported.

A Cothink spokesperson said the production base, Rethink's first in China, would have an annual capacity of 2,000 robots.

Scott Eckert, president and CEO of Rethink Robotics, said he foresaw the products would have a broad market in China, as they can replace human workforce in dangerous work or tasks requiring high precision.
Who will lead the Congress and the CPI-M in the coming assembly elections in Kerala? Both parties appear to be unsure.

Over the years, power has changed hands in the state between the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) headed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

The Left has two front-runners, both from the CPI-M.

One is the 92-year-old former chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan, the other is long-time rival, Pinarayi Vijayan, 71. The former is considered widely popular and the latter is seen a party strongman.

Vijayan has just ended a successful month-long tour of the state during which he covered all 140 assembly constituencies.

CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, whose closeness to Achuthanandan is well known, and party leader S. Ramachandran Pillai will take part in party leadership meetings here on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The CPI-M has to decide whether both Achuthanandan and Vijayan need to contest the elections and, if yes, who will lead the battle, party sources said.

Within the Congress, despite a full-term run by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, state Congress president V.M. Sudheeran and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala are expected to give Chandy a fair challenge.

Chandy, whose UDF has 72 seats in the 140-member Kerala assembly, surprised many when he became the first Congress chief minister after K. Karunakaran (1982-87) to complete the full five-year tenure.

While it has not been decided yet if Sudheeran should contest the election, Chennithala, who withdrew at the last minute in 2011, is certain to throw his hat into the ring this time.

If that happens, there may be more than one claimant for the post of chief minister - if the UDF comes on top again. Similarly, if both Vijayan and Achuthanandan contest, the CPI-M will also face a dilemma.
Sima Marine India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Dubai-based Simatech Shipping, launched coastal container shipping service from Kochi connecting Mangalore in Karnataka, Goa and Mundra in Gujarat.

Simatech Shipping is one of the largest container feeder servicing companies in the world operating 54 ships with partners, including 15 of its own.

C.F. George, managing director of Simatech Shipping Dubai and Sima Marine India, said the company sees good growth potential in the India coastal segment which has been untapped for a long time now.

"We believe a consistent service with competitive rates can attract more coastal cargo movement which is now moving by road. Indian government is promoting container coastal movement by offering incentives," said George.

For the exclusive coastal service operations in the country, the Indian subsidiary has also acquired two 1,500-TEU container vessels, Sima Godavari and Sima Narmada, which have already started their operations now.

These ships are now sailing with Indian flag to work within the cabotage law.

As a strategic move, the company has also started a fully-equipped back office operation facility in Kochi.

"Soon, our new back office in Kochi will be in a position to support our entire global operations. All our ship planning and accounting operations will be done in Kochi," added George.
Pained by the large-scale violence in Haryana during the Jat reservation agitation, the NRIs of Haryana origin in Canada fear it will impact investment in the state. They have appealed to people to maintain the age-old brotherhood among 36 biradaris of the state.

In a statement here today, the Overseas Association of Haryanvis in Canada said, "We, the NRIs of Haryana origin, would like to appeal to our brothers and sisters to support centuries-old brotherhood among 36 biradaris in the larger interest of Haryana and the nation. "

The statement said the large-scale violence has affected the image of Haryanvis, Haryana and India. This will have "a significant impact on potential investments in Haryana."

The Overseas Association of Haryanvis said the agitation has not helped the common man of the state. On the contrary, it said, "will create more unemployment and increase poverty in an otherwise prosperous state."

The Haryanvi NRI body said the reservation agitation "provided an opportunity for anti-social and anti-national elements to create anarchy in the state."

Pleading with the khaps, it urged them to help restore "brotherhood that has existed through the centuries" in Haryana.

"We hope that our Haryanvi brothers and sisters will understad our pain and help restore peace and brotherhood in our beloved and progressive Haryana," the Overseas Association of Haryanvis in Canada said.

(Grmukh Singh can be contacted at gurmukh100@gmail.com)
A day after Taliban attacked a bus of the Afghan Defence Ministry in Kabul, the toll has risen to 15 while 31 others were injured, the ministry said on Sunday.

Those killed in Saturday's attack included 11 personnel from the ministry and four passersby, Xinhua reported.

The injured included 26 military workers and five civilians, the ministry said.

The following is the listing of major attacks in Afghanistan since January 1, 2016.

On February 27, about 13 persons were killed and 40 others injured after a suicide bomber attacked a pro-government local leader, Khan Jan, in Kunar province. Khan died in the attack.

On February 22, a Taliban suicide attacker killed 13 people, including six Afghan Local Police (ALP) officers, and injured 11 in Parwan province.

On February 17, three civilians were killed and 12 injured by an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Faryab province.

On February 11, five ALP officers were killed following a insider attack in Kunduz province.

On February 10, two police officers launched an insider attack, killing five policemen and injuring six officers in Kandahar province. One attacker was killed in shootout.

On February 8, six civilians were killed and nine injured in a suicide bombing in Paktika province.

On February 8, three military officers were killed and 18 injured when a suicide attacker struck an army bus in Balkh province.

On February 1, at least 20 people, mostly police officers, were and 29 others were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive jacket at the gate of Civil Order Police station in western Kabul.

On January 30, a police chief and an intelligence director were killed in an IED attack in the Dangam district of Kunar.

On January 26, Zubair Khaksar, a local Journalist and cultural advisor to governor of Nangarhar, was killed in a targeted killing.

On January 26, some nine police were killed in an insider attack in Uruzgan province.

On January 20, up to seven media workers and a policeman were killed and 24 injured as a suicide car bombing struck a bus carrying employees of a local TV channel in Kabul.

On January 17, a suicide attack struck a guesthouse of a local leader Malik Usman Shinwari in Nangarhar, killing 12 civilians and injuring 13 others. Shinwari was among the injured.

On January 13, seven security forces and two civilians were killed and 11 injured after three gunmen attacked a building near Pakistani consulate in Nangarhar.

On January 4, one suicide bomber was killed after his car bomb went off along a main road near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. The target remained unknown.

On January 4, three civilians were killed and 38 others, including two foreign soldiers and five policemen, injured after a suicide truck bomb hit Camp Baron, a heavily protected residential compound of foreign civilian contractors near Kabul airport.

On January 3, gunmen seized a building near Indian Consulate office in Balkh, killing one security force soldier and injuring nine others. The gunmen were killed after one-day clash with security forces.

On January 1, three civilians were killed and 18 injured after a suicide car bomb targeted a local French restaurant in the Qala-e-Fatullah Khan area of Kabul.

--Indo-Asain News Service

py/dg
A doctor's initiative in harnessing technology has produced an application which can help locate a person trapped in debris in an earthquake or other disasters when communications fail.

Pradeep Bhardwaj, CEO of Six Sigma High Altitude Medical Services for Rescue, says his company has developed a software application which can be tracked through the mobile phone.

The concept is based on ham radio used by amateurs to communicate with one another. However, the application developed by Six Sigma, which can be downloaded to a mobile phone, is not for communication but for continuously sending out a signal which can be detected by special equipment.

"The application does not require mobile network or internet connection to communicate. This is based on satellite which will continuously transmit coded signals but which cannot be used to communicate," Bhardwaj to IANS.

The transmitted signals can be detected within a radius of 50 kilometres.

He said that keeping the security concerns in mind, the application had been designed in such a way that people tracking the signal can get information on its location with accuracy. Bhardwaj said the Telecommunications Ministry had already given them a licence to operate the system.

Six Sigma medical services have been recognised by the Central government, several state governments and countries like Nepal and China for its contribution in saving and counselling thousands of people during the Uttrakhand cloud-burst in 2013, Nepal earthquake in 2015 and China earthquakes, Bhardwaj said.

"The Real Time Location application is made keeping in mind the rescue operations in high altitude areas where mobile towers network or Internet fails being hit by a natural calamity. People or soldiers who get trapped in the debris or snow can easily be helped out using the application," Bhardwaj said.

Till now, Bhardwaj said, he and his team had saved more than 5,600 victims who were stuck in high altitudes.

The Six Sigma is also known for setting up a base camp at a height of 24,500 feet on Mount Everest during the Nepal earthquake, where they had played a major role in helping the Indian Army rescue people.

Bhardwaj said they would send a proposal on the application to the Health Ministry soon, urging it to get it installed in the cell phones of soldiers and people living in high altitude areas which are prone to earthquakes and landslides.

C.K. Misra, additional health Secretary in the ministry of health, told IANS: "This is a good initiative which will help people in high altitude areas. But, he said, the government would need to look into such applications."

Bhardwaj claimed the application could have helped track Indian soldiers caught in the avalanche recently in Siachen, had these been installed in their mobile phones.

(Rupesh Dutta can be contacted at rupesh.d@ians.in)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a three-nation visit on March 30 during which he will hold a bilateral summit with the EU in Brussels, attend the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, and become the first Indian prime minister to go to Saudi Arabia in six years.

Modi will visit Brussels on March 30 for the first India-European Union (EU) summit in four years.

EU Ambassador to India Tomasz Kozlowski said in a media interaction in December that India was an extremely important partner for the EU and the new economic and social agenda of the NDA government was specially attractive. He however had noted that that the relationship has not met both sides' expectations despite the potential.

With India being an important trading partner of the 28-nation politico-economic union, he said the EU was "really interested" in completing a free trade agreement with it.

Modi had met presidents of the European Commission and European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Antalya in Turkey in November last year.

After Belgium, Modi will be in Washington on March 31 to attend the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) amid much speculation that he will meet Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines.

The NSS is expected to be attended by the leaders of around 50 countries.

On his way back, Modi will stop in Riyadh - a visit which assumes significance in the face of the current regional situation and strained relations between the Gulf kingdom and Iran, another strategically important country for India.

Saudi Arabia is also home to nearly three million Indian expatriates, most of whom are blue collar workers.
Mahishasur, whom the popular belief views as the 'demon' slain by Goddess Durga, is not an object of inspiration or veneration for any tribal community in India, said Prakash Oraon, a tribal scholar in Jharkhand.

"No demographic book and no references are found to associate Mahishasur with tribal people," Oraon, who is former director of the state government's Tribal Research Institute (TRI) in Ranchi, told IANS.

Oraon said he has never heard, as a scholar and as a tribal himself, of any tribal community viewing Mahishasur as an object of inspiration.

"This seems to be a new creation of some people. I am born and brought up in Jharkhand. I am tribal but never heard that Mahishasur is an inspiration for any tribal community," he said.

Oraon said, "there is indeed an Asur tribe whose main occupation is iron smelting", suggesting that they too have nothing to do with Mahishasur.

"Tribal people are non-violent and innocent," he added.

The controversy over Mahishasur and Durga started when union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday referred in the Rajya Sabha to the celebration of "Mahishasur Martyrdom Day" in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).

She contended that the organisers of such an event had been abusing their freedom of speech by making derogatory references to Goddess Durga.

Irani has since been criticised for holding the celebration of Mahishasur against the JNU students. Some media reports contend that Mahishasur has long been venerated by communities, including tribes, spread across several states of India.

Oraon said there could be a political reason for ascribing veneration of Mahishasur to the tribal communities.

"We believe that there could be a political reason for linking tribals with Mahishasur. There may be a section of people who are trying to bring tribal and Dalits together for political reasons," he said.

Oraon said Mahishasur's association with violence would also go against the non-violent nature of the tribal lifestyles.

"Can anyone prove that tribal people were violent? Tribal people worship nature. There is a festival of tribal people every month. The festivals include Sarhul, Karma and others but where is a festival to worship Mahishasur?"

According to anthropologists, Asuras were among the Proto-Australoid groups inhabiting what is now Jharkhand and the western region of West Bengal. They figure in the Rigveda, Brahamanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads.

There is a popular belief that the Asuras are the descendants of Mahishasur. The people from the tribe are now mostly found in Gumla, Latehar, Lohardaga and Palamu district of Jharkand and in north Bengal's Alipurduar.
A Pakistani anti-terrorism court remanded in custody three men suspected of involvement in the Pathankot airbase attack in India's Punjab state, media reports said.

Judge Bushra Zaman on Saturday granted six-day physical custody of the suspects to the counter-terrorism department (CTD) of Punjab province in Pakistan, Dawn online reported.

The suspects were arrested from a rented house over suspicion of facilitating the January 2 attack in Pathankot airbase, merely 55 km from Pakistan border.

Suspects Khalid Mahmood, Irshadul Haque and Muhammad Shoaib denied charges and were shifted to an undisclosed location for investigation.

The attack left seven Indian security personnel killed. All six terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, were also killed in the attack on the airbase.
Pakistan and the US will hold the sixth round of the strategic dialogue in Washington on Monday, the media reported.

Sartaj Aziz, adviser to the prime minister on national security and foreign affairs, will lead the Pakistani side. US Secretary of State John Kerry will lead his team to the talks, the Daily Times reported.

The talks will focus on Pakistan's economic growth, trade and regional stability, energy cooperation and extremism and terrorism. The two sides will review the progress made by the working groups on economy and finance, defence, law enforcement and counterterrorism, security, strategic stability and non-proliferation and energy.

The last strategic dialogue was held in Islamabad in January 2015.

The strategic dialogue process started in 2010, but it was interrupted in 2011 when a US midnight raid in Abbottabad killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. The process resumed in 2014.

Political analyst Rasul Bakhsh Rais said that Pakistan was in favour of stability and peace in Afghanistan and India.
An exhibition of the works of the late Mumbai-based artist Nasreen Mohamedi is being launched at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or simply The Met, here on Tuesday, supported by Nita Ambani-led Reliance Foundation.

The exhibition, which will be open to public from March 18 to June 5, is part of The Met's new series of modern and contemporary programmes, hosted at the landmark building designed by Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer here.

Sheena Wagstaff, the chair of the Met's modern and contemporary division, apparently got Nita Ambani interested in the whole project. They are both slated to be here for the grand preview at Manhattan's Madison Avenue and 75th Street.

"One of our goals with The Met Breuer is to present thoughtful exhibitions that posit a broader meaning of modernism across vast geographies of art," Wagstaff said.

"The poignant story of Mohamedi, a relatively little-known but significant artist, reveals a highly-individual artistic quest, drawing on historic sources from across the world, alongside her evocative photography as an unexpected form of visual note-taking."

The Met said the exhibition is being made possible by Nita and Mukesh Ambani and the Reliance Foundation, adding that it is also being co-hosted by the Queen Sofia Museum of Spain and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art.

"One of the most significant artists to emerge in post-Independence India, Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990) created a body of work that demonstrates a singular and sustained engagement with abstraction," the Met said.

What has come for praise is her minimalist practice, which not only adds a rich layer to the history of South Asian art, but also enrages the scope of the narratives into international modernism.

"The Met Breuer exhibition, the first museum retrospective of the artist's work in the US, is an important part of the Met's initiative to explore and present the global scope of modern and contemporary art," the Met said.

Mohamedi mainly worked with pencil and ink on paper, as also experimenting with organic forms, delicate grids, and dynamic and hard-edged lines -- drawing upon a range of aesthetic sensibilities.

Inspirations came from poetry of Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke and French philosopher-author Albert Camus, as also classical music and the modernist architecture of Le Corbusier's Chandigarh.

Mohamedi is also believed to have had an exposure to Western and Eastern philosophy, poetry and literature, which can be seen in her diaries that include quotes by Rumi, Ghalib, and Mohammad Iqbal.

Having traveled extensively from New York to Tokyo, she also had a cosmopolitan outlook that drew her equally to the 16th-century Mughal buildings of Fatehpur Sikri and the 20th-century modernist architecture of India.

"Spanning Mohamedi's entire career and bringing together over 130 paintings, drawings, photographs, and rarely-seen diaries, the exhibition traces the conceptual complexity and visual subtlety of the artist's oeuvre."
The Haryana Police on Sunday registered a case of gang rape after a woman from Delhi's Narela area filed a complaint, even as a senior police officer said she could not confirm if the incident was linked to alleged Murthal gang rapes.

The woman called up the helpline of the all-women Special Investigation Team set up to investigate the alleged gang rape of at least 10 women commuters in Murthal in Haryana's Sonepat district last Monday (February 22) during the pro-reservation Jat stir.

"I cannot say if this incident is linked to the alleged Murthal gang rapes. We are investigating. I am going to Delhi to record her statement," SIT head and Deputy Inspector General of Police Rajshree Singh told media persons.

She said seven people have been booked in the gang rape case.

Police sources said the complainant said she could identify all seven accused, including her brother-in-law, who committed the crime on February 22-23 night.

"She complained that she was travelling from Haridwar when her bus broke down near Murthal. She said she boarded a van (taxi) in which other people, including women, were also travelling. However, the van was stopped by some people, who pulled them out and gang raped her in the fields," Rajshree Singh said, adding that investigations into the complaint had begun.

Police sources said a personal dispute in the case could not be ruled out.

The Haryana government on Friday set up an all-women inquiry committee to probe the alleged gang rapes on women who were commuting on the National Highway-1 early Monday.

The inquiry committee, headed by DIG Rajshree Singh and comprising two women Deputy Superintendents of Police Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur, on Saturday visited Hasanpur village near Murthal, where the alleged assault took place.

The Haryana government and police earlier maintained that no gang rapes occurred near Murthal.
US researchers have identified a peculiar behaviour of singing duet in Red-backed Fairywrens, a promiscuous bird specie found in Australia, to keep up with a mate.

The scientists discovered a queer habit of crooning duets in the fairywrens when they notice an intruder. The male and female will immediately fly together and perch on a branch right next to each other and start belting out duets.

Those who reacted quickly and sang duets more are said to have a "strong" duet-singing response. Others were slower on the uptake.

"We found that pairs with a strong duet response had lower rates of cuckoldry," said study author Emma Greig, scientist at Cornell Lab of Ornithology in US.

The pair with a strong duet response were also found less likely to mate outside of their pair bond when they sang together more, the researchers explained.

"If the males are particularly riled up, they will do this 'puff-back' display, raising the orange or red feathers on their back to the intruder. While singing duets, their heads are thrown back to the sky with their beaks wide open," pointed out one of the researchers, Daniel Baldassarre.

Even when pairs have a strong duet response, sometimes the mates still stray, but it does increase the likelihood that they're raising mostly their own genetic offspring.

The results of the study published in the journal Biology Letters suggested that the females decide what males to cuckold. Male Fairywrens, whether aggressive or not, are often cuckolded by the females.

"Our results suggest the females are deciding what males to cuckold. Females are either being influenced by their mate's songs, or females are indicating their own choice by singing with their mates more. We need more detailed work to distinguish these alternatives," Greig added.

Famous for their legendary courtship and mating behaviours, the Fairywrens are known to be among the least faithful birds in the world, with an extra-pair mating commonplace, resulting in eggs often fathered by various different birds.
At least six people were killed in a coalmine blast in Russia on Sunday, the country's emergency ministry said.

Sunday's blast took place a day after a similar blast occurred in the coalmine in which four miners died and nine others were injured.

When the blasts took place on Sunday, as many as 77 people -- 38 rescuers and 39 mine employees -- were underground at the Severnaya mine in Vorkuta, the Komi republic, Tass news agency quoted the ministry as saying.

According to reports, six people were killed. Five of them were rescuers from the Russian ministry for emergency situations. One person was a mine employee, the ministry added.

Five people were injured. "All of them are on the surface. The Severnaya mine's doctors are examining them," the emergencies ministry said.

At least 26 miners remained missing after the repeated blasts and there were no chances for the survival of them, the ministry added.
Five people were killed when a speeding truck rammed into several shops in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, police said on Sunday.

Three others were critically injured in the accident that happened on Basanti highway near Bhangar on Saturday night. "The truck driver is absconding," said a police officer.

Locals blamed the police for the accident.

"Though the area is accident prone, police never bother to control traffic here. There is hardly any traffic police presence. Even when they are present, they don't control the traffic," said a witness.
What's the one assurance investors want before setting up manufacturing base in India? The ease of making workforce adjustments in line with changing market conditions. In this area, Indian labour laws are among the most restrictive.

The Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 has two provisions in the way of workforce adjustments. Chapter VB of the Act requires prior approval of the appropriate government before resorting to any layoff, retrenchment or closure in establishments employing 100 or more workers.

The draft Labour Code on Industrial Relations currently in circulation seeks to raise the threshold to establishments employing 300 or more workers, but it is still work in progress.

Another major contentious provision is Section 9A of the Act which mandates 21 days' notice before affecting any change in established conditions of service of any employee, including any change necessitated by "rationalization, standardization or improvement of plant or technique". This is anathema for investors, particularly in this age of fast changing technologies and manufacturing processes.

Contract labour is yet another major area of concern. Investors would surely want to know if engaging workers on temporary contracts would run afoul of the law. The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, as the name suggests, is enforced to regulate the practice and abolish it in certain cases.

In other words, the practice is not prohibited. Engaging contract workers for temporary, intermittent or seasonal work is allowed but using them for work of perennial nature violates the letter and spirit of the law.

Why would investors want to engage workers on temporary contracts in the first place? To meet surges in demand for goods and services requiring urgent workforce adjustments. Immediate deployment of regular workers is not always feasible and pruning them alongside falling demand often meets legal obstacles. Moreover, regular workers are increasingly becoming less productive and more expensive.

The central government has yet to initiate any action in this area. Rajasthan has taken the early lead, raising the threshold for applicability of the law to cover industries or contractors engaging 40 or more contract workers, up from the original 20. Other state governments are expected to follow suit. The move has been welcomed by employers and criticized as anti-worker by trade unions.

But changing the applicability clause is like nibbling at the edges. Plunging into the core, the status of temporary workers must be redefined and extended beyond the present limit of 240 days in a year. That should take care of persistent demands by the traditional trade union movement for regularization of all contract workers.

On this aspect, the experiment by India's largest carmaker is innovative and instructive. In 2012, Maruti introduced a new category of directly recruited temporary workers, substantially reducing the role of intermediaries. It has appreciably narrowed the gap in emoluments and allowances between regular and contract workers, which is the main bone of contention.

Temporary workers get on-the-job training as apprentices and become eligible for regular appointment in due course. Maruti pays such workers a stipend for the period they must wait out for regular appointment. This also promotes a sense of belonging and solidarity with the company. It is the habit of institutions to give birth to loyalties. The policy has worked well and has brought industrial peace to what was a volatile workplace.

The big question is: How soon can the central government bring about meaningful changes in the existing laws to facilitate quick workforce adjustments?

For investors, this is the major sticking point. Can the government drive the labour reforms agenda through the legislative route and achieve desirable outcomes?

Given the present party alignments in the Rajya Sabha, this is like building castles in the air. Alternatively, can executive orders be employed to achieve the desired results? Some quick thinking is needed in this direction, followed by swift action.

As the reforms package unfolds, pragmatic solutions will have to be discovered to assure investors that their business interests would not suffer by mindless application of the law, while taking care to ensure that workers' interests are not compromised.

Labour reforms are critical to the "Make in India" campaign. Investors have been waiting with anticipation. Brand India cannot afford to disappoint.

(Abhik Ghosh, IAS (retd), was with the International Labour Organization (ILO) as a senior specialist in industrial relations and labour administration. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at abhik.ghosh1@gmail.com)
Zimbabwe's ruling party has been criticised for hosting a lavish 92nd birthday celebrations for President Robert Mugabe, the world's oldest leader, while majority of the country's population face food shortages.

The event held on Saturday reportedly cost almost $800,000, BBC reported.

The leader, accompanied by his wife Grace, released 92 balloons to start the event at the Great Zimbabwe monument in the drought-stricken south eastern city of Masvingo, with tens of thousands of people attending.

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said the celebrations were "ill-conceived".

Money used for the event should be used to import maize "to avert the impending starvation" in Masvingo and other areas, said Obert Gutu, an MDC spokesman.

"The obscenity of this particular exercise is that he throws this bash not just based on public funds... but he does it in one of the worst-affected drought-stricken parts of the country," an MDC MP said.

Gutu said the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) "should be utterly ashamed" for hosting the costly celebration while "more than 90 percent of the population are wallowing in grinding poverty".

Mugabe has been serving as president of the southern African nation since December 22, 1987. He has led the ZANU-PF since 1975.
As Delhi Chief Minister and (AAP) Convenor Arvind Kejriwal began his five-day visit to Punjab, he was greeted with protests, black flags and "Go back, Kejriwal" slogans. With characteristic spunk, Kejriwal underplayed all of that and said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had hired such "goons" to stall the march of the AAP before and during the Delhi Assembly polls. The result was for all to see. "The ruling alliance (in Punjab) will see a miracle in the 2017 polls when there will be no Opposition (for the AAP) at all in the Vidhan Sabha," a local paper quoted Kejriwal as saying. The Shiromani Akali Dal in alliance with the BJP is in power in Punjab.
Incumbents in the airline industry are said to be up in arms against the proposed changes. While incumbents typically oppose any liberalisation or reform that encourages competition, they rarely threaten court action. While that is a moot possibility, a government on the back-foot due to a sustained growth slowdown, may be pushed into an ill-considered backtracking on its proposal.
The genesis of the central in India goes back to 1860 when it was first introduced by then finance minister James Wilson, two years after the transfer of Indian administration from the East India Company to the British Crown. The is presented through 14 documents, some of which are mandated by the Constitution of India, while others are in the nature of explanatory documents.
With reference to Shyamal Majumdar's column, "The disruption in the job market" (February 26), several experts would not subscribe to the writer's view that millions of workers will acquire new skills with the entry of robots at the workplace.

Even as artificial intelligence (AI) makes rapid progress and encompasses several facets of our daily lives, scientist Stephen Hawking's warning - that humanity faces an uncertain future as technology learns to think for itself and adapts to its environment - cannot be ignored. A report at the Davos World Economic Forum suggested that a combination of AI and robotics could end the era of mass employment. Robots when accurately programmed don't make mistakes. They don't complain about working conditions or demand union representation; they don't take sick leaves or seek benefits.

The next industrial revolution could lead to loss of jobs for 80 per cent of the working population. Such a situation, coupled with a growing population, makes the future look gloomy. If we get rid of jobs, how will people sustain themselves?





H N Ramakrishna Bengaluru

can be mailed, faxed or e-mailed to:The Editor, Business StandardNehru House, 4 Bahadur Shah Zafar MargNew Delhi 110 002Fax: (011) 23720201E-mail: letters@bsmail.in
In August last year, Paulette Brown became the first woman of colour to be the president in the 137-year history of American Bar Association (ABA), a 400,000-member advocacy group for United States' legal fraternity. in a recent visit to India, Brown shares with Sudipto Dey her views on opening up the Indian legal service, and efforts to improve diversity in the profession. Edited excerpts:



What is your take on the issue of opening up the Indian legal services to foreign law firms? Some big Indian law firms have advocated a gradual opening up, spread over three to five years.



The legal services in the United States are regulated state by state, but there is no prohibition against Indian lawyers practising in the United States. In New York alone, 172 Indian lawyers recently took the New York Bar exam. In the United States, every lawyer, no matter where they are from, has to take the Bar exam.
The Supreme Court last week stated that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Act and its regulations referring to imposition of penalty for manipulative or fraudulent practices are "somewhat unclear if not a confused picture that emanates from parallel provisions." The procedural regulations including those that prescribe the procedural course, namely, Sebi (Procedure for Holding Enquiry by Enquiry Officer and Imposing Penalty) Regulations 2002 and the successor Regulation i.e. Sebi (Intermediaries) Regulations 2008 contain identical and parallel provisions with regard to imposition of penalty resulting in myriad provisions dealing with the same situation. A comprehensive legislation can bring about more clarity and certainty on the norms governing the security/capital market and, therefore, would best serve the interest of strengthening and securing the capital market. The court continued in its judgment, Sebi vs Kishore Ajmera, that "a comprehensive legislation can bring about more clarity and certainty on the norms governing the security/capital market and, therefore, would best serve the interest of strengthening and securing the capital market." The court was disposing of a large number of appeals by Sebi against brokers. It allowed the appeals in most cases and set aside the appellate tribunal's orders while restoring the orders of penalty imposed on the brokers by Sebi.
The warm winds of Paris are blowing through Irving, Texas. A United Nations accord on climate change struck in the French capital late last year has emboldened shareholders to propose more resolutions on global warming, including at Exxon Mobil with its Lone Star state headquarters. Energy companies can't so easily resist such demands.

The New York state comptroller and four other stockholders of the $350-billion oil and gas titan are pressing ahead with their fight. They want a vote urging Exxon to publish annual assessments of the risks posed by climate policy to its wells, reserves and other operations.

The proposal is just one among many. About 85 similar ballot suggestions have been filed so far in 2016, a quarter more than a year ago, according to proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS). Ones that proceed have better odds of weathering a challenge like Exxon's at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The agency shot down only one of 12 last year.

Exxon's two main arguments are weak. First, the company says the proposal is too vague. On the other hand, it says it already has substantially implemented the objectives in a 2014 report about managing risks. The claims are in conflict, and suggest Exxon is trying to game the system. It only needs to persuade the SEC to latch onto one to keep the measure from going to a vote.

The ambiguity assertion also has less validity. The Paris agreement codifies a 196-party goal of limiting the rise in temperature to less than two degrees Celsius. What's more, Exxon's rivals don't seem to have any problem spelling out the potential effects of this specific greenhouse-gas policy. Royal Dutch Shell, BP, Statoil and ConocoPhillips all have recognised the risks.

Environmental and social resolutions typically struggle to secure a majority. Support has grown steadily, though, from an average of under eight percent in 2000 to 20 per cent in 2015, according to ISS. A significant minority can move management and boards. With Paris at their backs, the climate is right for shareholders to extract more useful information from the likes of Exxon.
PANDEMIC

Tracking Contagions, From Cholera to Ebola and Beyond

Sonia Shah

Sarah Crichton Books

271 pages; $26



Sometimes, the best approach to a book about deadly pathogens is to read it in a slightly dissociated state - it allows you to marvel at the cunning adaptability of microbial life, rather than contemplate the far creepier possibility of your own doom. In her introduction to her book, Sonia Shah, a science writer whose previous include The Fever and The Body Hunters, does not seek shelter in euphemisms or shy away from scary numbers. Instead, she cites a study in which 90 per cent of epidemiologists say they believe a global pandemic will sicken one billion and kill up to 165 million within the next two generations.
Deutsche Boerse and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) think their union will be a good idea regardless of whether Britain stays hitched to the European Union. But they are clearly aware that others - such as, perhaps, their shareholders - might be less certain. Hence their attempt to deflect any scepticism.

The two companies said on February 26 that the combined group would be domiciled in London. But they also pledged to create a so-called Referendum Committee to consider the implications of a British vote to exit the European Union (EU). Its findings are unlikely to challenge the strategic rationale presented for the merger. The two exchanges are a good fit, with complementary geographical and product spread, and should offer margin savings to clients. And a combined mega-exchange has a better chance of thriving in an industry where the biggest usually do best.

But the latest joint statement issued by Deutsche Boerse and the LSE contains a hint of what the committee could find - that the volume or nature of the business of a combined group might be affected if Britons were to vote to leave the EU in the June 23 referendum. Given this tacit nod to concerns that London might suffer as a financial centre, the rational thing to do might have been to domicile the combined group in Frankfurt, rather than London as planned.

But this merger, like many others, is a delicate balance of compromises. The companies have confirmed that Deutsche Boerse's chief executive, Carsten Kengeter, would become group CEO and that his LSE counterpart, Xavier Rolet, would step down. Basing the combined group's headquarters in Germany would make the deal look more like a Teutonic takeover than the merger of equals it is supposed to be. This matters, given Deutsche Boerse doesn't look like it is paying a particularly generous premium, according to calculations.

If the committee were to decide that the group needed an EU domicile post Brexit, LSE investors can draw comfort from the fact that its views are non-binding. Deutsche Boerse will hope that the committee's presence is enough to persuade its own shareholders they aren't being led blindfolded into a deal that is hostage to a highly uncertain political event. The success of the deal may hinge on whether the two views can co-exist.
Budgets always give rise to rumours and leaks. It's dangerous to speculate about these until they are substantiated. Yet, some issues must be addressed in the coming Union Budget, one way or another. How those are tackled will help shape sentiment.

There isn't much leeway for the Government of India (GoI) to increase public spending, if it is to keep the fiscal deficit close to the commitment of no more than 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP). Higher spending is already guaranteed, due to the pay commission. This expenditure is already discounted. Importantly, GoI has to start doing something about public sector banks (PSBs). The problem of huge non-performing assets is out in the open and it is evident big bailouts will be required. Numbers like Rs 2.4 lakh crore are being bandied around as necessary for recapitalisation. The eventual sum required might be more and the process could take years.

Read more from our special coverage on "MARKET INSIGHT" Govt banks will continue to bleed

How much the government allocates to ailing banks and how it handles the bailout process will be crucial. A crisis in banking could put a lid on growth acceleration. And, even a major recapitalisation might not be enough to restore confidence about PSB health.

Investors would like to see signs of banks being allowed operational freedom. There are rumblings within the PSB sector about political coercion and forced lending to infrastructure projects, which is where the worst exposures lie.

GoI must find ways to address those negative perceptions. That task starts with the Budget. If it does come up with a coherent, credible plan for easing bank stress, there could be positive impetus on this front.

There is also a need to set realistic targets in the disinvestment programme. It is absurd to set targets which are missed by miles every year. In practice, GoI will raise a little less than Rs 20,000 crore from divestment in this financial year. Not a bad sum in itself but ridiculous compared to the target of Rs 69,500 crore. If the Budget assumes divestments in 2016-17 will be much higher than, say, Rs 25,000 crore, the figure is likely to be treated with scepticism.

As part of the disinvestment assumption, GoI will also have to decide how it proceeds to sell stake. Will it sell only small ones, in more or less profitably going concerns (NTPC and Power Grid, for instance) and, thus, remain firmly in control of the businesses where it does sell stake? Will it sell strategic stakes and cede control in some businesses? Will it try to get to rid of big losers like Air India or shut these down? Will disinvestment continue to be a sham, with LIC (a wholly-owned government corporation) and SBI (a tightly controlled PSB) ordered to subscribe to every stake sale? The answers might not be obvious at the Budget itself but the market will try to glean a sense of GoI's intentions.

Another area of interest will be subsidy calculations for the petroleum, gas and fertiliser sectors. The government must make assumptions as to what the bill is likely to be. In turn, this depends on the price of crude oil and gas. It also depends on what the government intends to do. Does it intend to gradually eliminate kerosene and gas subsidies, for instance?



Price volatility is a given in energy markets. At this instant, some international players expect crude prices to fall to $20 a barrel or less by December 2016. Others with equally good credentials expect crude prices to rise till $60 a barrel by then.

GoI's subsidy estimates have to be based on some sort of projected prices. Those will have an error factor. Take that as read. If the market thinks the projections are credible or conservative, the response might be positive.

Beyond this, there are rumours about changes in tax rates and in the treatment of capital gains. Those would have large implications but the devil lies in the details. It is entirely possible that there will not be a great deal of change or it might be different from the rumours.

The contrarians can take heart from one thing. There has been no bullish build-up to the Budget and the mood has been downbeat. This could mean the bears have already sold and discounted down many of the possible negatives. If the Budget does have some positive surprises, it could trigger buying.
The demand for term insurance policies has grown exponentially in recent times. The number of people taking such policies in excess of Rs 1 crore is high, with many looking to buy policies with sum assured of Rs 5 crore or more.

Some questions raised by those buying large-value term insurance policies are:



Quoted premium: It is only a display price. Unless you are supremely fit for your age, it is rare that you will get a large-value term policy at the display price. It is safe to assume the average person who seeks a term insurance policy will invariably have niggling health issues and different companies will hike premium rates differently, based on their understanding of these health issues. So, using these display premiums as a basis for the initial selection is hardly a fruitful exercise.

Company's death claims: The amendment to the Insurance Act in 2015 says a death claim cannot be rejected three years after the issuance of the policy on any grounds whatsoever. If a large death claim arises during the first three years of a policy, it would be investigated thoroughly even by an insurance company that may otherwise have a high ratio of death claims paid. If you have fully disclosed all facts and gone through the medical tests, there is no way a death claim can be rejected even within the first three years. I will go so far as to say that you can completely ignore the death claim paid ratio, if you are making full and complete disclosure of all facts.

Will the life insurance company be around to pay: There is no easy answer to this one. All life insurance companies are governed by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India and have to adhere to strict solvency margins. Having said that, we have seen international examples (fortunately, none in India) of Insurance companies going through issues despite strict regulation. The chances of an Indian life insurance company going bust are low, simply because most large insurance would be re-insured with re-insurer abroad. One should still choose a trusted life insurance brand. On this count, public sector firm Life Insurance Corporation scores highly because the payment of the value is guaranteed by the Government of India. Other large insurance brands being run by large banks in India should be equally good.

Will the insurer be willing to issue a large-value policy to you: Despite the high-decibel advertising, many life insurance companies might not be interested in issuing large-value life insurance policies, as they want to concentrate on moderate value policies while covering large number of people. That is part of their risk management strategy. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing this in advance. The best way to reach an appropriate life insurance company is to approach brokers who service high-value insurance seekers. Your financial planner can direct you to an appropriate one.

Disclosure: Neither the writer, a Sebi -registered investment advisor, or any entities associated with him have any direct or indirect connection with any insurance broker
On Friday, February 19, the Gujarat unit of the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) declared Vijay Rupani, cabinet minister in Chief Minister Anandiben Patel's government and MLA from Rajkot (West) the next party president in the state.

Though a unanimous decision, the appointment of a new state BJP chief was delayed by almost a month, owing to differences between Patel and party national president Amit Shah, say insiders.

From a Baniya (read non-Patidar) community, Rupani would be a safe bet at a time when the party is facing multiple challenges, from an agitating Patidar (Patel) community demanding reservation to the opposition's allegation of undue advantage by the government to business partners of the CM's daughter, Anar Patel, vehemently denied.

Though a 'non-controversial' personality, Rupani is seen as a Amit Shah confidante. Hence, his appointment hints at the latter's increased indirect control of the state unit, where rumours of factionalism are rife.

"During (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi's chief ministership, the BJP in Gujarat was united. Now there are factions, though no one will admit it," says social and political analyst Achyut Yagnik.

This, among other comparisons with her predecessor, has not escaped Anandiben Patel, recently having faced a flurry of challenges. She turns 75 this November. Contrary to the authoritarian style of leadership identified with Modi, his protege and first woman CM has exhibited mixed styles. Some senior bureaucrats say comes across as arrogant, yet bold, in decisions. However, peers in the cabinet and political observers find a lack of vision in her governance.

"She believes a lot in follow-up and is detail oriented. She likes to keep a tab on the scheme and, hence, makes surprise visits at places to monitor the implementation. This has meant she travels extensively within the state," observes a top bureaucrat who works closely with her.

Yet, others find a lack of vision, contrary to Modi who seemed to work with an end in mind. This was visible when Patel drew severe flak over her handling of the Patidar agitation that peaked on August 25, 2015, after a mega rally in Ahmedabad led by Hardik Patel, convenor of Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti. The rally followed the latter's detention and subsequent violence across the state by community members, coupled with police excess on citizens. The administration could not take hold of the situation for almost a month.

The other criticism her administration faces is the way cracks in the Gujarat model seemed to have emerged. The Patel government has been found to continue to favour large industries over small industries and the rural agrarian population. For Sebastian Morris, faculty member at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, the Gujarat model was never very robust and not all-inclusive.

"It was not based on including everyone, such as in agriculture. Even the Patel agitation is an economic one. There has been no change in orientation in the government's leadership and, hence, the same kind of economic agenda continues. More, issues in Gujarat have come to the fore in recent times because the overall economy has not been doing well. When the Centre grows, Gujarat grows and vice versa. When India is being affected, Gujarat gets badly affected, since it is a predominantly a manufacturing state," says Morris.

Lending strength to his view , that the economic agenda continues to be focused largely on industries and on not being inclusive, are the recent local body poll results, in December 2015. These saw the BJP winning all six municipal corporations and 40 of 56 municipalities in urban areas. However, it lost to the Congress in 21 of the 31 district panchayats and 110 of the 230 taluka panchayats.

The day after the poll results, the BJP government in Gujarat announced a 6,000 acre land bounty to co-operative societies and agricultural produce committees at concessional rates. That has been followed by a slew of schemes aimed at pleasing agrarian communities, along with small cottage and medium industries, beside youths from all sections.

After facing huge trouble in the Patidar agitation in the state in August 2015, the state government announced a package of Rs 1,000 crore for economically backward category (EBC) youths. During 2015, the government announced schemes for agriculture such as crop insurance, organic farming and more incentives for small industries. The past couple of months have also seen a slew of policies for the information technology sector, films, tourism, the Alang ship breaking industry and a policy for start-ups and for cottage industry.

The rural-urban divide in the local body polls does come across as a surprise for the Anandiben Patel regime which has been increasing focus on agriculture, irrigation and social services in the past few state budgets. For instance, the outlay for social services during Narendra Modi's chief ministership was around 42 per cent, which rose to 48 per cent in Anandiben Patel's regime.

As Gujarat's first woman chief minister, Anandiben Patel also launched a result oriented Gatisheel Gujarat program under which focused efforts were being made on strengthening areas like women empowerment, cleanliness, industrial development, health, and education, among others with dedicated schemes.

In the past two years, the Anandiben Patel-led government has announced several policies and scheme for the students, woman, youth, industries, urban development through civic bodies. For instance, her government allotted a revolving fund for women empowerment, linked self-help groups to banks and gave cash credit of Rs 60 crore. It provided equipment to civic bodies for cleanliness and has built thousands of toilets for rural sanitation.

Time, however, is short and she seems to know this. Last week's budget announcement saw Gujarat opening 66,000 positions in the state government for employment, a first in terms of size since formation of the state.

Rumours are rife over a threat to her position as CM. Also, the Anar Patel allegations have got tongues wagging within and without the party. Apparently, a company run by business associates of the CM's daughter owns 400 acres - 250 acres of which was allotted at Rs 15 a square metre - near the Gir lion sanctuary. There are also rumours that Modi asked her to rectify her image.

Nevertheless, party insiders say her position is safe till December 2017, when the state goes into assembly polls. "She still has Modi's support," says one.

Also, "any change of guard will create a bad image for the party", observes Joshi.

Going ahead, the challenge will be in controlling the Patidar agitation, which could be possible, given a strong representation of the community in the cabinet, including the CM herself. The other challenge would be the two monsoons before the assembly elections next year. Depending on how good these are, it could tilt the rural vote in favour or against Anandiben.

A non-Patidar and neutral party chief in Gujarat could help conclude her tenure in dignity, says Yagnik, who believes there doesn't seem a possibility of a second term for her.

Rupani says he has a difficult task. "There are challenges but we are hopeful of resolving these. We are speaking to agitating Patels and hopefully a resolution would be worked out," he told journalists soon after his appointment.

INITIATIVES

6,000 acres land bounty to co-operative societies and agricultural produce committees at concessional rates



Rs 1,000 crore package for economically backward category youths.

Opening 66,000 positions in the state government for employment



Announcement of schemes and policies for agriculture, small industries, information technology industry, film, tourism, Alang ship breaking industry, start-ups and cottage industry.

Increase in outlay for social services from 42% during Narendra Modi's chief ministership to 48%



Launch of result-oriented Gatisheel Gujarat programme for focused efforts in strengthening areas like women empowerment, cleanliness, industrial development, health and education



Allotment of revolving fund for women empowerment, linked self-help group to banks and cash credit of Rs 60 crore

Measures taken during Anandiben Patel's tenure as chief minister:
The Budget session of the Rajasthan Assembly, to start from February 29, is expected to be stormy, with the opposition Congress party gearing up to corner the state government on the issue of allegedly derogatory remarks by two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs and disinvestment of some units of power plants.

While the Congress is demanding suspension of MLAs Kailash Chaudhary and Gyan Dev Ahuja for their comments, the BJP said the opposition members were unnecessarily creating issues to impede the session.

The Rajasthan Budget (2016-17) is likely to be presented on March 8, though the Business Advisory Committee will finalise the date.

The two BJP MLAs had recently criticised Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi for siding with those who raised "anti-national" slogans in Jawaharlal Nehru University. Choudhary had termed Gandhi a 'traitor', while Ahuja supported Choudhary for his statement and alleged the varsity was a den of "sex and alcohol".

"The two BJP MLAs have made derogatory public statements and they should be arrested. Congress will prominently raise this issue in the assembly session, along with other issues," Leader of Opposition Rameshwar Dudi said, adding the party had given a memorandum to the governor for their arrest.

"We are demanding action against them and if no action is taken before the session begins, we will take up this matter in the Assembly," he said. Deputy Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chand Meena said the Cabinet's decision to disinvest eight units of the Kalisindh and Chhabara thermal power plants would be strongly opposed during the session.

"Due to financial mismanagement of the government, the debt on power companies of the state has risen to Rs 1 lakh crore, which was Rs 66,000 crore in November 2013. Instead of taking steps to contain the losses, the government is going for disinvestment only to benefit private companies, which will be against the interest of the state," said Meena.

Budget sessions in Andhra, Telangana



The Budget session of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly will commence on March 5. Governor E S L Narasimhan has issued a notification summoning the legislative Assembly.

Accordingly, the proceedings will commence with the address of the governor to the joint session of the legislature. The Business Advisory Committee of the legislative Assembly is expected to meet the same day to finalise the duration and the issues that should be discussed during the Budget session.

Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu is expected to present the Budget for 2016-17 tentatively on March 10.

The Telangana Assembly's Budget session will begin on February 29. State Finance Minister Eatala Rajendar is likely to present the Budget for 2016-17 on March 5.

Bihar, UP brace for village panchayat polls



Elections in village panchayats in Bihar will begin from Wednesday. The massive exercise to vote for mukhiyas, sarpanchs and other village heads will go on for nearly two months. The notification came on February 28 and with the announcement, the model code of conduct is now in place. Ahead of the elections, the government has made allocations for teachers in village schools and madrassas. Although, in theory, these elections are not held along party lines, a party divide is usually evident. So, will the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) recover its lost ground? We will know by the end of May.

March 3 will see elections to 36 seats of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council, in which elected representatives of local bodies will cast their votes to elect MLCs from the local authorities constituencies. Nine hundred and thirty eight polling stations will be set up across the state and nearly 126,000 voters are expected to exercise their franchise.

Counting of votes will be on March 6. All political parties, including the Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, have fielded candidates. Web casting of the polling will be done at selected polling stations that will be identified as 'politically sensitive' to avoid any untoward incident like unauthorised movement of unwanted elements.

Officials at the Chief Electoral Office in Lucknow will monitor the polling live on its official website.

Webcasting in MLC polls will be a trial for the 2017 Assembly polls, in which around 140 million people are eligible to cast votes.
Mounting bad loans and declining profitability of state-owned banks will be the focus of the second edition of Gyan Sangam, a retreat of heads of public sector financial institutions, beginning March 4.

The two-day conference, to be attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan, Financial Services Secretary Anjuly Chib Duggal and other senior finance ministry officials, would also discuss consolidation in the banking sector, sources said.

The event at Gurgaon near Delhi may not be addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi this time, sources said, adding that so far confirmation has not come from the PMO.

Banking sector is grappling with rising non-performing assets (NPAs), which are expected to rise further in the coming quarters.

Gross NPAs of public sector banks was Rs 3.60 lakh crore at December end, up from Rs 2.67 lakh crore at the end of March 2015.

In case of private banks, gross NPAs stood at Rs 38,396 crore at December end, up from Rs 31,576 crore at March 2015 end.

Due to mounting bad loans, profitability of public sector banks is being affected.

In the third quarter alone, many leading public sector banks, including Bank of Baroda, Bank of India and IDBI Bank, reported their highest ever quarterly losses aggregating to over Rs 12,000 crore, while others like SBI and PNB witnessed sharp erosion in profits.

The first Gyan Sangam was held last year in Pune where Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed heads of PSU banks and insurers, and financial sector regulators, promising no interference from any government functionary in their commercial decisions.

There were focussed group discussions on six topics which resulted in specific decisions on optimising capital digitising processes, strengthening risk management, improving managerial performance and financial inclusion.

In this edition of Gyan Sangam, various decisions taken at the last edition would be reviewed, along with the financial performances of the banks and financial institutions.

Participants will also deliberate on two focus areas of the government -- financial inclusion and direct benefit transfer scheme.

It is expected that there would be extensive review of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), the government's flagship financial inclusion programme.

Deposits in accounts opened under the PMJDY programme have crossed the Rs 30,000 crore mark. As many as 20.38 crore bank accounts were opened under PMJDY as on January 20.

Besides, progress with regard to Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) would also be reviewed.
Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon has joined his predecessor in office in unloading on Donald Trump, calling the Republican front-runner's campaign racist and saying his discourse on immigration is fuelling anti-American sentiment around the world.

Calderon, a conservative who was president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012, even said yesterday he thought Trump was trying to exploit the same social feelings and resentments as did Adolf Hitler.

"I think his logic of exalting white supremacy isn't even acting against immigration Donald Trump is the descendant of migrants, it is acting and speaking against immigrants who have a different skin colour than him, which is frankly racist and is a bit like the exploitation of raw nerves that Hitler did in his day," Calderon told reporters after a meeting of the National Action Party, or PAN, in Mexico City.

Calderon's comments parallel those made earlier by former President Vicente Fox, who preceded Calderon in office and also belonged to the PAN party.

In interviews with Univision and Mexican media, Fox called Trump "crazy," a "false prophet" and an embarrassment to his party. When asked about Trump's assertion that he was going to get Mexico to pay for his proposed border wall, Fox used an explicative to make his point the country would never do so.

Trump said Fox ought to be "ashamed of himself" for his vulgarity and demanded an apology.

Trump has angered many Mexicans for his campaign rhetoric denigrating some immigrants as "rapists" who bring crime and drugs to the United States. Threats of mass deportations of Mexicans and other migrants illegally in the country, along with his promise to build a wall separating the nations, have added to the bad feelings.

Calderon said Trump's discourse is "sowing hate" against the United States around the world and this is not is Washington's interest.

During a visit to Mexico's capital, Vice President Joe Biden apologised for the inflammatory rhetoric about Mexico in the US presidential campaign.

"Some of the rhetoric coming from some of the presidential candidates on the other team are I think dangerous, damaging and incredibly ill-advised," Biden said on Thursday. "But here's what I'm here to tell you: They do not, they do not, they do not represent the view of the vast majority of the American people.
Three suspects arrested in Pakistan in connection with the Pathankot terror attack have been sent to a six-day police remand by an anti-terrorism court, days after an FIR was registered in the high-profile case.

The three accused - Khalid Mahmood, Irshadul Haque and Muhammad Shoaib - were yesterday presented before ATC-2 judge Bushra Zaman in Gujranwala, some 70 kms from here, in the Punjab province.

The judge granted six-day 'physical remand' of the suspects and handed them over to the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) police, the Dawn reported.

They are said to be involved in the January 2 attack on the key Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

The three were arrested by the CTD from a rented house near Chand Da Qila bypass over suspicion that they were facilitators of the attack.

The three suspects denied the charges and were shifted to an undisclosed location for investigation.

The CTD earlier this month registered an FIR against the unknown attackers in Gujranwala.

The FIR number 06/2016 was lodged under sections 302, 324 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code, and sections 7 and 21-I of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

It is not known when the three were arrested but it is believed that that might have been arrested well before the registration of the FIR and probed which provided enough evidence to proceed against them in the court of law, officials said.

Seven security personnel were killed when suspected terrorists of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) stormed the Pathankot airbase on January 2.

Several alleged militants were arrested after the attack for which India blamed JeM.

India has also provided leads with phone numbers which have been included in the FIR.
The death toll in Russia's worst mining disaster in recent history climbed to 36 today as officials said 26 missing workers could not have survived and another six, most of them rescuers, had been killed in a new explosion.

Four miners were killed on Thursday when a methane explosion ripped through the Severnaya mine in Arctic Russia at a depth of 748 metres.

"According to the expert technical council, 26 (missing) people who were in the mine had no chances of surviving," Tatyana Bushkova, a spokeswoman for the mine's operator Vorkutaugol, told AFP today.

"The rescue operation has been halted," she added in an emailed statement.

A fresh methane explosion at the mine in the small hours today killed five rescue workers and a miner, Anton Kovalishin, a spokesman for the emergencies ministry in the Komi region where the mine is located, told AFP.

The pit is located in the city of Vorkuta in the Komi region, which used to host one of the most feared Soviet-era Gulag labour camps.

Vorkutaugol is operated by Severstal, the Russian steelmaker controlled by billionaire Alexey Mordashov.

Authorities launched a massive search operation involving hundreds of rescue workers who had been trying to track down the missing despite almost zero visibility, smoke, gas-polluted air and rubble.

Both the company and the authorities had until now refused to declare the missing dead even though rescuers appear to have failed to make contact with them over the past few days.

But the latest explosion forced officials to admit that no-one could have survived.

"Unfortunately, we are forced to acknowledge that all the conditions at that section of the mine would not allow a person to survive," Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said for his part in comments broadcast by LifeNews television channel.

Bushkova said a fire was still burning at the mine and the company was considering whether to flood the pit or pump inert gas into it.

Seventy-seven people were in the mine during the rescue operation when the latest explosion hit, the emergencies ministry said.

Of these, 71 were rescued and brought to the surface. Eleven of them were injured.

"According to experts, there is a high risk of new explosions," the ministry said.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday have been declared days of mourning in the region.

Earlier this week President Vladimir Putin tasked the government with setting up a special panel to inquire into the accident.

The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal probe into any violation of safety rules and dispatched investigators and forensic experts to the scene.

Ine accidents are fairly common in Russia and other former Soviet countries, where much of the infrastructure has not been modernised since the Communist era.
A 13-year-old student who had gone missing on February 19 was rescued safely from Gurgaon today while three alleged abductors -- two software engineers and a woman -- were arrested, police said.

Gurgaon-residents Tushar Jain and Prateek Jain, software engineers by profession, and Shradha Vishwas, who hails from Kolkata, were arrested, SSP DK Dubey said, adding two other accused managed to flee.

He said Vishwas and Prateek Jain were live-in partners and stayed in Gurgaon.

The accused told police they had planned the kidnapping to establish a factory in a foreign country with the ransom money.

They also said they had planned to kidnap children of other businessmen from Delhi as well.

The SSP said class VI student Atishay, son of businessman Mayank Jain, had gone missing on February 19 after he left for school. His relatives registered a missing case after he failed to return.

He said the kidnappers made their first ransom call on the night of February 22 and demanded Rs 2 crore - Rs 23 lakh as first instalment and the rest after safe return of Atishay.

The relatives paid Rs 23 lakh in Gurgaon yesterday.

Meanwhile, police were trying to locate the captors using surveillance technology. After taking the ransom last night, the accused were fleeing to Haridwar when the police captured them.

The car used in the alleged crime and Rs 23 lakh ransom money were recovered from them.

Praising the work done by the police team, the DGP announced that Meerut range IG Lakshmi Singh, SSP DK Dubey and City SP Om Prakash would be given a cash reward and citation.
Several air strikes hit central and northern Syria today, a monitor said, but the first major ceasefire of the war appeared to be broadly intact on its second day.

Warplanes, believed to be either Syrian or Russian, bombed seven villages in the provinces of Aleppo and Hama, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Rami Abdel Rahman, the head of the Britain-based monitor, said one person was killed in Aleppo province.

It was unclear if the raids hit areas covered by the truce.

The agreement does not include territory held by the Islamic State jihadist group and Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, which together control more than half of Syrian land.

According to Abdel Rahman, only one of the villages, Kafr Hamra in Aleppo province, is controlled by Al-Nusra and the others are in the hands of non-jihadist rebels.

Elsewhere the situation remained mostly calm, according to AFP reporters.

In Aleppo, Syria's second city, the night passed without any sound of fighting or air raids, a correspondent said.

Residents took to the streets to do their shopping.

"There's something strange in this silence. We used to go to sleep and wake up with the sound of raids and artillery," said Abu Omar, 45, who runs a bakery in rebel-held east Aleppo.

"I'm happy but sad for regions that are not covered by the truce and whose inhabitants continue to suffer," he said.

Streets in Damascus were also bustling.

The temporary truce, brokered by Washington and Moscow, is seen as a crucial step towards ending a conflict that has claimed 270,000 lives and displaced more than half the population.

Russia, which has waged nearly five months of intense air strikes in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said Saturday it had halted bombing in all areas covered by the truce.

But it has vowed to keep striking IS, Al-Nusra and other "terrorist groups".

The US-led coalition fighting IS has also kept up its raids on the group, launching 12 strikes against jihadist positions in Syria on Saturday, it said in a statement.
Authorities have jailed an Algerian citizen for possible links with the suspected ringleader of the Paris attacks, Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

A court in Algeria's Bejaia province said the man, who lives in Belgium, was jailed Tuesday in the northern Algerian town Akbou, according to state agency APS. The statement didn't identify the man or specify the charges against him.

The man is suspected of having "links with the terrorist attacks of Paris," according to the court statement.

Belgium was home to four of the Nov. 13 attackers who killed 130 people in Paris, including Abaaoud, who died in a police raid in an apartment in Paris' suburb five days later.
A rifle as new state symbol. A bill that lets young children use handguns under supervision. As mass shootings shatter lives, the fascination with firearms among many Americans shows little sign of fading.

Over the past week, two gunmen killed at least nine people in unrelated rampages in Michigan and Kansas.

Add to that the death in Indiana of a father who was accidentally shot by his six-year-old son who found a loaded revolver lying around and pulled the trigger.

President Barack Obama -- who offers his condolences to families of loved ones lost after each mass shooting -- has decried the "routine" nature of reporting about and responding to such tragedies.

But faced with a Republican-controlled Congress unwilling to move forward on the matter, Obama -- who made fighting gun violence his chief resolution for 2016 -- is left with his wheels spinning.

In January, he shed tears as he announced limited measures to tackle the rampant violence that kills around 30,000 Americans each year and called on citizens to punish lawmakers who oppose more meaningful reforms.

In the speech, Obama formally unveiled a handful of executive measures that will make it harder to buy and sell weapons, but which he admitted would not stop the scourge of mass shootings.

And in a country where there are more guns than people, and with Republicans vying to take back the White House in November, it remains to be seen, what -- if anything -- will change.

Senators in Tennessee -- in a near unanimous vote -- designated a rifle that is said to be capable of destroying commercial aircraft as an official state symbol.

The .50-caliber Barrett, manufactured in the southern state, joins a range of other Tennessee state symbols. These include the mockingbird as "official state bird" and the raccoon as "official wild animal."



"These 'anti-materiel' sniping rifles can strike accurately from a distance of more than a mile" (1.6 kilometres), the Violence Policy Centre, a non-profit organisation that advocates for gun control said.

"They can penetrate light armor, down helicopters, destroy commercial aircraft, and blast through rail cars and bulk storage tanks filled with explosive or toxic chemicals, all with potentially catastrophic effect."



Still, the semi-automatic weapon is available for sale to civilians.

For the vast majority of Europeans, South Americans and Asians, there is little doubt that a firearm is best kept as far as possible from places where people live, let alone from children.
An army Jawan died due to cardiac arrest whereas another allegedly tried to end his life by consuming some poisonous substance in two separate incidents in Jammu since last evening.

Mogan Lal, a resident of Marh in Jammu, was rushed to hospital after he complained for chest pain, a police officer said.

He said the doctors at the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMC) declared him as brought dead.

In a separate incident, Shanbir Basraj of the Maratha Light Infantry, was found unconscious at a rest house near Jammu railway station, the officer said.

He said Basraj was shifted to hospital where doctors said that he had consumed some poisonous substance.

Initially it seems that he had tried to end his life, by consuming some poisonous substance, he said.

Cases have been registered and investigations taken on in both the cases, the officer said.
Cyrus Dastur, who has co-produced the upcoming film "Sweetie Desai Weds NRI", is all praise for Vadodara city for its "tremendous potential" for attracting filmmakers to shoot here.

"'Sweetie Desai Weds NRI' is a humorous take on the Gujarati culture and its different shades," Dastur said.

"The film has been shot entirely in Vadodara and adjoining areas. It is the first Bollywood movie to have been shot entirely in the city, known for being the 'cultural capital of Gujarat'," he claimed.

The city has tremendous potential for drawing filmmakers to shoot their projects here, he said.

Dastur thanked Gujarat Tourism Minister Saurabh Patel for facilitating and extending cooperation to his team to carry out the shooting at the tourist locations in the city.

The film's co-producer Dhaval Patel said the movie has portrayed the Gujarati culture in its true form.

Sharad Patel, associate producer of the film, said, "After witnessing the rise of Gujarati cinema, this film, which has been shot entirely in and around Vadodara, will become a trend-setter.
A Bangladeshi-origin cleric in the UK has been murdered allegedly by a 21-year-old youth while he was returning home from a mosque.

64-year-old Jalal Uddin, who was a Quran reader at the Jalalia Jaame Mosque in Rochdale of north-west England, was found by passers-by in a children's park with serious head injuries on February 18.

He was taken to a hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

The accused, Mohammed Hussain Syeedy, has been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit the murder of the cleric after the post-mortem concluded that the cause of the death was a head injury.

Syeedy will appear at Bury Magistrates Court tomorrow.

A 17-year-old boy who was previously arrested on suspicion of the murder is on bail until April 20.

The cleric's son in a statement said, "Jalal Uddin was a loved and integral part of the community. He was a soft spoken, gentle soul who wouldn't hesitate to help those in need. He was a simple man, but respected by all for his kind and caring nature.
A befitting reply will be given if any attempt is made to divide the country or anti- slogans are raised, Union Home Minister said today amid a raging row over what constitutes "anti-national" activity.

"We are not a weak government. We will give a befitting reply if any attempt is made to divide the country or if anti- slogans are raised," he said addressing Kisan Kalyan Rally here to mark the launch of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was working "relentlessly" for the welfare of the farming community.

Recalling former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri's slogan 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan'.

Singh said farmers toil hard in the field and it was the responsibility of everyone to back them in times of trouble.

He refuted SP government's claim that the Centre did not give adequate compensation to Uttar Pradesh in the aftermath of

unexpected heavy rains and hail storm that caused massive damage to crops.

The Centre provided Rs 2,086 crore to UP and it was the responsibility of the state to make proper use of it, he added.
Suman Moitra, who has directed Hindi docu-feature "Bestseller", said the film focuses on Asia's largest red light district Sonagachhi in the city and talks about the life of its inmates.

The film was shot real time in its dingy lanes and bylanes for over two months.

Moitra, who assisted Vishal Bharadwaj in "Omkara" said, "Bestseller" is made in the thriller format. It is based on the fictional life of a kothi malkin in the red light area and her writer sister who too is forced to join the flesh trade.

"Bestseller" was released in 1000 theatres across country on February 26, Moitra said adding it will now visit the world festival circuits.

"'Bestseller' brings out in the open the dark underbellly of the city. It was a challenge to capture the body language, ambience and expletive-filled dialect spoken by the people in that belt," Moitra told PTI.

The director himself made a recce of the place, talked to sex workers before shooting the film for over two months in the area.

"One of our crew members who had lived for a considerable time in those areas helped a lot during and before outdoor shoots," he said.

Actor Wry Mukherjee, who essayed the role of the owner of the brothel where all the action takes place, said she had interacted with the sex workers for days. "I found they were not just women soliciting customers on the street but also mothers, wives and home makers in other times of day.

"I think these ladies are the most courageous human beings in the world. We, the normal people have less than five per cent of such courage," she said.

Moitra said the cast and crew of the film spent days in the redlight area to perfect their mannerisms.

The crew also got help from NGO 'Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee' which is a forum for the thousands of sex workers of Sonagachhi and works for them.
Aditya Birla Group firm UltraTech today announced acquisition of debt-ridden JP Group's cement plants for nearly Rs 17,000 crore (about USD 2.5 billion), making it the biggest deal in the sector.

UltraTech Cement said it entered into a binding Memorandum of Understanding with Jaiprakash Associates Limited for the acquisition of its identified cement plants having total cement capacity of 22.4 MTPA (million tons per annum) situated in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Under the deal, these plants have been valued at Rs 16,500 crore.

The deal would further include a 4 MTPA plant under implementation at a cost of Rs 470 crore, UltraTech said in a statement.

A number of Indian and foreign players were said to have been in the race for these cement plants.

UltraTech said the assets will give it access to the newer markets of Satna, UP East, Himachal Pradesh and Coastal Andhra where it does not have a presence as of now.

"Upon consummation of the proposed transaction, the company's cement capacity will stand augmented to 90.7 MTPA (current 68.3 MTPA)," it added.

The two groups have agreed to an enterprise value of Rs 16,500 crore for the deal, which is subject to definitive agreements and necessary regulatory approvals, the statement added.

The new MoU follows calling off an earlier deal wherein UltraTech was to acquire two cement plants in Madhya Pradesh from Jaiprakash Associates, which has been selling its cement and power assets to pare debt and improve balance sheet.

JP Associates said in a separate statement that headwinds of the economy have impacted all companies which had borrowed to invest in brick-and-mortar segment, currently reeling under severe pressure. The power sector is witnessing never-seen-before challenges with capacity utilisation and tariffs at all time lows.

It further said that Jaypee group has taken steps to deleverage its balance sheet through sale of two hydropower projects in HP, sale of cement assets in Gujarat, Jharkhand and Haryana, and also sale of wind power assets in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

In January 2015, JP Associates had signed an agreement with UltraTech to sell two of its MP-based cement plants. However, pending amendment to the MMDR Act, the proposed transaction ran into rough weather.

In pursuit of reducing debt, the group has now signed a



binding MoU with UltraTech for part of its cement business comprising identified plants in UP, MP, HP, Uttarakhand, AP and Karnataka, and a grinding unit under implementation in UP.

"The enterprise value for the operating capacity of 18.4 MTPA has been agreed at Rs 16,500 crore. An additional amount of Rs 470 crore shall be paid by the purchaser for completion of the grinding unit under implementation," it said.

"The group has taken these steps to effectively address the subject of debt reduction but notwithstanding government's focus on ease of doing business, JAL would be dependent on the regulatory framework, including the proposed amendment in the MMDRA, for different options available to it for consummating the proposed transaction expeditiously," it added.

JAL's Executive Chairman Manoj Gaur said that earlier proposed divestment of two cement plants in MP could not take place "for reasons not attributable to the company", which was a matter of great concern.

"In the given situation, it has now been considered appropriate to divest a significant portion of the total cement capacity in favour of a company which is not only India's largest cement player but also the first cement company in India to achieve the coveted 100 million tonne mark in the cement segment," he said.

Gaur further said that Jaypee group would leverage its expertise in the fields of engineering and construction, real estate and project execution and such steps would "further cement its credentials of being a trust worthy organisation in the long run".

Interestingly, last month government said it will take views from the public, states and industry on amending the MMDR Act to include provisions allowing transfer of captive mines granted through procedures other than auction.

Mines Ministry has prepared the draft Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to amend Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957.

As part of consultations, government invited suggestions from public, state governments, mining industry and entities concerned, on the draft Bill. The last date for sending comments and suggestions was January 26, 2016.

The transfer of captive mining leases, granted otherwise than through auction, would facilitate banks and financial institutions to liquidate stressed assets where a company or its captive mining lease is mortgaged.

The move will allow M&As worth billions of dollars in the domestic market, especially in the Cement sector where several such deals are stuck.
BJP National Secretary Sudha Yadav today alleged that the opposition fuelled the violent Jat agitation in Haryana to "unsettle" the state government.

"Based on information currently available, it seems that Congress was behind fuelling the violence in the state," the former BJP MP alleged.

"An audio clip of former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's political adviser has come to the forefront. More such clips will be unearthed and unravel the true identity of those who fuelled the violence," Yadav said here.

Haryana government will carry out full investigation into the incident, the BJP leader said, adding providing compensation to innocent people who suffered losses during the agitation is the moral duty of the government.

On the alleged molestation or rape of women during the pro-quota Jat agitation at Murthal in Sonipat district, Yadav said a committee has been formed to probe it.

She was here to visit the family of Capt Pawan Kumar, who was killed fighting militants in Kashmir's Pulwama district this month and paid tribute to the martyr.
One person was injured after police resorted to a lathi charge to disperse BJP workers protesting against Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal's visit here.

Around 80 protestors were detained by police after they raised slogans and tried to gherao Kejriwal at Gandhi Chowk area where the AAP national convener was scheduled to address a rally.

They were later freed after the Delhi CM addressed the gathering and left, police said.

BJP district president Suresh Bhatia and Municipal Council president Naresh Mahajan led the protest by their party workers.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal visited the Golden Temple and Durgiana Mandir in Amritsar.

Talking to media in Amritsar, Kejriwal said last night he met various associations of traders who were not "happy" with the ruling government in Punjab because of "rampant corruption" in government departments. Moreover the state government had failed to "support" traders, he alleged.
IT and telecom hardware makers expect the government to extend differential duty structure on mobile phones for 10 years while bringing personal computers under the regime to give a boost to domestic manufacturing.

The government in the last announced differential excise duty structure for mobile handsets, which gave domestic manufacturers cost benefit of about 11% over imported phones.

"Duty structure on mobile handsets and tablets should be continued for another 10 years. Similar duty structure may be introduced on parts, components and accessories of mobile handsets and tablets," Indian Cellular Association National President Pankaj Mohindroo told PTI.

Mohindroo is also Chairman of Fast Track Task Force - a joint body between and government, to promote manufacturing of mobile devices in India. The panel has set to achieve manufacturing target of 500 million handsets and generation of 15 lakh jobs by 2019.

PC makers like Dell, Lenovo and Intel have also sought extension of similar duty structure to encourage manufacturing of the products in the country.

"Several IT hardware players have their manufacturing facilities in India that are currently under-utilized due to weak demand. The suggested duty differential will spur the domestic consumption leading to increased production, thereby boosting manufacturing by these players," Intel South Asia Director Marketing and Market Development Sandeep Aurora said.

Lenovo India Director for Integrated Operations Vinod K Srivastava said that he hopes that the government rationalises the tax structure to promote manufacturing of desktops and notebooks, as has already been done for tablets and mobile phones.

The Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT) and the ICA have also sought government to come up with tax structure that promotes manufacturing of components used for PCs and mobile devices in the country.

"There is no availability of components, we still rely on China. All the top chip vendors and the semiconductor vendors or component vendors should be permitted to create a component hub in the country. Government can create free economic zones.

"Import and storage of goods should be allowed in these zones without custom transfer pricing lot. The transfer price should be applicable at goods which are sold from the component trading hub not when they are brought as stock," MAIT Vice President Nitin Kunkolienkar said.



As per a MAIT study, measures of the Union 2016-17 to boost production of personal computers in India can potentially generate 4,00,000 jobs in the Indian IT manufacturing sector if estimated demand for 30 million PCs per annum is fulfilled entirely through domestic production over the next five years.

In the last Budget, the government announced excise duty structure for mobile handsets at 1% without Cenvat credit, or 12.5% with Cenvat credit.

Under the duty structure, imported goods attract 12.5% duty. However domestic manufacturers are required to pay 1% duty if they do not avail CENVAT (Central Value Added Tax) credit on taxes paid on inputs.

The duty structure led to over 90% jump in manufacturing of smartphones in India.

The world's biggest contract manufacturer Foxconn led the investment followed by Optiemus Wistron joint venture and mobile handset companies like Gionee, Xiaomi, Lava, Karbonn, HTC, Datawind, started production of their handsets locally.

Mobile phone companies are likely to invest up to Rs 650 crore by March and production of handsets in value terms is expected to cross Rs 40,000 crore by the end of current fiscal.

As per the Indian Cellular Association, the production of mobile phones in India during current financial year is expected to cross Rs 40,000 crore compared to the production of Rs 18,900 crore during 2014-15.

Besides this, over 30,000 new jobs have already been generated in this during the past 7-8 months and an additional 8,000-10,000 jobs are expected to be generated by the end of current fiscal.

(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Competition Commission has dismissed complaints against DLF group firm Paliwal Developers and Tulip Housing over two projects saying that they were not dominant players in the markets concerned.

In both cases, it was alleged that the abused their dominant position but the fair trade regulator has rejected the charges.

It was alleged that Paliwal Developers abused its dominant market position by imposing unfair and discriminatory conditions with respect to sale of an office space at The DLF Galleria in Mayur Vihar, Delhi.

Against Tulip Housing, the complaint of anti-competitive business was with respect to sale of an apartment in Faridabad, Haryana.

For the Paliwal Developers matter, 'the market for provision of services for development and sale of commercial/ office space in Delhi' was considered as the relevant one.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) said Paliwal Housing is just one among several other real estate developers in Delhi offering similar services for development and sale of commercial space.

"Since the Opposite Party Group (DLF group) is not in a dominant position in the relevant market, the question of abuse of a dominant position within the meaning of the provisions of section 4 of the Act does not arise," CCI said in a recent order.

Section 4 of the Competition Act pertains to abuse of dominant market position.

While rejecting the complaint in this case, CCI also cited examples of previous cases against the DLF group.

The regulator said the issue of abuse of dominance by the DLF group was alleged in the same relevant market, related to different projects. In those matters, CCI had opined that DLF was not dominant in that said market.

"Thus, the Commission is of the view that there is no reason to deviate from its earlier finding and that the opposite party (Paliwal Developers) is not dominant in the relevant market...," CCI noted.

On the complaint against Tulip Housing, the regulator considered 'provision of services for development and sale of residential apartments/ flats in Faridabad' as the relevant market.

Rejecting the allegations, CCI said presence of a number of other players indicates that the buyers have options to choose from similar projects of other developers in the relevant market.

Tulip Housing "does not enjoy a dominant position in the relevant market. In the absence of dominance, the assessment of alleged abuse does not arise," CCI said.
After Dalit student Rohith Vemula's mother charged Union Minister Smriti Irani with lying in Parliament about her son's suicide, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today said the Centre was "cultivating falsehood" to divide the society.

"In the backdrop of Rohith Vemula's mother Radhika's outcry that the HRD Minister Smriti Irani had twisted facts during reply to debate in Parliament on suicide by her son, a scholar of Hyderabad University, it has become clear that the Centre cultivates falsehood and indulges in rumour mongering to divide the society," he told reporters on the sidelines of an official function.

Kumar was reqsponding to queries on the statement made by Radhika Vemula two days ago in which she had accused Irani of resorting to "blatant lies" while talking about her son's suicide in Parliament.
A gunman opened fire at a Baptist church in Dayton, Ohio today, killing the pastor, local media reported.

The pastor of the St Peter's Missionary Baptist Church died as result of injuries sustained in the shooting, which took place after 12:30 pm (17:30 GMT), WHIO television said, citing police.

A witness reported hearing two gunshots after the shooter walked into the pastor's office, the station said.

Witnesses said police later escorted a man from the church in handcuffs and put him in the back of a police cruiser, the station said.

Another television station, WDTN, cited witnesses as saying that the pastor had walked toward the pulpit inside the church when his brother, who was seated in a pew, stood up and followed him.

They heard several shots soon after, which sent congregation running,according to that report.

More than 20 people were reported to be inside the church at the time of the shooting, WDTN reported.

Police could not immediately be reached for comment.
Hillary Clinton cruised to a commanding victory over Bernie Sanders in South Carolina primary, drawing overwhelming support from the state's black Democrats and putting her in a strong position as the race barrels toward crucial multi-state contests on Tuesday.

Clinton's win provided an important boost for her campaign and a moment to wipe away bitter memories of her loss to Barack Obama in the South Carolina primary eight years ago.

"To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you," Clinton wrote on Twitter. At a campaign victory party in Columbia, supporters broke into raucous cheers as the race was called in Clinton's favour.

Sanders, expecting defeat yesterday, left the state even before voting was finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesday's delegate-rich contests. In a statement, Sanders vowed to fight on aggressively.

"This campaign is just beginning," he said. "Our grass-roots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won't stop now."



Black voters powered Clinton to victory, with 8 in 10 voting for her. The former secretary of state also won most women and voters aged 30 and older, according to early exit polls.

Clinton's victory came at the end of a day that saw Republican candidates firing insults at each other at rallies in states voting on March 1, or Super Tuesday. Donald Trump, working to build an insurmountable lead, was campaigning in Arkansas with former rival Chris Christie and calling Florida Sen. Marco Rubio a "light little nothing;" Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was asking parents in Atlanta if they would be pleased if their children spouted profanities like the brash billionaire, and Rubio was mocking Trump as a "con artist" with "the worst spray tan in America."



Clinton made a stop in Alabama, a Super Tuesday state, yesterday before returning to Columbia, South Carolina's capital, for an evening victory party.

Sanders, expecting defeat yesterday, left South Carolina even before voting finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesday's delegate-rich contests. He drew 10,000 people to a rally in Austin, a liberal bastion in conservative Texas, the biggest March 1 prize.

While Sanders spent the end of the week outside of South Carolina, his campaign did invest heavily in the state. He had 200 paid staff on the ground and an aggressive television advertising campaign.
Hillary Clinton today inflicted a massive defeat to Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary in South Carolina, restoring her position as party's undisputed frontrunner in the race for the White House heading into the key multi-state contest billed as "Super Tuesday" showdown.

With almost all votes counted, Clinton bagged a massive 73.5 per cent votes as against just 23 per cent by Sanders. The victory is her strongest yet in the 2016 primary contest after she narrowly won the Iowa caucuses and was trounced by Bernie Sanders in the New Hampshire primary.

Clinton won the Nevada caucuses decisively earlier this week by five percentage points. Today's win gives Clinton, 68, a decisive advantage ahead of the "Super Tuesday", when the Democratic Party's primary would be held in all states.

"Tomorrow, this campaign goes national. We are going to compete for every vote in every state, we are not taking anything and not taking anyone for granted," Clinton said in her victory speech.

The massive support that she received from black voters could carry over to other states next week including Alabama, Texas and Georgia, political pundits believed. According to an MSNBC exit poll, Clinton won 87 per cent of the black votes.

And in a pointed dig at Republican nominee Donald Trump, she said: "Despite what you hear, we don't need to 'make America great again'. America has never stopped being great. But we do need to make America whole again."



"Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers. We need to show, by everything we do, that we really are in this together," Clinton said.

Trump, 69, was quick to shot back. At an impressive rally in Millington, the real estate tycoon referred to her email controversy and alleged that the FBI was trying to give her a clean chit. But he did acknowledge that Clinton is most likely to be the Democratic party's presidential nominee.

Sanders, who conceded defeat within two hours of polls opening when he flew out of the state to Texas and Minnesota - two of the Super Tuesday battlegrounds, congratulated Clinton on her victory, but said the real campaign has just begun.

"Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning. We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now it's on to Super Tuesday," he said.

"In just three days, Democrats in 11 states will pick 10 times more pledged delegates on one day than were selected in the four early states so far in this campaign. Our grassroots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won't stop now," the 74-year-old Vermont Senator said.

"When we come together, and don't let people like Donald Trump try to divide us, we can create an economy that works for all of us and not just the top 1 percent," he said.
Apalled at the delay in construction of new Civil Secretariat and Legislative Assembly buildings by over 10 years, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Kalikho Pul has set deadlines and directed officials to ensure their completion within the time.

Pul has set April 20 and August 14 as deadline for the completion of the Secretariat and the Assembly, respectively, an official release said here today.

He said the next Assembly session would be held in the new building in September.

Pul, who inspected both the buildings yesterday, issued directives to the PWD and construction agencies to work round the clock to meet the deadline.

Instructing construction agencies to increase manpower and work in three shifts on eight-hourly basis, he directed officials to monitor the pace of work.

Surprise inspections would be made and action would be taken on the spot against erring officers, Pul warned.

The original cost of the Civil Secretariat building which was Rs 91.86 crore in 2009, escalated to Rs 198.56 crore in 2016, the Chief Minister said.

For the Assembly building, five figures ranging between Rs 51.81 crore and Rs 119.50 crore were found as original estimated cost, projected revised cost modified revised cost, etc, and he directed the Chief Secretary to verify the matter and place it before him for appropriate action.

Hinting at an inquiry in this regard, Pul said funds would be provided for completion of the two projects as the state and its people should not suffer due to faults of a few.

He directed the Principal Secretary, Finance, to release Rs 20 crore each for the Secretariat and Assembly buildings.

The statement said the Chief Minister was upset by the substandard works undertaken in the secretariat as the locks, tower bolts and door handles were broken while there was no water facility in the washrooms. He directed officials to ensure the faults were immediately rectified.

Asking the department to make provisions for using solar energy in the buildings, he also stressed on the arrangement of security for employees.
Stepping up its attack on the BJD regime in Odisha, the held a rally in Sundargarh district on Sunday accusing it of failing on all fronts and said partymen must unite to put an end to the "misrule" of the Naveen Patnaik government.

The rally, christened 'Jana Jagaran Yatra,' started from Karamdihi and covered a distance of over eight kilometres before it culminated at Bhawan at Adarsh Nagar in Sundargarh, before passing through three villages Jagatgarh, Faguapara and Bhojpur.

All through the rally, leaders tried to impress upon the people about alleged wrong doings of the BJD government and to have confidence in the .

Addressing the participants, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee President, Prasad Harichandan, came down heavily on the BJD government accusing it of being one of the most corrupt regimes the state has witnessed.

Harichandan also called upon Congress workers and leaders to come together and shed personal differences to ensure the victory of the party in the next elections.

Recalling that Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi had led a 'Save Farmers March' in Bargarh district in western Odisha on September 10 last year, the PCC chief said rattled by Gandhi's yatra, Naveen Patnaik as also Prime Minister Narendra Modi later addressed the farmers in the region.

However, BJD and BJP were not at all concerned about the well being of the farmers and were simply trying to 'mislead' the people, Harichandan said.

Speaking in similar vein, Leader of Opposition in Odisha Assembly, Narasingha Mishra lashed out at BJD regime.

He said there was no major investments in the state, the government was just hoodwinking people by signing MOUs.

"Beyond the MOUs, nothing has happened. We are just being cheated," said Mishra and also emphasised the necessity of staying united for victory of the party, saying the yatra aimed at making people aware of misrule of the BJD regime.

Senior Congress leaders also raised issues like the multi-crore chit fund scam, farmers' suicide and irregularities in implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

AICC secretary Subhankar Sarkar, former chief minister Hemananda Biswal, senior leader Kishore Patel, Congress MLAs from Sundergarh district Prafulla Majhi and Jogendra Singh were among those who joined the Yatra.
Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today accused the Congress of using terrorism for votebank politics and slammed its leader P Chidambaram for his comments on Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

"Does Afzal Guru has religion? Terrorism has no religion. He is a terrorist. A terrorist is a terrorist. He has no language, no religion. But unfortunately, treating minorities as a vote bank. Congress is using even terrorism for vote bank politics," he told reporters here.

He cited similar controversies like the Ishrat Jahan and Batla House encounters to target the Congress.

He referred to former Union Home Secretary G K Pillai's statement that the controversial change in the Ishrat Jahan case affidavit was done at the "political level" to flay the Congress leader.

"These revelations clearly show the dirty politics of UPA and Congress party that they are ready to compromise even national security to continue their political vendetta against their rivals," Naidu said.

Accused in Mumbai blast case David Headley confirmed Ishrat Jahan was terrorist and LeT website also had condoled her death, he said. An earlier affidavit by the Centre had said she was a terrorist. However, the subsequent affidavit was changed, he said, adding, "they demoralised the CBI, IB."



Similarly, former Union Minister Salman Kurshid had said in 2012 that Sonia Gandhi was "very sad" over the encounter.

"After four years (of Batla House encounter), Congress tried to take advantage in elections and Salman Kurshid said during poll campaign that Sonia Gandhiji was very sad over the encounter," Naidu said.

"To use that for sympathy is an insult to minorities. What to do, minorities have nothing to do with that encounter or terrorism," he said.

Now it is the turn of former Union Home and Finance Minister P Chidambaram, he said. "Having been at the helm of affairs, the former Home Minister, and supposed to be the most intelligent person in Congress party finds fault with Supreme Court (over Afzal Guru's hanging). He is a leading lawyer, finds fault with Supreme Court with the hanging on Afzal Guru," he alleged.

Claiming to quote Chidambaram, he said the former Minister had said that "perhaps Afzal Guru's hanging was not a correct decision."



"The highest court to anybody's knowledge is the Supreme Court. But there is another Supreme Court of Congress party presided by Chidambaram which says Afzal Guru's hanging was not a correct decision.

Quoting anti-Indian slogans allegedly raised in JNU, Naidu



said "they say justice is not done to Afzal Guru as if he is their Guru, they are extending solidarity with the people who are raising slogans like Maqbool Bhat Zindabad, how can anybody express solidarity with such people and that is the question?."



On February 25, Chidambaram had told an English daily that "one can hold an honest opinion that the case was not correctly decided and the degree of involvement of Afzal Guru was not correctly assessed."



"If someone holds that opinion, he doesn't become an anti-national. He's just holding a different opinion," he had said.

Afzal Guru's wife Tabasum Guru had dismissed the view as "too late and aimed at vote bank politics."



Distancing itself from Chidambaram's views, Congress had said, the decision of the Supreme Court was final.

"It is futile to reopen this debate since the matter has attained judicial finality. Every citizen and instrumentality of the government is bound in law to accept the judgment of the final court," party spokesman Ashwani Kumar had said.

On Chidambaram's view that there was a sense of insecurity among minorities, Naidu said, "Is Mr Chidambaram pose himself as champion of minorities? Chidambaramji, it is the Congress which is feeling insecure and hence creating fear psychosis among minorities spoiling the social fabric of the country."



Naidu alleged that Congress was always soft on terrorists and hard on nationalists.

"They abolished TADA Act. They gave certificate to Bhindranwale, encouraged and later condemned him, made him villain and sent army to Golden Temple.

On a query about funding of the projects, Naidu said most



of the finances have been tied up with various funding agencies like Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

He, however, said the funding agencies wanted the assurance that the "system would be stable" and they will be get their money back. "Nobody is going to do charity. The payment is assured with providing credit ratings to the cities," he said.

Underlining that lots of foreign entities have evinced interest to invest in smart city projects, he said, "34 ambassadors or ministers who have met me from different countries have shown their keen interest to invest in smart cities."



Asked about allegation that smart cities are against slum dwellers, Naidu said, "These are all meaningless allegation. You want slum dwellers to be slum dwellers so that they can be vote dwellers for you forever."



He said the slum dwellers are also in the scheme of things in the smart city with housing being an important integral part of the mission.

"What is smart city? Smart city is providing better life condition to the people, improving their living standards through transforming cities," he said.

Naidu says the smart city concept has caught the "imagination of the people" and cities are competing with each other to improve in the set of parameters.

"To create smart cities, you need smart people. Smart not in height, weight, coat, boot, soot but in vision and action. Now it (the smart city concept) has caught the imagination of the people and cities are trying to improve themselves, with an element of competition, to improve in the set of parameters," he said.

Terming the mission as the "flavour of the season", he says several people, including MPs, have urged him to sanction smart cities for their regions.

On solid waste management, Naidu says piling heaps of garbage in cities is not only a visual nuisance but has huge health implications.

"To address this problem, we are focusing on door-to-door collection of solid waste, its transportation and scientific processing. About 65 million tones of solid waste in generated every year in our cities and towns.

"The target is make about 50 lakh tones of compost and generate over 400 MW of electricity every year from this solid waste," he says.
Massive cosmic voids, regions of the space thought to be almost empty till now, may actually contain as much as 20 per cent of the 'normal' matter in the universe, a new study has found.

Researchers from the University of Innsbruck in Austria suggest that galaxies make up only 1/500th of the volume of the universe.

Recent measurements of cosmic microwave radiation using modern satellite observatories like The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) and Planck suggest that the composition of the universe consists of 4.9 per cent 'normal' matter, that makes up stars, planets, gas and dust, or 'baryons', whereas 26.8 per cent is the mysterious and unseen 'dark matter', and 68.3 per cent is the even more mysterious 'dark energy'.

Complementing these missions, ground-based observatories have mapped the positions of galaxies and, indirectly, their associated dark matter over large volumes, showing that they are located in filaments that make up a 'cosmic web', researchers said.

They investigated this in more detail, using data from the Illustris project, a large computer simulation of the evolution and formation of galaxies, to measure the mass and volume of these filaments and the galaxies within them.

Illustris simulates a cube of space in the universe, measuring some 350 million light years on each side. It starts when the universe is just 12 million years old, a small fraction of its current age, and tracks how gravity and the flow of matter changes the structure of the cosmos up to the present day.

The simulation deals with both normal and dark matter, with the most important effect being the gravitational pull of the dark matter.

When researchers looked at the data, they found that about 50 per cent of the total mass of the universe is in the places where galaxies reside, compressed into a volume of 0.2 per cent of the universe we see, and a further 44 per cent is in the enveloping filaments.

Just 6 per cent is located in the voids, which make up 80 per cent of the volume.

Researchers also found that a surprising fraction of normal matter - 20 per cent - is likely to be have been transported into the voids.

The culprit appears to be the supermassive black holes found in the centres of galaxies. Some of the matter falling towards the holes is converted into energy.

This energy is delivered to the surrounding gas, and leads to large outflows of matter, which stretch for hundreds of thousands of light years from the black holes, reaching far beyond the extent of their host galaxies.

"This simulation, one of the most sophisticated ever run, suggests that the black holes at the centre of every galaxy are helping to send matter into the loneliest places in the universe. What we want to do now is refine our model, and confirm these initial findings," said Markus Haider from University of Innsbruck.

The findings were published in the journal Royal Astronomical Society.
More than 450 delegates from around 40 countries will participate in a three-day conclave beginning Tuesday where they will deliberate on India's regional and global connectivity and various foreign policy initiatives undertaken in this regard.

The congregation christened Raisina Dialogue is being co-hosted by External Affairs Ministry (MEA) and the Observer Research Foundation.

"Visualised as India's flagship international dialogue, the Raisina Dialogue will have more than 450 participants from around 40 countries. Focusing on the theme of 'India: Regional and Global Connectivity', the dialogue will enable the MEA to reach out to a wider international multidisciplinary audience," the Ministry said in a release.

The deliberations with focus on geopolitics, including transport.

Delegates from several major countries including the US, China and Japan will attend the conference.
Gopalpur, the Odisha district which bore the brunt of severe cyclonic storm Phailin, is all set to get a doppler radar to boost the weather forecasting system on cyclone-prone east coast.

The radar, indigenously built by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), is expected to be operational by next month.

In November last year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had also installed a doppler radar in Paradip, another coastal district in Odisha which was ravaged by a super cyclone in 1999.

"The Odisha government has given land and also constructed building for the project free of cost," said Devendra Pradhan, Deputy Director General of IMD.

He said the government intends to cover the entire eastern and western coast with doppler radars for improved weather forecast.

"Doppler radar is an observational tool for monitoring and predicting severe weather events within the radius of 300 kms such as thunder storms, hailstorm, cyclones and tornadoes. It not only gives information about precipitation, but also wind velocity," Pradhan said.

After Maharashtra government and the Centre came under fire over the handling of the 2005 deluge in Mumbai, the IMD expedited the process of setting up doppler radars.

On the eastern coast, the IMD has installed doppler radars in Chennai, Kolkata, Machilipatnam and Visakhapatnam. Paradip and Gopalpur are new additions. The move assumes significance as the eastern coast is prone to cyclones and better forecast will help the authorities in taking timely action.

Kochi, Bhuj, Mumbai and Karikal on the western coast already have doppler radars, while the equipment is being set up in Goa. Negotiations are on with the ISRO to install another doppler radar in Trivandrum.
The government has drafted a bill that seeks to decriminalise beggary and offer a life of dignity to the beggars, homeless and others who live in poverty or abandonment.

Begging is currently a crime under the Bombay Prevention of Begging Act, 1959. Under the Act, a person found begging can be sent to a shelter home or even jail without trial.

The draft 'The persons in destitution (protection, care and rehabilitation) Bill 2015' looks at the issue as a social menace.

In the bill, 'destitution' refers to a state of poverty or abandonment, arising from economic or social deprivation and 'persons in destitution' include the homeless, beggars, people with physical and mental disabilities, the old, infirm and others who are in a state of poverty or abandonment.

According to the bill, concerned state governments will constitute Outreach and Mobilisation Units in districts and conduct surveys for the purpose of mapping areas and identifying persons in destitution, create awareness among them about the Act and provide them assistance in procuring documents required to avail the benefits of any such scheme or legislation.

Also, the state governments will establish rehabilitation centres for the care, protection and vocational or skill development training for such people.

"Each centre will be adequately staffed and supported by qualified persons such as doctors, social workers, counsellors vocational training instructors etc.

"The state government may establish separate rehabilitation centres for women and differently abled destitutes. The existing shelters running for the destitutes and homeless will be upgraded in such a manner that it provides comprehensive services for their rehabilitation," the bill says.

Persons in destitution, apart from training, medical



support and shelter also require emotional and psychological support for which the state government will constitute counselling units attached to each rehabilitation centre which will counsel them and assist them in opting for vocational training and engage in sustainable activities as a measure of rehabilitation and their reintegration with the mainstream society.

The state government will constitute a Monitoring and Advisory Board to monitor and coordinate implementation of the schemes and advise the government on matters related to care, protection, welfare and rehabilitation of destitutes.

"It will act as a linkage between various government bodies, non-government agencies and community groups for facilitating the rehabilitation and mainstreaming of such people.

"For the purpose, Inspection Committees for the rehabilitation centres will be also constituted," it says.

The draft bill states that the District Welfare Officer, Department of Social Welfare or the concerned Department handling the issues of destitutes and beggary in the states shall be responsible for the supervision, monitoring and coordination of the implementation of this Act in the districts and Director, Social Welfare, shall be responsible for that at the state level, the draft bill says.
Authorities have unearthed a massive in export of high-quality Basmati rice to Iran, running into over Rs 1,000 crore, in which the commodity was fraudulently diverted mid-sea to Dubai.

According to a probe being done by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), over two lakh metric tonnes of Basmati rice was illegally offloaded in Dubai in the last year instead of in Bandar Abbas in Iran, official sources said.

Over 25 big exporters from Haryana and Punjab are under the scanner of DRI and other agencies for their involvement in the multi-crore scam, they said.

Explaining the modus operandi, the sources said rice would be taken to Gujarat's Kandla Port by these exporters. They would then file Shipping Bills--documents filed with customs authorities carrying details of goods to be exported, consignor and consignee--for export to Iran, they said.

Instead of the consignment reaching Iranian shores, it would be diverted mid-sea to Dubai allegedly with the connivance of cargo ship operators carrying the goods.

Surprisingly, payments were also made from Iran to these exporters in India. Importers and port officials would allegedly acknowledge the receipt of rice and allow payment to be made against it here, the sources said.

What is worrying for intelligence agencies here is that they do not know the end-use of rice off-loaded in Dubai. They suspect use of rice as barter system to fund some illegal activity like terror financing, the sources said.

The DRI has red-flagged the at the highest level and is in touch with authorities concerned in Dubai about the . Prima facie, two lakh metric tonnes of rice valued at about Rs 1,000 crore has been off-loaded in Dubai instead of Iran, they said.

While India lost foreign exchange which it could have got from Dubai in case of genuine trade, Iran was also deprived of customs duty it would have been entitled to if rice was delivered at its shore, the sources said.

The authorities suspect the proceeds of the scam assumed the form of black money. The DRI has informed Supreme Court- appointed Special Investigation Team on black money about the case. It has also roped in the Enforcement Directorate to look into the matter, they said.

Legal export of rice from the country has risen in the past two years. India had exported 2,77,880.22 kg of Basmati rice to United Arab Emirates in 2014-15. About 4,11,776.06 kg of rice had been sent to the UAE between April and November 2015, as per the latest data of export compiled by Directorate General of Foreign Trade.

A total of 9,35,567.81 kg of Basmati rice was exported to Iran in the last fiscal and 4,57,023.63 kg between April and November this financial year, they said.
An Egyptian police officer was shot dead today by masked gunmen in North Sinai, an attack claimed by the Islamic State militant group.

Officer Abdullah Khalil Abdel Gawad Khalil was shot dead by the unidentified gunmen in front of his house in the restive Al-Arish city in North Sinai, a statement by the ministry said.

The Senai Province, an affiliate of IS.

Search for the attackers has been intensified, according to a statement issued by the Interior Ministry.

The incident came a day after masked gunmen riding a motorcycle attacked el-Marazik checkpoint killing a policeman and injuring one person.

Egypt's North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled the ex-president Hosni Mubarak.

The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule.

Over 700 security personnel have been reported killed since then.

The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.
A 66-year-old French woman, who had come to visit the Kanha tiger reserve, was today found dead in her hotel room here, police said.

As per initial probe, Mishel, hailing from Beurret in France, died after suffering a heart attack, district Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) Omkar Singh Kalesh told PTI.

Mishel and her husband had come to the reserve and were staying at hotel under the limits of Khatiya police station, the officer said.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan today said he has "no respect" for a decision by the Constitutional Court to order the release of two Turkish journalists held in jail for three months on charges of revealing state secrets.

"I am not in a position to agree with this decision. I am saying this very clearly: I don't concur with the decision and I have no respect for it," Erdogan told reporters before leaving on a trip to Africa.

"This issue is not remotely linked freedom of expression. It's a spying case," he said.

The Cumhuriyet newspaper's editor-in-chief Can Dundar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul walked out of jail in Istanbul early Friday after the Constitutional Court ruled that their rights had been violated in their case.

They had been detained since November over a report alleging that Erdogan's government tried to deliver arms to Islamist rebels in Syria.

But the pair, who were kept in jail for over 90 days, are still set to stand trial on the charges on March 25, with prosecutors demanding multiple life terms.

"As Tayyip Erdogan, I believe in defending freedom of expression until the end," said Erdogan.

"But I do not believe in using freedom of expression... As a mask to attack to the country. Because this is espionage."



Dundar and Gul have been formally charged with obtaining and revealing state secrets "for espionage purposes" and seeking to "violently" overthrow the Turkish government as well as aiding an "armed terrorist organisation."



Erdogan added: "For me there cannot be limitless media freedom. There is no absolute freedom for the media in any country in the world."



The newspaper report had sparked a furore in Turkey, fuelling speculation about the government's role in the Syrian conflict and its alleged dealings with Islamist rebels in Syria.
Around 20 farmers were detained here when they tried to take out a rally under the aegis of Gujarat Khedut Samaj without permission, police said.

"We had detained 20 farmers when they tried to take out a rally here without permission. Afterwards, they were later let off," Bharuch control room police officials said.

Those detained included president of Gujarat Khedut Samaj Jayesh Patel.

"The Gujarat government is not allowing farmers of express their feelings against injustice to them. They deny permission to us to take out rallies or organise dharnas," Gujarat Khedut Samaj secretary Sagar Rabari was quoted as saying in a statement.

"Today also, they (the government) denied us permission to take out Khedut Chetna Yatra where we intended to highlight problems faced by farmers of South Gujarat," Rabari added.

"However, permission was denied to us, farmers coming to the rally venue were not allowed to reach the spot and leaders were detained before the rally," he added.

According to Rabari, "it shows that this government is against the farmers of the state".
The foundation stone of the country's second Central Institute of Sub-tropical Horticultural Research was laid today at Madhabnagar near here.

The Madhabnagar institute would be the second after the one in Lucknow and would be fully-funded by the Centre, Indian Council of Agricultural Research Deputy Director General N K Krishnakumar said.

Krishnakumar and state Food Processing Minister Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury laid the foundation for the institute which will come up on 70 acres.

Research on mango, litchi and guavas, besides medicinal plants and vegetables which will benefit farmers of eastern and north eastern states would be conducted at the institute, Krishnakumar said.

It will have a state-of-the-art nursery and farmers will be advised how to grow better quality crop. Four scientists have already joined the new institute.

In West Bengal the climate and soil facilitated good crop but no scientific method was employed to increase productivity unlike in other states.

"West Bengal lags behind other states in this respect," Krishnakumar said.

Chowdhury on the occasion said that steps will be taken to market mango grown in Malda, where it is a leading crop, to the national and international markets.

A farmers' training centre was also inaugurated during the day.
Four wanted Maoists have been arrested along with weapons from Bihar's Jehanabad district, police said today.

Acting on a tip off, the police raided Timbalpur village last night and apprehended the four Maoists and seized two country-made carbines, a country-made pistol, six live ammunition, two mobile phones and a haul of naxal literature, Sub-divisional Police Officer Ashfaq Ansari said.

The arrested ultras were wanted in connection with Maoist activities in several districts, he added.
Government has asked to select a telecom operator as partner for testing the balloon-based Internet technology, Loon Project, in the country.

" wants to test the Loon Project in expensive and scarce spectrum bands. It has been asked to partner with any telecom operator that can meet its requirement and then approach the government for testing Loon," an official source told PTI.

The official said that if wishes to conduct a test with BSNL, it can carry out the experiment in the spectrum held by the state-owned company.

"This approach should resolve the spectrum band sought by Google as well as security, to some extent," the official added.

An e-mail sent to Google went unanswered.

In India, Google has approached the government to set up the Loon project that has the potential to replace mobile towers as it can directly transmit signal on 4G mobile phones.

The Telecom Ministry has formed a panel under IT secretary and asked BSNL to look at providing necessary support for the experiment. Meetings in this regard were held in October-November. The project hit a roadblock after Google sought to conduct test in 700 Mhz or 800 Mhz band instead of 2500 Mhz band that BSNL holds.

The 700 Mhz band is the most expensive and efficient spectrum for telecom services and is yet to be allocated to any service provider. Telecom regulator Trai has suggested including this spectrum in upcoming auction at a minimum price of Rs 11,485 crore per Mhz and a company will require to buy a minimum of 5 Mhz.

Google, under its Project Loon, is using big balloons floating at a height of 20 km above the earth surface for transmission of Internet services. It has already tested this technology in New Zealand, California (the US) and Brazil.

As per Google, each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area of about 40 km in diameter using a wireless communication technology called LTE, or 4G.

Google uses solar panel and wind to power electronic equipment in the balloon throughout the day.
The Centre has sent about twenty thousand paramilitary personnel to West Bengal as part of its security preparations for the upcoming in the state.

The units, drawn from various central forces, will engage in area domination and law and order duties. The Election Commission is yet to announce the dates for in West Bengal and four other states.

While the Central Reserve Police Force has been asked to pool in the maximum of 80 companies, the Border Security Force will contribute 40 such units. Central Industrial Security Force and Sashastra Seema Bal will provide 30 companies each and the 20 such units will be sent by Indo-Tibetan Border Police.

As per the directive by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the CRPF will oversee the deployment of these units in two phases that will be completed on March 7.

"While 156 units are being sent additionally by the Home Ministry from outside West Bengal, 44 are being taken out from CRPF battalions deployed in the state for internal security duties and anti-Naxal operations," a senior official said.

The units have been put at the disposal of the state government for final deployment keeping in mind troubled and vulnerable areas in the run up to the polls, the official said.

Apart from West Bengal, four other states of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu will have later this year.
Greece said Sunday the tally of refugees and migrants on its soil could more than triple next month, reaching as many as 70,000 people, as a cap on border crossings by Balkan countries left them "trapped" in the country.

"We estimate that in our country the number of those trapped will be from 50,000-70,000 people next month", Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas said.

"Today, there are 22,000 refugees and migrants", he added in an interview with Mega Channel tv.

Some 6,500 people were stuck at the Idomeni camp on Greece's northern border with Macedonia as Macedonian border officials let only 300 refugees and migrants pass the day before.

The build-up at the 1,500-people capacity camp began in earnest last week after Macedonia began refusing entry to Afghans and imposed stricter document controls on Syrians and Iraqis.

The bottleneck is expected to get worse after EU members Slovenia and Croatia, as well as Serbia and Macedonia, imposed a limit of 580 migrants entering their borders each day.

Those measures came on the heels of a clampdown by Austria, which lies farther up the migrant trail that extends from the Balkans to Germany and Scandinavia.

Austria introduced a daily cap of 80 asylum-seekers and said it would only admit 3,200 migrants transiting the country.

As a result, the tighter controls have had a big knock-on effect in Greece, where migrants have been arriving in mass from neighbouring Turkey.

Thousands, including many children, are now stranded there as the European Union struggles with the continent's worst migration crisis since the end of World War II.
Gunmen killed a pro-government Sunni Salafist cleric today in Yemen's main southern city of Aden, home to a growing jihadist presence, a security official said.

Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Adani was shot dead as he was heading to a mosque near his home, the official said.

Adani headed a Salafist religious school which attracts both local and foreign students.

He was known for his stance against the Shiite Huthi rebels as well as against the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda which are becoming increasingly active in Aden, sources there said.

According to Zaid al-Sallami, an Aden-based expert on Islamist groups, Adani was known for "rejecting violence and terrorism".

His murder was an attempt to "push moderate Salafist youths towards violence", Sallami said.

Al-Qaeda and IS have stepped up attacks in Aden despite the efforts of the government and its backers in a Saudi-led coalition battling the Huthis and their allies to secure it.

In another sign of growing unrest in Aden, clashes broke out near the entrance to the presidential palace in the port city's Crater district between presidential guards and soldiers demanding their salaries, an official told AFP.

The fighting spread to nearby residential districts and there were casualties, the official and residents said.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's internationally recognised government has declared Aden the country's provisional capital after the Huthis and their allies drove it out of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen since September 2014.

The rebels controlled Aden for months before government loyalists pushed them out in July.

Because of the unrest gripping Aden, Hadi himself and many senior officials in his government spend most of their time in Riyadh, which has led an anti-rebel coalition since March 26 last year.
A Gurudwara in the US state of Illinois has built what is said to be America's first ashes immersion centre on the banks of Rock river, allowing the Sikh and Hindu community members to perform their rituals legally.

Built on the banks of Rock river by Nanaksar Sikh Temple in Rockford city, the centre was made after getting permission from the local authorities, the chief of the temple Daljit Singh said.

Singh said earlier people were facing a lot of hurdles in immersing the ashes of their relatives after their death as the law in the country does not allow anyone to immerse the ashes in rivers, making it illegal.

"Several people were arrested, fined and given warnings after being caught immersing ashes by the US police in the past. If someone wished to send the ashes back to India, they had to go through a lot of paper work and other security- related formalities which were like a nightmare," Singh told PTI over phone today.

"With the establishment of this particular centre meant to facilitate those wanting to immerse the ashes of their dead relatives, the Sikh and Hindu community will be highly beneficial," he said.

Nanaksar Sikh Temple, having secured all relevant permissions from the local authorities, will also provide certificate to the people who come to the centre to perform the ritual.

Nanaksar Sikh Temple in Rockford was built last year after converting a 30,000 square feet foreclosed building that earlier served as a Baptist church.
Kevin Spacey-starrer "House of Cards" has signed its writers Frank Pugliese and Melissa James Gibson as the new showrunners and they will take over the duties from the show creator Beau Willimon.

The duo will work on the previously announced fifth season of the Netflix drama, said The Hollywood Reporter.

Willimon exited the series in January, when it was renewed for a fifth season. Willimon and "House of Cards" helped put Netflix, the streaming giant, on the map as a destination for original scripted programming.

Pugliese and Gibson boarded "House of Cards" as senior writers in season three. Pugliese penned episodes three and 10, Gibson wrote episodes six and 11.

"I welcome Frank and Melissa in their new roles on 'House of Cards' and look forward to collaborating with them and our creative team on season five," executive producer-star Spacey said.

Added Pugliese and Gibson in a joint statement, "We and the rest of the House of Cards writers look forward to the next chapter of the reign of Underwood.
Bangalore-based spirits firm I Brands Beverages plans to enter Vietnam, Laos and Thailand in the next fiscal year as part of its market expansion strategy.

The company is also gearing up to enter three new states in India to expand its domestic footprint to 14 states. The company has presence in states such as Punjab, Haryana, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Puducherry and Andhra Pradesh.

"We are planning to enter into three new countries -- Vietnam, Laos and Thailand during the next fiscal," I Brands Beverages Chairman and MD Lisa Srao told PTI.

Recently the company, which sells liquor brands, including Three Royals Whisky, Granton Whisky, Rum 99 and Granton XO Brandy, had entered Cambodia.

The ASEAN market is the current focus for the company for the overseas expansion, she added.

Commenting on domestic expansion, Srao said: "We will enter three new states in India in the next fiscal. These will be Delhi, Telangana and Karnataka."



When asked if the company would go for acquisitions to grow, Srao said: "We are looking for strategic alliances for growing our distribution network".

I Brands Beverages currently makes over 1 lakh cases per year in its four brands.

"Right now we have four brands but we have a portfolio of brands that are ready to be launched," Srao said.
India and China have held extensive discussions on terrorism and connectivity in Asia during exchange of views and perspectives on foreign policy priorities of their respective countries here, External Affairs Ministry said Sunday.

"A Chinese delegation led by Wang Yajun, Director General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, travelled to Delhi for the dialogue. The talks were led on the Indian side by Santosh Jha, Joint Secretary (Policy Planning & Research).

"The two sides had a productive exchange of views and perspectives on the foreign policy priorities of their respective countries, their relations with the major powers of the world, issues of global governance, terrorism, connectivity in Asia, etc," the ministry said in a release.

The dialogue helped enhance the understanding between both foreign ministries on these important issues, it said.

The interaction, which was held last week, is part of the long-standing mechanism between the two countries to understand broad policy decisions and outlook, sources said.
and China have held extensive discussions on terrorism and connectivity in Asia during exchange of views and perspectives on foreign policy priorities of their respective countries here, External Affairs Ministry said today.

The interaction, held on February 24, is part of the long-standing mechanism between the two countries to understand broad policy decisions and outlook, sources said.

"A Chinese delegation led by Wang Yajun, Director General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, travelled to Delhi for the dialogue. The talks were led on the Indian side by Santosh Jha, Joint Secretary (Policy Planning & Research).

"The two sides had a productive exchange of views and perspectives on the foreign policy priorities of their respective countries, their relations with the major powers of the world, issues of global governance, terrorism, connectivity in Asia, etc," the ministry said in a release.

The dialogue helped enhance the understanding between both foreign ministries on these important issues, it said.

It was the sixth round of such dialogue between the two countries.
More than 150 works of Indian modernist Nasreen Mohamedi will be displayed at an exhibition at the prestigious Metropolitan Museum of Art here next month with the help of Reliance Foundation, marking the first museum retrospective of the artist's work in the US.

The exhibition is a celebration of Mohamedi, considered the most important artists to emerge in post-Independence India and examines the career of the artist whose singular and sustained engagement with abstraction adds a rich layer to the history of South Asian art and to modernism on an international level, the museum said.

The exhibition is made possible by Nita and Mukesh Ambani and the Reliance Foundationand is organised by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia with the collaboration of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art.

The retrospective will span the entire career of Mohamedi from her early works in the 1960s through her late works on paper in the 1980s.

It is by far the most comprehensive exhibition of any Indian artist in theUnited States.

With more than 150 works by Mohamedi on display, the exhibition brings to an international audience more than threedecades ofherwork, comprising her few early oil paintings,collages, drawings in ink and graphite, watercolours and photographs.

The exhibition will open at The Met Breuer, the new location for The Metropolitan Museum of Art's expanding modern and contemporary art program opening to the public on March 18.

"Mohamedi rarely theorised or spoke about her work but documented her internal dialogue in a form of soliloquy, in tiny personal diaries and notebooks, some of which will be on display in the exhibition. The exhibition explores the conceptual complexity and visual subtlety that made her practice unique in its time," the museum said.

Kiran Nadar, Chairperson and Founder of the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, described the exhibition as a "momentous occasion" in bringing Mohamedi's "individualistic/distinctive practice to the western world".

"The museum's mandate is also focused on artists whose practice is yet to receive desiring attention and critical acclaim. We believe that their stories be told," she said.

Mohamedi was born in 1937 in Karachi and her family moved to Bombayin 1944, where she spent the rest of her childhood.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Director and CEO Thomas Campbell said Mohamedi's work calls on "us to expand our understanding of graphic minimalism in a transnational context. It is a project that speaks to our interest in introducing a broad range of audiences to the innovative work created by artists across borders.
In order to strengthen coverage, state-run telecom operator is interested in buying five MHz spectrum in premium 700 MHz band in atleast six service areas.

though will not be participating in the auction. Instead, it will ask government to keep one slot reserved for it and will pay the market determined price for the circles after the auction concludes.

"We will be discussing with the government that one slot of 700 MHz, we will take on the basis of auction determined price," CMD Anupam Shrivastava told PTI during the Mobile World Congress here.

BSNL was allocated 3G spectrum in 2100 Mhz and the it paid the auction determined price to the government.

He said initially, BSNL will focus on six telecom service areas, where it did not have spectrum in 2500 MHz band.

Initially, we will focus on six circles  Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kolkata and Tamil Nadu. In the remaining circles, we have spectrum in 2500 MHz band, Shrivastava said.

We have discussed and will soon write to government about it, he added.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has recommended a record base price of Rs 11,485 crore per Mhz for 700 Mhz, which are to be auctioned in the forthcoming round. If all the available frequencies get sold at Trai suggested price then 700 Mhz alone can contribute over Rs 4 lakh crore.

However, most of the telecom operators have been saying that the reserve price for 700 Mhz is too steep and put strain on their balance sheets.

Spectrum in 700 Mhz is considered more economical for providing telephony services compared to other bands like 900 Mhz or 1800 Mhz.

Shrivastava said that world over the ecosystem for 700 Mhz is developing very fast because it will give better coverage to the telecom operators.
Congress today said Union Minister Smriti Irani's statement inside the Parliament over case had many contradictions and was a "fit case" for a privilege motion as she had "mislead" the nation.

"There would be a privilege motion and it should be done. She said some 2-3 things especially in the Lok Sabha on which there is contradiction," Congress general secretary and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters here.

"The family (of Rohith) also said police as well as the doctor were present there. The doctor contradicted her (the minister), the police contradicted her and his mother contradicted her.

"So, obviously, there will be a privilege motion. Everything is recorded on both sides. So this is a fit case for privilege (motion)," Azad said.

The Congress leader defended his party colleague and former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram over his statement on Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru who was hanged inside Tihar Jail on February 9, 2013.

"I have heard that interview. He says that he was part of the process. It was our government that hanged Guru. Our government recommended, so where is the question.

"He said that there might be a perception. So, he was talking about general perception," Azad said.

He said this perception is "not new as it happens worldwide".

"The judiciary is divided, lawyers are divided, the public is divided, so he (Chidambaram) was talking in general that there is a perception and it is not about one person.

"When perception is discussed world over, some are in favour of life imprisonment, some of hanging and this is nothing new. He has not said that it was wrong," the Congress leader said.

Attacking HRD Minister Irani over Rohith issue, Azad said, "She said that no doctor was allowed to reach the spot after Rohith hanged himself. But the chief medical officer, who lives in the university premises, came out with a statement that the minister was lying.

"The doctor categorically said the minister was misleading the nation. She said that she was present there and it was she who declared Rohith dead.

"The second statement came from the police as Smriti Irani had said that police was not present there as well. Then Rohith's mother and brother said the minister was lying and was misleading the nation," Azad said.
Iraqi security forces repelled an attack by Islamic State militants on the capital's western suburb of Abu Ghraib today, officials said.

Three suicide car bombers struck a security force barracks as gunmen opened fire, according to two police officers. At least 12 members of government and paramilitary security forces were killed and 35 wounded, they added. The clashes left a silo on fire, they said.

A medical official confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

The commander of military operations in western Baghdad, Maj. Gen Saad Harbiya, said the situation is "under control" and a local curfew has been imposed.

Abu Ghraib, about 18 miles (29 kilometers) from downtown Baghdad, is the location of a prison of the same name where U.S. Troops committed notorious abuses against Iraqi detainees following the 2003 invasion.

It is halfway between Baghdad and Fallujah, which is controlled by the IS group. Security forces prevented IS from seizing Abu Ghraib when the extremists swept across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014.
Irish prime minister Enda Kenny has conceded defeat following elections that saw the governing coalition punished by voters weary of austerity, leaving the eurozone country in political limbo with no clear winner.

"Clearly the government of Fine Gael and Labour are not going to be returned to office," Kenny, the leader of the centre-right Fine Gael party, told RTE television yesterday.

Early indications suggest that Fine Gael and its centre-left junior partner have been hard hit by continued public anger over years of austerity, despite Ireland recording the fastest growth in the European Union.

Many voters turned to independents and anti-austerity parties, and the country now faces the prospect of protracted negotiations as political leaders try to build enough support to form a new governing coalition.

Kenny said the early signs were "a disappointment", as exit polls indicated the coalition would fall far short of the 80 seats needed to form a parliamentary majority.

"Obviously one has to wait now until all the counts are in right across the country to see what the options that must be considered are," he said.

Fine Gael health minister Leo Varadkar added: "I don't think that the obligation to form a government necessarily falls on us automatically."



The centre-right Fianna Fail appeared to have regained some ground lost when the party was routed five years ago in the wake of Ireland's housing crash and economic crisis.

But anti-austerity groups, independent politicians, small parties and left-wing party Sinn Fein are all on course to increase their seats in parliament, as commentators heralded a "seismic change" in politics.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, who have taken turns ruling Ireland since 1932, would likely have enough seats between them to form a coalition government.

But despite their political similarities, they are bitter rivals whose differences date back to a civil war almost a century ago.

Initial results showed a turnout of 65 per cent, down from the previous election, and the first 41 out of 158 seats to be filled indicated a fragmented political landscape.

In any negotiations parties will be mindful of the date of March 10, when the newly-elected representatives are due to meet in the lower house of parliament Dail Eireann and, in theory, appoint a Taoiseach or prime minister.

Sinn Fein were set to increase their seats to become the third largest group in parliament, continuing an upward trend in support for the party led by Gerry Adams.

It was once seen as the political wing of the Irish Republican Army but has transformed itself into an anti-austerity force south of their power base in Northern Ireland.
ISIS terrorists hacked the website of a UK-based solar firm as revenge for the killing of one of their British Muslim members, a media report said today.

Self-styled Caliphate Cyber Army (CCA) members recently carried out the hack on the website of Solar UK, an East Sussex company in south-east England with only 11 staff, The Sunday Times reported.

The attack was reportedly to avenge the death of Junaid Hussain, an ISIS figure from Birmingham, and it saw customers being diverted to a web page featuring the terror group's logo accompanied by a string of threats.

"Fear us," the page warned. "We are the Islamic Cyber Army. We have responded to the call of war and have risen across the globe, from within their own backyards to strike back viciously - anywhere and any time."



ISIS hackers, led by Hussain before his death, have previously claimed responsibility for attacks on the Pentagon and have leaked the personal details of US military and government officials.

The choice of Solar UK as a "crucial target" for ISIS has left the company perplexed.

Duncan Lee, its founder and technical director, thought the cyber-attack was a schoolboy prank when it took place on January 31 and did not report it to police.

"When it initially happened, I just thought it was some 16-year-old kid showing off his prowess," he said.

He said the site was affected only for about two hours and was astonished, however, when 'The Sunday Times' told him last week that Solar UK had been included in a new propaganda video featuring the CCA's "top" attacks.

The 50-minute video pays tribute to "our brother" Hussain and threatens more cyberwarfare on the West. PTI AK



It is interspersed with graphic footage of hostages being beheaded in Syria by the Isis terrorists who carried out last November's Paris massacre. The attack is most likely to have originated from a computer in Kuwait.

Hussain, 21, was killed by an American drone strike in Syria in August last year.

It came after he was placed near the top of a Pentagon "kill list" of influential Isis operatives.

Hussain's wife, Sally Jones, a 46-year-old convert to Islam from Kent, remains a US target.

The British couple - both computer hackers - travelled to Syria in 2013 and are believed to have been involved in a subsequent cyberattack on US Central Command, part of the defence department.
Palestinians have been barred from entering one of the largest Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank for five days after an attack that critically wounded a security guard, an official said today.

The Israeli police ban on entry to the Maale Adumim settlement is to last until Thursday and affects some 500 Palestinian labourers, a spokesman for the settlement said.

Palestinians had initially been banned after the attack on Friday but the measure has now been extended.

The decision came as Israeli authorities announced that overnight they had arrested the Palestinian accused of committing the knife and hatchet attack at a shopping mall in the settlement.

The suspect was identified as Saadi Ali Abu Hamad, 21, from the nearby town of al-Azariya.

Israeli police said someone linked to his family told authorities he was ready to turn himself in, which led to his arrest.

Maale Adumim, east of Jerusalem, has a population of about 36,000 and is one of the largest Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

A wave of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories since October has killed 177 Palestinians as well as 28 Israelis, an American, a Sudanese and an Eritrean, according to an AFP toll.

Most of the Palestinians who died in the violence were killed by Israeli forces while carrying out knife, gun and car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities.

Others were shot dead by Israeli forces during clashes and demonstrations.

Many analysts say Palestinian frustration with Israeli occupation and settlement building in the West Bank, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have fed the unrest.

Israel blames incitement by Palestinian leaders and media as a main cause of the violence.

Many of the attackers have been young Palestinians, including teenagers, who appear to have been acting on their own.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley faces a tough task of balancing the needs of farm sector as well as the industry when he presents his third tomorrow as he seeks to garner resources to boost public spending for higher growth amid global headwinds.

On the income tax front, Union 2016 may continue with the status quo on the tax slabs while it may tinker with the exemptions..

Read our full coverage on Union Budget 2016 Rising rural distress because of back-to-back droughts have put considerable pressure on the Finance Minister to spend more on social schemes, while at the same time he has to win back foreign investors craving for faster reforms.

His difficulties have been compounded by the huge payout of Rs 1.02 lakh crore that will become necessary on account of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations for government employees. How much he does this without compromising on the previously-announced goal of lowering the fiscal deficit to 3.5 per cent of the GDP next year is to be seen.

Jaitley is also likely to fulfil his last year's promise of gradual reduction of corporate tax from 30 per cent to 25 per cent over four years. It is expected that he may begin the exercise in the tomorrow that may be accompanied by withdrawal of tax exemptions to keep the exercise revenue neutral.

To shore up revenues to meet the increased expenditure, the finance minister may need to increase indirect tax rates or introduce new taxes. Service Tax, raised to 14.5 per cent last year, may see a hike to prepare for the level of 18 per cent being envisaged in the GST.

Further, new cess to fund initiatives such as Start-up India or Digital India and other programmes is being speculated, similar to the Swachh Bharat cess levied last year.

On his agenda would also be the revival of the investment cycle. While capital expenditure in 2015-16 increased by 25.5 per cent over last fiscal, as a percentage of GDP it is still stuck at 1.7 per cent and needs to go up to 2 per cent.

He will have to steer spending towards sectors like infrastructure and raise public spending in view of private investment not picking up at desired pace.

It remains to be seen if Jaitley will loosen his purse



strings or continue to consolidate. In the event the government decides to increase spending, it would be a challenge to ensure that the funds are channelised into capital investments.

"Even if budgetary consolidation continues, India's fiscal metrics will remain weaker than rating peers in the near term," analysts at Moody's Investors Service said earlier this month.

Foreign investors have sold a net USD 2.4 billion in shares this year, the second-biggest outflows in Asia excluding China.

The Budget will need to focus on the commodity driven sectors by providing protection measures, since these sectors are stressed due to the collapse in global demand and oversupply.

Jaitley has shifted the proportion of expenditure toward infrastructure and away from subsidies in the last two Budgets.

Besides implementation of the 7th Pay Commission, he also faces challenge of bank recapitalisation.

With agriculture reeling from drought and lower crop prices, the government is likely to retain spending on the rural employment guarantee programme, expand crop insurance and boost irrigation outlays.

On reforms, he may open more sectors to foreign investment and give tax breaks for labour-intensive sectors such as leather and jewelry.

In view of sharp fall in crude prices and low probability of increase over the next one year, the government may reintroduce customs duty on imported crude, petrol and diesel, which was removed in 2011, when crude prices had increased over USD 100 per barrel.

The government could increase import duty on gold, since gold imports have increased over the year and has partly contributed to the trade deficit and weak rupee on account of forex outflows.
Noted Historian Romila Thapar believes JNU is unlikely to suffer a setback due to the row over an event against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru as there is "intellectual support" for it.

She also feels it is going to be difficult for any government to "control" the thinking process unless it turns into a totally "anti-democratic dictatorship".

Thapar, who is Professor Emerita at JNU, told PTI in an interview, "JNU is not likely to suffer a setback as there is much intellectual support for it in the country. There are other universities too that discuss a range of ideas as are discussed in the JNU. The existence of a varsity is intended for that --to discuss ideas of every kind."



"It is going to be extremely difficult for any government to try and control this thinking unless it turns into a totally anti-democratic dictatorship. If it does that, then it will harm other aspects of governance as has been shown repeatedly wherever dictatorships have been established," she added.

Thapar, who had declined to accept Padma Bhushan award twice in 1992 and 2005, said attacking universities is an attempt to try and control the thinking of people and the effort whenever made had not succeeded.

"This has never succeeded wherever it has been tried. It may work for a short while since the administration and the police are under the control of government but invariably people break away. Exploring ideas is part of the process of being educated and is necessary for a modern society and economy.

"Not allowing universities to function freely will doubtless have an effect on production and the economy as well. Education is an integrated process. If one part of it is stopped then that will damage the rest of it," she said.

Explaining her idea of "nationalism" amid branding of JNU



as a "den of anti-nationals", Thapar said, "It is a concept that refers to people coming together in the building of a nation. It has to be inclusive of all communities and it has to be secular. It cannot be determined by any single identity such as religion, caste, language or such like."



In India, nationalism was associated with the anti-colonial movement of independence. It was opposed to communalism where the identity was religious and the purpose was to project the limited idea of a Muslim or a Hindu nation, she said.

"Neither of the two communalism's encapsulated in the Muslim League and the Hindu-Mahasabha-RSS had anti-colonialism as their primary concern. Their reference is to the limited identities of Muslim and Hindu communities.

"In India, a Hindu state can never be a national Indian state as it has to carry all non-Hindus as equal citizens with equal rights," she added.

Jawaharlal Nehru University is caught in a row over an event on the campus to commemorate the hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, where "anti-national" slogans were allegedly raised.

The varsity's students union president Kanhaiya Kumar is in judicial custody in a sedition case in connection with the February 9 event. Two other students Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya are in police custody in the same case.

Joining the chorus of protest in the JNU row, Thapar along with other historians and writers had released a joint statement last week condemning the slapping of sedition case on students and said police action should not replace "dialogue" at any educational institution.
Various student outfits will jointly launch a week-long campaign 'In defence of democracy' amid a raging row at JNU over an event against hanging of Afzal Guru.

"The systematic attack by RSS-BJP on JNU has escalated over the last few weeks. The Narendra Modi government has defended the ongoing crackdown on JNU on the floor of Parliament," said a joint statement today by the students' organisations, including AISA, AISF, KYS and NSUI.

"HRD Minister Smriti Irani quoted an internal and 'interim' report of a 'High Level Enquiry Committee' in JNU to name eight JNU students as prima facie 'guilty'.

"In naming eight students in Parliament, she has misused her official position and power to give credence to this highly questionable report," it said.

The students' bodies announced they will undertake an 'all -India' campaign in "defence of democracy" from February 29 to March 5.

"A delegation of all students' outfits will also meet the President of India, Home Minister and MPs. A nationwide protest will be organized on March 2 and, the same day, a march to Parliament will be held," the statement said.

A joint press conference held in this regard was addressed by leaders of All India Students' Association (AISA) of CPI(ML), All India Students Federation (AISF) of CPI, National Students' Union of India (NSUI) of Congress, Students' Federation of India (SFI) of CPI(M) and Students' Forum For Swaraj (SFS).

The speakers condemned the assault on Left activists, JNU teachers, students and media on February 15 when JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar was taken to the Patiala House court complex.

They claimed these were attempts by RSS and BJP to "spread a reign of terror against differing voices".

"Entire government machinery along with a section of media has worked to brand the entire institution (JNU) as a 'den of anti-national' activity. A similar modus operandi was used in Hyderabad Central University, which finally led to the 'institutional murder' of Rohith Vemula," the outfits said.

"There has been a concerted campaign of violence, threat and intimidation across country. BJP leaders have been actively participating in this shameless tirade on JNU. This is a part of the RSS' assault on higher educational institutions, which we have witnessed in IIT Madras, FTII Pune, Hyderabad Central University, JNU and elsewhere," they added.

The joint statement comes in wake of a row at JNU over the February 9 event during which anti-national slogans were allegedly raised. Three students, including Kumar, are in custody in connection with a sedition case registered against them following the event.
Ohio Governor John Kasich has said if he does not win the next month's primary in his home state, he would leave the White House race.

"Some of the other candidates, if they cannot win their home state, they got to get out, OK?. If I do not win my home state, I will get out. But you know what? I am going to win Ohio," Kasich, 64, said at the town hall while addressing about 1,000 people here yesterday.

"The only person who mentioned job (at the last debate) is me. I will beat Donald Trump in Ohio and that would be the beginning of a new day," he said.

The US state of Tennessee has been a traditional Republican State. Trump is leading ahead of all his rivals by an impressive margin with the two Senators, Marco Rubio from Florida and Ted Cruz from Texas, vying for the second spot.

"We want to have a good president. Frankly an adult president, a grown one," Kasich said, while referring to the personal accusations the top three GOP aspirants are levelling against each other with words like choker and liar.

"When one runs for the country, records are a fair game and he has that," said the two-term Governor of Ohio, who was first elected to the Ohio State Senate at the age of 26 and to the US House of Representatives in 1982 at the age of 30.

Ohio, where primary would be held on March 15, has some 70,000 population of Indian-Americans with Cleveland and Cincinnati cities having the largest share. About 25,000 Indian-Americans live in Tennessee. Kasich's one of key advisers Nathan Naidu is an Indian-American.

When a supporter asked him to run as an independent if he does not get the GOP's nomination, Kasich replied in negative.

Taking a dig at Cruz, 45, and Rubio, 44, both of whom are having a tough time in their home states of Texas and Florida, Kasich said the candidates have no right to stay in the race if they can not win in their home States.

He said that no Republican has ever become a president without winning Ohio.

Political pundits here have said Kasich rarely has a chance in this race to the White House.

As per RealClearPolitics.Com which keeps track of all major national polls, Kasich as of yesterday had support of 9.3 per cent Republicans, way behind 33.2 per cent of Trump, followed by Cruz's 20.3 per cent and Rubio's 16.7 per cent.
AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal tonight said on coming to power his party would make Punjab the best investment destination in the country.

He was addressing a meeting of NRIs at Chiheru village, seven kms from Phagwara, organised jointly by India Canada Village Improvement Trust President G S Gill and Canada's former Cabinet Minister Herb Dhaliwal. NRIs from Canada, the US and the UK attended it, among others.

Asserting that his party will give a "proper platform" to NRIs, Kejriwal termed them a traditional support base of AAP and said they should support the party in forming government in Punjab as they had helped during Delhi assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

"We are starved of funds. You have supported us in the past. Support us financially to contest 2017 assembly polls in Punjab," the Delhi Chief Minister said.

He said AAP would make Punjab so attractive that NRIs would long to come back. "Punjab will really be another California," he said.

He said once the AAP government was formed, it would not require extra money but judicious, honest and optimum spending of the existing money.

Claiming a change was in the air, Kejriwal said the 'mahaul' (atmosphere) was in favour of AAP and added that Punjab was going to make history by electing it to power.

Referring to the Rs 1.25 lakh crore debt on Punjab, he alleged that corruption was so rampant that only 20 per cent of the government's money was being spent on development.

Lauding the role and contribution of NRIs in development of Punjab, he called upon them to help AAP in coming to power.

Kejriwal, who began his address with 'Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh', later the addressing villagers, said when a situation reaches a point of no return then "uparwala jharu chalani shuru kar deta hai (God starts sweeping to clean up the mess).
Alleging that a "mining mafia" in was extorting money from owners of stone crushing units, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal today vowed to put an end to the menace "within 24 hours" if his party comes to power in the 2017 Assembly election.

"I am shocked to know that legal crusher owners have to pay 'goonda tax or jizya' to the mining mafia in . I vow that within 24 hours of AAP's coming into power, this will be curbed in the state," Kejriwal, who is on a five-day tour of to reach out to voters ahead of the Assembly elections, said at a rally here.

Members of the business community, incuding owners of crushing units, today met Kejriwal and alleged that no action was being taken against the extortionists. They also claimed that false cases were being registered against them.

Kejriwal said once voted to power, AAP would set up a commission to review such cases and take action against officials who had lodged them.

Reacting to reports of a large number of posters which had sprung up in Jalandhar questioning his governance record, the Delhi CM hit out at the Akali Dal saying they had ruined the state during their 10-year rule.

"People know who has ruined his state for about 10 years and who is a failed CM," he said.

Kejriwal also claimed that no government could have achieved in 65 years what his government had accomplished in one year in Delhi.

"What we have done in our one year rule in Delhi, I challenge that no state government could have done in the last 65 years. I am confident if Delhi goes to polls today, other parties will not be able to win even a single seat," he said.

He also met people from different walks of life, including industrialists, advocates, shopkeepers and members of the Christian community.
Model Kendall Jenner narrowly avoided a car crash while in Italy for Milan Fashion Week.

Wearing dark outfit, the 20-year-old brunette model was almost hit by a car door but she managed to get out of the way just in the nick of time, reported Aceshowbiz.

The incident happened when Kendall arrived at her hotel. The "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" star was seen getting out of her chauffeured car when the vehicle started rolling backwards. She leaped out of the way before it hit a pole.

The driver apparently failed to apply the brakes properly before he got out to open the door for the young star.

She stood in shock while looking on as the vehicle crashed into the pole. She escaped unscathed, but the car was dented.

Kendall was modeling for Bottega Veneta and Versace during the event.
Days after Vice Chancellors of central universities resolved to hoist the national flag prominently on their campuses, the government-run Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) has directed all its schools to fly the tricolour on their buildings daily.

The KVS administration has also asked all the principals to ensure that the flag post is positioned at a prominent place during the morning assembly so that all students can salute the tricolour everyday.

Union HRD minister Smriti Irani is the chairperson of the KVS which runs over a thousand schools in India and abroad. The move comes amid a raging debate on nationalism following JNU row.

"As you are aware that the national flag of India is a symbol of honour and freedom for the country. It is of great significance to us. We should respect and know everything about our national flag. You are directed to ensure raising the flag every morning and its lowering before sunset on the buildings of Kendriya Vidyalayas and regional offices.

"Further the principals of your regions may be directed to position the flag post at prominent places preferably in the morning assembly area so that all the students shall be able to salute the tricolour every day," Additional Commissioner, KVS, U N Khaware said in his letter to the regional offices.

The senior KV official, in his letter, has also sought strict compliance of the Flag Code at all Regional Offices as well as schools.

Earlier this month, at a meeting called by the HRD ministry in Surajkund in Haryana, VCs of Central Universities had resolved to fly the national flag at a prominent place on their campuses. The move came in the backdrop of the controversy over alleged anti-India protests at JNU.

HRD ministry officials had said that the move has been taken to instill a "sense of unity and integrity" among students in the institutions of higher education.

The government's handling of the situation in the aftermath of alleged anti-India protests in JNU has attracted criticism from the opposition and triggered a debate on nationalism.
The combined valuation of six of the top 10 most valued firms fell by Rs 41,672.7 crore last week amid a choppy broader market.

While TCS, Infosys, HDFC Bank, ITC, CIL and HDFC saw their market capitalisation (m-cap) decline, the same for RIL, Sun Pharma, HUL and ONGC jumped.

In the broader market, the benchmark BSE Sensex has tumbled 554.85 points to end at 23,154.30 over the previous week.

The of TCS plummeted Rs 20,788 crore to Rs 4,36,390.68 crore, taking the biggest hit among the top 10 firms.

For FMCG major ITC, it slumped Rs 11,061.67 crore to Rs 2,33,984.64 crore and that of HDFC Bank came down by Rs 7,123.58 crore to Rs 2,42,467.05 crore.

Infosys took a knock of Rs 1,033.63 crore in to Rs 2,57,498.98 crore while HDFC lost Rs 907.85 crore to Rs 1,66,571.89 crore and CIL Rs 757.96 crore to Rs 1,96,660.01 crore.

In contrast, HUL saw its valuation surge Rs 5,398.86 crore to Rs 1,84,058.85 crore and ONGC added Rs 3,293.87 crore at Rs 1,83,943.04 crore.

RIL's went up by Rs 1,927.59 crore to Rs 3,07,928 crore and that of Sun Pharma grew Rs 1,762.26 crore to Rs 2,09,632.87 crore.

TCS topped the league followed by RIL, Infosys, HDFC Bank, ITC, Sun Pharma, CIL, HUL, ONGC and HDFC.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje today told party MLAs not to use derogatory language and maintain decency while criticising opposition leaders.

Addressing the BJP Legislature Party meeting here ahead of the Budget session beginning tomorrow, she told the ministers to reply in the Assembly fully prepared with facts and not let the the opposition get a chance to create uproar unnecessarily.

Due respect should be given to the opposition and focus should be on making the session smooth, the Chief Minister said.

"The state government has conducted various developmental works. Every MLA should highlight these works and take them to people in their respective constituencies through a booklet by the first week of April," a release quoting Raje said.

She also said there is no question of shifting Kota Airport to Jhalawar, as reported in a section of media.

State Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajendra Rathore, Chief Whip of the government Kalu Lal Gujar also addressed the meeting.

BJP MLAs Kailash Choudhary (Bayut constituency), and Gyan Dev Ahuja (Ramgarh) had allegedly made derogatory public references to Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, calling him a "traitor".
The decline in growth rate of some major economies including some Asian countries will continue in the coming years barring India, where demographics will favour growth numbers, says a DBS report.

According to the global financial services major, a sharp fall in working age population growth has lowered potential growth in the US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, the UK and Asia, and will continue to do so in the coming years.

This share of working age population will fall sharply in the coming years throughout most of Asia, Japan, Europe and the US, especially sharp declines are already being seen in China, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore and they will continue, according to the UN, for another 25 years.

"India is the one country in Asia where demographics continue to favour growth," DBS said in a research note adding that "it is also home to Asia's lowest per-capita income, which means productivity growth can stay high for many years to come".

According to DBS, India's potential growth will fall by only six-tenths of a percentage point (60 basis points) over the coming decade.

"The bad is, India is still not performing up to the potential of its Asian peers," the report said.

The DBS report further said that "at an income level of $1775 per person in 2015, should be growing closer to 8.5% per year than the 7.4% it grew by in 2015 and the 7.8% we expect it to grow by this year".

The report said that though the markets have worked themselves into a tizzy over a "perceived crisis" in global growth, but there is no "growth crisis" anywhere in the US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, the UK and Asian economies.

"Thanks to falling growth in working age populations, and to steadily rising incomes in Asia, slow is the new fast," the report said.

Growth in the the US, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, UK economies is better than last year and the year before that. Moreover, it's running 14% faster than potential. Where's the crisis?, it added.
A 40-year-old farmer working in his maize field was today killed when a boulder rolled down a hill and hit him in Doda district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The local villagers rushed Abdul Wahid Khangi to the Kahara Primary Health Centre where the doctors declared him as brought dead.

"It was so sudden that he did not get time to escape. A boulder hit him on the head resulting in his on the spot death," a police officer said.

Sub Divisional Police Officer (SDPO), Gandoh, Bhushan Kumar Ganjo said, "The family members did not inform us perhaps to avoid post-mortem. I have sent in a police team from Kahara post to investigate the matter.
A police officer was killed in early hours today when masked gunmen opened fire on him in North Sinai region of Egypt, the Ministry of Interior said.

Officer Abdullah Khalil Abdel Gawad Khalil was shot dead by the unidentified gunmen in front of his house in the restive Al-Arish city in North Sinai, a statement by the ministry said.

Search for the attackers has been intensified, according to the statement.

The incident came a day after masked gunmen riding a motorcycle attacked el-Marazik checkpoint killing a policeman and injuring one person.

Egypt's North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled the ex-president Hosni Mubarak.

The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule.

Over 700 security personnel have been reported killed since then.

The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.
Leading industrialist Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has backed government's proposal to establish a separate ministry for pharma, expressing hope that it would end the current confusion and chaos in the sector due to multi-ministerial control.

"I think it will, because it's too confused right now. The whole sector is being sort of under the purview of multi- ministerial control. So, I think that is causing a lot of chaos", the chief of Biocon, the country's biggest biotech company told PTI.

Union Fertilisers Minister H N Ananth Kumar in December had said that there would be a separate ministry for and medical devices sector in the next one year.

Mazumdar-Shaw, also Chairperson of the Board of Governors at IIM, Bangalore made out a strong case for adequately staffing the drug control administration.

ALSO READ: Pharma firms seek to jointly address quality concerns

"Our regulatory standards are pretty high. It's just that they don't have enough people to invigilate. Today, the Drugs Controller is very poorly staffed, and he needs more people, he has been asking for more people. If you don't have more people, how will you carry out all the audits?"And then it's also a state subject, not Centre either. So, there are some states where quality standards are high, some states where it is low. So, it's a bit of mixed bag", she said.

On perception issue of Indian generic industry not being quality compliant, Mazumdar-Shaw said: "Please understand, quality is a big issue, compliant is a big issue, and India has to build credibility in that front. The only way to deal with perception is to build credibility".

Mazumdar-Shaw further said India's pharmacy colleges need to revamp curricula and also invest in infrastructure and leverage the power of internet to offer best of education standards.
German luxury domestic appliances maker Miele, which has recently forayed into the online segment, is looking to have 50 stores by the end of this year, while focusing on tier II cities.

Miele, which is catering to a niche segment, is encouraged by the growing number of HNI (High networth Individual) and NRIs who are returning back to India.

"We should have around 50 stores by the end of this year," Miele India MD Rana Pratap Singh told PTI.

At present, Miele is operating 41 stores in 11 cities.

"We have already expanded to tier II place as Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Surat. In near future, we are thinking about cities such as Goa, Rajkot and Indore as they have good HNI population," he said, adding that "number of HNI people is going up and the market would grow up in India".

Singh further said Miele's growth would be driven from project sector, where it supplies high-end domestic appliances to luxury flat makers.

"The growth would come from project part. The realty sector is improving in coming times, we should have good growth. Retail would be quite comfortable and would be growing in an organic manner," Singh added.

Miele, which has recently started online sales of its vacuum cleaners through its exclusive channel partner Amazon, would gradually place other bigger appliances in next 1-2 years depending on customers' response.

"Products which can really go along in this category would be washing machine, dryers, dish washers, coffee machine and irons. These could be added in the near future. It would take 1-2 years," he said.

Apart from vacuum cleaners, Miele has put consumables as washing machine detergent for dish washer and bags for vacuum cleaners on sale through Amazon.

"We have been quite successful in terms of selling through Amazon in the US and Germany," Singh said.

The company, which forayed into the Indian market in 2009, is spending around 5 per cent of its total sales revenue on branding in India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Saudi Arabia as part of his three-nation trip from March 30 during which he will also visit Washington to attend Nuclear Security Summit, where his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif is also scheduled to be present.

Starting his visit with Belgium on March 30 for India-EU Summit, Modi will travel to Washington for NSS from March 31 before his two-day bilateral visit from April 2 to Saudi Arabia, one of the most powerful Arab countries, where he will hold talks with the Saudi leadership on key regional and bilateral issues, including trade and energy.

His visit, which comes nearly six years after last Prime Ministerial visit to Riyadh, assumes significance given the current regional situation and strained ties between SA and Iran, another strategically important country for India.

Apart from being India's largest supplier of crude oil, accounting for almost one fifth of its need, it is also India's fourth largest trading partner. Saudi Arabia has the largest Indian diaspora.

The Prime Minister's visit to SA will be preceded by a trip to Washington for NSS, which will be attended by leaders from nearly 50 countries, including Pakistan's Sharif.

While officials are tight-lipped about a possible interaction between Modi and Sharif on the sidelines of the event, experts feel that given both the leaders have held impromptu meetings in the recent past -- be it in Paris or Lahore -- it will be difficult for them to avoid each other completely.

This would be the first time after Modi's unannounced and brief visit to Lahore on December 25 that the two leaders will be at the same place.

Since then, the Pathankot terror attack has happened which has delayed the Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks, scheduled to take place in early January after the two countries announced resumption of comprehensive talks during External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's visit to Islamabad in December last.

In Belgium, the Prime Minister will be attending the



India-EU Summit after a gap of four years. The last Summit had taken place in 2012.

India-EU ties witnessed some strain after the 28-member bloc had not responded to India's proposal for a brief visit by Modi to Brussels, the EU headquarters, during his trip to France, Germany and Canada in April last year. This had prompted New Delhi to give a cold shoulder to the EU's efforts to finalise Modi's visit last November when he travelled to the UK.

Efforts were also on to work out issues and announce resumption of stalled India-EU free trade talks during Modi's visit.

Top officials of India and the EU met last week in Brussels to review the stalled negotiations with an aim to assessing where both sides stand and how they could go forward with the proposed pact, officially dubbed as Bilateral Trade and Investment agreement. The last round of trade talks happened in May 2013.

In August 2015, India deferred the talks on the FTA after the EU imposed ban on 700 products, clinically tested by GVK Biosciences.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe today blamed foreign interference for the infighting and succession battles plaguing his party as the world's oldest leader celebrated his 92nd birthday at a lavish affair.

Thousands of party loyalists, foreign representatives and members of the public watched as Mugabe released 92 balloons in the air, with songs and ululations ringing out around him.

Several cakes were on display at the public festivities Saturday, one in the shape of Africa, another a whopping 92-kilogram replica of the party venue: the Great Zimbabwe ruins, a UNESCO world heritage site built in the 13th Century as the headquarters of the Munhumutapa empire.

Balloons and cake, however, did little to hide the infighting that has defined the ruling ZANU-PF party in the last year as Mugabe continues to avoided naming a successor, despite his advanced age and recent speculation over his health.

Mugabe, who turned 92 last Sunday, has ruled for 36 years during an era marked by vote-rigging, mass emigration, accusations of human rights abuses and economic decline.

On his actual birthday, state media poured praise on his leadership since independence from Britain.

In its 16-page special supplement, the Sunday Mail said on its front cover: "Thank You Bob, We now have a voice, since 1980".

Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa is viewed as the likely next president, but in recent weeks he has been publicly criticised by Mugabe's wife Grace in a sign of growing rivalry.

"Factionalism, factionalism and, I repeat, factionalism has no place at all in our party," Mugabe told guests including senior party officials, government ministers, foreign diplomats and representatives of ruling parties from Angola, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia and Tanzania.

"It should never be allowed to exist... We should remain united and use proper channels to solve our differences."



The long-time leader also used the opportunity to launch into a characteristic attack on the West.

"The British and American in their cunning ways, as usual, have also utilised such opportunities to offer huge sums of money to individuals both within and outside the party to cause factionalism which has greatly affected the youth especially as of the recent past," he said.

The scale of the celebrations, costing a reported $800,000 this year, attracts annual controversy in Zimbabwe, which recently declared a "state of disaster" due to an ongoing regional drought and widespread food shortages.
The two-day Nagaland Youth Summit, attended by around 2,000 youths from all over the state, has come out with a set of recommendations for the state government.

On good governance, the summit, which concluded yesterday, sought to enable public participation at all levels, specially the youth, at pre-policy stage of consultation and implementation process.

On entrepreneurship, the summit recommended setting up of an entrepreneurship cell, which would provide entrepreneurship skills and work with banks to provide finances for 100 units under the Credit Guaranteed Small and Medium Enterprises upto an amount of Rs one crore and 1,000 units financing under Mudra-Tarun upto Rs 10 lakh annually.

The third recommendation was on skills building, where it has suggested that 2016 be declared as the 'Year of Construction Workers.'



The summit was organised by the Nagaland chapter of Youth Net on the theme 'Celebrating Young Nagas: Preparing the next generation' at the NBCC convention hall.
In future, India and the US could jointly explore Mars and who knows an Indian astronaut could also head to the Red planet on a joint mission.

India's maiden mission to the Red Planet, Mangalyaan, has opened the eyes of the world on ISRO's capabilities at undertaking low cost, high value inter-planetary mission.

Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or JPL, a part of NASA and an institution better known for piloting most of the American planetary exploration efforts with rovers like Curiosity, says India and the US could jointly explore Mars and even invited India to send astronauts to the Red Planet.

Excerpts of an interview:



Q) The US is interested in going back to Mars, so is India. Will India and America look at a joint robotic mission to explore Mars?



A) We hope so that it will be the case in the future. At NASA, we are just beginning to plan for next mission to Mars for the next decade, which is 2020-2030. In fact shortly, there is a meeting in Washington on possible collaborations for the next 5-6 mission to Mars and ISRO is invited for that meeting. This is in preparation for the ultimate human space flight to Mars. We clearly hope that India would be interested. Hopefully, India will be part of the consortium between US, Europe, France, Italy among others where all can capitalise on our capabilities to explore the solar system.

Q) A cooperative exploratory mission is what you are looking at?



A) Yes, that is right. With its accomplishment on the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) India is a great partner, India can be a full partner in the international endeavour for exploring Mars.

Q) In the long run, President Barack Obama has said America should send humans to Mars, so are you looking at a collaboration with India on that mission, since India also has a human space flight program?



A) NASA is starting to plan for the human expedition to Mars, and NASA is looking at it as an international endeavour. NASA has invited international agencies to start thinking together on how to send humans to Mars and beyond. So clearly that is an area where there will be collaboration between India and the US considering the capability that India has, by showing that it can meaningfully contribute to international endeavours.

Q) What was NASA's role in India's mission to Mars?



A) When India launched its mission to Mars, and I congratulate India on a superb mission by reaching the orbit or Mars in the very first attempt. JPL supported ISRO in the navigation and communication because of the antennas we have. Reaching the Mars orbit in first attempt was an amazing achievement and that too at such low cost. Now American scientists through its MAVEN mission and India through its Mars Orbiter Mission are sharing data.

Q) NASA is looking to mine an asteroid, is India likely



to participate on that mission?



A) We are looking at a mission using electric propulsion, which is a major advancement in technology, to capture an asteroid and bring it back to lunar orbit so that astronauts can go and do more deeper exploration. NASA has opened the door for potential interest, be it from India or Europe. We are in a very early stage of planning so that is clearly an opportunity for more collaboration with India.

Q) Where are Indo-US relations in space heading?



A) I think they are heading for a very positive future, from five years ago the interest has now tremendously expanded. There is now good will both politically and scientifically, I am very optimistic about the future in space collaboration. Space is for everybody, the good will between two countries makes space a natural place to work together. The two can cooperate even in astronomy, India has a long history in astronomy. I visited the ancient observatory made by Indians (at Jantar Mantar) that is a few hundred years old that furthered knowledge and now we can do it together. India has a great tradition of learning.

Q) What else is in store for NASA and ISRO in the future?



A) We have a mission called NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission. This is a major mission that will be launched in 2020. Here we are really collaborating as equals, between India and the US. This mission will allow us to look at natural resources across the world, natural hazards like tectonic motion, climate impact and climate change. This is of direct day-to-day benefit for life both in USA and India. This came up as a collaboration among scientists but is now a full-fledged approved joint mission between both countries.

Q) How can you decipher things from space after a disaster strikes?



A) This is a RADAR mission, that has the capability to take a picture of the land, and then you come back a few days later and take another picture. In the meantime, if there was a change even down to a scale of a few centimeters we can detect it from space.

This gives you a picture of the motion that has occurred as result of an earthquake or mudslide. This will allow us to better understand the physics behind an earthquake. Potentially it will allow us to predict areas with large natural hazard.

This is of direct benefit be it for India or California where we see tectonic activity as well. The two main RADAR instruments are being developed by NASA and ISRO, the satellite bus will be Indian and it will be fabricated in India and then it will be launched using the Indian rocket the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle. This time we are truly collaborating as equals.
Neelam Katara has told the Delhi High Court that she may be "eliminated" if Vikas Yadav, convicted of murdering her son Nitish, is released on parole.

She also opposed the plea of Vikas, serving 30-year jail term without remission for the killing, saying the convict may abscond to another country.

The victim's mother has made the submissions in an affidavit before Justice Siddharth Mridul while opposing Vikas' plea for two weeks' parole to sell his ancestral property in Uttar Pradesh.

Neelam said that being the complainant in the case she has a "grave fear that now that the Supreme Court has decided the Special Leave Petition on the matter of conviction and upheld the verdict of the high court that Vikas Yadav is found guilty of the murder of Nitish Katara.

"If the petitioner (Vikas) comes out on bail then he may eliminate her/other important witnesses."



The court fixed the matter for March 9 for filing of reply of Vikas on Neelam's submissions.

Neelam was responding to court's notice issued on January 27 seeking her reply on Vikas's plea for parole.

The high court on March 27 last year granted seven-day custody parole to Vikas to visit his 93-year-old grandfather who underwent an angioplasty.

The high court had on February 6, 2015 enhanced the sentence of Vikas and his cousin Vishal from life imprisonment to 25 years without remission for murdering Nitish and five more years for destruction of evidence in the case.

Yadavs' acquaintance Sukhdev Yadav alias Pehelwan was also awarded an enhanced life sentence of 20 years without remission by the high court.

The three were awarded life term by a trial court for abducting and killing Nitish, a business executive and son of an IAS officer, on the intervening night of February 16-17, 2002. They did not approve of the victim's affair with Bharti, daughter of D P Yadav.

The high court had on April 2, 2014 upheld the verdict of the lower court, describing the offence as "honour killing" stemming from a "deeply-entrenched belief" in caste system.

In August last year, the Supreme Court had upheld the conviction of Vikas and others in the case.
Controversial film 'Aligarh', based on the life of an AMU professor who was sacked on charges of homosexuality, was today not screened here even as the city Mayor from BJP strongly backed an official ban, claiming the movie is a "conspiracy" to defame the city.

"The film was not screened today. It is unconstitutional self-proclaimed ban by some fringe group. It is a kind of threat. Even the city Mayor is supporting the fringe group," the film's director Hansal Mehta told PTI.

"It is an extra-constitutional ban on screening of the film," the film's writer Apurva Asrani said.

A fringe group called the Millat Bedari Muhim Committee (MBMC) has arm-twisted exhibitors in Aligarh into cancelling screening of the biopic, it has been alleged.

The group strongly objected to the title Aligarh, stating that the film - based on Professor Ramchandra Siras who was suspended from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in 2010 after he was filmed having consensual sex with a man - sullied the reputation of the city.

Supporting the ban, Aligarh Mayor Shakuntala Bharti said, "We had issued a warning that we will not allow this film to be shown in the city at any cost. Ten days ago, we lodged our protest against the screening of the movie."



"Aligarh tameez aur tehzeeb ka shahar hai. Vishwa vikhyat kavi Neeraj ka shahar hai hamara Aligarh (Aligarh is a city of culture and refinement. It is the city of world famous poet Neeraj). Aligarh Muslim University is world renowned. Are they trying to malign the city by naming the film after it? The city is being tarnished by showing that such people also live here," said Bharti, who is from the BJP.

"This movie is against our culture. It is against the syncretic Ganga Jamuni culture of this city. It will bring a bad name to our city," she said.

Bharti said, "I would not have objected if the movie had been given some other name but we cannot accept such bad publicity for our city".

The Mayor said she would meet the district authorities tomorrow to seek an official ban on the movie.

District authorities said no ban has been imposed on the film, which released on Friday, but the threat against the screening and finding only few moviegoers on day one, appears to have forced the theatre owner in a multiplex here to call off screening.

Actor Rajkummar Rao, who plays journalist Deepu Sebastian in the movie, said, "Those opposing the movie should watch it before coming to any conclusion. We are not maligning the city's name. Siras was very attached to the city and lived the last 30 years of his life in Aligarh. The film is not promoting homosexuality.

The film was screened in multiplex on Friday but has not



been shown since Saturday and the owners have also stopped online booking without assigning any reason, an official said.

Hansal said opposition to the film is "homophobic". "It has stirred up a debate within Aligarh society... It has nothing to do with homosexuality."



"We will wait and watch. I have been just contacted by the ministry of entertainment in Uttar Pradesh," he said on being asked what was his next course of action in the light of the film not being screened in the city.

Two AMU professors, including film critic Asim Siddiqui, who saw the film on February 26, claimed the cinema owners might have themselves stopped the screening due to poor public response.

"There were only a handful of people watching the movie that (Friday) evening. In all probability the owners of the theatre have stopped showing the movie on their own and have used the reported threats as a ruse," Siddiqui said.

The Millat Bedari Muhim Committee (MBMC), which has a number of former AMU students, had written to Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley seeking a ban on the film.

MBMC Secretary Jasim Mohammad said his organisation was opposed to the biopic because "it has distorted facts".

When contacted AMU Vice Chancellor Lt Gen (retd) Zamiruddin Shah said, "I am against the very idea of banning a movie just because a small section finds something objectionable. This only gives it unnecessary publicity."



"Aligarh", starring Manoj Bajpayee, has received wide acclaim. It is based on the life of AMU professor Ramchandra Siras who was suspended from his job because of his sexual orientation. He later committed suicide.

Manoj re-tweeted a fan's post, which said the "ban" on the film is "ridiculous". "They will miss watching a great movie! @BajpayeeManoj," the tweet further read.

Actor Ayushmann Khurrana tweeted, "Authorities feel its gay content is defaming Aligarh. Hmm. Why don't they keep a new name like homophobic-garh.
Andhra Pradesh Transport Department is all set to launch online vehicle registration system for residents of Visakhapatnam from March 1.

AP Transport Commissioner N Balasubrahmanyam told this to reporters here today.

"The Transport Department is all set to launch online citizen services in Visakhapatnam city from March 1 and the facility would be extended to other areas in the state in a phased manner," he said.

"With the new system, motorists in Visakhapatnam need not visit the Road Transport Authority (RTA) offices for vehicle registration. The vehicle buyers will get the registration done through e-mail within 24 hours of buying the vehicle," he said.

Balasubrahmanyam said that people who purchase vehicles from auto-mobile dealers in Vizag RTA limits (excluding Gajuwaka and Anakapalle RTA offices) must have to carry a valid ID proof, such as Aadhaar card, driving licence and also a PAN card for commercial vehicles.

The valid ID proofs would have to be uploaded at the automobile showrooms in the city soon after the purchase of the vehicle and the dealer will send the details of the vehicle and owner of the vehicle to RTA offices through a login-id, he said.

The vehicle owner will get temporary registration immediately and he will get the permanent registration number by 5pm on the same day of vehicle purchase, the Commissioner said.

In Vizag, RTA personnel and all the 55 automobile dealers have been trained on the new system and given dealer login IDs, he added.
Pakistan and the US will hold a ministerial-level strategic dialogue Monday on key areas including economy, security and counterterrorism, amid strong opposition by India as well as US lawmakers on the proposed F-16 deal to Islamabad.

Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will lead the Pakistani delegation while Secretary of State John Kerry will lead the US side for the 6th round of the strategic dialogue to be held in Washington, Radio Pakistan reported Sunday.

The six segments of the strategic dialogue include cooperation in economy and finance; energy; education, science and technology; law enforcement and counterterrorism; security, strategic stability and non-proliferation and defence.

It will be the third annual meeting since the present government has come to power. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to the United States in October last year had given the necessary impetus to the dialogue mechanism, the report said.

The dialogue process began in 2010 but interrupted in 2011 when the US forces killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in a midnight raid. The process resumed in 2014 when Aziz and Kerry met in Washington in January.

The key meeting will take place soon after the US announced to sell eight F-16 fighter jets worth $700 million to Pakistan, despite objection from India and mounting opposition from influential American lawmakers.

Kerry has strongly defended the Obama Administration's decision, arguing that these fighter jets are a "critical" part of Pakistan's fight against terrorists.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is in Washington as part of the Pakistani delegation, has said the dialogue will provide an opportunity to operationalise key future making initiates between the two countries.

He was speaking at the Centre for Strategic and Studies.

The Foreign Office had earlier said that the upcoming meeting will "afford an important opportunity to take stock of the entire gamut of Pakistan's bilateral relations with the US".
In the Hindu Kush mountains craftswomen painstakingly stitch flowing scarves, skilled artisans who were unable to sell their products beyond the remote region until mobile internet came to Pakistan and dropped the market into the palms of millions of previously marginalised people.

The women of northern Chitral are among the unlikely profiteers of an e-commerce boom since 3G and 4G Internet arrived in the deeply conservative Muslim country in 2014, suddenly able to market and sell traditional products without leaving their villages or in some cases even their homes.

"The online platform eliminates the middleman," says Nasrin Samad, the entrepreneur behind the artisan brand Kai, which works with women across the region.

Now, Chitrali women "have access to a global audience," she says.

Kai products are sold on polly & other stories (pollyandotherstories.Com), which launched late in 2015 to connect traditional artisans like those in Chitral with consumers hungry for "authentic" products.

"Years of working with local community and craft groups had shown us how difficult it was for local small businesses, even the most talented, to access mainstream markets or connect with buyers, both within Pakistan and abroad," founder Amneh Shaikh-Farooqui told AFP.

To bridge the gap, says co-founder Ange Braid, the pair built a website to give "small, creative businesses, many of them led by women or young students, the chance to market and sell".

Opportunities like this in a country like Pakistan are "huge", says Adam Dawood, head of online marketplace Kaymu.Pk.

In the first quarter of 2015 smartphone shipments to the country soared by 123 percent, according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority's annual report, one of the fastest growth rates in the developing world.
Taking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the JNU row, Congress alleged Sunday he was "responsible" for the events as he had failed to rein-in his party members who have been issuing inflammatory and divisive statements since BJP government came to power.

Terming the action against JNU students as "one-sided", Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad said the Prime Minister cannot "pick and choose" and questioned why he did not firmly deal with divisive elements within BJP.

During an all-party meet, he told the Prime Minister that whatever is happening in JNU or has happened in Hyderabad, who is responsible for that.

"I said, in front of him, that Honourable Prime Minister if you do not take offence, it is you and your government that are responsible for that," the Congress general secretary told reporters here.

Azad said he told the Prime Minister that since the BJP came to power, ministers, party functionaries, MPs and even Governors were issuing statements which lead to tension between Muslims and Hindus.

"So, I told him that we have been saying it inside Parliament as well as outside it that you say 'sabka saath sabka vikaas' everywhere, but if your party men, your governor, your ministers and your MPs issue statements of dividing the country, then somewhere you are involved in it," Azad said.

"The head of the family has to decide whom to punish."



"When you will not punish anyone, like you have to drop or expel someone so that everyone will fall in line, when you do not do that, then you do not have any right over who raises slogans inside a university as your own party raises similar kind of slogans in other forms," he said.

The leader of opposition said Congress condemns the slogans raised in JNU but punishment cannot be one-sided.

"We condemn the slogans raised in JNU, whoever it is whether a Hindu or a Muslim who has raised them, but it is your (PM's) responsibility because you did not rein in your party," Azad said.

"So, if anyone else raises similar kind of slogans, you charge him with sedition but there is no action on your own people. This is one-sided. So, the Prime Minister and the government are responsible for this," Azad said.

The Congress leader said the Prime Minister cannot "pick and choose".

"Whether it is a Hindu or Muslim or someone from Congress, BJP, Left or right in our country, whoever the people of country repose their trust and vote him to become the Prime Minister. He will have to take severe action if his own party men say something wrong. But that is not happening," Azad said.

Azad said Congress does not need lessons on nationalism from the BJP.

"I have said in Parliament that Congress does not need lessons on nationalism from BJP. For them, nationalism is something new, but for Congress party it is a matter of decades, in fact more than 130 years which are recorded," he said.

"So, we do not need any lessons from them and by using some channels or newspapers, they cannot weaken our nationalism," he said.

He said his party will not allow the government to charge any innocent person with sedition.

"The slogans in favour of Pakistan and for destruction of India are wrong. No one, whether a Muslim or a Hindu, is allowed to raise such slogans against his own nation," Azad said.

"But, if someone has not raised any such slogans, and he is still charged with sedition on the basis of a doctored video aired by media just to improve TRPs, that should not happen and we will not allow it to happen," he added.

"The Home Minister has said it will not happen," Azad conlcuded.
Pitching for converting farmers' challenges into opporunities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today urged all states to give priority to implementation of the "roadmap" for boosting the agriculture sector with a target of doubling the income of farmers by 2022.

Addressing a farmers' rally here, he sought to hardsell the recently-launched Crop Insurance scheme, which he termed as a "protective shield", and talked about various other initiatives including plans to launch e-platform for marketing of agriculture products in April as part of efforts to ensure welfare of the farming community.

"Today, there are several challenges before the farmers... Is there no solution to these challenges? These can be converted into opportunities if you (farmers) help me and states implement the various schemes properly," Modi said.

Noting that the subject of agriculture is with states, he said "the states where some work has been done in the farming sector have witnessed progress. But in the states having the approach of 'chalta hai' (let it happen) and 'election time pe dekh lenge' (will see at the time of elections), the fate of the farmers has been left to the God. After God, there is nobody to help them."



Underlining the vision of doubling the income of farmers by 2022, the 75th independence of the country, Modi said, "From this land of Uttar Pradesh, I urge all the states to give priority to agriculture and then see the changes. The roadmap is there, you only have to implement it."



He said "there is no criticisim" of any state and "there is no need for it" but he only wants to "urge" them with the promise that "the Centre is ready to work shoulder-to-shoulder" with them in the implementation of schemes.

He said agriculture should be made employment-oriented to make it attractive to the new generation cultivators as he noted that agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors were the backbone of the country's economy.

Talking about problems being faced by farmers, the Prime



Minister said "filling their pockets with money" will not suffice and the need is to strengthen their capabilities.

Without make any political comment, Modi referred to the backward Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and said it was shameful that this belt was parched in spite of five rivers criss-crossing it.

He cited the example of BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh, saying under the leadership of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the state has emerged as "Number 1" in the agriculture sector for last three years consecutively even though it was nowhere among top 10 about a decade back.

Bundelkhand has of late caught the attention of both opposition and ruling SP as it appeared to become an election issue before the 2017 Assembly polls.

Talking about MNREGA rural job guarantee scheme, Modi, while clearly referring to the previous UPA government, said "what happened earlier? It was nowhere to be seen. Did you see it anywhere?"



He said the scheme could be used to provide irrigation water by making the ponds deeper, cleaning canals, making new small wells through rainwater harvesting.

"Some states have done it. I will urge more states to do it," Modi said.

The Prime Minister, who has been addressing farmers' rallies in different states including Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Karnataka over the last few weeks, asked whether a pledge could be taken to double the income of farmers by 2022.

"I am confident that my dream will come true. My dream is your dream. My dream is with your dream. What is my dream? My dream is that by 2022, when the country celebrates its 75th independence day, the income of farmers should double," he said, adding "Can we do it? Can we take a pledge in this regard, the states, the farmers, we all?"



He also spoke of the major problems faced by farmers especilly the vagaries of weather, besides fragmented land with poor yield to feed large families. "These challenges should be converted into opportunities," he said.

He advocated a three-pronged strategy under which one-third of the farming activity should be earmarked for traditional crops like paddy, sugarcane, pulses and oilseeds, one-third for poulty, fishery, bee-keeping and one-third for planting trees to get timber.

If this strategy is adopted, farmers would not be left to fend for themselves even if the weather Gods got angry.

Talking about irrigation facilities, he referred to the Atal scheme for inter-linking of rivers and said "If there is proper water management, half of the problems of farmers will be solved and they can live a peaceful life.

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For economic development of the contry, there should be three pillars -- agriculture, industry and service sector, Modi said.

"If industries are not set up, where will sons of farmers get the job. With this we need to promote service sector like tourism, where employment can be generated," he said.

The Prime Minister dwelt at length on the Crop Insuance Scheme and highlighted its elements.

The revamped crop insurance scheme is cheaper than the previous one launched in 1999 and modified in 2010. It ensures quick dispute settlements and provides for compensation payment direct into bank accounts.

The new scheme works towards making it more attractive for the farmers. The farmers have now to pay just two per cent of the premium for kharif crop and 1.5 per cent for rabi while the same for horticulture will be fixed at 5 per cent. The balance premium is to be paid by the government - both state and central.

India derives about 17% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from agriculture and considering the volatility in farm output due to vagaries of nature often resulting in lower production, the new crop insurance scheme approved by the government is expected to help small and marginal farmers in a big way.

Modi regretted that for the sake of higher yield, massive doses of chemicals and harmful fertilisers were used. "This atrocity on 'dharti mata' should be avoided...We have no right to commit such an atrocity," he advised the farmers.

Stating that fertiliser shortage and blackmarketing has ended, Modi said earlier the PM Office used to get letters from CMs and most of them were for demanding fertiliser.

"The Centre did not permit blackmarketing of urea. Now no CM writes to me for fertiliser," he said.

Modi said on Ambedkar Jayanti on April 14 he would launch national agriculture market "e-platform" for farmers enabling them to know market price of their produce through mobile phones.

Earlier, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh told the gathering that the NDA government had raised the amount of compensation to farmers who suffered due to vagaries of nature.

"We have simplified the procress of giving them central assistance," he said.
Police today attached the property of absconding RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav, who is facing rape charges involving a minor.

After obtaining court's order yesterday for attachment of fugitive MLA's property, Nalanda police accompanied by Nawada police went to Yadav's village at English Pathra under Muffasil police station of the district and attached his property, Nawada Sadar SDO Rajesh Kumar said.

A truck-load of households goods belonging to the RJD MLA has been dispatched to Nalanda, while another truck was being loaded.

Yadav is accused of raping a minor girl at his residence in the village on February 6. He has been absconding since the victim's family lodged a complaint on February 9 in this regard.

Biharsharif Additional District and Sessions Judge Rashmi Shikha had ordered attachment of Yadav's property yesterday after hearing police's fresh plea filed on the basis of confessional statement of co-accused Sulekha Devi, who was allegedly involved in the flesh trade, in the case.

The court had on February 22 put the process of attachment of property on hold for a month and had asked Yadav to surrender before it failing which his properties would be attached. The court had asked the police to paste the notice at Yadav's residence.

Biharsharif court, which had issued arrest warrant against Yadav and three others in the case, had on February 20 rejected the anticipatory bail petition of suspended RJD MLA.

Nawada District Magistrate yesterday suspended the licenses of Yadav's three arms - a rifle, a pistol and a double-barrel gun.

The DM also asked the fugitive legislator to deposit arms with the concerned police station failing which his licenses would be cancelled.

Yadav, an RJD MLA from Nawada, who served as minister in Rabri Devi ministry in the past, has gone underground after his arrest order was issued by Deputy Inspector General of Police Shalin on Saturday last after finding the complaint of the minor victim girl's family true.
President Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate an event to commemorate 40th Civil Accounts Day on Tuesday where best performing officers will also be awarded.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will preside over the function to be organised by the office of Controller General of Accounts (CGA) under Finance Ministry, an official statement said.

Continuing the practice recognition to the best performing Principal Accounts Officers and Accounts Officers, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha will give away awards during the Valedictory Session, the statement added.

The office of CGA has taken various initiatives recently in order to improve the overall functioning and performance of its different units.

Among others, it has designed, developed, owned and implemented a sound Public Financial Management System (PFMS) by establishing a comprehensive payment, receipt and accounting network.

The Indian Civil Accounts Service (ICAS) was constituted in 1976, consequent to a historical reform in public financial administration when the maintenance of Accounts of the Union Government was separated from that of Audit, it said.

Consequently, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India was divested with this responsibility.

The CGA is assisted by the officers of the Indian Civil Accounts Service, and is the principal advisor on accounting matters to the central government, it added.

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Mukherjee's chopper landed at Kedarnath helipad at 8.30 AM, where he was accorded a traditional welcome by the chairman of Mandir Samiti Ganesh Godiyal.

Garhwal commissioner Vinod Sharma, IG Sanjay Gunjyal, Ruydraprayag District Magistrate Raghav Langar and SP Prahlad Narayan Meena escorted the President and his son Abhijit Mukherjee in an All Terrain Vehicle to the temple.

They offered prayers in the sanctum sanctorum for nearly 30 minutes and performed rituals under the supervision of temple priest Shivshankar.

The President was offered a shawl and a replica of the shrine on behalf of the temple committee, an official release here said.

Briefing the President about the temple's reconstruction work, the Chief Minister said the trek route to the shrine has been made more convenient with the creation of more facilities for the pilgrims.

The yatra is safer now with tourists coming from across the country and abroad praising the efforts of the state government, Rawat said.

Over 12 lakh pilgrims have visited the chardham and Hemkund Sahib this year, he said.
Police are on the lookout for a 20-year-old woman and her parents for allegedly swindling an engineer of over Rs 40 lakh, on the pretext of marrying him.

The victim identified as Santhosh Kumar (40), a software engineer, had registered himself on a matrimonial site, where the woman saw his profile and established contact with him.

She had asked him to meet her at a temple here to discuss their marriage, during which, she requested him to postpone the wedding for a few months, as her parents were unable to arrange sufficient money required for the wedding, police said.

The woman, Sruthi used to meet Santhosh at regular intervals and took money from him, which amounted to over Rs 40 lakh, they said.

When Santhosh asked the parents to expedite the marriage, they stalled it citing her health issues or unavailability.

Growing suspicious, he lodged a complaint with Crime Branch, who registered cases against the trio, under IPC sections 120 b (conspiracy), 406 (criminal breach of trust and 420 (cheating).

Preliminary inquiry revealed that Sruthi had targeted and cheated several men, particularly those registered on matrimonial websites in Nagapattinam and Puducherry, police added.
Strike call given by a section of public sector banks' officers for tomorrow has been called off and all the branches of the lenders will function normally.

The strike call was to protest termination of P V Mohanan, General Secretary of Dhanlaxmi Bank Officers' Organisation.

"As management of Dhanlaxmi Bank has decided to favorably considered the case of reinstatement of Mohanan, we have decided to defer the strike," All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC) General Secretary Havinder Singh told PTI.

Mohanan is also AIBOC, Kerala State President. Dhanlaxmi Bank is an old generation private sector bank based out of Kerala.

Many banks including State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Andhra Bank have already issued advisory informing about strike call and inconvenience to customers if it materialises.

The bank is taking all necessary steps for smooth functioning of bank branches on the day of strike, if it materialises, Bank of Baroda said in a statement.
Hours after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal hit out at the Akalis, Punjab government today appointed a nodal officer at district-level for checking illegal mining as well as for timely and effective redressal of complaints.

Ludhiana Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat said that a nodal officer had been appointed at district-level for checking illegal mining.

For the benefit of complainants, a helpline number and email address have also been started, he added.

"I am shocked to know that legal crusher owners were imposed 'Goonda Tax or Jizya' by the Mining Mafia in Punjab. I vow that within 24 hours of AAP's coming into power, this 'Goonda Tax' will end in the state," Kejriwal said while addressing a rally here.

As per a letter from Principal Secretary, Industries Department, Punjab, Bhagat said that Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) Ajay Sood (mobile number 98149-00026) has been appointed as the nodal officer.

Besides, a helpline number has been started at the DC's camp office for receiving complaints with regard to illegal mining.

The Deputy Commissioner said the email address and helpline number would remain operational 24X7.

The government would not tolerate any illegal mining in the state and if a person indulges in illegal activity, he would be strictly dealt with, an official spokesman said.
Making a comeback, PR veteran has ventured into healthcare business through a new entity Nayati Healthcare, whose first hospital was inaugurated here today by Ratan Tata.

Nayati Healthcare plans to open a hospital in Amritsar next while the Mathura facility would be a hub for cancer treatment in the region, Radia told PTI.

After inaugurating the 351-bed multi super specialty hospital, Tata said: "It is heartening to see a full-fledged specialty hospital being established in Mathura with considerable personal sacrifice, driven by passion and a genuine desire to serve the community."



The hospital would provide "much needed medical help and healthcare facilities for the people of the region", the Tata Group Chairman Emeritus said.

Radia said the hospital is poised to serve not only the population of Western Uttar Pradesh but will be the centre of excellence for the whole of North India.

The hospital would aim to reduce the physical, emotional and economic burden of illness that blights the life of ordinary people in tier II and tier III towns by taking treatment to the patients, she added.

Nayati Healthcare AND Research Pvt Ltd, a multi super specialty healthcare chain, has decided to start operations in Tier II and Tier III cities.

Radia, once known as an influential corporate lobbyist, had landed in controversy few years back following leak of her alleged taped conversations with prominent politicians, businessmen and media persons.

Subsequently, she wound up her PR business comprising among other entities of Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, which handled various clients including Tata Group and Unitech, and of Neucom Consulting which managed the account of Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries.

When asked about her past experiences, Radia asserted that she had no regrets.

"I was never a corporate communications person, never a corporate lobbyist as they keep on calling me... Success has a price but I don't have any regrets," Radia said.

"Do I regret (that I was) in the corporate space? I think it was a huge learning," she noted.

About her foray into the healthcare space, Radia said, "I have found my calling".

Talking about her business model, Radia said it would have to be "economies of scale... It is all about people".

"We have to be sensitive to affordability," she said, adding that the entity has not slashed the prices but is only being sensible when it comes to pricing.

On financial aspect of the venture, she said they are very cautious as there is support of bank loans.

However, specific details were not disclosed.
Delhi zoo is all set to welcome back Ayodhya, a 23-year-old rhinoceros that was born there in 1992 and sent to Patna under an exchange programme.

"Ayodhya, which was born in the Delhi zoo in December 1992 and sent to Patna under an exchange programme, is being brought back here. In return, an 18-year-old rhino Maheshwari, also born here, is being sent to Patna," Riyaz Khan, zoo curator said.

The National Zoological Park is also gifting away three female brow-antlered deers to the Patna zoo.

"We have always recorded healthy and excessive births of brow-antlered deer. We have so far provided deer to 89 zoos across the country, including the animals' native place Imphal," Khan said.

The zoo currently has 50 brow-antlered deer, he said, adding 11 were born this year.

The zoo official refuted a recent report about the death of a sloth bear.

"The bear had issues with eating. So we admitted him to the zoo hospital earlier this month. He is now being treated and is fine. Reports of his death by a daily recently is false," Khan said.
Union Minister Kiren Rijiju today accused the Congress of being sympathetic towards terrorists and separatists saying statement of former Home Secretary G K Pillai on controversial Ishrat Jahan case "reflects true intention and mindset" of the party.

"It's a tragedy for India that Congress party is proved to be a sympathetic party of the terrorists and separatists.

"The disclosure of the facts by former Home Secretary G K Pillai depicts the true intention and mindset of the Congress party as to how much UPA government went out of way to protect a Lashkar-e-Taiba aide," he said in a statement here.

Rijiju was reacting to Pillai's reported statement claiming that as Home Minister during UPA government, Congress leader P Chidambaram had recalled the file a month after the orginial affidavit, which described Ishrat and her slain aides as LeT operatives, was filed in SC.

"Only after the affidavit was revised, as directed by the Minister, did the file come to me," Pillai is quoted as saying by a media report.

The Union Minister of State for Home alleged that Chidambaram had shown Congress' sympathy for Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru and his acts "by even criticising the judicial process".

Rijiju claimed that another senior Minister of UPA government had openly and proudly disclosed how Congress President "Sonia Gandhi cried for the killed terrorists of Batla house encounter".

The Minister alleged that "going one step further Rahul Gandhi has openly supported the separatists and Maoists" by joining their sponsored protests in JNU campus.

"Congress Party will be directly responsible for the growth of all terrorists organisations in India.

"It's time for Congress party to apologise before the nation for humiliating martyrs and their family members," he said.
Noida-based Ringing Bells, which has promised to sell smartphones for Rs 251 apiece, has started refunding money to customers due to negative speculation around its claim.

There was a lot of negativity around us so we have decided to take money from customers only after delivering phones to them. We are refunding money to those who have paid for booking the phones and giving them an option of cash on delivery," Ringing Bells Director Mohit Goel said.

Nearly 30,000 people paid for booking the phones and more than 7 crore people registered for it. The payment was facilitated by CCAvenue and PayU Biz. We dont want customers money initially. We have investors to back our project. There is a business model to justify the price. We have a foolproof plan and to whomsoever we have disclosed, they has agreed to it. I dont want to disclose full details as of now, Goel said.

He said the delivery of Freedom251 smartphones is expected to start in April after which the company will start the second round of bookings.

Our payment gateway companies CCAvenue and PayU Biz have sought time till Wednesday to credit back the amount in accounts of all those who have paid. After which we will send an e-mail, seeking confirmation for cash on delivery," Goel said.

Ringing Bells President Ashok Chaddha had explained earlier that the manufacturing cost of the phone is nearly Rs 2,500, which will be recovered through a series of measures like economies of scale, innovative marketing, reduction in duties and creating an e-commerce marketplace.

By going for Made in India components, we can save on the 13.8 per cent duty. Also, we will be selling online first and thus save the costs incurred on large distribution network, he added. Chaddha also rejected speculations of the handset being subsidised by the government.

The phone will be manufactured in Noida and Uttaranchal. Two plants will be set up for Rs 250 crore each with a capacity of 500,000 phones. The money will come in the form of debt and equity (1.5:1), he said.

He said the equity is being met by the promoter family of the company engaged in agri-commodities business in Uttar Pradesh but declined to give any further information. However, people in industry and some politicians expressed doubt over the claim.

Telecom Minister asked the Department of Electronics and IT to look in to matter. Ringing Bells has also come under the scanner of Excise and Income Tax Departments as debates around the feasibility of offering a handset for Rs 251 rages on.

According to the sources, the I-T Department is looking into the financial structure of the company and has obtained documents, including those from the Registrar of Companies (RoC), in this regard.
With posters of "Rohith ka JNU" plastered across the walls of the varsity, the students and teachers are eagerly waiting for the students union president Kanhaiya Kumar to be back on campus from Tihar jail where he is in custody in connection with a sedition case.

The varsity students including Kanhaiya himself were agitating demanding justice for Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar, who committed suicide at Hyderabad Central University, when a row erupted over holding of an event against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised.

"The government recognised us as voices of dissent as we came in support of the students agitating at FTII and then we made death of Rohith Vemula a national issue. Kanhaiya himself was supposed to take part in a rally held last week for Rohith but those in power targeted him for the same reason," said JNU Students Union's vice president Shehla Rashid Shora.

"His bail plea has been deferred again and again and custody extended. We are hoping for Comrade Kanhaiya to be back on campus and join our movement against branding of the university as a den of anti-nationals," she added.

Delhi High Court will hear Kanhaiya's bail plea tomorrow.

The administration block, where every evening the students gather to register their protest over the action against students and attend lectures on nationalism, still has posters of 'Rohith Ka JNU' and hoardings of "Justice for Rohith". It is the same venue where the students, who love being called 'comrades', had started an indefinite hunger strike demanding justice for Vemula.

According to Sucheta De, former President JNUSU, the row is not just about Kanhaiya but also other students who have got caught in this "seditious politics".

"The issue is not about sedition on campus, it is about



the country's politics being seditious. Be it Comrade Umar, Anirban, Ashutosh, Anant, Rama or any other student of the university who is targeted for raising his voice or expressing his thoughts. We just hope they are released soon and the democracy prevails in and outside the campus," she said.

Kanhaiya Kumar, a PhD student, was arrested on February 12 in connection with the Afzal Guru event.

Members of the ABVP, the students front of RSS, had objected to the event and written to the Vice Chancellor against allowing it on the campus, prompting the university administration to order cancellation of the march as it "feared" that it might "disrupt" peace.

But the organisers went ahead with the programme despite withdrawal of permission and held a cultural programme, art and photo exhibition on the issue.

Five other students Umar Khalid, Anirban Bhattacharya, Ashutosh Kumar, Anant Prakash and Rama Naga, were wanted by the police in connection with the case. After being on the run for 10 days, they resurfaced on campus last Sunday.

While Umar and Anirban later surrendered, three others have communicated to police that they are open to questioning as and when required.

Academicians and scholars from across the globe including Noam Chomsky have come out in support of JNU students and condemned the police action against them.
Railway Budget's allocation of only Rs 1,000 for the wagon manufacturing factory at Sitalapalli in Odisha's Ganjam district has raised serious "doubts" over the project's implementation.

The factory was announced in 2011-12 by the then Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee. Since then every year the allocation has been meager.

The proposed project was supposed to be implemented in public-private partnership (PPP) mode and the ministry had sought around 100 acre of land. Odisha government identified around 101 acres but the groundwork is yet to start.

"The Centre is not sincere about the project and we are doubtful about its implementation," said senior Congress leader and former Union minister Chandra Sekhar Sahu, blaming the state for not mounting pressure on the Centre.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik expressed regret over the allocation of a token amount for the project. "He has moved the Centre to increase the amount," said BJD MLA (Berhampur) R Ch Chyaupatnaik.

"We hope the Centre will reconsider its decision and allocate a higher amount to expedite the much-awaited project," BJD vice-president (women wing) Mamata Bisoi said.

Sitalapalli is near the Jagannathpur railway station, about 20 km from here. Establishment of the wagon factory at Sitalapalli is important because Tata Steel is setting up an industrial park near it.

An all-weather port Gopalpur and two special economic zones have also been set up in the area. Tata Steel and Saraf Agency Ltd will be developing the SEZs.
The Russian military said Sunday armed groups had attacked a Syrian town from Turkish territory, adding it had demanded an explanation from the United States.

"Overnight from February 27 to 28, the Russian centre for the reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria received information about an attack from Turkish territory on the Syrian town of Tal Abyad by armed units using large-scale artillery," said the chief of the centre, Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko.

"This was subsequently verified and confirmed through several channels including representatives of the Syrian Democratic Forces," Kuralenko was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies from the Hmeimim airbase.

The Syrian Democratic Forces is a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance.

"The Russian centre has turned for an explanation to the Amman-based US centre for reconciliation," Kuralenko added, stressing that Turkey was a member of a US-led coalition.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Kurdish forces and their Arab allies successfully pushed back a fierce IS offensive by last night with backing from the US-led coalition.

In a statement published late Saturday, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) accused a group of "IS mercenaries" of launching an attack on Tal Abyad from Raqa to the south and from Turkish territory to the north late Friday.

They said they were able to repel the attack but that clashes were ongoing.

A ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washington took effect from Friday and was largely holding on Sunday.

There was no immediate confirmation of the Russian report from Turkey.

Turkey said earlier the ceasefire deal was not binding for Ankara if its national security was threatened.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry have hailed the ceasefire in Syria and discussed ways of supporting it through cooperation between their militaries, Russia's foreign ministry has said.

In a phone call, they welcomed "the implementation of the ceasefire in Syria," the ministry said in a statement yesterday.

"They also discussed the outlook for resuming the peace negotiation process in the framework of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG)," Moscow said, adding that both sides recognised the "particular importance" of working together as co-chairs of the 17-nation group.

Lavrov and Kerry also discussed "ways for ensuring it (the ceasefire) is fully upheld, including enhancing military cooperation between Russia and the United States," the statement said.

State Department spokesman John Kirby said Kerry had welcomed the "constructive engagement" among members of the ISSG, "as parties continue to closely monitor and assess reports from the field".

"They agreed that while initial reports have been encouraging, a serious effort by all parties will be critical to success going forward," Kirby added.

"They also reaffirmed their commitment to implementing the cessation of hostilities and to delivery of needed humanitarian aid to communities across Syria."



The Russian military earlier said its warplanes had suspended all sorties over Syria on Saturday to avoid any "bombing mistakes" and the US and Russia militaries also exchanged maps of Syria.

The ceasefire, brokered by Washington and Moscow, took effect at midnight local time (2200 GMT Friday).

It is the first major truce in a five-year war that has claimed 270,000 lives and displaced more than half of Syria's population.

The agreement calls for the cessation of hostilities between the forces of Russian-backed President Bashar al-Assad and opposition groups, but it does not cover jihadist groups such as the Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has said peace talks -- suspended since February 3 amid a regime offensive backed by Russian air power -- will resume on March 7 if the ceasefire prevails and more aid is delivered.
Unrest has broke out in a Salt Lake City neighbourhood after what appears to be a shooting involving a police officer, media reports said.

The shooting happened about 8:15 PM near downtown, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Selam Mohammad told the paper that a police officer shot a 16-year-old boy who was his friend.

In a tweet late last night, Salt Lake City police said that officers were responding to an unrelated call in area when they were told of assault in progress. The officers "tried to engage altercation," the tweet says.

Detective Greg Wilking told the Tribune that "shots were fired," but not how many or whether an officer fired them. Later yesterday, Salt Lake City police told the newspaper that one officer, and possibly a second one, were involved in the shooting.

Mohammad told the paper that the victim and a man were in a confrontation, and the victim was holding part of a broomstick at his side when officers ran up.

"They told him to put it down, once," Mohammad said, and "started shooting him as soon as he turned around."



The teenager was hit in the chest and stomach, Mohammad said. The victim was taken to a hospital, it reported.

City police were helped by officers from three other departments as onlookers threw rocks at officers and yelled obscenities, the paper said. Police have closed a light rail stop in the neighbourhood.

Police detained multiple people, but Wilking could not elaborate on the reason for the detentions.

There were "a lot of hostile people upset about what had taken place," Wilking told the paper.

At 8:40 PM, a line of officers moved protesters down a sidewalk, the newspaper reported.

There are a number of homeless shelters in the neighbourhood, and business owners have long complained about the homeless population and drug dealing, the newspaper said.
Actor Sanjay Dutt's sister Priya Dutt feels the upcoming biopic on her brother will be quite fascinating for the viewers.

The life of controversy's favourite child Sanjay Dutt has been a merger of love affairs, drug abuse, alleged underworld connection and his imprisonment.

Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani is working on the biopic on the "Munna Bhai MBBS" actor, which will have Ranbir Kapoor in the lead role.

"His (Sanjay) life has been interesting. I don't know how and what all will be shown in the biopic. Not many people go through all this and yet appear calm and strong. I am sure the biopic will be interesting to watch," Priya told PTI.

Sanjay was released from jail on February 25, after he got a remission in his prison term in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts.

In his acting career so far, the actor has given several memorable performances but the films that his sister Priya loves the most are "Vaastav" and the "Munna Bhai" series.

"I loved him in 'Munna Bhai MBBS' and 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai'. He was really good as the lovable goon in these films. These two are my all-time favourite films of his. I am looking forward to the third part of 'Munna Bhai'. I also liked him in 'Vaastav'," she said. PTI KKP SDL



Hirani, a friend of Sanjay, has said he will soon begin working for the third instalment of "Munna Bhai" series with the actor.
Saudi Arabia today accused President Bashar al-Assad's regime and its ally Russia of "ceasefire violations" in Syria.

"There are violations to the ceasefire from Russian and (Syrian) regime aircraft," Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir told reporters in Riyadh.

"We are discussing this with (the 17-nation) Syria Support Group," co-chaired by Russia and the United States, said Jubeir.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has said that several air strikes hit central and northern Syria today.

Warplanes, believed to be either Syrian or Russian, bombed seven villages in the provinces of Aleppo and Hama, the monitor said.

A ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washington took effect at midnight Friday but the Riyadh-based opposition and Russia have reported several breaches from opposing sides.

The ceasefire agreement does not include territory held by the Islamic State jihadist group and Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, which together control more than half of Syria.

Russia, which has waged five months of intense air strikes in support of Assad, said yesterday it had halted bombing in all areas covered by the truce.

But it has vowed to keep striking IS and Al-Nusra and other "terrorist groups".

It was unclear if today's raids hit areas covered by the truce.

But Jubeir said that Russia was targeting Syria's "moderate opposition" groups.

UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura was "in contact with the Russians and the Syrian regime on this matter to reach an agreement that would limit or end military operations against the moderate Syrian opposition and focus instead on Daesh (Arabic acronym for IS) and Al-Nusra," said Jubeir.

"Things will become clearer in the coming days on whether the regime and Russia are serious or not about the ceasefire," he added.

Saudi Arabia is a main supporter of the Syrian rebels battling Assad's regime since 2011.
Taking strict action against unauthorised money pooling schemes, capital regulator Sebi has clamped down on over 40 companies so far this year for raising nearly Rs 1,500 crore from the public.

Most of the companies garnered funds by issuing preference shares and non-convertible debentures to investors without complying with the public issue norms, Sebi has found.

Under the public issue norms, these firms were required to list their securities as the shares were issued by each company to more than 50 persons.

They were also required to file a prospectus, among other things, but they failed to do so.

In addition, some of the companies mobilised money through unregistered Collective Investment Schemes (CIS).

Since the beginning of the year, Sebi has taken action against 43 companies, according to an analysis of data available with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

Collectively, these firms have mobilised Rs 1,479 crore from more than 5.2 lakh investors.

Sai Prasad Corp and GCA Marketing garnered funds to the tune of Rs 615 crore and Rs 428 crore from investors respectively through CIS, while Ramel Real Estate and Infrastructure raked in Rs 75 crore by issuing securities to investors without complying with public issue norms.

Other firms facing regulatory actions include Amrit Projects, Vikdas Industries, Everlight Realcon Infrastructure, Golden Heaven Agro Project India, Hooghly Agrotech, Skylark Land Developers and Infrastructure India, Prism Infracon, Dreamland Industries and Suvidha Land Developers India.

Of 43 firms, Sebi has ordered 29 companies to refund the money, along with interest, raised fraudulently from public.

Besides, these companies and their directors have been prohibited from the capital for four years.

In the remaining 14 cases, Sebi has barred those companies and their directors from the capital till further orders. They have also been directed through interim orders not to raise further funds through the issuance of securities or mop-up money through existing CIS.
A Somali police officer says that at least 13 people were killed when two restaurants were attacked in the southwestern town of Baidao.

Yusuf Nur, a police officer in Baidoa, told The Associated Press that the first restaurant was hit by a car bomb and a second nearby restaurant was targeted when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the establishment.

Nur said the explosions were at the central Beder and Redo restaurants which are popular with officials and residents.

Yasmin Ali, a nurse at the town's main hospital, said at least 20 people are being treated for injuries.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the Baidoa attacks, but the Islamic extremist rebels al-Shabab have carried out many similar attacks in Somalia.
The start-up community, which has started facing funds crunch of late, is looking to the for an easy tax regime, relaxation in investment norms and further incentives for innovation.

The country is home to over 18,000 start-ups, making it the third largest in the world after the US and England..

Read our full coverage on Union Budget 2016



"iSpirt has represented to the finance ministry that a small basket of tax sops merely will not be effective for the existing system which is riddled with several bottlenecks," co-founder of iSpirt Foundation Sharad Sharma told PTI.

It has submitted a 36-agenda point to the finance ministry representing various hurdles that start-up face today.

Investors in start-ups are also expecting rationalisation in capital gains tax and want this should be aligned with the current tax regime for investments in listed companies, he said.

"Currently, start-up investors pay a much higher tax on capital gains while taking a higher risk compared to publicly traded firms. We expect that capital gains tax for alternative investment funds and angel investors will be aligned to the current tax regime for investments made in listed shares," Indian Angel Network President Padmaja Ruparel said.

The apex body for the IT Nasscom has also voiced similar concerns.

"Investments in early stage start-ups are high risks and there is a need to rationalise tax rates for investors," Nasscom 10,000 start-ups Vice-President Rajat Tandon said.

"start-ups should be exempted from direct (announced in start-up Action plan, but has limited impact) and indirect taxes including MAT, which would reduce compliance burden and reduce cash outflows," he added.

While the start-up India Action Plan announced several favourable measures, Indian Angel Network co-founder Saurabh Srivastava said the investors are hoping that the would introduce the necessary measures to take it forward.

These include more clarity on the income tax exemption for start-ups, defining and identifying start-ups, setting up a credit guarantee fund, compliance waivers, and creation of a Rs 10,000-crore fund for start-ups, he said.

To incentivise innovation, iSpirt has given two important recommendations. First, creating a favourable tax regime for IPR to enable start-ups to establish their base.

Second, it wants investments towards IPR creation to be treated at par with capex in manufacturing from a taxation perspective.
Marking an end to his tenure as St Stephen's principal, the college will today bid farewell to Valson Thampu who referred to himself as "controversy's child".

Thampum, who studied at St Stephen's and later served the college as a lecturer and officiating principal, took over as the college principal in 2008. His tenure ends tomorrow and his successor John Varghese will take charge of the prestigious institution on March 1.

The principal, who has had a "love-hate" relationship with a section of teachers, alumni, students and even the media, says he is looking forward to celebrating the "festival of retirement".

A fellowship meal by the Christian Staff Fellowship and a farewell lunch at the principal's bungalow were held today followed by the launch of a Coffee Table book on his tenure.

"The farewell gesture closest to my heart was a coffee table book on my tenure which has been dedicated by few alumni including Diljeet Titus. I am thankful to them for this most appropriate gesture by way of celebrating and commemorating my retirement," Thampu said.

"It is, assuredly, a breath-taking product: a true collector's item. But it is not for sale. Another exciting thing, from my point of view, is the "Adieu Walk," which has been named "Shukran" by the Dean of Residence, which will take place tomorrow," he added.

Another farewell meeting will be held in the college tomorrow preceded by Farewell Chapel Service. The Adieu Walk will mark the "celebration of a new beginning", Thampu said.

Allegations of forced conversion of an administrative officer to Christianity, fake degree used for his appointment, banning of e-zine for not seeking permission on content, shielding a professor accused of sexual harassment of a research scholar and proposing amendments to the college's 102-year-old constitution marked Thampu's stint at St Stephen's helm.

Repetitive demands were made for his removal by various quarters in wake of the controversies.

"I am a controversy's child and I have maintained that Stephen's can withstand 1,000 other controversies. No other institution in the world has been subjected to such 'harassment' and I challenge anyone to prove that any allegation levelled against the college had any substance, ever," Thampu said.
Senior leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Sunday hit out at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over his comment that rule of law "prevailed in the state under the secular alliance government" asking if it was so then why did he hold five review meetings on the issue.

"Why has the Chief Minister presided over five review meetings to take stock of the law and order situation since assuming office three months ago," he asked.

"If the rule of law prevails in Bihar then what happened to the speedy trial of JD(U) MLA Sarfaraz Alam who was booked for harassing a couple in a train last month," Modi said.

The government's promise of action against JD(U) MLA Bima Bharti and MP Santosh Kushwaha for forcibly freeing Bharti's husband Awadesh Mandal from a police station as well as RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav who is absconding for over three weeks after allegedly raping a minor is yet to be fulfilled, he said.

Similarly, no headway has been made in the murder of two engineers in Darbhanga district and the killing of state vice-president Visheshwar Ojha and LJP leader Brijnathi Singh, he alleged in a statement.

On Kumar's claims of peaceful situation prevailing in Bihar under his rule, the senior leader said if it was so then why only 4,513 people accused of various crimes were convicted in 2015 against 14,511 convictions in 2010.

"The Chief Minister conveniently quotes from crime figures of other states to defend law and order situation in Bihar, but he forgets that various crime figures in the state, particularly congnizable offenses have touched the numbers of the time under RJD rule, Modi claimed.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has asked the Uttarakhand government to trace a missing Dutch woman after her family sought her help, four days after she went missing from Rishikesh.

Sabrina Harmes, 32, was last seen in Rishikesh on Wednesday and was in a "confused state of mind", her sister Suzanne Lugano said in a tweet to Swaraj, while seeking her intervention in locating Sabrina.

"We have asked Uttarakhand Government to trace her," Swaraj said in a tweet.

Suzanne, who lives in Nijmegen in The Netherlands, said Sabrina had attended a gathering of a "guru" named Mooji and, when she did not return to the hostel, her roommates contacted the police.
Swiss voters have rejected a proposal by a nationalist party to automatically expel foreigners who commit even low-level crimes, Swiss public broadcaster SRF reported hours after polls closed at today.

SRF cited political research group gfs.Bern, which projected the measure would be rejected by 59 percent of voters based on partial results from some polling areas.

The outcome comes as a blow to the Swiss People's Party that had campaigned for the plan, and a turnaround from opinion polls last year which had predicted it would be accepted.

Under its proposal, the law would have been changed to make expulsion part of the sentence for any foreigner, whether for severe crimes like murder or low-level crimes such as threatening officials or giving false testimony if they are committed twice within a ten-year span.

A broad coalition of political parties and legal experts came out against the plan in recent months, arguing that it was "inhuman" and would effectively create a two-tier justice system that treats Switzerland's two million or so foreigners about a quarter of the population more harshly.

The People's Party, which campaigns heavily against immigration, had claimed that a law Parliament proposed following a 2010 referendum on the issue didn't go far enough because it gave judges room to consider the impact that expulsion would have.

Pascal Sciarini, A university of Geneva political scientist, said lawmakers will still be required to stiffen laws against foreigners who commit crimes following the results of the earlier referendum on the issue that has yet to be applied.

"There will be a law that will be applied that will lead to more expulsions," Sciarini said. There will be a hardening of rules that will be a result of the first initiative pushed by the SVP," he said, referring to the initials of the People's party in German.

The federal statistics office estimates that over 3,000 additional foreigners could be expelled based on the pending legislation.

Public debate over the extended plan was unusually fierce by Swiss standards, raising voter turnout.

The People's Party's campaign posters showed a white sheep atop a Swiss flag, kicking away a black sheep. Opponents of the proposal released an electronic advertisement at major train stations showing a tattered swastika next to a large "No" to the referendum and a list showing "2016 Switzerland" after 1933 Nazi Germany and 1948 in apartheid South Africa.
The Russian military said today that a fragile ceasefire in Syria had been breached nine times over the past 24 hours but the truce was mostly holding.

"Over the past 24 hours, nine instances of violations of cessation of hostilities have been uncovered," Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko, head of the country's coordination centre in Syria, was quoted as saying by Russian agencies. "On the whole, the ceasefire regime in Syria is being implemented.
Syria's main opposition grouping recorded 15 violations by government troops and allied forces on the first day of a landmark truce, a spokesman told reporters today.

"There were 15 violations by the regime forces on day one of the ceasefire, including two attacks by (Lebanese militant group) Hezbollah in Zabadani" west of Damascus, said Salem al-Meslet, spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee.
Syria's fragile ceasefire entered its second day today, with battlezones across the war-scarred country largely quiet for the first time in five years despite some sporadic breaches.

The temporary truce, brokered by Washington and Moscow, is seen as a crucial step towards ending a conflict that has claimed 270,000 lives and displaced more than half the population.

It survived a shaky first day, during which state media said shells were fired on the capital while rebels also accused government forces of "violations".

"I think this is the first time we've woken up without the sound of shelling," said Ammar al-Rai, a 22-year-old medical student in Damascus.

An international task force set up to monitor the fighting co-chaired by the United States and Russia said yesterday had been largely successful.

"The United Nations, the United States and Russia have made a positive assessment of the first hours of the cessation of hostilities," a Western diplomat said after a meeting of the International Syria Support Group in Geneva.

The UN reported "some incidents" in apparent violation of the truce, but "they have been defused", he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's office said he and US Secretary of State John Kerry had "hailed" the ceasefire in a phone call, and discussed ways of improving cooperation between their militaries.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has said peace talks will resume on March 7 if the ceasefire prevails and more aid is delivered -- a key sticking point in negotiations.

A spokesman for the UN's humanitarian affairs office said the next convoys are expected to leave today, after aid reached tens of thousands of people in besieged cities over the past week.

"If it (the truce) holds, it will create the conditions for full, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Syria," said EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

The ceasefire faces formidable challenges, however, particularly as it excludes the powerful Islamic State (IS) jihadist group and Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

Russia, which has waged nearly five months of intense air strikes in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said it had halted bombing in all areas covered by the truce.

Moscow has vowed to keep striking IS, Al-Nusra and other "terrorist groups", but said it grounded its warplanes in the Syria campaign on the first day of the truce to avoid potential "mistakes".
A South African court has ruled against the long-delayed buyout of the licences of Tata-led South African telecoms consortium Neotel by Vodacom, the local unit of global telecoms giant Vodafone.

Vodacom now will not be able to take control of licences owned by Neotel as part of the companies' planned R7-billion deal which would have given Vodacom a huge advantage over competitors. The ruling came two months after the company agreed to amend the conditions of the original deal to exclude the licences.

Telecommunications regulator Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), which controls telecommunications in the country, had originally agreed to the transfer of the licences.

But the three biggest rival operators MTN, Telkom and Cell C, pooled resources to oppose the approval by ICASA.

Analysts said the court ruling was just a confirmation of the earlier decision by Vodacom to drop its plans for total buyout of Neotel.

Vodacom had changed its offer to exclude the licences for spectrum and electronic communication network services, opting to buy only Neotel's fixed line assets, with Neotel then offering a roaming arrangement to its mobile network operators.

"The merger deal as originally conceived between Vodacom and Neotel is definitely dead in the water now," Dominic Cull, a telecoms attorney at Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions told the Sunday Times.

"If Vodacom had to go back to try and reapply for the licences it would take forever," Cullis added.

Vodacom had initiated the offer to Neotel in 2014 as part of its plans to grow its internet offerings in the face of more stringent regulation and pricing difficulty in the mobile phone market.

Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub had earlier said that his company planned to speed up its fibre network deployment with the Neotel deal to provide connections to millions of houses and business parks.

ICASA had approved the buyout after lengthy hearings, despite opposition from the rival companies.

The deal had also been approved by the Competitions Commission, which set as conditions that Vodacom could not use the Neotel spectrum for a period of two years, and that the new merged company would have to make substantial investment in fixed-line services in underserviced rural areas.

Tata has a major stake in the Neotel consortium, licenced as the second fixed-line operator to rival state-owned Telkom, which has been under huge financial strain in recent years.

Telkom said in a statement that it welcomed the court ruling.
Police in eastern Thailand said today that they have arrested several Cambodian sailors suspected of attacking four French tourists on a resort island, raping the two women in the group.

The five Cambodians assaulted the tourists with knives and sticks last night on the island of Koh Kut after anchoring their fishing boat, said Major General Nopparat Rintapon, head of police in Trat province. Three of the tourists were badly injured.

One of the tourists ran away and got help at a nearby hotel, while the two female tourists were raped, Nopparat said.

The victims were sent to a Trat hospital for treatment.

The incident is the latest attack on foreign tourists in Thailand. In December, a Thai court sentenced two Myanmar migrants to death for the murders of a British man and woman whose bodies were found on the Thai resort island of Koh Tao in September 2014. The woman had also been raped.
In a macabre incident, a 35-year-old man allegedly killed 14 of his family members, including his parents, wife and children among whom were two infants, by slitting their throats after sedating them and then committed suicide early today, police said.

Seven children, the youngest being his three month-old daughter, six women and the father of the accused, lay dead in a pool of blood.

The body of the man, Hasnen Anwar Warekar, was found hanging with a knife in his hand at his family's ground plus one-storey house in Kasarvadawali area here, they said, adding that one of the family members, who survived the gruesome incident, has been admitted to hospital.

Thane's Joint Commissioner of Police Ashutosh Dhumbre said Hasnen had called his three sisters and their children from Koparkhairne in Navi Mumbai and Mahapoli near Bhiwandi for a 'get-together', which he used to host frequently.

Hasnen, a commerce graduate who used to prepare Income Tax-related documents with a CA firm in Navi Mumbai, is suspected to have offered them drinks laced with sedatives following which he slit their throats.

According to police, Hasnen offered prayers at around 3 AM at a mosque near his house. After returning home, he slit the throats of his family members one-by-one and then committed suicide by hanging himself



At around 5-5.30 AM, the lone survivor of the incident, Hasnen's 22-year-old sister, Subiya Sojef Burmal, shouted for help from the window of the house, following which the neighbours gathered there and broke-open the window grill and pulled out the injured woman and admitted her to hospital. They also alerted the police.

"Hasnen slit the upper part of this sister's throat, she survived the attack and screamed for help. The survivor's in-laws, who were in the neighbouring house, heard her cries and tried opening the door, but it was locked from inside. The in-laws broke open the grill of a window on the ground floor and entered the house. It was then that the police was alerted of the incident," Dhumbre said.

The 14 bodies with throats slit were found lying at the ground and first floor and blood was seen everywhere in the house owned by the accused's family where they had been living for the last 10 years, police said.

Besides, Hasnen's body was found hanging from the ceiling with a knife dangling in his right hand, they said.

Dhumbre said the Hasnen's mobile phone and laptop have been seized to get clues regarding the murders.

"Prima facie evidence suggests that the accused bolted all the doors of the house and murdered his family while they were asleep with a knife. The accused then hung himself after killing his family. There were three rooms in the house, while he was in a room with his wife and two daughters on the first floor, his parents and sisters were in separate rooms on the ground floor," Dhumbre said.

While property dispute was suspected to be the reason behind the murders, the police officer said at this stage the motive could not be stated with certainty. He said blood samples, viscera and food samples collected from the house will be sent for forensic testing.

The bodies, meanwhile, have been sent for post-mortem to Civil Hospital, police said.

In a related development, a news channel cameraman covering the incident at Civil Hospital, where the bodies were taken, collapsed and died of heart attack, doctors said.
Police have safely recovered three Nigerian nationals abducted days earlier from this restive northwestern city of Pakistan over business transactions and arrested seven-members of a gang.

Police began investigations after Chales Ann reported on February 19, that three of his Nigerian friends have been kidnapped over business transactions.

The three abducted men were freed after a successful operation which led to the arrest of seven members of the gang from the Sattar Shah Colony, DSP Peshawar cantonment Arif Khansaid, adding, police also seized large cache of arms from the possession of the abductors.

The arrested men included two brothers and three Afghan nationals, he added.

One of the accused's brother in Dubai is said to have cloth business with one of the Nigerian national abducted in Peshawar.
Three people have been stabbed, one of them critically, and 13 others arrested in California when a Ku Klux Klan rally erupted into clashes with counter- protesters, witnesses and police said.

Around midday, half a dozen members of the white hate group arrived at the protest site in Anaheim where they were "swarmed" by protesters, who attacked them with at least one wooden plank, witness Brian Levin told AFP.

"Preliminarily, it appears six KKK people arrived and were immediately attacked by counter-protesters, which led to a counter-protester being stabbed," local police spokesman Sergeant Daron Wyatt said yesterday.

The initial clash spawned several separate fights, Wyatt added, noting that the three stabbing victims were all counter-protesters, while another two KKK members were stomped by the crowd.

Of those arrested, six were KKK members and seven were from the rival demonstration, Wyatt said. All were men, except for one woman in each group.

The counter-protesters "smashed the side window of the Klan SUV and the front windshield," said Levin, who heads the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University in San Bernardino.

"At that point, the crowd got extremely violent."



Some of the protesters started kicking a man wearing a shirt that read "Grand Dragon," said Levin, describing the KKK members' wounds as ranging from minor to significant.

"He was kicked when he was down" on the ground, he said.

Levin said he had attended the rally as an observer, but ended up standing in between the Klansmen and the crowd of angry protesters to try to stem the violence.
Trinamool Congress MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay today claimed Congress president Sonia Gandhi has so far no about a possible alliance between her party and the CPI(M)-led Left Front in West Bengal ahead of the coming Assembly elections.

"While returning from New Dehli, I suddenly met Soniaji (Gandhi) and asked her about a probable alliance...She instead asked me whether any such alliance was happening. She told me that no such has reached her so far," the TMC leader told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.

"It is apparent that such an alliance is not taking place. There is some campaign regarding seat adjustment at the state- level between the two parties, but as per my knowledge there is no alliance," Bandyopadhyay said, while speaking about his chance meeting with Sonia on Friday last.

West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee president Adhir Chowdhury had earlier said party workers wanted to forge an alliance with CPI(M)-led Left Front in order to take on the ruling TMC.

Senior CPI(M) leaders including former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and party state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra have openly spoken in favour of an alliance with the Congress.

The Congress had fought the 2011 Assembly elections in West Bengal in alliance with TMC, when the 34-year rule of Left Front came to an end.

TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had left the UPA at the Centre in September 2012, which led to the resignation of Congress ministers from the state cabinet.

A team of senior state Congress leaders including Chowdhury, Pradip Bhattacharya, Deepa Dasmunshi, Mausam Benazir Noor and Abhijit Mukherjee met party vice president Rahul Gandhi earlier this month.

"We presented all facts during our meeting. It is not that I am an advocate of an alliance, but it is the pressure of the grassroots-level workers who are in favour of such a tie-up," Chowdhury had said after his interaction with Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi.

Rahul had summoned the state Congress leadership to New Delhi to discuss the political situation in the state ahead of the Assembly polls, which is due in a couple of months.
Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee today denied that the person, held accused in the the Baguihati shoot out incident last Thursday, has any links with the party.

"Every death is unfortunate... But please do not involve politics in any death. And I will like to point out that the persons accused to the case have no connection with the party,' Banerjee said at the party office today.

Sanjay Roy alias Buro, a popular TMC leader in the area and a close associate of state Agriculture minister Purnendu Basu, was shot dead in Baguihati area on Thursday morning by unidentified bikers.

Dipankar Sarkar, a resident of Shantimoy Nagar of Baguiati, and allegedly a member of the TMC was arrested in this connection.

Locals ransacked his house which forced the local police to deploy the Rapid Action Force (RAF).
A cashier and a security guard of a toll plaza were today shot dead by two assailants in a suspected robbery bid in southeast Delhi's Badarpur area, police said.

The bike-borne assailants opened fire at cashier Manmohan Singh Sharma (60) and guard Mahipal (50) in the wee hours at staff quarter near the toll collection centre in Badarpur.

Both were rushed to a hospital where they succumbed to injuries, police said.

Preliminary investigation indicates that it was a case of "robbery gone wrong". The two employees were custodians of around Rs 2.50 crore cash collected at the toll plaza over a period, police said.

However, the investigators are also probing the angle of personal rivalry.

It also appears that the assailant duo took with them a laptop bag. A team has been constituted to track them down, police said.

During the firing, the locals raised an alarm and the police were informed. Senior officials of the district also visited the spot, they said.

A case of murder has been registered and investigation is underway, police added.
The recently-passed women's rights bill by Pakistan's Punjab Assembly is in direct conflict with Sharia laws and will make men feel "insecure", a top Pakistani religious and political leader has said.

Maulana Fazlur Rehman, an influential religious and political figure who heads the Jamiat-e-Ulema-Islam party which is known for its sympathy for the Taliban, told reporters in Hyderabad city that he felt sorry for the husbands in Punjab, Pakistan's largest province.

Taking a dig at Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Rehman said he was unaware that the brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is known as Khadam-e-Aalaa (the server of people), was only a server from his own house.

"After the passage of this bill I feel pity for the husbands and they will know now the Punjab chief minister is really a 'Khadam-e-Aaala' in his own home," Rehman said.

"The women's right protection bill is in direct conflict with Sharia laws. They are enforcing laws of the western society in our society," Rehman said.

He said when it came to relations between husband and wife and women's rights, the government needed to first seek guidance from the Sharia laws.

"We are not against women's rights but this new law will lead to break ups of homes and make men feel insecure," he said.

Punjab Assembly passed the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Bill on Wednesday which provides protection and legal recourse to victims of domestic violence.

The bill redefines "violence" to include "any offence committed against a woman including abetment of an offence, domestic violence, emotional, psychological and verbal abuse, economic abuse, stalking or a cybercrime."



Other clerics have also criticised the passage of the bill and termed it against Islam while human rights and women's rights activists have hailed it.
Three truck drivers today denied having witnessed any incident of alleged molestation or rape of women during the pro-quota Jat agitation at Murthal in Sonipat district, Haryana police said today.

"Three truck drivers have denied that they had seen molestation or rape of women (at Murthal)," Haryana Police, DIG, Rajshree Singh said today.

Truck drivers Sukhwinder, Abdul Wahid and Yadwinder have, however, said that their trucks were burnt by agitators.

A team of three women police officers --DIG Rajshree Singh, DSPs Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur was formed by Haryana government "to gather information concerning the alleged incident of sexual assault on some women near Murthal on the intervening night of February 22 and 23."



DIG said instructions have been issued that as and when any complainant comes forward an FIR must be registered.

Yesterday, women police officers had visited the site at village Hassanpur near Murthal in Sonipat district on Delhi-Ambala National Highway to gather first hand information about the alleged incident.

Meanwhile, Sonepat SP Abhishek Garg said three witnesses to the incident as reported by a section of media were also "verified at various levels" and they had said that no incident of sexual assault or rape took place at Murthal, over 50 km from Delhi.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had yesterday asked people to share information, if they have any, with the state police regarding the alleged incident.
Nikki Haley, South Carolina's Indian-American Governor, today described Donald Trump's behaviour as "unacceptable" and said the Republican front-runner is unlikely to defeat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the November general elections.

Haley, who has endorsed Marco Rubio as presidential nominee asserted that the Florida Senator is the right person to defeat the Democratic presidential nominee and lead the country.

Rubio, who has emerged as the GOP's establishment candidate is campaigning in this important state of Virginia, hoping to make an impressive win in some of the 11 States where the Republican Party's primaries are scheduled to be held on Tuesday.

"Donald Trump is everything we hear and teach our kids not to do in kindergarten. And we have seen this behaviour over and over again that's unacceptable. And I think what we saw from Marco is exactly what we tell our children also, if a bully hits you, you hit back," Haley told the ABC in an interview Sunday morning.

"I think he (Rubio) hit back and he showed that's he's willing to lead. He's willing to fight. And he's going to have the passion to do it," Haley said, referring to the strong verbal dual unleashed by Rubio over the last few days against Trump.

"And you look at all these issues, this is one more project that Donald Trump is doing. Trump University, Trump Vodka, Trump Airlines, Trump Mortgage all failed projects. This is one more project. And we're really concerned about where that's going to be. And I think it's right for Marco to bring those things out and to keep on bringing those out," she said.

Ramping up the ante against Trump, Rubio has described the New York billionaire as a cone artist and dangerous for the party.

"What I will tell you is, Donald Trump can't be Hillary Clinton. His negatives are so high, his cap is at 35 per cent. It is impossible for him to win a general. And so that's why we've said Marco Rubio is the only one that can defeat Donald Trump. And Marco Rubio can beat Hillary Clinton and will win in November," Haley told the ABC .

Haley who is rated very high across the nation and is seen as a potential vice presidential candidate asserted that Rubio is drawing a large number of supporters across the Super Tuesday States.

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Trump, who has been drawing thousands of people at his election rallies, slammed Rubio as weak.

"I think he's a lightweight. He couldn't get elected dog catcher because to Florida, he's going to lose big league. He is not liked in Florida. He abandoned Florida. He deceived and defrauded Florida. He said he was going to be a senator, and that's the last thing -- he doesn't even show up to meetings," Trump told 'Fox Sunday' in an interview.

"I think he's a guy who thinks he's hot stuff. He's not hot stuff. But he is I call him little Marco. That's what he is, he's little Marco," Trump said alleged that the fist fight between the two Republican presidential candidates scaled a new height on Sunday, two days ahead of the Super Tuesday when Republican presidential primaries would be held in 11 States.

Latest polls shows that Trump is leading in 10 of the 11 States and in Texas he is giving a tough fight to Senator Ted Cruz in his home State.

Even as Rubio is not seen winning in any of the 11 States, if the latest polls are to be believed, party establishment rallied behind him hoping that the Florida Senator would stop the Trump bandwagon.

"I really believe that voters would see through this con job that he's trying to do, and, obviously, that hasn't happened. He's convinced a lot of people," Rubio said appearing on the same Sunday talk show.

"I believe a first rate con artist is on the verge of taking over the party of Lincoln and Reagan. And, now or never, we need to remind people of what's at stake here. We're about to lose the conservative movement to someone who's not a conservative and the party of Lincoln and Reagan to a con artist," Rubio warned.

"This is a guy -- you talked about Trump University earlier in your programme -- who went to people that were trying to improve their lives and convinced them to come into this program he created. They paid thousands of dollars, and they got nothing for it," he alleged.

"Now, he's trying to pull the ultimate con job, and that is to get ahold of the United States of America. And so he's gone to all these struggling Americans who are really hurting economically and he's preying upon those fears and those anxieties they have to get them to give him his vote. And he's been successful," he said.

"This has to end. We cannot allow this guy to become the Republican nominee. The Democrats will tear him to shreds and we're going to lose the party and the conservative movement, but more importantly, the election. And that means America's going to stay on the road it's on right now, which is the road of decline," Rubio said.

Trump claimed that Rubio's allegations are baseless and called for a change in liable laws so that media outlets can't write alleged false stories.
Tulsi Gabbard, the first ever Hindu elected to the US Congress who has a sizeable following among Indian-Americans, today quit a senior Democratic party position to endorse Bernie Sanders as the US presidential candidate.

Gabbard's sudden endorsement comes ahead of the Super Tuesday in which front-runner Hillary Clinton is pitched in a tough battle against Sanders in the 11 States where the Democratic Party's presidential primaries are scheduled.

Appearing in a Sunday talk show on NBC News, Gabbard, 34, said she is stepping down as the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and is endorsing Sanders, who is attracting thousands of people across the country for his views of health care and education.

"There is a clear contrast between our two candidates with regard to my strong belief that we must end the interventionist, regime change policies that have cost us so much. This is not just another issue... It's deeply personal to me," Gabbard said on NBC's 'Meet the Press'.

"As a veteran, as a soldier, I've seen firsthand the true cost of war... As we look at our choices as to who our next Commander-in-chief will be is to recognise the necessity to have a Commander-in-chief who has foresight. Who exercises good judgement," she said.

"Who looks beyond the consequences -- who looks at the consequences of the actions that they are willing to take before they take those actions. So that we don't continue to find ourselves in these failures that have resulted in chaos in the Middle East and so much loss of life," Gabbard said.

Welcoming the endorsement, Sanders said: "Congresswoman Gabbard is one of the important voices of a new generation of leaders.As a veteran of the Iraq War, she understands the cost of war and is fighting to create a foreign policy that not only protects America but keeps us out of perpetual wars."



Gabbard, an Iraq War veteran and member of the Hawaii Army National Guard, also released a video today explaining her decision to back Sanders.

"We need a commander in chief, who understands the need for a foreign policy which is robust in defending the safety and security of the American people. Who will not waste precious lives and money on interventionist wars of regime change," said Gabbard, a veteran of two deployments to the Middle East.

"That's why today I am endorsing Bernie Sanders to be the next president and commander-in-chief of the US," she said.

Elected in 2012, Gabbard is the first Hindu member of the United States Congress.
Turkish security forces have prevented 18 potential suicide attacks since the New Year, the interior minister said today, with the country on high alert after a deadly suicide car bombing in Ankara earlier this month.

Interior Minister Efkan Ala told Haber 7 TV in an interview that three cars loaded with explosives to be used in attacks had been found by the authorities.

He indicated that one car was seized at Istanbul's Bogazici University last week which caused a major security alert on the campus.

"Since the start of the year, 18 suicide bombings have been prevented... We don't talk (to the public) about most of the prevented attacks," he said, without giving details on the nature of the plots.

Twenty-nine people were killed in the suicide car bombing on a convoy of military buses in the capital on February 17 that was claimed by a Kurdish militant group.

In 2015, there were also four deadly bomb attacks blamed on Islamic State (IS) jihadists, including the deadliest in Turkey's modern history that killed 103 people in Ankara in October.

There have also been sporadic attacks by radicals from the outlawed ultra-leftist Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C).

On any possible security lapses that allowed the Ankara attack to take place, Ala said: "It's our duty that even if there is a one percent weakness to bring it to light."



"That's why I immediately started an internal investigation to see if there was a systemic or individual error," he said.
Militants attacked an outdoor market today in eastern Baghdad, killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

A bomb ripped through the crowded Mredi market in the Shiite district of Sadr City, a police officer said. Minutes later, a suicide bomber blew himself up amid the crowd that had gathered at the site of the first bombing, he added.

He said at least 52 other people were wounded.

The attack was the deadliest in a wave of recent explosions that have targeted commercial areas in and outside Baghdad.

In the town of Mahmoudiya, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad, three shoppers were killed and 10 wounded in a bomb explosion, another police officer said. Four others were killed in a separate bomb attack in Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood, he added.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, though they bore the hallmarks of the Islamic State group, which controls key areas in northern and western Iraq and targets government forces, civilians and especially Shiites.

The attacks came hours after security forces repelled an attack by IS militants on the capital's western suburb of Abu Ghraib, officials said.

Three suicide car bombers struck a security force barracks as gunmen opened fire, according to two police officers. At least 12 members of government and paramilitary security forces were killed and 35 wounded, they added. The clashes left a silo on fire, they said.

The commander of military operations in western Baghdad, Maj. Gen Saad Harbiya, said the situation is "under control" and a local curfew has been imposed.

Medical official confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

Abu Ghraib, about 29 kilometers from downtown Baghdad, is the location of a prison of the same name where U.S. Troops committed notorious abuses against Iraqi detainees following the 2003 invasion. Citing the unstable security situation in the surrounding area, Iraqi authorities closed the prison in April 2014.

It is halfway between Baghdad and Fallujah, which is controlled by the IS group. Security forces prevented IS from seizing Abu Ghraib when the extremists swept across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014.
Militants attacked an outdoor market today in eastern Baghdad, killing at least 59 people and wounding nearly 100, officials said.

A bomb ripped through the crowded Mredi market in the Shiite district of Sadr City, a police officer said. Minutes later, a suicide bomber blew himself up amid the crowd that had gathered at the site of the first bombing, he added. Interior Ministry spokesman Sad Main said the bombings killed 38 people and wounded another 62.

Multiple hospital officials later increased the casualty toll to 59 dead and 95 wounded. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

The attack was the deadliest in a wave of recent explosions that have targeted commercial areas in and outside Baghdad.

In the town of Mahmoudiya, about 30 kilometers south of Baghdad, three shoppers were killed and 10 wounded in a bomb explosion, another police officer said. Four others were killed in a separate bomb attack in Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood, he added.

The Islamic State-affiliated Aamaq agency later claimed responsibility for the Sadr City bombings. The militant Sunni Muslim group controls key areas in northern and western Iraq and regularly targets government forces, civilians and especially Shiites, who the IS regards as heretics.

The attacks came hours after security forces repelled an attack by IS militants on the capital's western suburb of Abu Ghraib, officials said.

Three suicide car bombers struck a security force barracks as gunmen opened fire, according to two police officers. At least 12 members of government and paramilitary security forces were killed and 35 wounded, they added. The clashes left a silo on fire, they said.

The commander of military operations in western Baghdad, Maj. Gen Saad Harbiya, said the situation is "under control" and a local curfew has been imposed.

Abu Ghraib, about 18 miles from downtown Baghdad, is the location of a prison of the same name where US troops committed notorious abuses against Iraqi detainees following the 2003 invasion.

Citing the unstable security situation in the surrounding area, Iraqi authorities closed the prison in April 2014.
The global will suffer a "shock" if Britain leaves the EU, finance ministers and central bankers from the world's biggest economies including India have warned, boosting Prime Minister David Cameron's strong stand against leaving the bloc.

A so-called Brexit would would be a "shock" that ranks among rising downside risks and vulnerabilities for the world economy, the finance ministers and central bank chiefs said after a meeting here in Shanghai, China's gleaming financial metropolis.

Read more from our special coverage on "G20" After G20 stalemate, focus turns to signs of growth momentum

"Downside risks and vulnerabilities have risen, against the backdrop of volatile capital flows, a large drop of commodity prices, escalated geopolitical tensions, the shock of a potential UK exit from the European Union and a large and increasing number of refugees in some regions," they said in a joint communique at the end of a two-day meeting in Shanghai yesterday.

RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan along with Additional Finance Secretary Dinesh Sharma attended the meeting.

Britain will hold a referendum on membership in the EU on June 23, and markets are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact on trade, jobs and investment if voters choose to leave the bloc of 500 million people.

UK Chancellor George Osborne described the prospect of a UK exit from the 27-member European Union as "deadly serious."



"The financial leaders of the world's biggest countries have given their unanimous verdict. They say that a British exit from the EU would be a shock to the world economy," Osborne told the BBC in Shanghai. "If it's a shock to the world economy, imagine what it would do to Britain."



Some prominent politicians, including London mayor Boris Johnson, have backed the Brexit campaign. Opinion polls show voters in Europe's second biggest are deeply divided over the issue, and many remain undecided.

British Prime Minister David Cameron argues that being part of the EU is good for the British . But his opponents say EU membership is costly, creates regulatory red tape and allows unlimited immigration.

In Shanghai, IMF managing director Christine Lagarde told reporters the issue was included in the communique "as soon as the meetings really effectively started".

US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew emphatically backed a vote to stay in the EU.

"Our view is that it's in the national security and economic security of the United Kingdom and European Union and of the US for the UK to stay in the European Union," he said, adding that meant a "more secure world".

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Cameron today warned that gaps in the case for a Brexit made it the "gamble of the century".

In an article for the Sunday Telegraph, Cameron wrote, "When the people campaigning for 'out' are asked to set out a vision outside the European Union, they become extremely vague."



"It's simply not good enough to assert everything will be all right when jobs and our country's future are at stake," he said.
A Ryanair flight to Bratislava was forced to make an unscheduled stop here after six British members of a stag party, including the bridegroom, travelling to the Slovakian capital became unruly.

The men, aged 25-28, were part of a group of 12 heading to to Bratislava from London on Friday evening.

Reports say they became unruly and the plane was forced to carry out an unscheduled landing. German police officers met the flight.

The bridegroom was among those detained, officers said. The other six members of the stag group continued their journey.

German federal police in Berlin said in a statement that six members of the group, from Southampton, were threatening the security on board and did not comply with the crew's instructions.

Police told German media that the men kept standing up and cavorting, and one of them had undressed.

They reportedly became aggressive when the crew refused to serve them any more alcoholic drinks, the BBC reported.

Police officers at Berlin's Schoenefeld airport charged the men with misdemeanours under the German aviation security laws, which can be punishable by a fine of up to 25,000 euros (20,000 pounds), they said.

A possible civil damages suit from the airline could also follow.

The men have now been released, the report said.
Vice-Admiral HCS Bisht will take over as head of the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) tomorrow at a ceremonial parade to be held at the Naval Base.

Bisht will assume charge as Flag Officer Commanding-in -Chief (FOC-in-C) of ENC and succeed Vice-Admiral Satish Soni, who will be retiring after 40 years of illustrious career in the Navy, an ENC release said here today.

He served as Director General of Indian Coast Guard (DGICG) before being appointed FOC-in-C of the city-based command, which recently hosted the International Fleet Review- 2016 (IFR).

IFR, held under the helm of Soni, saw participation of 50 countries and 24 foreign naval ships.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Bisht was commissioned into the Navy on July 1979. A graduate from the Royal Naval Staff College, Greenwich, UK (in 1992), he had also attended the Naval Higher Command Course at the College of Naval Warfare, Mumbai in 2001 and completed the 47th NDC course at New Delhi in 2007.

His important afloat appointments include Executive Officer of the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) Corvette INS Ajay, Commander Work-up in the Indian Naval Work-up Team at Kochi, Fleet Gunnery Officer of the Eastern Fleet at Visakhapatnam, Commissioning Commanding Officer of the missile corvette INS Kora and command of the stealth frigate, INS Tabar.
Buoyed by her recent triumphs, Hillary Clinton is opening a dual-track strategy in her bid for the White House, slowly pivoting toward Republicans even as she works to expand her lead across more than a dozen states voting this week in 'Super Tuesday' primaries, a media report said today.

"Tomorrow, this campaign goes national," Clinton said today soon after she trounced Senator Bernie Sanders in South Carolina Democratic primary, reveling in her historic victory in a speech to supporters, signaling a new phase of the nominating contest.

"The aircraft carrier is definitely shifting to the general election this week," a top Democrat close to the 68- year-old former secretary of state told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid getting ahead of the campaign and alienating Democrats who have yet to vote.

The wide margin of her South Carolina victory over Senator Bernie Sanders accelerates her transition to the general election. Clinton has mentioned Sanders less and less in recent days and in her victory speech targeted Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner.

Advisers to Clinton increasingly believe Trump is more likely than not to be the Republican nominee, which injects a considerable dose of uncertainty into any fall contest. A Clinton-Trump match-up, should that ultimately develop, could mean a new general election battleground, with states like New Jersey, Michigan and even Pennsylvania potentially competitive for Republicans.

Clinton's campaign, feeling more confident than it did after a narrow win in Iowa and a double-digit defeat in New Hampshire, has started to evaluate how it would run against the now smaller Republican field and what each candidate would mean for Clinton, the report said.

Senator Marco Rubio, aides to Clinton believe, is also a worrisome foe. But he is seen as a more traditional candidate that would allow the campaign to focus on many of the same swing states then-Senator Barack Obama had to win in 2008, namely Florida, Ohio, Colorado and Pennsylvania.

Looking ahead, Clinton's aides know they are not going to knock Sanders out on March 1, but they hope by the end of the night on Tuesday -- where 865 delegates are at stake -- their campaign will have at least a 100 earned delegate lead over the Vermont senator.

Clinton left for Tennessee shortly after claiming victory in South Carolina and in the coming days she will visit Arkansas, Virginia and Massachusetts, among other states, in an effort to solidify her support.

"We are going to compete for every vote in every state," Clinton said last night. "We are not taking anything and we aren't taking anything for granted."



Clinton's top aides are confident they will run sizable delegate totals in the South, winning states like Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

And though they concede that Sanders will score big in Vermont -- his home state -- they think they can win in Oklahoma and Minnesota.

Their tightest battles, aides said, will be in Massachusetts and Colorado.
Virtual reality may be used to determine how people perceive their bodies, to treat body image disturbances and to improve adherence to physical activity among obese individuals, scientists say.

Virtual reality (VR) offers promising new approaches to assessing and treating people with weight-related disorders, and early applications are unveiling valuable information about body image, researchers said.

Researchers from Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Italy and University of Barcelona in Spain, discussed the advantages of VR for evaluating body image disturbances and the potential to use it to combat obesity.

They described studies that demonstrate how VR environments can produce responses similar to those seen in the real world in a study published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour, and Social Networking.

"Many chronic conditions are associated with a dysfunction of the stress system - obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes; hypertension; anxiety, depression, and insomnia; and pain syndromes," said Brenda K Wiederhold from Interactive Media Institute in US and Virtual Reality Medical Institute in Belgium.
A sharp drop of 54.55 lakh, as compared to the last years' data, was registered in the number of voters between two age groups, 18 to 19 and 30 to 39 years, in the latest voter list in Maharashtra.

According to the voters registration list published by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in January, the net decrease in the voter population in the state is 83,30,647.

Of the state's current population of 11.83 crore, the voter population accounts for 8.11 crore (69.01 per cent).

In the age-group wise break up, there are 37.21 lakh voters in the bracket of 18-19 years (1.31 per cent), 1.65 crore in age group 20-29 years (13.02 per cent), and 1.84 crore in 30-39 years (16.37 percent).

ECI's Joint Chief Electoral Officer for Maharashtra Anil N Valvi said the decrease in the two age groups of 18 to 19 and 30 to 39 years, is due to the cleaning up of the electoral rolls in 2014-15.

"The ECI, in order to weed out the names of deceased voters, duplicate entries and voters who permanently shifted their residence elsewhere, took up cleaning process," he said.

According to the ECI list, there are 1.74 crore voters in 40-49 years age group (15.23 per cent), 1.18 crore in 50-59 age group (10.68 per cent), 71.64 lakh in 60-69 (6.65 per cent), 39.69 lakh in age group of 70-79 (3.75 per cent) while voters aged above 80 account for 1.99 per cent.
Veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik today conceded that Pakistan had "no idea" about the nature of the Sher-e-Bangla strip and they have learnt from their mistakes committed against arch-rivals India.

"Yes, it was tough to bat yesterday, but we had miscalculated somewhat, because we had no idea about the conditions. It was not a typical T20 wicket where you look at 170 or 180. It's especially tough if you are playing against a good batting side. Obviously, you learn from your mistakes, and that's why we are here to practice," Malik said after the optional training session today.

Pakistan will play UAE tomorrow and Malik said that it's no less an important game than the India encounter which they lost by five wickets.

"In this tournament, every game is very crucial. Playing against India, it's a pressure game for both the teams. We made some mistakes, we did not know what the conditions here would be. Now we have played, now we know how to deal with it. It's going to be a good game against UAE," said the former captain.

Malik declared that Pakistan's pace attack is the best among the five teams in the tournament.

"We know we have the best attack among all the teams. Batsmen have to take responsibility. Whoever gets in has to score 60-70, so your team ends up scoring 140-150, which the bowlers can defend. I am not thinking about run-rate. Our goal is to win our first game and then take it from there," he said.

Malik felt the two run-outs of Khurram Manzoor and Shahid Afridi also cost them dearly in the match against India.

"We should have scored at least 130. We had two run-outs. Otherwise one of them might have gone on to score 40-50. Of course, India's batting is better, but Pakistan's bowling is better than theirs. In these conditions, 130-plus is a great score, I think, unless the conditions change," Malik said.
Days after allegations of rape and molestation by Jat agitators near Haryana's Murthal, a woman came forward and registered a case of gangrape against seven people on Sunday, including her brother-in-law, in connection with the incident.

This was confirmed by Deputy Inspector General of Police, Haryana, Rajshree.

She said the victim had alleged she was raped on the intervening night of February 22-23. The complainant said she knew all of the attackers.

The officer, who heads a three-member team of women police officers constituted by the Haryana government to look into the alleged incidents of rape and molestation of several women by Jat protesters, however, said a family dispute could be the reason behind the woman filing the complaint.

The officer said the victim was not sure about the exact scene of the crime but claimed she was raped in a building near Murthal when she was on her way to Narela in Delhi from Haridwar on a van.

The woman, however, said her 15-year-old daughter, who was accompanying her was not raped but her clothes were torn.

The DIG said the woman had called her up yesterday and her statement was recorded today.

Singh said said most of the complaints she was receiving was from men who claimed their vehicles had been damaged by the agitators.

Earlier, some locals, including truck drivers, had claimed they had seen women being dragged to the fields by the protesters. TV channels showed footage of garments worn by women strewn in some places.

Some village heads had, however, trashed their claims and described it as an attempt to defame the people of the area.

Earlier in the day, three truck drivers had denied having witnessed any incident of sexual assault or rape even as Chief Minister M L Khattar said the guilty shall not go unpunished.

The government also announced an interim assistance of Rs 1.12 crore to those whose properties had been damaged during the stir.

Having suffered massive financial loss during the agitation for inclusion of Jats in the Other Backward Classes list, the business community in worst-hit Rohtak demanded tax relief and electricity bill waiver.

"Three truck drivers have denied that they had seen molestation or rape of women (at Murthal)," Rajshree Singh said.

Truck drivers Sukhwinder, Abdul Wahid and Yadwinder have, however, said their trucks were burnt by protesters.

A team of three women police officers--Rajshree Singh and DSPs Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur was formed by Haryana government to probe alleged incidents of sexual assault on some women near Murthal on the night intervening February 22 and 23.

"The state government is taking serious action on the news report about alleged inappropriate behavior with some women during the protest at Murthal in Sonipat district.

"A Special Investigation Team comprising three senior women police officers has been constituted. One can give any related information or evidence to the team over the telephone or through letter or online. If any such untoward incident happened, the guilty would be punished," Khattar said.
One eight-year-old was repeatedly sold and raped, while another girl set herself on fire to make herself less attractive to her jihadist captors.

These are only two of the more than 1,400 horror stories German doctor Jan Ilhan Kizilhan has heard first-hand from Yazidi women and girls once enslaved by Islamic State jihadists in Iraq.

"They have been through hell," he told AFP in an interview in Geneva.

Kizilhan heads a project that has brought 1,100 women and girls to Germany to help heal their deep physical and psychological wounds.

The project, run by German state Baden-Wurttemberg, first began flying in the traumatised victims from northern Iraq last April, and brought the last group over earlier this month. It was in 2014 that authorities in Baden-Wurttemberg decided to act.

At the time, IS jihadists were making a lightning advance in northern Iraq, massacring Yazidis in their villages, forcing tens of thousands to flee and kidnapping thousands of girls and women to force them into sexual slavery.

The United Nations has described the IS attack on the Yazidi minority as a possible genocide.

"It is really an urgent situation," Kizilhan said, calling on other countries and states to follow Baden-Wurttemberg's example.

The southwest German state budgeted 95 million euros (USD 104 million) to the project and asked Kizilhan and his team to decide which of the victims could benefit most from the move.

The doctor said another 1,200 Yazidi women and girls once held by IS would also benefit from similar programmes elsewhere - as would the estimated 3,800 believed to remain in captivity, if they make it out.

He explained that the women who managed to escape from IS found themselves back in their deeply conservative communities in northern Iraq with little to no access to psychological help to work through the unspeakable horrors they had experienced.

"These women really need specialised treatment. If we don't help them, who will?" he asked, speaking on the sidelines of an international conference of human rights defenders in Geneva.

Most of the girls and women in the programme were between 16 and 20, he said, adding that the oldest was in her 40s. The youngest was eight.
By Lu Jianxin and Pete Sweeney

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - In the fast-paced, high-risk world of foreign exchange trading, where trillions of dollars change hands every day, there's a quiet corner of the yuan market where traders can get some shut-eye, despite China's efforts to elevate its currency to the top table.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) extended the yuan's trading hours to 11:30 pm in January to overlap with European hours after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) decided it would admit the yuan into its Special Drawing Rights (SDR) basket by next October, a key step on the way to becoming an international reserve currency.

But there is a yawning disconnect between the currency's new status and the level of interest in the after-hours market.

"It can be really boring and lonely sometimes," said one night trader at a bank.

He said he kept an eye out for rare incoming orders but spent most of his time watching online videos to alleviate the boredom of being stuck on his own until bedtime.

Other night traders who spoke to said they processed around five orders in the last three hours, which has led some banks not to bother staffing the shift.

"One key problem is there is no corporate demand," said a trader at a major European bank in Shanghai. "Few companies feel the urgency to follow global market movements closely."

Because of China's capital controls and central bank efforts to curb exchange rate volatility, there is little speculation in the domestic market, traders say.

Some state-owned banks are trading in the evening sessions on behalf of the central bank to keep the yuan steady, according to a trader at a Chinese commercial bank in Shanghai.

"Every time when the evening rate appeared to go out of hand, you could sense the signs that state-owned banks are intervening in the market on behalf of the PBOC," he said.

Yuan/dollar quotes in the late session rarely stray more than 50 pips from the rate at 4:30 pm, regardless of what happens to the yuan traded in offshore markets, traders said.

And trading between the yuan and other currencies such as the yen and euro, is nearly non-existent in the night session, they added.

WIDER ACCESS, SLIM PICKINGS

The relatively steady exchange rate means many corporates don't bother to hedge their foreign exchange positions during the late session because the rate tends to stay put.

"The market still behaves like it closes at 4:30 p.m.," said a dealer at another European bank, adding that his bank recently decided its night trader would end his shift at 9:30 p.m.

There is also a dearth of overseas investors in the Chinese market, despite Beijing's efforts to widen access for foreigners, partly to satisfy the IMF that the yuan was eligible for its SDR basket.

In November, China allowed the first batch of foreign central banks, sovereign wealth funds and international financial institutions to register to enter the market.

"Right now it's only a trial to meet the IMF standards," said a trader at another Chinese commercial bank in Shanghai.

"We have to wait for more policies from the government to encourage market participation, such as introducing brokers and individuals to encourage competition."

A trader from a third European bank said: "I believe when the new SDR basket takes effect late this year, the evening trading may pick up, along with more reforms on the way."

(Reporting by Lu Jianxin, Pete Sweeney and the Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Will Waterman)
By Tommy Wilkes

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - UltraTech Cement Ltd, part of the Aditya Birla conglomerate, has agreed to buy Jaiprakash Associates Ltd's cement plants for an enterprise value of 165 billion rupees ($2.4 billion), the companies said on Sunday.

UltraTech, beating competition from domestic and international bidders for the assets, and Jaiprakash said they had signed a memorandum of understanding for 12 plants whose capacity totals 22.4 million tonnes a year.

Jaiprakash said the agreement included a grinding unit currently being constructed, and that it would receive an additional 4.7 billion rupees to complete the facility.

The agreement will increase India's biggest cement maker's installed annual capacity by one-third to 90.7 million tonnes, and provide infrastructure firm Jaiprakash with much-needed relief to pare its debts.

Other companies who were interested in Jaiprakash's plants included Irish building materials group CRH and Dalmia Cement, sources told this month.

Atul Daga, UltraTech's chief financial officer, said that Sunday's pact includes the sale of two plants in central India that were part of an earlier agreement. UltraTech said on Friday it had scrapped that deal because it fell foul of regulations restricting the transfer of mining rights.

Under the new agreement, UltraTech will buy Jaiprakash's broader cement business, allowing the transfer of limestone reserves - a major raw material for cement - along with the plants, Daga told .

Jaiprakash, which has interests in roads, property and is best-known as the builder of India's Formula One racing track, has been trying to sell its cement business to reduce debt and placate its banks.

In a statement, Jaiprakash said it "has taken these steps to effectively address the subject of debt reduction".

Credit Suisse said in a note this month that Jaiprakash, which it said had debts of 753 billion rupees at the end of the 2015 financial year, had failed to earn enough to cover its interest payments for 11 consecutive quarters.

UltraTech and Jaiprakash said the transaction was subject to definitive agreements and regulatory approvals.

($1 = 68.7273 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Tommy Wilkes; Editing by Richard Borsuk)
When Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley presents the for FY17, hundreds of 20-something entrepreneurs, app developers, owners of budding start-ups and even founders of multi-billiondollar 'unicorns' would be glued to television. Start-ups have got a lot of importance over the past year, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally promoting the start-up revolution in India and unveiling an action plan around the ecosystem. Against that backdrop, entrepreneurs are curious over what's in store for them in this year's .

Several employees as well as senior management at India's largest mobile wallet provider would be keeping their morning free on Monday to watch the and do an analysis later. "We will be watching the Budget with a lot of interest and attention. A large number of our colleagues will view the Budget speech online, and spend time on the post-Budget analysis. This is a very important Budget for us. We are a digital company and most of our employees follow important events primarily online," said Shankar Nath, senior vice-president at Paytm..

Read our full coverage on Union Budget 2016



As far as Budget expectations are concerned, Nath said they hope the government invests significantly in strengthening the digital infrastructure. "We would also like to see tax breaks on Budget smart phones, which support vernacular languages. We hope the KYC (know-your-customer) requirements will be simplified, and e-KYC will be the way forward in the future," he added.

Budding entrepreneurs who would have earlier skipped the Budget are looking forward to the government cementing the promises made by the Prime Minister during the Startup India event. "We would be closely watching the Budget. The government had announced a Rs 10,000-crore corpus for start-ups. We want more clarity on that. My entire team would be watching the Budget," said Rahul Gupta, CEO of Getyana.com, an artificial intelligence-based app aggregator.

Then there are those considering the Budget day as just another day. "Though we are interested in what the Budget has in store for us, we would not be following it closely. I was there at the 'Startup India' event and that was very exciting. I do not know how much start-up-specific initiatives the Budget would have. It would be more about the country, defence, agriculture and other sectors," said Ashwin Meshram, co-founder of ONE Rewardz, a mobile-based customer engagement solution service provider for retailers and brands.
Caller-Times file Texas State Aquarium will host a Dollar Day, presented by H-E-B, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

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SUNDAY

THEATER: The Aurora Arts Theatre, 5635 Everhart Road, presents West Side Story at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Cost: $15. Information: 361-851-9700.

THEATER: The Port Aransas Community Theatre presents "Arsenic and Old Lace" at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at 2327 State Highway 361. Cost: $17. Information: 361-749-6036.

YOGA: Beach Gal Bared Yoga will hold donation-based yoga classes at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Texas Surf Museum, 309 N. Water St. Participants are asked to bring their own yoga mat. Proceeds benefit the Texas Surf Museum. Cost: donations. Information: www.beachgalbared.com/yoga.

FESTIVAL: The 20th Port Aransas and Mustang Island whooping crane Festival will be from Feb. 25-28. The event will feature art displays, boat tours to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge to observe whooping cranes, interactive workshops and seminars and a nature-related trade show. Proceeds help support conservation efforts of the endangered whooping crane. Cost: $20 Information: www.whoopingcranefestival.org.

FAMILY: Texas State Aquarium will host a Dollar Day, presented by H-E-B, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. H-E-Buddy will be available for photos from 9 a.m. to noon, and the first 500 families will receive reusable H-E-B shopping bags. Cost: $1, general admission; free, children 2 and younger; $5, parking. Information: www.texasstateaquarium.org.

RUMMAGE SALE: The Corpus Christi Cathedral will host a rummage sale that closes at 2 p.m. Sunday at 505 N. Upper Broadway St. Cost: Free; prices vary. Information: 361-883-4213, ext. 27.

MONDAY

LUNCHEON: Luncheon for Iowa Winter Texans is at 12:30 p.m. Monday at Butter Churn Restaurant, 2011 Marshall Lane, Aransas Pass. Cost:$12. Information: 361-758-2300.

FUNDRAISER: Ironman Fred Mehary will host a fundraiser from 6-8 p.m. Monday at Sparky's Deep Pit BBQ, 10210 S. Padre Island Drive. Restaurant will donate 10 percent of its sales to Save the Children Foundation during those hours. There also will be a raffle for a pair of Spurs vs. Pistons game courtside tickets, a guided fishing tour, a shotgun and more. Cost: $10 raffle ticket; food prices vary. Information: savethechildren.org/IMTX/FMM.

FUNDRAISER: Kiwanis Club Port Aransas hosts the fifth annual Meet the Chefs Food and Wine Extravaganza from 6-8:30 p.m. Monday at the Civic Center on Avenue A and Cut Off Road. Taste the culinary delights, special select wines and meet the chefs from Port Aransas restaurants. Proceeds go to the Port Aransas Kiwanis Foundation for Youth Development. Cost: $45. Information: 361-749-8454, 248-736-9442.

For more events check Caller.com/vivacc
COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Rachel Denny Clow, who was raised in a violent home, is determined to break the cycle of abuse and violence with her own children, Joshua, 8, and Jonathan, 15 months.

SHARE COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Rachel Denny Clow, who was raised in a violent home, is determined to break the cycle of abuse and violence with her own children, Joshua, 8, and Jonathan, 15 months. COURTNEY SACCO/CALLER-TIMES Rachel Denny Clow, who was raised in a violent home, is determined to break the cycle of abuse and violence with her own children, Joshua, 8, and Jonathan, 15 months.

By Rachel Denny Clow of the Caller-Times

It is night and I am running down the crumbling concrete steps leading to the basement.

I'm headed to the safety of my protector, my big sister.

She's only a few years older than my siblings and I.

I am 5.

The bed is against the door. We are safe.

She distracts us with books about fairy tales.

He is pounding on the door to her room.

These nights always begin with whiskey.

It is silent as he returns to my mother.

What did she do this time? It is never his fault.

My earliest memories are shrouded in fear. I am a child of violence.

I've spent my life pushing these memories aside. Claiming I am strong and healthy.

The fact is children who witness violence are victims themselves. They become adults who have pain that has to be addressed.

I learned at an early age when I was in danger, when my mother was in danger.

I was always watching my environment for signs of an explosion.

It could be I didn't dry the dishes enough. Or, I didn't fetch my father something quickly enough.

The easiest sign was when the whiskey came out.

I left my house when I was a senior in high school, writing for a newspaper to support myself. I graduated as valedictorian of my high school, and I was the first in my family to go to college.

I made myself a promise that no man would ever hurt me, or my children.

I got an education so that I could always walk out the door, but my past still haunts me.

I haven't seen my father in more than 15 years, but he still has power over me  power in the form of the anger that boils inside of me, the retreat when faced with conflict and my inability to trust.

Parents are supposed to protect their children and be models of behavior.

My youth was stolen by a man filled with anger and a mother without the capacity to protect her children.

Growing up in a small town in Idaho, we didn't have the resources that are available in Corpus Christi.

My mother dropped out of school in the eighth grade and later got married to escape an abusive home.

She tried to leave him when I was in the third grade. She picked us up early from school. Our belongings were stuffed in the trunk of her car.

We drove around for hours before my father found us. Returning home was the only option.

We had a roof over our heads and food on the table. Our basic needs were met. But, they weren't. Not really.

Still, I was luckier than most. I had people in my life who made a difference. A teacher who looked out for me in the eighth grade, the owners of a boutique who gave me my first job at age 12 and a mentor who helped me discover photography.

I became obsessed with school as a means of escape. But, without those people in my life, I would have never broken free.

Just a few months from graduation, I hadn't yet applied to college. Those mentors, those people who I considered family, went into action. They made sure I got enrolled and on the path to leave Idaho.

The combination of grades and their help earned me a ticket away from the cycle of abuse. I was determined to never be the kind of mother who I grew up watching.

I may have been a child of violence, but I refuse to continue the cycle.

As a mother of two boys and survivor of abuse, I constantly question every decision I make about discipline.

The most obvious way to break a cycle is to stop the physical violence. We don't spank or hit our children.

But, the other types of trauma children deal with can be more hidden and at times more damaging.

Not arguing in front of the children is important to me. Every family has conflicts, but they should be addressed in private.

Taking the time to sit down with my oldest child when he needs a course correction goes much further than yelling.

I've spent the last year telling the stories of families impacted by domestic violence. Reliving the violence of my past through their eyes.

Every story I hear reassures me that I'm not alone.

I am part of this community. Corpus Christi is where I have chosen to make a home and raise my children. It sickens me that we, as a community, have not done more to stop the violence.

The work has just begun to help our city grow and heal.

It is time to tell my story. It is time to no longer hide the secrets of my youth.

It is time for you to tell your stories, time to stop the cycle of violence in the homes throughout our community.

Join me in helping to create a community where children feel safe and violence against women in our community is not tolerated.

-----

Rachel Denny Clow has been a staff photographer at the Caller-Times for 11 years. She graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. Follow her on Twitter @CallerClow
Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Clinician Rodney Webb (left) and Officer Carlos Conceicao try to track down a family as they make family calls during a shift on Jan. 19. A long-standing partnership with the Yale University Child Study Center and New Haven Department of Police Services helps children exposed to violence.

By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times

NEW HAVEN, CONN.  Officer Carlos Conceicao's knocks elicited barks from inside the two-story house.

"Who's that dog making all that noise?" he asked as a woman let him inside from the 19 degree cold. Rodney Webb, a clinician from Yale University, followed with a notebook under his arm.

Though they come from separate worlds  law enforcement vs. clinical studies  Conceicao and Webb are every bit partners.

They interrupted the woman's dinner prep as her young daughter did homework. The woman's husband wasn't home. He moved out after a violent fight with his wife.

Days later, Webb and Conceicao knocked on the door to check in  to see if the girl is having nightmares, to hear how she is behaving in school, to find out if her grades have been slipping. They interrupted dinner, however brief, to hear if maybe the little girl slips into Mom's bed at night because she is scared. They are checking in on the victims.

The important word is victims, not victim. In New Haven, an older urban city of 130,000 on the Eastern Seaboard, the children, even if not physically harmed, need just as much healing.

And they get it.

Caring to the needs of children of violence is as important as arresting the violent offender, New Haven police believe. As part of the Behind Broken Doors series that explores domestic violence's effect on Corpus Christi, the Caller-Times spent three days in New Haven, Connecticut, to examine how a collaboration between the Yale School of Medicine Child Study Center and the New Haven Department of Police Services helps children exposed to violence.

"We're pretty tough-skinned, but when it comes to children ... It just really breaks your heart  it just really does  in a million pieces," Conceicao said.

Pairing cops and clinicians has led to a cultural change in the department. The way officers police their community has shifted from an old school catch-and-arrest mentality to a people's police with a social worker component.

"We see ourselves as psychiatrists with guns and a badge," Conceicao said.

CATALYST FOR CHANGE

Long after the arrest is made or a fight has ended, an officer thinks about the child in that home. An unsatisfied feeling, a feeling of unfinished business, often sticks with the officer, New Haven Police Chief Dean Esserman said.

Before the early 1990s, the New Haven Department of Police Services was almost solely 911 driven. Police went from call to call and a victim was considered the person wheeled out on a stretcher.

Children may have been nearby, but officers didn't know what to do. The next call was waiting.

Police needed help.

Esserman was a federal prosecutor in New York when a beloved professor from his alma mater Dartmouth College called him on Feb. 17, 1991. The professor's nephew, a Yale University student, was shot to death in front of a Gothic-style, Catholic church in New Haven. Christian Prince had been walking home from Mory's  a drinking and dining club and a staple in the Ivy League university's community. A stranger demanded his wallet at gunpoint. The wallet was found across the street.

That year, Esserman became the New Haven assistant police chief of the department that now has about 400 officers.

As assistant police chief, Esserman went to the aftermath of a family violence killing in the Brookside Projects. Esserman doesn't remember many details like whether the couple were married or how the man killed the mother of four. But he vividly remembers the children and the blood on the floor.

Officers propped the children on the bed and turned on the TV.

"We just wanted to keep them occupied, and we wanted to make sure their feet were not running in the blood," Esserman said.

That was the first time Esserman remembers thinking police needed to cast a wider net on who is considered a victim.

"They too are victims. They too are wounded. They too need help to recover," Esserman said.

While Esserman was still fresh on the job, then Police Chief Nicolas Pastore arranged a dinner at Mory's  the same dining club the Yale student left before his death  with Donald Cohen and Steven Marans of the Yale Child Study Center. The dinner was for the community partners to get to know one another. It became the start of change.

Cohen, the center's then director, asked the officers about community policing.

At the time, Pastore was rolling out a new form of policing that forced officers to be ingrained with neighborhoods they served and have a more sympathetic approach than the traditional strong-arm law enforcement style. Today, new officers are assigned to walk their beat for 1-2 years before they have a chance at driving a patrol car. The strategy is to work with the neighborhoods  including gang members and criminals  and have relationships with residents.

The community-oriented policing approach has become a trend across the country and the U.S. attorney general last year launched a national community policing tour. Articles in The New York Times have touted Pastore as being a leading proponent of community policing.

The meeting that started the alliance focused on two concerns. The clinicians cared about the impact violence and trauma had on child development. The police, for their part, knew what goes around comes around. Child victims often become offenders or adult victims.

It seemed simple at the dinner. Pastore said he would send officers to the clinicians, and Marans said they left thinking they would save the children police would refer. It was "appropriately naive," Marans said.

As it turned out, the police and clinicians had a lot to learn from one another.

Marans remembers an officer saying, "You want to know what we do? Come to our office." It was a roundabout way of inviting them to his squad car. The clinicians responded: "Step into our clinics."

What grew out of that meeting, Esserman said, was an enormous mutual respect  a key ingredient to the Child Development-Community Policing program, which has treated more than 20,000 families and children.

CHANGING MINDS

The foundation for the child development program, which is funded through private donations and federal funds, is community policing, Esserman said.

Pastore calls community policing a philosophy that combines brain and heart, not just muscle  a "hand extended with the palm up as opposed to a hand extended with a fist." But he was met with skeptics and critics when he introduced this new approach, including from his own brass. Within a year, about 100 officers either retired or resigned. Pastore believes the departures were mostly because they didn't like his approach. He pushed on and brought in more women, minorities and people from outside police work. For example, his training director was a Yale University educated feminist and lesbian who majored in theater. Esserman was also part of Pastore's new hires.

Pastore had support from city leaders, especially the first black mayor who had appointed him chief. The mayor's wife accompanied Pastore as he went through the predominantly black neighborhoods to cultivate relationships with residents who were used to seeing police as oppressors.

Pastore didn't always wear his uniform. And he didn't take a gun.

Pastore knew his initiative was working when gang and family members started tipping police off to crime. And though certain crime stats seem to indicate community policing works, Pastore said that isn't how he measured its success.

"I knew by the level of credibility citizens had for police that it was working. Statistics can be played with," Pastore said.

New Haven had 34 murders in 1991 when Pastore launched community policing. The numbers fell until about 20 years later when new leadership moved away from the philosophy. In 2011, there were again 34 homicides. The city had 12 homicides in 2014, after Esserman reinforced community policing.

Still, the city struggles with violent crime. In 2013, the city's violent crime rate was 384 incidents for every 100,000 residents, according to FBI data. Corpus Christi has 524 violent crime incidents per 100,000 residents.

New Haven's statistics would be worse without community policing, Conceicao said, and the method is especially helpful in solving crimes.

Conceicao embodies community policing. Conceicao knows his patrol beat.

He can tell families' stories. He recognized a mother in a new house by the cereal boxes stacked in her kitchen.

"I used to go to her house all the time because her two older teens used to always run away," Conceicao said.

Many criminals respect him, his colleagues said.

"Once they see him pull up, they're like 'Carlos is here.' They don't even fight," Officer Endri Dragoi said.

Conceicao knows the people who run the streets.

"If I don't know somebody  " he starts.

"They don't belong," Webb finished.

A REAL NIGHTMARE

Yale clinicians are taught that a child's experience with trauma is much like waking up from a nightmare.

They're jolted from sleep. They're breathing hard. Their pulse is racing. They might be frozen in fear, Webb said.

"But the thing is (adults) go back to sleep, and it's not so bad. The problem is the kid can't go back to sleep so they're reliving those symptoms from day to day to day," he said.

Once a week, Webb rides with a police officer for about six hours. That connection between clinicians and police is at the heart of the Child Development-Community Policing program. The collaboration also trains officers to detect symptoms of trauma and decide when to connect families with a clinician from Yale.

All cadets in the police academy go through a one-day child development training course at the university. And new clinicians go on frequent ride-alongs with officers.

They're committed to learning from one another, said Kristen Kowats, the program's director.

"We're learning about each other and teaching each other," Kowats said. "Learning about policing is the first thing clinicians do."

The other part of their role is to respond when an officer calls.

Officers get a better sense the child is being looked out for when a clinician goes to an especially traumatic scene, Sgt. Rene Dominguez said.

Officers get concerned when they're in a home and a parent is bleeding or cradling an injury and a child is nearby. They worry the child's trauma won't be tended to properly. That's where clinicians come in.

"You leave feeling much better knowing that they're going to be more attentive to the child," Dominguez said.

At 11 a.m. on Wednesdays, about 30 officers, clinicians and other related agency officials, most armed with coffee cups, pour into a room at the Yale Child Center for a weekly briefing about cases. All of the police department's district managers attend.

"This one is a domestic," an officer said at a January meeting. "The (toddler) was asleep and didn't hear it. They started arguing over money. Dad ends up choking mom, throwing her down on the bed. Says he blacks out. When he realizes what he's doing, he goes down to cool off."

In another case, an officer describes a man putting a knife to a woman's throat while she held their baby. An officer was assigned to do foot patrols in the area around the home and to do follow-up visits with the family.

The clinicians, with the family's permission, email officers to let them know what happened to their referrals. That follow-up is rewarding for officers.

"Police are cynical. We think nothing ever gets done. For them to actually get a follow-up and to find their referral had an impact and actually be told what it is, is profound," Esserman said.

A FORCE FOR GOOD

Though police often tap clinicians to go to a scene, the follow-up home visits are crucial because the situation has calmed and parents are able to focus on what they're being told. Clinicians can offer information about resources and signs of trauma to be on the lookout for. Officers can talk about the ins and outs of a protective order, Kowats said.

It allows clinicians to get inside the homes to talk to the children and connect the families to the Child Study Center where they can get free services to treat trauma. The most common referrals the center gets stem from domestic violence, sexual assault and community violence, Kowats said.

And it equips officers with tools to better understand child trauma and better react in front of children.

That knowledge has prompted the police policy of avoiding making any arrests in front of kids, Esserman said.

It also allows officers to be judged differently. Families see officers care and aren't focused on only going to homes to make arrests.

"When a symbol of authority is both powerful and compassionate," Esserman said, "it can be a force for enormous good."

Twitter: @CallerKMT
GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Local artist and community activist La Lisa Hernandez stands in front of a mural that advocates against violence. Stop the Violence and Love is ... are prominently featured in the vibrant mural painted in 2015 on the walls outside Bens Community Market.

SHARE GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Local artist and community activist La Lisa Hernandez stands in front of a mural that advocates against violence. Stop the Violence and Love is ... are prominently featured in the vibrant mural painted in 2015 on the walls outside Bens Community Market. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Local artist and community activist La Lisa Hernandez receives a phone call after touching up paint on a mural. Stop the Violence and Love is ... are prominently featured in the vibrant mural painted in 2015 on the walls outside Bens Community Market. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Local artist and community activist La Lisa Hernandez touches up paint on a mural. Stop the Violence and Love is ... are prominently featured in the vibrant mural painted in 2015 on the walls outside Bens Community Market. GABE HERNANDEZ/CALLER-TIMES Local artist and community activist La Lisa Hernandez receives a phone call after touching up paint on a mural. Stop the Violence and Love is ... are prominently featured in the vibrant mural painted in 2015 on the walls outside Bens Community Market.

By Gabe Hernandez of the Caller-Times

La Lisa Hernandez grew up in a violent home. She wants to keep others from suffering the same fate.

When Hernandez, a community activist and artist, moved to Corpus Christi 10 years ago she noticed improvements with fighting gang activity after the police chief and city and sheriff's office officials got together to fix the problem. She wonders why a similar plan of action hasn't happened for domestic violence.

"We have the most domestic violence deaths that we have ever had in the history of Corpus Christi," she said. "Where's the task force? Why aren't we coming together to make this our priority?"

One of the ways she rallies for change is through her art. It was no accident the words  "Stop the Violence" and "Love is ..."  are so prominently featured in a vibrant mural painted in 2015 on the walls outside Ben's Community Market.

She pushed for the visual reminder, not only to honor beloved store owner Mostafa "Ben" Bighamian, who was killed in a 2014 store robbery, but to send a wider message about violence to the community.

Hernandez also spends time painting with children from the Women's Shelter of South Texas and said other convenience store officials have requested she paint "Stop the Violence" art on their walls to show their support.

"Through my public art I work hard to incorporate that in to the conversation to help stop the violence," she said.

Twitter: @CallerGabe
Monday, February 22, 2016 at 8:01AM

Well, if you can send flowers, chocolates and books to your friends why not send them this? I've just discovered the site myfriendsmells.com that send a clear message to those who need to up their hygiene game...or at least mask it.

Just launched today, this site allows customers to anonymously send cologne wipes to friends with an attached note informing them that they smell. It's a non-confrontational way to send a message in hopes of dealing with bad body odor.

"Everyone has a stinky friend. A classmate, co-worker, boss, sibling or other stank suspect. Those days of smelliness are over -- here is your chance to tell them what's up," a spokesperson from myfriendsmells.com explains, "what's best is that we do the dirty work for you."

So far, the site has been well received either by people who've been holding their breathes and, okay, pranksters who just think it's a fun gag to send. Hint: April Fools' Day is not too far away!

Customers can send one wipe or a package of wipes. The colognes are mostly geared to men (hmmmm...I won't go there) and some are universally appealing to both men and women. The colognes are by Swago who specialize in distributing men's cologne for guys on-the-go because bottles are simply too awkward to lug around.

Packaging is pretty funny too. Yes, you can smell like a... Champ, Legend, VIP, and Gentleman.
Sunday, February 28, 2016 at 3:54AM

A recently launched app for Instagram called Being let users see the Instagram feed of any public user. What this means is you could see the app through the eyes of a celebrity. You could see who they follow and help that curate your list. But it seems Instagram isnt happy with that as the app has lost access to Instagrams API. The popularity of the app as it gained over 40,000 users since it launched around eight days ago might have brought Instagram to the apps purpose and that might have caused its downfall. The company wont say though if the loss of access to Instagrams API is intentional.

Source: The Verge
An Associate Professor in the Research School of Biology at the ANU, she has spent much of her life in Canberra and said the work of an ornithological researcher was more exciting than some might think.
"The dramatic and often brutal nature of the footage that the group publishes, the mystique surrounding the young Western men and women it has been able to draw into its ranks, the dramatic advances and redrawing of borders, along with the portrayal of the group by some Western leaders as the 'number one evil of our time' interests audiences.
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.
Welcome to SwanseaOnline - your home for the best news, sports and what's on coverage of the city.

Never miss a Swansea story with our daily newsletter Sign up to comment on our stories here

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter | Swansea City news | Ospreys news | InYourArea
I was one of the very few people that I know of who were familiar with the industry in my circle, yet still liked the Jaguar X-Type and would have even gone as far as to buy one. It was probably a byproduct of many years of mostly trouble free second-gen Ford Mondeo ownership, and the knowledge that the platform was basically the same, as were the diesel engines, but clad in a sexier Jaguar body and featuring a much nicer interior than the Blue Oval could ever offer at the time.

However, a rival for the BMW 3-Series and the rest of the premium compact execs of the time, it was surely not. Launched in 2001, it was a rapid response by Ford-owned Jaguar, which produced what some called not a Jaguar, and just a car.

Now, years after it has gone out of production, its existence still seems to be bugging both of the involved parties, even after they parted ways in 2008, when Tata Motors took control of Jaguar-Land Rover.

Pistonheads is reporting that now, with the onset of a new model meant as the spiritual successor to the X-Type, Jaguar wants to get it right, and theyre doing so by reliving the failure the front-wheel drive model brought about. So, this new offering will not have strange proportions, drive going to the wrong wheels or cliche classic styling which did perhaps look a bit out of place given the compact dimensions  if anything, the swoopy, tapered styling made it look even smaller than the much more angular Mondeo that it was based on. Either way, neither Ford nor Jaguar liked it, but not because it was a bad car, but rather because it sends a bad message that is detrimental to the latters image.

Finally, what were going to be left with is a Jaguar designed specifically to rival the 3-Series, and I think it has a very high chance of becoming a very similar car to the Cadillac ATS in practice. It too was also heavily benchmarked against the BMW rival , as was the larger CTS 

Moreover, the X-Type is really getting old now, and frankly it doesnt look any worse than when it was new and I think makes for an interesting second-hand buy. If you find one with low miles, either a 2.2-liter diesel (in Europe) or V6 engine and all-wheel drive at a good price, its not the worst thing in the world to take it for a spin, before predictably going to Germany with the rest of the pack.

By Andrei Nedelea

PHOTO GALLERY
In order to support strong demand of the second-gen 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine family for the 2017 F-150, Ford has announced a serious investment in its Cleveland powertrain facility.



The blue ovals $145 million allocation is part of the $9 billion commitment it made in the 2015 Ford-UAW collective bargaining agreement.

This deal includes create or securing 8,500 hourly jobs in communities across Kentucky, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri, New York and Ohio, over the next four years.

At the Cleveland Engine Plant, Ford wants to create or retain 150 jobs: This is very exciting news for the hardworking men and women of Cleveland Engine Plant and the Ohio community as a whole. The team at Cleveland Engine is thrilled to begin building one of the most technologically advanced engines ever designed for the all-new F-150 Raptor, said UAW VP, National Ford Department, Jimmy Settles.

The plant opened in 1951 and employs more than 1,500 workers. It has produced more than one million EcoBoost engines since 2009 and, besides the 3.5-liter EcoBoost for the F-150, it is also in charge of the 2.0-ltier EcoBoost for the Edge, 2.3-liter EcoBoost for the Explorer, Mustang and Lincoln MKC and the 3.7-liter V6 for the Mustang.

PHOTO GALLERY
Rumors about Munich considering an M2 Convertible surfaced a few months ago.



In the meantime, BMWs plans have apparently shifted and, even if there is still no official info on the topic, CarAdvice claims that chief engineer Frank Isenberg made it clear that such a model has no place in the manufacturers lineup.

There will not be an M2 Convertible. We need to keep it as purist as we did with the 1 Series M Coupe.

Thus, potential customers will have to make to with M235i: You can take that car [M235i Cabrio] on a racetrack as well, but you wouldnt choose it for a track day. Thats the reason why we said no [to an M2 Convertible].

It would be a solid argument if not for one detail: the M3 has been offered as a convertible and BMW had no problem with its purity. So, what gives?

PHOTO GALLERY
We think that these images of Aston Martins new DB11 super coupe that appeared on the web are the real deal, matching what weve seen up until now.



Aston Martins successor to the ageing DB9 signals a new era for the British brand, not only because it ditches the repetitive design that characterized most of its models over the past decade or so, but also because it will be one of the firms first cars to benefit from the Mercedes-AMG partnership.

The new DB11s exterior incorporates styling cues from Astons recent studies like the DBX crossover, the DB10 from the James Bond flick Spectre and even the CC110 centenary special, with the front end maintaining the brands signature grille, but decorating it with sharper details, and the fastback rear deviating from the brands design norms.

There are no pictures of the interior yet, but prototypes of the car were fitted with a digital instrument panel and electronic dials lifted straight off from Mercedes-Benzs S-Class Coupe, suggesting that the production DB11 will share its electrical architecture with the German luxury marques top model.

Its believed though that the DB11 will not be based on an AMG platform and instead continue riding on an evolved version of Astons VH aluminum architecture.

The British carmaker has already confirmed a new 5.2-liter twin-turbocharged V12 engine capable of delivering around 600 horses, possibly offered with both an eight-speed automatic and a six-speed manual, while the AMG will likely result in the availability of the formers 4.0-liter turbo V8 as well.

Well know more on Tuesday during the DB11s world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show.

Thanks to Enrico for the tip!

Photo Gallery
The X-Type isnt considered Jaguars finest hour  and rightly so. However, this particular example is rather special.



Even though the X-Type is deemed by many a Ford in drag, especially the corgi-carrying estate model, it looks like the Queen of England was perfectly satisfied owning and even driving one. Thats not the case anymore, because the vehicle was sold to its second owner for a tad over $20,000 (15,000).

The sale ran online through the London dealer Fletchdale and, according to a spokesman for the company, it went to a buyer unaware of its former owner. He stated to The Sun that someone unwittingly bought a slice of royalty. That means the customer acquired the Jag with 7,600 miles (12,231 km) registered on the odometer, Sovereign trim, heated seats, parking sensors and a dog grille, and not at all for being owned by Britains most prolific, influential and longest-serving monarchs.

The 5-speed automatic X-Type benefits from 231 PS at 6800 rpm and 244 Nm (180 lbfft) of torque at 3,000, rpm from a 2,967 cc V6 engine. It must be a well-maintained example, too, and one never pushed to its limits as its hard to imagine the Queen taking her corgis from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.8 seconds and all the way to the 230 km/h (143 mph) top speed.

PHOTO GALLERY
A sketch depicting Fiats new Tipo Estate (name not confirmed yet) has appeared online, with some outlets portraying it as official, but we traced it back to a two-week old report from Italian daily Corriere Della Sera.



Whereas its authenticity as a Fiat-sourced teaser is questionable, what isnt is the fact that it will make its world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show on Tuesday, March 1, alongside the five-door hatchback version of the Tipo series.

The newspaper quoted Fiats EMEA region Chief Operating Officer Alfredo Altavilla as saying:

The Geneva Motor Show will be an unprecedented event for FCA, the most significant in years. We expose news for all brands in the group, completing the Fiat Tipo family with two other models, the five-door and station wagon, which mark our return in the most important category of the European market, the C-segment that is chosen by families.

Altavilla went on to confirm the presentation of the Abarth 124 Spider, which is the performance iteration of the new Mazda MX-5 based Fiat 124 Spider that we first saw in Los Angeles last year, as well as a special version of Fiats Mitsubishi L200-based Fullback truck.

[Theres also] European preview for the Fiat 124 Spider, exposed alongside the Abarth 124 Spider, said Altavilla. [The] 500 gets a Sport version and we debut the Fullback pickup truck that we have already launched in Dubai, still under the Fiat brand, but in a fashionable version. Jeep is celebrating the 75th anniversary with the special series and Maserati will unveil the SUV Levante. Alfa Romeos range is completed by the Giulia, accompanied by the new Giulietta and Mito that have been updated. 

Note: Regular Fiat Fullback and Abarth 124 Spider prototype pictured; Fiat Tipo Estate photo via Corriere

Photo Gallery
Photo: Google Maps

A man has died at a tree-harvesting operation on northern Vancouver Island.

TimberWest has released a statement saying the fatal incident took place Friday afternoon at the company's Bonanza Lake site near Port McNeill.

The man is identified only as an employee of one of TimberWest's contractors.

In the statement, TimberWest CEO Jeff Zweig calls the event a tragic accident.

Spokeswoman Monica Bailey says the company will suspend operations across the province Monday out of respect for those involved in the incident.

She says grief counselling will be provided to workers at Bonanza Lake.
Photo: Contributed - UNHCR

A choir sings hymns of peace on a downtown Vancouver beach while a small dinghy gently coasts ashore and a dozen people in life jackets, including a young boy, alight onto the sand.

The display, which took place on Saturday, was staged in solidarity with the tens of thousands of refugees and migrants who have embarked on the treacherous journey across the Mediterranean, fleeing conflict and looking for a new life in Europe.

Demonstrators gathered on the Pacific shoreline to add their voices to a global call for governments to offer people seeking asylum with safe transportation to Europe.

Vancouver was the only Canadian centre to participate in the event, dubbed Safe Passage, which took place in more than 120 cities, mostly within Europe.

Syrian immigrant Danny Ramadan, 32, stressed to the gathered throng, many of whom held signs with the line #safepassage4all, that migrants and refugees are just like ordinary Canadians.

"When we talk about Syrian people now, we stereotype them as refugees, as if they were born into seeking refuge. ... We forget that they did not make that journey because they can. They did it because they had to," Ramadan said.

"Refugees used to be peaceful citizens in a beautiful country. ... They had no choice but to run and they deserve to find a place to call home."

The United Nations estimates 410 people have died or gone missing so far this year while trying to cross the Mediterranean. In 2014 that figure hit 3,500 before peaking the following year at 3,771.

John Skene of Victoria, who co-organized Saturday's event, was inspired to travel to the Greek island of Lesbos for three weeks last November, helping small aid groups with camp operations and beach rescues.

"I had read an article of a woman begging a volunteer to kill her family when they had landed on a beach because she was in such distress," he said. "The next day I booked a ticket.

"I'm not going to fix the world but I can at least make somebody's journey a bit more comfortable."

On Saturday, the federal Liberal government reached its goal of bringing 25,000 Syrians to Canada by the end of February.

The Liberal's campaign promise to achieve that target by the end of 2015 was pushed back once it became apparent the deadline wouldn't be met.

Finding both temporary and permanent housing for the newly arrived publicly sponsored refugees remained a challenge for the federal government's resettlement program.
Photo: RCMP

UPDATE 7:131 P.M.



Leon Hoostie has been located. Vernon/North Okanagan RCMP would like to thank the public for their assistance.

RCMP are asking for the publics assistance finding a missing man who requires medical treatment.

According to police, Leon Hoostie left a medical facility without completing his necessary medical treatment on Friday Feb. 26.

He is described as;

Aboriginal

32 years old with an average build

5 foot 10 inches tall

Shorter dark brown hair and brown eyes

Possibly wearing a black jacket and black pants.

Please contact Vernon North Okanagan RCMP at (250)-545-7171 if he is located.
Photo: Contributed - RCMP

Vernon RCMP are requesting the public's assistance in locating a missing Armstrong resident.

Terrence Strynadka was last seen Feb. 15 near Swan Lake in the North Okanagan.

Strynadka is described as a Caucasian male, 63 years old, five-feet, nine-inches tall, 189 pounds with grey hair, grey moustache and beard and brown eyes.

He was last seen wearing glasses and a black and grey jacket

Police are very concerned for Terrence's health and well-being and friends and family report that it is out of character for him to be out of contact for this long, said Const. Jocelyn Noseworthy.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Terrence Strynadka is urged to contact their local police, or Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
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Visitors to Disneyland during its 60th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee use a selfie stick to take a photo on June 10, 2015. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Walt Disney Co. is adopting a new pricing policy at Disneyland and other U.S. theme parks that would reduce ticket costs on low-demand days and boost entrance fees for more popular times.

Starting Sunday, anyone willing to drop in on a typically slow day  maybe a Wednesday in September  will pay a few dollars less than previously. But for most days of the year, expect to spend more for a daily ticket.

Disney is portraying the move to peak pricing as a crowd-management technique rather than a push to maximize profits.

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Airlines and hotels do it during spring break and other high-demand times; Uber and Lyft also charge more when the need for ride-hailing services surges, such as New Year's Eve.

"The demand for our theme parks continues to grow, particularly during peak periods," Disneyland spokeswoman Suzi Brown said. "In addition to expanding our parks, we are adopting seasonal pricing on our one-day ticket to help better spread visitation throughout the year."

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Disneyland and Disney California Adventure have been charging $99 for a one-day ticket. Under the new policy, each day on the calendar will be designated a "value" day, a "regular" day or a "peak" day. The new price will be $95 for a value day, $105 for a regular day and $119 for a peak day.

Over a 12-month period, 30% of the days will be "value" days, 44% will be "regular" days and 26% will be "peak" days, Disney calculates.

Disney has long been rumored to be considering a pricing change. Walt Disney Resorts put out feelers to annual pass holders last year, asking their opinion of a three-tiered pricing system aimed at charging more during Christmas, spring break and summer.

But Universal Studios Hollywood beat Disney to the punch, adopting a variable pricing system earlier this month, before the park opens the Wizarding World of Harry Potter attraction on April 7. Demand to check out the boy wizard's stomping grounds is expected to be fierce.

Universal Studios' pricing policy, however, didn't increase ticket prices. The cost of a Universal Studios ticket for a peak-demand day is $95, the same price previously charged at the gate. Visitors who buy tickets for low-demand days can save up to $20 a ticket over the regular gate price.

The pressure for Disney to address its overcrowding problem has been growing.

In the three-month period that ended in December, the company reported a 10% increase in visitors at its domestic parks, reaching a new attendance record. During the holiday season, Disneyland has been forced to shut its gates for a time when the park reaches maximum capacity.

Although daily ticket prices will rise for most days under Disney's new policy, park officials note that they are adding attractions to help justify the extra costs.

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Disneyland is now working to add a 14-acre "Star Wars" land and plans to add a new stage show based on the popular "Frozen" movie later this year. An opening date for "Star Wars" land hasn't been announced.

"Soaring Over California," a simulator attraction at Disney California Adventure Park, is being overhauled with a new film that features giant-screen images from around the world. The revamped version is opening this year.
MSNBC has parted ways with host Melissa Harris-Perry after she complained about pre-emptions of her weekend program and implied that there was a racial aspect to the cable-news network's treatment, insiders at MSNBC said.

Harris-Perry refused to appear on her program Saturday morning, telling her co-workers in an email that she felt "worthless" to the NBC-owned network. "I will not be used as a tool for their purposes," wrote Harris-Perry, who is African American. "I am not a token, mammy or little brown bobble head. I am not owned by [NBC executives] or MSNBC. I love our show. I want it back."

The rebuke, which became public when it was obtained by the New York Times, has triggered discussions involving the network, Harris-Perry and her representatives about the terms of her departure, said people at MSNBC, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks with Perry have not been finalized.

The flap with Harris-Perry, who did not respond to a request for comment, follows a strategic transformation of MSNBC that has swept up several of its minority program hosts. Specifically, the network - which typically finishes far behind Fox News and CNN in cable-news ratings - has been trying to emphasize breaking-news coverage during daytime hours while maintaining a slate of liberal hosts during prime-time hours at night. Like its competitors, it has emphasized breaking campaign coverage, which lately has bumped Harris-Perry from her regular spot.

The network earlier faced some outcry on social media over its irregular pre-emptions of Jose Diaz-Balart, who hosts a two-hour bloc from 9 to 11 a.m. weekdays. Diaz-Balart's disappearance from the air prompted a hashtag - #MasJose - and a petition to encourage MSNBC to feature him on the air more often.

Diaz-Balart's hosting duties are also in question at the network. Scenarios under review include extending the "Morning Joe" program into Diaz-Balart's slot or creating a new program hosted by one of "Morning Joe's" regular personalities. Diaz-Balart, who also anchors for NBC-owned Telemundo, is based in Miami, which complicates his role anchoring weekday coverage for New York-based MSNBC. He will continue anchoring "NBC Nightly News" on Saturdays.

All of the changes carry a potential perception risk that MSNBC - known as the most liberal among the three leading cable-news networks - is diminishing the contributions of its minority personalities, network officials acknowledge. In addition to the issues with Harris-Perry and Diaz-Balart, the network's new emphasis on news during the day have led to the demotion of two African American hosts: the Rev. Al Sharpton and Joy Reid, both of whom have been moved from daily shows to lower-profile weekend slots. (Reid assumed Harris-Perry's hosting duties on Saturday.)

At the same time, the network brought back Brian Williams to be its leading daytime news anchor. Williams was suspended by NBC and ultimately lost his job as the anchor of NBC's "Nightly News with Brian Williams" last year after he exaggerated the details of his reporting exploits in a series of media appearances.

In a statement, MSNBC spokesman Mark Kornblau said, "We are proud of the diverse backgrounds and viewpoints of our journalists, opinion hosts and analysts. We will gladly put that up against everyone else in the news business."

MSNBC's pivot to more news reporting, especially campaign coverage, has lately resulted in improved ratings. So far this year, its weekday ratings among all viewers have grown 57 percent over the same period in 2015, compared with a 38 percent gain for CNN and 20 percent for Fox News, the cable-news leader, according to MSNBC. Among viewers aged 25 to 54, a key bloc for advertisers, MSNBC is up 76 percent, compared with 25 percent for CNN and 19 percent for Fox.

MSNBC executives said they were surprised by Harris-Perry's blast on Friday and that it may have stemmed from her perception - incorrect at the time, but now virtually inevitable due to her actions - that her weekend program was about to be canceled. "She's a brilliant, intelligent but challenging and unpredictable personality," one executive said. "There was no plan to cancel her."

He added, "It's highly unlikely she will continue" at MSNBC. Her email "is destructive to our relationship."

This executive disputed Harris-Perry's assertion that MSNBC executives had not communicated with her, although he said Harris-Perry has never met Andrew Lack, the NBC News chairman who was rehired by the network last year after the controversy over Williams. The decision to pre-empt Harris-Perry's program for election-news coverage over the past several months was made by MSNBC's president, Phil Griffin.

Harris-Perry, a professor at Wake Forest University, joined MSNBC four years ago at a time when the network was attempting to graft its opinionated evening programs onto its daytime schedule. While such evening hosts as Chris Matthews, Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow have proven relatively popular, the liberal-talk format was unsuccessful during the lighter-viewed daytime hours.

In her email to her colleagues, Harris-Perry wrote, "Here is the reality: Our show was taken - without comment or discussion or notice - in the midst of an election season. After four years of building an audience, developing a brand and developing trust with our viewers, we were effectively and utterly silenced."

In a follow-up phone interview with the Times, Harris-Perry softened the racial aspects of her criticism, saying, "I don't know if there is a personal racial component. I don't think anyone is doing something mean to me because I'm a black person."
This past Christmas, 30-year-old Shari Graham knew she needed a fresh start and chose to return to Chicago from Texas, where she had moved two years ago.



She had spent last year mourning a child who died seven days after being born on Christmas Day 2014. The child's twin brother survived.



She chose to leave her grandmother's Texas home, where she'd been living, and returned with her children to the city where she'd grown up, despite the violence and drug problems that originally drove her grandmother out. She hoped to find a job as a nurse.



On Friday, just two months after she moved with her three children, Graham was shot to death while sitting in a cab about 9:45 p.m. in the Wentworth Gardens neighborhood on the South Side. She is at least the 101st person to be killed in 2016 with the second month of the year not over yet, according to data kept by the Chicago Tribune.



"It hurts me so hard. It hurts me real hard," the grandmother, Bonita Carter, said from her Texas home.



Carter had raised Graham in her Auburn-Gresham home since Graham was 2 years old. Carter left for Texas 12 years ago, unable to tolerate the neighborhood's escalating crime.



"That was my baby. We call her 'Shari-ball,'" she said, her soft voice quivering. "Her kids gotta grow up without a mother. I just can't describe it. It's an indescribable feeling."



Since moving to Chicago, Graham had been staying with her children at her other grandmother's home on 7700 block of South Hermitage Avenue, also in the Auburn-Gresham neighborhood.



Graham was pronounced dead at 10:31 p.m. Friday at Stroger Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.



The cab was in the 3800 block of South Princeton Avenue about a half-mile south of U.S. Cellular Field, and about 8 miles from Graham's family's house, when someone fired shots outside the vehicle. It's not clear where the shots originated from, police said.



An autopsy determined that Graham died of a gunshot wound to her back. The driver of the cab drove her about 2 miles to the 4700 block of South State Street, where paramedics were called, police said. She was then taken to Stroger, where she was later pronounced dead. Police said preliminary information indicated the woman was not the intended target.



Carter heard the news of Graham's death while at a church retreat two hours away from her Killeen, Texas, home. She said Graham's sister has been staying at Carter's house since Friday, unable to leave her bed.



"I don't think she's ready to talk," Carter said.



Carter is most worried about Graham's children, though. Aside from baby Kato, Graham had a 3-year-old son, Lamar, and a 6-year-old daughter, Lashontay.



"The 6-year-old, it's already gonna be so hard on her. She loved her mother so hard," Carter said.



For now, the children are being cared for by Graham's other grandmother in a home where an anti-violence poster sits in a front window. Carter is planning to make a trip up to Chicago herself within the next couple of days.



February's homicide total is now 44, more than double the homicide total of February last year, which saw 20 people killed. After Graham's death a 102nd person was reportedly killed, police said.



The first two months of 2015 saw 52 people killed and that year ended with almost 500 homicides, according to Tribune data.

Chicago Tribune's Gregory Pratt contributed.



meltagouri@tribune.com
Chicago police officers carry protester Bernie Sanders, 21, in August 1963 to a police wagon from a civil rights demonstration at West 73rd Street and South Lowe Avenue. He was arrested, charged with resisting arrest, found guilty and fined $25. He was a University of Chicago student at the time. In 1963, controversial Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Benjamin C. Willis decided that placing aluminum trailers in black neighborhoods was the best way to ease overcrowding and keep school segregation intact. The modular units were put in vacant lots and on existing school grounds in neighborhoods such as Englewood, where the African-American school population was soaring in the early 1960s. Picketing, school boycotts and sit-ins ensued as the black community voiced outrage at the discrimination. (Tom Kinahan / Chicago Tribune)

A Chicago Tribune archival photo of a young man being arrested in 1963 at a South Side protest shows Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, his campaign has confirmed, bolstering the candidates narrative about his civil rights activism.

The black-and-white photo shows a 21-year-old Sanders, then a University of Chicago student, being taken by Chicago police toward a police wagon. An acetate negative of the photo was found in the Tribune's archives, said Marianne Mather, a Chicago Tribune photo editor.

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See more vintage photos from the Tribune's archives >>

"Bernie identified it himself," said Tad Devine, a senior adviser to the campaign, adding that Sanders looked at a digital image of the photo. "He looked at it  he actually has his student ID from the University of Chicago in his wallet  and he said, 'Yes, that indeed is (me).'" Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, was traveling Friday near Reno, Nev., on the eve of the state's Democratic presidential caucuses.

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Sanders' activism at the University of Chicago has been in the news recently, after questions arose about a different photo that appeared to show Sanders addressing students at a 1962 campus sit-in. At first, several alumni identified the speaker as another man, according to the University of Chicago Library's Special Research Center. The other man is no longer alive.

However, photographer Danny Lyon, who took that photo, contacted the research center and made available more photos from the same sequence, confirming Sanders' identity, the center said.

Devine called those questions about the sit-in photo "unfair and unfounded."

"His activism and when it occurred, as a young college student, set in motion the direction of his life," Devine said.

After the 1962 photos surfaced, Mather and photographer Brian Nguyen looked in the newspaper's archival collection and found several negatives that appeared to be Sanders.

The subjects of the photographs were not listed on the negatives, but information filed with them indicated that the Tribune arrest photo was taken in August 1963 near South 73rd Street and Lowe Avenue, which is in the Englewood neighborhood.

A January 1964 Tribune story on the court cases of those who had been arrested in August identified a Bernard Sanders. The negatives were scanned and an image was shown to the Sanders campaign Friday. On Saturday, the campaign confirmed that a second photo also shows Sanders.

In the early 1960s, protests over segregation in the Englewood area raged over mobile classrooms dubbed "Willis Wagons," named for then-Chicago Schools Superintendent Benjamin Willis. Critics charged that the trailers kept black children in the area instead of sending them to white schools.

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Sanders was arrested Aug. 12, 1963, and charged with resisting arrest. He was found guilty and fined $25, according to a Tribune story about the protests.

Sanders enrolled at the University of Chicago on Oct. 3, 1960, and graduated in June 1964 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science, said Jeremy Manier, a university spokesman.

Sanders attended Brooklyn College before coming to the U. of C., Manier said.

At the University of Chicago, he was a leader of the Congress of Racial Equality, a major civil rights group. News accounts from the time had Sanders leading protests over racial inequality.

kskiba@tribpub.com

Twitter @Katherine Skiba
Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks during a "Get Out The Vote" at Miles College on February 27, 2016 in Fairfield, Alabama. (Justin Sullivan, Getty Images)

ORANGEBURG, S.C.  Hillary Clinton hoped to cement her position as the Democratic front-runner with a big win in Saturday's South Carolina presidential primary, while rival Bernie Sanders moved on before the votes were even counted to focus on next week's Super Tuesday contests.

The Democrats' contrasting approaches underscored their broader aims and possibilities heading into the delegate-rich March 1 races. Clinton is looking to win by large margins in Southern states with large black populations, while Sanders wants to score victories in the Midwest and Northeast and stay close to Clinton in the South to avoid a blowout in the delegate race.

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As Democrats in South Carolina were heading to the polls, Sanders was speaking to about 10,000 people at a Formula One racetrack near Austin, Texas.

"On Super Tuesday the state that is going to be voting for the most delegates is the great state of Texas," he said. "If all of you come out to vote and you bring your friends and your neighbors and your co-workers, we are going to win here in Texas."

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Clinton made a stop in Alabama Saturday before returning to Columbia, South Carolina's capital, for what her campaign hoped would be an evening victory party. Polls were to close at 7 p.m.

According to early exit polls, black voters accounted for 6 in 10 Democratic primary voters. In last week's South Carolina Republican primary, 96 percent of voters were white.

For Clinton, a win in South Carolina would help wipe away bitter memories of her 2008 primary loss to Barack Obama in the first-in-the-South contest, and establish her as the firm favorite among black voters, a crucial segment of the Democratic electorate.

As Clinton's race with Sanders has grown tighter, she's moved to fully embrace Obama, who remains popular with Democrats and particularly black voters. Early exit polls showed 7 in 10 voters want the next president to continue Obama's policies.

The exit polls were conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.

Among early voters in South Carolina, Alicia Newman, a 31-year-old elementary school teacher from Greenville, said she was torn but ultimately went for Clinton.

"I don't think Bernie has a shot in a national election, and this election is too important," she said. "With all the debates, I think Bernie has helped prepare Hillary for November."

But Birgitta Johnson, an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina, said she believed Clinton will "say anything to get votes," while Sanders "deals with structural issues rather than talking points" on education and other issues important to her.

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Sanders has energized his voters, particularly young people, with his impassioned calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and making tuition free at public colleges and universities. But he knew his prospects in South Carolina were grim.

The senator from Vermont, where just about 1 percent of the population is black, lacks Clinton's deep and longstanding connections to the African-American community. He tried to broaden his economic inequality message and touch on issues such as incarceration rates and criminal justice reform, but he struggled to gain traction here.

In 2008, black voters made up 55 percent of the electorate in South Carolina's Democratic primary, according to exit polls. Clinton lost the state overwhelmingly to Obama in a heated contest in which her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was seen by some as questioning the legitimacy of the black presidential contender.

But South Carolina voters appeared ready to forgive.

The former president has been well-received by voters as he's traveled the state campaigning for his wife. Hillary Clinton also received the endorsement of South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the influential black lawmaker who stayed neutral in the 2008 primary but was critical of the former president's comments.

This year, Clinton's campaign has seen South Carolina as an important jumpstart heading into a busy March. More than half of the delegates up for grabs in the Democratic race are on the table in the next month.

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Next Tuesday's contests are particularly important. Democrats will vote in 11 states and American Samoa, with 865 delegates to be decided.

While Sanders has the money to stay in the race deep into the spring, Clinton's campaign sees a chance to build enough of a delegate lead to put the race out of reach during the sprint through March.

Going into South Carolina, Clinton had just a one-delegate edge over Sanders after her narrow win in Iowa, her sweeping loss in New Hampshire and a five-point victory in Nevada. However, she also has a massive lead among superdelegates, the Democratic Party leaders who can vote for the candidate of their choice at this summer's national convention, regardless of how their states vote.

Associated Press
Smoke rises in Akcakale in Sanliurfa province, Syria, after clashes between Islamic State and People's Protection Units on Feb. 27, 2016. (AFP/Getty Images)

GAZIANTEP, Turkey  Syria's hard-won truce began to fray Sunday, with Russian warplanes resuming airstrikes on towns and villages in the north and fresh reports of artillery fire across several front lines.

The violence came on only the second day of a planned two-week cessation of hostilities, dimming hopes that the calm that took hold Saturday will endure long enough to inject new impetus into a wider peace effort.

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The Russian planes, based in northwestern Syria, struck six towns and villages in the provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Idlib early Sunday, according to monitoring and civil defense groups.

The strikes ended a 24-hour suspension announced by the Russian military on Saturday to coincide with the launch of the truce. They also appeared to signal a return to attacks that preceded the effort to end the fighting, in which Russia has helped bolster the fortunes of President Bashar al-Assad, a longtime ally.

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Russia's Defense Ministry offered no comment on the strikes, but it had warned Saturday that it reserved the right under the terms of the truce to continue hitting the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, terrorist groups that are battling the Assad regime.

Russian warplanes have in the past repeatedly struck towns loyal to more-moderate rebels, including those backed by the United States, while claiming that they were targeting the Islamic State or Jabhat al-Nusra, which is affiliated with al-Qaida.

The first half-dozen attacks on Sunday, carried out shortly after 6 a.m., awoke residents in four towns west of Aleppo that lie on the last rebel supply route into the city, according to the White Helmets civil defense group. Videos posted on YouTube showed damage to shops and houses.

Shortly after, bombs struck the town of Harb Nufsa in Hama. On Sunday afternoon, two strikes hit civilian areas of the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour, which is controlled by a coalition of fighters that includes Jabhat al-Nusra. A pregnant woman was killed and 12 people were injured, the White Helmets said.

The total number of strikes was nonetheless significantly lower than in the days preceding the truce, when Russia dropped hundreds of bombs over a wide area of rebel-held territory in an apparent attempt to score last-minute gains. Although artillery and small-arms fire by both sides were reported on a number of front lines, the intensity of the fighting appeared to have eased significantly.

On Sunday morning, Russia's Defense Ministry said the truce appeared to be working.

"On the whole, the ceasefire regime in Syria is being implemented," the ministry said in a statement, according to Russian news agencies.

A cease-fire coordination center set up at the Russian air base of Khmeimim, in northwestern Syria's Latakia province, accused the rebels of committing nine truce violations in the first 24 hours, singling out an attack by the Islamic State on the Kurdish-held town of Tal Abyad in the northeast as the most serious.

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The head of the coordination center, Lt. Gen. Sergei Kurylenko, claimed in televised remarks that Turkey facilitated that attack and that the incursion was "supported by artillery fire from Turkish territory." He said Russia had lodged a complaint with the U.S. cease-fire coordination center, based in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

Turkey denied the charge, according to military sources quoted by the website of the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.

The Islamic State's incursion into Tal Abyad was the most serious by the militant group in northeastern Syria in more than eight months and was contained only after U.S. warplanes intervened. On Sunday, reports from Tal Abyad said militants were still holed up on the outskirts.



The Washington Post


LEESBURG, Va.  Republican front-runner Donald Trump drew sharp criticism from his rivals in both parties Sunday for refusing to denounce an implicit endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, raising the specter of racism as the presidential campaign hits the South.

Trump was asked on CNN's "State of the Union" whether he rejected support from the former KKK Grand Dragon and other white supremacists after Duke told his radio followers this week that a vote against Trump was equivalent to "treason to your heritage."

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"Well, just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke. OK?" Trump said. "I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists."

Trump's comments came the same day he retweeted a quote attributed to Benito Mussolini, the 20th century fascist dictator of Italy. And in a boost for his campaign in the South, he scored the endorsement of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, one of the most strident opponents of immigration reform on Capitol Hill.

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But it was Trump's statements about Duke that sparked a wave of censure with just two days to go before 11 states hold GOP primaries involving about a quarter of the party's total nominating delegate count. Several states in the South, a region with a fraught racial history, are among those voting in the Super Tuesday contests.

Marco Rubio quickly pounced on Trump's comments, saying the GOP "cannot be a party who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan."

"Not only is that wrong, it makes him unelectable," Rubio told thousands of supporters gathered in Leesburg, Virginia. "How are we going to grow the party if we nominate someone who doesn't repudiate the Ku Klux Klan?"

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called Trump's comments "Really sad."

"You're better than this," Cruz wrote on Twitter. "We should all agree, racism is wrong, KKK is abhorrent."

Trump has won three of four early voting states, roiling a party divided over the prospect of the brash billionaire becoming its nominee. Late Sunday, Nebraska's Ben Sasse became the first sitting Republican senator to say explicitly that he would not back Trump if he does win the nomination.

"If Trump becomes the Republican nominee my expectation is that I'll look for some 3rd candidate  a conservative option, a Constitutionalist," Sasse wrote on Twitter.

With a strong showing on Super Tuesday, Trump could begin to pull away from his rivals in the all-important delegate count.

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In the Southern states that vote Tuesday, Republican candidates will face an electorate that is overwhelmingly white. In South Carolina, the only Southern state to have voted so far, 96 percent of the GOP primary electorate was white, while 6 in 10 voters in the Democratic race were black.

While the South was once a Democratic stronghold, many white conservatives who backed the party started moving toward the GOP during the civil rights movement. Trump has borrowed from the rhetoric former President Richard Nixon used during that time to appeal to working-class white voters, describing his campaign has a movement of the "silent majority."

Trump holds commanding leads across the South, with the exception of Cruz's home state of Texas, a dynamic that puts tremendous pressure on Rubio and Cruz as they try to outlast each other and derail the real estate mogul.

Trump was asked Friday by journalists how he felt about Duke's support. He said he didn't know anything about it and curtly said: "All right, I disavow, ok?"

The billionaire hasn't always claimed ignorance on Duke's history. In 2000, he wrote a New York Times op-ed explaining why he abandoned the possibility of running for president on the Reform Party ticket. He wrote of an "underside" and "fringe element" of the party, concluding, "I leave the Reform Party to David Duke, Pat Buchanan and Lenora Fulani. That is not company I wish to keep."

Democrat Bernie Sanders also lashed out at his Republican rival on Twitter, writing: "America's first black president cannot and will not be succeeded by a hatemonger who refuses to condemn the KKK."

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Trump also garnered backlash for retweeting a quote from Mussolini, which read: "It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep."

Trump told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, "I know who said it. But what difference does it make whether it's Mussolini or somebody else? It's certainly a very interesting quote."

Rubio and Cruz, two first-term senators, continued a personal and policy-based barrage against Trump, warning his nomination would be catastrophic for the party in November and beyond.

"We're about to lose the conservative movement to someone who's not a conservative and (lose) the party of Lincoln and Reagan to a con artist," Rubio said Sunday on Fox News.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton, who received another burst of momentum Saturday after her lopsided victory in South Carolina, turned her attention to the Republican field on Sunday, all-but-ignoring rival Bernie Sanders during campaign events in Tennessee.

Starting her morning with stops at two Memphis churches, Clinton offered an implicit critique of Trump, issuing a call to unite the nation and asking worshippers to reject "the demagoguery, the prejudice, the paranoia."

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Asked by actor Tony Goldwyn, who later campaigned with Clinton in Nashville, about her thoughts on Duke's support for Trump, Clinton described it, simply, as "pathetic."

Trump also rejected calls from Rubio  who he repeatedly referred to Sunday as "Little Marco"  and Cruz to release his tax returns, saying he can't share returns that are under IRS audit. The senators on Saturday released summary pages of several years' worth of their personal returns. Trump says he's already shared his personal financial details in separate disclosure forms.

Separately, Cruz warned the "Trump train" could become "unstoppable" if he rolls to big victories Tuesday. Cruz cast Trump as a carbon copy Clinton and suggested that not even Trump "knows what he would do" as president.

Still, Cruz confirmed to CNN's Jake Tapper that he "will support the Republican nominee, period, the end." Rubio has sidestepped questions about whether he could support Trump.

Associated Press
A Gurnee man has been arrested in Waukegan and charged with attempted murder in a shooting that left two people wounded outside a Chicago nightclub, police said.

Cameron White, 25, was identified as the man who allegedly shot two people about 2 a.m. Feb. 20 on the 2100 block of South Wabash Avenue, according to a statement from Chicago police.

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White, who was wanted on a warrant, was arrested Friday in Waukegan, according to a Chicago police spokeswoman. He remains in custody in Chicago.

Prior to the shooting, White was kicked out of a club after he was allegedly involved in an altercation with security, police said.

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White, of the 900 block of Crestville Court in Gurnee, returned a short time later and opened fire from a vehicle, police said. A 29-year-old woman was shot in the forehead and taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition and a 34-year-old man was shot in the leg and taken to Northwestern Hospital in good condition, police said.

White was charged with two counts of attempted first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm, police said. He was also wanted on a warrant.

The arrest was part of a joint effort between Chicago police and the Waukegan police Gang Intelligence Unit.

jrnewton@tribpub.com

Twitter @jimnewton5
A young couple concentrate on their mobile phones while having dinner. In many cases social media has become a destabilizing factor in marriages. [File photo]

Li An is living happily with his wife again, one year after they applied for divorce following endless quarrels such as who should change the baby.

Last year, Li, 28, became dad, but arrival of the baby brought with it many problems, and the couple found themselves always fighting over nothing.

At a civil affairs bureau in Dali Bai autonomous prefecture in Southwest China's Yunnan province, a member of staff would not, as they expected, grant them a divorce, but simply handed them a reservation form and told them to come back the next week if they still wanted to go ahead.

"The seven days are a grace period," said Wang Zhaowei, head of Dali civil affairs bureau. "Many couples, especially the young, rush irrationally into decisions. They will probably change their mind after they calm down."

The divorce rate is rising rapidly. In 2014, 3.6 million Chinese couples broke up, almost double the number from a decade previously. In the past, couples required permission from employers or community committees to divorce, and many put up with their spouses just to avoid public embarrassment.

A 2003 regulation on marriage and divorce simplified the divorce procedure and allowed couples to divorce the same day at a cost of 10 yuan ($1.53).

Reservations and appointments began in Dali on Feb 1, 2015. By the end of last year, 9,571 couples made reservations, but 4,531 of them, 47 percent, did not end up in divorce. In many other cities, similar reservation systems are in place.

These measures are not without their critics. "It is not proper for governments to put obstacles in front of people wanting a divorce, because Chinese citizens enjoy freedom of marriage," said Nie Aiping of Jiangxi Academy of Social Sciences. He suggests that interventions should be conducted by an impartial organization.

Liu Min in East China's Anhui province has been a divorce attorney for years. She believes that not all broken marriages can be repaired, because the causes of divorce vary.

"In the past people wanted to divorce mostly because of domestic violence and affairs, now it is increasingly common among young couples to separate after trivial disputes or interference of their parents," she said.

Follow China.org.cn on Twitter and Facebook to join the conversation.
 Flash

More than a month ago Austria limited the immigration of refugees on its borders, announcing that the country this year will not accept more than 37,500 asylum seekers.

With this unilateral measure Austria is seen as a disturber in the European Community. Together with the Balkan States, Austria increases now the pressure on Greece as well as for a pan-European solution.

Last week, the European Commission criticized the Austrian upper limit as "incompatible with European and international law" and European Parliament President Martin Schulz called Austria's unilateral decision an "intellectually brilliant performance."

Despite all criticism the Austrian government sticks to the decision. "It is unthinkable that Austria receives all asylum seeker for all of Europe," chancellor Werner Faymann said recently in Brussels.

Austria has received 100,000 refugees in the previous year - representing over one percent of its population. "We have said that we again take refugees in proportion to one and a half percent of our population. Everything else would be unrealistic and wrong," Faymann defended Austria's solo attempt.

Austria is currently looking for allies and invited eight Balkan countries to a refugee summit on Wednesday. Objective was a strategy "to reduce migration flow substantially."

However, one important country on the Balkan route was not invited: Greece. "There were enough collective meetings, but there was no common will to reduce the flood of refugees," Austrian foreign minister Sebastian Kurz explained the absence of Greece's Invitation.

The move caused diplomatic tensions between Vienna and Athens. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called the meeting a "disgrace." On Thursday, the Greek ambassador was removed from Vienna.

Even Austrian President Heinz Fischer was astonished. "I was surprised that Greece was not invited," Fischer said on Austrian Television.

Austrian politicians have criticized the Greek refugee policy for a long time. Last summer Kurz demanded more pressure from the EU on Greece to protect the external borders. Interior Minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner said this week that the "through waving" of refugees "begins in Greece."

The pressure on Greece has increased now. The result of the Balkan conference is to strengthen controls at the border between Macedonia and Greece radically. A tailback of refugee flows in Greece will be the consequence. About 3,000 refugees a day come from Turkey to the Greek coast.

Greece argues that it is not possible to protect the long sea border with Turkey. Consequently, Mikl-Leitner demanded the exclusion of Greece from the Schengen area. "If that is indeed the case, how can Greece be an external frontier of Schengen?" she asked rhetorically.

Moreover, with the Balkan Conference, Austria has increased pressure on the advocates of a European solution.

German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere still believes that the cooperation with Turkey is the road to success. "I believe it is possible to deliver successful results until March 7," he said recently. But he was not too convinced: "I am an optimist but also a realist."

According to some observers, the refugee policy is making Germany more and more isolated within the EU. Also the important partner France dissociated itself from the refugee policy of Angela Merkel. "France has committed to take 30,000 refugees. We are willing to do that, but not more," French Premier Manuel Valls said two weeks ago in Munich.

In addition, pressure within Germany for a more stringent refugee policy increases. For months, the Bavarian Prime Minister Horst Seehofer has demanded an upper limit vehemently. In effect, Austria has already created a limit for Germany. Not more than 3,200 people a day are allowed to transit to the northern neighbor.

Whether with the Austrian solo attempt a European solution has become more unlikely, or the increased pressure favors a rapid solution to be seen in the next few weeks, according to some analysts. The fact is that Austria relies no longer on a pan-European solution.
 Flash

One day into the long-awaited cease-fire in Syria, truce was largely observed though sporadic shelling still took place, killing and wounding dozens.

As main backers of the cease-fire, Russia and the United States have exchanged information as the two sides are consulting in Amman, Jordan, over how to uphold the truce.

The Syrian government said it would obey the agreement, but would not stop fighting extremist groups such as the Islamic State (IS).

PEACE IN DAMASCUS DESPITE SHELLING

According to Syrian media, the shelling mostly targeted the capital Damascus, Aleppo and Deir al-Zour.

The Syrian Army General Command said rebels in Jobar and Douma neighborhoods in the suburbs of Damascus fired mortars into the city just hours after the cease-fire went into effect.

It warned of consequences of such attacks and called on the people living in those neighborhoods to pressure the militants from breaking the truce.

Despite the shelling, Damascenes' mood to savor the peace was not dampened, as Xinhua reporters witnessed Saturday in Damascus' commercial al-Qassa area that streets were once again packed by shoppers.

"It's difficult to remember a calm night throughout the last four years, but yesterday was different. Last night was so calm and this peaceful atmosphere has pushed people to go on streets today," said Ahmad, a 30-year-old man from the neighborhood.

Also enjoying the peace were Khitam and her friends, who were strolling on the street.

"We felt the old peace again, especially last night as we slept without hearing the rattling sound of shelling echoing," Khitam said.

SERIOUS COMMITMENT

As Syrians are taking a breath, Russia and the United States are resorting to multiple measures to ensure the cease-fire will hold.

An official at the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that the two powers are exchanging information concerning the cease-fire.

The shared information includes where the latest cease-fire is applied, where armed groups are deployed and where the cease-fire is breached, according to Sergei Rudskoi, the official.

Should cease-fire violations be confirmed, Moscow and Washington will take measures to de-escalate tensions, he said.

In addition to the exchange of information, the two sides have set up a hotline linking Moscow, Washington and Geneva to share intelligence.

Both the United States and Russia have shown sincerity in supporting the cease-fire, as Moscow have brought the Syrian government to the table, while Washington made sure the armed groups it supported abide by the agreement.

TERRORISM THREAT

It was made clear from the beginning that the cease-fire would exclude extremist groups such as the IS and Jahbat al-Nusra, and all sides have stressed that they would continue combatting terrorism.

However, experts warn that facing growing pressure, extremists may try to sabotage the fragile cease-fire.

Three bomb attacks hit the central province of Hama on Saturday, a signature move of the IS, and the mortar shelling of Aleppo and Deir al-Zour are also believed to have come from the terror group.

Syrian analyst Osama Danula told Xinhua that territories controlled by opposition and extremists often overlap and how to fight terrorist groups with precision will be a "technical difficulty" for Syrian forces.
The Globe and Mail

By Nathan Vanderklippe

Published Friday, Feb. 26, 2016 7:01AM EST

Last updated Friday, Feb. 26, 2016 1:48PM EST

 Beijing  The Globe and Mail

Chinese state television has aired a confession from a Christian lawyer who had challenged the forced removal of church crosses, renewing fears that authorities are escalating a clampdown on Christianity.

Zhang Kai had played a central role in defending Chinese religious groups against state repression. Since 2013, authorities have knocked down more than 1,800 crosses in southern China.

Churches have been demolished and people jailed. On Friday, a court sentenced one pastor to 14 years in prison, and his wife to 12 years, on charges of corruption and disturbing social order.

Mr. Zhang was taken away by police on Aug. 25, and hadnt been seen until Thursday night, when he delivered a confession on state TV in the southern Chinese city of Wenzhou.

Critics said the confession appeared forced, although one pastor accused Mr. Zhang of stirring up trouble by inciting parishioners to protest illegally.

The 37-year-old Beijing man had helped organize several dozen lawyers to defend some 100 churches. Local authorities accused him of masterminding illegal religious gatherings.

In his confession, he said he had broken Chinese law, disrupted social order and endangered state security, adding that foreign forces had contributed to his work as part of an effort to smear China.

Mr. Zhang said he knew some of the demolished churches were illegal structures, but had instead told churches that they were being oppressed.

These acts violated the law of China and went against the code of lawyers, he said, adding that he had sought fame and money.

The broadcast showed Mr. Zhang sitting alone on a chair wearing a black sweater  a posture that has become familiar in China, where authorities have used a new campaign of televised confessions to strike fear in groups that might stand against the government.

I dont believe what he confessed on TV. Look at how much weight he lost  I think hes down by a third, said a shocked Li Guisheng, a lawyer who has represented Mr. Zhang, but was denied any access to him for six months. Instead, his client was put in front of the cameras.

Its making the media the judge. How is that different from the way things were done in the Cultural Revolution?

Besides, its legal for him to charge his clients.

William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International, pointed to the irony of Mr. Zhangs supposed efforts to enrich himself.

If there werent such egregious violations of freedom of religion across the country, he wouldnt have the possibility of defending over 100 churches, Mr. Nee said. This is a degree of double-think thats going on right now.

Mr. Zhang occupied a dangerous intersection  a human rights lawyer who represented churches. Since last summer, China has rounded up roughly 250 lawyers and assistants, and formally arrested at least 18.

At the same time, authorities have hauled off growing numbers of local Christian leaders. China Aid, a U.S.-based group that has monitored the continuing church crackdown, has documented the detention of eight church leaders in Zhejiang province since January.

Four weeks ago, authorities detained Gu Yuese, a pastor at the largest Protestant church in China, who had publicly criticized the cross removals. Efforts to rein in churches have more recently extended to other provinces, too. One church was demolished in Fujian; leaders have been arrested and parishioners harassed at another large assembly in Guizhou.

Congregations in Xinjiang, Anhui and Guangdong have all felt pressure, said China Aid president Bob Fu.

This is the year of scaring monkeys, he said, in a play on the Chinese phrase kill the chicken to scare the monkey.

With the year of the monkey just begun, in the months ahead, conditions will further deteriorate. That is very clear, Mr. Fu said. He characterized Reverend Gus arrest as a demand for absolute loyalty and submission to the Communist Partys leadership.

In airing Mr. Zhangs confession, Chinese authorities also named China Aid as the overseas force supporting Zhang Kais legal defence work. In a statement, Mr. Fu said he would never be intimidated or cease to continue to promote religious freedom for all in China.

The recent pressure on churches could be a prelude to a much larger clampdown, observers warn. Yang Fenggang, founding director of the Center on Religion and Chinese Society at Purdue University, said the Zhejiang cross removals look like a bid by local Communist Party Secretary Xiao Baolong for a promotion. The leaders of other provinces, I think, are mostly in wait-and-see mode, to see what will actually happen after this. And if Mr. Xia gets promoted, as the rumour has been going around, then this could become national policy, he said.

One church leader, however, placed blame on Mr. Zhang rather than government.

Ms. Su, a pastor at Chengxi Church in Wenzhou who declined to provide her first name, said the lawyer had created trouble.

We hired him to help communicate with the government. But instead he made our relations with government more severe, and also got our brothers and sisters detained! Ms. Su said in an interview.

Churches paid him millions of yuan, she said, echoing government figures, but were cheated. Rather than trying to smooth things over with authorities, Mr. Zhang sent out uniforms to our brothers and sisters for street demonstrations, which interrupted the public order.

With reporting by Yu Mei







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
BEIJING -- There has never been a plan among G20 members to reach a deal similar to the Plaza Accord and such a plan is unrealistic, said Yi Gang, vice governor of China's central bank.

"The members haven't reached a consensus on the trend of the exchange rates and the international currency system now is very different from that when the Plaza Accord was signed," Yi said during an interview with Xinhua on Sunday, after the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting in Shanghai.

The Plaza Accord, signed in 1985, was an agreement among five nations to depreciate the US dollar relative to the Japanese yen and the German Deutsche Mark by intervening in the currency markets.

Yi said the wording used in the meeting's communique, such as "we will consult closely on exchange markets," is unprecedented, highlighting the attentions paid by the members to recent exchange rates volatility.

"By consulting closely, we can coordinate with each other more flexibly and that will play a positive role in eliminating excessive fluctuations and disorderly adjustment of the foreign exchange markets," Yi said.

The meeting sent a clear signal that the group will "refrain from competitive devaluations," which is helpful to alleviate concerns over a "currency war," Yi said.

The exchange rate mechanism was among the focus of the two-day meeting, which concluded on Saturday.

For China, the currency yuan has been heading south since the government revamped the foreign exchange mechanism last year, and concerns about capital outflows have been on the rise.

Yi recognized some volatility on the yuan exchange rate, but said markets should not overreact, as the yuan's fluctuation range is still smaller than many other currencies.

The yuan exchange rate was also affected by some short-term speculations. But Yi said he is confident in the currency's fundamentals, which will drive the exchange rate in the long term rather than short-term expectations.
Two women inspect a Breguet wrist watch inlaid with 706 diamonds, and priced 1.77 million yuan ($276,563).CHINA DAILY

As Chinese spend on high fashion worldwide, local firms go shopping for brands to expand

Retailers, investors and industry insiders believe China's luxury goods industry, despite losses for the second year in a row in 2015, is still well on its way to a brighter future, coasting on the momentum of double-digit growth in recent years, said consulting firm Bain & Co.

The Fortune Character Institute's research findings appear to confirm the optimistic outlook. In 2015, Chinese consumers bought 46 percent of the luxury goods consumed worldwide. But 78 percent of it was bought outside China.

Chinese consumers of high fashion and luxury goods are becoming increasingly discerning too. Not for them any brand that is easily available or visible. By buying and encouraging the best among the existing luxury brands, Chinese consumers are emerging to be trendsetters.

To ride the rising wave of fashion consciousness among Chinese consumers, Shandong RuyiGroup, one of China's leading textile producers, reportedly joined the bidders for French fashion group SMCP on Jan 20, according to a Bloomberg report.

SMCP is estimated to be worth more than $1 billion. The group owns affordable luxury brands such as Maje and Sandro, which have been enjoying surging popularity among China's rising middle class in recent years.

Shandong RuyiGroup is ranked among the top four of China's 500 leading textile enterprises. Its consolidated annual revenue hit a record 30 billion yuan ($4.7 billion) in 2013.

The group declined to comment on its reported interest in acquiring SMCP.

Any such acquisition would be "just a drop in the bucket as the Chinese are fast climbing on to the upper chain of the luxury industry", said Zhou Ting, director of the Fortune Character Institute. "The (luxury) market remains one of the most lucrative for now and (shall remain so over) the next decade. This means, if Chinese companies and investors want a share, they should be more actively involved in every link of the supply chain, from designing and manufacturing to marketing and retailing."

Things have been moving in that direction of late.

For instance, China's homegrown online fashion retailer VipshopHoldings, known for its discounts, invested several millions of pounds in November for a minority stake in British fashion-maker BrandAlley, to introduce more British brands in China.

A month earlier, its competitor, Secoo.com, created quite a splash by opening the first cross-border experience store at Piazza Del Duomo, one of Milan's most-visited shopping areas.

Li Rixue, founder and CEO of Secoo.com, established the website seven years ago in Beijing. He called the Milan store "part of the company's ten-year globalization plan".

Industry insiders said that Secoo.com's aggressive expansion reflects a strategy to target high-spending Chinese tourists in Europe.

Zhou said what, where and how the Chinese buy will likely determine where Chinese, and probably global, investors' money would be pumped in.
A young couple concentrate on their mobile phones while having dinner. In many cases social media has become a destabilizing factor in marriages. [File photo]

KUNMING - Li An is living happily with his wife again, one year after they applied for divorce following endless quarrels such as who should change the baby.

Last year, Li, 28, became dad, but arrival of the baby brought with it many problems, and the couple found themselves always fighting over nothing.

At a civil affairs bureau in Dali Bai autonomous prefecture in Southwest China's Yunnan province, a member of staff would not, as they expected, grant them a divorce, but simply handed them a reservation form and told them to come back the next week if they still wanted to go ahead.

"The seven days are a grace period," said Wang Zhaowei, head of Dali civil affairs bureau. "Many couples, especially the young, rush irrationally into decisions. They will probably change their mind after they calm down."

The divorce rate is rising rapidly. In 2014, 3.6 million Chinese couples broke up, almost double the number from a decade previously. In the past, couples required permission from employers or community committees to divorce, and many put up with their spouses just to avoid public embarrassment.

A 2003 regulation on marriage and divorce simplified the divorce procedure and allowed couples to divorce the same day at a cost of 10 yuan ($1.53).

Reservations and appointments began in Dali on Feb 1, 2015. By the end of last year, 9,571 couples made reservations, but 4,531 of them, 47 percent, did not end up in divorce. In many other cities, similar reservation systems are in place.

These measures are not without their critics. "It is not proper for governments to put obstacles in front of people wanting a divorce, because Chinese citizens enjoy freedom of marriage," said Nie Aiping of Jiangxi Academy of Social Sciences. He suggests that interventions should be conducted by an impartial organization.

Liu Min in East China's Anhui province has been a divorce attorney for years. She believes that not all broken marriages can be repaired, because the causes of divorce vary.

"In the past people wanted to divorce mostly because of domestic violence and affairs, now it is increasingly common among young couples to separate after trivial disputes or interference of their parents," she said.
Senior citizens chat at a retirement home in Beijing. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - China will set up a plan to raise the statutory retirement age in 2017 to relieve pressures from an aging population, an official researcher said.

"The plan is likely to be implemented in 2022 after a five-year transitional period," China News Service quoted Jin Weigang, a researcher with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, as saying Saturday.

The government is preparing to postpone the retirement age as a shrinking workforce has begun to bite into the country's labor market and pension system.

The population of people aged between 16 to 60 fell by 4.87 million to 911 million in 2015, the fourth consecutive year of decline, official data showed.

China's retirement age is 60 for men, 55 for female white-collar workers and 50 for female blue-collar employees.

Jin said the government could learn from flexible retirement policies in other countries.
BEIJING - China's first domestic violence law, to take effect on March 1, was adopted after two hearings, instead of the ordinary three, an example of the changing rhythm and style of the current legislature.

The top legislature said it did not insist on protocol in this case because the bill addressed an urgent issue that the law has failed to cover for too long and there was a solid consensus among lawmakers that it was ready for a vote at the second reading.

Though there were only two readings at an interval of four months, lawmakers had been involved in the drafting much earlier, with several pieces of research done in the past few years and in-depth discussions with the government and women's associations, said Chen Jialin, an official with the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee's legislative affairs commission, who was deeply involved in the drafting.

This led to a carefully written draft and ensured lawmakers were well informed on the topic, he said.

Liang Ying, a senior official with the legislative affairs commission, told Xinhua that lawmakers and staff of the NPC Standing Committee are working much faster on more difficult bills to higher standards than they were a few years back.

"Not only has the time span of reading a bill been shortened in some legislations but also the frequency of revising laws has notably increased," Liang said.

A major revision to the food safety law was adopted in April 2015. The revision process started in 2014, five years after the law took effect, a rather short interval for such a large-scale amendment, in which the number of articles increased from 105 to 154 with key articles rewritten.

The food safety bill was just one of 12 bills reviewed by the administrative law division under the NPC Standing Committee's legislative affairs commission last year.

"The workload in 2015 was much heavier compared with previous years. Most bills focus on the most immediate needs of our society," said Huang Wei, the division's deputy head.
BEIJING - The State Council, China's cabinet, has canceled the need to apply for intermediary services in 192 administrative procedures, in the latest move to cut red tape.

Applicants will no longer need to provide evaluation and credential papers in the majority of the cases, according to a document signed by Premier Li Keqiang.

In some, government departments will bear the responsibilities for acquiring technical papers, as opposed to the applicants.

In China, many applicants for government approvals must go to intermediary agents, either independent or affiliated with cabinet departments, leaving a vacuum for corruption. In a circular April, the State Council said it would reduce the problem by obliging intermediary services in fewer cases.

Seventy percent of such services have been canceled so far, according to the State Council.
Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang (left) meets with US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew in Beijing on Feb 28, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING -- Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang met with US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew in Beijing on Sunday, discussing economic ties between the two countries.

Wang said the two sides, having achieved key progress in bilateral ties over the past year, should work together to set the economic agenda for this year's meetings between the two countries' presidents.

Wang said China is ready to work with the United States to ensure the success of the eighth annual economic dialogue, and push forward negotiations on a bilateral investment treaty and on an environmental goods agreement under the World Trade Organization framework.

The vice premier hoped the two sides will enhance mutual trust and control their disputes to advance economic ties in a healthy and sustainable way.

As to the just-concluded Group of 20 (G20) Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting, Wang said that China and the United States should work together to ensure that commitments at the meeting are honored in pursuit of strong, sustainable and balanced global growth.

The treasury secretary said the US is willing to maintain communication and coordination with China on bilateral and global economic issues. He also said the United States supports China to host the G20 Hangzhou Summit.
Demand for overseas goods creates potential

An employee for Japanese company Sanrio displays a prototype model of a Hello Kitty branded toilet seat at Sanrio's headquarters in Tokyo on February 2, 2015. The toilet seat has seat heating and warm water shower functions. [Photo/CFP]

Chinese shoppers' predilection for overseas products, as evidenced by the numbers who buy daily necessities abroad during the Spring Festival break, signals huge opportunities for domestic companies endeavoring to make better quality products.

The mainlanders on vacation in Japan spent billions of yuan on household goods such as toilet lids and rice cookers, as well as basic products such as shampoo and toothpaste.

Some people, such as Victor Chan, managing director of Daming United Rubber Products in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, blame the trend on Chinese people's blind worship of foreign commodities. He believes many products made on the Chinese mainland are now world-class, equal to any foreign competitor.

However, Cai Jun, a 28-year-old bank clerk in Beijing, thinks differently. She spent Chinese New Year in Tokyo, where she picked up a rice cooker, an item that is available in any Chinese supermarket.

"The rice cooker I bought enjoys a good reputation in China. Many of my friends told me Japanese rice cookers have a special technology," she said.

Wang Qing, who visits Japan each year to buy everyday products, traveled to Kyoto for Spring Festival. "I'm not crazy about foreign brands," she said, "but the quality of many Chinese products means they are just not worth the price. Also, toothpaste made in Japan is double or triple the price in a Chinese supermarket."

Her shopping list this year also included daily necessities that can be commonly found in most Chinese stores, including thermoflasks, blood pressure monitors, skin cream, multivitamins and breakfast cereal. "I stock up on necessities on my annual trip to Japan," Wang added. "It means I don't have to worry about product quality, while the price difference saves me the cost of a round-trip ticket."
BEIJING - One day into the long-awaited cease-fire in Syria, truce was largely observed though sporadic shelling still took place, killing and wounding dozens.

As main backers of the cease-fire, Russia and the United States have exchanged information as the two sides are consulting in Amman, Jordan, over how to uphold the truce.

The Syrian government said it would obey the agreement, but would not stop fighting extremist groups such as the Islamic State (IS).

According to Syrian media, the shelling mostly targeted the capital Damascus, Aleppo and Deir al-Zour.

The Syrian Army General Command said rebels in Jobar and Douma neighborhoods in the suburbs of Damascus fired mortars into the city just hours after the cease-fire went into effect.

It warned of consequences of such attacks and called on the people living in those neighborhoods to pressure the militants from breaking the truce.

Despite the shelling, Damascenes' mood to savor the peace was not dampened, as Xinhua reporters witnessed Saturday in Damascus' commercial al-Qassa area that streets were once again packed by shoppers.

"It's difficult to remember a calm night throughout the last four years, but yesterday was different. Last night was so calm and this peaceful atmosphere has pushed people to go on streets today," said Ahmad, a 30-year-old man from the neighborhood.

Also enjoying the peace were Khitam and her friends, who were strolling on the street.

"We felt the old peace again, especially last night as we slept without hearing the rattling sound of shelling echoing," Khitam said.

As Syrians are taking a breath, Russia and the United States are resorting to multiple measures to ensure the cease-fire will hold.

An official at the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that the two powers are exchanging information concerning the cease-fire.

The shared information includes where the latest cease-fire is applied, where armed groups are deployed and where the cease-fire is breached, according to Sergei Rudskoi, the official.

Should cease-fire violations be confirmed, Moscow and Washington will take measures to de-escalate tensions, he said.

In addition to the exchange of information, the two sides have set up a hotline linking Moscow, Washington and Geneva to share intelligence.

Both the United States and Russia have shown sincerity in supporting the cease-fire, as Moscow have brought the Syrian government to the table, while Washington made sure the armed groups it supported abide by the agreement.

It was made clear from the beginning that the cease-fire would exclude extremist groups such as the IS and Jahbat al-Nusra, and all sides have stressed that they would continue combatting terrorism.

However, experts warn that facing growing pressure, extremists may try to sabotage the fragile cease-fire.

Three bomb attacks hit the central province of Hama on Saturday, a signature move of the IS, and the mortar shelling of Aleppo and Deir al-Zour are also believed to have come from the terror group.

Syrian analyst Osama Danula told Xinhua that territories controlled by opposition and extremists often overlap and how to fight terrorist groups with precision will be a "technical difficulty" for Syrian forces.
Ambassador Liu Xianfa makes a speech at the signing ceremony. HOU LIQIANG/CHINA DAILY

The Chinese embassy, expatriates and institutions in Kenya signed an initiative on Sunday in the countrys capital Nairobi, aimed at better integrating into the local community.

The Kenya wildlife protection society welcomed the initiative, as great importance is attached to wildlife protection as one of the six clauses in the initiative.

It also vows to "comply with local laws and regulations" and "proactively integrate with the local community and work for a harmonious and good-neighborhood environment".

Vows about fulfilling social responsibilities to make "a win-win outcome for the sake of corporate and community common development" and join hands to "achieve the Chinese Dream of great rejuvenation and the Kenya Version 2030" are also included. The Principal Secretary for the Environment, Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Kenya, Charles Sunkuli and Chinese ambassador to Kenya Liu Xianfa attended the signing ceremony.
In deleting old emails this past weekend I came across one from one of our international litigators to a client that was contemplating pursuing litigation in a tiny emerging market country. This client wanted our lawyers to help it figure out whether to pursue litigation in this small country and also determine what law firm to use there. The email consisted of questions we thought should be asked of the law firms with which we would be communicating.

In re-reading that email today, I realize it provides a good basic list of questions companies should be asking when seeking to decide whether to sue in a foreign country and the lawyers to use when doing so.

Here are those questions:

1. Would a jury or a judge hear a case like ours?

2. Does the prevailing party get its attorneys fees? Its costs?

3. Will we know before trial what evidence the other side will likely to present in court? Will the other side have to produce relevant documents? If so, how does that work?

4. When will the other side be required to tell us what witnesses they will be producing in court? Is there any mechanism that will allow us to put the other sides witnesses under oath to learn before trial what their trial testimony likely will be? If so, what does that look like?

5. What do we need to do to get evidence from the other side? From third parties?

6. Is it possible to get a lawsuit resolved via a motion before trial? If so, when will we have those opportunities and what sort of standards do the courts apply?

7. How likely is it that our judge will be corrupt?

8. Are we likely to encounter (negatively) prejudicial treatment as a foreign company suing a domestic company?

9. If we prevail, how do we collect? Is collection effective? Do we get back any fees and costs incurred in collection? What happens if the other side hides its assets after we sue?

10. Do judges care much about live witnesses or are documents everything/nearly everything?

11. How long from filing until trial?

12. Do cases usually settle before trial? Any idea on the percentage?

13. What do you charge? Can lawyers take cases on a contingency fee basis?

14. Can you please talk about the cases you have handled similar to ours? What happened in those cases?

15. What percent of your practice is litigation?

16. How often do you represent foreign companies in litigation?

17. What do we need to do to make sure we win this case?

Anything we should add to this?

Oh, and for a very good and relatively short analysis of what United States litigation looks like for foreign companies, I would urge you to read A Brief Guide to U.S. Litigation here.
(Photo : Getty Images) Career women planning on having a second child are having a hard time looking for employers in China.

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After the Chinese government lifted the one-child policy, most women, who plan to have a second child, are having a hard time looking for work.





Chinese employers nowadays are reportedly asking female job seekers if they have any plans to have a second child.



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One job seekers told China Daily that in order for her to get an interview, she had to answer a question first on whether she plans to have another child. Thinking that it would be easier to look for a job after giving birth, these women had not realized that they would face this kind of challenge.



Employers anticipate a prolonged leave of absence for women who plan to have two children after the one-child policy ended in October last year. Maternity leaves can extend until eight months in China.



A survey published by Ganji.com reveals that 76 percent of career women are holding back on having a second child because of financial reasons. Meanwhile, 71 percent of career women are anticipating difficulty balancing their family and career. Lastly, 56 percent admitted that having a second child may affect their career negatively.



According to Feng Lijuan, an expert on human resources, most employers - especially private companies - are scrutinizing closely the contribution of potential employees. Since most companies are facing mounting human resources cost and falling profits, they need to choose their employees economically.



Given this new challenge faced by career women in China, most of them are forced to choose between family life and their profession.



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TagsEnd of one-child policy, China's one-child policy, Women and career, gender equality, China Gender Equality, family and career
(Photo : Reuters) Chinese finance minister Lou Jiwei has downplayed talk of China's inclusion in the Paris Club of lenders, but analysts agree that membership into the organization would be another important milestone for China's bid for stronger presence in the international community.

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Discussions are underway at G-20 summit in Shanghai to grant the world's second largest economy membership to the Paris Club, an informal association of creditors that specialize in loans to governments, ministers and finance officials.



The ministers said China -- along with Brazil and South Korea -- are being considered for entry into the lending club, which is noted mainly for seeking solutions to the payment problems confronted by debtor countries.



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Speaking to reporters in Hong Kong, French finance minister Michel Sapin said China would be a welcome addition to the club, which is currently seeking an expansion of its membership.



Transparency and Disclosure



"Obviously, when I say that it's necessary for the Paris Club to go through an enlargement, I'm thinking about China," Sapin told the South China Morning Post.



The club currently includes Australia, Austria, Belgium, the UK, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the US.



Sapin acknowledged the club's rules on transparency and the forthright disclosure of information could be seen as an issue for Beijing.



"The membership of the Paris Club requires that members respect a certain number of rules," said Sapin, adding that the organization would not water down its regulations to accommodate China. "I don't see why we need to slacken these rules," he said. "We just have to share these rules."



Japanese finance minister Taro Aso on Saturday voiced his support for the inclusion of China in the organization, but echoed Sapin's view concerning the club's rules.



Another Milestone



"Regarding China and Korea joining the Paris Club, we would welcome that if they want to join," the Japanese official told Bloomberg on Saturday. "It's a club of creditors, so it would be good. That doesn't mean we should lower conditions, but they should join under current conditions."



While Chinese finance minister Lou Jiwei has downplayed talk of China's inclusion into the organization, analysts agree that membership into the Paris Club would constitute another milestone for the country's bid for stronger presence in the international community.



The country's currency, the yuan, is scheduled to join the the US dollar, the EU euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen in the International Monetary Fund's reserve currency basket this year.



The Paris Club was established in 1956 in France, and has given some $556 billion in loan to 90 developing and emerging market countries throughout the world.



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TagsParis Club, G-20 Summit, China currency
(Photo : Getty Images) ASEAN member-states have spoken up about the South China Sea issue as they seek a dialogue with China to discuss the raging territorial dispute.

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Member-states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are seeking a dialogue with China to discuss their dispute over the South China Sea as 'serious concerns' mount over the growing tension in the region.



ASEAN foreign ministers would reportedly like to conduct talks with China about recent developments in the region including U.S. allegations that Beijing is militarizing the South China Sea.



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"Ministers remain seriously concerned over military activities in the region," said a statement issued by the ASEAN after a meeting of the group's foreign ministers in Laos.



International waterway



Four Southeast Asian countries--Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam--have overlapping claims in the international waterway.



ASEAN, in the statement, said China's land reclamation activities and its deployment of missiles in the region has intensified tension and could undermine the peace, security and stability in the region.



"We call for non-militarisation in the South China Sea," Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh told reporters after meeting his ASEAN colleagues.



Rival claims



ASEAN member countries, who have rival claims with China, have been struggling to strike a balance between pushing their claims on the South China Sea and maintaining their beneficial economic relations with Beijing.



China is the biggest trade partner for most ASEAN member countries .



Military base



The United States has criticized China for its land reclamation activities and building of facilities in the South China Sea, which experts in Washington have said could be used as a military base.



Recently, news surfaced that China has deployed missiles to Woody island, part of the Paracels group of islands which are being claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan.



US warships have repeatedly sailed near China-controlled territories in the South China Sea to assert the international right to freedom of navigation.



President Xi Jinping



US President Barack Obama called on President Xi Jinping recently to voice concerns about the militarization of the region



Vietnam, for its part, has sent a diplomatic note to the Chinese Embassy accusing China of violating its sovereignty to the islands.



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TagsASEAN, President Xi Jinping, South China Sea, Woody island, china
Elderly Chinese day traders talk about the market as they sit in front of stock tickers on a board at a brokerage firm in Beijing, China. China's economic growth has slowed to its weakest point in years to 7.4 percent. While its growth is still stronger than most world economies, China announced Tuesday a strategy to encourage domestic consumption and investment including retail spending in an effort to boost growth. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

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To ease pressures from an aging population, China is set to work on raising the required retirement age by 2017, according to an official at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.



The country's statutory retirement age is 60 for men and 50 for female blue-collar employees. For female white-collar employees, the retirement age is 55.



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Jin Weigang, a researcher with the ministry, was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency as saying that the government is planning to implement the new statutory retirement age in 2022.



That means there will be a five-year transitional period from the introduction of the plan in 2017, Jin said on Saturday.



"The plan is likely to be implemented in 2022 after a five-year transitional period," China News Service quoted Jin was quoted as saying.



The state-backed Xinhua news agency has reported that the Chinese government is bent on raising the retirement age in the country as China continues to experience a shrinking workforce.



The trend has already taken a toll into the country's labor market and pension system, the report added.



Jin stressed that the Chinese government very well leard from the flexible retirement policies currently being implemented in other major countries.



The Chinese government has expressed concern over the shrinking workforce as the population of people aged between 16 to 60 in China dropped by 4.87 million to 911 million last year.



Official government data showed that the country's workforce had declined for the fourth consecutive year in 2015.



The World Bank earlier said that the rapidly aging population in China has limited impact on the country's economy. According to the World Bank, China's future growth will come more from more productivity gains rather than population dividend.



China, according to the latest World Bank report, leads countries around East Asia and the Pacific to have faster aging population than any other region in history.



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TagsChina Retirement, China Retirement Age, China Aging Workforce, China workforce
China's celebrity microblogger and tycoon Ren Zhiqiang. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)

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The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the country's top Internet regulator, has ordered the closure of the microblogging accounts of celebrity blogger Ren Zhiqiang.



The CAC contended that Ren's microblobbing accounts on Sina and Tencent were used to spread illegal information that resulted in a vile influence, the officials Xinhua news agency has reported.



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CAC ordered Sina and Tencent on Sunday to shutdown Ren's account. Aside from a popular blogger in China, Ren is also a property developer.



"Cyberspace is not a lawless field and it should not be used to spread illegal information by anyone," said Jiang Jun spokesperson with the CAC.



The order to shut down Ren's microblogging accounts was reportedly based on reports by netizens, who told the CAC that the celebrity blogger had regularly posted illegal information.



Xinhua has reported that CAC's decision to shut down Ren's microblogging accounts was in accordance with China's laws and regulations.



The report also added that the decision of China's top Internet regulator was also based on a State Council circular that authorized the CAC to manage online information and content.



"Celebrity microbloggers should use their influence correctly, observe laws, and promote positive energy actively, Jiang said in a statement.



The CAC spokesperson went on in urging netizens and Internet service providers to further enhance awareness and continue to guard China's laws, the socialist system, and the national interest, and the authenticity of information.



Xinhua said the CAC has vowed intensify its law enforcement efforts, especially in monitoring and managing online content and information.



The outspoken Ren has come under fire for his comments about Chinese President Xi Jinping's exhortation to media that it must show absolute loyalty to the Communist Party.



Ren said on Weibo shortly after Xi toured Xinhua, People's Daily and CCTV that the media should serve the people and reminded everyone that the news outfits were funded by taxpayers' money, and so should serve the public, rather than the government.



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TagsRen Zheqiang, China Microbloggers
Rescuers search for buried people at a collapsed factory building on July 4, 2015 in Wenling, China. A building in a shoe factory in Folong Village, Wenling City collapsed at around 4 p.m. on Saturday, killing at least 11 people and injuring 33. Three others are still missing. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images)

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The number of people confirmed dead following the collapse of a residential building in Jiangxi Province has reached six while eight others survived, authorities said on Sunday.



Eight others were rescued safely, with one person needed serious medical attention, from the debris of the damaged building in Pingxiang City, the official Xinhua news agency has reported.



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The rescue mission was officially concluded on Sunday, following a 34-hour rescue operation, after all of the 14 persons who were earlier reported missing were fully accounted for, with six of them already lifeless.



The 14 persons were trapped by debris after the three upper floors of the six-story building collapsed in Anyuan District, Pingxiang City last Friday afternoon.



Initial investigation showed that the building collapse was triggered by an alleged improper renovation works at an apartment on the fourth floor.



The upper levels of the six-story building crumbled in Xinxueqian Alley in Anyuan District at around 2:18 p.m. Friday. Six families lived on the fourth, fifth and sixth floors.



"I thought it was an earthquake. I heard a loud bang and felt vibrations," said Zhong Zhiyong in an interview with the official Xinhua news agency.



Zhon was home with his three-year-old grandson in their sixth-floor apartment when the accident happened.



"When I opened the door I saw the stairs had disappeared," he was quoted as saying.



The government of Pingxiang City has vowed to provide medical assistance to the injured survivor and take care of the families of those who perished. Among those rescued were construction workers.



The city government also said it will help in relocating the residents affected by the building collapse.



Following the incident, the provincial government of Jiangxi immediately issued a circular ordering the safety overhaul of all old residential buildings in the province.



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TagsChina Building Collapse, China Accident, China Building
Abedini bares Iran prison horrors: 'I was told my execution was for sure for turning 1,000 Muslims into Christians'

In his latest television appearance, Pastor Saeed Abedini described more details about his imprisonment in Iran, saying at one point that his jail guards had warned him that he would be executed "for sure" because of what he didturning 1,000 Iranian Muslims into Christians.

In a recent interview with CBN News' Abigail Robertson, Abedini described in depth the torture and the persecution he underwent behind bars in Iran.

Abedini said he had felt, too, that the horrors of his captivity would eventually end with his execution not only because of the success of his evangelisation mission but also because he himself turned his back on Islam and embraced Christianitya major offence in Islam punishable by death.

"I felt in my spirit that some threat was coming," Abedini said, following his tenth arrest in Iran in 2012.

"I thought maybe they're going to kill us because I turned from Islam to Christianity, but [the] Holy Spirit was with me, and He encouraged me, and He prepared me for all the suffering I should go through," he said.

But being confined in the four walls of his jail cell did not stop Abedini from his evangelisation efforts. He said he used the time to reach out to other inmates and minister to them.

"Ten of the prisoners turned to Christ the first year, so the prison found out, the intelligence police found out, and they moved me to another prison where the situation was worse," he said.

"Every time they changed my prison, it was a good time to evangelise."

But he said his preaching of God's Word resulted in the torture of those he converted to Christians.

Jail authorities later decided to put him in solitary confinement to prevent him from talking to the other prisoners. He said he spent two years in solitary confinement.

Asked if he had thought that he would never see America and his family again, he replied, "You know the first six months they always threaten me to death and they said, 'For sure you're going to be executed for what you didyou made 1,000 Muslim Christians.'"

"But every time that I prayed, [the] Holy Spirit put in my heart, 'No, still I have some work to do for you," he said.

Finally, after three-and-a-half years, Pastor Abedini is free once again and back in America.

He noted though that in his years of absence, America has changed a lot. "There is something wrong," he said. "I believe that God wants to bring revival back to America."

Abedini admitted that his marital life remains shaky and he requested continued prayers for his family.

"My marriage is not in a good position right now, and I need people who prayed for me to continue," he said.

"I knew that I was going to go through this suffering because of my faith, and I knew that God was using this opportunity to let the Gospel be preached so I always encouraged myself that the things I was going through were not useless, were not for nothing, and good things were coming out from it," he added.
Afghanistan: Taliban suicide bomber kills 15 in Kabul

A Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up near the Afghan defense ministry in Kabul on Saturday, causing heavy casualties just hours after an attack in the eastern province of Kunar killed 13 people and put prospects for new peace talks in doubt.

The attack in Kabul killed 15 people and wounded 33, most of them defense ministry staff leaving their offices, according to ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri.

Witnesses at the scene, where a large plume of smoke spiraled into the sky, said they had seen a number of bodies on the ground. The area was sealed off as police and army vehicles surrounded the blast site.

"I wanted to cross the bridge when I heard an explosion," said a witness who gave his name as Zulgai. "I went to the area and saw as many as 30 people killed and wounded. There were damaged cars and shattered windows everywhere."

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which the movement's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said had killed 23 officers and wounded 29 others. He said there were no civilian casualties.

The high-profile attack came as officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States and China have been pressing for a resumption of the peace process, interrupted last year, between the Western-backed government in Kabul and the Taliban.

But it remains unclear whether the Taliban, struggling to contain deep internal divisions, will take part in direct peace talks that the four-nation group hope will be held in Islamabad as early as next week.

In a statement issued after the attack in Kunar, President Ashraf Ghani said his government would not conduct peace talks with groups that killed innocent people and said security forces would step up the fight against terrorism.

The Taliban, fighting to restore hardline Islamist rule in Afghanistan, has conducted a series of attacks in Kabul and other areas this year and has pressed its military campaign in the southern province of Helmand, where it has forced government troops to pull out of a number of districts.

Earlier on Saturday, a suicide bomber killed a local militia commander and at least 12 others outside the governor's compound in Asadabad, the provincial capital of Kunar, near the border with Pakistan.

Provincial Governor Wahidullah Kalimzai said the bomber rode up on a motorcycle to the entrance of the compound and blew himself up, wounding at least 40 people.

"Most of the victims were civilians and children who were either passing by or playing in the park," he said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the apparent target of the attack, a tribal elder and militia commander named Haji Khan Jan, was among the dead.

He had been closely involved in a number of operations against the Taliban in his district last year.
Theory of Evolution challenged by discovery of ancient silk cocoons, scientists say

Here's another possible headache for those who advocate the evolutionary theory.

A team of Polish and Brazilian scientists recently published a study in the journal "Scientific Reports" where they discussed a puzzling discovery: fossilised silk cocoons that may date back some 295 million years ago or during the Early Permian era.

The scientists were particularly intrigued by how the insects called caddisflies were able to survive and protect themselves from decay just by the use of their larval cases.

"Caddisflies (Trichoptera) are small, cosmopolitan insects closely related to the Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)," the researchers stated in their report, according to Christian News. "Most caddisflies construct protective cases during their larval development."

The scientists said that the larval cases are "primarily composed of whitish, transversely arranged and tightly joined together thin strips."

"In some instances, however, the cases may be completely disintegrated in the form of isolated strips chaotically scattered on the bedding plane. The strips form the main part of the cases and presumably represent the fossilised remnants of the silk material used by the larvae for case construction," they stated.

Brian Thomas, Science Writer for the Institute for Creation Research (ICR), meanwhile, highlighted the fact that this discovery poses a major challenge to the evolutionary theory.

Thomas particularly stressed how the caddisflies seemingly were able to be exempted from evolution for millions and millions of years.

"It looks like ancient caddisfly larvae took exactly the same approach to underwater home construction as their living versions. If so, then how did these creatures manage to resist evolutionary changes over 295 million supposed years?" Thomas wrote in his article published by the ICR this week.

He further pointed out that based on earlier decay experiments, proteins "do not last one million years."

"If future research confirms these white caddisfly larvae casings as original silk proteins, then scientists set on conventional age assignments will face a new challenge explaining how actual strands of delicate silk could last almost 300 million years," he added.
Fears of ISIS 'dirty bomb' mount as 'highly dangerous' radioactive device goes missing in Iraq

Iraq is hunting for a "highly dangerous" radioactive device that went missing last year amid fears this could be utilised to make a "dirty bomb'' if it falls in the wrong hands like the Islamic State (ISIS).

The material, stored in a secured case, disappeared in a storage facility near the southern city of Basra in November, according to an unnamed government official in Baghdad, Fox News reported.

A leaked environment ministry document states "the theft of a highly dangerous radioactive source of Ir-192 with highly radioactive activity belonging to SGS from a depot overseen by Weatherford in the Rafidhia area of Basra province,'' according to Reuters.

The device contained up to 10 grams (0.35 ounces) of Ir-192 "capsules,'' a radioactive isotope of iridium also used to treat cancer, said a senior environment ministry official based in Basra.

The missing material is reportedly used "to test flaws in pipelines in a process called industrial gamma radiography, and was owned by Istanbul-based SGS Turkey." It was last in the possession of Houston-based oil industry contractor Weatherford.

A spokesman for Iraq's environment ministry said he could not discuss the issue any further due to national security concerns. A Weatherford spokesman in Iraq also declined to comment, reports said.

In a statement, Weatherford said SGS was responsible for safeguarding the material. "Weatherford has no responsibility or liability in relation to this matter because we do not own, operate or control sources or the bunker where the sources are stored. SGS is the owner and operator of the bunker and sources and solely responsible for addressing this matter."

Classified as a Category 2 radioactive source by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the material is believed to be "lethal for someone exposed to it for a period of hours.''

David Albright, a physicist and president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, said the device ""could cause harm simply by being left exposed in a public place for several days."

"If they left it in some crowded place, that would be more of the risk,'' he said.

A spokesman for Basra command said military forces were working "day and night'' to locate the material. He added that the perpetrators were believed to be privy with the weapon or know what they were doing since there were "no broken locks, no smashed doors and no evidence of forced entry at the facility."

The U.S. intelligence office earlier confirmed that the ISIS has manufactured and deployed a chemical weapon, specifically "sulfur mustard" in Syria and Iraq.

Meanwhile, U.S. officials estimate that there are more than 26,000 ISIS fighters killed by coalition since it began airstrike operations in 2014.

The number is a "sharp increase'' from the figure in 2015, which was estimated at 8,500 ISIS fighters killed, CNN reported, citing a testimony from Gen. Lloyd Austin, head of the U.S. Central Command.
ISIS rains down chemical rockets on city in Iraq recaptured by Kurds, launches Syria attacks despite truce deal

The Islamic State (ISIS) launched a chemical weapons attack against Kurdish Peshmerga forces in Northern Iraq on Thursday, sickening over 100 people, CBN News reported.

It was not the first time that ISIS has resorted to using the banned chemical agents in warfare.

On Thursday, ISIS fired 19 chemical rockets on Peshmerga forces in the city of Sinjar, Northern Iraq. The Iraqi Kurds recently retook the city from ISIS, cutting off ISIS supply lines to Mosul, another major city still held by the jihadist group.

Although the city has been freed from the clutches of ISIS, the evacuees still refused to return to their homes because of the continuing threat of ISIS attacks.

"This is why we cannot come back," one man told a CBN News crew. "ISIS is still close enough to kill us in many ways. And now they are using chemical weapons. Please help us push them back far away, please stop them."

CBN News Military Correspondent Chuck Holton recently drove to northern Iraq on the front lines to monitor the fighting up close.

Holton said from time to time ISIS fighters fire mortar rounds into the city. He said when a mortar is fired, they've got about 15 seconds before finding out where it's going to land.

"It's kind of a scary feeling because you don't have any control over where they are going to land," he said. "And if they land right here, it's game over."

Meanwhile on the Syrian battlefront, ISIS forces launched a surprise attack on the town of Tal Abyad near the Turkish border on Saturday even as U.S. and Russian-brokered cease-fire brought relative calm to parts of war-torn Syria for the first time in years, CBS News reported.

ISIS, which is not a signatory to the cease-fire, launched several attacks after the truce went into effect, including a brazen offensive on the northern town of Tal Abyad on the border with Turkey and at least one suicide bombing in central Syria.

The cease-fire went into effect across Syria at midnight. Despite numerous breaches, the truce still marked the most ambitious international effort yet to ease the conflict, which has killed more than 250,000 people, wounded a million and created Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II.

In addition to ISIS, the truce also excludes al Qaeda's branch in Syria, known as al Nusra, which is also considered a terrorist organisation by the United Nations.

A top military official in Moscow said Russia has grounded its warplanes in Syria to help secure the cease-fire.
Ministry distributing tens of thousands of Bibles in China where there's a 'thirst to learn more about Jesus'

Even though Christians are heavily persecuted in China, there has been a steady increase of Christianity in the country over the years. In fact, the ministry Bibles for China believes China is slowly shaping up to be one of the world's most Christian nations.

Bibles for China has been distributing Bibles in the Asian country for almost five years now, and they have already handed out tens of thousands of Bibles. Just last December, they were able to distribute 10,000 Bibles.

"Constantly, we hear (the people) say to us, 'This Bible will touch a generation for Christ because it will be shared with family and their families,'" Bibles for China's Wendell Rovenstine told Mission News Network. "We feel sowing God's Word in the interior part of China opens up a great opportunity for God to move."

Bibles for China plans to expand its mission by training local pastors to help spread God's Good News. During their upcoming mission trip to China, the ministry's representatives will be staying "one day longer with a pastor that is prepared and equipped."

"We have power point presentations that they can work from. The pastor is spending a day of just giving leadership principles from God's Word," shared Rovenstine.

Bibles for China says there is a "thirst among the Chinese to learn more about Jesus Christ and develop a deeper relationship with Him." This is why the ministry's leaders are planning to raise enough funds to enable them to distribute Bibles written in China's primary language, Mandarin. They said they have already partnered with 28 ministry organisations from different countries to achieve this goal.

"He's provided. We just thank Him and thank our partners that are going to Bibles for China's website and accepting the leadership of the Lord to do what He calls them to do," said Rovenstine.
'The Bachelor' 2016 week 9 spoilers: Ben Higgins caught in two minds

Ben Higgins and the three remaining contestants of "The Bachelor" 2016 are headed to Jamaica for the highly anticipated overnight dates. Before the week concludes, however, only two ladies will get a rose from the bachelor.

[Spoiler Alert! Big details about the next episode of the show ahead]

According to leakster Reality Steve, Ben and the ladies will be staying in Sandals Royal Plantation, where each of the girls will get to spend some alone time with Ben.

He did not have details regarding Lauren and Jojo's overnight dates with Ben in the upcoming "The Bachelor" 2016 episode but Reality Steve knows that Caila's date with Ben will involve a romantic dinner, which will be followed by a fireworks show.

Unfortunately, it is Caila whom Ben sends packing by the end of the episode. This leaves Ben with Lauren and Jojo and he is really torn between the two. It proves problematic for him as he seems to have told both of them that he loved them, which is a no-no on the show.

The promo for "The Bachelor" 2016 week 9 shows that all the girls, including Caila, have fallen in love with the software salesman. Ben, on the other hand, has revealed he has feelings for two women. "I never saw this coming because I didn't think my heart was capable," Ben said.

Ben seems to have told Lauren and Jojo the three important words  a first in the history of the show. Ben, like any other leads on the show, is not allowed to say "I love you" before the finale.

Ben knows that one of the ladies he confessed to will get her heart torn to pieces. In "The Bachelor" 2016 teaser, he admits that he does not know what to do. "I can't help how I feel," he reveals. "I'm terrified," he added.

Indeed, choosing the wrong girl will be extra painful for him as that means he will let go of the one he should be with. Spoilers reveal that he chose to propose to Lauren in the end. How he came to that decision remains to be seen.

"The Bachelor" 2016 week 9 airs Feb. 29 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.
Wearing hijab can be a form of 'passive terrorism,' U.S. military policy paper says

For Muslim women, the hijab may only be an innocent veil they use to cover their heads and chests in compliance with Islamic teachings. For the United States military, however, this Muslim attire can be considered a form of "passive terrorism."

The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory recently published a policy paper entitled "Countering Violent Extremism: Scientific Methods and Strategies" with a chapter referring to "weakening the hijab phenomenon" as part of counterterrorism efforts.

According to The Independent, this controversial chapter equating wearing hijab to terrorism was written by Dr. Tawfik Hamid, a fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies who identifies himself as a former Islamic extremist.

Hamid said the more women are wearing hijabs, the more powerful Islamism becomes.

"[Extremism occurs when] increasing numbers of women begin to wear the hijab, which is both a symptom of Salafi proliferation and a catalyst for Islamism," he wrote in the U.S. military policy paper.

The research fellow also stated that agreeing to wear the hijab is in essence a way of consenting to terrorism.

"In turn, the proliferation of militant Salafism and the hijab contribute to the idea of passive terrorism, which occurs when moderate segments of the population decline to speak against or actively resist terrorism," Hamid wrote.

In addition to his comments on the hijab, Hamid also said some young Muslim men only join terrorist organisations like the Islamic State (ISIS) due to "sexual deprivation."

"Speaking from my own experience with the radical groups, I believe young Muslims are motivated to join radical groups because of sexual deprivation," he commented.

Thus, to be able to combat terrorism, nations must consider "addressing the factors underlying [sexual] deprivation."

Hamid's comments were met with criticism on social media, with netizens pointing out that millions of Muslim women wear the hijab without supporting jihadist groups. Users on Twitter even used the hashtag #PassiveTerrorism to blast the statements on the U.S. military publication.
Police have been digging for fours day in southeast Houston - possibly searching for the remains of a teenager missing nearly two decades.

Police wouldn't confirm sources' claims that excavators are searching for the body of Jessica Cain, who disappeared at the age of 17 from La Marque in August 1997.

Her case remains unsolved, but William Reece, incarcerated for an aggravated kidnapping the same year as Jessica's disappearance, is considered a suspect. Multiple reports claim to have seen Reece, released on a bench warrant, at the scene Wednesday.

Over the week, Equusearch, a volunteer search party group, and Lighthouse Charity Team, a non-profit that offers support in disaster situations, joined Galveston County police officers digging on a small plot of land near the 4100 block of East Orem.

Lonnie Nehls, a contractor working for a cleaning company at an adjacent building, said police told him they were looking for a 17-year-old girl who disappeared around 20 years ago. Nehls let the digging team use his construction crew's backhoe because it is larger than what they used the first three days, and he wanted to expedite the process.

"This is day four, you know," Nehls said. "You just wonder how long (the excavation crew will) give it."

Nehls said he saw a man in shackles, handcuffs and leg irons on the property the first day of the digging. Someone brought radar equipment, but it didn't seem to find anything, Nehls said. He also said he saw cadaver dogs searching the area.

Local author Kathryn Casey came to the scene Saturday with a friend. Last year, she published a book on the killing of women along I-45 called "Deliver Us" that referenced the case, and has spoken to both Reece and the Cain family, who speculated that Jessica is alive in Mexico.

"I hope she's in Mexico. I hope she's alive somewhere," Casey said. "I don't think there's an ending, not for the family. I think there are answers and there's justice. I hope they get that."

The excavation crew said they will continue the search Sunday morning.
Republican presidential contender and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz suggested on Sunday morning that his leading rival Donald Trump was hiding records of involvement with the mafia.

Cruz's comments came as he pushes the billionaire mogul to release his tax returns, which Trump has declined to do, saying he's been under federal audit for almost a decade.

"There have been multiple media reports about Donald's business dealings with the mob, with the mafia," Cruz said Sunday on ABC's This Week. "Maybe his tax returns show that those business dealings are a lot more extensive than reported. We don't know."

When ABC host George Stephanopoulos alleged that Cruz's charges were speculative, Cruz pointed out an ABC News report on Trump's business relationship with Felix Sater, who in 2010 was "convicted in a major Mafia-linked stock fraud scheme," according to the Associated press.

Sater is an owner of S&A Concrete, which helped build Trump Tower in New York City.

As allegations of Trump's ties to the convicted mafia affiliate surfaced in late 2015, the GOP frontrunner told the AP that he didn't remember Sater and that he never knew of his alleged ties to organized crime.

Trump has declined demands to release his tax returns, even as his rivals Cruz and Fla. Sen. Marco Rubio released their this week. Trump has claimed that he's been under audit for nine years, and that he cannot release his tax returns while under audit.

A spokesperson for the Internal Revenue Service told The New York Times this week that it would be unusual for the IRS to audit someone for even two consecutive years, and that being under audit creates no legal obligation to withhold tax records.

Cruz repeated the question of Trump's mafia ties on other Sunday news shows, including NBC's "Meet the Press."

"The fact that Donald seems terrified to release his taxes suggests that there's a bombshell there. And it's natural to wonder, well what is it that he's hiding in his taxes," Cruz said on NBC before suggesting that the tax record may chronicle Trump's business with the mafia.
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.
Jean Derome, Scott's Trombone and 'Art of the Fugue' -- Kurt Gottschalk's Weekend in Montreal

A weekend in Montreal--at least one like that of November 20, into which I was fortunate enough to air-drop--can seem like a build-your-own festival. Canada loves its fests. And Montreal has more of them than any other city in the country, with over 100 arts, comedy, food and fashion fetes across the year.

While the premiere of the Opera de Montreal's production of Elektra was the reason for my visit, I was also able to attend the opening concert of the city's Bach Festival and a couple of concerts in the city's fertile (and under recognized) jazz scene. Most everything happens within walking distance of downtown. And meal breaks at Foodlab in the impressive Societe des Arts Technologiques building (an excellent gnocchi with roasted Brussels sprout leaves) and the tasty Qing Hua Dumpling in nearby Chinatown, a weekend in downtown Montreal proved to be as enjoyable as it was easily navigable.

The first night had me happily making my way to a concert in the stubbornly 13-month L'Annee Jean Derome celebration (continuing through June) of one of the key figures in the city's longstanding Ambiances Magnetiques collective. Derome and his wife, Joane Hetu, consistently create charming and inventive music.

And while Derome doesn't look much older than 50, he has apparently been performing for 40 years.

He's been marking the occasion with several concerts a month, in a festival all his own.

On the agenda for the night of the 20th was Phedre de Racine, sans paroles--a piece Derome wrote 20 years ago and only performed once. Eight improvisers from the Ensemble SuperMusique (along with Hetu's a cappella octet, Joker) seemed to follow open-ended directives. Under Hetu's direction, the chorus sang and sounded parts that seemed to be scripted more than scored: sing a low note, make clicking sounds, whisper, etc. Instrumentalists entered the stage of the lovely 425-seat Amphitheatre-Gesu in the 1865 Church of the Gesu to play for a few minutes at a time; and exit again, generally, in solo or duo with the chorus providing cushion.

It made for a rewarding 90 minutes of structured exploration.

Scott Thomson, the trombonist in Derome's ensemble, played again the following morning at an advertised 9:04 a.m. The recital, part of a three-week run of off-hour solo sets he was doing, was in a dance studio in an old industrial building. It's in a part of the Mile End neighborhood, filled with tech start-ups and design studios.

And I was, in fact, the only person in attendance. (No doubt, some with later start times were bigger draws.)

I arrived after the appointed hour, being spoiled by the frequency of New York City mass transit, and quietly opened the door. Thomson lowered his horn long enough to give me a quick "bonjour," before returning to blowing long, wavering tones. The extended technique workout included nicely varied use of tapping and percussive buzzing from the mute, which was making contact with the bell of the horn.

It turned out I wasn't late, however, because--as he explained to me after he'd finished playing--the music changes when someone is listening. (An answer, perhaps to the old adage about a trombonist squalling in the woods when no one is around; or, if a more scientific approach is preferred, a sort of musical Heisenberg principle.)

It wouldn't have been possible for me to be late, since the music he played before I got there, well, he wouldn't have played had I been there. The concert only began with my arrival.

To my great fortune, the last day of my stay fell on the first day of the two-week Festival Bach Montreal, but with the added misfortune of the only two concerts of the day happening at the same time. I opted for organ over cantatas; it was hard to argue against the Art of the Fugue in the majestic St. Joseph's Oratoire Saint Joseph du Mont-Royal.

While no rival to the sublime beauty of the city's Notre-Dame Basilica, St. Joseph's is awe-inspiring in its stature.

Completed in 1967, after 40 years of construction, the church sits high atop a hill in the Cote des Neiges borough. It was a long climb up to the basilica, part of it now abetted by escalators, where the American James Daniel Christie played Bach's unfinished masterpiece at the enormous, 5,811-pipe organ. Christie did so quite beautifully--giving it expression, without losing Bach's all-important pulse, with a happy fondness for trumpet stops.

The recital was given with screens set up, so Christie's hands could be watched--the organ, of course, being in the loft in the back of the church--a reasonable concession for people who want to watch the performer. Although, the setup broke the illusion of the music coming from nowhere. Or, from on high.

Certainly, the church had plenty to look at, anyway. But the screens did allow for a surreal moment, when a second pair entered the scene for the Contrapunctus XIII "mirror" fugue--via Christie's own arrangement.

One other musical surprise awaited me during my short stay, which occurred when trying to negotiate my way through the Complexe Desjardins shopping mall, a part of the famous "underground city," which connected to my hotel. The shops were closed. Yet, the less-than-modest Christmas displays were still in full effect, as I and a handful of others made use of the passageways.

The vacuous space was filled with holiday music. Not simply piped in, but tailored to the space; swooshing around a rather powerful audio system, complete with swirling wind sound effects. At precisely 10 p.m., suddenly, it went silent. Enough to nearly knock me over. This, though, was mere prelude to Santa's arrival outside the mall the following afternoon--always a big parade, in a city that loves to celebrate.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsEXCLUSIVE, REVIEW, Kurt Gottschalk, Jean Derome, Scott Thomson, Bach, Montreal, James Daniel Christie
Saxophonist Adison Evans Releases Debut Album

Known for her work with Beyonce, Jay Z and Demi Lovato, Adison Evans debut album, HERO, draws on her influences, travels and life experience that have influenced her both musically and personally for a deeply personal offering, that encompasses a love for jazz, R&B and positive affirmation.

Adison Evans is a dynamic millennial who has shared the stage with several legendary artists including: Trisha Yearwood, Nicki Minaj, Wynton Marsalis, Christian McBride, Terence Blanchard, Jay Z, and many more.

Evans made her debut in the pop world playing at the 2013 Super Bowl with Beyonce. Upon graduating from the Juilliard School, Evans embarked on a two-and-a-half-year adventure, thus far playing and touring with Beyonce in the Mrs. Carter Show World Tour, followed by Beyonce and Jay Z in the history making On The Run Tour. Evans can also be heard on the album that crashed iTunes, Beyonce, and has been seen in many of her music videos, including "Countdown," the HBO Beyonce specials, and Beyonce DVDs.

HERO is Evans' debut jazz offering, a well beyond her years emerging baritone and alto saxophonist who has done more world travel at the age of 25, than most of her contemporaries.

Evans takes those experiences to task, penning original compositions that offer deeper meaning and a sense of space and rhythm that normally takes years to achieve. Her infectious melodies offer a hand shake of jazz history and bridge-gap of genres with something for every generation to enjoy.

In a recent press release, Hrayr Attarian of All About Jazz commends Evans for a high caliber debut release that is sure to mark the first of many fine offerings from the talented saxophonist:

"With Hero, Adison Evans has made it clear that she is a creatively ambitious and immensely talented unique voice in modern music.

"This accomplished first release sets the stage for her brilliant future career."

Recorded at RiRo Muzik in Brooklyn, NYC in April of 2015 and Engineered and Mixed by Rozhan Razman, including Mastering Engineer Dave Darlington of Bass Hit Recording, HERO was fully-funded 100% by Evans' fans who were excited about her debut, which gave Adison personal control over the synergetic vision of the project that was release in the Winter of 2016.

To get your copy of Adison Evan's HERO be sure to head over to iTunes or Amazon today.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsSaxophonist, Adison Evans, Debut Album, Beyonce, Hero
Ute Lemper to Perform The 9 Secrets Album at Symphony Space in NYC

Grammy-nominated, internationally acclaimed artist Ute Lemper's collaboration with renowned best-selling author Paulo Coelho, The 9 Secrets, release on earlier this month on February 12 via Steinway & Sons. In celebration, Lemper will perform the piece in its entirety in a fully staged production at Symphony Space in New York City on May 13.

The album presents a song cycle composed and sung by Lemper, set to words by Coelho, who is actually featured on two of the tracks, from his 2012 novel, Manuscript Found in Accra -- the thematic content of which may be encapsulated in the lines, "After lyingundiscovered for over 700 years, a manuscript holding the answers to questions about life and humanity is unearthed. Simple questions about our lives torn between happiness and sorrow and defined by hope, intelligence and desire to love as much as the capacity to hate and destroy."

Recorded and produced by Lemper in New York, the album features an international lineup of leading musicians including Gil Goldstein, who plays accordion and contributes string arrangements on almost all tracks, and Jamshied Sharifi who contributes Middle Eastern arrangements.

Additional players include virtuosos of Middle Eastern instruments including Dafer Tawil (qanun, ney, percussion), Henri Angel (orpharion, cetara, rebec), Idriss Angel (zarb, cittern, udu drum) and Mavrothi Kontanis (oud); and Ute's New York band, featuring John Benthal on guitar, Henry Hey and Clifford Carter on piano and keyboards, Todd Turkisher on percussion and Steve Millhouse on bass.

In a recent press release touting the album and the accompanying concert, Lemper explains how he came upon with the original concept to set Coelho's novel to music:

"I read Paulo's beautiful book on tour in Australia in the late summer of 2013, and a coat of peace

enveloped me.

"It is a gift to the world, and if I can enhance it only a little bit with this third dimension of musical context, I am eternally grateful."

To get your tickets to Ute Lemper's one-off performance of his Paulo Coelho inspired The 9 Secrets album head over to the Symphony Space's official website and pick yours up today.

 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsUte Lemper, The 9 Secrets, Album, Symphony Space NYC, Paulo Coelho
BARBERTON, Ohio -- A Barberton man is accused of running a methamphetamine lab next to a child's room.

Thomas Harris, 43, is charged with first-degree felony meth making, police said. He is expected to make an appearance Monday in Barberton Municipal Court.

Barberton police conducted a "knock and talk" with Harris and the occupants of the home in the 100 block of 2nd Street S.W. Officers were granted permission to search the home, police said.

Officers reported finding several items used to make meth in the garage. More meth-making items, and the drug itself, were found in a room next to a child's bedroom, according to police.

Harris was arrested and booked into the city jail. The Summit County Drug Unit cleaned up the meth lab, police said.

The charge was enhanced to a first-degree felony because of the meth lab's proximity to the children in the house, police said.
wellness-nutrition-2

Read how Cleveland tech startups Tech Elevator and InTouch CEOs took a leap of faith, and are glad they did.

(Courtesy photo)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- One of the greatest leaps of faith any of us can take is letting go of the known - a job, a relationship, a place - and moving onto a mysterious adventure. Nothing demands more discipline and audacity than leaving the comforts of a respectable job to become an entrepreneur.

Michael C. DeAloia

Meet the hearty souls at Tech Elevator, a new company that focuses on building Cleveland tech talent, and InTouch, a software startup in Cleveland. Both owners took that leap of faith and left their comfort zones for the life of entrepreneurs. Here are their stories:

Grow the Talent. As many already know, there are significant software and tech jobs available in this region, but very few talented people to fill those spots. Enter new Tech Elevator that focuses on building the talent reserves Cleveland craves in the tech community.

There are a lot of companies across the country chasing the same tech talent thus driving up salaries. A junior software developer can make between $55,000 and $69,000 a year. A senior software developer can then earn between $90,000 and $125,000. Great salaries. And the interesting little secret is that a college degree is not needed to snare one of these jobs, but employers do require certain skills.

Tech Elevator offers a 14-week coding boot-camp. Founded by CEO Anthony Hughes, the company seeks to use its resources to match talent with world-class tech opportunities in the Northeast Ohio region.

Tech Elevator was formed soon after a conversation Hughes had with Tracey

Anthony Hughes, CEO of Tech Elevator

Nichols, the director of Economic Development for the City of Cleveland. The two crafted the idea at the TechniCLE summit in the spring of 2015 when Nichols asked Hughes if he would be willing to develop a coding boot camp in Cleveland. Hughes had just helped sell the Akron-based Software Craftsman Guild, where he was president, to The Learning House, a Louisville, Kentucky, company that supports college online courses.

Hughes said it was a tantalizing offer since he was seeking a new entrepreneurial path. Soon thereafter, Hughes and his team (a who's who of tech entrepreneurs) launched Tech Elevator last fall. Hughes firmly believes in the significant underemployment of the tech industry's millennial target market. And he said he hopes the Tech Elevator class instruction and format leads to great career opportunities and earning power for those who seek it.

Hughes has forged a great career out of taking that proverbial leap of faith and now is teaching others to do the same.

InTouch with Success. As with most tech startups, the genesis story of their companies are fun, if not illuminating, tales. And that could not be more true of InTouch, a Cleveland based software company.

What is now a company that specializes in Bluetooth beacon technologies was once a dating application. Alex Bernot, CEO of InTouch, recants the tale of the original idea of creating a cool dating application that could facilitate conversations between singles at specific venues. As part of this enticing dating app Bernot and

Alex Bernot, CEO at InTouch

his team - Jesse Kracht, COO, and Rob Walker, CTO - did a lot of research on beacon technology.

In fact, the group of entrepreneurs finished an iteration of the dating app but found it lacking. Upon getting accepted into the FlashStarts tech accelerator program in May 2015, the company decided to pivot to a digital communications platform using beacon technology.

The company has created a new way to advertise through a network of beacons. Beacons are small devices that broadcast radio signals that can "heard" by smart devices within a certain proximity. These broadcasts could provide the user of the smart device special offers, menus, coupons - really any information that the beacon has been programmed to broadcast.

InTouch has experienced great sales and marketing results in spite of raising $25,000 from FlashStarts and another $25,000 from Northeast Ohio Student Venture Fund.

The company has secured 50 locations (typically bars or restaurants) in Northeast Ohio and has signed up nearly 550 users. InTouch's beacon technology has been used as part of Cleveland Beer Week, Mardi Gras Bar Crawl and the upcoming Cisco Live Berlin, the tech company's global user conference that will be in Berlin, Germany. Very impressive.

The Company is currently engaged in a $500,000 capital raise that seeks a blend of dilutive (equity) and non-dilutive (bank loans or grants) capital.

Prior to starting InTouch with his co-founders, Bernot was an executive at a boutique wine and spirits purveyor and living the dream. But given the early success InTouch has experienced, he said he would not want to doing anything else but grow his company.

A toast to Bernot and his crew for taking a leap of faith in leaving his comfort zone and slugging it out an an entrepreneur
28DARCY-SANDERS.jpg

Two days before the South Carolina primary, Bernie Sanders spoke at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Thursday, Bernie Sanders was tossing pies in the sky at Baldwin Wallace University in Berea, Ohio. Saturday they came crashing down in South Carolina and were left buried by Hillary Clinton's landslide victory.

With 99 percent of the vote counted, Clinton led Sanders 73.5 percent to 26 percent. Clinton, as expected, won the African-American vote. What wasn't expected is that she topped Obama's 2012 vote total among the demographic, 84 percent to 80 percent.

Bill and Hillary Clinton have a long history of doing well with African-American voters. So much so that Bill Clinton was dubbed the "first black president." But there may be another reason that Clinton dominated among African-American voters. The Huffington Post reports that their interviews with South Carolina voters revealed they remembered and resented that in 2012, Bernie Sanders said it would be good if a Democrat challenged President Obama in his re-election bid.

While Sanders was in Berea talking to the B.W. yellow jackets, queen bee Hillary and worker bees Bill and Chelsea were in South Carolina appearing in over 20 town hall and campaign events the last four days leading up to Saturday's vote.

Clearly South Carolina voters were not feeling "the Bern." And "the Bern" any Super Tuesday voters had been feeling may now be turned down to a low simmer now that Hillary appears to be on the verge of locking up the nomination.

Sanders is betting on beating Clinton in Massachusetts, Vermont, Minnesota and Colorado and being competitive in Texas. He also probably believes he can put the teeth Hillary knocked out under his pillow and Tooth Fairy will deliver the billions of dollars it will take to fund his utopian revolution. Kasich also believes he can still win Ohio and the Republican nomination. He and Sanders should join forces and run as the Grand Delusion ticket.

Clinton and Sanders weren't the only big winners and losers Saturday. Clinton endorser Sherrod Brown won as big as Sanders' backer Nina Turner lost.
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Actor Michael Rooker solicits a questions from an audience member at Saturday's Wizard World Comic Con in downtown Cleveland.

(Patrick Cooley, cleveland.com)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Merle Dixon won't make another appearance in "The Walking Dead," actor Michael Rooker sarcastically told the audience at this weekend's Wizard World Comic Con in downtown Cleveland.

However it was difficult to tell if Rooker -- whose guffaw-inducing question and answer session was one of the favorites of this weekend's convention -- was being serious.

Rooker took a microphone around the grand ballroom of the FirstMerit Convention Center of Cleveland and let audience members ask him questions in a 45-minute panel sardonically billed as "Michael Rooker vs. the audience."

Merle Dixson -- the character Rooker portrayed in "The Walking Dead" -- was killed in the show's third season. But his death doesn't preclude the character returning in a flashback.

Merle also briefly appeared to his brother Daryl Dixon -- played by Norman Reedus -- in a dream during Season 2 when the siblings were separated.

Lori, the wife of central protagonist Rick Grimes, appeared in visions after she was killed in the second season, so there is precedent for dead characters returning in some form.

But when an audience member asked on Saturday if was possible that the fan-favorite Merle would be brought back in some way, Rooker's answer was an unqualified "no."

"They can't afford me," he said to audience laughter.

The 60-year-old actor won over the Comic Con crowd almost immediately when he trotted on stage and shouted "Hello San Diego," likely a reference to Bruce Springsteen's slip-up during a Tuesday night concert at Quicken Loans Arena. The rock legend mistakenly called out "Pittsburgh."

After the laughter died down Saturday afternoon, Rooker said, "I'm just kidding, I know I'm in Cleveland."

Rooker was mostly asked questions about his roles in AMC's "The Walking Dead" and Marvel's surprise 2014 hit "Guardians of the Galaxy."

At one point he appeared to imply that he clashed with other actors on the set of "The Walking Dead."

A member of the crowd asked him how well he got along with other cast members.

"In real life?" he asked, and then made a noise that sounded suspiciously like "bleh."

He then smiled and added, "Very well."

He did not elaborate.
Websites with loose security Getty Images

If you're planning on filing your taxes online, caution is advised. An audit released this week by Internet security nonprofit the Online Trust Alliance found that 46 percent, or 6 out of 13 tax software websites in an IRS program, failed cybersecurity protocols. The websites are part of IRS Free File program, which lets anyone who made under $62,000 in 2015 file taxes electronically for free. Seventy percent of American taxpayers can participate in the program, which has been around since 2003. Some of the websites had issues with lack of email authentication, according to the OTA, which lets cyber criminals send out phishing emails, fake emails purporting to be from a company. Other sites had vulnerabilities that could lead to personal information being stolen. The report was sponsored by cybersecurity companies Agari, DigiCert and Symantec.

"Either companies made honor roll, 80 percent or better, or failed," said Craig Spiezle, OTA's executive director and founder. "Three sites failed just basics." Read MoreBe prepared: It's tax-return fraud season In order to participate in the Free File Program, taxpayers use one of 13 third-party tax software websites to submit their taxes electronically. These websites are all members of the Free File Alliance, a nonprofit coalition of the tax software companies. For those with higher incomes, these companies also offer more advanced tax preparation software and services for a fee.

Tax scams surge

The websites that made the OTA's honor roll, which means they scored at least 80 percent on each section of the audit, are well-known tax preparers like Intuit's TurboTax and H&R Block , as well as eSmart Tax, exTaxReturn.com, Free Tax USA, TaxAct and TaxSlayer. The Free File Alliance, which represents the 13 websites that don't charge filers, said its software "meets the highest standards of security, privacy and support." In a statement emailed to CNBC, Tim Hugo, executive director of the Free File Alliance said, "All Free File companies are evaluated and tested each year to ensure that they meet IRS standards addressing every aspect of security and privacy." "Our members, working with the IRS, will carefully examine this report and take its recommendations under consideration in our continued efforts to ensure that Free File offers the industry's most innovative and secure tax software," he said. The OTA audit comes as tax scams are on the rise, yet Americans are surprisingly nonchalant about whether they can become victims of fraud. The IRS reported that tax-related phishing emails and malware have surged 400 percent this tax season. In many instances, cybercriminals send emails, text messages and make calls purporting to be the IRS, which trick filers into sending money or revealing personal information.

According to an independent survey by IDT911, a data security firm, some 63 percent of U.S. taxpayers polled believe that tax fraud "could never happen to me"  and aren't that concerned by the prospect. The study also found that nearly 20 percent of U.S. filers haven't ensured their wireless networks are secure when filing online. "The sophistication of cybercriminals is a lot more advanced than a few years ago. It's hard for the average consumer to tell [if a website or email is legitimate]," said Jason Sabin, chief security officer at DigiCert, a technology security firm. He said that filing firms should up their standards in the face of widespread chicanery.

"This is not like school. Everyone can and should be on honor roll," Sabin said in a phone interview.

Read MoreHow IRS impersonators target tax filers after April 15 deadline



To test the websites, the OTA scanned them using commonly available tools, the same ones hackers may use.

Some e-file websites had vulnerabilities that would allow a cyber criminal to watch as users type in personal information. In addition, the OTA found vulnerabilities that would allow criminals to hack the websites and gain personal information, according to the OTA's Spiezle.

"Sites that are collecting what I'd say are the biggest, most personal information for identity theft are not following industry standards," said Spiezle. Read MoreMillionaires face 1 in 10 chance of being audited

Roxane Divol, a senior vice president and general manager at Symantec called the results not particularly surprising. "The reality is only 3 percent of all websites are encrypted."



In response to the audit, an IRS spokesman told CNBC in an email that the agency "is committed to working with its partners to improve security protections for taxpayers and combating stolen identity refund fraud.  As the report rightly notes, the areas of security and privacy are evolving daily. The IRS added that "rather than prescribe federal regulations that might be quickly outdated, the IRS works with the industry through the Security Summit Initiative to encourage tougher standards. For example, because of the cooperative efforts of the Security Summit, the software industry agreed to stronger password procedures for 2016."

watch now

How to protect yourself
Passes offering discounted entry to museums and other attractions are a staple of city tourism offices and travel websites.

Marketed as a convenient way for tourists to save money on entrance fees, passes often include appealing extras like local transit passes, priority entrance lines and the option to make return visits to the most popular and scenic sites.

Still, travelers need to do their homework to determine if the deals really offer good value, basing the decision on how long they'll be in town and what they plan to do while there," said Arabella Bowen, editor-in-chief of Fodor's Travel. Otherwise, "you could wind up spending more than you need to."

For visitors to Italy, for example, Bowen recommends the 48 hour Roma Pass. That option includes unlimited use of buses, trams, metro, free admission to two museums or archaeological sites of your choice, plus discounted entrance to others, all for 28 euros, or about $31.

Read MoreO Canada! Weak currency fuels inbound tourism

Separately, admission to the Colosseum/Palatino/Roman Forum and the Capitolini Museum adds up to 27,50 euros, "so visiting two attractions alone pays for the pass," said Bowen, "At that price, you might as well buy it for the additional benefits of public transit and other discounts  they're essentially free."

Lonely Planet's Alex Howard, destination editor for Western USA and Canada, likes Vancouver's 160-page City Passport. It sells for 25 Canadian dollars (about $18) and offers over $1,000 in potential savings so pays for itself after only a handful of coupons.

Howard, however, said Las Vegas travelers who use the city's travel pass should beware.

"Several of the advertised attractions are off the Strip, requiring visitors to hop in a car," he said, which means more out of pocket costs. "Plus, the High Roller, the Neon Museum and the Mob Museum, three of my personal favorite Vegas attractions, are conspicuously absent."
Barclays' new chief executive is planning to announce on Tuesday that the British bank has decided to exit its African operations in a bold move to refocus the bank on its core UK and US markets

After a review of the African business led by Jes Staley, the bank's board decided last week that in principle it made strategic sense to get out of the continent, according to people familiar with the matter.

The board has delegated authority to a subcommittee to examine the practicalities of how and when to sell Barclays Africa, one of its four main lines of business. By delegating authority it avoided having to disclose the decision immediately.

This means that a sale of the bank's 62.3 per cent stake in its Johannesburg-listed subsidiary will depend on numerous factors, including market conditions and the response of regulators.

The stake is worth R78bn ($4.83 billion) at current market prices. Investment bankers say there are no obvious strategic buyers for the African business. The value of the stake has fallen in recent months, making the option of steadily selling the stake to institutional investors less attractive. Barclays declined to comment.

Several people who have met Mr Staley recently say he recognises Africa is one of Barclays' few genuine growth areas, but he believes it is becoming a costly distraction as the South African rand devalues and the country's economy slows down.
Malaysia's ruling party has suspended a senior official who had asked for a deeper investigation into allegations of corruption at the country's state investment fund and is also investigating a website that reported on the scandal, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) suspended Muhyiddin Yassin, a deputy party president, citing his failure to support Prime Minister Najib Razak, The WSJ reported. Muhyiddin had previously been fired by Najib from his position as deputy prime minister.

"If we want to see Malaysia return to a respected country in which the people can live a more prosperous life, we need to be prepared to demand change," Muhyiddin said in a statement on Saturday, according to The WSJ.



In addition, the government is also proposing changes to Malaysian laws that would allow caning and life imprisonment for journalists and others found guilty of receiving leaked documents, the newspaper said.



On Friday, the editor of an online news organization said was asked to appear before police after the communications regulator blocked access to the website. Police tweeted that the website's coverage of the fund was confusing, according to The WSJ.



Efforts by The WSJ to reach Najib on Saturday were unsuccessful, . He has denied wrongdoing or taking money for personal gain.
Donald Trump is leading in the Super Tuesday states of Georgia and Tennessee, while Ted Cruz is ahead in his home state of Texas, according to a trio of new NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls.

And Hillary Clinton is topping Bernie Sanders in all three of those southern states by about a 2-to-1 margin. In Georgia, Trump gets support from 30 percent of likely Republican voters  followed by Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio tied at 23 percent each, and Ben Carson and John Kasich tied at 9 percent each. Read MoreTrump vs. Clinton: The election no one wants In Tennessee, Trump leads Cruz by 18 points, 40 percent to 22 percent, while Rubio gets 19 percent, Carson 9 percent and Kasich at 6 percent.



But in Texas, Cruz is ahead at 39 percent - followed by Trump at 26 percent, Rubio at 16 percent, Carson at 8 percent and Kasich at 6 percent.

The NBC/WSJ/Marist polls were conducted before Thursday's raucous Republican debate. But when the pollsters re-contacted close to 30 percent of all likely GOP voters in the three states the day after the debate, they found that Rubio was considered the winner of the debate, followed by Trump. More from NBC News: What led to Clinton's smashing victory in SC

Police officer working her first shift is fatally shot

Rocks hurled at cops after officer-involved shooting But movement in the GOP horserace was negligible, according to the re-contact interviews: Trump, Rubio and Cruz kept about 90 percent of their supporters; Carson kept about 80 percent of his; but Kasich kept only about 60 percent of his backers. Clinton leads Sanders by about 2-to-1 in all three states In the Democratic race, meanwhile, Clinton leads Sanders in Georgia by 34 points among likely Democratic primary voters, 64 percent to 30 percent. In Tennessee, Clinton is ahead by 26 points, 60 percent to 34 percent.

And in Texas, she's up by 21 points, 59 percent to 38 percent.


Elementary students thrilled by Jersey cow in dairy lesson

The educational demonstration is part of a partnership between the St. Louis Dairy Council and Southwest Dairy Farmers.
Feb. 27, 2016 - Presidential candidate Donald Trump waves at supporters from the steps of his private jet alongside New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at the Millington Regional Jetport during a campaign stop Saturday evening as he ramps up for Super Tuesday. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

SHARE Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses a crowd of thousands at an airport hangar in Millington on Saturday. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal) Thousands cheer for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who held a campaign rally at Millington Regional Jetport on Saturday. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal) Related Photos Trump Visits Millington Gallery

By Ryan Poe of The Commercial Appeal

Donald Trump, joined by former opponent and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, ratcheted up his criticism of his opponents Saturday in Millington, where he claimed he'll win in the state  and big  on Super Tuesday.

Trump told the crowd of roughly 10,000 packed inside a Millington Regional Jetport hangar that he's "got to win" Tennessee's March 1 primary, and went on to say that he'll also win Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida because of his broad support base.

"We're going to win Tennessee, he said. "We're going to win everything."

Trump was one of several presidential candidates making an appearance in Memphis before Super Tuesday. Republican Ben Carson is scheduled to speak at a private event at Alpha Omega Veteran Services Sunday morning following an appearance at an undisclosed local church, and Democratic contender Hillary Clinton is scheduled to arrive in Memphis about 8 a.m. Sunday for a bus tour of several local churches.

John Kasich, a Republican, had a town hall Friday.

As for Trump's visit, one of the more awkward moments of the night came after Christie, who endorsed Trump Friday, gave a rousing introduction to Trump and attacked Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz as "creatures of Washington, D.C."

In a video of the event, Trump tells Christie afterward to "Get in the plane and go home. It's over there. You go home."

Picking up where Christie left off, Trump continued to mock "little Marco," for being down in the polls in Florida, for being a "choke artist," and for his debate performance against Christie, during which Rubio repeated a talking point despite Christie's criticisms.

Trump said he was "double-teamed by two crooked senators" at the most recent debate, but he conceded that "Cruz is smarter than Rubio."

"You deal with liars, you deal with major, major sleaze," he said of his time as a politician.

Trump didn't go into depth on many new policy proposals, but reiterated several claims he's made previously, including that he would build a wall to stop the flow of immigrants and drugs, and would make Mexico pay for the wall.

Referencing former Mexican President Vicente Fox, who recently said he would not "pay for a f------ wall," Trump said the "wall just got 10 feet taller," and would grow even taller if Fox uses an "f-bomb" again.

Protesters gathered outside of the event, and one made his way inside and held up a sign saying "Make America hate again." Matt Fylack, 37, formerly a union plumber in Florida, said he snatched away the sign and tore it up.

"We were losing jobs to Mexicans. Illegals," he said, adding that the children of immigrants should be deported with their parents.

Another Trump supporter, Eddie L. Miller, 68, suggested the U.S. should not only deport immigrants, but consider invading Mexico.

"If we're going to invade somebody, we need to invade Mexico's ass and kick these illegals the hell out of here," he said. "Get them the hell out of our country!"

The crowd included many people, like married couple Linda Lunsford and Mike Gilliam of Decaturville, who traveled hours to hear the businessman-turned-politician speak. Gilliam said he didn't start out as a Trump supporter, but wanted to elect a non-politician to shake up the status quo in D.C.

"I was a staunch Republican," he said following the event. "I don't know what I am now. I'm anti-establishment."

Trump said he's changed the GOP by attracting Democrats and independents, and said his supporters will help him win in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida, in addition to Tennessee.

"It'll never be the same," he said of the party. "And I love that."

But not everyone is on board with Trump's vision for the party. Gov. Bill Haslam released this statement following the event:

"It is time for Tennessee Republicans who do not want the party of Lincoln and Reagan taken over by Donald Trump to rally around Marco Rubio. It is clear Marco is the only candidate who can beat Trump. With so much on the line for our country, we need Marco Rubio as our nominee because he is the conservative who can unite our party and win the general election."

Staff reporter Daniel Connolly contributed to this story.
February 27, 2016 - Trump supporters clamor for autographs as Presidential candidate Donald Trump works the crowd at the Millington Regional Jetport during a campaign stop Saturday evening. (Jim Weber/The Commercial Appeal)

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By Michael Collins of The Commercial Appeal

WASHINGTON  Donald Trump wasnt Susan Williams first choice for president. He wasnt her second choice either.

Williams initially supported Jeb Bush and, then, when he dropped out of the race, cast her ballot for Marco Rubio during early voting. But if Trump wins the Republican nomination, Williams said, she will support him in November.

Im one of those people thats anybody but Hillary or Bernie, said Williams, former chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party, referring to Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

With Tennessee voters heading to the polls on Tuesday, members of the states Republican political establishment are gradually coming to terms with the real possibility that Trump  the brash, combative New York real estate mogul and reality TV star  could end up as their partys nominee for president.

Along with that realization come the obvious questions: Will they vote for him in November, despite his barrage of attacks against the GOP establishment and fears that his insults of women and other minorities could turn off mainstream voters? Or will they stay home in silent protest on Election Day?

For many, theres nothing to debate. If Trump is the Republican nominee, he will get their vote in November.

Im going to eagerly and enthusiastically support whoever gets the Republican nomination, said U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., a Knoxville Republican.

Duncan said while agrees with most of Trumps views, I do wish he had a little more humility, he said. But there never has been and never will be a perfect candidate for any office. Ive said all along, any of our candidates would have been far better than Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. I felt that way when we had 16 or 17 people running. I still feel that way today.

The presidential election is critically important and will give voters a clear choice for the countrys future, said U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher, a Crockett County Republican.

Republican candidates are laying out a series of reforms to ignite our economy while the Democrat/Socialist candidates are offering a continuation of failed economic policies that have left many individuals behind, Fincher said. I will fully support the Republican nominee, including Mr. Trump, as we are the party of opportunity and job growth.

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Brentwood Republican, said she not only expects to support the eventual GOP nominee, I will work vigorously to be certain our nominee is the next president.

I find Donald Trumps entrance into the race to be energizing to Republicans, Blackburn said. He is incredibly well received in Tennessee. He has given voice to the frustrations of millions of Americans with the political class and with important issues such as immigration, national security, and jobs and economic security. As our nominee, he would have my full support.

What is happening across the country this election cycle, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker said, is that voters are angry with Republicans and Democrats alike because they have not stepped up to deal with the big issues facing the country.

This election will be a wake-up call to both parties that we must finally take action to address the fiscal, economic and security challenges before us, the Chattanooga Republican said. While I am not endorsing a candidate at this time, I certainly plan to support the Republican nominee and believe the American voters will choose who they think is the best person to lead our country.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Maryville Republican, endorsed Rubio early Sunday, saying the Florida senator can inspire us, win the election and lead our country. He did not say whether hed be willing to back Trump in November if hes the eventual nominee.

In Nashville, Gov. Bill Haslam endorsed Rubio last Thursday, saying that to win in November, conservatives need a candidate who inspires Americans from all backgrounds. But Haslams office dodged when asked if he would support Trump if hes the eventual nominee.

The governor believes that its important to let the democratic process happen, and we are right in the middle of that process here in Tennessee and in many other states, said Haslams spokeswoman, Jennifer Donnals.

As chairwoman of the Shelby County Republican Party, Mary Wagner said she is not allowed to endorse a candidate in the primary. But in November, I will support whoever the nominee is, she said. I think all Republicans, whoever the nominee is, will need to get behind our nominee.

Republican candidates and voters who participate in the GOP primary are obligated to support the partys nominee in November, said John Ryder, a Memphis attorney who serves as general counsel for the Republican National Committee.

If you agree to participate in the primary, you agree to be bound by the results of the primary, said Ryder, who is also the Republican national committeeman for Tennessee.

If Trump wins the nomination, the Republican National Committee will put its sophisticated data operation, ground game and fund-raising apparatus to work on behalf of his candidacy, just as it would for anyone who is the partys nominee, Ryder said.

Still, not all Republicans are comfortable with the thought of Trump being their partys standard-bearer in November.

Im going to have to warm up to that idea, Shelby County Mayor Mark Luttrell said. I have not been that impressed with Donald Trump to date.

Luttrell supported former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and was working to get him elected president. Now that hes out of the race, Luttrell said he is still looking at the other candidates.

Asked if he could see himself voting for Trump in November, Luttrell said, Im going to have to think about that one.
February 28, 2016 - Republican Presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson greets supporters who waited outside the fence at Alpha Omega Vereterans Services on Ball near the Defense Depot. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal)

By Daniel Connolly of The Commercial Appeal

Dr. Ben Carson, a Republican presidential candidate whos last in the delegate count, visited Memphis on Sunday morning and said he has no plans to quit.

I am in this race because of Americans who asked me to be in this race, he said. It wasnt my plan. But now Im staying in the race because millions of Americans are saying, Please do not listen to them. Please do not drop out. Its about us. Its about we the people. Its about providing us a choice, not one that is forced upon us, but one that we choose.

He says the campaigns hope is that the people will soon recognize that the election is not about entertainment. This is not the WWE, said Carson, in an apparent swipe at front-runner Donald Trump, who has performed in pro wrestling events. This is America. This is the future of our children and our grandchildren were talking about.

He also compared Thursdays Republican debate to a spectacle in a Roman coliseum. The lions tearing somebodys head off. Yeah! Yeah! he said, imitating fans. What happened to us as a nation?

The soft-spoken Carson gave brief comments to reporters at an old defense depot facility now owned by Alpha Omega Veterans Services, an organization that offers housing and other support to former military members dealing with issues such as homelessness and addiction. The candidate says veterans need decent treatment. He endorsed the idea of connecting them to outside organizations that will follow them in the years after theyre discharged from the military.

The candidates appearance offered a good chance to highlight the work Alpha Omega does, said Sherry Cash, president of the board of directors for the organizations. Im very humbled by the fact thats hes interested in our program and the ability to give back to our veterans who have served and given so much.

One of the veterans impacted is Osborne Gardner III, 56, who said he had served in the Marine Corps. He said Alpha Omega has helped him stay off drugs and given him a place to stay for $400 a month. I got peace, he said in a gravelly voice. Its better than living in an empty house that wasnt mine.

The candidate had spoken earlier Sunday at Bellevue Baptist Church, said Jim Walker, a local leader for Carsons campaign. The event was kept secret. If the appearance had been announced, too many security resources would have been required and forced cancellation of the event, Walker said.

Similar concerns had already led to cancellation of Carsons appearance at Highpoint Church. The Secret Service provided security at the Alpha Omega appearance.

Carson grew up poor in Detroit before becoming a high-profile neurosurgeon known for feats such as separating twins who were joined at the head. Hes now retired and focusing on politics, but his campaign is struggling as it goes into the Super Tuesday primaries.

Carson has four delegates, compared with six for John Kasich, 16 for Marco Rubio, 17 for Ted Cruz and 82 for Donald Trump.

As Carson went on a private tour of the Alpha Omega facility, a small crowd of people waited outside by a fence, hoping for a chance to see him before he left. Jet airplanes rumbled low overhead, and their shadows flashed over the crowd  the old defense depot is right near the airport.

Carson is the only African-American candidate currently running for president and the group of people waiting to see him was racially mixed. Sandra Oates, 75, and Carolyn Hale, 78, who are white, had come from Germantown. I support him because Im a Christian and he shares my faith, said Oates. Hes against abortion. Against same-sex marriage. He wants to save our country.

She also said shes glad Carson is not a politician. Thats a good thing.

Richard Calcote, who is African-American, said hed come from Independence, Mississippi for a chance to meet Carson. Calcote, 56, said he believed Carson had better plan for achieving his goals as president than did other candidates. He also admired his upbringing. He came up really hard, poor. I feel that he can relate to the masses that are poor and struggling and trying to make it.

After several minutes, the candidate strode out of the brick Alpha Omega building and to the people at the fence, who cheered, handed him books to sign and gathered around him to take photos.

Some perspective: only around 30 people were waiting at the fence. Trumps Saturday night event in Millington drew thousands.
Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, pauses as Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., center and Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, greet at a break during a Republican presidential primary debate at The University of Houston, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

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By Michael Collins of The Commercial Appeal

WASHINGTON  On paper, the idea seemed simple enough.

If a group of southern states held their primaries on the same day and chose a date early in the elections process, they'd get a lot more visibility  and possibly more influence  in selecting the parties' nominees for president.

Some analysts even suggested moving near the front of the voting line might give southern Republicans the power to pick a conservative nominee, since voters in the South tend to tilt toward the right.

Taking part in the so-called "SEC primary" has certainly given Tennessee visibility. All five of the Republicans still in the race have campaigned in the state over the past week. On the Democratic side, front-runner Hillary Clinton held campaign events in Memphis and Nashville on Sunday.

But in a bizarre election cycle that has defied conventional wisdom again and again, Tuesday's primaries could produce another head-scratcher.

In an ironic twist of fate, the seven southern states that will vote on Tuesday could, in fact, help permanently shape the race  by solidifying New York real estate mogul Donald Trump's position as the GOP front-runner and seriously wounding, perhaps fatally, the two southern candidates still standing, U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas.

"These innovations have a way of backfiring," said University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato, referring to the states' decision to refigure their election calendar.

A Bloomberg Politics poll released last week showed Trump with a sizable lead in the southern states voting on March 1, or Super Tuesday. Trump was backed by 37 percent of likely Republican voters in the seven states surveyed, while Rubio and Cruz were tied at 20 percent.

In all, a dozen states will vote on Tuesday, with half of them being in the South, which is where the "SEC primary" title comes in. On the Republican side, 595 delegates will be awarded (1,237 are needed to capture the GOP nomination). For the Democrats, 1004 delegates are at stake, with 2,382 needed for nomination.

Tennessee Republicans will award 58 delegates as the result of Tuesday's elections. If no candidate receives at least 67 percent of the vote, the delegates will be awarded proportionally. Tennessee Democrats will award 44 delegates on a proportional basis.

Rubio and Cruz need to win some of the states voting on Tuesday if they are to stand any chance of capturing the nomination, Sabato said.

"A bunch of close seconds might make a difference," he said, "but the presidential process does not award silver and bronze medals. It's only gold. I know you can get delegates (without finishing first). But in the end, you actually have to win. Placing second isn't good enough."

Trump won three of the four states that already have held Republican primaries or caucuses. "If Trump keeps up his head of steam  and there's no guarantee he will  he could come out of March 1 with even more momentum," said Haley Barbour, former Mississippi governor and former chairman of the Republican National Committee.

Cruz will probably win his home state of Texas, Sabato said, but not by a large enough margin to give him the momentum he will need going forward. Rubio is in an even more precarious position. Polls show him losing to Trump in Florida, his home state.

In many ways, Sabato said, Tuesday's primary is reminiscent of the first Super Tuesday election back in 1988. At the time, southern Democrats thought setting their primaries on the same date might give them more influence and could result in the nomination going to a moderate candidate.

But a competitive race ended up dashing those hopes. Jesse Jackson won the Deep South, while Al Gore carried Tennessee and several other Southern states. Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, a northern liberal, ended up winning the nomination.

This year, "the two southerners could end up being hurt by the primary that was designed to help them, just as Al Gore was not propelled to the nomination as the founders of the original Super Tuesday intended," Sabato said.
SHARE Chris Carlson/Associated Press Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at Iowa State Fairgrounds, Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson) FILE -In this Feb. 22, 2016 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. speaks during a campaign rally in Amherst, Mass. Ask people what economic issues will be important for the next president, and Democrats, Republicans and independents alike all put a high priority on protecting Social Security and reducing unemployment. Beyond that, though, their lists of top economic concerns for the next president are more fractured, according to a poll conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File) Associated Press Files Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have problems, from financial questions about some of Sanders ideas to Clintons email server debacle and lack of trustworthiness.

By Rex Huppke, Chicago Tribune

As we close in on Super Tuesday, when more than a dozen states and territories hold primaries, it seems as good a time as any to assess the state of the 2016 presidential race.

My assessment: Ugh.

Seriously, can we start over and recast this whole thing? It has the makings of an epic flop, particularly on the Democratic side. (If nothing else, the Republicans, with Donald Trump, have cast one of the all-time-great villains.)

Let's start with Hillary Clinton. Former first lady. Former senator. Former secretary of state.

It's a remarkable resume for someone who is widely despised and even more widely distrusted. Between liberals who consider her a sell-out to the Wall Street crowd and conservatives who consider her evil incarnate, the core of voters who truly like her is perilously small.

I don't agree with the arguments that she's not qualified or not intelligent. And from a policy standpoint, I agree with most of what she supports.

But she is tragically divisive, and that should matter. Yes, Republicans will try to destroy any Democratic nominee, but still, it would be nice to have a presidential hopeful whose baseline with people from the other side of the aisle wasn't: She should be in prison.

Clinton can dismiss her private email server debacle all she wants, but that won't make it go away. Per the Washington Post last week: "A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that State Department officials and top aides to Hillary Clinton should be questioned under oath about whether they intentionally thwarted federal open records laws by using or allowing the use of a private email server throughout Clinton's tenure as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013."

Spin it how you want, this is red meat for a GOP opponent; for Trump, it would be enough to open a Brazilian steakhouse.

Burdened by all this and widely seen as only a so-so campaigner, Clinton is still the Democratic front-runner. And many still have to be asking: Is this really the best we can do?

Which brings us to Bernie Sanders.

Oh, Bernie. I've just about had it with you.

Typing that dooms me to an abundance of online scorn from Sanders' supporters, who strike with the tact and ferocity of Trump fans at anyone who dares speak ill of their hero.

I like Sanders' focus on income inequality, and I would technically love to see some of his ideas  free college, health care for all  come to pass. But the question of how that would all be paid for is a legitimate one.

Most of what Sanders promises requires a wide-ranging political revolution, including a complete ideological shift in Congress that is a virtual impossibility. Would I like it to happen? Sure, to a degree. And I can respect those who say you can't achieve change without trying, even if you fail at first.

But failure at this moment in history means a possible Trump presidency, the rolling back of almost everything President Obama has achieved, and at least one and possibly several arch-conservative Supreme Court justices.

Sanders seems to have less attack-ad-worthy baggage than Clinton, but he has not been thoroughly scrubbed. He would already be a target of massive fear-mongering because of his open embrace of socialism, and given his revolutionary bent and outspokenness, can you imagine what lies in wait? Articles he wrote that haven't surfaced, college papers, past associations, meetings he has attended.

Whatever is out there may be perfectly mundane to people who like Sanders or to liberals in general, but it will be fodder to scare the pants off Republicans and independents. If you think Obama was turned into an "other," wait until the GOP attack machine gets done with Sanders.

That's the lineup, folks, a short batting order in desperate need of a superstar.

After his big Nevada win, Trump enters Super Tuesday like a roaring freight train. Republicans don't look like they can take him down, and the Democrats' firewall between that Trump train and the Oval Office is a candidate most people don't trust and a socialist whose core voters will turn out unless it happens to be spring break.

Does that mean Trump, if nominated, will win? No, not necessarily. But it does mean that both parties, with whomever they pick from the current cast, are embracing candidates with zero crossover appeal.

Who here can inspire, broadly? Who here can an independent-minded person vote for without a clothespin over the nose?

I'll ask it again, for Democrats and Republicans: Is this really the best we can do? And if it is, why?
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Rick Jewell



Somerville, Tenn.



In response to the Feb. 21 letter Humane to help addicts, I have been involved in drug enforcement for almost half of my 43 years in law enforcement, including 11 years in the Memphis-Shelby County Metro Narcotics Unit. I have witnessed the carnage and hell wrought on individuals, their families and the public by drug-dealing parasites.

The West Tennessee Violent Crime and Drug Task Force does an excellent job. Attorney General Mike Dunavant has done an impeccable job with this task force.

Drugs are responsible for approximately 80 percent of all crime. Drug addicts must steal, sell drugs, prostitute themselves and commit crimes to maintain their habits.

State and federal forfeiture laws are a necessity and assist law enforcement in purchasing equipment and needed assets to identify, investigate and arrest these individuals who sell their poison.

I agree with the letter writer that we should offer substance abuse treatment to addicts who are committed to getting off drugs. General Sessions Judge Tim Dwyer is an excellent judge who has produced wonderful results with the Shelby County Drug Court.

Schools should have a life choices class to educate and inform students as to the dangers of drugs and alcohol before the wrong crowd leads them down a path of destruction.

People who are addicted should be given the professional help and guidance to turn their lives.

Our young people are our most vulnerable members of society, but are becoming addicted and dying in record numbers across this country to drug overdoses.

Lets continue to impose mandatory harsh sentences on drug dealers.
SHARE Lora Jobe

By Lora Jobe, Special to Viewpoint

The state of Tennessee, and Memphis in particular, has been described as ground zero for education systems reform. Ground zero systems fail students by not providing high standards, quality teachers or adequate preparation for college or career.

For all its warts, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 allowed the public a close look at the level of achievement, or lack thereof, in school systems across the country. In Memphis it was revealed that about 76,000, or 64 percent, of students were assigned to low-performing schools.

When, in 2007, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gave Tennessee an F for "Truth in Advertising About Student Proficiency," Memphis was humbled once more. Memphis, however, did not stand idly by, and the good news is change has been made.

In 2002, in response to underperforming schools, the Tennessee General Assembly authorized the creation of charter schools. Today there are over 19,000 students enrolled in 64 charter schools in Memphis.

In a study released in 2011 by Stanford University, more than half of Tennessee's charter schools were found to be outperforming traditional public schools.

Soon after the program started, in 2004, the nationally recognized organization New Leaders arrived in town with a goal to grow talented educators into school leaders.

Today, more than 36,000 students benefit from New Leaders leadership. In 2005, the state legislature passed the Voluntary Pre-K for Tennessee Act and increased the state's investment in early childhood education. Today, there are more than 5,000 Voluntary pre-K seats available in Shelby County for disadvantaged children!

The progress and investment continued.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has provided more than $90 million to improve teacher effectiveness in Memphis.

Tennessee was one of two states nationwide to receive the Race to the Top grant with $500 million in funding.

Momentum persisted with Teacher Tenure Reform in 2011, redefining tenure as an employment status and that a teacher must acquire and maintain a specified level of performance.

These efforts were part of the monumental effort to ensure students in Tennessee and Shelby County were receiving quality education.

These efforts are working.

Tennessee was named the most improved state by the National Assessment of Educational Progress in 2013 and 2015. Shelby County Schools on-time graduation rates are now at 75 percent, compared to 67 percent in 2006.

The progress has been great, but we cannot turn back now.

While the crashing of the TNReady assessment at its debut gives reason to pause, we still need to measure student improvement from year to year, and we know that high-quality teaching is vital to student improvement.

If this year's accountability measures for teachers are lost, so be it, but we must be ready to assess student progress next year.

Efforts to turn back reforms to teacher tenure law should be dismissed. We do not need to lower the standards for a teacher to receive tenure, we should use tenure to identify and reward great teachers.

We cannot fall to political pressure and erode the advances made over the past decade and a half.

Our call to action remains clear. We must ensure that children in Shelby County receive the best education possible to prepare them for college, technical training, a fulfilling career, and a satisfying life.

The support of business, philanthropic and education partners have made a real difference and that support must not falter now.

The best is yet to come!

Lora Jobe is the executive director of the PeopleFirst Partnership, a collaboration of business, government, academic and civic leaders dedicated to strengthening Memphis and Shelby County's cradle-to-career pipeline.
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.
While politicians grapple for early advantage in the referendum campaign, emitting strange noises as they try to choke each other, let us consider for a moment the part played by their families. Rachel Johnson today offers a dramatic, first-hand account of her brother, Boris, holed up like a rustic statesman in his farmhouse, awaiting the call that is bound to come from the editor of the Daily Telegraph to save the Fatherland, or at least to file his copy, but meanwhile almost incommunicado, hammering away at his hot laptop, frying sausages.

Her account is strong on the foodstuffs consumed during this time of of crisis, and much of it deserves to be reproduced word for word in the TV mini-series which must surely follow. Never mind you,' Rachel says at one stage, as Boris havers and she works her way through a box of chocolates in order to relieve the tension:

Just text Dave back and tell him hes got me, I said, choosing a white truffle.

The writers of the mini-series will be grateful too for the account by Sarah Vine of the dinner she and her husband, Michael Gove, attended at the house in Islington of Boris Johnson, here appearing in his capacity as urban statesman, and his wife, Marina Wheeler. Just as the meal is served, a senior Cabinet minister, accompanied by a lawyer, came on speakerphone to discuss the complexities of law in relation to sovereignty, but as Vine says:

I, too, listened dutifully for a few minutes, but it really was a very lawyerly conversation, and the aroma rising from the slow-roasted shoulder of lamb was getting to me. I tucked in.

Wheeler has contributed in recent weeks to the Spectator and The Times, and only three days ago reiterated, in a letter to the editor of The Times, that there is a crisis of judicial legitimacy at the heart of the EU: a view which her husband has acquired from her, for he has made it with uncharacteristic precision in his various accounts of why he has joined the Leave campaign.

But since Wheeler says not a word, in any of her articles, about the food consumed during these stirring days, one hardly expects her account will bulk very large when the drama reaches the small screen.

Nor has Samantha Cameron been as helpful as she might have been. According to an account in todays Mail on Sunday, At London Fashion Week, Sam Cameron told nosey inquirers her main role in the campaign is to help Dave de-stress.

Nothing, again, about the food, and we do not even learn whether she has a pet name for her husband. Lucy Baldwins somewhat incongruous name for her husband, Stanley Baldwin, leader of the Conservative Party from 1923-37 and three times Prime Minister, was Tiger, and she was known at times of acute pressure to spur him on, as W.F. Deedes not so long ago reminded readers of the Daily Telegraph.

It would be a great help to the scriptwriters if the present Prime Ministers spouse could in the near future come up with something similar, but if not, they will just have to think of a suitable animal.
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Scientists inched closer as they discovered an enzyme keeps wrinkles at bay and keeps the skin looking younger. The scientists at Newcastle University found that mitochondrial complex II stops working as people age. This enzyme is found in the cell batteries that is potent for the skin's elasticity and texture. Now that the secret of youthful skin has been discovered, scientists believe that the treatment and cosmetics can be developed that stimulate this enzyme's activity, thus restoring the skin's lost vitality, reports Medical Express

Mark Birch-Machin, Professor of Molecular Dermatology at Newcastle University, led the pioneering study. "As our bodies age we see that the batteries in our cells run down, known as decreased bio-energy, and harmful free radicals increase," said Prof Birch-Machin.

"This process is easily seen in our skin as increased fine lines, wrinkles and sagging appears. You know the story, or at least your mirror does first thing in the morning!

"Our study shows, for the first time, in human skin that with increasing age there is a specific decrease in the activity of a key metabolic enzyme found in the batteries of the skin cells.

"Our research means that we now have a specific biomarker, or a target, for developing and screening anti-ageing treatments and cosmetic creams that may counter this decline in bio-energy.

"There is now a possibility of finding anti-ageing treatments which can be tailored to differently aged and differently pigmented skin, and with the additional possibility to

address the ageing process elsewhere in our bodies."

Dr Amy Bowman, Research Associate at Newcastle University's Institute of Cellular Medicine, said: "It has long been thought that mitochondria play an important role in the ageing process, however the exact role has remained unclear.

"Our work brings us one step closer to understanding how these vital cell structures may be contributing to human ageing, with the hope of eventually specifically targeting areas of the mitochondria in an attempt to counteract the signs of ageing."

A study conducted recently on mice shows that complex II activity low in the skin that ages naturally as compared to the younger mice's skin, as reported by Telegraph

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
Close

A video made by the Islamic State supporters make threats openly to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey for preventing terrorism activities through their portals.

The video was released by the group "the sons of Caliphate army" in which the photographs of both the tech giant leaders were marked with bullets. The video spotted by Vocativdeep on social media service, Telegram, that is used by ISIS. The extremist group, in the video, has blamed the two for making it increasingly difficult to incite violence and promote terrorism as their accounts have been suspended and the posts are being removed.

The hackers in the video show how they are hacking into Facebook and Twitter accounts and posting Islamic State propaganda. They say that they have hacked more than 10,000 accounts on Facebook and over 150 groups. "Many of these accounts have been given to supporters," the video says. Twitter and Facebook did not comment on the issue, as reported by USA Today

"We don't want people doing that kind of stuff on Facebook," Zuckerberg said on stage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week.

"If we have opportunities to basically work with governments and folks to make sure that there aren't terrorist attacks then we're going to take those opportunities and we feel a pretty strong responsibility to help make sure that society is safe," Zuckerberg said.

Twitter also said that they suspended as many as 125,000 accounts that were linked with Islamic State for the last 6 months. Twitter started its crackdown on terrorists in 2014 and has been receiving death threats since then. However, this is the first time Mark Zuckerberg has been threatened openly, says Fast Company

A slide in the recently released video read: "To Mark and Jack, founders of Twitter and Facebook and to their Crusader government. You announce daily that you suspended many of our accounts. And to you we say: Is that all you can do? You are not in our league. If you close one account we will take 10 in return and soon your names will be erased after we delete you (sic) sites, Allah willing, and will know that we say is true. #Sons_Caliphate_Army."

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
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State officials propose to use a restricted island in Massachusetts as a rattlesnake conservation area. However, this proposal left the residents worried even though the officials say that the snakes will not be of any risk to the human neighbors.

The Division of Fisheries and Wildlife Plan, supported by Governor Charlie Baker (R), recommends to convert a 1,400-acre Mount Zion island in Quabbin Reservoir, Massachusetts, as a rattlesnake colony. Tom Fisher of the department says that timber rattlesnakes are a native to Massachusetts but now only 200 of them remain, reports The Daily Beast

"They are afraid that when we put the snakes there, they will spread," Dr. French told the Herald. "That just won't happen. That's just not how this is going to work."

"We want one place where the impact of people [is] not part of the equation," he told the Associated Press.

Despite listing the species as endangered, the residents of Massachusetts worry that establishing a colony right next to where they live with expose them to the threat of a venomous snake and not to mention the colony will also increase their population. Mount Zion is connected by road to the living areas, plus timber rattlesnakes can also swim, WBUR.org reports

"It is inevitable that someone is going to get bit, and then they are going to close the watershed to the people," said Mike Krunklevich of Orange, Mass., during a public meeting, reported the Boston Herald. "The priority here is exotic wildlife, and not the people - and that's a shame. I'm fed up with this."

"They should just be leaving the Quabbin alone," added Bobby Curley of neighboring Athol, Mass. "There is a lot of passion from people around here about the Quabbin, and now they are playing it like a biological playground" as reported by The Christian Monitor

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
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According to a new study, human activity has been responsible for shaping the planet much before Industrial Revolution. It says that 1,000 years ago, human settlement transformed the face of forests eternally, as reported by Tech Times

MIT University researchers and the University of Massachusetts deduced that the Madagascar forest's widespread and permanent loss happened thousand years ago due to human settlers who set ablaze the landscape so that they could make a ground available for cattle grazing. This is against the popular belief that the loss of Madagascar forest is due to climate change or some natural calamity. The scientists reached the conclusion of using fire as the way to create pasture for their cattle by examining two stalagmites discovered in the cave of Northwestern Madagascar, reports Nature World News

As per the study, calcium carbonate component of stalagmite changed completely and suddenly in just a hundred years from the characteristic of carbon isotope of shrubbery and trees to those that are typically grassland. However, there was no change in the oxygen isotope that ruled out the possibility of drop in rainfall or climate change as the cause for loss of forest.

"Both the speed at which this shift occurred and the fact that there's no real climate signal suggest human involvement," says study author and MIT assistant professor David McGee.

The evidence of human settlement in Madagascar dates back to about 3,000 years and their migration to agrarian lifestyle and cattle to a thousand years ago.

The researchers want to procure more samples from Madagascar caves so that they can examine the extent of human influence on the forest. While climate change has been taken out of the picture, there could also be other factors responsible, says Laurie Godfrey, Anthropology professor and the study author.

"[W]e don't yet know whether similar shifts, also unrelated to natural aridification, occurred elsewhere on the island, and if so, when, exactly," Economic Times reports

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
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A recent local study reveals that there might be big health benefits that can happen due to small weight loss.

Researchers from Washington University, led by Dr. Sam Klein, discovered that even small weight loss can substantially reduce an obese person's risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

"You get the biggest bang for your buck with a 5 percent weight loss," Klein says. "When you lose 5 percent of your body weight, in people who are obese but do not have type-two diabetes, you improve metabolic function in multiple organ systems simultaneously."

Klein adds that there should be increased awareness amongst people about this fact that even small amount of weight loss can go a long way in improving your health.

"So, if you weigh 200 pounds, if you can lose 10 pounds of your body weight and keep it off, you really will be doing yourself a major favor in terms of your health," Klein says.

For the purpose of the study, researchers examined 40 obese people who lost 5%, 10%, and 15% of their body weight, as reported by WebMD

The study, published Feb. 22 in the journal Cell Metabolism, revealed that even 5% weight loss was enough to reduce several risk factors such as heart disease and diabetes.

"These results demonstrate you get a large bang for your buck with a 5 percent weight loss," senior study author Samuel Klein, of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, said in a journal news release.

"Our findings show that even a small amount of weight loss has important health benefits for multiple organ systems," Klein said. "We hope that these findings will encourage obese people to take reasonable steps to watch what they eat and increase their physical activity, because this will translate into a lower risk for diabetes and heart disease," as per CBS St. Louis

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
14 Years After Guajart Pogrom : Some Reflections

By Countercurrents.org

28 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org

This is the 14th anniversary of the infamous Gujarat pogrom. We are also aware that those who are responsible for the pogrom are in power today. During these 14 years, violence on the minorities in India have only increased, unfolding issues like Muzafarnagar, Kandhamal, attacks on Adivasis in different parts of the country, Ghar Wapasi, violation of Indian Constitution in multiple ways, capturing of social, historical, cultural and academic institutions by the Sangh Parivar, communalisation of food, culture, language, literature, films and art and attacks on writers, artists and cultural personalities.



In this context we requested a diverse set of people in India who are active in the Gujarat justice movement to write their reflections and observations from lessons learnt on the Gujarat pogrom and what they feel about pursuing for a social order where no more Gujarat violence can take place in future.

The main violence on the minorities in Gujarat started from February 28 the onwards. Today we are publishing these reflections so that we shall never repeat another Gujarat again

Mani Shankar Aiyar ,Former Central Minister/Member, Rajya Sabha

I was in Manipur when my wife telephoned to inform me of the burning of the railway compartment at Godhra. I was deeply apprehensive that this would be followed by wanton attacks on the Muslim community of Gujarat. What I did not anticipate was that the Government itself would extend its patronage and protection to the killers.

Yet, overwhelming evidence has been produced that the State Government in Gujarat did nothing to restrict the organised attacks that led to the massacre of at least a thousand and possibly up to two thousand innocent Muslims, men, women (even pregnant women) and children, with whole townships being set ablaze while the police stood by doing nothing and, in many cases, even egging on the mob. Very soon, the pogrom spread beyond Ahmedabad to a large number of cities and rural areas in the State. District Magistrates who took action were frowned upon and those who let the mobs riot were given governmental approbation.

Although it has not proved possible to pin down the Chief Ministers guilt in a court of law, wide swathes of informed public opinion continue to hold the view that communal disturbances on such a large scale could not have taken place without at least the passive complicity of the authorities.

Tragically, instead of voters turning down a government that had proved so negligent in its fundamental duty of maintaining public order, communal polarization led to that government being repeatedly elected. Worse still, the man who presided over the mayhem is now the Prime Minister of India.

What happened in Gujarat should never be forgotten or forgiven for that would only encourage a repeat of the crime, perhaps on a national scale. It is necessary that the nation be warned and put on red alert as the last eighteen months have demonstrated the extent to which intolerance can be whipped up, murder condoned and mobs incentivized to take the law into their own hands. The very Idea of India is under challenge and must be resisted now.

Zakia Soman , Founder Member, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan/ Center for Peace Studies Gujarat

Fourteen years after the Gujarat communal carnage it would not be an exaggeration to say that the survivors have become second class citizens. They were attacked by armed mobs led by hindutva fanatics as the police and the administration looked the other way. Over one lakh women, men and children were forced to flee when attacked by mobs and take shelter in relief camps. Most of these relief camps were located in kabrastans or around sufi dargahs in open grounds without any basic amenities such as drinking water, toilets, roofs or adequate food. There was hardly any relief provided by the government and help came only from muslim organizations and some select voluntary groups. There was a refusal to provide relief, register FIRs and enable legal justice. No efforts were made by the government for rehabilitation or healing the wounds of innocent citizens. Paltry amounts were provided as compensation to families who had lost homes and every asset. Till date no plan has been offered for alternative livelihoods or any rehabilitation measures. With passage of time there is very little hope for legal justice. Out of the 2500 plus legal cases justice has taken place only in one or two matters and a then sitting minister is serving jail term for the killings of 90 people in Naroda Patiya. The violence and the apathy that followed have left thousands of families displaced forever. It is a painful reality that the survivors of Gujarat have been forgotten.

Nirjari Sinha , 'Convener, Jan Sangharsh Manch, Gujarat

The fire that had engulfed Gujarat in 2002 has now virtually spread to every part of our country. From students to journalists to artists to activists to minorities, everybody is under an unprecedented attack by the current fascist regime. In addition to their own goons, they have misused state power so blatantly that it brings back memories of the 1975 Emergency. Even if this fascist regime falls in 2019, much like 2002, the hate and divisiveness that the saffron brigade has injected into the populace will haunt India for many years to come. That makes it all the more necessary for all progressive forces of the country to unite and completely uproot the saffron brigade so that India can heal.

Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ, Director of PRASHANT, the Ahmedabad based Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace

The Gujarat Genocide of 2002 was the bloodiest chapters in post-independent India. Sadly, the one who presided over it today rules the country- which seems to legitimize the killings, rapes, arson, loot, displacement, denigration of thousands of Muslims. True, there have been some convictions- but the real culprits still roam with impunity and immunity. There must be healing- but for that to take place, the victim-survivors have to experience the triumph of truth and justice. A reality can never be swept under the carpet. The Judiciary must prove that it serves the cause of Justice alone, media has to be impartial and objective and above all, civil society must be courageous to counter the fascist and fundamentalist forces at work in the country.

Ram Puniyani, Writer/Former Professor of IIT,Mumbai

Fourteen years ago on the pretext of Godhra Train burning violence was launched. The tragedy led to the death of 58 innocent people. In the carnage unleashed by communal forces nearly 2000 people lost their lives and a loss of thousands of crores of property. The displaced persons could not come back to their old homes, they hardly got adequate compensation and the rehabilitation efforts were not initiated by the ruling government. This tragedy was followed by the ghettotisation of Muslim community, the polarization of society along religious lines and strengthening of BJP at political level. Struggle for justice is going on but the path is very difficult.

Ajaya Kumar Singh, Activist, Kandhamal justice movement

You are just burning tyres. How many Isai houses and churches have you burnt? Without kranti (revolution) there can be no shanti (peace). Narendra Modi has done kranti in Gujarat, the reason why shantis there. Odisha Viswa Hindu Parishad Leader Laxmananda Saraswati ordered his followers. (Tehelka, Jan 19, 2008). The Hindutva leader had his eyes on other southern districts to consolidate Sangh Parivar. Despite Malkangiri district administration detention, he forced upon them to visit then Maoists dominated southern districts in April 2008. Rumours spread that he wanted to build the forces like Salwa Judum to fight against Maoists and religious minorities.

The Maoists warned two days before that he would be eliminated as he was spreading hatred among the communities. Swami filed the complaints too before the Police station two days before he was gunned down and Maoists claimed responsibilities of killing. There was lull for two days until Gujrati Pravin Togadia, Viswa Hindu General Secretary and Indresh Kumar, National Executive Member, Rastriya Swayam Sevak Sangh (RSSS). Although Maoists had claimed the responsibilities of gunning down, the hardcore, blood thirsty bayed for Christians blood and announced through media that the Swami was killed by Christians; not Maoists leaving the trails of anti-christian violences; with women and girl children being raped and molested, reducing the churches and houses into ashes; chasing Christians out of their homes and villages.

Angana Chatterji, Anthropologist and historian wrote Orissa: A Gujarat in the Making in Communalism Combat on 2nd November, 2003. How prophetic she was. Script was ready. Only the characters required and sequences were only awaited. Godra train burns and some karasevaks died. Here Laxmananda Saraswati gunned down. It is immaterial who set the train on fire or it is immaterial even if Maoists claimed the responsibilities. Christians and Muslims are responsible. They deserved to be punished. They would not be spared. It just spontaneous reaction and only natural justice for the traitors of the nation!!

To whip up the passion and hatred towards the religious minorities, dead bodies are brought to the city of Ahmedabad in a procession; so also the body of swami was taken in a procession throughout the district covering more than 150 kilometres.

Both Gujarat and Odisha have the histories of communal violence. The targets unequivocally remained Muslims and Christians. For the first time, attacks on Christians in Dangs of Gujarat in 1998 showed that RSS too after the Christians until then, it was Muslims. Of course, the Gujarat Program 2002 shook the world. Although, anti-christian violence in 2007-08 considered the largest attacks on Christians in 300 years of Indian history, Orissa recorded nearly 2000 deaths of Muslims in 1964 unknown until.

Who would forget the gang rapes of women in public when being watched by hundreds including the police personnel around; thereafter the women of Sangh Parivar taking lead role in defending the crimes against halpless women. Shocked to hear that the Sanghi Adivasi women could demand that the raped woman to be handed over to be get married off to their men and took out the procession. Although, the victim survivor adivasi catholic nun herself.

Not to be far off dalit and adivasi who were brain washed in Sanghi ideology were ready to kill and rape their own clan people; only different being they happen to be followers of Christs. Dalit and Adivasi played foot soldiers in the program; ready to kill and burn the houses and villages. The story of Adivasi and Dalit became too willing foot soldiers in Gujarat 2002. Togadia and Indresh Kumar led the violence from the front against Christians in Kandhamal, while the Union Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal, who was supposed to protect the citizens, was not allowed to visit the district by the state government.

The hatred against the religious minorities is deep seated not just on the part of non-state actors; more over the state seems to be in complicit to it. The state has failed to unearth the killers who murdered people by burying them alive, setting them on fire in houses as well as in jungle and chopping them in front the siblings and parents and relatives; show cases of these ghastly murders and rapes as trophies. More than two thirds complaints were not converted into First hand report. Out of which only 5% conviction according to the study conducted by Vrinda Grover, Supreme Court lawyer. This shows that only less than 2% victims survivors had hard hardly has had secured justice. Presently, not a single person is behind the bar for such carnage while seven innonent adivasi and dalit Christians are behind the bar without bail for murdering the swami for last eight years on flimsy and framed charges although Maoist claimed the responsibility of killing the swam as well as the arrested do not have any connected with them. The subversion of justice as in Gujrat as one study stated to be less than 10% (Times of India, May 9, 2014) sad reflection of the way state cares about it.

Sangh Parivar war on the religious minorities continues and gets consolidated every passing day. It is high time those who care the human rights need to come together before they are consumed in the fire of hatred. Wish the observance of anniversary bring solidarity among the survivors as well as solidarity groups to secure justice for the people as well as end factory of hatred campaign and violence at the earliest.

Dhirendra Panda, Human Rights Activist,National Solidarity Forum Convener, Civil Society Forum on Human Rights (CSFHR) and Secretary, Centre for the Sustainable use of Natural and Social Resources (CSNR)

We say, it was a Pogrom, Genocide in Gujarat 2002! For Sangh Parivar  it was great step towards Hindu Rashtra (Nation). It was a big experiment for the fundamentalists. In 2002 they came for the Muslims in Gujarat, in 2007-08 they came for the Christians in Kandhamal, in 2016 they are coming for Leftists, Dalits, atheists, rationalists and liberals. In the name of nationalism, theyll destroy our Secular & Democratic Nation to establish a Brahmanic Caliphate. They have already started cleansing Universities, Media, Bureaucracy, Police and Judiciary. Not to speak of dissent, our freedom of thoughts, expressions, beliefs or practice may not be there, unless we are prepared to stand together to protect our Constitution and Nation.



Fr.Ambrose Pinto, Bangalore

It is 14 years since that genocide. The legal system has not yet addressed the issue. Delays are causing frustration in victims. The very same killers have moved beyond Gujarat into Delhi to rule the country. The living of the dead seeking justice are fighting against an unjust system that is determined not to provide justice. The forces of death and destruction, hate and violence have increased their influence and are in a position to subordinate persons willing to stand against. There are more people who have accepted their legitimacy now than then. What is required is hope in the hopeless situation, a massive education of the masses so that citizens and people, individuals and organisations agitate, organize and throw out the ideology that killed the Mahatma and were responsible for the genocide. Who can do it? In the absence of a Mahatma or an Ambedkar all of us need to come together to defeat these forces.

Jagadish G Chandra, New Socialist alternative, Bangalore

Gujarat was a watershed as for as the oppressed minorities are concerned. The right wing drew monstrous energy out of those ghastly and inhuman carnage. Needless to say the polarisation of Indian polity in general took to speed since that year. No point in brooding over the things that have shed blood, the need of the hour is to build Unity and Defence mechanisms to fight the resurgent RSS/BJP and the whole Hindutva mindset. Even electorally, Bihar has shown the limitations of Modi mania, it is the bounden duty of all of us aspiring for a radical change to build on the latent energy unleashed by the Dalit & minorities assertion in the recent times, and defeat the anti-people, anti-democratic ruling regime.

Kedar Mishra, Writer/ Art Critic, Bhubaneshwar

Gujarat has become a model for all that is inhuman and undemocratic. In the backdrop of Gujarat genocide we heard a new slogan of development. The development model soaked in blood caught the imagination of politically ignorant middle class. Gujarat was a bottle of blood labeled as honey and it was sold to Indians in high prices. The high priest of Gujarat genocide is now in Delhi and he is undisputedly most powerful man of this country. He was very clear, he wants to rule India the way he ruled Gujarat ! In 2014 there was a brilliant repackaging of inhumanity as human development. The hawk dressed like a dove becomes the supreme leader of this country. Today we see the country has become Gujarat of 2002, full of fears and divisiveness. The so called development agenda has gone to hearth, now every freedom loving citizen is branded as anti national. The Gujarat is India now. A dozen of ABVP workers can outnumber a whole university. Few violent members of Bajrang Dal can cut your thraot and go scot free. Gujarat has become India finally.

K.P Sasi, Film Maker

Over 2,000 innocent Muslims were killed in Gujarat, starting from end of February, 2002. Thousands had to flee from Gujarat. Innocent women were subjected to brutal mass rape, houses and shops destroyed and the very dignity of a large community belonging to Islamic faith was questioned, branding them as terrorists and anti-nationals. The justification for such brutal violence on innocent people was the incident of burning of a train in Godhra. Later, ample evidences came out that the burning was initiated inside the train and not from outside. The brutal incidents which followed Godhra reveal that Gujarat genocide was systematically planned affair. The statistics on the communal violence in Gujarat may differ and for all its probabilities, widely underestimated. But the experience of Gujarat never remained in Gujarat alone in the broader evaluation of time and space in history. It remained as one of the greatest attempts of the emerging fascist forces to strip the very identity and dignity of a segment of Indian population. The arrogance of such an achievement paved the way for several series of violations on the citizens rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution by Dadasahib Ambedkar. The obvious victims were minorities, women, Dalits, Adivasis, sexuality minorities and those who lived their lives depending on land, water and forests.

Muzafarnagar and Kandhamal may be incidents of such grand schemes in the communal history of our nation during these 14 years. But what really shocked the whole world was the deep violation of human rights and freedom of expression on writers, artists, film makers, academicians, theater personalities and musicians also. Fascism reached our dining tables and menu cards of restaurants during this period. And finally, the recent developments in FTII, IIT (Chennai), and Hyderabad University brought shame to every thinking citizen reminding us about a history since Manusmriti and the very incident of burning it by Ambedkar in order to facilitate our existence without shame. What followed in the end was JNU, placing critical thinking itself as `anti-national!

What is shocking is that the perpetrators of violence on the bodies and minds of a large population have been lifted up to power in a country which believes in democracy, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, secularism, harmony, diversity and tolerance. Today, on February 28, 2016, it is time for us not only to remember 14 years of Gujarat genocide, but also to reflect on the series of developments during these 14 years. It is the moral responsibility of every conscious citizen in this country to remember the pains and sufferings of a past history and learn lessons from it, so that a new generation can walk towards a future history with joy, peace, justice and harmony. Remember the past to walk without shame and guilt in future!






Printer Friendly Version 22 Questions To Smriti Irani After Watching Her Speech On Rohith Vemula By Christina Daniels 28 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org When Smriti Irani first became Minister of Human Resource Development, I was happy for her. I did not believe that not having a background in the field of education was a disqualification. I also liked the fact that she was spunky and contrarian. I thought it was important to give her a chance And thats why I was especially disappointed with her speech in Parliament the other day. There are many things I can forgive, including a fake Yale degree. But I cant understand how 6 patriotic Indians and an entire university are branded as anti-national by the state, backed not by facts, but manufactured reality. After all, this is not reel life, but real life that is at stake. And its not just about that moment when Smriti Irani famously told us that no doctor was allowed near the child till 6:30 am the following morning. Fiction, which was immediately contradicted by the Hyderabad university doctor. But what preceded and followed it was far worse. 22 substantive questions that remain unanswered at the end of our education ministers hour-long speech: 1. Yes, the VC was appointed by the UPA, but he finally acted on repeated documented insistence from Smritis Iranis ministry, in which Rohith was earmarked as an anti-national. In his case, this was only for a campaign against the abolition of the death penalty. As a result, he lost both his student stipend and the roof over his head. In my county when did it become okay for a ministry to label you anti-national and hound you to death for fighting the death penalty? And you say that someone else made him a tool and you had nothing to do it? 2. There were two separate letters lying on Smriti Iranis case  one Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao warning of the targeting of Dalit students on the campus. The second one from Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya that named Rohith as an anti-national for his role as a Dalit activitist. You used Bandaru Dattatreyas letter to commit just the crime that Hanumantha Rao was trying to prevent. Then you use Hanumantha Raos letter to justify your crime. How? 3. Also it not a question of who appointed the Vice Chancellor, the fact is that it was brought to your attention that Dalit students were being targeted on that campus. Did you do anything about it? Why did you drive another Dalit student to commit suicide? 4. And after this you tell us that you did not go wrong. All this, at the same time, when police go and pick up Rohiths mother as she stands on a candlelight vigil for her son. Can a mother not stand in peaceful protest any more? 5. And the time to make phone calls was not after Rohith died, but before he died. What did you do to prevent the childs suicide? 6. His suicide note does not blame anyone, but it does say that he was reduced to his identity. How did you push circumstances forward by your inaction or selective punitive action? 7. Next, you moved on to some good old fashioned Rahul Gandhi bashing. There Im not going to make comments either way. You are free to use this childs death to score a few political brownie points. Thats what politicians do anyway! 8. After that, you move on to the issue of JNU and proceed to brandish a permission slip from JNU that allowed that allowed Umar Khalid to conduct a poetry evening. And yes, it was to be a poetry evening called The Country Without a Post Office, drawing on the work of Kashmiri poet Agha Shahid Ali. The event was also to use poetry to protest against the judicial killing of Afzal Guru and stood by the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people. So since you were brandishing the permission slip, I want to know why was the permission withdrawn on the morning of the event? 9. Agha Shahid Ali is an internationally renowned poet. The University of Utah Press event awards the Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize annually. Most importantly, his work is not even banned in India. Then why shouldnt it be discussed in educational institutions like JNU? 10. If there are those who disagree with the verdict in the Afzal Guru case or the Yakub Memon, isnt the university the best place to discuss it? 11. If Nehru was committed to the right of self-determination of the Kashmiri people till the day he died, is it wrong if others still believe in it too? Is it wrong to engage with such people and give them a space for their voice to be heard? 12. Isnt it a good thing that young Kashmiri students today make poetry and not war? Can an event not be both political and cultural? 13. But the event was banned, and what followed was a protest by the students. During this event anti-India slogans were raised. By your own admission, Umar and Anirban just stood there. Then, why are both of them charged with sedition? 14. Kanhaiya Kumar was not even at the event. He came later and he was not even an event organizer. Then why is he being charged with sedition? 15. By your own admission, there were a few people present there with their faces hidden with cloth. What has been done to find these individuals? 16. Instead, arent these three boys being hounded for their political beliefs, just in the same way that you did with Rohith Vemula? 17. Now on the appointment of the VC, it is true that the president appointed him, but only from the four nominees sent by your government. He may not be your preferred nominee, but isnt he still your nominee? And was there not the feeling that he was ill equipped for this role because he had previously headed an engineering institute and JNU is hardly an institute of engineers? 18. And was this VC able to stand up to the central government? If yes, why was the police allowed inside the campus, for the first time since the emergency, to search dormitories and whisk away Kanhaiya, who was not even an organizer of the event? Most importantly, how did they suspend their students without even speaking to them first? Does that happen anywhere in the world? 19. In all of this, the only charge that you make Kanhaiya is that his name was on a poster Condemning the hanging of Afzal Guru Is that a sufficient reason for the charge of sedition? 20. On the celebration of Mahishasur Martyrdom Day, is the honorable minister aware that there are many contrary religious narratives in the Indian tradition, and Hinduism usually has had space for all of them. One of them is the belief Mahishasur. There are tribals in Jharkhand who worship Mahishasur and see him as martyr for all the reasons that the education minister mentioned, are we to say that there is no place for adivasi beliefs in India? Can she just dismiss it as depraved mentality? Or should institutions like JNU contribute to the preservation of adivasi traditions? Id like to extend this debate a little further. The book/film Da Vinci Code code is based on the premise that Jesus slept with a prostitute and they had a child together. But that contrary narrative was allowed to exist and even become a bestseller. Distasteful to some yes, but is it conceivable that this can be used to dump a charge of being anti-national or seditious on someone in the US? And this is even though the US is a conservative Christian country. But then, isnt religious identity not to be confused with national identity? 21. The minister is appalled that instances like the anti-sikh riots were included in school curriculums. First of all, if the previous government included their own genocide in government text books, I would like to congratulate them. If we can discuss World II, can we not discuss the anti-Sikhs? Both happened. But dont we discuss these terrible moments in history to ensure that they never happen again? 22. Finally, the minster ends by quoting Cicero out of context. That speech is in connection with the events of his time, and should be seen that way. Cicero also once famously said, Politicians are not born; they are excreted. But more importantly, he also said, Freedom suppressed and again regained bites with keener fangs than freedom never endangered. And after all this does madam Smriti Irani think that shes being targeted because shes a woman? Madam Irani, you are being targeted for a speech that had lots of cunning, but little conscience. To quote Cicero, who you enjoy, Orators are most vehement when their cause is weak.





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The War On Privacy

By Kenneth Eade

28 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Privacy today faces threats from an ever-growing surveillance apparatus that is justified in the name of national security or the war on terror. Agencies of the federal government, such as the FBI and the NSA intrude on the communications and activities of private citizens on a regular basis, using data they mine from our private resources to establish watch lists, based on what they perceive to be suspicious behavior.



These watch lists have, among other things, prevented people from entering the country, prevented them from flying on airplanes, barred them from certain jobs, and shut them out of financial accounts.



The founders of our government designed it to be transparent, so that the governing people could know what the governors were doing. One of the most important methods of making the government transparent, in their minds, was a free press.



The Freedom of Information Act, which was signed into law on July 4, 1966, is a tool which is available to anyone, but it is frequently used by reporters in order to obtain information from the government.



In 2012, Reporter Jason Leopold was working on a story about Hesham Abu Zubaidah, the brother of Guantanamo detainee and accused terrorist, Abu Zubaidah. Hesham signed a consent to allow Leopold to request documents on him under the Freedom of Information Act and was visited by an FBI agent. (Truthout.org article May 29, 2012 by Jason Leopold, So Then the FBI Sent Out an Agent to Check Up on My FOIA Request).



In 2006, the FBI claimed that it had inadvertently sent classified and privileged documents to the Washington Post, and requested the Post to return them. It claimed that any further review, disclosure, retention, and/or dissemination of the classified document or the classified information contained in the classified document may be a federal crime. The Post agreed to and did return the document, but only because it did not directly relate to the story it was working on (Editor & Publisher, March 3, 2006, Post Did Not Feel it Had to Return Classified Document.)



While there is currently no precedent of such a successful prosecution, The government has also been known to reclassify documents that it previously produced. This retroactive classification prevents public discourse of the information contained in the documents, even by congressional subcommittees and even when Congress is actually investigating alleged abuses by the FBI (Abel, Do You Have to Keep the Governments Secrets? University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Vol. 163, 1038.)



This article reports that, in the National Archives Scandal, the CIA claimed that classified documents that were inadvertently disclosed gives the government the right to treat them as classified (without being reclassified.) While there is no law against publishing classified documents, The Espionage Act prevents the disclosure of information relating to national defense.



The article also notes that, while no journalists have ever been prosecuted for publishing classified information, two members of the public have been prosecuted for disseminating information given to them by a government source. I agree with the author of the article, who states, A generation ago, one could be confident that the press would not be prosecuted. Now, such a prosecution is cause for concern, even for those who think the First Amendment would ultimately prevail.



According to an article in the Fall 2013 issue of National Affairs, while the Bush administration merely threatened prosecution of journalists for espionage, the Obama administration has actually engaged in seven such prosecutions. The article further reports that, while, by law, most government secrets are required to be declassified after 25 years, as of 2013 there were over 58 million pages of documents that had not yet been reviewed for declassification.



The danger in the government using the Espionage Act and other tools to prosecute reporters, attorneys, and others is that its misuse is stifling freedom of the press and freedom of expression, and is making government opaque, instead of transparent as it is supposed to be. The federal government has so much power with regard to federal prosecutions that it is virtually impossible for an ordinary citizen to defend him or herself if they decide to charge or indict you.



As Judge Jed S. Rakoff observed in his article, Why Innocent People Plead Guilty, The New York Review of Books, November 20, 2014, fewer than 3% of all federal criminal cases go to trial. Because of sentencing guidelines, high bail, and the high cost of a defense, an accused often finds himself in jail, unable to defend himself, and succumbs to a federal prosecutor in a plea bargain agreement. In a federal criminal case, the prosecutor has all the advantages.



As is observed in my latest novel, The Spy Files, in the words of James Madison, Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom, and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech, which is the right of every man. If the government is allowed to spy on the people, that means that the people have no privacy in their thoughts or speech, which means that the government has taken away their liberty. This is the same government that has sacrificed hundreds of thousands of lives in the name of liberty, and not just the lives of American servicemen. Patrick Henry said give me liberty or give me death. I think his famous quote makes it crystal clear that the Constitutional framework of this country values liberty as an essential element of life, worth dying for. If something is worth such a sacrifice, how can the loss of it be justified for the argument that it will make us safer to give up our liberty and our civil rights? Are we to tell the mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers of all the soldiers lost in foreign wars that it was all a big lie? That they died for nothing?

Kenneth Eade is an environmental and political activist, and author, who has been called by critics one of the strongest thriller writers on the scene. For more information on his political and legal thrillers, including the latest, The Spy Files go to http://kennetheade.com






An American Made Crisis: Europes Muslim Concentration Camp in Greece

By Jon Kofas

28 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org

The entire world is well aware of the humanitarian crisis arising from Muslim refugees fleeing war-torn countries that include Syria, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The countries are all Muslim and the common trait they share is that the US and its European and Middle East allies engaged in military solutions to political crises that have not spilled over into a massive trans-continental refugee crisis. The refugee tragedy is a massive humanitarian one according to the United Nations, and it is becoming worse because the principal country, namely the US, causing the refugee crisis is absolving itself of any responsibility from this crisis and only focuses on where to create the next military intervention. This does not mean that Russia backing the Assad regime is free of culpability. However, the Russians are trying to weaken the jihadist elements in Syria that are forcing the mass displacement of people. http://www.thenation.com/article/europes-refugee-crisis-was-made-in-america/

In the official White House web site, the US states that 12 million people or half of Syrias population has been displaced since 2011 and it is entirely the fault of the Assad regime. https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/09/15/what-you-need-know-about-syrian-refugee-crisis-and-what-us-doing-help\ The US position is that along with the Syrian government, Russia, Iran and to a lesser extent China are really responsible because they would not permit the US and its regional allies  Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states  to remove Assad from power and place a regime of their liking. In other words do exactly what they did in Libya where things have worked so remarkably well since the US and its allies along with al-Qaeda removed Muammar Gaddafi from power.

Although by no mean the sole culprit, the US was the driving force behind military interventions that destabilized every one of these countries and caused the dislocation of four million refugees from Syria lone and millions more from the other Muslim war-torn nations that the US and its allies decided to destabilize for geopolitical and economic advantages in the last fifteen years. Although the West presents itself as humanitarian, developing countries host more than 80% of the worlds refugees. According to the United Nations, the world refugee population hit 60 million in 2014 and it surpassed that figure in 2015, largely because of conflicts invariably created not owing to local opposing groups  government vs. rebels  but foreign interventions of one type or the other. http://www.unric.org/en/world-refugee-day/26978-new-report-developing-countries-host-80-of-refugees- \ http://www.unhcr.org/558193896.html



Those who read about the refugee crisis from a distance may see Greece as Europes warehouse. However, a closer examination of the refugees in Greece reveals that this tiny Balkan country could evolve into Europes concentration camp in many respects minus the final solution. This is not only because of the dreadful conditions that prevail for refugees everything from lack of food and medicine, but because the number one reason for the humanitarian crisis and the reaction of the entire Western World is racism. Non-white Muslims trying to enter the predominantly white European continent is an anathema to Europeans whether they are neo-Nazis, conservative or even liberal in many cases who do not want their way of life, social structure and culture contaminated with Muslim influences. Of course the European businesses love the cheap labor migrants provide, but they detest the people that provide cheap labor. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-02-25/greece-warns-of-humanitarian-disaster-from-isolation-on-refugees

European racism and religious prejudice toward Muslims has deep roots that date back to the crusades. The Muslim refugee crisis has intensified such latent prejudices and it has made the Muslims the scapegoats for all calamities that have fallen on Europe amid contracting economies and slow job and income growth. People would much prefer to blame the Muslims running from their war-torn countries that the West ravaged than their governments and corporations responsible for the crisis in the first place. The US war on terror resurrected racism and xenophobia to new heights and the Muslims are now the new Jews of the Western World. (J.L. Thomas, Scapegoating Islam; http://socialistworker.org/2016/02/08/europes-rising-tide-of-refugee)

On 25 February 2016, the EU interior ministers meeting in Brussels centered on Austrias proposal to lock out all refugees from entering Europe by essentially keeping them in Greece. This would mean that Greece, which has lost an estimate 30% of its GDP because of IMF-EU imposed austerity since 2010, would be saddled with the Muslim refugee crisis that many around the world predict would explode into a massive humanitarian crisis very shortly. Considering that one-third of Greeces population is in effect below poverty and official unemployment is 25% with unofficial rate at closer to 35%, the country would revert to its 1950s status as one of the worlds poorest nations, if the refugee crisis is added as a permanent feature to the rest of the economic problems it is facing. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/25/europe-braces-major-humanitarian-crisis-greece-row-refugees

Greece simply lacks the physical facilities to accommodate refugees that need housing, hospitals and clinics, food and clothing until a permanent solution is found at the EU and/or United Nations level that seems to be doing very little to solve this crisis. Imagine one nurse per 25-30 patients in a hospital that frequently runs out of bed sheets and all kinds of basic medication. Imagine a country that can hardly feed its own people having to feed an additional one to two million refugees in the next few years.

The EU expects Greece, a country that is in complete shambles because of austerity, to stem the refugee flow to Europe. Dimitris Avramopoulos, Greek conservative politician and EU commissioner for migration warned earlier this month that the humanitarian crisis in very real amid a deadlock among the EU members on the issue and the US wiping its hands clean and arguing it is a European problem. The irony here is that the entire world knows the culprit is the US that caused the crisis by going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan and destabilizing the rest of the Middle East by backing various jihadist rebels from Libya to Syria that eventually turned against the West. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/10/eu-gives-greece-one-month-to-improve-conditions-for-refugees

Even a number of Republicans have argued that the Obama and Bush administrations caused the crisis in Muslim countries that gave rise to the refugee problem. However, no Republican or Democrat is willing to provide the appropriate humanitarian assistance or accept refugees that the US created. No Republican or Democrat is willing to open the borders for Muslim refugees. On the contrary, there are those like Donald Trump who want to keep all Muslims out and screen them on a case by case basis because the assumption is they are terrorists, even if they are children. Of the 50 states I the US, 31 have declared they will not accept Syrian refugees. If the US refuses to accept its responsibility for the crisis it has created with its allies, and the Europeans are very divided on this issue with Germany playing the role of moderate, this leaves the problem for Greece. http://time.com/4126371/these-5-facts-explain-americas-shameful-reaction-to-syrian-refugees/

Since January 2015 Greece has been under the SYRIZA Party that calls itself leftist but whose policies are a mirror image of the neoliberal ones that the previous conservative government followed. Under the SYRIZA regime, the country deteriorated faster because the IMF and EU demanded even greater cuts in pensions and wages, even greater cuts in social programs, including health and education, and higher indirect taxes that fall on the masses. On top of impoverishing Greece by imposing austerity, the EU plan according to SYRIZA leader and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is to reduce the country into a refugee warehouse. On 24 February 2016, the prime minister stated: " We will not accept the transformation of our country to a permanent warehouse for human beings, while at the same time we continue to operate in Europe and at summit meetings as if nothing is happening. We will not put up with a series of countries that not only erect fences on their borders but at the same time do not accept to put up a single refugee." http://www.keeptalkinggreece.com/

Greece is a country that is in shambles politically, economically and socially, and Tsipras is partly to blame because he won election on the promise to end austerity and he has continued it to the detriment of the popular base that elected him. The austerity measures that the Greek government has accepted and the capital flight by the countrys few thousand wealthy people has resulted in the complete de-capitalization and utter dependence on the EU. Instead of leaving the EU and making a fresh start under a national currency, Greece opted to remain under the German-imposed patron-client model of integration. This integration model relegates them to a status not very different from that of the rest of northern Balkan countries. On top of the financial and economic crisis that essentially dismantled society as the Greeks knew it before austerity, the EU imposes a refugee problem on a country that is essentially not much better off than its northern Balkan neighbors.

As I stated above, most refugees in the world are in fact in developing countries. There are more than four million Syrians who are now refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, and even Iraq a country from which people are leaving for the West. Although the EU struck a deal with Turkey not to allow refugees across the Aegean Sea into Greece, the Turkish government accepted the promise of $3.3 billion payment from Europe in exchange for cracking down on the refugee trafficking business that is very lucrative for human smugglers.

Turkey has allowed about one million refugees through the Aegean Sea and by land into Greece. It is estimated that more than 3000 have drowned and many thousands died along the way trying to reach Western Europe. For its part, Turkey argues that it cannot perform miracles and stop refugees from crossing over to Greece. There are stories of tragic proportion with children having lost track of their parents and continuing to walk across Greece trying to reach northwest Europe only to be stopped somewhere along the way in Eastern Europe because Hungary is adamant about taking any refugees in the country. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/02/turkey-refugee-crisis-time-europe-action-160210115931274.html

Much of eastern and northwest Europe as well as the UK refuse to accept the slightly more generous German proposal for shared responsibility. If nothing else, the refugee crisis has fractured the otherwise weak EU solidarity threatened by the UK as well as Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and of course the perennial Greek crisis. German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel has stated that his country could accept up to 500,000 refugees per year for several years, but he demands the rest of EU share the responsibility. Recognizing that Greece will simply become Europes concentration camp for Muslim refugees, the German government is asking for cooperation partly because the crisis has intensified nationalism at all levels and some countries are openly questioning the benefits of staying in the European Union. http://www.ecfr.eu/refugee_crisis

The tragedy of the US-made refugee crisis in the Middle East that has spilled over into Europe is that a) it will probably take a long time to be resolved and b) the US will continue creating such crises in the near future regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican is elected president in 2016. The EU has shown that at its core racism, xenophobia and anti-Muslim prejudice runs very deep and it is unlikely to change. Muslims are as much the new Jewish scapegoats of Europe as they are for the US. Although anti-Semitism is not exactly erased in the Western World, the new focus of white Christian prejudice is on Muslims whose lands the West has been ravaging since the era of European colonialism in the 19th century. No European leader could win political office advocating a more tolerant policy toward Muslims any more than an American politician can win office without advocating a tough position on the war on terror, a euphemism for the continued military-solution option to US-instigated political crises in the Middle East.

The US will probably start another military intervention and most certainly continue to destabilize the Middle East under its next president, whether Republican or Democrat. This will lead to a more intensified crisis that will mean more refugees and an even greater humanitarian crisis than we are seeing in 2016. The defense industry in the US is very powerful and the political and ideological orientation toward militarism is deeply ingrained in the culture of PAX AMERICANA. War, intervention and destabilizing governments are all part of a way of life for the imperial America that continues to see itself as the worlds policeman and the worlds preeminent superpower despite its rapidly eroding economic role against the reality of Chinas global economic hegemony.

Jon Kofas is a retired university Professor from Indiana University.




Accepting Audacious Demands: The Curious Case of UC Irvine And The Dharma Civilization Foundation

By Romi Mahajan

28 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Several years ago I attended the annual South-Asia Conference at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and was delighted to see that Abhay Mehta was invited to give a talk about Enrons deeds in India. The talk was after-hours and had sparse attendance but Mehta was brilliant- he knew more about the Dabhol Project and the unbelievable deal Enron made with the Government of Maharashtra and Government of India than anyone and gave a mesmerizing presentation on the degree to which one corporation could ask for and get such a sweetheart deal. He referred to what can be called the Enron scandal as seeming like fiction of the absurd. Replete with Mehtas stunning recall of facts and figures, documents, and a deep knowledge of the energy industry, the talk was no doubt the highlight of the conference- for me at least. People who have read Paranjoy Guha Thakurtas Gas Wars --about the Ambanis and their ability to manipulate the Government of India --will no doubt recall Mehtas tour de force Power Play with admiration and fondness.

One might ask why-- Enron long gone and other far more capable people unmasking corporations for their depredations in IndiaI choose to open a piece with a paragraph on one talk Abhay Mehta gave almost two decades ago. I do so because of a moment about half-way through his talk when Mehta paused and said something akin to I must admit a grudging admiration for Enron. The sheer audacity of their demands was stupendous. More stupendous, still, was the fact that two large governments and countless others gave into them for the smallest of favors. I was stunned by Mehtas brilliance- in understanding that the job of corporate executives is to ask for the moon and when granted the moon ask for the sun. Their job is to get the best deal to be, as Mehta put it, audacious. Anyone surprised at the audacity and the monumental lack of balance and fairness in negotiations doesnt understand the essence of corporate logic. And anyone who is surprised at the degree to which the anointed negotiators on the other side are willing to sell the peoples birthrights for a pittance doesnt understand the nexus and revolving door between big money, big power, and big government.

Mehta was spot-on: Enron deftly manipulated the situation in its favor and the Indian sides of the negotiation lay down and gave in to everything.

So who, then, is the blame for a deal that could have bankrupted the state of Maharashtra and subjected the Union government of India to charges any number of small time judges in the West could bring up against it?

Who is to blame for ratifying contract with no force majeure clause, subjecting the Government of Maharashtra to pay for power even if a natural calamity rendered the power plant useless?

Who indeed is to blame?

And how indeed should public institutions respond to the audacious claims that corporations and well-funded organizations will inevitably make?

These questions come to mind as we consider the curious case of the Dharma Civilization Foundation and its attempt to get certain professorships endowed at the University of California at Irvine. In an earlier issue of countercurrents, I wrote about the controversy in what I called a Goebbelsian turn at UCI. Put simply, UCI initially accepted monies from an organization directly related to the RSS to endow a number of chairs, with a number of stipulations and riders that no public institution should have accepted, no less an institution putatively respectful of academic freedom. Only after concerned students, professors and concerned community members insisted did UCI appoint a committee to study the transaction; this committee ultimately found several reasons to reject the money. The DCF, having like Enron created audacious stipulations which were initially accepted hook, line, and sinker by the UCI administration, upon hearing of UCIs final decision, had this to say:

Dharma Civilization Foundation cannot be faulted for the Ad hoc Committees belated discovery of supposed flaws in its internal gift-acceptance mechanisms and its consequent rejection of a gift agreement signed into effect by the President of UCI, well over 6 months ago. DCF has been very civil in trusting the UCI Administration to guide the Foundation in following whatever protocols were necessary in securing consensus for these gifts, among the various stakeholders within UCI. It is one thing to say that the intentions of the Dharma Civilization Foundation are incompatible with the academic objectives of the UCI School of Humanities. DCF would have been happy to walk away from UCI, and look elsewhere for an institution that would be better aligned with DCFs objective of expanding and supporting under-represented areas of teaching and research on Hindu Studies and Dharma Studies.

While I for one find the DCFs brand of Hindus as Victim Hindutva disingenuous and their ties to the RSS disgusting, and their conflation of Indians and Hindus as symptomatic of fascist majoritarianism, I have to concede that they have a fair point- that they made a set of stipulations about the gift and that the UCI administration accepted them and only reversed its stance after protest.

Why do I believe the DCF has a point? Because as with Enron, the DCF has every right to make insane demands. As with so many other organizations, the DCF has the right to have an execrable agenda.

And just as they have those rights, institutions that represent the public and progressive citizens have the right and the duty to reject foul agendas and push back hard on the audacious rules and stipulations that will inevitably be made.

For those interested in confronting the forces of conservative and moneyed Hindutva, it is worth remembering that power indeed corrupts and that the powerful will always manipulate history and language to win. Further, they will use the force of political power and money to make preposterous demands of the polity.

Rejecting these demands is key. UCIs Eleventh Hour decision, while certainly the right one, was designed clearly to save facebut only because of the watchfulness of students, professors, and community members. But the way they went about it (happily accepting money, dissimulating until the end, and then ironically referring to procedural issues (when in fact, they determine the procedures)) indicates that while this time the forces of sense might claim victory, that very victory will be pyrrhic if we assume that audacity will stop and that the negotiators on the other side will be circumspect and ethical.

Romi Mahajan is the founder of KKM Group a marketing firm, an author, an investor, and an activist. His career is a storied one, including spending 9 years at Microsoft and being the first CMO of Ascentium, an award-winning digital agency. Romi has also authored two books on marketing- the latest one can be found here . A prolific writer and speaker, Mahajan lives in Bellevue, WA, with his wife and two kids. Mahajan graduated from the University of California at Berkeley, at the age of 19. He can be reached at romi@thekkmgroup.com




Reinventing The Indian Left: A Review Of 'The Phoenix Moment: Challenges Confronting the Indian Left By Praful Bidwai

By Satya Sagar

28 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org

It is an inspiring moment as the students of JNU fight back magnificently against a paranoid, malicious rightwing regime, bent on persecuting them through mob violence and misuse of state power. The movement against the absurd charges of sedition foisted on student leaders and assaults on media and academics by the ruling BJPs goons, has rallied together the entire spectrum of left, democratic parties and civil society in the country.

And yet, for all the brave resistance being put up, the harsh fact remains that as far as the Indian Left is concerned, it is at its lowest ebb since Indian Independence. Over the last two decades, with their dwindling public support and confused responses to national and global developments, the left parties- across the spectrum- have become a negligible force in Indian politics. Today, talk of socialism, five year plans, public sector, anti-imperialism, Naxalism and the very idea of the Communist Party evokes little enthusiasm amidst the Indian population, including the poor and marginalized the Left is supposed to be working for.

There was a time, not too long ago, when the Lefttowered mightily over domestic and foreign policy debates, shaped social and cultural trends and fired the imagination of thousands of youth across the country, willing to sacrifice their lives for the revolution. The best and brightest in the nation engaged with the philosophy of Marxism, Leninism or Maoism, left cushy careers to organize the rural and urban poor, became the finest writers, poets, artists in the nation and influenced public imagination disproportionate to their actual numbers on the ground.

The Phoenix Moment: Challenges Confronting the Indian Left, written by the well-known journalist Praful Bidwai, is a fascinatingly detailed study of why the Indian Left both rose to dizzying heights in the past and crashed ignominiously in recent times. The last book he wrote before his untimely demise last year, it is brutally honest, meticulously researched and bitingly critical. It is also impressively broad in scope, analyzing the Left from not just the usual parameters of redistribution of wealth, public welfare and workers rights but also ecology, gender and caste.

Given the various interpretations of the term Indian left, Praful deals almost entirely with the history and performance of the CPI and CPM for sake of clarity, though some parts of his analysis could apply to smaller left formations too. While tempered with much praise for the theirgenuine contributions, a lot of the books content is likely to be very embarrassing to the bosses of the bigger communist parties. They should however bear in mind it is only someone deeply anguished by the state of the left movement who could have written with so much honesty, concern and in such great detail.

So, why exactly are the Indian left parties in the miserable shape they are in today? Praful traces the problems of the Indian communist movement to the time of its emergence in the thirties itself, when its leadership showed lack of theoretical clarity or willingness to creatively adapt Marxism-Leninism to the specifics of the Indian context. Instead he says, the newly formed Communist Party of India (CPI) heavily under the influence of the Communist Party of Great Britain  slavishly followed instructions from the Communist International and made grave political blunders.

It is clear that positions taken by the CPI in the run up to Indian independence were marked by numerous flip-flops on several critical issues that showed severe confusion of priorities or even lack of sound theoretical understanding on its part. For example, though many communists and socialists were part of the Congress and the Indian freedom movement for a long time, the CPIs decision to stay out of the Quit India movement launched by the Congress in 1942 against the British led to their alienation from the Independence struggle. The CPI, though at first internally divided on the issue, fell in line with the directive from the Communist International to support the Peoples War as the Soviet Union was under attack from Hitler and had an alliance with the British.

Similarly, the CPI leadership in 1948, in an adventurist spree, dubbed Indian independence itself as fake, the Nehru government illegitimate and called upon its cadre to revolt, with arms if needed. Following brutal suppression by the Indian state, the death or imprisonment of hundreds of its cadre and plummeting membership the party again changed track abruptly. It contested the general elections in 1952 and emerged as the main opposition to the Indian National Congress in parliament  thus giving legitimacy to a system it had condemned in the harshest terms just a few years prior.



The Phoenix Moment goes on to describe how despite the lack of consistent or even coherent analysis of the Indian situation, the communist movement did grow rapidly among industrial workers, peasantry and students due to popular admiration for the Soviet Union and the dire economic conditions of post-Independence India. The CPI also had a fiercely committed cadre and many of its leaders were skilled at mobilizing and building organization.

The CPIs prestige rose further nationally when it managed to win elections to the Kerala assembly in 1957, forming the worlds first elected communist government. Its attempt at land reform however provoked a backlash from entrenched groups and the dismissal of its government by the Nehru regime again boosted the partys image across India. Despite the split in the CPI, with the formation of the CPI (Marxist) in 1964, the movement continued to grow and achieved electoral success in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura where the CPI(M) and its Left Front partners came to power repeatedly since the mid-seventies.

In 1996, the CPMs Jyoti Basu was even offered the post of Prime Minister as part of a coalition government, an offer rejected by his own party in what Basu called a historic blunder. More than being a mere mistake, the partys decision probably stemmed from its deep confusion as to whether they were part of the Indian state and establishment as in real practice or carrying out a revolution as claimed by their official rhetoric.

The Phoenix Moment does an excellent job clarifying the record of all these Left Front regimes in the three states mentioned above, with detailed data on indicators such as land redistribution, literacy, health, employment, status of agricultural labour, women and minorities. While there were some very important initiatives taken on behalf of the poor and working populations and performance varies across states they ruled, the overall picture of achievements of the Left Front governments, according to Praful, was disappointing.

As he points out, the left parties got entangled a bit too much in purely electoral and parliamentary politics, paying less attention to popular mobilization, building alternative institutions or political and social processes that could advance the principles of socialism in Indian society. For example, the left parties in their initial phase of rapid growth were enthusiastically involved in a wide range of popular initiatives like forming cooperatives, spreading literacy, running hospitals and clinics, battling superstition and obscurantist practices or providing relief during natural disasters.

Once they tasted power all such regular activity, was quietly abandoned, being seen  as part of a purely rhetorical radicalism as too reformist or Gandhian. Instead more emphasis was placed on political work  narrowly defined as token protests here and there or making fiery statements while putting all real energy into winning elections. Moving away from the highly creative efforts of their early years the communist parties became slothful and even neglected the task of developing good quality cadre or working on a regular basis with ordinary people. Ironically the RSS, the mother organisation behind Hindutva religious nationalism, has built a mighty organization, by never contesting elections directly, and carrying out, precisely the kind of reformist work that the Indian left once did so well

The neglect of regular organizational work by left parties was compounded by theoretical positions influenced more by experiences of the left in Europe than what was evident in the Indian context. A glaring example of this was their indifference to the issue of caste, which they treated as a feudal remnant that would disappear with the intensification of the class struggle.

This myopic stand on caste was part of a general contempt the left had for identity based movements  like those around language, regional or community aspirations - seen to be divisive of the working classes. The fact that each Indian communist party has contributed to dividing the Indian working class by setting up their individual trade union wings  like sub-castes almost - is of course not seen as a problem of identity politics by the left leadership!

The powerful emergence of the backward caste and Dalit movements in recent decades, particularly in the populous Hindi heartland, exposed the lefts lack of connect with ground realities. It did not help at all that historically, the left parties have been led overwhelmingly by those from upper caste Hindu backgrounds, with hardly any Dalits, extreme backward castes, Adivasis or Muslims anywhere in the top echelons of the organizational hierarchy.

On the economic front too, while the Left organized a section of urban, industrial workers the fact remains that trade unions represent just around 7% of the close to 500 million working population in the country. The vast majority, in the informal economy with no minimum wages, harsh working conditions and little security have not figured very much on the Lefts agenda. More than half of these workers in the informal sector again are farm labour, a section the Left has neglected, focusing instead on organizing the numerically smaller but socially more powerful middle and rich peasantry.

As if all this was not bad enough the Left Front regime in West Bengal lost its ideological moorings too, when it went to the extent of championing the policies of economic liberalization and privatization, introduced under pressure from Indian and foreign corporations, by the Narasimha Rao led Congress government in 1991. The Buddhadeb Bhattacharya regimes attempt, to forcibly take away land from farmers in Singur and Nandigram on behalf of private industry in 2007, led to massive public protests that finally ousted the Left Front government itself, after being in power for over three decades continuously.

It is a pity that Prafuls book does not go sufficiently into analyzing the reasons for the failure of the Indian Left to expand beyond West Bengal and Kerala or hold on to its initial strengths in states like Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. He also does not discuss the Naxalite and Maoist movements, without whose contributions as well as follies the overall Indian left movement cannot be fully understood. There is a precious section though in the appendix of the book though that gives a fascinating account of how the left built its organization and power base in Tripura, a history that is still very relevant to the future of the Indian left movement.

So given all these problems in their theory and practice what are the chances of the CPI and CPM really reinventing themselves and rising from the ashes? According to Praful, this is certainly possible provided they undergo critical introspection and radical course correction, failing which they will only fade away into complete irrelevance.

Unfortunately, honest reflection is unlikely given that Indian communist parties, like their counterparts internationally, have never really allowed much debate or criticism of policies within their own fold. They have instead claimed to be adhering to the Leninist principle of democratic centralism, under which factions of any kind were not allowed within the party for fear of breaking up their unity. Strangely, a movement that swore it was fighting for scientific socialism has never really adhered to the primary processes that drive the sciences  namely free flow of ideas, debate and the right to experiment and hold dissenting positions.

The price they have paid for such a rigid and foolish attitude has been high. Apart from an inability to make accurate judgments of political scenarios, the Indian Left was also not able to make course corrections because the feedback from its own cadre or leaders was censored or stifled. The brightest minds and many sincere workers of these parties got disillusioned and left, leading to a depletion of quality cadre. This in turn led to further decline of the Partys performance, both in terms of mass mobilization and electoral performance.

While Praful is deeply critical of the bigger Indian left parties for their various failures, he remains very hopeful, in general, about the future of the broader left movement, that includes other smaller communist parties and the sizeable non-party left and civil society forces. In this context, with some reservations, he also mentions the Aam Aadmi Party, whose ability to mobilise the public and focus on specific needs of the underclass bear both studying and emulation. The task of taking left principles, ideas and agendas forward according to him will fall on the shoulders of these other forces, that will need to work together in shared solidarity.

As a beginning towards this, he suggests the drawing up of a Peoples Charter, through a process of deep reflection and analysis, to work out a plan of transformational action in the Indian context. This is an important idea that should be considered by all those on the left at this juncture in Indian politics as a small but significant step out of the morass they are in.

Having a good plan though may not be enough to take on the challenge of fighting both growing corporate power and the religious nationalism allied with it. Given the dire political situation in the country, those on the left will also have to learn how to work together eschewing narrow sectarian attitudes. It is only a popular united front of workers, farmers, students, Dalits, Adivasis and minorities, against crony capitalism and religious nationalism, that could both save Indian democracy and help the Indian left regenerate like the mythical Phoenix.

The Indian left, across the spectrum, should also intensify debates within their fold on critical political, social and cultural questions. Most importantly they should go back to the masses not only in order to regain their influence on the Indian polity but even survive as a political formation in this country.

Satya Sagar is a journalist and public health woker and can be reached at sagarnama@gmail.com






Homeland

By Gaither Stewart

28 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org

The parable is told of the boiling of a frog. If you put it in boiling water the frog will jump out as soon as it feels the heat. But if you put it in cold water that is slowly heated it will not perceive the danger. The warmth feels good. It will slowly relax. As the water warms more and more the frogs energy will begin to drain and its sense of well-being will increase. The water gets hotter and hotter but the frog begins to fall asleep. By the time the water boils it is too late for the poor frog to take any action at all. The frog perishes in the boiling water, cooked to death. (A metaphor for the inability or unwillingness of people to react to or be aware of threats that arrive gradually.)

I remember how it was back there, once upon a time. But my remembrances are infrequent, weak and mendacious, illusive and unreal. I remember best little things, emotions and impressions, like how it felt in my halcyon days, back in what seemed another epoch. Once upon a time in my boyhood and youth there was the spirited sweetness and vigor of the smell of lively clover rising up on a summer day. The resplendent colors of the hillsides in the fall. The taste of fresh blackberries with cream in the summer. The sounds of the ships horns as they eased so gracefully down the river toward the bay and the high seas. The first intrepid touch of a girls soft downy thighs. It had seemed good and endless.

And sometimes still today, for briefs moments, walking in a park or eating a certain fruit in a certain way at a certain time or watching river boats gliding along winding waterways, I feel it. A flash of nostalgia before the familiar sensation vanishes back to where it came from. Then I feel disillusionment at the behavior of the Homeland, although I know I shouldnt, for now I have become aware that the fablelike once upon a time never existed. It never was. Not even at the very start. It was nothing but a dream.

Already back then, as I matured, I had seen that things seemed to be changing in the Homeland. I sensed something in the air. Like a medium I saw before me the transformation in arrival. The world of then was metamorphosing like Kafkas man morphing into an insect. In my time the Homeland distanced itself from the rest. Slowly, at first, ever so slowly, then as the heat in the world increased, faster and faster. But strangely, I thought, most people in the Homeland were not even aware of the gulf widening between themselves and Others.

Ugliness intervened in the history of those long summer nights. I knew my historypast, present and futurethe history of the greatest city in the world. History projected brutal images. I imagined the timing: out of the nocturnal mists of oceans had once emerged the outlines of arriving shipsthe English and the Dutch were landed, bearing evil. Ghostly silhouettes of Indians with their faces painted white must have looked on in astonishment. Then, almost in the beginning, out of the same dark ocean mists arrived waves of blacks with round faces and white frightened eyes. As the city began to grow, new houses crept up the island of Manahatta like waves of the sea. Blue and gray uniforms and cannons and flags and luxurious mansions rose menacingly from the ground. Boatloads of dark foreigners with cardboard suitcases arrived, many from where I live now and simultaneously ships packed with conscripted soldiers departed. A whole continent was in movement. Fevers rose. Railroads like spokes of a wheel had covered the country and subway tracks laid in tunnels. Parks with mansions on one side, slums on the other. Dandies and rag pickers. Robbers and thieves. Colors screamed. The colors of the skins were distinctwhite, yellow, red, brown, black. Palaces, cinemas and vaudeville halls, beer parlors, art galleries, train stations and stadiums, ships on white rivers of waters turning black, smoke and steam, pale women and silent girls seated in long lines of the urban factories. The banks, the Stock Exchange facade shrouded in ticker tape and bands of strikers whose ranks over time transformed into homeless sleeping in doorways, in parks, in subway stations. And ranks of white-faced policemen in blue opened fire on the legions of homeless and darker skins.

The signs of what was happening within the anarchic chaos were there back then. But I hadnt seen them. Not at first. The crackling and crumbling were audible. I hadnt heard the breaking apart. Few people seemed to notice. It was the great swerve, I came to think. At first it was unobtrusive in all the bedlam of world war and the deadly confusion of the post-war. And as human senses died. Change so imperceptible as to happen unremarked. No one even paid attention. Unreality reigned. I wondered then how it could happen that people were so comfortable, so at ease in the midst of the crumbling of the structure. Unperceived realities in their ignorance of what was happening. For me, at my present safe distance, it was as if a whole society were disappearing from human memory.

There was the swerve from republic to empire, I had philosophized. (Thanks to Professor of Humanities at Harvard, Stephen Greenblatt for the title of his wonderful book, The Swerve, the story of how the world became modern.) Now I realize that the crumbling and chaos truly had started much earlier, in the very founding period of my Homeland. Proof was the wars. The wars. Not only the wars I have known. I researched the list since the Mexican War of 1844. Astounding. Uninterrupted war. Eternal War, like the Roman Empire.

War of 1812, Opium wars in China, American Civil War, Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War, Boxer War in China, WWI, Russian Civil War, WWII, Korean War, Bay of Pigs in Cuba, Vietnam War, Grenada, Panama, Gulf War, Bosnian War and Kosovo War, Afghanistan still underway, Iraq War still on, Libya, plus dozens and dozens of dozens of wars against native American peoples, Sioux, Cheyenne, Seminoles, Navajo et al and the police actions and the putting down of fanatical internal rebellions, endless interventions and occupations in Haiti, Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Central America. War. War. War.

The Homeland engaged in a deadly high-stakes game for world hegemony. Not just to be a superpower, but to be THE ONE AND ONLY SUPERPOWER.. No gods before me. Its major rivals are also cunning and ambitious, but none like the Homeland. The making of the Empire. The making of the worlds greatest military machine and arms industry, war and industry feeding each other.

Some claimed there was a swerve and that it had carved out a new destiny for the Homeland. But by that time I had come to know better. There really was no swerve. The Homeland itself, from its inception was the swerve. The rest was mimesis. The land of Neverwas, as in the film. And lie, lie, lie. Lie, the legend that Americans have never known war at home on their own soil. They know war. The Wild West we know in the film genre was war. Their manifest destiny was war. Born and bred on internal wars that they now export to the world under the brand name of democracy. Nor was the comfort and ease in the Homeland real durable reality; it was false and temporary.

Come back home! Come back and see how things really are here, they beg me from the Homeland. How can you criticize when you dont know it anymore? Oh, but I do know it. I wouldnt know how to check-in at the airport or at the station for a slow express train but I know what political corruption is, what the 0.1% is. I wouldnt know how to get a drivers permit but I know about mass school shootings. I wouldnt know how to get proper medical aid but I and much of the world know about the war of the militarized city police against the people  especially the black and unarmed, crippled or under age. I know nothing about health insurance but I know of the widespread closing down of book stores and libraries for a people forgetting how to read texts not written on an I-phone. Mars is the enemy of books, Greenblatt notes. I know about Swat teams battering down doors of private residences to collect university study loans. I know of the treatment of exploited war veterans: mistreated social derelicts, the survivors, the hero worship of the killer-sniper and the public fear of death, the anxiety about death, the dying and the hereafter. I know what false flag operations and Gladio are. I know about the devilish religions and school prayers. I know about the lying media, the gobbledygook turned out by The New York Times, back in the Homeland. I see, smell, feel, hear the coarseness, the desired ignorance, the trivialities and the melancholy, the hopelessness, the difficulties of the reality of lived life back in the Homeland for which I feel both the sympathy and the contempt of the stranger.

And moreover I know of the decay, the breakdown of society and its physical structures: the total war between whites (who themselves are dying unawares like the frog in boiling water) and the rest and the collapsing bridges and potholed freeways, the vanishing embarrassed middle class and whole urban agglomerations gutted, their industries shipped abroad, their people abandoned and the cities diabolically transmuted into ghost towns, monuments of former societies. Streets, the putative container of greatness, the vaunted human freedom and dignity where life went ononce upon a time, some still claim!are dirty and neglected, suited for panzer tanks and armored vehicles.

And I knowor I read aboutthe spreading poverty in the Homeland (the worlds richest country, on paper) that is experienced by individuals more than it is debated and fought publicly. Where did the many thousands of workers in North Carolinas closed furniture factories go after their jobs were exported? Where did the cotton mill workers go?

The Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond confirms: Poverty is not just a sad accident (of losing a job). Its partly about lack of jobs, but its also a result of the fact that some people make a lot of money off low-income families and directly contribute to their poverty. For the extreme poor it is traumatic, Desmond argues after traveling with movers to witness evictions and see the shocking suddenness of seeing your house turn into not your house in seconds. Movers turn on the lights without asking, open the fridge, open the cupboards. Homes are obliterated instantly, and often just piled up on the curb.

Now, with his book Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, to be published on March 1 by Crown, Desmond points out an overlooked aspect of American poverty and inequality: For many families in eviction court the difficulty of finding and keeping a roof over their heads consumes as much as 80 percent of their income and has become not just a consequence of poverty, but a cause of poverty. Just as incarceration has come to define the lives of low-income black men, eviction is defining the lives of low-income black women.

My vision is now clear  or less blurred. Where, I ask, is authentic public dissent? Where are the popular dissenters who once claimed liberty, sweet freedom? Oh, the blindness of self-righteous liberals who think marches and sit-ins change the world. Its just not enough. And the builders of walls everywhere  walls instead of bridges. The Clintonitis infecting the Homeland, is it disease or condition? Originality dwindles along with societal life replaced by an imitation society a la Las Vegas. And what about love? Where does love go when it departs? In a time in which even feelings dwindle. That is the horrible reality.

Learn from the past. Serve the future. Live in the present. Beautiful maxim, Stranger! Lovely. But in the Homeland? The past is the past, forgotten. The future is uncertain and misty and promises nothing. And the present is ugly, deformed, mendacious.

My own children, immigrants to my Homeland for study, then work, then life, return to visit me in their former homeland. I ask if they were stripped by airport security on departure. They laugh, nudge one another; aw, its not that way. Did they x-ray you, feel you up? Oh, why dont you come and see for yourself. Maybe, I doubt it, but just maybe, someday. But I know I never will.

Gaither Stewart, based in Rome is a veteran journalist and essayist on a broad palette of topics from culture to history and politics, he is also the author of the Europe Trilogy, celebrated spy thrillers whose latest volume, Time of Exile, was recently published by Punto Press.




Inside The Church Of The Pro-GMO Activist

By Colin Todhunter

28 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org

Last year on Twitter, Monsanto Vice President Robert Fraley provided a link to an article that implied those who are suspicious of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), among other things, are confused, motivated by ideology or misinformed as a result of access to the university of Google, or they are simply conspiracy theorists. Fraley asked why people doubted science and seemed to be taking a swipe at critics of GMOs, who the GM sector and its mouthpieces like to depict as dealing in fear mongering and relying on pseudo-science.

The industry and its assortment of pro-GM activists in science and the media have a view of the world that requires the public to bow to some kind of scientific priesthood whose knowledge and opinions should never be questioned (listen to this recent presentation from the Oxford Real Farming Conference - from 17:00). They require us to have unquestioned belief in sciences ability to solve humanitys problems. Deference and faith are key to the creed.

The problem is that rich corporations and individuals have manipulated the idea of science and have been able to distort scientific research. They have translated their vast financial influence into political clout and the control of science and scientific institutions. The result is that science institutes, research programmes and practitioners now too often willingly serve the interests of powerful corporations. Far from liberating humankind the control of science and scientific research and media-led rational debate in the public sphere have become a tool of deception.

The reason why so many people doubt science is because they can see how science is corrupted and manipulated by powerful corporations. It is because they regard these large corporations as unaccountable and their activities and products not properly regulated by governments.

Sociologist Robert Merton highlighted the underlying norms of science as involving research that is not warped by vested interests, adhering to the common ownership of scientific discoveries (intellectual property), promoting collective collaboration and subjecting findings to organised, rigorous critical scrutiny within the scientific community. Secrecy, dogma and vested interest thus have no place.

The reality is, however, careers, reputations, commercial interests and funding issues all serve to undermine these norms.

Twisted science, altered truth

In 2014, US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack called for sound science to underpin food trade between the US and the EU. Consumer rights groups in the US are pushing for the labelling of GMO foods, but Vilsack said that putting a label on a foodstuff containing a GM product risks sending a wrong impression that this was a safety issue.

Despite what Vilsack would have us believe, many scientific studies show that GMOs are indeed a big safety issue and whats more are also having grave environmental, social and economic consequences (for example, see this about GM and pesticides in Argentina, this on how GM agriculture is drive ecocide and death in South America and this about the overall efficacy and impacts of GM).

By not wanting to respond to widespread consumer demands to know what they are eating and risk sending a wrong impression (doublespeak to English translation: sending out the right impression about GM being a fundamentally flawed and corrupt endeavour), Vislack is trying to close down debate about issues that his corporate backers find unpalatable: labelling would allow consumers to reject the GMOs being fed to them. By attempting to side-line any genuine open discussion of GM in this way, the aim is to conveniently shut down any criticism of this technology and suppress scientific, political and public debate about it.

And have little doubt that the term corporate backers applies in this case: big agribusiness has captured, or at the very least seriously compromised, key policy and regulatory bodies in the US, Europe, India and in fact on a global level (see this regarding control of the WTO).

The concept of sound science is being manipulated to deceive and disguise the underlying agenda: GM as a strategy by global agribusiness to control intellectual property and global supply chains.

At the same time that Vilsack and others refer to some high-minded notion of sound science, they are actively striving to debase it along with its actual practice. The industry carries out inadequate, short-term studies and conceals the data produced by its research under the guise of commercial confidentiality, while there is enough research that highlights the dangers and potential harmful effects of its products (see this and this). It has also engaged in fakery in India, bribery in Indonesia and smears and intimidation against those who challenge its interests, as well as the distortion and the censorship of science (see this and this).

With its aim to modify organisms to create patents that will secure ever greater control over seeds, markets and the food supply, the GM sector is only concerned with a certain type of science which supports these aims. If science is held in such high regard by these corporations, why in the US don't they label foods containing GMOs and throw open their studies open to public scrutiny, instead of veiling them with secrecy, restricting independent research on their products or resorting to unsavoury tactics?

If science is held in such high regard by the GM sector, why in the US did policy makers release GM food onto the commercial market without proper long-term tests? The argument used to justify this is GM food is substantially equivalent to ordinary food. This is wrong (see this as well). Substantial equivalence is a trade strategy on behalf of the GM sector that neatly serves to remove its GMOs from the type of scrutiny usually applied to potentially toxic or harmful substances.

The reason why no labelling or testing has taken place in the US is not due to sound science having been applied but comes down to the power and political influence of the GMO sector and because a sound scientific approach has not been applied.

The sector cannot win the scientific debate (although its PR likes to tell the world it has) so it resorts to co-opting key public bodies or individuals to propagate various falsehoods and deceptions. Part of the deception is based on emotional blackmail: the world needs GMOs to feed the hungry, both now and in the future. This myth has been taken apart (see this, this and this). In fact, in the second of those three links, the organisation GRAIN highlights that GM crops that have been planted thus far have actually contributed to food insecurity.

Research, peer review and vested interests

Peoples faith in science is being shaken on many levels, not least because big corporations have secured access to policy makers and governments and are increasingly funding research and setting research agendas.

As Andrew Neighbour, former administrator at Washington University in St. Louis, who managed the universitys multiyear and multimillion dollar relationship with Monsanto, admits, Theres no question that industry money comes with strings. It limits what you can do, when you can do it, who it has to be approved by." Kamalakar Duvvuru

The reality is Monsanto is funding the research not for the benefit of either the farmer or the public, but for its own commercial interests.

Ultimately, it is not science itself that people have doubts about but science that is pressed into the service of immensely powerful private corporations and regulatory bodies that are effectively co-opted and adopt a dont look, dont find approach to studies and products (see this and this) or are simply being pressured by the GM industry to come up with findings that it finds acceptable; or in the case of releasing GMOs onto the commercial market in the US, bypassing proper scientific procedures and engaging in doublespeak about substantial equivalence then hypocritically calling for sound science to inform debates.

We need look no further than the report Seedy Business to see how science is swayed, bought or biased by agribusiness. This is done by, for example, suppressing adverse findings, harming the careers of scientists who produce such findings, controlling the funding that shapes what research is conducted, the lack of independent US-based testing of health and environmental risks of GMOs and tainting scientific reviews of GMOs by conflicts of interest.

This is a point that Claire Robinson develops:

"Its no surprise that many public scientists and organizations ally themselves with the GMO industry, as they rely heavily on industry funding. GMO companies have representatives on university boards and fund research, buildings and departments. Monsanto has donated at least a million dollars to the University of Florida Foundation. Many US universities that do crop research are beholden to Monsanto. Some academic scientists own GMO patents and are involved in spin-off companies that develop GM crops... Universities have become businesses and scientists have become entrepreneurs and sales people."

The same interests are moreover undermining the peer-review process itself and the ability of certain scientists to get published in journals  traditionally, the benchmark of scientific credibility. Powerful interests increasingly hold sway over funding, career progression as a scientist, journals and peer review (see this and this, which question the reliability of peer review in the area of GMOs).

Consider what The Lancet Editor in Chief Richard Horton said in 2015:

The case against science is straightforward: much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue. Afflicted by studies with small sample sizes, tiny effects, invalid exploratory analyses, and flagrant conflicts of interest, together with an obsession for pursuing fashionable trends of dubious importance, science has taken a turn towards darkness.

Peer-review is often referred to as the gold standard by with which we should measure the validity of knowledge. As a result, non-peer-reviewed articles, reports or research is too often cast aside in favour of a process that, despite what some would like us to believe, is massively distorted by commercial and career-related interests.

As already noted, powerful corporations fund research programmes and institutions and, by implication, provide a mapped-out career progression for individual scientists.

Through funding, they can shape the research agenda: which issues are to be examined and which are not, as well as how research is to be carried out. They are also able to divert funds to certain scientists and can suppress certain findings and bring pressure to bear on institutions and individual scientists. Corporations may also fund or hold sway over journals, as the Seralini affair showed, and peer reviewers themselves often have career or funding interests and have a stake in pushing a certain technology and thus side-lining certain findings or individual academics.

Scientist as priest: uninformed personal opinion masquerades as fact

Scientists do themselves or science no justice when they spout rhetoric in support of GM. Although they may be respected within their own particular discipline and are highly qualified, they seem to think it is therefore legitimate for them to offer uniformed personal opinion on virtually any other issue - and to be regarded as expert sources.

Regardless of the fact that scientists may know about genetic manipulation and the impacts on a particular organism in a laboratory, we should hold them to account when they say that Greenpeace should be held accountable for crimes against humanity because it is resisting GM technology. We should hold them to account when they attack agencies or individuals on the basis that they are acting like totalitarian political regimes that were responsible for the deaths of millions merely because they disagree with GM and offer credible arguments and science to support their claims about the negative impacts of this technology.

Since when did having a PhD in molecular biology or an associated field make someone an expert on political systems or the history of Cambodia, the USSR or some other country, which they are implicitly referring to when making such a ridiculous statement?

Since when did a molecular biologist become an expert in political economy and, more specifically, on trade and development, commodity markets, debt repayment, land speculation, export-oriented oil-dependent agriculture, sustainable agriculture, the dynamics of structural inequality and poverty or any of the other issues that impact on global and regional food security and create food deficit areas?

When they talk about feeding the world and attack critics of GM in the way they do, they want to promote the notion that a bogus and flawed techno quick-fix GMO solution is paramount and will suffice. Or perhaps it is highly convenient for them to overlook all of the above issues, which in reality, not in the fantasy world of the pro-GMO scientist, determine humanity's ability for feeding itself effectively and properly.

The reality is that this rhetoric is an attempt to shut down any criticism. It is also designed to side-line legitimate analyses of the root causes of hunger and poverty, genuine solutions for productive, sustainable agriculture that can feed humanity and those who argue for them.

Readers might want to peruse this entertaining take-down of pro-GMO activist-scientists who seem to think they are experts on everything. The author states:

"... they are in fact not scientists at all but corporate propagandists. They do nothing but knowingly tell lies, claim knowledge where they have none, and... confuse the nature of every issue. All the while they sanctimoniously insist that anyone who lacks formal scientific credentials is unqualified to speak about GMOs. (This of course... doesnt apply to corporate executives or pro-GMO politicians and media flacks.) The best proof of this... is that literally none of them... stays within the bounds of their own disciplines when pontificating about GMOs... every credentialed pro-GM activist evidently feels free to spew the most ignorant, idiotic opinions on any subject imaginable, no matter how unqualified they are according to their own credentialist standard."

Although the flamboyant style is done to maximise impact, the writer is making some key, valid points. For example, see this for a more sober account of Kevin Folta's utterances on issues beyond his expertise.

And yet, people like Richard John Roberts, Anthony Trewavas, Shanthu Shantharam and others like pro-corporate/GM media mouthpiece Jon Entine ('The Chemical Industry's Master Messenger') or pro-corporate/GM political mouthpiece like the UKs Owen 'Green Blob' Paterson seem to think some emotive talk about critics of GM engaging in crimes against humanity, stealing food from the poor, engaging in pseudo-science or some other sound bite designed for public consumption is fine.

If there is one thing these pro-GMO activists are truly expert at is passing off ill-informed rhetoric for expert opinion, while hiding behind a science PhD. This is nothing but spin that is designed to blur the lines between fact and fiction, science and propaganda.

Some people seem quite incredulous that people could doubt science.

Perhaps Robert Fraley should try to convince us why we should not. And while he's at it, he might want to contemplate why we should take anything he or his company says, does or promotes as 'science' given its decades-long history of deceptions, cover ups and criminality.

Colin Todhunter is an independent writer




The WikiLeaks Files. The World According To US Empire

Review By Ludwig Watzal

28 February, 2016

Countercurrents.org



The WikiLeaks Files. The World According to US Empire, Verso, London 2015, 624 pp. L 20,  20.90; $ 21.50.

"Each working day, 71,000 people across 191 countries representing twenty-seven different US government agencies wake and make their way past flags, steel fences, and armed guards into one of the 276 fortified buildings that comprise the 169 embassies and other missions of the US Department of State. They are joined in their march by representatives and operatives from twenty-seven other US government departments and agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the various branches of the US military", writes Julian Assange in his introduction to "The WikiLeaks Files". This book pictures a line of destabilization around the world by the US empire.Therefore, it's censored by the media, US government, facebook, twitter, and the Library of Congress.

These institutions are like "official" US espionage centers in foreign countries. "Above them, radio and satellite antennas scrape the air, some reaching back home to receive or disgorge diplomatic and CIA cables, some to relay the communications of US military ships and planes, others emplaced by the National Security Agency in order to mass-intercept the mobile phones and other wireless traffic of the host population." The US security and surveillance state has not only wiretapped Chancellor Angela Merkel and the German political class in toto but also the rest of the European leaders, including the leader of the French "Grant Nation", and their cronies in Brussels. And it didn't end with Edward Snowdon's whistle-blowing.

According to Assange, the Department of State is unique among the other bureaucracies of the United States. "It provides cover for the CIA, buildings for the NSA mass-interception equipment, office space and communications facilities for the FBI, the military, and other government agencies, and staff to act as sales agents and political advisors for the largest US corporations." Every year, the Department of State spends more than $ 1 billion for "public diplomacy" that's a euphemism for outward propaganda. It's aimed at journalists and civil society agencies, including some US human rights agencies so that they serve as conduits for the cause of the State Department.

The diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks are not produced to manipulate the public but are aimed at the rest of the US state apparatus. They mirror the real opinion of the Empire's ruling class because they are free from distorting the public. Therefore, the US empire is doing everything to get a hold of Assange. He has violated the unwritten code of conduct and has exposed the evil and sinister machinations of the United States governments. Considering the importance of the cables, Hillary Clinton's email traffic as Secretary of State via her private server should be considered a crime and is going to be investigated by the FBI. While the US government claims that Assange has published "classified" documents without a security clearance that violates the Espionage Act of 1917, although he is not a US citizens, how does the some US government treat Clintons passing on of "classified" material via her private server to people that had also no security clearance? The double standard of the US political class seems obvious.

Assange rightly criticized the national security establishment as a quasi "religious phenomenon". National security and classified documents are seen as if they were surrounded by a blaze of glory ("holy seal"). That Julian Assange "violated" their sanctuary can explain why the US security establishment got so hysterical about WikiLeaks disclosures and wants to get a hold of him at any cost.

The hysteria went so far that in 2011, the US government issued a "WikiLeaks fatwa" forbidding government officials to read even published "classified" documents in the media. "The recent disclosure of US Government documents by WikiLeaks has caused damage to our national security. Classified information, whether or not already posted on public websites, disclosed to the media, or otherwise in the public domain remains classified and must be treated as such until such time it is declassified by an appropriate US government authority  Contractors who inadvertently discover potentially classified information in the public domain shall report its existence immediately to their Facility Security Officers. Companies are instructed to delete the offending material by holding down the SHIFT key while pressing the DELETE key for Windows-based systems and clearing of the internet browser cache."

Assange hints at an odd phenomenon concerning the use of published "classified" documents by the academia, especially in US journals. "The academic censorship" in foreign relations surprised him most. The academic class doesn't accept papers that rely on published WikiLeaks material, although it is frequently used in courts or any other scientific fields. The field of international relations is dominated by ISA, the International Studies Association, which has banned the most important US foreign policy archive from appearing in its academic papers. "They are even worse than the US media", says Assange. Doesn't this academic fatwa call into question its entire output that explains the role of US foreign policy? A similar ignorant attitude on the part of academics can be determined relative to a questioning of the official 9/11 narrative.

The book falls into two parts: organized by continents and countries. Contributors, inter alia, are; Phyllis Bennis, Peter Certo, Michael Busch, Conn Hallinan, Sarah Harrison, Jake Johnston, Alexander Main, Robert Naiman, Linda Pearson, Gareth Porter, Russ Wellen, and Stephen Zunes. Three chapters in which US policy towards dictators, Iraq or economic questions such as TTP and TISA are nameless. Or were they written by Assange? Many authors take a very critical position towards US foreign policy. Some of them see no difference between Obama's and Bush's foreign policy. Their policy had little to do with human rights but rather with supporting Iraqi sectarianism that led to ISIS and the current refugee crisis.

Most information focuses on post-9/11 and the "war on terror" fought by the US and its client states. This war led to a never-ending nightmare for the people of these countries. It's not surprising that all authors describe US policy in the darkest colors possible. Many of these essays seem to be driven by a hypercritical political position rather than an open-minded behind-the-scene analysis. Perhaps it would have been a better idea to publish "the best of the best" of the millions of documents that WikiLeaks has presented so far on its website, provided with some ranging in comments of the US position in global affairs. This might have given a more objective picture of the highly questionable role the US empire plays around the world.

Despite these minor objections, it's a very important, informative and disturbing book that is a very dry read.

Dr. Ludwig Watzal works as a journalist and editor in Bonn, Germany. He runs the bilingual blog

http://between-the-lines-ludwig-watzal.blogspot.de/




"I don't think anyone should be discriminated against."

That message was repeated over and over last Monday night, when the City Council voted to strengthen human rights protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. And it didn't come from the amendment's supporters.

By my count, 23 commenters sauntered to the podium during the roughly 18-day meeting (length rounded down). Eight spoke for the ordinance and 15 spoke against it. None of the detractors launched into hellfire tirades about how homosexuals were stalking through the night to steal the souls of their children. In fact, they said the opposite. They heaped LGBT folks with the kind of praise most people reserve for their mothers.

They live next to / work with / are related to a gay person, and love them dearly. They may have even talked to a transgender person on their way to the podium and hey, look at that: they're just like everyone else.

But.

There was always a but. It became a game as I watched the live stream of the meeting. Start with how nice LGBT folks are, end with why those nice people don't deserve civil rights.

Almost all the detractors cited religion, mainly the concern that small business owners who refuse to work a same-sex wedding would lose their life's work under a pile of lawsuits.

Their opposition to the amendment had nothing to do with discrimination, they said. It had to do with preserving freedom  their freedom. What, you want someone to get sued for practicing their religion? This is America, baby.

The "this is not about discrimination" argument has been repeated over and over as the effort for universal LGBT civil rights unfolds across the country. And it complicates what should be a very American quest: secure equal rights for a group of people that sorely needs it.

"Sure, we want to give LGBT folks civil rights," the argument goes, "but what about religious freedom for Christians who put a lot of stock in Leviticus? You can't create discrimination to eliminate discrimination."

Gov. Mike Pence, who helped steer the Indiana Legislature away from statewide LGBT protections during this year's session, is a master at the argument. Ask him any question about the issue and he knee-jerks the same response: "Hoosiers don't discriminate."

He says it so much that it probably leaks into everyday conversation.

"Would you like cheese on your hamburger, Gov. Pence?"

"Hoosiers don't discriminate."

The days of Strom Thurmond are over. He isn't going to waltz into City Council chambers and mewl about who can use the water fountain. That's because ... well, it's because he's dead. But it's also because, outside of Donald Trump, that kind of open hatred isn't tolerated anymore.

Backward, dangerous opposition abounds in the LGBT battle as well. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, violent hate crimes against transgender people increased by 13 percent in 2014.

You're not going to change those minds. Shouting reason into the face of hatred is pointless. You may as well as scream calculus equations at a beagle.

But they aren't the ones standing in the way of broad human rights legislation. No one takes a bigot seriously  unless it's famed French entomologist Jacques-Marie-Frangile Bigot. And I heard even he had some pretty backward thoughts about Canadians.

Instead, LGBT advocates have to find some way to placate the gentle opposition: those Christians at last week's meeting saying nice things about the LGBT while simultaneously expressing a desire to practice their faith unencumbered.

Until they find agreement, animosity will fester between the two groups. And the longer it festers, the more likely it becomes that their current civility will melt away.

Maybe advocates should point Monday's commenters away from Leviticus and toward Romans 15:7.

"Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God."

Contact Jon Webb at jon.webb@courierpress.com or follow him on Twitter @JonAdamWebb
MEGAN THORNE / Courier & PRESS Attending the open house Saturday morning for the new in-hospital Ronald McDonald House facility are, from left, Theresa Floyd-Maas, Executive Director of the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Ohio Valley; Ronald McDonald; Christina Ryan, CEO of the Womens Hospital; Mary Stephens, nursing director of Newborn Services; and Linda White, CEO of Deaconess Health System.

SHARE MEGAN THORNE / Courier & PRESS The new Happy Wheels Cart, which offers toys, games, drinks, toiletries and food to families at the hospital. MEGAN THORNE / Courier & PRESS In each new room of the parent care area, there is a basket with a bear and a washing area so families have privacy and comfort.

By Megan Thorne, megan.thorne@courierpress.com

Children laughed and parents smiled as Ronald McDonald greeted them in the remodeled parent care unit at Deaconess Women's Hospital Saturday morning.

Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Ohio Valley joined with the Women's Hospital to help renovate the parent care unit and make a mini Ronald McDonald house inside the hospital so families feel more comfortable while they are going through a tough time.

"We have been talking about this for the last five years and today it's a dream come true and a great reality," said Linda White, CEO of Deaconess Health system.

White said when she sees the smiles on the faces of children who see Ronald McDonald and the smiles of families who have babies in the nursery or the NICU, she feels it's reassuring for them to see that the hospital will take care of them.

"This has been a work of love and Ronald McDonald and the McDonald's charities have been so gracious and accommodating in making this happen," White said.

Mary Stephens, nursing director of newborn services, said when they would refer families to the local Ronald McDonald House on Washington Avenue, the families of babies often did not want to leave the hospital but instead wanted to stay with or very near their child.

"It's wonderful, because we can keep our families happy and we can keep them here," Stephens said. "They have everything they need, a place to sleep, a place for their family, a place to get food and they can still be involved in the care of their babies."

Stephens said they focus a lot around family centered care and they find if families are a big part of the care, the outcomes are better.

"No mom wants to walk away from the hospital and leave her baby here," Stephens said. "It's very hard. We see lots of tears, so it's great for (Ronald McDonald House) to sponsor us  so parents can come down in their pajamas, pump around the clock, or come up to the room and take a nap. It's a home for them."

Lauren Gries remembered being at the Women's hospital for a week after the birth of her youngest daughter and before the renovation.

"She was in the NICU for a week and I slept a few hours (in the rooms) upstairs during the week, it was my home for that time," Gries said. "It was pretty dingy, dark and I didn't have my own lamp  now they've updated it with new carpet, flooring and bedding and lamps for those middle of the night hours. It's a comfortable place to sleep."

Gries said she feels it's necessary for other families to have a comfortable place while they are at the hospital.

"Sometimes families are here for an extended amount of time and we were lucky to not be here that long, but families that are here for a longer amount of time, it's a place for them to call home," Gries said.

Theresa Floyd-Maas, executive director for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of the Ohio Valley, said a Happy Wheels cart will provide families with refreshments, food, toys and games as a distraction.

"It's amazing. We have been working toward this relationship for a while and it's great to see it actually come to life and be here," Floyd-Maas said.

About 18 months ago the charity started bringing meals to the families after noticing they didn't have a kitchen and it was a hindrance for families to leave and go to the cafeteria, Floyd-Maas said.

"We can bring a little bit of cheer to the families going through a stressful time, and we do have plans to add additional carts," she said. "It just makes me happy because I know it's going to bring some comfort and help for the families caring for their child."
His first Medal of Honor came during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900, when he singlehandedly defended a bastion wall swarming with Chinese snipers using only a bayoneted rifle. His second came 15 years later in Haiti, when he retrieved a lost machine gun (which weighed more than he did) from the bottom of a river and proceeded to use it to rain hellfire on the 400 Haitian insurgents who'd ambushed his patrol. That's right: At an age at which most people start to seriously think about switching to wheat bread, Dan Daly was renewing the nation's highest award for extraordinary heroism as if that sucker expires.

Underwood & Underwood

"I needed a new medal anyway. The ribbon on the old one kept breaking off during sex."

Continue Reading Below Advertisement

This brings us up to Daly's role in World War I and the Battle of Belleau Wood, where the then-First Sergeant risked his life to extinguish an ammo dump that had been struck by enemy fire. Two days later, with his unit pinned down and outgunned by the Germans, Daly walked up and down the line, cheering on each of his machine gun positions and straight-up daring any German bullets to hit him. When he judged it time to launch a counterattack, Daly leapt toward the enemy and shouted, "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?!"
SAN FRANCISCO  All this week, Salted Hash will be walking the halls of the RSA Conference in California. The running theme this week is threat intelligence; what it is and what it isn't, the vendors who produce it, and the people who use it.

You'd think there would be an abundance of sources and source material given the topic, but that wasn't the case at all.

For two weeks, Salted Hash attempted to locate security practitioners in various market segments to talk about threat intelligence, incident response, and how the two areas overlap. It wasn't easy.

First, while most were willing to share their experiences, they wouldn't or couldn't share proof of those experiences, such as redacted screenshots of the product, or anything that would confirm they were a customer of a given vendor. It may seem extreme to require proof, but given the topic, we felt it was important to confirm first-hand knowledge of the product it possible, and avoid speculation.

Second, there was another segment of people willing to talk, but only in a general sense, because the threat intelligence vendor was holding non-disclosure agreements over their heads.

And that's understandable. Most people aren't allowed to talk to the media, and those who do often request that their name and employer be left out of the official record. But it's strange that a threat intelligence vendor would have a non-disclosure agreement preventing a company from discussing perceived value or sharing information on the types of data they see.

We reached out to FireEye, one of the better-known and widely used threat intelligence vendors on the market, and asked if they used non-disclosure agreements to prevent customers from talking about the intelligence they get, its scope, or its value, etc.

A spokesperson got back to us a short time later, explaining that the intelligence products that they sell are proprietary "and customers agree in the terms and conditions not to disseminate the content beyond the organization (standard clause when purchasing content of any sort.) Talking about the scope, and perceived value, is certainly not prohibited."

FireEye was one of the vendors where customers stated they couldn't speak due to a non-disclosure agreement. As it turns out, FireEye customers are in fact free to talk about their experiences, they just can't share content.

Perhaps the concept of what is and isn't allowed with regard to open discussion isn't being communicated properly by the vendor or the company. Then again, it could be a case where those in the trenches don't know the limits of the non-disclosure agreements they cited when declining to talk. The final possibility as to why sourcing this week's coverage was so taxing is that the organization just doesnt want to discuss any aspect of their threat intelligence operations.

Maybe the entire notion of a vendor forcing non-disclosure agreements needs to be examined? Is it useful? Sure, keeping the sauce a secret has advantages, but how far is too far?

Rick Holland, when he was at Forrester (now the VP of Strategy for Digital Shadows), somewhat addressed this issue a report on threat intelligence last year:

One hundred percent transparency isn't realistic; providers naturally want to protect their sources and methods, but they must find a compromise that informs prospects and demonstrates differentiation. In a crowded market, providers who keep everything about sources and methods private will be hard-pressed to make customer shortlists where they will be given the opportunity to validate their nebulous claims. Challenge vendors that provide little detail and suggest nondisclosure agreements; as a last resort, eliminate them from consideration.

As mentioned, FireEye customers referenced non-disclosure agreements when asked specifics. Even after being informed that FireEye doesn't prohibit discussions about perceived value or scope, they remained firm on their stance.

As you'll see this week, we did find some people who use threat intelligence daily who were willing to share information, their experiences, and thoughts on the topic.

Those we spoke to use a number of different vendors and products to get the job done. Later this week, we'll look at an advisory from Radware and examine context, discuss threat intelligence automation, learn what it takes to start a threat intelligence program, and more.

Today's story looks at how an incident response manager uses CrowdStrike's Falcon platform.

Full Disclosure: I have recently learned that CSO Online, the parent publication of Salted Hash, has an existing business relationship with CrowdStrike. I was not aware of this business relationship prior to starting my research on threat intelligence. Editorial and marketing have defined limits and do not overlap when it comes to news gathering operations, so there was no way for me to know of it before hand. The existence of this business relationship was brought to my attention after my research into CrowdStrike came to an abrupt halt on February 23. This abrupt halt was due to CrowdStrike contacting senior management at CSO Online. I don't know the exact intent of the company in reaching out, but the contact with senior management alleged that I was refusing to give them a fair shake in what was shaping up to be a negative piece. This was confusing, because I had contacted the company twice in the previous week only to be met with silence. Not only did I ask them to take part in the story on February 16; along with my questions, I informed them that I was speaking to a person working incident response in the finance sector, emailed them my story notes, the notes from a Falcon Host demo I watched, and informed them the demo notes would be part of the story, as they countered some of the source's remarks. I took these steps in order for them to have the ability to respond fully to the comments made by a customer. It was eight days before they returned with a brief statement on February 24, refusing to answer any of the questions asked. Steve Ragan, Salted Hash

CrowdStrike's statement is produced in full below. On page two of this post, you'll find the interview with the source (incident response, finance) that their statement addresses.

"Without understanding who the customer is, and not understanding the role of this anonymous person, it is difficult to address any specifics of their implementation. Each customer has specific needs for their environment, which impacts how they implement and use our products. "With a combination of Falcon Host, Falcon DNS and most importantly the data provided by Falcon Intelligence, we believe customers are in a position to dramatically reduce their exposure of a breach. We pride ourselves to provide value to our customers everyday, and we continue to add new capabilities to our products as evidenced by our winter platform release, announced this week."

CrowdStrike's press release on the aforementioned product can be found here. While it wouldn't have stopped our research or reporting, Salted Hash was not aware of any pre-RSA Conference product releases from the company.
FAIRFIELD  A Fairfield University student was injured early Sunday morning after a fight broke out during a party at townhouses on North Benson Road, police said.

Around 1:30 a.m., police said a male tried to access the apartment to join the party but was denied entry and a scuffle broke out. A 20 year-old feamle was injured as the male tried to force is way into the apartment.
U.S. Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn, is applauding the recent commitment by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce nitrogen levels in the Long Island Sound.

Though we are making progress, last summer was disastrous for wildlife in the Long Island Sound, Murphy said. Thanks to the hard work of local advocates like Save the Sound, we are in a better place today.
'Joe Biden can have them': Mastriano vows to bus migrants to Delaware
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Liam Fox, former secretary of state for defence

Over the past week, those who want to keep us locked into the EU (the Remain-ians as I call them) have bombarded the British people with what they call Project Fear.

This is designed to frighten us into believing we would be unsafe and unable to manage in the world without the support of Brussels.

There is no limit to the scaremongering. The way in which General Sir Michael Rose was treated by Downing Street last week was appalling.

To misrepresent the views of one of the countrys most senior military officers in the way that they did is a very serious matter, but at least it did us all a favour by showing that the pro-EU elite will say anything and use anyone in pursuit of their goal.

One of the most bizarre claims made repeatedly last week was that President Putin would be happy and feel less threatened if Britain was outside the EU.

Lets just have a reality check here. Britain was in the EU when Russia launched a cyber attack on our Baltic ally Estonia.

Did that deter him?

When he carried out his invasion of Georgia, did he think twice because of our EU membership?

Did he quiver about our Brussels links before he illegally annexed Crimea? Do these people take us for idiots?

One of the reasons why Russia has been emboldened is the failure of the West to respond to his aggression over too many years. It has nothing to do with whether we are in the EU or not.

Only with his incursion into Ukraine have we belatedly responded with a strengthening of Natos borders and sanctions.

The safety of our people is dependent on two sources  Nato and our intelligence services, not the EU.

Nato brings with it the defence commitment of the United States. It is worth pointing out that the US defence budget is bigger than the next 11 biggest defence budgets in the world combined, including Russia and China.

Nato is an alliance of more than 900 million people, compared to 500 million in the EU. It is a strengthened and more committed Nato approach that will contain external threats, including Russia.

One of the most bizarre claims made repeatedly last week was that President Putin would be happy and feel less threatened if Britain was outside the EU, writes LIAM FOX

Nato has kept the peace in Europe since the end of the Second World War. We do not need an EU version that drags us into supranational decision-making on security.

Nato operates as a collection of independent states co-operating as and when they choose to do so. The EU does not, increasingly taking more decisions collectively at the centre.

Of course, we will be told that we would never allow that to happen. Yet, step by step, the EU machine takes control of more areas of our national life, our laws and our borders.

Those who believe in the European project will not rest until they have all the trappings of statehood, including defence forces.

Already there are parallel structures in place  planning cells, EU military staff and the European Defence Agency for procurement.

Instead of scare stories, those who want to keep us handcuffed to Brussels should tell us why. They are hiding behind Project Fear because they are themselves terrified of people realising exactly what ever closer union entails.

We are being dragged in a direction that is against our national interests. The so-called renegotiation did nothing to change that.

There is no fundamental reform and there will not be.

Remaining is the greater risk to our independence. It is time to leave the integrationist EU and take control of our countrys destiny.
Jonathan Shaw, former director of special forces

At a business lunch just after the June 23 vote was announced, we held a snap poll of those attending. I was asked to give the military impact of the UK leaving the EU.

I gave the standard military reply, absorbed through several tours in the MoD and 32 years in the Army, that Nato was our military alliance and that leaving the EU would therefore be irrelevant to our defence.

This, plus the evident democratic deficit of the EU and the appeal of the idea of UK sovereignty, made me opt then for Brexit.

And yet the more I have thought about this, the more I question my decision. Not because I disagree with my arguments but because the vote on June 23 is more complex than I had considered.

Nato is indeed the military alliance on which our physical security depends. With a resurgent Russia  and its actions in Crimea, the Ukraine and its threat to the Baltics  our need for Nato is stronger now than at any time since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

However, the military are not the only, or even most immediate, lines of defence of our security; for the nature of the threat has changed.

Read the latest Strategic Defence And Security Review and the plethora of threats to the UK becomes clear: cyber, migration, terrorism.

These are threats for which the military has a role, but mainly in support of wider civilian agencies. These threats are primarily handled via the EU, creating the inter-governmental response required to cope.

Whatever the inadequacies of the EU, it seems to me unarguable that somehow our security on these wider issues would be enhanced by not being part of it.

Yet, the critics say, immigration is surely a security threat and its the EUs fault. But recent figures produced by the Office for National Statistics of immigration in the year to September 2015 suggest more than half of the 332,000 immigrants came from outside the EU  our responsibility, not the EUs.

And as we are not part of the EU Schengen Agreement, we can screen everyone who comes in.

Weeding out the security threats from the applicants who wish to come to the UK depends on intelligence. And being part of the EU surely must enhance our intelligence co-operation with our continental partners.

Weeding out the security threats from the applicants who wish to come to the UK depends on intelligence, writes JONATHAN SHAW (stock image of the Jungle camp in Calais)

So even on the toxic subject of immigrations security threat, I judge we are better in.

We live in an age of hybrid threats, where global actors seek advantage using whatever tools are at hand.

We have already seen how, in the renewed competition with Russia, they have tried to create an energy stranglehold over Europe as a tool of influence over our policies; a collective response and dispersion of energy supply has been engineered by the EU.

In an increasingly uncertain world, the need of collective security as well as collective defence is rising.

When I enter the polling booth on June 23, my gut will yearn for the rugged individualism of UK alone, democratically accountable and sovereign; but my head will note the rising need for collective security inside both Nato and EU.

And with the exclusion of the UK from the EUs ever closer union, I am now clear that, specifically on the security issue, the arguments strongly support staying in the EU.
I was Chancellor in 2008 and I saw the catastrophic effects of a breakdown in confidence and deep uncertainty after the banking crash

If there is one thing I know about, it is how it feels when a country faces potential financial ruin. I was Chancellor in 2008 and I saw the catastrophic effects of a breakdown in confidence and deep uncertainty after the banking crash.

I saw confidence drain and jobs threatened, forcing us to take dramatic steps to keep the economy going. I do not want to see that again. Confidence goes when it is clear governments dont know where they are going and appear to have lost control of events. But as the countdown starts towards the EU referendum, the danger signs are already flashing.

Already, we know investment decisions are being put on hold, and it could take many years after a Brexit vote to reach new trade agreements with Europe, while treaties the EU has with the rest of the world would also have to be renegotiated.

Leaving would have a profound effect not only on our currency but on the euro too. When the global economy is so fragile why add more risk to the mix?

And if we quit the EU, there would almost certainly be another Scottish referendum which could lead to the break-up of the UK. Out of Europe, no more UK  the end of 300 years of history. Bad for all of us.

There is no plan B. Some anti-EU campaigners want out, whatever the cost. Others admit that as soon as we voted out, they would immediately have to go cap in hand to Brussels to salvage a trade agreement.

OTHERS try to mislead voters by saying they can safely vote to leave as it would force the EU to compromise and lead to a second referendum. It wont.

A second referendum is not on the ballot paper. If we vote to leave, the Government would have to implement that decision and hand in our notice to quit. There is no going back on that.

The idea that Europe would then suddenly agree to everything we wanted is for the birds and perhaps Boris. Common sense tells me that if you walk out of an organisation, it wont just say: Sorry, take whatever you want and nothing you dont.

We are, I believe, on the brink. Standing on the edge of a precipice. If we decide to leave Europe there is no going back. If we are out, we are out.

Whatever some might say, there is no handy shelter, no waiting room nearby where we can huddle to think again. We will be taking a leap into the great unknown  because, despite their protestations, the Out campaign can give us no idea of what their brave new world would look like.

From what they have said so far we know more about life on Mars than we know about the Britain they hope for. Those of us who believe we are better staying in Europe have made starkly clear the risks of voting to leave.

To stay is a vote for a stronger, safer and better-off Britain that will deliver opportunities for us now and for future generations. The alternative is to buy a one-way ticket to a deeply uncertain destination. It risks a weaker economy and the loss of our influence in the world.

We need hard-headed scrutiny of the choices before us. And we will not be put off asking hard questions of those who want to leave. Throughout the Scottish referendum campaign, whenever we asked tough or inconvenient questions we were shouted down, accused of scaremongering. Nationalists called our questions Project Fear.

So when they claimed in 2014 that oil prices would stay above 100 dollars a barrel, we and experts in the field called this into question. We pointed out the volatility of oil prices. They shouted scaremongering.

Out of Europe, no more UK  the end of 300 years of history. Bad for all of us. Pictured, David Cameron

Today, the oil price is a fraction of what it was back then. It would have blown a massive hole in nationalists sums. Just think, had we voted to leave, Scottish independence day was to be the end of next month. Scotland would have faced cuts that make todays austerity look like a Sunday school picnic.

Project Fear? In fact, it is a reality check. The kind anyone would take before making such an enormous decision in their lives. So when Iain Duncan Smith claimed if we stay in the EU terrorists would find it easier to get into the UK, we are right to call him out. He could not explain why they would find it harder if we left. He seems to forget the London bombings were perpetrated by terrorists who were British citizens.

We will hear much more about Project Fear. The Out campaign is trying to use that sense of insecurity and alienation which we see around the world and build on it for their own ends.

THE refugee and migration crisis in Europe will not be solved by us walking away. We will still have to face the consequences. The Home Secretary knows that. Far better to work in partnership to try to resolve it.

It is the same with the fight against terrorism. Working together to pool information and resources is essential. Terrorism respects no borders.

We need to have confidence in our country. For centuries, Britain has been a powerful trading nation with a dynamic economy at the centre of European and world affairs. That is how we became the strong country we are today. It is why we are better off and safer than our grandparents were. That is why the choice facing us is the biggest the UK has ever had to make.

As part of Europe, firms have free access to sell to 500 million consumers  the biggest duty-free area on the planet. Why jeopardise that? Between three and four million jobs are linked to our trade in Europe.

Nearly half of what we sell goes to the EU. That compares with just 15 per cent of EU exports to us. EU competition has forced down the cost of flights; roaming charges for mobiles will go next year.

It is not just in Europe that we gain by membership of the EU. Foreign firms investing in the UK  and we are on many counts the number one destination for that investment  do so because we are a gateway to Europe.

Of course, the EU is not perfect. No partnership is. But leaving Europe will risk our prosperity and safety. It would diminish our influence in the world. The benefits of being in far outweigh the costs. Outers point to Norway or Switzerland, but they have the worst of both worlds, with no say over rules they are forced to abide by to access the European market.

We will hear much more about Project Fear. The Out campaign is trying to use that sense of insecurity and alienation which we see around the world and build on it for their own ends. Pictured, Boris Johnson

Although not a member, Norway is one of the largest financial contributors to the EU as it has to pay for its equal trading privileges. They and Switzerland are stuck with freedom of movement rules and the passport-free Schengen area the UK opted out of. Equally fanciful is the idea that EU membership stops us trading everywhere else in the world. We can and do already trade for example with the US, India and China.

I dont say that if we vote to leave, it will be all doom and gloom. But what is on offer instead? We just dont know. Those who want to leave cannot agree on what they want. We do know that uncertainty could last for years which will cost jobs.
After decades of muttering and grumbling about our new status as part of a great supranational body, we have the chance to decide  once and for all whether we wish to stay or leave

A great and decisive national debate cannot be held behind closed doors. Nor is there much point in a discussion where those taking part hold back their real opinions or pull their punches; or where huge and difficult arguments are reduced to soundbites and slogans.

This is a pivotal moment in our national history. After decades of muttering and grumbling about our new status as part of a great supranational body, we have the chance to decide  once and for all whether we wish to stay or leave.

Oddly, many who had reputations as Eurosceptics have fallen into a profound silence. Others who were thought of as neutrals or Europhiles have boldly declared for an exit. This is partly because the whole referendum has arisen out of an unhealed wound at the heart of the Tory Party, which has not really been united on the issue, or at peace with itself, since it ousted Margaret Thatcher a quarter of a century ago.

Like a pulsating toothache, this unresolved discontent can and does drive the mildest of men to make enraged denunciations of their opponents, and perhaps go too far. Sir John Majors excoriation of the so-called bastards in his government was an early example of this.

The Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond, has until now had a reputation for almost Olympic greyness, so much so that he made Sir John look colourful.

But now we find him claiming that EU nations will interpret a vote to leave as two fingers from the UK, and using a four-letter expletive to Sir William Cash, the grandest of the Eurosceptic Tories. These are expressions you would not have caught Sir Anthony Eden or Lord Palmerston employing.

The cause of Mr Hammonds clash with Sir William was, significantly, a row about openness, and the availability of a key EU document. The exasperation on both sides in that dispute symbolises a wider public concern. Are we really being treated like adults? Are we being told, frankly, what each side truly thinks? Or are we just being fed prepared packages and dog-whistle messages?

The Remain campaign scored some heavy blows last week, with senior military officers and major business figures expressing fears about the effects of an exit. Such people cannot be dismissed as fear-mongers. Nor can the G20 leaders and central bank governors who unanimously concluded that a British exit would be a major risk to the global economy.

The Foreign Secretary, Philip Hammond (pictured), has until now had a reputation for almost Olympic greyness, so much so that he made Sir John look colourful

Meanwhile, a well-informed Eurosceptic grammar-school girl gave a very hard time to a pro-EU Cabinet Minister on BBC Question Time, providing an excellent demonstration of how serious debate can be conducted. And Lord Howard, a genuinely impressive major politician whom no one can accuse of frivolity or ambition, placed himself in the Brexit camp.

But these were mere moments. If major politicians and public figures started to debate the issue with the proper seriousness last seen in the 1975 campaign, they might well be surprised to discover the level of interest in a grown-up discussion of a complex and weighty matter.

Many think the campaign is too long. If the level of debate remains low they will have a case. But the long haul also provides an opportunity for a searching, open national argument such as we rarely see.
Im sorry to break this to you but it looks as if well have to endure not one but two EU referendum campaigns.

The second one, by the way, will definitely end in a vote to stay in.

The exit campaign was last week cunningly taken over by Tories who dont want to leave the Superstate and will use a vote to leave (if it happens) as the basis for yet another round of negotiations with Brussels.

Boris Johnson and Michael Howard are ancient liberal Europhiles, who have learned how to seduce the Tory Party with speeches that sound Right-wing but arent really. It is painful to see this cynical seduction technique at work, and watch the old ladies fall for it.

Boris Johnson and Michael Howard are ancient liberal Europhiles, who have learned how to seduce the Tory Party with speeches that sound Right-wing but arent really

Neither is what he seems. Lord Howard led a Left-liberal putsch against the genuine EU opponent Iain Duncan Smith in 2003. Mr Johnson is an act, not a politician. He is a keen Europhile, and to conceal it from his fans he will do so many U-turns between now and referendum day that they will look like a series of S-bends.

Both mens weird declarations of support for Brexit were cunningly hedged.

And the London Mayor was careful to state: I will be advocating vote leave... because I want a better deal for the people of this country to save them money and to take back control.

Read this carefully (as you always should) and you will realise theres no clear declaration that he wants our national independence back. But there is a desire for a deal. Likewise his supposed reversal last Saturday wasnt really as clear as it looked. Be assured. If there is a majority to leave there will be a second poll and a search for a new deal.

What sort of deal? Lord Howard was more specific. In an article which was lazily reported as a blow for David Cameron, he explicitly said that he saw a vote to leave as a way of restarting negotiations on how to stay in: There is only one thing that just might shake Europes leaders out of their complacency: the shock of a vote by the British people to leave.

He added: We would be sorely missed. If the UK voted to leave, there would be a significant chance that they would ask us to think again. When Ireland and Denmark voted to reject EU proposals, the EU offered them more concessions and, second time round, got the result they wanted.

Lord Howard went on to explain how happy he would be for Britain to be a semi-detached part of a two-tier EU  something very much on the cards as the EU moves into its next phase of integration, two or three years hence. We  and others  could say to the integrationists, We dont want to stop you doing what you want to do as long as you dont make us do what we dont want to do. 

You read it first here. The EU is like the Hotel California. You can check out. But you can never leave.

This referendum, which was never supposed to happen at all, is a sham for which I refuse to fall.

What sort of hero condemns women to death?

The BBCs new thriller The Night Manager must be one of the strangest things ever broadcast. Its apparent hero, played by Tom Hiddleston, is portrayed as a tower of moral purity. Yet the first thing he does is to betray a living, breathing woman (who trusted him with her life because of his honest British appearance) in pursuit of an abstract ideal. Apparently, he hates arms traders so much, this is the sort of thing he does.

Predictably, the woman, played by Aure Atika, is barbarously murdered (in the book, Im sorry to say, her dog is murdered too, a detail the BBC spared us). The arms dealer, equally predictably, gets away with it.

Predictably, the woman, played by Aure Atika, is barbarously murdered (in the book, Im sorry to say, her dog is murdered too, a detail the BBC spared us)

This skewed moral system in which people claim to be virtuous by having severe, righteous views about foreign countries, seems horribly common among our cultural elite. Is this why our foreign policy keeps getting its head stuck up its own fundament?

Again and again, in pursuit of some supposedly noble goal, we plunge entire countries into lakes of fire and blood, and then stand about looking puzzled and claiming it wasnt our fault.

Inscribed in stone, above the doors of all government buildings, should be William Blakes bitterly true maxim: He who would do good to another must do it in minute particulars: general good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer.

Country dwellers are often mystified by the appearance of strange little dumps of used fertiliser pellets, which appear now all over the place by night. I can explain. These are left by the owners of urban cannabis farms (Britains most successful and profitable agricultural sector) who dare not use their own bins for fear that even the British police  among the most relaxed in the world on the dope question  might notice and take action against them.

Education that doesn't add up

The reports flood in, as they do almost weekly. The standards of mathematics teaching have plunged disastrously. The professions are dominated by private school products, two years ahead of their state school contemporaries.

Yet nobody ever reaches the obvious conclusion  that we should return to selection by ability in the state system and reopen the great private schools to the taxpayer-funded Direct Grant system which lifted so many poor children to success.

Why are our elite so prejudiced against this obvious remedy? Even on their own terms, their position makes no sense.

Every week I hear more alarming things about our prisons, especially the almost universal availability of mindbending drugs, whose users often become violent.

These are now flown into cells, through broken windows, by drones. The authorities seem powerless to stop this.

No surprise there. As we make no effort to stop drugtaking outside prison, it is hardly surprising prisons themselves are even more lawless. Alongside these cases are alarming numbers of mentally ill people, cast out into the non-existent community by the wicked decision to close most mental hospitals.

Older, experienced staff are quietly disappearing and turnover among new staff is unsurprisingly high. Huge jails are often left overnight in the charge of tiny numbers of officers.

I predict a major catastrophe soon. And it will be the direct result of decades of liberal penal policy, which uses prison only as a last resort and so ensures that a large number of inmates are hardened criminals, incapable of reform, before they ever get there.
David Cameron started the week with a bullish Commons statement and the tone of a firm headmaster facing a fifth-form insurrection. The campaign, he said, would be intense.

No kidding. It has taken only a few days for No 10s confidence to be replaced by fretful anxiety as the rebellion against his recommendation has flourished.

Over 40 per cent of MPs are now for Out. Its not yet a year since the Tories finally grabbed the golden fleece of an overall majority but now the band of brothers have morphed into a bitter team of rivals, settling scores and starting new quarrels

David Cameron and George Osborne, pictured, are fighting to convince the country to stay in the EU

Cameron versus the Gove-Johnson alliance

The PM is ruing the day he made his earnest intellectual but ruthless friend Michael Gove Justice Secretary, giving a key opponent more kudos in questioning the underpinning of his EU deal.

Dave, says a mutual friend, is genuinely fond of Michael, whom he trusted, and cant stand slippery Boris.

So he was furious to see in this newspaper last week evidence of the two Outers plotting over dinner.

Im also told the gloves are off from now in the handling of Boris. Cameron told a group of friends that Johnsons position is particularly inappropriate, given his day job as mayor of a major financial centre.

And when he stands down as London Mayor theres to be no leaving party for Boris at Number Ten, Im curtly informed.

At London Fashion Week, Sam Cameron told nosey inquirers her main role in the campaign is to help Dave de-stress.

Team George under pressure

George Osborne has extended his powers of patronage impressively across the Tory backbenches.

But not enough to see off the backbench Scep Surge  with nearly 130 Tory MPs officially backing Brexit and around 20 more expected to do so.

And I gather it has been more of a struggle than expected to persuade ambitious sorts among the Georgian dynasty of Osborne loyalists to commit to the In side.

George has had massive patronage, says one of his supporters, But that has not proved as mighty as he hoped.

Osborne and Cameron had to hit the phones in the last week to ensure waverers did not stray to the Out side.

The Chancellor also texted a large number of MPs offering to discuss any worries in person.

Inviting MPs in is an old trick, says one who declined the offer.

If you got to see George or Dave, you pretty much have to do a deal  so a lot joined forces to stay away.

I gather Sajid Javid, the Business Secretary, had a mighty wobble  and had to be sternly told by his mentor Osborne that it was unthinkable for him as linchpin of business policy to lurch to the Leavers.

That is why Boris Johnson is encouraging the tribe of reluctant Inners to revisit their decision.

A defection would be gold dust, whispers a source on Team Boris.

London Mayor Boris Johnson, pictured, is on the opposite side of the argument and wants out

City wars

The Chancellor is, I hear, grinding his teeth over a full-frontal attack this weekend from Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom, an experienced former banker.

Leadsom crossed swords with Osborne when she was on his Treasury team over his handling of the Libor banking scandal, and has now dismissed his warning of a global economic shock in the wake of Brexit as unlikely.

She cites foreign interest in investing in London as a sign that the financial outlook would remain healthy.

The boundary dogfight

Putting principles aside (they occasionally do, you know), a growing number of MPs are fretful about the impact of boundary changes, reducing the number of Commons seats by 50  which guarantees redundancies.

Whips have, I hear, been muttering darkly about No. 10 favouring Inners when it comes to redrawing constituencies.

One veteran of boundary reviews says that given the uppity mood of the grassroots, What you dont want to be from now on is an In MP, competing for a seat with an Out one in the seat next door.

Why? Because the grassroots will sympathise with the Outers, even if the Inners win.

Some reckon it was precisely this that moved Nusrat Ghani, in a Sussex seat close to uber-sceptic Huw Merriman, to join the Outs.

Oldies clash

The contest has strong echoes of the splits in the mid-1990s, when John Major battled the bastards  his code for hardline eurosceptics.

For lining up with Outer Iain Duncan Smith are Michael Howard and Peter Lilley  two of the rebels Major was captured on tape swearing about in 1993, during the last big Tory standoff on the EU.

One wag MP calls them The Oldies: a tribute band you never wanted to see again.

An Eton mess

Ambitious, well-connected and usually up to something skulduggerous, Tory Old Etonians have quickly managed a three-way split on a two-way issue. First, there is Cameron, the most senior old boy, for In.

Then theres OEs Boris and Kwasi Kwarteng now locked in a firm Out alliance. Third up is their schoolmate Jesse Norman, who has said he will not be supporting either side in public.

I cant think what hes playing at, sighs a fellow alumni. But knowing Jesse, hell have some convoluted way of explaining it that no one else can follow.

Kwarteng has another complication to deal with. His on-off romantic partner, Energy Secretary Amber Rudd, is an enthusiastic supporter of Remain.

So what about Labour?

So far Labour have looked bystanders in the Brexit wars. But that wont last  the In side desperately need Labours pro-Europeans to mobilise, to counter-attack any swing to Tory Outers.

This task falls to Alan Johnson, former Home Secretary and memoirist.

Self-deprecating Johnson is the partys best-liked figure and will bring warmth to a (so far) uninspiring Remain campaign.

Hell need to brush up on financial matters. One outspoken member of Labours 2010 intake reminds me that Alan briefly took the shadow chancellors job saying he needed a beginners primer in economics.

Thats a tad worrying for someone leading the case for staying in an economic union.

How can Jeremy Hunt extract himself from the mess over junior doctors contracts?

He was put into the difficult brief as an Osborne loyalist who would keep the temperature down after botched health reforms and eke out a meagre spending settlement for the NHS.

Some hope. More strikes are planned for March and April.

Dr Melissa Baldwin pictured on the picket lines in London protesting contracts imposed on junior doctors

No 10 is far from happy about the dispute dragging on, and is urging Hunt to end it before the next wave of strikes.

I gather one option being discussed is that Hunt should be moved on from the post after the referendum.

One Minister jokes it is the big job no one wants  and therefore a perfect present from the PM to Michael Gove after the referendum.
Online mummies groups are a popular forum for mothers to to talk about their babies and get into (sometimes heated) debates about the 'right' and 'wrong' ways of parenting.

But when Carolyn Tate, 42, was on maternity leave with her third child, she had had enough of mothers relying on 'permission' to do things and feeling guilty about their choices.

'All these mothers were waiting for permission to take care of themselves or needed their husbands to say it was okay to treat themselves,' Ms Tate, from Brisbane, Queensland, told Daily Mail Australia.

'Bugger that': When Carolyn Tate (right), 42, was on maternity leave with her third child, she had had enough of mothers relying on 'permission' to do things and feeling guilty about their choices

The anti mummies' group: Ms Tate approached her friend Gillian Moody (left) with the idea of an online community for mothers to help inspire them to 'make their lives awesome' and put themselves first

'I thought "bugger that, it's time to stand up for ourselves". I work hard, look after the kids and do everything else and taking time out for ourselves makes things better for everybody.'

Ms Tate approached her friend Gillian Moody with the idea of an online community for mothers to help inspire them to 'make their lives awesome' and put themselves first.

'I thought it was a fantastic concept and we just plunged straight into it,' Ms Moody, from Brisbane, Queensland, told Daily Mail Australia, 'and the Champagne Cartel was born.'

Community spirit: The women built an online community that provided advice and articles about positivity, self-love, sisterhood, feminism, sex, beauty, indulgence, travel and 'us as women, not as mums,' Ms Tate said

WHAT DOES THE CHAMPAGNE CARTEL STAND FOR? We believe you get one life, and our job is to live that thing hard and not die wondering

We believe in sometimes choosing the cake. Because balance is queen and zealotry makes you no fun at parties

We believe in having fun with beauty and fashion, wearing all the colours, and that age appropriate is a term made up by miserable f*****s who dont want us to feel good about ourselves

We believe in getting s**t done. Not everything is unicorns and lollipops, but you can choose to face things head on and deal with them, or you make yourself miserable. We prefer the former

We believe in doing something every day that makes us say, f**k yes! Advertisement

'We gained a following quite quickly because women really wanted to be involved in building other women up and sharing positive messages,' Ms Tate said.

The women built an online community that provided advice and articles about positivity, self-love, sisterhood, feminism, sex, beauty, indulgence, travel and 'us as women, not as mums.'

'A lot of articles on parenting sites tell us why we should feel terrible about ourselves and make a change or how to be better than we are,' Ms Tate said.

'We are not about that - we are about getting out there, trying things and feeling great... I'm personally not a fan of the word 'mummy' as it seems a little patronising.'

'I'm sure there are wonderful "mummy" groups out there but it's not our cup of tea... we are about identifying ourselves as women, not through our kids.'

Ms Moody and Ms Tate built up a team of contributors to discuss different topics, and the duo also cover a variety of areas themselves.

Expertise: Ms Moody is a make up artist and share advice about beauty, fashion and make up

'Live a f**k yes life': The women have created a community of over 20,000 members

'I am a make up artist so I love talking about make up and skincare and how to feel really great as well as fashion and talking about having fun with it,' Ms Moody said.

'I am a freelance writer and often write about taking career leaps, working for yourself and also deeper topics like mental health,' Ms Tate said.

'I have also dealt with depression and anxiety and write about the links between exercise and our mental health...I often get experts and psychologists to write about this for us as well.'

Simple message: 'Our big thing is taking responsibility for making your life awesome,' Ms Moody said

Making a change: 'A lot of groups and forums are all about competition...we don't want to be a part of this, we want to be positive and accept that there is no such thing as perfection,' Ms Tate said

Ms Tate said a lot of the mental health topics include advice about feeling sexy, nurturing relationships and 'lady-love' - 'having a strong notion of building incredible support networks and not competing.'

'A lot of groups and forums are all about competition that stems from insecurities...we don't want to be a part of this, we want to be positive and accept that there is no such thing as perfection,' she added.

The community now boasts over 20,000 women - each of them accepting that positivity is the best way to approach life both before and after motherhood.

Balance: 'We want to live life, take care of ourselves and our bodies and minds but also take care of our families at the same time,' Ms Moody said

Freedom: 'Guilt is completely useless and nobody should be made to feel guilty about their decisions,' Ms Tate said

'Our big thing is taking responsibility for making your life awesome,' Ms Moody said.

'You might want to be a martyr or a saint but that's a pretty 'craptacular' way to live...we want to live life, take care of ourselves and our bodies and minds but also take care of our families at the same time.'

Ms Tate added: 'Guilt is completely useless and nobody should be made to feel guilty about their decisions... if you want to buy that bag you've always wanted then do it - we are big on treating yourselves.'

Be sure of yourself: 'I've learned that there are some amazing, intelligent and educated women out there who don't know how awesome they are...they just need a little push to feel great about themselves,' Ms Tate said.

Since starting the community, both women say they have learned a lot about others.

'I've learned that there are some amazing, intelligent, educated and fantastic women out there who don't know how awesome they are...they just need a little push to feel great about themselves,' Ms Tate said.
A woman who had both legs amputated after contracting a flesh-eating bug has overcome her condition to forge a career as a model.

Stacy Paris, 30, from Bridge of Allan, Stirlingshire, is now backing plans to change employment laws to give disabled models more rights.

The student, who is studying molecular biology at Glasgow University, is the first Scot to sign up to the Models of Diversity campaign, which wants the government to force agencies to represent one disabled model for every five able-bodied models.

Stacy Paris lost both of her legs after developing a flesh-eating bug but has now forged a successful career in modelling and wants to see more disabled models represented

The student said: 'According to the latest figures, one in six people in Britain has a disability but where are all the disabled models? When I was starting out, I had no-one to look up to.'

However the industry is starting to see a change as last year Jillian Mercado, who has muscular dystrophy, was signed to IMG Models, an agency which has the likes of Gisele Bundchen on its books.

And Madeline Stuart, an 18-year-old Australian with Down's syndrome, was made the face of cosmetics brand GlossiGirl.

Stacy started modelling last year a few months after her second amputation. So far, she has worked with companies around her hometown but she has ambitions to work on a wider stage.

But ironically she would never have found herself in front of the camera if she hadn't undergone the life-changing surgery after contracting a dangerous bacterial infection.

Seven years ago, Stacy was on holiday in the south of France when she developed a pain in her foot.

Stacy was diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis seven years ago and in the following few years saw both of her legs amputated as the conditioned worsened and destroyed her bones

Stacy started modelling last year a few months after her second amputation. So far, she has worked with companies around her hometown but she has ambitions to work on a wider stage

She said: 'It just got worse and worse, so I had to give in and go to hospital.

'They thought it was some kind of infection but they did lots of tests and X-rays and they discovered the bones in my foot had been almost completely destroyed.

'Nobody could explain it - there was no wound, I hadn't injured myself. It just came out of the blue.'

Stacy, pictured here learning how to walk after her first amputation, says that she made her peace with her amputations very quickly keeping a positive outlook on life

Stacy says that she is ready to be a role model for young girls who have disabilities

When she got home she was diagnosed with necrotising fasciitis - a rare infection of the deeper layers of skin which destroys the tissue.

'I also had a bone-eating bug, so it was a double whammy. I was in intensive care for six days and nearly died.'

THE CAUSE AND SYMPTOMS OF STREPTOCOCCAL INFECTIONS Group A streptococci is a bacteria commonly found in the throat and on the skin. The vast majority of infections are relatively mild illnesses, such as strep throat and impetigo. Occasionally, however, the bacteria can become life-threatening if entering parts of the body where not usually found such as the blood, muscles or the lungs. The bacteria is often spread through direct contact with the mucus of an infected person and through contact with infected skin wounds and sores. Invasive group A streptococcal disease, which may occur when the bacteria gets past the bodys defences, is a severe and sometimes life-threatening infection in which the bacteria has invaded parts of the body, such as the blood, deep muscle and fat tissue or the lungs. Two of the most severe forms of invasive group A streptococcal disease are called Necrotising Fasciitis (infection of muscle and fat tissue) and Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome (a rapidly progressing infection causing injury to the major organs). The early signs and symptoms of Necrotising Fasciitis include fever, severe pain and swelling, and redness at the wound site. The early symptoms of Streptococcal Toxic Shock Syndrome may include fever, dizziness, confusion, low blood pressure, rash and abdominal pain. Advertisement

Over the next few years, Stacy was in and out of hospital as the disease attacked her feet and legs.

Stacy added: 'I had bits and pieces amputated along the way - a toe here, a toe there.'

'Eventually, I had to have the whole leg below the knee taken off. When it started in the other leg, I knew I didn't want to wait as long for the amputation.'

Stacy had her first amputation in June 2012 and her second in August 2014.

She said: 'I made my peace with the amputations fairly quickly. I just hated being in hospital all the time. I was bored, and hated being sick.'

Her stay in hospital sparked an interest in science, leading her to start a degree in molecular biology.

She said: 'After the first amputation, I realised things had changed for me. Listening to the medical staff, trying to decipher what the doctors were talking about, sparked an interest in medicine.

'So I decided to go to university and get a degree and ultimately, I want to do my PhD.'

She is now free of the disease but there is a chance it could return.

Stacy said: 'I don't worry about it. I'm a positive person.'

And the model is passionate about Models of Diversity campaign.

She said: 'I spoke to one mum about her daughter, who had both feet amputated. She said the little girl's face just lit up when she saw my picture. That's why I'm doing this.

'Young girls need to see people like them up there on the catwalks and the television screens. We're not saying, "Give us all work." We are saying, "Represent us, and give us a chance."
Retired office worker Carol Cook, 70, was profoundly deaf until she had a cochlear implant.

My hearing started to deteriorate in my late 20s. My GP noticed I was struggling and tested me with a tuning fork.

'When he hit the table I didnt respond. Referral to an audiologist confirmed my hearing loss was progressive.

By 2004 I was profoundly deaf in my left ear and had only residual hearing in the right one. Hearing aids no longer helped me. I lost my confidence and became quite depressed,' said Carol Cook

I found hearing aids difficult to get on with but I learned to cope. However, I still couldnt hear people on the telephone.

'I offered to resign from the small company I worked for but my boss said he would answer phone calls instead.

By 2004 I was profoundly deaf in my left ear and had only residual hearing in the right one.

'Hearing aids no longer helped me. I lost my confidence and became quite depressed. I wouldnt go out without my husband Alan.

Then we moved to Oxfordshire and my medical notes were transferred to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, which has a cochlear implant centre.

'The audiologist recommended this sound-processing technology. I went through extensive tests to confirm I was suitable.

'I also talked to members of the Oxford Cochlear Implant Support Group who had gone through the operation.

Surgery to insert one part of the device behind my right ear took three hours under general anaesthetic. (The other part is worn externally and my hairdresser cuts my hair to cover it.) I stayed one night in the hospital then returned two weeks later for the implant to be switched on.

'Driving home that day in January last year knocked my socks off because I could hear my husband talking to me.

It takes time for your brain to get used to hearing, so patients are given a rehabilitation programme. At first, voices, for example, sound squeaky but sounds become progressively more normal.

Nowadays I sing around the house, Alan has his life back and I can talk to my granddaughter Isabella on Skype. The cochlear implant has transformed my life.





Cochlear implants mimic the hearing function of the inner ear. Unlike hearing aids, which simply amplify sound, they bypass the damaged part of the inner ear and send electrical signals directly to the hearing nerve.

This means sound may be heard more clearly than with hearing aids. Around 10,000 people in the UK have a cochlear implant, including children, who generally have two, one on each side.

The outcome tends to be better for patients who have been profoundly deaf for a relatively short time, as the brain adapts more quickly.

Less than 0.2 per cent of recipients reject or do not use their implant and under 0.5 per cent of patients need re-implantation.

However, only one in ten people who would qualify for a cochlear implant, which is available on the NHS, receives one, as their health professionals do not suggest it.

For more information visit iwanttohear.com

Vitamin D deficiency, which is estimated to affect 40 to 60 per cent of adult Europeans, has been linked to many chronic health conditions. Now a study by researchers at the University of Sheffield has found that the majority of participants living with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) suffer from deficiency of this important vitamin, which is usually made in our bodies by the action of sunlight on the skin. The researchers advise people with IBS to ask their GP to test for vitamin D levels and, if deficient, prescribe a supplement of D3, which has helped a significant number. PS I take vitamin D3 daily via a sub-lingual (under the tongue) spray, DL ux 1000 by Better You, 7.15 for 15ml (100 daily doses), victoriahealth.com, 0800 3898 195

BOOK OF THE WEEK

The Forest Feast for Kids by Erin Gleeson (Harry N Abrams Inc, 11.99).

To order a copy for 8.99 go to you-bookshop.co.uk or call 0808 272 0808, offer available until 13 March; free p&p on orders over 12.

Getting youngsters to cook vegetable dishes is guaranteed to tempt them to tuck in.

This colourful book, by Californian photographer and blogger Erin Gleeson, offers super-simple scrumptious vegan recipes that older children can make on their own  there are clear directions on cooking terms and equipment  or little ones can make with their parents.

Email your questions to sarah@sarahstacey.com
Gangsters are getting innovative in Bihar these days. Some gangsters are even making the most of the advancements in the digital era.

In a bid to instill fear into their victim, an extortionists gang operating in Darbhanga, north Bihar, recently sent a selfie of their kingpin and other members, brandishing sophisticated weapons such as carbines, pistols and bombs, to a school teacher through WhatsApp to demand ransom.

The matter came to light when Shyam Kumar Rai, a resident of Navtolia village, received a message and a phone call from notorious gangster Naveen Singh asking him to pay Rs 5 lakh immediately.

Local gangster Naveen Singh sent selfies with his boss Raju Dhakal brandishing weapons to demand ransom from a school teacher in Bihar

The gangsters wanted to create a terror by sending across their selfies with ammunition.

In order to prove that he was not making any empty threats, Naveen forwarded a few selfies of himself and his gangster boss Raju Dhakal carrying a pistol, bomb and even a carbine in their hands.

Shyam panicked and rushed to the police station to register a complaint in this regard.

The Darbhanga police subsequently set up a special team, headed by sub-divisional police officer Dilnawaz Ahmad, and arrested Naveen along with his driver Sukhdev Rai while they were travelling in a Scorpio near Navtolia, last Thursday.

The police seized the cellphone which was used to send the pictures.

The police also recovered the pictures which were sent from his cellphone.
SN Dhingra Trial court judge who sentenced Afzal Guru in 2002

Amidst a raging row over the accused in the JNU sedition case allegedly labeling Parliament attack convict Afzal Gurus hanging as judicial killing, Justice SN Dhingra, the trial court judge who first sentenced him to death in December 2002 feels the expression did not amount to contempt of court and there was nothing offensive about it.

Dhingras verdict was later confirmed by Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court.

Dhingra, however, condemned commemoration of Afzals execution organised at JNU in which several anti-national slogans were allegedly raised, and the support extended to the accused students by several politicians I do not understand how calling the hanging of a convict as judicial killing amounts to contempt of court. I do not find it offensive, Dhingra, who retired as a Delhi HC judge in March 2011, told Mail Today.

What is a death sentence? What is a hanging? Of course it is killing someone. Judiciary has been given a right to kill. This power to kill a person who is dangerous to society has been given to the judges. Somebody has to do it on the behalf of the society. Existing law allow such killing. So I feel one need not be tried for contempt merely for calling judges as killers. This has happened not just in this case but several other cases also earlier, he said.

JNU students continue to hold protests demanding the release of JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar

Justice Dhingras comments come at a time when a lawyer Vineet Dhanda has moved SC seeking criminal contempt action against JNU sedition case accused Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, SAR Geelani and four others.

Pamphlets distributed for February 9 event at JNU which said Afzal hanging is a judicial killing

Dhingras comments are also in sharp contrast to the statement of former Supreme Court judge PV Reddi, who headed a bench which upheld Afzals death sentence in 2005, that fair criticism of SC judgments was welcome, but to say that the execution was a judicial killing amounted to crossing the limit.

Dhingra, in a lighter vein, wondered why it is called judicial killing as after the sessions court sentences one to death and it is confirmed by the High Court and Supreme Court, it is finally approved by the president of the country.

The contempt allegation was in connection with alleged distribution of pamphlets during the events at the JNU campus and Delhi Press Club which termed Afzals execution as judicial killing.
Spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankars World Culture Festival, scheduled for March 11-13 on the banks of Yamuna, may be in for serious trouble.

A scientific panel appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to look into apprehensions of large-scale damage to Yamuna floodplains, has found proof and recommended a fine of Rs 100-120 crore on the organisers of the event.

Though the report does not ask for cancellation of the programme, it takes a serious view of the over 3.5 million crowd expected and the harm it would cause to Yamunas fragile ecology.

Structures have mushroomed all around the river for facilitating Sri Sri Ravi Shankars event.

Spiritual guru Sri Sri RaviShankar's Art of Living had initiated the Meri Dilli, Meri Yamuna earlier to clear the river

The organisers must restrict the area to bare minimum and submit a revised plan through a court affidavit in day or two. A site map must be produced stating all details. Activities on the eastern side of Yamuna must be minimized, the NGT report said.

Advocating for restoration of the ravaged site now, it says: We are strongly of the viewthis amount (Rs 100-120 crores) should be collected from the Art of Living Foundation before the event and kept in a separate account monitored by the honourable NGT. The entire ecological restoration of Yamunas (affected) sites must be completed within a year from the date of the completion of the festival, March 13, 2016.

The World Culture Festivals own website describes the event as a celebration of Art of Livings 35 years 'in service of humanity and spirituality'.

Spread over a venue of 1,000 acres, it will host guests from 155 countries.

Around 35,000 musicians will perform on a vast stage concurrently in a bid to create a world record.

NGT is worried that the mass scale event will disturb the Yamuna floodplain

It is one of the biggest cultural gatherings in recent times, the AOL claims.

Structures have mushroomed all over Yamuna banks for the event.

A 40 feet high, multistory stage has been built on the western side of Yamunas active floodplain, clearly visible from the DND flyover.

Large white porta cabins and huts have been erected on an island formed by two separate channels of the river.

A parking lot has been created in the north of Barapullah drain which was, apparently, advised by Professor CR Babu Committee report to be developed as a marshland to naturally clean Yamuna of its pollutants.

At least four pontoon bridges are being constructed on Yamuna itself.

Besides, at least six access roads have been carved out for which large areas of natural vegetation have been raised.

Activist Manoj Misra of the Yamuna Jiye Abhiyaan filed a petition in the National Green Tribunal on February 11, corresponding to which an investigative committee was set up.

It comprised Shashi Shekhar, Secretary, Water Resources Ministry; CR Babu of the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Professor AK Gosain of IIT (Delhi) and Professor Brij Gopal from Jaipur.

Its final report, submitted on Thursday, says: The entire area of the floodplain, no less than 50 to 60 hectares between the river and DND flyover, has been leveled flat. Small water bodies that existed earlier have been filled up. All natural vegetation, including reeds, has been removed. As a result, all birds and natural life that thrived before have vanished. Construction debris has been used to compact the site. Besides, even most of the trees have been lopped or removed.
The debate surrounding the suicide of Hyderabad Central University (HCU) student Rohith Vemula does not seem to have died down in the Parliament.

The Opposition tried to corner the ruling benches on the sensitive issue as the major opposition parties on Saturday mooted bringing a privilege motion against HRD Minister Smriti Irani over her remarks in relation to Vemula in Parliament.

The Congress along with CPI(M) and JD(U) accused Irani of willfully misleading the Parliament, hitting back at the minister who had targeted Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi and the Left during a debate on the JNU incident and the HCU controversy.

Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani was slammed for her comments on Rohith Vemulas suicide in the Parliament

The HRD Minister has not only been economical with truth but has also willfully misled Parliament on the unfortunate suicide of a young Dalit student, Rohith Vemula, said Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik.

Wasnik said the Congress planned to bring privilege motion in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha soon, while CPI(M) leader Mohammad Saleem said he would be doing so on Monday.

I will be giving a notice for breach of privilege against Irani to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan for misleading the House on Rohith Vemula issue, Saleem said.

JD(U) leader and Rajya Sabha MP KC Tyagi said he and nominated member KTS Tulsi would give the privilege notice against Irani to Chairman Hamid Ansari on Monday.

There are contradictions in many statements of Irani regarding Rohith Vemula case. This is a fit case of breach of privilege, Tyagi said.

The Opposition has made the remarks of Vemulas mother Radhika as the chief plank to target the HRD Minister.

Radhika had said: Your Ministry had written that my Rohith and other Dalit students were anti-national extremists. You said that he is not a Dalit. You accused him of getting a false certificate.

The Opposition alleged that these strong words of a mother who had lost her son to BJP and in particular the HRD Minister's campus politics was a stamp of the recklessness and ruthlessness of the party that was hell bent on clamping down the voices of dissent.

The Opposition claimed that Irani had also insinuated that Vemula was not a Dalit, and pointed that it had been rubbished by Radhika.
Three truck drivers have come forward claiming they witnessed the alleged mass rapes said to have taken place in Murthal during the Jat quota stir.

The women were allegedly dragged into fields by a group of youngsters on bikes.

The state government is struggling to find leads in the absence of any complainant, but the allegations could form the basis for an investigation.

Shopkeepers and traders observed a complete shutdown against the vandalism by agitators during the Jat quota stir

No victim has come forward to lodge a complaint even after a local newspaper reported the alleged mass rapes.

I saw some of the protesters ripping off the clothes of women and taking them into the fields. They were on two-wheelers and were aged between 20 -26 years, said a turban-clad eye witness, who identified himself as Sukhvinder Singh.

The three drivers - Sukhwinder Singh, Niranjan and Naresh Kumar - claimed that the agitators torched their trucks in Murthal, following which they hid in the bushes.

One of them also alleged that policemen in plain clothes were putting pressure on them to remain silent about the incident.

Niranjan claimed that he could identify the culprits if they were brought forward.

He said that around 2pm, while he was stuck in a jam, the miscreants set his truck and other vehicles on fire.

The women walking on road were told to take the village road by protesters to escape the attack. Thereafter, they were raped in the fields, he added.

While police are yet to receive any formal complaint on the alleged mass rapes, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar asked people to cooperate with the police.

Those people who have any information (regarding Murthal incident) must come forward and share it with the police. But we do not understand why the information is not being shared with the police by the people (if they have), Khattar said in Panchkula.

Khattar, whose government faced criticism for its alleged failure to contain arson and violence during the Jat agitation, said: A special team has been formed and the officers mobile numbers have been made public. If any complaint comes or any eyewitness provides any information, immediate action will be taken.

Remnants of violence at a car showroom in Rohtak, Haryana

Haryana Deputy Inspector-General (DIG) of Police Rajshree Singh, who is heading the committee to probe the rape incidents, said that if eyewitnesses come to them, they will record their statements.

The three-member committee of women police officers led by DIG Dr Rajshree Singh and two women DSPs, Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur, visited the site of the alleged incident on Saturday.

Asked about the recovery of some clothes belonging to women at Murthal, Rajshree said: These had been sent to the forensic laboratory for examination. Let us see, what comes out.

Asked how challenging it would be for the police to identify the culprits, she said: It is challenging. But let us see, what happens. It will be our endeavour that the truth comes out. We appeal to all citizens who have any clue to come forward. They should meet us and tell us whatever they have seen, they should share with us all details and we will try to bring out the truth.

The state government on Friday had said it will act swiftly as and when it receives complaint about the alleged sexual assault.

The police had earlier maintained that no concrete evidence had been found so far which could prove the sexual assault or rape of women at Murthal.

Punjab and Haryana High Court had taken suo motu cognisance of a media report which had said that several women were allegedly raped at a highway in Murthal during Jat stir.

The court had asked the Haryana DGP and Home Secretary to submit separate detailed report on this incident.

However, the state government had been maintaining that no such incident took place.

Government must quit on moral grounds, says Hooda

By Mail Today Bureau

Amid the ongoing investigation by police, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda demanded a probe by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court to investigate the violence during the Jat quota agitation.

Hooda also demanded the resignation of Manohar Lal Khattar government on moral grounds along with early grant of compensation to those who suffered during the violence.

The whole matter should be investigated through a sitting Judge of the Supreme Court so that the truth comes out and the culprits are identified. Sub-ordinate officers of the government cannot bring out the real truth about its failed government. Truth will remain truth. But the BJP government wants to throw the blame on others by making such artificial inquiry. But the conspiracy is not going to succeed, he said in a statement.

Former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda has demanded that the present Haryana government quit on moral grounds. Pictured: 30 stores burnt in Rohtak

Hooda said the agitation was leaderless as claimed by the DGP, but here, the government was leaderless which manifested in the failure of government machinery.

The general public looks to the government at this tragic hour for help and safety but the government totally failed not only to control the agitation but to protect the life and property of the public which was left at the mercy of God, he said.

Talking about the cases registered against some opposition leaders, Hooda said: Nothing shall be achieved by leveling false allegations against Congress and by registering false cases.

Asking what the intelligence wing was doing and why government did not take effective measures to control the agitation, Hooda said: In view of huge devastation, the government should immediately resign on moral grounds.

Hooda also said the statements of BJP leaders given for and against the agitation further added fuel to fire and such statements should be stopped to help promote brotherhood among various sections of society in the state.

The political side of Jat quota stir

By Kumar Vikram in Rohtak

Even though there is no clear evidence of any political backing to the Jat agitation which claimed several lives and caused massive damage to property in Haryana, politics is being blamed for the entire episode.

People have claimed that selected vandalism on this scale cannot take place without political support.

The Jat agitation first started on a small note in Mayyar village in Hisar district when protesters blocked a railway track.

The Jat agitation claimed several lives and caused massive damage to property in Haryana

However, the stir soon turned violent as protesters came out on the streets in Rohtak and Jhajjar districts bringing lives to a standstill.

Within two-three days, the demonstration passed out of control with mobs engaging in vandalism and arson.

The frenzy soon spread to Sonepat, Panipat, Hisar, Kaithal, Jind, Kurukshetra and other districts of the state. Scores of shops were looted and set on fire.

Most of the damage was witnessed in the Rohtak and Jhajjar areas, which are the political strongholds of former Haryana chief minister BS Hooda.

Locals claim that Hooda and his family, including his son and Congress MLA Deepender Hooda, had left their hometown when the protests were scaling.

The fight largely appeared between the Jat and non-Jat community as the selective vandalism showed.

Haryana has about 29 per cent of Jat population mostly belonging to the affluent class as they are primarily the landlords. Moreover, the state politics revolves around the Jat community.

The BJP came to power in the state in October 2014 and a non- Jat leader considered was made the chief minister of the state.

Prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP had a limited electoral presence in the state.

Many political names including BJP leader Raj Kumar Saini and former CM Bhupinder Singh Hoodas aide Prof Virender Singh came into controversies for their alleged roles.

Virender, who had been booked on sedition charges for trying to incite violence during the Jat quota agitation, has been asked to join the investigation by Sunday.

BJP Kurukeshtra MP Raj Kumar Saini said on Saturday that he will reply to a show-cause notice issued by the party as he stood by his opposition to the Jat quota.

Considering the political sensitivity, the BJP senior leadership in Delhi had gone into an overdrive to send out assurances.
Delhi Police on Saturday questioned Ashutosh, another accused in the JNU sedition row.

Ashutosh, who was the JNUSU president before Kanhaiya Kumar, is one of the five students who have been accused of organising the event to commemorate Afzal Gurus death.

The other accused - Kanhaiya, Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya - are already in police custody. Meanwhile, the case has been transferred to the Special Cell, the anti-terror wing of the Delhi Police.

Ashutosh is one of the accused in the JNU sedition row. He was absconding and had surfaced on the campus on February 21

I have directed my officers to transfer the case to the Special Cell as the matter needs focused investigation. In a case registered under Section 124 A (Sedition), the Special Cell shall do justice, Delhi Police commissioner BS Bassi who is retiring on Monday told reporters.

The process of transferring the case will take two days. Bassi also said the local police would not be able to give as much focus to the case as it demands as they deal with numerous routine law and order affairs.

According to the sources, the police are planning to call the other two students -Rama Naga and Anant Kumar - by issuing summons urging them to join the investigation.

On Saturday, a Delhi court allowed the custodial interrogation of Khalid and Anirban for two more days.

Meanwhile, a video has surfaced showing Kanhayia telling Supreme Court appointed lawyers probe panel that he was beaten up, pushed to the ground and injured by men in lawyers robes before the police, when he was brought to the Patiala House court premises on February 17.

When the police brought me inside the courts gate, a mob in lawyers robes attacked me. It appeared as if they were ready to attack and they were calling others also. The police tried to save me but they were also beaten up, Kanhiya told probe panel.

The panel of six advocates - Kapil Sibal, Rajeev Dhavan, Dushyant Dave, ADN Rao, Ajit Kumar Sinha and Haren Raval, had visited the Patiala House courts premises on after the apex court was informed that Kanhaiya was beaten up.

In another instance when he was attacked, the police, who were there, did not do anything, he said.

After Kanhaiya narrated the incident to the panel inside the courtroom, Sibal called Jatin Narwal, DCP of New Delhi district to get the details.
With all the current furore over the irretrievable damage the Chancellor of the Exchequer is going to do to our pensions in next months Budget  17 days time and counting  it is easy to forget we are fast approaching an important pension anniversary.

On April 6  35 days time  it will be one year since George Osborne introduced a new pension freedom regime, designed to give the over-55s greater control over how they use their pension funds on their journey to and through retirement.

Though some experts believed these new freedoms would trigger a spending spree as people plundered their pensions, it hasnt quite happened that way. A combination of factors  tax, a fragile economy and consumer prudence  has kept the pension pillaging to a minimum.

Devastating scams: Pension fraud is estimated to have cost savers close to 1.5billion last year

Yet not all is good with this new pensions world. Far from it.

Wealthy savers with big pension pots (100,000 and more) are being served well. They are able to afford access to expensive independent financial advice from pension and tax specialists.

In most instances, they are being advised more than satisfactorily, in the process keeping their tax bills down and their retirement finances in good shape. But the majority of people eligible to participate in the new regime have been  and will continue to be  treated rather indifferently. They are not being given the protection they deserve.

Pension freedom is all well and good but it is seriously undermined if there are inadequate safeguards in place to ensure people are not prey to fraudsters.

That is where we stand today. As one former chief executive of a financial services company put it to me bluntly last week: Both Government and the regulators remain asleep at the wheel. Getting the ideology right on pensions is all well and good, but if the protections are not in place for ordinary peoples hard-earned savings, pension freedom soon becomes a pensions tempest.

The traps are aplenty. For a start, most people are not getting any advice on what to do with their pension plans and are making mistakes as a result  irreversible financial mistakes, impacting on their future standard of living.

Some dont want advice; some cant afford it; some are not aware it is available; while others think they are getting it when they are not. This latter group of poor souls  the misinformed  has invariably ended up at the door of Pension Wise for advice, a Government creation designed to head off criticism that most people are being left to fend for themselves.

Pension Wise hands out guidance and platitudes by the bucketload but not advice. Its service is as useful as a sticking plaster on a severed artery.

More worryingly, pension freedom and the advice void are spawning a disturbing rise in fraud. According to financial firm BDO, fraudsters last year duped consumers out of almost 1.5 billion  more than a third of which related to financial services. Twice the numbers for 2014.

The Governments service is about as useful as putting a sticking plaster on a severed artery

A big chunk of this financial fraud was based around pension liberation  the persuading of people, through the promise of early access to tax-free cash and sexy investment returns, to move their pension plan from a place of safety to one of danger.

Indeed, liberation is a misnomer because the consequence of falling for such a scam is pension decimation (the money disappears, usually offshore, never to be seen again) and a thumping big tax bill.

Such fraudsters are thriving and it seems no one  the Government, The Pensions Regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Department for Work and Pensions  is prepared to act against them.

Even the High Court is making life easy for the fraudsters after it ruled this month that insurer Royal London was wrong to refuse a pension transfer request to a customer on the grounds it was concerned the funds were being used for pension liberation.

Insurers should be given the statutory powers to decline transfers if they genuinely believe the receiving schemes are liberators. The Financial Conduct Authority should be chasing pension liberators to the ends of the earth  and then putting them out of business for good  while The Pensions Regulator should be doing far more to stop the setting up of fraudulent pension companies.

As for the DWP, it should divert the money it is currently wasting on a bloated puppet called Workie (a hideous thing designed to get us all in the pensions savings habit), and employ the funds instead to produce tools that people can use to ensure they are not scammed out of their pension.
Ms C.S. writes: Lifestyle Claims persuaded me it could reclaim my payment protection insurance premiums. Then staff said it could investigate my mortgage as well and get me a refund.

I said I could not afford the fees, but it already had my card details from my original payment of 99, and when I got my next statement I found it had taken a further 1,199.

I was convinced I would benefit, so I sent piles of paperwork about my mortgage, but all I got back was a letter saying Lifestyle Claims had got me a 34 refund, but I owed it a further 12.

I paid this, but was later told by a different company, Redhawk Legal Limited, that I owed the 12 to it as they had taken over from Lifestyle Claims, yet nobody there could help me when I asked about the 1,199.

Web: Swansea has a number of linked firms which raise questions, including Redhawk

Lifestyle Claims was a scam claims management business, notorious for pocketing up-front fees and then failing to do any work in return. The Swansea companys proper name was Client Connection Limited, and I warned in 2012 that it was in deep trouble, and some of its bosses were already switching to new companies.

It was dissolved in 2013, owing millions of pounds to 2,683 creditors, but last October it was raised from the dead by the High Court so its collapse could be fully investigated. Evidence showed that more than 12million had been stripped from the business shortly before it failed. Swansea is a well- known centre for companies that raise question marks, and many of them seem to be linked.

A director of Client Connection was Kevin Kearle, who was also a director of a local company called Money Reunited, which acted as an agent for Redhawk Legal.

Another director of Money Reunited was Gregory James, who now runs Redhawk itself. The pair quit in 2012, the company changed its name, and last year it went into liquidation.

A third director was Paul De La Mare, who headed a call centre that drummed up business for Client Connection. Two years ago he was jailed for four years when he was one of 14 people convicted of tricking people into paying for insurance on their satellite systems by posing as if they were calling from Sky.

Redhawk Legal website

Gregory James and Kevin Kearle also set up a company in 2013, Carbon Reduction Group Limited, which was to act as a Green Deal broker, a scheme that involved arranging loans for homeowners to pay for insulation work and other energy efficient improvements.

In 2014 they handed the company over to two associates, but it never really got off the ground as it was refused authorisation by regulator the Financial Conduct Authority, whose staff had difficulty even in making contact with the business or its bosses.

It would be nice to know exactly what work Mr James and his company Redhawk did carry out for you, and whether it accepts any responsibility for work you paid for. He did not respond to repeated invitations to comment.

Why was power of attorney removed?

Ms L.B. writes: My mother has had power of attorney over my brothers savings account with Santander for more than 20 years, but last week, when she attempted to withdraw some money from a branch, she was told her details did not appear on its system.

She was most upset as she had a bill to pay for him. She rang the bank to complain, but was told she could not do this, again because her details were not on its system. She visited her local branch, and counter staff again said she was not on its system.

The ridiculous thing is that at both branches your mother was able to produce a pass book stamped to show that she has been depositing and withdrawing money for years under power of attorney.

On her second visit, she even produced the actual legal document, at which point the manager bent the rules and allowed the withdrawal.

However, the manager added that your mother would now have to attend a meeting at Santander.

This was apparently because the bank has changed the way it operates power of attorney.

Since you contacted me, your mother, who is in her 80s, has had her meeting but it was fruitless as staff were unable to discover why she had been deleted from its records.

I asked Santanders head office to step in, and officials there have reinstated your mother as the operator of your brothers account. An official told me: Having reviewed this incident, unfortunately the registration was removed in error.
When Aureus Mining chief executive David Reading listed the company on AIM in April 2011, he had an ambitious but credible plan to create the first commercial gold mine in Liberia.

Today, the mine is in production but the firm is in tatters. Listed at 115p, the shares are now 4p and the business is effectively up for sale.

The groups fall from grace is miserable for Reading and his team, but it is also desperate for investors. Midas recommended Aureus shares in October 2013, when they were 30p and suggested that shareholders hold on to their hats, after the stock fell to 24p in May 2015.

Under pressure: Aureus Mining chief executive David Reading

Since then, the shares have gone from bad to worse. Pummelled by the Ebola virus, Aureus then encountered problems with its equipment. Production, expected to be 60,000 ounces in 2015, was little more than 17,000 ounces.

Such a shortfall imposed severe pressure on Readings cash position. He was forced to issue 8.2 million of new equity at 5p a share last November and last month had to delay the companys first debt repayment to its banks.

A financial adviser, Canadian group RBC Capital Markets, was appointed to undertake a strategic review of Aureus, which means the firm is up for grabs. Ironically, the for sale sign has been hoisted just as gold has started to rise in price and Aureus has pretty much ironed out its production problems.

Last week, the group announced production of 5,478 ounces for the whole of January and 5,523 ounces for the first two weeks of February. Later this week, production figures for the whole of February should show further improvements, making it highly likely that Aureus will have produced more gold in the first two months of 2016 than in the whole of last year.

Shining: The gold price has risen from just over $1,050 an ounce on January 1 to more than $1,230 today

The increase in production comes as the gold price has risen from just over $1,050 an ounce on January 1 to more than $1,230 today, buoyed by a growing appreciation of golds status as a safe haven in difficult times. All of which makes Aureus a relatively attractive business to potential bidders.

Capitalised on the stock market at a lowly 17million, the group has 1.14million ounces of proven reserves at its New Liberty mine in Liberia, worth more than 1billion.

Production costs, including staff wages, head office expenses and the price of recovering and processing the ore, amount to about 730million and the group has outstanding debt of almost 80million. Simple maths therefore, would suggest Aureus could be worth nearly 200million.

Of course, a company in distress is not in a position to be too demanding and, if a buyer emerges, the offer price will almost certainly be considerably less. But, interested parties are circling and indicative bids are likely to be submitted by the end of March.
Forecasters have been predicting a slowdown in the smartphone market for months and at the beginning of this year, Apple chief executive Tim Cook admitted that he expects iPhone sales to fall in the three months to March. If true, this would be the first decline since the phone was launched nearly nine years ago.

Such predictions do little for Laird, the British electronics company whose single biggest customer is Apple. Over the past year, its shares have slipped back from a peak of 400p to 332p today, but the fall is overdone and the stock should bounce back.

Laird chief executive David Lockwood unveils 2015 results later this week and some of the Citys more thoughtful analysts expect the company to deliver a near 9 per cent increase in revenues to 631 million, a 14.5 per cent rise in profits to 72.4 million and a 5 per cent hike in the dividend to 12.5p.

Tuned in: Laird is making antennae for the Rio Olympics

That is in a year when smartphone sales have been under pressure.

A number of reasons lie behind the groups resilience. First, Laird is not just about smartphones. The business makes materials that protect electronic components from heat and electromagnetic interference, so that gadgets such as iPhones do not burn users or give them electric shocks. Apple and Samsung are big customers, but they are not the only ones.

Laird also provides materials used in the roll-out of 4G and 5G telecoms networks and it works with a range of industries, such as vehicle manufacturers, medical equipment makers and consumer goods firms.

In the US, for example, many hospitals offer creche services so that new mothers can sleep at night. To ensure that the right baby is given to the right mother in the morning, both are given special electronic ID wristbands designed by Laird.

The group also provides materials used in CT scanners and other sophisticated medical kit and Lockwood is keen to develop this side of the business.

Decline? Apple boss Tim Cook may see iPhone sales slide

Laird also designs antennae that enable wi-fi internet to work. Its aerials are on the Empire State Building in New York so that tourists can use the internet while admiring the view. The group was responsible for the antennae at the London Olympics and it has just been commissioned to do the same job at the forthcoming Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Some of Lairds biggest customers are car makers, such as Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Ford and BMW, as the group supplies aerials that allow drivers to use digital radio, satellite navigation and blue-tooth technology.

Smart cars are all the rage and the number of available technologies is only likely to increase, as more vehicles become equipped with facilities such as assisted parking, automatic emergency braking and cruise control.

Laird is also likely to benefit from the internet of things  essentially the increased use of wireless technology to make life safer, easier and more efficient.

Tall order: Laird has aerials on the Empire State Building

The group already supplies hospitals with kit that allows staff to monitor drips electronically. It supplies industrial vending machines with technology that shows when a certain number of products have been sold and may need to be replenished.

It provides exceptionally robust antennae used by police vehicles, ambulances and huge agricultural vehicles. And it works with a variety of industrial and commercial customers, providing wi-fi connectivity for everything from teleconferencing in offices to sophisticated machine monitoring in high-tech manufacturing sites.

In 2015, 4.9 billion devices were connected to the internet and that figure is expected to reach 25 billion by 2020. Laird is at the heart of this digital explosion and Lockwood is determined to reap the benefits, remaining in the vanguard of technological development and ensuring that the company retains its reputation for quality.
The chief executive of BT warned this weekend that quitting the EU could drag business back to a bygone era of import taxes and regulations.

Gavin Patterson, who last week signed a public letter calling for Britain to stay in the EU, said the 28-member group gave UK business added protection in a harsh and unforgiving world.

He told The Mail on Sunday: Critics complain of EU bureaucracy and rules. They miss the big picture  the opening of EU markets to whichever companies can offer the best prices, services and products.

In: Gavin Patterson is calling for Britain to stay in the EU as he says it gives UK business added protection

Rival firms in other countries sometimes try to lock us out. Its usually easier for them to try that on if theyre based in a non-EU country. When that happens, there is no doubt UK companies are helped rather than hindered by British membership of the EU.

It is one thing to have the British Government batting for BT  as it has been. It is even better when the EU, representing 28 governments and half a billion people, puts its weight behind demands to sort things out.

Patterson pointed out that EU regulations would continue to affect British exporters to the region even if the UK pulled out.

What business leader would try to run his company by unilaterally giving up a place at the table where crucial deals are struck? he asked.

Its hard to remember an era when we had to worry about import taxes and regulatory hurdles thrown in the way of trade between countries that are now longstanding members of the EU.

That was a bygone era, thankfully  and thanks in large part to the EU, with its focus on minimising trade barriers.

Patterson and his chairman Sir Michael Rake were among the bosses of 36 FTSE 100 companies who came out in favour of staying in the EU in the letter last week.

The Mail on Sunday has been running its own rolling survey of FTSE 100 companies. It can be revealed that bosses at 45 of the FTSE 100 companies have now publicly said they are in favour of remaining in the EU.

The remainder have not commented and a number of these have stated they have no intention of ever doing so.

Lloyds Banking Group is to hold a board meeting on April 14 to debate the issue. The banks chairman Lord Blackwell has been a vocal Eurosceptic, while its chief executive Antonio Horta Osorio has maintained a neutral position on the issue.
Royal Bank of Scotland is wielding the axe over 200 more jobs as it unveils a 2billion loss for 2015.

The state-owned bank is cutting staff at its commercial banking unit, which handles large loans.

This follows The Mail on Sundays revelation two weeks ago that the bank had warned 400 staff of possible redundancies. The cuts are part of the banks drive to lower costs, but it claimed the change would provide a more efficient service.

Job cuts: Staff at RBS commercial banking unit handling large loans will be affected

The 200 jobs include 140 commercial managers, 45 area lending managers and 15 senior lending directors.

The commercial banking division handles 12,000 of RBSs biggest business customers providing loans of more than 250,000. Many will now be handled by the business banking arm, which previously handled smaller borrowing.

An RBS spokesman said: As part of our drive to simplify our business, we are moving a number of customers into our business banking division, where we believe they will receive a more efficient service. Unfortunately this will result in some job losses. We are working to support staff affected.

RBS, which is 73 per cent owned by the Treasury, revealed on Friday huge payouts on compensation for missold payment protection insurance and 2.9 billion in restructuring costs, which led to the larger than expected total loss for 2015.
Emma Jones, founder of fast-growing small business group Enterprise Nation, has said being in the EU is beneficial for its members and in its poll, which ended yesterday, more than 60 per cent said they would be voting for the UK to remain.

Jones, who set up the support group in 2006 and became one of eight co-founders of StartUp Britain, a national campaign to encourage people to set up firms, in 2011, said: We believe the UKs membership of the EU brings lots of benefits to small firms and well be taking some on trade missions to EU countries to prove that point.

John Longworth, director-general of the British Chambers of Commerce, said: The business community is divided still and it varies according to the type of company.

Mission: Emma Jones says being in the EU brings lots of benefits to small firms

Those that export only to Europe are very much in favour of staying in the EU. Those that export only to the rest of the world are very keen to leave. If you export to the rest of the world you have all the burdens of the EU, making you uncompetitive in the world market. If you export just to Europe you dont want the disruption of leaving.

He added: Its really a choice now between what is essentially an unreformed European Union and leaving. Thats as good as theyre going to get.
After a month-long state-sanctioned hunt for invasive Burmese Pythons in Florida, 106 snakes were killed, with the longest measuring 15 feet.

This year's annual Python Challenge enlisted more than 1,000 people from 29 states to cull the python population between January 16 to February 14.

A team of four killed a nearly a third of the overall tally with 33 pythons, taking home the $5,000 cash prize. They won an additional $3,000 for capturing the longest snake, clocking in at 15 feet.

The competition was started in 2013 by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in order to keep the creatures from 'posing a threat to native wildlife'.

Brian Wood, who owns All American Gator Products in Hollywood, Florida, pays up to $150 apiece for the snakes, about the same price he pays for python skins imported from Asia

Florida holds an annual, month-long hunt for Burmese Pythons in an attempt to keep the snake's populations in control. This year's competition saw 106 killed, and a third of those will be turned into accessories

FWC Commissioner Ron Bergeron said: 'Each python that is removed makes a difference for our native wildlife, and the increased public awareness will help us keep people involved as we continue managing invasive species in Florida.'

The python, which was once allowed to be kept as a pet, is believed to have been introduced into Florida's ecosystem in 1992 when they escaped from a breeding facility during Hurricane Andrew.

Researchers have predicted that there are at least 30,000 pythons in Florida's everglades, with some suggesting as many as 300,000 occupy southern Florida.

All the snakes captured in the Python Challenge were turned over to researchers who are trying to find clues to help control the population.

Frank Mazzotti of the University of Florida says the stomach contents of the captured pythons are still being analyzed.

So far, the prey has included a fawn and a wood stork and other large wading birds.

The 'invasive' animals have been blamed for the near 'complete disappearance of raccoons, rabbits and opossums' since their introduction, the USGS has said.

Once the autopsies are finished, about a third of the pythons will be made into wallets, shoes, belts or handbags.

Brian Wood of All American Gator Products in Hollywood pays up to $150 apiece for the snakes  about the same price he pays for python skins imported from Asia.

FWC Commissioner Ron Bergeron said: 'Each python that is removed makes a difference for our native wildlife.' Pictured, Jake Wood removing a purchased python from a cooler

The python, which was once allowed to be kept as a pet, is believed to have been introduced into Florida's ecosystem in 1992 when they escaped from a breeding facility during Hurricane Andrew

Researchers have predicted that there are at least 30,000 pythons in Florida's everglades, with some suggesting as many as 300,000 occupy southern Florida

Some animal rights groups have blasted the event for the unethical way the snakes are killed.

While they are not opposed to the hunt itself, PETA President Ingrid Newkirk said: 'Pythons who have had their heads hacked off remain alive and will writhe in agony for hours if their brains are not immediately destroyed.

'PETA is calling on Florida officials to stop authorizing snake decapitation and make it clear that this egregiously inhumane killing method is unacceptable.'

It has suggested the hunters use bolt guns and fire arms to 'instantly kill the animals'. It has also condemned the 'bounty like' system to reward the killing of snakes.

The Burmese python, a native of south east Asia, is 'wreaking havoc on one of America's most beautiful, treasured and naturally bountiful ecosystems,' U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Director Marcia McNutt said in a 2012 report.

It added: 'Right now, the only hope to halt further python invasion into new areas is swift, decisive and deliberate human action.'

But the reptiles are notoriously difficult to find in the Everglades. In the first Python Challenge three years ago, around 1,600 hunters caught just 68, CNN reported.

The state's wildlife commission trained more than 500 people before the competition, teaching them how to identify, and locate, and capture Burmese pythons in a safe and humane way.

Participants were also required to complete an online training module.

The 'invasive' animals have been blamed for the near 'complete disappearance of raccoons, rabbits and opossums' since their introduction

Some animal rights groups have blasted the event for the unethical way the snakes are killed. PETA suggested hunters use use bolt guns and fire arms to 'instantly kill the animals' rather than have their heads cut off

The reptiles are notoriously difficult to find in the Everglades. In the first Python Challenge three years ago, around 1,600 hunters caught just 68, CNN reported

The state's wildlife commission trained more than 500 people before the competition this year, teaching them how to identify, and locate, and capture Burmese pythons in a safe and humane way

In addition to the training, favorable weather conditions and a larger geographic area for the competition led to this year's success.

'We are excited to see so many people contribute to this important effort to conserve Florida's natural treasure, the Everglades ecosystem,' said Bergeron. 'We need to keep this momentum going now that the competition is over.'

Team captain Bill Booth, along with Duane Clark, Dusty Crum and Craig Nicks took home the $5,000 prize for first place for the team category after they killed 33.

The team of four also captured the longest python, which measured 15 feet and was awarded an additional $3,000.
As rehearsals for tomorrow night's Oscars got underway at Los Angeles' Dolby Theater Saturday night, a relaxed Kevin Hart strolled around the stage.

Speaking to nobody in particular, he quipped: 'Where am I sitting? I was about to say all the black people should be in the first row.'

Hart may have been joking, but the statement underlines the race row that looks set to dominate this year's 88th Academy Awards.

During Saturday night's rehearsals for the 88th Academy Awards, Kevin Hart paced the stage before joking: 'Where am I sitting? I was about to say all the black people should be in the front row'

Despite the looming race controversy, stars went ahead with rehearsals on Saturday night, with presenter Sofia Vergara uploading this image of herself an co-presenter Byung-hun Lee to her Instagram

Host Chris Rock is expected to attack the Academy over the 'whiteout' controversy that saw no minority actors nominated in the main acting categories for the second year in a row

Vergara also shared this slightly bizarre image of the rehearsal audience, made up largely of black and white photos of stars, along with some real-life onlookers

Modern Family star Vergara and Lee, who appeared in 2015 movie Terminator Genisys, fooled around together as they rehearsed their Oscars routine on Saturday

Steve Carell and Tina Fey, who starred in 2010 film Date Night together, were also spotted polishing their lines for the ceremony tomorrow, due to be watched by hundreds of millions worldwide

British actor Eddie Redmayne, winner of last year's Best Actor award for his role in The Theory of Everything and nominated again this year for The Danish Girl, was also on stage Saturday night

Academy voters, largely white, elderly men, have been accused of 'whitewashing' the ceremony after no minority actors were nominated in either main acting category for the second year running.

Many black actors, including Concussion star Will Smith and wife Jada, have said they are boycotting the ceremony and have urged host Chris Rock to do the same.

Rock refused, but otherwise remained quiet on the issue until Friday, when he tweeted 'see you Sunday... #blackout #oscars', a message that has surely raised hairs on necks around tinsel town.

Insiders say he tore up his initial opening speech and rewrote it to address the controversy in what could turn into a toe-curling evening for the 6,000 Academy members in front of television audiences expected to number in the hundreds of millions worldwide.

Controversy or no controversy, the show must go on, and so dressed-down stars took to the stage Saturday night to run through the ceremony one last time before the big night.

Jared Leto presented an Oscar to Margot Robbie. Patricia Arquette gave one to Morgan Freeman. Chris Evans tried to claim a golden guy for himself.

After making his joke, Hart delivered his lines but was forced to flee after a large stage element came crashing down as he finished.

During rehearsals Chris Evans (right) joked about trying to steal an Oscar for himself while rehearsing alongside Chadwick Boseman who played James Brown in biopic Get On Up

Wolf of Wall Street actress Margo Robbie joked around with Jared Leto, star of Dallas Buyers Club and the upcoming Suicide Squad, on Saturday night

Whoopie Goldberg took a moment to joke with the 'audience' members brought in for the rehearsal, telling them: 'You guys are sitting (here) all day? Good God.'

Superman star Henry Cavill was seen backstage during rehearsals for the 88th Academy Awards, which are expected to be dogged by the 'whiteout' race controversy

Also taking his turn in front of the microphone at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles was Star Wars director JJ Abrams, due to present at the Oscars

Behind the scenes Abrams was seen laughing and joking with Star Wars leading lady Daisy Ridley

'That's what rehearsals are for,' he said as a dozen stagehands worked to upright the fallen piece. 'All right, guys. My part was great, though!'

Arquette improvised as she read the nominees in the category she's presenting, describing one as 'very foxy' and awarding the prop Oscar to Freeman.

'It's a total upset victory!' she said with a giggle.

When Whoopi Goldberg returned to the Oscar stage, she addressed the audience of rehearsal actors.

'You guys are sitting (here) all day? Good God,' said Goldberg, who has hosted the show four times. 'But it's kind of neat, right? I like it, too.'

Leto and Robbie laughed through their rehearsal. First, Leto read the actress' name when he opened the winners' envelope, then he intentionally fumbled the prop Oscar (in this case, a plain plastic water bottle) and dropped it on the floor.

Cate Blanchett was the most scrupulous in her rehearsal, running through her presentation several times.

'Is it here? Did I stop in my spot? Ish?' she asked the stage manager, adding, 'You can always re-cast.'

Ridley, who plays Rey in the sci-fi epic, is due to present alongside Slumdog Millionaire actor Dev Patel and the pair were pictured laughing their way through their routine

Julianne Moore receives a fake award during rehearsals for the Oscars ceremony at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles on Saturday night

Sicario and The Devil Wears Prada actress Emily Blunt also appeared for the cameras as presenters ran through their lines for the 88th Academy Awards on Sunday night

Patricia Arquette, who won an Oscar last year for her role as a single mother in coming of age tale Boyhood was also in front of the cameras Saturday night ahead of the awards ceremony on Sunday

Rapper Common (left) and singer-songwriter John Legend (right) practiced giving out an award during rehearsals for the 88th Academy Awards

Django Unchained actress Kerry Washington was also spotted at rehearsals as her former director Quentin Tarantino waits to see whether he will be among the winners on Sunday night

Other stars rehearsing Saturday included Emily Blunt, Chadwick Boseman, Jason Segel, Olivia Munn, J.J. Abrams, Dev Patel and Daisy Ridley.

Leonardo Di Caprio is widely tipped to be among the real-life winners on Sunday night at the fifth time of asking for his lead role in survival epic The Revenant.

A widely-anticipated best supporting actor Oscar for Sylvester Stallone, who reprises his turn as underdog boxer Rocky Balboa in 'Creed,' would be one of the stories of the night, almost four decades after his only other nominations for the franchise's original outing, 'Rocky.'

First-time nominee Brie Larson looks to be a lock for best actress, having dominated the awards season with her performance as a kidnapped mother in 'Room.'

Best supporting actress favorite Alicia Vikander ('The Danish Girl') faces tough competition from 'Carol' star Rooney Mara, on her second nomination, and previous best actress winner Kate Winslet, acclaimed for her work in 'Steve Jobs.'

Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, center, speaks to Kerry Washington, left, and Henry Cavill during rehearsals for the 88th Academy Awards in Los Angeles

How I Met Your Mother star Jason Segal was also pictured taking direction during rehearsals for Sunday night's Academy Awards ceremony in Hollywood

According to insiders, Chris Rock had written his opening speech for the Oscars before the nomination scandal, but decided to rewrite it to tackle the controversy head on

'Spotlight,' about child abuse in the Catholic Church, and Wall Street satire 'The Big Short' look like safe bets for the original and adapted screenplay honors after being tipped by the Writers Guild.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 'The Revenant' is the overall frontrunner, with 12 nominations, followed by George Miller's stark action epic 'Mad Max: Fury Road' with 10 and Ridley Scott's space adventure 'The Martian,' with seven.

The Gold Derby website, which aggregates the predictions of the experts, has 'The Revenant' in the lead for best film, but analysts are split on whether Inarritu will also pick up best director for the second year in a row following his win for 'Birdman.'

'I think 'The Revenant' will win best picture and the director will go to Miller,' said Hollywood analyst Anne Thompson.

'It would be unlikely that the Academy would reward a genre sequel like 'Fury Road' with best picture, but they have gone with directors like Ang Lee and Alfonso Cuaron for well-mounted spectacles like 'Life of Pi' and 'Gravity.''

'As many people are saying, this is an unusual year when surprises will happen,' she added.

A worker fixes the red carpet at the entrance to the Dolby Theatre as preparations continue for the 88th Academy Awards in Hollywood

Workers put the finishing touches to the red carpet a day ahead of the 88th Academy Awards
Sex abuse survivors and their supporters have all arrived in Rome

Cardinal Pell has maintained he was never involved in the cover-up

Any new documents involving Cardinal Pell are expected to 'come out'

Victims say this is the moment of truth and are hoping for a 'silver bullet'

A group of abuse victims will be in the Rome hotel conference room

Cardinal George Pell will face the royal commission next via videolink

Cardinal George Pell faces 'the moment of truth' about his knowledge of paedophile priests, a victims' advocacy group says.

If any 'silver bullet' exists it will come out during cross-examination of Cardinal Pell in the child abuse royal commission next week, Broken Rites spokesman Wayne Chamley said.

Cardinal Pell has already given evidence to the commission twice but Dr Chamley noted that was largely about process - the Melbourne Response complaints handling scheme he set up as Melbourne archbishop in 1996 and the 'Ellis defence' case as Sydney archbishop.

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Cardinal George Pell will face the royal commission next week for a cross-examination into the cover-up of abuse by clergy

Cardinal Pell's evidence about any knowledge of paedophile priests during his time in Victoria's Ballarat diocese and as a Melbourne bishop has a much sharper edge on it, Dr Chamley said.

'This is the moment of truth,' he told AAP.

'It's beyond belief that he didn't (know). It's just beyond belief.'

Dr Chamley said the hearing will be the time for any new documents involving Cardinal Pell to come out.

'There's always been the possibility that some barrister representing someone has got a piece of paper which wasn't captured in the legal discovery process of the commission, and they get him up there and they say `well what about this, isn't this your signature?'.

'That's the silver bullet everybody's hoping for. Whether it exists or not we have to wait and see.

'If that exists then it's open slather in the courts. There's no comeback.'

Victims are hoping for a 'silver bullet' as now is the time for any new documents to be presented (pictured Cardinal Pell in Rome)

One of the victims, Peter Blenkiron, arrived in Rome wearing a T-shirt with an image of himself as a child with the words 'no more silence'

Cardinal Pell has maintained he was never involved in the cover-up of abuse by clergy.

The commission has heard former Ballarat bishop Ronald Mulkearns knew about paedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale from 1975 and moved him between parishes.

But Cardinal Pell, who was one of the bishop's advisers, has said he did not know about the child abuse allegations against Ridsdale.

Commission chairman Justice Peter McClellan on Thursday suggested to Bishop Mulkearns that his advisers 'knew what was going on' with paedophile priests, but the bishop said he could not recall who knew what at that stage.

A group of abuse victims will be in the Rome hotel conference room when Cardinal Pell testifies via videolink to the commission in Sydney from Monday.

Ballarat survivor Peter Belmiro said they were not attempting to bring the Catholic Church down nor was it a personal attack on Cardinal Pell.

'It's not a witch-hunt. It's a quest for truth, to protect our children and to support those ones that have been affected,' he said.

Cardinal George Pell (pictured in March 2014) vehemently denies the allegations made against him

Cardinal Pell has already given evidence to the commission twice but Dr Chamley noted that was largely about process

All the victims and their supporters have arrived in Rome to witness Cardinal Pell be questioned about a number of claims

Helen Last, CEO of clergy victims' advocacy group In Good Faith Foundation, does not expect to hear anything new although Cardinal Pell will be questioned about a number of claims from victims about what they told him.

She said Cardinal Pell had been in key positions in the church hierarchy.

'He certainly had the opportunity to be totally aware of what was going on because of the committees that he was sitting on and the curia and the consultors' bodies,' she said.

'He has claimed that nothing was ever talked about, about sexual offending, and that he would not have been involved in moving anyone on. Well that becomes impossible to accept as an answer.

'It's impossible to believe there was never any discussion or naming of paedophilia at all in any of those meetings.'

A two-page medical report was handed up to support the application that a flight to Australia from Rome, where Cardinal Pell oversees the Vatican's finances, could pose a serious risk to his health

The 15 Australian child sex abuse victims have travelled to Rome after Cardinal George Pell claimed he was too ill to fly to Australia to front the commission.

As the victims began arriving on Saturday afternoon some admitted being so close to the Vatican will be confronting, reported the ABC.

'Growing up Catholic we're going to walk there, see all these sites and we'll be in awe,' Mr Collins said,' said Andrew Collins, who was abused by for different men from the age of seven.

'Then we'll see all the crucifixes and collars and we'll be triggered. So we'll have the highs and the lows, and that's before we've even seen Cardinal Pell'.

One of the victims, Peter Blenkiron, arrived in Rome wearing a T-shirt with an image of himself as a child with the words 'no more silence'.

At the age of 11, Mr Blenkiron was sexually abused by a Christian Brother at St Patrick's College in Ballarat.

Comedian Tim Minchin penned a scathing piece directed at Cardinal George Pell after he released a charity-song urging the most senior member of the Catholic Church in Australia to come home and 'face the music'

The victims were able to travel with the support British-Australian comedian Tim Minchin who helped raise money raise over $200,000 for the victims and their supporters.

Minchin penned a scathing piece directed at Cardinal George Pell as he was unhappy with Cardinal Pell's inability to return to Australia,

This came after he Minchin released a charity-song urging the most senior member of the Catholic Church in Australia to come home from Rome and 'face the music', or all proceeds from the song would fund the Ballarat survivor's travel costs to the Italian capital city.

In a letter published by The West Australian, Minchin praised the generosity of the Australian public who helped fund fifteen Australian child sex abuse survivors to fly to Rome to listen to Cardinal Pell give evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse.

'These incredibly brave men and women will sit in a room with George Pell while he gives evidence via video-link to the Royal Commission. We hope that he will look them in the eye and tell them everything he knew.

15 victims have travelled to Rome to witness Cardinal Pell, 74, give evidence during the Royal Commision hearing. Daily Mail pictured Cardinal Pell drop into his local cafe with a friend at Piazza della Citta Leonina




Most of us might consider that the colour black is, well, simply black. But not great artists. To them, the subject is far more nuanced. And there's one shade they all want to get their hands on  the blackest black in the world.

That title is currently held by a paint called Vantablack, a pigment so dark that it absorbs 99.96 per cent of the light that hits it.

And now the world-famous sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor, who created the ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture for the 2012 Olympics, has been given exclusive rights to use the colour  sparking a furious reaction from other artists.

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The world-famous sculptor Sir Anish Kapoor, who created the ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture for the 2012 Olympics, has been given exclusive rights to use the colour

Christian Furr, the youngest artist ever commissioned to paint the Queen, desribed Vantablack as being like 'the dynamite in the art world'

One of them, Christian Furr, who had planned to use Vantablack in a series of paintings called Animals, told The Mail on Sunday last night: 'I've never heard of an artist monopolising a material. Using pure black in an artwork grounds it.'

Furr, the youngest artist ever commissioned to paint the Queen, added: 'All the best artists have had a thing for pure black  Turner, Manet, Goya. This black is like dynamite in the art world.

'We should be able to use it. It isn't right that it belongs to one man.'

Scientists at the Surrey-based company NanoSystems developed the substance in 2014 to help disguise satellites. Paint with its light-absorbing properties has also been used to hide Stealth fighter jets from enemy eyes.

Vantablack absorbs so much light that the human eye cannot pick up on the kind of shadows which help the brain to interpret the shape of an object. Remarkably, a crumpled piece of tin foil covered with a layer of the paint appears almost completely flat.

Vantablack is a pigment of black which is so dark that it absorbs 99.96 per cent of the light that hits it

Paint with its light-absorbing properties has also been used to hide Stealth fighter jets from enemy eyes

Sir Anish has used other types of black paint in the past to stunning effect  including in a body of work called Descent Into Limbo, in which a circle painted on to the floor creates the illusion of a gaping hole.

Visitors to the Science Museum in London can currently see Vantablack in a work that will be on display until June. It features a bust which, to the naked eye, appears to be flat rather than three-dimensional because it is covered in the extraordinary paint.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4, Sir Anish, 61, said: 'It's so black you almost can't see it. It has a kind of unreal quality and I've always been drawn to rather exotic materials because of what they make you feel.'

He added: 'Imagine a space that's so dark that as you walk in you lose all sense of who you are and what you are, and also all sense of time.

'Something happens to your emotional self and in disorientation you have to reach inside yourself for something else.'

Born in India, Sir Anish came to Britain in the 1970s. His sculptures have been seen in cities across the world. Last year, he caused controversy with an installation at the Palace of Versailles called Dirty Corner, an enormous trumpet-like structure said to resemble female sexual organs.

Scientists at Nasa have created their own version of Vantablack, but the British company is the first to be able to mass-produce it.
Dr Adam Osborne was struck off for life by the GMC earlier this month after he admitted conducting a two-year relationship with his patient, who tried to commit suicide as a result of the affair

The woman lured into a sexual relationship with the Chancellors psychiatrist brother last night mounted a furious attack on the General Medical Council, accusing it of arrogance for dropping an investigation into the doctors wife and refusing to reveal the reasons for doing so.

Dr Adam Osborne was struck off for life by the GMC earlier this month after he admitted conducting a two-year relationship with his patient, who tried to commit suicide as a result of the affair.

The tribunal described his conduct as deplorable and profoundly unacceptable.

Earlier this month, The Mail on Sunday revealed that Osbornes doctor wife Rahala Noor had personally intervened in the affair between Dr Osborne and the patient.

In a distressing series of emails, Dr Noor called the victim a prostitute and described how Osborne loved to watch other guys f*** me.

Despite being registered with the GMC, Dr Noor failed to report her husband for having a sexual relationship with a patient, appeared to have breached patient confidentiality, and had even tried to help him cover up the matter.

Dr Noor also pressured the mother of two to drop the case against her husband.

Yet the former patient was dismayed to learn that the GMC had discontinued a separate investigation into Dr Noor  and now she is demanding it be reopened.

She said last night: The evidence is clear: she pressured me to retract my complaint. She is a doctor and did nothing to report her husband when she knew he was having a relationship with me.

The GMC dropping this investigation against Rahala effectively gives the green light to people to further manipulate the victims of abuse, or simply stop them from giving evidence. I find it appalling.

Adam Osborne at his wedding to Rahala Noor - the couple had two ceremonies, a civil one and a traditional Asian Muslim celebration

The GMC has refused to alter its position despite the revelations contained in Dr Noors emails and evidence presented by the victim and her partner.

The woman, who had a history of depression and anxiety, first sought help from Dr Osborne in 2010.

After two years of treatment, the relationship became sexual  an affair which continued for a further two years until it ended in February last year.

The victim told The Mail on Sunday that Dr Osborne had manipulated her into acting as a sex toy to fulfil his fantasies. One day she came home and told her partner that Osborne had even recommended they try going to swingers clubs.

Her partner, with whom the victim now lives in Scandinavia, has written to the GMC offering to act as a witness in any renewed investigation into Dr Noor.

Sibling: Dr Osborne, who is five years younger than his Chancellor brother George (above), was struck off

He said: I am angry. I believe the GMC just wants to maintain the status quo and not rock the boat. I had offered to act as a witness against Rahala and the GMC had all this evidence to hand but they chose to drop the matter. I cannot help but wonder if there has been a cover-up.

I think my partner needs closure and that involves all those responsible being held to account.

A spokeswoman for the GMC said: We dont discuss investigations or cases that have not gone to a public tribunal hearing, nor are we able to confirm whether a doctor is under investigation unless they have been interim suspended or have interim conditions following a hearing of the Interim Orders Tribunal at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.
Three young men, two Muslim and one Christian, were killed execution-style in a party house frequented by teens and young adults in Indiana on Wednesday.

An autopsy released on Friday showed 23-year old Mohamedtaha Omar, 20-year old Adam Mekki and 17-year old Muhannad Adam Tairab all died of multiple gunshot wounds.

The men died in the shooting on Wednesday at a house authorities said is frequented by teens and young adults of Chadian and South Sudanese decent.

Mohamedtaha Omar (left), 23, Muhannad Adam Tairab (center), 17, and Adam Kamel Mekki (right), 20, were all killed execution-style at an Indiana house on Wednesday. Omar and Tairab were Muslim; Mekki was Christian

The owners of the 'party house' (pictured) don't live at the residence, which allowed local teens and young adults of Chadian and South Sudanese decent to turn it into their own party place

Initial reports suggested that all three men were Muslim, but The Washington Post confirmed on Sunday that only Omar and Tairab were Muslim, while Mekki was Christian.

Safety Director Rusty York told ABC 21 Alive the home belongs to owners who live in Indianapolis, Indiana.

'Hopefully, you know, we'll be able to focus in on exactly what the reason was, but as I said before, no reason to believe this was any type of hate crime, or focused because of their religion or their nationality whatsoever,' York said.

The deaths have been ruled homicides and that an investigation is underway to find the killer or killers.

The death of the three men has been deemed a homicide but is not thought to be a hate crime based on the men's religions or race

Because the owners of the house where the young men died are absent from the residence, it has devolved into a party spot for teens and young adults from families of African descent

Right now, police aren't considering the murder to be a hate crime, but they have no suspects or leads.

The property had been under surveillance by Fort Wayne Police Department's Gang and Violent Crimes unit in the weeks leading up to the murders.
A teenage girl who was sexually assaulted after waking to find a masked intruder kneeling by her bed was told to 'be quiet' by the man before the ordeal.

The man, who entered the Roxburgh Park home in Melbourne's north through an open kitchen window, assaulted the teenager for 25 minutes as her parent's slept in the next room.

Police have spoken out against the incident which occured at 7.30am on Friday, calling it a 'random attack'.

'The male is not known to his victim,' Detective Senior Sergeant Jason Walsh said.

The man spent about 30 minutes in the home and at one point during the assault he removed his mask to show the girl his face.

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The man who sexually assaulted a teenage girl in her own bed on Friday was caught on CCTV cameras as he made his escape

A composite image of the intruder who assaulted a teenage girl in Melbourne

The man sexually assaulted the young girl for 25 minutes - telling her to 'be quiet' when she woke to find him in her room

'A house entry-rape on a young girl who was asleep in her own bed is extremely extremely serious,' Detective Senior Sergeant Walsh said.

After the assault the man forced his teenage victim into the bathroom where he made his escape through a window.

CCTV footage shows him leaping over neighbouring fences to make his escape.

He was caught on camera hopping over fences after the incident

The man was last seen running down Roycroft Road in Roxburgh Park

The man was last seen running down Roycroft Road in Roxburgh Park. He did not make contact with anyone else in the house, or steal anything.

He was wearing dark pants, a pink shirt and a dark jacket.

He has been described as being thin with a muscular build, aged in his 20s about 170cms tall with an Australian accent.

Detective Senior Sergeant Walsh urged anyone who believes they recognise the man to come forward.

'I'd urge people to have a close look at the image because there will be someone out there in the community who knows who he is,' he said.

Police are currently looking through CCTV footage of the incident (stock photo)

'This is a horrific crime and incredibly traumatic for the victim and her family.

'Any piece of information, no matter how small or insignificant it might seem, could prove vital in the investigation.'

The teenager told her parents after the attack and they contacted police immediately.

The man got into the house through the kitchen window.

Police are currently reviewing CCTV footage from neighbouring properties.

Anyone who recognises the man or who may have any information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000
It suggests his death was caused by bullying triggered by a Tory

The parents of the Tory activist whose suicide sparked a bullying scandal last night hit back at claims that his death was linked to a family row over him being gay.

Ray and Alison Johnson released a heart-rending suicide note in which their son Elliott repeatedly tells them he loves them, thanks them for their awe- inspiring help  and signs off with 16 kisses.

The note suggests the main cause of his death was bullying triggered by a vicious Tory power struggle  as well as losing his job and going broke as a result.

Party Feuds: Former Conservative director Mark Clarke, left, with tragic youngster Elliott Johnson, right

Elliott wrote: These past few weeks have been the worst of my life. I find myself on the work scrapheap. My choice is end it now or wait till the death of my career when the money runs out.

The Johnsons released the note in advance of the opening on Wednesday of the inquest into Elliotts death last September.

He reportedly took his life after being dragged into a feud between two Conservative factions in the so-called Tatler Tory scandal.

Mark Clarke  a former Tory director once tipped for a Cabinet job by Tatler magazine  was banned for life by party chiefs after Elliotts death when other activists made allegations of bullying, sexual assault and blackmail.

The coroner is to consider a plea to widen the inquiry to investigate claims of Tory bullying  as well as Elliotts death on a railway track.

The couple released the handwritten note after claims they had rowed with Elliott over his being gay. They also responded to reports of three suicide attempts in his teens.

It is totally wrong to say we argued with Elliott over being gay, said Mr Johnson. Nor is there any mention of rows in the police report into his death. It is a distortion. I want to know who leaked it and why. It looks like a smear.

When Elliott told us he thought he might be gay at about 16, we did what any loving parents would do: we talked about it to him and tried to help. He wasnt sure himself at first.

THE TRAGIC LAST MESSAGE FROM ELLIOTT JOHNSON TO HIS PARENTS Here is an excerpt from the suicide note that Elliott Johnson wrote to his parents in which he told them he had been bullied and betrayed... Dear Mum and Dad, Well what can I say. By the time you read this I will no longer be here. Sorry. I love you so much I cant explain. I failed in life despite your help, for which I am very thankful. These past few weeks have been the worst of my life. I find myself on the work scrapheap. My choice is end it now or wait till the death of my career when the money runs out. I have also been involved in a huge political issue. I have been bullied by Mark Clarke and betrayed by Andre Walker. Now all my bridges are burnt. Where can I go from here? I am sorry it has come to this and hope you can recover after a time. I want you to be together and get over my death. The help you have given me is truly awe-inspiring. It is hard to put it into words. I love you so much. Never forget this. I love Harriet and Charlotte [his sisters] too. I will see you soon: fate cannot keep us apart for ever. I will see you on the other side. I love you. I love you so much yet I must make this decision. It is hard for me but the rest of my life would be a never ending torture. Thats how I see it. Love you so much and the rest of the family. Elliott xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Advertisement

He was at a boys school and involved in so many activities. He had little time for girls anyway. He was very intellectually sophisticated, but not emotionally. We told him not to rush it. I have many gay friends. All we wanted was for our son to be happy.

Commenting on Elliotts earlier suicide bids, Mr Johnson said: We believe it was more a cry for help. The evidence that he had really tried to kill himself was not conclusive. On one occasion, he said he had eaten poisonous yew leaves  but the hospital found no evidence.

Revelations: Mail on Sunday coverage of the Tory scandal

And Mr Johnson said Elliott got over his mental health problems several years ago. He told us he was definitely gay about two years ago. By then, we had all got used to it and Elliott had a happy three years at Nottingham University where he was very popular. He was more mature and when he got a job with Conservative Way Forward in June, it was a dream come true.

He was working in politics, getting paid for it and living in London. He had never been happier.

Mr Johnson seniors fears over bullying are backed up in a chilling tape of a meeting between Elliott, Clarke and Clarkes sidekick Andre Walker in a pub, secretly recorded by Elliott 13 days before he took his life. The Mail on Sunday today publishes extensive excerpts from the recording.

In the 70-minute confrontation, Clarke admits telling Elliotts Tory employer, Conservative Way Forward campaign group, about an alleged electoral offence by Elliott.

Elliott appears to indicate he believes Clarke used the incident to threaten his job at CWF, which had made him redundant two weeks earlier  and to stop him getting a new job at the Commons.

In a new twist, Elliotts father said that his son, who believed he had been given a police caution for tweeting a minor Election result before it was announced, neednt have worried. The police say Elliott never received a caution, said Mr Johnson.

Conservative activist Elliott Johnson, 21, who was found dead on a railway line in Sandy, Bedfordshire

Mr Johnson says the tape disproves the notion that Elliott was too weak to survive in Westminsters political jungle.

He was small but you can hear his courage. Elliott told Clarke to his face that he was a disgrace. I felt immensely proud of my son when I listened to it.

It is a travesty for anyone to blame us or his past troubles for his death. There is only one place to look for the real blame: the Conservative Party.

Mr Clarke and Mr Walker strenuously deny any wrongdoing or issuing threats. Mr Clarke has claimed he was targeted by Tory HQ for threatening to expose endemic drug use in the party.

'Don't slag me off. You're running down a road you shouldn't be on': Transcript of the damning tape

SEPT 2, 2015

 Excerpts from Elliott Johnsons secret recording of a meeting with Tatler Tory Mark Clarke and sidekick Andre Walker in a pub in Tooting, South London. He sent a copy of the tape to police before his suicide 13 days later.

Clarke: Whats been going on?

Johnson: Im here for an apology, Mark.

Clarke: Thats not going to happen, is it?

Johnson: Its not right to bully people in pubs.

Clarke: I dont recognise that.

Johnson: It was blatant.

Clarke: I have not said a bad word about you.

Johnson: You were mouthing off to Donal Blaney.

Clarke: I did speak to Donal Blaney about your caution for an electoral offence. It was right because he was employing you to do campaigning for Conservative MPs and that could endanger them and their publicity and was a risk. I wasnt telling him [what] he didnt already know.

Johnson: Thats not what Paul Abbott told me.

Tatler Tory Mark Clarke (left) and sidekick Andre Walker (right) were on the recording in a pub in Tooting, South London

 Walker compares Elliotts job with CWF to working for the pro-Nazi Second World War Vichy regime in France.

Walker: Everyone in France who allied themselves with the Vichy Government got shot for it in the end. If you want to become a f****** d***head like a Japanese soldier on an uninhabitable island still fighting a war that was over years ago, do it. Theres no way f****** bloody Paul Abbott are going to be in the Thatcherite movement when anybody finds out what factional communists they are.

Clarke: I said to you Please dont slag me off. Your response was to go off and complain about me to the party. Im not going to be in a knife fight with you  even though you are in a knife fight with me.

Johnson: ...Im not happy that you dont think that that behaviour is appropriate [sic].

Clarke: Your definition of whats appropriate and my definition are clearly different. You believe it is appropriate to run around the Conservative movement, tell blatant lies about me and put complaints in to CCHQ [Conservative Campaign Headquarters].

Walker: People who are offended by Mark Clarke... have thrown him out of his own organisation... and told people he is mentally ill...

You phoned me s******* your knickers... I am going to say to that f*****s face: if shes got a problem with Mark Clarke she can do it herself... [to EJ] Youve behaved disgracefully. Youve taken a cardinal rule, thrown it on the floor, stamped all over it; and youve done it because f****** Paul Abbott are c**** as well.

Johnson: Im here for an apology in person. I think youve [MC] behaved disgracefully. Theres no getting away from it.

Clarke: Even if I believed I owed you an apology and wanted to make one, I couldnt... Try to be grown up about this... I told Donal and I told Paul about the electoral offence that you had

Johnson: You present it very factual [sic] but I fear there was a lot of emotive words... You made them in a disgraceful way. I just saw pernickety attempts to have a go at me because you were upset with CWF... and I was target number one in the pub...

Clarke: I advised you not to get involved in CWF because the way they constructed their assets and raise money... is disreputable and will damage the party. They know my views but dont care...

Johnson: Until... [the] virtual beat up in [the] bar... I was not going to do anything.

 Thought to be a reference to the alleged attack on Johnson by Clarke at the Marquis of Granby, on August 12.

Johnson: Im minded to say I cant be doing with the grief and hassle any more.

 Elliott is talking about giving evidence to a Tory Party inquiry into his complaint against Clarke.

Clarke: Be careful: if you say I cant be bothered with the grief and hassle, you can interpret that as you having had grief and hassle from me. The consequences could be worse for me...

Johnson: ...They dont like you at CCHQ.

Clarke: Sorry?

Johnson: I wouldnt be surprised if something happened further down the line.

Clarke: What do you know about other complaints?

Johnson: Every man and his dog who heard about this came with complaints to CCHQ... Stuff about adultery...

Day out: Mark Clarke, circled front, and Andre Walker, rear, were on the tape sent to police before Johnson's suicide 13 days later

 Married Clarke allegedly shared hotel rooms with his mistress, Tory aide India Brummitt, on Road Trips.

Clarke: People are putting complaints about me to CCHQ about adultery?

Johnson: Its not my personal opinion. I dont give a toss...

Clarke: Be very careful. You cant put the toothpaste back in the tube... Are you dependent on a job to pay the rent and that kind of stuff?

 This is a reference to Elliott being made redundant by CWF.

Johnson: Yes.

Clarke: Savings? Parents?

Johnson: Partially savings; parents as well. I might end up working at the Commons.

Clarke: What jobs have you applied for?

Johnson: Parliamentary assistant to MPs.

Clarke: Have you spoken to the Commons authorities about your caution for a Parliamentary pass?

Johnson: I dont appreciate tactics like that. Its a bad tactic. I think everything else youve done has been .... And I doubt its the first time youve done it.

Walker: For f***s sake... Youve ended up running down this road you dont want to be on.
U.S. Republicans in Washington are coming to grips with what many of them not long ago considered an unimaginable reality: Donald Trump is likely to be their presidential nominee.

Long the stuff of Washington jokes, hallway conversations and eye-rolls, Trump was derided or ignored even as he led in public opinion polls for months and dominated debate after debate.

But with the billionaire now winning three straight contests in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada, denial is giving way to acceptance that he may have too much momentum to be stopped.

With three so-called 'anti-Trump' candidates still running, the failure of establishment Republicans to unite under one banner has meant no credible opposition to Trump has yet emerged.

As Donald Trump looks to complete a clean sweep of Super Tuesday states, plenty of Republicans seem keen to stop him, but nobody seems to agree on how

'It fills all of us with concern and dread,' said Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, who has endorsed Marco Rubio, considered the main hope of the Republican establishment to derail Trump's run.

According to the New York Times, figures within the GOP have been attempting to take down Trump since last fall, just months after his candidacy was announced.

Veteran strategists Alex Castellanos and Gail Gitcho aimed to galvanize Republicans against Trump early by forming a super PAC to attack his campaign.

The Times reports that the pair even went so far as to create anti-Trump ads painting him as unfit for the presidency, and unstable in a crisis.

However, the idea never got off the ground as no enough donors came forward to make it viable.

Castellanos and Gitcho believed that a Trump nomination would cause the Republicans to lose, not only the race for President, but also the Senate, and possibly Congress as well.

While the establishment is throwing its weight behind Marco Rubio, following the departure of Jeb Bush, he has yet to present a credible challenge to Trump

That idea has since been echoed by figures such as Flake and Lindsey Graham, who have predicted a heavy loss to the Democrats in November under Trump.

'I am like on the team that bought a ticket on the Titanic after we saw the movie,' said Graham, contending that Trump would be 'slaughtered' in the general election.

Addressing the GOP's seeming indifference to Trump's supremacy, Graham added: 'Theres this desire, verging on panic, to consolidate the field. But I dont see any movement at all.'

Some analysts have argued that Trump's campaign has merely exposed deep rifts that have existed for a long time in the Republican party, and exploited these to open a gap for the mogul to exploit.

Fred Malek, the finance chairman of the Republican Governors Association, said: 'Theres no single leader and no single institution that can bring a diverse group called the Republican Party together, behind a single candidate. It just doesnt exist.'

Speaking to the notion of a single 'establishment' inside the Republican party that could mobilize and take on Trump, former Gov. Michael O. Leavitt of Utah added: 'There is no mechanism.

'There is no smoke-filled room. If there is, Ive never seen it, nor do I know anyone who has. This is going to play out in the way that it will.'

Such divisions are perhaps underscored by the fact that Rubio, Cruz and Kaisich, ordinarily three very different calibers of Republican politician, have found themselves lumped into the same category as potential contenders to Donald Trump.

Privately, lobbyists, economists, and analysts expressed deep concern about having Trump, who has proposed building a wall along the southern U.S. border and banning Muslims from the country, as the face of the party.

'There are a lot of people who are really freaked out,' said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who was the chief economic policy advisor to John McCain in 2008. 'He seems to be winging it.'

Conservative policy-makers worry that Trump's pitch to voters is based on his management skills rather than conservative principles.

Meanwhile Ted Cruz, neck-and-neck with Rubio in polls, is a divisive figure in Republican circles, with Lindsey Graham joking that, if he were killed on the Senate floor, none of his coworkers would convict the murderer

Juleanna Glover, a prominent Republican communications consultant, told Reuters that Trump's ascent 'spells the death of the party's sentient and cohesive governing framework.'

Two Republican business lobbyists, who also asked to remain unidentified, told Reuters that they are very concerned about Trump, chiefly because they do not know what he stands for.

They said they have no sense of certainty because Trump's positions on issues such as tax, trade, and regulation range from being only vaguely understood to completely unknown.

Theres no single leader or institution that can bring the Republican Party together. It just doesnt exist Fred Malek, finance chairman of Republican Governors Association

By vowing to make America 'win' again abroad while going into little detail on his foreign policy plans, Trump is also stirring concern in Washington national security circles.

A high-ranking official at a conservative think-tank, who spoke on condition of anonymity because his job requires him to steer clear of partisan politics, said: 'Every serious student of American strategy is sick to their stomach about the possibility of Trump being the Republican nominee.'

Robert Kagan, a conservative foreign relations expert at the Brookings Institution think tank, said in a column for the Washington Post on Thursday that he would vote for Clinton rather than Trump.

'The party cannot be saved, but the country still can be,' he wrote.

Paul Ryan, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and a leading voice on conservative economic policy, was asked Thursday whether he could work with someone like Trump if he became the nominee.

'We'll cross these bridges when we get to it,' Ryan said. 'But I do believe that we will be able to unify as a party.'

According to reports, senior Republican figures tried to amass support to stop Trump's campaign last fall, but their ideas went largely ignored

Asked about the hand-wringing in the Republican establishment about Trump, his campaign manger, Corey Lewandowski, said, 'Look, we've got relationships with those guys and we talk to them all the time.

'But I think what you find is that, you know, politics as usual in Washington, D.C., is not something that the American people want,' he said.

Lewandowski added that voters 'sent a very clear message' in the three early voting states where Trump won nominating contests 'that they want someone who is going to make fundamental change.'
Unemployed EU migrants received 886 million in Housing Benefit, Jobseekers Allowance and sickness pay in 2013-14

Jobless European immigrants living in Britain were handed an astonishing 886 million in benefits over a single year, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The staggering welfare bill has been disclosed for the first time buried in a Government report backing David Camerons plea for the UK to remain in the European Union.

Last weeks report says unemployed EU migrants received 886 million in Housing Benefit, Jobseekers Allowance and sickness pay in 2013-14. The Government has always insisted it was unable to obtain this data despite repeated requests from MPs, prompting suspicions of a cover-up.

Critics say a fresh influx of Romanian and Bulgarian migrants means the figures are now likely to be even higher, despite Mr Camerons claims that new welfare restrictions and the deal with other EU leaders means payments are falling.

Philip Davies, a Conservative MP who has repeatedly failed to obtain Government statistics on the migrant welfare bill, said: Its amazing weve got some figures at last, but one has to question how reliable they are. They certainly wont be underestimates. Its quite clear that immigration has gone up recently so the figures must be well over a billion pounds now, even by the Governments own estimates.

At last we are laying bare the huge cost of being a member of the EU. The changes the Prime Minister has negotiated are trifling  the only way to restrict benefits to EU migrants is to leave the EU.

Fellow Tory MP Christopher Chope, who recently tabled a Bill to cut Child Benefit sent abroad, said welfare paid to migrants was a very significant sum, and if the British taxpayer realised they would be even more concerned. I think this is why the Government has always been extremely reluctant to disclose the information.

Despite the long-running debate over how much EU migrants should be entitled to, the new figures are the most detailed so far on the cost to the public purse.

The 43-page dossier, published last Monday and titled The Best Of Both Worlds, claims that about four in ten recent arrivals from the EU are in households that get benefits.

It says EU migrants received 2.5 billion of benefits for workers on low incomes, made up of Housing Benefit and Working Tax Credits, ten per cent of the total UK bill.

Downing Street insists this will fall under Camerons EU deal because of the emergency brake preventing new arrivals claiming full benefits for four years. The report also claims Britain will pay out less to migrants who arrive here without work.

It says that at its peak the UK was spending 700 million a year on benefits to jobless Europeans but there has since been a clampdown.

Critics say a fresh influx of Romanian and Bulgarian migrants means the figures are now likely to be even higher, despite Mr Camerons claims that new welfare restrictions and the deal with other EU leaders means payments are falling. Pictured, refugees and migrants make a bid for the Eurotunnel in December 2015

However, detailed statistics published alongside the report by the Department for Work and Pensions give a far bigger figure. They show the total out-of-work expenditure on European migrants was 886 million in 2013-14. Of this, 465 million went on Housing Benefit, 216 million on Jobseekers Allowance and the remaining 205 million on disability payments.

New restrictions mean migrants must wait three months before claiming benefits. The jobless can only receive them for three months after that, while Housing Benefit has been scrapped for the out-of-work.

But the Government only expects to save 10 million a year and there has since been a fresh surge of migrants, mainly from Romania and Bulgaria.

The Government report also fails to include details on Child Benefit, which is claimed by EU migrants for 32,000 children in their home countries. Migrants whose children live in the UK will still be able to claim, and some critics say this means more families will settle permanently in Britain.

Eight million foreigners living in the UK... up 57 per cent in 10 years

The number of foreign-born people living in Britain has soared by 57 per cent since the expansion of the European Union a decade ago.

Latest figures show that in 2014 there were 8.2 million people living in the UK who were born overseas  up from 5.2 million in 2004 when residents of Eastern European countries were first allowed to settle here.

Foreign-born people now make up 13 per cent of the UKs population, compared with 8.8 per cent a decade ago. Of these, three million were born in EU countries and 5.2 million have come from elsewhere in the world.

The Office for National Statistics figures reveal that 180,000 more migrants now live in the West Midlands than ten years ago, while 144,000 extra foreigners have settled in Greater Manchester over the same decade. In the West London borough of Hounslow, the foreign-born population has doubled to reach 127,000.

The largest percentage increases in immigrants came in small rural areas that were overwhelmingly home to UK-born Britons a decade ago. In North-West Leicestershire, for example, the foreign-born population rose by 700 per cent from 1,000 to 8,000. And in Lincoln there was a 400 per cent rise, from 3,000 to 15,000.

But in another historic cathedral city, Winchester, the figures state that the non-UK born population fell by 50 per cent between 2004 and 2014, from 8,000 to 4,000.

The detailed local figures come after the ONS published statistics last week showing net migration is still close to record levels.

The increase in the overall UK population was 323,000 in the year to September 2015, with EU citizens accounting for 172,000 of the rise.
Posing for the camera shortly before boarding the plane, this is the British stag party whose drunken antics and alleged punch-up at 30,000 feet caused a Ryanair flight to make an unscheduled landing.

Building company director Joshua Mariner, 26, was the groom-to-be whose 12-man group forced the diversion of a London to Bratislava flight after reportedly becoming unruly and aggressive.

Two members of the bachelor party are said to have exchanged slaps and punches after swearing and shouting at each other across the aisle of the Boeing 737.

Six of the men were hauled off the plane when it made an unscheduled stop in Berlin after some of the group allegedly grew irate at the decision by cabin crew to refuse to serve them more alcohol.

At Luton Airport: Posing for the camera shortly before boarding the plane, this is the British stag party whose drunken antics caused a Ryanair flight to make an unscheduled landing. Groom-to-be Joshua Mariner is circled

Happy couple: Mr Mariner, who is due to wed fiancee Abi Whitmore (pictured together with their one-year-old daughter), was the groom-to-be whose 12-man group forced the diversion of a London to Bratislava flight

The groom-to-be whose stag party forced a flight to be diverted because of alleged drunken behaviour has been named as Joshua Mariner. He is pictured right next to his fiancee Abi Whitmore and brother Sam (left)

German police initially said Mr Mariner, from Southampton, was one of those arrested but his 29-year-old brother Sam, who was not on the flight, claimed this was not the case.

A couple of them let him down but he cant control their behaviour, he said.

Hes not particularly happy about it I dont think. It should not have happened on a plane, and on a flight with families on, he added.

Mr Mariner, who is due to wed fiancee Abi Whitmore in March, is understood to have been allowed to continue his journey to the Slovakian capital with some of the group.

The six stag party members arrested now face fines of up to 20,000 each.

A passenger on the flight told MailOnline that the group were so drunk they 'struggled to walk' before boarding at Luton Airport.

It is also claimed that one of the men stripped naked in front of the 170 passengers.

Mr Mariner, who describes himself as a partition and ceiling specialist and director of his own building company on his LinkedIn page, has a one-year-old daughter with Miss Whitmore, 29.

The detainees, aged between 25 and 28, could now face a fine of nearly 20,000 each under the Aviation Security Act.

Alexander Koller, 46, from Margate, Kent, was on the flight and branded the group a 'disgrace' but also criticised the airline and German authorities over their handling of the situation.

The Austrian tour lecturer told MailOnline: 'The passengers were a disgrace - by the way, (they were) not the only drunken, obnoxious people on this flight by any means.

Groom-to-be: Mr Mariner (right), who is due to wed fiancee Abi Whitmore (left) , was onboard the Ryanair 737-800 when several members of his 12-man bachelor party reportedly became unruly and aggressive

Mr Mariner (right) describes himself as a partition and ceiling specialist and director of his own building company on his LinkedIn page. He is pictured with his brothers Tom and Sam in a family photo

The Boeing 737-800 was due to fly to Bratislava in Slovakia but was forced to divert to Berlin

'The fact that they were allowed to board at all after making a huge nuisance of themselves in the departure hall at Luton and being so drunk that some were struggling to stand, was an even bigger disgrace.

'It was a total failure by Ryanair's ground staff at the gate and by the cabin crew who should have spotted them. This was not hard given that they were extremely loud and obnoxious whilst boarding and finding their seats.'

A spokesman for Ryanair said the airline has 'strict guidelines' to deal with disruptive and drunk customers.

Mr Koller believes the whole incident could have been avoided.

Describing the moments after landing at the German capital, he added: 'The operation in Berlin was pathetic, with German airport police not speaking a word of English and needing a translator, proceeding without any plan and the six of them waiting for about 10 minutes in the aisle near the door to be taken away.

A Ryanair aircraft flying between London to Bratislava was forced to divert due to an unruly stag party

The flight took off from London Luton airport and was forced to divert as it passed over central Germany

The captain radioed air traffic control at Berlin's Schoenefeld Airport (pictured) and the nine-year-old aircraft was greeted at the terminal by German federal police

'This was potentially a very dangerous situation. The only saving grace was that these people were not only drunk and vulgar, but also so stupid that they thought they could simply carry on partying in Berlin for which reason they did not seem to mind being taken off the plane.

'There is often no accounting for the baseness of human behaviour. In this case, however, it was extremely easy to spot. The situation was entirely preventable.'

The aircraft took off from Luton at 6pm on Friday and was about an hour into the flight and cruising at 37,000 feet, over the spa town of Bad Frankenhausen, Thuringia, when the incident happened.

DO YOU KNOW ANY MEMBERS OF THE STAG PARTY OR THE BRIDE? Get in touch with us on 0203 615 1861 or email sam.tonkin@mailonline.co.uk Advertisement

The flight landed within 30 minutes in Berlin's Schoenefeld Airport. The captain radioed air traffic control and the nine-year-old aircraft was greeted at the terminal by German federal police, according to Spiegel Online.

In total, there were 170 passengers and crew on board the aircraft.

According to German officials, they each now face a 19,700 fine as well as civil legal claims from Ryanair.

German police confirmed that six of the 12 passengers on the stag weekend, including the groom, would not obey the instructions of the cabin crew.

In a statement, German Federal Police confirmed: 'During the flight, six of the 12-member group interfered with safety on board.'

The aircraft took off after the six men were removed following an hour-long delay. The other six men reportedly continued their journey to Slovakia.

The detainees were later released after police took their details. They will be due to return to Germany at a later date to appear in court.

A spokesman for Ryanair told MailOnline: 'This flight from London Luton to Bratislava diverted to Berlin after a number of passengers became disruptive in-flight.

'The aircraft landed normally and police removed and detained these individuals at Berlin Schonefeld Airport.

'We will not tolerate unruly or disruptive behaviour at any time and the safety and comfort of our customers, crew and aircraft is our number one priority. This is now a matter for local police.'
Mircea Gheorghiu was sentenced to six years in jail in his native Romania for a rape in 1990

A Romanian rapist kicked out of Britain has been allowed back in by judges who also ruled his fast-track deportation broke EU law and breached his human rights.

Mircea Gheorghiu was sentenced to six years in jail in his native Romania for a rape in 1990. The roofer  who says he committed the sex attack after getting drunk at a party  served two years and eight months behind bars, before moving to Britain illegally.

Gheorghiu, now 47, was later convicted of drink-driving here, and  after the Home Office discovered his criminal past  was ordered out of the country under the deport first, appeal later scheme devised by Theresa May to stop foreign offenders remaining in Britain by launching endless appeals.

But two judges at an immigration tribunal have now let Gheorghiu return to the UK because his crimes are not deemed serious enough to justify his deportation. They added EU citizens should only be removed before their appeal hearings in exceptional circumstances, because of their rights to free movement and human right to a family life.

The ruling could scupper more planned deportations and will add to growing frustration that Britain cannot keep undesirables out.

Gheorghiu  who has also been jailed twice in Romania for forestry offences such as cutting timber without a licence  entered Britain illegally in August 2002.

He remained here, apparently without trying to acquire a visa, while his wife and three children stayed in Eastern Europe.

In January 2007, Romania joined the EU and so, under transitional rules, Gheorghiu was legally allowed to work in Britain as he supported the family in Romania as the sole breadwinner, according to a legal submission by his wife.

In November that year, he was convicted of drink-driving and banned for 20 months. But it was only in June 2014 that the Home Office discovered his rape conviction.

In January 2015, the decision was made to deport him essentially because of the serious nature of his overseas convictions, notably the conviction for rape.

Gheorghiu, who lives in Walthamstow, East London, with his family  who joined him in the UK in 2014  was placed in an immigration detention centre for 46 days before being sent back to Romania.

Gheorghiu was later convicted of drink-driving here, and  after the Home Office discovered his criminal past  was ordered out of the country under the deport first, appeal later scheme. But two judges have now let Gheorghiu return to the UK because his crimes are not deemed serious enough to justify his deportation

He said: The first I knew that anything was wrong was when the immigration officer knocked on my door at 7am. The officers said they had a few questions and asked me to come to the police station.

They said they would bring me back but they lied and I was taken to a detention centre.

While he was in Romania, his appeal took place and a judge ruled he no longer posed enough of a risk to be deported as he had been a law-abiding and working member of UK society for seven years.

Mr Justice Blake (pictured) and Judge Nathan Goldstein said: We consider it is of importance he is reunited with his family as quickly as possible'

According to the legal papers, in the First-Tier Tribunal, Judge Trevaskis concluded that as the offence of rape was committed 25 years ago and there was no evidence of subsequent violent or sexual offending, he represented at worst a very low risk of re-offending.

He added: There is no evidence which leads me to find he is a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society.

Although the Home Office appealed, the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) agreed Gheorghius deportation was disproportionate. Mr Justice Blake and Judge Nathan Goldstein said: We consider it is of importance he is reunited with his family as quickly as possible. Gheorghiu, who returned to the UK on December 29, said: I felt bad about leaving my wife and children. It was a terrible thing to happen to us.

I feel like the Home Office is trying to punish me for a crime Ive already paid for. I paid my own legal fees and flight back to the UK.

Legal experts say the ruling will be taken into account in all future cases where the Home Office tries to deport European criminals.

In another setback, a violent Slovakian sent home under the deport first rule has won the right to return to the UK for his appeal hearing. The Upper Tribunal ruled it was unlawful for the Home Office to refuse Roman Kasicky permission on security grounds.
The threat was made at a rally at the House of Commons in London

Left-wing supporters of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn have vowed to 'neuter' moderate MPs such as potential party leader Chuka Umunna, pictured

Left-wing supporters of Jeremy Corbyn have vowed to neuter his moderate Labour opponents, including potential party leader Chuka Umunna, The Mail on Sunday has learned.

The threat was made last week at a rally attended by Mr Corbyns Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, during which activists were urged to move against Right-wing Labour MPs.

The demand from the hard-Left Momentum group will increase fears among Labours moderate wing that Mr Corbyn is planning to cement his hold over the party with a further purge of rivals.

The rally was addressed by trade union activist Hugo Pierre, who stood unsuccessfully at the last General Election on a Socialist ticket against former Labour Minister Jim Fitzpatrick in Londons Poplar and Limehouse constituency.

Mr Pierre called for voters with socialist ideas in their heart to split apart the Tories and bring Mr Corbyn to power on a socialist programme.

Mr Pierre then told the gathering: Momentum has tomake sure it keeps quiet or it neuters those people, and I have to mention names, Chuka Umunna, and other Right-wing Labour MPs who want to tie Jeremy Corbyns hands.

Mr Umunna, the former Shadow Business Secretary, initially stood against Mr Corbyn in the Labour leadership battle last year, but withdrew after complaining about the level of media scrutiny.

He quit the Opposition frontbench when Mr Corbyn was elected last September and has publicly questioned whether the party can ever win power under his leadership.

Many moderates believe Mr Umunna should stand again as he is the partys best chance of defeating the Tories.

The threat against Mr Umunna came at a rally held on Monday in the Attlee Room at the House of Commons  named after the Labour Prime Minister who created the NHS and who nationalised one-fifth of the British economy in the 1940s.

Mr McDonnell, who arrived shortly after Mr Pierre made his remarks, told the rally that from a selfish point of view.

Momentum gave him and Mr Corbyn a feeling of solidarity as they faced an onslaught from the whole establishment.

He said trying to build a social movement was 'as important' as winning elections.

MPs belonging to the Blairite and Brownite rumps of the party fear that more moderates could be ousted during the coming shake-up of constituency boundaries.

Activist Hugo Pierre, pictured, named Umunna as a 'right-wing' MP who wants to 'tie Corbyn's hands'

Mr Umunnas office declined to comment but a senior Labour source said: This is the problem with Momentum.

'Neutering Labour Party members does not sound like the kinder, gentler politics we were promised. Instead this all seems rather nasty and sinister.

The disclosure came as Mr Corbyn yesterday angered Labour supporters of the Trident nuclear defence system by joining leaders of the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru in addressing a Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament rally in London.
It had been flown in from California, police said

The haul could be sold for between $650,000 and $1million

Crates marked 'art' and 'auto parts' containing 300lbs of weed were seized

Acting on a tip-off, police swooped in on the West Village building Friday

A daylight raid near New York University on Friday netted police up to $1million of California-grown marijuana disguised as art and auto parts.

The raid occurred at 1.30pm after Manhattan North Narcotics officers, acting on a tip-off, watched the crate as it was unloaded from a commercial delivery truck at 144 Bleecker Street in the West Village, NY Daily News wrote.

The crate, which was labelled 'art,' was one of two  the other, still in the van and addressed to another location, was marked 'auto parts.' The total haul came in at almost 300 pounds.

Crate expectations: Police were monitoring the West Village address on a tip-off when 193 bags of marijuana worth up to $1million arrived in crates (pictured) marked 'art' and 'auto parts.' Three men were arrested

Patrick Johnson, 46, a resident at the address, was arrested, as were Christopher Bender and Matthew Parrigo, both 27 and residents of Staten Island.

All three men were charged with criminal possession of marijuana.

The drugs were believed to have been flown from California into Newark airport, New Jersey, before arriving at their final destination, NYC special narcotics prosecutor Bridget Brennan told CBS.

Unfortunately for the would-be 'art' collectors, the location had been monitored by police with sniffer dogs after they received a tip-off. The entire haul came in at 193 bags of weed, weighing a total of 290 pounds.

'Its a huge amount of marijuana and its worth a lot of money,' Brennan told CBS. 'If it was going to be sold in street level amounts by the ounce, it would probably be worth up to a million dollars.'

It was worth at least $650,000, NY Daily News reported.
Home Secretary Theresa May was last night accused of rushing her so-called snoopers charter into the Commons while MPs are distracted by the EU referendum campaign

Home Secretary Theresa May was last night accused of rushing her so-called snoopers charter into the Commons while MPs are distracted by the EU referendum campaign.

Tory rebels joined forces with Labour to criticise the Home Secretary for hastily putting the Draft Investigatory Powers Bill to a Commons vote next week, despite warnings from MPs that it did not sufficiently address concerns about the intrusive spying powers of the intelligence agencies.

Mrs May has called for MI5, MI6 and GCHQ to be allowed to access the web browsing histories of UK citizens for up to 12 months, among other new snooping measures designed to combat the terror threat.

The powerful Intelligence and Security Committee, chaired by former Tory Attorney General Dominic Grieve, was one of three committees to complain that the new powers did not appear to have been fully thought through.

Tory rebels also expected the House of Lords to force the Government to insert more protections for civil liberties into the legislation.

Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham said: For Labours support, Ministers must show they have listened to our calls for greater transparency, stronger safeguards and protection of peoples privacy.

It is crucial that this Bill is not rushed and necessary time is given to consider these complex issues.

A Labour source added: The Tories cant rush through poor legislation just so they can devote more time to the referendum.

Theyve tied themselves in knots over Europe but doing this wont help.

Former Tory Shadow Home Secretary David Davis, who has demanded greater protection for civil liberties from the measures, criticised the fact that the Bill was being introduced barely three weeks after MPs had called for a number of amendments.

Mr Davis said: This Bill is incredibly important to both security and privacy. Three committees of MPs have found it to be seriously flawed.

There can be no operational requirement for such a rushed introduction of such an extensive Bill. Doing so in such a manner is little short of irresponsible.
Britain has not sent any asylum seekers back to Greece for five years after human rights judges ruled that conditions there were inhumane.

Under EU rules, refugees are meant to claim asylum in the first safe country they reach, and can be returned there if they instead seek refugee status in a richer nation.

But Ministers have admitted that there have been no returns to Greece under the so-called Dublin Regulations since 2010 because of a judgment by the powerful European Court of Human Rights.

Britain has not sent any asylum seekers back to Greece for five years after human rights judges ruled that conditions there were inhumane. Pictured, migrants and refugees make a dash for the Eurotunnel in 2015

It ruled that conditions in the Mediterranean country were inhumane and degrading after hearing of an Afghan man who was reportedly locked up in a small space with 20 others in a filthy detention camp. He had been sent back there after trying to claim asylum in Belgium.

Tory MP Philip Hollobone said: We have this absurd position where Greece  to where millions of Brits go on holiday every year  is no longer deemed a safe country for asylum seekers.

We should be making maximum use of the Dublin Regulations to deport asylum seekers back from the UK to the first country they came to, while the EU border-free countries should be paying for Greeces asylum detention system to be brought up to an acceptable standard in double-quick time.

As a result of the ban on returns to Greece, the number of asylum seekers removed from Britain under the Dublin Regulations has halved in recent years.

It ruled that conditions in the Mediterranean country were inhumane and degrading after hearing of an Afghan man who was reportedly locked up in a small space with 20 others in a filthy detention camp. Pictured, migrants and refugees queue for food at the port of Piraeus, Athens

New Home Office figures show the total number of people sent back from Britain to claim asylum elsewhere on the Continent has dropped from 1,150 in 2010 to 520 in 2014.

Minister James Brokenshire told MPs in a letter this month: Transfers to other member states under the Dublin Regulations fell in the last three years because we stopped transferring asylum claimants to Greece in 2010.

This was because it was found that conditions there amounted to a breach of Article 3 of the European Convention of Human Rights.
Ring believed to have been owned by Joan of Arc in the 15th Century

Ring believed to have been owned by Joan of Arc in the 15th Century

French government thought to have bought item of jewellery at auction

French government thought to have bought item of jewellery at auction

A ring believed to have belonged to Joan of Arc has been snapped up for an astonishing 240,000 at a London auction house.

The French government is thought to have bought the item of jewellery. It was put up for sale by Robert Hasson, whose father James was Charles de Gaulles doctor in the Second World War.

Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake as a heretic by the English in 1431, after claiming she acted under divine guidance when leading the French army to victory at Orleans.

A spokesman for Timeline Auctions, which conducted the sale on Friday, said: The ring is returning to France.

Auction: This ring is believed to have been worn by French heroine Joan of Arc and owned by King Henry VII

Heroine: Joan of Arc was burned at the stake by the British when she was just 19 years old in 1431
Victoria Square, which took its name from the British Queen who handed Greece back its Ionian islands, was once a haven of middle-class tranquillity, filled with shops and cafes in the heart of Athens.

Today it is a squalid repository of human misery. As I stood there on Friday night, it was easy to see why the European Union stands on the edge of devastation, its dreams of unity being dashed by the day.

This iconic place is a short stroll from the city centre, with its famous classical sites symbolising the birthplace of democracy. Yet any tourists heading there might be shocked.

Devastation: More than 100,000 refugees and migrants have already arrived in Greece in 2016  three times the levels of last year. They are greeted by a mixture of incompetence, inhumanity and indifference

For hundreds of bewildered migrants from Asia and North Africa sprawl across the square. They are huddled on blankets, clustered on benches and bedded down in makeshift camps under trees.

This creeping army fleeing war and poverty in such huge numbers is striking fear across Europe.

For bumbling bureaucrats in Brussels and a generation of bickering politicians seem incapable of responding to the Continents biggest crisis since the Second World War. The result is that this weekend it is reaching crunch point.

This is disturbing as our nation debates its place in Europe  for those scenes confronting me in Athens will sway many voters, fearful some will end up in Britain.

Refugees queue up in the village of Idomeme on the Greek/Macedonian border after Macedonia opened up its borders to 300 people

A woman carries a small child as they wait at the border in the hope they will be allowed to cross into Macedonia. The build-up began in earnest last week after Macedonia started refusing entry to Afghans

Two young girls clutch the wire fence while waiting to see if they will be allowed to cross into Macedonia. Authorities opened the Idomeni border crossing on Saturday afternoon and dozens of migrants were allowed to pass through

Hundreds more immigrants arrive here daily, their hearts set on reaching Germany  but most cannot leave. Greeces frustrated neighbours have blocked borders to stop them reaching the rest of Europe, trying to bottle up a Continents problem in a bankrupt nation. This response is potentially explosive.

More than 100,000 refugees and migrants have already arrived in Greece in 2016  three times the levels of last year. They are greeted by a mixture of incompetence, inhumanity and indifference.

Take 50-year-old Algerian Abdel Kader. I bought a ferry ticket and was waved through, he told me. Maybe I look like a European.

As darkness descended the refugees, many with small children continued to wait at the Greek border with Macedonia. More than 20,000 refugees and other migrants are currently on Greek soil

Two refugees huddle together next to a barbed wire fence as darkness descended at the Greece/Macedonia border

A young boy cries as he and his family wait to see if they will be allowed to leave Greece for Macedonia

Thus a middle-aged man from Algiers exposed the still-shambolic nature of attempts to control traffic by fingerprinting entrants so the rest of Europe knows where they arrived. What was his plan? I am a truck driver. I want to drive trucks in Europe and make more money. I will go anywhere  to Germany, then to France, Belgium, even Britain.

Europe will always be a draw for those from poorer countries  with many attracted by German Chancellor Angela Merkels welcoming stance. Last week 7,300 refugees and migrants from the islands landed in two days in Piraeus Port; then another 2,000 the next day before officials ordered a temporary halt to the human shipments.

Thousands more are on Greek islands. Meanwhile, 6,000 are stranded in the north of the country, with temporary camps being built after Macedonia closed borders to all except Syrians and Iraqis.

This is disturbing as our nation debates its place in Europe  for those scenes confronting me in Athens will sway many voters, fearful some will end up in Britain. Pictured, A Syrian child carries a lifebelt before boarding a dinghy to cross the Aegean Sea to the Greek island of Lesbos

For bumbling bureaucrats in Brussels and a generation of bickering politicians seem incapable of responding to the Continents biggest crisis since the Second World War. Pictured, Syrian children carry lifebelts and wear lifejackets as they prepare to board a dinghy to cross the Aegean Sea to the Greek island of Lesbos

These refugees from conflict comprise about half of those entering Greece  but aid workers told me of rumours even these people may be barred at borders this week. They fear a major humanitarian crisis emerging in the heart of Europe.

This might feel like distant news for Britons  for now the front line of the crisis confronting Europe is found in places such as that filthy square. I met Afghans, Algerians, Iranians and Pakistanis turned back from the borders. Two distraught Pakistani men tried to hang themselves there on Thursday.

Some had just arrived, fresh from the perilous crossing from Turkey. I watched the latest party of 25 baffled Afghans enter the square; pitifully small children clutched their parents hands, exhausted infants slept on shoulders.

Europe will always be a draw for those from poorer countries  with many attracted by German Chancellor Angela Merkels welcoming stance. Pictured, Syrian and Iraqi refugees line up next to a fence at the Greek-Macedonian border this week

Thousands more are on Greek islands. Meanwhile, 6,000 are stranded in the north of the country. Pictured, a refugee child reaches Lesbos after crossing the Aegean Sea

Who knows where they will end up. Many told me they will keep trying to cross borders to reach Germany; some had already been turned back four times. I suspect swathes will get through, regardless of the defences. Yet it is too easy to criticise Greece for its shambolic response. This is a country with crippling austerity imposed and Europes highest level of unemployment as it clings to the euro.

Now the EU is essentially telling Greece to sort the problem, offering cash to salve the pain. But this is unrealistic  as is vague talk of renewed efforts to redistribute people across Europe.

And its not just Greece. Merkel is also under pressure after Germany accepted 1.1 million arrivals last year. She faces regional elections next month, with confidence in her declining and a Right-wing populist party rising in polls.

I watched the latest party of 25 baffled Afghans enter the square; pitifully small children clutched their parents hands, exhausted infants slept on shoulders. Pictured, a Syrian woman cares for a boy in a wheelchair as they wait to be allowed to cross the Greece-Macedonia border

Who knows where they will end up. Many told me they will keep trying to cross borders to reach Germany. Pictured, a mother and her baby rest at the Victoria square in Athens

This is a country with crippling austerity imposed and Europes highest level of unemployment as it clings to the euro. Pictured, a man from Afghanistan carrying a baby cries as he pushes against the fence at the Greece-Macedonia border

Europe simply seems more divided  and every day this crisis festers, its inability to find solutions makes it harder to argue the case for membership. Pictured, refugees walk along the national road near the town of Polykastro, towards the Greek-Macedonian border

Merkel is desperate, said one diplomatic source. But the EU must find a way to manage this crisis so we protect the refugees fleeing war instead of letting in people who want to become a little wealthier.

Yet as Nato steps in, Europe simply seems more divided  and every day this crisis festers, its inability to find solutions makes it harder to argue the case for membership.
She won a proud place in British military history  and the hearts of the nation  as the flagship of the assault force that recaptured the Falkland Islands from Argentina in 1982.

But now the once-mighty aircraft carrier HMS Hermes is destined for a new life... as a luxury floating hotel.

The iconic warship, from which the BBC journalist Brian Hanrahan famously counted out the Harrier Jump Jets and then counted them all back during the Falklands conflict, will become a 600-room, five-star hotel moored in Indias Bay of Bengal.

Iconic: HMS Hermes in the 1980s, right, and the BBC's Brian Hanrahan on the carrier at the time of the Falklands conflict

The vast, 13-storey structure will boast luxury suites; at least five restaurants; a glittering night club; swimming pools; and extensive conference rooms.

The hotel may be anchored several miles off the coast to allow it to operate a casino, as gambling houses are banned on mainland India and in local waters.

VIP guests will be ferried from the shore by helicopter to the hotels own helipad, though others will have to make the journey by speedboat.

The history of the 24,000-ton Centaur-class ship, which was sold by Britain to India in 1986, will be highlighted in a special museum on board.

HMS Hermes was the flagship of the assault force that recaptured the Falkland Islands from Argentina in 1982

Three days after Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands, HMS Hermes headed to the South Atlantic, carrying 12 Sea Harrier jets and 18 Sea King helicopters

In 1975, Prince Charles, who was then a newly qualified helicopter pilot, joined 845 Naval Air Squadron on flying duties from HMS Hermes in Caribbean and Eastern Canadian waters.

But it was in April 1982 that it became the flagship of the British attack against Argentine forces in the South Atlantic  an unlikely twist of fate for the then 23-year-old warship that had been earmarked for decommissioning only a year earlier.

Three days after Argentine forces invaded the Falkland Islands, HMS Hermes headed to the South Atlantic, carrying 12 Sea Harrier jets and 18 Sea King helicopters.

Mr Hanrahan, who died in 2010, was then a little-known BBC foreign correspondent. He transmitted one of the most memorable reports of the conflict from the carriers deck when the Harriers were dispatched for the first attack on Port Stanley Airfield.

To avoid giving away military secrets to the enemy, he reported: Im not allowed to say how many planes joined the raid, but I counted them all out and I counted them all back.

Margaret Thatcher on the deck of HMS Hermes after the warship came back from the Falklands war

The 74-day conflict ended in June 1982 and a month later HMS Hermes returned to Portsmouth to a rapturous welcome from thousands of relatives of the 1,700-strong crew and members of the public.

After 30 years of service with the Indian navy, the government decided to decommission the renamed INS Viraat  which means giant in Sanskrit  as maintaining the ageing ship was becoming too costly.

The state of Andhra Pradesh, on Indias east coast, has bought the vessel for a nominal one rupee  less than a penny  but is spending another 85 million to transform it into one of the finest hotels and tourist attractions in India.
Schoolchildren are being subjected to covert psychological tests as part of the SNPs new state guardian scheme.

Every youngster in Scotland is to be subtly quizzed about their private lives and asked to complete intrusive questionnaires.

These will ask, among other things, if the childs parents make them feel special  or even if their home is cosy.

Schoolchildren in Scotland are to be quizzed about their private lives and asked to complete intrusive questionnaires (stock image)

The Scottish National Party (and its leader Nicola Sturgeon, pictured) has been criticised because of the project

The answers will be stored on a giant government database network and then analysed to pick out pupils for further investigation by Named Persons to which every individual child will be assigned later this year.

Scottish pupils will then face the intrusive tests regularly throughout their school careers after the system goes live in August.

Sample questions and possible answers are being used to train Named Persons in quizzing children.

The Mail on Sunday asked social work expert Maggie Mellon to deconstruct the answers and show how they would flag up issues with childrens well-being. What she found will chill every parent.

Some of the concerns raised were legitimate but others were subjective, potentially wrong or even based on prejudice. Respected Ms Mellon concludes the scheme has no validity.

Campaigners against the new system say concerned whistleblowers in parts of the country including Ayrshire, Fife and East Renfrewshire are claiming teachers are being told by training teams to keep parents in the dark about the true nature of the profiling.

Instead, it is claimed that parents will receive letters home stating only that there is some resilience testing being carried out with pupils.

Simon Calvert of the No To The Named Person campaign, which is spearheading a legal challenge to the scheme, said the latest revelations were creepy.

He added: Parents are going to have to tell schools and local authorities to stop spying on their children.

'Psychologically manipulating youngsters so you can squeeze confidential information out of them is fundamentally wrong  but to store all this information on a giant council database is astonishingly foolhardy.

It really is beyond time that the Scottish Government called a halt to this whole charade before they do any more damage. Its Orwellian, its immoral and it has to stop.

Younger children will be encouraged to divulge information about their home life in lessons which include prompt cards, games and songs to familiarise them with the Scottish Governments definition of well-being.

Older children will face a series of questions, on areas ranging from home life to sexual health, which ask them to rate experiences on a scale from zero to ten.

Teachers across the country are now being trained to transfer the childrens answers into the database. One of the tests, a Scottish Government-endorsed tool called What I Think, is designed to tease out details of pupils family lives with leading questions, even in nursery schools.

A number of sample scenarios involving children are given to teachers to help them with filling in online sections correctly. Examples include a male child, J mentioning that he did not miss his mother when staying overnight with his grandmother.

Younger children will be encouraged to divulge information about their home life in lessons which include prompt cards (stock image)

Another describes how he burst his lip at the park when he was there by himself but when he went home his father shouted at him, telling him he was a big boy and I shouldnt cry like a big baby.

Others refer to him telling feeling scared in his room sometimes and, while his mother allows him to keep the light on sometimes, if Im not good she puts it off.

In Angus, pupils are being given prompt cards which include questions such as: Who cleans your house? Is it cosy? Who makes the tea? What does your bedroom look like?

Prompt cards have also been produced for parents, encouraging them to behave in a way that sets a good example to your child and participate in community activities.

The cards were developed by Angus Council and are being used by other Scottish local authorities.

There has already been fury across Scotland about tests for older children which ask them if they drink, smoke or commit crime and if they feel close to their parents.

Named Persons must judge each youngsters well-being against a government checklist that includes indicators such as a pupil needing fillings at the dentist, being disruptive in class or failing to carry out voluntary work.

An investigation involving social workers could follow if a youngster is not generally optimistic, fails to display positive attitudes to others sexuality or is injured playing sport.

Each of Scotlands 32 local authorities is already given software to keep track of pupils attendance, performance and behaviour on a system called SEEMiS, with information shared with the Scottish Government and the NHS.

But the system was upgraded last Thursday to include a section with a Well-being Application which will act as a repository for data which will be accessible only to designated state guardians.

Critics say the profiling scheme goes even further than a controversial ContactPoint system in England which was scrapped in 2010 following warnings it was illegal and unsafe.

There has already been fury across Scotland about tests for older children which ask them if they drink, smoke or commit crime and if they feel close to their parents (stock image)

Now there are fears that centralising the files of a million children  including their name, address, route to school, hobbies and even photographs  could leave them at risk of being stolen.

Yesterday, Dr Stuart Waiton, senior sociology lecturer at Abertay University in Dundee, said: A major problem with the Named Person professionals is that they appear to have lost any sense of the family as an important private institution for society. Trust, loyalty and privacy in their warped eyes are transformed into secrets being hidden behind closed doors.

'Once we see every child as vulnerable and every family as potentially toxic, the result is that professionals see less of a problem with interfering in the private lives of children and parents.

Under the Named Person scheme, every child is to be appointed a state guardian at birth to monitor their wellbeing up until the age of 18. All families will receive 11 compulsory visits to inspect their parenting skills before a child starts classes.

Named Persons will be entitled to demand information and share it with police and social workers without parents consent or knowledge.

Yesterday, Angus Council insisted the questions on its prompt card system were to support families rather than assess them.

An East Renfrewshire Council spokesman denied its tests were psychological profiling, adding: We are proud of the ongoing process of open and transparent engagement that we enjoy with the parents or carers of our pupils.

A Scottish Government spokesman declined to comment on the tests, saying it was down to councils to respond.
If he is found guilty, Mark Sievers may face the death penalty

The Sievers had life insurance policies worth $4.4million  the same amount set for Mark Sievers's bail

One of those men, Curtis Wright Jr, is helping police on a plea deal

The husband of Dr Teresa Sievers, who was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in her Bonita Springs, Florida home in June last year, has been charged in her murder by police.

Mark Sievers has been accused of commissioning two men  his childhood friend Curtis Wayne Wright Jr and Jimmy Rodgers  to kill his wife while he and their two children were visiting family in Connecticut.

Rodgers and Wright were arrested in August last year, and officials released a probable cause affidavit linking Sievers to the pair in December, but an arrest was only made on Friday, the same day that Wright co-operated with police.

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Charged: Mark Sievers (pictured left) has been charged with second-degree murder. His wife Teresa (pictured right with Mark and their daughters Carmi and Josephine) was killed with a hammer in June of last year

Evidence: Teresa's body was found next to the hammer (pictured) in her Florida kitchen. Mark Sievers is accused of paying two men to murder her while he and his daughters were in Connecticut visiting family

The body of Teresa Sievers, who was known locally for her appearances on television and in magazines, was found in her kitchen by neighbors on June 29. The back of her head had been smashed in with a hammer.

Rodgers and Wright were picked up soon after, when GPS data from a vehicle Rodgers rented showed it was driven to Wright's home in Missouri and then to Sievers's home in Florida on the night of the murder

Even more damningly, Rodgers's girlfriend, Taylor Shomaker, contacted police to tell them that he had told her Sievers commissioned him and Wright to commit the killing.

However, it wasn't until Friday that police made their move. That was the same day Wright agreed to plea deal that got him a shorter sentence of 25 years, according to NBC 2.

Lee County sheriff Mike Scott said in December: 'We have no problem arresting people, but we do so when the time is right, particularly in a case like this. Theres a great deal at stake and we want to make sure everything is correct.'

He declined to say why investigators moved now, bit did tell WINK News that 'We were after Mark Sievers, we got our man, and were very happy for that.'

Sievers appeared before Lee County jail court on Friday, where he was charged with second-degree murder for allegedly commissioning Wright and Rodgers to break into his wife's home and murder her.

He showed little emotion during the hearing, reported ABC News, adding that Scott said of Sievers: 'Im not 100 percent sure hes got blood in his veins. I think it might be ice.'

'Accomplices': Mark Sievers allegedly paid Jimmy Rodgers (pictured left) and childhood pal Curtis Wayne Wright Jr (right) to kill Teresa. Cops say Rodgers's hire car was tracked to Wright's and Sievers's houses

Testified: Wright and Rodgers appear here alongsie Rodgers's girlfriend, Taylor Shomaker (pictured center), who testified to police that he had admitted his role in the murder to her. Wright admitted guilt on Friday

The motivation for the murder was not immediately apparent, but may have had something to do with financial difficulties; WINK reported that the couple owed more than $32,000 to the IRS, and that life insurance policies on the couple totaled more than $4.4million.

Perhaps not coincidentally, Sievers's bail was set at $4.43million. If convicted, he could face the death penalty.

Sievers's arrest came after an in-depth investigation that spanned multiple states and had investigators listening to hours of phone calls between him and Wright, a childhood best friend, during which they believe the killing was commissioned.

'This murder was committed in expectation of Wright getting paid an undisclosed amount of money from Mark Sievers and then in turn, he was to pay Rodgers $10,000 for his involvement,' said Lee County Sheriffs Office in court documents.

According to WINK, the documents outline a number of details that point to Sievers's involvement in his wife's murder.

These include claims that the couple had been heard arguing loudly by neighbors, that they had both had 'multiple affairs' and that they were considering divorce.

It is also alleged that Sievers, who was in Connecticut with the couple's children visiting relatives, told his mother-in-law to leave the Florida home's burglar alarm deactivated hours before his wife returned to it, and that when police later asked him to give a DNA sample he refused.

It also says that both Sievers and Wright had 'coded' conversations on disposable cell phones and that Wright and Rodgers were seen buying 'suspicious items' in a Florida Walmart, as well as mentioning the GPS evidence from Rodgers's hire car.

Arguments: Neighbors say that the Sievers had frequently argued, both had engaged in 'multiple affairs,' and they were considering divorce prior to Teresa's murder. They had a $4.4million life insurance policy

Crime scene: Teresa's body was discovered in her home (pictured) in Bonita Springs, Florida. Police claim that Mark told his mother-in-law to deactivate the burglar alarm hours before his wife came back

Custody: A custody hearing for the Sievers' daughters (pictured, with their father) will be held on Monday. It is not clear at present who is caring for them now

Appearing before court on Friday, Wright pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for his role 'in the planning and participating of the murder of Teresa Sievers,' WINK reported.

He also agreed to help prosecutors with and has accepted a shorter sentence of 25 years.

A statement released by Wright's attorney said: 'The decision of Curtis Wayne Wright to accept responsibility and plead guilty to second-degree murder will hopefully begin to answer the many questions and bring closure to the family of Teresa Sievers.'

Scott described the case as the most complicated in his 28 years in law enforcement, according to WINK.

'Our community can take solace knowing that the power of the sheriffs office was brought to bear on three very dangerous people who gave a great deal, and I want to underscore, a great deal of effort and energy into covering their tracks, into throwing us off on their track,' he said.
The theme music from Harrison Ford's movie 'Air Force One' blared over loudspeakers in a rural Tennessee airport hangar, and minutes later a less presidential noise wafted over a hot mic.

'Get in the plane and go home. It's over there. Go home.'

That was Donald Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner, telling his newest endorser Chris Christie in front of 12,000 people exactly where to go and how to get there.

Christie had just sung The Donald's praises following the dramatic entrance of his plane in a stunt the campaign invented a month ago in Dubuque, Iowa.

And more importantly, he had trashed Marco Rubio.

'Get in the plane and go home': Donald Trump approached his new political ally Chris Christie and told him to get himself home - using his luxury private plane

BEFORE THE SNUB: Donald Trump and Chris Christie exited the billionaire's private Boeing 757 in Millington, Tennessee together, but moments later Trump seemed to be telling him to get on another plane and go home

SUNSETS WITH DONALD: Trump gave his second speech of the day following another airport hangar stop in Bentonville, Arkanssa

ENDORSEMENT TOUR: Christie, the governor of New Jersey, has been a fixture on Trump's campaign circuit since he gave his endorsement on Friday afternoon

The boyish Florida senator who has given Trump his share of heartburn in recent days, Christie told thousands clumped shoulder-to-shoulder, 'said he's gonna work as hard as he can as long as he can to win the Republican nomination.'

'That would be something new for Marco Rubio  to show up to work at all!'

'How about a refund, Senator Rubio?' he asked of the senator who has skipped more hearings on Capitol Hill than he's attended in five years on the job.

Christie and Trump had strode down a set of tarmac stairs from what Rubio now calls 'Hair Force One' to the strains of Marc Cohn's 'Walking in Memphis,' a hat tip to the music city just a half hour's drive away.

A deafening roar set the scene. Christie knocked young Marco out of the park. And then Trump showed him the back of his hand.

It was, as one Twitter wag opined, 'the political equivalent of leaving the money on the nightstand.'

A Trump spokesperson did not respond to requests for an explanation.

Hours later, however, Trump social media director Dan Scavino tweeted that Trump had told Christie 'to go home (as was planned) to be with family tonight.'

'Being blown out of proportion, BIG LEAGUE!!,' Scavino added.

'MAKING AMERICA HATE AGAIN': One leftist protester crashed Trump's party, and The Donald's supporters tore up his protest sign

JUST ONE PROBLEM: When Trump called for security to remove the protester, the crowd was so densely packed that no one could reach the man for four minutes

WAS A PATRONIZING PHONE CALL FROM RUBIO THE REASON CHRISTIE BACKED TRUMP? Chris Christie endorsed Donald Trump because of a patronizing phone call from Marco Rubio, it's been reported. The New Jersey Governor is said to have been offended when Rubio left him a voicemail after he dropped out and told him he had a 'bright future in public service'. According to the New York Times, Christie, 53, took the message as deeply disrespectful and questioned why a 44-year-old was discussing his future At the same time Trump spoke to Christie frequently. The pair then met at Trump Towers in New York with their wives on Thursday. On Friday, Christie flew out to Texas and said he would be backing the billionaire. It is the biggest endorsement for The Donald's campaign and comes just days before the biggest group of delegate are up from grab on Super Tuesday. Advertisement

Christie actually stuck around for Trump's speech, but the impact of a 9-second video clip of Trump sending him off rocketed around the Internet in mere seconds.

Trump is laboring to provide voters a set of stark contrasts  between career politicians and businessmen, between public servants on the take and altruistic populists.

Instead, the message his quick apparent dismissal of Christie sent is one of short-selling loyalty, and Rubio's upstart campaign may well take advantage of it.

Trump has found himself hammered in recent days by Rubio, a first-term Florida senator 25 years his junior who has tried to beat the billionaire at his own schoolyard-taunt game.

Suddenly aggressive and pugnacious, Rubio has openly mocked The Donald's occasionally misspelled tweets and made a joke in a stump speech about the possibility that Trump may have wet himself during Thursday's debate in Houston.

A Rubio aide familiar with campaign strategy told DailyMail.com on condition of anonymity that it was 'a conscious decision' to take a harder line with Trump beginning on debate night.

'The timing was right,' he said, 'and the opening was there. It was easy.'

'Two-thirds of the Republican Party has been waiting for someone to land a glove on him, and it's not like anyone is going to feel sorry for him. What's not to like?'

Trump stole his thunder right back on Friday with a stunning endorsement from Christie, the New Jersey governor and former White House candidate who had dismantled Rubio during a New Hampshire debate a month earlier.

By Saturday the ball was back in Rubio's court.

MARCOMENTUM: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has trashed Trump at every opportunity, mocking his 'spray tan' and suggesting he's a litigious blowhard

THE ANTI-TRUMPETERS: Rubio's crowd mad it clear Saturday in Georgia who they won't be voting for

Indulging in his latest campaign parlor game  reading Trump's tweets aloud with the encouragement of a few thousand fans  Rubio said in Kennesaw, Georgia that the billionaire 'put out a picture of me having makeup put on me at the debate.'

'Which is amazing me to me, that the guy with the worst spray tan in America is attacking me for putting on makeup!'

'Donald Trump likes to sue people,' Rubio added. 'He should sue whoever did that to his face.'

The front-runner was not amused on Saturday in Tennessee.

'You deal with liars, you deal with major, major sleaze' in politics, he observed. 'Do we know what sleaze is?'

He's leading Rubio, he said, by 22 points in the senator's native Florida.

'If he ran in Florida today for an office, he couldn't run for dogcatcher,' trump said. 'He wouldn't be elected. ... He's unelectable. And we're going to beat him badly in Florida.'

'His new thing is he's gotta be tough now, you know, a tough guy, right? This is not a tough person, believe me.'

Trump called him 'little Marco' repeatedly.

He recounted Rubio's sale of a $179,000 Florida home to a lobbyist for more than twice that amount.

'Terrible. He takes money,' the famed profit-monger said. 'And by the way the lobbyist was, I think, doing business with Florida, trying to get legislation passed.'

He returned to his well-worn critique of Rubio as a sweat-drenched 'choke artist.'

MASSIVE TURNOUT: A cavernous airport hangar accommodated more than 12,000 people at dinnertime on Saturday, according to local authorities

GET THERE EARLY: Hours before the venue filled up to the edges, Wesley Jones of Millington, Tennessee posed for pictures dressed as Uncle Sam

'Can you imagine Rubio negotiating with Putin?' he asked.

'And he walks into the room and he's pouring sweat, and Putin says, "Man, what's wrong with that guy?"'

And he slipped in one double-edged slam against both Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

'We got double-teamed by two crooked senators,' he said of the Houston debate.

"You have one who's a liar and then you have the other one who may be a worse liar, that's Rubio.'

'I will say this: Cruz is smarter than Rubio,' Trump added in a backhanded compliment. 'I will let you know in a few months who's the better liar.'

A lone protester tried to disrupt the rally, and got what he wanted.

His sign, reading 'Making America Hate Again,' ended up in tatters courtesy of a rally-goer who taunted the man while yelling 'Trump! Trump! Trump!'

Trump asked for police to 'get him outta here,' but that process took nearly four minutes.

The crowd was simply too densely packed for anyone to reach the dissenter.

With the sun setting and a few wadded up balls of paper hurled in his direction, he eventually was marched to the exit.

Trump was more concerned with a larger group of liberals  those whom he says can be persuaded to vote for him.

'A lot of outsiders are coming in because they like what I say,' he claimed.

'We're going to get a lot of people coming in, and we don't care where they're coming from. We've got to win, right?'

'We're going to get independents. We're going to get Democrats,' he boasted.
MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry's long-running feud with the network stems from a disagreement over a segment on Beyonce's provocative hit 'Formation', sources say.

Harris-Perry's eponymous show is in doubt after she declared on Friday that she would not appear this weekend in response to several weeks of its pre-emption by the network.

However, sources told CNN that the final straw might have been the result of a tug-of-war with the network over Beyonce's new video, which she wanted to discuss during a February 7 segment.

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MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry's long-running feud with the network stems from a disagreement about devoting a segment to discussing Beyonce's provocative hit 'Formation', sources say

'Formation' (Beyonce shown above in a scene from the video) was released on February 6 and has been widely touted as a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement

'Formation', released on February 6, has been widely touted as a rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.

The video features flood-ridden New Orleans and a line of white cops in riot gear facing a hooded little boy. Graffiti that says 'Stop shooting us' is shown on a wall at one point.

Harris-Perry, 42, who spotlights conversations about race, politics and gender on her show, wanted to discuss the video during a segment.

However, MSNBC executives wanted her to only focus on presidential politics, according to CNN.

Harris-Perry ended up winning that fight at the time, devoting a segment to Formation in which she discussed the video in depth after 'her executive producer had to fight for it,' according to CNN.

But ultimately, Harris-Perry lost the ongoing battle that has been raging for months with executives.

She has not hosted the show since that day and spoke out on Friday about walking out, citing frustrations with the network's treatment and a loss of control over the program's content.

Her contract with MSNBC expires in October and two sources agreed it is 'highly unlikely' she will ever be back on the show, according to CNN.

Harriws-Perry penned a letter to her colleagues that was shared publicly on Friday, in which she aired her frustrations with being deemed 'worthless' by the cable network

Beyonce pictured above as she performs during the Super Bowl. Harris-Perry, 42, who spotlights conversations about race, politics and gender on her show, wanted to discuss the Formation video during a February 7 segment. But executives wanted her to focus on presidential politics

Harris-Perry, whose show airs on both Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to noon, refused to host this weekend after being sidelined for two weeks on February 13/14 and again on February 20/21.

In a letter to her colleagues published on Medium, she wrote that she was deemed 'worthless' by the network, and fought back by saying: 'I will not be used as a tool for their purposes. I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head.'

In a later interview with the New York Times, she clarified her comments and took the focus off her race.

She said: 'I don't think anyone is doing something mean to me because I'm a black person.'

Following the publication of her letter, some TV observers believe executives will dismiss her for insubordination.

'That statement sounded like a door closer to me,' a former MSNBC executive producer told CNN.

Andrew Lack, the chairman on NBC News and MSNBC, is reportedly trying to move the cable channel away from its liberal leanings

Harris-Perry wrote that her show was 'effectively and utterly silenced' during the presidential election, and that she refused to return this weekend as MSNBC had requested.

She said: 'Now, MSNBC would like me to appear for four inconsequential hours to read news that they deem relevant without returning to our team any of the editorial control and authority that makes MHP Show distinctive.'

The political commentator, author, and professor at Wake Forest University also shared that she had been staying in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, but failed to receive any communication from executives about contributing to MSNBC's coverage along the campaign trail.

She wrote: 'While MSNBC may believe that I am worthless, I know better. I will not sell short myself or this show.

'I am not hungry for empty airtime. I care only about substantive, meaningful and autonomous work. When we can do that, I will return - not a moment earlier.'

An NBC News spokesman issued a statement that read: 'In this exciting and unpredictable presidential primary season, many of our daytime programs have been temporarily upended by breaking political coverage, including M.H.P.

'This reaction is really surprising, confusing and disappointing.'

According to the New York Times, Andrew Lack, the new NBC News chairman, has been moving the network away from its liberal slant.

The Melissa Harris-Perry Show, which aired in 2012, is known for its inclusion of underrepresented commentators in addressing issues like social justice and diversity.

Harris-Perry said if MSNBC wanted to cancel the show, she would prefer that they do it outright rather than fading it out.

In her letter to colleagues she wrote: 'I am not a token, mammy, or little brown bobble head,' but later clarified she didnt not think she was being treated because she is black

It is unclear whether the show is being canceled, but it has been noted that Harris-Perry has removed the show from her Twitter bio.

It was also reported in April that the 42-year-old and her husband, James Perry, owed about $70,000 after the IRS filed a tax lien.

Harris Perry told the Winston-Salem Journal that she and her husband had paid more than $21,000 of the debt back, and that 'personal crises' had slowed them down.
The device will let the brain communicate

The military agency is hoping to develop technology that will allow soldiers to use their minds to control things like drones in war zones

The US military has successfully implanted and tested its first 'brain modem' on an animal subject.

The tiny, implanted chip, developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), uses a tiny sensor that travels through blood vessels, lodges in the brain and records neural activity.

Neurologists injected tiny sensors into livestocks veins and then recorded the electrical impulses that control the animals movements for six months.

The stentrode (pictured) could allow servicemen to use the 'brain modem' to maneuver drones. It was successfully tested on animals this month

The sensor, called a 'stentrode', a combination of the words 'stent' and 'electrode', is the first step in the military's desire to allow soldiers to control machinery with their minds.

Hypothetically, this could allow servicemen to use the 'brain modem' to maneuver drones.

The stentrode is the size of a paperclip, flexible and injectable. Instead of invasive brain surgery, it enters the bloodstream via a catheter and then transmits data.

'DARPA has previously demonstrated direct brain control of a prosthetic limb by paralyzed patients fitted with penetrating electrode arrays implanted in the motor cortex during traditional open-brain surgery,' said Doug Weber, the program manager for RE-NET.

'By reducing the need for invasive surgery, the stentrode may pave the way for more practical implementations of those kinds of life-changing applications of brain-machine interfaces.'

The US military has launched a program to develop implantable chips that will allow the human brain to communicate directly, and accurately, with computers. The devices would convert the neurochemical information produced by brain cells into the digital binary language used by computers

Last month, Darpa released its first look at the new technology.

DISPOSABLE BRAIN IMPLANTS A team of neurosurgeons and engineers has developed wireless brain sensors that can dissolve harmlessly when no longer needed. The implants could be used to monitor patients who have suffered traumatic brain injuries. As the devices are absorbed by the soft tissue when they reach the end of the life, it removes the need to perform surgery to remove them. The researchers at Washington University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign said it could also be used to monitor activity in organs through out the body. Dr Rory Murphy, MD, a neurosurgeon at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St Louis who was involved in developing the sensors, said: 'The benefit of these new devices is that they dissolve over time, so you don't have something in the body for a long time period, increasing the risk of infection, chronic inflammation and even erosion through the skin or the organ in which it's placed. 'Plus, using resorbable devices negates the need for surgery to retrieve them, which further lessens the risk of infection and further complications.' Advertisement

Phillip Alvelda, the Neural Engineering System Design program manager, said the technology is aimed at overcoming the problems faced by current attempts at brain-computer communication.

While these devices can detect the electrical activity of the brain, they require the user to concentrate and undergo training to produce specific, easy to detect signals.

Mr Alvelda said: 'Today's best brain-computer interface systems are like two super computers trying to talk to each other using an old 300-baud modem.

'Imagine what will become possible when we upgrade our tools to really open the channel between the human brain and modern electronics.'

The project could also open up new therapies for neural disorders and even develop devices that could help the blind and deaf.

Darpa added its digital auditory or visual information could be fed directly into the brain at high resolutions.

While this could help patients, it could also provide new ways for soldiers to receive information and communicate while on the battlefield.

Most research on brain implants has focused on allowing people with disabilities to control computers or robotic limbs with their brain.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University last week announced a patient had used an implant that taps into the nerve signals from the brain to move a robotic arm.

Others have used electrodes inserted directly into the brain.

Perhaps the most common brain-computer interface technology, however, are modified electroencephalograms, which pick up the electrical activity from the brain on the scalp.

With training, these can be used to move robots or even paint on a computer screen. These also require ungainly headsets that use sensors and gels to pick up the activity.

The Darpa program, conversely, wants to use an implant that taps directly into the brain following surgery.

Most brain-computer interfaces currently available use electrodes that pick up on the weak electrical activity of the brain through the skin of the scalp. While this can be used to control computers, robots or even cars with training, they tend to be inaccurate (Emotiv brain controller for computer games pictured)

There have been a number of successes where patients, such as stroke victim Cathy Hutchinson (pictured), have been able to control robotic arms through electrodes implanted into their brain. But these are bulky and have also cram large amounts of information through a small number of channels, making them hard to control

Such neural interfaces currently attempt to squeeze information from tens of thousands of neurons at one time through roughly 100 channels.

This can mean the results are imprecise and filled with background noise.

Instead, Darpa wants its implants to communicate with single neurons in a given region of the brain, with the capacity to handle signals from one million brain cells.

A statement on Darpa's website said there were still significant challenges to be overcome before this goal could be achieved, including developing the hardware and computational techniques needed to handle the volume of data that would be produced by such implants.
He was refused bail and will face Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday

The man has been charged with a string of child

A man who allegedly participated in the production and distribution of child pornography has been arrested and charged with a string of child exploitation offences.

A 27-year-old man, from Adelaide's west, was arrested on Saturday night and charged with rape, production of child exploitation material, dissemination of child exploitation material, and two counts of possessing aggravated child pornography.

Police will allege the man raped a young child, filmed the act and distributed it, along with possessing pornography that depicts children younger than 14-years-old.

A 27-year-old man will face Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday over a string of exploitation offences

The man, who has not been identified, was refused bail and will appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Monday.
An 81-year-old woman is suing Israeli airline El Al for discrimination after she was allegedly forced to move seats because an ultra-Orthodox man refused to sit next to her.

Renee Rabinowitz, a retired lawyer who lives in Jerusalem, was settled in her aisle seat in the business class section of Flight 028 from Newark to Tel Aviv last December.

However, when a man assigned the window seat on her row showed up and did not want to sit next to a woman, a flight attendant offered Rabinowitz, who walks with a cane, a 'better' seat to accommodate the man's religious beliefs.

Renee Rabinowitz, 81, a retired lawyer who lives in Jerusalem is suing Israeli airline El Al for discrimination after she was allegedly forced to move seats because an ultra-Orthodox man refused to sit next to her

Physical contact between men and women is not allowed outside of marriage in the ultra-Orthodox tradition.

'Despite all my accomplishments  and my age is also an accomplishment  I felt minimized,' Rabinowitz, who has a Ph.D in educational psychology, told The New York Times.

'For me this is not personal,' she added. 'It is intellectual, ideological and legal.

'I think to myself, here I am, an older woman, educated, I've been around the world, and some guy can decide that I shouldn't sit next to him. Why?'

Rabinowitz who fled with her family from Nazi-occupied Belgium in 1941, is now filing a lawsuit against the airline.

Liberal advocacy group The Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) has taken up her case.

'We needed a case of a flight attendant being actively involved,' IRAC's director, Anat Hoffman told the Times 'to show that El Al has internalized the commandment, 'I cannot sit next to a woman.'

The grandmother said during the December 2 flight the flight attendant had a brief conversation with her seatmate-to-be, which she could not understand, before she was offered the other seat.

When she asked the flight attendant if he was suggesting her to switch seats was because the man wanted her to move, Rabinowitz said 'without any hesitation' he said 'yes,' according to the Times.

Later when she returned to her original seat to collect her hand luggage she said she asked the man why it mattered and he replied, 'it's the Torah,' she said.

She noted there was no other seat available for him next to a man.

An El Al spokeswoman responded to the Times in a statement saying that any discrimination between passengers is prohibited.

An El Al spokeswoman responded in a statement saying that any discrimination between passengers is prohibited

'El Al flight attendants are on the front line of providing service for the company's varied array of passengers,' the statement said.

'In the cabin, the attendants receive different and varied requests and they try to assist as much as possible, the goal being to have the plane take off on time and for all the passengers to arrive at their destination as scheduled.'

A lawyer for the IRAC wrote a letter to the airline accusing El Al of illegal discrimination and demanded 50,000 shekels ($13,000) in compensation for Rabinowitz, according to the Times.

El Al offered $200 of her next flight instead and insisted that the flight attendant it made it clear she was not obligated to move and noted she had changed seats without argument.

The ultra-Orthodox tradition regarding physical contact between men and women has led to other incidents on planes including in 2014.

At the time several flights from John F Kennedy International Airport Airport to Tel Aviv were delayed when ultra-Orthodox male passengers refused to sit next to women prior to takeoff.

The tactic not only delayed the flight, but also went onto cause chaos on board.
An Army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon has been charged with shooting dead a rookie police officer on her first day and his wife.

Ronald Hamilton, 32, is being held without bond accused of shooting dead 29-year-old Officer Ashley Guindon after she and two coworkers answered a domestic violence call at his home on Saturday evening.

According to an affidavit, Hamilton's wife Crystal, 29, called police begging for help at 5.30pm.

By the time Guindon arrived with her field officer Jesse Hempen, 31, and ten-year police veteran David McKeown, 33, Crystal was shot dead, the affidavit states.

Hamilton allegedly opened fire as soon as the officers arrived, fatally shooting Guindon and wounding the other two. The Hamiltons' 11-year-old son was in the house at the time but survived unscathed.

On Sunday, police chief Stephen Hudson paid tribute to Guindon's work and gave a poignant account of the passion she showed when she interviewed for the job.

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Ronald Hamilton, 32, (left) is being held without bond accused of shooting dead 29-year-old Officer Ashley Guindon (right) after she answered a domestic violence call at his home on Saturday - her first day on the job

Crystal Hamilton's sister also paid tribute to Guindon as she thanked the police force for their attempts to apprehend the suspect. 'Most importantly, the officer who sacrificed her life for my sister and my nephew,' she told ABC7.

The suspect is an active duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Joint Staff Support Center at the Pentagon, according to Cindy Your, a Defense Information Systems Agency spokeswoman based at Fort Meade, Maryland.

The death of Ashley Guindon was just the latest tragedy to strike the family.

Her father, David, committed suicide the day after he returned home from Iraq in 2004, where he served with the New Hampshire Air National Guard. He was buried with full military honors on August 26 that year.

'He came home and took his own life,' said Dorothy Guindon, Ashley's grandmother.

Ashley was his only child.

Ashley was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. The family later moved to Merrimack, New Hampshire, according to her grandmother.

'This is really a shock to us,' Dorothy Guindon said. 'Ashley was such a nice person.'

Officer Brandon Carpenter, at the county's adult detention center, says Hamilton is being held without bond at the jail on charges that include murder of a law enforcement officer, first-degree murder, two counts of malicious assault and two counts of use of a firearm during a felony.

Hamilton is scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning.

Prince William County Commonwealth's Attorney Paul Ebert told The Associated Press on Sunday morning that the gunman's wife was the victim in the domestic incident. He did not provide her name.

The shooting occurred Saturday evening at Hamilton's home in Woodbridge, where neighbors say he lived with his wife and their son.

Ten-year veteran David McKeown, 33, (left) and eight-year veteran Jesse Hempen (right) were wounded

The fatal domestic dispute took place at the home (pictured on Sunday) in Dale City, Virginia

The Hamiltons' 11-year-old son was in the house (pictured on Sunday) at the time but survived unscathed

More than 100 patrol cars lined the roads outside Inova Fairfax Hospital early Sunday morning

Officers received a call around 5.30pm Woodbridge, about 30 miles southwest of the nation's capital, about a 'verbal argument,' Perok said.

A picture of Guindon was posted to the department's Twitter page on Friday with a tweet that read, 'Welcome Officers Steven Kendall & Ashley Guindon who were sworn in today & begin their shifts this weekend. Be Safe!'

Guindon had a degree in aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a master's degree from George Washington University in forensic science.

She served in the military from 2007 to 2013 as a corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Prince William County, where Woodbridge is located, is a suburb 30 minutes outside Washington, D.C., and has a relatively low crime rate.

Guindon had been a county police officer a few years ago and had left and returned to the force, Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Saturday night.

He did not know the exact dates of when she started and left, he said.

Stewart also said there was a child in the house during the incident who was not harmed.

At Inova Fairfax Hospital, where the three officers were flown by helicopter after the shooting, more than 100 patrol cars lined the roads outside early Sunday morning to stand vigil and escort Guindon's body to the medical examiner.
Victoria's counterfeiting crimes rose by eight-fold in the past two years

Having last been designed in 1995, it is now easier to copy the banknote

Over 33,000 fake $50 banknotes were removed over the past two years

Thousands of counterfeit $50 banknotes good enough to fool forgery detection systems at banks have flooded Australia.

In the past two years authorities have removed over 33,000 fake notes, triple the amount detected in 2013, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.

Having last been designed in 1995, the state-of-the-art security measures used to manufacture the $50 notes are no longer as effective.

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Thousands of counterfeit $50 banknotes have flooded Australia (the real $50 not is on the top a counterfeit note is pictured on the bottom)

The explosion in counterfeiting activity is costing businesses and consumers millions of dollars.

Since 2010, the number of counterfeiting crimes in Victoria spiked rising by eight-fold and every fortnight at least one offence related to the manufacturing of fake notes is recorded.

An investigation last year saw one dodgy batch of $50 notes had been used more than 760 times around the country.

'This court sees matters where hundreds of thousands of dollars of extremely good quality notes are often produced,' said County Court Judge John Smallwood during a 2015 trial.

The Reserve Bank of Australia believes the fake $50 notes detected in 2015 may be from just one source and operations can be a simple production of a couple working from their home to a largely organised operation.

The state-of-the-art technology used to design the $50 notes in 1995 are not as effective as they originally were

Local businesses including pubs and restaurants are generally left unaware of the fake money until it is deposited at a bank

A raid organised by NSW police in 2010 in Sylvania Waters Sydney, revealed enough polymer film to manufacture $40 million worth of fake $50 notes.

But authorities were unable to determine how much counterfeit money was actually produced.

The manufacturing of what is expected to be $32,000 worth of fake notes was produced on a commercial grade inkjet printer and considered to be 'fairly sophisticated'.

The quality of the $50 notes tendered in evidence was such that I was unable to tell them apart from real currency,' NSW District Court Judge Ross Letherbarrow commented at the 2013 trial.

Local businesses including restaurants and pubs are being effected the most as many workers fail to recognise the fake cash until it is deposited at a bank.

Also aware of the growing issue is Melbourne's Crown Casino as they've also warned workers to keep an eye out for the circulating counterfeits.

NSW police believe the full extent of the problem is yet to be recognised around the country with counterfeit cash effecting more than just the $50 note.

'Throughout 2014 and 2015 we saw an increase in the number of counterfeit banknotes being detected, with reports coming through to us from a variety of retailers, restaurants, pubs, clubs and the casino,' Detective Superintendent Arthur Katsogiannis, commander of NSW Police's Fraud & Cybercrime Squad, told the Sydney Morning Herald.

How can you recognise a real from a fake $50 note? 1  Is it Plastic? A fake bank note may feel excessively thick or thin unlike a real one which is printed on plastic and has a distinct feel. It is also difficult to tear the edge of a genuine banknote. The scrunch test can also be a valuable clue  a genuine bank note should spring back 2  Look for the coat of arms The Australian Coat of Arms is visible if the banknote is held in the light 3  Look for the star Diamond-shaped patterns are printed inside a circle on both sides of the banknote. If you hold the banknote up to the light, the patterns should line up perfectly to form a seven-pointed star. 4  Check the clear window The clear window should be an integral part of the banknote and not an addition. Check that the white image printed on the window cannot be easily rubbed off. Source: The Reserve Bank of Australia Advertisement

An incident as recent as last week is currently being investigated by authorities after a worker at a TAB in Balmain, Sydney, received $1000 worth of $50 notes - $500 of them were counterfeit.

The dodgy money was well produced it wasnt until the worker was placing the money in the till that he realised something was wrong.

I t was a normal transaction, he counted it out to me and I counted it back, it wasnt until I was counting it back into the till for the third time that the texture of one note was a bit off, Cameron told Daily Mail Australia.

Then I put it through one of the electronic tab machine and it got spat out, I tried to put it through a poker machine and it also got spat out.

Everything was perfect but the slightest texture difference and the only other thing I picked up on was in the window of the note there is usually and indented number 5o but the fake note didnt have that.

The size colour print, even the star which is a hologram was the same, basically everything.

But despite the rapid increase in the crime, the Reserve Bank of Australia says the crime is still fairly low.

'While counterfeiting rates have been rising over the past few years, particularly of the $50 banknote, counterfeiting rates remain fairly low by international standards,' a RBA spokeswoman said.

A worker at a TAB in Sydney received $500 worth of fake $50 notes in a $1000 payment (pictured are the fake $50 notes that the worker received)
Trump said he would reinstate the practice 'in a heartbeat' and kill the families of ISIS members to defeat terrorism

Michael Hayden, the former director of the NSA and CIA, has spoken out against Trump's claims, saying the US Armed Forces would refuse to follow the candidate's commands if they are unlawful.

He specifically cited waterboarding, a controversial method of interrogation discontinued by the Obama administration, which Trump has previously said he would reinstate 'in a heartbeat'.

Waterboarding, which mimics the experience of drowning as interrogators pour water over a cloth that covers the suspect's face, is banned by the Geneva Convention.

Hayden said: 'If he were to order that once in government, the American armed forces would refuse to act' during an interview on the HBO show, Real Time with Bill Maher.

Michael Hayden, the former director of the NSA and CIA, (pictured) said the US armed forces would refuse to act on Trump's commands if they violated international laws of armed conflict

Trump has previously said: 'Would I approve waterboarding? You bet your ass I would  in a heartbeat.

'And I would approve more than that. Don't kid yourself, folks. It works, okay? It works. Only a stupid person would say it doesn't work.'

The CIA director under George W. Bush responded: 'You are required not to follow an unlawful order that would be in violation of all the international laws of armed conflict.'

Hayden has also famously said in a Showtime documentary: 'If some future president is going to decide to waterboard, hed better bring his own bucket, because hes going to have to do it himself.'

On Friday's show, Maher pointed out that Trump has also claimed he would kill the family members of ISIS terrorists in his plan to defeat the terrorists.

Hayden said he was 'incredibly concerned' with Trump following through on his claims if he is elected into office.

Waterboarding was banned just days after President Barack Obama took office in 2009.

The Senate Intelligence Committee released a report in 2014, despite the objection of Republicans, that detailed what it called torture tactics used by the Central Intelligence Agency, including the extensive use of waterboarding.

Waterboarding came into more common use by the United States during the early days of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

American interrogators utilized the tactic to try to garner more information from captives, but critics argued the method never actually yielded any intelligence information.

Many do not see waterboarding as torture, which is defined by the UN as 'any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflected on a person' to obtain information.

Republicans have been critical of Obama's decision to eliminate the practice, saying it telegraphs a position of weakness to the nation's enemies and concedes that the United States erred in using waterboarding.

Trump has said he would approve waterboarding 'in a heartbeat'. He has also claimed he would kill the families of ISIS members in order to defeat terrorism
NJ governor Chris Christie and Maine governor Paul LePage have also backed Trump in the last few days

Former Arizona governor Jan Brewer endorsed Donald Trump's campaign for president on Saturday, praising his strong remarks on illegal immigration.

In a prepared statement, she said: 'For years I pleaded with the federal government to do their job and secure our border. Today, we can elect a president who will do just that  Donald J Trump.

'Mr Trump will secure our borders, defend our workers and protect our sovereignty. Mr Trump will stand for our law enforcement, our police and our immigration officers. Mr Trump will actually enforce the rule of law.'

Backing: Former Arizona governor Jan Brewer (pictured, left) has given Donald Trump her backing, saying she supports his plans to reduce illegal immigration

Brewer's enthusiasm for Trump's anti-illegal-immigration policies, which most famously include a wall separating the US from Mexico, should be no surprise since her time as governor of Arizona from 2009-2015 saw her taking a hardline stance against immigrants.

In 2010 she oversaw the passage of Arizona Senate Bill 1070, which was aimed at preventing illegal immigration.

Parts of the law were deemed unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, including making it illegal for 'unauthorized immigrants' to fail to carry registration papers and ID, and for people not authorized to work in the US to apply for, solicit or perform work.

However, a controversial provision allowing police to check a person's immigration status while they were enforcing other laws was left in.

'Honored': Trump, pictured here on the stump in Tennessee, said that he was 'honored' by the governor's endorsement. 'I love the state of Arizona and have received incredible support throughout the state,' he said

President Obama's administration was particularly critical of the law, revoking previous agreements for Arizona police departments to enforce federal immigration laws, while the Justice Department set up a hotline for those who thought enforcement of the law was impinging on their civil rights.

At the time, CNN reported, Brewer called the decision 'outrageous,' and her statement suggests that she does not remember those times fondly.

Calling Trump a 'Washington outsider,' she wrote: 'Arizonas unsecured border is the gateway of illegal immigration into the United States and the politicians in Washington DC have continually failed to secure our border.

'As Ive always said: A nation without borders is like a house without walls  it collapses.'

She added: 'This may be our last chance to ensure our children grow up in a country with borders, and with a government that protects its own people. This is our chance  Donald Trump is our chance  to save this country and make America great again.'

Further support: Trump has also received endorsements from New Jersey governor Chris Christie (pictured left, at Trump's Tennessee appearance) and Maine governor Paul LePage (right)

In the statement, Trump commented: 'I love the state of Arizona and have received incredible support throughout the state. I am leading in all the polls and we have had amazing events with tremendous crowds. I am honored to receive this endorsement from governor Brewer.'

Brewer isn't the only one to support The Donald, with both Maine governor Paul LePage and New Jersey governor Chris Christie giving him their backing on Friday.

However, Christie was swiftly sent packing by Trump on Saturday after making a ringing endorsement of the candidate in Tennessee, causing one person on Twitter to say it was the political equivalent of leaving the money on the nightstand.

ABC News also pointed out that Brewer was the third 'high-profile' Arizona figure to endorse Trump of late, after Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio and Arizona State treasurer Jeff DeWit both endorsed the candidate last month.
Kimberly Bradford, 41, allegedly stole Christmas money from a girl who survived a fatal fire

A woman was charged Thursday with stealing money from an eight-year-old girl who lost her father, three siblings, an arm and a foot in a suspected arson attack after the woman volunteered to open Christmas cards sent to the burn victim from well-wishers around the world.

Kimberly Bradford of Rotterdam, New York was one of hundreds of volunteers who helped open the loads of Christmas cards that were sent last year to Safyre Terry, the lone survivor of a 2013 house fire.

Police said they found $800 in cash and $500 in gift cards inside Bradford's house 'that she didn't have the right to have,' reported the Times-Union.

Bradford, 41, was one of 'a handful' of volunteers suspected of plundering the young survivor's Christmas gifts, police said.

Safyre's family said over one million cards were sent to the child after her wish for Christmas greetings went viral in December, including one posted by Barack and Michelle Obama.

The greetings were so numerous that Safyre's family had to rent a warehouse to sort out the mail.

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Safyre Terry, 8, lost her father, three siblings, and two limbs in a 2013 house fire. Police say a woman robbed her of Christmas cash sent by well-wishers

After her wish for Christmas greetings went viral, Safyre received so many cards her family had to rent a warehouse to store them

On January 25, volunteers alerted police to their suspicions that some among them were looting from the cards.

During her time sorting out mail at the warehouse, Bradford was interviewed by a local TV station.

'It restored my faith in humanity in such a terrible time in the world with everything thats going on, just to see the outpouring of love from around the world for one little girl,' Bradford told ABC News 10 in January.

Safyre's father, David Terry, and her three younger siblings died in the May 2, 2013 fire that ravaged their Schenectady, New York home.

The fire is under a federal investigation and police have posted a $40,000 reward for tips leading to the arrest of those responsible.

Bradford posted $5,000 bail after her arraignment Thursday night, according to News 10.

Accused thief Kimberly Bradford, 41, was interviewed in January during her time as a volunteer card-opener
They believe the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM) created the world

Followers of the religion go by the title 'pastafarians' and wear colanders

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster in New Zealand has its first ever marriage celebrant.

If that makes no sense to you, you'll be forgiven - the religion only reached mainstream culture about a decade ago, but has made headlines in the past when members won battles to wear colanders in their driver's licence photographs.

Wellington, New Zealand woman Karen Martyn is the country's first legally recognised 'pastafarian' marriage celebrant - or ministeroni, Stuff.co.nz reported.

Wellington, New Zealand woman Karen Martyn (pictured) is the country's first legally recognised 'pastafarian' marriage celebrant - or ministeroni

Pastafarians wear pirate clothing because they believe the Flying Spaghetti Monster created pirates

Karen Martyn is New Zealand's first marriage celebrant for the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Her duties will include all of those carried out by any other marriage celebrant.

On its Facebook page - that has almost 50,000 members - the New Zealand Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster notes it is: 'a real, legitimate religion, as much as any other religion. That is the point'.

Ms Martyn, who also has a full-time job, said her new role meant people in New Zealand could marry the 'pasta-ific' way.

'It's great. It is really powerful for the church and the community. It gives us far more choices. Prior to that we only had a registrar or independent celebrants,' she said.

Although she has not married anyone yet, there has been lots of interest, Stuff reported.

Anyone who does marry with the church can expect an offbeat event, with its website describing the event as involving the ministeroni saying 'whatever floats your boat or sauces your noodles' - as long as those being married have their real names mentioned at some point.

They also say those marrying don't have to give each other a 'ringatoni' - they can exchange anything they want.

Afterwards, it is traditional to hold a pasta feast.

Ms Martyn, who also has a full-time job, said her new role meant people in New Zealand could marry the 'pasta-ific' way

In 2005 Bobby Henderson, the church's prophet, revealed the world was created by a flying spaghetti monster - commonly referred to as the FSM

Being a ministeroni involves no personal gain - fees cover only the costs of conducting the marriage and a donation to the church.

In 2005, its prophet, Bobby Henderson, revealed the world was created by a flying spaghetti monster - commonly referred to as the FSM.

Pastafarians dress like pirates because they believe pirates were created by the FSM.

They also wear colanders on their heads to mark important occasions.

Ms Martyn told Stuff she understood why people did not take her seriously.

'I don't mind, all religions can be laughed at and challenged. The ones who openly scoff and are mean are disrespectful.

'I just kind of have to very gently say, hang on, all religions deserve the same respect. If you can mock others, you can mock mine. But if you are going to act if like mine is any different then that's not fair.'

The Church thanked New Zealand's Department of Internal Affairs Births, Deaths and Marriages team for their work processing and communicating with it regarding their application for Ms Martyn to become a 'ministeroni'.

Members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (the FSM) believe the world was created by the FSM
Some of Britain's most popular coffee shop chains are serving food containing more salt than a McDonald's burger, a study has revealed.

A number of paninis and sandwiches sold at Costa, Caffe Nero and Starbucks contained high proportions of the maximum recommended daily allowance, research found.

Some items available at the high street coffee chains contain more salt than a McDonalds Big Mac, which has 2.3g.

Some of Britain's most popular coffee shop chains are serving food containing more salt than a McDonald's burger, a study has revealed (file picture)

The Sunday Telegraph examined nutritional information on packets of food sold by the three companies.

It then compared them to the Department for Health's maximum recommended daily salt intake for adults of 6g, reports Patrick Sawer from the Telegraph.

HOW THE COFFEE SHOPS COMPARE Starbucks croque monsieur: 3.1g of salt Starbucks ham and cheese croissant: 2.4g Caffe Nero brie and bacon panini: 3.2g Caffe Nero bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich: 3g Costa mozzarella and tomato sourdough panini: 2.7g McDonald's Big mac burger: 2.3g Advertisement

The croque monsieur Starbucks panini contained 3.1g of salt while Costa's mozzarella, tomato sourdough panini had 2.7g and Caffe Nero's brie and bacon panini had 3.2g of salt.

By contrast, a McDonald's Big Mac contained 2.3g of salt and its hamburger had 1.2g.

Responding to the latest findings by the Sunday Telegraph, a Starbucks spokesman told the paper it was 'working to reduce salt and sugar' and that it had reduced salt leves in recent years.

A Caffe Nero spokesman said the firm said no salt was added to its sandwiches or paninis and that 'any salt present is found in the ingredients themselves'. It added that it would look at ways of reducing salt, sugar and fat levels 'where possible'.

Costa said it took nutritional matters 'very seriously' and had already taken 'significant steps' to reduce salt, fat and sugar levels in its food.

The croque monsieur Starbucks panini contained 3.1g of salt, according to a new study - more than a McDonald's burger

Costa Coffee's mozzarella and tomato sourdough panini was found to contain 2.7g of salt
Bus then stops in Lewisham, south London, where 20-year-old is arrested

Stowaway is heard banging under passengers' seats from luggage hold

An illegal immigrant managed to smuggle his way in the UK by stowing his way inside a Megabus travelling from Brussels to London.

In footage taken by somebody on-board on the economy travel bus, loud banging can be heard coming from inside the locker containing luggage beneath the seats of passengers.

Concerned passengers on the eight-hour journey can be heard shouting back to the person banging, with one exclaiming: 'Is everything OK?'

The video captures the bus stopping in Lewisham, south London, where the driver and a police officer are shown opening the locker before the officer handcuffs the young stowaway

The video then captures the bus stopping in Lewisham, south London, where the driver and a police officer are shown opening the locker and grabbing hold of the young stowaway.

The migrant is then put in handcuffs as shocked bus passengers are heard gasping and muttering 'no way' and 'oh my god'.

The Sunday People reported that the man is thought to have sneaked onto the bus, which usually costs between 15 and 20, when it stopped for petrol 30 miles from Calais, where sniffer dogs failed to discover his presence.

The footage starts with loud banging coming from inside the luggage hold beneath the seats of passengers

A Home Office spokesman told MailOnline: 'Immigration Enforcement was contacted by the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday after police officers attended an incident on Loampit Vale, Lewisham.

'A 20-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of entering the UK illegally. He has now been handed to Immigration Enforcement for his case to be progressed.

'Where someone is found to have no right to remain in the UK, we will take action to remove them.

'Immigration Enforcement is an operational directorate within the Home Office responsible for enforcing immigration law.'

A spokeswoman for Megabus added: 'We assisted police with an arrest made in London on Tuesday morning.'
A brazen cyclist caused outrage after storing his muddy bike between seats on a busy train.

The man stowed it away by sliding its front wheel between a window and the edge of a seat on a Southern service into London Victoria on Saturday.

His disgruntled fellow passengers were forced to stand after the rider took up a number of spare seats in a set of six, once he had boarded at Clapham Junction.

Brazen: A cyclist was caught stowing his muddy bike between two chairs on a busy train from London Victoria

A furious rail user took a photograph of the incident showing the man sitting down as he checked his mobile phone, seemingly oblivious to how his actions had effected others.

She told the Evening Standard she could not believe how selfish the cyclist had been.

The 25-year-old said: 'I travel around every single day, and you see some pretty crazy things but this was outrageous.

'He had actually tried to do something similar in the first set of seats, then oddly decided to go to the next set.

'We live in London! So we see the typical stuff: seat bags, manspreading, et cetera. This was a first!'

The incident came just over a week after a different cyclist had passengers spitting feathers due to a similar offence.

The male rider had sparked fury after sticking his bike between two seats on a busy service from London Vauxhall.

Posting a photograph of the incident on her Facebook page, Becky Curtin captioned the image 'Don't mind me I'll stand'.

The man took up one seat then put his 'muddy' bicycle across the two remaining seats on the busy train, according to a fellow passenger

Mrs Curtin, 35, told the Evening Standard the man rested his bike's muddy wheels on two chairs  while she, her husband and other passengers had to stand.

Mrs Curtin, who was heading for Ashtead on the South West service, said: 'The train was busy, there were people who needed seats. I just thought it was pretty rude.

'The bike was covered in mud as well. I just thought it was very selfish.'

The photograph attracted a number of angry responses on Facebook.

Jay Cunningham-Pearce wrote: 'Please tell me someone said something to him. I can't go to bed knowing he's still out there thinking this is normal or acceptable.'

Matt Devine added: 'This has angered me greatly,' while Ant Ludlow said: 'That's the kind of thing that would have made me have a 'Falling Down' moment.'




Experts claim a woman jailed for killing her newborn daughter should never have been put behind bars and is a 'good chance' of a retrial, as unheard witnesses come forward to support the mother.

Keli Lane, 40, is five years into an 18 year prison sentence, convicted of killing her two-day-old daughter, Tegan, in 1996.

However, in a 60 Minutes special Lane's parents, friends, a forensic psychologist and lawyer argue she has been wrongfully jailed as the baby's body was never found, nor any evidence proving the baby is no longer alive. It comes a month after her case was taken up by The Innocence Initiative at RMIT.

Lane herself says she is desperate for a retrial and deeply regrets not giving evidence in court, explaining 'I want to be heard and I want to be heard in full.'

'I'm not saying she's innocent, I'm not saying she's guilty, but if she's going to be in prison let their be evidence for it or let her out,' forensic criminologist Xanthe Mallet told 60 Minutes, describing Lane's imprisonment as 'a miscarriage of justice'.

'We cant say Tegan is dead when there is no body, so how can you be prosecuted for a murder? There's no eyewitness. There's nothing to tie Keli to committing any crime, bar the fact that we don't know where Tegan is.'

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Keli Lane (pictured), 40, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2010 for killing her two-day-old daughter, Tegan, in 1996

Lane, pictured at a 1996 wedding, just hours after leaving Auburn Hospital with two-day-old baby Tegan

Unheard witness Natalie McCauley (left) pictured with Lane at a 21st nine months before Tegan was born. McCauley says Lane had been speaking about seeing an 'Andrew' at the time

60 Minutes revealed the unheard testimony from one of Lane's best friends Natalie McCauley, a key witness who insists Tegan's birth father 'Andrew Morris/Norris' exists

Lane's parents, Robert and Sandra (pictured), said they still do not believe their daughter murdered her own child, pointing to the fact that her body was never found

The program showed footage of a lean, brunette Lane training behind bars in her prison greens at Dilwynia correctional centre. Dr Mallett speaks with Lane in authorised phone calls.

Lane frequently speaks about longing to return to care for her teen daughter - the fourth child she gave birth to whose identity cannot be revealed.

'We often talk about, "Mum do you think you'll come home, do you think it'll be soon?" and it breaks my heart. I worry about what she's thinking and how she's feeling about it. Sorry,' said Lane, apologising for crying as she talks about her daughter.

Lane, who had three secret pregnancies in 1995, 1996 and 1999 respectively, adopted out her first and third children.

She insists the second child - daughter Tegan - was given to the baby's biological father - a man she says she had a brief relationship with and was either named 'Andrew Norris' or 'Andrew Morris'.

Lane, pictured in 2001 during an interview with police. Her parents say she didn't realise detectives were investigating if Lane had killed her baby, or she would've brought a solicitor

Keli Lane's parents shared this picture of their much-loved only daughter

Experts like forensic psychologist Xanthe Mallet claim Lane should never have been put behind bars. Mallet is pictured speaking to Lane on the phone while the convicted woman is behind bars

There are calls for the case to be opened again and for a retrial.

It comes as 60 Minutes revealed the unheard testimony from one of Lane's best friends Natalie McCauley, a key witness who insists 'Andrew Morris/Norris' exists.

'Andrew Norris/Morris exists because Keli told me told me about him at the time,' said Ms McCauley, who works in Child Protection for the United Nations.

A photo shows Ms McCauley and Lane together at a 21st birthday party and Ms McCauley says she remembers Lane talking about her seeing an 'Andrew' at that time for a period of around three months.

Lane's childhood friend clearly remembers the then 21-year-old 'elling her mate shes having a fling with someone (by the name of Andrew) the exact time Tegan was conceived.'

Ms McCauley says she feels immense guilt over Lane's predicament; shocked that she did not notice her friend's three hidden pregnancies and wasn't able to support her through them.

'I wish I could give 21-year-old Kelli a big cuddle and just say "youve got a lot of people here and we will help you",' Ms McCauley told 60 Minutes.

'I feel like I let her down because she needed a friend and if she had a friend that she could talk to, then she wouldnt be where she is now.'

Lane's parents, Robert and Sandra, do not believe their daughter murdered her own child and think it's likely Tegan is still alive, pointing to the fact that her body was never found

Lawyer Michele Ruyters says the crux of the problem is: 'people find it easier to believe that a mother will kill her child than a father will take full responsibility for that child and disappear'

Ms McCauley says there is no doubt in her mind that Lane's version of events are factual.

'I love her and I would stand by her no matter what, I wouldnt be sitting here saying I think her story is truthful if I didnt think it was truthful,' she told Nine.

Lawyer Michele Ruyters says the crux of the problem is: 'people find it easier to believe that a mother will kill her child than a father will take full responsibility for that child and disappear.'

'Realistically the possibilities of having some sort of review of her trial would have to be good.'

Lane's parents, Robert and Sandra, do not believe their daughter murdered her own child and think it's likely Tegan is still alive, pointing to the fact that her body was never found.

'As far as Sandra and I are concerned, we won't believe that Tegan is dead until there is a body,' Mr Lane told Australian Women's Weekly.

'And to date, there has neither been a body produced nor any credible motive. This has been a harrowing experience for our entire family from start to finish.

'Our daughter is in prison for a crime we don't believe she committed. It's a heavy burden to carry.'

Ms Lane added she not only believed her granddaughter was alive, but said she thinks Tegan is 'with her father'.

Lane's trial become the focus of national attention, with the former Australian water polo star accused of murder and lying under oath

Lane (pictured) has always said she gave her daughter to her biological father, a claim the prosecution dismissed

Speaking to Channel Nine's 60 Minutes, Mr Lane said he hopes people who 'had a poor view about my daughter might change their view or might give it some more thought'.

Lane's trial become the focus of national attention, with the former Australian water polo star accused of murder and lying under oath.

Lane was 21 years old when she had Tegan on September 12, 1996.

She has always said she gave her daughter to her biological father, a claim the prosecution dismissed. Instead, they claimed Lane killed her daughter and buried her body at the Sydney Olympics building site, which she wanted to return to as a participant in 2000.

Her parents Robert and Sandra say Lane was able to hide her pregnancies due to the baggy fashions at the time and she spent most of her time in tracksuits.

Robert (left) and Sandra (second from right) arrive at court with Keli (second from left) in Sydney

Sandra Lane (left) said she believes Tegan is with her father, meaning Keli could not be guilty of killing her

Her final appeal against the conviction failed in August 2014.

The case has been thrust back into the spotlight by The Bridge of Hope Innocence Initiative, a program based out of Melbourne's RMIT University.

The initiative is exploring whether the trial that saw Lane jailed was fair, with her parents hoping the desperate plea could lead to their daughter being freed.

Lane had been in a relationship with rugby league player Duncan Gillies, and gave birth to three other children.

Robert and Sandra Lane, the parents of convicted child killer Keli Lane, leave the Supreme Court in Sydney, Friday April 15, 2011
A spy accused of rape by two women, including one he met on dating website Plenty of Fish, is still working at GCHQ amid allegations police did 'not take their claims seriously'.

Both alleged victims say police ignored their claims about the national security expert, who is still working at the top secret intelligence headquarters in Gloucestershire.

Details of the case emerged in a civil court hearing in which it was revealed that the worker had once been dismissed by GCHQ managers after child porn was discovered on his computer.

A spy accused of rape by two women, including one he met on dating website Plenty of Fish, is still working at GCHQ (pictured) amid allegations police did 'not take their claims seriously'

But he was handed his job back months later with police dropping the case against him after he insisted the image had been planted, the Sunday Mirror reports.

The first alleged victim, who has a child by the worker, said she met him on the dating website Plenty of Fish in 2010.

The woman, in her 30s, said they saw each over for a number of months before the relationship collapsed when she became pregnant.

The Sunday Mirror says she went to police claiming she had been physically assaulted and then told officers she had been raped.

But she has now claimed detectives failed to act on her accusations - even after the second alleged victim came forward.

The second woman, who worked with the spy at GCHQ, went to Gloucestershire Police in 2013 claiming she had been abused and raped by the spy during a relationship they had a year earlier, reports the Sunday Mirror's Crime Correspondent Nick Dorman. But criminal proceedings did not follow.

The first woman has now made a complaint to the Independent Police Complaints Commission about her dealings with Gloucestershire Police.

The first alleged victim, who has a child by the worker, said she met him on the dating website Plenty of Fish (pictured) in 2010

In both cases, the Mirror reports, the man - who cannot be named for legal reasons - was only given a harassment warning.

Details of the case emerged in a Civil Court hearing in Gloucester which took place after the first woman made an application for a non-molestation order against the spy.

He told the court he had made an undertaking 'not to do anything that constituted harassment' towards the first woman.

The spy also said the allegations made by the second woman were 'wholly upsetting and completely factually incorrect', according to the Sunday Mirror, which has seen a transcript of the hearing.

The judge in the case ruled against granting a molestation order.

A Gloucestershire Police spokesman confirmed it was investigating the allegations made by the women.

The force told the Sunday Mirrror: 'In December 2015, the victim wrote a letter to the IPCC raising issues about her dissatisfaction with Gloucestershire Constabulary. A local investigation into the complaint is currently live.

'A rape allegation was made against a 28-year-old man in August 2013 about an incident in 2012. Officers conducted enquiries into the report but no further action was taken.'

A GCHQ spokesman told MailOnline this morning: 'It is GCHQ policy not to comment about individual members of staff and neither to confirm nor deny that they are, or were, GCHQ employees.'

MailOnline has attempted to reach Gloucestershire Police for comment this morning.
Warning comes after latest guidelines were issued on the Equality Act

Advertising for a Polish builder or a barmaid could land businesses in hot water after new guidance was published barring employers from trying to hire someone based on their sex, age of nationality.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has warned businesses that they could be breaking the law should they ask for any particular characteristics in a job advert that would stop certain groups from applying.

An example of a breach, according to the public body, would be for bank advertisement specifying that a permanent address is required, as it might discriminate against Syrian asylum seekers who cannot open a bank account.

Advertising for a 'barmaid' could land businesses in hot water after new guidance was published barring employers from trying to hire someone based on their sex, age of nationality (stock image)

The commission specified that there were 'very limited circumstances' in which certain groups may be excluded, the Sunday Times reported, such as a leisure centre advertising women-only swimming as Muslim woman may not wish to swim with men.

The latest guidance surrounding the Equality Act comes after the EHRC received more than 100 complaints about adverts which potential applicants found to be discriminatory.

The commission's chief executive Rebecca Hilsenrath said the new guidelines would would 'help ensure no one is unfairly barred from job opportunities or from accessing services because of who they are'.

To avoid breaking the law, the EHRC has called on employers to avoid sex-specific terms such as a 'barmaid' or 'paperboy', and to use gender-neutral terms such as 'bartender' in their place.

It further warns that adverts that imply a particular age group, such as those that might call for someone who is 'mature' or a 'recent graduate', would breach the regulations.

Other examples of adverts that may break the law would be those who call for particular strengths, such as being tall, as this could be discriminatory against women.

The EHRC is a public body was set up following the establishment of the Equality Act in 2006, and is responsible for the promotion and enforcement of non-discrimination in England, Scotland and Wales.
Actor Idris Elba left his second wife 'heartbroken' when their secret marriage ended just four months after they tied the knot in Las Vegas, it has been reported.

The British star, who shot to fame playing a gangster in the U.S. drama The Wire and in BBC crime series Luther, married American lawyer Sonya Hamlin, 41, at the iconic Little White Wedding Chapel on April 9, 2006 after a whirlwind romance.

Previous reports have suggested the marriage was annulled after just 24 hours. However court papers obtained by the Sun on Sunday show that the pair remained married until August 2006.

Whirlwind romance: Actor Idris Elba, pictured yesterday at the Independent Spirit Awards, married American lawyer Sonya Hamlin, 41, pictured right, at the iconic Little White Wedding Chapel on April 9, 2006

And while it was Ms Hamlin who filed for divorce, she is said to have been left distraught by the break up.

A friend told the newspaper: 'One of the reasons it ended was her practice was doing well here [in Nevada] but Idris wanted to be in L.A.

'At some point he had a choice between being a husband or a heartbreaker. He chose his career over her.' Another friend added: 'She cared about him and when they broke up it tore her up.'

Miss Hamlin's Twitter profile describes her as a 'lawyer, business owner, entrepreneur and inventor'.

Earlier this month father-of-two Elba, 43, separated from his 28-year-old girlfriend Naiyana Garth  the mother of his 22-month-old baby son, Winston.

He has moved out of the family home in South-West London, and into a rented flat nearby.

Rumours: Earlier this month Elba separated from his 28-year-old girlfriend Naiyana Garth, right together in 2014. It came a matter of days after he was seen leaving a nightclub with model Naomi Campbell, pictured left

It came a matter of days after he was seen leaving a nightclub in New York with man-eating model Naomi Campbell, a long-time friend and admirer.

Meanwhile, reports circulating in America claim he was conducting an affair with American rapper K Michelle for several months while still together with Naiyana.

The rapper told a television show the romance took place when little Winston was a newborn, adding: 'When I met him I did find out he had a woman.

Proud father: Elba with daughter Isan, his child with first his first wife, make up artist Kim Norgaard

Screen star: Elba shot to fame in the U.S. drama The Wire and in BBC crime series Luther (pictured)

'But I did not know they still had that situation. So I kind of looked up and saw that I was the side chick.'

Elba's first marriage was to make up artist Henne Norgaard, known as Kim, whom he married at a register office in June 2008, a year after they met.

By the time Kim became pregnant with daughter Isan in 2001, the relationship had buckled under the strain and, according to Idris, she threw him out.
A former SAS trooper plans to sail 3,000 miles across the Atlantic in a 65-foot home-made whale-shaped boat called Moby.

Tom McClean, 73, has spent 100,000 building the 62-tonne vessel on the shore of Loch Nevis near Lochaber in the Scottish Highlands.

Mr McClean launched the project 20 years ago, and has oversaw every part of the building of the boat.

Former SAS trooper Tom McClean, who has spent 100,000 building a 65-foot whale shaped boat called Moby

Mr McClean has built the vessel on the shores of Lochaber in the Scottish Highlands and plans to sail it across the Atlantic

But despite the construction, Moby has not moved in three years and the only jaunts before that were short journeys off the west coast of Scotland.

However, now, Mr McClean is gearing up for the adventure of a lifetime, and is preparing his boat for the 3,000 mile crossing of the North Atlantic.

He said: 'It's unlike anything I've ever done before and it has been a long time coming.

'Arriving to a huge crowd will be an unbelievable swan-song and my crowning achievement.'

Mr McClean - who also runs a successful outward bound centre - plans to refit the boat with new electric motors to replace the reliable but noisy and smelly diesel ones.

He also wants to completely redo the interior, which has a bridge, lounge and bunks for a crew of 10.

Mr McClean launched the project 20 years ago, and has oversaw every part of the building of the 62-tonne boat

Moby has not moved in three years and the only jaunts before that were short journeys off the west coast of Scotland

He's also planning a luxury touch - a bath, complete with gold taps -where the crew will be able to relax after a hard shift.

The pensioner, who already holds several records for solo rowing and yachting voyages across the Atlantic added: 'I've learned to stick at things when other people might give up.

'It makes you feel alive to have a challenge, not just working to pay the bills.'

Mr McClean's ambition is just the latest chapter in his somewhat colourful life.

Abandoned in a grim wartime orphanage aged five, where fights and beatings were a way of life, he learned the stubbornness, self-reliance and unyielding will to survive.

Mr McClean - who also runs a successful outward bound centre - plans to refit the boat with new electric motors to replace the reliable but noisy and smelly diesel ones

The plan for the Moby, which is 65 foot long and is set to be sailed by Mr McLean, a former SAS trooper, across the Atlantic

He joined the Parachute Regiment at 17, which he described as easy compared to the orphanage, and after six years of action in Borneo, Aden and Malaya was one of only three in 105 to pass the gruelling selection course for the elite SAS.

Three years later, aged 26, he set off from Newfoundland in Canada in a small fishing boat trying to become the first person to row solo across the Atlantic.

He explained: 'Every part of my life has prepared me for the next.

'The orphanage toughened me up for the army, and the army toughened me up for the SAS, which taught me how to survive on my adventures.

'It's all about survival, looking after yourself and doing what you need to do.'

He also knows a thing or two about survival, given that he's built his remarkable creation from the remote confines of the Knoydart peninsula, one of the most inaccessible parts of mainland Scotland.

His isolated home - which he built from scratch - is only accessible by boat or a gruelling seven-mile hike.

The kitchen interior of the Moby, which Mr McClean plans to sail across the Atlantic. He wants to spruce up the inside of the vessel before the journey

Mr McClean said people often ask him for tips for their own solo crossings, and he tells them to sit in a cupboard for three days and then decide if they still want to do it

He shares his hydro-electricity powered beach-side cottage with Jill, with whom he has two sons - James, 35, and Ryan, 33.

She has grown used to his adventurous streak over the years, having waited for him while he became the first man to survive for 40 days alone on Rockall - a remote rocky outcrop in the north Atlantic.

She said: 'With every project I never want him to do it but he always convinces me he will be fine.

'He convinces me that he has planned it well, and then I end up helping. I have complete faith in him.'

Mr McClean said people often ask him for tips for their own solo crossings, and he tells them to sit in a cupboard for three days and then decide if they still want to do it.

The adventurer - who wants to be buried in Moby - added: 'It's all mental. Big guys can do a lot, but if you're dirty, tired, cold and everything is going wrong can you still do it, can you smile under pressure?

'You have to not want the world, not need to call your family or even think about them.
A total of 36 people are now presumed dead in a Russian coal mine where a methane gas leak triggered three explosions and sparked a raging fire, officials said.

The Severnaya mine in Vorkuta, a town north of the Arctic Circle in the Komi region, partially collapsed after the blasts.

Victims included five rescue workers and a mine worker who were killed early this morning when the third explosion rocked the mine.

A total of 36 people have been killed in a Russian coal mine where a methane gas leak triggered three explosions and sparked a raging fire, officials said

The Severnaya mine in Vorkuta, a town north of the Arctic Circle in the Komi region, partially collapsed after the blasts

The first two explosions struck late on Thursday at a depth of 2,450 ft, killing four miners and trapping 26 others.

Denis Paikin, technical director for mine operator Vorkutaugol, said today that given the level of gas in the mine, the degree of destruction and the trajectory of the fire, which continued to burn, all of the missing miners were presumed dead.

Federal officials later confirmed that none of the trapped miners had survived.

Russia's industrial safety watchdog, Rostekhnadzor, said the accident was determined to have been a natural disaster.

'According to the materials that have been obtained and preliminary information, the accident had natural causes and was a geological event,' said Alexander Goncharenko, who heads the regional branch of the watchdog, Russian news agencies reported. He did not elaborate.

At the time of the blast, 111 miners were underground and 81 were rescued. The incident has been described as Russia's worst mining disaster in recent history.

Victims included five rescue workers and a mine worker who were killed early this morning when the third explosion rocked the mine

The first two explosions struck late on Thursday at a depth of 2,450 ft, killing four miners and trapping 26 others

The pit is located in the city of Vorkuta in the Komi region, which used to host one of the most feared Soviet-era Gulag labour camps.

Vorkutaugol is operated by Severstal, the Russian steelmaker controlled by billionaire Alexey Mordashov.

Authorities launched a massive search operation involving hundreds of rescue workers who had been trying to track down the missing despite almost zero visibility, smoke, gas-polluted air and rubble.

Both the company and the authorities had until now refused to declare the missing dead even though rescuers appear to have failed to make contact with them over the past few days.

But the latest explosion forced officials to admit that no-one could have survived.

'Unfortunately, we are forced to acknowledge that all the conditions at that section of the mine would not allow a person to survive,' Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said for his part in comments broadcast by LifeNews television channel.

The pit is located in the city of Vorkuta in the Komi region, which used to host one of the most feared Soviet-era Gulag labour camps

Bushkova said a fire was still burning at the mine and the company was considering whether to flood the pit or pump inert gas into it.

Seventy-seven people were in the mine during the rescue operation when the latest explosion hit, the emergencies ministry said.

'According to experts, there is a high risk of new explosions,' the ministry said.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday have been declared days of mourning in the region.

Earlier this week President Vladimir Putin tasked the government with setting up a special panel to inquire into the accident.

The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal probe into any violation of safety rules and dispatched investigators and forensic experts to the scene.

Mine accidents are fairly common in Russia and other former Soviet countries, where much of the infrastructure has not been modernised since the Communist era.

The explosion at the Severnaya mine took place despite the fact that the company has over the past years invested heavily into safety, Vorkutaugol said.

In 2010, 91 people - both miners and rescuers - died after a methane explosion at the Raspadskaya mine in the Siberian region of Kemerovo.
Up to 18 people have been found living in some apartments as authorities are set to crackdown on rogue landlords who are charging a substantial amount of rent for tiny sleeping spaces.

High-rise buildings have become a hot spot for illegal room sharing among foreign students, low-income workers and travellers who are forking out hundreds of dollars just for a single bed.

Dodgy landlords are transforming their Melbourne apartments into makeshift backpacker hostels by overcrowding bedrooms and sections of their living spaces with multiple bunk beds, the Herald Sun reported.

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A number of online advertisements list share rooms for rent with three or more people, including one on Dunlop Avenue that has photos of two sets of bunk beds crammed together in one room

Up to 18 people have been found living in illegal room sharing apartments across Melbourne's CBD

Several online advertisements have gone to extreme lengths to draw in vulnerable tenants by offering 'free rice' with several landlords raking in up to $200 a week for a single bunk bed.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle is pushing for law changes in a bid to prosecute landlords who are suspected of illegally squeezing strangers into rooms of high rise towers throughout the city.

'The bigger issue is that despite all these different pieces of legislation, the law has not kept up with the new circumstances we face today,' Cr Doyle told the Herald Sun.

'That's why I have had discussions with the state government asking that we simplify the legislation and make it easier to investigate and prosecute illegal operators.'

Last years, photos obtained from City of Sydney revealed young Asian and European university students and tourists were sleeping in baths, pantries and even fire escapes, while showering in makeshift bathrooms

Last year, photos emerged of a two bedroom apartment - which has six people of various nationalities currently living there - has a single bed in the living room next to the dining table and kitchen

This three bedroom property has listed a 'triple share room' for $190 a week on Harris Street in Sydney

Metropolitan Fire Brigade assistant chief fire officer Rob Purcell said large groups of people overcrowding two or three-bedroom apartments who make it difficult to escape a fire.

'(Overcrowding) can create a larger fuel load  the fire will burn faster and more intense,' Mr Purcell said.

'If a three-bedroom (apartment is burning) ... firefighters might work on the assumption that there's six people there, not 26. The evacuation becomes more complex.'

Under the current legislation, four unrelated people living together in a single room is deemed as illegal as authorities fear the increasing problem could only get worse.

Up to 18 people have been found living in apartments as authorities are set to crackdown on rogue landlords

Authorities are set to crackdown on rogue landlords who are charging high rent for tiny sleeping spaces

Under the current legislation, four unrelated people living together in a single room is deemed as illegal

Authorities are set to crackdown on rogue landlords who are charging high rent for tiny sleeping spaces

A number of online advertisements list share rooms for rent with three or more people, including one in Melbourne that has photos of two sets of bunk beds crammed together in one room.

The four bedroom on Dunlop Avenue - fully-furnished - apartment, which has six people of various nationalities currently living there, is leasing its single bunk beds for $110-$150.

'Buddies rate (come in a pair) $110pw pay 4 weeks $130pw if pay 2 weeks $140pw if pay weekly. no min stay,' the ad reads.

'Suit backpackers with working holiday visa, students, full time professional, travellers who wants to commute to the city easily.'

Another room shared with four people is up for rent on Spence Street in Melbourne for $135.

The property, which has two bedrooms, has a photo showing a bunk bed as well as a single mattress crowded into the bedroom.

In Sydney, a three-bedroom property on Harris Street in Pyrmont is charging up to $190 for a single bed - shared alongside two other people in the bedroom.

Last year, this room near South Cross Station was up for rent with two bunk beds and a double bed. The landlord was asking for $135-$150 per person per week for one of the bunk beds

Under the current legislation, four unrelated people living together in a single room is deemed as illegal

Among the disturbing scenes included a three-bedroom house containing 58 beds and 19 illegally constructed bedrooms, as well as hallways converted into makeshift shower cubicles (pictured right)

Last year, shocking photographs of illegal room sharing in Sydney emerged, with some showing a bed on the balcony and hallways being converted into makeshift shower cubicles.

Photos obtained from City of Sydney revealed young Asian and European university students and tourists were sleeping in baths, pantries and even fire escapes after being scammed into renting from Gumtree and Facebook.

'It's extraordinary the lengths to which these landlords will go. They're charging people for a bed, not a bedroom,' Lord Mayor Clover Moore told Daily Mail Australia last year.

'That bed can be in a pantry, a fire escape, a bath - this is how bad it is. It just takes your breath away.

'The other thing that particularly concerns us are kitchens infested with cockroaches, smoke detectors switched off, disconnected fire doors.
A road rage killer who stabbed her first fiance to death during a frenzied attack with a pen knife is set to marry her bouncer boyfriend.

Tracie Andrews, 46, became one of Britain's most infamous female killers following the vicious murder of her 25-year-old partner Lee Harvey in Alvechurch, Worcestershire, in 1996.

She served 14 years in prison for the attack but since her release in January 2012, she has found love again and now plans to tie the knot with father-of-two Phil Goldsworthy, reveals the Sun.

Couple: Tracie Andrews pictured shopping with her new fiance Phil Goldsworthy

Hairdresser Andrews met her beau while they were working at the same pub and she hopes to wed him later this year.

A source said: 'Phil moved quickly after his divorce from his first wife. He is smitten with Tracie and so are his friends and family.'

After her release from Askham Grange Prison near York, Andrews moved to a southern coastal town, which cannot be disclosed for legal reasons.

The source said the couple are a regular fixture in the area, much to the distaste of locals, it added: 'They are often seen around .

'No one there can believe they have a murderer living near them, but Phil and Tracie seem oblivious.'

Since embarking on her new life, Andrews has taken a number of steps to change her identity.

She originally changed her name to Tia Carter, now called Jenna Stephens, and died her hair from blonde to black.

Killer Tracie Andrews, 46, pictured on her way to court, has got engaged to father-of-two Phil Goldsworthy

Killer: Andrews, pictured, was jailed for 14 years for the murder of Lee Harvey and later claimed she stabbed the 25-year-old bus driver 37 times in self defence

Controversially she also had 5,000 of surgery to alter her distinctive jaw on the NHS.

Linsie Goldsworthy, Phil's ex wife, has previously accused Andrews of being the reason the couple broke up and said her ex was 'fascinated' by the cold-hearted killer.

Speaking in 2013, she said: 'If we went out with friends, he would say excitedly: 'Guess who's working at the pub? The woman who stabbed her boyfriend to death.'

'He would defend her from any criticism, claiming she had changed. He used to say she looked like Kat Slater from EastEnders  and he has always fancied her.

'Then he started coming home from the pub at 4am, claiming they were really busy.'

Tracie Andrews, 46, became one of Britain's most infamous female killers following the vicious murder of her 25-year-old fiance Lee Harvey, both pictured

Andrews gained notoriety after she stabbed bus driver Mr Harvey 37 times and slashed his throat before leaving him to bleed to death in a country lane.

She then concocted a story that he had been murdered by a wild-eyed maniac in a road rage attack, and made public appeals to trace the culprit.

Andrews appeared on television clutching the hand of Mr Harvey's mother Maureen as she made an emotional appeal for help to catch the killer.

But her murder trial was told there was compelling forensic evidence which showed she had killed him with a Swiss Army-type pen knife, following an argument.

Andrews appeared on television clutching the hand of Mr Harvey's mother Maureen, pictured, during an emotional appeal to catch his killer

Neighbours at the couple's home in Alvechurch said they frequently heard shouting and the jury was told Andrews had violently attacked Mr Harvey and other former boyfriends.

She was jailed for life, with a recommendation that she serve a minimum of 14 years before she was considered for parole.
Extending Sunday opening hours will disrupt community life, a cross-section of churches warned today as they united for the first time to condemn George Osborne's plans.

Ministers want to give towns and cities the power to relax current laws on Sunday trading, which limit large stores to opening for six hours between 10am and 6pm.

But in an unprecedented sign of unity, Christian leaders from the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of England, the Church in Wales, United Reformed Church, Methodist and Salvation Army wrote a joint statement saying it would increase the 'commodification' of society.

Ministers want Ministers want to give towns and cities the power to relax current laws on Sunday trading, which limit large stores to opening for six hours between 10am and 6pm but church leaders are resisting the move as they believe it will have a damaging effect on community life

They claim the current rules strike the right balance between the needs of consumers and communities.

Small shops covering less than 3,000 square feet are allowed to open all day but Mr Osborne wants to extend the rules to large stores to increase sales and boost the economy.

Hours were extended during the London Olympics in 2012 and triggered a significant boost in sales.

Ministers announced earlier this month that the plans will see town halls given the power to extend opening times on Sundays by the autumn, meaning large supermarkets and other major stores could be allowed to open 24-hours a day, 7-days a week.

But a study by Oxford University found that the only significant impact of extending trading hours will be to harm smaller stores.

The letter from Christian leaders, sent to the Sunday Telegraph, states: 'They make space for shopping, while preserving the common leisure time essential for family life and shared social activities.

George Osborne (pictured) believes the extended opening hours will boost the economy, as they did when trading laws were temporarily relaxed during the London Olympics in 2012

'They also protect small stores from near-monopolies, and preserve the right of shop workers to spend time with their families.'

It adds: 'Most fundamentally, however, we are concerned that the further deregulation of Sunday trading laws is likely to disrupt the rhythms of community life that are so integral to the common good,' the letter says.

'In a world of increasing commodification the space for shared time and activities, central to human flourishing, is becoming increasingly rare.'

The letter was signed by: Rt Rev Dr Alan Smith, Bishop of St Albans; Most Rev Peter Smith, Archbishop of Southwark; Most Rev Dr Barry Morgan, Archbishop of Wales; Rev Steven J Wild, president of the Methodist Conference; Colonel David Hinton, chief secretary of the Salvation Army; Rev David Grosch-Miller, moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church.

Labour has said it will oppose the move  meaning ministers could face a tough time getting it through the House of Commons.

And with several Tory MPs threatening to rebel against the plans, the Government faces defeat on the issue.

David Burrowes, the Tory MP for Enfield Southgate said earlier this month: The Government should still listen to the significant opposition to this unnecessary and unwanted plan.

Otherwise I look forward to leading an unholy cross-party alliance in defeating a measure which is anti-family, anti-small business and anti-workers.

But business minister Anna Soubry defended the decision, saying it would help high streets compete with online shops.

Tory MP David Burrowes (left) has told the Government to 'listen to the significant opposition' to extending Sunday trading laws but small business minister Anna Soubry (right) defended the move, saying it would help high streets compete with online shops

She pointed to new protections for shop workers who dont want to work on a Sunday.

She said: Extending Sunday shopping hours has the potential to help businesses and high streets better compete as our shopping habits change.

The rights of shop workers are key to making these changes work in everyones interests. We are protecting those who do not wish to work Sundays, and those who do not want to work more than their normal Sunday working hours.

Under measures to devolve Sunday trading laws to local authorities, councils will be allowed to permit longer opening hours in particular areas, so high streets and city centres could get the right to open longer.

Shopworkers who object on religious or family grounds will be able to give one months notice that they no longer want to work Sundays, down from three months, and will have a new right to opt out of working additional hours.
An indigenous man has been found guilty for attacking the house of a neighbour whom he believed had named his wifi network a racist slur.

Damien Boxer, of Palmerston, Northern Territory, took offence to a wifi signal he could pick up, called 'A**s are bludgers who can't look after their kids'.

Boxer admitted to violent conduct, trespass and property damage after he and a companion repeatedly threw chairs at his neighbours house, smashing a glass door before using a chair to break it off its frame, the NT News reported.

A Northern Territory man was sentence after admitting to attacking his neighbour's house. The indigenous man said the neighbour had been broadcasting a wifi network with the name 'A**s are bludgers who can't take care of their kids'

In the Darwin Magistrates Court, magistrate Greg Smith said that Boxer needed to find a way to respond that did not involve violence.

But he also criticised the neighbour whose house was attacked, saying: 'That someone chose to use this (slur) as their wi-fi signal is disgusting'.

He said it was no doubt it caused Boxer 'monumental offence' and he 'lost the plot', under the influence of alcohol.

'But given the world we live in and the constantly offensive things people put on Facebook and Twitter, or may shout at you in the street, you need to find a way to respond that doesnt involve violence.'

Magistrate Greg Smith said 'that someone chose to use this (slur) as their wi-fi signal is disgusting'

The conflict was the result of ongoing bad blood between Boxer, his wife and their neighbours, which had lasted for several years

Boxer and his wife and the other couple had bad blood for several years before the incident took place, the court heard.

In November last year, Boxer, his wife, and another offender had gone to the house to confront the neighbours about the wifi name.

Boxer's wife reportedly told he and his co-offender to go over and 'flog' the neighbours.

During the attack, in which an outdoor dining table was overturned and a chair got stuck in a screen door, the neighbour had to tell his mother, in her 70s, to 'go into the back room and call police', the NT News reported.

The offenders were later found in a nearby drain by police.

Defence laywer Marty Aust stated his client had been 'racially vilified', and that although they could not prove the neighbours were responsible for the offensive wifi name, the closer they got to the property, the stronger the signal became.

As well as being jailed for four months, backdated to his remand in November, he was suspended on an 18-month bond, the NT News reported.
The mother of a teenage boy who tried to commit suicide after enduring years of homophobic abuse has launched a lawsuit after the 'school failed to protect her son'.

Nathan Whitmore, 15, has spoken out about how he would suffer torrents of bullying from other students, who branded him a 'f****t' at Somerville Secondary College.

The Victorian schoolboy claims he has been subjected to more than two years of homophobic abuse from his classmates who called him offensive names and another bully even threatened to kill him.

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Nathan Whitmore, 15, has spoken out about how he would suffer torrents of bullying from other students

Mother Cathilee Whitmore (left) claims she has complained to both the school and the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development but her desperate pleas for help have been ignored

'He'd call me a f****t, a dropkick, a loser,' Nathan told Nine News.

'He told me sometimes on a regular basis to kill myself and he also told me that I'm not worth living. He belted me with a skateboard.'

His mother Cathilee Whitmore claims she has complained to both the school and the Victorian Department of Education but her desperate pleas for help have been ignored.

'The school completely lacked their duty of care with Nathan,' Ms Whitmore said, adding that she believed the government should pay for her son's ongoing counselling.

She claims she will be taking legal actions against Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development for failing to protect her son, according to Nine News.

The 15-year-old claims he has been subjected to years of homophobic abuse from his classmates

Nathan has launched an online petition on change.org , which has amassed more than 25,000 signatures

She claims Nathan has been heavily affected by the bullying and was shocked to see her son fall victim to such behaviour at the school.

'It has changed who he is, it has affected our entire family,' she said.

Victorian Education Minister James Merlino has vowed to launch and investigation into the matter.

Nathan has launched a heartbreaking petition on change.org, which has amassed more than 25,000 signatures.

In a disturbing account online, Nathan has penned how he was driven to suicide by bullies and the shocking allegations about his school and authorities failing to help.

'I am a fifteen year old who tried to commit suicide after years of being bullied because I'm gay - I'm different,' Nathan wrote online.

I would tell the teacher's and my mum would talk to the Principal but nothing was ever done. I was bashed with a skateboard. The Police and school didn't care. My mum even spoke to the Education Department. No body helped and I just felt alone.'

Daily Mail Australia have contacted the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development for comment.

The 15-year-old schoolboy has spoken out about how he was driven to suicide after years of bullying

His mother claims Nathan has been heavily affected by the bullying and was shocked to see her son fall victim to such behaviour at the school

Nathan, who spent 'a bit of time in hospital' after several attempts to take his own life, went into details about the horrific abuse he suffered from his classmates.

'I was told by one boy that he was going to stab me to death and I was on the top of his kill list. My mum told the Principal and he found a machete in his locker.

'He only got a three day suspension and then all his friend's [sic] said I was going to get bashed for dobbing. I didn't go back to the school again after that.

'I have been seeing a Psychologist for two years. It has cost my mum so much money. I have had so much time off school because of my Depression.

'I am still no where near recovered. It takes the pain from my head and makes me focus on something else. My childhood was taken away and this has effected my whole family.

The schoolboy has also called for the government to provide victims of bullying with free counselling.

'No-one deserves to feel that their life doesn't matter. Bullying is a MAJOR problem and it needs to be stopped NOW!' he wrote.

'Please sign this petition so every child can have the resources they need if they find themselves in the same position as me.'
Chris Christie endorsed Donald Trump because of a patronizing phone call from Marco Rubio, it's been reported.

The New Jersey Governor is said to have been offended when Rubio left him a voicemail after he dropped out and told him he had a 'bright future in public service'.

According to the New York Times, Christie, 53, took the message as deeply disrespectful and questioned why a 44-year-old was discussing his future.

Chris Christie allegedly endorsed Donald Trump (pair pictured in Arkansas on Saturday) because of a patronizing phone call from Marco Rubio (right)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, left, wave as they arrive at a rally at Millington Regional Airport in Millington on Saturday

At the same time Trump spoke to Christie frequently.

The pair then met at Trump Towers in New York with their wives on Thursday.

On Friday, Christie flew out to Texas and said he would be backing the billionaire.

It is the biggest endorsement for The Donald's campaign and comes just days before the biggest number of delegates are up for grabs on Super Tuesday.

On Saturday night both Trump and Christie appeared in front of 12,000 people in Tennessee.

The theme music from Harrison Ford's movie 'Air Force One' blared over loudspeakers in a rural airport hangar, and minutes later a less presidential noise wafted over a hot mic.

Trump told Christie: 'Get in the plane and go home. It's over there. Go home.'

It was perceived as a back-handed comment.

One person said on Twitter that it was 'the political equivalent of leaving the money on the nightstand.'

A Trump spokesperson did not respond to requests for an explanation.

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump points towards New Jersey Governor Chris Christie during a campaign event in Bentonville Regional Airport, Arkansas, on Saturday

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio greets guests at a campaign rally at the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on Saturday

Hours later, however, Trump social media director Dan Scavino tweeted that Trump had told Christie 'to go home [as he was planned] to be with family tonight.'

'Being blown out of proportion, BIG LEAGUE!!,' Scavino added.

Trump's rival Ted Cruz is concerned that a good showing by Trump on Super Tuesday could perhaps seal the nomination for the businessman.

Cruz tells CBS' 'Face the Nation' that 'there is no doubt that if Donald steamrolls through Super Tuesday, wins everywhere with big margins, that he may well be unstoppable'. Republicans will vote in 11 states, with 595 delegates at stake.

Cruz and Rubio are the leading contenders trying to slow down Trump.

Cruz says he's the only one who can beat Trump, and the Texas senator is making this appeal to voters: 'I would encourage you, even if you like another candidate, stand with us if you don't want Donald to be the nominee.'

Trump and Christie wave as they arrive at a rally at Millington Regional Airport in Millington, Tennessee
He was described as 'fearless' and 'full of life' by his family and friends

Investigators believe he fell and was killed instantly in the accident

An adrenaline junkie, 25, who was reported missing after going BASE jumping in Arizona has been found dead at the bottom of a cliff.

Brian Head had gone into the Superstitions Mountains on Thursday for the extreme sport - in which participants jump from a cliff or some other base wearing a parachute - but family and friends became concerned when they hadn't heard from him and he failed to turn up for work the following day.

A massive manhunt began and rescue crews located Head's body at 10am on Saturday - about 100ft down the side of a cliff near Syphon Draw.

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Brian Head (pictured on a previous jumping trip) was reported missing by his family on Friday after a BASE jumping trip in the Superstitions Mountains on Thursday

The adrenaline junkie (pictured) was described as 'fearless' by his sister had not been heard from since Thursday

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu believes the 25-year-old had fallen from the cliff rather than jumped and died on Thursday afternoon.

'Technical Rescue Teams had to repel down the side of the mountain to recover his body,' the sheriff's office said in a statement.

'When they reached Brian, his parachute harness was not on him and his parachute was never deployed.'

Sheriff Babeu confirmed the base jumper died instantly in the fall.

Head, from Grand Prairie, Texas, had recently moved to Arizona for work. His Facebook page lists him as working as an area sales manager for Santander.

Police found his body on Saturday morning 100ft down the side of a cliff near Syphon Draw in Arizona

Just a few days before his tragic fall, on Valentine's Day, he had announced a new relationship with girlfriend Mandy Vann.

Vann, who would refer to Head as her 'Catfish' said in a video posted on Facebook: 'You're supposed to be here with me right now, eating Ben and Jerry's and editing video clips.

'I don't want to imagine life without my Catfish but I know I have to.'

Head's sister, Jenna Korn, described the avid skydiver and BASE jumper as 'completely fearless'.

'He loved any type of adventure and anything that was going to give you a rush,' she told ABC 15.

His aunt Laurie Lyn wrote on Facebook: 'Words can't express how crushed my soul is right now!! My little nephew I know your (sic) with your father and my mother in heaven.

'Thank you on behalf of my family to all the PCSO search and rescue teams for finding him. He was such a bright light and impacted so many lives. He will truly be missed. RIP Bubby I love you!!!!!'

BASE is an acronym for building, antenna, structure and earth - all the structures BASE jumpers leap from.

Just a few days before his tragic fall, on Valentine's Day, he had announced a new relationship with girlfriend Mandy Vann (pictured above with him)

Friends have said that 25-year-old Head (pictured), an avid BASE jumper and skydiver 'went out dong what he loved'

Deputies confirmed that Head (pictured skydiving) would have been killed instantly in the fall on Thursday afternoon

The extreme sport is one of the most dangerous recreational activities in the world, with a fatality and injury rate 43 times higher than parachuting from a plane, according to Blincmagazine.com which maintains a BASE Fatality List.

The list records that between April 1981 and September 2014, there have been 256 BASE jumping deaths. Last year saw another six fatalities in the U.S. alone.

But the danger did not daunt Head who friends described as 'fearless' and 'full of life.'

'I know he went out dong what he loved, and he wouldn't want us to be sad,' friend Kylie Gerks said.

Head's mother, who lives in Dallas, had alerted police that her son was missing on Friday after he failed to turn up to work. No one had heard from him since the previous day.

Investigators discovered his car parked up at a restaurant near Lost Dutchman State Park where rescue teams began their search. His body was found nearby the next day.

Friends and family have paid tribute to Head, who parents were both deceased, on Facebook.

His friend Brandon Lee added: 'We love you Brian. And we'll see you soon bud, you will just be a little a head in the in clouds.'
One of the victims of the Rotherham gang which raped and abused teenage girls has revealed how she was forced to attack two other girls during her years-long ordeal.

The 30-year-old said she was ordered to commit dozens of crimes by the gang's leader, Arshid Hussain, as well as being abused herself.

He was jailed for 35 years last week along with brothers Bannaras, 36, and Basharat Hussain, 39, after a series of women - most now in their 30s - told a jury how they were sexually, physically and emotionally abused in the South Yorkshire town when they were in their early teens.

Brothers Arshid (left), 40, and Basharat Hussain (middle), 39, committed multiple rapes and indecent assaults on teenagers in the South Yorkshire town. Their younger brother, Bannaras Hussain (right), 36, admitted ten charges - including rape, indecent assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm

One of the victims of the Rotherham gang which raped and abused teenage girls has revealed how she was forced to assault two other girls

Now one of their victims, a mother-of-two, has described how her abuse began at the age of 14 when Arshid Hussain, 40 - dubbed 'Mad Ash' started blackmailing her.

The victim feared that she would end up in jail if she approached the police about her ordeal. She said Hussain threatened to kill her family if she did not do what he said.

She told the Sunday People that on her 15th birthday Hussain made her commit 'her first robbery'.

She said: Every birthday I remember that day - that robbery. I have never forgotten those words. I told him "You're crazy" and he started laughing'.

The newspaper says she was also forced to assault two other girls.

She says other victims of sex offenders are staying silent for fear of being prosecuted themselves.

Campaigners have backed her call for an amnesty for the Rotherham victims who were ordered to carry out crimes by others.

The Hussain brothers' uncle, Qurban Ali (left), 53, was also found guilty of conspiracy to rape. Shelley Davies, (centre) 40, was found guilty of conspiracy to procure prostitutes and false imprisonment. Karen MacGregor (right) took in girls from children's homes purporting to give them a safe haven and support - only to then have them abused

The Hussains were found guilty of a range of offences last week along with their uncle, Qurban Ali, 53, and two women - Karen MacGregor, 59, and Shelley Davis, 40.

The group targeted 15 vulnerable girls, one aged only 11, and forced them to perform horrific sex acts over a sixteen year period.

Arshid and Basharat Hussain were found guilty of dozens of attacks between them. Arshid, the ringleader, has been jailed for 35 years, while Basharat was given 25 years.

Bannaras Hussain admitted ten charges - including rape, indecent assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm - at the beginning of the trial. He was given a 19-year sentence.

The brothers' uncle, Qurban Ali, 53, appeared alongside them in court. He too was found guilty of conspiracy to rape and has been jailed for 10 years.

MacGregor and Davis were found guilty of conspiracy to procure prostitutes and false imprisonment.

MacGregor was jailed for 13 years, while Davis was handed an 18-month suspended sentence.
The 16-year-old who was stabbed to death in Bristol has been named locally as Shamus Mcnama, pictured

A popular 17-year-old boy who was fatally stabbed was known to the two men, aged 18 and 19, who have been arrested following his death.

The teenager, named locally as Shamus Mcnama, died in Southmead Hospital in Bristol on Sunday morning.

Police were called to a house in Stothard Road in the Lockleaze area of the city at 5.50am following reports of a disturbance.

The teenager was taken to hospital with knife wounds but died of his injuries.

Police have arrested two men aged 18 and 19 in connection with the incident and they remain in custody.

Formal identification has not yet taken place but neighbours and friends said the victim was Shamus.

A teenage girl, who did not wish to be named, wept by tributes left at a police cordon at the scene.

'I can't believe it - it is unreal,' she said. 'He just had the biggest smile and he was so, so loved by so many people.

'You won't find anyone with a bad word to say about him. He had so many friends. If you look on his Facebook it is full of people's comments, there are at least 100 on there.

'They're all saying RIP and how much he will be missed.'

Shamus is believed to have attended Orchard School and Filton High School before starting an apprenticeship at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College.

A school friend, who did not wish to be named, added: 'It's such a terrible thing to happen to anyone but to happen to someone like Shamus, who was such a nice guy - it's unbelievable.

'I feel so sorry for his mum, she would never have thought that something like this would happen.

'He was just such a great guy. His funeral is going to be tragic but it will be packed.'

Two girls react as they leave floral tributes at the scene of the stabbing in Stothard Road, Bristol

Candles, flowers and messages were left nearby. One of the messages said: 'Shamus, can't believe you're gone.'

Another read: 'Shamus my brother and friend! I'm going to miss you so much mate. I love being around you.'

Friends and family also took to social media to pay tribute to the teenager.

His godmother Tracey Leaver, from Bristol, wrote on Facebook: 'RIP to my sweet sweet godson Shamus Mcnama my heart has just been ripped out all my love going out to all the family xxxx'

Amy Revill added: 'Such sad news!! Words can't describe how much you will be missed by many!

'Shamus Mcnama sleep tight mate. Thinking of all the family at such a hard time!'

The teenager died in hospital early this morning after reportedly being reportedly stabbed in the neck

Shamus is believed to have attended Orchard School and Filton High School before starting an apprenticeship at South Gloucestershire and Stroud College

A school friend, who did not wish to be named, added: 'It's such a terrible thing to happen to anyone but to happen to someone like Shamus, who was such a nice guy - it's unbelievable'

Police were called to a house in Stothard Road (pictured here) in the Lockleaze area of the city at 5.50am following reports of a disturbance

Phoebe Clements wrote: 'RIP Shamus Mcnama. I don't really know what to say because I only saw you last night, you looked like you were having such a good time, rest in paradise xxx'

Senior investigating officer Richard Pegler, said: 'We are now appealing for anyone that witnessed a disturbance in the street between 5.30am and 6.30am to get in touch with the police.

'We are also asking for anyone in the area who thinks they may have heard or seen anything suspicious or out of the ordinary between those times to come forward.

'Our thoughts are very much with the family of this young man who has tragically lost his life and we are doing everything we can to support them during this difficult time.

'While there continues to be increased police activity in the area, we'd like to reassure residents that there's no risk to the wider community.'

Family liaison officers are supporting Shamus's family. A post-mortem examination will be carried out by a Home Office pathologist.

An 18-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of wounding, and a 19-year-old man on suspicion on murder.

Police officers and forensics personnel can be seen at the scene of the fatal stabbing in Stothard Road
It's been nearly three days since Donald Trump and Marco Rubio went head-to-head on the Republican debate stage, but the billionaire still had plenty of smack talk prepped and ready for the Florida senator.

'Well, I think he's a lightweight, he couldn't get elected dogcatcher,' Trump told Chris Wallace this morning on Fox News Sunday. 'If he goes back to Florida he's going to lose big league.'

Right out of the gate, Wallace asked Trump about Rubio, who hurdled a number of attacks at the billionaire on Thursday night's debate stage in Houston.

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Donald Trump continued to insult Marco Rubio this Sunday, saying that the Florida senator 'couldn't get elected dogcatcher'

Fox News' Chris Wallace asked Donald Trump about illegal workers building the Trump Tower and the defunct Trump University - two issues Marco Rubio brought up at Thursday night's debate

Marco Rubio (left) and Donald Trump (right) went after each other Thursday night in Houston, with Rubio bringing up several problems with Trump's business record

Trump suggested that Rubio and rival Ted Cruz had ganged up on him.

'He's a very nasty guy, so is Ted Cruz, by the way, they're nasty,' Trump said, folding the Texas senator into his attacks on Rubio. 'They teamed up. I saw them shaking hands before the thing. Let's go, let's go let's see if we can get him.'

'Because they're establishment guys, no matter how you cut it,' Trump continued. 'They're establishment guys.'

On Face the Nation this morning Trump further attacked the establishment and tried to establish some wiggle room if he decided to buck the GOP and launch a third-party bid.

'I've been very good, I've been very straight and honest and honorable and they're not treating me right,' Trump told host John Dickerson. 'You look at the way they stack the audiences in the debates ... they have this lightweight Senator Marco Rubio saying terrible things, just personal, terrible things.'

Trump then claimed, as he has several times of late, that the RNC wasn't holding up its end of the bargain.

'I signed a pledge and I will, you know, abide by the pledge unless they default, but as far as I'm concerned they're defaulting,' he said.

Trump called Rubio, pictured at a rally in Purcelville, Virginia, on Sunday, 'a very nasty guy' during his Fox News Sunday interview

Rubio, pictured during a campaign stop in Purcelville, Virginia, said during his own Fox News Sunday interview that Trump was 'a first-rate con artist'

Donald Trump (center) suggested that both Marco Rubio (left) and Ted Cruz (right) are 'nasty' guys and ganged up on him at Thursday's debate because they both represent the 'establishment'

During the debate, both Cruz and Rubio went after the frontrunner, with Rubio having a little more success.

The Florida senator tried making Trump look like a hypocrite on immigration by bringing up Polish workers, many of whom were undocumented, who helped build Trump Tower.

Rubio also brought up the defunct Trump University, one of the billionaire's failed ventures.

'There are people who borrowed $36,000 to go to Trump University, and they're suing now,' Rubio said Thursday. 'And you know what they got? They got to take a picture with a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump.'

Cruz jumped in on this one as well.

'You know, Marco made reference earlier to the litigation against Trump University. It's a fraud case,' Cruz said at the debate.

'If this man is the nominee, having the Republican nominee on the stand in court, being cross-examined about whether he committed fraud,' Cruz continued. 'You don' think the mainstream media will go crazy on that?'

Wallace asked Trump about both of these issues this morning.

'So let me just tell you how sad that is,' Trump said. 'It was more than 35 years ago,' the businessman said about the allegations surrounding Trump Tower.

Trump didn't deny the allegations, but instead explained that he hired a contractor to demolish the building that was on the site of Trump tower and that contractor was the one who was using Polish workers.

The billionaire said there was no way to verify workers' statuses at that time, though he uses e-verify at construction sites now, including the ongoing Trump hotel project in Washington, D.C.

'This little Marco,' Trump said. 'Thirty-five years ago, I built a building, that's the best they can do? That's pretty sad.'

Trump also defended Trump University telling Wallace that '98 percent' of the students were satisfied customers.

'Just so you understand, I could have settled this case a long time ago. I chose not to. I'm going to win the case in court, because I do that, I win cases in court. I am not a settler,' Trump said.

Cruz tried to further damage Trump's reputation as a businessman during an appearance on Meet the Press by suggesting that the billionaire had mob ties.

'Wait a minute, Senator Cruz, let me stop you there,' said host Chuck Todd. 'That's openly speculative. Do you have any facts to support that Donald Trump has mob ties?'

Cruz listed a number of potential 'bombshells,' the word Mitt Romney used to describe what could be hidden deep within the loins of Trump's tax returns, including mob ties, Planned Parenthood donations or simply the fact that Trump isn't as rich as the $10billion he's boasted.

Cruz, pictured posing with supporters at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Sunday, told Fox News Sunday that Trump was incapable of defeating Hillary Clinton

Also on Sunday, Cruz, pictured speaking at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Sunday, said on Meet The Press that Trump didn't want to release his tax returns because he had ties to the mafia

The Texas senator pointed to news reports that linked Trump to the mob, including the use of the company S&A Construction, which was owned by 'Fat Tony' Salerno, a jailed mobster.

The media accounts, including one from CNN, suggest that Trump 'took the relationship [with the mob] several steps further than he had to,' said one source.

The article also points out that it's notable that Trump Tower was primarily constructed using concrete and not steal as the mafia controlled the concrete industry.

As for those tax returns, Cruz and Rubio both released some of their tax information this weekend.

Trump, as he said Thursday night at the debated, said he would release his tax forms once they were done being audited by the Internal Revenue Service.

'You don't learn very much from tax returns, let me tell you right now,' he said on Face the Nation. 'But when you're under an audit, you don't give your papers. I've been under audit for so many years. Every year I get audited for I think over 10 years, maybe even 12 years, I've been audited. And I think it's very unfair and I think I'm being singled out.'

Two new polls dropped this morning showing Trump in a strong position going into Super Tuesday, though still behind in Cruz's home state of Texas.

A CBS Battleground Tracker poll showed Cruz with 42 percent support in Texas, to Trump's 31 percent.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll had Cruz at 39 percent in Texas to Trump's 26 percent, with Rubio in third place at 16 percent.

The same poll has Trump leading in Georgia and Tennessee.

In Georgia he's receiving 30 percent of likely Republican votes, while Cruz and Rubio are tied at 23 percent.

In Tennessee, Trump is ahead by 18 points, besting Cruz 40 percent to 22 percent, while Rubio is close to Cruz at 19 percent.

CBS also polled Georgia voters and found Trump ahead with 40 percent support, to Cruz's 29 percent and Rubio's 22 percent.
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French authorities have begun dismantling part of the 'Jungle' refugee camp in Calais after a judge upheld a decision to evict hundreds from the sprawling centre.

Demolition crews entered the jungle encampment and started clearing its southern part as migrants were relocated to purpose-built accommodation.

Refugee organisations said thousands had their shelters displaced and others moved into shipping containers set in a nearby park after authorities said they would use force if necessary to move the camp's inhabitants.

Cleared land is pictured near the 'jungle' camp in Calais, France, after authorities moved in

Officials say 1,000 people will be displaced by the demolition due to take place, though charities claim it will be more than 3,000

A court upheld a decision to destroy an area of the camp, which officials say will displace 1,000 people

Demolition crews entered the jungle encampment and started clearing its southern part as migrants were relocated to purpose-built accommodation

Refugee organisations said thousands had their shelters displaced and others moved into shipping containers set in a nearby park

Authorities said they would use force if necessary to move the camp's inhabitants

While official figures say 1,000 people remain inside the main camp a census carried out by charities recorded 3,455 people living there.

It comes after a Lille court gave authorities the all-clear to evict migrants from their tents in the densely populated portion of the camp, although it said they cannot entirely raze it.

A spokesperson for the court confirmed common spaces like schools and places of worship must be kept in place.

An official deadline for at least 1,000 migrants to leave the southern part of the so-called 'Jungle' camp expired last Tuesday.

Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart said: 'I am satisfied by this responsible decision which will allow the progressive dismantling of the southern part of the Jungle to proceed over the next three weeks.'

Closing the camp would be the most dramatic step by the French state to end Calais' years-long migrant problem, which has transformed the port city into a high-security tension point.

The eviction deadline for the camp's southern sector came and went, with migrants and humanitarian groups trying to stave off bulldozers via a legal complaint, a letter to the interior minister and public pleas.

Emotions were running high this week as the deadline loomed for the destruction of half the 'Jungle' migrant camp in Calais, with migrants refusing or unable to move.

Rows and rows of wooden huts were set up by Medicins du Monde to shelter migrants and refugees from the Jungle

Ethiopian migrants walk through the 'jungle' camp as authorities begin dismantling the southern portion

An Afghan migrant sweeps next to wooden accommodation in the jungle, where migrants have been relocated

A tent belonging to a Sudanese migrant is pictured in the 'jungle'

A migrant scans his finger print as he enters new purpose-built accommodation at the site near the Jungle camp

John, a 28-year-old Sudanese migrant, said: 'I don't have anywhere else to go.

'We don't want to leave Calais because we don't want to get further away from England, which is still our goal.'

A French judge and other officials visited the camp earlier last week to see conditions for themselves before making a ruling on whether the eviction should go ahead.

Up to 1,000 people who have fled war, poverty and persecution are reported to be affected by the plans, but aid workers say the figure could be much higher.

The Help Refugees charity said it carried out its own analysis showing there were 3,455 people living in the affected part of the Jungle who faced being 'evicted from their homes in the midst of winter, without sufficient alternative accommodation on offer'.

A French judge and other officials visited the camp earlier in the week to see conditions for themselves before making a ruling on whether the eviction should go ahead

The Help Refugees charity said it carried out its own analysis showing there were 3,455 people living in the affected part of the Jungle who faced being 'evicted from their homes in the midst of winter, without sufficient alternative accommodation on offer

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the eviction would be done 'progressively, by persuasion and with respect for people's dignity'

A spokeswoman said: 'Our concerns remain with welfare of the unaccompanied minors.

'We have had no assurances from the French authorities that they will conduct assessments to determine best interests of these children and ensure proper safeguarding is in place before removing them from the camp and the communities they know and trust.'

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the eviction would be done 'progressively, by persuasion and with respect for people's dignity'.

The evicted migrants have been offered heated accommodation in refitted containers set up next door to the Jungle.

But many are reluctant to move there because they lack any communal spaces and movement is restricted.
Mini iPhone 5se will be Apple's first product announcement of 2016

Several people are rallying for fears the unlock could jeopardize privacy

The debut comes just a day before Apple is set to face-off with FBI over its request to crack iPhone of San Bernardino terrorist

New iPhone and iPad are reportedly going to be unveiled on March 21

Apple could release its new, small-screen iPhone and iPad just a day before the company is scheduled to face-off with the FBI over its request to crack the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino terrorists.

The company has reportedly chosen its final date of March 21 to unveil a new 'mini iPhone' and iPad, according to Buzzfeed News.

Apple will go head-to-head with the FBI on March 22 when both parties will meet at a hearing in federal court in Riverside, California.

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Apple could release its new, small-screen iPhone (right) and iPad just a day before the company is scheduled to face-off with the FBI over its request to crack the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino terrorists. Apple CEO, Tim Cook (left) said that unlocking the phone could be 'bad for America'

Tashfeen Malik with husband Syed Rizwan Farook (right) killed 14 people and wounded 22 others in the San Bernardino massacre

#Don'tBreakOurPhones: People have been rallying because the potential unlock could jeopardize safety as encryption and security technology is what protects things like hospitals and airports

The product launch comes amid an escalating standoff between Apple and the FBI as the company was ordered to assist the government in unlocking an iPhone used by Syed Farook, one of the terrorists in December's San Bernardino massacre that left 14 dead and 22 wounded.

The request to unlock the phone has prompted rallies across the U.S., as people have made it clear: We want our privacy.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook, said that unlocking the San Bernardino iPhone would be 'bad for America'.

In an interview with ABC News, Cook said: 'If we knew a way to get the information on the phone that we haven't already given...that would not expose hundreds of millions of other people, we would honestly do it.

'We believe it does put hundreds of millions of others at risk.'

The dispute touches on polarizing topics like civil liberties and personal privacy, as well as the balance of power between corporations and government.

And people have been rallying because the potential unlock could jeopardize safety as encryption and security technology is what protects things like hospitals and airports.

Cook said that he and his company believe that unlocking the phone 'does put hundreds of millions of others at risk'

Apple plans to unveil a smaller iPhone that is approximately the same size as the iPhone 5s a day before the hearing with the FBI.

Earlier reports this week suggested that Apple would unveil its new devices on March 15 and that the company's 'mini' iPhone was revealed in leaked drawings.

The smaller iPhone SE will have four-inch display and a faster chip.

Apple will debut new AppleWatch bands and support for Apple Pay, the company's mobile payment service.

The event may take place at Apple's campus in Cupertino, California, according to Buzzfeed.

According to 9to5Mac the new iPhone is expected to be called the iPhone 5se amid other claims that the publication had the first drawings of it from a case making company.

'Our sources have said that the new device is essentially the 2013 iPhone 5s with significant internal hardware and software upgrades,' it said.

'The case maker source tells us that the products dimensions are indistinguishable from the iPhone 5s, meaning that the new device will fit inside of existing iPhone 5s cases.'

The sleep/wake/power button has been relocated to the side in the latest case specs

The rounded edges previously rumored have also disappeared from the design

Apple will reveal the latest version of its iPad Air and new Apple Watch models in mid March, rumors suggest. The new device will likely be called the iPad Air 3 and feature a 9.7-inch screen, like the iPad Air 2, which was unveiled by Apple boss Tim Cook (pictured) in October 2014

The schematics do show small changes - the sleep/wake/power button has been relocated to the side, for instance.

Apple is gearing up to reveal the latest version of its iPad Air as well as new Apple Watch models at an event originally rumored for March 15th - and they will go on sale just three days later.

The revamped tablet will likely be called iPad Air 3 and feature a 9.7-inch screen, much smaller than the firm's latest 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

The Cupertino-based company is also expected to reveal a new 4-inch iPhone, dubbed the iPhone 5se at the event, according to 9to5Mac.

The Cupertino-based company is also expected to reveal a new four-inch iPhone, dubbed the iPhone 5se (rumoured to be shown right, along an iPhone 5) sometime during the week of March 14

'Apple is currently planning to introduce a new 4-inch iPhone dubbed the 'iPhone 5se' and a new iPad Air at an event on Tuesday, March 15th, then put the products up for sale online and in retail stores as early as Friday, March 18th, according to sources,' said 9to5mac.

'Apple is unlikely to offer pre-orders for the new devices, according to sources who cautioned that the plans could still change.'

It would be the first revamp to the iPad Air since October 2014, 9to5Mac noted, while the iPad mini got a boost last autumn along with the unveiling of the iPad Pro.

Rumors suggest the iPad Air 3 will have a rear-facing LED flash so users can take better photos in low light, as well as better speaker grills for improved audio.

It's possible the tablet will also work with the Apple Pencil, which was originally intended to work with the iPad Pro.

APPLE IN FIGURES Apple now has $216 billion (151 billion) in cash Sold 74.8 million iPhones in the three months ending 26 December. First-quarter net profit rose 1.9 per cent to $18.36 billion (12.85 billion). Rise in iPhone shipments was the smallest since the second fiscal quarter of 2013. iPad sales were $16.12 million (11.26 million) down 21% year-over-year. Mac sales down 3% year-over-year. Advertisement

The super-sized tablet launched in November and has a 12.9-inch screen with 5.9 million pixels. It weighs just 1.57lbs (712 grams) and is 0.3 inches (6.9mm) thick.

Apple will hope its Air revamp will make people want to buy a new iPad, as sales of the tablet have fallen by almost a quarter over the course of a year.

Apple is also testing a version of iOS with a Classroom app that could boost sales of its tablets to schools.

Earlier this week, Apple announced a first-quarter net profit rise of 1.9 per cent to $18.36 billion, (12.85 billion) while revenue increased 1.7 per cent to $75.87 billion (53.02 billion).

While both were records for the company, the figures fell short of expectations.

It reported lower-than-expected iPhone sales in the latest quarter, its slowest-ever growth in shipments, as the company began to feel the effects of economic softness in the critical Chinese market.

So a new, highly desirable handset would help the situation.

As a result, Apple is set to reveal the iPhone 5se, which is predicted to boast a faster A9 processor, M9 chip, more storage, better cameras and a NFC chip so users will be able to buy goods using Apple Pay.

The handset will likely have softer edges like the iPhone 6 and it is hoped it will halt ailing iPhone sales.

Apple said on Tuesday it sold 74.8 million iPhones in the three months ending 26 December, the first full quarter of sales of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus.

Apple is also expected to show off a new range of watch bands, including a black version of the Milanese Loop (pictured), a new colors for Hermes straps and another line of bands made from a new material

This rise in iPhone shipments was the smallest since the second fiscal quarter of 2013.

Apple is additionally expected to show off a new range of watch bands, including a black version of the Milanese Loop, a new colors for Hermes straps and another line of bands made from a new material at the March event.

Cook said the AppleWatch sold particularly well in December - possibly because people bought the devices as Christmas presents.

He said of the company's earnings: 'Our team delivered Apple's biggest quarter ever, thanks to the world's most innovative products and all-time record sales of iPhone, Apple Watch and Apple TV.'

It's also believed Apple will release an operating system update soon after the event, which could include Night Shift to improve people's sleep, for the new handset and iPad Air 3.
As the race for the presidential nominations hots up, reporters are also having to up their game.

It means they have to ignore distractions and anything that could put them off on live TV.

And for Hallie Jackson, not even a ball of snot could stop her reporting.

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NBC News' Hallie Jackson was doing a segment on the Republican race for the presidential nomination when snot started to appear from one of her nostrils

The NBC correspondent was on a live feed from Tennessee talking about Chris Christie backing Donald Trump when the booger started to come down from her nostril.

She didn't let it faze her, and she carried on speaking to the camera until it dropped to the floor.

Jackson didn't say if she knew it was there during her segment, but she saw the funnier side of it just hours later.

She tweeted a picture of her online shopping cart - $53 worth of tissues and a book called 'Surviving Your Season of Shame'.

The clip of her awkward moment has since gone viral.

She was on a live feed talking about Chris Christie backing Donald Trump when the booger started to come down from her nose

She didn't let it faze her, and she carried on speaking to the camera until it dropped to the floor

Jackson didn't say if she knew it was there during her segment, but she saw the funnier side of it just hours later. She tweeted a picture of her online shopping cart - $53 worth of tissues and a book called 'Surviving Your Season of Shame'
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard  one of the rising stars of the Democratic Party  quit her gig today at the Democratic National Committee so she could throw her support behind Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Gabbard, a Iraq War veteran, went on Meet the Press to make the surprising announcement, which gives Sanders some of his momentum back after being trounced by Hillary Clinton yesterday in South Carolina.

The congresswoman suggested she liked the Vermont senator because he wouldn't be quick to put boots on the ground.

'I think it's most important for us, as we look at our choices, as to who our next commander-in-chief will be, is to recognize the necessity to have a commander in chief who has foresight, who exercises good judgment,' Gabbard told Chuck Todd.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard went on Meet the Press today to announced that she was resigning from the Democratic National Committee and endorsing Bernie Sanders

Tulsi Gabbard (left) suggested that Bernie Sanders (right) would be the type of leader who would look at the consequences of sending Americans into war

She rolled out the endorsement by talking about her experience serving in the Iraq War.

'As a veteran and as a soldier, I've seen first hand the true cost of war,' Gabbard said. 'I see my friends, who now, a decade after we've come home are still struggling to get out of a black hole.'

Gabbard said Sanders is the type of leader who would look at the consequences 'so we don't continue to find ourselves in these failures that have resulted in chaos in the Middle East and so much loss of life.'

Sanders has used the Iraq War as one of the differentiating factors between himself and Hillary Clinton.

As members of Congress in 2002, both Democratic hopefuls had the opportunity to give an up or down vote on President George W. Bush's plan to invade Iraq.

Sanders, then a House member, said no, while Clinton voted to give Bush the authority.

Gabbard, one of just two female veterans serving in Congress, throwing her support behind Sanders helps legitimize Sanders claim that Clinton's years of foreign policy experience are undermined by her bad call on Iraq.

'The most important foreign policy issue in the modern history of this country was the war in Iraq. I was right on that issue. Hillary Clinton was wrong,' Sanders said in advance of the New Hampshire primary, his best performance against the Democratic frontrunner.

Gabbard, whose position at the DNC prevented her from supporting a particular candidate in the primary, had hinted for months that she might be on team Sanders.

The timing now, said one Democratic party insider to Dailymail.com, gives Gabbard several weeks to be in the media spotlight before her home state of Hawaii votes late next month.

Gabbard, pictured left, is one of just two female veterans serving in Congress, throwing her support behind Sanders helps legitimize Sanders claim that Clinton's years of foreign policy experience are undermined by her bad call on Iraq. Clinton is pictured right

Tulsi Gabbard is one of only two female veterans serving in Congress and said today that she wanted a commander-in-chief 'who exercises good judgment'. She is pictured above after being awarded a Frontier Award during a ceremony at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2013

The insider also suggested there was no bad blood between Gabbard and the DNC though, in October, Gabbard made headlines after she was disinvited from the first Democratic debate, which took place in Las Vegas, after she appeared on television and publicly called for more debates to be added to the schedule.

The Sanders campaign had grumbled about the Democrats only holding six debates, many of which were scheduled on weekends, suggesting that the party didn't want Sanders getting too much screen time because they feared another protracted primary, which derailed Clinton's candidacy the first time around.

'It's very dangerous when we have people in positions of leadership who use their power to try to quiet those who disagree with them,' Gabbard said to the New York Times at the time. 'When I signed up to be vice chair of the D.N.C., no one told me I would be relinquishing my freedom of speech and checking it at the door.'

'When I first came to Washington, one of the things that I was disappointed about was theres a lot of immaturity and petty gamesmanship that goes on, and it kind of reminds me of how high school teenagers act,' she also told the Times.

The DNC said Gabbard wasn't technically disinvited, but that DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz had suggested that the congresswoman might be a 'distraction' because of her comments.

Today the DNC attempted to sing Gabbard praises as the resignation was announced.

'As one of the first female combat veterans to serve in Congress and the first American Samoan and Hindu member of Congress, Congresswoman Gabbard is a role model who embodies the American ideal that anyone can dream big and make a difference,' Wasserman Schultz said in a statement.

Gabbard addresses the crowd as the keynote speaker during Veterans Day ceremonies at Punchbowl National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, November 11, 2013

'She is also a colleague in Congress and a friend,' the chairwoman continued.

'And I look forward to continuing to work alongside her when our Party unites behind whoever emerges as our nominee,' Wasserman Schultz added.

Clinton has had the momentum since last Saturday's Nevada caucuses, beating Sanders by nearly six points in a race that had tightened and was expected to be neck-and-neck.

Last night Clinton bested Sanders in South Carolina by a whopping 47.5 points.

Polls show the former secretary of state in a strong position in a handful of the 11 states that hold contests this week on Super Tuesday.

Spending Sunday having to explain how he gets enough delegates to overtake Clinton and win the Democratic nomination, Sanders happily welcomed Gabbard into the fold.

'Congresswoman Gabbard is one of the important voices of a new generation of leaders,' Sanders said in a statement released by his campaign.

'As a veteran of the Iraq War she understands the cost of war and is fighting to create a foreign policy that not only protects America but keeps us out of perpetual wars that we should not be in,' Sanders added.
The Turnbull government's pledge for faster and cheaper national broadband network is already riddled with delays and rising costs, according to a new internal report.

The February 19 report, obtained by Fairfax Media has outlined a string of faulty problems and how the major infrastructure project has fallen behind schedule.

Malcolm Turnbull, who was the communications minister before being appointed as Prime Minister, introduced the schedule late last year, promising a 'budget-friendly' fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) model.

However the NBN have denied reports they are falling behind, telling Daily Mail Australia: 'The company is on track to meet or exceed its full year targets of 2.6 million homes Ready For Service'.

The Turnbull government's pledge for faster and cheaper national broadband network is already riddled with delays and rising costs, according to a new report

However the NBN have denied reports they are falling behind

The 'Commercial in Confidence: Scale the Deployment Program' report - marked under 'commercial in confidence' and 'for official use only' - revealed the project has not gone according to plan.

About 1,402,909 businesses and homes were expected to be approved for construction by the date of the report. However, just 662,665 premises have reached the target.

The report, which Fairfax Media claims was never intended for public disclosure, revealed another 30 per cent of delays were caused by material shortages.

'Construction completions currently sits at 29K against the corporate budget of 94K,' the report said.

Mr Turnbull vowed to replace fibre-optic NBN with a mix of technologies including upgraded copper wires

'Gap-to-target has increased from 49,183 to 65,268 at week ending February 12.

'Construction completions gap can be attributed to 3 main issues: power, supply, and completions under review.'

In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, an NBN spokesperson said: 'We will not be drawn on alleged internal documents, we report quarterly and our results are audited.'

'The company is on track to meet or exceed its full year targets of 2.6 million homes Ready For Service, approximately one million homes using the network, and more than $300 million in revenue.'

The revelation comes after Mr Turnbull vowed to replace Labor's fibre optic NBN with a mix of technologies including upgraded copper wires.
Cherie Blair's law firm has banked 1.6 million in cash in a year after a series of deals with autocratic governments

Cherie Blair's law firm has banked 1.6 million in cash in a year after a series of legal deals with autocratic governments, it has emerged.

Omnia Strategy, which Mrs Blair set up in 2011, has offices in London and Washington DC and claims to be 'a pioneering international law firm that provides strategic counsel to governments, corporates and private clients'.

The firm's latest accounts show it banked 1.6 million in cash for the 12 months to April 30, 2015, The Telegraph reported.

The company has been criticised by human rights organisations for offering legal advice to autocratic regimes such as Kazakhstan and the Maldives.

Omnia strategy lodged the accounts at Companies House last month and had three designated members at the time: Mrs Blair, Julia Yun Hulme, Omnia's managing director, and Roxana Pierce, a US-based lawyer.

Since then, Sofia Blunt, the granddaughter of the 8th Duke of Wellington who is married to popstar James Blunt, also joined the firm.

According to the law, Omnia has to report very basic financial figures - but it is enough to prove that business is booming.

The total members' interests, which is the company's total assets less any money owed to creditors, account to almost 1.4m in the the 2015 accounts, double the amount in the previous year.

A Daily Mail investigation showed that Mrs Blair's firm earned more than 2,000 a day representing Abdulla Yameen, the autocratic president of the Maldives.

Omnia agreed to work for Mr Yameen's dictatorship for six months in return for 420,000 while publicly claiming its job was to help build democracy and 'improve transparency and accountability in the country'.

The company was also paid 210,000 of its fee by Mohamed Allam Latheef, a businessman who is accused of corruption, arms trafficking, terrorism, and the embezzlement of more than 30million in public money.

Omnia was also paid 210,000 of its fee by Mohamed Allam Latheef, a businessman who is accused of corruption, arms trafficking, terrorism, and the embezzlement of more than 30million in public money

Cherie Blair's firm Omnia agreed to work for Mr Yameen's dictatorship for six months in return for 420,000 while publicly claiming its job was to help build democracy and 'improve transparency and accountability in the country'

In response, Omnia said swiftly stopped working for the Maldives government after the 'unpredictable domestic events that occurred in October and November 2015'.

The company added that it took the suggestion it had received money from someone other than its client very seriously and was urgently reviewing the payment.

Omnia also struck a deal with Kazakhstan's ministry of justice in 2014 to conduct a review of the country's 'bilateral investment treaties', the Telegraph reported.

Mrs Blair allegedly offered her Kazakh clients a reduced hourly billing rate, dropped from 1,150 an hour to 975 an hour, ultimately picked up by the country's taxpayers.
With golden beams of sun shining down on the craggy rock faces of the Lake District, you could easily be forgiven for thinking that spring may finally be on its way

But despite these serene pictures of the rugged pinnacle of Helm Crag, the mercury looks set to plunge next month. at a time Britain usually expects relief from the winter chill.

Forecasters are predicting temperatures at the end of next month will be below average with spells of wet and windy weather.

And the freezing temperatures, along with major engineering works on six of Britain's main railway routes are set to blight the Easter bank holiday weekend.

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An early-morning walker views a golden vista at sunrise from the rugged pinnacle of Helm Crag, Lake District

The sun rising above the mountain in the Lake District, in scenes reminiscent of spring after the winter months

You could easily be forgiven for thinking spring is on the way after seeing pictures like these, however, forecasters are predicting a cold snap in March

Forecasters are predicting temperatures at the end of next month will be below average with spells of wet and windy weather. Pictured are frosty conditions in Cobham, Kent

Around 450 engineering projects are taking place on the railways between Good Friday and Easter Monday which will see some train journey times treble.

It comes as the Met Office predicts that next month will see very cold and changeable conditions hovering around freezing dominate the UK as a frontal system pushes in from the Atlantic.

Most of the country will have to contend with frosty conditions over the bank holiday weekend and leave those on higher ground at risk of snow showers.

The cold snap is set to start in the next few days despite Tuesday officially being the first day of spring.

And even though conditions will be warmer for a time at the end of this week, the mercury is set to plunge once again, and temperatures will remain low over the Easter weekend.

But holidaymakers hoping to take a break from the cold conditions, will face delays on the railways as 55million worth of improvement works take place over Easter.

Most of the country will have to contend with frosty conditions over the bank holiday weekend and leave those on higher ground at risk of snow showers. Pictured are frosty conditions in Glasgow

The cold snap is set to start in the next few days despite Tuesday officially being the first day of spring

And rail experts are predicting the disruption will cause frustration and confusion for families.

On the west coast mainline, London to Glasgow services will be slashed or delayed from Friday to Monday, with the Crewe to Stafford and Birmingham to Wolverhampton stretches shut.

Birmingham to Crewe will take up to two hours 10 minutes, double the usual 57 minutes while London to Manchester trips will be delayed 35 minutes.

On the east coast mainline, delays will see trains between London and Peterborough take one hour 46 minutes, double the usual 52 minutes on Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday.

Holidaymakers hoping to jet off abroad will also be hit as the Gatwick Express from London Victoria, pictured, is axed from Good Friday to Easter Monday

On the west coast mainline, London to Glasgow services will be slashed or delayed from Friday to Monday, with the Crewe to Stafford and Birmingham to Wolverhampton stretches shut

Staycationers heading for the south coast from London Waterloo will be stalled by buses from Eastleigh to Bournemouth, adding 40 minutes to journeys.

The London to Norwich line has no services from London Liverpool Street, and buses from Newbury Park as far as Chelmsford.

Among the other works, are all London Marylebone to Amersham services axed with Chiltern and lines will be closed in central Manchester.

Meanwhile, holidaymakers hoping to jet off abroad will also be hit as the Gatwick Express from London Victoria is axed from Good Friday to Easter Monday.
Sharia courts administering Islamic justice in Britain are run by clerics who believe some offenders should have their hands chopped off, an investigation has found.

Muslim scholar Elham Manea said that some clerics also believe girls can be married at the age of 12 and described their prevailing attitude as totalitarian and more backward than some parts of Pakistan.

The findings from the human rights specialist come amid continuing controversy over the role of sharia courts, which rule in family and inheritance disputes between Muslims who agree to be bound by the decisions. There are thought to be around 85 operating in Britain.

Sharia courts administering Islamic justice in Britain are run by clerics who believe some offenders should have their hands chopped off, an investigation has found (file picture)

Last December, Home Secretary Theresa May set up an independent review into their role, amid fears that they discriminate against women.

Professor Manea, who is based at Zurich University, spent four years speaking to clerics at sharia courts in London and the Midlands. Her book on the project concludes that the courts represent closed communities.

Her findings, published by The Sunday Times, said that they increase segregation, inequality and discrimination and can encourage political instability and home-grown terrorism.

The verdict was strongly disputed by the Muslim Council of Britain, which said it was committed to ensuring sharia courts treat parties with respect and fairness and that they apply rules of natural justice.

Professor Manea gave examples of incidents involving British sharia courts  which included that of a young woman forced to marry her cousin in Pakistan, who was subsequently raped on their wedding night. The woman appealed to a tribunal in Britain  which found that since she was married there could be no rape.

The professor quoted one cleric saying that puberty is the right age for a girl to marry, and that 12 and 13-year-old girls are more or less fullyfledged women. Another was reported saying a man should not be questioned why he hit his wife because this is something between them.

Another said it was fair that in matters of inheritance a woman should get half that of a man. Professor Manea also found that a number of the clerics agreed with the idea that some offenders should have their hands chopped off as a form of corporal punishment.

Muslim scholar Elham Manea said that some clerics also believe girls can be married at the age of 12

She said in the book, Women And Sharia Law: The Impact Of Legal Pluralism In The UK: The fatwas and opinions of these men have grave consequences. A child will be raped in the name of religion. A woman will be beaten in the name of religion.

She is also critical of British public figures, such as the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who have lent support to sharia courts.

Some sharia courts operate by consent among those who use them and others operate under arbitration law. A similar arrangement covers Jewish beth din courts.

A spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain said: These bodies have no enforcement powers and operate only with consent of parties. Either party, if dissatisfied, is free to seek redress from courts in the UK.

Sharia law is subservient to the civil as well as criminal law. We cannot comment on the complaints referred to in the book, as the MCB is not aware of the full facts.
Baroness Ashton (pictured), Britain's former foreign policy chief in the EU, was spied on by the German security services, it emerged last night

The German secret service spied on Britain's foreign policy chief in the EU, it emerged last night.

Baroness Ashton, the former high representative on foreign affairs and security policy, had her phone tapped by the Bundesnachrichten- dienst  the German equivalent of MI6.

The German spying agency also tried to tap John Kerry, the US Secretary of State.

The revelation is embarrassing for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who reacted angrily when it emerged that the US spying agency National Security Agency (NSA) had been monitoring her phone calls as part of a mass surveillance programme.

She said at the time that 'spying on friends is not acceptable'.

The attempt to listen in to Mr Kerry's mobile conversations failed, however, after the spy made a mistake, but his other phones  including an office inside the US state department, were successfully hacked, according to German newspaper Der Speigel.

Baroness Ashton, 59, who was handed a peerage by Tony Blair, was targeted by the German spying agency when she became the EU's de-facto foreign secretary in 2009.

Baroness Ashton was not available for comment as she was out of the country.

A BND spokesman refused to comment on the reports, saying: 'We can only reveal information on such matters to the relevant select committee in parliament or to the federal government.'

There was a public outcry after the revelations that the NSA had put Ms Merkel under surveillance in 2013.

Baroness Ashton was appointed by Mr Blair to Jose Manuel Barroso's European Commission, serving as the EU's de-facto foreign secretary from 2009 to 2014.

But she was a controversial figure in British politics after it emerged she was paid a salary of more than 250,000 as well as lavish expenses.

Angela Merkel, pictured right with David Cameron during the EU summit earlier this month, said in 2013 that 'spying on friends is unacceptable' after it was revealed that the US spying agency had tapped her phone

Baroness Ashton, pictured left, was the first senior foreign official to visit Ukraine's capital Kiev after President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in February 2014. Above she is pictured greeting former president Yulia Tymoshenko after she pledged to support Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression

It made her the highest paid female politician in the world and her income was similar to that of US President Barack Obama.

She also enjoyed the use of a bulletproof car with two chauffeurs, and a lavish grace-and-favour home in Brussels.

As head of the European External Action Service (EEAS) she oversaw a budget of 442million.

She played an influential role in the events that led to the Ukrainian crisis with Russia in 2014, becoming the first senior foreign official to visit Ukraine's capital Kiev after President Viktor Yanukovych was overthrown in February 2014.

She urged Russia to allow its neighbour to move forward 'in the way it chooses' but months later Vladimir Putin had sanctioned the annexation of Crimea, causing months of tension between the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian insurgents.
Looking down at your phone while driving is not proof you are texting, a court has ruled.

A U.S. appeals judge said an Indiana state law that allows motorists to use their cell phone behind the wheel as long as they don't send messages is virtually unenforceable.

Richard Posner said if someone peers at their phone behind the wheel, they could be doing one of hundreds of things the devices can do - such as reading the news or surfing the internet.

He set the precedent by dismissing charges against Gregorio Paniagua-Garcia.

The construction worker was pulled over on September 27, 2014, after a police officer suspected him of texting at the wheel.

U.S. appeals judge Richard Posner (left) said an Indiana law allowing motorists to use their cell phone behind the wheel as long as they don't text is virtually unenforceable. He set the precedent by dismissing charges against Gregorio Paniagua-Garcia (right), who shouldn't have been pulled over as he was 'searching for music'

When the cop looked in the trunk, he found 5lbs of heroin. He pleaded guilty to drug possession and was sentenced to three years in prison.

But the defendant claimed on appeal that the heroin should have been suppressed as he was searching for music on his phone at the time, and the appeals court agreed with him.

Investigators also found there was no evidence he had been texting when he was stopped.

Posner suppressed evidence of heroin found in the car 'because of the 'largely efficacious law' in the state which allows motorists to use their cellphones as long as they don't send messages.

The judge said no officer can tell by peering into a moving vehicle that a driver using a cellphone is texting, rather than doing something that may be legal.

The judge also said Indiana might be better off adopting a version of neighboring Illinois' law barring drivers from using cellphones with their hands.

He said Illinois issued more than 6,700 citations in 2013 for violating its 'hands-free' law, while Indiana issued just 186 under its own 'largely inefficacious' statute.

'Indiana is right to be worried about the dangers created by persons who fiddle with their cellphones while driving, but probably wrong to outlaw such fiddling only with respect to texting,' Posner wrote.

The decision could prompt prosecutors to drop the case.

Sam Ansell, a lawyer for Paniagua-Garcia, said his client plans to withdraw his guilty plea.

'It says a lot about the difficulty in enforcing Indiana's anti-texting law,' he said. 'It's impossible to know, by watching a driver operating a cellphone, which of the hundreds of things you can do with a cellphone he's doing.'

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler in Indianapolis declined to comment.

Posner said if someone peers at their phone behind the wheel, they could be doing of hundreds of things the devices can do nowadays - such as reading the news or surfing the internet

The judgement in part reads: 'All other uses of cellphones by drivers are allowed, making and receiving phone calls, inputting addresses, reading driving directions and maps with GPS applications, reading news and weather programs, retrieving and playing music or audio books, surfing the Internet, playing video gameseven watching movies or television.

'Most of these activities seem dangerousthough no more so, and maybe less so, than textingand because a driver is more likely to engage in one or more of them than in texting, the most plausible inference from seeing a driver fiddling with his cellphone is that he is not texting.

'An Indiana police officer, in the course of passing a car driven by Gregorio Paniagua-Garcia (whom for the sake of brevity we'll call just Paniagua) on an interstate highway, saw that the driver was holding a cellphone in his right hand, that his head was bent toward the phone, and that he 'appeared to be texting.'

'Paniagua denies that he was texting, the officer has never explained what created the appearance of texting as distinct from any one of the multiple otherlawfuluses of a cellphone by a driver, and the government now concedes that Paniagua was not textingthat as he told the officer he was just searching for music.

'An examination of his cellphone revealed that it hadn't been used to send a text message at the time the officer saw him fussing with the cellphone.

'Almost all the lawful uses we've listed would create the same appearancecellphone held in hand, head of driver bending toward it because the text on a cellphone's screen is very small and therefore difficult to read from a distance, a finger or fingers touching an app on the cellphone's screen.

'No fact perceptible to a police officer glancing into a moving car and observing the driver using a cellphone would enable the officer to determine whether it was a permitted or a forbidden use.

'The government failed to establish that the officer had probable cause or a reasonable suspicion that Paniagua was violating the no-texting law.

'The officer hadnt seen any texting; what he had seen was consistent with any one of a number of lawful uses of cellphones. The government presented no evidence of what percentage of drivers text, and is thus reduced to arguing that a mere possibility of unlawful use is enough to create a reasonable suspicion of a criminal act.
Two sisters who died while climbing waterfalls in Vietnam were taking part in a licensed guided tour, the foreign office has confirmed.

The bodies of Beth Anderson, 24, and her half sister Izzy Squire, 19, were found at the Datanla Waterfalls near Da Lat on Friday.

The pair died alongside former Royal Navy sailor Christian Sloan, 24, and last night it was claimed the three British backpackers ignored a tour guide's safety warnings.

Beth Anderson, 24, (left) and Izzy Squire, 19, (right) died while climbing the Datanla waterfalls in Vietnam

Half-sisters Beth Anderson, 24, and Izzy Squire (left), 19, died at the Datanla waterfalls near Da Lat in Vietnam with former Royal Navy sailor Christian Sloan, 24

South Yorkshire Police is working with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and Vietnamese authorities to understand more about the sister's deaths - but has said their tour was a legitimate one.

A spokesman for the force said: 'We have been informed by the FCO that initial enquiries have confirmed that the sisters were taking part in a legitimate walking tour and that company has an international licence, registered to operate in Vietnam.

'The tour guide was legally employed by the company and had issued the group with life vests and helmets.'

She added: 'Specially trained officers are supporting Beth and Isobel's family during this extremely difficult time.'

The spokesman did not comment on the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Sloan.

The three Britons were on an adventure tour led by guide Dang Van Sy, 26, who has since been questioned by police.

He claimed yesterday that the trio ignored his pleas to stay away from a dangerous whirlpool.

Beth Anderson and her half sister Izzy Squire died alongside former Royal Navy sailor Christian Sloan, 24, (pictured left and right)

Rescuers pictured at the scene following the incident which claimed the lives of the three young Britons

The guides account is at odds with reports that claimed the tragedy happened after a harness failed.

Mr Sloan was travelling with friend James McGlashan, 24, who missed the waterfall trip due to illness. But during a telephone call to his father back in Britain, Mr McGlashan claimed that there had been a problem with his friends safety equipment.

Mr Dang said the group had climbed streams above the 70ft waterfall and slid down flows wearing lifejackets and helmets.

But he claimed Mr Sloan, from Deal, Kent, closely followed by the half-sisters from Sheffield, then headed towards a whirlpool.

He said: I shouted to ask them to stay away... but they ignored me.

Mr Dang said Mr Sloan got into difficulties and tried in vain to wade back but slipped and was immediately swept away, followed by the two women.

I did not dare jump to save them as I would also be killed, he added.

Ms Squire had posted pictures from her travels through South East Asia, including a visit to see elephants

Miss Squire, 19, attended Silverdale Sixth Form in Sheffield and enjoyed horse-riding and was an amateur event rider

Today, Mr McGlashan's father, Alan, 55, from Deal, Kent, flew out to Vietnam for an emotional reunion with his son and to bring home their friend's body.

He paid a moving tribute to his son's best friend on Facebook, saying it was hard to take in what had happened and that he kept hoping he would 'wake up and find it is some horrible sick dream'.

Letting Agent Alan said Mr Sloan's parents Eugene, 65, and Lesley, 62, would wait in the UK to meet them at the airport on their return home.

The bodies of the Britons were taken yesterday to Ho Chi Minh City for post-mortems.

Miss Anderson was a contemporary artist who had studied fashion at Middlesex university and had been travelling through South-East Asia since January.

She lived in Sheffield with her mother Tracy Dodd, 53, and stepfather David Squire, 49. The couple run a digital training company.

A group of local rescuers pictured removing the bodies of the three British tourists who died while climbing the Datanla waterfalls in Lam Dong province

An army soldier helps assist a group of local rescuers in the water at the Datala waterfalls in Lam Dong

The waterfalls are outside Dalat, a mountainous city that draws tourists with its crystal lakes and steep waterfalls

Her half-sister Miss Squire attended Silverdale Sixth Form in Sheffield and enjoyed horse-riding and was an amateur event rider.

In a statement released via South Yorkshire Police, their family said: 'Two bright lights have gone out.

'They shone brightly for 24 and 19 years for everyone who loved and adored them and everyone who came into contact with them.

'Sisters, Beth and Izzy were living a life of adventure and did so, right to the end.'

Mr Sloan's family and friends yesterday said they were devastated he had died 'whilst living his dreams'.
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Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey has been discharged from hospital after being treated for the third time for a complication linked to the disease.

The Royal Free Hospital said the Scottish medic was released today and is 'not infectious'.

The 40-year-old was originally infected with the killer disease while working in Sierra Leone in December 2014, and she was flown from Glasgow to the London hospital on February 23 for her latest treatment.

In a statement, the Royal Free said: 'Pauline Cafferkey has today been discharged from the care of the Royal Free Hospital following her admission due to a complication related to her previous infection by the Ebola virus.

'We can confirm that Pauline is not infectious. The Ebola virus can only be transmitted by direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person while they are symptomatic.'

Pauline Cafferkey, (pictured at Glasgow airport) who voluntarily went to Sierra Leone to treat Ebola patients, was initially admitted to a hospital in Glasgow and later transferred to the Royal Free Hospital

She was flown from Glasgow to the Royal Free Hospital in London in an isolation bed on an RAF Hercules military plane

The 39-year-old Scottish health worker (pictured being loaded at Glasgow airport) was transported to the Royal Free Hospital in London for the third time since contracting Ebola

Bodily tissues can harbour the Ebola infection months after the person appears to have fully recovered - Dr Derek Gardner, a lecturer in Biomedical and Life Sciences, said it was 'becoming clear that Ebola is a far more complex disease than we previously imagined'

The health worker was put in an isolation unit where she was flown to London after being admitted to hospital in Glasgow on Tuesday

An ambulance and police convoy transport Ebola nurse Pauline Cafferkey, 39, to The Royal Free Hospital, north west London on Tuesday

The health worker was transported by an RAF Hercules to London to be admitted to the hospital.

Ms Cafferkey, 39, was initially taken to Glasgow's Queen Elizabeth University Hospital due to a late complication from her previous infection.

The health worker landed at RAF Northolt, in west London, just before 5pm, on Tuesday and was taken to the Royal Free. The hospital has the UK's only high-level isolation unit used for treating infectious diseases.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt tweeted: 'It's fantastic news that Pauline Cafferkey has been discharged from hospital. Outstanding care again from @RoyalFreeNHS #NHSheroes.'

A police convoy follows the ambulance transporting Ms Cafferkey to The Royal Free, which has the UK's only high-level isolation unit





The Scottish nurse first contracted Ebola after working for Save the Children in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone, in December last year

Ms Cafferkey was transported by RAF Hercules (pictured) from Glasgow to the Royal Free Hospital in London, where she received specialist treatment - it was the third time she was treated there

The Scottish nurse was originally infected while working in Save the Children's treatment facility in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone in December 2014.

She was discharged in January 2015 after making a recovery at the Royal Free but fell ill again in October last year and was treated at the same hospital for meningitis caused by Ebola.

Forty people were offered vaccinations after she was found to have fallen ill again with her family claiming doctors 'missed a big opportunity' to spot it.

After being re-admitted to the Royal Free she was treated with the experimental drug GS5734.

At one point the Scottish nurse was described as 'critically ill' and doctors found the virus was persisting in tissues in her brain.

But she was released in November and transferred to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, in Glasgow, to continue her recovery and later returned home.

The 39-year-old Scottish nurse was taken from hospital in Glasgow to the airport where she was flown to London earlier this week

Ms Cafferkey was taken by RAF Hercules (pictured) at Glasgow Airport to London for treatment at the Royal Free Hospital, in London

Ms Cafferkey was taken to the Royal Free Hospital, which has the UK's only high-level isolation unit used for treating infectious diseases

Medics take their protection suits off after transferring the health worker onto the aircraft at Glasgow airport on Tuesday

Medical staff kitted out in protective clothing remove their suits having transported Ms Cafferkey onto the plane at Glasgow airport bound for London

Medics clean themselves off having put Ms Cafferkey on the flight for London where she will receive specialist treatment

RAF Hercules carrying Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey touches down at Northolt, in west London, after departing from Glasgow

The 39-year-old Scottish nurse was taken from the isolation bed out of the plane and into a waiting ambulance at RAF Northolt

The nurse will be taken from RAF Northolt, in west London, to Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, north London

The Ebola nurse, who first contracted the virus in December 2014, was taken from the plane into the Royal Air Force ambulance

Ms Cafferkey, from South Lanarkshire, contracted Ebola in Kerry Town, in Sierra Leone while working for Save the Children

Scottish nurse Pauline Cafferkey was admitted to hospital for the third time since contracting Ebola

Ms Cafferkey is said to have been inspired to join the NHS after watching the Ethiopian famine on television in the 1980s.

So when an appeal was made for NHS staff to help tackle the Ebola outbreak in west Africa, the nurse of 16 years felt compelled to volunteer.

After returning home for a break at the end of December 2014, she complained about her temperature and said she felt unwell.

Days later, she was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in London where she spent almost a month in an isolation unit and was described at one point as being 'critical'.

She was discharged in late January.

A report from Save the Children charity in February said she was probably infected as a result of using a visor to protect her face rather than goggles.

It said she was unable to use the standard protective goggles because she could not get them to fit properly.

Speaking before her second relapse, she said Ebola was still affecting her health, adding: 'Hopefully this is it - that's the end of it.'

Around the same time, Ms Cafferkey won an award at the the Pride of Britain Awards in central London on September 28.

The award was introduced by Prime Minister David Cameron and presented to her by comedian Lenny Henry.

She met the Prime Minister's wife Samantha Cameron the following day at Downing Street, along with other winners.

Following her third admission to hospital, Nicola Sturgeon tweeted: 'Sending very best wishes to Pauline Cafferkey.'

Almost two years on from the first confirmed case recorded in March 2014, more than 11,000 people have been reported as having died from the disease in six countries; Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, the US and Mali.

The total number of reported cases is almost 29,000.
Trump was also duped into tweeting a quote from Italian dictator Benito

Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from the Ku Klux Klan after former Grand Wizard David Duke endorsed him.

The billionaire told CNN's Jake Tapper he didn't know anything about the white supremacists and insisted he wasn't aware Duke was backing him.

However Marco Rubio has accused him of refusing to disavow the ex-Klansman's endorsement and claims The Donald knows 'exactly who Duke is' and is 'unelectable' because of his failure to disown links to him.

He said: 'Just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke, OK?'

'I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists,' he went on.

'So I don't know. I don't know - did he endorse me, or what's going on? Because I know nothing about David Duke; I know nothing about white supremacists.'

Donald Trump (left) has tried to distance himself from the Ku Klux Klan after former Grand Wizard David Duke (right) endorsed him.The billionaire told CNN's Jake Tapper he didn't know anything about the white supremacists and insisted he wasn't aware Duke was backing him

David Duke previously said voters casting their ballot against Trump would commit 'treason' to their heritage.

'Will you unequivocally condemn David Duke and say you don't want his vote or that of other white supremacists in this election? Tapper asked Trump.

'You're asking me a question that I'm supposed to be talking about people I know nothing about,' Trump said.

Tapper pressed him, adding: 'Even if you don't know about their endorsement, would you say you don't want their support?'

'I have to look at the group. I don't know what group you're talking about,' Trump continued.

'You wouldn't want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. I have to look. If you would send me a list of the groups I would do research on them and certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong.

'But you may have groups in there that are totally fine and it would be really unfair, so give me a list of the groups and I'll let you know.'

Marco Rubio, pictured at a rally in Purcelville, Virginia, on Sunday, said during a campaign even that Trump's reluctance to disavow ex-KKK leader David Duke made him 'unelectable'

Rubio, pictured at a rally in Richmond, Virginia, said Trump 'refused' to condemn Duke and called Duke 'a well-known supremacist racist'

Trump hit back at Rubio during a Fox News Sunday interview (pictured) and said the Florida senator was a 'lightweight' and that he called him 'little Marco'

When Tapper said he was talking specifically about the Ku Klux Klan, Trump replied: 'I don't know David Duke. I don't believe I've ever met him - I'm pretty sure I didn't meet him and I just don't know anything about him.'

Trump was following up comments he made at press conference on Friday when a reporter asked him about Duke.

'David Duke endorsed me? OK, all right. I disavow, OK?' he said.

Duke said during his radio show that he's not formally endorsing Trump, but he gave him the equivalent of an endorsement when he said he was 'supportive of his candidacy' and told his listeners to vote for the billionaire.

'Voting for these people, voting against Donald Trump at this point, is really treason to your heritage,' the white nationalist said, according to BuzzFeed.

Marco Rubio called Trump out for his links to Duke - claiming The Donald knows 'exactly who Duke is' and is 'unelectable' because of his failure to disown links to him.

'We cannot be a party that nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan,' Rubio said during a campaign event in northern Virginia according to Fox News.

'Not only is that wrong, it makes him unelectable.'

Rubio said Trump 'refused' to disavow Duke and called Duke 'a well-known white supremacist racist'.

Rubio, pictured signing a book for a supporter while campaigning at a rally at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia, said: 'We cannot be a party that nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan'

Ted Cruz, pictured holding a supporter's grandson in Collinsville, Oklahoma, also attacked Trump on Sunday, claiming the billionaire didn't want to release his tax returns because he had ties to the mafia

Cruz, pictured at a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, also told Fox News Sunday that Trump was incapable of defeating Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and that the only campaign that had beaten Trump was his

TED CRUZ SAYS DONALD TRUMP HAS TIES TO THE MAFIA 'There have been multiple media reports about Donald's business dealings with the mob,' Cruz told Meet The Press host Chuck Todd on Sunday. 'Maybe his taxes show those business dealings are a lot more extensive then has been reported.' Todd called Cruz's claim 'openly speculative' and asked him to back it up with facts. The Texas senator was unfazed, pointing to news reports that linked Trump to the mob, including the use of the company S&A Construction, which was owned by jailed mobster 'Fat Tony' Salerno. 'ABC, CNN, multiple news reports have reported about his dealings with, for example, S&A construction, which was owned by "Fat Tony" Salerno, who is a mobster who is in jail.' 'It is owned by two of the major New York crime families. And that has been reported in multiple media outlets.' The media accounts, including one from CNN, suggest that Trump 'took the relationship [with the mob] several steps further than he had to,' said one source. CNN also noted that Trump Plaza condos in Manhattan were primarily constructed using concrete, an industry that is controlled by the mafia, instead of steal. S&A was controlled by Salerno and Paul Castellano, the head of New York's Genovese family, according to cited federal court records. ABC reported in December that Trump claimed in a legal deposition he did not know real estate developer Felix Sater, who has documented mafia connections, according to the New York Post. This was despite the fact that Trump had tapped Sater for a business development role that came with the title of senior advisor to Donald Trump, according to the Associated Press. Sater received Trump Organization business cards and was given an office within the Trump Organization's headquarters, on the same floor as Trump's own. Trump referred questions about Sater to his staff and said he was 'not familiar with him'. Advertisement

Ted Cruz also took hits at Trump on Sunday, telling Fox News Trump was incapable of defeating Hillary Clinton.

'The only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump is mine,' Cruz told Fox News. 'The only way to beat Donald Trump is to stand behind our campaign on Super Tuesday.'

Cruz also said during an appearance on Meet The Press that Trump didn't want to release his tax returns because he has ties to the mafia.

Trump hit back at Rubio in a Fox News Sunday interview, saying he was a 'lightweight' and that he called him 'little Marco'.

When Trump boasted this week he'll 'have many endorsements soon,' it's unlikely he was referring Duke, a one-term, ex-state representative from Louisiana and former KKK leader.

Duke is a felon and once ran for president himself as a Democrat, in 1988. That same year he switched his party affiliation to Republican and went on to win a Louisiana House seat in a special election.

He ran for president again in 1992 as a Republican but gained almost no traction in the primaries.

From 1974-1980 he was a part of the KKK. Duke says he left because he couldn't persuade members not to do 'stupid or violent things. Instead, he formed his own pride organization - the National Association for the Advancement of White People.

In an exclusive interview with Fusion's Jorge Ramos, former Mexican President Vicente Fox said he's troubled by the show of support the Republican presidential frontrunner received at the Nevada caucus.

Rubbing elbows with Duke and his supporters can be costly. Republican Congressman Steve Scalise - the third highest-ranking GOP member of the House- was urged to resign in 2014 after his 2002 attendance at an Duke group meeting was unearthed.

Trump was duped into retweeting a quote from Italian dictator Benito Mussolini

He apologized and kept his House seat, but the kerfuffle is evidence of the toxicity that even a thin relationship with Duke can bring.

Duke tethered himself to Trump and said on his show, the David Duke Radio Program, 'I'm not saying I endorse everything about Trump. In fact, I haven't formally endorsed him.

'But I do support his candidacy, and I support voting for him as a strategic action. I hope he does everything we hope he will do.'

Trump's bid to avoid links to the Klan came as two Mexican presidents compared him to Hitler.

President Felipe Calderon told reporters at an event in Mexico City on Saturday Trump's political rhetoric is 'racist,' and evocative of Adolf Hitler, former Mexican

'This logic of praising the white supremacy is not just anti-immigration,' Calderon said. 'He is acting and speaking out against immigrants that have a different skin color than he does, it is frankly racist and [he is] exploiting feelings like Hitler did in his time,' Calderon said.

Trump has accused Mexico of sending rapists and drug runners across the U.S. border and has said he will make Mexicans pay for a wall on the border.

Felipe Calderon was president of Mexico from 2006-12.

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox, Calderon's predecessor, also compared Trump to Hitler in an interview with Anderson Cooper on CNN.

'He reminds me of Hitler,' Fox told Cooper on Friday.
Thousands of people gathered today at the shipyard in Poland to show their support for Lech Walesa, the former democracy leader, recently accused of collaborating with the secret police.

Supporters of the ex-president rallied in Gdansk shipyard, the cradle of Poland's 1980s Solidarity movement, carrying placards and chanting their support for Walesa.

Files recently surfaced suggesting Walesa collaborated with the hated secret service from 1970-76 for money, before he founded the Solidarity movement in 1980 that eventually helped topple communism. Walesa says the papers are forged.

Hundreds of Polish supporters of Lech Walesa gathered in the shipyard to show their support for the ex-President

Protesters at the 'Solidarity' square in Gdansk hold a large Polish flag and placard in support for Walesa

Wife of former president Lech Walesa, Danuta Walesa, waves to several thousand of his followers during a rally in Gdansk, Poland

'We achieved freedom and Lech Walesa was our leader. Nothing will change that,' Henryka Krzywonos, another key player in the strikes and protests of 1980 that led to the birth of Solidarity, told the crowd.

Walesa, who still lives in Gdansk, sent his wife, Danuta, who told those gathered that he never did anything to hurt anybody and never took money.

Walesa's supporters are furious at the current conservative leadership in Poland, whom they accuse of trying to tarnish the legacy of Poland's democracy icon.

The rally Sunday came a day after a larger pro-Walesa protest in Warsaw.

A follower of former president Lech Walesa holds a poster of him during a rally in Gdansk, Poland

Several thousand supporters have gathered in front of the Gdansk shipyard, the cradle of Poland's 1980s Solidarity movement to back Lech Walesa

Danuta Walesa wipes her eye as she addresses several thousand of his followers during the rally

Followers of former president Lech Walesa showed their support by carrying placards

The organizers denounced what they called a 'falsification of history,' arguing that even if Walesa signed documents agreeing to collaborate in the 1970s

The organizers denounced what they called a 'falsification of history,' arguing that even if Walesa signed documents agreeing to collaborate in the 1970s that does not detract from the historic role he played in bringing down communism peacefully.

'We came here to tell Walesa that we thank him for a free Poland and for a bloodless transformation,' said Radomir Szumelda, a local activist.

'Thank you for no Soviet army in Poland ... no files or political order can kill this symbol.'

Many of those present had harsh words for the ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a long-time foe of Walesa. Walesa's wife denounced the 'small man who stands behind this government.'

Government leaders say Poland's historical truth must be clarified.

Many of those present had harsh words for the ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a long-time foe of Walesa. Walesa's wife denounced the 'small man who stands behind this government'

Plenty of supporters held up black and white pictures of the renowned former democracy leader

Walesa, who still lives in Gdansk, sent his wife, Danuta, who told those gathered that he never did anything to hurt anybody and never took money
National Hockey League player Dan Girardi was left looking like a one-eyed pirate after a wayward puck got stuck behind his visor mid-match.

The incident happened while his New York Rangers team were trying to secure a win over the Dallas Stars in an already tense match.

The puck got stuck after Stars' Jamie Oleksiak tried to send a pass to a teammate but somehow how bounced off the floor and got stuck in the defenseman's face, according to the Bleacher Report.

Eye on the puck https://t.co/s0MWZLOIu4  New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 28, 2016

But Girardi clearly saw the funny side.

A video taken on the stands and shows Girardi laughing as he attempts to remove the wedged puck.

Post match, Girardi only had this to say to New York Daily News: 'Thats the pirate puck'.

His team-mate Dominic Moore simply said: 'Arrrrghh', in a post on Twitter.

Get the pirate look! Dan Girardi (pictured) got wayward puck got stuck behind his visor mid-match with Dallas Stars Saturday

The game was paused while the defenseman tried to pull the wedged puck from behind his visor

Play was stopped momentarily while the player attended to his unusual ailment.

But the Rangers still managed to go on to secure a 3-2 win on Saturday's game at the American Airline Center in Dallas, thanks to a late goal by defenseman Kevin Klein.

The hilarious incident is not the uncommon: The same thing happened to Dallas Stars defenseman Patrik Nemeth last season.

Girardi has been playing for ten years and has had two goals and 14 assists in 56 games this season, according to NHL.

His team mate Dominic Moore clearly saw the funny side and sent this tweet simply saying: 'Arrrrrrggh...'
The Anthem of the Seas cruise ship was forced to turn around again after suffering a nororvirus outbreak just weeks after being battered by 30-foot waves during a hurricane-like storm.

Royal Caribbean announced on Twitter on Saturday that the ship would return to its home port in Bayonne, New Jersey, to 'provide guests with a comfortable journey back home'.

The ship's captain and its cruise director have made announcements about the norovirus issues, but it's not clear how many people have been affected by the illness.

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Royal Caribbean announced on Twitter on Saturday that the ship would return to its home port in Bayonne, New Jersey, to 'provide guests with a comfortable journey back home'

Royal Caribbean tweeted and posted to their Facebook page that the Anthem of the Seas cruise ship would be turning around due to a severe storm

Royal Caribbean also said on Twitter that the ship was turning around to 'avoid a severe storm'.

The company posted to their Facebook page that they've been 'closely watching a large storm off the coast of Cape Hatteras', which is the same area the ship got caught in a storm earlier this month.

The ship is believed to be returning from a 12-night southern Caribbean cruise.

Passengers who are onboard the ship posted to Royal Caribbean's Facebook page when the company announced the ship was returning to Cape Liberty in New Jersey.

A five-day weather forecast shows that Cape Hatteras may see rain with a mix of snow along with 30mph or greater wind on Wednesday, March 2, around the time the ship will be returning

Wednesday's forecast shows winds could reach 30mph or more along the Cape Hatteras area. The ship is expected to return to New Jersey by mid-week

One Facebook user said: 'I'm on board the anthem right now. When is the storm supposed to happen? Very sad to miss Barbados and St. Kitts (this is the second time missing this port on a cruise) but I am glad they are playing it safe. Hopefully we are back in NJ before the storm hits!'

The ship apparently had two more stops to St Kitts and Barbados before the trip was finished.

Another passenger said: 'We are onboard and the weather has been great since we left NJ! This is a 12-night cruise so we were down around Florida very quickly and then to the Caribbean!

'Hot down here! Calm sailing! Just not taking any chances! Heading back early still gives us 3 days at sea which is the best/most fun part of cruising!!'

The ship was supposed to return to New Jersey by the end of the week, but since it turned around it should be back at the port by mid-week.

A five-day weather forecast on Weather.com shows that Cape Hatteras may see rain with a mix of snow along with 30mph or greater wind on March 2, around the time the ship will be returning.

Representatives for the Miami-based cruise line have not responded to repeated requests for comment.

Hurricane-force winds reaching 150mph caused huge swells, which sent the ship teetering through the night at angles of 45 degrees

Passengers will receive a full refund, as well as 50 per cent off their next cruise

Earlier this month the ship suffered damage from a severe storm a day after it set sail.

On February 6 it encountered 30-foot waves and hurricane force winds as its 4,500 passengers remained hunkered down for hours.

Passengers were clinging to their beds, fearing they would never see their loved ones again as 150mph winds rocked the boat for hours.

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

Earlier this month, U.S. officials launched an investigation against Royal Caribbean 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.

'The thing about this storm was that it was forecast for days,' Nelson said.

'So why in the world would a cruise ship with thousands of passengers go sailing right into it?'

In the ship's kitchen, cutlery, coffee urns, sugar packets and more was sent sprawling across the floor as waves slammed into the ship

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

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 planned to strengthen the cruise line's storm avoidance policy and that additional resources have been added to help provide captains with more guidance.

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 earlier this month
Four young Roma women were arrested in Paris today after simulating a terrorist attack to try and rob tourists on the Metro.

Bangers were let off in the Tuileries underground station close to the Louvre Museum, to give the impression of gunfire.

It follows last year's terrorist attacks in Paris, when Islamic State attackers used the Metro during a murderous onslaught which saw 130 killed in total.

Bangers were let off in the Tuileries underground station close to the Louvre Museum, to give the impression of gunfire

As services ground to a halt today, and people started to run away in panic, the woman  all gypsies from Romania  began stealing.

'There was absolute chaos,' said a witness, who said he heard the first banger at around 11.30am on Sunday. 'It sounded like a major incident was underway  everybody was terrified.

'We'd seen the Roma pickpocket gangs hanging around the Louvre, and it was clear they were behind this as well.

'People just wanted to get away, and the women were taking advantage of the confusion to try and get money and personal property off people.'

Two men believed to be the gang's 'minders' were seen running away from the scene, and are still at large. They are thought to have been behind a similar incident on Saturday.

A Paris police spokesman said that the four women, who have not been identified, were tonight in custody.

The shocking hoax follows last year's terrorist attacks in Paris, when Islamic State attackers used the Metro during a murderous onslaught which saw 130 killed in total

They face charges of endangering the lives of others, deliberate violence in a group in a public transport hub, and attempts at causing criminal damage.

Earlier this month, police broke up a vast network that saw Roma criminals wearing Mickey Mouse ears outside Disneyland Paris as they earned more than 6000 pounds a day stealing from tourists.

Gangs of teenage pickpockets and aggressive beggars supported by adult 'minders' targeted the vast theme park, which is hugely popular with British tourists.

The ringleaders now face up to 30 years in prison for 'theft in organised gangs, aggravated money laundering, human trafficking, direct incitement of minors to commit crimes, and neglect of minors under 15.'

Large Roma communities live in shanty towns on the edge of Paris, and many are involved in a range of crimes, from aggressive begging to burglary.

Gangs of mainly women operate openly around the Gare du Nord Eurostar hub, and major tourist sights, including the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral.
He was up for parole last week but the board denied his release and ordered him to complete a six month life skills program

He has attempted escape 13 times, making it out of the jail on seven occasions, only to later be recaptured

DeFriest, believed to be an autistic savant, can memorize a prison key simply by seeing it on a guard's belt before reproducing an exact copy

DeFriest, then aged 19, was initially sentenced to four years behind bars but has been in jail for 36 years thanks to multiple escape attempts

A 'Prison Houdini' who made 13 escape attempts during his 36 years behind bars has been denied parole.

Mark DeFriest is every prison guard's worst nightmare - an autistic savant able to memorize the design of a key hanging on an officer's belt just by looking at it before producing an exact replica in his cell.

Jailed in 1979 for stealing his father's tools, his multiple prison break-outs has seen his original four year sentence turn into decades behind bars - with 27 years in solitary confinement.

A ground breaking documentary about his life saw a record 70 years knocked off his sentence last year and with it, his first chance at legitimate freedom in 36 years.

But that chance was snatched away on Wednesday when a Florida parole board voted not to release the 55-year-old for another six months.

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Mark DeFriest (right, in jail) who was just 19 (left, on arrest in 1979) when he was jailed in 1979 for 'stealing' mechanic tools left to him in his father's will, may finally escape jail legally after 36 years

DeFriest's effective release date will now be August so that he can complete a transitional program that teaches life skills, his lawyer John Middleton said.

The date cannot come soon enough for the inmate who was frustrated with the news.

'August? Huh. You've got to be ...,' he said during a call with Gabriel London, the filmmaker who made the documentary which helped change public opinion about case.

His lawyer, however, was more hopeful.

'It went well enough today that I would consider it a victory,' said Middleton, who has represented DeFriest for decades.

He added that DeFriest still may not be released in August as he has remaining time to serve for infractions committed while imprisoned in California and Alabama. Only if those penalties are lifted will he be paroled in six months.

DeFriest, who suffers from undiagnosed mental issues, was just 19 when he was jailed for 'stealing' mechanic tools left to him in his father's will - before probate was granted.

While he would have been allowed out aged 23, DeFriest's poor behavior and multiple escapes saw years added to his sentence that would have made him well over 100 on release.

Notorious for his escapes, the inmate was able to memorize at a glance, a key dangling from a guard's belt, and replicate its intricate pattern to make his own out of almost anything (pictured are his hand crafted keys)

DeFriest has attempted escape 13 times, making it out of jail on seven of those occasions, only to later be recaptured.

During one incident he drugged prison guards with LSD to distract them while he made his escape. In another, he hot wired a car and broke into a friend's home.

However, filmmaker London's part-animated 2014 documentaryThe Life and Mind of Mark DeFriest has started to change opinions around his case.

The film focuses on claims that DeFriest is a high functioning autistic which contributed to his inability to follow prison rules.

Even DeFriest's original arrest could be traced back to his mental health issues, London argues.

His family was living in Gadsden County in 1979 when his father, who served in the OSS in the Second World War, died, the Charlotte County Florida Weekly reported.

His father, who believed the Communists were coming to America, had trained his son in survival, avoidance tactics, guns and mechanics.

After he passed away, DeFriest - whose autism meant he struggled to understand the complexities of inheritance law and probate - went to collect the tools his father had bequeathed him, only to have his stepmother call the police.

When officers arrived, the teenager panicked and ran. When the cops finally caught up with him they discovered he had a gun on him - that had never been taken out during the incident.

DeFriest's four year sentence spiraled into almost decades behind bars - 27 of those in solitary confinement - after the genius escape artist's multiple break outs (pictured with a black eye while in prison)

DeFriest was originally jailed for stealing mechanic tools left to him in his father's will - before probate was granted (pictured as a child with his father)

Four out of five psychiatrists testified that he was mentally ill and should not be sent to jail. The fifth has since recounted his statement.

Despite the testimonies, he was jailed for four years - a sentence that would turn into a life term.

'We're punishing him for being mentally ill. That's what's happening here,' DeFriest's attorney John Middleton told the Miami Herald in 2014.

'Mark is not a violent person, has never hurt anybody. He's been his own worst enemy in jail by escaping and committing some crimes,' Middleton told the Commission on Offender Review.

Things snowballed from there and during his first escape he climbed over razor wire and ran.

In all, he had seven successful escapes in 13 attempts. He was also charged with stealing a car at gunpoint and breaking into a friend's home after one escape.

Each offense added more time to his sentence, and behavior problems gave the parole commission no reason to move up his release date. He has nearly 400 disciplinary reports on file, including 65 from 1983 alone.

Middleton said that in one incident, DeFriest duplicated the master key at Florida State Prison, the toughest in the state's system, and let out fellow inmates to roam around.

'He has a meticulous, disciplined, incredibly skilled mechanical mind that can pick up anything,' London said.

Attorney Middleton had been working with DeFriest's wife Bonnie, 85, whom he met through a pen pal scheme and married in jail, for the past 15 years to get the Florida parole board to reconsider the inmate's case

After glancing at keys, London said DeFriest was able to memorize the patterns and fabricate his own.

But he also used his skills to create intricate art out of materials like paper chip bag foil and Popsicle sticks.

After a 1981 escape, Bay County prison authorities placed DeFriest in total darkness with no clothes, no blankets, no toilet paper and no human contact for 11 days. He was often kept in a straight jacket - which he was able to free himself from - and claims he was regularly attacked with pepper spray.

A judge later compared the incarceration to conditions in a North Vietnamese prisoner-of-war camp.

Middleton said DeFriest has been assaulted several times in prisons and at one point spent years without being allowed yard time. That's why he kept trying to escape  not because he wasn't willing to complete his sentence, the lawyer said.

DeFriest claims that in a nightmareish ten-year stint, he went without seeing the sun once.

He was being kept on Florida State Prison's now-infamous X-wing - which was based one floor above the room which housed the electric chair and was home to the jail's most terrifying inmates.

At one point DeFriest even agreed to become a 'prison wife' for one of the wing's most feared inmates to try and survive.

Bonnie has been lining up mechanical work for her husband for when, she hopes, he is finally freed from jail

The rest of the time, he spent in his 7-by 8-foot windowless cell - built specifically for him - without access to the prison yard.

The inmate has been kept in out-of-state prisons for his own protection since 1999 after witnessing guards beat another prisoner to death during his time at Florida State. State prison officials won't disclose where he is.

'We are committed to ensuring the safety of our staff and inmates by providing them appropriate security, supervision and care,' said Department of Corrections spokesman McKinley Lewis. The department declined to say anything else about DeFriest.

Middleton had been working with DeFriest's wife Bonnie, 85, whom he met through a pen pal scheme and married in jail, for the past 15 years to get the Florida parole board to reconsider the inmate's case.

Following the award-nominated documentary, a parole board in Tallahassee agreed to reduce DeFriest's release date from 2085 to March 2015 - cutting a record 70 years from his sentence.

Middleton is confident he will succeed outside of prison.

'Mark is not going to go out there and rob stores,' he said. 'This man is not stupid. He's extremely intelligent, and very talented.'
A four-year-old boy has had his hand trapped inside a vending machine for more than five hours after the 'inquisitive' boy who'd never seen a vending machine reached for biscuits.

Leo, from Arnhem Land, had to be sedated at one point during the Sunday rescue mission after emergency crews attempted to calm him by playing cartoons on their smart phones, ABC reported.

Rescuers were called just after midday to dismantle the vending machine in an apartment block at Lonsdale Street in central Melbourne, eventually freeing his hand from the machine's anti-theft flaps.

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Four-year-old Leo's hand was trapped in the anti-theft flaps of a vending machine for more than five hours in an apartment block at Lonsdale Street in central Melbourne

His father Aaron Shorthouse said Leo had never seen a vending machine because the family is from Arnhem Land in the north-eastern tip of Northern Territory

His father Aaron Shorthouse said Leo had never seen a vending machine where they come from in the north-eastern tip of Northern Territory.

I don't think he's seen a vending machine before, so he saw the Oreos and some biscuits and some other things, he told 7 News Melbourne.

He's fine after five-and-a-half hours. He was a bit inquisitive, he put his hand in the vending machine, but yes he's good now.

I don't think he's seen a vending machine before, so he saw the Oreos and some biscuits and some other things, Mr Shorthouse said

Mr Shorthouse said the firies and police were actually amazing'.

They were incredible.

Sergeant Ali Gurdag said the unusual operation was an exceptional performance.

To see that young, little kid in the discomfort he was in, and observing the fire brigade and how patient they were, it was just an exceptional performance.

Leo was freed about 5.15pm and transferred to the Royal Children's Hospital in a stable condition.

Emergency crews kept the boy calm by playing cartoons on their smartphones, but Leo eventually had to be sedated

Rescuers were called just after midday to dismantle the vending machine in an apartment block in central Melbourne

He's fine after five-and-a-half hours. He was a bit inquisitive, he put his hand in the vending machine, but yes he's good now,' Mr Shorthouse said of Leo
A lawmaker in Idaho has come under fire for suggesting rape does not lead to pregnancy because it is too traumatic.

In a bizarre statement during a debate about abortion on Thursday, Rep Pete Nielsen (R) suggested consent is a biological factor in a woman's ability to conceive.

His words came shortly before Republicans passed a bill to make it compulsory for abortion providers to tell all women where they can get a free ultrasound.

Pro-choice activists argue the rule is a way to emotionally manipulate women into keeping a baby, and opponents of the bill cite rape and incest victims as examples of a right to an abortion.

Rep Nielsen, however, dismissed this argument, saying that victims of rape cannot get pregnant.

Rep Pete Nielsen (pictured) suggested consent is a biological factor in a woman's ability to conceive

'Now, I'm of the understanding that in many cases of rape, it does not involve any pregnancy because of the trauma of the incident,' Nielsen said, adding: 'That may be true with incest a little bit.'

When he was later challenged on the comment and its lack of scientific basis, Rep Nielsen said he stood by it.

'That's information that I've had through the years. Whether it's totally accurate or not, I don't know,' the Spokesman Review reported.

'I read a lot of information. I have read it several times.

'Being a father of five girls, I've explored this a lot.'

His comments contributed to passing the bill to make advertising free ultrasounds compulsory in abortion clinics - which evidence shows vastly affects a woman's decision on whether or not to abort.

Kerry Uhlenkott, legislative coordinator of Right to Life of Idaho, told the debate that '90 per cent of [pregnancy center] clients choose life for their babies after viewing the ultrasound'.

The House State Affair Committee voted 13-4 to pass the bill. There are 13 Republicans and four Democrats on the committee.

His words came shortly before Republicans passed a bill to make it compulsory for abortion providers to tell all women where they can get a free ultrasound. Evidence shows 90 per cent of women choose life once they see their unborn child on an ultrasound

Hannah Brass Greer of Planned Parenthood Votes Northwest and Hawaii slammed the verdict in a statement to Huffington Post.

'The efforts to reduce access to abortion in Idaho and across the country have no basis in actual medicine or science,' Greer said.

'These bills are blatantly obvious attempts by politicians to put every barrier possible between a woman and her constitutional right to safe and legal abortion.
The blows have increased among the Republican presidential candidates as Super Tuesday draws near, with Sen. Ted Cruz now suggesting that Donald Trump may have ties to the mafia.

Cruz was discussing the fact that Trump has yet to release his tax returns during a Sunday appearance on Meet the Press when he speculated that the Donald may be hiding a 'bombshell'.

'There have been multiple media reports about Donald's business dealings with the mob,' Cruz told host Chuck Todd.

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Sen. Ted Cruz was discussing the fact that Trump has yet to release his tax returns during a Sunday appearance on Meet the Press when he speculated that the Donald may have ties to the mafia

Cruz (pictured Sunday) referenced 'multiple media reports' he said detailed Trump's connections to the mob and speculated the Donald's taxes could show they were 'a lot more extensive' then previously reported

'Maybe his taxes show those business dealings are a lot more extensive then has been reported.'

Todd called Cruz's claim 'openly speculative' and asked him to back it up with facts.

The Texas senator was unfazed, pointing to news reports that linked Trump to the mob, including the use of the company S&A Construction, which was owned by jailed mobster 'Fat Tony' Salerno.

'ABC, CNN, multiple news reports have reported about his dealings with, for example, S&A construction, which was owned by "Fat Tony" Salerno, who is a mobster who is in jail.'

'It is owned by two of the major New York crime families. And that has been reported in multiple media outlets.'

The media accounts, including one from CNN, suggest that Trump 'took the relationship [with the mob] several steps further than he had to,' said one source.

CNN also noted that Trump Plaza condos in Manhattan were primarily constructed using concrete, an industry that is controlled by the mafia, instead of steal.

S&A was controlled by Salerno and Paul Castellano, the head of New York's Genovese family, according to cited federal court records.

The Texas senator referenced a CNN article that said Trump used the company S&A Construction, which was owned by jailed mobster 'Fat Tony' Salerno, to construct Trump Plaza condos in Manhattan

Rubio has also hit back at the Donald this weekend, branding him a 'con man' and making fun of his spray tan

The Florida senator, pictured at a rally in Purcelville, Virginia, on Sunday, brought up the Trump University case this weekend. It is currently embroiled in several lawsuits accusing the estate of fraud

Rubio, pictured on Sunday speaking at a campaign rally in Purcelville, Virginia, said this weekend: 'It's clear now that if we're going to save the Republican Party from being taken over by a con artist, we're going to have to start making the case more aggressively'

ABC reported in December that Trump claimed in a legal deposition he did not know real estate developer Felix Sater, who has documented mafia connections, according to the New York Post.

This was despite the fact that Trump had tapped Sater for a business development role that came with the title of senior advisor to Donald Trump, according to the Associated Press.

Sater received Trump Organization business cards and was given an office within the Trump Organization's headquarters, on the same floor as Trump's own.

Trump referred questions about Sater to his staff and said he was 'not familiar with him'.

Cruz also speculated twice during the Meet the Press interview that Trump was hiding donations to Planned Parenthood.

'Maybe it's the case that he has given large sums of money to left-wing groups like Planned Parenthood,' Cruz told Todd. 'Maybe he's been a big financial supporter of that.'

On Saturday both Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio released summary spaces of their most recent tax returns.

Cruz said he would be happy to release 'everything', as he noted he has done in the past for senate campaigns, if Trump does as well.

'I've got nine years of tax returns,' Cruz said. 'Donald Trump hasn't released so much as a paper clip.'

During the Republican debate earlier this week, Trump said he won't release his tax returns until the IRS completes its audit.

Speaking in Georgia Saturday, Rubio showed he still had fighting talk. He told the crowds: 'The Democrats know that if I'm nominated I will win. That's why they attack me most. I will unite this party'

Cruz, pictured at a rally in Georgia Saturday, said a nomination for Trump would mean a victory for Hillary

'You're in the midst of negotiating and talking to the IRS. Your lawyers would never allow you to do that,' Trump said.

Cruz said on Saturday's Face the Nation that the audit is all the more reason Trump should release the returns.

'His excuse that he's being audited - look that makes it even more important for him to release his taxes,'

'You know, Mitt Romney suggested there could be a bombshell there.

'I don't know if there is or not. But Donald is hiding them from the voters, and I think he owes candor to the voters,' Cruz said.

'If there's a problem in his taxes, the voters have a right to know. Because come September, October, the general election, folks in the media are going to make heyday about any problems in his taxes.'

Rubio, Cruz and Trump have been exchanging barbs all weekend as Super Tuesday draws near.

On Saturday Rubio branded Trump a 'con man' and referred to the now-defunct Trump University, which is currently embroiled in several lawsuits accusing the estate of fraud.

'It's clear now that if we're going to save the Republican Party from being taken over by a con artist, we're going to have to start making the case more aggressively.

'And I'm more than happy to do it. The stakes are that high and that important.'

Rubio also dealt some low blows: 'This is a massive fraud that he's perpetuating: the worst spray tan in America.'

Before adding: 'Donald Trump likes to sue people. He should sue whoever did that to his face.'

Trump fired back hours later at a rally in Arkansas calling the first-term U.S. senator from Florida 'a nervous basket case,' 'a choke artist,' 'a frightened little puppy' and joked about the size of his ears.

He said of Rubio: 'This guy has a fresh mouth' and called him a 'light little nothing.'

At a rally outside the Georgia Capitol, Cruz went after Trump's positions on immigration and gun control, criticized his ethics and hammered him for his frequent use of profanity.

'You don't know what he's going to say,' Cruz told reporters. 'To the parents: Would you be proud of your children if they came home and repeated the words of Donald Trump?'
Chelsy Davy is proving something of a gem when it comes to working  and could teach her ex-boyfriend Harry a thing or two.

Having quit her job as a lawyer with top City firm Allen & Overy, she is now dedicating herself to her new ethically sourced jewellery company, Aya Africa.

Chelsy toured an emerald mine in Zambia last month where she talked to miners about their working conditions.

I revealed last summer that Chelsy, 30  who dated Harry for seven years  was starting a business that would allow her to spend more time near Zimbabwe, where she was born.

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Prince Harry's ex, Chelsy Davy, is dedicating herself to her new ethically sourced jewellery company, Aya Africa

Charles's wise words

He is now jokingly known as the Prince of Words after a plea to save Britains literary treasures was made by Prince Charles at the launch, hosted by Lord Egremont, of a fund for Friends of the National Libraries.

Nobel prize-winner V.S. Naipaul, Joanna Trollope and Bryan Ferry welcomed the Prince at Lambeth Palace Library where it was announced that more than 500,000 has been raised from donors including Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and Cyrus Vandrevala.

The Duchess of Cornwall was twice movingly name-checked in Charless speech as my darling wife as he praised her work for literacy charities.

Praise: Prince Charles, Bryan Ferry and Lord Egremont, left. The Duchess of Cornwall (far right) was twice name-checked in Charles's speech

Royal eyebrows have been raised at reports that the Duchess of York has been brought back into the Royal fold thanks to efforts by the Duchess of Cornwall.

The cause of the surprise is that Camilla has met Sarah only three times in the past decade.

Old family friends of the Duchess of Cornwall are keen to point out it is laughable she would bring Sarah in from the cold.

As one insider explains: Camillas close friends are amused at the very idea that she would be the one to go out of her way to reintroduce Sarah.
Kesha flashed a smile of relief as she kicked off her Caribbean holiday with boyfriend Brad Ashenfelter on Saturday afternoon.

It was a well-deserved break for the red hoodie-clad 28-year-old, who sported mermaid-style dip-dyed blue tresses for her winter vacation.

The troubled pop singer later scraped her hair extensions into a messy top-bun while commiserating with her cigarette-smoking bearded beau on a dock.

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Keeping her spirits up: Kesha flashed a smile of relief as she kicked off her Caribbean holiday with boyfriend Brad Ashenfelter on Saturday afternoon

Queen of beer: It was a well-deserved break for the red hoodie-clad 28-year-old, who sported mermaid-style dip-dyed blue tresses for her winter vacation

'He's really, a really sweet human being. I'm very happy to have him in my life,' Kesha gushed during On Air with Ryan Seacrest in 2014.

Brad sweetly visited the glitter-loving wild child at Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center in 2014 when she was at her lowest point.

Kesha - last name Sebert - was in her happy-socked feet looking comfy in polka dot leggings and a Beavis & Butthead T-shirt.

The millennial hipster couple - who met through her hairstylist - later caught a small boat to their exclusive resort.

'He's really, a really sweet human being': The troubled pop singer later scraped her hair extensions into a messy top-bun while commiserating with her cigarette-smoking bearded beau on a dock

'I'm very happy to have him in my life': Brad sweetly visited the glitter-loving wild child at Timberline Knolls Residential Treatment Center in 2014 when she was at her lowest point

Nineties retro: Kesha - last name Sebert - was in her happy-socked feet looking comfy in polka dot leggings and a Beavis & Butthead T-shirt

Sail away: The millennial hipster couple - who met through her hairstylist - later caught a small boat to their exclusive resort

Restless, the Timber crooner shared an Instagram captioned: 'Can't sleep. just up all day all night writing. My mind is possessed. I have so much to say right now.'

Kesha followed that up with a sleepy snap of herself on the resort bed in a dressing gown, surrounded by her 'babies' that haven't left her side.

'I swear they know what's going on. animals literally make EVERYTHING better!' the LA-born blonde wrote her 1.3M followers.

Her sighting on the tropical isle effectively squashes rumours she was joining Lady Gaga onstage the Kodak Theater for Sunday's Academy Awards.

Restless, the Timber crooner shared an Instagram captioned: 'Can't sleep. just up all day all night writing. My mind is possessed. I have so much to say right now'

'I swear they know what's going on': Kesha followed that up with a sleepy snap of herself on the resort bed in a dressing gown, surrounded by her 'babies' that haven't left her side

Nominated for song about rape: Her sighting on the tropical isle effectively squashes rumours she was joining Lady Gaga onstage the Kodak Theater for Sunday's Academy Awards

The 29-year-old Golden Globe winner - who performed with Elton John on Saturday afternoon - is just one of Kesha's legion of celebrity supporters.

It's officially been a week since Judge Shirley Kornreich's decision not to release the Blow belter from her contract with Sony and 'abusive' producer Dr. Luke.

She must contractually make three more albums with the 42-year-old Grammy winner - born Lukasz Gottwald - whose alleged sexual assault, harassment, and emotional abuse led to her two-month stint at Timberline.

Meanwhile, the four-time Grammy-nominated producer denied all of her allegations via his Twitter page Monday.

Locked in legal battle: It's officially been a week since Judge Shirley Kornreich's decision not to release the Blow belter from her contract with Sony and 'abusive' producer Dr. Luke (pictured in 2011)

Stuck: She must contractually make three more albums with the 42-year-old Grammy winner whose alleged sexual assault, harassment, and emotional abuse led to her two-month stint at Timberline (pictured in 2014)

'Kesha has denied under oath the horrible allegations': Meanwhile, the four-time Grammy-nominated producer denied all of her allegations via his Twitter page Monday

'I didnt rape Kesha and I have never had sex with her,' Dr. Luke - who's countersuing - tweeted.

'Kesha has denied under oath the horrible allegations now being made against me.'

He's right. TMZ shared a taped 2011 deposition of Kesha denying he ever raped or drugged her when they were being sued by her ex-manager David Sonenberg of DAS Communications for millions.

She now claims she did so under the threat of Dr. Luke 'destroying her family.'

The next legal step: Kesha - who occasionally fronts Yeast Infection and The Hollywood Vampires - has until March 21 to 'turn in her demands for discovery of evidence'

On the New Orleans set: The Jem and the Holograms actress might fall back on acting, and she'll next appear in the R-rated comedy formerly known as Bad Moms hitting US theaters August 19 (pictured January 12)

Kesha - who occasionally fronts Yeast Infection and The Hollywood Vampires - has until March 21 to 'turn in her demands for discovery of evidence.'

The Jem and the Holograms actress might fall back on acting, and she'll next appear in the R-rated comedy formerly known as Bad Moms.
He's known for showing off his abs for photo shoots.

But now America's Next Top Model winner Nyle DiMarco is joining the cast of Dancing With The Stars, according to E! News.

The 26-year-old model, who is the most recent winner of the modelling competition, will be featured on season 22 of the ABC series.

Getting prepped: Nyle DiMarco is joining the cast of Dancing With The Stars this season, according to E! News; pictured in Santa Monica on January 10

Nyle will be the second deaf contestant on the dance competition, six years after Marlee Matlin was on the show.

The bearded model as well as the other dancing cast mates will be officially announced on March 8 on Good Morning America.

The actor beat out other modeling hopefuls on the Tyra Banks reality competition, including runner up Mame Adjei during season 22 of the show.

After he was crowned the winner of ANTM in August, he told E! News: 'I'm the last winner, I'm deaf, I'm the second male winner--there are so many things all encompassed in one so I'm thankful to Tyra and the show to give me that platform.'

While on the modeling competition, the runway star admitted that at times he felt alone.

Focused: The 26-year-old model, who is the most recent winner of America's Next Top Model - earning the title last August - will be featured on season 22 of the ABC show

He revealed to E!: 'It was definitely difficult just because of my language deprivation that was there for two months - I felt isolated.'

Adding: 'I tried my best. You just have to be resilient and have that resilience. When i won, all that weight was lifted.'

Last fall, Nyle was asked by a fan on Twitter whether he was into 'boys or girls,' to which he answered 'fluid' and added a link to an article that defines what sexually fluid means.

Looking good: Nyle will be the second deaf contestant on the dance competition, six years after Marlee Matlin was on the show

Acting-wise, Nyle has appeared as Garrett Banducci on several episodes of Freeform's TV series, Switched At Birth.

Last season of Dancing With The Stars, Bindi Irwin, 17, took home the Mirror Ball Trophy with her partner, Derek Hough.

Although Julianne Hough, who served as a judge for two seasons, won't be returning this year, Len Goodman will - he is set to be back at the judging table for the upcoming season.

Dancing With The Stars season 22 is set to premiere on Monday, March 21.

Dapper gentleman: The bearded model and the other cast mates will be officially announced on March 8 on Good Morning America; pictured on July 28 at the ANTM premiere party in West Hollywood

Champion: The actor beat out other modeling hopefuls on the Tyra Banks reality competition, including runner up Mame Adjei during season 22 of the show
Life couldn't be sweeter for Danniella Westbrook.

Soon after talking about her plans to start a family with her new toyboy lover George Arnold, 24, she has confirmed that she will be returning to EastEnders this Spring as Sam Mitchell.

The 42 year-old mother of two who hasn't been on the BBC show for six years will reprise the role that turned her in to a household name for the funeral of her mum Peggy Mitchell, played by Barbara Windsor.

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She's back! Danniella Westbrook has confirmed that she will be returning to Eastenders this spring for a few episodes as Sam Mitchell, where she'll attend her mum Peggy's funeral

'Im really excited to be going back to EastEnders,' she confirmed in Sunday Mirror's new TV column, after hinting about being 'in talks' about the role since exiting CBB earlier this year.

'It feels right the Mitchells are all back for Peggys funeral, and I cant wait to work alongside everyone again'.

Even though Danniella will only return to Albert Square for a few episodes, it will inevitably be the soap event of the year, which also confirmed the return of Ross Kemp a few weeks earlier.

Eastender's executive producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins gave his two cents about the returns: 'It is only right that all of Peggy Mitchells children would be at her funeral.'

'Danniella is the final piece of the Mitchell jigsaw puzzle, so it will be great for viewers to see Phil, Grant and Sam all back on screen.'

Owing her success to Eastenders: Her character Samantha Mitchell joined the cast as a 15 years old in 1990. She quit in 1993 and was reintroduced twice to the show before 2000

'I cant wait to work alongside everyone again': The mother of two has been hinting about her return since the beginning of the year

Taking chances: The actress' brief spells in Eastenders were an outcome of her highly publicised battle with drugs

The former I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here contestant seems to be glowing recently.

Earlier this week she confessed to Closer magazine that she and her much younger lover were ready to get married and start a family this year.

'George and I have just bought a house together and I'm excited to get married to him this year. We're also going to start trying for a baby.'

The TV star is so keen to have a child with George that she will be having fertility treatment if the couple cannot have a child naturally.

'If it doesn't work within two months, I'll have IVF. I'd love to be a mum again. I feel like this could be my happy ending,' she explained.

Toyboy lover: Danielle, 45 is keen to get married and start a family this year with her boyfriend George Arnold, 24

In all her busy glory, the small screen star who has also lived in California and Australia, recently placed fifth in Celebrity Big Brother.

In the live finale, she looked the best she's ever looked in a glittery silver floor-length number which along with her hair was reminiscent of old Hollywood glamour.

She agreed to go on the show to make her children proud after her messy addiction to drugs.

And she managed to do just that upon her eviction, as she was scooped up in a warm embrace with her eldest son Kai Jenkins, 19, who admitted he hasn't seen or spoken to his mum in a very long time.

Coming in fifth: The soap star looks sensational in a plunging glittery silver dress after being evicted on Celebrity Big Brother in fifth place on the finale night

Old school: The Walthamstow native oozed Hollywood glamour as she posed after spending time inside Britain's most famous residence

Reunited: After coming fifth in the Celebrity Big Brother final, Danniella Westbrook was greeted by her 19-year-old son Kai Jenkins, who previously admitted he hadn't seen her in a long time




Rita Ora was looking suitably glamorous as she attended Vogue Italy's Milan Fashion Week cocktail party on Saturday night.

Flashing her undergarments in a dazzling ivy-covered dress, the blonde bombshells was on fine sartorial form.

The 25-year-old musician, who took to the stage to entertain the guests that evening, teased at her curvaceous form beneath the semi-sheer garment, which used only a foliage lace design to protect her modesty.

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Showing her shape: Rita Ora showed off her incredible form in a dazzling ivy-covered dress on Saturday night, as she stepped out for Vogue's Cocktail Party honouring Mario Testino

Having jetted straight across from Los Angeles the previous evening, it was another late night for the pop star.

She was perfectly polished with her long and glossy platinum tresses left poker straight and serving as another clever tool for covering up just enough of her fine form.

Rita's bold, glittering eye make-up complemented her get-up with a metallic effect, while her lips were left a deep shade of pink.

See more Rita Ora updates as she flashes her briefs in a glittering ivy-covered dress

Stunner: The 25-year-old musician, who took to the stage to entertain the guests that evening, teased at her curvaceous form beneath the semi-sheer garment, which used only a foliage lace design to protect her modesty

Bold: The fashion choice was typical of Rita, who flashed her briefs in the sheer garment

Gorgeous: She set it off with glittering eye make-up that matched the glitter of her gown

Hot right now: Rita looked incredible in the intricately detailed gown which boasted a host of leaf details

Top performer: The blonde took to the stage that night to give a performance

Stage star: The musician was invited along to entertain the star-studded guests

The Italian fashion magazine invited Rita as a guest for their Fashion Week cocktail party honoring photographer Mario Testino.

Rita and Mario have worked together on numerous occasions, and have maintained a strong professional relationship.

She helped the photographer celebrate his 60th birthday in London at the end of 2014, an event that was also attended by Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss and Sienna Miller.

Sparkling: Her dress flashed through to navy briefs beneath the sheer dress

Top performer: Rita was invited to perform at the star-studded bash in Italy

Glitter girl: Rita Ora proved she is the definition of a glitter girl

Capping off a great week: The star had flown in from Los Angeles to be at the party

A sheer delight: In her trademark sexy style, Rita carried off the stunning ensemble with aplomb

Though Rita didn't seem to have made it to any of the shows on Saturday, which included Just Cavalli and Ermanno Scervino, the blonde can never resist a party.

She performed on the night and shared pictures beside editor-in-chief Franca Sozzani, who hosted the event with US editor-in-chief Anna Wintour in attendance.

Tweeting her gratitude later that evening, Rita wrote: 'Thank you for having me the gorgeous @francasozzani1 for @mariotestino and the whole team. It was a beautiful night performing for you all! Love you! '

Man-of-the-moment: Vogue Italy were said to have thrown the party for Mario Testino

An editor-in-chief sandwich: (From left) Vogue Italy's editor Franca Sozzani joined Mario Testino and US editor-in-chief Anna Wintour

Also in attendance: British musician Jess Glynne put on a stylish display on the night

Lady in red: Meanwhile, Izabel Goulart was striking a red coat for the stylish event

It's a theme: Bianca Brandolini D'Adda (left) and Leigh Lezark (right) also wore dresses that showed their undergarments

Brown beauty: Anna wore a long brown coat with suitably stylish boots to cap off the look

Great from all angles: The stunning star looked sultry and stunning as she arrived at the soiree

Glitter girl: Her twinkling eyeshadow added a glamorous touch to the striking ensemble
He enjoyed a day at the amusement park with fellow young actor Jacob Tremblay

And just a day later Abraham Attah was recognised for one of the best acting performances of the year.

The 15-year-old actor took home the Best Male Lead award at the Independent Spirit Awards sponsored by Heineken in Santa Monica on Saturday.

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Big night: Abraham Attah took home the Best Male Lead award at the Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica on Saturday

Still a kid: Just a day earlier, he joined fellow young actor Jacob Tremblay at the Universal Studios amusement park in Los Angeles

The young star captured the highest honour for an actor at the gala event for his performance in Beasts Of No Nation, which also happened to be his first acting role ever.

Abraham received a standing ovation from his peers as he hit the podium to accept the best actor prize previously won by Michael Keaton, Matthew McConaughey, Jeff Bridges, Ryan Gosling, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bill Murray.

Definitely appreciative the actor said: 'Thank you to the film independents for this award. First of all I wanted to say thank you to Ted and everyone that worked on the movie.'

Abraham was definitely appreciative of the opportunity as he thanked a lot of the producers including Cary Joji Fukunaga, his co-star Idris Elba and even the costume designers on set.

History making: The 15-year-old actor was given a standing ovation by his peers as he takes home the coveted prize for his first acting role ever

Grateful: He thanked a lot of the producers including Cary Joji Fukunaga, his co-star Idris Elba and even the costume designers on set

Breaking out: He starred as Agu in Beasts Of No Nation, which is not only critically-acclaimed but also has earned him several award

The young Ghana-born star looked dapper at the event as he wore a navy blue suit along with a matching polka dot bow tie and navy suede boots.

He and 43-year-old Idris had a nice moment earlier on in the ceremony as the British actor brought Abraham on stage while accepting his award in the Best Supporting Male category.

Idris told the young star: 'I couldn't have done it without you.'

Just a day earlier, Abraham joined Jacob Tremblay for a day at the Universal Studios theme park in Los Angeles together.

Wonderful moment: Earlier at the event, Idris Elba took home the Best Supporting Male prize as he took Abraham and told him on-stage: 'I couldn't have done it without you'

Dynamic duo: The two winners looked happy as they posed for photos together backstage

The nine-year-old actor of Room shared a cute video of he and Abraham posing in front of an animatronic Raptor at the Jurassic Park ride, who lunched toward them toward the end of the clip.

Jacob captioned the short video: '#AbrahamAttah and I almost got eaten today! #universalstudioshollywood #beastsofnonation #roomthemovie @abraham.attah.nii'

It will be a busy weekend for the two promising stars as they are also set to attend The Oscars on Sunday.

#AbrahamAttah and I almost got eaten today! #universalstudioshollywood #beastsofnonation #roomthemovie @abraham.attah.nii A video posted by Jacob Tremblay (@jacobtremblay) on Feb 26, 2016 at 8:40pm PST

Future stars: Abraham and Jacob, nine, posed together in front of an animatronic Raptor at the Jurassic Park ride, who lunched toward them toward the end of the clip

Breakthrough: Jacob (pictured left) made his name starring opposite Brie Larson in Room
It's a daily habit for the couple.

Actor Eddie Murphy and his heavily pregnant girlfriend Paige Butcher were spotted leaving The Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf in the Studio City neighbourhood of Los Angeles on Saturday,

The loved up pair held hands while each clutched their caffeine fixes in the other hand.

They need their fix: Eddie Murphy and his heavily pregnant girlfriend Paige Butcher were spotted leaving The Coffee Bean And Tea Leaf in the Studio City neighbourhood of Los Angeles on Saturday

The 36-year-old model looked radiant as she showed off her cleavage and her baby bump in a billowing blue maxi-dress.

A native of Perth, Australia, she wore sensible thong flats and tied her blond tresses back into a pony tail. Paige covered her eyes with aviator-style shades and didn't appear to be wearing much in the way of make-up, allowing her natural beauty to shine through.

Eddie, 54, was more casually dressed in a black T-shirt with a gold star on the front, black trousers and bright yellow sneakers.

He accessorised with the gold medallion on a chain he usually wears plus a heavy gold watch, pinkie ring and a blingy diamond ear stud. He protected his eyes from the sunshine with dark glasses.

Cute PDA: The 36-year-old model looked radiant as she showed off her cleavage and her baby bump in a billowing blue maxi-dress while holding hands with her beau

The couple announced in November that they were expecting their first child together. They have dating since 2012 after meeting in 2006 while working on Big Momma's House 2.

Eddie has plenty of experience as a father as he already has eight children, ranging in age from eight to 26, from past relationships.

The Trading Places star has five children with his former wife of 12 years, Nicole Mitchell, and one child each with former flames Mel B, Tamara Hood Johnson and Paulette McNeely.

Aside from expecting baby number nine, Eddie has a busy year ahead of him with four projects on the go.

Her leading man: The 54-year-old was more casually dressed in a black T-shirt with a gold star on the front, black trousers and bright yellow sneakers

He wrapped filming in early 2015 for upcoming drama, Mr. Church, which is due out later this year.

Eddie will star as the famed comedian in biopic Richard Pryor: Is It Something I Said? that has yet to announce a release date.

Some 22 years after Beverly Hills Cop III, he's set return as Det. Axel Foley in comedy franchise Beverly Hills Cop 4, about a police officer assigned to the swanky Los Angeles neighbourhood.

He'll also co-star with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito in Triplets, a follow up to their 1988 hit Twins, in which the original unlikely brothers find there's one more sibling they didn't know about.
She is best known for her portrayal of inmate Bea Smith on the iconic Australian television series Prisoner.

But Val Lehman is set to reveal a little known fact about herself on Sunday night's episode of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! announcing that she has psychic abilities.

Speaking intimately with fellow camper Jo Beth Taylor during the episode, the 72-year-old actress revealed that she used to read palms, but admitted that she became 'too good at it' and had to stop.

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'I always knew when I was right': Val Lehman, 72, revealed a little known fact about herself on Sunday night's episode of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! when she announced that she has psychic abilities

'I'll never do it again. I always knew when I was right, it was weird', the self-confessed clairvoyant said.

She went on to reveal the chilling tale of when she predicted the death of her late friend and director.

'Someone said I read palms and she said, 'read mine' and I said 'no'. She died in a freak motorbike accident five days later. I didn't say anything to anybody'.

I didn't say anything to anybody': She went on to reveal the chilling tale of when she almost predicted the death of her late friend and director

'There was no future (for her), none. I said no, I'm not in the mood,' she gravely added.

She also revealed she knows how to read tarot cards and that her 'father was just a bit psychic'.

The accomplished stage actress also regaled the chilling story of when she diagnosed her father as having a heart attack.

Creepy!The accomplished stage actress also regaled the chilling story of when she diagnosed her father as having a heart attack

In the spotlight: Val (right)played the role of cunning and sadistic top dog Queen Bea in the hit show, Prisoner

'I collapsed with the chest pains he died from, with the doctor in attendance who could not work out what was wrong with him. I said, 'he's having a heart attack'.

'I was in an evening gown and I couldn't breath. It was like someone closing a vice around my chest. I went outside and (ex husband) Frank came looking for me by which time I was on the ground and I looked back and said, 'daddy is dead', and he was exactly at that time.

'That is when things started happening to me. A few things like that were very strange. I'm shaking.'

It runs in the family! She also revealed she knows how to read tarot cards and that her 'father was just a bit psychic'




She's made no secret of the fact that she would like another child.

But Sofia Vergara is realistic about certain possibilities as she opened up in her feature story with Harpers Bazaar Arabia.

'I cannot just expect anything natural any more,' the 43-year-old actress admitted.

Feature: Sofia Vergara, 43, was featured on the March issue of Harpers Bazaar Arabia

The Colombian beauty married True Blood hunk Joe Manganiello, 39, last November in a lavish Palm Beach, Florida wedding.

'Well see what happens,' she confessed. 'Its not something that doesnt let us sleep. But its not something I am completely opposed to.'

The Modern Family star continued: 'I dont think you can think about it seriously when youre already 43-years-old. It is what it is.'

The brunette beauty stunned in her feature story as she changed into several exquisite ensembles for the spread.

Candid cover story: The Modern Family star opened up about having another child

She donned a couture shimmering gold bridal-inspired gown, a form-fitting sexy black number with lace back and a chic strapless white dress with sheer lace trim.

Vergara - who is already mother to her son Manolo, 23 - agreed that motherhood at her age now would be different from her previous go around.

'I think the energy levels you have when youre in your 20s cannot be compared to the energy you have at 40,' she stated.

Realistic: But the Colombian beauty - who married hunky actor Joe Manganiello last November - knows a natural pregnancy might not be possible

Showstopping! Sofia stunned in a a couture shimmering gold bridal-inspired gown

'So of course its going to be different, but its possible.'

But the actress, who comes from a large family said: 'Of course I would have people to help me because I work a lot. So Im sure it wouldnt be a problem.'

As a former model, the young mother gushed about the support and devotion she received from her son.

Natural process: Vergara confessed she doesn't lose sleep over having another child but she's not opposed to the idea either

Stunner! The former model donned a form-fitting sexy black number with lace back

'I was a single mother for a long time and he always supported and helped me, made it easy to be able to work. I never had to worry about him.'

Cover girl! The upcoming issue of Harpers Bazaar Arabia hits stands on March 1

'When you have a problem all the time, you are unable to be creative and think. As a single mother, I was able to do everything I wanted to do.'

Vergara was married at the age of 18 to her high-school sweetheart, Joe Gonzalez. She gave birth to their son Manolo in September 1992 but the couple ultimately divorced the following year.

Her comments about the need ti seek alternative ways to have children come as the star continues to battle ex Nick Loeb, who is trying to secure the embryos that they had frozen while together.

The Onion Crunch creator has described the embryos as his 'daughters' .

Nick first filed a lawsuit in California against Sofia in April, seeking custody of the embryos in order to be able to implant them via a surrogate.

In October, a judge ruled that Nick could move forward with a civil case which is due back in court next month.

The legal papers claims the 43-year-old actress told Nick she was pro-life and that she promised each embryo created would ultimately be implanted into a surrogate.

However, the Colombian actress, claims that her former flame is just trying to take advantage of her career by publicly fighting to take the embryos to full term.

The upcoming issue of Harpers Bazaar Arabia hits stands on March 1.
Last year she was applauded for voicing her support of Indigenous Australians.

And now Jesinta Campbell has made another plea for equality.

The 24-year-old model is attempting to raise awareness about domestic violence leading celebrities involved in the #bepartofthechange initiative by saying a change begins with education.

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'No child is born abusive': Jesinta Campbell is attempting to raise awareness about domestic violence, telling Marie Claire for it's #bepartofthechange campaign that decreasing the issue begins with education

'No child is born abusive or violent; this type of behaviour is learnt,' the former Miss Universe Australia 2010 explained to Marie Claire.

'It really does start with what they see in the home or playground, and how they see men and women interacting,' she went on.

'That's how we'll finally help decrease the incidence of domestic violence in Australia,' she added.

The campaign also has the backing of a number of high-profile celebrities, including Dannii Minogue, Ian Thorpe, Megan Gale and Edwina Bartholomew.

It's been a big week for Jesinta, who has also just been confirmed as the first model who will be on the catwalk at the Melbourne Fashion Festival in March.

Big week: Jesinta has also just been confirmed as the first model who will be on the catwalk at the Melbourne Fashion Festival in March

'My future children are going to be indigenous': The model is adamant her children with Buddy Franklin - whose mother Urshula is Aboriginal - will grow up to appreciate and respect different cultures in Australia

In July last year, Jesinta voiced her support for Adam Goodes on Channel Nine's The Today Show while also promoting an understanding between cultures while discussing Aboriginal Australians.

The model is adamant her future children with fiance Lance 'Buddy' Franklin - whose mother Urshula is Aboriginal - will grow up to appreciate and respect different cultures in Australia.

'My future children are going to be indigenous and because of his [Adam's] courage and his passion he is creating a better future not only my children, but all indigenous children'.

Jesinta explained: 'The reality is my children are going to be indigenous and we need to bring them up to have an appreciation of all cultures and the history and where it is that they come from and the adversity their culture has been through.'

She added: 'Its about raising awareness and being inclusive and paying respect to the past but also making sure that we focus on a positive future so we can move forward and live as a happy nation. I think it should be important for all Australians regardless of whether youre indigenous or not.'

High fashion: Jesinta recently returned from New York Fashion Week where she won a front row seat at the Vera Wang show

On the weekend, Jesinta and Buddy, both posted a number of loved-up snaps to social media.

Posting to his Instagram account, 29-year-old AFL star Buddy shared a photo of him and his lady love on Saturday, in which he wrapped his arms around Jesinta.

'Amazing times with this special one,' the Sydney Swans player wrote next to the photo, in which the pair stood by the seashore.

The couple were enjoying the great outdoors over the weekend as they joined Jesinta's father in celebrating his 50th birthday.

Jesinta recently returned from New York Fashion Week where she won a front row seat at the Vera Wang show.

Keeping close: On the weekend, Jesinta and Buddy, both posted a number of loved-up snaps to social media

Loved up: The 29-year-old AFL star shared a photo of him and his lady love on Saturday, in which he wrapped his arms around Jesinta

Stunning: Jesinta also posted a solo snap to reveal her enviably bikini figure
She revealed on her 31st birthday last year that she identified as a lesbian.

And now almost one year later, Faustina 'Fuzzy' Agolley has taken a moment to reflect on the momentous occasion ahead of Sydney's Mardi Gras celebrations of which she will be hosting.

Speaking to Sunday Life magazine, the television star expressed the relief she felt after finally revealing her sexual orientation, saying: 'Life finally made sense!;'

'Life finally made sense': Faustina 'Fuzzy' Agolley has taken a moment to reflect on the difficulties of coming out as gay ahead of Sydney's Mardi Gras celebrations of which she will be hosting

Recalling the moment she finally told someone that she was gay, Faustina admitted that she had an outpouring of emotion.

'I went home and cried waves of emotions into my pillow, an outpouring of 30 years of repressed feelings. Elated, but also frustrated that it had taken so long. My mind was connecting all the dots; my feelings towards women when I was a kid and how I shut it down because I didn't think it was right,' she explained.

However despite the difficulty of coming out, it was an instant relief for the media personality.

'Life finally made sense - I felt whole,' she admitted.

'I went home and cried waves of emotions': Recalling the moment she finally told someone that she was gay, Faustina admitted that she had an outpouring of emotion

'Life finally made sense - I felt whole': Despite the difficulty of coming out, it was an instant relief for the media personality

Last April, Faustina marked her 31st birthday with a personal announcement about her sexuality.

The Video Hits host took to her blog in a post simply titled, 'I'm gay' writing, 'as a child I always knew I was gay, but somewhere the feeling got lost.'

'A long and, not always scenic, route ensued to bring me back to who I truly am.'

Coming out: Faustina announced that she is gay in online blog posted last April

In the post, Fuzzy says after meeting a group of women last year she felt inspired to come out.

'Sometime last year I met a group of women that I could truly connect to,' she writes.

'I could see myself in them in many ways.For the first time in my life I came to the full realisation of who I am and I felt safe in their company.

'They bolstered my confidence and gave me my voice again. And I love them eternally for it.'

BIrthday choice: She made the decision to come out on her 31st birthday, posting this shot to her Twitter

Fuzzy went on to encourage others in the gay community who were afraid of coming out to 'know who you are'.

'In life, philosophy and literature imparts one of the greatest lessons we continuously come back to, and that is to know thyself,' she posted.

'For those reading this who are LGBT and havent come out  even when society may not deem you equal because of your sexuality  know that you are. And just like in my situation, know that there are people in the world that have your back.'

Presenter: She has been regularly seen on Australian TV screens for almost a decade, most notably as the host of music show Video Hits

Support group: She revealed that after meeting a group of women last year inspired her and encouraged her to make her sexuality known

The London born personality stressed that she made the decision to come out now because it 'feels like the right and natural way to let it be known...'

'As black as my skin, as Chinese as my blood, and as Australian and British are my nationalities, Im also a proud Gay Woman.'

'Most importantly though, Im a happy human being.' she finished the blog.

Identity: Fuzzy went on to encourage others in the gay community who were afraid of coming out to 'know who you are'

No motive: The London born personality stressed that she made the decision to come out now because it 'feels like the right and natural way to let it be known...'

Fuzzy originally linked the blog entry to her Twitter account, along with a picture of herself smiling next to a large rainbow birthday cake, with candles shooting out from the top.

'Grateful to share tonight's birthday with friends full of love and support.' she captioned the tweet.
She revealed on Instagram that she was paying a visit to A & E after her pet dog gave her a nasty scratch on the nose, on Sunday.

But rather than receiving sympathy, Katie Price has suffered a slew of withering comments and criticism from irate followers, with many slamming the model for wasting the NHS' time and resources.

The 37-year-old model and author first shared news of the accident on Saturday night, but 12 hours later she posted another snap, captioned: 'Off to A & e nose keeps bleeding.'

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Oh dear: She revealed she was heading to A&E on Sunday morning after posting a picture of her scratched nose, but Katie Price has suffered a backlash from irate followers in the hours since she shared the photo

However, rather than an outpouring of sympathy and well-wished, Katie was inundated with irate messages accusing her of wasting time and resources at A&E.

Commenting on the stars picture, one user wrote: 'OMG.... it's a scratch... hope you go private A&E to justify a scratch as an emergency [sic].'

While another blasted the mother-of-five for wasting the hospital's time with such a 'pathetic reason'.

'And you are the pathetic reason a and e cannot cope,' one user commented. 'Enjoy your pathetic 6 hour wait for absolutely pointless review.'

'It's a scratch': Rather than an outpouring of sympathy and well-wishes, Katie was inundated with irate messages accusing her of wasting time and resources at A&E

'Absolutely pointless': Another blasted the mother-of-five for wasting the hospital's time with such a 'pathetic reason'

Others users on Instagram reverted to simpler quips, with one calling Katie 'narcissistic', while another simply asked in disbelief, 'A&E for that, are you having a laugh?'

The backlash came as Katie shared a photo of her injured face with her 940,000 followers on Saturday evening - pulling a worried looking grimace, as she sported her hair tied back in a ponytail.

But twelve hours later, she posted a second image of a close-up of the scratch, telling her followers she was worried about the injury and was 'Off to A & e'.

Her fans' reaction to her hospital visit isn't the only decision that has been plaguing Katie.

Unimpressed: Others users on Instagram reverted to simpler quips, with one calling Katie 'narcissistic', while another simply asked in disbelief, 'A&E for that, are you having a laugh?'

A mistake? The backlash came after Katie shared a photo of her injured face with her 940,000 followers on Saturday evening, before sharing another close-up on Sunday in which she declared she was off to A&E

'Kieran hates it': Kate revealed her husband is pushing her to remove her ankle tattoo dedicated to former fiance Leandro Penna on Friday

As she revealed that her third husband Kieran Hayler, hates the inking she has on her ankle, dedicated to her former love, Leandro Penna.

Appearing on Loose Women, Katie explained to the panel that Kieran, understandably, can't stand the sight of the inking.

Kieran keeps saying, "I hate looking at that tattoo".' the mother-of-five said.

She added that she will get rid of it although she didn't disclose any details about how and when.

The etching Katie was referring to is the 'Leo 27-02-11' marking on her left ankle which marks the exact date she and Leo met - the 83rd Academy Awards.

Not impressed: Katie, 37, told the Loose Women ladies that her third husband can't stand thee sight of her permanent tribute to her former fiance

Another one bits the dust: After splitting from second husband Alex Reid in January 2011, she struck up a relationship with the Argentine model - who was 25 at the time - the following month after they met at the Oscars

Keeping her man happy: The businesswoman said she would remove the inking but didn't give details about how or when

A case of the ex: The mother-of-five recalled one particularly bitter former flame's reaction to their split

Panel assemble: Katie joined (from left to right) Andrea McLean, Nadia Sawalha, love birds Jeremy McConnell and Stephanie Davis, and Kay Adams on the Oscar-themed show

Hey now ladies, let's get in formation: The hosts sported ball gowns in honour of the 88th Academy Awards on Sunday

The businesswoman also discussed her exes trying to erase her from their lives, recalling a tale of one particular bitter former partner.

She said: 'Remember Gladiators? I was engaged to one of them! Who haven't I been with?!

'I had a suitcase with all my old school books, etc. and when we split up, he burnt it.'

Toilet-roll chic? Katie stayed true to form by picking out a garish gown for the special episode of the popular daytime programme

Striking a pose: She clashed the off-white heavily ruffled number with bright orange nail varnish

Love's young dream: Katie kisses Leandro in his native country during a romantic getaway in April 2011

Removing all trace: An inkling dedciated to her first husband Peter Andre sat above a small crown, which honoured the birth of the couple's first daughter Princess, on her wrist and she simply had it crossed out before having it covered more convincingly with a rose

Katie famously had her permanent tribute to first husband Peter Andre disguised not once but twice following their bitter marriage split in 2009.

'Pete' sat above a small crown, which honoured the birth of the couple's first daughter Princess, on her wrist and she simply had it crossed out before having it covered more convincingly with a rose.

Katie married builder and part-time stripper Kieranr in the Bahamas on 16 January 2013 after having been proposed to on Christmas Day the previous year.

In 2014, she declared she was planning on divorcing him after he had affairs with two of her close friends. However, they reconciled and renewed their weddings vows last year.

They have two children together - two-year-old son Jett and one-year-old daughter Bunny.

The couple that tans together, doesn't stay together: Katie married Peter in September, after striking up a romance on I'm A Celebrity the year previous

Quick change: Katie was later seen leaving the studios in a cobalt blue top and jeans
Scott Disick got out of rehab only three months ago but he continues to host nightclub after nightclub, putting him precariously close to those vices he should be avoiding.

And on Saturday the 32-year-old father-of-three announced he would be going back to Las Vegas yet again to hold court at 1OAK.

In the ad for the bash, the ex of Kourtney Kardashian looks scruffier than ever with no shirt on, just a fur coat and gold chain. His facial hair looks unruly and he has a pair of sunglasses on.

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Back to Sin City: Scott Disick will be hosting in Las Vegas on March 4; in the ad he looks scruffy

Is he is the right form for this? On Friday he was partying with Kylie Jenner at Club Nokia

This comes just after TMZ reported Scott looked 'wasted' when he hung out with Kylie Jenner Club Nokia where her beau Tyga was performing.

In photos the star looked out of it and not very healthy.

The site added that Kourtney would not let him see their three children - six-year-old Mason, three-year-old Penelope and 14-month old Reign - if he continued to be off the wagon.

See more of the latest Kourtney Kardashian updates as Scott Disick hosts another gig

All play no work? The 32-year-old dad seems to spend a lot of time out at night

She goes out too: Kourtney Kardashian looked sexy at the William Morris pre Oscar party on Friday

But oddly People reported earlier this week that she was flirting with her ex at a party in LA.

The former lovebirds were spotted at 1Oak nightclub in West Hollywood on Tuesday, where they 'were extremely friendly' and 'flirtatious all night,' according to People Magazine.

The 36-year-old mom of three came and sat at his table upon arrival.

Kourtney and Scott ended their relationship in July.

And she has kids to tend to as well: The 36-year-old E! star is sheen here with Mason and Penelope on February 19 in LA

Meanwhile, Kourtney has been balancing her new party lifestyle (she is often seen at The Nice Guy in West Hollywood) with her duties as a mom.

After staying out late at a William Morris party on Friday night - where she wolfed down a hamburger after - the next day she looked pulled together as she ran errands.

Season 12 of Keeping Up With The Kardashians should shed more light at the relationship between Scott and Kourtney.
Jennifer Garner spilled her heart out to Vanity Fair in a bombshell interview that was released on Friday. She not only talked about Ben Affleck killed her 'dream' of being happily married, but also touched on the nanny who was claimed to be in a relationship with the Oscar winner.

So it was unusual to see the exes together at dinner on Saturday night at Cafe Vida in Pacific Palisades with their three children.

The Batman v Superman star appeared to be in a grim mood as he sat with the 43-year-old beauty.

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Dining out: Jennifer Garner took Ben Affleck and their kids to dinner at Cafe Vida in Pacific Palisades, California after her heartbreaking Vanity Fair interview

Casual: Garner was dressed in a grey cardigan as she walked in with Seraphina while Affleck went for a black sweater as they hit the restaurant

No smiles here: The 43-year-old Oscar winner had a grim look on his face as he held Samuel

The dinner appeared to be another celebration for their son Samuel, who turned four.

Ben, dressed in a black sweater with designer jeans and sneakers, was holding his mini me as they entered the casual restaurant.

Jennifer was makeup free with her hair pulled in a ponytail. The Alias vet looked comfortable in a cashmere grey cardigan with jeans and a pair of black sandals.

Earlier in the day they had thrown a party at their house, where Reese Witherspoon and her husband Jim Toth had stopped by. She was also seen at an Oscar rehearsal.

On the verge of tears? The Good Will Hunting star looked as if he had seen better days; here they are sitting with daughter Violet

That's not a warm expression: In her VF interview, Garner poked fun at his back tattoo of a rising Phoenix

I am outta here: Affleck looked ready to bolt as Jen laughed with their son, who turned four on Saturday

Once inside the restaurant, Ben looked unhappy as he sat across from Jennifer.

He has good reason to not smile. In her interview, the Dallas Buyers Club hinted heavily that Ben cheated on her and also heavily suggested that he did have romantic relations with their nanny, Christine Ouzounian, 28, even though he claimed last summer the accusation was 'garbage.'

'We had been separated for months before I ever heard about the nanny,' said the Miracles From Heaven actress. 'She had nothing to do with our decision to divorce. She was not a part of the equation. Bad judgment? Yes.'

Back to their home: Jennifer said they were still living on their Pacific Palisades compound with him in a guest house and her in the main house

The toughest part of the allegations was talking to her children about it, she said.

'It's not great for your kids for [a nanny] to disappear from their lives,' she said. 'I have had to have conversations about the meaning of "scandal."'

Jennifer and Ben, who have three children together (Violet, aged 10, Seraphina, aged seven, and Samuel, aged three), announced their split in June, just a month before talk of his involvement with the nanny.

As far as his claims that the affair never happened, Jennifer said: 'Hes still the only person who really knows the truth about things. And Im still the only person that knows some of his truths.'

She said it: The toughest part of the nanny allegations was talking to her children about it, she said. 'It's not great for your kids for [a nanny] to disappear from their lives,' she said. 'I have had to have conversations about the meaning of "scandal."'

And of their union, Garner said she was committed as much as she could be. 'It was a real marriage,' said Garner. 'It wasnt for the cameras. And it was a huge priority for me to stay in it. And that did not work.'

But the Daredevil actress asked people to not be too hard on Ben. 'No one needs to hate him for me. I dont hate him. Certainly we dont have to beat the guy up,' she said. 'Dont worrymy eyes were wide open during the marriage. Im taking good care of myself.'

And her heartbreak is obvious.

Oh the pain! 'I didnt marry the big fat movie star; I married him,' she said. 'And I would go back and remake that decision. I ran down the beach to him, and I would again. You cant have these three babies and so much of what we had'

'I didnt marry the big fat movie star; I married him,' she said. 'And I would go back and remake that decision. I ran down the beach to him, and I would again. You cant have these three babies and so much of what we had.

'Hes the love of my life. What am I going to do about that? Hes the most brilliant person in any room, the most charismatic, the most generous. Hes just a complicated guy. I always say, "When his sun shines on you, you feel it." But when the sun is shining elsewhere, its cold. He can cast quite a shadow.'

But she's not about to turn on the man she hoped to spend the rest of her life with.

'Of course this is not what I imagined when I ran down the beach, but it is where I am,' Jennifer confessed. 'We still have to help each other get through this.'

Busy times: The 13 Going On 30 star was seen running errands in Hollywood on Saturday, she also stopped by the Oscar rehearsals
Her relationship came to a crashing halt earlier this month.

But there was no way Lea Michele wasn't going to get back in the saddle.

On Saturday, the 29-year-old Glee vet returned to her beloved SoulCycle spin class for the first time since her split from Matthew Paetz.

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Soul survivor: Lea Michele returned to her beloved spin class for first time on Staurday since 'crushing' split from boyfriend of two years

Back on track: The former glee star certainly seems in better spirits since her shock split from her boyfriend of almost two years

Worth it: One hour later a worked but invigorated looking Michele shared a post-workout Instagram snap of herself, her wild hair released of its restraint

The actress was all smiles as she headed to the LA gym with smoothie in hand.

Wearing tight pink and grey patterned yoga pants and flip flops, the Scream Queens star strode confidently in ahead of what was to be a grueling hour-long work out.

Her long brunette hair was kept back in a tidy knot, while her fresh, make-up free face was adorned with a pair of mirrored aviators.

Just before entering, Lea shed her black and pink tracksuit top to reveal a black sports bra and some flawlessly toned abs, perhaps showing her now ex-boyfriend what he will be missing.

Survivor: 'So grateful for this gorgeous day today! For feeling so strong! And for surviving @shapewithangela hour long soul survivor class today with out throwing up!!!' she captioned it

Toned: Just before entering, Lea shed her black and pink leggings and black jacket

Healthy: The 29-year-old actress was all smiles as she headed to the LA gym on Saturday with smoothie in hand

Fit: Wearing tight pink and grey patterned yoga pants and flip flops, the Scream Queens star strode confidently in ahead of what was to be a grueling hour-long work out

Ready: Her long brunette hair was kept back in a tidy knot, while her fresh, make-up free face was adorned with a pair of mirrored aviators

Linking up with a female friend, the two shared a giggle before heading inside.

One hour later a worked but invigorated looking Michele shared a post-workout Instagram snap of herself, her wild hair released of its restraint.

'So grateful for this gorgeous day today! For feeling so strong! And for surviving @shapewithangela hour long soul survivor class today with out throwing up!!!' she captioned it.

The former glee star certainly seems in better spirits since her shock split from her boyfriend of almost two years.

According to US Weekly she was left 'crushed' when the model left 'all of a sudden and without warning' three weeks ago

'He had enough. She was completely crushed,' the insider explained. 'He won't take her back.'

A source told E! News: 'She got no reason or explanation for the split.

Partner: Linking up with a female friend, the two shared a giggle before heading inside

'She was also very supportive of him even when her friends were skeptical of him. Lea wanted to believe in love and wanted to believe the good in him.

'He ended up being an opportunist who took advantage and broke up with her in a very heartless way.'

Nevertheless she seems to be slowly but surely getting over it, and keeping her fantastic body in shape is certainly helping.

'I rotate between hiking and hot yoga and then the occasional spin class,' she told PeopleStyle this week. 'I bought a bike so I can do spin classes in my house! Im down for trying anything!'

For being only 53, I have to say I really like my legs. And my butts not bad, she admitted. Im grateful for that, too!
She's no stranger to making an impression on the big screen, having played everything from a savage Celtic huntress to a Bond girl.

So it was little surprise to see Olga Kurylenko showcasing her sizzling style as she arrived to claim her seat on the FROW at Salvatore Ferragamo's Autumn/Winter 2016 show at Milan Fashion Week.

Arriving at the event in the Italian fashion capital on Sunday, the 36-year-old Ukrainian actress showcased her own spin on gothic glamour in a funky sheer and fringed black dress.

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Gothic glam: Olga Kurylenko showcased her sizzling style as she arrived to claim her seat on the FROW at Salvatore Ferragamo's Autumn/Winter 2016 show at Milan Fashion Week

Olga - who earned her wings in Hollywood with role in Hitman (2007) and Max Payne (2008) - looked every inch the silver screen siren, in the fringed and feathered number.

Keeping to a modest yet seriously chic theme, the Quantum of Solace star slipped her lithe and limber figure into a funky black A-Line dress, which featured fringed detailing.

However, the celluloid beauty's look had a racy edge to it, thanks to sheer panel detailing on the shoulders and decolletage - which offered a tantalizing flash of flesh.

Understated chic: Arriving at the event in the Italian fashion capital on Sunday, the 36-year-old Ukrainian actress showcased her own spin on gothic glamour in a funky sheer and fringed black dress

Contrasting fashions: The actress' black nearly all-black ensemble was in direct contrast to the funky colours featured in many of the design house's latest ensembles

Olga rounded her sartorially sizzling look off with a flash of colour, donning a pair of ruby red stilettos.

However, with rain besieging the city, Olga added a seasonally sensible item to her wardrobe, and donned an ankle length overcoat which also featured feather detailing (matching her dress perfectly).

The actress kept accessories to a minimum, and only sported a pair of glittering diamond studs in her ears alongside a flower ring, capping her look off with an understated black leather clutch.

Her favourite colour? Olga - who earned her wings in Hollywood with role in Hitman (2007) and Max Payne (2008) - looked every inch the silver screen siren, in the fringed and feathered number

Serious chic: Keeping to a modest yet seriously chic theme, the Quantum of Solace star slipped her lithe and limber figure into a funky black A-Line dress, which featured fringed detailing

A fashion homage? Olga paid a style homage to Ferragamo by wearing a pair of the famous design house's sunglasses to the show

Olga paid a style homage to Ferragamo by wearing a pair of the famous design house's sunglasses to the show.

Keeping to her understated and chic theme, Olga wore her long brown hair tied back in a simple ponytail.

And showcasing her naturally striking looks, the actress wore a minimal palette of make-up, which allowed her pretty features to shine through.

Rainbow road: One of the centre-pieces of the show was the rainbow catwalk

Bold style: The assembled fashionistas were on hand to witness the Italian label's (founded in 1927 by its namesake) latest collection, which focused heavily on bold colours and geometric prints

Another familiar face on the FROW for home crowd in Italy was actress Miriam Leone.

The 30-year-old TV star, who was born in Sicily, arrived at the event in an all-black ensemble, which saw dona perilously low-cut black dress.

Olga, Miriam and the other assembled fashionistas were on hand to witness the Italian label's (founded in 1927 by its namesake) latest collection, which focused heavily on bold colours and geometric prints.
All eyes are on Hollywood tonight as the biggest names on the big screen descend on the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles for the 2016 Academy Awards, hosted by comic Chris Rock.

The Oscars this year see British talent go up against the might of the American A-listers, with The Danish Girl's Eddie Redmayne competing for Best Actor against tonight's hot favourite Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant in the Best Actor category.

In the Best Actress category, silver screen titans Cate Blanchett and Jennifer Lawrence are pitted against newcomers such as Brie Larson and Saoirse Ronan.

Meanwhile, the night's biggest prize - Best Picture - will be battled out by movies including The Big Short, The Maritian, The Revenant, Room, Spotlight, Brooklyn, Bridges of Spies and Mad Max: Fury Road.
She was never one to shy away from her label as a curvaceous beauty.

But during her appearance at the 2016 Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival, in Miami, Nigella Lawson subtly showed off a much slimmer figure.

Looking fresh-faced as she headed to the city's famous beachfront on Sunday, the 56-year-old chef slipped into an understated yet stylish black jumpsuit, which highlighted her svelte and trim frame.

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Svelte style: during her appearance at the 2016 Food Network & Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival, in Miami, Nigella Lawson subtly showed off a much slimmer figure

Opting for an understated yet chic summery look, the TV chef donned a lightweight black one-piece, which featured a wraparound design on the torso.

But thanks to the garment's belted design, all eyes were drawn to Nigella's trim and slim waistline .

Keeping to her muted yet stylish theme, the best-selling author kept any chill in the beach breeze away thanks to a longline nutmeg cardigan.

Beach beauty: Looking fresh-faced as she headed to the city's famous beachfront on Sunday, the 56-year-old (pictured left in 2009) slipped into an understated black jumpsuit, which highlighted her svelte and trim frame

She finished her wardrobe off with a pair of camel suede trainers, which featured a glittering star print design.

Wearing her brunette locks in tousled, tumbling waves, the London-born star allowed her hair to fall to her shoulders and frame her face.

Wearing a minimal amount of make-up, the mother-of-two allowed her natural and pretty features to take centre-stage.

And Nigella looked less than her years would tell, as the actress sported a youthful and fresh-faced look - with her pale skin appearing almost line free.

A subtle show: Opting for an understated yet chic summery look, the TV chef donned a lightweight black one-piece, which featured a wraparound design on the torso

Keeping it simple: Keeping to her muted yet stylish theme, the best-selling author kept any chill in the beach breeze away thanks to a longline nutmeg cardigan

Natural beauty: Wearing her brunette locks in tousled, tumbling waves, the London-born star allowed her hair to fall to her shoulders and frame her face

Nigella was at the Grand Tasting Village Goya Foods Grand Tasting Village event, and looked to be in high spirits following her own event at the foodie festival.

The previous evening she had hosted a dinner at the ultra-chic Soho Beach House, which saw her rub shoulders with some of the US's top food-lovers and industry movers and shakers - including Tom Colicchio.

Opting for an all-black trouser suit combo, she one-again subtly highlighted her trim waistline which was emphasized by her black heels.

Toast of the town: The prior evening Nigella hosted her own bash at the Soho Beach House as part of the food festival

Her favorite colour? Opting for an all-black trouser suit combo, she one-again subtly highlighted her trim waistline which was emphasized by her black heels.

The famous chef has been busy since the New Year rolled around, and her jaunt to America follows a stint in Austraila where she has been filming the latest series of MasterChef Australia since the start of January.

Speaking about her decision to sign up for the show, she told News Corp: 'I can't think of a better way of starting the new year.

'MasterChef Australia is such a great program, and so passionately committed to good food, that I didn't have to think twice when I was invited to be part of this season.'

Transatlantic talent: At her party the London-born star rubbed shoulders with some of the US's top food-lovers and industry movers and shakers - including Tom Colicchio (pictured)

Fine food: Nigella was spotted leaving famous Italian restaurant Casa Tua holding a can of risotto

Relaxed: The celebrity chef dressed in a black jumpsuit covered with a flowing brown cardigan
The Gerard Butler v Nikolaj Coster Waldau fantasy flick Gods Of Egypt has flopped to a flaccid $14million opening weekend.

According to Variety, studio Lionsgate had hoped to replace its departing mega hit Divergent and Hunger Games franchises, with a number of sequels in mind.

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Didn't see that coming: Gods Of Egypt flopped to a $14million opening barely making one-tenth of its budget back

But after barely making one-tenth of its $140million budget back, that now looks unlikely.

Despite being in its third week, Deadpool still managed to make more than twice as much as Gods Of Egypt, raking in $31.5million this weekend alone.

This brings the Ryan Reynolds comic book anti-hero's total domestic tally to more than $285million, almost five times its $58million budget.

This makes it the third highest-grossing R-rated in US history, behind American Sniper ($350million) and The Passion of the Christ ($370million).

It's a Set up: Not even Gerard Butler's rugged good looks could save it

Merc with the money: Despite being in its third week, Deadpool still managed to make more than twice as much as Gods Of Egypt, raking in $31.5million this weekend alone

And according to Fox distribution chief Chris Aronson, the Merc with a Mouth could even end up bigger than Jesus.

'Its been a phenomenal run,' he said. 'Every week it has exceeded our modeling.'

Aside from the foul mouthed Marvel mercenary, it was a weekend of poor performances for opening films.

The next highest new entrant was Hugh Jackman's Olympic hopeful Eddie The Eagle, which crash landed at just $6.3million, a quarter of its $24million budget.

Hardly soaring: The next highest new entrant was Hugh Jackman's Olympic hopeful Eddie The Eagle, which crash landed at just $6.3million, a quarter of its $24million budget

Despite a strong cast of Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus, Woody Harrelson, Kate Winslet and Gal Gadot, crime thriller Triple 9 fell just behind that $6.1million.

Despite the underwhelming figures for Gods Of Egypt, the studio managed to protect itself from a major financial loss 'through a combination of foreign pre-sales' and a 46% production incentive from the Australian government for shooting in the country, Variety reported.

'We built a strong financial model so we could take a big swing in hopes of creating a new franchise with very little financial risk,' said David Spitz, co-president of domestic theatrical distribution at Lionsgate, which claims its exposure was under $10million

At least some of the snakes were dark: Gods of Egypt faced backlash last year for casting mostly white actors in a film based on Egyptian mythology

'The film didnt work as well as we hoped but fortunately our downside is very limited.'

Gods of Egypt faced backlash last year for casting mostly white actors in a film based on Egyptian mythology.

The film's director Alex Proyas, who was born in Egypt, apologized in a statement in November. Lionsgate issued a separate statement that said they are deeply committed to making films that reflect the diversity of their audiences and pledged to do better.

No triple figures: Despite a strong cast of Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Aaron Paul, Norman Reedus, Woody Harrelson, Kate Winslet and Gal Gadot, crime thriller Triple 9 fell just behind that $6.1million

'Lionsgate went for it, and I think the unpredictability of this marketplace made it too tough for them,' said Paul Dergarabedian, comScore's senior media analyst. 'I think we'll probably have to wait until 'Batman v Superman' to see another massive opening weekend.'

Meanwhile The Revenant was the only Academy Award contender to crack the weekend's Top ten with $3.8 million in its 10th week of release.

The survival epic leads Oscar nominees with 12 nods at Sunday's 88th annual ceremony, including best picture, best actor for Leonardo DiCaprio, best supporting actor for Tom Hardy and best director for Alejandro G Inarritu.
Clinton sweeps South Carolina primary as 'Super Tuesday' looms

Hillary Clinton scored a resounding victory against Bernie Sanders in Saturday's Democratic primary in South Carolina, seizing momentum ahead of the most important day of the nomination race: next week's "Super Tuesday" showdown.

Four weeks into the White House primaries, the former secretary of state earned her first decisive win of the campaign, after a nail-biter victory in Iowa, a thumping loss to Sanders in New Hampshire, and then a five-point win in Nevada.

South Carolina was the first southern state to vote for a 2016 Democratic nominee, before the race broadens to 11 contests across the country.

US Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton earned a decisive win in the first southern state to vote for a 2016 Democratic nominee, before the race broadens to 11 contests across the country Nicholas Kamm (AFP)

"Tomorrow this campaign goes national," Clinton said to a loud roar as she thanked supporters in Columbia, South Carolina, where she emerged with a clearer path to the nomination.

"We are going to compete for every vote in every state. We are not taking anything, and we are not taking anyone, for granted."

US networks called the race for Clinton immediately after polls closed in the Palmetto State, where the majority of Democratic voters are African-American, a voting bloc that she and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have successfully courted for decades.

Clinton also looked beyond her battle with Sanders, tweaking the man many now see as the likely Republican nominee: Donald Trump, whose campaign slogan is "Make America Great Again."

"Despite what you hear, we don't need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great," she said, reading off a teleprompter.

"But we do need to make America whole again," she added, laying out an argument against the divisive rhetoric favored by Trump, who has antagonized immigrants, Muslims and campaign rivals.

"I know it sometimes seems a little odd for someone running for president these days and in this time to say we need more love and kindness in America," she added. "But I am telling you from the bottom of my heart, we do."

- Redemption -

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton stood at 73.5 percent compared to 26 percent for Sanders.

The comprehensive victory marks a moment of redemption for Clinton who in 2008 lost badly in the state to Barack Obama -- his win here serving as a turning point for his ultimately victorious campaign.

Exit polls in South Carolina showed African-Americans -- who represented 61 percent of all Democratic voters in the primary -- backed Clinton by a stunning 86 percent, more than had supported Obama eight years prior.

Clinton assiduously courted black voters, in part by praising Obama and promising to build on his legacy.

She also campaigned alongside black surrogates, and visited African-American churches and historically black colleges.

South Carolina marked a "great test" for the coming votes in other southern states and showed that Clinton "can get a broad base of support of all demographics," her communications director Jennifer Palmieri told reporters, as the candidate shook hands and posed for selfies with supporters.

"This was significant. We were not expecting that decisive a victory," Palmieri added.

- 'Just beginning' -

Sanders a self-described democratic socialist seeking to launch a "political revolution" in America, was already looking past South Carolina.

Early Saturday he headed to Texas, where he addressed a crowd of 10,000 people, and then Minnesota, two states in play next Tuesday when the Vermont senator needs to keep his head above water if he wants to challenge Clinton deeper into the nomination race.

Sanders swiftly offered Clinton his congratulations, but also insisted he was in it for the long haul.

"Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning," he said in a statement after results came in.

Speaking at a rally in Rochester, Minnesota, Sanders made no mention of his loss in South Carolina, instead touching on familiar campaign themes.

"When you have billionaires and Wall Street and corporate America pouring hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars into the political process, that is not democracy, that is oligarchy," he told the crowd.

As the Democrats voted, the Republican race churned on as Trump traded barbs with rival Marco Rubio, who in recent days has launched a fierce assault on the billionaire real estate mogul.

"I want to save the (Republican) party from a con artist," Rubio, seen by many as the man best-positioned to topple Trump, said at a stop in Kennesaw, Georgia.

Rubio accosted Trump for "flying around on hair force one," and having "the worst spray tan in America."

Trump pushed back Saturday, blasting Rubio as a "lightweight" and a "liar."

"The Republican Establishment has been pushing for lightweight Senator Marco Rubio to say anything to 'hit' Trump," the billionaire posted on Twitter Sunday.

- 'Super Tuesday' -

Among Democrats, Clinton leads in the national delegate count at this early stage, having now won three of the first four nomination contests.

Gloria Major, a grandmother and campaign volunteer who supported Clinton in 2008, was among the ecstatic crowd listening to her victory speech in Columbia.

"She has been in battles, she is one woman that can lead this country," Major, who is black, told AFP. "For years she has had our best interest at heart."

The 11 states that hold Democratic nominating contests Tuesday will send a whopping 18 percent of the delegates to July's nominating convention in Philadelphia.

Clinton is ahead in most, but Sanders has the edge in Massachusetts and his home turf of Vermont.

Exit polls in South Carolina showed African-American voters backed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton by a stunning 86 percent Nicholas Kamm (AFP)

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders headed for Texas and Minnesota, two states in play next Tuesday when he needs to keep his head above water if he wants to challenge Hillary Clinton deeper into the nomination race Laura Buckman (AFP)
'Spotlight' wins big at Spirit Awards

"Spotlight" triumphed Saturday at the Spirit Awards, the latest of a string of honors it has picked up in Hollywood's annual prize giving season, with the Oscars just one day away.

The movie, about the Boston Globe's investigation into child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, took best film as well as best director for Tom McCarthy and best screenplay.

McCarthy paid tribute backstage to the Globe's reporters and to his star-studded cast featuring Mark Ruffalo, Liev Schreiber and Rachel McAdams.

"Spotlight" takes Best Film, Best Director and Best Screenplay at the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards on February 27, 2016 in Santa Monica, California Kevork Djansezian (Getty/AFP)

"I was really fortunate to get this cast. If you've seen my other movies I don't always go with the most well-known cast. But this really needed it," he said.

One of the stories of the ceremony, which opened amid thick fog on Santa Monica beach, was Ghanaian youngster Abraham Attah winning best actor for his portrayal of an African child soldier in "Beasts of No Nation."

Attah had never acted before he attended one of the open casting calls held in his hometown of Accra at the age of just 13.

His castmate, British actor Idriss Elba, picked up best supporting male as an army commandant in the film, and paid tribute to the people of Ghana.

"I'm half Ghanaian, it was my first time in Ghana. It was incredible, it was like a homecoming for me," he said.

Best actress went to Brie Larson, who is also tipped to win the category at the Oscars for playing a kidnapped mother in "Room."

One of the loudest cheers went to transgender actress Mya Taylor, who won best supporting female for drawing on her own experiences to portray a trans sex worker in "Tangerine."

"The struggle was real for me, and I got out of it," she told reporters.

The Film Independent Spirit Awards are seen as a strong indicator of independent movies that could win Oscar glory.

"Spotlight," which is competing with "The Revenant" and "The Big Short" in many of the main categories at Sunday's 88th Academy Awards, also won best editing and a special prize for its ensemble cast.

It has swept a string of honors ahead of the Oscars, including top prizes from the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America, as well as a screenplay award at Britain's BAFTAs.

McCarthy told reporters on the arrivals red carpet he hadn't felt any nerves ahead of the Spirit Awards -- but would be "a wreck" at the Oscars.

One disappointment at the Spirits was "Carol," the story of a 1950s housewife who falls for a store clerk.

Starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, it was nominated in six categories, including best feature, best director and best actress, but won just one trophy for Ed Lachman's cinematography.

Actor Abraham Attah (L) accepts the Best Male Lead award for 'Beasts of No Nation' at the Spirit Awards on February 27, 2016 in Santa Monica, California Kevork Djansezian (Getty/AFP)

Brie Larson accepts the Best Actress award for 'Room' at the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards on February 27, 2016 in Santa Monica, California Kevork Djansezian (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP)
Philippines hits out at Madonna over flag stunt

The Philippines criticised Madonna on Sunday for disrespecting its flag during a concert in Manila, and said it would call on organisers of future events to avoid similar incidents.

Photos from one of her two concerts last week published in local media showed the 57-year-old American mega-star draped in the Philippine flag.

While press reports said the audience roared its approval at the music icon, who was in the country as part of her global "Rebel Heart" tour, Filipino authorities were less amused.

Bouncers take a selfie in front of a poster advertising merchandise for the Madonna concert in Manila on February 24, 2016 Noel Celis (AFP)

"Our flag law is strict as we want to instill respect for the Philippine flag," presidential spokesman Herminio Coloma said in a statement.

"This should he made clear to organisers and performers in concerts so that there will be no repetition of the incident."

Coloma said in an earlier statement to AFP that the government was "keen" on banning the Queen of Pop from performing in the Philippines because of the controversy.

However Coloma later said the government did not want to ban her, and that the initial statement that it did was based on a wrong interpretation of comments by another presidential aide.

A 1998 law prescribes a one-year jail term, as well as a token fine, for wearing the Philippine flag "in whole or in part as a costume or uniform".

The flag flap was the second controversy provoked by Madonna's visit to the devoutly Catholic Asian nation.

A Catholic bishop last week called on the faithful to stay away from Madonna's sexually charged concerts, which often encompass religious themes, calling them the devil's work.

"Pinoys (Filipinos) and all God-loving people should avoid sin and occasions of sin," Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said in a statement posted on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines' official website.

Arguelles said the concerts, Madonna's first in the Philippines, were among "subtle attacks of the evil one".

During her Manila shows Madonna gyrated around a stripper pole shaped like a crucifix, accompanied by dancers dressed as scantily clad nuns.

The controversial star did not forget the less fortunate on her Philippine trip, however, tweeting photos showing her visiting children at a Manila orphanage run by nuns.

The star, now touring in Singapore, has yet to comment publicly on the flag furore.
Rouhani's allies make huge gains in Iran elections

Iran's moderate President Hassan Rouhani won strong public backing and his reformist allies made stunning gains in parliamentary elections, partial results showed Sunday, reducing the potential for opponents to block domestic reform plans.

The reformists scored a unanimous victory in Tehran, taking all 30 seats at the expense of conservatives, including several hardline critics of the landmark nuclear deal between Rouhani's government and world powers.

The declaration for the capital came with more than 90 percent of votes counted, but the outcome from Friday's polling was mixed elsewhere.

The election outcome is vital to President Hassan Rouhani's chances of introducing domestic reform Atta Kenare (AFP/File)

Conservatives retained a strong grip in other cities and provinces, meaning that no one political faction was likely to secure majority control of parliament.

An AFP tally of results from 206 of the remaining 260 seats had the main conservative list winning 61, the List of Hope alliance between pro-Rouhani reformists and moderates 43, and independents 51.

Among the independents, 25 have ties to conservatives, 16 are close to reformists and 10 have no known affiliation. A further 51 seats had no clear winner and will require a second round of voting in April or May.

Although Rouhani secured the nuclear agreement last July, ending a 13-year standoff with the West, and sanctions were lifted last month he has so far been unable to deliver even limited social, cultural or political change at home.

Support from reformists in the next parliament should make that easier, but the resurgent group is also likely to pressure the president for change and concrete progress on long-avoided difficult issues such as demands to free political prisoners.

In comments posted on Twitter beside a picture of smiling voters, young and old, Rouhani hailed the results of the first polls since the nuclear deal as a vote of confidence in the government.

- 'A new atmosphere' -

"With your skilful voting you've created a new atmosphere. In respect, I stand up before you, great nation, who are the pride of the history of the land of Iran," he wrote on Twitter.

The wins for reformists and losses for hardliners represent "a reaction against radicals" from the electorate, Amir Mohebbian, an analyst with close links to the government and conservatives, told AFP.

"But mistakes by the conservatives who supported radicals during the campaign were also to blame," he said.

The Tehran landslide was a stunning comeback for reformists, long sidelined after the disputed re-election in 2009 of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which was followed by bloody street protests in which dozens were killed.

Reformists said that ballot was rigged and their two defeated candidates, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, have been under house arrest since 2011. Many of their supporters were locked up.

The head of the pro-Rouhani coalition, Mohammad Reza Aref, a former vice president, was in first place in Tehran, with 1,403,608 votes.

Ali Motahari, an outspoken conservative MP who has spoken out against the house arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi, switched sides and joined the slate headed by Aref for this election. He was in second spot with 1,258,640 votes.

There was also good news for Rouhani and his key ally Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in the second election Iranians voted in on Friday, for the powerful Assembly of Experts, 88 clerics who monitor the work of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Two of three ayatollahs that the pro-Rouhani list had urged voters to reject -- Ahmad Jannati, Mohammad Yazdi and Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi -- were set to lose their seats, according to initial results.

- Top clerics may lose out -

Only Jannati, who chairs the conservative-dominated Guardian Council which must confirm the results of both elections, was safe, though he was well down the field in 15th place, just one spot within the 16 seats reserved for Tehran.

Yazdi, the current chair of the assembly, was in 17th position and Mesbah-Yazdi, a figure famously hostile to reformists, 19th.

Elected to an eight-year term, assembly members would pick Khamenei's successor should the 76-year-old die on their watch.

Rouhani and Rafsanjani, a former two-term president, held third and first places.

Rafsanjani has strongly supported Rouhani's diplomatic engagement on the nuclear talks, which included direct negotiations with the United States, the Islamic republic's bete noire since the 1979 revolution in Tehran.

Turnout in the election was solid at around 60 percent, slightly less than the 64 percent of 2012.

Khamenei acknowledged the participation late Sunday. "The future parliament has heavy duties," he said.

"The country's progress is the primary goal."

Final results are expected Monday or Tuesday, but even after all votes are counted by interior ministry officials, the Guardian Council's verification is not expected for several days.

Iranians hold their identification cards as they line up outside a polling station at the Massoumeh shrine in Qom, on February 26, 2016 Behrouz Mehri (AFP)

Iranian officials said millions had cast their ballots and estimated voter turnout at 60 percent Atta Kenare (AFP/File)

Elections in Iran Colin HENRY, Kun TIAN (AFP)
America's passion for guns intact as shooting toll rises

A rifle as new state symbol. A bill that lets young children use handguns under supervision. As mass shootings shatter lives, the fascination with firearms among many Americans shows little sign of fading.

Over the past week, two gunmen killed at least nine people in unrelated rampages in Michigan and Kansas.

Add to that the death in Indiana of a father who was accidentally shot by his six-year-old son who found a loaded revolver lying around and pulled the trigger.

The fascination with firearms among many Americans shows little sign of fading Uygar Onder Simsek (AFP)

President Barack Obama -- who offers his condolences to families of loved ones lost after each mass shooting -- has decried the "routine" nature of reporting about and responding to such tragedies.

But faced with a Republican-controlled Congress unwilling to move forward on the matter, Obama -- who made fighting gun violence his chief resolution for 2016 -- is left with his wheels spinning.

In January, he shed tears as he announced limited measures to tackle the rampant violence that kills around 30,000 Americans each year and called on citizens to punish lawmakers who oppose more meaningful reforms.

In the speech, Obama formally unveiled a handful of executive measures that will make it harder to buy and sell weapons, but which he admitted would not stop the scourge of mass shootings.

And in a country where there are more guns than people, and with Republicans vying to take back the White House in November, it remains to be seen, what -- if anything -- will change.

- Official state rifle -

Senators in Tennessee -- in a near unanimous vote -- designated a rifle that is said to be capable of destroying commercial aircraft as an official state symbol.

The .50-caliber Barrett, manufactured in the southern state, joins a range of other Tennessee state symbols. These include the mockingbird as "official state bird" and the raccoon as "official wild animal."

"These 'anti-materiel' sniping rifles can strike accurately from a distance of more than a mile" (1.6 kilometers), the Violence Policy Center, a non-profit organization that advocates for gun control said.

"They can penetrate light armor, down helicopters, destroy commercial aircraft, and blast through rail cars and bulk storage tanks filled with explosive or toxic chemicals, all with potentially catastrophic effect."

Still, the semi-automatic weapon is available for sale to civilians.

For the vast majority of Europeans, South Americans and Asians, there is little doubt that a firearm is best kept as far as possible from places where people live, let alone from children.

In the US state of Iowa, however, there was debate this week about whether the hand of a preschooler was big enough to hold a revolver.

In this Midwestern state, where conservative Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz won his party's first presidential nomination contest earlier this month, the House passed a bill 62 to 36 that would allow children under 14 to use handguns with parental supervision.

It is not unusual for some Americans to spend their free time at the gun range, with families sometimes going there both for a meal and to shoot.

"What this bill does, the bill before us, allows for one-year-olds, two-year-olds, three-year-olds, four-year-olds to operate handguns," said Kirsten Running-Marquardt, a Democratic Iowa state representative.

"We do not need a militia of toddlers. We do not have handguns that I am aware of that fit the hands of a one- or two-year-old."

The bill now heads to the state's Democratic-controlled Senate.

The backers of the bill point to the Second Amendment of the US Constitution and argue it should be up to parents to decide when the time is right to let their children use guns.

A person wearing a holstered gun listens to Republican presidential contender Senator Ted Cruz on February 21, 2016 in Pahrump, Nevada Ethan Miller (Getty/AFP)

Gun shop manager Mike Jones, 50, beside a display of automatic weapons in a gun store on February 23, 2016 in Simpsonville, South Carolina Mark Makela (Getty/AFP)
Israel hails Syria truce, warns against Iran 'aggression'

Israel on Sunday welcomed the fragile ceasefire in neighbouring Syria but warned it would not accept Iranian "aggression" or the supply of advanced weapons to Hezbollah.

"We welcome the efforts to reach a stable, long-term and feasible ceasefire in Syria," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting.

"Anything that can stop the terrible slaughter there is important, first and foremost from a humanitarian point of view."

Benjamin Netanyahu chairs the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem on February 28, 2016 Ronen Zvulin (pool/AFP)

The premier added however that "it's important it remains clear any agreement in Syria must include an end to Iranian aggression aimed at Israel from Syria's territory."

"We won't accept the supply of advanced arms to Hezbollah from Syria and Lebanon. We won't accept the creation of a second terror front on the Golan. These were, and remain, Israel's red lines."

The ceasefire, brokered by Washington and Moscow, appeared to be largely holding on Sunday, its second day.

Israel is reported to have carried out a series of raids in Syria targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah and the delivery of weapons to the Lebanese Shiite militia, which is supporting Syrian regime forces.

Israel has coordinated its actions with Russia since Moscow launched an air campaign against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's armed opponents in late September to avoid unintentional clashes.

Iran has remained a staunch ally of Assad, providing military advisers on the ground and "volunteers" to fight alongside regime forces.
Syria opposition says 15 truce breaches by regime, allies

Syria's main opposition grouping recorded 15 violations by government troops and allied forces on the first day of a landmark truce, a spokesman told reporters on Sunday.

"There were 15 violations by the regime forces on day one of the ceasefire, including two attacks by (Lebanese militant group) Hezbollah in Zabadani" west of Damascus, said Salem al-Meslet, spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee.

Speaking by telephone from Riyadh, Meslet said the HNC would be lodging a formal letter of complaint with UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the foreign ministers of the International Syria Support Group.

A Red Crescent convoy prepares to leave Damascus to the besieged areas of Madaya and Zabadani, on February 17, 2016 Louai Beshara (AFP)

The UN-backed deal came into effect on Saturday, with battle zones across the country going largely quiet despite some accusations of breaches.

The HNC announced earlier that 97 opposition factions had agreed to respect the truce, for two weeks initially.

Meslet said none of those groups had responded to the violations on Saturday.

"For the opposition forces there, nobody reacted because the decision is to remain quiet and I believe they will stick to the truce."

Meslet said the deal was "the first step in the right direction" to bring an end to the bloody conflict in Syria.

"The thing is, it is positive for us to see people relieved... We have violations here and there, but in general it is a lot better than before and people are comfortable," Meslet said.

"That is our main objective -- for our people there to be safe from this fear that has been there for five years now."
Arab League chief says will not seek second term

Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said Sunday he would not seek a second term as secretary general of the pan-Arab body after his present term ends in July.

Arabi, 80, took over as League chief from fellow Egyptian diplomat Amr Moussa in 2011.

He had served as foreign minister in the Egyptian government that came to power after the ouster of longtime president Hosni Mubarak earlier that year.

Nabil al-Arabi has headed the Arab League since 2011 Mohamed El-Shahed (AFP)

"I have asked the Egyptian government not to think about renewing my mandate," Arabi told reporters at the League's headquarters in Cairo, adding that his present tenure would end in early July.

Traditionally, the secretary general of Arab League has held the post for two terms, and Cairo has always insisted that it be held by an Egyptian diplomat.
Gunmen kill pro-govt Sunni cleric in Yemen's Aden

Gunmen killed a pro-government Sunni Salafist cleric on Sunday in Yemen's main southern city of Aden, home to a growing jihadist presence, a security official said.

Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Adani was shot dead as he was heading to a mosque near his home, the official said.

Adani headed a Salafist religious school which attracts both local and foreign students.

Fighters loyal to Yemen's Saudi-backed President, patrol a street in the Khor Maksar neighbourhood of Aden Saleh Al-Obeidi (AFP)

He was known for his stance against the Shiite Huthi rebels as well as against the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda which are becoming increasingly active in Aden, sources there said.

According to Zaid al-Sallami, an Aden-based expert on Islamist groups, Adani was known for "rejecting violence and terrorism".

His murder was an attempt to "push moderate Salafist youths towards violence", Sallami said.

Al-Qaeda and IS have stepped up attacks in Aden despite the efforts of the government and its backers in a Saudi-led coalition battling the Huthis and their allies to secure it.

In another sign of growing unrest in Aden, clashes broke out near the entrance to the presidential palace in the port city's Crater district between presidential guards and soldiers demanding their salaries, an official told AFP.

The fighting spread to nearby residential districts and there were casualties, the official and residents said.

President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's internationally recognised government has declared Aden the country's provisional capital after the Huthis and their allies drove it out of Sanaa and much of northern Yemen since September 2014.

The rebels controlled Aden for months before government loyalists pushed them out in July.
Russia grounds its warplanes in Syria

MOSCOW (AP)  Russia has grounded its warplanes in Syria to help secure a cease-fire brokered by Moscow and Washington that entered into force Saturday, a top military official said.

Lt.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the General Staff of Russia's military said that while Russia will continue air strikes against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida's branch in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, it is keeping its aircraft on the ground for now "to avoid any possible mistakes."

Rudskoi said that 17 opposition units have contacted the Russian military to adhere to the truce that became effective at midnight local time.

Lt.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian Military General Staff, speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. A top military official says Russia has halted all airstrikes in areas of Syria where armed groups, including government forces, said they would abide by a cease-fire. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

He said the Russian military had established hotlines to exchange information with the U.S. military in order to help monitor the cease-fire and quickly respond to any conflict situations.

Rudskoi said that Russia has given the U.S. maps showing the location of opposition groups pledging to abide by the cease-fire as well as IS and al-Nusra units. He said 74 opposition units including more than 6,100 fighters have agreed to adhere to the truce.

The U.S., in its turn, also has provided the Russian Defense Ministry with similar maps and its own list of opposition units, which have agreed to respect the cease-fire.

Rudskoi said that a rebel unit that accidentally comes under attack should contact Russian or U.S. representatives who would quickly "take measures to end the violation and quickly de-escalate tensions."

"Russia is fully observing its obligations under the cease-fire," he said. "But it doesn't mean that the IS and Jabha al-Nusra militants can breathe a sigh of relief. The fight against bandit groups considered terrorist by the United Nations will continue."

He said that Russia is using 70 drones along with satellites and other intelligence means to monitor the situation in Syria.

The Russian coordination center at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria's coastal province of Latakia where Russian warplanes are based has 61 officers, who negotiate with groups willing to join the cease-fire and coordinate the deliveries of humanitarian aid.

The center chief, Lt.-Gen. Sergei Kuralenko, who spoke via a video link from the base, said fighting has stopped in 34 towns and villages in the provinces of Hama, Homs, Damascus. He added that his officers are currently preparing cease-fire documents for another 47 towns.

Lt.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoy of the Russian Military General Staff, speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. A top military official says Russia has halted all airstrikes in areas of Syria where armed groups, including government forces, said they would abide by a cease-fire. The screen shows, at right, a commander of the opposition unit that pledged adherence to the cease fire; at left, Lt.-Gen. Sergei Kuralenko at Hemeimeem airbase in Syria. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
Rubio tax returns show steady salary, boosted by book deals

WASHINGTON (AP)  Marco Rubio released summaries of his last five years of tax filings on Saturday, revealing him to be a candidate with a senator's steady annual income of $176,000 who reaped repeated windfalls from book deals. During his first four years in the Senate, Rubio and his wife, Jeanette, together earned an average of $531,000 a year.

Since winning election to an office in Washington, Rubio's income has ranged from $276,059 to $938,963, and he has paid between $46,500 and $254,894 in federal income tax. A comparison with personal Senate financial disclosures shows most of the income came from a business that collected royalties on two books: Rubio's memoir, "An American Son," and a pre-campaign tract, "American Dreams."

In 2012, Rubio's most lucrative year, his effective tax rate topped out at a little more than 31 percent. But by 2014  the last year for which a return summary is available  the family's income dropped to $335,963, an amount on which the Rubios paid a 24 percent tax rate. Rubio's earnings that year were padded by cashing out $68,241 from his retirement savings.

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks to the media before he speaks to a crowd at Mount Paran Christian School, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, in Kennesaw, Ga. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

The tax documents Rubio has released are not complete tax filings, as Mitt Romney provided in 2012 and Hillary Clinton produced last year. Instead, Rubio released the first two pages of his 1040 form, which summarizes the details of his income and taxes.

Rubio's release of his most recent tax returns comes after Republican front-runner Donald Trump said in Thursday's GOP debate that his tax returns have been the subject of audits for at least a dozen consecutive years. He said he would not release them until that process concludes.

"We're putting these out today to put pressure on Trump and the other candidates to release theirs," said Rubio campaign spokesman Alex Conant. "To the extent there are additional questions about Marco, we won't rule out providing more information in the future."

The disclosure made Rubio the first of the top three Republican candidates to fulfill pledges to disclose their tax information. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz posted his returns on his campaign website late Saturday.

For Rubio, the records add to 10 years of previous tax returns he released when running for the Senate. Those returns show how the young lawmaker's finances benefited from high-paying jobs at law firms as he rose in state and national politics.

In 2000, Rubio and his wife reported a combined income of $82,710. The family's income grew to more than $330,000 in 2005, the year he became speaker of the House in Florida, and by the time he left the statehouse in 2008, he reported nearly $400,000 in income.

Between 2004 and 2008, Rubio gave nearly $50,000 to Christ Fellowship in Miami and more than $16,000 to First Baptist Church of Perrine, Florida, according to the documents released at the time.

No such calculation of charitable contributions is possible for the years covered in Saturday's release, however, because Rubio did not make public the part of his tax returns that itemizes deductions.

The returns Rubio released on Saturday do shed a bit more light on his wife's business relationship with a family foundation connected to Norman Braman, a wealthy Miami car dealer and Rubio supporter.
The Latest: Police defend response to violence at KKK rally

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP)  The Latest on the stabbings at a Ku Klux Klan gathering in Southern California Saturday (all times local):

9:30 p.m.

Anaheim's police chief is defending his department's response to a violent clash between a small group of Ku Klux Klan members staging an anti-immigration rally and a larger gathering of counter-protests, resulting in three people stabbed and 12 arrested.

A Ku Klux Klansman, left, uses an American flag to fend off angry counter protesters after members of the KKK tried to start a "White Lives Matter" rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim, Calif., on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. The event quickly escalated into violence and at least two people had to be treated at the scene for stab wounds. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via AP)

Chief Raul Quezada said in a statement Saturday that his department was aware of the planned KKK rally as well as the counter protest, and that a contingent of officers were assigned to the gathering at a city park and they were able to swiftly arrest all the suspects.

Quezada said his department prides itself in accommodating people's right to demonstrate and express their freedom of speech, but that unfortunately a handful of people committed to criminal behavior caused the violence.

He vowed to take a critical look at how his department handled the incident.

___

7:45 p.m.

Police said a man who was stabbed and critically injured during a violent clash between Ku Klux Klan members and counter-protesters has been upgraded to stable condition.

He was one of three men who were stabbed Saturday by Anaheim's Pearson Park.

___

4:36 p.m.

A university researcher who witnessed the violent attack between Ku Klux Klan members and counter-protesters says he saw no uniformed police at an Anaheim park 3 miles from Disneyland when the brawl began.

Brian Levin, director of California State University, San Bernardino's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, says KKK members were quickly attacked by counter-protesters after arriving at Pearson Park Saturday afternoon.

Levin says he feared the Klansmen would be stomped to death.

Anaheim police had notified the public about the planned KKK protest Friday and said they would be "monitoring the situation for any violations of law." The department also said that while the group's signs and fliers might be provocative, they are protected by the First Amendment.

Sgt. Daron Wyatt says police were present when violence erupted.

___

3:13 p.m.

A Ku Klux Klan leader says his members were holding a peaceful anti-immigration demonstration when violence broke out.

Chris Barker, who identified himself as the "imperial wizard" of the Loyal White Knights of the KKK, says his members were defending themselves.

He added, "If we're attacked we will attack back."

Police say three counter-protesters at the KKK rally were stabbed by Klan members. Six Klan members are in custody in connection with the stabbings.

Seven counter-protesters have also been detained. Authorities say they stomped on two Klan members.

___

2:44 p.m.

Authorities say 13 people are in custody following a violent altercation that left three people stabbed at a Ku Klux Klan gathering in Southern California.

A spokesman with the Anaheim Police Department says six of those arrested are Klan supporters and seven counter-protesters.

All three people who were stabbed are believed to be counter-protesters. One person is in critical condition.

Sgt. Daron Wyatt says a Klan member was stomped on by counter-protesters during another altercation.

The KKK has a long history in Southern California, with Klansmen holding elected office in Anaheim in the 1920s.

___

1:26 p.m.

Police say two people have been stabbed at a Ku Klux Klan gathering in Southern California.

Sgt. Daron Wyatt with the Anaheim Police Department tells The Associated Press two people who were part of a counter-protest at a KKK gathering Saturday afternoon in Anaheim were stabbed in separate incidents.

One person is in custody in one of the stabbings.

Wyatt says a Klan member was stomped on by counter-protesters during another altercation. Three people have been detained.

No information on any of victims' conditions was immediately available.

Authorities say the investigation is ongoing.

Counter protesters scuffle with a Ku Klux Klansman after members of the KKK tried to start a "White Lives Matter" rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. The event quickly escalated into violence and at least two people had to be treated at the scene for stab wounds, (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via AP)

A counter protester tries to tear off the shirt of a Ku Klux Klansman after members of the KKK tried to start a "White Lives Matter" rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. The event quickly escalated into violence and at least two people had to be treated at the scene for stab wounds. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times via AP)
Services held for 4 of 6 Kalamazoo shooting victims

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP)  Four of the six victims of a shooting rampage were remembered Saturday at funerals and memorials, a week after they were randomly killed in southwestern Michigan.

Somber gatherings were held in Bridgman, Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. Motorcycles joined a procession to a church for Richard Smith and his 17-year-old son, Tyler, who were shot while looking at new cars.

"Rejoice, change the world  that's what defines the two of them," the Rev. Paul Fazio told hundreds of people at Calvary Bible Church in Kalamazoo. "We cannot let this define who we are. Both Tyler and Rich would be sad and they would be mad if this tragedy defined us from this point on."

A rocking chair and children books are pictured during a memorial service held Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, for Mary L. Nye, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Bridgman, Mich. Nye was one of six people killed in the Feb. 20, 2016, shootings in Kalamazoo, Mich. (Don Campbell/The Herald-Palladium via AP)

Jason Dalton, 45, is charged with murder and attempted murder. Police say he shot people outside an apartment building, a restaurant and a car dealership, in between driving people for Uber.

He didn't know the victims, and a motive has not been disclosed.

In Bridgman, mourners offered condolences to the family of Mary Lou Nye at Immanuel Lutheran Church. Her photo was displayed at the front of the church, surrounded by flowers.

Speakers recalled her love of children  and her famous zucchini bread.

"If she wasn't rocking an infant in a rocker, she was reading a story to a child in our toddler room," Barb Ackerman said.

A service honoring Barbara Hawthorne was held Saturday at Battle Creek First Assembly. A service for Mary Jo Nye will be held Sunday in Battle Creek. Dorothy Brown's private service was on Friday.

Two other people were wounded.

Part of a funeral processional honoring Richard and Tyler Smith in Kalamazoo, Mich. on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. The father and son were two of the six victims of a mass shooting that occurred in Kalamazoo on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016. (Chelsea Purgahn/Kalamazoo Gazette-MLive Media Group via AP)

William Davidson, center, and David Buskirk, right, speak with Richard Smith's mother and Tyler Smith's grandmother before a funeral processional honoring Richard and Tyler in Kalamazoo, Mich. on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. The father and son were two of the six victims of a mass shooting that occurred in Kalamazoo on Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016. (Chelsea Purgahn/Kalamazoo Gazette-MLive Media Group via AP)
Former NYC Mayor Dinkins still hospitalized for pneumonia

NEW YORK (AP)  Former Mayor David Dinkins is still recovering from pneumonia at a New York City hospital.

A spokeswoman for the 88-year-old Dinkins said Saturday that he remains in intensive care at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Lynda Hamilton said he's getting "needed rest" and is "definitely sounding better with each day."

He was admitted on the evening of Feb. 18.

FILE- In this Sept. 20, 2014 file photo, former New York City Mayor David Dinkins attends a memorial service for actress Ruby Dee at The Riverside Church in New York. Dinkins remains hospitalized at New York Presbyterian Hospital as he battles pneumonia. The 88-year-old former mayor was admitted to the hospital on Feb. 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)

Dinkins was treated for pneumonia at the same hospital in 2013.

He was the first black mayor of the nation's largest city. The Democrat served one term, from 1990 to 1993.
The Latest: Officer killed was Marine Corps reservist

WOODBRIDGE, Va. (AP)  The Latest on three police officers being shot while responding to a domestic related incident. (all times local):

1:50 p.m.

The principal of Merrimack High School said a moment of silence will be held in honor of Ashley Guindon, the Virginia police officer who was shot and killed by a suspect after she responded to a domestic violence call at the suspect's home.

Police remain on the scene late Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, on Lashmere Court in Dale City, Va., where three Prince William County police officers were shot responding to a domestic violence call. Police said Officer Ashley Guindon died in the shooting. (AP Photo/Matthew Barakat)

Principal Ken Johnson said in a letter to the school board and staff that he had "sad and tragic news, the loss of a student."

Guindon, 28, was a 2005 graduate of the high school.

Guindon was one of three officers shot. The other two officers are expected to recover.

Ronald Hamilton, 32, of Woodbridge, Virginia, is jailed on murder charges and faces arraignment Monday. He is accused of killing not only Guindon but also his 29-year-old wife, Crystal Hamilton.

___

1:20 p.m.

The Virginia police officer who was shot and killed after responding to a domestic violence call on Saturday was a former Marine Corps reservist and had a master's degree in forensic science.

Police Chief Stephan Hudson of Prince William County says Ashley Guindon, 28, went through training with the department last year before leaving for personal reasons. She rejoined the department this year, and Saturday was her first day on patrol.

"We were struck by her passion to do this job," Hudson said. "She did share with us when we rehired her that she felt like she wanted to do this job. She couldn't get it out of her blood."

Ronald Hamilton, 32, is being held without bond in the county detention center on charges that include murder of a law enforcement officer.

Two other officers were hospitalized with injuries.

___

12:50 p.m.

The Virginia man facing murder charges in the shooting deaths of a police officer and another person has been identified as an Army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon.

Ronald Hamilton is being held without bond in the Prince William County Adult Detention Center on charges that include murder of a law enforcement officer. He is accused of shooting and killing Officer Ashley Guindon after she answered a domestic violence call at the Hamilton home Saturday evening. Two other officers are undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Cindy Your, a Defense Information Systems Agency spokeswoman based at Fort Meade, Maryland, said Hamilton is an active duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Joint Staff Support Center at the Pentagon.

Hamilton faces arraignment on Monday.

___

11 a.m.

Authorities have identified a man suspected of killing a Prince William County police officer as Ronald Hamilton of Woodbridge, Virginia.

Officer Brandon Carpenter at the county's adult detention center says Hamilton is being held without bond at the jail on charges including murder of a law enforcement officer. Hamilton faces other charges, including a separate first-degree murder charge. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

The shooting occurred Saturday evening at Hamilton's home, where neighbors say he lived with his wife and their 10-year-old son.

Officer Ashley Guindon was fatally shot while responding to a reported domestic dispute at the home that left one other person dead. Authorities have not identified the other victim. Two other police officers were wounded.

___

1 a.m.

More than 100 patrol cars lined the roads outside Inova Fairfax Hospital early Sunday morning to stand vigil and provide escort to the medical examiner for the body of slain a slain Prince William County police officer.

Prince William County police say Officer Ashley Guindon was shot and killed Saturday responding to a domestic violence call. Two other officers were also shot and taken to the hospital. Their conditions are not known.

Police say Guindon had been sworn in as an officer on Friday and was on first shift Saturday when she was shot.

Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert says he has authorized a capital murder charge, along with other counts, against the suspect, who is a military serviceman. He has not been identified.

____

11:30 p.m.

Authorities say the suspect accused of killing a police officer and another woman is a military serviceman.

Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert says he has authorized a capital murder charge, along with other counts, against the suspect, who has not been identified.

Police say Officer Ashley Guindon, who was sworn in Friday and started her first shift Saturday, died from her injuries after responding to a "verbal argument" Saturday. The condition of the two other officers shot is not known.

Virginia law allows for the death penalty for the murder of a police officer.

Ebert said the suspect will make his first court appearance on Monday.

Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Saturday night that a woman was killed in the dispute but police declined to confirm a woman died in the domestic violence call. Corey also said there was a child in the house who was not injured.

A photo provided by the Prince William County Police Department shows, from the left, Officer Steven Kendall, and Officer Ashley Guindon with Lt. Col. Barry Bernard, deputy chief of the Prince William County, Va., Police Department. Officer Ashley Guindon was shot and killed Saturday, Feb. 28, 2016, and two of her colleagues were wounded in a confrontation stemming from a call about an argument. Guindon and Kendall were sworn in on Friday, and Guindon was working her first shift with the Prince William County Police Department when she was killed. (Prince William County Police Department via AP)

More than 100 patrol cars line the roads outside Inova Fairfax Hospital early Sunday morning, Feb. 29, 2016, to stand vigil and provide escort to the medical examiner for the body of slain Prince William County police officer Ashley Guindon, who was shot and killed Saturday responding to a domestic violence call. Two other officers were also shot and taken to the hospital. Guindon had been sworn in as an officer on Friday. (AP Photo/Matthew Barakat)

This February 2016 photo provided by the Prince William County Police shows Ronald Hamilton, who is being held without bond in the Prince William County Adult Detention Center on charges that include murder of a law enforcement officer. (Prince William County Police via AP)

This undated photo provided by the Prince William County Police shows Officer David McKeown, who responded to a domestic violence call Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, in Woodbridge, Va. McKeown and another officer were injured and a third officer was killed while responding to the call. (Prince William County Police via AP)

This undated photo provided by the Prince William County Police shows Officer Jesse Hempen, who responded to a domestic violence call Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, in Woodbridge, Va. Hempen and another officer were injured and a third officer was killed while responding to the call. (Prince William County Police via AP)

This undated photo provided by the Prince William County Police shows Officer Ashley Guindon. Ronald Williams Hamilton is being held without bond in the Prince William County Adult Detention Center on charges that include murder of a law enforcement officer, Guindon. (Prince William County Police via AP)
Jiyai Shin wins Australian Ladies Masters by 3 strokes

GOLD COAST, Australia (AP)  Former No. 1 Jiyai Shin has added the Australian Ladies Masters to her career victory total after shooting a 4-under 69 for a three-stroke win Sunday at Royal Pines.

The South Korean, who has twice won the Women's British Open, led by two strokes after the third round and completed a 14-under total of 278. England's Holly Clyburn shot a closing 70 to finish in second place.

Tied for third were Nicole Broch Larsen of Denmark (68) and Sweden's Camilla Lennarth (71), four behind Shin. Katie Burnett of the United States shot 71 and was tied for fifth, six behind.

Canadian Brooke Henderson, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 11, shot 75 and finished at 5-under, nine strokes behind and tied for eighth.

Shin birdied three of her final four holes in gusty conditions.

"This is a challenging course and I was very focused," she said. "But I was also relaxed and confident because I have had a lot of experience in the wind."

Three-time winner Laura Davies of England criticized the revamped Royal Pines layout after closing with a 73 to be 16-over for the tournament.

Davies slumped to one of the worst rounds of her career on Saturday with an 85.

"I don't like the changes," said Davies. "The rough is too long, greens far too firm and bunkers very difficult."

At the end of the day, Shin celebrated with traditional Australian fare.
Former Klan leader at center of latest GOP campaign joust

LEESBURG, Va. (AP)  Republican front-runner Donald Trump drew sharp criticism from his rivals in both parties Sunday for refusing to denounce an implicit endorsement from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, raising the specter of racism as the presidential campaign hits the South.

Trump was asked on CNN's "State of the Union" whether he rejected support from the former KKK Grand Dragon and other white supremacists after Duke told his radio followers this week that a vote against Trump was equivalent to "treason to your heritage."

"Well, just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke. OK?" Trump said. "I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists."

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets supporters at her election night watch party after winning the South Carolina Democratic primary in Columbia, S.C., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Trump's comments came the same day he retweeted a quote from Benito Mussolini, the 20th century fascist dictator of Italy. And in a boost for his campaign in the South, he scored the endorsement of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, one of the most strident opponents of immigration reform on Capitol Hill.

But it was Trump's statements about Duke that sparked a wave of censures with just two days to go before 11 states hold GOP primaries involving about a quarter of the party's total nominating delegate count. Several states in the South, a region with a fraught racial history, are among those voting in the Super Tuesday contests.

Marco Rubio quickly pounced on Trump's comments, saying the GOP "cannot be a party who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan."

"Not only is that wrong, it makes him unelectable," Rubio told thousands of supporters gathered in Leesburg, Virginia. "How are we going to grow the party if we nominate someone who doesn't repudiate the Ku Klux Klan?"

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called Trump's comments "Really sad."

"You're better than this," Cruz wrote on Twitter. "We should all agree, racism is wrong, KKK is abhorrent."

Trump has won three of four early voting states, roiling a party divided over the prospect of the brash billionaire becoming its nominee. Late Sunday, Nebraska's Ben Sasse became the first sitting Republican senator to say explicitly that he would not back Trump if he does win the nomination.

"If Trump becomes the Republican nominee my expectation is that I'll look for some 3rd candidate  a conservative option, a constitutionalist," Sasse wrote on Twitter.

With a strong showing on Super Tuesday, Trump could begin to pull away from his rivals in the all-important delegate count.

In the Southern states that vote Tuesday, Republican candidates will face an electorate that is overwhelmingly white. In South Carolina, the only Southern state to have voted so far, 96 percent of the GOP primary electorate was white, while 6 in 10 voters in the Democratic race were black.

While the South was once a Democratic stronghold, many white conservatives who backed the party started moving toward the GOP during the civil rights movement. Trump has borrowed from the rhetoric former President Richard Nixon used during that time to appeal to working-class white voters, describing his campaign has a movement of the "silent majority."

Trump holds commanding leads across the South, with the exception of Cruz's home state of Texas, a dynamic that puts tremendous pressure on Rubio and Cruz as they try to outlast each other and derail the real estate mogul.

Trump was asked Friday by journalists how he felt about Duke's support. He said he didn't know anything about it and curtly said: "All right, I disavow, ok?"

The billionaire hasn't always claimed ignorance on Duke's history. In 2000, he wrote a New York Times op-ed explaining why he abandoned the possibility of running for president on the Reform Party ticket. He wrote of an "underside" and "fringe element" of the party, concluding, "I leave the Reform Party to David Duke, Pat Buchanan and Lenora Fulani. That is not company I wish to keep."

Democrat Bernie Sanders also lashed out at his Republican rival on Twitter, writing: "America's first black president cannot and will not be succeeded by a hatemonger who refuses to condemn the KKK."

Trump also garnered backlash for retweeting a quote from Mussolini, which read: "It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep."

Trump told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, "I know who said it. But what difference does it make whether it's Mussolini or somebody else? It's certainly a very interesting quote."

Rubio and Cruz, two first-term senators, continued a personal and policy-based barrage against Trump, warning his nomination would be catastrophic for the party in November and beyond.

"We're about to lose the conservative movement to someone who's not a conservative and (lose) the party of Lincoln and Reagan to a con artist," Rubio said Sunday on Fox News.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton, who received another burst of momentum Saturday after her lopsided victory in South Carolina, turned her attention to the Republican field on Sunday, all-but-ignoring rival Bernie Sanders during campaign events in Tennessee.

Starting her morning with stops at two Memphis churches, Clinton offered an implicit critique of Trump, issuing a call to unite the nation and asking worshippers to reject "the demagoguery, the prejudice, the paranoia."

Asked by actor Tony Goldwyn, who later campaigned with Clinton in Nashville, about her thoughts on Duke's support for Trump, Clinton described it, simply, as "pathetic."

Trump also rejected calls from Rubio  who he repeatedly referred to Sunday as "Little Marco"  and Cruz to release his tax returns, saying he can't share returns that are under IRS audit. The senators on Saturday released summary pages of several years' worth of their personal returns. Trump says he's already shared his personal financial details in separate disclosure forms.

Separately, Cruz warned the "Trump train" could become "unstoppable" if he rolls to big victories Tuesday. Cruz cast Trump as a carbon copy Clinton and suggested that not even Trump "knows what he would do" as president.

Still, Cruz confirmed to CNN's Jake Tapper that he "will support the Republican nominee, period, the end." Rubio has sidestepped questions about whether he could support Trump.

___

Associated Press reporters Laurie Kellman and Julie Pace in Washington and

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., pauses while speaking at a campaign rally at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, Minn., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, right, introduces Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, at a rally at Millington Regional Airport in Millington, Tenn., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio shakes hands during rally at U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., Saturday Feb. 27, 2016 (Bob Gathany/AL.com via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Gail DeLong of Mineola holds up a Ted Cruz sign during a campaign stop by Heidi Cruz at the University of Texas at Tyler Ornelas Activity Center Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016 in Tyler, Texas. Heidi Cruz campaigned for her husband Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz. (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph via AP) (Sarah A. Miller/Tyler Morning Telegraph)
Trump: Judge's ethnicity matters in Trump University suit

BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP)  Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is trying to deflect attention from a class-action civil lawsuit involving the former Trump University by pointing to the ethnic background of the judge in the case.

Asked on "Fox News Sunday" what U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's ethnicity has to do with the lawsuit against him, Trump replied:

"I think it has to do perhaps with the fact that I'm very, very strong on the border, very, very strong at the border, and he has been extremely hostile to me," Trump said.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, center right, speaks with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, center left, following a rally at Millington Regional Airport in Millington, Tenn., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

According to the California class-action complaint in front of Curiel, a one-year apprenticeship that Trump University students were promised ended after students paid for a three-day seminar. Attendees who were promised a personal photo with Trump received only the chance to take a photo with a cardboard cutout. And many instructors were bankrupt real estate investors.

Trump University emerged as a campaign issue at Thursday's GOP debate, raised by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

"There are people who borrowed $36,000 to go to Trump University, and they're suing now  $36,000 to go to a university that's a fake school," Rubio said. "And you know what they got? They got to take a picture with a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump."

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz jumped in, adding: "It's a fraud case. ... I want you to think about, if this man is the nominee, having the Republican nominee on the stand in court, being cross-examined about whether he committed fraud."

At a rally in Arkansas on Saturday, Trump took a break from his standard campaign speech to downplay the lawsuit pending against the business, which was founded by Trump and offered students instruction on real estate investments.

"It's a small deal, very small," Trump said of the suit, which could force him to take the stand this summer.

Trump specifically railed against the judge in the case, and at one point noted the judge's Hispanic ethnicity.

Trump claimed the case should have been thrown out years ago, "but because it was me and because there's a hostility toward me by the judge - tremendous hostility - beyond belief." He then noted, as an aside: "I believe he happens to be Spanish, which is fine. He's Hispanic  which is fine."

A message left for Curiel, was not immediately returned. Curiel is a judge in the Southern District of California and based in San Diego.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office has filed a separate civil $40 million complaint against Trump University in state court, accused Trump of "racial demagoguery." Schneiderman sued Trump University in 2013 alleging it committed fraud and fleeced 5,000 people out of millions of dollars.

"I will not engage in a debate about ongoing litigation," Schneiderman said in a statement issued after Trump made his comments. "But there is no place in this process for racial demagoguery directed at respected members of the judiciary."

Schneiderman noted that New York's state Supreme Court ruled that Trump University operated illegally in New York as an unlicensed educational institution.

Schneiderman's suit alleges that Trump University falsely promoted itself as an educational institution even after the state education department warned it to stop. The complaint accuses Trump of falsely promising that Trump University students would receive intense training from experts hand-picked by Trump himself.

During breaks in the seminars, Schneiderman's complaint alleges, participants were urged to call their credit card companies and ask to increase their credit limits. Once the credit lines were secured, Trump University staff tried to persuade students to pay for additional services.

Trump, at the rally, dismissed the cases as the work of "a sleazebag law firm" and suggested that Schneiderman's intervention was politically motivated.

"I could've settled this suit numerous times. Could settle it now. But I don't like settling suits," Trump said.

___

Horwitz reported from Washington.

___
Turkey raises anti-smuggling steps but faces uphill struggle

ANKARA, Turkey (AP)  Turkey all but turned a blind eye last year as more than 850,000 people, most of them Syrians, slipped into Greece from Turkey on smugglers' boats. Now it's promised the European Union that will change.

Since reaching a deal with the EU in November, Turkey has stepped up its counter-smuggling efforts, increasing sea patrols, detaining thousands before they make the sea crossings, cracking down on trafficking groups and raiding workshops that produce bogus lifejackets or dinghies.

In return for trying to stem the flux, Turkey is set to receive a 3 billion-euro ($3.3 billion) fund to help it deal with the refugee crisis, a much-awaited easing of EU visa restrictions for Turkish citizens and sped-up EU membership talks.

A Syrian refugee is helped by volunteers to leave a sinking dinghy at a beach on the southeastern island of Lesbos, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Greece is mired in a full-blown diplomatic dispute with some EU countries over their border slowdowns and closures. Those border moves have left Greece and the migrants caught between an increasingly fractious Europe, where several countries are reluctant to accept more asylum-seekers, and Turkey, which has appeared unwilling or unable to staunch the torrent of people leaving in barely seaworthy smuggling boats for Greek islands. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

The government  under pressure to get results before a key meeting March 7 with the EU  is upbeat, insisting the measures have already made a "visible difference." But the thousands of migrants still entering Greece every week paint a different picture, underscoring the uphill battle that Turkey and Europe face.

"There has been a visible decrease in the numbers of migrants crossing illegally," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told journalists. But he quickly added: "To reduce the numbers to zero, however, is impossible. No country has the power to do so."

The International Organization for Migration says more than 102,500 people have crossed into Greece and more than 7,500 into Italy this year. Last year, that number wasn't reached before June.

For Turkey to take control of a land-and-sea border that exceeds 10,000 kilometers (6,215 miles) is a huge challenge. The Aegean coast is deeply indented by coves and bays, a perfect venue for smugglers. A senior Turkish government official conceded that stemming the tide of refugees is a "complex task" and it would take time for Turkey's "major efforts" to produce results. He requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

In response to the crisis, NATO has ordered three warships to sail to the Aegean Sea to help Greece, Turkey and the EU border agency Frontex conduct sea patrols.

In the meantime, Turkey has its own migration issues. The number of refugees Turkey is now hosting has swelled to 3 million  2.6 million of them from Syria  so that last year Turkey overtook Pakistan as the country with the largest refugee population in the world. Along with that, Turkey remains on the main transit route for migrants heading to Europe.

Turkey last year stopped 156,000 migrants attempting to make the illegal journey, including 91,000 caught at sea, Kurtulmus said. It also apprehended nearly 4,800 smugglers in 2015, half of who are on trial or face prosecution, he said.

Last month, Turkey started to require Syrians arriving from third countries to apply for visas in a bid to exclude those who aim to continue on to Greece. It also has agreed to grant work permits to Syrians as an incentive for them to stay in Turkey.

The government has vowed to increase the coast guard's ability to patrol the coast and plans to pass a law that would make human smuggling an organized crime or even a "terror crime," allowing courts to hand down stiffer punishment.

To encourage refugees to build new lives in Turkey, Ankara has also vowed to make sure that all school-aged Syrian refugee children attend school in the 2016-2017 academic year. Currently, only 350,000 of the approximately 650,000 refugee children go to school, a government official said.

In a dramatic police operation last month, authorities raided workshops in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir and elsewhere that were manufacturing defective lifejackets that were being sold to migrants. More than 1,200 lifejackets were seized. Earlier this month, police also raided three factories in Izmir that were producing poor-quality inflatable boats to smuggle migrants to Greece.

As it tries to prevent the flow of migrants to Europe, Turkey is also constructing a wall along parts of its 910-kilometer (560-mile) border with Syria, mainly to prevent infiltrations by Islamic State militants. In a reversal of its long-standing open door-policy for refugees, Turkey recently closed its border to tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing a Russian-backed Syrian government onslaught around northern Syrian city of Aleppo. Turkish authorities decided instead to help the displaced by expanding and setting up new camps close to the border in Syria.

Sylvie Guillaume, a vice president of the European Parliament, told reporters during a visit that Turkey and the EU must work together to crack down on the smugglers by tracking their finances.

"It's a flourishing business," Guillaume said. "It is an industry in which people are making millions on the backs of people who then die at sea. Financial surveillance and inspection mechanisms need to be developed" to uncover these gangs.

Associated Press reporters witnessed stepped-up police measures this month at the town of Ayvacik, a major crossing point for migrants heading to the Greek island of Lesbos. At the scene, police detained scores of migrants hiding amid bushes, waiting for smugglers to take them across the water. On the sea, Turkish coast guard boats intercepted smuggling boats full of migrants and escorted them back to shore.

"We know the organizers' crossing points and we are taking extremely effective measures against them," Kurtulmus said. "With our strong measures, the numbers will (decrease) further."

__

Mehmet Guzel contributed from Ayvacik and Istanbul.

A Syrian refugee is helped by a volunteer to leave a sinking dinghy at a beach on the southeastern island of Lesbos, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Greece is mired in a full-blown diplomatic dispute with some EU countries over their border slowdowns and closures. Those border moves have left Greece and the migrants caught between an increasingly fractious Europe, where several countries are reluctant to accept more asylum-seekers, and Turkey, which has appeared unwilling or unable to staunch the torrent of people leaving in barely seaworthy smuggling boats for Greek islands. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

Volunteers pull a dinghy with migrants and refugees aboard, at a beach on the Greek southeastern island of Lesbos, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Greece is mired in a full-blown diplomatic dispute with some EU countries over their border slowdowns and closures. Those border moves have left Greece and the migrants caught between an increasingly fractious Europe, where several countries are reluctant to accept more asylum-seekers, and Turkey, which has appeared unwilling or unable to staunch the torrent of people leaving in barely seaworthy smuggling boats for Greek islands. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
The Latest: Cruz says robo-calls say don't vote for Cubans

WASHINGTON (AP)  The Latest on the 2016 presidential campaign as candidates in both parties look ahead to Super Tuesday, the biggest single-day haul of delegates on the election calendar (all times local):

Ted Cruz says it's "unfortunate" that Donald Trump won't condemn former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, and says a white supremacist group is making robo-calls urging people, "Don't vote for the Cubans in the race."

Trump was asked during CNN's "State of the Union" whether he publicly condemns "the racism of former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke," who recently endorsed Trump.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, left, R-Texas, holds 4-year-old Daxton Moreno, of Collinsville, Okla., as his grandmother Billie Roane, right, looks on, following a rally in Tulsa, Okla., Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Cruz told reporters Sunday in Oklahoma City that a white supremacist group is making pre-recorded calls supporting Trump and saying not to support Cuban-Americans like himself and Marco Rubio.

Cruz acknowledges that Trump can't control outside groups, but he says, "We should all be united in saying that the Klan is reprehensible."

___

5:45 p.m.

Republican Donald Trump has picked up the endorsement of Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.

At a rally with Trump in Huntsville, Alabama, Sessions says he told Trump: "This isn't a campaign. This is a movement."

The GOP senator says "nobody's perfect," but that "at this time in American history, we need to make America great again." He was repeating a Trump slogan.

Sessions had appeared with Trump last August at a rally in Mobile, Alabama.

___

5:15 p.m.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich's advisers are downplaying the idea he wants a brokered GOP convention against Donald Trump. It surfaced in a New York Times story this weekend about Republican efforts to stop Trump.

Kasich senior strategist John Weaver says the campaign isn't floating the idea. Instead, he says, the campaign plans to take Trump after March 15, when he expects Kasich to win Ohio and Republican Sen. Marco Rubio to lose his home state of Florida.

Even with an Ohio win, Kasich will face an uphill climb for convention delegates, more so if Trump sweeps the Super Tuesday states this week.

Asked whether his positive message has yet to translate into significant support from voters, Kasich says it's because he's still relatively unknown to voters.

___

5:10 p.m.

Coming off a bruising loss in the South Carolina primary, Bernie Sanders is keeping his focus firmly on Super Tuesday and not on his loss Saturday in South Carolina.

Sanders told more than 6,000 cheering people gathered at an Oklahoma City convention center Sunday that he'll need their help to win the general election. He says nothing would please him more than to defeat Donald Trump.

Sanders spoke for more than an hour but avoided mentioning his huge loss to Hillary Clinton Saturday in South Carolina. Instead, Sanders stuck to his standard talking points.

And he repeated his call for Clinton to release transcripts of her paid speeches to Wall Street banks, saying, "If you're going to get paid $200,000 a speech, must be a pretty damn good speech. "

___

4:50 p.m.

Hillary Clinton says she's looking forward to debating any one of the Republican candidates, should she capture the Democratic nomination for president.

She rallied several hundred supporters at a historically black medical college in Nashville, Tennessee.

Clinton is looking past Sanders in a return to her early campaign strategy, when she was the clear primary frontrunner.

With Sanders lagging in delegates and likely facing greater losses on Super Tuesday, Clinton's team is beginning to turn their focus to unifying the party. They don't want to risk alienating Sanders backers whose support Clinton will need to win a general election.

___

1:30 p.m.

Marco Rubio says Republican front runner Donald Trump is "wrong" to refuse to condemn former KKK leader David Duke.

Trump was asked during CNN's "State of the Union" whether he publicly condemns "the racism of former KKK Grand Wizard David Duke," who was recently quoted equating voting against Trump to treason.

Trump replied he didn't "know anything about David Duke."

He added: "You're asking me a question that I'm supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about."

Rubio says: "We cannot be a party who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan."

He adds: "Not only is that wrong, it makes him unelectable."

___

12:50 p.m.

Hillary Clinton is church-hopping across Memphis in an effort to mobilize African-American voters ahead of Tuesday's primaries.

She's speaking at two churches in the city Sunday and asking worshippers to reject "the demagoguery, the prejudice, the paranoia." She never mentioned GOP front runner Donald Trump's name, but the comments referenced his campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

"American has never stopped being great, our task is to make American whole," said Clinton at Greater Imani Cathedral of Faith.

With rival Bernie Sanders trailing in delegates, Clinton is beginning to focus more attention on her potential GOP challengers. Her church addresses, like her South Carolina victory speech, made no mention of the Vermont senator, or his policy plans.

Clinton is trying to rally black voters ahead of the Super Tuesday contests, which take place in a number of southern states. Black voters turned out in a higher percentage in South Carolina on Saturday than in 2008, catapulting Clinton a sweeping win there.

___

12:00 p.m.

Hillary Clinton is shifting her focus to Republican front-runner Donald Trump as her party seeks consensus on the best ways to challenge the billionaire's unpredictable nature in a general election.

As Clinton enters the series of "Super Tuesday" contests this week, allies of the former secretary of state, unaffiliated Democratic strategists and the national party are stockpiling potential ammunition about Trump, reviewing reams of court filings, requesting information about his business dealings from state governments and conducting new polls to test lines of attack.

Among the likely options: Questioning Trump's qualifications and temperament to be president, scrutinizing his business practices and bankruptcy filings, and re-airing his inflammatory statements about women and minorities who will be central to the Democrats' efforts in November.

___

11:40 a.m.

The national finance co-chair of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's suspended presidential campaign is lashing out at the governor for throwing his support behind GOP front-runner Donald Trump, calling the decision "an astonishing display of political opportunism."

Meg Whitman, the president and chief executive officer of Hewlett Packard, says in a statement she will not be joining Christie on Trump's campaign.

She says, "For some of us, principle and country still matter."

Whitman adds that Trump is "unfit to be president" and "a dishonest demagogue who plays to our worst fears.

She's calling on Christie's donors and supporters to reject the newly-united pair.

But Christie is brushing off the statement.

He says in an interview on ABC's "This Week" that the pair remain friends but disagree and "that's OK."

"Meg has always been free to express her views and I honor her," he adds.

___

10:15 a.m.

Marco Rubio's campaign is teeming with mainstream Republican officials and donors, and yet Rubio's team concedes that's not enough to stop Donald Trump.

Instead of riding the wave of new support alone, Rubio is now forced to speed up plans for an all-out assault on the billionaire businessman's character.

Rubio had hoped to wait until the chaotic Republican nominating campaign had shrunk to a two-man race. But with a growing sense of urgency among GOP stalwarts to settle on a Trump alternative, the young Florida senator is trying to simultaneously slow Trump and cast himself the savior of the party's future.

___

10:00 a.m.

Donald Trump is refusing to disavow his endorsement by David Duke, saying he doesn't know anything about the former Ku Klux Klan leader.

Trump was asked on CNN's "State of the Union" whether he would declare that he didn't want Duke's support, or that of other white supremacists in the presidential election.

Trump says of Duke, "I just don't know anything about him."

Trump likewise says he wouldn't condemn a group that he knows "nothing about." He adds that if he were sent a list of groups he would research them and "certainly" would disavow any if he thought there was "something wrong."

___

9:55 a.m.

Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard says she's resigning the Democratic National Committee to support Bernie Sanders for president.

The Hawaii Democrat tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that she trusts Sanders to consider the consequences of any military action.

Even as she spoke in the live interview, Gabbard's name remained on the DNC web site as vice chair.

___

9:32 a.m.

Bernie Sanders says he knows what happened Saturday night when Hillary Clinton clobbered him by roughly 50 percentage points in South Carolina.

He says, "We got decimated, that's what happened."

Sanders said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that his campaign is "looking to the future, not looking back."

The loss in South Carolina underscored Sanders' weakness with black voters, a critical segment of the Democratic electorate. If he loses blacks by similar margins in the Southern states that vote Tuesday, Clinton would likely take a delegate lead difficult for the Vermont senator to overcome.

___

8:59 a.m.

John Kasich says Mitt Romney has not asked him to get out of the race for the GOP nomination.

The Ohio governor says on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he and the 2012 Republican nominee have exchanged emails but "nobody's asked me to drop out."

He adds, "that never happened in terms of Mitt trying to tell me, you know, what I need to do with my career."

The New York Times reported that Romney had urged Kasich to quit and let the Republican party coalesce around a candidate other than front runner Donald Trump.

Kasich says he intends to win the Ohio primary March 15. But he adds that if it doesn't happen, it's "ballgame over."

___

8:50 a.m.

Whatever the polls, Marco Rubio insists that Donald Trump won't be the Republican presidential nominee. No way, no how.

But the Florida senator  publicly confident but still trailing the 2016 front-runner  also feels compelled to spell out a doomsday scenario for his party if Trump rolls on to victory.

Rubio tells CBS' "Face the Nation" that if Trump wins the nomination, "it will split us and splinter us in a way that we may never be able to recover and the Democrats will be joyful about it."

But Rubio suggests that doesn't matter anyway because Trump won't win the GOP nomination.

He says, "It's not going to happen."

___

8:32 a.m.

Sen. Lamar Alexander is backing Marco Rubio for president.

The Tennessee Republican says in a statement that Rubio can "inspire us, win the election and led our country."

Alexander says Rubio is tough on Islamic militants, an efficient administrator and an advocate for veterans.

Alexander is a former governor and secretary of education under President George H.W. Bush.

The endorsement is the latest of a string of nods Rubio has received from members of the Republican establishment. The Florida senator is highlighting endorsements as part of his drive to become an alternative to GOP front runner Donald Trump.

___

7:45 a.m.

Ted Cruz doesn't think it will happen, but he's acknowledging that a super showing by Donald Trump on Super Tuesday could perhaps seal the nomination for the billionaire businessman.

Cruz tells CBS' "Face the Nation" that "there is no doubt that if Donald steamrolls through Super Tuesday, wins everywhere with big margins, that he may well be unstoppable."

Republicans will vote in 11 states, with 595 delegates at stake.

Cruz and Marco Rubio are the leading contenders trying to slow down Trump.

Cruz says he's the only one who can beat Trump, and the Texas senator is making this appeal to voters: "I would encourage you, even if you like another candidate, stand with us if you don't want Donald to be the nominee."

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, gestures as he speaks to a rally in Tulsa, Okla., Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Republican presidential candidate Ohio Gov. John Kasich speaks to the media following a town hall meeting Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016, in Springfield, Mass. (AP Photo/Mary Schwalm)

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., takes selfies with the crowd during a campaign rally at the Cox Convention Center Arena in Oklahoma City, Okla., Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton greets supporters after speaking at Meharry Medical College Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at Meharry Medical College, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, Tenn., Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, right, introduces Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, left, at a rally at Millington Regional Airport in Millington, Tenn., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio shakes hands during rally at U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., Saturday Feb. 27, 2016 (Bob Gathany/AL.com via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump greets members of the audience after speaking during a rally at Millington Regional Airport in Millington, Tenn., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks at a campaign rally at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, Minn., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Myanmar nationalists rally against constitution change

YANGON, Myanmar (AP)  Hundreds of nationalist Buddhist monks and their supporters rallied in Myanmar's biggest city Sunday in support of retaining a constitutional clause barring Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the country's recently elected ruling party, from becoming head of state.

Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party is set to take over government in March after winning November's election in a landslide. But Suu Kyi cannot become president because an article in the military-dictated constitution bars anyone whose immediate family members are foreign nationals from holding the office. Her two sons are British, as was her late husband.

The National League for Democracy, or NLD, floated the idea of trying to have the article suspended, but seems to have abandoned it due to apparent opposition from the military.

Supporters of Myanmar nationalist groups raise their hands in support of preserving a constitutional clause barring Aung San Suu Kyi, the popular leader of the country's new ruling party, from becoming head of state, in Yangon, Myanmar Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Sunday's rally drew at least 350 people. The clause disqualifies anyone with a foreign spouse or children from assuming the presidency. Suu Kyi's late husband was British, as are her two sons, leaving her ineligible despite her mandate as the head of the National League for Democracy (NLD), which secured a landslide victory in a general election last November. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)

Suu Kyi is likely to go ahead with her previously announced plan of having a proxy for her serve as president, while she makes all the executive decisions.

Sunday's rally in Yangon was believed to have been organized by the Buddhist nationalist group Ma Ba Tha, which is led by monks. The group is notorious for stirring up the anti-Muslim sentiment that has led to bloody sectarian violence.

Ma Ba Tha also had favored the incumbent military-backed government party over Suu Kyi's NLD during last year's election campaign, but had minimal influence on the vote. It is seeking to reivigorate its political power after the setback.

Sunday's rally drew at least 350 people, many donning T-shirts reading "Section 59(f) of the constitution is untouchable. It must be protected from a national security angle."

The demonstrators defended retaining the article for nationalistic purposes, claiming their position was unrelated to Suu Kyi's possible bid for the presidency.

"We support this event ... because we don't want outsiders, foreigners, overwhelming our country," said organizer Thant Myo Oo. "Not only Suu Kyi, whoever is connected with the outsiders, we cannot accept."

Myanmar began a shift to civilian rule in 2011, when a quasi-civilian government took power under President Thein Sein, a retired general. The country's fragile transition has been marred by ongoing civil conflict and several bouts of deadly riots between the Buddhist majority and minority Muslims.

Ethno-religious tensions gave rise to growing nationalist sentiment and organized efforts to "protect the national race and religion," mobilizing masses nationwide and enacting legislation widely viewed as discriminatory.

Event organizers denied Sunday that they were members of Ma Ba Tha.

"Ma Ba Tha is a religious organization; it's not a nationalist organization," said Win Ko Ko Latt, an organizer and speaker at the rally, who said his intention was to protect Myanmar's 135 officially recognized ethnicities. "Anything representing nationalism, we will support fully."
Ireland's divided lawmakers mull possible pact, 2nd election

DUBLIN (AP)  Lawmakers in Ireland expressed a sense of shellshock and division Sunday over whether the country's next government should be a historic alliance of age-old foes  or whether there should be a second election.

With two-thirds of winners declared in the race to fill a 158-member parliament, the new political landscape looked like the most fractured in Irish history. The two perennial centrist heavyweights  governing Fine Gael and opposition Fianna Fail  remained virtually neck and neck, with Fine Gael winners of 31 parliamentary seats, Fianna Fail 30.

Analysts forecast that Fine Gael would finish a few lawmakers stronger than the party's political nemesis Fianna Fail. But neither would be able to form a parliamentary majority with any other single party, only each other.

Enda Kenny arrives at the Mayo Convention Centre in Castlebar, Ireland, where counting continues in the Irish general election, Saturday Feb. 27, 2016. (Niall Carson/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT

Voters disgusted by Ireland's 2008 economic collapse, 2010 international bailout and years of austerity deemed necessary to repair the damage threw their support in Friday's election to a dizzying array of anti-government voices. For the first time in Irish electoral history, the combined popular vote for Fianna Fail and Fine Gael slid below 50 percent.

The two parties evolved from opposite sides of the cut-throat civil war that followed Ireland's 1922 independence from Britain. Between them, they have led every Irish government  and have never shared power with each other.

But neither side has ruled out forming a partnership if government stability requires this. Few workable alternatives look available in a parliament increasingly crowded with untested micro-parties and maverick independents hostile to both establishment parties.

The nationalist Sinn Fein party finished in third place with a somewhat disappointing 13.8 percent share of the popular vote. But both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail have ruled out cooperation citing Sinn Fein's ties to the outlawed Irish Republican Army.

Leading lawmakers in both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael said Sunday they cannot see how two parties so long committed to tearing each other down can form a united Cabinet that survives for months, never mind five years.

They forecast that coalition talks could take weeks to get going, and failure would force Ireland to hold a second election. Ireland hasn't experienced back-to-back elections amid a finely balanced parliament since 1982.

"There's a sense of bewilderment first of all. We're a long way from sitting down together and talking about what our next options are," said Regina Doherty, a re-elected lawmaker for Meath northwest of Dublin.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan, speaking from an election count center in his native Limerick, said: "We may all be back here again very shortly."

An editorial cartoon in the Sunday Independent newspaper captured the national mood.

In it, a reporter asks the Fine Gael and Fianna Fail leaders: "What next?"

Prime Minister Enda Kenny replies: "Stable chaos." Micheal Martin counters: "Chaotic stability.'"

Recounts over disputed results in Ireland's complex, multi-round system of proportional representation mean that all winners won't be confirmed until Monday at the earliest.

The new parliament is scheduled to convene March 10 to elect a prime minister.

Enda Kenny arrives at the Royal Theatre in Castlebar, Ireland, where counting continues in the Irish general election, Saturday Feb. 27, 2016. (Niall Carson/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT

Sinn Fein party leader Gerry Adams, left, and party member Imelda Munster speak to the media as they arrive at the count centre in Dundalk, Ireland, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. Ireland could be on course for a historic coalition between two longtime political foes  the Fine Gael and Fianna Fail parties  as the first official election results were announced Saturday. (AP Photo Peter Morrison)

Sinn Fein party leader Gerry Adams speaks to the media at the count centre in Dundalk, Ireland, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. Ireland could be on course for a historic coalition between two longtime political foes  the Fine Gael and Fianna Fail parties  as the first official election results were announced Saturday. (AP Photo Peter Morrison)

Counting gets under way in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. A detailed exit poll for Ireland's election has found that most voters spurned the coalition government of Prime Minister Enda Kenny and the country faces either a hung parliament with no workable majority  or an alliance between the traditional polar opposites of political life. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Counting gets under way in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. A detailed exit poll for Ireland's election has found that most voters spurned the coalition government of Prime Minister Enda Kenny and the country faces either a hung parliament with no workable majority  or an alliance between the traditional polar opposites of political life. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Counting gets under way in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. A detailed exit poll for Ireland's election has found that most voters spurned the coalition government of Prime Minister Enda Kenny and the country faces either a hung parliament with no workable majority  or an alliance between the traditional polar opposites of political life. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Counting gets under way in Dublin, Ireland, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. A detailed exit poll for Ireland's election has found that most voters spurned the coalition government of Prime Minister Enda Kenny and the country faces either a hung parliament with no workable majority  or an alliance between the traditional polar opposites of political life. (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny with his wife Fionnuala, cast their votes at a polling station at St Anthony's School in Castlebar, Mayo, Friday Feb. 26, 2016. Ireland could be on course for a historic coalition between two longtime political foes  the Fine Gael and Fianna Fail parties  as the first official election results were announced Saturday. (Brian Lawless/PA via AP) UNITED KINGDOM OUT
The Latest: Saudi FM says Syrian forces violating cease-fire

BEIRUT (AP)  The Latest on the conflict in Syria as a fragile cease-fire enters its second day (all times local):

8:30 p.m.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir says Syrian troops are violating the cease-fire brokered by Russia and the U.S.

Lt.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the Russian Military General Staff, background center, speaks to the media in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. A top military official says Russia has halted all airstrikes in areas of Syria where armed groups, including government forces, said they would abide by a cease-fire. The screen shows, at left, Lt.-Gen. Sergei Kuralenko at Hemeimeem airbase in Syria. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Al-Jubeir spoke to reporters in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday during a press conference with the visiting Danish Foreign Minister. He reiterated Saudi Arabia's position that Syrian President Bashar Assad has no place in the future of Syria and that he must leave power, either peacefully or through military means.

___

7:45 p.m.

A top official with the Syrian opposition has blamed the government and its allies for cease-fire violations that killed more than two dozen people, warning it will be difficult to resume peace talks next month.

Raid Hijab, who heads the High Negotiations Committee, an umbrella for opposition and rebel factions, said in a statement directed to U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon Sunday that Russian, Iranian and government forces have not stopped hostilities since the truce went into effect Friday at midnight.

The truce was brokered by Russia and the U.S.

Hijab said there have been 24 cases of shelling and five cases of ground attacks. He said Russian warplanes carried out 26 airstrikes on Sunday alone targeting rebels that are abiding by the truce.

___

4:30 p.m.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says a cease-fire aiming to reduce the violence in neighboring Syria is only being partially implemented.

Erdogan expressed hope that "today or tomorrow this cease-fire will be secured and that calm prevails in Syria" after noting that it is only being adhered to "in about one-third" of the war-torn nation.

He made the remarks at a news conference in Istanbul prior to embarking on a trip to Africa.

The cease-fire brokered by the U.S. and Russia has brought relative quiet to parts of Syria for the first time in years although rebel groups say they have documented numerous breaches by government forces that could derail the agreement.

Fighting also continues against the Islamic State group which, along with al-Qaida's branch in Syria, was left out of the deal. The Syrian conflict has killed 250,000 lives and triggered one of the worst refugee crises since World War II.

___

4 p.m.

The Russian military operating in Syria says it has information about an artillery attack on the Syrian border town of Tell Abyad from Turkish territory.

A cease-fire brokered by Moscow and Washington went into effect early Saturday morning. Russia has set up a center for monitoring the truce at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria, where Russian warplanes are based. Russian news agencies on Sunday quoted the head of the center, Lt. Gen Sergei Kuralenko, as saying that his office has turned to the corresponding U.S. center in Amman for an explanation, since Turkey is a member of the U.S.-led coalition,

___

1 p.m.

Opposition monitoring groups say warplanes have carried out air raids on two villages in northern Syria.

Sunday's air raids came on the second day of a cease-fire brokered by Russia and the U.S., the most ambitious effort yet to curb the violence of the country's five-year civil war.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the airstrikes hit the villages of Daret Azzeh and Qobtan al-Jabal. The group did not say whether the warplanes were Russian or Syrian.

The Local Coordination Committees said the warplanes were Russian.

It was not immediately clear if the warplanes struck areas controlled by al-Qaida's branch in Syria, known as the Nusra Front. Both the Nusra Front and the Islamic State group are excluded from the truce.
Poles rally at Gdansk shipyard to support Lech Walesa

WARSAW, Poland (AP)  Thousands gathered Sunday at the shipyard in Gdansk  the cradle of Poland's 1980s Solidarity movement  to back Lech Walesa, the former democracy leader and ex-president who is facing renewed allegations of having collaborated with Poland's communist-era secret police.

Files recently surfaced suggesting Walesa collaborated with the hated secret service from 1970-76 for money, before he founded the Solidarity movement in 1980 that eventually helped topple communism. Walesa says the papers are forged.

"We achieved freedom and Lech Walesa was our leader. Nothing will change that," Henryka Krzywonos, another key player in the strikes and protests of 1980 that led to the birth of Solidarity, told the crowd.

A follower of former president Lech Walesa holds a poster of him during a rally in Gdansk, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Several thousand supporters have gathered in front of the Gdansk shipyard, the cradle of Polands 1980s Solidarity movement to back Lech Walesa, the former democracy leader and ex-president, who has recently faced renewed allegations of having collaborated with Polands communist-era secret police. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Walesa, who still lives in Gdansk, sent his wife, Danuta, who told those gathered that he never did anything to hurt anybody and never took money.

Walesa's supporters are furious at the current conservative leadership in Poland, whom they accuse of trying to tarnish the legacy of Poland's democracy icon. The rally Sunday came a day after a larger pro-Walesa protest in Warsaw.

The organizers denounced what they called a "falsification of history," arguing that even if Walesa signed documents agreeing to collaborate in the 1970s that does not detract from the historic role he played in bringing down communism peacefully.

"We came here to tell Walesa that we thank him for a free Poland and for a bloodless transformation," said Radomir Szumelda, a local activist. "Thank you for no Soviet army in Poland ... no files or political order can kill this symbol."

Many of those present had harsh words for the ruling party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a long-time foe of Walesa. Walesa's wife denounced the "small man who stands behind this government."

Government leaders say Poland's historical truth must be clarified.

Followers of former president Lech Walesa attend a rally in Gdansk, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Several thousand supporters have gathered in front of the Gdansk shipyard, the cradle of Polands 1980s Solidarity movement to back Lech Walesa, the former democracy leader and ex-president, who has recently faced renewed allegations of having collaborated with Polands communist-era secret police. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Wife of former president Lech Walesa, Danuta Walesa, waves to several thousand of his followers during a rally in Gdansk, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Supporters have gathered in front of the Gdansk shipyard, the cradle of Polands 1980s Solidarity movement to back Lech Walesa, the former democracy leader and ex-president, who has recently faced renewed allegations of having collaborated with Polands communist-era secret police. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Wife of former president Lech Walesa, Danuta Walesa wipes her eye as she addresses several thousand of his followers during a rally in Gdansk, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Supporters have gathered in front of the Gdansk shipyard, the cradle of Polands 1980s Solidarity movement to back Lech Walesa, the former democracy leader and ex-president, who has recently faced renewed allegations of having collaborated with Polands communist-era secret police. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Wife of former president Lech Walesa, Danuta Walesa, addresses several thousand of his followers during a rally in Gdansk, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Supporters have gathered in front of the Gdansk shipyard, the cradle of Polands 1980s Solidarity movement to back Lech Walesa, the former democracy leader and ex-president, who has recently faced renewed allegations of having collaborated with Polands communist-era secret police. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Followers of former president Lech Walesa attend a rally in Gdansk, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Several thousand supporters have gathered in front of the Gdansk shipyard, the cradle of Polands 1980s Solidarity movement to back Lech Walesa, the former democracy leader and ex-president, who has recently faced renewed allegations of having collaborated with Polands communist-era secret police. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Followers of former president Lech Walesa attend a rally in Gdansk, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Several thousand supporters have gathered in front of the Gdansk shipyard, the cradle of Polands 1980s Solidarity movement to back Lech Walesa, the former democracy leader and ex-president, who has recently faced renewed allegations of having collaborated with Polands communist-era secret police. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Followers of former president Lech Walesa attend a rally in Gdansk, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Several thousand supporters have gathered in front of the Gdansk shipyard, the cradle of Polands 1980s Solidarity movement to back Lech Walesa, the former democracy leader and ex-president, who has recently faced renewed allegations of having collaborated with Polands communist-era secret police. Poster reads 'Polish wall for Walesa'. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Followers of former president Lech Walesa attend a rally in Gdansk, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Several thousand supporters have gathered in front of the Gdansk shipyard, the cradle of Polands 1980s Solidarity movement to back Lech Walesa, the former democracy leader and ex-president, who has recently faced renewed allegations of having collaborated with Polands communist-era secret police. Posters read 'Polish wall for Walesa'. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Followers of former president Lech Walesa attend a rally in Gdansk, Poland, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Several thousand supporters have gathered in front of the Gdansk shipyard, the cradle of Polands 1980s Solidarity movement to back Lech Walesa, the former democracy leader and ex-president, who has recently faced renewed allegations of having collaborated with Polands communist-era secret police. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
Asia Cup: Bangladesh beats Sri Lanka in T20 for 1st time

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP)  Sabbir Rahman hit a career-best 80 as Bangladesh secured its first ever Twenty20 victory over Sri Lanka with a 23-run win in the Asia Cup on Sunday.

Bangladesh won the toss and chose to bat, only to be reduced to a precarious 2-2 before Rahman steered the hosts to a challenging total of 147-7.

Shakib Al Hasan scored 32 to give Rahman useful support as they combined for an 82-run stand for the fourth wicket. Mahmudullah was unbeaten on 23.

Bangladeshs AlAmin Hossain, second left, celebrates with his teammates the dismissal of Sri Lankas captain Angelo Mathews during the Asia Cup Twenty20 international cricket match in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

Bangladesh's bowlers then did their job, restricting Sri Lanka to 124-8 with fast bowler Al-Amin Hossain claiming 3-34. Al Hasan, a left arm spinner, had 2-21.

Sri Lanka opener Dinesh Chandimal, reprieved on 0, went on to score 37 and Shehan Jayasuriya added 26.

Rahman survived a close call when on 46 as Chamara Kapugedara failed to hold on to a catch on the boundary rope. Instead the ball went for six to give Rahman his third T20 half-century.

He was then in full control until fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera (3-30) got him with a slower delivery.

Rahman cracked 10 boundaries and three sixes in his 54-ball knock.

Chameera also took the wicket of Al Hasan as he tried to keep the momentum going. Mahmudullah then hit two fours and one six in his undefeated 23.

Sri Lanka could have lost Chandimal in the second ball of the chase but Soumya Sarkar missed a regulation catch in second slip off fast bowler Taskin Ahmed.

Al-Amin Hossain made the breakthrough by dismissing Tillakaratne Dilshan for 12, but Chandimal and Shehan Jayasuriya replied with a stand of 56 runs for the second wicket.

Bangladesh bowlers clawed back with four wickets in just 16 runs, including the scalps of Chandimal and Jayasuirya, to turn the match.

Fast bowlers Mustafizur Rahman and Mashrafe Mortaza, and off-spinner Mahmudullah, chipped in with one wicket apiece to help steer the hosts to victory.

Bangladeshs Mahmudullah, right, celebrates the dismissal of Sri Lanka Dinesh Chandimal, left, during the Asia Cup Twenty20 international cricket match in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

Bangladeshs AlAmin Hossain celebrates the dismissal of Sri Lankas captain Angelo Mathews during the Asia Cup Twenty20 international cricket match in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

Bangladeshs Shakib Al Hasan, right, and Sabbir Rahman cheer each other during the Asia Cup Twenty20 international cricket match against Sri Lanka in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)
The Latest: Migrants protest at Greek-Macedonian border

VATICAN CITY (AP)  The Latest on Europe's immigration crisis. (all times local):

6:10 p.m.

About 300 migrants stranded at the Greek-Macedonian bordered have staged another protest, this time cutting off the railway line connecting the two countries. The protesters are carrying posters reading "Open the border" and shouting the same slogan.

Protesting refugees and migrants block a train at the Greek-Macedonia border as they are chanting "open the borders" in northern Greek village of Idomeni, the Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. About 5,500 migrants are braving rainy weather at a tent camp close to the border and another 500 are camped at a gas station 17 kilometers away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A cargo train on its way to central Europe was forced to turn back.

Over 6,500 refugees are stranded at a tent camp in the Greek border town of Idomeni, as Macedonia has again put in severe border restrictions for migrants. Another 400 migrants are camped at a gas station 17 kilometers (11 miles) away.

Macedonia let in only 300 Iraqis and Syrians on Saturday after closing the border on Friday. It says it is regulating the migrant flow depending on what other countries further north in the Balkans migration route  Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia  do.

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5 p.m.

Hungary's prime minister says he has ordered the country's interior and defense ministers to begin preparing defenses along the border with Romania to prevent migrants from entering.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban says Sunday that "if necessary, we will protect ourselves all the way from Slovenia to Ukraine." Last year, Hungary built fences on its borders with Serbia and Croatia to divert the migrant flow.

Orban said Sunday that European Union bureaucrats and Germany's welcoming culture toward migrants are to blame for Europe's migrant crisis.

Orban also lashed out at an initial EU plan to redistribute over 100,000 migrants among the bloc's 28 nations. He says Brussels is looking to set up a "mandatory, permanent and continuous redistribution system" for the migrants.

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4:35 p.m.

Two former military barracks, one of them designated as a future refugee camp against local opposition, have been attacked by arsonists in northern Greece.

The unknown assailants set fire late Saturday to a building in the first barracks in the city of Giannitsa, 50 kilometers (31 miles) northwest of Thessaloniki. The building was being used by the city as a warehouse storing wood and paper. The building's roof and the materials inside have burned down.

Another former barracks in the city, this one completely abandoned, was burned down Sunday morning.

The mayor and city inhabitants have opposed government plans to house refugees in one of the barracks, saying they are too close to the city center and near schools. They say they have suggested other locations.

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12:45 p.m.

Pope Francis says a concerted response is needed to Europe's migrant problem so that countries share equally the burden of helping those fleeing war and other "inhumane" situations.

Francis is praising Greece and other countries offering "generous" help while being on the front line of the arrivals. Speaking to people in St. Peter's Square Sunday, Francis said a "concerted response can be more effective and distribute equally the weight" of helping the migrants.

He pressed for decisive negotiations by countries to achieve this and said he always keeps the "drama of the refugees" in his prayers.

Francis also welcomed the news of the cease-fire in Syria with hope and invited prayers so this development might bring relief to those suffering from the civil war and lead to peace.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers his annual 'State of Hungary' speech in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, February 28, 2016. Orban says he has ordered the interior and defense ministers to begin preparing the construction of defenses on the border with Romania to prevent migrants from entering. He also said that the European Union bureaucrats and Germanys welcoming culture are to blame for the migrant crisis on the continent. The inscription reads: "Hungarian Reforms Are Working". (Szilard Koszticsak/MTI via AP)

Pope Francis meets with members of the Italian Entrepreneurs Association in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Protesting refugees and migrants block a train at the Greek-Macedonia border as they chant "Open the Borders" in the northern Greek village of Idomeni, the Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. About 5,500 migrants are braving rainy weather at a tent camp close to the border and another 500 are camped at a gas station 17 kilometers away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Protesting refugees and migrants block the railway tracks at the Greek-Macedonia border as they are chanting "open the borders" in northern Greek village of Idomeni, the Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. About 5,500 migrants are braving rainy weather at a tent camp close to the border and another 500 are camped at a gas station 17 kilometers away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Protesting refugees and migrants block the railway tracks at the Greek-Macedonia border as they are chanting "open the borders" in northern Greek village of Idomeni, the Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. About 5,500 migrants are braving rainy weather at a tent camp close to the border and another 500 are camped at a gas station 17 kilometers away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Protesting refugees and migrants block the railway tracks at the Greek-Macedonia border as they are chanting "open the borders" in northern Greek village of Idomeni, the Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. About 5,500 migrants are braving rainy weather at a tent camp close to the border and another 500 are camped at a gas station 17 kilometers away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Protesting refugees and migrants block the railway tracks at the Greek-Macedonia border near the northern Greek village of Idomeni, the Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. About 5,500 migrants are braving rainy weather at a tent camp close to the border and another 500 are camped at a gas station 17 kilometers away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Protesting refugees and migrants block the railway tracks at the Greek-Macedonia border in the northern Greek village of Idomeni, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. About 5,500 migrants are braving rainy weather at a tent camp close to the border and another 500 are camped at a gas station 17 kilometers away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A boy hold a placard as protesting refugees and migrants block the railway tracks at the Greek-Macedonia border, in the northern Greek village of Idomeni, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. About 5,500 migrants are braving rainy weather at a tent camp close to the border and another 500 are camped at a gas station 17 kilometers away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Rescue swimmer Duncan Barrow, 49, of Norfolk, UK, with MOAS, Migrant Offshore Aid Station, a Malta-based organization, checks the shore at the eastern Greek Island of Agathonisi on the Aegean Sea, across from the nearby shores of Turkey, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Greece is mired in a full-blown diplomatic dispute with some EU countries over their border slowdowns and closures. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)

A man has a haircut as protesting refugees and migrants block the railway tracks at the Greek-Macedonia border in northern Greek village of Idomeni, the Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. About 5,500 migrants are braving rainy weather at a tent camp close to the border and another 500 are camped at a gas station 17 kilometers away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

A Syrian refugee hugs his wife and daughter after their arrival from a Turkish coast on the Greek southeastern island of Lesbos, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Greece is mired in a full-blown diplomatic dispute with some EU countries over their border slowdowns and closures. Those border moves have left Greece and the migrants caught between an increasingly fractious Europe, where several countries are reluctant to accept more asylum-seekers, and Turkey, which has appeared unwilling or unable to staunch the torrent of people leaving in barely seaworthy smuggling boats for Greek islands. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

A Syrian refugee is helped by a volunteer to leave a dinghy at a beach on the southeastern island of Lesbos, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Greece is mired in a full-blown diplomatic dispute with some EU countries over their border slowdowns and closures. Those border moves have left Greece and the migrants caught between an increasingly fractious Europe, where several countries are reluctant to accept more asylum-seekers, and Turkey, which has appeared unwilling or unable to staunch the torrent of people leaving in barely seaworthy smuggling boats for Greek islands. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

Volunteers pull a dinghy with migrants and refugees aboard, at a beach on the Greek southeastern island of Lesbos, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Greece is mired in a full-blown diplomatic dispute with some EU countries over their border slowdowns and closures. Those border moves have left Greece and the migrants caught between an increasingly fractious Europe, where several countries are reluctant to accept more asylum-seekers, and Turkey, which has appeared unwilling or unable to staunch the torrent of people leaving in barely seaworthy smuggling boats for Greek islands. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

A woman covers her baby with a thermal blanket after their arrival from a Turkish coast on the Greek southeastern island of Lesbos, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Greece is mired in a full-blown diplomatic dispute with some EU countries over their border slowdowns and closures. Those border moves have left Greece and the migrants caught between an increasingly fractious Europe, where several countries are reluctant to accept more asylum-seekers, and Turkey, which has appeared unwilling or unable to staunch the torrent of people leaving in barely seaworthy smuggling boats for Greek islands. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

A Syrian refugee and her child cry after their arrival from Turkey on the southeastern island of Lesbos, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Greece is mired in a full-blown diplomatic dispute with some EU countries over their border slowdowns and closures. Those border moves have left Greece and the migrants caught between an increasingly fractious Europe, where several countries are reluctant to accept more asylum-seekers, and Turkey, which has appeared unwilling or unable to staunch the torrent of people leaving in barely seaworthy smuggling boats for Greek islands. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

A Syrian refugee is helped by volunteers to leave a sinking dinghy at a beach on the southeastern island of Lesbos, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Greece is mired in a full-blown diplomatic dispute with some EU countries over their border slowdowns and closures. Those border moves have left Greece and the migrants caught between an increasingly fractious Europe, where several countries are reluctant to accept more asylum-seekers, and Turkey, which has appeared unwilling or unable to staunch the torrent of people leaving in barely seaworthy smuggling boats for Greek islands. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

A Syrian refugee is helped by a volunteer to leave a sinking dinghy at a beach on the southeastern island of Lesbos, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Greece is mired in a full-blown diplomatic dispute with some EU countries over their border slowdowns and closures. Those border moves have left Greece and the migrants caught between an increasingly fractious Europe, where several countries are reluctant to accept more asylum-seekers, and Turkey, which has appeared unwilling or unable to staunch the torrent of people leaving in barely seaworthy smuggling boats for Greek islands. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)

Backdropped by abandoned life jackets that were used by migrants to reach the eastern Greek Island of Agathonisi on the Aegean Sea, from the nearby Turkish shores, Akos Ferenc of Hungary, right, and rescue swimmer Duncan Barrow, 49, of Norfolk, UK, both with MOAS, Migrant Offshore Aid Station, a Malta-based organization, patrol on a speedboat around the island, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis)
Cruz's big endorsement? A Texas governor still making a name

AUSTIN, Texas (AP)  Donald Trump has New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and Marco Rubio is backed by South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. But Ted Cruz's only gubernatorial endorsement is a former mentor who's still making a name outside Texas.

The stakes for Cruz to dominate his home state on Super Tuesday are high. Texas is the crown jewel of 11 states holding primaries Tuesday, and following third-place finishes in Nevada, South Carolina and New Hampshire, Cruz can't afford to share the state's 155 delegates as Rubio muscles toward becoming perhaps Trump's only obstacle to the nomination.

Some polling suggests that Cruz's own turf may not be totally safe from Trump, who chose Fort Worth to announce that Christie was joining his side. But Cruz is banking on his former boss, Gov. Greg Abbott, being the bigger draw in Texas. Abbott has tried making waves in his first 15 months but denies being another Texas governor with White House ambitions.

In this Feb. 24, 2016 photo, Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, left, is introduced by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott at a rally in Houston. Cruz needs a big win in his home state on Super Tuesday and is leaning on his former mentor to lock in voters. Abbott on Monday, Feb. 29, 2016, will join Cruz for rallies across the state. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Abbott, the state's former attorney general, hired Cruz as Texas' solicitor general in 2003. He lacks the national celebrity of Christie or Haley, whose backing of Rubio before her state's primary last week was seen as helping push the Florida senator to second place.

But anything short of first in Texas would likely doom Cruz, who on Monday will campaign across the state with Abbott and bet on the governor's reputation for winning over both restless conservative activists and party standard-bearers.

"He's exceptionally popular. Governor Abbott and Ted Cruz are the two most popular Republicans in the state," said Steve Munisteri, the former longtime chairman of the Texas Republican Party and a former adviser to Sen. Rand Paul's presidential campaign. "Governor Abbott's been on the scene a very long time and has built a very loyal base."

Political longevity  Abbott has climbed the ranks of elected office for 20 years  has been toxic to Republican voters in an election year fueled by anti-incumbent resentment. But Abbott's relentless suing of the Obama administration has preserved credibility among the tea party, while his even temper and experience has long won admirers with the elite GOP donor class, including some who heavily backed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.

Strategists were widely dim on the impact of endorsements before Christie backed Trump on Friday, sending a new shockwave through an unpredictable race. Austin Barbour, a Republican strategist in Mississippi who worked on the campaigns of former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and then Bush before they dropped out, said Abbott could give Cruz a nudge in Texas but doubted his name recognition elsewhere.

"I don't think it's very high. That's not a negative toward him. He hasn't been governor of Texas that long," Barbour said.

Cruz wrote in his autobiography that when he was solicitor general, Abbott "allowed me to tackle the high-profile issues that few other statewide-elected officials would have given to a subordinate. That reflects his humility and deep confidence." But Abbott isn't shy about the spotlight now.

He met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem and is one of only two governors to visit Cuba since the U.S. began normalizing relations with the island nation. Following the Paris attacks, Abbott made Texas the first state to sue the federal government over the settlement of Syrian refugees.

In January, Abbott began his second year on the job by announcing that the longshot push for a constitutional convention would be a new priority of his office. He spent months drafting the plan with the help of Randy Barnett, a libertarian law professor at Georgetown who is most famous for driving the constitutional challenge to the federal health overhaul before the Supreme Court.

Abbott, however, says a White House run is not in his sights.

"No aspiration at all to do that," Abbott told The Associated Press in a brief interview. "Because I have the best job in the world leading the best state in the world in the best country in the history in the world."

But Abbott is starting to have name recognition outside Texas  at least with Cruz supporters.

"He's a gentleman and a scholar," said Marlena Nobles, a 61-year-old retiree who attended a Cruz rally Sunday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, about 90 miles from her hometown of Eufaula.

Nobles said she has known of Abbott since 2011, once met him and came away thinking, "He was so completely honest. It amazed me."

Nearby stood Robert Walker, a farmer and truck driver from Longton, Kansas. He said of Abbott, "I'd probably vote for him."

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Weissert reported from Houston and Tulsa, Oklahoma.

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Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber
Refugee students' stories look to bridge cultural gap

FARGO, N.D. (AP)  Some Fargo high school students left their parents not knowing if they will see them again and hid under the bed as gunshots rang through their villages. They traveled thousands of miles to escape violence but thought instead they'd freeze to death.

These refugees, all in Leah Juelke's English-language learners class at Fargo South High School, sharpened their skills by writing short stories about their journeys to the United States, and are part of the reason why North Dakota's largest city leads the nation in refugee resettlement per capita.

The students say they hope their stories, published last month with a school district grant and excerpted throughout this story, fosters better understanding at a time when new arrivals to the U.S.  especially those from Syria  are under scrutiny from presidential candidates, state leaders and Americans throughout the country.

In this Jan. 26, 2016 photo, Nakafu Kahasha, center, describes her short story about her journey from Congo to Tanzania to Fargo, N.D., nearly six years ago, while Nepal natives Anju Tamang, left, and Anju Gurung listen during a break in their English language learners class at Fargo South High School. The three students are among others in the class who wrote stories about their resettlement for a self-published book that has been popular in the school. (AP Photo/Dave Kolpack)

Sophomore Nakafu Kahasha came in 2010 from Tanzania. She had moved there from Congo, where soldiers from Rwanda who were involved in the war would knock on doors, say they were family and then shoot whoever opened the door. "I get along with (my new classmates) really good because they really like me," the outgoing 16-year-old told The Associated Press, but said it wasn't easy to put her experiences on paper.

"I was not ready to tell my story ... I don't like to think about my past," she said. "But looking back, it was a good thing."

___

I couldn't believe I was watching a movie in a theater, in the U.S. I was excited for this new life but I was also sad because I missed my friends at home. As I sat in the theater, I kept thinking about what my friends in the refugee camp were doing at that moment. I wondered If I would ever see them again.  Santhosh Ghale, who was born in Nepal.

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North Dakota, though sparsely populated, has an active refugee program thanks to Lutheran Social Services, which has resettled an average of 390 refugees per year in the last two decades, including 506 last year.

Fargo was 97 percent white in 1990, but its ethnic population has grown rapidly: 7 percent in 2000 and 10 percent in 2010. Most of the refugee students in the city attend South High, and those in Jeulke's class are from Nepal, Bhutan, Colombia, Rwanda, Congo, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania and Vietnam.

Not everyone in Fargo sees the increase in refugees positively. One man started an online petition calling for a halt to bringing in more refugees, and another man wrote to the local newspaper demanding a 20-year moratorium on the LSS refugee program, mostly because of the expense to taxpayers and additional costs incurred by school districts.

Lutheran Social Services CEO Jessica Thomasson said the writing project would help critics of the resettlement program understand and "see this particular issue in terms of the people who are involved in it more than the just an abstract issue."

Anju Gurung and Anju Tamang, who came from separate refugee camps in Nepal in 2011, told the AP they're disappointed about the recent political climate and hope the state continues its aggressive resettlement program.

"You should be able to come in," Tamang said. "There is an opportunity to learn new things, like a language. I feel you can do whatever you want with your future."

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Sometimes people don't treat refugees with kindness, or people would neglect us, show fake love, or betray us. I have experienced all those problems as a refugee, but I still keep trying to see the good in people.  Bebek Rai, who was born in a refugee camp in Nepal.

___

Fargo South assistant principal Cory Lehman said there was a time not so long ago when the school's commons and lunchroom was clearly segregated between those who grew up here and immigrant students. He said that is no longer the case.

"You go into our commons and it's a nice place to be now," Lehman said. "It's a nice mix. Kids feel comfortable."

Said Juelke, "There are still cliques, because it is high school, but it is so nice to see everybody talking to everybody."

___

One of the challenges was not knowing the language. It was difficult for me to get used to speaking English, but now I can. It was not easy, but I pushed myself because there is nothing you can do in this country if you don't speak English.  Charlotte Nyirabafuruma, who came from Rwanda in 2012.

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Other teachers have read the refugees' stories out loud  stories that describe leaving parents behind, experiencing airplanes and cars, being fascinated by indoor plumbing and mystified by the stove and microwave.

Through the mere act of writing, Juelke said, she has seen "huge growth" and confidence from the students.

While all students share many of the same struggles, Lehman said, the refugees' stories help other students respect cultural differences and, in some cases, understand what it's like to be homeless.

"This gives us a view of their glimpse and background and where they want to go now," Lehman said. "What they want is what we want."

___

Online:

The collection of refugees' stories, "Journey To America: Narrative Short Stories," can be found at ellfargosouth.weebly.com.
Silva mulls running again for Brazil's presidency in 2018

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says he would be willing to seek another term in 2018 despite a decline in his poll ratings.

Speaking in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday at an event to mark the 36 years of the governing Workers' party, Silva said he would put himself forward as a candidate "if necessary." He would be 72 by the time of the next election, but Silva said he would have "the desire of a 30-year-old to be president of the republic."

Silva also criticized the opposition and the media, accusing them of attacking him "with lies, leaks and accusations of criminality."

FILE - In this March 30, 2015 file photo, Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends an extraordinary Worker's Party leaders' meeting in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Speaking in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, at an event to mark the 36 years of the governing Workers' party, Silva said he would put himself forward as a presidential candidate "if necessary." He would be 72 by the time of the next election in 2018, but Silva said he would have "the desire of a 30-year-old to be president of the republic." (AP Photo/Andre Penner, File)

The former president is being investigated over alleged concealment of assets relating to upgrades carried out by construction companies on two properties in Sao Paulo state. Silva told the audience that he would be willing to hand over his banking and telephone records to help the inquiry.

Silva left office with high approval ratings at the end of his two-term limit in 2010 and he has repeatedly expressed his willingness to run again. His latest declaration to party members comes as both his own and the government's poll ratings have slid sharply amid a huge corruption scandal at the state-run energy company Petrobras and a severe economic downturn.

An opinion poll published Wednesday said only 11 percent of Brazilians approve of the government of Silva's hand-picked successor, President Dilma Rousseff. The survey also indicated Silva's reputation had been hit, with 70 percent considering him guilty of corruption. The poll by the MDA polling firm, sponsored by the national transport federation, surveyed 2,002 people in person in 25 states Feb. 18-21. It had margin of error of two percentage points.
Debate lingers over massive clean-up of Hudson River

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP)  Dredging operations to clean chemicals from the upper Hudson River may have finally ended after six years and $1.5 billion but some advocates are pushing for another round.

The effort by a coalition of environmental groups is the latest chapter in a fight that has ebbed and flowed over decades about how to handle PCBs discharged into the river by General Electric Co. They argue the river won't be truly clean unless dredge crews return, while Environmental Protection Agency focuses on the progress made along the 40-mile stretch of river north of Albany.

"The question is: Was the job a big enough one, or should it have been bigger?" said EPA regional Superfund director Walter Mugdan. "I don't have any evidence at this moment to suggest anything other than that this is a success."

FILE - In this May 7, 2015, file photo, crews perform dredging work along the upper Hudson River in Waterford, N.Y. Dredging operations on the upper Hudson River have wound down after six years and some $1.5 billion in costs, but the push to expand the cleanup continues. (AP Photo/Mike Groll, File)

Mugdan added that the sampling of river sediment, water and fish in the coming months under a review performed every five years will provide more information on how effective dredging was.

Until the mid '70s, GE plants discharged into the river more than 1 million pounds of polychlorinated biphenyls, which are considered a probable carcinogen. A 200-mile stretch of river down to New York City became a Superfund site in 1984. But the EPA didn't call for dredging until 2002, after years of dispute over whether it would be effective.

GE last year finished removing 2.75 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment as part of a 2006 legal agreement with the EPA, which the agency has estimated cost GE about $1.5 billion. Calls to dredge beyond the agreed-to areas grew louder before barges left the river.

Advocates cite an analysis that concluded the river will take far longer to recover due to greater PCB contamination than initially expected. They say EPA should call for more dredging under provisions in the legal settlement that gives the agency that right if new information shows the cleanup is failing to protect human health and the environment.

"We think the Obama administration has responsibility to position this for appropriate action before it leaves office," said Ned Sullivan, president of Scenic Hudson, part of a coalition seeking expanded dredging.

There are no signs it will happen any time soon.

GE maintains that it continues to fulfill all of its obligations. Company spokesman Mark Behan said in an email that "GE removed the majority of PCBs from the Upper Hudson  more than 300,000 pounds and more than twice as much as had been anticipated."

The EPA's Mugdan questions the analysis critics use to claim more dredging is needed. He said it's important to look at the proportional reduction in PCBs that Hudson River fish are exposed to and adds that portions of the river bottom with the highest PCB concentrations have basically been eliminated.

Sullivan believes information gathered from a thorough five-year review could provide more information pointing to the need for more dredging. Mugdan said it might take eight years before scientists could draw conclusions from annual fish samples.

The EPA in December agreed to speed up the timeline for its five-year review. There is an April 2017 deadline, though it remains unclear how long it will take.

Meanwhile, GE is dismantling the sprawling plant used to process contaminated sediment dredged from the river. The EPA green-lighted the dismantling last fall, despite pleas from advocates and project trustees.

Those trustees from other government agencies are assessing the total harm done to the river's resources, which could lead to either a settlement with GE over the company's liability or to litigation.

GE crews will return to the river around May to restore areas where they worked. Divers will introduce thousands of underwater plants to dredged areas.
Egypt to extradite Frenchman to Dominican Republic

PARIS (AP)  France says Egypt plans to extradite a French citizen to the Dominican Republic, where he is wanted for his alleged role in helping two French pilots convicted of cocaine trafficking escape by flying across the Atlantic

Christophe Naudin, a criminologist and aviation expert, was arrested while travelling in Cairo, Egypt, earlier this month.

The Dominican Republic has issued arrest warrants for him and two other French men suspected to be involved in helping the pilots, European Parliament member Aymeric Chauprade and politician Pierre Malinowski.

The French Foreign Ministry said Sunday it will "closely monitor" Naudin's situation.

His extradition to the Dominican Republic is now "imminent," Naudin's wife Michele told BFM television.

The pilots, Pascal Fauret and Bruno Odos, say they are innocent and didn't know the plane they were hired to fly in 2013 was loaded with 700 kilograms (1,500 pounds) of cocaine.

They fled the Dominican Republic on 2015, Oct. 27, despite an order to remain in the country pending appeal, after being convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Trump: Judge's ethnicity matters in Trump University lawsuit

BENTONVILLE, Arkansas (AP)  Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is trying to deflect attention from a class-action civil lawsuit involving the former Trump University by pointing to the ethnic background of the judge in the case.

Asked on "Fox News Sunday" what U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel's ethnicity has to do with the lawsuit against him, Trump replied:

"I think it has to do perhaps with the fact that I'm very, very strong on the border, very, very strong at the border, and he has been extremely hostile to me."

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, center right, speaks with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, center left, following a rally at Millington Regional Airport in Millington, Tenn., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

According to the California class-action complaint in front of Curiel, a one-year apprenticeship that Trump University students were promised ended after students paid for a three-day seminar. Attendees who were promised a personal photo with Trump received only the chance to take a photo with a cardboard cutout. And many instructors were bankrupt real estate investors.

Trump University emerged as a campaign issue at Thursday's Republican presidential debate, raised by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

"There are people who borrowed $36,000 to go to Trump University, and they're suing now  $36,000 to go to a university that's a fake school," Rubio said. "And you know what they got? They got to take a picture with a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump."

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz jumped in, adding: "It's a fraud case. ... I want you to think about, if this man is the nominee, having the Republican nominee on the stand in court, being cross-examined about whether he committed fraud."

At a rally in Arkansas on Saturday, Trump took a break from his standard campaign speech to downplay the lawsuit pending against the business, which was founded by Trump and offered students instruction on real estate investments.

"It's a small deal, very small," Trump said of the suit, which could force him to take the stand this summer.

Trump specifically railed against the judge in the case, and at one point noted the judge's Hispanic ethnicity.

Trump claimed the case should have been thrown out years ago, "but because it was me and because there's a hostility toward me by the judge - tremendous hostility - beyond belief." He then noted, as an aside: "I believe he happens to be Spanish, which is fine. He's Hispanic  which is fine."

A message left for Curiel was not immediately returned. Curiel is a judge in the Southern District of California and based in San Diego.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office has filed a separate civil $40 million complaint against Trump University in state court, accused Trump of "racial demagoguery." Schneiderman sued Trump University in 2013 alleging it committed fraud and fleeced 5,000 people out of millions of dollars.

"I will not engage in a debate about ongoing litigation," Schneiderman said in a statement issued after Trump made his comments. "But there is no place in this process for racial demagoguery directed at respected members of the judiciary."

Schneiderman noted that New York's state Supreme Court ruled that Trump University operated illegally in New York as an unlicensed educational institution.

Schneiderman's suit alleges that Trump University falsely promoted itself as an educational institution even after the state education department warned it to stop. The complaint accuses Trump of falsely promising that Trump University students would receive intense training from experts hand-picked by Trump himself.

During breaks in the seminars, Schneiderman's complaint alleges, participants were urged to call their credit card companies and ask to increase their credit limits. Once the credit lines were secured, Trump University staff tried to persuade students to pay for additional services.

Trump, at the rally, dismissed the cases as the work of "a sleazebag law firm" and suggested that Schneiderman's intervention was politically motivated.

"I could've settled this suit numerous times. Could settle it now. But I don't like settling suits," Trump said.

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Cardinal admits 'scandalous' response to abuse allegations

ROME (AP)  One of Pope Francis' top advisers acknowledged Sunday that the Catholic Church "has made enormous mistakes" in allowing thousands of children to be raped and molested by priests over centuries as he testified at an extraordinary public hearing of an Australian investigative commission just a few blocks from the Vatican.

Australian Cardinal George Pell testified via videolink for four hours from a Rome hotel to the Royal Commission sitting in Sydney. In the front row of the conference room were two dozen Australian abuse survivors and their companions, who had traveled across the globe to witness Pell's testimony, a significant show of accountability in the church's long-running abuse saga.

The lead counsel assisting the commission, Gail Furness, questioned Pell about current Vatican efforts to address the scandal as well as Pell's past in Australia, including how he dealt with abuse allegations as a priest, educator and adviser to former Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns.

FILE - A Tuesday, March 31, 2015 file photo of Cardinal George Pell attending a press conference at the Vatican Radio headquarters, in Rome. One of the highest-ranking Vatican officials is being compelled to testify in public starting Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016, about clerical sex abuse, an unusual demonstration of holding even the most senior Catholic bishops accountable. The cardinal, Pope Francis' top financial adviser, will testify in a Rome hotel conference room for three nights running, answering questions via video link from Australia's Royal Commission with his accusers on hand to confront him. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

Pell asserted at the start: "I'm not here to defend the indefensible. The church has made enormous mistakes and is working to remedy those." He said the church had "mucked things up and let people down" and for too long had dismissed credible abuse allegations "in absolutely scandalous circumstances."

He termed Mulkearns' handling of Australia's most notorious pedophile priest, Gerald Ridsdale, as a "catastrophe for the church" and suggested that he would be a candidate for a proposed Vatican tribunal to hear the cases of negligent bishops. But Pell also acknowledged that he too had made mistakes in often believing the priests over victims who alleged abuse.

"I must say in those days, if a priest denied such activity, I was very strongly inclined to accept the denial," he said

It's the third time that the Australian cardinal, Pope Francis' top financial adviser, has testified about the sex abuse scandal, but the current round has generated intense international attention because it is taking place a short walk from the Vatican. In the conference room were media from Australia, the U.S., Italy, and Britain, as well as Rome-based priests and members of the Catholic community.

The commission, which is more than halfway through a 435 million Australian dollar ($300 million) government-authorized probe into how all Australian institutions dealt with abuse, agreed to let Pell testify from Rome because he was too ill to travel. Two weeks ago, it agreed to let victims be on hand to create the type of public hearing that Pell would have faced in Australia.

David Ridsdale, who was abused for four years by his uncle, Gerald Ridsdale, said victims in recent days had conducted more than 100 media interviews before Pell testified  and was grateful that the horror of what transpired in Ballarat was finally becoming known outside of Australia. Gerald Ridsdale is in prison after being convicted of multiple abuse convictions.

The deeply Catholic town in Australia's Victoria state has been devastated by disclosures about the huge number of abuse victims, scores of whom have killed themselves in a cluster of abuse-related suicides unseen anywhere else.

More than 40 people including abuse victims gathered at the Ballarat Town Hall to watch Pell's testimony on television screens.

David Ridsdale said Ballarat's survivors wanted Pell to "stand up and take responsibility on behalf of the church" for what transpired in Pell's own hometown.

"We're here to seek the truth. We're here to heal our city," David Ridsdale said. "We have the highest suicide rate among men in Australia. We have some of the worst drinking and violence problems. And it all stems from that abuse."

Midway through the first of an expected three to four nights of testimony, Ridsdale seemed unimpressed by Pell's admission of the church's failings.

"Words are one thing. Actions are another," he said, in calling for a church-funded compensation scheme that addresses the fact many survivors are so traumatized by their abuse that they cannot support themselves financially.

The hearings relate to Ballarat and how the Melbourne archdiocese responded to allegations of abuse, including when Pell served as a Melbourne auxiliary bishop.

Pell, who was born and raised in Ballarat, was ordained a priest there in 1966 and was a consultant to Mulkearns, who moved Gerald Ridsdale between parishes for years.

During the opening address at a Royal Commission hearing in Ballarat last week, the lawyer assisting the commissioner said that as a consultant, Pell would have been responsible for giving advice to the bishop on the appointments of priests to parishes.

Pell has long denied allegations that he was involved in transferring Gerald Ridsdale  with whom he once lived at the Ballarat presbytery  and said he never tried to buy the silence of Ridsdale's nephew, as he alleges. Pell said he had no suspicions that Gerald Ridsdale was a deviant: In fact, when Gerald Ridsdale was finally brought to justice, Pell accompanied him to court.

Pell said he had heard "one of two fleeting references" to "misbehavior" by Christian Brother Edward Dowlan at St. Patrick's College in the 1970s "which I concluded might have been pedophilia activity."

But Pell, who had attended the same school decades earlier, said he had not known victims' names, that there were large numbers of victims or that Dowlan's offending was general knowledge at the school.

Dowlan, who changed his name to Bales in 2011, was sentenced to six years in prison last year for abusing 20 young boys.

Pell also testified that had had been aware of clerics kissing boys and of swimming naked with boys at the end of term.

In a statement Sunday, Pell repeated his support for the Royal Commission's work, vowed to meet individually with victims who had travelled to Rome and said he hoped the coming days "will eventually lead to healing for everyone."

He said he had tied a yellow ribbon on the fence in the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens in a show of solidarity with the "Loud Fence" movement launched in Ballarat to support survivors of abuse.

Pell has defended his response to the abuse scandal while a bishop and later the archbishop of Melbourne, though he has expressed regret over encounters with victims seeking compensation, saying he and others in the church failed in their moral and pastoral responsibilities to them.

Anthony Foster testified at an earlier inquiry that when he and his wife sought compensation over the abuse their daughters suffered, Pell showed a "sociopathic lack of empathy."

Their eldest daughter was repeatedly raped by priest Kevin O'Donnell and committed suicide. Her younger sister was raped by the same priest and began binge drinking. One day while intoxicated, she was struck by a car and is now severely disabled.

Foster, who successfully petitioned the Royal Commission to allow survivors to be present for Pell's testimony, said it was "astounding and empowering for victims" that the commission was now sitting in judgment of Pell on a global stage.

"I feel as though we haven't just brought it to Rome. We've brought it to the world," Foster said. "This is to some extent showing the rest of the world how it can be done."

The Royal Commission adjourned at 2:30 a.m. on Monday Rome time (0130 GMT), to suit the Australian time zone. It will resume at 10:30 p.m. with Pell continuing his testimony.

The Royal Commission, which the government launched in 2012, has no power to file criminal charges. But commissioners can note in their report whether they believe someone has broken the law and refer the matter to police and prosecutors.

___

This story has been corrected to show that Ronald Mulkearns is the former bishop of Ballarat, not the late bishop.

___

McGuirk reported from Canberra, Australia. AP writer Kristen Gelineau contributed from Sydney, Australia.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Dominic Ridsdale, a survivor of priestly sex abuse, wears a shirt reading "No more silence" as he stands in front of the Quirinale hotel in Rome, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. A group of Australian survivors of priestly sex abuse and their relatives are in Rome to witness one of the highest-ranking Vatican official, Cardinal George Pell, testify before an Australian commission investigating the depth of the abuse scandal Down Under. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

From left, Dominic Ridsdale, Phil Nagle, Tony Waroley, Stephen Woods and Peter Blenkiron, survivors and relatives of priestly sex abuse, stand in front of the Quirinale hotel in Rome, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. A group of Australian survivors of priestly sex abuse and their relatives are in Rome to witness one of the highest-ranking Vatican official, Cardinal George Pell, testify before an Australian commission investigating the depth of the abuse scandal Down Under. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Peter Blenkiron, a survivor of priestly sex abuse, wears a T-shirt showing him at the age in which he was abused, in front of the Quirinale hotel in Rome, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. A group of Australian survivors of priestly sex abuse and their relatives are in Rome to witness one of the highest-ranking Vatican official, Cardinal George Pell, testify before an Australian commission investigating the depth of the abuse scandal Down Under. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

David Ridsdale, second from right, a survivor of priestly sex abuse stands in front of the Quirinale hotel in Rome, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. A group of Australian survivors of priestly sex abuse and their relatives are in Rome to witness one of the highest-ranking Vatican official, Cardinal George Pell, testify before an Australian commission investigating the depth of the abuse scandal Down Under. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Anthony, left, and Chrissie Foster, parents of two victims of sex abuse, stand in front of the Quirinale hotel in Rome, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. A group of Australian survivors of priestly sex abuse and their relatives are in Rome to witness one of the highest-ranking Vatican official, Cardinal George Pell, testify before an Australian commission investigating the depth of the abuse scandal Down Under. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Anthony Foster, center, and Chrissie Foster, right parents of two victims of sex abuse, talk with victim Peter Blenkiron, in front of the Quirinale hotel in Rome, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. A group of Australian survivors of priestly sex abuse and their relatives are in Rome to witness one of the highest-ranking Vatican official, Cardinal George Pell, testify before an Australian commission investigating the depth of the abuse scandal Down Under. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Russian coal mine accident kills 36, including 5 rescuers

MOSCOW (AP)  A methane gas leak at a coal mine in Russia's far north triggered three explosions that ignited fires and partially collapsed the mine, killing 36 people, officials said Sunday.

The dead included five rescue workers and a mine worker who were killed early Sunday when the third explosion rocked the Severnaya mine in Vorkuta, a town north of the Arctic Circle in the Komi region, the emergency services said.

The first two explosions struck late Thursday, killing four miners and trapping 26 others.

Photo provided by Russian Emergency Situations Ministry press service on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016 shows rescuers leaving an elevator in Vorkuta, Russia. Russian officials say a total of 36 people are believed to have died at a coal mine where a methane gas leak triggered three explosions and the collapse of the mine. The Russian emergency services say the dead include five rescue workers and a mine worker who were killed when the third explosion rocked the Vorkutaugol mine in Russia's far north Komi region early Sunday. (AP Photo/Ministry of Emergency Situations press service via AP)

Denis Paikin, technical director for mine operator Vorkutaugol, said Sunday that given the level of gas in the mine, the degree of destruction and the trajectory of the fire, which continued to burn, all the missing miners were presumed dead. Federal officials later confirmed that none of the trapped miners had survived.

At the time of the first blast, 111 miners were underground and 81 were rescued.

Russia's industrial safety watchdog, Rostekhnadzor, said the accident was a natural disaster.

"According to the materials that have been obtained and preliminary information, the accident had natural causes and was a geological event," said Alexander Goncharenko, who heads the regional branch of the watchdog, Russian news agencies reported. He did not elaborate.

The Investigative Committee, however, said it had not yet determined what caused the gas explosions and also scolded the Komi administration for demanding that the investigation be fully transparent.

"No official besides the leadership of the Investigative Committee has the right to demand anything," agency spokesman Vladimir Markin said. "The Investigative Committee is a federal body that answers directly to the president of Russia."

The Komi administration later issued a statement apologizing for the phrasing and saying it had full confidence that investigators would determine who bore responsibility for the accident and hold them accountable.

This Friday, Feb.26, 2016 photo provided by Russian Emergency Situations Ministry press service on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016 shows rescuers listen to instruction in Vorkuta, Russia. Russian officials say a total of 36 people are believed to have died at a coal mine where a methane gas leak triggered three explosions and the collapse of the mine. The Russian emergency services say the dead include five rescue workers and a mine worker who were killed when the third explosion rocked the Vorkutaugol mine in Russia's far north Komi region early Sunday. (AP Photo/Ministry of Emergency Situations press service via AP)

This Friday, Feb.26, 2016 photo provided by Russian Emergency Situations Ministry press service on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016 shows rescuers getting on an elevator in Vorkuta, Russia. Russian officials say a total of 36 people are believed to have died at a coal mine where a methane gas leak triggered three explosions and the collapse of the mine. The Russian emergency services say the dead include five rescue workers and a mine worker who were killed when the third explosion rocked the Vorkutaugol mine in Russia's far north Komi region early Sunday. (AP Photo/Ministry of Emergency Situations press service via AP)

This Friday, Feb.26, 2016 photo provided by Russian Emergency Situations Ministry press service on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016 shows rescuers listen to instruction in Vorkuta, Russia. Russian officials say a total of 36 people are believed to have died at a coal mine where a methane gas leak triggered three explosions and the collapse of the mine. The Russian emergency services say the dead include five rescue workers and a mine worker who were killed when the third explosion rocked the Vorkutaugol mine in Russia's far north Komi region early Sunday. (AP Photo/Ministry of Emergency Situations press service via AP)
Debate rages in courts over 'high-sensitivity' DNA analysis

NEW YORK (AP)  One New York judge ruled the DNA evidence was scientifically sound. Another, just miles away, tossed it out as unreliable.

The same scenario is playing out in courthouses around the world amid a debate over whether a type of DNA analysis involving the amplification of tiny amounts of genetic material is reliable enough to convict someone for a crime.

The technique, known as low-copy number or high-sensitivity analysis can be used when investigators use "touch DNA" and are only able to collect a few human cells left behind when someone touches an object such as a gun, the handle of a knife, or even clothing.

While many prosecutors and forensic experts hail it as powerful tool that can help close cases, critics  most notably the FBI  argue it is inconclusive and unreliable. But there is no clear case law on the merits of the science, leaving judges to evaluate it on a case-by-case basis.

"If the experts in the DNA field cannot agree on the weight to be given to evidence produced by high sensitivity analysis, it would make no sense to throw such evidence before a lay jury," Brooklyn state Supreme Court Justice Mark Dwyer said last year in throwing out a DNA sample swabbed from a bicycle in an attempted murder case.

With low-copy number DNA, the samples are so small  less than 100 picograms, or about 16 human cells  that scientists amplify them more than typical DNA samples and that's one of the reasons critics say the technique is troubling.

"It's more likely to pick up contamination, transference," said Jessica Goldthwaite, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society's DNA unit, who worked on the Brooklyn case. "You can't be assured of the reliability of the results."

For example, she said, "you shake my hand and then I touch a gun, your DNA could end up on the gun."

Such concerns prompted the FBI to forbid laboratories to run low-copy number profiles through the national DNA database. The FBI has said it is studying the use of low-copy DNA analysis but it hasn't "demonstrated the necessary reliability for use in forensic casework."

Perhaps the most high-profile example of the technique, and the controversy, came in the case of Amanda Knox, the American college student charged with killing her roommate in Italy. A low-copy number DNA sample taken from the handle of a kitchen knife helped convict her but a forensic report in 2011 called the evidence unreliable and possibly contaminated, leading to the exoneration of both Knox and her co-defendant. The two were later retried, convicted and exonerated a second time.

The technique was also used in New York in a weapons possession case involving entertainer Lil Wayne. A judge ordered a hearing after prosecutors tried to use the technique to tie him to a gun found on his tour bus in 2007. The rapper eventually pleaded guilty in the case.

Notably, New York stands out for its aggressive use of the technique.

New York City's medical examiner's office says it uses the protocol in about 10 percent of the DNA cases it analyzes. Its forensic scientists have performed about 7,500 low-copy number tests since 2005 and have testified in close to 250 cases in state and federal court.

"?Removing it as a tool for police and prosecutors would lead to significant setbacks in 21st century evidence-gathering techniques," said Emily Tuttle, a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr.

Just this past week, a former director of the city's medical examiner's office filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that she was forced out of her job after questioning its use of low-copy DNA testing.

Dr. Marina Stajic, who also served on a state commission tasked with developing standards for DNA labs, claimed she was ousted when she voted to require the medical examiner's office to publicly release a study about the testing technique.

Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman for New York City's medical examiner's office, declined to comment specifically on Stajic's claim, citing ongoing litigation, but said the office is dedicated to using "the most accurate and advanced technology."

"Low copy number DNA testing provides a tool for solving cases that is recognized as reliable and generally accepted by the scientific community," she said.

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Somalia police: Bombs kill 13 in 2 Baidoa restaurants

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP)  A Somali police officer says that at least 13 people were killed when two restaurants were attacked in the southwestern town of Baidao.

Yusuf Nur, a police officer in Baidoa, told The Associated Press that the first restaurant was hit by a car bomb and a second nearby restaurant was targeted when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the establishment.

Nur said the explosions were at the central Beder and Redo restaurants which are popular with officials and residents.

Yasmin Ali, a nurse at the town's main hospital, said at least 20 people are being treated for injuries.
Hungary's Orban: EU leaders don't want to stop the migrants

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)  Europe has the ability to stop the flow of migrants reaching the continent but its leaders have no plans to do so, Hungary's prime minister declared Sunday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been at the forefront of those rejecting the refugees and asylum-seekers flooding into Europe due to conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. Hungary last year built razor-wire fences on its borders with Serbia and Croatia to stop the migrants from freely entering the country  moves that altered the flow of migrants across Europe.

"It is bad enough that Brussels cannot organize Europe's defense, but worse is that even the intention is missing," Orban said in his annual speech about the state of the country.

A young Syrian woman leans on the metal fence separating them from Macedonia, at the Greek border station of Idomeni, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. More than 5500 refugees and migrants are stuck in the Greek-Macedonian borders (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Orban described the EU response to the migrant crisis as "absurd" and compared EU leadership to the captain of a ship about to collide who spends time "designating the non-smoking lifeboats instead of trying to avoid the collision."

"Europe's future is endangered primarily not by those who want to come here, but by those political, economic and intellectual leaders who are trying to transform Europe in opposition to the European people," Orban said, blaming German Chancellor Angela Merkel's welcoming response to refugees as one of the factors responsible for the crisis.

Orban said he had asked his interior and defense ministers to prepare to build new defenses on the Romanian border.

"We will teach Brussels, the human traffickers and the migrants that Hungary is sovereign country," Orban told an audience of steadfast supporters who often interrupted his speech with applause.

Orban declared that mass migration was a "danger" that put at risk Hungary's achievements of the last few years and was not an answer to Europe's problems.

"We cannot solve the demographic problems of the undeniably dwindling and aging European population with the Muslim world without losing our lifestyle, security and ourselves," Orban said. "Those coming here have no intention of adapting to our lifestyle."

In Rome, meanwhile, Pope Francis said a concerted response was needed to solve Europe's migrant problem so that countries share equally the burden of helping those fleeing war and other "inhumane" situations.

Francis praised Greece and other countries offering "generous" help while being on the front line of the arrivals. Speaking in St. Peter's Square on Sunday, Francis said a "concerted response can be more effective and distribute equally the weight" of helping the migrants.

Orban, however, said Hungary would continue to oppose EU plans for a quota system to redistribute over 100,000 migrants among its 28 nations and claimed Brussels was also looking to set up a "mandatory, permanent and continuous redistribution system" for the migrants.

"Brussels must be stopped," Orban said. "We can't allow them to force us ... to import the bitter fruits of their mistaken immigration policies. We don't want to and won't import crime, terrorism, homophobia, and anti-Semitism into Hungary."

Hungary has sued Brussels over the refugee quota plan and Orban said this week that the government was hoping to hold a national referendum on any further EU attempts to impose migrant quotas.

As 2,000 opposition supporters protested against Orban, the prime minister said Hungarians did not have a "heart of stone" and wanted to help those in need.

"Most migrants are also victims of their collapsing governments of their countries, of bad international decisions and of human traffickers," Orban said. "We keep in mind the most important rule of assistance  if we help here, they will come here. If we help there, they will stay there."

Protesting refugees and migrants block a train at the Greek-Macedonia border as they chant "Open the Borders" in the northern Greek village of Idomeni, the Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. About 5,500 migrants are braving rainy weather at a tent camp close to the border and another 500 are camped at a gas station 17 kilometers away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Protesting refugees and migrants block a train at the Greek-Macedonia border as they are chanting "open the borders" in northern Greek village of Idomeni, the Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. About 5,500 migrants are braving rainy weather at a tent camp close to the border and another 500 are camped at a gas station 17 kilometers away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Protesting refugees and migrants block the railway tracks at the Greek-Macedonia border as they are chanting "open the borders" in northern Greek village of Idomeni, the Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. About 5,500 migrants are braving rainy weather at a tent camp close to the border and another 500 are camped at a gas station 17 kilometers away. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers his annual 'State of Hungary' speech in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, February 28, 2016. Orban says he has ordered the interior and defense ministers to begin preparing the construction of defenses on the border with Romania to prevent migrants from entering. He also said that the European Union bureaucrats and Germanys welcoming culture are to blame for the migrant crisis on the continent. The inscription reads: "Hungarian Reforms Are Working". (Szilard Koszticsak/MTI via AP)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban delivers his annual 'State of Hungary' speech in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, February 28, 2016. Orban says he has ordered the interior and defense ministers to begin preparing the construction of defenses on the border with Romania to prevent migrants from entering. He also said that the European Union bureaucrats and Germanys welcoming culture are to blame for the migrant crisis on the continent. The inscription reads: "Hungarian Reforms Are Working". (Szilard Koszticsak/MTI via AP)

A Syrian refugee hugs his wife and daughter after their arrival from a Turkish coast on the Greek southeastern island of Lesbos, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016. Greece is mired in a full-blown diplomatic dispute with some EU countries over their border slowdowns and closures. Those border moves have left Greece and the migrants caught between an increasingly fractious Europe, where several countries are reluctant to accept more asylum-seekers, and Turkey, which has appeared unwilling or unable to staunch the torrent of people leaving in barely seaworthy smuggling boats for Greek islands. (AP Photo/Manu Brabo)
Carl Frampton crowned unified world super-bantamweight champion

Carl Frampton was crowned unified world super-bantamweight champion after beating fellow Briton Scott Quigg on points at Manchester Arena.

The much-anticipated showdown between two fighters who both went into it undefeated was widely regarded beforehand as a 50-50 contest, although Frampton was marginal favourite with the bookmakers.

And it was the Northern Irishman who did eventually emerge triumphant after 12 rounds in front of a cacophonous 20,000 sell-out crowd, winning on a split decision to add Bury-born Quigg's WBA title to his own IBF belt.

Carl Frampton, pictured left, defeated Scott Quigg in Manchester

Frampton got the nod courtesy of 116-112 counts in his favour by two judges, with the other giving it to Quigg 115-113.

While the fight was not the classic some had predicted, and certainly took a while to warm up, it had become a decent spectacle by the last few rounds, with Quigg - who had struggled to make much of an impression for much of the time up to that point - looking the likelier to land any knockout that might be coming.

The bout marked the climax of a rivalry which had been brewing for several years and seemed to increase another level in the last few days of build-up.

There had been heated words and minor skirmishes between the two camps at both the final press conference and the weigh-in.

Amid that, a dispute had broken out about who would use the biggest dressing room on fight night, Frampton - who suggested he might "walk away" over the matter - claiming his entitlement to it as the "star of the show" and Quigg adamant he should have it as the home fighter.

It is understood that in the end it was locked with neither man using it - something Frampton's camp had been suggesting as a resolution and thus looked very much like a pre-fight victory for the Belfast native.

Whether Quigg was rattled by that or not, he appeared confident as he headed to the ring first in an arena which had seen him shine in his previous fight, an impressive second-round knockout victory over Spain's Kiko Martinez last summer.

His entrance was met by an almighty roar - although boos were more audible than anything else.

Both Quigg and Frampton had insisted they would have the more vociferous support at the venue, and it was clear there was a considerable Northern Irish contingent in attendance, who cheered their man on heartily as he arrived.

It all made for a fantastic atmosphere - but after all the hype, the opening few rounds were a major disappointment.

Both men looked somewhat apprehensive, and neither landed any shots of real note, although it was Frampton who was in control.

Quigg started to improve but the best work was still coming from Frampton by the end of the sixth and seventh.

In the eighth things finally started to get going properly, with Quigg enjoying some genuine success for the first time, and in the ninth he landed a big right that had Frampton temporarily shaken.

A proper battle had developed at last, and as it continued, there were some more significant blows delivered by Quigg's right first.

Frampton looked the more tired of the two but was able to keep fighting back - and come the final bell it proved he had done enough.

Frampton said afterwards: "I did what I had to do to make it easy for myself.

"I couldn't believe what was going on when I heard the split decision - I felt I was a comfortable winner - but it's onwards and upwards for me now.

"I knew it was going to be a tactical fight all along and a bit timid but you have to do what it takes to win. I'm not going to rush into silly punches. You have to be smart. I was and I got the win.

"He's a solid puncher... I think both of us are and that is why it was so cautious early on. But he never really rocked me."

Frampton was keen to forget about the pre-bout rivalry, adding on BBC Radio 5 Live: That's the end of all the disrespect - from my side anyway.

"I'm proud to have beaten a very good fighter tonight. There's a lot of history between our teams but he was a worthy champion."

Quigg's promoter Eddie Hearn had no complaints about the verdict.

He said: "It was a cracking five rounds after a slow start. I gave it to Carl Frampton by a couple of rounds, Scott started too late and gave him a bit too much respect.

"Some people will fail to see how well Carl Frampton fought. I think Scott had him badly hurt in the 11th but fair play to him, I think he was the deserved winner.

"You can't be haphazard in the early rounds and start attacking and throwing punches. You've got to go the distance.
Frampton ready to 'move on to bigger and better things' after beating Quigg

Carl Frampton stressed he would "rather move on to bigger and better things" than have a rematch with Scott Quigg after he beat his fellow Briton on points at Manchester Arena to become unified world super-bantamweight champion.

The victory, which saw Frampton take Quigg's WBA title to add to the IBF belt he already owned, came via a split decision, despite the former having been well in control for much of the contest.

Bury-born Quigg afterwards expressed his desire for the pair - both undefeated heading into Saturday's much-anticipated bout - to meet again in Frampton's native Belfast.

Carl Frampton celebrates beating Scott Quigg in Manchester

But Frampton said: "To be honest, I would rather move on to bigger and better things.

"If I have to have a rematch, no problem, but the world is our oyster now and I think we just move on.

"It says split decision, but it shouldn't have been. I felt like I was very comfortable in there."

There has been plenty of talk about the winner of this clash facing Cuba's former super-bantamweight world champion Guillermo Rigondeaux.

But Frampton and his camp are much more enthusiastic about the idea of taking on reigning WBA featherweight world champion Leo Santa Cruz.

Frampton's manager Barry McGuigan feels that would be a "breathtaking" showdown - and has labelled both a Quigg rematch and fight against Rigondeaux unattractive options.

McGuigan - who also mentioned as possible future opponents Wales' Lee Selby and American Gary Russell Jr, the IBF and WBC featherweight world champions respectively - said: "We need to step it up to the next level.

"The money fight is Santa Cruz. The difference between him and Scott is that Scott was unsure and just didn't want to throw as he was so apprehensive because he was being hit hard that he just didn't want to let go.

"Santa Cruz does let go and it would be a fabulous fight."

Frampton added: "It is very appealing to me. I think Santa Cruz could do super-bantam, but if I have to go to featherweight... I wouldn't go to featherweight for a no-mark but he obviously is a big name."

In terms of Quigg's options going forward, his promoter Eddie Hearn spoke about various possible scenarios, including taking on Rigondeaux.

But Quigg himself, who only started to make a real impression when a fight struggling to live up to the hype developed into more of a battle in the final few rounds, said of a rematch: "Obviously it is the fight I want.

"The guy has just beaten me and I 100 per cent believe I can beat him, having been in there and been comfortable, then put it on him like I did in the last bit.

"If there was another one, I think it would take off from where we just left it."

The 27-year-old sustained a broken jaw during the bout, which ended with 116-112 counts in Frampton's favour by two judges, with the other giving it to Quigg 115-113.

And Quigg added: "He has got the decision, he is the world champion, he is a great fighter and I'm not going to discredit him.

"If it wasn't for the jaw, I'd be back in the gym Monday.

"It is absolutely killing me inside, but I'll be back. As soon as I can get back in the gym, I'll be putting the work in and I'll make sure it will never happen again."

Frampton said of inflicting Quigg's first defeat in 34 professional fights: "He may struggle to deal with it but he is very strong-minded and I hope he can get back on the wagon.

"There are fights for him there still. It doesn't make Scott Quigg a bad fighter to lose to me."

As well as winning in the ring, the cacophonous noise from the 20,000 sell-out crowd at the arena suggested Frampton had the more vociferous fans.

And the 29-year-old, whose own record now stands at 22 victories from as many fights, said: "It was electrifying, inspirational, unbelievable - a great atmosphere.
Louis van Gaal dismisses Wayne Rooney's chances of playing for England in March

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has confirmed captain Wayne Rooney would miss out on next month's England friendly double-header as he continues his recovery from a knee injury.

The 30-year-old England striker was first expected to be ruled out until April after playing in the 2-1 defeat to Sunderland earlier this month when it was revealed he had damaged knee ligaments.

England travel to world champions Germany in a friendly on March 26 before they face Holland three days later at Wembley.

Wayne Rooney will miss out for England next month

Any news of an early comeback was quashed on Sunday as Van Gaal told Daily Star Sunday: "No, he won't be ready for England next month."

Before he was reported in several newspapers as saying: "Wayne has a brace fitted now and he has to wear it for two-and-a-half weeks.

"After that we then have to look again. Now he's resting and isn't able to do any work yet.
IDS warns against pro-EU campaign's 'pessimistic downsizing' of Britain

A Eurosceptic Cabinet minister has accused David Cameron and pro-EU campaigners of displaying "a low opinion of the British people" by downplaying the UK's prospects outside the EU.

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith launched a blistering attack on those campaigning for a vote to Remain in June's referendum as he called for an end to personal attacks amid increasingly bitter fighting within the Conservative Party.

The Prime Minister had led a fresh assault on pro-Brexit campaigners, using a newspaper article to accuse them of wanting to take "the gamble of the century" with the UK's future on the basis of only "extremely vague" proposals.

Iain Duncan Smith has said Britain's potential outside the EU should not be underestimated

But Mr Duncan Smith - one of five Cabinet ministers who have broken ranks to join the Leave campaign - insisted a post-exit favourable trade deal with the rest of the EU is "very doable".

He dismissed the potential impact of the emergency brake curb on migrant workers' benefits secured by the PM as part of the renegotiation deal with the other 27 member states, and he vowed to fight a ban on anti-EU ministers seeing official papers relating to Brussels.

"I have never heard such a lot of pessimistic downsizing of Britain's aspect," he told BBC1's Andrew Marr Show after Mr Cameron began a tour of the UK urging voters not to take a "leap in the dark".

Mr Duncan Smith added: "Britain is a phenomenal country, the fifth largest in the world. It has stood alone and fought for freedom, it has been a global trader, it can yet again be a global trader.

"Why would we have such a low opinion of the British people that we go out and talk about leaping into the dark, we talk about profound shocks, we talk about them not being capable, we're too small.

"I have a different view. My view is that Britain is a great country, the people here are inventive, innovative and they will find a way with us to actually have a real deal that gives Britain access to the world and access to Europe.

He went on: "The 'in' campaign's whole strategy seems to be 'ooh, it's terrible, hang on to nurse for fear of something worse'. It's been about saying basically we are too small, we are too little, we are too inconsequential, we can't do what we want.

"I do not know why anybody would want to run a country like this. This country is the greatest on earth."

He said Mr Cameron deserved credit for allowing himself and colleagues the freedom to oppose the official Government policy of remaining in the EU without being sacked, but he called for an end to personal attacks, saying: "Don't play the person; play the man."

Tory backbencher Rehman Chishti, who is yet to decide how to vote, told the Sky News Murnaghan show that Mr Cameron's strident criticism of Brexit supporter and London Mayor Boris Johnson in the Commons was "undignified".

Mr Duncan Smith - who said he has "deja vu" as a veteran of the rebellion against then premier John Major over the Maastricht Treaty - complained that ministers were undermining party unity by "briefing off" about the fate of colleagues.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood faces a grilling by MPs on Tuesday over his edict, backed by Downing Street, that it was "not appropriate or permissible" for officials to supply access to EU-related papers to ministers opposing the official line.

The Work and Pensions Secretary told the Sunday Telegraph he " must have the right to continue to look" at material such as the implementation of the "emergency brake", stressing he was "constitutionally" in charge of the department.

Writing in the same newspaper, the PM said: "When the people campaigning for 'out' are asked to set out a vision outside the European Union, they become extremely vague. It's simply not good enough to assert everything will be all right when jobs and our country's future are at stake."

He challenged them to set out what the trading relationship would look like, how long the economy would face uncertainty while it was negotiated, how joint-security arrangements would be replaced and how Britain's role and influence in the world would be maintained.

"With so many gaps in the 'out' case, the decision is clearly one between the great unknown and a greater Britain," the PM said.

"A vote to leave is the gamble of the century. And it would be our children's futures on the table if we were to roll the dice.

At least 130 of the 330 Conservative MPs have publicly declared their intent to defy Mr Cameron and back Leave in the referendum campaign.

Mr Duncan Smith said the UK market is so important to other EU businesses - such as Germany's car industry - that other member states "have a real requirement to trade with us, a desperate one".

"The Prime Minister says there is a challenge to know what life outside looks like. My answer to this challenge is very simple: we do a deal with the European Union.

"That is a trade deal, about access to our markets, access to theirs. Part of our red lines will be about us being able to control the borders as we want. We want migration but we want it as controlled migration so we can cope with it.

"That deal is very doable."

The EU faces "utter chaos and confusion" as its border rules collapse under the weight of huge numbers of refugees fleeing the Syrian civil war and other conflicts, he said.

"You've got Hungary putting up barbed wire, you've got the Macedonians refusing to accept anybody from Greece. This is a shambles.

"If this is the future under the European Union, we'd be better off saying, 'this is how we are going to cope'."

Mr Duncan Smith said the restriction on pro-Brexit ministers' access to material "can't possibly apply in the sense of us not knowing what is going on in the department because we are responsible for the department".

"For example, I will have to work on these proposals which came back from the recent negotiations."

Sir Jeremy is due to appear before the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee on Tuesday to be pressed over critics' allegations that it breaches neutrality rules.

Mr Cameron insists that while he has given ministers the right to campaign on the opposing side in a personal capacity, the Government has a formal position and the civil service must work to deliver that policy.

Commons leader Chris Grayling - who along with Justice Secretary Michael Gove, Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers and Culture Secretary John Whittingdale make up the Cabinet "leave" group - warned Mr Cameron against a "purge".

Mr Grayling said there should be "no recriminations" from either side following the referendum, amid reports that Tory MPs may try to oust the PM even if the UK votes to remain in the EU.

The Commons Leader told the Murnaghan programme: "I have to say I don't believe at the moment the Prime Minister is sitting in Downing Street plotting sackings of ministers.

"I mean, it would not be at all sensible when the referendum is over for there to be a purge of people on either side of the argument.

"If we are going to come together, if we are going to work harmoniously as a party, and if above all we're going to beat the Labour Party and win in 2020, we've got to come together well and there cannot be recriminations at the end of this.

"The Prime Minister has done the right thing in giving us all the freedom to debate on one side of the argument or another and I really admire him for doing that.

"All of us involved in that debate must make sure afterwards there are no recriminations.

Mr Grayling added: "I'm not in this because I'm trying to keep my place in the Cabinet or I'm trying to put in danger my place in the Cabinet.

"I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do."

Shadow business secretary Angela Eagle played down warnings that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn - who Mr Duncan Smith said had previously been "utterly opposed" to EU membership - was failing to campaign strongly enough for the "remain" camp.

The Oppositon is "united in our determination" to secure victory in June, she told Marr, with no more than handful of MPs backing Brexit, and Mr Corbyn recognises that "it's Labour votes that'll keep us in Europe".

Mr Cameron's internal battles are the price he pays for a "cynical manipulation" of the EU issue, she said.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "There is no ban on ministers who support Leave receiving Government papers. Day to day EU business will continue to be conducted in the usual way and all ministers will retain access to any papers relevant to their departments.

"It is only papers specifically relating to the EU referendum that they will not receive and that reflects the fact that the Government has taken a position and they are choosing to take a different one."

The Britain Stronger In Europe campaign said its opponents had suggested the UK should seek to emulate the arrangements of more than 20 other countries - including Vanuatu, Nicaragua, Peru and Macedonia - if it left the EU.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the dossier of compiled alternatives showed they were unable to " set out a clear vision of what Britain would look like outside the EU".

"The Leave campaign has come up with 20 possible options, but they all contain significant risk to the British economy.

"Leave campaigners now have to answer these key questions: what does leaving look like?; how many years would it take to put in place a new deal with the EU?; and what will happen to our security co-operation arrangements with the EU?

"Until we have answers from the Leave campaign, a vote to leave is a leap into the dark that would put the security of Britain's future at risk."

Farming minister George Eustice told BBC Radio 5 Live's Pienaar's Politics: " If I'm going to a European Council or there's a contentious issue emerging from Europe, or we're being threatened with infraction there and there needs to be a decision as to whether we challenge that or acquiesce to it - and this is the sort of bread and butter decisions that ministers like me and a department like Defra have to take - absolutely we have to have 100% access to those sorts of documents.

"And it would be very dangerous ... for the Civil Service to get into a position of saying there's a type of minister who can't have access to this information.
Blumarine, Ermanno Scervino unveil furs, craftsmanship in Milan

By Marie-Louise Gumuchian

MILAN, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Fur took centre stage at Milan Fashion Week on Saturday with Italian brands Blumarine and Ermanno Scervino presenting plenty of it in their luxurious womenswear creations for next winter.

Amid softening demand for luxury goods, especially from major market China, fashion labels are looking to stand out and woo customers with their intricately-made clothes and accessories.

Designer Scervino also sought to showcase Italian craftsmanship in his collection called "The Mosaic Woman" with pleated as well as thick lace dresses, tweed coats decorated with sparkling sequined flowers and embroidered evening wear.

Small coloured squares formed mosaic-like patterns on coats, trouser suits and dresses in metallic gold, bronze and silver.

Scervino put fur cuffs and collars on white, burgundy and black coats. He also added coloured fur collars on some jackets and coats and said the "must have" item was a fox helmet.

"We see ... slim waistlines, we see a lot of femininity," he told Reuters.

Scervino also presented all-black Victorian Gothic-inspired dresses and coats. Flashes of yellow and shades of grey were also seen on some of his creations, which were accessorised with kitten-heeled boots as well as platform shoes.

Earlier at Blumarine, designer Anna Molinari offered all-fur belted coats and jacket and skirt suits, fur-lined sheer dresses as well as fur-heeled shoes and flip flop sandals with fur interiors in her "Moonlit Nocturne" collection.

Models wore long earrings with furry pom-poms at the end as well as furry helmets. Fur even came on handbags.

"The collection portrays a woman who has an eclectic personality and she is proud of herself," Molinari told Reuters ahead of the show.

The designer, who used a colour palette of mainly sage, pink and brown, also offered leopard print and floral -- the latter embroidered on jeans as well as printed on tops and chiffon dresses.

For the evening, there were long colour paillette striped dresses that elongated silhouettes.

Italian designer Versace also used fur in its winter collection, with intarsia furs and black sheepskin among the coats. Accessories included bags with fox tails.
Afghan police suspected of aiding Taliban killed, detained by army

By Mohammad Stanekzai

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan, Feb 28 (Reuters) - A policeman was killed and another 30 were detained during a joint operation between Afghan troops and U.S. forces last week against police suspected of supporting Taliban insurgents in embattled Helmand province, Afghan officials said on Sunday.

Reports of fighting between police and soldiers add to the upheaval in the southern province, long a stronghold of the insurgency, where the military has abandoned several outposts. The NATO-led coalition and the Afghan government are trying to overhaul security forces and reverse insurgent gains there.

The incident on Friday was in Sangin district, the scene of some of the heaviest fighting in Afghanistan's long war, Helmand police chief Abdul Rahman Sarjang told Reuters.

"Army forces detained the police and took them to the military corps in Helmand," Sarjang said. "An investigation is ongoing at the moment."

The acting Sangin district police chief was among the detainees, Sarjang said.

Sarjang refused to confirm the reason for the operation but a senior Afghan army official in Helmand told Reuters the army and U.S. advisers suspected the police of providing weapons and ammunition to the Taliban and that they had planned to eventually surrender to the insurgents.

"During our investigation we found some evidence they were helping the Taliban and we were afraid they may submit the district to the Taliban," said the officer, who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss the operation. "We launched a joint operation with Americans and detained all of them."

The full extent of American involvement was not clear and a spokesman for the U.S. military in Kabul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The coalition recently deployed several hundred more troops to Helmand in a bid to increase security for the advisers helping Afghan forces. U.S. air strikes have also played an important role in trying to blunt Taliban offensives.
Former Auschwitz SS medic to stand trial in Germany

By Tina Bellon

BERLIN, Feb 28 (Reuters) - A 95-year-old former Nazi SS paramedic at the Auschwitz death camp, accused of being an accomplice to the murder of thousands, is to stand trial in Germany on Monday, one in a series of such recent cases.

Hubert Zafke was serving as a medic in the SS at the biggest death camp in occupied Poland where he was deployed in 1943. During the trial, he will be faced with the accounts of at least two witnesses.

Prosecutors in the northern German city of Schwerin say that Zafke, in his function as a medic, supported the slaughter at Auschwitz, where over 1.2 million people, most of them Jews, were killed.

Zafke was responsible for treating SS members in case of sickness, not any of the inmates, but prosecutors say he was stationed directly on the path leading to the gas chambers.

According to initial investigations, Zafke did not deny having been an SS member at Auschwitz but he maintains not to have witnessed anything about the killings. The prosecutors say that, among being a witness to these gas chambers walks, he also must have been aware of the constant smoke arising from the crematoriums.

A precedent for such cases was set in 2011, when former Nazi guard John Demjanjuk was sentenced for being an accessory to the Nazis' mass murder during the Holocaust.

Demjanjuk's conviction, allowing the pursuit of those involved in the death camp apparatus even if no individual murder could be proven, paved the way for late Nazi trials, with at least four Auschwitz cases scheduled this year alone.

Germany's Nazi past has weighed heavily on the country and even today forms the backdrop to national debates on issues such as how to deal with refugees of war. These latest Nazi trials, among the last as that generation dies out, may help draw a line under this chapter in the country's history.

Trials are kept short on health grounds because the age of the accused.

Zafke's charges focus on a month-long period between August and September 1944, when 14 deportation trains from Poland, Slovenia, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands arrived at the camp.

One carried Anne Frank, the German-born Jewish writer, whose "Diary of a young girl" became one of the most widely known witness accounts of the Holocaust, documenting her life in hiding during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

Anne Frank and her sister Margot were eventually transferred westwards to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they died shortly before its liberation in April 1945.
Israel welcomes Syria truce but hints could attack if threatened

JERUSALEM, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Israel welcomed the cessation of hostilities in neighbouring Syria but hinted on Sunday it could still launch attacks there if it saw a threat.

Guns mostly fell silent in Syria and Russian air raids in support of President Bashar al-Assad stopped on Saturday, the first day of a U.S.-Russian accord that the United Nations has described as the best hope for ending five years of civil war.

Israeli officials had earlier been skeptical about the prospects of a truce, given Syria's sectarian rifts and the exclusion of jihadi rebels. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sounded cautiously upbeat in pubic remarks on Sunday.

"We welcome the efforts to achieve a stable, long-term and real ceasefire in Syria. Anything that stops the terrible slaughter there is important, first and foremost from a humanitarian standpoint," he told his cabinet.

"But at the same time it is important that it be clear: Any arrangement in Syria has to include a cessation of Iranian belligerence toward Israel from Syrian territory," he added.

While formally neutral on the civil war, Israel has launched a number of air strikes in Syria to foil suspected arms transfers to Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah guerrillas, who are helping Assad.

Israel has also said it has returned fire when shot at across the Golan Heights frontier, where it worries Hezbollah is active.
Air strike targets suspected Islamic State convoy in Libya -town official

TRIPOLI, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Aircraft attacked a convoy carrying suspected Islamic State militants near the northwestern Libyan town of Bani Walid early on Sunday, an official said.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, although both the United States and Libyan government forces have launched air strikes on jihadists in recent months.

A Pentagon official said the U.S. military was not involved in the action but provided no other details. U.S. sources said later that no other U.S. government agencies were involved.

Three huge explosions rocked the area around dawn, the member of Bani Walid's municipal council told Reuters.

People living in Ras al-Tbel, about 80 km (50 miles) southeast of Bani Walid, had seen the same convoy of up to 15 vehicles carrying the black flags of Islamic State over the past two days, the official added.

It was not immediately clear if the convoy was hit.

Jihadist groups have taken advantage of political chaos to expand their presence in Libya, and fighters loyal to Islamic State have taken control of the coastal city of Sirte, about 260 km (160 miles) east of Bani Walid.

Western officials say they are discussing air strikes and special forces operations in Libya against the group that is seeking to set up a cross-border Islamic caliphate and has already seized large areas of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.
Virginia policewoman killed on her 1st day on job; Army sergeant charged

By Brendan O'Brien

Feb 28 (Reuters) - An off-duty U.S. Army sergeant stationed at the Pentagon has been charged with fatally shooting a Virginia police officer on her first day on the job as she responded to a domestic disturbance at a home outside Washington, authorities said on Sunday.

Ashley Guindon, 28, an officer with the Prince William County Police and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, died of her wounds after being shot on Saturday evening, a day after she was sworn in as a member of the force, the department said.

Two other officers, Jesse Hempen, 31, and David McKeown, 33, were also shot during the altercation and remained hospitalized, Chief Steve Hudson said during a news conference.

Guindon, Hempen and McKeown were shot at a home they were called to in Lake Ridge, about 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Washington, the county police department said.

Inside the home, police found a woman shot to death and an 11-year-old, who was unharmed, Hudson said.

Army Sergeant Ronald Hamilton, 32, who is stationed at the Pentagon just outside Washington, has been charged in the shooting and was being held without bond, Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert said.

Hamilton was expected to be arraigned on Monday, Ebert said.

"It's a sad day for everyone in this room. It's a sad day for law enforcement," Ebert said during the press conference standing next to a photo of Guindon.

Guindon was a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, where she earned a degree in aeronautics. She also served in the Marine Corps Reserve and has family members in law enforcement, according to the county.

The officer was a 2005 graduate of Merrimack High School in New Hampshire, the principal, Kenneth Johnson, said in a statement.

Guindon interned with the department's forensics services section while she was in graduate school. She graduated in June 2015 from the police academy, but resigned during officer field training for personal reasons. She was hired back about two weeks ago, Hudson said.

"We were struck by her passion to do this job," Hudson said. "She clearly had a passion to serve others."

On Sunday, the department posted a photograph of a black ribbon draped over a squad car in honor of Guindon.

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God," the post said.

Local media showed a procession of squad cars and officers standing at attention outside of Inova Fairfax Hospital where Guindon and two other officers where brought after they were shot.
Nigerian state audit saves $11 million after non-existent workers removed

By Felix Onuah

ABUJA, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Nigeria's government has removed more than 20,000 non-existent workers from its payroll following an audit, leading to savings of 2.29 billion naira ($11.53 million) from its monthly wage bill, the Finance Ministry said on Sunday.

Corruption and mismanagement have long stunted development in Africa's biggest economy and top oil producer and are now exacerbating the impact of a sharp fall in global crude prices.

The audit used biometric data and a bank verification number (BVN) to identify holders of bank accounts into which salaries were being paid.

This showed the names of some civil servants receiving a salary did not correspond to the names linked to the bank accounts. In some cases individuals were also receiving salaries from multiple sources.

"The federal government has removed 23,846 non-existent workers from its payroll," said Festus Akanbi, special adviser to Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun who took office in November and soon after set up an efficiency unit to cut waste.

"Consequently the salary bill for February 2016 has reduced by 2.293 billion naira when compared to December 2015 when the BVN audit process commenced," said Akanbi, adding that those removed had been paid by ministries, departments and agencies.

The ministry said it would now undertake "periodic checks and utilise computer-assisted audit techniques" and also introduce tougher monitoring of new entrants to the civil service to avert further abuse of the system.

The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office last year vowing a crackdown on graft, said it wanted to cut the costs of running the government rather than slash jobs to help tackle Nigeria's worst economic crisis in years.

"The ongoing exercise, which is part of the cost-saving and anti-corruption agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari's administration, is key to funding the deficit in the 2016 budget," said Akanbi.

The ministry, which said personnel costs represent more than 40 percent of total government expenditure, said it had so far checked the details of about 312,000 civil servants.
Hungarian PM vows to resist EU's "misguided" migrant policy

By Marton Dunai

BUDAPEST, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban condemned on Sunday the European Union's failure to get to grips with its migrant crisis and vowed to resist pressure to take in more migrants, saying they would bring crime, terrorism and other problems.

Orban has long been known for his fiery right-wing rhetoric, but in his annual state of the nation address he struck a particularly harsh tone towards the refugees and Brussels over its attempts to impose migrant quotas on member states.

"We cannot let it force upon us the sour fruits of their misguided immigration policy. We want to import no crime, terrorism, homophobia or anti-Semitism to Hungary," he said, adding the quota system could cause the EU's disintegration.

Orban, who has been widely criticised for building a razor-wire fence along Hungary's southern border to keep migrants out, referred to growing social tensions in Europe, including attacks on refugee centres and alleged mass sexual harassment by migrants in Cologne and other German cities at New Year.

"There will be no lawless districts in Hungarian cities. There will be no riots, no refugee camps set on fire and no gangs will hunt for our wives and daughters," he said, using characteristically blunt language.

"In Hungary, we will nip in the bud and punish even the slightest attempts at such things," Orban said, adding that he wanted to fortify and possibly extend the border fence.

More than a million migrants, many escaping war and poverty in Syria and elsewhere, have fled to Europe over the last year, many passing through Hungary en route for wealthier western European nations, especially Germany.

Orban, 52, has often framed his approach to the migrant crisis as a defence of Europe's Christian culture and heritage against the tide of mostly Muslim migrants.

"The migration wave can be stopped," he said. "Europe is a community of half a billion people, more than Russia and the United States combined. Europe has the technology, the strategic and economic might to defend itself," he said.
"If one of them is lynched tomorrow, who will be accountable for it?"

Thus wrote Vishwa Deepak, a disillusioned journalist, formerly with Zee News, in a resignation letter in which he shared his thoughts on the channels coverage of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) row in which students were accused of "anti-national" sloganeering and sympathising with hanged terror convict Afzal Guru.

It is a valid concern, voiced too late, and raises other urgent questions: Is the media reducing us to our worst? Is there a deliberate intent behind the number of factual inaccuracies and unchecked passions as witnessed on some news channels for a long time now? Undoubtedly, there is a design. This is an attempt to deconstruct that design.

Unaccountability and its realistic effects

Of course, it is not just Zee News. Both Hindi and English TV channels have been complicit. With the JNU coverage, the core of the problem has been showcased in an easily identifiable form. Every depressing tendency of contemporary media has been on display: deranged shouting by anchors and panelists, aphorisms passed off as facts, bullying participants, character assassinations, ganging up, selectivism and doctored tapes. A ruling party spokesperson was even allowed to air a video, whose authenticity is doubtful, from his iPad, on national television, on the spot and obviously without verification, by an anchor who then inexplicably vouched for its authenticity.

Still, the problem was more than the sum of its parts. Apart from the hard details of the shows, the air was thick with something not really related to news. There was a feverish, almost violent outline to the products. There was a lot of contempt. It was threatening to climb out of the television and wring your neck. It was terrifying you with the many frights that await you that you didnt even know about before tuning in.

All this has had very real consequences. The irresponsibility is not merely an intellectually disturbing proposition. In the wake of such reporting, students and journalists were beaten up, ministers have threatened to shoot people dead and many lawyers have turned into goons. There is talk of petrol bombs, and rape threats are being issued to female relatives of the shows participants. Mobs of "nationalistic" vigilantes are roaming the streets even as professional careers are being jeopardised. All due to media trials and while the matter in question is in court.

The mechanism of blitzkrieg news

In a 2011 article called "Fourteen propaganda techniques Fox 'News' uses to brainwash Americans", Dr Cynthia Boaz had talked about very specific presentation strategies employed by Fox News. They have chilling parallels to sections of the Indian media, particularly the heavily-viewed Times Now. Among them was panic-mongering.

"With panic-mongering, there is never a break from fear... From Muslims to swine flu to recession to homosexuals to immigrants to the rapture itself, the belief over at Fox seems to be that if your fight-or-flight reflexes arent activated, you arent alive. This, of course, raises the question: why terrorise your own audience? Because it is the fastest way to bypass the rational brain. In other words, when people are afraid, they dont think rationally. And when they cant think rationally, theyll believe anything," wrote Dr Boaz.

Has this not been applied to the Indian context? The audience is being made to mortally fear everything from students to teachers to beef-eaters to anti-nationals to Naxalites to alleged eve-teasers to Pakistanis; all in a dreadful burst of hyperactivity.

"You are worse than Maoist terrorists," Times Nows Arnab Goswami told JNU students Umar Khalid and Lenin on his programme after the sloganeering incident. For a casual viewer, who could expect news shown on TV to be thorough and verified, this statement is enough to characterise these university students as worst than militants.

That episode was over a week ago, and till now no "anti-national" activity on either of their parts has been proven. Lenin wasnt even an accused! This did not hinder Mr Goswami, who proceeded to use another identifiable technique shared by Fox News and Times Now:

Repetition is essential to penetrating the viewers mind. "You are not leftists!" the anchor roared at the students ad nauseam like he just had a sudden epiphany which clears the matter up. It is a smart weapon, albeit should not be a journalistic one. It takes the viewer by storm, simplifies the discourse and charges baser instincts. What is repeated with frothing passion attempts forcible entry into the complex recesses of the collective mind of the audience to confuse it, disorient it and ultimately convert it.

Convenient juxtapositions

Another way to skew the debate and at the same time bully and embarrass people is to create random ideological juxtapositions. For instance, as Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad was battling for his life after being rescued from under 25-feet of snow in Siachen, it was immediately linked to the JNU issue somehow.

Chanting pupils were being connected by force to a brave soldiers impending demise. "We are proud of him and we are ashamed of you!" raged Mr Goswami at Khalid. When three Army personnel were slain during the terrorist attack in Pampore, again, oddly enough, the tragedy was conflated with JNU. "Support forces, not pro-Afzal groups" and "professional India-haters" were some of the messages flashed on Times Now.

How does every misfortune that befalls the Army deepen the perceived offences caused by slogans? Is this not an infantile understanding of patriotism? A patriotism defined more by what it is not than what it is. It stems from the need of certain channels to reduce the entire discourse to an either/or question; either you are the shows definition of a patriot, or you are an anti-national.

Either you condemn sloganeering or concede your disdain for the troops. It goes without saying that Khalid, guilty of anything or not, had no relation to Hanumanthappas death; just like the beating and parading of Muslim cop Yunus Shaikh in Lutur, while horrible, is only the responsibility of the perpetrators and neither does it occur due to, nor absolve, or make graver, the actions of say, the agitating Jats or Subramanian Swamys controversial take on the JNU. This constant identifying of the "other" should be noted.

The Hindi news channel India News, right after the JNU controversy, invited JNU Students' Union (JNUSU) president Kanhaiya Kumar (currently in custody over the row) as a panelist on their show hosted by Deepak Chaurasia. In a sentence, the anchor exhibited all that has gone awry with TV news.

"Kya Kashmir ghulam hai!," Mr Chaurasia screeched at Kanhaiya at the outset. Apart from the fact that there was not (and still isnt) any proof of Kanhaiyas involvement in slogans demanding Kashmiri independence, this handling of the show is a prime example of the either/or line of questioning. For Mr Chaurasia, either Kanhaiya thinks "Kashmir is a slave" or he thinks all is well with Kashmir. There is no middle ground.

Any answer given to such a question would immediately incur the ire of one section of the Indian public or another. Needless disrespect on national TV aside, it unfairly pushes the one being quizzed into a tight corner from which there is little recovery. It is a deliberate disavowal of nuance that creates instant villains. In this situation, Kanhaiya gave the only answer which rung true: "Mujhe lagta hai main ghulam hoon."

Part news, part reality TV

Sharp, bright colours and screaming tickers seem to tear through that compartment of the mind which is defined by critical thinking, and attempt to hammer the subconscious into submission. Superficial, but always confident, opinions are being cemented in a whirlwind of half-truths and propaganda, often accompanied by alarming, agenda-driven flash messages such as The only thing that must matter". TV news is fast resembling reality TV. Both are driven by TRPs and an increasing desire for notoriety.

These channels understand well that fair and measured views take time and effort to form whereas humans react to blunt negativity in an almost instantaneous fashion. It is not meant as an educative tool, but an unlearning of the rational.

It loathes patience and holds snap judgment as an indicator of cognitive prowess. For example, a viewer is encouraged to keep pace with Mr Goswamis ranting. It may be true for the casual viewer that Mr Goswamis compelling, articulate style is quite enough to keep pace with.

In this attempt, the viewer may hold any or all of the anchors opinions as true because with all the elements of the show combined - the flashing tickers, the yelling, the slander, the anchors facial expressions of righteous vigilantism  there is only room for a passing acknowledgement of what the host is actually saying.

In an effort to keep up with this bulletin train and not judge him/herself slow, he/she might adopt to the tee the content of the broadcast by the time it ends. Watching Mr Goswami bully Khalid, for instance, may improve the viewers English but corrode his/her judgment.

The phenomenon of the hashtag has not spared news. Everything is accompanied by a hashtag. It provides yet another tool to presenters already trying to encapsulate issues into the smallest possible digestible pill through its ability to endow whatever suffix follows with an aphoristic, campaign-style flavour. Messages such as #IndiavsAfzalLeague, seen repeatedly on the English channel NewsX, create a dangerous polarisation without clarity on whether there exists such a "league" or who constitutes it.

Many, including me, were initially floored by Ravish Kumars "blackout" performance on NDTV Hindis prime time. Darkening the screen, apart from the symbolism, led to a refreshing alteration of the senses as a news consumer. The auditory experience, without visuals of a spontaneously combusting anchor, allowed one to focus on what is actually being said. It was like the radio.

It was powerful, even exhilarating. All of it  the anchors engaging rationality, his voice devoid of dangerous inflection, his sobering message, his insistence on putting himself in the same boat as those he criticised  felt just right. One wanted to applaud him and agree with him some more, congratulate him.

It set in soon, though, that this was a shortcoming on the part of the audience; already the appreciation for a balanced show was seeking basis in the anchors demeanour. Adulation for the anchor, surely, was not the intention of the broadcast but that is what ended up happening. Even a non-inflammatory rendering of news runs the danger of being superseded by a need to relate to heroes. Credible information is shortchanged for a compulsive lionising of the agreeable  on both sides of the ideological coin. Therein, perhaps, lies the problem.

TRP-hungry TV, however objectionable, is partly agenda and partly a reflection of those who watch it. It is a highly intelligent and morally ambivalent gauge of what people want to see and will not change without a maturing viewership.
LONDON - England - Prime Minister David Cameron today urged Britons to work harder so they can pay more tax to pay the vast 886 million bill for out-of-work EU migrants per annum.

Next year the bill will rise to over 1.6 billion so I am asking Britons to work harder so the EU migrants can enjoy free housing, tax credits, child benefit, free schools, free NHS and also free holidays for the EU migrants mostly from Romania and Poland. Remember that along with the vast benefits they receive they also send most of the money back to their homelands so it does not stay in Britain. You must therefore work harder and I have asked Georgie boy to raise income taxes so you will take less money home and work longer hours with minimal pensions. Dont forget to vote to stay In the EU, by the way.

886 million

Giougiou Haj, 27, who arrived from Romania praised the PMs speech.

Thank you David Cameron. Let the British work harder so I can enjoy myself more. I make 40,000 per annum begging and pickpocketing in Trafalgar Square. I also get 3,500 per week benefits for my imaginary extended family of twenty, and my wife recently got her teeth veneered on the NHS at a cost of 65,000 to the taxpayer. Next year she wants a breast enlargement so she can make more money as a prostitute. My twelve real kids back in Romania are receiving child benefit cheques every week and our Edwardian mansion in Grosvenor Square is funded purely by the British taxpayer. Remember to vote to stay In the EU you stupid muppets, were taking you for a ride. Work harder, so I can enjoy a life of luxury off your sweat and tears you filthy mugs. Ha, ha, ha, hah!

Chancellor George Osborne, will unveil income tax rises, pension raids and cuts in essential services next week.




"...[S]tates like Georgia have the sound stages we need to create the special effects, and they offer a bigger tax incentive," Joe Russo said during the panel. "But we would love to film here."

Its not a subsidy for filmmakers. The incentive creates jobs and builds infrastructure. And people want to shoot here," Schwarz said.





If we get [sound stages] built, we could potentially bring $600 million into the economy a year. Then we can start to talk about the thousands of jobs we would create, too," Schwarz said and that's big comparing that annual number to the combined total of the last six years which brought in $400 million.





And it's not like actors hate shooting in Cleveland. In fact, Schwarz told the crowd that Captain America himself Chris Evans loves coming to Cleveland to film.





The coming months are very important for the Greater Cleveland Film Commission, Schwarz, the city of Cleveland and the state because if the film tax incentive isn't increased then Hollywood will continue to flock to current filming hot spots like Atlanta and Louisiana.









Related Posts:





At Wizard World Cleveland, head of the Greater Cleveland Film Commission , Ivan Schwarz held a panel withdirectors Anthony and Joe Russo. While nothing was revealed about the Russo's upcoming Marvel Studios film, there was plenty to reveal about Cleveland's (and Ohio's) growing film industry.The Russo brothers are from Cleveland and they shot the majority ofin the area. Cleveland has also been a filming home to Marvel filmsand; plus, Joe Russo confirmed the city is back on Marvel Studios' potential filming location list for thefilms (see that post link below).Lately, Cleveland has had trouble convincing Marvel and other Hollywood studios to come back to shoot more high profile movies in and around the city; ever since the gigantic Pinewood Studios facility opened in Atlanta in 2014. Winter Soldier was the last really big high profile film shot in Cleveland and that was three years ago, in spring 2013.According to Schwarz, things might be changing for the film industry in Cleveland (and Ohio) very soon as he confirmed the state legislature is considering his proposal to increase Ohio's film tax incentives from its current $20 million per year amount to a whopping $75 million per year. This big increase would make Ohio a major contender for big blockbuster film productions, if state lawmakers approve it this spring.Getting back to the topic of sound stages, Schwarz confirmed not one but two targeted locations for the construction of Hollywood-caliber sound stages. One is at the abandoned Geauga Lake Amusement Park in Aurora and the other is at Severance Center plaza on the east side of Cleveland.
New Delhi: Car market leader Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) has started shipping its premium hatchback Baleno to Europe, ahead of the formal launch of the model by its Japanese parent Suzuki Motor Corp.

The Baleno, which is produced only in India, has already become the first model to be exported by Maruti to its parent Suzuki's home market, Japan. SMC will showcase India-made Baleno in the upcoming Geneva International Motor, which will be open to the press on March 1 and2 and then to the general public from March 3-13."The shipments of the Baleno has started from last week," a company official told PTI.

Suzuki Motor Corporation said that after its world premiere at the last Frankfurt Motor Show, it is ready for the market launch of the new Baleno in Europe."The model will go on sale in Europe in this spring," the company said in a statement.MSI, an arm of SMC, launched the Baleno in India last year. It will be launched in Japan next month.

The first consignment comprised 1,800 units and was shipped from Mundra Port in Gujarat, where SMC is setting up a manufacturing plant to supply cars to its Indian arm.Maruti also plans to export the Baleno to over 100 global markets.

The company and its supplier partners have invested Rs 1,060 crore in the development of Baleno, which is being manufactured at the company's Manesar plant. In the domestic market, the car has been well accepted.

Last month, Balenomade it to the eight rank in the top ten passenger vehicle models with sale of 7,698 units Baleno competes with the likes of Hyundai i20, Honda Jazz and Volkswagen Polo and is sold through the company's new premium network of showrooms, Nexa.
GUNTUR: A. Venkata Pavan Kumar of Guntur, who was abducted in Nigeria, was released by the kidnappers on Saturday. Kumar was kidnapped on February 20 and on February 26, the company in which Kumar was working held talks on which kidnappers agreed to release Kumar. The family members of Kumar who are living at Guntur are happy over the safe end of the kidnap drama.

Pavans wife Annapurna, with relatives including uncle A. Srinivas, met MP R. Sambasiva Rao and Guntur west MLA M. Venugopala Reddy on Friday and sought their cooperation for the safe release of Kumar. They contacted higher officials of Indian Embassy and Ministry of External Affairs. On Saturday, the relatives went to the house of Mr Venugopala Reddy where they came to know about the release of Kumar on the phone. Mr Srinivas said that the owners of Agbede Agri Products in Auhja district of Nigeria held talks with the abductors and finally the kidnappers released Kumar on Saturday.

Mr Srinivas said that Kumar received some physical injuries as the kidnappers had beaten him and further did not give him proper food. He said that Kumar is undergoing treatment in a hospital at Nigeria and will return to Guntur after one week.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to the United States in October last year had given the necessary impetus to the dialogue mechanism (Photo: PTI)

Islamabad: Pakistan and the US will on Monday hold a ministerial-level strategic dialogue on key areas including economy, security and counter-terrorism, amid strong opposition by India as well as US lawmakers on the proposed F-16 deal to Islamabad.

Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will lead the Pakistani delegation while Secretary of State John Kerry will lead the US side for the 6th round of the strategic dialogue to be held in Washington, Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday.

Read: US, Pakistan to hold strategic discussions amid India's concern on F-16 deal

The six segments of the strategic dialogue include cooperation in economy and finance; energy; education, science and technology; law enforcement and counter-terrorism; security, strategic stability and non-proliferation and defence.

It will be the third annual meeting since the present government has come to power. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to the United States in October last year had given the necessary impetus to the dialogue mechanism, the report said.

The dialogue process began in 2010 but interrupted in 2011 when the US forces killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in a midnight raid. The process resumed in 2014 when Aziz and Kerry met in Washington in January.

The key meeting will take place soon after the US announced to sell eight F-16 fighter jets worth USD 700 million to Pakistan, despite objection from India and mounting opposition from influential American lawmakers.

Kerry has strongly defended the Obama Administration's decision, arguing that these fighter jets are a "critical" part of Pakistan's fight against terrorists.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is in Washington as part of the Pakistani delegation, has said the dialogue will provide an opportunity to operationalise key future making initiates between the two countries.

He was speaking at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

The Foreign Office had earlier said that the upcoming meeting will "afford an important opportunity to take stock of the entire gamut of Pakistan's bilateral relations with the US".
According to a probe being done by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), over two lakh metric tonnes of Basmati rice was illegally offloaded in Dubai in the last over a year instead of in Bandar Abbas in Iran, official sources said. (Representational image)

New Delhi: Authorities have unearthed a massive scam in export of high-quality Basmati rice to Iran, running into over Rs 1,000 crore, in which the commodity was fraudulently diverted mid-sea to Dubai.

According to a probe being done by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), over two lakh metric tonnes of Basmati rice was illegally offloaded in Dubai in the last over a year instead of in Bandar Abbas in Iran, official sources said.

Over 25 big exporters from Haryana and Punjab are under the scanner of DRI and other agencies for their involvement in the multi-crore scam, they said. Explaining the modus operandi, the sources said rice would be taken to Gujarats Kandla Port by these exporters. They would then file Shipping Bills--documents filed with customs authorities carrying details of goods to be exported, consignor and consignee--for export to Iran, they said.

Instead of the consignment reaching Iranian shores, it would be diverted mid-sea to Dubai allegedly with the connivance of cargo ship operators carrying the goods.

Surprisingly, payments were also made from Iran to these exporters in India. Importers and port officials would allegedly acknowledge the receipt of rice and allow payment to be made against it here, the sources said.

What is worrying for intelligence agencies here is that they do not know the end-use of rice off-loaded in Dubai. They suspect use of rice as barter system to fund some illegal activity like terror financing, the sources said.

The DRI has red-flagged the scam at the highest level and is in touch with authorities concerned in Dubai about the scam. Prima facie, two lakh metric tonnes of rice valued at about Rs 1,000 crore has been off-loaded in Dubai instead of Iran, they said.

While India lost foreign exchange which it could have got from Dubai in case of genuine trade, Iran was also deprived of customs duty it would have been entitled to if rice was delivered at its shore, the sources said.

The authorities suspect the proceeds of the scam assumed the form of black money. The DRI has informed SC appointed SIT on black money about the case. It has also roped in the ED to look into the matter, they said.

Legal export of rice from the country has risen in the past two years. A total of 9,35,567.81 kg of Basmati rice was exported to Iran in the last fiscal and 4,57,023.63 kg between April and November this financial year, they said.
US nuclear forces said they were confident American missile defenses could counter the nuclear threat from Pyongyang despite a mixed record of success in testing. (Photo: AFP)

Vandenberg Air Force base, California: Senior US defense officials voiced concern about North Korea's nuclear ambitions on Friday as they toured American missile defense sites a day after watching the military test-fire its second intercontinental ballistic missile in a week.

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work and Admiral Cecil Haney, combat commander of US nuclear forces, said they were confident American missile defenses could counter the nuclear threat from Pyongyang despite a mixed record of success in testing.

"I think when you look at what it's designed for, and that's a North Korean type problem, I think (I have) a very high confidence that we would have the capability," Haney said after visiting a nondescript metal building where workers assemble the ground-based interceptor at the heart of the defense system.

Their remarks were a second day of messaging North Korea about its nuclear ambitions. Work said the test-firing of the unarmed Minuteman III missile on Thursday night was aimed at demonstrating the reliability of US nuclear arms to potential nuclear rivals like Russia and North Korea.

The tour of missile defense facilities was another signal to Pyongyang, which recently detonated an underground nuclear device and tested a rocket in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.

"North Korea as a whole (is) very, very problematic in terms of their thirst to have a nuclear capability," Haney told reporters, citing Pyongyang's indifference to Security Council resolutions and its provocative attacks on South Korea.

The United States currently has 30 ground-based interceptor missiles to target and destroy nuclear ballistic missiles while they are still in space. Four of the interceptors are at Vandenberg and the rest at Fort Greely, Alaska.

The US military is building another 14 interceptors at a cost of nearly $1 billion to be installed at Fort Greely by the end of 2017, fulfilling a pledge by former Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in 2013 after Pyongyang threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the United States.

The deputy secretary said on Friday the ICBM test-shot late on Thursday was viewed as a success because of its proximity to the target near Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. The military does not generally disclose how close the missile lands to its target.

Work said it was the eighth consecutive successful test of a Minuteman III and the 27th consecutive successful missile test in the nuclear force, including air-launched cruise missiles and submarine-launched missiles.
"I see him starting to sweat, like I have never seen anything like it. Thank God he has really large ears, the biggest ears I've ever seen, because they were protecting him," Trump said. (Photo: AP)

Washington: Fresh from an endorsement by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump on Saturday accelerated his political slugfest with opponent Marco Rubio, just days before the delegate-rich Super Tuesday contests.

With dueling appearances in Arkansas and Georgia, the billionaire businessman and US senator from Florida continued an onslaught of personal insults that began on a debate stage on Thursday and looks likely to go on for months. "The majority of Republican voters do not want Donald Trump to be our nominee, and they are going to support whoever is left standing that is fighting against him to ensure that we do not nominate a con artist," Rubio told reporters in Georgia.

Trump, speaking in front of his private plane in Arkansas, along with Christie, whose endorsement on Friday shocked Republican leaders anxious about his likelihood of winning the nomination, belittled Rubio and accused him of being fresh. "I watched this lightweight Rubio, total lightweight, little mouth on him, 'bing, bing, bing' ... and his new attack is he calls me a con artist," Trump said. "The last thing I am is a con man."

Establishment worries, Cruz predicts doom

With hundreds of delegates at stake in Tuesday's contests, the day could be a critical turning point for candidates in both parties.

Nominations in both parties are contingent on winning a majority of the votes by the delegates sent to the party conventions in July. The Tuesday contests could upend the Republican race further if underperforming candidates drop out. Ted Cruz, the US senator from Texas who won the Iowa nominating contest, must do well in his home state on Tuesday to regain momentum. Texas will send 155 delegates to the Republican National Convention, more than 10 percent of the 1,237 delegate votes needed for the party's nomination.

Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is behind in the polls, said his state's contest on March 15 would determine whether he stays in the race. "We pack up if we don't win in Ohio," he said on Fox News.

With the high-profile exception of Christie, many "establishment" Republicans have coalesced around Rubio in the hope of stopping Trump from gaining their party's mantle in the general election. Rubio stopped short of calling on his fellow candidates to drop out on Saturday. "When voters have a clear choice between two people, that's when Donald Trump starts to lose, so the sooner that happens, the better off we're going to be as a party," he said.

Trump, meanwhile, needled Rubio over his debate performances. "I see him starting to sweat, like I have never seen anything like it. Thank God he has really large ears, the biggest ears I've ever seen, because they were protecting him," Trump said.

Rubio, who has criticised Trump for resisting releasing his tax returns, had not released his own by Saturday afternoon. He said Trump did not want his to be made public because they might reveal him to be less wealthy than believed. "I think part of it is he's not as rich as he says he is," Rubio said.

At a campaign rally in Georgia, Cruz said a Trump victory would doom the party's chances of winning the White House. "If we nominate Donald, we end up electing Hillary as president," he said.
More than half of Swiss voters backed strengthening rules to automatically expell foreign nationals convicted of violent or sexual crimes in a referendum on the same topic six years ago. (Photo: AFP)

Geneva: Switzerland began voting in a referendum on Sunday on whether foreign criminals should be automatically deported even for minor offences, after a far-right push to tighten the rules.

Polling comes at a time when many European countries are hardening their attitudes to migrants after more than a million arrived on the continent last year.

More than half of Swiss voters backed strengthening rules to automatically expel foreign nationals convicted of violent or sexual crimes in a referendum on the same topic six years ago.

But the populist right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) has accused parliament of dragging its feet on writing the text into law and watering it down when it did so last March.

Known for its virulent campaigns against immigration, the European Union and Islam, the party has proposed tougher rules, calling for "real deportation of criminal foreigners".

The initiative faces stiff opposition, including from the government, parliament and all the other major political parties, who have warned it circumvents the "fundamental rules" of democracy.

If passed, it would dramatically increase the number of offences that can get foreign nationals automatically kicked out of Switzerland, including misdemeanours usually punishable with short prison sentences or fines.

It would also remove a judge's right to refrain from deportation in cases where it would cause the foreign national "serious personal hardship".

More than 50,000 people including hundreds of celebrities have signed a petition against the proposals.

Uncertain outcome

SVP's campaign initially garnered strong support, but appears to have lost some steam among voters.

A poll by gfs.bern earlier this month found 49 percent of those questioned opposed the text while 46 percent were in favour but with five percent still undecided, the vote could go either way.

Opponents warn that if the text passes, people born to foreign parents in Switzerland risk being deported to countries they have never lived in, just for petty offences.

In the 2010 plebiscite, the Swiss agreed to automatically deport foreigners found guilty of murder, rape and other serious sexual offences, violent crimes like robbery, drug trafficking and abusing social aid.

The proposal was approved by 52.9 percent of those voting.

Parliament last year approved changes to the penal code, but also determined that judges should have the right to avoid automatic deportation in certain cases.

The initiative under scrutiny on Sunday would widen the list of offences that trigger automatic deportation.

Any foreigner found guilty of two lower-level infractions -- including fighting, money laundering, giving false testimony and indecent exposure -- in the space of 10 years would be expelled.

According to the Federal Statistics Office, the 2015 changes to the penal code would have led to the deportation of nearly 3,900 people in 2014, compared to around 500 on average.

On the basis of the measures proposed by the SVP, that figure would have been 10,200.

Parliament has to pass a law that is approved by referendum, although approval has to come in a double form both as an overall majority of the nationwide vote, and in a majority of Switzerland's cantons, or regions.

The Swiss will also voice their opinions on a range of other issues in the vote, including the proposed construction of a new road tunnel under the Gottard pass in the central Swiss Alps.
Kathmandu: Nepal Prime Minister K P Oli has said that his visit to India helped in improving the ties which had soured during the anti-Constitution stir even as the agitating Madhesi front called it a complete failure and warned of fresh protests if their demands are not met.

Earlier the relations between the two neighbours had soured during the Madhesi agitation but my visit has helped improve the relations between the two countries, Oli said, addressing a mass gathering in Bhairahawa on Friday.

Terming his visit as fruitful, the Prime Minister said, As we have no misunderstandings now, our focus will be on implementing the seven-point deal. He also appealed to the agitating Madhes-based political parties to join the government. As we have delivered the Constitution, now is the time to focus on development. So, I call on the agitating leaders and Nepali Congress to join the government and participate in the nation building process, he said.

Oli, however, said that any demand against the national interests will not be addressed. Meanwhile, the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) today held a meeting here to review its protest programmes. It set up a seven-member secretariat to chalk out new strategies and additional protest programmes.

In a statement after the meeting, UDMF termed Olis recent visit to India as complete failure and said Prime Minister committed a mistake as he made the visit without taking any agenda. The Madhesis, which had announced withdrawal of their protests including the border blockade earlier this month, warned that they would resort to fresh protests if the government did not address their demands promptly.

The Madhesi front decided not to sit for talks until the government comes up with a concrete roadmap to address its demands. In the meeting, it also decided to submit a memorandum to the Prime Minister to put up pressure on the government.

Madhesis, who are largely of Indian-origin, led a nearly six-month-long violent protest over better representation in the Parliament and the federal structure of the new Constitution that divides their ancestral homeland that claimed over 50 lives before being called off unexpectedly. Nepal had alleged that the blockade in its southern border with India was imposed by Indian authorities backing the agitation led by Madhesis, a charge India had vehemently denied
An Afghan fireman, center, hoses down the street at the site of a suicide attack near the Defense Ministry compound, in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo: AP)

Kabul: Twenty-five people were killed in two attacks in Afghanistan on Saturday, including one in the capital, with the blasts potentially jeopardising attempts by Kabul to persuade the Taliban to join peace talks set for next month.

Witnesses and officials described how the suicide bomber detonated near the Defence Ministry in the centre of Kabul just as offices closed for the day, in an attack later claimed by the Taliban.

Twelve people, including two Afghan soldiers were killed and eight others injured, a ministry statement said, while a previous toll given by Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi stated nine were dead and 13 wounded.

The bomber was on foot, ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri added.

I saw wounded civilians and army soldiers. They were begging for help but security forces did not allow common people to help them, witness Sardar Mohammad said.

The causalities, mostly, were civilians, said another man, Saleh Mohammad. It was the time when all the people were going home.

Ambulances converged at the site of the explosion as police and the army set up a security cordon.

Analysts have previously observed the Taliban stepping up attacks in the heart of the capital to gain leverage ahead of attempted peace negotiations with the Western-backed government in Kabul, against whom they have been fighting a bloody insurgency for more than 14 years.

Earlier on Saturday a suicide bomber on a motorbike struck at a market in Asadabad, the capital of restive Kunar province, killing 13 people and wounding at least 39.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for that attack, which a spokesman for the provincial governor and a police official both said targeted a tribal leader fiercely opposed to the insurgents, Haji Khan Jan.

The Taliban do not generally claim attacks with high numbers of civilian casualties, saying they only target Afghan soldiers stooges of foreign power and NATO troops, considered invaders, as well as symbols of the central government.

But civilians are paying a heavy price in the violence tearing the country apart. The number killed or wounded in 2015 was the highest recorded since 2009. According to a UN report published earlier this month, there were more than 11,000 civilian casualties in 2015, including 3,545 deaths.

Unrealistic

The blasts come amid fresh efforts by Afghanistan, China, Pakistan and the US to restart talks aimed at ending the Talibans long and bloody insurgency in Afghanistan.

Delegates from Afghanistan, China, the US and Pakistan met in Kabul last week for a fourth round of talks aimed at forming a path back to the nascent peace process.

The four countries have called for a direct dialogue between the Taliban and Kabul by next week, but analysts have termed the deadline completely unrealistic, especially as the insurgents have said they have not been contacted by the quartet.

Kabul has repeatedly called for all Taliban groups to sit at the negotiating table though President Ashraf Ghani has said his government will not make peace with those who kill civilians.

A first round of direct talks was held last summer in Pakistan, but a second edition had been indefinitely postponed by the announcement of the death of Mullah Omar, the Talibans founder.

His successor, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, is a divisive figure blamed by many insurgents for keeping Omars death secret for two years. A splinter group formed in December and has challenged Mansours rule. He was also injured in a firefight among cadres in Pakistan that same month.

Despite the setbacks, the Taliban are far from surrendering. Since the end of the NATO combat mission in Afghanistan in late 2014, they have instead multiplied attacks and offensives on the ground.
Gujjars in Rajasthan, Patidars in Gujarat, Kurmis in Bihar, Kapus in Andhra Pradesh and now Jats in Haryana. In the last year, notable and similar patterns of violent protests to claim the backward class status by powerful land-owning communities have caused nationwide protests. Now, the Rajputs, too, have decided to launch a mass movement for reservation and soon the Kongu Vellalars, Kammas, Lingayats etc., will not hesitate from going on an identical protest for reservation.





Articles 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution form our reservation code. Article 15(4) empowers the state to give reservation to any socially and educationally backward class (SEBC) of citizens and Article 16(4) permits the state to reserve posts for inadequately represented backward classes. This reservation code has been supplanted by judicially evolved doctrines such as creamy layer, catch up rule, 50% ceiling etc., and the states have responded by crafting innovative techniques such as Most Backward Castes (Gounders etc, in Tamil Nadu), Special Backward Castes and Economically Backward Castes (Gujjars etc, in Rajasthan), Other Eligible Communities in Kerala, and Extremely Backward Castes and Mahadalits in Bihar.



The vision of the Constituent Assembly was very clear to use reservation as a tool only for certain castes and tribes by temporarily scheduling them to uplift their social status after centuries of brahminical oppression. To use castes as vote banks, successive governments played with the reservation law to gain political advantage by nullifying judgments of the Supreme Court and tampered with the Constitution. Article 15(4) was inserted via the 1st Constitutional amendment to nullify the judgment in Champakaran Dorairajan (1950), Article 16(4)(a) was inserted via 77th amendment to nullify Indira Sawhney (1992), 16(4)(b) via 81st and 85th amendments to nullify Virpal Singh & Ajit Singh Juneja (1995), proviso to Article 335 was added by the 82nd amendment to nullify S Vinod Kumar (1996) and Article 15(5) was introduced via the 93rd amendment to nullify P A Inamdar (2005).



The Jat reservation agitation is not new to this domain. The National Commission for Backward Classes asked the Indian Council of Social Science Research in 2011 to ascertain the socio-economic status of the Jat community in nine states for inclusion in the Central list of Other Backward Castes (OBCs). Based on the report and subsequent public hearings, the Commission submitted its advice to the Centre in 2014 stating that the community did not fulfill the criteria for inclusion in the Central List of OBCs.



Ordinarily binding



The Commission found that though Jats were socially and educationally backward, they had adequate representation in the armed forces, government services and educational institutions. The then UPA government, immediately before elections, refused to abide by the ordinarily binding adviceas there is no provision under which the government can override the adviceof the commission and included the Jat Community in the Central list. Also, in eight out of the nine states, Jats were already in the state lists.



In Ram Singh (2015), the Supreme Court was engaged to review this decision of the Central government and it dismissed the notification by a reasoned order. Notably, in Para 54, the apex court recorded that inclusion of the politically-organised classes, such as Jats, is against the constitutional scheme. As promised by the current ruling establishment to attract Jat votes, the Central government vehemently contested the case and after dismissal went on to file a review petition. This review petition was outrightly rejected.



Time and again, governments have overturned decisions by the Supreme Court for political purposes in reservation cases. It will not surprise us if the Venkaiah Naidu committee recommends reservation for Jats to attract nine-crore voters from the community. The statutory NCBC, however, cannot be neglected and the issue needs to be referred to it for a fresh consideration. There has hardly been any change in the socio-economic conditions of Jats since the last report and a diametrically opposite view is highly unlikely.



Though our Constitution provides for equality, successive governments have blinded the provision in view of maintaining caste-based vote banks. Reservation for an adequately represented powerful agrarian community like Jats is untenable and will open the Pandoras box for similar claims nationwide. The Constitution does not permit such violent and forceful claims for caste-based reservation to blackmail Parliament.



Though we have the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984, and guidelines issued in Destruction of Public & Private Properties (2009), perhaps it is time reservation claims get adjudged by the Supreme Court through the telescopic 16-15-14 Code. In Hardik Patels sedition challenge, the court has again decided to lay down guidelines for property damage during reservation protests. It must also be reiterated that reservation is not a matter of right. Articles 15(4) and 16(4) are only enabling provisions to maintain societal balance through reservation.



Fingers crossed as big constitutional challenges await redressal.



(The writer is advocate, Supreme Court)


Alleging that a "mining mafia" in Punjab was extorting money from owners of stone crushing units, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal today vowed to put an end to the menace "within 24 hours" if his party comes to power in the 2017 Assembly election.





"I am shocked to know that legal crusher owners have to pay 'goonda tax or jizya' to the mining mafia in Punjab. I vow that within 24 hours of AAP's coming into power, this will be curbed in the state," Kejriwal, who is on a five-day tour of Punjab to reach out to voters ahead of the Assembly elections, said at a rally here.



Members of the business community, incuding owners of crushing units, today met Kejriwal and alleged that no action was being taken against the extortionists. They also claimed that false cases were being registered against them.



Kejriwal said once voted to power, AAP would set up a commission to review such cases and take action against officials who had lodged them.



Reacting to reports of a large number of posters which had sprung up in Jalandhar questioning his governance record, the Delhi CM hit out at the Akali Dal saying they had ruined the state during their 10-year rule.



"People know who has ruined his state for about 10 years and who is a failed CM," he said.

Kejriwal also claimed that no government could have achieved in 65 years what his government had accomplished in one year in Delhi.



"What we have done in our one year rule in Delhi, I challenge that no state government could have done in the last 65 years. I am confident if Delhi goes to polls today, other parties will not be able to win even a single seat," he said.



He also met people from different walks of life, including industrialists, advocates, shopkeepers and members of the Christian community.



Earlier, BJP workers led by district president Suresh Bhatia and and Municipal Council president Naresh Mahajan, tried to gherao Kejriwal at Gandhi Chowk here, but were stopped by police who resorted to mild lathicharge, in which one person was injured.



Around 80 protesters were detained later released after the Delhi Chief Minister left, police said.



Earlier in the day, Kejriwal visited the Golden Temple and Durgiana Mandir in Amritsar.



Talking to media in Amritsar last night, he said he met various associations of traders who were not "happy" with the ruling government in Punjab because of "rampant corruption" in government departments. Moreover the state government had failed to "support" traders, he alleged.
Ariane Sologaistoas life has been a roller-coaster ride but instead of falling sick somewhere in between, she decided to take the ride again, just for the experience, knowing that it wont be the same as the first time.





Thats how she landed up in India  after Europes economic meltdown of 2008, the Spaniard found herself without a job and, I worked for a clothing brand and they couldnt afford a marketing department after 2008. This is when I began looking out for other opportunities and I found myself flying to India, she explains.



She landed in Mumbai in 2013, after a brief stint in London. I spent a year in Mumbai with a programme for the Basque government. Then I got an advertising job in Bengaluru and Ive been here since! Many Bollywood movies later, she says she feels at home in the City.



Ariane doesnt exaggerate her love for Bollywood movies. Though she doesnt (yet) have a hang of Kannada, she says that her Hindi is better, and she lists her favourite movies. Right now, my favourite is Lunchbox. The first time I watched it, it was without subtitles and I understood most of it! When I was in Mumbai, every time there was a movie release, wed go for a show. This is how I ended up watching 3 Idiots, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and more. Even now, she doesnt miss the new releases.



This fluidity helped Ariane break through many barriers that expatriates face when adjusting to the country. When I reached India, I didnt experience a cultural shock, I was well-prepared. I absorbed everything around me instead of criticising them. My first step was to figure out how things work here. This willingness to adjust to situations, she says, is something she learnt when growing up. Born in Barakaldo (near Bilbao), Ariane grew up in a middle-class family who were very open-minded.



My parents brought me up in such a way that I felt like I could do anything. My father always says that if I ever want something, I can get it. This stream of thought included a willingness to accept different religious, cultural and spiritual thoughts.



Spirituality is not very common in Europe so when I tell people about it, they think Im crazy. But for me, its normal, she explains.



But what is this it? Spirituality, for me, is a way to find your real self, without

worrying about what society has to say.



It hasnt been an easy process for her, but now, Ariane says that she is self-confident and happy with the way shes living. I know my strengths and weaknesses. This helps me adjust to any situation, which is what made my transition to my life here easier.



She isnt the only one who left Europe at the time. There was a mass immigration at that point and I have many friends who still havent gone back. Talking about her memories of the Basque country and more, she says, I make sure I go back home at least twice a year to stay connected to my roots. But I like my life here better, when Im living alone. Its a completely different world, Spain and India! You cant even compare them. Home is colder than India and the landscape is different. The Basque region is hilly and I love to trek. Thats something I miss doing here, though there are trekking clubs. Its also a coastal region so I could visit the beach whenever I wanted.



While she has adjusted to Indian spices, she says that Basque food is very different and is something she misses. We dont use spices at all. We cook clean, with oil and salt, so the original flavour of the ingredients is there. Since I dont cook (Id make a terrible housewife!), whenever I go back home, my mother, a typical Basque mother, feeds me with a variety of dishes. Ariames favourite Indian food items include roadside

pani puri, kachori and butter chicken.



When she isnt working or commuting (her voice sounds tired when she mentions that she lives and works in Whitefield), she is either reading or hanging out with friends. I like reading about Indian history and mythology.



Right now, shes juggling between a light novel and Mein Kampf. The first time I tried reading Mein Kampf I gave up. Hitler is a horrible writer! But I realised I cant be critical of something without knowing about it, so I plan to finish it this time, she says.

With a tight-knit group of friends who she considers as family, Ariane is having a blast in the City.




After having gone through tough days, wind turbine maker Suzlon is hoping for happy days once again. The company is aiming to become profitable in the current fiscal itself, according to company chairman and managing director, Tulsi Tanti.





We will be in profits in FY16. We have taken three major initiatives: we have reduced our fixed costs, increased our margins increased volumes and reduced our interest costs. By doing this, we are improving our profitability, Tanti told Deccan Herald.



Suzlon had reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 113.17 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015, as compared with a loss of Rs 181.1 crore in the quarter ended September 30, 2015, and a loss of Rs 6,538.68 crore in the same quarter previous fiscal.



According to Tanti, the company is also working on developing hybrid solar and wind parks. We are working on developing hybrid solar and wind parks. That is the next generation of renewable energy technical solutions. The hybrid project will utilise common resources and also enhance the plant load factor in the grid, which is very important from a utility perspective, Tanti said.



We are planning the first hybrid projects in Rajasthan and Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh and it will be ready before March 2017, Tanti added.



The company is also bullish about export prospects going forward. Currently, domestic demand is very good and so we are giving priority to domestic markets. Now we are giving almost 90% of our total production locally, Tanti said.



We are already doing exports. Some volumes of exports will increase in the next year. In the last project, we made exports to Turkey and last year, we had made some exports to Uruguay. Currently it is low, but in the next three years it will increase, Tanti added.




Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, was relentless during a private meeting of tech giants and US President Barack Obamas top national security officials last month. Encrypted devices like the iPhone are here to stay, he insisted. Law enforcement needs to find a way to do its job in a new world.





FBI Director James B Comey Jr and Attorney General Loretta E Lynch pushed back, but Cook stood firm, several participants said.



With all due respect, Cook told those around the table, including Obamas counterterrorism chief and the heads of the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security, I think there has been a lack of leadership in the White House on this.



Denis R McDonough, the presidents chief of staff, took exception and said so. Law enforcement officials described him as stung by what they called Cooks rant, although tech executives in the room insisted that Apples chief executive was respectful.



Either way, what started as a cordial two-hour discussion about combating Islamic extremism ended with the White House and Cook agreeing to disagree  foreshadowing a bitter battle between a president long enamoured of Apple products and Silicon Valley and a tech titan who has spoken enthusiastically of Obama.



Although the president and Cook are not personal friends, associates say they have developed a relationship of professional admiration and mutual self-interest. At the least, the two share similar traits: discipline, a cerebral nature and impatience with office drama. Now they find themselves in roles no one ever imagined, as the central antagonists in the raging debate between personal privacy and the nations security.



By refusing demands from Obamas Justice Department to help unlock a phone used by one of the San Bernardino, California, terrorists, Cook has become the leading voice in Silicon Valley for encryption. By voicing strong support for his FBI, Obama is now the effective chief prosecutor of the administrations case for allowing law enforcement to penetrate iPhones.



If Apple had more of a presence in Washington, as do Google, Facebook and Microsoft, technology executives say there is a chance the dispute might have been quietly resolved.



But few top Apple veterans have moved through the revolving door that has brought engineers and executives from other technology companies to the Obama White House to serve in a variety of security, technology and scientific positions. Apples lobbying budget in Washington is far smaller than its competitors.



I have not talked to the president. I will talk to the president, Cook said in an interview with ABC News last week, a day before his company filed legal papers opposing the government. Cook said he planned to ask Obama for his help in getting this on a better path.



An Apple spokesman said he had no idea when such a call might happen, and White House officials offered no indication that Obama and Cook were scheduled to talk anytime soon. It is unclear when Obama and Cook first met, but in the four years since Cook succeeded Steve Jobs as Apples chief executive, he has visited the White House at least a half-dozen times.



In summer 2013, soon after Edward J Snowden revealed some of the governments most secret surveillance programmes, Cook joined 16 other technology executives and privacy advocates for a grievance session with Obama in the Roosevelt Room. Two participants said Cook told the president that the Snowden revelations had led people to believe that Apple was helping the government spy on Americans.



The exchange was an early indication of the tensions with the White House that would eventually develop. He was concerned about the misperception in the public about the extent to which Apple was cooperating, recalled Larry Lessig, a Harvard law professor and privacy activist, who was also at the meeting.



Four months later, Cook attended another meeting with Obama in the Roosevelt Room on a similar topic. The following year, in December 2014, White House visitor logs show that Cook spent two days in the West Wing, where he met with Obama in the Oval Office and shared a meal in the White House mess with John D Podesta, who was then counselor to Obama as well as the presidents environmental czar.



In September 2015, Cook was again at the White House, where he had a prime seat at the state dinner for President Xi Jinping of China. Current and former White House officials say Obama appreciated the attention Cook brought to issues like immigration, gay marriage and climate change.



When Obama solicited Apple and other companies to support his ConnectED programme for technology in schools, Obama praised Cooks decision to pledge $100 million worth of iPads and MacBooks, calling it an enormous commitment.



Strained relationship



There were also tensions. White House officials were not happy about Apples decision to shelter billions of dollars in offshore accounts and have repeatedly pressed Cook to explain the companys need to build its blockbuster products in China rather than in the US.



But the encryption debate, and the governments legal action against Apple last week, are testing the relationship with the company more than any other.



A company thinks very hard before it defies the government, said Nicole Wong, who was Googles lead lawyer when Google resisted a Justice Department request for user data. But if a disagreement happens, its not bad for this policy conversation to happen transparently in a court proceeding.



At the same time, there was a growing alliance between this White House and Silicon Valley. Although other presidents have looked to the valleys innovators and venture capitalists for money, political support and ideas, this administration has wooed tech executives in far greater numbers.



The president also has close ties to those in the industry who supported him early on, including Reed Hastings, the Netflix chief executive, and Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn.



Now, while Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are expected to file papers to the court in solidarity with Apples encryption position, Cook stands relatively alone in his fight.



This was evident at the meeting in January in Silicon Valley. As participants recalled it, Cook was the one who shifted the conversation to encryption  prompting nods of agreement from executives at Dropbox, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Yahoo and others.



Soon after, McDonough brought the meeting to an end. Put a pin in it, participants recalled that he said, making it clear that the conversation would continue. But one month later, the Justice Department sued Apple.




At least seven hundred people, including family members of martyred soldiers, took part in March for Nation, organised by Yuva Brigade in association with other organisations in city on Sunday.





The protest march against anti-national activities, flagged off by Sarvamangala, mother of martyred Siachen soldier P N Mahesh of H D Kote, saw a large number of youths enthusiastically participating and raising slogans against anti-national activities.



Speaking to Deccan Herald, Sarvamangala said the onus was on the government to attract youth to join armed forces and to serve the nation. Every mother should motivate her children to serve the country by joining defence forces. Each family should have a soldier, who serves the country, she added. Though the soldiers have been sacrificing their lives at the borders, the governments are not concerned about their family members. Many are struggling to lead a dignified life, she lamented.



Mariyappa, father of martyred soldier Hemachandra said, We are proud to have sacrificed our children for the sake of the country, and have no other desire. We need no benefits from the government. But, the government should have minimum concern towards the families of the soldiers, he said.



Former MLA H Gangadharan, who also participated, said inculcating patriotism among students should begin at the school level. There is a need to include topics on patriotism and about those who sacrificed their lives for the nation in the syllabus, he opined. He also stressed that the respective governments should provide them basic facilities and parents of the army personnel and martyred soldiers should be treated with respect.

Ex-servicemen, advocates, hoteliers, teachers, professors, businessmen and members of various organisations took part in the event.



The march commenced near the court complex after offering floral tributes to the bust of Mahatma Gandhi and photos of Martyred soldiers P N Mahesh, T T Nagesh and Hanumanthappa Koppad. The participants, holding tri-colour and placards carrying messages like Nation First, Ideology next, My Flag My Nation My Pride, took out the rally on the main streets of the city.






Two brothers were killed and another was injured when a tipper truck jumped the median strip and toppled on the other side of the road as the driver tried to avoid a stray dog. A part of the truck fell on a car and injured a woman.





The accident occurred near Singasandra on Hosur main road in southern Bengaluru on Saturday midnight, said the jurisdictional Electronics City traffic police.



Of the four people who were in the truck, two helpers  Srinivas, 30, and Rajendra, 28  have died. The deceased were brothers. Their third sibling, Shankar, was also injured besides the driver.



The tipper truck was returning to Hosur after clearing a load in Koramangala.

Once on the busy highway, the driver accelerated. After covering some distance, he noticed a dog trying to cross the road. While trying to avoid the animal, the driver lost control over the speeding vehicle which then jumped the median strip.



The vehicle toppled on the other side of the road, hitting a car coming in the opposite direction.



Bystanders quickly pulled the people out of the truck and called the police. The four people were rushed to a private hospital where Rajendra and Srinivas were declared brought dead. Shankar survived and his condition is stable. The truck driver, who was also injured, fled the spot. Sudhamani, who was in the car, also suffered injuries while her husband, Srihari, escaped unhurt. The stray dog was found dead, too.



While Srinivas and Rajendra worked as helpers, their brother Shankar was employed as an accountant by the tipper truck owner, Ravi Kumar.



The police initially thought Rajendra or Srinivas was at the wheel. But an enquiry with Shankar revealed that the driver was the man who had fled. We have collected details of the driver, who is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Hosur, said a senior police officer.



Srihari, who works at a major software company, was driving the car and his wife, Sudhamani, was sitting next to him. The couple was coming from Coimbatore and headed to their home in HSR Layout.



A case has been registered at the Electronics City Traffic police station.




The BJP State media in-charge S Prakash has received a challan from the Bengaluru Traffic Police that he has to a pay a fine of Rs 100 for traffic rule violation.







The rule he violated, according to the computer-generated challan, is that the pillion rider in his car was not wearing a helmet. The registration number of my car is KA 04 MP 7257 and the same is printed in the challan. The mistake should be rectified immediately. If this is the case, then imagine how many more people may have received such faulty challans, said Prakash, a Malleswaram resident.



The challan mentioned that the pillion rider was caught not wearing helmet on February 3, 2016 near Basaveshwara Circle. However, the challan also mentions that the vehicle is a car.



When contacted, a senior police officer said that it was a technical mistake.

We will ask the official concerned to look into it. Mistakes happen and we will correct them, he added.


Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi is expected to give a befitting reply in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday to the campaign of super-nationalism whipped out by the BJP over the JNU unrest and the suicide of Rohith Vemula.





Congress sources said Rahul will participate in the discussion on the Motion of Thanks to the Presidents Address on Tuesday and counter the BJPs personal attacks on him.



In an emotional-filled speech HRD Minister Smriti Irani had accused Rahul of politicising the suicide of Dalit student Rohith Vemula and siding with anti-national elements at the JNU.



We have told Rahul that he must counter the BJP in Parliament, a senior Congress leader said.



Last Wednesday, Rahul had claimed outside Parliament that the Modi government may not allow him to speak in the short duration discussion on the JNU row and Rohiths suicide. However, Rahul chose not to take part in the discussion which was initiated by Congress member Jyotiraditya Scindia. Your leader goes and stands by those who support Afzal GuruYou did not go to the house of the martyred Inspector (who died in the Batla House encounter). Tell us, who are you standing for? Afzal Guru, or those who protected Parliament House (in the 2001 attack), BJP member Anurag Thakur had said in the Lok Sabha.



In a stinging attack, the BJP leader had accused the Congress party of placing family first, party next and nation last.



The Congress on Friday hit back at the BJP by accusing it of indulging in a scam by giving loans to a for profit company to publish newspapers. It claimed that the act violated the Income Tax Act and wondered whether Modi government would take action against the BJP. We will come out with more scams perpetuated by BJP leaders in the days to come, a senior Congress leader said indicating that the agreement to have a peaceful Budget Session lay in tatters.
The Modi government appeared to be on the back foot as the Opposition leaders closed ranks to corner HRD Minister Smriti Irani over inaccuracies in her reply to Parliament on the suicide by Dalit student Rohith Vemula in Hyderabad University.





As the Congress, Left and the JD(U) announced that they will move a Breach of Privilege Motion against Smriti for misleading the Parliament on the Hyderabad varsity incident, BJP fielded its spokesperson M J Akbar on Sunday to clarify that the ministers reply in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha was based on information she had received from the Telangana Police.



A minister makes any statement in Parliament on the basis of official and police accounts, was Akbars refrain at the BJP briefing. If police stated that, then she would say only what they had stated, and if something more comes out in the course of investigation or time, then those things would also be incorporated, he said.



The Congress along with CPM and JD (U) accused Smriti of willfully misleading Parliament and being economical with truth on the suicide of Vemula. In fiery speeches in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, Smriti had hit out at Rahul Gandhi while rejecting the Oppositions accusations of unwarranted interference by the Modi government in dealing with Vemulas case.



Prime Minister Narendra Modi had lauded Smritis performance in Parliament on Twitter. Rahul had hit back at Modi by posting a video of Rohiths mother Radhika.



Radhika had questioned the basis on which the minister had declared Rohith as anti-national. Opposition leaders were also banking on the statements of the chief medical officer M Rajasree, who had contradicted Smritis claims in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday that no doctor was allowed near Rohith to revive him and his body was used as a political tool.
The Congress high command on Sunday sought a report from Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on the raging controversy over his expensive wrist watch.





The controversy has caused immense embarrassment to the Congress, which had been criticising the Narendra Modi government as suit-boot ki sarkar.



Moreover, the high command is concerned about the issue causing damage to the partys image. The leadership was reportedly not happy with the explanation Siddaramaiah gave on the issue, during his recent visit to Delhi. However, there was no official confirmation in this regard from the party.



A section of the State party leaders has reportedly complained to the high command that the watch controversy was one of the reasons for the partys poor performance in the recently held byelections to three Assembly constituencies and elections to zilla and taluk panchayats. The party managed to win only 10 of the 30 zilla panchayats, while it won only one of the three Assembly seats in the bypolls.



This apart, Congress MLC V S Ugrappa described JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamys demand for a CBI probe into the controversy as joke of the year. Instead of making baseless accusations against others, Kumaraswamy should release documents to show how he has acquired a wide range of expensive watches, he demanded.

One of the close aides of the JD(S) leader (Kumaraswamy) gave me a list of expensive watches he owns. Some of these watches cost more than Rs 1 crore. Kumaraswamy has to explain when he got those watches? Who gave them to him? Why didnt he declare them in his affidavit of assets and liabilities during the Assembly polls? demanded Ugrappa, who is a close aide of Siddaramaiah.



Ugrappa has also asked the JD(S) leader to clarify where exactly he erred in his life. Kumaraswamy recently said in a press conference that he has erred in some personal matter.
Suffering a head injury after falling in the bathroom helped a young man regain his memory and be reunited with his family after 10 long years.





Sunil, 20, had gone missing when he was 10 years old. In 2006, a woman had found him strolling near the railway track in Maruthi Sevanagar in eastern Bengaluru. She went up to him and asked about his family. The boy couldnt tell anything, except his name.



The woman informed Srinivas, a field officer at Young Mens Christian Association (YMCA), who admitted him to a children care centre run by the nonprofit in KG Halli.



Some days later, Sunil told the warden that his mother had died after falling into a well and his father also died while trying to rescue her. He could not recall anything else, Srinivas told Deccan Herald.



The care centre admitted Sunil to a school but he could not pass SSLC. He told us that he was not interested in studies. So, we got him trained in installing CCTV cameras and he landed a job at a private company, Srinivas said.



Six months ago, Sunil suffered a head injury after falling in the bathroom.



He was taken to a private hospital where doctors referred him to the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans). He underwent treatment for a few weeks. When he returned to the children care centre, he was quiet and did not interact with anyone.



When asked why he had become so reclusive, Sunil said he was now able to recall the names of his parents as Narayanappa and Shanthamma and the house where they lived.



The searchSrinivas approached the Ramamurthy Nagar police. Srinivas and a policeman went looking for the house on Gas Godown Road near Kowdenahalli, where Sunil said he lived with his parents. Old residents told the police that the house was locked for more than eight years now. Before that, a couple was living there along with their son. The child went missing later and the mother became mentally disturbed. The family then moved out, said the Ramamurthy Nagar Inspector, V L Ramesh.



The residents gave the names of the couple who were working for a building contractor. But neither the contractor nor the current residence of the couple could be traced.



As we were hitting a dead-end, a local resident approached us, saying that the couple now lives in Mariyannapalya near Hennur. We went looking for them and traced Sunils mother Shanthamma. We asked her about her missing son. Her information was corroborated by Sunil as well as local residents, Ramesh said. We concluded that it was a genuine case.



Recognition difficultyWhen Shanthamma and Sunil were brought to the police station, they could not initially recognise each other. But the police refreshed their memory, and Sunil recognised her. After completing legal formalities, the woman and son were reunited and sent home.




Irked by the apathy of BBMP towards the Kalpalli crematorium-cum-burial ground near Fraser Town, the biggest in the City, members of Bharatinagar Residents' Forum staged a protest there on Sunday.





The members, along with local citizens, garlanded the portraits of Mayor B N Manjunatha Reddy and Palike Commissioner Kumar Naik to register their protest.



They demanded immediate improvement in the amenities there.



They shouted slogans holding placards with messages like Mr Mayor and Commissioner, clean the Kalpalli burial ground, we did not live in peace, at least let us die in peace.



N S Ravi, president of the forum, said that the crematorium was built in 1988 by the civic agency spending Rs 21 lakh.



Over the years, its condition has deteriorated. There are no proper toilets, no drinking water facility and streetlights. There are no security guards either.



Residents complained that the crematorium had become a haven for anti-social activities and garbage was being dumped, unauthorisedly, by the civic agency itself.



According to the forum members who have been approaching Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on the issue for more than five years now, around eight to 10 bodies are cremated or buried here every day.



The gravediggers who have been working for more than two decades have not been given residential quarters. If the BBMP officials do not take any action to improve the facility within two weeks, we will hold a huge protest in front of the Palike head office, Ravi said.



The crematorium is spread across 54 acres and is the biggest in Bengaluru, citizens said. While the crematorium is in a better condition, the burial ground is in a bad shape with weeds growing all over. The visitors go back thirsty as there is no drinking water facility here, said a gravedigger.
Militants attacked an outdoor market in eastern Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 59 people and wounding nearly 100, officials said.





A bomb ripped through the crowded Mredi market in the Shiite district of Sadr City, a police officer said. Minutes later, a suicide bomber blew himself up amid the crowd that had gathered at the site of the first bombing, he added. Interior Ministry spokesman Sad Main said the bombings killed 38 people and wounded another 62.



Multiple hospital officials later increased the toll to 59 dead and 95 wounded.

The attack was the deadliest in a wave of recent explosions that have targeted commercial areas in and outside Baghdad.



In the town of Mahmoudiya, about 30 kilometres south of Baghdad, three shoppers were killed and 10 wounded in a bomb explosion, another police officer said. Four others were killed in a separate bomb attack in Baghdads southern Dora neighbourhood, he added.



The Islamic State-affiliated Aamaq news agency later claimed responsibility for the Sadr City bombings.
Arace: MLS announcers signed off, don't know if they can sign back on

columns
Ronald Moede was born on December 21, 1934, in Rio Creek, WI. The son of the late Fred and Emily (Hanamann) Moede, he married Bonnie Neinas in Brussels on June 4, 1960, and they were married for 62+ years. He was a life-long resident of Rio Creek and was an innovative dairy farmer. He owned and managed a large dairy operation, Meade Manor Farms, which had been homesteaded by his grandfather, August Moede, in 1895. The log cabin home, barn, and herd grew to become one of the larger dairy farms in Kewaunee County under his guidance. Upon his retirement, it evolved into Meade Manor Pet Clinic, a vet service for small animals, but the land continued to flourish and produce. Ron graduated from Casco High School, Class of 1952 and Graham School for Cattlemen, Kansas. He was a member of the Wisconsin Holstein Breeders, Kewaunee County Holstein Breeders, and the National Holstein

Association. He was a charter member of the Algoma FFA Alumni. His family exhibited champion dairy cattle at local, state, and national dairy cattle shows. In 1984, in Madison, the Wisconsin FFA named him Outstanding Farmer and in 1995, he was named and honored at the Wisconsin State Fair as a Century Farmer. He served as an elder in his church for many years as well as a trustee and various committee appointments. In his younger days, he was active in dartball and also high school sports. He received the Algoma Honorary Chapter Farmer Award, and the Unified Board Business Award. In his retirement, he drove school bus for 15 years for the Algoma School District and was a member of the Great Lakes Sports Fishermen. A hobby later enjoyed was his chicken farming. He raised a small flock of chicken, and he enjoyed passing out extra eggs to friends and relatives when the supply was greater than the family could handle. He was an avid sports fan and he and Bonnie attended both Packers Super Bowl games in 1996 and 1997, and also the Milwaukee World Series in 1983. He enjoyed hunting and fishing, both here and in upper Michigan and Minnesota. He even got Bonnie to go along with him to Lake of the Woods on the Canadian border to do some ice fishing. He held Packers season tickets since 1960 and at the time they bought their tickets they were allowed to pick out where they wanted to sit on the sidelines --there were no end zone seats yet-- and the tickets cost $5.00 a piece! He traveled through most of the U.S. including Alaska and Hawaii as well as traveling to the Caribbean and Europe. He enjoyed a summer place in Door County for 20 years. He told many stories of farming with his dad and the fact that at the age of 12, he had his own team of horses to work with on the farm. Responsibility came early as he was left in charge whenever it was necessary for his parents to be gone for a few days. He learned to drive a truck at an early age and often drove himself to school in 8th grade and parked the vehicle a few doors down at a relatives. This was because chores need to be done before and after school. The first tractor purchased was in 1937. In his retirement, he had it restored and displayed in local fairs and tractor shows. He would tell of shocking grain and threshing crews traveling from neighbor to neighbor and the wonderful table his mother would set full of food. A vivid memory was the day WWII ended. The whole neighborhood and working crew quit in the early afternoon (unheard of) and celebrated With beer and music! Even the clergy arrived and joined in. It was a day to remember! In his lifetime he went from horses and the depression, to the digital age and unimagined luxuries. There was no electricity and no running water in his youth and now he had wireless phones, computer screens in his vehicles, along with heated steering wheels and heated seats. Who would have thought that back then.

Ron is survived by his wife Bonnie; son Robert (Debbie Harms) Moede; grandson Michael and granddaughter Megan; siblings, Terry (Jane) Moede, Paul (Roxie) Moede; sisters-in-law, Diane Fontaine, Sheila (Don) Baudhuin; and brothers in-law, Dan (Mary) Neinas. He was preceded in death by his parents, Fred and Emily Moede; sister, Marilyn (Arno) Schneider; father- and mother-in-law, Herman and Madeline Neinas, and brother-in-law, Gary Fontaine.

Visitation will be held at Kinnard Funeral & Cremation Services  Algoma, on Friday, October 7, 2022, from 4-7:30 pm with a prayer service at 6:30. Visitation will continue on Saturday, October 8th at St. Johns Lutheran Church  Rankin, from 9-11:00 am. Funeral service will be held at 11:00 am with Dr. Rev. Christopher Jackson officiating. Burial to follow in Evergreen Cemetery. Online condolence message may be shared at KinnardFCS.com. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Kewaunee County 4-H Dairy Fund and the Projection Screen Fund at St. Johns- Rankin.
dpa ElectionsData

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.
There is a risk that a Brexit  the UK voting to exit the EU - could shatter confidence in the EU Mairead McGuinness MEP and vice-president of the European Parliament said in a keynote address at the annual conference of the Centre for Cross Border Studies at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Dundalk.

Ms McGuinness addressed the question of What Europe Do We Want?

The negotiations around a deal for Britain have happened at a very bad time for Europe when concerns around financial stability have not yet been fully resolved and when there are growing fears around the issue of migration, she said. A Brexit could trigger other countries into looking for a new deal with the EU which at its most extreme could unravel the union.

This is not to be taken lightly. It is important that we have a balanced debate. We must look to the vast benefits gained and continuing to be gained from 28 countries of 500 million people working and trading together and with the wider world. In this regard there is huge strength in numbers when dealing with other trade blocs. It is not until we look to other continents that we sometimes get to understand how prosperous we are, despite recent financial difficulties. Its important not to forget the origins of the EU which grew from the absolute devastation of two world wars.

At the same time she said the EU needs a very strong recharge of its batteries and it must acknowledge its faults - including over burdensome bureaucracy which it is now attempting to correct.

Turning to the Ireland-Britain relationship she said: Our two countries are more closely intertwined perhaps that any others within the EU. This includes trade links and thousands of Irish people living and working in the UK.

So, the prospect of a Brexit clearly will have major implications, not least because we share a land border.

McGuinness said that when the referendum debate begins in earnest there will have to be an honest appraisal of the implications for the UK of leaving the EU.
Green Party councillor Mark Dearey has given his full support to BIDS (Dundalk Business Investment District Scheme), WRITES GENE YORE.

The company aims to attract both businesses and customers back to the town centre and Cllr Dearey said a key task now is the appointment of a Town Centre Management.

The position has been vacant since the end of 2014.

Cllr Dearey said that as the collection of commercial rates becomes more difficult BIDS will suffer.

The commercial ratepayers contribute towards the running costs of BIDS.

But Cllr Dearey said the BIDS board is populated by strong individuals working for the town centre and it will bear fruit in the near future.

But Fine Gael councillor Maria Doyle wants more communication between BIDS and the county council to ensure the trust continues.

She has called for a representative from the BIDS company to meet with county councillors.

Since its establishment the BIDS board and staff have been building business relationships with retailers, consumers and visitors as well as Dundalk Chamber of commerce, and different agencies, bodies, councils and elected members.

It has been involved in:

Business support; Marketing and promotion; Investment and infrastructure; Town Watch  community; and events and festivals.

It has developed close links with the Local Enterprise Office, Louth Economic forum, Enterprise Ireland, DkIT, Failte Ireland. The company has also worked with the tourism office, led by Sinead Roche and various tourism committees not just in Louth, but also Meath, Monaghan, Newry and Mourne.

It has marketed Dundalk with the Cooley peninsula in its plans.
"We must be ready to dare all for our country. For history does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. We must acquire proficiency in defense and display stamina in purpose." - President Eisenhower, First Inaugural Address
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The Niagara County Center for Economic Development will offer a business workshop Wednesday at Lockport's City Hall. (ENP FILE PHOTO BY HEATHER N. GRIMMER)



Check out East Niagara Post videos on YouTube, Vine and Periscope.



The Niagara County Center for Economic Development will host a business workshop Wednesday at Lockport City Hall -- one of three planned countywide this year.The workshop, offered with the assistance of the Niagara USA Chamber and the Greater Lockport Development Corp., will run from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. and focus on various programs available to business as well as opportunities for facilities siting and workforce training.We know the importance of providing information and tools to the private sector businesses that are generating jobs here in Niagara County, as well as those thinking about setting up shop here, said Niagara County Legislator Kathryn Lance, R-Wheatfield. We want business to know were ready to be a committed partner and ally.Thats a message echoed by Legislature Chairman Keith McNall, R-Lockport.Were working very closely with our partners in the Chamber, the town of Lockport IDA, the GLDC, and the Niagara County Community College Small Business Development Center to bring all of these different resources to one place, under one roof, at one time, McNall said. This is one-stop shopping for our business leaders so they can consider the options available to them as they grow and expand.The workshop will cover programs to lower electricity costs, business loan and financing options, real property tax and sales tax incentives, land and buildings for sale or lease, and grants available for workforce expansion.As an accountant, I know that its crucial that our businesses maximize their cost containment, said Legislator Will Collins, R-Lockport. We want businesses to know about grants, about tax incentives, about ways to lower their costs because we want businesses to succeed, to grow, and to create jobs.Legislator Tony Nemi, R-Lockport, agreed. The most important thing we can do is create an environment that fosters economic growth and job creation. This workshop is part of that commitment.Additional workshops are planned for May 4 at Niagara Falls City Hall and Sept. 7 at the North Tonawanda Municipal Building.


Check out East Niagara Post videos on YouTube, Vine and Periscope.



BUFFALO -- The Buffalo Sabres today announced the team has acquired forwards Alex Guptill, Eric ODell and Cole Schneider, as well as defenseman Michael Sdao, from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for forwards Jason Akeson and Phil Varone and defenseman Jerome Leduc.Schneider (61, 199 lbs., 8/26/1990) is a native of Williamsville, New York and was leading the Binghamton Senators (AHL) with 42 points (17+25) in 54 games this season. The forward has 191 points (83+108) in 263 career games for Binghamton.ODell (60, 195 lbs., 6/21/1990) was leading Binghamton with 18 goals and ranked second with 37 points (18+19) in 50 games this season. Guptill (63, 190 lbs., 3/5/1992) has spent time in both the AHL and ECHL this season, posting a combined 24 points (14+10) in 41 games played, including one assist in three AHL games for Binghamton.Sdao (64, 229 lbs., 7/3/1989) had two assists and a plus-4 rating in 17 games for Binghamton this season. In 123 career AHL games, the defenseman has 18 points (9+9) and a plus-19 rating.
Todays guest post is by Laura Packard, a partner at PowerThru Consulting, a growing national progressive digital consulting shop.

Enjoy.

With both the GOP and Democratic presidential candidates coming to Michigan this week for their respective debates, I hope some of the larger issues that Michigan (and the country) faces will finally be addressed.

Michigan state government has been broken for decades, but its just now coming to peoples attention outside our state. How did this happen? And could it happen to you?

The Michigan legislature used to be populated (at least somewhat) by dedicated public servants on both parties. Being a legislator used to be a career, and like most careers people get better at it over time.

But there is also the very real problem of people staying in power too long, and not being answerable to the people or in touch with their constituents. How much does any voter really know about their legislators? State legislators and Congresspeople get re-elected time after time, because people have no accurate and independent way of judging whether theyre doing a good job or not.

To answer that problem, the people of Michigan passed a constitutional amendment in 1992, limiting Governors (and other executive branch elected officials) and State Senators to two 4-year terms, and State Representatives to three 2-year terms.

Sounds good, right? Except for some unintended consequences.

Because people can no longer make a career of public service, the only people (for the most part) willing to run for office are the young, the old, the independently wealthy or those not able to find any other decent-paying jobs. For those mid-career, often juggling children and caring for aging parents, taking 6 years out of your successful career can mean ending your career. So this means many Michigan state representatives are in their 20s or 30s, and frantically looking for their next job. Which makes them vulnerable to pressures to vote a certain way, so as to be taken care of for their next job. House Representatives Daniela Garcia and Lisa Posthumus Lyons are two particularly blatant examples of this.

Also, because theres no institutional memory, the House (and the Senate to some extent) are run by unelected staffers. As soon as an elected official figures out how things work and learn a thing or two about the issues, theyre out of office.

At least elected officials are answerable to the people, right? Not exactly. Michigan is so gerrymandered that very few House and Senate seats are competitive, so they are answerable more to the donors (and their future employers) than to their constituents. To make absolutely sure of that, our elected officials have been working hard at making it harder to vote in Michigan, from passing voter laws that hurt students many years ago to eliminating straight party voting a couple months ago to increase long lines at urban precincts.

This is how the legislature does not and cannot form a check and balance on the Governors office. Individual legislators are more concerned about not rocking the boat and positioning themselves to run for higher office or a lucrative job as a lobbyist. Or they are with the party out of power, and are completely ignored.

So we elected a legislature that doesnt know how to govern, and added to that a Governor that doesnt know how to govern (or have any interest in it) either. There are no experienced adults in the room anymore.

What do we do about it? Several things need to be done: change the way we redraw legislative districts to be an independent commission, so voters choose their representatives and not vice versa. Loosen term limits or repeal them entirely, so people can build careers in public service again, rather than it being a way-station to lobbyist gigs or higher office. Make it easier to register to vote and exercise that vote, to make politicians more answerable to the people. And exercise that vote for experienced people who know how to do the job were hiring them to do.

Other states such as California have shown that changes for the better can be made in state government, if were willing to make them. Id like to see the Presidential candidates for both parties talk about this.

[Photo credit: Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog]
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Inside the EU, we whistled a happier tune

My regular column is available to subscribers on www.thesundaytimes.co.uk This is an excerpt.

History does not necessarily repeat itself, but it is a long way from being more or less bunk as Henry Ford famously put it. History looms large in the politics of the EU referendum. Now, as 40 years ago, we have a prime minister trying to sell his renegotiation to voters, while presiding over a divided cabinet. For David Cameron, read Harold Wilson.

There is also useful history in the economics of Britains relationship with Europe. Campaigners for Brexit look to a future in which Britain is disentangled from the constraints of the EU and free to forge new and stronger economic relationships with the rest of the world. I shall have a look in more detail what this might mean between now and June 23rd.

Before that it is worth reminding ourselves of that tangle-free world, because Britain has been there before. In the 1950s and 1960s, while the original six members of the EU were forging ever closer economic relationships, beginning with the coal and steel community and then the European Economic Community (EEC), Britain ploughed a very different furrow.

By staying out of the talks leading to the establishment of the coal and steel community in the early 1950s because, in the words of Herbert Morrison, Labours deputy prime minister (and Peter Mandelsons grandfather), the Durham miners wont wear it, Britain had already demonstrated a hostility to European integration. It was no great surprise when the EEC, created as a result of the Treaty of Rome of 1957, and starting in 1958, did not include Britain among its original members (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg).



While Europe was busy integrating, the world was Britains oyster. Where there had once been the Empire, on which the sun never set, now there was the Commonwealth. There was the special relationship with America. There were opportunities well beyond the narrow confines of the EEC.

The world, however, was not enough. Commonwealth countries such as Australia and South Africa, far from being happy to be easy markets for British exports, wanted to develop their own industries and imposed tariff barriers against the mother country. India was heavily protectionist from the time of independence in 1947.

As a result of this and other factors, Europes grass started to look a lot greener. Britains economic performance in the 1950s and 1960s, while reasonable in comparison with later decades, was poor in relation to the EEC pioneers. Germany and France had a lot more catching up to do after the devastation of the war but, even allowing for this, achieved growth well in excess of Britain.

In the period 1950-73, sometimes known as the golden age, gross domestic product per head rose by an average of 2.4% a year in Britain, 4% in France and 5% in Germany. By 1960, Germany was once again producing more cars than Britain and had secured a bigger share of world trade.

Having sampled life outside, successive British governments wanted in, and desperately. Having tried a smaller alternative to the EEC, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), established in 1960, Britain applied, and was rejected for EEC membership, in 1963 and 1967, before being finally admitted at the start of 1973. Envy of Europe went deep. The 1964-70 Labour government, under Wilson, consciously and unsuccessfully tried to imitate Frances successful experiment with economic planning.

The politicians of the 1960s and early 1970s were not daft. Having lagged behind growth in the EEC prior to membership, Britain caught up and then overhauled the original six. Their growth became no longer a cause for envy. Growth rates slowed everywhere after the golden age, but Britains relative performance improved. Plainly not all of this was due to being in the EEC. Clearly, some of it was.

Joining the EEC was a considerable economic success, according to a new paper The Growth Effects of EU Membership for the UK: A Review of the Evidence, by the noted economic historian Professor Nick Crafts of Warwick University.

Membership has raised UK income levels appreciably and by much more than 1970s proponents of EU entry predicted, he writes. Joining the EU raised the level of real GDP per person in the UK compared with the alternative of staying in EFTA. The deeper economic integration EU membership entailed increased trade substantially and this had positive effects on income. His calculations suggest that the positive economic effects of membership have outweighed the cost of Britains EU contributions and red tape by a factor of about seven to one.

The world was different in 1973 when Britain joined the EEC, and 1975, when we had a referendum, comfortably won, on whether to remain in. Many people who did have a vote in 1975, and some who did not, claim that the country was conned, that we voted to join a common market and ended up with ever closer union, migration and a single currency on our doorstep.

It is true that at the time of the 1975 referendum the government chose to emphasise the trade aspects of membership to the exclusion of almost everything else. But freedom of movement and equal treatment of people were part of the Treaty of Rome, though in the 1970s most people expected the flows to be from Britain to Europe, not the other way around. The subsequent TV series Auf Wiedersehn Pet was about British migrant workers in Germany.

As for the single currency, when Ted Heath began his successful entry negotiations, the EEC was still officially on course for monetary union, the Werner Report of October 1970 having set the target of achieving it by 1980. It took a further two decades but Europes intentions were pretty clear.

A stronger point is that Europe has changed in 40 years. No longer do we envy our European partners their growth, although I find that many people I talk to still have a lot of envy for Germany, and even France. The world has changed too, with the rise of China and other emerging economies. Trade is freer, for goods, if not yet enough for services, though Britain is making great strides: service-sector exports doubled between 2006 and 2014.

The question which I will address in the coming weeks is whether things have changed enough for life to be better outside. Does our EU membership prevent us taking full advantage of the wider world, or is that an escapist fantasy? Germany has been a notable success, from within the EU, in selling to the world. Only China and America, with much larger populations, export more. A few decades ago we found that life outside Europe was cold. The question is whether it would be any warmer now.
(Android)

While most eligible smartphone owners are still waiting to receive the Android 6.0 Marshmallow OS update, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 has already started receiving the Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow update.

Android Authority has reported that the latest Marshmallow update started rolling out in Cambodia and was soon followed by South Korea. Other major operators and regions are expected to follow soon. Those who are lucky enough to receive the update will be able to download the new OS over the air automatically. If not, users can also opt to download the latest OS via the Samsung Smart Switch.

The Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow update will introduce tons of new features to Android smartphones.

With the Google Now on Tap feature, smartphones can anticipate the moment when users would like to search for something. Just by a simple tap, users will be able to gain access to useful information and apps.

Battery life is also expected to last longer with the Doze and App Standby features. When the device is not being used, it will go into Doze (or sleep) mode. Even through the smartphone is in Doze, alarms will still work perfectly in the morning. App Standby also limits the effect of different apps on battery life.

The Android Marshmallow OS also provides users with more control and security over their devices. App permissions can be limited and turned off. Instead of inputting hard-to-remember passwords, users can simply swipe their fingerprint to unlock the phone, download apps and checkout on Android Pay.

The new OS from Google also comes with a new web browser with ad-blocking support. Aside from these new features, the latest Marshmallow update also brings in a few UI tweaks.

The Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow OS update is expected to arrive to other countries in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for all the latest news and updates.
(Facebook/Castle)Castle season 8

Richard Castle will enter the learning halls once again as the team tries to solve the murder of an English as a Second Language student.

In the official synopsis for the next episode shared by Hollywood Hills, "Beckett and the 12th Precinct are going to look into the murder of an English as a Second Language student. But when the victim's class won't talk to the police, Castle will end up going undercover as a French Canadian immigrant and learn that the victim was more than he seemed."

Fans are excited to witness how Richard will fare with his French accent. Promo trailers for episode 13 shows him beside his professor and introducing himself in French, as he is welcomed to class. Meanwhile Kate and hear team at the 12th Precinct will be dealing with a dead body found among deadly snakes. The end of the trailer also shows Richard seemingly shot by Hayley.

Fans are excited to find out if it was indeed Hayley who fires a gun at him after showing her holding a gun and pointing at Richard's way. Could it be just another one of her unconventional ways in getting things done? And what could be the big lesson hinted on in the promo trailer?

Season 8 is bound to bring together elements of drama, action and comedy in episode 13. Richard Castle actor Nathan Fillion that the show's success is partly attributed to its ability to make people laugh. He said in a statement, "It is very easy to make people laugh at you but it is very difficult to make people laugh."

YouTube/Television Promos

His comedic skills will be put to test as he has to be able to convince his classmate and professors that he is not only an immigrant student but one with a French accent as well.
(Reuters/Henry Romero)Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman escorted by soldiers after he was recaptured on Jan. 8, 2016.

"I am afraid for his life." This is what the wife of cartel boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, former beauty queen Emma Coronel Aispuro, said in an interview with Telemundo on Friday, Feb. 19.

In the said interview, Emma expressed what she feels for her husband, his current condition, and how the Mexican government is treating the notorious drug cartel leader.

Emma said that she fears for her husband's life in the maximum security prison at El Altiplano where he has been confined in since Jan. 8.

She said, "They say that they are not punishing him. Of course they are. They are there with him, watching him in his cell. They don't let him sleep. He has no privacy, not even to go to the restroom."

She added that she even filed a complaint at National Human Rights Commission in Mexico on the treatment of her husband while he is in prison.

According to LA Times, El Chapo is charged with federal indictments in the United States including leading an organization that illegally traded a minimum of 1.8 million pounds of cocaine from 2003 to 2014. On top of that, he is accused of being the mastermind of several killings, assaults, kidnappings and acts of torture.

Despite the numerous horrible accusations against El Chapo, Emmawhom her husband calls "queen"describes him oppositely. Although she knows little about her husband's business, she described him as a loving family man. She claims to have not seen him act violently or take drugs within their eight years of marriage.

Emma, who is both a U.S. and Mexican citizen, first met El Chapo in 2007 when she was only 17, CNN reported. The following year, on her 18th birthday, she married the infamous cartel boss, who was more than twenty years her senior. They have twin daughters together who were born in August 2011 in California.
(Facebook/FastandFurious)Reports claim big scenes are set to be filmed in Iceland and Cuba in "Fast and Furious 8."

The main setting of the "Fast and Furious 8" may be in the United States, particularly in New York, but the big scenes will take place in Europe, according to reports.

Iceland Review reveals that the hit franchise is setting up a huge surprise for its newest movie and it will all happen in the little town of Akranes, Iceland. The report sources a Jalopnik update in stating that one of the biggest man-made explosions ever to have taken place in the European country will be staged for "Fast and Furious 8." An explosion unlike no other will reportedly be staged involving several heavily armored vehicles that the movie crew has shipped to the set in Iceland.

In January, Akranes Mayor Regina Asvaldsdottir confirmed with Visir (as per Iceland Review) that the big bosses behind the franchise have informed them of the scenes to be shot in their town. Most of it will reportedly be revolving around the harbor and the cement fields. The official revealed that one of the plans involved a huge flare-up, adding that the citizens could not wait to witness it.

Aside from Iceland, the filmmakers are purportedly setting their eyes on Cuba. Its exotic locales will be a great setting to a franchise that has featured Dubai and Rio in its past installments. The move is also said to cater to the avid Hispanic audience that the movie generates. Variety reports, however, that its source reiterated that everything is still in the exploratory stage.

"Universal Pictures is currently in the process of seeking approval from the United States and Cuban governments to explore shooting a portion of the next installment of the 'Fast & Furious' series in Cuba," the insider from Universal Studios said.

"Fast and Furious 8" is expected to be hit the cinemas on April 15, 2017.
Considered to be the Ten Best UFO Photos Ever Taken I am sure that we could add more pictures to this list but these are considered ten o...
Re: Looking for English speaking dentist in Zurich with reasonable charge

If I may, I'd like to give you my insight into dental prices in Switzerland. Basically, there is this TPW Tax Point Wert system, which has a direct relation to the price of the treatment. For exact information (unfortunately in German)

go to

http://www.sso.ch/index.cfm?uuid=506...C14E4083383783

or

http://www.sso.ch/index.cfm?5B0673E2...0EA7C1F1055F0E



These tax points vary from 3.10 to 5.80. The dentists in more expensive zones, or with higher expertise, will charge the higher tax point. However, although this is meant to make the whole procedure more transparent, it does not mean you are getting a better deal, to know the tax point. It is, like many things in life, a bit more complicated.



Sorry, to make this so long, but it is an issue, heavy on my heart. If I may, I would like to tell you a story.



Recently, a postal worker came in to my office, complaining of a wobbly denture. He (mid/50s) had all his teeth extracted, except two teeth, and had implants and prosthetic dentures made. The maxillary (upper) "teeth" were made in Italy and the mandibular (lower) teeth, were done in Switzerland. It was a horrific situation, which made me want to cry. And, he had paid 19,000 Swiss Francs for his dental treatment, for ONLY the bottom teeth!! Remember, this guy works at the post office. Oh, my...



The point of my story has a relation to the discussion of dental prices in Switzerland.(or anywhere) The question is for what exactly do we pay?? In my opinion, dentistry has gone askew. We are not selling root canals, or ceramic crowns, or braces, but we should be providing HEALTHY smiles. No?



Finally, I want to encourage you to look for trust, and not tax points. If your dental professional focuses on preventive care, you can save a fortune, and SMILE for a lifetime. I only wish I had met this postal worker, a few years earlier. In the end, find someone, in whom you believe, and trust your gut feelings. Dear English Forum friends,If I may, I'd like to give you my insight into dental prices in Switzerland. Basically, there is this TPW Tax Point Wert system, which has a direct relation to the price of the treatment. For exact information (unfortunately in German)go toorThese tax points vary from 3.10 to 5.80. The dentists in more expensive zones, or with higher expertise, will charge the higher tax point. However, although this is meant to make the whole procedure more transparent, it does not mean you are getting a better deal, to know the tax point. It is, like many things in life, a bit more complicated.Sorry, to make this so long, but it is an issue, heavy on my heart. If I may, I would like to tell you a story.Recently, a postal worker came in to my office, complaining of a wobbly denture. He (mid/50s) had all his teeth extracted, except two teeth, and had implants and prosthetic dentures made. The maxillary (upper) "teeth" were made in Italy and the mandibular (lower) teeth, were done in Switzerland. It was a horrific situation, which made me want to cry. And, he had paid 19,000 Swiss Francs for his dental treatment, for ONLY the bottom teeth!! Remember, this guy works at the post office. Oh, my...The point of my story has a relation to the discussion of dental prices in Switzerland.(or anywhere) The question is for what exactly do we pay?? In my opinion, dentistry has gone askew. We are not selling root canals, or ceramic crowns, or braces, but we should be providing HEALTHY smiles. No?Finally, I want to encourage you to look for trust, and not tax points. If your dental professional focuses on preventive care, you can save a fortune, and SMILE for a lifetime. I only wish I had met this postal worker, a few years earlier. In the end, find someone, in whom you believe, and trust your gut feelings. Last edited by arrow; 28.01.2012 at 17:41 . Reason: grammar :-(
Re: Baloise Direct - any good? So I rang up Allianz who were my last insurers & they made a similar offer to baloise but with contents cover.



I pressed them just a little on charging me a premium after my last car was written off but before I surrendered my plates & they knocked 8% or 1 months premium off the price, just like that.

Sold.
Re: "For the couple and the family" initiative Quote: Mischka Well me and my partner live together in Switzerland but we went to Canada to get married as it was super easier there to get married and im from there. But I mean we also have way way more rights there then here in Switzerland. I mean I took his last name when we got married( wich i wouldnt of been able to do that id we got married here), "if" we lived in Canada, we could Adopt or find a surroget mother.....



I am a little suprised Switzerland is stumbling to find its ground on accepting it or not..... also to just have a general understanding of the gay rights in Switzerland vs my home country Canada, its pretty redicules i only laugh at the swiss for so long before my face hurts I am sorry but you are making my face hurt. I would go into how amazing it is that this initiative which is mixing multiple issues is not simply sailing through (and might even get rejected), but never mind.
Using a new microfluidic device called the 'IVF chip,' scientists obtain the first images with both high spatial and temporal resolution of the initial steps of fertilization

WASHINGTON D.C., Feb. 28, 2016 -- The development of every animal in the history of the world began with a simple step: the fusion of a spermatozoon (the male gamete) with an oocyte, or egg (the female gamete). Despite the ubiquity of this process, the actual mechanisms through which fertilization occurs remain poorly understood. A new tool developed by a team of French biophysicists may soon shed light on this still-mysterious process, and has already captured highly detailed images of what happens when sperm and egg first touch.

Benjamin Ravaux, a physics graduate student at the Ecole Normale Superieure de Paris, will describe the new technique in a talk at the Biophysical Society's 60th annual meeting, to be held from Feb. 27-March 2, 2016 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, Calif.

Ravaux and his colleagues work in collaboration with biologists and physicians involved in fertilization and assisted reproduction technologies such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), developing multidisciplinary tools that will help to elucidate fertilization in mammals.

To that end, Ravaux designed a new microfluidics device that allows him to precisely control the membrane location where a sperm cell fuses with an egg. The device consists of a microfluidic chip made from a multilayer silicon polymer sealed on a glass slide; a sperm cell is located in the bottom layer and the egg is positioned in the top, inside an eggcup. At the bottom of the eggcup is a tiny opening, 30 millionths of a meter wide, forming a connection to the chip's lower layer. When added to the lower layer, the sperm cell swims through the opening and adheres to, fuses with, and fertilizes the egg. The chip is compatible with optical imaging technologies such as confocal microscopy, allowing the researchers to obtain high-resolution images and movies of the fertilization process, as it occurs.

"This is a completely new approach," Ravaux said. With the device, the researchers were able to obtain the first images with both high spatial and temporal resolution of the onset of contact between a single sperm and egg, the merger of their membranes, and the engulfment of the sperm by the egg. In addition, they were able to observe the incorporation of sperm DNA inside the cytoplasm of the egg.

"Our approach has the potential to provide new knowledge in a research field that remains largely under-explored because of a lack of adequate technologies. This 'IVF chip' is a unique tool to observe the cascade of molecular and membrane events occurring during the fertilization process," Ravaux said, and under conditions that mimic the natural process. Previous attempts to obtain information on the dynamical activity of the sperm and egg membrane during fertilization involved inseminating an egg with multiple sperm, which leads to "non-physiological" situations where many sperm are simultaneously in contact with the plasma membrane of the egg.

"Combined with biological tools like fluorescent antibodies or genetically modified animals, the IVF chip can offer a new look at the membrane events during the interaction of gametes," Ravaux said. "An enhanced understanding of the molecular and physical mechanisms responsible for fertilization could ultimately lead to better methods to diagnose the causes of infertility, and improved personalized medicine treatments."

The presentation, "Remodeling of Gamete Membrane During Mammalian Fertilization," by Benjamin Ravaux and Christine Gourier will be at 10:00 a.m. PT on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016 in room 515B of the Los Angeles Convention Center. ABSTRACT: http://tinyurl.com/jqjg7zc

###

MORE MEETING INFORMATION

ABOUT THE MEETING

Each year, the Biophysical Society Annual Meeting brings together more than 6,500 researchers working in the multidisciplinary fields representing biophysics. With more than 3,600 poster presentations, over 200 exhibits, and more than 20 symposia, the BPS Annual Meeting is the largest meeting of biophysicists in the world. Despite its size, the meeting retains its small-meeting flavor through its subgroup symposia, platform sessions, social activities and committee programs. The 60th Annual Meeting will be held at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

PRESS REGISTRATION

The Biophysical Society invites professional journalists, freelance science writers and public information officers to attend its Annual Meeting free of charge. For press registration, contact Ellen Weiss EWeiss@biophysics.org or the media line at the American Institute of Physics at media@aip.org or 301-209-3090.

NEWS RELEASES

Embargoed press releases describing in detail some of the breakthroughs to be discussed at the meeting are available on Eurekalert, Newswise and Alpha Galileo or by contacting the media line at the American Institute of Physics at media@aip.org or 301-209-3090.

QUICK LINKS

Main Meeting Page: http://tinyurl.com/hewekyj

Symposia: http://tinyurl.com/h7lnk4p

Itinerary planner: http://tinyurl.com/hslnx3p

ABOUT THE SOCIETY

The Biophysical Society, founded in 1958, is a professional, scientific Society established to encourage development and dissemination of knowledge in biophysics. The Society promotes growth in this expanding field through its annual meeting, monthly journal, and committee and outreach activities. Its 9,000 members are located throughout the U.S. and the world, where they teach and conduct research in colleges, universities, laboratories, government agencies, and industry. For more information on the Society, or the 2016 Annual Meeting, visit http://www.biophysics.org
Damages from extreme events like floods are even more relevant than the mean sea level itself when it comes to the costs of climate impacts for coastal regions. However, while it is now rather well understood how sea-levels will rise in the future, only small progress has been made estimating how the implied damage for cities at the coasts will increase during the next decades. A team of scientists from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) now provides a method to quantify monetary losses from coastal floods under sea-level rise. For the first time, the scientists show that the damage costs consistently increase at a higher rate than the sea-level rise itself.

"When sea levels rise, damage costs rise even faster, our analyses show," explains Markus Boettle, lead author of the study published in the journal Natural Hazards and the Earth System. Rising sea levels as a major impact of climate change pose a risk for coastal regions - the mean regional sea level rise takes effect by more frequent and more intense coastal flood events. "At the same time, the severity of flood impacts is not only determined by environmental factors, but also to a significant extent by human decisions: flood defense measures can counteract the increasing flood risk," says Boettle. "Our study illustrates that the complexity of climate change, adaptation, and flood damage can be disentangled by surprisingly simple mathematical functions to provide estimates of the average annual costs of sea-level rise over a longer time period."

The scientists developed a method that translates the occurrence probability of flood events into the probability of inundation damage. Expected regional sea level rise is taken into account by separating two components, namely the increasing number of events and the increasing severity of each one. Moreover, potential flood defense measures like dikes or sea walls can be included into the calculations as they prevent or mitigate damages from storm surges.

Flood risks, damages, adaptation

Although coastal cities are different around the world and also flood-related threats have their own characteristics at different coasts, the scientists found general results. "Our equations basically work in Mumbai, New York, Hamburg - Pacific, Atlantic, or North Sea. In any location worldwide the same simple and universal expressions hold true," says co-author Jurgen Kropp, deputy chair of PIK research domain Climate Impacts & Vulnerabilities. For an exemplary implementation of their method, the scientists applied it to the city of Copenhagen in Denmark: They found that a moderate mean sea level rise of 11 centimeters until mid-century would in the same period double economic losses in this city, given no action is taken.

"A concise assessment of potential economic consequences is indispensable for appraising the efficiency of adaptation measures," explains co-author Diego Rybski. "Even when temperatures stabilize, sea levels will continue to rise and shape our coastlines for future generations. So, additional preventive measures need to be considered in addition to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, to help coastal regions especially in transition and developing countries to adapt and to limit damage costs."

A large share of the world population lives in coastal regions

Nevertheless, some constraints of the methodology remain, which was developed in the broader context of the European-funded RAMSES project. For instance, extreme events and attributed damages are not evenly distributed in time - there are years without any damage at all and others when quite unlikely floods may occur. The approach cannot forecast single events and associated damages, but estimates damage expectations over longer time-spans. Despite of the lack of knowledge regarding the timing of the extreme events, the statistical spreading of damage over years has been quantified by the researchers.

"A large share of the world population lives in coastal regions," says Jurgen Kropp, director of the RAMSES project. "In the light of limited funds for adaptation it is an asset to provide comparable cost assessments. While mitigation remains of vital importance to keep climate impacts on a still manageable scale, an adaptation perspective can help to limit damage costs in the right places."

###

Article: Boettle, M., Rybski, D., Kropp, J.P. (2016): Quantifying the effect of sea level rise and flood defence - a point process perspective on coastal flood damage. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences.

Weblink to the article once it is published: http://www.natural-hazards-and-earth-system-sciences.net/index.html

Weblink to RAMSES project: http://www.ramses-cities.eu

For further information please contact:

PIK press office

Phone: +49 331 288 25 07

E-Mail: press@pik-potsdam.de

Twitter: @PIK_Climate

http://www.pik-potsdam.de
The British pound sterling to Canadian dollar rate (GBP/CAD) has seen in a steady bearish trend so far in 2016, but where do forecasts see the British pound and the Canadian dollar over the rest of 2016 and into 2017?

Foreign exchange markets saw the Canadian dollar rate weaken during Monday's session, with the CAD spot declining 0.2 per cent against the British pound (GBP).

Although the final quarter deficit for Canada in 2015 printed below forecast at -CAD$15.38 billion, the sizeable shortfall contributed to the highest annual deficit since 2012, weakening CAD vs GBP.

The current account deficit for 2015 was -CAD$65.71 billion, an increase of more than -CAD$20 billion on the previous year.

Before we continue with the news, here are the latest currency fx rates for your reference;

On Friday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1

FX markets see the pound vs pound exchange rate converting at 1.

The pound conversion rate (against new zealand dollar) is quoted at 1.966 NZD/GBP.

Today finds the pound to us dollar spot exchange rate priced at 1.13.

NB: the forex rates mentioned above, revised as of 21st Oct 2022, are inter-bank prices that will require a margin from your bank. Foreign exchange brokers can save up to 5% on international payments in comparison to the banks.

Oil Supplies and the CAD Dollar

Although oil has remained above the key US$35 per barrel mark, the Canadian Dollar has weakened recently against the Pound on the potential for a continued global oil supply glut.

Iran has snubbed the idea of agreeing to a production freeze at a March meeting between oil-producing nations, vowing to increase production in order to reclaim the market share which was lost when the West imposed export sanctions in retaliation for its nuclear activities.

The past week saw weakness in the British Pound and the US Dollar allowed the Canadian Dollar (CAD) to make some steady advances.

"Oil prices, yield spreads and the broader market tone of risk appetite have combined to provide much of the near-2% rally in CAD" say Scotibank in their latest note to clients.

The GBP/CAD conversion has seen a steady decline so far in 2016, something exacerbated by this week's shocking downtrend in Sterling.

Earlier in the week, Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced that the deficit for the next two years was likely to be significantly higher than the forecasts made in November had suggested, with the deficit for 2016 anticipated to be almost fivefold what was originally predicted.

However, the Canadian Dollar was rescued later in the week by a better-than-expected forecast for GDP in 2016 from the IMF which was 0.3% higher than the governments official estimates.

Canadian Dollar (CAD) exchange rates to advance as crude broke above the key US$35 resistance level.

News that countries both inside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and outside it would meet in March to discuss a production freeze buoyed crude oil prices on Friday.

Previously oil had been unable to break far above US$35 per barrel, or hold that level for very long.

However, on the prospect of a global production freeze Brent crude oil reached around US$37 per barrel, towards a year-to-date high of $38.

After a week of being hammered lower by Brexit fears, Pound Sterling struggled to escape from a trough on Friday.

The day started well with Pound Sterling advancing slightly on correctional trades, with opportunistic investors buying GBP while it was cheap.

However, attention soon turned to the GfK Consumer Confidence survey, which showed a significant drop in consumer sentiment.

A drop of -4 took the confidence index down to 0, the lowest level in over a year, while economic expectations fell to their most pessimistic since the middle of 2013.

The Brexit fears continued to bubble away in the background, this time with George Osborne and ex-Tory leader Michael Howard arguing over the risks or advantages of a split from the European Union.

Positive Data Spree Strengthens USD/CAD Exchange Rate on Friday

Key releases for the United States all printed well on Friday, raising expectations of a rate hike by the Federal Reserve, despite several Fed Presidents having seriously damaged hopes with their dovish rhetoric.

First up, Gross Domestic Product for the last three months of 2015 accelerated from 0.8% to 0.9%, while on an annualised basis GDP in Q4 increased from 0.7% to 1% instead of falling to 0.4%.

Later, Personal Consumption Expenditure Core figures shot up from 1.4% to 1.7%, significantly better than the ten basis point rise anticipated.
This week Monkton Wyld Court, home to one of the oldest continually operating micro-dairies in the country, hosted a packed micro dairying conference.

Over 2 days, 50 dairy farmers from around the country gathered to discuss ways in which farmers can survive in the current dairy crisis.

Discussions focused around presentations by farmers who have successfully built dairy businesses based on herds of 10  40 cows. In each case, success depended on reclaiming the margin from middle men by finding ways to sell high quality milk directly to customers.

As well as increasing sales prices, these micro-dairies have managed to cut production costs by making better use of pasture, managing breeds for resilience over yield, and often added value by processing.

Jyoti Fernandes, a micro-dairy producer and spokesperson for the Landworkers Alliance said: "In a climate where milk buyers are paying less than the cost of production we have to reclaim the margin. Dairy has traditionally been the heart of many rural communities; we have find ways to maintain these businesses for the sake of a vibrant rural economy. It has been great to see dairy farmers from all scales gathered to discuss solutions while the government does nothing to prevent farms closing down".





Peter Turner, who runs a 100 cow family dairy is considering cutting down to a smaller herd. He said: "We are running at far below the cost of production but cant the farm go. It has been in the family for generations and means too much to us. We are now looking at models like milk vending machines to sell directly to customers that will allow us to get something more like 50p per liter, which will cover our cost of production. The number of dairy farmers has dropped from 32 000 in 2008 to 9000 now  we urgently need action to prevent more farms going out of business".
Fayetteville family reeling after brother killed, sister shot

Carl Andre McGill, 24, was arrested Oct. 13 on charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder, police said.
It seems like we have been talking about the 2016 Oscars and who and what will win for an age... and we probably have. The Academy Awards are now upon us and we are just hours away from finding out who the winners are going to be.

Oscars 2016

It has been an exciting an exciting and, at times, controversial award's season but it has all been leading up to this; the biggest night on the film calendar.

We have been looking forward to the Oscars for weeks and have put our money where our mouth is when it comes to which actors and movies are going to win.

If Leo DiCaprio doesn't win Best Actor tonight, it will be one of the biggest Oscar shocks of all time. He has been a red-hot favourite for months and I don't think the Academy will overlook him again - it really is time that he triumphed.

Like, DiCaprio, Brie Larson has won all of the major Best Actress gongs going and I think that she will complete the set tonight and take home the Best Actress Oscar. It will be great to see both Best Actor and Best Actress gongs go to first-time winners.

The supporting categories are possibly the most fierce with everyone still a possible contender to win. Having said that, I think Sylvester Stallone will win for his performance as Rocky Balboa in Creed. Best Supporting Actress is the least clear-cut of all the acting categories with Kate Winslet, Rooney Mara and Alicia Vikander all a strong possibility.

Many are tipping Vikander to triumph for her performance in The Danish Girl but I would love to see a Brit in the mix and I am going to go for Kate Winslet and her performance in biopic Steve Jobs.

Best Picture has been a tough one with The Revenant and Spotlight sharing the gongs of late. I am not sure how this one is going to go but I would love to see Spotlight win. It is a powerful film and I would love to see this story recognised by the Academy.

Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu won the Best Director gong twelve months ago and it looks like he is going to repeat that feat for his work on The Revenant. George Miller could be the filmmaker that springs a surprise, but I just don't see it happening.

I am looking at Spotlight and The Big Short to win in the original and adapted screenplay categories. While Inside Out and Amy have been winning every Best Animated Feature and Best Documentary award going - I don't see that changing tonight.

I love it when there is excitement and uncertainty around the Oscar winners and the ceremony could throw a few curve balls our way this evening.

Full list of predictions:

Best Picture: Spotlight

Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio for The Revenant

Best Actress: Brie Larson for Room

Best Supporting Actor: Sylvester Stallone for Creed

Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet for Steve Jobs

Best Director: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for The Revenant

Best Original Screenplay: Spotlight

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short

Best Animated Feature: Inside Out

Best Documentary Feature: Amy

Best Foreign Language Film: Theeb

Best Cinematography: The Revenant

Best Costume Design: Mad Max; Fury Road

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Mad Max; Fury Road

Best Original Song: 'Til It Happens To You' from The Hunting Ground

Best Original Score: The Hateful Eight

Best Sound Editing: The Revenant

Best Sound Mixing: The Revenant

Best Film Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Production Design: Mad Max: Fury Road

Best Visual Effects: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Best Documentary Short Subject: Last Day of Freedom

Best Animated Short Film: Sanjay's Super Team

Best Live Action Short Film: Stutterer

The Oscar winners will be announced tonight.

by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk

find me on and follow me on
Davina McCall beat a cheetah in a race while shooting her latest show.

Davina McCall

The 48-year-old TV presenter - who ran, swan and cycled more than 500 miles for charity in 2014 - claimed she sped past one of the big cats, which are the fastest animals in the world, to record a narrow victory over the plodding puss during filming for the factual series 'Life At The Extreme'.

She said: "My fitness did help, especially with things like racing a cheetah in the first episode!

"I actually beat him, even if it was by one second."

The 'Million Pound Drop' star visited Namibia, Costa Rica and the Arctic to shoot the new series, and admits one of the main skills she learned from the show was how to urinate easily in the great outdoors.

Speaking to Closer magazine, she explained: "I've got very good at weeing out in the open. I did a lot of things I wouldn't have chosen to do, but having done them, I'll talk about them for the rest of my life. In the Arctic, we stayed in this hut with no loo, but had a perimeter with explosives around it in case the polar bears got close.

"Men are fine as they can just unzip but for girls, in overalls and a snow suit, crouching down is not easy."
Tencent-backed WeBank, Chinas first online-only bank, is pushing the country's regulator to accept biotechnology as a primary measure of identification on its online platforms as traditional methods become less secure.

We are a big fan of biotech. Having biotech in financial services will really effect financial inclusion and improve efficiency, David Ku, chairman and chief executive officer of WeBank, said Friday during a panel discussion about digital finance, held by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) in conjunction with the G20 meeting in Shanghai.

If you assume everything will be online in the future, the current way of having user name and password isnt going to work in terms of having the right security measures. The most effective way will eventually be biotech, he added.

According to Ku, facial recognition, for instance, is proven to be very effective based on WeBanks six-month long experience. But the lender has only been using it as a supplementary measure because the Chinese regulator hasnt given it a green light as a qualified know-your-customer (KYC) measure.

But Ku revealed that WeBank has been discussing approval with the regulator and pushing for its implementation.

Going forward things like facial recognition will eventually be allowed by regulators  Then there will be new business models developed on these new technologies, he said. The challenge now is there is no national standard on that kind of tech with very limited usage.

WeBank, a joint venture created by Chinese internet firm Tencent, started operation in January 2015 as China's first private online-only bank - part of Beijings pilot programme to encourage more financial services for individual consumers and small and medium-sized companies.

Internet finance could really be the new vehicle driving inclusive finance. There is a huge opportunity, said Huang Yiping, deputy dean of the National Development School at Peking University and a member of the monetary policy committee at the Peoples Bank of China.

Chinese SMEs have for years struggled to obtain financing from big state-owned lenders, in spite of the fact that such small-scale businesses are a key driver of economic growth and create the majority of new jobs in China.

Following the launch of WeBank, MyBank, the online lender affiliated with Chinese conglomerates Alibaba and Fosun International went online in June last year. Five months later, internet search giant Baidu partnered with Citic Bank in launching another all-digital lender.

Such moves reflect the internet firms' push into the rapidly growing space for fintech-related business and therefore have shaken up the dominance of traditional banks over all aspects in the financial industry.

Neal Cross, chief innovation officer at DBS, said revolutionary changes come slowly at traditional lenders, in particular those with a large legacy, such as DBS, the largest bank in Singapore and Southeast Asia. The hardest thing is not the technology, but the legacy mindset we have inside the bank.
Nicht Ihr Computer? Dann konnen Sie fur die Anmeldung ein Fenster zum privaten Surfen offnen. Weitere Informationen
By Prakash Nanda

Compared to its two sister services (Indian Army and Indian Navy), the Indian Air Force(IAF), the worlds fifth largest, is not only the most capital intensive but also the most dependent on foreign supplies. Whether it is fighter planes or transport fleets or mid-air refuellers or trainers or helicopters, the IAF buys everything from foreign vendors. Our indigenously produced fighter aircraft, Tejas (Light Combat Aircraft or LCA) is yet to get Final Operational Clearance (FOC) to be inducted into the IAF. And our indigenous helicopters like Dhurv, Cheetah and Chetak (the last two are licensed products of the French designs), produced at the Hindustan Aeronautical Ltd, are not good enough yet to carry on the advanced multi-task roles that a modern air force needs.

This explains why usually the capital heading takes precedence over the revenue side in the total budgetary allocations for the IAF every year. That is why in the financial year 2015-16, in the Rs 56,107.74 crore that was allotted to the IAF (23 percent of the total defence budget), the ratio of the revenue and capital heads was 41:59. Of course in the previous 2014-15 budget, this ratio was better for the IAF  39:61; but that does not dilute the point that the IAF spends more on acquisitions than on maintenance.

However, given the challenges that the IAF faces, the fragile security environment that it operates in, and given the possibility of meeting two fronts simultaneously in a future war (Pakistan and China), the allocations on capital front are much below the genuine requirements of the IAF. That has been the trend so far. Last year, the IAF wanted more than Rs 70,000 crore for capital budget while the amount actually allocated was Rs. 33,107.658 crore, which was less than half of the projections. And here, the point to be noted is that of these allocations, there was a negligible amount earmarked for New Schemes (less than Rs. 300 crore), the rest being meant for the previous schemes.

As pointed out in a previous piece in this series, the Annual Acquisition Plan (AAP) of each Service is a two-year roll on plan for capital acquisitions and every AAP draft has Part A comprising of carry over schemes from AAP of the previous year and approved schemes and Part B that talks of new proposals. And it so happens that more than 90 percent of the capital budget goes on committed liabilities, leaving little for fresh acquisitions.

It may be noted that the IAF has a long list of projects planned for induction. This includes the likes of 36 French Rafale Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (which alone will cost more than Rs 60,000 crore), Jaguar Re-engineering, additional Cheetal Helicopters, Medium Lift Helicopter Upgrade, additional Aerostats(radars), additional Dornier(light utility, mainly transport aircraft), additional Flight Refueling Aircraft(FRA), Additional Airborne Warning and Control System(AWACS), Additional Air Command and Control System (IACCS) Nodes, attack helicopters, heavy lift helicopters, Modernisation of Air Field Infrastructure (MAFI) phase II and very short-range air defence systems (VSHORADS).

In addition, design development of Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft with Russia is under progress. We have also initiated the development of our very own Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft called Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft (AMCA). Since obsolescence management as well as capability enhancement is a continuous process, the AMCA is planned to be inducted when some of our current fighter aircraft are reaching the end of their life. All this requires huge money.

It is to be noted also that almost half of the fighter planes currently in use by the IAF are set to be decommissioned over the next nine years. Presently, IAF has 35 active fighter squadrons (this is what the IAF Chief, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha had told me in an interview recently) against government authorised strength of 42 Squadrons (going by IAFs estimate, India actually needs 45 squadrons), though, according to the latest Parliamentary Standing Committee report on Defence, the actual strength may be down to 25 squadrons. No wonder why the Air Chief was very particular in emphasising that the shortfall in fighter aircraft strength must be made good through induction of the remaining contracted Su-30 MKI(with Russia), LCA, Rafale and other suitable fighter aircraft.

The IAF is desperate to achieve the sanctioned strength of 42 Fighter Squadrons as soon as possible. This is all the more so when great number of MiG crashes over the past decade have depleted the fleet (1960 vintage Soviet-built MiG-21 combat jets formed hitherto the backbone of our air power) to ensure that its force levels do not diminish drastically.

In other words, the procurement needs of the IAF are very high, both for acquisitions and upgradation plans. But, not much is being done about it currently, thanks to poor budgetary allocations.

If the past trend is any indication, similar is also the story as far as the revenue budget (broadly for the salaries, perks and maintenance of the existing assets) of the IAF is concerned. The amount projected by Air Force was more than Rs 30,000 crore last year while the actually allocated amount was Rs 23,009.094 crore. This year, the expectation will go up, given the Seventh Pay Commission report. So more than 50 percent of the revenue budget will go to meet the salary requirements alone.

The resultant constraint will certainly impact procurement of spares and fuel and maintenance of older systems (which generally needs more maintenance). Incidentally, spares are crucial for the IAF as there is already a huge shortage of air fleet from the sanctioned strength; without spares there will be a terrible shortfall in serviceability, which, in turn, will impact the operational capability of the IAF adversely. Then there are some unforeseen expenditures that the IAF meets from its revenue head; these include disaster relief (as was the case in Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir).

In sum, whether it is the capital heading (so crucial for the modernisation of the IAF, or the revenue side (so critical for the operational effectiveness of the IAF), the budgetary allocations are abysmally inadequate. All the more reason why the IAF needs an empathetic, not sympathetic, finance minister. Will Arun Jaitley be one such minister, given the fact that he was Narendra Modis first defence minister, even though for a short time?
By Sanjeeva Shivesh

The second Railway Budget of Suresh Prabhu was eagerly expected, primarily due to the fact that his first budget was high on promise and by January 2016, we knew that the financial health of railways deteriorated further.

The reformist image of Suresh Prabhu, the plethora of expert committees and release of Achievement Booklet with hashtag #RailYearofChange, further raised expectations of radical moves by the Railway Minister.

Indian Railways is one of the largest organizations in the world responsible for commercial activity. Its long existence, despite years of poor decisions by politicians and top management is an indicator of robustness of the organization. As a prime mover of bulk commodities and passengers across more than 7000 stations, it plays a huge role in Indias economic progress.

However, railways are in a mess. The golden quadrilateral is choking. The punctuality of trains over the years has gone down. 2015-16, saw second consecutive year of decline in passenger volumes. But the scariest data for railways is stagnation of freight volume. For the first time in last 25 years, we find that the freight business, which is the butter of Indian Railways, has grown less than 1%.

Let us put the numbers in perspective. Last year (2014-15), the freight hauled by Indian Railways was 1095 million tonnes. The revised estimates for 2015-16, puts this number at 1107 million tonnes, that is 1% higher than the previous year. A point worth noting is that in the last 15 years, railway loading has increased on average 7% every year. While sluggishness in railway loading can be attributed to subdued economy, the reality is that we have had several years in the past when GDP growth was less than 5%.

So, what is the real reason for stagnating freight volumes? Look at the growth in railway freight rates and you will get the answer. Since the year 2000, the generalized railway freight rates have increased 11%. That means, on a per tonne kilometer basis, the average freight rate to a shipper on Indian Railways was Rs 1.00 in 2011. This has increased to Rs 1.68 now. Comparatively, the long distance freight rate for trucks is Rs 1.75 now. Take into account, factors like last mile bridging costs, better highways and continued overloading of trucks, we know that trucks have become faster, better and cheaper for its customers.

No wonder, the budget refrained from making any further increase in tariff, both on freight and passenger. Any increase in tariff would only hurt the railways. This has happened because, on one hand, India invested in building its highways, it shied away from investing in railways.

Thus, Prabhus budget must be reviewed in this context. Certainly, the budgetary 2016 has large elements of direction setting. Prabhu declared the five year vision of making Rs 8,50,000 crore investment in Railways with Rs 121,000 crore coming in 2016-17. He further declared that most of the investment would go towards doubling, electrification and network decongestion to enhance the capacity and network expansion and fewer on populist measures. There are other announcements also to address issues of customer service, cleanliness and safety. Introduction of new train categories like Humsafar( three-tiered AC trains), Tejas (fast trains with speeds ranging up to 130 km per hour), Uday (Double-deckers) and Antyodaya (unreserved superfast trains). Also, full credit to the Minister setting the vision and discipline in a professionally run organization by announcing setting of Railway Board on business lines.

However, for the announcements to succeed in full measure, it has to be supported with adequate resources. Bear in mind that 2016-17 is the Pay Commission year. It affects railway expenditure by Rs 25,000 crore. That means, adds further pressure to railways ability to generate margins. While Prabhu has boldly stated that the operating ratio at the end of 2016-17 shall be 92%, everyone agrees that it is impossible. The best railways to could achieve shall be about 97% (if Dinesh Trivedi, former Railway Minister is to be believed, it is already 117%).

Higher operating ratio implies, lower operating margins, which means, lesser internal surplus of railways. The impact of Pay Commission on railway expenditure carries forward up-to the next five years. This means, in the next five years, railways ability to generate surplus shall be low.

In this context, generating Rs 8.5 lakh crore for investments is a huge challenge. Kudos to Prabhu for making the state run LIC agree to lend Rs 150,000 crore for railway projects over five years at a favorable term. But generating the remaining funds shall be a huge challenge. So far, Indian Railways have depended on IRFC to mobilise external resources to fund rail assets. Seemingly, this route is heading to a serious bottleneck. Already there are murmurs of Indian Railways' IRFC borrowing account heading into a debt trap. That is Railways borrowing from IRFC to repay IRFC!

Indian Railways ability to mobilise private capital has been very poor to say the least. Unless, Railways create an atmosphere to attract private capital by simplifying its PPP contracts and creating a non-competitive environment for the private player, PPPs will remain non-starter for railways. However, it has achieved some success in Public-Public Partnership, by signing MoUs with Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and other states. But, if Railways are serious, they have to open their doors up to private sector and cooperate with their strategic partners to create railway capacity. Only then it can be brought back to track. Suresh Prabhu recognises this. Therefore, he made it a point that this gets mentioned in his Budget Speech. But how much of this will happen on ground, we will get to know only in hindsight.

Further, the slow pace of development of Dedicated Freight Corridors must be questioned. The project initially announced by Laloo Prasad Yadav, slated to complete in five to seven years is already into its tenth year and we will not get to see the DFC until 2020.

Prabhu carries the image of a reformer. But that felt short, when simpler targets were set for increasing revenue from non-transport mechanisms like exploitation of railway land and monetizing advertising revenues. Non fare box revenue should be accorded a very high priority on an urgent basis, because thats only way for Indian Railways to achieve revenue nirvana.

Sanjeeva Shivesh is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The Entrepreneurship School, Indias first dedicated school of entrepreneurship based in Gurgaon.
Raipur - The first-ever auction of a gold mine in the country was held in Chhattisgarh on Sunday. Vedanta Ltd won the auction for Baghmara (Sonakhan) gold mine with its highest bid of 12.55 percent of IBM (Indian Bureau of Mining) price of Rs 74,712/ troy ounce (1 troy ounce = 31.10 gram), official sources said.

The production from the Baghmara mine can reduce the gold imports into the country that cost it $36 billion last year, the state mines department officials said.

This was the first time a composite license for gold mining was given in the country, officials added.

The mine is situated in Balodabazaar-Bhatapara district of Chhattisgarh, 130 km north-east of the state capital Raipur.

Vedanta, a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, beat three other bidders in the auction of the Baghmara mine in Chhattisgarh, said the head of the state's Directorate of Geology and Mining, Reena Kangale, adding she expected mining for potential reserves of about 2,700 kilograms to begin in two years.

A troy ounce is equivalent of 31.10 grams.

In a statement, Vedanta said the block measuring 6.08 square kilometres required extensive exploration and that the process will commence in "due course".

India's insatiable appetite for gold has already prompted the government to raise import duties and launch a scheme aimed at mobilising a pool of over 20,000 tonnes of the metal lying idle in homes and temples.

Still the government has failed to curb imports by the world's second-biggest consumer, where gold is regarded as the highest form of gift for gods and humans alike.

The absence of local production has scuppered efforts further.

Federal Mines Secretary Balvinder Kumar last week told Reuters the government planned to auction at least three gold mines in 2016.

With Agency inputs
MONTREAL/WASHINGTON A proposed Canadian government bailout of Bombardier Inc's (BBDb.TO) new CSeries jet manufacturing program would reduce the company's stake in the money-losing aircraft, taking it off the plane maker's books and boosting results in the short-term, two sources familiar with the matter said.

The federal government is considering a deal that would give Canada, the Quebec government and Bombardier each a one-third stake in the CSeries, which would be carved out as a separate joint venture with its own board, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are confidential. Currently, Bombardier controls 50.5 percent of the CSeries and Quebec 49.5 percent.

Federal officials familiar with the situation stress it is too early to say whether a separate CSeries board would be part of a bailout of Bombardier. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said his Liberal Party government would announce a decision before the federal budget on March 22.

Such a deal would allow Montreal-based Bombardier to alter the way it accounts for the CSeries business, which is costing at least $5.4 billion to develop and launch and which the company doesnt expect to generate returns for another four years or more.

The proposed structure would have a positive effect on the parent company's cash flow and earnings per share for the next three to four years, said one of the sources.

The company has forecast 2016 revenue of $16.5 billion to $17.5 billion. Those figures bake in anticipated revenue from about 10 CSeries jet deliveries this year, according to one analyst. The loss of revenue because of deconsolidation would be more than offset by a reduction in CSeries costs and its cash burn rate in the parent company's accounts.

Canada is leaning toward matching Quebec's $1 billion CSeries injection of funds through a deal that could give the federal and provincial governments joint majority control of the 100-150 seat jet program. The first of the jets, the smaller version, is entering service in 2016 after years of delays and cost overruns.

New jet programs typically take years to sell and deliver enough planes to break even and recover sunk development costs.

CASH DRAIN

The federal government is not expected to invest directly in Bombardier itself, as opposed to the CSeries program, and there is no expected change to the company's dual class structure that favors the founding Bombardier-Beaudoin family, both sources said. Within the government, there are some concerns about the parent company's shareholding structure, which gives the family a roughly 54 percent voting stake, said a person familiar with Ottawas approach. The founding family has pushed back against any changes to the companys governance, he said.

A key member of the family, Bombardiers previous Chief Executive Pierre Beaudoin, launched three different plane programs at about the same time and the resulting draining of the company's cash is a major reason for its current problems.

The investment model, proposed by Quebec and supported by Bombardier, would give the federal and provincial governments a combined four seats - provided Canada matches the province's $1 billion investment - on the seven person CSeries board, Reuters reported on Wednesday.

Bombardier itself would only be able to nominate three of the seats, putting the company's representatives in a minority.

On Thursday, Quebec Transport Minister Jacques Daoust confirmed the Reuters story during an interview on Canada's RDI television.

If we had a new player joining us, we could imagine having seven board seats, Daoust said. The new partner and us would control the company. This is certainly a scenario that is being explored now, because we couldnt imagine investing two-thirds of the funds and having a minority on the decision-making front.

Quebec has argued that the governments' majority position on the CSeries board should assuage federal concerns over the company's governance.

The governments would act as shareholders and not participate in the day-to-day operations of the plane program, one of the sources said. The deal would also allow Bombardier to buy back the governments' shares in the CSeries at a later date, as is already the case with the agreement between Bombardier and Quebec.

"The last thing you want are governments to run the program," said the second source. A spokeswoman for Bombardier declined to comment.

Bombardier received a boost in February when the company secured its first order in 16 months. That was for up to 75 CSeries jets to be supplied to Air Canada.

Bombardier has faced fierce competition from plane-making rivals Boeing Co (BA.N) and Airbus Group SE (AIR.PA) which have adapted new engines to their respective narrow-body jets. That has helped them compete with the fuel-efficient CSeries.

They have also been able to undercut Bombardier's pricing by discounting their older Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 models, which are late in their life cycles and can be built at a comparatively lower cost.

(Additional reporting by Euan Rocha in Toronto, David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Amran Abocar and Martin Howell)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
NEW YORK Oil prices fell on Friday as investors cashed out big weekly profits after a rally driven by disruptions to crude supplies and Wall Street's gains from U.S. economic data.

Prices turned negative soon after the release of weekly U.S. oil rig data by industry firm Baker Hughes that showed a 10th weekly drop in the rig count. The data was positive to oil, but traders and investors chose to lock in profits.

"I think a good part of the selling was due to cashing out of winning positions people had established earlier in the week," said David Thompson, executive vice-president at Powerhouse, a commodities-focused broker in Washington.

Brent crude settled down 19 cents at $35.10. It hit a high of $37 earlier, a peak since Jan. 5.

U.S. crude settled down 29 cents at $32.78 a barrel, after gaining almost $1.70 earlier.

For the week, Brent was up more than 6 percent after rising for four days. U.S. crude rose 11 percent on the week, its steepest weekly rise since August.

Oil was up from the start of the week after data showing a slide in shale crude output and strong gasoline demand in the United States. Also bolstering prices was a meeting scheduled for mid-March by at least four major oil producers, including Saudi Arabia, to discuss a production freeze at January's highs.

On Friday, the market initially surged on news that pipeline outages in Iraq and Nigeria will remove more than 800,000 barrels of crude per day from global supply for at least two weeks. The disruptions should offset recent increases to supply from Iran, analysts said.

Oil was later boosted by the U.S. stockmarket as an upward revision to the country's fourth-quarter economic growth drove Wall Street's key S&P index near 2-month highs. A raft of other U.S. economic data also boosted equity prices, which have moved in tandem with oil for weeks. [.N]

Some analysts and traders expect crude prices to continue to rise in the near-term, or at least remain volatile.

Hans Van Cleef, senior energy economist in Amsterdam for ABN Amro, said Brent's break above the $36.25 technical resistance indicated "more short covering in the coming days".

Jeffrey Grossman, dealer at New York's BRG Brokerage, expects to see U.S. crude at over $40 by March-end.

Investment bank Jefferies called current prices unsustainable, saying output declines among key non-OPEC producers will likely spark a recovery by second half 2016.

(Additional reporting by Libby George in London; Editing by Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
A U.S. appeals court on Friday overturned a $120 million jury verdict against Samsung, finally handing the South Korean smartphone maker a significant win in its longstanding patent feud with top rival Apple.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C., said Samsung Electronics Co Ltd did not infringe Apple's "quick links" patent, and that two other patents covering the iPhone's slide-to-unlock and auto-correct features were invalid. The court also said Apple was liable for infringing one of Samsung's patents.

In a statement, a Samsung spokeswoman said: "Today's decision is a win for consumer choice and puts competition back where it belongs - in the marketplace, not in the courtroom.

A spokeswoman for Apple declined to comment.

Apple and Samsung have been battling over mobile device technology patents for years. Apple has mostly prevailed, and in December, Samsung paid Apple $548.2 million stemming from a separate patent case, which Samsung has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Friday's ruling was issued by a unanimous three-judge panel of the Federal Circuit, the country's top court specializing in patent issues.

The ruling reverses a May 2014 verdict from a federal court in San Jose, California ordering Samsung to pay $119.6 million for using Apple's patented technology without permission.

Infringement of the quick links feature, which allows the device to recognise data on the touchscreen, such as a phone number, and link to it to make a call, accounted for nearly $99 million of the damages.

While the appeals court said that Samsung did not use the same technology to detect and link to specific data, it also said Apple's other patents were obvious compared to previously known inventions and should never have been granted.

Chicago-based patent lawyer Bradley Hulbert, who has followed the litigation, said the decision is "a clear signal that Apple is not invincible and that alternative operating systems are here to stay. The marketing and psychological benefits for Samsung are huge."

Rutgers Law School professor Michael Carrier said Apple "rolled the dice" by going to court and today's decision "shows that the patent wars really are not worth it."

The case is Apple Inc v. Samsung Electronics Co Ltd et al, in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, No. 15-1171.

(Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Cynthia Osterman)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
By Arihant Panagariya

Over the past few days, BJP has been thrashed, dumped and hammered in all quarters by self-righteous and self-proclaimed liberals. It has been accused of clamping down on freedom of speech with the intention of promoting ideological confrontation, of working on its priority of creating a majoritarian Hindu country while fuelling hyper-nationalism in the name of patriotism.

This criticism of BJP is not limited to the wrongful arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar on sedition charges but also of its excesses in the HRD Ministry, its controversial appointments in various educational institutions, killing of rationalists, ghar wapsi, award wapsi, beef bans, and of course, abuse by trolls on our national treasures  Aamir Khan and Shah Rukh Khan. It is hard to fathom how BJP or RSS are being blamed for some of these, but because it has become the popular opinion, let's accept it anyway.

Not to be left behind, its highly expressive and passionate supporters have recounted innumerable instances where the Opposition (and the Congress, if it can be termed as an opposition) has been as intolerant of free speech, if not more. That some students at JNU made several indecent remarks about Durga and beat up students who rose against it or how they did not allow people from the other end of ideological spectrum to speak at JNU (Baba Ramdev, LK Advani), have all now been well documented. And how Congress  the mighty defender of free speech  had systemically abused its power to demand curbs on free speech, From blocking 300 webpages and several Twitter handles over the violent attacks on North-East Students to its drafting of the controversial section 66-A of the IT Act which led to arrests for posts on Facebook. People were arrested and pages were censored for being unacceptable as they were anti-Sonia.

Both sides have gone all out against each other while forgetting that the crux of the matter was free speech and reform of our higher education system. It wasn't about left-liberal v right-wing or BJP v Congress or JNU v the Indian Army. Indian liberalism has become about terming others as illiberal and not about fighting for the rights of an individual. Those with hatred for Modi and RSS continue to suffer from selective amnesia while bhakts need to be told to go slow on their drugs. It is only the public, as usual, who are being taken for a ride and are feeling the same as you do after a bad hangover.

That is not all. A new buzzword is thrown in at the gullible public from time to time. From secularism in 2014 to intolerance in 2015 and finally nationalism which is the new dirty word of 2016, we surely have come a long way. None of this would have been possible without our unbiased intellectuals and secular liberals who have constantly reminded us of how Indira Gandhi-ish Modi has become or how we are being brought down by culture jihad or how India has never been so polarised and pulverised. While most of these assumptions shall no doubt fit in well within the fiction section of a bookstore, most of these people should ideally spend some more time in the history section.

But then for whatever reasons, these journalists and intellectuals do agree that India has become illiberal and communal. Their prescription of turning things, however, seems to be to remove BJP/RSS from power, help elect Congress again and then all shall be fine. But is it the right diagnosis? No. It is not about electing a different political party in the next election because our laws will continue to allow them to misuse their power. Then is it about changing the laws? May be. But most of our provisions continue to be on our legal books because the Constitution allows them to be. And if you truly believe in liberal ideas, then you need to accept that our Constitution is where the problem lies. It is neither liberal nor secular.

So, if you really are a free speech absolutist, would you stand up and shout slogans against Article 19(2) of our Constitution, which puts restrictions on our free speech rights? If you really are secular, do you have the courage to write against Article 29 and 30, which allows minorities to run educational institutions, which gives them various exemptions just because they belong to a certain religion and caste? If you really believe that state should treat all its citizens equally irrespective of their identity, would you support a political party if it goes ahead with Article 44, which directs the State to ensure a Common Civil Code?

No. All we shall witness is painful silence. All we shall see is reasonable and logical explanation about why this is not the right time to enforce these ideas in India. This only smacks of blatant hypocrisy and selective interpretation of liberalism and secularism. We have seen countless instances of politicians standing up for these values and will continue to see them, not because they believe in them, but because it suits their political purpose. And this is where, we as voters, should not remain silent, but make time to understand such critical issues and raise our voices against such injustices. Otherwise, rest assured, we shall continue to remain poor and unfree. And that will be a travesty.
Columbia: Hillary Clinton cruised to a commanding victory over Bernie Sanders in South Carolina primary, drawing overwhelming support from the state's black Democrats and putting her in a strong position as the race barrels toward crucial multi-state contests on Tuesday.

Clinton's win provided an important boost for her campaign and a moment to wipe away bitter memories of her loss to Barack Obama in the South Carolina primary eight years ago.

"To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you," Clinton wrote on Twitter. At a campaign victory party in Columbia, supporters broke into raucous cheers as the race was called in Clinton's favour.

Sanders, expecting defeat yesterday, left the state even before voting was finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesday's delegate-rich contests.

In a statement, Sanders vowed to fight on aggressively. "This campaign is just beginning," he said. "Our grass-roots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won't stop now."

Black voters powered Clinton to victory, with 8 in 10 voting for her. The former secretary of state also won most women and voters aged 30 and older, according to early exit polls.

Clinton's victory came at the end of a day that saw Republican candidates firing insults at each other at rallies in states voting on 1 March, or 'Super Tuesday'. Donald Trump, working to build an insurmountable lead, was campaigning in Arkansas with former rival Chris Christie and calling Florida Sen. Marco Rubio a "light little nothing;" Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was asking parents in Atlanta if they would be pleased if their children spouted profanities like the brash billionaire, and Rubio was mocking Trump as a "con artist" with "the worst spray tan in America."

Clinton made a stop in Alabama, a Super Tuesday state, yesterday before returning to Columbia, South Carolina's capital, for an evening victory party.

Sanders, expecting defeat yesterday, left South Carolina even before voting finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesday's delegate-rich contests. He drew 10,000 people to a rally in Austin, a liberal bastion in conservative Texas, the biggest 1 March prize.

While Sanders spent the end of the week outside of South Carolina, his campaign did invest heavily in the state. He had 200 paid staff on the ground and an aggressive television advertising campaign.

AFP
Samsung's Oculus-powered Gear VR headset is available for free with Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge preorders. Image source: Samsung.

As anticipated, Samsung released the newest iteration of its flagship Galaxy line of phones, the Galaxy S7 and Samsung S7 Edge, in the lead-up to Barcelona's Mobile World Congress. The new unit brings forth a few surprises from last year's predecessor. Samsung re-embraced the waterproof feature the company had in the Galaxy S5, but abandoned in the Galaxy S6. Additionally, the new Galaxy S7 brings back expandable memory by reintroducing the microSD slot the Galaxy S6 abandoned.

It's hard to classify any of these features as revolutionary to Samsung's prior offerings. For that ground-breaking feature, it seems Samsung is moving into virtual reality in a big way, even going as far as calling VR its "next platform." Helping sell Samsung's ambitious vision was Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, who stated, "[t]ogether, this is by far the best mobile VR experience you can offer" when discussing the Galaxy S7's VR platform.

2016 may be the year of VRIt's starting to look like virtual reality will finally arrive in 2016. Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge will come bundled with Samsung's Gear VR headset, but the South Korean conglomerate will not be the only company pushing VR devices. Zuckerberg's exuberance for a competitor's device initially seems odd, but makes sense because Samsung's $99 headset is powered by Facebook-owned Oculus VR. While Oculus has a VR headset of its own -- the high-end Oculus Rift, which retails for $599 -- it appears Zuckerberg is willing to encourage other entrants with the goal of speeding up consumer adoption.

Another entrant appears to be Alphabet. An earlier report from The Financial Times chronicled Mountain View's new moves in the space. The FT reports Alphabet will bring a durable, high-quality VR headset to market in addition to its low-cost Cardboard device. Perhaps the most important move is Alphabet is bringing VR functionality into the Android operating system versus relying on an app. This should encourage third-party developers currently not offering VR-enabled experiences to do so as the experiences become more commonplace.

Will Apple be forced to follow? Apple's never been concerned with first-mover advantage. Instead, Cupertino works on perfecting the user experience before releasing a product. But with Samsung, Alphabet, and Facebook working hard to control the VR experience, Apple could find itself late to shape the future of the nascent ecosystem. Apple has purchased multiple VR firms and has a secret team of "hundreds of people" to work on VR technology, but not bringing the functionality to the iPhone 7 in September would put Apple at risk of being nearly 1.5 years behind Samsung and nearly a year after Facebook's Oculus Rift.

There's a lot at stake: Market research firm TrendForce estimates the total VR market (hardware and software) will top $70 billion in 2020, an increase of nearly 80% annualized from 2016 estimates of $6.7 billion. If so, Samsung is correct that VR will become the next platform and investors should pay close attention to who's winning at shaping this new technology.

The article Samsung's "Next Platform" Impresses Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg originally appeared on Fool.com.

Suzanne Frey, an executive at Alphabet, is a member of The Motley Fools board of directors. Jamal Carnette owns shares of Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Alphabet (A shares), Alphabet (C shares), Apple, and Facebook. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Source: Disney.

Folks visitingDisney's website to secure Disney World tickets shortly after midnight today were greeted with "scheduled maintenance" downtime messages featuring Goofy and Snow White's seven dwarfs. When the site came back up they likely flipped their mouse ears.

It now costs as much as $124 for a day at the Magic Kingdom! Are you kidding me?

Disney raising prices isn't new. It has now upped its single-day admissions for 28 years in a row. The timing of the increase also isn't a surprise. It pushed its rates higher in late February -- and on a Sunday -- in each of the three previous years. I warned you three different timesthat the move was likely coming, suggesting that you lock up any single-day ticket purchases earlier this month.

However, this is shaping up to be Disney's most aggressive annual price hike because it's shifting to a tiered pricing model based on season demand. If you want a one-day ticket to Disney World for a visit between now and Thursday it will cost you the same price -- $105 for the Magic Kingdom and $97 for either EPCOT, Animal Kingdom, or Disney's Hollywood Studios. However, come Friday the ticket prices will go to $110 for the iconic Magic Kingdom park and $102 for Disney's three other gated attractions. A week after that, spring break pricing goes into effect with folks paying $124 for a day at the Magic Kingdom and $114 for the other three destinations.

Guests will see all three pricing tiers in effect next month, and you already know that theme park buffs will be gravitating to the new peak pricing. That's understandable, since a day at the world's most visited theme park -- the Magic Kingdom -- is about to become 18.1% more expensive during peak season. The other three parks will be 17.5% more costly than before.

The new peak season covers most of the summer and all of the major holiday weekends. In short, it will be a lot more expensive to visit Disney World when most families are actually able to go. Yes, the non-peak pricing remains the same, but there was always the hope that Disney would actually reduce the prices for value season to give locals a shot at a weekend of fun. Disneyland did exactly that this morning.

Universal Orlando parentComcast boosted its one-day prices earlier this month, so it's not as if one can call Disney greedy. Comcast and Disney have been experiencing record attendance numbers, and obviously they will continue to keep jacking up prices until folks stop paying them. Disney also isn't the first theme park to shift to a demand-pricing model. Comcast is doing this with Universal Studios Hollywood ahead of April's highly anticipated opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter -- an expansion that has seen turnstile clicks skyrocket at its sister resort in Florida. It was also all but expected afterDisneyrevamped its annual pass planslate last year, making it more expensive for regulars to access Disney World during seasonally potent travel periods.

However, you can't help but wonder if Disney is doing the right thing with a one-day ticket hike of as much as 18% at a time when a few of its theme parks are in awkward states of metamorphosis. Disney's Hollywood Studios is in the process of being gutted as it makes way for Toy Story Land and Star Wars that are several years away from becoming a reality. Animal Kingdom and Epcot have new rides and attractions in the works, but the increase is going to be played up as insensitive by the media, theme park blogs, and your social media feed.

Throw in the confusion of having to pre-select which of the three pricing periods will be in effect when you will be visiting and it's easy to imagine some folks taking a pass on visiting Disney World in the coming months. They'll just wait for Star Wars Land.

Disney stands to make a lot of money if this pans out. It will be a substantial uptick in revenue -- and an even more dramatic spike in profitability -- if consumers don't flinch at the move. That makes this a big gamble for Disney, but one with a potentially juicy payoff for investors that will come at the expense of the pocketbooks of its patrons. It's a small, small world with a big, big price hike.

The article Disney World Finally Went Too Far originally appeared on Fool.com.

Rick Munarriz owns shares of Walt Disney. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Walt Disney. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Flickr user Cannabis Culture.

What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object? One only has to look at the rift between the marijuana industry (aka, the unstoppable force) and the federal government (the immovable object) to get a good feel.

The unstoppable force and the immovable object Two decades ago the idea of legalizing marijuana in any way was considered highly taboo. Then, in 1996, California became the first state to pass a law legalizing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Some 20 years later we now have 23 states that have legal medical marijuana laws on their books, with four states (along with Washington, D.C.) allowing for the sale of recreational marijuana as well.

With a few rare exceptions, such as Ohio this past November and Florida in November 2014, marijuana has been breezing to steady victories when put on the ballot and voted on by state residents. This isn't all too surprising considering that national polls peg respondents to be slightly in favor of legalizing the drug. Gallup's October 2015 poll showed that 58% of respondents wanted to see marijuana legalized.

Image source; Flickr user Cannabis Culture.

Legal marijuana is also translating into substantial tax revenue for states like Colorado and Washington, the first two states to legalize recreational use of the drug. In 2015, Colorado netted close to $1 billion in combined medical and recreational sales, and it generated around $135 million in tax and license revenue. At least $35 million has been earmarked for the state's education department, with additional funds also expected to be doled out to law enforcement and drug abuse programs.

In short, marijuana looks unstoppable.

Then we have the immovable object: Congress and the president. President Obama has suggested that marijuana isn't on his agenda during his final year in the Oval Office, and Congressional lawmakers haven't demonstrated any urgency in addressing a possible rescheduling of marijuana. Part of this has to do with lawmakers viewing other issues as more pressing -- economic growth, jobs, national security, and so on. However, lawmakers also don't want to make a hasty decision on marijuana without having a complete safety profile on the drug. It takes time for long-term use studies to emerge, and until those studies are available, Congress appears content sitting on its hands.

Marijuana businesses face inherent disadvantages The issue with federal government inaction is that it puts marijuana-based businesses at an inherent disadvantage to normal businesses.

Image source: Drug Enforcement Agency.

First, despite marijuana being illegal at the federal level, marijuana-based business still need to pay federal income taxes. The kicker is that because they're selling a federally illegal substance, they can't take normalized business deductions, such as rent, on their taxes. Being forced to pay tax on their gross profits rather than net profits means marijuana business are brutally overtaxed relative to other businesses.

The other major issue here is that marijuana businesses have minimal or no access to basic banking services such as checking accounts or lines of credit. In some states, laws have been established to allow banks to interact with marijuana businesses, but the work-arounds are quite extensive. Most banks have chosen to simply avoid the industry rather than risk potential prosecution from the federal government. This leaves the marijuana industry dealing with an expansion problem since it has minimal access to loans, and a security problem since it deals mostly with cash.

However, a solution, or should I say a secret weapon, could be on the way to partially rescue the marijuana industry.

Meet marijuana's secret weaponVenture capitalists could wind up leveling the playing field for marijuana retailers, growers, and processors by providing the access to capital that's mostly lacking.

Think about this for a moment: ArcView Market Research, after announcing that legal marijuana sales grew by 17% to $5.4 billion in 2015, is estimating that legal marijuana sales could grow by an average of 30% per year between 2016 and 2020. By 2020, this would peg legal marijuana as a $22 billion industry. That type of growth is bound to attract money, and while it's been a dismal performance for money-losing publicly-traded marijuana stocks, it's a potentially intriguing opportunity for venture capitalists.

Image source: Flickr user Sebastiaan ter Burg.

According to AngelList, a website that allows people to land jobs at start-ups, invest in start-ups, or raise money for their start-up business, marijuana is a hot investment. As of Feb. 21, 2016, its website listed 449 companies, 1,625 investors, and nearly 5,800 followers interested in various marijuana start-up businesses. Of those companies listed, each had an average valuation of $3.5 million.

We certainly don't have far to look to see just how quickly the VC influence is spreading. Privateer Holdings, arguably the largest and most influential marijuana-based privately held VC, raised $75 million last year and has a variety of holdings it believes can reshape and take advantage of growth in the marijuana industry. It owns Marley Natural (and yes, the brand does have a licensing deal in place to use Bob Marley's name and likeness to sell medical marijuana), Tilray, a pharmaceutical-grade distributor of cannabis in Canada, and Leafly, an enormous resource of cannabis knowledge.

But what makes Privateer so unique is that it's garnered an investment from Peter Thiel's Founders Fund. Thiel, if the name rings a bell, is one of PayPal'sco-founders and its former CEO. He may also be, next to Calvin Broadus (aka, Snoop Dogg), the most influential investor in the marijuana industry to date.

The other component that makes the VC-funding route so exciting is that they're bringing more to the table than just capital. VCs have innovative ideas that could take legal marijuana beyond the bounds of just growers, processors, and retailers.

Image source: Flickr user Mark.

For example, Eaze, a California-based medical marijuana delivery service, has developed an app that allows medical users to order marijuana with the click of a button. The company, which has received a healthy $12.5 million in funding and now services nearly 100 cities in California, suggests on its website that deliveries occur about 15 minutes after an order is placed. Convenience is key in any retail environment, and Eaze is hoping to capitalize on this trend.

Transcend Lighting, which may I add is targeting more than just the marijuana industry, is another start-up that offers a new type of LED light that can reduce energy consumption by up to 70%, essentially paying for itself in a matter of a year due to cost savings. Lighting and energy costs are a major drain on marijuana growers, so Transcend and its VC investors are hoping its new LED option will catch on with growers.

Still a risky propositionComparatively speaking, VCs appear to offer more variety to prospective investors wanting to get in on the marijuana boom relative to the small handful of publicly traded marijuana stocks (most of which are losing money). Still, going either route offers major risks.

As stated above, government inaction makes the long-term survival of the industry somewhat cloudy. As long as tax disadvantages exist at the federal level, growth in the marijuana industry will likely be constrained.

Additionally, investors have to understand that businesses (including VCs) fail all the time. According to Harvard Business School senior lecturer Shikhar Ghosh in 2012, about three-quarters of all venture capital firms fail to return investors' capital. This means investors in VC firms need to accept the possibility that they may lose all of the money they invest into marijuana-based ventures.

Personally, I'd suggest keeping to the sidelines until we see changes enacted on Capitol Hill. If marijuana is rescheduled, then it's quite possible marijuana becomes a viable investment opportunity -- but not before.

The article Meet the Marijuana Industry's Secret Weapon originally appeared on Fool.com.

Sean Williamshas no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen nameTMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle@TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends PayPal Holdings. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Image source: Pixabay.

As we dive headlong into the election season, one issue continues to creep to the forefront of the debate: Social Security.

Social Security has a retirement problem The Social Security program currently covers about 60 million people, of which two-thirds are retired workers. Although the Social Security Administration suggests that benefits from the program are only designed to replace 40% of a workers' income during retirement, a study released last year from AARP showed that 51% of respondents planned to lean more heavily on Social Security income during their retirement. We're at an inflection point where baby boomers are entering retirement at a rapid pace, and many simply don't have an adequate financial base to retire comfortably.

But here's the real crux. The Social Security program is on pace to burn through its remaining cash reserves by 2035. The retirement of baby boomers is weighing on the worker-to-beneficiary ratio and pushing it lower, while retirees themselves are living longer than ever, allowing for an extended period of benefit payments. This is all working out to an unsustainable path for the Social Security program. The Social Security Trustees' report, which estimated the above timeframe, suggests that if Congress does nothing, the program would necessitate at 21% benefits cut to sustain itself through 2087.

Thus we have Social Security's "retirement problem" in a nutshell.

Image source: Flickr user Sebastiaan ter Burg.

Social Security fixes vary wildly What Americans, both retired and still working, have been looking for from this year's remaining presidential candidates is a clearly defined plan to fix this shortfall. On paper there really are only three choices: boost tax revenue, cut benefits, or offer some combination of the two. Despite this seeming simplicity, decades of debate have yielded no accepted solutions.

Some candidates, such as Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, both front-runners for the Democratic Party, have suggested they'd expand benefits for seniors under Social Security. Both agree that wealthier individuals should be paying more into the system.

However, other candidates' Social Security fixes could actually lead to a reduction in your lifetime benefits.

Image source: Ted Cruz.

Two proposals, one common theme Whether they are in pinpoint detail or glossed over, the Social Security proposals offered by Republicans Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, both have one thing in common: the potential to reduce lifetime benefits.

Let's very quickly summarize the key talking points of these candidates' plan, and then we'll get to the meat and potatoes of why these candidates could mean lower lifetime Social Security benefits for you.

Ted Cruz: Cruz's approach can be fanned out into three main talking points. First, he'd like to gradually increase the retirement age to reflect a population that's living longer than ever. Secondly, Cruz wants to change how benefit increases occur. Instead of tying increases to the traditional Consumer Price Index, he wants to use the chained-CPI, which factors in changing consumer spending habits as prices rise. Lastly, Cruz is for the creation of privatized accounts for a small portion of the payroll tax that workers contribute to the program.

Cruz's approach can be fanned out into three main talking points. First, he'd like to gradually increase the retirement age to reflect a population that's living longer than ever. Secondly, Cruz wants to change how benefit increases occur. Instead of tying increases to the traditional Consumer Price Index, he wants to use the chained-CPI, which factors in changing consumer spending habits as prices rise. Lastly, Cruz is for the creation of privatized accounts for a small portion of the payroll tax that workers contribute to the program. Marco Rubio: Rubio, as well, has a three-point approach to fixing Social Security. Rubio would first suggest raising the retirement age to account for longer life expectancies. Secondly, Rubio would reduce the rate of benefit growth for beneficiaries in higher income brackets who are far less reliant on Social Security income. Third, he'd remove the current 12.4% payroll tax on workers who've reached the qualifying Social Security retirement age to encourage them to work longer and save more.

Image source: Marco Rubio.

Among these two candidates, there's plenty of cause for individual skepticism. Cruz's plan to privatize a portion of taxpayers' income runs the risk of imploding if workers and retirees aren't financially savvy and make poor decisions with their money. Similarly, Rubio's plan to reduce benefits growth for the wealthy, could draw backlash from the well-to-do who've paid their share into the program over their lifetime.

But, one common theme stands out among both candidates: a solution involving a raised retirement age.

Will your Social Security benefits drop? On paper, raising the retirement age might be a great idea. It would, in theory, encourage people to work longer and save more, and it could add more tax revenue into the program (save for Rubio's proposal, which would eliminate the payroll tax for qualified individuals).

But, raising the retirement age comes with one massive potential flaw: It could enhance the lifetime benefits of the rich while further hurting the low-income retirees that these candidates have vowed to protect.

The issue at hand is this: Low-income retirees rely on Social Security to a far greater extent than well-to-do retirees. In many instances, low-income retirees may be forced to take benefits at an earlier age, well before they reach their full retirement age, or FRA. If the FRA were raised to 70, but the minimum retirement age remained at 62, early filers at age 62 would wind up with a benefit equal to just 57% of their FRA. At this level it could be a struggle for retirees to meet their month-to-month living expenses.

It's also worth mentioning that simply working longer to reach your FRA may not be an option for some individuals. Our health is not something that can be predetermined. Occasionally our health, or that of loved ones, comes first and we simply aren't able to work into our golden years.

Image source: Flickr user AFGE.

On the flipside, wealthier retirees could see their incomes soar as FRA's rise. This is because wealthier individuals have no financial constraints when it comes to getting medical care or healthier foods. Since the rich live longer than the poor, they should, on paper, be able to collect more in lifetime benefits.

According to a study put out last year by the National Academy of Sciences, the life expectancy at age 50 for a lower-income male has fallen by about a half-year, while lower-income females at age 50 have seen their life expectancies decline by an average of four years. We'd likely wind up seeing the lifetime benefits of a vast majority of Americans (especially those who need it most) decline if either of these two proposals were fully implemented.

Adding fuel to the fire, raising the retirement age isn't a foolproof solution. It would wind up reducing the cash shortfall in the Social Security program by about a third, but it would still require additional tax revenue or benefit cuts to bridge the difference.

To be clear, nothing is set in stone for any of these candidates right now, and getting into the Oval Office doesn't guarantee in any way that their plan will pass muster with Congress. However, it's important to understand how these dynamics could affect you in your golden years. I'd suggest paying close to each candidate's detailed plans on Social Security reform, as it's a program that affects practically every working American.

The article Your Social Security Benefits Could Fall If Either of These 2 Candidates Becomes President originally appeared on Fool.com.

Sean Williamshas no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen nameTMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle@TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.

Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
The inevitability of Hillary Clintons road to the nomination began Saturday night.

Now it's official.

South Carolina was not Hillary Clintons firewall (that role was played by Nevada). South Carolina will be seen as her launching pad.



After much debate these past few weeks over whether the momentum and message of Bernie Sanders's campaign was powerful enough to win over black voters and decimate the last voting bloc fully committed to Clinton, Saturday's results in South Carolina have settled it. Just as in Nevada where African-Americans voted for Clinton by a margin of three to one, in South Carolina more than 80 percent went for Clinton.

There's no question that the potential success of Clinton's campaign hinges on maintaining this support.

No doubt the South Carolina African-American establishment, led by Representative Jim Clyburn, recognized this and how critical formal endorsements and mobilization for Clinton was. Clyburn remarked in his endorsement that my heart has been with Hillary Clinton from day 1 - a direct signal to black Americans to think long and hard about which of the candidates has always been present in the black community.

Indeed, this has been the main argument in her favor with officials, pastors and community leaders calling on voters to remember that both the Clintons have been there for them, even if policy results have been mixed. And with 60 percent of Democratic voters on Saturday in South Carolina being African-American  a number thats even bigger than the 55 percent we saw in 2008  we can be sure that this approach will be emulated as the campaign continues.

The desperation of the Sanders campaign, to galvanize black voters, proved to be too little, too late. And though Sanders had the support of some notable members of the African-American community supporting him, including Eric Garner's daughter, Spike Lee and Danny Glover, it was woefully insufficient.

On top of that we learned something critical about the Democrat base in this country on Saturday night. they arent nearly as hyper-progressive as weve been hearing.

Exit polls showed that as astounding 70 percent of South Carolina voters want to continue President Obamas policies yet only 19 percent want the next president to be more liberal.

This stands in stark contrast to the rhetoric thats coming out of the Sanders camp from supporters who accuse Obama of not having delivered enough for Democrats and especially blacks.

It follows that Clinton absolutely made the right choice in aligning herself with Obama, who has all but endorsed her. She can certainly claim to be the rightful successor to his foreign policy, but has also made it a point to tout the progress the American economy has made during his presidency.

This is even more important when we take into account that 43 percent of Democratic voters in South Carolina said the economy and jobs were the most important issue to them. This was followed by 22 percent who said health care, 21 percent for income inequality and 10 percent who said terrorism. The economy and jobs is always the most important issue in elections, but not usually by these margins. And polls find that Clinton is consistently trusted over Sanders to handle the economy.

Saturday night Sanders offered that, in the face of defeat, his campaign is just beginning and we didnt count Clinton out when she lost New Hampshire by over 20 points. He is absolutely right.

But the map doesnt favor his argument.

On March 1, Super Tuesday, Democrats will vote in 11 states, six of which are expected to see African-American voters turn out in huge numbers.

But that isnt the only thing working in her favor: Super Tuesday takes us into more conservative territory where voters are apt to be more moderate and positive about the Obama record.

This isnt to say that Sanders wont take any states. He should win Vermont with a big victory and he is also looking to grab Oklahoma and Minnesota.

However, it would be hard to argue that this campaign isnt shaping up strongly in Clintons favor. This not only speaks to the appeal of her experience, but runs counter to the narrative that Americans want outsider politicians at any cost.
Afghanistan, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Yemenall places where the United States has been fighting and losing.

Compare the U.S. record in those places with the liberation of Kuwait in 1991. After one hundred hours of combat, Iraqs large and entrenched military was defeated and pushed back behind a security zone. Twenty-five years later Kuwait remains a free and independent country.

The United States only real failure respecting the Gulf War has been misreading its lessons, a failure that has played a role in the long string of military reversals ever since.

Two false lessons stand out: hawks believe it was a mistake to liberate Kuwait and return home. They advocated continuing to Baghdad to depose Saddam Hussein from power. Similarly, certain NGOs saw the might of the coalition as the right tool for promoting human rights, including by removing dictators.

These lessons overlooked essential aspects of the Gulf victory. It was built fundamentally on strict adherence to international law, and, in 1991, Americas political and military leaders included combat veterans with no illusions about what war could and could not accomplish. Going all the way to Baghdad would have violated the very United Nations Charter rules that had unified the world in a mission to end aggression.

We now know from social science research of the past two and half decades that outside military intervention to impose governments doesnt work. This fact is related to the reality that such interventions are unlawful. When lives are shattered and the environment destroyed for illegitimate ends, the morale of invading troops and the anger of the victims factor in the outcome. In the Gulf War, Saddam Hussein was the one violating fundamental principle. In Americas wars since the Gulf, it has been U.S. presidents.

The most important rule of the United Nations Charter is the prohibition on the use of force. Saddam Hussein violated that rule in one of the most blatant acts of aggression since the Charter was drafted in 1945.

Kuwait had the right to exercise self-defense but was quickly overrun and went to the Security Council to request assistance. The Council acted unanimously and effectively. The U.S. ambassador, Thomas Pickering, was masterfuldemonstrating the value of an experienced diplomatic corps, committed to international law.

The Security Council ordered worldwide sanctions against Iraq. After five months when those failed to persuade, the Council authorized force to liberate Kuwait. 34 nations joined the fight. Others contributed financially. The United States incurred no deficit.

In addition to the Charter, the United States military fought consistently with the Geneva Conventions. Our forces had benefited from the rule of law program instituted after Vietnam. Americas Vietnam debacle has been correctly linked to the illegitimate ends of imposing a regime there and in the way U.S. troops and the CIA fought. Widespread atrocities, of which the My Lai massacre was only one, drove reforms, which paid off in the Gulf as educated, disciplined troops handled 15,000 Iraqi prisoners of war in exemplary fashion.

I know all of this first hand as the wife of Americas most forward deployed interrogator in Operation Desert Storm. He was the Geneva Conventions trainer for the Third Armor Division. He was incredulous when Maryland National Guard troops -- who abused prisoners in Iraqs Abu Ghraib prison after the 2003 invasion -- said they had had no Geneva Conventions training. That was not the profile of the fighting men and women of the Gulf War victory. They knew they were fighting to end unlawful aggression. They knew how to fight and how to interrogate lawfully, morally, and effectively.

In Washington, President George H. W. Bush, a combat veteran of the Second World War, Secretary Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and veteran of Vietnam, and National Security Adviser, Brent Scowcroft, a West Point graduate and long-serving officer, all understood what military force could accomplish. It is a poor tool for re-shaping societies, changing leaders and imposing systems of government. Those choices must be made by the governed. Pushing one major military across an international boundary with a superior force is what a military can do and succeed.

The knowledge that a soldier is fighting on the side of right and fighting in a way that complies with the rules is empowering. Fighting unlawfully and in violation of the rules weakens morale, costs allies, and angers victims.

At Scowcrofts West Point graduation, Dwight Eisenhower said, War is mankinds most tragic and stupid folly; to seek or advise its deliberate provocation is a black crime against all men.

Provoking war and the unlawful use of military force have cost the U.S. dearly. Part of the high cost has been in terms of standing, influence, and the ability to uphold the prohibition on aggression.

Russia is violating the U.N. Charter in Ukraine but those rules are viewed as weak today. The U.S. faces a dangerous situation in the South and East China Seas but is hardly in a position to demand that China settle its disputes peacefully.

And yet it can. The Gulf War teaches that regardless of past mistakes, the United States can succeed by complying with the law going forward.

President Bush declared at the end of the 100-hour war that we would see a new world order under the rule of law. The time to see that new order is now.

Anniversaries are when we look back and see history in the light of experience. Recent hard experience counsels internalizing the real lessons of a unique victory.
Hillary Clinton paid tribute Saturday during her primary victory rally to the mothers of black victims killed by police and civilians  while ignoring the rising number of police killed by gunfire in the line of duty this year.

The Democratic presidential candidate paused during her speech in Columbia, S.C., to honor the five women, who also campaigned with her across South Carolina before Saturdays primary.

They all lost children, which is almost unimaginable, yet they have not been broken or embittered, Clinton said, adding that they have turned their mourning into a movement.

She recited the names of Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin; Gwen Carr, mother of Eric Garner; and the three others.

But she did not mention the rash of police fatalities. So far this year, according to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, 10 officers have been shot and killed, representing a 900 percent increase in firearms-related officer deaths compared with this time last year.

Most recently, Cpl. Nate Carrigan was fatally shot while serving an eviction notice in Colorado. And on Saturday, three officers reportedly were shot and wounded in Prince William County, Va., outside the nations capital.

Recently, six law enforcement officers were killed by gunfire in a period of a single week. Memorial Fund CEO Craig W. Floyd said at the time he cannot recall any time in recent years hes seen so many killed in such a short span of time, calling it a very troubling trend. Traffic-related and other officer deaths are down so far this year, but shooting deaths have raised alarm in the law enforcement community.

Yet any mention of the troubling trend has been virtually absent on the Democratic campaign trail  which contrasts with the Democratic candidates often fiery language on police brutality against African Americans.

Both Clinton and Bernie Sanders have been talking more about these issues, as well as racial injustice in housing, the job market, the prison system and other areas.

Clinton said Saturday the five mothers who campaigned with her were brought together by tragedy in losing their children.

Martin, a black teenager, was killed in 2012 by George Zimmerman, in a case that revived the national debate over racial profiling.

Garner died in 2014 after being put in a chokehold by a New York City police officer. He had been confronted out of suspicion he was selling loose cigarettes.

Clinton also paid tribute to Lucia McBath, mother of teenager Jordan Davis, who was killed by a Florida man in 2012 after a confrontation over loud music playing in his car; Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontre, who was killed by a then-Milwaukee police officer in 2014 after a struggle; and Geneva Reed-Veal, mother of Sandra Bland, found hanged in a Texas jail cell in 2015.
Hillary Clinton cruised Saturday to an easy victory in the South Carolina Democratic primary, taking back the momentum from Bernie Sanders heading into Super Tuesday  though Sanders will keep his foothold in the race as he continues to rack up delegates and contributions.

The Democratic front-runner won largely on the strength of her support from black voters  her so-called firewall that, in the end, held up.

Exit polls showed nearly nine in 10 black voters supported Clinton in the Palmetto State, and she hopes that bloc will carry her over her rival as the race heads deeper into the South. With a Nevada and South Carolina win now under her belt, Clinton is working hard to shake off her big loss to Sanders earlier this month in New Hampshire.

Tomorrow, this campaign goes national, Clinton declared at her victory rally in Columbia, S.C.

As cheering supporters shouted Hillary! Hillary! she said: We are going to compete for every vote in every state. Were not taking anything, and were not taking anyone, for granted.

With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton was beating Sanders in South Carolina by a resounding 73-26 percent.

SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMARY RESULTS

But the Vermont senator, anticipating a loss Saturday, already had started campaigning in Super Tuesday states, and his campaign still predicts hell split the vote with Clinton next week.

This campaign is just beginning. We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now it's on to Super Tuesday, Sanders said in a statement. Our grassroots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won't stop now.

Clinton visited Alabama earlier Saturday but by the evening was back in South Carolina for her victory party.

Sanders, though, spent Saturday speaking to about 10,000 people at a Formula One racetrack near Austin, Texas, skipping South Carolina. He then was heading to Minnesota.

Roughly a dozen states hold contests on Tuesday, with delegates on the line in 11 of them. In South Carolina and other states, delegates are awarded proportionally, so Sanders is able to add to his delegate total even when he loses.

As on the Republican side, Texas will be considered a huge prize on Tuesday, but Sanders also is looking to potentially more friendly territory in the Midwest and Northeast, including his home state.

Clinton is looking to win by large margins in Southern states, seven of which vote this coming Tuesday.

At one point in her victory speech Saturday, Clinton seemed to be trying to look past Sanders, rhetorically taking on Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

Despite what you hear, we dont need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great, she said. But we do need to make America whole again.

Meanwhile, her victory in South Carolina had a redemptive quality for Clinton, who suffered a significant loss there to Barack Obama in 2008. Her husband, President Bill Clinton, was viewed by some as questioning the legitimacy of the black presidential contender -- Obama. This time, black leaders and officials largely gravitated toward her campaign ahead of the vote, though Sanders was able to pick up some support from influential black leaders.

Earlier in the day, the Vermont senators wife, Jane Sanders, said that her husbands campaign is looking to Super Tuesday when "I think we'll split the vote."

She also said: "It's a 50-state election, and we're feeling very confident, actually."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Sunday pushed the call for front-running GOP rival Donald Trump to release his tax returns, suggesting the IRS documents might show connections to mafia businesses, donations to Planned Parenthood and other items that would ruin his White House bid.

Maybe those business deals are more extensive that reported, Cruz told NBCs Meet the Press. Primary voters deserve to know before the nomination because Hillary Clinton will.

Cruz, who has released five years of returns and two-page summaries for the past four years, repeated 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romneys suggestion last week that Trumps returns could include a bombshell.

He said Trumps real estate ventures reportedly have been tied to mafia-run S&A Construction, "which was owned by 'Fat Tony' Salerno, who is a mobster who is in jail.

He also suggested on ABCs This Week that the returns might show the billionaire businessman has exaggerated his wealth.

A lot of media outlets have reported that he doesn't make nearly as much money as he says he does. We don't know. But he's clearly hiding something, said Cruz, who, with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, is Trumps closest rival going into Super Tuesday -- in which the GOP primary field of five will compete for 595 delegates across 11 states.

Cruz also tried to turn into a tax issue Trumps support for the help Planned Parenthood provides to women, though the billionaire businessman doesnt back abortions.

At every debate, it seems, he praises Planned Parenthood, Cruz said. Maybe he's written them a bunch of checks.

Trump told Fox News Sunday that hes filed voluminous paperwork and that information about his income is available in Federal Election Commission filings.

He declined to reveal his gross income or effective tax rate and didnt respond to a remark that the IRS says he can disclose his records, despite an audit, which Trump has cited for the delay.

I think it's very unfair, said Trump, despite making promises to release his tax records. I've been singled out.

Rubio, like Cruz, released summary pages of their recent tax filings on Saturday, seeking to capitalize Trump's refusal to release similar information.

Romney released tax records in 2012, and Clinton did last year.

Rubio and Cruz produced the first two pages of their filings to the Internal Revenue Service, which don't include key details about subjects such as their tax deductions.

They have left the door open to releasing more information, with Cruz essentially daring his opponents to go first.

"If Marco wants to release the complete thing for the recent years, I'm happy to do so as well," Cruz said.

Every major party candidate since 1976 has released his full tax returns at some point during the campaign, according to Joseph Thorndike, a tax historian and contributing editor to Tax Notes, an accounting trade publication.

But while Thorndike faulted Trump for backing away from releasing his tax returns, he called partial releases such as those by Rubio and Cruz "fake transparency."

The tax returns released by the two lawmakers, combined with their previously released personal financial disclosures, offer an overview of their financial lives since arriving in the Senate.

Rubio released portions of his 2010 through 2014 returns, adding to 10 years of tax documents he had previously made public.

Since winning election to office in Washington, they show Rubio's income has ranged from $276,059 to $938,963, and he has paid between $46,500 and $254,894 in federal income tax. Most of the income came from a business that collected royalties on two books: Rubio's memoir, "An American Son," and a pre-campaign tract, "American Dreams."

Cruz released portions of his 2011 through 2014 returns. They show he and his wife Heidi brought in an annual average of $1.13 million with large amounts of their income coming from Cruz's work in 2011 and 2012 at the law firm Morgan, Lewis and Bockius, and his wife's work at Goldman Sachs.

Cruz also reported $190,000 in income coming from a book advance from Harper Collins in 2014.

The returns show that Cruz and his wife reported more than $5.2 million in income in those years and paid an average effective tax rate of 37.6 percent.

The summary returns yield few details on either candidate's charitable giving, but they indicate that the Texas senator, who has banked on the support of evangelicals and appealed to voters on matters of faith, hasn't tithed a full 10 percent of his income.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Donald Trump doubled down on his assertion that hes being treated unfavorably by a U.S. district judge because of the judges ethnicity and disagreements over border policies.

The Republican front-runner is the defendant in a class-action suit in front of U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel stemming from Trumps association with Trump University  one of three ongoing legal actions against Trump for his link to the so-called university, which was a series of seminars. Plaintiffs who attended the seminars from 2005 to 2011 have complained about subpar instructors and taking pictures with a cardboard cutout of Trump after being promised a photo with the man himself.

But Trump said he believes Curiel, who was born in Indiana to immigrant parents, according to a 2013 profile in a Federal Bar Association newsletter, has acted unfairly due to Trumps oft-stated promise to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.

I think it has to do perhaps with the fact that I'm very, very strong on the border, very, very strong at the border, and he has been extremely hostile to me, Trump said on Fox News Sunday.

During a rally in Arkansas on Saturday, Trump specifically cited Curiels ethnicity after noting perceived hostility from the judge.

I believe he happens to be Spanish, which is fine, Trump said. He's Hispanic  which is fine.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who has filed a $40 million suit against Trump and Trump University for fraud, accused the tough-talking businessman of racial demagoguery.

I will not engage in a debate about ongoing litigation, Schneiderman said in a statement on Saturday. But there is no place in this process for racial demagoguery directed at respected members of the judiciary. The state Supreme Court has already ruled that Trump University operated illegally in New York as an unlicensed education institution, and we look forward to prevailing on the rest of our claims as the legal process moves forward.

While the suits against Trump University have been common knowledge for years, they recently entered the spotlight after Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., attacked Trump for the university during Thursdays GOP debate.

There are people who borrowed $36,000 to go to Trump University, and they're suing now  $36,000 to go to a university that's a fake school, Rubio said. And you know what they got? They got to take a picture with a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump.

Trump brushed off any notion of wrongdoing.

"I could've settled this suit numerous times. Could settle it now. But I don't like settling suits," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard resigned Sunday as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee to support presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The Hawaii Democrat told NBC's "Meet the Press" that she trusts the Vermont senator to consider the consequences of any military action.

"I think its most important for us, as we look at our choices as to who our next commander in chief will be, is to recognize the necessity to have a commander in chief who has foresight, who exercises good judgment," Gabbard said.

Her announcement follows months of discord with committee members, including Chairman Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Gabbard has been critical of the committees small debate schedule, which critics say is designed to protect Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Wasserman Schultz on Sunday issued a statement accepting the resignation that in part stated Gabbard is a role model who embodies the American ideal that anyone can dream big and make a difference."

Gabbard, a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a military veteran who served in Iraq, also has been critical of President Obamas strategy for stopping the Islamic State.

She has called for a more comprehensive approach and has criticized the president for not saying the group is engaged in Islamic terrorism.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders conceded that his campaign was decimated by Hillary Clinton's campaign in this weekends South Carolina party primary but expressed optimism about keeping alive his White House bid.

We got decimated, thats what happened, the Vermont senator told NBCs Meet the Press. No question, Secretary Clinton won that state and she won it big.  I think its going to be a tough fight, (but) I think we can pull it off.

Clinton beat Sanders 73-to-26 percent, with exit polls showing nine in 10 African-Americans voting for her. The numbers strongly show that Clintons recent Nevada Caucus victory, followed by her South Carolina win Saturday, proves she has a southern firewall against the insurgent Sanders campaign.

In looking for a bright spot in the South Carolina defeat, Sanders said he did well with younger voters, whom he hopes will support him on Super Tuesday, when 11 states hold votes and roughly 880 Democratic delegates are up for grabs.

Sanders, who won the New Hampshire primary, said on CBSs Face the Nation that he thinks he can win in Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma and his home state of Vermont and do really well in Massachusetts.

"I think we do have a path to victory," he said, adding that California and New York later in the primary season are also potential wins.

But if Sanders loses the African-American vote by similar margins in the upcoming Southern states, like he did in South Carolina, Clinton would likely take a delegate lead difficult for him to overcome.

Sanders said he and his campaign found his lack of support among older African-American voters in South Carolina pathetic.

Clinton suggested in her victory speech Saturday night that shes now shifting her focus to the national election, which unofficially starts after the party convention, this year in July in Philadelphia.

Tomorrow, this campaign goes national, she said.

On Sunday, Clinton church-hopped across Memphis, Tenn., to mobilize African-American voters ahead of Tuesday's primaries.

At two churches in the city, Clinton asked worshippers to reject "the demagoguery, the prejudice, the paranoia.

She never mentioned GOP front-runner Donald Trump's name, but the comments appeared directed at him, and she seemed to reference his campaign slogan, "Make America Great Again."

"American has never stopped being great, our task is to make American whole," Clinton said at Greater Imani Cathedral of Faith.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Presidential candidates from both parties turned their rhetorical fire against Republican front-runner Donald Trump Sunday, with his GOP rivals attempting to claw back into the race and Democratic favorite Hillary Clinton tuning up for a possible general election run.

Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz stepped up their personal and policy-based barrage against Trump Sunday, warning that the real estate mogul's nomination would be catastrophic for the Republican Party in November and beyond.

"We're about to lose the conservative movement to someone who's not a conservative and (lose) the party of Lincoln and Reagan to a con artist," Rubio told "Fox News Sunday".

Trump fired back, beginning his Fox News Sunday interview with an extended, uninterrupted attack on Rubio, calling him a political lightweight and little, adding that the first-term senator "couldn't get elected dogcatcher."

Meanwhile, Cruz warned the "Trump train" could become "unstoppable" if he rolls to big victories in this week's Super Tuesday primaries. Cruz cast Trump as a carbon copy of Clinton and suggested that not even Trump "knows what he would do" as president.

The only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump is mine, said the Texas senator, arguing that 65 percent of GOP voters dont support Trump. The only way to beat Donald Trump is to stand behind our campaign on Super Tuesday."

Cruz later became upset over continued questions by "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace about the integrity of his campaign, following allegations about so-called dirty tricks that resulted in the forced resignation of spokesman Rick Tyler. Cruz accused Wallace of using Trump opposition research to frame questions and ended the interview in silence.

Later Sunday, Rubio mocked Trump's physical characteristics in addition to his policy positions, telling a heavily college-age crowd of around 3,000 at Roanoke College in Salem, Va. that Trump "has these small hands."

"You know what they say about a man with small hands," Rubio said as the crowd laughed. "You can't trust them."

Rubio also mocked Trump for his complexion, as he has before, accusing him of having a bad "spray tan."

"Donald is not going to make America great," said Rubio, again drawing cheers and laughter. "He's going to make America orange!"

In the wake of Trump's endorsement this week by retired Ku Klux Klan Grand wizard David Duke, Cruz suggested on Fox News Sunday that a hate group supporting Trump was making recorded calls  known as robo-calls -- telling potential voters not to pick a Cuban candidate. Cruz and Rubio are both of Cuban descent.

In an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union", Trump was repeatedly asked about Duke's support, finally saying, "Just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke, OK? I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. Did he endorse me, or what's going on?

During a campaign event in northern Virginia, Rubio said he "refused" to repudiate Duke -- "a well known white supremacist racist" -- despite being asked repeatedly.

"We cannot be a party that nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan," Rubio said. "Not only is that wrong, it makes him unelectable."

Trump reportedly knew Duke in 2000 and cited him, Pat Buchanan and Lenora Fulani when explaining why he stopped considering a presidential run under the Reform Party.

"The Reform Party now includes a Klansman, Mr. Duke, a neo-Nazi, Mr. Buchanan, and a communist, Ms. Fulani. This is not company I wish to keep," Trump said, according to The New York Times.

Meanwhile, Democratic frontrunner Clinton, fresh off a convincing victory in Saturday's South Carolina primary, all-but-ignored Bernie Sanders, her rival for the nomination, and turned her attention to the Republican field.

Starting her morning with stops at two Memphis churches, Clinton offered an implicit critique of Trump, asking worshippers to reject "the demagoguery, the prejudice, the paranoia."

Asked by actor Tony Goldwyn, who later campaigned with Clinton in Nashville, about her thoughts on Duke's support for Trump, Clinton described it, simply, as "pathetic."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A hacker broke into the University of California, Berkeley computer system holding financial data of 80,000 students, alumni, current and former employees, school officials said Friday.

The university said that although there is no evidence that any information has been stolen, it has notified potential victims of the breach so they can watch for signs of possible misuse of their personal data.

Those notified include students and staff who received non-salary payments though electronic fund transfers, such as financial aid awards and work-related reimbursements. Vendors whose financial information was in the system for payment purposes are also at risk.

The hack occurred in December right after Christmas and just as UC Berkeley was in the middle of patching a security flaw in the financial management system.

We (looked) at all the available evidence of what the attackers did, and as we looked at that, we dont see any evidence that these are the kinds of attackers that did access the data, or did anything to take that data, Paul Rivers, UC Berkeleys chief information security officer, told reporters, according to SF Gate.

However, in an abundance of caution, we dont want to depend on our judgment alone, he added. We want to be transparent and (let people) make their own choice on how they should respond.

The SF Gate reported this cyberattack is the third-largest breach affecting the school in years and shows how difficult it is to protect academic institutions.

Rivers said part of the difficulty with protecting the school is the fact officials cant close if a major breach happens. He said he cant treat network security on campus like it was a bank or tech company.

The FBI was notified and the flaw has been patched.

Rivers added that the school needs to work faster on getting its security system fixed. He didnt offer a timeframe or a plan on when the security patches would take place.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from SF Gate.
A missing 4-year-old girl was found alive on Sunday, two days after she was reportedly abducted from an Indian reservation, a Montana sheriff's spokesperson told the Associated Press.

Maci Lilley was reported missing Friday from the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Wolf Point. Authorities said a suspect in the abduction, 20-year-old John Lieba, has been taken into custody.

Maci was undergoing a medical exam on Sunday, Roosevelt County spokesman Lee Allmer said. The girl was found by Undersheriff Corey Reum a few miles north of Wolf Point, the town where she was last seen.

"She was found apparently in good health, " Allmer said. "We're not divulging the location. The investigation is still active."



The FBI was in charge of the investigation into the kidnapping. Allmer told the Missoulian newspaper that Lieba was not related to Maci of anyone in her family by blood, but could have been a family friend.

Other agencies involved in the search included Border Patrol, the Montana Highway Patrol, the Wolf Point Police Department, tribal police, Bureau of Indian Affairs Criminal Investigators and other agencies.

The search included military and private aircraft.

Authorities said witnesses reported a man took the child from a park where she had been playing around 9:30 p.m. Friday.

"I think that we all had in the back of our minds thinking the worst," Allmer said, "but this is the best possible thing that could have happened."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


The man accused of murdering a Virginia police officer on her first shift is an active-duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon.

Ronald W. Hamilton, 32, is an employee at the Joint Staff Support Center, a Defense Information Systems Agency spokesperson confirmed to Fox News. Hamilton has been charged with capital murder of a police officer and first-degree murder for the death of Ashley Guindon, 28, and two counts of malicious wounding of a police officer and two counts of use of a firearm in commission of a felony.

Hes being held without bond ahead of an expected Monday arraignment.

This is a sad day for everybody in this room, Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert said during a Sunday news conference. Its a sad day for law enforcement.

Officials said Hamilton shot and killed Guindon and wounded Officer Jesse Hempen, 31, and Officer David McKeown, 33, when they responded to a domestic disturbance call early Saturday evening. McKeown, a 10-year veteran of the force, was Guindons field training officer.

Both Hempen and McKeown remained hospitalized Sunday, though authorities wouldnt detail the extent of their injuries.

We are certainly led to believe their recovery will be full; theyre not at risk of life-threatening injuries, Prince William County Police Chief Steve Hudson said. But doctors have been very cautious to tell us theres a long road ahead.

After Guindon, Hempen and McKeown were shot, additional officers responded and were able to secure Hamiltons surrender without further incident. When they entered the home, however, cops found Hamiltons wife, Crystal Hamilton, shot dead. The couples 11-year-old son was also in the home, unharmed. Hes currently in the care of family and friends.

While Guindon was on her first shift as an officer, she had a long history with the unit, Hudson said.

She interned with the department in the forensics service section while attending graduate school in 2011, and later applied and was accepted as a police officer. But during her initial field training period in June, she chose to resign for personal reasons, which Hudson did not disclose. Guindon, however, reapplied and the department rehired her earlier in February. She was sworn in the day before she was killed.

When she came back and reapplied, we were struck by her passion to do this job, Hudson said. She did share with us, when we rehired her, she felt like she still wanted to do this job. She couldnt get it out of her blood. It was something she felt she could pour herself into.

Guindon had also served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve for six years, Hudson said. Her death was just the fourth line of duty death for the department since 1970 and she was only the second officer to be killed during a felony crime in the departments history, the previous instance coming in 1990.



Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson contributed to this report.


Dallas police are searching for a man who they say sold a house for more than $100,000 by posing as the homes dead owner.

Christopher Brian Colbert, 43, is suspected of posing as Ronald Shumway, 57, police said Thursday. Shumways remains were found on his property in September and police said he hadnt been seen since April, according to the Dallas Morning News.

The owner of a home on North Winnekta Ave. that Colbert sold posing as Shumway found Shumways remains in a plastic bag covered by cement in the yard. Witnesses were able to identify the remains of Shumway, the Morning News reported.

An arrest warrant for Colbert was issued on Monday and as of early Sunday he was still at large. Colbert is charged with securing execution of a document by deception and tampering with government record  both felonies. He has not been charged in Shumways death, according to WFAA.

Its a horrible situation, Mark Shumway, Ronalds half-brother, told the station. A man was murdered, buried in his own back yard, had his property stolen and probably his bank accounts drained from somebody from what I understand was trying to help.

The Morning News reported, citing court records, there was an outstanding warrant in Grand Prairie related to Shumways car. Police believe Colbert lived next to Shumway or had access to his property.

According to the warrant, Colbert posed as Shumway when he contacted a broker in May to get an evaluation on the house. He signed the contract with the broker agreeing to sell the house for $145,000. Three days later, Colbert contacted the broker and said he wanted to sell the house as quickly as possible, the paper reported.

As Colbert was going to close on the house, the escrow officer asked him for identification but he claimed he didnt have his drivers license on him and would fax it to her. Authorities said he signed the closing documents as Ronald D. Shumway, according to the paper.

Hey Trish, heres my license and Bank of America wire, Colbert allegedly wrote, according to WFAA. Thanks! Nice to meet you.

The following day, Colbert faxed over an edited version of Shumways license. The company then sent over $110,000 the house was sold for  which was the price after Colbert rushed to sell the home. Police believe he was using Shumways bank account to make withdrawals.

Shumway bought the house in 1984 and lived in it for more than 30 years, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Click for more from The Dallas Morning News.

Click for more from WFAA.
A retired Marine alerted Tennessee authorities after his fiancee asked him if he could make the father of her 3-year-old child go away, according to reports.

The tip from Joseph Chamblin started an investigation that led to Laura Ann Buckinghams arrest in a murder-for-hire plot. Chamblin and Buckingham, 29, became a couple in April and then he started recording her when she kept asking for his help in having another man killed, the Knoxville News Sentinel reports. He gave the recordings to investigators three weeks ago.

Chamblin declined to comment about the arrest when contacted Friday by the Marine Corps Times. He told the news outlet he and Buckingham were engaged.

She was arrested Wednesday on a charge of trying to hire a hit man to kill her former boyfriend, Bradley Sutherland of Indiana.

The hit man turned out to be an undercover agent with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, the News Sentinel reported.

Buckingham, of Kingston, was arrested on a charge of criminal attempt to commit first-degree murder. She is being held on $150,000 bond.

Chamblin asked a judge Thursday for an order of protection, stating that Buckingham had threatened him in the past, according to the News Sentinel.

WDRB-TV reported that Buckingham was involved in a nasty custody battle with Sutherland and paid the undercover posing as a hit man $300.

Weve always had a very civil relationship and the fact that it came to thisit blows my mind, Sutherland said Friday, according to the station. I dont know why she did it. I dont know.

The Marine Corps Times reported that Chamblin and three other Marines drew international condemnation in 2012 when video of them urinating on Taliban corpses in Afghanistan surfaced on social media.

Chamblin was demoted one rank after a special court-martial. He left the Marine Corps in 2013.

He defended his actions in Afghanistan in an interview with the Marine Corps Times in 2013.
The Navy SEAL who will become on Monday the sixth member of that elite force to receive the Medal of Honor proved his mettle in hand-to-hand combat in Afghanistan  or more accurately, hand-to-throat.

During a daring nighttime raid in 2012 to rescue an American citizen from Taliban clutches, Edward Byers Jr. leaped across the room to shield the hostage from oncoming fire while simultaneously engaging a Taliban guard.

While covering the hostage with his body, Chief Byers was able to pin the enemy combatant to the wall with his hand around the enemys throat, according to a Navy news release.

Earlier in the mission, Byers, who will receive the medal Monday from President Obama at the White House, grabbed a Taliban guard with one hand while adjusting the focus of his night vision goggles with his other.

Anyone who has been in combat knows that in those moments you either react or you get killed, Byers said in a Navy video.

After his team rescued the hostage and boarded a helicopter, Byers spent the 40-minute flight back to Bagram Airfield attempting to resuscitate another member of his team who had been shot, Nicholas Cheque. Cheque died, but Byers said hell be accepting the award on behalf of all fallen SEALs.

Im going to be a representative for the Navy and the Naval Special Warfare Community and theres a weight that that carries with, Byers said. And that weight is the sacrifices that everybody has made within this community, guys like Nick Cheque and all my other brothers who have fallen. Its an affirmation, once again, of the job that we do.

Byers, 36, became a SEAL in 2003. Hell be the sixth SEAL Medal of Honor recipient and the first living one since the Vietnam War, The Navy Times reported. Byers is the 11th living service member to receive the Medal of Honor for fighting in Afghanistan, according to Stars and Stripes.

To be a Navy SEAL means you have to be incredibly resilient, Byers said. You have to be hardworking. Theyre the toughest men on the face of this planet. Any mission theyre given, they will have success at it, and ultimately they are our brothers who, if they have to, theyll die for you.

Cheque was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross, according to The Washington Post, citing Navy officials.


A pastor was shot and killed during a Sunday service at an Ohio church by his brother, officials said.

The Montgomery County Coroner's Office identified the pastor as William Schooler, 70, of St. Peter's Missionary Baptist Church in Dayton.



Daniel Gregory Schooler, the pastor's brother, was arrested in connection with the shooting and was being held at the Montgomery County Jail.

Dayton Police Sgt. Richard Blommel says he'll face a murder charge Monday.

Dayton police say 70-year-old William B. Schooler was shot around 12:30 p.m. Sunday while in his office at St. Peter's Missionary Baptist Church.

Despite early witness accounts, police say Schooler was not in the pulpit when he was attacked.

A former member of the Dayton Public Schools Board of Education, Schooler was also president of the Dayton Baptist Pastors and Ministers Union of Greater Dayton, Inc., according to WDTN.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Virginia police officer who was on her first shift with a department was shot and killed Saturday and two other officers were wounded in a standoff stemming from a call about a domestic-related incident.

Prince William County Police Department said officers responded to a call about 5:30 p.m. in Woodbridge, about 20 miles south of Washington, D.C. Its unclear how the altercation between the suspect and police began, but the suspect is in custody and was not injured, Sgt. Jonathan Perok said.

The suspect has not been identified, but Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebery says he has authorized a capital murder charge, among other counts, against the suspect.

A county leader said a civilian woman was also killed in the domestic dispute.

The department said in a statement on Facebook that Officer Ashley Guindon had died as a result of her injuries sustained during the incident. The other officers were still being treated for wounds stemming from the shooting, the statement said.

According to Fox 5 DC, the officers were flown to Fairfax Hospital. More than 100 patrol cars lined the roads outside early Sunday morning to stand vigil and escort Guindons body to the medical examiner.

Chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors told the Associated Press that Guindon had been a county police officer a few years ago and had left and returned to the force. He didnt know the exact dates of when she started and left.

Another woman was killed in the domestic call and was dead before police arrived, Stewart said, but police declined to confirm that information. Stewart also said there was a child in the house during the incident who was not harmed.

A photo posted on the departments Facebook Friday welcomed Guindon, Officer Steven Kendall and Lt. Col. B. Barnard to the force. It is not known if the other officers in the photo were involved in the shooting.

The shooting occurred in the Lake Ridge neighborhood, on a curving street with $500,000 suburban houses with brick and siding exteriors, manicured lawns and two-car garages about a five-minute drive from the county office building.

Until Saturday evening, the big news in the police department was the planned retirement of Chief Steve Hudson, who announced two weeks ago that he will step down at the end of March, and officers' plans to do a "polar bear" plunge on Saturday morning to raise money for Special Olympics.

Police said the incident is still being investigated.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from Fox 5 DC.
A Palestinian who was shot and killed Friday by Israeli soldiers as he tried to stab the troops held U.S. citizenship, Reuters reported.

The attacker was also a resident of the West Bank town of Ramallah, where the attack occurred. He was identified as Mahmoud Shaalan, 17.

No one else was injured during the attack.

A Palestinian assailant armed with a knife attempted to stab soldiers stationed at a security crossing near Ramallah, a military statement said. The force thwarted the attack, firing towards the assailant, resulting in his death.

Israel is struggling to combat five months of near-daily Palestinian attacks on civilians and security forces that have killed 28 Israelis, mostly in stabbings, shootings and attacks where Palestinians used vehicles as weapons to ram into Israelis.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Pope Franciss secretary, 34-year-old Miriam Wuolou of Eritrea, was found dead earlier this week  and the Vatican is calling foul.

Wuolous body was discovered in her Rome apartment by police after her brother raised concern that she wasnt answering her phone. She was seven months pregnant and suffered from diabetes, which can prove dangerous  even fatal  during pregnancy.

The Vatican, however, has called for an investigation into the womans death. Police have interviewed her brother, her ex-husband and her most recent boyfriend, who is believed to be a policeman employed by the Vatican, the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reports.

Investigators will also perform a DNA test on Wuolous fetus to determine the paternity of the unborn child.

Wuolous apartment has been sealed off; forensic teams have combed it for evidence and have even removed several personal effects for further examination, neighbors told The Daily Beast.

A funeral service for Wuolou was held on Saturday. Pope Francis visited her body prior to the memorial, laying a dozen white roses next to her casket and sprinkling the coffin with holy water before beginning a 20-minute prayer.

Click for more from The New York Post.
Partial results released Sunday indicate that Iranian reformists will win all 30 parliamentary seats contested in the capital, Tehran, handing hard-liners an embarrassing defeat in the first elections held since last year's nuclear deal, which appears to be propelling moderates to their best nationwide electoral showing in more than a decade.

The deal is expected to bolster moderate allies of President Hassan Rouhani, who championed it in the face of hard-line opposition. However, none of Iran's three main political camps -- reformists, conservatives or hard-liners -- is expected to win a majority in the 290-seat assembly.

State TV said Sunday that reformists -- who favor expanding social freedoms and improving relations with the West -- are set to win all of Tehran's seats. It said 62 percent of the capital's votes have been counted.

Tehran is seen as a political bellwether where prominent members of all three camps face off against each other. Across the country, the reformist camp is on track for its best showing in more than a decade.

The final results from the elections are expected on Monday.

Friday's election was the first since last summer's nuclear deal, which brought about the lifting of crippling international sanctions on Iran in exchange for it curbing its nuclear activities.

Reformists and moderate conservatives  who supported the agreement -- appear poised to win a majority, which could pave the way for increased economic openness and greater cooperation with the West on regional issues like the war against the Islamic State group.

Reformists currently hold fewer than 20 seats and have been virtually shut out of politics since losing their parliamentary majority in the 2004 elections.

Hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005. Over the next eight years, he aggressively expanded the nuclear program, which Tehran insists is entirely peaceful, and alarmed Western countries by casting doubt on the scale of the Holocaust and predicting Israel would one day be wiped off the map.

Nearly 55 million of Iran's 80 million people were eligible to vote. Participation figures were not immediately available, but Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli on Saturday said turnout likely exceeded 60 percent based on the partial counting of the votes.
WASHINGTON  The National Mall, a look at the White House and cherry blossoms in springtime are all musts for visitors to D.C. But once youve got the essentials covered, including whatever monuments and museums are on your list, consider spending a few hours in Dupont Circle, a neighborhood with gems that range from a popular indie bookstore to a beer brewers Victorian mansion. The area also includes a gas station on the National Register of Historic Places and the Phillips Collection, a modern art museum.

Take the Metro to the Dupont Circle stop and look for a white marble fountain in a circular plaza. Thats the center of the neighborhood. Streets extend out from the circle like spokes on a wheel.

ATTRACTIONS

The Phillips Collection, 1600 21st St., is probably Dupont Circles best-known attraction. Through May 8, Seeing Nature offers 39 paintings from five centuries, including Impressionist works and David Hockneys large, colorful 1998 depiction of the Grand Canyon. In the museums permanent collection, be sure to see Renoirs lively Luncheon of the Boating Party, and spend a moment in the Laib Wax Room, a closet-sized space lined with fragrant, yellow beeswax.

The Heurich House Museum, billed as the brewmasters castle, is a 31-room home at 1307 New Hampshire Ave., built in the 1890s by Christian Heurich, a German-born beer-maker. Heurich was best known for his Senate brand of beer. He survived Prohibition by temporarily turning his beer business into an ice-distribution company, and he was still making beer when he died in 1945 at age 102. The Kennedy Center sits on the land where his factory was located.

Hour-long tours of Heurich House are offered Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but you must reserve online (free, $5 suggested donation). Every third Thursday of the month, from 6:308:30 p.m., the museum partners with a local craft brewery for History & Hops, offering tastings and tours for $30. This spring, a company called DC Brau plans to launch a new beer inspired by Heurichs legacy.

Dupont Circle is also home to many embassies. On one block, a white statue of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, graces the Indonesian embassy, while the flag of Portugal flies from the embassy next door. Another block literally houses embassies from A to Z: Argentina and Zimbabwe.

Two curiosities in the neighborhood: Spanish Steps, a flight of stone stairs at S Street and 22nd Street named for the famous steps in Rome, and a gas station on the National Register of Historic Sites at 2200 P St. across from Rock Creek Park. The gas station was built in 1936 by Gulf Oil to look more like a bank or library than a filling station. Its a Sunoco station today, with SNACK SHOP written on the tidy building that helped earn its historic designation.

Other attractions in the area include the Woodrow Wilson House, 2340 S St., and the Textile Museum, 701 21st St.

SHOPPING AND DINING

Connecticut Avenue has lots of small, fun shops, including for dog owners, The Cheeky Puppy, 1709 Connecticut Ave.; for womens clothing and accessories, lou lou boutiques, a regional chain with stores at 1601 and 1623 Connecticut Ave.; and beads at Beadazzled, 1507 Connecticut. On the second floor of 1702 Connecticut Ave., the Secondi consignment store sells designer finds, ranging from a DVF wrap dress for $98 to a Chanel coat for more than $1,000. Second Story Books & Antiques, 2000 P St., draws treasure-hunters with its outdoor carts of $4 books, while Kramerbooks & Afterwords Cafe, 1517 Connecticut Ave., draws crowds on weekends for both books and brunch (try the Cubano sandwich and black bean salad).

If bowls of vegetables and grains are your thing, Jose Andres Beefsteak at 800 22nd St. is one of several nearby options. Youll also find dim sum restaurants, a Shake Shack, empanadas (Julias), tapas (Boqueria) and the local Teaism chain, among many other eateries.
WOODBRIDGEThe latest on three police officers being shot while responding to a domestic related incident.

1:50 p.m.: The principal of Merrimack High School said a moment of silence will be held in honor of Ashley Guindon, the Virginia police officer who was shot and killed by a suspect after she responded to a domestic violence call at the suspect's home.

Principal Ken Johnson said in a letter to the school board and staff that he had "sad and tragic news, the loss of a student."

Guindon, 28, was a 2005 graduate of the high school.

Guindon was one of three officers shot. The other two officers are expected to recover.

Ronald Hamilton, 32, of Woodbridge, Virginia, is jailed on murder charges and faces arraignment Monday. He is accused of killing not only Guindon but also his 29-year-old wife, Crystal Hamilton.

1:20 p.m.: The Virginia police officer who was shot and killed after responding to a domestic violence call on Saturday was a former Marine Corps reservist and had a master's degree in forensic science.

Police Chief Stephan Hudson of Prince William County says Ashley Guindon, 28, went through training with the department last year before leaving for personal reasons. She rejoined the department this year, and Saturday was her first day on patrol.

"We were struck by her passion to do this job," Hudson said. "She did share with us when we rehired her that she felt like she wanted to do this job. She couldn't get it out of her blood."

Ronald Hamilton, 32, is being held without bond in the county detention center on charges that include murder of a law enforcement officer.

Two other officers were hospitalized with injuries.

12:50 p.m.: The Virginia man facing murder charges in the shooting deaths of a police officer and another person has been identified as an Army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon.

Ronald Hamilton is being held without bond in the Prince William County Adult Detention Center on charges that include murder of a law enforcement officer. He is accused of shooting and killing Officer Ashley Guindon after she answered a domestic violence call at the Hamilton home Saturday evening. Two other officers are undergoing treatment at a hospital.

Cindy Your, a Defense Information Systems Agency spokeswoman based at Fort Meade, Maryland, said Hamilton is an active duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Joint Staff Support Center at the Pentagon.

Hamilton faces arraignment on Monday.

11 a.m.: Authorities have identified a man suspected of killing a Prince William County police officer as Ronald Hamilton of Woodbridge, Virginia.

Officer Brandon Carpenter at the county's adult detention center says Hamilton is being held without bond at the jail on charges including murder of a law enforcement officer. Hamilton faces other charges, including a separate first-degree murder charge. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday.

The shooting occurred Saturday evening at Hamilton's home, where neighbors say he lived with his wife and their 10-year-old son.

Officer Ashley Guindon was fatally shot while responding to a reported domestic dispute at the home that left one other person dead. Authorities have not identified the other victim. Two other police officers were wounded.

WOODBRIDGEA police officer was fatally shot a day after being sworn in, and two of her colleagues were wounded while responding to a reported argument at a Northern Virginia home, authorities said.

A county official said a civilian woman was also killed in the domestic dispute Saturday.

Officers received a call around 5:30 Saturday evening in Woodbridge, about 30 miles southwest of the nation's capital, about a "verbal argument," Sgt. Jonathan Perok, spokesman of the Prince William County Police Department, said. It's not clear how the altercation between the suspect and police began, but the suspect, a military serviceman, is in custody and was not injured, he said. The condition of the other two officers is not known.

The department announced on its Facebook page that Officer Ashley Guindon had died from the injuries she sustained in the shooting.

A picture of Guindon was posted to the department's Twitter page on Friday with a tweet that read, "Welcome Officers Steven Kendall & Ashley Guindon who were sworn in today & begin their shifts this weekend. Be Safe!" It is not known if the other officer in the tweet was involved in the shooting incident.

Guindon had been a county police officer a few years ago and had left and returned to the force, Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, said in a phone interview with The Associated Press on Saturday night. He said he did not know the exact dates of when she started and left.

Another woman was killed in the domestic call and was dead before police arrived, Stewart said, but police declined to confirm that information. Stewart also said there was a child in the house during the incident who was not harmed.

Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert told The AP Saturday night that he has authorized a capital murder charge, along with other counts, against the suspect, who has not been identified.

At Inova Fairfax Hospital, where the three officers were flown by helicopter after the shooting, more than 100 patrol cars lined the roads outside early Sunday morning to stand vigil and escort Guindon's body to the medical examiner.

The shooting occurred in the Lake Ridge neighborhood, on a curving street with $500,000 suburban houses with brick and siding exteriors, manicured lawns and two-car garages about a five-minute drive from the county office building.

Until Saturday evening, the big news in the police department was the planned retirement of Chief Steve Hudson, who announced two weeks ago that he will step down at the end of March, and officers' plans to do a "polar bear" plunge on Saturday morning to raise money for Special Olympics.

Police said the incident is under investigation.
Drug Rehab Orlando Comments on Possible Drug Related Death of Florida Woman Ashley Olsen

( February 25, 2016 ) Orlando, FL -- The Lawyer Herald reports the death of American artist Ashley Ann Olsen (not to be confused for the Olsen twin of Mary Kate) is tied to Cheik Tidiane Diaw, who is presently in custody. Ashley Olsen was strangled with an unidentified object, and was found by her landlord. Diaw was arrested after investigators found his DNA in Olsen's home. Diaw asserts both her and Olsen were under the influence of "a lot of cocaine and a lot of alcohol." Lab reports are pending investigation as to which, if any, substances reside in Olsen's system. Drug Rehab Orlando is a treatment facility dedicated to helping people suffering from substance abuse and addiction get the pinnacle of treatment. The facility extends warmest wishes and condolences to the Olsen family.

Olsen's family asserts any sexual conduct which may, or may not have happened, was not consensual, in light of Olsen's severe bladder infection, and the supposed presence of mind altering substances. The Olsen's are asking the media to cease their defaming coverage of the death of Ashley Olsen.

Drug Rehab Orlando asserts the presence of mind altering substances should not defame either party involved. An associate comments, "What did, or did not happen, on the night of Olsen's death should not solely be the focus of this investigation. Justice must be served to the one who strangled Olsen regardless of the presence of addictive substances- and the absence of them. In short, if copious amounts of cocaine and alcohol lended themselves to the tragedy, we must obliterate public opinion either party deserved what transpired that night. We can turn some measure of this tragedy into an educational and preventative opportunity for our communities.

"We must assert despite the presence of mind altering substances, every party involved deserves justice- and the heinous nature of Olsen's murder must not be cheapened if the test results prove she was under the influence of addictive substances. Conversely, should the party accused be found guilty, and his assertion of the presence of cocaine true, we must not allow our opinion of those who are suffering from substance abuse, and addiction to, cocaine are of the same persuasions or risks. Treatment, above all else should be held in regard, and part of sentencing, if there is to be a conviction"

Drug Rehab Orlando offers drug rehab in Orlando, and specialized heroin rehab in Orlando. The facility specializes in all cases of addictive substances, and provides treatment specific solutions to all clients admitted for rehabilitation. The facility offers inpatient medical detox, residential rehabilitation, outpatient rehabilitation, and partial hospitalization treatment. Partnering with neighboring sober living communities, Drug Rehab Orlando offers seamless transition from rehabilitation to residency into a sober living community.

For more information on Drug Rehab Orlando visit http://www.drugrehaborlando.org/ or call (407)326-2266.

About Drug Rehab - Orlando :

Drug Rehab Orlando offers drug rehab in Orlando, and specialized heroin rehab in Orlando. The facility specializes in all cases of addictive substances, and provides treatment specific solutions to all clients admitted for rehabilitation. Call (407)326-2266.

For more information visit r



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The Best Dedicated Server Hosting 2016 Award Announced by TheHosting.reivew

TheHosting.review announced three best dedicated server hosting providers, all of which have the capability to provide guaranteed server resources, optimized security, and high performance dedicated servers.

--

TheHosting.review is one of the most popular hosting review sites that have released a large number of professional and unbiased reviews on most companies available in the field. Today, this site announced the best dedicated server hosting in 2016 based the results of its comprehensive surveys.

"Many users over the web think it is not easy to find a reliable company providing quality dedicated web hosting services," said Eunge, the site founder. "This is indeed the case," he added. In order to make the selection objective, the site reviewers have done many hard works behind the scene and finally picked BlueHost, HostMonster, and HostGator out of the 200+ candidates as the award winners.

As the site reviewers pointed out, there are some common checkpoints to evaluate the best dedicated server hosting companies.

o RAM, the Random Access Memory, is used for computers to holding data. The companies provide a minimum of 4GB RAM to ensure that the data are accessed in a fast manner.

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o Each of the best dedicated hosting providers guarantees at least 500GB disk space and 5TB bandwidth to smoothen the data storage and transfer.

Among the best dedicated server hosting providers, BlueHost has released three plans, including Standard, Enhanced, and Premium. The company regularly sets the plan's prices from $149.99/mo to $249.99/mo. But now, it is running a sales campaign, providing a 50% discount for users to purchase the plans starting at $74.99/mo via a promotional link.

By the site investigations, BlueHost primary plan comes with 4x2.5GHz CPUs, 1TB storage, 4GB RAM, 5TB bandwidth, 1 domain, and 3 IP addresses. Also, the company provides anytime money back guarantee for users to ask for a refund if in any case they are not satisfied.

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Name: Eunge

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Source: http://marketersmedia.com/the-best-dedicated-server-hosting-2016-award-announced-by-thehosting-reivew/105189

Release ID: 105189

For more information visit r



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The United Kingdoms largest bookmaker, William Hill, has a gift for gamblers worldwide except for US gamblers who cant play there. Real estate magnate Donald Trump is coming in at 1-3 odds to win the Massachusetts primary this coming Tuesday . That means you only have to bet $30 to win $10 (that $30 is refunded just as long as Trump is victorious).

To put this in perspective, some of Hill's competitors were listing Trump with odds of 1-80 to win in Massachusetts.

Have a friend or family member in Europe who can place this wager for you all living in the United States?

The latest polls in Massachusetts show Trump demolishing Florida Senator Marco Rubio by a 43 to 20 percent margin.

North American facing online bookmaker BetDSI.com was expected to offer betting on the Super Tuesday races , just not at those crazy odds in Massachusetts.

- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
The Billie Jean King Main Library initially closed because of increased "mental health-related episodes" around the facility, official said.
Demonstrations in Bonn : Around 400 march against violence

Bonn Some 400 demonstrators gathered in the city on Saturday to show their solidarity with Kurdistan and demand an end to the violence in Syria.

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Two demonstrations took place on Saturday afternoon in the city. 200 demonstrators held signs demanding an end to Turkish air raids in West Kurdistan and an end to violence against journalists. Next to the many visible Kurdish and German flags was a sign reading Human dignity is inviolable. After a march through the city, the demonstrators ended up back at Marktplatz for a short rally and a minute of silence before they broke up at about 3:00 p.m.

Fawzi Ditmar, who has a Kurdish background organized the demonstration to make a stand against violence in the Kurdish cities. He is a member of the Bonn Integration Council but said this initiative was private. According to Ditmar, his hometown of Afrin has been the target of Turkish air strikes for two weeks. Before that, he said it has been an oasis of peace for Syrian refugees.

A second demonstration with around 200 participants also focused on solidarity with Kurdistan. At 3:30, they held a rally on Munsterplatz to demand the end of violence in Syria, the end of Turkish air raids and an end to German weapons sales to Saudi Arabia.
Blast kills 12 outside Afghan Defense Ministry

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 27, 2016 12:51PM

At least a dozen people were killed Saturday in a bomb attack outside the Afghan Defense Ministry in Kabul, PressTV reports.

Personnel of the defense ministry were among the fatalities. Twenty people were also injured in the blast.

Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi confirmed the bombing, without elaborating on the number of casualties. Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said the cause of the blast was not clear.

However, a Taliban spokesman said the militant group claims the attack, which was meant to target Afghan military forces.

Kabul has increased the offensive against Taliban across Afghanistan recently.

The Saturday blast came hours after 11 people were killed in a similar attack in eastern Afghanistan. Reports said an attacker driving a motorcycle hit the entrance of the governor's compound in Asadabad, the provincial capital of Kunar, near the border with Pakistan.

Provincial Governor Wahidullah Kalimzai said a militant commander, identified as Haji Khan Jan, and 10 others outside of the compound were killed. He said at least 40 others were wounded, adding that most of the victims were civilians and children who were either passing by or playing in the park.

There was no claim of responsibility for the Kunar blast, although Afghan officials regularly blame the Taliban for such incidents.

Afghanistan has seen a surge in attacks by the Taliban since the withdrawal of foreign forces from the country in 2014. Efforts have been underway for peace talks between Kabul and leaders of Taliban, a group which has been gripped by infighting since the news broke last year that its long-time leader and founder, Mullah Muhammad Omar, had died two years ago.

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Bombing kills at least 10 in east Afghanistan

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 27, 2016 6:25AM

A bomber riding a motorcycle has detonated his explosives near a governor's house in Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least 10 people.

Officials said more than 40 others were also injured in the bombing, which occurred in a market in the Asadabad provincial capital early Saturday morning.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but Taliban militants, who have been waging a 14 year-long bloody militancy in the country, have been blamed for such attacks in the past.

Kunar is a restive and remote province that shares a long border with neighboring Pakistan, which the Afghan government has accused in the past of harboring Taliban militants.

A witness to the blast, who did not want to be named, said that an influential tribal elder, Haji Khan Jan, was the target of the attack and was killed. Jan had led a local uprising against the Taliban in the past, according to the witness, who spoke anonymously.

The Afghan government is due to hold peace talks with the Taliban next week. Delegates from Afghanistan, China, the US and Pakistan met in Kabul last week for a fourth round of talks aimed at forming a path back to the nascent peace process, which was interrupted by last summer's announcement that Taliban leader Mullah Omar had died.

In a separate development, a drone strike by US-led forces in Afghanistan killed at least three people in the country's eastern Paktika Province.

According to Afghan officials, the airstrike was carried out in Dadul Village on Friday. They said the three killed were militants affiliated to al-Qaeda.

Paktika is relatively volatile province, where Taliban militants have a not-so-strong presence.

The United States regularly uses drones for airstrikes and spying missions in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border.

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Pentagon's Multi-Billion Dollar Radar Blimps Can't Track Targets

Sputnik News

04:14 27.02.2016(updated 10:52 27.02.2016)

The Pentagon's JLENS program caused massive embarrassment when one of the $1 billion surveillance balloons broke loose in Maryland in October 2015. A new report has revealed more bad news: the expensive radar blimps aren't effective.

The $2.7 billion Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) is meant to track and monitor incoming cruise missiles or low-flying aircraft along America's east coast. Consisting of two large blimps, JLENS relies on sophisticated onboard radar equipment.

But tests carried out by the US Army reveal that the blimps may not be effective at identifying potential airborne threats.

The error is traced to faulty software that 'could result in some high priority radar targets not being processed and tracked,' the report reads.

In particular, the radar systems have a difficult time identifying friendly aircraft from hostile airborne objects, especially when analyzing multiple objects at once.

Of course, the blimp hardware also suffers from faults, most notably, its mooring system.

Last October, a single balloon representing one-half of the JLENS program broke free of its mooring in Maryland, and a pair of F-16 fighter jets were sent in pursuit. The blimp destroyed itself by eventually settling near a school in Pennsylvania, but not without knocking out power for roughly 21,000 people.

The costly program faced heavy criticism even before the October 2015 incident, but owes its continued existence to the highly-profitable lobbying of entities involved in the development and manufacture of the product.

'The JLENS workers will be buying homes, shopping in our grocery stores and eating in our restaurants,' Maryland Representative Dutch Ruppersberger wrote in a press release soon after it was announced that his district would host one of the blimps.

Political contributions from Raytheon, the blimp manufacturer, also play a part. Since 1999, the company has donated $1.6 million, through its political action committee and employee contributions to various Congressional campaigns.

Ruppersberger has received $91,250 from Raytheon since 2002, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

These political realities make it unlikely that the latest report will have any effect on the expensive and broken JLENS program.

 Sputnik

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Wang: China won't be major rival to US

People's Daily Online

By CHEN WEIHUA in Washington (China Daily) 09:40, February 27, 2016

Foreign Minister Wang Yi rejected the notion that China will become a major rival of the United States or supersede it.

In a 90-minute talk at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington on Thursday morning, Wang said China will focus on its own development for a long time and has no intentions of challenging any other country.

According to Wang, the interests of the two countries have become so interconnected and interdependent that only cooperation can ensure a win-win scenario, while conflict is destined to bring about a no-win situation.

'What's more important is that China is China. Even if China enjoys further development in the future, it will not become another United States,' said Wang, who wound up his three-day US trip on Thursday.

He said China will strengthen its ties with nations across the world and play its role in a unique Chinese way and with Eastern thinking, something he described as based on 'harmony and inclusiveness'.

'To surmise that China will become a major rival of the US and even supersede the US is a false proposition,' Wang said.

A lack of strategic trust between the two countries has been a big concern for people watching and working on the China-US relationship. The top Chinese diplomat stressed that the two countries' common interests far outweigh their differences.

He also briefed the audience on China's economic development, saying such development will provide even greater opportunities for the US and the rest of the world.

Trade between China and the US hit $558 billion last year, making China the largest trading partner of the US.

In front of an audience of many foreign policy experts, Wang outlined China's foreign policy priorities for the foreseeable future.

He vowed that China will become more active in tackling global and regional hot-spot issues, as China is doing regarding Iran's nuclear agreement and reconciliation in Afghanistan, Syria and South Sudan.

Carla Hills, who was US trade representative from 1989 to 1993 under President George H.W. Bush, said: 'I thought he made a wonderful presentation. It had a lot of facts. And he was very, very presentable.

'I think the whole audience was extremely impressed.  I feel privileged to be in the audience,' said Hills, who is chairwoman of the National Committee on US-China Relations.

Douglas Paal, vice-president for studies and director of the Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, described Wang as 'a very self-confident, well-briefed minister of foreign affairs' and 'a very reasonable presenter'.

'He is taking the opportunity to talk past media and directly to the American people,' Paal said.

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37 Daesh Takfiris killed in Iraqi pro-government forces operation

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 27, 2016 4:12PM

More than three dozen members of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group have been killed in an operation by fighters from the pro-government Popular Mobilization Units in Iraq's northern oil-rich province of Kirkuk.

Ali al-Husseini, a spokesman for the Popular Mobilization Units, told Arabic-language al-Sumaria satellite television network that the fighters engaged Daesh terrorists in an offensive in Tazeh district, located 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) south of the provincial capital city of Kirkuk, on Saturday, killing 37 of the extremists in the process.

Husseini added that five fighters of the Popular Mobilization Units also sustained injuries in the fighting.

Meanwhile, a security source, requesting anonymity, has said Daesh militants are fleeing en masse from the city of Shirqat, located some 300 kilometers (190 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad, and heading towards the town of Hawijah, located about 282 kilometers (175 miles) north of the capital.

The source noted that the militants started fleeing following heavy bombardment of the area by Iraqi military aircraft and subsequent destruction of Daesh supply lines.

The Iraqi security official added that a large number of Daesh members have started deserting the Takfiri terrorist group, after its patrons decided to slash monthly salaries from 459,000 Iraqi dinars (384.37 US dollars) to nearly 100,000 dinars (83.74 US dollars).

Gruesome violence has plagued the northern and western parts of Iraq ever since Daesh terrorists launched an offensive in June 2014, and took control of portions of Iraqi territory.

The militants have been committing heinous crimes against all ethnic and religious communities in Iraq, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and others.

Iraqi army soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Mobilization Units are seeking to win back militant-held regions in joint operations.

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Chinese envoy calls for strict implementation of cessation of hostilities in Syria

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 14:07, February 27, 2016

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 26 -- A Chinese diplomat on Friday called for strict implementation of the cessation of hostilities pact in Syria following the UN Security Council's endorsement.

Political settlement is the only way out for the Syrian crisis and it is imperative to stay the course, said China's permanent representative to the UN Liu Jieyi.

The international community should take the UN resolution as an important opportunity to rigorously ensure the pact is adhered to, he added.

The relevant parties in Syria should also speed up humanitarian access to relevant Syrian areas, so as to create conditions for an early resumption of Syrian peace talks, he said.

Liu also said that major countries in the region should stop finger-pointing. He called on them to take concrete actions to prevent the deterioration of the situation and play a constructive role in the pact's implementation.

The cessation of hostilities plan adhered to by 97 armed groups and the Syrian government went into effect at midnight Friday in all Syrian cities. But it excludes the Islamic State (IS) group and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, as both are designated by the United Nations as terrorist groups that should be fought.

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said Friday that a new round of Syria talks will resume on March 7 if the cessation of hostilities 'largely holds.'

UN-led talks in Geneva seeking to broker a political solution between Syrian warring factions, namely Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government and opposition forces, came to a premature standstill on Feb. 3 after parties failed to see eye to eye on a number of issues.

According to UN figures, 110,000 people in besieged areas in Syria have been provided with humanitarian aid since talks were put on hold three weeks ago. More than 250,000 people in Syria have been killed since March 2011.

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Damascus comes under shelling despite truce

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 27, 2016 2:41PM

Residential neighborhoods in the Syrian capital of Damascus have come under shelling, shortly after a ceasefire took effect in the crisis-hit country.

According to a report by Syria's official SANA news agency, 'terrorist groups' fired the shells on Saturday from neighborhoods east of the city. However, no casualties have so far been reported.

Following the attack, which reportedly targeted the Abbasiyeen neighborhood, the Syrian army warned against 'the consequences of such actions' in a statement and urged people to remain committed to 'local reconciliation.'

Earlier on Saturday, the agency said a deadly bomb attack was carried out at the entrance to the town of Salamiya in the province of Hama. The Daesh Takfiri terrorist group claimed responsibility for the bombing in an online statement and said one of its elements had rammed into a Syrian army gathering with an explosives-laden car in the area.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also held Daesh responsible for the bomb blast, but said it is not a breach to the truce because "it occurred in an area where the cessation of hostilities agreement does not apply."

Another terror attack at the entrance of al-Tayba village in the eastern countryside of Salamiya took four lives when an assailant riding a motorcycle blew his explosives.

Earlier in February, the United States and Russia said a truce has been planned to take effect in Syria on February 27 midnight Damascus time. The Syrian government also accepted the terms of the truce on condition that military efforts against Daesh and the al-Nusra Front Takfiri militants, who are not included in the ceasefire agreement, continue.

Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy for Syria, said he plans to resume indirect peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition on March 7 on the condition that the two sides observe the ceasefire.

He announced a halt in the peace talks on February 3, after the foreign-backed opposition refused to continue the discussions in the wake of Syrian army gains.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which started in March 2011, has claimed the lives of some 470,000 people and left 1.9 million injured, according to the Syrian Center for Policy Research.



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Car bomb blast leaves 4 people dead in western Syria

Iran Press TV

Sat Feb 27, 2016 8:8AM

At least four people have lost their lives and eight others injured in a car bomb explosion in Syria's Western province of Hama hours after a cessation of hostilities agreement took effect in the country.

The blast rocked a checkpoint on the eastern entrance of the Salamiyah town on Saturday, the official SANA news agency reported.

Two civilians were among those killed in the bombing.

A militant group affiliated with the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group has claimed responsibility for the explosion, according to reports.

The so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also held Daesh responsible for Saturday's bomb blast.

"The car bomb attack is not a breach to the truce because it occurred in an area where the cessation of hostilities agreement does not apply," said Rami Abdulrahman, head of the monitoring group.

A second explosion was also reported in the same area, where an explosives-laden motorbike went off. An unspecified number of people were injured in the incident.

Salamiyah is considered as a frontline in battles between Syrian government forces and Daesh Takfiri militants.

The deadly incident came hours after a two-week ceasefire brokered by Russia and the US went into effect in Syria, urging the "cessation of hostilities" by the warring sides to the conflict gripping the Arab country.

The Damascus government and 97 opposition and militant groups said they will respect the truce, which does not apply to Daesh and the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.

Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations special envoy for Syria, said he plans to resume the indirect peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition on March 7 on the condition that they observe the ceasefire.

He announced a halt in the peace talks on February 3 after the opposition refused to continue the discussions in the wake of Syrian army gains.

Calm returns to much of Syria

On Saturday, the Russian military said it had stopped airstrikes in accordance with the ceasefire agreement.

"Russia's air force fully halted bombing in the green zone that is in those areas and those armed groups which had sent us ceasefire requests," General Sergei Rudskoi, a senior representative of the Russian General Staff, told reporters.

Moscow's anti-terror campaign in Syria began last September upon a request from Damascus. The air raids have expedited the advances of Syrian forces against militants.

Meanwhile, media reports said that calm has prevailed across much of crisis-hit Syria on the first day of the truce.

Speaking from a battlefield on the eastern outskirts of the capital city of Damascus, Abdel Rahman Issa, a government soldier, expressed satisfaction with the pause in the fighting, adding, "If it continues like this, maybe we can go home."

On Friday, Syria's Ambassador to the UN Bashar al-Ja'afari also reaffirmed the government's commitment to the cessation of hostilities agreement and said Damascus "is ready to actively participate in any sincere effort that aims at reaching this political settlement."

The Syrian diplomat also hailed the US-Russia proposed agreement as an important step towards the political resolution of the crisis plaguing the Arab state.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which started in March 2011, has claimed the lives of some 470,000 people and left 1.9 million injured, according to the Syrian Center for Policy Research.

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Damascus Hopes Russia, US Pressuring Resisting Sides to Uphold Truce

Sputnik News

17:57 27.02.2016(updated 18:10 27.02.2016)

Syrian Government relies on Russia and the United States on urging Syrian government opposion to pursuade successfully reached ceasefire, Syrian presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban said.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Damascus hopes that Russia and the United States will succeed in persuading remaining armed rebel groups to uphold the ceasefire with the Syrian government that took effect in the early hours of Saturday, Syrian presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban said.

'We hope that Russia and the US will achieve results within the framework of the announced agreement, and influence resisting groups so that they could join the implementation of the ceasefire regime,' Shaaban said in a televised interview on Russia's Vesti v Subbotu weekly news program.

She expressed regret with the announcement by several terrorist organizations that they would not abide with the fledgling ceasefire because of the Nusra Front's exclusion.

'The reality is that these groups interact closely, and in some areas you simply cannot distinguish one from another,' Shaaban stressed.

Russia and the United States reached an agreement on the ceasefire in Syria on February 22. The ceasefire took effect at midnight on Saturday Damascus time (22:00 GMT on Friday).

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2268 endorsing the Russia-US agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Syria on Friday, shortly before the ceasefire came into force. The cessation of hostilities does not apply to designated terrorist organizations operating in Syria, including Islamic State (IS) and the Nusra Front, a group affiliated with al-Qaeda.

 Sputnik

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Amid Syrian Ceasefire, Terrorist Groups Wreak Violence

Sputnik News

17:53 27.02.2016(updated 18:02 27.02.2016)

Despite a tentative ceasefire and truce negotiations being discussed by groups across Syria, terrorist groups not party to the ceasefire continued their attacks on Saturday, primarily aimed at civilians.

Although the Russian-US negotiated ceasefire largely held on its first day, a series of blasts occurred across Syria by terrorist groups not party to the negotiations.

In Damascus, the Jaysh al-Islam group, linked to al-Nusra Front and not subject to the ceasefire, shelled residential areas. Another group not subject to the ceasefire, Ahrar al-Sham, is also active in the area.

'Terrorists in the Jobar and Duma neighborhoods fired mortars at Damascus residential areas. There have been no reports of dead or wounded among the civilian population,' a military source told RIA Novosti.

A military source speaking to Syrian television also urged area residents to pressure the terrorist groups responsible to prevent them from ending the ceasefire.

Daesh Attacks Continue

The Daesh terrorist group not subject to the ceasefire also continued assaults in the Hama province and the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor.

In the city of Deir ez-Zor, mortar shelling of two neighborhoods by Daesh killed three children, with another 12 persons injured.

In the Hama province, Daesh suicide bombings killed a total of six people, including two soldiers killed by a car bomb at a military checkpoint. Another suicide bombing carried out on a motorbike killed four people, and a suicide attack on a highway injured one person.

In northern Syria, Daesh attacked a town held by the majority-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces. The attack, near the Turkish border, was repelled by the Kurdish self-defense forces (YPG) with the aid of US-led coalition attacks on Daesh positions.

 Sputnik

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Russian MoD Says Fighting in 34 Population Areas in Syria Stopped

Sputnik News

12:18 27.02.2016(updated 16:30 27.02.2016)

The fighting in 34 Syrian towns and villages has been stopped, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

According to the ministry's representative, Russian Air Forces have coordinated efforts with Syrian agencies handling the ceasefire. The Russian Defense Ministry also said that in accordance with the ceasefire terms the Syrian Army received control over three towns.

'We are fulfilling our obligations on implementing the ceasefire,' Lt. Gen. Sergei Kuralenko told reporters.

'Although it does not mean that Daesh or Nusra Front terrorists may breath freely. We are in control of the situation all across Syria,' the ministry's representative said.

The Russian Defense Ministry added that 70 aircraft are monitoring the ceasefire in Syria with the assistance of recoinnassance aircraft, surveillance satellites and other intelligence methods.

Over two days 2.5 tons of humanitarian aid was delivered to the Syrian localities of Homs and Latakia which signed the ceasefire agreement, the ministry's representative added. At the same time, the ministry is working to ensure that 47 more towns and villages in Hama, Homs, Damascus and Deraa will sign the ceasefire deal.

'Humanitarian aid is being delivered to the areas supporting the ceasefire agreement. Over the past two days only over 2.5 tons of aid was delivered to Kattina (Homs province) and a town in the province of Latakia,' Lt. Gen. Sergei Kuralenko told reporters.

The cessation of hostilities does not apply to terrorist groups operating in Syria, such as Daesh and al-Nusra Front.

On Monday, the United States and Russia, the co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), announced a plan for a ceasefire between the warring parties in Syria to go into effect on Saturday, February 27. The agreement has been approved by the other 17 members of the ISSG.

Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with the country's government fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups, including Islamic State (Daesh), which is outlawed in many countries including the United States and Russia.

 Sputnik

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U.S. repeats calls for China to be flexible in cross-strait ties

ROC Central News Agency

2016/02/27 10:09:51

Washington, Feb. 26 (CNA) A senior White House official on Friday reiterated U.S. calls for China to show flexibility in its relations with Taiwan but did not comment on the latest remarks by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi () that were seen by some in Taiwan as conciliatory.

'We repeatedly encourage our friends in Beijing to show flexibility and creativity in cross-strait relations going forward,' said Daniel Kritenbrink, senior director for Asia of the National Security Council. 'I'm hopeful that'll continue.'

He said, however, that he was not aware of what the Chinese foreign minister had said.

Kritenbrink was responding to Taiwanese reporters' questions after Wang referred to the constitution of Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan) and said that China hopes Taiwan's President-elect Tsai Ing-wen () will stick to the constitution, something Tsai has pledged to do.

Tsai is due to be sworn in on May 20, when her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will form a government for the second time. Tensions often ran high in the Taiwan Strait when the DPP's President Chen Shui-bian () was in power from 2000 to 2008.

'She is elected on the basis of the current constitution of Taiwan, which still recognizes the mainland and Taiwan as one, the same China,' Wang said earlier in the week during a visit to Washington.

'It will be difficult to imagine that someone who is elected on the basis of that constitution should try to do anything in violation of Taiwan's own constitution,' he said.

In addition to a rare reference to the ROC Constitution, Wang's remarks were seen as conciliatory in Taiwan primarily because he did not mention the so-called 1992 consensus, which has been a mantra for Chinese officials who want to see the tacit agreement from 24 years ago retained as a basis for warm relations between China and Taiwan.

Under the 1992 consensus, both sides agree that there is only one China, with each side free to define its meaning.

Tsai has so far refused to adopt the formula but has instead promised to maintain the status quo under the framework of the ROC Constitution and not to provoke Beijing. She has also pledged to pursue good relations with China.

In response to Wang's comments, Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the government agency responsible for China policy, said Friday that it welcomed the move by China to face the ROC Constitution in a practical manner.

The MAC, however, emphasized that the Taiwan government will never accept Beijing's 'one China' principle.

Tung Chen-yuan (), a professor at National Chengchi University, said Wang's use of the word 'constitution' to some extent showed China's goodwill.

The comments also indicated that Beijing is adjusting its attitude, no longer insists on the term '1992 consensus,' and is willing to establish a new basis for cross-strait political interaction with the new DPP government, Tung said.

The incoming DPP administration will have to adequately respond to the change of China's stance to create a new model of cross-strait interaction that is conducive to peaceful development and prosperity, he added.

Tung was deputy head of the Mainland Affairs Council under the Chen administration.

(By Rita Cheng and Jay Chen)

Enditem

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President Ma sees China's remarks on ROC Constitution as positive

ROC Central News Agency

2016/02/27 18:41:52

Taipei, Feb. 27 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou () has responded positively to remarks by China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi () on cross-Taiwan Strait issues and the hope that Taiwan's new elected leader will respect Taiwan's 'one China' Constitution.

Ma felt that if Beijing is willing to face squarely the Republic of China (Taiwan) Constitution, it will be conducive to the peaceful development of cross-strait ties, said Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen () Saturday.

The '1992 consensus,' or 'one China, different interpretations,' that has underpinned ties with China during the Ma administration is based on the definition of cross-strait relations under the ROC Constitution, Chen said.

The consensus refers to the basic concept that both Taiwan and mainland China agree that there is only one China, with each side free to interpret what that means.

During a historic meeting with China's President Xi Jinping () in Singapore in November, Ma also made clear his administration's stance that the '1992 consensus' does not involve 'two Chinas,' 'one China, one Taiwan' and 'Taiwan independence,' because they are not allowed under the ROC Constitution.

Also, in his capacity as the leader of Taiwan, Ma brought up the ROC Constitution in his meeting with Xi in Singapore, which Chen said was a significant move and unprecedented in the history of cross-strait relations.

Under the '1992 consensus,' Taiwan has been able to achieve unprecedented peace and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait over the past eight years, something that every president in Taiwan should value and preserve, Chen said.

Ma was responding to remarks by Wang during a question-and-answer session following a speech Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a think tank in Washington.

'She is elected on the basis of their current constitution, which still recognizes the mainland and Taiwan as one, the same China,' Wang said in response to a question about the impact of the election of Tsai Ing-wen () of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party as president on cross-strait ties.

'It will be difficult to imagine that someone who is elected on the basis of that constitution should try to do anything in violation of their own constitution,' he said in Mandarin Chinese.

In addition to a rare reference to the ROC Constitution, Wang's remarks were seen as conciliatory in Taiwan primarily because he did not mention the so-called '1992 consensus,' which Chinese officials have repeated as a bottom line for relations between China and Taiwan.

Tsai has so far refused to adopt the formula but has instead promised to maintain the status quo under the framework of the ROC Constitution and to not provoke Beijing. She has also pledged to pursue good relations with China.

(By Hsieh Chia-chen and Elaine Hou)

ENDITEM/ls

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Work Finishes Trip Focusing on U.S. Nuclear Deterrent

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, February 26, 2016  Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work observed the test of an unarmed Minuteman 3 missile at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, last night, at the culmination of a trip to examine the progress of reforms in DoD's nuclear deterrent.

Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Paul J. Selva and Navy Adm. Cecil D. Haney, the commander of U.S. Strategic Command, joined the deputy secretary for the launch. The warhead splashed down at the military's test range near Kwajalein Atoll more than 4,000 miles away.

The crew that launched the missile are assigned to Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, and Vandenberg.

F.E. Warren Visit

Prior to attending the test, Work visited airmen at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming, where he assessed the progress made in reinvigorating America's most important military capability.

"I think you know that in 2014, we had an awful lot of issues that were identified in the nuclear deterrent and since that time we have done an awful lot to make sure that  we are improving and that that problem doesn't happen again," Work told reporters traveling with him.

Air Force officials said the test went well and the deputy secretary was pleased with the performance of the Minuteman 3, which entered the system in 1970. "The Minuteman system, as part of our nuclear triad, continues to meet our 21st-century deterrence and assurance requirements," Work said in a readout of the visit. "This operational test will provide the department with accuracy and reliability data that is essential to on-going and future modifications to the weapon system."

Nuclear deterrence is the basis for strategic stability among great powers, the deputy secretary said. It is the U.S. position to move toward a world free of nuclear weapons, he said. But until then "we're going to make sure that our deterrent is safe, reliable, secure and effective, and that we will make sure that we maintain strategic stability with our  great power competitors," he added.

Improving the Health of the Force

Work was looking specifically at the progress in implementing 175 recommendations made in a report ordered by then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in 2014. The report was the result of a study that followed press reports detailing shortcomings in the nuclear enterprise. About 80 percent of those recommendations have been implemented, Work said.

"A key focus is on the health of the force -- the people," the deputy secretary said. "The people are our best asset of the nuclear deterrent enterprise, just like they are in the whole department. If there's a secret weapon that the United States has, it is our people."

During his stop at F.E. Warren, Work spoke to junior enlisted personnel and officers to ensure they understand the importance of what they do, whether they have the resources they need and if they have seen a difference since the department began implementing the reforms.

Need for Collaboration

While in California yesterday, the deputy secretary spoke at In-Q-Tel Summit in San Jose. In-Q-Tel is a not-for-profit firm working to ensure that U.S. intelligence agencies have the latest technologies.

Work spoke about the importance of partnering with the commercial technology base, DoD's investments in the fiscal 2017 budget request, and the development of the third offset strategy. DoD began a pilot program with In-Q-Tel last year.

Work noted the collaboration allowed the department to develop innovative solutions for some of its most challenging problems. "Last year we invested $10 million," he said. "In the '17 budget we will invest $40 million."

The stop in San Jose was part of DoD's commitment to ensuring it stays ahead of competitors in a rapidly changing world, he said. It also signals the department's effort to reach out and attract a new generation of Americans to serve their country, the deputy said.

"In Silicon Valley, we're seeing a real explosion in progress," Work said. "The department sees tremendous promise in [artificial intelligence] and autonomy as we look to achieve technological overmatch against our adversaries."

He added, "The third offset strategy is based on the premise that advances in artificial intelligence and autonomy will allow the joint force to develop and operate advanced joint, collaborative human-machine battle networks that synchronize simultaneous operations in space, air, sea, undersea, ground, and cyber domains."

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David Mackintosh at the Ides site. Photo: Justin McManus

The recent arrival in Smith Street of both a large Coles supermarket and a Subway franchise plus the demise/departure of some small, chef-run dining ventures has raised speculation that the hipster heartland and dining hot spot has lost its mojo. Smith Street is doomed apparently. Or at least losing its cool, which in some circles might be considered worse.

The "hot spot to has-been" tale is not unknown in Melbourne shopping strips. Think Lygon, Brunswick, Acland, Fitzroy and Chapel.

Cheap rents attract experimental, inventive businesses, which attract attention and hot spot declarations. Everybody wants in, landlords jack up the rent, leaving only those able to afford it, often the same franchises and supermarkets seen everywhere else. Street loses mojo, a victim of its own success.

Going, going, gone  Northern Light will soon be no more. Photo: Pat Scala

But is this being repeated on Smith Street?

Restaurateur David Mackintosh has leased a space on the street for three years that's housed modern Chinese joint Lee Ho Fook (now in the CBD), wine-focused pop-up Semi Permanent and soon IDES, an edgy degustation-only restaurant helmed by former Attica chef Peter Gunn that's due to open in March.

Mackintosh is not too worried about the arrival of Coles ("it's part of a development that brings more people into the neighbourhood") and believes there is "not any one idea of Smith Street but its success has changed what those ideas are".

Kebab and chips at Smith Street newcomer Biggie Smalls. Photo: Josh Robenstone

"There is a creative community here still," he says. "But there's more financial pressure now and so some find that it's not the be all and end all they hoped it was. I still believe in Smith Street but it would be sad if it was no longer able to house the dynamic ideas that made it the new hot food area in the first place."

Adam Liston, who is closing his modern Asian restaurant/bar Northern Light in March, says that he was "a bit naive" when taking on his Smith Street business.

"The reason that I moved here was that is was the coolest spot at the time," he says.

Advertisement

"There were places like Saint Crispin, Huxtable, Easy Tiger and Lee Ho Fook here and it was being talked up as the food mecca for Melbourne.

"I didn't think about opening anywhere else. It worked for about a year but many of the people coming here now aren't here to dine. They want to go to the bars and have a quick bite to eat at places like Biggie Smalls [Shane Delia's new kebab joint] or Huxtaburger."

Interestingly, the crowd behind Huxtaburger are part of the closures too, pulling the pin on Huxtable, their acclaimed flagship Smith Street restaurant that predated the burger chain. So does this point to rot or change?

Saint Crispin has been a Smith Street success story. Photo: Michael Newbound

Chief food critic for The Age, Gemima Cody, believes that "any good business still has the potential to do well on Smith Street".

"If you look at places like Saint Crispin and Panama Dining Room, it shows that people are willing to travel to eat on Smith Street, so you're not just relying on the local crowd to keep your business running," she says.

"And that's what will save the street  keeping the unique interesting businesses in order to draw in people from beyond the local bubble."

The imminent openings of Ides and a new boulangerie from Frenchman Gontran Cherrier seem to show that there's life in the street yet, despite the looming presence of Coles.

Perhaps, as Mackintosh says, "it's not losing its mojo, just changing it".
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By Roland Pena

The City of San Angelo Development Corp. works with our municipal government, community partners and external economic development resources to plan and facilitate opportunities for economic growth.

Last year, San Angelo made headlines for being ranked second in the nation for gross domestic product growth in the previous year, according to data assembled by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. More recently, however, an oversupply of oil in the market and the continued descent of oil prices have impacted our local economy in the form of tempered consumer spending and slowed employment growth.

Having an effective approach prepared in advance of economic downturns has been a long-term practice in San Angelo. Our strategies moving forward in 2016 consist of a renewed focus on existing businesses, encouraging new entrepreneurships and continuing to recruit new companies. These strategies helped us gain diversification this past year in energy services, retail, lodging, health care, telecommunications and information technologies.

We recently launched a new Business Retention Expansion Program that provides incentives to eligible companies. These incentives serve the same purpose as cash  they help reduce the costs of expansion or of doing business. Four local companies took advantage of the program, gaining the community a $61.9 million annual economic impact with the creation and retention of 385 jobs and $4.6 million in capital investments.

The Business Factory works to develop new industry; four companies graduated from the business incubator last year. Since 2003, we've assisted companies in a variety of industries that include, but are not limited to, millwork, engineering, communications, health care, employment services and data collection.

Stoking the entrepreneurial spirit, the Business Factory announced in the fall the return of the Business Plan Competition. Winners can win $25,000 in cash and $5,000 or more in in-kind services, along with automatic admission into the Business Factory, if eligible.

As industry sectors ease off from their planned growth, we'll be retooling and marketing to create more opportunities for businesses to move to San Angelo.

When these companies research available sites, they'll find here the only AEP Quality Site "Super Park," certified by McCallum Sweeney Consultants in December 2015. This "Super Park" is the San Angelo Business and Industrial Park, consisting of more than 746 acres. The certification tells a prospective company there are no impediments to building, the site is "shovel-ready," and it offers all the required infrastructure. Ours is the only certified "Super Park" in Texas and the only one along the Ports to Plains Corridor. The park has already attracted two companies and has sold several parcels of land.

In addition, we'll be working with site selectors and economic development resources to enhance San Angelo's economic position in other sectors such as military defense, renewable energy, health care, professional services and construction.

At the same time, we'll be certifying the workforce in Tom Green County. Becoming an ACT Work Ready Community means we have a robust workforce development program in place whereby a number of individuals will have earned an ACT National Career Readiness Certificate. The designation tells businesses and industry that our workforce has been assessed, trained and certified by a program created by two credible organizations: the National Association of Manufacturing and ACT, which developed the college entrance exam.

Watch and see San Angelo progress in 2016.

Roland Pena is the economic development director for the City of San Angelo. Contact him at 325-653-7197 or roland.pena@cosatx.us.
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Island nation threatened by rising oceans

By Matthew Schofield, McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS)

MAAMIGILI, Maldives  As Hussain Khallib's boat chugged into a water channel, he pointed at the shoreline of the approaching island and noted the thin stretch of vegetation between white sand beaches on either side. It's never more than a few feet above the water.

"We spend a lot of time worrying about the idea of rising sea level here," he said. "Many fear they will go to bed one night on dry land and wake up in the morning in water. But we know the truth is far less dramatic. We will lose our nation and our homes one grain of sand at a time."

Khallib, 21, is one of the estimated 393,000 people who live in Maldives, a nation of 1,200 small islands in the Indian Ocean southwest of India that is considered the world's most at risk to rising sea levels. The United Nations has projected that Maldives could be effectively underwater by 2100.

Most of the nation is about 3 feet above sea level, with a high point of about 8 feet. That makes the idea of rising sea levels no mere abstraction. Residents say they don't have the luxury of not believing in global warming.

"Sea level rise is not merely scientific theory, and for us is not a matter of political debate," said Abdulla Shahid, a member of the Maldives parliament and a former foreign affairs minister. "The threat of sea level rise, to us, is an existential issue. It is a very serious matter."

"If the projections are correct, it means the death of a nation," Shahid said. "The Maldives could be completely inundated by 2085."

Maldives is a water-based country. Kids here don't dream of owning a car as they might in the United States. They dream of the boat they someday might have. Everything about life here is tied to the water  the food people eat, the work they do, what they do for recreation and relaxation.

They are very aware of the water's presence, which makes them especially fearful when they hear predictions that sea level might rise 3 feet. If that happens, 80 percent of Maldives' land would be at risk  more during storms and high seas.

Already, sea level rises threaten the country's freshwater wells in a nation heavily dependent on desalination for drinking water. Access to drinking water is one of the first things Maldives residents talk about. Last year, a fire at a desalinization plant in the capital of Male forced the nation's leaders to fly in drinking water from India.

Maldives is distraught over the continuing debate in the United States over whether climate change and human impact on it are real. The theory behind global warming is so simple that NASA even summarizes it on a website for kids: "Most scientists say it's very likely that most of the warming since the mid-1900s is due to the burning of coal, oil and gas."

In a paper aimed at a more sophisticated audience, the German Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact notes on its website that the production of carbon dioxide and other anthropogenic gases helped drive temperatures up by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century. If the world keeps generating greenhouse gases at its current rate, the global temperature will rise 2 to 11 degrees more, the institute says.

And as the Earth warms, the sea rises  first, because warmer water expands and takes up more space, and, second, because the ice caps and inland glaciers melt, sending more water into the ocean.

But it isn't as simple as pouring a glass of water into a bathtub and seeing the result. That's because, despite what one might imagine, the oceans aren't level around the world. Their depths vary because the Earth isn't perfectly spherical and because the polar ice caps are so massive that they have their own gravitational pull and draw water toward them. As ice melts, that gravitational pull decreases. The water at the equator gets even deeper.

"Sixty years of melting at the presently observed rate are enough to launch a process which is then unstoppable and goes on for thousands of years," the Potsdam institute says. That would lead to a sea-level rise of about 10 feet.

Maldives would vanish before that melting was completed. Maybe Florida, too.

"Florida is ground zero for sea-level effects in the United States, and the debate here still seems to be whether this is happening  not what to do to prepare for it," said Jay Famiglietti, a senior water scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "Given our current rates of rise, we can expect some rather severe consequences, and I'm not sure we're ready to deal with the consequences of what's going on.:
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Southern primary states may hold key

By Greg Bluestein, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS)

ATLANTA  The televised debates, endorsements and television ads may be the most visible display of a presidential campaign. But behind every candidate is a group of hardened volunteers and staffers set on winning the ground game.

Networks of supporters staff phone banks, knock on doors, hoist signs, hold debate-watching parties and mobilize voters for their candidates every four years.

The painstaking behind-the-scenes work of building campaigns pays dividends. Even Republican front-runner Donald Trump, who has largely avoided retail politicking, has built a formidable network in Georgia and other Southern states that vote Tuesday.

Consider the scene at a Marietta, Ga., library on a recent weekday night, when Trump supporters handed out Trump cards to anyone who showed even the slightest inkling of supporting their candidate.

He has the might to get people to the polls, said John Delves, one of the Trump supporters trained that night on the ins and outs of knocking on doors and representing the candidate at precinct meetings. People will show up for him. Why else does he get thousands of people to a stadium on a weekday?

Political scientists say theres no surefire way to market candidates to all voters. But a Harvard University team concluded that the personal selling at the heart of the ground game goes a long way with partisan voters who make up the core of the primary electorate.

Thats playing out with starkly different strategies in Georgia, Texas and the five other Southern states that hold primaries on Tuesday. And the stakes may be highest for Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas , who has called the region his firewall and visited it multiple times last year.

Now, after back-to-back third-place finishes in South Carolina and Nevada, he must rely on his ground network more than ever. Hes opened at least one office each in Georgia and Tennessee, but his biggest investment is his home state of Texas, where a loss could devastate his campaign. His campaign headquarters is in Houston, a constant hive of activity by some of his most fervent supporters.

Trump isnt conceding any ground. He hired at least five staffers in Georgia and signed up directors in most of the states voting Tuesday. He also hired a state campaign director in Texas last year and appointed Katrina Pierson, a Texas tea party champion, as his national spokeswoman.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, whose campaign claims it was the first to organize in all 50 states, has strengthened its network across the region. The campaign opened its first office in Georgia this past week at a suburban Atlanta office park with two of his top surrogates, and it has four full-time staffers in Georgia.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson have smaller operations in the region. Kasichs campaign drafted a state director in Georgia last week, and a super political action committee supporting his candidacy also named Georgia operative Jared Thomas to run his efforts here.

On the Democratic side, front-runner Hillary Clinton is trying to take advantage of her deep roots in the South.

Clintons campaign has at least one staffer in each of the states voting Tuesday, including at least two in Georgia, and a regional communications director focused on the South. She has one of her biggest operations  at least six staffers  in Texas, which offers the largest number of delegates in next weeks vote.

Texas is a battleground for Bernie Sanders campaign, too, which opened seven offices throughout the state. But hes also pouring time and resources into a smaller prize next door: Oklahoma, where the mostly white and liberal Democratic base mirrors his network elsewhere. He has at least six staffers there.
Michelle Gaitan/Standard-Times Joe Nickley tattoos a mans stomach Friday at the seventh annual West Texas Tattoo Convention at the McNease Convention Center. The three-day convention, which concludes Sunday, attracted more than two dozen tattoo artists from around the world.

SHARE Michelle Gaitan/Standard-Times San Angelo resident Josh Kelly got a drawing by his son tattooed on his left forearm Friday at the tattoo convention. Michelle Gaitan/Standard-Times Garrett Potts (right) grimaces as tattoo artist Hector Fong adds color to Potts leg tattoo Friday at the seventh annual West Texas Tattoo Convention. Michelle Gaitan/Standard-Times Framed tattoo designs are displayed at a table at the tattoo convention.

Convention unites tattoo enthusiasts

By Federico Martinez, Federico.Martinez@gosanangelo.com

Kris Brown flew from Hawaii to San Angelo this weekend to get a tattoo, an act that marked a "new beginning" for her.

Carefully, tattoo artist Kevin Poon, of Houston, transformed a faded, 23-year-old tattoo of two dolphins on Brown's lower leg into a beautiful new snow owl.

The almost magical transformation occurred Saturday at the seventh annual West Texas Tattoo Convention, which continues from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday at the McNease Convention Cente, 501 Rio Concho Drive.

The event, which featured dozens of top tattoo artists from throughout the world, drew hundreds of people, like Brown, who wanted to get new ink. Others just came to browse some of the breathtaking artwork on display

"I heard there was going to be a tattoo convention in town this weekend, and my family lives here, so I thought, 'What a great time to take a vacation in San Angelo,' " said Brown, who is retired from the U.S. Navy. "I had the dolphins done when I was in the Navy 23 years ago.

"I decided to cover it up to signal a new beginning, and my daughter loves owls, so that's what I replaced it with."

The annual event was organized by Aubrey and Alex Truant, who have operated Trufant Bros. Tattoo in San Angelo since 2007.

"It's much more acceptable now in San Angelo," Aubrey Truant said about people's perceptions of tattoo shops and people who get tattoos. "As long as San Angelo supports us, we'll keep doing it."

Many people get tattoos that have a special, personal meaning for them, Aubrey Truant said. Providing that service "makes me feel good in my heart," he said.

Caycee Gray, 20, came to the event to get his 12th tattoo, a pair of dog tags in honor of his brother, who was in the U.S. Army. He chose artist Mando Garza of San Antonio to do the job because he was impressed with Garza's "unique style."

Gray received his first tattoo when he was 16.

"My grandmother, Alice Bruce, passed away five years ago, and my parents got matching tattoos in her honor," Gray said. "I wanted to honor her also, so I got a tattoo of a pair of angel wings."

Gray, who is in the Army, is stationed at the Goodfellow Air Force Base. His parents, who live in Florida, and his siblings all have military backgrounds and share a love for tattoos.

For Christmas, everyone in the family received matching tattoos that read: "Family, where life begins ... and love never ends."
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By Sharon Randall

Who gets to make the rules for birthdays? And why has no one ever told me what they are?

Birthdays are like the people who have them: No two are the same. Each of us ought to get to make our own rules for how to celebrate another year of life.

That's what I told my mother and my grandmother the day I turned 7, and came home from school to announce I'd invited my whole class to a party.

They squinched up their eyes as if I'd said Jesus was coming back to take me to heaven and leaving both of them behind.

"The whole class?" said my grandmother.

"Yes, ma'am," I said. "And my teacher and the janitor and...."

"When?" said my mother.

"Today," I said, "4 o'clock."

Never have two women moved so fast. By 4, the house was clean, a cake was baked and I was waiting on the steps, face clean, hair combed, eyes wide.

Only two people showed up: A boy, who gave me a candy bar. And a girl, who ate it.

With that, I decided birthday parties were unnecessary.

Unfortunately, in years to come, my children did not share that opinion. Especially, my daughter, who by the age of 3, planned every detail of her parties, including who'd sleep where at sleep-overs where no one ever slept, least of all, me.

The only birthday tradition I try to keep is to wish someone a happy birthday and add these words: "So glad you were born."

Everyone should hear that once in a while. And when better to hear it than on your birthday? I said it to my kids so often when they were growing up they now say it to me. It's the only gift I ever want or need.

OK, maybe some cake. And ice cream. Store bought is fine.

Years ago, a reader from West Virginia, sent me an honest-to-goodness birthday cake. It sat at the post office for two weeks while I was out of town. The next year she sent me a do-it-yourself birthday cake kit.

This year (my birthday was last week, it's OK if you forgot) that same kind woman sent me a West Virginia Mountaineers coonskin cap. She said to give it to my brother, Joe, to replace the Clemson hat he sleeps in.

I'm keeping it. Women my age often feel invisible. But you'd be surprised at how people will sit up and take notice when you're wearing a coonskin cap.

That cap was only one of the things that made this birthday my best ever _ so far.

I had cards and calls from family and friends, and videos of my grandkids doing things to make me laugh. Randy, who is 5, and Wiley, 3, sang duets of their favorite Beatles tunes.

Eleanor, who is 1, said "nana" for the first time and did a happy little belly-laugh dance.

And 4-year-old Henry, all lathered up and diving with a rubber shark, wished me happy birthday from the bathtub.

I wish you could've seen them.

My kids all said they were glad I was born. My husband said it, too, and took me out to dinner.

And early in the day, I mailed off contracts to newspapers that had agreed, God bless them, to continue carrying my column.

Talk about a celebration.

I hope for your birthday you get to make your own rules. But feel free to use some of mine:

1. If you have a party, only invite guests who'll show up.

2. No surprises. The honoree will feel more honored if given a chance to put in her teeth.

3. No gifts, unless someone really wants to give one. Same for cards and phone calls.

4. Do not spend your birthday alone. I tried it once and it was no party. More like a wake.

5. For a truly "happy" day, make someone smile. It always seems to work for me.

Finally, no matter how you celebrate your "special day," always end it (or begin it, or both) like this: Count your blessings. Feel your heart swell with gratitude. Then look into a mirror and say, "I am so glad you were born."

May this be your best year and best birthday ever  so far.

Sharon Randall can be reached at P.O. Box 777394, Henderson NV 89077, or on her website: www.sharonrandall.com.
<p>Michael Gerson is a Washington Post columnist. Contact him at <a href="mailto:michaelgerson@washpost.com">michaelgerson@washpost.com</a>.</p>

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WASHINGTON  The main focus of Donald Trump's media coverage has been his populist disdain for elites. But his main focus has often been a strident version of American nationalism.

Trump has offered this explanation of his own ambitions: "The reason I'm thinking about [(running for office)," he told the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2011, "is that the United States has become a whipping post for the rest of the world. ... I deal with people from China, I deal with people from Mexico. They cannot believe what they're getting away with."

It is difficult to discern a foreign policy in Trump's oeuvre of rambling, extemporaneous speechmaking and Twitter pronouncements. He usually communicates without a hint of actual argument. But there is some consistency to his various statements.

Trump believes that American allies in Europe and Asia have become free riders that should defend themselves and pay their own way. He calls the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty unfair. In exchange for the protection of South Korea, he argues, "we get practically nothing." Mexico is "ripping us off" and purposely sending us criminals. It must be compelled to pay for a continentwide wall.

Trump proposes to "tax China for each bad act" and has raised the possibility of a 45 percent tariff. Vladimir Putin, in contrast, should be given a free hand in the Middle East to go after Sunni radicals and other opponents of the Syrian regime. And America should focus on killing terrorists as well as targeting their families for murder, apparently on the theory that war crimes are a demonstration of super-duper toughness.

As Trump's political prospects have improved, we are required to give these foreign policy views more serious analysis, which is more than Trump himself has done. When pressed on such issues in debates and interviews, he is utterly incoherent. A man who confuses the Kurds with the Quds (Iran's expeditionary military force) hasn't the slightest familiarity with current events in the Middle East. And it feels like we have, so far, explored only the fringes of his ignorance.

But it is the theory behind Trump's threats that is particularly dangerous. He is not an isolationist, in the Rand Paul sense. He is more of a Jacksonian (in Walter Russell Mead's typology)  preferring a strong America that is occasionally roused to kill its enemies but then returns home and avoids entangling international commitments. America, in this view, should vigorously pursue narrow national interests and seek to be feared rather than loved.

This conception of America's international role was common before America had a serious international role. A Gallup poll from 1937 showed that 70 percent of Americans thought their intervention in World War I had been a mistake. In early 1940, as German intentions of conquest were clear, fewer than 10 percent thought America should send its military abroad.

But this view of America is as relevant to current affairs as political events in ancient Rome. "The great need today isn't to 'beat' core allies such as Mexico and Japan, while working with Vladimir Putin," George Mason University's Colin Dueck explains diplomatically. "On the contrary, the urgent need is to constrain aggressors such as Putin while supporting core U.S. allies like Mexico and Japan."

Less gently put, Trump would be a president who could not reliably tell America's enemies from its friends. He contemplates actions such as weakening American security assurances to South Korea that might invite war. Trump promises actions  like forcing the Mexican government to fund the great wall of Trump  that are, in the formal language of international relations, loony, unhinged, bonkers. His move to impose massive tariffs against China would earn derisive laughter at the World Trade Organization; if he persisted anyway, it might blow up the global trading order and dramatically increase tensions in Asia.

A Jacksonian role for America is positively dangerous in a world where many threats  terrorism, pandemic disease, refugee flows, drug cartels  emerge in failed states and hopeless places. It has never been more evident that the success of America depends on an expanding system of free trade, free markets, democratic governance and strong alliances  upheld, in Asia, Europe and elsewhere, by American security guarantees.

Trump's version of American nationalism without reference to American principles is Putinism by another name. And it is just one more way that Trump would sully the spirit of the nation he seeks to lead.

Michael Gerson is a Washington Post columnist. Contact him at michaelgerson@washpost.com.
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Cotton farmers in America are facing a crisis. Extreme drought, predatory trade practices by countries such as China and India, and the lack of a viable safety net are threatening the livelihoods of thousands of American farm families. While the general farm economy is experiencing the largest three-year percentage decline in net farm income since the Great Depression, a whopping 56 percent, the cotton industry is facing an existential threat.

It is against this backdrop that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wrote a column last week stating he does not have authority under the farm bill to declare cottonseed as an other oilseed. I submit there are a variety of reasons why that is simply not the case.

The secretary argues that Congress removed cotton from agriculture risk coverage and price loss coverage in the 2014 farm bill, and thus his hands are tied. Here's what Congress actually did in the 2014 farm bill: As a result of a WTO settlement with Brazil, Congress effectively removed cotton lint from ARC and PLC. Cottonseed has not historically been a covered commodity, and Congress never discussed adding cottonseed to the list of covered commodities. Rather, Congress left intact the secretary's authority to designate any oilseed as an "other oilseed."

The secretary has elsewhere argued that canons of statutory construction prevent him from acting. That is not the case. The statute in question plainly states that an "other oilseed" includes "any oilseed designated by the secretary." There is only one canon of statutory construction necessary to move forward with designating cottonseed as an "other oilseed": the ordinary meaning of the statutory language. This is the canon the U.S. Supreme Court looks to before all others.

The secretary also has argued he cannot designate cottonseed as an oilseed because the provision is reserved for "emerging oilseeds." That also is not the case. The farm bill defines an oilseed as "a crop of sunflower seed, rapeseed, canola, safflower, flaxseed, mustard seed, crambe, sesame seed, or any other oilseed designated by the secretary." The farm bill does not restrict this authority to "emerging oilseeds." The secretary imposes this limitation on himself.

The secretary further claims he cannot designate cottonseed as an oilseed because USDA already made a decision to make cottonseed eligible for STAX instead. While USDA may have accommodated the industry's request, that does not change the fact that the law says nothing about cottonseed being eligible for STAX.

Finally, the secretary has argued that Congress did not designate cottonseed as a covered commodity because of the cost of doing so. That is simply not correct. Congress never considered adding cottonseed as a covered commodity. That prospect arose long after passage of the 2014 farm bill and only after the predatory trade practices of China and India started decimating world cotton markets, rendering STAX ineffective.

To his credit, the secretary is not without solutions to offer. However, there are real problems with the solutions the secretary has laid out.

The first solution involves Congress lifting a prohibition on his ability to use what are called Section 32 funds in emergency situations like the one we are in today. I was neither active in removing this authority nor do I solely possess the ability to restore it. This requires an act of Congress, which takes time  something we are very short on if we are to provide timely help. This also is unnecessary in the current circumstances because, as I have pointed out, the secretary already has all the authority he needs to act now.

The second solution regarding ginning cost share is temporary in nature and, I am afraid, much more a Band-Aid than a cure. While the secretary has the authority to deliver that assistance now, it would not stop the bleeding and barely cover the wound.

I confess that all of the smoke and mirrors have been very frustrating to those of us who are deeply concerned about the crisis that is unfolding in farm country and for all of the livelihoods that are at stake. I am committed to standing up for America's farm families. We would appreciate the secretary fully leveraging the authorities currently available to him.
A shiny new bike with training wheels for her Sweet 16?

For Kimberly Young, whose birthday is Feb. 29, her dads surprise gift made perfect sense.

Though Young was eligible for a drivers license, she was celebrating her fourth leap-year birthday.

Most years, February has just 28 days. Leap day  Feb. 29  takes place about every four years.

People born that day are called leaplings or leapers. The chances of having a leap birthday are one in 1,461, according to The Telegraph, a British newspaper.

Like many leapers, Young celebrates her birthday Feb. 28 on the off years.

My parents always gave me gifts for my birthday, but on leap years, my father tried to also give me a gift that was age-appropriate for my leap-year age, said Young, 52. He gave me the set of training wheels (for her 16th birthday) because at 4 years of age, I would have been learning to ride a bike.

When she turned 20, leap year age 5, he gave her a beautiful porcelain doll, a gift she has held onto and treasures.

For leapling Jordan Ewell, theres never a question as to which day to celebrate.

I was born on the last day of February, not in March, said Ewell, who is turning 24, or 6 in leap-year birthdays.

Greensboro native Dolores Blake, born Feb. 29, 1936, will celebrate her 20th leap year birthday this year (80 years old) and fondly remembers participating in a leap year celebration in 1952 at the home of Clarence Clapp, also a leap-year baby, in Julian.

People from all over the state attended, she recalled.

A retired legal assistant, Blake said her husband, Ray, and children have always had fun with her birthday.

My husband always tells of his young wife, and as our children were growing up, they delighted in telling their friends my age by the leap-year birthdays, Blake said.

Blake is not the only one who has had fun explaining her age.

People think it is funny when I tell them I am older in dog years than I am in calendar years, said Andrew Witherspoon, who will be 15 this leap year or 60 in real years.

As a child, being a leap-year baby bothered him.

I felt like I was being cheated, he said.

Now, he enjoys cracking the jokes.

I love telling people that I will be 15 this year, and I am just going through puberty, and I cannot get my drivers license yet, Witherspoon said.

Kathy Goldsmith  who will be 52 or 13 in leap year birthdays  didnt like all the teasing she received as a child, but she, too, grew to embrace her special designation.

I really love it when I can tell people that I am younger than all four of my children (ages 23, 21, 17 and 15), she said.

Sherri Riddle also has come to like having a different birthday.

Some friends think its really cool, but most almost seem to feel sorry, she said. Little do they know.

Riddle has celebrated by attending concerts and taking a trip to New York City for her leap year birthdays.

Some leapers experience minor problems related to their birth date.

Many recalled doctors office and other office computer-scheduling problems related to their distinct birthday, plus snags with drivers license renewals.

One time, I realized my license had expired, and I hadnt received any renewal reminder in the mail, Goldsmith said. I went to the DMV, and they said it was because of the leap-year birthday.

Peggy Kline  who will be 68, 17 in leap years  remembers when the renewal period changed for North Carolina drivers licenses.

I went to renew my license, and the instructor said, Oh, you are one of them,  she said.

Shannon Parker, turning 11 in leap years and 44 in real years, once had a problem getting medicine she needed.

The pharmacy would not accept my birthday as a real date and was unable to fill my prescription, she said. That was very frustrating, and I ended up changing pharmacies.

For the most part, though, Parker has enjoyed being a leap-year baby.

When I turned 40, my husband surprised me with a birthday party with my friends at a local restaurant and even had my cake say Happy 10th Birthday, she said.

Greensboro native Gail Shepherds leap year story is a little more unusual. Born Feb. 29, 1956, Shepherd will celebrate her 60th birthday  15th in leap years. Her maternal grandmother, Helen Carroll of Greensboro, was also born during a leap year  1904.

She always said I was her special birthday present, Shepherd said.

While Shepherd was quick to say her grandmother treated all of her grandchildren special, she admitted she and Carroll shared a unique bond because they both were born in leap years.

For Mildred Wilson, 92, of Greensboro, celebrating her granddaughters leap year birthday is a heartfelt celebration. Lauren Epperson was born Feb. 29, 1992, three months premature, weighing only 2 pounds and 2 ounces. She had several complications, including skin wounds and damaged lungs, but she overcame those obstacles and was released from the hospital on her actual due date in May.

Im happy to report that while Lauren has some scarring from the skin wounds, she is a beautiful, well-rounded young woman who graduated from UNCG in 2014, said her mother, Lou Anne Epperson. Lauren is our little miracle leap-year baby, and we are excited to celebrate her sixth real birthday this year.

Jokes, complications and stories aside, Young summed up the thoughts of many local leaplings.

I always felt that being a leap-year baby was something special, she said.
Mystified Outer Banks tourists witnessed a bizarre act of nature Friday, Oct. 14, as fish began flinging themselves onto the beach at Ocracoke Island. Multiple videos shared on social media show the ocean appeared to boil with fish as they tumbled over each other in the surf. The so-called bluefish blitz concluded with thousands of dying fish piled on the sand, flopping up and down as ...
If you think about it, Samsung and LG are to "blame" for the current dominance of huge-screen handsets. Samsung got the ball rolling with the Note, LG killed off the phone/phablet distinction with the G3.

This year, however, both companies pulled back and their new flagships are smaller than their predecessors: from 5.7" S6 edge+ to 5.5" S7 edge, from 5.5" G4 to 5.3" LG G5. Their screens have another thing in common too, Always On mode.

The two diverge when it comes to the camera. The G5 has a secondary wide-angle camera while Samsung focused on low-light shooting and ultra-fast focus locks.

The Galaxy S7 edge is not nearly as locked down as the S6 before it. No, you still can't change the battery, but you get your microSD slot back and water resistance too (IP68).

The LG G5 went all metal and LG used a unique process to hide the unsightly antenna lines. The killer feature, however, is modularity - currently, a camera battery grip (with extra hardware controls) and a hi-fi DAC from Bang & Olufsen give you the option to upgrade your G5 even after purchasing it.

Well, you've probably read our thoughts on the LG G5 vs. Samsung Galaxy S7 edge, now we want to hear what you think. Vote away!

You have until next weekend to vote.




Haiti - Culture : 1st Festival of Francophone Film of Port-au-Prince





As every year, Haiti will celebrate in March the fortnight of the Francophonie, a key event which will also be the opportunity to celebrate the richness, dynamism and values of the Francophonie : "respect for the rule of law and of human rights, gender equality, solidarity and cultural diversity".



The Embassy of France in Haiti and its network are mobilized to contribute to the success of this event. Many cultural events will be held throughout the month of March (Cinema, music, theater, debates ...) at the French Institute of Haiti (IFH), the French Lycee Alexandre Dumas and the five rench Alliances of the country to celebrate the Francophonie.



Moreover the 1st Festival of Francophone Film of Port-au-Prince will run from Monday February 29 to Tuesday, March 8, 2016.



Organized at the initiative of the Embassy of France and the IFH, the festival will present a selection of 13 films from French directors mostly unpublished coming from: Haiti, France, Congo, Switzerland, Belgium or Canada. These films will be screened in different places in the capital: the IFH, FOKAL, the residence of the Lauriers, the Cinematheque of Petionville, the Yanvalou, Jeremie Square, and Canape vert Square.



This event is made possible through the support and the support of the French Institute in Paris, CANAL +, the Swiss Embassy, the Canadian Embassy, Wallonie Bruxelles International, the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF), the Festival IFFIC of Santiago de los Caballeros in the Dominican Republic, Yanvalou,, Fokal, the Cinematheque of Petionville, Cine Lari A and Colibri Association.



Full program of the Festival :







HL/ HaitiLibre


















Published on 2016/02/28 | Source

The Nature Republic cosmetics store in Myeong-dong, remains Seoul's most expensive piece of real estate for the 13th straight year with 3.3 sq.m valued at W275 million (US$1=W1,235).

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The values of the new Lotte World shopping mall in Jamsil and Hyundai Motor headquarters plot in Samseong-dong also soared around 10 percent compared to last year.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Monday that Nature Republic's Myeong-dong store jumped 30 percent compared to 2015 and up around two-fold compared to 2004, when the property first rose to the No. 1 spot.

The top 10 most expensive pieces of real estate remained unchanged, with nine in Myeong-dong and one in Toegye-ro, downtown Seoul, all costing more than W200 million per 3.3 sq.m..

They are all occupied by cosmetics or clothing stores in areas of the capital frequented by Chinese and Japanese tourists.

The huge plot of land Hyundai acquired for W10.55 trillion in 2014 to build a new headquarters rose 11 percent in value from W84 million per 3.3 sq.m last year to W94 million.

The Lotte World shopping mall, which opened in late 2014, also saw values go up from W119 million per 3.3 sq.m to W130 million over the past year.

Real estate prices on some tourism islands are also soaring. The price of a commercial piece of real estate on Udo Island off the coast of Jeju Island surged more than 100 percent from W92,000 per 3.3 sq.m in 2011 to W220,000 this year as visitor numbers soared.

Even on the remote and seasonally inaccessible islets of Dokdo, land prices keep rising. One plot increased from W165,000 per sq.m in 2011 to W980,000 this year.

"Dokdo is seeing a surge in the number of tourists, and the government continues to invest in the islets to build defense facilities", a ministry official explained.
Published on 2016/02/28 | Source

Japan has returned to being Korea's biggest competitor on the export front, while their biggest battle ground is the U.S. market. In China, Korean exports are managing to maintain the top spot, but U.S. exports are catching up quickly.

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In a report on Sunday, Hyundai Research Institute compared the market shares of Korean products in overseas markets and put direct competition with Japan at 58.8 points last year. By comparison, competition with the U.S. was 48.8 points and with China 44.8 points.

The figure is meant to reflect how similar the export structures of two countries are to each other, and the higher the number the more heated the competition. Perfect similarity would produce a reading of 100.

Competition between Korea and Japan in the U.S. was an even higher 61.2, which was more than competition with Germany (54.3) and China (36.8).

In China, the second-largest export market, the figure stood at 58.8 points, but U.S. exports were a bigger threat. Korea sold US$174.3 billion worth of products to China last year, taking the No. 1 market share, while Taiwan came second with $145.5 billion worth.

The U.S. exported $144 billion worth to China, led by high-value-added products such as the iPhone and passenger planes, to overtake Japan for the No. 3 spot.

Baek Da-mi at the institute said, "If Korean companies want to compete with the U.S. and Japan in the Chinese market, they need to differentiate themselves in materials and components technology".
Published on 2016/02/28 | Source

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg (left) shakes hands with Koh Dong-jin, president of Samsung's mobile communications business, at the launch of the Galaxy S7 series smartphones in Barcelona, Spain on Sunday. /AP-Yonhap

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Samsung hosted a launch event for its new Galaxy S7 smartphone series in Barcelona on Sunday on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress. But the real showpiece was the virtual reality headset Gear VR distributed to some 5,000 visitors to view the main functions the phone immersively.

Samsung hopes that VR technology can help it overcome the deteriorating profitability of smartphones in a saturated market and growing competition from Chinese rivals.

Koh Dong-jin, the new president of Samsung's mobile communications business, claimed it intends to "redefine" and "reimagine" the purpose of the smartphone with virtual reality gadgetry.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg made a cameo appearance at the event. "Pretty soon we're going to live in a world where everyone has the power to share and experience whole scenes as if you're just there, right there in person", Zuckerberg claimed. "And that's why Facebook is investing so much early on in virtual reality. So we can hope to deliver these types of social experiences".

Samsung has been developing VR headsets in partnership with Oculus VR, a start-up Facebook acquired in 2014.

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge phones, as well as the Gear 360 camera which enables 360-degree filming to create virtual reality content.

The filmed images can be sent to the smartphone for editing, storing and viewing later through the Gear VR. At present, the Galaxy S7 series, as well as S6 and Galaxy Note 5 can be connected to the Gear 360.

Participants wear virtual reality headsets at Samsung's launch of the Galaxy S7 series smartphones in Barcelona, Spain on Sunday. /Yonhap

Ben Wood, an analyst at UK-based market researcher CCS Insight, recently pointed out that the field of virtual reality is one of Samsung strengths that it should pursue to get ahead of Apple.

The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have managed to eke out some hardware improvements over other models in an increasingly samey market. The S7 Edge's screen is 5.5 inches, while the S7's is 5.1 inches. The camera has also been bolstered to feature a dual-pixel image sensor for the first time. The S7's battery cannot be removed, but battery life has allegedly been increased by 18 percent for the S7 and 38 percent for the S7 Edge, while wireless recharging is also possible.

Still, critics were underwhelmed. The Wall Street Journal said Samsung's latest smartphone lacked "showstopping" power.

The new phones go on sale on March 11 in Korea, the U.S. and other major markets.
by Alan McDonald, Managing Director of McDonald MurholmeAfter a 12-month inquiry, the Productivity Commission released the Workplace Relations Framework Report on the 21of December, 2015.The report found the workplace relations system is in need of repair, but not replacement.Upon review, the report suggests that there are necessary changes in multiple areas that would ultimately affect employers as well as employees. The following areas explore the most integral recommendations of the report.It is important to note that the report does not put forward the need for fundamental change in the unfair dismissal law.However, the suggested changes are significant and would destroy the remains of the unfair dismissal laws.The Productivity Commission suggests to implement a two-stage test for unfair dismissal claims. The first stage would determine whether the reasons for dismissal were valid.If proven genuine, the second stage determines if the correct process was followed in termination.Therein lies an inherent tension and a suspected lack of knowledge of how the laws actually work, with the suggestions for change expected to be based on anecdotes. It puts the cart before the horse, and fails to identify that if you follow the correct process, you normally achieve the right outcome.The report also recommends compensation as a valid remedy for dismissal, instead of the previously suggested reinstatement of employment. This is ineffective as the report admits compensation payments are by and large paltry. It is a return to the Howard Government policy.The proposed changes within the report would also affect small businesses.The suggestion to abolish the small business dismissal code by the Productivity Commission is foolish. It is this code that gives certainty to small business and a higher level of immunity to claims.The code benefits workers because it ensures a common test and means that working for a small business does not expose them to the whim of the employer dismissing them, as might otherwise be the case.With these changes, employers need to be more conscious of the potential impact the act of dismissing an employee may have to their business.Greater emphasis would be placed on employers ensuring that proper course is followed when dismissing an employee and to ensure that proper performance management processes are followed, for compensation would now be the likely outcome of any dismissal found to be unjust.The report calls for a more precise definition of what a workplace right is. The current framework differs in how extensive these protections are, with added uncertainty about their interpretation and implementation.One issue identified with the current general protections framework is the broad scope which it covers. The scope is there to cover a myriad of workplace rights, such as freedom of association and non-discrimination in the workplace. However, some feel it allows an unnecessary number of meritless claims to be made.The report acknowledges the positive impacts that this large scope covers and to remove such protection would put employees at the mercy of their employers. However, it has found that this breadth may have resulted in false general protection claims being made.More clearly defined meanings and applications of workplace rights, as well as reporting more information about general protections matters is proposed. All proposed changes have been suggested to be reviewed within 18 months of their implementation, to revaluate their effectiveness and impact on the workforce.The general protections laws are world class in supporting the Australian standard of fairness and freedom. That will cease if the recommendations proposed in the report are implemented.The report identifies the frequency of bullying behaviour in many Australian workplaces and acknowledges that the effectiveness of the provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) have not yet had time to be properly evaluated.Having only been introduced three years ago and with a small number of claims being made, the report acknowledges the limitations when properly assessing the effectiveness of the workplace bullying provisions.Due to this, the laws surrounding workplace bullying will remain largely unchanged.However, two amendments have been put forward for consideration for employees who feel they have been the victim of workplace bullying.These recommendations include the condition that those who submit a bullying application to the Fair Work Commission now need to prove that they have previously sought help from an independent regulatory agency such as a state work health and safety body.To add a duplication to the claim is to be inefficient and demonstrates a flaw in the Productivity Commission thinking. It would also cause increased costs and delay as the victim would need to make duplicated claims. Furthermore, the victim would need to explain why the first agency was unable to assist.The second recommendation is to expand the provisions regarding bullying to include the conduct of union officials towards workers and employees.That would show that the Productivity Commission is not impartial in its thinking. To rope in union officials who are not in the workforce is to leave it open to abuse.However, whether employees will choose to submit a complaint regarding workplace bullying remains unclear especially with the absence of compensation cited as a reason for the small number of claims.Many employers still have little faith in the provisions surrounding workplace bullying  with some being of the contention that they are used as a method to extract advantageous exit packages from employers.The laws are due to come under review in the near future, with the findings forming important input with the potential for a dedicated anti-bullying avenue within the Workplace Relations Framework.If the changes proposed in the Productivity Commission report were to come to fruition  employers would now need to put a stronger emphasis on proper processes to minimise the number of claims that could be made against them under the Fair Work Act laws.Many employers are welcoming these proposed changes such as less extensive definitions of what a workplace right is, with a common feeling that employees have the right to do and say what they please without accountability.However, in a contrasting opinion - many employees would feel that these recommended changes deny them further of their right to be respected and appreciated for what they do.In conclusion, any case that is brought before the Fair Work Commission will rise and fall in their own circumstances, depending on the merit of the case.Whether or not the recommendations of the Productivity Commission report have a positive or negative impact on the laws will not truly be able to be evaluated until implemented, if at all.
Along the Mediterranean Sea is the beautiful city of Barcelona, Spain. Last week, it played host to the worlds largest mobile industry gathering. In addition to attracting 100,000 professionals from around the world, the 2016 MWC (Mobile World Conference) showcased over 2,000 industry exhibits. The MWC is such a popular annual event, the local Barcelona TV station: www.btv.cat, broadcast it live. Mobile communications is big, and so is the potential of mobile money, which was one topic discussed during the MWC. The GSMA Mobile Money program (think PayPal) is being used in 85 percent of the countries lacking access to formal financial institutions. According to GSMA (Global System for Mobile Communications), which represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, there are 271 Mobile Money services available in 93 countries. Over 1 billion individual Mobile Money digital transactions were processed during December 2015. Are you using the short-range, wireless Near Field Communication (NFC) chip inside your mobile smartphone for tap-to-pay? You can quickly pay for a purchase by simply tapping your smartphone against a stores NFC compatible payment terminal to wirelessly transmit your payment information, and quickly complete a transaction. Samsung Electronics Co., held demonstrations showing their newest Galaxy S7 Edge smartphones compatibility with the Gear VR (Virtual Reality) gaming headset. When worn, the VR headset looks like futuristic aviator eye goggles. There are many virtual events you can teleport to, using the AltspaceVR application. This app brings people together in a social virtual reality environment. One experiences VR from a 360 degree, immersive world perspective, and can participate in virtual reality scenarios with other people using the AltspaceVR app. VR venues include: deserts, outer space stations, hiking trials, scuba diving, and most any other setting you can imagine. You can virtually share experiences and interact with others while watching movies, playing games, or even while enjoying the comedian performing inside a virtual comedy club. Learn more about sharing virtual reality with anyone, anywhere at: www.altvr.com During MWC, many electronic wearables were exhibited, including a new fitness tracker in your choice of colorized, artsy-looking, plastic-sculpted wristbands. Its called the Garmin Vivofit 3. This wearable uses a backlit display, and tracks activities using its Move IQ auto feature. Move IQ monitors ones walking, running, biking, elliptical training, and swimming (its water resistant to 164 feet). It keeps track of the number of calories burned, and evaluates how you sleep. An alert-tone can be activated if youre physically inactive for too long (I might disable this feature). The Garmin Vivofit 3 battery lasts for one year. Accenture Digital presented: The Era of Living Services. Living Services associates itself with the interconnected IoT (Internet of Things) devices inside the cloud; commonly known as the Internet. The reason its called Living Services, is because the IoT wearable devices we use travel and live with us in real-time. They continuously gather information about our varied surroundings; this accumulated data allows a personalized profile to be created. Accenture Digitals analytical software studies this information, and provides suggestions on how we can better ourselves within our surroundings. Computer processing chip maker Intel Corp., along with Ericsson (a communications company), presented several 5G mobile wireless technology demonstrations. Demonstrations showed how 5G technologies will improve the operation of robotics, building security systems; cars connected the Internet via 5G, and the energy management systems within smart homes and businesses. They also showed real-world applications of using 5G technology benefits used within rural agriculture applications. Two included remotely controlling farm machinery, and information-gathering haptic helicopters (aerial drones). Facebooks Chairman and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, after appearing last year, was once again in Barcelona. We believe that everyone should have access to the Internet, he addressed the conference attendees. Its kind of crazy . . . were sitting here in 2016, and still, 4 billion in the world dont have access to the Internet. Zuckerberg went on to say; This year were going to launch our first satellite over Africa in order to be able to work with operators to extend connectivity [of the Internet]. The Graphene Pavilion area at the MWC showcased its research and latest achievements, along with prototype devices made with graphene materials. Use of graphene will allow for extreme flexibility and bendability for much thinner wearables, smartphones, IoT devices, display screens, and batteries. The impact of graphene applications in the mobile industry will be profound, said Prof. Frank Koppens, of The Institute of Photonic Sciences located in Barcelona. The website for Graphene Flagship the European Unions largest research initiative, is: www.graphene-flagship.eu. While watching the live Barcelona MWC TV broadcast, I noticed many of the walls inside the conference center had these three large, prominently written words: MOBILE IS EVERYTHING. I agree. Advances in mobile technology are essential; being it serves as the transport medium for todays and tomorrows IoT. By keeping ourselves educated, we better understand of how mobiles technical fabric is being interwoven into our lives. Search the latest tweets/messages on Twitter from this years Mobile World Conference using hashtag #mwc16. The website for the MWC is: www.mobileworldlive.com. Follow the Twitter rants and ramblings of yours truly here: @bitsandbytes.
Ivan Raconteur

Editor LESTER PRAIRIE, MN  Lester Prairie School District is one of 18 school districts throughout the entire state to post a 100 percent graduation rate through the previous four years, according to the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE). In addition, according to the list of 2015 Minnesota graduation rates released by the MDE, Lester Prairie School District is one of just nine schools with an enrollment of more than 30 students to make the prestigious list, according to a release from Lester Prairie Schools. Statewide, the average graduation rate for 2015 was 81.9 percent. The statewide average has been steadily increasing since 2011, when the rate was 72.2 percent. Graduating from high school is an important step in a students life, opening doors to higher education, a wider array of jobs, and better wages throughout their lifetime, Education Commissioner Brenda Cassellius said in a recent press release. Every percentage point, every increase, whether its one decimal point or double digits, represents another student who is graduating high school prepared for their next step in life. Reaching our goal of a statewide graduation rate of 90 percent does not happen in one year, she added. Lester Prairie Superintendent Jeremy Schmidt stated, Lester Prairie staff, community, school board, and students should be extremely proud of this accomplishment. It is a tribute to the dedication, relationships, and hard work put in by each and every one of them. This is a success that should be shared by every single staff member and student who has been in our building through the last four years, he added. The high level of accountability plays a large part in this achievement, but so does the safety of the building, the relationship among students and staff members, and the time and effort our school puts into preparing our students to succeed and continue to learn in a changing world, Schmidt noted. Lester Prairie School District has added programs in recent years to help students achieve success and graduate on time. The addition of PBIS, Olweus, and the LP REACH program have been instrumental in providing an environment for students to learn safely and focus on academics while in the school building, Schmidt added. This is truly a testament to everything that is going on within our school system, including the support of the parents, staff, and community, Lester Prairie Principal Nat Boyer said. Furthermore, to see this type of success continue to take place validates our one-school-building approach to education. We look forward to continuing success in the belief of what we have done and continue to do at Lester Prairie. To see more information about graduation rates, CLICK HERE.
What to know about Saturday's Brown County Semistate cross country race

Saturday's races will begin at 11:30 a.m. (girls) and 12:15 p.m. (boys). The top six teams and top 10 individuals not on those teams advance to state.
The world has been on tenterhooks ever since the extent of the Ebola crisis became known. Despite its initial slow response, the global health community has been able to coordinate an effective international response to stem the spread of the Ebola virus in West Africa. With the emergency response slowing down, just enough for the affected countries to begin with the onerous task of rebuilding their health systems, the world has now been hit by another public health challenge with the spread of the Zika virus in South and Central Americas.

While it causes only mild fever in humans that lasts two to seven days, with skin-rashes and other symptoms similar to dengue and chikungunya, the sudden increase in reported cases of microcephaly is adding to the concerns around Zika. Microcephaly is a rare condition where babies are born with smaller heads and often severe cognitive disabilities. The Brazilian government is currently investigating approximately 3,670 suspected microcephaly cases and their link to Zika. Besides microcephaly, the Brazilian government has also reported an increased number of people affected with the Guillain-Barre syndrome in which a persons own immune system damages the nerve cells.

It must be noted that Brazil was able to identify these cases only due to its effective disease surveillance and health systems.

Alongside Brazil, the Colombian president has also announced that more than 3,100 pregnant Colombian women are infected with the mosquito-borne Zika virus.

What makes the spread of Zika even more worrisome is the ubiquity of the Aedes mosquito which acts as the carrier of the virus. Various species of the mosquito are present across the world and cause a host of tropical diseases in densely-populated regions such as South Asia, including India. Since there have been reported cases of sexual transmission of the virus, the prospect of further contagion, facilitated by infected international travellers and the upcoming Olympic Games in Brazil, is adding to the grave concerns around Zika. As per recent updates, China has confirmed its first case, with a Chinese citizen who travelled to Venezuela testing positive for the Zika virus.

The World Health Organization has declared Zika a public health emergency. This will go a long way in shoring up international efforts to stop the virus spread, generating consistency in the research efforts to better understand the nature of the virus, and mobilising the necessary sources to develop the right diagnostics and vaccines.

However, Zika may just be one of the many to come. Researchers have predicted that the effects of climate change and rising temperatures will lead to frequent and much more severe outbreaks of existing and newer vector-borne diseases. The international community and national policy-makers must take this view into consideration and invest towards pandemic preparedness to ensure that these outbreaks do not spiral into national or international public health emergencies.

To prepare ourselves against Zika in India, we can ramp up our sanitation programmes and integrated vector-control efforts to reduce the numbers of the Aedes mosquito. Additionally, we can operationalise an early warning system, as well as activate a sentinel surveillance system  similar to the one we have for dengue  to track cases of the viral infection. We can also leverage technologies such as the Plaque Reduction Neutralization Test for detecting and measuring antibodies that can neutralise the Zika virus.

Most importantly, considering that vaccines are a cornerstone of the preventive healthcare efforts, we can urgently develop a potent vaccine against the Zika virus.

Zika and its possible link with microcephaly have galvanised international attention and led to a race against time to develop candidate vaccines to prevent further damage. A consortium of organisations  including Canadas Laval University, the University of Pennsylvania, Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. and GeneOne Life Science Inc.  is already working on a vaccine which could be ready for emergency use before the end of this year.

While, not the most opportune, this is a timely reminder of the value of vaccines in reducing human suffering caused by preventable diseases, and in generating economic value by averting morbidity and mortality. Vaccines are one of the most cost-effective health interventions available to mankind, and it is imperative that we fully leverage them for the value that they can provide. India has been able to build thriving vaccines and biological ecosystems  the country is already one of the largest suppliers of vaccines to the United Nations system of agencies. Building on their cost-competitiveness and talent pool, the Indian vaccine manufacturers are now moving up the innovation value-chain and developing vaccines for neglected tropical diseases such as dengue, chikungunya, etc. We must ensure that while we make for the world, we also work towards making Indian citizens and policy-makers realise the great benefits of introducing new vaccines and expanding access to immunisation services, especially to those belonging to the most vulnerable sections of our society.

There is no doubt that vaccine research and development would again become the centrepiece of the efforts to contain the spread of Zika. India must seize this opportunity to impress upon the various stakeholders the critical role of vaccination as a comprehensive preventive healthcare strategy that may be needed more and more in the years to come.

NK Ganguly is a visiting professor of eminence, Policy Centre for Biomedical Research, Translational Health Science and Technology Institute

The views expressed are personal
Human resource development minister Smriti Iranis position in Parliament on the alleged derogatory references to goddess Durga in Jawaharlal Nehru University and the lack of an intellectual challenge to her are a sad testament to something like the assertion of Brahminical Hinduism, constructed in the work of Manu, Yajnavalkya, Brihaspati, Raghunanda, etc.

The minister is simply concerned with the derogatory references. She did not think going into the antecedents of Durga killing Mahishashur fell within her remit.

Sadly, not one in Parliament went into the question as to who the Asuras are, why they are so horribly poor, etc. The Asuras are a tribe in what is now the state of Jharkhand and West Bengal. Appropriately they should be called Asura Agarias (the second name owes its origin to aag, which means fire), engaged in iron-smelting (source: Verrier Elwin, The Agaria). Loosely the Lohar caste in Bengal falls in the same category. And it is also true that the Asuras mourn the killing of Mahishashur, their prince born of the union of an Asura king and a female buffalo.

Read | Durga row to offering her head: Smriti Irani is controversys child

The meaning of the word Asura has also undergone a transformation. In the early Vedic period gods such as Indra and Agni have been described as Asura. It was only later that they acquired demoniacal characteristics after the long war between the gods and the Asuras, and after the defeat of the latter.

All across the country, there are cults that have arisen in opposition to the mainstream Hindu religion. Over centuries caste-Hindus too began to worship them, and some have cited this as the religions absorptive capacity. Some are existing alongside the greater Hindu tradition, pointing to the fact that the priests and soldiers of the religion have tolerated them, albeit grudgingly.

NSUI president Rozi M John, along with other students, shouts slogans during a protest against HRD minister Smriti Irani. (PTI Photo)

In Bengal there have been variants of Durga, such as Singhavahini, Vishalakshshi, Shakambhari and Sharbani. In central India there are goddesses which, though tribal in origin, are trying to make an entry into the fold of Hinduism.

Read | Iranis statements on Durga in Parl couldve been avoided: Shiv Sena

In Bengal there was also a practice of sacrificing buffaloes (mahish means buffalo) at the time of Durga Puja, to which Rabindranath Tagore objected in his verse play Bisarjan and novel Rajarshi (the story in both cases is the same). For the poet, this amounted to shedding blood in the name of god.

There is also the example of the Buddha, the only historical figure who was made into an avatar of Lord Vishnu. While on the one hand this could mean the openness of Hinduism, on the other hand this clearly has the implication that Buddhism was on the wane and ceased to be a force before its final capitulation and disappearance from the land of its birth.

Ravana is worshipped as a god in various regions. At a lower level, there are gods that fight each other. While Dokhkhin Roy is said to be the god of the tigers in southern West Bengal, its rival is Bon Bibi, who protects people from the attacks of Roy.

During the previous NDA rule, when there was a controversy on the reference to a school textbook saying Durga drank liquor, Pranab Mukherjee intervened to say as a fact it was not wrong.

One wishes these things came up for discussion in Parliament and not the vapoury things that happened in JNU.

(Views expressed by the author are personal.)

Read | Cited Durga, Mahishasur to explain the truth: Smriti Irani tells opposition

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An incendiary and violent jobs reservation protest by young people from the Jat community in Haryana got very close to bringing the capital of India to a standstill. Is this an ominous sign of social upheaval that looms in the horizon?

Henrik Urdal of the Harvard Kennedy School finds that globally, it is nearly all young men who fight in wars or commit violent crimes and found that a youth bulge made them more strife-prone. When 15-24-year-olds made up more than 35% of the adult population  as is common in developing countries  the risk of conflict was 150% higher than with a rich-country age profile.

By 2020, the average age in India will be 29 and it is set to become the worlds youngest country with 64% of its population in the working age group. With Western Europe, the United States, South Korea, Japan and even China aging, this demographic potential offers India and its growing economy an unprecedented edge that economists believe could add a significant 2% to the GDP growth rate.

However, Western Europe, the US, South Korea, Japan and China have grown rich before they have grown old. They invested in education and skills, health, empowerment and employment and ensured women joined the workforce, as they were empowered to plan their families.

India is currently enjoying a demographic dividend, which means it has a higher labour force than the population dependent on it. While this may appear a reason for blissful complacency, it must be remembered that by the latter half of the century India will have an increasingly aging population, yet the country lacks a social security net adequate for the needs of its people.

A demographic disaster also looms. This is caused by low levels of investment in education and health. Currently a majority of Indian workers  nine out of 10  are in the informal sector, where employment is unsteady, pay is poor and social security is lacking.

Education, especially secondary education for girls, must be prioritised. The gross enrolment ratio for girls at the secondary school level is 73.7 (slightly higher than for boys) but the government cannot rest until that number is 100. The 10% cut in government allocation for the school sector means the push towards total gross enrolment just got harder. We wonder if the Union budget being presented today will take note of this.

The country must also generate large-scale employment, to ensure more women join the work force. Concurrently, access to quality higher education must be expedited; currently, 75% of graduates  by some estimates  are not considered employable.

The healthcare sector is really where India must up its game. Rates of malnutrition among Indias children are almost five times higher than Chinas and twice of those in Sub-Saharan Africa. A staggering 75% of new mothers are anaemic.

Healthcare in India is so pathetic that without a seismic change the demographic dividend may not last as long as envisaged. The country has one of the lowest government expenditures on public health at a measly 1.2% of GDP. Fellow BRICS countries, China and Brazil, spend 5.5% and 9% of the GDP on healthcare, respectively. In 2015, the Indian government slashed the budgets for both the education and health sectors.

Consider some statistics: Around 700,000 unqualified doctors are practising medicine in Indian hospitals. Some 50% of Indians (and 60% of those living in rural areas) travel at least 5 km to access a healthcare centre and in rural India, 8% of primary healthcare centres do not have medical staff. Less than 15% of the population has a healthcare insurance cover. A single illness in a poor family can push it below the poverty line.

Appropriate policies, strategies and programmes need to be put into place immediately. Priority must be given to substantially lowering fertility (currently Total Fertility Rate/TFR is 2.5) and lowering maternal and child mortality. While overall, India is on track to achieving replacement level fertility of 2.1 children per woman, the TFR of 2.5 masks disparities between urban and rural areas with TFRs of 1.8 and 2.6, respectively, and regional variation between states, notably between northern states like Uttar Pradesh (TFR 3.3) where the illiteracy and poverty rates are high and more developed southern states like Kerala (TFR of 1.8), which also has the highest literacy rate in India.

As Haryana is showing, without concerted action, India could face a backlash from the growing numbers of disgruntled, unemployed or unemployable youth that will emerge as has already been witnessed in many other parts of India.

However, in a best-case scenario, if India makes healthcare the governments central priority, it could grow at an unprecedented rate. The country would do well to start by following the example of African countries, many of which in 2001 pledged to allocate 15% of their GDP to public health. A matching investment in education and skills would be an appropriate starting point.

So India, too, must grow rich before it grows old. For that to happen, increased investments in education and health must be central to its public policy. All eyes are on the finance minister today.

Siddharth Chatterjee a former Indian Army officer and is presently UNFPAs Representative in Kenya

Unni Karunakara is a former International President of Medecins Sans Frontieres and now a senior fellow at Yale University

The views expressed are personal
Kaneswaran Avili, former chief commercial officer of SpiceJet, is set for a comeback in India  this time through a hotel aggregator selling clean and affordable rooms to Indian travellers.

Global Rooms, a company founded by the Malaysia-based Avili, is a virtual hotel chain under Nida Rooms on the lines of Oyo Rooms. Though the start-up was incorporated in September 2015, it officially launched operations earlier this year.

We have already locked in over 3,000 hotels (5.4 million rooms annually) across four countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, said Avili, CEO and co-founder of Global Rooms, who has previously worked with AirAsia, Tiger Airlines and Garuda Indonesia.

Avili said the company will initially focus on Indonesia and Malaysia. Starting March, we will increase our footprint in Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines. The third stage of expansion covers India, where we will tie up with big Indian travel portals so our inventory can be offered to Indian travellers as well as our clients in southeast Asia. We will ultimately have to come to India because this market has immense potential, and cannot be ignored, said Avili, who put in $1.5 million as seed capital along with a friend and is currently on the verge of raising another $3 million from venture capitalists.

In our model, we enter into agreement with existing hotels by locking around 40% of the rooms that would be dedicated exclusively to us. Unlike Oyo Rooms, where the entire hotel is rebranded, Nida Rooms will modify only a certain portion of the establishment to meet its standards, he said.

He said that as the average occupancy rate for hotels in this category hovers around the 60%, Nida helps them cover a part of the 40% that remains unoccupied through the year.

Owing to his long stint in India, Avili must know that Indian budget travelers and backpackers mostly look for clean rooms with comfortable beds, television sets, air conditioning and Wi-fi. That should be the focus of his venture, said travel veteran Rajji Rai, who heads the Swift Travel group.

Avili said his primary concern is to ensure that all travellers get a good nights sleep of 12 hours. To make sure that hotels meet our quality parameters, we undertake an audit of each one before signing up. All guests booking rooms through the portal can expect a comfortable bed, clean linen, attached bathroom, hot shower, cable television, air conditioning, and  most importantly  free Wi-fi, he said.

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With the Patiala House Bar Association set to hold an election in April, the lawyers body maintained a stoic silence over the violence at the court complex where advocates allegedly beat up journalists and students, including the arrested JNU student union president Kanhaiya Kumar.

While the Coordination Committee of all District Court Bar Associations claimed that certain outsiders in lawyers robes were involved in the violence, those condemning the assaults didnt do so openly.

These outsiders, mainly lawyers from other courts, are a significant vote bank which impacts the bar association elections. As the elections of the Patiala House Court Bar Association is scheduled in April, no one wants to upset them, said a lawyer, on condition of anonymity.

Many lawyers are registered with more than one association and have cross-voting rights too, said an advocate, requesting anonymity.

He said the lawyers support each other in different district courts, and the anarchy will continue without the one bar-one vote rule.

The New Delhi Bar Association s (NDBA) constitution only allows sitting members (lawyers) to vote, but a different tradition has developed over the last decade, he said.

NDBA is also called the Patiala House Court Bar Association.

NDBA chairman RK Wadhwa said, It is not about bar politics. The violence would have not occurred had the court restricted entry of the visitors. People in large numbersgathered inside the courtHad there be no protesters, violence would have not happened.

He said only litigants should be allowed inside the court complex.

We have passed a resolution on the same with a copy to the Chief Justice of India, the high court, the police commissioner and the local deputy commissioner of police, he said.

Delhi High Court Bar Association president Rajiv Khosla did not comment on the issue.

But he said it was not right to blame the bar elections for the responses. A meeting of the Bar Council of India is taking place on Sunday. The issue will be discussed in the meeting, he said.
The Delhi Police chief may have been surrounded by several controversies off late, at the end of a relatively smooth tenure of two years and seven months. He spoke to HT about how his term was extremely satisfying, fruitful and great fun.

What was your main responsibility when you took charge as commissioner? Was it fulfilled?

Whatever I thought needed to be done has been done. I came with an agenda for truthful registration of cases which we successfully achieved. I laid an emphasis on free registration of crime cases and it went up from 54,000 cases in 2013 to 1,90,000 in 2015. It is my guarantee that no complainant can now say that case is not being registered at a local police station. I came with the vision to ingrain this in Delhi Police and the result has been heartening. Secondly, I believe technology can help policing in a big way. I took steps to get my officers trained in technology.

Your relationship with the Delhi government, especially CM Kejriwal, bagged a lot of headlines. Your comments?

It is very unfortunate that Mr Kejriwal did not fully appreciate the functional autonomy of the Delhi Police. The forces actions based on merit and mandated by law have been misconstrued and projected differently. We in the force did not in the least expect motivated allegations born out of vendetta.

You have been criticised for a knee-jerk reaction to the JNU row and acting on the behest of the Centre. Your view?

It is unfortunate that an unwarranted controversy is being generated by certain quarters. Action by Delhi Police under 164A is based on merit and the investigation has been fair. Delhi Police works without fear. It is the Delhiites good fortune that the police functioning is not subjected to extraneous pressures... Unnecessary controversy is being perceived by some people in something that is not controversial.

Should the Delhi Police be under the state government?

It will not be desirable. The system established has stood the test of time for four decades. Policing requirements never failed citizens of Delhi, despite limited resources. This has not been the case with other organs of the state. For instance, the ambulance services in Delhi have not kept the pace with the citys growth. Our PCR vans rush 200 persons to hospital each day, which is done nowhere in the world. The state should concentrate on governance and leave policing to the department.

Do you have any regrets?

The Delhi Police has done everything right. We have zero regrets. In fact, the tenure has been very satisfying. It has been bumpy, but I had great fun.

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Around five million people are likely to be affected on Monday by the latest water crisis to hit Delhi which was forced to shut three treatment plants due to highly contaminated supply from Haryana.

North Delhi, central Delhi and Dwarka and Palam in the southwest may go without water, two days after the water plants were shut as pollutants from the Panipat dye drain -- carrying untreated sewage and industrial waste -- pushed Yamunas ammonia levels alarmingly high.

Based on the reports that I got, it can be seen that poisonous water is being dumped into the waters in Haryana in some places it is irresponsible behaviour as we have been forced to shut down plants, Delhi minister Kapil Mishra said on Sunday.

Ammonia levels rose to around 4 parts per million in the Wazirabad pond as opposed to the acceptable 0.5 parts per million, considered safe for drinking.

At the drain in Panipat  a textile industry hub 86km from Delhi  ammonia levels were recorded at 56 ppm, said Mishra, also the chairperson of the Delhi Jal Board, the citys water distributor.

The Wazirabad pond supplies water to the Wazirabad, Chandrawal and Okhla water treatment plants. The Dwarka plant is already shut because of the damage to the Munak Canal.

The second water crisis comes within a week of large parts of the Capital running dry during the Jat agitation for quota in government jobs and colleges in neighbouring Haryana that saw widespread violence and huge damage to public property. Bulk of Delhis water comes from Haryana.

Protesters not only laid siege to the canal but also caused extensive damage to the citys lifeline that brings 400 million gallons of water  45% of the total supply  every day.

Though the stir ended a few days ago, the supply is yet to normalise in Delhi, which even at the best of times is short of water. High ammonia levels led to closure of the plants last week as well but the situation improved within two days.

The shutting down of the four of the nine plants means Delhi will be short of 280 million gallons on Monday.

We have requested Haryana to shut down the Panipat drain, especially since the Munak canal is broken and water is being re-routed to Delhi from elsewhere (drains 2 and 8), Mishra said.

After getting pollution under control, the plants had on Friday managed to supply around 820 million gallons. DJB supplies 900 million gallons of water per day.

DJB has also identified algae at the mouth of drain 2 in Panipat as a problem as they can choke the filters of the treatment plants. The board plans to write to the Central Pollution Control Board, home secretary, and Union ministry of water resources to look into the matter.
The Delhi Police are still to find the dimly-lit, isolated spot in central Delhis Prasad Nagar where a 19-year-old German national was raped by an auto-rickshaw driver and molested by his friends on December 14, 2015.

An FIR in this connection was registered on February 24, 71 days after the woman  who is in India for charity work  became a victim of the crime.

The woman had first informed the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) about the crime through an e-mail on February 5. But, police said, the DCW had kept the issue under wraps for the next 15 days and asked her to come to the Capital and file a case with the Delhi Police. This delay resulted in crucial time loss in evidence collection, which is now hampering the probe, a police officer said.

A notice will now be served to the DCW by the Delhi Police asking why they delayed in informing the police about the crime which involved a foreign national, said a senior police officer.

We will ask them why they did not inform their counterparts in Maharashtra and instead waited for the rape survivor to return to the city, said the officer.

Four teams, each led by an Inspector, have been formed under the supervision of two ACPs and central districts DCPs, to crack the case. Apart from the scene of crime, investigators now will have to collect information about the alleged perpetrators and details about the Good Samaritan who found her sitting on the sidewalk and dropped her at her hotel in his vehicle.

Parmaditya, DCP (central), said, Its a blind case. We are trying to identify the suspects and bring them to book.

Police to recreate sequence of events

Investigators said they will record the girls statement before a city court and seek her assistance in recreating the sequence of events that occurred on night of the incident. She will first be taken to the hotel where she had stayed with her male friend.

From the hotel, the girl will be taken to identify the stretch which she had taken while taking a stroll. We want to know if she remembers any building or landmark near the crime scene. Any physical description about the auto-rickshaw driver or details about his three-wheeler will be of great help, an officer said.

It is unlikely that the police will obtain any CCTV footage pertaining to the crime, as footage recordings are normally deleted after 15 days to 2 months after a recording.

The girl had been raped while she took a stroll on the night of December 14. The teen claimed that she had lost her way back to her hotel and flagged down an auto to take her back. The auto driver instead took her to an isolated dimly lit stretch and raped her.
An analysis of Nasa satellite data released last week on particulate matter had a severe warning for India: For the first time in this century, the average particulate matter exposure was higher for India than that for China. Though this news came after only a few weeks of sustained public engagement on air pollution in December and January, the report, released by Greenpeace, seems to have been unfortunately lost in the countrys manic news cycle. As a part of its recommendations, the NGO said since pollution travels hundreds of kilometers, there should be national, regional and city-level action plans with measurable targets to lower pollution levels. Chinas strong measures, the report added, to curb pollution have contributed to the biggest year-on-year air quality improvement on record; while in contrast, Indias pollution continued a decade-long increase to reach the highest level on record.

Here is why the report needs to be taken seriously: According to the World Health Organization, India is home to 13 out of 20 most polluted cities in the world with deteriorating air pollution levels during the past decade, particularly in North India. Greenpeace has also revealed that as many as 15 of the 17 Indian cities with National Air Quality Index stations showed levels of air pollution that far exceeded the prescribed Indian standards and that 23 of the 32 stations across India are showing more than 70% above the national standards, putting public health at risk.

The central government has often claimed that while development is its key target, pollution will also get the required attention. In fact, in April, while launching Indias first air quality index, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India needed to be sensitive towards nature and the environment. What needs to be seen now is whether the central government walks the talk in the Budget by taking some effective measures like lowering duties on hybrid vehicles so that more and more people can buy them and whether it makes solar panels cheaper so that they become cost-effective for people wishing to install them for clean power. Today, you need to invest Rs 1 lakh for generating 1 kW of power. If this investment could be cut to say, Rs 50,000, it will push more and more people to install them. There could be other incentives also. For example, Bangladesh has decided to give discounts on electricity and property tax bills to households generating solar power. To tackle air pollution, the government also needs to invest hugely in urban mass transport, especially buses, which, unlike metros, can provide last-mile connectivity. In addition, its routes can also be retrofitted to the ever-changing landscape of urban India.
At the end of his second term as President of the United States of America, Barack Obama has decided to close the detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay in US territory in Cuba. Speaking to the media on this on Tuesday, he said he would approach the US Congress. He said it was an opportunity to finally eliminate a terrorist propaganda tool, strengthen relationships with allies, enhance national security, and, most importantly, save the taxpayer millions of dollars. In an appeal to the nation Mr Obama said, For many years it has been clear that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay does not advance our national security...it undermines it.

The plan, according to Mr Obama, has four main elements: To transfer 31 detainees to other countries, accelerate periodic reviews of detainees to see the need to continue the detention or not, use legal tools on remaining detainees, and find a secure location in the US to shift the remaining detainees.

Interestingly, Mr Obama stressed how former president George W Bush and John McCain, both Republicans, agreed on the need to close it, and how it later became a partisan issue. That opposition continues even today. Republicans have come out opposing the US Presidents plan and most Democrats are conspicuously silent on it. Speaker of the House of Representatives Ryan Paul, on Wednesday, said that they had the numbers in Congress to oppose the plan. In his victory speech after the Nevada caucus Donald Trump, Republican frontrunner for the partys presidential nomination, said about the detention facility that were going to keep it open, load it up with bad dudes.

However, former US secretary of state Colin Powell has come out in support of the plan saying that it is in the US best interest  but voices of support are few and far between.

Mr Obama also stressed the financial benefits of closing the facility. He said that while $450 million was required to keeping the facility running last year, according to his plan taxpayers would be saving up to $850 million every year. But if the people were to choose between a few millions of dollars or a terror attack, they are likely to choose the former.

The truth is unless a miracle were to happen Mr Obama is unlikely to get this passed in a Republican-dominated Congress. Thus, it looks more likely that the attempt to close the detention facility is Mr Obamas chance to remind the US of his efforts through his seven years in office.

This also reflects the US struggle with its war on terror. While on the one hand it works towards eliminating terror, on the other it does not have a credible plan  not after 15 years  on how to go about it.

On legacy, the JCPOA, or the Iran deal, is definitely a great achievement and it will be erroneous to compare it to his latest Guantanamo Bay plan.

Mr Obama has said that it is a win-win plan as this would ensure US safety, uphold US values around the world and also save every year millions of dollars of taxpayers money. Sadly, there are very few takers for his argument.
Do you get stressed easily?

You should probably take it easy and let it go a little.

According to a new study, how you perceive and react to stressful events is more important to your health than how frequently you encounter stress.

Researchers from Pennsylvania State University and Columbia University in the US analysed data collected from 909 participants, including daily telephone interviews over eight consecutive days and the results from an electrocardiogram.

Read: Beware! Experiencing financial stress can trigger physical pain

The participants were between the ages of 35 and 85 and were drawn from a national study.

During the daily phone interviews, participants were asked to report the stressful events they had experienced that day, rating how stressful each event was by choosing not at all, not very, somewhat or very.

They were also asked about their negative emotions that day, such as feeling angry, sad and nervous. On average, participants reported having at least one stressful experience on 42 per cent of the interview days, and these experiences were generally rated as somewhat stressful.

Researchers found that participants who reported a lot of stressful events in their lives were not necessarily those who had lower heart rate variability.

No matter how many or how few stressful events a person faces it was those who perceived the events as more stressful or who experienced a greater spike in negative emotions that had lower heart rate variability - meaning these people may be at a higher risk for heart disease.

Higher heart rate variability - the variation in intervals between consecutive heartbeats - is better for health as it reflects the capacity to respond to challenges, said Nancy L Sin from Pennsylvania State University.

Read: Your stress is exposing your child to diabetes

People with lower heart rate variability have a greater risk of cardiovascular disease and premature death, said Sin.

One potential pathway linking stress to future heart disease is a dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system - a case of a persons normally self-regulated nervous system getting off track, researchers said.

These results tell us that a persons perceptions and emotional reactions to stressful events are more important than exposure to stress per se, said Sin.

Read: Avoid stress while preparing for exams

This adds to the evidence that minor hassles might pile up to influence health, she said.

The findings were published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more.
When Michael Jackson died in 2009, his assets were immediately taken into account by executors of his estate. However, nearly seven years later, it has been discovered that one of Jacksons most prized possessions has gone missing.

Read: Michael Jacksons Thriller is now the highest-selling album ever

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Oscar for Best Picture awarded to Gone With the Wind producer David O Selznick  which Jackson had purchased in a Sothebys auction  is no where to be found.

The Oscar for Best Picture awarded to Gone With the Wind producer David O Selznick  which Jackson had purchased in a Sothebys auction. (Tublr)

The late King of Pop bought the 1940 Best Picture statuette for $1.54 million - considerably more than its $3,00,000 worth - at an auction in 1999, but executors of his estate are now unable to find the trophy.

The estate does not know where the Gone With the Wind statuette is, Jacksons attorney Howard Weitzman told The Hollywood Reporter. We would like to have that Oscar because it belongs to Michaels children. Im hopeful it will turn up at some point.

Read: 5 controversies that never left MJ alone

Jacksons three children, Michael, 19, Paris, 17, and Prince, 14, as well as his mother Katherine Jackson, were named beneficiaries of the trust he established and to which he left all his assets, according to the terms of his 2002 will. Michaels famous Neverland ranch recently went up for sale for $100m.

It is unclear whether the Billie Jean hitmaker kept the Oscar - which was awarded to legendary producer David O Selznick - at his Neverland estate in California, the Los Angeles home he shared with the children, when he died, or even at a storage facility.

Madonna with Michael Jackson at Academy Awards (1991). (Pinterest)

In November 2008, Michael transferred the title of Neverland to Sycamore Valley Ranch Company LLC - a joint venture between him and a Colony affiliate.

The Beat It hitmaker purchased the ranch - which was named after the fantasy island which features in Peter Pan, a book series by novelist JM Barrie - for $19.5m in 1987.

Watch our live coverage of Oscars 2016 on Monday, here.

Follow @htshowbiz for more.
Three suspects arrested by Pakistani authorities for allegedly facilitating the attack on Pathankot airbase have been remanded in the custody of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) of Punjab province, according to a media report on Sunday.

The suspects -- identified as Khalid Mahmood, Irshadul Haque and Muhammad Shoaib -- were arrested over suspicion that they were facilitators of the attack, the Dawn newspaper reported.

The three men were nabbed by the CTD from a house they had rented near Chand Da Qila bypass, located about 10 km from Gujranwala city.

On Saturday, anti-terrorism court judge Bushra Zaman gave the CTD physical remand of three suspects for six days. The suspects denied the charges.

They were taken to an undisclosed location for investigation, the report said.

It could not immediately be ascertained if the suspects were in any way linked to the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed, which India has blamed for the January 2 attack on Pathankot airbase which killed seven people.

These are the first formal arrests made in connection with the assault. Earlier, Pakistani authorities had placed several people, including JeM founder Masood Azhar, in protective custody.

News of the arrests emerged three days after Pakistan formed a new joint investigation team (JIT) that is expected to visit India next month to take forward the probe into the terror attack.

The five-member team, which includes representatives from the Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau and police, will replace a special investigation team (SIT) that conducted the initial probe.

The formal notification regarding the setting up of the JIT was issued on Thursday, a week after Pakistani authorities filed a First Information Report regarding the attack. The FIR is essential for investigators to travel to India to record evidence and interview witnesses.

(With inputs from agencies)

Read | Pakistan forms new team to probe Pathankot attack
Three days after the release of Hansal Mehta-directed Aligarh, the movie is yet to see the light of the day in Aligarh city.

Contradicting rumors that the film is banned, District Magistrate Dr Balkar Singh said, The movie is not banned in Aligarh. It is up to movie hall owners to screen the movie. The administration has nothing to do with its release.

Sudhir Sisodia, manager, Minakshi cinema hall said, The public are very excited about the movie. So we have requested the distributor to release the film.

The raging issues of LGBT and media freedom have triggered a debate and slowed down the release of the movie, which is based on the gay relations of Prof Shri Niwas Ramchandra Siras of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Although some LGBT organisations have termed the movie as a bold step towards liberalization, some have also questioned the role of media in encroaching upon privacy.

Nitin Raghvan, president of Gay Movement said, The film is a daring attempt to get recognised gay relations. Prof Siras has became an icon of gay movement.

Some intellectuals feel that the controversy over the movie has been raised unnecessarily. Social analyst N Jamal Ansari said, Creativity should not be bound, banned or subjected to interference. Opposition to the film is just hypocrisy.

Amidst the raging debate, some intellectuals have been demanding a cap on the limits of media. They want the the government to enact a fresh law to save the privacy of citizens. Advocate Pravin Gautam said, The film depicts media encroachment in personal life of a citizen which is against Constitutional provisions. A law should be enacted to stop the same.

However, both Hindu and Muslim organisations are of the view that the film should not be released at all. Dr Jasim Mohammad, secretary, forum for Muslim Studies & Analysis said, We are not demanding any ban on the film. We object the title of the movie as it sends out a wrong message about the city and AMU.
A film festival in Bengaluru showcasing films on gender and sexuality has run into trouble following controversial local media coverage of two performances centred on caste and nudity, respectively.

Organisers of the three-day Bangalore Queer Film Festival (BQFF, which ended on Sunday evening, have said coverage by a popular Kannada TV channel and newspaper may prompt the police to register a complaint against the event.

The controversy began on Thursday when the festival opened with a series of 12 performances on the theme of body and vulnerability, with two of them involving nudity.

One performer stood naked with hug me painted on his body  an attempt to reclaim the notion of shame around naked bodies, organisers said. The other performer covered just his face an attempt to symbolise caste and rituals around death.

But two days later, a local channel started playing photos of the performances on loop, after having allegedly accessed them from someones personal Facebook account. The anchors questioned if this kind of art could be a part of our tradition. The next day, a Kannada newspaper published an article debating whether nudity was art at all.

(Photo credit: Banglaore Queer Film Festival)

The ensuing controversy has left festival organisers fuming.

They published completely wrong facts about the festival and tried to defame the artists, the organisers and the venues. The festival is a private event meant for adults and these media articles are responsible for making them salacious and pornographic, said Nitya Vasudevan, one of the organisers.

Another organiser, Nithin Manayath, said two people from the team were called to the local police station for questioning. It seems the police are making a complaint. This is what media sensationalism of such an event does, he said.

The police have, however, sought to down play the issue. Police commissioner NS Megharik told HT that they will act only if somebody files a complaint against the festival organisers.

The organisers continue to be on edge, though. There is pressure on us. We have been called to meet some high ranking police officers on Monday but they havent told us why were being called, said one of the organisers.

But the artists refused to be cowed down by the controversy, saying their performances were inspired by themes of caste and rituals.

In our performances, we tried to address the issue of ones body and how identity is shaped based on being born into a particular caste , religion or race. For instance, if one is born a Hindu and later adopts another religion or becomes atheist, then how does the family decides what customary rituals are followed when you die? My inspiration for the performance was the painful tragedy around Rohit Vemulas death and the controversy around his caste identity, said Suresh Kumar, one of the artists.

A delegate attending the festival, Mr Daniel Kuriakose, also appeared to back the artists.

If we were consider the fact that for several centuries, the naked bodies of oppressed caste women have been paraded naked in order to shame or punish them, one is forced to believe that this notion of  samskruti is a concept that emerged from the hydra headed monster we call caste.

The BQFF is now in its 8th edition and has emerged as an important, crowd-funded international festival.
In a bid to exert pressure on the absconding Nawada MLA Raj Ballav Yadav to surrender and answer charges against him, the police started the process of attaching his property on Sunday. The MLA is accused of raping a minor.

Yadavs house-cum-RJD office in Nawada town, where he allegedly raped the minor, was attached.

More than 250 police personnel were deployed to avert any untoward incident during the execution of the court attachment order. Deployment started late Saturday night and vehicles entry to the area was banned.

A joint team of Nalanda and Nawada police, comprising eight DSPs rank police officers, besides CRPF, state rapid action forces and district armed police forces of Nawada and Nalanda, moved in together.

The police also attached the MLAs other immovable properties in Patna, Gaya, Nalanda and Nawada, besides two petrol pumps.

Nalanda SP Kumar Ashish confirmed that more attachments would take place until his arrest or surrender.

A large number of villagers, including the MLAs supporters, assembled at the spot while over 200 women protested against the police action.

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The informal grand alliance in West Bengal between the Left parties and the Congress may just get bigger.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury told HT they will also share seats with Nitish Kumars JD(U) and Lalu Prasads RJD, the ruling coalition in the neighbouring state of Bihar.

They can be given a seat each in West Bengal. There are areas in the state with large Hindi-speaking population. The JD(U) and the RJDs appeal can work in those places, Yechury said.

Seat-sharing talks are also on with Sharad Pawars NCP, the second-largest party in the erstwhile UPA when it lost power in 2014.

The possibility of the JD(U) and the RJD entering into a seat-sharing agreement with the Left parties and the Congress not only indicates a growing bonhomie among these parties but also a shrinking space for Mamata Banerjees Trinamool Congress in the federal front quarters.

Ironically, both Banerjee and the Left leaders were invited by Kumar to attend his swearing-in ceremony in Patna last year.

In the Bihar polls, Banerjee had extended her moral support to the JD(U)-RJD-Congress coalition while the Left parties fought against Kumar and Lalu, forming their own alliance of six parties.

The new seat-sharing arrangement can also be seen as yet another desperate attempt of the CPI(M) to regain ground, both in the state as well as nationally.

The Party Congress of the CPI(M), the highest body of the communist party, had decided that it would stick to Left democratic forces to strengthen the core vote bank.

But recently, it opened the door for alliances with the Congress in West Bengal to take on the Trinamool Congress that looks comfortably seated in power.

A politburo member of the CPI(M) said, There will, however, be no joint election rallies or meetings with the Congress for the polls. Yes, if the workers are attacked or posters are torn, we can jointly protest.

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If government data are anything to go by, Indias weather-beaten farms are looking at a miracle. Despite a crippling 14% deficient monsoon in half the country and possibly a smaller crop, the agriculture ministry expects higher output, prompting experts to wonder how the data might square up.

According to the second advance estimates  or the second of the four official projections of farm output made in a year  food-grain output will rise to about 253.2 million tonne in 2015-16, compared to 252 million tonne in the previous year. Thats roughly one million tonne more.

A back-to-back drought  the one last year was more severe than the year before  has shrivelled crops, while a lack of moisture and an unusually warm winter have stoked fears of a reduced rabi harvest.

The output of wheat, the main winter crop, is projected to be 93.82 million tonne, about 7.3 million tonne more. This is also 2 million tonne higher than the average of the past five years wheat output. Stories from the fields dont match the optimism. Wheat planting is lower by 3%.

The estimates have also projected slightly higher pulses output at 17.33 million tonne in 2015-16, compared to the previous years 17.15 million tonne. The projected rise came even as the area under pulses shrank 4.3%.

On January 8, Mohanlal Meena, agriculture director of Madhya Pradesh, a major wheat producer, told news agency PTI he expected the states output to drop 13%. On February 22, food minister Ram Vilas Paswan said he did not expect pulses production to go up. Yet, the agriculture ministry expects output to go up precisely in wheat and gram, a type of pulses, an official said.

The second advance estimates are based only on sowing data for rabi crops. There is no data on yield at this point. Crops are still to be harvested. The optimism is probably regarding yields. They hope the difference (in output) will not be very large compared to last years. Why this optimism I am not very clear because field reports are not very good. Maybe its just on the basis of area covered, said Abhijit Sen, noted economist and former head of agriculture in the erstwhile Planning Commission.

The advance estimates foresee a drop in output for most other crops. For instance, oilseed output is projected to be lower by nearly 1.2 million tonne, while millets are expected to drop 11.6% in 2015-16, compared to the previous year.

If true, well and good. But government keeps revising their initial data all the time because the actual thing is different, said Ganesh Videre of Comtrade, a commodities firm.

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Around the world, the Left is having unexpected success. Bernie Sanders, a socialist, has won presidential primaries in the US; an old-school radical, Jeremy Corbyn, leads Britains Labour party; in Greece, the Marxist analysis proposed by former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is taking Europe by storm.

If the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury gets his way, Communisms deep political roots in India will yet yield a red electoral flower.

But here, things can happen in reverse. Its a characteristic Indian trait, Yechury says, with a look of surprising satisfaction.

Our resurgence happened prior to the economic crisis of 2008. We did it the other way round. After the 2004 election, no central government would have been possible without the CPI(M). This is true: they had as many seats in the Lok Sabha as the Congress party holds today. At the last two general elections, they dropped votes.

We were unable to take to the Indian people the reasons why we withdrew support for UPA 1 in 2008. We were unable to show our demarcation over, for example, the US nuclear deal. It was a bad experience. The party now has its lowest parliamentary representation ever, and faces a challenge of key polls in two historically communist states, Kerala and West Bengal.

By the standards of politicians, the general secretary of the CPI(M) is affable and courteous, dressed for winter in a brown waistcoat and warm blue scarf. Now aged 63, he got married for the second time to journalist Seema Chishti on the last day of the 20th century.

Read other Patrick French columns

Read: Asaduddin Owaisi, opportunist or rockstar

Read: Arun Shourie, a devil-may-care-attitude and a passion for facts

Read: Sharad Pawars political journey

Yechury has three children, a daughter and two sons. Yechury has been a member of the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal for a decade.

We meet in the party headquarters in New Delhi, where the office is marked with icons of the Left: a bust of AK Gopalan, a stylised picture of Che Guevara, a small statue of Lenin addressing the troops, cap in hand. Sitaram Yechury prefers theorising to gossip, politics to politicking.

When I ask him which other Indian MPs he admires for their professional talents, he answers after some pondering, My concept of politics is to create social consciousness, its not about individuals.

More than other Indian communists, Yechury likes to localise ideas that originated elsewhere. My idea of the Left is rooted in Indian tradition, he says. From 1967-1983 we did not follow the Soviet Unions line, or follow the Chinese, and so we were called revisionist or adventurous and were isolated from the main communist parties. That insulated us.

His experiences abroad were not always happy ones. It was a particularly cold Russian winter in 1987. The Soviet Union was falling apart, the Baltic states were rumbling, political prisoners were being set free and general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev held a gathering of the worlds communist parties in Moscow.

Sitaram Yechury on the JNU row

The Russians, Yechury remembers, were cursing Gorbachev because he had banned vodka at the final banquet. As thick snow fell outside in Red Square, the CPI(M) delegation consisting of EMS Namboodiripad, Harkishan Singh Surjeet and a then 34-year-old Yechury approached the Soviet leader.

We told him we were not in agreement with his thesis on the interpretation of contradictions between imperialism and socialism. Sipping a soft drink, Gorbachev told them that in time they would realise he was right. Yechury was not impressed by the ideological deviation: I thought, hes not a communist if hes saying this. The turmoil in the Soviet Union was an intense churning process for me. All the things that we took for granted in the world was being questioned.

Student activism

Yechury had cut his teeth in the intense radical turmoil of 1970s university life, part of a generation that was formed by revolutionary debate. In Delhi I wondered, what is our role, the 4 percent, the intellectuals? When I joined St Stephens in 1970, 13 students had been expelled for being ultra-Left. On the roof of the chapel you could still see painted slogans  CHINAS PATH IS OUR PATH, CHAIRMAN MAO IS OUR CHAIRMAN or something like that.

It must have been quite a sight, the privileged children of India demanding a Maoist revolution. It was an infatuation. Most were disillusioned sooner rather than later. In three years youre in the IAS or working for a multinational, selling soaps. That was a warning to me.

JNU teachers and students form a human chain inside the campus in protest against arrest of JNUSU President Kanhaiya at JNU campus, in New Delhi, India on February 14. (Sanjeev Verma/ HT Photo)

So for Yechury, becoming a CPI(M) whole-timer at the instigation of EMS was perhaps less radical than the alternatives on offer: it was a way to apply Marxist doctrine in an Indian context. Is he a natural conciliator? I look for the commonalities, rather than the divergences.

During the Emergency, as a JNU student leader, he dodged arrest for six months. His father was in hospital after surgery, and hospitals are a good place to hide, since there are a lot of people. But when he returned home, the police picked him up, only to release him because of an error by the SHO, who had arrested him for a bailable offence rather than under MISA. Now Yechury went on the run, travelling down to Kurnool in Andhra Pradesh. His family was aghast that he was in trouble with the law, and his parents put pressure on him to leave the party.

I gave him shelter and some guidance, recalls his uncle Mohan Kanta, a child movie star in films like Pelli Chesi Choodu, who later became chief secretary of undivided Andhra Pradesh.

Although he is my nephew, we are only seven years apart. His mother wanted me to get Sitaram out of this communist way of thinking. In the end I said to his father, Im failing to convince him but if you dont take him away, he may end up convincing me.

President Mukherjee ignored burning issues in budget speech, says Yechury

According to those close to him, Yechury was as influenced by his family background as he was by 1970s radicalism.

Especially on my fathers side, they were strict orthodox Brahmins, he agrees. My mothers side were more cosmopolitan and well educated, and both families were part of the big Telugu population in Madras. When I was 11, I went to my fathers ancestral place to learn the Vedic rituals and slokas for the thread ceremony. It was a Brahminical indoctrination ceremony. I revolted against this because it had no connection with what I was seeing at school: it was a missionary school with mixed Hindu, Muslim and Christian pupils. It was the time of the Telangana agitation. Brahmin exclusivity didnt gel in the world in which I was living. I was the first of my family to become a communist, which was something that was alien to what they knew.

When I asked Mohan Kanta if family members had followed Sitaram into the party, he said, Absolutely not.

Sitaram Yechury as a student leader in JNU reading the memorandum presented by students on Sept 5, 1977, to Indira Gandhi demanding her resignation as chancellor of the university (HT file photo)

In India, all families including mine are rooted in religion, says Yechury. We have a philosophy of liberation, but we need a theology of liberation too. For an Indian communist, it is an unexpected opinion, maybe reflecting the fact that his social and regional background is different to that of many of his comrades.

It was a statement of Marx that set me thinking as a student. The principles of justice can never rise superior to the economic conditions of society and the cultural development conditioned by them. Feudal landlordism had been abolished in Andhra  but you could see that it was still in place. I was inspired by books like Pedagogy of the Oppressed and the beginnings of liberation theology in Latin America.

The irony is that today, at a time of global flux and financial uncertainty, India has done the opposite of other countries by electing a government that is at least nominally in favour of neo-liberal economics. The communists in India presently show little sign of pulling off a revival in the voting booths.

Yechury addresses students of JNU as Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi (L) looks on. Yechury and Gandhi was in the campus to meet students protesting for the release of union president Kanhaiya Kumar (PTI)

We are seeing the decline of the Modi phenomenon, he says hopefully. They only got 31 per cent of the vote in 2014, and [in their subsequent election campaigns] in Delhi and Bihar they made reckless promises. Thats the ground reality that will bite them.

Buoyed by faith in his ideology, Sitaram Yechury takes a longer-term and more theoretical view of the democratic process than most politicians, who concentrate on manoeuvering. I said when I was elected that I sought to integrate classical Marxist analysis of struggle against economic exploitation with the India-specific condition of social oppression.

Does he mean caste? Yes, I mean caste. In 1970 at St Stephens, I removed the sacred thread and hung it on a clothes hanger in my hostel room.

Sitaram Yechury on Fidel Castro to Bajrangi Bhaijaan

What keeps you awake at night ?

Thinking about my work.

What is your first memory?

I was aged perhaps three, and we were staying in a flat in Bombay, with members of the extended family. It was a new thing to me, a flat. My father had lost the key and I remember him climbing across on the 4th or 5th floor from a neighbours balcony.

If you werent a politician, what would you be doing?

I might be an economics professor, or a pronounced political academic. i would be  in the Gramscian sense  an organic intellectual. My family wanted me to join the IAS but I was more interested in an academic career as an economist. I was diligent in my studies and topped an all-India exam.

I admire the Marxist icons. Out of living people? Its Fidel Castro, says CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury (Hindustan Times)

What one law would you change in India?

I would amend the fundamental rights in the Constitution to include the right to health,

employment and realisable education.

What will you do when you retire?

I wont.

What book are you reading?

I read a lot of different books. At the moment Im reading the selected writings of Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi, who were murdered. Its titled The Republic of Reason: Words They Could Not Kill.

Which non-Indian thinker or political figure do you admire?

The Marxist icons. Out of living people? Fidel.

What music do you listen to?

Its eclectic. Hindi film music from the Sixties and the Seventies. Mozart, Vivaldi, jazz.

What films have you watched recently?

Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Interstellar. I dont watch news channels.

Do you believe in God?

No. Ive been an atheist since my twenties. Spiritual upliftment

is not confined to religion. I believe you can have atheistic spiritualism.

READ: Yechury calls Rohith Vemulas suicide, a murder

READ: Yechury says govt follows Hindutva agenda
I am not a child and you are not a motherly minister, one of the six JNU students accused by police of shouting seditious slogans has told HRD minister Smriti Irani in an open letter, blaming saffron politics for the death of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula.

I heard the speech you gave in Parliament. I want to make it clear that this letter is not from a child to a motherly minister but from a person who believes in a certain political ideology to another political person..., Anant Prakash Narayan, former vice-president of the JNU students union, said and accused Irani of failing Vemulas mother by doubting her Dalit identity.

You assert your identity as a woman... But Vemulas mother, a Dalit woman, fought this patriarchal society to raise her kids. She gave them her identity. But why is your government associating the identity of her children to her husband? Why are you snatching away her right to have an independent identity? (sic), Narayan said, adding that his own mother has told him to keep fighting the Modi government.

Read | Smriti Irani under fire for lying in Dalit students suicide case

The letter, published on Kafila.org, comes a week after Narayan and four others resurfaced in JNU. Two of them  Umar Khalid and Anirban Bhattacharya  were arrested while Ashutosh Kumar is being questioned. Narayan and Rama Naga have been asked to join the investigation. The sixth student, JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar, was the first one to be arrested.

Narayan said students were being targeted for challenging the cultural nationalism of the RSS. We are your natural target because universities are places where there is reasoning and science... We do not expect mercy from you. You can attack us with all your might but we will also face you with full confidence, the student said, signing off the letter as from the anti-national created by you.

He also attacked Irani for revealing the names of eight JNU students who have been debarred on the basis of an interim report by the institutes inquiry committee. We were debarred by an inquiry committee which didnt even listen to us. Should you not have been cautious not to announce our names in Parliament till the committee released its decision? he said.

He also took on the minister for rebuking the students for holding a Mahishasur martyrdom day on campus. Dont you know that in certain parts of this country, Adivasis and Dalits associate their religious beliefs with Mahishasura (the demon slain by Goddess Durga). I am a Communist and dont believe in religion. But I believe that everyone has a right to practice their religion as per their beliefs, he said.

Read | Sorry Smriti Irani but scholar Rohith Vemula was a hero, not a child
A sedition case was lodged against Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury and six others in Hyderabad on Sunday, deepening a row over alleged anti-national speeches at Delhis Jawaharlal Nehru University that has seen violent protests and fractious Parliament sittings in recent days.

A first information report (FIR) was registered at Saroornagar police station under Cyberabad police commissionerate on the direction of a metropolitan magistrate, who was urged to book the nine people by a group of lawyers.

Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Ajay Maken, CPI leader D Raja, JD(U) spokesperson KC Tyagi, JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and JNU research scholar Umar Khalid are the others named in complaint.

It is a court-referred matter. Following the courts directive, a case under section 124A of the IPC (sedition) has been registered yesterday (Saturday) against nine persons, including Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Sitaram Yechury, JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and others, Saroornagar Police station inspector S Lingaiah said on Sunday.

The court has posted the matter for hearing on March 4. It passed the orders for the FIR on a complaint by Janardhan Goud and two other lawyers, who moved the court after police refused to register the case.

They alleged that anti-India slogans were raised during a protest organised at JNU on Feb 9 against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

They also complained that on Feb 13 Rahul Gandhi and other leaders visited the Jawaharlal Nehru University to support of the students who had participated in protests against the nation.

These students and leaders like Rahul Gandhi, D Raja and others are violating the Constitution by supporting the anti-nationals, said the petitioner.

Kanhaiya and Khalid have been arrested by Delhi police. It was Kanhaiyas arrest that sparked nationwide protests and outrage from the Bharatiya Janata Partys rivals  especially the parties of Gandhi, Yechury and Kejriwal  who said the Union government was cracking down on free speech.

In the days since the arrest on February 12, doubts have emerged over the authenticity of the video footage, which was the basis for the original complaint of sedition against the students.

In his petition, Goud said he has every right to question those who are indulging in anti-national activities and also those who are encouraging anti-nationals in the name of solidarity for those who are facing criminal charges under section 124(A) of IPC.
Bareilly: Prime Minister Narendra Modi set a target on Sunday for the central and state governments to double the income of Indias farmers by 2022, as he listed a day ahead of the Union Budget his administrations agricultural initiatives to counter Opposition allegations of being anti-poor.

Modi referred to the lilting song Jhumka gira rey, Bareilly ke bazaar mein from the Hindi film Mera Saaya to strike an instant chord with a large gathering at a rally in the backwoods of this Uttar Pradesh district, while he also hailed farmers as the pride of the nation.

I had never been here in the past. But I have definitely heard Jhumka gira rey, he said, drawing applause from hundreds in the crowd mostly comprising farmers. I wish to double the income of farmers by 2022 when India will celebrate 75 years of Independence. Farmers today want at least one member of their family to take up a job because they believe that their family cannot survive on agriculture alone.

As droughts or untimely rains become frequent, farm incomes have little protection in a country where agriculture supports half of the population. Many farmers exposed to risks commit suicide.

The Prime Minister attempted to hard-sell the countrys first crop insurance scheme, which he called a protective shield, and talked about a raft of initiatives including plans to launch an e-platform in April to market agricultural products as part of efforts to shore up the farm community.

We need to diversify agriculture into traditional farming, make better use of wastelands and animal husbandry to improve agricultural production, he said.

Modi has addressed a series of rallies in the countryside this year, seen by analysts as a move to placate rural voters after unseasonable rains and drought in parts of India destroyed produce and dented the Prime Ministers popularity, leading to electoral losses for the BJP.

Uttar Pradesh, one of Indias biggest and most politically crucial states, goes to the polls next year.

The BJP that swept the state in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls is up against two formidable regional outfits  the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)  in addition to the Congress, which has repeatedly alleged that the Centre is run by powerful industrialists.

Modi said while most governments wait for an election year to roll out welfare schemes and incentives for farmers, this is not the case with his National Democratic Alliance government.

The states where some work has been done in the farming sector have witnessed progress. But in the states having the approach of chalta hai (let it happen) and election time pe dekh lenge (will see at the time of elections), the fate of the farmers has been left to God, he said, in an apparent dig at the states SP government.

(With agency inputs)
In future, India and the US could jointly explore Mars and may be an Indian astronaut could also head to the Red Planet on a joint mission.

Indias maiden mission to the Red Planet, Mangalyaan, opened the eyes of the world on Isros capabilities of undertaking low cost, high value inter-planetary mission.

Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or JPL, a part of Nasa and an institution better known for piloting most of the American planetary exploration efforts with rovers such as Curiosity, said India and the US could jointly explore Mars and even invited India to send astronauts to the Red Planet.

Excerpts from the interview:

The US is interested in going back to Mars, so is India. Will India and America look at a joint robotic mission to explore Mars?

We hope so that it will be the case in the future. At Nasa, we are just beginning to plan for next mission to Mars for the next decade, which is 2020-2030.

In fact shortly, there is a meeting in Washington on possible collaborations for the next 5-6 mission to Mars and Isro is invited for that meeting. This is in preparation for the ultimate human space flight to Mars. We clearly hope that India would be interested.

Hopefully, India will be part of the consortium between US, Europe, France, Italy among others where all can capitalise on our capabilities to explore the solar system.

A cooperative exploratory mission is what you are looking at?

Yes, that is right. With its accomplishment on the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), India is a great partner, India can be a full partner in the international endeavour for exploring Mars.

In the long run, President Barack Obama has said America should send humans to Mars, so are you looking at a collaboration with India on that mission?

Nasa is starting to plan for the human expedition to Mars, and Nasa is looking at it as an international endeavour.

Nasa has invited international agencies to start thinking together on how to send humans to Mars and beyond. So clearly. that is an area where there will be collaboration between India and the US considering the capability that India has, by showing that it can meaningfully contribute to international endeavours.

What was Nasas role in Indias mission to Mars?

When India launched its mission to Mars, and I congratulate India on a superb mission by reaching the orbit or Mars in the very first attempt. JPL supported Isro in the navigation and communication because of the antennas we have. Reaching the Mars orbit in first attempt was an amazing achievement and that too at such low cost. Now American scientists through its MAVEN mission and India through its Mars Orbiter Mission are sharing data.
Delhi Police arrested a man on Friday for allegedly impersonating a former governor and cheating several people on the pretext of getting them government jobs.

According to the police, Syed Mohommad Ali Rizvi (49), resident of Aligarh in UP, used to demand a hefty amount on the promise of providing government jobs. He had opened a bank account in Delhi to accept the money through his clients and used to operate the account from Aligarh through his ATM card.

The matter came to fore after Syed Sibtey Razi, former governor of Jharkhand, Orissa and Assam and also a former Rajya Sabha MP, complained to Delhi Police alleging that someone was impersonating him and misusing his name by making calls and sending SMSes to people with an ulterior motive.

Upon inquiry, it was found that someone was cheating general public falsely promising them jobs in exchange for money.

During investigation, the mobile numbers and bank accounts used in the offence were analysed and sources were deployed to work out the case. The police team traced the location of the accused to Aligarh and apprehended him on Thursday. After detailed interrogation, he confessed to have been involved in the offence following which he was arrested, joint commissioner of police, crime, Ravinder Yadav said.

He told the police he had known the former governor as he used to gave tuition to his son. Police said that he committed the offence in a well-planned manner. Rizvi visited Delhi several times and obtained rented accommodation at Shaheen Bagh and even opened a bank account with HDFC, to conduit the cheated money. He then lured people who were looking for government jobs and targeted them.

Rizvi graduated in Aalim equivalent to Bachelors degree from Arabian-Persian Board, Allahabad and obtained Masters degree from Purvanchal University.

He is a PhD holder in Urdu language from Lucknow University and had been giving tuition and teaching students at Madarsas for last many years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Saudi Arabia  home to the largest number of Indian passport holders outside India  and attend the India-European Union Summit in Brussels as well as the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington towards the end of next month.

The PMs three-nation trip will begin on March 30 with Belgium. Modi will then travel to Washington for the summit from March 31 before his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia from April 2.

Modi was to attend the summit in Washington from March 31. His Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif too will attend the meet that presents the possibility of the two leaders meeting in the US. Though sources are tight-lipped about the Sharif-Modi meeting, the two sides are working on expediting the probe in the Pathankot air base attack.

This will be the first time after Modis unannounced and brief visit to Lahore on December 25 that he and Sharif will be at the same venue. Since his previous visit, the Pathankot terror attack has delayed the Indo-Pak foreign secretary-level talks scheduled to take place in early January after the two countries announced resumption of comprehensive talks.

In Saudi Arabia, Modi will hold talks with the leadership on key regional and bilateral issues, including trade and energy.

The PM will attend the India-EU Summit in Belgium after four years. Since the last summit in 2012, India and the 28-member trading bloc have struggled to iron out some crucial differences.
CAUGHT IN CROSSFIRE Traumatised children reliving the horror of seeing their father killed and those blissfully unaware of losing one. Of poor, ailing parents mourning the death of their only earning son and widows fearing more suppression in patriarchy. The Jat quota agitation in Haryana has left a terrible legacy of death and destruction. There is anger, fear and helplessness among those who lost their kin, homes and businesses in the worst caste violence in Haryanas history. Turning into a caste blow-up, the medieval violence has left deep scars of distrust and disturbing faultlines in society. Hindustan Times travel through the worst-hit Rohtak and Jhajjar districts to reveal tales of horror and despair from a state whose social fabric has been torn asunder in less than a week

They entered our home to kill us

Its interiors enveloped in black soot, the Jat dharamshala in Jhajjar town where Jaideeps body was kept became the stage for a full-blown caste war between Sainis and Jats leaving a trail of destruction at Chhawani colony, half-a-kilometre away. Six more children lost their fathers  two Sainis, ironically with name Krishan and Shyam, with three kids each  were killed over what started as rumours of some Jats being burnt inside Sir Chottu Ram Jat dharamshala in the town where another body of a Brahmin youth, also reportedly killed in police firing, were kept.

We did not know which caste the bodies belonged to, so we brought them to the dharamshala. The people of other 35 biradaris (a non-Jat prop) came to claim the Brahmin youths body and tried to burn down the dharamshala when over a dozen people were inside. It happened during the curfew and the police and army was nowhere to be seen, says Shri Bhagwan, a Jat standing outside the dharamshala. In a retaliatory attack, Jats entered Saini homes at Chhawani, burnt down their vehicles and shops.

The two children of Shyam Saini (43) are still reliving the horror of seeing their father being dragged out and killed. His son, Hemant, a Class-12 student, says he took his mother Batheri, 18-year-old sister, Priyanka, and mentally-challenged uncle to the roof when Jats attacked. I thought my father will manage to escape but they dragged him out and killed him. My sister is so traumatised that we had to send her to my grandmothers home in Gurgaon and she is not in a condition to return home, he says.

Sitting outside their home, his uncle Sewak, is blissfully unaware of the tension in the colony or loss of a brother. Acha hai isko kucch pata nai chalta, nai toh iska dimaag ye sab dekh kar kharab ho hi jata (mercifully, he understands nothing otherwise he would have lost his mental balance after the mayhem), a neighbour said as Sewak sat outside looking at the street.

My own shop could have burnt my three kids alive

Pooja, the wife of Sunil Saini, with her youngest year-old daughter, says they are still homeless. (Sanjeev Sharma/HT)

His small shop, Saini Electricals, was his lifeline till the day it made him run for his life. Sukhpura Chowk, a pre-dominantly Saini neighbourhood dotted with small shops and homes, saw one of the worst mob violence in Rohtak town.

After curfew was clamped in the town, Sunil Saini, like all others from his community felt the worst was over. Till he heard gunshots and saw a mob on foot and motorcycles shouting slogans carrying agricultural tools and petrol cans.

While the news channels were showing shoot-on-sight orders have been given and army is patrolling the area, the mob entered the area in a filmy style. We have a police station right in the front of the chowk. But they had a free run burning down our shops, says Ram Narayan Saini, an ex-servicemen, adding that they did not even spare the stools of poor cobblers. While they saw their shops go up in flames, in case of Sunil the danger was closer home.

We live on the first floor of the shop with our three kids. The fire from the electric shop spread to the first floor and we were trapped in flames along with our kids, including one-year-old daughter. We ran to the roof, holding the kids and asked a neighbour to get a ladder to jump onto their roof, says Sunils wife, Pooja.

Still staying with neighbours, she says they have no income from shop to rebuild their home. Many like Sunil are demanding compensation by staging dharna at the chowk under the banner --- 35 Biradari Sangarsh Committee.

We are small shopkeepers. We have no insurance for our shops, says Dalbir Saini, whose general store too was gutted down. Justifying the banner, he says the divide is open now --- You are either a Jat or a non-Jat in Haryana now.

We have lost the only breadwinner who also cooked for us

The aged parents of 25-year-old Anil with their youngest son. (Sanjeev Sharma/HT)

At Jhajjars Dighal village, few knew Anil by his name. For directions to his home, you have to ask about the Khati youth killed in firing during the Jat unrest in the district. His caste Khati signifies those in carpentry, but 25-year-old Anil was an employee at the nearby toll plaza making `4,000 a month as a cleaner.

In the disturbing silence in the entire neighbourhood, his aged father Satte Singh and mother Santosh, too, are at a loss to voice their terrible loss. Humare bete ki jaan bewajah gayi. Woh to tension ki khabar sun kar sirf doston ke saath wahan gaya tha. Humein kama kar dene wala wahi ek beta tha. Humara toh chulha hi bhuj gaya (He lost his life for no reason. He had just gone with his friends to the area where tension was reported. He was our only earning member and we have no money to even cook our meals), says his father Satte. Anils elder brother Pardeep is married and stays separately. Of the two younger brothers, one keeps unwell and the youngest one takes up odd jobs.

I keep unwell. He (Anil) also cooked for us before going to work and after coming back, were the only words his mother utters. The killing of a non-Jat has surprised many in the village but not his Jat friends who call him a martyr for their cause. I am a graduate and also have a JBT degree. But I could not get a government job and still work in the fields with my father. My friend died for our cause, says Anils Jat friend, Paramjeet Ahlawat, who prefers to call himself Anils guru.

We saw our dream go up in flames

The Life Care Hospital in the heart of Rohtak town was one of the worst casualties of the caste flare-up. (Sanjeev Sharma/HT)

Dr Anita Narula and her husband Dr Arun Narula realised their Punjabi caste and not their profession was their only identity in Jat-dominated Rohtak on the day rioters took the town under siege. Located in the heart of the town, their diagnostic centre was a dream come true after 30 years of hard work, first as medical students and later as practitioners.

We had both slogged hard to set up this centre. We had ploughed our lifetime savings into it. The diagnostic machines for MRI, CT scan and ultra-sound, are not only expensive but also heat-sensitive. They have been totally damaged after the floor was set ablaze and we have suffered losses to the tune of `13 crore. The ultrasound machine was bought for `60 lakh just two days before the riots, says Dr Anita Narula.

The same building houses Life Care Hospital of Dr Rajesh Jale, who had to lift a patient in the ICU to the roof to shift him to another hospital in the back street and later to the PGI, Rohtak. He still shudders to think what would have happened had the 25 oxygen cylinders and a helium gas container at his MRI centre caught fire. These would have blown up things half a kilometre away. I have to now think if I want to continue working in Rohtak, Dr Jale says.

My pain as widow is not more than my kids losing their father

A distraught Satbir with his grandchildren, Priya and Prince, showing the picture of Jaideep in Jhajjars Mehrana village. (Sanjeev Sharma/HT)

Not very far from Dighal, tension is still simmering at Mehrana village after death of a Jat youth in Jhajjar town. The village has many theories, depending on which community is floating them.

The one of non-Jats is that 25-year-old Jaideep Nandal fell to the bullets of the security forces while he was out with the mob indulging in loot and arson.

But his father, Satbir, who had lost one of his arms in childhood, says his son was caught in cross-firing at Bhagat Singh Chowk in the town where he had gone for some personal work.

Showing wounds sustained from sharp agricultural tools, Satbir says he was attacked by Sainis when he went to lift his sons body from the Jat dharamshala in the town.

They were armed and set afire the Jat dharamshala. Why is no newspaper or TV channel showing what they did to Jats, he says. Satbirs elder brother Umaid Singh questions what would Jaideep do with his two acres of land.

Do bhaiyo mein baant kar ek kila hi reh jata. Ek kisan ko apni zameen se kya milta hai (The division of two-acre land among two brothers would have left one acre each. What does a farmer make from his land), he asks.

As wailing women enter their home, Jaideeps wife Sonia sitting in the adjoining room is quiet. We were married for seven years. Worse than becoming a widow is my kids will grow up without their fathers love, she says looking at her two children --- Prince, 6, and Priya, 4, dressed like a boy in her brothers clothes --- both blissfully unaware of the tension in the village and loss of a father.

I am not sure if I should reopen the mall in Rohtak

Suresh Kumar Sharma outside his burnt-down mall at Rohtak town. His RN Engineering College was also vandalised. (Sanjeev Sharma/HT)

When Rohtak donned a modern look, those like Suresh Kumar Sharma took immense pride in making that happen. Sharmas thriving RN Complex that housed shops, gym, multiplex and McDonalds is now a sad reminiscent of the fury unleashed by the ravaging army of quota protesters, who have also vandalised his RN Engineering College.

I took loan against my home to make the mall. Some of gym equipment from the US was worth `10 lakh each. Central air-conditioning has been completely destroyed. The loss at the mall alone is `5 crore. McDonalds has its own insurance but I had yet to get one done for the mall. I had started the two movie theatres only two months back. They have broken toughened glass windows of my college and vandalised everything. The loss in this case is `6 crore. I have lived for 30 years in Rohtak and called up the police and fire brigade. But the administration was missing. I am now contemplating if I should reopen the mall in Rohtak or shift to Gurgaon. My heart breaks when small children walk up to me to ask when will McDonalds reopen, Sharma says.

I will need psychologists to help students deal with trauma

The challenge for John Wesley School is to erase the trail of destruction left by the mob attack. (Sanjeev Sharma/HT)

We did not weave the web of life, we merely stand within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves, reads the quote on the entrance of John Wesley School. Wish the mob that vandalised the school read it, says its principal

Mamta Malik with a wry smile. The school was attacked by a mob of over 2,000 Jat protesters, both men and women, over four days with no police or army to stop them.

They burnt down 14 school buses, projectors, library books, broke windowpanes, school broadcasting system, computers, chairs and blackboards, and even play things and chairs of primary students, Malik says. Ironically, in one of the soot-covered corridors lies a poster, which reads, Peace House.

The main worry of Malik is not only whether they can start the new session in April but also how to prepare children for what happened at the school and why.

It is not just the physical scars of destruction that will have to be dealt with but the psychological ones. How can such small children understand caste violence and why their school was a target? I have written to some psychologists to help counsel students and even teachers. Even my ex-students are calling up and are traumatised, she says.

Barely half a kilometre away, the IB School, which unlike John Wesley did not belong to a Punjabi but Jats, has been left untouched while the Siksha Bharti School right next to it was also targeted.

Perhaps the only school to have been targeted despite a Jat tag is the Indus School being run by family of Haryana finance minister Capt Abhimanyu, whose house in Rohtak too was attacked.

The mob included women and they were all laughing while vandalising the school, and took away LCDs, computers and projectors. They did not spare even the rooms of cooks and guards. I called up some Jat teachers for help. The looting appeared to be more of a class divide than caste divide. I could not believe I could feel so unsafe in my own country, says Indus School principal Dr Sushma Jha who had to leave the school with her aged parents after her house on the campus too was damaged.

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Former navy chief Admiral Laxminarayan Ramdas said on Saturday the slapping of sedition charges on students was ridiculous and there was no room for the law in a democracy, throwing his weight behind the JNU protesters.

I highly doubt these videos doing the rounds as many have turned out to be doctored. Agencies need to first find out who raised those slogans. Its ridiculous to book random students for sedition. There is no room for sedition in our democratic country. This law needs to be abolished, Ramdas said while addressing students at JNU on the topic Demilitarizing nationalism: anti-war perspectives on patriotism.

The former navy chief was not the only veteran at the university on Saturday. The campus became a battlefield of ideas with a lecture on Nationalism: straight from the battlefield organised by ABVP members concurrent with the protesting students event where Ramdas spoke.

Ramdas, also a former internal Lokpal of the Aam Aadmi Party, said human security was national security. No nation can become strong just by posing its military might, he said.

Nation is built of its people. National security is human security. We need education, jobs and quality of life to be a strong nation.

Calling the Constitution the holiest of holy books, Ramdas said freedom of speech exists due to the book and advised students to not impose their ideas on others. Dont be afraid and dont let anyone bully you. You have every right to swing both arms but dont touch anybodys nose while doing so. You have every right to express your views but dont impose it on others, he said.

Addressing students at the ABVP event, Lieutenant General Niranjan Singh Malik said Pakistan was waging a proxy war against India. Recognising Tibet as a part of China and going to the United Nations on Jammu and Kashmir were mistakes committed by India, he said.

The ABVP also organised a public screening of the India-Pakistan T20 match on the campus as part of its #JNU4nationalism campaign.

Pakistan knows it cant defeat us on the battlefield, therefore they are waging a proxy war and trying to benefit from our internal weaknesses to disturb our internal security. We are moving forward in every area, cyber, warship, economy and that is what keeps our neighbour unhappy, said Brigadier Raj Bahadur Sharma.

A scheduled talk on the topic Mahishasur and Indian Nationalism by Dalit ideologue Prem Kumar Mani did not happen on Saturday.

JNU has been chosen for this fight as a symbol. They think if they can silence JNU, they can silence the nation. Remember we are fighting for the nation. In that sense, we are lucky to be chosen, Mridula Mukherjee, professor of history at JNU, said at a lecture on civil liberties and Indian nationalism.

Three days back, some ex-servicemen met the vice-chancellor and the registrar at the university to suggest army tanks be parked on the campus to instil nationalism in students. The registrar said the suggestion was a positive one and the university would think about it.

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The sedition charge slapped on JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar triggered an all-out political war between the BJP government and the opposition parties, besides evoking strong reactions from across the country. HTs Navneet Sharma caught up with former Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee, an eminent jurist, who was in Chandigarh on Saturday at a training programme of lawyers. Excerpts from the interview:

From Rohith Vemulas suicide to the Jat stir, how do you see the heightened friction in India?

India is a vibrant democracy. I do not think it is heading towards destruction. This is what happens in such a multifarious society with divergent views...The question is this no one likes criticism, but it is essential for the working of a government. A government if it does not have critics is doomed to fail

What are your views on sedition charges in the JNU row?

Supreme Court made it very clear that criticism of the government, however vigorous, even if ill-informed, comments made on the administration, however pungent, is not sedition. But they demitted the application of the section to acts or speech or writings which affect public order or constitute incitement to violence... Unfortunately, the mentality of the people is anything said against the government is sedition... To my mind, the mere raising of slogans is not sedition.

There are reports about anti-India slogans such as Bharat ki barbaadi tak in JNU

Who said it? When did he say it? It has to be established in a court of law. Mind you, you must make allowance in the context, circumstances. Apna country mein toh (In our country,) everyone says so and so zindabad, murdabad. Take it in context. Dont be hyper-sensitive. But if it goes to that nature where someone says cut India into pieces... that certainly would amount to sedition.

What action could be taken against these lawyers?

Three things, first, the bar council will take action against them... second, the high court itself may take action. Best thing is, and we have moved a petition, SC should take action against them because it appointed a committee... This virus has to be nipped in the bud, has to be eliminated.

There is a feeling that freedom of expression is under siege in the country. What is your view?

Who prevented the citizens from criticising the government? Those who have criticised the government have they been put in jail as was done during the Emergency? Tell me, those who returned awards against intolerance and those speaking daily against government, have they been penalised or faced any consequences? Even a person like (Arvind) Kejriwal calls the PM a psychopath, coward, liar. This is in bad taste, but nobody has taken any action against him... What intolerance is there? I cant understand.

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Residents of Maharashtras Kasarvadavali village gave chilling details on Sunday of a mass murder in the neighbourhood when Hasnain Anwar Warekar slit the throats of 14 family members, including his parents, wife and two daughters, before hanging himself.

Hasnains 21-year old sister Subiya, the lone survivor, raised an alarm that alerted the neighbours. BachaaoBhaiyane sabko mar diya hai (Help Brother has killed everyone), she screamed after locking herself in a bedroom.

Hasnain hit on her the face but she managed to push him away before he could attack again.

My mother asked me to check what had happened after she heard the screams. It was around 3.30 am and we were sleeping, said neighbour and relative Altamesh Irfan Varekar.

He stepped out of his house and called a few other villagers.

I saw Hasnains sister (Subiya) inside a room and calling for help, said Altamesh. We tried to open the door but it was locked from inside. So we dislodged a window grill and pulled Subiya out. She was injured.

Read | Thane: Man stabs 14 family members to death before hanging self

Police sources said 35-year-old Hasnain went on an overnight killing spree following a Saturday evening family gathering at his Kasarvadavali home in Thane city on the outskirts of Mumbai.

When we looked inside, bodies were lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Hasnain had hanged himself, said Altamesh.

The villagers were shocked after witnessing the scenes but some of them helped Subiya reach a hospital.

We arranged an auto rickshaw and took her to Titan Hospital. We informed police who broke down the door to enter the house, said a neighbour.

Officers said the reason for the killings was not immediately clear but a family dispute over property may have been the trigger.

As news spread, villagers and frantic relatives started to gather at the house. The top brass of Thane Police, including commissioner Parambir Singh, reached the spot.

The family seemed fine and all the relatives were close. How could anything like this happen? said a villager.
Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Sunday said that those found guilty of violence during the Jat quota agitation wont be spared.

Expressing anguish over the incidents during the Jat quota agitation that caused loss of innocent lives and property, Khattar urged people to share any information which can help nab the culprits with the police.

Each and every person involved in such incidents would be identified and strict action would be taken against them, the chief minister said in a statement.

Khattar also promised action on the allegations of gang rape at Murthal in Sonepat district.

The state government is taking serious action on the news report which appeared in the media about alleged inappropriate behaviour with some women during the protest at Murthal in Sonepat district. A special investigation team comprising three senior women police officers has been constituted. One could give any related information or evidence to the team over telephone or through letter or online. If any such untoward incident happened, the guilty would be punished, Khattar said.

People of all castes and religions have always lived together in the spirit of brotherhood in Haryana, he said. I have full faith that the people of Haryana would soon move on leaving behind these unfortunate incidents, strengthen the feeling of brotherhood and join the efforts being made by the state government for the development of the state, he said.

The Haryana government has released two email Ids and a whatsapp number to help people affected by the violence during the Jat agitation get in touch with the chief minister directly.

People can upload any audio or video clips, photograph or any document which they might consider worth bringing to the notice of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar through the email Ids and whatsapp number  reliefcmharyana@gmail.com and feedbackriotscmharyana@gmail.com and 9501053696.
A woman alleged she was pulled out of her car and gang-raped by seven men, including her brother-in-law, on February 23 near Haryanas Murthal village, authorities said on Sunday, amid reports of mass sexual assaults in the area this month during violent protests by the Jat community.

The development came hours after police said three people, who claimed they saw a mob of protesters drag women with torn clothes into fields, refused to confirm that there was any rape or assault.

The victim, a Delhi resident originally from Haryanas Sonepat district, lodged an FIR at a womens police station in Murthal but officers said it was possible the incident was not linked to the alleged spate of rapes.

The woman recorded her statement on camera, saying she was raped by seven men after being dragged out of a van in which she was travelling with her daughter. She told police she can identify all the accused. She added that the men molested her daughter and tore her clothes.

Police sources said a personal dispute may also have triggered the crime.

Read: Women police team begins probe into reports of rape in Murthal

The Haryana government is probing media reports saying vehicles were stopped on national highway 1 near Murthal in Sonepat during the pro-reservation campaign and women dragged out and raped.

TV news channels beamed footage of witnesses coming out to speak on the alleged sexual assaults, saying women were seen being pushed into the fields.

A senior police officer told HT truck drivers Niranjan Singh, Yadavender Singh and Sukhvinder Singh were questioned in front of a judicial magistrate.

They refused to admit that they had witnessed any rape or molestation incident during the riots on February 22, he said.

The officer said the drivers testified that they only saw vehicles being torched.

So far there is no evidence to prove the allegations of rape and molestation on GT Road, he added.

The head of an all-woman special investigation team constituted to probe the allegations, deputy inspector general of police Rajshree Singh, said, The SIT has already recorded the statement of the alleged witnesses, including Niranjan Singh, but I dont know what he has said, as I am travelling to Delhi.

Members of the National Commission for Women who visited Murthal on Thursday to investigate reports of mass sexual assaults said they have not come across any evidence.

No witness has come forward to give an account of the alleged crimes, said Rekha Sharma, who is heading the team. We have not found any evidence.

Twenty-eight people were killed and over 200 injured in the nine-day long agitation which saw highways, roads and railway tracks being blocked in Haryana. Authorities had to requisition the army and paramilitary forces to control the situation.

On Sunday, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar said those involved in violence and reported inappropriate behaviour with women during the Jat stir will not be spared, asking people to share information about the incidents.

The state government will compensate those whose property, including residential or commercial, was damaged during these incidents, he said.

The state government is taking serious action on the news reports which appeared in the media about alleged inappropriate behaviour with some women during the protest at Murthal in Sonepat district.

With a view to enabling those affected by the recent agitation to communicate directly with the chief minister, the state government released email ids -- reliefcmharyana@gmail. com and feedbackriotscmharyana@gmail.com -- and a WhatsApp number, 9501053696.

A spokesperson said the people can either upload any audio or video clip, photograph or any document which they might consider worth bringing to the notice of the chief minister.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the suicide of Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula and the Jawaharlal Nehru University row, saying it was deliberately raking up issues of nationalism and sedition to divert the attention of people, angry with the governments failures.

The BJP was raising these issues to sow the seeds of Hindutva and secession ahead of the polls in various states, Pawar said.

Speaking for the first time on the two raging controversies, Pawar said, The BJP is going to lose in all five state polls this year. As it sees this defeat coming, the party is trying to sow the seeds of secession and Hindutva.

The former Union agriculture minister was addressing a meeting of his party leaders in Mumbai. He targeted the BJP-led governments both at the Centre and the state through much of the speech and blamed the Centre for Vemulas suicide by recounting the chronology of events leading up to his death.

Union ministers wrote to the Hyderabad University, asking them to take action against these students, including Vemula, for anti-national activities. Their stipends were also stopped. Vemula committed suicide only because of the action against him, after the letters by the Union ministers, Pawar said.

Attacking the government for the crackdown on JNU, he said, This whole incident is a political conspiracy. The crackdown against JNU students is being driven by ABVP (the RSS student wing) as its candidates lost in the student body polls. What is condemnable is the Union government has tried to defend its actions.

Pawar chose to draw links between the two incidents and said the Union government was trying to corner universities across the country.

The larger question is why are all universities suddenly being cornered? The BJP is trying to create a different atmosphere in the country as it doesnt have the capability to deliver on its promise of Acche din. To divert peoples attention from their failures, they are raking up such issues, Pawar said.
Congress leader Bir Devinder Singh has questioned the silence of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal over violence during the recent Jat quota agitation in Haryana.

Its astonishing that Kejriwal is silent on the unprecedented violence and loot in his home state but speaking out on almost everything going on in Punjab, said the former Punjab assembly deputy speaker, adding: When the damage to the public and private property was so huge, and the reports of mass rapes on National Highway-1 at Murthal are all over the media, his silence on the horrendous crimes of the anarchic fortnight is baffling.

Kejriwal owed an explanation to the people of Punjab on how his state government in Delhi would help the victims of Haryana violence and ensure the safety of the people travelling to Delhi from Punjab, said Bir Devinder, regretting that neither Delhi state nor Punjab had formed any nodal agency to identify the victims. Punjab should at least highlight its own people who were looted and whose vehicles were torched, he demanded.
For fourth year in a row, Tibetan spiritual leader, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gytso, has topped the list of 100 most spiritually influential living people by the United Kingdom-based Watkins Review.

The list features in the spring issue of Watkins Mind, Body and Spirit magazine, published from London and soon will be available around the world, except for China where it is banned.

The 80-year-old Nobel peace laureate is followed by Pope Francis, his close friend Archbishop Desmond Tutu, German-origin spiritual author Eckhart Tolle and Indian- American author and public speaker Deepak Chopra.

The magazine on its website says the list is meant to serve as a positive guide to some of the leading modern teachers alive today.

As you read through this list, we hope that you are as inspired as we are by each individuals significant impact, says the post on the website.

Watkins bookshop in London has been encouraging spiritual discovery and providing seekers with esoteric knowledge for over 120 years. With the list we celebrate the worlds living spiritual teachers, it added.

The magazine dedicates 16 pages to the persons, who feature in the list.

Nobel peace laureate, 18-year-old Pakistans child rights activists Malala Yousafzai, who first made to the list in 2015, has been ranked 96 and is the youngest among top 100. Malala also has the distinction of being the youngest Nobel prize recipient.

Watkins Spiritual 100 was first published by the magazine in 2011, in which the Dalai Lama was listed at the second place and has been leading since 2012.

Derived from 600 candidates from across the world, the spiritual 100 list highlights most proactive individuals, rnging from spiritual teachers, activists, authors, thinkers, filmmakers and artists, who changed the world.

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At least 12 people have been injured after police used batons to disperse BJP workers and supporters protesting the visit of Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwals visit to Batala town.

Around 100 metres ahead of Kejriwals stage at Gandhi Chowk, nearly 300 people raised slogans and waved black flags, alleging that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener was trying to vitiate Punjabs atmosphere.

Kejriwal was yet to reach the venue when the police took to the baton and also detained scores of the protesters, taking them away in at least three buses.

The protesters were led by district BJP president Suresh Bhatia. The injured include BJPs Gurdaspur district general secretary Sunil Chachowalia.

Later, addressing a rally amid heightened security - also in view of a threat received at his Delhi CM office - Kejriwal delivered a speech to a significant gathering, many of whom were from nearby towns.

After recounting his work in Delhi in one year and making the promise to build a a new Punjab, Kejriwal claimed the protesters in his four-day visit were from both the ruling SAD-BJP alliance and the Congress, protesting together after being paid by the Badals and Captain Amarinder Singh.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal visited the Golden Temple and Durgiana Mandir in Amritsar.

Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal with party colleagues at Golden Temple in Amritsar on Sunday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT )

Kejriwal kick-started his 5-day tour to Punjab, which goes to polls next year, on Thursday and has ever since been touring parts of the state to campaign for his party.

The Delhi CM has been facing protests throughout his tour in Punjab.

There have also been cases wherein the rival parties took away families of farm suicide victims and drug abuse victims that he was schedule to meet. Yet, both the ruling alliance and the Congress have been insisting that he is no threat to them.

Read More: From victims house, Kejriwal declares war on Punjabs drug mafia
The district police have arrested a Navy personnel, who had gone missing from duty, with two country-made revolvers and live cartridges.

Gurdeep Singh a resident of Chandu Raia village near Malerkotla in Sangrur district, was nabbed by cops on Santpura road on Saturday. Two .315 bore revolvers and eight live cartridges were recovered from him.

Police said Gurdeep, who was posted in Kerala as sea-man, was transferred to Mumbai in October last year.. However, he went missing from duty.

Gurdeep was sent to two-day police custody by a court here on Sunday. Police said Navy officials will also be informed about Gurdeeps arrest.

Police said Gurdeep had brought the weapons from Agra in Uttar Pradesh. They are, however, tight-lipped about the motive behind the man buying these weapons and reason for going absent from duty. Station house officer Kotwali police station Sanjeev Mittal said the reason behind the man going absent from duty and other details will only be revealed after his interrogation.
Three people who claimed they saw a mob of Jat protesters drag women with torn clothes into fields along the national highway 1 in Haryana refused to confirm any rape or assault, police said on Sunday.

They said the drivers told them they saw only vehicles being torched.

A senior police officer told HT truck drivers Niranjan Singh, Yadavender Singh and Sukhvinder Singh questioned in front of a judicial magistrate.

They refused to admit that they had witnessed any rape or molestation incident during the riots on February 22, the officer said.

So far there is no evidence to prove the allegations of rape and molestation on GT Road, he added.

The Haryana government is probing media reports saying vehicles were reportedly stopped on National Highway-1 near Murthal in Sonepat district during the Jat quota protests, and women dragged out and raped.

TV news channels beamed footage of witnesses coming out to speak on the alleged rapes, saying women were seen being pushed into the fields.

Sonepat superintendent of police Abhishek Garg said there was still no complaint filed by any of the victims or any evidence to prove that any woman was actually raped.

Head of the all-women special investigation team formed to probe the allegations, deputy inspector general of police Rajshree Singh, said: The SIT has already recorded the statement of the alleged witnesses, including Niranjan Singh, but I dont know what he has said, as I am travelling to Delhi.

Vij asks DGP to file case on basis of witness account

Meanwhile, Haryana health minister Anil Vij said his party, the BJP, wanted action against the guilty, irrespective of their caste.

BJP mein jaat, non jaat nahin, dangaiyon pe karvahi chahte hain hum (In BJP we want action against the rioters, irrespective of their being jats or non-jats), he tweeted.

Vij said he had asked director general of police YP Singal to register a case in the reported rape of several women.

Vij told HT that he had learnt that some truck drivers, who had been stranded on the highway during the violence, claimed to have had seen some women being taken into fields by some men and their clothes being torn.

Singal has sent a team to Punjab to record the statements of those drivers, Vij said.

Read more: QUOTA QUAKE: Tales of death and destruction from Haryanas Jat stir
As the debate over Hyderabad student Rohith Vemulas suicide in Rajya Sabha boils, the Punjab wing of the Bahujan Samaj Party on Sunday launched a broadside against HRD minister Smriti Iranis apology over the issue.

BSP, national general secretary Narender Kashyap questioned Iranis that their party chief Mayawati is not satisfied with her answer over Rohiths suicide case and now minister has to decide to give her head or apology?

On the day of the session during debate on Rohith Vemulas suicide case in Rajya Sabha, Smriti Irani, had asked Mayawati that If you are not satisfied with my answer, I will cut my head and put it in your feetand now has expressed her dissatisfaction over her answer and BSP is pointing out at HRD minister.

While addressing a press conference at Circuit House on Sunday, BSP National general secretary Narender Kashyap said, The university authorities and union minister had harassed Rohith and after that he had to commit suicide. Mayawati raised this issue in Rajya Sabha and claimed that there was no schedule Caste member in the judicial committee probing the suicide. But Smriti Irani had asked that there was a SC member in the committee and if Mayawati was not satisfied with her answer, she would cut her head and put it in her feet. Now I asked the minister when Mayawati is not satisfied with her answer what she will do or apologise over the issue.

The minister misled parliament because there was no SC member in the judicial committee and no action had been taken in the case,he added.

BSP will organise rally on March 15

Narender Kashyap and Avtar Singh Karimpuri, Rajya Sabha, MP, said that BSP would organise a massive rally at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar where party chief Kumari Mayawati would address the rally. We hold a meeting regarding the feedback of party workers for March 15 rally, which is dedicated to BSP founder Kanshi Ram, where people will attend in massive numbers. The rally will be remembered in Punjab politics.

Also Read: Sorry Smriti Irani but scholar Rohith Vemula was a hero, not a child

This isnt a serial: Vemulas kin accuse Irani of lying in Parliament

Durga row: Sadly, no one questioned Smriti Irani who the Asuras are

In her now-famous speech, Smriti takes on treason but dodges caste
Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal promised to root out corruption in Punjab if his party is voted to power in the upcoming assembly polls.

If we want to attract industry here and if we want to progress, then we will have to root out corruption and put an end to the inspector Raj, that is un-necessarily causing harassment to entrepreneurs, traders and other business classes, he added.

Kejriwal made these observations in his meetings with business and industrial associations at the Circuit House here.

Industry representatives told the AAP convener of their problems, including the lack of infrastructure where their units are located. They also lamented that the electricity rates in the state were very high and despite being a border state, no special concessions had been provided to the industry by the central government.

The real estate association alleged that officials were demanding money for clearing files. The association lamented that the real estate sector in Punjab had collapsed due to the unfavourable policies of the government.
On Monday morning, when the Oscars for the best films are announced, the spotlight will shine brightly on more than just filmmakers and actors.

For some of this years Oscar-nominated films, the real-life settings play just as important a supporting role, be it the red-tinged desert landscape of Jordan to the mystical woodlands of England.

Take a look at some of the destinations that have either played body double to faraway locations, or reminded viewers of the planets natural wonders.

See: Lets travel the world with these amazing zombie movies

England and Ireland, Star Wars, nominated for film editing

Thirty years after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, the galaxy faces a new threat from the evil Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and the First Order. When a defector named Finn crash-lands on a desert planet, he meets Rey (Daisy Ridley), a tough scavenger whose droid contains a top-secret map.

Puzzlewood is a unique and enchanting place located in the beautiful and historic Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. (Tumblr)

To set up a key battle scene between Rey and Kylo Ren, filmmakers chose the ancient woodlands of Puzzlewood in England to portray an otherworldly location. The moss-covered forest floor, deep-cut canyons, twisting walkways and knotted trees are believed to have been the inspiration for another epic fantasy tale: Middle Earth in J.R.R. Tolkiens The Lord of The Rings. Ireland also gets a turn in the spotlight at the end of the film. Rising dramatically out of the Atlantic Ocean, the craggy rocks of Skellig Michael feature in the final scene as the hideaway for a key Star Wars character. With a history that dates back to the 6th century, the site was once home to monks who made the remote island their sanctuary.

Star Wars The Force Awakens review

Canada and Argentina, The Revenant, Best film

While exploring the uncharted wilderness in 1823, legendary frontiersman Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) sustains injuries from a brutal bear attack. When his hunting team leaves him for dead, Glass must utilize his survival skills to find a way back home to his beloved family. (Tumblr)

Bow Valley is a valley located along the upper Bow River in Alberta, Canada. (AFP)

Movie director Alejandro G. Inarritus insistence that the film be shot entirely in natural light with minimal CGI effects meant finding some of the wildest, most frigid and impressive landscapes on the planet to convey the daunting forces of nature, and an unrepentant winter. Enter the remote Canadian backwoods of Alberta and British Columbia and areas of Argentina. Leonardo DiCaprio has repeatedly described shoots as some of the toughest conditions hes ever worked in, with temperatures dipping to -30C. Some of the sites include Bow Valley, the Badlands both in Alberta; Squamish Valley in British Columbia; and Tierra del Fuego in Argentina.

The Revenant review

Wadi Rum, Jordan, The Martian, nominated for best film

In the film, when astronauts blast off from the planet Mars, they leave behind Mark Watney (Matt Damon), presumed dead after a fierce storm. With only a meager amount of supplies, the stranded visitor must utilize his wits and spirit to find a way to survive on the hostile planet. (Tumblr)

Wadi Rum also known as The Valley of the Moon is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan 60 km to the east of Aqaba; it is the largest wadi in Jordan. (AFP)

Also known as the Valley of the Moon for its otherworldly landscape, the desert sands of southern Jordan doubled as the Red Planet for Matt Damons The Martian. The UNESCO World Heritage Site features narrow gorges, arches, towering cliffs, ramps, caverns and ancient and rock carvings that testify to 12,000 years of human occupation. Compared to other desert landscapes, its red-tinged sand makes Wadi Rum a convincing stand-in for Mars. The region has also been used to portray Mars in Red Planet and The Last Days on Mars. The area is popular among tourists for rock climbing, trekking, hiking, camel and horse safaris.

The Martian review

Brooklyn, Brooklyn, nominated for best film

In the film, an Irish immigrant (Saoirse Ronan) in 1950s New York falls for a tough Italian plumber (Emory Cohen), but faces temptation from another man (Domhnall Gleeson) when she returns to her homeland for a visit. (Twitter)

Brooklyn, one of New York Citys 5 boroughs, sits on the western end of Long Island. The iconic Brooklyn Bridge, built in 1883, connects it to Manhattan. (Tumblr)

The borough of Brooklyn plays a supporting role in the Oscar-nominated film about a young immigrant who leaves her native Ireland for the promise of a better life in America. Though the tale is fictitious, the premise is based on history: During the 1950s, 50,000 Irish immigrants moved to the US following the devastating potato famine. Today, the borough is less known for its Irish settlers and better known for being home to an entirely different community: hipsters. To experience a microcosmic version of New York, head to Williamsburg, the boroughs epicenter for creativity and culture.

Watch our live coverage of Oscars 2016 on Monday, here.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more.
A Bangladeshi court has sent three members of a banned Islamist group to 18-day police custody in connection with the brutal killing of a head priest of a Hindu temple close to the Indian border last week.

With the arrest of the three members of the outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), including the mastermind of the assault, during raids in Panchagarh and Nilphamari districts on Friday, police claimed to have solved the murder case.

We have been able to completely crack the case, polices deputy inspector general for the region Humayun Kabir told media, adding that the three directly carried out the murder of the priest.

The three JMB activists  identified as Alamgir Hossain, 35, Harez Ali, 32 and Ramzan Ali, 22  were produced in a Panchagarh court under heavy security on Saturday and were remanded in 18-day police custody for questioning.

So far, six persons have been arrested in connection with the killing. Three others who were arrested earlier were placed under 15-day police custody for interrogation.

No lawyer appeared at the court to defend the three.

The chief priest of Hindu temple Sri Sri Shantu Santo Gaurio, 50-year-old Jagneshwar Roy, was killed on February 21 in Sonapota village of northern Panchagarh district near the border with India, in a pre-dawn attack by the assailants who also injured two Hindu devotees before fleeing on a motorbike.

The Islamic State had claimed the brutal killing of the priest. However, police dismissed the claim and said that JMB operatives committed the murder.

The priests murder was the first attack on a Hindu priest and the fifth assault on minority religious communities including Shia Muslims and liberal Sufi preachers in the past six months by suspected Islamists.

Hindus make the Sunni-majority countrys largest minority with nearly 10 per cent of the total population of 160 million.
Madhesi parties opposed to Nepals new Constitution on Saturday described Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis visit to India as unsuccessful.

The comment from the United Democratic Madhesi Front, a conglomeration of seven parties from Terai bordering India, comes at a time when Oli himself is claiming the visit as successful in removing strains in bilateral ties.

In diplomatic terms, the UDMF feels the Prime Ministers India visit was unsuccessful, said a release issued by the front.

Failure of both sides to issue a joint statement at the conclusion of Olis visit and inking of deals which had already been cleared in 2009 were cited as some examples of why the visit failed to have any impact.

Oli had undertaken a six-day state visit to India beginning February 19. During his stay, he met President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries. The UDMF, which wants fresh demarcation of federal boundaries to include two states in Terai, had its first meeting in Kathmandu on Sunday after three more parties had joined it recently.

The parties have formed a secretariat comprising senior leaders to decide on the future course of their agitation and nature of protests.

Talking to HT earlier this week, Upendra Yadav, chairman of Federal Socialist Forum-Nepal, had stated that they could impose another blockade of borders with India in April or May.

The front, which had blocked key border points with India to put pressure on Kathmandu, had lifted the blockade earlier this month, after 135 days.

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Pakistan and the United States will on Monday hold a ministerial-level strategic dialogue on key areas including economy, security and counter-terrorism, amid a strong opposition by India and US lawmakers on the proposed F-16 deal with Islamabad.

Adviser on foreign affairs, Sartaj Aziz, will lead the Pakistani delegation while secretary of state John Kerry will lead the US side for the sixth round of the strategic dialogue to be held in Washington, Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday.

The six segments of the strategic dialogue include cooperation in economy and finance; energy; education, science and technology; law enforcement and counter-terrorism; security, strategic stability and non-proliferation and defence.

Read: US approves F-16 fighter jets sale to Pakistan, India disappointed

It will be the third such annual meet since the present Pakistan government came to power. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs visit to the United States in October last year had given the necessary impetus to the dialogue mechanism, the report said.

The dialogue process began in 2010 but was interrupted in 2011 when the US forces killed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Pakistans Abbottabad in a midnight raid. The process resumed in 2014 when Aziz and Kerry met in Washington.

The key meeting will take place soon after the US announced to sell eight F-16 fighter jets worth $700 million to Pakistan, despite an objection from India and mounting opposition from influential American lawmakers.

Kerry has strongly defended the Obama administrations decision, arguing that these fighter jets are a critical part of Pakistans fight against terrorists.

Read: Disappointed at Indias reaction to F-16 deal with US: Pakistan

Planning minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is in Washington as part of the Pakistani delegation, has said the dialogue will provide an opportunity to operationalise key future making initiatives between the two countries.

He was speaking at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

The Foreign Office had earlier said that the upcoming meeting will afford an important opportunity to take stock of the entire gamut of Pakistans bilateral relations with the US.
Iran President Hassan Rouhani won a resounding vote of confidence and reformist allies won 29 out of Tehrans 30 parliamentary seats in elections that could speed the countrys post-sanctions opening to the world, early results released on Saturday showed.

Tens of millions thronged polling stations on Friday for a twin vote for the 290-seat parliament and the 88-member Assembly of Experts, which selects the countrys highest authority, the supreme leader.

President Rouhanis reformist allies made gains in the races for parliament and the assembly, both in the hands of anti-Western hardliners for years. He said Irans election had given the government more credibility and clout.

The competition is over. Its time to open a new chapter in Irans economic development based on domestic abilities and international opportunities, the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying. He added that the government would cooperate with anyone elected to build Irans future.

The people showed their power once again and gave more credibility and strength to their elected government.

Rouhani and key ally and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were leading the race for the Assembly of Experts with most votes counted and appeared to be sure of winning seats, early results released on Saturday showed.

The assembly results were initially announced as final in an official statement. A later statement said the results were partial and a final tally would be announced in due course.

The elections were seen by analysts as a potential turning point for Iran, where nearly 60% of the 80 million population is under 30. (AP)

An interior ministry statement said top reformist Mohammed Reza Aref led the race for parliamentary seats among candidates in Tehran. Aref was followed by five other reformists. Seventh on the list was a senior conservative, results showed.

Aref, a Stanford-educated former presidential candidate and minister, who served as vice-president to the former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, led the reformist list in the contest in Tehran, where more than 1,000 candidates are competing for just 30 seats in parliament.

The elections were seen by analysts as a potential turning point for Iran, where nearly 60% of the 80 million population is under 30.

The contests were the first since a landmark nuclear deal last year that led to the removal of most of the sanctions that have damaged the economy over the past decade.

Supporters of Rouhani, who championed the nuclear deal, were pitted against hardliners close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni, who are deeply wary of detente with Western countries. The conservative Guardian Council had restricted both races by disqualifying most reformist and many moderate candidates.

Even if reformists do not emerge with a national majority in the legislature, dominated since 2004 by conservatives, analysts say they will secure a bigger presence than before.

Conservatives usually perform well in the countryside while young town-dwellers tend to prefer moderate candidates.

High reformist hopes

Reformists seeking more social and economic freedoms and diplomatic engagement had voiced high hopes of expanding their sway in parliament and easing conservative clerics grip on the experts assembly.

Saeed Leylaz, a political analyst and economist who served as an adviser to former President Mohammad Khatami, said initial indications were beyond reformist expectations.

It seems the number of candidates who belong to the reformist and independent groups will be the majority in parliament and I am hopeful that the new parliament will be perfect for us, he told Reuters.

In the Assembly of Experts our initial expectation was 15 to 20% but it seems it will be beyond that.

Rafsanjani, 81, a prominent leader ever since Irans 1979 Islamic revolution, called for national unity now the divisive campaign was over. The competition is over and the phase of unity and cooperation has arrived, state news agency IRNA quoted him as saying. The time after elections is the time for hard work to build the country.

Newspapers hailed what they saw as a huge turnout, including many young voters. Polling was extended five times for a total of almost six extra hours because so many people wanted to vote.

Irans Financial Tribune newspaper said three million first-time voters were among the nearly 55 million people aged 18 and over who are eligible to cast ballots.

Interior Ministry spokesman Hosseinali Amiri said more than 33 million votes had been cast but that tally was not final. It would probably take three days to count all the votes, he said.

Mousavi votes

Authorities had promised that all Iranians would be able to vote and on Friday opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and his wife voted for the first time since being put under house arrest in 2011, an ally of Mousavis told Reuters.

Iran, which has the worlds second-largest gas reserves, a diversified manufacturing base and an educated workforce, is seen by global investors as a huge emerging market opportunity, in everything from cars to airplanes and railways to retail.

For ordinary Iranians, the prospect of this kind of investment holds out the promise of a return to economic growth, better living standards and more jobs in the long run.

An opening to the world of this scale -- and Rouhanis popularity -- have alarmed hardline allies of Khamenei, who fear losing control of the pace of change, as well as erosion of the lucrative economic interests they built up under sanctions.

Whatever the outcome, Irans political system places considerable power in the hands of the conservative Islamic establishment including the 12-member Guardian Council, which vets all electoral candidates. It had already tried to shape Fridays vote by excluding thousands of candidates, including many moderates and almost all reformists.
Hillary Clinton won the South Carolina Democratic primary by a massive margin on Saturday, posting her most emphatic victory days ahead of the crucial Super Tuesday contests.

Most of the 12 states holding their nominating contests on Super Tuesday -- March 1 -- are in the south such as South Carolina, with similar demographics and large number of African-American voters.

Though Clinton had led the polls in South Carolina, and was expected to win, experts and pundits had come to see the primary as a test of her hold on the African-American community, who were solidly aligned with Barack Obama the last time she ran in 2008.

Clinton beat Bernie Sanders, her only rival for the Democratic nomination, 87% to 13% among African-Americans on Saturday, according to CNN, flipping her 2008 numbers.

Overall, Clinton was leading 73.5% to Sanderss 25.9%. Counting of votes was still on.

Clinton has now won three of the Democratic partys four nominating contests so far  caucuses in Iowa, Nevada and the South Carolina primary. Sanders won the fourth -- New Hampshire primary.

Today, you sent a message: In America, when we stand together, there is no barrier too big to break, Clinton said in her victory speech. Tomorrow, this campaign goes national!

Sanders, who knew South Carolina would be tough, has moved on already, campaigning Super Tuesday states.

Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning. We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now its on to Super Tuesday, Sanders said in a statement. Our grassroots political revolution is growing state by state, and we wont stop now.
The U.S. test fired an unarmed Minuteman III missile Friday as a message to nations like Russia, China and North Korea that the country holds a stockpile of operational missiles. The missile was launched from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and landed close to the Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific.

"That's exactly why we do this. We and the Russians and the Chinese routinely do test shots to prove that the operational missiles that we have are reliable. And that is a signal ... that we are prepared to use nuclear weapons in defense of our country if necessary," said Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work, who witnessed the launch, reporterd Reuters.

"We do it to demonstrate that these missiles -- even though they're old - they still remain the most effective, or one of the most effective, missiles in the world," Work added, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.

The Minuteman III, manufactured by Boeing, came into operation for the first time in 1970 and had an original expected life-span of 10 years. The Air Force has 450 Minuteman missiles, with 150 at each of three missile fields in Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota. Since the missiles are so old, a sample is tested each year to check for efficacy.

Technically called the LGM-30G Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile, the Minuteman is controlled by the Air Force Global Strike Command and is an integral part of the U.S.' strategic deterrent forces, according to military.com.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Former Arizona Gov., Jan Brewer, who had, as governor, claimed in 2010 that "law enforcement agencies have found bodies in the desert either buried or just lying out there that have been beheaded," came out Friday in support of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, according to CBS.

For years I pleaded with the federal government to secure our borders. @realDonaldTrump will get the job done! pic.twitter.com/22maEsfjwk  Jan Brewer (@GovBrewer) February 27, 2016

"For years, I pleaded with the federal government to do their job and secure our border. Today, we can elect a President who will do just that -- Donald J. Trump. Mr. Trump will secure our borders, defend our workers and protect our sovereignty. Mr. Trump will stand for our law enforcement, our police and our immigration officers. Mr. Trump will actually enforce the rule of law. This may be our last chance to ensure our children grow up in a country with borders, and with a government that protects its own people. This is our chance -- Donald Trump is our chance -- to save this country and Make America Great Again," Brewer said in a statement released by the Trump campaign, reported KCCI.

Trump showed his appreciation for receiving Brewer's endorsement. "I love the state of Arizona and have received incredible support throughout the state. I am leading in all the polls and we have had amazing events with tremendous crowds. I am honored to receive this endorsement from Governor Brewer" he said, according to CNN.

Brewer drafted a state law to fight illegal immigration in 2010. The Supreme Court toned down the law but had retained a provision that let law enforcement agencies check a person's immigration status.

Brewer is the latest to endorse the Trump campaign over the past month, with other including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Maine Gov. Paul LePage and Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke has also urged his followers to vote for Trump, as HNGN previously reported.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton swept Saturday's South Carolina primary thanks to a great deal of support from black voters, putting her in a strong position in the general election.

"To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you," Clinton tweeted after winning with almost 73 percent of the votes, reported Al Jazeera.

To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you. -H pic.twitter.com/JFTUZ2yBxf  Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 28, 2016

"Tomorrow, this campaign goes national. We are going to compete for every vote in every state. We are not taking anything and we're not taking anyone for granted," Clinton said at a rally in Columbia.

Clinton also took a dig at Republican front-runner Donald Trump, saying, "Despite what you hear, we don't need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great. But we do need to make America whole again. Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers. We need to show by everything we do that we really are in this together," she said, to cheering crowds, according to The Los Angeles Times.

"It's time, it's time, it's time for a woman in the White House," the ecstatic crowd chanted back.

Bernie Sanders, expecting a defeat, had left the state before the results could be tallied. However, he sent out statement promising to continue the fight.

"This campaign is just beginning. Our grass-roots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won't stop now," said Bernie Sanders, according to the Associated Press,

"We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now it's on to Super Tuesday," Sanders added, according to Al Jazeera, clearly not willing to give up on the presidential race.

The two contestants will now face each other during next week's "Super Tuesday," with Clinton's victory giving her a great deal of momentum.

Edison Research conducted exit polls for the Associated Press, finding that six in 10 voters in the South Carolina primary were black. About seven in 10 said that they wanted the next president to continue Obama's policies, and only about 20 percent wanted a more liberal course of action.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Two terrorist attacks claimed the lives of 25 people in Afghanistan Saturday at a time when the capital city of Kabul was attempting to hold peace talks with the Taliban.

One attacker came on foot and blew himself up near the Afghan Defense Ministry in Kabul as offices were closing for the day. "Twelve people, including two Afghan soldiers were killed and eight others injured," the ministry said in a statement, according to AFP. Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahimi had stated earlier that nine people had been killed and 13 wounded,

"I wanted to cross the bridge when I heard an explosion. I went to the area and saw as many as 30 people killed and wounded. There were damaged cars and shattered windows everywhere," eyewitness Zulgai said, reported Reuters.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the attack in an email sent to media, reported ABC News. He also claimed that there were no civilian casualties, and the attack had left 23 officers dead, injuring 29 others.

The attack follows right after a tribal elder and militia commander named Haji Khan Jan was killed in the town of Asadabad, the provincial capital of Kunar.

Provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Habib Sayedkhaili said that a bomber rode up on a motorcycle and blew himself up, killing about 10 people and wounding at least 40 others, according to ABC News.

"Most of the victims were civilians and children who were either passing by or playing in the park," Provincial Governor Wahidullah Kalimzai said.

While no group has claimed responsibility for the Asadabad attack yet, Jan had previously been involved in anti-Taliban ventures.

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Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-02-28

From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] Refugees block the railway tracks at Idomeni

[01] Refugees block the railway tracks at Idomeni

Fyrom's authorities closed the crossing point at 20:00 on Saturday after allowing to only 300 refugees from Iraq and Syria to get into the country.

According to police, roughly 6,500 refugees are currently hosted at Idomeni camp waiting to cross the border.
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-02-28 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] The agreement we signed is our limit, says gov't vice president Dragasakis [02] We are not the ones that will dissolve EU, says Alt. Migration Minister Mouzalas [03] Theodorakis re-elected Potami party leader [01] The agreement we signed is our limit, says gov't vice president Dragasakis ANA/MPA---"We do not talk about additional cuts in pensions or additional measures. The agreement we have signed is our limit and we are following it" said government Vice President Yiannis Dragasakis in an interview with Realnews newspaper. "Therefore, whatever problem, whatever demand outside the agreement is not only our matter but a matter of Europe and its institutional bodies" he added. Dragasakis estimated that the refugees issue in not directly linked with the first review, adding however that "the sooner the evaluation is completed and positive prospects for the Greek economy and society are formed, the higher our possibility to contribute in solving the problem". Finally, on New Democracy's proposal over the establishment of an examining committee on the banks' recapitalisation, Dragasakis said that "the examining committee should not be presented as a threat but as an opportunity to investigate those that have happened in the banking sector. [02] We are not the ones that will dissolve EU, says Alt. Migration Minister Mouzalas ANA/MPA---Alternate Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas on Sunday referred to the refugees issue at a SYRIZA event held at Haidari city hall. "Greece has submitted to EU an emergency plan in which Greece requests 450 million euros for goods and hirings outside the memorandum for the needs of the temporary camps expected to be set up for the refugees that will be trapped in Greece. The government is taking all the necessary measures as if the borders have closed for good by activating the plan B" he underlined. "We lost 20 days of preparations due to the sudden closing of the borders. We have seen it coming, but the agreement the status quo in Idomeni (of this unofficial hole at the borders with FYROM), to remain existed until the next summit on March 7. The agreement was violated and five countries' police chiefs reversed it" adding that in fifteen days the condition will get better because those migrants not entitled to asylum will be sent back and the condition will return to normal. On NATO's presence in the Aegean Sea, Mouzalas estimated that the national sovereignty is not at risk. "The plan is Frontex to be under NATO's umbrella and to be able to send the boats back to Turkey. If a boat capsizes and the people are in danger, it is a matter of protection of the human rights. We will be there to monitor that these rights are not violated" he said. Mouzalas also stressed that the government uses all the legal weapons it has "we are using the diplomatic channels, we are following the law and the right. We lose and we win. We want EU and we defend it, we are not the one [03] Theodorakis re-elected Potami party leader ANA/MPA---Stavros Theodorakis on Sunday was re-elected by a large majority leader of Potami party after the completion of the voting procedure for the election of the party's new leadership. Theodorakis received 715 votes (88.16 percent) while the second candidate Pavlos Eleftheriadis received 96 votes. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
EastEnders bosses promised us a dramatic Mothers Day episode, and judging from the latest spoiler pictures, thats exactly what were going to get next week.

READ MORE:

The new snaps show a tense row between Claudette Hubbard and Gavin Sullivan, whose rivalry has escalated dramatically in recent months.

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Claudette reaches breaking point

While youd think Claudette would be glad of a chance to put her feet up for the day, she instead spends Mothers Day looked in a furious battle with Gavin.

When he takes his comments a step too far, she reaches the end of her tether and reaches for one of Kim Foxs candelabras, whacking him round the head with it.

Its a little bit Cluedo-esque, to be honest...

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Will this really be the end for the evil Gavin?

Since arriving in Walford in 2015, Gavin has caused havoc for a number of residents, including Sharon Mitchell, when he revealed that hes her biological father.

The Fox-Hubbard clan have had a tough time in recent months, and Gavins blackmail isnt their only issue.

Denise Fox is currently dealing with the return of her former stepson Jordan, and his villainous father Lucas Johnson.
BBC newsreader George Alagiah has said he is "a richer person" after his battle with cancer but says he is "under no illusions" that it could come back.

The 60-year-old met with the rest of the so-called "BBC survivors club" of Alagiah, Andrew Marr, Nick Robinson and Frank Gardner the first time on Friday, The Press Association reports.

Broadcaster Marr had a stroke, former political editor Robinson had lung cancer and correspondent Gardner is paralysed from the waist down after he was shot in Saudi Arabia.

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In an interview with The Telegraph, Alagiah opened up about being free of stage four bowel cancer.

George Alagiah said he was a 'richer person' for having had cancer

"I realised I wouldn't give back a single day of the previous year's experience," he said. "I am a richer person for it."

When Alagiah noticed blood in his stools, his GP arranged a colonoscopy.

The presenter was diagnosed with the disease, which had spread to his liver and lymph nodes, in April 2014.

Bowel Cancer UK has said it kills nearly 16,000 people every year in the UK. It is the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK, behind lung cancer.

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"I wasn't afraid of dying," the Sri Lankan-born newsman told The Telegraph. "I just wanted to get on with treatment."

He endured two rounds of chemotherapy and several operations, including the removal of most of his liver.

But Alagiah, who is married with two sons, kept himself busy with a journal. He also wrote a novel.

On October 28, 2015 he announced that his treatment was over and returned to BBC News At Six on November 10.

After his first show, he told viewers: "It's good to be back with you."

However the broadcaster, who was made an OBE in 2008's New Year Honours list, admitted to worries over check-ups.

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"I try to shove that feeling into the attic in my mind a week or ten days before I am due to have a scan, yet I cant stop thinking about it," he told The Telegraph.

"I get anxious and then there is a huge relief when the doctor tells me it is clear again. But I am under no illusions.

"The doctor warned me last year, 'Your cancer knows the road, the pathway out of the gut'. It can happen again."

Alagiah joined the BBC in 1989 and spent many years as one of the corporation's leading foreign correspondents before moving to presenting.
Independent

Donald Trump has publicly refused to condemn the white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan, claiming he knows "nothing" about them.

Various white supremacist groups have voiced support for the republican presidential candidate, but when questioned Trump said he didn't know enough about the decades-old group that opposed the civil rights movement and has used murder to suppress those it disagrees with.

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Trump was asked on CNN about his endorsement from David Duke, a white nationalist and former leader of the Ku Klux Klan or KKK.

Called on to "unequivocally condemn" Duke and say he did not want votes from other white supremacists, he insisted he "didn't know" what group the interviewer was talking about.

I dont know anything about David Duke. I dont know anything about what youre even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. Youre asking me about something I know nothing about," he said.

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I have to look at the group," Trump continued, "I dont know what group you're talking about. You wouldnt want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about.

After the interviewer explained he was referring to Duke and the KKK, Trump again responded: I dont know David Duke, I dont think Ive ever met him. I dont know anything about him.

His words come as KKK member was accused of stabbing a man with a flagpole after a protest turned violence on Saturday.

At least three people have been stabbed after the KKK 'White Lives Matter' rally in Southern California turned into a violent brawl.

Protesters from the white supremacy group dressed in black shirts decorated with the 'Klan cross' took out signs that read "White Lives Matter" after getting out an SUV in a park in Anaheim, near Los Angeles, on Saturday afternoon.

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They were quickly surrounded afternoon by the counter-protesters who had heard about the planned anti-immigration protest and were waiting for them, the Associated Press reports.

The counter demonstrators shouted and someone smashed the SUV's window, before one KKK member reportedly stabbed a counter-protester with the decorative end of a flag pole, setting off a vicious brawl videoed by witnesses.

Three people were stabbed, one critically, and two were assaulted.

"I got stabbed," a man is then heard screaming, lifting his T-shirt to show a wound to his stomach. A fire hydrant where the man briefly sat was covered in blood.

One police sergeant saw Klan member with a knife in his hand and a counter-protester bleeding nearby, Anaheim Police sergeant Daron Wyatt said. The sergeant took the KKK member into custody.

Meanwhile, counter-protesters 'stomped' on two KKK members, he said.

"All hell broke loose," said Brian Levin, director of California State University who witnessed the violence. "I thought they were going to stomp these Klansmen to death."

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A witness said he saw a swarm of police cars and helicopters in the area.

Chris Barker, who identified himself as the imperial wizard of the Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, said his members were holding a peaceful anti-immigration demonstration and acted in self-defense.

"If we're attacked, we will attack back," said Barker.

The KKK has a long history in Anaheim. In January 2015, fliers condemning the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and supporting the KKK were left in the driveways of about homes in Santa Ana, eight miles south of Anaheim.
Britain's is heading for a 'white Easter' according to forecasters with temperatures predicted to fall as low as -14C over the bank holiday weekend.

A rare weather phenomenon known as 'Sudden Stratospheric Warming' (SSW) could lead to polar temperatures in late March and early April, with the Met Office warning that the signs point to snow.

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SSW occurs when air high over the North Pole warms and pushes colder Arctic temperatures down towards Britain, leading to a plunge in temperature for up to two weeks.

A 'white Easter' could be on its way

SSW has given periods of temperatures as low as -18C in recent years, including -18.4C in the Highlands in Scotland in February 2009.

Freezing weather hit the country during March, with the potential for severe weather warnings, and more intense cold towards the end of the month.

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The Met Office predicts there will be higher than average rainfall in March and the rain will become snow as it falls in freezing conditions.

The Met Office said in its forecast: "The greatest risk of cold weather impacts is in late March and early April, due to the likelihood of a sudden stratospheric warming event.

"These events more often than not result in conditions associated with colder and drier-than-average conditions across the UK in early spring.

"There are renewed signals for a sudden stratospheric warming in early March, with the potential to increase the chances of cold weather later in March and early April."

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If that's got your attention, here are the 18 most extreme weather phenomena on the planet...
The inspiration came to Allan Overcast when he heard about the 2010 shooting death of a young Montana State Patrol trooper in a remote spot near Three Forks.

The trooper, 23-year-old David DeLaittre, was found dead by another law enforcement officer following a shootout during a traffic stop with a man who later killed himself.

The murder sent shockwaves through Montanas law-enforcement community and caused Overcast, an engineer and radio system consultant for police, to wonder if he could design a better alert system and make a difference.

Was there a way to alert authorities the instant a gunshot is fired, saving precious time if an officer or citizen has been injured? If so, could Overcast get a patent on it?

I had been wanting to do something to protect law-enforcement officers, but that was the proverbial kick in the britches, the 50-year-old Billings man said last week.

Three years ago, Tracer Technology Systems was born on Billings South Side. And, in August 2014, the company got a major shot in the arm when Overcast obtained an international patent for his invention, which can detect gunshots and immediately send a message through a cellular network to emergency personnel. It's also patent pending in the United States.

One device is designed for police to carry. Other versions can be plugged into walls or hung like a smoke detector and serve a broader purpose: detecting gunshots in public places like schools, churches or shopping malls, shortening response times and possibly saving lives.

The cause of death of gun shooting is usually not the initial shot. Its the consequences from the loss of blood, Overcast said.

Overcast is part of the growing class of Montana entrepreneurs who have obtained patents, which help build their brand. Obtaining a patent can be a lengthy and costly process, but the value that patents bring to a business are worth the investment, local experts say.

Toni Tease, a Billings-based patent attorney, said shes seen a rising number of Montanans seeking to patent their inventions. They range from a new type of cloth training diaper, to dishware for camping and active users, to systems to manage traffic.

It really is a reflection of our community, and what people are doing.  Behind every patent, there is a story, Tease said.

Nationwide, patent filings saw a surge last year, according to Lex Machina, a California-based company studying legal trends.

In the second quarter of 2015 (April to June), patent filings totaled 1,656 in the United States, the highest quarterly amount since Lex Machina began compiling these statistics in 2011.

Tease works primarily with inventors at small firms. Her clients are nationwide, but the majority work in Montana and Wyoming. The slump in oil prices has curbed patent proposals related to drilling and development, but Tease said other sectors remain steady.

Obtaining a patent costs at least $10,000, and Teases clients report spending up to $18,000.

Patents provide value in three big ways, Tease said. One, they deter competitors and protect the inventors work and idea. Two, they increase the value of the company for potential investors or buyers. And, they create an avenue to license a product, allowing the inventor to focus on creating while someone else sells the product.

About 90 percent of her clients are issued patents if theyre eligible, and Tease estimates that about one in four discover their invention was already patented by someone else.

Patent law has traditionally been recession-proof, and Tease said shes pleased and surprised with the innovation she sees from local entrepreneurs.

It is absolutely an extremely wide range of technology. That, to me, is the beauty of Montana, she said.

For Kevin Scharfe of Billings, the patent on his dinnerware product added value to a simple idea he developed in a cluttered Wyoming apartment.

Scharfe invented the design for the Ripple, a detachable plate-and-bowl combination that allows users to carry a bowl of soup on a plate without spilling and making a mess.

Scharfe applied for a provisional patent in 2013 and raised $20,000 through online crowd-sourcing with his business partner, Karl Schwartz.

His patent was granted about three months ago, said Scharfe, whose company is called Warum Studios.

For us, the biggest value was if we ever sell the business. If you have no intellectual rights to the project, all youre really selling is the market youve developed and the retailers youve developed, Scharfe said last week.

Scharfe, a former teacher who now works full time at Elation Inc., manufactures the products in Bozeman and sells mainly to wholesalers, who distribute to independent retailers.

It works like this: dishes are attached with a bayonet connection, allowing the user to easily hold the plate and bowl together. Scharfe came up with the idea when he was living in Wyoming doing pottery, and he experimented throwing bowl and plate together to easily move the pots around.

Now that the invention is real and selling, Scharfe said he appreciates the intrinsic value of the patent.

Its confirmation that you have created something that doesnt exist anywhere in the world, Scharfe said.

To Overcast of Tracer Technology, the patent is also about more than money, though he still wants to recoup his investment.

He estimated hes invested about $250,000 of his own money so far (thank goodness my wife works, he joked), and hes seeking to raise another $500,000 through crowd-funding.

Overcast also founded another Billings-based company, Link Communications.

The first products, called the Falcon for law enforcement, should be ready to sell within a month, he said. He added that he still needs to test the other devices for outlets and overhead, called the Raptor and the Eagle, respectively.

The system would likely cost about $12,000 to install in a school, then about $1,200 annually to maintain, Overcast said. While cash-strapped school districts may struggle to justify the costs, Overcast said its cheaper than other security models that would require a call center to respond to alerts.

Tracer Technology faces other hurdles, primarily raising money. But Overcast said he didnt invent the system to get rich, and he hopes it will do some good.

I dont want technology to take lives. I want technology to save lives.
Spending this weekend treading the "radical centre ground" of the Scottish Liberal Democrat conference (their words, not mine), it's difficult to define what the party offers to politics in Scotland right now.

Unlikely to return more than a handful of MSPs post-election, the Liberal Democrats are even facing being relegated to fifth place in the Scottish Parliament. The majority of polls have them retaining their two island constituency seats, Orkney and Shetland, whilst list seats have varied between one and a particularly generous six.

I almost feel bad for the Lib Dems. As is the case in the rest of the UK, many feel the party sold out by going into coalition with the Conservatives. This isn't new, of course, as we witnessed in last year's General Election, but this poses a problem for the Scottish branch of the party in the run-up to May. At worst, the Lib Dems have been branded to be as right-wing as the Tories. At best, they are believed to have no backbone and few morals. Trust levels remain low and Willie Rennie is one of the least popular political leaders in Scotland.

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Previously the only party to discuss federalism as a resolution to the unstable UK constitution, their calls have now been drowned out. No one seems to remember that this has long been one of the Lib Dem's key aims. Instead, the SNP and - to a certain extent - Labour have started to successfully push this agenda, blithely ignoring the fact that it was Lib Dem policy first.

The reason Tavish Scott and Liam McArthur are proving to still be popular in the islands is precisely because these communities remember it is a party that backs strengthening local powers. Whilst this has a certain amount of appeal throughout Scotland, for the islands it is imperative. The differences between these islands and mainland Scotland results in centralisation impacting these regions far worse than elsewhere in the country.

The SNP, to its credit, has tried to address this. A recent consultation and working group on giving more powers to the islands indicates the Scottish Government is at least willing to consider a more federalist structure. But the party has a history of centralisation and despite its argument that more devolution would be "for the good of the Scottish people", spreading powers beyond Holyrood to local communities seems to be of little interest.

For the Lib Dems though, this is only a card they can play in the remote northern islands. The idea does not seem to wash outside of Orkney and Shetland.

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In an attempt to persuade mainland Scots, the party is being smart by trying to turn the focus to education and policing - two areas where the SNP have not been doing so well. But Labour has tapped into the education tactic as well, and despite both parties having the same 'Penny for Education' policy, the Lib Dems have received far less coverage on it.

Lib Dem voices are being ignored throughout Scotland, either because they have been tarred with the same brush at the UK Conservatives (a problem which strangely doesn't seem to impede the Scottish Tories) or because people just don't know what the party stands for. The party is well aware of this, hence the #LibDemFightback campaign - but so far it doesn't seem to be going particularly well for them.

At the Lib Dem conference, speeches abound about the party's record both in government and as an opposition party. It oversaw the introduction of several environmentally-friendly policies (many of which have now been overturned), held a referendum on electoral reform, helped win the argument again tax credit cuts, and managed to hold its own against many of the more right-wing Tory backbenchers.

Few people seem to appreciate any of this, though, and simply highlight the negative legislation brought in between 2010 and 2015. Perhaps as we continue under Conservative rule, more people will come to realise how much of the more extreme Tory agenda the party actually managed to stop.

I hope the tide starts to turn for the Lib Dems. Indeed, they campaign on many issues that many other parties hold dear: a more proportional electoral system, reformation of the House of Lords, devolving power to local communities. And whilst I don't agree with much of their policy, they could help to form one of the strongest cross-party oppositions to the Scottish Government at a time when this is desperately needed.

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Homely Creatures

For most small business owners, its a no-brainer about whether their business is best operated online or as a bricks and mortar store.

But what if an online-only business was given the opportunity to dip its toe into the real world in the form of a pop-up store?

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Would the grass be greener?

For Emma Patterson, founder and owner of online business Homely Creatures, having a physical presence in Melbournes CBD for a week doubled her sales.

My website visits were up 34 percent, online sales up 18 percent and overall sales, including sales that I made at the pop-up doubled on what Id made that week the year before, Patterson told The Huffington Post Australia.

Its pretty decent. It was such a surprise, a little bonus!

Cloud St, a store that popped up in busy Little Collins Street, replaced online shopfronts for a selection of businesses and brands, giving a temporary physical presence to those without one.

Powered by accounting software provider Xero, Cloud St hosted four different pop-up stores over four days, giving the shop owner complete control over how the store was presented and run.

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Patterson, a graphic designer, illustrator, product designer and entrepreneur, won the right for her store to be featured due to the ethical nature of her business -- she supports fair trade and some of her items are handmade in Bolivia and Nepal.

She said she launched Homely Creatures as an online-only store in 2013, selling a range of cute and quirky homewares and childrens items that she designs.

I wanted to start small -- that was also reflected in my decision to go with handmade, fair trade products, Patterson said.

Online seemed the obvious choice and I also decided to sell into some other retail stores with a wholesale approach. It was just too risky to do online, wholesale and a physical store, so I went online.

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Emma Patterson sets up her Homely Creatures pop-up store on Cloud St.

Patterson said she had tried selling at markets and trade fairs, but Cloud St gave her a real taste of the bricks and mortar world.

I had done the Finders Keepers markets in Melbourne and Sydney, and also One Fine Baby, which is a great one, she said.

Ive been doing those since the very beginning -- that was like my temporary retail space.

With Cloud St, it was funny timing because at the same time, I had agreed to do another pop-up with a group of friends for three months and its still going -- thats called the Little Pop-Up Shop. So I was doing both at once for a week there!

It was an amazing opportunity -- it was the week before Christmas too, it really was perfect timing. I met so many interesting people through it, and Im still benefiting from those network connections.

Patterson said she loved being able to interact and communicate with her customers face-to-face.

I just loved watching people's faces as they walked through the door and spotted something they liked -- you dont get that with online, she said.

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I get lovely feedback from Instagram which gets me lots of online sales, but you don't get to see their faces light up. I really loved seeing people feel and cuddle the products.

She decided to have her products made in Bolivia and Nepal to keep quality high, and provide artisans in those countries with an income.

I really like the handmade feel, she said.

When I was wondering how and where Id get the products made, I found some felt products that said made by women in Nepal, so I investigated and found some craft houses there, and they dealt with an Australian agent.

"So I went through her and she ended up being a mentor, and helped me design my products for Nepal.

After I got a bit of confidence doing that, I wanted knitted goods for some of the designs, and found items that were hand-knitted by people in Bolivia, and followed that up the same way.

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Some of the Homely Creatures range.

She said her range has grown from 10-12 items when she launched to more than 45.

I really enjoy creating new products, but I want to shuffle the way I do things, she said.

I want to get to the stage that I only have 100 of each item and when theyre gone, they're gone forever and then I can make new products. Thats the plan this next year.

We will have a core range, but all the others, I think my stockists will appreciate the range changing a bit.

Taking part in Cloud St allowed Patterson to access a new clientele.

It was a very different customer base than I usually appeal to, she said.

Instagram brings me the yummy mummies who love design, but there was a lot of corporates and other people who worked in the city coming in, so that really broadened my reach of exposure.

It definitely increased traffic to my website -- I gave out a lot of postcards and discount codes to people who didnt make a purchase, and Xero did quite a lot of advertising around it, which was excellent.

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"This experience really opened my eyes to that kind of leverage -- they have a big following and big reach and budget, so it took me out of my small business bubble.

If you can partner with big companies then obviously it opens up more opportunities.
Mission-driven organizations were first popularized as a term in the early 2000s, but have recently gained even more momentum and popularity as consumers begin to demand that the companies and organizations they support act in socially responsible ways.

However, in those few short years, the sector has both expanded and changed dramatically. In education in particular, mission-driven organizations have begun to feel some tension as the students they often reach out to prefer screens to paper, styluses to pencils, swiping to flipping a page. Junior Achievement, the Colorado Spring, Colorado-based nonprofit organization that aims to "inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy," has in fact, however, taken this potential strain in stride. The organization's Company Program, which engages teens age 15 to 19 to build and launch their very own businesses, worked with over thirteen-thousand young entrepreneurs last year in building not only financial literacy and business acumen skills, but also in familiarizing students with e-commerce, crowdfunding, and even mobile app development. The entire program culminated in national recognition for students at the JA National Student Leadership Summit.

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It seems that the effects of JA's training curriculum stretch long past students' graduations from high school. Claire Carden, a current student at Drexel University in Philadelphia, found herself drawn to accounting after being a part of a JA program that gave her insight into the finance department at Aqua America, a company that provides drinking water and wastewater treatment infrastructure for residents across the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Southern United States. As a past participant in JA's National Summit, Carden also mentioned the strong network she's built with other students around the country. They even still keep in contact with each other she said, laughing.

When I spoke with Jack Kosakowski, JA's CEO, on the phone, he explained that JA's goal has always been to teach students about how to run a business. However, through support from The Hartford, the program has been updated and has transitioned to a blended learning approach that hopes to bring the curriculum to students in a way that is more engaging to them as ever. It wasn't that the curriculum needed to be overhauled - "what they're teaching is just as relevant as it's ever been," Kosakowski told me. "What's not as relevant was the way it was delivered - on a paper based system." Now, lessons are delivered online, which allows for a modular approach that encourages a customized experience for each team, depending on their interests and engagement. The program even includes its own proprietary eBay-like marketplace that feeds into a larger learning management system.

Even on the back end, the new digital system allows JA to keep up with an "expectation of almost real-time change," says Kosakowski. Jacqui Pernicano, JA San Diego's COO, agreed, saying one of the biggest benefits of the new digital system was the ability to make "real-time changes" to course-correct and tweak materials when needed. Further, "the beauty of it is that we can make changes on the fly, and if we see something's not working, we can correct it," Kosakowski added. "A lot of people think that in creating a blended educational experience...you just take a textbook and digitize it. It's not - it's [actually] creating a lot of new experiences and activities for the students." Paul Kappel, the President of Junior Achievement of Delaware Valley, further affirmed that using technology as a delivery model allows student to learn the new "skills [needed] to succeed in a 21st century model," with JA providing a "broad enough skillset that prepares [students] for whatever jobs [they pursue]...It's not just about financial literacy and entrepreneurship, but the opportunity to work in groups, take appropriate risks, and problem-solve." "[We want to both] teach the skills that help you get the job and [also] the soft skills that help you keep the job," he explained.

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I also had the chance to speak with some of the students recognized for their JA business at last year's Junior Achievement National Student Leadership Summit, from Canyon Crest Academy (CCA), in Carmel Valley, California. Hannah Bush, the Chief Marketing Officer of the team, told me a little bit about their idea and business model, saying the team hoped to develop a "common information point," leading them to develop what became the CCA Today app, which aggregated news and updates for students, staff, and parents in the CCA community. Lorenzo Patino, the team's CFO, added that in doing so, team members were able to test and refine their "teamwork and communication skills," a sentiment also echoed by Madison Moreno, the team's Chief Sales Officer. Bush and Moreno mentioned that their experience in JA even led them to pursue business administration and marketing majors, respectively, in their current university studies.
The Blog Sunday Roundup

This week the nation had to clean up the collateral-mud-damage from watching Thursday's Republican debate. To call it a circus would be to insult the dignity, decorum and poise of the circus. "This guy's a choke artist, and this guy is a liar," said Trump of Rubio and Cruz, who finally took on The Donald. Meanwhile -- irony alert! -- Trump said former Mexican President Vincente Fox "used a filthy, disgusting word" and "should be ashamed." Even worse, the substance matched the atmosphere. After an extended debate on poll numbers, it was hard not to wonder how much better it would be if the candidates cared about meaningful data as much as poll data: like the new report that the seas are rising at their fastest rate in 28 centuries. Or that 22 million people would lose healthcare with Obamacare's repeal. Or that deporting 11 million people would cost an estimated $400 - $600 billion, take 20 years and lower real GDP by $1.6 trillion. But, of course, facts are for losers.
Image: Stock Photo. FreeImages.com/Krzysztof (Kriss) Szkurlatowski

Armenians have had an ambivalent feeling toward Russia since independence in 1991.

On the one hand, they are grateful that Russia's defeat of Persia -- today's Iran -- in the early 1800s prevented the destruction of Armenian civilization.

They are also grateful that Russia has been the guarantor of Armenia's military security since the break-up of the Soviet Union 25 years ago.

That arrangement is actually part of official Armenian military doctrine.

But Armenians are also painfully aware that their nation continues to be one of the poorest in the former Soviet Union -- and many believe this reflects Russia's long subjugation of their country.

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That's why many Armenians wanted Armenia to join the European Union rather than the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union that Moscow bullied Yerevan into joining in 2013.

Armenians who had supported EU membership believed the country would have a better standard of living as part of the more prosperous West.

After all, a century of Russian-led Soviet rule and then Russian Federation economic dominance had failed to raise Armenian living standards.

That was why, in the fall of 2013, protests erupted when President Serzh Sargsyan made a 180-degree turn and scuttled Armenia's plans to enter into an EU association agreement -- a precursor to full EU membership. The announcement of the about-face came just hours after Sargsyan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in what everyone knew was a Kremlin arm-twisting session.

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Armenians also have become aware that Russia's motive for guaranteeing their military security is not altogether altruistic -- that is, a big brother protecting a smaller one just to be nice.

In fact, some of the Armenians who protested the decision to join the Eurasian Economic Union also called for an end to the Russian military presence in Armenia.

It's now apparent that Russia is developing Armenia as a staging base that could be used to strike neighboring countries opposed to Russian military adventures in the region.

The first evidence of that surfaced two decades ago -- and recent developments have only reinforced the notion.

Under a defense agreement between Russia and Armenia in the late 1990s, Russian troops -- not Armenian ones -- were assigned to patrol Armenia's borders with Turkey and Iran.

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The message to Turkey and Iran was unmistakable: A border problem with Armenia would not lead just to a war with Armenia but also to one with Russia.

Additional evidence of the staging-base notion is that both Russian bases in Armenia -- one an army post and another an air base -- are near the Turkish border.

Further evidence is that in recent years Russia has sent a host of arms to Armenia's military, starting with an $800 million shipment in 2010. The weapons have included Iskander-M surface-to-surface missiles capable of landing deep inside other countries in the region.

And in just the past few months Russia has beefed up the military hardware at its bases in Armenia and agreed to sell an additional array of advanced weapons to the Armenian military.

The weapons Russia has added to its bases at Gyumri and Erebuni include MiG-29 fighters, Mi-24 helicopter gunships and Navodchik-2 and Takiun aerial drones.

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In February of 2016 it announced it was selling $200 million worth of arms to Armenia.

It said those weapons would include multiple-launch rocket systems, anti-tank missiles, handheld antiaircraft missiles, radar-jamming systems, armored personnel carriers, sniper rifles and tank upgrades.

The most recent round of Russian arms deployments to Armenia, and its agreement to send even more, go beyond possible threats to Armenia. They are also related to the Kremlin's military adventures in Syria.

Russia began a bombing campaign against opponents of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria in September of 2015.

In November of 2015, Turkey downed a Russian warplane that it had repeatedly warned to stay out of its airspace.

Moscow was furious, and promised consequences.

It has since added new weapons at its Syrian bases that could bring down Turkish warplanes, and continued its encroachments on Turkish airspace, basically daring Turkey to try to stop it.

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Russia has also levied economic sanctions against Turkey.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has made another move that will increase tensions in the region: It has announced it will sell advanced Sukhoi-30 fighter jets and S-300 air-defense missiles to Turkey's Middle East rival Iran.

Those involved in the Syrian conflict -- including Russia and the United States, which has been bombing ISIS forces -- recently forged a cease-fire that just went into effect.

Whether it will hold -- and the broader question of who will ultimately rule Syria -- remain to be answered.

One thing the conflict has shown is that Russia is intent on throwing its weight around even in countries outside its traditional sphere of influence.

And the resources it can draw on to do that include its staging bases in Armenia.
As Super Tuesday and its crucial slate of primaries approaches, one of the most significant developing stories is the overwhelming support of African-American voters for Hillary Clinton's campaign. In Saturday's South Carolina Democratic primary, 80% of African-American voters (who comprised 60% of all Democratic voters in that primary) went for Clinton, a higher percentage than had voted for Barack Obama in the 2008 primary.

There have been plenty of harbingers of that African-American support for Clinton, including the prominent roles played by #BlackLivesMatter mothers like Lucia Fulton (Trayvon Martin's mother) and Geneva Reed-Veal (Sandra Bland's) in Clinton campaign events. Yet both Sanders supporters and Clinton critics have nonetheless expressed surprise and frustration at this voting bloc and its seeming ignorance of positions and actions from Clinton's past, with such outrage coalescing into the Twitter hashtag #WhichHillary.

Of course such debates are closely linked to contemporary issues, from Clinton's own career and record to broader conversations about race and 21st century politics. Yet they also echo the long and layered histories of African-American voting and political participation, and better remembering those histories complicates and challenges the anti-Clinton critiques.

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In the debates over the 15th Amendment, the third and final of what came to be known as the Reconstruction Amendments and the one that would grant African-American men the vote, many otherwise progressive activists expressed reservations about that community's political readiness. For example, women's suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony publicly claimed, "I will cut off this right arm of mine before I will ever work or demand the ballot for the Negro and not the woman." While she was partly advancing her own focal cause, such comments also reflected widespread fears that many African-American men (just a few years removed from slavery) were not yet politically knowledgeable enough to vote.

Speaking before the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery society, Frederick Douglass forcefully engaged with and responded to those narratives. "It is said that we are ignorant; admit it," Douglass argued. "But if we know enough to be hung, we know enough to vote. If the Negro knows enough to pay taxes to support government, he knows enough to vote; taxation and representation should go together. If he knows enough to shoulder a musket and fight for the flag for the government, he knows enough to vote." Thanks to the efforts of Douglass and many allies, the Amendment passed Congress in February 1869 and was ratified in 1870.

Over the next few years, exercising their newly granted suffrage, African-American voters helped elect hundreds of African-American state legislators across the South, as well as the first African-American Congressmen and many other leaders. At the same time, those voters and successes inspired a backlash, one exemplified by white supremacist-produced images of unruly Southern legislatures overrun by primitive African-Americans -- images of unreadiness and ignorance that would become part of a widely shared historical narrative of Reconstruction and would be brought to national popular prominence by scenes like this one in The Birth of a Nation (1915).

No voice pushed back on those images more powerfully than W.E.B. Du Bois. He did so in revisionist scholarly works like his magisterial book Black Reconstruction in America: An Essay Toward a History of the Part which Black Folk Played in the Attempt to Reconstruct Democracy in America, 1860-1880 (1935). But he also did so by repeatedly challenging widespread assumptions that African American voters were simply ignorant, easily manipulated pawns for political parties or leaders.

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In two stunning open letters to Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Warren G. Harding, both published in the NAACP magazine The Crisis shortly after those presidents' March 1913 and 1921 inaugurations, Du Bois laid out with nuance and precision his opinion of what African-Americans would look for and demand of the new administrations. As he put it in the letter to Harding, "Of the more than hundred million human beings whose destiny rests so largely with you in the next four years, one in every ten is of Negro descent" -- a hugely significant American community whose perspectives, as voters as well as citizens, would continue to inform every election, debate, and issue.

The fight to guarantee African-American voting rights continued for more than half a century after Du Bois' letters, and indeed remains ongoing and vital more than 100 years later. Yet so too has the fight to challenge images of African-American voters as more ignorant or less politically engaged than other communities -- images that we've seen time and again in the 21st century, often coded (if not indeed overt) through narratives of "Obama voters." Since 70% of those South Carolina Democratic primary voters expressed a desire for the next president to continue Obama's policies, it would be all too easy for the same bigoted narratives to be linked to these Hillary voters.


C. M. Rubin's Global Education Report

Ambassador Kirsti Kauppi, Dr. Nicholas Breakwell, Dr. David Perkins, Andreas Schleicher and Pak Tee Ng contributed to The Global Search for Education discussions this month on future learning, sharing perspectives on topics which ranged from what's really worth learning, to strategies to improve learning amongst 15 year olds, to an insider's look at how online training for teachers has evolved and grown in recent years. Teacher attrition costs the United States up to $2.2 billion annually. What can be done to solve this problem? Our Top Global Teacher bloggers shared their views as to what school administrators can do to help.

"If we are to achieve the joint goals adopted in the UN in September, they have to be part of everything we do, including education," Kirsti Kauppi, Finland's Ambassador to the United States, told me. The ambassador believes that all 17 goals of the Agenda are relevant to education, not just number four, "quality education." She added that Finland is exploring what the implementation of the UN goals means to its education system. The ambassador discussed Finland's new phenomenon based learning approach that she stated "aims to make teaching more integrated, and develop both a wide understanding and versatile skills."

What's really worth learning? Dr. David Perkins of Harvard Graduate School of Education has participated in curriculum projects addressing thinking, understanding and learning in Colombia, Israel, Venezuela, South Africa, Sweden, Holland, Australia and the United States. This month, he shared with me the top 5 strategies he recommends to teachers to help them nurture the 4 C's (creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration) in classrooms.

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"All countries can improve their students' performance, given the right policies and the will to implement them," according to PISA's Andreas Schleicher, who discussed in his interview with me the factors affecting 15 year old students' low performance on test together with recommendations for what countries can do to help, based on a new analysis of previously published PISA data called "Low Performing Students: Why They Fail and How to Help Them Succeed."

What started as a highly protested transition, with fears that online teachers wouldn't be properly trained, is becoming a global phenomenon according to Dr. Nicholas Breakwell, who spent almost a decade at Hibernia College in Ireland and its subsidiary in the UK (the latter was recently purchased by TES Global). This month, Breakwell discussed why he expects to see an acceleration in online education for teachers.

Pak Tee Ng is Associate Dean, Leadership Learning, and the Head of Policy and Leadership Studies Academic Group at the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. This month, he shared his vision for schools of the future, including how they will be more environmentally conscious and globally inclusive, and what the role of physical teachers will be.

"The relentless drive toward higher test scores has left teachers feeling a palpable pressure to show student progress above all else," says top global teacher blogger Adam Steiner. How can school administrators help to reduce teacher attrition? "Expectations should be lined up with experience," comments Vicki Davis. "Strong mentoring colleagues are critical," adds Todd Finley, while Richard Wells believes in the benefits of team-teaching that "relieves some of the pressure put on new teachers as well as provides a time-efficient source of professional development." Finally, Craig Kemp points to staff drinks and social gatherings as being essential to a healthy education culture.

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Our thanks to all our friends and supporters around the world.



C. M. Rubin

Join me and globally renowned thought leaders including Sir Michael Barber (UK), Dr. Michael Block (U.S.), Dr. Leon Botstein (U.S.), Professor Clay Christensen (U.S.), Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond (U.S.), Dr. MadhavChavan (India), Professor Michael Fullan (Canada), Professor Howard Gardner (U.S.), Professor Andy Hargreaves (U.S.), Professor Yvonne Hellman (The Netherlands), Professor Kristin Helstad (Norway), Jean Hendrickson (U.S.), Professor Rose Hipkins (New Zealand), Professor Cornelia Hoogland (Canada), Honourable Jeff Johnson (Canada), Mme. Chantal Kaufmann (Belgium), Dr. EijaKauppinen (Finland), State Secretary TapioKosunen (Finland), Professor Dominique Lafontaine (Belgium), Professor Hugh Lauder (UK), Lord Ken Macdonald (UK), Professor Geoff Masters (Australia), Professor Barry McGaw (Australia), Shiv Nadar (India), Professor R. Natarajan (India), Dr. Pak Tee Ng (Singapore), Dr. Denise Pope (US), Sridhar Rajagopalan (India), Dr. Diane Ravitch (U.S.), Richard Wilson Riley (U.S.), Sir Ken Robinson (UK), Professor Pasi Sahlberg (Finland), Professor Manabu Sato (Japan), Andreas Schleicher (PISA, OECD), Dr. Anthony Seldon (UK), Dr. David Shaffer (U.S.), Dr. Kirsten Sivesind (Norway), Chancellor Stephen Spahn (U.S.), Yves Theze (LyceeFrancais U.S.), Professor Charles Ungerleider (Canada), Professor Tony Wagner (U.S.), Sir David Watson (UK), Professor Dylan Wiliam (UK), Dr. Mark Wormald (UK), Professor Theo Wubbels (The Netherlands), Professor Michael Young (UK), and Professor Minxuan Zhang (China) as they explore the big picture education questions that all nations face today.

The Global Search for Education Community Page
I know what you are thinking... no, of course not. After all, the Republican Party, or Grand Old Party (GOP), is a party of the right, conservative, but square within the political mainstream. Just because Donald Trump is leading the primaries, and the GOP seems unable and unwilling to stop him, does not make the whole party far right. The official party platform is more or less mainstream conservative, as is the (toothless) party leader Reince Priebus. And only a minority of the party's Members of Congress, most notably in the House of Representatives, is ideologically far right -- such as Michelle Bachmann (Minnesota), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Steve King (Iowa) and Jeff Sessions (Alabama).

The situation is much less clear at the state level, however. Here authoritarianism and nativism run rampant among governors and legislators alike. It is almost exclusively among GOP-controlled states that strict anti-immigration and "anti-Sharia" legislation was introduced. And the vast majority of Republican governors refused to accept Syrian refugees to their state, on the unfounded allegation that they would include terrorists.

American parties are not the centralized, homogeneous political organizations that European parties are. The particular combination of a first-past-the-post electoral system and extremely expensive campaigns means that individuals can create some independence vis-a-vis national party leaders, particularly if they have their own financial backers or sources. Consequently, the parties are strongly influenced by some individual members, particularly if one of those individuals wins the presidency. In other words, the major presidential candidates play a major role in the (self-)characterization of the party.

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The real problem of the GOP today is that Donald Trump is not just a far right outsider, who has infiltrated a mainstream right-wing party, as the establishment is desperately trying to tell you and most mainstream media continue to confirm. The success of Trump is in many ways the product of a decade-long radicalization of the grassroots and cadres of the party and, consequently, Trump represents the party at least as much as Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell or failed establishment candidate Jeb Bush.

The case for labeling Trump "far right" is pretty straightforward. The core of his campaign is authoritarianism and nativism fueled with fierce and vulgar anti-establishment rhetoric. No minority is safe from him: Mexicans, Muslims, African-Americans, and even Jews -- who were treated to beautiful examples of anti-Semitic philosemitism -- including the already legendary "I'm a negotiator, like you folks" -- at a speech to the Republican Jews Coalition last year. For Trump every issue is, in essence, a security issue that has to be dealt with in an authoritarian manner -- from the wall with Mexico to terrorism -- in which he does not shy away from using violence (including torture). Not surprising then that authoritarianism is a key factor explaining support for Trump among voters. While he is not a true populist, as he believes in his own unique virtues and not those of the (common) people, his anti-establishment discourse is very similar to that of far right populists in Europe, i.e. claiming all elites are essentially corrupt and on the same side.

The problem for the GOP is that Trump is not the only major candidate whose core beliefs are at odds with liberal democracy, in particular minority rights. Each of the remaining five presidential candidates has proposed to limit the rights of minorities, including the gay community and Muslims. In fact, the top three candidates have all called for increased monitoring of "Muslim communities" in sharp opposition to religious freedom and, obviously, the First Amendment.

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In fact, if the 2016 primaries had been normal by any conventional standard, even the standards of the 2012 GOP primaries (which were also lathered with religious extremism and Islamophobia), all the attention and outrage would have been focused on the behavior and ideas of Ted Cruz. And I am not talking about him cooking bacon with a machine gun. Cruz has a long and well-established track record of supporting far right causes and conspiracies. In a recent article in the SPLC's Intelligence Report on the ten most popular far right conspiracy theories in the United States, Cruz featured regularly as one of the most prominent supporters of those theories -- including the insane conspiracies around Agenda 21, an alleged attempt to put "the tentacles of the UN into US institutions" (one of the key conspiracy theories of the far right John Birch Society), and Jade Helm, the 2015 US military training exercise in several Southern states that many far right activists in Texas thought was a secret Pentagon plan to invade their state.

And, despite Trump's recent re-invention as a devout Christian, uncritically accepted by large portion of the Religious Right, the real religious extremism comes from other candidates within the party, most notably Ben Carson and Ted Cruz. Asked "a simple question" on MSNBC, namely "Does the Bible have authority over the Constitution?", Carson answered "That is not a simple question", arguing that it depended on the "specific context." Cruz has said, on multiple occasions, "That our rights do not come from the Democratic Party or the Republican Party or even from the Tea Party. Our rights come from our creator." In other words, two of the five remaining GOP presidential candidates believe that the Bible is more important than the Constitution, which suggests a theocratic understanding of politics that is directly at odds with democracy, not just liberal democracy.

Even the last hope of the GOP establishment, Marco Rubio, is not a traditional mainstream conservative. First, he was catapulted into national politics by the Tea Party movement, even though he quickly abandoned them when he found other, richer backers. Second, he has supported classic far right tropes, such as the denial of man-made climate change or the obviously wrong assertion that Christianity is being treated as "hate speech" under President Obama. In one of the most bizarre moments in the campaign so far, a very high bar, Rubio and Cruz, both Cuban Americans, were trying to out-Trump each other on immigration with Rubio outright denying his previous support for immigration reform and blurring lines between immigrants and terrorists. Similarly, there is little light between Rubio's anti-Muslim comments and those of Trump (or Cruz). In fact, after Trump had stated that mosques should be under surveillance because of the risk of "radical Islam", Rubio extended that to "any place -- whether it's a cafe, a diner, an internet site -- any place where radicals are being inspired".

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US President Barack Obama speaks after touring Saft America Advanced Batteries Plant in Jacksonville, Florida February 26, 2016. / AFP / JIM WATSON (Photo credit should read JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Memo to President Obama: We need a Supreme Court Justice and we need one now. That justice should be prepared to fight the great the legal battles of the twenty-first century. And those battles concern primarily wealth and race.

Let's talk first about wealth. That discussion must begin with the worst Supreme Court decision of this young century, Citizens United v. FEC (2011). That opinion, which was the culmination of three decades-worth of judicial errors, declared as a matter of constitutional law that money is speech and that those who have more money have concomitantly greater rights to free speech. That was Orwellian enough, but the Court also created a corporate right of free speech that allowed groups of persons to collect and spend unlimited sums of money to influence political campaigns.

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How did the Supreme Court arrive at these sorry conclusions? We must begin with Watergate and the effort to reform the political order in the 1970s. Yes, Watergate was about President Richard Nixon authorizing a criminal break-in and wiretap operation on the Democratic Party. But Watergate involved more than this act of burglary. Nixon had also raised vast sums of money from donors through a variety of questionable means and Congress legislated against those abuses.

In 1974, therefore, Congress enacted reform legislation limiting the amount of money candidates could spend on campaigns. Limit the spending, it was thought, and you limit the opportunity for undue political influence. In 1976, however, in the case of Buckley v. Valeo, the Supreme Court gutted many of these reforms. It was in Buckley v. Valeo that the Supreme Court first articulated its Orwellian formula that money equals speech.

Citizens United was the logical outcome of Buckley. In the early 2000s, Congress again enacted legislation limiting campaign contributions. And once again the United States Supreme Court gutted those restrictions. We now inhabit a toxic political universe in which plutocrats seek to control the outcomes of elections through large, unregulated donations to their favored candidates. And don't think that they don't want a return on their investment.

A new Supreme Court justice must confront this sorry mess and reverse the line of cases from Buckley to Citizens United. For surely, much of today's turmoil in the political order has its roots in money trying to buy elections.

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Now, let us shift focus to the relationship of wealth and race. The United States suffers from enormous structural discrimination as a result of established patterns of wealth distribution. Consider Flint Michigan and ask yourself: Would the State of Michigan allow the water supply of a wealthy white Detroit suburb to remain tainted for months by dangerous amounts of lead?

Forty years ago, in 1973, Justice Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court, wrote a dissenting opinion whose reasoning must be revisited and revived by today's Supreme Court. The case was San Antonio School District v. Rodriguez. At issue was the funding of local school districts. Texas, like most states, then and now, depended on local property tax levies as the principal source of public school funds. This method of funding was challenged as unconstitutional by a group of poor school children who argued that they were deprived of educational opportunities that wealthier school children enjoyed for no other reason than accident of birth.

While a majority of Supreme Court justices upheld the Texas scheme, what really matters is Justice Marshall's dissent. He cut right to the heart of the matter: "The Court today decides that a State may . . . vary the quality of education which it offers its children in accordance with the amount of taxable wealth located in the school districts in which they reside." Wealth, Marshall went on, must be made a suspect constitutional class, and wealth-based discrimination must be subjected to higher levels of scrutiny.

To translate into non-lawyer speech: Marshall realized that education was a fundamental right. It opens the door to other opportunities to succeed. Poor children should not be deprived of those opportunities simply because they have been born poor. By extension, he also recognized that disparities in wealth might lead to other structural injustices.

Do you want to break the school-to-prison pipeline? We would do well to embrace Justice Marshall's dissent. Do you want an America where all children have the resources to succeed whatever the circumstances of their birth? We must turn again to Justice Marshall. Do you want to address the kind of structural discrimination that led to the poisoning of Flint? A new Supreme Court justice should find ways to expand on Justice Marshall's reasoning to do that.

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We need a Supreme Court justice, in other words, who can see the ways in which disparities of wealth deprive whole classes of persons of the opportunities that are rightfully and constitutionally theirs.

Now let's examine some basic issues of racial injustice. American mass incarceration is appalling and an embarrassment to the world. A new Supreme Court justice cannot, of course, legislate against mass incarceration. But she can make the constitutionality of American sentencing policies a central feature of the cases she chooses to review.

And where sentencing policy is concerned, we must return our jurisprudence to a sense of proportionality. The appropriate vehicle for that is the Eighth Amendment's "cruel and unusual punishment" clause. Chief Justice Earl Warren, writing in 1958, proposed that criminal sentencing must be measured against an "evolving standard of decency." In recent decades, our sentencing practices have not only not evolved, they have gone backwards. A new justice must be committed to scrutinizing the constitutionality of sentencing practices that have ruined the lives of countless thousands of young men and women for truly trivial offenses.

Then there is the matter of voting rights. In 2013, a 5-4 Supreme Court majority overruled congressional policy to free nine southern states from federal supervision under the Voting Rights Act. At the same time we are witnessing a number of states enacting franchise-restricting voter ID bills. A new Supreme Court justice must be committed to the ideal of an equal right to vote.

Last week's trial balloon floating the name of Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval for the Supreme Court was exactly the wrong signal to send. Sandoval is on the wrong side of the big issues -- where would he be on campaign finance reform? On voting rights? On the rights of labor? Yes, he is on the right side on gay marriage. He is on the right side of many things. But we must bear in mind that America needs a justice to address the big issues of wealth and race. And moderate Republican governors are not the place to find such justices.
It's come to this: When a Shonda Rhimes show like Scandal takes a break from ABC's Thursday night lineup these days, another Shonda show like The Family is all queued up to fill the slot.

Sweet.

Rhimes herself would quickly point out that The Family, which launches Thursday at 9 p.m. ET before moving to its regular 9 p.m. Sunday slot, isn't technically a Shonda show.

But it's written by Jenna Bans, a graduate of ShondaLand, and it comes with a thick, glossy unmistakable coat of Shonda DNA.

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Joan Allen stars, and nicely, as Claire Warren, the Republican mayor of Red Pines, Maine. Her son Adam (Liam James) was apparently kidnapped and murdered 10 years earlier and now, in a seeming miracle, has resurfaced.

Over those 10 years Claire has grown apart from her husband John (Rupert Graves) and her older son Danny (Zach Gilford). She has grown closer to her daughter Willa (Alison Pill), who has become Claire's closest political advisor as Claire sets her sights on running for governor.

Outside the family, we also have Sergeant Nina Meyer, wonderfully played by Margot Bingham. She became a local cop hero when Adam disappeared, because she identified a local man named Hank (Andrew McCarthy) as a likely perp and squeezed a confession out of him with a combination of oily promises and dire threats.

Only problem is, he didn't do it, and with Adam now demonstrably alive, Hank is out of prison and back in the mix.

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From this setup, the average viewer could make reasonable speculation about which of these characters would elicit what responses - sympathy, suspicion, anger, frustration and so on.

The average viewer would probably be wrong. By the end of the first episode, almost none of the characters falls into the niche we might expect.

Everyone has secrets, naturally, and almost all of them run deeper and dirtier than we might expect. The toughest challenge often seems to be separating the bad sheep from the lost sheep.

Mostly, though, we get from Bans what we've always gotten from her boss: a show that presses the pedal to the metal at the starting line, seemingly holding almost nothing back as surprises for the weeks ahead.

Yet those surprises will come, we can be sure, and they will almost certainly come in the same torrent we have seen in other Shonda shows. Too much is never enough.

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The Shonda DNA also should create a familiar mix.

On the one side, there will be an exploration of serious issues, which in this case include railroading a defendant, PTSD among abuse victims and the cynical ways in which ambitious politicians lie, deny and manipulate.

At the same time, the story includes a heaping dose of soap, with high-octane melodrama and regular insertion of standard soap practices like illicit liaisons among inappropriate characters.

That is to say, the most successful Shonda-style shows stake out turf somewhere between American Crime and traditional prime-time soaps. They succeed not only for content, but for their frenetic pacing, and we sometimes are drawn to the characters by their sheer force.

Allen has that kind of intensity here, and she gets solid support from the people around her, notably the crucial characters played by Pill, Bingham and McCarthy.

If The Family can keep control of its curveballs, if it can keep its characters fresh and if it can resist the temptation to become just a shock-driven soap about flawed people, it could spin a yarn worth following.
A woman who threatened to jump off a railroad bridge over the Yellowstone River between Billings and Lockwood on Saturday was coaxed away from the ledge by a trio of law enforcement officers.

The three-hour drama began just before 1 p.m., when a group of people who were fishing from shore noticed the young woman walking along the railroad trestle, said Lt. Mark Cady of the Billings Police Department. She sat down on a ledge below the main deck, by the second piling of the bridge.

The onlookers called 911. Officers from both the BPD and the Yellowstone County Sheriffs Office responded to the scene, along with the Billings Fire Department and an AMR ambulance.

Sheriff's deputy Aaron Harris and police officer Phillip Tanis lay on their stomachs for much of the time, speaking with the distraught woman. They were aided by police officer Del Kuntz, a crisis negotiator, who stood nearby, and a diver with the U.S. Water Rescue who stood on the other side of a girder.

In the meantime, a second diver, also with U.S. Rescue, a group of special service officers attached to the sheriffs office, waited directly below the bridge, next to a raft in the water, as a precaution.

At one point, officers brought the woman a bag of food and a drink. Most of the time she leaned against a girder, legs pulled up to her chest.

Though temperatures were in the 60s, a steady wind blew. Dark clouds amassed over the area and large drops of rain, mixed with the wind and the dust, fell for about 15 minutes.

Vehicles whizzed by on Highway 87, which parallels the railroad bridge, oblivious to the drama that was unfolding nearby. Officers kept people away from the rivers shore, so as not to further agitate the woman, and a nearby bicycle path was blocked off.

Finally, around 3:30, the officers dropped a strap down to the woman and encouraged her to grab it. She refused at first, but she eventually heeded their words, pulled on the strap and stood up.

The officers helped her back up to the main level of the tracks and covered her with a blanket. Then they helped her walk down a hill to a waiting patrol car.

Yellowstone County Sheriff Mike Linder, who also was on scene, praised the teamwork that brought the incident to a good ending.

The negotiators did an awesome job, Linder said. theyre the ones who convinced her to come down.

Jim Lewis, chief information officer for Montana Rail Link, said as soon as MRL got word about the woman on the bridge, at 12:55, they began holding up traffic. Altogether three trains were delayed, but by late afternoon, traffic was back to normal.
Ten year old Hispanic girl solves math problem in classroom.

Several weeks ago, the New York Times published a surreptitiously recorded video of a charter school teacher berating a first grade student and ripping up her work in front of the class for being unable to explain how she solved a math problem. The publicly-funded school, the Success Academy founded by Eva Moskowitz, circled the wagons and launched a public relations blitz.

According to the Times, the girl's parent tried to raise questions at a meeting organized by the school to get parent support for the teacher in the press. She was concerned that the parents were being asked to help without even being shown the video. "She's like 'You've had enough to say' and [Ms. Moskowitz] tried to talk over me," the mother told the Times. Frustrated, she gave up and walked out of the meeting.

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The student's parent went to the NY Department of Education to file a complaint. She was told that Success was independent from the school district and that she needed to contact the school's board of trustees. But the board, chaired by hedge fund CEO Dan Loeb, that gets to spend taxpayer dollars aren't elected by nor accountable to New York voters. They have no obligation to neither listen to her nor take action. They are a group of hedge fund and private equity investors, lawyers, public relationships professionals, philanthropists and one full-time educator.

Here's a few of the Wall Street investors on the school's board of trustees who the girl's mother was told to petition:

Joel Greenblatt is a Managing Partner at the hedge fund Gotham Capital and former Chairman of the Board of Alliant Techsystems, a NYSE-listed aerospace and defense company.

Steven M. Galbraith is a former Chief Investment Officer at Morgan Stanley who now runs Herring Creek Capital, a Connecticut based Hedge Fund.

John Petry is the founder and managing principle at the hedge fund, Sessa Capital.

Richard S. Pzena is the founder of Pzena Investment Manager, a global investment firm.

David Roberts has been for the last 21 years with the investment firm, Angelo, Gordon David, responsible for helping to start and grow a number of the firm's businesses including opportunistic real estate, private equity, and net lease real estate.

John Scully is a founding partner of SPO Partners & Co., a private investment firm and a director at the Plum Creek Timber Company and chairman of Advent Software.

Paul Pastorek, the co-executive director of the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation founded by billionaire Eli Broad, who is leading an effort to turn half of Los Angeles schools into charter schools. Pastorek led the post-Hurricane Katrina effort in New Orleans that converted all elementary and secondary schools into charter schools. Recent research has shown that the New Orleans school system is now a multi-tier system that works for some, but leaves many behind.

They are private citizens who get to spend taxpayer dollars to educate children. They argue that the market will determine success. Unfortunately, they get to define what success looks like -- not the public whose taxes fund the school, nor voters who are the ultimate policy makers in a democratic society. The problem is that the market doesn't need to pay attention to the whims of democracy that demands public accountability, high quality and inclusive education for every child -- even the ones that struggle with math problems.

The mother ultimately removed her daughter from the school. It's the Donald Trump "you're fired" brand of education. There's no room for those that can't take the heat - even if they are a 6-year old first grader struggling with math. That's not America and it's certainly not how a democracy should function.
The controversy surrounding the second straight year where no actors of color are nominated for an Academy Award has essentially left Oscars host Chris Rock no choice but to address the elephant in the room -- race and ethnicity in Hollywood. And putting an unapologetically honest comedian like Rock front and center on national television to skewer industry decision-makers may be exactly what Hollywood needs to finally understand that #OscarsSoWhite is no laughing matter.

To their credit, the Academy has acknowledged the problem they have with inclusion and have pledged to recruit new members who better reflect diversity of race, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. While this step is welcomed, it does not get to the root of the problem with Hollywood as a whole. Nominating more Black, Latino and Asian-American actors for Oscars will not change the fact that roles for those actors come few and far between. It will not convince head movie executives to bankroll films that tell the unique stories of minorities outside the lens of White filmmakers and executives.

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A recent study by the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism found that of the more than 400 films and TV series examined, fewer than one-third of the characters were minorities, with Latinos accounting for just about six percent. Latinas in particular were underrepresented and frequently featured in highly sexualized roles.

The industry needs to change from the top down. In a piece on the stunning lack of diversity throughout Hollywood, the Washington Post ran the numbers on what the make-up of the top tier of decision-makers in the industry looks like. Unsurprisingly, it is very old, it is very White, and it is very male.

In the Post article, Academy member and director Jennifer Warren explains: "The academy is a microcosm of the industry, and it (shows) benign neglect more than outright prejudice. It's not that the industry is prejudiced. It's that they're disinterested in anything but themselves."

The problem is also not limited to those at the top. As many directors and actors have said when asked about the Oscars controversy, there needs to be more representation and inclusion of minorities in every aspect of the industry in order to truly change the culture. That includes everybody from entry-level writers to the agents who represent talent. In a New York Times piece, America Ferrara details exactly how often stereotypes of race and ethnicity are heard:

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I had just won [a top award at Sundance], and [my manager] wanted me to audition for the Latina chubby girl in a pilot. She wasn't even the lead; she was just the sidekick, with the same joke in every scene. I said, 'I'm not going in for that.' When I ultimately left him, he [told] another of my reps, 'Somebody should tell that girl that she has an unrealistic idea of what she can accomplish in this industry.'
No sane person today expects the Arab countries to have consensus on the conflicts in the region with a unified position like that of Russia or the deliberately absent United States. The reputation for division and rivalry behind the scenes emerges - and is even part of the policies foreign ministers draft -ahead of any meeting among Arab leaders. The biggest problem, however, is when Arab diplomatic readings conflict with Russia's positions, for example, leading to conflicting policies, as this only serves to continue the bleeding. This applies to the various readings of US policies in the Middle East as well as Russian policies. The problem essentially lies in the structure of Arab-Arab relations, and in the Arab region's lack of firm and necessary action to reconfigure the Arab region in the global space. The Beirut Institute in partnership with ATKearny, presented this week a number of bold policy recommendations following a unique summit that brought together key decision makers and young leaders in Abu Dhabi last year. These recommendations to policymakers included a strategic roadmap for the reconfiguration of the Arab region, containing five main elements designed to: stop the bleeding; align and reinforce the core; unleash transformative growth; strengthen societal cohesion; build a regional security architecture. Stopping the bleeding is extremely crucial in Syria and Yemen, but also Libya and Iraq. Starting out from Syria and an Arab assessment of Russian and American policies there is self-evidently important, especially since the Arab engagement with Russia covers both the issues of the bleeding and the regional security architecture. To be sure, Russian-American partnership in Syria could evolve into a broader-based partnership, including in restructuring regional security, and talks in this direction have already started in various capitals. Regardless of whether this happens or not, the Arab region must avoid denial and burying heads in the sand in light of the historical developments taking place. They must confront geopolitical arbitrariness with a practical vision and strategy.

A short pause at the conflicting Arab readings of Russian policy shows the depth of the problem. On the one hand, a segment of the people of the Gulf were worried when they heard the statement that Russia sees its relationship with Iran as a long-term strategic one, as this column quoted high-level Russian sources last week. On the other hand, diplomats skeptical about this said the information in their possession from decision makers in Moscow directly contradicts this statement.

The bottom line of what these diplomats say is that the Russian-Iranian relationship is not a permanent strategic one, but is one of rivalry even in Syria. They say the Russian military intervention in Syria serves the interests of the Gulf countries, because it disallows their rival Iran from dominating Syria. They believe the GCC countries stand to benefit from the Russian intervention because it aims to defeat ISIS, which is an existential threat to these nations.

The proponents of this view, however, deliberately ignore two issues: First, the Russian intervention has targeted primarily the moderate Syrian rebels, which some in the Gulf claim to support. Second, Russian policy is to rescue the regime in Damascus and keeping Bashar al-Assad in power until further notice. In this regard, some like to insist vehemently that Moscow's support for the regime is to support the Syrian state and not necessarily Bashar al-Assad. Others like to claim that Moscow wants a secular Syria and not a pro-Shiite pro-Persian Syria. In their view, all this proves that there is a Russian-Iranian dispute over Syria.

There is no need to delve into a rebuttal of these interpretations. Perhaps Russian diplomacy itself is distributing roles in its messages to the Arab regions in a deliberately contradicting manner. Perhaps Russian diplomacy's vision for relations with key Arab countries is that having long-term strategic ties with Iran does not conflict with having strong ties with Saudi Arabia, for example. Moscow does not want to acknowledge that the regime in Tehran is a theocracy one of whose stated goals is to export the Shiite revolution to the Arab countries. The reason is that Russia is fully invested in fighting the rise of Sunni Islamists to power, because this would allow them to export their radical ideas to Russia where the 20 million Muslims are mostly Sunni.

In the view of one senior Emirati official, the Russian interest requires having strong and strategic relations with Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina. His opinion is that Russian diplomacy must consider two issues when upholding its policies on Syria and Iran: One, the fact that its leadership of the battle against what it terms Sunni Islamic terrorism could invite revenge in the Russian homeland and the five Muslim republics formerly in the USSR. And two, the fact that Russia's alliance with Iran and the Shiite militias in Syria reinforces the view that it is at war with Sunnis. Therefore, in order to avoid being implicated in Sunni-Shiite war, Russia must develop special ties with Saudi Arabia, according to the UAE official, who said that the kingdom's stability is crucial for his country and the Arab Gulf nations, and must therefore be taken into account by Russian diplomacy.

Some Russian diplomats agree building strong relations with Riyadh is as important as having strong relations with Tehran, and Saudi already welcomes the bid to develop relations with Russia. Others believe there is no choice but to make a choice between the two, because it is impossible to reconcile the two. Therefore, these diplomats believe it would be best for Moscow to mediate between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The view of the group of elite thinkers from both the government sector and the private sector meeting at the Beirut Institute summit, as stated in the recommendations, was that "The bilateral relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran arguably represents the single most important driver of the evolution of the Middle East geopolitically, economically and socially. Therefore, a disciplined, energetic effort to regularize dialogue between these two powers is a critical imperative for the region and the world."

The author of this article is founder and executive president of Beirut Institute - an international think tank focused on the Arab region. The 21 pages of recommendations are on www.beirutinstitute.org as well as the names of those who attended the summit in Abu Dhabi. The second summit will convene in Riyadh in partnership with the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies next fall.

The recommendations for decision-makers refer to the need to build momentum gradually in the bilateral relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran, to include efforts for a "second path" away from the limelight for confidence-building measures and establishing a strategic dialogue. Russia can play an active role in this context, provided that it turns from a partner of Iran in the bleeding in Syria to a serious partner in international efforts to stop the bleeding.

Stopping the bleeding has become a moral and strategic imperative, as the recommendations state, and establishing the necessary security basis to achieve comprehensive progress in the region. This also requires funding and a region-wide plan for stability and reconstruction, led by the Gulf nations with international assistance. It also requires systematically intensify military, financial and strategic communication efforts to defeat ISIS.

The reconfiguration of the Arab region in the global space requires accelerating institutionalization of Arab strategic and operational integration by creating a cohesive strategic plan and vision for the Arab region. It also requires improving the pillars of good governance across the Arab region, strengthening governance and the rule of law based on agreed norms grounded in local legitimacy and engaging youth in building the regional future.

Political realism does not prevent conflicting readings but by its nature, that does not require a lot of diligence. There is no need to deny what is clear just because that would fit with wishful thinking. The task ahead for the Arab region is huge. The least thing to do would be to admit to the facts even if they are painful, in order to develop rational policies to deal with them.



Translated by Karim Traboulsi

http://www.alhayat.com/Opinion/Raghida-Dergham/14165741/%D9%86%D8%AD%D9%88-%D8%AD%D9%88%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%AA%D9%8A%D8%AC%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D8%B1%D8%A8%D9%8A---%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%8A
Reflections on the Completion of 25 Years In Public Office and the End of A Political Career



By U.S. Congressman Steven R. Rothman

January 2013

The Record



As my 16 years in the U.S. Congress have now ended, completing a total of 25 years in elected office, I have been reflecting on how grateful I am for those years of public service.



In 1982, as a 29-year-old lawyer, wanting very much to help lead my hometown of Englewood in its renaissance, I ran for and was elected twice as Mayor. Those years were truly a labor of love. Working with my neighbors, we were able to fix many things and help set Englewood on its path to renewal.



In 1992, I was asked by the Democratic Party to run for the elected office of Bergen County Surrogate Court Judge. I served in that capacity for three years and helped with the modernization of the Court. Then, in 1996, I was encouraged to seek the open congressional seat for the Ninth Congressional District of New Jersey, which included Englewood. I wanted to be of service to even more people, and to my country. Eight terms in Congress later, on January 3, 2013, my life's journey into elected public office concluded.



For the past 16 years, I have been privileged to fight for and serve my congressional constituents as well as work for the national good. Locally, saving the last 8,400 acres of the Hackensack Meadowlands from development, keeping Teterboro Airport from becoming another hyper-busy La Guardia-type airport, and bringing home unprecedented billions in federal money for vital local and regional projects, have been of special interest.



In particular, I have brought resources to every one of our area's local hospitals, help to local businesses small and large, appropriations for our transportation and other aging infrastructure, advocacy for tax and comprehensive immigration reform, funding for school safety and our first responders, and continuous support for reasonable gun control laws. I have also been deeply involved in helping our veterans, protecting our homeland and national security, facilitating Iron Dome and U.S.-Israel missile defense projects, fighting for economic progress and fairness, health care improvements for seniors, the insured and the uninsured, for gender and marriage equality, a woman's right to choose, clean air and water, smart land and energy use and conservation, medical research, and the humane treatment of animals.



My support of Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's nominee for President in 2008, serving as his Northeast Co-Chair and campaigning for him around the country---the only Member of Congress from New Jersey to endorse him in the Primary---was something of which I am also very proud. I believe that history will remember Barack Obama not only for his deliberative and smart accomplishments as President, but for the permanent and positive effects the mere fact of his presidency has had on the psyche and character of America.



Aside from these legislative and advocacy achievements, I am so proud of my Constituent Service staff who have helped literally hundreds of thousands of our neighbors. I am also thankful, and was made better and wiser, for having met and spoken with so many at schools, churches, synagogues, temples, mosques, cultural centers, supermarkets, factories, senior citizen centers, veterans halls, rallies and at the more than 150 town hall meetings I conducted, as well as with our troops who shared their time and their stories on my visits to war zones and other places abroad and at home.



I end my political career with heartfelt thanks towards every single person who has provided me with opportunities to learn and be of service, as well as to so many of my colleagues on both sides of the political aisle for your support and friendship. I continue to believe that elected public service is noble and important. Our democracy, in fact, depends on it. Such work is certainly challenging, but I leave elected office with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude.



You see, I have been able, for 25 years, to engage in helping solve my neighbors' problems and protecting my beloved country. No greater honor or gift can be received by anyone.


A message sign is attached to a lectern awaiting a news conference by Senate Democrats who are urging Senate Republicans to relent on their decision to take no action on anyone President Barack Obama nominates to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, at the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Associate Justice Antonin Scalia's death, paired as it is with the 2016 election, leaves the future of the Supreme Court hanging in the balance. Yet while it's obvious what a conservative future for the court would look like, it's unclear what direction a progressive court would take. While conservatives have used judicial activism in recent years to reshape American politics, it is, somewhat ironically, murky what an activist progressive agenda would be.

Conservative judicial activism





The myth that liberals favor an activist Supreme Court is popular on the right. It is based largely on the legacy of the Warren court, though the most frequently cited "activist" decision, Roe v. Wade, was decided during the conservative Burger Court, and was written by Justice Harry Blackmun, a Nixon appointee. A better reading of history, informed by works like Ian Millhiser's "Injustices" and Erwin Chemerinsky's "The Case Against the Court," shows that for most of the court's history it has been activist in favor of big business and powerful elites. The most famous decision in this vein is 1905's Lochner v. New York, in which the court invented the "liberty of contract" to strike down labor regulations. (This sounds abstract, but Millhiser does the amazing service of drawing from contemporaneous documents to show how squalid working conditions at the time were.)

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The point here is not to simply bring up the many qualms liberals have with the Roberts court, but rather note that in each case the court is exerting judicial activism: It is either overturning decades of precedent or it is exerting supremacy over the elected branches of government. Rather than favoring an "activist" court, for the last three decades, liberals have fought for a more constrained court, one that respects precedents on issues like abortion, guns and interstate commerce and empowers the elected branches of government and regulatory agencies.

That could all change. With the death of Antonin Scalia, a Democratic president -- whether Obama or his successor, should Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders win in November -- would have the opportunity to flip the court and also possibly to replace Ginsburg and Breyer, two liberal giants. It is also not unlikely that either Clarence Thomas or Anthony Kennedy could leave the court in the next five (or if a Democrat won in 2020, nine) years. But even without Thomas or Kennedy leaving, a Democratic president would shift the balance of the court inexorably toward the left. This would be the first time since 1968 (1968!) that the majority of SCOTUS justices were appointed by Democrats. The flip side is equally important: A Republican win would lead to two or even three decades of hegemony on the court. A conservative court would likely embrace Lochnerism and begin striking down labor, health and environmental protections with vigor.

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What would a progressive court look like?

Having been out of power for so long, thinkers and writers on the left have tended to view the court largely as a threat to progressive values, rather than a means to promote them. (It is important not to overstate the power of the court to bring progressive change, as Gerald N. Rosenberg argues in "The Hollow Hope.") This leaves us in an interesting situation: Progressives are finally poised to have control of the Supreme Court, but the progressive agenda largely consists of overturning bad rulings like Shelby, Heller, Parents Involved and Buckley.

The last time that Democratic nominees filled the Supreme Court, progressives eagerly proposed ways that the court could protect the oppressed. Legal scholar Frank Michelman, for instance, argued that basic rights to food, shelter and healthcare, are guaranteed by the Constitution. Today, such imagination seems less widespread, though the possibilities of an activist progressive court are endless.

A progressive Supreme Court could immediately end solitary confinement and would certainly find unconstitutional injustices in our current bail and public defensesystem. Further, in much the same way that the conservative court has worked to strengthen conservative causes by disempowering workers and empowering billionaires, a progressive court would empower cities to have more latitude in decision-making. Rather than just roll back Shelby, a progressive court could rule that voter ID laws and proof-of-citizenship requirements are unconstitutional. The court could also strengthen protections for workers trying to unionize or rule that right-to-work laws are unconstitutional. A progressive court would enshrine equality of political voice as a legitimate reason for campaign finance laws.

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Progressives need an agenda for the court

Yet it's unclear where many of the potential appointees stand on these issues, which of these areas to prioritize and what if any litmus test a Democratic president would apply on these issues. On the right, the situation is a bit different. As legal scholar Mark Tushnet notes, "Basically, anyone whom Ronald Reagan selected for the Supreme Court who had strong ties to the Federalist Society would have done just about what Scalia did." Court watcher Jeffrey Toobin notes in "The Nine" that Bush had a very clear agenda for his appointees: Preserve the power of the president and begin dismantling Roe v. Wade. When Bush vetted possible candidates, Toobin notes, conservative activist groups were consulted, and at one point 60 "pro-family groups" were called so that Rove could make a case to them for the then-prospective nominee, Harriet Miers.

The progressive moment, on the other hand, doesn't seem to have a clear ideological litmus test for the court, or top priorities in making appointments. Should a Democratic president favor an appointee with a strong background on choice, but who opposes limits on campaign finance? And what if a candidate has a strong progressive background but is a white man, given how important lived experience to judging? Further, might the progressive movement want to make a strategic decision to de-prioritize the court to focus money and organizational muscle elsewhere? Should there be a more concerted effort to create a pipeline for progressive legal talent? How will the court shape the constraints on other branches of government?

Progressive legal scholars should begin debating these ideas and laying out legal justifications for them. Elite liberal thought leaders should begin to think about the possibility of a progressive court. Presidential candidates vying for progressive votes should say where they stand; not just on overturning bad conservative decisions, but on blazing the path to the future. And activists should begin considering what their demands might be, while think tanks begin to support them with legal research and advocacy. Possible Supreme Court appointees should be vetted based on their positions on these important questions.

On the right, organizations like the Federalist Society have dramatically re-envisioned the possibilities of the Supreme Court. Recently, conservatives have begun organizing a movement to wipe out decades of precedent and bring back the Lochner era, in which the court would strike down minimum wages and labor regulations. The right, in short, has done what progressives have not: invested serious intellectual and organizing energy into creating a more conservative court. To combat this, we need a progressive agenda for the court. Progressives may well soon take the reins. But we don't know where the hell we're going.
Physicians-in-training voice their support for single-payer reform. Photo: Al Nowakowski.



The following statement has been signed by more than 560 physicians and medical students. It was crafted by Andrea Christopher, M.D., Fellow in General Internal Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Adam Gaffney, M.D., Fellow in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and the two of us, Drs. Steffie Woolhandler and David U. Himmelstein. Other physicians and medical students are invited to read and sign the statement here: medicare-for-all.us

Setting the Record Straight on Medicare for All: An Open Letter From 560 Physicians and Medical Students

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The renewed debate over the merits of single-payer health reform has been marred by misleading claims that such reform is unnecessary and unaffordable. We write to set the record straight.

Despite the advances of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the health care financing system continues to inflict needless suffering on our patients. Nearly 30 million Americans remain uninsured, and co-payments, deductibles and insurers' narrow networks obstruct care for many more. Insurers skim billions from premiums, and impose expensive and time-consuming paperwork on doctors, nurses and hospitals.

Studies in the most trusted journals have quantified the bureaucratic savings achievable through single payer reform. We devote 31 percent of medical spending to administration, vs. 16.7 percent in Canada - a difference of $350 billion annually. And single-payer systems in Canada, the UK and Australia all use their bargaining clout to get discounts of 50 percent from the prices drug companies charge our patients. The potential savings on bureaucracy and drugs are enough to cover the uninsured, and to upgrade coverage for all Americans - a conclusion affirmed over decades by multiple analysts, including the Congressional Budget Office and the Government Accountability Office.

Recent critics of Medicare for All warn of large increases in government spending, but fail to note that these would be fully offset by savings on private insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs. Their forecasts of massive surges in doctor visits and hospital care conflicts with past experience of coverage expansions. When 15 million Americans gained insurance under the ACA in 2014, hospital admissions didn't budge. No surge in hospital use or doctor visits occurred when Medicare and Medicaid were rolled out, or when Canada's single-payer system started up; doctors saw sick and poor patients more often, but their healthy, wealthy patients a bit less often.

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Experience in many nations over many decades provides convincing evidence that single-payer reform is both medically necessary and economically advisable.
Establishment Republicans seem distraught, if not also startled, by the rise of Donald Trump and the possibility that he will be the party's nominee. They should not be surprised. They didn't intend to, but they created him.

Republicans, for the past seven years, have worked to make the Obama presidency fail. In their efforts to block nearly every major administration proposal, they aimed to produce a lack of confidence in -- and a low approval rating for -- the president. Many have called Republicans "the party of 'no.'" Even Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House, has argued that they need a more positive agenda -- they also have to be seen as for something. The refusal to hold hearings on a Supreme Court nominee is the latest example of the 'no' strategy, with an added twist. In this case, they aren't just saying "no" to a nominee but to even naming one. Yet, viewed from a limited vantage point, the strategy has worked well. Obama's approval ratings are low, and Democrats have lost control of both the House and the Senate.

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The strategy of "no" viewed from a wider vantage point, however, has had three unintended consequences. The first came from the faulty assumption that gaining control of Congress would allow Republicans to achieve a strongly conservative agenda. That's the promise they made to the voters who threw Democrats out of office. Unfortunately for them, they found that the president could also pursue a strategy of "no." While he lacked the power to succeed on many of his proposals, the framers of the Constitution gave him the power to block theirs, and he used it. The result: conservative Republicans found that their party's promises were hollow.

The second unintended consequence has been nearly explosive voter anger in both parties -- but especially among Republicans. Ineffective at making progress on a host of national problems, the parties have proven quite good at casting blame on each other, stoking the fires of anti-government sentiment. Not surprisingly, the approval rating for the President is just 49 percent. But the approval rating for Congress is only 15 percent. Nearly 7 of every 10 people polled think that every member of Congress deserves to be defeated in the next election, including nearly 4 of 10 who want their own representative thrown out.

The third unintended consequence is that a majority of Republic primary voters have turned on their own party. They don't just want to deny a Democrat the White House. They want to deny it to anyone they identify as an "establishment" Republican. In short, the policy of 'no' has convinced their own voters that traditional politicians can't govern. Only an "outsider" is worthy of leading the nation, almost irrespective of his views, experience, or personal characteristics. Republican primary voters are saying 'no' to the "party of no." This has enabled Donald Trump to rise. It has also fueled the campaign of Senator Ted Cruz. He has cast himself as the true conservative as well as an outsider, a claim backed by the antagonistic role he has played in the Senate against his own party and its leadership.

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And so we have Donald Trump and Ted Cruz promising to rescue the nation, even if it tears their party apart. This seems to delight Democrats, who see it as the inevitable payback for Republican obstructionism. Yet Democrats may be playing their own fool's game, assuming that Trump and Cruz will be easy Republicans to beat. They reason that Americans will never elect someone who they claim is (choose your word(s)): extremist, egocentric, insulting, ethnocentric, inexperienced, vulgar, distasteful. They should not count their chickens. This is an election year in which emotion has put reason on the back burner -- and emotion is thus far sending Republicans to the polls in greater numbers than Democrats.
The commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific recently told the Senate Armed Services Committee that China is "militarizing the South China Sea." Coming just after the Pentagon learned that the Peoples Republic has deployed antiaircraft missiles to the disputed Paracel islands, the accusation is but the latest development in a crisis that has been unfolding over the past several years.

Unfortunately, the U.S. has few options to counter Chinese moves in the region. It must not provoke a military confrontation with Beijing. A large buildup of U.S. forces would only encourage Chinese counter measures and could lead to an expensive and futile arms race.

China has long claimed most of the South China Sea as its territorial waters, defying both international law and the claims of other littoral countries. It has clashed with Vietnam over the Paracel and Spratly Islands and had diplomatic rows with the Philippines and Malaysia. The value of the waters as a fishery and the prospect of gas and oil reserves beneath the seabed have made the dispute more important.

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That an emerging super-power would assert control over its near abroad should come as no surprise. The U.S. did precisely the same thing in the Caribbean a century ago. After the Panama Canal opened in 1914, Washington viewed the Sea as an American lake. During the interwar period, the Marines intervened in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.

After WWII, the U.S. supported a coup to oust the President of Guatemala, forced the Soviet Union to remove its missiles from Cuba, and backed the Salvadoran government against Communist insurgents. This history makes it difficult for Washington to be too critical of Beijing's assertiveness in the South China Sea, no matter how objectionable such action may be.

How then should the U.S. respond? The much-vaunted "re balancing" of U.S. forces to Asia has been limited by the conflict in the Middle East and the resurgence of Russia. Deploying more naval and air assets to the region would, in any case, have limited effect. The U.S. will not go to war over the South China Sea, and China knows it. That realization reduces the credibility of any American military moves.

Beijing is developing anti-ship missile with the American Navy in mind. Such a weapon could neutralize U.S. carrier battle groups. Trying to outmatch China in its own backyard will not work. Attempting to do so would merely add to rising defense costs.

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A few quick thoughts on the initial results in the Iranian elections

 The stunning setback of the hardliners in the elections is precisely why they opposed the Iran nuclear deal. They knew that if successful, the Rouhani faction would benefit electorally from the significant achievement of resolving the nuclear issue and reducing tensions with United States. These benefits would not just be limited to the parliamentary elections, but could establish a new balance of power in Iran's internal politics with significant long-term repercussions.

 Incidentally, the motivations of many Republican lawmakers in Congress was not too different in their opposition to the Iran deal. The desire to deprive President Obama of any foreign policy success arguably played a bigger role for many lawmakers than the specifics of the nuclear deal itself.

 The election results are also a vindication of the Obama administration's outreach and negotiations with Iran. For decades, moderates in Iran could not demonstrate the benefits of their moderate policies because of an unwillingness in Washington to play ball and negotiate directly with Tehran. Even when Washington temporarily did so, as in the fruitful collaboration between Iran and the United States in Afghanistan in 2001, American hardliners quickly shifted back to a policy of hostility. Iranian moderation was rewarded with an inclusion in the Axis of Evil under President Bush. Under President Obama, Iranian moderation resulted in the lifting of sanctions. A few weeks later, the moderates scored a stunning elections result.

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 While initial results show that hardliners suffered significant setbacks, they have not been completely defeated and they are still an important power block in Iranian politics. But the balance of power has shifted. And further engagement and collaboration is likely to produce additional shifts, granted that it doesn't happen to fast. In order to avoid a hardline backlash, the moderation of Iranian policies need to happen at a moderate pace.

 While a more corporative parliament will help Rouhani in many areas, including commerce and economic policies, it is important to recognize that the populations' expectations on improvements in Iran's internal atmosphere and the civil right situation is growing. Rouhani's victory means that it is increasingly difficult for him to argue that he cannot address the internal human rights situation.
Eros Now/YouTube

As per reports, Hansal Mehta's Aligarh, starring Manoj Bajpayee and Rajkummar Rao, is not playing in theatres in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh. While this 'ban' is not official, a Times Of India report says that the city's mayor Shakuntala Bharti, from the Bhartiya Janata Party, has "mounted a protest against its screening". She was also quoted by Times Now as saying:

Why the film was titled #Aligarh , is it a conspiracy to defame Aligarh?: Aligarh Mayor Shakuntala Bharti pic.twitter.com/6MLNq4LlZ1  TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 28, 2016

We will not let the film run in the city at any cost: Aligarh Mayor Shakuntala Bharti on film #Aligarh  TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) February 28, 2016

The film, which has received many rave reviews [read our take], tells the real-life story of Professor Shrinivas Ramchandra Siras, who was unfairly suspended by Aligarh Muslim University in 2010 after being caught in a homosexual encounter with a rickshaw-puller. According to The Indian Express, a fringe group called the Millat Bedari Muhim Committee (MBMC) has "arm-twisted" exhibitors in the city into cancelling shows.

In a letter sent to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, they said:

The title of the film i.e. Aligarh is offending as it sends a message (that) gay practice is common at Aligarh. The title is not suitable and proper by any means. It will desist (sic) people (from) send(ing) their children to Aligarh for studies. Further, as it is also an industrial centre, the impression of city goes negative (sic) in foreign countries which lowers the countrys prestige.

Hindustan Times also reported that the AMU students action committee planned to lodge an FIR against the film's director, saying: "We will not allow anybody to defame Aligarh."

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Several people have responded to this development, after reports about it emerged on Sunday. Mehta told IE: I heard from our producer, Eros, that the film has not been allowed to screen at all in the city since its all-India release on Friday, said Mehta. By getting the film to not play in any cinemas in Aligarh, they have killed Siras once again.

Several social media reactions against this ban were retweeted by the film's writer-editor Apurva Asrani.

Sad some bigots in #Aligarh not able to deal with movie Aligarh. Homosexuality is as much a legitimate orientation as convential sexuality!  Manish Tewari (@ManishTewari) February 28, 2016

So #Aligarh being banned in Aligarh is exactly what #Aligarh is all about, right?  VG (@VGLICIOUS_) February 28, 2016

It's not the gay tale, it's this decision to not screen the film is gonna defame your city #Aligarhhttps://t.co/2V8LSVZuA4  Prudhvi Raj (@prudhviraj87) February 28, 2016

He also shared and commented on some the reactions that are apparently in support of the move.

#Aligarh should have been named #Siras because it's not about the city, it's about the man.. #DisgustingBollywood  OutcastX (@alxmurur) February 28, 2016

I bet the hasn't even seen the film. If he had he 'might' have understood the metaphor. #Aligarh#mobmentalityhttps://t.co/GxPlVGN2Fg  #AmIDrunk? (@Apurvasrani) February 28, 2016

I feel #Aligarh will be a big flop! Because, majority are straight & they are least interested in knowing a gay's life. Why shld they watch?  Kumar Shakti Shekhar (@shaktishekhar) February 28, 2016

Just like majority are Hindus, so they shouldnt care about other communities? & If majority are men, women be damned https://t.co/CcSmJKRTzS  #AmIDrunk? (@Apurvasrani) February 28, 2016

As many have pointed out, it is the news of political forces in the city attempting to ban the film that will likely tarnish its image. However, it's clear that several elements in the city, including her mayor, think differently. "The city is being tarnished by showing that such people also live here," she told IE. Welcome to India, where being homophobic is more acceptable to some people than acknowledging the realities of several Indians  2012 figures say 2.5 million; experts believe there are many, many more  who identify as LGBTQ individuals and, therefore, could be counted as the "such people" she is referring to.

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Faced with greater restrictions to the medical marijuana trade, some Billings business owners are wondering whether they will be able to keep the doors open.

On Thursday, the Montana Supreme Court upheld provisions of a 2011 bill that sought to curb what supporters of the bill  as well as some in the medical marijuana community  saw as abuses of the medical marijuana program.

Among other things, the decision restricts registered providers to only three patients and triggers a state review of doctors who recommend the drug to more than 25 people.

Jason Smith, co-owner of Montana Advanced Caregivers in Billings, said that hell be finished by early March. He said that he cant stay in business with just three customers.

We have to shut down, he said. Theres no alternative.

Montana Advanced Caregivers has been in business for nearly five years and provided medical marijuana for up to 400 registered cardholders at a time. Two weeks ago, Smith said that they renovated their south Billings shop to include a retail area in a small room in front of the growing operation.

On Friday, Smith said he laid off nine employees after the high court decision was made.

In addition to financial implications, Smith said that he wouldnt be able to pick three patients to keep in accordance to the new rules. His eyes welled up when he described telling his patients with debilitating medical conditions that hes closing up shop.

Its been busy down here today, he said. A lot of tears.

The clampdown on medical marijuana hits on two fronts, Smith said. On one end, he is limited to providing to three patients. On the other side of the process sit physicians, who now face review from the state Board of Medical Examiners if they approve more than 25 people for medical pot.

Smith said that it's now tough to find doctors who will approve patients because many of them are near or past the 25 mark. It was a small pool of medical professionals to start with, he added.

That puts Elizabeth Pincolini in a tight spot. Shes not a provider but runs Alternative Wellness of Montana, a referral service that helps patients get doctor consultations. The business is based in Billings but operates across the state, with a separately owned affiliate in northwest Montana.

Like Smith, Pincolini said that many of the physicians she works with are uneasy about breaching that 25-patient mark.

No one wants to risk their medical license before the medical board of examiners, she said.

In the court decusion, state Justice Laurie McKinnon wrote that the board review doesn't necessarily lead to punishment. It's meant to determine if the doctor meets a "standard of care."

Pincolini is also considering whether she will will be able to keep a viable business if doctors begin backing out. She said that she works with up to five physicians on a regular basis and could see 30 prospective patients in a day.

Without a large pool of doctors willing to recommend marijuana, she said her business is at risk.

"Unless we can bring in another 150 to 200 doctors, I don't know how we're going to make this work," Pincolini said.

The Supreme Court decision came at the tail end of a five-year legal battle. It started with the passage of a bill in the 2011 Montana Legislature that drastically cut back the medical marijuana program. By that time, the number of registered cardholders had exploded.

The bill, sponsored by then-state Sen. Jeff Essmann of Billings, aimed to cut abuses of the system. Those included traveling certification caravans and exaggerated medical claims by patients, as the Supreme Court noted in its decision.

A lawsuit, and later an appeal, put some provisions of the bill on hold. On Thursday, the high court affirmed most of those provisions.

In addition to the three-patient limit for providers and the 25-patient review trigger for doctors, medical marijuana providers aren't allowed to advertise.

Another provision allows law enforcement agencies to conduct unannounced, warrantless inspections of registered provider businesses.

The Supreme Court did reject one provision of the 2011 bill, one that would have banned providers from being paid for the service.

Patients are still allowed to grow and possess a certain amount of their own marijuana. In the meantime, some providers have a lot of marijuana to unload before it's deemed as an illegal amount under the new restrictions.

While walking through Montana Advanced Caregivers, surrounded by flowering marijuana plants, Smith said that he fears some of his patients will turn back to the black market for marijuana.

He might move to Washington and start a new business. For now, Smith said that he's going to stay in Billings and act as a consultant to patients who want to grow their own.

They'll get a head start with Smith's plants.

"On that last day, all the patients will have plants in their yards," he said.
"The Art of Living has a huge regard for the environment. We have never violated nor do we have any intention to violate any laws of the country. We have followed and further undertake to follow all the guidelines, recommendations, directions of the honourable court and the authorities extending us the permission to hold the World Culture Festival. The Art of Living in strict adherence to the NGT direction has not done any construction/concretization at the World Culture festival site. Further, we have used only eco-friendly material like wood, mud, cloth, and scaffolding towards building a temporary stage for the purpose of holding a three-day festival. The Art of Living under Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has been tirelessly working since 35 years now for environmental good which specifically includes work done towards restoration of dying rivers in the country along with the huge work done by thousands of Art of Living volunteers in Meri Dilli Meri Yamuna campaign in 2010. During this campaign, exceptional mass awareness was built up among Delhi citizens to save the river Yamuna.
Hutchinson's Orscheln Farm store has become a Bomgaars location

The Hutchinson store was one of 73 the FTC said Tractor Supply could not own due to anti-trust concerns. Transition to new store could take 15 months.
Ernie LaFountain served in the U.S. Army from 1965 to 1968 and again from 1970 to 1975. He went through several tours in Vietnam. He and three of his brothers were in Vietnam. His brother, Jerry, has been a part of the "Vietnam Voices" series. This is part of hisErnie LaFountain's Vietnam story.

LaFountain: "I was working in Libby, Montana. ... When I turned 18, I went down and registered for the draft. ... Immediately thereafter, I was sent a pre-induction physical notice.

"I went to Butte and they examined and classified me as a "I-Y" and they sent me home. I had no idea what that classification was, and I called the draft board and I asked them and they said the I-Y qualification (available for military service, but qualified for military only in the event of war or national emergency) was the only level above IV-F (not qualified for any military service). The reason was that the medical staff found a suspected hernia on me. They told me basically I was home-free, forget about it; I will never get drafted. So, I just went on about my life, working in the woods.

" ... I learned this later, but when Gen. (William) Westmoreland needed more ground troops in southeast Asia, the government was faced with a problem: They had already drafted the young American boys who wouldn't cause a political uproar. So, they were faced with either taking away college deferments or activating some of the National Guard. Both of these options had major pitfalls in them.

"So Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara figured out a solution that became, at least in the military, became called 'McNamara's 100,000.' What he did was he directed all local draft boards to recall all I-Y and all classes above it for re-examination. By doing this, I walked into Spokane, Wash., into the draft clinic as a I-Y and walked out as a I-A (available for military service).

"While this really didn't disturb me, but what did disturb me was that when I got to Fort Ord, Calif., for basic training, half of my basic training platoon was from Montana. The other half was from Seattle and Chicago. We had three or four individuals, one of whom was from the Glendive. ... He had received a very low classification because of his mentality and IQ. He went in and he was called in and retook the physical and gained about 20 points on his IQ. He became I-A. He was just a wonderful guy, but he was dumb as a rock."

Gazette: But they were going to send him to basic and to war?

LaFountain: "He was in my basic training platoon. The platoon works together to solve problems. The drill instructors force us to do it because you've probably heard guys that wouldn't take a shower? Eventually five or six guys would jump them and use lye soap and the scrubbers that we'd scrub the floors with. We actually do it to one guy. We only did it once to one guy. But if we didn't do it, and he came out smelly, looking like a wino on skid row, the drill instructors would punish us for it.

"But going back, the little guy could not put his boots on the correct foot without supervision. If we let him put the boots on by himself, half the time they'd be on the wrong feet. We painted a small white dot on the back heel of his left boot. We practiced repeatedly, white black, white black. This worked for him.

"I have refused to think about if he went to Vietnam as an infantryman. I can't envision anything he could be taught to do to help him out. I think that's one of the greatest travesties of the war. That's McNamara's 100,000."

After basic, LaFountain was assigned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to a combat engineering brigade. LaFountain had no advanced training.

LaFountain: "When I went into the military, I could already drive a dozer, a tractor and tractor-trailers. They assigned me to headquarters company, heavy equipment platoon. The sergeant evaluated me and put me to work as a truck driver and a dozer operator. Later on, he put me with a crane operator and I learned crane maintenance and how to run the crane.

"About five or six months into my time there, we were ordered to load up all of our equipment. There was a railroad yard in Fort Campbell, and they would pull the cranes in the flat cars and we would load our equipment onto the flatbed railroad cars and they would tie them down and they would go to Mobile, Alabama, where they were loaded onto a ship. The first man that I actually saw die in the military was there with three of us.

"I was a private. The crane operator was a SPC4. The other was a SPC5; he was married, had two daughters. He was the tractor-trailer driver. We were behind a set of buildings, loading these steel connexs, which are big storage units. We were loading them up. We had the safety ropes up there and were loading our second connex and the crane. There was one of the old friction type drums on it, and the turns were all drums, and Marty pushed the lever to turn and it hung up and stuck, and it the connexes started swaying. I was holding the ropes and Wes is on the other side, and he, for just whatever reason, he touched the connex to try to stabilize it. What we didn't know is the boom of the crane was on the power line."

Gazette: So before you even went to Vietnam, you had already seen someone die?

LaFountain: "Yes."

After putting all the equipment on rails, LaFountain and three other men went via bus to Mobile to accompany the gear. For about a week, they waited, looking around Mobile.

LaFountain: "That was my first confrontation with racism. Keaton and I had gotten up real early for some reason. We couldn't sleep. We were walking downtown and here's this cafe and coffee shop and we started to go in. This colored gentlemen said, 'Excuse me, could you please buy me a cup of coffee in there and bring it out to me? I will pay for it.' Keaton looked at him and said, 'Why don't you go in there and buy it yourself?' He said, 'Coloreds aren't allowed in there.'

"I am a Montana redneck. I was born and raised in Lewistown. I have a 10th-grade education. I have a lot of native intelligence. I don't have a lot of book-learning or life experience. It just totally amazed me that this man couldn't go in there and buy a cup of coffee just because of the color of his skin. So, we bought him a cup of coffee."

LaFountain arrived in Vietnam in August 1966.

Gazette: Where did you come to and what are your first impressions?

LaFountain: "I came on a cargo ship. ... We went up the Saigon River and docked at the docks in Saigon. ... It smelled bad to me. To this day, I can't stand to be around an ocean because of that smell. It was hot. It was muggy. I saw something moving out on the dock and it was night. I thought it was a dog. So I watched it for a couple of minutes and it came across and area of light and it was a rat, the size of a small dog. It was almost two feet along and eight, maybe 10 inches thick. And it wasn't alone.

"We got into the dock and started off loading the equipment. The first thing that came off was a tractor-trailer, and we unloaded connexes on it.

"An officer comes up to me and hands me a map. He says, 'You're here, you go this way, this way, this way, this way, and get on this highway, go up and turn right and you're in Long Binh. I said, 'OK, when does the convoy leave?' He says, 'There is no convoy. You leave as soon as it gets loaded. When you get up there, you unhook from the trailer and there will be an empty trailer, you pick it up, you go over to the fuel bladder, a big old rubber bladder full of diesel fuel, you fill it up, check it out, and you go back down with the empty. Back it in place, unhook it, pick up a load and do it again.'

"The third night I was there ... I was running at night, just a little before daylight before I pulled into Long Binh. I unhooked my trailer, went over, hooked up the empty, went over to the fuel bladder and started fueling the truck. I was walking around it. I happened to glance up at that driver's door, about four inches behind the edge of the door was a bullet hole. I had absolutely no idea where it happened. It happened on that trip, but some little Viet Cong out there somewhere took a shot at me. Fortunately, it missed. But I looked at that and I guess that was the instant that I faced my mortality because for whatever reason, if that had been 10 inches forward, it would have went right through my head."

Gazette: So your perspective changed at that moment? And how did it change?

LaFountain: "Absolutely it did. I faced my mortality. I knew that I could very easily die over there. And, I also realized that being Roman Catholic and also believing in Wakan Tanka, which is what we Indians call 'God,' praying.

"I need to back up here: When I got to Fort Campbell ... the non-commissioned officer ... was a Korean War veteran. He was an old Army staff sergeant, two daughters. He was old, 34. But, we had two men in the battalion with combat experience. He kind of took me under his wing, and I looked at him as substitute father. The fact that he had combat experience made me admire, respect him and want to learn from him. I figured that he was just about my best bet for surviving. I just religiously watched him and did everything the way he did.

"On Dec. 2, 1966, Sgt. (Andrew) Yasenosky, we had a group of guys running a crusher north of us, and at that time, from Long Binh north you convoyed. Sgt. Yasenosky had the payroll and the mail for the guys up there. He was on a track, on a personnel carrier. And they got hit, and they blew up a truck in the front of a convoy with a mine. Then they opened a convoy from both sides. We went over there with ... M-14 rifles.

"Yasenosky jumped off the track and into the jungle where the fire was coming from. He found a clearing, he laid down on the side of the clearing. He started shooting the Viet Cong.

"I was on kitchen patrol. I looked up and saw this huge black column of smoke. Then the armor started heading out. I just had this feeling. Anyway, after everything was done, they found Yasenosky dead, with a bullet between his eyes, 16 dead Viet Cong around him. They did not touch Yasenosky. They didn't take his rifle or anything. They left him where he died.

"And, at that point, my world suddenly became very small.

"Yasenosky was posthumously awarded a Silver Star. The man that was going to follow and keep me safe was no longer there. And I looked around at my platoon  at the guys in it. We had a lifer SPC5, and he gave them Yasenosky's stripe and became a platoon sergeant. I looked at him and I looked at everybody to see who I could follow. There wasn't anybody. And, at that time, I developed  or I started developing with the hole in the truck and Yasenosky's death and my appraisal of people around me  there was no leader, no one to follow.
Smart filtering refers to the selective blocking of content within a website, as opposed to the complete blocking or shutting down of an entire website.

The Iranian government, in a joint project with several domestic universities, is spending $36 million to develop what it calls smart filtering in order to strengthen its Internet censorship capabilities.

The initiative, announced by deputy Communications and Information Technology Minister Ali Asghar Amidian in an interview with the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) on February 18, 2016, reflects growing concern among hardliners in Iran over the states ability to control the citizenrys access to information given the huge growth of Internet use in the country.

It also reflects an unspoken acknowledgement of the states movement away from the wholesale blocking of websites that have become widely used in Iran, by both the citizenry and state officials.

According to Asadollah Dehnad, the acting director of the Telecommunications Company of Iran, who was quoted by Citna, the Iranian technology news agency on January 18, the average Iranian spends more than two hours a day on Telegram and that means many times more than watching [state] television.

It has been almost a decade since Iranian officials promised to introduce smart filtering. To date, however, they have had little success.

While Iran can selectively filter content created inside Iran, Internet experts have long questioned the technological feasibility of smart filtering more broadly. The real target for the Iranian state censors are websites and applications hugely popular with Iranians that are based outside the country, and as long as these companies servers are hosted outside of Iran and encrypted, there is little likelihood of smart filtering capabilities.

Earlier, on August 4, 2015, Communications and Information Technology Minister Mahmoud Vaezi noted that because Internet users in Iran had jumped from three million to 20 million in only two years, we plan to implement the [smart filtering] project by the end of this year (March 22, 2016), no matter how much it costs.

Speaking to the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Colin Anderson, a researcher on Irans Internet policies, criticized the decision on developing new censorship tools.

Iran has one of the slowest and most unstable Internet connections in the region, in part due to issues of past management of the network and the requirements of filtering. Instead of more mandates for more interference and control, the Iranian government should seek to improve the resiliency and interconnection of Iran to the global Internet, Anderson said.

How will the budget for smart filtering be spent?

Although Iranian officials claim a number of universities, namely Shahid Beheshti, will be receiving funds for helping the smart filtering project, it is likely that the necessary hardware and software would be imported from abroad. In recent years, Beijing, which boasts of having spent $770 million on its Great Firewall of China to control all incoming and outgoing online traffic, has been Irans main supplier of Internet censorship tools.

In 2012, the FBI published a report accusing Chinas ZTE Corporation of selling a $130 million Deep-packet inspection (DPI) system to Iran  a powerful surveillance system capable of monitoring landline, mobile, and Internet communications.

According to a Reuters report, the sale, which at the time was in violation of international sanctions on Iran, included powerful U.S.-made surveillance products manufactured by U.S. firms like IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco Systems, Dell, and Symantec.

The fate of the Islamic Revolution is tied to cyberspace, said hardline ideologue Rahimpour Azghadi on February 17, 2016. We can use existing tools and capacities to spread the great message of the Revolution.

Official media in hypocritical war with Internet

The wide popularity of Telegram has led to frequent calls by extremist circles to ban the instant messaging application. Notably, the Gerdab website, run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards cyber crimes unit, has denounced the app for carrying content in violation of Internet morality laws, even though many Iranian hardline activists and media outlets host their officials pages on Telegram. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenis page alone has nearly 220,000 followers.

Domestic search engines, Gorgor and Parsijoo, have also been developed by state agencies at a cost of millions of dollars to provide content results that are more selective.

Source: https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2016/02/iran-will-spend-36m-on-smart-filtering/
Williamstown, Vermont Police Searching for Robbery Suspect



Vermont law enforcement were at the Stewarts Shop in Pownal after a robbery there on Saturday night.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  Multiple police agencies from two states Saturday night were investigating back-to-back armed robberies in Williamstown and Pownal, Vt.



At 8:22 p.m., a masked man entered the Spirit Shop at 280 Cole Ave., brandishing a handgun and demanding the clerk open the cash register, Williamstown Police reported in a news release.



After a brief argument, the armed man fled the store without acquiring any merchandise or money.



About two hours later, a similar incident occurred at the Stewarts Shop convenience store in Pownal, Vt., about a quarter mile north of the state line.

In that case, at about the 10:20 p.m., the suspected entered with a black handgun and demanded money from the store employees. Vermont State Police say he "fled the scene on foot with an undisclosed amount of money."



No store personnel were injured in either incident.



Williamstown Police worked with Massachusetts State Police, North Adams Police and K-9 units from North Adams and Dalton in the Cole Avenue incident. At the Stewarts Shop, Vermont State Police and the Bennington County Sheriff were assisted by police from Williamstown and North Adams.



Police described the suspect as a thin white male, 5-foot-11 to 6-foot, in his mid 30s and wearing a dark gray hooded sweatshirt, black gloves, dark cargo pants and a camouflage hat and with a camouflage mask covering the majority of his face.



Police are asking anyone with information about either incident to call Sgt. Scot McGowan of the Williamstown Police Department at 413-458-5733 or the Vermont State Police barracks in Shaftsbury at 802-442-5421.

Updated with information from Vermont State Police.
Four More Shots Please S3 Review: This Old Wine In New Bottle Doesn't Get You Drunk As Easily Anymore
Last summer, when Montana health care employers were surveyed about workforce needs, bachelors degree RNs topped the list.

Registered nurses were No. 1 among the types of jobs Montana hospitals, clinics and long-term care homes expected to fill in the next two to three years. RNs with bachelors degrees were in greatest demand. The survey was conducted for the Montana HealthCARE Program, which involves all the states two-year colleges in a collaboration to better match health education to Montanas needs.

Suppose there was a way for an associate degree RN to earn a bachelors degree without moving, while continuing to work. The nurse would start the bachelor of science in nursing program in September and graduate the next August. The degree would require completion of 49 credit hours. All classes would be online. Most classes would be taught in 8-week blocks, two blocks per semester.

Thats exactly what Montana State University Billings is planning. The proposed ASN to BSN program is being vetted by the MSUB University Senate. On April 1, it goes to Bozeman for review, then to the Board of Regents for preliminary approval in May, and back to the regents in September for final approval.

Fall 2017 start

Dr. Diane Duin, dean of the MSUB College of Allied Health Professions, hopes to admit the first class of 25 to 30 students in the fall of 2017. Both Montana Tech in Butte and Montana Northern in Havre already offer BSN to RN programs. But neither of those are completely online. Having three programs graduating 30 students a year still wont meet the need, Duin said.

Duin serves on the Montana HealthCARE curriculum subcommittee, which has put a priority on laddering nursing education. That means offering programs that allow students to advance their professional skills, even if they cannot go four years straight to earn a bachelors degree. For example, City College of MSUB has a licensed practical nurse program and a two-year associate RN program. LPN graduates can later advance their education and earn the ASN degree.

If were going to build a nursing ladder, lets build it all the way out, Duin said. The new plan is to provide a bridge for associate degree RNs to earn their bachelors degree  without having to retake classes.

The ASN-to-BSN planning started shortly after Chancellor Mark Nook arrived in Billings in the summer of 2014.

The first thing the hospitals said to him was We need BSNs,  Duin said.

Advanced skills

Five years ago, a comprehensive Institute of Medicine report on Americas nurse workforce recommended having at least 80 percent of RNs holding a baccalaureate degree by 2020. At the time only 50 percent of the nations RNs were BSNs. Research over decades shows good reason to strive for higher levels of nursing education. Patients cared for in settings with higher BSN staffing levels have better outcomes.

Casey Blumenthal, an RN who is vice president of MHA in Helena, says the advanced degree enhances the ASN skills in leadership, critical thinking and community health. She said the baccalaureate degree prepares nurses, especially those working in rural settings, to handle increasingly complex demands of the health care system.

"It's a very difficult role to be the only nurse in the critical access hospital, and you never know what's going to come through the door," Blumenthal said.

A Gazette opinion recently called on the Bozeman Montana State University leadership to remedy the bottleneck on its Billings campus that forces some School of Nursing students to spend their sophomore year in Bozeman. That fix is needed, just as the ASN-BSN ladder is needed. MSU should increase the number of sophomore slots in Billings to match the number of junior clinical slots here.

Its an eye-opener to learn how long it takes a great program idea to actually launch at MSUB. We call on university leadership in Billings, Bozeman and Helena to move this excellent plan along as quickly as possible, providing the support needed to start and sustain this plan to teach nurses wherever they are in Montana.

MSUB already has a proven track record in online education with 23 such degree programs. Those include the College of Allied Health Professions bachelors and masters degree programs in health administration. Graduates are working all over our state for hospitals, rehab centers and other health care organizations.
In recent months, most Montanans have probably heard about the possibility of bringing an osteopathic medical school to Montana. Arguments in favor of and in opposition to this proposal abound. Here are my perspectives.

Osteopathic medicine is a philosophy that focuses on the human body as a unit of body, mind, and spirit and the bodys innate ability to heal itself, which MDs and DOs agree is just good medicine. Graduates of an osteopathic medical school hold a DO degree and go through essentially the same medical school and residency training as their MD (allopathic) counterparts. The first two years of medical school are spent in classrooms learning basic science and clinical aspects of medicine. During the third and fourth years, students begin rotations, spending time in different medical environments, often out-of-state from their medical school, in two- to six-week increments in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics/gynecology and surgery.

Community support

Successful medical schools have strong community support and opportunities for clinical education. Their students often spend rotations in one community or hospital with the full support and supervision of their medical school. Afterward, students apply for a residency in a chosen specialty.

Unfortunately, many medical schools throw students to the wolves and expect them to arrange their own rotations, often with attending physicians who are not accustomed to teaching students or who do not follow the curriculum required by that students schools. This often leaves students at a disadvantage when trying to obtain residency spots.

For Montanans seeking a career in medicine, the University of Washington is the de facto medical school in Montana. Each year about 30 students from Montana enter the WWAMI program. In the last 10 years, Pacific Northwest University has emerged to fill the osteopathic void in the region. It treats Montanans as in-state residents. In addition, both PNWU and WWAMI offer multiple "residency" opportunities throughout a five-state region.

The Burrell Group has been examining the feasibility of opening an osteopathic school in Great Falls geared to enroll 150 students annually, and last week announced it was looking at Boise. Supporters of the Great Falls site have said it would provide an opportunity for aspiring Montana medical students, who were not admitted to WWAMI or PNWU. Such a school, they argue, would help alleviate our physician shortage and could rely on sufficient rotation opportunities for the schools 300 third- and fourth-year students in Montana and the surrounding states.

Those opposed state there arent enough resources or residency positions to support those additional 300 medical students with a high-quality medical education.

Well-established schools like WWAMI, PNWU, and my own in Kansas City, struggle constantly to secure and maintain quality rotations for their students. Montana likely has fewer than 100 medical students currently in rotations, and does not have the clinical infrastructure to support quality clinical rotations for an additional 300 medical students. I doubt Idaho and Wyoming can accommodate the carryover. The Manipal Group, a Burrell competitor, conceded this point when it discontinued its feasibility study of a medical school in Missoula.

Residents stay put

Literature suggests residencies, not medical schools, lead to the retention of physicians. Life continues while physicians are in training. Residents marry, start families, and plant roots right where they happen to be. Approximately 70 percent of the current Montana Family Medicine Residency graduates  all of whom did their residencies in Billings  now practice in Montana.

The proliferation of medical schools and the comparatively slow growth of residency positions to absorb their graduates is another challenge. Competition is fierce. Students are forced to apply to more than 20 residency programs just secure a position. Students who do not "match" are faced with the financial devastation of massive student loan debt and no means to pay it.

If our goals are to train and retain physicians who will practice in Montana and fill the primary care void, we should focus on establishing more residency programs.
Imperial Valley News Center

Pilates for beginners: Explore the core

Scottsdale, Arizona - Pilates for beginners - is that an oxymoron? Not at all. Pilates isn't just for fitness fiends. Pilates is an accessible way to build strength in your core muscles for better posture, balance and flexibility. If you're considering a Pilates class for beginners, here's what you need to know before you head to the gym.

What exactly is Pilates?

Pilates is a method of exercise that consists of low-impact flexibility and muscular strength and endurance movements. Pilates emphasizes use of the abdominals, lower back, hips and thighs. Pilates is named for its creator, Joseph Pilates, who developed the exercises in the early 1900s.

A Pilates routine typically includes 25 to 50 repetitive strength training exercises. Pilates is similar to calisthenics, such as situps and pushups. In fact, some people call Pilates the ultimate form of calisthenics.

Is Pilates for beginners?

It's a common misconception that Pilates is only for serious athletes or professional dancers. While these groups first adopted Pilates, they aren't the only ones who can benefit from this approach to strength training.

Another common misperception is that Pilates requires specialized equipment. Indeed, when you think of Pilates you probably picture the reformer, an apparatus that resembles a bed frame with a sliding carriage and adjustable springs, or the cadillac, a type of trapeze table. The reality is that many Pilates exercises can be done on the floor with just a mat.

What are the benefits of Pilates?

By practicing Pilates regularly, you can achieve a number of health benefits, including:

Improved core strength and stability

Improved posture and balance

Improved flexibility

Prevention and treatment of back pain

Is Pilates for everyone?

If you are older than age 40, haven't exercised for some time or have health problems, it's a good idea to check with your doctor before starting any new exercise program. Pilates is no exception. Similarly, women who are pregnant should check with their health care providers before starting Pilates.

Pilates can be adapted to provide a gentle strength training and stability program or a challenging workout for seasoned athletes.

Pilates may not be recommended or may need to be modified for individuals who have the following:

Unstable (labile) blood pressure

A risk of blood clots

Severe osteoporosis

A herniated disk

Because it's essential to maintain the correct form to get the most benefit  and to avoid injuries  beginners should start out under the supervision of an experienced Pilates instructor.

What to look for in a Pilates instructor

The Pilates Guild offers referral services for certified instructors and provides Pilates instruction and certification. Its certification program includes classroom instruction and experiential training. Participants must complete a 600-hour apprenticeship, during which they observe and practice Pilates, assist a certified instructor, teach under direct supervision and pass a certifying examination.

To find a certified instructor in your area, check with local gyms or YMCAs. Ask the following questions of any Pilates instructor you're considering:

Did the instructor complete a comprehensive training program that included a training apprenticeship?

How long has the instructor been teaching Pilates?

Is the instructor able to adapt exercise for special needs, such as injuries and rehabilitation?

How does Pilates fit into a total fitness program?

If you're a healthy adult, your weekly exercise routine should include:

At least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity  or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity

Strength training exercises at least twice a week

Pilates can be a good strength training workout, but it isn't aerobic exercise. You'll need to supplement it with aerobic exercises, such as brisk walking, running, biking or swimming.
Imperial Valley News Center

Scientists Find Mastering the Art of Ignoring Makes People More Efficient

Baltimore, Maryland - People searching for something can find it faster if they know what to look for. But new research suggests knowing what not to look for can be just as helpful.

Although previous studies concluded that attempting to ignore irrelevant information slows people down, Johns Hopkins University researchers found that when people are given time to learn whats possible to ignore, theyre able to search faster and more efficiently.

The results, which offer new insight into how the mind processes difficult information, are forthcoming in the journal Psychological Science and now available online.

Individuals who explicitly ignore distracting information improve their visual search performance, a critical skill for professional searchers, like radiologists and airport baggage screeners, said lead author Corbin A. Cunningham, a graduate student in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences Attention and Perception Lab. This work has the potential to help occupations that rely on visual search by informing future training programs.

In two experiments, researchers asked participants to search for certain letters on a computer screen. They had to find either a capital B or an F, among other letters of assorted colors. Sometimes, the participants were told the B or F would not be a certain color, like red. Other times they were given no color hints.

When participants were given one color to consistently ignore throughout the experiment, their reaction time slowed at first, but after extended practice, about a hundred trials, they were finding the target letters significantly faster than participants who werent given a color to eliminate.

In fact, the more information participants were able to ignore, the faster they found the target.

Although trying to disregard distractions might initially slow people down, the researchers concluded that over time, people are more efficient when they know whats not worth paying attention to.

The ability to ignore is a key part of the ability to pay attention, the researchers said.

Attention is usually thought of as something that enhances the processing of important objects in the world, said co-author Howard Egeth, a professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins. This study, along with some recent work in which we measured brain activity while subjects responded selectively to stimuli presented in the midst of competing stimuli, highlights the importance of active suppression of those competing stimuli. Its what I think of as the dark side of attention.

This work was supported by Office of Naval Research Grant N000141010278, National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship DGE-1232825, and the Johns Hopkins University Science of Learning Institute.
Chemotherapy side effects: A cause of heart disease?

Scottsdale, Arizona - Chemotherapy side effects may increase the risk of heart disease, including weakening of the heart muscle (cardiomyopathy) and rhythm disturbances (arrhythmias). Certain types of chemotherapy also may increase the risk of heart attack.

Treatment with angiogenesis inhibitors and certain other targeted medications has been linked to high blood pressure (hypertension).

Fortunately, heart disease associated with chemotherapy is rare  and not all chemotherapy drugs carry the potential side effect of heart damage.

Some anti-cancer treatments may cause temporary heart damage by weakening the heart muscle. These treatments include:

A class of drugs known as anthracyclines (doxorubicin, daunorubicin, others)

Newer medications, such as trastuzumab (Herceptin) and pertuzumab (Perjeta), which are drugs designed to attack the HER2 protein seen in some breast and other cancers

The chance of heart damage from anthracyclines is related to the total amount received during your lifetime. Your doctor will carefully monitor how much of these drugs you receive. Heart weakening from HER2-directed medications, such as trastuzumab, is not related to total lifetime dose and is often reversible.

Certain chemotherapy medications, such as taxanes, can cause an abnormal heart rhythm. This typically occurs temporarily during administration of the medications, so if you feel lightheaded or faint be sure to tell your chemotherapy nurse or doctor.

The drugs fluorouracil and capecitabine (Xeloda) can cause spasms of the coronary arteries and bring on a heart attack. This typically reverses quickly once the drug is stopped. If you have severe chest pain or shortness of breath while using these medications, tell your doctor immediately. If symptoms are severe, go to the nearest emergency room or call 911 or your local emergency number.

If your doctor is considering a chemotherapy drug that may affect your heart, you may undergo heart function testing before starting treatment. During treatment, you may need periodic heart monitoring as well. If you have a pre-existing heart condition, such as cardiomyopathy, your doctor may suggest a different type of chemotherapy.

If you experience significant problems, such as shortness of breath with minimal exertion or chest pain during chemotherapy, report it immediately to your health care team.

In addition, some cancers require radiation therapy. If the area of your body receiving radiation includes your heart, you have an increased risk of cardiomyopathy, coronary artery disease and heart attack. The combination of radiation and chemotherapy can further increase your risk of heart damage. However, your doctor can take steps to reduce these risks as much as possible.
NIH uses photon-counting CT scanner in patients for the first time

Washington, DC - The Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health is investigating the potential use of a new generation of a computerized tomography (CT) scanner, called a photon-counting detector CT scanner, in a clinical setting. The prototype technology is expected to replicate the image quality of conventional CT scanning, but may also provide health care specialists with an enhanced look inside the body through multi-energy imaging. Patients could receive a minimum amount of radiation, while the maximal amount of information needed would be delivered to health care providers.

Over the next five years, David Bluemke, M.D., Ph.D., chief of the Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, and his team will continue to develop scan protocols and image processing algorithms, which could improve screening, imaging, and treatment planning for health conditions like cancer and cardiovascular disease.

The NIH Clinical Center has helped shape and share research advances and health care for decades. Now is an exciting time for us and for our study participants here in the Clinical Center as we help test and develop this CT technology so that it may one day help patients around the world and impact the health care they receive, said Dr. Bluemke.

As the world's largest hospital solely dedicated to research, the NIH Clinical Center sees thousands of patients every year, many of whom have rare and complicated illnesses. In the treatment and study of disease, surgery is often viewed as the last option. CT scanning is one way that doctors can examine the bodys internal features in a non-surgical way. In collaboration and through a partnership known as a cooperative research and development agreement with the manufacturer, Siemens Healthcare, and researchers in the CT technology field, the Clinical Center is testing this technology to help the health care field optimize the scanner for clinical use across the U.S. and around the globe.

The Clinical Center is one of three sites in the world to use this technology and is the first hospital-based research setting of the device. More than 45 volunteers enrolled in a research protocol have benefited from this cutting edge equipment. Initial findings have been reported in Radiology.

By advancing this technology, researchers aim to improve the diagnosis that doctors can offer by increasing the resolution and contrasts available for analysis. Areas of research investigation with the new technology include:

Doctors can identify materials in the body with anatomic precision. A dye, or contrast, is often given to a patient so that researchers can see a selected area in more detail. Different materials in the body can be displayed in different colors for faster diagnosis and precision.

The new technology may be used to help identify and characterize tumors, plaques or vessels that are smaller than half a millimeter. For many patients, finding a tumor that size may make a difference in identifying if it is benign or could be cancerous.

The technology may help to more accurately identify soft tissues such as proteins, tendons or collagen which are hard to differentiate with current equipment.

About the NIH Clinical Center: The NIH Clinical Center is the clinical research hospital for the National Institutes of Health. Through clinical research, clinician-investigators translate laboratory discoveries into better treatments, therapies and interventions to improve the nation's health. More information: http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov.
Accessibility and Affordability of Diabetes Medications

Alexandria, Virginia - The American Diabetes Association supports high-quality diabetes therapies that are available and affordable for all people with diabetes.

Insulin, in particular, is a unique medication, in that when it is necessary, there are no alternative therapies to preserve health and life. The Association believes that no individual in need of life-saving medications should ever go without due to prohibitive costs or accessibility issues.

Numerous public policy and private sector solutions are emerging to make this a reality. The Association supports several promising avenues for change, including:

Wanting to see all off-patent diabetes medications, including insulina hormone that helps the body use glucose for energy. The beta cells of the pancreas make insulin. When the body cannot make enough insulin, it is taken by injection or through use of an insulin pump, in the lowest cost-sharing tier on all formularies;

Supporting the authorization of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to negotiate prices for prescription drugs under Medicare Part D;

Supporting the move toward value-based benefit design from the current fee-for-service system to incentivize better outcomes, in addition to promoting adherence to recommended therapy to reduce emergency department visits and hospitalizations.

We recognize that many parties, including pharmacy benefit managers, insurers and retailers are involved in the path of medications from manufacturer to patient. As an advocate for all people affected by diabetes, we strongly encourage transparency by all parties in their pricing policies as well as continued dialogue across the diabetes marketplace, in public policy and in the private sector, to develop lasting, affordable solutions.

The American Diabetes Association is leading the fight to Stop Diabetes and its deadly consequences and fighting for those affected by diabetes. The Association funds research to prevent, cure and manage diabetes; delivers services to hundreds of communities; provides objective and credible information; and gives voice to those denied their rights because of diabetes. Since 1940, our mission has been to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. For more information please call the American Diabetes Association at 1-800-DIABETES (800-342-2383) or visit diabetes.org.
Watch: This Video Of Woman Failing At Archery, Hitting Arrow On Head Is Hilarious
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Recently, on the BBC1 talent show The Voice, one of the judges, Paloma Faith, got herself in a bit of a tizz. Twice she failed to press her buzzer to signal an interest in the singing talent, then regretted her decision. Whats wrong with me? she cried, head in hands. To emphasise her disarray, the producers cut to a spoof trailer for a grainy B-movie entitled Paloma Faiths Existential Crisis!

Viewers of a certain age must have felt a jolt of nostalgia at the phrase, and been hurtled back to a time  late 1960s, early 1970s  when it was everywhere, and the word existentialist was bandied about as ubiquitously (and cluelessly) as the word iconic is today. Penguin Books had reissued the key existentialist texts, Albert Camus LEtranger and Jean-Paul Sartres Les Chemins de la Liberte trilogy, in silver Modern Classics livery, and every student was reading them. The latter works were adapted for television in 1970 as Roads to Freedom, a 13-part BBC1 serial in which Michael Bryant played a tormented philosophy teacher in 1938 Paris trying to secure an abortion for his pregnant girlfriend, and Daniel Massey played a tormented homosexual debating whether to destroy the beast between my legs. It was grim but gripping, intense and atmospheric, from the evocation of pre-war France to the husky wail of Georgia Brown singing La Route Est Dure Mais Je Suis Forte over the closing credits.

Even if we couldnt quite grasp the ontological niceties, the idea that one could turn a philosophy into a choice to live outside conventional social, political, racial or religious rules was thrilling. Even the music world thought so  the sleeve notes of progressive-rock albums routinely promised, The guys in Apocalyptic Walnut lead a semi-existentialist lifestyle  and cool young would-be existos adopted a look to go with it, part beatnik, part 1968 student rebel: black polo-neck jumper, blue jeans, shades, Gitanes, Danny Cohn-Bendit curls or Francoise Hardy long straight hair, and lots of sulky attitude.

One of my Irish cousins had her heart broken by a young French guy on holiday and came home in tears. He gave her these awful books to read, her mother told me. Desperate stuff, all about sex. Some fella called Simon de Beaver. Its called existentialism. What is that, John? Is it like black magic?

Anyone asking the question today can be more confident of getting a coherent explanation than we could in 1970. For they have Sarah Bakewell, and her book At the Existentialist Cafe: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails to guide them. Its a wonderfully readable combination of biography, philosophy, history, cultural analysis and personal reflection. The author provides what many of the key figures were reluctant to offer  a useful definition:

Existentialists concern themselves with individual, concrete, human existence. They consider human existence different from the kind of being other things have As a human I am whatever I choose to make of myself at every moment. I am free  and therefore Im responsible for everything I do, a dizzying fact which causes an anxiety inseparable from human existence itself.

She also connects the movements philosophical prehistory  the phenomenology of Edmund Husserl (who wanted to see what stands before our eyes, to distinguish, to describe) and his one-time student Martin Heidegger (who wanted to concentrate on the nature of being and invented a new language to try to capture it)  to its later stars, such as Camus and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. But at the books heart is the relationship between Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, whose collaboration before, during and after the war made them the Napoleon and Josephine of 20th-century intellectual life. Had it started life as a double biography?

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No, I went in precisely the opposite direction, Bakewell says. I was going to put everything in, every existentialist or phenomenologist Ive ever been interested in, and everything they ever said or did  then I whittled it down from there. I tried to stop Sartre and De Beauvoir from taking over, but it was hard: they wrote so much, about their own lives and everyone around them.

Indeed. The image of Jean-Paul n Simone holding court in Paris every day at the Cafe de Flore or Les Deux Magots, talking or writing side by side from the 1930s to the 1960s, has become fixed in cultural history. Theyve also acquired a less appealing reputation as omnivorous sexual predators, the bisexual De Beauvoir sleeping with female students and male admirers, and procuring girls for the wall-eyed, physically unprepossessing Sartre.

Which influenced the other more? The traditional view, Bakewell says, is that it was all Sartre, with De Beauvoir scampering along in his shadow. But a more recent counter-movement insists that its all about her, that Sartre stole all his ideas from her. The reality is almost certainly the interplay in the middle  in 50 years of sharing life together, talking about everything, writing together, giving each other advice, pushing each other to tackle new topics, your ideas are bound to evolve in interlinked ways.

How much of a philosopher was Simone? She always underplayed her philosophical enquiries, but its a mistake to take her at her own assessment. At school she kept coming top of every class, and she always looked for a man who could make her feel she didnt understand anything. She liked to marvel at things, including her own ignorance.

Recommended Read more We asked live chat help services the biggest existential questions

The book points up her love for physical lusciousness. I want to crunch flowering almond trees, she once gushed, and take bites out of the rainbow nougat of the sunset. For Bakewell, De Beauvoirs The Second Sex is the most influential work of existentialism theres ever been, in terms of impact, because it led so many women to rethink their lives and change the way they did things. It presented gender as being just as important as class and race in determining the kind of person we become, rather than being an add-on. Its an existential study in how you become a woman.

Sartre proposed a contract to De Beauvoir  that they should never marry, but should make each other their prime, essential relationship, and should tell each other everything, including details of their sexual encounters. Thats the most bizarre part of their relationship, Bakewell says, and one of the most unpleasant, because you cant help thinking of the person being talked about. How did such an arch-feminist condone such exploitative behaviour? Anyone entering into a relationship with either of them knew what they were getting into, Bakewell says breezily. They were polyamorous. That was the deal, and if you got involved, thats what you had to accept.

Her portrait of Jean-Paul is vivid and slightly grotesque. He had a horror of viscous fluid, including his own saliva (and, presumably, sperm), and suffered after experimenting with mescaline, thinking for months that lobster-like beings followed him, just out of his field of vision. Could she understand his appeal to women and acolytes? Well, he was incredibly confident, never afraid to say what he thought. He could be very funny; he apparently did Donald Duck impersonations. Everyone said what made him attractive was the warm glow of intelligence that radiated from him. And he was a good listener, especially to women.

The author and I meet, appropriately, at a cafe, the Maison Bertaux in London: the decor and furnishings hark back to wartime, but the almond croissants are fresh (and enormous). Bakewell is the daughter of a bookseller and a librarian, who both loved travelling (A large part of my childhood was spent living in a big VW Kombi in India and Australia). Shes a charming and admirably clear expositor of philosophical theory, even when discussing the arcana of Husserlian phenomenology. Its pleasing to find that such a cerebral person managed, like a good existentialist, to change her life in a single day. When she was 16, she spent some birthday money on Sartres novel Nausea and read it, enraptured by its hero Roquentins alienation from the everyday and puzzled relationship with the world of being. I, too, she says, neglected my studies in order to exist. She dropped out of school and got a job in a Caribbean music shop, selling reggae albums and decorative hash pipes. She later dropped back in, studied philosophy at Essex University and began a PhD on Heidegger, which remains unfinished.

The philosopher Michel de Montaigne (Hulton Archive/Getty) (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Incompletion is par for the course in existentialist circles. Sartre never finished his masterpiece Being and Nothingness. Heidegger never finished his Being and Time. But there was a lot of confusion among these rarefied thinkers. Husserl and his student Heidegger, though ploughing the same intellectual furrow, couldnt agree about what phenomenology was; when asked by the Encyclopaedia Britannica to write a joint entry on the subject, they finally gave up in despair. Each claimed the other wasnt making himself clear, Bakewell says severely, and they both found it hard to write with any degree of lucidity.

She describes how much the existential movement owed to the times in which it flourished, in Vichy France under German occupation. Sartre wrote particularly well about that time when everything seemed normal on the surface, but underneath were horrors, and friends disappeared unexpectedly. The idea that society dictates your behaviour became more concrete when the Third Reich dictated what you did. De Beauvoir complained that it was like hearing the stuff shed heard in her bourgeois childhood, about family values and decency. But now it wasnt annoying because it was cant  underneath it was the real threat of being tortured or killed.

Why was cafe life so crucial to the existentialists? Bakewell sips her tea. Cafes meant a lot of things. First, a place to keep warm, because many people lived in cheap hotels with unheated rooms. During the war, some people lived in apartments but Simone and her friends mostly lived in cheap hotels  fleabag places, like lodging-house rooms with a sink, a shared toilet and a little ring to cook on. Nobody would want to spend much time in their room, before the 9pm curfew. During daylight, the cafes were like a big shared living room where you could talk and write while friends came and went.

Sartre briefly served in the Second World War. Because of his poor eyesight he escaped the front line, and was assigned to a weather station on the German border. He was captured by the Nazis and spent nine months in a POW Stalag in Nancy. But how could such a seeker after personal freedom, who once declared, Hell is other people, consider joining the army, the ultimate denial of freedom and individuality? Hed done military service, Bakewell explains, so he was on call as a reservist and didnt have any choice. But war-work gave him a sense of solidarity with his fellow soldiers, which turned out to be important later. He became more and more interested in social relationships and solidarity. It fed into his desire to be a good Marxist and stand beside the working classes. He discovered masculine comradeship. A man who hadnt had very good relationships with men suddenly found a genuine sense of being in the same boat as other men.

Does Sarah Bakewell see the modern world as fertile ground for existential enquiry? Absolutely. We have huge freedom to be what we want  in gender fluidity, for instance, of which the existentialists would have been entirely in favour. But we have strange encroachments on our freedom, like the issue of surveillance, and nobody can agree how we should think about freedom of speech. Theres much talk about our multiple social selves on the internet, and how we navigate this realm of connections that arent really friendships. Were constantly playing different roles in relation to each other online.

Bakewells prize-winning previous book, How to Live: A Life of Montaigne, passed on the French savants central advice  Dont worry about death  and celebrated his passionate interest in the singularity of himself and all living beings. So what should modern readers take from her examination of the existentialists?

Well, you certainly wouldnt want to go out and imitate them in every aspect of life, she says, laughing. I dont think they were exemplary people or thinkers. But looking at the way they chose to live gives you interesting perspectives about how we live today. They tried to tackle the big questions: what it is to be free, how we decide what we want the world to be; how to act in order to make it that. The bottom line is, whatever situation you find yourself in, its up to you what you do next. Were all affected by people around us, by our genetic make-up, our class and gender. All these things influence us. But its our choice in the end what we do about it  and thats an incredibly powerful idea.

Maybe its time for a new generation of thinkers to take up the mantle of Sartre and De Beauvoir  to question everything, wrestle with identity crises and search for the roads to freedom. Although perhaps they should skip the lobster-provoking hallucinogens. 

At the Existentialist Cafe: Freedom, Being, and Apricot Cocktails by Sarah Bakewell (Chatto & Windus, 16.99) is out now
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At after-hours sessions in wine bars, publishers of crime in translation spend much time discussing where the next foreign crime wave may be coming from so that they can be ahead of the curve. But while both France and Germany are offering some likely prospects at present, a counterintuitive entry is making a mark, from a country not known (in the UK at least) for its crime fiction: Japan. Those who have encountered the complex but mesmerising narratives of Keigo Higashino have been alerted to a writer offering subtly different fare from most contemporary novels of detection: more steadily paced, richer in small details of character. The Devotion of Suspect X sold in prodigious quantities in Japan and while its successor, Journey under the Midnight Sun, didnt reach the same stratospheric sales figures, it was still a palpable hit. Largely speaking, Higashinos latest book to reach these shores, A Midsummers Equation, satisfyingly builds on the achievement of his earlier works and adds some new elements.

Hard-headed Tokyo homicide detective Shunpei Kusanagi and brilliant physics professor Manabu Yukawa, Higashinos odd couple sleuthing duo, are wrenched from their stamping ground of the Japanese capital to travel to a small resort town for a conference on undersea mining prospects. The locale chosen for the discussion is Hari Cove, a town that has a variety of Damoclean swords hanging over its municipal head, from a severe economic decline to a possible environmental catastrophe. A more immediate issue for the pair, however, is the discovery of the corpse of a guest from the inn at which Kusanagi and Yukawa are staying. Masatsugu Tsukahara is found crumpled at the bottom of a cliff, apparently an accidental death. But Tsukahara was a retired Tokyo policeman  and his death was actually caused by carbon monoxide poisoning. Whats more, he was on the trail of a man he had arrested many years before for the killing of a nightclub hostess.

While Yukawa appears to be concentrating on experiments with young pupils, his detective colleague is finding the pursuit of a murderer somewhat more urgent. Needless to say, the analytical genius of the physicist will soon be pressed into service, and the novel throws off a series of jaw-dropping narrative twists. More than earlier books in the series, A Midsummers Equation has some surprising resonances with the golden age of British crime fiction but theres nothing wrong with that. What is fully in place, however, is the narrative acumen that has distinguished early entries in the series.

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From her stripy velvet armchair in the library of a chic London hotel, Julie Walters is inspecting her black sheepskin boots.

Everythings got mud on it, honestly! I go to the Baftas, I look down at my dress; mud! Its everywhere!

How very Walters, that casual mention of Britains most prestigious film awards, which have been such a staple of her life (she was nominated again this year for her role as an acerbic landlady in Brooklyn).

We were discussing her longest-running role, that of a real-life farmers wife  her husband, Grant Roffey, turns a profit from rearing and butchering cattle  but stomping the fields and bottle-feeding lambs before heading off to glittering parties is all in a days work for Walters.

To her adoring public, she is up there with the Denches and Mirrens of her industry, even if Buckingham Palace has yet to dish up the goods.

The other day, a woman went, Well of course, shes a Dame! And I went, NO, Im not! And she said, I know you dont like to ... No, really Im not! And she said, Well, I expect youve turned it down.

And she would not accept it! I had to be one in the end, she chortles amid protestations that shes not bothered and doesnt see herself that sort of material really; whatever that material is.

Despite it all  the awards, the fame, the love  there is still more than a touch of the firebrand who started her career at Liverpools revolutionary Everyman theatre before she burst on to our screens in Willy Russells Educating Rita and Alan Bleasdales Boys from the Blackstuff.

Indeed, the R word is a constant during our meeting. She thinks the middle-class grip on the acting world will trigger another revolution like the one that catapulted her career, back when youd hear middle-class actors trying to sound working class because it was cool, because it was cool to be left wing.

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Working-class drama comes out of people being unhappy and angry with the unfairness of life, she adds and I think that will come again.

At 66, she hasnt lost any of the anti-Tory zeal that helped her pick up her husband in a posh west London bar, 31 years ago. As the infamous story goes, she yelled, I bet nobody here votes Labour! Roffey, an AA patrolman, did.

He came back to hers on the pretext of fixing her broken washing machine  and the rest is family history. Today, she manages jibes at Margaret Thatcher, David Cameron, and even the Labour Party, on the grounds of how badly it fought the last election.

Jeremy Corbyn is a decent man but, she fears, unlikely to survive. I dont think hes the man for the job, if Im honest, she adds ruefully.

Julie Walters as the Machiavellian club owner in Channel 4's Indian Summers (Joe Alblas)

Watching Walters talk, is like watching a montage of her own edited highlights. Shes feisty, ground-breaking Rita, one minute; and any number of Victoria Woods comic sidekicks the next.

What you dont get, though, is Walters, the chat-show sofa performing monkey, another role at which she is expert; a memorable recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show saw her copping a feel of the shrapnel lodged in rapper 50 Cents tongue.

For those performances, she needs the literal fizz from a glass of something bubbly and alcoholic, the only time she drinks these days.

For the record, she finds such shows demanding. Does she feel herself being wound up like a toy? Yes, they do that. Is there a funny story about ? No. Life isnt just funny. Ive done so many of them; Im jaded with stories; I cant keep telling the same ones, so I find them a bit challenging.

Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Show all 5 1 /5 Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Lemmy The Motorhead frontman recently revealed his excessive lifestyle - rumoured to involve drinking a bottle of whisky a day - had to be scaled back after he started being unable to stand up during a recent show. Getty Images Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Willie-Nelson 82-year-old Nelson says he started smoking cigarettes when he was just six, and that his love affair with marijuana was the smoothest of all his marriages. He even has his own brand of marijuana called 'Willies Reserve'. Getty Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Shane-MacGowan The Pogues singer was kicked out the band in the nineties for his excessive drinking, and was given just six weeks to live, and is still partial to a G&T after a doctor suggested he stick to clear liquids. Getty Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Keith-Richards The Rolling Stone guitarist is still a fan of marijuana. "I smoke regularly, an early morning joint. Strictly Californian, he told Mojo. Getty Images Musicians and Actors on Growing Old Disgracefully Jack-Nicholson The legendary actor knows his limits, even if they are extreme. Ive woken up in trees, Ive woken up almost hanging off cliffs, but Ive always known how to sort myself out. Getty Images

Still, she cant help herself; those stories keep on coming. With the slightest of nudges, she flits from the menopause  My daughter once said to me in a restaurant, Oh Mum, youve got sweat on your moustache! Pass me a sharp implement!  to her horror of cosmetic surgery, with a tale of meeting a celebrity on an American breakfast show.

Oh God, the face lift! Jesus. It was like a mask. There wasnt a sign of anything. You think, Is she feeling anything? Is there anybody behind this?.

And then theres her dislike of being constantly recognised: at her favourite branch of Wagamama, which she frequents after seeing her acupuncturist, she sits with her back to the rest of the room. Which works fine until a waitress wants a selfie.

She recounts another time when she was stopped by a girl of about 20, who wanted a selfie while Walters was walking up a steep hill, laden with shopping. I was sweating, and she said, Can I have my picture taken? And I was like, Funnily enough, no. Sorry. Bye.

And I went off up the hill. I felt bad about that after. I should have said, Well, you carry my bags up to the top of the hill and put them in my car, and Ill cool down and we can have our picture taken. How about that? But I dont think shed have gone for it!

She is most poignant when talking about her grandmother, upon whom she based her favourite character, the ancient tea lady Mrs Overall, from Victoria Woods spoof soap Acorn Antiques.

She enjoyed working out the conundrum of this slightly scary, disorientated Irishwoman, whod joined her mother in Birmingham after suffering a series of strokes.

We found her really entertaining; this person who didnt know who she was or where she was a lot of the time. Shed give us 5 out of her savings; more than a weeks wages in the early Fifties for some people.

And my mother would go, Whaaaaaat!!!!! GIVE ME THAT BACK!!!!! I was fascinated by old people. Now I am the age of those parts, I see them and think, Oh my God! There I am! I dont need to act any more. She mimes reading a script. An Old Woman. You think, Oh, I dont need to do that! I am old!

She must know how popular a Wood-Walters reunion would be: they first met in 1978 at the Bush Theatre doing one of Woods early sketches, called Sex. Id put money on it happening, but Walters wont be drawn. Oh, I dont know. I dont know. Im trying to get hold of her today. Whos to say! We stay in touch, but ...

Channel 4's Indian Summers (Ian Derry)

Walters latest screen outing sees her back in 1930s India for Series 2 of Channel 4s Raj epic Indian Summers.

She reprises the role of manipulative hostess Cynthia, who has left Britain and her working-class roots to run the Royal Simla Club.

She loves Cynthias Machiavellian scheming and their shared working-class background. I didnt know people like that were out there; I thought only the upper classes ruled the Indians, she says.

Plus, with the series filmed in Penang, the part has given her the opportunity for some gap year travelling. Shes done Cambodia, Vietnam, and Malaysia, but would like to make it to India.

I wonder if the constant stream of heritage pieces, like Indian Summers, which reviewers dubbed the new Downton Abbey, arent contributing to a lack of variety on our screens, but Walters is persuasive. We need more contemporary dramas, probably, but theres nothing wrong with remembering especially pieces of history like that. Its part of who we are today, and part of our relationship with India today.

Another thing that drew Walters to playing Cynthia was that it wasnt a part determined by age. Its about her, as opposed to someone in an old peoples home  God, I get offered a lot of those, and Id play a good one, but ... you know!

For her, it symbolises how much the industry has changed. That there are the likes of Helen Mirren and Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, all still up there; thats different from when I was growing up when it was only people in their twenties and thirties who had anything.

Plenty of time left yet for that DBE, then!

Indian Summers returns to Channel 4 on Sunday 13 March at 9pm
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At last years Oscars, Patricia Arquette gave an impassioned speech about gender inequality and equal pay while accepting her best supporting actress award for Boyhood.

Since then, many actors in Hollywood have spoken out against inequality on screen, including Jennifer Lawrence, who wrote an online essay addressing the problem.

Speaking at Dinner For Equality, an LA event co-hosted by Arquette, the pair revisited those moments, and spoke of the hardships that followed on.

As noted by Variety, Arquette said she believes she has lost out of two acting gigs since the speech: Im okay with that, she said. But its not just about acting, and its not about me as an actor. I dont believe this is fair for anybody.

The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Show all 12 1 /12 The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Anne Hathaway The 32-year-old actress said she has already experiences job rejections because of her age. Now I'm in my early thirties and I'm like, 'Why did that 24-year-old get that part? I was that 24-year-old once. I can't be upset about it, it's the way things are, she told Glamour. EPA The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Helen Mirren On news that Maggie Gyllenhaal had been turned down for being too old, aged 37, to play a 55-year-old mans partner: Its f***ing outrageous. Its ridiculous. Honestly, its so annoying. And twas ever thus. We all watched James Bond as he got more and more geriatric, and his girlfriends got younger and younger. Its so annoying. Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Maggie Gyllenhaal Gyllenhaal revealed she was told by a Hollywood producer that she was too old, aged 37, to play the love interest of a 55-year-old man. It was astonishing to me. It made me feel bad, and then it made feel angry, and then it made me laugh, she said at the time. Getty Images The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Meryl Streep Meryl Streep has helped fund an all-female screenwriters group called The Writers Lab to encourage more women to pen Hollywood scripts. She previously told Vogue in 2011: Once women pass childbearing age they could only be seen as grotesque on some level. Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Emma Thompson The actress said she thought Hollywood is still completely s*** when it comes to treating women equally to men. When I was younger, I really did think we were on our way to a better world. And when I look at it now, it is in a worse state than I have known it, particularly for women, and I find that very disturbing and sad. EPA The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Elizabeth Banks Banks said she was driven from acting to directing due to the lack of roles for older women in Hollywood. "[Industry sexism] drove me to direct for sure. I definitely was feeling that I was unfulfilled and a little bit bored by the things that were coming across my desk. I mean look at Gwyneth Paltrow who has her Oscar [for Shakespeare in Love] and played fifth banana to Iron Man, she told Deadline. PA The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Viola Davis I had never seen a 49-year-old, dark-skinned woman who is not a size 2 be a sexualised role in TV or film. I'm a sexual woman, but nothing in my career has ever identified me as a sexualised woman. I was the prototype of the mommified role, she told The Hollywood Reporter. Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Liv Tyler The Lord of the Rings actress said she only get cast in roles where she is treated as a second class citizen at the age of 38. When youre in your teens or twenties, there is an abundance of ingenue parts which are exciting to play. But at [my age], youre usually the wife or the girlfriend - a sort of second-class citizen. There are more interesting roles for women when they get a bit older, she told More magazine. Getty Images The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Cate Blanchett The actress famously called out sexism on the red carpet at the 2014 Screen Actors Guild Awards. When a camera operator scanned her up and down, she said: Do you do this to the guys? In her Oscar acceptance speech for Blue Jasmine, she reminded the film industry that movies with leading women can still be successful. And thank you to... those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films, with women at the centre, are niche experiences. They are not -- audiences want to see them and, in fact, they earn money. The world is round, people. Gareth Cattermole/Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Ellen Page Asked if she had ever encountered sexism in Hollywood, Page told The Guardian: Oh my God, yeah! It's constant! It's how you're treated, it's how you're looked at, how you're expected to look in a photoshoot, it's how you're expected to shut up and not have an opinion, it's how you... If you're a girl and you don't fit the very specific vision of what a girl should be, which is always from a man's perspective, then you're a little bit at a loss. Getty Images The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Zoe Saldana The actress says she refuses roles where she has to play the generic girlfriend, wife or sexy bombshell. "It's very hard being a woman in a man's world, and I recognised it was a man's world even when I was a kid. It's an inequality and injustice that drove me crazy, and which I always spoke out against  and I've always been outspoken, she told Manhattan magazine. Getty The actors fighting against sexism in Hollywood Charlize Theron The actress spoke to ELLE about negotiating equal pay for the Snow White and the Huntsman sequel: "This is a good time for us to bring this to a place of fairness, and girls need to know that being a feminist is a good thing. It doesn't mean that you hate men. It means equal rights. If you're doing the same job, you should be compensated and treated in the same way." Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

I want to live in the America I believe in, that really is fair, that really has possibilities, and really does treat people of all races and all sexes equally.

Lawrence went on to speak about becoming a target for speaking out in her online essay: When I wrote that essay I got a lot of support but I also have a Republican family in Kentucky who told me my career was effectively over.

Arquette made sure to note that the difficulties actresses face are also faced by millions in the US We have tens of millions of single moms in the country and theyre really struggling, especially when theyre paid less than men.

"We have 33 million women and kids who wouldnt be in poverty, who have full-time working moms; if they were just paid their full dollar, they wouldnt be in poverty. They wouldnt be wealthy, but they wouldnt be in poverty.

Also in attendance at the dinner were Elon Musk, Reese Witherspoon, Lily Tomlin, Marisa Tomei, Maria Bello, Minka Kelly and Stevie Wonder.
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Oscar excitement has swept the world, with only hours before the ceremony kicks off.

In the run-up, American late night host Jimmy Kimmel asked various past winners to read mean Tweets about themselves as part of his Mean Tweets series.

Actors such as Cate Blanchett, George Clooney and Eddie Redmayne took part in the sketch, with Redmayne relishing his moment as he read out how he looks like someone tried to erase his nose but couldnt completely. I also think he looks permanently dehydrated.

Sean Penn looks increasingly unimpressed as he reads that he 1) has a penis nose, 2) has a scrotum face, 3) has an anus mouth, 4) is a butthole.

As well as Oscar winners, there are a few non-winners in the segment, including Kevin Hart, Seth Rogan and Taraji P. Henson. Watch below.

Of course, the Oscars are taking place very soon, and you can find out all the information you need to know, such as how to watch in the UK and who is nominated, right here.
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Theres been an odd mood in Milan this season  in fact, a mood prevalent across the board, possibly generated by a board. A corporate board, I mean. The mood is of desperation, of scrambling around for ideas, for product.

Collections are longer, broader. Less focused and succinct. They offer more, while often surrendering less. Theres more stuff but fewer ideas, more trinkets and gewgaws and fitfully dangling bits and bobs, the pieces often referred to as entry level  tassels at Tods, charms at Pradas, fur tails at Fendi, Versace and everywhere else. They may be small, but they swing a mighty punch when it comes to bumping up a brands bottom line. Because while we may baulk at investing thousands in a coat, if were sufficiently enamoured by a label we may shell out a couple of hundred on a piece of tat to hang off our handbag. Or so the thinking goes.

The issue is thus: the key ring and charms and chatelaines (the last have emerged as an odd Milan trend) can be hawked only if they summarise a larger narrative, rather than comprising said narrative in themselves. If the spin-offs have nothing to spin off from, youre in dire straits.

Recommended Read more Louis Vuitton and Prada celebrate Year of the Monkey

Lets discuss collections where this approach worked, and where it did not. First the latter: Tods, by Alessandra Facchinetti, whose tenure began strongly, proposing sleek and straightforward separates with intricately worked surfaces, but whose collections strike you as superficial as a result. Theres no real engagement or development of shape, just a piling on of decor.

Here, there was studding, pleating, fringing, topstitching, buckled straps and tassels piled on to a single leather skirt. Decoration felt less an anchor than an albatross. Tods has an expert hand with leather; if only Facchinettis own hand were half as certain. As it is, she gets distracted by the techniques at her disposal and winds up bogged down in a morass of technique that feels more suitable for hanging on a wall than on your body. A wall, at least, could easily bear the weight.

Facchinettis failure was in disregarding the woman who is eventually supposed to end up inside her clothes. Tomas Maiers success in his Bottega Veneta collection  one of his best  was that he focused almost purely on their needs. Thats why we make clothes, he reasons. Its not for show; its for people. I am always thinking about them, and what works for their lives. What works are clothes like these: narrow suits and swinging coats with sequins embedded in the surface and easy narrow dresses. There was lots of knitwear, and a summery sequence around the middle of tank tops and pleated skirts with flat shoes that seemed oddly Roman Holiday for a winter collection.

A quartet of Prada dresses (EPA)

Maier lives in Florida, in the climate-controlled environs favoured by the wealthy where summer is perpetual. The climate of wealth. Why wouldnt they want summer dresses in the winter time? Just crank up the heating. Equally, why wouldnt they want a checked coat worked not in wool nor even cashmere, but a kings ransom of chartreuse lamb with intarsia layers and karung skin? No matter if they live in Miami or the Middle East, they can just crank up the air con. I guess this show was about womens wants rather than womens needs, but the garments managed to ignite a lust altogether too rare today.

Miuccia Prada often muses on what women want. In fact, its mostly about what she wants  what she wants to wear, sure (she always wears Prada, or maybe Miu Miu, which shell show in Paris in just over a weeks time), but also what she wants to say. The winter collection she presented on late on 25 February was familiar to those who saw her menswear show (punctuated with her pre-autumn womenswear) on the same catwalk back in January. Mrs Prada explored similar ideas, similar aesthetics, in the same set at the Via Fogazzaro. I could do a much deeper job, she said backstage, of the rare decision to repeat herself from a designer known as a master of the volte-face. A woman has many more facets  and I am a woman, so  She smiled.

In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Show all 22 1 /22 In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Gucci In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Gucci In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Gucci In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Gucci In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Gucci In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Fendi In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Versace In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Versace In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Versace In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Roberto Cavalli In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Roberto Cavalli In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Roberto Cavalli In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Jil Sander In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Jil Sander In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Jil Sander In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Moschino In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Moschino In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Moschino In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Prada In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Prada In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Prada In pictures: Milan Fashion Week spring/summer 2016 Pucci

Its interesting to think of this Prada show as a remix, a repositioning of her predominantly menswear January show, refracted through a feminine prism. Take the set, a plywood rendering of the kind of town square used for ceremonies  both good and bad. The menswear referenced the auto-da-fe  the Spanish Inquisitions burning of heretics at the stake. The womenswear made me think of Salems witch trials, the torching of Jeanne dArc. The power of the power of women, and frequently the fear it arouses.

Models in Tods creations during a show at the PAC art museum (EPA)

Many of Pradas models wore notebooks fastened to their necks or handbags, bound in metal and tightly buckled like teenage diaries, baubles, books of secrets or spells. Mrs Prada wryly commented that she had never written anything in her life, which for a former political science PhD student strikes you as slightly disingenuous. Some of those notebooks were attached to metallic roses  fragile, but strong. And the corset, a feminine garment viewed as empowering and subjugating in equal measure, was buckled on the outside of many of the garments.

Theres a fascinating thing at Prada, a label helmed by a formidably powerful woman, a true matriarch. The menswear is often vulnerable, fragile  for boys, rather than for men. The womenswear is about strength, and seldom about borrowing from the male idiom  trouser suits, say, or tailored coats  to assert said strength. Theres a strength in seduction: the sailor hats slanted across many looks were certainly seductive. Mrs Prada said these were inspired by a friend who arrived to see her in the mountains during the summer. Theyre a symbol of travelling, she mused. Of sex, and danger.

Bottega Veneta on the Milan catwalk (Getty)

Theres a danger in a powerful woman, in a woman in control of her sexuality and also of her wallet. Incidentally, those omnipresent chatelaines  which hung out on the Prada catwalk too, some even with decorative keys attached  were symbolic of the status of the women sporting them in their original context of the 18th and 19th centuries. Their 21st-century equivalents will find plenty of things at Prada to fulfil their needs, but tapping into the all-important want is what Miuccia Prada is intuitively astute at.

Accordingly, a duo of handbags  named the Pionniere and Cahier (the later a notebook shape style, like all those diaries)  were available immediately after the show. You may want them enough to convince yourself you need them. Music to any luxury goods merchant. Even one as storied as Mrs Prada.
A standoff near Reed Point ended after several hours Saturday and the suspect was found dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Investigators now say James Dunakin, 59, of Reed Point, was under investigation in a drug case.

A Sunday morning news release from Sweet Grass County Sheriffs Office said authorities served Dunakin a warrant for his fingerprints on Thursday in connection to a Montana Division of Criminal Investigation drug probe involving a white powdery substance found in Big Timber Grade School and Sweet Grass High School.

At about 8:55 a.m. Saturday police received a report of gunfire at a house in the Stephens Hill Road area. Sweet Grass County Sheriffs deputies responded and evacuated victims and residents of nearby houses. Dunakin barricaded himself in his home.

Several agencies deployed to assist in the situation including the Gallatin County Special Response Team, Park County Sheriffs Office, Stillwater County Sheriffs Office, Wheatland County Sheriffs Office and Montana Highway Patrol. Officers unsuccessfully attempted to make contact with Dunakin throughout the afternoon.

The release said law enforcement received word that James Dunakin was going to kill as many Law Enforcement Officers as he could and that his wife, Margaret Dunakin, 58 of Reedpoint, had already committed suicide.

At about 6:40 p.m. Gallatin County SRT entered the home and found James Dunakin dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Law enforcement fired no shots in the incident and no officers or bystanders were injured.
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The Gordon Ramsay effect of a macho kitchen culture and balancing unsociable hours while having children have been blamed for a decline in the number of female chefs, as revealed by an analysis of government figures by The Independent.

Despite the rise of female role models such as the Great British Bake Offs Mary Berry, and Helene Darroze, whose restaurant at the Connaught Hotel in London has two Michelin stars, the number of women working as chefs or cooks has been in decline from the start of this century.

In 2001, there were 126,000  representing 48 per cent of the workforce. But by 2010 the number had fallen to 107,000  with the proportion down to 37 per cent. Today, while women hold around three-quarters of jobs as cooks, they account for fewer than one in five chefs  46,000.

A growing number of figures from the world of food are now demanding action to encourage more women to pursue culinary careers.

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In a thinly veiled attack on macho culture exemplified by chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, Swiss chef Anton Mosimann said: Television has played a great part in persuading many to take up a profession in the kitchen, but equally many who are enthusiastic about food might be put off by the perception that all kitchens are stressful environments with foul language and abusive behaviour; a practice that I abhor and have never permitted in any kitchen where I have worked.

He added: There are some female chef role models, but they do not tend to attract the attention of the media in the same way as the more vocal male chefs have done. A spokesperson for Mr Ramsay did not respond to a request for comment.

Helene Darroze in the kitchen of her Paris restaurant. She also has a restaurant at The Connaught in London (AFP/Getty)

Some female chefs admit that they have had to choose between having children and a career. Sarah Barber, executive pastry chef at Hotel Cafe Royal in London, said: I knew since the beginning that this was a job which, in the best cases, would occupy my day for a minimum of 12 to 14 hours: in these conditions, having a family and raising a child would not only have been a challenge, but very much impossible.

Giving up family and kids for my career is a sacrifice which I happily made, but still it is a sacrifice.

In recent years women have become top chef at some of Britains best-known restaurants. Last year Kim Woodward became the first ever female head chef at the Savoy Grill in London.

Ms Darroze has been awarded two Michelin stars for her eponymous restaurant at The Connaught hotel in London, while Spanish chef Nieves Barragan Mohacho heads up Barrafina in London, which was named Britains best restaurant at last years National Restaurant Awards. And Clare Smyth, the first female chef in Britain to be awarded and retain three Michelin stars, is chef patron at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in London.

But a wider problem remains, according to Lyndy Redding, managing director at catering and events company Absolute Taste. Women chefs are not seen as long-standing chefs in the business because people dont think that they will last but instead go off and have families, she said.

We need to champion female chefs that are not just restaurant chefs. Running or owning a restaurant is hard for a male or female chef, but there are many female chefs out there who are not running a restaurant but they can still be a great role model to encourage females to come into the kitchen.

Mark Linehan, managing director of the Sustainable Restaurant Association, said: The long anti-social hours and perceptions of a predominantly macho and hierarchical working culture can act as a disincentive for many women to forge a long career.

And Emily Watkins, chef proprietor of Kingham Plough in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, said: Since taking this place over nine years ago, I have had less than 10 female CVs for chef positions against hundreds of males. Considering how much of a boost the career of a chef has had thanks to the TV, etc, I am surprised that it hasnt made the industry more open. Having said that, the majority of professional chefs on the TV are male.

Some restaurants, such as the River Cafe in London, deliberately aim for a balance of men and women. Ruth Rogers, chef and co-founder of the River Cafe, said: We have a very strong policy that if we have too many of one gender, whichever it is, when we have applications we look for the other one because we really like having a balance in the kitchen.

But Angela Hartnett, chef patron of Murano restaurant in London, said: Its a mistake to start thinking in quotas when your ultimate aim should be to run a great restaurant and cook delicious food.

There are plenty of female chefs out there, but for whatever the reasons  the hours, work-life balance, etc  the industry has tended to be male-dominated. Instead of trying to redress the balance, we should be looking to support talent and hard work, whatever shape it comes in.

And Jemima Olchawski, head of policy, the Fawcett Society, commented: This fiercely competitive industry is missing out on talent right now. But simple changes could really make a difference. Those running kitchens should think hard about whether they could organise work more flexibly, for instance with job shares.
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Now that a Daily Telegraph columnist, Boris Johnson, has pitted himself against a former ITV PR man, David Cameron, the media can narrate the EU referendum in the personalised language it loves: a story of jealousy, ambition and betrayal.

Whatever the publics ultimate engagement with the historic vote on 23 June, we can be sure that the Fourth Estate will cover the In/Out story with greater relish than if it had been a contest between Mr Cameron and Nigel Farage, who was the Prime Ministers preferred adversary. Of course it doesnt mean we will have a better debate on the detail of the relative merits of Brussels or Brexit.

Both Johnson and Cameron have a deep instinctive understanding of the workings of the media and its influence in determining elections. We can be sure that, before Boris put his career on the line by becoming the new figurehead of the Leave campaign, the former editor of The Spectator made careful calculations as to which newspapers would join his line of battle.

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.

The problem for him is that this campaign is not like a general election; so much about it is counter-intuitive. Mr Cameron finds himself in the same camp as almost the whole of the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. He will hope for a more sympathetic press in the next four months from liberal pro-EU titles, notably The Guardian and The Independent, than might normally be the case. The Financial Times, apparently reflecting the pro-Brussels views of the Square Mile, has also backed the Remain campaign, as has the Daily Mirror.

But when it comes to the so-called Tory press, the picture is almost as complex as on the Conservative benches in Westminster. It would be naive to think that these titles will be immune, on an issue of such economic significance, to the views of their powerful owners. But they will also weigh the instincts of their readerships  and thats where some intriguing dichotomies arise.

Johnson cannot be certain of the support of his own paper. For although the core of Telegraph readers are  like the Tory grassroots the Mayor of London courts  profoundly Eurosceptic, the papers owners Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, and Sir Davids son Aidan, chairman of Telegraph Media Group, are sympathetic to the concerns of business that Brexit would have detrimental consequences for the economy.

Such agonising is reflected in the papers pages, with the Business section leading on Friday with the warnings from Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, that Brexit would be negative on all fronts, while an op-ed piece from deputy editor Allister Heath celebrated the idea of quitting the EU, saying it would be a catalyst for constitutional revolution.

At the London Bridge headquarters of News UK, things are even more knotty. A recent Sunday Times editorial on the referendum was a model of equanimity. Professing no allegiance, it placed itself outside either spin operation as it promised to interrogate the evidence behind the propaganda.

The Times has been similarly Sphinx-like in declaring its affiliation, although its publication of a pro-EU letter from 36 FTSE 100 chief executives has given comfort to Downing Street.

 Gove on EU referendum

Rupert Murdoch, who owns these papers, has been less equivocal, tweeting criticisms of Mr Camerons non-deal EU reforms and applauding his friend Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, for his principles in backing Brexit. Murdochs tabloid, The Sun, is vehemently anti-Brussels, telling the Prime Minister this week: People can see for themselves Mr Cameron. There is no reformed EU.

Its hostility to Europe is matched by the Daily Express, whose owner Richard Desmond backed Mr Farages Ukip editorially and financially at the general election. The Ukip leader is desperate to be a visible champion of the Leave campaign and, even if strategists would like him to take a step back, he will never be short of offers of airtime from television producers. Nonetheless, Express columnist and spy author, Frederick Forsyth, feeds the conspiracy theory that a pro-Europe establishment is dominating the media. You can see them in every paper, every TV debate, he complained.

The Daily Mail does not seem to share that view. In an extraordinary leader last Thursday it embraced the BBC for its even-handed coverage of the referendum. Theyre doing a grand job, it declared, acknowledging that these are words you might not expect in the Mail. In British media terms, this was a coupling as unlikely as the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and coincided with one of the broadcasters darkest moments; publication of Dame Janet Smiths report on the BBCs complicity in the crimes of Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall.

BBC News might be disconcerted by this endorsement of its journalism by the Mail. It normally cites criticism from the paper, along with similar gripes from the political left, as evidence of its neutrality. Unlike newspapers, broadcast news organisations are forbidden by Ofcom rules from cheerleading for either side. But they  and the BBC in particular  will not be able to avoid social media accusations of bias, justified or not. The Scottish referendum campaign showed how these polarising constitutional issues have the potential to damage the BBCs reputation and the final weeks of this two-horse EU race will be a supreme test for its newsroom.

The Mail has no such worries; its very essence is its sharply defined ideology. And the papers historic distrust of Europe dovetails conveniently with its dislike of the Prime Minister, who it subjects to relentless personal attacks. Stories that support the Remain campaign are reported in the Mail with disdain, accompanied by a campaigning Planet Fear red stamp logo. Now HSBC talks down the pound, it noted this week with audible exasperation. PMs new scare: the cost of your holiday will rise, was another story given the Planet Fear treatment.

It was reputedly the Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine, wife of Mr Gove, who gave her husband the line that the EU is an analogue union in a digital age. The Leave campaign will need this suggestion that it is internet savvy, given the presentational PR problems arising from having competing campaigns (Vote Leave, Leave.EU, and umbrella group Grassroots Out) and a phalanx of leaders (Johnson, Farage, Gove).

It can count on the Mails backing, but not necessarily that of the Mail on Sunday, which revealed Johnsons secret dinner with Brexit ally Gove and appears closer to the thinking of the chairman of the Daily Mail and General Trust, Jonathan Harmsworth, fourth Viscount Rothermere, who is regarded as pro-European. In a leader article, the MoS talked of equally matched sides each with strong arguments and persuasive spokesmen and women. It concluded: Let the great debate begin.

The campaign will surely get nastier in the weeks ahead but, for a few months at least, there is a different order in the politics of the British press.

The New York Times still bucks the trends

The late David Carr of The New York Times was, he admitted, not what you would call the classic Times man.

His route to becoming media and culture writer for the Gray Lady was unusual; he was previously a cocaine addict and alcoholic. That hardship brought a sensibility to his coverage of the changing tech landscape that went beyond the usual focus on traffic data and fast fortunes.

In the 2011 documentary feature Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times, he angrily challenged Vices pretensions to revolutionise foreign reporting. Just because you put on a fucking safari helmet and looked at some poop doesnt give you the right to insult what we do, Carr told Vice co-founder Shane Smith.

Carr died last year, aged 58, but the NYT has created a fellowship in his honour; 600 young applicants were asked to appraise his work. John Herrman lauded his ability to relentlessly demystify. Amanda Hess admired his analysis of Isiss exploitation of social media. Greg Howard cited Carrs dedication to research.

Dean Baquet, the papers executive editor, said they had decided to select all three. And so Carrs spirit endures.

A very fond farewell to What the Papers Say

BBC Radio 4 is dropping What the Papers Say, a show with 60 years of history.

Having presented the 15-minute programme on several occasions I am heartbroken to see it go. As will be many of the loyal 550,000 listeners for whom the sound of its introductory fanfare and pipes had become a treasured part of Sunday evenings.

Recommended Read more Today programme to be given TV show and bigger online presence

As host and scriptwriter you would sit in the studio opposite four dry-humoured actors. One was a regular on The Archers. Their vocal range and talent for mimicry was a delight. WTPS was a celebration of wit, well-honed prose and expert insight. Presenters were also encouraged to quote from digital-only media as well as the press.

The BBC explains the axing of the show as cost cutting. Given the tiny budget of WTPS in its graveyard slot in the schedule, the saving will be minuscule for an organisation that spends 3.6bn annually. At least it will live on in a reduced format on Saturday mornings on the World Service.

After the grim pathos of its Savile apologies last week, this is hardly an opportune moment for Radio 4 to lose a show that allowed alternative news voices into the BBC output.

Twitter: @iburrell
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The veteran broadcaster Baroness Bakewell has made an impassioned plea to keep the BBC publicly funded but added the corporation needed huge reforms.

Speaking at the Bath Literature Festival, Lady Bakewell said she was unqualified in her belief that the licence fee should be maintained. The BBC, she added, was a cultural triumph.

Yet, huge reforms are needed due to the multitude at managerial levels  and the suits.

Lady Bakewell has worked for the BBC since the 1960s, including on Late Night Line-Up, Newsnight and Heart of the Matter. It wasnt a hub of creativity; it was a hub of management, which is what it remains, she said of her earlier days at the corporation.

The Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee recently criticised the BBCs Director-General, Lord Hall, for failing to tackle the many tiers of management. The royal charter governing the BBC is to be renewed before the end of the year, with the Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale, preparing to publish a White Paper setting out the plans for the BBC.

Lady Bakewell warned that vultures are circling to attack the BBC for commercial interest, citing rival media owners, and reiterated her support. Theres nothing like it in the world, its hugely admired around the world. It makes a great difference in countries where the World Service reaches, she said. Its heart is in the right place, which is at the heart of British culture, British values and the very best that we have to offer.

Lady Bakewell revealed she had been invited to take part in Strictly Come Dancing but she turned it down. I thought they were looking for a successor to John Sergeant, she said of the former participant, who was mocked for his two left feet.

She was discussing her new book, Stop the Clocks: Thoughts on What I Leave Behind, and revealed the two interviewees who had left the biggest impression on her.

She named Nelson Mandela, hailing his integrity, his fluency, his charm and his resolution and his sacrifice.

The other was Friar Timothy Radcliffe, the head of the Dominican Order at the time. I found his exposition and his faith completely liberating.
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An MP has revealed she was the subject of racism in parliament when a fellow MP mistook her for a cleaner.

Appearing on BBC Five Lives Piennars Politics, Dawn Butler was asked if shed ever been faced with racism in parliament.

The Labour MP for Brent Central recollected a confrontation which occurred in a Members only lift inside the Palace of Westminster.

Yes - God, there are so many incidents," she said. "There was a time when I was in the lift. It was a Members lift that Members of Parliament use specially in cases (where) we have get to places quickly.

I was in the lift and some other MP said, This lift really isnt for cleaners.

The 46-year-old East London born politician chose not to disclose the name of the MP.

In 2008, having become the third black woman MP, Butler wrote an article about a separate incident where the former senior Tory minister David Heathcote-Amory confronted her in the Members section of the terrace.

He actually said to me, What are you doing here? This is for Members only, she wrote.

He then proceeded to ask me, 'Are you a member?' And I said, Yes I am, are you? And he turned around and said to his colleague, Theyre letting anybody in nowadays.

This man could not equate the image he saw in front of him with that of an MP. It was quite upsetting for my team and so we had to take it further.

Mr Heathcote-Amory rebuffed the accusation that his remarks were racist.

Its quite absurd, he said.

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What she is actually objecting to is that I didnt recognise her as a new MP. I simply asked her what she was doing at that end of the terrace, and they are quite sensitive about this kind of thing, they think that any kind of reprimand from anyone is racially motivated.

Although he did agree it was a problem that too few black and minority ethnic MPs were elected, he also went on to argue that people had become overly politically correct.

The trouble is that feminism has trumped everything. We are a bit obsessed with getting more women in and I think genuinely broad-based politics is one that takes people from every social and religious group.

But we are exaggeratedly courteous to anyone with a different skin colour, so the idea that anything I have said is racist is absurd.

In an interview with the Observer following the incident, Butler said she had made an official complaint about his comments but it was ignored.

It's not as though Parliament has a human resources department that you can complain to and expect disciplinary action from, Butler said.

So after being told by the Tory chief whip and the Speaker of the House that there was nothing to be done about it, I had no choice but to let it drop.

Butler has been vocal about a number of incidents where she has faced racism from politicians from all parties, lobbyists and parliament security.
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Frank Kelly, the actor who played Father Jack in Father Ted, has died aged 77.

In a career spanning 60 years, Kelly played a string of comic and soap roles, both on the Irish channel RTE and in the UK.

His first role, uncredited, was as a prison officer in The Italian Job (1969). In the film's opening sequence, he can be seen escorting gangster Charlie Croker (Michael Caine) out of prison.

Over the years that followed, he spent a five-month stint on Emmerdale, and two years on the RTE soap Glenroe. In his last major role, he appeared in Mrs Brown's Boys D'Movie (2014), playing a judge.

But it was his role as the rude, drunken and bellicose Father Jack Hackett that made him popular. He will be particularly remembered for his catchphrase, "Feck".

Tributes are starting to arrive on Twitter, including from Father Ted writer Graham Linehan:

And actor and director David Morrissey, who worked with Kelly on well-received 2003 Channel 4 movie The Deal:

Of course, the word 'feck' appears in virtually every tribute:

His death comes 18 years to the day after the death of his co-star Dermot Morgan, who played the eponymous Father Ted.

Kelly had a string of health problems over the last years of his life. He was given the all-clear in 2011 after contracting bowel cancer, while in 2015 he was treated for skin cancer.

When hospitalised for heart failure in 2015, he was told he had Parkinson's disease. Speaking at the time, he said: "I've been working as an actor for over 50 years, and a shaky hand certainly won't stop me."

"I'm quietly confident that I've had this for years and years. If you are watching what you are doing, you can control it."

"You might have heard of the American actor Michael J Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's 22 years ago and is still working today. I'm the same."

He is survived by Bairbre, his wife of 51 years, and also leaves behind 7 children and 17 grandchildren.

Feck.
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Nigel Farage has responded to a report which branded him one of the least trusted voices on Europe.

Mr Farage said that he couldnt care less about the comments, which were highlighted by United Kingdom Indpendence Party (Ukip) MEP Suzanne Evans at a fringe event campaigning to leave the European Union in Llandudno, North Wales, ITV reports.

Around 30 people attended the event, which took place at the same time as a larger Grassroots Out rally that Mr Farage was attending.

The other least trusted voice on European Union membership is Tony Blair, for the In side, the report said.

Ms Evans was sacked from her role as deputy party chair last week. She was sharing a platform with Ukips only MP in the House of Commons, Douglas Carswell.

She said to an audience that the report found that the two least trusted voices on Europe are Tony Blair, which isnt surprising, and also Nigel Farage.

Suzanne Evans and Nigel Farage in April (Getty) (Getty Images)

Ms Evans continued: You might not like it, and I dont like it either, but that is what the book says. They suggest you dont put Ukip branding on campaign materials.

They say really even if you love Nigel Farage and you love Ukip, its best not mention it unless somebody else mentions it instead.

She added that she was simply sharing fact-based research with the audience.

Responding to questions about the events proceedings, Mr Farage said: "I couldn't care less, I'm not interested. We've got the biggest set of elections we've ever had to fight across the United Kingdom, a referendum."

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 21 October 2022 Sculptor Peter McKenna puts the finishing touches to a pumpkin that will form part of the Planet A Hebden Bridge Pumpkin Trail in the West Yorkshire town PA 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. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2022 Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews take part in the traditional Pier Walk along the harbour walls of St Andrews before the start of the new academic year PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2022 The Massed Pipes and Drums parade during the Braemar Highland Gathering at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2022 Number 12 Company Irish Guards at Wellington Barracks, central London, before commencing their first Guard Mount at Buckingham Palace PA

Ms Evans has been criticised for the comments.

This is astonishing and disappointing from a former party official. The Out movement needs to be united and inclusive and needs to make a positive case for leaving, former Ukip director Steve Stanbury told Breitbart London.

A referendum will take place on June 23 to decide if Britain will continue as a member of the European Union.
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The Government will ignore pleas to ringfence money for black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) women and girls who have suffered violence when it unveils an updated domestic abuse strategy next month.

Theresa May was widely praised for introducing the Violence Against Women and Girls strategy in 2010. But campaigners have asked officials now to guarantee central government funding of around 10m to protect financially struggling organisations specialising in issues involving women from minority backgrounds. They advise on issues such as female genital mutilation and offer an Islamic perspective on a womans right to divorce if she is being beaten.

However, government sources have told The Independent on Sunday that money for BAME work wont be ringfenced when the refreshed strategy is published on or around International Womens Day on 8 March. But while the Government is keener on local councils choosing where the money is spent, there is a precedent for ringfencing: cash has been set aside for sexual violence victims support.

There are 34 organisations in Britain dedicated to BAME womens services, but an additional 10 to 15 are thought to have shut down over the past 12 years. This has put a strain on small organisations that havent enough staff to cope with sudden surges in domestic abuse.

Sources said it will be acknowledged that more needs to be done to help BAME women, and local commissioners who dish out money to organisations will be told to look into whether enough funding has gone to specialist services.

Marai Larasi, executive director at Imkaan, which campaigns over violence against black women and girls, said there is a strong possibility that some of the nations 34 BAME organisations will be forced to close without central funding support because they face competition for local finance from other womens services groups.

Blue tape signals danger for BAME women (Corbis)

For example, Apna Haq, which helps Asian women and girls in Rotherham, lost a contract it had held for 11 years last year. Its founder, Zlakha Ahmed, told The IoS that her organisation is in a frenzy to secure money to get through the summer.

And Roshni Nottingham, which closed in 2012, said at the time that womens experiences of violence, racism and discrimination remain compounded by a lack of specialist provision.

Ms Larasi said: In the past 10 to 12 years, about a quarter of services for BAME women have gone. We were only looking for some ring-fenced money to keep them going, a starting point of maybe 10m. We know that local commissioning is not working for these organisations and despite repeated calls for centralised funding, and a workable funding strategy, the Government continues to drag its feet  We are being sent a message that our safety and well-being is not a priority.

Sarah Green, acting director for the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: We are extremely disappointed that the Government will not act on the crisis facing ethnic minority womens support services  which can literally make the difference between life and death for women and girls facing domestic and sexual violence, threatened forced marriages, and more. It is not enough to tell local councils and others that they should fund these helplines and centres  there is already a funding crisis at that level.

The Government has already announced 40m of funding for domestic abuse services for the next four years and a 2m grant to Womens Aid and Safelives. Home Office minister Karen Bradley told Parliament last week that improvements have been made to the police response to domestic abuse.
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A group of Sunni imams are to make the first-ever visit by British Muslim religious leaders to see first hand the front line in the fight against Isis.

The imams, representing mosques across the country, will travel to Iraq on Tuesday for an eight-day fact-finding mission. They are expected to visit parts of the country previously under Isis control as well as meeting victims of the group, including from the Yazidi community.

The hope is that the visit will help to counter Isis propaganda in this country by highlighting the Sunni resistance to Isis in Iraq and relaying back first-hand accounts of life under the extremists.

If successful, the plan is to then bring Iraqi Sunni imams to the UK, to talk in mosques about the reality of life in Isis-controlled areas and to deglamorise the group and its appeal to young British Muslims.

The trip is being paid for in part by trustees of the Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala which Isis attempted to blow up earlier this year. The rest of the funding is coming from the Muslim community in the UK. Mustafa Field, an Iraqi-born community organiser who has helped to arrange the trip, said the group would travel to Samarra and Tikrit as well as Baghdad. Tikrit was previously under Isis occupation while Samarra was for a long time at the front line between the Iraqi army and Isis.

Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Show all 10 1 /10 Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Ankara, Turkey A person holds a flag as police uses tear gas and water cannon in Ankara against demonstrators who protest against attacks launched by Islamic State insurgents targeting the Syrian city of Kobani and lack of action by the government Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Diyarbaki, Turkey Protesters clashing with riot police during a demonstration against Isis in Diyarbakir, southeast of Turkey Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Diyarbaki, Turkey Kurdish protesters in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir Getty Images Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Diyarbaki, Turkey Kurdish protesters clash with Turkish riot policemen in the city of Diyarbakir Getty Images Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Brussels, Belgium Riot police block Kurdish protesters as they gather in front of the entrance of the European Parliament in Brussels AP Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Berlin, Germany Demonstrators, including one holding a sign that reads: "Save the Kurds of Kobane from IS," and many of them members of Berlin's large Kurdish community, march to protest against the ongoing violence by militias of the Isis in Iraq and Syria in Berlin Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Hamburg, Germany Kurds protest against Isis militants advancing through the Syrian border city of Kobani, in Hamburg, Germany Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in London, UK Kurdish protesters gather at Heathrow Airport as anti-Isis demonstrations take place across Europe Lisa Campbell Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Paris, France Kurds living in France demonstrate in Paris Anti-Isis demonstrations across Europe Anti-Isis protests in Marseille, France Kurdish people hold flag in Marseille during a protest against the threat of a "Syrian Kurdish population's genocide" by Isis militants and to support the population of the Syrian Kurdish town of Ain al-Arab, known as Kobani

This is about empowering credible Muslim leaders in Britain to see for themselves what has been going on in Iraq, Mr Field said.

The plan is to meet not just those people who have lived under Isis rule but also other Sunni imams who are involved in the campaign against Daesh [Isis].

We want to take those stories back to the UK so that Muslims can hear first hand what is going on and hopefully counter some of the myths that have been built up over the years.

Daesh propaganda is dangerous and this is a British Muslim-led response to challenge their ideas.

The imams will meet key Shia and Sunni figures and both those fighting Daesh and those who have been impacted.

Some in the British Muslim community have become frustrated at the apparent inability of religious and community leaders to counter Isis social media propaganda that has been very effective in some sections of the community.

There is also frustration at the failure of government de-radicalisation programmes to engage effectively with the community and a sense they are targeting Muslims rather than working with them.

The hope is that such community-led programmes as this will be more effective at countering the Isis narrative than more conventional media, which is often distrusted and seen as Western propaganda.

Sheikh Muhammad Umar ibn Ramadhan, chairman of Ramadhan Foundation, Burton on Trent, is one of those taking part in the visit. He said they also wanted to show solidarity with Iraqis.

Our visit to Iraq is to show unity and solidarity to our brothers and sisters who are fighting against the terrorist Daesh. Our message is clear: Daesh is the enemy of Islam and all Muslims be it Sunni or Shia, he said.

Professor Pir Syed Ahmad Hussain Tirmidhi Shah Sahib, president of the charity Markazi Jamat Ahle Sunnat UK in Halifax, added: We will be visiting the various cities and towns recently taken by the Iraqi security forces and the Popular Mobilisation Forces from Daesh, to gain first-hand experiences of the atrocities.

Daesh, Isis or any other terrorist organisation is a clear enemy of all humanity. We must expose their lies to defeat this evil.
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The British government has launched less than one successful air strike every two days since the RAF began bombing Syria, according to official Ministry of Defence reports.

The MoD publishes a "chronological list of British forces air strikes to assist the Iraqi government in its fight against Daesh" on its website. This database records only 33 successful strikes since the controversial extension of RAF air strikes into Syrian territory following a parliamentary vote on 2 December 2015.

Moreover, after an initial flurry of assaults in the week following the vote the rate of successful strikes appears to be slowing, diminishing almost to a halt in February.

 Syria ceasefire: Calm holding

No strikes in Syrian territory are recorded between 31 January and 15 February, when RAF Typhoons destroyed a weapons store on the Syrian bank of the Euphrates river which marks the border with Iraq.

The term "strike" is used by the US-led coalition to imply the successful destruction of a single target, and could imply anything from a single drone strike on an Isis militant to the destruction of a network of tunnels or facilities.

These strikes are not reported consistently, but with only 33 successes reported between 2 December and 18 February (the date of the last update) it is clear that the RAF is hitting fewer than one target every two days.

In the absence of official figures, it is impossible to know how many missions have failed to find their target. However, this low hit-rate will fuel the arguments of those who feel Western air strikes are unlikely to make a positive impact on the lives of Syrian civilians.

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

Reports last month indicated that Russian air strikes alone have killed moer than 1,000 civilians in Syria, including over 300 children, since they joined the conflict in October 2014. The US-led coalition is allegedly responsible for the deaths of more than 700 civilians since August 2014, according to independent monitoring groups.

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: We are playing a crucial role in a campaign that will take time and patience. Using the right weapon for each scenario, RAF jets have struck Daesh almost 600 times [in Iraq and Syria]."

"In Iraq we have helped to drive them out of Sinjar and Ramadi. In Syria, we have severely weakened them by targeting their key infrastructure. He emphasised that the RAF's handful of successes should be considered in the context of the wider campaign by the US-led coalition.

The UK's efforts - and successes - continue to be concentrated in Iraq, where the MoD says it has flown over a thousand sorties against Isis since joining the conflict in October 2014.

The strikes in Syria have primarily dropped Paveway IV bombs, which each cost around 30,000, and launched Hellfire missiles valued at around 70,000. The RAF has also made very occasional use of the much-vaunted 100,000 Brimstone missile, said to be the most effective air-to-ground weapon available to the coalition.

According to the MoD, Isis-controlled targets in Syria include: a command and control centre, wellheads and infrastructure in oil fields, a tunnel complex, defence positions and checkpoints, supply trucks and mobile cranes being used to repair bomb damage.
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The Governments refusal to ban polluting plastic microbeads from cosmetic products is inadequate, the leader of the Green Party has said.

In December last year the Barack Obama signed a new law banning the beads completely from products on sale in America  but they remain legal in Britain.

Canada and Sweden have also taken steps towards a ban, but the British Government says the industry will phase out the beads voluntarily

Microbeads are tiny solid plastic balls and can be found in some toothpastes, body scrubs and other cosmetics and give products a speckled appearance.

The beads serve an aesthetic purpose but some manufacturers also claim they can help with exfoliation or cleaning.

The solid plastic particles however do not biodegrade and so can cause environmental damage when washed down the drain.

The beads are not filtered out by water treatment plans and it has been suggested that they can carry toxins once they themselves become contaminated.

Aquatic creatures have also been known to mistake the particles for food.

The governments plan to work with industry for a voluntary phase-out is simply inadequate, Bennett said, Natalie Bennett told the Independent.

In pictures: World Environment Day 2013 Show all 8 1 /8 In pictures: World Environment Day 2013 In pictures: World Environment Day 2013 environment8.jpg In pictures: World Environment Day 2013 environment2.jpg In pictures: World Environment Day 2013 environment3.jpg In pictures: World Environment Day 2013 environment4.jpg In pictures: World Environment Day 2013 environment5.jpg In pictures: World Environment Day 2013 environment6.jpg In pictures: World Environment Day 2013 environment7.jpg In pictures: World Environment Day 2013 environment1.jpg

It has acknowledged that these call biological and toxicological harm in the oceans, but is failing to act.

The United States, with the full backing even of Republicans, has agreed a ban by April 2107. Britain surely can act as quickly, if not quicker.

The cosmetics industry has acknowledged that alternatives are readily available, but its plan for a phase-out by 2020 is way too slow.

Ms Bennett was speaking as her partys spring conference voted to officially adopt a policy in favour of banning microbeads.

Some manufacturers have voluntarily removed microbeads from their products after consumer campaigners but they remain in others.

A new app called Beat the Microbead allows consumers to scan bar codes of cosmetic products to check if they contain the particles.
Mergers are very much in vogue among gas utilities these days. A nationwide tally by Bloomberg Business estimated some $50 billion in planned acquisitions were being reviewed nationwide by regulators in late 2015.

Wyoming is no different. Roughly 83 percent of all Cowboy State gas customers will be affected by two mergers. Black Hills Corp. recently completed a $1.8 billion takeover of SourceGas while Dominion Resources Inc. announced plans to acquire Salt Lake City-based Questar for $4.4 billion earlier this month.

The reason for the mergers is simple, according to industry observers. Flat-lining demand for electricity and a host of new environmental regulations means the business of supplying electrons is not the sure financial bet it once was, even in a regulated market.

Demand for gas to heat homes and light stoves is on the rise, however, making growing gas utilities like SourceGas and Questar attractive pickup options.

"I hate to use the term 'uncertain times.' Things are always uncertain," said Paul Patterson, a utility analyst at Glenrock Associates LLC. "But these appear to be relatively stable, attractive, risk-adjusted returns in the current environment for a lot of players."

Divining the long-term impact on consumers' monthly gas bill is harder to discern.

Utilities present the deals as a boon for consumers. A larger company can achieve economies of scale, serving more customers while spending less on administration, they claim.

Shirley Welte, who oversees Black Hills' Wyoming operations, framed the advantage of the SourceGas acquisition like this: "We dont have two accounting organizations or two IT organizations."

The resulting savings are passed along to consumers, she said, adding, "We have no plans to increase rates in the immediate future. Maybe in the future, but not anytime soon."

Utilities are unique because they operate as regulated monopolies. They are allowed by law to recover their expenses and receive a guaranteed rate of return set by regulators.

Wyoming utility law maintains a no adverse impact standard in the case of mergers. This means utilities have to demonstrate an acquisition will not harm consumers.

Black Hills agreed to adopt SourceGas' rates under the plan approved by the Wyoming Public Service Commission.

But some believe regulators should go further. Consumers create value in a utility by making monthly payments, which in turn are used to build power plants, pipelines and other infrastructure, said Tyson Slocum, energy program director at Public Citizen, a Washington D.C.-based consumer advocacy group.

It a lot of ways, he said, consumers are like junior creditors, entitled to some of the utility's returns.

"State regulators need to prioritize what customers are going to get out of this," Slocum said. "The companies are making deals prioritizing shareholders."

Some mergers can be good for consumers, particularly where service areas overlap, he said.

Black Hills, for instance, is based in Rapid City, S.D., and its service area in the Rocky Mountain states intermingles with Golden, Colo.-based SourceGas.

In Wyoming, Black Hills served nearly 48,000 gas customers as of 2014, the most recent year state statistics were available. SourceGas served around 82,000 customers at the time.

But the proposed Dominion-Questar deal may be problematic.

The majority of Dominion's 1.3 million customers are in the east. Questar has a customer base of 1 million, largely in Utah. The utility has 27,000 Wyoming customers, according to state statistics.

"Operational synergies can occur where you have integrated systems," Slocum said. "I dont see where Dominion and Questar have those integrated systems."

Dominion executives framed the deal as a growth opportunity for their company, noting Questar has a $1.1 billion rate base and average annual growth of 2.5 percent.

They also pointed to Questar's network of pipelines, which they said could position the company as a western gas hub, connecting various pipeline systems throughout the region. That could be a boon for Dominion at a time when utilities are increasingly turning to natural gas for electricity generation, company executives said.

"As Utah and the surrounding western states seek to comply with the requirements of the EPA's Clean Power Plan, as well as meet state-mandated renewable portfolio standards, compliance is highly likely to result in an increased reliance on low-emission, gas-fired generation," Dominion CEO Thomas Farrel told investors earlier this month.

The merger must still be approved by regulators in Wyoming and Utah. Questar officials are set to meet Wyoming regulators at a March 2 public meeting in Cheyenne, Wyo.
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Iain Duncan Smith has accused David Cameron and George Osborne of having a low opinion of the British people  further deepening the Tory split over the upcoming European Union referendum.

The Prime Minister warned on Saturday that leaving the EU would be a great leap in the dark while the Chancellor said on Friday that the policy would lead to a profound economic shock.

Directly referencing the Tory leaderships claims, Mr Duncan Smith hit out at pessimism over Britains prospects and accused the In campaign of talking the UKs capabilities down.

Why would we have such a low opinion of the British people that we go out and talk about leaping into the dark, we talk about profound shocks? the Work and Pensions Secretary told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show.

We talk about them not being capable, that were too small. I have a different view, that Britain is a great country, the people are inventive, innovative, and they will find a way to actually have a real deal.

The In campaigns whole strategy seems to be about basically saying were too small, were too little. I dont know why anybody would want to run a country like this! This country is the greatest on earth.

Mr Duncan Smith said he believed that upon leaving the EU Britain would be able to negotiate access to the European Single Market  but with the reintroduction of border controls to limit immigration.

Other non-EU countries with access to the single market have had to negotiate freedom of movement, and all  Iceland, Switzerland, and Norway  are members of the Schengen passport-free area  meaning they have weaker border controls than the UK.

The trade deal is very simple: that we would want them to be able to access out market freely without special and extra tariffs, we would want to be able to access their marketplace, he said.

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.

Part of our red lines will be about us being able to control the borders as we want. Wed want migration but wed want it as controlled migration so we can cope with it. That deal is very doable.

Mr Cameron has said that any idea further concessions could be extracted from the EU was for the birds.

Tempers have frayed in Tory ranks over the Europe issue in recent weeks, with Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond reportedly having called a eurosceptic Conservative MP a total s**t after he defied orders to keep a report on the EU under wraps.

Last week Mr Cameron publicly ridiculed Boris Johnsons decision to back the out campaign, hinting that he had done so in order to further his political career within the Conservative party.

The spat comes after Mr Duncan Smith said it was wrong for ministers loyal to Mr Cameron to anonymously brief that eurosceptics standing up to the party leadership should be sacked.

Mr Duncan Smith himself faced criticism and disbelief last week when he claimed EU membership made Britain more vulnerable to terrorist attack.

Mr Cameron bowed to pressure last year and said he would allow Cabinet ministers to campaign on either side of the EU referendum  an unusual move in light of Cabinet collective responsibility.

The European Union referendum will be held on 23 June. Polls are variable but averages appear to show a small lead for the remain campaign.
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Iain Duncan Smith effectively accused David Cameron of having a low opinion of the British people on Sunday as attempts to keep Tory splits over Europe civil appeared to be unravelling.

In remarks clearly aimed at the Prime Minister, the Work and Pensions Secretary hit out at those who warned of the economic impacts of a vote to leave the EU for pessimistically downsizing Britains role in the world.

Meanwhile George Osborne slapped down Boris Johnson for comparing himself to a man on a mission to rescue Britain from Brussels baddies.

This isnt some amusing adventure into the unknown  its deadly serious, he said.

The Foreign Secretary, Phillip Hammond, also called the Eurosceptic MP Sir Bill Cash a total shit for releasing a Brussels legal report on the EU deal to the media despite an understanding that it was not to be published.

In an interview with the BBC Mr Duncan Smith made little effort to disguise his attack on Mr Cameron, who has made the fear factor a key part of the early campaign.

 Lord Howard on David Cameron

I have never heard such a lot of pessimistic downsizing of Britains future outside of the EU, he said.

Why would we have such a low opinion of the British people that we go out and talk about leaping into the dark, we talk about profound shocks, we talk about them not being capable, were too small.

David Cameron in Ahoghill, Co Antrim (PA)

He then added pointedly: I do not know why anybody would want to run a country like this.

Tory Cabinet members in favour of Leave have become increasingly irritated with Downing Streets tactics in the referendum. They believe Mr Cameron broke his own no personal attacks rule when he obliquely suggested that Boris Johnson might be supporting the leave campaign because of personal ambition rather than long held beliefs.

They are also concerned that Downing Street tactics of warning of the threats posed by Brexit are beginning to resonate with voters and are attempting to counter them.

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.

Mr Duncan Smith appeared to be responding to an article written by Mr Cameron at the weekend accusing the Leave campaign of not have a proper economic plans for Britains future outside the EU.

Mr Cameron challenged them to set out how long the economy would face uncertainty, how joint-security arrangements would be replaced and how Britains role and influence in the world would be maintained.

With so many gaps in the out case, the decision is clearly one between the great unknown and a greater Britain, he said. A vote to leave is the gamble of the century. And it would be our childrens futures on the table if we were to roll the dice.

In contrast Mr Duncan Smith said the UK market was so important to other EU businesses that other member states would have a real requirement to trade with us.

The Prime Minister says there is a challenge to know what life outside looks like. My answer to this challenge is very simple: we do a deal with the European Union.

That is a trade deal, about access to our markets, access to theirs. Part of our red lines will be about us being able to control the borders as we want. We want migration but we want it as controlled migration so we can cope with it. That deal is very doable.

Addressing the current restrictions on pro-Brexit ministers access to Government EU referendum material, Mr Duncan Smith said this couldnt possibly apply in the sense of us not knowing what is going on in the department because we are responsible for the department.

For example, I will have to work on these proposals which came back from the recent negotiations, he added.

The Cabinet Secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood, is due to appear before the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee tomorrow to be pressed over critics allegations that it breaches neutrality rules.Mr Cameron has insisted that while he has given ministers the right to campaign on the opposing side in a personal capacity, the Government has a formal position and the Civil Service must work to deliver that policy.

In a further sign of the tensions between Tory inners and outers the Commons leader Chris Grayling warned Mr Cameron against a purge after the referendum.

Mr Grayling said there should be no recriminations from either side amid reports that some Tory MPs may try to oust the PM even if the UK votes to remain in the EU.

I have to say I dont believe at the moment the Prime Minister is sitting in Downing Street plotting sackings of ministers, Mr Grayling told Sky News. I mean, it would not be at all sensible when the referendum is over for there to be a purge of people on either side of the argument.
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Workers rights are under threat if Britain leaves the European Union, Labours shadow Business Secretary has said.

Angela Eagle warned that EU-backed principles like paid holidays and equal pay were on the ballot paper in the In-Out referendum on 23 June.

Ms Eagle warned that many Conservatives who wanted to leave the bloc wanted to scrap the rights and said Labour voters would be key to the Remain vote.

Recommended Read more Corbyn plans his own EU reform to roll back Tory renegotiations

Workers rights are on the ballot paper in this referendum  a lot of workers rights are underpinned by EU regulations: equal pay for work of equal value, paid holidays, rights for part-time workers, she told the BBCs Andrew Marr Show.

[These are] all things that Tory eurosceptics want to be free of.

I think its important that we put the Labour case for staying in and underpinning rights at work, having a higher, more productive economy, greater skills in our economy so people can earn higher wages, a more productive economy, is really an important part of staying in Europe.

European Union legislation mandates that member states must by law give workers four weeks of paid leave, while the principle of equal pay for equal work has been embedded in treaties since the bloc's founding.

In 2011 the Coalition government drew up a report, authored by capitalist Adrian Beecroft, calling for swathes of business regulations to be scrapped.

The provisions in the report were however blocked by then Liberal Democrat business secretary Vice Cable, who Mr Beecroft then labelled a socialist.

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.

There were reports last year that David Cameron might negotiate away workers rights as part of plans to cut red tape across the EU. Though the PM has secured largely unspecified cuts to red tape this plan appears to have been dropped.

At Labours last party conference former cabinet minister Alan Johnson said Labour should campaign to stay in the EU even if Mr Cameron negotiated away workers rights.

Even if [David Cameron] did come back with a package that interferes with workers rights we dont get rid of the EU, we get rid of the Tories, he told a fringe meeting at the gathering.

Mr Cameron has called an in-out EU referendum for 23 June, following the renegotiation of the terms of British membership.
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The European Union is an explicit political project designed by a former communist, Iain Duncan Smith has said.

The Work and Pensions Secretary, a eurosceptic, said it was important for the British public to realise that the EU was not about trade  but political integration.

He highlighted the contribution of Altiero Spinelli, a political theorist and former European Commissioner, to the founding to the EU.

Its worth knowing something here that the public needs to understand  the European Union is not about the trade issue, Mr Duncan Smith told BBC Ones Andrew Marr Show.

The EU was set up by the founding fathers, an important man called [Altiero] Spinelli, an Italian, who was an ex-communist, he designed the Maastricht Treaty and the Single European Act, why?

He said because this is a political project, bringing the nations of Europe closer and closer together to create a place called Europe and the design of this was such that politicians who come and go could not actually override this decisions of the bureaucracy because otherwise we would never get there.

The late Mr Spinelli is one of 11 officially recognised founding fathers of the European Union; other include former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who called for the creation of a United States of Europe.

The Italian politician joined the Italian Communist Party in the 1920s to fight Benito Mussolinis fascist dictatorship, which ruled Italy at the time.

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.

He spent over a decade as a political prisoner and went on to become one of the leading lights of European Federalism.

Mr Spinelli died in 1986, seven years before the actual creation of the European Union. A version of a plan he proposed for European integration was backed by the European Parliament in 1984 and is regarded by the EU as "inspiration" for the treaties.

Mr Duncan Smith, who is campaigning to leave the European Union, insisted Britain would be able to secure full access to the single market and border controls outside the European Union.

He accused David Cameron and George Osborne of having a low opinion of the British people because of their pronouncements about what would happen if Britain left the EU.

Britain will hold a membership referendum on whether to stay in or out on 23 June this year.
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Government ministers have been accused of showing an arrogant disregard for democracy by increasingly refusing to show up to Parliament to answer urgent questions granted by the House of Commons Speaker John Bercow.

The rate of Cabinet members showing up for emergency debates has fallen from over 40 per cent last year to just 12 per cent in 2016, an analysis of House of Commons records reveals.

Recommended Read more Cameron refuses to answer on tax credit policy six times

Mr Bercow is understood to be unhappy with the increasing trend of Cabinet ministers refusing to attend Commons debates and preferring to send junior government ministers in their place.

Urgent questions are granted by the Speaker on breaking political crises  such as national strikes or terror attacks. They are granted only on matters of serious public concern.

If the Speaker grants an urgent question, usually requested by an opposition spokesman, the Government is notified and asked to respond.

However, an analysis of urgent questions reveals that the proportion answered by senior ministers has tumbled since the election.

Since May 2015, senior members of the Government have only attended Parliament to answer 13 of 44 UQs  a rate of only 29.5 per cent.

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. 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This is despite the urgent question being specifically directed at the Secretary of State, Prime Ministeror Leader of the House of Commons in question.

In the last Parliament, some 61 per cent of urgent questions were answered by Conservative ministers.

The Home Secretary, Theresa May, has only attended the Commons to answer one of seven urgent questions directed towards her. This is a rate of 14.2 per cent. Instead, she sent junior Home Office ministers James Brokenshire, Mike Penning and Karen Bradley in her place.

Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, has only attended the Commons to answer one out of eight urgent questions  just 14.3 per cent. Junior minister Ben Gummer was sent in his place on five occasions.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, meanwhile, has failed to attend the Commons to answer any of the five urgent questions directed at him. Foreign Office juniors Tobias Ellwood, James Duddridge and Hugo Swire were all forced to stand in for him.

In contrast, however, the Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale, has answered 75 per cent of urgent questions asked of him after being promoted to the Cabinet from the backbenches.

Labour frontbencher Jonathan Ashworth said it was unacceptable for cabinet ministers to ignore their obligation to answer questions on matters of urgent public concern.

He said: Cabinet ministers swerving questions like this in the Commons shows they are either too frightened to defend their record or indicates an arrogant disregard for democracy. Urgent Questions are an important way of holding the Government to account. Cabinet ministers, including the Prime Minister, should not be able to shrug off their responsibilities so lightly.

A spokeswoman for Mr Bercow said he had no power to authorise a cabinet minister to attend the House of Commons to answer an urgent question.

She said: It is the job of the Speaker to determine whether to grant Urgent Questions based on the merit of the individual application. Which minister responds to them is, and has always been, a matter for the Government and nothing to do with the Speaker.
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The Scottish Government will this week announce how it plans to reform the countrys welfare system, using the devolution of new powers from Westminster to remove the stigma of claiming benefits and formally abolish the so-called bedroom tax.

In a debate on social security at Holyrood on 1 March, the SNP will set out for the first time in detail how it intends to use the 2.5bn of new welfare powers contained in the Scotland Bill to create a benefits system built on fairness, dignity and respect.

As well as the abolition of the bedroom tax and a rise in carers allowance to the same rate as jobseekers allowance, the party intends to scrap the 84-day rule, which results in the families of disabled children having benefits stopped once they have had medical treatment for the same condition for longer than 84 days.

Attempting to draw a line in the sand between the Scottish and UK Governments attitudes to welfare, Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil will say that one of the key principles of the reforms will be respect for the dignity of individuals who rely on benefits.

Speaking ahead of the debate, Mr Neil said the Scottish Government intended to make the system simpler to navigate. He added: We have the opportunity to ... develop policies which will help to remove the stigma attached to accessing benefits, [and] we want to show that social security can be fairer, tackle inequalities, and protect and support the vulnerable in our society.

The Scotland Bill is set to transfer 2.5bn of welfare responsibility to Holyrood, mainly for benefits affecting carers, disabled people and the elderly. MSPs will, however, also be able to create new payments and top up the amount people receive from the UK Government in areas still reserved by Westminster.

The SNP has been highly critical of the Conservative Governments welfare cuts and has already spent tens of millions of pounds mitigating the effects of some of its policies. The party has come under pressure to set out how it plans to pay for any of its own welfare reforms, with Scotland Secretary David Mundell warning last year that every extra benefit has a price tag.
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Left of centre parties could agree to stand down candidates in between 20 to 30 marginal seats at the next election in an effort to defeat the Conservatives, according to sources involved in creating a progressive alliance.

The Greens, the Scottish National Party, and Plaid Cymru called for sweeping reforms to the Westminster electoral system last month and vowed to include this in their manifestos. This followed The Independent on Sundays revelation that the Liberal Democrats and Labour were in discussions on changing the voting system as part of an alliance against the Conservatives.

Recommended Read more Corbyn in secret talks with Farron over voting reform alliance

It is understood that senior figures in several of these parties are now keen to push the idea of not standing a candidate where they would take anothers vote to the benefit of the Tories  or at least pour fewer resources into those seats. In 1997, Tony Blairs majority and the Lib Dems haul of seats were boosted by tactical voting.

Labour, the Lib Dems and other centre-left parties face a difficult struggle in 2020, with the Conservatives proposal to reduce the number of MPs in the House of Commons from 650 to 600 likely to boost the Governments electoral advantage.

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas, whose party is holding their spring conference in Harrogate this weekend, would not comment on the number of seats, but said: My personal belief is that progressives need to look very carefully at the electoral arithmetic and begin to think about where we need to work together to beat the Tories. The boundary changes will intensify the need for these conversations 

A prerequisite for a progressive politics of the future must be an acceptance that we desperately need a fairer voting system  I would like progressives to work together  on a local level  to give those in favour of a fairer politics a better chance of winning at the 2020 general election.

With the chances of Labour winning a majority at the next general election vanishingly small, those of us who are serious about addressing the climate crisis, or halting and reversing the destruction of our welfare state, must find a way to work together  and do so quickly.

Natalie Bennett's Green Party would not comment on the number of seats (Getty)

Ms Lucas is co-editing, with shadow Energy Secretary Lisa Nandy and Lib Dem councillor Chris Bowers, a book of essays called Power to the People: Creating a New Progressive Alliance in British Politics. Contributors include Lord Hain, Labours former Welsh Secretary; the SNPs Mhairi Black, who is the youngest MP since the 17th century; and Norman Lamb, the Lib Dems former health minister.

On 3 March, Ms Lucas will also weigh in on the EU referendum debate in a London School of Economics speech. A board member of Britain Stronger in Europe, she is expected to warn that her side needs a decisive victory to put an end to the argument. For example, the Scottish independence referendum, where 45 per cent voted for secession, was close enough for the SNP to talk of a second poll. If the UK does vote for Brexit, the SNP will demand a second referendum on the basis that Scotland is likely to vote to remain a member of the EU.

Ms Lucas is expected to say: It is not alarmist to talk of the risks involved in this referendum. Those who want us to leave do so all the time. The favoured phrase is the end of 1,000 years of British history. Well, if we have a split vote on 23 June [polling day], then we may indeed see the end of Great Britain. That is why the challenge we face in the referendum campaign is not only to win. We must aim to win big.

The pro-European campaign in 1975 won 66 per cent of the vote. We might not repeat this is 2016. But we must aim for more than just making it over the finishing line with 51 per cent of the vote.

The clearer the victory, the easier it will be to move on from this sterile debate on membership, to the real issue of how we can build the kind of Europe that we want.
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An Apprentice winner has condemned the alleged actions of her estranged half-brother, who has reportedly joined Isis in Syria.

Isaiah Siadatan, 24, is believed to have left the West Midlands in 2014 travelled to Syria, leaving his pregnant wife and two children in the UK. He is accused of threatening to kill his wife, Kerry Thomason, if she did not take their children to Syria.

On Sunday, it emerged that Mr Siadatan is the half-brother of Yasmina Siadatan, the winner of the Apprentice in 2009.

A spokesperson said in a statement to the Mail that she had not had any contact with her brother for more than five years. They said: She wishes to make it clear that she condemns these alleged actions and political views in the strongest possible terms.

It is believed Ms Siadatan, 34, discovered her half-brother was allegedly linked with the terror group after reading that his wife was on trial for terror offences.

Thomason, 24, was among four people found guilty of terror offences in a trial held at the Old Bailey last week.

She was arrested after booking flights to Turkey for her and her children, and pleaded guilty to assisting Siadatan in travelling to Syria and engaging in acts of terrorism.

Also in the dock was Lorna Moore, 33, the wife of Sajid Aslam, 22-year-old Muslim convert Alex Nash, and Aymen Shaukat, 27. All four will be sentenced at a later date.
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The state government in Alabama has blocked attempts by the city of Birmingham to increase the minimum wage.

City government in Birmingham, the largest city in Alabama, had passed legislation to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, from the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour. The law was to be introduced on 1 March.

However, the Alabama senate, which has a strong Republican majority, quickly enacted legislation forbidding cities or counties in the state to pass laws which raise the minimum wage, thereby preventing Birminghams efforts from coming into fruition.

In addition, the state legislation also means that employers cannot be compelled by law to provide leave or other benefits to workers, MSNBC reported.

Alabama will continue to use the federal minimum wage.

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. 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State senators voted 23-11 to introduce the ruling, which was signed off by State Governor, Robert Bentley.

Republican state senator Jabo Waggoner voted against the minimum wage hikes, arguing that higher rates would prevent economic development and that small businesses would not be able to afford the higher wages and have to close.

We want businesses to expand and create more jobs  not cut entry-level jobs because a patchwork of local minimum wages causes operating costs to rise, Mr Waggoner said to the Guardian.

He continued: Our actions today will create predictability and consistency for Alabamas economy, which benefits everyone.

The move was criticised by opposition senators. Democrat state senator Linda Coleman-Madison said: Alabama is a poor state. But I say we are poor by choice, because of bills like this that keep people poor.

However, Democrats who unsuccessfully voted against the bill said that they would lobby for a higher minimum wage of $10.10 per hour across the state.

Somebody has to recognise that we have a working-poor class of people that are not just in Birmingham, Ms Coleman-Madison continued.

Alabama is one of the poorest states in the US.

A recent Business Insider ranking of all the 50 US state economies listed Alabama in the bottom five. The methodology took into account unemployment rates, GDP per capita, average weekly wages, recent growth rates for non-farm payroll jobs, GDP, house prices, and wages.

However, it did report that wages in the state grew 2.2 per cent between November 2014 and November 2015.
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A police officer has been shot dead on her first day back with her department.

Ashley Guindon was gunned down about a "verbal argument," a spokesman for the Prince William County Police Department, Virginia, said.

Officers received a call around 5:30 on Saturday evening in Woodbridge, about 30 miles south-west of the nation's capital.

It's not clear how the altercation between the suspect and police began but the suspect, a military serviceman, is in custody and was not injured. The condition of the other two officers is not known.

A county leader said a civilian woman was also killed in the domestic dispute.

The department announced on its Facebook page that Officer Guindon had died from the injuries she sustained in the shooting.

A picture of Guindon was posted to the department's Twitter page on Friday with a tweet that read, "Welcome Officers Steven Kendall & Ashley Guindon who were sworn in today & begin their shifts this weekend. Be Safe!" It is not known if the other officer in the tweet was involved in the shooting incident.

Guindon had been a county police officer a few years ago and had left and returned to the force, Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. He did not know the exact dates of when she started and left, he said.

Another woman was killed in the domestic call and was dead before police arrived, Stewart said, but police declined to confirm that information. Stewart also said there was a child in the house during the incident who was not harmed.

Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert said he has authorized a capital murder charge, along with other counts, against the suspect, who has not been identified.

At Inova Fairfax Hospital, where the three officers were flown by helicopter after the shooting, more than 100 patrol cars lined the roads outside early Sunday morning to stand vigil and escort Guindon's body to the medical examiner.

The shooting occurred in the Lake Ridge neighborhood, on a curving street with $500,000 suburban houses with brick and siding exteriors, manicured lawns and two-car garages about a five-minute drive from the county office building.

Police said the incident is still being investigated.

AP
CASPER, Wyo.  Ted Dawson is 30 years old. He lives in Cody in his own house, which he keeps clean and organized. He works full time at a hospital. He walks an hour and a half to begin his shift in the afternoons and takes a taxi back home in the evenings. He is Jim and Terri Dawsons second child. He has two sisters, and hes an uncle.

Ted was also born with an extra copy of his 21st chromosome, a condition known as Down syndrome.

This weekend the nonprofit started by Teds mom, Parents Helping Parents of Wyoming, is celebrating its 25th year anniversary in Casper, along with the anniversaries of two of its projects  The Parent Information Center and the Parent Education Center. The organization stems from a mothers quest to understand, and eventually to help others understand, what to do when you have a child with disabilities.

When kids like Ted are born, their families are launched into a parallel world, and they dont know what to expect from their child, Terri Dawson said. Federal laws and school district policies can be an overwhelming mess.

When Dawson started Parents Helping Parents, there was no Google. There was a library and a phone book. Early intervention specialists in Buffalo helped, but they are only involved from birth to age 2, Dawson said.

She remembers scraping together pennies in the early days to pay the $3 cost of ordering an article or book from a library sharing program. Buffalos library didnt have many books on Down syndrome in-house. And Teds doctor, Pete Carricaburu, had given Terri and Jim explicit instructions: Dont read anything before 1975  the year a federal law was passed giving disabled children the right to an education.

In the summer of 1990, Dawson was attending an early intervention education conference in Washington, D.C. She heard about a federal grant, part of what is now called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, that would enable her to become a parent advocate.

She came home, closed her flower shop and launched new career, a nonprofit called Parents Helping Parents.

The organization has expanded and contracted over the years, depending on the grants available. Though it no longer has the 14 sites across the state it once did, Dawsons organization continues to help families.

Over the course of her career, Dawson has watched support for disabled families ebb and flow. There are things that disabled children need to grow that other kids learn by default, she said. Its a constant battle to make sure families have support.

Despite strong evidence in favor of inclusive classrooms, where children with disabilities learn alongside their peers, its not always happening in practice.

Dawsons organization helps parents understand state and national laws related to their childrens educations.

Its not about giving families everything they want, its about coming together and working it out for the kid, she said.

But Parents Helping Parents is also a resource of practical advice about how disabled children learn from parents who understand.

Parents of a typical child learn about their kids progress from a letter grade, Dawson said. But thats too late for someone like Ted. By then it becomes a constant deficit  not what your child has learned, but what he has missed.

We knew (Ted) was going to have to hear it 10 times, where a typical child would need to hear it once, she said.

It wasnt easy to be one step ahead of Teds class, to find out what he would learn next and expose it to him at home. But the couple did it.

When Ted graduated in 2006, he was in the first group of Wyoming students to be held to the new Common Core standards. That means he was deemed proficient in each of the subject areas, each year. It was a huge accomplishment for the family and the local teachers  Ted had made the grade.

Though is Ted living an independent life post-school, his mother's passion for helping families has not abated.

Sometimes, she said, all parents need is someone to listen.
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Three young Muslim Americans have been found dead in what appears to be an execution style killing in an abandoned house in Indiana.

The bodies of Mohamedtaha Omar, 23, Adam Mekki, 20 and 17-year-old Muhannad Tairab were discovered on 24 February in a house in Fort Wayne with multiple gunshot wounds in what Public Safety Director Rusty York described as an execution-style shooting.

Mr York said police had no reason to believe this is any type of hate crime or focus because of their religion or nationality", CNN reported.

He said there was probably more than one person present at the scene of the shootings because: It's hard for one person to commit that act by himself, adding that the killings likely happened within an hour, as a group of people left the house then returned shortly to discover what had happened.

The home where the pair were found, had been a place where young people would go  there was no adult supervision, Mr York explained. We were aware that this home had become a problem for the neighbourhood.

Muhannad was murdered in an 'execution-style' killing (Facebook)

The murders come one year after the notorious Chapel Hill shooting, in which three Muslims were gunned down in their home in North Carolina, and among increasing Islamophobic violence in the US, although the murders are not currently being invesigated as a hate crime.

It is not believed the men were associated with any gangs, although police refused to speculate on whether the deaths could be gang related, but said there had been no arrests over the shootings.

US media coverage of the shootings has been criticised, as the murders of the three men, who police said were from east African families, did not receive as much attention as a number of other murders that took place in the same week.

One Fort Wayne local said she was surprised not to have heard about the killings, while another wrote: Wheres the media?

At the funeral for two of the victims, Mr York added a plea for anyone with information on the murders to come forward.

He said: I need someone to come and tell me what they know. Please, I'm asking for your help and your mercy to bring justice for these young men.
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A second former Mexican president has compared US presidential hopeful Donald Trump to Hitler, accusing him of racism and exploiting feelings like Hitler did.

Felipe Calderons comments, which came at an event in Mexico City on 27 February, follow those of fellow Mexican former premier Vicente Fox, who said the billionaire mogul "reminds me of Hitler.

This logic of praising the white supremacy is not just anti-immigration, Calderon told Reuters. He is acting and speaking out against immigrants that have a different skin colour than he does, it is frankly racist and [he is] exploiting feelings like Hitler did in his time.

Mr Trump has previously angered Mexicans by suggesting the US should build a great, great wall funded by Mexico to prevent people from crossing the border illegally, also stating the country was not sending the right people.

[Mexico] are sending people that have lots of problems, and they are bringing those problems to us. They are bringing drugs, and bringing crime, and their rapists, Mr Trump had said during his presidential announcement speech.

Mr Fox also took a swipe at Mr Trumps border plans, stating Mexico would not pay for that f***ing wall, suggesting Trump should fund it if he wants to build it.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

He added: Please, you Hispanics, Latinos in the US, open your eyes. Its not to defend our race. Not to defend our creed. Its to defend this very same nation that is hosting you. This nation is going to fail if it goes into the hands of a crazy guy.

Mr Trump was quick to respond to Mr Fox, tweeting: FMR PRES of Mexico, Vincente Fox horribly used the F word when discussing the wall. He must apologize! If I did that there would be a uproar! (sic).
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A teenage boy has allegedly been shot by police while holding a broomstick in Salt Lake City, sparking angry protests.

Witnesses told local media the incident happened at around 8.15pm on Saturday evening (3.15am GMT) near a homeless shelter in the US citys downtown area.

Selam Mohammad said his friend was 16 and had been shot in the chest and stomach after he got into a fight with another person.

Mohammad told the Salt Lake Tribune that the teenager was holding part of a broomstick at his side when officers ran up.

They told him to put it down, once, and started shooting him as soon as he turned around, he added, saying his friend was hit in the chest and stomach.

Authorities did not immediately confirm the boys condition or the circumstances of the reported shooting.

Detective Greg Wilking told the Tribune that shots were fired but not how many or who by, and police later said up to two officers were involved.

Police advance on an angry crowd following an officer-involved shooting at 200 South Rio Grande Street in Salt Lake City, Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (AP)

As the incident was discussed on social media, Salt Lake City Police Departments official Twitter account said: Officers on unrelated call in area, alerted to assault in progress, tried to engage altercation. Investigation cont.

Within minutes of the shooting, local people had gathered at the scene and started a protest, shouting f*** the police and sporadically throwing rocks and other missiles at lines of riot officers.

A a light rail stop in the neighbourhood was temporarily closed and a security cordon put in place, with several people being detained.

The Unified Police Department has launched an investigation into the shooting, which may include evidence from officers' body cameras.

Additional reporting by AP
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A bruised but defiant Bernie Sanders has vowed to push on with his insurgent campaign for the White House after doing really, really badly" in the South Carolina Primary and allowing Hillary Clinton to seize the momentum ahead of Super Tuesday.

Mr Sanders did even more poorly than he had expected to on Saturday, trailing Ms Clinton by almost 50 points, a scale of defeat bigger than that suffered by the former secretary of state when she lost here to Barack Obama in 2008. This time, Ms Clinton managed to secure a bigger share of the black vote than Mr Obama.

The victory for Ms Clinton - her third in the four primaries so far - not only deals a huge psychological and emotional blow to Mr Sanders, but raises pressing questions about whether he now has a viable strategy to win the nomination.

Mr Sanders says he can still make it to the White House (AP)

I think we still have a path to victory, Mr Sanders insisted on Sunday morning, speaking to CBS. I would tell you that we did get beaten and beaten very badly. But I think that will be as bad as it gets.

But observers say Mr Sanders failure to attract African American voters in either South Carolina or in Nevada a week ago, may presage more misery to come on Tuesday, when a total of 14 states and territories vote.

Super Tuesday contains several Southern states - Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia - where African Americans make up a large number of Democrat voters. Louisiana votes four days later, and Mississippi goes to the polls on March 15, along with Michigan. Those who have tracked the numbers of delegates in each state, suggest Mr Sanders is going to have to perform remarkably well in states in the north and east to stay in the battle.

The door is closing fast for Bernie Sanders, Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis told Reuters. Movement candidates are about momentum and excitement, and losses sap that momentum. That's his problem right now.

Mr Sanders claimed that he had won support in South Carolina among young black voters, and white voters. He said that the young voters who have rallied to his socialist, impassioned campaign that has highlighted the amount of corporate money in politics and rising inequality, were the nations future. But he admitted: Its a tough road for us.

It was not as if Mr Sanders, who was due to campaign in Colorado on Sunday, had not made a genuine effort to compete in South Carolina. He has hired a black speechwriter to help channel his message, secured the support of celebrities such as Danny Glover and Killer Mike and received the endorsement of senior black figures such as Ben Jealous, the former head of the NAACP. He spent around $2m in advertising in the state and had the director Spike Lee narrate one of his adverts.

Hillary Clinton delivered a victory speech in Columbia on Saturday night (AP)

But he was always going to struggle against Ms Clinton, who as fighting what was effectively her third contest here, having campaigned with her husband Bill Clinton in 1992.

Ms Clinton, only too aware of the defeat she suffered to Mr Obama eight years ago, had worked hard to reach out to African American voters, especially women, and talked about issues such as healthcare, education and the economy.

Kimberly Scott, 30, who voted for Ms Clinton at a polling centre at Charlestons Burke High School on Saturday, said she remembered the days of Mr Clintons presidency when the economy was strong.

She liked Mr Sanders but believed that Ms Clinton could deliver. Bernie Sanders is good on some things, but he does not touch everything that she does, she told The Independent.

She also raised the issues that had been pushed by the Black Lives Matter movement, and talked about gun control, the criminal justice system and the number of African Americans in jail. She received the emotional powerful endorsement of five black women whose children had been killed - either by the police, or at the hands of strangers.

In her powerful victory speech, on Saturday night, Mrs Clinton named and thanked those women, the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Dontre Hamilton, Jordan Davis, and Eric Garner.

She also referred to the shooting at Charlestons Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where nine black people were killed last June when a young white man with a gun attacked a bible study group. Dylan Roof, a 21-year-old alleged white supremacist, has been charged with nine counts of murder.

One of the church members said look at the all the violence and asked how are we going to strengthen the bonds of the community, she said. Were going to with love and respect for one another.

She also took aim at Donald Trump, the tycoon and Republican frontrunner, who has also won three of the first four races and who looks equally well positioned ahead of Super Tuesday.

Without naming Mr Trump, but in anticipation of a general election that could be a showdown between the two of them, Mr Clinton added: Despite what you hear, we dont need to make America great again, America has never stopped being great. But we do need to make it wholeInstead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers.
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Donald Trump sparked fresh controversy on Sunday when he declined to condemn a white supremacist and former leader of the Ku Klux Klan who has urged people to vote for the billionaire.

Earlier this week, David Duke, a white nationalist and former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, told listeners to his radio show that voting against Mr Trump would be treason to your heritage.

Voting for these people, voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage, Mr Duke said, referring to Mr Trumps rivals.

Im not saying I endorse everything about Trump, in fact I havent formally endorsed him. But I do support his candidacy, and I support voting for him as a strategic action. I hope he does everything we hope he will do.

Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Show all 14 1 /14 Donald Trump's most controversial quotes Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Isis: "Some of the candidates, they went in and didnt know the air conditioner didnt work and sweated like dogs, and they didnt know the room was too big because they didnt have anybody there. How are they going to beat ISIS?" Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On immigration: "I will build a great wall  and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me and Ill build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Free Trade: "Free trade is terrible. Free trade can be wonderful if you have smart people. But we have stupid people." PAUL J. RICHARDS | AFP | Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Mexicans: "When Mexico sends its people, theyre not sending their best. Theyre sending people that have lots of problems. Theyre bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists." Getty Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On China: "I just sold an apartment for $15 million to somebody from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?... I love China. The biggest bank in the world is from China. You know where their United States headquarters is located? In this building, in Trump Tower." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On work: "If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable." AP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On success: "What separates the winners from the losers is how a person reacts to each new twist of fate." Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On life: "Everything in life is luck." AFP Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On ambition: "You have to think anyway, so why not think big?" Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On his opponents: "Bush is totally in favour of Common Core. I don't see how he can possibly get the nomination. He's weak on immigration. He's in favour of Common Core. How the hell can you vote for this guy? You just can't do it." Reuters Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Obamacare: "You have to be hit by a tractor, literally, a tractor, to use it, because the deductibles are so high. It's virtually useless. And remember the $5 billion web site?... I have so many web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a web site. It costs me $3." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On Barack Obama: "Obama is going to be out playing golf. He might be on one of my courses. I would invite him. I have the best courses in the world. I have one right next to the White House." PA Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On himself: "Love him or hate him, Trump is a man who is certain about what he wants and sets out to get it, no holds barred. Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money." Getty Images Donald Trump's most controversial quotes On America: "The American Dream is dead. But if I get elected president I will bring it back bigger and better and stronger than ever before and we will make America great again." GETTY

The declaration by Mr Duke, 65, first reported by BuzzFeed, triggered The Anti-Defamation League, an international Jewish civil rights group headquartered in New York, to call on Mr Trump to distance himself from the endorsement and condemn him.

Mr Trump may have distanced himself from white supremacists, but he must do so unequivocally, the ADL said in a statement.

It is time for him to come out firmly against these bigoted views and the people that espouse them.

Reports have revealed how a number of white nationalist organisations, many of which are described as hate groups by activists, have supported Mr Trumps candidacy. Last week, it was revealed that two KKK members appeared at the recent Nevada caucus to declare their support for him.

Mr Trump was questioned about the endorsement earlier this week and said he did not know Mr Duke had announced his support. On Sunday morning, Mr Trump was again asked about Mr Dukes comments when he appeared on CNN.

Former Ku Klux Klan official David Duke urged supporters to vote for Mr Trump (YouTube)

I dont know anything about David Duke. I dont know anything about what youre even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists, he said. Youre asking me about something I know nothing about.

He added: I have to look at the group, I dont know what group you're talking about. You wouldnt want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about.

The journalist then stressed to Mr Trump that he was talking about Mr Duke and the KKK.

Mr Trump responded: I dont know David Duke, I dont think Ive ever met him. I dont know anything about him.

Later, amid a flurry of controversy, Mr Trump tweeted a remark he had made earlier in the week when asked about Mr Duke and he said: "I disavow."

Mr Trump was also asked on Sunday why he had retweeted a quote from the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. The tweet, initially posted by another user, read: It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.

Asked about whether he had known the quote belonged to Mussolini and whether he wanted to be associated with fascism, Mr Trump told NBCs Meet the Press: Mussolini was Mussolini. Its a very good quote, its a very interesting quote. I know who said it, but what difference does it make whether its Mussolini or somebody else?

He was then asked if he wanted to be associated with a notorious fascist. Mr Trump responded: No, I want to be associated with interesting quotes.
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If Governor Chris Christies surprise endorsement of Donald Trump represents a genuine political romance between two men who had previously been at odds, then one cannot help but feel the tycoons bedside manner is somewhat lacking.

Recordings from a campaign event where a microphone was still turned on, captured Mr Trump seemingly dismissing Mr Christie after the New Jersey Governor had just introduced him to a cheering crowd.

Get in the plane and go home, Mr Trump is heard saying to Mr Christie at the event in Tennessee. Its over there. Go home.

Mr Christie introduced the mogul at the rally in Millington, Tennessee (AP)

Mr Christie and Mr Trump dominated the headlines on Friday when the governor announced he was endorsing the real estate mogul. The backing - which Mr Trump had worked several weeks to obtain - flooded the news cycle, just as the media was questioning whether Senator Marco Rubio had damaged the tycoon at Thursday nights Republican debate.

Mr Christie, who had rejected similar overtures from Mr Rubio, was quick to attack the Florida senator on Mr Trumps behalf.

Rubio said he's gonna work as hard as he can as long as he can to win the Republican nomination. That would be something new for Marco Rubio  to show up to work at all, said Mr Christie, mocking Mr Rubios attendance record on Capitol Hill. How about a refund, Senator Rubio?

Reports suggest that on Saturday Mr Trump had arrived together in Millington, Tennessee on the billionaires plane, walked off to loud cheers, and then Mr Christie introduced the man whom he only last year said was unsuitable to be president.

Mr Trump has yet to comment about the recording, which is likely to be used by Mr Rubio to attack the Republican frontrunner.

On Saturday evening, Mr Trumps social media director Dan Scavino tweeted that Mr Trump had told Mr Christie to go home (as was planned) to be with family tonight.

Being blown out of proportion, BIG LEAGUE!!, he said.
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In 2008, when Barack Obama secured a huge win in South Carolina that helped make him the USs first African American president, he did so by winning the support of 78 per cent of black voters.

On Saturday night, Hillary Clinton's margin of victory over Bernie Sanders was not only greater that than Mr Obama enjoyed over her eight years ago, but she also won a greater proportion of black voters than he did.

In 2008, Mr Obama managed a margin of victory of 28 points over Hillary Clinton, and Senator John Edwards, who came third. He won the support of 78 per cent of black voters, with Ms Clinton on 19 per cent and Mr Edwards winning just 1 per cent.

Barack Obama easily won the South Carolina primary in 2008 (AP)

On Saturday, there were only two candidates competing, but exit polls suggested 87 per cent of black voters supported Ms Clinton, while just 13 opted for Mr Sanders. Among older black voters, she secured 96 per cent.

Many black voters had been angered in 2008 by Ms Clinton, and her husband Bill Clinton, by what was seen as a graceless and dismissive response to Mr Obamas win. But Ms worked hard to mend those issues and project herself as the natural successor to Mr Obama. Black women made up the largest single voting bloc on Saturday, and Ms Clinton stressed issues such as healthcare, education the economy.

She also spoke out on strongly on issues that have been raised by the Black Lives Matter movement, and talked of her belief in the need for racial justice and gone control.

One of several major endorsements she won was from black mothers who lost to their sons to violence, some at the hands of the police, others to strangers. In her victory speech on Saturday night, Mrs Clinton named and thanked those women, the mothers of Trayvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Dontre Hamilton, Jordan Davis, and Eric Garner.



By contrast, despite concerted efforts, Mr Sanders failed to gain traction among black voters, despite deploying time, energy and resources to the state.
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South Koreas opposition politicians continued their nonstop speeches for a fifth straight day in parliament on 27 February to block a vote on a government-backed anti-terrorism bill, one of the longest filibusters in history.

Opposition politicians say the bill, endorsed by President Park Geun-hye and her ruling Saenuri Party, would threaten personal freedoms and privacy if passed into law. Jung Cheong-rae spoke for nearly 12 hours before leaving the podium late in the afternoon, breaking a record for the countrys longest parliamentary speech set on Wednesday by fellow opposition legislator Eun Soo-mi, who spoke for 10 hours and 18 minutes.

With the filibuster exceeding 90 hours, it far surpassed the 58-hour session orchestrated by Canadas New Democratic Party in 2011, previously the longest recorded filibuster in history. To succeed, the lawmakers need to continue their speeches until midnight of 10 March, when the parliamentary session ends.

Most speakers spent time reading academic studies, news articles and internet comments. One politician read extensively from a copy of George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four.

The bill would grant greater power to the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Seouls main spy agency, to investigate individuals and groups. President Park and her partys MPs point to threats posed by North Korea, which recently conducted a nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch, and activities by militant organisations such as Islamic State. Opposition politicians say the bill doesnt have sufficient measures to prevent the agency from abusing its powers for civilian surveillance.

Ms Park is the daughter of the former military strongman Park Chung-hee, who was assassinated by his spy chief in 1979.

The NIS has a history of meddling in politics and spying on civilians and journalists.

Two NIS directors who successively headed the spy service from 1999 to 2003 were convicted and received suspended prison terms for overseeing the monitoring of mobile conversations of about 1,800 of South Koreas political, corporate and media elite.

AP
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A Bangladeshi father who was dubbed Tree man due to large bark-like growths on his hands and feet has told of how his recent surgery has given him hope.

Abdul Bajander was in surgery for three-and-a-half hours at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, and it took a team of nine doctors to remove the growths, facility director Samanta Lal Sen told AFP.

The 26-year-old has epidermodysplasia verruciformis, a genetic condition which causes the growths on his skin. The Bangladeshi government is paying for the treatment to remove the warts  some of which weigh in at least five kilograms.

Bajandar said he was determined to continue with the treatment no matter how long it took. "The first operation has given me hope," he told AFP by phone from hospital.

Rex Features (Suvra Kanti Das/ZUMA Wire/REX Shutterstock)

"I don't want to return to my village without clearing my hands and feet. I want to get back to my old life," the father-of-one said.

Reports say that his condition has given celebrity status in his hometown of Khulna, and hundreds of people came to visit him in hospital.

Speaking to AFP, Sen said: "We removed some small warts from his palm. We also did dressing of his fingers, which were operated on last week. He's now better. But Bajandar would need up to 15 operations in total to rid his body of the growths, which may take six months to one year, Sen added.
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A former Nazi SS medical orderly who was working in Auschwitz when Anne Frank arrived, faces trial in eastern Germany charged with complicity in the murder of more than 3,000 prisoners held at the camp.

Hubert Zafke, 95, is the third former Auschwitz SS man to go on trial in Germany in the space of a year. He served at the death camp in September 1944, when a Nazi transport train from the Netherlands with 940 adults and 79 children aboard arrived at Auschwitz. Among them was Anne Frank.

His trial in Neubrandenburg, north of Berlin, which starts on Monday, follows the prosecution of former SS Auschwitz guard Reinhold Hanning, 94 whose trial is currently under way in the German town of Detmold and the conviction last year of 94-year-old Oskar Groning, a former SS guard nicknamed the Book-keeper of Auschwitz.

Recommended Read more Holocaust survivors recount horrors at Auschwitz trial

Groning was sentenced to four-and-a-half years imprisonment for being an accessory to the murder of 300,000 Holocaust victims. He has appealed against the sentence.

The new Auschwitz trials are the result of a sea change in German judicial thinking, which began in 2011 with the conviction of former Nazi death camp guard, John Demjanjuk, who was found guilty of being an accessory to mass murder simply because he worked at the Sobibor extermination camp

Survivors remember the liberation of Auschwitz Show all 4 1 /4 Survivors remember the liberation of Auschwitz Survivors remember the liberation of Auschwitz 32-auschwitz.jpg AP Survivors remember the liberation of Auschwitz 32-ausch-2.jpg AP Survivors remember the liberation of Auschwitz 32-ausch-3.jpg EPA Survivors remember the liberation of Auschwitz 32-auschwitz-4.jpg Getty

Until his case, German judges had insisted on concrete evidence, including eyewitness accounts, to convict Holocaust perpetrators. But in the current Auschwitz trials, both Hanning and Zafke are charged with complicity in mass murder simply because  like Demjanjuk and Groning  they worked in extermination camps.

Zafke claims that he could have done nothing to stop the mass murders in Auschwitz.

Anne Frank later died of typhus along with her sister in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in early 1945. But her mother, Edith, was left behind in Auschwitz and died of starvation there.
Roughrider H-D recognized

Roughrider Harley-Davidson, Mandan, was awarded the Harley-Davidson Motor Co. Bronze Bar & Shield Circle of Recognition for 2015.

The award for the North Plains market was based on motorcycle and related product sales performance, an evaluation of customer service and satisfaction and various operational measures.

Bill and Carol Stork own the business.

Housing agency honors partners

North Dakota Housing Finance Agency recognized several of its housing partners as Champions of Affordable Housing during its 25th Statewide Housing Conference.

Lender and real estate awards are based on promotion of NDHFAs homeownership programs and participation in locally sponsored affordable housing projects and events.

Area lenders and their loan officers who most actively promoted NDHFA programs in 2015 received two of the five awards: Capital Credit Union and Scott Bullinger, of Bismarck, and Gate City Bank and Tammy Skogen, of Bismarck.

Among the three real estate agents recognized for the assistance they provided to the agencys borrowers were Kirstin Wilhelm of Keller Williams Realty in Bismarck and Shirley Thomas of Bianco Realty in Bismarck.

Amaya Quijano of NLR Property Management in Williston received NDHFAs Property Management Award for her outstanding management of three agency-funded multifamily projects.

Legacy at Central Place in Williston received NDHFAs Housing Production Award. The Lutheran Social Services Housing development is the adaptive reuse of a former school building into 44 affordable housing units for households 55-plus.

Bismarck project receives award

The city of Bismarck and Advanced Engineering and Environmental Services Inc. have been awarded an Engineering Excellence award from the American Council of Engineering Companies of North Dakota in the waste and storm water category.

The award recognizes the Edgewood Regional Storm and Sanitary Improvements Project, which serves the Edgewood Village 7th Addition subdivision and areas near Legacy High School and was done on a short timeline.
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Danish authorities have been accused of staying quiet over an environmental disaster of historic proportions.

Several thousand tonnes of liquid fertiliser burst out of a silo in Frederica Harbour on 3 March, causing palm oil to leak from a neighbouring vat and catch on fire, starting a huge blaze.

But a Danish newspaper has accused local authorities of failing to announce the impact of the accident for several weeks, amid fears that huge amounts of toxic substances flowed into the sea and could kill countless fish.

Peter Balsgaard, a spokesperson for South Jutland Police, told Metroxpress: Several thousand tonnes of liquid fertiliser were released, some of which was collected in the harbour area. The silo containing the liquid fertiliser collapsed due to still unknown reasons and the fertliser ran out with incredible speed and spread through the area.

In the collapse, a neighbouring silo was damaged and palm oil ran out. The palm oil caught on fire.

Businesses and homes were evacuated in a 1km radius as firefighters worked all night and into the next day to extinguish the blaze.

The Danish Society for Nature Conservation told the newspaper that the incident was an environmental catastrophe on a scale never seen before, according to a translation by The Local.

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. 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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

It took 22 days, until Metroxpress published its report, for Denmarks environmental and protection agencies and Fredericia Municipality to release details of leaks and their potential impact, the website reported.

The Associated Danish Ports authority said more than 100 people had been deployed in clean-up efforts to remove a thick layer of pam oil, water and foam.

A statement said a large amount of oil and fertiliser had to be cleared from buildings, quays and roads.

The row came as the Danish Environment and Food Minister, Eva Kjer Hansen, announced she would resign on Saturday.

She had been accused of misleading parliament over the environmental impact of a set of agricultural reforms and Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen must now replace her or call fresh elections if he feels he has not have enough support from the Conservatives to run his Liberal-led coalition government.
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He was gay, Jewish, and a high-profile German state prosecutor in 1960s West Germany. But it was his dogged determination to bring Hitlers henchmen to justice that meant Fritz Bauer was ostracised by politicians, feared denunciation as a criminal homosexual and received constant death threats.

Bauer, who was found mysteriously drowned in his bathtub in 1968, was Germanys first Nazi hunter. He brought Adolf Eichmann to trial and subsequent execution in Israel in 1962 and put Nazis who ran Auschwitz in court for the first time in Germany the following year.

Yet like the Holocaust hero Oskar Schindler, the key role Bauer played as one of the handful of Germans who fought the evils of the Nazism remained forgotten for decades after his death. Fifty years on and just as the last ageing Auschwitz guards still alive are going on trial for the first time, Germanys forgotten first Nazi hunter is being rediscovered and rehabilitated.

An acclaimed feature film about his life, The State Versus Fritz Bauer won an award at this months Berlin Film Festival. And last week a televised drama about him was screened on Germanys ARD television. They follow two other films about the chain-smoking, art-loving Nazi hunter, as well as his first biography.

We should really be asking ourselves why Fritz Bauer has been consigned to obscurity for so long, said Ronen Steinke, the author of Fritz Bauer or Auschwitz on Trial. My guess is that until now the Germans did not want to honour a person who pointed so openly to their incompetence in dealing with their Nazi past, he said.

Bauer, who was from a middle-class Stuttgart Jewish family, became Germanys youngest judge in 1930 at the age of 27. He was sent to a concentration camp when the Nazis came to power in 1933 and released nine months later after being coerced into signing a statement pledging obedience to Nazi rule. He fled to Denmark and eventually escaped to Sweden where he lived out the rest of the war.

 Last Holocaust-Related Case? 94-Year-Old Former Auschwitz Guard Stands Trial

But when Bauer returned to his native country to work again as a judge in 1949, he found a West Germany in which many Third Reich values were still admired. Former Nazis held key positions in government. The closest aide and national security adviser to the then Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, was Hans Globke, a former Nazi government member who helped draw up Nazi race laws.

Anti-Semitism was so prevalent that Bauer hid the fact that he was Jewish to avoid being labelled a traitor who was bent on revenge. West Germany still enforced Nazi-era laws outlawing homosexuality. Bauer lived in fear of being publicly denounced and ousted from his job because he was gay. His attempts to bring Nazi war criminals to justice earned him the reputation as a judge who fouled his own nest. He once told a colleague: As soon as I leave the confines of my office, I am on enemy territory. Death threats were common.

Tough lessons: How teachers are seeking answers at Auschwitz Show all 7 1 /7 Tough lessons: How teachers are seeking answers at Auschwitz Tough lessons: How teachers are seeking answers at Auschwitz 444821.bin DANIELLE MASON AND YAKIR ZUR Tough lessons: How teachers are seeking answers at Auschwitz 444823.bin DANIELLE MASON AND YAKIR ZUR Tough lessons: How teachers are seeking answers at Auschwitz 444824.bin DANIELLE MASON AND YAKIR ZUR Tough lessons: How teachers are seeking answers at Auschwitz 444825.bin DANIELLE MASON AND YAKIR ZUR Tough lessons: How teachers are seeking answers at Auschwitz 444826.bin DANIELLE MASON AND YAKIR ZUR Tough lessons: How teachers are seeking answers at Auschwitz 444827.bin DANIELLE MASON AND YAKIR ZUR Tough lessons: How teachers are seeking answers at Auschwitz 444828.bin DANIELLE MASON AND YAKIR ZUR

But in 1957 Bauer was tipped off by a colleague in Argentina that Adolf Eichmann had escaped to Buenos Aires and was living there under an assumed name. By this time Bauer was employed as chief state prosecutor in Frankfurt. But his mistrust of post-war West Germany was so great that he kept Eichmanns whereabouts secret from the German judiciary and told the Israeli secret service Mossad instead. Under West German law his actions were a treasonable offence.

But with the help of Bauers information, Mossad agents kidnapped Eichmann in a spectacular operation in 1960. He was tried and hanged in Israel 1962.

Although he did not think so himself, Bauers greatest achievement was West Germanys famous Auschwitz trials, which began in Frankfurt the following year, when 22 Nazi SS henchmen faced justice for the first time in Germany. Surviving film footage reveals how controversial the trial was. Inside the court the police saluted the accused as former comrades.

Only six of the accused were given life sentences. Twelve others were given terms of up to 14 years. The trials nevertheless obliged a reluctant German public to face up to the horrors of the Holocaust and accept that the perpetrators lived in their midst.

With hindsight, the Auschwitz trials were remarkable because so many were convicted. The rest of Germanys track record is less impressive. Some 120,000 investigations into Nazi war crimes after 1945 resulted in just 560 convictions. The shockingly low conviction rate was largely due to the fact that judges insisted on eyewitness evidence to prosecute.

Bauer was found drowned his bathtub at his Frankfurt home in 1968. A post-mortem examination showed that he had taken sleeping pills. There is speculation that he may have committed suicide because of the strain he was under. Half a century on, reunited Germany is seeking to make amends for its failure to track down and convict the Holocaust perpetrators. In a belated triumph for Bauer, they are using his legal arguments that working in the death camps meant complicity in murder.
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Campaigners have warned that 600 agricultural workers kill themselves every year amid growing concern about suicide in France.

The decrease in pay that has come from food prices being lowered has played a contributing role in the high rate of suicide in the industry.

According to the The Local, the rate is 20 per cent higher than in other sectors in the country.

On 26 February, farmers in Charoux marched to highlight the issue, standing for a minutes silence for their deceased colleagues and leaving flowers in their memory.

One of the workers, Louis Ganay, told BFM TV he had been close to suicide after 15 of his herd of cows died in 2014.

Getting up early every day, knowing that in a month youll only be able to make 200 or 300 with 80 hours of work each week, its a real torture, he said.

The physical fatigue, the psychological pressure, the bank that wants to give up on you, the death of the cows I had no reason to live anymore.

In the past two weeks, there have also been protests held in Vannes in Brittany, over the fall in prices of milk and pork, which farmers said was forcing them out of business, and followed a series of protests in the last year over falling food prices and what farmers say is a lack of government support.

Official estimates put the suicide rate of French farmers at a still-high 200 per year, but campaigners insist the number is closer to 600 and said the taboo of suicide had prevented families of victims from speaking out.
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Kebab shops and fried fast food shops are to be banned from opening in Verona in order to preserve the citys 'decorum.

A ruling that prevents the opening of new restaurants that sell deep-fried fast food, or serve mostly ethnic dishes, was passed in the UNESCO World Heritage site this week after a surge in kebab shops in the city.

Thanks to this provision there will be no more openings of establishments that sell food prepared in a way that could impact the decorum of our city, Verona Mayor Flavio Tosi told The Telegraph.

This protects not only our historic and architectural patrimony of the city centre, but also the tradition of typical culture of the Verona territory.

But while officials claim they are attempting to preserve the traditional appearance of the Italian cities, the move has been criticised by some who believe it discriminates against immigrants.

The rules follow those of Florence, where city officials reportedly cracked down on the placement of fast food establishments as well as minimarkets, internet cafes and phone call centres could operate, with similar rules currently being considered in Venice.

The establishments targeted in what Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro told the Telegraph was an attempt to prevent the Disneyfication of the city are often run by Chinese or Muslim people, who may be disproportionately affected by the changes.
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Thousands of people marched in the Polish capital of Warsaw on Saturday to express anger at the government.

The strongly conservative Law and Justice Party have only been in power for three months. Despite their short tenure, they have been accused of undermining the Polish constitution and freedoms more broadly.

Estimates of the numbers of people in attendance at the protest, dubbed We the People, ranged from 15,000 to 80,000. Many chanted "We will defend democracy!" and "Lech Waesa!, the name of the first president of Poland after Communist rule.

Young woman participating in a pro-democracy march holds a portrait of former Polish President Lech Walesa on February 27, 2016 in Warsaw, Poland. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The march was organised by the Committee for the Defence of Democracy, an umbrella organisation which formed in opposition to the actions of the Law and Justice party.

"We want a free and open Poland... a Poland where there is room for everyone," said the head of committee, Mateusz Kijowski, to marchers.

The main complaint of the demonstrators was the governments actions on the Constitutional Tribunal, a court which is intended to act as a check on new legislation.

President Andrzej Duda ignored five new judges - to sit on a panel of 15 - who were chosen by the previous government. He instead installed some loyal to the Law and Justice Party after they came to power. The subsequent fallout has led to a constitutional crisis in Poland.

People wave Polish and European Union flags as they gather for a pro-democracy march in Warsaw (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The Law and Justice party has also amended media laws, which has enabled party loyalists to be placed in key positions in public broadcasting.

Party loyalists have also been placed in leading positions in state companies after a change in the rules on civil service appointments, critics have said.

In addition, the intelligence services and the public prosecution service have been brought under Parliament control, the Financial Times reported.

Many protestors wore masks of Mr Waesa, whose union Solidarity played a crucial role in the fall of Communism in Poland.

There have been allegations that he was a police informer during the Soviet era, but supporters off Mr Waesas have dismissed this as a smear, instigated by the Law and Justice party. Mr Waesa has denied the allegations.

"We came here to defend a symbol of Polish history [Mr Waesa] against hate," Grzegorz Schetyna, head of opposition party Civic Platform, told the crowd.

"We are defending Poland against Jaroslaw Kaczynski [leader of the Law and Justice party], Mr Schetyna continued. We will not allow Poland to be taken over."

Mr Kaczynski has no official role role in government but is widely believed to exert influence through the two most senior party members in government: President Duda and Prime Minister Beata Szydlo.

Mr Kaczynski has been a central figure in the rise of popular right wing sentiment in Poland. His nationalist-leaning politics are characterised by a mistrust of both the EU, especially Germany, and Russia. He has been derided as his critics as xenophobic, anti-Semitic and homophobic.
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Protests in 32 countries and more than 120 cities took place on Saturday to highlight the lack of rights and protection for refugees seeking asylum in Europe and elsewhere.

The demonstrations received little media attention, even though they held in countries including Germany, Greece, France and Scandinavian as well as several eastern European countries.

There were also marches in New York, Vancouver, Tel Aviv and three Turkish cities.

In London, a march of several hundred demonstrators was partially overshadowed by the largest anti-nuclear weapons demonstration for a generation, as Jeremy Corbyn, Nicola Sturgeon, Vanessa Redgrave and others addressed a crowd of thousands in Trafalgar Square.

However, the refugee march linked up with the anti-Trident protest. Many of the speakers at the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament rally emphasised that the 167 billion cost of a new nuclear deterrent system to replace the Trident missile system could be better spent elsewhere  for example, in providing humanitarian relief for refugees.

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 protestors met to drop a banner off Westminster Bridge calling for "safe passage for refugees". They then marched from Hyde Park Corner to Marble Arch, where they heard speeches before joining thousands of marchers for the CND rally.

Abdulaziz Amashi, the co-founder of Syria Solidarity Campaign & Solidarity with Refugees, said: "Refugees must be made welcome in the UK, yet our government is wasting money on nuclear weapons. Refugees are desperate people who are desperately looking for somewhere safe to live."

"20,000 refugees over five years is not a response. Britain is a great nation, and we can do more. We should not just be relying on Germany. If Britain, France and other European nations took their fare share of asylum-seekers then we wouldn't be having a refugee crisis."

Lisette Zewuster, a member of Bienvenidos Refugiados Espana, one of the organisations which co-ordinated the Europe-wide demonstrations, said: All over Europe and even outside Europe there are hundreds of organizations formed by people whose only interest is to defend human rights and values. They are doing what most European governments refuse to do, and helping refugees."

Ms Zewuster added that "numerous volunteers, associations and NGOs in more than 120 cities" contacted BRE and fellow co-ordinators Coragem Disponivel once the campaign was launched, as the campaign rapidly expanded across Europe and beyond.

"This is a clear sign that people all over Europe are sick of the inhumane treatment of our fellow human beings," she said. "Many of these people had no history of activism, but they feel that the situation is so urgent right now that they had no option but to take to the streets."
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Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said that he has no respect for and would not abide by a court ruling that two prominent journalists were unfairly jailed.

The editor-in-chief of Cumhuriyet newspaper, Can Dundar, and its Ankara bureau chief, Erdem Gul, were detained in November accused of revealing state secrets and attempting to overthrow the government after publishing claims that Turkey tried to deliver weapons to Islamist rebels in Syria.

The pair left prison on Friday after the Constitutional Court ruled that their rights had been violated. They still face trial on the charges, with prosecutors demanding that they be jailed for life.

In comments that will exacerbate international alarm about the rule of law in Turkey, President Erdogan severely criticised the courts decision and suggested that he would not allow it to stand. I keep my silence on the decision of the Constitutional Court but I do not abide by the decision or respect it, he said.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes Show all 8 1 /8 Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes Just a week before he was elected President, he called Erdogan Amberin Zaman, the Turkey correspondent for 'The Economist', a "shameless militant woman disguised under the name of a journalist" after she had asked an opposition leader whether "Muslim society is able to question" the authorities. "Know your place," Erdogan said. "They gave you a pen and you are writing a column in a newspaper. "And then they invite you to a TV channel owned by Dogan media group and you insult at a society of 99 per cent Muslims," he said he said according to Today's Zaman newspaper. Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes Turkish people are pictured chanting slogans during an anti-government protest on Taksim square in Istanbul, on 29 June, 2013. The protests were sparked by brutal police action against a local conservation battle to save Istanbul's Gezi Park, and soon turned into nationwide demonstrations against the government. Amid the protests - the worst in Turkey for years - Erdogan accused demonstrators of being "arm-in-arm with terrorism," according to Reuters. "This is a protest organized by extremist elements. We will not give away anything to those who live arm-in-arm with terrorism," he said. GURCAN OZTURK/AFP/Getty Images Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes During last years protests, activists used social media to organise and disseminate information. Several dozen tweeters were arrested following the protests, according to local media reports. Erdogan responded by calling the technology a "menace". "There is now a menace which is called Twitter," Erdogan said. "The best examples of lies can be found there. To me, social media is the worst menace to society," BBC New reported. Vladimir Astapkovich/RIA Novosti via Getty Images Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes Not helping to allay accusations of authoritarianism, after Turkish police detained 49 people, including well-known business people and those close to the ruling party, Erdeogan ominously told reporter that Turkey "is not a banana republic" that can be affected by unnamed "operations", according to Today's Zaman newspaper. People who are backed by the media and certain funders cannot change this country," he said. "People backed by certain dark gangs both inside and outside Turkey cannot mess with the country's path. They cannot change conditions in Turkey. Turkey is not a country that anyone can launch an operation into. The [Turkish] nation will not allow that. The AK Party, which is governing this nation, will not allow this." Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes Friends and relatives of the miners who died in an explosion at the Soma mine are pictured praying following the burial in Soma cemetery of the last body to be recovered from the mine in May 2014. At the time, the then-Prime Minister badly misjudged the Soma mining disaster, in which 301 workers died. He told the relatives of dead and dying miners that "these types of incidents are ordinary things", following allegations that the government had ignored safety concerns about the privately owned mine, the Guardian reported. In his defence, Erdogan recounted in a separate speech a list of mining disasters which occurred abroad, including a British disaster in 1862, and one in America "which has every kind of technology". Oli Scarff/Getty Images Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes Palestinians pictured attending Friday noon prayers in a destroyed mosque that was hit by Israeli strikes, in Gaza City. As Prime Minister, Erdogan has condemned Israel, accusing it of deliberately killing Palestinian mothers and warned that the it would "drown in the blood it sheds." Speaking to thousands of supporters during a rally in Istanbul ahead of the 10 August election, Reuters reported him as saying: "Just like Hitler, who sought to establish a race free of all faults, Israel is chasing after the same target." "They kill women so that they will not give birth to Palestinians; they kill babies so that they won't grow up; they kill men so they can't defend their country ... They will drown in the blood they shed," he said. AP Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes Amid the worst protests in Turkey for years which had spread across dozens of cities last June, Erdogan accused demonstrators of being "arm-in-arm with terrorism," according to Reuters. A demonstration to halt construction in a park in an Istanbul square grew into mass protests against a heavy-handed police crackdown and what opponents called Erdogan's authoritarian policies. "This is a protest organized by extremist elements," Erdogan said before departing on a trip to North Africa. "We will not give away anything to those who live arm-in-arm with terrorism," he said. Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images Recep Tayyip Erdogan's most controversial quotes The Turkish President's craziest quotes In March 2014, Erdogan accused a 15-year-old boy who died from injuries sustained in last year's anti-government protests of being linked to terrorism. Berkin Elvan, who became a symbol of anti-government protests, had gone to pick up bread when he was hit with a teargas canister - sending him into a nine-month coma before he passed away. In a speech broadcast on state TV, Erdogan said of Berkin: "This kid with steel marbles in his pockets, with a slingshot in his hand, his face covered with a scarf, who had been taken up into terror organisations, was unfortunately subjected to pepper gas. How could the police determine how old that person was who had a scarf on his face and was hurling steel marbles with a slingshot in his hand? ADEM ALTAN/AFP/Getty Images

The media should not have unlimited freedom. There is no absolute freedom anywhere in world media either.

He said that there was no link between the case and the issue of freedom of expression, describing it instead as an espionage case.

Opposition parties severely criticised his remarks. Ozgur Ozel, an MP with the Republican Peoples Party, accused the president of giving a direct order to those considering an appeal against the decision. The statement is beyond advice, it is an instruction, he told Hurriyet.

Mr Erdogan has had several run-ins with the Constitutional Court, including in 2014 when it overturned bans on Twitter and YouTube.

The president has been accused by critics of taking an increasingly authoritarian turn in recent years.
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Archaeologists working in the south of France claim to have discovered the oldest known graves of Muslims buried in France, and possibly all of Europe.

The researchers, whose study was published in the peer-reviewed online journal PLOS One, examined the skeletons unearthed in a series of graves near the French city of Nimes. They found that the bodies had been arranged deliberately facing Mecca. Radiocarbon testing confirmed the bones dated back to either the 7th or 8th century and other analysis of the remains suggested three individuals were of Berber or North African ancestry.

This places the graves in question around the time of the early Arab invasions into Western Europe, when Muslim armies entered and occupied parts of France before being pushed back behind the Pyrenees. Muslim kingdoms remained in the Iberian Peninsula until 1492, a lengthy history that has a profound, complex legacy in the West.

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The researchers believe that the skeletons "were Berbers integrated into the Arab army during its rapid expansion through North Africa." None of the bones, it should be noted, showed evidence of combat wounds.

We knew that Muslims came to France in the eighth century but until now we did not have any material evidence of their passage, Yves Gleize, an anthropologist with the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research and lead author of the study, told Agence France-Presse.

In the early 8th century, forces of the Umayyad dynasty, which once had held sway in Damascus, marched from the foothold in Spain deep into France. They captured the region where Nimes -- an ancient Roman city -- is located in 719. In 732, a Muslim army was defeated by Frankish troops at the Battle of Tours. It's a showdown that has since been remembered as an epochal moment in Western history, a decisive turning point when Islam could not breach the ramparts of Christendom.

 Archaeologists dig up 3,000 skeletons at London site

The victorious Frankish warlord Charles would later be remembered as "Martellus," or "hammer," and was the progenitor of Western Christendom's first major political dynasty.

The narrative of a dramatic clash of civilization was set in stone by the venerable 18th century British historian Edward Gibbon, who imagined a full-scale Islamic takeover of Europe had the Saracen hordes not been stopped by Charles:

A victorious line of march had been prolonged above a thousand miles from the rock of Gibraltar to the banks of the Loire; the repetition of an equal space would have carried the Saracens to the confines of Poland and the Highlands of Scotland; the Rhine is not more impassable than the Nile or Euphrates, and the Arabian fleet might have sailed without a naval combat into the mouth of the Thames. Perhaps the interpretation of the Qur'an would now be taught in the schools of Oxford, and her pulpits might demonstrate to a circumcised people the sanctity and truth of the revelation of Muhammed.

But sifting through bones and dirt, the researchers of the study draw quieter, more nuanced conclusions. For centuries, Muslims and Christians co-existed in parts of Europe, lived side-by-side, worked together, and died together.

The authors of the study suggest the placement of the three Muslim graves, which were not found in a cemetery, need not be interpreted as a mark of exclusion. Other textual and historical evidence points to rulers in the south of France during the Muslim occupation practicing a kind of protection for the main religious faiths.

"These results clearly highlight the complexity of the relationship between communities during this period, far from the cliche depiction still found in some history books," the study concludes.

 Washington Post
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Landmark elections in Iran have resulted in sweeping gains for reformists and significant setbacks for hardliners, paving the way for pivotal changes for the country, both domestically and in its relations with the international community.

The sheer scale of the advance made by the List of Hope, backing the government of Hassan Rouhani, unfolded as more than 90 per cent of the votes were counted in the crucial battleground of Tehran. It had taken every single parliamentary seat in the capital and was in overall lead over its rivals nationwide.

The liberals also made unexpected progress in a second vote, which took place for the Assembly of Experts, a body traditionally dominated by hardliners and which appoints the Supreme Leader  the ultimate source of power in the Islamic Republic. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current holder of the office, is 76 and is said to be ailing, meaning a successor may have to be chosen during the Assemblys eight-year term.

What made the reformists triumph all the more remarkable was that the countrys Guardian Council, which vets candidates, had refused to let thousands of them run; among them was Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic. But after rejecting initial calls from some to boycott the polls, the reformists mobilised and formed alliances with moderate conservatives who had become alarmed by the aggressive rhetoric of hardliners.

The principalists, as the hardliners call themselves, saw many of their most senior leaders fall in a dramatic 24 hours, including, significantly, almost all the main opponents of President Rouhanis nuclear deal with the world powers.

Foad Izadi, assistant professor of world studies at Tehran University, held that the nuclear agreement and economic benefits it offers was a deciding factor in voting. It is a great victory in Tehran. It is beyond expectations, he said. He pointed out, however, that for other cities it is not yet so clear cut. The elections were the first to be held since the nuclear agreement, which has led to the gradual lifting of international sanctions.

Iranian journalists follow the preliminary results of parliamentary and Experts Assembly elections at the Interior Ministry, in Tehran, Iran (EPA)

President Rouhanis critics say the deal was a sell-out to the West and that foreign investment can turn into economic imperialism. They have been warning that the US and Britain will try to subvert the election results but Iranian voters appeared to have overwhelmingly endorsed Mr Rouhanis policies. The President has promised drastic reforms in economic, legal and social fields in the future. This, it is believed, will range from addressing civil rights, including womens rights, although he is expected to proceed slowly on this due to clerical sensibilities. It is thought that there will also be cutting of red tape for business and tax reform.

Saeed Leylaz, a political analyst who was once an advisor to former President Mohammad Khatami, said: It is a very big victory. It is very good news for President Rouhani. We will now have a very rational less factional, more expert, technocrat parliament.

Mr Rouhani and Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president who the reformists want as the next Supreme Leader, held the first two places among 28 candidates seeking the 16 seats of the Assembly in Tehran, with the following 14 places going to candidates from their list.

Reformist voters were adjusting to what had happened. I am still finding it difficult to believe what is taking place. My friends and I have been texting each other to ask, Is this real?, said Homa Soroush, 28, who works in the fashion industry. This is fantastic but then we worry, Are they going to try and take it away from us? It is best not to celebrate too soon.

In the poll for the Majlis, Irans parliament, the head of the reformist coalition, Mohammed Reza Aref  who stood aside for Mr Rouhani in the 2013 presidential elections  was in first place with Ali Motahari, a former conservative MP and an outspoken critic of state abuse who had joined the reformists, coming in second.

Another conservative MP backing the reformists and President Rouhani was Ali Larijani, the influential Speaker of parliament, who came in second place in the centre of Shia theocracy, Qom. He had received an endorsement on the eve of the polls from Major General Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards and the most powerful military figure in the country.

Three of the most prominent hardline leaders  Ayatollah Mohammed Yazdi, Ayatollah Mohammed Reza Kermani and Ayatollah Mohammed Mesbah-Yazdi  had asked Mr Larijani to join them against the common liberal enemy. He was quick to decline their invitation.

Ayatollah Yazdi and Ayatollah Mesbah-Yazdi have both failed to get into the Assembly of Experts. Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel, the principalist leader in Tehran, also lost, while Ahmad Jannati, the chairman of the Guardian Council that had carried out the purge of liberal candidates, made 15th place on a list of 16.

The rapid dissemination of the results, both officially and unofficially, was viewed as a tactical manoeuvre for what lay ahead. The Guardian Council will review the results and has the power to overturn them. Making the voting figures public at such an early stage, the reformists believe, will make their manipulation later more difficult.

The reformists currently hold just 20 seats in the 290-member Majlis, their influence having withered after the hardliner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became president in 2005. His re-election four years later was marred by accusations of fraud, with many liberal voters abstaining. The subsequent development of Irans nuclear programme and aggressive rhetoric led to the countrys international isolation.

Even with the gains made, it is likely that the reformists would have to form an alliance with the moderate conservatives to get an overall majority. President Rouhani said that he would work with anyone in the Majlis who wanted to build a prosperous future.

He later tweeted: With your skilful voting youve created a new atmosphere. In respect, I stand before you, great nation, who are the pride of the history of Iran.
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The Iranian elections are a sham, the exiled leader of the resistance Maryam Rajavi has said.

Speaking in Paris on Saturday, Mrs Rajavi said the majority of young people in Iran had boycotted the elections.

She said: On 26 February, the mullahs held a sham election. The so-called election did not mean to elect the people's representatives, but it was a competition between the incumbent and former officials in charge of torture and executions.

This puts an end to the myth of moderation in this regime. Therefore this sham election was rejected and boycotted by most of the Iranian youth.

Of the 12,123 candidates who were nominated as potential candidates, almost half were cut by the Guardian Council, with 6,300 of them  including 586 women  allowed to stand for election for the Majlis and 166 candidates, all male, put forward for the Assembly of Experts.

Initial reports from the Islamic Republics Majlis elections suggest that candidates in favour of President Hassan Rouhani have won the majority of seats in Tehran, while Iranian state media reported a record turnout in the countrys first elections since the nuclear deal.

Thanking those who voted in the elections, president Rouhani told the Islamic Republic News Agency: The competition came to an end and now it is time to open a new way through consensus and convergence of the nation and government and by relying on opportunities created from outside, to open a new chapter in the growth and flourishing of national economy.

Final results from both elections are expected early in the coming week, with any possible re-runs for the Majlis election to take place in April.
Held promoted

Shasta Held has been promoted to assistant vice president at Gate City Bank.

Held has been employed at the bank for nine years and is the customer service and sales supervisor at the downtown location in Bismarck

A native of Devils Lake, she graduated from Sister Rosalind School of Massage.

Two with firm

Casey A. Furey has joined Crowley Flecks Bismarck office and Wade C. Mann has returned to the firm as a partner.

Furey is a member of the natural resource and environmental litigation group. She graduated from the University of North Dakota School of Law in 2013 and earned a bachelors degree in political science from Colorado State University. She recently was a special assistant attorney general for the North Dakota Public Service Commission.

Mann recently completed a gubernatorial appointment as the director of the North Dakota Office of Administrative Hearings. He is a member of Crowley Flecks energy, environment and natural resources group.

Agents join Oaktree

Jordan West and Kendall Vetter have joined Oaktree Realtors Bismarck office as real estate agents.

Schuler selected

Mark Schuler has been named principal business relationship manager for Wells Fargo in Bismarck.

Schuler has more than 20 years of Wells Fargo banking and investment experience.

A Pierre, S.D., native, Schuler holds a bachelors degree in economics and political science and a juris doctor, both from the University of South Dakota, Vermillion.

Schuler is based at the Broadway Avenue location.

Jahner in MDRT

Kelly Jahner, an agent for New York Life in Bismarck, has earned membership in the Million Dollar Round Table for 2015.

MDRT membership represents the top life insurance and financial service professionals worldwide.

Jahner has been a New York Life agent since 2007.

Sales leaders

Shirley Thomas and Randy Fix have been named Realtors of the month for January at Bianco Realty for having the most closed sales.

Gunsch certified

Michael Gunsch, in Houston Engineering Inc.s Bismarck office, has completed the process and examination to become an Association of State Floodplain Managers certified floodplain manager.

Skjeret at BNC

Jamestown native Karli Skjeret recently joined BNC National Bank as a mortgage loan originator in its Century Avenue branch.

Skjeret has more than 15 years of banking experience, eight of them in the mortgage industry.

Volume leaders

The top agents for January at Keller Williams Roers Realty Bismarck/Fargo are Ann Andre, closed and written volumes, and Kirstin Wilhelm, listing volume.

Jandt joins bank

Carly Jandt has joined Cornerstone Bank as a full-time customer service representative in Bismarck.

Originally from Pierre, S.D., Jandt has more than five years of customer service experience.
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The first major assault by the jihadists near the capital in months may indicate that far from being cowed by prolonged air strikes and an economic blockade, they are seizing the initiative in trying to deflect an attack by Iraqi forces on Mosul

Isis suicide bombers and fighters launched a surprise assault on army and police positions in Abu Ghraib on the western outskirts of Baghdad on Sunday in the first major attack by Isis close to the capital for months. Dozens of Isis gunmen driving captured Humvees and pick-ups with machine guns in the back captured a police station and a grain silo that was later set ablaze while three cars packed with explosives blew up close to a military barracks.

Fighting continued into the afternoon around the silo, with 20 Isis gunmen holding out inside and in a cemetery, as the attackers were pushed back by Iraqi security forces. At least 12 government troops were killed and 35 wounded.

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The predominantly Sunni Arab suburb of Abu Ghraib, site of the notorious prison, has often been the scene of fighting because it is halfway between Baghdad and Fallujah, the Sunni city which has been held by Isis and extreme jihadis since January 2014. The attack shows that Isis can still launch sudden raids despite setbacks in Iraq over the past nine months, with the loss of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, which it captured in May 2015, as well as Tikrit and Sinjar.

The attack showed how effective Isis can be when it pursues guerrilla tactics in urban areas where it cannot be immediately targeted by aircraft from the US-led coalition or Iraq. The commander of military operations in western Baghdad, Maj-Gen Saad Harbiya, said on Sunday night that the situation was under control and a curfew had been imposed.

 Swedish teenager describes Isis experience

Isis combined its attack from Fallujah and the large village of Garma with bomb attacks on civilians in Baghdad, which killed 31 people. Two bombs exploded in a mobile-phone market in the overwhelmingly Shia district of Sadr City in west Baghdad. A few days ago two suicide bombers blew themselves up in a mosque in the Shia-majority Shuala district in west Baghdad, killing 15 people. The first bomber blew himself up among worshippers and the second detonated his suicide vest soon afterwards as security forces turned up to deal with the first attack,

The aftermath of a suicide bombing of a Shia mosque in Baghdad (Reuters)

Though none of these bomb attacks caused casualties on the scale of past atrocities in Baghdad, they have made people in the capital nervous. There were many checkpoints yesterday, particularly in the west of Baghdad, leading to more than usually bad traffic jams in the rest of the city.

And the bombings showed that Isis can still use suicide bombers in large numbers in vehicles and on foot. In the assault on Abu Ghraib, there were at least four bombers on foot as well as those in cars. It is an Isis tactic to compensate for territorial losses by targeting soft civilian targets. The UN Mission in Iraq says that 849 people were killed in Iraq in January, of whom 299 were civilians killed in Baghdad, a city of about seven million people.

In pictures: The rise of Isis Show all 74 1 /74 In pictures: The rise of Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters of the Islamic State wave the group's flag from a damaged display of a government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from Islamic State group sit on their tank during a parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from the Islamic State group pray at the Tabqa air base after capturing it from the Syrian government in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from extremist Islamic State group parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping A video uploaded to social networks shows men in underwear being marched barefoot along a desert road before being allegedly executed by Isis Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Haruna Yukawa after his capture by Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Khalinda Sharaf Ajour, a Yazidi, says two of her daughters were captured by Isis militants Washington Post In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Spokesperson for Isis Vice News via Youtube In pictures: The rise of Isis A pro-Isis leaflet A pro-Isis leaflet handed out on Oxford Street In London Ghaffar Hussain In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Isis Jihadists burn their passports In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A man collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A woman collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid Local civilians queue for aid administered by Isis. Since it declared a caliphate the group has increasingly been delivering services such as healthcare, and distributing aid and free fuel In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces detain men suspected of being militants of the Isis group in Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Mourners carry the coffin of a Shi'ite volunteer from the brigades of peace, who joined the Iraqi army and was killed during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Samarra, during his funeral in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Shiite Turkmen family fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, arrives at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi A photograph made from a video by the jihadist affiliated group Furqan Media via their twitter account allegedly showing Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivering a sermon during Friday prayers at a mosque in Mosul. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamist caliphate in the territory under the group's control in Iraq and Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Smoke and debris go up in the air as Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul. Images posted online show that Islamic extremists have destroyed at least 10 ancient shrines and Shiite mosques in territory - the city of Mosul and the town of Tal Afar - they have seized in northern Iraq in recent weeks In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq A bulldozer destroys Sunni's Ahmed al-Rifai shrine and tomb in Mahlabiya district outside of Tal Afar In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces celebrate after clashes with followers of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi, in front of his home in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi at his home after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A vehicle burns in front of a home of a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman holds her exhausted son as over 1000 Iraqis who have fled fighting in and around the city of Mosul and Tal Afar wait at a Kurdish checkpoint in the hopes of entering a temporary displacement camp in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees Displaced Iraqi women hold pots as they queue to receive food during the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, at an encampment for displaced Iraqis who fled from Mosul and other towns, in the Khazer area outside Irbil, north Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A militant Islamist fighter waving a flag, cheers as he takes part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters wave flags as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters travel in a vehicle as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade with a missile in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from an al-Qaida splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from the splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters hold a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A member loyal to the Isis waves an Isis flag in Raqqa In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi anti-government gunmen from Sunni tribes in the western Anbar province march during a protest in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The United Nations warned that Iraq is at a "crossroads" and appealed for restraint, as a bloody four-day wave of violence killed 195 people. The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that broke out in Sunni areas of the Shiite-majority country more than four months ago, raising fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces hold up a flag of the Isis group they captured during an operation to regain control of Dallah Abbas north of Baqouba, the capital of Iraq's Diyala province, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Isis fighters parade in the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, demonstrate their skills during a graduation ceremony after completing their field training in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Kurdish Peshmerga troops fire a cannon during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Jalawla, Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference Iraqi Prime Minister's security spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference about the latest military development in Iraq, in the capital Baghdad. Iraqi forces pressed a campaign to retake militant-held Tikrit, clashing with jihadist-led Sunni militants nearby and pounding positions inside the city with air strikes in their biggest counter-offensive so far In pictures: The rise of Isis A police station building destroyed by Isis fighters An exterior view of a police station building destroyed by gunmen in Mosul city, northern Iraq. Iraq's new parliament is expected to convene to start the process of setting up a new government, despite deepening political rifts and an ongoing Islamist-led insurgency. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani issued a decree inviting the new House of Representatives to meet and form a new government In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Smoke billows from an area controlled by the Isis between the Iraqi towns of Naojul and Tuz Khurmatu, both located north of the capital Baghdad, as Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces take part in an operation to repel the Sunni militants In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An elderly Iraqi woman is helped into a temporary displacement camp for Iraqis caught-up in the fighting in and around the city of Mosul in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Christian woman fleeing the violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kms east of the northern province of Nineveh, cries upon her arrival at a community center in the Kurdish city of Arbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman, who fled with her family from the northern city of Mosul, prays with a copy of the Quran AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq The body of an Isis militant killed during clashes with Iraqi security forces on the outskirts of the city of Samarra Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi civilians inspect the damage at a market after an air strike by the Iraqi army in central Mosul EPA In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Members of the Al-Abbas brigades, who volunteered to protect the Shiite Muslim holy sites in Karbala against Sunni militants fighting the Baghdad government, parade in the streets of the city AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Shia tribesmen gather in Baghdad to take up arms against Sunni insurgents marching on the capital. Thousands have volunteered to bolster defences AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A van carrying volunteers joining Iraqi security forces against Jihadist militants. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteered to fight AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters of the Isis group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An Islamist fighter, identified as Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni from Britain (R), speaks in this still image taken undated video shot at an unknown location and uploaded to a social media website. Five Islamist fighters identified as Australian and British nationals have called on Muslims to join the wars in Syria and Iraq, in the new video released by the Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Al-Qaida inspired militants stand with captured Iraqi Army Humvee at a checkpoint belonging to Iraqi Army outside Beiji refinery some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad. The fighting at Beiji comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes targeting the militants from the Isis group. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground, officials said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants attacked Iraq's main oil refinein Baiji as they pressed an offensive that has seen them capture swathes of territory, a manager and a refinery employee said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants from the Isis group parading with their weapons in the northern city of Baiji in the in Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A smoke rises after an attack by Isis militants on the country's largest oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and said they regained partial control of a city near the Syrian border, trying to blunt an offensive by Sunni militants who diplomats fear may have also seized some 100 foreign workers In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group stand next to captured vehicles left behind by Iraqi security forces at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province. For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An injured fighter (C) from the Isis group after a battle with Iraqi soldiers at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis aiming at advancing Iraqi troops at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group taking position at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group inspecting vehicles of the Iraqi army after they were seized at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq One Iraqi captive, a corporal, is reluctant to say the slogan, and has to be shouted at repeatedly before he obeys Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group force captured Iraqi security forces members to the transport In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group transporting dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A major offensive spearheaded by Isis but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three others In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants taking position at a Iraqi border post on the Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis rebels show their flag after seizing an army post AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants waving an Islamist flag after the seizure of an Iraqi army checkpoint in Salahuddin Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Demonstrators chant slogans as they carry al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. In the week since it captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, a Muslim extremist group has tried to win over residents and has stopped short of widely enforcing its strict brand of Islamic law, residents say. Churches remain unharmed and street cleaners are back at work

Abu Ghraib is only 20 miles from the centre of Baghdad and not far from the international airport. The capture of Mosul in 2014 that cemented the rise of Isis came a year after a sophisticated attack on Abu Ghraib prison that freed between 500 and 1,000 extreme jihadi prisoners. It would be a mistake to read too much into a single raid, but the fact the latest attack took place at all may puncture a mood of growing confidence in Baghdad that Isis is beginning to implode under the impact of bombardment from the air and a tightening economic blockade.

The Iraqi security forces have only a limited number of combat troops, which depend for their firepower on the US-led coalition. Although this enabled them to retake Ramadi, some 80 per cent of the buildings in this Sunni Arab city were hit. The UN reported that, going by satellite pictures, some 3,200 buildings in the city centre were damaged, including 1,165 totally destroyed. There are still some Isis fighters in outlying parts of Ramadi and in nearby villages.

There has been growing speculation in Iraq about an attempt to recapture Mosul later this year. One Iraqi army division moved north to take up positions at Makhmour, east of Mosul, last week. It is possible that the Isis attack on Abu Ghraib is intended to keep its opponents from concentrating their forces in the north in preparation for an attack on Mosul. In the past a large proportion of the Iraqi army has been kept out of the fighting because it was needed to hold Baghdad.

The anti-Isis forces in Iraq are weakened by being divided between the regular security forces and al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces), the powerful paramilitary movement that was created after the fall of Mosul 18 months ago. In theory the government, under pressure from the US, does not want to use the Hashd in combat on the grounds that it is sectarian and influenced by Iran.

Isis is under heavy military pressure in Iraq and Syria and is feeling the effect of prolonged bombing by the US-led coalition and the Russians. It has a very long front line to defend, but the Abu Ghraib attack yesterday shows that it can still gather enough forces to try to win a local success.
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In fighting in the outskirts of Ramadi a week ago, Zaman Hussein, a member of the al-Hashd al-Shaabi Shia militia, was trying to repel an attack by several Islamic State (Isis) suicide bombers wearing vests packed with explosives. He says: We killed all of them except one who had hidden himself behind an oil tanker. We were searching for him when he suddenly appeared and blew himself up. The blast seriously wounded Zaman, who is now in the Al-Hussein hospital in the Shia holy city of Karbala with a badly broken leg, injured hand and shrapnel wounds.

Suleiman Haydar Abbas, a 20-year-old member of the Hashd, was spending his first days in the front line on 18 February in a position on Makhoul Mountain north of al-Baiji refinery, which has been the scene of prolonged battles between Isis and Iraqi government forces over the past 18 months. I was scouting for targets 300 metres from the Isis trenches, along with three other fighters, when an Isis sniper hit me, he recalls. The bullet shattered his thigh and he is waiting for the second of three operations needed to repair the damage.

The type of injuries inflicted on Hashd militiamen recovering in the Al-Hussein hospital reflects the kind of warfare being by waged by Isis in Iraq and Syria. Although its fighters are generally outnumbered and outgunned, they rely on tactics and weapons that a dozen years of fighting have shown to be effective. Even during the present military stalemate in Iraq, Isis continues to cause its enemies losses by using snipers, suicide bombers, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), booby traps and mortars.

Baiji, after being retaken by Iraqi forces (Getty)

The attrition rate may not high, but it is continuous. Isis is skilled at laying minefields full of pressure mines and booby traps. Hayder Daoud Abdullah, at 44 older than most of the other Hashd fighters, had entered such an area in Ramadi in a vehicle to start defusing mines. But as soon as his mine disposal team left their vehicle and started walking, one of the men detonated a mine that exploded, killing two of them and wounding another two. Mustafa Hashem, a soldier from the 17th division of the Iraqi army, who was in a hospital bed nearby after being wounded by a mortar bomb at Fallujah, is sure that Isis is weaker than before  they have lost a lot of cities  but their decline is gradual and there are few deserters or prisoners.

Nevertheless, Isis has lost Ramadi, the capture of which was their biggest victory last year, as well as Tikrit, Baiji and Sinjar. Road traffic is once again flowing freely along the main highway between Baghdad and the Kurdish north of the country. I would say the road has become 90 per cent safe over the last year, said Ali Karim, a professional driver, which was less than reassuring but clearly an improvement on the days when Isis had cut the country in two. Traffic diminishes at night time, and drivers are nervous, but it is a long time since the last serious attack. Isis dont initiate fighting like they used to do, says Shaikh Maythan Zayd, the civilian director of the Al-Abbas Division, a Hashd unit formed by the Imam Hussein shrine in Karbala. He says that the division has 5,000 combatants and can draw on another 35,000 volunteers.

In pictures: The rise of Isis Show all 74 1 /74 In pictures: The rise of Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters of the Islamic State wave the group's flag from a damaged display of a government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from Islamic State group sit on their tank during a parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from the Islamic State group pray at the Tabqa air base after capturing it from the Syrian government in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from extremist Islamic State group parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping A video uploaded to social networks shows men in underwear being marched barefoot along a desert road before being allegedly executed by Isis Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Haruna Yukawa after his capture by Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Khalinda Sharaf Ajour, a Yazidi, says two of her daughters were captured by Isis militants Washington Post In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Spokesperson for Isis Vice News via Youtube In pictures: The rise of Isis A pro-Isis leaflet A pro-Isis leaflet handed out on Oxford Street In London Ghaffar Hussain In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Isis Jihadists burn their passports In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A man collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A woman collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid Local civilians queue for aid administered by Isis. Since it declared a caliphate the group has increasingly been delivering services such as healthcare, and distributing aid and free fuel In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces detain men suspected of being militants of the Isis group in Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Mourners carry the coffin of a Shi'ite volunteer from the brigades of peace, who joined the Iraqi army and was killed during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Samarra, during his funeral in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Shiite Turkmen family fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, arrives at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi A photograph made from a video by the jihadist affiliated group Furqan Media via their twitter account allegedly showing Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivering a sermon during Friday prayers at a mosque in Mosul. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamist caliphate in the territory under the group's control in Iraq and Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Smoke and debris go up in the air as Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul. Images posted online show that Islamic extremists have destroyed at least 10 ancient shrines and Shiite mosques in territory - the city of Mosul and the town of Tal Afar - they have seized in northern Iraq in recent weeks In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq A bulldozer destroys Sunni's Ahmed al-Rifai shrine and tomb in Mahlabiya district outside of Tal Afar In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces celebrate after clashes with followers of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi, in front of his home in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi at his home after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A vehicle burns in front of a home of a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman holds her exhausted son as over 1000 Iraqis who have fled fighting in and around the city of Mosul and Tal Afar wait at a Kurdish checkpoint in the hopes of entering a temporary displacement camp in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees Displaced Iraqi women hold pots as they queue to receive food during the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, at an encampment for displaced Iraqis who fled from Mosul and other towns, in the Khazer area outside Irbil, north Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A militant Islamist fighter waving a flag, cheers as he takes part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters wave flags as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters travel in a vehicle as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade with a missile in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from an al-Qaida splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from the splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters hold a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A member loyal to the Isis waves an Isis flag in Raqqa In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi anti-government gunmen from Sunni tribes in the western Anbar province march during a protest in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The United Nations warned that Iraq is at a "crossroads" and appealed for restraint, as a bloody four-day wave of violence killed 195 people. The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that broke out in Sunni areas of the Shiite-majority country more than four months ago, raising fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces hold up a flag of the Isis group they captured during an operation to regain control of Dallah Abbas north of Baqouba, the capital of Iraq's Diyala province, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Isis fighters parade in the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, demonstrate their skills during a graduation ceremony after completing their field training in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Kurdish Peshmerga troops fire a cannon during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Jalawla, Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference Iraqi Prime Minister's security spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference about the latest military development in Iraq, in the capital Baghdad. Iraqi forces pressed a campaign to retake militant-held Tikrit, clashing with jihadist-led Sunni militants nearby and pounding positions inside the city with air strikes in their biggest counter-offensive so far In pictures: The rise of Isis A police station building destroyed by Isis fighters An exterior view of a police station building destroyed by gunmen in Mosul city, northern Iraq. Iraq's new parliament is expected to convene to start the process of setting up a new government, despite deepening political rifts and an ongoing Islamist-led insurgency. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani issued a decree inviting the new House of Representatives to meet and form a new government In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Smoke billows from an area controlled by the Isis between the Iraqi towns of Naojul and Tuz Khurmatu, both located north of the capital Baghdad, as Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces take part in an operation to repel the Sunni militants In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An elderly Iraqi woman is helped into a temporary displacement camp for Iraqis caught-up in the fighting in and around the city of Mosul in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Christian woman fleeing the violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kms east of the northern province of Nineveh, cries upon her arrival at a community center in the Kurdish city of Arbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman, who fled with her family from the northern city of Mosul, prays with a copy of the Quran AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq The body of an Isis militant killed during clashes with Iraqi security forces on the outskirts of the city of Samarra Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi civilians inspect the damage at a market after an air strike by the Iraqi army in central Mosul EPA In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Members of the Al-Abbas brigades, who volunteered to protect the Shiite Muslim holy sites in Karbala against Sunni militants fighting the Baghdad government, parade in the streets of the city AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Shia tribesmen gather in Baghdad to take up arms against Sunni insurgents marching on the capital. Thousands have volunteered to bolster defences AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A van carrying volunteers joining Iraqi security forces against Jihadist militants. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteered to fight AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters of the Isis group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An Islamist fighter, identified as Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni from Britain (R), speaks in this still image taken undated video shot at an unknown location and uploaded to a social media website. Five Islamist fighters identified as Australian and British nationals have called on Muslims to join the wars in Syria and Iraq, in the new video released by the Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Al-Qaida inspired militants stand with captured Iraqi Army Humvee at a checkpoint belonging to Iraqi Army outside Beiji refinery some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad. The fighting at Beiji comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes targeting the militants from the Isis group. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground, officials said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants attacked Iraq's main oil refinein Baiji as they pressed an offensive that has seen them capture swathes of territory, a manager and a refinery employee said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants from the Isis group parading with their weapons in the northern city of Baiji in the in Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A smoke rises after an attack by Isis militants on the country's largest oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and said they regained partial control of a city near the Syrian border, trying to blunt an offensive by Sunni militants who diplomats fear may have also seized some 100 foreign workers In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group stand next to captured vehicles left behind by Iraqi security forces at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province. For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An injured fighter (C) from the Isis group after a battle with Iraqi soldiers at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis aiming at advancing Iraqi troops at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group taking position at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group inspecting vehicles of the Iraqi army after they were seized at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq One Iraqi captive, a corporal, is reluctant to say the slogan, and has to be shouted at repeatedly before he obeys Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group force captured Iraqi security forces members to the transport In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group transporting dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A major offensive spearheaded by Isis but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three others In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants taking position at a Iraqi border post on the Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis rebels show their flag after seizing an army post AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants waving an Islamist flag after the seizure of an Iraqi army checkpoint in Salahuddin Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Demonstrators chant slogans as they carry al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. In the week since it captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, a Muslim extremist group has tried to win over residents and has stopped short of widely enforcing its strict brand of Islamic law, residents say. Churches remain unharmed and street cleaners are back at work

What keeps Isis in business is as much the divisions of its enemies as its own strength. The Hashd (popular mobilisation units) were created in the panicky atmosphere after Isis captured Mosul and were advancing on Baghdad in June 2014. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling on people to aid the defeated Iraqi security forces. Out of this grew an organised militia force made up in part of volunteers who joined up at the time of the fatwa and in part on well-established Shia paramilitary units such as the Badr Organisation, Kataeb Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, all of which are deemed to be under Iranian influence. The Hashd claim to be 100,000 strong but a more realistic figure is probably between 35,000 and 50,000 combatants, though they can draw on a much larger reservoir of volunteers.

A soldier in Jweibah (AFP/Getty)

Since the fall of Mosul, the Hashd have become one more power centre in Iraq, paid for by the Iraqi state but not quite under its control. The Iraqi army has never recovered from the defeats of 2014, though it does have a limited number of elite combat units which can call in air strikes by the US-led coalition, giving it devastating fire power. Where Isis makes a stand it is pulverised by bombs and missiles, enabling the Iraqi army or Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga to act as a mopping-up force. The US is wary of Hashd, which it views as a Shia sectarian and pro-Iranian force, while Shia leaders denounce conspiracies by the US to marginalise the Hashd in the war. A senior religious official said that the US and Iraq leaders fear the power of the militia, but all conspiracies against the Hashd will fail.

Quarrels dividing Isiss opponents in Iraq have visibly contributed to the present military stalemate. I visited a Hashd detachment from the Al-Abbas division that is taking part alongside the Kurdish Peshmerga in the siege of Bashir, a small town held by Isis south-west of Kirkuk. Blown-up bridges and wrecked buildings on the main road north from Baghdad are evidence of fierce fighting when Isis was at the height of its power. Colonel Karim Hassan says: Isis only has 100 men in Bashir and is encircled on all sides except the west by ourselves and the Peshmerga. The Isis fighters have little artillery and rely on IEDS and suicide bombers, while the Hashd proudly show off their 122mm and 130mm artillery, firing shells into Bashir from 10 kilometres away. So why hasnt Bashir fallen? Colonel Hassan says: We have been waiting for four or five months for the order to take Bashir, but the order has never come.

Iraqi forces after retaking Ramadi earlier this month (AFP/Getty)

Driving up from Baghdad, we passed a long column of armoured vehicles belonging to an Iraqi army division heading north to take up positions east of Mosul. It was the capture of this city that launched Isis on its 100 days of conquest in the summer of 2014 when it seized much of western Iraq and eastern Syria. But Isis is today very much at bay, facing pressure on every front.

Iraqi politicians and parties know that exactly who is on top when Isis is defeated  Iraqi army, Hashd, Peshmerga  will go far to determine who holds power in Iraq in future. The central government is restraining the Hashd and the peshmerga from taking Bashir and other Isis strongholds because it does not want them to fill the vacuum left by the ousting of Isis before it can do so itself.

It could be that all concerned are dividing up the tigers skin before the tiger is properly dead.
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Saudi Arabia is accused of bombing a busy market in Yemen, killing at least 30 people in the latest alleged atrocity in its controversial air campaign.

At least 22 civilians were said to be among the dead in the Nihm district of Sanaa governorate, which houses the countrys capital.

Yemeni security officials announced the deaths on Saturday, saying burned bodies were left strewn through the area.

A Yemeni inspects the damage following a Saudi-led airstrike targeting a neighborhood in Sana'a, Yemen, 27 February 2016. (EPA)

The country is in the grip of a year-long civil war between forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the rebel Supreme Revolutionary Committee, which controls large swathes of the country, including Sanaa.

The conflict has allowed al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and its affiliates to gain a significant foothold, with some towns also being seized by Isis.

Saudi Arabia is leading a military coalition in support of the Hadi government, waging a campaign of air strikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels. But it has been accused of killing thousands of civilians while bombing hospitals, schools, mosques, and weddings.

The worsening humanitarian crisis has driven criticism of arms sales to Saudi Arabia by Britain, the US, France, Germany and other nations who sold drones, missiles and bombs worth $25 billion (18 billion) to the Saudis in last year.

 Pro-government forces make gains in Yemen

The European Parliament voted in favour of an EU-wide embargo on selling arms to Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

A resolution calling for a ban on all weapons sales to the country was passed by 359 votes to 212, with 31 MEPs abstaining.

While international observers have recognised abuses on all sides, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, said that a disproportionate number of attacks of civilians in Yemen had come from the Saudi-led invasion force.

Earlier this month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: Yemen is in flames. Coalition air strikes in particular continue to strike hospitals, schools, mosques and civilian infrastructures.

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

Signatories of the Arms Trade Treaty, which has the aim of reducing the human suffering by imposing restrictions on countries that violate international law, will meet in Geneva on Monday.

Amnesty International is among the groups calling on nations to set their hypocrisy aside and stop sales to Saudi Arabia.

These countries are arming and aiding a campaign thats bombing, killing and starving civilians, said the groups Yemeni researcher Nawal al-Maghafi.

I have witnessed the reality Yemenis are having to endure - watching bodies pulled from underneath the rubble in Sana'a or seeing body parts strewn across the site of a water-plant hit by an airstrike in Hajjah or attending a wedding party only to see it turn into a funeral.

The Yemen conflict has killed more than 6,000 people since March 2015 and wounded over 35,000 more, according to the latest UN figures.

Additional reporting by AP
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Suspected Russian warplanes have conducted air-raids in north-western Syria on the second day of a shaky international truce.

Rival powers traded accusations about violations of the cessation of hostilities agreed by Washington and Moscow but all sides said they would persevere with the deal, aimed at halting a five-year conflict that has claimed at least 250,000 lives.

Salim al-Muslat, a spokesman for the main Syrian opposition delegation, said the group would complain to the United Nations about alleged Russian air strikes in the northern province of Aleppo and attacks by Hezbollah in the town of Zabadani near the border with Lebanon. The Syrian Civil Defence rescue service claimed that Russian jets also targeted civilian homes in a cluster bomb attack on the Idlib town of Jisr al-Shughur, killing a pregnant woman and injuring 12 others. But Mr al-Muslat told AFP that, despite alleged breaches, the situation in Syria was generally a lot better than before and people are comfortable.

The Russian militarys co-ordination centre in Syria said it had information that an artillery attack had been launched from Turkish soil against Kurdish militia in the border town of Tal Abyad. It also reported six instances of shelling in Damascus from areas held by what it called the moderate opposition but Lt Gen Sergei Kuralenko, the head of the centre, said that the plan was holding firm in general.

The truce is the most ambitious attempt yet to halt the spiralling conflict in Syria, which has caused mass devastation and forced 11 million people from their homes.

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

Aid agencies hope they will soon be able to deliver food and medicine to the thousands living under siege in areas including Deir al-Zour and the suburbs of Damascus. In Madaya, a town near the Lebanese border besieged by pro-Assad forces for more than six months, activists said that a six-year-old boy, Mohammed Abi Ayoub, died on Saturday from malnourishment. They warned that up to 70 other children in the town were facing a similar fate.

The truce came into force at midnight on Friday. On Saturday Russia announced it would ground its airforce after a five-month campaign of bombardment to avoid any possible mistakes. However, activists, analysts and Saudi Arabia said that Russian planes on Sunday resumed operations along with Syrian government helicopters and jets.

All parties to the deal agree that jihadist group Isis and al-Qaeda offshoot Jabhat al-Nusra are excluded from it but differences remain over which areas of Syria should be considered legitimate targets for attacks. The opposition complained that it had not been granted access to maps swapped by Russia and the United States or documents explaining the processes for monitoring and violations.

In many areas, however, Syrians marvelled at the calm. Mahmoud Hassan, a civil-society activist in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, said: People are outside, going for walks, visiting the shops. Especially because the weather is nice and warm. He said that everyone was praying that the deal would hold. People are tired. We hate the death and the blood and the carnage. Weve had enough.
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Syria enjoyed a rare spell of relative calm as Russian war planes were grounded and fighting halted in much of the country in the first day of an unprecedented international truce.

There were reports of a string of violations, a car bombing and clashes with Islamist State (Isis) jihadists but, as darkness fell on Saturday, activists, analysts and diplomats voiced surprise that a ceasefire widely expected to fail had exceeded expectations.

Many remained deeply sceptical that the pause would hold but others expressed tentative optimism that it could be a turning point in a devastating five-year war that has killed at least 250,000 people, created millions of refugees and destabilised the entire region.

Recommended Read more Why the Syria ceasefire is not all that it seems

The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, said that the early indications were quite reassuring, adding: The first night and first day certainly gave the impression that everyone is serious in their commitment to keep on going with this cessation of hostilities.

After a day of intense fighting and heavy bloodshed on Friday, the deal struck by the United States, Russia and 15 other major powers began at midnight Syrian time.

Writing at 12.08am, Hadi Abdullah, an activist and citizen journalist based in the rebel-held Idlib province, marvelled that he had enjoyed a five full minutes without hearing the sound of fighter planes in the sky.

As the day wore on, reports of attacks began to emerge, but all sides agreed there was a substantial fall in the nationwide level of violence. Speaking yesterday afternoon from Douma, a restive suburb of Damascus where heavy air strikes killed eight people on Friday, activist Firas Abdullah was still getting used to the quiet. For me, it is an unusual day, he told The Independent on Sunday. I get tired from seeing blood, air strikes, body parts. Today there are no bombs or air strikes on the city and no attacks.

He said that people were still frightened and deeply mistrustful of the intentions of the government of President Bashar al-Assad after countless failed attempts at peace. But he said that, instead of rushing around documenting deaths and injuries and transmitting them to the outside world, he had experienced a calm day for once. Today is a rest.

In Aleppo, where the rebel-held east of the city has come under heavy bombardment in recent weeks, locals said that there had been no attacks. Right now it is a very quiet day, said Dr Osama Abo El Ezz, a surgeon who spends most of his time treating catastrophic injuries caused by missile strikes and barrel bombs.

After a punishing five-month campaign of aerial bombardment in support of the Syrian government, Moscow announced that its aircraft would be grounded for now to avoid any possible mistakes, even though it plans to continue strikes against Isis and the al-Qaeda offshoot Jabhat al-Nusra  designated terrorist groups that are excluded from the deal.

There were a string of reports of violations of the deal. In the crucial northern province of Latakia, the First Coastal Division rebel group said three of its fighters were killed repelling a government attack at 4am. It later claimed that regime helicopters dropped eight barrel bombs on the area in an incident that one Western diplomat described as an obvious violation.

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 Damascus, the Syrian capital, state media said that terrorist groups had fired several rockets on residential areas from the rebel-held suburbs of Douma and Jobar. Monitors reported other alleged violations in the provinces of Idlib, Hama, and Damascus itself.

But Abraham al-Hassan, a spokesman for the Syrian Civil Defence rescue service, said: Compared to other days, it has been quiet. It is a little bit surprising. We are waiting to see. The response to violations remains unclear.

Isis fighters launched several attacks after the truce went into effect, including an offensive on the northern town of Tal Abyad and at least one suicide bombing in the central province of Hama. Despite issuing a call for rebel factions to intensify their attacks, Jabhat al-Nusra appeared to have exercised restraint.

The agreement is the first attempt at a national ceasefire since April 2012, when an effort to halt the fighting quickly unravelled. Almost four years later, with several hundred thousand more dead, Washington and Moscow managed to strike a surprise agreement earlier this month for a temporary pause in the fighting. If the truce holds, Mr de Mistura plans to resume peace talks between the warring sides on 7 March.

Many have voiced scepticism about Russias commitment to a ceasefire, with opposition activists and rebels groups fearing that it will be used as an excuse to pause and consolidate gains before continuing with the fighting.

But Dmitri Trenin, director of the Carnegie Endowments Moscow centre, said that a successful pause would help Russia achieve its aim of being recognised as a co-equal in the Syria peace efforts.
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War planes have attacked six Syrian towns in the western part of Aleppo province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as the fragile ceasefire in the region entered its second day.

A day after the cessation of hostiles started the war planes, believed to be either Russian or Syrian, bombed the villages of Daret Azzeh and Qobtan al-Jabal. According to the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights the identity of the jets was not clear. Local Coordination Committees said the warplanes were Russian.

The partial cessation of hostilities, however, appears to remain broadly intact with an overall slowdown in the fighting.

Syrias main opposition grouping recorded over a dozen violations by government troops and allies on the first day of the landmark truce, a spokesman told news agency AFP.

"There were 15 violations by the regime forces on day one of the ceasefire, including two attacks by (Lebanese militant group) Hezbollah in Zabadani" west of Damascus, said Salem al-Meslet, spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee.

US officials urged participants in the fragile ceasefire to give peace a chance. "Setbacks are inevitable," the senior administration official said. "Even under the best of circumstances, we don't expect the violence to end immediately. In fact, we are certain that there will continue to be fighting, in part because of organizations like ISIL and Al Nusra."

The ceasefire deal brokered by Moscow and Washington excludes territory held by the jihadist groups the so-called Islamic State and the Al-Qaeda affiliate Al Nusra. The two groups together control more than half of Syria. It began at midnight on Saturday (22:00 GMT Friday).

In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Show all 20 1 /20 In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Syrian citizens check a damaged house that targeted by the coalition airstrikes, in the village of Kfar Derian, a base for the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, a rival of the Isis group, between the northern province of Aleppo and Idlib In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria A Syrian boy (L) looking at a destroyed car that activists say was targeted by the coalition airstrikes, in the village of Kfar Derian, a base for the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, a rival of the Islamic State group, between the northern province of Aleppo and Idlib In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Parts of a missile that activists say was fired by coalition airstrikes, in the village of Kfar Derian, a base for the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, a rival of the Isis group, between the northern province of Aleppo and Idlib In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Tthe guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) launching Tomahawk cruise missiles against Isis targets In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria The USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) launches a Tomahawk cruise missiles in the Red Sea, to conduct strike missions against Isis group targets in Syria In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria The guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) launching a Tomahawk cruise missile against Isis targets in Syria, as seen from the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in the Arabian Gulf In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria US navy sailors standing watch on the bridge while Tomahawk cruise missiles are launched against Isis targets in Syria, aboard the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG 58), in the Arabian Gulf In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria An F/A-18C Hornet, attached to Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 87 prepares to launch from the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) in the Arabian Gulf, to conduct strike missions against Isis group targets AFP/Robert Burck In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria The US-led airstrikes in Syria against Isis targets in and around the city of Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria A fighter from the Isis group holds a piece of what the IS is saying is a US drone that crashed into a communications tower in the Syrian city of Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Fighters from the Isis organisation pray at the spot where the jihadist group said a US drone crashed into a communications tower in the Syrian city of Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Fighters from the Isis group load a van with parts that they said was a US drone that crashed into a communications tower in the Syrian city of Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Fighters from the Isis group load a van with parts that they said was a US drone that crashed into a communications tower in Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Fighters from the Isis group gesture as they load a van with parts that they said was a US drone that crashed into a communications tower in Raqqa. A US-led coalition on carried out its first air strikes and missile attacks against jihadist positions in Syria, with Damascus saying it had been informed by Washington before the operation began In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria A Syrian man rides his bike past a communications tower that was destroyed after a US drone crashed into it, according to fighters with the Isis group, in the Syrian city of Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria People inspect a shop damaged after what Isis militants say was a U.S. drone crashed into a communication station nearby in Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria A man holds the remains of what Isis militants say was a U.S. drone which crashed in Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria Resident gather in the back of a van the remains of what Isis militants say was a drone which crashed in Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria A man inspects the remains of what Isismilitants say was a U.S. drone which crashed into a communication tower in Raqqa In pictures: Syria air strikes (2014) Syria A man inspects the remains of what Isis militants say was a U.S. drone which crashed in Raqqa

The Russian defence ministry said on Sunday that the ceasefire had been breached nine times over the past 24 hours, including by Turkey. The violations were committed by moderate rebels as well as "terrorist organisations," the ministry said.

UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has said that peace talks will resume on 7 March if the truce "largely holds", adding that he had no doubt there would be "no shortage of attempts to undermine this process".

The UN resolution names about 30 areas in dire need of aid, including eastern eastern city of Deir al-Zour, which is under siege by the so-called Islamic State. The Syrian opposition umbrella group the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) reportedly said almost 100 rebel factions have agreed to respect the truce.

Additional reporting by agencies
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Iranians are voting in elections this weekend, and early results show very strong gains for moderates and reformists, at the expense of hard-line conservatives.

This election is arguably Irans most important in decades, for a variety of reasons.

Whats being elected?

Iranians stand in line at a polling station in Qom (AP)

This round of elections is to decide who sits in the 290-seat Iranian parliament  also known as the Majlis  and the Assembly of Experts  a powerful 88-seat constitutional council.

The Majlis is elected every four years, and is in charge of creating day-to-day laws and holding the Government, led by the president, to account.

It can and has dismissed cabinet ministers and can dismiss the president  as well as propose legislation.

The main role of the Assembly of Experts is to choose the Supreme Leader, the head of state of Iran.

Iran has had two supreme leaders since the 1979 revolution and both have served for life (so far)  though the Assembly can in theory dismiss them every eight years.

Are the elections free and fair?

An Iranian woman holds up a poster of Mohammad Reza Aref, a prominent reformist candidate (AP)

Most observers agree the votes have been counted properly, but the Iranian constitution is not what we would describe as a liberal democracy.

The biggest difference is that candidates for the Majlis and the Assembly of Experts have to be vetted by another constitutional body  the Guardian Council  which is half elected by the Majlis itself and half appointed by the Supreme Leader.

At this election over 12,000 people signed up as candidates but 5,200 candidates, mostly reformists and moderates, were rejected by the Guardian Council, while another 600 withdrew.

In this sense there is an in-built bias towards hardliners  or rather, an inbuilt bias towards whoever the Supreme Leader is.

Additionally, members of the Assembly of Experts have to be learned Islamic clerics.

Why are these elections so important?

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei the Supreme Leader of Iran (AP)

The Assembly of Experts is most important when a Supreme Leader dies  no sitting Supreme Leader has ever been removed before their death.

Ali Khamenei, the current Supreme Leader, is aged 76. Foreign media reports suggest he may have prostate cancer and there have been rumours that he has been ill for around a decade.

This means it is very likely that the next Supreme Leader will be picked by this Assembly of Experts, who will sit until Khamenei is 84 years old. (Average life expectancy in Iran is 73 years.)

Why is choosing the next Supreme Leader so important?

Late former supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini returning to Iran in 1979 (AFP/Getty)

The Supreme Leader sits above the president and commands huge power within the Iranian constitution.

Khamenei is a hardliner and the centrepiece of the conservative establishment  his fatwas have targeted everything from music education in schools to womens rights.

The Supreme Leaders power to appoint half the Guardian Council that vets election candidates essentially means that the Government cannot become more reformist than the Supreme Leader allows.

The election of a moderate or even reforming Supreme Leader would allow elections to be conducted more freely, because they would appoint the election vetting Guardian Council.

The Supreme Leader also holds the powers for directly reforming the constitution. Khameneis predecessor Khomeini used the power in 1989 to set up an assembly to reform the constitution.

If a hardliner is elected again, Iranians will likely have to wait until Khameneis successor dies for another serious chance at reform.

If a refomer or moderate is elected, Iran could change significantly.

What about the nuclear deal?

An Iranian nuclear facility (Getty Images)

While the economy has been a big issue at the election, the result will also be seen as cementing public approval for Hassan Rouhanis nuclear deal.

This is important for the President, who has fulfilled one of his election promises, and who took significant criticism from hardliners in the Iranian government and press.

A bigger group of supportive MPs in parliament is also likely to allow Mr Rouhani to make the domestic changes to personal freedoms that he has promised.

What are the results showing?

Iranian journalists follow election results at Iran's interior ministry (EPA)

Results are still coming in, but as of Sunday night London time pro-Rouhani moderates have taken all 30 parliamentary seats in the capital Tehran  a huge victory. The first Conservative candidate Gholamali Haddad-Adel finished in 31st place.

Reformists are likely to have done less well outside Tehran, but the result is still significant.

In the all-important Assembly of Experts elections, the current conservative chair Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi has been forced out, while arch-hardliner Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi has also lost his seat. Moderates, including Rouhani himself, appear to have been elected to the assembly.

Full results should be known early in the week  but the current picture is one that gives Iran its best shot at getting a moderate Supreme Leader, and its best shot at reform.
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I am not a fan of Sir David Nicholson, the former National Health Service chief executive. His appointment sent out a terrible signal when he was indelibly linked in a previous post to the worst health scandal this century: all those needless deaths in a mid-Staffordshire hospital. Any decent person would have fallen on their scalpel and slunk away, especially given the persistent problem of woeful failures blighting patient care in this country. And his tenure in the top job was open to criticism.

But Nicholson is correct about one thing: the need for a dedicated health tax to fund the service and stop us sleepwalking into disaster. Speaking last week at a debate in London, he accused politicians from all parties of lacking compelling vision for the NHS. He could have added that this was except for their readiness to spout pathetic platitudes about the institution being the wonder of the world, when in actual fact evidence shows patient outcomes are often rather poor.

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The former NHS boss went on to argue for a hypothecated tax on the grounds that voters would not swallow fresh tax rises to drive up standards without knowing where the money would be spent. This is true. But the issue goes far wider than simply winning political cover to throw some more money into the insatiable health service. As shown once again by the junior doctors strike, we need to change the terms of debate and the balance of power to achieve a modern, thriving health service.

We are about to endure six more days of strike action by junior doctors, fast becoming the biggest breakdown in relations between the government and medical staff since the NHS was created almost seven decades ago. The British Medical Association dresses its protest up as concerning safety when it is simply a pay dispute by workers protecting weekend overtime rates. Such is our nations strange sanctification of its health service, these union bosses act like they own a public service secure in the knowledge that medics tend to win tussles against politicians.

This underscores wider issues. Politicians get blamed for failures, power lies with staff, and patients too often end up getting inadequate service in shoddy conditions. I do not want to traduce the entire workforce, who daily achieve miracles in difficult circumstances. There has never been a better time to fall ill given astonishing medical advances combined with more staff, safer hospitals, fewer infections and lower death rates. The number of operations performed almost doubled in a decade. But while the NHS appears efficient, the legacy of its patched-up service is a series of patient scandals and comparatively poor performances on many indices from cancer survival to infant mortality.

The governments effort to force through improved seven-day service is the latest tentative attempt to tackle deficiencies, following on from policies such as internal markets and the introduction of personalised budgets for long-term conditions. From the start of the NHS, doctors have resisted reform and then been bribed into acceptance. Meanwhile healthcare costs are soaring for a multitude of reasons and pressures building on everyone involved  doctors, nurses, managers, ancillary staff and politicians alike.

Yes, the NHS has seemed in perpetual crisis almost since foundation  but at some point something has to give. People will continue to live longer and get fatter. There will be growing numbers of people with costly complex conditions (the patients, usually old or disabled, that invariably suffer when the system cracks). There will be more drugs created, more treatments made available, more scientific advances, more technologies invented. These are all things to celebrate but they tend to come with an attached price tag.

Under Labour, funding for the NHS almost doubled in real terms over the first decade of this century, leading to absurd claims the tanker had been turned. The coalition ring-fenced spending, then the Tories pledged an extra 8bn by the end of their time in office. Yet they are routinely accused of privatisation and cuts, many hospitals are in deficit, social care is suffering and even respected experts say the NHS faces its biggest squeeze in history.

More money is not the only answer to NHS problems, but it is a key part of the solution. Its budget has ballooned by more than twelve times in real terms over its history and will keep on spiralling upwards; it would swallow Britains entire income in half a century if allowed to rise at the same rate as under Tony Blair. There have been suggestions of new charges used in other countries: for seeing general practioners, missing appointments and staying overnight in hospital. But even if all three levies were introduced at 10 each, they would raise only 3bn  helpful, but peanuts in health terms.

We need to change the national conversation. The nation needs to stop worshipping a flawed, outdated institution that the public perceives as free by forcing people to see the real costs and dilemmas. The only way to do this is through a dedicated NHS tax. If voters saw the sums taken from their pay towards the NHS, this might promote a more mature discussion about the costs and provision of health care. It could also encourage better and more transparent management, ideally devolved to frontline medical teams, and make patients less sanguine about poor services, care failures and inadequate facilities. The alternative is to let a sickly patient struggle on to a sad death.
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Now that a Daily Telegraph columnist, Boris Johnson, has pitted himself against a former ITV PR man, David Cameron, the media can narrate the EU referendum in the personalised language it loves: a story of jealousy, ambition and betrayal.

Whatever the publics ultimate engagement with the historic vote on 23 June, we can be sure that the Fourth Estate will cover the In/Out story with greater relish than if it had been a contest between Mr Cameron and Nigel Farage, who was the Prime Ministers preferred adversary. Of course it doesnt mean we will have a better debate on the detail of the relative merits of Brussels or Brexit.

Both Johnson and Cameron have a deep instinctive understanding of the workings of the media and its influence in determining elections. We can be sure that, before Boris put his career on the line by becoming the new figurehead of the Leave campaign, the former editor of The Spectator made careful calculations as to which newspapers would join his line of battle.

The problem for him is that this campaign is not like a general election; so much about it is counter-intuitive. Mr Cameron finds himself in the same camp as almost the whole of the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties. He will hope for a more sympathetic press in the next four months from liberal pro-EU titles, notably The Guardian and The Independent, than might normally be the case. The Financial Times, apparently reflecting the pro-Brussels views of the Square Mile, has also backed the Remain campaign, as has the Daily Mirror.

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But when it comes to the so-called Tory press, the picture is almost as complex as on the Conservative benches in Westminster. It would be naive to think that these titles will be immune, on an issue of such economic significance, to the views of their powerful owners. But they will also weigh the instincts of their readerships  and thats where some intriguing dichotomies arise.

Johnson cannot be certain of the support of his own paper. For although the core of Telegraph readers are  like the Tory grassroots the Mayor of London courts  profoundly Eurosceptic, the papers owners Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay, and Sir Davids son Aidan, chairman of Telegraph Media Group, are sympathetic to the concerns of business that Brexit would have detrimental consequences for the economy.

Such agonising is reflected in the papers pages, with the Business section leading on Friday with the warnings from Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, that Brexit would be negative on all fronts, while an op-ed piece from deputy editor Allister Heath celebrated the idea of quitting the EU, saying it would be a catalyst for constitutional revolution.

At the London Bridge headquarters of News UK, things are even more knotty. A recent Sunday Times editorial on the referendum was a model of equanimity. Professing no allegiance, it placed itself outside either spin operation as it promised to interrogate the evidence behind the propaganda.

The Times has been similarly Sphinx-like in declaring its affiliation, although its publication of a pro-EU letter from 36 FTSE 100 chief executives has given comfort to Downing Street.

Rupert Murdoch, who owns these papers, has been less equivocal, tweeting criticisms of Mr Camerons non-deal EU reforms and applauding his friend Michael Gove, the Justice Secretary, for his principles in backing Brexit. Murdochs tabloid, The Sun, is vehemently anti-Brussels, telling the Prime Minister this week: People can see for themselves Mr Cameron. There is no reformed EU.

Its hostility to Europe is matched by the Daily Express, whose owner Richard Desmond backed Mr Farages Ukip editorially and financially at the general election. The Ukip leader is desperate to be a visible champion of the Leave campaign and, even if strategists would like him to take a step back, he will never be short of offers of airtime from television producers. Nonetheless, Express columnist and spy author, Frederick Forsyth, feeds the conspiracy theory that a pro-Europe establishment is dominating the media. You can see them in every paper, every TV debate, he complained.

The Daily Mail does not seem to share that view. In an extraordinary leader last Thursday it embraced the BBC for its even-handed coverage of the referendum. Theyre doing a grand job, it declared, acknowledging that these are words you might not expect in the Mail. In British media terms, this was a coupling as unlikely as the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, and coincided with one of the broadcasters darkest moments; publication of Dame Janet Smiths report on the BBCs complicity in the crimes of Jimmy Savile and Stuart Hall.

BBC News might be disconcerted by this endorsement of its journalism by the Mail. It normally cites criticism from the paper, along with similar gripes from the political left, as evidence of its neutrality. Unlike newspapers, broadcast news organisations are forbidden by Ofcom rules from cheerleading for either side. But they  and the BBC in particular  will not be able to avoid social media accusations of bias, justified or not. The Scottish referendum campaign showed how these polarising constitutional issues have the potential to damage the BBCs reputation and the final weeks of this two-horse EU race will be a supreme test for its newsroom.

The Mail has no such worries; its very essence is its sharply defined ideology. And the papers historic distrust of Europe dovetails conveniently with its dislike of the Prime Minister, who it subjects to relentless personal attacks. Stories that support the Remain campaign are reported in the Mail with disdain, accompanied by a campaigning Planet Fear red stamp logo. Now HSBC talks down the pound, it noted this week with audible exasperation. PMs new scare: the cost of your holiday will rise, was another story given the Planet Fear treatment.

It was reputedly the Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine, wife of Mr Gove, who gave her husband the line that the EU is an analogue union in a digital age. The Leave campaign will need this suggestion that it is internet savvy, given the presentational PR problems arising from having competing campaigns (Vote Leave, Leave.EU, and umbrella group Grassroots Out) and a phalanx of leaders (Johnson, Farage, Gove).

It can count on the Mails backing, but not necessarily that of the Mail on Sunday, which revealed Johnsons secret dinner with Brexit ally Gove and appears closer to the thinking of the chairman of the Daily Mail and General Trust, Jonathan Harmsworth, fourth Viscount Rothermere, who is regarded as pro-European. In a leader article, the MoS talked of equally matched sides each with strong arguments and persuasive spokesmen and women. It concluded: Let the great debate begin.

The campaign will surely get nastier in the weeks ahead but, for a few months at least, there is a different order in the politics of the British press.
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Everyone hates my suitcase. Two years ago, the handle got jammed and refuses to go down. It sticks up stubbornly at half mast, claiming extra space on baggage reclaim belts and train luggage racks. When asked why I dont replace it, I'll say the squat, maroon, pull-along is the perfect size. This is a lie: the case is too big for budget airline cabin baggage and not roomy enough for a week away.

My mum bought it for me in February 1999 when, aged seven I made my first trip as an unaccompanied minor on a British Airways flight.

On Friday, the airline announced that it would be ending its 'Skyflier Solo' programme, which has long ensured safe air passage of children between the ages of five and 12. The airline put in place the cost-cutting measure in response to dwindling demand, down by 21 per cent in 2015.

Google the service and you'd be forgiven for thinking BA only ferried under 12s from Hong Kong or New York to English boarding schools. But unremarkable kids donned those bright blue document lanyards to make unremarkable journeys, too. Its on them that the real impact of scrapping this scheme will fall.

In the six months prior to my suitcase purchase, my parents moved from Sheffield to far-flung corners of the UK: Mum to the Dorset coast, Dad back home to County Derry, Northern Ireland. I wasnt thrilled with this arrangement: bloody southerners laughed at my short vowels, my Yorkshire-born rabbit died from heatstroke and my Dad was now in another country. The sweetener was that I would fly to visit him - and my tribe of extended family - every school holiday.

In fact, BAs unaccompanied minor program was a decisive factor in my parents being able to take such different paths. For an extra 50 (before closing it rose to 90 for European and 108 for long-haul flights) I would be safely transported from my teary goodbye with my Mum in Southampton to the arrivals hall of Belfast City Airport, where Id launch myself into my fathers arms.

Now, only over 12s can fly solo on BA, and on budget airline Easyjet, passengers need to be over 14. For split-parent families on modest incomes the options are, non-existent. Children aged five to 12 either fly with an accompanying adult, or not at all. My fear is that for parents who can't afford to pay for themselves, or for a nanny to accompany their children, it will be the latter.

For a humanities teacher and an organic vegetable farmer, money was very much an object - and had my parents to pay for two tickets for me to travel on a plane, I would likely have visited half as much as I did and had half the relationship with my father.

Studies suggest a lack of access to a parent can cause low self-esteem, lasting into adulthood. The Childrens Society also found those whose involvement with their father is dramatically reduced are 40 per cent more likely than average to suffer depression

For parents living apart from their children, are Skype and FaceTime plugging the gaps? A landmark 2011 ruling legitimised their role in modern parenting, by granting a divorced mother permission to move to Australia with her two children while their father remained in Britain. One of the key justifications was that that his relationship with the children wouldnt be affected, as he could use video calling and messaging to keep in touch.

Families can reconcile separated strands in different ways - though I am grateful that in the age of analogue parenting, there were no options. If I didnt get on a plane, I wouldnt see my dad.

On a superficial level, to my eight-year-old eyes, flying solo on an aeroplane added a glamour to a difficult situation. Yes I was the suitcase kid, but sashaying through the departure gate with a red-lipped, court shoed stewardess, and a copy of Girl Talk under my arm, I felt different  only this time, in a good way. For the hour and 15 minutes it took to fly across the Irish sea I was proud to be that suitcase kid.
During the decade of 1910 to 1920, one entrepreneur from North Dakota started six newspapers in the state and another paper in South Dakota, co-founded and published a popular magazine that had a national distribution, established a bank in Montana and co-founded and managed a soap company in Minneapolis.

Clarence Crockard was a man with remarkable energy who cultivated the trust of influential people in North Dakota. These people even supported him after a federal grand jury convicted him of sending obscene literature through the mail and he was sentenced to the federal prison at Leavenworth.

Clarence Henry Crockard was born June 1, 1884, in Marshall County, Iowa, to Samuel and Minnie (Bowen) Crockard.

In 1907, Clarence Crockard moved to North Dakota and established the Douglas Herald in Ward County. He developed a close friendship with Sam Clark, the mayor of Minot and editor of the Minot Daily Reporter. On Nov. 15, 1909, Crockard was appointed postmaster of Douglas, a position he held until March 1911.

Crockard founded the New England Post in February 1911 and, after establishing the Elgin Times in March, moved to New England to manage his growing enterprise. He established the Selfridge Scout in South Dakota in September and began publishing the Leith Index in October, which he merged the next month with the Raleigh Herald. To better manage his growing newspaper empire, Crockard formed the Slope Publishing Co. in New England in January 1912. In May, he established the Mott Spotlight and closed his publishing operation in New England and moved it to Bismarck.

Crockard maintained a close friendship with Clark and helped him launch a unique new monthly publication called Jim Jam Jems. The aim of both men was to expose corruption, not only at the state level, but also nationally. Clark served as writer and editor, and Crockard was the publisher. This magazine, used propaganda, sensationalism, humor and satire to expose corruption. It was initially sent to newsstand markets in North Dakota, Minnesota and Montana, but soon had a national following.

The first issue was released in March and focused on prostitution in Fargo. Clark was not afraid to take on major institutions, and his prose was peppered with descriptive language. Jim Jam had angered some physicians by disclosing illegal operations performed by doctors in Minnesota and North Dakota. The magazine focused on an alleged fatal abortion performed by a doctor connected with the University of Minnesota. On Nov. 8, Clark and Crockard were indicted by a federal grand jury in Fargo and charged with 28 counts of sending obscene matter through interstate commerce. They were released after putting up $2,500 for bail and promising to appear in U.S. District Court in Bismarck on March 14, 1913.

Before the trial, hundreds of dealers [were] arrested for selling the publication. In March, the Bismarck trial ended in a hung jury, and a retrial was scheduled for late June. On June 26, the jury returned a verdict of guilty, but recommended that a jail sentence not be imposed.

A gasp of astonishment went out from those who gathered in the court room when Judge Charles A. Willard, from St. Paul, sentenced both men to two years in Leavenworth Federal Prison and a $2,000 fine. Not feeling the punishment was harsh enough, the judge called both defendants in the next day and tacked on two additional years. Two days later, Clark and Crockard filed a writ of error. On March 5, 1914, the Supreme Court reversed the Federal Court action and sent it back for retrial. The retrial in Bismarck was scheduled for March 25, 1915.

Throughout all of this, Crockard continued to run his newspaper enterprise, publishing all of his papers each week. Knowing that he was not due back in court for a year, Crockard began looking around for other opportunities. In August 1914, he founded a bank in Circle, Mont., and assumed the role of president.

One week before the retrial, a jury found Dr. Charles Hunter, the principal chair of the University of Minnesota Medical School, guilty of manslaughter in a botched abortion. He was the physician Clark had written about in 1912 that outraged the medical community. Presumably, this information bolstered the defense of Clark and Crockard, and, at the March 25 trial, the jury found both men not guilty.

From 1913 to 1915, Crockard had made many trips to Minneapolis to scout out business opportunities. Believing that he had discovered an ideal investment, Crockard took Thomas H. Tharaldson, a lawyer from the North Dakota attorney generals office, with him in December 1915. After returning to Bismarck, they convinced Clark, Ramsey County Judge Peter J. McClory and North Dakota Attorney General Henry J. Linde to invest money in a Minneapolis soap manufacturing company.

In March 1916, these five men incorporated the Royal Lemon Washing Powder Co., and Crockard volunteered to remain in Minneapolis to run it. He also continued to oversee the Slope Publishing Company and his bank in Montana. By 1921, Crockard had sold or dissolved all of his newspapers to concentrate on running the soap company.

In 1926, a larger soap company in Chehalis, Wash., hired Crockard to run its operation. He remained there for two years and, in 1928, decided to get back in the newspaper publishing business. He moved to Oregon and established the Southeast Portland Index. By 1940, Crockard had joined a larger newspaper in Portland as circulation manager. In 1949, he retired and moved to Los Angeles, where he died on Sept. 4, 1957.
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Tall, grey-haired, statuesque and apparently in her mid-sixties, Anastasia has lived in the Cornish hamlet of Pollwiddleham for the past five years. The village has a slight reputation  no doubt undeserved  for insularity, but it is remarkable how quickly the Flittons have accustomed themselves to the routines of the place. Barry, Anastasia's husband, operates an unofficial taxi service, while his wife has been welcomed into the circle of ladies who arrange the flowers at St Winnold's, the local Anglican church, staff the volunteer-run tea shop, and grub litter out of the hedgerows of the nature trail.

It was about 18 months after the Flittons bought their tiny cottage that rumours began to circulate about Anastasia's former life. They began with the idea, based on her Nordic cheekbones and exemplary carriage, that she had once been a model. Then somebody claimed to have glimpsed her in an episode of Monty Python. Somebody else reported seeing two framed silver discs hanging in her attic. To any enquiries as to what she might have got up to in her younger days, she would reply only that she had once worked in a very minor capacity in the music business.

Rumour hardened into certainty on the Friday evening when BBC Four screened a programme entitled Earth Calling: A History of the Speeding Quarks  nothing less, in fact, than an hour-long documentary on the career of the celebrated 1970s progressive rock band of that name. And there, together with footage of the celebrated "acid casualty"keyboard player Hastings Tourette, was a much younger version of Anastasia, now revealed as the Quarks' backing vocalist, tambourine-player and "uninhibited" exotic dancer.

It was assumed that a sense of delicacy would keep Anastasia away from the tea shop, but no, there she was the very next afternoon, quite unmoved by the darting glances flung at her above the coffee cups. When someone suggested that it must have been rather cold, surely, up there on stage, she remarked that in fact the lights made you sweat like a pig. For a split second the threat of social ostracism hung in the air, only for the tea ladies to discover, unexpectedly, that they were charmed by Anastasia, who had clearly, as one of them put it, "seen a bit of life". A half-decade into her stay at Pollwiddleham, she is as much a tourist attraction as the shell museum or the ghost of Piskey Dyke.
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According to the latest polling, 82 per cent of Londoners would vote to remain in the EU. Nowhere else in the UK is as positive about Britains place in Brussels as the capital. But what if, come 23 June 2016, the rest of the country shows Europe the door? Should the UK decide to leave, Londoners might well wake up the morning after the vote and feel like a city under occupation, a hostage to its own nation.

Would London just have to lump it? Perhaps - but there should be an alternative.

Both Vote Leaves Dominic Cummings and London Mayor Boris Johnson have suggested the idea of a second referendum to decide the terms of any departure. Such a vote, were it to happen, offers the opportunity to get creative with our membership of the EU. One possibility is that, even if Britain votes to leave, London could remain and retain its own distinct links with Europe.

This is not as mad as it might sound. London could become a variant of a charter city - bound by common EU trade laws, including the free movement of people, but the rest of the UK governed outside its jurisdiction. At the very least this is an interesting thought experiment.

Whats the barrier? Some would say rules; I would argue imagination.

The EU has found it agreeable to break its own laws repeatedly and without prejudice. The notion that membership is specific to nation states is simply another law fit to be broken. Given that London is the sixth largest economy in the EU, would they really wish to disenfranchise it?

So far conversation on alternatives to full membership has been bound by existing options, for example, a Norway type deal which offers access to the single market but not a vote on the rules. If there were to be an alternative form of membership for Britain, then why could it not be specific to Britain?

A new city state tier of membership could be created. This would work for London, but could also be an interesting start for non-member states who want into the European club.

Would the British public be amenable? I think they would.

London is already considered a foreign land by many Brits who live or work outside of it. (Great for a visit but couldn't live there, so the saying goes.) This would be a novel extension of George Osborne's devolution revolution, too. London is for, all intents and purposes, a city state anyway; why not codify it with a neat deal between city hall and Number 10 on Europe.

The truth is that, even if Britain leaves the EU, London will remain Europes commercial and cultural capital. Tourists and traders will not say farewell. For better or worse its identity is now defined by its aggressive multiculturalism, far more than any latent blitz spirit.

London belongs to more than we British, my bet is that the rest of Europe wont want to let her go. And quite frankly, who can blame them.
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Did you have a relaxing holiday? Yes and no. I was lucky enough to spend a week away with my family earlier this month, but I always feel torn when I go away, because Nick hates it when I do. I explain to him that I need a break, and Im going with my folks, so its not as though Im heading to Ibiza with a gaggle of single girlfriends. He always replies that he needs a break, too, from the care home, but what he also means is he wants a holiday in his old life, where he could walk on beaches and snowboard down mountains.

This time, though, he was amazing, telling me I needed a rest, and instructing me not to worry about him, about money or about work. As it turned out, there was a fourth option for fretting that neither of us had foreseen: my dad.

On the first morning of our family ski trip (which I had considered cancelling because of worry number two), my dad and I were taking our usual laid-back approach to winter sports. Wed done a couple of easy runs and had a cup of coffee. To feel as though wed earned our lunch, we made ourselves do another 10 minutes. On our final descent, my dad was in front, eyes on the restaurant at the bottom. I pootled behind him, distracted by the view, and the frankly astonishing choice of skiwear colours some of our fellow slope-botherers were sporting.

Then I noticed a crumpled orange blob on the snow. My father, face-down and mangled. He didnt respond when I got closer. Dad! Dad! DADDY! He doesnt do silent, my dad, so I freaked out while the ski police appeared in record time.

Im OK he managed to get out, rolling painfully on to his back while they told him not to. The skier who had collided with him was some metres away, with a leg facing the wrong way. Both injured parties were bundled on to stretchers and were soon on their way to hospital. (I was torn as to whether to take a photo of my dad in the meat wagon: on the one hand, he looked like a big burrito; on the other, 20 minutes earlier Id thought he might be dead. I refrained.)

The X-rays revealed showed that he had a shattered knee, a fractured leg and sternum and a broken thumb. What they didnt show was my dads attitude to being seriously injured: brave and cheerful. He was soon bossing my stepmother around via texts, so we knew hed be OK.

After five days in an Italian hospital, he was flown back to the UK, still bedridden, and much more aware of the challenges of immobility. People kept saying Poor you, but I wasnt in pain. Lying still and not being able to move was hard, but I knew it wasnt for ever. I just kept thinking about Nick. Hes had two years of that, my dad said.

As for using a bedpan, it was the most horrible thing thats ever happened in my life. Poor Nick. So while I was worrying about my dad, he was worrying about Nick. Perhaps Ill head to Ibiza next time, after all.
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Sabra and Shatila were the scene of war crimes. In September of 1982, Israels Lebanese Christian allies  watched by Israeli troops who had surrounded the Palestinian refugee camps  massacred up to 1,700 civilians. It was a place of horror and, much later, of memorial. The mass grave still lies beneath a tide of mud behind a stand of trees where Syrian refugees sell cheap shirts and DVDs. But the names of Sabra and Shatila are today associated with a shame which no one could have imagined 34 years ago .

Drug-dealing has now tainted the camps  by the Syrians more than the Palestinians  and there have been murders and, most tragic of all, prostitution. No one in Sabra and Shatila hides their sorrow. The massacre, the survivors grief, the years of misery and the siege by Shia Amal militiamen  who killed more Palestinians than the Israelis  did not break the Palestinians, but it doesnt take long today to understand the depth of their despair.

What do you expect when a refugee population lives in this poverty and when they have less and less money? one of the local camp leaders asked as we walked the narrow alleyways  so narrow that your shoulders rub the slum walls on each side. The Lebanese do not allow Palestinians to work outside the camps, the UN relief money is getting less and less, some have families abroad who send money to them. Others do not.

The man was right. Where refugees live, the mafia arrives, the people-smugglers; the cruel and the rapacious thrive amid sorrow, just as they did in Bosnia after the war of 1992-95. The Palestinians first arrived in Sabra and Shatila in 1948. It took almost 70 years and the 1982 massacre before the shame of drugs and prostitution touched this place. Nor is it on a scale to attract attention. Only a very few Palestinian women have left the camps  they must leave for the sake of family honour  and moved elsewhere in Lebanon, to Jounieh north of Beirut, according to a political official in the camps.

As a witness to the massacre of 1982, I went back often to this place of memories and ghosts, to talk to the few survivors. Sabra and Shatila are scarcely two miles from my Beirut home. There were five thousand Palestinians in the camps in 1982, perhaps only 3,000 today. But an article in one of the local Beirut papers had caught my attention. A middle-aged Palestinian, it reported, had been shot dead by two Islamists on a motorcycle. Did this mean that the Isis cult had infected even Sabra and Shatila? In which case, Isis was in Beirut.

The moment I arrived, I was told that no, the newspaper story was untrue. The Lebanese government had claimed the murderers were Islamists in order to enhance their own prestige for taking one of the killers into custody. Arab governments line up to tell the world these days that they are fighting Isis  in the hope the West will give their armies more guns. But this story, too, I discovered, was untrue.

Ahmad Hazineh was a good and decent man. No criminal. He did indeed help supply his people with clean water and electricity for a pitifully small sum, but he fell foul of the local mafia who wanted him to collect more cash from the Palestinians. He refused  and so they murdered him.

But when Suheil Natour of the Democratic Front and I began to prowl these foul-smelling streets, we were faced with anger of the rawest kind. One middle-aged man saw my camera and burst out from his iron door, his face dark and lined.

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How dare you people take pictures of us? he screamed, another man beside him, shaking in fury. How dare you humiliate us? Do you know this place is filled with mice and huge rats and we live in this shit and sewage and stench and there are thieves and drugs and prostitution? He actually used the word prostitution. He understood the shame. He was shouting so loudly now that Suheil tried to restrain him and put his arm on the mans shoulder. He threw it off.

But Suheil had noticed something else. A poster dedicated to a Palestinian martyr, a newly murdered man, Ahmad Hazineh, also known as Abu Wassem, whose home  by extraordinary coincidence  was next to us, just beside the shouting man and his companion. And there stood in the doorway a young woman, listening sadly to this fit of screaming next door.

People here are very angry, she said, smiling. Yes, Ahmad Hazineh was my father. He died on 28 January, just a month ago. He was a good man. He helped everyone. The mafia killed him. Yes, there are drugs and prostitution in the camps. But my father looked after my siblings and myself and he told me every day that I must be educated. He sent me to act in theatre in the UK. I have been to London and Newcastle.

And Nirmeen Hazineh, dark-haired and still smiling, talked again of her love for her father, and she saw how the names of London and Newcastle  where, more than half a century ago, I was a cub reporter on the local paper  touched us. It was as if a beautiful light had suddenly been switched on amid the vile slums of Sabra and Shatila, brighter than any lamp her father could have lit with his electricity supply.

Nirmeens English was impeccable. She talked of her hope for better days. There was still some justice, she said. One of her fathers alleged murderers had been arrested, a man who was now in Roumieh prison north of Beirut.

Mohamed al-Kassas has been charged with the killing and awaits trial. And of course, I cruelly remembered that not one of the Christian militiamen who, in sight of the Israelis, slaughtered 1,700 of Nirmeens fellow Palestinians, was ever charged with any crime. And then I realised that Nirmeen was only 18, that the massacre had occurred well over seven years before she was born. And that, to have maintained their identity and resilience in this wretched place for so long, the Palestinians must survive.
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Welcome to Trumps World. You better get to know it. This is really happening. Trump Think-Tank, Trump Staffers  theyre all on their way. The billionaire looks set to clinch the Republican nomination. There are already Trump governors: Maines Paul LePage has now joined New Jerseys Chris Christie  and three former governors from Arizona, Alaska and Minnesota. Not to mention two Trump congressmen.

Pay attention. Even if the Republican donor class can snatch the nomination back from him  Trumpism is here to stay.

This is no flash in the pan. And if the Donald loses  dont rule out a Trump 2.0 in 2020. Or a Trump clone running with his blessing. So, what is Trumps view of the world? One that rips up the Republican rulebook. The Donald is Putin-friendly, ambiguous on Israel, a trade protectionist, furious at Americas freeloading allies, seethingly anti-Chinese, and above all anti-Mexican. Not to mention of course that this is a man who cares little about democracy promotion or human rights, and would play at war as roughly as Russia  rather than with the usual United Nations rules of engagement in mind.

The Donald is ready to make America new friends. The Trump Embassy would be courting  not castigating  Russia. Putin is someone Trump thinks he would get along with him very well for the good of our country. America, it sounds like, would go for Trump reset with Russia: I dont think youd be having the kind of problems that youre having right now, he said recently. American-Russian proxy war in Syria? Its over with Trump in charge: let him bomb, says the Donald.

Neither, according to the man himself, would Russian dissidents or other irritants get in the way of a Trump-Putin bromance. The Kremlins killings of opposition journalists? Our country does plenty of killings too, says the Donald, who joked he too has been tempted to shoot the odd troublesome journalist. And as for Putin  its never been proven that hes killed anybody.

Trump has no truck with Americas old friends. The Europeans? He sees them as a bunch of freeloaders, with Germany the freeloader-in-chief. Heres this big monstrous country, he says, Germany, and they hardly speak up. They accept [Putins] oil and gas and lots of other things and here we are fighting like hell [in Ukraine. The same goes for Americas Asian protectorates: We have 28,000 people separating South Korea from this maniac in North Korea. We get nothing We get nothing. Theyre making a fortune.

This is Trumps bottom line: Americas military alliances  from NATO to Tokyo  arent worth the Pentagons mega-budgets. If somebody attacks Japan, says the Donald, we have to immediately start World War III. OK? If we get attacked, Japan doesnt have to help us. Somehow, that doesnt sound so fair. Does that sound good? But what about Americas very close and very expensive ally  Israel? Trump has said he wants to be its best friend ever. But what about when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Trump doesnt sound one bit a Republican: Let me be a sort of neutral guy, lets see what  Im going to give it a shot.

Trump wants America to stop playing sheriff. Big, expensive wars? History, under President Trump. He sells himself as the anti-Bush. 9/11? It was Bushs fault  and had Trump been in charge it would have brrn averted pre-emptively, apparently. Iraq? A big fat mistake. Weapons of mass destruction? They lied. Afghanistan and Americas other interventions? Never again. Weve spent $4 trillion trying to topple various people that, frankly, said Trump, if they were there and if we could have spent that $4trn in the United States to fix our roads, our bridges, and all of the other problems we would have been a lot better off, I can tell you that right now. We have done a tremendous disservice not only to the Middle East  weve done a tremendous disservice to humanity.

These are Americas real enemies. The countries that have sucked up the United Statess industrial base. Our country is going to hell, says Trump. And we have a problem with China. We have a problem with Japan. And we have a problem with Mexico.

Trumps America is over free trade: Trumpland is a protectionist USA. The first task of the Trump administration? Ripping up NAFTA (The US free-trade pact with Canada and Mexico) and introducing the Trump Tariff.

The Donald is planning economic war: he wants to brand China a currency manipulator and slap unspecified restrictions on corporates outsourcing jobs. It should make Michael Gove and Boris Johnson shiver: the thought of negotiating a free-trade pact with a Republican America over free trade.

Trumps great battle will be close to home  building the wall, the great, beautiful wall  along the border with Mexico. Trump would throw the security establishment into a gigantic policing operation  deporting Americas 11 million illegal immigrants. Though dumping a population larger than Belgium, Sweden, or Greece by the planeload into the airports of South and Central America would cost an estated minimum $420bn.

He reminds me of Hitler, said Vicente Fox, the former Mexican president recently. Imagine the turmoil, and the reaction in Mexico City, as Trump tears their economy  utterly dependent on American remittances and outsourced American factories  to pieces.

So, this is what Trumpism really is. Make America Great Again  by shrinking the American empire. The Trump Doctrine simple. Americas is rolling back that global imperium  because its a failing, underperforming regional power with regional problems  too many immigrants  and a main regional foe. Moscow can relax. Trumps America is going for Mexico.
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The Pakistani Muslim men  three brothers and an uncle  who groomed, raped and destroyed young girls in Rotherham have been given long sentences. Two local white women have also been convicted of supplying girls to the men. The reactions to these verdicts are instructive. Racists are red with righteous rage; this is what happens, they say, when you let coloureds into the country. Many anti-racists, just as blindly furious, assert race and ethnicity have nothing to do with what happened. The white female procurers are their alibis. The rapists relatives and community leaders stand by their men. They believe the blokes took what was freely offered by trashy females  children, daughters. Muslims who condemn the exploitation, in their eyes, bring shame on the community. Thats how twisted their values are.

The one question nobody asks is how these men have been treating their sisters and wives. Most of them behave just as abominably and cruelly indoors as they do outside when they prey on young flesh. They want control; they abjure equality. Some  a small minority  do feel a kind of love for the women and girls in the family but many have monstrous views on sexual equality and feminine desire. Home is a cage in which no pleasures are permitted, where hopes and freedoms expire. Activists have sought to free these women for decades. The terrible truth is that as society becomes more permissive, the number of caged birds increases. One caveat: I am not saying all Muslim girls and women are oppressed. What I am saying is that sexual predators from traditional Pakistani families and many other minority communities think all women and girls are low-life.

I was looking at my wedding pictures the other day. On a cold, snowy December day, in 2000, I married my English husband in Ealing Town Hall. On the steps we had photos taken. It was freezing cold but I was in a silk sari, as was my mum. My Asian friends in their finery were shivering and smiling happily. The most striking, gorgeous person in the crowd was Humera (not her real name), who had stayed with me several times over the previous two years. She was from a northern town and had escaped a forced marriage. Her family had made her marry a man from Pakistan who had then raped her nightly for months. A social worker helped her escape. I heard of her case and offered to have her live with us for a while. The bruises on her thighs and breasts took months to heal.

She was one of countless such victims, all hidden and hopeless. Forced marriage has since been outlawed and girls have some protection and awareness of their rights but now we have Sharia courts in this country, which condone wife beating, marital rape, compulsory or child marriages, polygamy, paternal ownership of children and extreme sexism. Pre-pubescent Muslim girls are married on Skype. Imams praise this technology, which allows families to trade in their daughters  girls between the ages of six and nine among them. How did our rulers let this happen?

Political scientist Elham Manea, herself a Muslim, has written a new book, Women and Sharia Law: the Impact of Legal Pluralism in the UK. She investigated 80 faith councils, which settle disputes and make quasi-legal decisions. According to Manea these courts are more hardline even than in Pakistan and many of their religious leaders issue horrendous advice. For example, a senior cleric in a British Sharia council pronounced that there was no right age for a girl to marry: As you know, the earlier the better. Humeras family were not given religious authorisation to do what they did to her. Imams in the 1990s were conservative but not inflexible Islamicists. Today the human-rights abuses are validated by dozens of Muslim leaders as well as by influential Islamic institutions. Though forced marriages are a curse in Hindu and Sikh families too, they do not have systemised, pervasive doctrines to back their heinous behaviours.

Why is this even important when we are discussing the Rochdale crimes against white British children? Am I trying to deflect attention from those horrors? On the contrary; I am making vital connections. We should find out how those close to the three brothers and the uncle were treated. Was terrible violence meted out to them, too? Should we not know that? More than 1,400 vulnerable white children were abused in Rotherham. Thousands of others are being discovered in other towns. The numbers would shoot up if we also counted the family victims of the groomers.

Grooming and domestic rape often go together. Police and journalists need to be as concerned about the latter as they now (thankfully) are about the former. Families and communities will resist such probes, lob accusations of racism and insensitivity. But it has to happen. Females of all backgrounds should be protected from sexual savagery and misogynist Sharia courts. There must be one law for all.
Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and candidate Imelda Munster are held aloft outside the count centre in Dundalk after being elected the representatives for Louth in the general election

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is to meet with his party leadership

Ireland's two main political parties are coming under intense pressure to forge an unprecedented alliance as confusion reigns over the possibility of a new government.

A seismic split in the general election vote has thrust bitter enemies Fine Gael and Fianna Fail into a bout of soul-searching as to whether they can come together to restore stability to the country.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny is to meet with his party leadership while Fianna Fail chief Micheal Martin will open talks this week with his own stalwarts about the way forward.

Fractures have already opened within both parties, civil war-era adversaries who have swapped power for decades, about a widely-forecast "grand coalition".

Fine Gael looks set to be the largest party despite suffering humiliating losses after five years in power implementing austerity, taking a narrow lead over arch-rivals Fianna Fail.

Outgoing junior coalition partners Labour have taken a drubbing with a number of its ministers being ejected, although party leader Joan Burton and deputy leader Alan Kelly won fights to retain their seats.

Ms Burton said she did not see her party in the next government.

Sinn Fein is on course to further increase its vote south of the Irish border.

With a large section of the electorate backing smaller parties and independents, the make-up of a new government remains in doubt, if an administration can be formed at all.

Among the battered coalition's biggest casualties were Fine Gael's deputy leader and former health minister James Reilly, the party's former justice minister Alan Shatter and Labour's communications minister Alan White.

Such is the uncertainty, senior political figures have talked openly about a new political system, citing continental European-style consensual arrangements or even a power-sharing executive similar to Northern Ireland.

After retaining his seat, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams ruled out propping up one of the traditionally dominant parties in coalition.

He said he would not "betray our electorate and betray the other people who need a progressive government."

"We are not going to go in and prop up a regressive and negative old conservative government, whatever the particular party political complexion," Mr Adams said.

Sinn Fein's rejection of what would be a left-right coalition maintains the position his party adopted during the lacklustre election campaign.

Mr Kenny has ruled out resigning or re-running the poll.

The outgoing premier said his party would remain a large bloc in the new Dail despite throwing away the largest majority it had ever secured.

"I'd like to think that it could be possible, given the final results, to be able to put a government together that could work through the many challenges we have," he said.

The clearest majority would come from Fine Gael and Fianna Fail setting aside their historical rivalries, borne out of the civil war and cemented over the last 90 years.

But several key figures from both parties have already hinted a split within their own ranks if an alliance is formed.

Fine Gael strategist Frank Flannery maintains an historic coming together of the ancestral adversaries remains a "fairly major option".

"If it is to be rejected, it would have to be for very cogent, clear and precise reasons," he said.

Mr Flannery, credited with the revival of Fine Gael during the noughties, conceded very large numbers within both parties would be extraordinarily nervous about an alliance.

"It would fly in the face of 100 years of parliamentary practice - long established cultures and traditions," he said.

But he added the enmity was more cultural than policy-driven.

"A lot of people, maybe including myself, would think change is for the good, bring us into a more modern type of politics," he said.

Parties will have until March 10 - when the Dail is scheduled to resume - to forge a power-sharing deal.
If the entrepreneurs of today continue to bring about technological advances at the current rate, one top North Dakota businessman said the states business landscape will be revolutionized in the decades ahead.

Fargo businessman Doug Burgum said nearly all industries have become increasingly high tech and this advancement will eventually overhaul and reshape industries statewide and globally. He said the revolution is already underway.

We all tend to think of change as linear; its hard to see it, Burgum said.

Burgum said hes a firm believer in what in the computing world is known as Moores Law. The term in its most simplistic form, coined in the 1970s, is that computer processing speed and power for computers will double approximately every two years.

He said in the early 1980s, it cost about $1,000 per megabyte of storage; today an 8-gigabyte flash drive at a big box store costs a few dollars.

Your kids got on their shopping list  what was the equivalent of $8 million in storage, Burgum said.

Burgum, an Arthur native, knows a thing or two about the computer industry: In 1983, he joined Great Plains Software as chairman and CEO. The company grew and, in 2001, it was sold to Microsoft for $1.1 billion. Burgum served as a senior vice president for Microsoft until 2007.

In 2006, he founded the Kilbourne Group, which is working to redevelop downtown Fargo.

For North Dakota industry to move forward, Burgum said advances in technology must be embraced and implemented. He said the states business community must be able to become more mobile and efficient.

Burgum emphasized the importance of having additional bandwidth in order to store and transmit the enormous troves of digital data being collected in the current day and age. Without it, Burgum said: Its like if we invented the flying car, but we cant fly it because we didnt reserve the airspace.

He used the example of electronic medical records. Burgum said kiosks to check in at a clinic for appointments are the way of the future. He said he also could envision a day when the records go immediately to doctors, who can be alerted when a patient enters a waiting room.

Another example is of increased efficiency in agriculture, which hes spoken of on the campaign trail in his bid for governor.

In the 1980s, a soil sample would take weeks to get results after being sent to North Dakota State University, according to Burgum, who said samples now can be analyzed more precisely while a tractor is still operating in the field.

Theyre close to building machinery that can operate in the field by itself, said Burgum, adding that driverless vehicles also are going to be a reality sooner than people expect. He said this will revolutionize industry, making the need to hire semi and delivery truck drivers obsolete.

What do you do when you have 3 million people displaced? Burgum asked.

He likened such changes, as well as one day having robots doing jobs in areas such as retail, to the technological changes that eliminated jobs in the auto industry in the 1980s through increased efficiency.

Every industry in North Dakota are all being developed in a significant way by technology, and we need to have a plan to address that. We have to reinvent how we deliver services, Burgum said.

Education will be key, according to Burgum, who said education will become even more critical as industries evolve and require a more specialized workforce.

Theres a very sci-fi future coming, Burgum said. Its not a matter of if but when.

Theres a very sci-fi future coming. Its not a matter of if but when.  Doug Burgum, North Dakota businessman
Wexford-based ecommerce software company Scurri is expanding into the US and Canada after inking a number of new contracts.

The company's product is designed to make shipping simpler through functions like tracking and automation.

Users of its platform include Zara and Asos.

"We haven't been out in the US but we've had some customer wins in the US and Canada - the Americas is where we're heading next," chief executive Rory O'Connor told the Sunday Independent.

The company's backers include Enterprise Ireland, ACT Venture Capital and UK venture capitalist Episode 1, of which one of the founders is the former vice president for Europe of ecommerce giant Amazon.

"Our vision is to make delivery simple for ecommerce so anywhere that you have ecommerce merchants who are selling physical goods, that's our target market.

"The longer-term vision is to be adding in the new and kind of cool services. There's a lot of things - like Parcel Connect in Ireland - we'd power that, where you can go into your local shop and collect your goods rather than getting them delivered home. Or you can get them diverted on the fly to your local shop.

"In the old days, I remember purchasing a few books on Amazon, the first things I bought online - and you kind of knew that they were going to come sometime, but as to when they were going to come, you didn't really know.

"That's all changed now, you expect if you buy something, it arrives the next day. You can track it, you know where it is, and maybe that there's other options there that you can have it delivered at a specific time.

Asked why he chose to base the company in Wexford rather than Dublin, O'Connor said: "Originally I worked in Waterford Crystal and AOL so I've been based in Wexford for some time.

"Because we were going after the ecommerce market we went to the UK first. I suppose it's like anything in Ireland, you have to export, we were going to the UK anyway. Go to Waterford Airport, you're on a plane and you're over in London nearly as quick as you can get to Dublin.

"I think Irish people don't see foreign travel as being difficult, it's kind of necessary if you're going to grow."
'The majority of Americans hold health insurance; the US is one of the most costly places in the world to receive medical treatment. Most private health coverage in the US is employment-based'. Photo: Getty

A former long-time employee of Tourism Ireland is suing the agency in the United States over post-retirement health insurance entitlements.

The majority of Americans hold health insurance; the US is one of the most costly places in the world to receive medical treatment. Most private health coverage in the US is employment-based.

A cased filed earlier this month in a California district court on behalf of Thomas Heneghan claims his former employer Tourism Ireland reneged on an agreement to pay for most of the cost of US health insurance for him, his spouse and dependant children, for the duration of his retirement.

Heneghan, who has US citizenship, worked for Tourism Ireland for several decades in California. A document filed with the court by Nissen law firm states Heneghan began working for Bord Failte in the US in 1974 and moved with his family to LA to help bolster its marketing team in 1983.

He became an employee of Tourism Ireland in 2002 when it took over responsibility for promoting Ireland overseas on an all-island basis.

Because Bord Failte was an agency of a foreign government, the document claims Heneghan was not able to make contributions to a social security or health insurance fund.

It states that as a result, Bord Failte agreed in 1983 with insurer Blue Cross/Blue Shield to provide health insurance for Heneghan, his spouse and his dependant children, and that the employer would cover 80pc of the cost of this insurance upon his retirement and during the entirety of his retirement.

The plaintiff claims the agreement was reaffirmed when the US employees of Bord Failte were transferred to Tourism Ireland.

The former employee said he made no other arrangements for health insurance up until his retirement in 2010, based on the agreement.

At some point after retiring he moved with his wife to Ireland, the document states, but they return to the US regularly to visit their children.

In 2012 Blue Cross/ Blue Shield told him he would no longer be receiving group cover and would have to arrange insurance elsewhere himself. Soon after he was informed by a Tourism Ireland employee, the document says, that his right to compensation for post-retirement insurance contributions were revoked because the benefits were jurisdiction-specific.

The claim argues he was never informed that moving out of the US would revoke his right to health insurance there, and that any jurisdiction condition to coverage would apply to the network of applicable healthcare providers, not the current residence of the insured.

Heneghan's complaints include breach of contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation.

Tourism Ireland declined to comment when asked about the case.
Output and employment are the two most important measures of activity in an economy.

Output in Ireland (as measured by GDP) is an increasingly unreliable measure of overall activity levels. As such, the employment measure is an even more important indicator of Irish economic activity than it is in other economies.

Last week, the latest quarterly employment numbers were published - and they give some cause for concern.

In the second half of last year, there was a slowdown in the rate of employment growth. That this comes as fears grow of an international slowdown makes it that bit more concerning.

In the 12 months up to the middle of last year, the numbers at work in the economy were rising by (a seasonally adjusted) 14,000 each quarter. During the third quarter of last year, the three-monthly increase fell below 10,000. Then in the final quarter, it fell below 5,000.

If that trend continued into 2016, job growth has now ground to a halt.

Thankfully, that is very unlikely to be the case, given a range of other indicators in the economy. Most sectoral numbers suggest that most industries are on the up: from agriculture to manufacturing and from low-skill services (such as retail) to high-skill areas (such as the IT sector).

The quarterly jobs survey breaks down employment across 14 sectors. Delving into these numbers allows trends to be explored in different labour markets. It also shows where the jobs growth in recent years has come from.

Rather than go (messily) through all the sectors, I have aggregated many of them by skills level, so that the trends can be seen more clearly. The result is illustrated in the first chart. The sectors included in the four categories in the graphic accounted for 83pc of total employment as of the final quarter of last year.

Among the most notable trend is that the government-dominated sector is the only one which did not record a contraction during the crash. As of the end of last year, there were just over half a million people working in health, education and public administration - an 8pc increase on the economy's moment of peak employment at the beginning of 2008.

While there has been a reduction in the numbers on the State's formal payroll, the reduction was limited by a ban on redundancy, which meant that downsizing had to happen gradually by natural wastage/attrition.

The cost-saving effects of the reduction in formal headcount have been partly offset by some of those leaving the public sector (via early retirement, for instance) being re-employed via agencies. Such people do not show up on the official public sector headcount, but they do show up on statisticians' count of the total numbers working in a given sector.

A third factor in the growth of aggregate employment in these sectors is increased private provision of health services. In the eight years to the end of 2015, for example, there was a 30pc increase in the number of people working in residential care homes.

After the public-sector-dominated professions, the best employment performer is the high-skilled services sectors.

While employment in the white-collar industries did suffer badly in the crash - falling by 10pc - it is now just over 2pc off the peak of early 2008. Areas such as IT, though still small in terms of total employment, have been rising steadily.

Interestingly, the only white-collar sector not to be registering growth is the 'financial, insurance and real estate activities' sector, with employment remaining sticky at around the 100,000 level.

The trend in the medium- and low-skilled services sector is broadly similar to that of the higher-skilled sector. As the chart shows, the slump was a little deeper and longer-lasting but growth since the bottom was hit in 2012 has been good.

It has been driven almost entirely by the hospitality sector. The economy's largest employer, the distribution sector (which covers wholesale, retail and transport) has been much slower to add jobs.

Finally, the industry sector, which is dominated by manufacturers, has experienced decent employment growth since the turnaround, even if total employment in the sector is still down by a very large 15pc since the beginning of 2008.

That there is really not one Irish labour market, but many, is well illustrated by the disparity in employment growth across the regions - and that is the case, despite Ireland being a tiny economy.

This is worth highlighting for a number of reasons, not least because it is so frequently said that the recovery is not being felt outside Dublin and/or the cities.

As the second chart shows, this claim is simply wrong.

Since the economy turned the corner in 2012, three regions which are not highly urbanised have recorded the highest rates of jobs growth. As the second chart illustrates, the Midlands, Border and South-East regions have all registered increases in the numbers at work of 13pc or more.

Despite all the talk about Dublin driving the recovery, which is not entirely without foundation, the capital has increased its employment by less than 10pc.

So who is under-performing? Last weekend's kerfuffle over the Taoiseach telling Castlebar folk that they whinge a lot got a silly amount of media attention. But if the people of that town are indeed grumblers, then they may have something to be unhappy about.

Their region is the only one of the State's eight regions not to have recorded growth in employment since the turnaround over three years ago. Nor, when one looks at the quarterly data over 2015, is there any sign that the West is awakening when it comes to jobs.

If that region is doing badly, its immediate neighbours have fared only marginally better in recent times.

The Mid-West and the South-West grew employment by 2pc and 2.5pc respectively in the three years to the final quarter of 2015 (although the South-West did show definite signs of a pick-up more recently).

There has been a great deal of talk about the decline of rural Ireland in recent years, and during the election campaign in particular. An important take-away from the latest employment data is that not all of rural Ireland is doing badly.

When a new government is eventually formed, that important fact should be born in the mind - particularly if the support of rural independents is being sought by parties to support a coalition.
The head of the country's biggest food retailer has warned that new rules could disincentivise supermarkets from buying Irish products.

SuperValu managing director Martin Kelleher told the Sunday Independent that the new rules put an unreasonable administrative burden on supermarkets when dealing with suppliers.

He was referring to the Grocery Goods Regulations, which were signed into law by Richard Bruton just before the General Election was called. They will take effect at the end of April.

"We think it's an administrative burden that adds cost and, we believe, very little value," said Kelleher.

The rules mean contracts between big retailers and suppliers must all be closely documented and cannot be unilaterally changed. Practices such as demanding payments for shelf space are banned. Records must be kept for several years.

"We are disappointed with certain aspects of it, because we feel that it penalises businesses like Musgrave that are Irish and support Irish businesses," said Kelleher.

"There is a temptation or a possibility that one of the easiest ways to get around those regulations is not to buy from Irish businesses. The rules are that you only have to record and do the administration parts of it when you are dealing with Irish suppliers.

"When you buy from abroad, which obviously multinational companies can do more easily... it incentivises that behaviour. And we don't think that's good."

A spokesperson for Musgrave clarified that the rules cover relationships with all direct suppliers, even if goods are coming from overseas - but might be avoided by multinationals who buy indirectly through offices in other countries.

The rules are particularly burdensome when dealing with very small suppliers, the spokesperson added, and can act as a disincentive to supporting food start-ups.

"We are very clear that Musgrave's relationships with its suppliers and partners are strong, clear and fair. We don't believe there is any benefit from this to people dealing with us," said Kelleher.

Their suppliers are not asked to pay to be stocked on shelves, he added.

Switching to foreign suppliers "would be a last-ditch resort", he said. "We are so focused on supporting Irish and supporting local suppliers. But if our competitors are getting price advantages or administrative advantages by doing so, it puts you in a difficult position, it challenges us."
One of the country's fastest-growing software companies has criticised the supports available for start-up businesses in Ireland.

Peter Coppinger, co-founder of Teamwork, said the supports available to young companies through Enterprise Ireland are too bureaucratic and very unsuited to the needs of software companies.

State programmes should prioritise providing office space and high-speed internet to software start-ups, Coppinger said, and should have a faster application process.

"There is too much red tape and bureaucracy involved in accessing the supports," he said. "Easier access to office space for software start-ups should be the priority, in Cork, Galway, Limerick and Dublin."

Coppinger founded Teamwork with business partner Daniel Mackey in 2007. It makes project management software for businesses, and clients include Walt Disney.

It is in the process of opening a new headquarters in Cork with capacity for 120 staff and recently won the Best SME award in Cork Chamber's Company of the Year Awards.

When queried, Enterprise Ireland said it has defined policies and procedures in place to ensure proper governance around the use and impact of taxpayers' money.
When meeting entrepreneurs, it is always fascinating to discover what it was that prompted them to swap the safety of their paid employment for the more precarious world of self-employment. What becomes clear from getting to know these business leaders is that many can trace their decision to one specific moment in time when they consciously decided to stop dreaming about being an entrepreneur and actually become one.

This week's entrepreneur has travelled a path that has seen him go from clinical psychologist and university lecturer to successful international business builder. In his case, it was a simple comment from one of his then university students, that ultimately led to him finally taking the plunge.

Frank Dolphin and his wife Adrienne set up Rigney Dolphin in 1990. Now more than 25 years later, this and their second company, Relate Care (which they founded in 2013, along with Conor Byrne) now employ 570 staff and, between them, generate more than 20m in annual revenues.

"Our two businesses are related yet different," explains Frank as he takes me around his HQ in the IDA Business Park in Waterford city.

"Rigney Dolphin provides business process outsourcing (the modern term for what used to be called a call centre) solutions to large scale organisations in the public and private sectors, meaning we look after everything from sales, customer service and support helplines, to admin and back office-type functions on behalf of our clients," explains Frank.

Now one of the largest such firms in the country, it operates across a wide range of sectors that includes utilities, healthcare, financial services, telecoms, manufacturing and automotive. Around the walls of the office are the logos of client companies, among them some of Ireland's best-known brands.

In a separate part of the building, Frank introduces me to members of his second company, Relate Care. "This company specialises in international healthcare outsourcing and consultancy," explains Frank enthusiastically. "Put simply, we work with large hospital groups in the US where we look after such things as scheduling appointments and following up with patients after they have been discharged from hospital.

"It's a different system to here in Ireland. In the US, hospitals get fined if a patient has to be readmitted. To reduce the likelihood of this happening, resources are targeted at making sure they stick to the recovery programme they have been given. Many patients can feel distracted when being discharged from hospital, with thoughts of getting home or who is coming to collect them - and they often do not fully absorb the instructions they are given. Our job is to contact them after a few days, once they have settled back into the comfort of their homes, for example to remind them to take their meds or change dressings," he adds.

The company also provides a nurse-on-call service, where patients in the US who phone a hospital to speak to a nurse get through to one of Relate Care's US registered nurses who are based in either Cleveland or Waterford.

"In the US, patients usually choose to go to a particular hospital rather than be referred by their GP, as is mostly the case here," explains Frank. "Therefore, for hospitals, it's not just about making sure that procedures are carried out correctly - it's about ensuring that the whole customer experience is a positive one, otherwise patients will vote with their feet and go elsewhere, impacting the hospital's bottom line," he adds.

At home, the company works with the HSE where it provides support service for those wishing to give up smoking. More recently too, they began working in Abu Dhabi and the UAE.

Frank Dolphin grew up in Birr in Offaly. After school, he went to UCD where he graduated with a PhD in psychology. It was here that he met his future wife, Adrienne - a computer science student from Carndonagh, Donegal.

Frank's first job was as a clinic research psychologist with Temple Street Hospital where he worked with young children with speech disorders. Later he took up a position as lecturer in psychology in Trinity College, Dublin before moving to Waterford Institute of Technology where he set up the Institute's psychology department.

"We all have lightbulb moments in our lives and one of mine came about quite by chance," explains Frank. "I was teaching a class of students on the topic of organisational psychology when we began to debate the importance of leadership. I remember saying to the students how important I thought leadership was - and how we all needed to step forward if we wanted to make an impact in the world. One student asked: 'If it's so important to be a leader, then why are you talking about it rather than actually becoming one?' And I had no answer," admits Frank.

Reflecting on the question later, he realised that it was time to heed the voice in his head telling him to go out and create something new.

"Thankfully, Adrienne was hugely supportive of the idea, even though it meant me leaving my permanent pensionable job - not easy, considering we had two young children and another on the way," adds Frank.

He started initially by offering training, psychometric testing and employee profiling to companies who were recruiting - something that led him to recognise the trend towards outsourced services and contract staff. Shortly afterwards, he set up Rigney Dolphin, a small call centre, named after his own and his mother's surnames.

"It was scary at the time but once we landed Vodafone as our first client we knew we were on the right road," explains Frank. "We're still working with them, all these years later," he adds.

He didn't have a well-thought-out strategic plan but took opportunities as they presented themselves. "Some worked. Others didn't," he adds with a laugh.

And while he did have plenty of opportunities, he also had challenges - particularly the lack of start-up capital.

"There wasn't much cash around in the early 1990s. The banks considered a psychologist trying to make it in business a very high risk. To keep overheads down, we started the business in our front room and eventually re-mortgaged the house to fund growth. So yes, there were many sleepless nights in the early years," Frank admits honestly.

As business grew, they built up a strong customer base among telecoms companies. While positive, Frank recognised that it left him overly reliant on one sector. Deciding to diversify, he turned to his previous experience in health and began investigating opportunities in that area. With huge international potential, he felt the health sector might also allow him reduce his over-dependence on the Irish market.

At an Enterprise Ireland event in Dublin, he had a chance meeting with the CEO of Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, in the US - a well-known heart surgeon who was in Ireland to receive an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland.

"He said he was looking for someone to help him restructure his call centre operation in Cleveland. With over 43,000 staff, Cleveland Clinic was among the top hospital groups in the US. It sounded like the perfect expansion opportunity for us - if we could deliver," explains Frank.

And deliver he did. Building on the experience with the Cleveland Group, he then rolled the service out to other leading hospital groups across the US. The business grew from there.

What about the future?

"The world is a fast-changing place," Frank explains. "We are embracing new technologies - like cloud-based solutions that allow customers communicate with us by email, web chat, SMS and social media. To use the common parlance, we're now multi-channel, multi-modal," he adds.

He also plans to open a second US call centre. He is insistent that he recognises his team and in particular Conor O'Byrne, who heads up the RelateCare's business.

Obviously a man with lots of energy and a desire to give back, Frank has been chairman of the HSE as well as Temple Street Children's Hospital and the review group for the new children's hospital. He is also chairman of the Dublin Midland Hospital Group. How does he do it all?

"Because I love it," is his response.

Frank Dolphin may not have started out with a grandiose strategic plan -but nonetheless, his journey from psychologist and lecturer to international entrepreneur is an inspiration. If he were to meet his former student now, he would surely have a word of thanks for the motivation that such a simple question generated.

Frank Dolphin must now be satisfied that he has not only become a successful business owner but also the sort of leader he once lectured his students about all those years ago.

See www.relatecare.com and www.rigneydolphin.ie

Frank's advice for other businesses

1. Diversity spreads risk

"Seek to diversify both your product or service offering as well as your markets and geography. This spreads your risk and reduces your over-dependence on any one sector or market."

2. Have fun

"As the saying goes, all work and no play... You have to enjoy what you are doing otherwise you will never sustain the effort required in the long term. When the fun goes out of it, reinvent, refocus, renew."

3. Trust your gut instinct

"Good advisors are important but at the end of the day, your gut instinct is what got you to where you are now. Others can help and advise - but ultimately you have to have faith in your own judgement."
Irish marketing startups will have a chance to showcase their business to a panel of experts at this year's DMX Dublin digital marketing conference.

The panel includes Dublin startup commissioner Niamh Bushnell and DMX Dublin content programmer Colin Lewis. The conference - which organisers say is Ireland's largest in the field of digital marketing - is owned and operated by the Marketing Institute of Ireland, a professional body for marketers.

It takes place in Dublin's Aviva Stadium on March 9. Over 800 people are expected to attend.

Marketing Institute boss Tom Trainor said the organisers wanted to provide "a platform for some of the hottest new marketing and advertising technology players in this great startup city. We have carefully selected some of Ireland's most promising startups to showcase their offering at the biggest marketing event in Ireland."

Companies that have been chosen include Tito, a web app for selling tickets online, and Popdeem, which makes social marketing software that rewards users for sharing their experiences with various brands. The presentations will take place in front of a large audience of professionals in the field and organisers hope it might spark interest in the companies.

In addition, Dutch entrepreneur Yuri van Geest has been announced as a keynote speaker at the event. Van Geest is co-author of Amazon bestseller Exponential Organisations: Why New Organisations are Ten Times Better, Faster and Cheaper than Yours (and What to do About It. The topic of his speech is 'Exponential Organisations - The Organisational Model for the 21st Century', with the idea being that new technology has enabled companies to accelerate growth.

Speakers previously announced for the event are Nestle vice president of digital and social media Pete Blackshaw, Pinterest UK & Ireland country manager Adele Cooper, and Financial Times business-to-consumer managing director Jon Slade.

Irish-born Cooper, who previously worked for Google and Facebook, is responsible for growing Pinterest in Ireland and the UK by building the photo-sharing website's relationships with brands and publishers across areas like fashion, food and home decor.
People who have battled for years to get the pension they are entitled to are being hit with major tax bills when they finally get the money they're owed - and are ending up with much smaller pensions than would have been the case had they been paid their money on time.

Many are losing out on thousands - and in some cases, tens of thousands - of euro as a result.

This problem has largely arisen because many of those receiving pension back-payments since 2011 have been hit with the controversial tax levy, the Universal Social Charge (USC). However, had these people got the pension they were entitled to on time, they would not have lost much - if any - of it to the USC. People are also often pushed into a higher income tax bracket when they receive a series of pension back-payments at once, triggering a higher income tax bill than would have otherwise been the case.

The USC has been in place since 2011 but people who were underpaid pensions prior to 2011 and who are only receiving the back-payments now must often pay the USC on that money, depending on how large those back-payments are.

"Some of the people who were owed money on their pension because they were messed about (by their employer or pension provider) are now getting hit for the USC (on pension back-payments) - whereas they wouldn't have had to pay the USC had they got the correct pension at the right time," said Pensions Ombudsman Paul Kenny.

"So in the first place, they were deprived of a pension they were entitled to for a number of years and now, when they're paid the pension money they're owed, they're getting hit for the USC.

"Unfortunately, the legislation governing the USC is framed in such a way that the levy becomes payable when the money is paid over. It was framed deliberately in this way to prevent avoidance of the USC by people who were in a position to decide on the due dates of such things as bonus payments.

"However, it is grossly unfair that pensioners should be penalised on the double for the mistakes of others. Essentially, people are getting hit for the USC for pension payments that should have been received at a time when the USC didn't exist."

Income tax

"Another problem with pension back-payments is that they can place people in a higher income tax bracket than they might otherwise be in because they get a whole lump sum of taxable back-payments at once," said Mr Kenny. "So even if the highest rate of tax the individual normally pays is 20pc, the person may be shoved into the higher tax rate band of 40pc because of the back-payments.

"In general, income tax is paid in respect of the years in which a pension payment is due - rather than actually paid. But if back-payments are more than four years old, you could pay tax as if you received those payments today."

A number of cases have been referred to Mr Kenny where a pension has been underpaid for one reason or another - and sometimes, over a very long time. In one case, an individual had to wait almost nine years to get the pension she was entitled to. Pension back-payments could arise if you have been wrongly refused a widow's pension, for example.

"Or you could be a local authority worker who has an overtime payment which was not deemed to be pensionable by the employer but which we found to be pensionable after examining your case," said Mr Kenny. "By the time you get your pension back-payments, you could be hit for the USC on those payments. If you were in a situation where you were owed a serious amount of pension back-payments, you could lose a significant amount of that money to tax."

Lost tax breaks

Getting a chunk of pension back-payments at once can also scupper your chances of qualifying for an allowance which would chop your USC bill. The maximum USC rate for an individual aged 70 or more is set at 3pc, for example, if that individual's income for the year is 60,000 or less.

Normally, the top USC rate on income of 60,000 is 5.5pc. So should pension back-payments push you over that 60,000 threshold, you would lose your eligibility for that preferential USC rate.

Similarly, pensioners don't have to pay the USC if the income they earn this year is less than 13,000. Once the 13,000 threshold is exceeded, the USC must be paid on the full amount of income. Pension back-payments could easily push you over that 13,000 threshold - even if you've only got a tiny private pension.

A spokeswoman for the Revenue Commissioners said the USC was charged on pension back-payments "which are paid in a tax year other than the year in which they are earned. The legislation provides that payments that are processed through the PAYE system are liable to USC in the tax year in which the payments are made. This would equally apply to arrears of pay and bonuses. There is nothing that allows for the arrears (that is, pension back-payments) to be subject to USC in a year other than the tax year in which they are paid."

Lost pensions

Another major problem facing pensioners or those close to retirement is that people often can't trace a pension they believe they are entitled to. In some cases, pensions have been lost because records were destroyed after a change of pensions administrator, according to Mr Kenny.

"In one case, the administrator for a pension scheme changed four times and the administrator in the middle destroyed the records for that scheme," said Mr Kenny. "We can do nothing without those records - we don't know what happened to the pensions and we cannot track them.

"In effect, some people have lost their pension as a result of this. There have been other cases where pensions have gone missing after a company has gone out of business or has been taken over by another business. Records have sometimes been lost when there is a handover to a new administrator, so the new administrator won't have all of the details of the preserved pensions that it is supposed to have."

A preserved pension is a pension which is owned by a former employee of a company, which that individual decided to leave in the company's pension scheme with a view to accessing it at a later date. It is these preserved pensions which are often the most difficult to trace.

They typically relate to pensions taken out at the start of an individual's career, before they moved to a long-term job.

You could be losing out on tens of thousands - perhaps hundreds of thousands - of euro by forgetting about or losing out on a pension taken out in your youth.

"People may have changed addresses since taking out a pension in their 20s and never informed that pension scheme's administrator of this," said Jerry Moriarty, CEO of the Irish Association of Pension Funds (IAPF).

"Forty years may have passed since that pension was taken out. People might not remember where they worked at the time or who the pensions administrator was. It can be particularly hard to trace a pension if you have moved abroad since taking one out."

It can also be hard to trace a pension when the employer behind it is no longer around. Don't give up hope, though. "The money in a pension is held in trust, so it's still your money and it's still there," said Jim Hegarty, chairman of Hegarty Financial Management.

Should you hit a brick wall when tracing a pension, contact the Pensions Authority, as it keeps a register of company pension schemes. Another useful way to track a pension is to ask previous colleagues who also worked with the employer.

To prevent yourself running into difficulties tracing a pension you took out in your early career, keep a record of the name of the administrator for each of the pension schemes you have paid into, as well as the administrator contact details.

Update that record should there be a change of administrator. Be sure too to inform the administrators if you change your address, so that it can contact you when the time approaches for your pension to be paid - or if there have been any major developments affecting your pension. The same applies should you decide to change your surname after getting married. Otherwise, you risk losing out on that pension.

"For those who have left employment, it's no harm to check in periodically with the administrator of the pension scheme that you paid into when working," said Mr Kenny. "From time to time, request an annual benefit statement - so you can get an update on how your pension is. Even this will serve as a reminder to the administrator that you are there. Hold onto all of the pension records you have. Old letters establishing your entitlement to a pension are very important. The importance of holding onto pension records cannot be over-emphasised."
There has been an increase in the migration of dairy farmers from Scotland to Ireland Photo: O'Gorman Photography

The country house and farms market in Ireland has been extremely active over the last 24 months, with a high number of transactions. Many of these were properties bought during the Celtic Tiger years by developers seeking opportunities for hotels and golf courses and were sold on behalf of receivers and Nama.

The profile of buyers is very interesting, with 60pc of all sales above 1m coming from overseas buyers and ex-pats returning to Ireland, 40pc of which are from the UK, 30pc from the US, 20pc from the Near or Far East, including Australia.

In the price bracket from 500,000 to 1m, 40pc are Irish, 40pc from the UK, 15pc from Australia and New Zealand, with the balance from Europe and the Middle East.

The vast majority of these properties need very substantial investment and upgrading. This is really good for Ireland Inc, as all the local tradespeople and businesses benefit very substantially from these renovations.

In many cases, the spend in upgrading can be from 500,000 to 2m and, in exceptional cases, from 2m to 5m, depending on the size and condition of the property.

The strength of sterling has been a very large factor in our favour, together with our low cost of private schooling compared to other countries. Last year was the year of the castle and more castles changed hands than at any other time in recent history.

For the first time ever, farmland prices are now higher in the UK, with good land averaging in excess of 12,000 sterling in good locations, not taking into account the euro differential.

Many farms have been purchased by young dairy farmers over the last 12 months and we have seen relocation from Scotland to Ireland by dairy farmers seeking dairy operations.

Brexit raises a number of interesting questions about its potential effect on the market. If England were to exit the EU and Scotland stay in, would we see migration of smaller farmers to Ireland to take advantage of EU subsidies?

The country house market is driven by international sentiment and uncertainty over Brexit and large swings in international currency can have a major effect on the market quite quickly.

Political stability is particularly important for inward investment and by the time you read this on Sunday morning, we will have a better idea where we are on that front.
With Brexit uncertainty afflicting Britain, it's time to start picking off our nearest neighbour's US tech multinationals.

Tech firms employ 700,000 people in London alone. Many of the bigger tech employers in that region - giants such as Microsoft and Google - are known to be uneasy about Britain leaving the European Union's single market. They think it's a stupid move that will only hinder business for companies like theirs.

For the next 12 weeks, they need to be crudely made aware that Ireland has no such hesitation about membership of the EU. US tech multinationals, in particular, need to be reminded that Ireland is an English-speaking country that loves Europe and has growing reservoirs of tech skills, cheaper property, lower tax rates and direct flights to big US cities. Also, that we have seamless, barrierless, permanent access to the second largest market in the world.

To be blunt, the IDA's budget for the next 12 weeks should be tripled to whisk tech companies away from Britain and into Ireland.

Chivalry? Restraint? Sorry, no. It's a simple case of putting our national interest before theirs. We should not feel guilty about giving disillusioned US tech firms a better home here. British or Northern Irish business interests would not hesitate to do the same thing to us if the roles were reversed.

(Nor would we really have any right to whinge about them if they did.)

If Britain is actually determined to leave the EU, it will hurt Ireland. We need to soften the blow by legitimately targeting multinationals to relocate here.

As it happens, there are many indications that we might be pushing an open door on the issue.

Last week, a poll of 700 British and German companies operating in the UK found that over a third would consider moving jobs out of the country following a vote to leave the European Union.

The Bertelsmann Foundation poll found that 41pc of tech companies said they would either "reduce capacities" in the UK or move to another country in the event of a Brexit.

These are firms such as the British smartphone chip company ARM, which designs the chips that power many of the world's smartphones. A few weeks ago, ARM's chief finance officer said that Britain leaving the EU would leave it at a disadvantage to other EU countries for generating tech jobs.

"It would slow us down," said Chris Kennedy. "Our main concern is the ability to attract talent and be able to get the necessary papers for them to work in the UK in the event of a Brexit."

Kennedy needs to be brought out for a quiet pint - or whatever the industrial tradecraft is these days - and told about Dublin's growing position as a European talent pool.

Then he should be hooked up with a commercial office space agent, a legal firm and a tax accountant.

Last week, I rang up the IDA to ask whether they would consider swooping in this manner to take advantage of Britain's Brexit fumbling and stumbling.

The executive I spoke to was diplomatic. He didn't want the idea to get out that we were "vulturing" over the process, saying only that the IDA "continues to be very active" in persuading companies to relocate to Ireland.

With respect, if the State agency really is showing this sort of restraint, it may be letting the side down. Ireland's national interest is not the same as Britain's, at least not in this instance. Now is not the time to be chivalrous.

Only last month, the head of Ireland's Central Bank said that he has "no doubt" multinational firms considering a UK investment are putting off those investments because of the Brexit referendum.

"It has to be the case that any sensible, major firm considering where to make a location decision, if the competition is between UK and Ireland, is going to stall for a few months," Philip Lane told a Dail committee.

So what are we waiting for? We shouldn't hesitate to compete aggressively here. Better to boost our own economy than that of a non-EU neighbour.

"Almost three-quarters feel Brexit would make Ireland more attractive for multinationals to invest," said Ruth Curran, a partner at Merc Partners, which conducted a survey on the issue among 330 senior Irish executives.

Good. Let's get in there.
Lawmakers see next years session as chock full of difficult decisions and are split along party lines on how recent budget cuts to patch up a general fund shortfall were achieved.

Republican leaders say they were needed, while Democrats questioned some cuts as well as the lack of legislative days left from last year so legislators could have addressed the shortfall themselves rather than delegate it to department heads.

This month, Gov. Jack Dalrymple ordered state agencies that receive general fund dollars to cut 4.05 percent from their budgets to help plug a projected budget shortfall of $1.074 billion for 2015-17. The 4.05 percent equals $244.9 million and is the largest such cut ordered by a North Dakota governor. The cuts impact 59 of 73 state agencies.

Beyond the 4.05 percent agency cuts, the gap will be addressed through the states Budget Stabilization Fund, holding K-12 harmless through the Foundation Aid Stabilization Fund and using general fund ending balance dollars.

It hurt a little bit for all agencies, Senate Majority Leader Rich Wardner, R-Dickinson, said.

Wardner said its going to be a pretty flat budget but there will be some options for spending, including earnings from the North Dakota Legacy Fund.

I think that youll see that a lot of the one-time things  will not be present, House Majority Leader Al Carlson, R-Fargo, said of major infrastructure bills.

Carlson said the main focus will be ongoing expenditures in areas such as education and public safety. If revenue increases by the time lawmakers meet, there may be more wiggle room for spending.

Hopefully, the price of oil will rebound, Carlson said.

Democrats expressed displeasure for the method of achieving a balanced budget.

It illustrates why decisions impacting hundreds of millions of dollars should be done by the Legislature, said Senate Minority Leader Mac Schneider, D-Grand Forks, characterizing the delegation of responsibility as "a 1980s solution to a 2016 problem."

Legislative leadership should have saved up to five days in case the budget problems arose, he said.

This is a legislative failure, Schneider said, adding that the sacrifices are being made by North Dakota families.

House Minority Leader Kenton Onstad, D-Parshall, agreed. He referred to cuts by the Department of Human Services for things such as child care assistance, which is estimated to impact about 500 families, and autism programs.

I question some choices, said Onstad, warning its important for lawmakers to make the proper investments.

All agencies met a Feb. 17 deadline for submitting revised budgets. No staff cuts were made to the more than 11,800 employee positions within state government. Cuts were largely achieved through program cuts, leaving vacant positions open, delaying capital projects and finding efficiencies in office budgets.

Office of Management and Budget Director Pam Sharp said with the new revenue forecast and subsequent cuts in the rearview mirror, groundwork for the 2017-19 biennium will soon begin.

The governors budget recommendations to state agency heads will be released in April. Sharp indicated that the budget will likely propose further budget cuts.

Wardner said the Legislature has done its best in recent sessions, with the money spent on catching up having been worth it.

We invested in the state. Weve spent a lot of money on infrastructure. Its paying its dividends across the state, Wardner said.
China sought to restore confidence in its economy, as financial leaders from G20 nations gathered in Shanghai this weekend and Premier Li Keqiang urged greater global coordination and consideration of policy spillovers.

But Germany appeared to all but rule out coordinated stimulus to counter a deepening global chill, and US Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said there was no need for a crisis response similar to 2009 when the Group of 20 (G20) major economies agreed on coordinated stimulus to prevent a worldwide depression.

While the health of the world's second-largest economy, which hosts the G20 presidency this year, was a key talking point at the summit, the threat of the UK leaving the European Union and its political and economic implications also surfaced as concerns among participants in the meeting.

"Macroeconomic policy coordination needs to be strengthened. The global economic and financial situation may have become more grim and complex. It is time for countries to stand together to tide over difficulties," Li said in a video message at the opening of the meeting.

Several other policymakers have urged better coordination, but there was disagreement about what steps to take, making it unlikely that concrete action points will emerge from the meeting.

"Talking about further stimulus just distracts from the real tasks at hand," Germany's Minister of Finance Wolfgang Schaeuble said, rebuffing a recommendation from the International Monetary Fund that the G20 should start planning now for a coordinated stimulus programme. "We, therefore, do not agree on a G20 fiscal stimulus package as some argue, in case outlook risks materialise."

Lew had a similar message, saying there was a great deal of economic uncertainty at present but no crisis.

"It would not be reasonable to expect a crisis response in an environment that is not a crisis," he told reporters.
An engrossing new book shows how the events of 1956 shaped a brand new world.

On October 24, 1956, the Soviet Union chose to negotiate with the new leaders of Poland rather than send in the tanks and crush the independence movement they represented. A week later, the Soviet Chairman Nikita Kruschev seemed ready to show as much indulgence to the new government in Hungary. The Hungarian leader Imre Nagy declared independence on October 31, swiftly followed by his formal withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact and a request through the UN that the "great powers" respect his country's neutrality, an implicit appeal to the Security Council's three Western members to back Hungary against the Soviet Union.

Unfortunately, at the same moment, two of those nations - France and Britain - were engaged in a secret conspiracy to attack Egypt and remove its elected president, to the consternation of the third, the United States. Russia responded to Nagy's speech with tanks, and the Hungarian uprising was crushed. Would the story have been different if the US had not been distracted by the havoc Britain and France were unleashing in the Middle East?

Simon Hall's account of an explosive year is a CinemaScope epic, every frame packed with detail. Though it does not fundamentally revise our understanding of events, the scale of the project succeeds in revealing the outline of our age. Today, even those who remember that Hungary and Suez happened in the same week may not recall that the next month saw Nelson Mandela arrested in South Africa, or that the American Supreme Court declared racial segregation on buses unconstitutional, a victory for the Montgomery Improvement Association led by the 27-year-old pastor Martin Luther King.

Who now remembers where they were on the night of November 25, when Fidel and Raul Castro, Che Guevara and 80 Marxist guerrillas beached a small yacht on the edge of a Cuban mangrove swamp?

1956 was a very different world. A good speech rarely lasted less than three hours, and the best had an extraordinary impact. Castro's speeches were distributed as samizdats throughout Cuba to build popular support. The plea for non-violence that King gave from his porch following a dynamite attack on his wife and child helped to build white support for the Civil Rights movement. Hall argues that Kruschev's four-hour speech attacking Stalin was the year's decisive turning point. The Hungarian leader Matyas Rakosi recognised the dangers of ditching Stalin: Rakosi had built a cult of personality by styling himself the dictator's favourite pupil.

Kruschev emerges in a largely positive light: Hall believes he acted out of genuine revulsion to Stalinism, showed he was open to negotiating Poland's future, and might even have kept his tanks off Hungary's streets if the rebels' violence and the threat to the Warsaw Pact had not forced him into a U-turn. But the Hungarian uprising made Soviet Russia look as brutal and as bleak as it ever had under Stalin. Kruschev's attempt to chart a new path failed, and Russia could never hope to reclaim its position as the leader of a global alternative to capitalism.

Yet the US was unable to benefit from Russia's failures. President Eisenhower was allied to Britain and France - two resolutely dirty operators. That spring, Britain had opted to kidnap and exile the Cypriot leader Archbishop Makarios rather than risk losing its grip on the island, while France was hoping that torture and terror would help keep hold of Algeria.

Yet even by their low standards, Suez was a sordid business. France and Britain hired Israel to invade Egypt, so that they could step in on the pretext of restoring order and dump President Nasser.

Eisenhower was appalled at the deceit and when he demanded that Britain pull back, the plot unravelled. Eisenhower was the last US conservative capable of dominating the political centre ground and of appealing to an idea of international law and order. He believed in the right of communities and peoples to self-government and was opposed to colonial power, but while he was ready to talk tough to the UK, he would not risk a real war by confronting Russia over Hungary. Appealing to law and reason as the Soviet tanks rolled through Budapest made him look like a windbag and hypocrite, which is perhaps why conservatives like Eisenhower no longer exist.

The French were livid that Britain had flip-flopped under American pressure, leaving them with a deep distrust of Les Anglo-Saxons. With Algeria in danger of slipping into chaos, France could not afford to look foolish over Egypt. The big stories of 1956 were the end of the French and British Empires and the heightening of the Cold War but, as Hall shows, events at the margins were already shaping a new world that could not be contained by the post-war East-West axis. A far messier, multilateral world emerged from dusty Algerian towns, Cuban mangrove swamps and South African court rooms. Yet, for all the mess, the world was not without shape or order. US Civil Rights leaders were speaking to South Africa's ANC, who in turn were communicating with Castro and welcoming the backing of Nasser.

To the old world leaders of 1956, this all looked like a giant conspiracy of Marxist terrorists, Soviet-backed "willing fools" and Liberal stooges.

Video of the Day

But as Hall's engrossing book shows, in reality it was the beginning of new kinds of communication networks binding together an ever more off-centre, yet interconnected world.
In 1962, a strange and tiny conference took place on the back-lots of Universal Studios. Rising star Francois Truffaut had come to Hollywood to meet his idol Alfred Hitchcock, and find out what made him tick. For eight days, the men talked constantly about cinema, Hitchcock's films and the mechanics of movie-making: Hitch was flattered by the attention, but understood that Truffaut was a serious talent. And for Truffaut this was not some idol fancy: he wanted to overturn the popular perception of Hitchcock as a frivolous entertainer, and affirm him as a major force in cinematic history.

The result of those interviews was a remarkable 1966 illustrated book called Hitchcock/Truffaut that would help rescue Hitch's reputation and become a kind of film-making bible to a whole new generation of auteurs. The book has now inspired a very enjoyable documentary, which plays this afternoon in Dublin's Light House as part of the Audi Dublin International Film Festival, and will be released at the IFI on March 4.

Directed by Kent Jones, Hitchcock/Truffaut uses archive footage and learned contributions from the likes of Wes Anderson, Martin Scorsese, David Fincher and Paul Schrader to assess the making of the book and its impact. It's a must for film-lovers, and sheds new light on the meeting of two very different creative minds.

In 1962, Hitchcock was 63, and had become a household name in America thanks to his television work, and a virtual franchise unto himself. He had terrified move-goers with his daring horror film Psycho, and had just completed his 40th feature film, The Birds. But beneath this veneer of consistent success, the cracks were beginning to show.

Psycho had been given a very mixed reception by critics, who moaned about its B-movie nastiness. Though it's difficult for us to imagine at this remove, Hitchcock was viewed as a studio hack by most commentators, especially in Britain and America, where he was dismissed as a jobbing director who made venal crime films with no artistic merit whatsoever. His career was about to enter a slow decline, and the idea of his being given retrospectives and lauded as a cinematic genius would have seemed absurd.

Not to Truffaut, however, who had been in awe of Hitchcock from the start. Half Hitchcock's age, Truffaut had only made three films in 1962, but was already a leading light of the revolutionary nouvelle vague. Cinema had been his escape from an unhappy childhood, and he'd made his name as a merciless film critic in Andre Bazin's Cahiers du cinema.

There, he and Bazin had developed the persuasive and hugely influential auteur theory, which re-cast some (though not all) directors as the primary authors of film, visual novelists, if you like. Kurosawa, Kubrick and Renoir were cited as examples but for Truffaut, Hitchcock was the perfect case in point, a director whose personal themes and obsessions were front and centre in everything he did.

When Truffaut first went to America to promote his debut feature Les 400 Coups, he was asked to name his favourite directors and immediately cited Hitchcock. "There was always this astonished reaction," he later recalled, and Truffaut quickly realised that in America, admiring Hitchcock was not respectable. He was outraged by this dismissive attitude, and decided to do something about it.

In 1962, Truffaut wrote Hitchcock a letter professing his admiration and proposing a series of in-depth discussions of Hitchcock's work. Hitch was deeply moved, wrote back that Truffaut's letter had "brought tears to my eyes", and agreed to do the interviews. For Truffaut, these interviews were every bit as important as one of his own films, and required just as much time and preparation. His aim was to change America and the world's perception of Hitchcock, but he also planned to rescue him from the clutches of some of his more pretentious French colleagues.

In their enthusiasm to redraw the rules of cinema, the Cahiers du cinema mob had rained praise on Hollywood directors like Hitchcock and Howard Hawks, and equated them with the greats of French painting and literature. Truffaut was always more level-headed, as Hitchcock/Truffaut's director Kent Jones explained at Cannes: "He wanted to correct the American image of Hitchcock as a light entertainer, but he also wanted to correct overly abstract French formulations that removed Hitchcock from the circumstances in which the films were made. Truffaut felt Hitchcock didn't need help, he didn't need to be compared to Racine, he just needed to be described accurately." And as Truffaut's book would prove, he was just the man for the job.

"I went to Hollywood with my interpreter and collaborator Helen Scott," Truffaut later recalled, "we stayed in the Beverly Hills hotel and every day we went to Universal Studios and talked about cinema together all day, even during lunch." From the very start, the two men seemed to understand each other implicitly, in spite of the language barrier - Truffaut had little or no English, Hitchcock didn't speak French. And perhaps that's because both men, though very different, lived for and through the cinema.

Their conversations focused on Hitchcock's films from the 1920s through to the 1960s, how he'd made them and why, and the finished book would include stills accompanied by detailed explanations of the director's intentions. What fascinated Truffaut was Hitchcock's ability to move his story along and communicate fluently with his audience without recourse to words. In fact as Richard Linklater points out in Hitchcock/Truffaut, "so many of his films would work silently, you can watch any Hitchcock film without any dialogue or music and I think you'd still get a really high percentage of it."

Video of the Day

Hitchcock thought in images, and woe betide the actor who came between him and his perfectly composed and meticulously storyboarded schemas. At one point he complained to Truffaut about Montgomery Clift's uncooperative attitude during the filming of I Confess, and concluded that "all actors are cattle".

This was Hitchcock playing to his audience, and he liked to come across as a wry and aloof Englishman. But Francois Truffaut was a very intelligent man, and his probing interviews would reveal Hitch as an engaged and passionate artist who felt deeply connected to his work.

Truffaut's central thesis cast Hitchcock as a cinematic artist who either consciously or unconsciously sought out stories and subjects that explored his innermost obsessions and worries. Perceptively, the Frenchman focused on Hitchcock's Catholic upbringing as the key to his obsession with guilt, sin and wrongful accusation. He spent a great deal of time discussing Vertigo, a much-maligned movie at the time that Truffaut correctly identifies as Hitchcock's "most poetic film", and his masterpiece.

Hitchcock's genius, Truffaut felt, had been obscured by his mainstream popularity, and his deep connection with his audience. During their interviews Hitchcock noted that "there is sometimes a tendency among film-makers to forget the audience. I personally am interested in the audience. I mean that one's film should be designed for 2000 seats, not one seat."

When discussing Psycho, Hitch talked about how he'd "tried for a long time to play the audience", and that in Psycho "let's say we were playing them like an organ". But as usual, he was talking himself down, and his film was doing an awful lot more than telling a lurid crime story. The psychological undercurrents in all his great movies were intoxicatingly rich, and formed a body of work as substantial as any great European auteur's.

Published in 1966, Hitchcock/Truffaut would change the way the world thought about his films, which seemed like genre movies but in fact were so much more.

What Truffaut's book proved was this: that Hitchcock was among the most innately cine-literate directors there've been, a man who expanded the language of popular cinema in order to express his deepest emotions and desires through the unlikely vehicle of genre crime films.

He was a one-off, a maverick original, and though many have imitated him, none have equalled his flair for dark psychological insight, unbearable tension, and seamless visual storytelling.

After the interviews

Not long after his talks with Truffaut, Hitchcock released his dark thriller The Birds (below) to near-universal acclaim. It was a big box-office hit, too, but is now seen as the last of his great films. Marnie (1964), a psychological thriller starring Sean Connery and Tippi Hedren, was less warmly received, and after the commercial failure of Torn Curtain (1966) and Topaz (1969), Hitch briefly left Hollywood and returned to London to make Frenzy (1972). It was heavily criticised for its seediness and violence, but has since been reassessed. Hitch was back in Hollywood and still planning future films when he died of renal failure in the spring of 1980. A Jesuit heard his last confession.

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The 1960s and 1970s were fruitful decades for Francois Truffaut. In 1966, he released his only English language film, Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian thriller based on Ray Bradbury's story. His 1968 film Stolen Kisses was compared by the New York Times to a Balzac novel, and his playful 1973 drama about a troubled film shoot, Day for Night, won the Best Foreign Language Oscar. Truffaut had always planned to make 30 films and then retire to write books, but he'd only finished 25 when he died from a brain tumour, in 1984. He was 52.
Louis Walsh sought medical advice after X Factor judges ribbed him for not hearing what they were saying

Louis Walsh has revealed his hearing has been irreparably damaged and he fears he is going deaf.

A life-time of screaming girls and loud speakers has taken its toll on Louis who will eventually need a hearing aid.

In an interview with the Irish Mail on Sunday, the 63-year-old Mayo man told how he began to notice he struggling to hear things at X Factor auditions.

There was somebody singing, four panellists and a big crowd of 2,000 people shouting behind us.

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I was sometimes struggling to hear the acts and once or twice I couldnt hear what Simon and Cheryl were saying to me. I was trying to look at them because when I could see their faces I was able to lip read. I could always hear Mel though!

Louis sought professional help and an audiologist confirmed his fears.

Exposure to loud concerts and shows has resulted in damaged hearing.

He explained his long career in the music industry had resulted in him coming to the terms with the fact that he will need a hearing aid.

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When I was managing Boyzone and Westlife there were screaming girls every night. If there wasnt a high-piched screaming, it was a bad gig. I got used to it, he said.

Louis main concern now is how his frenemy Simon Cowell will react to the news.

I know Simon will really take the mickey out of me for this but Im sure my ears are as good as his. Hes getting old too.
ACTOR Frank Kelly, who played Fr Jack in the hit series Father Ted, has passed away at the age of 77.

The news comes on the 18th anniversary of the death of his Father Ted co-star Dermot Morgan, who passed away in 1998.

The veteran of stage and screen was also well-known for his parts on Emmerdale and Halls Pictorial Weekly, but his iconic role in the sitcom in the mid 90s brought him to a huge audience.

The cause of his death has not yet been confirmed.

Just hearing from various sources that Frank Kelly has passed away. Terribly sad news. Thanks for everything, Frank.  Graham Linehan (@Glinner) February 28, 2016

In 2015, The 77-year-old actor revealed that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease, a degenerative condition affecting the nervous system.

The diagnosis came after he was hospitalised earlier in the year with heart failure.

Speaking of his condition at the time Kelly said: It was my first diagnosis but Im quietly confident that I have had this for years and years.

"I'm not going to let Parkinson's beat me. I'm just not that kind of person.

He vowed to continue working and late last year released his memoir The Next Gig' which he said captured memories of his career he feared might be lost.

"Memories can fade with the years so I thought it would be a good idea to get them down now," he said speaking of the book.

Kelly was previously diagnosed with bowel cancer, but received the all clear in 2011 after a five year battle with the disease.

Tributes have been paid to the actor in the wake of his sad passing.

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Father Ted writer Graham Linehan said it was a honour to work with the actor throughout the duration of the series.

"Terribly sad news. Thanks for everything, Frank," he tweeted.

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Rob Morgan, the son of Father Ted star Dermot Morgan tweeted: "Thoughts and condolences to Frank Kelly's family and friends on their loss. A sad day. I hope they find comfort in the joy he brought others."

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In a statement issued this afternoon Noel Curran, Director General, RTE, has paid tribute to Frank Kelly.

"Frank Kelly was an Irish television institution whose career spanned decades and, in later years, countries. He was a versatile writer, satirist, performer and actor, and became a household name to loyal audiences of classics such as Wanderly Wagon, Halls Pictorial Weekly, and Glenroe. And of course, he achieved iconic status to for audiences around the world as Fr Jack in Channel 4 sitcom, Father Ted.

"I would like to extend my sincere sympathies on behalf of RTE to his wife Bairbre, his seven children and 17 grandchildren."

The actor, who also enjoyed a fruitful career on stage, most recently in John B Keane's Moll in The Gaiety Theatre in 2014, revealed that his time on the Father Ted set was one of the happiest times of his life.

"It just makes me happy to see it on TV every Christmas. There was a great happy atmosphere on the set, among the actors and cast, and the show is like a photograph of that," he said.

He is survived by his wife of 51 years Bairbre, his seven children and 17 grandchildren.
The sad passing of Irish actor Frank Kelly has prompted an outpouring of grief from fans around the world, particularly those who admired him for his role in 90s sitcom Father Ted.

The actor who played the uncontrollable Father Jack in the Channel 4 series from 1995 to 1998 has been credited for some of the programmes funniest moments.

Although Kelly had a long and successful career in film, television and stage, it was his role as drunk, abusive and incompetent priest Father Jack Hackett for which he will be most remembered.

Below are some of Kellys best moments during his time spent as Father Jack on the fictional Craggy Island and a round up of all the rest.

1) That would be an ecumenical matter

In a bid to clean up Father Jacks foul language ahead of a visit from the much feared Bishop Brennan, Father Ted desperately tries to equip the alcoholic priest with two go-to phrases, including that would be an ecumenical matter and Yes. Despite his efforts Fr. Ted soon becomes exceedingly frustrated with his impossible student.

2) When Fr Jack becomes very fond of that brick

Much to Father Teds dismay, Father Jack becomes extremely attached to a brick, which he has dangerously attached to a string.

After Ted gets a belt of it to his shin, Mrs Doyle reveals that Jack has become very fond of that brick.

Its a great old pet for him. He doesnt have to feed it, or clean it or take it to the vet. It suits him down to the ground.

Video of the Day

3) More Water

Viewers were given an insight into Father Jacks dreams and they certainly werent about mass.

4) Nuns! Reverse!

When Mrs Doyle rolls Father Jack into a sitting room brimming with nuns, the outspoken priest doesnt take long to issue her with strict instruction.

5) When he knew the wine just by the clink of the bottle

In the below scene Father Ted is trying to pack the contents of a picnic, when he accidently bangs together two bottles of wine. Just by the sound, Jack is able to pinpoint that its a Jacobs Creek Chardonnay from 1991.

6) His Toilet Duck indulgence

When Ted notices Father Jack has downed a bottle of Toilet Duck, hes not particularly concerned about his wellbeing, but does scold him by saying hell be seeing the pink elephant again.

7) Drink, Feck, Arse, Girls... and all the rest
Cathal Gaffney, CEO of Brown Bag Films, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short for Give Up Yer Aul Sins in 2002. Photo: Mark Condren

Consolata Boyle who was nominated for the Oscar in Best Achievement in Costume Design in 2007 for her work on The Queen. Photo: Elish McCormick.

Paul Young of Cartoon Saloon, whose team have been nominated twice for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, in 2010 and 2015.

Although we're a small island in the Atlantic, Ireland's contribution to the Hollywood film industry has been monumental over the years. From actors to directors and animators to costume designers, many of our countrymen and women have been lauded at the most extravagant and important ceremony there is in movie-making - the Academy Awards.

This year is a particularly stellar one for the Irish at the Oscars; Lenny Abrahamson's Room is nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture and a nod for the director himself. Saoirse Ronan is up for Best Actress in Brooklyn, Michael Fassbender is nominated for his depiction of Steve Jobs in the film of the same name, and filmmaker Benjamin Cleary is nominated for his short film Stutterer.

But our history with Oscar goes back to the very beginning; like many big American industries the Irish were in on the ground floor, with an Irish man even credited with the design of the golden statuette. Cedric Gibbons was also the first Irishman to win the Oscar he crafted, for art direction in The Bridge of San Luis Rey in 1929. He's was credited with 11 more wins during his years as art director at MGM, and many more nominations.

Over the subsequent decades there were several more Irish wins for those both in front of and behind the camera. George Bernard Shaw won for his Pygmalion screenplay for the 1939 film, while Dubliner Michele Burke had success twice in the make-up department in 1982 and again a decade later for Francis Ford Coppola's version of Dracula.

It was in the late 1980s and '90s that Irish film really stormed the ceremony though; My Left Foot was nominated for five awards in 1989, with Daniel Day Lewis and Brenda Fricker taking home the big gongs for their performances. Neil Jordan won an Oscar for The Crying Game script in 1992 with five other nods, and In The Name Of The Father received seven nominations in 1993.

Since then, the nominations have been more sporadic and the wins fewer and far between, but every one has brought Irish pride home. Short films The Shore, A Note Of Triumph and Six Shooter all took awards between 2006 and 2012, and who can forget Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova's win for Best Original Song in 2007, when the pair performed the duet of Falling Slowly and beat three songs from the Disney musical Enchanted.

It remains to be seen what will happen at this year's ceremony, but hopes are high. Saoirse Ronan has been nominated before, at the tender age of 13, for Atonement, but the bookies have Brie Larson favourite to take the award. Still, Larson is nominated for Room, a film by an Irish director and producer, and written by an Irish woman, so we'll count her as one of our own. Will Room or John Crowley's Brooklyn be able to fend off competition from Spotlight and The Revenant to take Best Picture? Does it even matter?

This month, Liam Neeson told the Sunday Independent that he was relieved to have lost when he was nominated for Schindler's List in 1994. "To be honest, when they announced Tom Hanks' name my main emotion was relief," he said. "I was dreading walking all those steps up to the podium and thanking 17,000 people, making that speech with billions watching me. I feel for the nominees every year. It's a very nerve-wracking situation to be in."

But when I spoke to members of the exclusive club of Irish Oscar nominees past and present (see right), it became clear that even a nomination can change your life when it comes to the Academy Awards

Ed Guiney

Expand Close Ed Guiney, producer of Room which is nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. Photo: Rupert Thorpe. / Facebook

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Oscar category: Producer of Room which is nominated for Best Picture this year.

Head of Element Pictures Ed (49) lives in Ranelagh, Dublin, with his wife Aoife and their five-year-old son.

"I always loved movies growing up, but I really got in to filmmaking in college. I'd been friends with Lenny Abrahamson when we were teenagers and when we both attended Trinity College, I had the idea to set up some kind of filmmaking company on campus. So we started what was then known as the Trinity Video Society, and made some horrendous videos. After some time, we made a documentary on Lenny's grandfather who was a refugee living in Ireland, and then I commissioned Lenny's first fictional film in 1991, a short called Three Joes. We've worked together many times since.

Video of the Day

"Lenny and I had both been keen to do more ambitious stuff on an international scale when we came across the novel Room by Emma Donoghue in 2010. Lenny read it and really took to it; he had a strong sense of how he would make it. Then the book got a lot of traction and won lots of awards, so we weren't optimistic that we'd get the rights. Lenny wrote a long letter to Emma outlining just how he'd make the film. Then we met Emma and had a real connection; it all went from there.

"You never really know if a movie is going to be an awards season contender.

"The fact that the book was so fantastic and had such a high profile helped of course, and the fact that Lenny's star kept on rising. But there are always challenges with material and with storytelling, so no project is ever a slam dunk by any means. To find something that cuts through and stands out is really important, and hard to do, but we like a challenge. We knew that if we could do on film what Emma had done in the novel, we'd have a shot.

"There were moments of anxiety along the way, and one of them was around casting the actor to play Jack. When casting a young child, you should really wait until you know the movie is happening, because physically they can change so much. We were about three or four months out, and couldn't say that we'd have our Jack. But then we met Jacob Tremblay, of all the children we saw, he was the one that was best for this role. I often wonder what would have happened if we hadn't found him when we did.

"Awards season has been a lot of craic so far! Certainly since we've been nominated, because you're able to let loose a little. Besides the big awards ceremonies there are countless lunches and other events, so you get to meet all the other people who are nominated. You're in competition, but there's nothing you can do - your movie is made, so you become friends with them. It's not like you have to prepare to fight or play one another!

"Everyone is in it together. And this year there's a big Irish contingent who all knew one another before. We're all thrilled that this is such a great year for Irish film.

"I'm not nervous right now, but I will be. The whole thing is slightly surreal, and this is my first time on the Oscars circuit. You turn your head and there are Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Lady Gaga For me, Sly Stallone is something of a towering mythical figure; I don't get star-struck, but he's a proper legend."

Cathal Gaffney

Expand Close Cathal Gaffney, CEO of Brown Bag Films, which was nominated for an Oscar for Best Animated Short for Give Up Yer Aul Sins in 2002. Photo: Mark Condren / Facebook

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Oscar category: Director of Give Up Yer Aul Sins, which was nominated for Best Animated Short Film in 2002.

The CEO of Brown Bag Films, Cathal (45) lives in Clontarf in Dublin.

"Looking back, the Oscars were an incredible experience. There are some wonderful memories from the time we were at the Academy Awards, but the best memories were from the nominees' luncheon two weeks before, because that was when we got to meet and mingle with all the nominees.

"Oscar nominations definitely open doors in the US but I find you're only as good as your last job and awards ceremonies don't pay the bills. After Give Up Yer Aul Sins, we set about creating an environment where talent could flourish and it was an ambition in Brown Bag to get back to the Oscars a second time. I'm probably prouder of our second nomination in 2009 for Granny O'Grimm than I am of my own, because this was a short film that Nicky Phelan directed a few years after he joined us from college. He has since gone on to direct a number of major series for the BBC and Disney.

"I haven't personally directed since Give Up Yer Aul Sins, and I far prefer the business side of animation and managing an environment where creativity thrives.

"Brown Bag is based in Smithfield in Dublin, near to the Lighthouse cinema. The company was founded 22 years ago.

"After the Oscars, we positioned our business to focus on long-form TV series and are now employing almost 250 staff producing children's content that's watched by more than 100 million kids around the world every year. Our work has seen us at various awards ceremonies like the BAFTAs, Emmys and the Peabodys, but the Oscars were definitely the most fun.

"In more recent years the animation sector has seen lots more nominees like Tomm Moore and Paul Young (see above) as well as Nicky Phelan, Ruairi Robinson and Daragh O'Connell, which is incredible for our industry."

Richie Baneham

Oscar category: Winner for Best Achievement in Visual Effects for Avatar, 2010.

Born and raised in Tallaght, Dublin, visual effects specialist Richie (45) now lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.

"I studied traditional 2D animation in Ballyfermot College and when I graduated, along with some of the lads from the class, I had an offer from Disney in Paris. It's something I truly regret not getting to experience but serendipitously, 1994 was a year that Irish people could apply for a Morrison Visa, and both myself and my partner Aisling managed to land one. With the visas in place and 2D booming in the States, it seemed like an obvious choice to move over and jump in feet first.

"The movie The Iron Giant was the impetus for me switching from traditional animation to CG and live action integrated effects. My mindset was, a computer is just a more expensive pencil, and I was one of very few animators who ended up with 2D and CG credits. A few years later I got to work on The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which was an amazing experience - a chance to work with a top class visual effects company and an opportunity to live in New Zealand on and off for a couple of years. Working on the character of Gollum was an enormous opportunity to push the reality of animation.

"The opportunity to work with James Cameron was a huge honour. Terminator and Aliens are two of the reasons I ended up in the film industry. Working with Jim on Avatar was an adventure, it always is. He sets the bar so high for himself and everyone around him, and you know he's going to drill down on every element so you tend to do your homework! But when you're mired in making a movie, awards or accolades are the last thing on your mind.

"The Oscars ceremony itself is long, but arriving, walking the red carpet and attending the Governors Ball afterwards were all really fun. I don't remember being nervous but I probably was! Truth be told, I don't have a clear recollection of the moment I won. I just remember walking to the stage seeing Jim clapping and cheering us on. As far as a speech, we'd such a large crew to thank, it was just a laundry list of names!

"After the Governors Ball, we went to an Irish bar called Dillon's, which sadly no longer exists. All of the other Irish were there - the lads from Brown Bag and Cartoon Saloon, as well as our family. From there we went to the Vanity Fair party. As for surreal moments, there's one that I can't fully share. Backstage, heading to the press room I ended up in a lift with Gerard Butler, Bradley Cooper and Zac Efron. Needless to say it was a fun moment, but that's a story best told over a pint!

"I think in a lot of ways it's a choice as to how you let something like winning an Oscar affect your life. We made a conscious effort to keep everything the same. Like everyone else with three kids, we're happy just muddling through day to day and we hope we're doing a good job. On the professional side it certainly doesn't hurt, but the truth is, it's what you put on screen that counts."

Paul Young

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Oscar category: Twice nominated as producer for Best Animated Feature, in 2010 for The Secret of Kells and 2015 for Song of The Sea.

One of the three brains behind Cartoon Saloon, a Kilkenny-based animation studio. Paul (41) lives with his fiancee, Yvonne, and their daughter.

"Myself and Tomm Moore met in college in Ballyfermot, studying animation. After we left we set up business in Kilkenny and made our first trailer, The Secret of Kells. That was 16 years ago. We'd no idea how to finance a film, none of us had ever worked in a film company before. We went to the Irish Film Board and got great advice, and started pitching the idea. It took five years to raise the money to start production, and in the meantime we did work for other people on their movies.

"We try to be very authentic in our portrayal of Ireland on screen - the way the characters talk in our films is the way our kids talk. But they work abroad because the stories are fairly universal, and have an emotional impact too. We took liberties with the mythology and added stuff, because that's storytelling. And kids just enjoy characters.

"Our first nomination for The Secret of Kells was very grassroots. We met our American distributors at an animation festival in New York, and one condition of us going with them is that we'd go for a shot at an Oscar. Then we were asked to go to LA and screen the film, and there seemed to be quite a buzz about it so we spent a bit of time there. Then an animator over there spread the word about the film, and after a while we ended up screening it in Pixar up in San Francisco. There's no real mad competition in animation like there is like in live action, and no massive egos either. We're not famous, so it's all about the art for us. We found that people really liked watching good old-fashioned 2D.

"We were still blown away when we were nominated, but I think it was just being very visible that did it. We got to go to all these amazing places, meet incredible people. We were going against Up, and knew we had no chance of winning. But you're guaranteed people will watch your film, which is amazing.

"We were nominated again in 2015 for Song of the Sea, and we went to the Oscars on both occasions. The best experience for me is the nominees' luncheon about two weeks before the main event. It's a much smaller crowd, and everyone is just there chatting to each other. I remember Tarantino asking me, "What are you in for?" and then being really annoyed because he hadn't seen it yet.

"At the lunch, I went to the toilet and told Tomm to keep my seat. When I came back, he'd his head in his hands and told me, "I just told Sandra Bullock that she couldn't sit beside me". There she was sitting one seat over! He was mortified.

"The Oscars ceremony itself is a little more tense because everyone is wondering what's going to happen and most are preparing themselves to lose. But look, it was very glamorous. Still, we were warned it's a long night, so we had little energy bars in our tuxedos!"

Consolata Boyle

Expand Close Consolata Boyle who was nominated for the Oscar in Best Achievement in Costume Design in 2007 for her work on The Queen. Photo: Elish McCormick. / Facebook

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Oscar category: Nominee for Best Achievement in Costume Design for The Queen, 2007.

From Dublin, Consolata has been working on costumes in theatre and film since the early 1980s and her credits include Angela's Ashes and The Iron Lady. She won an Emmy in 2004 for her work on The Lion in Winter.

"I remember The Queen itself had a lot of excitement surrounding it by the time awards season came around; it seems to have touched on something and fascinated a lot of people, particularly in the United States. And a lot of that was down to Helen Mirren's performance, which was quite remarkable.

"But even though there was a lot of energy around the film as a whole, the Oscar nod came something out of the blue. I thought the costumes were fairly low key, but it was incredibly satisfying because I feel very strongly that every costume is important, whether it's wild, beautiful, ugly or quite ordinary.

"The Oscar nomination was particularly special as it came from my peers, all the other people working in the same part of the industry. That was the loveliest thing of all, to be recognised from those intimately connected with the craft.

"My journey in to the film industry was quite unexpected. I was working in theatre when I got the opportunity to work on a film, and I was fascinated by the art. I started doing very small films, then moved in to television and then in to bigger films. It was all a very natural progression and very organic, and I absolutely loved it.

"Awards season is incredible because you go through all the rituals. The screenings, question and answer sessions and events all happen before the big event. It's great because everyone there is completely obsessed by film, and delightfully curious and enthusiastic.

"It's all very energising, and fantastic to observe the wonderful mix of hard-edged business and the creative coming together to tell a story. Films are about that coming together, very strange and intense, and then gone as if by magic.

"I suppose I was nervous on the night, but I had no expectation because there were some very strong contenders. And Helen won, which was the whole thing really - the actor disappearing in to this character.

"The nomination made a difference in that I now get to read really interesting scripts and I get approached about interesting projects. But in the end, what actually counts is what you've done. That's what you're judged on, the body of work that you're able to produce. It keeps you on your mettle, but on every project you prove yourself over and over again."

The victorious Irish at the Oscars

Expand Close Art director Cedric Gibbons is Ireland's most prolific Oscar winner, with 11 wins / Facebook

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1957: MGM's Cedric Gibbons (above) wins his final Oscar for Art Direction on Somebody Up There Likes Me. It was the Dublin man's 11th win and 39th nomination. A founding member of the Academy, he is credited with the design of the Oscar statuette itself.

1983: Michele Burke becomes to first Irish woman to ever win an Oscar, for make-up on Quest For Fire. The Kildare woman won again for Bram Stoker's Dracula in 1992.

1986: After a career spanning a quarter of a century, Josie MacAvin wins for art direction and set decoration on Out Of Africa. The Dublin woman would go on to win an Emmy award for her work on Gone With The Wind TV spin off Scarlet in 1995.

Expand Close Brenda Fricker and Daniel Day-Lewis celebrate their Oscar wins in 1990 / Facebook

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1990: Brenda Fricker does it for mammies everywhere when she takes Best Actress for My Left Foot, the first Irish woman to win an Oscar for acting. Daniel Day Lewis - then resident in Wicklow and long since claimed as our own - also won Best Actor for his role in the film. He has since added two more Best Actor wins, for There Will Be Blood in 2007 and Lincoln in 2012.

Expand Close Meryl Streep presents Peter O'Toole with his honorary Oscar in 2003 / Facebook

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2003: Nominated seven times for Best Performance by a Leading Actor - the first time for Lawrence of Arabia in 1963 - without winning over the previous 40 years, Peter O'Toole (above) was given an honorary Oscar at the age of 71. The Connemara man was again nominated for Best Actor in 2007 for his role in Venus.

2008: Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova's Falling Slowly melted hearts the world over both with their passionate performance and emotional reaction to winning Best Original Song.
An Aer Lingus flight was evacuated this afternoon after fireworks were discovered on board.

It is understood a group of school children had brought the minor explosives onto the flight.

Flight EI 523 was due to fly from Paris to Dublin when a passenger found the fireworks' in the back of one of the seats.

It is understood a group of school children on the inbound flight to Dublin may have brought them on board.

The flight captain requested the passengers to exit the plane row by row in an orderly manner from the front and the plane underwent a security sweep.

Aer Lingus released a statement to Independent.ie, saying: "The boarding of passengers for Aer Lingus flight Paris to Dublin was interrupted this afternoon due to the discovery of what is believed to be fireworks on board the aircraft.

"As these items are not permitted for transport on Aer Lingus flights the boarding process was interrupted to facilitate a full search of the aircraft.

"This has caused a delay to the departure of the flight.

"We do not anticipate any further operational disruption to result from this incident."

It is understood several passengers were concerned about the delays impacting on connection flights, with one woman expressing her frustration that she would miss her connection flight to New York.
DEFIANT: Former IRA boss Thomas Slab Murphy maintains his innocence as he begins his 18-month sentence for tax evasion. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire

The Criminal Assets Bureau plans to hunt down and freeze Thomas 'Slab' Murphy's assets to recover the 190,000 he still owes in taxes. The reputed Provisional IRA boss and smuggler was jailed at the Special Criminal Court for 18 months last Friday for not filing tax returns on his farming income.

However, CAB is not yet finished with the man reputed to be worth 58m, but whom Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, insists is "a good republican".

"CAB has now to move on to the revenue collection process," said an informed source. "Even though he has gone to jail, he still owes the money."

The agency is also to pursue a separate civil case against Murphy for unpaid taxes of up to 5m.

Two of Murphy's closest associates are also under investigation by CAB over suspected oil-laundering activities. They are now being assessed for what is expected to be a massive tax demand by CAB.

The 66-year-old once claimed he was a simple pig farmer, and now works as a yard man at a factory in Crossmaglen, across the Border in south Armagh. The Special Criminal Court was told that he survives on a salary of Stg1,000 a month before tax.

The bachelor farmer is "single", the court was told, and has no dependants. He lives in a modest house on the Murphy family lands straddling the Border in Ballybinaby, Hackballscross, Co Louth.

After his sentencing, Murphy said he did "not own any property at all" and has "no savings".

According to the BBC's underworld rich list, 'Slab' Murphy is reputed to have built up a fortune of more than 58m from money-laundering and smuggling cigarettes, oil and pigs.

He is believed to have done so while reputedly acting as the IRA's head of operations in charge of bombing, and later as its chief-of-staff.

Security sources believe that Gerry Adams served on the IRA's army council with Murphy.

British security forces believed that 'Slab' Murphy was "head of operations" for the IRA in the early 1990s as the North edged towards peace, when Adams, and his colleague Martin McGuinness, were joint deputy chiefs of staff.

Adams has denied membership of the IRA, but he has remained consistently loyal to 'Slab'.

Gardai suspect that Murphy was linked to property portfolios in England, Bulgaria and Dubai but were unable to find enough evidence to seize them.

The Bulgarian connection was investigated by gardai in 2005 and although Murphy's alleged link to the properties could not be proved, the investigation remains "open" to this day, sources said.

CAB in the South and its counterpart in the North, the Assets Recovery Agency, mounted major operations against the IRA in Manchester and in Louth in October 2005.

The ARA was investigating 250 properties in Manchester and London that it suspected were linked to 'Slab' Murphy. The usually secretive Murphy issued a statement denying that any of the properties were his.

Six months later, police agencies North and South raided the Murphy lands that straddle the Border between Louth and south Armagh. Officers found plastic bags in a hay shed stuffed with cash and cheques - 256,235 and Stg111,185, and drafts totalling 673,460.

'Slab' Murphy was presented with a 5.3m tax demand by CAB following the raids. Murphy at first ignored it and then refused to engage with officers at CAB. Only in recent years, did he begin to interact with the agency.

CAB has so far failed to find his supposed fortune. Forensic financial investigators trawled through a warren of bank accounts in Ireland, the UK and the continent but were unable to link funds back to him.

CAB and its counterpart, ARA, also failed to find any evidence linking 'Slab' Murphy to the 250 properties in the UK.

Some of the properties were owned by 'Slab' Murphy's brother, Frank.

In 2008, Frank and his wife, Judy, also settled a case taken against them by the Serious Organised Crime Agency in the UK for 573,000, relating to their equity in nine properties in the north west of England.

That same year, the three Murphy brothers, Thomas, Patrick and Frank, agreed to relinquish the 630,000 seized by CAB in the hay shed to the Irish State.

'Slab' Murphy's brothers, Frank and Patrick, reached a separate settlement with the Revenue Commissioners - believed to be in the region of 1m.

During his trial for tax evasion, 'Slab' Murphy claimed that whatever tax liability he might have had been included in his brothers' settlement with the State. However, the Special Criminal Court judges did not buy that.

Despite relinquishing 630,000 to the State, 'Slab' Murphy had enough wealth left over to fund a lengthy legal challenge to his prosecution for tax offences, taking his case all the way to the Supreme Court.

Those legal fees are estimated to have run to six figures.

The legal fees he incurred in his criminal prosecution are also significant. He was not granted legal aid. He pleaded not guilty and the trial ran for 32 days.

He has also footed the bill for the enormous legal costs arising from his failed libel action against the Sunday Times, which accused him of being in the IRA. The jury agreed.

In a statement released after his sentencing last Friday, 'Slab' Murphy said: "I do not own any property at all and I have no savings."

He said he has been "an Irish republican" all his life but has been subjected to "serial, prejudicial and wholly inaccurate commentary and media coverage".

"I maintain my innocence in respect of these charges, which date back 20 years," he added.

He plans to appeal.
Tom Swoyer, whose involvement in unmanned aerial systems started five years ago, sees a need for the technology to move into commercial uses. Hes a real estate developer for federal property and was asked by Grand Forks County to develop facilities on the Grand Forks Air Force Base for UAS use.

Swoyer said hes always had an interest in robotics, but the more he learned about UAS, the more he was hooked.

Its going to become huge in the U.S., he said.

And the Grand Sky UAS aviation park being developed by Swoyer and Grand Sky Development Co. has the facilities, including access to a 12,000-foot UAS runway capable of handling the 131-foot wingspan of the Global Hawk, to help develop the technology for commercial use.

The industry is growing fast, but its certainly a very young industry right now, he said. Its an industry thats still discovering itself.

The way Swoyer sees it, larger UAS will be needed for the technology to go commercial due to economies of scale. The larger drones have more payload.

Grand Sky Development replaced the worn infrastructure on the base this past year: Buildings are going up, including two more tenants to be announced this summer that will bring the total to four, and permits are being granted for runway use, Sowyer said.

Small drones have been deployed for marketing, helping the Air Force and FAA get comfortable with segregating the air space for park tenants.

In six or seven months, residents will start to see regular activity at the air park and people will start reporting to work. Runway usage is expected to rise 20 percent to 30 percent, Swoyer said.

Northrop Grumman will be one tenant flying UAS.

We are the No. 1 company in the world in unmanned systems, said Rick Matthews, vice president of operations at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, and the company saw an opportunity to partner on industry development in the state. The Northrop Grumman building at Grand Sky is a concrete symbol of that partnership.

Matthews said the talent pipeline from University of North Dakota and the Air Force base also are beneficial to the companys operations. He said North Dakota has become one piece of Northrop Grummans bigger network.

Its a global market and were at the forefront of it, he said.

Swoyer said, some companies at the air park, including Northrop Grumman, will train pilots and practice maintenance procedures at their facilities. Some may choose to prototype new aircraft.

But, ultimately, the key to commercializing the technology will be finding applications for it.

That could involve testing sensors on the UAS to gather data on the climate. It may mean investigating soil quality or plant counts or flooding.

Application is really the end game, said Swoyer, pointing out there is no point in developing the technology without having a use for it.

Swoyer said, as the technology advances, one of the things he expects to happen is for true autonomy to be developed for the aircraft, as well as for marine and ground vehicles. For now, there is a pilot for each of the machines. With autonomy, the machines could communicate with each other instead of waiting for commands from a pilot, telling one another what parts of an assignment have been completed and increasing efficiency, according to Swoyer.

That kind of autonomy is complicated, but were started to head in that direction, Swoyer said.
Abbot Patrick Barry, the headmaster of Ampleforth College for 15 years, who died last Sunday, aged 98, was regarded as one of the outstanding headmasters of the 20th Century.

He was the first Roman Catholic to be elected chairman of the British Headmasters' Conference and soon after retiring he undertook for another dozen years the heavy task of leading the largest monastic community in Britain.

Noel Barry (he took the name of Patrick on becoming a monk) was born in Liverpool, the son of an Irish doctor, on December 6, 1917. Originally destined for schooling at another Benedictine school, he was eventually sent to Ampleforth because his mother refused to go to the expense of buying two black suits as school uniforms.

He entered the monastic community in 1935, read Greats at St Benet's Hall, Oxford, and was ordained a priest in 1945.

It was a permanent sadness to him that the war denied him the opportunity of the training in Roman Catholic theology available at that time only at a continental university. His intellectual formation remained deeply English, with Cardinal Newman his great mentor and guide.

In his early years as a monk, he played an important part (with Sir Sydney Cockerell) in the revival of italic script. He was devoted in teaching less gifted students, schooling generations of boys into producing a distinguished script which beguiled examiners into overestimating their intellects.

Meticulous about visual presentation, he was also a fine carver of lettering upon stone and an enthusiastic printer, hobbies to which he intended to devote his retirement. The same exactitude was expressed in his delight in skating endless figures-of-eight whenever the lake in the school grounds froze over.

The close relationship he developed with the architect, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, played an important part in bringing the great Abbey Church to completion in 1961.

After serving as librarian and head of classics, Barry was appointed housemaster, combining this office with those of second master and director of studies, so that it came as no surprise when in 1964 he was appointed headmaster.

In this office he presided over important developments, not only in the academic sphere, assembling a strong body of lay teachers, but also in the traditions of rugby (though he was himself no gamester) and music (he was an indifferent horn player).

In recognition of his contribution, in 1975 he was elected as the first Catholic chairman of the HMC.

As headmaster he was to the students, and even to parents, a scary figure, for he combined a certain shyness and lack of small talk with a frightening penetration and power of analysis, which led him straight to the heart of a problem without the usual polite preliminaries.

To many he remained a daunting figure, unsparing in his refusal to suffer fools gladly. It was perhaps this aloofness which denied him election as Abbot in 1976.

Retiring from the headship in 1979, Barry spent three years working in a parish in Cardiff (narrowly, it was rumoured, escaping appointment to the vacant archbishopric), and then, as the English Benedictines' adviser on adult education, was appointed to the new pastoral centre in East Dulwich.

Within months, however, he was recalled to his monastery as Abbot. In this role, with considerable personal effort, he largely shed his previous daunting sharpness, guiding the varied life of the community with a genial calm which encouraged the personal development of each individual.

He was particularly loved by the junior members of the community, each of whom felt his bond of fatherly affection.

Constricted by increasing deafness, in 1997 he insisted on retiring halfway through his second eight-year term as Abbot, whereupon he moved to St Louis Abbey in United States, a daughter-house of Ampleforth, in whose founding he had played an important part.

Here he enjoyed a supremely happy evening of his life, treasured by the community as a senior counsellor and friend.

Free from the inhibitions of responsibility, he became increasingly light-hearted and joyful, keeping in touch by email well into his nineties with a host of friends on both sides of the Atlantic. He took a special interest in the lay Manquehue Apostolic Movement in Chile, publishing on it in 2005 his first major book, A Cloister in the World, at the age of 88.

Returning to Ampleforth after an absence of 12 years, he became once more an important member of the community, a source not only of exact information about the past but of spiritual advice, acute judgement and warm friendship.

Confined to an electric wheelchair, he remained faithful to the community prayer in choir till a few days before his death.

Alert to any development in electronic media, Patrick Barry continued to teach and write into his late nineties, his latest article being published in the current number of the Ampleforth Journal.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Following counting across the country into the early hours, more than half the seats have been filled  91 of 158.

The most recent results have come from Cork East where Labour's Sean Sherlock, Fine Gael's David Stanton and Fianna Fail's Kevin O'Keeffe were elected on count eight in the last hour.

A total of 18 constituencies have completed counting.

Another 21 have been adjourned and some will restart between 9am and 11am today.

Wexford has adjourned its count until 10am on Monday morning. Only 52 votes separate the lower two candidates in Wexford. A full recount is to take place on Monday from 10am after a request from Sinn Fein.

The Government parties have experienced heavy losses at the polls today but there has been successes on other fronts.

Expand Close Leo Varadkar is elected at Phibblestown Community Hall in Dublin 15. He is pictured alongside his Mum and Dad Miriam and Ashok Varadkar. Pic Steve Humphreys / Facebook

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Whatsapp Leo Varadkar is elected at Phibblestown Community Hall in Dublin 15. He is pictured alongside his Mum and Dad Miriam and Ashok Varadkar. Pic Steve Humphreys

Here are the top ten things we have learned from the General Election 2016 count so far:

1. Ministerial office will not save you

Expand Close Leo Varadkar is elected at Phibblestown Community Hall in Dublin 15. He is pictured alongside his Mum and Dad Miriam and Ashok Varadkar. Pic Steve Humphreys / Facebook

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Whatsapp Leo Varadkar is elected at Phibblestown Community Hall in Dublin 15. He is pictured alongside his Mum and Dad Miriam and Ashok Varadkar. Pic Steve Humphreys

The stage is set for some high-profile departures as Ministers have been eliminated and tallies indicate more are to follow.

Communications Minster Alex White was first to go, former Justice Minister Alan Shatter followed while Minister Jan OSullivan and Junior Ministers Kathleen Lynch and James Reilly look like the could be in serious trouble.

Expand Close Counting of ballot papers in Tipperary Credit: Frank McGrath / Facebook

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2. Labour need a serious overhaul

It has been a bad day at the office for Labour. Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin admitted that the party had to rebuild.

The demise will be hard to stomach as the Party Leader Joan Burton had to fight for her seat.

3. The slowest count centre has become the fastest

Expand Close AAA's candidate Ruth Coppinger and Fianna Fail candidate Jack Chambers during a radio interview at Phibblestown Community Hall in Dublin 15. Pic Steve Humphreys 27th February 2016 / Facebook

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Whatsapp AAA's candidate Ruth Coppinger and Fianna Fail candidate Jack Chambers during a radio interview at Phibblestown Community Hall in Dublin 15. Pic Steve Humphreys 27th February 2016

Laois was the first constituency to finish counting after holding the title of one of the slowest count centres.

The county used to be part Laois-Offaly, but has since lost two seats which has appeared to have made all the difference.

4. Gender quotas have worked

It appears gender quotas have worked  especially in parties experiencing growth.Fianna Fail looks likely to have the most women added to their parliamentary party.

Anne Rabbitte, Margaret Murphy OMahony, Fiona OLoughlin, Jennifer Murnane OConnor and Mary Butler are looking certain to be elected and Catherine Ardagh, Niamh Smyth and Lisa Chambers are all in contention.

5. Green Party can be forgiven

Voters appear to have forgiven the Green Party after their 2011 wipe-out, though progress is small. Eamon Ryan has a good chance Dublin Bay South and Catherine Martin has been elected in Dublin South.

6. Support for Independents is growing

Shane Ross was the first elected TD in country and was soon joined by Sean Canney in Galway East, Michael Lowry in Tipperary and Denis Naughten in Roscommon. Growth for independents set to continue as counting drags on into Monday.

7. Mick Wallace cant take support for granted

Mick Wallaces drop in support was the biggest shock to the Independent brand. The Wexford TD looks to be in a struggle for the last seat after topping the polling last time out in 2011.

8. The Social Democrats have made fine debut performance

For General Election first timers the Social Democrats have done well. They were the first party to return all their sitting TDs and Dublin candidate Gary Gannon has done well even if he fails to get elected.

9. Others will make a move for power

Health Minster Leo Varadkar has said he will expect other parties to make a move as the parties now look at their coalition options as Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin did not rule out doing a deal with Fine Gael entirel yesterday.

10. Fine Gaels second best election

Tallies and opinion polls suggest Fine Gael will register their second most number of TDs. However, the 2016 will feel like a defeat after the high of 2011.
THE leaders of the two Coalition parties are set to come under intense pressure after a disastrous General Election for both Fine Gael and Labour.

Early tallies of votes from around the country showed that the current Government was set to lose a significant number of seats and would not return to power.

As the votes came in, focus shifted to the leaders of both parties - Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tanaiste Joan Burton.

Senior Fine Gael members were incensed last night over the party's performance and were calling for the Taoiseach to account for the huge loss of seats.

Anger was also focused on Fine Gael's election strategy team - ministers Frances Fitzgerald, Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney.

Across the party, members also laid blame on the strategist who developed Fine Gael's 'Keep the recovery going' slogan, which is now widely accepted as being the wrong message for the campaign.

Several prominent Fine Gael candidates, some seen as extremely loyal to the Taoiseach, admitted that Mr Kenny's days as leader of Fine Gael could be numbered after a devastating election.

Senior outgoing Fine Gael TDs are incensed by what one described as an "utterly f**ked up" campaign and are now looking to Mr Kenny for answers. The party looks set to lose close to 20 seats.

"I can't see him staying, no matter how many seats we get at this stage," a senior Fine Gael TD told the Sunday Independent.

Another Kenny loyalist said it was likely that the Taoiseach will step aside and be replaced by Ms Fitzgerald, who will then handle coalition negotiations with Fianna Fail.

However, other Fine Gael figures have suggested that Ms Fitzgerald also has questions to answer over her role as chair of the party's election strategy committee.

"Every one of them should face the firing squad over the election strategy," a senior source said.

Mr Kenny, who topped the poll in his own Mayo constituency, is unlikely to face a heave but several party members said they believed that he would choose to step aside.

Questions were also hanging over the Tanaiste Joan Burton's leadership last night, even after she managed to retain her own seat in Dublin West.

Ms Burton took over as Labour leader after Eamon Gilmore stepped down following the party's disastrous local election result in 2014. She is now faced with returning to the Dail with as few as five other party members.

Labour's deputy leader Alan Kelly, who is seen as Ms Bruton's main rival for the leadership, was also fighting for his political survival in Tipperary last night.

Mr Kelly has made no secret of his ambition to lead the party and sources say he is likely to launch a leadership challenge should he return to Leinster House.

However, Brendan Howlin - one of the few Labour TDs who retained his seat - is seen as the favourite to take over from Ms Burton.

A senior Labour source described a leadership heave against Ms Burton as "inevitable", given the huge amount of seats the party lost.

Sources said the Tanaiste may save her leadership if she returns with 20 TDs.

However, this was looking extremely unlikely as votes were counted around the country.

"It will be a reduced parliamentary party, no matter what happens, and if Labour comes back with seven to 10 seats, there will be bigger problems than the party leader," a party source said.
No Doctor No Village candidate , Dr Michael Harty TD (Ind) will be brought back down to earth this morning (Monday) from the weekend delirium that marked his election as a TD in Clare.

Dr Harty will be treating the aches and ailments of his patients at his Kilmihil surgery that will give him little time to reflect on his stellar performance that saw his grab the second seat in Clare.

Working as a GP in west Clare for the past 32 years and aged 63, Dr Harty in the early hours of Sunday morning was contemplating his radical career departure.

He said that my one regret in securing a seat will be no longer be treating my patients and I think the feeling is mutual.

He said: I have mostly an elderly population - people with complex illnesses with complex diseases - that is what I specialise in. To move into an area looking after people in a different way will be strange for me, but I feel I can do it and I feel that we have a message that is worth fighting for.

Dr Harty said that he will get a locum to operate the practice and he will retain a supervisory role. He stressed: My income from the practice will be zero.

A political novice, Dr Harty said that he had never been to an election count before after receiving a rapturous welcome on Saturday night.

An emotional Joe Carey TD (FG) spoke of going to his mothers grave on Saturday to have a word with her and travelling out to Cree in west Clare for a months mind for a deceased party colleague before finally arriving into the count through a side door just before 2am on Sunday morning.

Deputy Carey said that it was a serious achievement for Fine Gael to retain two seats with only 26% of the vote. He said that a local poll one week before the election that wrote off his chances galvanised my campaign.

A despondent Michael McNamara said at the count yesterday that he doesnt know if he will remain in politics.

The Labour TD was eliminated after the 11th count and the lawyer said: It was an incredibly tough campaign for a variety of reasons including the fact that both of my parents are hospitalised and are in hospitals as we speak and I want to thank hospital staff in both St Josephs and the County Hospital in Ennis for the care they are giving to them.
FIANNA Fail celebrated the party's resurgence as Cork South Central, Ireland's self-styled 'Constituency of Death,' proved fatal for Coalition re-election hopes.

Both Labour and Fine Gael lost TDs as Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, who held his seat despite his vote dropping by 1,500, warned there could be "no hiding" from the reality of a hugely disappointing election for the Government parties.

In a signal of Coalition woes, Mr Coveney was pushed into fourth place in the constituency as Sinn Fein's Councillor Donnchadh O'Laoghaire took the third seat.

"I don't get the sense that there is going to be any leadership challenge in Fine Gael," Mr Coveney said.

"We will win in or around 50 seats and we will be the largest party. Enda Kenny will be the leader of the largest party."

"I don't get the sense that there is any panic or anything like that."

"But the truth is that we did not get our message across in this campaign like we should have. We certainly did not win the argument."

"This has been a very tough couple of days for Fine Gael but I can assure you all here today that Fine Gael will bounce back."

"The next Government will certainly have wind in their sails - there is no doubt about that."

But he admitted that, if a stable Government cannot be formed, another general election may be on the cards.

"There may be a scenario where the people are asked to reconsider. If a Government cannot be put together, that is what will happen."

High-profile Fine Gael backbench TD Jerry Buttimer lost his seat as did Labour TD and Oireachtas banking inquiry chairman, Ciaran Lynch.

Mr Buttimer said he believed Fine Gael should now go into Opposition and that the onus for forming the next Government should rest with Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein and independents.

"I'm trying to be philosophical about it. But it is very disappointing. Losing my Bishopstown base to Cork North Central was a bridge too far really. To quote Van Morrison, 'My mother told me there'll be days like this.' What else can you say?"

Labour suffered the indignity of seeing the Green Party candidate overtake Mr Lynch for elimination on the ninth count.

Fianna Fail celebrated as leader Michael Martin and Opposition finance spokesman, Michael McGrath, were both elected on the first count with huge votes. Sinn Fein made a major breakthrough with the election of newcomer Councillor Donnchadh O'Laoghaire.

"This is an historic day for Sinn Fein in Cork and Ireland. This is a day the party has been building towards for many, many years," Councillor O'Laoghaire said.

Mr Martin hailed the Fianna Fail election campaign as "absolutely incredible."

He confirmed his party will now nominate him for Taoiseach when the Dail resumes - but he refused to be drawn on the possibility of any deal with Fine Gael.

"This was a great election for Fianna Fail. Our message resonated with people and I think people reacted to the hard-work we put in to renewing and rebuilding the party over the past five years," he added.

"We will have to wait and see what happens. But this was a very good day for Fianna Fail."

"It is too early to talk about that (deal with Fine Gael)," he said.

"What I can say is that Michael Martin has always put the country first."

"The country will always be first as far as Michael Martin is concerned. We proved that in 2009 when we took decisions that were electorally and politically costly but in terms of the country they were the right things to do."

"That has happened in the past and that is what is going to happen again. The country comes first in all our deliberations in this regard," Mr Martin said.
Independent Thomas Pringle has taken the fifth and final seat in Donegal tonight.

There was a tense atmosphere at the count centre in Letterkenny as Mr Pringle had been assisted in his election campaign by members of the 32-County Sovereignty Committee.

Among them is dissident Derry councillor Paul Donnelly, a vociferous opponent of Sinn Fein.



Asked about support from members of the dissident 32-County Sovereignty Committee - including Derry councillor Gary Donnelly - Mr Pringle insisted he was part of an "Independent movement".

He went on: "The people who were here were independent councillors.

"They are independent councillors and they are working as independent councillors.

"I don't know if he (Gary Donnelly) is a member (of the 32-County Sovereignty Committee) or not.

"I know the political work that he does/"I do know he is committed to independent politics and that's the key thing for me."

Mr Pringle went 36 votes ahead on the surplus of Pat the Cope Gallagher (FF) who was elected on 11th count alongside Joe McHugh (FG).

Earlier today, Sinn Fein's finance spokesman Pearse Doherty was elected after picking up the required votes following the elimination of Gary Doherty on the eight count at the Aura Leisure Centre Letterkenny.

Sinn Fein had asked for recounts earlier today in an effort to keep Gary Doherty in the race but he fell seven votes short of another independent, solicitor Dessie Shiels.

The entire process was held up for six hours.
Lucinda Creighton of Renua Ireland at the count in the RDS yesterday.Pic Tom Burke

There were scenes of jubilation in the RDS as the Green Party leader Eamon Ryan topped the poll in the hotly contested Dublin Bay South constituency.

Mr Ryan, who was a minister in the last Fianna Fail led coalition Government, surged past Fine Gael's Eoghan Ryan with the transfers from the seventh count.

Those transfers came from Sinn Fein's Chris Andrews, bringing Mr Ryan to a poll topping 8,788, in a constituency where the quota was 7,941.

Sitting TD Mr Murphy was also elected to the second seat of the constituency in the count, with a vote of 8,023.

It's a political resurrection for Mr Ryan, who lost his seat in the destruction of his party in the last General Election.

Mr Ryan said he was delighted to finally regain his seat lost in the 2011 election.

The Greens were the first party ever to lose all their dail seats and come back, he pointed out, proving that "money isn't everything" and spoke of the power of the volunteer.

Alongside Catherine Ward who was elected in the Dublin Rathdown constituency, he said he was delighted to be going back to Leinster House as "a team" and to see what will happen.

Asked if he would consider forming a government, he urged fellow left newly elected candidates not to rule out anything at this stage.

"All parties on the left should look to see what might be possible rather than ruling things out at the start," he said

An emotional Mr Ryan was pictured with his son celebrating the result.

Fine Gael also managed to get both of their candidates - Kate O'Connell and incumbent TD Eoghan Murphy - elected.

There was also joy for Fianna Fail, with the party managing to get their man Jim O'Callaghan a seat, to complete the four.

It was a tightly fought battle with former Fine Gael TD and Renua Ireland leader Lucinda Creighton a big name loser.

Kevin Humphreys, the sitting Labour TD, also lost out.

Last night, RENUA Ireland leader Lucinda Creighton has lost her seat.

Ms Creighton, an outgoing TD, was eliminated on the fifth count in the Dublin Bay South constituency.

She fell behind Labour's Kevin Humphreys following the redistribution of the 3,527 votes of Glenna Lynch (Social Democrats).

Ms Creighton was booted out of Fine Gael after she voted against the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013.

She was a rising star in the party before that, holding the profile of minister for Europe.

Earlier in the day, Ms Creighton was optimistic that she could keep the seat, though her team had expressed doubt after she received just 4,229 first preference votes, around 10 pc.

She proved unable to attract enough transfers to remain in the race.

Ms Creighton left the count centre before the result was announced. But she had earlier said that Renua would not necessarily fall if she lost her seat.

Fine Gael's Eoghan Murphy topped the poll in the constituency with 6,567 first preference votes, leaving him just short of the quota of 7,941.

His party running mate in the constituency Kate O'Connell polled 5,399 first preference votes, putting her in second place.

Earlier in the day, independent Mannix Flynn, who polled well in initial tallies, conceded defeat.

"It's not our day," he told independent.ie.

Around 70 of the ballot papers in the Dublin Bay South constituency did not contain official seal - the stamp placed on the voting card at the voting centre.

A number of votes cast at the centre are being adjudicated on.
Fianna Fail candidate Catherine Ardagh (FF) said calling a full recount for the final seat in Dublin South Central is "the right thing to do".

"It's a lot of votes to catch up on," she said. "I wouldn't put my house on it but it's the right thing to do because the gap was so small."

Last night the distribution of Joan Collins' surplus brought Ardagh up to 7844 votes and AAA-PBP's Brid Smith up to 7879, before the count was adjourned to this morning when talks between both parties and offices took place.

Just five votes separated the two candidates in the previous count.

AAA-PBP candidate for Dublin South Central Brid Smith told independent.ie she is anxious for the counting to be "done and dusted".

"They've called for a recount," she said. "They're entitled to one so we're going for a full recount.

"I'd rather be out walking the dog or visiting my mam or something but I have to go through this.

"The only other time I was involved in something like this was when Richard Boyd Barrett got elected and Ivana Bacik called for a full recount twice.

"It took a day the first one and on the second day she conceded so we could be here all day."

The count is expected to separately look at spoiled votes, she added.

"My team, me, my director and my barrister, were having a meeting with the officers and Ardagh and her team so there were three on each side listening to what the officers said and arguing with what's going on but basically it just boils down to a full recount.

"Then separately and probably parallel we'll have a look at the spoiled votes and for that, it will be my team and her team.

"Anything that we see as disputatious, we'll just tag it and then disputes will be looked at later.

"They're quite anxious to get their staff going on this. They have 30 staff so they're quite anxious to get going.

"We're all anxious so it has to get done and dusted today hopefully. I'm hopeful, I trust them that they did their job right."

Meanwhile, Fine Gael stalwart Catherine Byrne said there was "a bit of history" made last night as she was re-elected to Dublin South Central.

A former Lord Mayor of Dublin, Byrne was first elected to the Dail in 2007.

Although her constituency - dubbed the 'People's Republic of Dublin South Central' - is known as a predominantly left-wing area, she took the third seat on the ninth quota.

"I think there has been a bit of history made this evening in a constituency that is a difficult one but I do believe that into the future, Dublin South Central will be a major player in the next government," she said.

"Im hoping to be a member of government.

"I think we started a programme of recovery in this country with the people.

"People made it very clear on the door that there was light at the end of the tunnel but some people didnt feel it and I think we have to continue that and I have no doubt in my mind that whatever government is formed into the future will have to stay on that path to recovery and give people the opportunity to go to work and give young people an opportunity to stay in education."

O'Snodaigh

Dublin South-Central poll-topper Sinn Feins Aengus OSnodaigh TD said his party has done well but its still not as big as he would like.

Just past midnight, OSnodaigh was returned to the Dail after reaching the quota on the seventh count, following the distribution of transfers from his party colleague Maire Devine.

The TD, who was first elected in 2002, is Sinn Feins party whip and spokesperson on social protection.

He became the first elected for the area and said his party will know early this week whether it is likely to be in the next government.

We had 14 seats before, but Ive been told were going to come up to about 24 or 25 seats, he told independent.ie.

The idea is to form a government based on the principles we have contested and thats what were going to do in the next week or so.

If that doesnt happen, well stand again until such time that we have a government that will implement those policy positions which looks after the vulnerable in our society.

Maybe the next time we will run more candidates to ensure that SF will be by far the biggest party in the Dail.

Its going to be a tough time for us, were still not as big as Id like to see the party.

We have options now and well know over the next couple of days what those options are, whether a coalition can be formed with us at the head or as part of a Right 2 Change agenda.
Emerging technologies are pushing cures and treatments rapidly forward into a future in which medicine will not look the same as today.

Experts at Sanford Health and CHI St. Alexius Health are working in such areas as genomic testing, devising cures for diabetes and treating cancers that will take North Dakota into a health care system that is expected to be more centralized with less invasive surgical options. From the way we visit with a doctor to the length of hospital stays, these changes will impact everyone, resulting in longer lifespans for many.

Curing Type 1 diabetes, treating cancer

Researchers at Sanford Health have launched several research studies in recent years to tackle two major diseases that impact millions of people: cancer and Type 1 diabetes.

Dr. David Pearce, president of Sanford Research, said the hospital is conducting a Phase 2 clinical trial to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes via the bodys natural ability to regenerate insulin-producing cells.

Type 1 diabetes is often called juvenile diabetes because it mainly affects children. It occurs when the bodys immune system attacks and destroys insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. Approximately 1.25 million children and adults in the United States have type 1 diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association.

The hospital is enrolling 120 patients  children and adolescents  into the trial.

Researchers will take patients blood samples, collect a specific type of cell  called regulatory T-cells  to expand and grow in a dish then re-inject them into the patients. Regulatory T-cells, or T-regs, apply checks and balances to the bodys immune system.

Were trying to restore the balance. Were taking those T-reg cells, which are deficient and unable to stop that autoimmune attack that is destroying the cells, Pearce said.

The trial, called the T-rex trial, is projected to be completed in the next 18 months.

Sanford also has launched a separate cancer trial, the Genetic Exploration of the Molecular Basis of Malignancy in Adults. The first trial enrolled 120 patients and was used to customize treatment for people with advanced forms of cancer.

The GEMMA trial closed and was reopened under the name Compass to make it more accessible to patients and to utilize some additional genetic testing that became available in the past year, Pearce said.

Program participants had their blood drawn, and, from that sample, researchers extracted the persons DNA, comparing normal sequences to mutated ones. Based on the differences they see, possible therapies can be offered.

Were calling it a trial, but its becoming pretty much the standard that we put all of our patients on this type of approach now, he said.

Genomic codes

Genomic medicine is an emerging medical discipline that more and more doctors are recognizing, including those at Sanford Health and CHI St. Alexius Health in Bismarck.

Scientists can map the DNA and genetic code of patients to determine whether they are predisposed to diseases, such as diabetes, cardiac disease or certain types of cancers.

Seven years ago, it would take six months to a year to decode one human genome, said Dr. Michael Brown, a specialist in cardiovascular and thoracic surgery who has a doctorate in molecular biology, at CHI St. Alexius. Now, with improved molecular engineering and genetic decoding technology, scientists are able to decode an entire human genome within hours, he said.

With this decoded genetic information from patients, doctors and scientists are better able to predict and more accurately pinpoint which patients are predisposed for certain diseases, including cancers, heart disease, aneurysms and diabetes, according to Brown.

As a result, health care providers will have more ability to implement health care changes that will potentially impact patients before a disease has a chance to exacerbate, he said.

We could potentially map the DNA and genetic code of every patient, Brown said. The ability to do that is becoming more and more effective.

Dr. Russ Wilke, an internal medicine physician at Sanford, works with Sanford Imagenetics, a program that incorporates genetic tests into the everyday practice of primary care for adults.

Gene tests can be used to determine whether a patient will react favorably or unfavorably to a drug, according to Wilke.

Weve begun over the past decade to use gene tests to predict drug response, either therapeutic failures or drug side effects, Wilke said. Its really building on momentum that already exists.

For example, Sanford Imagenetics can test whether a patient is at a slightly increased risk of not metabolizing the drug Clopidogrel, a blood thinner used to treat those with cardiovascular disease.

About 80 percent of people respond normally to the drug, but 20 percent are at a slightly increased risk for the medicine to not work, Wilke said.

Gene tests can be used to determine who is among the 1 in 5, he said.

These advances in science and medicine allows doctors and health care organizations the ability to significantly improve patient access, patient experience, quality of patient care, all with an overall reduction of cost in total patient care.
Leo Varadkar is elected at Phibblestown Community Hall in Dublin 15. He is pictured alongside his Mum and Dad Miriam and Ashok Varadkar

Joan Burton was in a dogfight to take the last seat in Dublin West

LABOUR leader Joan Burton hung on in the fight of her political life to take the fourth and final seat in Dublin West.

The constituency also saw the return of Fianna Fail to the seat once held by the late finance minister Brian Lenihan, while Fine Gaels Leo Varadkar and Ruth Coppinger of Anti-Austerity Alliance won re-election.

Sinn Fein failed to make a much-expected break-through with their candidate Paul Donnelly coming fifth.

A poll in the lead up to election day showed Ms Burton was in very real danger of being the third Tanaiste in successive general elections to lose their seat.

It was late in the evening on count day before Ms Burton learned she would keep her seat and for now she remains the leader of a battered party that will most likely go into opposition to lick its wounds.

Despite the misery besetting Labour nationwide, Ms Burton said she was delighted to be elected in Dublin West.

She noted it had been a very difficult day for the party but said my role as leader continues when asked if she would stay on.

"We wont be making any decisions in relation to the future.... direction of the party until such time as we complete all of the counts

"But I dont at this point foresee the Labour party being involved in government," she added.

Fianna Fails Jack Chambers paid tribute to Mr Lenihan in his victory speech describing him as a real patriot who inspired my own interest in politics.

On his partys success in the election he said: I think Fianna Fail are back and the Irish people had their say on this government.

This government wanted a coronation from the start. They had no vision and no energy. They just wanted to be re-elected without putting any positive policy platform forward."

Asked about the potential of a coalition with Fine Gael he said Its early days.

I think obviously people want stability. I wouldn't rule out a minority government. I think it's important that stability is put forthright and the national interest is kept at heart, Mr Chambers added.

Health Minister Mr Varadkar was asked if he looked forward to working with Mr Chamber sin a potential coalition government.

I'm not sure if that's going to arise. I've given my views already on a Fine Gael/Fianna Fail coalition.

I don't favour it. I don't think it's a good idea for either party. I don't think it would last. I don't trust them and I think it would open the door to Sinn Fein as the lead opposition.

It is clear that the public decided not to re-elect this government and I don't think the obligation to form a new government necessarily falls on us at all. It also falls on the opposition.

Ms Coppinger said the likely results of the election nationwide will mean that water charges will have to be scrapped.

Theyll be the top of any agenda for any new government and this issue was raised repeatedly and regularly on the doors by voters throughout the length and breadth of the constituency.

She also said that any new government must solve the housing crisis, saying that 40pc of homeless people in Dublin are from her constituency.

Ms Coppinger said she stood on a platform of repealing the Eighth Amendment - that gives a mother and unborn baby an equal right to life - and said it will be a major issue in the next Dail.

David McGuinness of the Independent Alliance  who quit Fianna Fail after he lost at the selection convention - said he hasnt made a decision on whether or not he would stand again if there is another election this year.
Independent Sean Canney, Fianna Fail's Anne Rabbitte and sitting Fine Gael TD Ciaran Cannon were elected from Galway East.

Canney was the surprise poll topper with 12,707 votes and got over the line after the sixth count, along with Rabbitte, who becomes the first woman elected by her party from the constituency.

Cannon was made to battle for his seat, and was the surprise winner of the sole Fine Gael seat ahead of Paul Connaughton, while Fianna Fail's Colm Keaveney was another high profile candidate to miss out.

Outgoing TD Mr Keaveney said he had no regrets over his decision to join Fianna Fail and insisted he had plenty of thinking to do before he reaches a decision on his political future.

Keaveney was elected from the Galway East constituency in 2011 as a Labour Party candidate, but joined Micheal Martin's party in 2013 after a short stint as an Independent.

And despite enjoying an increased share of the vote this time round (12.02 per cent) Keaveney missed out on election behind stable-mate Anne Rabbitte, Fine Gael's Ciaran Cannon and Independent Sean Canney.

No not at all, I'm very proud that I joined Fianna Fail. My decision to join Fianna Fail has been vindicated today. I warned back in 2012 that we were rapidly accelerating to a divided society, that the most vulnerable would pay. What I had forecast in 2012, materialised today, said Keaveney.

I drove my children to school this week and I realised how big they've grown without me. My youngest is three inches taller since the start of the campaign.

I miss out on events like funerals, I miss out on events with my children, confirmation preparation meetings. There is a bit of stuff I need to do to acclimatise myself with my family and children.

The first people I'm going to speak with are the people I love, who are always by my shoulder. There won't be any announcement, that's for sure.

Senator Lorraine Higgins was another to miss out on election for the Labour Party and she fell after the fourth count in New Inn. But the distribution of her votes did much to elect Deputy Cannon, who picked up 1,707 transfers from the 4,531 Labour votes.

And while Cannon admitted he was surprised to take the one Fine Gael seat ahead of Paul Connaughton Jnr  Connaughton subsequently has announced he is to step back from politics  Cannon said he was thrilled to be re-elected.

I had hoped that we might have retained our two seats and I thought that was a strong possibility in the last few days, said Deputy Cannon..

I genuinely thought that if it was to be one seat that Paul would be the one to win it. His family have a long, long association with the party and that was going to be very difficult to secure a seat in that context. But I'm here and I'm really, really happy.
The Healy-Rae victory tour is winding its way around The Kingdom, taking in every village and town en route.

The cavalcade of about 50 vehicles is being led by Danny Healy-Raes jeep and Michaels black Skoda car, and accompanied by two Garda outriders.

It was due to travel to Castleisland, Listowel and Tralee before returning to Killarney later this evening.

There will be live music on the main street of Kilgarvan tonight where an almighty celebration is taking place and thousands of supporters are expected.

The brothers made history today when both were officially elected to the 32nd Dail, the first time the feat has ever been achieved by two siblings in the same constituency, in the same election.

Michael Healy-Rae, an outgoing Independent TD, was the highest vote getter in the country, achieving a massive 20,378 first preferences.

His surplus helped push his older brother Danny, a member of Kerry County Council, over the line this morning.

Meanwhile, Diaspora Minister Jimmy Deenihan has lost his seat and been eliminated at the final count in Kerry.

The five-times All-Ireland footballer said he believed another election would take place very soon but stopped short of ruling himself in or out.

He blamed his defeat on being targeted by people who were not happy with the Government and on a feeling that got out that he was safe.

If I ever hear Jimmy is ok again, Ill lose it, he said.

We had to make hard decisions and I had to stick by them but we had to do what we had to do.

His party college, Brendan Griffin, has retained his seat and took the third seat on the 11th count with 14,050 votes.

Martin Ferris (SF) also retained his seat and both he and newcomer John Brassil (FF) were deemed elected on the 11th count having not reached the quota, with Fianna Fail regaining the seat they lost in the 2011 general election.

Labours Arthur Spring was another high profile casualty for the Government, following his elimination after the 10th count.
There were no shocks in the new Laois constituency where all three sitting TDs retained their seats.

With three high profile incumbents, this constituency had been described as the most boring and predictable in the General Election with the entire county along with six electoral divisions in south Kildare making up the boundary.

And with just six candidates fighting it out for the three seats, already occupied by Foreign Affairs Minister Charlie Flanagan and two front bench spokesmen in Fianna Fails Sean Fleming and Sinn Feins Brian Stanley, the battle here was always going to be about the pole topping bragging rights.

This time around they go to Fianna Fail and birthday boy Fleming who admitted that he even surprised himself with a whopping first preference vote of 13,628, exceeding the quota by 3,908.

I am pleasantly surprised at my vote. To exceed the quota by nearly 4,000 votes is sum achievement, said Fianna Fails spokesman on public expenditure who celebrated his 58th birthday surrounded by the party faithful in the Portlaoise Count Centre.

However, with a monumental swing against the government parties, it was always on the cards that Fleming would top the poll as he was the only party candidate on the ticket after county councillor Catherine Fitzgerald turned down the chance to run.

His first preference vote was some turnaround for a candidate who only managed 6,024 first preferences in 2011 and got in on the last seat in the previous five-seater Laois-Offaly constituency.

Stanley was re-elected on the third count after receiving 8,242 first preferences while Flanagan also got in on the third count, without reaching the quota after polling 8,320 first preferences.

Putting on a brave face, Minister Flanagan tied to take some positives out of the Fine Gael vote in Laois.

I didnt see this coming and I dont know where were going to go from here but our strategy in running first time candidate Thomasina Connell worked as we got over 30% here and when you look what happened throughout the country is impressive, he said.

First time runner Connell was a late addition to the Fine Gale ticket and received 4,233 votes.

It was a disastrous day for high profile Labour Senator John Whelan who came so close to winning a seat in 2011.

This time around he came in fifth with 2,856 votes. Nevertheless, Whelan was philosophical about his future. Its Dail or nothing, Im not contesting Seanad election. Professional surfing it is then, he quipped.
After more five days the Siege of Keenagh has ended with the election of Labour's Willie Penrose and Fine Gael's Peter Burke to the 32nd Dail.

Following a marathon count overnight, the two men were declared elected to represent the Longford-Westmeath constituency in Leinster House, along with Independent Kevin "Boxer Moran" and Fianna Fail's Robert Troy.

The Labour man was not only fighting to save his political career but also his party's Dail speaking rights. On Saturday, Penrose who, was first elected as part of the "Spring tide" in 1992, had emotionally conceded defeat in the four seater constituency only to see a reversal of his fortunes. By early morning on Thursday he overtook outgoing Fine Gael TD James Bannon. At 8.17am on Thursday morning, he then passed out Sinn Fein hopeful Paul Hogan.

Fine Gael's success centred on Peter Burke an experienced county councillor from Mullingar. Despite being just 33 he is the veteran of three unsuccessful Dail election campaigns. He also had a struggle with his own party to be let run for the Dail. The determine accountant had held the third spot throughout the five-day count, the last in the country to be completed.

Outgoing Fianna Fail TD Robert Troy cruised past the 11,086 quota to retain his seat in Leinster House on Saturday and on Monday night Kevin Boxer Moran, an independent by former FF member of Westmeath Co. Council, took the second seat.The election had seen Co. Longford without a resident TD. Outgoing TD Gabrielle McFadden lost the seat which she had held for barely two years. McFadden was elected in a 2014 by-election caused by the death of her sister Nicky McFadden.

Some eighteen candidates had thrown their hats into the ring and fifty-five thousand votes were cast.

Earlier James Bannon had spoken of his disappointment that 33 per cent of Longford votes went to candidates from outside the county.

Bannon was first elected to Dail Eireann in May 2007 following a five year stint in the Seanad where he was Fine Gael's spokesperson on Environment, Heritage and Local Government. The farmer and auctioneer from Legan, Co. Longford was first elected to Longford Co. Council in 1985.

After he was eliminated from the election this morning (THUR), he told reporters said he was proud to have been involved in the helping get the Center Percs Development for Longford and expected that to provide a jobs boost for the region which needed support and development and has not yet felt the effects of economic recovery.
Labours loss was Sinn Feins gain in Louth where Fianna Fail were the first to elect a candidate and where Fine Gael succeeded in keeping their two seats.

History was also made with the first female deputy being elected for Louth.

The signs of defeat for Employment minister Ged Nash were visible from the first tallies which had him in 6th place in the 5-seat constituency.

Party faithfuls hoped he could pick up sufficient transfers to over-take Fine Gaels Peter Fitzpatrick who acknowledged early on that he was in a dog-fight for the last seat.

The gap increased and it became inevitable that Fine Gael were going to retain Fitzpatrick and Fergus ODowd thanks to effective vote management.

Speaking after his defeat Ged Nash said he supported Labour party leader Joan Burton and would continue to do so.

It is a great shame the labour party is going back into the Dail in diminished numbers. Working people and people who depend on public services will have a greatly weakened voice, he added.

Sinn Feins party leader Gerry Adams topped the poll on the first count and said it was the most successful Sinn Fein campaign in his lifetime.

The first woman TD for Louth, Sinn Feins Imelda Munster said, said the message from the electorate was that they dont want any more austerity, that they want a fair recovery, they are very definitive in it.

Fianna Fails Declan Breathnach met the quota first after transfers from eliminated candidates

Talking about the prospect of coalition with Fine Gael he (Breathnach) said he believed people,are looking for stability and every public representative in Dail Eireann needs to sit down and ensure we provide that stability.

Among the other strong performers were Garrett Weldon from AAA-PBP and Kevin Callan (Independent Alliance).

Renuas Michael ODowd who polled 2095 first preferences, said last night (Sunday): If Renua Ireland is to have any relevance it must tack to the centre ground and mend fences with public sector employees.
The new constituency of Offaly elected a new TD when Sinn Fein's Carol Nolan won a seat in the Dail in her first general election.

After pipping Fianna Fail's Eddie Fitzpatrick for the last seat by just 170 votes, Nolan commented: We had firm belief that we would take the third seat and we said that from the outset.

Right from the beginning of our campaign we knew we could do it.

After receiving just 11 per cent of the first preference vote in a constituency where Fianna Fail's Barry Cowen topped the poll and was elected on the first count, Nolan was boosted by strong transfers from Independents and Renua Ireland candidate John Leahy.

The 36-year-old mother of two from Cadamstown was the second woman returned in Offaly following the re-election of Fine Gael's Marcella Corcoran Kennedy.

A former Gaelscoil principal in Co Laois, Nolan attributed her success to very hard work.

I'm a very focused person, I've a strong work ethic. I'm ambitious and I had a very strong campaign team behind me, said Nolan.

Nolan's election foiled Fianna Fail's bid to take two seats in the three-seater created following the break-up of the five-seat Laois-Offaly constituency.

Speaking earlier after his landslide victory, Barry Cowen would not entertain questions about a coalition deal with Fine Gael saying the two parties were not compatible.

The Fianna Fail environment spokesman said the verdict of the people meant that the future of Irish Water was now questionable.

If you look at the parties who received the vast majority of the votes, none of them are in favour of the way that whole process has been handled or the money that was spent on it and what we've been left with.

Meanwhile, Renua Ireland co-founder Leahy did not rule out running for the Dail again even though this was the second successive election where he had lost out.

The councillor, an Independent candidate in 2011, stood by his decision to campaign under the Renua banner and insisted it had allowed him highlight important rural issues.

The Offaly constituency included part of north Tipperary and local candidate Joe Hannigan, Independent, was in third place on the first count after getting the lion's share of the votes in his own county.

Hannigan did not attract enough votes to remain in contention and was eliminated on the fifth count.
Kittsona, a womens fashion and home decor retailer with stores in Bismarck, Grand Forks, Fargo and, now, Minneapolis, started selling products online more than a year ago.

I think its been very beneficial, said Brittany Jalbert, manager of the Bismarck store.

Jalbert said the site has opened the stores customer base as they often ship to many different places, but it also drives traffic to the brick-and-mortar locations. Customers look at the site and that often brings them into the store, where they can see and feel the items before purchase.

I think that is something people like more, Jalbert said.

Kittsona also provides customer service by taking phone orders and shipping between store locations when a product is available one place but not the other, according to Jalbert.

Finally, Jalbert said an online presence has allowed the local retailer to spread the word about its business.

Kittsona started as Kitson & 3rd, named after the cross streets of its pilot store in Grand Forks. It has grown to four locations with the help of social media, primarily Facebook and Instagram, where the store posts new arrivals and holds giveaways where customers like and share, helping expand the reach to new people.
Lucinda Creighton of Renua Ireland at the count in the RDS yesterday.Pic Tom Burke

Former Justice Minister and Fine Gael candidate Alan Shatter's hopes of being elected to the next Dail were blown yesterday, and so were those of Renua leader Lucinda Creighton.

Padraig MacLochlainn (Sinn Fein)

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TD for Donegal North East and Sinn Fein Spokesperson on Justice and Equality left the race on Sunday evening after the 13th count in the constituency. The Sinn Fein TD was in a tight race with Independent Thomas Pringle at the end, with just 184 votes between them.

Former Justice Minister Alan Shatter

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Also in Dublin Rathdown, Former Justice Minister Alan Shatter, who has long polled well in the area, lost out to the Green Party's Catherine Martin. Shatter finished in fourth place in the three-seat race. Shatter became the second major casualty of the day in the three-seater constituency after Alex White, the former Communications Minister, also lost out in the collapse of the coalition vote.

Shatter said yesterday that an effort by Fine Gael headquarters to manage the vote in certain parts of Dublin Rathdown may have contributed to him losing some votes to Josepha Madigan.

Letters sent to two different areas looked for votes for Madigan No1. She took the second seat and then Shatter was overtaken by Green candidate Catherine Martin who got the third seat.

Renua leader Lucinda Creighton

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Renua Ireland leader Lucinda Creighton has lost her seat.

Ms Creighton, an outgoing TD, was eliminated on the fifth count in the Dublin Bay South constituency.

She fell behind Labour's Kevin Humphreys following the redistribution of the 3,527 votes of Glenna Lynch (Social Democrats).

Ms Creighton was booted out of Fine Gael after she voted against the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013.

She was a rising star in the party before that, holding the profile of minister for Europe.

Earlier in the day, Ms Creighton was optimistic that she could keep the seat, though her team had expressed doubt after she received just 4,229 first preference votes, around 10 pc.

She proved unable to attract enough transfers to remain in the race.

Ms Creighton left the count centre before the result was announced. But she had earlier said that Renua would not necessarily fall if she lost her seat.

Junior Health Minister Kathleen Lynch

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Junior Health Minister Kathleen Lynch is set to lose her seat as Fianna Fail and the Anti Austerity Alliance delivered a huge vote in Cork North Central.

Fianna Fail director of elections, Billy Kelleher TD, was elected on the first count with a massive 14,286 vote - more than 4,000 votes over the quota.

Councillor Mick Barry, fighting his fourth general election for the AAA, attracted 8,041 votes, more than double the first preference total of Kathleen Lynch, the veteran Labour TD who was first elected in a 1994 by-election.

Ms Lynch had admitted she faced a daunting task to defend her seat after the Labour Party failed to elect a councillor to Cork City Council two years ago in the biggest meltdown in the party's Leeside history.

Mr Barry will now take a seat as will outgoing Sinn Fein TD Jonathan O'Brien.

However, Sinn Fein hopes of taking a second seat were frustrated as Mr O'Brien's running mate, Councillor Tom Gould, while polling ahead of Ms Lynch, is not expected to be able to cause a shock and unseat outgoing Fine Gael TD and European Affairs Minister Dara Murphy.

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Communications Minister Alex White

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Communications Minister Alex White lost his seat in Dublin Rathdown in the General Election.

As the Labour vote collapsed he became a casualty in the Dublin Rathdown constituency.

Speaking after his elimination following the fourth count Mr White said he has not yet decided if he will stay in politics.

He did, however, back leader Joan Burton.

It has been an immense privilege to serve as a TD for Dublin South for the last five years and also to serve as Minister in the Department of Health and then in the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources. It has been an immense privilege to do so in a difficult time for our country and I have absolutely no regrets, he told Independent.ie.

He added that he had resolute support for the actions taken by the government over the last five years and did not regret contesting the election in Dublin Rathdown instead of Dublin South West where a lot of his support was before the constituency boundaries changed.

Labour junior minister Kevin Humphreys

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Humphreys became the latest casualty in the near wipe out for the party.

Mr Humphreys was in a race with Fianna Fail's Jim O'Callaghan and Kate O'Connell for the last two seats of the Dublin Bay South constituency.

The Labour candidate finished with 6,221.

Labour Minister Ged Nash

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Labour Minister Ged Nash has lost his seat in the 11th and final count in Louth.

The same count has seen Fine Gael manage to keep its two seats, the final two seats, in the 5 seater constituency.

From the first tallies, Labour knew that their candidate was in danger.

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Arthur Spring was eliminated from the race on Count 10 in the Kerry constituency on Sunday evening. The young Labour TD was tallied at just 6pc.

Ciaran Lynch, Oireachtas banking committee chairman

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The veteran Labour TD lost his seat today. As Fianna Fail celebrated the party's resurgence as Cork South Central, Ireland's self-styled 'Constituency of Death,' proved fatal for Coalition re-election hopes.

Both Labour and Fine Gael lost TDs as Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, who held his seat despite his vote dropping by 1,500, warned there could be "no hiding" from the reality of a hugely disappointing election for the Government parties.

Jerry Buttimer

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High-profile Fine Gael backbench TD Jerry Buttimer lost his seat. Mr Buttimer said he believed Fine Gael should now go into Opposition and that the onus for forming the next Government should rest with Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein and independents.

"I'm trying to be philosophical about it. But it is very disappointing. Losing my Bishopstown base to Cork North Central was a bridge too far really. To quote Van Morrison, 'My mother told me there'll be days like this.' What else can you say?"

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Labour's Joe Costello

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Of the four sitting TDs who went into this election for Dublin Central, only Labour's Joe Costello has not survived. By the sixth count, Mr Costello had accepted that he would lose his seat.

During the 10th and 11th counts, Maureen O'Sullivan was apparently at home commiserating with her team until word came that she was back in with a shot and she should head to the RDS.

Sinn Fein's Mary Lou McDonald cruised home on top, Fine Gael's Paschal Donohoe survived an early scare while independent Maureen O'Sullivan virtually came back from the dead after being written off for most of the day. Neither Donohoe nor O'Sullivan reached the 5,922 quota.

O'Sullivan gained 2,055 transfers from independent Christy Burke and Fianna Fail's Mary Fitzgerald.

Social Democrat Gary Gannon looked to be heading for a seat until he was hit by the transfers to O'Sullivan in the last two counts. The 11th count proved decisive.

Minister for Children James Reilly

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The Deputy Leader of Fine Gael lost his seat in the Dublin Fingal constituency today.

The minister had made his concerns known about whether he could keep his seat, but today he said: "Reality shocks more than theory".

"I'd like to use a medical metaphor - the operation was a success but the patient is still in a lot of pain and that pain was evident at the doors. And I don't believe we got our message as clearly out as we could have in terms of making an emotional connection so today is a tough day for a lot of my colleagues."

"This reminds me of Winston Churchill, I'm probably paraphrasing when I say 'democracy isn't great, but there's nothing better', and sometimes I think we take it for granted. I think it's important that we continue to mind it and nurture it."

He said a "very difficult job" awaits all those elected now to form a Government and to keep the country on track.

Fianna Fail's Mary Hanafin

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Mary Hanafin yesterday, on learning of her defeat, said that Fianna Fail never really stood a chance of being elected in Dun Laoghaire.

She admitted defeat saying Fine Gael and People Before Profit candidates will in all likelihood take the Dun Laoghaire seats.

She did add that there was a very big difference between losing and not winning and defended her decision to run saying, this election was really worth contesting, Id have been disappointed in myself if I hadnt have done it.

The former cabinet heavyweight was gracious in defeat, congratulating Fine Gael candidate Maria Bailey who was a past pupil of mine  Im glad I taught her so well.

Fine Gael's Jimmy Deenihan

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Fine Gaels director of elections in Kerry, Tony Dillane, said yesterday: Were likely to lose the seat of Jimmy Deenihan. I just cant see him closing the gap unfortunately. I just think the Healy-Raes cleaned everybody out, he said.

But when you see places as far away from Kilgarvan as Ballylongford and theyre doubling Deenihans vote, something is wrong  the Healy-Rae thing has taken everyone by surprise  but all you can do is admire them.

And for those outside Kerry left scratching their heads at the Healy-Rae phenomena, Michael Healy-Rae said their success was due to work and not forgetting what its all about.

The count resumed at 9am today.

Labour TD Anne Ferris

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Completed tallies in Wicklow showed Anne Ferris will lose her seat after she got just 3.8pc of tallied votes.

Social Democrats's Stephen Donnelly topped poll with 21.1pc with John Brady of Sinn Fein in second place with 16.3pc and sure to take a seat.

Fine Gael's Simon Harris got 15.6pc. The last two seats will be between Fianna Fail's Pat Casey 9pc, Fine Gael's Andrew Doyle 8.8pc and Billy Timmons of Renua 7.8pc

Minister of State Ann Phelan:

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Labour's Minister of State Ann Phelan was the big casualty in Carlow/Kilkenny as she went out on the eighth count.

Fine Gael held on to take two seats in Carlow-Kilkenny, as one of the sitting TDs made a "Lazarus" like recovery.

The party's Pat Deering and John Paul Phelan kept their seats, while Fianna Fail's John McGuinness topped the poll and the party's Bobby Aylward was also elected.

First time TD, Kathleen Funchion, was the only woman elected in the five-seat constituency as she took a seat for Sinn Fein.

Labour's Willie Penrose:

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Labour's Willie Penrose conceded defeat in Longford-Westmeath yesterday and has called on Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to form the next government.

Penrose who was first elected in the 1992 Spring tide said that the tide was out for the Labour party.

He said Labour suffered for putting the country's interests ahead of those of the party but they had left the nation in a much better state than they found it in 2011. He said Labour had rescued the country on three separate occasions following Fianna Fail administrations.

While counting continued, an emotional Penrose, who received 4,822 first preferences, said he accepted the verdict of the people. He then called on Fine Gael and Fianna Fail to acknowledge the mandate given to them by the electorate and to form a stable government adding that they had no ideological differences and there is not a cigarette paper between them.

Penrose trailed Non Party candidate Kevin Boxer Moran, FG Councillor Peter Burke and Sinn Fein's Paul Hogan after the first count.

Fianna Fail's Robert Troy retained his seat easily sweeping past the 11,056 quota in the first round with 599 surplus votes. ends

Labour's Arthur Spring:

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Yesterday with 74pc of boxes open in Kerry, Labour's Arthur Spring was in trouble polling 6.6pc of votes.

Labour's John Lyons:

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In Dublin North West, Labour's John Lyons appears to be out of the running. Fine Gael's Noel Rock is currently fighting it out with Fianna Fail's Paul McAuliffe for the third seat in the constituency.

Labour's Ged Nash:

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Labour Minister Ged Nash who will be fighting to take the last of the 5 seats in Louth has said that he accepts his party will not be part of the next government.

Speaking at the county centre, he said, We will reinvigorate ourselves, we will have that discussion internally over the next few days and next few weeks. It is obviously crystal clear that the Labour party will not be part of the next government and that is not to the benefit of working people.

I am very proud of the record that I have achieved over the last 20 months as Employment minister, independently considered to be the most reforming Labour minister since the 1970s in terms of collective bargaining legislation Ive introduced, new reforms to the national minimum wage, new wage setting mechanisms for people in low paid sectors of our economy; these are legislative changes that will continue to benefit people.

In relation to the next government he said, I feel there so much uncertainty at the moment we may very well be back on the doors in a short period of time and I intend to be back on those doors whether i am successfully elected or not this weekend.

I am hopeful that i can be in the mix for the last seat, it is between myself and Peter Fitzpatrick.

He said the first 2-3 years in government were very very difficult. We were trying to save this country form the brink of economic ruin.

He said, we restored economic sovereignty, we have improved our economic situation compared to the situation we inherited in 2011. We acknowledge that the recovery has not reached every kitchen table.

Labours Joanna Tuffy

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Dublin Mid West saw three of its four sitting government party TDs lose their seats as Sinn Fein topped the poll. Ms Tuffy lost her seat on the ninth count with 2,515 votes.

Fine Gael TD Derek Keating

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Mr Keating was eliminated on the 11th count, with a total of 4,179.

The constituency returned two Fine Gael and two Labour TDs in the last general election but only Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald held onto her seat this time.

Sinn Feins Eoin OBroin was the poll topper, being elected on the first count, with 9,782 votes, followed by Frances Fitzgerald on 9,028.

Outgoing Labour TD Robert Dowds had decided not to contest the election.

Making a comeback for Fianna Fail in Dublin Mid West was John Curran, who regained the seat he lost in 2011.

The former junior minister and Government Chief Whip took the third seat with 9,497 votes on the 12th and final count.

The fourth seat was taken by People Before Profit/ Anti Austerity Alliance candidate Gino Kenny Kennys with 7,911 votes.

Fine Gael's Gabrielle McFadden

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Ms McFadden has conceded her seat in the Longford Westmeath constituency

Labour's Ciara Conway

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Ciara Conway who secured well over 5,000 first preferences in the 2011 General election managed less than half that this time out.

Paudie Coffey

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The drama at the Waterford count centre continued until after midnight. In 2011 Deasy and Coffey battled to top the poll, this time they were scrapping for the fourth and final seat. And John Deasy had enough in stock to pip his party colleague Paudie Coffey by 567 votes in the final count.

Fine Gael's Noel Harrington (Cork South West)

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Harrington was elected to the Dail in 2011.

The father-of-three was eliminated on the fifth count yesterday.

His running mate Jim Daly retained his seat but feels that it was a very disappointing result for his party in Cork South West.

This has been a very disappointing day for Fine Gael, I am glad that I can return to Dail Eireann and continue to work for the people of West Cork. I would like to talk my supporters for all their hard work and I look forward to what I hope will be a strong stable government, Jim Daly said.

"With the counting now done and those elected preparing to take the road to Dublin many people are asking what the 31st Dail will have in store for the country and indeed just how long will it last."

Fine Gael's Sean Conlon (Cavan-Monaghan)

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The first major casualty in Cavan-Monaghan count was outgoing TD Sean Conlon. The former Fine Gael man was unable to retain his seat following his success in 2011.

He was eliminated in the sixth count having gotten just under 2,000 votes.

Conlon left the party in November 2015 having cited the party's refusal to listen to the constituents views on the North South Interconnector pylon project as the reason for his departure.

Sinn Fein Senator Kathryn Reilly (Cavan-Monaghan)

Senator Kathryn Reilly has been eliminated in the Cavan-Monaghan constituency on the eighth count.

The Sinn Fein candidates elimination ends the party's hopes of securing two seats in the constituency.

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Fine Gael's Kieran O'Donnell

The biggest casualty in Limerick city was outgoing Fine Gael TD and Public Accounts Committee member Kieran O'Donnell, who lost his seat despite looking safe until the second last count.

A further blow to the government parties was dealt by the success of Sinn Fein's first time general candidate Maurice Quinlivan who took the second seat, ahead of Ministers Michael Noonan and Jan O'Sullivan who were elected without reaching the quota in the last count.

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NEW FORCE: Social Democrats founders Stephen Donnelly (pictured), Roisin Shortall and Catherine Murphy all retained their seats, while Lucinda Creighton lost hers on the fifth count in Dublin Bay South

Renua Ireland was on the verge of total electoral wipe-out last night, with all three of its sitting TDs facing rejection by the voters.

Despite the general trend towards smaller parties, Lucinda Creighton's party failed to ignite the public's imagination and struggled to make in-roads in most constituencies.

There was an expectation that the party would secure at least three seats, but as votes were counted, Ms Creighton was the first Renua TD to be eliminated on the fifth count in Dublin Bay South.

The Renua Ireland party leader had been in a four-way battle for the final seat with Fine Gael's Kate O'Connell, the Green Party's Eamon Ryan and Labour's Kevin Humphreys.

But party sources had earlier admitted she was "pessimistic" about retaining the seat that she had previously won for Fine Gael in 2007 and 2011.

Ms Creighton had earlier refused to accept defeat, despite tallies showing she would be unseated by Ms O'Connell.

"Fingers crossed I hold my seat but if I don't, you know what, I'm very philosophical about these things, and at the end of the day the voters decide," she said.

The former Fine Gael TD said she could have "taken the soft option" and run as an Independent.

Her husb and, Senator Paul Bradford, who ran in the Cork East constituency, said Renua Ireland had mountains to climb and the "first mountain proved perhaps that little bit too high for us".

Meanwhile, the Social Democrats emerged as a new force in Irish politics and looked set to at least retain the three seats of its founding members.

Roisin Shortall was one of the first TDs to be elected yesterday in her Dublin North West constituency, while Catherine Murphy topped the poll in Kildare North and Stephen Donnelly looked likely to do the same in Wicklow.

Other party members exceeded expectations and were last night challenging for the final seats in a number of constituencies.

Gary Gannon was well-placed on the sixth count in Dublin Central, while Niall O Tuathail in Galway West and Glenna Lynch also preformed better than expected.

The party's co-leader, Roisin Shortall, said that it "would have been wonderful to put up more candidates".

The Social Democrats are hoping that they will get close to seven seats, which would allow the party to have speaking rights in the next Dail.

Meanwhile, Eamon Ryan said that he would step aside as leader of the Green Party if he did not win a seat.

He described the result as "historic" and said that it meant an end to civil war politics.

"We were always confident that we could come back because we think we stand for something that is important in the world," he added.

Mr Ryan's constituency result was not known late last night but his deputy leader Catherine Murphy had a surprise win in Dublin Rathdown.

Ms Martin ousted former justice minister Alan Shatter to take the last seat in the constituency. Anti-Austerity Alliance- People Before Profit were also on course to make major gains yesterday after a strong showing at the ballot boxes. Paul Murphy and Richard Boyd Barrett both looked likely to retain their seats.
Fine Gael director of election Brian Hayes says the forming of a new government may take months.

However, Mr Hayes who admitted that the first preference vote for Fine Gael was disappointing said another election should be ruled out because The Irish people have spoken.

In an interview with Independent.ie he said: Theres a responsibility on all the parties to see if a government can be formed now but thats an open question. It might take a few months.

The Irish electorate have thrown up a result that we as politicians now have to interpret and understand.

We said we wouldnt go in with Fianna Fail, they said they wouldnt go in with us that is the de facto position. So if people are going to move from positions like that, its going to take time.

Mr Hayes also spoke about where blame lies within his party for Fine Gaels defeat however said no-one should become a scapegoat.

I dont think its a question of anyone in the party taking the fall for it.

People should not be looking for scape goats they shouldnt be blaming people within the party.

I think we need to do that in the cold light of day. Im very proud of our campaign, Im proud of the fact it was a united campaign.

The fundamental issue is, the government was unpopular and whatever the opinion polls were showing that unpopular was always going to find its voice in the ballot box as it did on Friday, he said.

And he ruled out the prospect of another election saying the onus was on those elected to form a government.

I am very much opposed to the idea that in some way we can go back to the electorate and say well have another election please we dont like this result  thats other nonsense. The Irish people have spoken, theyve asked the politicians now to form a government, he said.
The counting is (almost) done and dusted - and the outcome is not very clear. Here are the six things we can expect to hear about in the week ahead

* Cabinet meeting

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The Cabinet are due to meet on Tuesday - this will include outgoing ministers James Reilly (Minister for Children) and Alex White (Minister for Communications). Both lost their seats over the weekend. The Cabinet will discuss how they will carry out their duties in a caretaker capacity as well as reassign Reilly and White's responsibilities. The caretaker role for the outgoing government is due to come to an end on March 10th when the Dail will meet and and the election of Taoiseach will take place.

However, if no Taoiseach is deemed elected, President Michael D Higgins can request the 'caretaker' period to be extended.

* We need to talk about Joan....

Expand Expand Previous Next Close Labour Leader Joan Burton arriving at Phibblestown Community Hall in Dublin 15. Pic Steve Humphreys 27th February 2016 'Joan Burton (pictured and Alan Kelly barely survived, but many senior Labour colleagues have suffered the same fate as the Progressive Democrats and Greens in earlier coalitions' / Facebook

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Publicly Labour Party members have been somewhat reticent talking about Joan Burton's future as leader of the Labour Party. Joan herself has said it is a matter for the party members and it is something that will be discussed after the final results are in, the caretaker role is over, and a new government has been elected.

However, it would be somewhat naive of us to think that Joan's future won't be discussed further in the days ahead and movement made ahead of a second election....

Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Sein Fein leader, Gerry Adams points the way at the RDS count centre. Picture credit; Damien Eagers 26/2/2016 Sein Fein deputy leader, Mary Lou McDonald, Sein Fein leader, Gerry Adams and Denise Mitchell, candidate in Dublin bay north speak to journalists at the RDS count centre. Picture credit; Damien Eagers 26/2/2016 The gains for Sinn Fein have been considerable, but it has fallen far short of the 24pc approval ratings it was registering one year ago. Photo: Collins Dublin Sein Fein leader, Gerry Adams with Denise Mitchell, candidate in Dublin bay north and clr, Larry O'Toole checking the voting numbers at the RDS count centre. Picture credit; Damien Eagers 26/2/2016 / Facebook

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*... You read that right - a second election

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said earlier today he put his party on "continuous election standby" two days before polling took place last week. He said he told party members to remove all their election posters this weekend and put them into storage in preparation for a second election.

The prospect of a second election happening later this year is being discussed within all political parties - Fine Gael's Jimmy Deenihan said it to reporters after losing his seat in Kerry, and Labour's Joanna Tuffy said she will be putting her posters in storage in the event of an election happening soon.

Activists and reporters at count centres across the country were hearing the same thing - and May is being pitched as to the likely time it will happen.

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* It's good to talk - Enda is going to have to reach out to Micheal

Once the final results are in, speculation about whom is talking to whom is going to reach fever pitch. Enda Kenny will have to reach out to Fianna Fail and have meaningful discussions. It's clear that neither party really want to go in together - but a deal can still be struck. This is politics and power after all.

* Expect Gerry Adams to do the same with the left

Gerry Adams has said his party are not prepared to be junior partners in a coalition with either Fine Gael or Fianna Fail. He definitively ruled this out earlier on while at the RDS.

He also refused to comment on whether he would put himself forward as a nominee for taoiseach. However, his deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said yesterday that the party would be putting Adams forward.

Adams did say that if they have the numbers with Right 2 Change and other candidates, they will make a meaningful attempt to form a government. Expect to hear speculation over the coming days about Gerry's conversations.

* What are we going to do about St Patrick's Day trips?

For years, successive governments have dispatched ministers to locations across the globe for St Patrick's Day celebrations. The trips are often criticised - but the government always say these trips are central to the promotion of our brand abroad and attracting investment.

The election of taoiseach is due to take place on March 10th - seven days before St Patrick's Day and not much time to organise who goes where. If they are going to go ahead, we think the 'caretaker' government will have to look after it.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close U.S. President Barack Obama (right) and Ireland's Prime Minister Enda Kenny speak to reporters after their meeting in the Oval Office as part of a St. Patrick's Day visit at the White House in Washington on March 17, 2015. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst U.S. President Barack Obama checks his watch during the visit with Ireland's Prime Minister Enda Kenny on St. Patrick's Day at the White House (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst) / Facebook

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Whatsapp U.S. President Barack Obama (right) and Ireland's Prime Minister Enda Kenny speak to reporters after their meeting in the Oval Office as part of a St. Patrick's Day visit at the White House in Washington on March 17, 2015. Reuters/Jonathan Ernst

It's also unclear at this stage as to whether St Patrick's Day festivities will take place in the White House - if we have no elected government in place, then President Barack Obama might opt not to go ahead with it.

Read more here:
A general election is always about the What Ifs. Undeniably, the biggest one of this campaign is: What if the election had been called in November?

There were plenty of observers advising the Taoiseach to do so following October's Budget. Instead, Enda Kenny hesitated, reportedly at the behest of the Labour Party.

It became common wisdom during this campaign to slam the giveaway Budget as a tactical mistake, but it didn't look that way last autumn.

Before Budget Day in October, Fine Gael was hovering around 27pc in the polls. By the end of that month, Fine Gael was rising again, a trend that continued through November and December, until the party was once more nudging 30pc. Labour didn't get the same fillip, but the Budget did check its fall. Compare that with previous years' Budgets which hit people harder. Those saw Fine Gael's ratings slide immediately afterwards. After the Budget in 2014, Fine Gael's ratings fell as low as 22pc, and they were neck and neck for a while with Sinn Fein. It's easy to criticise last October's Budget in hindsight, but Fianna Fail's attacks at the time on the coalition's US-style "right wing" shift found a much less receptive audience.

By the New Year, Shakespeare's "blasts of January" had brought more floods, and support for the coalition started to ebb away once more.

Now it could be that, had an election been called in November, the opposition may have scored as many direct hits. There would still have been debates, gaffes, controversies. But at least the Government would have been more in control of, rather than being controlled by, events.

Chaos might seem too strong a word, especially when the campaign has been slated as dull, but it has felt at times as if no one was in charge.

For Fine Gael, the focus of its troubles was always going to be Enda Kenny himself, who has never been as comfortable in the white heat of a campaign as some of his rivals.

Much of the damage done was self-inflicted. Kenny began stutteringly by taking too long to clarify whether he was prepared to go into government with Michael Lowry TD.

The criticism wasn't wholly fair. The received wisdom says that talking about possible coalition options before the people have had their say comes across as arrogant. In this case, not saying anything was portrayed as shifty, as if Enda had something to hide. To an extent he was damned if he did, damned if he didn't, and, by the time he did categorically rule out the Lowry option, it was too late.

He quickly stumbled again by saying the electorate didn't understand economic jargon.

Again he was right. All that blathering on about the "fiscal space" was off-putting policy stuff. Nonetheless it gave the Taoiseach's opponents a chance to paint him as remote and condescending.

The last two weeks of the campaign were dominated by a similarly frustrating row over whether a grand coalition with Fianna Fail was on the cards. Fianna Fail ruled it out fairly sharpish, but Fine Gael's efforts to do the same were hampered by apparent mixed messages from the Taoiseach. Again, there was an element of mischief in some of the commentary, as political correspondents tried to spin journalistic gold from the straw which they were being given. There was no such confusion, however, about Enda's use of the word "whingers" - and in his own constituency, of all places. That was worse than a crime, in Talleyrand's infamous phrase, it was a blunder. As was his apparent confirmation in the final RTE debate this week that he had made the controversial "appointment" of Seanad by-election candidate John McNulty to the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, which seemed to contradict previous versions of the saga. Later came some less than satisfactory clarification, but a question mark did linger.

Fine Gael responded to its failure to make the expected breakthrough mid-campaign by hardening the rhetoric on the risks posed to the recovery by a change of government, buoyed by an intervention from Ibec warning that an "unstable or anti-enterprise government" could threaten tens of thousands of jobs; but by this stage a major counter-theme of the election had emerged, which stressed that people were not feeling the recovery, and, whilst the Taoiseach sought to end the campaign as The Man Who Feels Your Pain, it felt forced.

The failure of fear as a tactic was probably why Labour shifted tack during the campaign from an initial emphasis on accentuating the risk of a change of government to a more robust defence of its achievements within the previous one. With nothing to lose, Joan Burton's demeanour in the final debate was that of a woman ready if necessary to go down fighting on her record rather than just attacking the opposition.

She had an unusual campaign, in that she was the one of the main party leaders with most to lose. For Micheal Martin, the only way was up from Fianna Fail's pounding in 2011. Gerry Adams was also looking at a sharp increase in Sinn Fein seats, whatever else happened. As for Enda, he was going to be Taoiseach again, the first Fine Gael leader ever to lead his party to two successive election wins. Of the four of them, it was Burton who faced a nightmare scenario.

She was also the only party leader to effectively head into the election fending off what looked for a time like a leadership challenge from environment minister Alan Kelly. Internal party wranglings are never helpful during an election campaign, to say the least.

If Burton had a problem with her party, for Sinn Fein it was the other way round - the party had a problem with its leader, whether it acknowledged it or not. There are still some who insist it's unfair to paint Gerry Adams as an electoral liability when he has led Sinn Fein to its current historic high in modern elections; but it's another of those What Ifs. What if Sinn Fein had a different leader, with less baggage, with broader appeal? Hard left party Syriza went from 4.6pc at the 2009 Greek election to topping the poll on 36pc last January under a very engaging leader. After the worst recession in history, the Left here continues to do nowhere near as well. Could it be that Adams is what prevents Sinn Fein breaking through the green ceiling?

It's not simply that he made so many gaffes, but that the gaffes which he did make were intensely revealing of his psychological and political flaws. Misreading the public mood on the Special Criminal Court shone a spotlight on his ambivalent attitude to the legitimacy of the 26-county Irish state, and his ignorance of economic detail reveals a man who has never been entirely comfortable with normal bread and butter politics.

All the benefit which Sinn Fein gained early on in the campaign by exposing a 2bn hole in the Government's spending plans evaporated every time Adams opened his mouth to talk numbers. His final gaffe - "Who's Senator Cahill?" - summed up the problem . Whether he meant it disparagingly, or Mairia Cahill had simply slipped his mind, was irrelevant. Carelessness or callousness were equally damaging qualities to be exhibiting so close to an election with crucial transfers in play.

Fianna Fail's journey has been the most fascinating by far. The party was toxic in 2011 following the financial crash, but, from the start of this campaign, those who went out canvassing with candidates failed to detect the same animosity. It was remarkable by its absence. Fine Gael's reminders of that toxicity fell flat, mainly because its own unpopularity with a sizeable proportion of voters meant many on the centre ground no longer thought of Fianna Fail as the party that wrecked the country, but merely as the party that happened to be in power when the country was wrecked, and that Fine Gael and Labour would have made the same mistakes.

Micheal Martin comes out of the election with his reputation enhanced. So does Stephen Donnelly of the Social Democrats. Both showed gravitas and grace in often peevish circumstances. Here's hoping those who had a bad election last Friday show the same qualities in adversity.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE: Shane Ross celebrates being elected to the Dublin Rathdown constituency at the count center in Tallaght yesterday. Shane was the first candidate to be elected in this General Election. Photo: Barbara Lindberg.

The people have mumbled. So, what happens next? Each person may individually make a clear choice when voting, but when we add up all the votes, the outcome isn't always so clear. Party leaders and their advisers will be looking at the result and wondering what they are meant to do with it.

The outgoing Government was roundly rejected. And it will be difficult for any other party to support Enda Kenny as Taoiseach now. But there isn't a positive choice for an alternative. In truth, no alternative was on offer. And no government appears likely.

But there is a natural tendency for a government to be formed. Even though the parties and the candidates claim to love elections, they're exhausted after what has really been a five-month campaign. They're also broke. They want to avoid an election, certainly an immediate election.

So even though they won't want to, politicians will often go into government with sworn enemies when the alternative is worse. Albert Reynolds once famously called it a "temporary little arrangement" -we call them governments.

What looks possible? At the moment Fine Gael and Fianna Fail could form a majority coalition. There will be pressure from the left and the media for this to happen. Fine Gael might suggest the people wanted change and leave it to the other parties to come up with an alternative. But that isn't viable.

The only viable majority is Fianna Fail/Fine Gael. However, it is in neither Fine Gael nor Fianna Fail's long-term interest for this to happen. Governing together will remove any reason for them to exist as separate parties. It will mean the end of one of them, but it is not clear which one. Coalition is very risky for both.

Different people in each party will have different preferences. Charles Haughey did a deal with the PDs because it was that or the end of Haughey. Enda Kenny will desperately want to be re-elected Taoiseach, but it is hard to see how Kenny remains as leader - or how he can push a deal through his party.

Within Fianna Fail, the Young Turks will be happy to do a deal. They will eye up their ministerial Mercs. But I doubt a deal will happen. Martin will counsel caution. He's been around long enough to see the risks. Martin will think about the long term. He has been a minister 14 years, and won't be in a rush to have a seat at cabinet. His eyes are on the bigger prize: becoming Taoiseach and making Fianna Fail the main party in Irish politics once more. His major strategic consideration will be that if his party went into coalition with Fine Gael, this would let Sinn Fein be the major party of the opposition.

Sinn Fein will be disappointed with its result, but would be excited by a Fianna Fail/Fine Gael coalition, which could allow Sinn Fein to portray itself as the main basis for an alternative government. A new Sinn Fein leader could make hay.

Micheal Martin will be aware that Labour went into government - to offer the country a stable government - when it could have been the main opposition party. He knows better than most that had Labour chosen opposition in 2011 we could be now looking at Eamon Gilmore as the next Taoiseach.

Even if Martin were minded to go into government with Fine Gael, there are procedural hurdles. It is not the parliamentary party that makes the decision. In 2013 the party changed rules so that "a draft programme for government must be presented to voting members of the organisation for approval at a special Ard Fheis before any such government can be formed" with a "one member, one vote basis to accept or reject the draft programme".

Last year, the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis approved a motion to rule out a coalition in which Fianna Fail is the junior partner, and it's likely those same voters would reject any deal to elect a Fine Gael Taoiseach. This might be for tribal reasons, but it is also for rational ones.

Fianna Fail knows that it is once again within touching distance of being the largest party. It might have little to fear from a second election, especially one at a time of its own choosing. The new parliamentary party will have some new faces and talent, which takes the 'male and stale' look off it. Martin will be strengthened sufficiently to downgrade his main detractors, Eamon O Cuiv and John McGuinness. It could be his party. Fianna Fail's success in the 2014 local elections means the party will do well in the Seanad elections, allowing its defeated candidates time to nurse a constituency.

In government, Martin wouldn't have the time or energy to deliver this rebuilding effort, and government is a dangerous place for a party. It always means making unpopular decisions. Compromise becomes easier because the alternative - leaving - usually means an election. You find yourself accepting things cumulatively that you would never have originally accepted.

There is some talk of a rotating Taoiseach and of what happened in Israel in 1984, but in that case both big parties had seen a drop in support. They were afraid of going back to the electorate. They were also from opposite sides of the political divide in Israeli politics, and so weren't leaving a major competitor out. Fianna Fail would only allow a Fine Gael-led coalition if it included Sinn Fein.

There are also comparisons with 1948, when everyone in the Dail got together to remove Fianna Fail. But there was a difference: Fianna Fail had been in power for 16 years, and the others were willing to compromise to remove them from office. In 2016 no party has anything to fear from opposition.

So what is likely to happen?

Martin won't want an immediate second election. Instead, we might be looking at a 1927 scenario. Then, the two main parties Cumman na nGaedheal (Fine Gael's predecessor) and Fianna Fail were in similar positions as 2016, with 47 and 44 seats. There were a lot of small parties and Independents. No majority government could be formed. What happened? Fianna Fail abstained, allowing the Cosgrave government retain office. A few months later, Fianna Fail brought down the government. In the subsequent election just three months after the first, small parties suffered and the two big parties thrived, forming the Irish party system that lasted until 2011.

This year Fianna Fail will want to be able to say it behaved responsibly. It could eventually abstain from a vote to elect a Fine Gael Taoiseach, but not on March 10 - they'll want to see the new Fine Gael leader rejected at least once. This would force a minority Fine Gael government to form issue-by-issue coalitions in which Fianna Fail would be able to extract concessions.

If Kenny is defeated for Taoiseach on March 10, he has to submit to a leadership contest by secret ballot. If he makes it to here, he won't survive that contest. A new Fine Gael leader will be elected. Fianna Fail will then have to consider the political landscape. Rather than having to leave government, Fianna Fail will have a much stronger bargaining position - because each vote will be one in which it chooses to support the government. It won't be locked in. Fianna Fail could then decide to end this arrangement, forcing an election on water charges in the autumn. This could be the election that makes it the biggest party again and makes Martin Taoiseach.

This isn't a risk-free strategy. It will be reminded of the impact on Fine Gael of the Tallaght Strategy. Then, Fine Gael appeared powerless and irrelevant. A new Fine Gael leader may turn out to be popular, and might be seen as responsible. It could go to the country on that.

The only certainty is that nothing is certain.

Dr Eoin O'Malley is a senior lecturer in political science at the School of Law and Government in Dublin City University
The inconclusive result of the General Election means that it could take some time to form a government. Spain, whose election took place in December, is still inching closer to forming a government, but isn't there yet. That may seem a long time but it is nothing compared to the 589 days that it took the Belgians to form a government in 2010/11.

It now looks unlikely that a new Taoiseach will be elected and a government will be formed when the new Dail meets on March 10. So who will govern Ireland while we wait?

The first task of the new Dail is to elect a Ceann Comhairle. This itself will take longer than usual because there's a new method of election. Conventionally the second piece of business of the new Dail is to nominate a Taoiseach. Article 13.1.1 of the constitution says the Taoiseach is appointed by the President having been nominated by the Dail. That vote only requires a simple majority of the Dail, so for instance if a number of TDs were to abstain a Taoiseach could be elected with less than half of the 158 TDs.

There may not be a vote because if Enda Kenny is still leader of Fine Gael he won't want to lose a vote on this. According to Article 28.10, which says that a Taoiseach must retain the confidence of the Dail, he is required to tender his resignation as Taoiseach if he loses this vote. This was the case in 1989 when Charles Haughey (eventually) resigned. There's nothing to stop a member of the opposition forcing the issue by nominating Kenny, though the Taoiseach could usually adjourn the Dail to avoid this.

If Kenny loses a vote, he's lost the confidence of the Dail, but Ireland is not without a government. The constitution (28.11.1) states that the Taoiseach and ministers remain in office in a caretaker capacity until a successor is appointed. This would include Labour ministers (unless they were to tender their resignation, which the Taoiseach technically can refuse).

It also includes any ministers who lose their seats. This may seem odd, but according to article 28.8 ministers have the right to attend and be heard in the Dail. Though they could not vote, they can still sign ministerial orders and carry out the day-to-day functions of government.

It took four weeks to form the Fianna Fail/ PD coalition in 1989, but there is no time limit on this. In theory the caretaker government could stay in office for the duration of the Dail. That's not going to happen.

The constitution is silent on government formation, so politics comes into play. If negotiations to form a government aren't working the President may feel the need to step in, though he's under no obligation to do so. He's been willing to get involved in political debates before, so who knows? If it is clear after six or eight weeks that no government will be formed, the President will dissolve the Dail, and we could all be back voting again.

Dr Eoin O'Malley, School of Law and Government, Dublin City University
Tom Meagher, whose wife Jill was brutally raped and murdered in Australia, says children as young as 12 should attend school-based 'sexual consent' classes.

He insists that the all-pervasive nature of violent online pornography is "destroying" young people's emotional development.

Specially designed classes are now needed to teach what constitutes "a real relationship," he says.

The prevalence of child rape and other acts of extreme sexual torture is poisoning young minds and thwarting their cognitive development, he has claimed.

Mr Meagher's comments come as University College Dublin (UCD) plans to introduce mandatory sexual consent classes for the first time in September.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent, Mr Meagher said children were now accessing unsuitable online material at an increasingly young age.

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He stressed that urgent action was required in the first year of secondary school to deal with the problem.

"I think you can teach about consent from a very young age, without it being very explicit. The instruction techniques must not be too graphic and it should be done is an age-appropriate way.

"I've given talks to teenagers in transition year around the age of 16. But I think we've reached a stage where we need to get the message through to young people as soon they start secondary school, at about the age of 12 or 13.

"At that stage, we can then introduce ideas around boundaries and relationships and then add to it as teenagers get older, making the instruction more relevant as they grow up.

"They need to learn what constitutes a healthy sexual relationship and what it means to respect boundaries."

He said the number of students who experience sexual assaults during college was "startling". Mr Meagher also suggested that there was a lot confusion among third-level students as to what constitutes "appropriate behaviour."

This stems from the proliferation and consistent exposure of young people to extreme online pornography.

"In the early years of college, it's not necessarily that people don't know what exactly is consent but they suddenly have to adapt to a very charged environment when they start university.

"This whole problem is a societal issue and we can't keep brushing it under the carpet. The availability of online pornography - and the violence inherent in much of it - is quite damaging. The nature of some of what's out there is shocking.

"The typical man and woman role is exaggerated in a lot of porn. The dominance of the male and the submissive role of the female are paramount in a lot of what is on view.

"Studies also show that one of the top searches for internet pornography is now targeted at very young women in their teens."

Ellen O'Malley Dunlop, outgoing CEO of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, said the first stages of relationship instruction should start even earlier, ideally in primary school.

She said: "The pornography business is worth more than the film and music industries combined. All classes must be age-appropriate, but we do need to teach young people the meaning of consent from a very young age.

"Research shows that young boys are accessing explicit images and videos from the age of nine. Their first experience of a relationship with another person is at 16.

"We should not forget that this is all taking place during a time when teenagers can be at their most vulnerable."

UCD Students' Union (UCDSU) has called for increased funding to support mandatory sexual-consent workshops. It said: "Funding must be increased to UCD counselling services and UCD should further commit to reviewing the need for a dedicated support service for survivors of sexual violence, following a comprehensive survey of student experience."

NUI Galway has introduced 'smart consent' workshops for some of its students on a pilot basis this academic year.
DICKINSON  Sarah Curry, 39, Dickinson, passed away Feb. 24, 2016, at her home. Services will be held at 2 p.m. MST Tuesday, March 1, at Stevenson Funeral Home, Dickinson, with the Rev. Donna Dohrmann officiating.

Visitation will be held from noon to 8 p.m. MST Monday at Stevenson Funeral Home with a prayer service being held at 7 p.m. MST. Visitation will continue on Tuesday, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. MST at the funeral home.

Sarah Joy Curry was born July 15, 1976, in Seoul, South Korea and was adopted by Lee and Judy Johnson. She spent her childhood on the family farm with her parents and siblings. Sarah attended elementary school and high school at New England Public Schools and graduated from North Dakota Division of Independent Study because she finished in three years.

Sarah married Jason Jung in 1992 at Rainy Butte Church near New England. The couple were blessed with one daughter, Jasmine Joy. Sarah and Jason would later divorce.

Sarah received her degree in respiratory therapy from Rochester Community College and worked as a respiratory therapist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., Phoenix, Ariz., and Annapolis, Md. She received her B.S. degree in medical arts from the University of St. Francis. Presently, she was pursuing her R.N. degree at Dickinson State University.

Sarah loved spending time with her daughter, Jasmine, who was the joy of her life. She also enjoyed being with her nieces and nephews. She always had time to take them on a shopping trip, get a bite to eat, send a text message or play a game on the computer. While living with her parents the last two years, she kept busy programming and fixing all their technology. Sarah was a very strong woman. Her life was often so hard, but she would pull herself together and go on with courage and grace over and over again. Even in the midst of hard times she could put on a smile, say something silly and be her dear, sweet, funny self. She loved music and had a beautiful singing voice. Sarah was very caring and enjoyed helping others. She was truly a bright spot in the lives of everyone who knew her.

Sarah is survived by her parents, Lee and Judy Johnson, Dickinson; her daughter, Jasmine Joy Jung, Bismarck; her sister, Shannon (Brent) Selle, Dickinson; her brothers, Brian (Robin) Johnson, Bismarck, and Nathan Johnson, Savage, Minn.; and her nieces and nephews, Peyton, Kaden, Lauren and Gavin Selle and Avery and Mackenzie Johnson.

She was preceded in death by her grandparents, Willard and Thelma Johnson and Leonard and Esther Ophaug; an aunt, Lois Kunze; an uncle, Al Nelson; and one cousin, Aaron Ophaug.

Remembrances and condolences may be shared with the family at www.stevensonfuneralhome.com.
SISTERS ACT: Tryphena Tan, Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood, Margaret Cartwright, director of Vocations Ireland, Sabine Schratz, Dominican Sisters, and Edel Murphy, Dominican Sisters, at The Sisters Cafe. Photo: Tony Gavin

The Mothers Superior thought it sounded like a clever idea.

How about a 'speed dating'-type cafe evening - but for women who think they have a vocation? Sure all the young people are doing it.

So they spread the word, put feelers out online and gathered nine hopeful orders of nuns together - each longing for a suitable match.

Tables were dressed with iced buns, daffodils and large pots of tea. The atmosphere was relaxed, inviting, optimistic.

But unfortunately, the idea just didn't seem to bring them in. In fact, not one curious candidate showed up.

And when someone finally did arrive at the vocations party, it turned out to be the Sunday Independent - not exactly vocation material, I confess.

There was a little disappointment at the poor turnout for the event in Blackrock, Co Dublin, but the sisters hope for better luck next time when the new pop-up cafe - aptly named The Sister's Cafe - travels around the capital in the coming months.

The cafe is supported by nine religious congregations and is being run in conjunction with Vocations Ireland. The plan is that it will help raise awareness of the meaningful role Irish religious sisters play in modern society

Their main aim is to open up conversations between Irish nuns from all congregations and Irish women from the ages of 20 to 35 who may be interested in learning more about spirituality.

Speaking to the Sunday Independent, Margaret Cartwright, director of Vocations Ireland, explained how the idea sprung from today's colourful dating landscape.

"We were inspired by speed dating in the sense that it seems to have drawn young people. It's about giving young women the opportunity to come along, share, and hear the sisters' individual stories and they can move within the group," she said.

"Young women regularly approach us about potential vocations and yet there is no open forum which enables them to really explore their options. We believe our little cafe will allow women to get to know our lifestyle a lot better," she said.

Sisters from the Medical Missionaries of Mary, the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood, the Daughters of Charity, the Dominicans, the Salesians, the Religious Sisters of Charity, the Sisters of St Joseph of Cluny, the Sisters of Marie Reparatrice and the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary attended the launch at the Dominican Adult Education Centre in Blackrock.

They ranged in aged from mid-thirties to late eighties and nineties.

Ms Cartwright said they plan to move the cafe around over the coming months - Swords and Blanchardstown are next on the list: "We have a national vision. We need to look at all venues where young people are gathering and tap into them. We're considering places like shopping malls or even pubs and social clubs," she said.

Although not a single hopeful postulant appeared on the night, Sr Edel Murphy, of the Dominican Sisters in Cabra, says she is not worried about the future of female religious life in Ireland.

"We're aware many people don't have an understanding of our work - this gives us an opportunity to share what our life is really like. Women who are interested in education, health, society and parish work will get a first-hand insight into life as a sister," she said. "Vocation is not about numbers. In the end it's God who calls. We still have something valuable to give but we do that by meeting and talking about faith," she said.

"It's the women who built and continue to keep the parishes going, so it's our voice that needs to be heard," she added.

Despite the lack of outside interest, the congregations say this is just the beginning for The Sister's Cafe and their doors are open to all.
Four families ordered to leave their emergency accommodation in Dublin by this weekend have insisted they will stay put "for as long as it takes".

Thirteen families which lived in the properties on Mountjoy Street were given only seven days' notice by Dublin City Council (DCC) to get out.

Officials told them that a contract agreement between the private owner of the properties and the council was ending yesterday, but the families say the alternative accommodation offered does not meet their needs.

At present, residents say they pay around 30 a week to stay in Mountjoy Street.

Ashling Kenny (32), who lived in the property with her partner and three children, said she had been offered two rooms in an O'Connell Street hotel by the council.

"The council came to us with two separate rooms far away from each other," she told the Herald.

"It's simply not a suitable option."

Storage

Gemma Bradley, who moved to Mountjoy Street with her partner and child in November, said she and the other families affected would stay for as long as possible.

Ms Bradley (21) said: "It was still good because it was a place you could call home, where the kids didn't think they were sleeping in a hotel or a room," she said.

"The rooms are grand in there, and that's why we're fighting for it. They want to hand us something smaller and split us up."

Ms Bradley added that the council advised her to find storage for her belongings ahead of moving out.

"Where have I got money for that?" she said. "I can't aff-ord storage. "With Christmas only been and gone, taking my child's toys away from them and leaving him crying?"

Ms Bradley and her family previously lived in the UK, but had to return to Ireland when their house was repossessed when they could not find a guarantor.

However, she said that the local community have brought food and supplies to support them.
The head of the Law Society  reportedly on a 400,000 annual salary  has refused to change his employment contract, which would make his controversial pay deal public.

The refusal comes amid renewed calls for full disclosure of director general Ken Murphys pay  believed to be one of the most generous remuneration packages for any voluntary body chief in Ireland.

In response to questions from the Sunday Independent, the society insisted it could not reveal the pay of individual staff members due to contractual and statutory obligations to its employees.

But the spokesperson also said it would not take steps to remove confidentiality clauses from employment contracts.

She also confirmed Ken Murphy was not willing to voluntarily change the confidential nature of his contract.

The annual accounts do not disclose Mr Murphys salary.

The organisation has consistently cited legal reasons for its decision to keep the income of its staff private.

However, in 2013, on the back of complaints from members, whose subscriptions fund the body, a review of salaries of senior executives was carried out by consultancy firm Towers Watson Ireland.

The society insisted it was a routine exercise to determine if salaries were in line with similar organisations in other countries.

Exercises of this nature had also been carried out in 2005 and 2008.

The report was released to society members  but salary levels were never made public.

Brendan Donnelly, who is president of the Mayo Solicitors Bar Association, called for Mr Murphy to confirm his pay.

It has never been disclosed. My personal view is that he should disclose his salary to the members.

Subscription money is being used to remunerate staff, so realistically we should know what theyre earning.

He said this issue has been a fairly heavy topic of conversation among lawyers.

A lot of solicitors, particularly country practices, were struggling, especially between 2009 to 2012, he added.

The Law Society has an annual turnover of 33m.

It currently has 10,479 members  with 15,196 on the roll of solicitors.

There are some 9,688 solicitors with practising certificates, which cost 2,500 a year.
California has a great medley of grape varietals to experiment and play with. There is hardly a varietal on the planet that isn't being planted by someone somewhere in America's Golden State.

However, one grape that is regarded as California's very own is the black and juicy Zinfandel. It's closely related to Primitivo, from the heel of Italy's Puglia region, but descended directly from a spell-check-defying Croatian varietal, Crljenak (pronounced: "tril-en-ock") Kastelanski. Zinfandel has flourished because its flexibility to produce a range of styles helped it survive by satisfying the public's ping-pong fickleness of taste between red, rose "blush" or white wines and from dry to medium-sweetness.

Here are results of the highest scoring Zinfandels from a blind taste test of the original full-bodied, dry and fruity styles.

1) Zinfandel 2012, Silver Palm, North Coast 14.5pc

Earthy bouquet and intense earthy palate lifted by mouth-watering acidity and berry fruits. Echo the earthiness with a match of corned beef with honey-glazed carrots and ground coriander seeds.

18.95 (buy one and get the second bottle at half-price until March 6) at O'Brien's off-licences nationwide and online at wine.ie

2) Old Vine Zin 2013, Gnarley Head, Lodi 14.5pc

Peppery and juicy bright fresh fruits with a contrasting earthy and leather echo on the aftertaste. Requires a simple rich dark meat - duck topped with smoked rashers and roasted with plums.

18.99 in Dublin at The Vintry; Baggot Street Wines; Callan's; Sweeney's and Donnybrook Fair; O'Donovan's, Cork citywide and O'Brien's nationwide

3) Zinfandel 2013, Buena Vista, Dry Creek Valley 15pc

Blackberry jam aroma. Ripe fruity full-bodied blackberry flavours masking the potent 15pc alcohol and cushioned by soft tannins and moderate acidity. Grill a steak topped with a subtle blue cheese sauce.

19.49 at Marks & Spencer nationwide

4) Vintners' Reserve Zinfandel 2011, Kendall-Jackson, Mendocino County 14.5pc

Hint of leather on the nose and finish. Restrained and classy fruit palate in the less-is-more style. Try with a venison and juniper berry stew enriched with red wine and a teaspoon of cocoa powder.

22.95 at O'Brien's off-licences nationwide and online at wine.ie

Value buy: Malbec 2009, Chateau Quattre, AOC Cahors, France 14.5pc

Typically tarry and inky black fruits. Full-bodied alcohol with richness and depth of character. Keep it local with a cassoulet pork and bean stew.

12.99 while stocks last in the French Wine Sale at Lidl nationwide

Tasting notes

I will be hosting a Wines of California tasting on Wednesday March 9, from 7pm-8.30pm, at Ballymaloe House's Grainstore, near Midleton, Co Cork. Themed "Less is More", the talk will reflect the new evolving style of more subtle flavours and balancing alcohol. Eight elegant wines will be tasted and I'll explain why they work well with suggested food pairings. Tickets are 10. Buy them directly from Ballymaloe House, Tel: (021) 4652531, email: colm@ballymaloe.ie or visit ballymaloe.ie
Eoin Lyons and John Kelly met in 2008, while Eoin was working as an interior designer and John was senior architect in de Blacam and Meagher Architects. They had collaborated on a number of projects, but soon their clients who knew them as a couple encouraged them to work together, leading to the opening of LyonsKelly Architecture + Design in 2013.

Be Brave with colour

We don't do 'greige'! The type of house will dictate how you use colour: a contemporary house is best painted white, use soft furnishings and art to introduce colour. Older, traditional homes can handle stronger colours on the walls. If in doubt, take a piece of art that you like and examine the palette that has been used - if it works in the painting it will work in your home.

Pieces must earn their place

It's hard to argue with (English textile designer) William Morris's maxim that you should "have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful".

Open-Plan living starts with a sensible layout

The primary living space needs to be planned carefully. You should be able to walk away from the kitchen in the evening and relax in a comfortable space. Place the seating area away from the kitchen ideally with the dining area separating them. Plan the kitchen area so there is an element of screening - consider an island with a breakfast bar that screens the worktop from view. Keep the units plain and consider ways of hiding the toaster and kettle such as a tambour unit.

Create the illusion of space with continuous flooring

A single floor finish across the rooms will make the space feel bigger. Some people are still reluctant to use a timber floor in a kitchen but, with the correct finish, staining shouldn't be an issue. If you prefer tiles or stone then consider a big rug in the seating area to make it cosy.

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This month we're...

...meeting our match

It's the most frustrating of experiences - finding the perfect accessory but not in the colour that you need. Easing shoppers' rage is the new ColourMatch collection from Argos, which features household staples in multiple colours, so you can always find what you need. Simple, but brilliantly so.

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ColourMatch Bentwood dining chairs, 39.49 each, Argos

...feeling tropical

We read recently that clever concert organisers at a US festival played the sound of a light breeze over the speakers to cool down an overheated crowd. We intend to put that power of suggestion to the test with some exotic decor, which will surely transform a cold semi-D in Drogheda into a balmy Caribbean beach hut.

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Bamboo leaf print cushion, 8, Penneys

...believing fairytales

Limerick School of Art and Design graduate Marie Varley hosts a solo show at the trendy Damn Fine Print studio in Dublin's Smithfield. Running until March 2, the exhibition features Marie's retro designs, inspired by stamps and matchbooks from the 1950s. Buy one and live happily ever after!

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Little Red print, 40, damnfineprint.com

Scent-sational!

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Making the move from spas to stores is the Petalwell aromatherapy diffuser. An Irish company, Petalwell uses only natural ingredients in its six mood-enhancing scents. Buy the pocket-sized rechargeable diffuser from House of Fraser, Dundrum Town Centre, for 59

Tiger stores

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Whether or not youre a fan of Scandinavian design, we challenge you not to find something pretty, quirky or plain old useful at Tiger stores. The Danish chains strawberry range, including these suitcases for 2 each, will brighten up any kids room
Candleholder, 81. With space for four tealights, this marble Nordstjerne candle holder is perfect for cosy nights in; amara.com

Melamine plates, 17.75. Made with melamine, this set of three is resilient enough for kids, but chic enough for adults; klevering.nlx

Cheese board and knife, 110. Swirling veins of greys and green evoke the natural beauty of Galway in unique pieces of Connemara marble; hennessyandbyrne.com

Marble never really goes out of style. It's a material that is synonymous with luxury, quality and timelessness. In the last year, its resurgence as the stoneware of choice has made it - and its prints -ubiquitous in both interiors and fashion, seen on everything from countertops and flooring, to phone covers and gym gear.

Lately, and in many 2016 interiors collections, its classic veining has been given a new lease of life with injections of metallics and rich colours. Interior designer Suzie McAdam made the pilgrimage to Maison et Objet in Paris, the annual design show, where she notes that marble continued to be a massive trend.

She said: "The ultimate luxury would be to introduce it through a bathroom makeover - which is on my current wish list. However, smaller items, such as side tables, consoles or tableware, are an easier way to introduce this look.

"For an easy update, textiles with digitally printed colourful or classic marble can update a sofa, be it in cushions or throws. Pastel tones and metallics are set to be huge and are well worth investing in this season."

Close to home, many are already familiar with Connemara marble, a gorgeous swirl of greens and greys that reflects the landscape and mountains of its surrounds. Seen on fireplaces and in bathrooms of stately homes like Liss Ard in Co Cork and Ross Castle in Co Galway, as well as the top-floor canteen at Busaras, it is elegant and calming.

Stonemason Eric Byrne, of Hennessy and Byrne in Co Wicklow, uses this striking stone to create beautiful kitchen and dining ware, that doesn't carry the daunting price tags of marble installations.

Overseas, Eric Byrne's traditional skills have drawn the attention of talent-spotting interiors magazine Elle Decoration, which featured his craft in its 2016 Trends issue, alongside Superfolk and Cillian O Suilleabhain, under the banner of Irish design to watch.

Outside of indigenous stone, digital printing means marbling is now far more accessible. Advances in digital printing mean marble can be rendered realistically on both hard and soft materials - on everything from tiles to textiles - and this opens marble up to more playful interpretations.

One designer playing with colourful marble variations is Nadia Newton of Guernsey-based Penelope Hope.

Having just released a collection of luxury, marbled silk cushions in bold brights, she will follow up with equally vivid lampshades in the coming months.

"At the time of designing, our colourful Marbleous Collection was the first of its kind, but like all good trends, others catch on quickly and so there are a few options out there now for more colourful marble designs," she explains.

In her process, Nadia starts with floating paints onto a fluid surface and carefully transfers the paint swirls onto paper. These one-of-kind designs are then scanned and tweaked, before digitally printing onto pure silk satin fabric.

"Our Malachite Marble cushion takes inspiration from the Malachite stone, which is spiritually inviting and which demands respect. Its movement, flow and energy are soothing and welcoming. It would work beautifully in a bedroom on crisp white bedding," Nadia adds.

Amanda Kavanagh is the editor of Image Interiors & Living magazine
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.
In trying to explain Donald Trump and his hostile takeover of the Republican Party, people have trotted out a host of character disorders. Narcissist. Racist. Bully. Buffoon. Tyrant. Liar. Celebrity obsessive. Fact-denier. Youve heard them all, and they all apply, in varying degrees.

But as we now must imagine what it would be like to have Trumps short fingers on the nuclear weapon controls, consider another explanation for the dangerous man most likely to represent the Party of Lincoln  sleep deprivation.

If you actually take him at his word, the billionaire who will be 70 years old in a few months gets by on barely half the amount of sleep recommended for a healthy life. He says he needs only three or four hours, and sometimes just 90 minutes.

Sleep deprivation, we know, can make you cranky and temperamental, and throw off judgment. The severely sleep-deprived are more impulsive, less adaptable and prone to snappish decisions, and they have trouble listening to others. They miss out on essential REM time, which allows people to process emotions and events in their lives. Smaller things set them off.

You know, Im not a big sleeper, Trump said last November. I like three hours, four hours, I toss, I turn, I beep-de-beep, I want to find out whats going on.

Trumps defenders  those who are historically literate  might point to the short nights of accomplished leaders as a defense. Five hours, max, was often reported as the typical slumber for President Bill Clinton. Winston Churchill was in the same league, though he took a lengthy late-afternoon nap, aided by his customary whiskey and water.

There are, in fact, a number of brilliant, driven people who function well with a bare amount of rest. Donald Trump is not one of them. He shows all the scary symptoms of sleep deprivation. His judgment is off, and almost always ill informed. He has trouble processing basic information. He imagines things. He shows a lack of concentration. Hes easily distracted. All of the above are disorder symptoms listed by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

You saw all this in Thursday nights debate. Be quiet, let me talk, he snapped at Marco Rubio. The shouting, the eye-rolling, the repetition of nonsensical pablum, the odd words (bigly when he meant hugely)  it was all there. And again, the delusions: I will do really well with Hispanics.

In addition, Trump is given to sudden, inchoate bursts of anger and profanity. He creates feuds. In his speeches, he picks up on the angry voice in the mob and then amplifies it.

When I see his puffy eyes and face, I dont see a man who will carefully weigh all the facts and consequences of an action that could affect everyone on the planet. I see an impulsive, vainly insecure person who cannot shut his mind down for a night.

In just the last couple of weeks, we saw flashes of these symptoms, the irritability and inability to process things. After the lights briefly went down during a speech in South Carolina, Trump accused the dishonest press of being behind it. Then, when the lights came back on, he led his followers in a chant of Turn off the lights. It was bizarre.

After a protester interrupted his speech in Nevada, Trump said, Id like to punch him in the face. The crowd roared. Trump continued. You know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? Theyd be carried out on a stretcher, folks. At an earlier event this year, he said a protester should be thrown into the cold without a coat.

Absent the minimum resting time needed to process things, Trump impulsively passes on what hes heard without checking it. He retweeted completely bogus crime statistics about blacks. He also fanned the conspiracy wackos, who are legion among his followers, regarding the death of Justice Antonin Scalia of the Supreme Court. He questioned Sen. Marco Rubios legal eligibility to be president. Pressed on the last claim, Trump shrugged.

Honestly, Ive never looked at it, he said. Somebody said hes not, I retweeted it. Regarding Scalias death, he gave a similar dodge for why he implied foul play: I literally just heard it a little while ago.

He stated as fact a much-debunked story about Gen. John J. Pershing dipping bullets in pigs blood to put down a Muslim insurrection in the Philippines. In all, PolitiFact has rated 77 percent of his statements as mostly false, false or pants-on-fire lies.

Here is a man who couldnt see the Nigerian Internet money scheme for the fraud that it is, let alone sift through complex intelligence information in advance of a military strike.

Trumps forgets what he said, as in his earlier support of the Iraq war. I really dont know what I mean, he explained. And he makes things up  remember those thousands of American Muslims cheering the collapse of the World Trade Center towers  to the point of hallucination, a possible side effect of extreme sleep deprivation.

Clearly, your brain doesnt work very well when youre sleep deprived, Dr. Steven Feinsilver, director of the Center for Sleep Medicine, told the website Live Science.

The media critic Jack Shafer says Trump is everybodys loopy uncle, constantly repeating and asserting the most spurious and sensational misinformation. But the uncle is largely harmless, so long as he sits in the corner and babbles to himself. Imagine him as president, chronically sleep deprived, and youve got the probable 2016 Republican nominee.
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New hospital for a tenner may come at too high a price

The Taoiseach is under a lot of pressure  the kind of pressure that leads to costly mistakes. It perhaps explains why he has been saying things that are not quite true. Micheal Martin is in a tight political corner. From all sides hes being told he has to get the contract signed for the new National Maternity Hospital.
What a truly extraordinary election. Scratch that. It's been 40 extraordinary elections. Almost every one of the constituencies has thrown up surprises. Some more than others. Who would have thought Fianna Fail would be in the shake-up for three seats in Carlow-Kilkenny? Or that it could win two seats in Cork North-West? Or that it would likely win four out of seven seats in Kildare, like it did in 2007?

At the time of writing, much is still to be decided, but there is no doubt about the patterns that are emerging. Regardless of how the final numbers shape up, Fianna Fail and Micheal Martin have had an incredible election result.

To break 40 seats, as it seems likely to do, wasn't predicted by too many. Independents and 'others' have also had a fantastic result.

Fine Gael has done worse than anybody predicted, though they might get lucky in some constituencies and hold some seats that, strictly speaking, they shouldn't.

For Labour, we are this weekend talking about the actual survival of the party, as it could be left with just five TDs. Sinn Fein has done well, but certainly not as well as it had looked last summer.

Carlow-Kilkenny may well throw up the biggest surprise of the lot. It had been widely predicted as Fianna Fail and Fine Gael winning two seats, with Sinn Fein taking Ann Phelan's Labour seat.

While Labour's vote collapsed, Fine Gael now looks on the verge of being left with just one deputy in a constituency where it had three in 2011.

FG may yet hold its second seat in Cavan-Monaghan but it is proving a lot tighter than anybody would have expected a few weeks back and FF can't be ruled out of a second seat.

In Clare, the strength of Independents was evident with Michael Harty of the 'no GP, no village' campaign poised to comfortably take a seat at the expense of Labour.

In Cork East, Sean Sherlock may just buck the national trend against Labour and hold on. It may end up being between FG and Sinn Fein for the final seat there, with FF guaranteed to win back a seat.

Cork North-Central looks like one of a number of constituencies where FF will regret not running a second candidate. Billy Kelleher may well have brought in a running mate. The initial tallies showing Mick Barry taking a seat were an early indication that AAA-PBP was on course for a really good day.

Cork North-West summed up the Fianna Fail comeback. This was widely tipped at either 2FG-IFF or 1FG, 1FF or 1 Independent. But, at the time of writing, the two Moynihans - Michael and Aindrias - are poised to take two seats for FF.

Micheal Martin and Michael McGrath were always going to hold their two seats. But it sums up Fine Gael's day that Jerry Buttimer is in a battle with SF for the last seat.

Cork South West looks like it will finally elect a woman TD with FF's Margaret Murphy-O'Mahony coming through. Again, FG is under pressure from an Independent to hold its second seat.

Donegal had been seen as SF's best ticket in the country. But it hasn't turned out that way and it is Fianna Fail that has really taken back the initiative in the constituency.

It has also regained a significant foothold in the capital, where, before Friday, it had no seats. Sean Haughey's return in Dublin Bay North wasn't the biggest surprise but his comfort in regaining the seat probably wasn't expected. Richard Bruton and Finian McGrath will join Haughey in the Dail. There's a decent chance Sinn Fein will take a seat, leaving the final seat up for grabs. Can Aodhan O Riordain hold on for Labour?

In Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael was looking good to hold two seats. The final two seats are between Sinn Fein's Chris Andrews, the Greens' Eamon Ryan, Jim O'Callaghan of Fianna Fail and Labour's Kevin Humphreys.

Fine Gael also outperformed in Dun Laoghaire. With Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett already returned, Mary Mitchell O'Connor and Maria Bailey seem certain to join him and Richard Boyd Barrett, with Mary Hanafin falling short.

Dublin Rathdown produced a big shock, with the Greens' Catherine Martin taking a seat at the expense of Alan Shatter. Shane Ross, as expected, topped the poll. Josepha Madigan took the Fine Gael seat with Alex White another of the Labour big names to miss out.

Tony Gregory's successor Maureen O'Sullivan looked set to fall short but came back to hold a seat in Dublin Central. It looks like it is between former Lord Mayor Christy Burke and the Social Democrats' Gary Gannon.

In Dublin Fingal, James Reilly's vulnerability says everything about the type of day that Fine Gael was having. There was another strong performance from Fianna Fail through Darragh O'Brien, who will definitely take a seat, as will former minister John Curran in Dublin Mid-West.

The performance of Joanna Tuffy in that constituency vividly demonstrated the extent of the Labour meltdown. The party has gone from two seats to 5pc of the vote in that constituency. Fine Gael also looks set to lose a seat here with Sinn Fein's Eoin O Broin and Gino Kenny of AAA-PBP poised to make gains.

The extent of the FF recovery in Dublin was also obvious in three-seat Dublin North-West. Paul McAuliffe, at the time of writing, appeared to have the edge on Fine Gael's Noel Rock for the last seat, with Roisin Shortall and SF's Dessie Ellis comfortably taking the first two seats.

Even in Dublin South-Central Fianna Fail was in the shake-up for a seat, with Catherine Byrne and Catherine Ardagh battling it out to join Joan Collins, Aengus O Snodaigh and Brid Smith.

In Dublin South West, there was another new FF TD in John Lahart, who topped the poll and will be returned alongside Sean Crowe and Paul Murphy. The final seats are between the two FG candidates and Katherine Zappone.

In Dublin West, it seems that Joan Burton may just hang on at the expense of either Ruth Coppinger or Paul Donnelly of SF - probably the latter. It looks as if Fianna Fail will take a seat with Jack Chambers, only Leo Varadkar is safe at the time of writing.

In Galway East, Fianna Fail's Colm Keaveney was another high-profile casualty, with his colleague Anne Rabbitte set to be elected alongside one Fine Gael TD and Independent Sean Canney.

Galway West looks a complete dog-fight, with only Eamon O Cuiv definitely safe. Sinn Fein's performance was a little disappointing, though Trevor O Clochartaigh may yet take a seat. Fine Gael may hold its two seats here.

In Kerry, the two Healy Raes will make history by becoming the first two brothers to be returned from the same constituency - Michael's vote was the one of the highest ever recorded in electoral history. Fianna Fail should take a seat along with Fine Gael and Martin Ferris.

In Laois the only surprise was that Sean Fleming, until the result from Kerry, had the biggest first-preference vote in the country.

In both Limerick County and Limerick City, Fianna Fail will be kicking themselves that they didn't run two candidates. Fine Gael looks likely to win two seats in Limerick County, and in Limerick City it will be Willie O'Dea, Michael Noonan and Maurice Quinlivan, with Kieran O'Donnell probably holding off the challenge of Education Minister Jan O'Sullivan.

In Longford-Westmeath, it should be one FG, one FF, one Independent with Kevin 'Boxer' Moran. But Labour's long-time stalwart in the constituency, Willie Penrose, is in serious trouble, with Sinn Fein poised to take his seat.

In Louth, Fine Gael may hold two seats, mainly because of the collapse of the vote of Labour's Ged Nash. Sinn Fein will take two there and Fianna Fail's Declan Breathnach will be a first-time TD.

The news is not so good for FG in Mayo, though, with Fianna Fail's Lisa Chambers tipped to edge out Michelle Mulherin and take a second seat for FF.

In Offaly, Fianna Fail is confident it can pull off an extraordinary coup by taking a second seat in a three-seat constituency - though Independent John Foley may ultimately come through.

FF is also neck and neck with FG for the final seat in Roscommon-Galway, with Independents Denis Naughten and Michael Fitzmaurice taking the first two seats. FF might just squeeze through here.

In Sligo-Leitrim, it's one FG, one FF and one SF, with the final seat looking too close to call between Fine Gael and Fianna Fail.

In Tipperary, the odds are against Alan Kelly holding his seat, with Independents Michael Lowry, Seamus Healy and Mattie McGrath all likely to take seats alongside one from Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.

The performance of FF's Mary Butler proved a big surprise in Waterford and she will join Independent John Halligan, Sinn Fein's David Cullinane and one from John Deasy and Paudie Coffey.

It's a better performance though for Fine Gael in Wexford where it should just hold its two seats, with Fianna Fail falling short of winning a second seat here. Next door in Wicklow, the big winners were Social Democrats' leader Stephen Donnelly and Sinn Fein's John Brady. FG star Simon Harris will join them in Leinster House. Fianna Fail should take a seat with Fine Gael possibly edging out Renua's Billy Timmins for the final seat.

It was a day of surprises and no doubt there'll be more to come.
The frightening rise of Donald Trump showed no give last week, as the Republican candidate won the Nevada caucus on Tuesday with 45pc of the vote, while Rubio won 23pc and Cruz won 21pc.

"We won with poorly educated," he enthused in his winning speech. "I love the poorly educated."

By Wednesday, "I love the poorly educated" was trending on Twitter, bewildering critics everywhere.

In an interview last week, Noam Chomsky attributed Trump's popularity to "fear, along with the breakdown of society during the neoliberal period. People feel isolated, helpless, victims of powerful forces they do not understand and cannot influence."

'Super Tuesday', a day on which several states hold their primaries, takes place this week and will either deny or confirm Trump's definitive rise as well as closing the Clinton and Sanders race.

Voting also began in Iran last Friday as 50 million were eligible to vote, with reports of a high turnout.

While President Hassan Rouhani has a poor human rights record, is involved in a proxy war with Saudi Arabia and saw 12,000 electoral candidates disqualified before polling day - with the remaining 6,000 candidates given just a week to campaign - he is considered one of Iran's more moderate leaders.

Many see the vote as a 'referendum' on Rouhani's policies, with Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons describing the vote as a litmus test for Rouhani's biggest move - the nuclear deal with the West and the subsequent lifting of economic sanctions.

Meanwhile, in Uganda, elections tallied last week were won by President YK Museveni who has been president of Uganda for 30 years, presiding over a brutal civil war and human rights violations.

Tactics such as arresting the leader of the opposition, police intimidation against opposition supporters and poll workers handing out pre-marked ballot papers, were reportedly used to ensure Museveni retained his presidency.

But with 77pc of Ugandans under 30, young people rose up on social media despite a three-day social media ban. A whopping 15pc of Ugandans with internet access outwitted the internet blackout and documented abuses under the hashtag #Ugandadecides. "The social media blockage has strengthened the online activist movement in Uganda and evoked their inner creativity," said Daniel Gilbert Bwete, a Ugandan photographer based in Kampala. "It's sending us to investigate and find out what other alternatives we have with the shrinking political space."

As for the presidential election in Myanmar, negotiations continue behind the scenes with National League for Democracy's Aung San Suu Kyi said to be considering compromises with the military government to gain her long-awaited presidential seat.

Suu Kyi is blocked from the presidency by a constitutional clause, written by the military-led government, that dictates that any president must not have immediate family members who are citizens of another country. (Both Aung San Suu Kyi's sons are UK citizens)

March 17 will mark the final day for nominating the president, meaning Suu Kyi only has two more weeks to cut a deal and claim her rightful presidential seat.

Meanwhile, David Cameron also has a defining, upcoming date with the referendum on the UK's continued membership of the EU set for June 23. At the heart of the 'Leave EU' debate, it seems immigration is the key issue in a year that has seen the refugee crisis bring many EU political relations to breaking point.

Indeed, last week, as Balkan countries effectively sealed their borders with Greece, it seems the Schengen agreement is on the brink of collapse. Furthermore, Greece fell out with Austria last week after it was excluded from a meeting with Balkan leaders, calling it an 'unfriendly act' and promptly removed its ambassador from Vienna.

A 'complete breakdown' of the bloc's migration system is possible, claimed the EU commissioner in charge of migration, Dimitry Avramopoulos, warning that "the possibility of a humanitarian crisis of a large scale is very real".
Last Saturday was a landmark anniversary for me. As I stood in the centre of a balloon-filled room surrounded by dear friends, I blew out the sparkling candles on a cake as they sang 'Happy Birthday'.

But they weren't celebrating the date of my birth, rather my rebirth.

It was a birthday party for my immune system, which is three-years-old this month after being anonymously donated to me through a life-saving stem cell transplant in 2013.

Stem cell transplants and bone marrow transplants are one of the same. Both are end-of-the-line cancer treatments that effectively kill off the patient's immune system and regrow a new one from the donated bone marrow or stem cell of a donor.

And at 20 years of age, after being diagnosed with cancer for the third time, I needed the life-saving treatment to finally cure me of Hodgkin's Lymphoma. For me, a stem cell transplant was the only way to ensure my cancer would get gone and stay gone.

But I needed one thing; a donor.

"You have a 25pc chance of matching a sibling from the same parents," explains Dr Diarmaid O Donghaile, director of the Irish Unrelated Bone Marrow Registry.

"For anyone who doesn't have a sibling match you're referred here for an unrelated donor search."

None of my siblings were matches and so I was placed at the mercy and generosity of a worldwide blood stem cell donor database.

The IUBMR has 20,000 Irish people on its registry which is connected to the worldwide database of 27 million potential matches. Last year they helped facilitate 58 blood stem cell donations, six of whom were Irish donors helping other Irish patients.

"You go for the best match, the first thing is to be the correct tissue type so if you're a fully matched donor that's what you'll go for no matter where they are in the world," says Dr O Donghaile.

As a result my match could have been from anywhere in the world, but because I'm north European and caucasian it's the easier match, both because developed countries have a larger donor base and that Irish genes in particular are quite widespread around the world because of our huge diaspora.

This is the most I'm allowed to know about my donor as the process is completely anonymous to protect the identities of those involved.

I am however allowed to write a letter of thanks, an overwhelming task because, after all, who is this person? What motivated them? And how on earth do you thank the stranger who saved your life?

Although I can't speak to my donor, I do make contact with two registered donors my age to understand their experience more.

Gina (23) signed up to the registry after learning of her brother's cancer diagnosis.

"I joined because if I, or any of my family, ever needed bone marrow we would have to use the registry and it just made sense. If I was going to have to use it then I should be on it in case I can be of any help to someone else."

Gina has been on the registry for four years and is unafraid of being selected.

"I'm not at all afraid of being called. I would actually be delighted if I was because it means I'm giving someone the chance of getting better. If it gives me the opportunity to at least give them a chance of getting better by donating, then to me it's the obvious choice to go on the registry."

Registered donors have less than a 1pc chance of ever being called upon as a match, so for Seamus (25) who had signed up to the IUBMR after finishing college, he was more than surprised when he got his call a little earlier than expected.

"I got the phone call about three months after I signed up to the registry. They said you've come up as a potential match for somebody, is it something you'd like to do?".

A healthy young athlete, Seamus had given blood once a year since he was 19, but always during off seasons so as not to affect his performance. However now he was retiring, he wanted to do something more.

When he realised he couldn't give platelets as his veins weren't strong enough, as can often be the case, he took a nurse up on her mention of the bone marrow registry, signing up online and submitting a blood sample at a specific clinic appointment that was then arranged.

When the request for bone marrow came through to Seamus, he didn't even hesitate in considering the procedure.

"It was never a question for me, I made a resolution when I signed up that would I go through with it, I was always going to do it. At the end of the day, no matter how sore it is for me, even if it's painful it's only for a couple of weeks so, for someone else I could save their life."

However the process can be a big ask.

Dr O Donghaile explains that if someone is selected to donate stem cells it will require five days of injections to stimulate stem cell growth followed by one four-to-six hours appointment connected to a blood-filtering machine that separates the stem cells from your blood, 'like milk and cream' he says.

Bone marrow donation however is a little more invasive, with a general anaesthetic required as doctors remove the fluid containing bone marrow from the pelvic bone. It can cause some lower back pain in the following weeks as well as tiredness as the blood count builds back up.

While Seamus says he had to stay overnight in hospital, he was back at the gym within four weeks. Perhaps the longest after effect of the procedure for Seamus was both the pride that comes with donating to save some one's life, but also the curiosity.

"You can't help but wonder. You could walk by them on the street, you could bump into them anywhere. They could be your nextdoor neighbour or in the middle of Australia."

But despite not having contact or knowing who now shares his DNA, knowing they are doing well is all Seamus cares about.

"Not a day goes by that I don't wish that things are really going well for them. Some days I think it would be really nice to hear from them, but I'd be more than happy to not hear from them and know they're well from the blood service, that would be enough," he says.

"For me it would be more than enough."

In the end, I abandon several drafts of a thank you letter, scrapping the emotional rants, and instead purchase a simple keepsake card.

I realise, aside from the knowledge I'm doing well, all I really can give my donor is perhaps the very least thing they seem to expect from the whole experience.

Inside the card, I simply write "Thank you, for saving my life."

If you are interested in joining the Irish Unrelated Bone Marrow Registry you can apply online at giveblood.ie
Given her comments last week on her fellow Englishwomen's dress sense, actress Kristin Scott Thomas might be wise to revise her reported plans to return there from her adopted France. Following the backlash to her observations, she'd be as well off staying put with the French, among whom she has lived since her teens. By now, she would seem to have more in common with the French, not least in her mastering of passing judgments and assuming a position of superiority.

"French women make getting dressed seem simple," Scott Thomas said, "and they can be attractive without abusing their sexy side. There's no vulgarity, it's all about subtlety."

Perhaps, it's not so much what Scott Thomas said, but the way she said it, with that classic Gallic high-handedness that rubs a person up the wrong way. It's that irksome imperiousness that annoys everyone about the French but also succeeds in intimidating everyone. It causes us to accept their truth that they are universally chic as a people, while the rest of us are clodhoppers. It causes us to accept that they know best about beauty, attractiveness and ageing, while the rest of us are crumbling into decrepitude.

As far as the French are concerned, they're all right and the rest of us are all wrong and that's that. And, thanks to the characteristically French scolding attitude, we accept that truth like chastened children. "I think the French are more natural," Scott Thomas also said, in the interview published last week, which, it should be said, was with a French interviewer. "The English are much more concerned with what is fashionable. They follow all the latest trends, even though they all look the same. Right now, for example, English girls are all wearing buns on their heads! And they love tanning, especially fake tan, which means, by summer, everyone is orange."

Mon dieu, l'orange! Now, not many people are going to take Scott Thomas to task on her abhorrence of fake tan, and bad fake tan in particular. The rest of it, though, is not only pious, but also extremely selective in how it sets up the French as sartorially perfect.

For one thing, when people such as Scott Thomas talk about French women, they're really not talking about all French women. They're talking about Parisians, and well-got Parisians at that. And these types will make you feel mightily inadequate when you go there. Part of that is just the fact that they don't smile - hence the book, French Women Don't Get Facelifts, because they don't move their faces. But it's also that there is a certainty and surety in how they dress, which you gradually understand comes from the fact that it's a uniform.

And, to a huge extent, Parisians are, like the UK women Scott Thomas complains about, all dressed the same. It's just that she likes the French uniform, and abhors the one back home. The trousers are fitted, the jeans are not their staple wear but a statement of being off-duty; flats and kitten heels are de rigueur and you're no one without a knee-length skirt.

They don't go mad on colour, they know the value of good tailoring and they don't, for the most part, feel the need to wear their clothes body-revealing tight. And the idea of a uniform works when it works. But the French have sold us on this idea that they only wear what suits them, but the uniform doesn't suit everyone. Not even in Paris, where, once you get over your Paddy Irishman sense of inadequacy, you realise that not everyone looks amazing.

In Paris, just like anywhere else, there are women with bigger calves that aren't the friend of kitten heels or ballerina pumps. They don't look much good in the sheer tights, and while the miniskirt may not be their friend, neither is the French-beloved knee-length. These are the women who look like they're dressed in someone else's clothes, who, when they are young, look like they are dressing like their mothers.

But these are the women that the French-women-are-uncontestably-chic brigade don't talk about. Think about it. When you read about how chic French women are and how wonderful it is, for example, that they shun the GHDs in favour of a more natural, sexy hairdo, they'll use former French Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld as an example. Who is no more an example of an average Frenchwoman than Victoria Beckham is a good example of an Essex girl.

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Which also points up that when Kristin Scott Thomas talks about bed-head buns, fake tan and too-short skirts as a look, she's not describing the way women dress all over the UK. She's describing a certain type who is, for the most part, not a London girl.

And if you hold up regional UK to metropolitan Paris, of course there will be no comparison. And have you ever been to rural France? They may not be sinful slaves to fashion, but they'd have more in common with 1970s Mullingar than spring/summer 2016 Paris.

Take a walk down a London street and everyone seems to be dressed out of a magazine, and Ireland seems very dull by comparison. Everyone seems to have bought the right trend, right now, and they're wearing it, no matter what. This is a complaint Scott Thomas makes about the English, that they are trend magpies. But fun, Kristin, where is the fun? It was not for nothing that an Irishwoman I know, who lived in France, called them "Les Miserables". If you've ever holidayed in a resort favoured by the French you will understand how wedded they are to the rules. At first, they seem so soignee and well put together, but soon you realise that they are all wearing the same things, wearing them the same way, nodding at each other in mutual approval of their toeing of the line and seeming very discombobulated if anyone rocks the boat. It's wearing - in the wearisome definition of the word.

Fundamentally, though, one has to wonder if Scott Thomas's issue is so much with how her fellow Englishwomen are dressing as how they behave. French women, she said, can be "attractive without abusing their sexy side . . . French women would never get drunk on a Saturday in a miniskirt in November."

And that, perhaps, is the real issue. It's not so much the miniskirt or the inappropriateness of one in November, it's the drunkenness. French women really don't do that. And on that score, they might just have the edge.
Richard Gere talks to waiting media as he attends the UK premiere of his movie, Time Out of Mind

Hollywood actor Richard Gere has been in Glasgow promoting a film in which he plays a homeless man in New York.

The star attended the closing night of the city's 12-day film festival for the first UK screening of Time Out Of Mind.

He stopped to talk to crowds of fans and sign autographs after he arrived on the red carpet at the Glasgow Film Theatre on Sunday afternoon.

Gere, an actor and producer in the movie, plays a man who lives on the streets.

The 66-year-old said: "I'm very proud of this movie. I spent a lot of time putting this together - about 12 years of my life, so I'm happy there's a chance for people to see the film and engage with it in a serious way like this.

"There is a group in New York which I have been a part of for a very long time called Coalition For The Homeless and like NGOs I see all over the world, its very difficult work, it's very important work.

"I am amazed at the unbelievable patience and generosity of spirit and compassion that people in these organisations have and I've seen it all over the world."

He added: "It's a film that's exploring universal issues - it's not just about homelessness in the sense of looking for a home in the physical sense but also about finding our home in a spiritual , emotional sense."

Asked if he would be staying up to watch all the action from the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles, he said: "I chose to be here instead of LA because it was more important to be here."

The Glasgow Film Festival has hosted more than 300 events and screenings since its opening night on February 17 before being brought to a close with Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson's Oscar-nominated Anomalisa.

Speaking about Gere's appearance, festival co-director Allison Gardner said: "Where else would he launch his film but Glasgow?

"He's very passionate about the subject of homelessness. It's a film about how people fall out of systems and how that can easily happen.

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"It's a great film, very poignant, I really enjoyed it."

She added: "It makes it a little bit different from the regular London launch. The festival has a great reputation now for launching films so that's why he's coming."

Fellow co-director Allan Hunter said: "He's the producer of the film too so it's obviously very personal to him.

"He's going to be working with the Big Issue on the whole homeless issue, so Glasgow's a nice place for him to launch that and get people talking about the film and the subject."

Festival organisers said this year has been their most successful to date, with more than 42,000 admissions recorded before final numbers had been counted.

The highest admissions number previously seen was 41,151 in 2014.

The event's directors credited the appeal of films like Hail, Caesar! by the Coen brothers, the UK premiere of which opened the festival, and High-Rise by Ben Wheatley, along with guests such as Gere.
Liam Payne and Cheryl Fernandez Versini are said to have met up in the Maldives

Cheryl Fernandez Versisi and her new squeeze Liam Payne secretly met up on a luxury resort in the Caribbean to celebrate Valentines Day, it has been reported.

Reports that the pair have been secretly dating emerged earlier this week and sources close to the couple have said they enjoyed a week-long trip to the Maldives earlier this month.

Happy Valentine's Day baby ... A photo posted by Liam Payne (@fakeliampayne) on Feb 14, 2016 at 3:32am PST

The Irish Sun reports that Cheryl (32) and Liam (22) flew to the island separately. The X Factor judge is said to have travelled to the island after her Girls Aloud friend Kimberly Walshs wedding in Barbados, while Liam caught a private jet straight from London.

On Valentines Day Liam posted a photograph of a single rose, which was said to be for Cheryl as they both share similar rose tattoos.

The couple were accompanied in the Maldives by Liams bodyguard.

A source told the publication: It was great for Liam and Cheryl to go on their first big holiday away together. The Maldives was the perfect spot as there was little chance of fans spotting them and it gave them a chance to spend time together.

Expand Close Liam Payne and Cheryl Fernandez Versini are said to be dating / Facebook

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It was really hushed up and they went to great lengths not to be spotted when they flew in.

Some of their closest friends didnt even know they had been away, let alone on holiday together.

They had an amazing trip and it really made them believe they had something special together.

Being able to completely unwind away from the worlds eye is not something that a member of the biggest boyband in the world and one of the biggest style icons can do often.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close Cheryl with Jean-Bernard in 2015. British singer Cheryl Fernandez-Versini arrives for the BRIT Awards at the O2 arena in London, Britain, February 24, 2016. REUTERS/Paul Hackett / Facebook

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So they made the most of their stunning surroundings. Its early days but they are extremely loved up, the source said.

The X Factor judge ended her 18-month marriage to French restaurateur Jean Bernard in January.

According to reports, the star did not sign a prenuptial agreement prior to marrying the Frenchman, and he could be in line to receive 8m of her 20m fortune in their divorce proceedings.

Sources revealed that the breakdown of the marriage may have been a result of Jean Bernards controlling behaviour.

One source told a Sunday newspaper: She has had enough of his jealousy. He didnt like it when she had to spend time with other men and even became jealous when she was hanging out with her dogs.

In hindsight, its obvious Cheryl didnt know JB well enough to commit to him for the rest of her life.

Expand Close Liam Payne with his ex girlfriend Sophia / Facebook

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Meanwhile, Cheryls new squeeze Liam has also been through a tough time of late, splitting with his long-term girlfriend Sophia Smith in October.

The break up was said to have deeply affected the singer, causing him to cancel the bands Belfast show late last year.
Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe marked his 92nd birthday at a party costing nearly 700,000 organised by supporters yesterday, drawing criticism from opponents who said the celebrations in a drought-stricken area were an affront to ordinary Zimbabweans.

Africa's oldest leader, Mugabe, turned 92 on February 21 and shows no intention of stepping down, much to the frustration of feuding members of his ruling ZANU-PF party, who have been long trying to position themselves for his succession.

Thousands of party supporters gathered next to the Great Zimbabwe ruins to pay tribute to Mugabe, the country's only leader since independence from Britain in 1980. Mugabe, who was accompanied by his wife, Grace, and their children, released 92 balloons and sat listening to poetry readings, songs and chants by supporters hailing him as an African icon and a visionary.

A giant cake made to look like the ancient ruins after which Zimbabwe is named, was set out in a nearby marquee. Schoolchildren, foreign diplomats, government ministers and security chiefs were also present.

The ZANU-PF's youth leader said up to 50,000 people attended and defended spending 700,000 on the birthday celebrations.

"Money is not the issue here. You cannot put a price on the contribution of President Mugabe to the history and development of this nation. All these things are worth more than money," he said.

Mugabe's lavish birthday parties have become an annual pilgrimage for loyalists and those seeking favours, but this year's celebration in the drought-battered Masvingo province proved particularly controversial.

In Masvingo, 75pc of crops were destroyed by the parched conditions, making it the hardest-hit in the southern African nation. Zimbabwe's worst drought since 1992 has left three million people facing hunger and Zimbabwe has appealed for nearly 1.5bn to help pay for grain and food.

"ZANU-PF should be utterly ashamed of hosting an expensive birthday bash for their ageing ruler, whilst more than 90pc of Zimbabweans are wallowing in grinding poverty caused by decades of misrule and mismanagement," said a spokesman for the main opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Critics blame Mugabe for many of the problems facing the country. They say his policies, including the seizures and redistribution of white-owned commercial farms, drove one of Africa's most promising economies into nearly a decade of deep recession, until 2008, which cut its output almost in half.

Reuters
Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, who has died aged 92, was a veteran Egyptian political commentator, sage, and distinguished journalist whose career spanned more than 70 years; he was best known as an outspoken supporter of Egypt's first president, Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Heikal was a critic of Nasser's presidential successors Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak, as well as for 17 years the head of the influential semi-official Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram.

Heikal, with his trademark cigar, saw himself as an authority on the Middle East. Inevitably he often cut across the borders between objective reporting and politics, especially in the 1950s and 1960s when he espoused the pan-Arabist views of his mentor, President Nasser, who wanted to create a single Arab nation from the Atlantic to the Gulf.

Heikal's fame increased with his highly regarded Friday column in Al-Ahram titled Bi-Saraha (Frankly Speaking, which ran from 1957 to 1974), which he used to convey Nasser's messages, acting as a barometer of Egyptian government policy. In 1970 he became a member of Nasser's ruling Arab Socialist Union party and briefly an acting foreign minister.

Heikal clashed with President Sadat over his domestic and international policies, including rapprochement with Israel, prompting Sadat to relieve him of his duties in 1974. In 1981, Sadat ordered Heikal to be jailed, along with hundreds of others, although he was released a month later when Mubarak came to power. (Later Heikal became a critic of Mubarak.)

During the years that followed he wrote some of his most influential books, including Autumn of Fury about the assassination of Sadat, and he embarked on a broadcasting career with the Qatar-based Arabic news channel Al Jazeera, and other outlets, commenting extensively on the 2011 Arab Spring.

His book Secret Channels: The Inside Story of Arab-Israeli Peace Negotiations, published in 1996, is considered among the few books that examine in depth the secret talks that led to the Oslo Agreement between Israel and the Palestinians in 1993.

Mohamed Hassanein Heikal was born on September 23, 1923, into the family of a wheat merchant in the Nile Delta. His father thought Mohamed, as his oldest son, should help manage the business. Instead Heikal decided to seek to improve his education at the respected American University in Cairo.

In 1943 Heikal joined the British-edited Egyptian Gazette, whose contributors included George Orwell and Lawrence Durrell.

He won praise for his coverage of the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948, the Korean War, and for his reporting on the military coup that brought Nasser to power in 1952. He met Nasser while reporting on the 1948 war and they became firm friends.

Al-Ahram grew in stature during his tenure as editor, becoming Egypt's and the Arab world's authoritative newspaper, prompting the Washington Post to describe Heikal's writings as "the voice of Egypt" and the outside world's "window on the secretive regime".

His last book was Mubarak and His Time which poured scorn on former President Mubarak as "inept and corrupt". Heikal supported the candidacy of US educated Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Egyptian President since 2014, after the fall of Mohammed Morsi, claiming the strong leader would be the best option to save the country from chaos.

Heikal suffered from kidney disease in his final years, before dying on February 17.

He married Hedayt Elwi Taymour, his "life partner" as he called her, in 1955 and she survives him with their three sons.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg has conceded that Facebook didn't do enough until recently to police hate speech on the social media site in Germany, but said it has made progress and has heard the message "loud and clear".

German authorities, concerned about racist abuse being posted on Facebook and other social networks as the country deals with an influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants, have been pressing social media sites for months to crack down.

The Facebook CEO talked personally about the issue in September with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and met her chief of staff during a visit to Germany this week. The Merkel meeting "really highlighted how much more we needed to do in this country," he said at a town hall event in Berlin.

"Hate speech has no place on Facebook and in our community," he said. "Until recently in Germany, I don't think we were doing a good enough job. And I think we will continue needing to do a better and better job."

Zuckerberg pointed to efforts, including funding a team to work with police to combat hate speech on Facebook. He said learning more about German law has led the company to expand its view of "protected groups" there and "to now include hate speech against migrants as an important part of what we just now have no tolerance for".

"There's still work to do," he said. "We want to do that, but I think we hear the message loud and clear and we're committed to doing better."

Zuckerberg, meanwhile, faced other issues at his own company headquarters in Menlo Park, California. He lashed out in an internal memo this week at employees who crossed out "black lives matter" on Facebook's signature walls and replaced the words with "all lives matter".

The incidents apparently continued although Zuckerberg told employees they were unacceptable.

"I was already very disappointed by this disrespectful behaviour before, but after my communication I now consider this malicious as well," Zuckerberg wrote in a letter published by the website Gizmodo and confirmed by a Facebook source who demanded anonymity because the issue was an internal matter.

Reuters
British tourists Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were murdered on the Thai island of Koh Tao in September 2014 (Foreign and Commonwealth Office/PA Wire)

Police in eastern Thailand have arrested several Cambodian sailors suspected of attacking four French tourists on a resort island, raping the two women in the group.

The five Cambodians are accused of assaulting the tourists with knives and sticks on Saturday night on the island of Koh Kut after anchoring their fishing boat, Major General Nopparat Rintapon said.

Three of the tourists were badly injured. One ran away and got help at a nearby hotel, while the two female tourists were raped, Mr Nopparat added.

The incident is the latest attack on foreign tourists in Thailand.

In December, a Thai court sentenced two Burmese migrants to death for the murders of British tourists Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, whose bodies were found on the Thai resort island of Koh Tao in September 2014.
He was known as the voice of horse racing for his commentaries on BBC television. But new papers to go on display for the first time reveal what a varied - and well documented - life Sir Peter O'Sullevan led.

The exhibition reveals his love of dogs and shows he was a highly successful punter at the racetrack. Among the hundreds of items are paintings and sculptures by some of the world's most respected equestrian artists.

But more surprisingly it also documents how he was an anti-Nazi agitator who had planned to stoke an uprising of workers against Hitler with a leaflet addressed as a "message to the German people from British workers".

Peter O'Sullevan, who died last summer at the age of 97, had planned to smuggle hundreds of copies of the leaflet into Germany by hiding them in a secret compartment in his 'sealing wax' red Morris coupe and distributing them clandestinely.

It urged German workers not to take up arms against their UK counterparts in the event of war - and also asks that readers pass the leaflet on to a friend when they have finished with it.

The Labour Party, to whom the then 21-year-old wrote to for advice, warned him the leafleting operation would be one of "very grave risk to you" and that he would solely be responsible for his own safety.

But in the end the audacious plan had to be abandoned, after travel restrictions between Britain and Nazi Germany came into force.

O'Sullevan's friend and fellow racing journalist, Sean Magee, to whom he entrusted the archive before his death, said: "The plan was really the mark of a very idealistic young man.

"Although Sir Peter became very much an establishment figure in later years - associated with the Royal family - this idea of distributing anti-Nazi leaflets shows him to have had an active political conscience during those tumultuous years."

The leaflet, along with many of the items in the archive, including a series of paintings from North Africa, are to be exhibited at a London gallery, before being donated to the Cox Library of racing books for preservation.

Also among the papers catalogued by Mr Magee is a letter from the chef Albert Roux, declaring O'Sullevan's beloved miniature poodle, Topolina, "a welcome visitor of Le Gavroche and all other Roux enterprises where she is renowned for her impeccable conduct".

Sir Peter's love of betting - and his skill and luck at it - are illustrated by the sheaves of old betting vouchers he amassed over the years.

With them is a letter from William Wood Turf accountants closing his account, because they simply could not afford to keep taking his bets.

The letter stated: "After three years during which you have won consistently, we shall have to give you best and ask you to bet elsewhere. You are too good for us!"

His style as a commentator was matchless in its laid-back delivery and understatement, combined with an ability to convey what he liked to call "a bit of drama".

The archive also includes 51 scrapbooks in which he collected everything he had written during his long career as a racing journalist, along with dozens of meticulously prepared commentary cards and race meeting notes - including one for Nijinsky's Derby win in 1970 and Red Rum's landmark second Grand National victory in 1974.

There is also a copy of the script for Sir Peter's appearance on The Morecambe and Wise Show, which confirmed his position (if confirmation were needed) as a once-off, and a musical greeting specially composed by Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber to mark the commentator's retirement.

Mr Magee said Sir Peter, who was brought up by his maternal grandparents, Sir John and Lady Henry, at Gatton Park, near Reigate in Surrey, had been conscious of his own image from a very early age and amassed papers, documents and objects as a means of chronicling his life.

"He was his own archivist. As an example, he learnt to drive at the age of nine, rather incredibly, and went on to keep meticulous details of all his car journeys, noting where he went and how much he spent on petrol."

The exhibition of Sir Peter O'Sullevan's paintings, sculptures and ephemera is being held at the Osborne Studio Gallery, in Knightsbridge, from March 9 until April 1.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Iraqi security forces have repelled an attack by Islamic State militants on the Baghdad suburb of Abu Ghraib, officials said.

Three suicide car bombers struck a security force barracks as gunmen opened fire, according to police in the western region of the capital.

At least 12 members of government and paramilitary security forces were killed and 35 wounded, they added. The clashes also left a silo on fire.

A medical official confirmed the casualty figures.

The commander of military operations in western Baghdad, Major General Saad Harbiya, said the situation is "under control" and a local curfew has been imposed.

Abu Ghraib, about 18 miles from Baghdad city centre, is the location of a prison of the same name where US troops committed notorious abuses against Iraqi detainees after the 2003 invasion.

It is halfway between Baghdad and Fallujah, which is controlled by IS. Security forces also prevented IS from seizing Abu Ghraib when the extremists swept across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014.
GET THE VOTE OUT: A young Iranian voter in Tehran shows her hand with the numbers 30+16 written on it  a reformist slogan urging people to vote  as she fills out her ballot paper in a polling station in Iran this weekend. Photo: Vahid Salemi

As Iran votes, the moderates are leading the hardliners and hoping to usher in an era of prosperity.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani won a resounding vote of support and his moderate allies made a strong showing in high stakes elections that could speed Iran's post-sanctions opening to the world, according to early partial results on Saturday.

Tens of millions thronged polling stations on Friday for a twin vote to the 290-seat parliament and the 88-member Assembly of Experts, which selects the country's highest authority, the supreme leader.

An initial tally of 1.5 million votes counted in Tehran - fewer than one-fifth of the capital's elibigle voters - showed Rouhani and his pragmatic ally, ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, leading the race for the Assembly of Experts, according to Interior Ministry figures.

Reformists and moderates also seemed set to make big gains against Islamic hardliners in parliament. The twin poll was seen by analysts as a potential turning point for Iran, where nearly 60 percent of the 80 million population is under 30.

The elections were the first since a landmark nuclear deal last year that led to the removal of most of the sanctions that have damaged the economy over the past decade.

Supporters of Rouhani, who championed the nuclear deal, were pitted against hardliners close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni, who are deeply wary of detente with Western countries. The conservative Guardian Council had restricted both races by disqualifying most reformist and many moderate candidates.

However, of the top contenders for Tehran's 16 Assembly of Experts seats, the partial count showed 13 were members of a list led by Rouhani and Rafsanjani, though some were consensus candidates also backed by hardliners.

The three most prominent hardliners received lesser scores: Ahmad Jannati was 10th, the assembly's current chairman Mohammad Yazdi came 12th, and arch-conservative Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi was teetering on the edge in 16th place.

Preliminary results of the parliamentary poll carried by the semi-official Fars and Mehr News agencies indicated reformists and independents linked to them were leading so far against hardliners in several cities.

Even if reformists do not emerge with a majority in the legislature, dominated since 2004 by conservatives, analysts say they will secure a bigger presence than before.

A tally, based on early official results suggested the pro-Rouhani camp and allied independents were leading in the parliamentary vote. Some moderate conservatives, including current speaker Ali Larijani, support Rouhani.

Of the first 61 seats declared, 18 went to hardliners, 17 to reformists, 12 to independents and 14 will be decided in run-offs in late April because no candidate won the required 25 percent of votes cast. Five of the initial winners were women.

Conservatives usually perform well in the countryside while young town-dwellers tend to prefer moderate candidates. Reformists seeking more social and economic freedoms and diplomatic engagement had voiced high hopes of expanding their sway in parliament and easing conservative clerics' grip on the experts' assembly.

An adviser to former President Khatami said initial indications were beyond reformist expectations. "It seems the number of candidates who belong to the reformist and independent groups will be the majority in parliament and I am hopeful that the new parliament will be perfect for us," he said.

Rafsanjani, 81, a prominent leader ever since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, called for national unity now the divisive campaign was over.

"The competition is over and the phase of unity and cooperation has arrived," he said. "The time after elections is the time for hard work to build the country."

Newspapers hailed what they saw as a huge turnout, including many young voters. Polling was extended five times for a total of almost six extra hours because so many people wanted to vote.

Three million first-time voters were among the nearly 55 million people aged 18 and over who are eligible to cast ballots.

More than 33 million votes had been cast but that tally was not final. It would probably take three days to count all the votes. Mehr news agency published a list of both official and unofficial parliamentary winners so far, breaking down their affiliation as 82 conservative, 49 reformist and 71 independent.

Iran, which has the world's second-largest gas reserves, a diversified manufacturing base and an educated workforce, is seen by global investors as a huge emerging market opportunity, in everything from cars to airplanes and railways to retail.

For ordinary Iranians, the prospect of this kind of investment holds out the promise of a return to economic growth, better living standards and more jobs in the long run.

An opening to the world of this scale - and Rouhani's popularity - have alarmed hardline allies of Khamenei, who fear losing control of the pace of change, as well as erosion of the lucrative economic interests they built up under sanctions.

Whatever the outcome, Iran's political system places considerable power in the hands of the conservative Islamic establishment including the 12-member Guardian Council, which vets all electoral candidates. It had already tried to shape Friday's vote by excluding thousands of candidates, including many moderates and almost all reformists.

Reuters
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By Nikie Mayo of the Independent Mail

The company behind the single-largest economic development announcement in the history of Anderson County was founded just two decades ago by about half a dozen workers.

First Quality Enterprises, a paper-products company based in Great Neck, N.Y., announced billion-dollar plans Friday to bring a tissue-and-towel manufacturing plant to the former BASF-Shaw site on Masters Boulevard in Anderson.

The family-owned business has grown steadily and diversified since 1990, and now employs more than 3,000 workers.

The Damaghi family still owns the company and its members fill key leadership and managerial roles.

Nasser Damaghi is the company chairman, and as interim county administrator Rusty Burns described it, when the corporation has a meeting, "it's three brothers, a nephew and a father sitting around a table."

First Quality's range of products includes paper towels, toilet paper, diapers and feminine-hygiene items. The company markets some of those products under its own Prevail brand and produces some as private-label products for several big-box chain stores.

Anderson County leaders and members of the state delegation visited one of the company's Pennsylvania plants in December to learn about its operations.

In Anderson, the company has already held interviews in the county's economic-development office to find workers for key managerial positions, Burns said.

Company spokesman Frank Ludovina said the corporation's first phase of production here should begin by the third quarter of next year.

The Anderson site's nearness to rail service was a key attraction for the company; First Quality can choose from CSX Corporation or Norfolk Southern to transport the wallboard that is used to make its paper products.

Ludovina also said a "pro-business environment" in the county and state and a "very favorable package of incentives" brought the company to the Upstate.

"It's not over," Ludovina said. "It's just beginning."
SC Supreme Court hears challenge to 6-week abortion law

The SC law, temporarily blocked until the court considers its fate, is being challenged on the grounds that it violates privacy rights in constitution.
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By Independent Mail Two Cousins Linked To A Sept. 2 Burglary Near Seneca Were Arrested This Week, Investigators Said Friday.

Brandon James Hunter, 22, of Seneca was arrested Thursday in Oconee County. His cousin, 25-year-old Alexander ONeil Hunter, who goes by the name Metro, was arrested this week in Richland County.

Agents from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division arrested Alexander Hunter.

The Hunter cousins are both charged with first-degree burglary and malicious injury to property at a home in Seneca.

Investigators say a person who lives in the home on Timber Ridge Lane heard the door being kicked open, but was unsure who was responsible for it.

Investigators later determined they had evidence to charge the cousins.
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By Ray Chandler, Special to Independent Mail

WALHALLA  Oconee County Council member Reg Dexter said Friday that he doesn't intend to seek a third term.

The former council chairman said he wishes to spend more time enjoying his retirement.

"If my wife and I decide we just want to pack a bag and go somewhere, I'd like us to be able to do that without having to worry that I was missing something," Dexter said.

The two-term Republican, a retired educator, was elected to the District 5 Council seat in 2008, defeating incumbent Frank Ables in the Republican primary.

"It was always my first desire to put the interests of my constituents first," Dexter said. "I hope if there is one thing people remember it's that I did that."

He said he made his decision looking back on some solid achievements by the council during his tenure.

Among them, he said, was advancing a solid program for promoting economic development and industry recruitment, hiring the McNair Law Firm to put the county's legal affairs in order, and hiring the current county administrator, Scott Moulder.

"We went through a hiring process of over a year," Dexter said. "We must have done a pretty good job, since he's the longest serving administrator the county's had."

Dexter has also been an outspoken critic of the state Legislature's cutbacks on local government funding in recent years.

The retiring councilman had advice to offer to anyone thinking of filing to succeed him.

"Stay clear of any special interests, or any special interest entities," he said.
Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh today in Patna said that Central Government has started a number of schemes for the welfare of farmers and agricultural sector. The Government of Bihar should avail this scheme. It may be Prime Minister Crop Insurance Scheme or Pradhanmantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana  All of these schemes will pave the way of growth for the agricultural sector as well as farmers. Mr. Radha Mohan Singh said that Government of Bihar is supposed to impart relief regarding the agricultural debt on the farmers. The farmers of Bihar are bestowed debt with the 7 % interest out of this 3 % interest relief is extended by Government of India. If Government of Bihar desires the farmers thereof may enjoy interest free debt the Government of Bihar is expected to provide debt to the farmers on 4 % debt relief interest like those of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, etc. so as to be set free from the clutches of interest as a whole in agricultural sector.

Singh was addressing a one day conference being conducted on the subject entitled as role of cooperatives in the composite formation and growth of Bihar by Bihar Cooperative Development Coordination Committee. Shri Singh said that Modi Government has requested to the State to have their respective rules and regulations framed regarding agricultural sector. They are supposed to enforce these rules and regulations with the assistance of Ministry of Agriculture and other central institutions concerned. Agriculture is a subject of State therefore without the assistance of the State the development of agriculture sector cannot be paved. Therefore I request the Government of Bihar that they should work altogether while making a blue print for agriculture related scheme so that new innovation may be find out for sorting out the difficulty coming in the way of agricultural growth. Consequent upon the pace of the development may be accelerated. There was coined a term in the country named as Bimaru  implied the Sick one which was attributed to the State of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan as well as Uttar Pradesh. However, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are not the sick ones and Minister is confident that while benefiting them with the various agriculture related scheme Bihar will not be a sick one anymore.

Shri Singh said that the sense of indifference has been manifested by the purchase center of State Food Grain Cooperation on the purchase of paddy upto the scheduled date by all of the packs and trade unions in Bihar State. Moreover, these packs have been paid lesser amount wherever the purchase of paddy had been carried through from the Farmers by packs / unions in various districts. The packs are of the saying that through this purchase they are supposed to make the payment within the span of one-two days. Due to none availability of the funds, the interest abundance has been increased on this society. Therefore, State Government is supposed to take action to impart on them interest free debt so as to they could make payment to the farmers on time bound programme and farmers could get fair price of their yield on right time.

Agriculture and Farmers welfare Minister said that the Central Government has extended financial assistance to the cooperatives of Bihar through NABARD. It is determined to empower all these institutes in future. According to the survey of National Sample Survey Organization 46% farmers households are groaning under the huge pressure of debt which have been sought from various organizations and its percentage in the context of Bihar is 49.99%. There is pretty enough imbalance regarding the availability of agricultural debt to the various regions of Bihar and all eastern states. There is also imparity regarding the agricultural debt to be given to the marginal and big farmers.

Singh said that Bihar is being given Rs. 149 crore for Dairy Cooperatives, rs. 51.05 crore for ICDP, 12.5 crore rupees for Cold Storage Cooperatives and 28.10 crore rupees for the societies related to marketing and as a whole a sum of 240.80 crore rupees has been granted to the state of Bihar during the year 2015-16 through National Cooperative Development Cooperation for the development of agricultural sector and livestock. There are very limited training centres in Bihar who impart this sort of training and I am of the view that they are very much inadequate to meet the needs for the growth of human resources regarding cooperative personnel as well as sophisticated technical increasing needs for cooperative campaign in state of Bihar. So I am desirous that a cooperative management institute might be opened on national level in Eastern Champaran, Bihar. Therefore, State Government is requested to allot a piece of 5 acre land on the eve of a century of Champaran Movement launched by Mahatama Gandhi so that it might be set up. Central Government will extend whole financial assistance for the construction of this institute.

Shri Singh said that there are a number of schemes to inspire bio farming in the state like soil health card and Pradhan Mantri Sinchai Yojana. In this context recently our government has launched Pradhan Mantri Crop Insurance Scheme, KHARIF 2016 for the protection of crops. Under this scheme the farmers will have to pay minimum premium. It has been decided that 2% premium in Kharif and 1.5% premium in Rabi will have to be paid by the farmers and rest of the premium will be afforded by the Central Government. Shri Radha Mohan Singh said that today Indian cooperative Campaign has encompassed the global scenario. It is the largest cooperative campaign in the world. In India the cooperative access stretches to the national level. The cooperative societies have facilitated farmers while providing inputs like debt, fertilizers seeds etc. to the cooperative societies. Now, the dairy related cooperative has made a landmark in the country and abroad with an exclusive feature. Therefore, if you have take the country ahead you are supposed to take villages, poor and farmers ahead. You will have to increase income of the farmers and for this purpose a second time revolution is required in agricultural sector. Cooperative societies strengthen the farmers in economic and financial prospective.
Jet Airways, Indias premier international airline, is set to further expand its operations between India and Oman with the launch of a new daily flight between Delhi and Muscat. The addition of this new flight from the airlines strategic hub in Delhi will further strengthen the airlines growing international network and enhance flight connectivity from Northern India, SAARC and ASEAN and to the Gulf region.

With effect from March 21, 2016, Jet Airways will launch a new daily flight between Delhi and Muscat, providing greater choice for guests travelling from India to Oman.

India and Oman are linked by historical maritime trade linkages and the important role of the Indian expatriate community in the development of Oman. Furthermore, Oman offers an attractive destination for travel and tourism. The connectivity offered by the new service will provide greater opportunity for expansion of business and tourism traffic between the two countries.

With the launch of the new flight, Jet Airways will operate a total of four daily flights between India and Muscat. This includes flights from Mumbai, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.

Gaurang Shetty, Senior Vice-President - Commercial, Jet Airways said, "It is indeed a proud moment for us at Jet Airways to launch our maiden international flight between Delhi and Muscat. This is a significant milestone for enhancing the strong ties between India and the Sultanate of Oman. With the launch of this flight, Jet Airways guests from Northern India, SAARC and ASEAN regions will have the option of travelling to Oman via Delhi.

The airline will deploy a Boeing 737-800 aircraft on these new services, offering Premiere and Economy guests an in-flight product that is among the best in its class, warm service, as well as delectable cuisine and convenient schedules.
Fed up with frequent power shortages in his school, Kishore Bhagwat found the best solution to the problem. An English language teacher in Dharur taluka of Beed district, Pune, Bhagwat literally lit up the lives of the schoolchildren.

By fashioning a solar-powered amplifier entirely from scrap parts, Bhagwat ended the problem of incessant load shedding. Now everyone can offer their prayers in the morning assembly, and learn the important lessons of value education and academic conduct.

basf

His invention was displayed in the presence of the district education officials, and will now be implemented in the neighbouring schools in the zila parishad as well.

Bhagwat used a solar kit which had solar panels of 6 and 12 watts. In an interview, "To address a group of 500 students during the most important part of the school, the morning assembly, power cuts increasingly created trouble for us. So I took up this challenge and decided to provide some solution."

thehindubusinessline

Bhagwat used a scrap amplifier lying unused in the school, a 12-watt battery, and a solar kit provided by the state education department to explain the workings of solar energy. And within half an hour, the amplifier was ready to dispense power.

But the best part was that the device cost only Rs. 500! "The entire cost of the material used was Rs 500," Bhagwat confirmed.

The amplifier is also used for announcing common instructions and playing rhymes for children in primary classes.

After the success of his invention, solar kits have been distributed to other schools and efforts are being made to replicate the device to solve the menace of frequent power cuts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was joined by two sporting greats, Sachin Tendulkar and Vishwanathan Anand on his monthly radio address, Mann Ki Baat on Sunday.

PIB

Modi started the address by saying that he was "as much concerned as you are about examinations of your children".

Today's #MannKiBaat is devoted to our future, India's youth who will take our nation to newer heights in the coming years.  PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 28, 2016

I feel that my 25-30 minutes discussion will be very useful for the students appearing in exams: PM #MannKiBaat  Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) February 28, 2016

He said that for tension free exams "we have to change our perspective towards exams".

Sachin urged the students to "Work hard and set a realistic and achievable target for yourself".

"If I am setting my own targets and achieving them then I am doing something good for the country," he added.

If I am setting my own targets and achieving them then I am doing something good for the country: @sachin_rt in #MannKiBaat  Doordarshan News (@DDNewsLive) February 28, 2016

Modi also urged students to take inspiration from Sachin's message and compete with oneself and not others, adding that students should not limit themselves to one exam and work towards a larger purpose.

Vishwanathan Anand advised students to stay calm and said that exam is like a game of Chess.

Exams not about marks, compete with yourself, script your own future...PM @narendramodi to students. #MannKiBaat pic.twitter.com/NY4S7vOUDj  PMO India (@PMOIndia) February 28, 2016

Children must be encouraged as much as possible and they must be helped to maintain their confidence, he said.

On the occasion of National Science Day Modi said let Indians resolve to make science and technology as an essential part of their lives.

He also announced the plans to establishment of a Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory in India.
Every year, February 28 marks the National Science Day that celebrates physicist C V Raman's discovery of the Raman effect.

The day is commemorated to uphold the significance of scientific applications in our daily lives. Science and colleges throughout the country organize events and exhibitions that showcase their respective researches and discoveries in the field.

To gauge a better understanding, let's take a look at how the day came into being.

1. Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930 for his ground-breaking achievement of the Raman effect in 1928.

kenfolios

2. The Raman effect was discovered during Raman's tenure at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata from 1907 to 1933.

tehelka

3. The Raman effect is defined as "a change of wavelength exhibited by some of the radiation scattered in a medium."

4. In other words, Raman discovered that when light passes through a transparent medium, some of the deflected light changes its wavelength.

photonics.cusat.edu

5. This phenomenon came to be known as Raman scattering, from which results the Raman effect.

6. In 1986, The National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) had urged the Indian government to declare February 28 as National Science Day.

ncra.tifr.res.in

7. Every year the day is assigned a theme. For 2016, the theme is "Scientific Issues for Development of the Nation".

8. In 1954, Sir C V Raman was awarded the highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna.
Follow us on freedom 251 makers refund pre booking money what next

New Delhi: Makers of controversial smartphone Freedom 251 has reportedly claimed to have paid back the money it generated from the first 30,000 pre-booking orders on the first day of the sale this month.

Mohit Goel, managing director of Noida-based company Ringing Bells, said that the money of all 30,000 customers has been refunded and the company will now accept cash on delivery only.

"The company has decided that we will, henceforth, offer 'cash on delivery' mode of payments for those who have placed an order for the 'Freedom 251' smartphone. This will ensure further transparency and clear any misgivings," Ringing Bells president Ashok Chadha said in a statement.

Ringing Bells had received 30,000 orders on the first day and the rest of the customers will be selected on first-come-first-serve basis as the company received a mammoth over seven crore registrations.

Earlier on Friday, Chadha had announced that the Rs.251 (less than $4) "Freedom 251" smartphone customers will be required to make payment only when the smartphone is delivered to them.

The company plans to give 25 lakh handsets in the first phase before June 30.

Ringing Bells has been facing an FIR and defamation suit amid serious questions being raised over the world's cheapest smartphone.

The Noida-based startup claims to have tied up with the payment gateway provider PayUbiz so that it receives payment only on the submission of proof of delivery (POD) to the payment gateway.

"Our humble beginning to provide a high-tech gadget that will benefit all in the hinterlands and bridge the huge gap that clearly exists between the metros and semi-urban/rural areas is in keeping with the government's initiatives," Chadha said.

However, Noida-based data centre and BPO Cyfuture, said on Friday they were set to file an FIR against Ringing Bells and deliberating on filing a defamation suit too.

According to Anuj Bairathi, Cyfuture founder and CEO, they met Vishwajeet Srivastava, Gautam Budh Nagar Superintendent of Police (crime branch), who looked into the matter and assured them of a suitable course of action.

"After deciding to file an FIR for fraud and non-payment of dues, we are now thinking to file a defamation suit against Ringing Bells as their allegation of non-performance has tarnished our image," Bairathi told IANS.

Taking the world by surprise, Ringing Bells launched "Freedom 251" smartphone that, it said, has been developed "with immense support" from the government.

As the makers of the smartphone went gaga over being part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "Make in India" and "Digital India" initiatives in the last few days, a top government official clarified on Thursday that the government has nothing to do with the "Freedom 251" smartphone.

"This is not a government project. 'Make in India' team has nothing to do with this," wrote Amitabh Kant, secretary of the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP), in a Twitter post.

With IANS Inputs

Latest Business News
Follow us on aishwarya rai gets permission to shoot at wagah border for sarbjit

New Delhi: The team of Bollywood film "Sarbjit", including actors Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Randeep Hooda, has received permission to shoot close to the international border with Pakistan near Attari.

Aishwarya is said to have requested government officials to grant permission for the Omung Kumar directorial, which is a biopic on Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer who was convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan and was sentenced to death.

In the film, Randeep plays Sarabjit, and Aishwarya plays his sister Dalbir Kaur.

"The makers were stuck when it came to final stage. And then the makers requested Aishwarya to intervene. She then agreed and requested (Home Minister) Rajnath Singh, and other important officials to grant the permission. And the authorities gave a thumbs up for the shoot," said a source aware of the developments.

The crew will shoot for the sequence on Sunday and will eventually head to Delhi for a two-day shoot and then to Mumbai. The film is slated to hit the screens on May 19.

Latest Bollywood News
Follow us on jat stir delhi woman alleges rape in murthal case filed

Sonipat (Haryana): Days after allegations of rape and molestation by Jat quota agitators near Haryana's Murthal, a Delhi-based woman today came forward and registered a case of gangrape against seven people, including her brother-in-law.

According to police, the victim had alleged she was raped on the intervening night of February 22-23 and the perpetrators included her brother-in-law.

An FIR has been lodged against seven persons in connection with a gangrape on the basis of a complaint filed by a Narela-based woman today, Haryana Police, DIG, Rajshree Singh told reporters.

The complainant also said she knew all of them.

officers constituted by the Haryana government to go into alleged incidents of rape and molestation of several women by Jat protesters, however, said a family dispute could be the reason behind the woman filing the complaint.

The officer said the victim was not sure about the exact scene of the crime but claimed she was raped in a building near Murthal when she was on way to Narela in Delhi from Haridwar on a van.

The woman, however, said her 15-year-old daughter, who was accompanying her was not raped but her clothes were torn. The DIG said the woman had called her up yesterday and her statement was recorded today.

Singh said said most of the complaints she was receiving was from men who claimed their vehicles had been damaged by the agitators.

Earlier, some locals, including truck drivers, had claimed they had seen women being dragged to the fields by the protesters.

TV channels showed footage of garments worn by women strewn in some places.

Some village heads had, however, trashed their claims and described it as an attempt to defame the people of the area.

Earlier in the day, three truck drivers had denied having witnessed any incident of sexual assault or rape even as Chief Minister M L Khattar said the guilty shall not go unpunished.

The government also announced an interim assistance of Rs 1.12 crore to those whose properties had been damaged during the stir.

Having suffered massive financial loss during the agitation for inclusion of Jats in the Other Backward Classes list, the business community in worst-hit Rohtak demanded tax relief and electricity bill waiver.

Three truck drivers have denied that they had seen molestation or rape of women (at Murthal), Rajshree Singh said.

Truck drivers Sukhwinder, Abdul Wahid and Yadwinder have, however, said their trucks were burnt by protesters.

A team of three women police officersRajshree Singh and DSPs Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur was formed by Haryana government to probe alleged incidents of sexual assault on some women near Murthal on the night intervening February 22 and 23.

The state government is taking serious action on the news report about alleged inappropriate behavior with some women during the protest at Murthal in Sonipat district.

A Special Investigation Team comprising three senior women police officers has been constituted. One can give any related information or evidence to the team over the telephone or through letter or online. If any such untoward incident happened, the guilty would be punished, Khattar said.

(With PTI Inputs)

Latest India News
Follow us on iran executes all adult men in one village for drug offences

Tehran: Iran has executed entire adult male population of a village in southern Iran for drug offenses, according to country's vice-president for women and family affairs, Shahindokht Molaverdi.

Molaverdi made the shocking revealation during an interview with Iranian Media as reported by the UK Guardian.

We have a village in Sistan and Baluchestan province where every single man has been executed, she said. Their children are potential drug traffickers as they would want to seek revenge and provide money for their families. There is no support for these people. she said.

Molaverdi also said that society is responsible for the families of those executed.

She did not provide the exact name or location of the village and whether execution was done at same time or a longer perios, but UK s Guardian notes the region she described is notorious for its high rates of poverty, infant and child mortality, and illiteracy, and has been subjected to a high number of executions by the Iranian government.

The comments are a rare admission from a senior government official about the country's high rate of executions of drug traffickers.

Meanwhile UN anti-drug agency has urged to stop funding Iran's war on narcotics until Tehran ends use of death penalty for drug offences

The province described by Molaverdi sits on the borders with Afghanistan and Pakistan, and is noted for violent clashes between smugglers and police, according to the Times of Israel.

Accordiing to reports, nearly three-quarters of the executions in Iran are for convicted drug traffickers, mainly handling opium being transported from Afghanistan to Europe.

The Times of Israel notes that the vice-president appeared to defend the necessity of the mass execution  If we do not act against these people, crime will return, she declared  but was primarily worried about the fate of the women and children left behind.

Iran is a neighbour to Afghanistan, a leading producer and supplier of the world's drugs, and faces big challenges at home to keep a tab on a young population from becoming victim to a cheap and addictive drugs.

Iranian annually executes hundreds of people, more people than any other Middle East country. Globally it is second only to China in terms of executions, with drug offenders making up the bulk of those executed.

According to Amnesty International, Iran remains a prolific executioner, second only to China. In 2014, at least 753 people were hanged in Iran, of whom more than half were drug offenders. In 2015, Amnesty said it had recorded a staggering execution rate in the Islamic republic, with nearly 700 people put to death in the first half of the year alone.

In a report published in January, the group said Iran had carried out 73 executions of juvenile offenders between 2005 and 2015.

Latest World News
Follow us on pakistan court sends 3 pathankot attack suspects to custody

Islamabad: Days after Pakistan formally formed a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to facilitate the investigation of Pathankot terror attack, an anti-terrorism court here remanded in custody three men suspected of involvement in the strike.

According to reports, judge Bushra Zaman granted six-day physical custody of the suspects to the counter-terrorism department (CTD) of Punjab province in Pakistan.

The suspects were arrested from a rented house over suspicion of facilitating the January 2 attack in Pathankot airbase, merely 55 km from Pakistan border. Suspects Khalid Mahmood, Irshadul Haque and Muhammad Shoaib denied charges and were shifted to an undisclosed location for investigation.

The attack had left seven Indian security personnel killed. All six terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, were also killed in the attack on the airbase.

The five-member JIT, which includes representatives from the Inter-Services Intelligence, Military Intelligence, Intelligence Bureau and police, have replaced a special investigation team (SIT) that conducted the initial probe into the assault.

The JIT is also expected to visit India soon to gather evidence if the Indian government gives it permission.

Pakistan had on February 18 lodged an FIR in connection with the terror attack without naming JeM chief Azhar who India has accused of having masterminded the strike.

The January 2 attack had forced the postponement of a scheduled meeting between Foreign Secretaries of Pakistan in Islamabad.

With IANS Inputs

Latest World News
Follow us on pakistan us to hold strategic dialogue on monday amid f 16 row

Islamabad: Pakistan and the US will hold a ministerial-level strategic dialogue on key areas, including economy, security and counterterrorism, amid strong opposition by India as well as the US lawmakers on the proposed F-16 deal to Islamabad.

Advisor on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz will lead the Pakistani delegation while secretary of state John Kerry will lead the US side for the 6th round of the strategic dialogue to be held in Washington, Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday.

The six segments of the strategic dialogue include cooperation in economy and finance; energy; education, science and technology; law enforcement and counterterrorism; security, strategic stability and non-proliferation and defence.

It will be the third annual meeting since the present government has come to power.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to the United States in October last year had given the necessary impetus to the dialogue mechanism, the report said.

The dialogue process began in 2010, but interrupted in 2011 when the US forces killed al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in a midnight raid.

The process resumed in 2014 when Aziz and Kerry met in Washington in January.

The key meeting will take place soon after the US announced to sell eight F-16 fighter jets worth $700 million to Pakistan, despite objection from India and mounting opposition from influential American lawmakers.

Kerry has strongly defended the Obama administration's decision, arguing that these fighter jets are a critical part of Pakistan's fight against terrorists.

Planning minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is in Washington as part of the Pakistani delegation, has said the dialogue will provide an opportunity to operationalize key future making initiates between the two countries.

He was speaking at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

The foreign office had earlier said that the upcoming meeting will afford an important opportunity to take stock of the entire gamut of Pakistan's bilateral relations with the US.

Latest World News
Follow us on gujarat is bjp s fort party to win 2017 polls amit shah

Ahmedabad: BJP national president Amit Shah on Saturday described Gujarat as a "fort of the BJP", asserting the party would form the government in the state after the 2017 assembly elections.

Shah, who arrived here for the first time after once again becoming the party's president, said the Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in the 2017 elections would "shatter the hopes of the opponents who are day-dreaming".

During his felicitation ceremony at Ahmedabad airport, Shah said: "Gujarat was, is and will remain a fort of BJP."

Without naming the opposition Congress, Shah said BJP's zealous workers have fanned out in every nook and cranny of the state and would prove wrong all those "who have been day-dreaming about change of power in Gujarat".

He said the party workers' target in the state was victory and they were ready to clear "any difficulties and thorns in the way".

Shah, however, did not elaborate on the difficulties that the party could face in the run up to the 2017 assembly elections.

"In 2017, the chants of 'long live BJP' and 'Bharat mata ki jai' would reverberate. We will win even more convincingly under the guidance of Narendrabhai (Modi) to serve the 6 crore Gujaratis again," he said, avoiding any reference to Chief Minister Anandiben Patel, who was present.

"The win won't be a full stop, but just a comma before an even better future of the state. We will celebrate even the golden jubilee of our win," he said.

Stating that the party was now ruling in 13 states and at the Centre where it was the first party to get absolute majority in 20 years, Shah said: "The party with the humble beginning as Jan Sangh in 1950 had never imagined it."

"This is not a political journey but a journey of ideology. Under the successful leadership of Narendrabhai our government is marching ahead for all-inclusive growth taking into account the poor, farmers, labourers, Dalits, tribals and other backward classes," Shah added.

He said of the last six assembly elections, the BJP had won four and formed a government in those states. "We lost only in Delhi and Bihar. But in Delhi, our percentage of votes did not diminish while in Bihar it even jumped up by a good margin," he said.

Shah, also a local BJP legislator from Naranpura constituency, was accorded a warm welcome on his arrival here.

Chief Minister Anandiben, her ministerial colleagues, state in-charge of the party Dinesh Sharma, national vice president Purushottam Rupala and other top state party leaders were present to receive him at the airport.

Newly appointed Gujarat BJP president Vijay Rupani was also felicitated in the presence of Shah.
Follow us on no case of zika virus reported in india government

New Delhi: Till date, no case of Zika virus disease has been reported in India even as dengue-hit states of Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have been alerted as the same type of mosquito spreads both the viruses, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Health Minister J P Nadda said during Question Hour that "till date, this disease (zika) is not reported from India."

He said the government and various agencies are constantly monitoring the situation to ensure that there is no outbreak of the disease.

Nadda said states where "dengue transmission is on" -- Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry -- have been alerted as the mosquito which transmits dengue also transmits zika virus.

Among the various steps undertaken to check zika, the National AIDS Control Organisation has issued advisory to blood banks and potential blood donors to prevent transmission of the virus infection through blood transfusion.

In the Rajya Sabha also during Zero Hour, Vivek Gupta (Trinamool Congress) said the government was silent on zika and the Health Ministry had no information on the infection.

Claiming that it is spreading fast in Asia, he pointed out that the last survey of zika was held in India in 1952.

He wondered whether the government will wait for the outbreak to take place before outbreak before initiatin steps.
Follow us on won t back aap if it inducts corrupt in punjab party mp dharamvira gandhi

New Delhi: Dharamvira Gandhi, one of four AAP MPs from Punjab, said that he won't support the party if it inducts "corrupt and tainted leaders" from other parties for the Punjab assembly polls.

His statement comes at a time when Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal began a five-day tour of Punjab on Thursday to oversee the election preparations.

"I can see Punjab is ready for change. I, along with my people, will not allow the tyrannical rule of the Akali Dal-BJP combine and the perennially corrupt Congress to make a comeback," Gandhi, 64, said.

"At the same time, I will see to it that my party puts up good and clean candidates and that volunteers are respected. We will not allow corrupt turncoats to dominate the scene," the Patiala-based Gandhi added.

"If people with dubious economic and political background are given plum posts in AAP ignoring volunteers, we will oppose them," he added.

A cardiologist by profession, Gandhi was one of the four AAP candidates elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014. All four winners -- from among the about 400 the AAP fielded nationwide -- came from Punjab.

But Gandhi fell into Kejriwal's bad books as he moved closer to AAP leaders Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan who were later expelled from the party.

Initially designated leader of the AAP group in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi was suspended from the party's primary membership in August when he attended a meeting of disgruntled party activists.

Gandhi said that the onus of taking him along in Punjab lay with the AAP leaders who he says suspended him on frivolous grounds.

"It is they who suspended me from the party on the plea that I attended a volunteers' meet organised in Amritsar against certain policies of the party. To go there and listen to volunteers is my fundamental right. They are not from other parties but our people. It is my right as a member of a party and as a concerned citizen to listen to those who worked day and night for us," he said.

"It was not a secretive gathering. There were 3,000 volunteers who had a lot of questions about the functioning of the party and its leadership. I went to listen to their grievances and find a solution. Just because I went there, they (AAP) suspended me in a knee-jerk reaction. For six long months, they have neither expelled me from the party nor have they taken me in. This shows they are on weak ground," said a visibly upset Gandhi.

The AAP plans to contest elections to the 117-member Punjab assembly in what will be its first major electoral battle after it was swept to power in Delhi in February last year.

Kejriwal has claimed the AAP is poised to sweep Punjab amid speculation that some leaders of the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party may shift to the AAP.

Gandhi said: "Let them practise Swaraj, the core of the ideology on which AAP was built, I will be with them. Let them have transparency and accountability in the party, let them choose candidates through a democratic process, I will support them. But if they don't do it, I cannot support turncoats."

Gandhi also hit out at Kejriwal loyalist Sanjay Singh, who is overseeing the AAP in Punjab.

"Sanjay Singh and Durgesh Pathak have no business here. Punjab belongs to Punjabis as Delhi belongs to people there. Every party has observers. They (observers) come for two days and go back. But here these guys have put up permanent camps in Punjab.

"If representatives of a region don't have autonomy in party affairs, how will they function in a diverse country like India then?" Gandhi asked.

The MP also said he won't meet Kejriwal during his Punjab trip.

"Why should I go and see him when no one has approached me or even bothered to inform me?"
Most Nigerians love rice and would eat it at least ones everyday. Whether as Jollof, fried, white or with beans, Nigerians would not miss an opportunity to show their love for rice. However a lot of people who eat rice, know very little about it. Like When and where did farmers first start growing rice, types of rice and so on. Therefore, for the love of rice, INFORMATION NIGERIA brings you 10 rice facts you should know

1. According to International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) half of worlds population, three and half billion people depend on rice. China is the leading rice producer in the world.

2. There are more than 40,000 different varieties of rice. Of the 40,000 varieties, more than 100 are grown worldwide, but only around 10 percent are marketed and sold.

3. The difference between brown and white rice lies in the way they are milled. When the first outer layer, husk of rice is removed, you get brown rice. When you further mill it and remove bran and germ layer, then polish or bleach it, you get white rice.

4. Nutritionally brown rice is richer of the two. White rice does contain most of the essential vitamins and minerals, including B-group vitamins (thiamin, niacin) zinc and phosphorus found in brown rice, though in lesser quantity. However, they differ significantly in terms of their fiber content. A cup of brown rice content 3.5 grams, while an equal amount of white rice doesnt even content 1 gram. Fiber is not only filling, but is recommended in the prevention of major diseases such as certain gastrointestinal diseases and heart diseases.

A cup of brown rice (232) has slightly more calories than white rice (223). And surprisingly white rice has less fat than brown rice, (0.2 grams per cup vs. 1.2 grams per cup).

5. Uncooked white rice has long shelf life, about eight to 10 years. However, uncooked brown has shelf life of only three to six months, primarily due to bran and germ being intact. Its also a good idea to store the rice in a cool dry place, or better yet in your refrigerator or even freezer.

6. Rice is a symbol of life and fertility, which is why rice was traditionally thrown at weddings.

7. It takes between 3 and 6 months for a rice plant to reach maturity, depending on the variety and where it is grown.

8. Three of the worlds four most populous nations use rice as their staple food  China, India and Indonesia. Together, these countries have 2,500 million people.

9. Rice and its by-products are used for making straw and rope, paper, wine, crackers, beer, cosmetics, packing material, and even toothpaste.

10. Practically everywhere, except Antarctica! Rice is grown on flooded land and on dry land, in tropical rain forests of Africa and in arid deserts of the Middle East, on coastal plains and on the Himalayan mountains.

Which of the above listed did you know before???
Some members of the House of Representatives have faulted their colleagues who took a swipe at the senator representing Zamfara Central on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for allegedly desecrating the sanctity of the National Assembly.

Senator Marafa had asked his colleagues to remove Senate President Bukola Saraki over the resumption of his trial at the Code of Conduct Tribunal, or risk being recalled by Nigerians.

He also alleged that fifth columnists in the Senate were responsible for the 2016 budget debacle, which he pointed out coincided with Supreme Court ruling giving the CCT go ahead with Mr. Sarakis trial.

The senator was referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions, which laid its report since last week, without Marafa given the opportunity to defend himself after he notified the committee of his inability to honour its first and only invitation.

Reacting to the development, Marafa accused his colleagues in the committee of lying against him and being afraid of him because of their atrocities.

What was an issue concerning the senators quickly spilled over to the House on Wednesday when eleven members, believed to be loyal to Yakubu Dogara, whose emergence as Speaker followed a course determined by Mr. Saraki, condemned Mr. Marafa, whose statements, they said, cast slur on the sanctity of the legislature.

They also urged the Zamfara senator to allow popular will of his colleagues in the red chamber, who elected the leadership of the Senate, override his personal interest.

It is indeed regrettable that eight months after the contest for leadership in the Senate ended, Marafa and his group have remained in electioneering mode, they said.

Mr. Marafa is the spokesperson of Unity Forum, the group that opposed the leadership of Mr. Saraki, preferring Ahmed Lawan instead.

However, on Sunday, 15 members of the House countered their colleagues, asking them to refrain from meddling in the Senates internal affairs.

In a statement, they said, it must be made clear to the legislators who are mostly new members that the two Houses of the National Assembly are Independent and Separate and by getting involved in the internal crisis of the Senate shows them to be busybodies and interlopers who know nothing about the running of a bicameral legislature.

We advise our colleagues to mind their own business and face the peoples work for which they were elected to do.

The statement signed by signed John Dyegh, Lawal Gumau, Ahmad Kaita, Agunsoye Rotimi, Ali Madaki, Aminu Malle, Nazir Daura, Muhammed Soba, Ismail Gadaka, Abdulrahman Shuaibu, Sunday Adepoju, Adekunle Akinlade, Ajibola Famurewa, Abdulmahmud Gaiya and Musa Adar, expressed solidarity with Mr. Marafa and concurred that the budget controversy was an agenda for political negotiation.

Since we are all entitled to our opinion, we agree with Senator Marafa that the budget distortions became a political tool in the hands of some legislators and their agenda was to use it for political negotiation.

They also queried why their colleagues could not reply former President Olusegun Obasanjo after his letter to the National Assembly.

We wonder where these legislators were when former President made his own public opinion and tirade recently.

It is even more shocking that they were so quick to do the bidding of whoever their paymaster is that they moved even faster than the senate ethics committee set up to investigate the matter, they said.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday in Doha, the Qatari capital, stressed the need for member states of Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC members to join hands and find a common ground to stabilize crude oil prices.

Speaking at a bilateral meeting with Sheikh Tamim Bin Hammad Al-Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar, President Buhari described the current market situation in the industry, which has seen oil prices plummet by 70 per cent since mid-2014, as totally unacceptable.

Buhari, in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, said: As members of OPEC and Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), our relations in the areas of oil and gas, which our two nations heavily rely on, need to be enhanced and coordinated for the benefit of our people.

The current market situation in the oil industry is unsustainable and totally unacceptable.

We must cooperate both within and outside our respective organisations to find a common ground to stabilize the market, which will be beneficial to our nations, the President said on the second day of his state visit to Qatar.

The statement said President Buhari used the occasion of his address to the Emir to commend the existing cordial bilateral relations between both countries and invited prospective Qatari investors to take advantage of the abundant opportunities in Nigeria and invest in the key areas of energy, agriculture, real estate development, banking and finance.

He also assured prospective investors of government protection of their persons and investment, noting that in the course of his visit, the delegations from Nigeria and Qatar would formalize at least two bilateral agreements to boost economic cooperation between both countries.

Mr. Buhari also spoke on the situation in the Middle East, commending the role Qatar is playing in resolving the present Syrian crisis, the Palestinian cause and efforts in reconstructing Gaza.

He said: The conflicts in Yemen and Syria with their attendant humanitarian crisis need genuine international effort to solve. Nigeria as a peace loving country identifies with the State of Qatar in all her peace efforts in the world to end terrorist activities.

Nigeria is a victim of terrorism. It is with heavy heart that I stand before you and say activities of Boko Haram have led to loss of many lives and displacement of innocent people in our dear nation.

We, however, take pride to inform you that since our coming to power, Boko Haram has been systematically decimated and are in no position to cause serious threat to our development programs.

I wish to reiterate that Nigeria rejects violence and extremism in all their ramifications, and assure your Highness that we are with the State of Qatar in your efforts to fight terrorism and injustice in your region and in the world at large.

President Buhari also called for a lasting solution to the Israeli  Palestinian conflict, saying we in Nigeria, like the State of Qatar, favour a Two State solution, with the State of Palestine living side by side with the State of Israel.

I want to assure you that we will stand side by side with you, until our brothers and sisters in Palestine achieve their desired objectives.

Our support for various Security Council resolutions restoring and respecting 1967 boundaries with Jerusalem as capital of Palestine is firm and unshaken, he said.
The immediate past Minister of National Planning and self-appointed spokesperson for the Goodluck Jonathan administration, Dr. Abubakar Sulaiman, has faulted the comment credited to Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State that President Muhammadu Buhari was planning to Islamize the country, describing it as an unguarded statement.

Fayose had while speaking at a thanksgiving ceremony organized by the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to celebrate Governor Nyesom Wikes victory at the Supreme Court, alleged that the presidents visit to Saudi Arabia alongside five other governors, was a ploy by Buhari to transform Nigeria into an Islamic nation.

President Buhari was in Saudi Arabia to discuss the global oil price crash with the worlds number one oil producer and seized the opportunity to perform the lesser hajj.

Reacting to the comment, the former minister said it did not represent the opinion of the PDP or most of its members.

In a statement, Sulaiman said the visit to Saudi Arabia by the president was not enough to say that the president plans to Islamize Nigeria.

The statement read: The above statement credited to Governor Ayo Fayose, that the trip by President Muhammad Buhari and five governors to Saudi Arabia is an attempt to transform Nigeria into an Islamic nation should be seen as a misguided utterance and not a true reflection of the perception of most members of our party.

Not only is it capable of heightening the centrifugal tendencies in our country, such statement could be counter-productive to the reform agenda been driven by some patriotic elements in our party. The visit by the president and some government functionaries is not enough to suggest an attempt to Islamise the nation. Any divisive statement from any leader of our party is condemnable and not in the best interest of Nigeria, he added.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) in Kwara State, Prof. Abdulganiyu Ambali, has dismissed reports that he was being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, alongside the universitys management.

There were reports that the VC was under the EFCCs spotlight and was recently walked out by members of the House of Representatives Committee on Education during his defence of the universitys 2016 budget before the committee.

Debunking the rumors in a chat with journalists in Ilorin on Saturday, Prof. Ambali denied he was walked out during his presentation at the budget defence of the institution before the committee.

He added that he presented the budget of the institution before the committee and it was well received.
President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday voiced his personal opinion on the N5,000 monthly stipend for unemployed youth in the country, saying he would have preferred a situation where the money is used to fund infrastructural projects and empower the youth.

President Buhari made this known yesterday in Doha, Qatar, where he is billed to attend the meeting of Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), before returning to Nigeria on Monday.

The All Progressives Congress, APC, had in its campaign manifesto, promised to pay unemployed youth and vulnerable Nigerians a monthly stipend of N5,000.

But Buhari yesterday said he had a slightly different priority than giving out N5,000 to unemployed youth.

I would rather do the infrastructure, the school and correct them and empower agriculture, mining so that every able-bodied person can go and get work instead of giving N5,000 to those who dont work, the president said.
The Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Diocese, Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah, has dashed the hopes of those proposing the implementation of the 2014 National Conference report as the panacea to Nigerias multi-faceted problems, saying it wont work the way they expect.

The cleric, who spoke in Umuahia, the Abia State capital while fielding questions during a valedictory lecture he delivered in honour of the out-going Vice-Chancellor of the Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Prof. Hillary Edeoga, also advised Nigerians to look beyond state creation for a solution to their problems.

According to Kukah, the confab report was not different from the recommendations of similar exercises in the past, arguing that solution to Nigerias challenges lies with the right leadership.

He lamented the lack of policy direction and vision by the managers of Nigerias economy, saying that if the right policy is put in place, Nigeria would fare better.

There is nothing in the confab report that will work in the way and manner Nigerians expect. Some of them require legislation and there are some things the governors and local government chairmen will do by themselves, he said.

Kukah, who was secretary of the National Truth and Reconciliation Committee aka Oputa Panel, explained that the Confab report is not different from what we did with (Justice) Nikky Tobi during the Political Reform Conference. I know the kind of report we generated. I have read the confab report and I knew how most of them were going to end.

The Catholic Bishop frowned at the way Nigerians look to the release and implementation of the 2014 confab report as if their survival depended on it, saying he still believes that one of the reasons why this country remains the way it is, is this type of combustion with so much tension, anxiety and suspicion.

It is likely because we decided to embark on this endless journey of thinking that the solution to our problem lies with creation of states, creation of local governments, etc.

History shows very clearly that anytime we create new states, yesterdays minority becomes the majority and you produce weapons that they will use to terrorize others. Creation of more local governments will never solve our problems because some of them have never been able to pay salaries for several months.

In 1984 when Buhari became Head of State, one of the things in his speech was that salaries were not paid, and 30 years later, in his speech he is still saying salaries are not paid, Kukah lamented.

The cleric, therefore, called on all citizens to sign on to have our challenges solved.
Former Lagos State Governor and national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, yesterday challenged Nigerians to turn the countrys present socio-economic problems into opportunities for a desirable re-engineering of the economy.

Nigeria, according to him, has long stood in the corridor between greatness and failure, between progress and calamity and must now summon the courage to take the bold steps and move in the direction.

In a prepared speech he delivered at the 15-20th Convocation ceremony of the University of Abuja where he was conferred with a honorary doctorate degree in Business Administration (DBA, Honoris Causa), the APC chieftain said We must reform and do so quickly and with alertness to the severity of the circumstances mounting around us.

Tracing the countrys woes to past leadership, he said: The ways in which we have grown accustomed to running this nation no longer suffice.

If we are to continue as we have done over the years our malpractice will deliver us into the vice grip of national failure.

That which we used to do then laugh at ourselves for our errant ways is no longer a joking matter. It is now fatal.

Tinubu also unveiled APCs plan to lift 20 per cent of Nigerians out of poverty within four years.

For this to happen, he said, the state must be a fulcrum for job creation and economic development that touches all Nigerians not just a narrow growth that benefits few people.

Although confronted by multiple challenges, I believe this government has the chance and the mission to better our society and forge a new model for our national governance, he said.

We have demonstrated the courage and determination to change a non-performing government through a democratic election. This electoral success has brought new challenges. These challenges are numerous and we must confront them with an even greater courage than that which saw us through the election.

We shall do this by implementing a national industrial policy linked to a national infrastructural plan and a national employment strategy.

Before our children can dream of a university education they must first enjoy the foundational education of primary school.

Our position is that we make a special effort to draw all children to school, particularly the poor. We cannot afford to allow poverty to keep children out of the classroom. If so we are suborning a life of ignorance and poverty for millions of our young ones.

This progressive government is committed to providing all school-age children one free meal daily. This seems a simple thing. But it is also wise and prudent. A hungry student does not learn. If the child is too hungry too often, he stops attending school altogether.

By this programme, students will more eagerly attend because their stomachs as well as their minds shall be fed. Parents will encourage children to attend because this will take the children off the streets while also alleviating pressure on the family to feed the children.

This current leadership will anchor its efforts to re-build Nigeria on massive industrialization and the re-structuring of the economy to allow for growth. Then, will hope be rekindled for millions of our people and a country of great potentials and possibilities will emerge.

Second Republic Vice President, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, was one of those conferred with honorary degrees.

His Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) was received on his behalf by his daughter.

Others who bagged awards at the ceremony were: former Chief Justices of Nigeria, Justice Idris Kutigi, Doctor of Laws (LLD) and Justice Maryam Aloma Muktar, Doctor of Letters (Dlitt)  both (Honoris Causa) and Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, who was conferred with a Honorary Doctorate degree in Law.

In his goodwill message on the occasion, visitor to the University, President Muhammadu Buhari, said that government alone could not meet the needs of higher education.

Represented by Director, Tertiary Education, Ministry of Education, Hajia Abdullahi Hindatu, the president encouraged private sector to invest more in research and development in the universities.

He said: It is pertinent to emphasize on the quality of teaching and research in our universities.

Research should not be relegated to the background in our universities. I therefore urge Nigerian universities to ensure that the quality of the graduates produced compares with products from other universities globally, the president said.

The University of Abuja Convocation witnessed the award of degrees to 25, 878 students.

According to the UniAbuja Vice Chancellor, Professor Michael Adikwu, 20, 461 received first degree in various fields while 1, 697 received postgraduate diploma.

Eight students bagged first class between 2008  2015 sessions.

The breakdown showed that 2, 324 were awarded with Second Class, Upper Division while 11, 180 were awarded Second Class Degrees, Lower Division.

Adikwu said that Nigerias road to sustainable economic development lied in the creative ability of citizens to turn adversities into opportunities.

The VC urged the graduating students to use personal initiatives to seize the opportunities that still abounded in the country for them to be self-employed.

The ceremony was attended by prominent Nigerians among them former Head of the Interim National Government, Chief Ernest Shonekan; a former interim national chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande; state governors; Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed; House of Representatives Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila;, Senator Abdullahi Adamu, a former Niger State governor, Dr. Muazu Aliyu; and Rep. James Faleke among others.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Akure zone, has berated Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State for allegedly demolishing a residential building belonging to the University of Benin.

The union, which claimed that the management of UNIBEN had filed an Appeal against a lower court judgment that favoured the state government, described Mr. Oshiomholes action as an act of lawlessness.

Besides, ASUU urged the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu to intervene in the crisis between the governor and the university management.

Recall that a State High Court sitting in Benin City had ruled in favour of the state government in 2014, as owner of the residential building purportedly belonging to the university.

Addressing a press conference held at the Federal University of Technology Akure (FUTA), ASUU Coordinator, Akure zone, Dr. Alex Odiyi, blamed the governor for taking laws into his hands rather than allowing the case to run its course at the appeal court.

Odiyi alleged that Oshiomhole embarked on the course of action because his tenure was coming to an end and his real intention is to share these properties among his political associates.

The ASUU leader said the governor had made seeming overtures to the staff of the university who were affected by his lawless and promised to make amend by compensating those who suffered some losses by his condemnable action.

Odiyi also called on the Minister of Education to wade into the matter and ensure that the University of Benin administration lives up to its responsibility of protecting the property of the university.
Reformists and moderate conservatives were leading in parliamentary elections according to early results on Saturday, an indication President Hassan Rouhani may face a more friendly house to pursue his domestic agenda. Early returns from Fridays polls show that none of the three competing political factions will win a majority in the 290-seat parliament. But reformists seeking greater democratic changes are heading towards their strongest presence since 2004 at the expense of hardliners.

Officials are yet to release early results, but reports in the semi-official Fars and Mehr news agencies and a count conducted by The Associated Press news agency show that hardliners are the main losers of the vote. Fridays election for Irans parliament and a powerful clerical body known as the Assembly of Experts was the first since Irans landmark nuclear deal with world powers last year. Reformists seeking greater democratic changes and moderates supporting Rouhani appear to be cashing in on the lifting of international sanctions the moderate president achieved under last summers historic agreement.

Nearly 55 million of Irans 80 million people were eligible to vote. Participation figures and other statistics were not immediately available, though Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli predicted late Thursday there would be a turnout of 70 percent. Polls were closed at midnight and officials immediately began counting the ballots afterward. As more ballots were counted, reformists appeared to be on the path to expand their presence from the fewer than 20 they currently hold to a majority with the moderate conservatives and reduce the number of hardliners.

Al Jazeeras Jonah Hull, reporting from Tehran, said while reformists and moderates were expected to hold sway in the capital, no one expected a country-wide landslide. On Saturday, partial results emerging from about 50 small towns across Iran showed reformists and their moderate allies were leading the vote.

Aljazeera.
Senate President Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, may have rejected the N10 billion included in the 2016 budget proposals of the Ministry of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the building of their official quarters.

Saraki and Dogara, last week, agreed that the cost of the buildings should be reduced to one billion Naira each, to save the country N8 billion, reports Vanguard, citing National Assembly sources.

They were said to have informed the chairmen of the Committees on FCT in both chambers to reflect the decision in their report to the Committees on Appropriation.

The Senate President and Speaker said in view of the economic situation in the country and the need for public officials to be frugal, building houses worth N6bn and N4bn respectively for them was insensitive. The two legislative heads said the FCT ministry should scale down the cost of the projects or forget the idea until after their tenure.

The Senate President was living in his personal house in Maitama area of Abuja until a fire incident last year forced him to relocate to an official guest house while Dogara stays in a rented apartment.
Africas oldest leader and president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, has set criticisms on high pedestal with his 92nd birthday party.

According to many, the birthday celebration was an embarrassment to the dwindling economy of the country. Mugabe turned 92 on February 21 and thousands of his party supporters gathered to pay tribute to the countrys only leader since independence from Britain in 1980. He has shown no intention of stepping down.

President Mugabe says until God says come Mr Mugabe, who was accompanied by his wife, Grace, and their children, released 92 balloons and sat listening to poetry readings, songs and chants by supporters hailing him as an African icon and a visionary. A giant cake made to look like the ancient ruins for which Zimbabwe is named was set out in a nearby marquee. School children, foreign diplomats, government ministers and security chiefs were also present.

Pupurai Togarepi, ZANU-PFs youth leader said 50,000 people were expected to attend and defended spending $1.1 million on the birthday celebrations. Money is not the issue here. You cannot put a price on the contribution of President Mugabe to the history and development of this nation. All these things are worth more than money, Mr Togarepi told Reuters

The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) however called the celebrations obscene. They said: The obscenity of this particular exercise is that he throws this bash not just based on public funds but he does it in one of the worst-affected drought-stricken parts of the country.

ZANU-PF should be utterly ashamed of hosting an expensive birthday bash for their aging ruler whilst more than 90 per cent of Zimbabweans are wallowing in grinding poverty caused by decades of Robert Mugabes misrule and mismanagement of the economy.

The money that is being budgeted for this ill-conceived birthday bash should actually be used to import maize to avert the impending starvation in Masvingo province and other parts of the country.

Source:Naij
On this day in 2012, Federal Government deported about 11,000 foreigners mainly from Niger and Chad over Boko Haram fears, to curb a growing Islamist insurgency

Gunmen in the north killed three policemen when they hurled explosives and opened fire on a police station in Jamaare, Bauchi State.

 Also on this day in 1999, voters elected a civilian president (Olusegun Obasanjo) which ended 15 years of military rule.

Presidential elections were held in Nigeria on 27 February 1999. These were the first elections since the 1993 military coup, and the first elections of the Fourth Nigerian Republic. The result was a victory for Olusegun Obasanjo of the Peoples Democratic Party, who defeated Olu Falae, who was running on a joint Alliance for Democracy-All Peoples Party ticket
Troops of 7 Division Garrison, 112 Battalion and Army Headquarters Strike Group on Friday killed many Boko Haram Terrorists and recovered their weapons while clearing the sect members camp in Kotokuma, Dikwa Local Government Area of Borno state.

The acting Director, Army Public Relations, Sani Usman, who made this known in a statement, said that the terrorists camp was equipped with medical facility, Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) factory, fuel dump, mechanical workshop, generators and several water points.

Usman, a Colonel, further stated that the troops destroyed 3 vehicles laden with IEDs meant for suicide bombings at an unknown location and killed 37 terrorists.

The statement reads: The troops also recovered 12 vehicles, 27 motorcycles, 9 AK-47 rifles, 2 Fabrique Nationale rifles, fabricated rocket bomb and a Sniper rifle.

Other items recovered include 4 Dane Guns, solar panels and other household items. In addition to that, they also rescued 20 persons held hostage by the terrorists.

The statement added that two soldiers unfortunately, sustained battle wounds and have been evacuated to 7 Division Hospital where they are currently receiving medical care.
In a rather extreme display of patriotism, a Turkish truck driver is suing his own wife for insulting the nations president. He told reporters that she would say unspeakable obscenities whenever President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared on television, despite knowing that it bothered him. The latest incident occurred a few days ago during one of Erdogans televised speeches. Ali Dinc repeatedly warned his wife Gulcan not to curse the man, but she did it anyway and even dared to change the channel, earning his wrath.

The wife apparently went ahead with the insults, telling Ali to record and lodge a complaint if it upset him so much. So he did just that  he recorded the insults as evidence and then lodged a complaint with prosecutors in Izmir city. I kept on warning her, saying why are you doing this? he said, speaking to Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak. Our president is a good person and did good things for Turkey.

Even if it is my father who swears against or insults the president, I would not forgive him and I would file a complaint, he added. I would do it again. I loved her, but I dont love her anymore. If shed only have insulted me, I could have accepted that. But I cant accept her insults against Erdogan. Gulcan was not one to go quietly though  in response to her husbands complaint she filed for divorce. The couple have been married only three years.

This incident comes in the wake of growing intolerance in the nation  several bloggers, journalists, scholars, and even ordinary citizens have been jailed for insulting President Erdogan. Last month, the president filed a $32,000 lawsuit against opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu for calling him a dictator. And Feyzi Isbasaran, former MP and former member of Erdogans party, was sentenced to three years of imprisonment for insulting the head of state on Twitter. Even two young boys, aged 12 and 13, were jailed for four years after ripping up posters of Erdogan in October last year.

Sources: OCentral, Hurriyet, Todays Zaman
Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, yesterday said since he assumed office nine months ago as governor, he has created over 125, 000 direct jobs in the state.

He stated this at a town hall meeting with the people in Saminaka, Lere Local Government Area of the state.

The meeting, an interactive forum with the people, was the sixth Mr. El-Rufai has held since becoming governor of Kaduna State.

The governor specifically mentioned the free school feeding programme, which he recently introduced in public-owned primary schools in the state, as having created at least 85,000 jobs for food vendors, their staff and supervisors.

The job impact of ongoing interventions is over 125,000 direct jobs in Kaduna State within less than one year of the APC being in office. The estimates of these include: School feeding programme: at least 85, 000 jobs, including the vendors, their staff and supervisors. School uniforms: 11,100 jobs, rehabilitation of schools: 7, 542 jobs, construction of toilets: 6, 285 jobs, solar boreholes: 5, 028 jobs, KASTELEA: 2, 550 jobs, waste collection: 6, 700 jobs, Science and Maths teachers: 2, 300 jobs, he said.

Mr. El-Rufai added that the state government is in talks with Dangote and Olam for integrated tomato agro-industrial projects around Galma Dam.

According to him, Olam has also decided to build the largest poultry and feed-mill facility in Sub-Saharan Africa in the state.

El-Rufai, who was accompanied by the senator representing Kaduna-North senatorial district, Suleiman Hunkuyi and other top government officials on a police helicopter for aerial view of the state, said operations against cattle-rustlers, kidnappers and other criminal gangs are continuing in the affected areas.

Our security agencies have better vehicles and improved communication infrastructure to respond to threats. Our internal security team, Operation Yaki, has been active in raiding black spots and preventing crimes, while responding more rapidly to robberies and other threats to lives and property.

While thanking security agencies for their efforts and service to our state, we ask our religious and community leaders to continue to preach peace and unity, promote tolerance, discourage hate speech and renew calls for increased vigilance in all our communities, he said.

Gov. El-Rufai further disclosed that Stallion Group will build a 10,000-hectare rice farm and mill in Kaduna to reduce the dependence on imported rice.

Other rice farm and mill projects are being implemented by many firms to utilize our zero-interest loans around the CBN rice anchor lending programme, he added.
Triple Digit Hog Rally Barchart - 37 minutes ago Lean hogs extended their rally into the weekend with another $0.20 to $2.10 gains in the front months. December was up the most on Friday, but is still a $1.40 discount to Feb. Through the week, December... HEZ22 : 89.125s (+2.41%) HEJ23 : 93.850s (+0.78%) KMZ22 : 98.000s (+1.16%)

Cotton Limits the Weeks Pullback with Friday Strength Barchart - 37 minutes ago Cotton futures traded in a wide 413 point range from +253 to -160 (Dec). At the close the front months were 32 to 173 points in the black. December closed the week at a net 402 point loss, having spent... CTZ22 : 79.13s (+2.24%) CTH23 : 78.55s (+1.67%) CTK23 : 78.15s (+1.44%)

Wheats Closed Mixed on Friday Barchart - 37 minutes ago CBT SRW futures ended the last trade day of the week with 1 to 1 1/2 cent gains. For the December contract that meant a net 9 cent loss for the week. KC futures pulled back by 1/2 a cent to 2 cents on... ZWZ22 : 850-6s (+0.18%) ZWH23 : 869-4s (+0.17%) ZWPAES.CM : 7.8533 (+0.24%) KEZ22 : 948-2s (-0.16%) KEPAWS.CM : 9.0581 (-0.16%) MWZ22 : 961-4s (-0.10%)

Nov Beans Held under $14 Barchart - 37 minutes ago The Friday session ended with soybean futures 3 1/4 to 4 cents higher with November options having expired. Nov soybeans spent the week in a 41 1/2 cent trading range and ended 11 3/4 cents higher from... ZSX22 : 1395-4s (+0.29%) ZSPAUS.CM : 13.5026 (+0.29%) ZSF23 : 1404-4s (+0.32%) ZSH23 : 1411-6s (+0.28%)

New Contract High for Dec Cattle Barchart - 37 minutes ago Cattle added another 62 to 75 cents to the upside on Friday, with December printing a new life of contract high of $152.50. Dec gained a net $4.65 for the week. The weeks cash trade picked up on Thursday... LEV22 : 150.475s (+0.47%) LEZ22 : 152.425s (+0.49%) LEG23 : 155.525s (+0.44%) GFV22 : 175.275s (-0.17%) GFX22 : 178.350s (+0.45%)

Fractionally Mixed Friday Close in Corn Barchart - 37 minutes ago Corn futures firmed up on Friday for a fractionally UNCH close to the week. From Friday to Friday December futures traded in an 18 1/4 cent range, and went home 5 1/2 cents lower. The board has a 6 1/4... ZCZ22 : 684-2s (unch) ZCPAUS.CM : 6.7335 (-0.09%) ZCH23 : 690-4s (unch) ZCK23 : 689-6s (unch)

Grain and Livestock Weekly Wrap UP Blue Line Futures - 1 hour ago Oliver Sloup and Paul Wankmueller talk about the latest technical action in the grain and livestock markets as eyes were on today's options expiration. What does today's action mean and much more on today's...
A Florida woman says an e-cigarette exploded as she took a puff, knocking her teeth loose and catching her rental car on fire.

Cassandra Koziol told the Naples Daily News she had parked her car outside a friends house Feb. 25 to use the e-cigarette and charge her car. She said that when she pressed the devices button, it exploded, loosening her teeth and flying from her hand.

Covered in blood, she ran into the house and asked her friends to call 911. When they went outside, the car was engulfed in flames.

Koizol was treated for first- and second-degree burns to her hand, chest and neck. She lost a tooth. She has hired a personal injury lawyer to sue the e-cigarette manufacturer.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Florida Auto
E arrivata lufficialita, dopo una giornata di voci rincorrenti: per il triennio 2018-2021 sara lemittente Sky a godere dei diritti televisivi per trasmettere, in esclusiva assoluta, le partite non solo delle prossime edizioni dellEuropa League ma anche quelle della massima competizione continentale, la Champions. Un pacchetto da favola per il quale la tv satellitare di Rupert Murdoch avrebbe messo sul piatto unofferta giudicata piu congrua di quella presentata dalla concorrente Mediaset. A dare lannuncio dellaffare concluso e stata la stessa Sky che, in un comunicato, ha spiegato che il nuovo format sviluppato dalla UEFA ci consentira di portare ai nostri abbonati un prodotto rivoluzionario per il calcio europeo in Italia. Per la prima volta la UEFA Champions League e la UEFA Europa League saranno insieme in unesclusiva offerta integrata, che permettera agli appassionati di seguire fino a 7 squadre italiane, mai cosi tante prima dora, impegnate nelle sfide con i migliori club europei.

Sky: Rafforzata leadership

Anche il livello tecnico dellofferta sara altissimo ed e ancora lemittente a rivelare i dettagli: Continueremo a fare innovazione, trasmettendo le partite piu importanti anche in 4K HDR. Questofferta senza precedenti rafforza la posizione di Sky come leader della programmazione sportiva in Italia ed e anche un altro passo importante di sostegno al calcio italiano. Insomma, per i prossimi tre anni, sara unegemonia totale quella della satellitare sul calcio europeo, avendo mantenuto il pacchetto Europa League (gia sua esclusiva) e affiancandola a quello ancor piu appetibile della Champions League ad appannaggio Mediaset dal 2015 al 2018.

Sfida Serie A

Ora la sfida fra i due colossi delle trasmissioni sportive si spostera sui diritti televisivi della prossima Serie A, per la quale si e ancora in attesa di un nuovo bando che, come annunciato dal commissario della Lega, Carlo Tavecchio, avra le stesse caratteristiche del precedente, andato pero a vuoto: solo una delle offerte presentate per i cinque pacchetti, infatti, superava la soglia minima richiesta dalla base dasta. Niente di fatto, quindi, anche in virtu della stessa Mediaset che, in sostanza, ha disertato il bando (giudicato inaccettabile) non presentando alcuna offerta. La battaglia, anche in questo caso, sara sulle esclusive: del resto, dopo essersi vista scivolare via una componente importante come la Champions, sulla Serie A Mediaset dara sicuramente battaglia.
Panoramica privacy

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Foreign exchange, or forex, trading is an increasingly popular option for speculators. Ads boast of "commission-free" trading, 24-hour market access and huge potential gains, and it is easy to set up simulated trading accounts to practice trading techniques.

With such easy access comes risk. Forex trading is a huge market, but every forex trader is competing with thousands of professional analysts and other knowledgeable professionals many of who work for major banks and funds. The foreign exchange market is a 24-hour market, and there is no exchange  trades take place between individual banks, brokers, fund managers, and other market participants. Artificial intelligence has also changed the forex market in recent years with the introduction of predictive analytics models and machine-learning capabilities, all of which help forex traders to gain a huge advantage.

Forex is not a market for the unprepared, and investors should do thorough homework before entering the market. In particular, would-be traders need to understand the economic underpinnings of the major currencies in the market and the special or unique drivers that influence their value.

The Canadian Dollar

Just eight currencies account for over 80% of the volume of the forex market, and the Canadian dollar (often called the "loonie" because of the appearance of a loon on the back of the C$1 coin) is one of these major currencies, and is the sixth-most held currency as a reserve. For more information of currency trading, see Top 7 Questions About Currency Trading Answered.)

The Canadian dollar's currency ranking is somewhat of an anomaly as Canada's economy (in terms of U.S. dollars of GDP) is actually 10th in the world. Canada is also relatively low on the list of major economies in terms of population, but it is the 12th largest export economy in the world, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity hosted by MIT. After the Bretton Woods system was put into place, Canada allowed their currency to float freely from 1950 to 1962 when extensive depreciation toppled a government, and Canada then adopted a fixed rate until 1970 when high inflation prompted the government to move back to a floating system.

All of the major currencies in the forex market are supported by central banks. For the Canadian dollar it is the Bank of Canada. As with all central banks, the Bank of Canada tries to find a balance between policies that will promote employment and economic growth while containing inflation. Despite the significance of foreign trade to Canada's economy (and the influence that currency can have on trade), the Bank of Canada does not intervene in the currency  the last intervention was in 1998 when the government decided that intervention was ineffective and pointless. (For more, see Get To Know The Major Central Banks.)

The Economy Behind the Canadian Dollar

Ranked tenth in terms of GDP (measured in U.S. dollars) in 2017, Canada has enjoyed relatively strong growth over the last 20 years with two relatively brief periods of recession in the early 1990s and 2009. Canada has had persistently high inflation rates, but better fiscal policy and an improved current account balance have led to lower budget deficits, lower inflation and lower inflation rates.

In analyzing the economic situation in Canada, it is also important to consider Canada's exposure to commodities. Canada is a meaningful producer of petroleum, minerals, wood products and grains, and the trade flows from those exports can influence investor sentiment regarding the loonie. As is the case for virtually all developed economies, this data can be readily found on the internet through sources like the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada website. (For related reading, see Economic Factors That Affect The Forex Market.)

Although the average age of Canada's population is high compared to global standards, Canada is younger than most other developed economies. Canada has a liberal immigration policy, however, and its demographics are not particularly troubling for the long-term economic outlook.

Because of the tight trading relationship between Canada and the United States (they both are at or near the top of each other's import/export markets), traders of the Canadian dollar watch the events in the United States. While Canada has pursued very different economic policies, the reality is that conditions in the United States inevitably spill over into Canada to some extent. (These conditions also influence other economic phenomena such as inflation. For more, see How The U.S. Government Formulates Monetary Policy.)

What is particularly interesting about the U.S.-Canada relationship is how conditions can diverge. The structure of Canada's financial market helped the country avoid many of the problems with bad mortgages that affected the United States. On the other hand, technology companies are less significant to Canada's economy, and this led to relative weakness in the Canadian dollar during the tech boom in the United States in the 1990s. Also, the commodity boom of the 2000s (particularly in oil) led to an outperforming loonie. (For more, see 5 Steps Of A Bubble.)

Drivers Of The Canadian Dollar

Economic models designed to calculate the "right" foreign currency exchange rates are notoriously inaccurate when compared to real market rates partly because economic models are typically based on a small number of economic variables (sometimes just a single variable such as interest rates). Traders, however, incorporate a much larger range of economic data into their trading decisions, and their speculative outlooks can move rates just as investor optimism or pessimism can move a stock above or below the value its fundamentals suggest. (For more, see 4 Ways To Forecast Currency Changes.)

Major economic data includes the release of GDP, retail sales, industrial production, inflation, and trade balances. This information is released at regular intervals, and many brokers as well as many financial information sources like the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg make this information freely available. Investors also take note of employment, interest rates (including scheduled meetings of the central bank), and the daily news flow  natural disasters, elections, and new government policies can all have significant impacts on exchange rates.

As is often the case with countries that rely on commodities for a sizable portion of their exports, performance of the Canadian dollar is often related to the movement of commodity prices. In the case of Canada, the price of oil is particularly significant for currency moves, and investors tend to go long on loonies and short on oil importers (such as Japan, for instance) when oil prices are moving up. Similarly, there is some impact on the loonie fiscal and trade policy in countries like China  countries that are major importers of Canadian materials. (For more, see Canada's Commodity Currency: Oil And The Loonie.)

Capital inflows can also drive action in the loonie. During periods of higher commodity prices, there is often increased interest in investing in Canadian assets, and that influx of capital can impact exchange rates. That said, the carry trade is not so significant for the Canadian dollar.

Unique Factors for the Canadian Dollar

Given the relative economic strength of Canada, the country has a somewhat high interest rate among developed economies. Canada also enjoys a newly-won reputation for balanced fiscal management and finding a workable middle path between a state-dominated economy and a more hands-off approach. This is relevant during periods of global economic uncertainty  though not a reserve currency like the U.S. dollar, the Canadian dollar is considered a global safe haven. (For more, see The U.S. Dollar's Unofficial Status as World Currency.)

While the Canadian dollar is not a reserve currency at the level of the U.S. dollar, this is changing. Canada is now the sixth most commonly held reserve currency and those holdings are increasing.

The Canadian dollar is also uniquely tied to the strength of the U.S. economy. Though it would be a mistake for traders to assume a one-to-one relationship, the United States is a huge trade partner for Canada, and U.S. policies can have significant influence over the course of trading in the Canadian dollar.

The Bottom Line

Currency rates are notoriously difficult to predict, and most models seldom work for more than brief periods. While economics-based models are seldom useful to short-term traders, economic conditions do shape long-term trends.

Though Canada is not a particularly large country and is not among the largest exporters of manufactured goods, the country's economic vitals are stable, and the country has found a balance between profiting from its natural resource wealth and risking "Dutch disease" from over-reliance on these goods. As Canada becomes an increasingly viable alternative to the U.S. dollar, traders should not be surprised to see the loonie become more important in the forex market. (For related reading, see 3 Factors That Drive The U.S. Dollar.)
What Is Investment Analysis?

Investment analysis is a broad term for many different methods of evaluating investments, industry sectors, and economic trends. It can include charting past returns to predict future performance, selecting the type of investment that best suits an investor's needs, or evaluating individual securities such as stocks and bonds to determine their risks, yield potential, or price movements.

Investment analysis is key to a sound portfolio management strategy.

Understanding Investment Analysis

The aim of investment analysis is to determine how an investment is likely to perform and how suitable it is for a particular investor. Key factors in investment analysis include the appropriate entry price, the expected time horizon for holding an investment, and the role the investment will play in the portfolio as a whole.

In conducting an investment analysis of a mutual fund, for example, an investor looks at how the fund performed over time compared to its benchmark and to its main competitors. Peer fund comparison includes investigating the differences in performance, expense ratios, management stability, sector weighting, investment style, and asset allocation.

In investing, one size does not fit all. Just as there are many different types of investors with unique goals, time horizons, and incomes, there are investment opportunities that match those individual parameters.

Strategic Thinking

Investment analysis can also involve evaluating an overall investment strategy in terms of the thought process that went into making it, the person's needs and financial situation at the time, how the portfolio performed, and whether it's time for a correction or adjustment.

Investors who are not comfortable doing investment analysis on their own can seek advice from an investment advisor or another financial professional.

Key Takeaways Investment analysis involves researching and evaluating a security or an industry to predict its future performance and determine its suitability to a specific investor.

Investment analysis may also involve evaluating or creating an overall financial strategy.

Types of investment analysis include bottom-up, top-down, fundamental, and technical.

Types of Investment Analysis

While there are countless ways to analyze securities, sectors, and markets, investment analysis can be divided into several basic approaches.

Top-Down vs. Bottom-Up

When making investment decisions, investors can use a bottom-up investment analysis approach or a top-down approach.

Bottom-up investment analysis entails analyzing individual stocks for their merits, such as their valuation, management competence, pricing power, and other unique characteristics.

Bottom-up investment analysis does not focus on economic cycles or market cycles. Instead, it aims to find the best companies and stocks regardless of the overarching trends. In essence, bottom-up investing takes a microeconomic approach to investing rather than a macroeconomic or global approach.

The global approach is a hallmark of top-down investment analysis. It starts with an analysis of the economic, market, and industry trends before zeroing in on the investments that will benefit from those trends.

Top-Down and Bottom-Up Examples

In a top-down approach, an investor might evaluate various sectors and conclude that financials will likely perform better than industrials. As a result, the investor decides the investment portfolio will be overweight financials and underweight industrials. Then it's time to find the best stocks in the financial sector.

Proponents of bottom-up analysis include Warren Buffett and his mentor, Benjamin Graham.

In contrast, the bottom-up investor may have found that an industrial company made for a compelling investment and allocated a significant amount of capital to it even though the outlook for the broader industry was relatively negative. The investor has concluded that the stock will outperform its industry.

Fundamental vs. Technical Analysis

Other investment analysis methods include fundamental analysis and technical analysis.

The fundamental analyst stresses the financial health of companies as well as the broader economic outlook. Practitioners of fundamental analysis seek stocks they believe the market has mispriced. That is, they are trading at a price lower than is warranted by their intrinsic value.

Often using bottom-up analysis, these investors will evaluate a company's financial soundness, future business prospects, and dividend potential to determine whether it will make a satisfactory investment. Proponents of this style include Warren Buffett and his mentor, Benjamin Graham.

Technical Analysis

The technical analyst evaluates patterns of stock prices and statistical parameters, using computer-calculated charts and graphs. Unlike fundamental analysts, who attempt to evaluate a security's intrinsic value, technical analysts focus on patterns of price movements, trading signals, and various other analytical charting tools to evaluate a security's strength or weakness.

Day traders make frequent use of technical analysis in devising their strategies and timing their buying and selling activity.

Real-World Example of Investment Analysis

Research analysts frequently release investment analysis reports on individual securities, asset classes, and market sectors, with a recommendation to buy, sell or hold them.

For example, on Feb. 11, 2021, Charles Schwab issued Sector Insights: A View on 11 Equity sectors. The report gives a three-to-six month outlook on the 11 main stock sectors that represent the broader economy.

Among the highlights, Schwab analysts looked at the communication services sector, which includes telecommunication service providers, media, entertainment, and interactive media. In the note, the analysts said that while the pandemic-related stay-at-home behaviors have been good for some companies in the sector, with streaming demand rising, the demand for traditional TV and cable had dropped, which has hurt ad revenues.

The analysts then assigned an overall neutral assessment rating of "market perform." This neutral rating means the communication services sector should provide returns in line with that of the S&P 500.

Schwab also looked at the financial sector, which includes banks, savings and loans, insurers, investment banking, brokerages, mortgage finance companies, and mortgage real estate investment trusts. Schwab noted that the sector should benefit from the likelihood of continued fiscal stimulus coming out of Washington, a Federal Reserve that is likely to maintain stimulus for years, the positive impact of the vaccine rollout, and the likelihood of a continued rise in long-term interest rates.

Schwab rated the financials sector "outperform," meaning that the sector and its underlying issues are likely to see returns that surpass the S&P 500.
Irish leader Enda Kenny has refused to step down despite his government taking a drubbing from voters in Fridays national election. Both the Irish Sunday Times and the Sunday Independent stated there were already rumblings by party heavyweights that he should go. One senior figure was quoted as saying Kenny was a dead man walking.

Kenny, the leader of Fine Gael, the majority party in the coalition, and his minority party the Labour Party, are expected to have a number of seats in the mid 50s, well short of the 80 seat threshold for a majority.

The Sunday Times carried a front page article deeply critical of Kenny by former Justice Minister Alan Shatter, who lost his seat. Shatter complained the party strategy of assuming everyone had recovered from the recession was the wrong tactic. He also complained bitterly of interference in the campaign by Head Office, which he claimed spread leaflets around his canvassing area asking for votes for another Fine Gael candidate.

He was asked on Irish television if he would be reconsidering his position in light of the results, he said: "In my position as Taoiseach and head of Government. I have a duty and responsibility to work with the decision the people have made to provide the country with a stable Government. That I intend to do fully and completely.

He stated it was very early days to say what the eventual outcome would be and the many eliminations and transfers to take place. under Irelands antiquated preference system.

"I want to wait and see what the eventual final outcome will be and then look at all the options that are open to me as Taoiseach and head of Government. I need to call my colleagues, my parliamentary colleagues together and talk about a number of issues here," he said.

Kenny said it was "perfectly obvious that the government of Fine Gael and Labour cannot be returned to government, but I have a duty and responsibility as Taoiseach to do everything possible and as head of Government to see that our country is provided with a stable Government. And I won't be in possession of all the options that are open until we have the final figures over the next 36 to 48 hours.

He said the 2011 result was "extraordinary" in that the party got 76 seats. He said Fine Gael traditionally averaged around 50 seats.

2011 was truly extraordinary. And I think what I saw yesterday myself was quite a lot of people who might have supported the Fianna Fail party who were ashamed to vote in 2011 came back out to vote yesterday. So that, if you like, is partly the reason why an increased vote came out there," he said.

He said it was still unclear what the final outcome would be

"We don't know yet what the final outcome will be because this will go on I think for 46, 48 hours," he said.

Speaking on RTE One, Kenny was asked what his next steps would be, and if he would be picking up the phone to call Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin.

First of all I want to speak to Joan Burton and my Labour colleagues, I want to talk to my own ministers and elected colleagues, and indeed those who lost their seats as well.

As Taoiseach I have a duty and responsibility as head of Government to see how best we might put together a government for the future because, clearly, the country needs a government and must have one."

On the possibility of a Fine Gael/Fianna Fail Government, Mr Kenny continued: The government of my preference can not now be returned, so I will need to look at all of the counts, all of the spreads to see what parties, what groups, have what numbers.

The option of a majority government is gone, the option of a Fine Gael/Labour government is gone so I need to know the results of the all the parties before I decided what is the best thing to do given my duty and responsibly as Taoiseach and head of Government."

Mr Kenny went on to thanked all his supporters, and when asked where he had gone wrong, he said: "It is not a time to analyze the campaign."

"Democracy is always exciting, but it is merciless, he said.This is a disappointing day for our party and it is particularly disappointing for our candidates who lost their seat, particularly for those who have been serving in the Oireachtas for the past five difficult years," he added.
The Irish general election is proving to be a disaster for the partners in the country's governing coalition. A total of 20 Fine Gael TDs are facing defeat at the polls and Labour will probably not even make double figures when the votes are counted.

Meanwhile Fianna Fail are doing well and competing with Fine Gael for the largest number of deputies. Speculation is rife that they may form an unprecedented government alliance with Fine Gael, which would leave Sinn Fein as the main opposition party.

There was a general expectation that the Labour Party would get hammered and that's the way it has turned out. But there was a degree of optimism among supporters of the senior party, Fine Gael, that the electorate would give them a relatively soft ride.

However, governments that implement austerity policies rarely incur the gratitude of the voters. The previous coalition suffered a humiliating defeat at the last general election when the Fianna Fail party lost 51 of its 71 seats in Dail Eireann, the main house of the Irish parliament, and all six representatives from the Green Party were defeated.

Going into that election, Labour pledged outright opposition to specific cuts but when they got into government, the same list was fully implemented. The party also indicated that it would take a tough line against austerity policies imposed by outside bodies such as the European Central Bank, but failed to live up to this macho image when it got into power.

The Irish electorate can be vengeful and, when given the chance this past Friday, voters took it out on Labour big-time. As I write, it looks as if the party will only have from seven to nine seats in the new Dail compared to 37 after the 2011 general election.

The state of play with 51 of 158 seats filled #GE16 pic.twitter.com/9ofoxKlKMk  RTE News (@rtenews) February 27, 2016

But Fine Gael are the real story. The party will do well to stay ahead of Fianna Fail when the dust has settled. Among its electoral casualties are high-profile former justice minister Alan Shatter who went down to defeat in the Dublin Rathdown constituency and former Health Minister James Reilly, the partys Deputy Leader who also went down to defeat.

As a right-of-centre party, Fine Gael was proud of having taken over an economy which was in dire straits but had now come through the worst and was getting better by the day. Reflecting this mood, the party chose the slogan, "Let's keep the recovery going."

This must have looked, on the face of it, like a good message to put before the voters. However, a lot of Irish people still feel they are suffering the effects of the recent recession and that the "recovery" is not reflected in their daily lives.

A better slogan would have been something like: "Let's not risk the recovery". It would still have conveyed the subliminal message that you shouldn't vote for

Fianna Fail who made a mess of things in the past, or Sinn Fein who would screw things up in the future, but without suggesting that everyone was now in a good financial situation.

Another mistake Fine Gael made was giving Taoiseach (Prime Minister) and party leader Enda Kenny too much prominence in the campaign. Although a skilled manager of people, he is notoriously gaffe-prone and more than lived up to that reputation when the starting-pistol was fired.

Enda Kenny has been asked to apologise for describing some Castlebar locals as 'whingers' during a speech yesterdayhttps://t.co/XTDQj8GSRs  RTE News (@rtenews) February 21, 2016

He began by dodging a key question on the amount of spare cash in government coffers and finished up with an unfortunate reference to "whingers" in his own constituency or electoral district of Mayo which was taken as a reference to ordinary residents, although he later insisted he meant only his political opponents.

Tanaiste (Deputy Prime Minister) and Labour Party leader Joan Burton did not fare much better. Although highly-intelligent and well-informed, she did not come across well in TV debates with other party chiefs. It didn't help either when she took a canoe-trip on the River Nore and ended up flip-flopping into the water on camera.

It's been a good election for Fianna Fail. Formerly reviled for its failure to foresee the banking and economic crisis and for presiding over a boom in the property market which rapidly went bust, the party now seems to be forgiven to some extent by voters.

Party leader Micheal Martin is a skilled orator with a good grasp of policy issues and easily outshone his opponents from the other main parties in TV debates. At time of writing, Fianna Fail looks set to double its number of deputies in Dail Eireann to more than 40 seats and end up almost on a par with Fine Gael, or even ahead of Enda Kenny's party. A surprise loser, however, was former government minister Mary Hanafin in Dun Laoghaire.

Sinn Fein has done well too, maybe doubling its current 14 seats, despite a challenging campaign. The party is the subject of endless attack from political opponents and some elements of the news media over episodes which occurred during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, mainly allegations that certain IRA members sexually abused under-age victims.

The start of the campaign coincided with the conviction of well-known Irish republican activist, Thomas "Slab" Murphy for tax evasion. Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams queried the fact that Murphy was tried in the non-jury Special Criminal Court whereas others facing charges on tax issues were not dealt with in this way. It turned into yet another media firestorm for the "Shinners".

Adams has won widespread praise for his role in the Irish peace process leading to the Good Friday Agreement but his performance in the general election came in for much sharp criticism. In a series of radio and TV interviews, he came across as lacking a basic understanding of his own party's policies on certain economic issues. A dip in Sinn Fein's poll figures ahead of voting day was attributed to these "car-crash" encounters and the Belfastman's future as party leader was being questioned outside the party.

In the event, Sinn Fein have put in a respectable performance at the ballot-box. A range of new TDs is set to join its parliamentary ranks, including leading theoretician Eoin O Broin in Dublin Mid-West, John Brady in Wicklow, Kathleen Funchion in Carlow-Kilkenny and David Cullinane in Waterford. Adams looks set to bring in a running-mate, Imelda Munster in Louth and deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald topped the poll in Dublin Central.

There were also some notable casualties. Chief among these is party spokesman on justice, Padraic Mac Lochlainn who is facing defeat in Donegal. Former IRA prisoner Martin Ferris is fighting to retain his seat in Kerry and Paul Donnelly is up against it in Dublin West despite earlier expectations that he would coast to victory.

On the more positive side, Sinn Fein has a real prospect of being the main opposition party and presumed leader of an alternative government in the newly-elected Dail. This would be the case if Fine Gael and Fianna Fail went into government together.

The notion of a "grand coalition" between the two Irish Civil War parties is gaining strength. The electorate will not thank any party which precipitates another election in the near future and there are obvious dangers in having a hung parliament under the present challenging economic circumstances. Pressure will grow in the coming weeks for a marriage of convenience between FG and FF. A deal may be in the offing.

Following this election, the Dail continues to have a high proportion of non-party TDs, known as Independents, as well a number of smaller parties. The most notable victory is in the constituency of Kerry, where brothers Michael and Danny Healy-Rae are leading the way as Independents.

In theory, Fine Gael and Labour could propose a new coalition to include various fringe elements in the Dail but so many of the latter would be required for a majority that it would probably be unworkable.

These are exciting and uncertain times in Irish politics. The former two-and-a-half party system of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour no longer rules the roost, given the advance of Sinn Fein and the proliferation of "Independents and Others". Watch this space!

---

Deaglan de Breadun is the author of 'Power Play: The Rise of Modern Sinn Fein', published by Merrion Press.
On August 22, 1922, Michael Collins was killed. Clearly, as this woman's dedication illustrates, his loss is still felt today.

Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins was killed on Aug 22, 1922, and despite their apparent lack of connection this a French woman has been visiting his grave in Glasnevin cemetery every year, for the last 20-plus years.

A mysterious French lady will, we hope get to visit Michael Collins' grave once again this year, continuing a 20-year tradition since she fell in love with the Irish revolutionary after watching the movie "Michael Collins."

She is known as the Mysterious French Lady and she appears like clockwork at his grave and lays them down gently before saying a prayer. The woman has been identified as Veronique Crombie a lecturer at the French National Museum who admits to a passionate love for the Irish revolutionary.

The 55-year old academic explained her love for the patriot after she saw the movie.

"The draw of seeing the Neil Jordan (director) film three years after it was released appeared to me that it was more than an excellent actor giving a great performance, Michael's life story was finally being told [to the world]," explains the intensely private woman.

Read more: Evidence shows man who shot Michael Collins met him before ambush

She told the Sunday Independent, in 2015, that she cannot explain the magnetism and draw that Collins has on her. Veronique told the Sunday Independent how she was attending an Indian classical dance workshop in the south of France in August 2000 when she felt the inexplicable need to rush to a nearby cathedral and light a candle for Collins.

On the 22nd, the date he was shot dead, was the decisive moment which helped me understand that definitely, sooner or later I would have to go to Ireland to know more and that going to his grave would show me the way. That Michael himself was drawing me to continue on his story, she said.

Im not the only one who feels that way, my friend, author Chrissy Osborne, told me time and again, when she published her first book about Michael, 'Michael Collins Himself' and also the second one, 'Michael Collins, A Life in Pictures,' that she had always felt that it was Michael who wanted those two books to be written and published because both were a different approach to recounting his life."

Having no Irish connections that she knows of, she cannot explain why this "draw" to mark and carry on his name has taken such a hold. But her journeys to Ireland have created friendships that carry the history of the Cork man who died 98 years ago.

Read more: Greatest quotes of Irish hero Michael Collins recalled

"The amazing thing was indeed that Mercier Press immediately agreed and wanted to go ahead when Chrissy contacted them to talk about her project, even though she was not a historian, had never written a book and wasn't even a journalist.

Veronique also added that: "Amazingly, that is also what I felt when I saw 'Michael Collins - a Musical Drama,' in 2009 . . . The musical was just fantastic, I know it was very special for Bryan Flynn who wrote it and Eoin Cannon who played the part on the three occasions I saw it and gave a fabulous performance."

All three are now good friends. Finally, visiting Collins's grave was a powerful moment for Veronique.

"It is difficult to find words to describe how I felt. It was emotional and tears welled up in my eyes but I didn't cry and I wasn't afraid. It was the start of something that is still with me. When a person dies young, an energy is left behind. An energy surrounding things left undone. Speaking to relatives of Michael, they say they feel the same."

So many strangers have now become firm friends due to the politician's and soldier's legacy. Bumping into men whowithout being asked or seeking recompensecare for his grave now becomes something of a reunion for Veronique.

"The selfless devotion of Denis Lenihan who has kept Michael's grave for years. Two others, both former army men, James and Ronnie helped Denis out with cleaning the grave and bringing fresh flowers every week.

"I suppose what I do appears more spectacular because it comes from a foreigner but their work shouldn't go unnoticed. Now other people are placing flowers on his grave."

Since her first trip to Dublin, she has become involved in a campaign to Save Moore Street and preserve it as a National Monument. These are the houses where the leaders of the 1916 Rising took shelter when they had to evacuate the GPO and where they made the decision to surrender. It is hoped to create an interpretive center out of the houses.

"The Hewitt sisters at Rosary Florists do a great job for me on preparing the floral arrangements for Collins's grave. It happens sometimes that I ring them early in the morning saying: 'Sorry to ring you so early but I woke up this morning knowing that Michael needed something, can you have a few red roses delivered to the grave asap?' and there is never a problem.

"Usually I realize in an afterthought that the day is a date of some significance in his life."

Mary Hewitt said that visitors to the grave and callers to the florists are intrigued by the French woman's commitment to the memory of Collins and her devotion to his legacy. A legacy that has formed a part of modern-day Irish politics.

Read more: How Michael Collins Dublin fishmonger helped beat the British

* Originally published in 2015.
Update 10.58pm: An exit poll conducted by Ipsos MRBI on behalf of the Irish Times newspaper could cause concern for Fine Gael and Labour tonight.

As polls across the country close, the survey sees Fine Gael support slump by 10 percentage points compared to the last General Election.

It also points to a collapse in support for Labour - down to 7.8% compared to 19.5% in 2011.

Difficult Coalition negotiations in Ireland ahead if this exit poll holds in terms of seats won tomorrow #GE16 pic.twitter.com/egXCL0KDQZ  William Bain (@William_Bain) February 26, 2016

Update 10.36pm: Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams thanked supporters as the polls closed this evening.

"I would like to thank all the Sinn Fein candidates and their families, our canvassers and supporters who gave so generously of their time," he said.

"In particular I would like to thank the citizens who have come out to invest their votes and their hopes in Sinn Fein."

He added: "I believe this election will see an increase in support for Sinn Fein and for progressive politics."

Ballot boxes already arriving at the count centre, estimated turnout of 65% in Mayo #GE16 pic.twitter.com/eeFYBdqI1y  RTEmayo (@RTEmayo) February 26, 2016

Update 10pm: Voting has ended in General Election 2016.

Polling stations, which were open since 7am this morning, closed at 10pm tonight.

Various reports have indicated a reasonably high turnout across some areas of the country, although it remains to be seen what effect inclement weather in Cork, Kerry and Waterford has had on voter numbers in those counties.

Just out of my polling station in Douglas in Cork South Central. Asked at two desks, turnout was 70% at one, 66% at the other #GE16  Joe Leogue (@JoeLeogue) February 26, 2016

Counting will begin from 9am tomorrow morning.

Waterford City turnout in some boxes now 65%  Damien Tiernan (@damienwlr) February 26, 2016

Typically, the traditional peak periods around tea-time and at around 9pm.

At 8pm, turnout across Dublin was ranging from 68% in Ballinteer (Dublin Rathdown) to 43% in Lucan (Dublin Mid West)  RTE News (@rtenews) February 26, 2016

At 8pm, turnout in Kerry ranged from 50% at one Tralee polling station to 65% at Cahirciveen and one of the Killarney polling stations  RTE News (@rtenews) February 26, 2016

Update 8.51pm: RTE News is reporting that turnout of nearly 60% in parts of Sligo.

St. Aidan's (Whitehall) was 41% at 5 pm, with a 53% turnout for Albert College at that point. #ge16  Roisin Shortall (@RoisinShortall) February 26, 2016

Update 8.25pm: Turnout in Kildare North is at 43%, with Kildare South at 45%.

Sergeant Jason Clery & Lieutenant Joanne Kelly cast their #GE16 votes on the Blue Line @UN_Lebanon #UseYourVote pic.twitter.com/EDPIYvRR43  Oglaigh na hEireann (@defenceforces) February 26, 2016

Almost 3.3 million voters are eligible to cast their ballot in the General Election.

Casting my vote in #ge16 today. All the best to @pb4p and #AAAPBP candidates. Still time to cast YOUR Vote! #dunl pic.twitter.com/Mf6GxhFUGw  Richard Boyd Barrett (@RBoydBarrett) February 26, 2016

Update: 6.50pm: RTE are reporting that the highest turnout so far today has been in the Taoiseach's constituency of Co. Mayo, where Louisburgh in the west of the county has had more than 65% of voters out by 5pm.

People are being told to bring photo ID and remember that ballot box selfies are banned.

Quick Proportional Representation primer for election addicts starved of info following 2pm #GE16 broadcast embargo https://t.co/sSbuvuNPEQ  Conor Keane (@ConorKeane) February 25, 2016

Update: 6.10pm: Rain-sodden parts of Co Cork saw a much slower stream of voters at polling stations during the day.

Cork North West turnout is at 32.5%, Cork South West is at 35.1% and Cork East is at 27.5%. Total turnout for the whole of county Cork is 31%.

LIMERICK: In Foynes voter levels are at around 46% per cent .Booths are recording turnout close to 40% in Adare. Turnout is also averaging 40% in Patrickswell. Kilcornan is at around 37%.

The Newcastle West booths are at around 40 per cent. The turnout in Croagh is pushing 40%.

The two booths in Pallaskenry are between 45% and 48%. Moving on to Glin, where the percentage turnout is at 40 percent. Templeglantine is nearing 30%. While it's the same for Knock-na-sna.

I've voted No. 1 for @RuthCoppingerTD

Make sure you vote. Build a real Left movement against austerity #dubw #GE16 pic.twitter.com/U1bsY9YCpt  Joe Higgins (@JoeHigginsSP) February 26, 2016

Athea is on 31%, Rathkeale has around 35% turnout and Abbeyfeale is reporting turnout of around 42%.

In Ballyguiltenane it stands at 38%, While there is a 40% turnout being recorded in Askeaton.

Looking at the state of play in the city, Knockea is at 43%, but there's a lower figure of 33% in Murroe.

Caherconlish and Killinure are lower again at 29% and 27% respectively, while in Lisnagry it's between 30-35%.

We need real change, not spare change. I voted AAA today in #dubw. Please vote this evening & get others to #GE16 pic.twitter.com/gy9VbNtfQO  Ruth Coppinger (@RuthCoppingerSP) February 26, 2016

Ahane is close to that at 34% with Shannon Banks on 35%.

The six booths in the polling station at Scoil Ide in Corbally are at 40%, but Watch House Cross is slightly higher at 43%.

Parteen is nearly at 37%, much more than the 28% level being recorded at the Gael Scoil polling station in Castletroy.

Castleconnell is 38%, Monaleen is 39% and Milford is 27%.

Update: 6.10pm: WATERFORD: More than half of all those registered have cast their vote at one polling booth at St Saviours School in Ballybeg. It is averaging at 48% there.

It is above 40% at St Paul's in Waterford City, Ballygunner, Abbeyside in Dungarvan and Ballyduff Lower.

The figure a short time ago was 37% in Passage East while it was approaching a third in Dunmore East.

Update: 5.45pm: In Clare, the highest reported turnout in the county so far is 42% in Doolin NS, Mullagh on 40%, while 37% have cast their ballot in Kilmurry, 34% in Miltown Malbay and 31% in Kilmaley.

Just met 3 very enthusiastic @sinnfeinireland voters in a Monaghan garage !! Great craic !! #JoinTheRising pic.twitter.com/qynNITNXOc  Martin McGuinness (@M_McGuinness_SF) February 26, 2016

Kildare North: 29%/KIldare South: 32%

Update: 5.25pm: In Cork City they are registering a turnout of between 30% and 35%, while parts of Longford have recorded only a 5% turnout.

Update: 4.45pm: LIMERICK: In Foynes voter levels are at nearly 30%, while it is also pushing 30% in Adare, Patrickswell and Kilcornan.

Voter turnout in Dublin City as of 3pm

Dublin- North West  22%

Bay North  30%

Dublin Central -27%

Bay South 22%

South Central  31%#GE16  Zara King (@ZaraKing) February 26, 2016

Elsewhere in the County Newcastle West and Croagh, and it's almost up at 25% in Pallaskenry. Glin is also recording levels at 25%, although one of the booths there is at 31%.

And turnout levels of 20% are being recorded in both Athea and Rathkeale.

Turning to the city and polling stations in Shannon Banks, Watch House Cross and Parteen are recording turnouts close to 30%. Around 20% of the electorate have cast their vote in Monaleen, Milford and Corbally.

Staying with the city, but moving towards the East of the county, where stations in Killinure, Lisnagry, Knockea, Murroe, Bilboa, Caherconlish, Castletroy and Ahane are close to the 20% mark.

Update: 4.15pm: Fianna Fail leader Mr Martin, who cast his ballot along with his family at St Anthony's Boys National School in Cork, refused to forecast the outcome.

"I am not going to make any predictions but I am hopeful that we will get a good result - it's up to the people now to decide but it was quite clear to us even yesterday on the campaign trail that there are quite a number of people who still have to make their mind up," he said.

We're voting for an Ireland for all - make your voice heard in #GE16 pic.twitter.com/MKjXfGUUZY  Micheal Martin (@MichealMartinTD) February 26, 2016

"In fact, it was quite striking how many people still hadn't made their minds up.

Update: 3.50pm: Turnout in Kildare North is reported to be at 25.4% so far, while Kildare South has seen a 29% turnout.

Mary Catherine Conroy cast her vote on her wedding day in An Cheathru Rua, Co Galway #GE16https://t.co/HGlNd55O9e  RTE News (@rtenews) February 26, 2016

Arriving to vote at Dublin's St Joseph's Deaf Boys School, Tanaiste and Labour leader Joan Burton said she was buoyed by the spring-like day for polling, and was hoping it would also be a sunny day for her at the count.

"I was out saying hello to people at Coolmine railway station this morning, and I have to say it was the nicest early morning canvass I've done in the whole campaign," she said.

"So that is a good omen. I'm feeling upbeat and optimistic."

In Louth, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams said he was not taking the election for granted as he arrived at the Dulary National School polling station in Ravensdale.

"We stand on our record and we call upon people to come out," he said.

"There's no point not voting - if you don't vote it's a sure vote for the establishment parties."

Update: 3.30pm: President Higgins and his wife Sabina were among 238 voters who live in Phoenix Park and who were registered to cast their ballots at St Mary's Hospital.

Arriving at the polling station desk at around 9am, the head of state waited in line before being asked for his address by the election clerk.

"Aras ... Phoenix Park," he answered.

He then insisted to the clerk that his official address, Aras an Uachtarain, is in the Dublin 7 area.

"It is very often described as Dublin 8 but it isn't. I'm trying to get it straightened out," he joked.

Update: 3.15pm: Taoiseach Enda Kenny, turning up to cast his ballot at St Anthony's Special School in his native Castlebar, repeated his insistence that he would not go into coalition with Fianna Fail.

"People are going to vote today, let's see the decision they make," he said.

"I have already ruled Fianna Fail out."

The Fine Gael leader was sporting a green tie, while Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin in Cork was wearing a blue tie - each donning the party colour of their rival.

Asked if there was any significance in the sartorial choice, the Taoiseach responded: "Well, he didn't contact me about that. This one is for Ireland."

He added: "It really is an important day for Ireland - the decision is being made today by the people, who rule after all, will determine the future direction of the country for the next five years."

Update: 2.30pm: In Waterford, returning officers have reported a turnout of 20% at a number of polling stations including St Paul's in Waterford City and Abbeyside in Dungarvan while it is now above 23% in Portlaw and Ballygunner.

Hearing turnout in Louisburgh, Mayo was 55% at 14:30 - concerted effort being made to get every eligible voter to the polls in 1916 tribute  Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) February 26, 2016

Turnout in Kildare North stands at 20% so far, while Kildare South has seen 16% turnout.

"I'll vote for you if you vote for me." Danny and Michael Healy Rae this morning. #GE16 pic.twitter.com/k7tKEPJkib  Martyn Rosney (@rosney) February 26, 2016

Disability campaigners are criticising a nationwide failure to make all polling centres accessible.

Martin Naughton of the Disability Federation of Ireland says it will be more difficult for some than others.

Mr Naughten said: "Somehow or other, if you are a person with a disablility, you have to do research on whether your polling booth is accessible or not.

"If not you have to make arrangements."

Earlier: Voting in the General Election is expected to be brisk this lunchtime.

552 candidates are vying to fill 158 seats in the country's 32nd Dail.

Early turnout figures have been revealed, although it is still early with plenty of time for people to cast their vote later in the day.

So far the figures show, Enniscorthy 15%, Gorey 15%, Wexford 14% and New Ross 13%.

Turnout in the Offaly constituency - 11% figures so far in Kilcormac, Pollagh, Banagher, Edenderry and Tullamore.

9% turnout has been recorded so far in Kinnitty and Crinkill, while it's at 10% in Borrisokane in the Tipperary area of the new constituency.

Our Deputy Leader @alankellylabour has just voted with his family in Portroe in Tipperary. #ge16 pic.twitter.com/ZhxR1JJIES  The Labour Party (@labour) February 26, 2016

In Longford-Westmeath, turnout is at 11% in the Mullingar district and 9.5% in the Athlone district.

In Longford, turnout in the north of the county averages 6% and is between 5-10% in the south.

Meanwhile, in the Laois constituency, turnout is at 8% in Portlaoise and Mountmellick.

The highest turnout recorded in the constituency so far is at St Peter's Boys National School in Monasterevin at 12%.

Turnout in Cork North and South Central constituencies was running at between 7% and 10% up to midday.

Cork North West was up to 13.2%, Cork South West 15% and Cork East 12.8%.

The total for the county stands at 13.4%.

In Dublin the guards have been called because some candidates are reported to have broken canvassing rules.

No posters are allowed within 50 metres of polling centres on vote day.

Dublin's Returning Officer is James Barry: I emailed on the Candidates on February 16, I emailed them again last weekend reminding them of the rules under the 19192 electoral act.

Brisk turnout so far in DNW. Hopefully the start of something great for @SocDems #ge16 pic.twitter.com/qk54aVm6ES  Roisin Shortall (@RoisinShortall) February 26, 2016

And this morning they are still there and it is an absolute disgrace.

We have reported them to An Garda Siochana, they have been very pro-active on it.

Tallyman Joe Mc Carthy is reminding people to fill their ballot out right to the end.

If you dont give the final preferences, it could be that your vote arrives to somebody who you didnt want at all, and if you want that person to not have a vote, you must fill in the blanks, he said.

Incidentally, you most vote in sequential order  you cant go 1, 2, 3 and then 7.
A feminist who proposed to her wife live on air during the vote for same-sex marriage has been elected to the Dail.

New Dublin South West TD Katherine Zappone popped the question to partner Ann Louise Gilligan on RTE last year as the senator was discussing the historic Yes vote.

The human rights campaigner has joined a swathe of new independent voices outside the major parties in the Dail.

The Green Party's deputy leader Catherine Martin became the first representative elected in Dublin Rathdown since the grouping's Dail wipe-out in 2011 after sharing power with Fianna Fail and supporting the bank bailout. She was a teacher and strong advocate of education.

Gino Kenny was returned for the Anti Austerity Alliance/People Before Profit in Dublin Mid-West. The community carer has campaigned against water charges for decades and described himself as a "revolutionary socialist".

Independent Sean Canney from Galway told the Galway East electorate "your issues are my policies" in what critics would describe as a parish pump refrain common to many independents.

He topped the poll. The former mayor of County Galway has signed up to the Independent Alliance's Charter for Change aimed at rooting out political cronyism.

Denis Naughten left Fine Gael in 2011 in opposition to a government decision to downgrade services at Roscommon Hospital. He was elected as an independent in Roscommon-Galway.

Fellow health campaigner Dr Michael Harty is a long-serving general practitioner based in Kilmihil near Ennis in Co Clare. He contested this election as part of the No Doctor, No Village campaign, which sought to restore rural GPs' income to pre-austerity levels. He described the 80% turnout in his home village as humbling.

Independent county councillor Michael Collins was returned in Cork South West. The supporter of community voluntary services pledged to keep jobs in West Cork.
English is a beautiful language. I feel sorry for you if you do not appreciate its beauty.

See food is delicious. But I do not appreciate its deliciousness. You can feel sorry for me.

Life is full of regrets. We do not need feel sorry for each other.

I would like to share some interesting experiences involving English expressions.

1. You never know

It was very difficult to find a job when I arrived in Canada. All the resumes elicited no reply. Inspired by an article on a Chinese website, I tried the tactics of door knocking. When I was just out of a company, I saw a gentleman outside of the office building smoking. That building bore the name of a company specialized in structural engineering. Although I knew that the company did not do mechanical engineering, I thought it not a bad idea just to have a chat with him. I told him I am looking for a position in mechanical engineering. He said I could knock the door of the building across the street. That company was doing mechanical.

But they cannot be hiring because my friend was hired just days ago. I said.

You never know. was the response.

I never know? I was asking me myself. How could this nice looking man be so rude? I never know? Am I so stupid and not knowing anything?

After a split second, I realized that he meant all the good. What he meant was not that I did not know anything, but that I should not be encumbered by my assumptions.

How many times in our life that we had really lost something because we had not tried? You must have more examples.

2. It makes sense to  

When I worked for a small engineering firm, on one occasion I was writing an email to a client recommending their considering another design approach. I wrote, It makes more sense to do it this way  than the other way.

My boss came to me and showed all his displeasure. I do not want our client to feel that we are condescending. He said solemnly.

That was the first time I realized that it makes more sense is not a phrase for gentle persuading or a suggestion based on reason.

I stopped using this term afterwards.

3. baptism

This one may be funnier. You will see how stupid I truly was.

After working for almost three months in a company, I bumped into the president in the lunch room. He asked me how I had been doing in the three-month probation period. I said I had survived the adaptation. I knew adaptation was not an apt term in this case, but I could not come up with a better word. He said then, So you survived the baptism? I said, with all the confusion on my face, I am not religious.

He was pissed off immediately. He turned to other Chinese colleagues having lunch in the lunchroom, Anybody understands the word? The Chinese colleagues looked him puzzled, without giving a response, partially because they had not paid attention to our conversation, partially because they did not get it either.

Combing back home, I realized I failed to understand the humourt. I wrote an email to him the next day:

Sorry that I failed to under the humour in your comment yesterday. In fact, I had been lived in China and have been constantly reminded by our teachers that our forefathers had undergone the baptism of gunfire and founded the country. We had been nurtured the patriotism by being instilled this thought. I should have understood the work baptism perfectly.

I bumped into him again in the corridor and he said that I had written a good email.

4. I have to go

When I was working for small engineering firm, all of us drafters shared a room with my supervisor. He was constantly on the phone and I enjoyed his talking on the phone very much. He spoke more than perfect English. I only had the chance to meet my future supervisor who was comparable in this regard. I could learn at least one expression per day, such as wishy-washy. I have never heard of this work since then.

I noticed that he often said I have to go when he wanted to end the phone conversation. Every time I heard that, I became at once relaxed because I thought he would go out for site visit. When he was away and left us in the room, we all felt relaxed. But he never did go to the site after using this term. I waited and waited and he showed no sign of going.

Perhaps I have talked about this to others and finally I got the meaning of I have to go. It does mean I will leave the office, but I will have to end the conversation.
The first counts in the general election are coming in this afternoon.

As more declarations are made throughout the day, they will confirm voters have rejected the re-election of the coaliton.

There are major gains in the offing for Fianna Fail, Sinn Fein and Independents after exit polls suggested less than a third of people had backed the Government parties.

Galway East became the first constituency in the country to declare a first count - but no-one has been elected.

Check out: Read More: GE16 live blog: The count

It does show that Fianna Fail's Colm Keaveney who defected from Labour in the last Dail is in trouble.

A number of other first counts are expected shortly.

But the tallies have told us some major named in Fine Gael and Labour are in trouble.

The Labour seats of Alex White in Dublin Rathdown, Joanna Tuffy in Dublin Mid West and Joe Costello in Dublin Central are gone, as is Willie Penrose's in longford Westmeath, but Tanaiste and leader Joan Burton looks safe in Dublin West.

Fine Gael will suffer too - Deputy leader James Reilly has a mountain to climb in Dublin Fingal in a fight for the final seat, Aine Collins looks set to lose her one in Cork North West, and it looks like Jimmy Deenihan could lose in Kerry.

It's Fianna Fail's day - the party's making gains up and down the country - Micheal Martin and Michael McGrath storming ahead in Cork South Central, they could take three of the five seats in Carlow Kilkenny BUT Fine Gael looks set to prevent the return of former Minister Mary Hanafin in Dun Laoghaire.

Sinn Fein's making gains - Gerry Adams running mate Imelda Munster will take a seat in Louth, they could see the first TD for the party in over 90 years in Limerick City, but trouble's also brewing for Padraig McLochlainn in Donegal.

While Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams looks like topping the poll in Louth, Deputy leader MaryLou McDonald is also on course for an easy win in Dublin Central.

The final leaders' debate had put Mr Adams' political past in the spotlight leading to fears the party may not poll as well as predicted.

Dublin West Sinn Fein candidate Paul Donnelly denied the party would have done better without the leadership of Gerry Adams.

Arriving into the count centre in Phibblestown this afternoon he said: "At the end of the day Gerry Adams I think topped the poll, and Imelda Munster is going to come in very close behind him.

"If that's a disastrous leadership I don't know what is."

Mr Donnelly is likely to be battling for the final seat in the constituency along with Labour leader Joan Burton and AAA-PBP candidate Ruth Coppinger.

"We are definitely in the mix, we are still looking and we will be looking at David McGuinness' transfers, he is from the Mulhuddart area of the constituency which I think would favour Sinn Fein over Joan Burton, so it's all to play for, it's 1% it's a couple of hundred votes," he said.

Mr Donnelly said there is now a "50/50 chance" of another election within the next six months.

Sinn Fein Cork North Central candidate Jonathan O'Brien agreed Adams' leadership didn't put off voters:

Those issues dont come up on the doors. There is a media fixation in relation to Gerrys leadership.

The reality is in this constituency we have increased our vote by 6%. Nationally we have increased our vote by the same amount.

So every election we stand we are going up. More and more people are coming to us so I dont think Gerry is an issue for the party.

It's also a big day for the Independents and smaller parties - with many making gains across the country - Roscommon Galway for example will see Denis Naughten and Michael Fitzmaurice elected, and the Healy Rae brothers look set to take two of the five seats in Kerry.

Michael is looking to return to his role as an Independent TD, while his councillor brother Danny also decided to run this time around.

The pair were among 16 candidates in the newly-formed constituency.

Danny's paid tribute to their supporters this afternoon: The people of Kerry are a very intelligent people.

And sometimes we have been criticised for kind of politics we do, but when you criticise the Healy Raes you criticise a lot of people in Kerry as well indeed all of them.

Meanwhile Shane Ross missed out on the first count, but he will take a seat for the Independent Alliance in Dublin Rathdown.

He has currently got nearly a quarter of the vote in the new constituency.
Ways to combat future flooding are being examined by thousands of engineers.

A flooding forum is taking place tomorrow as part of Engineers Week 2016.

It will focus on the role advanced engineering can play in finding solutions to the on-going threat.

Dee Keogh, CPD Director with Engineers Ireland has said the threat from flooding is not going away: Its become a huge issue for Ireland,

We will be discussing what can be done to alleviate the situation and remedy it.
A police officer on her first shift after returning to the force has been shot dead and two of her colleagues wounded after responding to a domestic call about an argument.

Officers received a call at around 5.50pm on Saturday in Woodbridge, just outside Alexandria, Virginia, about a "verbal argument", Sergeant Jonathan Perok of Prince William County police said.

He said a military serviceman was in custody and facing a capital murder charge.

Newly-sworn in Officer Ashley Guindon died "as a result of her injuries sustained during the incident", the police department said on its Facebook page.

Ms Guindon was a county police officer a few years ago and had left, then returned to the force, Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, said.

A picture of Ms Guindon was posted to the department's Twitter page on Friday with a tweet that read, "Welcome Officers Steven Kendall & Ashley Guindon who were sworn in today & begin their shifts this weekend. Be Safe!"

It is not known if the other officer in the tweet was involved in the shooting incident.

Mr Stewart said another woman was killed in the domestic incident, but police would not confirm that information. He also said there was a child in the house who was not harmed.

Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert said he had authorised a capital murder charge, along with other counts, against the suspect.

The shooting happened in the Lake Ridge neighbourhood, on a curving street with two-storey homes with values approaching half-a-million dollars, according to county tax records, each with brick and siding exteriors, four bedrooms, multiple bathrooms and double garages.

Until Saturday evening, the big news in the police department was the planned retirement of Chief Steve Hudson, who announced two weeks ago that he would step down at the end of March, and officers' plans for a "polar bear" plunge on Saturday morning to raise money for Special Olympics.

More than 100 patrol cars lined the roads outside Inova Fairfax Hospital early on Sunday morning to stand vigil and provide an escort to the medical examiner for the body of Ms Guindon.

The suspect will make his first court appearance on Monday.
In keeping with Black History Month, the following are some little known facts not normally covered by the Liberal/Left Wing Press:

1641 - Massachusetts becomes the first colony to legalize slavery. Way to go Libs.

1711 - The public slave market opens in New York City near Wall Street. It is believed the price of slaves was determined by the daily "Tyron-Jones Average."

1718 - French establish New Orleans. In three years there are more enslaved Africans than there are white men. Not much else has changed since then. Actually, New Orleans is one of the greatest inventions of all time. Create a city that is 10 feet underwater and fill it with democrats that cannot swim.

June 19, 1865 - Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all slaves in the Confederate States only (not in the Northern States) on September 22, 1862 with an effective date of January 1, 1863. Slaves in Texas did not find out about the proclamation and the end of the War of Secession (it was not a Civil War) until June 19, 1865. The date is now celebrated by blacks in Texas and other southern states as "Juneteenth." Obviously, word traveled slow in those days.

1866 - Two blacks become first to sit in Massachusetts legislature. Most eastern cities have been screwed up ever since.

2010 - The first year the Census Bureau used the term "African American" rather than Negro to classify people by race. "African American" came into use in the 1970s and was made popular by Jessie Jackson in the 1980s replacing "Colored" and "Negro." It is interesting the note that on the 1961 birth certificate of Barack Hussein Obama his father was listed as being "African American" and a resident of Kenya which as a British Colony did not exist as the country of Kenya. Was Hawaii ahead of the times?
Researchers have found that the Chinese Baidu browser and apps based on its SDK transmit user's search terms, GPS coordinates, the addresses of websites visited and device's MAC or IMEI address to Baidu's servers without using SSL/TLS encryption or gaining the users permission.

Baidu Browser is a free web browser for the Windows and Android platforms, produced by Baidu, one of Chinas largest technology companies. The browser offers some features beyond those found in standard browsers, including video and audio download tools and built-in torrent support.

The study from Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto found that:

Baidu Browser for Windows and Android platforms transmits personal user data to Baidu servers without encryption and with easily decryptable encryption and is vulnerable to arbitrary code execution during software updates via man-in-the-middle attacks.

and is vulnerable to arbitrary code execution during software updates via man-in-the-middle attacks. The Android version of Baidu Browser transmits personally identifiable data, including a users GPS coordinates, search terms, and URLs visited, without encryption, and transmits the users IMEI and a list of nearby wireless networks with easily decryptable encryption.

The Windows version of Baidu Browser also transmits some personally identifiable data points, including a users search terms, hard drive serial number model and network MAC address, URL and title of all web pages visited, and CPU model number, without encryption or with easily decryptable encryption.

personally identifiable data points, including a users search terms, hard drive serial number model and network MAC address, URL and title of all visited, and CPU model number, without encryption or with easily decryptable encryption. Neither the Windows nor Android versions of Baidu Browser protects software updates with code signatures, meaning an in-path malicious actor could cause the application to download and execute arbitrary code, representing a significant security risk.

software updates with code signatures, meaning an in-path malicious actor could cause the application to download and execute arbitrary code, representing a significant security risk. The Windows version of Baidu Browser contains a feature to proxy requests to certain websites, which permits access to some websites that are normally blocked in China.

in China. Analysis of the global versions of Baidu Browser indicates that the data leakage is the result of a shared Baidu software development kit (SDK), which affects hundreds of additional applications developed by both Baidu and third parties in the Google Play Store and thousands of applications in one popular Chinese app store.

The Lab also found last year that the UC Browser  with over 500 million users  similarly transmitted private data to its developer  Alibaba, another Chinese company.

Not good  read on why you must uninstall this browser now  despite assurances that the issues above have been addressed.

On November 26, 2015, Citizen Lab notified Baidu of its findings and intent to publish in 45 days. Baidu initially stated that the issues would be resolved in updates released on January 24, 2016. However, after Baidu identified that these security issues affected additional products, they requested Citizen Lab delay publication until after February 14, 2016.

Baidu indicated it would release updated versions of both the Windows and Android browsers by February 14, 2016. Citizen Labs performed an analysis of both updated versions to determine if the issues we identified had been resolved. Not all had been addressed.

The Chinese government strictly controls Internet use. Baidu can, and must, hand over user [meta] data to intelligence agencies and law enforcement. The data collection raises questions about whether it could be used against those who oppose government policies as well as for nefarious activities.

"While Internet companies often collect personal user data for the normal and efficient provision of services, it is unclear why Baidu Browser collects and transmits such an extensive range of sensitive user data points," the report said.

It also found that Baidus mobile apps sent similar data to its servers including IMEI and location.

Citizen Lab published a list of its questions to, and answers from, Baidu. It is an interesting lesson in avoidance and double speak. In particular:

Which laws, regulations, or policies (internal or external) govern Baidus collection of user data? What user data is Baidu required to collect under such law, regulation, or policy? The answer - unable to comment.

Is Baidu required by authorities to collect any user data as a condition for providing uncensored web access through its proxy feature? What data related to the proxy feature is Baidu required to share with the Chinese government? The answer - Unable to comment.

Makes other browsers seem lily white. If you are concerned about such privacy breaches, remove the browser and apps based on its SDK immediately.
In the time it takes to say "my voice is my password" you could be logged in and authenticated at some major banks  ready to be greeted by a virtual assistant willing to help you, or to find and brief a real person.

That is according to Nuances Brett Beranek, who as Director, Product Strategy, Voice Biometrics is fascinated by transformative technologies that have a real impact on our lives. Based in Montreal Canada, he has been with Nuance for the past four years and in IT in various capacities for the past 14 years.

He wanted to speak to iTWire about two specific areas  advances in voice biometrics (VB) and virtual (voice-based) assistants (VA).

When I was in Australia last November we spoke about voice biometrics - being able to verify who you are by voice only. I said at that time it was moving beyond call centre use into cars, mobile phone login, website login, and into our daily lives in the connected home. But what is perhaps more exciting is combining VB and virtual assistants (VA) together for a far better customer experience, he said.

Read on to find out more about VA and the cognitive intelligence (CI) that underpins it. The remainder of the interview is paraphrased to avoid over use of he said.

Lets start with VB  one of many identification and verification strategies. Currently, callers endure an average of 23 seconds interrogation being asked mothers maiden names and other secret questions - that begins each call with a negative experience. Relying on PIN and knowledge questions creates an illusion of security, and opens the door to fraud.

With Nuances VB that comes down to fool-proof identification in under five seconds and a much more positive experience for all. It also reduces the risk of fraud as you cannot fool VB  unique to every person.

But that is purely stage one  a handful of Australian organisations are now using the new virtual voice assistant (VA) to help callers get what they need. That technology is exciting because it is underpinned with cognitive intelligence (CI)  lets call it machine learning  and a huge amount of data about what the company does and what callers usually want.

Early iterations of VA had reasonably narrow parameters to improve accuracy, Please say in a few words what you want to do  Thats about X, so I will put you through to a person who can help.

Newer versions can learn from callers questions, learn from interrogating the company website updates, even listen in on human to human calls to improve outcomes.

Beranek talks of the movie Her, a sci-fi romantic comedy where a person falls in love with their VA called Samantha. We are not talking about VA getting to the stage where you cannot tell the difference between it and a real human but we are talking about VA being able to sense your mood and levels of impatience, to know if you have called before, to quickly help to not only put you in touch with a service agent but too brief them on all it has learned about your request.

We joke about how far this can go  imagine a conference for VAs where they all get together to talk and learn from each other - and all those empty seats in the physical ballroom.

Back to Her Beranek draws comparisons to Siri, Cortana or OK Google. Theses have very finite parameters at present  they recognise a few dozen commands. That is done to improve accuracy and anything they dont comprehend results in presenting search results for what they thought you wanted. To their credit, these VAs are getting better all the time as the world contributes to their local knowledge.

Similarly, Nuancess VA need to be trained to provide high levels of personalised, not generic experiences and where they have been successful it has improved net promoter scores. Customers dont mind a VA if is useful and they dont find themselves yelling Agent, Agent, Agent to bypass it.

Natural voice is best to help a person express what they want  not a series of tick boxes or press option 3 for sales. Even if it cannot help it knows when to pass the call to, and brief, a human agent. People can quickly comprehend if a system is intelligent and there to help them - on the whole, they are glad to use these types of systems.

The desire to implement VA is strongest in the digital channels like web and mobile, but it is coming to call centres, and we will see phenomenal growth over the next two years of VB and VA  companion technologies. The enterprise conversation has turned from should we deploy to when we deploy.

By the way, your own Australian Tax Office now has about 1.6 million users enrolled for VB.

The future

You can see where VB and VA are going. It will know who you are and what you want all using natural language. VA is not there yet, but it is not too far away either. We are working right now on improving accuracy, the speed of recognition, and speed of learning.

Voice will most likely overtake iris, fingerprint and other biometric systems - voice is already part of many IoT devices like smartphones, smart TVs, games consoles, computers, etc. People will be happy with it when they are most comfortable with using it  without doing/saying nothing special to get what you want.
WHO: Saul Caganoff, organiser of APIdays Australia, the Southern Hemispheres largest conference dedicated to APIs.



WHEN: APIdays Australia will be held on March 1 & 2 2016



WHERE: Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre,1 Convention Centre Place, South Wharf VIC 3006



WHY: Banks are now recognising APIs as a way to collaborate  and at times compete  with fintech startups.



At past APIdays events in Australia, banks were reticent to share their experiences, but organisers are now seeing a strong desire from banks to present and share their activities around API strategy.



This year is already showing signs of increased action from banks on their API strategies.



In the closing months of 2015, National Australia Bank (NAB) hosted a hackathon in partnership with Axway, where fintech startups were encouraged to create new products based off the NABs (sample) APIs.

At the start of the month, the ANZ Bank announced a search for a Digital Banking Lead while talking about new partnership opportunities at a Melbourne-based fintech meetup.



APIdays Australia is a unique opportunity to learn and connect with some of the worlds most influential thinkers on the transformative power of APIs, including: Senior Manager, Commercial Feasibility at NAB, James Bligh, Innovation & Digital Services at Barclays, Rana Peries, Head of Enterprise Architecture, Digital at ANZ, Tim Liddelow and Senior IT Specialist at Bankwest, Uli Holtel.



Representatives from Telstra, CA Technologies, Google, Uber and Atlassian will also be at the conference.



The APIdays Global conference team will also be presenting new research following its APIdays Banking APIs: State of the Market Report. The report is an industry survey featuring 22 banking executives around the world on their API preparedness and implementation strategies.



PHOTO AND INTERVIEW OPPORTUNITIES: Organiser of APIdays Australia, CTO at Sixtree, IT Architect and software expert, Saul Caganoff is available for interview now and during the conference.



Speakers will be available for interview and photos during the conference from 1 - 2 March 2016.



Speakers and Program: https://au.apidays.io/



About APIdays Australia: APIdays is a global conference series. The March event is the third event held in the Southern Hemisphere. Previous Australian and New Zealand events of the conference have sold out, drawing representatives from influential organisations in finance, telecommunications, media, utilities, healthcare, technology and government  from start-ups to large enterprises.




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SAYE - Personal Finance & Budget Planner - by Timothy Chan is available for free from the iOS App Store. It runs on all Apple iOS devices with iOS 8.0 or later.

As you might guess, this app helps you manage your personal finances. The app is free, so the app is helping you out immediately!

Almost 10 years ago, in a previous job, I remember vividly how the credit controller described cashflow. He said it was so important to a business that it was just like blood flowing through your veins.

It's the same for individuals and your own personal finance; you have money coming in and you have money going out. How well you manage this can make the difference between comfort and discomfort, future goals and just maintaining what you have. You'll have heard the old faithful sayings, "there's always more month than money" and "you always end up spending at your level of earning". You may certainly know the business truism "what gets measured gets improved" and this is so very true, in our personal life as well as business, be it weight, study time or finances.

Without discipline, humans will pretty much tend to spend what they bring in, without putting money aside, and even without knowing if spending is greater than earning capacity and thus eating into savings.

Here's where SAYE - Personal Finance & Budget Planner - comes in. This app has a very clean and intuitive design so you will master it in moments. It lets you easily create categories for your income and expenses, and then allows you to effortlessly add entries for every time you receive or spend money. The app then lets you review your timeline, observing trends, identifying where you are missing your budget and affecting your future financial goals.

It's free, so you can literally be measuring - the first step to improving - your finances within mere moments. A one-off in-app purchase will remove ads.

The author, Timothy Chan, has made available a YouTube video to demonstrate the app in action.
He will work with the StartupAUS board to continue its mission to transform Australia through technology entrepreneurship. iTWires article is here.

McCauley will take over from StartupAUS Founding Director and Interim CEO, Peter Bradd, who led the not-for-profit organisation and will continue on within the organisation as Chairman.

McCauley joined StartupAUS in 2015 as Head of Strategy and Advocacy. He was responsible for developing StartupAUS' extensive contribution to the Federal Government's National Innovation and Science Agenda and the StartupAUS report on the outcomes of the national Innovation Policy Hack in October 2015.

Prior to joining StartupAUS, he spent three years as an Australian diplomat in Tel Aviv. During his time in Israel, he led the Australian Embassy's strategy and analysis on regional security issues, as well as entrepreneurship and innovation policy.

McCauley, said: I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to play an important role helping Australias economy work through this transformative phase. StartupAUS is an organisation that has a great deal to contribute to the future of Australia and I'm very excited to be part of that. Australia has come a long way recently in recognising the direction we need to take to safeguard our future prosperity, however there is a lot more to do. I look forward to continuing to work with all of our stakeholders to help make Australia one of the world's leading startup ecosystems. We need to think creatively and act boldly to allow us to take full advantage of the huge windfall technology can deliver.

This year StartupAUS will release its most ambitious Crossroads Report to date. Were currently hard at work gathering examples of best practice policy from around the world in order to help Australia join the elite ranks of startup ecosystems in the US, Israel, the UK, and elsewhere. There is a political and economic imperative to ensure we take full advantage of the vast opportunities presented by emerging technology and StartupAUS will be at the forefront of those efforts, he added.

StartupAUS Chairman and outgoing CEO, Peter Bradd said Alex has been an integral part of the StartupAUS team over the past six months. His extensive understanding of innovation culture, as well as his expertise in policy and advocacy can be greatly attributed to his former role as Australian diplomat in Tel Aviv, Israel. Alexs experience working closely with government and entrepreneurial personalities made him the perfect candidate choice for this leadership role.

"As Chairman of StartupAUS, I look forward to continuing to work alongside Alex in what will be an exciting year of innovation, ideas and implementation from government, industry and the broader business community," he added.

Minister for Industry, Innovation, and Science, The Hon. Christopher Pyne MP, congratulated Mr McCauley on his appointment as CEO. Organisations like StartupAUS play an integral role in working to accelerate the growth of Australian startups across the country, Minister Pyne said.

General Manager at Fishburners, Murray Hurps, said: "StartupAUS has been instrumental in helping Australia understand the importance of startups, as well as the barriers to their progress. Peter Bradd will be missed, but the goal is certainly more important now than ever before. Alex has our full support, and best wishes."

CEO of Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association Limited (AVCAL), Yasser El-Ansary, said: StartupAUS has made a significant and important contribution to the innovation and entrepreneurship policy agenda that we have in Australia right now. Weve been collaborating with StartupAUS right from the time of its inception, and were very much looking forward to continuing that work with Alex in the period ahead.

McCauley continued: We are in the process of finalising a range of corporate partnerships for 2016 to help us build our team so that we can meet the increasing need for trusted voices in the national conversation on innovation and startups. We have also received extremely generous support from two individuals - Co-Chairman of CHAMP's Board of Directors and Investment Committee, Bill Ferris, and Director and Co-Founder of Allen & Buckeridge, Roger Allen. The personal generosity of Bill and Roger has been very humbling; it's fantastic to have such luminaries of the Australian business community recognise the importance and quality of the work StartupAUS has been doing. On behalf of StartupAUS and the startup community more broadly I want to say a special thanks to both of them.
iPlum gives you a real U.S. phone number, letting you make mobile and landline calls, or send SMS messages, in 200+ countries with low rates.

You can download the app for free from the iOS App Store or from Google Play.

iPlum lets you finally turn your iPad or iPod Touch into a phone! Of course, it also works perfectly with iPhones and Android phones and tablets.

iPlum is at heart a VoIP app which lets you make calls and send messages via your data connection, which are then converted to the mobile or landline network by iPlum's servers.

For $1/month iPlum gives you a real U.S. phone number which can also receive calls and with a true caller ID. The number is unique to you. This is not essential; you can use iPlum for free without a phone number, and still call and text other iPlum users, as well as make free unlimited U.S. toll-free calls.

If you are a visitor to the U.S. this gives you a local number to use without having to set up any SIM cards, provided you have data available through WiFi or your carrier. The call costs are vastly lower than international roaming. Your contacts can reach you easily on your iPlum number.

It allows you to make calls to over 200 countries. You can make genuine business calls, or even if so-inclined prank your friends with a U.S. number appearing on their screen.

Like Skype, iPlum to iPlum calls are uncharged. Calls and messages to the mobile or landline network are as low as 1c per minute. Unlike Skype, iPlum gives you voicemail for your smartphone and tablet.

iPlum can also offer you privacy by handing out your iPlum number instead of your real personal mobile number.

Call credits can be purchased in multiples of $5, $10 and $20 via in-app purchases.

It is free to set up and try out iPlum so there are no risks in trying it out. Although iPlum is competing against the likes of Skype and Lync and WhatsApp it offers compelling features such as voicemail, free unlimited U.S. toll-free calls, and a dedicated U.S. number no matter where you are.
Hood, based in Sydney, will be responsible for driving momentum for Tecalas cloud and infrastructure services business with private and public sector organisations.



Hood joins Tecala with experience in the IT industry specialising in business development strategy.



Most recently, Hood was Director of Revenue Growth Group, a consulting company specialising in new client acquisition and sales team training.





He was previously CEO of Mobiletronics and Sales Director for AAPT for more than three years, Country Director for Australia and New Zealand with Chello Broadband, National Sales and Marketing Manager at Chubb Security and National Rural Sales Manager at Austar.Pieter DeGunst, Managing Director of Tecala, said, Were delighted to appoint Mark to the role of General Manager of Sales and Marketing. He has a proven track record in high growth companies, and will be a real asset to Tecala as we continue to support our clients growth strategies with a suite of tailored solutions and consulting services which assist companies to increase agility and productivity while lowering costs and propelling sustainable, competitive advantage.
EFA executive officer Jon Lawrence lashed out at the MP for what he says were his hard-line views on national security issues and his apparent disdain for civil liberties, suggesting that he is unlikely to bring a balanced and objective perspective to the important work of this committee.



Independent and objective oversight of Australias security and intelligence laws and agencies has never been more important to ensure that the civil liberties of Australians are not unnecessarily sacrificed in the name of national security, Lawrence said.



Lawrence reconfirmed that the EFA has previously called for greater independence and an expanded scope for the Intelligence and Security Committee, including oversight of operational matters.





Lawrence cited the Committees equivalent in the United Kingdom parliament, which he says has significantly more expansive powers, has recently demonstrated its own newfound independence from government by tabling a report that is scathing in its criticism of the UK governments draft Investigatory Powers Bill, specifically that the bill appears to have suffered from a lack of sufficient time and preparation and the Committee called for an entirely new section dedicated to privacy protections.While the UKs Intelligence and Security Committee has recently found itself defending the privacy and civil liberties of UK citizens in the face of significant government overreach, it is very difficult to imagine Australias Intelligence and Security Committee taking a similarly independent position with Mr Nikolic in the chair. This is appointment is particularly disappointing given Prime Minister Turnbulls previously-expressed support for civil liberties.Lawrence also took a swipe at both the Labor Party and the Coalition.EFA is also disappointed that both Labor party and Coalition senators yesterday voted against a motion moved by Greens Senator Scott Ludlam, which called upon the government to support the continued development and use of strong encryption technologies, resist any push from other governments to weaken encryption on personal devices, and work with law enforcement to develop alternative avenues to obtain information through warrants and targeted surveillance that does not put every Australian at greater risk of identity theft.Just last week, the EFA, along with hundreds of other organisations from over 40 countries, signed an open letter to world leaders calling on them to support the safety and security of users, companies, and governments by strengthening the integrity of communications and systems.Lawrence said that in doing so, governments should reject laws, policies, or other mandates or practices, including secret agreements with companies, that limit access to or undermine encryption and other secure communications tools and technologies.Its disappointing that both major parties have chosen to reject the opportunity to commit to privacy and strong encryption. These are critical enablers of digital communications and commerce, and calls for them to be undermined in the name of national security are fundamentally misguided and dangerous.
Vodafone customers can pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S7 and S7 edge online. They will receive a free Samsung VR headset  while stocks last.

Vodafone has a new plan especially built for the Samsung Galaxy S7. For a limited time, the new $70 plan includes unlimited standard national calls, unlimited standard national and international texts, 6GB of data to use in Australia and the companys award winning $5 Roaming, which allows customers to use their normal plan inclusions in over 50 countries for just $5 extra a day.

Vodafone is offering the 32GB variants of both the 5.1 Samsung Galaxy S7 and 5.5 Galaxy S7 edge in black, silver and gold.

Pricing information

The Samsung Galaxy S7 is available to customers for $7 per month on Vodafones $70 plan over 24 months ($77 per month min spend $1,848).

The Samsung Galaxy S7 edge is available for $15 per month on Vodafones $80 Red plan over 24 months ($95 per month).

Vodafone customers are invited to pre-order the Samsung Galaxy S7 and 5.5 inch Galaxy S7 edge online.

All consumer customers who pre-order a Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 edge will also receive a Samsung Gear VR headset, valued at $159.

Pre-ordered devices will begin arriving on Friday 11 March. Orders can be tracked online.



Retail launch on Friday 11 March



The Samsung Galaxy S7 and 5.5 inch Galaxy S7 edge will hit Vodafone stores nationally from Friday 11 March.

24 Month Plan $40 Red $60 Red $70 Plan $80 Red $100 Red $130 Red Monthly plan cost $40 $60 $70 $80 $100 $130 Galaxy S7 (32GB) per month $35 $20 $7 $8 $5 $0 Total per month $75 $80 $77 $88 $105 $130 Min. cost over 24 months $1,800 $1,920 $1,848 $2112 $2,520 $3,120 Galaxy S7 edge (32GB) per month $43 $35 $27 $19 $11 $3 Total per month $83 $95 $97 $99 $111 $133 Min. cost over 24 months $1,992 $2,280 $2,328 $2,376 $2,664 $3,192



Plan inclusions (full plan inclusions and conditions available here):



Vodafone plans (24 month)

(All inclusions when in Australia) $40 Red

Total min cost $960 $60 Red Total min cost $1440 $70 Plan

Total min cost $1680 $80 Red

Total min cost $1920 $100 Red

Total

min cost $2400 $130 Red

Total

min cost $3120 Data per month 500MB 3GB 6GB 6GB 10GB 15GB $5 Roaming (including free $5 Roaming in NZ until 31/01/17) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Infinite standard calls to 10 selected countries No No No Yes Yes Yes 120 standard international minutes to selected countries No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Free Subscription to Spotify Premium, The Age or Sydney Morning Herald No No No 6 Months 12 Months 12 Months



Spotify, Stan and SMH/The Age data deducted from plan inclusion unless used on Wi-Fi



International call inclusions excludes premium, special or overseas free phone numbers



Additional Data is charged in 1GB blocks at $10 each = $0.01/MB



4G available with a 4G device and an active prepaid recharge or plan with Vodafone Alerts. 4G in selected cities in Australia. See vodafone.com.au/coverage


And, the company reports earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 144% to $2.6million, compared with the same period in the previous year.



The company says its indirect business - providing white-labelled wholesale telecommunications services to Retail Service Providers - performed well in a challenging market with competitive pressures restricting the growth of its smaller retail service provider clients.



Inaboxs Indirect business unit contributed $24.3 million in revenue, an increase of 8% compared to the first half FY15.





Inabox says strategies to grow the indirect business included: Assisting selected clients to acquire other retail service providers Directly acquiring the customer bases of smaller competitors, and Focusing on sales of next-generation voice and data services, which are helping to offset the slow but gradual decline in fixed line services.The companys Direct business - providing IT, communications and cloud-based products and services to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) Australia-wide under the Anittel brand  also performed well, according to Inabox.Direct business contributed $16.2 million of revenue.Since acquiring Anittel in January last year, Inabox has restructured and repositioned the Direct business, and reports that that it is dramatically improving its performance and profitability.Inabox says that in 2H-Fy16 and FY17 it plans to strengthen its Direct business, particularly in the eastern states, with the introduction of additionalproducts and services tailored to its SMB clients.Inabox will continue to invest for organic growth and, where there is a good strategic fit, it will acquire complementary IT and communications businesses, the company says in its statement to the ASX.On its enablement business, provides provisioning, billing and support services to mass market retail customers, Inabox says the unit continued to grow strongly during the half year with 23,000 new supported services added and total supported services now in excess of 55,000.Inaboxs enablement business contributed $1.4 million of revenue, an increase of 93% compared to 1H-FY15.
Reports have begun surfacing that Sony has killed off its Xperia Z series smartphones  once retail stocks are sold that is the end of the orphaned line.

"The Xperia Z line has reached its culmination - Xperia X series represents a new chapter and evolution of our product strategy. While the Xperia Z series was all about bringing the best of Sony's advanced technologies to smartphones, Xperia X series is based on bringing smart, adaptive Sony user experiences across camera, battery performance and hardware/software design," the company said in an official statement.



It is not that the Z series was in any way inferior. iTWires review of the Qualcomm 810 Snapdragon-based, 5.2 Z5 was reasonably good although it suffered from some early firmware issues. The 5.7 Z5 Premium showed none of these issues. In all these were worthy flagship smartphones but regrettably not able to offer the same experience as the Samsung S6/Edge or even the LG G4.

iTWire even avoided commenting on Sony Mobiles ailing fortunes over the past few years  it is about the tech, not necessarily the business. Which makes this reviewer a bit perplexed  the Z series had a lot of life left in it and killing it off only a few months after release smacks of desperation.

Perhaps Sony is so stoked with the new X series that it is willing to take both the flack and a bath on the Z series. My guess is that there are warehouses of Z series and/or lots of people wanting to return them  which under Australian Consumer Law may be an option (seek your own advice).

The Xperia X series was launched at the Mobile World Congress on 22 February. Perhaps prophetically the article was titled the evolution of the smartphone called Xperia X but it could have been the burial of the still-born Z.

The new range covers Xperia XA (budget), Xperia X (standard), and Xperia X Performance smartphones.

That is a good, better, and best scenario although IT media are already decrying the XA series with its lowly HD screen and MediaTekHelio P10 chip as a second-rate smartphone. The flagship X series has a Snapdragon 650 (seriously?), and the X Performance will have a Snapdragon 820.

Sony fans will have to get over the premature death of the Z and wrestle with the X series spanning three markets. Not sure that is a good idea, but Sony should know what it is doing. We must also assume the end of its M5, M4 Aqua, C5, and E4 series as well as the older Z2, 3 and 4 series that are still on sale.
Today Laurie has a guest post at iTWire and looks forward to your comments or those of the content creators and distributors. This posting does not necessarily represent the views of iTWire.

Last week both Village Roadshow and Foxtel finally launched court actions under the eight months old Copyright Amendment (Online Infringement) Act designed to deal with Internet piracy.

The first thing that needs pointing out is that downloading video and audio content over the Internet is a not a crime as such. It is, however, in breach of the intellectual property rights of the producers and distributors.

The so-called site-blocking law was passed by Parliament in the middle of last year, following a concerted lobbying campaign on behalf of the content rights holders who claimed it was a problem requiring urgent action. So it is curious, to say the least, that it took nearly nine months for anyone to make a move. Youd have thought that if unlawful downloads are such a problem and are costing the rights holders serious money theyd have had their lawyers burning the proverbial midnight oil when the Bill was introduced into Parliament so that they were ready to proceed immediately it came into force.

International experience has found site-blocking is more effective as a PR stunt than a real solution. You close them down and they reappear in no time on another site and/or with another name. Whats more, serious offenders with a modicum of technical knowledge can always find a way to access what they want, lawfully or unlawfully.

Another practical issue is there are more than 400 ISPs in Australia. As I have noted elsewhere, [Data Retention: How not to introduce complex legislation] no-one knows how many ISPs there are and so, of course, no-one knows who many of them are even or how to contact them. So how do you ensure that pirate sites are effectively blocked if you only target a small proportion of ISPs?

Graham Burke of Village Roadshow told Fairfax media, The high profile case helped educate people about the threat that piracy imposes on the creative industry to those who didnt realise or understand the implications. This perhaps belies what could be the ultimate motive for heading to the courts now. That and the embarrassment presumably caused to the government by not rushing to use a law lobbied for with such gusto. Others have reported that pressure was brought to bear by the government to finally see some action.

So we are going to inconvenience ISPs and probably see everyones Internet access fees increase as a consequence of the costs of implementing site-blocking, all for a bit of PR?

This is purely conjecture, but you have to also wonder if these court cases arent designed to create a legal precedent in Australia that could be used in other jurisdictions where piracy is a serious problem.

Its not just the site-blocking idea that is problematic. Last year the government ordered the rights holders and the ISPs (represented by the Communications Alliance) to develop a process for sending out warning letters to alleged offenders. A code was developed and lodged with the Australian Communications and Media Authority.

Coinciding with the launch of the site-blocking actions last week came news that the code has been abandoned because the parties couldnt agree on how to fund the operations of the scheme. If the rights holders were serious and unlawful downloading was really costing them big bucks in Australia theyd surely foot the bill for the so-called three strikes warning notice scheme? Or could it be that they just dont think it will work? In which case, why did they spend so much time working on the code? More PR?

Actually, there is scant evidence that these notice schemes are effective and they are somewhat expensive to administer. New Zealand has had one for some years but it is apparently little used. Understandably, then, why would either party want to bear the costs of running something that isnt going to achieve much?

A recently released report from the International Intellectual Property Alliance showed that Australia hasnt been on their global watch list of worst offenders since the late nineties. Internationally we are not seen as a major part of the copyright infringement problem.

The best way to reduce unlawful downloading is to make content available and easily accessible at reasonable prices comparable with similar markets overseas. This view is supported by Prime Minister Turnbull who, according to ZDNet, said last year that, Rights holders most powerful tool to combat online copyright infringement is making content accessible, timely, and affordable to consumers.

Australians have been price-gouged for decades through geo-blocking. Countless Australians have come back from the United States with much cheaper DVDs only to find that they wouldnt work on top-line DVD players (often produced by companies that are also content rights owners). Anyone who legally downloads music will tell you it is much more expensive here than if it were purchased via the same delivery platforms in America.

It would be in the best interests of content creators, perhaps as opposed to local 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. Some surveys have shown that the people who pirate are also among the most active legal downloaders.

Netflix has enjoyed considerable success since entering our market last year, and two local SVOD platforms  Presto and Stan  are both signing up reasonable numbers of subscribers. This tells you that there is pent up demand for the very content that, otherwise, is unsurprisingly subject to piracy.

Well see how these new court cases go, but it is worth noting the very recent failure of the Dallas Buyers Club case, where the distributors of this film sought to identify and force downloaders to pay a retrospective fee for use plus damages.

Internet Australia is committed to effective protection of intellectual property rights, as an important incentive to innovate and create. However we are opposed to the site-blocking law and have argued that the government should conduct a formal review of its effectiveness two years after its enactment, in 2017, if not sooner.

Internet Australia maintains it is time to accept the pointlessness of current strategies to deal with unlawful downloading of video and audio content. And, just as airlines are not held responsible for the knock-off DVDs their passengers bring home from their holidays, we dont believe that making ISPs liable by using the Internet to block content is appropriate.

Note: This article first appeared in Pearls and Irritations hosted by John Menadue. Republished with permission.
WASHINGTON  Hell, said Alabamas Democratic Gov. George Wallace before roiling the 1968 presidential race, we got too much dignity in government now, what we need is some meanness. Twelve elections later, Wallaces wish is approaching fulfillment as Republicans contemplate nominating someone who would run to Hillary Clintons left. Donald Trump, unencumbered by any ballast of convictions, would court Bernie Sanders disaffected voters with promises to enrich rather than reform the welfare states entitlement menu  Trump already says, I am going to take care of everybody  and to make America great again by having it cower behind trade barriers. If elected, Trump presumably would seek re-election, so there would be no conservative choice for president until at least 2024.

The Democratic Party once had to defend itself against a populist demagogue. During the 1932 campaign, while lunching at Hyde Park with his aide Rexford Tugwell, Franklin Roosevelt took a telephone call from Sen. Huey Long, who as governor had made Louisiana into Americas closest approximation of a police state. When the call ended, FDR told Tugwell:

Thats the second-most dangerous man in this country. Hueys a whiz on the radio. He screams at people and they love it.

Who, Tugwell asked, is the most dangerous? FDR, recalling Gen. Douglas MacArthurs violent dispersal of aggrieved military veterans in Washington in July 1932, answered:

You saw how he strutted down Pennsylvania Avenue. You saw that picture of him in the Times after the troops chased all those vets out with tear gas and burned their shelters. Did you ever see anyone more self-satisfied? Theres a potential Mussolini for you.

Trump, who was a big-government liberal Democrat until he recently discovered he was a conservative Republican, has the upturned jutted jaw, the celebration of energy and the flirtation with violence and torture that characterized the Italian who was a radical socialist until he decided he was a fascist. Trump, however, is as American as Huey Long.

MacArthur said all military disasters could be explained by two words: Too late. Too late to discern a danger, too late to prepare for it. The Trumpkins love affair with their hero is too hot not to cool down  unless his opponents quickly act on this fact: His supporters like him, not what pass for his ideas, so the way to stop him is to show him to be unlikable.

Clintons opposition researchers must be delirious with delight about what they already have to work with. The 2012 Obama campaign had to resort to tendentiousness to present Mitt Romneys impeccable business practices as proof that he was a villain. Read what a conscientious conservative, Ian Tuttle of National Review Online, is finding in Trumps already public record (www.nationalreview.com/author/ian-tuttle). Then imagine what fun Democrats will have with Trumps career of crony capitalism lubricated, he boasts, by renting politicians.

Trumps Republican opponents are running out of days, places and people to stop him. Candidates, voters and other daydream believers rail against the establishment, waiting for this corpse to resurrect itself. But it died 50 years ago, on April 24, 1966, when its house organ, the New York Herald-Tribune, expired. The establishment had been comatose since Barry Goldwater brushed aside its feebly arrogant attempt to derail his nomination at the 1964 convention. Today, the conservative movement should pool its sufficient resources to help Marco Rubio defeat Trump in winner-take-all Florida, where Rubio should spend all of his days and dimes between now and March 15. And to support John Kasich in Ohio. And Trump should be bombarded with questions like these:

What are you hiding by refusing to give the public the aesthetic pleasure of examining what you call your beautiful tax returns? Will you at least jot down on a piece of paper your gross income in each of the last three years? And your adjusted gross income on your personal tax returns in the last three years? And how much you paid in federal personal income taxes in those years? And how much each of your companies paid? Will you release the last five years of your personal financial statements  these are already prepared  that banks would have required you to submit annually in connection with the loans you list on the liabilities page of your financial disclosure report?

Trump probably hopes to secure the nomination before releasing pertinent information about his career that supposedly is his qualification for Lincolns chair. Perhaps, like Cole Porter, he knows when a love affair is too hot not to cool down.
Lands' End Inc. CEO Federica Marchionni (left) interviewed Gloria Steinem for a story and photo spread in a spring catalog and on the companys website. After an outcry from some opposed to abortion, the company quickly removed the article on the noted feminist from its website, causing even more fallout from those who accused the Dodgeville firm of caving in to the far right. Credit: Lands' End

By of the

Oops.

In what has the potential to become a case study in the pitfalls of marketing and crisis management, traditional-clothing retailer Lands' End has succeeded in successively alienating two broad swaths of potential customers.

Not to mention appearing tone deaf to America's ideological divisions.

The storm now raging may well blow over before long, but in the meantime Lands' End is getting tons of unwanted attention.

"It's never a good idea to look like you don't know what you're doing," public relations executive John Mose said of the company's self-inflicted wounds from its alliance with noted feminist Gloria Steinem. "Which is, I think, what it looks like now."

Mose and seven other marketing professionals and academics weighed in on two basic questions:

Was it wise for Lands' End to tie itself to Steinem, someone lauded by many but reviled by others?

And with the connection generating angry reaction from individuals, and threats to Lands' End's school uniform business, was it smart for the company to quickly erase references to Steinem from its website and issue an apology for the alliance?

"This is just one of those things that just should not happen," said Paul Argenti, professor of corporate communication at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

The background: Dodgeville-based Lands' End, which is trying to amp up its sense of style and cultivate younger customers under CEO Federica Marchionni, decided to launch a new feature, the "Legend Series," in its spring catalog.

The series, Lands' End said, would be "our ode to individuals who have made a difference in both their respective industries and the world at large. We honor them and thank them for paving the way for the many who follow."

The first legend: Steinem, co-founder of Ms. magazine, author, feminist organizer, political activist ... and abortion-rights supporter.

The four-page spread kicked off with a large photo of Steinem (dressed in a Lands' End blazer, scarf and T-shirt) and featured an interview of her by Marchionni.

They talked about challenges for women in the workplace, the renewed drive for an equal rights amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and Steinem's path through life. Abortion wasn't mentioned, but that didn't stop the blowback.

"What are you thinking to glorify a pro-abortion feminist when you are trying to sell clothing to families?!" one woman wrote on the Lands' End Facebook page.

"How could you not understand that your family-friendly customer base does not want to see a rabidly pro-abortion woman (Steinem) honored as a hero?" wrote another.

Tuesday, LifeNews.com, which describes itself as "an independent news agency devoted to reporting news that affects the pro-life community," posted an article on the Steinem feature. A few hours later, the news organization subsequently reported, Lands' End removed references to Steinem from its website.

On Wednesday, Lands' End issued an apology:

"We understand that some of our customers were offended by the inclusion of an interview in a recent catalog with Gloria Steinem on her quest for women's equality. We thought it was a good idea and we heard from our customers that, for different reasons, it wasn't. For that, we sincerely apologize. Our goal was to feature individuals with different interests and backgrounds that have made a difference for our new Legends Series, not to take any political or religious stance."

In all marketing efforts, companies must consider beforehand "what's the worst thing that could happen," said Sara Meaney, managing director at Milwaukee-area advertising agency BVK.

And there is risk any time a brand links itself to someone, said Emory University marketing professor David Schweidel, who formerly taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Schweidel said breaking off with Steinem and apologizing was the right move if the company's school-uniform business was threatened.

And Syed Akhter, a marketing professor at Marquette University, supported the company's decision to separate from Steinem after the storm of criticism broke.

"I can understand why they pulled back so quickly, because they don't want controversy," he said. "No company wants controversy. ... If their goal was to bury it as quickly as possible, they did the right thing."

But most of the marketing experts interviewed said Lands' End erred in one way or another.

"It's just been a bad decision to associate your fantastic brand with something that was polarizing," said Neeraj Arora, marketing professor at UW-Madison and executive director of the A.C. Nielsen Center for Marketing Research.

"From a marketing standpoint, I think it's fair to say that there was a misstep."

Both Argenti, who researches and writes on corporate reputation, and Mose, who leads the public relations practice at the Cramer-Krasselt agency, said Lands' End's prompt abandonment of Steinem showed the company didn't think things through to begin with.

"You don't do something like what they did at the beginning, pick someone, and then say 'Oops. Sorry. We made a mistake,'" Argenti said.

"How do you make mistakes like that? This isn't a little start-up that doesn't know what they're doing. This is a fairly established organization that should know better."

Said Mose, "It's hard to think if you're sitting in that conference room with them and someone says, 'OK, what do we do if people start to complain about us working with Gloria Steinem?' and the answer is, 'Oh, we'll immediately issue an apology and retract everything.'"

"Who would do that?" he said.

Argenti criticized Marchionni, who took the helm at Lands' End one year ago. The former executive at upscale fashion retailer Dolce & Gabbana came to Lands' End under terms that, among other things, said she wouldn't have to move from her home in New York, nor be required to perform the majority of her duties at the company's headquarters in Dodgeville.

"There's no excuse for a CEO of a company that is public-facing not to be in a position to understand what the potential risks are of the decisions they make," he said.

Once in, though, Argenti said Lands' End should have stuck with its decision to feature Steinem.

"Let people complain about it," he said. "And say, 'We're sorry that people are upset (but) we did the interview, we stand by our interview, goodbye.' And write those customers off."

Marketing professor Ira Kalb of the University of Southern California also said Lands' End should have realized Steinem would raise the hackles of some. And with its speedy retreat, the company stands to anger another slice of the population, he said.

That's exactly what has happened.

By the end of last week, the tide of criticism on the Lands' End Facebook page had shifted, with the comments dominated by supporters of Steinem, feminism and abortion rights. As their counterparts on the other end of the ideological spectrum had done earlier, they, too, vowed never to buy from Lands' End again.

"You have lost my business by succumbing to pressure from the far right," one woman wrote. "I have been a Lands' End customer for 40 years. Gloria Steinem is indeed someone to be honored."

Said another, "Your 'apology' just changed who will be boycotting Lands' End."

The company declined to answer questions on the affair. In a statement on Friday, the firm said:

"Lands' End is committed to providing our loyal customers and their families with stylish, affordable, well-made clothing. We greatly respect and appreciate the passion people have for our brand. It was never our intention to raise a divisive political or religious issue, so when some of our customers saw a recent promotion that way, we heard them. We sincerely apologize for any offense."

Beyond the decisions of individual consumers, Lands' End may have feared damage to its school-uniform business. At least two religious-affiliated schools said last week that they would no longer buy from the firm.

One, School of the Ozarks, in Point Lookout, Mo., hasn't changed its mind after the apology, Sue Head, vice president for cultural affairs and dean of character education at the parent institution of the 297-student Christian school, said Saturday.

Head pointed to an August 2014 incident in which some Lands' End customers were rewarded for their patronage with subscriptions to men's magazine GQ, and the first issue they received featured a nearly naked model on the cover.

Head said she objected to the company, including to then-CEO Edgar Huber, and received profuse apologies.

"So I said, 'You know what, that's fine, but here's what you need to know: The first time you do something like this again, we're done.' And so, therefore, we're done," she said.

The flap doesn't seem to have bothered investors, though. Lands' End shares rose modestly at week's end. But they remain far below the level of early 2015, and the widespread publicity the squall has stirred can't be welcome news at a company that also has seen its sales decline even as it seeks new direction under Marchionni.

She is trying to add more style-conscious customers while holding on to the chino-wearing traditionalists who long have favored the firm's classic clothing lines.

But Hart Posen, a UW-Madison professor of management and human resources and a Lands' End observer, said by email that the Steinem episode suggests "a substantial gap in the top management team's understanding of the current Lands' End customer base."

Arora, who does research on brands associating themselves with social causes, said companies should choose efforts with universal appeal  things such as education or breast-cancer research.

"You want to be in a win, win, win situation," he said. "The company wins, the consumer wins, the cause wins."

Lands' End obviously didn't do that, but Arora, for one, doubts that the controversy will prompt customers to halt purchases to any meaningful degree.

"This is a blip, I believe," he said. "It was a misstep (but the) Lands' End brand itself, I believe, is strong, and folks on Twitter will find something else to complain about."
Davit Hovhannisyan and Itzel Hernandez get ready for story time in the Milwaukee Ballets Scheherazade. Credit: Tom Davenport

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Next season, the Milwaukee Ballet will bring back "Scheherazade," which choreographer Kathryn Posin debuted here in 2003, and "Mirror Mirror," artistic director Michael Pink's dark take on the "Snow White" story.

Unless otherwise noted, all performances will take place in the Marcus Center's Uihlein Hall, 929 N. Water St.

"Scheherazade"/"Angels in the Architecture," Oct. 20-23. The debut of Posin's adaptation of the "One Thousand and One Nights" in 2003 was the first Milwaukee Ballet show to sell out its run of performances before the first curtain. Milwaukee Ballet will pair this revival with Mark Godden's "Angels in the Architecture," which explores the Shaker movement via Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring Suite."

"The Nutcracker," Dec. 10-27. Based on audience feedback, the ballet will fine-tune the Sunday performance times of its annual holiday classic, Pink said.

Genesis 2017, Feb. 16-19, 2017, Pabst Theater, 144 E. Wells St. Once again, three rising choreographers will be invited to create new dances during a three-week period, working directly with Milwaukee Ballet performers. The winning choreographer will be invited to return the following season to create an additional work. Pink pointed with pride to one of the success stories of this biannual competition: 2009 winner Timothy O'Donnell, who joined MB in 2012 as both a dance and choreographer in residence.

"La Sylphide" plus a world premiere, April 6-9, 2017. This unabashedly Romantic fairy story is one of the oldest surviving ballets; August Bournonville's choreography dates back to 1836. MB will pair it with a new work by O'Donnell, his sixth for the company, set to Joan Tower's Concerto for Piano ("Homage to Beethoven").

"Mirror Mirror," June 1-4, 2017. Pink's version of the Snow White tale "is built around decisive acting, expressive dancing, clear connections between characters and a good deal of captivating theater," Elaine Schmidt wrote in her review of the 2014 premiere. Schmidt also praised Todd Edward Ivins' set and costume designs, including a "terrifically inventive mirror (that) became a dark, consuming character of its own."

Subscribers also will have the option to add "Momentum," Milwaukee Ballet II's Jan. 28 performance of new choreography at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center. "Our seedbed company has continued to provide us with so many interesting dancers," Pink said, bragging that 10 of the dancers in the main company's new season brochure came up through MBII.

For subscription and other information, visit milwaukeeballet.org or call (414) 902-2103.
Jack Harter Helicopters tours provide stunning views of the island of Kauai, including the Na Pali coast. Credit: Steve Slosarek

SHARE The Royal Hawaiian and the Moana Surfrider hotels, seen from nearby Diamond Head State Monument, ring Waikiki Beach in Honolulu. Steve Slosarek The Norwegian Cruise Line ship the Pride of America cruises near Kona, Hawaii (the Big Island) on its seven-night cruise of the isles. Steve Slosarek

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During this 75th anniversary year of the attack on Pearl Harbor, vacationers to Hawaii are best to heed the advice of Winston Churchill, who a year before proclaimed that Great Britain must approach World War II with a "by sea, land and air" mentality.

Those visiting Hawaii during this diamond anniversary year will find that Churchill's words ring true to produce a memorable trip to the Hawaiian Islands.

By sea

Norwegian Cruise Line's seven-night cruise of the isles gives visitors of America's 50th state the biggest bang for their buck. NCL's Pride of America is the only ship that departs Honolulu year-round on a weekly basis.

Pushing off from the island of Oahu, the nearly 2,200-capacity vessel lands in Maui for two days, Hawaii (the Big Island) for two days, Kauai for two days and then travels back to Honolulu.

The crew and officers on the Pride of America are American or citizens from U.S. territories, and cruisers experience Hawaiian culture onboard through activities and programs conducted by native ambassadors.

Hawaiian motifs of surfers, palm trees and fish decorate the main sixth-floor deck of the ship, and inside-staircase murals are odes to everything American, including the Grand Canyon and other natural monuments, Hollywood, and cityscapes of Chicago and New York.

The 1950s-themed Cadillac Diner  complete with a jukebox and apropos menu items  provides a natural gathering spot, but the ship offers other nice touches: a weekly off-site luau, a separate children's dining area in the cafeteria, skyscraper partitions (instead of poles) in the Skyline Restaurant, a large fitness center and a Brazilian-style steakhouse.

NCL offers a wonderful commentary during the passing scenery of Kauai's Na Pali Coast, perhaps the most beautiful stretch of coastline in all of Hawaii.

Back in Honolulu, the cruise line's excursion to Pearl Harbor includes a boat ride along the South Channel from the Battleship Missouri Memorial (Mighty Mo) to the USS Arizona Memorial. The latter's tribute to the sunken ship includes the incredibly moving and somewhat eerie revelation of "black tears"  the oil seepage from the fuel tanks of the Arizona's sunken hull that bubbles up from below and swirls along the water in a circular pattern.

The Pride of America is not only an ideal way to be introduced to Hawaii, but also remains a great option for return visits. My wife, son and I only scratched the surface of possible excursions offered on each of the four islands the ship visits, and the cost of the cruise beats the expensive airfare between islands.

By land

Tour companies on all four main islands make visiting the stunning scenery a breeze. We opted for Roberts Hawaii, the state's largest employee-owned and operated tour company. Founded in 1941, Roberts Hawaii also is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

Roberts took us to the Big Island's Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, where the Kilauea volcano has been spewing lava and rock continuously since 1983. The excursion included a walk on a lava field and through the Thurston Lava Tube, a 500-year old, 20-foot-tall lava cave. We also visited the 80-foot-tall Rainbow Falls and adjoining banyan tree forest.

In Kauai, Roberts delivered us to Waimea Canyon State Park, perhaps Hawaii's most underrated attraction. Nicknamed "the Grand Canyon of the Pacific," the gorge is nearly 3,600 feet deep and about 14 miles long. An overlook delivers staggering views of the colorful valley that features a green canopy of trees and red volcanic soils rimming the Waimea River below. Additional blue, gray and purple hues make the canyon a must-see stop.

In Maui, Roberts drove us up to the 10,000-foot volcanic summit of Haleakala National Park. The Haleakala Crater  seven miles across, two miles wide and 2,600 feet deep  features large cinder cones and other volcanic features in its interior. We took a sunset tour, but fog shrouded the view; sunrise tours are advisable.

Additionally in Maui, hiking tour operator Hike Maui took us to a rain forest for a moderately adventurous hike. Two waterfalls within the rain forest included the opportunity to swim underneath the waterfalls and jump from a bluff.

Oahu offers the omnipresent Diamond Head State Monument, a volcanic crater a short distance from Waikiki Beach. We hiked up the crater for a 1.6-mile round trip that included tunnels and a 99-step stairway. The trail climbs 560 feet from the crater floor to an elevation of 761 feet, which offers spectacular 360-degree views of the island.

We had tacked on two extra days in Honolulu: one before the cruise and one after. We stayed on Waikiki Beach, but in different hotels  both of them grand. The Moana Surfrider and The Royal Hawaiian are both Historic Hotels of America as determined by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The Moana Surfrider (a Westin Resort & Spa), considered "the First Lady of Waikiki," opened its grandiose doors in 1901. The revitalized hotel features a spacious banyan tree courtyard, an upper-level museum that chronicles the hotel's history, and numerous festivals and music series on the grounds. During our visit, the Mangoes at the Moana featured a mango farmers market with free samples and upbeat music by the Langley Ukulele Ensemble from British Columbia.

The pink-hued Royal Hawaiian stands out like a beacon, and the large resort is known as the "pink palace of the Pacific." It owns perhaps the most coveted spot on the beach and has expanded to include Mailani Tower. Guests in the tower are treated to complimentary flatbreads, pizzas, wines and beers in the evening and a continental breakfast in the morning. Whether at the Royal Hawaiian proper or in the tower, guests may participate in weekly Saturday evening luaus complete with fireworks from the beach.

By air

Helicopter tours abound in Hawaii, but at the top of the list is Jack Harter Helicopters' Na Pali Coast tour in Kauai. Although the coast is magnificent to see from a cruise ship, the aerial views are unparalleled.

Jack Harter began offering helicopter tours in Kauai in 1962 and is most famous for its optional "doors-off" tours in which the back seats have no doors, allowing for unimpeded photography and videography. The helicopter offers smooth-turning swooshes into the Waimea Canyon, over Na Pali's spectacular sea cliffs and lush valleys, and near the towering, dreamlike waterfalls made famous in "Jurassic Park" and "Fantasy Island."

It's a great overview of just one slice of Hawaiian beauty, of which there is plenty to explore by sea, land and air this anniversary year.

BIG YEAR FOR HAWAII

2016 is likely to be a big year for Hawaii. Besides the approximately 8 million visitors who travel to the islands annually, this year marks two special occasions:

The release of the Disney animated movie "Moana" on Nov. 23. The film is about a young teen from 2,000 years ago who sails across the South Pacific to fulfill her ancestors' quest. A Hawaiian native will voice the title character, who along the way hooks up with demigod Maui, voiced by Dwayne Johnson.

The 75th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. The National Park Service and U.S. Navy already staged a "rehearsal" Dec. 7 for this year's event.

In the past, commemorations took place at the USS Arizona Visitor Center. But in 2015, the event was moved to the more-spacious Kilo Pier on Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. That move enabled more than 3,000 distinguished guests to attend the 2015 event along with the general public.

During this year's 75th anniversary gathering, more than 6,000 are expected to attend in the temporary new location, which also offers clear views of the USS Arizona Memorial and Battleship Missouri Memorial.

The public may attend but will need to park at nearby Aloha Stadium and be shuttled to the free event.
Sarah Bloomquist holds her daughter, Annette, 3, while her son, Archie, 8, enters a room at their home. Bloomquist, who suffered postpartum depression, made sure she had a therapist and psychiatrist lined up for her second pregnancy. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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Shortly after the birth of her first child, anxiety hijacked Sarah Bloomquist.

Instead of the joy she had been anticipating ever since she and Mike, her husband of six years, decided to get pregnant, Bloomquist experienced panic.

The embodiment of hope she had carried for nine months was replaced with a dread that roiled so deeply in her gut that she found it difficult to pick up her newborn son.

Thoughts, typical of the panic associated with postpartum depression, bullied themselves into her brain and tormented her. She imagined, in graphic detail, her son being thrown down a stairwell.

"I'm having weird thoughts," she told her husband.

"It's not your heart," he said. "It's OK."

Of course, she remembers thinking. He was right. They were images. Specters and phantoms that popped into her head and out again.

The suffering, however, was real.

Back at the hospital to have their son's bilirubin checked, Bloomquist put her head in her husband's lap. A nurse peeked into the waiting room.

"Could you please find my doctor," Bloomquist asked. Something was not right.

The nurse returned with the doctor's instructions: Take some Tylenol. Drink more water.

Shortage of psychiatrists

About 13% of pregnant women and new mothers have depression, a serious but treatable condition marked by sad, anxious and empty feelings that don't go away, according to the federal Office on Women's Health.

According to some studies, women who are pregnant with untreated depression have increased risks of miscarriage, premature birth, low birth weight and a form of high blood pressure, dangerous both to mother and child, called preeclampsia.

Women who are pregnant and depressed are at risk to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs, to smoke, to miss doctor's appointments, to not take neonatal vitamins, to eat poorly.

Untreated depression in new mothers is a potentially lethal misery, and it may affect child behavior and development. While therapy can help, pharmaceutical interventions, such as antidepressants, may pose their own set of risks to the developing fetus and newborn.

In January, the non-governmental but influential U.S. Preventative Services Task Force recommended that doctors screen pregnant women and new mothers for depression.

And while screening is easy enough  there are short and simple questionnaires an obstetrician or primary care physician can employ  the second part of the recommendation is proving to be more difficult:

"Screening should be implemented with adequate systems in place to ensure ... effective treatment, and appropriate follow-up," the task force recommended.

While the futility of screening patients without providing appropriate treatment may seem obvious, health care providers across the United States are scrambling to match their ever-growing populations of men, women and children in need of psychiatric care with the ever-shrinking availability of psychiatrists.

Wisconsin is no exception. Psychiatrists are retiring at a faster pace than young doctors are replacing them.

A recent study said that, nationwide, the average number of psychiatrists per 100,000 people is 8.9. Washington, D.C., has the highest rate, 24.

Wisconsin falls near the national average, 7.9.

"Dire straits," said Kirk Yauchler, a manager of services at ProHealth Care Behavioral Health Services in Waukesha.

Marshaling resources

ProHealth Care implemented a perinatal screening program in 2015, and it is marshaling its behavioral health providers to meet the demands of its patients, Yauchler said.

The needs of women suffering a level of crisis requiring hospitalization can be met swiftly, Yauchler said, but those requiring outpatient services will, depending on urgency, encounter waits.

Yauchler said ProHealth is mitigating delays by restructuring the schedules of its behavioral health providers. It is also aggressively recruiting more psychiatrists and adding psychiatric nurse practitioners to its staff.

Other health care systems are making similar accommodations.

Aurora Health Care is spending $35 million to renovate and expand the Aurora Psychiatric Hospital Campus in Wauwatosa.

My Phon Thi Nguyen, a psychiatrist at Aurora Psychiatric Hospital in Wauwatosa, said aggressive recruitment of psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners is underway, primary care physicians are receiving behavioral health training and behavioral health workers are being strategically stationed to provide prompt responses.

Still, she said, the shortage of psychiatrists "is pretty significant. And (because of looming retirements) it is about to get worse."

'I advocated for myself'

Sarah Bloomquist is stepping into the breach.

Bloomquist recently left her position as a counselor at the Women's Care Center  a national pregnancy support program with two locations in Milwaukee  to form her own peer support group: Moms Mental Health Initiative.

Eight years ago, living in Indianapolis, Bloomquist struggled to understand her postpartum depression, to even give it a name.

The actor Brooke Shields' public conversation about the depression she struggled with after the birth of her first child, Bloomquist said, lessened the embarrassment she felt and gave her the words she needed to talk about her dilemma with her doctor.

Still, she said, it took three to four weeks before she received the psychiatric services she needed.

The Bloomquist family now lives in Cedarburg. Before becoming pregnant with her second child, Bloomquist made sure she had a therapist and a psychiatrist lined up and that they were communicating with her obstetrician.

"I had a specific plan in place for where I wanted things to go after my labor," she said. "I advocated for myself."

Providing peer support and teaching women to advocate for themselves is the goal of Bloomquist's initiative and for others like it, such as Postpartum Progress.

"We want to give women the number they need to call to help them get through while they wait for professional help," Bloomquist said.
The other week, I met with a group of students from Fond du Lac High School who were pushing an interesting concept: protecting free speech for student journalists.

As a practicing journalist (yes, I'm still practicing) and former journalism instructor, that's an idea I can get behind. Just as I can get behind their proposal for a state law to provide that protection. And now I'm hoping some state legislators who understand the value of a free media and the need to teach that early and often to students will get on board, too.

What the students (and I) are looking for is a "New Voices" bill in Wisconsin that would protect them from censorship by school administrators except in cases of "material that is libelous or slanderous, constitutes an unwarranted invasion of privacy, violates federal or state law or causes the significant disruption of the orderly operation of the school," according to a draft of sample language for such a bill.

New Voices is a national movement that is pushing legislation in about 20 states to enhance free-speech protections for high school and college media, according to a recent Associated Press article. It's in its early stages in Wisconsin but has been gaining traction nationally following legislation passed in North Dakota last year. Four states have since introduced similar bills, and activists hope at least three others will soon join.

Fond du Lac students came to realize they needed such a law about two years ago when concerned administrators responded to a story about sexual assault with a policy enabling censorship. The school eventually backed down, but student journalism adviser Matthew Smith pointed out in our meeting that could change. A New Voices law, he said, could clarify for students and school officials that students would make decisions about the content they produce within legal bounds.

"They need to know for sure that they're responsible for their decisions," he said.

Some of the students told me that they had pulled back on using some quotes and perhaps pursuing some topics because they worry about the possibility of the administration cracking down. Another said that while topics weren't necessarily an issue, "the way we say things or the way we portray the principal" could be.

"The fear is that they could just as easily do it again," said one.

In an editorial in the West Bend Current, a student media publication for East and West High Schools in West Bend, Lauren Sorenson wrote, "Beginning last year and reaching new heights this year, the writers of The Current have faced new hurdles from the office. Personally I have been muted regarding two topics, and other writers have faced interference, too. For example, the office has required some articles be read and authorized by administrators prior to publication."

I recognize that school administrators feel responsible for student media; that they undoubtedly feel that they are in a sense the publishers of student media. And there is a 1988 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gave public school officials power to censor student newspapers. But that ruling was limited, and left open the door for states to expressly protect students' free press rights.

The students argue that the school is not the publisher, and that school administrators untrained in journalism should not have the power to censor content.

I think the students I talked with have the better point: How are student journalists supposed to learn the fundamentals and ideals of their craft if they have to constantly wonder whether their content will bring down the wrath of administrators?

Smith said he thinks the effort could take a while, but he says he's optimistic. Given the current crop of GOP legislators and their antipathy toward transparency, I wish him luck with that.

Ernst-Ulrich Franzen is the Journal Sentinel's associate editorial page editor. Email: efranzen@jrn.com; Twitter: @efranzen1
Senate Foreign Relations Committee member Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) questions of Secretary of State John Kerry on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday. Credit: Associated Press

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As the nation mourned Justice Antonin Scalia, Senate Republicans praised his judicial philosophy of "originalism"  the view that the Constitution should be interpreted in accordance with the understanding of its authors.

Scalia saw originalism primarily as limiting the power of unelected judges, but he also thought it was relevant to elected lawmakers. Meeting with members of Congress' Tea Party Caucus (Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is a member) in May 2011, Scalia urged them to pay attention to the Constitution and the writings of the founders and to "read up on their roles." Central to Scalia's originalism was the understanding of the Constitution that could be gleaned from the Federalist Papers, the collection of 85 pro-Constitution essays written in late 1787 and early 1788 by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay. Scalia told members of Congress that they "should all get a copy...read it, underline it and dog-ear it." Given the quick announcements by Republican senators (including Johnson) that they will not act on a nomination, it appears few heeded Scalia's advice.

Here's what Johnson and his colleagues might have learned had they paid attention to Scalia and dog-eared the Federalist Papers.

The Constitution states that the president "shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint...judges of the Supreme Court," giving few details on how the Senate is to provide its advice and consent. Federalist No. 76, however, describes the nomination and confirmation of Supreme Court justices with more detail on how that process fits within the Constitution's checks and balances. That essay, written by Alexander Hamilton, is very telling on whether the Constitution's authors thought it was appropriate for the Senate to just refuse to act on a nomination.

One of the great concerns addressed by Hamilton in No. 76 was the argument that the Senate had an unchecked power to overrule the president's nomination. In Hamilton's view, the Senate's power was not without limitation. The ability of the president to make subsequent nominations served as the great counterweight to the Senate's power. Posing and then answering the key question of the essay, Hamilton left little room for the argument that the founders countenanced the Senate letting the clock run out on the president's ability to nominate: "But might not his nomination be overruled? I grant it might, yet this could only be to make place for another nomination by (the President)."

According to this founder at least, the Senate's duty is to act on a nomination, not to delay and avoid acting on one. Warrantless delay and dereliction of duty, as that suggested by Johnson, would upset the delicate checks and balances that the founders created.

It is thus not surprising that when the founding generation Senate did reject for the first time a Supreme Court nominee, it did so promptly. On Dec. 10, 1795, less than a year before the election in which Adams and Jefferson would vie for the presidency, Washington formally nominated his earlier recess appointment, John Rutledge, to serve as chief justice. Just five days later, the Senate rejected the nominee. That same Senate, however, promptly confirmed Washington's subsequent nominee, Oliver Ellsworth, the day after Washington nominated him in early March 1796.

The Senate's obligation of advice and consent does usefully restrain the president's power in one narrow way. It "prevent(s) the appointment of unfit characters from State prejudice, from family connection, from personal attachment, or from a view to popularity." Nowhere does the Federalist, that quintessential text of Scalia's originalism, suggests that it is appropriate for the Senate to withhold its consent based on the judicial philosophy or political views of the nominee. According to Hamilton, the Senate did not have this unbridled discretion because "(t)hey could not even be certain that a future nomination would present a candidate in any degree more acceptable to them."

The Republican senators' praise of Scalia's originalism falls flat when made in the same breath as their statements about how they will behave in the upcoming nomination battle. To live up to the original understanding of the Constitution that they purport to prize, the Senate Republicans should recognize that the Constitution neither forbids the president from making appointments during the last year of his term nor allows the Senate to outright ignore nominations and hold nominees hostage. They also should recognize that while the Constitution empowers the Senate to prevent an unfit person from sitting on our Supreme Court, it does not give senators license to vote against confirmation of a fit nominee with a judicial philosophy different from their own.

Timothy Burns is a lawyer in Madison.
Milwaukee Auxiliary Bishop Richard Sklba, an erudite scholar and national voice for ecumenical relations whose reputation was tarnished in recent years by the clergy sex abuse scandal, has retired, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee said Tuesday.

Pope Benedict XVI announced Sklba's retirement Monday in Rome. All Catholic bishops are required to submit their retirements when they turn 75, which Sklba did on Sept. 11.

In a letter to the faithful on the archdiocese website, Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki called Sklba selfless and a faithful servant, and said he would continue to help out in the local church into 2011.

"Bishop Sklba has combined an extraordinary pastoral approach with the keen sense of a teacher," said Listecki.

Victims of clergy sex abuse offered a harsher view of his tenure, accusing Sklba of participating with then-Archbishop Rembert Weakland in an alleged coverup of numerous cases of sex abuse by local clergy.

Weakland testified in a deposition in 2008 that Sklba was his "go-to guy" for sex abuse investigations, and Sklba has acknowledged in a 2002 letter to an abusive priest's parish that he accepted "my own share in responsibility for the culture of silence in the church."

"Bishop Sklba has yet to come forward and explain to Catholics fully what his involvement in these cases was," said John Pilmaier, co-director of the local chapter of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests. "He owes that not just to families but to the greater community."

Sklba acknowledged the sex abuse crisis in his letter announcing his retirement posted on the archdiocese website, calling it a "deep and painful immersion into the Lord's Paschal Mystery."

"Through it all, we know that our God is always and ever an almighty source of healing and new beginnings," he said.

Born in Racine and educated in Rome, Sklba was one of the nation's youngest bishops when he was installed as auxiliary bishop in Milwaukee in 1979.

A scriptural scholar who holds degrees in theology and philosophy, Sklba has been active in the U.S. Conference of Bishops, the Catholic Bible Association of America and is considered a national voice in interreligious dialogue particularly among Jews and Lutherans of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

"He's really made an outstanding contribution as an ecumenist," said Father James Massa, secretariat for the Conference of Bishops' Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue.

Massa also described Sklba as "a Vatican II priest" who was formed by the liberalizing tenets of the Second Vatican Council, a watershed event in the Catholic Church that is still being debated.

"He had to struggle with all of the effects of the council, too, of the difficulty implementing those changes," Massa said. "He's been a careful interpreter of the council. He was on the cutting edge of change in that period after the council. He understood it well and enthusiastically embraced the reforms . . . and would have been a sympathetic listener to the more liberal, progressive interests in the church that felt the council had not gone far enough."

Sklba served as auxiliary bishop under Weakland, Archbishop Timothy Dolan and Listecki.

He signed off on Weakland's $450,000 payment in hush money to Paul Marcoux, who had accused Weakland of sexual abuse. Sklba led the archdiocese in the months after Weakland's retirement amid that sex scandal, turning over the reins to Archbishop Timothy Dolan in August 2002.

In his recently published book, "A Pilgrim in a Pilgrim's Church," Weakland wrote that Sklba's ordination as bishop almost never happened. According to the book, Sklba had chaired a committee of American biblical scholars that "issued a document stating that from a strictly biblical point of view, the ordination of women could not be decided one way or the other. But a codicil was added that upset the pope: The committee further stated that a positive answer would be more in keeping with the biblical evidence."

Pope John Paul II decided to cancel the ordination, prompting Weakland and Sklba to fly to Rome. Ultimately, after making Sklba explain his position, the pope "finally gave in," according to the book.

Weakland went on to write of Sklba: "His knowledge of scripture and his personal sanctity were always evident. In this selection as auxiliary bishop, God was indeed good to me - and to the people of Milwaukee."
In repeated cases stretching back at least four years, state officials now admit they dont know whether anyone bothered telling parents and local officials about assaults on teenagers at the troubled juvenile prison Lincoln Hills School for Boys. Credit: Mark Hoffman

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Madison In repeated cases stretching back at least four years, state officials now admit they don't know whether anyone bothered telling parents and local officials about assaults on teenagers at a troubled prison  a systemic failure that Gov. Scott Walker's administration initially blamed on front-line staff alone.

Since at least February 2012, state officials at the highest levels have known of attacks and sexual assaults at Lincoln Hills School for Boys without either contacting or fully disclosing the details to county officials, family members of victims and even law enforcement.

The pattern of not sharing glaring problems continued for years, according to leaders in two counties, state officials, former Lincoln Hills staff and a parent of a juvenile inmate. Meaningful change came only after the public learned late last year of a massive federal and state investigation at the Northwoods prison and the sister facility on its campus, Copper Lake School for Girls.

Yet so far, the Walker administration has pinned the problems on rank-and-file workers, assigning no blame to top officials even as Secretary Ed Wall and other leaders are shuffled out the door at the state Department of Corrections. Last month, new leadership quietly put in place a stronger reporting policy for assaults and other incidents at the prisons, where most inmates are minorities.

Jim Moeser, a former head of the state's juvenile corrections division, said the repeated problems can't be explained away by simply blaming low-level workers. Under the state's own policies, it was the responsibility of supervisors, not line staff, to notify parents, police and county child protective services.

"Front-line staff should report these things (to bosses)," said Moeser, who is now the deputy director of the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families. "But to hold them as a scapegoat, it just seems inappropriate."

It was the supervisors and prison administrators who were responsible for ensuring that Milwaukee County officials and parents were told about incidents in which juvenile inmates had arms or wrists broken. Instead, Milwaukee County found out about them in the fall of 2014 from an anonymous tipster.

"Prior to the news breaking in December (2015), the county was not notified of any incident that happened at Lincoln Hills or Copper Lake" since 2011, said Melissa Baldauff, a spokeswoman for Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele. "Since then, the state has started notifying the (county) about any injuries or incidents."

Milwaukee County sends the greatest number of youths to Lincoln Hills.

Wall and other Department of Corrections officials have repeatedly taken credit for starting an internal investigation into Lincoln Hills in late 2014 and involving the state Department of Justice in the investigation in January 2015. But Department of Corrections spokesman Jeff Grothman in recent days acknowledged the internal investigation began at the behest of Milwaukee County.

That internal probe was started Nov. 10, 2014, after the state heard from Kent Lovern, Milwaukee County's chief deputy district attorney, Grothman said. The Department of Justice was brought in on Jan. 14, 2015.

Timothy Johnson, a Lincoln Hills youth counselor who recently resigned, said over his years at the institution he routinely saw inmate-on-inmate sexual assaults dealt with improperly, with parents and law enforcement often not informed.

"There were so many sexual assaults up there that I don't recall them all," Johnson said. "It happened so frequently in Douglas Cottage (for inmates) that they called them the Douglas Diddlers."

Johnson resigned in January after he was on paid leave for nearly a year for two incidents in which juveniles' arms were broken. Johnson denies any wrongdoing.

He said he was often frustrated by how sexual assaults were handled. In one case about 15 years ago, he said a juvenile promptly reported an assault and offered to provide DNA evidence. The perpetrator acknowledged he had a sexual encounter with the victim but no charges were pursued, Johnson said.

"The whole thing was either deliberately covered up or just messed up because of stupidity," he said. "It's hard to make the call because I've seen both."

Now led by the FBI, the criminal probe at the prison is looking at potential civil rights violations as well as allegations of prisoner abuse, excessive use of force, child neglect and sexual assault.

Documents and interviews show a pattern at Lincoln Hills  state officials didn't tell or document telling parents and others about acts of violence inside the prison's walls:

 The mother of one Racine County youth was not told the full story of her son's sexual assault and beating inside Lincoln Hills on Jan. 13, 2012. In addition, the state has no record of telling the family of the perpetrator at the time of the incident.

Neither the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office nor Racine County officials were told by prison officials about the crime. Deputies were told by emergency room staff and Racine County officials by another youth. The perpetrator was eventually convicted of battery and fourth-degree sexual assault.

Since December, state corrections officials and Walker have touted the administration's wide-ranging review of past incidents at the prison involving the use of force. But this 2012 sexual assault is not under review, agency spokeswoman Joy Staab said.

For the state's "absolutely inexcusable" handling of the assault  the words of a former Racine County judge  state officials have blamed rank-and-file workers.

"In this 2012 incident, as I previously noted, front-line staff did not follow DOC protocols to promptly notify law enforcement and Racine County. DOC conducted remedial training to reinforce the importance of reporting information on a timely basis," Staab said in an email.

Despite that training and state officials' assurances to their Racine County counterparts, problems continued.

 Prison officials abandoned the idea of pursuing charges against a juvenile inmate accused of sexually assaulting his roommate on March 15, 2013, even though one former Lincoln Hills supervisor believed they had a strong case.

Corrections officials have no record of whether the victim or perpetrator's parents were notified, Grothman said.

In that case, both the alleged perpetrator and alleged victim were placed in security, which is a form of discipline. The victim was put there for 22 days for "inappropriate sexual conduct" and sharpening the ends of the frames of his eyeglasses, according to the Department of Corrections.

James Townsend, the former supervisor, was fired a month after he conducted his investigation, in part because he refused to modify a report on his investigation at the request of his superiors.

 In another incident on Nov. 13, 2014, involving an allegation of excessive force by staff, there is once again no record that the parents of the alleged victim were notified. Grothman said the youth was not taken to a hospital in that case.

 In another incident involving alleged excessive force on Dec. 9, 2014, state officials say they tried three times to notify the parents of a youth that he was being taken to a hospital. They don't say if they succeeded.

One mother of a Lincoln Hills inmate has said she had learned of a physical attack on her son by another inmate in early 2015 and that she had contacted prison officials, who apologized for not telling her about it and promised to do so if it happened again.

But in the spring of 2015, the mother once again learned about an attack on her son without hearing about it from state officials. This time the woman was afraid to go back to them.

"It's so scary, because who do you turn to? You don't know how high up it goes," said the mother, who is not being named to avoid identifying the alleged victim.

Grothman said the state has taken action against a number of prison workers, including management. Thirty-six employees at the institution, among them five supervisors, have been put on paid leave since late 2014 while officials investigate possible violations of Department of Corrections policies. Of those, three have been fired, six have resigned or retired and five have returned to work.

Paul Westerhaus, the head of the state's juvenile corrections division, and John Ourada, the former superintendent of Lincoln Hills, also were forced out of their jobs late last year, though they were praised by Wall, the outgoing secretary, as recently as Nov. 20.

Since then, the prison's new leadership has strengthened the reporting process at Lincoln Hills for medical staff, social workers, security supervisors and prison leadership, Grothman said.

"Among the practices that have been significantly enhanced is the notification protocol to parents and counties, which increases accountability to staff who are responsible for notifying parents and/or counties," he said.

But Grothman wouldn't directly say whether supervisors had told staff to violate their own rules on notification.

Troy Bauch, who represents workers for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 32, said Lincoln Hills supervisors had fostered "an environment that was illegal and immoral."

"What they called a few rogue staff has resulted in more than 20 people being put on leave. There's more and more evidence coming out that the actions of the line staff were done with the knowledge and direction of the administration," Bauch said.

Senate Minority Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse), who met on Wednesday with incoming Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher, called for legislative hearings to ensure that the state has the right staffing levels and plans to address the crisis.

"It just weighs on me," Shilling said of the allegations of juvenile abuse. "It makes me sick."
6 dead in fire at Hartland apartment complex

Hartland Police Chief Torin Misko said the fire took place at a four-family apartment building on Mansfield Court in the village.
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By IMEMC |  

US President Barack Obama, this week, signed into law a sweeping trade agreement which protects Israel from boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) by countries who oppose the ongoing military occupation of Palestine.

The agreement  H.R. 644: Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015  was passed 75-20, on February 11, and later signed into law by the president, on February 24.

The agreement, according to Maan News Agency, reiterates that US Congress opposes politically motivated actions that penalize or otherwise limit commercial relations specifically with Israel, referring specifically to BDS activities.

The act also cites that congress supports efforts to prevent international organizations or governments from carrying out investigation or prosecution of US citizens who do business with Israel, with Israeli entities, or in any territory controlled by Israel.

The provision, in effect, allows US citizens immunity from conducting trade with illegal Israeli settlements, while its terminology fails to distinguish Israeli settlements from the state of Israel.

This terminology conflicts with the US official line against settlements in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank. But, the White House, earlier this month, said: As with any bipartisan compromise legislation, there are provisions in this bill that we do not support.

Despite the contravention, the White House said that Obama would sign the agreement into law to help strengthen enforcement of the rules and level the playing field for American workers and businesses. The US government opposes the BDS movement against Israel, and, while US law requires that products made in illegal Israeli settlements may not be labeled Made in Israel, the law is rarely enforced.

The BDS movement aims to exert political and economic pressure over Israels occupation of the Palestinian territories in a bid to repeat the success of the campaign which ended apartheid in South Africa.

Israel has been struggling to tackle a growing Palestinian-led boycott campaign which has had a number of high-profile successes abroad.

Moves inside the US  Israels longstanding ally and number one provider of military aid  to criminalize BDS have been slammed by human rights defenders as a violation of free speech.

A similar trend ran through the UK, earlier this month, following British proposals to forbid a boycott of Israeli settlement goods by publicly-funded British institutions.

Rafeef Ziadah, a spokesperson for the UK branch of the Palestinian BDS National Committee, slammed Britains proposed regulation.

By undermining local democracy in service of Israel, David Cameron is standing on the wrong side of history, just as Margaret Thatcher did with her support for apartheid South Africa, Ziadah said.

Via IMEMC



Related video added by Juan Cole:

Toronto Star:  Parliamentary debate on Israel boycott misses the point
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TeleSur

Saudi Arabia has been accused of bombing weddings and carrying out other war crimes against Yemeni militants it claims are aligned with Iran.

Airstrikes carried out by the Saudi Arabia-led coalition waging war in Yemen struck a market in the capital Sanaa on Saturday, killing 40 people, according to Reuters.

At least 30 people were also wounded, said local residents who claimed most of the victims were civilians.

Saudi Arabia and its allies began launching airstrikes in Yemen in March 2015 to beat back a Houthi insurgency that forced the countrys president, Abd Rabbu Mansur Hadi, to flee the country.

The Houthis are a Shia political movement aligned with Yemens former dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh. President Hadi was Salehs vice president, chosen by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to replace him after the Arab Spring rocked Yemen in 2011.

According to the United Nations, nearly 6,000 people have been killed in the fighting while 21 million people are in need of humanitarian aid.

Saturdays airstrikes come a day after a coalition of human rights groups condemned the U.S. and European nations for providing weapons to Saudi Arabia, which they say are enabling it to commit war crimes in Yemen.

Via TeleSur



Related video added by Juan Cole:

PressTV: Last week the Saudis had killed another 60 in bombings of Saadeh, Sanaa
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Potential patients  usually parents  occasionally ask me if I am vaccine-friendly. After having this question posed to me numerous times, Im prepared for the conversation that follows. Ive tried to ease into it in various ways, but none has proven universally comfortable.

The questions phrasing is telling about a persons perspective. It implies that their previous experiences with physicians were perceived as unfriendly. Also, my defensive side infers it would be unfriendly for me to answer in any way other than a vague affirmative.

Patients who decline vaccines can be understandably frustrating. Even with our deep knowledge, experience and the best intentions, our pleas often seem ineffective. We are usually at a loss about how to improve our sales pitch when faced with vaccine refusal. As we see vaccination rates declining in some areas, the angst among physicians is understandable.

Professionally, we must consider our organizations and our own practices policies on vaccine matters. The AAFP has a policy against immunization exemptions. However, this sort of a physician-oriented policy doesnt have much bearing in states that lack strong school requirements for vaccines and allow general parental belief exemptions.

Also, increasing numbers of U.S. kids are homeschooled; that number now stands at more than 1.7 million, according to the Department of Education. So ultimately, many patients  children and adults  can and will remain unvaccinated. And these unvaccinated families will be seeking primary care.

Despite an American Academy of Pediatrics policy discouraging practices from discharging patients because of parental refusal to vaccinate, a growing number of pediatric practices are doing just that. I understand why practices create such policies in an effort to protect newborns and kids with weakened immune systems. I support their right to do so, but I fear these policies will only worsen vaccination rates.

It is our duty to protect our individual patients from unnecessary harm, but how to promote the best public health in our communities is a complex issue. By barring the unvaccinated, we might be able to lower the risk of infections spread by sick patients in our waiting areas and exam rooms, but this practice fosters a false sense of security. Our patients are just as likely to come in contact with unvaccinated sick children at a park, school or library, or, as in the case of last years measles outbreak, an amusement park. Ultimately, unvaccinated sick kids will seek care somewhere  walk-in retail clinics, urgent care centers or ERs  that cannot possibly proactively screen vaccine status or refuse care.

After a lot of consideration, I have elected to provide care to children and adults who decline my vaccine recommendations. My community, Lawrence, Kan., has higher rates of vaccine refusal than do most in the Midwest. Through the first few years of my practice, I have had lots of opportunities to hone my message when the vaccine-friendly question arises.

I always try to be friendly, is one common response. Regarding vaccines, I think its understandable to be cautious of injecting or ingesting artificial substances into your or your childs body, is another comment that has proven to be disarming.

The reasons for vaccine refusal are numerous and varied, so I try not to make assumptions about a persons position or concerns. Asking, What specific concerns do you have about vaccines? is always a great starting point. The usual litany of disproven vaccine harms are common, but there is a wide spectrum of specificity from I just dont like unnatural things to I am ethically opposed to using fetal tissue in medical treatments.

Depending on the initial responses and circumstances, I may address those concerns immediately or offer to continue the dialogue at a later time. Ive realized a single conversation in the clinic  or even a few  is unlikely to change someones mind on the vaccine issue. I have found an email exchange to be a wonderful method of communication for this and other contentious issues.

A 2014 article in Family Practice Management is a great guide on understanding the rationale behind vaccine refusals, and it offers tips on how to best respond. Whether in person or by email, I often start with some basic education on how our immune system works and how vaccines work to boost that process. Even a basic understanding of how something works can make it seem less scary.

The articles final section about trust rings most true to my experience. Although most of my patient encounters will not be specifically about vaccine-related issues, each episode of care allows the patient to see I am caring for them in a rational, thoughtful manner.

My practice numbers are small, but I estimate that 20 percent to 30 percent of unvaccinated kids who start with me become vaccinated within one year. Id love to see that number above 50 percent and hope that longer relationships can achieve that. I recognize some people will not vaccinate no matter how much they trust me with their other health issues  a frustrating paradox, for sure.

Ultimately, if we deny access, I fear vaccine skeptics mistrust of mainstream medicine and the percentage of unvaccinated children will only grow. I think the only plausible way to convince a skeptical parent or patient is through a trusting relationship with a primary care physician.

How do you handle unvaccinated patients in your practice?

W. Ryan Neuhofel is a family physician and owner, NeuCare Family Medicine. This article originally appeared in the AAFPs Fresh Perspectives.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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Activism over prescription drug pricing has reached a fever pitch. The recent House subcommittee hearings featuring testimony (or non-testimony in the case of bad-boy Martin Shkreli) from Turing Pharmaceuticals and Valeant executives provided an outlet for public outrage over those companies price gouging on life-saving drugs. Meanwhile, presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have both talked up plans to rein in spending on prescription drugs, and even Donald Trump announced that as president he would allow Medicare and Medicaid to bargain with drug companies.

The sordid tale of Shkreli and his companys 5,000 percent price increase for a 60-year-old off-patent drug used mainly to treat toxoplasmosis in AIDS patients has been well-documented. Valeant is the other poster child for blatant greed in the pharmaceutical industry with CEO Howard Schiller testifying to the House committee that price increases (most notably for cardiac drugs Isuprel and Nitropress by 536.7 percent and 236.6 percent, respectively) accounted for 80 percent of the companys growth in 2015. Schiller also told the committee that only 3 percent of profits were put back into research. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (NY) summed up Valeants business strategy as buy a drug, set revenue goals and then jack up prices.

The hearing made for good theater but was ultimately disappointing for those of us hoping to actually hear about legislative or other remedies for curbing rising prescription drug costs. Because as Rep. Elijah Cummings pointed out, this problem is not limited to two companies, it pervades the industry.

According to Health Affairs, per-capita prescription drug spending in the United States, the highest in the industrialized world, increased by 12.2 percent in 2014, up from a 2.4 percent increase in 2013. In a Kaiser Family Foundation health tracking poll, nearly three-quarters of all Americans said the cost of prescription drugs is unreasonable and that pharmaceutical companies set the prices too high for their drugs. One-fifth of those who are prescribed medications say they either have to skip doses, cut pills in half, or are unable to afford their prescriptions.

There is ample evidence that certain drugs are driving the increases  in some cases quite dramatically. A survey by DRX, a provider of price-comparison software to health plans of about 3,000 brand-name prescription drugs, found that prices had more than doubled for 60 and at least quadrupled for 20 of these brand-name drugs since December 2014. Meanwhile, pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts reported that drug spending for its clients in 2014 was driven largely by anunprecedented 30.9 percent increase in spending on specialty medications. Specialty drugs, a somewhat nebulous category that refers to high-priced biologics and other therapeutics that are used to treat cancer, hepatitis C, rheumatoid arthritis and other complex conditions, are used by fewer than 1 percent of privately insured patients in the United States. However, according to Consumers Union these drugs currently account for more than 25 percent of all drug spending. This percentage will undoubtedly grow: Nearly 700 specialty drugs are currently under development.

So far the uproar over drug pricing has created a major public relations headache for pharma firms but few consequences. Wall Street projections of many pharmaceutical companies earnings and the salaries of their CEOs point to continued robust profits in the drug business. And patient advocacy groups, many of whom receive significant funding from drug companies and are focused on developing new treatments for their members, have been largely silent on prices.

Even in the face of a 5.4 percent growth in healthcare spending  due in part to higher drug costs (including a whopping $11.3 billion that Medicare spent on new hepatitis C drugs alone)  federal action on drug pricing has been virtually non-existent. In a recent Health Affairs blog post, the authors report that between 2005 and 2014, the number of bills introduced in Congress that dealt with drug prices fell by 78 percent. Over the same time period, those bills receiving formal consideration by Congress decreased by 129 percent. In 2015, the authors note, this trend continued; only 14 bills addressing drug pricing were introduced, and none has passed.

With Medicaid programs feeling the squeeze from rising drug costs, states are increasingly considering legislation that would require drug companies to justify pricing. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, dozens of bills have been proposed to address the high cost of specialty drugs; including rules that would require pharma companies to provide details on marketing and production costs as well as total profits. Most recently, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed a budget provision which would cap prices on certain critical prescription drugs and require pharmaceutical companies to report costs of developing, marketing and manufacturing these drugs. According to STAT News, Cuomos proposal, which must be approved by the state legislature, would also require drug makers to submit information about the prices charged other purchasers in the state and outside the United States, any rebates offered customers, and profit margins, among other things.

Drug companies, predictably, oppose these transparency bills arguing that the cost of developing individual drugs cannot be easily separated out and that this information wouldnt help consumers afford specialty drugs anyhow. Their opposition to transparency and price controls of any kind isnt confined to just rhetoric. In response to a California ballot measure that would force drug companies to charge state programs the same price that VA providers pay, several companies, including Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson contributed a total of nearly $39 million to defeat the proposition. The election is still nine months away, but supporters of the measure have raised only about $4 million.

Industrys response to critics on pricing has been nothing if not consistent  for decades. It follows this general script:

Pharma companies spend billions of dollars each year on research and development to provide safe, effective and life-saving therapies that millions of people worldwide depend on every day. (Actually, PhRMA, the industrys own group, reports that companies spend an average 17.9 percent of total sales on research.)

This requires significant investment; the cost of bringing one drug to market averages $2.6 billion. Furthermore, the FDA will approve fewer than 12% of the candidate medicines that enter Phase 1 clinical trials.

Price controls, increased bargaining power for payers, reimbursement limits and any other attempt to rein in drug costs would curb innovation and slow the delivery of new cures and treatments to patients.

The lack of transparency in the pharmaceutical industry makes it difficult for outsiders to determine the accuracy of these claims. There is a feeling that pricing decisions are sometimes based only on what the market will bear or a vague idea of the value a drug provides. As Andrew Pollack writes in the Times: In many cases, it appears, the price of new drugs is set in comparison to rival drugs already on the market, and usually a bit higher. Companies then can raise their prices for the older drugs. We all look at each other and keep pace with each other, said a director of one multiple sclerosis drug developer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Honestly, there is no science to it.

All of this takes us back to where we began. What are we to do about rising drug costs? First of all, pharma companies need to get in step with other stakeholders in the health care industry. Insurance companies must justify premium increases to state regulators. Hospitals, doctors, and other providers must negotiate rates with private insurers and government payers and, increasingly, are required to report quality and efficacy data linked to reimbursement. The entire health care system is moving toward value-based payment and evidence-driven care why shouldnt pharmaceuticals be subject to similar scrutiny?

Secondly, its a no-brainer that Medicare should be able to directly negotiate prices with manufacturers for the drugs used by seniors under Medicare Part D. Some 83 percent of Americans support this move and Congress has to stop pandering to pharma companiesand their lobbyists. According to the Pew Charitable Trust, Medicare Part D premiums have been flat in recent years but will increase by 13 percent from 2015 to 2016. Seniors are also seeing high-cost drugs put on specialty tiers within formularies, which require them to pay as much as 33 percent of the cost of these medications.

Outrage over drug prices will continue as the industry introduces hundreds, if not thousands more high-priced, specialty drugs into the market in years to come. Companies like Turing and Valeant make easy targets for high-profile Congressional hearings and media coverage. But these few companies are rogue outliers with blatantly abusive pricing structures. Until we start to closely examine pricing and profits at all pharma companies  the consistent 10 percent, 12 percent, 20 percent increases in proprietary as well as generic drugs  rising drug costs will negatively impact patients, insurers and employers.

Naomi Freundlich is a journalist, policy expert and health advocate who blogs at Reforming Health.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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Lovecraft Country  Matt Ruff

Harper  384 pp.  $26.99

A day after I learned of the passing of Harper Lee, author of "To Kill a Mockingbird," I experienced an eerie sensation when I cracked open the covers of Seattle novelist Matt Ruff's new book, "Lovecraft Country," and read the first word of the first chapter. It was a name: Atticus.

Unlike Atticus Finch, the iconic white, middle-aged protagonist of Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Ruff's Atticus Turner is a young, black Army veteran. Nonetheless, each of these characters contends with American racism.

Ruff's obvious nod to another writer from earlier in the 20th century, Howard Philip Lovecraft, is embedded in the "Lovecraft Country" title; and because Lovecraft is known for writing about horror and black magic; and because of the coincidence of Lee's passing  I confess I felt a bit of a chill traveling up my spine.

Ruff's book is set in 1950s America. Atticus Turner has come back from the horror of Korea and is discharged from the Army in Florida. He buys a used car and navigates through the Jim Crow South to return home in Chicago. He isn't exactly eager to get back  his mother is dead and he's always had a complicated relationship with his father  but his dad has sent him a cryptic message about his birthright, and Atticus feels duty-bound to go see him.

But when he arrives home, he discovers that his father has disappeared. Atticus, with the help of his Uncle George, figures out that his dad may have headed to Massachusetts  "Lovecraft country"  home of the Puritans who burned witches at the stake. Something smells fishy, so they feel compelled to go after him. They are accompanied by Atticus' childhood friend, Letitia, who is at loose ends now that her fortunetelling mother has died.

The trio navigates their way east with the help of "The Safe Negro Travel Guide," a publication Uncle George has put out to help black travelers avoid encounters with racist-run gas stations, diners and motels.

Even so, they run into trouble here and there  which is why they are dubious when they are welcomed so warmly upon their arrival at their destination, an estate that is run by the white-skinned Braithwaite family, and that purportedly once was owned by one of Atticus' ancestors. The travelers' doubts are confirmed when they realize that Atticus' father is being held prisoner by a secret sect that is convening at the estate.

Ruff embroiders a complicated, multihued, multigenerational tale of extended family, sorcery, fantasy, space travel, Greek mythology and horror. He knits together the stories of sons, cousins, sisters, friends, parents, aunts and uncles who, through their individual efforts, move the plot toward a rousing conclusion.

This is an ambitious tale that stuffs a lot of hexes and potions and apparitions in with the everyday injustices perpetrated by racism. It seems an odd mix, especially coming from a white author. But for all of his entertaining diversions, Ruff makes some pretty sharp observations about America's history of resilience versus intolerance.
The Bainbridge Island Home Rule Committee played a major part in the two-year effort to form the entire island into one incorporated city, effective February 28, 1991. The committee members included: Back row (left to right) Ted Spearman, Dave Hanson, Babs Brownell, Lyon McCandless, Vince Mattson, Vicki Johnson, Ralph Eells, Anne Bowden, Nancy Friedrich. Front row: Garnie Quitslund, Andy Maron, Shirley Haight, Charles Schmid, Norm Wooldridge (co-chairman), Darlene Kordonowy (co-chairwoman), Jo Schaffer, Bob Conoley and Deborah Cheadle. Not pictured John Haydon, Marien Merkel and James OConnor. To see more photos from the Kitsap County Historical Society Museum archives, visit www.facebook.com/kitsaphistory, Twitter KitsapMuseum, or stop by the museum at 280 Fourth St. in Bremerton. Call 360-479-6226 for information.

SHARE Loxie Eagans was a community activist and civil rights leader who arrived in Bremerton in 1945 following military service. He worked at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and was the first Equal Opportunity Deputy, assisting in recruiting minorities into the shipyard workforce. He served as president of the NAACP and was active in the Bremerton Central Lions club. This photo is courtesy of the Kitsap County Black Historical Society in honor of Black History Month.

In 1941 (75 years ago)

*A condition, with which city police and ferry company officials are unable to cope, has arisen at the ferry terminal during the 5 p.m. rush of workmen returning to their homes in Seattle.

Last night three patrolmen were dispatched to the terminal to assist ferry workers in holding back the crowd of Navy Yard workers boarding the ferry, but they were unable to restrain the men jamming the entrances.

In the past several weeks, a number of workers have been injured in the jam of men boarding the ferry during the rush.

Chief of Police Charles Lewis said today that he doesn't have enough men to send to the terminal at that time to keep the rush down, but he said he hoped to work out something in the near future with the ferry company in clearing up the situation.

In 1966 (50 years ago)

*SEATTLE  King County commissioners went on record today in favor of construction of a cross-Sound bridge on the Vashon Island route.

State Rep. C.W. Beck of Port Orchard said this was the first positive action taken by any governmental agency on the matter.

He urged the commissioner to take a stand, saying that the maintenance of the ferry system is draining funds from the state motor vehicle fund.

Beck said the state is subsidizing the ferry system by $27 million a year.

People wishing to make statements in Tuesday's cross-Sound bridge hearing will need to be registered and will be allowed to speak in order of that registration.

That's one of the ground rules of the Joint Committee on Highways hearing beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the First Federal Savings and Loan Association's conference room.

The hearing is being conducted by the Toll Facility Subcommittee, but many members of the Interim Highways Committee, including chairman state Rep. Len Sawyer of Tacoma, are expected to attend.

It hasn't been decided yet whether a time limit will be placed on presentations. That depends on the number of people indicating a desire to speak.

On Wednesday, the legislators moved to Seattle to hear what residents on the east side of Puget Sound think about the proposed Vashon cross-Sound bridge site.

In 1991 (25 years ago)

*American troops will start coming home from the Persian Gulf shortly but it will take months before many are able to leave, the White House said today.

And the Pentagon warned that before everyone comes marching home again, some troops may have to ship out to Saudi Arabia to help tear down the biggest U.S. military buildup since Vietnam.

Senior officials said that most combat units can expect to return to the United States or their bases in Europe in about the order they arrived in Saudi Arabia.

It was the ultimate good news story for area residents with loved ones serving in the Gulf.

"I wanted this more than anything," said Patty Meyer of Port Orchard, who has three sons in the Army in the Gulf region.

"It's wonderful. I'm thrilled," said Carolyn Cooper of Bremerton, whose husband, Michael, is a tank loader in the war zone. "Now maybe he can come home and we can resume a normal family life."

In 2006 (10 years ago)

*The Olympic torch passed Sunday from Turin, Italy, to Vancouver, British Columbia, as the world's focus shifts from the Alps to the Pacific Northwest, a region that has never hosted an event of this magnitude.

Four years before the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Games, Kitsap officials are thinking of ways to get at least a small piece of the massive tourism pie.

That won't be easy, given that the Kitsap Peninsula is at least a 4-hour drive from Vancouver and that foreign tourists may be reluctant to cross Puget Sound.

Kitsap, tourism leaders concede, is too close to ignore the Olympics but perhaps too far to capitalize on it.

"We're working on a few ideas," said Grant Griffin, executive director of the Kitsap Peninsula Visitor and Convention Bureau, "but it's not going to be easy."

Compiled from Kitsap Sun archives by Ann Horn
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 51F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low 51F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
Why Neyland Stadium cell service is bad and how UT is addressing it
SHARE Michaha Hanson (cq), DNA analysis with BioPet Laboratories, processes samples of dog poop sent to the lab in west Knoxville Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. BioPet is part of a trend in companies that use DNA sampling to test dog poop at residential complexes and public and private parks so the offending dog and owner can be identified. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) BioPet Laboratories is part of a trend in companies that use DNA sampling to test dog poop at residential complexes and public and private parks so the offending dog and owner can be identified. Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) PooPrints is a venture by BioPet Laboratories to use DNA sampling to test dog poop at residential complexes and public and private parks so the offending dog and owner can be identified. Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL) Micaha Hanson, DNA analysis with BioPet Laboratories, processes samples of dog poop sent to their lab in west Knoxville Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. BioPet is part of a trend in companies that use DNA sampling to test dog poop at residential complexes and public and private parks so the offending dog and owner can be identified. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

By Ed Marcum of the Knoxville News Sentinel

The crime scene might be at any of 1,500 apartment complexes around the country and the culprit a furry perpetrator who seized the opportunity of an inviting stretch of lawn.

With no thought of public health, the environment or even concern for the shoes of those living in the complex, the suspect acts, then moves on, leaving the misdeed lurking in the grass.

In the past, this crime might never have been solved, but a Knoxville-based company  BioPet Laboratories  is using the forensic techniques of DNA sampling to hold the culprit, or at least its owner, accountable.

BioPet, headquartered at 6727 Baum Drive, offers what it calls PooPrints  The DNA Pet Waste Solution to help managers of residential properties identify tenants who do not clean up their dogs' waste from the grounds. Each tenant who keeps a dog must have a sample of the animal's DNA taken with a swab to the gums and registered in a database maintained by BioPet. If a pile of dog feces is discovered at the property, a sample may be taken and sent to BioPet to match it with the dog that produced it.

One of the 1,500 BioPet clients is Knoxville's Legends at Oak Grove, 5605 Holly Grove Way, which property manager Adam Chavira said has been using the service since not long after the complex opened in 2010.

The 250-unit apartment complex, which Chavira described as very pet-friendly, was only half occupied but was already having a problem with dog waste on the grounds.

"We were getting calls left and right from people stepping in dog piles, and a couple of dogs got sick from eating it," he said. "Our maintenance team couldn't keep up with work orders and keep the grounds cleaned up at the same time. It was insane."

The complex decided to try BioPet's services, and after a few tenants were hit with fines, the number of dog doo offenses dropped dramatically. Chavira said.

"The poop just vanished overnight. It was amazing," he said.

Heather Korpela, regional manager for 811 East Downtown, 811 Evolve Way, said the apartment complex in downtown Knoxville went with PooPrints when it opened in 2015.

"We have a limited amount of green space, even though we are right in front of a park, and we just want to ensure that the residents don't have dog waste to detract from their use of it," she said.

Residents know about the pet waste policy on the front end, and the complex has not had any residents complain about having their dogs swabbed to collect DNA.

"They seem to love it, because they know that if we are doing it them, we are doing it to everyone," she said.

The complex has about 173 units occupied now, and about 30 percent have pets, Korpela said.

She and Chavira agreed that controlling dog waste is a big problem and expense for managers of residential properties, and Tom Boyd, CEO of BioPet, said this led the company to enter the market.

BioPet was created as a sideline to another business. Boyd, who is the father of Randy Boyd, commissioner of the Tennessess Department of Economic and Community Development, is chairman of EDP Biotech Corp., 6701 Baum Drive, which develops cancer-detection tests.

With that sort of business, there is a long development time before a product produces any revenue, Tom Boyd said. The company had been doing some work in pet DNA research and this turned out to be something that could produce more-immediate returns.

"In cancer research, all you do is spend until you've got it," he said. "So, we wanted an income stream. So they did some research and found out that dog waste was a major problem all over the world."

Chesleigh Winfree, chief scientific officer at BioPet, said that many people do not realize that dog feces is not like that of other animals, and poses unique hazards.

"They are not a ruminant like cattle, horse and a lot of hoofed animals that you can use their waste as fertilizer," she said. "They have a different gut bacteria.

As domesticated animals, dogs have gotten used to eating things their digestive systems were not designed to handle, Winfree said.

"We feed them a lot of wheat that they are not used to, so their guts have really developed into a kind of different beast versus any other animal. Even a well-fed, well-taken-care-of dog produces a lot more bacteria than livestock does," she said.

This makes dog feces more than just a nuisance, Winfree said; it is an environmental and health hazard.

In 1991, the Environmental Protection Agency classified dog waste as a "non-point source of pollution," which puts it in a category with oil and toxic chemicals. According to the EPA, a single gram of dog waste can contain up to 23 million fecal coliform bacteria, which is capable of causing cramps, diarrhea, intestinal illness and kidney disorders in people.

As for its effect on the watershed, waste from 100 dogs could add enough bacteria to temporarily close a bay and watershed areas within 20 miles of it to swimming and shellfishing, the EPA estimates.

Scientists at EDP began working on ways to use the DNA sampling techniques from their cancer research to produce a test for matching dogs with samples of their waste. In 2008, they spun this effort off to become BioPet. Boyd said the company started with three or four people and now has 14 employees.

"And we are doubling about every year in employees," Boyd said. "We are projecting to have 50 to 100 employees in the next three years, and these are high-paying jobs; they are not cheap jobs."

With the average size of the apartment complex served at 300 units, the company estimates it serves about 500,000 apartment units representing about 150,000 dogs, he said.

"At our growth rate, in three years our projection is that we will be servicing a half-million dogs and 3,500 apartment complexes," Boyd said.

The business is focused on residential complexes for now, but BioPet recently launched a program with a London borough to require citizens to register their dogs' DNA through PooPrints. Oddly enough, the borough is called Barking and Dagenham. About 40 other English communities are considering the program, Boyd said.

Property managers are a ready market for PooPrints, but governments, while they represent great potential, would be more complex and challenging to serve, Boyd said. Still, BioPet is working with Tennessee Strategies, a consulting firm operated by former Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale and his former chief of staff Mike Arms to explore possibilities of working with governments, he said.

With the limited land and high population density in places like the London area, dog waste is more of a problem than in many American communities, he said. But Boyd believes it is a growing issue in this country and in Knoxville. Knox County has about 117,000 dogs, and dog ownership is growing in popularity, he said.

"You don't read about it, you don't know about it, but what's happened is people have moved into towns and apartments," he said. "It used to be dogs were spread out all over the country, but now we live in a tight area and more people are wanting dogs. Kids are getting married later and they want a companion. So, you've got single people living in an apartment and wanting a dog. So now you've got this tremendous demand for new dogs."

As the demand for the companionship of dogs grows, communities need to become more aware of the hazards, Boyd said.

"Dog waste is a time bomb waiting to happen," he said.

Watch your step.
SHARE Donna Dewhurst, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Insect-eating tree swallows, with iridescent blue upperparts and snow white underparts, nest in standard bluebird houses. Adding an extra bird house lessens the competition for housing.

Eastern bluebirds are checking out bird houses. They're getting ready for the nesting season. Are your bird houses in place and ready?

While bluebirds have been here all winter, migratory tree swallows are just now coming in. The tree swallows are gradually taking over first place from the purple martins in the category of first small migratory bird to return from their wintering grounds in late winter.

It seems like migrating tree swallows arrive earlier and earlier every year. This year's early arrivals include a lone bird reported Feb. 2 in Hawkins County and another lone bird at Cherokee Dam on Feb. 11 in Jefferson County.

These were followed by several small groups of 2 to 18 swallows in other East Tennessee counties during the third week of February. When tree swallow migration peaks around the third week in March, you might see flocks with as many as 300 birds flying over area lakes.

Purple martins, bluebirds and tree swallows are all cavity-nesters. Many of them depend on humans to supply bird houses for nest sites because natural tree cavities are often in short supply.

The arrival of the first cavity-nesting migrants is a clue that it's time, or past time, to get your bird houses ready. Purple martin landlords always get an early start repairing martin houses and hanging gourds. Martins return to Tennessee as early as the third or fourth week in February. Observant bluebird landlords know that eastern bluebirds start checking out the available housing as early as late February on sunny days.

Most people don't know much about tree swallows. These distinctive blue and white birds started nesting in East Tennessee in large numbers in the past 15 years as they expanded their breeding range into areas south of the Ohio River.

People are learning that migrant tree swallows that stay in Tennessee will likely be interested in using bluebird houses. Let them use them. Add more houses if needed. Tree swallows are a protected and desirable species. You will learn to appreciate them for their big appetite for mosquitoes. Plus, they are beautiful and interesting birds to watch.

Tree swallows normally nest only once a year. After they finish, the bird house will be available to bluebirds for their second nest.

You can recognize a tree swallow nest in a bird house by the presence of several white feathers in the nest material. The feathers are often from Canada geese or domestic chickens.

If you toss white feathers into the air near a tree swallow it may fly in and nab them in mid-air. Tree swallow eggs are pure white. Nearly all bluebird eggs are blue, but they occasionally lay white ones.

Once a bird moves into a bird house, it's illegal to remove or disturb the nest if the bird is a protected native species. Carolina chickadees and tufted titmice will use a standard bluebird house. You should let them use it, but there's nothing to stop you from running off undesirable non-native European starlings and house sparrows.

Add more bird houses as needed so a variety of cavity-nesting species can nest in your yard. People have a tendency to discriminate and favor certain birds over others when it comes to which they want to eat the suet and mealworms and which they want to occupy the bird house.

For many people, the needs of bluebirds come first.

Place a house intended for bluebirds out in the open in the short grass lawn where bluebirds prefer to hunt for insect food in warm sunny areas. Mount it on a metal pole or wood post (not on a shaded tree trunk) about 15 feet from a tree or large shrub that is available for perching while the birds look for insects and watch over their house.

If you install a standard bluebird house in a more heavily planted area in the shade or near the edge of some woods, you may attract a Carolina chickadee or a tufted titmouse instead of a bluebird.

Any tree swallows swooping around will probably prefer the house in the open area that you intend for the bluebirds, so put two houses in open areas. The presence of two houses increases your chances of attracting a pair of nesting bluebirds, and it also allows for a pair of tree swallows.

Freelance columnist Marcia Davis may be reached at tennwren@gmail.com or 865-518-BIRD (2473).
The Case of the Missing Diploma grows more intriguing by the day.

I speak, of course, of the University of Tennessee diploma Knoxville politician Andrew Graybeal claims he received.

Graybeal, a candidate for Knox County property assessor, says he graduated from the Land of Large Orange in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in "applied sciences in electronics engineering technology."

UT begs to differ.

In the first place, the university does not offer a degree by that name.

In the second place, UT cannot find any evidence Graybeal attended classes upon the Hallowed Hill.

In the third place, a search by Credential Solutions, a records-verification company, investigated with Graybeal's name, birth date and Social Security number and couldn't find proof he ever enrolled at UT, let alone graduated.

None of this dissuades Graybeal.

A few days ago, he went on the Hallerin Hilton Hill radio program to insist he was awarded a UT diploma, and it once hung on his office wall. But, gosh-dang the luck, he can't seem to put his hands on it at the moment.

Far be it from me to suggest Graybeal is lying. Instead, harrumph, his diploma merely has been misplaced.

But where? I offer three possibilities.

It is buried near Exit 407 off Interstate 40.

Exit 407 and the adjacent Highway 66 corridor are East Tennessee's Atlanta. Road construction projects there began in 1893 and never have ended.

Thus, it's quite likely Graybeal's diploma lies somewhere under all that dirt, concrete and asphalt.

It's at the bottom of Chilhowee Lake.

I call upon the collective memory of longtime East Tennesseans. How often has Chilhowee been lowered to the old bed of the Little Tennessee River for repairs on Chilhowee Dam?

Short answer: a bunch.

Every time this happens, locals gather along the shoreline to see what historic sites and relics have emerged. To wit:

"Rat thar on 'at rock is whar Pappaw proposed to Mammaw. The family still tawlks about hit today. 'Specilly how old they both looked fer 15. And nobidy node they wuz cousins!"

"Thar's Roscoe's '63 Ford  th'one he claimed got stole back in '74! Hale far! Ever'bidy knowed Roscoe run hit off'n into th'lake, but he shore slicked 'em inshor'nce people!"

Verily, Graybeal's diploma might also reside in the silt and gravel.

Bigfoot has it.

Someone, quick! Contact resident Bigfoot expert Tim Burchett!

Perhaps he can persuade Large Toes to give up Graybeal's diploma and solve this case once and for all.
Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, points at Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump during a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by ABC News at the St. Anselm College Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

By Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News Sentinel

NASHVILLE  Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and his super political action committee supporters have spent more than $1 million in television advertising in Tennessee as a prelude to Tuesday's presidential primary, some of it devoted to attacking Donald Trump, a review indicates.

A poll released Sunday appeared to cement Trump's status as the Republican front-runner in Tennessee. The survey, commissioned by NBC News and The Wall Street Journal, showed Trump supported by 40 percent of likely GOP primary votes, followed by Cruz at 22 percent and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 19 percent.

RELATED: A sampler of presidential campaign ads in TN

On the Democratic side, the poll found Hillary Clinton with a 60 percent and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders with 34 percent.

The television ad total for Cruz and two supportive PACs substantially surpasses the apparent total of about $856,000 for all other Tennessee TV ad spending in support of presidential candidates combined, based on a review of filings by TV stations with the Federal Communications Commission as of Sunday, national media reports and other sources.

Here is a breakdown of the estimated TV ad spending in Tennessee:

The Cruz campaign has spent about $598,000 within the state and also enjoys backing from two well-funded super PACs. One of them, Stand for Truth PAC, has spent about $297,000 and the other, Keep the Promise PAC, has spent close to $150,000 in Tennessee. Combined, they total more than $1 million spent on promoting Cruz or attacking his primary opponents  mostly Trump.

Rubio's campaign has spent about $88,000 statewide. The senator, endorsed by Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, also is backed by Conservative Solutions PAC, which has spent about $388,000 on Tennessee TV advertising. The pro-Rubio total is thus about $476,000.

Trump, a billionaire who has relied substantially on his own fortune for funding, has spent a relatively modest $200,000 on Tennessee TV advertising.

The two other Republican candidates still active in the presidential campaign, Ben Carson and John Kasich, have campaigned in the state but have no reported spending on TV campaign advertising.

Right to Rise, a super PAC supporting former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, had bought about $350,000 worth of TV advertising time in Tennessee, beginning its purchases on Feb. 1  well ahead of other campaigns and PACs, which mostly waited until last week. But virtually all that was canceled before the ads actually ran when Bush withdrew from the race after his poor showing in South Carolina's primary earlier this month.

Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, has spent about $180,000 on TV advertising in Tennessee, all in the Nashville and Memphis media markets where Democratic voters are most concentrated. She has personally campaign in the state, too. Sanders has not visited Tennessee and has spent no reported money on TV advertising within the state.

In Knoxville, FCC filings show about $250,000 in TV ad spending on behalf of Republican presidential candidates. Cruz and the two PACs backing him accounted for about $142,000 of that while Rubio and Conservative Solutions PAC combined had about $83,000 worth of TV ads. Trump's spending in the Knoxville TV market was just $23,180, the reports indicate.

The Republican campaigns are loath to disclose which ads are running where for what they consider strategic reasons, though often the ads are posted on the Internet, candidate's Facebook pages and the like.

A Rubio spokesman, for example, pointed a reporter to the campaign's ad on Haslam endorsing Rubio  subject of a campaign news release and highly promoted otherwise  but declined to say what other Rubio ads are running in Tennessee. Representatives of the Cruz campaign, the engaged super PACs and Trump's campaign did not respond to a reporter's requests via email and phone calls last week for a listing of ads running in Tennessee.

Clinton's campaign, facing no ad competition from Sanders, has in contrast sent out news releases announcing a "six-figure buy" of TV advertising within the state and pointed to two commercials being aired in the Memphis and Nashville markets. One, targeting black voters, has the candidate saying "something is just fundamentally broken" in equality when aspects of "systemic racism" remain. The other ad generally points to Clinton's record of accomplishments as secretary of state, declaring that serving as president is "the toughest job in the world and she's the one who'll make a real difference for you."

On the Republican front, simply watching TV and talking with others who do so around the state provides an indication of which ads are running within Tennessee and that they are following a pattern reported in the national media.

The Cruz campaign has a mix of ads; some made available on the Internet and some not. The one apparently aired most in Tennessee features a general listing of the candidate's conservative views on issues and opposition to the Washington establishment. He also has ads attacking Trump as untruthful.

The super PACs backing Cruz have ads that are more harsh in attacking Trump. Stand for Truth has one ad, seen in Tennessee, that is similar to the Cruz campaign's positive ad, showing the candidate walking with a shotgun over his shoulder and talking with voters. But another, apparently also aired in Tennessee, features clips of Trump saying Republicans are "too crazy," that he is "pro-choice" on abortion and thinks Hillary Clinton is "a terrific woman."

Keep the Promise, the other super PAC supporting Cruz, has an ad  aired in Knoxville, a viewer indicates  that touts Cruz as the candidate who will assure appointment of conservatives to the U.S. Supreme Court. Cruz appointees, the ad suggests, will support "state sovereignty," "the Ten Commandments" and gun rights. Another ad attacks "TrumpCare," likening Trump's position on health care to that of President Barack Obama's "Obamacare" and Clinton's "Hillarycare."

Other than the Haslam ad, Rubio apparently is spending most of his Tennessee campaign money on an ad likening the senator to President Ronald Reagan and declaring it time for the "children of Reagan" to assume leadership. Conservative Solutions PAC, which is supporting him, has ads devoted to comparing Trump to Rubio with Trump roundly criticized. One declares Rubio "an expert on foreign policy" while Trump "knows nothing" and has been supportive of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

A Trump ad aired in Tennessee basically portrays the candidate as fighting the established Washington order while touting his stance on immigration and combating terrorism without mentioning other candidates.

Tennessee's presidential primary is Tuesday.
Donald Trump at the Knoxville Convention Center on Nov. 16. (SAUL YOUNG/NEWS SENTINEL)

SHARE Gov. Bill Haslam Republican presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., takes a picture with supporters Tuesday, July 7, 2015, in Chicago, after he spoke at 1871, an entrepreneurial hub for digital startups. Rubio outlined a plan to lower corporate tax rates, loosen Internet regulation and broaden college accreditation, in his first major domestic policy speech as a presidential candidate. (AP Photo/Christian K. Lee)

By News Sentinel Staff

KNOXVILLE Gov. Bill Haslam amped up his endorsement of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio for the Republican presidential nomination Saturday, calling on Tennessee primary voters to rally together to fend off a hostile takeover of their party by billionaire Donald Trump.

"It is time for Tennessee Republicans who do not want the party of Lincoln and Reagan taken over by Donald Trump to rally around Marco Rubio. It is clear Marco is the only candidate who can beat Trump. With so much on the line for our country, we need Marco Rubio as our nominee because he is the conservative who can unite our party and win the general election."

With Tennessee voters heading to the polls on Tuesday, members of the state's Republican political establishment are gradually coming to terms with the real possibility that Trump  the brash, combative New York real estate mogul and reality TV star  could end up as their party's nominee for president.

Along with that realization come the obvious questions: Will those old-guard Republicans vote for Trump in November, despite his barrage of attacks against the GOP establishment and fears that his insults of women and other minorities could turn off mainstream voters? Or will they stay home in silent protest on Election Day?

Read the full story Sunday online and in the News Sentinel.
SHARE Andrew Graybeal John Whitehead, candidate for Property Assessor, speaks during a debate hosted by the Knoxville/Knox County League of Women Voters at the LMU Duncan School of Law Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016, in Knoxville, Tenn.} (WADE PAYNE/SPECIAL TO THE NEWS SENTINEL) Jim Weaver

By Megan Boehnke of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Knox County voters on Tuesday will elect their next property assessor and law director, while narrowing the field in five other local races heading into the general election in August.

The property assessor's race pits three candidates  none of them incumbents  who have argued whether errors exist in the county's database of property values.

Andrew Graybeal, a real estate agent and process server, has come under scrutiny after the News Sentinel reported earlier this month the University of Tennessee has no record of the degree Graybeal claims he holds from the school. Graybeal has not provided a transcript or diploma, despite requests.

Graybeal has claimed the county's database of property values is riddled with errors that no one is bothering to correct.

John Whitehead, who held the office from 2000-2008, agrees there are errors, but said they were the result of a switch in software systems that happened after he left office. Jim Weaver, who is currently the chief deputy assessor under term-limited incumbent Phil Ballard, has insisted that errors are minimal and quickly fixed when discovered.

Meanwhile, four county commission races will be narrowed during the primary.

In the 1st District, voters will choose between two Democrats: Rick Staples, who has previously run for Knoxville City Council and an interim Knox County school board seat, and Evelyn Gill, who has run for state Senate.

The winner of that race will face Republican Michael Covington and Independent candidate Tyrone LaMar Fine in the general election.

In the 2nd District, Republicans Michele Carringer and John Fugate II face off for the chance to face Democrat Laura K. Kildare in the general election. The district is currently represented by Democrat Amy Broyles, but was recently redrawn to pull in more of Fountain City, a heavily Republican part of the county.

In the 4th District, a three-way Republican race pits incumbent Jeff Ownby against well-known challengers Hugh Nystrom, a community relations director for the nonprofit Childhelp, which works with child-abuse victims, and Janet Testerman, daughter of Kyle Testerman, a former Knoxville mayor.

Ownby has not faced re-election since his 2012 arrest for indecent exposure after police caught him engaging in oral sex with another man at Sharp's Ridge Memorial Park. He pleaded no contest and paid a $500 fine in 2013 on the charge.

The winner of the primary will face Democrat Marleen Kay Davis in August.

In the 6th District, incumbent Brad Anders faces challenger John Ashley, a salesman. Both candidates have recently said the county could see a tax increase during the next term.

Anders has pointed to the need to shore up the budget for the school system and invest in infrastructure. Ashley, who previously said on WBIR-TV's "Inside Tennessee" that he was against a tax hike, told the News Sentinel in early February that it may be necessary.

Democrat Donna Lucas will be waiting for the winner of that primary race.

Just one of the four school board races will have a competitive primary: the 5th District.

School board races are nonpartisan, meaning the top two vote-getters in the primary will move on to the general election if neither candidate receives more than 50 percent plus one vote.

The 5th District, which includes Farragut and other portions of far West Knox County, is the only race with three candidates: former Knox County school counselor Lori Ann Boudreaux, church administrator Susan Horn and attorney Buddy Pelot.

The top two candidates will vie to replace Karen Carson, who most recently ran in a special election for the 14th District state House seat.

In the law director's race, voters will choose between incumbent Bud Armstrong and local attorney Nathan Rowell. No Democrat is running.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, center right, speaks with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, center left, following a rally at Millington Regional Airport in Millington, Tenn., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

By Michael Collins of the Knoxville News Sentinel

WASHINGTON  Donald Trump wasn't Susan Williams' first choice for president.

He wasn't her second choice, either.

Williams initially supported Jeb Bush and then, when he dropped out of the race, cast her ballot for Florida Sen. Marco Rubio during early voting. But if Trump wins the Republican nomination, Williams said, she will support him in November, whether the Democratic nominee proves to be former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

"I'm one of those people that's 'anybody but Hillary or Bernie,' " said Williams, former chairwoman of the Tennessee Republican Party.

With Tennessee voters heading to the polls on Tuesday, members of the state's Republican political establishment are gradually coming to terms with the real possibility that Trump  the brash, combative New York real estate mogul and reality TV star  could end up as their party's nominee for president.

Along with that realization come the obvious questions: Will those old-guard Republicans vote for Trump in November, despite his barrage of attacks against the GOP establishment and fears that his insults of women and other minorities could turn off mainstream voters? Or will they stay home in silent protest on Election Day?

For many, there's nothing to debate. If Trump is the Republican nominee, he will get their vote in November.

"I'm going to eagerly and enthusiastically support whoever gets the Republican nomination," said U.S. Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., a Knoxville Republican.

Duncan said while he agrees with most of Trump's views, "I do wish he had a little more humility. But there never has been and never will be a perfect candidate for any office. I've said all along, any of our candidates would have been far better than Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders. I felt that way when we had 16 or 17 people running. I still feel that way today."

Others have mounted a last-ditch effort to undermine the billionaire's conquest of their party. Gov. Bill Haslam on Saturday called for the state's primary voters to unite behind Rubio against Trump.

"It is time for Tennessee Republicans who do not want the party of Lincoln and Reagan taken over by Donald Trump to rally around Marco Rubio," Haslam said in a statement. "It is clear Marco is the only candidate who can beat Trump. With so much on the line for our country, we need Marco Rubio as our nominee because he is the conservative who can unite our party and win the general election."

Haslam's office dodged earlier in the week when asked whether the governor would support Trump if he's the eventual nominee.

"The governor believes that it's important to let the democratic process happen, and we are right in the middle of that process here in Tennessee and in many other states," said Haslam's spokeswoman, Jennifer Donnals.

U.S. Rep. Phil Roe, a Johnson City Republican, voted for Rubio during early voting because he thinks the Florida senator can appeal to Independents and Latinos and, as a result, has the best chance of winning in the general election.

Regardless, "I'm going to support the party's nominee," even if it's Trump, Roe said.

"A certain percentage of voters are very much attracted to Donald Trump  he's charismatic," Roe said. But, "it's hard to envision how his grand ideas become law. Because the devil is in the details. Getting something done basically requires a bipartisan bill."

U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Brentwood Republican, said she not only expects to support the eventual GOP nominee, "I will work vigorously to be certain our nominee is the next president."

"I find Donald Trump's entrance into the race to be energizing to Republicans," Blackburn said. "He is incredibly well-received in Tennessee. He has given voice to the frustrations of millions of Americans with the political class and with important issues such as immigration, national security, and jobs and economic security. As our nominee, he would have my full support."

What is happening across the country this election cycle, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker said, is that voters are angry with Republicans and Democrats alike because they have not stepped up to deal with the big issues facing the country.

"This election will be a wake-up call to both parties that we must finally take action to address the fiscal, economic and security challenges before us," the Chattanooga Republican said. "While I am not endorsing a candidate at this time, I certainly plan to support the Republican nominee and believe the American voters will choose who they think is the best person to lead our country."

U.S. Reps. Chuck Fleischmann of Ooltewah, Scott DesJarlais of South Pittsburg and Stephen Fincher of Crockett County in West Tennessee also plan to support the GOP nominee, whether it's Trump or someone else, their offices said.

U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Maryville Republican, endorsed Rubio early today, saying the Florida senator "can inspire us, win the election and lead our country." He did not say whether he'd be willing to back Trump in November if the New Yorker is the eventual nominee or say why he decided to publicly throw his support to Rubio just two days before voters head to the polls.

Trump is a second pick at best among Republicans holding local office in Knox County and among members of the county's delegation to the Tennessee General Assembly. But that doesn't mean they won't support him in November.

"I voted for (Texas Sen. Ted) Cruz," said state Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains. "He understands the Constitution and appreciates it."

But Niceley is prepared in case he backed the wrong guy in the primary.

"I like Trump as a backup," he said. "I'm going to vote for the party nominee."

State Rep. Jason Zachary, recently elected from West Knox County's 14th District, said he supported Cruz for similar reasons.

"And he has principles in Christ," Zachary said, "of which I'm a firm believer."

Knox County Mayor Tim Burchett wouldn't say who he voted for in the primary.

"That's why there's a curtain on that voting booth," Burchett said, "though I might tweet it out at some point."

No matter who the state votes for, or whom the party chooses from among the Republican field, Burchett said he'll support the nominee.

State Rep. Martin Daniel, R-Knoxville, wouldn't say who he backed, either. But, "I'll support whoever runs against Hillary Clinton," he said, noting he feels confident she'll receive the Democratic nod.

Victor Ashe, former Knoxville mayor who served as U.S. ambassador to Poland under President George W. Bush, said in an email he thinks it's "unlikely" Trump will win all of Tennessee's Republican delegates on Tuesday.

Delegates in Tennessee, who help determine the national nomination, are assigned to candidates on a proportional basis. Candidates receiving 20 percent or more of the vote, Ashe said, receive a proportional amount of delegates. Ashe is pledged as a delegate for Rubio.

"If I am not a delegate, I still will support Rubio and will do so as long as he is a candidate," Ashe said.

Ashe wouldn't say whether he plans to support another candidate if Rubio drops out. And, according to Ashe, Tennessee isn't always a bellwether for the country.

"Last time in 2012 (former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick) Santorum carried Tennessee, but (former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt) Romney became the nominee," Ashe wrote.

At-Large Knox County Commissioner Bob Thomas said he "just couldn't vote for Trump."

So he pulled a lever for Rubio.

"I think he's a sharp guy," Thomas said. "I think one day he will be president."

If his first choice doesn't get the nomination, Thomas said he'll go with whichever candidate gets the nod.

"Let the people speak," Thomas said. "We live in a society where the majority rules. And I'm OK with that. Just be careful where it's going and who you choose."

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Corker says voters arent angry enough; wont endorse pres candidate
FILE - (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

You've heard it a million times: Don't believe everything you read on the Internet.

But it seems the false news stories just keep piling up.

Last week, a 22-year-old waitress was the target of one of these fake news stories, at the center of a vicious lie.

A website called Infamous Tribune posted a story titled "Detroit woman gives birth to her 14th child from 14 different fathers," and right at the top of the story was a picture of Karena Bennett and her husband with their newborn son.

The story claims this 36-year-old Michigan mother is "extremely proud to have broken a world record" and that she is "good at having babies but awful when it comes to picking the fathers."

Bennett said she laughed it off at first, but as the day went on and the post went viral, the comments, of course, got nastier.

"She's right she has the record for the world's biggest (prostitute)!" one commenter wrote. "Get a job grow up and raise the children you already have. Stop being lazy!"

The article also included a photo of 13 kids, who were supposedly this Detroit mom's 13 other children.

How did the person who posted this fake story get her photo in the first place? Millions of us have family photos out there on social media for the world to see. We are proud of our beautiful photos and love to share with the world, but what do we do when our wish to share a beautiful moment from our lives with the public backfires?

Washington Post columnist and host of CNN's "GPS," Fareed Zakaria, had a similar experience when he became the target of a trolling campaign last month. An obscure website published a post titled "CNN host Fareed Zakaria calls for jihad rape of white women."

Like Bennett, Zakaria assumed the post was not a big deal since it was so absurd, but people began linking to it, tweeting it and adding their vulgar comments as it went viral.

"It would have taken simple common sense to realize the absurdity of the charge. But none of this mattered," Zakaria said. "The people spreading this story were not interested in the facts; they were interested in feeding prejudice."

The scary thing is, if something like this happens to you, there's not much you can do about it. There isn't much incentive for companies to target fraudsters who are illegally using identities unless it directly affects profits, and online defamation of character suits take lawyers, time and money, and not everyone has such resources.

It's a sick world out there and the trolls will keep on trolling as long as the consequences are so few and far between. In the meantime, protect yourselves and your family and be careful what you choose to have displayed for the public to see.
ASSOCIATED PRESS photos Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Monday in Las Vegas. He won the Nevada caucuses Tuesday.

SHARE Diane Pastorino of Las Vegas waits for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to speak at a campaign rally Monday, Feb. 22, 2016, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher) Trump speaks during a caucus night rally Tuesday in Las Vegas. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a caucus night rally Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

The character of the Republican Party is in the throes of a difficult, dramatic overhaul. The purpose of politics is undergoing a fundamental transition. The values the electorate celebrates have shifted substantially. And one more: Nothing like this has happened in a dozen decades.

These are but a few of the many stark and startling conclusions that are unavoidable from South Carolina's bruising primary.

Make no mistake. The party that at its meekest moments (the Dwight Eisenhower years) offered milquetoast echoes of the Democratic agenda and that at its most muscular interludes (the Reagan revolution) still operated within the conventional constraints of politics has entered an entirely new phase, symbolized by the ability of an unfiltered outsider like Donald Trump to prevail in triumph while a refined insider like Jeb Bush retreats to the sidelines in humility, if not humiliation.

Here's a simple measure of the change inside the Republican Party: In the old days, the quiet conciliator could invite the young rebel onto his ticket, as the gray Eisenhower did with the red-hot cold warrior Richard Nixon in 1952; and the crusading ideologue could invite the cultivated rival onto his team, as Ronald Reagan did with George H.W. Bush in 1980. But breathes there a soul who can conceive of Trump offering his running-mate hand to the younger Bush, whom he disparaged mercilessly and contemptuously? And is there the merest chance that Bush would accept it?

To ask the question is to answer it, and to acknowledge that the Capitol itself has become a venue of clashing storm fronts, with the isobars so skewed that they have created a political climate where compromise is devalued and where hopeless acts of intransigence are irresistible. The Democrats have contributed to this version of climate change, but the 100-year storm  actually a 120-year storm  is in the GOP.

Democrats have seen figures like Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders before; they may claim demographic differences  one a woman, the other a Jew  but these two are only contemporary versions of Edmund Muskie (a senator and secretary of state) and George McGovern (a populist from a rural state).

But the Republicans have never seen any figure, let alone a White House front-runner  the party is slowly coming to grips with that label, unavoidable though not yet inevitable  remotely like Trump.

Not Henry Cabot Lodge, who killed Woodrow Wilson's internationalist dream. Not Wendell Willkie, the utility executive, political novice and New Deal opponent who is perhaps Trump's closest antecedent, separated from the real-estate mogul now atop the GOP's lists by his embrace from New York society and his ties to business elites. And not Barry Goldwater, whose takeover of the party in 1964 is oftentimes employed in comparison.

The differences between Goldwater and Trump, and between their movements, are manifold. Both were successful businessmen, and both have ties to Phyllis Schlafly, perhaps the most durable figure in American history  ever. Schlafly, now 91, wrote "A Choice Not an Echo," a pro-Goldwater manifesto that was a remorseless attack on Nelson A. Rockefeller and the New York governor's brand of moderate Republicanism. This year she endorsed Trump, saying, in language she might have applied to Goldwater conservatives a half-century ago, he represents "everything the grassroots want."

But the similarities end there. Goldwater was in the Senate for nearly a dozen years when he won the party's nomination and argued, in his Cow Palace acceptance speech in San Francisco, that extremism in the defense of liberty was no vice. Trump has never held office or offered an overarching credo.

Goldwater rallied a vanguard of conservative intellectuals and sent them into battle against party regulars whose political views were more habits than philosophies. Trump has earned the scorn of the party intelligentsia, from William F. Buckley Jr.'s legatees at The National Review to William Kristol's neoconservative acolytes at The Weekly Standard.

But, more important, Goldwater offered a way of thinking about the world, while Trump offers a way of talking about the world.

Trump's opponents might argue that Goldwater offered policies while Trump offers prejudices, but in truth the Goldwater view of politics had a water-tight coherence (it allowed the Arizonan to be one of only six Republicans to oppose the Civil Rights Act and yet not be tarred as a racist), while Trump's set of views are a Whitman's Sampler of aphorisms and thrusts that his conservative rivals have been able to portray as inconsistent or contradictory.

Why is this happening in the Republican Party? Why now?

That is the ultimate political question of the age. Indeed, political scientists will be examining this for decades, and their answers may include some combination of the following: the eclipse of the Reagan conservatives, whose work was basically concluded with the fall of Communism; the persistent impatience with government; and the comfort religious conservatives have found within the party, especially after the 2000 election of one of their own, George W. Bush.

It also may include the coming of age of a new generation impatient with the assumptions of the political establishment (a factor fueling the Sanders phenomenon), or, more likely, the powerful counterrevolution of those left behind by the tech boom, left unemployed by the Midwestern industrial collapse, left impoverished by the economic crisis of 2008, left resentful that the ladder of social mobility is tottering. Or it may simply be the raw appeal of Trump himself.

But nothing like this has happened since William Jennings Bryan won the Democratic nomination in 1896. That was history, and so is this.
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If there is one policy issue that most Americans can agree upon, even in our hyperpartisan political times, it is that child slavery should not be tolerated. President Barack Obama gave voice to this principle in a 2012 speech before the Clinton Global Initiative.

"When a little boy is kidnapped, turned into a child soldier, forced to kill or be killed  that's slavery," Obama told the audience, which included his then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "It is barbaric, and it is evil, and it has no place in a civilized world."

Later that week, Clinton's State Department implemented "national interest" sanction waivers that authorized millions in military assistance, training and arms sales to countries that allow the use of child soldiers in their armed forces or allied militias. It was the third year in a row the administration had waived sanctions imposed by the Child Soldiers Prevention Act of 2008.

Josh Rogin, writing for Foreign Policy in 2010, described a conference call between Samantha Power, then a senior National Security Council aide, and a group of human rights nongovernmental organization officials who were outraged by the issuance of the first child soldier sanction waivers earlier that year. Rogin, who heard a recording of the call, said Powers "promised that if these countries don't shape up, the administration will take a tougher line when re-evaluating the sanctions next year."

However, the administration didn't take a tougher line the next year, or the year after that.

Jo Becker, advocacy director for the children's rights division at Human Rights Watch, told Rogin in 2012 that in "South Sudan, Libya and Yemen, the U.S. continues to squander its leverage by giving military aid with no conditions."

Jesse Eaves, then-senior policy advisor for child protection at World Vision, told Rogin at the time: "The intent in this law was to use this waiver authority only in extreme circumstances, yet (the annual sanction waiver) has ... become the default of this administration."

Two years later, Eaves was still condemning the Obama administration for its robotic issuance of sanction waivers: "The bottom line is the use of these waivers is dangerous for children."

Becker and Rachel Stohl, of the nonpartisan think tank Stimson Center, wrote a September 2015 column for CNN.com in which they released the results of a joint study on the administration's use of child soldier sanction waivers.

According to Becker and Stohl, "during the five years the law has been in effect, President Obama has invoked 'national interest' waivers to authorize nearly $1 billion in military assistance and arms sales for countries that are still using child soldiers."

They said their analysis "found that only $35 million in military assistance and arms sales  a mere 4 percent of what was sanctionable under the law  was actually withheld from these abusive governments."

Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia and one of the most infamous warlords in Africa, was convicted in 2012 by a U.N.-backed tribunal of aiding and abetting the recruitment and use of child soldiers by rebel forces in Sierra Leone. Taylor was never charged with directly recruiting or using child soldiers. Instead, Taylor's indictment charged him with giving "financial support, military training, personnel, arms ammunition and other support and encouragement."

Nebraska Republican U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, the original sponsor of the law, has described the administration's "national interest" sanction waivers as an "assault on human dignity."

Clinton did not challenge the administration's child soldier sanction waivers. Instead, she embraced the policy  just as she embraced the administration's child-killing drone program, the U.S. military surge in Afghanistan (which doubled the number of child casualties from 2010 to 2011) and an immigration policy that has left thousands of undocumented children in detention facilities and thousands more children with U.S. citizenship in foster care after their undocumented parents were deported with little warning or due process.

Anyone who cares about social justice and still supports Clinton must ask themselves the following question. If Clinton did not stand up and fight to protect the victims of child slavery when it was her job to do so, why should they expect her to stand up and fight for anyone else once she no longer needs their votes?
We all know that Sen. Ted Cruz is a superbly qualified constitutional lawyer. He has told us that often enough. In fact, he is so superbly qualified that he has apparently found language and interpretations in the Constitution that prohibit a two-term president from exercising his constitutional responsibility after his seventh year in office.

Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution states that the president "by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint  judges of the Supreme Court." Most of us ordinary Americans have failed to find any caveat here that prohibits a two-term president from fulfilling his responsibility under the Constitution in his eighth year. But constitutional scholar Cruz seems to have found such a provision.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has despised President Barack Obama since his election in 2007, agrees. Let's not forget that it was McConnell who called a meeting of fellow Republican congressional leaders in his office Jan. 20, 2009, the night of Obama's inauguration, to plot how to undermine Obama's presidency. His goal was to make certain Obama would be a one-term president. How did that work out for him?

McConnell's hatred for Obama has hampered the president in moving the country forward. For example, any great country needs world-class infrastructure to be globally competitive. At the height of the Republican-created recession, when Americans were losing jobs all over the place and money was dirt cheap, they refused Obama's plans to retool our infrastructure, choosing instead the European-Herbert Hoover model for economic recovery.

Currently, the Senate is taking Washington partisanship to a caustic new low by claiming that the president does not have the right to nominate a justice to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia. Shirking his constitutional responsibilities, McConnell says the Senate will not even hold hearings on the president's nominee once submitted  no matter who it is. He claims that the American people should have the right to weigh in on the court through the electoral process. It seems that McConnell has forgotten that the American people have already weighed in, in 2008 and again in 2012, when they elected and re-elected Obama.

The American people never said that Obama could serve only seven years of his two terms. How ironic that the Republican Party, which has so often accused the president of violating the Constitution, is now attacking him for adhering to that document while announcing that they will not do the same. Since 1900, presidents have nominated eight justices to the Supreme Court during an election year. Of those eight, six were confirmed. So where does this nonsense come from that this president cannot nominate a justice during this election year? Pure partisan politics.

The GOP is playing a dangerous political game. At this stage, it is an esoteric exercise. But once the president nominates a real person for the bench, the "game" will become real.

The Republican Party wants to retain control of the Senate, but the recalcitrant nature of the GOP threatens them with loss of control. Republicans have more senators exposed in this fall's elections than do Democrats.

Tennessee's two senators, Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker, have joined this unholy alliance to oppose anybody Obama puts forward as a nominee to the Supreme Court. Why? Because they believe their party will gain control of the presidency this fall. That is the same thing they believed in 2008 and again in 2012. And just as they were wrong then, they could be wrong this time, too.

In fact, this could be the best opportunity for the GOP to have the most influence on who will fill Scalia's seat. If they fear a nominee from Obama, how will they feel about a nominee by President Hillary Clinton or President Bernie Sanders?

However, things could be worse from the GOP perspective. If this country is to continue to be great  and it is  it needs to turn away from the partisan politics that burn too hot and threaten to consume us.
As an aging politician remarked recently, Tennessee is arguably no longer a two-party state in its politics  it's a two-and-a-half-party state.

Under this view, two of the parties call themselves Republicans and, jointly under that label, they hold a supermajority in the state Legislature, all offices elected on a statewide basis and seven of nine congressional seats. Democrats constitute the half party.

This is a close to a mirror image of bygone days when politicians who called themselves Democrats ruled the Tennessee political roost and often split into two competing factions, sometimes with sub-factions. Every now and then, the half-a-party Republicans got to weigh in and decide disputes between the factions.

Perhaps more than today's two main Republican factions, the old Democratic differences tended to involve personalities, for example, Ed "Boss" Crump of Memphis versus Estes Kefauver, to go back a few decades. But the current intra-GOP rivalry also seems to increasingly have prominent personalities on display when there are differences of opinion.

For purposes of discussion, if not exaggeration, consider some developments in the past few days that suggest that Gov. Bill Haslam is the leader of one GOP party while Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey leads the other. House Speaker Beth Harwell, meanwhile, floats back and forth, sometimes resolving a dispute.

Some recent situations:

n In what some called a gunfight at the state Capitol corral, Ramsey launched an effort to allow handgun permit holders to pack their pistols in the buildings where legislators meet and other officials, including the governor, have their offices. Haslam said no. Harwell, after initially backing Ramsey, shifted to the Haslam side. Result: a victory for the governor's faction and, maybe, for the half-party Democrats, who had loudly raged against the proposition.

n Ramsey spearheaded a resolution directing the attorney general to file a lawsuit against the federal government over refugee resettlement within Tennessee borders. With one exception each, the supermajority Republican senators all quickly voted to approve the idea, while superminority Democrats voted no. Haslam demurred, saying, among other things, that the feds were providing ample information on refugees  something that Senate Republicans repeatedly said during debate they were not doing. That situation may indicate that the two factions sometimes don't even talk to each other these days.

Harwell, meanwhile, got caught in a curious sideshow. Breitbart News, an online political news service with a generally ultra-conservative viewpoint, reported that Harwell was "surreptitiously" collaborating with Haslam to derail the resolution in the House  linking this to Haslam's support, at the time unannounced, for Marco Rubio in the Republican presidential campaign. The report, mostly quoting anonymous sources and perhaps indicating a lack of knowledge of House procedural rules, was debunked by a spokeswoman for the House speaker: Harwell actually supports the resolution and has never spoken to Haslam about it. This may be another indication of failure in GOP leadership communication.

n Speaking of the presidential campaign, Haslam's belated blessing of Rubio  after withdrawal from the race of Jeb Bush, openly supported by others in the Haslam family  shows the Tennessee GOP factions reflect national divisions. Ramsey says Donald Trump will win the race, perhaps reflecting his personal preference, though he coyly declines to say so. Harwell just keeps quiet, declining to confirm or deny anonymous sources contending she's a surreptitious Rubio backer.

The Republican divisions have been on display otherwise this year in situations too numerous to list here. The most attention-getting example was the school voucher bill, approved by Senate Republicans in lock-step fashion with Ramsey, but failing in the House where one faction of supermajority Republicans aligned with opposing superminority Democrats. Some voucher advocates complain that Harwell and Haslam were only lukewarm in backing the proposal.

Ergo, the two-party system is alive and well in Tennessee as long as you don't pay attention to the labels they use, and maybe is even evolving into a three-party system.

More from Tom Humphrey at "Humphrey on the Hill:"
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The state Senate voted last week to direct Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery III to sue the federal government over its refugee resettlement program.

The resolution, which passed on a 27-5 vote, would give Slatery the option of filing a new lawsuit or joining states that have already filed suits. The House of Representatives now will take up the measure.

Gov. Bill Haslam is right to express misgivings about jumping into a lawsuit. Attorneys typically are consulted prior to making a decision whether to seek a legal remedy, but the Senate has plowed ahead anyway. The House would be wise to seek Slatery's official opinion about the state's legal prospects before its vote.

The resolution stems from concerns over the possibility that terrorists could enter the country masquerading as refugees, particularly those coming from war-torn Syria and Iraq. Last year Slatery advised lawmakers they could not refuse the resettlement of refugees in Tennessee because the federal government has exclusive authority to regulate immigration, including people with refugee status.

House members might want to consider the extralegal implications of the resolution. As a nation of immigrants, the United States always has welcomed refugees from oppression. This lawsuit would have ramifications affecting all refugees living in Tennessee, no matter what their nation of origin.

As a basis for the lawsuit, the resolution claims the federal government has not consulted regularly with the state as required by the Refugee Act of 1980 and cannot compel the state to provide funding for services to refugees.

Under the Refugee Act, states must operate programs to help refugees settle in their jurisdictions by providing social services and promoting employment and self-sufficiency. If a state opts out, as a dozen have done, the federal government contracts with a nonprofit organization to run the program. Tennessee opted out in 2007 and Catholic Charities took over, establishing the Tennessee Office for Refugees. The office is funded by the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement.

The legal question would be whether the federal Office of Refugee Resettlement satisfies the law's consultation requirement by working with the state's surrogate, Catholic Charities.

Even states that opt out must provide some services to refugees. Those who qualify for Medicaid, for example, receive health insurance through TennCare. Under federal law, states can lose Medicaid funding if they deny services to qualified populations such as refugees. The resolution cites the U.S. Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act that made Medicaid expansion optional to argue that the federal government cannot "coerce" the state in such a manner.

The 2012 opinion provided that states could decide not to expand their Medicaid programs without putting existing Medicaid funding at risk. The ruling, however, also clearly states that states must comply with federal regulations  which would include qualifications  to receive money for Medicaid. Since refugees can qualify for Medicaid, Tennessee has to include them under TennCare or forego all the program's funding.

The resolution also states the federal government cannot force Tennessee to spend money on programs absent legislative action, implying that the Legislature has not voted on funding programs that benefit refugees. That is a curious argument to put forward since the Legislature approves state appropriations, including TennCare.

Despite the wisdom of seeking legal counsel first, the Senate wants to move ahead  to the point that the resolution gives pre-authorization to hiring outside counsel if Slatery deems the quest Quixotic.

The House should consider the effort based not on political calculation but on legal and humanitarian grounds. At the very least, legislators should get Slatery's advice before, not after, authorizing a lawsuit.
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Ted Cruz has a long history of fighting for the American people, not lobbyists or big government bureaucrats. We would do well to remember that as we go to the polls March 1. It seems that message is being overshadowed by the mudslinging, accusatory sentences flowing from the mouths of some of the candidates, even when they have no proof to back up their character assassinations.

Going back to the start of his political career in 2012, Cruz has a consistent record of doing exactly what he tells the voters he will do. With the betrayals we've seen from Washington, D.C., that is something that distinguishes Cruz from the rest of the field. This is the same man who won five Supreme Court cases before entering politics, including his work on the Heller decision that affirmed our rights as Americans to individually own firearms. He's worked tirelessly to secure the border, speaking out as early as 2011 about enforcing our immigration laws. He fought Marco Rubio's Gang of 8 amnesty, fought gun control infringements on the rights of everyday Americans and worked tirelessly to expose Obamacare's shortcomings to the American public.

Cruz continues to fight for causes beneficial to the American people, holding consistent to core values that cannot and must not be compromised if we are to live in a free republic. We can count on him to do exactly as he said he would do. We must look at a candidate's record, not just his rhetoric. When you do there is a clear choice for sending someone to Washington to fight for the American people. That man is Cruz. I hope you'll join me in supporting him in our Tennessee primary March 1.

Craig A. Reasor, Knoxville
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Greg Johnson worked hard to disguise Donald Trump's empty threats as being "without substance." The only way his twisted logic makes sense is if one uses "truth" in place of "substance." First, Trump said George W. Bush's war in Iraq was based on lies. This was actually true. Remember the lack of weapons of mass destruction? Remember the "Mission Accomplished" scene on the aircraft carrier? The war dragged on until 2009, and President Barack Obama ended it.

All that truth slipped out of sight when Johnson started praising Marco Rubio, his apparent choice for president, but we have questions. How could Rubio know much about foreign policy or any other critical issue facing our country when he has missed so many votes and hearings in Congress? And what about his comment on NATO? What proof does he have that NATO needs rebuilding? It seems as though Johnson is lacking in substance himself in most all his columns  a lot of hints, rumors, gossip, accusations, outright hatred of our president, and absolutely no factual information, just nasty rhetoric.

Mary L. Wilson, Knoxville
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I saw something on the news that was both interesting and terrifying. A reporter asked three people how they would vote. One said she liked Ben Carson but would vote for who was popular because she didn't want to waste her vote. This kind of mentality has gotten us in the situation we are in now.

A vote is not wasted if you vote for whoever has ideas and beliefs similar to yours, but if you just vote for Mr. or Ms. Popular, it could be.

Take me, for example. I am not qualified to be president. If I managed to get my name on the ballot, I would receive only a small number of votes from relatives and friends.

But if the media liked me, they could talk a lot about me and get my face out there. Then the popular voters would take interest and my ratings would go up. After a few primaries I would gain more voters. I could end up winning the election because of the popular voters.

The next thing you know I am standing in the middle of the Oval Office, lost, because I am not qualified to be there. Then you, as American citizens, begin to complain and say the new president is an idiot and doesn't know what he is doing. And you would be correct. But you are partly to blame because you voted for Mr. Popular and got me the job.

As long as you vote your conscience, your vote is not wasted. One of the remaining candidates will win the election. Cast your vote for the candidate whose ideas are closest to your own. Your candidate may not win. They can't all win. But you will have the satisfaction of knowing you tried to make things better than they are now.

Terry Young, Philadelphia, Tenn.
By Yoon Sung-won

A U.S. appeals court has nullified key Apple patents, helping Samsung accelerate its efforts for an "exit strategy" from its long-running patent disputes with its "love-and-hate" American business partner.

Last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington D.C. overturned the original verdict that confirmed Samsung's infringement on Apple's three patent rights and nullified the charge.

The latest ruling means Apple's attempts to receive $119 million from Samsung Electronics have failed and that Apple must pay $158,400 to the Korean company for infringing on one Samsung-owned patent.

"Last week's ruling is significant because Samsung Electronics found an excuse that its Galaxy devices weren't the result of copying," an official said on Sunday. "Efforts by the two companies to end litigation will be accelerated."

Samsung had dropped its lawsuits against Apple in all countries, but not in the U.S.

Despite the continued legal tussle, Apple still relies heavily on Samsung Electronics to source displays, mobile processor chips and DRAM chips for iPhones and iPads.

Samsung Electronics refused to say if it had any imminent plans to withdraw its lawsuits against one of its largest business clients in the U.S.

Apple did not comment on the ruling. However, officials said the iPhone designer might take the case to the Supreme Court, expecting the ruling to be overturned in the final ruling.












By Lee Hyo-sik





Korean Air president Chi Chang-hoon, left, and Asiana Airlines CEO Kim Soo-cheon

Korean Air and Asiana Airlines are grappling with escalating labor-management conflicts because the country's two flagship carriers are seeking to downsize their workforces and reduce employee benefits amid worsening business conditions.

The pilot union at Korean Air has been taking action to disrupt company operations, rather than staging a full-scale strike. Unionized cabin crew members at Asiana, who oppose the airline's sweeping restructuring drive, have engaged in confrontations with the management.

The Korean Air Pilot Union said Sunday that it has been taking all possible steps to force the company to accept its demand since its members overwhelmingly voted to strike on Feb. 19. The union had demanded Korean Air to increase its base salary by 50 percent. But the management rejected this, asking pilots to accept a salary freeze given the airline's deteriorating bottom line.

Unable to narrow differences with the management, the union said it has been taking measures, while abiding by the law, to press the company to hear their voices. Among others, the union asked its members to refuse to sit in the cockpit no longer than legally required.

On Feb. 21, a pilot surnamed Park refused to fly a plane bound for Manila from Incheon International Airport, citing a collective agreement signed between management and labor union. But Korean Air suspended Park's status, saying that he misinterpreted and broke the agreement.

The carrier filed an injunction with the Seoul Southern District Court to prevent the pilot union from taking actions that could obstruct flights. It also argued that the pilots' latest vote did not conform to its rules and that the result was illegitimate.

Korean Air also lodged a criminal suit against the head of the pilot union and other leaders for illegally putting a sticker on member's backpacks, which contain phrases criticizing company management.

"The pilots' union should rethink their decision and come to a negotiating table, rather than making selfish, unreasonable demands," said a Korean Air official. "We will strictly apply the no-work, no-pay principle and take appropriate actions if pilots disrupt company operations or violate the law."

Asiana in conflict with cabin crews

Asiana Airlines, headed by CEO Kim Soo-cheon, is also having a problem with unionized cabin crews over its decision to reduce the number of flight attendants per flight. This step is widely expected to increase the workload for each cabin crew member, which could degrade in-flight services.

Earlier this year, Korea's second-largest flagship carrier, which has been struggling to compete with rapidly-emerging low-cost carriers while shouldering soaring labor and other operating costs, announced a set of restructuring measures to bolster its worsening bottom line.

The carrier decided to close unprofitable routes, slash the number of branch offices at home and abroad, and outsource some of its operations to reduce labor costs.

But the Asiana Airlines Labor Union, which represents most cabin crew and other employees, criticized management, arguing that the company will in the end dismiss a large number of workers.

Union members have been staging a sit-in protest in front of the carrier's main hangar at Gimpo International Airport since Jan. 3.

On Feb. 23, the newly-established labor union, representing 16 cabin crew members, came into confrontation with company officials when it sought to distribute printed material at the company headquarters in western Seoul. Asiana has about 3,000 cabin crew.

The union accused company officials of assaulting one of its members during the confrontation. It then filed a complaint with police.

However Asiana denied the accusation, saying that none of its officials assaulted union members.

"We asked protesting cabin crews to exit the company premises because their actions were illegal," an Asiana official said. "We did what we ought to do to protect company properties and prevent obstruction of business. We will continue to take measures in accordance with the law when dealing with the union."
A security guard prohibits entrance to Bank Mellat's Seoul branch in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, in this Sept. 8, 2010 file photo. The Iranian bank is working toward reopening the branch in March, five years after Iran was slapped with sanctions. / Korea Times file



By Nam Hyun-woo

Iran's Bank Mellat is working toward reopening its Seoul branch next month, five years after the Middle East country closed it down following the imposition of sanctions, the bank's regional head said last week.

The reopening comes with growing international interest in trading with Iran following a landmark deal on nuclear armaments reached with the West and Russia.

"We've been working to rebuild so we can resume operations normally," Kim Tae-gil, head of the Seoul branch, told The Korea Times.

"With a few steps left before the bank will be active, we expect relevant issues will be settled in March."

After the United States and the European Union removed anti-Tehran sanctions last month, Bank Mellat Seoul began working on restoring the necessary infrastructure and computer systems.

Kim said one key step needed before the Seoul branch could be fully functional was restoring connections with the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) system. The SWIFT system is a private network that enables bank around the world to send money.

"Many parts necessary for the SWIFT system are manufactured in the United States," Kim said. "Because the U.S. so far lifted has only secondary sanctions, we plan to obtain the parts and bring them in indirectly through agencies.

"An engineer will visit our office this week and it will take some days to make the installation."

Despite removal of the sanctions, U.S. citizens are still restricted from trading with Iran.

Through the SWIFT system, Korean exporters can receive letters of credit and trade with Iranian companies. After export payments are deposited in the bank, the Seoul branch transfers the money to accounts in domestic banks.

For this, Kim said the Seoul branch had finished documentation to open accounts at KEB Hana Bank and Woori Bank. For the accounts to become "active," becoming part of the SWIFT system had to occur first, Kim said.

He said another remaining step was to build a substitute settlement system using the euro.

As U.S. dollars were banned in trading with Iran, Korean companies have been trading through the Central Bank of Iran with accounts opened at banks here. However, the so-called "bypass settlement" system caused inconvenience following the increase of Korea-Iran trade after sanctions were lifted.

To address the inconveniences and meet Iran's preference for the euro, the Korean government is seeking a substitute settlement system using the euro.

However, because won-euro exchanges require U.S. dollars, the Korean government needs Washington to acknowledge that such an arrangement does not infringe on the U.S. ban.

The Korean government has reportedly been talking with the U.S. regarding this issue.

"This is not yet the time to tell what is going to happen," Kim said. "However, we are watching the progress and are hoping for a positive outcome sometime in March."

Along with Bank Mellat, Iran's Persia International Bank, another Iranian bank, was planning to establish its first branch in Seoul.

Bank Mellat opened its Seoul branch in June 2001, but was barred from business in September 2010, after the U.N. Security Council passed its fourth sanctions resolution on Iran due to its suspected nuclear weapons program.
EXID member Hani /Korea Times file





By Kwon Ji-youn

EXID member Hani will take a short break from making television appearances, her agency said Saturday.

Hani, 23, will take a month's leave from all broadcasting activities to focus on treating her enteritis, an inflammation of the intestine. This also means she will step down as host of SBS's cooking show "Baek Jong-won's Three Great Emperors."

"Hani has worked without rest since EXID shot to stardom in 2014," her agency said in a statement. "She has decided to take some time off work to regain her health."

Hani is among many Korean celebrities who are taking a break from TV for health reasons.

In November, comedian Jung Hyung-don, a member of MBC's "Infinite Challenge," announced he would leave temporarily to treat his anxiety disorder. Emcee Jeon Hyun-moo also took two days' leave from his radio show when his voice began to crack.

Earlier this month, emcee Kim Seong-ju said he would be taking a month off to focus on regaining his health. He will return on March 5.
By Lee Kyung-min

The government will improve safety for foreign medical tourists and help hospitals invite more patients from overseas after the National Assembly agreed to pass a related bill.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Wednesday that the rival parties decided to pass the Medical Services Law that has been pending for more than a year.

The bill is part of the Park Geun-hye administration's measures to boost the economy.

It comes amid growing demand for better regulations regarding medical tourists visiting Korea.

The number of such patients is increasing rapidly by 36.9 percent annually, with an accumulated 1 million coming to receive services between 2009 and 2014, according to the ministry.












By Jun Ji-hye





Wu Dawei

Wu Dawei, China's top nuclear envoy, said Sunday that Beijing will fully enforce the upcoming United Nations (U.N.) sanctions on North Korea, according to his South Korean counterpart Hwang Joon-kook.

Wu arrived in Seoul earlier in the day and held talks with Hwang at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"As a responsible permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, (Wu said) China will sincerely implement the new resolution," Hwang told reporters after the meeting.

"We also reached a consensus that the North needs to change its thought and behavior qualitatively."

Wu also said, "The two nations agreed to support the U.N. Security Council new resolution against North Korea's nuclear test and rocket launch."

The meeting took place at a time when the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) is expected to pass the new resolution early this week that includes a widened arms embargo to include supplies of small arms, and a ban of the supply of aviation and rocket fuel to the North.

However, it has remained a question whether China, the North's last major ally, will sincerely enforce the sanctions, regarded as the harshest in decades against the reclusive state.

The dialogue between the two nations' chief negotiators for the now-stalled six-party talks also came after Washington and Beijing agreed on a draft of stringent sanctions on Pyongyang for its recent provocative actions in defiance of U.N. resolutions _ its fourth nuclear test, Jan. 6, and the launch of a long-range rocket, Feb. 7.

Hwang noted that the two nations agreed that now is the time to open a "meaningful turning point" in dealing with the North.

"We agreed that cooperation between the five nations (excluding the North from the six-part talks) is important than ever, and South Korea and China will continue to enhance their strategic cooperation," Hwang said.

The six-party talks involved the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China; but they have been suspended since late 2008.

The envoys said the possible deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in Korean soil was not on the agenda of their talks.

Wu's visit is his first in five years, and he is scheduled to hold talks with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se today. He also plans to pay a courtesy call on President Park Geun-hye during his five-day stay.

Officials said that Wu's visit indicates Beijing's recognition of the significance of issues related to the North's nuclear ambitions. Before the Beijing-Washington agreement, Wednesday, China had remained reluctant to take harsher measures against its ally.

During their meeting, Hwang and Wu also discussed the two nation's strategies going forward after the passage of the U.N. resolution because a variety of complicated issues involving neighboring countries are waiting to be resolved.

"We spoke frankly to each other about our mutual concerns and exchanged opinions," Wu said.

Seoul, Washington and Tokyo earlier agreed to additionally impose unilateral sanctions in addition to the U.N. measures against the North.

For its part, China has called on the relevant nations to discuss denuclearization of the peninsula and a truce-to-peace mechanism at the same time, apparently attempting to hold cooperation between Seoul, Washington and Tokyo in check, mindful of the expanding American influence in Northeast Asia.

Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye
Lee Cheong-yeon, superintendent of Incheon Metropolitan City Office of Education, calls for the central government's financial responsibility for free preschool programs during a one-man protest in front of Cheong Wa Dae, Seoul, on Feb. 22. / Yonhap



By Chung Ah-young

President Park Geun-hye pledged to expand welfare benefits to the elderly and children "without raising taxes" as part of efforts to tackle the effects of the aging population and the low birthrate.

But entering her fourth year in office, Park faces questions about whether this promise can be kept because most of her welfare policies have been scaled down over the past three years due to lack of finances amid the prolonged economic slump.

In 2013, the first year of her term, Park already scaled back a campaign pledge to pay 200,000 won to all people aged 65 or above, regardless of their income.

Instead, she revised this plan to provide a monthly allowance of between 100,000 and 200,000 won to the poorest 70 percent of senior citizens. Park said the revision was inevitable because the original pledge might have put an excessively heavy burden on future generations.

Another disappointing policy might be the free preschool program at kindergartens and daycare centers. The program, called Nuri Curriculum, has created a budgetary conflict between regional education offices and the central government every year.

In 2013, the government expanded the curriculum to include all children aged three to five from the bottom 70 percent of income groups. It was a part of her pledge to strengthen the nation's responsibility for early childhood education and care.

But due to the snowballing burden on state coffers, the government ordered regional education offices to be responsible for funding the program from 2015.

Suffering from a lack of finances, the offices have refused to do this, claiming they are not responsible, especially for daycare centers which are under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

As a result, 14 out of 17 education offices nationwide have yet to allot budgets for the program for this year.

The free after-school care program for elementary school students has also run into budget problems.

The program, offered to children of double-income families, was originally designed for underprivileged children, but Park expanded it to all children regardless of their parents' incomes.

The government set aside 100 billion won in 2014 but earmarked no money for the program in 2015 and this year.

As with the Nuri program, the government claims that local education offices should cover the cost.

Last year, the number of children involved in the after-school program was 239,798.

The government recently decided to expand the after-school programs, starting this year, from first to fourth graders to fifth and sixth graders.

"While the government is pushing ahead with the program, it doesn't say anything about how to finance it and put it into practice," said an official at an elementary school in Seoul said.

Jung Chang-lyul, social welfare professor at the College of Public Service at Dankook University, said it was impossible to expand welfare without increasing taxes. He said passing the buck to the regional educational offices was a stopgap measure.

"Conflicts are inevitable if the central government doesn't gain consensus from regional offices in advance for the budget planning," Jung said at a recent seminar.

"Given the poor financial situation of the offices, the central government should not transfer the burden of welfare to them."

Jung Chang-hoon, public administration professor at Inha University, said Park's pledges ignored the reality that would bring tax revenue shortfalls due to populist policies.

"The government's policy shows that welfare without raising taxes is an empty word," he said.
David Usupashvili, chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul, Thursday. / Courtesy of the Embassy of Georgia



By Kim Hyo-jin



Georgia expects more Korean companies in the energy and cargo transportation sectors to operate within its borders, said a visiting leading parliamentarian from the eastern European nation Thursday.



"It is the right time for big Korean companies that work in the energy sector and in energy distribution and cargo transportation to eye Georgia," David Usupashvili, chairman of the Parliament of Georgia, told The Korea Times.



The former Soviet Socialist Republic, now a key transit corridor linking landlocked resource-rich Central Asia to the European market, has further boosted its transportation network through constructing oil and gas pipelines, railways and ports over a decade, according to the parliamentary speaker.



The South Caucasus Pipeline, built in 2006 to connect the Azerbaijani gas field to Turkey will be expanded to directly meet European customers in Bulgaria, Greece, and Italy and the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway that connects Georgia to Azerbaijan and Turkey is soon to be completed, he said. The country also plans to build a port on its Black Sea coast as a joint consortium project with China, aiming to boost trade with Europe along the historic Silk Road route.



"Now Iran wants to supply their oil and gas to Europe through the pipeline in our territory," Usupashvili said, noting that the country's transit potential has increased since the international community lifted economic sanctions against Iran.



In parallel with infrastructure development, the Georgian government is stepping up creating a business-friendly environment for foreign investment by providing a tax cut, the speaker said.



"We plan to abolish profit tax on corporations. If the government's proposal on the tax cut is implemented on schedule, it will take effect from September."



Usupashvili, who has actively worked on enhancing multilateral regional cooperation, visited Seoul, Thursday, at the invitation of National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa.



Korea and Georgia established diplomatic relations in 1992 and have expanded their business ties. The Korea Water Resources Corporation (K-water) won a contract last year to build a hydroelectric power station, one of the biggest projects in Georgia, which requires $1 billion in investment. The firm is scheduled to build the plant by 2019 and run the facility for 35 years from 2021.



"I'd like to deliver a message to other Korean companies than K-water that we still have lots of potentials," Usupashvili said, stressing the country is now merely using under 30 percent of its hydroelectric power generation capacity.



The speaker expressed hopes that both nations increase political solidarity when responding to security issues.



"Georgia stands next to South Korea in the United Nations and is more than ready to work together to initiate necessary measures against North Korea," he said, showing support of Seoul's hard line stance against North Korea.



He added that Georgia will seek constant support from Korea in respecting Georgia's borders and independence.



Russia occupied two regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia after the Russo-Georgian War in 2008. Georgia has fought for its territorial sovereignty since the Kremlin established military bases there and signed agreements for political and economic integration with the de facto administrations in the regions.
Hungary offers favorable conditions





Hungarian Minister for National Economy Mihaly Varga

/ Courtesy of the Hungarian Embassy

By Rachel Lee

Direct flights between Hungary and Korea would pave the way for further economic ties, says Hungary's Minister for National Economy, Mihaly Varga .

"To meet the growing demand, we are discussing setting up direct flights between the two counties with Korean Air," he said. "This would also make it more convenient for those on business trips."

Seoul and Budapest concluded an aviation agreement last May. About 80,000 tons of air cargo is transported each year between the countries each year, according to the ministry.

Varga, who was in Korea for the second Hungarian-Korean Joint Economic Committee meeting on Feb.

25, held talks with Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Joo Hyung-hwan.

They discussed in detail the points raised at the Korea-Hungary Summit last December.

These included Korean companies being involved in Hungary's construction projects, and exports of

Korea's KUH-1 Surion helicopters to Hungary.

"This year, the committee is looking at current economic conditions and discussing ways to cooperate in other various fields," Varga told The Korea Times at the Lotte Hotel Seoul on Feb. 25.

"Tourism is one of the key sectors to develop, which will bring multiple advantages for the two sides."

The minister said more Koreans and Hungarians were visiting each other's countries every year, with, a growing number of Hungarians visiting Korea for medical reasons.

According to Hungary's Ministry of National Economy, the number of Korean tourists reached 120,000 last year.

The Hungarian economy, unlike that of other European Union (EU) countries, has been growing steadily since the 2008 financial crisis. While other EU member states have a 1 percent growth rate, Hungary has 3 percent growth . Gross domestic product rose 3.2 percent from October to December from last year.

"The main reason for the stable economic situation comes from a huge influx of overseas investment," Varga said. "Our relatively low costs compared to other EU nations have also made us more competitive."

About 40 Korean companies, which employ about 235,000 people, are active in Hungary.

"Korean enterprises have invested about $2.2 billion in our country at the moment, and we are aiming to encourage more investment by offering more favorable conditions, such as offering loans of up to $500 million," Varga said.

The minister said he hoped Hungarian companies would enter Korea, which would reduce the gap between the countries' investments in each other.

"We have strong IT industry like Korea, and using our skills we are hoping to reduce the gap," the minister said.

Varga, who graduated from the Karl Marx University of Economic Science of Budapest in 1989, was Minister of Finance from 2001-2001, Chairman of the Parliamenrary Committee on Budget, Finace and Audit from 2006-10 and State Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office from 2010 and 2012.

The next economic joint committe is scheduled to be held in Budapest in 2017, the ministry said.
Australian Ambassador to Korea William Paterson, left, poses with his wife, center, and Bill

Granger, founder of Bill's restaurant. / Courtesy of the Australian Embassy



By Rachel Lee

The Australian Embassy hosted an event to mark the opening of the second branch of Australian restaurant bills in Gwanghwamun on Feb. 22.

Guests had an opportunity to taste a range of Australian-style food and wine.

"Bills is an excellent example of Australian and Korean cooperation in the services sector and the cross-pollination of cultures and ideas," Australian Ambassador to Korea William Paterson said. "With the entry into force on Dec.12, 2014, of the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement, more Australian fresh foods and wines are appearing in the Korean market."

Bills is an Australian casual dining restaurant established by Bill Granger, a well-known entrepreneur, who opened his first restaurant in Sydney in 1993. Bills has 13 stores around the world, including in Japan, the U.K. and Hawaii.

The Seoul branch opened at Lotte World Mall in October in 2014. The second restaurant will open in D Tower building in Gwanghwamun next month.
Inigo Perez Urrechu



By Yun Suh-young

"Everything has to be in your head and everything has to be in your hands," said Inigo Perez Urrechu, during a cooking class held at the Kukje Culinary School in Seoul, Feb. 17.

"When using ingredients, use the best parts; you also need to know what they go well with."

The Spanish chef, who worked as the head chef of the Michelin three-star restaurant Martin Berastegui located in the Basque region of Spain, and who now owns two restaurants, visited Seoul for the first time upon the invitation of Interporc which promotes Spanish pork worldwide.

He was teaching a group of around 40 high school students who signed up for the special class organized by the school. It was the first time for him to teach in front of a group of students and share his cooking and career knowhow. The day before, he had performed a cooking exhibition in front of Korean importers of Spanish pork.





A dish using chorizo and spinach / Korea Times photos by Yun Suh-young

"There's nothing to throw out in a pig," he said when introducing the three dishes that he specially created upon coming to Korea using various parts of pig mixed with local ingredients available here.

"We can utilize a variety of parts of ingredients to make a variety of dishes. As aspiring chefs, you should know how to deal with all the parts of the meat as well as how to create dishes with them," he said, showing them the procedure for each of the dishes.

"Because there are so many recipes in the world, you can't memorize all of them, nor do you need to. You should practice over and over and have the recipes put in your head _ for instance, from how long you should boil fish stock or how long you should cook the meat in order for it to lose oil. The brain remembers taste," he said.

"I remember eating really great dimsum at a restaurant. Ten years later, I ate a similar one elsewhere and remembered the taste. You should expose yourself to a lot of tastes. Then the brain will remember," said the chef, eager to deliver his experience.





Demonstrating the making of the chorizo and spinach dish

"Fusion is creation. And if you don't know the taste, you can't create. So please remember the tastes you encountered today."

When each of his dishes was finished and presented to the students, they had the opportunity to taste them and give him feedback as well as ask questions.

"Can we replace the chicharrones with some other meat since it's hard to find in Korea?" asked a student.

"Of course," said Urrechu. "You can replace it with whatever meat that tastes similar. Possibly the sausage-type would be best."





A student taking a cooking class tries placing the dish onto tasting spoons under the supervision of Inigo Perez Urrechu, center.

The three dishes he introduced were all a tapas menu which could be enjoyed in a single bite. They included a dish of chicharrones (finely chopped pig head) with garlic sauce, a vegetable pork soup, and a dish using chorizo and spinach.

"Chicharrone is one of the ingredients we use commonly in Spain but is rare in Korea. So I tried to introduce it as a fusion food using garlic that Koreans like," he said, while showing how to make the dish.

"As for the soup, I added Korean ingredients like tofu and ginseng. We don't eat tofu in our country."

Urrechu stressed that the dishes should all have a "reason for being."

"Whenever you're cooking you need to have a reason why you cooked it and why you used those particular ingredients," he said.





Inigo Perez Urrechu cheers with students and cooking class organizers at the Kukje Culinary School in Seoul, Feb. 17.

"You should keep asking yourself whether the taste is balanced. Open yourself up to all possibilities and find the best balance you can. Smell it and see if it would go with another fragrance. Cooking is all about finding the balance."

The 45-year-old chef has been cooking for 28 years.

"I entered with my feet into the kitchen naturally since my parents loved cooking. My two brothers were seven and eight years older than me and wouldn't play with me. So naturally I spent time in the kitchen with my parents," he told The Korea Times following the cooking class.

"So I naturally came to like cooking. I received awards at a regional cooking competition at age 12 and again at age 14 and it was so exciting. The competitors were all adults. I then realized that cooking was universal and was not limited to age, status, or religion. It was solely based on taste and it was borderless," he said.

Urrechu received his first Michelin two-star at a restaurant when he was 23 years old. The media took interest on him as he was one of the youngest chefs to receive a star at the restaurant. He appeared on TV cooking shows and became a well-known chef in his country. It was a delight to share recipes and share his talent with the viewers, he said.

"My mother was a school teacher so I think I appreciated sharing knowledge with others. I appeared on shows not to promote myself but because I really wanted to share what I had. Most Michelin-awarded chefs don't. They want to keep the recipes to themselves. But I think sharing is important and it makes me happy," said the cheerful chef.

"Gastronomy, to me, is not an act of filling the stomach but to share love and happiness. That means the food should be based on honesty."

"We have 28 chefs in our restaurant. It's really important to maintain good relationships with them because we need to create new dishes. Communication is crucial because we have to give each other honest feedback after tasting. If we don't get along, dishonest and negative feedback will be exchanged. That isn't healthy," he said.

"Comradeship is so important in cooking. When we're happy in the process, our customers feel it in the dishes."

However, even the happy-go-lucky chef had hard times which taught him to become more generous and positive.

"Competition is immensely fierce in this industry. Chefs would copy each other's recipe and try to take another down. But I didn't care about competition because you never know who'll step over you tomorrow. That's the culinary world," Urrechu said.

His recipes are health-based and remind people of comfort food although they're categorized as fine dining. They're based on traditional Spanish cuisine but add modern techniques and inspiration.

"The reason why I pursue healthy food is because I encounter athletes a lot. I myself like sports. And when doing sports, eating healthy is important. So I tried to reflect that in my menu. I want my customers to feel like they are eating at home when eating at our restaurant," he said.

"People think healthy food is not delicious, but I wanted to change that perception. It can be done. I proved it because the Spain Gourmet Association gave me an award for my dishes being healthy and delicious at the same time."

When going back to his country, he plans to incorporate elements in his cuisine utilizing his experience in Korea.

"I realized that Korean food is faithful to the ingredients whereas other cultures often use them in grinded forms in sauces. Since I now have acquired a new taste during my visit here, I'll use it by adding tofu or ginseng to my new dishes when I go back," he said.
North Korean president Kim Jong-un, left, and South Korean president Park Geun-hye / Yonhap



By Oh Young-jin

The title is a political statement rather than a dermatological one.

More specifically, we are often prone to self-doubt, have quick-tempered quarrels on the basis of presumptions and learn no lessons from the failures at the risk of repeating the same mistake.

Here are three examples.

The future example: Now, China is proposing coupling the peace regime talks to replace the 1953 Korean War truce with talks for North Korea's denuclearization. Of course, this is a stretch by any account because the peace regime talks alone will be complicated enough and throwing this together with other, equally complex denuclearization negotiations may be a recipe for disaster.

Barring the immediate implosion of the North and a second Korean War, it is still possible that the Chinese suggestion with modifications will be taken up and will proceed, if the North is squeezed by the upcoming stronger set of the United Nations sanctions.

The dilemma for Seoul is two-tiered, one about its adversary, North Korea, and the South's ally, the United States. The South would fear it will be sidelined by the North, which will definitely insist that Seoul has no place at the negotiating table because it did not sign the truce. That has been the North's official line, arguing that it will talk only to the U.S.

This fear is based on a doubt about itself, hardened by history. During the lead-up to the 1994 Agreed Framework, the then-Kim Young-sam government was completely left out in the cold from the U.S.-North Korea negotiations.

Korean officials relied on U.S. government handouts to know what was happening. It was by and large Kim's misplaced conviction that his government would not talk to the North as long as it developed nuclear weapons. When Washington and Pyongyang cut the deal in Geneva, it was the South that had to foot the huge bill for the light water reactors to be provided in return for a freeze on the nuclear development. As all know, the deal fell through and, now, 20-plus years from then, we have North Korea on the verge of being a nuclear weapon state.

The collapse of the deal has triggered a lot of internal quarrels, but as things stand now, it is obvious that few lessons have been learnt.

The present example: Already, there are observations that the South has been sidelined by its ally, the U.S., which is suspected of trading away the issue of THAAD in order to acquire concessions from China in an effort to build a strong set of United Nations sanctions against the North for its latest nuclear test and rocket launch.

The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system is aimed at intercepting the North's ballistic missiles and the allies have decided to bring one battery into the nation to protect Koreans and American soldiers. China is strongly opposed to it, so some people speculate that Washington and Beijing cut the deal behind Seoul's back.

Already, some now suggest that Seoul finds itself in precisely the same old weak position, not being able to influence the course of its future. Once there are more truths out on the THAAD decision, there will be more quarrels. The same vicious cycle would be repeated.

The past example: Last September, President Park joined his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for Beijing's celebration of Japan's defeat in World War II. She was the only head of a U.S. ally to attend the ceremony and was hailed for her bold action that befits its new middle-power status. Even in the weeks before her Beijing trip, she was in the hot seat for failing to navigate the tricky diplomatic waters being chopped up by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's unashamed denial of responsibility for Japan's war crimes and the U.S. endorsement of this stance.

Park's roller-coaster ride also testifies to the vicious cycle at work.

What causes Koreans to be politically thin-skinned? One cause is an inflated view of self. South Korea should realize it is an emerging middle power located in the convergence of big powers and learn how to promote its best interests. But it acts as if it were a big power, putting itself on a collision course without preparing for Plans B, C and D.

This peculiar behavior deprives it of an imaginative diplomacy and causes a collective case of heartburn, when the gap between its view and reality clashes. One consolation is that no country, even the U.S. and China, is master of its own fate  they are expected to play their roles according to a given set of circumstances. Understanding this order is the first step in gaining a political thick skin and strengthening our say in our future.

Oh Young-jin is The Korea Times' chief editorial writer. Contact him at foolsdie5@ktimes.com.
Suh, who has performed about 1,700 liver transplants, is one of Korea's best and most prolific liver transplant surgeons, whose reputation reaches far beyond the nation's borders. /Korea Times



Renowned liver transplant surgeon to establish national standards

By Jung Min-ho, Kim Eil-chul

When it comes to liver transplantation, Korea has some of the world's finest hospitals such as Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH), which has a near-perfect success rate over the past decade.

The next step the country should take is to promote "Medical Korea" as a brand by establishing national quality standards for liver transplantation and beyond, Professor Suh Kyung-suk at SNUH said.

"I'm planning to create a system for quality control so that patients can get standardized, quality-approved medical services anywhere they go," Suh, 56, said in an interview. "A stable system will save more lives and make foreign patients trust the nation's medical services as a whole."

The world's renowned liver transplant surgeon has already systemized treatment procedures in his field at SNUH and has shared his know-how with surgeons at other hospitals for years. Thanks to his efforts, the average success rate of liver transplantation in Korea today is about 96 percent, among the highest in the world.

Suh believes other medical fields can also make such improvements and he wants to play a leading role in that goal after he starts his two-year term as the chairman of the board at the Korean Surgical Society in November.

"From surgical procedures to ethics, there are many things in which doctors need to be educated. I want to set up a more solid, comprehensive system for better treatment," he said. "Korea is known as one of the best countries for liver transplantation today. However, accidents could occur and ruin it all. We need to minimize the risks by having such a system."

Along with Lee Sung-gyu at Asan Medical Center, Suh is one of Korea's best and most prolific liver transplant surgeons, whose reputation reaches far beyond the nation's borders.

Since his first surgery in 1988, Suh has performed about 1,700 liver transplants, using liver mainly from living donors, not from brain-dead ones.

The five-year survival rate of liver transplant recipients at SNUH is 83 percent, far higher than the U.S. average of 75 percent. Also, despite the large number of liver transplant cases that the surgeon has performed, none of his living donors have died or suffered from serious complications as a result of the operation.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, two out of every 1,000 liver donors die in the country as a result of the surgery.

"No hesitation, better conditions of patients (compared to those in the past) and proper division of labor are the secrets of our team's good performance," Suh said.

In the operating room, his team members know exactly what they are supposed to do: Suh's job is to remove part of the donor's liver and to transplant it in the recipient, and each member does his or her part, such as removing the damaged liver and reconnecting arteries of the recipient.

"The division of labor also reduced the operation time to five to six hours, which is much shorter than in most other major hospitals overseas," he said.

Safety is the most important aspect in each of his operations, but it isn't the only important aspect.

"Because the number of organ donors is never enough for the demand, in Korea, it usually is a family member who gives his or her liver to the patient," he said. "They are good people, and it is hard for me to leave big scars on their bodies. So I started to think about possible ways to minimize the scars."
By Tong Kim

Last week's agreement between the U.S. and China to push for "a stronger U.N. Security Council resolution that goes beyond previous resolutions" to sanction North Korea for its nuclear and missile programs brings back to Koreans the memory of an adage that compares their country to the fate of "a shrimp that gets hurt in a fight of whales."

Whereas a new U.N. sanction resolution has finally taken shape and is expected to pass the Security Council soon, owing to China's reluctant agreement, deployment of the THAAD system to Korea has become somewhat obscure because of China's strong opposition. South Korea and the U.S. agree that the THAAD is required to defend the South and the United States.

Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi on Feb 23 met respectively with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and with White House National Security Advisor Susan Rice to discuss a range of areas of interest to the world's two most powerful nations. One of the timely issues was the DPRK's nuclear and missile program. President Obama joined the meeting between Wang Yi and Rice, to show "his interest in building a durable, constructive, and productive U.S.-China relationship".

Beijing and Washington agree to oppose Pyongyang's nuclear and missile development and both do not accept the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state. While agreeing to a tougher U.N. resolution against Pyongyang, Wang Yi made it clear that China would not go as far as to destroy the North Korean economy that would destabilize the peninsula.

China is firm in its belief that sanctions alone cannot resolve the nuclear issue. In a joint press conference with Kerry, Wang declared, "the Security Council resolution cannot provide a fundamental resolution to the Korean nuclear issue." China again advocated for a resolution by dialogue, calling for the resumption of the six-party talks that has not met since 2008.

Kerry conceded that the goal of sanctions would be to revive negotiations with the Kim Jong-un regime for denuclearization. Everybody knows that all denuclearization efforts and all sanctions have thus far failed to coax or compel the North to abandon their weapons of mass destruction.

Wang proposed a two-tract approach in the six-party talks to pursue negotiations for denuclearization in parallel with discussions of a peace agreement that will replace the Armistice Agreement under which the parties are still at a technical state of war. This proposal complies with the 9/19 Joint Statement of 2005, which, if still valid, provides the basis for discussing a peace regime for Korea.

The problem is that neither Washington nor Seoul seems interested in talks with Pyongyang at this time. Kerry maintains that the U.S. "wants a negotiated outcome" on the nuclear issue, if the North returns to the table under U.S. terms. Washington is not ready to discuss a peace agreement with Pyongyang. What impact a new UN resolution would have on North Korea remains to be seen.

The details of new UN sanctions will be known soon. Many are anxious to see whether China would agree on a partial maritime blockade to bar North Korean ships from entering ports around the world, or whether China would stop allowing North Korea to ship coal and iron to China. Would China stop providing aircraft fuel to the DPRK?

Regarding the THAAD, Kerry said, "we are not hungry or anxious or looking for an opportunity to deploy a THAAD battery in KoreaThe only reason THAAD being in consultation  a decision has not yet been made is because of the provocative actions of North Korea which has publicly announced that it is focusing on the United States and which is developing weapons which have the ability to attack the United States."

The secretary concluded that the only way to stop deploying THAAD is the resolution of the nuclear issue. Although his Chinese counterpart did not mention the THAAD issue publicly, he may have raised the issue in his meeting with Kerry, given China's intensified opposition against THAAD. While it is unlikely that Washington would change its plan to deploy THAAD, it is possible it will delay the timing of deployment. It is also possible when Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with President Obama in Washington during the next nuclear summit between March 31 and April 1, Xi might bring up the issue for discussion.

Tension is rising on the Korean Peninsula in the aftermath of Seoul's stunning policy switch from dialogue to confrontation in response to Pyongyang's nuclear test on Jan. 6 and its rocket launch on Feb. 7. Seoul closed the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, a source of hard currency for Pyongyang, shutting down all channels of communication with the North.

The Park government made a decision in the direction of favoring the controversial deployment of the THAAD system to Korea despite opposition and pressure from China. It seemed Seoul is determined to accept the risk and cost of its hard decisions against Pyongyang, including a strained relationship with China.

Polls show a majority of South Koreans are supporting President Park's recent actions to undertake what appears to be a "containment policy" by cutting all cash revenues to Pyongyang until it surrenders to unilateral and international sanctions and abandons its nuclear and missile program.

The Seoul government is frantically putting together its defense measures to counter possible attacks from the North in various forms, including terrorism, cyber attacks, localized military provocations along the DMZ and on the NLL on the West Sea. The South is maintaining an increased military alert across the front line, while intensifying psychological operations against the North Korean regime.

Pyongyang's Supreme Command of the Korean People's Army on Feb. 23 issued a statement of warning on the eve of the Key Resolve U.S.-ROK joint exercise that will mobilize impressive U.S. state-of-the-art war assets. It warned that the KPA would wage a preventive strike on the Presidential Blue House first then on the United States, "if signs of even small movements are detected in the elements of special forces involved in the so-called operation Beheading' that targets our leadership".

Nobody knows how the current situation of confrontation will play out. But, it seems that the fate of Korea will be handed over to the hands of the big powers if the North and the South continue to increase tensions and fortify confrontation without seeking a peaceful resolution of their differences.

What's your take?

Tong Kim is a Washington correspondent and columnist for The Korea Times. He is also a fellow at the Institute of Korean-American Studies. He can be contacted at tong.kim8@yahoo.com.
China's proposal worth conditional exploration



China has been promoting "simultaneous" talks for denuclearizing North Korea and a peace treaty to replace the 63-year armistice agreed after the 1950-53 Korean War. Foreign Minister Wang Yi made a proposal to his U.S. counterpart John Kerry during their recent Washington, D.C. meeting to iron out a draft penalty United Nations resolution against the North for conducting another nuclear test and a rocket launch, and went on to open it to the public in a speech at a think tank.



Wang's proposal falls midway between the stances of the United States and the North. The U.S. wants the North to give up its nuclear arms before any talks begin, while Pyongyang insists that any peace talks should precede those for denuclearization. As a matter of fact, the North approached Washington before the Jan. 6 blast of what it claims was an H-bomb. The U.S. rejected the approach.



The U.S. does not take Pyongyang's peace regime overture seriously because this has been used time and again as a ploy to nudge U.S. troops out of the South, according to its unification strategy, providing it with another chance to take over the South. To the U.S., agreeing to this could mean its departure from a strategic point in Asia to counter China's rise. Such a thought must have crossed the minds of U.S. and Chinese strategists.



Despite the stigmas, past and present, attached to Wang's suggestion, it is worth exploring for two reasons. And if conditions and terms are met, this could be an alternative to reduce tension in the region and provide relief from the constant fear of nuclear war. True, the risk is that it could give the North breathing room and, eventually, fuel the emergence of a new Pax Sinica.



Trumping this risk, of course, is the absence of an exit plan for the North, which is expected to face an existential challenge, if the latest proposed U.N. sanctions are approved. The draft of new sanctions, which the Security Council is reviewing, would cut off its exports significantly and put a stranglehold on its cash flows. Although the possibility of a North Korean implosion is often dismissed nowadays, it would be better to err on the side of caution and prepare for a way to bring a sense of control to any possible collapse through dialogue. Better, if the North is convinced to give up under the hardship brought by the sanctions, the peace talks could be converted to a process that rehabilitates the North and helps it live without nuclear weapons.



Right now, no channels of communication exist because the six-party talks aimed at disarming the North have been rendered lifeless.



The terms and conditions are even more important. First, there should be no tit-for-tat incentives between the peace talks and international sanctions that are imposed on the North to prevent Pyongyang from using the talks to dodge punitive measures. The North has duped the international community too many times. Second, including the South in the talks right from the preparatory stages should be guaranteed, considering that the North has claimed that Seoul is not a signatory to the armistice and thereby has no place in the negotiating table. This claim does not make sense because the South was a key warring party in the conflict and chose not to sign  therefore any peace regime without Seoul's participation would be meaningless. Third, the U.S. and China should guarantee any peace treaty between the two Koreas so as not to preclude a continued U.S. presence on the Korean Peninsula.



For now, the odds are against a viable peace treaty, and we back a cautious exploration not out of desperation but for an ardent wish to give peace another try.




The decision by South Korea and the United States to begin consultations on the potential deployment of the THAAD missile defense system doesn't mean the two sides have agreed to deploy the system, the U.S. Pacific commander said Thursday.



"Neither South Korea nor the United States have agreed to put a THAAD in Korea," Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr. said at a Pentagon briefing. "The decision to discuss it is not necessarily a decision to do it, not yet. So, we're having the discussions now, and we'll see how they turn out."



The remarks contrast with the strong tones that he and other U.S. commanders have spoken with while stressing the importance of placing the advanced defense system in the South to better defend against growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.



That suggests the U.S. could back down on the issue in the face of intense opposition from China or in exchange for Beijing's cooperation in U.S. efforts to adopt a strong U.N. Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile tests.



Harris, however, reiterated previous remarks that China's interference in a decision that's to be made between Seoul and Washington is "preposterous, especially when you consider that THAAD is not a threat to China."













The system is designed to "defend the Americans that are in Korea, their families and the Koreans. And if China wanted to exert a lot of influence on somebody to prevent THAAD from being considered going into Korea, then they should exert that influence on North Korea," he said.



China has voiced strong protests since South Korea and the U.S. jointly announced earlier this month, shortly after the North's Feb. 7 long-range missile test, that they would begin official discussions on the possible placement of the THAAD system in South Korea.



Both Seoul and Washington have repeatedly assured Beijing that THAAD is a purely defensive system. Earlier this week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also said that the system wouldn't be necessary if North Korea were denuclearized. (Yonhap)
Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram



Durov plans to visit Korea later this year



By Kim Yoo-chul

BARCELONA, Spain  Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of secure messaging app Telegram, has expressed concern over the South Korean government's push for an anti-terrorism bill, citing possible infringements of privacy and potential abuses of surveillance by the authorities.

The Park Geun-hye administration and the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) have been clashing over a bill that, if passed in the National Assembly, will grant the National Intelligence Service (NIS) greater authority to investigate individuals and organizations and collect information on the private communications of citizens.

President Park and the governing Saenuri Party are calling for the Assembly to approve the bill in order to establish powers, they say, which can help counter threats from North Korea and militant organizations such as the Islamic State group.

However, Durov raised questions about the efficacy of the bill's content.

"I think this is overly simplistic. Measures that are being discussed will not work because, first of all, even if existing secure apps were blocked to the Korean market, terrorists would still be able to have access as they use virtual private networks (VPN) to disguise their location," Durov said in an exclusive interview with The Korea Times on the sidelines of the Mobile World Congress last week.

Durov, dubbed the "Russian Zuckerberg," said the growing popularity of Telegram, which has attracted over 100 million active users in less than two years since its inception in 2013, reflects the service's policy of prioritizing the protection of users' privacy.

He said the bill may only enable furtherance of a form of "Big Brother," the all-seeing system of state surveillance in George Orwell's novel "1984."

"Speaking particularly of Korea, given its neighbor to the North, South Koreans should be cautious not to introduce any such measures reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984," he said. "I think that the government's efforts should be more focused on finding solutions to these serious problems outside technology."

Durov also said he supports Apple CEO Tim Cook in his stand not to hand over passcodes for iPhone users to authorities in the United States.

"There's a real risk that if your iPhone gets stolen, without encryption you could be blackmailed, for example. If Apple builds tools to unlock encryption, I think that's too dangerous."












/Courtesy of Twitter

Kuwaiti military officer Al-Anood Al-Abdali has become an Internet sensation on the Arabian Peninsula.

She is the second Arab military woman in the spotlight, after Major Mariam Al Mansouri, UAE's first woman to fly an F-16 fighter jet.

Al Anood, a physical education teacher before joining the army, successfully passed all tests and became an officer in the operations division in 2012.

She has also recently participated in joint operation "Northern Thunder" - the largest military exercise in the region - conducted by the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Al Anood urged more women to join the Kuwaiti military as the participation of Gulf women in the armed forces is growing.

Many online users support women joining the army, saying they deserve the chance to serve their country and that their presence can make a difference.

But some say women are not fit for such operations and should not be involved in dangerous action.
CIA files, which appear to be a top secret from the 1950s, reportedly expose an explosive truth about alien UFOs visiting Earth.

The documents have details of encounters with flying saucers and aliens. Stunned witnesses describe unusual craft moving fast through the skies. Others mention meetings with shadowy figures or noises in space.

If proven true, the accounts are as incredible as, or even more amazing than the alleged alien crash at Roswell.

The 1952 file includes Oskar Linkes sworn testimony. Linke was the mayor of Gleimershausen in Germany. He claimed to have spotted two entities in shiny metallic clothing, and one of the two had a glowing lamp on his body.

Next to the two was a massive object that resembled a huge frying pan, which the two climbed when Oskars daughter called out to him.

He said the object ascended in a horizontal position, turned toward a neighbouring town, and then vanished above the heights and forests.

He went to the place where the object had been when he saw it. He was surprised to discover a circular opening in the ground that seemed to be freshly dug.

The file indicates that many other residents in the same area later claimed they saw a comet-like object at the time.

Another file from the same year depicts two fiery disks lurking above a uranium mine, which was then the Belgian Congo.

The two mysterious things glided in elegant curves, the witness described. It then made a stop in mid-air and took off in a zig-zag manner.

Commander Pierre flew after the disks from an airfield in Elisabethville, now known as Lubumbashi. Pierre, who was known to be a dependable airman, estimated their speed to be around 900mph. He also provided a sketch of the two UFOs.

One more report from that year is from May, which involved a bizarre object that emitted flashes of light over Barcelona. Valentin Garcia, the journalist witness, said his office was flooded with many phone calls from people who claimed to see the same object.

Several different witnesses reported similar sightings above Casblanca in Morocco, Algiers in Tunisia, Meknes, and Taorirt.
An analysis of more than 1.3 million Twitter messages sent to airlines over the last holiday season found the phrase thank you was more common than any other.

But that doesnt mean the most Twitter messages sent to the worlds airlines are filled with gratitude.

Consider a tweet sent last week to Spirit Airlines by a traveler from Atlanta: Thanks for keeping us waiting for 8 hrs only to cancel! You ruined our 1st wedding Anniversary trip, without even a apology.

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In the last few years, social media sites have become one of the easiest and fastest way for air travelers to communicate with airlines. As a result, the nations biggest carriers have hired social media teams to monitor Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and other sites to respond to comments and gripes and protect their airlines good name.

Ultra low-cost carrier Spirit Airways relies on a robot  not humans  to respond to Twitter messages that mention the carrier.

In what may be the first analysis of Twitter messages sent to airlines, the study by Orlando, Fla.-based Stratos Jet Charters does not reach a conclusion about the overall sentiment of the tweets. But you can get a sense that many Twitter users are not happy, based on the other popular terms used when tweeting about airlines.

The term thank you got 101,798 mentions in the analysis, while delayed, late and canceled got 66,831 mentions, followed by lost, as in lost luggage, with 16,272 mentions, according to the analysis of tweets sent from Nov. 20 to Jan. 9.

Profanity erupted 14,490 times in the tweets, the report said.

Generally speaking, we were surprised to find that people didnt feel the need to censor themselves when tweeting at airlines, said Signe Nicklas, a spokesman for Stratos.

Mexicos low-cost carrier Volaris had the fastest average response time to customers tweets: four minutes and 12 seconds. Empathetic terms such as were sorry and our apologies were found most often  41% of the time  in responses sent by Australias low-cost airline, Jetstar Airways.

To read more about travel, tourism and the airline industry, follow me on Twitter at @hugomartin.
Call it what you want  this was a Spotlight celebration.

Liev Schreiber, Michael Keaton and Mark Ruffalo, with wife Sunrise Coigney, all made it to Spotlight producer Michael Sugars pre-Oscar party just hours after the film took four Independent Spirit Awards, including best feature.

The film is up for six Oscars, with nominations including supporting actor for Ruffalo, supporting actress for Rachel McAdams and best picture.

The event, co-hosted by Sugars Anonymous Content colleagues Steve Golin (also a Spotlight producer) and Doug Wald, started late Saturday and ran over into Sunday morning high atop Sunset Tower in West Hollywood.

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Olivia Wilde rocked a casual, natural look early in the evening as she chatted with friends near the bar, topping black jeans and chunky platform shoes with a satin bomber jacket emblazoned with palm-tree silhouettes against sunset colors.

Patrick Stewart, with wife Sunny Ozell, connected with Meg Ryan for a lengthy conversation near some reserved-for-VIPs seating, while Tim Robbins, fresh off his Camera Award honor at this years Berlin Film Festival, passed by them flying solo.

Dancing broke out more than once  not always a given at a Hollywood affair  near the main bar inside, as DJ Spider mixed this years Grammy-nominated hits with classic dance riffs and old-school tunes.

Near the impromptu dance space, Keegan-Michael Key casually held court, easily moving from conversation to conversation. Also spotted: Alexander Skarsgard, Casey Affleck, Anthony Mackie, Jessica Szohr, Nina Dobrev, Jessica Stam, Zach Braff, Famke Janssen, Matt McGorry, Chace Crawford and 2012 Oscar winner Octavia Spencer.

The evenings biggest logistical challenge was navigating the bottleneck at the handful of stairs that lead from the indoor part of Sunset Towers rooftop space out to the pool area  though on this night, the pool was cleverly covered to allow more room for to 400 or so guests and another bar, with the lights of Los Angeles spreading out to the south as a backdrop.

How challenging was the bottleneck? Even 6-foot-3 Schreiber, who can cut through a crowd like a knife, got hung up at the stairs.

A happier slowdown had some at the door, where guests were greeted with a choice of Grey Goose cocktails, including Le Fizz, the events signature sparkling drink, served in a flute with a branded metal swizzle stick. An abundance of sliders, fries, spicy chicken bites and other hot morsels were passed around to guests right up until the curtains  literally, curtains  were drawn on the main bar promptly at 2 a.m.

Follow Christie DZurilla on Twitter @theCDZ and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs.

MORE:

Oscar predictions: Whos going to win in all 24 categories

Spotlights makers went for simple, unvarnished truth, not sensationalism

From Sylvester Stallone to Mark Ruffalo, supporting actors prove acting is in their dna
Theres a lot of pop culture to sort through week after week. Times staff writer Chris Barton offers his take on whats up and whats down in music, movies, television and just about anything else out there thats worth considering.

UNDERRATED

(Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

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The Oscars: Living in some parts of Los Angeles we have a skewed view  what, doesnt your town treat these things like the Super Bowl, complete with TVs in every restaurant? But you have to respect Oscars standing as maybe the only modern construct allowing this many people to complain about what is ultimately a judgment of art. Predictably bloated and overly pleased with itself they may be, but the Oscars provide hours of meaningless debate fodder. (Be sure to list your own favorite films and performances for the full effect.)

Steve Carell in The Big Short: This is hardly the year to lament the unjustified snub of another white male on the Oscars nominations list (Michael B. Jordan, F. Gary Gray and Idris Elba are just a few of those already recognized as glaring omissions this year). But the versatile Carell was a standout in a strong ensemble as the cranky but whipsmart hedge fund investor who amid so much greed stands as a lone voice of ultimately empty outrage in a film that, much like the real financial market, is perilously short on protagonists.

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The Oscars: While Hollywood struggles to reconcile an industry that systematically fails to reflect the diverse stories and voices of real life, theres comfort in knowing the #OscarsSoWhite controversy may be the start of an accelerated slide into irrelevance. Streaming threatens to reshape the industry entirely and, judging by the Oscars declining ratings, many wouldnt watch whats long been an overblown valentine to the industrys inflated sense of importance if it werent for the possibility of Chris Rock saying something meaningful.

(Agatha A. Nitecka/Focus Features via Associated Press)

The Danish Girl: The worst kind of trolling-for-Oscars picture that practically swells from the screen in its attempt to tastefully reflect The Way We Live Now, this story of a 1920s transgender painter was mercifully nominated in only the design and acting categories, including the deserving supporting actress favorite, Alicia Vikander. But dont let that persuade you to see a film that for all its accolades remains a sleepy and ultimately superficial story that culminates with an attempted uplifting note thats so absurdly executed it seems better suited to parody.

chris.barton@latimes.com
Spotlight was the big winner at the Film Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, as Hollywoods debate over diversity also took center stage.

Tom McCarthysa tale of the Catholic Church sex-abuse scandal and the newspaper investigation that uncovered it scored best feature, director, screenplay and editing prizes at the annual indie-movie ceremony in Santa Monica, as well as the previously announced ensemble-oriented Robert Altman Award.

It is very rare to make a film that has impacted the world as significantly as this one has, said Spotlight producer Michael Sugar upon accepting the feature prize. By honoring it, he added, more lives can be spared from abuse.

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Full coverage: Oscars 2016 | List of nominees | #OscarsSoWhite controversy

Co-screenwriter Josh Singer, accepting the writing prize with McCarthy, paid tribute to abuse survivor Phil Saviano, who was given a huge standing ovation. Many of the real-life Boston Globe journalists portrayed in the film also were at the show and took the stage for the final prize.

1 / 46 Idris Elba, hosts Kumail Nanjiani, left, and Kate McKinnon and Cate Blanchett at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica. (Left and right - Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez / AFP/Getty Images / center - Chris Pizzello/Invision/Associated Press) 2 / 46 Producer Michael Sugar (at podium) accepts the Feature award for Spotlight onstage with members of the films cast and crew, as well as some of the real people depicted in the film, during the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images) 3 / 46 Actress Brie Larson accepts the lead actress award for Room. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images) 4 / 46 Mel Eslyn accepts the Piaget producers award. (Chris Pizzello / Invision ) 5 / 46 Actor Abraham Attah accepts the lead actor award for Beasts of No Nation. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images) 6 / 46 Director Laszlo Nemes accepts the award for International Film for Son of Saul. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images) 7 / 46 Actress Mya Taylor accepts the award for supporting female for her role in Tangerine. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images) 8 / 46 Carol actresses Cate Blanchett, left, and Rooney Mara present an award. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images) 9 / 46 Producers Wilson Smith and Jonathan R. Chan, actresses Krisha Fairchild and Robyn Fairchild, and director Trey Edward Shults (at lectern) accept the John Cassavetes Award for Krisha. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images) 10 / 46 Mark Ruffalo speaks at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. (Chris Pizzello / Invision ) 11 / 46 Tom McCarthy, center, and the cast and crew of Spotlight accept the Robert Altman award at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. (Chris Pizzello / Invision) 12 / 46 Emilia Clarke and Nate Parker present the award for best first feature at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. (Chris Pizzello / Invision ) 13 / 46 Marielle Heller, second from right, and the cast and crew of Diary of a Teenage Girl accept the award for best first feature at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. (Chris Pizzello / Invision ) 14 / 46 Ken Jeong, left, and Keegan-Michael Key present the award for best cinematography. (Chris Pizzello / Invision ) 15 / 46 Ed Lachman is presented with the award for best cinematography for Carol at the Film Independent Spirit Awards by Ken Jeong, center, and Keegan-Michael Key. (Chris Pizzello / Invision ) 16 / 46 Musician Robert Schwartzman, left, and the band Rooney perform onstage during the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images) 17 / 46 Tom Mcardle accepts the award for best editing for Spotlight at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. (Chris Pizzello / Invision ) 18 / 46 Marissa Tomei and Jay Duplass present the award for best editing at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. (Chris Pizzello / Invision ) 19 / 46 Actress Patricia Arquette speaks onstage. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images) 20 / 46 Idris Elba, left, accepts the award for best supporting male for Beasts of No Nation with Abraham Attah, with Patricia Arquette in the background. (Chris Pizzello / Invision ) 21 / 46 Actresses Jessica Biel, left, and Bel Powley speak onstage during the 2016 Film Independent Spirit Awards. (Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images) 22 / 46 Kumail Nanjiani and Kate McKinnon host the Film Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, Calif. (Chris Pizzello / Invision ) 23 / 46 Idris Elba, Cate Blanchett and Paul Dano at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica. (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez / AFP/Getty Images) 24 / 46 Room actress Brie Larson (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez / AFP/Getty Images) 25 / 46 Actress Emilia Clarke (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez / AFP/Getty Images) 26 / 46 Actor Michael Keaton (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez / AFP/Getty Images) 27 / 46 Ben Mendelsohn, Jessica Chastain, and Jay Duplass are a few of the attendees to the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated Press) 28 / 46 Actor Anthony Mackie (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez / AFP/Getty Images) 29 / 46 Actress Patricia Arquette and Eric White (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez / AFP/Getty Images) 30 / 46 The hosts, actress Kate McKinnon and comedian Kumail Nanjiani, arrive at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica, California. (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez / AFP/Getty Images) 31 / 46 Rooney Mara at the 2016 Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica. (Jordan Strau / Invision;Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez / AFP/Getty Images) 32 / 46 Frieda Pinto (Jordan Strauss / Invision; Jason Merritt / Getty Images) 33 / 46 Nikki Reed, from left, Retta and Mischa Barton (Left: Jason Merritt / Getty Images; Center and right: Jordan Strauss / Invision) 34 / 46 From left, Ian Somerhalder; director Tom McCarthy with actress Wendy Merry; and Charlie Kaufman (Left and right: Jordan Strauss / Invision; Center: Jason Merritt / Getty Images) 35 / 46 Jenni Lowe-Anker, left, Elizabeth Chan and climber Jimmy Chin (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez / AFP/Getty Images) 36 / 46 Mr. Robot actor Rami Malek (Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated Press) 37 / 46 Alexis Mixter and Jason Segel (Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated Press) 38 / 46 Jessica Biel (Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated Press) 39 / 46 Film director Mark Duplass (Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez / AFP/Getty Images) 40 / 46 J.K. Simmons (Jordan Strauss / Invision / Associated Press) 41 / 46 Marisa Tomei (Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated Press) 42 / 46 Jacob Tremblay (Jordan Strauss / Invision / Associated Press) 43 / 46 Cynthia Nixon (Jordan Strauss / Invision/Associated Press) 44 / 46 Blogger Kristina Bazan (Jordan Strauss / Invision/Associated Press) 45 / 46 Netflix executive Ted Sarandos and Sarah Sarandos (Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated Press) 46 / 46 Katie Aselton (Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated Press)

But it was the issue of diversity that was often on the minds of Spirit attendees. Presenters and hosts made a number of comments related to racial and sexual diversity, and Beasts of No Nation stars Abraham Attah and Idris Elba won the two male acting prizes.

Maybe its not the old classic Hollywood, but it is damn straight the Hollywood of today, said black trans star Mya Taylor of her L.A.-set film Tangerine, a streetwise buddy dramedy, as she presented a clip.

Later, Taylor won the prize for supporting female and exhorted filmmakers in the room to think more broadly in making their casting decisions.

Theres very beautiful trans talent. You got to get out there and put it in your next movie, she said.

Meanwhile, Elba, whose Academy Awards snub helped renew momentum for the #OscarsSoWhite movement, took the Spirit prize for supporting male, while Attah notched the win for male lead. The awards offered a validation of sorts for the movie, released by Netflix, and provided a sharp rebuff to the Oscars for overlooking films with black casts.

Attah, a Ghanaian teenager who had never acted in a film before, gave an endearing speech in which he earnestly thanked a list of people, including his agent and costume designer; he generated the warmest response of the day.

Elba did not reference #OscarsSoWhite in his acceptance speech -- he instead paid deference to Netflix and Attah. But others were less demure.

Spirit Awards co-host Kate McKinnon began the show by saying: Were going to cuss. Were going to flash some nip. Were going to nominate some people who arent white."

Her fellow host Kumail Nanjiani added that the Spirit Awards were more diverse than the brochure of a liberal-arts college."

Film Independent president Josh Welsh hailed the awards for talent on-screen and talent on-camera look[ing] somewhat like the world we actually live in."

And Nate Parker, the director behind the Sundance race-themed phenom Birth of a Nation, presented the award for first feature, garnering an enthusiastic response from the room. Birth is expected to contend in a number of Spirit categories next year.

The Spirits are one of the preeminent independent-film awards ceremonies, honoring movies made for approximately $20 million or fewer. In recent years, winners have prefigured the Oscars, especially for best feature, which last year went to eventual Oscar winner Birdman. Though there is very little overlap between the Spirits and Oscars voting bodies, three of the past four best feature winners in Santa Monica on Saturday went on to take best picture at the Dolby on Sunday.

1 / 17 The cast and crew of Spotlight, which won the Spirit Award for best feature. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 2 / 17 Brie Larson with her Spirit Award for female lead for her performance in Room. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 3 / 17 Abraham Attah with his Spirit Award for male lead for his performance in Beasts of No Nation. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 4 / 17 Idris Elba holds up his Spirit Award for supporting male actor. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 5 / 17 Mya Taylor of Tangerine won the Spirit Award for supporting female. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 6 / 17 Spotlights Tom McCarthy won the Spirit Award for director. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 7 / 17 The international film Spirit Award winners from Son of Saul. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 8 / 17 Tom McCarthy, left, and Josh Singer with their screenplay Spirit Awards for Spotlight. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 9 / 17 Piaget Producers Award winner Mel Eslyn. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 10 / 17 Emma Donoghue with her Spirit Award for first screenplay. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 11 / 17 Spirit Award for documentary winners Joshua Oppenheimer, left, Adi and Signe Byrge Srensen of The Look of Silence. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 12 / 17 Director Tom McCarthy, third from the left, and the Robert Altman Award winners from Spotlight. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 13 / 17 Spirit Award for first feature winners from The Diary of a Teenage Girl. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 14 / 17 The John Cassavetes Award winners from the film Krisha. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 15 / 17 Ed Lachman with his Spirit Award for cinematography for his work on Carol. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 16 / 17 Idris Elba with his Spirit Award for supporting male actor. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images) 17 / 17 Emma Donoghue with her Spirit Award for first screenplay. (Smallz & Raskind / Getty Images)

Spotlight is perceived to be in a heated battle with two other films, The Revenant and The Big Short, for Oscar best picture; neither of those movies were eligible for Spirits.

In keeping with the shows history, a loose vibe permeated the room. The ceremony included a series of parodies from McKinnon and Manjiani of Room and Carol, and an extended conceptual bit in which McKinnon played a slovenly Anomalisa Kickstarter funder who just came to the show to kiss Paul Dano. (He played along, and then some.)

The day was also filled with a trademark Spirits mix of self-deprecating humor about indie film and sincere calls-to-action against Big Hollywood homogeneity.

We need companies like this right now that will step up when other studios wont tell stories like this, McCarthy said of Spotlight distributor Open Road Film as he accepted the Altman prize.

Other winners Saturday included Room scribe Emma Donoghue for first screenplay; Marielle Hellers The Diary of a Teenage Girl for first feature; Joshua Oppenheimers Indonesian massacre examination The Look of Silence for documentary; Room star Brie Larson for lead female; and Laszlo Nemes formally ambitious Holocaust movie Son of Saul for international film.

Nemes took a moment in accepting his prize to outline a forward-looking vision for independent cinema.

The language of film, the grammar of film, is not something thats stopped evolving, the director said. We want to explore.

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The former president of Mexico Vicente Fox has a blunt rebuttal to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps plans to build an enormous wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Im not going to pay for that f------ wall, Fox said in an interview with Univisions Al Punto set to air Sunday, in which he called Trump a crazy guy who resembled neither Republican nor Democrat. Hes just himself. Hes egocentric.

He should pay for it. Hes got the money.

Trump took notice of the rebuke and gave his own response on Twitter on Thursday afternoon.

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FMR PRES of Mexico, Vicente Fox horribly used the F word when discussing the wall. He must apologize! If I did that there would be a uproar!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 25, 2016

He must apologize! he declared.

Trump went even further when Foxs remarks came up during Thursday nights Republican presidential debate. The wall just got 10 feet taller! Trump said.

Mexicos current officeholders have been more tempered on Trumps grand claims, while still dismissing them.

See the most-read stories this hour >>

President Enrique Pena Nieto has said Trumps comments about Mexico were very unfortunate, but added, I dont want to contribute to or make the fat broth for someone who is just vying to become a candidate, according to the Atlantic.

He knows very well that what he is saying is false, Mexicos ambassador to the United States, Miguel Basanez, said during a confirmation hearing before the Mexican Senate in August. He knows very well he will apologize to Mexicans.

But Foxs successor, Felipe Calderon, who is also out of office, was similarly emphatic on the subject last week.

Mexican people, we are not going to pay any single cent for such a stupid wall! Calderon told CNBC on Feb. 8. calling Trump a not very well-informed man.

The first loser of such a policy would be the United States, Calderon said. If this guy pretends that closing the borders to anywhere either for trade [or] for people is going to provide prosperity to the United States, he is completely crazy.

In Foxs interview with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos, Fox said Id like to know who the Latinos were who voted for Trump in the Nevada caucuses.

Theyre followers of a false prophet and hes going to take them to the desert, Fox said of Latinos who voted for Trump. And if they think that they will benefit with an administration led by Donald Trump, theyre wrong. They must open their eyes.... This nation is going to fail if it goes into the hands of a crazy guy.

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Dalton Javier Avalos Ramirez remembers watching Donald Trump announce his candidacy for the U.S. presidency last June. In that speech, Trump lobbed the first in an eight-month stream of insults, saying that Mexico was sending many of its worst north of the border and that such immigrants are bringing drugs, theyre bringing crime, theyre rapists and some, I assume, are good people.

Avalos Ramirez, a resident of the border city of Reynosa opposite Texas, went back to his pinata workshop, and in anger sculpted paper and paste into Trumps image. A suit. A wide mouth seemingly in mid-insult. A tuft of yellow papier-mache hair whipping in the wind.

After making countless pinatas in a small workshop with his siblings since childhood, Avalos Ramirez never guessed that this gesture of protest would result in dozens of orders, both from Mexican customers and those across the border. Some customers filled Trump with candy and gleefully pummeled him to bits at birthday parties. Others took him to protests and set his likeness aflame.

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Eighty or so Trumps later, the orders are still coming.

Avalos Ramirez, in a phone interview from Reynosa, didnt realize that he would inspire scores of imitations and give many other Mexicans the ability to express their anger at the anti-Mexican rhetoric thats become a mainstay of this American election cycle. This week former president Vicente Fox voiced that anger with an F-bomb.

Responding to Trumps comment that he will build a large border wall and make Mexico pay for it, Fox said in an interview with Jorge Ramos on the Fusion network, Im not going to pay for that ... wall!

The comment brought cheers from commentators, politicians and everyday citizens. No doubt more Trump pinatas will be sold.

The U.S.-Mexican relationship has never been easy. In the 19th century, President Porfirio Diaz summed up his countrys dilemma: Poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the United States. Mexico lost about half its territory in the war with the U.S., and the country has long honored six young military cadets  the Ninos Heroes, or boy heroes  who died in 1847 when American forces invaded Mexico City. One is said to have wrapped himself in the Mexican flag and leaped to his death from the battlements rather than be taken by the Americans.

Still, the countries two governments have long preached cooperation and understanding. Vice President Joe Biden did as much this week.

Mr. Trump is a clear example of the hatred of Mexicans that certain Americans have.  Rosario Diaz, Mexico City architect

On a visit to Mexico City, Biden told President Enrique Pena Nieto that he almost felt the need to apologize to the Mexican people, and lamented the damaging and inaccurate xenophobic sentiments expressed during the Republican primary campaign.

I just want you to know, Mr. President, that the most heated of the rhetoric youve heard from some of the competitors for the nomination for president is not who we are as the American people. It is not a view that is the view of the majority of the American people. Its the exact opposite, its the opposite view, Biden said.

But many here are worried that the strength Trump has demonstrated in the polls, even in the state of Nevada, which has a large Latino population, indicates that such sentiments are shared by millions.

I have family living in California, and theyre really worried that if Trump becomes president, theyll be afraid that they could have their citizenship taken away. And they have been living over there for more than 30 years, said Lourdes Fernandez, a housewife in Mexico City. Theyre really praying to God that this man doesnt become president, because they dont know what he could do with the Mexican people.

They give them the worst jobs, they humiliate them, and Mexicans have to accept it because they have economic needs, said Rosario Diaz, an architect in Mexico City. Mr. Trump is a clear example of the hatred of Mexicans that certain Americans have.

In a poll published last August by Pew, 72% of Americans said that immigrants without documentation should be allowed to stay in the U.S., if they meet certain requirements. Only 17% said that a national law enforcement effort should be made to deport all immigrants in the country illegally. That information was sampled before Trump announced his candidacy.

On Thursday, the newspaper Milenio rounded up what Mexican politicians had to say about Trump, including this statement by Minister of the Interior Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, regarding the border wall Trump wishes to build with Mexicos dollars.

Hes looking to generate coverage more than generating a project. Of course, he doesnt know or understand the contribution of migrants of practically all the nations in the world that have come to help and support the development of the United States.

Secretary of State Jose Antonio Meade told the San Francisco Chronicle that the candidates speeches are colored by prejudice, racism  or just plain ignorance  thats not a good or positive sign. Any combination of the three does not help the debate, does not help politics.

After Foxs comment on Thursday, Trump went to Twitter to demand an apology for using an expletive. If I did that there would be an uproar!

At his pinata shop, Avalos Ramirez said Trump must be confused about what century were living in. The U.S.-Mexico war is long over, he said.

We in Mexico dont see the U.S. as an enemy, he said. We see them as an economic ally.

Tillman is a special correspondent. Special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez contributed reporting from Mexico City.

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The subject under discussion was raising the minimum wage. As Rosa Ramos addressed the Long Beach City Council in her native Spanish, unbeknown to her, the publisher of a local newspaper posted a tweet.

Minimum Wage: 1st speaker gets 6 min because she doesnt speak English even though she has lived her [sic] 28 years. This is going to be a mess, the message by Long Beach Business Journal Publisher George Economides read.

Economides tweeted again when a Latino man was given additional time at the podium to allow for translation.

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Those social media posts have landed Economides in hot water with activists who have denounced his statements as hateful and shameful.

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And the tweets which increasingly have become the nations favored forum for hot-button discourse  tapped into a wider national debate over immigration, assimilation and the movement among low-wage workers, many of them immigrants, to raise the minimum wage. Such issues are dividing neighbors, towns and lawmakers around the country, not to mention provoking heated election-year rhetoric from leading presidential candidates.

In Long Beach, a coalition of nine community groups expressed displeasure with Economides and support for accommodating non-English speakers.

Doubling the time for a speaker of a language other than English to allow for accurate interpretation is equity in action, the Long Beach Language Access Coalition said in a statement.

Wende Nichols-Julien, executive director at the California Conference for Equality and Justice, said she was dumbfounded at the publishers comments.

I was surprised and very disappointed that a publication I hold in high regard would stoop to this level that sounds racist or at least discriminatory against Spanish-speaking people, she said.

Dozens of people jammed the Jan. 19 City Council meeting in Long Beach to speak for and against raising the minimum wage. City officials adopted a policy three years ago to provide more time for translation of non-English speakers. Ramos spoke of needing to work up to three minimum-wage jobs to support her family.

Economides acknowledged writing the tweets while viewing a broadcast of the meeting, but did not apologize.

Its being blown out of proportion, he said in a telephone interview. People are looking to make more out of it than they should.

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Many Latinos view the current political discussions as more inflammatory than informative, such as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps suggestion that many Mexican immigrants are bringing drugs. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists, and his criticism of then-candidate Jeb Bush for speaking Spanish.

Recently, labor and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta said on Twitter that she was shouted off the stage during the Nevada caucuses by supporters of Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders with chants of English only when she offered Spanish translation. There is much dispute about what occurred, and the Vermont senators campaign said it expects its supporters to be respectful of everyone.

Economides said his tweets were intended to question whether non-English speakers supporting a higher minimum wage could have increased their opportunities to get ahead if they had learned English.

If youre going to call the United States your home, or France or Egypt, if thats where you are going to plant your roots, then you should learn the language, he said.

Mark Lopez, director of Hispanic research at the Pew Research Center, said evidence supports both sides of the argument.

Not speaking English can have a detrimental effect on immigrants in the labor market, Lopez said.

But his research has also found that most immigrants understand the importance of learning the language of their adopted homeland.

Economides said his family immigrated to the U.S. from Cyprus many years ago. He welcomes immigrants, he said, but stood fast in his views.

My parents understood, if you want to get ahead you got to work hard and learn the language, he said.

ruben.vives@latimes.com

Twitter: @latvives

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Trumps call for a wall continues a debate as old as the U.S.-Mexico border
On May 10, 2011, President Obama gave a speech near El Paso that turned out to be prophetic.

A border fence stretched for hundreds of miles between the United States and Mexico. The number of Border Patrol agents had doubled to 20,000 in less than a decade. Drones patrolled the skies.

But Obama warned it probably wouldnt be enough to satisfy Republican adversaries.

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You know, they said we needed to triple the Border Patrol, Obama said. Or now theyre going to say we need to quadruple the Border Patrol. Or theyll want a higher fence. Maybe theyll need a moat. Maybe they want alligators in the moat. Theyll never be satisfied.

Fausto Salinas stands along the border fence in McAllen, Texas. (Eric Gay / Associated Press )

In the 2016 presidential campaign, Republican front-runner Donald Trump has based much of his candidacy on just such a promise to go further  and to build the greatest wall youve ever seen between the U.S. and Mexico.

I want it to be so beautiful because maybe someday theyre going to call it the Trump wall, Trump said in August. Perhaps even bolder was his demand that Mexico fund it, prompting former Mexican President Vicente Fox to say this week, Im not going to pay for that ... wall.

But controversies over how to guard the U.S.-Mexico border are as old as the border itself.

::

At the end of the Mexican-American War of the 1840s, the U.S. annexed more than 500,000 square miles of new territory and faced a formidable problem: The new border with Mexico stretched more than 1,900 rugged miles, and it lay unprotected.

In 1849, the U.S. Army decided to build a series of forts to help secure the border  not against Mexicans, but to protect Mexicans.

New treaty obligations made it the U.S. governments responsibility to fight Native American tribes launching raids from U.S. territory into Mexico.

Migrants cross the Rio Grande, with the help of smugglers, in an attempt to reach the U.S. from Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. (German Garcia / Associated Press )

These forts ultimately included Ft. Worth and Ft. Bliss in Texas and helped bolster American settlement in the new territories, but they did little to protect Mexicans in the 1850s.

Clearly, the U.S. Armys expanded fort system had little effect on border security, U.S. Army historian Matt M. Matthews wrote in 2007. Infantry was of little use in chasing down mounted raiders, while U.S. Army mounted forces were spread so thinly they, too, proved practically worthless.

::

After tribal raids died down, the Mexican Revolution erupted in the 1910s, and American leaders watched in fear as revolutionaries fought for control of Mexican border towns. Once again, the enormous border seemed too long to closely guard.

Hysteria grew among border American residents after officials in 1915 discovered Mexican partisans plans calling for a race war against whites to take back the annexed American territory.

Mexican guerrillas made small raids into U.S. land across the border, and Texas Rangers and vigilantes began killing Mexicans suspected of involvement.

Then, on March 9, 1916, a band of 500 men led by Francisco Pancho Villa launched a raid on Columbus, N.M., leading 12,000 U.S. troops to invade Mexico in pursuit, which the U.S. secretary of war called a defensive expedition to protect American interests.

Luz del Carmen Flores observes a memorial wall for missing girls, one of them her daughter, Luz Angelica Mena Flores, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. (Yuri Cortez / AFP/Getty Images)

The incursion lasted until 1917 and failed to capture Villa, but by 1919, almost 20,000 U.S. troops remained stationed along the border, including U.S. Army aviators and 10 balloon companies.

After Villas forces invaded Ciudad Juarez and killed several Americans across the border in El Paso, American troops again crossed the border to drive Villa away for the last time.

Top military officials called for extraordinary manpower to secure the border. In one failed request, Secretary of War Newton D. Baker asked Congress that 100,000 soldiers be available at all times to deal with the Mexican menace.

::

In 1924, Congress created the U.S. Border Patrol to secure the borders, but economic policy eventually proved even tougher to master than the incursions of Mexican revolutionaries.

Illegal immigration surged after U.S. officials allowed poor Mexican workers into the U.S. during World War II to help boost the workforce under the Bracero Program.

To stop what they called historys greatest peacetime invasion, U.S. officials launched an operation in 1954 to mass-deport immigrants back to Mexico.

But as the Border Patrol says in its official history, many deportees simply turned around and recrossed the seriously undermanned border.

The border fence in Brownsville, Texas. (Eric Gay / Associated Press )

The controversial deportations and calls for tougher border patrols set the tone for decades to come, as U.S. officials tried to crack down on illegal crossings and the menace of drug trafficking.

By the end of the 20th century, areas once patrolled by U.S. soldiers now came equipped with seismic sensors to detect tunneling and night-vision scopes to spot nighttime crossings.

Today, steel fences 15 feet tall cut in some places across the border, monitored by camera towers and stadium lights. The border at San Diego has triple fencing topped with razor wire, and a barrier stretches 300 feet into the Pacific Ocean.

But at a border visit to Laredo, Texas, in July, Trump echoed complaints that officials had made about the border for years: It still isnt secure enough.

A wall, Trump told his listeners, will save you a tremendous amount of money.

@MattDPearce

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Turf rebates: In the Feb. 27 California section, an article about a lawsuit over turf rebate recipients said the names and addresses of some police officers, judges and prosecutors who received the payouts were being withheld. Only the addresses were withheld.

Wilmington oil field: In the Feb. 21 California section, a photo caption with an article about a Wilmington oil field misspelled the name of Elficer Garcia as Elcifer. It also said Garcia lives next to a Wilmington oil drilling site permitted for up to 540 wells. Garcia lives in another Wilmington neighborhood, next to an oil pump jack and several storage tanks.
Gary Benefield was in rough shape when a driver from the substance abuse treatment company A Better Tomorrow met him at the San Diego airport in 2010.

It was the day before his 53rd birthday. The longtime smoker had recently been hospitalized for pneumonia and was tethered to an oxygen tank, which he had relied on for years. He was seeking treatment for a drinking problem and had signed himself up for a round of detox and rehab.

Sometime that night, he collapsed by his bed at a Murrieta residential facility and died. The house manager, who was supposed to check on him regularly, had fallen asleep. Benefields body was found in the morning.

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The family sued, reaching an out-of-court settlement.

What came next sent a jolt through Californias large drug and alcohol rehabilitation industry. The state attorney generals office pursued second-degree murder charges against A Better Tomorrow and four of its employees  the first time in California history that a corporation had been accused of murder, according to the facilitys attorneys.

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The indictment, returned by a Riverside County grand jury, comes as California prosecutors have moved aggressively against healthcare providers accused of putting profits before patients. Just this month, a Rowland Heights doctor was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison after a Los Angeles jury found her guilty of second-degree murder for overprescribing drugs to three patients who fatally overdosed, one of the first such murder convictions in the nation.

Legal experts say the criminal case against A Better Tomorrow is a warning to Californias treatment centers  an industry with more than 1,500 facilities across the state.

The prosecutor has argued that the company, in its drive for profit, accepted a client it was not prepared to care for and killed him by failing to refill his oxygen and allowing employees with little or no medical training to give him drugs that made it harder for him to breathe. Benefield was the fourth person to die after checking into the facility in a little over two years.

At a recent hearing, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Elaine M. Kiefer said she found some practices at the facility troubling to say the least but questioned whether they amount to murder.

To prove the corporation guilty, prosecutors have to show that its employees, acting in the scope of their duties, knowingly acted in ways that endangered Benefields life, legal experts said.

Defense attorneys have asked Kiefer to throw out the charges, accusing the attorney generals office of prosecutorial misconduct and saying Deputy Atty. Gen. Joel Samuels unfairly presented evidence to the grand jury. The prosecutor, they said, failed to call as a witness the coroner who found that Benefield died of natural causes.

There simply was no homicide here, attorney Benjamin Gluck told the court.

Kelly Strader, a professor at Southwestern Law School, said the attorney generals office may have filed the charges as a warning to treatment facilities that youd better clean up your act. Were going to take this very seriously.

A 2012 report by the California Senate Office of Oversight and Outcomes, which outlined the four deaths at A Better Tomorrow, among others, said that the state had failed to police treatment homes, with deadly results.

In March 2008, Roberta McMinn, 68, died three days after being admitted to A Better Tomorrow. Her death was attributed to heart disease and intoxication with an antidepressant, the Senate report said.

State investigators concluded that the facility had done nothing wrong in her case. But the report said there appeared to be grounds for further investigation, given indications the program was providing medical care, contrary to state law.

In February 2009, another client with a history of medical problems died the day he arrived for treatment, after apparently suffering a seizure, the report said.

Later that year, a third client died after being taken to a hospital. The facilitys records showed that he was incontinent, jaundiced and weak when he arrived and had told employees he suffered from liver disease, according to the Senate report, but he was not medically assessed.

Separate death investigations by the state Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs following those cases found the company deficient for failing to provide safe and healthful accommodations and for not completing a physical health assessment for a client who died.

Two former employees of A Better Tomorrows call center, where salespeople handled calls from prospective clients, described in court records how they worked in a high-pressure environment with a mandate to fill beds. Former Operations Director Jose Ochoa said in a declaration filed as part of a lawsuit brought by Benefields widow that staff were under tremendous pressure to bring in paying clients  regardless of any health issues.

Michael Cartwright, chairman and chief executive of American Addiction Centers, which was formed in 2011 following a merger involving A Better Tomorrow and other health-related businesses, said that far from focusing on profits, employees number one focus is to save lives. In an interview with The Times, Cartwright said people in treatment frequently die.

The population that we work with on a daily basis has health problems, mental health problems. Multiple scenarios occur where people pass away inside treatment facilities, he said.

Benefield, who lived in Springerville, Ariz., decided to enter rehab in the summer of 2010, after being hospitalized with pneumonia. He and his wife set about searching for a facility that could handle his medical needs.

He was totally pumped to go, his stepdaughter, Jessica Barker, recalled.

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Jody Brueske, a call center worker for A Better Tomorrow who sold Benefield a stint in detox and rehab, said she asked her boss, Tami Scarcella, whether they could accommodate Benefields need for oxygen. Scarcella assured her they could, Brueske said in grand jury testimony. But Ochoa, who was fired in 2012, said he told a company director, James Fent, that they were not equipped to care for Benefield.

When Benefield arrived at the airport, he was met by driver Robert Swensrud, who noticed that he smelled of alcohol and that he was staggering and wheezing. His oxygen had been drained for the flight.

I could immediately tell that he was very sick, Swensrud said in a declaration filed in support of Kelly Benefields lawsuit. Swensrud said he asked Benefield if he wanted his oxygen tank filled and Benefield declined, saying he would be fine before arriving at the facility.

Swensrud said he called his supervisor, Meg Dean, who told him to give Benefield two tablets of Serax, an anti-anxiety drug often used to treat alcohol withdrawal, to calm him. He gave Benefield the pills from a house supply of prescription medicines.

In court records and state investigative reports, multiple employees similarly described giving detox clients medications before they had been prescribed.

When Benefield arrived at the detox home in Murrieta, House Manager Kris McCausland gave him more Serax and Trazodone, an antidepressant, according to a report by a state licensing official who investigated the death. McCausland told the official that Benefield had said he would be fine without his oxygen tank filled until the next day.

State experts Dr. David Smith, who served as medical director for the agency that previously regulated treatment facilities in California, and Dr. Joseph Cohen, the former chief forensic pathologist for Riverside County, told the grand jury that Serax would have inhibited Benefields breathing, compounding his lack of supplemental oxygen and ultimately contributing to his death. Both men were retained as experts in Kelly Benefields civil lawsuit.

The grand jury indicted the company, McCausland, Fent, Dean and Jerrod Menz, the founder of A Better Tomorrow, on murder and dependent adult abuse charges. Scarcella was indicted for dependent adult abuse.

Defense attorneys note that the county pathologist who issued the death report determined that Benefield died of heart and lung disease. Dr. Mark A. Fajardo, now the coroner in Los Angeles County, said in a court declaration that he did not believe the lack of oxygen or drugs given to Benefield at the facility contributed to his death and that he was never contacted by the attorney generals office.

Cartwright said the company is not responsible for the death. Theres nothing [the treatment center] could have done differently that could have changed the outcome for Mr. Benefield, and were sorry for that, he said.

Attorneys for the defendants declined to comment or did not return calls for comment. Samuels, the deputy attorney general, also declined to comment.

In their investigation into Benefields death, state licensing officials found the company deficient in 14 areas, including dispensing sample medications to residents, providing medication without a prescription, filling out medication logs in advance and providing medical-related services beyond the scope of its license.

In the months after Benefield died, the state Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs moved to revoke the license for the house where he was admitted. By then, the company had already closed it.

In 2013, after a man with a history of physical and mental illness committed suicide at another Murrieta facility run by A Better Tomorrow, state licensing officials faulted the firm for failing to regularly observe him during detox, failing to refer him to a higher level of care and recording inaccurate information on death report documents, according to state records.

Barker, Benefields stepdaughter, said his death left a hole in her family. She recalled him as a man who pulled out all the stops at Christmas, loved his motorcycle and lovingly raised his two stepchildren as his own.

He should still be here, she said.

paloma.esquivel@latimes.com

Twitter: @palomaesquivel

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A lack of diversity at the Oscars will be the subject of protests and discussions Sunday, with the Rev. Al Sharpton in Los Angeles leading the way.

The lack of nonwhite nominees has prompted some to call for a boycott of the awards and prompted the academy to promise reforms.

Sharpton will deliver a sermon Sunday morning at First AME Church of Los Angeles.

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During the 10 a.m. service at the oldest black church in Los Angeles, Sharpton will address the lack of diversity among nominees for Sundays Oscars, according to the church.

#OscarsSoWhite: Full coverage of the boycott and Hollywoods reaction

After the service, Sharpton will hold a news conference on the grounds of a mansion next to the former home of Hattie McDaniel, who won an Oscar for best supporting actress for her role as Mammy in Gone With The Wind.

Sharptons appearance is part of a series of protests held by his National Action Network in cities around the country, including Miami, Atlanta and Detroit, according to the group.

Its unclear whether any protests will occur in Hollywood in connection with the Oscar ceremonies themselves. Much of the area near the event is closed off by police.

During an Oscar lunch last week, three protesters marched outside. Police said they left of their own accord.

The 88th annual Academy Awards will be held Sunday at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The ceremony will be broadcast on ABC beginning at 5:30 p.m. PST.

In 2012, The Times reported that Oscar voters were 94% white and 77% male. Four years later, the academy has made scant progress: Oscar voters are 91% white and 76% male, according to a new Times study.

Blacks are about 3% of the academy, up from 2%; Asians and Latinos are each just over 2%, with both groups up slightly.

The academy has invited more women and minority group members over the last four years, but with its 6,261 voting members appointed for life, the organizations ranks were on track to remain overwhelmingly white and male for decades.

Under fire for nominating an all-white slate of actors for two years in a row, the academy last month vowed to double the number of women and minority members by 2020. It also adopted controversial new rules that will allow it to take away voting rights from inactive members.

Our goal is to make sure that we are active in bringing in different voices regardless of gender or race or sexual orientation, academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said in an interview Thursday. Inclusiveness in this organization, that is our goal.

For more Los Angeles news, follow @sjceasar

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Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim erupts in violence; three stabbed, 13 arrested

The Ku Klux Klans ugly, violent history in Anaheim
Anaheim police have defended their handling of a Ku Klux Klan rally that left three people with stab wounds and 13 people arrested.

Some witnesses said they saw little police activity when the violence began. But in a statement, Anaheim officials said they had officers on scene and that they were able to quickly make arrests when the violence broke out.

Mayor Tom Tait said Sunday that police were present when the fighting broke out, and some of those were plainclothes officers.

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They are doing an internal review so the next time this happens it can be improved, he said. I am cautious not to Monday morning quarterback the police. It is a tough job here.

Anaheim police said they were prepared.

There were officers there. We had a plan in place,  said Sgt. Daron Wyatt, adding they quickly responded to the violence taking a dozen people into custody and treating the injured.

We had individuals who specifically came there to commit acts of violence, and there is nothing to do to stop that, he said of the violent confrontation captured on video.

Wyatt would not provide any specifics on how many officers were on hand But he said going forward the department may reevaluate whether additional officers are needed at such protests.

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He said the department chose to not be more of a visible presence to avoid provoking potential anti-police sentiments among protesters, noting the rally was protected by the 1st Amendment. It is a balance act, he said. We dont want look like we are taking anyones side.

A small group of people representing the klan had announced that it would hold a rally at Pearson Park at 1:30 p.m., police said. By 11 a.m., several dozen protesters had shown up to confront the klan.

About an hour later, several men in black garb with Confederate flag patches arrived in an SUV near the edge of the park.

Fighting broke out moments after klan members exited the vehicle. Some of the protesters could be seen kicking a man whose shirt read Grand Dragon. At some point, a protester collapsed on the ground bleeding, crying that he had been stabbed.

1 / 9 A Ku Klux Klansman, left, struggles with a protester for an American flag after members of the KKK tried to start a White Lives Matter rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim on Saturday. Three people were treated at the scene for stab wounds, and 13 people were arrested. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 9 A Ku Klux Klansman is kicked in the face by an angry protester after members of the KKK tried to start a White Lives Matter rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 3 / 9 Protesters scuffle with a Ku Klux Klansman after members of the KKK tried to start a White Lives Matter rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim. The event quickly escalated into violence. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 4 / 9 Protesters taunt an injured Ku Klux Klansman after members of the KKK tried to start a White Lives Matter rally at Pearson Park in Anaheim. Witnesses said the Klansmen used the point of a flagpole as a weapon while fighting with protesters. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 5 / 9 A Ku Klux Klan rally in Anaheim earlier this year turned violent. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 6 / 9 Paramedics tend to a protester who was stabbed during the KKK rally in Anaheim. Many people at the park were demanding to know why police did not have a larger presence at the scene before the violence broke out. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 7 / 9 A Ku Klux Klansman is subdued and handcuffed by police. I was expecting violence  but its disgusting, said Nick Keeton, 18, of Anahiem. I feel like this is 1953 and were in Kentucky. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 9 A Ku Klux Klansman is subdued and handcuffed. All of the 13 people arrested could face charges of assault with a deadly weapon, though a police spokesman said some people could have a self-defense claim. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 9 A protester lies on the ground after being stabbed in an altercation with KKK members. Klansmen were once the dominant political force in Anaheim, holding four of five City Council seats before a recall effort led to their ouster in 1924. (Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

A klansman in handcuffs could be heard telling a police officer that he stabbed him in self-defense. Several other people were also handcuffed.

Witnesses said the klansmen used the point of a flagpole as a weapon while fighting with protesters.

Two other protesters were stabbed during the melee  one with a knife and the other with an unidentified weapon, Wyatt said.

Brian Levin, director of Cal State San Bernardinos Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, said he was standing near the KKK members when several protesters attacked them with 2-by-4s and other weapons.

Several of the klan members jumped in the SUV and sped off, leaving three others to fend for themselves, Levin said.

Levin had been trying to interview the KKK ringleader, whom he identified as William Quigg of Anaheim.

Quigg is the leader of the Loyal White Knights in California and other Western states, a unit of the hate group, Levin said. They see themselves as a klan without robes and model themselves after David Duke, the Louisiana-based former grand wizard of the klan, Levin said.

Levin said he was standing next to Quigg when a crowd of protesters swarmed the klan members. Levin said he pushed the klan leader away as the violence continued and a protester was stabbed.

Levin said he asked Quigg, How do you feel that a Jewish guy just saved your life?

Thank you, the klan leader replied, according to Levin.

A few minutes later, a crowd of about 100 people cheered when police handcuffed Quigg and one of his followers.

Many people at the park demanded to know why Anaheim police did not have a larger presence before the violence broke out.

Levin was also critical of the lack of a police presence. There were no police officers here when this started happening, he said.

It was the longest few minutes between when the SUV was attacked and when the police responded in droves, Levin said.

I think the police response saved their lives, he added, referring to klan members. They would have been torn limb from limb.

On Sunday, Levin reiterated his concerns.

There was no uniform police presence when I arrived, he said, adding two police officers arrived well after the violence had begun.

Here is a list of some of those arrested from the Anaheim police:

Charles Edward Donner, 51, of San Francisco, who was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, with bail set at $25,000.

Nicole Rae Schop, 24, of Los Angeles, who was arrested on suspicion of elder abuse, with bail set at $50,000.

Marquis DeShawn Turner, 20, of Anaheim, who was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, with bail set at $25,000.

Randy Omarcc Felder, 25, of Lakewood, who was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, with bail set at $25,000.

Mark Anthony Liddell, 26, of Los Angeles, who was arrested on suspicion of elder abuse, with bail set at $50,000.

Guy Harris, 19, a transient, who was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, with bail set at $25,000.

Hugo Contreras, 38, of Hawthorne, who was arrested on suspicion of elder abuse, with bail set at $50,000.

Anaheim officials released a photo of an outstanding suspect.

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About 20 protesters who rallied against sexual abuse in the Catholic church in downtown Los Angeles were joined by Spotlight actor Mark Ruffalo, the films director Tom McCarthy and its writer Josh Singer on Sunday.

Protesters, many of whom identify as victims of abuse by Catholic priests, marched and brandished banners outside the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels Sunday morning.

Ruffalo, Singer and McCarthy, who were invited by the group to appear, joined them in calling on the church to take greater action against sexual abuse and release the names of known abusers.

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The Spotlight creators each held a section of a banner printed with the victims childhood photos and addressed the protesters before heading to pre-Oscar parties and the red carpet.

Im here to stand with the survivors and the victims and the people weve lost from Catholic priest childhood sex abuse, Ruffalo told protesters.

The protest, organized by the group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, was one of 20 rallies Sunday urging greater transparency at Catholic cathedrals across the nation, said Barbara Blaine, the president and founder of the group. Organizers wanted to use the Academy Awards, which takes place Sunday night, was a way to draw attention to their cause, Blaine said.

We wanted to use this moment with all of the attention on the movie Spotlight because that movie tells our stories and gets it right. Every Catholic should see this film, said Blaine, who identifies as a former victim of sexual abuse by a Catholic priest.

Spotlight, a film chronicling the Boston Globes investigation into sexual abuse by priests in the Catholic Church, is nominated for six Oscars, including best picture and best supporting actor for Ruffalo.

frank.shyong@latimes.com

Twitter: @frankshyong

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Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris won the coveted California Democratic Party endorsement for U.S. Senate on Saturday, solidifying her status as the front-runner and delivering a setback to her top rival, Rep. Loretta Sanchez.

Harris captured 78.1% of the votes to earn the state Democrats official seal of approval. Its a prize that provides her with a clear edge in the June 7 primary and, most likely, financial support from the party.

The endorsement came after the two Democratic Senate candidates, running to succeed retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer, made their final pitches to local activists and other elected officials.

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Harris asked Democrats to help her deliver a more perfect union and Sanchez asked them to trust her experience and record over other candidates talk.

But Harris prevailed in a landslide. Of the 2,139 ballots cast, 19.3% were for Sanchez and 2.6% voted for no endorsement at all.

Their back-to-back speeches, the warm-up acts before Vice President Joe Biden took the stage, capped a furious two days of campaigning by both women.

Sanchez spoke of her hardscrabble upbringing, cleaning homes to help one of her brothers pay for college, and how her Mexican immigrant parents hard work and perseverance allowed them to achieve the American dream. The congresswoman emphasized her record and experience in Washington and received the warmest response when extolling her votes against the Iraq war, the bank bailout and the Patriot Act.

While other candidates talk about boldly changing in Washington, Ive done it for 20 years, Sanchez said, taking a subtle dig at Harris. Experience matters, and I will hit the ground running in the Senate.

Harris walked onto the stage to rousing applause and described the life-shaping experience of growing up in the Bay Area as the daughter of two civil rights activists. Harris speech hewed to the high ideals of the Democratic Party and the poison politics consuming the Republican presidential race. She vowed to protect and restore the fundamental rights of all Americans.

For far too many, liberty and justice for all is a promise we have failed to keep, Harris said.

Winning the party endorsement required at least 60% of the votes from credentialed party delegates or their proxies, a mark that historically has been difficult to reach because delegates also have the option of checking a box for no endorsement.

Sanchez came to San Jose knowing that she faced an uphill battle. On Friday, she lamented that the Democratic establishment was clearly in Harris corner.

Its all about the insiders. We knew this from the beginning, Sanchez said. Getting into the race was not going to be easy, because the insiders already chose who would be the next senator.

After the results were announced, Sanchez spokesman Luis Vizcaino said his boss would advance to the June 7 primary. Make no mistake, todays vote was not the primary, he said. Congresswoman Sanchez is on track to be one of two candidates in the general election where the electoral dynamics change in her favor.

Harris relished the victory in a statement late Saturday.

Im incredibly honored to have the endorsement of the California Democratic Party in the U.S. Senate race, and Im so proud of the support our campaign has received from every corner of our state, she said. We know there is more that unites us than divides us, and Im grateful to the Californians who joined together to send that message this weekend.

The Harris campaign devoted substantially more effort in wooing delegates throughout the convention. Her supporters, many wearing bright blue T-shirts bearing her name, swarmed the hallways all weekend, crowded inside caucus meetings and lobbied delegates for their votes.

Sanchez, by contrast, arrived with just a small contingent of aides, and her campaign was barely visible.

The enthusiasm for Harris was evident early on. Several state lawmakers tweeted photos of themselves voting for her throughout the day.

At a meeting of the partys powerful Labor Caucus on Friday night, Harris received a standing ovation. Sanchez was greeted with a smattering of polite applause. On Saturday morning, Harris received a warm, enthusiastic welcome from activists in the partys environmental caucus. Sanchez, who sat in the front row for Harris speech, received polite applause.

But the congresswoman said she was undaunted. She also failed to land the state Democratic Party endorsement in her first run for Congress in 1996, and she went on to win the nomination and oust Orange County conservative Rep. Robert Dornan.

Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), a Harris supporter, said the attorney general has a long history of championing core Democratic ideals in California, including going after the big banks behind the mortgage crisis and leading the fight for same-sex marriage. She praised Sanchez as a terrific candidate but said Harris, who served as San Francisco district attorney before being elected attorney general, outshined the congresswoman.

Thats what campaigns are about. Thats what conventions are about, Atkins said. These things are hard discussions and decisions.

Rep. Janice Hahn, a candidate for Los Angeles County supervisor, admitted that having the Democratic convention in Northern California  Harris strongest base of political support  didnt help Sanchez.

Endorsements are nice, Hahn said before the voting began. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to who can turn out their supporters on election day.

Democratic political consultant Garry South said Californias top-two primary system may complicate the value the party endorsement. The two candidates who receive the most votes June 7, regardless of party, face off Nov. 8.

If Harris and Sanchez both advance, the Democratic Partys endorsement will do little to win over Republicans and independent voters, South said.

I dont think theres any question that Loretta can get enough votes to finish in the top two, South said. Then you have to hit the reset button, because every vote is in play.

phil.willon@latimes.com

Follow @philwillon on Twitter for the latest news on California politics

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Liberal Politics from the Heart of Bluegrass Country
Alice Tanaka Hikido clearly remembers the bewilderment and sense of violation she felt 74 years ago when FBI agents rifled through her familys Juneau home, then arrested her father before he was sent to Japanese internment camps, including a little-known camp in pre-statehood Alaska.

The 83-year-old Campbell, Calif., woman recently attended a ceremony where participants unveiled a study of the short-lived internment camp at what is now Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage.

Archaeologists working on the research used old records to pinpoint the camp location in an area now partially covered by a parking lot. The Army study is expected to be finalized this year.

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As I look back, I had no idea as a child that the U.S. and Japan were having difficulties, Hikido said. It was a tremendous surprise to me.

Hikido herself was interned at Idahos Minidoka camp with her mother, younger sister and two brothers a few months after her fathers arrest during one of the nations darkest chapters  the incarceration of tens of thousands people of Japanese ancestry, including Americans, during World War II.

Shonosuke Tanaka, her father, eventually joined his family in Idaho in 1944. They spent more than a year there together before the war ended and they returned to Juneau.

Her father was among 15 Japanese nationals and two German nationals who were rounded up in the territory of Alaska almost immediately after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

That number would grow to 104 foreign nationals, mostly Japanese, who were arrested in Alaska as alien enemies. An estimated 145 others, including some Alaska Natives who took Japanese names in marriage, also would be sent to internment camps outside the territory under Executive Order 9066, which launched the exile of about 120,000 Japanese Americans.

Before leaving Alaska, Tanaka and 16 other men were housed at the Anchorage Army post formerly known as Ft. Richardson.

Archaeologists recently zeroed in on the site based on documents including a map and the only two known photographs, according to Morgan Blanchard, a local archaeologist who worked on the study.

Although it was known that this camp existed  it shows up on all the lists of camps that existed during the war  no information was available, Blanchard told a small crowd during a Feb. 19 Day of Remembrance ceremony at the base. So we filled in a lot of the blanks.

Researchers discovered debris such as .30 carbine rounds and barbed wire fragments at the site, but were unable to find anything definitely connected with the camp, Blanchard said. Researchers believe  but cant say with certainty  that the 17 foreign nationals who were sent to the post were actually held at the camp, constructed between February and June 1945.

It was only after her father joined them in Minidoka that Alice Hikido and her family heard his story, from his apprehension in Juneau to various internment camps including at least one in New Mexico.

The familys time in captivity forced the closure of her fathers Juneau cafe. They reopened it upon their return, with the help of a welcoming community.

Hikido and her 75-year-old sister, Mary Tanaka Abo, are the only surviving members of her family who experienced the internment.

Today, Hikido sees the same distrust of some foreigners that her family experienced so many decades ago. Its troubling to her to hear politicians whipping up that fear by demonizing certain minorities.

If theres a lesson to learn, she said, its how crucial it is for individuals to arm themselves with knowledge.

Its incumbent upon citizens to be well-informed, Hikido said. If youre well-informed, then fear doesnt overcome your better judgment.
Alabama is one of a handful of states without a minimum wage law on the books, and for the foreseeable future its going to stay that way. Gov. Robert J. Bentley on Thursday signed into law a measure prohibiting municipalities from establishing a minimum wage.

The law, which sailed through the Legislature, came in response to Birmingham, which passed an ordinance setting a minimum hourly wage of $10.10.

Alabamas action came as cities, counties and states debate whether to raise the minimum wageor to have one at all.

Supporters say that hiking the minimum wage helps working-class people survive. Opponents say such measures retard growth and encourage employers to relocate to less expensive locales.

Describing the minimum wage landscape nationwide gets tricky because its, well, complicated. In some jurisdictions, a minimum wage law applies only to larger employers, not smaller onesand the definition of whats large and whats small varies. In some jurisdictions, it's tied to whether employees receive health insurance.

Thanks to the U.S. Department of Labor, the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, and the Pew Charitable Trusts, heres a quick look at the minimum wage issue, in nine numbers:

5

States without a minimum wage law: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee.

14

States where the minimum wage equals the federal minimum wage of $7.25: Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin.

17

States prohibiting cities from topping the state minimum wage. Alabama joined 16 others with such laws, according to Pew. Last September in Missouri, lawmakers overrode a gubernatorial veto to enact a law that prevents local entities from exceeding the states minimum wage level, currently $7.65.

29

States where the minimum wage exceeds the federal level. The long list includes Maine (the lowest at $7.65) as well as Ohio ($8.10), Rhode Island ($9.60), Colorado ($8.31) and Arizona ($8.05).

33

Cities and counties with minimum wage laws. According to the UC Berkeley labor center, only five localities had such measures before 2012.

$15

Minimum wage to be phased in over a few years in Los Angeles, Seattle and other jurisdictions.

$10.50

Minimum wage in the District of Columbia.

$10.50

Minimum wage in Los Angeles as of July 1. It will reach $15 by 2020.

$5.15

Minimum wage in Georgia and Wyoming.

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Editors note: Back in February, Times political writers assessed how Donald Trump might govern if he was elected President. Heres what they had to say:

President Trump.

A lot of people have trouble putting those two words together.

I dont even want to get into that. ... God, said John H. Sununu, who was White House chief of staff under President George H.W. Bush. I dont even want to be in a story that has that assumption in it.

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The assumption cant be brushed aside, however. The chance that Donald Trump will win the Republican presidential nomination has grown dramatically with his victories in early-voting states and his leads in polls of the states that vote over the next three weeks. The intense attacks that Trumps leading rivals, Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas, have waged in recent days provide a good measuring stick for their concern that he could soon race beyond their reach.

And although lots of Republican strategists fear  and Democrats hope  that Trump would stand no chance in a general election, many of those same people confidently predicted his demise in the primaries.

So, with an election win no longer a farfetched notion, what might a Trump presidency look like?

It would be chaos, Rubio said in an interview Friday on CBS. Trump, he said, refuses to answer questions on any specific public policy and has no ideas of any substance on the important issues.

Thats not entirely true, however. For voters interested in policy, Trump has indeed been frustratingly vague. The issues page on his campaign website is sparse. On some matters, he refuses to be pinned down. On others, he openly admits not knowing much, as he did when asked in Nevada recently about federal land ownership in the West.

Nonetheless, in eight months of campaigning, 10 debates and scores of speeches and interviews, the New York billionaire has set out his top priorities and given a fairly clear sense of how a President Trump might approach his job.

In ideological terms, Trump scrambles traditional lines  borrowing some ideas from the left, others from the right.

He shows no particular interest, for example, in the long-standing conservative Republican goal of shrinking the size of the federal government. Asked in Thursdays debate how he would balance the federal budget, he fell back on the slogan of eliminating waste, fraud and abuse and named only two specifics that he would cut: the Common Core education standards, which arent a federal spending program, and Environmental Protection Agency regulatory powers that he said he would shift to the states.

Indeed, one of his most specific pledges  to reject any cuts to Social Security or Medicare  points in the other direction. Coupled with his pledge to increase military spending, Trumps refusal to cut programs for the elderly would put about 60% of the federal budget off limits.

He has also, at least in general terms, endorsed a role for the federal government in guaranteeing healthcare coverage. In Thursdays debate, he resisted taking a more conservative position when Cruz and Rubio prodded him on the issue.

In contrast to his vagueness on the size of government, Trump is absolutely clear on the central theme of how he sees the presidency: the personal use of executive power.

In almost every statement he makes, Trump depicts the presidency as an arena in which he would fix problems through the exercise of his will and negotiating ability.

A characteristic comment came in an interview with ABCs This Week in response to a question about Russian President Vladimir Putin.

I have been an extremely successful deal maker. Thats what Ive done over years, Trump said. And I know people, because deals are people. And I think Ill get along very well, for the good of our country.... Ill get along fine with Putin.

Trumps rivals in the GOP race routinely denounce President Obama as having exceeded the powers of his office. Trump says Obama acted stupidly and made the wrong decisions, but hes less likely to emphasize the claim that Obama has tried to make the office too powerful.

Even the most forceful modern presidents, however, quickly discover the limits of what they can do.

Its not that he can come in, start with a clean sheet of paper, said Andrew Card, who worked for the last three Republican presidents, including 5 1/2 years as George W. Bushs chief of staff. Congress, the courts and the bureaucracy of federal agencies guard their own prerogatives.

Governors tend to understand that better than CEOs, who have far more authority over their companies than a president has over the government, Card said.

When youre the president, youre not a dictator.

TRAIL GUIDE: All the latest news on the 2016 presidential campaign >>

Thats not to say a president lacks power. Some of Trumps most controversial plans could be carried out by executive authority. Many legal experts believe, for example, that Trump could impose his plan to bar most foreign Muslims from entering the U.S., at least for a while, because the president has broad authority over immigration, particularly where it intersects with national security.

He will have a very easy time doing whatever he can do through executive authority alone. That includes the conduct of foreign relations, up to a point, said William Galston of Washingtons Brookings Institution, who worked in the White House under President Clinton.

By contrast, he would have a hard time doing anything that requires the cooperation of Congress.

If elected, Trump would take office after what amounts to a hostile takeover of the Republican Party and over the opposition of Democrats. He probably would not be able to count on much support from either side on Capitol Hill. That would mean trouble for his promises to build a wall along the Mexican border or to round up and deport the roughly 11 million people currently in the U.S. without legal authorization. Both would require Congress to approve billions of dollars in new appropriations even if Trump could pressure the Mexican government into reimbursing the U.S. for the cost of the wall, which Mexico says it wont consider.

On foreign policy, a President Trump would face a different set of constraints  other countries.

Trump has repeatedly denounced current arrangements under which the U.S. guarantees to defend its allies in Europe and Japan, saying Americans are getting taken advantage of.

Those days are gone, he said a few weeks ago at a New Hampshire rally.

If Trump really wants to end that obligation, he would have to do away with treaties that have defined U.S. foreign relations since the 1950s, including the U.S.-Japan defense treaty.

That possibility has already begun worrying the Japanese, said Kori Schake, a former aide to George W. Bush who recently met with Japanese officials to discuss defense issues. Any move to change the treaty could cause allies in Asia to reconsider their cooperation on issues the U.S. cares about, she noted.

The change also would not save the sort of money Trump suggests. Japan, Germany and South Korea pay much of the cost of keeping U.S. troops in their countries, so stationing forces in Japan costs only about 10% more than keeping them in rural Texas, said Schake, a research fellow at Stanfords Hoover Institution.

Other Trump promises go far beyond what a president can do.

A staple of Trumps recent stump speeches, for example, has been to criticize Carrier Corp., a unit of United Technologies Corp., for its plan to move two air-conditioner manufacturing plants from Indiana to Mexico, which he said would cost 1,400 U.S. jobs.

If Im the president, heres what we do, Trump told about 5,000 people at a recent rally at a casino resort in Las Vegas. We write them a little note  we congratulate them on their move; we hope it goes well.

And we tell them the following. We tell them that every time you make an air-conditioning unit, and every time you send that unit into the United States, youre going to pay a 35% tax.

A long, sustained roar of cheers filled the arena.

But the president has no power to impose taxes, and retaliatory tariffs can only be applied in specific circumstances defined by complex laws and regulations. Congress has rejected far milder proposals to retaliate against companies that move manufacturing jobs overseas. Republicans in particular have opposed such ideas, which might preserve thousands of manufacturing jobs, but would also immediately and sharply raise costs for millions of U.S. consumers.

That example points to a problem that could quickly trouble a Trump presidency.

You have to tell people no all the time in government, said Rob Stutzman, a Sacramento-based political consultant who worked as a top advisor to another larger-than-life figure, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and who backs Rubio. It ultimately is a business where you disappoint people.

That fact hits all presidents, eroding their popularity over time, but it might particularly affect Trump because he has built his campaign around personal dynamism and promises that few think are possible to fulfill.

Theres never going to be a wall. Mexico is not paying for anything. Apples not building iPhones in the United States, said Stutzman. My guess is hell hire very well  hire very capable people  and hell take their counsel, but then I think he finds himself in a difficult position of trying to sustain political capital because hell have to start explaining why he cant.

david.lauter@latimes.com

michael.finnegan@latimes.com

noah.bierman@latimes.com

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Emilio Huerta draws on family name, blocks rivals Democratic party endorsement in Central Valley race

It was a bit of a throwback weekend in San Jose, with labor legend Dolores Huerta flexing organizing muscle to gather the delegate support to boost her son Emilio Huertas congressional bid.

After gathering hundreds of signatures and following a lively floor vote, Emilio Huerta succeeded in blocking Fowler City Councilman Daniel Parra from getting the party endorsement as he challenges Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) in the Central Valley race. Valadao is considered vulnerable given it is a presidential year with higher voter turnout.

The effort was a family affair: Dolores, Emilio and his daughter Ana Alicia Huerta worked the California Democratic Party convention all weekend to make it happen.

Thanks to Huertas actions, neither Democrat will have the partys official support or the funding that comes with it.

After Parra won the endorsement vote of a small, local caucus Saturday night, Emilio and Ana hit the convention halls to gather the 300 signatures needed to challenge it on the convention floor Sunday.

A trio of delegates from Lancaster were among the first to sign.

I support him, he is Dolores Huertas son, said delegate Camille Dunn. Let the people hear him.

At around 11 p.m. the group filed enough signatures. A tired Dolores and Emilio came into the press room looking for coffee.

Decaf for Dolores, cafe con leche for Emilio.

An organizer eats when he can, sleeps when can, he said between sips.

In the morning Ana and Andres Chavez, the 22-year-old grandson of United Farm Workers founder Cesar Chavez, worked the halls explaining the particulars of the parliamentary voting to delegates.

Then the big guns came out.

First up to speak in favor of vacating the endorsement was Rep. Zoe Lofgren, chair of Californias Democratic Congressional delegation.

She admitted the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee wasnt able to recruit a candidate in the race early on, one reason Huerta had a late start. She said her heart did a pitter patter when Huerta entered in early January. Next up was Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside).

Then came Dolores Huerta:

Huerta was successful  sort of. While he took the endorsement away from Parra, but he failed to win a second vote that would have given the partys backing. That means the party is neutral in the race, and wont offer financial support.

I won this thing twice, Parra said the night before. Now, people outside my district get to decide it.

For Parras supporters the whole process left a bitter taste. After all, they said, Parra had earlier in February won a pre-endorsement vote with backing from more than 80% of local delegates. And he claimed just under two thirds of the vote Saturday night.

Honor our local grass roots votes, said Parra backer Estella Kessler, 67 of Selma, Calif., in urging statewide delegates to vote to keep the endorsement.

After the vote Parra left the hall, while Huerta walked the halls shaking hands.

Huerta said the real test comes with the June 7 primary when voters take to the polls. He acknowledged his name helped him block Parra.

It opens the door but its up to me to bring substance to the table, he said.

An earlier version of this post misspelled Ana Alicia Huertas name.
The National Park Service is looking at using sharpshooters, capture and other methods to reduce the number of bison that are roaming the far northern reaches of the Grand Canyon and damaging resources, officials said.

The massive animals can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, and park officials say they are destroying water sources, vegetation, soil and archaeological sites. Hunting is prohibited within park boundaries, but the agency has the authority to kill animals that harm resources, using park staff or volunteer hunters.

The park service announced in 2014 that it would work on a long-term plan to manage bison and do a more in-depth environmental review. But the Grand Canyon said last week that it changed course because immediate action is needed to control the growing bison population.

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Park officials are asking the public for comment. Reduction of the animals could start this winter if everything goes as planned. Between 80 and 200 bison are sustainable, not the 400 to 600 now living on about 310 square miles, officials said.

Were considering a suite of tools, Sue Consolo-Murphy, acting chief of science and resource management, said Friday. Until we get into this, we dont know whats going to work.

Identical bills in the U.S. House and Senate would let state-licensed hunters kill the bison and keep the meat. Arizona Sen. John McCain and Rep. Paul Gosar touted them as a cost-saving measure and criticized the park service for what they see as delayed action.

We cant afford to allow more devastation to be caused to the park while the park service twiddles their thumbs trying to come up with an expensive plan, Gosar said in a statement. We have a plan, and it puts Arizona hunters to work doing what they love, accomplishing this important task for free.

Consolo-Murphy said using volunteers is not out of the question, and the park is looking at models in other places for shrinking wildlife populations. Typically, the animal meat is turned over to wildlife agencies, tribes or charities to distribute.

Anything passed by Congress would have to be integrated into the parks plan.

Bison were introduced to the area in the early 1900s as part of a ranching operation to cross-breed them with cattle, creating hybrids known as beefalo or cattalo. The animals no longer look like cattle but have a small percentage of cattle, if any, in their genes.

Opportunities for hunters to kill them on nearby U.S. Forest Service land have diminished because the bison spend more time in the boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park. Hunting permits for bison are the most sought-after of the states hunted big-game species.

Birth control and relocating bison have not been effective in keeping them out of the park, officials have said.

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Sen. Ted Cruz released four years of tax figures Saturday as a gesture of transparency and accountability, joining rival Marco Rubio in challenging Donald Trump to do the same as the three battle for the Republican presidential nomination ahead of Super Tuesdays crucial contests next week.

But the Saturday night disclosure by Cruz, a Texas Republican -- like one earlier in the day by Rubio, his Senate colleague from Florida -- offered only a partial glimpse of his personal finances. They showed that he consistently paid more than 28% of his and his wifes income in taxes but failed to specify all sources of income or the nature of deductions the couple sought.

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The Cruzes paid $389,124 on an adjusted growth income of more than $1.2 million in 2014, for an effective tax rate of 32.2%, the campaign said in a summary of the documents released.

It was the highest effective tax rate they paid in the years provided, based on $983,161 in salaries, $190,000 in unspecified business income and $37,000 in dividends and capital gains.

In 2011 and 2012, most of the Cruzes income came from real estate, royalties or other sources, the returns showed.

Cruzs wife, Heidi, worked at Goldman Sachs until she took an unpaid leave of absence last year to devote herself to her husbands White House bid. Cruz was elected to the Senate in 2012.

In a statement, the Cruz campaign noted that the senator had also released five years of tax returns during his Senate campaign. It said Trump should follow Sen. Cruzs example and release at least nine years of his own returns.

Its time for Trump to come clean and release his tax returns, Cruz said in the statement. If hes not been completely honest or has supported the most radical left-wing groups in America, voters deserve to know.

Trump has said several of his returns are being audited and he wont release them until that process is complete.

Rubio posted five years of tax data to his website, which showed a range of income from $183,826 in 2010, the year he was elected to the Senate, to $929,439 in 2012, the year his memoir, An American Son, was released.

That was the year Rubio saw his highest effective tax rate: 27.4%. He paid $64,666 in taxes on an adjusted gross income of $335,561 in 2014, the data showed.

Follow @mikememoli for more 2016 campaign news.

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Hillary Clinton eyes Donald Trump in victory speech: America has never stopped being great

"Despite what you hear, America never stopped being great!" https://t.co/ol2pWBc4TY https://t.co/eDgPMj9oG0  CBS News (@CBSNews) February 28, 2016

Hillary Clinton basked briefly in an overwhelming victory in South Carolina on Saturday, but quickly began to look ahead to the widening battlefield in the Democratic nomination race and even the general election as she called for greater civility in politics.

Tomorrow, this campaign goes national, Clinton told supporters at an election night rally in Columbia, the states capital.

We are going to compete for every vote in every state. We are not taking anything and were not taking anyone for granted.

Clinton congratulated her rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, on a well-fought campaign in the state and again seemed to absorb some of his populist messaging. She made an early plea for online contributions, thanking the more than 850,000 grass-roots donors that she said are powering this campaign.

Her message included some of the staples of her recent stump speech -- promising to build on the progress of President Obama while pledging to break down the barriers that she said still hold too many Americans back.

Clinton also praised the courage of mothers whose children died in racially charged encounters, saying they have channeled their sorrow into a strategy, and their mourning into a movement. And she again highlighted the water crisis in Flint, Mich., praising ordinary people who have stepped up to help the citys residents.

But she also seemed to look past Super Tuesday next week to offer an early hint of her strategy against the Republican front-runner, Donald Trump.

Despite what you hear, we dont need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great, she said, as the audience roared at the clear reference to Trumps campaign slogan.

But we do need to make America whole again, she continued. Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers. We need to show by everything we do that we really are in this together.

Later, she cited the Bible as she called for Americans to lift one another up. The verse she mentioned was from 1 Corinthians; Trump took some flak for referring to 2 Corinthians as two Corinthians, rather than the more colloquial second Corinthians, in a campaign appearance at an evangelical Christian university.

I know it sometimes seems a little odd for someone running for president in these, in this time, to say we need more love and kindness in America, Clinton said. But Im telling you from the bottom of my heart, we do.

Clinton was introduced by South Carolinas lone Democrat in Congress, Rep. James E. Clyburn, who had offered a well-timed endorsement just as the campaign shifted to his state.

South Carolina voters, he said, have started Hillary Clinton on her way to the White House.
Violent crime is rising in Los Angeles, as it is in every major California city. The population of L.A. is rising as well, with 136,000 more Angelenos in 2014 than just four years earlier.

Yet the citys budget has room for just under 10,000 officers in the L.A. Police Department. Thats not enough, and its high time for City Hall to face that fact, Police Chief Charlie Beck said this month.

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Beck is correct that the LAPD is on the lean side, at least when compared with other U.S. cities of similar size. The department has tried to compensate by deploying officers in smarter ways. One example is how it responded last year to an uptick in serious crime by increasing crime-suppression teams in hot spots across the city. Although the crime rate hasnt fallen, felony arrests have doubled and gun seizures have nearly tripled.

The chief is also correct that city leaders should start thinking about whether the police force is keeping pace with the citys growing demand for public safety services. At a recent City Council Public Safety Committee hearing, he suggested that the department needs 12,500 officers  a figure his predecessor, William Bratton, often cited too.

OK, but now what? Beck must do more than throw out a figure. Wheres the evidence that 12,500 is the right size for the city? Why not 15,000 or 25,000? Or 5,000, for that matter? Simply comparing the number of cops per capita or per square mile in L.A. with the higher figures in Chicago, New York or Philadelphia doesnt recognize that L.A. has a geography, demography and history that makes it unlike any other city on Earth.

Mayor Eric Garcettis administration agrees the force ought to be larger but doesnt have a specific number in mind. Right now, the administration would be happy to reach 10,000  a milestone set a decade ago that has proven elusive even when the funding was available. The department has about 9,920 officers. With 450 of them retiring or quitting every year, its a struggle to even maintain that level, much less grow. What the city can do is to hire more civilians for jail duties to free up police officers for patrolling, which the mayor will propose in the next budget.

In other words, the how big should it be discussion is academic at this point. The police and fire departments already command more than 71% of the citys budget. Adding even 100 more officers, whose salaries alone start at $57,000, would be quite a strain on a city that cant adequately maintain its sidewalks, streets and trees.

But if the city needs a bigger force to be livable in the future, Beck ought to start making the case now. Then city leaders and residents can decide if its a commitment they are willing to make.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Genres : Horror

Plot Synopsis

Everyone knows the classic American horror titles: Night of the Living Dead, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and A Nightmare on Elm Street, to name but a few. But we want to tell you a different story a story of the unsung heroes of American terror... Whether it s a film that has languished in obscurity, or a movie that s at risk of being lost due to lack of source materials, American Horror Project is here to ensure that these unique slices of the American Nightmare are brought back into the public consciousness and preserved for all to enjoy.

Volume I of this series presents three tales of violence and madness from the 1970s. 'Malatesta's Carnival of Blood' (Christopher Speeth, 1973) sees a family arrive at a creepy, dilapidated fairground in search of their missing daughter, only to find themselves at the mercy of cannibalistic ghouls lurking beneath the park. Meanwhile, 'The Witch Who Came from the Sea' (Matt Cimber, 1976), stars Mollie Perkins (The Diary of Anne Frank) as a young woman whose bizarre and violent fantasies start to bleed into reality literally. Lastly, every parent s worst nightmare comes true in 'The Premonition' (Robert Allen Schnitzer, 1976), a tale of psychic terror in which five-year-old Janie is snatched away by a strange woman claiming to be her long-lost mother.

Newly remastered from the best surviving elements and contextualised with brand new supplementary material, with American Horror Project we can re-evaluate an alternative history of American horror and film heritage.
The whole point of a 2014 bill to reform Californias initiative process, which at more than a century old was showing some hardening of the civic arteries, was to loosen it up. Allow the public to comment on proposals early on, before signature gathering begins. Let citizens offer suggestions. And, if the authors like what they hear, give them a chance to fit those ideas into their ballot measures.

And when the initiative is out for signatures, get the Legislature to hold some hearings to invite more input. Even at that point, when thousands of potential voters already have signed on, allow the authors to do some tweaks, correct any mistakes, and otherwise tidy up the language before continuing the petitioning. That way, presumably, there would be better initiatives and fewer lawsuits at the end of the process, after voters go to the polls and say yes.

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But at each of those two stops  after the title and summary are approved but before signature-gathering starts, and then again in the midst of the petition drive  how sweeping a change will be allowed? If the original measure is completely remade at the first stop, should its sponsors have to get approval again from the Attorney General?

------------

FOR THE RECORD

Ballot initiative: A Feb. 28 editorial on changes to a ballot measure proposed by the governors office said that changes could be made to initiatives both before signature gathering begins and after legislative hearings are held. Changes may be made only before signatures are gathered.

------------

As so often happens, the details are left to the courts to hammer out case by case. Because the law is so new, there have been few rulings, so there is little legal clarity.

A bit of guidance came last week in a Sacramento Superior Court judges disappointing ruling invalidating a proposal by Gov. Jerry Brown to amend a criminal justice reform measure that was crafted with juveniles in mind but which came to include adult parole as well after public input in the pre-signature gathering round.

Why disappointing? Because Brown had a worthy proposal whose unifying subject was returning discretion to judges, prison officials and parole boards. The measure had not yet gone out for signatures, so there was no bait and switch being pulled by those folks with clipboards who stop shoppers on their way into supermarkets and coffee shops. Still, the California District Attorneys Assn.  whose members now have much of the discretion and flexibility that judges would win back if this measure were to pass  argued that there was too much of a change in the language in the pre-petitioning stage. The judge agreed.

Fortunately, the state Supreme Court is allowing the signature gathering to go forward pending an appeal. Lets hope the justices ultimately distinguish between the two new public input stops and recognize the need, under the new law, for more flexibility at the earlier stage, before the public has begun affixing their signatures. The district attorneys have enough political clout to keep the Legislature from putting this measure on the ballot, so the initiative process may be the only way to allow voters to keep their criminal justice system limber.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Whole Womens Health vs. Hellerstedt, a case that could reinforce or all but overturn the right to abortion. Whats at issue is a Texas law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at a local hospital and to build expensive surgical facilities. Most analysts believe the law will end almost all abortion services in Texas  in fact, before the Supreme Court issued a stay, half the abortion clinics in Texas had closed because of it. Now the court must decide if the Texas regulations present an undue burden on a womans right to choose.

When the Supreme Court decided to review the case last year, all eyes turned to Justice Anthony Kennedy, the swing vote who might finally find a restriction he thought was too burdensome on womens abortion rights. Even after the death of Antonin Scalia, Kennedys vote remains crucial: A 5-3 decision striking down the Texas law would protect abortion nationwide, but a 4-4 tie would leave the law in place until further Supreme Court review. The nation would look be left looking a lot like it did before Roe v. Wade: Some women, in some states, have ready access to abortion, but others do not.

How has it come to this? How is it that Roe vs. Wade can be essentially repealed, without the court addressing it directly? The trail leads to now-retired Justice Sandra Day OConnor, who set a standard that both undermined Roe and helped to preserve it.

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From her earliest days on the court, OConnor waged a battle not against the right to abortion per se but the breadth of that right as it was established in Roe. Justice Harry Blackmuns majority opinion said abortion could not be restricted during the first trimester of pregnancy, and after that, regulations were legal only to protect womens health until the fetus was viable. Thereafter, the state could regulate  which is to say, limit  abortion, unless the limitation endangered a womans life or health.

OConnors first vote on the issue came quickly after she was appointed to the high court in 1981. She disagreed with the majoritys overturning of an Akron, Ohio, ordinance regulating abortions  with a waiting period, limits on where abortions could be performed, and more. Her dissent says it all: Blackmuns trimester-based approach to setting abortion rules is completely wrong. Instead, from the moment of conception, the government can do anything to restrain the pregnant woman as long as the restraint falls short of an undefined, wooly and uncertain undue burden.

The wishy-washy, wooly and uncertain language of undue burden was not the creation of the sensible, centrist OConnor. She borrowed it from an aggressively anti-abortion brief submitted in the case by the Reagan Justice Department. It had, with little notice, successfully been used by court conservatives to justify the denial of Medicaid benefits for medically necessary abortions in 1980. (Not an undue burden, the thinking went, because all a woman had to do was  perhaps magically  get the money to pay for the abortion elsewhere.)

OConnor waged a battle not against the right to abortion but the breadth of that right as it was established in Roe.

By 1989, when the next major abortion case came up, the courts pro-choice majority was long gone. Asserting her undue burden standard, OConnor withheld her vote from the four conservative justices who wanted to do away with Roe vs. Wade, but she was willing to approve all the obstacles to terminating a pregnancy the state of Missouri was defending, many of them similar to the Akron regulations that had been overturned seven years earlier.

By 1992, it looked like the court had five justices that would overrule Roe, regardless of OConnors reservations, and send the matter back to the states. This was the moment her undue burden language formally rescued national abortion rights. In Planned Parenthood vs. Casey yet another set of restrictions was tested, this time in Pennsylvania. By crafting a decision that replaced Roes almost unlimited right with her more restrictive standard, she gets a lot of the credit for securing a majority (including Kennedy) willing to leave intact at least the theoretical right to an abortion. Roe survived, but so did Pennsylvanias regulations.

OConnors inquiry into what burden is or is not undue open-ended language made her the designated abortion decider on the court until she retired in 2006. In 2003, for example, Nebraska decided it wouldnt be a burden if women were denied a type of late abortion. OConnor disagreed, and the Nebraska law was struck down 5-4. Congress later passed a law like Nebraskas; when it. came before the court, OConnor was gone and Kennedy wrote the majority opinion. He agreed to outlaw partial birth abortion. (He also added his personal opinion that women must feel bad about their abortions, even if they didnt say it to anyone who polled them.)

The undue burden standard in the hands of a reasonably well-intentioned justice, like OConnor, is not automatically disastrous for Roe. But when OConnor left the court, her ability to persuade others, to assert the balance implied by undue burden, went with her.

Now 24 states have enacted TRAP laws -- targeted regulation of abortion providers. The Texas law before the court this week fits this description. Its legislature asserts that it believes protecting womens health requires that abortion take place in free standing surgical units with ties to local full service hospitals. The American Medical Assoc. and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists disagrees but, Texas argues, fact-finding is usually left to the legislature. OConnors standard is so elastic it is vulnerable to such moves, and they have been effective.

OConnor has said publicly she thinks President Obama should get to appoint Scalias successor. If that were to happen, attacks on abortion rights would be defeated by a liberal Supreme Court and the nation would be bound by the decision. But in her response to the court vacancy, OConnor is likely to prove better than her republic. It is ironic that her calibrated actions  the attempt to balance abortion rights and limits - have come perilously close to achieving exactly what she strived to avoid in 1992: Throwing abortion back to the states, where it can rend the nation apart.

Linda Hirshman is the author of Sisters in Law: How Sandra Day OConnor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook
Wading in to the contentious presidential race that he once considered joining, Vice President Joe Biden told California Democrats at the partys convention here that the Republican candidates havent changed their positions, only their tone.

They havent changed at all, folks, said Biden. Theyve just gotten meaner.

Biden ended his swing through the Bay Area Saturday with a speech in front of a standing-room-only crowd of Democratic state delegates and activists, an almost hour-long defense of the partys values and a focus on the needs of middle-class voters. Prior to arriving at the San Jose convention, the vice president and his wife held an event on cancer research at UC San Francisco. Sunday, he will attend the Oscars in Los Angeles.

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But in his address to Democrats, Biden sounded many of the themes that could have easily fit into a campaign for the White House that he declined to launch last fall.

The middle class has gotten clobbered, he said on the impact of the nations recession and post-recession years. Now, were in a position to get them back in the saddle.

Biden defended the Obama administrations efforts on healthcare and the call for tuition-free community college. Clenching his fists and raising his voice almost into a shout, the vice president pleaded for a higher minimum wage and more child care benefits for single-parent families.

No one should work 40 hours a week and still live in poverty! Biden yelled, to applause from the crowd of California Democrats.

His speech was nearing its conclusion as the results of the South Carolina Democratic primary came in, and news that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had won a resounding victory. Biden offered his congratulations to Clinton from the podium, but also said he was proud of both of them, a reference to Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

When an audience member shouted out that Biden should be running, the veteran politician waved it off. Weve got good candidates, he said, smiling.

The vice president criticized GOP presidential candidates for what he said was a misplaced perception of what makes the nation great.

What these guys dont get is we are valued around the world because of our values, not just our physical power, said Biden.

He also called for ending some business tax breaks, and for a change in the culture of corporate America.

Since when is the only corporate responsibility to shareholders? he asked.

The speech was briefly interrupted by a protester who unfurled a large banner that claimed Bidens late son, Beau, became ill with cancer because of cellphones. The protester was quickly ushered out, even though Biden said his son would have appreciated the mans passion.

And in a nod to the rowdy GOP events of the campaign season, he then said, Let him go. Dont act like Republicans.

john.myers@latimes.com

Follow @johnmyers on Twitter, sign up for our daily Essential Politics newsletter and listen to the weekly California Politics

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Following landslide S.C. victory, Clinton sets sights on Trump
Republican leaders are quaking at the thought of Donald Trump as their partys presidential nominee, even if a good third or more of their voters are just as enthusiastically supporting the real estate tycoon and reality TV star.

The establishments view is that Trump would not only lose the presidency but also ravage the party down the ballot, in Senate, congressional and legislative races where Republicans would suffer for his presence because many GOP voters would stay home.

But in California, home to several contested congressional races that are key national fights, its more complicated. Trump would both hurt Republican candidates and help.

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The most intriguing locale is the Central Valley, where Republicans have held on to several seats despite fierce Democratic efforts to seize them.

Ordinarily, a Republican presidential nominee who can regularly draw tens of thousands of supporters to his rallies while defying all the rules of political gravity would seem to be a boon for threatened down-ballot candidates.

In other states, Trump has won over many of the type of voters who live in those districts, blue-collar workers who are economically stressed and less educated on the whole than the rest of the state.

In the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, Trump captured about 4 in 10 of those without college degrees and earning under $50,000 annually  a high proportion in a multi-candidate field. That too, would seem to help Republicans, since those voters often side with Democrats.

But in California, many of those districts also have a high proportion of Latinos, the group that is most vociferously against Trump due to his portrayal of immigrants here illegally and his threat to deport 11 million of them.

So here Trump would be the prime motivator for both sides, Republicans using him to boost GOP turnout and Democrats using him to boost theirs.

The 21st congressional district covers parts of Fresno and Kern counties and has been sought after by both parties. On paper, Democrats should have an advantage, considering that they outnumber Republicans. And 54% of the districts voters are Latino, according to the nonpartisan California Target Book, which studies elective races in the state. That, too, should spell success for Democrats.

But Republican incumbent David Valadao has been able to win there, in part by breaking with Republican leaders on immigration. He and Rep. Jeff Denham of Turlock, who represents a similar district, called last year for passage of immigration measures that their colleagues in the House were blocking.

Valadao won by 16 percentage points in 2014, a Republican year, and would be expected to face a tighter race this year since Democratic turnout rises in presidential years.

So his race will be one place to chart the effect of Trump, were he to become the nominee. Only 7% of district residents over age 25 had a college degree, according to recent census data. Of the other 93%, those who are Latino voters would be expected to show up against Trump; those who are white would be far more inclined to show up to support him.

The same may be true in the Fresno County district occupied by Democrat Jim Costa, who in a 2014 surprise won his district by less than 2 percentage points.

Although Democrats say they are confident a higher presidential year turnout makes Costas seat safe, his district also appears ripe for a Trump clash. More than 4 in 10 of the districts voters are Latino; at the same time 88% of the residents over 25 lack a college degree.

Trump has made trade one of his premier issues, inveighing against President Obamas support of trade pacts. Costa was one of two dozen Democrats who sided with Obama, angering organized labor.

Republican Johnny Tacherra lost to Costa in 2014 and is challenging him again. His strategist, Lee Neves, said he sees Trump as a positive in the district and in others in the Central Valley.

Whoever the nominee is, you have to look at the positives he brings to the race, said Neves, who supports Trump challenger Marco Rubio, the senator from Florida. With the Donald, one of the positives is he is able to reach out and connect, he is able to reach out to a blue class worker. In the Central Valley, thats a farmer. In the city of Stockton, its someone who works in a factory every day.

Trump is speaking to a lot of their issues, like trade, like crime.

Neves and Republicans argue that the hit Trump takes among Latinos will matter less in the Central Valley because its Latino voters are more conservative.

Nationally, however, the disdain for Trump among Latinos has been nearly universal. A Washington Post-Univision poll released Thursday found that 8 in 10 Latinos  a level rarely reached in surveys  had a negative view of Trump. Seventy-two percent said their view of him was very unfavorable, the most negative category.

A January survey for the Public Policy Institute of California found that only 13% of Latinos in the state had a favorable view of Trump.

Democrats blame a low turnout among Latinos for their inability to claim Republican seats that, on paper, they should own. In Trump, some party officials believe, they have found a vehicle to drive those voters to the polls.

He is the new face of their party, said Kelly Ward, executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. This, plus his hateful rhetoric toward the Hispanic community, his insulting comments about women and his generally negative demeanor, will turn voters against Republicans up and down the ticket in November.

cathleen.decker@latimes.com

Twitter: @cathleendecker For more on politics, go to www.latimes.com/decker.

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The capping of a massive gas leak this month brought relief to the Porter Ranch community. But as thousands of displaced residents return to their homes, many are worrying if their property values have taken a big hit.

The four-month leak in Aliso Canyon laid bare that Porter Ranch is near an enormous natural gas storage reservoir and that leaking wells can make life in the community unpleasant. The question is whether those facts will mean declining real estate prices in the upscale, master-planned community.

So far, data on home sales suggest that prices in Porter Ranch havent changed much since the gas leak started. But that could change.

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Well start getting a picture of things in about three months in terms of indexes that are published that show market trends, and market trending is very important in a case like this, said Randall Bell, an economist and appraiser who specializes in stigmatized properties and is now working for a law firm that is suing Southern California Gas Co. over the leak.

Resident Krista Joiner is one seller who believes that her property has lost value. Her five-bedroom home fell out of escrow in December. It is now back on the market at a slightly reduced price.

There is a real nervousness from people, Joiner said. I understand. Im scared and I live there. Its an unsettling feeling to not know whether its safe or not safe.

In December, 33 homes changed hands in Porter Ranchs 91326 ZIP Code, the busiest December since 2012, according RealtyTrac. With the average transaction taking between a month and six weeks to complete, most of those sales would have started after the gas leak began Oct. 23.

In those transactions, sellers werent offering bargain prices. The median price of homes sold in Porter Ranch rose to $710,000 in December, the highest median price since before the housing crash, according to RealtyTrac.

Those figures, however, dont account for months of media coverage of a gas leak that resulted in criminal charges, regulatory investigations and dozens of personal lawsuits from residents who were left sickened and temporarily displaced.

Its common sense. When you have a problem, it gives people uncertainty, said Leslie Appleton-Young, an economist with the California Assn. of Realtors.

The first week of January saw 32 new home listings in Porter Ranch, according to online real estate firm Redfin. Thats more new listings than in all of January 2015, and the most new listings in the area in a single week in the last three years.

Jan Brzeski, who runs West L.A. real estate lending firm Arixa Capital, said that surge of listings probably shows that some Porter Ranch residents are heading for the exits.

It looks like some people made a New Years resolution saying, Lets get out of here, or at least try, Brzeski said.

But a flood of sellers would drive down prices only if they are willing to accept lower prices. And Brzeski noted that many would-be sellers could change their minds now that the gas leak has stopped.

Its evidence that people have decided they want to sell, but theres still an open question of whether those people will go through with it, he said.

Real estate agents and others have posted gloom-and-doom stories on Porter Ranch Facebook groups about banks and other lenders saying they wont offer mortgages in Porter Ranch.

But loan data from RealtyTrac shows that lenders didnt stop lending after the gas leak started.

The bottom line for us is that weve continued to make loans, said Tom Goyda, a spokesman for Wells Fargo, the nations largest mortgage lender.

Before agreeing to make a loan, lenders have to be satisfied that borrowers have enough income to pay back their loans and can secure homeowner insurance  and that the properties are worth the sales price.

Since the Porter Ranch leak started, some lenders have started asking for two appraisals on a property, trying to make sure that homes arent losing value, said Jesse Bishop, a loan officer at Coldwell Banker in Studio City.

Sellers have to disclose hazards and other issues that could affect property values or risk being sued by unwary buyers. Disclosures for homes in Porter Ranch now include a mention of the communitys proximity to the gas field and the recent problems.

Though the leak will no doubt turn off some would-be buyers, others arent concerned. Mike Goodman and his wife, Lauren, started looking at homes in Porter Ranch in December, hoping to relocate from Granada Hills.

The Goodmans, who have a 3-year-old and a newborn, wanted to move to Porter Ranch before the leak started and now hope that prices there will dip just enough to give them a good deal on a house.

I dont know if prices have come down or not, but we realized that maybe we would be able to afford something we didnt think wed be able to, Goodman said, adding that hes not that worried about the leak. Its been a lot of hype drummed up by lawyers and the media.

The Goodmans grew up in the North Valley and say they prefer to stay in the area. They like the schools in Porter Ranch.

Those factors are likely to continue to make Porter Ranch an attractive option, said Lindsay Katz, a Redfin agent working with the Goodmans. The schools are great, everything is new and nice, and thats not super common in the Valley, Katz said.

Los Angeles County Assessor Jeffrey Prang and his staff are studying whether the assessed value of the homes has changed for tax purposes. So far, Porter Ranch homes dont seem to meet the conditions under which assessed value of properties can be reduced.

One is a widespread decline in value, as occurred during the housing crash of the last decade. The Porter Ranch gas leak affected only a relatively small portion of the county.

The second is misfortune and calamity, a designation that applies when a home suffers physical damage in a disaster like an earthquake or flood. Porter Ranch houses dont appear to have suffered any physical damage, Prang said.

However, its clear that what happened is misfortunate and is calamitous, so we are trying to take a very broad approach, Prang said, noting that he is working with the countys attorneys to determine what flexibility exists in the statutes that dictate property taxes.

alice.walton@latimes.com

Twitter: @TheCityMaven

james.koren@latimes.com

Twitter: @jrkoren

Times staff writer Daniela Gerson contributed to this report.

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This is the curious case of a fence that made bad neighbors, or so it seemed Tuesday night during the Burbank City Council meeting where Linda Mosher, a resident of Naomi Street, raised concerns about a fence of solid block and wood slats on her neighbors property.

Mosher was appealing a decision by the Planning Board, which authorized a minor exception to the citys code to allow the roughly 5-foot-tall fence. She complained about its height and the fact that it was not open enough for visibility by emergency personnel, as well as the size, scale and aesthetics of the charcoal gray and stained-wood structure.

NEWSLETTER: Stay up to date with whats going on in and around your neighborhood >>

The curious part is Mosher built the fence when she owned the property around 2002. She began complaining a few years ago when a house flipper replaced a wrought-iron portion of the structure with stained wood slats, which she said was done without a permit.

However, it gets more curious. Mosher doesnt seem to have gotten a permit when she built the wall, either.

And, a city official said, if Mosher had gotten a permit, the new homeowner wouldnt have needed to get an exception for the height of the wall, which the city conditionally approved in July.

The City Council this week unanimously denied Moshers second appeal of that approval, but amended one condition of approval to give the homeowner more flexibility.

The peculiar case raised questions about whether the citys complaint-based code enforcement process was being abused, according to a local real estate official.

Diana Rosero, the real estate broker for the homeowner, said Moshers complaints and appeals of city rulings are part of a personal issue, brought about because she had unsuccessfully attempted to buy back her former home.

When ordinances are used for personal matters, it really damages our system, Rosero said. I think that theres just something fundamentally wrong with the process that weve had to endure.

However, Mosher said there are no sour grapes and that she never made a bid on the house, though she had been prepared to do so. The issue, she said, is that a code-compliant fence had been replaced with one that wasnt.

Christina Michaelis, an assistant planner with the city, said Friday that its not clear the fence was code-compliant because it limits visibility near the driveway and road.

The citys Planning Board in September denied Moshers appeal of the citys conditional approval of the fence, which required some changes, including work to modify a section of the fence near the driveway to improve visibility near the driveway and road.

Mosher appealed that decision to the City Council, complaining about more than the fence, including the color of the house  Rosero called it charcoal, but Mosher said it is black  and the new owners removal of rose bushes and trimming of a 60-year-old tree.

Its scorched earth over there, Mosher said.

Aside from the complaints and appeals by Mosher, the city had only received emails from the public in favor of the fence, Michaelis said.

In emails to the city, one neighbor described the yard at the duplex where Mosher lives as trash strewn and like a dirty perpetual yard sale with a likely rat infestation.

Rosero said the fence was made solid so the homes inhabitants wouldnt have to view Moshers current residence across the street.

For Stephanie Gagne, the homeowner, the roughly two-year fight over the fence was a poor welcome to Burbank, but she told the council she hopes to start living a normal life.

--

Chad Garland, chad.garland@latimes.com

Twitter: @chadgarland
Regular music instruction has returned for students in kindergarten through third grade this year at Lincoln Elementary in La Crescenta, and on Friday, a group of third-grade students headlined a melodious flag ceremony.

The third-graders performed two songs  Merrily, We Roll Along and Hot Cross Buns  in the schools cafetorium in front of parents and teachers.

The kids that are performing are really excited, Principal Stephen Williams said the day before the performance. Matter of fact, I went over there to see them practice, and the kids were just jumping with excitement to be able to do this.

The short program marked the return of regular music instruction for students in kindergarten through third grade at Lincoln Elementary.

Seventeen Lincoln Elementary School kindergarten through third graders got the distinguished Honesty Trustworthyness Award for February during the flag ceremony at the school in La Crescenta on Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

While music education for fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade upper-grade students is supported by Glendale Unified, its funded by grants and support from the school community for students in the lower grades.

Previously, students in kindergarten through third grade took music classes occasionally during a six-week period.

It was sporadic in how it was taught, Williams said. They didnt get a whole year and didnt have continuity, which is important to kids.

Then, the Abraham Lincoln Elementary School Foundation, the schools parent-led support group, applied for and received a $1,500 grant from the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, an all-volunteer nonprofit that has doled out more than $20 million in gifts and grants to support music and educational programs since 1948, according to its website.

Lincoln Elementary School third-graders play recorders at the direction of second and third grade teacher Greg Mooshagian during the flag ceremony at the school in La Crescenta on Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. (Raul Roa / Staff Photographer)

Attending the flag ceremony at Lincoln Elementary were Dana Marevich, chairwoman of the Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts, and Eileen Reilly, former chairwoman of the organization.

The Lincoln school foundation also raised funds through a jogathon and silent auction, said Wendy Tateishi, the foundations vice president, whose son participated in Fridays performance.

Now, all students in kindergarten through eighth grade have about 30 minutes of music education each week.

It was unfortunate that, as a second-grader, he really didnt have any exposure to music, Tateishi said. We wanted to bring it back to our children. They really respond to it.

The instruction is also inclusive  general education students as well as those with special needs all have access, Williams said.

Our goal is to have our primary students build an appreciation for music and develop a competency for basic music, Williams said. They get to play with some little instruments throughout the grade levels, prepping them for instrumentals in fourth grade.

Williams said the regular music instruction will also touch on principles of Common Core, the new state standard which emphasizes developing critical thinking and problem solving over rote memorization.

Common Core is simply learning the skills and applying them, Williams said. Music really engages the student in learning  Its very tangible.

--

Brian Park, brian.park@latimes.com

Twitter: @TheBrianPark
Just had to answer the letter by Emilia Park in your Feb. 21 Travel section about the problems seating her family together [On the Spot, Getting Seats With the Kids on Flights by Catharine Hamm].

A couple of observations: First, in the last few years, I have taken at least 10 groups of high school students on cross-country flights for competitions. These groups are always eight to 10 students and never  not once  have I had the slightest problem booking our seats together (and always on United, in fact). But heres the secret: Book far in advance. Its not rocket science. And book directly with United (or whomever) on its website; avoid all of the well find the cheapest flight websites. Cheap always has a price.

Second, I fly regularly on business. On these trips, I always pay extra for Uniteds Economy Plus seating, with an aisle seat. The extra price is well worth it in terms of my comfort. And I too have been asked to give up my seat so that some family can sit together. And my answer is the same as the persons Park mentioned: Yes, I planned in advance, and yes, I paid a premium for my seat, and no, I will not give up my seat. In fact, I think it takes monumental gall to even ask.

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Finally, anyone familiar enough with air travel to read and write to a travel column should be well aware that Thanksgiving is the single worst time to fly. So again, if you must fly at that time, book well in advance. You wont have trouble being seated together.

George Carney

San Gabriel

Hamms article was interesting, but I would like to comment based on my experiences of traveling domestically and internationally as part of a family of five.

1. Plan ahead and buy your tickets early, then you can pick seats together.

2. Be flexible and focus on getting to your destination.

3. If you are trying to save money and avoid premium seat charges, you do not have to have your entire family sitting together. The parents can split up, with each having a kid or two.

4. Offer to compensate anyone who agrees to change seats to accommodate your family. Buy them a drink, a menu item or pay their premium seat upgrade amount.

5. Finally, the decision to have a family was yours and not your fellow passengers.

Scott Jessup

Saugus

Fragile spaces

Thanks for making sure the masses know where the remote hot springs are in Idaho and Montana [Soak It All In by Joanna Pocock, Feb. 14]. Also for the increase in foot traffic and plastic-water-bottle trash, soon to be part of the experience. Did you do the article so you could be considered unique?

I have been an outdoor educator most of my professional life, both as a teacher and a naturalist. Some places are just too fragile for the increase in foot traffic. Also, there are no park rangers or corporate-managed camp monitors to clean up after the hikers leave.

Human beings are part of nature, not removed from it. People must be taught how to behave and respect our Earth and its gifts before they earn the right to peek into her pristine places.

The environmental grief that could prevail from your decision to report without considering the consequences is concerning.

Use the L.A. Times to teach people how to hike and camp so that the areas they visit remain beautiful and sustainable. Please report responsibly.

Susan R. Davidson

Santa Barbara

I read Christopher Reynolds article [Turkey and Safety Issues, Feb. 14 ] with great interest because my husband and I were directly affected. A few weeks ago we found out from Oceania cruises that the Black Sea cruise from Istanbul we were booked on in September had been canceled and the itinerary completely changed. Oceania, as well as many other cruise lines, have all made the decision to eliminate Turkey as a destination for 2016. I am somewhat ambivalent about this decision, because I think I have a greater chance of being killed by crazy motorists on the 405 Freeway than by any terrorist in Turkey or elsewhere. Yet I did pause when I realized I was a tourist in the Sultanahmet district less than four years ago and was looking forward to seeing the magnificent Hagia Sophia again this September. It is not meant to be, at least not this year.

Maureen Marconi

Mission Viejo
In a crowded convention hall, young entrepreneurs practically shouted their ideas: an online marketplace for yoga instructors, an app to share songs in 30-second snippets, a mobile lunch delivery service aimed at office workers.

For any veteran of the go-go era in Silicon Valley, the buzz at the recent Surge start-up conference in Bangalore, the cradle of Indias high-tech sector, was familiar and alluring. Indias digital start-up scene is booming as Internet use expands. By June, more Indians are expected to access the Internet on their cellphones  371 million  than the entire population of the United States.

That leaves nearly 1 billion Indians not yet connected, and as Chinas economy slows, U.S. tech companies and investors have turned increasingly to India. Venture capitalists have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into start-ups, and Silicon Valley giants such as Apple, Google and Facebook are courting Indians with their own initiatives.

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India has become, besides the U.S., the biggest opportunity still out there, said Sanjit Singh Dang, investment director at Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of the Santa Clara-based computer chip manufacturer, which has invested in dozens of Indian start-ups.

Apple this month announced that it would open a 150-person office in the southern city of Hyderabad. Last year, while iPhone sales were flat worldwide, sales grew by 76% in India, prompting Chief Executive Timothy Cook to call the country an incredibly exciting market.

The population in India is in some ways some of the best in the world, Cook said during Apples shareholder conference Friday. Theres a huge amount of young people moving up the ranks and the consumer will rise up there.

The Cupertino company still commands just a 2% share of the Indian smartphone market, largely because new iPhones cost hundreds of dollars more than rival handsets. But Apple has wallpapered major cities with iPhone billboards, expanded distribution networks into smaller cities and applied for government permission to open its first retail stores in India.

The third-party retailers that currently sell Apple products have introduced payment plans known as EMIs, or equated monthly installments, to boost sales.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at an event to bolster start-ups in New Delhi in January. (AFP/ Getty Images)

That has been a game changer, said Kishor Prabhu, owner of a phone shop in suburban Mumbai. Indians are a bit cost-conscious. With the introduction of EMI, the middle-class and upper middle-class have shifted toward the iPhone and it is no longer a phone only for the elites.

Cook said one of the challenges in India is the brittleness of the wireless infrastructure itself, making it difficult  and sometimes impossible  to watch video on a smartphone, a basic function elsewhere.

Still, Indias demographics make corporate titans swoon. The median age is 27, nearly a full decade younger than in China. Only 40% of the mobile phones shipped in the last quarter of 2015 were smartphones, according to industry analyst Counterpoint Research, indicating the market still has huge growth potential.

To help find jobs for the 1 million Indians who enter the workforce every month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to increase domestic manufacturing and has introduced incentives for tech companies to set up factories in India. He has met with Silicon Valley leaders including Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, which sees India as its best chance to significantly expand its base of 1.55 billion users.

But Facebook faltered here this year when Zuckerbergs pet project, a no-cost mobile app for emerging economies called Free Basics  a sort of Internet for beginners  was blocked by regulators who ruled that it discriminated against other Internet sites.

Google Inc. has tried to make its Android smartphones  by far Indias most popular  more suitable to the countrys slow Internet connections. The Mountain View search giant now allows Indian users to operate its Maps app offline and plans to introduce free wireless Internet service at hundreds of train stations.

Even though hundreds of millions of mostly rural Indians still lack Internet access, it is a golden age for the Indian digital consumer. Everything from doctors appointments to movie tickets can be booked online and a growing number of transactions are made using mobile wallets  all using apps designed by Indian companies.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has called India an incredibly exciting market. (Richard Drew / Associated Press)

The consumer is very much alive and kicking and actually consuming here, and thats up to 1.3 billion people. The opportunity is huge, said Radhika Aggarwal, cofounder of ShopClues.com, an e-commerce start-up that has been valued at more than $1.1 billion and targets middle-class consumers with unbranded clothing and other products.

The company was started by Indians who worked in Silicon Valley and returned as the Internet boom was beginning. Another company founded by Amazon.com alums, the e-commerce site Flipkart, has become the biggest Indian start-up to date, raising $6 billion in venture capital funding. Much of it came from U.S. investors  including Accel Partners of Palo Alto and Tiger Global Management of New York  writing big checks as the site nears a possible initial public offering.

The frenzy in 2015 created Indias first Internet bubble, and new investment has slowed down markedly in the first two months this year. Modis government is facing fresh calls to spur foreign investment when it unveils its annual budget in the coming week.

Indias freewheeling digital realm also seems at odds with what critics call a clampdown on free speech, after authorities this month arrested a university student on sedition charges, accusing the student of organizing an event where anti-India slogans were chanted.

Investors have realized they went a little nuts, said Pankaj Jain, a partner in 500 Startups, a Mountain View-based venture fund that invested in 24 early-stage Indian companies in 2015.

A lot of companies are shutting down, scaling back, laying off people ... but thats the normal course of business. It doesnt change the fact that China is still very uncertain and the global economy is still not growing very well. India is probably the most stable and fastest growing economy in the world right now so thats still going to attract a lot of people.

The volatility has not daunted young Indian entrepreneurs. In the convention hall in Bangalore, four twentysomething engineers and designers talked up their venture, eFyDo, a portal linking consumers with doctors and yoga teachers.

Their research showed that online healthcare was a $280-billion market in India, with some 140 competing start-ups. But three years after its founding, the site has 2,000 visitors a month. All four had given up full-time jobs  though one was working shifts at KFC  and were looking for an investor.

We think this is a really important idea, said cofounder Deepak Rathi. Our goal is to change healthcare in India.

Special correspondent Parth M.N. contributed to this report from Mumbai, India. Staff writer Tracey Lien reported from Cupertino, Calif.

Follow @SBengali on Twitter for more news from South Asia

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Apparently, if Texas Governor Ted Cruz gets murdered within the premises of the Senate, the killer would not be convicted at all. Sounds crazy, right? Well, that's exactly what South Carolina Governor Lindsey Graham said Thursday while speaking at the Washington Press Club Foundation's 72nd Congressional Dinner.

We wish we were joking, or that the statements were somehow indirect, but they're not. Here are the words that came straight out of the horse's mouth.

"A good Republican would defend Ted Cruz after tonight. That ain't happening. If you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you," Graham candidly said.

Of course, Graham's statements are poking fun at the fact that the Texas governor's reputation has not been that good on Capitol Hill. As shocking as the statements are, however, Graham's address also directed some very interesting and sharp statements to the other Republican candidates.

At some point in his address, Graham even stated that his party has gone completely off the rail. According to the South Carolina Governor, the lineup for this year's presidential elections is just worthy of a good roast.

"The most dishonest person in America is a woman who is about to be president. My party's gone bats**t crazy," he said, poking fun at Hillary Clinton's campaign and her ongoing email controversies.

Apart from Cruz and Clinton, other candidates who were mentioned in Graham's speech included Ohio Governor John Kasich, who recently commented on "women leaving their kitchens" and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who has exhibited a particularly frequent tendency to change his political positions.

Not all of Graham's remarks were directed at other candidates, however, as the South Carolina Governor also made it a point to poke fun at himself. After all, he was among the presidential hopefuls himself, before he officially dropped out of the race back in December.

"This is the largest number of people I've ever talked to during a Republican debate," he said, poking fun at the fact that when he was pursuing the presidency, he was only able to appear mostly at GOP undercard debates.

Still a Republican, however, Graham nonetheless stated that he would still be backing Donald Trump in the elections, though he stated that the billionaire was missing the mark on some aspects.

"I don't think he understands what makes America great," he said, referencing Trump's aggressive stance on a number of pertinent issues in the country.

One thing that really stood out in his address, however, was his comment about Ted Cruz. Such a statement carries a lot of weight, after all.

As of writing, Ted Cruz has not responded to the South Carolina Governor's statements.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Sequels are gonna happen, it's a fact of movies. If a flick hits at the box office, you can guarantee a sequel is on the way. Even if the film is a dud and there's no discernable reason for further sequels to exist; it's a fair bet that one is in the pipeline - although it may not appear in theaters. Because of the direct-to-video market, the lack of box office returns just means the budget for the next installment might shrink a tad and its release platform may alter, but audiences are going to get a sequel one way or another! While 'Road House 2' might be one of the most egregious examples of this, the 'Species' franchise was also continued unnecessarily with 'Species III' and 'Species: The Awakening.' Even a bad direct to video sequel can still offer some slight amount of entertainment value, but as the later two 'Species' sequels get going with their respective outings, they show that this creative well had long gone dry.

Species III:

After Eve bravely gave her life to kill the hybrid Patrick and end his breeding habits and help save humanity, she inadvertently got pregnant in the process! With one of Patrick's spawn and Eve's apparently body in the back of a military ambulance, Scientist Dr. Abbot (Robert Knepper) is intent on continuing the study of this alien hybrid species. When Patrick's child kills Eve (Natasha Henstridge in a cameo role) as she's giving birth, Dr. Abbot takes the child to raise up as one of his own. The child grows into the beautiful Sara (Sunny Mabrey). As Dr. Abbot moonlights as a college professor, he uses his grant money to research how to keep Sara's alien DNA dormant preserving her better human side.

As Dr. Abbot is aided by the young brilliant student scientist Dean (Robbin Dunne) who needs more funding for his state-of-the-art fusion reactor project. As Dean aids Dr. Abbot in his research, it becomes apparent that more of Patrick's children managed to survive and are now fully grown. These fully grown alien hybrids carry numerous allergies and are susceptible to common diseases. If the alien hybrids are going to survive, they're going to need Sara's human/alien eggs in order to purify their species.

In a nutshell, 'Species III' is "Species Goes To College." Playing as more of a knockoff 'Re-Animator' the film makes little to no sense. Between the alien hybrid children trying to find a cure for their various conditions to Dr. Abbot trying to cure Sara of her alien DNA to Dean and his super fusion reactor, 'Species III' is a plot stew. This movie feels like there were way too many sequel scripts in development and so the creative heads in charge of this opus decided it was a good idea to just put them all in a blender, press frappe and then film the results. Very little of it makes sense, character motivations are a complete mystery, and the time frame of the film is difficult to understand. Is it two days after the events of 'Species II,' two weeks, or two years? To top it off, there isn't the gory fun that was to be had with 'Species II.' While this one certainly maintains the nudity quotient, the creature work - what little there is - is largely hidden in shadows. There is one decent gore effect where an alien hybrid dissolves and explodes because of his allergic reactions, but that one moment hardly makes this one worth watching beyond a casual interest.

2.5/5

Species: The Awakening:

Professor Miranda Hollander (Helena Mattsson) is a brilliant and beautiful in every respect. She's popular with students as well as academic institutes; unwilling to even take a job at Oxford! As her uncle Tom (Ben Cross) is all too delighted to hear his niece won't be leaving him, he lets down his guard a little and allows her to go out for a fun time out. But when Miranda is found unconscious and naked in the middle of a street, she's taken to the hospital where her latent alien DNA awakens! As it turns out Miranda was an alien hybrid created by the government years and years ago and Tom was one of the scientists on the project. When orders were given to destroy all test subjects, Tom took pity on the small girl and saved her. For years, she's grown up believing she was normal. Now that her alien DNA has awoken, Tom takes Miranda south into Mexico to find one of his former colleagues for help. When they get there, they learn that more alien/human hybrids exist and Miranda's awakening sex drive may be the match that lights a powder keg.

Sometimes when so many sequels happen within a franchise a point is reached where the material bears no resemblance to the films that got the ball rolling. 'Species: The Awakening' is that movie. It's not only broken away from the previous films' formula - aside from some a little T&A and some brief creature moments - it is incredibly difficult to call this film a 'Species' movie at all. This is a movie that is dependent on cheap sets, lame pseudo-science dialogue about sequencing DNA on late 1990s computers and splicing stem cells, it just feels like the writers for this movie just used a bunch of "it" buzz words of the day and slopped them into their script without any understanding of what anything meant. But there I go, criticizing a bad direct to video sequel for not being intelligent enough. The film does feature some fine performances and as a direct to video sequel, this movie is probably par for the course, but not by much.

2/5

To be fully honest, the 'Species' movies were never very good. While 'Species' and 'Species II' had their own marks in their favor making them fun guilty pleasures to enjoy when nothing else was on, 'Species III' and 'Species: The Awakening' prove that the concept was pretty thin and could only stretch just so far. While far from being a good movie, 'Species III' does have some fun qualities to it making it an enjoyable watch so long as you know what you're getting yourself into ahead of time. 'Species The Awakening' on the other hand is a strong showcase for how a franchise can run itself into a wall, there's just nowhere else for this particular beast to go. It's still kinda fun, but there's not a lot going on to care about here. Barring the off chance of a remake, I would say 'Species' is extinct after this last film.

The Blu-ray: Vital Disc Stats

'Species III / Species: The Awakening' arrive on Blu-ray in a two-disc set courtesy of Scream Factory and is housed in a standard two-disc Blu-ray case. 'Species III' arrives packed onto a Region A locked BD50 disc and opens directly to an animated main menu with standard navigation options. 'Species: The Awakening' is pressed onto a Region A locked BD50 disc and opens directly to an animated main menu with standard navigation options.
Brazil's former present Fernando Henrique Cardoso is currently in the hot seat. Allegedly, he asked a private company to provide final support for his ex-lover, who currently resides abroad.

Brazilian police are currently investigating accusations that ex-President Cardoso has arranged $3,000 monthly payments to his ex-lover, former TV journalist Mirian Dutra through the firm, Brasif. Dutra currently resides in Spain.

The allegations came from no one but the lady in question, Ms. Dutra. Allegedly, the transfers started more than a decade ago -- in 2002. It was also the year before Mr. Cardoso stepped down from office.

Mr. Cardoso however, is denying all these accusations. The company involved in the accusations also explained that the payment they have been giving Dutra was for the work she did for them. The company denies any involvement from the former state leader.

Dutra has been with Brazil's Globo TV for 35 years as a reporter before losing her job in December 2015. "I don't want to take this to my grave," she said of her relationship with the ex-President in an interview with Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper. Mr. Cardsodo did not deny the relationship, saying it lasted for six years and that it happened even before he took on the presidency. On her part, however, Dutra revealed that they only broke up because she refused to have her child aborted, which is illegal in Brazil.

After she delivered her son, Tomas, she requested Globo TV to transfer her to Lisbon. She moved to Spain after a few years. She revealed that while there, she was being supported by Mr. Cardoso. She detailed that from December 2002 to December 2006, she was receiving the support through Brasif, a company operating duty-free shops across Brazilian airports. She also revealed that she has a fake contract with the company and never worked for it. "He sent me money through this company. I have evidence," she said. "It was all arranged by my sister's husband, Fernando Lemos, who was the top lobbyist in Brasilia at the time," she added.

Brasif released a statement that Dutra conducted research work for them and was paid because of this --not because the former president asked them to. The company also said that Mr. Cardoso never gave them any money. While Mr. Cardoso admitted to financially supporting Dutra and Tomas, he denied that he used Brasif for the purpose.

Here is a video that talked of Mr. Cardoso's role in the boost of Brazilian economy:

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Argentine President Mauricio Macri was bombarded with rallies and protests during his visit to the Pope in Rome. Instead of getting a warm welcome like other heads of state, demonstrators made sure he knew that they have a problem with him and his policies.

President Macri's arrival in Rome and his first ever meeting with the head of Vatican did not go as smoothly as planned. A 50-strong flash mob went to Hotel de Russie where he was staying to protest. Amid banging drums and dancing, the demonstrators were flashing banners that read, "Homeland yes, Vultures, no." Other banners stated "No more dismissals."

From these heated statements, it is easy to see that the groups were angry that the Argentine leader was behind mass dismissals in the public sector. They were also opposing the leader's tough approach to social protests, which included having people arrested and persecuted. The demonstrators also wanted to see the release of social leader Milagro Sala.

The main demonstrators were three human rights campaign groups: Grupo de Argentinos en Italia por la Memoria, la Verdad y la Justicia (the Group of Argentines in Italy for Memory, Truth and Justice); Asociacion Progetto Sur (the South Project Association); and Frente Murguero italiano (the Italian Murguero Front.).

The demonstrators deemed that the president's policies are discriminatory. "There is no sector that has not been attacked by the neoliberal revanchism of the right of the current president of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, who in less than two months produced a host of decrees, a drastic structural change in politics with the aim of dismantling and destroying economic, cultural and social inclusion policies, achieved over the last 12 years," they said.

The year has opened to the president ordering between 10,000 to 21,000 state workers to be removed from their positions. Continuous removals are expected as the government ministries review more contracts. Critics claimed that these removals are not economically motivated but politically-influenced. While the President reasoned that the public sector should be reduced in favor of making private investment as the source of new employment, may believe that the dismissals were in relation to the President's feelings on the past administration. Macri perceived the public administration employment generated for the past five years was a product of "clientelism."

Vice-President Gabriela Michetti also pushed out speculations that the public sector workers are "Kirchner militants." He said these employees are too blinded by their adoration with the late Nestor Kirchner and his successor and wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Here is a video of the President at the Davos 2016:

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump claims that the fraud charges that he has been pressed with are part of a conspiracy formed by New York attorney General Eric.T. Schneiderman and President Obama. Moreover, he said that the judge is intentionally hostile against him mainly because he is Hispanic.

The GOP frontrunner asserted that the judge in the civil lawsuit over Trump University has a personal agenda. "We have a very hostile judge because to be honest with you, he should have thrown out the lawsuit," Trump charged. "He's Hispanic, which is fine and we haven't asked for a recusal, which we may do." He said the hostility of the judge is "beyond belief."

Asked if he will just settle the suit, Trump disagreed. He said that settling will only make everybody sue him, thinking they can easily get him to just pay to make charges vanish.

The judge he may be referring to is U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who back in July, asserted that the businessman turned politician should disclose his net worth, in the case involving people who said Trump U was a scam. He has not explained, though, why he would say the judge is being hostile, except that he is Hispanic. He also did not explain in what way the judge was being hostile against him.

Trump also said there simply should not be a case against him. He said the plaintiff that started the lawsuit against Trump U had in the past praised the school on paper. "She's on film saying how great [it] is." Trump said.

Therefore, he believes that a conspiracy is going on between the Attorney General and President Obama. "The Attorney General gets a campaign contribution from the law firm that's suing me," Trump accused of Eric Schneiderman, saying he's not that respectable in New York for doing a "terrible job."

"He meets with Obama, gets a campaign contribution I think ... and all of a sudden he meets with Obama...the following day or two, he brings a lawsuit against me," Trump alleged. He believes he can certainly win the case, which is currently on appeal.

For the Attorney General's part, he said that they already ruled that Trump University was opened illegally in New York. It is deemed an "unlicensed educational institution." The judge also said that Trump's comment about the judge being Hispanic is uncalled for. He said there is no place for "racial demagoguery" in this legal process.

Here is a video on Trump University's case discussed by CNN:

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
This week in social media, Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg publicly rebuked some of his employees, while Facebook Reactions finally added more ways to respond to posts. Meanwhile, Snapchat unveiled a new money-making scheme, and Tumblr hired a new executive who wants to "double down" on mobile.

It's time for Social Media Sunday!

Facebook

Black Lives Matter

Silicon Valley is known for its diversity problem. The tech industry's homogeneous workplace culture reared its head in a controversial way at Facebook this week, to the point that Zuckerberg gave his employees a scolding.

At Facebook headquarters, there's a physical "Wall" (a chalkboard) that's meant for employees to use much like Facebook's digital equivalent, expressing themselves with posts. Some employees wrote "Black Lives Matter" on the wall. Then other employees crossed the message out and replaced it with "all lives matter."

By the end of the week, Zuckerberg posted a note to his employees about the exclusionary signals some were sending on the wall, as Gizmodo first reported.

"There have been several instances" of people crossing out and replacing the "black lives matter" message, wrote Zuckerberg about the controversy. "Despite my clear communication... last week that this was unacceptable, and messages from other leaders from across the company, this has happened again," he continued. "I was already very disappointed by this disrespectful behavior before, but after my communication I now consider this malicious as well."

Zuckerberg went on to explain how crossing out someone's message showed intolerance, why "black lives matter" is a specific but not exclusionary message while "all lives matter" is a reactionary, intolerant one, and that he has directed company officials to get to the bottom of the situation.

Live Video on Android Soon

Facebook Live, the company's live video feature, launched in December, but only for iPhones. Now the Android equivalent will start to roll out to the U.S. and other countries in the next week.

Android users will know they got the update when they are able to see a video button along with the usual options for posting photos and other media in the "What's on your mind" box at the top of the News Feed.

Reactions Finally Arrive

After over a year of development and testing, the Facebook Like button -- a terribly one-sided and sometimes awkward sentiment to use when reacting to a friend's post -- just got some new neighbors.

Response options on the social media site have expanded to include Love, Haha, Yay, Wow, Sad and Angry. Latin Post previously reported on user reactions to the new Facebook Reactions feature.

Snapchat

New Custom Geofilters

Snapchat began rolling out a new type of geofilter, the tags that allow snaps to identify location, called "On-Demand Geofilters" this week.

The new feature allows users to create custom filters that will appear for a short time within the Snapchat app to denote locations for users' private events or locations for business posts -- for a price. Mashable notes the costs range by location and application, from $5 to several thousands. Expect a custom on-demand geofilter for an individual's wedding to be on the low end, while geofilters for businesses seeking to reach out to customers to cost more.

Tumblr

New CTO

Tumblr has hired the vice president of engineering of The New York Times to fill the roll of chief technology officer at the social blogging company, according to Fast Company.

Brian Murphy, who spearheaded work on The New York Times' mobile apps, will officially take the reigns of the engineering department at Tumblr in March. He said he plans to "double down" on mobile to help keep Tumblr relevant and worth some of the millions Yahoo paid for it, as the parent company begins downsizing.
This month I learned that if you found a tiny plastic Baby Jesus in your slice of Rosca de Reyes (Three Kings Cake) on January 6, that you were firmly in charge of bringing your entire family a haul of tamales on El Dia de la Candelaria (Candlemas Day) on February 2. This is not a suggestion, either. It is a fact. You find the baby Jesus, you bring the goods to your family in Oaxaca.

Having just arrived to Oaxaca de Juarez in mid-January, Candlemas Day  and the firecrackers, food, and general rowdiness  marked my introduction my temporary home. It was also a welcome to Mexico, since I have never spent much time here prior. With the exception of a I think I remember some hazy details holiday in Cancun after I took the New York Bar Exam in 2002, and a taco-filled extravaganza in Mexico City in 2010, I never explored the country. And what a welcome this month has been.

Candlemas in Oaxaca City

My landlady Yolanda swept past me as I tried to walk up the stairs to my apartment in Oaxaca, asking me how I felt about tamales. I feel how most people feel: that they are delicious, that I mourned my waistline when I discovered they were full of pork lard, and that the Oaxacan version, filled with a deep, dark mole sauce, was truly superb. Her eyes lit up, and she began to talk.

On January 6, most Mexicans celebrate Three Kings Day (El Dia de los Santos Reyes), commemorating the story of the three wise men who visited baby Jesus with frankincense, gold, and myrrh. As part of the holiday, families eat the Rosca de Reyes, a sweet, braided loaf of egg bread and candied fruit baked with tiny dolls representing Jesus hidden within them. The tradition of the Rosca cake is one that was brought over by the conquistadors, and was a holdover from the Middle Ages that is still celebrated in parts of Spain and France. And as I said, if you are the one to find a figurine in your cake in Oaxaca, you are feeding that same group of people for Candlemas Day.

I wasnt yet in Oaxaca on Three Kings Day, but I am glad I got to watch the city gear up for the follow-up. Tamale stands around town were packed with people buying in bulk for their families and friends, but in my apartment complex, it was my landlady who took over tamale-making duties, along with her husbands family next door. Yolanda was making the mole negro (black mole) and rajas (roasted pepper and quesillo cheese) tamales, and the neighbours were in charge of the sweet tamales with pineapple.

February 2 also marked the official end of the Christmas season, where what remained of holiday decorations and wreaths were shelved until December. Houses that set up nativity scenes put them away and in the process whisked the Jesus figure from them and dressed him up before bringing him to church. Those who did not have a nativity scene often possessed a Jesus figurine regardless, who was dressed up and brought to church to receive blessings.

Thus El Dia de La Candelaria celebrations included not simply tamales but the more important presentation of the Jesus dolls to the local parishes. I was told this tradition reenacted Marys presentation of Jesus in temple forty days after his birth in ancient times. Church courtyards were absolutely packed with people, most holding a dressed-up doll about the size of a 40-day old infant, listening to the sermon as the holiday ended.

Then, because Mexico, the firecrackers continued for hours.

Tamales at for Candlemas

Tamales are found throughout Mexico, with a dizzying amount of types and traditions that accompany them. They are made from maize (a coarse cornmeal flour) and were cooked by all of the original inhabitants of Mexico, long predating the arrival of Old World conquerors. Per Karen of MexConnect:

The great variety of tamales has carried over to this day; ethnographers have counted forty two different kinds, including the famous zacahuil prepared by the Huastecan people. This tamal is 3 feet long, weighs about 150 pounds, and requires most of the leaves of a banana tree to wrap it. The zacahuil and the muchipolloof the Yucatan are exceptions to the tamal-making rule in that they are baked either in the ground or in a bread oven rather than being steamed. Other unique tamales are the pastel-colored versions prepared by the Otomi people near San Miguel de Allende and the fresh fish clapiques of the coast, which have been prepared since the time of Moctezuma II.

While pre-Hispanic tamales were made with the ground maize and oils from plants, the current iterations are made with pork lard instead, which arrived in Mexico along with the Spanish import of the pig.

For Candlemas, my landlady made a black mole sauce, rajas in another pot, and then set up a tiny table in the corner of the kitchen to put together the tamales.

If you want to try my favorite  rajas  Serious Eats has a recipe here.

For a more extensive cookbook of Oaxacan food, Diane Kennedys incomparable Oaxaca el Gusto is where you need to be. Coming in at 10 pounds, the el Gusto book is too heavy for me to travel with, but I devoured it (SEE WHAT I DID THERE) at my dads place before leaving for Oaxaca and I cant wait to try more recipes from it upon my return.

Hospitality and my Apartment in Oaxaca

I will be writing a full guide to Oaxaca once I get more familiar with the city, but suffice it to say that my time here has been made more interesting because the hospitality of my landlady and her husband Pablo. Between lending me her old cookbooks so that I can review some of the recipes, to loading me up with extra blankets when it was cold, to ensuring that I had ample honey and ginger when I was felled by a 10-day Mexican flu, she has been a constant presence in my life.

I dont think she realizes Im in my 30s but I appreciate that she takes care of me when Im sick.

Pablo is also a force to be reckoned with. He has a permanently hoarseness due to the removal of tumors on his larynx, and as a result his gravely voice is unlike any other Ive heard. He and Yolanda call me Yeni, since Jodi was too confusing to pronounce  this is common in Latin America, where Jodi becomes a phlegmy ho-di. I simply go by Yeni here now, and giggle when I hear Pablos rumbling Yeeeeeeeni? calling at me from the bottom of the stairs.

The exception to Pablos deep voice is when he laughs, an incredibly high-pitched, pure and joyful laugh that makes anyone in the vicinity smile. His sense of humor has proven entertaining also; he waited for me to return from the SuperBowl viewing, only to pop out from the stairways landing, going on about Los Broncos and gesticulating wildly.

The apartment Im in is as quirky as its owners. Its a two-bedroom place that my friends have nicknamed The Crows Nest because has a tiki-style ceiling and a bit of a problem with the roof, specifically that the walls in the living room dont seem to fully attach to it. This would be fine if Oaxacas nights were warm all the time, but I suspect that the aforementioned Mexican flu came from those 4C nights where my living room was a wind tunnel. My mum, who visited this month, has a series of photos with me working at my laptop in a hat, scarf, and coat.

Im sharing this place with Shannon from A Little Adrift, who I met in 2010 in New York and who has been one of my best friends ever since. Weve not been in the same city for years, so we decided to make our way to Oaxaca for this winter, recruiting a few other friends in the process.

The apartment was possibly an outer deck that they converted into bedrooms, which might be why my bedroom (unlike Shannons) is outside the front door. When I have to use the washroom in the middle of the night, I stumble out of my room bleary-eyed, and try to quietly unlock the front door. The water pressure is also non-existent, the bathroom smells like dead people, and the church next door bongs its bells 37 times at 6:41am on Sundays, as well as 37 times whenever someone in the community passes away.

Oh, and next door is a compound with a huge dog named Jimmy, who barks deeply and furiously when disturbed. Like clockwork, the same sequence happens: Jimmy goes nuts, the other dogs in the area go nuts, Jimmys owners yell, Jimmy! Callate! (Jimmy, shut your mouth!). Now, when he starts barking Shannon and I quietly say, oh Jimmy and sure enough poor Jimmy is told to shut it.

These arent complaints, of course. The adjustments to day-to-day living are part of what makes experiencing a new place fun. As with chicken buses in rural Laos, singing karaoke on a ferry boat that got stuck in Myanmar, or celebrating a birthday with nomads in the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, the intensive learning in travel comes from situations that arent smooth sailing. Of course, this is a far smoother situation than a bus packed with chickens, and Yolanda and Pablo make it even more entertaining.

In my weeks here, I have spent half of it sick with the flu, and half of it stuffing my face with every food imaginable. Its a celiacs paradise, all corn and pork lard and stringy perfect cheese. The historic center of Oaxaca is a delight of colors and cobblestones, and my rationale for coming here  a new country with foods that would be safe for me to eat  seems like it was a good bet after all. Even if I have to type with a hat on sometimes.

More from Oaxaca soon!

-Jodi
A PORTLAOISE man has to pay compensation to avoid prison, having been convicted of an assault in which he pushed a woman to the ground after being refused service in a pub.

A PORTLAOISE man has to pay compensation to avoid prison, having been convicted of an assault in which he pushed a woman to the ground after being refused service in a pub.

Stuart Austin, 127 Hillview Drive, Portlaoise, committed the offence at OShaughnessys Public House, The Square, Ballinakill, on August 1 last year.

Inspector Michael Walsh told the District Court that Austin arrived at the pub in the early hours of the morning and due to his condition, he was refused service. The inspector said Austin became obstreperous and had to be escorted out by the licensee and the licensees sister. As he was being escorted, he pushed the woman and she fell to the ground, suffering a graze to her knee.

Austin has nine previous convictions.

Defence, Ms Josephine Fitzpatrick said her client had drank to excess on the day and he hadnt meant to cause any harm. She said Austin has written a letter of apology to the injured party and is now attending AA meeting for his alcohol difficulties.

Judge William Early ordered him to pay 450 compensation to the injured party by November 1. If he does, and comes to no adverse garda attention in the interim, the judge said he would fine him 200, otherwise he could face a custodial sentence.
Co Leitrim councillor, Martin Kenny, has been selected as the sole candidate for Sinn Fein in the upcoming General Election.

Co Leitrim councillor, Martin Kenny, has been selected as the sole candidate for Sinn Fein in the upcoming General Election.

Kenny defeated former Sligo Town Councillor and party member, Chris McManus, at the partys convention in Sligos Southern Hotel last Sunday evening.

Speaking to the Leitrim Observer following his selection, Kenny said that he was looking forward to the challenge of the new expanded constituencywhich takes in Counties Sligo and Leitrim as well as west Cavan and south Donegal.

Geographically it is a very large area running from the edge of Cavan town through counties Leitrim and Sligo and into Donegal, he acknowledged, but he said that he was proud to represent Sinn Fein in the next General Election.

Its an honour for me to be nominated to contest an election in a constituency that John Joe McGirl and Hunger Striker, Joe McDonnell previously stood for election.

I think that this is the opportunity that I have been waiting for. It has always been difficult for someone from Co Leitrim in particular, in the Roscommon/South Leitrim constituency, and I believe that this new constituency offers me the best chance to be elected.

Cllr Kenny paid tribute to sitting TD, Michael Colreavy, who has announced that he will not be contesting the next General Election, noting that he had the privilege to sit beside him on the council for five years.

He was a great representative and he had a great work ethic and that has been reflected in his time as TD, said Cllr Kenny.

Cllr Kenny thanked his wife and family for their support and paid tribute to all the members of Sinn Fein.

This constituency has suffered more than most, due to the mess made of the economy by the right wing parties, the troika of FF, FG and Labour and we must make sure that this Sinn Fein seat is retained to continue the fight for a new departure in politics.

Im confident that we will retain this seat and I wouldnt rule out running a second candidate. The Irish people have had enough of the austerity policies of this government and of the previous Fianna Fail Government. They know there is an alternative and that Sinn Fein will deliver.
As pre-election conferences go, the Scottish Liberal Democrats gathering in Edinburgh was a strange one. Conferences taking place within weeks of a major national elections can be a bit bland with no hotly contested debates. This one was very different. We had some really controversial subjects up for discussion, with amendments on smacking, fracking and a long motion on diversity to get to grips with, with the leader taking a massive risk on the latter, needing to take 2/3 of the hall with him to pass a constitutional amendment.

Also, pre-election conferences can be little more than a procession of smartly dressed candidates getting as close to the party line as possible. This time they had to share the stage with so many of the new members who have already been such assets to the party. It was so good to walk into the room and see people I didnt recognise make such brilliant speeches.

Members left the Assembly Rooms last night with more confidence that we were getting things right than Ive seen in years. Were under no illusions about the opportunities and threats that polling day in 9 weeks time brings, but we are pleased that we are going out there with a set of policies and well-articulated values that resonates with voters concerns.

So what were those controversial debates? The second vote of the day passed an amendment which committed us to lift the moratorium on fracking. I was annoyed with myself about this because I missed that vote for no good reason. Its a warning to everyone to be in the hall and never assume that a vote is going to go a certain way. Its important to recognise that this doesnt authorise one single use of fracking and it does chime in with our commitment to localism, though. It is also aimed at making sure that we lessened our dependence on Russian gas. It does mean that Willie cant go as much on the front foot with his personal opposition to fracking which is based on it being carbon based. The vote wasnt a disaster, but nor was it entirely helpful.

Diversity

Yesterday morning saw a two hour debate on the motion drawn up by Willies motion on diversity. There were a number of amendments and requests for separate votes that threatened to rip the heart out of it. The first part of the debate was on the general principles, a constitutional amendment to allow for measures to accommodate gender balance requirements approved by conference. I dont mind admitting that I didnt sleep much on Friday night, worried that we might not get the 2/3 majority required. It was a big risk for a leader to take. He wasnt imposing his own ideas  the initiative had been very much driven by members demanding action. Even so, there was a small but vocal minority who were as keen as they had been 20 years ago that this was not the right way to go. Who would win the day?

Fifteen years ago, Jo Swinson famously led the charge to defeat a similar motion at Liberal Democrat conference. She was, she said, sure that training, mentoring, action go encourage women to stand would work. Nobody could ever accuse her of not enthusiastically throwing herself into doing just that. There are few women who havent had Jos help, directly or indirectly, in that time. She definitely walked the walk. She acknowledged that it hadnt worked and she now recognised that further action was needed to challenge the concentration of power in the hands of men in the party.

A procession of speakers agreed with her. They, too, had voted against before but now were in favour. This came in tandem with contributions from brilliantly articulate young women who said that these measures would encourage them to put themselves forward. Party President Sal Brinton, who had been given permission to speak in the debate by the Conference Committee, outlined some of the academic studies which punctured the idea that women elected by All Women Shortlists somehow had less merit. It was a powerfully persuasive combination and the arguments against looked irrelevant and dated. Having said that, Jenny Dawe, former Edinburgh Council leader,who also led the opposition to similar moves ahead of the first Scottish Parliament elections in 1999, made a rousing speech against at the end of the debate describing each measure in turn as illiberal, undemocratic and wrong. Fiona Risk from East Dunbartonshire, a long time member making her debut speech to conference, argued that any discrimination was wrong and that the measures were unnecessary. Those voices were countered by people like new member Charity Pierce who talked about her growing awareness of gender inequality.

The vote was clear with 3/4 members in favour of the constitutional amendment. Then it was on to discuss the main motion. Amendments had been submitted to cut the number of seats affected from five to three and there were requests for separate votes on all of the all women shortlists provisions. None of these changes were made.

Fit for the future

The final debate of Conference endorsed the pre-manifesto which Aberdeenshire East candidate Christine Jardine said she wanted to give to every voter because it was such a powerful description of what Scotland needed. Its main ideas include:

a penny on income tax for a 475 million investment into nurseries, colleges, a pupil premium and to reverse the SNPs education cuts

treating drug use as a health, not a criminal issue

a zero rate of income tax for those on low and middle incomes, paid for by increasing taxes on the richest

parity between mental and physical health and investment in the NHS, more GPs and better primary care

an ambitious target for a welfare system that commands the full confidence of claimants and the organisations and services who support them

investment in renewable energy and a low carbon environment to make sure we meet climate change targets

All in all, it was a good, vibrant, stimulating couple of days. We know that we are facing a massively challenging election, but at least we are doing it with a radical set of policies, a record to be proud of and a leader at the very top of his game.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
Willie Rennie must have been reading Lib Dem Voice because he opened his speech by quoting from Beccas blog which we featured 10 days ago. He got in touch with her and she gave him permission to share her story.

He argued that it was time to see major investment in mental health and for it to be given party with physical health.

He also set out what the party would do with the 475 million generated for nurseries, schools, colleges and a pupil premium.

I want to talk to you about a new member of our party.

Becca Plenderleith. She is a bright, intelligent and brave young woman. We are fortunate to call her a fellow Liberal Democrat. She has given me permission to tell you this story.

What she did was something simple. She told her story. She wrote about her experience of the health service.

Only a few years ago she was suffering from depression and following a break up from her boyfriend she considered suicide.

What happened next is something that must be condemned to the past.

She was told by a doctor at accident and emergency that she was a drain on the NHS.

No support, no treatment, just a lecture.

But Becca is making a difference. Making a difference by speaking out.

And the response is encouraging.

Every time I now mention mental health on a public platform the silent nods around the room fill me with hope.

Hope that the stigma is fading, hope that there is a growing demand for change, hope that this will lead to the unstoppable change to our NHS so that mental health is given the equal support it deserves.

But we need more than nods to make change.

We cannot wait any longer for change.

For Becca, for thousands of people who are crying out for help and for the many who cannot be heard anymore because we were simply too late.

For all their sakes we need change and we need it now.

We want the best for people with mental health problems.

Scotland used to be amongst the best in the world for so many things.

Thats what the next five years have got to be about. To make us the best again.

At our heart Liberal Democrats want every individual to achieve their potential.

To be the best Scotland will need the skills, talents and creativity of everyone-who-lives-here to participate in the economy and society, and to feel they belong.

Diversity and education will be the twin engines that drive invention and creativity to enrich our country and provide a bright, liberal future.

Our economy needs a Scotland where we can draw on the well-educated and trained talents of people from all backgrounds.

Scotland needs to get the benefit of the diverse talents of everyone to be the best.

That means there should be opportunity for everyone whatever their background.

This is the vision for Scotland to which Scottish Liberal Democrats will devote the next five years.

Thats the liberal vision.

Because what we have now is just not good enough for Scotland.

On education  once proud, now slipping down the global rankings according to the OECD.

On climate change  once world beating targets, now failing to meet them year on year.

On policing  once locally accountable with local policing by consent, now a shadow of its former self.

On mental health  once a world leading strategy, now we dont even have one and people are waiting an age for urgent treatment.

Scotland needs change to be the best but this SNP government is refusing to act.

Scotland cant wait for a vague promise of change at some point over the horizon.

The SNP are paralysed on tax even when they now have the power in their hands.

They have chosen to cut education rather than use those new powers to invest in it.

They prefer to talk about climate change targets than take the action to exceed them.

They have failed to fund mental health services even though the waiting times grow.

Frozen to the spot, afraid to do anything in case it damages the independence cause.

My message today is that it doesnt have to be like this.

We can build a country where children from all backgrounds get the best chance to succeed

Where our civil liberties are valued and celebrated.

Where our police are allowed to do the job they were trained for  to keep us safe.

Where we pass on the environment to our children in a better state than we inherited.

Where power is shared across the country rather than hoarded in Holyrood.

Where people with poor mental health are treated as swiftly as everyone else.

I want to live in a country that has ambition to be the best in the world not just the best in Britain.

We dont have to wait. We can build that country now.

We need to get Scotland fit for the future.

To be the best again.

A Willie Rennie speech would not be complete without a reference to Dunfermline.

But I have a real excuse this time.

Ten years ago this month we won that Dunfermline by-election.

You know that I draw inspiration from that wonderful victory.

And this year we have outstanding candidates who can win too.

Katy Gordon in West of Scotland

Kris Chapman in the South of Scotland

Alex Cole Hamilton and Hannah Bettsworth in Edinburgh and the Lothians.

Peter Barrett in Mid Scotland and Fife.

Christine Jardine and Mike Rumbles in the North East.

Jamie Stone, Carolyn Caddick and Angela McLean in the Highlands.

Robert Brown and Paul McGarry in Glasgow and Central.

They are all leading vigorous campaigns to win to bolster our brilliant team in Holyrood.

Alison McInnes has had quite remarkable success in justice and human rights and that success was recognized at the Herald Politician of the Year awards.

Liam McArthur led the charge on the universities bill, on nursery education, on national testing and so much more.

And Tavish Scott on the fiscal framework, on the Smith Commission, on farming payments, on flights to the Northern isles is at his feisty best.

Jim Hume has led the way on mental health and GPs and has successfully piloted a new law to ban smoking in cars with children.

Jim, children will have a healthier future thanks to you.

A team that punches well above its weight.

If you ever needed shining examples of why we need even more Liberal Democrats just observe our team of parliamentarians in Holyrood.

They have achieved more in the last five years than all of the SNP backbenchers put together.

Thank you our great liberal team.

We have a team in 2016 that punches well above its weight.

And if you need a second opinion, just look at the Conservatives.

The Scottish Conservatives have spent a million pounds writing to people asking for support to be the opposition.

Well, they have wasted their money and your time.

They are no opposition.

The SNP and the Tories are two peas in a pod.

The very idea of two parliaments  at Westminster and Holyrood  dominated by those two is an utterly dismal prospect that wont help Scotland be the best.

The Tories with their harsh welfare policies, callous treatment of refugees, slashing of renewable energy, and their massive economic gamble on the future of the European Union.

The SNP, who are only interested in getting independence and have let everything else slide while they are distracted with that.

And worst of all, both of them are completely united in wanting to keep the country divided.

They need each other. They feed off each other.

More Nats in Edinburgh helps the Tories in London with their scare stories.

The Tories in London help the Nats in Edinburgh with their scare stories.

They both want to keep the divisions going.

The only parties youll find who want another argument about independence in this campaign are the Tories and the SNP.

Thats what they want.

And it is onto this dismal scene, onto this rancid prospectus, is where we must come in.

We say no more!

We say it is time to move on from the divisions in our country.

We will put the division behind us.

We will put the whole of Scotland first  not just the No people or the Yes people.

We will put perpetual conflict behind us.

We want the best for Scotland.

A united Scotland is the best for Scotland

And they are at it again this week.

Working together to stop our Penny for Education.

Murdo Fraser told Holyrood hed formed a taxpayers alliance with the SNP.

John Swinney said the Tories were the lobby fodder for the SNP.

This week they laughed and clapped together as they cut 500million from local councils.

The SNP song book used to only have one song in it: If we only had the power.

But now they do have the powers and they still wont use them.

They have picked up the Tory song book.

What have we got in that?

The First Cut Is The Deepest. But the second, third and fourth arent bad either;

I fought the Lawson and the Lawson won;

Same tunes about taxation is theft, and cuts are a price worth paying, and colleges  the more we cut the more they do.

John Swinney might even be singing in the bath like Norman Lamont  Je dinnae regret hee haw.

So the Scottish Conservative Leader is simply making it up about opposition. This party has not gone soft on independence. But unlike her we accept the result of the referendum and we are moving on.

She is determined to open up, for her own benefit, the deep wounds the campaign caused.

The Tories just dont care.

They should stick that on their postcards and apologise to the people of Scotland.

Tomorrow we have the chance to agree that at every election in the future we will have a team of candidates that looks more like our diverse Scotland than we have ever done before.

We debate what targets we set for ourselves for future parliamentary selections.

For twenty years I have watched only a handful of women MPs and MSPs get elected under our banner. It is not good enough for this progressive party.

With the support of people who were previously opposed to the measures in the motion we have a package for change.

If you back my motion tomorrow we will send a powerful signal to liberal minded women across Scotland that we are serious about change and that they are welcome in our party.

I want to win again, to win again we need to be more like the people we seek to represent, to win we need to change.

I am asking you to come with me and back my motion.

For Scotland to be the best again we need the best education in the world again.

The OECD tells us we are slipping down the international standing on education.

This government has slashed 152,000 places from our colleges

It is cutting school budgets too.

It cant even get more than 7% of two year olds into nursery classes.

With the investment of one penny on income tax we can secure a 475million return.

Youll know that our investment  the penny for education  will be spent on expanding nursery education, implementing a pupil premium, stopping cuts to schools and repairing cuts to colleges.

Those are our four priorities for children and young people.

Today I can announce the details of that funding so that people know what they will get for their winning investment.

We will invest 170million in our schools with a pupil premium.

This will be paid directly to schools to raise attainment every year.

The pupil premium will be worth 1,400 for every pupil who needs extra support at primary.

And 900 for every secondary pupil from a disadvantaged background.

Our pupil premium will put money into every classrooms.

Every school gets money for children from poorer backgrounds.

And look at what that might mean.

A primary school like Aboyne could get 43,000 more.

In Dunoon, Woodhill in Bishopbriggs, East Craigs in Edinburgh, Castlehill in Cupar, Dingwall, Papdale in Orkney, Eyemouth. All could get more than 60,000.

Thats enough for more teachers for one-to-one help, for homework clubs or for extra equipment.

Secondary schools will benefit too.

Oban would get another 170,000, Inverurie 45,000, Bell Baxter 124,000, Wick 114,000, Anderson High in Lerwick 38,000, Peebles 94,000.

That is how you close the attainment gap:

By making the investment;

By giving the life chances;

By backing up your words with action.

Imagine the transformational effect this will have.

In fact, you dont need to imagine, because when the Liberal Democrats brought in the pupil premium in England it closed the attainment gap by 5% in three years and raised attainment for everyone.

Raising attainment.

Raising productivity.

Schools giving every child the best chance in life.

Thats the Liberal Democrat commitment on education.

And I make a direct appeal to people who have supported Labour but are not impressed with the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn, you can back our progressive plans in May to make your voice heard with us.

Liberal Democrats are big hearted, open minded, outward looking, caring and compassionate.

We are for the aspirational with a social conscience.

We care about the people next door, across the world or in the future.

At our heart Liberal Democrats want every individual to achieve their potential.

We stand with the weak against the strong, and will use the power of government to tackle the social and economic injustices that limit freedom.

We say power is safer when it is shared and will trust communities and individuals with the power to control their own lives, and the right to participate in their democracy.

We are trustees of our world, and our society, and must pass on a sustainable legacy which will benefit future generations.

To be the best we need the best health care so we need to reverse the decline in the NHS.

We support a step change in mental health services, the recruitment of more GPs and better social care.

To be the best the planet must be protected so we need to meet Scotlands climate change targets.

Thats why we support action on climate change including warmer homes, better public transport and stopping opencast coal.

To be the best our civil liberties must be guaranteed whether it be on excessive use of stop and search, armed police or an intrusive super ID database.

To be the best we need to reflect the rich diversity of the country so we must bring an end to stripping power from local communities and hoarding it in Holyrood.

Thats why we support a reform programme that includes power transferred to local communities and empowering police, nurses, doctors and teachers to do their job.

To be the best we need a strong economy, fair tax and good public services.

Thats why we support continued membership of the European Union, a reformed tax system that makes work pay and investment in good public services.

We will move on from the independence debate to bring unity, healing the divisions of the referendum.

We all need to move on to bring the country together to be the best.

We will use this election campaign to show liberal minded people the true value of liberal minded members of the Scottish Parliament.

We will remind people of where we come from.

Jo Grimond, David Steel, Charles Kennedy, Ming Campbell, Ray Michie and Jim Wallace.

Inspirational people of outstanding calibre.

We will tell them what we have done.

Invented the NHS and the welfare state, opposed the Iraq war, fought and won free tuition, free personal care, free dental and eye checks in Scotland, tax cuts for workers and a growing economy.

Of course our opponents will point to the mistakes but we will stand proud on our achievements.

And we will tell people where we are going.

To be the best again.

We will lift Scotland up from the divisions of the referendum to start winning again.

Scotland is a country of winners.

So we can have the best healthcare.

So we can enjoy the freedom that comes with our deep rooted civil liberties

So we can celebrate meeting our climate change targets

And so we can once again have the best education in the world

We can be the best again if we are bold, bright, liberal and green.

So if you want change.

If you want things to be better.

If you want to get Scotland fit for the future.

If you want Scotland to be the best again.

Then back the Liberal Democrats.
A FORMER Limerick priest who married a nun is one of 13 Irish men to feature in a new documentary premiering at this weeks Dublin Film Festival.

The Judas Iscariot Lunch is a story about faith, religion, love and life after the priesthood. The ex-priests, including 81-year-old James Kennedy, from Pallasgreen, speak candidly about how they came to be missionaries in East Asia, the Pacific and South America in the 1960s and 1970s.

The documentary, directed by Teresa O'Grady-Peyton and produced by TJ O'Grady-Peyton, tells the story of Columban missionary priests who took the brave, honourable and risky decision to leave active ministry and set out on totally different and difficult life journey.

It is often funny, sometimes sad, beautiful, raw and thought-provoking, say the makers.

The priests were branded Judas Iscariots by Pope Paul VI, hence the name of the feature.

We never saw it like that ... We see ourselves as pioneers! say the men.

James, better known as Jim, gives a powerful account of his story of formation, celibacy, isolation, faith and the struggle to leave the priesthood.

When I look back now I don't believe I had any faith. All I had was a kind of social conditioning. You heard old women say maybe Jim would become a priest and you kind of went along with that, he said.

Jim was born in Pallasgreen in 1934. He was taught in Brackile National School by his uncle Bill Kennedy before attending Doon CBS Secondary School.

The best years of my life, he said.

Jim decided to become a priest because there was no money for university.

I was the first son. My mother Nora, who had two brothers priests, probably had an idea I might follow suit, but the Kennedys never had anyone belonging to them priests.

At the time I had a first cousin in Dalgan [Columban Missionaries base in Navan] and he invited me to join him there. He left three months before ordination and became a creamery manager in Kildimo.

Jim was ordained to the priesthood in 1958. After that he was appointed assistant editor of the Far East magazine and studied in the University of Chicago before being assigned to the Philippines. All this despite the missions being accidental and I just fell into it.

Jim vividly remembers the point he realised that he didnt want to be a priest any more.

My father died while I was studying Tagalog [a language spoken in the Philippines] in Manila in 1971 and during the High Mass for him I realised that while the archbishop, Paddy Cronin, was talking about heaven for my father I suddenly couldnt see him there.

All I had were the memories of him like the sound of his hobnailed boots on the cement floor. So, if you dont believe in an afterlife it would be stupid to continue as a priest.

While he struggled with the decision he continued on with his duties until 1977 when a special woman entered his life.

I needed help especially in my second parish of Candelaria, Zambales, Philippines. I got Sister Vicenta Benavidez, a Sister of St Paul de Chartres Congregation, to liaise between me and the people. She was a journalism graduate.

They both left their religious roles, one thing led to another and they started a new life together.

They were married civilly in Manila on July 7, 1977, and two children followed, Paddy and Noriana.

"All of us now have children who are in their own way contributing to civilisation. If we hadn't left that wouldn't exist, said Jim.

His wife is an active churchgoer but he isnt.

Ive no problem with other peoples choices. I would now describe myself as a humanist.

Now aged 81, Jim is living in Lucan, Dublin. after working for Smurfit Publications until September 1999 and remains a proud Limerick man.

Jim described his experiences in Philippines in his memoir Fat God Thin God which was published in 2002.

The world premiere of The Judas Iscariot Lunch takes place at the Light House Cinema, Dublin at 6.30pm this Thursday, February 25 and will be shown on RTE at a later date.
A SPECIAL and limited edition of the Old Limerick Journal, which looks at local life in 1916, will be launched next week.

As part of Limericks extensive itinerary of 1916 commemorative events, the 50th edition of the iconic publication  founded by the late Jim Kemmy in 1979  will be presented to the public at the City Library, Michael Street, on Tuesday, 7pm.

According to the editor, Tom Donovan, it is the first journal of its kind, and it is three times bigger than the regular edition  172 pages  which usually comes out at Christmas.

He said that this issue shows both sides of the 1916 rebellion that took place in Dublin, and also looks at the normal life in Limerick in 1916.

He said that the publicity surrounding the events in 1916 is now more inclusive and more balanced than it was when he celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Rising. I was recently telling the school children in Glin that I was in the school in 1966, during the 50th anniversary celebrations.

The difference from then to now is that, in 1966, it was all one-sided. It was all about the rebels, who fought for Ireland. But in 2016 now, we have two military and two policemen; four of the other side. And we are looking at that side of it. Its about everybody who fought in 1916.

And some of the military were caught up with it and were on their way to the front [World War], and they got sidetracked when the rebellion happened, and they had to go out and fight. You then had Irishmen fighting Irishmen, he told the Limerick Leader this week.

He said that it also notes the local civilians who were killed in crossfire.

The longest-standing contributor, Des Ryan, welcomed the launch of the special edition.

We could not let the 1916 commemoration pass without acknowledging Limericks contribution to the Easter Rebellion. The fact that such a large amount of material could be sourced about Limerick in 1916 made the task of the many contributors a little easier.

The Old Limerick Journal will be launched by Mairead Dore, daughter of Eamonn Dore, who fought in the GPO in 1916, and refreshments will be served on the night.
A FORMER resident of the Mount Trenchard direct provision centre near Foynes sent a text message threatening to kill a staff member because he believed the man had made false accusations against him.

Kamran Pooladrack was found guilty at Newcastle West district court this Tuesday of a breach of Section 13 of the Post Office (Amendment) Act 1951, which prohibits the sending of messages which are offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing.

The court heard he sent a text to the staff member threatening to f*** you in your Lithuan-ian monkey ass.

In his evidence, the staff member said he had been approached by a number of residents, including the defendant, on April 23 2014 after he was seen talking to a community welfare officer. The residents believed he had accused them of attempting social welfare fraud.

Later that night, he received a text message telling him that the residents would not accept him at the centre and not to attend the next day.

Shortly afterwards, he received a second text message calling him a motherf****r and threatening to kill him if he returned to the centre. It went on: We will take you into the bathroom and f*** you in your Lithuanian monkey ass.

He subsequently checked the records at Mount Trenchard and found that the message had been sent from a phone belonging to Kamran Pooladrack.

Asked by Inspector Brian ODonovan how the messages had made him feel, the staff member replied that he felt afraid as a result.

Evidence was also given by Garda Elaine Freemantle, who investigated the incident. She told the court that she interviewed Mr Pooladrack and read the text messages back to him. He admitted that he had sent them. However, while acknowledging that he had used bad words, he did not remember exactly what he had said.

Garda Freemantle showed the court a screen shot she had taken of the staff members mobile phone with the message on it.

Defence solicitor Rossa McMahon argued that the legislation under which the prosecution was taken covered SMS messages but not any other type of message that could be sent by phone.

He pointed out that the screen shot of the text message had been taken on June 22, two months after the alleged incident and that there was no evidence that it was an actual SMS message as opposed to another type of message.

He argued that the original text message was an essential proof when it came to a prosecution of that nature.

He added that the defendant was living in Mount Trenchard at the time of the incident but had since relocated to Dublin. He was no longer living in direct provision.

In finding the defendant guilty, Judge Mary Larkin said she was satisfied that it was a SMS message and that it had been sent by him. She referred the matter to the Probation Service and adjourned the case to June 28 for sentencing.
A PUPIL from Emly was the cream of the crop at the national Super Chef cookery competition.

Louise McGrath, who attends John the Baptist Community School in Hospital, was the senior winner at the culinary event.

It took place in St Angelas College, Sligo and was judged by a panel of experts including award-winning chef Shamzuri Hanifa of The Cottage Restaurant, Leitrim.

Super Chef is open to all students in post-primary schools on the island of Ireland and Youthreach centres. Thirty two students  16 junior and 16 senior - from 17 different counties were selected to go forward to the 2016 final based on almost 900 entries.

The competition, which is now in its second year, is endorsed by Healthy Ireland and gives students an opportunity to create tasty, healthy and affordable meals at home or in school. Students were asked to submit their favourite healthy meal for two people.

Louise, under the supervision of her teacher Elaine ODonnell, wowed the judges with her wholemeal upside-down salmon tart with cream cheese recipe.

Continuing the Limerick success, Bobby Hayes from Gaelcholaiste Luimnigh came second in the junior category.

Amanda McCloat, of St Angelas College, said: This competition aims to encourage students to display their culinary capabilities while also promoting the importance of healthy eating and giving due cognisance to budgetary requirements. We are delighted to allow students the opportunity to showcase their talents once again this year.
THE vote in Limerick City is heading for a grandstand finish, with Education Minister Jan O'Sullivan moving to within just 176 votes of Kieran O'Donnell in the race for the final seat.

Before the fourth count, Ms O'Sullivan's supporters were conceding the long serving Labour deputy was unlikely to hold her seat due to a backlash against the government.

When she arrived at the UL Arena herself, Ms O'Sullivan admitted her chances of winning were slim.

However, a transfer of 835 votes from Social Democrat candidate Sarah-Jane Hennelly has put her right back in the race for the fourth seat.

Anti-Austerity Alliance councillor Cian Prendiville was eliminated, after securing 6,724 votes in total.

His transfers are now being distributed, with all eyes on where they will go to.

After the fourth count, Finance Minister Michael Noonan had clikmbed to 8,591 votes, with Mr O'Donnell on 7,177 votes.

Cllr Maurice Quinlivan is at 7,025 votes, and Ms O'Sullivan is at 7,001.

Speaking following the fourth count, Ms O'Sullivan said: "I think it is still all to play for. It's a sizeable number of votes. Some of them will not go to anybody, as they are AAA, but it remains to be seen where the rest of them go. I think I am back in the frame more or less.I thought it was too big a gap, but I got a good transfer from Sarah Jane Hennelly, so I think I am back in the fray.The fat lady hasn't sung yet. We'll just see how it goes!"

Supporters of Fine Gael are now downbeat, with some privately conceding Mr O'Donnell's seat is now under serious threat from the Labour TD.

Labour campaigner Joe Kemmy said: "We are right back in the race again after the the transfer from Sarah Jane Hennelly to Jan, of 835 votes. It reminds me of 1997 when Jim Kemmy was written off. It's history repeating itself."

The result of the fifth and final count is expected in the next hour.
FIANNA Fail has topped the poll in the county with Niall Collins romping home on the first count while Fine Gael, despite a slippage in its vote, saw both its candidates elected: outgoing TD Patrick ODonovan and first-time candidate Cllr Tom Neville.

The two were neck and neck through six counts with Tom Neville edging past Patrick ODonovan by 78 votes on the final count.

In the end, the much anticipated threat from Independent Emmett OBrien failed to gather enough momentum although he was the last man standing at the end of the sixth count and just 810 votes away from taking a seat.

Fianna Fail Niall Collins superlative 12,276 first preference votes, marked a return to the heady days of the past when his uncle, former minister and MEP, Gerry Collins, regularly topped the poll.

But even as the party was celebrating Niall Collins success at getting elected on the first count, the question was being asked by some: What would have happened if Fianna Fail had run two candidates?

Independent Fianna Fail candidate, Richard ODonoghue was in no doubt. Had there been a second candidate, as he and others had argued, they could have taken a second seat, the Adare Rathkeale councillor said. And he believed the election bore this out.

Niall Collins vote plus his own votes and those for Independent Emmett OBrien added up to 48%, he pointed out.

However, the newly re-elected Niall Collins rejected such a scenario.

What you have to remember is the base which we are coming from, he said. I came to this count centre five years ago and I got the last seat without reaching a quota.

Deputy Collins also soundly ruled out any grand coalition with Fine Gael.

"We have said and I have said personally under no circumstances are we going in to prop up a Fine Gael proposition. We have worked long and hard to rebuild our credibility as a political party and I think all that would just go for nought if we were to turn around and step into coalition with Fine Gael."

The big talking point in the count centre however was the Independent Emmett OBrien who had been hotly tipped to take the third seat, or even the second.

In the event, he clocked up 5,432 first preference votes, a highly credible achievement for a first time general election candidate.

He steadily gained votes but not enough to gain him the seat. His biggest gain came when Sen James Heffernan was eliminated and his transfers put him just 810 votes behind Patrick ODonovan at 9,481.

Heffernans transfers pushed Tom Neville ahead to 10,369, to take the second seat without reaching the quota and 78 votes ahead of his party colleague, Patrick O'Donovan on 10,369.

Social Democrat Sen James Heffernan, who clocked up almost 8,000 first preference votes when he stood for Labour in 2011 narrowly missing out on the last seat, saw more than half of this vote disappear. His 3,279 first preference votes meant he was never in serious contention.

Sinn Fein candidate Seamus Browne polled 3,347 first preference votes (7%) but this vote failed to build on what had been achieved in the local elections.

Richard ODonoghue received 2,855 first preference votes but was eliminated on the third count.

Three other candidates, Alexander Storey Cosgrave, Green Party, Mark Keogh, Direct Democracy and John OGorman, Independent were eliminated after the second count without getting enough votes to recoup their election expenses.
SUPPORTERS of Michael Noonan had to endure a long day at the count before he was eventually elected after 1am on Sunday morning, alongside Jan OSullivan, as the last two remaining candidates in Limerick City.

The Minister for Finance would not be drawn on whether Fine Gael should reconsider its decision not to go into government with Fianna Fail.

Its not clear yet what the outcome will be so its not possible to speculate on what the outcome will be but things are quite uncertain, " said Minister Noonan who took the third seat in Limerick City.

When asked if the leadership of Fine Gael is uncertain he said: I think Enda Kenny did a great job. He was an excellent Taoiseach for five years. I want to thank Enda Kenny for his leadership of the Cabinet for the last five years."

When asked if Fine Gael should reconsider their decision of not going into power with Fianna Fail he said: I dont know what the result of the election is going to be  it may be late tomorrow night or Monday before final seats are filled. Its clear that it is quite uncertain.

When asked by Limerick Leader news editor Eugene Phelan if this would be his last election, as he stated in the past, Minister Noonan said: When did I say that? I think you dreamt that.

The Gouldavoher based candidate polled 7,294, almost 6,000 less than he got in the last election when he topped the poll.

He did not arrive to the count centre until 11.25am and immediately sat down with his team of supporters including Tim OConnor, Pat OBrien, Alan Kavanagh, Aileen Browne, Elenora Hogan, Dan OConnell, councillors Daniel Butler and Maria Byrne and others to discuss events of the day, saying he would talk to the media after the official count was announced.

Also joining him was his daughter Orla, who flew back from her job in a bank in Paris, to support her dad and stay closely by his side.

Prior to the election he had told those close to him that he felt Willie ODea would top the poll, but would have been surprised to have dropped so many votes, though he remained extremely strong in the Dooradoyle area where he is based.

Many of those closed to Michael Noonan were not surprised that he dropped his vote considerably from the 13,291 votes he received in the 2011 general election.

Life long friend Tim OConnor, one of the driving forces behind the resurgence of Na Piarsaigh GAA club, went canvassing with the Michael Noonan team every day.

We said all the time with two Fine Gael candidates we were going to split the vote. It worked out fairly well, but the vote did drop, he said.

He did not think that Michael Noonans health problems or his age were a factor in the vote loss.

It is just that the Fianna Fail vote lent to us in the last election went home, he said.

I was with him every day. He got a great reception. Only that we ran such a strong campaign, the way the results had gone, it could have been more serious for us, he added.

He said that as a high profile candidate and Minister for Finance, Mr Noonan had to travel a lot to Dublin for media briefings.

That did effect our canvass, but having said that it was not a factor on the doorstep, people were not looking for him on the doorsteps, they understood the situation.

Former director of elections for Fine Gael, retired accountant, Aidan Hurley from Ballykeefe, has also been campaigning with Michael Noonan for over 20 years, and also felt Willie ODea had the upperhand, as a lone candidate.

No great surprise there. Willie ODea was always going to top the poll as he was running on his own. I was out canvassing with Michael and he got a great reception on the doorsteps. Look at the vote he got at St Pauls, Dooradoyle and St Nessans Mungret, well over a hundred votes in all the boxes, he said.

He had to go to Dublin a lot for media, but I think the thing that affected him most in the build up to the election was the death of his brother  Fr Jim Noonan. They had become very close since he returned to Ireland and his death really hit him, added Mr Hurley.
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[mehr] Neuer Corona-Mitarbeiterschutz - digitaler Abstandshalter Auch nach den Lockerungen beeinflusst die Corona-Pandemie die Weltwirtschaft tiefgreifend. Die Betriebe sollen wieder sicher anlaufen. Die Schlusselrolle spielen dabei die Einhaltung der Hygieneregeln und des Mindestabstands fur Mitarbeitende. Auch nach den Lockerungen beeinflusst die Corona-Pandemie die Weltwirtschaft tiefgreifend. Die Betriebe sollen wieder sicher anlaufen. Die Schlusselrolle spielen dabei die Einhaltung der Hygieneregeln und des Mindestabstands fur Mitarbeitende. Dazu

Pressemitteilung: HUP aktiviert neuen Geschaftsbereich ready2boxx my-buddy-app  die HUP Reminder App. Schutzt vor Verlust des iPhones. Mit den ersehnten Lockerungsmanahmen rund um die Coronavirus-Pandemie steigt ein ganz anderes Risiko: der Verlust des iPhones auf Geschaftsreise, beim Einkauf oder etwa dem Besuch von Oma und Opa. Einfach, weil man das mittlerweile nahezu unverzichtbare Device schlicht und einfach liegen lasst. Das Braunschweiger Software-Entwicklungsunternehmen HUP hat fur Apple

[mehr] my-buddy-app  die HUP Reminder App. Schutzt vor Verlust des iPhones. Mit den ersehnten Lockerungsmanahmen rund um die Coronavirus-Pandemie steigt ein ganz anderes Risiko: der Verlust des iPhones auf Geschaftsreise, beim Einkauf oder etwa dem Besuch von Oma und Opa. Einfach, weil man das mittlerweile nahezu unverzichtbare Device schlicht und einfach liegen lasst. Das Braunschweiger Software-Entwicklungsunternehmen HUP hat fur Apple

Pressemitteilung: Das Lernen, wie wir es kennen, andert sich immer mehr. Online ist die neue Ara der Weiterbildung, die Freude macht und die viel leichter in den eigenen Lebens-Zyklus integrierbar ist! Ayurveda-Seminare und Ayurveda-Ausbildungen fordern ein gesundes Leben und geben viel Sinn-Erfullung. Viele Menschen sind wissbegieriger geworden und wollen ihr volles Potenzial durch Bewusstseinsveranderungen ausschopfen. Durch die digitale Welt ist es einfacher und schneller denn je geworden an Informationen zu kommen. Ich stelle

[mehr] Online ist die neue Ara der Weiterbildung, die Freude macht und die viel leichter in den eigenen Lebens-Zyklus integrierbar ist! Ayurveda-Seminare und Ayurveda-Ausbildungen fordern ein gesundes Leben und geben viel Sinn-Erfullung. Viele Menschen sind wissbegieriger geworden und wollen ihr volles Potenzial durch Bewusstseinsveranderungen ausschopfen. Durch die digitale Welt ist es einfacher und schneller denn je geworden an Informationen zu kommen. Ich stelle

Pressemitteilung:

[mehr] Gasnetz Hamburg pruft monatlich 1.200 Hausanschlusse  Arbeiten unter umfassenden Schutzmanahmen  Haushalte erhalten detaillierte Informationen zum Corona-Schutz  Sichere Gasanschlusse stehen im Mittelpunkt Hamburg. Ab sofort klingelt an vielen Hamburger Hausturen wieder der Gasanlagen-Prufer. Die turnusgemae Inspektion der Anschlusse in Kellern oder Wirtschaftsraumen von Ein- und Mehrfamilienhausern ist alle zwolf Jahre vorgeschrieben. Seit Marz hatte Gasnetz Hamburg die Hausbesuche unterbrochen. Nun schickt das Unternehmen wieder seine Fachleute zu den Anschlusskunden

Pressemitteilung: Wie COVID-19 unsere Kommunikation verandert Sprachexpertin Tatjana Lackner von Die Schule des Sprechens analysiert, wie sich das Kommunikationsverhalten in der COVID-19-Zeit verandert und welche Kommunikations-Trends daraus entstehen. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/EuP2VeRtjsdPpxlLUzBimIsB-GcG-m5aFr4de0hEQ_WCPw?e=s2GwN1 Wien (LCG)  Die Manahmen zur Eindammung der COVID-19-Verbreitung verandern durch Physical Distancing und zahlreiche neue Verhaltensregeln den personlichen Umgang miteinander. Korpersprache, Social Codes und Rituale bekommen eine wichtig Bedeutung in der neuen

[mehr] Sprachexpertin Tatjana Lackner von Die Schule des Sprechens analysiert, wie sich das Kommunikationsverhalten in der COVID-19-Zeit verandert und welche Kommunikations-Trends daraus entstehen. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/EuP2VeRtjsdPpxlLUzBimIsB-GcG-m5aFr4de0hEQ_WCPw?e=s2GwN1 Wien (LCG)  Die Manahmen zur Eindammung der COVID-19-Verbreitung verandern durch Physical Distancing und zahlreiche neue Verhaltensregeln den personlichen Umgang miteinander. Korpersprache, Social Codes und Rituale bekommen eine wichtig Bedeutung in der neuen

Pressemitteilung: Facebook diskutiert Strategie in der COVID-19-Pandemie Beim Moving Forward-Round-Table sprechen Facebook-Manager uber die Zusammenarbeit mit der WHO, die Intensivnutzung in Italien und andere Strategien gegen Falschmeldungen. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank:  JMC https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/EsGAMdDUM2lNt4Jo2RfF_R4BhwzfZ8LXK305xeAAjGcAdw?e=EyC94A Video zur Meldung auf Facebook https://www.facebook.com/movingforwardconference/videos/973105823109354 Dublin/Wien (LCG)  Die Verbreitungsgeschwindigkeit der sozialen Medien war in den letzten Wochen essenziell, um Informationen zu COVID-19 zu streuen. Auch Fake News fanden in diesem Umfeld einen fruchtbaren

[mehr] Beim Moving Forward-Round-Table sprechen Facebook-Manager uber die Zusammenarbeit mit der WHO, die Intensivnutzung in Italien und andere Strategien gegen Falschmeldungen. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank:  JMC https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/EsGAMdDUM2lNt4Jo2RfF_R4BhwzfZ8LXK305xeAAjGcAdw?e=EyC94A Video zur Meldung auf Facebook https://www.facebook.com/movingforwardconference/videos/973105823109354 Dublin/Wien (LCG)  Die Verbreitungsgeschwindigkeit der sozialen Medien war in den letzten Wochen essenziell, um Informationen zu COVID-19 zu streuen. Auch Fake News fanden in diesem Umfeld einen fruchtbaren

Pressemitteilung: Musikfestival Steyr: Kulturgenuss trotz Pandemie Als kultureller Impulsgeber fur die Region ermoglicht das Musikfestival Steyr auch heuer Kulturgenuss und wartet mit einem neuen Programm auf. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/EnbiYHVH3KNOg_ZakCqco3wBz529TPFExmEgRThtSEHHQA?e=fAzk1G Steyr (LCG)  In den vergangenen Wochen und Monaten haben die Manahmen der osterreichischen Bundesregierung zur Eindammung der COVID-19-Verbreitung die Kulturnation Osterreich in einen regelrechten Stillstand versetzt. Seit Anfang Mai 2020 setzt die neue Normalitat

[mehr] Als kultureller Impulsgeber fur die Region ermoglicht das Musikfestival Steyr auch heuer Kulturgenuss und wartet mit einem neuen Programm auf. Bilder zur Meldung in der Mediendatenbank https://leisure-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/office_leisure_at/EnbiYHVH3KNOg_ZakCqco3wBz529TPFExmEgRThtSEHHQA?e=fAzk1G Steyr (LCG)  In den vergangenen Wochen und Monaten haben die Manahmen der osterreichischen Bundesregierung zur Eindammung der COVID-19-Verbreitung die Kulturnation Osterreich in einen regelrechten Stillstand versetzt. Seit Anfang Mai 2020 setzt die neue Normalitat

Pressemitteilung: OstseeResort Olpenitz bei Kappeln/ Schlei Private Vermietung von ausgefallenen Ferienobjekten an der Ostsee - "Nie mitten drin, aber immer ganz nah dran!" ist hierbei die Devise. Auch wenn die Corona-Pandemie Urlaub und Ferienvermietung weltweit lahm gelegt hat  das Leben im OstseeResort Olpenitz ist trotzdem weitergegangen, und Ferienobjekte in diesem neuen Ferienresort bei Kappeln/ Schlei verkaufen sich weiterhin gut. Oder aber jetzt erst Recht? Das

[mehr] Private Vermietung von ausgefallenen Ferienobjekten an der Ostsee - "Nie mitten drin, aber immer ganz nah dran!" ist hierbei die Devise. Auch wenn die Corona-Pandemie Urlaub und Ferienvermietung weltweit lahm gelegt hat  das Leben im OstseeResort Olpenitz ist trotzdem weitergegangen, und Ferienobjekte in diesem neuen Ferienresort bei Kappeln/ Schlei verkaufen sich weiterhin gut. Oder aber jetzt erst Recht? Das

Pressemitteilung: Gut vernetzt: Ceresana-Report zum Markt fur Kunststoff-Rohre Die Nachfrage nach Kunststoffrohren steigt in vielen europaischen Landern. Besonders in Ballungsraumen werden derzeit neue Wohnungen gebaut. Allerdings boomt die Bauwirtschaft nicht uberall: Ausgelastete Kapazitaten, steigende Preise, Fachkraftemangel, fehlendes Bauland und zunehmende wirtschaftliche Unsicherheit bremsen die Dynamik. Dabei konnen sich Hochbau, Tiefbau und Infrastrukturbau sehr unterschiedlich entwickeln: Die verschiedenen Bausegmente sind in hohem Mae von den offentlichen Investitionen im jeweiligen

[mehr] Die Nachfrage nach Kunststoffrohren steigt in vielen europaischen Landern. Besonders in Ballungsraumen werden derzeit neue Wohnungen gebaut. Allerdings boomt die Bauwirtschaft nicht uberall: Ausgelastete Kapazitaten, steigende Preise, Fachkraftemangel, fehlendes Bauland und zunehmende wirtschaftliche Unsicherheit bremsen die Dynamik. Dabei konnen sich Hochbau, Tiefbau und Infrastrukturbau sehr unterschiedlich entwickeln: Die verschiedenen Bausegmente sind in hohem Mae von den offentlichen Investitionen im jeweiligen
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BOMA is your guide to the impact of politics on commercial real estate. Advocacy is at the heart of BOMA San Francisco's mission. We act on legislative and regulatory measures to enhance and protect the value of commercial real estate. Visit BOMA at www.bomasf.org
Lessons in risk How do parent-entrepreneurs end up hardwiring their children when they risk a start-up and trade comfort for curiosity? /news/talking-point/lessons-in-risk-111651815574269.html 111651815574269 story

The language of the start-up universe is dominated by the lingo of youth. The imagery of brash, ambitious young graduates spinning off successful Internet ventures and becoming billionaires before turning 30 is the poster image of modern entrepreneurship.

That risk, entrepreneurship and smart ideas are the preserve of the young is a romantic ideabut it isnt entirely true.

In Education And Tech Entrepreneurship, a 2009 study published by The Kauffman Foundation, a not-for-profit that works on entrepreneurship issues, academic and researcher Vivek Wadhwa found that the average age of US-born technology founders when they started their companies was 39. In a follow-up study, on 549 successful technology ventures in Silicon Valley, Wadhwa found twice as many successful entrepreneurs over 50 as under 25. The vast majority75%have more than six years of industry experience and half have more than 10 years experience when they create their start-up, Wadhwa wrote in an article for The Wall Street Journal in 2013. The Kauffman Foundation called entrepreneurship the new mid-life crisis", spurred by longer, healthier lives and changes in job markets.

We dont have similar data for India, but there is definitely a growing trend of mid-career entrepreneurs, those who have spent a decade (often more) in corporate firms, created a financial safety net for their families, and have the networks, managerial experience and business skills to venture forth. Several of them are also parents, often of children in their early teens. How do these parent-entrepreneurs end up hardwiring their children when they risk a start-up and trade comfort for curiosity?

Kaavya Gupta, 24, founder of Alterbeat, a listing platform for creative jobs and non-traditional opportunities, was 16 when her father, Vikas Gupta, made some big career shifts. He gave up his senior marketing position in Coca-Cola (India) to work briefly at an Indian media group, and then co-founded a niche media company, 9.9 Media, with four others in 2007.

Kaavya, who left her corporate job with Godrej Natures Basket a few months ago, says hearing her fathers entrepreneurial experiences since 2007 was like an MBA 101. It trains you because you begin to understand the hardships that can come up as well as what successes feel like."

Her parents had planned their finances well, so Kaavya at 16 didnt quite understand the financial risk her father took then. What she does remember is that he seemed happier, more excited to go to work and, contrary to the myth of the crazed entrepreneur who has no time for family, was able to prioritize his time better. Today, as someone starting an Internet venture, her context is quite different from her fathers, who become an entrepreneur at 44, with a family and two teenage children to support. I think the impression that it definitely did leave for her was that life wasnt about following a safe path; that it was okay to take a chance," says Vikas.

Another entrepreneur, whose father quit his government job for entrepreneurship at the age of 44, remembers that for the first seven years, they stopped taking holidays, and the monetary benefits of becoming a businessman" seemed limited. The company his father founded has survived, and it has given this entrepreneur the confidence to tackle the low phases in business. The entrepreneur did not want to be named.

The experience can teach lessons of restraint as well, says Ashutosh Garg, founder of Guardian Lifecare, a health, wellness and beauty retail chain. Garg was 46 when he quit as the chief executive officer of Spaceway Asia, the satellite business of Hughes Software System, to set up Guardian. He has faced several ups and downs, including a volatile working relationship with his private equity investors, Samara Capital.

His two teenage sons went abroad to study within a week of his starting Guardian in 2003, and now work in large multinational firms overseas. His journey, he said, had so far kept his sons from being swayed by the glamour of entrepreneurship. On their visits home, they have seen me go through all the troubles so they dont romanticize entrepreneurship. If they do end up being founders, I would imagine they would be better educated about the realities," he says.

Every fortnight, Surviving Start-ups focuses on the stories of the people (parents, siblings, spouses and friends) who make up an entrepreneurs world.
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.
Untouched by humans

(Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)

The Vermilion Cliffs of southern Utah and northern Arizona are one of the more isolated and undisturbed regions of the Colorado Plateau.

These cliffs make up the "second step" of the so-called Grand Staircase of the Colorado Plateau  a geological treasure that preserves more history than anywhere else on the planet. Let's take a journey through the gorgeous cliffs carved out by Mother Nature.

A rough wilderness

(Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)

The Vermilion Cliffs extend west from Paige, Arizona, and they are part of a classic high desert region of spectacular beauty and rugged wilderness. This arid region varies in elevation from 3,100 feet (945 meters) to 7,300 feet (2,225 m).

Not made for the weak

(Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)

The weather across the Vermilion Cliffs region ranges from 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 degrees Celsius) in the summer to freezing and snow-covered mountaintops in the winter. Only the most rugged of flora and fauna are naturally found in this vast, inhospitable region.

Danger lurks

(Image credit: BLM)

Flash flooding in many of the regions slot canyons are caused by violent summer thunderstorms and are a potential danger for any hikers who might be exploring the narrow canyon crevasses.

Ancient splendor

(Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)

The reddish or "vermilion" cliffs that make up this region are composed of layers of silt laid down by the ancient seas that covered this Colorado Plateau some 165 million to 200 million years ago. Colored red by iron oxide and bluish by manganese, the layers of silt and ancient desert sand dunes were cemented together over time by the penetration of carbonates.

History was made

(Image credit: Linda Buscher)

The Colorado River cuts through the Colorado Plateau and the southern border of the Vermilion Cliffs to form what is known today as Marble Canyon. In 1873, Mormon leader John D. Lee established the historic Lees Ferry a short distance from Marble Canyon. This is the only place for hundreds of miles where early Mormon settlers could cross the mighty Colorado River from both the east and west sides.

Taking care of nature

(Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)

This region is also the site of one of the most successful reintroductions into the wild of an endangered species. In 1996, six captive-bred young California Condors were released back into the wild in the Vermilion Cliffs. This was the first time since 1924 that these majestic birds could be seen once again flying over the Grand Canyon.

Succesful breeding grounds

(Image credit: Linda Buscher)

Today, more than 70 condors soar above the Vermilion Cliffs region of Utah and Arizona. At least seven of those birds are wild-bred condors that have been successfully raised in nesting caves found within the Vermilion Cliffs and along the Colorado River.

Home to rare creatures

(Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)

Regions of the Vermilion Cliffs are covered with green, grassy valleys and meadows, making an ideal habitat for desert bighorn sheep, deer, elks and pronghorn (Antilocapra americana). The pronghorn's scientific name translates to "American antelope goat," but these inhabitants of the Vermilion Cliffs are neither antelope nor goat. In fact, they are the only surviving member of the ancient hoofed mammal family Antilocapridae (order Artiodactyla) dating back some 20 million years.

Protected in perpetuity

(Image credit: Linda & Dr. Dick Buscher)

In 2000, the Vermilion Cliffs National Monument was established by presidential proclamation, forever protecting 280,000 unspoiled acres (1,130 square kilometers) of geological treasures. This national monument is overseen by the Bureau of Land Management and includes the spectacular Paria Canyon-Vermilion Cliffs Wilderness area.

Geological wonders

(Image credit: BLM)

Three areas of this national monument are best known for their spectacular geological beauty: The Wave in Coyote Buttes (North), the Cottonwood Cove and the Teepees in Coyote Buttes (South) and the White Pocket region are all special destinations for both hikers and photographers. Shown here is the region known as Coyote Butte.
When followers of Catarino Erasmo Garza left the peace and quiet of Palito Blanco region in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, near Reynosa, in the summer of 1891, the mission was to travel up the Rio Grande to organize anti-Diaz groups to finalize plans for an invasion of Mexico.

Two of Catarinos primary stops would be Laredo and Eagle Pass, because the two border communities would facilitate easier and quicker transportation to the Gulf Coast (Corpus Christi) and Mexican-American population centers in Texas (San Antonio, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth) and neighboring states to the north (Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri) and the southeast beyond the Mississippi (Louisianan, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia).

The Garzistas leaders considered Laredo and the upriver areas supportive sectors from where they could rally support from the Southwest and Plains states to push their anti-Diaz government movements to be conducive to revolts on the border and invasions.

The Garzistas leadership had been nurturing regional support from anti-Diaz sympathizers who would provide money, weapons, as well as effective sanctuary from Mexico and U.S. law enforcement.

The Garzistas had information from revolutionary interests in the Laredo-Eagle Pass region to direct the anti-Diaz groups to low water crossing sites on the river to facilitate crossings to and from the other side.

They figured they could be more effective and successful in the middle Rio Grande border sectors than the earlier experiences in the lower Rio Grande (the Valley).

Garza and his followers, nevertheless, were cognizant of the dangers that posed the Porfiriatos spy network in the Valley that was well entrenched with local law enforcement in the downriver Valley counties, principally in Cameron, Hidalgo and Duval.

The toughest dangers, according to eyewitness, U.S. news reports and consular sources were on the Mexican side, where cross-border uprisings were just as frequent as on the Texas side.

On this side, the U.S. military and Texas Rangers were just as heavy-handed as the Mexican military.

The battles flared through the 1892-1893 about the time Catarino Garza headed up river with the rebellion in full swing with armed men continuing to camp out in the chaparral of South Texas, historian Elliott Young wrote (Catarino Garzas Rebellion on the on the Texas-Mexican Border, 2004).

On the long journey down to the border, Catarino Garza met up with some of his fellow revolutionaries, and by the time they reached La Grulla, a small town on the Rio Grande, there were between 16 and 40 of them in the party. Although they borrowed arms, horses and saddles from ranchers they passed, Alejandro Gonzalez, Catarinos father-in-law, provided most of the horses, food and other material.

Reports indicated that Gonzalez had accumulated substantial wealth from an insurance business and agribusiness, and admittedly had hopes that revolutionaries led by Garza would succeed with the anti-Diaz rebellions.

By the time Garza and his followers crossed the river near Camargo, the group numbered around 100.

On Mexicos Independence Day, 16 of September, as they waded to the other side, they were by two Aduana (Mexico Customs) armed guards.

The guards mistook the bunch as bandidos and pulled their guns.

At the sound of gunfire, the Garza volunteers scattered and most managed to get back to the Texas side.

They traveled for miles, rejoining a backup bunch, some 30 miles outside of Camargo.

The head count was near 100. As they planned another excursion, they noticed Mexican Army soldiers moving in far greater numbers on the other side.

They were hunting for the Garzistas while commanded by a general named Lorenzo Garcia of Camargo.

Garcia had a reputation as a bad hombre, with Diaz orders to execute anyone suspected of being part of the Gazistas supporters of the proclamation to get rid of the Diaz government.

The orders became a Porfiriato policy that in time backfired when the executions often involved Garza allies who were Mexican Americans and U.S. citizens.

Reports reached the U.S. consulates in Brownsville and Laredo that among the early captures were two U.S. citizens, Jose Angel Vera and Juan Bazan, identified as ranch hands at the Guardado de Arriba Ranch.

Correspondents reports reaching the Laredo Daily Times told of families hiring boat owners to cross them to the U.S. side to avoid getting detained by Mexican soldiers out of fear that they would be killed.

The situation caused the governor, Bernardo Reyes, prompted by the Vera and Bazan killings, cautioned the Mexican troops commanding colonel, Luis Ceron, not to execute U.S. citizens to avoid problems with U.S. authorities.

That was way before anyone gave any thought to the Good Neighbor Policy and the creation of the IGNC (International Good Neighbor Council).

(Odie Arambula is at oarambula@stx.rr.com)
After months of waiting, Austins Migrant Kids have finally revealed the locally-shot and produced music video for single, Thread, to the world.

Made up of John Zakoor, Bryan OFlynn and Miguel Ojeda, Migrant Kids are three-piece group that specialize in what they self-identify as psychedelic jungle rock. The genre takes snippets of pop, rock and psychedelia and layers them with a riff-heavy guitar and synths that are rich and out of this world. The band has won accolades for their sound, being awarded Austin Chronicles Best New Artist award in 2015.

The video was first premiered in person when the band showed it off during their performance at Old No. 2 in October of last year. The video, however, was not available for public viewing until music blog Consequence of Sound premiered it on their website earlier this week. It has gained traction, even being picked up by USA Todays FTW blog as one of their top 10 songs of the week.

The video was not only shot on location in downtown Laredo - with San Agustin Plaza playing a prominent part of the video - but was also produced by local media collective SledgeTV. SledgeTV has gained buzz in recent years producing professional videos of musicians performing in the different locales around town.

The list of artists previously featured in SledgeTV productions is a veritable list of whos who in Laredos music scene, with bands including Santo Vicio, Automatic Weekend, La Mata, Archer Crab and Jewels in Sky. A music video for Stella Lost is also reportedly on the way from the group, showing that the media collective shows no signs of stopping their production efforts in the coming months

The video recorded for Thread is designed to spur nostalgia, with VHS-esque special effects and an opening title card reminiscent of the new wave trend popular in the 80s. Laredo is almost like a character in the recording, with the band walking by the downtown shops and locals transfixed by the bands performance - including even LPD officers - featured throughout the videos runtime.

It was beautiful. It was historic. There are lots of opportunities ... in Laredo. Migrant Kids guitarist Miguel Ojeda said in a previous Que Pasa? interview. Even in Austin, to get a permit for filming in a public space would be a pain. Its cool that in Laredo we can just do it without jumping through any hoops.

With the release of the music video, the band also revealed that a new EP, named Primordial Soup, will be released on May 13th on Pure Joy Records.
Everyone is heartbroken without her.

These were the words of the mother of the late Lisa Cullen during her victim impact statement at Longford Circuit Court last week.

Roseanne Cullen read her statement directly to the court during the hearing of Robert Waillant, Annaville, Dublin Road, Longford who appeared before Judge Keenan Johnson pleading guilty to careless driving causing the death of 29-year-old Lisa at Curry, Longford on February 5, 2014.

The court heard that Lisa was from a family of three siblings and was a popular and much-loved girl.

Her untimely death, the court was told, left a huge void in the lives of her mother and father, two brothers, extended family and her many friends.

It is hard to put into words how profoundly this has affected my life; the pain and despair that we as parents feel over Lisas death, Ms Cullen continued.

Lisae had a heart of gold and would light up a room with her beautiful smile and laughter.

She loved life, family, extended family and her close friends, and the pain in my heart will be with me forever.

The court then heard about the physical and mental impact Lisas death had on her mother.

I am exhausted since she died, a clearly emotional Ms Cullen went on to say.

Lisa was a loving, gentle and caring child; she went to college and graduated with an honours degree in Business and she was enjoying life, and delighted to have 9-5 job at the Credit Union in Ballymahon.

Ms Cullen said that she and her daughter had remained close throughout Lisas life and had a lot in common.

This, she added, was no more evident than in their shared love for Irish dancing.

Lisa was a dancing teacher herself, having trained through the Stanley Carroll School of Dancing and was planning to take her adjudicator exams when she turned 30 years old.

This never happened because Lisa died within a few months of her milestone birthday.

I was with her through the trials and tribulations and she was planning to do her adjudicator exams when she turned 30, Lisas mother continued.

She never got to celebrate her 30th birthday or do those exams - Robert Waillant extinguished Lisas life and all her hopes and dreams.

The late Lisa Cullen was then described as a beautiful, energetic and bubbly girl.

My heart was completely and utterly broken upon hearing of Lisas death, said Ms Cullen, before pointing out that the anguish and pain she suffered having to stand behind her daughters coffin was unbearable.

I was Lisas mother for 29 years and she was my only daughter.

The thoughts of never seeing her married, holding her children or seeing that smile on her face causes me severe anguish and I go to bed at night thinking about her with a heavy heart.

The mother-of-three went on to say that since her daughters death just over two years ago she has become emotional, tearful and unsociable.

I have trouble finding joy in the simple pleasures of life, she cried.

Lisa was a good, caring, honest and respectful person in life and I hope her death will not be in vain.

She did not deserve to have her life cut short and we as a family have to endure a life sentence since the day she died.

Meanwhile, Lisas father, John also read his victim impact statement to the court.

What hurts Mr Cullen most is the fact that he will never get to walk his beautiful daughter down the aisle or see her smile again, the court heard.

Lisa was our only daughter and she was special, he said, before adding that at the age of four she won the Longford Leader Search for a Star competition for Irish dancing.

She went on to become passionate about dancing, winning many accolades and then becoming a dancing teacher herself.

The court then heard how caring and compassionate Lisa was.

Even with her busy lifestyle, Lisa still made time for me and if I was looking scruffy or shabby, she would let me know, smiled Mr Cullen.

I still expect her to walk through the door at any time.

I will never get the chance to walk her down the aisle and there will be no more Christmas or birthday presents, he added.

We miss her every day; her love and passion was infectious and her smile would light up the darkest room.

All the family are devastated by Lisas death and I want to thank all the people who spent the time with Lisa in her final moments.

To the man who held her hand and Colette the Garda Liaison Officer - thank you.

For those that knew Lisa, please never forget her.

Judge Johnson then offered the profound and deepest sympathy of the court to the Cullen family and indicated that he would give a verdict in the case on Wednesday, February 24, at Portlaoise Circuit Court.

Forty eight-year-old Robert Waillant was subsequently convicted of careless driving causing the death of Lisa Cullen and was handed down a one-year prison sentence, suspended for three years, and was banned from driving for 15 years.

Judge Johnson said he was satisfied Mr Waillant was not as culpable as other parties who had appeared before the court during the case, and he recommended a further review of the case to explore the possibility of further prosecutions.
Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com

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Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Toward India-US Military Alliance?

by Dwijen Bose

The BJP leaders from Prime Minister down-wards are unsparing in their criticism of the Congress. But paradoxically the NDA Govern-ment is following almost all the major policies of the UPA Government, including its economic policy of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation and its foreign policy of widening and deepening Indias strategic partnership` with the United States. Recently some reports have appeared in the foreign press that the NDA is engaged in (unannounced) parleys with Washington on a military Logistics Support Agreement (LSA). If this agreement is finally reached, all the major Indian seaports and airports will come under the absolute control of the Americans. What is intriguing is that the Modi Government has not contradicted these reports. This lends credence to the veracity of what has been reported.

The proposal of an LSA is not new. It has been there for quite some time. For instance, a paper by Saroj Bishoyi titled Logistics Support Agreemen: A Closer Look at the Impact on Indo-US Strategic Relationship and published in the Journal of Defence Studies (organ of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses) as far back as 2013, deals with the LSA in extenso. It says, inter alia, that:

The crux of the defence cooperation is related to defence procurements, transfer of dual-use technologies, research and development, and Indias defence industrialisation. The two countries now talk about collaborating on multi-national operations and strengthening the ability of their armed forces to respond quickly to disaster situations by mitigating logistics shortfalls. The US even looks towards building a long-term strategic partnership with India to support its ability to counter the emerging security threats and to develop procedures for facilitating cooperation infuture contingencies. However, such practical cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries and their ability to perform effectively get affected by the absence of proper logistics support arrangements. For removing such barriers and enabling practical cooperation, the US first proposed a Logistics Support Agreement (LSA), the India-specific version of the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA), at the sixth meeting of the India-US Defence Policy Group (DPG) in June 2004. The arrangement aimed at the exchange of logistics support, supplies, and services between the armed forces of the two countries on reciprocal basis. (Italics mine.D.B.)

What is adumbrated is, in fact, an India-US military alliance. Jawaharlal Nehru never agreed to such an alliance. Even in the wake of the humiliating military defeat at the hands of the Chinese in 1962, Pandit Nehru refused to go under a US umbrella which was proferred to him at that time and tenaciously stuck to his policy of non-alignment. He was critical of all military alliances like the NATO, MEDO, SEATO, ANZUS, etc. It may be recalled in this connexion that the Soviet Union entered into the Warsaw Pact with her Eastern European allies only as a response to the NATO which sought to encircle the Soviet Union.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, at the beginning of his tenure as a politician as the Finance Minister in Narasimha Raos Cabinet, first scrapped the Nehru-Mahalnobis paradigm of development in which both public and private sectors would co-exist side by side but it is the public sector which would occupy the comman-ding heights of the economy. Thirteen years down the line, as the Prime Minister of the UPA Government, he abandoned the policy of non-alignment and opted for the policy of strategic partnership with the USA, although India had become far stronger militarily in the last fifty years.

The proposed LSA is, without doubt, a part of the US policy to contain Chinaits rising military strength and domineering stance which aims eventually to surpass the USA as a military power and emerge as the world hegemon. It is with the express objective of containing China that India has held several joint naval exercises with the US, Japan and Australia in recent times. Also without doubt, Chinas hostility to India has been unrelenting in the past half-a-century. But that does not, per se, provide a rationale to Indias entering into a military alliance with the US which will compromise or abridge Indias sovereign rights and deny its right to make independent policy options in times of crisis. The LSA will also undoubtedly further antagonise Beijing. Clearly, the LSA or any such Indo-US alliance will be a one-way street: it will be used in the interest of the US. When US and Indian interests do not coincide, it is the US interests that will prevail and decide how the agreement is implemented.

India has been facing continual terrorist attacks, big and small, planned and carried out by Pakistan and its ISI behind the fig-leaf of non-State actors. This fact is quite well to known to the US. Still, Washington continues to keep military parity between India and Pakistan. It continues to give financial aid and supply military hardware to Pakistan on the specious plea of helping Islamabad in the global war on terrorism, knowing full well that such help will be used against India.

In fact one of the articles that has appeared in the foreign press says that the US wants to rope in Pakistan and Afghanistan as well so that it has complete control over this part of Asia not only vis-a-vis China but also Russia with which India has a long-standing relationship of mutual trust and cooperation. If signed, the LSA will enable the US to use Indian seaports and Army and Air Force airports for deployment and actual warfare. Indias growing proximity to the US is worrying Russia at a time when Washington is vigorously pursuing a policy of isolating Russia and imposing economic sanctions on it in the wake of the Ukraine dispute. This has driven Moscow closer to Beijing. It is a development that works against Indias overall strategic interests.

Two decisions taken by the Modi Government on assuming power in the field of defence were unexpected. One was to scale down the size of the Mountain Strike Corps which the UPA Government had decided to raise specifically to meet the growing Chinese threat in the North-East and to operate in Tibet if needed. The excuse the NDA offered was the high cost of its raisingRs 64,678 crores. Much work had already been completed by then. But halfway the project was all but abandoned. It was said the money needed would instead be spent on building aircraft carriers. How the strengthening of the Navy could be a substitute for what the Army desperately needed for land-fighting in the North-East was not explained.

The second unexpected decision was to go slow over the acquisition of 126 French Rafale Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA). The Rafale was selected by the IAF from among six alternatives it had including one offered by the USA. The fleet strength of the IAF had been reduced to a mere 24 squadrons against the sanctioned strength of 40 squadrons. The IAF desperately needed to phase out its old fighter aircraft to retain its air superiority over Pakistan and replenish its fleet strength. When the French Rafale was selected after extensive trials in preference to the US alternative, Washington was palpably unhappy.

It was said the high cost of the Rafale was delaying the completion of the acquisition process and negotiations were on with the French for a mutually acceptable price. During Prime Minister Modis visit to France in April last year, it was reported that for the present India would buy 36 Rafales in a fly-away condition in view of the critical operational requirements of the Indian Air Force. Co-production of the aircraft in India with the HAL was being discussed, but the French were not prepared to guarantee the performance of the aircraft built by the HAL. On the Indian side there were those who questioned the selection of the Rafale in the first instance.

When President Francois Hollande visited India during the Republic Day celebrations this January, there were press reports that the Rafale deal had not figured at all during Hollandes stay in India. Now the Rafale deal seems to be as good as dead because nothing has been heard either about the Rafale deal after this or about India seeking other sources for acquiring the required number of MMRCA the need for which is increasing by the moment.

The question of an India-US Logistics Support Agreement has re-surfaced at this time. If India is drawn into a comprehensive defence alliance with the US, with Washington having total and unconditional access to and control over our air and sea ports, it is quite likely that India will be asked to buy all its military hardware from the US or from close US allies like Israel.

What the country wants to know is whether the Indian defence policy is going to be dovetailed into the US defence policy and subordinated to it. If the USA were to be engaged in a war which was not in Indias interests, or one in which India did not want to get involved, would India be willy-nilly dragged into it? The hush-hush manner in which the LSA talks are being held raises all these uncomfortable questions. The Modi Government owes an answer to the people.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Acid Test for Mulayam / Wheres the Kashmir Policy?

From N.C.s Writings

Acid Test for Mulayam

Varanasi and Kanpur are the danger signals which Mulayam Singh Yadav can hardly afford to underplay. The significant impact that was made on the Indian political scene by his victory in the December elections along with his allies, ousting the BJP in office from the key State of Uttar Pradesh, would be grievously dissipated if his government is shown up as incompetent to govern.

The very character of the support that Mulayam Singhs Government has been able to muster tempts its adversaries to indulge in the toppling game. In reality, his majority is largely a negative get-together of those who want to keep the BJP out of power. Apart from this single-point objective, there is very little of common interest or common objecives that bind these parties together. Even Mulayams closest ally, Kanshi Ram, has been touring the country harping on the political importance of his own party, the Bahujan Samaj Party, instead of underlining the importance of the coalition as a whole.

The Congress having become so effete is no longer in a position to play a decisive role in the politics of UP. The Janata Dal is in a shambles as a political party since its leaders from V.P. Singh downward have throughout ignored the importance of building a party worth the name.

In this scenario, it is but natural for the BJP leadership to take every possible advantage to bring down the Mulayam Government. Caught within its own ranks by confusion and acute dissonance over the perspective before the party itselfthe moderate parliamentary line or the rowdy path of fanatic militancythere could not have been a better opportunity before the BJP leadership to take the maximum possible advantage of the Mulayam Governments discomfiture with the caste and communal tensions.

The ramshackle character of the Mualyam Government has also accelerated the tension that has been brewing between the Dalits and the aggressive elements among the Backward Classes, particularly the Kurmis and Yadavs. The conflict of interests between these two camps in the countryside in the Hindi belt can hardly be overlooked. At the same time, the expectations so long were that given the fact that Mulayam Singhs side could win the elections with the support of the underdogsthe Dalits, the Backwards and the Muslim minoritythat at least for sometime to come the rift between the Dalits and the Backwards could be patched up in their common interest to ward off the long-held domination of the upper castes. It is on this point, the Mulayam Government has to do a lot of severe self-introspection.

A ruling establishment so precariously placed has to summon its strength, capacity and wisdom to the utmost limit to ensure a stable and competent government. Mass support spontaneously welled up when the Ministry was formed as it was instantly identified as the champion of the underprivileged. But spont-aneity on its own can hardly sustain a Ministry. If in the election campaign the caste solidarity was effected in a common front against the upper-caste domination, the morrow of the victory saw the assertion of the more powerful among the backward-Dalit combine against the more vulnerable ones. That is how the Yadavs and the Kurmis have been flexing their muscles in UP as they have started persecuting the Dalits who on their part have ceased to be docile as before.

Here lies the real challenge for Mualyam Singh Yadav. He has to understand that it is not enough for him to have won the poll battle, more exacting is to conduct himself as the leader of the entire combine and not just of his own caste and kith and kin. This way alone can he not only weld together the disparate elements that support his government but enlist the respect and authority of the bureaucracy to ensure a stable and efficient administration. Bureaucracy by its very nature responds positively to a firm and stable political leadership; but when it finds the political leadership weak or venal, its attitude becomes nonchalant.

There is another dimension to the UP situation today. The issues at stake there are far-reachingnot just a question of the survival of a Ministry standing as a roadblock to the BJPs path to power. Nor is it just a question of the collapse of an elected government and the imposition of Presidents Rule. If the UP Government cannot sustain itself in power and goes down before the onrush of caste and communal violence, then this would spread like a prairie fire all over the region which is considered as the very heartland of the country. It needs to be noted, therefore, that the serious happenings in Uttar Pradesh today have a profound bearing on the fate of the country as a whole.

(Mainstream, February 19, 1994)

Wheres the Kashmir Policy?

What is the Kashmir policy of the Central Government? The Prime Minister warded off the attacks of his Pakistani counterpart twice abroad in the course of the last two weeksonce at Cartagena by challenging her with the official Indian position that Pakistan itself had been guilty of having occupied a part of the State of Jammu and Kashmir through aggression: and then at New York when participating in the golden jubilee celebrations of the UN, he did not respond to her at all by refusing to deal with any bilateral issue on such an occasion.

Returning home, neither of such postures can hold on the part of the Prime Minister. He has committed his government to the promise of an early election to the State Assembly and has more or less persuaded other political parties to comply with it. And the expected timing of the poll, to be finally settled by the Election Commission, is in the high snows of winter, anytime between mid-December and mid-January. While there is substantial misgiving in the public mind about the wisdom of holding any poll in the Kashmir Valley in the midst of the frankly unsettled situation with the Army operations against the armed militants still continuing, the question that faces all parties willing to participate in the election is: what is it that the Centre is prepared to concede for the settlement of the Kashmir crisis?

Nobody can deny that the alienation of the Kashmir people has gone so deep that there could be no end to the crisis without a measurable degree of concession on the part of the Centre. It is precisely on this point that there has so far been no response at all on the part of the government. In fact, in the Centres handling of the Kashmir crisis, there has been a streak of the cavalier which is both unwarranted and highly dangerous. For over a year, the Prime Minister took no notice of the ugly demonstration of disunity and petty squabbling between his Home Minister and his Minister of State in the same Ministry until they earned the dubious distinction of having washed their dirty linen on the international media, when the Cabinet Minister was saved by the Prime Minister who shunted off the junior to look after the portfolio of Environment. There were other reports of disagreements at the official level which cast their shadow in the handling of such crisis-points as the Hazratbal siege and the destruction of Charar-e-Sharief.

Finally, it was given out that the Prime Minister himself would look after Kashmir affairs. What this amounted to was that another Minister of State was entrusted with it without having been given any clear perspective about the quantum of autonomy that the government would be prepared to offer. Meanwhile, the preparations were announced for the elections.

The only important development to signify the Centres initiative was to permit the US Ambassador, Frank Wisner, to roam about and talk to the Hurriyat leaders and others in the Valley. It is understood that his assessment and advice have spurred the Centre to undertake the risky venture of holding the elections. It is also being given out that the government had been assured that the Pakistan authorities would be persuaded to hold back the militants activity to enable the elections to take place. Although nobody in New Delhi would like to give out who could possibly have given such an assurance, few have doubts that such an assurance could come possibly only from the US authorities. After the setback over the Hank-Brown resoution in the Capitol Hill, one wounders how much can the Prime Minister depend on US assurances.

For quite sometime, Dr Farooq Abdullah was insistent upon the government announcing the Kashmir package first before going in for the election, while the government position, as one could make out at that stage, was that only when an elected Ministry was formed in the State then alone could it discuss with it the question of reforms or the quantum of autonomy to be given to Kashmir. It almost became the chicken-and-egg dilemma. To any demand that the government should talk to the militant leaders, the official response was, how could one talk to so many of them, and even if one does with some of them, whats the guarantee that these militant groups and their leaders had any following among the people, and if so, who and how much?

In the recent talks that the Home Minister had with the leaders of the Opposition parties, there was no way of getting the government commit to any specific line of concession. The result has been that instead of struggling towards a common stand, the parties have fallen apart so widely that it would be practically impossible to bridge the gap later and thereby claim that to be the common Indian stand.

Meanwhile, Dr Farooq Abdullah has made it amply clear that in his considered view a settlement could be feasible only if the Government of India agreed to the position prevailing before 1953, that is, before the Delhi Accord was signed by his father. There is no comment, not to speak of commitment, on the part of the government whether it was prepared to consider Dr Farooqs suggestion. At the other end, the BJP has opposed this tooth and nail and has threatened to launch a campaign against any going back to the pre-1953 status for Kashmir. As it is well known, the BJP has been demanding the scrapping of Article 370 which is itself an offspring of the 1953 Delhi Accord. Where does the Congress stand in this polalrised situationwith Dr Farooqs pre-1953 or with the BJPs anti-370 position? There is really no way of evading the issue any longer. Dr Farooq Abdullahs stand takes into accound not only the changes that have been brought about since 1953, but also the change in the mood and consciousness of the people in the Valley. The BJP, on its part, is keeping up a forty-year old no-change stance, and proposes to budge not an inch from the position that the late Dr Shyama Prakash Mukherji has taken.

To a large measure, Dr Farooqs present stand is born out of the recognition of the existing ground reality in the Valley. If the alienation of the majority of the people is an undoubted realitywhich indeed is what the militancy in the Valley has so long thrived uponthen something substantially more than the 1953 accord needs to be conceded if a fresh initiative towards settlement is to succeed. Dr Farooq knows that without such a stand there could be no winning over the people of the Valley nor can the moderates among the militants be won over or neutralised.

Keeping up a sphinx-like posture on this crucial issue can fetch no dividends for the government. Rather, this way the Prime Ministers silence would create distrust even among those who have decided to take the risk of facing the poll battle under the most difficult conditions. And the public in general may very well come to the cynical conclusion that the Centre really has no Kashmir policy at allits only waiting for others to act so that it has only to react.

Is it then the fabled Laddoo of Delhithose who have eaten it shall come to grief as much as those who have not?

(Mainstream, November 4, 1995)
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Grave Threat to Rule of Law and Constitutional Democracy

by Vijay Kumar

The slapping of the charge of sedition under Section 124(A) of the IPC on Kanhaiya, the President of the JNU Students Union, has extremely grave implications for democracy, rule of law and constitutionalism. The foisting of the sedition charge followed by assault on Kanhaiya, his lawyers, including the panel of eminent senior lawyers deputed to inspect the situation by the Supreme Court, and the journalists including women scribes, when he was produced in the court, have a chilling effect on freedom of speech and expression, particularly the right to dissent, which is the core of the said right. The alarming situation is reminiscent of the pernicious binary of either you are with us or against us articulated by George Bush in the wake of the 2001 terror strikes on the US.

The events starting from liquidation of rationalists, dissenters, writers and culminating in the barbaric lynching of Ashfaq just outside the national Capital on the mere suspicion of having stored beef in his house, one had hoped, would be firmly behind us after the drubbing the BJP got in the Bihar elections. But that fond hope turned out to be completely misplaced. The slapping of the sedition charge on the President of the Students Union of Indias most prestigious university and he being assaulted in the campus of the court by a group of unruly lawyers owing allegiance to the BJP and RSS, and even the attack on mediapersons, including women journalists, and the team of distinguished senior lawyers sent to assess the situation at the direction of the Supreme Court underscores the prevailing frightening situation. When a group of lawyers start to take law in their own hands and indulge in assault, merely because their views are different, the rule of law is in danger of being completely annihilated, and the very foundation of constitutional democracy subverted. The comparison with the Emergency would be apt and the difference would lie in terms of degree rather than in kind.

The universities in the country are in ferment. The attempt to polarise the young minds has fateful implications for deliberative democracy. Here, the comparison with another era would be in order. When President Lyndon Johnson started the Vietnam war, the students all over the US protested. One of the students, who protested against the war, was Bill Clinton. When Bill Clinton was nominated for the presidential election in 1992 by the Democrats against Bush Sr., it was canvassed, rather aggressively, by the Republican Party that Clinton had opposed the Vietnam war. This aggressive campaign was rejected by a resounding verdict by the US electorate, who punished Bush Sr. for his misadventure in Iraq.

The word university is derived from universitas litterarum which means unity of knowledge. Multiple ideas and narratives ought to compete in the university campus so that public reason is engendered in the process. Slapping the charge of sedition against students lacks as much in proportion and reality as in legality and constitutionality.

Given the existence of democracy the freedom of speech and expression has critical relevance. The exceptions carved out in Article 19(2) of the Constitution do not include sedition. In fact, the constitutional validity of the draconian provision of Section 124(A) was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1962 in Kedarnath Singh versus State of Bihar, only after reading it down and making it subject to the condition that would entail incitement to violence. In Balwant Singhs case, the accused was charged with sedition because he raised the slogan Khalistan Zindabad at the time of assassination of Smt Indira Gandhi. The Supreme Court, again, held in as unequivocal terms as could be articulated that mere utterance without any overt act would not amount to committing the offence of sedition. However, in Kanhaiyas case, he did not utter anything which can even remotely have any nexus to incitement to violence. The result is a complete subversion of the right to freedom of speech and expression.

Unlike Article 1 of the American Constitution, Article 19(1)(a) does not guarantee the right to free speech and expression in absolute terms. But the Supreme Court, right from its inception in the Ramesh Thapar case (1950) till its latest judgement in Shreya Singhal (2015), interpreted Article 19(1)(a) broadly in tune with liberalism. Justice Rohinton Nariman, while striking down Section 66(A) of the Information and Technology Act, copiously referred to all the leading judgments of the US Supreme Court and emphasised on the critical significance of right to freedom of speech and expression in a constitutional democracy.

Professor Randhir Singh, the most committed and authentic Marxist scholar who passed away on January 31, 2016, in his original work of great importance, Reason, Revolution and Political Theory (1966), theorised that religion and nationalism were the two most regressive forces for social democracy. The nationalism espoused by the BJP and its master, the RSS, is extremely narrow, jingoistic and firmly anchored in the hideous doctrine of majoritarianism with religious overtones a la the demonic doctrine of Nazism and rise of Hitler. Aggressive nationalism, historically speaking, has been the cloak for any authoritarian dispensation. Therefore, narrow and militant nationalism would only pave the way for the emergence of authoritarianism grounded in majoritarianism.

Professor John Rawls in his monumental work of great significance, Theory of Justice (1971), conceptualised the concept of public reason. This was entrenched further by Professor Amartya Sen in his seminal work of equal importance, Idea of Justice (2009). For production of public reasoning, there has to be a robust culture of freedom of speech and expression. The production of public reason through a liberating and pluralistic discourse is extremely critical for the health of democracy.

The chauvinist and belligerent conception of nationalism espoused by the RSS forecloses the imperative of dialogue. The concept of nationalism carries within it multiple conceptions and narratives. Prof Amartya Sen in Idea of Justice (2009) emphasised that implicit in the very exercise of an engaging production of public reasoning entails supplementation of local knowledge with global knowledge and there is no harm whatsoever in looking to the wisdom of judges from abroad. Prof Sen continued by asserting that In the present globalised world also characterised by alarming rise in identity based policies and cultural relativism, the overreaching significance of cross-fertilization of local knowledge with the global knowledge cannot be over-stated. Even justice-enhancing changes of reforms demand comparative assessment and The requirement of producing public reasoning also warrants that justice should go beyond the boundary of state or a region, and these are based respectively on the relevance of other peoples interests for the sake of avoiding bias and being fair to others, and on the pertinence of other peoples perspective to broaden our own investigation of relevant principles, for the sake of avoiding under-scrutinised parochialism of values and presumptions in the local community. In a similar vein, Prof Hans Kochler, one of the most respected professors of international law and philosophy and the founder of the International Progression Association (IPA), has been passionately advocating for an inter-cultural dialogue to be carried out on the twin concepts of mutual respect and toleration.

John Rawls termed the Second World War as a just war and justified it on the ground of the value of political liberalism and constitutional democracy in his last book, The Law of Peoples (Harvard University Press2001). Rawls also justified the Second World War on the following grounds: First, Nazism portended incalculable moral and political evil for civilised life everywhere. Second, the nature and history of constitutional democracy and its place in European history were at stake.

Hitler came to power through the majority route and used the majoritarian impulse to establish fascism. The evil nature of fascism could be graphically captured in Rawls own language:

Not to be overlooked is the fact that Hitlers demonic conception of the world was, in some perverse sense, religious. This is evident from its derivation and its leading ideas and hatreds. His redemptive anti-semitism, as Saul Friedlander calls it, is one which includes not merely racial elements. Redemptive anti-semitism, Friedlander writes, is born from the fear of racial degeneration and the religious belief in redemption.

It is only after the defeat of Hitler that realisation dawned that the majority route to democracy could not be safe and reliable and over-reliance on the brute force of majoritaria-nism had a structural linkage with the repulsive doctrine of fascism. The tyrannical majority or majoritarian tyranny ceased to be an oxymoron expression, and became a hideous realty. It is the fascism established through the majoritarian route that proved to be a catharsis for the evolution of constitutionalism. Once again, the project of constitutional democracy, envisioned and built so assiduously by our founding fathers, is in distinct danger of being subverted through aggressive nationalism anchored in majoritarianism.

The author is an Advocate, Supreme Court of India.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > JNU: What is at Stake?

by Shruti Jain

A mother, also a student of the JNU, was carrying her daughter on her back, straining to listen to a teacher over thousands of other students and teachers gathered on Saturday evening at the JNU administrative block. She had to strain to hear, as mikes were not allowed by the administration. The child was making mischief and the mother gently rebuked her in satire stop being anti-national. Her remark for me aptly captures the distorted picture and travesty that certain media and the government authorities have made nationalism to be, in the context of the JNU incidents. Gathering there in large numbers, peacefully in solidarity, was our way to counter the atmosphere of threat and injustice that everyone inside the JNU was feeling due to the turn of events of the last few days. Sunday saw a three kilometre-long human chain wherein people came from different institutions to defend a space of free thinking and that by no means was against India. The chain was asked to limit itself to the pavement. We wondered how insecure are our nationalism and our government to unleash such threats against students?

The new VC came to the JNU in the last week of January. Many of us students have not even seen him still. So we wonder if he has got time to properly acquaint himself with the JNU culture. He gave permission to the police to enter any hostelboys or girlsand to do whatever they deem fit. This sudden move seems too harsh and has never been experienced before during my stay as a student here. The order was not withdrawn even after the protest against such an unprecedented order by the Deans and Teachers Association. In contrast, the VC was very prompt in withdrawing the permission granted to hold a cultural event, minutes before it was to start, after a simple letter by an ABVP student.

The JNU Students Union President was arrested and taken to solitary confinement for three days, again for two more days and booked under sedition. On his facebook page, BJP IT cell people posted the dirtiest of abuses. Media-trials labelled him a terrorist without bothering to hear themselves or to play for their audiences his speech that was easily available on social media-sites and was held as prima facie evidence against him. Anyone who has an independent mind, that can work outside the clutches of what the authorities say, and listens to this speech, will know how balanced and thoughtful the President was in defusing the conflict that the ABVP students had forced on all others during the protest march. To seek answers to the questions he raised, one needs extreme sensitivity and deep thinking about what kind of society we are striving for, rather than whipping up crass emotion in the name of nationalism. No one knows who gave the slogans, there are videos that suggest they were by some of the ABVP students themselves. Anyhow, everyone condemned them. But the way things have unfolded, it is as if the ABVP was looking for an excuse to disembark on a preplanned scheme of raiding and terrorising the JNU, now that they have the backing of the might of the Indian state. The JNU is one of the few university campuses where representation and power have eluded the Right-wing. The ethos of politics here is based on debate, dialogue and arguments instead of money and muscle power or so we believed till now. Even as a minority, the Right-wing student groups have been able to operate without any threat precisely because of this kind of thoughtful and issue-based politics that the campus propagates.

I remember when I had first entered the JNU, I had felt different, slightly suffocated as well. The very air was different and made me uncom-fortable. Perhaps it was because I had never experienced such an air of freedom, of free ideas and infinite possibilities that are to be imagined in our societies. My lungs were used to the congestion. I was confused whether to join the JNU or DU for my research. It is then that I talked to a JNU Professor and he aptly described the JNU as an ocean where different regions, disciplines, thinkers, ideologies and political beliefs interact and learn from each other. It is a family, in which teachers, karamcharis and students live inside one campusand in moments of distress and despair we turn first to our teachers and friends inside the campus. It is due to this culture hopefully, that any Rohith Vemula in our campus will not be forced to take his life. It is a campus in which girls can walk freely at any time of the day or night, without fear, without feeling constant threats of being abused as in other parts of Delhi. It is a campus in which every caste and region intermingles freely. It is a campus in which students from very modest backgrounds get space to realise their potential and flourish, like our President has. It is a campus that thrives in easy relationship with its neighbourhood, where hundreds from nearby places come for walks, buying vegetables and breathing in the fresh air. It is a campus that invites relaxed and open disagreements and interactions across party lines. Wherein even individual students like me, without belonging to any political party, have a voice.

Surely such an atmosphere, where ideas and free thoughts and imaginations of better societies and human lives run unhindered, should provide a lesson or two in what nationalism and democracy are. Such an institution needs to be saved and its culture and intellectual tradition replicated in other public universities, if they so choose to emulate this model that has nurtured talents who have contributed to the achievements of the Indian nation in arts, culture, history, humanities, media, politics, international relations, civil services, academics. Rather than the attack of blatant vengeance and hate politics, we need to realise what price we will pay by silencing a beautiful and vibrant culture of debate and discussion, an ethos that is central to any good university.

The author is a Ph.D scholar at the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > The Ugly Face of Hindu Nationalism

by Arup Kumar Sen

The recent arrest of the JNU Students Union President, Kanhaiya Kumar, on the charge of sedition, thrashing him by a section of lawyers in the court premises on his way to the hearing, and physical assault on the students, faculty and journalists by the same lawyers on the first day of hearing in the presence of the police signify complete breakdown of the constitutional order. The matter did not stop there. The unruly lawyers did not even spare senior Supreme Court advocates, Kapil Sibal and Dushyant Dave, who went to the Patiala House Court complex on the direction of the Supreme Court to ensure the security of Kumar. A brick was thrown at the two senior advocates when they were about to board a car. While recounting the atmosphere of terror at the court complex, the senior advocate, Rajeev Dhawan, who was also part of the six-member team of Supreme Court advocates, stated: We could have been beaten black and blue. We barely escaped with our lives. 

Vikram Singh Chauhan, one of the lawyers who beat up journalists, JNU students and faculty on February 15, was again at the forefront of violence on the day Kanhaiya Kumar was thrashed in the presence of nearly 3000 personnel from the Delhi Police and Central Police forces in and around the court complex. A lawyer in the Supreme Court hall shouted Vande Mataram on the same day the Supreme Court team of advocates barely escaped with their lives.

The above stories reported in the media carry a single meaning: direct assault on the judicial system and the Constitution of India by the advocates of Hindu nationalism.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Beating of Kanhaiya Kumar in Court brings back Memories of Babri Masjid (...)

The manner in which Jawaharal Nehru University Students Union President Kanhaiya Kumar was roughed up in the Patiala House Court premises, while being brought to be produced in the court room, in the presence of observers from the Supreme Court who were there to ensure the security of Kanhaiya and everybody else targeted by the RSS-BJP, has brought back memories of the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition incident. The people associated with the Sangh Parivar, who are quick to accuse others not believing in their ideology of being anti-national at the slightest pretext or sometimes even without any concrete evidence, are themselves guilty of having scant regard for the Constitution of this country or any respect for law and order. At present the biggest threat to this nation is from the Sangh Parivar itself which hurtles it speedily towards anarchy. The people believing in the Hindutva ideology feel that under the present dispensation they are free to beat up anybody or even kill without attracting any punishment as the police is under one of their own, Rajnath Singh, the Home Minister, who was quick to point out that the JNU incidents were instigated by Hafeez Saeed without providing any proof for this claim.

Today there is a raging debate in this country. People believing in the Hindutva ideology claim themselves to be patriots and think everybody else who disagrees with them is anti-national. The dubious actions of the RSS-associated people make us question their categorisation. Is it enough to be called a patriot if you can hold a picture of mother India, raise the vande-mataram slogan, wave the Indian tricolour, hurl abuses at Pakistan and beat up anybody disagreeing with any of these things. The Delhi BJP MLA, O.P. Sharma, said that if he had a gun he would have shot the anti-national people. If we think that the violence perpetrated by terrorists or Naxalites is wrong, how is the violence of the Right-wing justified? It is amazing that the police and judiciary continue to be mute spectators of all their acts of vandalism.

The policies made in this country make the rich more rich and increases their distance from the poor continuously. Half the children born in this country are malnourished. One-fourth of the children are victims of child labour. Of the 1000 children born, 47 die at child birth. 14 more die before they reach the age of five years. When one lakh children are born, 200 mothers die during childbirth. Since the country has adopted the economic policies of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, about three lakh farmers have committed suicide as they were not able to repay their loans. Should the people who make policies for this country, which are responsible for the above mentioned deaths and extreme levels of poverty, not be called anti-national?

Some private corporations are in debt to the extent of a total of Rs 1.14 lakh crores to the banks of this country which have conveniently decided to call these unpaid loans as Non-Performing Assets. In a country where the poor live in a shocking state as described above, will it not be considered anti-national to simply write off the loans of private corporations in this manner? Should people who indulge in corruption and pocket public money for private gains not be called anti-national? The BJP has always talked about bringing back the black money stashed in foreign banks but nobody likes to talk about the black money in our economy which helps the corrupt and criminal enter our legislatures. Are people using this black money not anti-national? Is seeking foreign capital to set up indutrial units which will be free to exploit our labour not anti-national? Is giving rights over natural resources to national-multinational corporations to make profits and deny our own citizens access to them not anti-national? For example, Pepsi and Coca Cola are exploiting our underground water resources and taking away the profits to the US. Should helping them set up units in India not be called anti-national? Is helping students cheat in examinations and thereby jeopardising their future not be anti-national?

On the other hand is it not patriotic to help the empowerment in any way of marginalised sections of this country? Is the act of enabling a child to attend school, who is otherwise unable to do so for some reason, not an act of patriotism? Is to help a needy person access medical help for treatment not a patriotic act? Will it not be patriotism to organise socio-economically weaker categories of people to fight for their basic rights so that they may improve their living conditions? Is it not patriotism to help any victim seek justice from the system? Will it not be considered a patriotic act to raise ones voice against injustice so that some people are not harmed and demand the right policies so that the people benefit? Is it not patriotic to raise ones voice against misuse of public money by the government so that the resources may be equitably distributed? For example, will it not be wise to demand reduction in the defence budget and simultaneously work on resolving bilateral problems with neighbours whom we consider enemy so that the saved resources could be spent on education, health- care, employment generation, etc. which will benefit citizens of our country as well as fellow deprived citizens of our enemy country, which too will reduce its defence budget in response? In this not patriotism? In fact, this kind of patriotism is in the interest of our nation as well as our neighbours, who presently see us as a threat.

If we examine carefully, the idea of nation is as divisive as the ideas of religion and caste, all of which are artificial categories created by human beings. The concept of nation should meet the fate as it has in Europe where there are no armies on the borders and one can cross from one country into another without requiring a passport or a visa. We hope that one day we will be able to cross from one country into another in South Asia just like we cross over from a district to another. In such a concept of nation the Right-wing people will not have an opportunity to practice their ideology because there will be no takers for it. The RSS ideology exists only so long as there is an enemy, either real or imagined. This is the biggest contradiction of the Hindutva ideology. This implies that the existence of the RSS is dependent on the existence of their enemy. That is why targeting an enemy is the focus in all the RSS activities. This is the reason wise people do not fall in their trap.

Noted social activist and Magsaysay awardee Dr Sandeep Pandey was recently sacked this year from the IIT-BHU where he was a Visiting Professor on the charge of being a Naxalite engaging in anti-national activities. He was elected along with Prof Keshav Jadhav the Vice-President of the Socialist Party (India) at its founding conference at Hyderabad on May 28-29, 2011.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > JNU Crackdown: Politics of Paranoia around Sedition can Singe (...)

by Bharat Bhushan

The primary casualty of the fiasco at the Capitals Jawaharlal Nehru University and the paranoid politics being promoted in the country is not likely to be the JNU Students Union President, Kanhaiya Kumar, who faces fictitious sedition charges. It is Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh whose reputation, if not his job, may be on the line.

Sending police to the JNU campus and his claim on public television that the student protest had links with Hafiz Saeed, a wanted terrorist and the chief of Jamaat-ud-Dawah in Pakistan, are likely to cost him dear. Once the Opposition onslaught starts, his reputation is bound to take a severe beating, weakening his position in the government considerably.

Increasingly, Rajnath Singh has come across as an unthinking and naive Home Minister. He based his comments on JNU and Hafiz Saeed on a tweet from a fake account of the latter. However, he pompously claimed that his information came from inputs from different agencies. Despite it being common knowledge that he had goofed up, no one has been sacked for misleading him. Nor has he apologised.

This is not the first time that the Home Minister has created confusion on national security issues. His contribution to creating a politically chaotic atmosphere on the eve of the Budget session of Parliament comes after his earlier uninformed and mindless tweet about the Pathankot terrorist strike.

He had had to delete that tweet but only after he had created confusion about the number of terrorists involved and about the operation. He had congratulated the armed forces prematurely for completing the operation successfully after neutralising all the five terrorists involved. The operation continued for three more days after Singhs tweet.

It goes without saying that India faces serious security threats. However, if the Home Minister of this country and its intelligence agencies are so incredulous that they believe any old scrap of information, do they deserve to be there? This is an issue that is likely to agitate the mind of the Members of Parliament when they meet on February 23 for the Budget session of Parliament.

What is the BJP trying to do?

What the BJP has succeeded in doing over the last one week is much more significant. It has managed to deliberately raise the pitch of its paranoid style of politics. The attempt is to covert uncomfortable issues facing the government into one of what constitutes nationalism.

At a time when nothing seems to be going right for the Modi Government, a purely polemical and ideological discussion is being fomented to divert attention not only from the economic and social failures of the government but also national security failures.

The discourse is also aimed at taking the focus away from the anti-Dalit image that the gover-nment has acquired after the Human Resource Development Ministry created circumstances which led to the suicide of Hyderabad Universitys Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula. If all these elements were allowed to coalesce, the anger with the non-performance of the Modi Government would spread further.

The JNU row diverts attention not only from the governments economic failures but also national security failures.

At a time like this, converting public discourse into an angry debate about nationalism and sedition, therefore, serves two purposes. It would help infuse new energy into the traditional mass base of the BJP. And, it would also expand it to include other more or less normal people who are likely to rally behind calls of patriotism and nationalism, especially if the security mindset is hyped up.

The BJP and its government at the Centre know the depth of popular nationalism and are using this deep-rooted sentiment to shield themselves from potential charges of incompetence.

A Crisis of Legitimacy

Despite a more than comfortable majority in Parliament, the party and its government continue to suffer from a legitimacy crisis. The BJP seems not to have been able to shed the feeling that over time it has been politically dispossessed of its natural right to govern a Hindu India by the Nehruvians and the Western-educated liberal intellectuals.

Never mind the fact that the BJP and its ideological forefathers had no role to play in Indias independence movement. Or, that their first ideological contribution to an independent India was to create an atmosphere for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi.

The BJP and, its mother organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), feel that the naturally Hindu values of India have been eaten away by cosmopolitan intellectuals; that the idea of India has been eroded by socialist and communist ideologies; and that national security is being compromised by seditious plotters in cahoots with the traditional enemies of India across the border.

They believe that these anti-nationals are responsible for preventing the emergence of a Hindu India, a Hindu worldview and a Hindu political orderindeed an entire system of Hindu values which, to their mind, must constitute Indian nationalism.

A delusional search for the fictitious enemy is needed to keep the flock together; it must be held together by a sense of a threatening presence, an enemy lurking out there in the public sphere. This search for the ideological enemynecessarily anti-national in the Hindutva perspectivefirst led to the action of the HRD Ministry against Dalit students of Hyderabad university and then at JNU.

Why JNU?

The JNU has been in the crosshairs of the Hindutva brigade for long. Panchjanya, the mouthpiece of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), has brought out special issues in the past on this anti-national university. In a special issue in November 2015, it claimed: JNU is one such institute where nationalism is considered as an offence. Presenting Indian culture in a distorted way is common. The removal of Army from Kashmir is supported here. They advocate various other anti-national activities here.

A former editor of Panchjanya who addressed students in JNU in 2010 called Kashmiri students there Osama bin Laden ke dalal (agents or pimps for Osama Bin Laden).

Rajnath Singhs allegation of JNU protests being inspired by Hafiz Saeed, therefore, comes from a deep tradition of ideological abuse except that it now comes from the Home Minister of India.

The point, however, is that the BJPs attack is based entirely on exaggerating the threat to the nation, and casting Western, liberal intellec-tuals, including students, in a conspiratorial fantasy. The habitat of their prey is the liberal space of educational institutions where they are nurtured by Western education and values. This is why demonic forces are let loose upon universities and the society is encouraged to target them.

For the BJP does not want to engage them in a political discussion but to finish them through a public crusade, in which those who think differently from the Hindutva family of organisations are projected as culturally anti-national.

Given its paranoic perceptions about liberal culture it is no surprise that journalists were also beaten up in the Patiala House Courts by lawyers and other party supporters, including an elected legislator. This is why the BJP supporters believe that they can detect conspiracies before anyone else and exercise vigilante-style justice.

For the BJP ideologues, all social conflict whether it is Dalit students demanding their rights or others exercising their right to assemble or express themselvesis reducible to to a battle between good and evilbetween nationa-lists and anti-nationals, between patriots and seditious conspirators. There is no space for grey areasfor the possibility that a few agent provocateurs, rather than ordinary students, may have been responsible for shouting anti-India slogans at JNU.

However, this fantasy of the BJP is spinning out of control. The anti-national paranoia being promoted by the party and its supporters might singe some of the very people who are whipping it up. The Home Minister may well be its first casualty.

(Courtesy: Catchnews)

Editor of Catchnews (http//www.catchnews.com), Bharat Bhushan is a prominent journalist having been in the profession for 25 years.
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > PM Modi fears Conspiracies against Him

The following article was written just before the Budget session of Parliament that began on February 23, 2016.

There is no conceivable reason why a government which commands the support of 282 lawmakers in the 543-member Indian parliament should feel wobbly in the legs.

Narendra Modi has reason to feel insecure. Yet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made an astounding statement on Sunday (February 21) that there is a concerted conspiracy to destabilise his government.

Modi pointed finger at assorted quarters that may be trying to finish and defame him. Modi alleged that he is under attack for his low-caste social origins. He also hinted at Indias powerful corporate lobby gunning for him.

Modi further alleged that his move to make non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to account for the money they receive from abroad has ruffled feathers. It seems he sees danger lurking behind every tree. To quote Modi,

Some people remain occupied with their only mission of criticising my government from morning to evening. They could not digest the fact that a tea vendor had become the Prime Minister.

Besides, I have made something which has made life difficult for many. The corrupt could not indulge in fraudulent activities anymore... Wont people who were selling urea in the black market be angry with me now?

Earlier, foreign money was coming to NGOs... Should we not seek details of money coming from foreign shores and how it is spent here? But ever since I started insisting on accoun-tability, their only aim has been to finish Modi, to destabilise the Modi Government and to throw muck at Modi.

These are very uncharacteristic remarks for Modi to make, because he usually takes great care to cultivate an image of himself being the Batman of Indian politicsa ubiquitous, unassailable, unconquerable super-hero.

For him to hint at a sense of mortality in the face of machinations by upper-caste Hindus or the corporate industry or the foreign (read Western) hand, the insecurity must be acute.

Indian politics is vicious and once Modi shows the slightest sign of vulnerability, the pack of wolves would close in on him.

Is Modi really vulnerable? To be sure, he has an iron grip on the ruling party, which is run as a closed shop by a hand-picked aide from his Gujarat days who has been installed as the party President.

There is no question of a mutiny against Modi from within the ruling party and Indias Opposition is far too hopelessly divided to mount any lethal assault on his citadel.

Of course, in principle, the upper-caste dominated Hindu nationalist groups who created Modi might as well pull the rug from under his lowly feet. But then, why should they resort to harakiri?

The Modi Government is serving the interests of the Brahmin-dominated Rashtriya Swayam-sevak Sangh ideally, providing them with seamless opportunity to advance their agenda of Hinduisation of the country.

Evidently, there is a total disconnect between the lobbies that Modi alleges are working against him. Although a mere tea vendor, Modi is a darling of Indias leading corporate houses.

Equally, the CIA should be out of its mind to overthrow Modi, who is the most US-friendly Prime Minister India probably ever had.



Yet, it is possible to discern a pattern in the madness behind Modis allegation. The heart of the matter is that Modi does have reason to feel insecure.

Things are not at all going well for the government lately. Modi made big promises at the time of the 2014 pollto bring in black money deposited in foreign banks, revive the economy, create jobs with a magic wand, eradicate corruption and give good governance and so on. But he has failed to deliver on all these counts.

The government claims that Indias economy is galloping at a 7.3 per cent growth rate and touts it as the fastest-growing big economy in the world. But on closer look a dismal picture emerges.

For one thing, there has been a controversial revision of the methodology of computing the national income figures, which is what gives the economy a larger-than-life look.

Then, the fall in the price of oil has come as a windfall for the economy. Indias oil imports as a percentage of its GDP have come down from nine per cent in the 2011-2012 FY to five per cent currently. Obviously, this is a significant factor contributing to growth.

But the sector-wise performance conveys a grim picture. Manufacturing refuses to pick up. Investment to GDP ratio is falling dramati-cally.

Poor monsoons for two consecutive years have taken a heavy toll on agricultural production and, in turn, on rural demand. Agricultural wage growth, which touched 23 per cent five years ago, crawls today at 2.5 per cent. Rural consumption across the board from tractors to fertiliser to soap or lentils has fallen.

The year-on-year growth of exports has been negative. Suffice it to say, the economy is virtually surfing on the service sector and the fall in oil price.

Again, Indias Freddie Mac moment has come. It cannot be hidden anymore that the core of Indias financial system is rotten. The state-owned banks have handed out loans to dubious projects with dismal prospects with the full connivance of bosses... Now the tax-payer holds the can, as a commentator put it. The banks expect massive bailouts.

Indeed, the business confidence is visibly low. The sensex that tracks Indias most valuable companies has crashed 22 per cent in 52 weeks and equities are in what investor jargon bills as a bear hug. A turnaround is not expected before 2018-19.

Suffice it to say, as the annual Budget session of Parliament begins on February 23, the government expects a tough time to defend its record in office. The policy paralysis is simply glaring.

Meanwhile, there are signs of mounting social unrest in the country. Curfew was declared in regions around New Delhi and the Army was called out in the weekend to shoot at-first-sight at protestors from a middle caste agitating for quota for jobs.

Three big universities witnessed big commo-tion recently, as the ruling partys student wing battled with the anti-national elements in the campus.

Patriotism, they say, is the last refuge of scoundrels and there is a concerted campaign lately, sponsored or encouraged by the govern-ment, to whip up patriotic fervour.

The university campuses have become the key arena. The government has mandated that all Central universities must fly the national flag at all times.

To be sure, Modi is resorting to the ploy of diverting public attention. But it wont work. His leadership stands exposed as mediocre.

(Courtesy: Asia Times)

Ambassador M.K. Bhadrakumar served as a career diplomat in the Indian Foreign Service for over 29 years, with postings including Indias ambassador to Uzbekistan (1995-1998) and to Turkey (1998-2001).
Home > Archives (2006 on) > 2016 > Drawing the Battle-lines

POLITICAL NOTEBOOK

The debate in Parliament on Rohith Vemulas suicide and the subsequent incidents in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has brought out in sharp relief the respective positions of the saffron camp and the entire Opposition on questions of nationalism and democracy. The partly emotional and partly minatory Lok Sabha speech by the Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani from the Treasury Benches was no match for the objective analysis of the present situation and the real motives and intents of the powers that be by Jyotiraditya Scindia of the Congress and Sugata Bose of the Trinamul Congress. Bose drew pointed attention to the fact that the RSS, the mentor of the ruling BJP, had never participated in the freedom movement. Incidentally, it also gave the lie to those who were insinuating that the TMC had entered into a sub rosa deal with the BJP and that the TMC members would remain neutral` during the debate. Bose made it clear that his party stood solidly with the students against the forces of authoritarianism and fanaticism and the brand of nationalism that these forces represented.

The speeches made by the members of the BJP left no room for doubt that the party would not budge from its policy of attacking anyone who does not agree with their definition of patriotism and nationalism. There was not a word of condemnation of those lawyers who had beaten up not only JNUSU President Kanhaiya Kumar but also the reporters, who had gone to discharge their professional duty, in the Patiala House Courts. In a sense it was a foretaste of worse things lying in store in the womb of the future.

By and large all the Opposition parties spoke in one voice in the Lok Sabha. All the major Opposition parties, including the TMC, staged a joint walk out from the House. Only some lone members, like Tathagata Satpathy of the BJD, sought to strike a note of equidistance between the BJP and the united Opposition. When Smriti Irani rose to speak, the Opposition benches were empty.

But the unity shown in Parliament has to get reflected in the unity of action outside Parliament in the struggle against the authoritarianism and narrow nationalism of the saffron brigade and in defence of the peoples constitutional rights. Five States are going to polls in a month or two. Assembly elections are also due in the big State of Uttar Pradesh in 2017. Opposition unity in all these States is a must if those who want to destroy the democratic polity of the country and make it a Hindu Rashtra are to be defeated. Will the leaders of these parties be able to rise above their narrow party interests for defending the real national interests? Will the equation between Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati change? Will the Congress and CPI-M continue to treat the TMC in West Bengal as their prime enemy and a greater danger than the BJP? Will the BJD under Naveen Patnaik maintain an equidistance between the Congress and BJP?

The forces that are out to destroy the democratic fabric of the country and replace it with an authori-tarian state can be defeated only by a nationwide coordination of the major political parties. It must go beyond mere floor coordination in the two Houses of Parliament. Only such a comprehensive unity can draw in other, smaller and vacillating parties to the fold of the unified Opposition and put up an effective challenge to the fascist forces. The spirit of the Sangh Parivar cannot be reconciled with the spirit of the Constitution. The battle-lines have been drawn. Those who do not stand against the current will be swept away by the current.

February 25 B.D.G.
Norfolk Naval Shipyard successfully completed USS Maryland's (SSBN 738) engineered refueling overhaul (ERO) on Feb. 24.



EROs are complex, major shipyard availabilities that extend a submarine's service life.



In addition to being refueled, nearly all of the ship's systems were overhauled or modernized. Modernization work included replacement of distilling plants with a reverse osmosis unit, installation of an upgraded 500 kilowatt motor generator, electric power plant work, and LAN upgrades.



The project team met several key milestones on this overhaul, including setting a new best for the shipyard in safety performance on an SSBN availability; achieving record performance in the period from completion of hot operations to the start of its power range test program; and a record performance on propulsion plant testing.



"The Maryland project team held itself to high standards and had strong leadership with a focus on planning, communication and coordination," said Shipyard Commander Capt. Scott Brown. "Every SSBN refit and maintenance period directly supports the next strategic deployment, which is the most pressing priority for the Department of Defense."



Maryland is the 13th of 18 operational Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines and was commissioned in 1992. The submarine is homeported in Kings Bay, Georgia.



NNSY is one of the largest shipyards in the world specializing in repairing, overhauling and modernizing ships and submarines. It's the oldest and largest industrial facility that belongs to the U.S. Navy.


Euroseas Ltd. announced today that on February 18, 2016, the crew of its container carrier, Vento di Grecale, rescued 105 Somalian, Sudanese and Egyptian migrants/refugees, including three pregnant women and a number of children from an endangered wooden boat that sank in choppy waters a few minutes after rescue.



The M/V Vento di Grecale received a distress call from Malta's Marine Response Coordination Center ("MRCC Malta"), while sailing South West of Crete en route to Salerno, Italy. The ship's Captain, Rey Salcedo and crew immediately responded to the call locating the wooden boat, which was found to be holed with water leaking and secured it alongside the vessel.



Following the rescue, the crew of the vessel placed the women and children inside the ship's accommodation, while the rest of the migrants/refugees were sheltered on the main deck protected from the elements by the containerized cargo. Blankets, food and water were provided to the exhausted passengers including medical assistance to the pregnant women and those suffering from pain and ailments such as diarrhea. In coordination with MRCC Malta, the ship continued her voyage towards Messina Straits.



Frontex (European Union Agency) was notified of the successful rescue operation and dispatched a rescue boat, the Siem Pilot which met the vessel at a rendezvous position east of Sicily one day later in the afternoon of February 19, 2016. All 105 migrants/refugees were transferred safely to the rescue boat after being provided with suitable life jackets.



Aristides Pittas, Chairman and CEO of Euroseas, commented: "Euroseas would like to congratulate our Captain, Rey Salcedo, and crew of our vessel, M/V Vento di Grecale, for the professional handling of this search and rescue operation and the humanitarian service they have provided by saving 105 people from certain death. Their reaction reflects the values of all of us at Euroseas and the history of my family's 150 years presence in shipping. We also wish to thank MRCC Malta and the crew of the Frontex rescue boat "Siem Pilot" for their assistance in coordinating this operation and finally taking ashore the refugees."
After five successful narcotic seizures in the Middle East and 203 days away from home, Royal Australian Navy frigate, HMAS Melbourne was welcomed back to her homeport of Sydney today.



Around one thousand family and friends joined the Minister for Defence, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, and Commander Australian Fleet, Rear Admiral Stuart Mayer, CSC and Bar, RAN, to welcome the ships company home from duties as part of Operation MANITOU.



Minister Payne said the 223 men and women on board have made their families and Australia proud. Melbourne made a significant dent in the profits of smugglers running drugs for terrorists, Minister Payne said.



The frigate seized 977 kg of heroin valued at approximately $390 million. Removing these drugs from circulation curtails funding to terrorists.



Commanding Officer Melbourne, Commander Bill Waters, RAN, said his crew did a fantastic job under difficult circumstances.



From the boarding teams scouring suspect vessels, to the aircrew being our eyes in the sky, right through to the cooks, who served over 100,000 meals, every member of the crew showcased what they can do and worked very hard for our successes, Commander Waters said.



We patrolled vast tracts of ocean, with operations encompassing the Indian Ocean and Arabian Gulf. It was a huge job but we were well supported by our task group commander, the coalition ships, the support agencies back here in Australia and forward deployed in the Middle East.



Melbourne was operating within Combined Task Force 150, which is one of three major task forces operated by the Combined Maritime Force, a 30-nation coalition based in Bahrain. One of several task groups assigned to the combined forces, Combined Task Force 150 undertakes maritime security patrols in the region to counter maritime related terrorism and to intercept the trafficking of drugs and illicit cargoes that help fund international terrorist activities.



This was the Australian guided missile frigates eighth deployment to the Middle East region and the 61st rotation of a Royal Australian Navy vessel in the region since the first Gulf War in 1991.



Sister ship, HMAS Darwin, took over from Melbourne, continuing Australias commitment and provision of capability to enforce the security of the region.


Stocks Bear Market Uptrend Nearing its Peak

The market started the week at SPX 1918. After a gap up opening on Monday the market rallied to SPX 1947. After that it pulled back, aided by two gap down openings, to SPX 1891 by Wednesday. Then helped by two gap up openings the market rallied to SPX 1963 by Friday, and ended the week at 1948. For the week the SPX/DOW gained 1.55%, the NDX/NAZ gained 1.80%, and the DJ World index gained 0.90%. Economic reports for the week were neutral. On the uptick: Q4 GDP, durable goods, the FHFA, personal income/spending, the PCE, and existing home sales. On the downtick: Case-Shiller, consumer confidence/sentiment, new home sales, the WLEI, GDPn, plus weekly jobless claims increased. Next weeks reports are highlighted by the FEDs Beige book, the ISMs and monthly Payrolls. Best to your week!

LONG TERM: bear market

After the market made a Primary III high at SPX 2135 in May, then lost 12.6% market value into August at SPX 1867, there was some debate over whether or not that correction was all, or part, of Primary wave IV. Then when the market rallied quite strongly in October, off a secondary SPX 1872 low in September, hitting SPX 2116 in November, that debate subsided. When the SPX failed to make a new all time high in December, and the market sold off to a lower low in February at SPX 1810. Market pundits again brought up an ongoing Primary IV scenario. Now with the market rallying strongly the past two weeks, a renewed call for Primary wave V underway is gaining some momentum.

Above is the monthly SPX chart from 1980. Observe how the MACD bounced off of neutral all through the 1980s and then soared in the latter half of the 1990s. It peaked in 1999, and then continued a long decline during the 2000-2002 bear market. After that bear market ended it again turned up, reaching a peak right around the high of the 2002-2007 bull market. Then again it started a long decline into the bear market low in 2009. During the 2009-2015 bull market it rose to a new high, peaking in late 2014. Observe that it is already declining, like the previous bear markets. This alone suggests the bull market ended in 2015, along with Primary waves IV and V, and a new bear market is underway.

We continue to label the five Primary wave, Cycle [1], bull market ending with a failed fifth wave in December 2015 at SPX 2104. The first downtrend of the bear market appears to have bottomed at SPX 1810 this month. After that low the first uptrend appears to be underway reaching a high of SPX 1963 thus far. When this uptrend concludes, we are expecting the bear market to start making new lows during the next downtrend. Longer term we are expecting the market to lose 45% to 50% of its value during this bear market. Ending sometime in 2017 around SPX 1100.

MEDIUM TERM: uptrend likely underway

After the unorthodox bull market high at SPX 2104 in December we labeled five waves down into the February low at SPX 1810. While the waves did not look like clean impulse waves, they were impulsive enough to be counted as five down. During bear markets, as well as corrections, the form patterns take is nearly always more important than the internal structure.

We have tentatively labeled the SPX 1810 low as Major wave A of an ABC Primary A decline. The bear market should consist of three Primary waves: ABC. The recent rally we are labeling as Intermediate waves a-b-c, of a Major wave B uptrend. Intermediate wave A ended at SPX 1947, Intermediate wave B ended at SPX 1891, and Intermediate wave C has been underway this week. When it concludes, which may be next week, Major wave B will end, and a downtrending Major wave C, to new bear market lows, will be underway. Medium term support is at the 1929 and 1901 pivots, with resistance at the 1956 and 1973 pivots.

SHORT TERM

Intermediate wave A unfolded in seven waves SPX: 1836-1822-1888-1875-1931-1902-1947. This could be counted as a double zigzag, or a simple zigzag. The simple zigzag would be the first five waves up to SPX 1931 as Minor a, then Minor b 1902, and Minor c at 1947. Either way it was a corrective advance. Intermediate wave B was a quick three wave decline that could be counted SPX: 1919-1927-1891. Intermediate wave C has thus far rallied in four waves, SPX: 1939-1925-1963-1946. Normally we would expect another seven wave advance for Int. C, similar to the seven wave advance of Int. A. Corrective waves usually unfold in similar patterns.

Targeting the potential high for this Major wave B uptrend we have been noting several levels of resistance. First, retracements of the prior downtrend suggest SPX: 1963 (50%) and 1999 (61.8%). Second, Fibonacci relationships of Int. C to Int. A suggest SPX: 1960 (50%), 1976 (61.8%) and 2028 (100%). Third, the following OEW pivot ranges also come into play: 1956, 1973 and 2019. When we combine all the relationships we arrive with the following: the 1956 and 1973 pivots, SPX 1999, and the 2019 pivot. The first week of March sets up for an important turning point in this bear market.

Short term support is at the 1929 and 1901 pivots, with resistance at the 1956 and 1973 pivots. Short term momentum ended the week at neutral. Best to your trading this volatile market

FOREIGN MARKETS

Asian markets were mixed on the week for a net loss of 0.8%.

European markets were all higher for a net gain of 2.4%.

The Commodity equity group were mostly higher and gained 1.2%.

The DJ World index gained 0.9%.

COMMODITIES

Bonds continue to uptrend but lost 0.1% on the week.

Crude soared 10.3% for the week as it tries to establish an uptrend.

Gold continues to uptrend but lost 0.5% on the week.

The USD is also trying to sustain an uptrend and gained 1.5% on the week.

NEXT WEEK

Monday: Chicago PMI and Pending home sales around 10am. Tuesday: Construction spending, ISM manufacturing, and Auto sales. Wednesday: the ADP and the FEDs Beige book. Thursday: weekly Jobless claims, Factory orders, and ISM services. Friday: monthly Payrolls and the Trade deficit.

CHARTS: http://stockcharts.com/public/1269446/tenpp

https://caldaro.wordpress.com

After about 40 years of investing in the markets one learns that the markets are constantly changing, not only in price, but in what drives the markets. In the 1960s, the Nifty Fifty were the leaders of the stock market. In the 1970s, stock selection using Technical Analysis was important, as the market stayed with a trading range for the entire decade. In the 1980s, the market finally broke out of it doldrums, as the DOW broke through 1100 in 1982, and launched the greatest bull market on record.

Sharing is an important aspect of a life. Over 100 people have joined our group, from all walks of life, covering twenty three countries across the globe. It's been the most fun I have ever had in the market. Sharing uncommon knowledge, with investors. In hope of aiding them in finding their financial independence.

Copyright  2016 Tony Caldaro - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Tony Caldaro Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




Regime Change in Turkey? More Likely Than You Think

On Friday, the United States rejected a draft resolution by Russia that was intended to prevent a Turkish invasion of Syria. Moscow had called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to address its growing concern that Turkey is planning to send thousands of ground troops and armored vehicles it has massed on its southern border, into Syria to protect Turkish-backed militants and to block the Kurdish militia, the YPG, from establishing a contiguous state in northern Syria. Moscows one-page resolution was a thoroughly-straightforward document aimed at preventing a massive escalation in a conflict that has already claimed the lives of 250, 000 and left the country in ruins.

According to Russias deputy U.N. envoy, Vladimir Safronkov, The main elements of this Russian draft resolution are to demand that all parties refrain from interfering in the internal affairs of Syria, that they fully respect Syrias sovereignty and independence, stop incursions, and abandon plans for ground operations.

The resolution also expressed Moscows grave alarm at the reports of military buildup and preparatory activities aimed at launching foreign ground intervention into the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic.

There was nothing controversial about the resolution, no tricks and no hidden meaning. The delegates were simply asked to support Syrian sovereignty and oppose armed aggression. These are the very principles upon which the United Nations was founded. The US and its allies rejected these principles because they failed to jibe with Washingtons geopolitical ambitions in Syria.

Quashing the resolution confirms in the clearest terms that Washington doesnt want peace in Syria. Also, it suggests that the Obama administration thinks that Turkish ground troops could play an important role in shaping the outcome of a conflict that the US is still determined to win. Keep in mind, if the resolution had passed, the threat of a Turkish invasion would have vanished immediately.

Why?

Because the Turkish military has publicly stated that it is not willing to send troops across the border without U.N. Security Council approval. (Washington Post)

Many people in the west are under the illusion that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dictatorial powers and can simply order his troops into battle whenever he chooses. But that is not the case. While Erdogan has removed many of his rivals within the military, the top brass still maintains a certain autonomy from the civilian leadership. Turkish generals want assurances that they will not be prosecuted for war crimes in the future. The best way to do that is to make sure that any invasion has the blessing of either the US, NATO or the UN.

The Obama administration understands this dynamic, which is why they quashed the resolution. Obama wanted to leave the door open so Turkish troops could eventually engage the Russian-led coalition in Washingtons ongoing proxy war. This leads me to believe that the Washingtons primary objective in Syria is no longer the removal of Syrian President Bashar al Assad but the bogging down of Russia in a never-ending conflict.

Just hours after the US defeated Moscows draft resolution at the UN, closed-door talks were convened in Geneva where high-level U.S. and Russian military officials met to discuss the prospects for ceasefire.

The cease-fire, which is typically referred to as a cessation of hostilities, is aimed at temporarily stopping the fighting so the battered jihadists and US-backed rebels can regroup and rejoin the war at some later date. Both Moscow and Washington want to deliver humanitarian aid to war-torn cities across Syria, and to move towards a political transition although both sides are deeply divided over Assads role in any future government. According to the Washington Post:

One of the many problems to be overcome is a differing definition of what constitutes a terrorist group. In addition to the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaedas affiliate in Syria, Russia and Syria have labeled the entire opposition as terrorists. Jabhat al-Nusra, whose forces are intermingled with moderate rebel groups in the northwest near the Turkish border, is particularly problematic. Russia was said to have rejected a U.S. proposal to leave Jabhat al-Nusra off-limits to bombing as part of a cease-fire, at least temporarily, until the groups can be sorted out. (U.S., Russia hold Syria cease-fire talks as deadline passes without action, Washington Post)

Repeat: Russia was said to have rejected a U.S. proposal to leave Jabhat al-Nusra (al Qaida) off-limits to bombing as part of a cease-fire, at least temporarily, until the groups can be sorted out. In other words, the Obama administration wanted to protect an affiliate of the group that killed 3,000 Americans in the terror attacks on 9-11 and that is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent Syrian civilians whose only fault was that they happen to occupy country that these Wahhabi mercenaries wanted to transform into an Islamic Caliphate. Naturally, Moscow refused to go along with this charade.

Even so, Secretary of State John F. Kerry announced on Sunday that he and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, had reached a provisional agreement in principle for a temporary truce in the Syrian civil war and that it could start within days although no one really knows how the cease-fire would be enforced and how breaches would be resolved.

Consider how hypocritical it is for Obama to reject Russias draft resolution at the UN and, just hours later, try to put Al Qaida under the protective umbrella of a US-Russia brokered ceasefire. What does that say about Americas so called war on terror?

Meanwhile in Turkey, Erdogans threats to invade Syria have intensified following a car bombing in Ankara last week that killed 28 and wounded 61 others. The Turkish government blamed a young activist, Salih Neccar, who had links to the Turkish militia (YPG) in Syria of being the perpetrator. But less than 24 hours after the blast, the governments version of events began to fall apart. In a story that has been scarcely reported in the western media, the Kurdistan Freedom Hawks (TAK) claimed full responsibility for the bombing according to a statement on its website. (The Freedom Hawks are linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK.) Then, on Monday, the Erdogan regime was slammed with more damning news: DNA samples demonstrated conclusively that Neccar was not perpetrator, but rather Abdulbaki Somer, a member of the group that had claimed responsibility from the beginning. (TAK) As of this writing, the government still hasnt admitted that it lied to the public to build their case for war. Erdogan and his extremist colleagues continue to use thoroughly discredited information to threaten to invade Syria. As he said on Saturday at a UNESCO meeting in Gaziantep:

Turkey has every right to conduct operations in Syria and the places where terror organizations are nested with regards to the struggle against the threats that Turkey facesNo one can restrict Turkeys right to self-defense in the face of terror acts that have targeted Turkey.

This explains why Turkey has been shelling Syrian territory for the last week. It also explains why Erdogan has given Sunni jihadists a free pass to traverse Turkey and reenter the war zone in areas that improve their chances of success against the Syrian Army. Check this out from the New York Times:

Syrian rebels have brought at least 2,000 reinforcements through Turkey in the past week to bolster the fight against Kurdish-led militias north of Aleppo, rebel sources said on Thursday. Turkish forces facilitated the transfer from one front to another over several nights, covertly escorting rebels as they exited Syrias Idlib governorate, traveled four hours across Turkey, and re-entered Syria to support the embattled rebel stronghold of Azaz, the sources said. We have been allowed to move everything from light weapons to heavy equipment, mortars and missiles and our tanks, Abu Issa, a commander in the Levant Front, the rebel group that runs the border crossing of Bab al-Salama, told Reuters, giving his alias and talking on condition of anonymity. (Syrian Rebels Say Reinforcements Get Free Passage via Turkey, New York Times)

The Obama administration knows that Erdogan is fueling the conflict, but has chosen to look the other way. And while Obama has (weakly) admonished Turkey for shelling Syrian territory, he has, at the same time, acknowledged Turkeys right to defend itself, which is an expression the US reserves for Israel when it conducting one of its murderous rampages in the West Bank or Gaza Strip. Now, Obama has bestowed that same honor on Erdogan. This alone speaks volumes about the duplicity of Washingtons approach.

So what is Washingtons gameplan in Syria? Is the administration serious about defeating ISIS and ending the hostilities or does Obama have something else up his sleeve?

First of all, Washington is not the least bit concerned about ISIS. The group is merely a straw-man that allows the US to conduct military operations in a region that is vital to its national interests. If the ISIS boogieman disappeared tomorrow, the White House would conjure up some other phantomlike the drug war or something equally ridiculousso it could continue its depredations uninterrupted. What matters to Washington is breaking up the strong, secular Arab governments that pose a long-term threat to US-Israeli ambitions. Thats what really matters. The other obvious goal is to control critical resources and pipeline corridors to the EU and make sure those resources continue to be denominated in US dollars.

We continue to believe that the US-Kurdish (YPG) alliance does not really advance US strategic interests in Syria. The US is not interested in Kurdish statehood nor do they care if jihadist militias control the northern quadrant of Syrias border-region. The real purpose of the US-YPG alliance is to enrage Turkey and provoke them into a cross-border conflict with the Russian-led coalition. If Turkey deploys ground troops to Syria, then Moscow could face the quagmire it has tried so hard to avoid. Turkish forces would serve as a replacement army for the US-backed jihadists and other proxies that have prosecuted the war for the last five years but now appear to be in full retreat.

More importantly, a Turkish invasion would exacerbate divisions inside Turkey seriously eroding Erdogans grip on power while creating vulnerabilities the US could exploit by working with its agents in the Turkish military and Intel agency (MIT). The ultimate objective would be to foment sufficient social unrest to incite a color-coded revolution that would dispose of the troublemaking Erdogan in a Washington-orchestrated coup, much like the one the CIA executed in Kiev.

It is not hard to imagine Obama secretly giving Erdogan the greenlight, and then pulling the rug out from under him as soon as his troops crossed over into Syria. A similar scam was carried out in 1990 when U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, gave Saddam Hussein the nod to invade Kuwait. The Iraqi Army had barely reached its destination before the US launched a massive military campaign (Operation Desert Storm) that forced Saddam to speedily withdraw along the infamous Highway of Death where upwards of 10,000 Iraqi regulars were annihilated like sitting ducks in a vicious and homicidal display of American firepower. That was the first phase of Washingtons plan to overthrow Saddam and replace him with a compliant Arab stooge.

Is the same regime change trap now being set for Erdogan?

It sure looks like it.

By Mike Whitney

Email: fergiewhitney@msn.com

Mike Whitney lives 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.

 2016 Copyright Mike Whitney - All Rights Reserved Disclaimer: The above is a matter of opinion provided for general information purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Information and analysis above are derived from sources and utilising methods believed to be reliable, but we cannot accept responsibility for any losses you may incur as a result of this analysis. Individuals should consult with their personal financial advisors.

Mike Whitney Archive

 2005-2019 http://www.MarketOracle.co.uk - The Market Oracle is a FREE Daily Financial Markets Analysis & Forecasting online publication.




BOSTON

 A moped rider was arrested for threatening a motorist with a gun Saturday, after the moped he was riding stalled and he had to push it away from the scene.

The website Universal Hub reported that police said 25-year-old Giovanni Pagan didn't like being passed as he rode his moped on Tremont Street in Boston's South End Saturday afternoon, so he reached out and smacked the driver's side mirror of the offending car. When the driver stopped to check the damage, he told police Pagan pulled a gun and threaten him.

The driver told Boston police Pagan ran away from the scene pushing his moped because it had stalled and he couldn't restart it.

Police checked the area and found someone fitting the description, and the driver was able to identify Pagan as the gun waving road-rager. Police charged him with assault with a dangerous weapon, even though by the time they caught up to him, Pagan no longer had the gun.
BOSTON - Investigators working a patrol in Mattapan after recent gang activity arrested a 17-year-old male Saturday afternoon on gun charges after discovering he had a loaded handgun, according to Boston Police.

Officers assigned to the Youth Violence Strike Force were in the area of Talbot Avenue and Westcott Street in Mattapan around 12:30 p.m. when they saw a group of juveniles who are known to police.

"As officers approached to speak with the group, their attention was drawn to one of them in particular, a 17 year old juvenile male, who was clutching at the waistband area of his pants," police said. "One of the officers moved in close to perform a pat frisk and immediately felt what he believed to be a firearm."

The teen tried to hit the officer with his elbow and ran away while clutching at his pants, Boston Police said. Officers tracked down the teen and arrested him after a violent struggle, according to police.

The teen allegedly had a loaded Ruger .9mm handgun and a box cutter. The teen faces several firearms charges in juvenile court.
oscar.lopez.rivera.jpg

Oscar Lopez Rivera is seen in a photo from the Free Oscar Lopez Rivera Now Facebook page.

(IMAGE FROM FACEBOOK)

HOLYOKE -- Oscar Lopez Rivera -- political prisoner or terrorist? -- will be the topic of a debate of a City Council committee Monday at 6 p.m. at City Hall.

Ward 2 Councilor Nelson R. Roman has proposed that the council approve a resolution (see below) urging President Barack Obama to grant the unconditional release from federal prison of Lopez Rivera, 73.

Lopez Rivera has served 34 years of a 75-year sentence for "seditious conspiracy" related to his participation in the FALN, a Puerto Rican nationalist group that has used violence in its campaign for Puerto Rican independence from the United States, though Lopez Rivera has not been charged with participating in bombings or injuring anyone, said online sources such as Encyclopaedia Britannica, Mother Jones, a left-learning magazine, the New York Daily News and City Journal, a quarterly published by the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank.

Lopez Rivera is currently in the United States Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

There's debate about whether Lopez Rivera is a political prisoner wrongly incarcerated or a terrorist justly confined.

The Development and Government Relations Committee is scheduled to discuss Roman's proposed resolution.

A Vietnam War veteran, Lopez Rivera has had the United Nations, labor groups and numerous levels of elected officials call for his release.

"Be it therefore resolved, the city of Holyoke urges President Obama to exercise his Constitutional power to grant the immediate and unconditional release of Oscar Lopez Rivera," Roman's resolution reads.

Roman wanted the council to approve the resolution without a committee referral, at the Jan. 5 meeting, but other councilors said questions merited discussion.

In a New York Daily News column on June 8, Albor Ruiz wrote of Lopez Rivera: "He was not accused of harming any person, only of 'seditious conspiracy' -- the same shapeless and gelatinous charge foisted on Nelson Mandela -- related to his connection to FALN, a Puerto Rican nationalist group. He was not charged with participating in any of the bombings attributed to the FALN in the 1970s and 1980s."

Mother Jones reported that among those that have called for Lopez Rivera's release are Nobel Prize recipient Desmund Tutu, the government of Puerto Rico, the American Association of Jurists, the AFL-CIO and the United Church of Christ.

But writing in June in City Journal, Matthew Hennessey said Lopez Rivera has been convicted of felonies that include possession of an unregistered firearm, interstate transportation of firearms with intent to commit seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to escape, to transport explosives with the intent to kill and injure people, and to destroy government buildings and property.

"Lopez Rivera is no political prisoner; he is incarcerated for his deeds, not his thoughts," Hennessey wrote.

The New York Times reported on Sept. 8, 1999 that Lopez Rivera " was convicted in Chicago in August 1981 of numerous charges, including weapons violations and conspiracy to transport explosives with intent to destroy Government property, and sentenced to 70 years in prison."

Here is Councilor Nelson Roman's resolution regarding Oscar Lopez Rivera:

WHEREAS, Oscar Lopez Rivera, at 72 years old, is the longest-held political prisoner in the history of Puerto Rico. He has served 33 years behind bars -- more time than South African President Nelson Mandela served;

WHEREAS, in 1981 as a member of the Puerto Rican Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN), he was arrested and convicted of seditious conspiracy to use force against the lawful authority of the U.S. over Puerto Rico, along with 14 other Puerto Rican men and women. Neither he nor any of his co-defendants were convicted of harming or killing anyone.

WHEREAS, he was kept in solitary confinement for 12 out of 33 years of imprisonment, 13 constituting a gross human rights violation;

WHEREAS, he was born in San Sebastian, Puerto Rico in 1943 and is a decorated 16 veteran of the Vietnam War;

WHEREAS, in 1999, as the result of an international campaign for their release, President Clinton commuted the sentences of most of these men and women. The President had offered to commute Oscar Lopez Rivera's sentence after he served another 10 years in prison. In solidarity with those not included in the commutation, he declined;

WHEREAS, all those released are living productive, law-abiding lives. Oscar Lopez Rivera is the only one of his co-defendants still behind bars;

WHEREAS, U.S. labor organizations representing millions of workers -- AFL-CIO, 27 AFSCME, LCLAA, and the Puerto Rico AFL-CIO -- have passed resolutions calling on President Obama to grant his immediate and unconditional release;

WHEREAS, the UN Decolonization Committee has passed a resolution every year for the past 15 years urging his release during its annual hearings;

WHEREAS, the Puerto Rican Community; students, adults, businesses and leaders are actively advocating for Oscar Lopez Rivera's release. Jose Bou (Owner of Salsarengue Resturant), Disodado Lopez, Manuel Frau, Maria Ferrer, and countless other Holyokers' have been leading the charge on the release of Oscar Lopez Rivera.

WHEREAS, in Puerto Rico, several former governors, including Rafael Hernandez Colon, Sila Maria Calderon, Pedro Rossello, Anibal Acevedo Vila, and the current governor Alejandro Garcia Padilla, have all petitioned President Obama for the immediate release of Oscar Lopez Rivera, as have Puerto Rico's Resident Commissioner to the U.S. Congress Pedro Pierluisi and the Mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz. The Puerto Rico Senate and House of Representatives have also passed resolutions in favor of Oscar Lopez Rivera's release;

WHEREAS, all of the Latino Holyoke City Councilors publicly support the release of Oscar Lopez Rivera;

WHEREAS, a growing coalition of public figures and organizations is convening mobilization/rally in January, calling for the release of Oscar Lopez Rivera;

BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, the City of Holyoke urges President Obama to exercise his Constitutional power to grant the immediate and unconditional release of Oscar Lopez Rivera.
Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, three days before Massachusetts voters head to the polls in the Democratic primary.

Sarno, in a press release Saturday night, praised Clinton as a realistic and tough advocate for everyday Americans.

"Secretary Hillary Clinton understands the important role that federal government needs to play in investing to make for stronger families, a stronger middle class, and a stronger 'Main Street,' " Sarno said in a statement. "She's a fighter, steadfast, who has stood tall under constant withering personal attacks and criticisms. She knows how to deal with the pressurized situations of being on the difficult front lines of foreign policy and diplomacy."

"She's a reformer and she's a gradualist who understands that a sensible and affordable approach has to be taken to cut college costs and student debt," Sarno continued. "More importantly, in this unfortunate age of the insults of 'reality television', Secretary Clinton brings to the table not only a firm and experienced demeanor, but also a respectful and compassionate presence. I look forward to welcoming our next President of the United States to Springfield on Monday."

The endorsement comes shortly before Clinton is scheduled to appear at a rally Monday at the Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Clinton's chief opponent in the primary race, appeared at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for a rally last Monday.

The most recent polling in the race, by WBUR/MassINC, shows a tight contest with Clinton beating out Sanders by a 49 percent to 44 percent margin.
DUNSTABLE - A Pepperell teen is accused of stabbing a 19-year-old man several times during a house party Saturday morning on Adams Street.

Officers were called to Adams Street around 3:45 a.m. Saturday for a report of a fight. Police found a man had been stabbed several times and was suffering from serious injuries. The victim was eventually flown to a Boston hospital where he underwent surgery.

Groton and Pepperell Police arrived at the scene and helped Dunstable Police search the area. The suspect in the stabbing, 18-year-old Aaron Fox of Pepperell, was arrested at the intersection of Adams and Kemp streets, according to police. He was charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, but could face additional charges.



"Our officers responded swiftly and professionally to a violent crime in progress and were able to render aid to the victim while simultaneously securing the perimeter," Police Chief James G. Downes III said. "We do not believe this was a random act of violence. The victim and suspect appear to be known to each other. This is a senseless act of violence in our community, but we want all residents to know that there does not appear to be any danger to the public."

The incident remains under investigation.
Thanks to its success in getting more college students to stay in school and graduate, Montana State University will receive the biggest single chunk  $4.5 million  from the Legislatures $15 million incentive fund for good performance.

The University of Montana is slated to receive slightly less next year, $4 million. Thats because UM has nearly 1,000 fewer students who come from Montana, compared to MSUs 8,516 in-state students.

However, when the flagship campuses affiliated two-year colleges are added in, UM and Missoula College combined will receive $4.8 million, compared to $4.6 million for MSU plus Gallatin College. Missoula College has five times as many students as the newer Gallatin College.

By Gail Schontzler Chronicle Staff Writer

Full Story: http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/montana_state_university/msu-earns-million-in-performance-money/article_431cba7a-96d8-53fb-b074-be389ba467ac.html
As we move forward toward transforming Eastern Idaho Technical College into a community college in Idaho Falls, a word of caution to supporters: No matter how much sense it makes for the region and the state, the supermajority will turn this into a battle.

The supermajority, an antique portion of Idahos tax code, makes it tricky to be both optimistic and pragmatic. Prepare for a process of careful, slow research and gird your loins for when the backlash inevitably comes the moment there is a glimmer of anything but positive news  especially when the as-yet unformed taxing district gets their tax estimate for sustaining a community college.

Once numbers are crunched  no matter how high or low they turn out to be, and almost no matter how much support there is for moving forward  you will feel the weight of the supermajority.

Full Story: http://www.postregister.com/articles/opinions/2016/02/28/house-editorial-college-supporters-never-too-early-prepare#
Between 10-15% of American women are estimated to drink some alcohol during pregnancy.

An increased propensity to drink is thought to be linked to prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) altering the neurophysiological response to the challenge of alcohol.

Scientists have found a significantly higher rate of alcohol use disorder among adolescents born to mothers who consumed three or more drinks when pregnant, compared with those whose mothers did not drink.

The contexts in which alcohol is consumed have been linked to the quantities and rates of consumption, affecting the decision to partake of a glass of wine with dinner or indulge in a binge-drinking session.

Alcohol exposure can begin early, during pregnancy, through breastfeeding or when participating in festive occasions. One study shows that 39% of 8-10-year-old children in Pennsylvania had drunk or sipped alcohol.

Factors affecting teen drinking habits are varied and complex. They include the desire to engage in risk-taking and rebellious behavior, as well as the wish to impress and to sustain popularity among peers.

Previous studies have shown that alcohol use and related disorders pose a significant threat to global health. Exposure to moderate amounts of alcohol in utero or during early life puts humans at greater risk for alcohol abuse in adolescence and adulthood.

Even a small dose of alcohol during pregnancy can increase the risk of alcoholism in the next three generations, according to a study published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Nicole Cameron, assistant professor of psychology at Binghamton University in New York, and colleagues collaborated with Michael Nizhnikov, of South Connecticut University, to investigate the effects of alcohol consumption during pregnancy on alcohol-related behavior in future generations.

To examine the effect, they gave pregnant rats the equivalent of one glass of wine each day for 4 consecutive days, during the rat equivalent of the second trimester in humans.

They then tested young offspring of both genders for water or alcohol consumption over two subsequent generations, to find out if rats whose mothers or grandmothers had consumed alcohol while pregnant were more likely to consume it themselves.

To evaluate sensitivity to alcohol, they looked at the righting reflex, or the ability to return the body to its default position, in this case, from lying down to standing up.

Adolescent male rats received a high dose of alcohol, which rendered them unresponsive and drunk on their backs. The team measured how long it took the rats to recover their senses and get back on their four paws.

Results showed that rats whose mothers or grandmothers consumed the equivalent of one glass of wine four times during the pregnancy, were more likely to have a preference for alcohol themselves, and their sensitivity to alcohol was altered compared with those who had not been exposed.

This implies that if a mother drinks even a small amount during pregnancy, there is a greater chance that her children and grandchildren will become alcoholic.

Cameron told Medical News Today:

Alcohol is a dirty drug that may affect multiple systems. We have selected this period of exposure because, in rats, many important developments take place at that time including dopaminergic axons from the midbrain reaching the cortical plate and the development of GABAergic neurons in cortical layer IV. Since the cortex plays a principal role in mediating ethanol-induced effects, these two events are particularly important in the study of alcohol sensitivity and abuse.

Other studies into the effects of alcohol exposure during pregnancy have focused on fetuses that were directly exposed or on cellular activity over multiple generations, but they have not looked at alcohol-related behaviors over the second or third generation.

The next step will be to identify how this effect passes through the generations by looking at the effects of alcohol on the genome and epigenome, which are the molecules that control gene translation.

MNT reported recently that the very first drink a person experiences will cause a neurological change in the brain.

When we asked Cameron whether she would expect the same effect to manifest more strongly in someone who was exposed during pregnancy, she replied: Yes, because the brain is developing, I expect the effect to be more potent in the fetus.
In the wake of recent controversies which have engulfed the nation, Former Naval Chief Ramdas has written a hard-hitting open letter to the President of India and Prime Minister Modi.

The contents of the letter point to the growing wave of Hindutva politics and saffronisation of the country. Ramdas has become one of the most prominent voices amongst a sea of dissenters who think that the NDA government is trying to weed out their critics.

Read the full text of the letter here:

Honourable President and Honourable Prime Minister,

It is with a heavy heart, that I write this open letter to you at a time when our beloved country and people are facing severe challenges and threats to our shared heritage.

I have served in the Armed Forces of India  joining soon after Independence as a 15-year-old, to end up as chief of the Indian Navy [1990 to 1993]. I have witnessed many transitions in India  from the horrors of partition in 1947 to the very different world of digital connectivity that we see today.

I also write to you as one who was brought up in the Hindu faith. However, the Hinduism I knew and experienced was gentle, inclusive, and filled with extraordinary diversity. My religion taught me values of love and respect for all beings. My brand of Hinduism was not filled with the kind of violence and intolerance represented by the current brand of Hindutva that seems to be fanning the flames of division and fear across the country.

Today, as a veteran in my eighties, I am forced to hang my head in shame as I witness a series of incidents and assaults on our fellow citizens, especially minorities and dalits. Our armed forces which I have had the honour to serve for nearly 45 years, have been an exemplar of Indias secular ethos. Be it in ships and submarines, or in planes and battle formations, we do not discriminate on the basis of caste or religion  we train, we fight, we live, we eat and we die together.

So why are we bearing witness to increasing attacks on minorities across the country, ever since the present government came to power in May 2014? It appears that certain communities are being singled out for special attention. Today, a Muslim has to prove his or her loyalty, and they are being repeatedly put in a situation where their places of worship are under attack, as indeed their eating habits, and other basic freedoms. The instances of completely unilateral mob behaviour leading to many deaths as well as direct insinuations being made by senior leaders, are too numerous and well known to be repeated. And the atrocities on Dalits continue with impunity.

There seems to be a systematic and well orchestrated attempt to impose a majoritarian single point agenda of creating a Hindu Rashtra in India  led by the RSS and their network of groups, which is disturbing to say the least. This in turn has resulted in a dangerous pattern of mob behaviour including intimidating and lynching people merely on the basis of rumours  in total disregard for the established rule of law. In many cases those responsible for implementing the law, have themselves displayed blatant partisan tendencies and behaviour.

Most shocking of all is the fact there has been no unambiguous condemnation of such actions and behaviour by those at the helm of affairs in the country.

Sadly, time and time again, the response of the government seems to indicate an almost studied, but certainly not benign, indifference. The co-ordinated response of those in government seems to be to downplay the serious and vicious nature of these allegations and attacks  by terming them "sad" and "unfortunate"  whereas there should be outrage and a demonstrated will to ensure that this society will not tolerate such behaviour. That there are MPs, Cabinet ministers and elected chief ministers who are in the forefront of these comments and actions, leads one to believe that the ruling party and its satellite organisations are working to a plan and with utter contempt for the rule of law and all norms of decency.

I do not need to point out to the top leadership today, that this is playing with fire in a nation where minorities  especially Muslims and Christians, as also dalits and adivasis, are already feeling discriminated and marginalised. Instead of treating this amazing diversity as our strength, today we are being seen by the international community as increasingly insular, parochial, intolerant, racist and even fascist. The violence visited upon vulnerable sections reinforces the image of India as an imperfect democracy where all forms of dissent are discouraged and human rights trampled upon with impunity.

The prime minister and his ministers in the government are sworn in by the President of India, and they take an oath pledging to uphold the Indian Constitution. Their failure to do so, as evidenced in the foregoing, is a serious matter and does not augur well either for national security or national integrity. The central and state governments must act swiftly, unequivocally condemn all such incidents, and ensure that justice is done and the guilty are punished. Such action alone will have a salutary deterrent effect on all those, be they fringe or mainstream, who are speaking and acting in many voices that are totally against and inimical to, our traditional ethos and the syncretic culture of our country and its people.

India represents a unique blend of peoples and cultures which have evolved over 5,000 years in a constantly changing and dynamic process. This diversity and unique nature of our society and people can probably never be replicated anywhere on this earth  and for this reason alone, the concept of a single religious identity or mono culture represents an insult to this ancient civilisation and heritage.

Honourable Mr President, honourable Mr Prime Minister, you have both sworn to honour the right of every single citizen to freedom of speech, worship, association as brilliantly articulated in the Indian Constitution. As a former serviceman and a veteran, like you, I too have promised to uphold the same constitution. It is our bounden duty that the elected government of this nation must honour the rights of every citizen of this land as amply spelled out in the Preamble of the Constitution and further elaborated in the Directive Principles of State policy.

As supreme commander and the chief executive  this is what you must ensure and implement by all the powers vested in you by the people of India.

If we do not stem the rot now  it might be too late. Indeed, we the people of India look to you to take all steps necessary to restore faith in our democracy and in the promise of bringing dignity, fraternity and equality to each of our citizens.

L Ramdas

Shri Pranab Mukherji Hon President of India Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi

Shri Narender Modi Hon Prime Minister 7, Race Course Road New Delhi

#Moham

Tell us what you think about the views of former Naval Chief Ramdas and what impact will it have in the parliament on Monday.
BAD AXE  Wireless broadband provider Air Advantage is considering expanding into Huron County.

Representatives of the Frankenmuth-based company recently met with Carl Osentoski, executive director of the Huron County Economic Development Corp., about the possibility of bringing a new data center to the Bad Axe area, which will increase its high speed wireless internet capabilities. Osentoski said while they talked in very general terms about the project, the objective is quite clear.

Theyre considering locating one, possibly several, data warehouses in the Upper Thumb area, Osentoski said.

Its an interesting opportunity. We have not seen yet what their location requirements are, so I cant really say where a potential spot for the center would be at this point. It gets a little more complicated when we see their request for proposal related to site specification.

Last week, Air Advantage officials spoke at the Tuscola County Economic Development Corp. meeting about possibly bringing a data center to the Caro area. Not long after that meeting, they met with Osentoski to let him know of their interest in this area.

Were intrigued by it, and interested, and excited, but its one of those things where hopefully we can pull this off and hopefully the company keeps moving it forward, Osentoski said. Were excited about it.

According to Osentoski, Michigan in general, and much of the Upper Midwest, is an attractive area for data warehousing for various reasons, including tax purposes, very few disastrous weather events and moderate temperatures. And as people start moving more and more information to the cloud, that information has to be housed someplace.

Osentoski said the EDC has been keeping a watchful eye on a massive data warehouse going up in the Grand Rapids area. He said it will result in the creation of hundreds of jobs and massive amount of money invested into the area.

The numbers Ive heard are in the billions of dollars invested over time, Osentoski said.

He added that with all of the work that has been done by many local internet, cable and cell phone providers to bolster Huron Countys fiber infrastructure, the area could prove to be a very attractive location for companies such as Air Advantage to locate.

We have a pretty robust fiber infrastructure up here, which is one of the requirements, he said.

Added Osentoski: We know the communities well, we know where theres some opportunities. We know in a general sense where the fiber networks are. We know where the electrical services are  so we can kind of triangulate on where some locations are once we understand what the company is looking for.
LANSING (AP)  Thousands of emails newly released by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder provide a behind-scenes look at how his administration tried to manage the Flint water crisis.

Some provide story lines on his administration's ineffectiveness in dealing with the issue, while thousands more are duplicative and dull. Others expose staffers' frustrations as the crisis spiraled out of control after the lead contamination issue was uncovered in September.

Here's a glimpse into the inboxes of Snyder's administration:

____

PRESCIENT WARNING

"This is a public relations crisis  because of a real or perceived problem is irrelevant  waiting to explode nationally," predicted Ari Adler, special projects manager, in January 2015.

___

WHERE'S THE EXIT?

The strain on Snyder's inner circle was becoming evident by last fall. In an Oct. 1 reply to senior adviser Dick Posthumus about scheduling a meeting, former Chief of Staff Dennis Muchmore lamented that he'd already met with two people the previous night, "Flint ministers this morning, Rep. (Sheldon) Neeley at 11:00, our entire group at 10, (then-Flint Mayor) Dayne Walling at 4:00 and (chief deputy treasurer Tom) Saxton at 4:30 all on Flint...help...get me out of this mess."

___

LEAD UN-AWARENESS WEEK

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared Oct. 25-31 national Lead Poisoning Prevention Week, but Snyder's staff opted out of issuing a proclamation.

"Given recent events I am not sure this is something we want to be issuing," wrote Laura Stoken, Snyder's manager of constituent relations.

___

GET OUT THERE

The communications staff discussed in Oct. 6 emails that Snyder should be more visible in Flint to show he cares.

Then-communications director Jarrod Agen (now chief of staff) wrote: "Don't forward or spread this around, but give me your take. I think we may need to get G into Flint this week. Unpublicized, but public. Filter distribution, testing visit, discussion with Superintendent, etc... (And probably again next week.)"

Then-Press Secretary David Murray responded: "I think this is a good idea. One thing we keep hearing is that the governor is not involved or is detached ... This would be good to show he's there and cares. And if we don't announce until he's there we can avoid the protests  and still get the optics."

___

CELEBRITY TRASH TALK

Documentary filmmaker and Flint native Michael Moore tweeted in December for Snyder to be recalled, arrested and imprisoned for "poisoning the ppl left behind in Flint," prompting this email from former communications director Meegan Holland: "The pot stirrer and attention whore."

___

CRISIS FOR CHRISTMAS

The holiday season was no respite for the administration due to the release of a critical auditor's report and a letter from a Snyder-appointed task force investigating the crisis that laid responsibility at the door of the state Department of Environmental Quality. Communications staffers grumbled as the story drew increasing media attention from The New York Times, the BBC and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow.

In a Dec. 21 email responding to an apparent lunch invitation, constituent relations manager Laura Stoken writes, "I'm hoping I can get (away) today  I am anticipating getting slammed" because of a Maddow program.

Separately, Stoken asked whether a form letter being sent to people who write to Snyder should be revised to respond to Maddow's pointed coverage. Holland replied that Maddow has stirred up controversy but adds, "to answer all her inaccuracies would take more time than what you'd want to give."

Also on Dec. 21, Murray sent a message to senior policy adviser Karen McPhee with the subject line, "Tell me if I was overacting to this," referring to a radio report that mentions him. "You are not over-reacting," McPhee responds, adding that the "first sentence is insulting ... personal and professionally." She also describes the report as "childish" and "very immature."

___

NO SNYDER FOR YOU

When a New York Times reporter requested an interview with Snyder, Murray sought advice from others on Jan. 5: "Do you think there's benefit in giving the New York Times 10 minutes on this issue? He's going to write the story whether we are in it or not, and after the horribly one-sided Washington Post story, it might be helpful to get our side in a national publication."

They ultimately decided to offer up a "surrogate," but debated over who it should be.

___

WANTED: COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

A local television reporter contacted the communications staff after Snyder accepted the resignations of Department of Environmental Quality Director Dan Wyant and communications director Brad Wurfel.

"So I'm just throwing this out there but someone will need to answer questions. There are few people who know the story better than I do. (...) I know that it would be basically career suicide," the reporter asked.

That same day, a communications director in another state agency emailed Holland to express interest in the same job. Holland wrote: "All I'm saying to potential candidates is think long and hard on whether your heart can stand the pressure of that job  you'll have just about an entire city hating your guts before they even meet you."
The bill also would let hunters import 41 polar bear carcasses shot in Canada before they were declared threatened in 2008 and allow limited imports of ivory from African elephants.

The bill was approved, 242-161, and now goes to the Senate. Twelve Democrats joined 230 Republicans in favor of the measure.

Supporters said the bill would protect and expand the rights of sportsmen to hunt, fish and enjoy other recreation on public lands.

"Washington bureaucrats don't understand that federal lands can be used in multiple ways," said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. "By overregulating, these bureaucrats do a lot of damage to our fishermen, shooters and outdoor enthusiasts, stopping perfectly legal and safe outdoor activities. Washington regulations should enable access (to public lands), not stop it."

Opponents said the bill would roll back important protections for wolves and other wildlife and undermine international efforts to combat ivory trafficking.

"This legislation would open up our most pristine protected lands to road-building, motorized vehicles and other activities that undermine the explicit intent of the Wilderness Act," said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters.

The bill waives crucial environmental reviews for decisions affecting hundreds of millions of acres of federal lands, diverts funding meant for conservation and threatens to increase the amount of lead poisoning of birds and other wildlife, Karpinski said.

The bill also contains a provision to remove gray wolves in the Great Lakes region and Wyoming off the federal endangered list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has long said that wolf populations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Wyoming have all recovered enough to return responsibility for managing the animals to the state.

The agency has made several attempts to take wolves in the four states off the endangered list but has been blocked by federal courts. The House bill bars further court challenges.

Wolves are well-established in the western Great Lakes and Northern Rockies after being shot, poisoned and trapped into near-extermination in the lower 48 states in the last century. Altogether, their estimated population now exceeds 5,000.

Animal protection advocates contend the wolves' situation remains uncertain and have sued repeatedly over more than a decade to block efforts to remove them from protection under the Endangered Species Act.

Drew Caputo, vice president of the environmental group Earthjustice, called the House vote unfortunate. If enacted, the legislation "could prove devastating for the recovery of wolves in the continental United States," Caputo said.
Almost 100 people mostly from Haiti who were rescued from an overcrowded boat off the Florida coast had no food or water for...
Military hospitals and clinics allowing doctors to practice a variety of specialties are critical to keeping medical staff combat-ready, they say.

"To ensure the readiness of the entire medical team for a broad range of missions we must maintain and sustain our hospitals and clinics as our readiness and training platforms. This system ensures our force is trained, ready and relevant," Brig. Gen. Robert Tenhet, the Army deputy surgeon general, testified Feb. 26 before a House subcommittee.

Lawmakers said they're looking for ways to balance that combat readiness with reforming the military health care system.

"The purpose for this hearing is that as we undertake the reformation of the military healthcare system, we want to make sure that we keep readiness first and foremost in our minds, and we don't impede, one, the readiness of our military medical providers -- but certainly that we don't hinder the medical readiness of our troops," said Rep. Joe Heck, a Republican from Nevada and chairman of the House Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee.

The hearing was the latest in a series of meetings examining military healthcare before both the House and Senate armed services personnel subcommittees.

Lawmakers have said they plan to propose a series of health care reforms as part of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act process, but want to strike a balance between keeping training options available for military healthcare providers, lowering taxpayer military healthcare costs and providing excellent care to military member, families and retirees.

The Pentagon's budget request for fiscal 2017, which begins Oct. 1, proposes recasting the primary Tricare plans under different names, raising costs, particularly for retirees, and pushing beneficiaries to use military providers instead of civilian doctors. Lawmakers have not specifically addressed that plan during the hearings, but have indicated that the price increases for users are unacceptable.

One common criticism of military healthcare among lawmakers is that many of the system's providers focus on military family care instead of combat readiness. But military officials at the hearing said that those services do play a readiness role both from a stateside perspective as well as during deployment.

"We need to maintain readiness not only of our active duty members but of our families also, and the OBGYN and pediatric care that we provide help us to maintain that family readiness so when that active duty member is deployed they have confidence that their family will be taken care of," said Maj. Gen. Dorothy Hogg, the Air Force's deputy surgeon general.

Tenhet, the Army deputy surgeon general, said women today represent a high percentage of troops on the battlefield.

"In any given [forward operating base] we may have upwards of 30 percent females, so a 'gynecologist in theater' is not a misnomer," he said. "Eighty percent of our evacuations are disease non-battle injuries as well. So sustaining just within the trauma system itself, we have to look across the entire system of medicine."

--Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @amybushatz.
Red Sox outfielder Rusney Castillo wont be handed a job in 2016, writes Ian Browne of MLB.com. He faces stiff internal competition from Travis Shaw, Chris Young, and Brock Holt for playing time. The 28-year-old Cuban had a challenging first full season in the majors, hitting .253/.288/.359 in 289 plate appearances. He did chip in with possibly elite defense. Castillo blames injuries which prevented him from maintaining his in-season conditioning last year. That led to him wearing down quickly when healthy. He put in a full offseason of work to hopefully counteract that cycle. Per Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe, Castillo needs to show he can be healthy while playing every day.

Heres more from the AL East:
The Blue Jays announced that they have signed right-hander Rafael Soriano. The reliever is represented by Octagon, as shown in the MLBTR Agency Database. Soriano will earn $750K if he makes the major league roster, Jon Heyman of CBSSports.com tweets.

Soriano, 36, was said to be pitching well in the Dominican League and drew attention from a few MLB teams. The veteran missed most of the 2015 season, not signing until June and then dealing with shoulder troubles, and the Cubs released him in early September. Prior to that, however, he had two relatively successful seasons as the Nationals closer and was terrific in ninth-inning work for the Yankees in 2012.

Soriano has a 2.89 ERA, 9.1 K/9, and 2.8 BB/9 in 14 seasons spent with the Mariners, Braves, Rays, Yankees, Nationals, and Cubs. Prior to the 2015 season, Soriano was drawing interest from the Blue Jays, but ultimately did not sign with them. Now, hell try and crack the roster in Toronto for 2016.
MUSKEGON, MI - Fans of Alexander Zonjic's Shoreline Jazz Festival won't have to wait until summer to hear the sweet sounds of their favorite music.

In an effort to get people excited for the third incarnation of the fast-growing festival which will be held at Heritage Landing on Aug. 27-28, four national artists will perform during a preview concert next month.

The Shoreline Jazz Festival Preview Concert will be held at the Frauenthal Center for the Performing Arts in Muskegon at 7 p.m. on March 12.

"It's a sneak peek," Zonjic, a professional flutist from Windsor, Ontario, said. "It's the idea of putting together an event that keeps the festival out front but also takes advantage of an untapped market. This event is a little more local and designed for me to thank the sponsors and to whet the appetites."

Zonjic is among those who will perform. Joining him is New York based contemporary jazz pianist Alex Bugnon, chart-topping Chicago based saxophonist Nick Collionne, Detroit's "Queen of the Blues" Thornetta Davis and saxophone virtuoso Eric Darius.

The preview concert is meant to have a more local focus than the summer festival, which draws from throughout Michigan and from Chicago, Indianapolis and Milwaukee, among others.

In addition, 300 tickets will be given to music students from the Muskegon Intermediate School District courtesy of DTE Energy in an effort to get young people excited about the art form.

"We are very excited to get the young musicians of Muskegon involved and engaged in the arts, by providing this special opportunity for them to experience world class music," Zonjic said. "We send out a big thank you to DTE for their support of young people and music education in the community."

Tickets to the March 12 concert are $30 for the main floor and $20 for the balcony. A $100 VIP front row package including an afterglow party, refreshments and meet and greet with artists is also available. For tickets go to www.startickets.com or call 800-585-3737.

The Shoreline Jazz Festival is the fastest-growing festival in Muskegon.

Organized and promoted by Zonjic, the festival has featured the talents Kenny G, Al Jarreau, Boney James, Will Downing, Bettye LaVette, Lalah Hathaway and Ruben Studdard in its first two years of existence.

The third incarnation will be held at Heritage Landing on Aug. 27-28. For information, visit www.shorelinejazzfestival.com.

Brandon Champion is a journalist for MLive.com. Email him at bchampio@mlive.com and follow him Facebook and Twitter.
First phase of I-75 construction complete with reopening of southbound lanes

David C. Bristow | MLive.com Cars travel down I-75 South between Hess and Dixie Highway Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015.

(David C. Bristow | dbristow@mlive.com )

If you're heading south for spring break, beware: I-75 is closed for weeks near the Kentucky-Tennessee border.

A rock slide caused the closure, according to the Tennessee Department of Transportation. There is no estimate on when the interstate highway will reopen.

WTOL News reports rocks were falling and hitting vehicles Friday, Feb. 26.

The Tennessee Department of Transportation lists the following detours:

Motorists traveling I-75 South can take Exit 160 (Jellico). Follow US 25W / SR 297 West to SR 63 South, and then re-enter I-75 South.

Motorists traveling I-75 North can take Exit 134 (Caryville/Lafollette). Follow US 25W north to Lafollette, continuing to Jellico, and then re-enter I-75 North.

WTOL reports the detour normally takes about an hour, but could take hours with heavier traffic.

Drivers can call the 511 phone traffic update at 1-877-244-0065 or visit the 511 website for traffic updates in the area.

Lindsay Knake is a cops and courts reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Follow her on twitter or contact her at 989-372-2498 or lknake@mlive.com.
Axel_MilkyWay.jpg

Axel Mellinger, assistant professor of physics at Central Michigan University, made this image of the Milky Way that was used to describe the discovery of gravitational waves.

(Photo Courtesy of Axel Mellinger)

Axel Mellinger

MOUNT PLEASANT, MI -- The work of a Central Michigan University assistant professor of physics helped scientists tell the world about their historic discovery of gravitational waves -- the first ever detected.

CMU News reported that Axel Mellinger put together the panoramic image of the Milky Way galaxy used in the official announcement by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. Scientists said earlier this month that they had detected a gravitational wave created by the collision of two black holes 1.3 billion light years away.

Albert Einstein had predicted gravity waves in 1915 as part of his general theory of relativity. "Gravitational waves carry information about their dramatic origins and about the nature of gravity that cannot otherwise be obtained," the observatory release of the news said.

Mellinger had put together his illustration of the galaxy in 2009 using 3,000 separate images taken in Michigan, South Africa and Texas, CMU reported. It took him two years.

Since the gravitational wave announcement, the observatory has agreed to credit Mellinger's work, which was uncredited in its initial release, CMU reported.
28.02.2016 LISTEN

GENERAL BUHARI AS A POLITICAL PERSONIFICATION OF FUHRER AKUFO-ADDO AND PRESIDENT MAHAMA

It is the height of moral hypocrisy to elevate Fuhrer Akufo-Addo above any convenient threshold of political sainthood with Buhari, in spite of Buharis widely presumed incorruptibility and his coevality with the tired and untried Fuhrer Akufo-Addo, Ghanas aspiring political bellhop. The question may not however be so different in the case of a comparison between Buhari and President Mahama.

That is, there exists a striking subtle parallelism between the latter two on the strength of their political personalities and pending political legacies. This subtle parallelism arises when Buharis budget padding is cautiously juxtaposed with the putative inflated price tags of public or infrastructural capital under the Mahama presidency. One wonders whether President Mahama and Buhari were/are not privy to these scheming tendencies toward political corruption.

Certainly, Buhari should have been part of or chaired the cabinet meeting that produced the budget padding scandal, eventually receiving or earning his official seal of approval. And yes, he has apologized stating in no uncertain terms that the padded budget was an honest mistake only for him to turn around and remove the head of the Budget Office from his position (INPS). Still he returned a revised version of the original padded budget to the Senate for a second approval.

But that too became tainted with similar accusations being leveled against the Buhari government. This happening is no different from the brash political caricature Kennedy Agyapong, once described as a leading member of the comity of braggarts by one newspaper, calling Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, one of Fuhrer Akufo-Addos right-hand men, and the executive committee that ran Fuhrer Akufo-Addos presidential bid thieves.

It appears Buhari, President Mahama, and Fuhrer Akufo-Addo may all be sleeping on the job, to say the least. Thus these three political characters, particularly the last two, do not deserve the noble title of political sainthood. Reflecting on the legacy of Gandhi in a 1949 essay titled Reflections on Gandhi, George Orwell wrote: Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved innocentSainthood is also a thing that human beings must avoidthe average human being is a failed saint.

At this point we should have to state that Wole Soyinka may appear to share Orwells view when, for instance, he wrote of Buharis contempt for law and constitution in the essay, The Challenge of ChangeA Burden of Choice We understand that Soyinka could exaggerate political facts every now and then but this does not give us the excuse to totally dismiss his sometimes insightful political commentaries. It is also interesting mentioning that the word burden appears in a titular book of essays, The Burden of Memory, the Muse of Forgiveness, he [Soyinka] published in 1999 (see also Soyinkas other essay The Crimes of Buhari or The Nigerian Nation Against General Buhari).

This anorexic book of essays is a serious analytic indictment of the legacy of Apartheid as well as of the political and moral shortcomings of South Africas Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Soyinka brought the same candor he deployed in his caustic critique of the TRC to bear on his moral and political critique of Buhari. But we as a people have abjectly failed to make the potential legacies of our current political leaders highly readable open books in the public domain. Let us also not overlook the so-called Umaru Dikko Affair and 53 Suitcases Saga during Buharis leadership of Nigeria from 1983 to 1985.

This is because we are wont to promote our lackluster politicians to a higher valence of incorruptibility and sainthood, an unhelpful and misguided project, whereby we ignore the element of humanism, public morality, political spirituality, and civic responsibility in our politics, with Soyinka in particular making humanism the centerpiece or trademark of his critical political commentaries. All we hear from these politicians are puerile campaign promises, with no detailed roadmap for programmatic execution particularly from Fuhrer Akufo-Addo and his still-born tribal cabal of political advisors, useful idiots, and strategists, thus in the process weakening Ghanas democracy further.

But what we call democracy in Ghana is not what, in our opinion, we shall call true democracy. Rather, it is a duopolistic oligarchy executed through an imported economic philosophy based on kleptomaniac slavocracy, be it the laissez-faire capitalism of the NPP or the social democracy of the NDC. This creeping kleptomaniac plantocracy is the bane of Ghanas development in the Fourth Republic. And it is as though politics brings out the basest of human instinct.

BUHARI AND FUHRER AKUFO-ADDO

There is another angle to the striking resemblances between Buhari and Fuhrer Akufo-Addo. Like the Machiavellian Fuhrer Akufo-Addoone of the key political engineers who successfully schemed the overthrow of Paul Afoko and other perceived supporters of the so-called Kufuor faction within the NPPwho together with his uncle, William Ofori-Atta masterminded the electoral defeat of Victor Owusu in 1979, Buhari also participated in three major coups (1966, 1975, 1983) that toppled governments. Indeed, Buhari and Fuhrer Akufo-Addo are alike in some interesting aspects. The question for us to answer now is whether a potential presidency of government of Fuhrer Akufo-Addo will dare embody some of the negative aspects of Buharis legacy.

THE GHANAIAN POLITICAL ANIMAL, EXPENSIVE SHIT, & THE WORLD OF UNCONSCIOUS LAVATORY

The Ghanaian political animal is diabolical for this very reason, a good reason to tame that political animal. It is not in question that the Ghanaian political animal does not value the moral high ground of humanism in the execution of its constitutional mandate, which is why we also want to say the common denominator of our humanity is the bane of our existence and development.

Therefore, David Hinds of Steele Pulse was and still is right to call this place the world of unconscious lavatory on the track Wild Goose Chase, just as we may say of Fela Kutis Expensive Shit. Politics is, indeed, an expensive shit and which, of all things, is practiced on the world of unconscious lavatory. How right Fela Kuti and David Hinds could have been! In this regard, the International Press Syndicate (INPS) makes the following incisive observation regarding the slumberous Buhari presidency and the so-called budget padding scandal:

The key line items you find in the budget are a disservice to the idea that this government has come to represent changeIt would have been better that they took a very good look at every line item and ensured that it was justifiedThe budget has become an instrument of the corruption process in this country over the last few yearsIf the Buhari administration doesnt succeed in stopping that process, then the anti-corruption war will be completely futileIts ridiculousIt doesnt seem like the government managed to put together a first budget or has any control of its expenditure framework

FUHRER AKUFO-ADDO, BOB MARLEY, MUTABARUKA, PRESIDENT MAHAMA

The two afore-mentioned questions (see Part 1) constitute the moral thrust of Bob Marleys Ambush in the Night, a track on which Bob made politicians think they are too smart to play on the intelligence of the electorate by, among other things, bribing with their guns, spare parts, and money; trying to belittle our integrity. They say what we knowAnd we are so ignorantthrough political strategyWell, what we know is not what they tell usWe are not ignorant, I mean it

Mutabarukas The Peoples Court 1, on the other hand, recommends a prison term of 1000 year for corrupt politicians, a lenient verdict contingent upon those sentenced politicians who read Marcus Garveys The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey. This is a book every intelligent African leader or an aspiring politician must read. We also recommend it for our readership, the general public, students, university professors, parliamentarians, policy makers, members of the judiciary, the clergy, journalists, doctors, scientists, teachers, musicians, etc. etc.

OUR FINAL THOUGHTS

We shall conclude the essay with these powerful words by Soyinka (our emphasis):

We must not be sanguine, or complacent. Eternal, minute-to-minute vigilance remains the watchword

This persistent candidate [Buhari] seeks return, but let him understand that it can only be as a debtor to the past, and that the future cannot wait to collect. If this collective leap of faith is derided, repudiated or betrayed under a renewed immersion in the ambiance of power or retrogressive championing, of a resumption of clearly repudiated social directions, we have no choice but to revoke an unspoken pact and resume our march to that yet elusive space of freedom, however often interrupted, and by whatever means we can humanly muster. And if in the process, the consequence is national hara-kiri, no one can say that there had been no deluge of warnings.

The art of leadership is complex and unenviable. Among its most basic, simple demands however, is the capacity for empathy, since a leader does not preside over stones but palpable humanity. Thus, in asserting a failure in leadership in a rivaling candidate, I pose only one question, a question of basic humanism that is directed at a leader who equally demands that a nation make a leap of faith for him also, that a people presume his capability for self-transformation. That question is this:

If you had received news of your daughters kidnapping, how long would it take you to spring to action? Instantly? One day? Two? Three? A week? Or maybe TEN days?

While we await the answer, the clock of Change cannot tick sufficiently fast!

FINAL QUESTIONS

Will the Ghanaian electorate take a deeper look at the larger questions Soyinka is raising as they go to the polls to elect their president and parliamentarians? What is President Mahama learning from Soyinka? What about our parliamentarians? And what about the tired Fuhrer Akufo-Addo? Who is the quality of the caliber of persons Fuhrer Akufo-Addo is going to surround himself with? Does Fuhrer Akufo-Addo have the balls to read the riot act to his family members and friends, warning his family members particularly of dire consequences for their actions if they dare commit crimes whilst he is office? What about President Mahama insofar as his family members?

A WORD OF ADVICE AND WARNING TO OUR CORRPT AND UNCONSCIONABLE POLITICIANS

We wait to seeTime, they say, is the only constant variable with the power of omniscience and omnipresence. Thus, let time prove us wrong where we have gone wrong. Let the people of Ghana therefore join Bob Marley as he sings the track Time Will Tell: Oh, ma children are cryin'. Oh, children, weep no more! Oh, ma sycamore tree, saw the freedom tree. All youhave spoke: Oh, children, weep no more; Weep no more: children, weep no moreTime aloneoh, will tellThink you are in heaven, but ya living in hell

The politician, who thinks he is smart and therefore lives in heaven at the peoples expense, actually lives in hell. Let the people therefore turn the heaven of the corrupt politician into hell, for this is the only way they can see the sycamore tree, saw the freedom tree. Weep no mores, says the great Marley. Thus Ghanaians should expect no less as they fight for social justice!

References

Wole Soyinka. The Challenge of ChangeA Burden of Choice. Sahara Reporters. February 6, 2015.

Ghanaweb. Im Too Old To StealAkufo-Addo. Sourced from Myjoyonline.com. September 4, 2015.

Nicholas Ibekwe. Inside the Massive Fraud in Buharis 2016 Budget. Sahara Reporters. February 9, 2016.

Ghanaweb. No Country Can Uproot Corruption Akufo-Addo. Sourced from Starrfmonline.com. October, 2015.

International Press Syndicate (INPS). Familiar Waste and Excess in Nigerias Record Budget. February 16, 2016.

Ghanaweb. Wanted! Kennedy Agyapong on the Run. Sourced from The Enquirer. January 10, 2014.

Ghanaweb. Akufo-Addo Snubbed Otumfuos Effort To Resolve NPP CrisisAfoko. February 25, 2016.

Wole Soyinka. The Crimes of Buhari (or The Nigerian Nation Against General Buhari). Sahara Reporters. January 14, 2007.

Emmanuel Aziken, Tina Akannam, & Political Editor. 53 Suitcases: Buhari Blasts Atiku, Jonathan. Vanguard. March 21, 2011.
28.02.2016 LISTEN

Hillary Clinton has secured a big win over Bernie Sanders in the South Carolina primary, the latest battleground in the race to be Democratic presidential nominee.

Victory for Mrs Clinton was widely expected but it gives her momentum ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries in 11 states next week.

Tomorrow this campaign goes national, she told cheering supporters.

Mr Sanders has congratulated her but said the campaign was just beginning.

With almost all the votes counted Mrs Clinton leads Mr Sanders by an almost 50-point margin.

Eight out of 10 black voters backed Mrs Clinton, exit polls suggested, a key section of the Democratic electorate.

It is Mrs Clintons third victory in four contests, after wins in Iowa and Nevada. She lost to Mr Sanders in New Hampshire.

Eight years ago, she lost the South Carolina primary overwhelmingly to then Senator Barack Obama.

It was a different story this time. Soon after polls closed she told supporters: You sent a message  in America when we stand together, there is no barrier too big to break. Rivals turn on Trump

On the Republican side, billionaire Donald Trump leads a field that has dwindled to five from 12 a month ago.

.

He won the Nevada caucus on Wednesday by a wide margin  correspondents say he is beginning to look unstoppable.

In her victory speech, Mrs Clinton aimed a dig at the man tipped to be the Republican presidential candidate.

Despite what you hear, we dont need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great, she said, referencing Mr Trumps campaign slogan.

Mr Trumps closest challengers in the Republican field, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, sought to put him under pressure by releasing several years of their tax returns.

The property magnate says he will not release his until an audit has been completed; his rivals accuse him of holding back the information to hide exaggerations about his wealth.

Mr Sanders, a veteran senator from Vermont, said he was now focusing on the Super Tuesday vote.

In politics, on a given night, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Tonight we lost, he told reporters in Minnesota, one of the states taking part.

I congratulate Secretary Clinton on her very strong victory. Tuesday, over 800 delegates are at stake, and we intend to win many of them.

But there was some welcome news for Mr Sanders after he was endorsed by Robert Reich, a former official in Bill Clintons presidential administration.

-bbc


On February 11, 2016, Chevron Nigeria Limited, (CNL), operator of the joint venture (JV) between the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and CNL (the NNPC/CNL JV), launched a youth-in-agriculture (agripreneur) program, aimed at providing training opportunities for young men and women to venture into agribusiness. CNL launched the agripreneur program in collaboration with the Itsekiri Regional Development Committee (IRDC), the Egbema and Gbaramatu Central Development Foundation (EGCDF), the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND).

The pilot program which is targeted at forty youths from the Itsekiri and Ijaw communities in areas where the NNPC/CNL JV operates in Delta State was flagged off in a ceremony at PINDs Economic Development Centre at Egbokodo, Warri. The event was attended by various stakeholders including representatives of the Delta State Government, the IRDC and the EGCDC (the bodies representing the Itsekiri and the Ijaw communities in the NNPC/CNL JV Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU) process), IITA, PIND, CNL and the National Petroleum Investment Management Services (NAPIMS), an arm of NNPC.

Mr. Deji Haastrup, CNLs General Manager, Policy, Government and Public Affairs, stated that the objectives of the agripreneur pilot program, which will gulp over N188 million, include empowering youths to embrace agriculture and agribusiness as income generating activities and training them on aquaculture, cassava, plantain/banana production and processing. In addition, the pilot program will assist the Community Youths in Agribusiness Group (CYAG) to enhance the sustainability of the program.

Mr. Haastrup stated that from the inception of the GMoU in 2005 to 2015, the NNPC/CNL JV has contributed about N16.7 billion to the eight Regional Development Committees (RDCs) - including EGCDF and IRDC - through the GMoU process. Mr. Haastrup emphasized that following the successes recorded in infrastructural development in the communities, the GMoU+ was introduced as anew direction of the community development concept which focuses on business development, income generation and economic empowerment as well as third party partnership and collaboration that align with the Sustainable Development Goals. This project is in line with the GMoU+ and the Economic Growth Opportunities/Sustainable Livelihood Assessment studies opportunities identified.

The Group General Manager, NAPIMS, Mr. Dafe Stephen Sejebor, represented by Mrs. Clementina Arubi, Deputy Manager, Community Development expressed delight at the agripreneur program and stated that the program will help encourage the youths to pursue other economic activities outside crude oil in the light of the challenging economic situation in the country.

The Delta State Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr. Austin Chikezie represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mr. Ede Oghoro, applauded the efforts to embrace agriculture as an income generation activity.

Mr. Oghoro said that the agripreneur program accords with the State governments Agenda of Strategic wealth creation projects and provision of jobs for all Deltans; Meaningful peace building platforms aimed at political and social harmony; Agricultural reforms and accelerated industrialization; Relevant Health and Education policies andTransformed environment through urban renewal (SMART), and pledged that trained youths from the program would be integrated into the states agricultural reform agenda, thereby amplifying the benefits of the youth initiative.

Top representatives of EGCDF and the IRDC also commended the NNPC/CNL JV for initiating the program and promised to support and actively participate in it.

The Deputy Director General, Partnerships and Capacity Development, IITA, Dr. Kenton Dashiell, described the initiative as an opportunity that would create wealth and jobs for young men and women in the communities where the NNPC/CNL JV operates. Also Dr. Alfred Dixon, IITA Head of Partnerships Coordination, said the approach of mentoring the youth and working together with them in the communities are other unique features of the program. We will see peer influence at work here in the oncoming days. Youths want to listen to youths, and we are confident that the trained youths in IITA will transfer knowledge, innovations and skills to their counterparts in these communities, Dr. Dixon explained.

Conceived and developed based on the IITA Youth Agripreneurs (IYA) model, the agripreneur program will provide mentorship and hands-on training to youths in the Niger Delta region, and will help them develop agribusiness enterprises along the cassava, plantain and aquaculture value chains. The two- year program builds on past successful agricultural interventions such as those implemented by PIND and other development partners.

Evelyn Ohanwusi, Team Leader of IYA, called on youths in the region to key into the program. Ms Ohanwusi and her team are bringing to the program, their personal experiences as agripreneurs, and are willing to share their experiences and expertise with the young men and women in the Niger Delta. When we started a few years ago as agripreneurs in IITA, most of us never viewed agriculture as a goldmine, but today, we are proud to be called farmers. What happened to us and convinced us to take agriculture as a profession is what we want to transfer to the youths in the communities that we will be working in under this program. Agriculture is good, it is sweet and we want you to join us as we make our communities better and create jobs, not only for ourselves, but also for other youths in this region, Ms Ohanwusi said.

According to Dr. Dashiell, the youth program, otherwise known as Chevron Agripreneurs, will be primarily implemented by IYA with technical assistance from IITA experts.

For more information, contact:

Evelyn Ohanwusi, [email protected]
28.02.2016 LISTEN

Its so pathetic and uncomprehend able how students of higher institutions depend solely on their grade points or cumulative grade points to help them out in the race for sustenance outside school.

As a student of a higher institution, a federal institution for that matter, because you may want to think my research setting isnt broad enough. I have come to the realisation that students dont think out of the box. They only seem to ruminate and ponder on the present while living the future to work its way out. Its that bad that they value the grade points even more than the final certificate they will be entitled to at the end of their academic pursuit. All this isnt to mean that I am not a fan of education, because I wouldnt want to try ignorance either, all I am emphasising and accentuating on is the fact that students of this dispensary are hind sighted.

Its crystal clear that the society we have found ourselves in today has nothing to offer, why then do we dogmatically follow a line to creating more difficulty to the problematic society? Countless graduates are out there without anything to put food on their tables, and this are the same people who passed through higher institutions like the present hind sighted ones. Yet the latter doesnt seem concerned about the situation, all he or she fights for is making it out brilliantly and joining in the tussle out there, how myopic this is.

I quite agree that you have to be intelligent, its one thing the society requires, also coming out with good grades isnt a bad idea, but coming out of a universe into another without having anything learned to implement in the next stage of life is what is of paramount importance in this discuss. Higher institution is a universe on its own, so good it has all you can think of. The problem then is why someone would pass through a system for years and have nothing to produce for those years other than a good grade point metamorphose into a good certificate. We have seen graduates who have graduated with good results and yet have carved niches for their selves outside the school universe. Isnt that interesting to hear?

A young man graduated just recently from the University of Ilorin, he graduated with a first class from the progressive faculty of law. You would think he has made himself a hot cake, of course he is, but the society we are doesnt recognize that, and so you have to help yourself out. Do you know what this guy did? He helped himself grow in the craft of writing and blogging and today he can drop his law certificate and face what has brought food to his table. And that is basically my point; he doesnt have to keep throwing his certificates here and there.

There are so many things to learn in higher institutions, some become better writers, a particular set invest their time in entrepreneurship, and some learn political crafts and a host of others help their selves in other aspects. How then do we still have graduates who still depend on government or people for job?

When a deep insight is given to how students of developed nations balance work and schooling together a lot would be understood. Most times its not about the money its about the experience they gather, and how they can use that in making their selves better people and a less burden to their society. Would you even dare try that in academic settings in Nigeria? Thats not my route on the discuss; my say is about students who dont get anything done when in school, most of who regret at the end. I know of a young man, who does more than enough for himself to become a better person, and with hard work, dedication and academic seriousness, he has climbed heights today. Many of the great men and women we see out their today, taught of distinguishing their selves while in school. You have first class in English language; do you know how many other first class students each university will produce from that same department? The point is you distinguishing yourself from others.

Wouldnt it be mind perturbing to see someone who isnt doing something to make him or herself a better person advising a foresighted student that he or she wastes a lot of time? Everything that brings about success is regulated; it just doesnt come out of mistake. For a person to be foresighted, they surely would be academically sound, dont you get? It takes only a sound mind to think in a sound manner.

It should be noted that some parents are the cause of the narrowed thinking of their children. They would tell their children to read and careless about the future, as if that was the way their own success flew at them. Seriously parents should begin thinking otherwise, let this children face little tasking situations in school to see how well or bad they may tackle those times. No wonder some higher institution students call their parents at the slightest challenge. Now tell me, how such unrefined students can input changes in the society.

Come to think of it, people complain of not getting employed, they complain of been turned down at any opportunity and they cant give solutions to applied questions or simple questions during interviews, this are the GP PEOPLE or the FISRT CLASS IS A MUST SET. What are we then saying? Should you be in the post of a general manager, would you employ those set of people? And as a matter of fact, what then is there impact to the society?

Its simple, if you leave the system- Universities, Polytechnic, Monotechnics, College of educations etc. without feeling the necessary holes, there is much possibility for regrets. No wonder why some lecturers compulsory presentations in their grading patterns, this is for no other reason than to build students. It is high time students thought about the benefits in thinking outside the box than been myopic and narrow-minded in reasoning.

Tijani Sheriffdeen is a young writer; he nurses scintillating passion for literature, journalism, photography and activism. He is currently an anatomy undergraduate student at the University of Ilorin. He hails from Oyo state.
EDWARD MAHAMA

28.02.2016 LISTEN

The 2016 flagbearer of the People's National Convention, Dr. Edward Nasigire Mahama has condemn the state of the nation address presented by President Mahama to parliament suggesting that the Eastern corridor and the Upper West Region roads are in good shape and speedily nearing completion describing it as a 'politics of deception.

Considering the President's account very deceitful, Dr. Edward Mahama said it does not reflect the true picture of what is on ground calling on President Mahama to as a matter of urgency come out and tell Ghanaians the truth.

Dr. Edward Mahama shared his frustration in an interview with newsmen on Friday in Accra to register his displeasure a day after the Presidents state of the nation address was presented to parliament.

According to him, the road in question the President makes too big a mouth of was nothing good to write home about.

He claimed he has toured the roads in the Upper West, Upper East and through the Eastern Corridor through Bankpurugu, Nakpanduri down to Yendi and observed they are unmotorable.

He said his checks revealed only the stretch of road leading up to Hamile a border town from Burkina Faso has been tarred. In addition to that the road from Wa to Tumu was left untarred except a little portion outside Wa which is tarred leaving other portion in a very bad shape.

Dr. Mahama also pointed out to the road from Tumu, a small town in the Upper West Region to Bolga in the Upper East Region and also from Bawku right down to Hohoe in the Volta Region saying it has been left untarred.

He added that only the stretch from Kedzebi has some of its portion in good shape.

Dr. Mahama recounted vividly how in 2012 prior to the elections the NDC government brought Chinese contractors to the Eastern Corridor road with the aim of fixing it but left unattended to which dawned on him that it was a mirage; a ploy to throw dust in the eyes of Ghanaians which he describe as politics of deception.

"The politics of deception is what irritates me. I feel the President is being led astray by his men to deceive Ghanaians and somebody aspiring to be a President I find that obnoxious and I think he should thoroughly investigate the facts on the ground then quickly come out and tell Ghanaians the whole truth he indicated.
Accra, Feb. 28, GNA - Madam Josephine Nzerem, Regional Director of Ashoka Anglophone West Africa, has called on African youth to play the lead role in solving the problems of the society.

She said the youth must be patriotic and change makers by playing a role that would bring solutions to challenges in their communities.

Madam Nzerem said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency when Ashoka Innovators For The Public, an international organization, held its 'Ashoka 2016 Change-maker Summit'.

The event was on the theme: 'Ignite' and held at Osu Ako Adjei, a suburb of Accra.

Ashoka Innovators For The Public are groups of young social entrepreneurial fellows with groupings in 88 countries across the world and a membership of 3,000.

In Africa, they are in five countries, Accra, Lagos, Dakar, Nairobi, and Johannesburg.

They provide guidance, resources, and expertise to members to transform and scale up social enterprises and provide solutions to key areas like education, businesses among others.

Their change-maker schools in Ghana are Heritage Academy, Mount Olivet, Kumasi; International Community School, Kumasi; Right to Dream Academy, Alpha Beta Christian College and Street Academy.

The Summit discussed topics on 'Creating an ecosystem to combat unemployment in Ghana' and 'Building a bridge between media and social entrepreneurs.'

Madam Nzerem advised the youth to develop their passions so that they could use them to solve societal problems whiles dialoguing with decision makers for proper planning.

Madam Nzerem said education in Ghana must be geared towards creative entrepreneurship that would break down the walls between the business and citizen sector.

'Where we are now it is not only the teaching of mathematics and English, but the schools must churn out creative young people who can own themselves up for the development of their nations,' she said.

Ms Suki Annan, a consultant and a member of Ashoka, urged young people to collaborate and network to achieve the goals and vision of change-makers.

She took the participant through the Ashoka Youth Venture initiative whiles Ms Ada Onyebuchi introduced the audience to Changemaker Schools.

GNA
28.02.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Feb. 28, GNA - Mr Philip Addison has won the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Klottey-Korley Constituency primary.

He polled 396 votes as against 367 votes by his contestant Nii Noi Nortey.

Two votes were declared invalid and the total number of eligible voters was 765.

The election, held at the NPP Headquarters at Asylum Down, was conducted and supervised by officials from the Electoral Commission and officers of the NPP.

Mr Addison in an interview with the Ghana News Agency called for unity among the rank and file and to work together as a team to win the seat from the National Democratic Congress (NDC).

He said he did not win the primary because he played a lead role in the NPP 2012 election petition in court but his victory was on hard work and merit.

Mr Addison said he would ensure that everybody would be on board to undertake a vigorous campaign to win votes for the party in the November 2016 presidential and parliamentary elections.

Nii Adjei Tawiah, one of the contestants in the primary, expressed gratitude to his supporters who voted for Mr Addison and gave the assurance that they would all come together to work hard to kick out the NDC administration.

GNA
28.02.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Feb. 28, GNA - Management and staff of the Agricultural Development Bank (adb) at the weekend organised a thanksgiving service for their successful performance in 2015 and the peaceful ushering into 2016.

Themed:"God's Faithfulness," the service was attended by staff from their headquarters and other branches within the Greater Accra Region.

It was laced with intermittent prayer sessions and musical interludes that kept the place alive from the beginning to the end.

In a sermon, Reverend Fr. Joseph Henry Mensah urged the workers to remain faithful to their creator irrespective of the erratic circumstances in the company.

"I can tell you all here that God is always faithful no matter how long it takes, but it is we human beings that easily lose our faith."

He said in spite of difficulties they found themselves, during the discharge of their duties, it was incumbent on them to eschew negative practices such as laziness and total inertia that had the potential of lowering productivity.

Rev Fr Mensah added that adb belonged to Ghana and Ghanaians and as custodians of the bank, there was the need for the workers to continuously change their attitude towards work to step up productivity.

He said:"We need to change our attitude, we need to change our mindset towards what we do today for a living, for you are the trustees of the bank and Ghanaians are watching your performance."

Mr James Agbedor, Acting Managing Director of the Bank, called for unity that would empower them to work assiduously and uplift themselves from the hardships they encountered in the past years.

"Never again, shall we experience the things of the past...We need to work together as a untied force to generate more wealth at the adb."

Mr Agbedor commended the staff for giving him the maximum support during what he described as 'my short tenure of office.'

GNA
Ho, Feb. 28, GNA - Ms Jennifer Akude, Deputy Registrar of the Ghana Technology University College (GTUC), has said that the core objective of training at the institution was to make products responsive to the needs of the society.

She said this during the second matriculation ceremony of the Ho Campus of the GTUC at the weekend.

Ms Akude said the training was to ensure that the product of GTUC excelled in every endeavour he or she must be found himself.

She told the 104 matriculating students that 'the GTUC will give you the tools to reason, to make judgments, to ask tough questions and to become critical thinkers.'

Ms Akude, who stood in for Dr Osei Darkwa, President of the GTUC, said 'GTUC will become the place where your hidden talents will be discovered and your known talents fine-tuned'.

She said the students were entering the College at the time when the institution was striving to become the best private university in the country.

Mr Raphael Segbefia, student of Faculty of Informatics, urged the College to improve its book stock in the library, acquire a bus to make movement easier for students and also a student's hostel.

A total of 54 of the matriculating students are offering courses in IT Business and the rest opted for informatics.

GTUC Ho campus has 122 undergraduates, 87 pursuing degrees and 35 diplomas.

GNA
Finance has long been a barrier to the attainment of some dreams. For the lack of it, many dreams have remained on the drawing board.

The irony is that while others have money in abundance and are waiting for a place to channel it, others cannot simply get hold of as much as or as little as is needed to prosecute their dreams.

In the last one month or so, the virtacoin community has funded projects across Africa, the Americas and Asia. VirtaCoin is riding on the back of kiva.org to make capital available to those who need it.

Kiva.org is a non-profit organisation with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. It helps ordinary everyday people around the world to help other ordinary people in need of small loans. It specialises in leveraging the internet and a worldwild network of microfinance institutions. Kiva.org makes it possible for individuals like you, dear reader, to lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity for another person around the world. With Kiva.org you have helped a small time entrepreneur half way around the world without even knowing who he or she is.

Kiva.org was established in June, 2005 by a computer programmer, Matthew Joseph Flannery and his wife, Jessica Erin Jackley all U.S. citizens (now divorced). In the first year of kiva, the Internet community contributed $450, 000 in multiples of $25 for kiva. Today, the Internet community raises $1million every three days for kiva. With this level of participation, Kiva has so far given loans to around 800, 000 small businesses to get started. Kiva has also achieved a 98.36% loan recovery rate.

The virtacoin community considers their cryptocurrency as a global phenomenon reaching every nook and cranny of the world in a few years and creating unparalleled wealth for every participant almost out of nothing. The goals of Kiva.org and VirtaCoin naturally synchronizes. Without any official team up, virtacoin is also using the power of the Internet to alleviate poverty around planet earth.

The virtacoin community has so far contributed to the funding of 40 loans totaling $1000 and still counting. This money has gone to or is in the process of going to beneficiaries in the Republic of Togo, Peru, Uganda, Kenya, the Philippines, India, Tajikistan, Honduras, Rwanda, Egypt, etc.

You may be tempted to ask "How much is $1000?" until you hear the story of Anuvi, a 23 year old Togolese national who needed only $50 to buy chewing sticks and retail in her district. She is unable to raise the money. It takes only two donors from the virtacoin community to get her the capital she needed.

Guadalupe is from Peru. She needed money to finish her final year in a fashion school. Loans to such people helps them to help themselves and subsequently, their families and possibly their entire nation.

The virtacoin community makes available $25 every 24 hours to these entrepreneurs. By the time you are reading this piece, other multiples of $25 would have been on their way to help other needy entrepreneurs somewhere around the world.
Govt has been urged to as a matter of urgency intervene to create employment opportunities to relieve the plight of the numerous frustrated nurses and midwives in the country that could not get job after successful completion of studies.

This according to Asare Bediako Obed, Greater Accra Zonal President of the Ghana Association of Health Training Institutions (GAHTI) is the surest way to go in helping reduce the burden of unemployment on the youth especially trainee nurses and midwives thereby paving way for them to live in dignity.

Trainee nurses and midwives are currently battling with Government over unemployment issues two years after completion of studies which has become a huge challenge in Ghana.

Pres. Asare Bediako Obed made the appeal whilst presenting assorted items to the inmates of Pantang Mental Hospital on behalf of Greater Accra zone of GAHTI in Accra on Saturday.

Items donated included 2 bags of rice, 15 bags of sachet mineral water, packs of toothpaste, toilet rolls, detergents, secondhand clothes, shoes and bags amongst others.

Nelson Kwarko-Darboh, a nursing officer who receives the items on behalf of the hospital administration thanked GAHTI for the kind gesture, pledging the items will be utilized effectively for the intended purposes. He appealed to other benevolent organizations and individuals to emulate the gesture.

The donation was made possible through kind contribution of members of the association who are students from various nursing and midwifery training intuitions in Accra and solely supported by Dr. Ezanetor Rawlings, NDC Parliamentary Aspirant for Korley Klottey Constituency.

According to Asare Bediako Obed, the donation forms part of activities to mark the associations sixteen years anniversary which targets specific wards namely 11 (female) 12 and 13 respectively hence the move to support in order to put a smile on faces of the patients.

It equally seeks to create awareness on GAHTIs week celebration scheduled to take place in April, 16th -24thon the theme: The role of health trainees in the prevention of breast cancer.

Meanwhile GAHTI members earlier before the donation conducted a clean-up exercise getting rid of filth thoroughly within and around the three specific wards earmarked as beneficiaries of GAHTI. The occasion also witnessed the introduction of 21 beautiful ladies who will be vying for the face of GAHTI, a beauty queen pageant slated for April this year where one queen who stands the chance of winning will be crowned as the next face of GAHTI.

GAHTI is an association of health trainees from both private and public health training institutions in Ghana.
28.02.2016 LISTEN

A former Western Region Minister under the Kufuor administration is accusing president John Mahama of dubiously taking credit for a project his government did little or nothing to bring into fruition.

Joseph Boahen Aidoo said the president's mention of the Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road as one of his achievements smacks of deceit.

During the state of the nation address to Parliament on Thursday, the president mentioned a number of projects including the Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri as one of many road projects his government had executed.

But in a statement issued Sunday, the former Western Region Minister said that road was a legacy project Ex-president John Kufuor bequeathed to Ghanaians before leaving office.

According to him, 87 km of that road project had been completed before leaving office. He said the ex-president left behind funding, engineering specifications and designs for the completion of the entire project but it stalled under the late John Mills.

He therefore found it surprising that the president will take credit for that road project when in fact it was the NPP that did everything.

The full statement is as follows;

UNBLINKING MAHAMA WANTS TO REAP WHERE HE HAS NOT SOWN- JB AIDOO

Delivering his 2016 State of the Nation Address, President John Mahama claimed the construction of the Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road as one of his achievements. That was absolutely a mark of sharp practice. It is unfair to claim laurels on a silver platter and reap where one has not sown.

The Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road project is a legacy that President JA Kufuor bequeathed to Ghanaians including funding, engineering specifications and designs. The road is part of the western arm of the Golden Triangle (Takoradi-Kumasi). Before NPP left office in January 2009, the 87 km stretch from Takoradi to Tarkwa has been fixed. The focal point from Apemenyim to Tarkwa 57 km was funded by the European Union. It was a grant, and construction works up to Tarkwa town were completed in 2008. Just at that time, President Kufuor secured another tranche of EU grant, equivalent of US$73 million, to continue to Ayanfuri (98 km) starting in 2009.

Following caustic-tongued Tony Aidoo's peppering of the late Professor Mills in his early days in office to discontinue all works on Kufuor's projects, the Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road project just like many others (i.e. Legon-Adenta, Kumasi Sofoline interchange, and Suhum overpass) was stalled. It was not until 30th of March 2011 before the late President went to Bogoso to cut a sod for the resumption of works. Construction had needlessly been delayed for 27 months just because of sheer political expediency. And as we speak today, the project is still not completed.

For John Mahama to usurp credit for the construction of Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road today, smacks of disingenuousness. The same undue sharp practice of the President finds expression in the provision of rural electrification.

On record, the all-time single largest rural electrification project ever to have happened in Ghana was initiated by JA Kufuor in 2006. This was referred to as the WELDY LEMONT Project, which was to benefit close to 3,000 communities. Hitherto, the number of beneficiary communities in any single electrification project in Ghana has been in the tens and hundreds but never in the thousands.

The process of securing the loan of US$358 million from the American EXIM Bank took more than 2 years until 2008 when the money was finally granted. At the time of approval of the loan in Parliament, John Mahama was a member of the august House.

And so, when President Atta-Mills and the NDC assumed office in January 2009, the cake had already been baked, and was ready for sharing. Weldy Lemont, the American contractor had been selected by the Kufuor administration and gotten ready with the mobilization. What the NDC came in to do was simply to continue with its implementation. From September 2008 through 2009, 2010 to date, therefore, virtually every rural electrification that has taken place in the Western and Central Regions in particular and other regions generally in Ghana, has been part of this gargantuan Kufuor legacy.

Oteng Adjei luxury cars saga is very reminiscent of the woes of this project. Put in-charge of the implementation of the project, the then Energy Minister Oteng Adjei diverted US$2 million of the project money for the purchase of luxury cars. It became a household news. And he did reveal that it was an NPP project they (NDC) inherited.

By his act of misapplication, many beneficiary communities have unduly suffered. Many have not been connected at all. Many that are connected, suffered long delays from start to completion. For many others, even though the towns and villages have been connected long ago, meters have not been supplied to enable the people enjoy light. Settlements such as Ohiamatuo Simpa, Kookoase, Aggrey-Parkso, Krofoforom, Appiahkrom, Kwahu Bisaagya, Benna Nkwanta and many more all in the Amenfi West in the Western Region, which were connected way back in the 2012 general elections, have not been supplied with any meters as we speak. It is painful to see the rights of the people to the enjoyment of social good deliberately being denied by incumbency ploy all because of votes in the forthcoming 2016 general elections.

Quizzed at a DW worldwide telecast interview recently about electrification in Ghana and the question of the luxury cars, John Mahama himself admitted that the project that had generated so much brouhaha in the country was in his own words, "initiated by the previous administration". He himself did not play any role in the advent of this project save that he might have participated in the approval of the loan then as a Member of Parliament. If he turns around today to take credit for this same project, then where lies his integrity?

Finally, if the national coverage of electrification today has increased from 58 percentage points to 80.5 percentage points, the giant contribution of former President Kufuor to rural electrification can in no way be glossed over or taken out. Ghanaians must be told the truth, and I dare say that President Mahama cannot reap where he has not sown.

..... Signed....

Hon Joseph Boahen Aidoo

Former Minister W/R

Former MP Amenfi East

0206650702
Participants in the third edition of Nhyira FM Health Walk in Kumasi have lauded Multimedia Group, Kumasi, for its commitment in the enhancing of public health.

Hundreds of residents, young and old, including aspiring parliamentarians, joined Saturdays exercise for a big work-out meant to keep them in shape.

Exercise is one of the most important activities to keep the body healthy by keeping controlled weight.

It decreases a person's risk of developing certain diseases like Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.

People who engage in regularly physical activity discover many more reasons to make it part of their life.

This is my first time of joining the walk and we ought to be organizing monthly to enhance the health prospects of the habitats in Kumasi. It is a good exercise that needs to be recommended, says Eugene Boakye, NPP parliamentary candidate for Subin.

For Kwabena Agyei, the exercise keeps him fit anytime he embarks it. Kwabena will not relent to use any available opportunity to join the event anytime it is organized. Though I am tired; it is fantastic to be part and parcel of the event. He said.

Aerobics has always been part of the Health Walk which experts say strengthens the heart to allow for easy breathing.

It is for this reason many parents came out with their children to be part of Nhyira FM Health Walk on Saturday.

15-year old Albert Mawusi Kpegah had to join the walk because the father, Mr. Kpegah has keen interest in sports.

I am excited to have met my friends here. It is a good exercise I will always endeavor to join. If I didnt come my father would be angry with me.

Programmes Manager at Nhyira FM, Benjamin Ocran said it is their responsibility to keep their listeners active and healthy. He stated that, there is more to come for the people of Kumasi.

It is our aim to keep our listeners and the populace of Kumasi healthy and strong. For nothing, it will give good mindset, keep fit and most especially, others make friends here which is the most important part of life. Mr Ocran has said.

Scientists have been linking the benefits of physical exercise to brain health for many years, but recent research has made it clear that the two aren't just simply related; rather, it is the relationship.

The evidence shows that physical exercise helps you build a brain that not only resists shrinkage, but increases cognitive abilities.
Delivering his 2016 State of the Nation Address, President John Mahama claimed the construction of the Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road as one of his achievements. That was absolutely a mark of sharp practice. It is unfair to claim laurels on a silver platter and reap where one has not sown.

The Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road project is a legacy that President JA Kufuor bequeathed to Ghanaians including funding, engineering specifications and designs. The road is part of the western arm of the Golden Triangle (Takoradi-Kumasi). Before NPP left office in January 2009, the 87 km stretch from Takoradi to Tarkwa has been fixed. The focal point from Apemenyim to Tarkwa 57 km was funded by the European Union. It was a grant, and construction works up to Tarkwa town were completed in 2008. Just at that time, President Kufuor secured another tranche of EU grant, equivalent of US$73 million, to continue to Ayanfuri (98 km) starting in 2009.

Following caustic-tongued Tony Aidoo's peppering of the late Professor Mills in his early days in office to discontinue all works on Kufuor's projects, the Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road project just like many others (i.e. Legon-Adenta, Kumasi Sofoline interchange, and Suhum overpass) was stalled. It was not until 30th of March 2011 before the late President went to Bogoso to cut a sod for the resumption of works. Construction had needlessly been delayed for 27 months just because of sheer political expediency. And as we speak today, the project is still not completed.

For John Mahama to usurp credit for the construction of Tarkwa-Bogoso-Ayanfuri road today, smacks of disingenuousness. The same undue sharp practice of the President finds expression in the provision of rural electrification.

On record, the all-time single largest rural electrification project ever to have happened in Ghana was initiated by JA Kufuor in 2006. This was referred to as the WELDY LEMONT Project, which was to benefit close to 3,000 communities. Hitherto, the number of beneficiary communities in any single electrification project in Ghana has been in the tens and hundreds but never in the thousands.

The process of securing the loan of US$358 million from the American EXIM Bank took more than 2 years until 2008 when the money was finally granted. At the time of approval of the loan in Parliament, John Mahama was a member of the august House.

And so, when President Atta-Mills and the NDC assumed office in January 2009, the cake had already been baked, and was ready for sharing. Weldy Lemont, the American contractor had been selected by the Kufuor administration and gotten ready with the mobilization. What the NDC came in to do was simply to continue with its implementation. From September 2008 through 2009, 2010 to date, therefore, virtually every rural electrification that has taken place in the Western and Central Regions in particular and other regions generally in Ghana, has been part of this gargantuan Kufuor legacy.

Oteng Adjei luxury cars saga is very reminiscent of the woes of this project. Put in-charge of the implementation of the project, the then Energy Minister Oteng Adjei diverted US$2 million of the project money for the purchase of luxury cars. It became a household news. And he did reveal that it was an NPP project they (NDC) inherited.

By his act of misapplication, many beneficiary communities have unduly suffered. Many have not been connected at all. Many that are connected, suffered long delays from start to completion. For many others, even though the towns and villages have been connected long ago, meters have not been supplied to enable the people enjoy light. Settlements such as Ohiamatuo Simpa, Kookoase, Aggrey-Parkso, Krofoforom, Appiahkrom, Kwahu Bisaagya, Benna Nkwanta and many more all in the Amenfi West in the Western Region, which were connected way back in the 2012 general elections, have not been supplied with any meters as we speak. It is painful to see the rights of the people to the enjoyment of social good deliberately being denied by incumbency ploy all because of votes in the forthcoming 2016 general elections.

Quizzed at a DW worldwide telecast interview recently about electrification in Ghana and the question of the luxury cars, John Mahama himself admitted that the project that had generated so much brouhaha in the country was in his own words, "initiated by the previous administration". He himself did not play any role in the advent of this project save that he might have participated in the approval of the loan then as a Member of Parliament. If he turns around today to take credit for this same project, then where lies his integrity?

Finally, if the national coverage of electrification today has increased from 58 percentage points to 80.5 percentage points, the giant contribution of former President Kufuor to rural electrification can in no way be glossed over or taken out. Ghanaians must be told the truth, and I dare say that President Mahama cannot reap where he has not sown.

....... Signed.....

Hon Joseph Boahen Aidoo

Former Western Regional Minister/Mp

Amenfi East constituency

0206650702
President Buhari

28.02.2016 LISTEN

One of the arguments of the more reasonable supporters of Mohammadu Buharis candidacy and presidency is that though they suspected that he might not have been very competent and might have some tinges of corruption in his trajectory, they had to choose between two evils. It was and still is often posited, (and this writer agrees), that Buhari was the better of the two evils between him and the hapless Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.

They argued and still argue that Buhari is a man of integrity, (and this writer disagrees). They also insisted and still insist that Buhari is ascetic and reputed for self-denial, another point of view not shared by this writer, especially in the face of evidences available.

While President Buhari might not have been totally responsible for the padded figures in the scandalous 2016 Budget, he is not in the position to deny responsibility because the buck stops with him. The fact that he agreed to present that Budget presupposes that he was aware of and familiar with the driving principles of the budget which in his own estimations met his priorities and funding parameters. The fact that he was not able to do any comparable analysis of what were in the budget and correct any item or funding that did not meet his expectations before presenting it to the National Assembly showed that he did not know what he was doing.

It is very easy to blame those who work for him. But we all must remember that President Buhari told Nigerians that he has been choosing those he could trust when he was being accused of tribalism and sectionalism in his earlier appointments. He also took a lot of time to choose his cabinet. He said he was looking for the best. This is why President Buhari could not extricate himself or be extricated by his ardent supporters from culpability in the disaster that was and still is 2016 Budget. It is either he chose crooks or his judgment is terribly flawed. The whole exercise reeks of incompetence in all ramifications. No matter how much this incident is sliced and deodorized by his handlers and supporters, it was and still is a serious embarrassment to the propagated qualities of the messiah in Buhari.

It is not unknown to Nigerians across all spectra that the present array of politicians is corrupt. Starting from President Buhari himself who has a record of egregious corrupt acts in his past, to several others one would not need to mention, all of them are corrupt. And imperfect too. It does not matter whether they are members of All Progressive Congress (APC), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party or what have you. They are all corrupt. They are all imperfect. This much Nigerians know. But if all these politicians are corrupt and imperfect, does it necessarily mean that they are all incompetent? Are they all plagued with concentrated incompetence the type being manifested by President Buhari right now?

Is this Buhari experience instructive enough for Nigerians to start considering the possibility of a corrupt and imperfect president but who is competent to move the country forward? Since all these politicians are corrupt, is it possible to find a competent hand amongst them? If all of them are corrupt and imperfect, as they evidently are across all the political parties, why could they not give us someone from amongst their rank that is at least competent to a certain degree; someone who knows what he is doing and who would be able to checkmate the downward spiral of the country?

Following through with the arguments of the Buharis followers that we should go with the least evil of all the political devils on our landscape, maybe it is time to start looking for an imperfect but competent leadership among the present field of politicians. It seems that Nigerians may not have many options available on the table given the context of Nigerian political landscape, especially if the present spiral towards abyss must be stopped. We all must agree that Nigeria is not a country of saints. But if we must be governed by a devil, he or she must be a competent devil and a devil with a heart.

But the questions remain - what are the implications of this kind of option for the morality and the virtues we seek to espouse in the country? What message would this kind of option send to the youths? What kind of future would this portend for the children? What message would this send to the comity of Nations? Could a populace being pummeled by poverty be able to continue to tolerate an incompetent and corrupt leader as we have in President Buhari, if they could have a corrupt and imperfect but competent leader that could make things better? Could a populace dying of hunger not gladly have their president corrupt and imperfect in a limited way if such a president could turn things around and make their lives better?

For the political godfathers who put together the coalition that threw up Buhari, their calculations were hypnagogic. It was not essentially for and about Nigeria, but it was sold to the populace as being about the interest of Nigeria. The plan was to put in Buhari whose outward demeanor and physiognomy suggested a pliable and manipulatable figure that could serve their diabolical ends. They believed that Buhari could be used for them to achieve their ambitions. It was not about Buharis competence or know-how, it was about his assumed docility and how easy it would be to play him around their fingers.

But as it is turning out right now, Buhari has proved to be his own man. He had insisted I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody. Despite his very limited knowledge, Buhari is determined to trudge on. He is marching on, even though he has no idea of where he is going or has any definite directions.

Where he is marching to is unclear and indeterminate. Given where the country is right now - the confusion of purpose, the absence of plan, the increasing hunger in the land and the pervasive hopelessness, there are jitters across the land. President Buhari is coming across as Lord Dennings blind man in a dark room, looking for a black hat that is not there. Yes, he is determined to do it his own way and refuse to belong to nobody. But from indications, his way does not appear to be of any benefit to average Nigerians.

This is what has been brought to bear on Nigeria by the clique that propelled Buhari to power. The godfathers, in their self-assuredness were not able to understand that the physiognomy of Buhari was a misleading barometer of his inner estimations and by extension, calculations. His outward meekness bellies the cocooned strength and determination within him that is seriously undermined by lack of know-how. It confirms the theory that the physiognomy of a man is not directly proportional to his intelligence. The best intentions of President Buhari could not make for the lack of knowledge and know-how that have been self evident.

President Buharis lack of know-how may be functionally related to his lack of literacy, his lack of literacy may also be functionally related to his lack of education. But his lack of education may not be functionally related to his lack of know-how. Literacy or no literacy, education or no education, if you dont know, you just dont know. And if you know, it shows. There are several examples of persons in leadership positions who are not really literate but are properly educated and competent.

So, the question remains, should Nigerians opt for a corrupt or fairly corrupt, and imperfect but competent President next time around? Should the primary objective remain the saving of the country and the peoples first or it should not matter? Should Nigerians insist on the so-called not corrupt, perfect messiah as President while he continues and would probably continue to lead Nigeria down the abyss? Is it time to look for someone who has some acumen, some ability and some leadership ability regardless of his flaws? Why cant this be an option?

It is time for Nigerians to start thinking out of the box about the way out of the present crisis. We are not looking for a self-proclaimed Evil Genius like Ibrahim Babangida who reveled in the tragedy of his fellow Nigerians and reportedly bombed journalists out of existence on top of his deliberate mismanagement of the country. But the search must commence for an imperfect but competent man to save this country. Nigeria probably needs a devil with heart, competent, patriotic and with some modicum of basic knowledge of how to run things.

So far, Saint Buhari has failed us. The messiah in Buhari has failed to save the country. Sai Buhari has further deepened the hole in which the country has found itself. Sai Baba has remained nothing but a bumper sticker slogan that could not feed hungry Nigerians or solve the myriad of Nigerias problems. It is time to jettison the romanticized idea of a saintly president that is acutely incompetent and seek out an imperfect but competent president, because evidently, from the look of things, a competent devil is far better than an incompetent saint.

In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility  I welcome it.

- John F. Kennedy, in his Inaugural Address January 20, 1961

Please follow me on Twitter: @OyeyemiRemi
Kofi Amoa-Abban

28.02.2016 LISTEN

Two international universities, the Commonwealth University in collaboration with the London Graduate School has conferred a doctorate degree on Mr. Kofi Amoa-Abban, Managing Director (MD) of Rigworld International Services Limited.

The universities, located in the City of Belize and the United Kingdom respectively say the Ghanaian was awarded for his hard work and ingenuity in his field of endeavor.

At an impressive ceremony last Friday, the degree read as, To all to whom these letters shall come greeting be it know that Kofi Amoa-Abban having complied with all the requirements of the faculty of this university and by the authority of the University Senate is hereby awarded the Doctor of Business Administration, Honoris Causa

And is entitled to all the rights and privileges thereto appertaining in testimony whereof we have granted this Degree under our hands at Belize City.

It must be noted that shortly after graduating with a bachelors degree in psychology from the University of Ghana, Mr. Amoa-Abban began working at Ghanas Jubilee Field after the country commenced oil production in November 2010.

After working at the Jubilee Field for some few months, he founded his own company known as Rigworld International Services Limited in 2011.

Five years on, the Rigworld Boss has been able to establish subsidiary branches of the company providing a multiplicity of services in the oil and gas industry.

The company currently provides the following services to support the countrys fledging oil and gas industry; catering services, yard rental, onshore and offshore labor, protocol and well services.

Through the ingenuity, dynamism and hard work of Mr. Amoa-Abban, hundreds of Ghanaian young men and women have acquired relevant skills and have been employed to support the oil and gas exploration in the West African country.

He has served as the Board Chairman of the company for well over four years and manages any communication between the Board and Shareholders.

His ultimate responsibility is implementing policies and international best practices that will improve the company's performance.

Enterprising and passion-driven, Amoa-Abban is armed with over ten years offshore experience in the oil and gas industry.
Accra, Feb. 28, GNA - Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) interested in tobacco control have called for the immediate passage of the Legislative Instruments (LIs) of the Part Six of the Public Health Act, 2012 (Act 851).

They said the passage of the LIs were long over-due, adding that; 'we need to quickly play catch-up to save many of our youth from dying from tobacco-related diseases.'

The Public Health Act of which the Part Six - Tobacco Control Measures, was in 2012 passed into law by Parliament, prohibits smoking in public places.

Mr Oscar Bruce, a member of the Coalition on the Tobacco Control Legislation (CTCL) who read a statement on behalf of the partners at a forum in Accra, said the delay in adopting the tobacco regulations are hindering the implementation of the laws.

He said tobacco use, especially cigarette smoking has harmed and killed many people ever since the practice started.

'By 1995, it was killing some three million people every year and this led to the idea of putting in place structures to bring an end to the carnage, and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) was initiated and was adopted by the World Health Organisation,' he said.

He said Ghana was among the first few countries to ratify the FCTC and through the efforts of civil society and other stakeholders the Public Health Act was passed.

'As you are all aware, a law can only be effectively implemented after Legislative Instruments have been passed by Parliament to accompany it.

'Thus, civil society and other stakeholders worked hard, just after Act 851 was passed, to draft such instruments and it will surprise all of you to know that about four years after they were drawn up these LIs are still waiting to be passed by Parliament.

Mr Bruce said this state of affairs was unfortunate because without the LIs it would be almost impossible to get people to comply with the provisions of the Tobacco Control Measures.

Mrs Olivia Agyekumwaa Boateng, Head of Tobacco and Substances Abuse Department of the Foods and Drugs Authority (FDA), said the LIs were presented to Parliament last year, but they were sent back to the Ministry of Health (MoH) for fine-turning.

She said the FDA, the Ghana Health Service, the MoH and the Attorney General Department are still working on the LIs, but could not give a timeline of their passage.

She urged the CSOs to continue with their advocacy role of educating the populace on the harmful effects of tobacco use.

Dr Akwasi Osei, Medical Director at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital and the Chairman of the occasion, called on health authorities to expedite action on the passage of the regulations to strengthen the hands of Ghanaians to cause the arrest of smokers at public places. GNA
Wa, Feb. 28, GNA - Mr Haruna Iddrisu, Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, has called on students to endeavour to use the power of communication as a tool for the development of society.

'Communication, if properly and effectively used, can promote social development and harmony; and its misuse will invite conflict, chaos and parallel disagreement', he said.

Mr Iddrisu said this while addressing students of the Wa campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) in a public lecture organised by the Development Communication Students Association (DEVCOSA).

'Let us make the best, efficient and effective use of communication as a tool to facilitate social development and avoid its misuse as a weapon for creating chaos and conflict', he said.

The Member of Parliament for Tamale South Constituency said the independence of the media must at all times be guaranteed, however, the rights and freedoms of the media were not limitless.

All the rights and freedoms are subject to national laws, limitations on the media, including matters of public morality, public interest, and matters of reputation are of paramount concern so we cannot afford to have a media that is unchecked,' the Employment and Labour Relations Minister said.

Mr Iddrisu said there was nowhere in Africa where one would find a free and fair media landscape than we have in Ghana today, adding that the over 300 licensed Radio stations were meant to give meaning and expression to the commitment of the government to freedom of speech and expression as integral to the running of democracy.

Alhaji Rashid Pelpuo, Minister of State in charge of Public Private Partnership, urged the students to learn to communicate well as it formed the basis for building effective relationships or otherwise.

Dr Musheibu Mohammed Alfa, Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, commended DEVCOSA for organizing the public lecture, adding that it would help broaden the scope of students regarding communication and development in contemporary Ghana.

Dr Domasus Tuurosong, newly appointed Head of the Department of African and General Studies (DAGs), UDS and Patron of DEVCOSA, commended Mr Haruna Iddrisu for finding time out of his busy schedule to share his experiences with the students.

Master Francis Rexford Mottey, President of DEVCOSA, said the lecture was meant to expose students to learning a few things about communication from people with great depth of knowledge in communication.

GNA
Ntotroso (B/A), Feb. 28, GNA - The Vice-President, Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur has commended Barima Twereku Ampem III, Paramount Chief of Ntotroso, and the indigenes for using their own resources to establish the College of Nursing at Ntotroso (CoNN).

The Vice-President gave the commendation during an address of a grand durbar to climax a week-long celebration of the biennial Apomasu Yam Festival of the chiefs and people of Ntotroso in the Asutifi North District of Brong-Ahafo Region.

The theme for the celebration was: 'Promoting, Empowering and Sustaining the Girl-Child Education, the Role of Traditional Authorities'.

Mr Amissah-Arthur said the initiative of the chief was laudable as government alone could not provide for the needs of the people.

He said though a community initiative, the institution commenced as a public institution under the Ministry of Health and assured the traditional council and the management of the institution of government's commitment to support the College with the provision of infrastructure and other facilities.

Mr Amissah-Arthur expressed worry that a recent report by the Ghana Education Service indicates that more girls continued to drop-out of school and thus implored traditional rulers and all stakeholders to collaborate with government to identify effective means to reverse the trend.

Responding to earlier appeals by Barima Ampem, the Vice-President pledged to facilitate the provision of a befitting school bus for the CoNN to aid the practical and clinical activities of the trainee-nurses outside the campus.

Mr Amissah-Arthur also promised to liaise with the Minister of Roads and Highways to ensure the completion of the river Tano bridge between Ntotroso and Achirensua that was started in the era of the New Patriotic Party but remains uncompleted.

That would not only boost economic activities in the area but would also shorten their travel times to places like Kumasi and other southern parts of the country, he said.

Mr Joseph Benhazin Daha, Member of Parliament (MP) for Asutifi North, said there was the need for traditional authorities to engage parents as they seek to prevent adolescent and teenage girls from engaging in promiscuity and promote girl-child education.

Mr Daha also urged educational authorities, particularly teachers to create the enabling school environment to sustain the interest of the girl-child in school.

Mr Derek Boateng, Senior Manager, Sustainability and External Relations of Newmont Gold Ghana Limited (NGGL), Ahafo Mine, said the company supported the Apomasu festival because its objectives are consistent with the company's core values of respecting the culture, norms and values of it host communities.

In a welcoming address Barima Ampem recalled the genesis and the process of establishing the CoNN and explained the idea came about because Ntotroso was surrounded by second cycle schools in all the major towns in the Asutifi North District.

Hence, the CoNN would provide an avenue for qualified Senior High School graduates in the District, interested in pursuing career in nursing to further their education, he said.

Among the dignitaries at the event included Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development; Dr Henry Seidu Daanaa, Minister for Chieftaincy, Culture and Traditional Affairs; and Mr Eric Opoku, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister.

GNA
Accra, Feb. 28, GNA - President John Dramani Mahama on Sunday gave the assurance that his administration would do everything possible to maintain Ghana as an oasis of peace in the continent.

He said he had witnessed six successful general elections and would do his best to maintain the status quo.

President Mahama gave this assurance when he addressed 120 Catholic Bishops at the Holy Spirit Cathedral in Adabraka, Accra.

The Catholic Bishops have been attending a week-long Episcopal West African Catholic Bishops conference on the theme:"Evangelization and specific challenges for the church, Family of God in West Africa, Reconciliation, Development and Family."

The Bishops are from all the 16 West African countries.

President Mahama commended the Catholic Church for its contribution towards the socio-economic development of the country and gave the assurance that government would continue to consider the church as a worthy partner in development.

He appealed to the Bishops to use any opportunity available to preach to the people about climate change and its repercussions on human existence on earth.

The President said climate change had contributed to prolonged dry season, drying up of rivers and threatening agricultural activities which could have negative effects on the country's production levels.

President Mahama said another area worthy of religious interventions was terrorism and religious extremism that had escalated in some West African countries.

He called on all African states to eschew linguistics and colonial barriers and forge ahead towards the elimination of terrorism that was becoming a canker in the entire world.

Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigana, new President of the West African Regional Episcopal Catholic Bishops conference, commended the government and people of Ghana for hosting them for the week-long programme.

He promised to sacrifice their time as leaders of the Conference to pursue the development agenda of the church and humanity and called for support from various political leaders to achieve their agenda.

Archibishop Gabriel Palmer Buckle, Metropolitan Bishop of Accra, called on Christians to participate actively in development politics which would offer them the opportunity to make decisions based on Christian principles.

He urged Christians to also provide service to the people without necessarily asking for immediate compensation.

GNA
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March 07, 2011 Libya - A Tribal Insurrection The "western" media is reporting the crisis in Libya as something similar to what happened in Egypt and Tunisia. But this is not a modern youth movement protesting against a dictatorship, this is a developing civil war between tribal entities - not exactly a novelty in Libya.

A bigger version of the map can be found at the Public Intelligence Blog From a 2002 piece on Tribal Rivalries in Libya which explains why some army units are now with the rebels: Such rivalries are most pronounced in the armed forces. Each of the main tribes is represented in the military establishment and the various popular and revolutionary committees. For instance, Qadhafi's Qadhadfa tribe has an ongoing rivalry with the Magariha tribe of Abdel Sallam Jalloud, the man who was second-in-command in the country for decades until he fell out of favour.

...

The Warfalla tribe, which turned against Qadhafi during the coup attempt in 1993, is numerous and is closest to Jalloud's Magariha tribe. The Al Zintan tribe backed the Warfalla as well. The coup attempt was spearheaded by Warfalla officers in the Bani Walid region, 120 km south-east of Tripoli. The main reason for the coup attempt was that, despite its size, this tribe was poorly represented in the regime and only occupied second-echelon posts in the officers' corps.

...

Moreover, Warfalla tribal officers have been excluded from the air force. The air force is reserved almost exclusively to the Qadhadfa tribe, to which Qadhafi belongs. It was the air force which crushed the coup attempt in October 1993. It is possible that it, again, will be the air force that will put down this insurrection. But that end may also depend on one major tribe which so far has not taken a definite position: The leadership of the Magariha tribe acknowledges a debt of gratitude to Gaddafi and his regime for securing the return of one of the tribe's members, Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, from prison in Britain after he was convicted of being behind the Lockerbie bombing. However sources also told Asharq Al-Awsat that this has not prevented a number of youths of the Magariha tribe from participating  with members from other tribes  in the demonstrations and protests against Gaddafi's rule, especially in cities in eastern and southern Libya.

...

Experts say that the Magariha tribe is in the best position to carry out a coup against the Libyan leader, as many members of this tribe are in sensitive and senior positions of the Libyan government and security services. There is more on the allegiances of the major 30 tribes and clans in Libya in the above piece. Additional information is here. The misrepresentation of this conflict in the media may well lead to military intervention by "western" forces. These would then have to fight those tribes which for whatever reason support Ghadaffi. With "western" intervention the situation on the ground would quickly deteriorate. This would cost a lot more lives than any situation in which the Libyan people fight this out by and for themselves. Posted by b on March 7, 2011 at 15:19 UTC | Permalink Comments next page  next page 
June 30, 2011 Libya: Military Exercises As War Deception In November 2010 Britain and France signed a new defense cooperation pact. Under the umbrella of the agreement a week long common air force exercise was announced in January 2011: The French Air Force has organized a large-scale, weeklong exercise with the British Royal Air Force - which is expected to send over Tornado fighters, aerial tankers and AWACS aircraft - as part of the enhanced cooperation agreed between the two countries, an Air Force spokesman here said Jan. 13. The exercise, dubbed Southern Mistral, will be held March 21-25 in France, the spokesman, Maj. Eric Trihoreau, said. The scenario for Southern Mistral was: SOUTHLAND : Dictatorship responsible for an attack against France's national interests. FRANCE : Makes the decision to show its determination to SOUTHLAND (under United Nations Security council resolution n3003). UNITED-KINGDOM : Allied country as determined in the bilateral agreement. The United Kingdom supports France through the deployment of its air assets. On March 20 the U.K., France and the U.S. started to bomb Libya. Southern Mistral was superseded by a real war: Due to the current international events, exercise Southern Mistral has been suspended. There is a long history of announced military exercises as cover for starting a shooting war. As we learn from the U.S. Amry War College pamphlet Deception 101: Cover is the use of an apparently nonthreatening activity to disguise preparation for or initiation of a hostile act. A common example is the use of a training exercise to hide preparations for an attack. [...] In recent years, both the Yom Kippur War of 1973 and the Falklands War of 1982 were launched under the cover of training exercises similar to exercises which had occurred before. The war on Libya, first planned as Southern Mistral, is not going well. France is now arming the Berber in the Djebel Nefoussa mountain range. Even this didn't proceed as planned and it guarantees a prolonged civil war - here Berber against Arabs - even if Gaddhafi were to step aside: The drops, all at night and totaling perhaps 36 tons, included mostly light weapons and ammunition, he said. [The leader of the military council in the western town of Rujban] complained that rebels from the neighboring city of Zintan had taken all the weapons and were not sharing them with fighters in other areas. [...] The colonel said an intermediary told him on Wednesday that the French government was upset that the weapons were not being properly distributed. This, like the very first bombing by the French immediately after the UNSC resolution 1973 was signed, is another unilateral French step which will lead to more strife within NATO. NATO had earlier ruled out arming the rebels. In a bit of balancing justice the rebels in the east managed to blow up their ammunition storage facility. But back to military exercises and deception. What are we to think of this one? Commander, United States Fleet Forces hosted the first of two Main Planning Conferences June 24, for Exercise Bold Alligator 2012, scheduled to take during January and February 2012.

...

Bold Alligator 2012 will be a large-scale multinational naval amphibious exercise conducted by United States Fleet Forces (USFF) and Marine Forces Command (MFC) that will focus upon the planning and execution of a brigade-sized amphibious assault from a seabase in a medium threat environment. The underlying scenario of this exercise is designed to emphasize the Navy/Marine Corps capabilities in undeveloped and immature theaters of operations. As the Marines' hymn goes: From the Halls of Montezuma,

To the shores of Tripoli; ... January and February 2012 may be a little late for invading Libya with ground troops. Then again, who knows how long that war will take? Posted by b on June 30, 2011 at 12:50 UTC | Permalink Comments
February 28, 2016

On The NYT's Sorry Whitewash Of Clinton And Her War On Libya

The New York Times has a two part piece about the U.S. war on Libya and especially Hillary Clinton's role as the then Secretary of State in it. Adhering to the NYT's editorial line, the overall picture of Clinton is painted in sympathetic colors even when it describes the disaster she created.

Overall it is a whitewash of history based on the lies that the "humanitarian intervention" was perceived necessary because Ghaddafi was about to "kill civilians". It is not unexpected that the NYT would write such nonsense. The NYT editors had themselves endorsed the war and the paper lauded the immediate result. It is guilty of inciting the war just as much as Clinton is.

But the story of the "humanitarian intervention" for the Libyan people in March 2011 is hogwash.



Libya, Spring 2011

The attack on Libya was well prepared. Radical Islamist under Abdel Hakim Belhaj, who had once been held in a secret CIA prison, were violently attacking the Libyan state with financial and military support from Qatar. Ghaddafi acted in response to them and in a proportional manner. There never was any danger of a "massacre in Benghazi" (at least when Ghaddafi was still alive). That he reacted at all was used as pretense to launch a war that had been conceptualized earlier.

French intelligence was on the ground in Libya and coordinating the "protesters" in Benghazi in February 2011. The UK and France had prepared themselves for attacking Libya under the disguise of a military air maneuver called Southern Mistral. It was planned to start in late March 2011 but when everything was in place the maneuver was "suspended" and converted into the actual attack on Libya. This was straight out of deception 101. The maneuver scenario:

SOUTHLAND : Dictatorship responsible for an attack against France's national interests.

FRANCE : Makes the decision to show its determination to SOUTHLAND (under United Nations Security council resolution n3003).

UNITED-KINGDOM : Allied country as determined in the bilateral agreement. The United Kingdom supports France through the deployment of its air assets.

All points lead to the conclusion that the attack on Libya had been planned long before the first protests in Libya began.

The NYT write up also misses out on the intent of the war and Clinton's push for it:

The consequences would be more far-reaching than anyone imagined, leaving Libya a failed state and a terrorist haven, a place where the direst answers to Mrs. Clintons questions have come to pass.

The "than anyone imagined" line is funny because just a few paragraph later the piece itself claims that there were people in the government who indeed foresaw the consequences:

Some senior intelligence officials had deep misgivings about what would happen if Colonel Qaddafi lost control. In recent years, the Libyan dictator had begun aiding the United States in its fight against Al Qaeda in North Africa. He was a thug in a dangerous neighborhood, said Michael T. Flynn, a retired Army lieutenant general who headed the Defense Intelligence Agency at the time. But he was keeping order.

Just like the U.S. military intelligence the Canadian military knew exactly what would happen after an overthrow of Ghaddafi.



Al Qaeda's flag flying above the courthouse of Benghazi, Fall 2011

Some lonely blogger warned before the "intervention" of a coming disaster in a still deeply tribal country:

The misrepresentation of this conflict in the media may well lead to military intervention by "western" forces. These would then have to fight those tribes which for whatever reason support Ghaddafi. With "western" intervention the situation on the ground would quickly deteriorate. This would cost a lot more lives than any situation in which the Libyan people fight this out by and for themselves.

Libya is now, as predicted, a failed destroyed state. Leaving failed destroyed states behind has been the consequences of ALL U.S. wars in the last 20 years. The wars on Yugoslavia left several of those. Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq and Libya all ended up destroyed. Are we to believe that its the same bug that infests every U.S. intervention? Or is it not rather more plausible that the outcome of destroyed states is the intended feature of U.S. bellicose interventions?

The war on Libya was not a "failed intervention". It was a war with the aim of creating a failed state on the geography of Libya. In the larger strategic contest Libya was the nut the U.S. needed to crack to get entrance in Africa. Ghaddafi was the most prominent person urging for African unity and preparing for a common market and a common currency. Now Africa is more divided, left without the significant Libyan economic backing and can be further chopped up piecewise.

The special forces the U.S., Uk and France now put again onto Libyan ground to fight the Islamic State" will only increase the chaos by attracting another backlash:

The Libyan officials said the presence of Western forces was not welcomed by ultraconservative Salafist factions, who are allied with Libyas eastern army and perceive the foreign intervention as an occupation.

Clinton's role in inciting the war was very aggressive. She has learned nothing from the mess she created. It is no wonder that she is the darling of the neoconservatives as well as the liberal interventionists. There is no bombing she would not endorse. The way she proclaims her line We came, we saw, he died!" (vid) ending in laughter, points to a deeply psychopathic background. Letting her be the, likely unelectable, presidential candidate would be a disaster for the Democratic Party.

Posted by b on February 28, 2016 at 17:07 UTC | Permalink

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HOUSTON - Environmentalists want oil companies to leave fossil fuels in the ground. To a large extent, they already have.

U.S. shale drillers have created the nations biggest oil and gas boom in four decades and the amount of fuel extracted from U.S. shale rocks lags behind only three nations  Saudi Arabia, Russia and the United States.

Yet the individual wells they drill only drain a quarter of the natural gas and less than 10 percent of the oil buried in the once-inaccessible shale and other tight rocks.

Its criminal the amount of oil and gas were leaving behind, said Hans-Christian Freitag, vice president of integrated technology at Baker Hughes, during a panel on the third day of IHS Energy CERAWeek in downtown Houston.

Freitag blamed the shale industrys so-called manufacturing process of shale drilling. The way shale-oil producers approach an oil field is this: to get a constant rising flow of oil and gas out of rapidly declining shale wells, they need to drill up several similar wells in a short period of time. Its a rapid-fire, repeatable process.

But 70 percent of unconventional wells dont reach their production targets, and 30 percent of all perforation clusters arent yielding as much oil or gas as they should, Freitag said.

Anybody here in the room own a factory that has this kind of performance? he said. When oil prices were in the $100 range, we were insulated from that.

He said the industry has probably almost exhausted the advancements it can make in terms of drilling speed and efficiency, but the wells could be a lot more productive.

Were probably not going to be able to drill a well in two days, he said.

Still, the industry has made progress on production in recent years. Shale wells get 30 percent more oil than in 2013 and its 40 percent quicker to get a well from spud to production, said Greg Leveille, general manager of ConocoPhillips unconventional reservoirs technology program.

Theres just so much opportunity to make more progress, he said. Theres probably as much advancement to be had as there is behind us.

Shale drillers are getting more crude out of the earth per each rig they deploy after the advent of multi-well platform called pads. They use dissolving metal in the wellbores to allow oil to flow more freely. They are exploring so-called Big Data to study the microscopic elements of the rock. And many are planning to re-stimulate wells to get more energy out of assets theyve drilled before.

Leveille said when crude prices are high theres not much incentive to work on improving productivity, and at the current $30 oil price its not financially viable to run experiments. But theres likely a mid-way point, in terms of the oil price, at which it makes sense to explore new technology more aggressively.

But since crude prices began dropping, oil companies have been able to save money on service costs and by making technological improvements. At least half of the decline in costs are structural in nature, Leveille said.

Were changing the way we construct wells, he said. Small improvements have enormous impacts. You take a $10,000 improvement in a program where you have 5,000 wells. Youre talking real money. 
Michael Ciaglo

HOUSTON -Marvin Odum will leave the helm of Shell Oil Co. next month after 34 years with the company, part of a management reshuffle he says will not diminish the role of shale oil or North America for parent company Royal Dutch Shell.

Were simply moving that shale business into the globalized upstream business, but the substantial nature of those resources, the quality of that portfolio, none of that changes, Odum said in an interview with Fuelfix.
One of the most frequently used arguments against undocumented immigration is that it represents a huge drain on the state and local governments due to the need to provide health care, education, and other social services. However, there is another side to the equation.

As noted in a prior column, we recently measured the net effects of undocumented workers on the Texas economy. We looked at multiplier effects through the economy as well as the costs involved with undocumented workers such as health care, education, social services, and law enforcement. The total net economic benefits (including indirect and induced effects) of undocumented workers in Texas were found to include $663.4 billion in total expenditures and almost $290.3 billion in output (gross product) each year, as well as more than 3.3 million jobs.

These effects represent approximately 17 percent of gross product in Texas. While a very large percentage, it is not surprising when you consider that it reflects the facts that (1) about 11.5 percent of all private sector workers in Texas are presently undocumented and (2) many of them work in export-oriented industries.

This economic activity generates substantial tax benefits to the federal government, State of Texas, and local governmental entities. However, these undocumented residents and their families also have needs that impose costs on the public sector. The overall fiscal effect has long been a key issue in ongoing policy debate. As part of our recent study of the undocumented workforce (available for free download at www.perrymangroup.com), we looked at fiscal issues from both the benefit and the cost perspectives. Hopefully, these numbers can shed a little light in an area where often there seems to only be heat.

While many people seem to think that being undocumented equates to not paying any taxes, this is simply not the case, and undocumented workers pay taxes through various mechanisms such as retail sales. The economic activity they generate also brings in revenues, a fact which is often overlooked in political discussions. We estimate that the direct activity of undocumented workers in Texas provides taxes to federal, State of Texas, and local governments totaling $13.5 billion per year. Note that these amounts are adjusted for the estimated compliance levels with regard to income taxes and other levies typically paid through payroll withholding. In addition to these sizable amounts, the increase in economic activity associated with these workers generates additional fiscal revenues of an estimated $32.2 billion per year in indirect and induced taxes.

The total tax effect of the undocumented workforce in Texas thus includes estimated overall (direct, indirect, and induced) gains of $45.7 billion per year, including $23.2 billion to the federal government, $15.0 billion to the State of Texas, and $7.6 billion to local entities within the state.

On the other side of the equation, we measured the costs of the undocumented population based on the best available information from various sources (including the Congressional Budget Office). We included both the costs associated with the children of undocumented workers who were born in the U.S. and the allocated incremental expenses associated with the general provision of public services (such as police and fire protection), and updated any estimates to reflect current prices and population estimates. The total cost of the Texas undocumented population was found to be $12.8 billion per year, including $3.0 billion to the federal government, $3.1 billion to the State of Texas, and $6.7 billion to local entities within the state.

Subtracting these costs from the total fiscal benefit yields an estimate of the net fiscal effect of the undocumented population. We estimate that the total net fiscal effect of the Texas undocumented population includes net benefits of $32.9 billion, including $20.1 billion to the federal government, $11.8 billion to the State of Texas, and $0.9 billion to local governments within Texas.

It should be noted, however, that many local governmental entities likely experience a net deficit from the presence of undocumented workers. This phenomenon occurs because much of the revenue is derived from sales taxes, which primarily flow to cities, while many of the expenses are incurred by school districts and public health care facilities, which typically rely on property taxes for much of their revenue. The overall fiscal surplus is quite substantial and certainly would permit intergovernmental transfers to eliminate any shortfalls, but this is an issue that should be addressed in future policy discussions.

Immigration policy is and likely will remain a source of controversy, with complex issues and no solutions that simultaneously please all stakeholders. While there are many considerations, the fact is that undocumented workers in Texas generate millions of jobs and billions in tax revenue. Restrictive immigration policy will cause substantial economic and fiscal losses, and optimal policy should be crafted to increase efficiency and preserve and enhance the fiscal surplus.

Dr. M. Ray Perryman is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Perryman Group (www.perrymangroup.com). He also serves as Institute Distinguished Professor of Economic Theory and Method at the International Institute for Advanced Studies.
Marino Bravo, 20, was charged Feb. 12 with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Ricky A. Cortez, 23, was charged Feb. 12 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram.

Angela Juarez, 32, was charged Feb. 12 with injury to a child/elderly/disabled person.

Gilbert H. Licon, 22, of Midland was charged Feb. 12 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram.

Justin C. Nelson, 28, of Midland was charged Feb. 12 with failing to register as a sex offender.

James M. Norvell Jr., 33, of Midland was charged Feb. 12 with failing to register as a sex offender.

Eduardo A. Saenz, 26, of Midland was charged Feb. 12 with evading arrest/detention with a vehicle.

Gabriel V. Sandoval, 49, of Midland was charged Feb. 12 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram and tampering with/fabricating physical evidence.

Garrett B. Scott, 48, of Midland was charged Feb. 12 with possession of a controlled substance under 200 grams.

Felicia S. Tryon, 45, of Midland was charged Feb. 12 with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Alberto Velazquez, 44, of Midland was charged Feb. 12 with abandonment/endangerment of a child.

Jose R. Monarrez, 28, of Huntsville was charged Feb. 13 with aggravated assault of a date/family/household member.

Luis A. Rubio-Olmos, 35, was charged Feb. 13 with assault of a public servant.

Richard Small, 39, was charged Feb. 13 with aggravated assault of a date/family/household member.

Beau B. Walker, 34, of Midland was charged Feb. 13 with credit card or debit card abuse.

Matthew D. Badger, 32, of Midland was charged Feb. 13 with manufacturing/delivering a controlled substance under 4 grams.

Crystal O. Barela, 27, of Midland was charged Feb. 14 with tampering with/fabricating physical evidence and possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram.

Gabriel O. Barela, 30, of Midland was charged Feb. 14 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram.

Mallory F. Dunlap, 30, of Odessa was charged Feb. 14 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram.

Miranda M. Govea-Arenivas, 22, of Midland was charged Feb. 14 with unauthorized use of a vehicle.

Alberto B. Rangel, 24, of Midland was charged Feb. 14 with manufacturing/delivering a controlled substance under 4 grams.

Christopher Yancy, 45, of Midland was charged Feb. 14 with failing to register as a sex offender.

Chadrick D. Allen, 30, of Midland was charged Feb. 15 with possession of a controlled substance under 4 grams.

Manuel R. Carrasco, 29, of Midland was charged Feb. 15 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram.

Tyrone G. Everett, 33, of Midland was charged Feb. 15 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram.

Valerie S. Oliver, 34, of Odessa was charged Feb. 15 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram.

Robert L. Osborne, 41, of Midland was charged Feb. 15 with theft of property under $30,000.

Guillermo Galindo III, 19, of Midland was charged Feb. 16 with online solicitation of a minor under 14 years old.

Angel S. Hernandez, 30, of Midland was charged Feb. 16 with possession of a controlled substance under 400 grams.

Hardy Lenard, 43, of Midland was charged Feb. 16 with failing to register as a sex offender.

Jorge A. Ocampo, 57, of Midland was charged Feb. 16 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram.

Don E. Powell, 65, of Midland was charged Feb. 16 with failing to register as a sex offender.

Saul Sigala, 30, of Odessa was charged Feb. 16 with assault of a family/house member.

Stoney D. Slate, 24, of Midland was charged Feb. 16 with failing to register as a sex offender.

Dominique N. Stone, 27, of Stanton was charged Feb. 16 with possession of a controlled substance under 400 grams and possession of marijuana under 5 pounds.

Kevin R. Buschardt, 28, of Midland was charged Feb. 17 with indecent exposure with a child.

Christian J. Bustillos, 17, of Midland was charged Feb. 17 with burglary.

Christian R. Corona, 17, of Midland was charged Feb. 17 with burglary.

Shane J. Gilbert, 26, of Midland was charged Feb. 17 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram.

Jonathan R. Gutierrez, 17, of Midland was charged Feb. 17 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram.

Joseph B. Mancha, 19, of Midland was charged Feb. 17 with possession of marijuana under 5 pounds.

Cody Mclaughlin, 17, of Midland was charged Feb. 17 with burglary.

Brandon C. Moorer, 37, of Midland was charged Feb. 17 with failing to register as a sex offender.

Georgia A. Mungia, 48, of Midland was charged Feb. 17 with theft under $1,500.

Craig D. Swearengin, 18, of Midland was charged Feb. 17 with burglary.

Caleb Urias, 17, of Midland was charged Feb. 17 with burglary.

Jose J. Chavez, 25, of Midland was charged Feb. 18 with indecency with a child, sexual contact.

Korin Heinzman, 28, of Midland was charged Feb. 18 with possession of a controlled substance under 4 grams and tampering/fabricating physical evidence.

Eloy A. Hernandez Jr., 25, of Midland was charged Feb. 18 with evading arrest/detention with a vehicle.

Mark E. Mull, 36, of Midland was charged Feb. 18 with aggravated sexual assault of a child.

Armando Ramirez Jr., 39, of Midland was charged Feb. 18 with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Sean M. Ramirez, 26, of Midland was charged Feb. 18 with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Seturnino Tucker, 72, of Midland was charged Feb. 18 with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury.

Edmond J. Adams, 40, of Midland was charged Feb. 19 with driving while intoxicated.

Nicholas C. Hyden, 36, of Midland was charged Feb. 19 with unlicensed possession of a firearm by a felon.

Brian Lavender, 26, of Midland was charged Feb. 19 with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Kristina M. Maldonado, 29, of Midland was charged Feb. 19 with claiming lottery prize under $10,000.

Pedro Olmedo Jr., 26, of Midland was charged Feb. 19 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram.

Casey E. Butler, 36, of Midland was charged Feb. 20 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram.

Margarita F. Castillo, 39, of Midland was charged Feb. 20 with manufacturing/delivering a controlled substance under 200 grams.

James M. Davidson, 17, of Midland was charged Feb. 20 with possession of marijuana under 2 ounces in a drug-free zone.

Brandon I. Martinez, 17, of Midland was charged Feb. 20 with possession of marijuana under 2 ounces in a drug-free zone.

Quincy D. Ramirez, 34, of Austin was charged Feb. 20 with sexual assault.

Angel G. Zubia, 17, of Midland was charged Feb. 20 with possession of marijuana under 2 ounces in a drug-free zone.

Janell L. Agbaje, 24, of Midland was charged Feb. 21 with aggravated assault of a date/family/house member.

Jesus E. Maldonado-Hernandez, 22, was charged Feb. 21 with unlawful carrying of a weapon.

Adrian R. Trevino, 22, of Midland was charged Feb. 21 with burglary.

Lorenzo Cano Jr., 18, of Midland was charged Feb. 22 with aggravated robbery.

Efrain Garcia Moren, 18, of Midland was charged Feb. 22 with possession of a controlled substance under 4 grams.

Miranda M. Govea-Arenivas, 22, of Midland was charged Feb. 22 with unauthorized use of a vehicle.

Alberto B. Hernandez, 19, of Midland was charged Feb. 22 with aggravated robbery.

Eduardo A. Hernandez, 17, of Midland was charged Feb. 22 with aggravated robbery.

Martez C. Maggitt, 23, of Midland was charged Feb. 22 with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Anthony R. Sandoval, 45, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was charged Feb. 22 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram, possession of a controlled substance under 4 grams and possession of a controlled substance under 200 grams.

Jeffrey Tovarportillo, 23, was charged Feb. 22 with possession of a controlled substance under 1 gram, possession of a controlled substance under 4 grams and possession of a controlled substance under 200 grams.

Larry R. Carlisle, 38, of Midland was charged Feb. 23 with impersonating/exercising the function of a public servant.

Jose M. Desantiago-Coliz, 23, of Midland was charged Feb. 23 with driving while intoxicated, third offense.

Christopher A. Escamilla, 18, of Midland was charged Feb. 23 with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and deadly conduct, discharge of firearm.

Simon M. Garcia Jr., 47, of Midland was charged Feb. 23 with aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child, sexual contact.

Fabian M. Hernandez, 25, of Midland was charged Feb. 24 with possession of a controlled substance under 4 grams.

Howard E. Taylor, 44, of Midland was charged Feb. 24 with failing to comply with sex offender registration.

Toni L. Coronado, 29, of Midland was charged Feb. 25 with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and abandonment/endangerment of a child.

Kenneth Sanchez-Hernandez, 19, of Midland was charged Feb. 25 with evading arrest/detention with a vehicle.

Ricardo Sidas, 19, of Midland was charged Feb. 25 with possession of a controlled substance under 200 grams.

Deborah A. Sosa, 43, of Odessa was charged Feb. 25 with five counts of forgery of a financial instrument of elderly person and theft under $30,000.

Martie L. Vidal, 20, of Midland was charged Feb. 25 with two counts of possession of a controlled substance under 4 grams.

Jeffrey A. Wallis, 27, of Choctaw, Oklahoma, was charged Feb. 25 with accident involving injury.

Catarino Yabarra, 42, of Midland was charged Feb. 25 with aggravated assault against a public servant and evading arrest/detention with a vehicle.

Source: Midland County Sheriffs Office
Texas voters overwhelmingly support mental and criminal background checks on all gun purchases in the United States  including gun shows and private sales, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.

More than half  54 percent  strongly support those checks, and another 24 percent said they somewhat support them. Only 17 percent said they oppose those restrictions.

Support varied from one group to another, but virtually every subset of the electorate favors the checks: 92 percent of liberals, 86 percent of moderates, 66 percent of conservatives; 76 percent of whites, 89 percent of blacks, 82 percent of Hispanics; 71 percent of men, 85 percent of women. There was a distinction among conservative voters: Among those who identify more with the Republican Party, 79 percent favor background checks. But among those who identify with the Tea Party, 48 percent favor the checks and 51 percent oppose them.

Most Texas voters said they are not particularly alarmed by the states new open carry law, which allows people with concealed handgun licenses to carry their weapons publicly without concealing them, though there were significant differences among racial and ethnic groups.

While 37 percent said that new law makes them feel less safe than before, 22 percent said they feel more safe and 34 percent said open carry has no effect on their feelings of safety. The law took effect on Jan. 1.

Republican and independent voters were most likely to say they feel no effect from the change, while 62 percent of Democrats said the law makes them feel less safe. Among voters who identify with the Tea Party, 46 percent said they feel more safe since the new law took effect.

Black (61 percent) and Hispanic voters (50 percent) said they feel less safe. Only 28 percent of white voters said the same.

It shows some of the shades of ambiguity. There is a default position among a lot of conservatives for whom this is not a front-and-center issue: That [position] is no effect,said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin and co-director of the poll. Were a state where the default position is a relatively pro-gun-rights culture.

Income inequality and the minimum wage

Most Texans see income inequality as a problem but dont think the federal government should do anything about it, the UT/TT Poll found.

A substantial number of the states likely voters  44 percent  consider income inequality a major problem. Another 30 percent said its a minor problem. One in five said its no problem at all.

What to do about it? Only 12 percent said the federal government should be about as involved as it is now in solving the problem, while 37 percent said it should do more, 15 percent said it should do less, and 25 percent said the federal government shouldnt be doing anything at all about income inequality.

Daron Shaw, co-director of the poll and a government professor at UT-Austin, said many voters are conceding the point that incomes are out of balance without agreeing that the federal government is the best source of a solution. Those who think its a major problem and who think the government should do more are about the same size, he noted.

That said, 62 percent of those Texans said they would favor an increase in the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 an hour. About a quarter of them, 27 percent, oppose an increase.

Those numbers hide some underlying disagreements. While 90 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of independents favor an increase, only 37 percent of Republicans are with them. Nearly half of Republican voters oppose an increase. Thats driven by strong antipathy among those who identify with the Tea Party, 74 percent of whom said they oppose an increase in the minimum wage.

The University of Texas/Texas Tribune Internet survey of 1,200 registered voters was conducted from Feb. 12 to Feb. 19 and has an overall margin of error of +/- 2.83 percentage points. Among self-identified Republican primary voters, the margin of error is +/- 4.27 percentage points; among self-identified Democratic primary voters, it is +/- 4.57 percentage points. Among likely voters in the Republican primary race, the margin of error is +/- 4.86 percentage points. Among likely voters in the Democratic primary race, the margin of error is +/- 5.44 percentage points. Numbers in charts might not add up to 100 percent because of rounding.

---

Disclosure: The University of Texas at Austin is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewed here.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida stopped in Midland Friday on the campaign trail for the Republican presidential nomination and said that if elected he would lift the oil export ban from the 1970s.

However, that ban was lifted as part of an omnibus budget bill negotiated by Congress that President Barack Obama signed in mid-December. The Wall Street Journal reported the first oil tanker of freely traded U.S. crude oil departed on Dec. 31 from Corpus Christi.

Deliveries have been received in France and Israel since the first oil tanker shipped.

Rubio made his remarks in Midland after U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said earlier on Friday at IHS CERA Week conference in Houston that the U.S. needs to increase exports of oil and natural gas to allies in Asia and Europe, according to Fuelfix.

Weve made some progress on this by lifting the crude export ban; we can offer our friends the option theyve been asking for, to diversify their energy supply, Cornyn said.

Rubio spoke about uniting the party, including moderate Republicans who might shrink at polls after the battle seen at Thursdays CNN Republican debate on who had the most conservative credentials.

I want a Republican Party that is growing, not shrinking, a Republican Party that welcomes everyone, Rubio said. If you agree on 70 percent or 60 percent on the issues, youre an ally. We can respectfully disagree on the other issues, but were a party thats pretty diverse in people, and I think thats one of the differences between me and the other people in this race: I can unite the Republican Party.

Rubio said that he would work to be everybodys president, and said that Texas voters especially understand whats at stake.

This election is a referendum on our identity as a nation and as a people, Rubio said. Today were at risk of losing things that make us special, primarily upward mobility, because of mistakes and inaction made by both parties ... and dramatic shifts in the economy. Its just a different economy.

Rubio perceives key issues as identifying todays economy as global, the larger-than-ever student loan debt and reforming anti-poverty programs.

He characterized himself as being the most experienced on foreign policy and touted his 15-year record of turning conservative ideas into conservative solutions.

The latter was a reference to his service as speaker of the House in Florida and his five years in the U.S. Senate.

He pointed to his support for providing easier access to vocational training and providing wage subsidy instead of an income tax credit as alternatives to raising the minimum wage to combat poverty.

Rubio continued a trend of bringing out the claws against the leading Republican nominee, Donald Trump, referring to the billionaire businessman several times as a con artist. He re-iterated several points from the Thursday night debate, including that Trump hired illegal immigrants over U.S. residents to work in a Florida hotel and that contractors were the first who did not get paid when a business went under.

We are perilously close to turning over the party of Reagan and the conservative movement to a political con artist that is trying to convince people he is an anti-immigration advocate when ... he supported a path to legalization and citizenship, and more importantly, a person who hired illegal immigrants to build Trump towers, Rubio said.

He also hinted at, but did not mention by name, fellow candidate U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on immigration.

Following his meeting with local media, the candidate attended a private fundraiser at the High Sky Wing of the Commemorative Air Force.

Follow Cassie on Twitter at @Cassie_Burton51 or on Facebook at /CassieBurton15
Numerous lawsuits have been filed against nearly 30 Midland businesses by two local plaintiffs and their Florida-based lawyer for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The lawsuits primarily involve parking lot violations, which has led the businesses  most of which are located on the citys south side  and the Chamber of Commerce to suspect they are what can be considered drive-by lawsuits.

The way these suits have come about, it appears that the goal is not about generating compliance, but about being litigious and getting settlement amounts, said Nellwyn Barnett, executive vice president of Chamber Relations.

Barnett and Richard Hunt, a Dallas-based lawyer representing some of the businesses, said that the settlement amounts have been anywhere between $6,500 and $9,500.

The businesses include La Mision, Steak 42, Johnnys BBQ and 7-Eleven. The primary plaintiff is a James W. Close, who is represented by Ronald Stern of the Advocacy Law Firm P.A. out of Hallendale, Florida.

The violations are almost all just parking, Hunt said. In some cases, the businesses have no designated handicapped parking at all, but in other cases, the signage or striping does not comply with the requirements of the ADA. For example, how wide the parking space and the striped aisle next to the space is, or the access ramps to the building front are not done correctly.

There is no question the violations are real and that the businesses must comply with ADA requirements, according to Hunt and Barnett. However, the way the businesses have been notified of their violations  by being sued  has caused a stir.

Im completely confident that (the plaintiffs) got in a van and drove around looking for parking problems, and they look for parking problems because you can do that without getting out of the car, Hunt said in a phone interview. The businesses should fix their parking. My only disagreement with Mr. Stern is how much money he wants for the time.

When asked about the violations, the businesses the Reporter-Telegram reached out to stated they did not know they were in violation and, if they had been notified, they would have made the fixes immediately.

Plaintiffs and their lawyers are not required by law to notify a business before suing, but the motive behind not sending a notification letter first is up for debate.

If you send a demand letter, and the problem is something easy to fix  like parking  the defendant may fix the parking, and then when (the plaintiffs lawyer) comes to them and says we want to settle with you because of your ADA violation, the defendant can essentially turn his nose up to the lawyer and say, I fixed it, you cant sue me now, Hunt said. You would expect a lawyer to send the demand letter, but they dont. And the reason they dont is because they dont want the problem fixed before they can file a lawsuit because only when they file a lawsuit do they have the leverage to enter into a settlement to get some money.

Under the ADA, the federal court can order the business owner to fix the problem and pay the plaintiffs attorneys fees.

If its a minor violation we notify, because for minor violations, its cost- prohibitive, time-prohibitive (to sue), Stern said in a phone interview. For major violations, we file without notifying. Major (means) things like parking, restroom facilities, etc. If its just a sign, we wont sue. There have been multiple violations at the businesses weve sued.

Monetary incentives

In California, under state law, a plaintiff can receive as much as $4,000 for each violation a place of business has. In Texas, however, the state law is very similar to the ADA, meaning theres not much monetary incentive for the plaintiff.

What the state law says is you (the plaintiff) do get money damages, but you dont get attorneys fees, said Brian East, a senior attorney with Austin-based Disability Rights Texas. So if you tried to go to a 7-Eleven, and the parking wasnt striped right, youre unlikely to get much in the way of damages.

You may win your case, but its not like it caused you a bunch of physical harm. Its just that you cant get into the store like everyone else can. So, the damages are likely to be very small, like in the hundreds of dollars, he said.

The minimum damages award under state law is $300, East said in a phone interview.

Nonprofits such as Disability Rights Texas are more likely to take these kinds of cases than private lawyers because they have other funding sources, East said.

State law is talking about damages and no fees, and federal law you dont get damages, but you do get fees, he said.

Stern is incorporating a corresponding statement in the federal complaints so that the state court claim will also be heard, he explained in an email.

We often hear that this is driven by the plaintiff trying to get rich, East said. But to me, in Texas, that doesnt make too much sense because the plaintiff doesnt get much. There has been a fair amount of backlash against people who are enforcing the ADA because mostly theyre not suing under the state law.

The bigger fussing around this that Ive seen is in a state like California, where there is a pretty substantial monetary award, so a lot of people are thinking theyre just running up these cases to get that money, East said. Well, you dont get that money under the ADA or state law.

Certainly, the lawyer has some monetary incentive, but East believes even that wouldnt be the main impetus given the payoff is no more than a regular paying client.

Our interest is for them to make the modifications not to assign blame, Stern said. Its in the social public interest to settle these cases rather than get into protracted litigation because, in my opinion, once everybody settles, these places become compliant.

Most of the violations are caused by ignorance and not willful disobedience.

The majority of the businesses being sued in Midland are older establishments, which means they would be held to the original 1991 standards set by the ADA. Businesses built after 1991 must comply with the 2010 updates to the federal law. The Texas Accessibility Standards (TAS), created in the 1990s and updated in 2010, are almost identical to ADA.

Many older businesses mistakenly believe that, because they are older, they dont have to update their accessibility  in effect, that they are grandfathered into compliance.

We often hear this business is grandfathered in, meaning it existed before the ADA, East said. Although that certainly lessens their obligation, it doesnt eliminate it. So if, for example, all it would take is a $1,000 curb cut or $200 to erect a sign in the parking lot, thats probably required for a building thats been there since 1980 because it doesnt cost much. But if youre talking about something that is very expensive, then the obligation is less.

In theory this is true, but in practice it isnt, Hunt said.

There are a lengthy set of guidelines  how wide aisles have to be, doors etc.  that the owner is obligated to, he said. The exact words are, remove barriers to access if it is readily achievable. Readily achievable means something like, not too expensive.

But heres the practice: The courts had said anything that doesnt meet the current standards is a barrier to access. In defining whats readily achievable, they look at it and say if the cost is the kind of cost you would pay to stay in business, then its readily achievable. Basically if it doesnt bankrupt you, youre probably gonna have to do it.

Education required

Each case is different, but the main problem is lack of education for these businesses so that they dont discriminate against those with disabilities in the first place, Hunt said. Many city ordinances and TAS requirements overlap ADA requirements or are similar, but they are not exact.

The real solution to these lawsuits is for the federal government to do a better job of educating businesses, Hunt said. Businesses do have some responsibility for knowing the law, but, in my mind, the greatest problem here has been the failure of the federal government to engage in any kind of meaningful education campaign.

Of course, ignorance of the law is no excuse for not abiding by it.

The other way to look at it is, this has been the law for 25 years and you shouldnt just sit there and not make your place accessible hoping you dont get sued, and when you get sued say youre unfairly picking me out, East said. Theres a similar pattern in Austin right now, and everybody is like all of a sudden there are all these lawsuits, but when you look at it, this person is in a wheelchair and hes suing all of the businesses that he goes to so theyre all near his house. Its in a short period of time and its a bunch of them, but its probably because that person finally found a lawyer who would work on what he encounters.

Close, who was unavailable for comment before deadline for this article, uses a wheelchair and is legally blind. Though most of his allegations relate to parking lots, others do not. In a lawsuit against a local 7-Eleven  which has been settled  Close alleged that pipes and sharp surfaces under the sink were exposed, that there were no grab bars installed in the toilet stall and that door handles are of the round style requiring tight grasping and twisting of the wrist.

The suit states that these barriers create a real and immediate threat of personal injury.

The ADA has been around for about 25 years and it requires that there are no barriers to people like my client, Stern said. Were asking for the court to order (the businesses) to make these changes to the degree of being readily achievable. Were not asking them to go bankrupt. Were asking them to put in a designated spot or make some simple fixes so someone in a wheelchair can ambulate around. That is not asking too much.
Don Ryan

In the last several months, dozens of Midland businesses have been sued for violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Let me start by stating that the Midland Chamber is not advocating that businesses should be exempt from compliance. We are, however, concerned about the nature of these lawsuits. More than 21 lawsuits have been filed against Midland businesses in the last two weeks alone, and the count is quickly rising. They are all being filed by a single plaintiff, represented by a law firm based in Florida. The basis for most of the suits rests on improper striping and/or improper signage for accessible parking. Therefore, we can only conclude that the plaintiff is mimicking a tactic that has been used in Florida and California, known as a drive-by lawsuit. They are so called, because the plaintiff merely drives by the establishment, seeking to identify parking lot violations of the ADA. Furthermore, in each of the cases, the defendant is given a deadline for compliance and issued an ultimatum to pay a settlement or be taken to court.

Again, let me stress that we believe businesses should be in compliance with the ADA. These lawsuits, however, do not appear to focus on generating compliance and inclusion for those with disabilities. Many have suggested that eliciting a settlement is the primary goal.
GM1 Box Score Box Score (PDF) GM2 Box Score - The Morehead State softball team fell in their final two games of the grueling Spartan Classic on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles lost 9-1 to Ohio State before falling 10-2 to host South Carolina-Upstate.With the losses, Morehead State falls to 5-6 on the year and finishes 0-4 in the Spartan Classic.In the loss to Ohio State, the Eagles managed just two hits, a single byand a double by. They loaded the bases in the top of the fourth, trailing 3-0, butstruck out to end the threat.(1-3) picked up the loss for MSU, allowing four hits and six earned runs in five innings of work. She walked six and struck out five.Against USC-Upstate, the Eagles received solo home runs fromin the second and Hutchins in the fifth to score their only runs. Thompson's solo shot trimmed the Upstate lead to 3-1, but the Spartans added three more in the bottom of the third to extend the lead to 6-1. After Hutchin's home run, USC-Upstate responded with a run in fifth and three more in the sixth as MSU fell 10-2.(3-2) allowed seven hits and six runs, five of which were earned, in 2.2 innings to record the loss.Hutchins was named to the Spartan Classic All-Tournament Team after recording a double, a home run and two runs batted in.Next weekend, the Eagles travel to Johnson City, Tenn. to participate in the Buccaneer Classic. They face Alabama A&M and host East Tennessee State on Saturday and Siena and Alabama A&M on Sunday.
Viola Beach, the indie band from Warrington who died in a car accident in Sweden with their manager, was remembered by the Blossoms band in their gig in Concorde 2 in Brighton.

As previously reported by Music Times, band members River Reeves, Kris Leonard, Jack Dakin and Tomas Lowe, alongside manager Craig Tarry, died when their car fell in a 25-foot deep canal after their Where Is The Music festival performance in Sweden.

They were supposed to open the Blossoms concert at Guildford, England the next day and were also supposed to be part of the Brighton concert.

Blossoms released a statement saying that they are going to play the group's full set audio recording from their final gig in Leamington Spa before the tragic accident, as a tribute to the musicians. Aside from that, they will also play the said recording for every gig where the band was supposed to join Blossoms.

"All their families have been contacted and tonight, and then on every date on the tour they were due to join us on, we will mark their slot by playing a full audio recording of their set that was recorded from the Leamington Spa show," Blossoms said on their Facebook Page. "If youre coming to the gigs, get down early and celebrate their lives with an outpouring of love: Dance, drink and sing along. Viola Beach & Craig Tarry RIP."

With that, the five-piece played a haunting pre-recorded set as a special tribute to the band during their concert in Brighton. The stage is empty and only the microphones are seen while the venue is filled with the wonderful music from the Viola Beach, Mirror UK reported.

For half an hour set, the crowd enjoyed the songs of the band, including their hit single "Swings & Waterslides," which reached No. 11 in the official singles chart. After the tribute, support act The Vryll Society played before the Blossoms came to the stage, where the band's front man Tom Ogden was seen wearing a Viola Beach T-shirt.

Blossoms first got acquainted with Viola Beach in Glasgow where they hung out and invited them on their tour, saying that "they were a great gang and a brilliant band," BBC reported.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
On Tuesday (Feb. 23), French Montana stopped by the Breakfast Club and dished on a few topics, including his new mixtape Wave Gods, working with Kanye West and incarcerated rapper Max B. He also discussed Kendrick Lamar and his belief that the music industry is using the Compton rhymer to eliminate street rap.

The discussion began when Charlamagne asked French about the Why isnt street rap selling like Kendrick? line on the Wave Gods intro. He initially dodged the question, but Charlamagne pressed for an answer again later in the interview, to which he responded, Because they position [Kendrick], like how they did at the Grammys, as the new music. I dont feel like thats Its not that its not the right thing to do, but I just feel like they You see like the whole thing was like Kendrick night.

During the conversation, Angela Yee asked if the New York rapper felt the marketing was making Lamar the new face of hip-hop. Yeah, French said. They put him on that platform so they could shift music towards that direction.

This year, Kendrick Lamar led the Grammy nominations with 11 nods. He was up for awards including Album of the Year for To Pimp A Butterfly and Song of the Year for "Alright." He also received nominations for Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Bad Blood" with Taylor Swift and Dance Recording "Never Catch Me" with Flying Lotus.

He won Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance for "Alright" as well as Best Rap Album for TPAB. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 last March.

As previously reported, TPAB album sales are up a whopping 411 percent since the Grammys.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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Photography by Koi Images And Events - www.KRISTINAFANELLI.com #KoiImagesAndEvents/Courtesy, Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas

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There was disbelief. Then outrage. Then laughs. And then the politicians showed up.

After a San Antonio city councilman used the absurd and jocular debate between the two cities over breakfast tacos to lay out his own "kumbaya" approach to the subject on Friday, Austin Mayor Steve Adler chose the opposite route.

Adler took the podium at a fun, wholesome community service event Saturday morning to announce a declaration of war.

"The city of Austin is currently at war with San Antonio over a subject that I know we all hold dear in our hearts," Adler told volunteers at the event, according to the Austin American-Statesman. "That, of course, is breakfast tacos."

OK, "commander-in-chief for the Breakfast Taco War of 2016."

You should put that on your LinkedIn profile. It will definitely help with your re-election campaign.

OFFICIAL RESPONSE: San Antonio Mayor Ivy Taylor issues Austin mayor a challenge.

If you care enough about the subject to read this far into this story then I don't have to recap how we got here.

But if you live in Central or South Texas and have had your head buried in a taco and somehow missed this whole kerfuffle then here's the short version:

New York guy says Austin invented breakfast taco. San Antonio people say: No, we invented it; kick that guy out. People in Austin say: \_()_/. Express-News says: Here are 10 reasons Austin is stupid, but there is cool stuff there, too. Statesman says: You are stupid, too; let's be friends.

[Enter politician nonsense.]

Let's be honest here, guys, neither city can claim to be the originator of the breakfast taco, so let's just stop, and eat tacos.

And let's stop labeling tacos as breakfast, lunch or dinner. A taco is a cultural thing and is not owned by any one city. It's the food of working class Mexicans and they've been eating them since forever.

So whether you like the creativity and pizzazz of Torchy's or a simple barbacoa with lime, cilantro and onions, a taco is just a freaking taco and they are all delicious.

Besides, once the politicians start dabbing, the trend is dead.

ceudaily@mysa.com

*Staff writer Sal Guerrero contributed to this report.
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Austin Mayor Steve Adler declared war Saturday on San Antonio over a critical issue  breakfast tacos.

The feud has been on the front burner since some dude from New York, who obviously has no place commenting on the subject matter, erroneously declared Austin home of the best breakfast taco.

San Antonio replied in kind with a change.org petition, and then the politicos got involved.

READ MORE: San Antonio petition demands Austin to exile writer who thinks they're the taco birthplace

Earlier in the week, Mayor Ivy Taylor tweeted that even a native New Yorker like herself knows that San Antonio is the mecca of the breakfast taco, and invited Adler to join her for some of San Antonios finest.

Joining the fray was District 9 Councilman Joe Krier, who penned an op-ed for the Austin American-Statesman on Friday. Adlers declaration of war came Saturday.

READ MORE: Austin mayor declares 'breakfast taco war' on San Antonio during community service event

And Taylors response late Saturday? Challenge accepted.

"OK, Mayor Adler and all you longhorn-loving, live-music-listening, boardwalk-running Austinites, I and all the taco-making, taco-eating, taco-reigning San Antonians will take your challenge and raise you one machacado con huevo taco on a flour tortilla recien hecha (freshly made) con salsa verde. #original512," Taylor said. "Let's finally end this taco-versy with a taste-off. I'll bring some of our favorite tacos and you bring yours."

Taylor said she is willing to meet Mayor Adler half way.

RELATED: 10 reasons to hate Austin beyond its breakfast taco arrogance

Krier, too, suggested that local leaders from the two cities collect their best tacos and meet in a neutral convention center. Maybe the one in New Braunfels, though Krier suspects that Adler will suggest San Marcos.

Adler and Krier happen to know each other well. Theyve met often, though never over breakfast, to discuss a proposed high-speed rail line between Austin and San Antonio, and the possibility of a regional airport.

Hes a good guy, Krier said. Hes a great leader for Austin. I think hes just misguided in his assessment of whos got the better breakfast tacos.

READ MORE: Who invented breakfast tacos? 'NOT AUSTIN,' new website says

Krier spends a lot of time in Austin, and he prefers tacos made in the Alamo City. Every Thursday, before taking up city business at council meetings, he dines on chorizo-and-egg from Poblanos, next to Municipal Plaza.

Regardless of where the challenge occurs, there will have to be ground rules, such as what can go inside the tortillas?

Kriers a fan of traditional  chorizo-and-egg on flour. Hes good, too, with bacon and egg, though he deems those non-purist.

I suspect we may need to appoint some neutral mediators for the categories, and then well have to pick neutral judges.

That could easily get sticky.

But the starting ground rule should be clear and simple: No New Yorkers need apply.

jbaugh@express-news.net
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A curious topic posted to Reddit and making its rounds across the web may have uncovered a change in marijuana policy from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program.

Previously, the drug education program for schools has classified pot as a "gateway drug."

But on their main page that explains gateway drugs, marijuana is not listed as such. A look back at cached versions of the webpage dating to 2013 also doesn't show marijuana in the category.

RELATED: Police: Central Texas man ate marijuana, had leaves stuck to inside of his mouth at traffic stop

So what is going on here? It turns out D.A.R.E. doesnt really know.

Ron Brogan, a D.A.R.E. America regional director, told Leafly the program uses a contractor outside of the company to handle the website.

RELATED: Womans marijuana sex lube overdose lasts three days

To be quite honest, I really dont have an answer, Brogan said in an interview with Leafly. I suppose it could have come out as part of our new curriculum, Keepin It Real, and that may be the thought of the scientist that developed that.

Leafly did some digging themselves to see when the change was made, which is where the cached versions of the webpage originated.

D.A.R.E. only mentions marijuana once on the gateway drug page, sourcing the U.S. Department of Education for a definition:

Tobacco use is associated with alcohol and illicit drug use and is generally the first drug used by young people who enter a sequence of drug use that can include tobacco, alcohol, marijuana, and harder drugs.

RELATED: Here's where the remaining presidential candidates stand on marijuana

The logic behind the gateway drug states that people who use substances such as tobacco and alcohol will ultimately end up using harder substances such as heroin and cocaine, according to D.A.R.E.

[h/t Extract]
A man is dead after authorities said he stole a truck in Wilson County and led deputies on a chase Saturday morning before running off the road and opening fire on them.

Wilson County Sheriff Joe Tackitt said the chase began around 9 a.m. when the man, believed to be in his 20s, stole the truck from a home on County Road 150 just inside Wilson County. During the theft, the man fired a shot out of the trucks back window, which struck the home, officials said.
A bloody narco war could be erupting again on the U.S.- Mexico border. It's been the most violent year since 2010 in Tijuana with 71 people killed in January, reports say.

The Jalisco New Generation Cartel is the latest and most violent cartel to make a power grab near the border. The group is going after street-level drug dealing as well as lucrative smuggling routes across the U.S. border.
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Wealth is the ability to own some of the world's most exotic and deadly animals.

And, for some members of Mexican drug cartels, that's a reality.

Photos posted to Instagram and leaked by online outlets like El Blog del Narco show cartel members casually interacting with tigers, lions and other big cats  a way to show off their wealth and status.

Some of those photos come from Instagram and Twitter accounts thought to have been started by Ivan and Alfredo Guzman, sons of Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who escaped from the Antiplano maximum-security prison near Mexico City on July 11.

"He who does not post photos with exotic animals is not a 'narco-junior,'" Jose Luis Montenegro, the author of "Narco-juniors: The Power's Heirs in Mexico," told VICE News. "Panthers, tigers, and jaguars are the most common. The more exotic they are, the more attention they draw."

RELATED: Mexican authorities: Gang members tortured 60-year-old woman for selling heroin on turf

Despite the imagery associated with alleged criminals, it's apparently completely legal in Mexico to own exotic animals such as big cats, reptiles, monkeys and birds, as long as they're sold from breeders licensed by the country's Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources, according to VICE.

Mexico still has an illegal wildlife trade, Reuters reported in 2011, in which flora and fauna cost a fraction of the cost set by legal breeders.

However, more than 90 percent die during travel, according to Reuters.

RELATED: West Texas men with alleged ties to Sinaloa drug cartel indicted on meth charges

Mexican law enforcement agencies have found exotic wildlife at the homes of notorious cartel members and leaders: in October 2008, authorities found an albino tiger, black panther and mandril at a house in Mexico City where they arrested 15 members of the Beltran Leyva cartel.

And, earlier this year, federal authorities in Chihuahua seized two Bengal tigers from the Villa Ahumada home of alleged Juarez drug cartel leader Jesus Salas Aguayo.

Scroll through the slideshow to see the exotic animals  including large cats, monkeys and others  flaunted by Mexican drug cartels.

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports
Last years ratification of the first-ever collective bargaining agreement with two River Walk Hyatt hotels left no doubt  union efforts to push south of the Mason-Dixon have them headed our way.

Ask residents in San Antonio  or across Texas  about this development, and youll likely get a variety of answers, many of them strident whether pro- or anti-union.

Such polarized debate misses the point. Its up to employees to choose  or at least it should be.

Unfortunately, U.S. labor laws havent kept pace with modern workplace or union realities. Rather than take sides on labor organizing, we should give employees greater power over unions claiming to represent them.

Congress is considering the Employee Rights Act, which represents an important first step and smart policy co-sponsored by scores of federal lawmakers including, Sens. Ted Cruz, John Cornyn and Marco Rubio. This legislation will complement Texas existing right-to-work statutes by protecting union members and those considering the union question for themselves.

For example, in a balanced system, it must be as easy to leave a union as to join one. But U.S. labor laws fail this test by giving a labor organization eternal tenure once it is voted in. Even in clear cases of malfeasance, it is immensely difficult for employees to rid the workplace of a union they no longer want .

A simple solution is to offer new generations of employees the chance to decide their own fate. The Employee Rights Act does this with recertification votes to be held whenever a majority of the workforce turns over.

Timed to coincide with contract negotiations, these recertification votes will enable employees to hold their unions accountable. For this reason, more than 70 percent of current union members support the change.

Moreover, a secret ballot vote is the hallmark of our democracy. It is how the U.S. will select a new president, and it should be the standard in union certification elections as well  but it is not today. The Employee Rights Act would at last provide this guarantee, a change 79 percent of union members favor.

Finally, unions truly working in employees interests will focus on the collective bargaining process, not politics. Although the Employee Rights Act would not restrict unions constitutionally guaranteed ability to financially back candidates or causes, it would require employees to opt in before their dues can be used for such purposes. More than 80 percent of union members want this paycheck protection.

With union members calling for these fundamental reforms, there is no reason for Congress to delay. Our elected officials should act swiftly to pass this legislation and give employees the rights and the voice they deserve.

Jerry Patterson is the former Commissioner of the General Land Office of Texas and a former state senator.
Over the course of last years legislative session, I was proud to see quality pre-K improvements thrust into the spotlight as a bipartisan priority. Through emotional and sometimes heated debate, we were able to approve House Bill 4, a grant program of $130 million to Texas schools, in an effort to bolster existing pre-K programs.

Although many of us argued this did not go far enough, it became clear that this was the best solution that the majority would embrace, and it passed with a 129-18 vote. It remains significant that we came together to create a new program to invest in kids across Texas.

Unfortunately, this victory was not nearly enough.

Although I am excited to see how districts take advantage of the grants, our kids demand a far bolder change of course.

Last year, the National Institute for Early Education Research released a study showing that Texas ranks dead last in the country in delivering quality pre-K. In the 10 policies of its quality standards checklist, Texas met only two  for teacher in-service and early learning standards. In areas from class size to teacher specialization, we continue to fall woefully short.

We also fail to get enough kids in the door. Although we have seen incremental progress over the past decade, about half  48 percent  of Texas 4-year-olds still do not attend any pre-K whatsoever, and state spending per pupil has plummeted since 2011.

To this day, there remain naysayers who consider pre-K to be an unnecessary luxury. Why does it matter, they say, if a child stays at home before kindergarten?

Research shows that 90 percent of a childs brain development happens by the time he or she turns 5, and access to education during those early years has turned out to be an incredible predictor of future growth.

A study from the National Bureau of Economic Research showed that economically disadvantaged Texans who attend pre-K were 23 percent less likely to be retained in the first, second or third grade, and 13 percent less likely to be assigned to a special education program.

These outcomes are not just morally encouraging, they are smart economic policy. Among economically disadvantaged children alone, Texas pre-K saves the state upward of $142 million due to these lower rates of grade retention and assignment to special education programs.

Pre-K students are given an enormous head start in reading, math, and verbal and nonverbal communication skills. They are given a head start in working in groups and respecting others. They learn empathy, compassion and the golden rule. Is it ever too soon to begin these lessons?

We cannot allow pre-K to be considered last sessions issue. We cannot stop demanding far better for Texas children and families, and universal, full-day pre-K is the most critical investment we can make.

Many who do not go as far as denying the irrefutable benefits of universal pre-K will simply argue that its a worthy but unaffordable cause. They will use phrases like fiscal responsibility and waste of taxpayer dollars. As a senior member of the House Appropriations Committee who wrote the states budget, I unequivocally reject this notion.

We can afford a revitalized pre-K system. We cannot afford continued inaction.

We cannot afford providing the lowest quality pre-K in the country. We cannot afford half of our children being denied education in the most critical stages of their development. Their future and opportunities are in the balance. Complacency is unacceptable.

Lets find common ground on new and innovative ways to make Texas early-childhood education the best in the nation. Lets not stop at funding. Lets train and certify more quality early-childhood teachers and encourage them to teach in our most vulnerable communities.

HB 4 was an important step forward. Lets not let it go to waste.

Texas Rep. Helen Giddings represents District 109 in the Dallas area.
It seems gin is having a momentagain. Gin, which first experienced mass popularity in 18th-century Britain, and was the cocktail base of choice through the middle of the last century, dominated the bar scene for many years. Its unique flavors and aromatics, from infusions of juniper and other botanicals, make it a distinctive choice, one especially well-suited to warm climates and seasons. As European exports of gin reach new highs, its time to once again say hello to this historic spirit.

With its modern take on the traditional botanicals found in London Dry Gin, Esme is putting French gin production on the map. A blend of juniper and spice with cucumber, rose petals and coriander, Esme is the perfect addition to a martini or traditional gin and tonic. Another French favorite is G.W. Goodwynn Classic Gin. Its stylish blend of botanical flavors features notes of juniper, citrus, coriander and cucumber. Its also crisp and refreshing in a martini or gin and tonic  or with a splash of elderflower liqueur to heighten its aromatic qualities.
I have fond memories of my first summer job, working for Steinbach Toyota in 1975. It was located in the same building where Steinbach Dodge is located today. At the time I was paid $1.95/hour and was very excited with this wage not knowing that Manitobas minimum wage in 2016 Manitoba would be $11.00/hour, I felt that I was doing well.

My job was to wash and detail cars under the close supervision of owner, Henry Kliewer. Henry was a meticulous man who taught me the value of pennies, nickels and dimes and the importance of a clean and presentable car. His sound financial advice has been incredibly helpful throughout my life as an adult. More interesting though, is that to this day I still enjoy washing cars and am very thorough when it comes to keeping my own vehicles clean.

I recently visited Steinbach Dodge and noticed that the wash bay hasnt changed locations since I worked in that building 41 years ago, but has been modernized.

The values and lessons that you learn on your very first job can have a positive impact on the rest of your life. However, there are a number of advantages for employers who benefit from hiring summer students. As in past years, the Government of Canada provides funding to help employers create summer job opportunities for students. It is designed to focus on local priorities, while helping both students and their communities.

Canada Summer Jobs provides funding to not-for-profit organizations, public-sector employers and small businesses with 50 or fewer employees to create summer job opportunities for young people aged 15 to 30 years who are full-time students intending to return to their studies in the next school year.

Please note that the deadline for applications is March 11, 2016. Please visit the Service Canada website for more information.
Posted on 02/28/2016, 11:00 am, by mySteinbach

Ted Falk, Member of Parliament for Provencher, announced details of his Private Members Bill  The Fairness in Charitable Gifts Act.

Currently, federal tax credits for political contributions far exceed the federal tax credits for donations to registered charities in Canada.

The Fairness in Charitable Gifts Act will level the playing field between donations to political parties and donations to registered charitable organizations, said MP Falk. Feeding politicians should never be more important than feeding the hungry.

Canadian charities, both secular and faith-based, deliver critical social support services to communities across the country and are well equipped to provide meaningful support to Canadians in conjunction with government services. With this bill, charitable organizations will be empowered to take on a greater role as a result of the additional donations generated from the new tax incentives. This bill will also encourage the expansion of important medical research across the country.

The number of Canadians donating to charities has been on a long-term decline across the country. The percentage of taxfilers claiming donations in 2013 fell to 21.87% from its high of 29.5% in 1990.

According to Statistics Canada (2010), 10 percent of donors account for 63 percent of all charitable donations in Canada. A rebalancing is needed. This bill will encourage donations from the largest segments of the population  those who currently donate under $400 per year as well as those who currently do not donate at all.

Year after Year, charities across Canada strive to expand their services in the midst of an aging and declining donor base, said Floyd Perras, Executive Director of Strategic Initiatives at Siloam Mission in Winnipeg. The Fairness in Charitable Gifts Act will encourage Canadians to increase their support for these critical social services with the benefit of receiving a greater tax credit at tax time. I applaud MP Falk on his support for charitable organizations and encourage Parliament to pass this important legislation.

Charitable organizations across Canada work hard to deliver important social support services in their communities, said Darrel Penner of the Bethesda Foundation. It is encouraging to see our local Member of Parliament pick up the torch on behalf of charities and their donors. I am hopeful that this bill will gain the support of Canadians and their Members of Parliament from coast to coast.

According to Statistics Canada and reported in Macleans Magazine, the gold standard for generosity in the country is Southeastern Manitoba. While the median dollar donation across the country has generally averaged between $250 and $350 per person, residents of Steinbach were the most generous among larger communities in a 2009 study with a median donation of $1,830.

Among smaller centres in Provencher, towns such as Blumenort, Kleefeld and Landmark led the way. The median donation for residents of Blumenort was $2,420. Kleefeld came in second in this region at $1,740 dollars, followed by Landmark at $1,680.

I am very proud to represent a riding that is so well known for its generosity, said MP Falk. Our area is a leader in charitable giving and it just makes sense that this bill should be launched from right here in Provencher.
By Roy Poses, MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Brown University, and the President of FIRM  the Foundation for Integrity and Responsibility in Medicine. Cross posted from the Health Care Renewal website

Health Care Renewal is officially non-partisan. We do not endorse candidates for office, or political parties. That does not prevent us from commenting on policy issues, and on pronouncements and actions by politicians and government officials when they relate to the issues that interest us.

So, we have criticized excessive coziness among politicians and government officials on one hand, and big health care organizations and their leaders on the other. We have noted conflicts of interest affecting politicians, particularly the revolving door, and other shadings towards corporatism. We have noted how health care policy discussions may focus on health care financing, while ignoring some of the bigger issues we discuss (For example, see our discussions of health care reform, and particularly this one of the then new US Affordable Care Act). These include: leadership of health care organizations by generic managers (managerialists) who are unsympathetic or even hostile to the health care mission; deceptive practices involving marketing, the manipulation and suppression of research, stealth health policy advocacy, stealth lobbying, etc; and timidity in regulation and law enforcement, leading to outright impunity of health care leaders.

We have criticized politicians and government leaders of all parties and from all sides of the political spectrum. For example, in retrospect we criticized the (Democratic) Clinton administrations laissez faire attitude to conflicts of interest at the National Institutes of Health (see summary here and links to older posts). We criticized flagrant examples of the revolving door involving top Bush adminstration officials (e.g., most recently here), and yet more involving Obama administration officials (e.g., most recently here).

Yet we also acknowledge that most policy discussions by political and government figures are at least well-intended and based in some degree on the facts and knowledge of the health care context (even if we think the results might be misguided, wrong-headed, or tangential.) So, while health care is not so far the most important issue in the tumultuous 2016 US presidential race, there has been considerable discussion of it. Most major candidates have staked out health care positions that again appear well-intended and based to some degree on the facts and context (although my point is not to comment on their

merits.)

But there has been one major exception.

The Leading Candidate with No Health Care Plan

Donald Trump currently seems to be the leading Republican presidential candidate. As reported by the Minnesota Post,

Trump doesnt have a health care plan. Go to the issues section of his campaign. Really, go there, you wont believe what you see. A typical campaign website has position papers. Trump has none. The link to Issues takes you to a pretty frightening page of short embedded videos of Trump himself summarizing his positions at a level of detail that you should find insulting. But he doesnt even have one of those on health care. In addition to Issues, the sites homepage has a pulldown menu called Positions. I dont get the difference, but who cares? Positions are actual written-out position statements, not videos, but only on five issues, none of which are remotely related to health care (nor many other major issues). So for Trumps health-care thinking, we have to rely on what he says in debates and speeches and, I suppose, tweets, some of which have been controversial.

The Candidate with No Health Care Policy Advisers

On February 20, 2016, Politico reported that Mr Trumps campaign also apparently has no health policy advisers. The article noted that Mr Trump had written in one of his books that he would

Lock the best health care policy minds in a room  and dont let them out until theyve crafted a plan for providing terrific coverage for everyone.

But he has not said who those advisers might be. Furthermore, the reporter was unable to determine who, if anyone, is currently advising Mr Trump about health care,

Sam Clovis, Trumps national policy adviser, insists the campaign is talking with lots of health care experts  but declined to name any of those advisers. We have experts around the world who help us on these various topics, Clovis said in an interview with POLITICO. We get very frank and honest input if we do not expose these people to the scrutiny of the press.  As we get further along they might want to come out of the shadows.

However,

POLITICO scoured the landscape of notable policy wonks  from academics to lobbyists to congressional staffers to think tank fellows  but was unable to find anyone, on either side of the political divide, who acknowledged whispering health care policy tips in the billionaires ear. Or for that matter, of hearing of anyone who had talked to his campaign. He seems to be a one-man policy shop, said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, and a leading critic of Obamacare.

So Mr Trump has no clear health care plan, and apparently no health care advisers. Furthermore, reports of what this candidate has said about health care reveals some anomalies, to say the least.

Reducing Pharmaceutical Costs to Zero?

The Washington Post in a Fact Checker feature on February 18, 2016, entitled, Trumps truly absurd claim he would save $300 billion a year on prescription drugs, quoted Mr Trump three times on the costs of pharmaceuticals,

We are not allowed to negotiate drug prices. Can you believe it? We pay about $300 billion more than we are supposed to, than if we negotiated the price. So theres $300 billion on day one we solve.

Donald Trump, remarks at Plymouth State University, Holderness, N.H., Feb. 7, 2016 So I said to myself wow, let me do some numbers. If we competitively bid drugs in the United States, we can save as much as $300 billion a year.

Trump, remarks in Manchester, N.H., Feb. 8 Were the largest drug buyer in the world. We dont negotiate. We dont negotiate. You pay practically the same for the country as if you go into a drug store and buy the drugs. If we negotiated the price of drugs, Joe, wed save $300 billion a year.

Trump, interview on MSNBC, Feb. 17

The problem here is that the $300 billion figure turns out to be ridiculous. The Post article noted,

To put Trumps $300-billion-a-year claim in perspective, lets first note that Sanders cites a 2013 estimate from the Center for Economic and Policy Research that negotiated drug prices would result in savings to Medicare of between $230 billion to $541 billion over 10 years. So for virtually the same policy, Sanders is claiming savings averaging $38 billion a year  and Trump is promising a figure eight times larger. (Clinton offers no estimated savings.) Whats going on here? Its unclear, because as usual the Trump campaign refuses to respond to any queries about Trumps numbers.

Furthermore,

total spending in Medicare Part D (prescription drugs) in 2014 was $78 billion. So Trump, in effect, is claiming to save $300 billion a year on a $78 billion program. Thats like turning water into wine.

Finally,

Its possible that Trump is being sloppy and when he discusses Medicare, he really means to say he would force government-led pricing on all prescription drugs. But the numbers dont add up that way either. In fact, depending on the source you consult, total annual spending on prescription drugs in the United States is between $298 billion a year to $423 billion. So that would mean Trump is claiming that he can eliminate virtually any cost to prescription drugs. It would suddenly be free!

So Mr Trumps claims made on at least three occasions about the magnitude of savings that would result from his (unoriginal) proposal to have the government negotiate drug prices were mathematically implausible, if not impossible.

Word Salad about the Mandate

Rather right-wing columnist Jennifer Rubin, writing in the Washington Post on February 22, 2016, provided two sets of quotes from interviews with Mr Trump about his position on the mandate within the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Note that the mandate imposes a (relatively modest) extra tax on people who do not have health insurance, providing an incentive to have such insurance. For example, on Meet the Press,

DONALD TRUMP: Well, on the mandate, if you look at the mandate, we had a situation where we were, Anderson Cooper, whos terrific, by the way, and did a terrific job, but we were talking over each other. Look, I want, were going to repeal and replace Obamacare. Obamacare is a total and complete disaster. Its going to be gone. Were going to come up with a great healthcare plan, whether its healthcare savings accounts, we have a lot of different things. Were going to get rid of the lines between states, were going to have great competitive bidding. But I say all the time, you can call it anything you want. People are not going to die in the middle of the street. People are not going to die on the sidewalk if Im president, okay? CHUCK TODD: Well, let me get something definitive from you on this. DONALD TRUMP: But Chuck, I say that, excuse me, I say that to packed houses with thousands and thousands of people, Republicans mostly, and I get standing ovations. Im not going to let that happen. If Im president, were not going to have people dying on the streets. So you can call it whatever you want. I dont call it a mandate, I just say its common sense. CHUCK TODD: No, I understand that. Well, let me ask you this. Do you think that it should be a law that anybody who can afford health insurance has to have it? DONALD TRUMP: I think, no, I think its going to be up to them, okay? I want it to be up to them. But Im really talking about people that cant afford it. Were not going to let people die in squalor because we are Republicans, okay? Thats part of the problem with the Republicans, where somehow they got fed into this horrible position. Were going to take care of people. But no, people dont have to have it. Were going to have great plans, theyre going to be a lot less expensive than Obamacare. Theyre going to be private. There are going to be lots of different options. Were going to have a lot of different options. Right now you have no options. You know why? Because the insurance company controlled Obama because they gave him a lot of money. Thats why you have lines around the states. And you cant get competitive bidding.

Her summary was:

He insists whatever inanity he said earlier was a mistake, denies he took or takes a liberal position and declares there will not be people dying in the streets. (Does he understand there is a duty now to treat people, but what we are debating is insurance?) Then he ends with assurances he is loved by crowds. Superlatives by the bushel may be funny, but they also substitute for concrete answers. It may seem like a word salad or stream of consciousness at first glance, but it is a salad he tosses up over and over again, each time avoiding close scrutiny.

An article on February 22, 2016, in the left leaning MotherJones stated that Mr Trump had already contradicted his previous approval of the mandate,

Trump has now made clear that he doesnt like the individual mandate

after allhe just misspoke when he said that to Anderson Cooper a few

days ago.

So while Mr Trump has drawn attention to his position on the mandate, that position seems hopelessly incoherent, or as Ms Rubin called it, word salad.

More Gibberish

The Minnesota Post article also noted,

When asked Thursday night under Rubios prodding to describe his plan for health care, he said, as he always does, that he wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and replace it with something much better. Then he says (and this is a direct quote from the debate transcript): I want to keep pre-existing conditions. I think we need it. I think its a modern age. And I think we have to have it. This is gibberish, especially the explanation that I think its a modern age, which may have some meaning but I cant imagine what. In addition, in the most recent debate, Mr Trump did emphasize that he wanted insurance companies to be able to sell policies across state lines, although his wording was not so clear, That weird and confusing phrasing  about getting rid of the lines around the states, which Rubio mocked  as best as anyone can tell means that Trump wants national health insurers to be able to offer standardized plans all over the country, instead of having to meet the particular standards and requirements imposed by individual states. Different states require different things of health insurers, which prevents national firms from offering plans in all states.

As the article noted, this is not a new idea, and how much difference this change would make is not clear. Nonetheless, even after being badgered repeatedly, Mr Trump could not add more substance to his health care plan, nor explain how he might get more substance.

With Rubio pressing in and badgering Trump from the sidelines  the same way Rubio was badgered a few weeks ago by Chris Christie and the way Trump often badgers other candidates  and with CNNs Dana Bash following up, Trump said his three things: Repeal Obamacare and replace it with something much better, get rid of the lines around the states, and dont let people die in streets. I always assumed that there was more to his plan, but I never came across the details. And, during the exchange Thursday night, it came out that there is no more. Heres that chunk of the transcript so you can decide for yourself if Im missing something. (Ive done a tiny bit of editing for flow.)[italics added for emphasis- Ed] BASH: Mr. Trump, Senator Rubio just said that you support the individual mandate. Would you respond? TRUMP: I just want to say, I agree with that 100 percent, except pre-existing conditions, I would absolutely get rid of Obamacare. Were going to have something much better, but pre-existing conditions, when Im referring to that, and I was referring to that very strongly on the show with Anderson Cooper, I want to keep pre-existing conditions. I think we need it. I think its a modern age. And I think we have to have it. (APPLAUSE) BASH: OK, so lets talk about pre-existing conditions. What the insurance companies say is that the only way that they can cover people [who have pre-existing conditions and would be more expensive to cover] is to have a mandate requiring everybody purchase health insurance. Are they wrong? TRUMP: I think theyre wrong 100 percent. What we need  look, the insurance companies take care of the politicians. The insurance companies get what they want. We should have gotten rid of the lines around each state so we can have real competition. We thought that was gone, we thought those lines were going to be gone, so something happened at the last moment where Obamacare got approved, and all of that was thrown out the window. The reason is some of the people in the audience are insurance people and insurance lobbyists and special interests. They got  Im not going to point to these gentlemen, of course, theyre part of the problem, other than Ben [Carson], in all fairness. And, actually, the governor [John Kasich], too. Lets just talk about these two, OK? Because I dont think the governor had too much to do with this. But, we should have gotten rid of the borders, we should have gotten rid of the lines around the states so theres great competition. The insurance companies are making a fortune on every single thing they do. Im self-funding my campaign. Im the only one in either party self-funding my campaign. Im going to do whats right. We have to get rid of the lines around the states so that theres serious, serious competition. And youre going to see  excuse me. Youre going to see pre-existing conditions and everything else be part of it, but the price will be down, and the insurance companies can pay. Right now theyre making a fortune. (APPLAUSE) BASH: But just to be specific here, what youre saying is getting rid of the barriers between states, that is going to solve the problem TRUMP: Thats going to solve the problem. And the insurance companies are going to say that they want to keep it. They want to say  they say whatever they have to say to keep it the way it is. I know the insurance companies, theyre friends of mine. The top guys, theyre friends of mine. I shouldnt tell you guys, youll say its terrible, I have a conflict of interest. Theyre friends of mine, theres some right in the audience. One of them was just waving to me, he was laughing and smiling. Hes not laughing so much anymore. Hi.

Look, the insurance companies are making an absolute fortune. Yes, they will keep pre-existing conditions, and that would be a great thing. Get rid of Obamacare, well come up with new plans. But we should keep pre-existing conditions. RUBIO: Dana, I was mentioned in his response, so if I may about the insurance companies BASH: Go ahead. RUBIO: You may not be aware of this, Donald, because you dont follow this stuff very closely, but heres what happened. When they passed Obamacare they put a bailout fund in Obamacare. All these lobbyists you keep talking about, they put a bailout fund in the law that would allow public money to be used, taxpayer money, to bail out companies when they lost money. And we led the effort and wiped out that bailout fund. The insurance companies are not in favor of me, they hate that. Theyre suing right now to get that bailout money put back in. Heres what you didnt hear in that answer, and this is important, guys, this is an important thing. What is your plan? I understand the lines around the state, whatever that means. This is not a game where you draw maps TRUMP:And you dont know what it means? RUBIO: What is your plan, Mr. Trump? What is your plan on health care? TRUMP: You dont know. The biggest problem RUBIO: Whats your plan? TRUMP:  You know, I watched him melt down two weeks ago with Chris Christie. I got to tell you, the biggest problem hes got is he really doesnt know about the lines. The biggest thing weve got, and the reason weve got no competition, is because we have lines around the state, and you have essentially. RUBIO: You already mentioned that [inaudible] plan. I know what that is, but what else is part of your plan? TRUMP: You dont know much RUBIO: So, youre only thing is to get rid of the lines around the states. What else is part of your health-care plan? TRUMP: The lines around the states... RUBIO: Thats your only plan TRUMP  Excuse me. Excuse me. RUBIO:  His plan. That was the plan? TRUMP:You get rid of the lines, it brings in competition. So, instead of having one insurance company taking care of New York or Texas, youll have many. Theyll compete, and itll be a beautiful thing. RUBIO: AlrightSo thats the only part of the plan? Just the lines? TRUMP: The nice part of the plan  youll have many different plans. Youll have competition, youll have so many different plans. RUBIO: Now hes repeating himself. TRUMP: No, no, no. I watched him repeat himself five times four weeks ago RUBIO: I just watched you repeat yourself five times five seconds ago TRUMP: I watched him meltdown on the stage like that, Ive never seen it in anybody BASH:Lets stay focused on the subject TRUMP:I thought he came out of the swimming pool RUBIO:I see him repeat himself every night, he says five things: Everyones dumb, hes gonna make America great againWere going to win, win win. Hes winning in the pollsAnd the lines around the state. (APPLAUSE) BASH: Senator Rubio, you will have time to respond if you would just let Mr. Trump respond to what youve just posed to him RUBIO:  Yeah, hes going to give us his plan now, right? OK BASH [to Trump]:If you could talk a little bit more about your plan. I know you talked aboutCan you be a little specific? TRUMP:  Were going to have many different plans because competition RUBIO:  Hes done it again. TRUMP: There is going to be competition among all of the states, and the insurance companies. Theyre going to have many, many different plans. BASH: Is there anything else you would like to add to that TRUMP: No, theres nothing to add. What is to add?

After being repeatedly asked about the substance of his health care policy agenda, Mr Trump only seems to have repeated the notion of selling health insurance across state lines to increase competition, interrupted by non sequiturs insulting Senator Rubio and insurance executives. The Minnesota Post writer and I could find absolutely no other content in Mr Trumps , despite repeated inquiries about the substance of his health care plan.

It does seem reasonable to describe Mr Trumps health care policy ideas as gibberish.

Summary

Health care and public health affect all Americans, and all people around the world. Health care in the US is more expensive and less accessible than it is in many other developed countries. For all the money the country spends, there is no clear evidence that the quality of patient care, or patients outcomes are better than, or sometimes even comparable to those of other countries The reforms embodied in the Affordable Care Act (ACA, PPACA, Obamacare) have increased the proportion of insured patients, but insurance remains expensive for many, and insurance coverage now often has major gaps that mean a major illness can bankrupt a middle-class patient.

Furthermore, the law has done nothing to reduce concentration of power in health care. It has done nothing to make health care leaders more accountable, especially for their organizations unethical or even criminal behavior, decrease their ability to line their pockets regardless of such behavior, and thus reduce their impunity. It will not obviously decrease conflicts of interest affecting those who make decisions about patient care or health policy, lock the revolving door between government and the health care industry, end manipulation of clinical research to serve vested interests, or suppression of research whose results offend such interests, etc, etc.

So health care policy is increasingly important, and increasingly demands serious discussion. A US presidential campaign ought to provide some impetus for such discussion, although health care policy is certainly not the only thing that needs to be discussed.

Most presidential candidates have at least attempted a serious discussion of health policy, if not in person, then in position papers or on their web-sites.

However, the currently leading candidate for the Republican nomination does not seem to have serious ideas about health care. Yet he has said Were going to come up with a great healthcare plan. To substantiate such claims, he has repeated a few vague talking points, and when challenged, seems unable to manage any substantive conversation beyond them. Some of his verbal pronouncements have been nothing short of ridiculous.

in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility. said a 20th century world leader who inspired adulation, and led to disaster.

We live in perilous times when a candidate with such reckless approaches to critical problems continues to attract adulation.
Bonnie Jo Mount/Washington Post Lands End apologized for including an interview with abortion rights supporter Gloria Steinem in its latest clothing catalog. That created a backlash.

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By Sarah Halzack, The Washington Post

Lands' End, best known as a quiet purveyor of mom-friendly tote bags and tunics, has found itself at the center of a cultural firestorm.

In one of the retailer's recent catalogs, it included an interview with women's rights activist Gloria Steinem. Now, the company is apologizing for the piece and has removed it from its website after some customers apparently complained that Steinem should not have been featured because of her support of abortion rights.

In a statement, the company said: "It was never our intention to raise a divisive political or religious issue, so when some of our customers saw the recent promotion that way, we heard them. We sincerely apologize for any offense."

But that attempt to calm customers was greeted with a swift backlash. Facebook comments poured in to the Lands' End Web page Friday, with some users saying that the retailer made the wrong call by distancing itself from the interview.

"What a terrible message to send to all the women and girls who wear your clothes," one Facebook commenter wrote. "I'm sorry you see equal rights for women as a divisive issue. I see it as a human issue."

Others pledged that they would take their dollars elsewhere: "I don't intend to teach my children that anyone should do business with a company that is ashamed to even talk about feminism," another Facebook user wrote. "You see equal rights as a divisive issue? Thanks for letting me know not to give you my money."

The Steinem interview, conducted by Lands' End chief executive Federica Marchionni, did not directly discuss abortion; topics included the challenges that women face in the workplace and the proposed Equal Rights Amendment. The feature also told shoppers that if they opted to select a certain logo for embroidery on, say, a tote bag or polo shirt, Lands' End would donate 50 percent of the fee to the ERA Coalition's Fund for Women's Equality. Lands' End has since decided that it will not move forward with that program.

A representative for Steinem said the activist was traveling in the United Kingdom and was not available for comment.

The retreat by Lands' End away from the Steinem interview feels strangely antithetical to the unapologetic stances on social issues by many large retailers and other corporations.

This was particularly evident last year, when many companies took to social media to trumpet their support for the Supreme Court decision that made gay marriage the law of the land. Brands such as Target, Gap, Visa and Cheerios expressed enthusiasm for the court's ruling.

NBCUniversal parted ways with Donald Trump over disparaging remarks about Latinos that he made when he announced his run for president.

And when a national conversation took hold about the symbolism of the Confederate flag after a mass shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, Walmart and Sears moved to stop carrying merchandise bedecked with the flag in stores or online.

The message of these earlier moves seemed to be that the companies were willing to stake out a position they felt strongly about, even if it meant alienating some customers. Lands' End, it appears, may have a different mindset.

The dust-up comes at a critical time for Lands' End: Under new CEO Marchionni, the company is making some big bets to invigorate a stale brand. It has tried to shake up its fashion, rethink its merchandising displays and pull back on promotions to fatten its profit margins. But so far, it is hard to see dollars-and-cents evidence of improvement. In the most recent quarter, the retailer's profit nose-dived 40 percent; sales at stores open more than a year were down 8.9 percent.
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Real estate show

Jim York, a local Realtor, hosts a real estate update show each week on current issues or trends. Join York every Thursday afternoon from 1:30 to 3 p.m. through the end of the year. There will be a different guest who specializes in a currently relevant topic each week. Any questions about upcoming topics or to be an audience guest, contact U.S.A. Marketing LLC by email: usamrktggroup@cs.com. All shows can also been seen at NaplesYorkRealEstate.com or their Real Estate News Blog: YorkRealEstateGroupSWFL.com.

New office

McQuaid & Company Real Estate Services has opened its second office at 23151 Village Shops Way, Suite 111, in Coconut Point Mall. Agents headquartered at the office include Jamie Ross, Yesenia Whipple, Anthony Montella, Sandy Levin and Adam Martin with Joan Miller providing administrative assistance.

Home honored

The Lee Building Industry Association honored Castle Harbour Homes for excellence in design and construction of a private residence in Cape Coral during the 30th annual 2016 BIA Parade of Homes. Castle Harbour Homes took top honors with a "Superior Home Award" in its category for homes priced from $1,900,000 to $2,134,000. The home in the gated community of Cape Harbour also took home three Merit Awards for architectural, pool and interior designs.

Real estate class

James D. York, a local Florida Realtor, has been selected as the instructor for classes in conjunction with Collier County Public Schools and the District Board Of Collier County's Adult and Community Education Department curriculum. Classes include: Real Estate Course For Buyers; Learn about Naples trends and recent market statistics; the best way to buy/sell real estate in today's Naples market, what is the true value of a home and how appraisals can effect a sale. Class meets four weeks on Wednesday evenings starting on March 2 through March 23 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Barron Collier High School. The cost is $69.

Real Estate Course For Sellers: Course is designed for prospective sellers going to list their house in the near future to learn how to get the highest price for their property. Class meets starting Tuesday evenings on March 1 and March 8 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Barron Collier High School. The cost is $39.

You must register by Monday Feb 29 by 3 p.m. by calling 239-377-1234 or online at www.collieradulted.com.

Classes offered

Professional organizer and Naples Daily News' "Get Organized" columnist Marla Ottenstein will teach two classes at the Naples Campus of Florida Gulf Coast University's Renaissance Academy in February.

"Get Organized! How to De-clutter, Downsize and Simplify your Life!" This class will cover how to prepare your home to be listed and sold in today's competitive marketplace; how to de-clutter, get organized and prepare for the move before the movers arrive; how to keep the memories but not all the stuff; how to organize photographs and paperwork and how to successfully consolidate, downsize and transition into the different stages of your life, as well as a discussion regarding the pros/cons of renting an off-site storage unit. It will be held 4:30 to 6 p.m. March 3.

"Get Organized! How to Organize your @Home Office!" This class is designed to help small business owners who work out of their homes, as well as non-working individuals, create an efficient and effective home office. It will be held 4:30 to 6 p.m. March 10.

Participants may register online with a credit card at www.RegisterRA.fgcu.edu or call 239-425-3272. The cost is $25 ($20 for Renaissance Academy members). FGCU's Naples Center is at 1010 Fifth Ave. S.

Transactions

Investment Properties Corp. reported the following transactions:

Alpha Omega Construction of SWFL Inc. leased 1,867 square feet of industrial space from 3940 Radio Road LLC at 3940 Radio Road, No. 102. Christine McManus and Rob Carroll negotiated this transaction.

BSB Associates LTD. leased 1,081 square feet of office space from Charles Square of Naples LLC at 225 Banyan Blvd. No. 230. Rob Carroll negotiated this transaction.

Epicurean Hoagies LLC leased 1,600 square feet of restaurant space from Livingston and Pine Ridge LLC at 13040 Livingston Road, No. 10. Tara Stokes negotiated this transaction.

NM Development Group has managed the second of three phased closings with Pulte Home Corp. for 130 acres of the University Highland Limited Partnership property located adjacent to Germain Arena and bounded by Estero Parkway, I-75 and Miromar Outlets. Del Webb, a brand of Pulte Homes, is building an active adult community named Tidewater at the property.

Recent commercial real estate transactions by CRE Consultants:

Cynlab LLC purchased a 1.22-acre medical office site at 7964 Summerlin Lakes Drive, Fort Myers from The Northern Trust Company for $365,000. Randal Mercer, Brandon Stoneburner and Nicole Gray represented the seller, and Enn Luthringer represented the buyer.

Early Learning Coalition of SW Florida leased 4,444 square feet of office space in Collier Park of Commerce at 3050-B Horseshoe Drive, Suite 231, Naples from Helios Naples LLC. Dave Wallace negotiated the transaction.

ReMax Affinity Plus leased 1,844 square feet of office space in Island Plaza Shopping Center at 648-698 Bald Eagle Drive, Suite 678 & 678-B, Marco Island from Island Plaza Investments LLC. Bill Young negotiated the transaction.

Professional Sleep Analysis LLC leased 1,427 square feet of office space at 8931 Conference Drive, Suite 5, Fort Myers from Theo & Kathi Wolfensberger. Randal Mercer, Brandon Stoneburner and Nicole Gray negotiated the transaction.

Chic Spa leased 1,300 square feet of retail space in Heron Place at 4152 U.S. 41 N., Naples from Robert & Joan Ellis. Fred Kermani and Bill Young negotiated the transaction.

Jon H. DeHaan LP leased 1,273 square feet of office space in the Bay Fifth Building at 975 Sixth St. S., Suite 103, Naples from 975 6th Ave South LLC. Dave Wallace negotiated the transaction.

Florida Metal Masters Inc. leased 900 square feet of office space in Floresta Building at 700 11th St., Suite PH-2, Naples from Arable Properties. David Wallace negotiated the transaction.

NM Development Group closed the second of a three-phased closing for a total of 130 acres at Ben Hill Griffin Parkway to Pulte Home Corp. for an undisclosed price. The seller was represented by Randy Thibaut and William Rollinsof Land Solutions Inc.
Aerial view of Clam Pass, Monday, February 22, 2016. (Photo courtesy Turrell Hall and Associates) The pass has been filling in with sand, impeding the tidal flow and threatening the health of the mangroves along Clam Bay

Brent Batten Columnist SHARE Aerial view of Clam Pass, Monday, February 22, 2016. (Photo courtesy Turrell Hall and Associates) Infrared aerial view of Clam Pass, Monday, February 22, 2016. (Photo courtesy Turrell Hall and Associates) Gray areas in the mangroves to the left indicate dead or dying leaves, which give off less heat. Green aerial view of Clam Pass, Monday, February 22, 2016. (Photo courtesy Turrell Hall and Associates) Aerial view of Clam Pass, Monday, February 22, 2016. (Photo courtesy Turrell Hall and Associates)

By now you're familiar with the narrative.

Unusually high winter rainfall has inundated the drainage basin. Freshwater is flowing into the estuary in unhealthy doses, threatening the delicate balance of coastal ecosystems. There's nowhere for the water to go. Its path is constricted.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is called on for relief.

But here's where the familiar narrative takes an unfamiliar turn.

Instead of that relief being years away, as in the case of improvements to Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee River, it could be just weeks away for Clam Pass and Clam Bay.

Like the entire Lake O/Caloosahatchee/St. Lucie River/Everglades system, coastal Collier County has been hit with heavy rains this year. And like the aforementioned system, the freshwater is reaching the bay.

Aerial photographs using infrared imagery show the mangroves in Clam Bay in distress from the water imbalance.

Neil Dorrill, manager for the Pelican Bay Services District, which manages Clam Bay and Clam Pass, said the situation reminds him of 1998, when a massive mangrove die-off rattled the Pelican Bay community and prompted a multimillion dollar restoration plan.

On Thursday, Dorrill and others in Collier County government received word from Corps officials that a permit to dredge Clam Pass should be issued within a couple of weeks.

Dredging the pass, which is filling with sand, is key to letting water flush in and out of the Clam Bay system, helping to restore the saltwater-freshwater balance critical to the mangroves' health. "The water up in the north end (of Clam Bay) is just sort of swirling around," Dorrill said.

The county has been seeking the permit to dredge for more than a year. On Thursday, Collier County Commissioner Georgia Hiller met with James Dalton, chief of engineering and construction for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at his office in Washington, D.C.

Within hours of that meeting, word of the impending approval was received.

Late last year, county staff said they were hoping for approval by late February or early March, in line with what appears to be occurring. But Dorrill said the lobbying by Hiller didn't hurt and may have even sped things along. "She was well-briefed and well-armed. I'm going to say she helped," Dorrill said.

Tim Durham, executive manager of corporate business operations for Collier County, agreed Hiller's involvement gave the approval a boost. "When there's a local person there, face to face, I think there's value in that. Staff can call and call and sometimes it's just not enough. It's very frustrating," Durham said.

Dorrill said the approval comes none too soon. In order for the dredging to be completed by the start of the May 1 turtle nesting season, the competitive bid time frame will be compressed to get contractors on the job by April 1. Work should take about three weeks. That leaves only a one-week cushion for things like weather delays.

Dorrill expects about 22,000 cubic yards of sand will be pulled from the pass and bay. Most of it will be placed on the south side of the pass, where the Clam Pass public beach is noticeably eroded.

Only if that beach is restored to desired levels will sand be placed on the private Pelican Bay beach to the north of the pass, Dorrill said.

The permit will be good for 10 years, allowing the county, through the PBSD, to do periodic dredging as necessary.

The fact that the Corps told the county of the impending approval on the same day Hiller lobbied for it gives her a political chit in her upcoming election battle with incumbent Clerk of Courts Dwight Brock.

But the Clam Bay saga could serve as ammunition for her detractors too.

Clam Bay was dredged in 2007 and remained open for about six years.

When it needed dredging in 2012, Hiller took the lead in insisting that control of the area be transferred to the PBSD and that the width of the dredged channel be reduced from 80 feet to 45 feet.

The smaller channel, dredged in 2013, closed in a matter of weeks, prompting a chorus of "I-told-you-sos" from proponents of the wider cut.

A second clearing, also to the smaller dimension, remained open for a couple of years, but began filling in again, prompting the need for the current project.

Dorrill said he believes the new project, which should remove about 50 percent more sand than the 2013 project, will last at least three years.

Durham said with permit in hand, a crisis can be averted. "There is a big problem out at Clam Pass. There was concern of having a die-off again," he said.

Maybe Georgia Hiller should talk to the corps about Lake Okeechobee while she's up there.

(Connect with Brent Batten at brent.batten@naplesnews.com, on Twitter@NDN_BrentBatten and at facebook.com/ndnbrentbatten)
Sweet Cream Scones with the Countess' Lemon Curd. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

SHARE Sweet Cream Scones. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS) Countess' Lemon Curd. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS) Asparagus Tart. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS) Egg Salad and Cucumber Tea Sandwiches. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

By Gretchen Mckay, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

If you're a fan of "Downton Abbey," chances are you're soon to be in a funk.

After six seasons, PBS's "Masterpiece" series will air its series finale March 6, leaving scores of Anglophiles crying in their crumpets.

It's been a long, slow ride where  admit it  it sometimes feels like nothing ever happens at the Crawley family's Yorkshire country estate. Lord Grantham, in particular, is so stuffy and boring that I wasn't even sure he had warm blood running through his veins until he spit up a ton of it, all over the dining room table, no less, in a recent episode. Finally, he showed some signs of life.

But at least the family seems to eat well, thanks to the culinary prowess of Mrs. Patmore and her kitchen maid-turned- assistant cook Daisy Mason. As related by Emily Ansara Baines in "The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook," one of several cookbooks and blogs devoted to the food from the Edwardian days. For its evening meal, the family could expect anywhere from eight to 13 courses, depending on the occasion and time period. (The show kicked off in 1912 and ends in 1925.) And that's not counting the "removes" served between the heavier courses.

It wasn't so grand in the downstairs kitchen, of course, but like their moneyed employers, the servants at least got to enjoy a nice spot of tea whenever they weren't polishing shoes or helping the ladies undress after service, or standing at rapt attention in the dining room during those hours-long meals.

Hmm, tea. Is there anything more warming when it's bitterly cold outside, and you need a quick pick-me-up? Or anything more British than the mini-meal known as afternoon tea that goes with it?

In that spirit, we thought it would be fun to offer a do-it-yourself afternoon tea (sometimes known, incorrectly, as high tea), for your final episode viewing party. Even though on a Sunday night, when the show airs, it's more likely Mary, Edith and the rest of the clan would just be sitting down to a gut-busting, sumptuous dinner.

Typically served between 3 and 5 p.m., Baines writes, afternoon teas was "not nearly as low-key as it sounds." Along with the title beverage, the menu would include an array of dainty, crustless finger sandwiches, scones with clotted cream or fruit jam, biscuits, pastries, cakes and maybe even meat dishes, along with bread and cheese.

In homes such as the Crawleys, it was always served in the drawing room on fine china, with Earl Grey flowing from a silver tea service. This is where life events such as marriage were proposed, after all. We think it's perfectly fine to set it up on your living room coffee table, within easy viewing distance of the TV, so long as you keep in mind that a proper cup of tea is NEVER served in paper or plastic.

With Netflix, it's possible to get your "Downton Abbey" fix whenever you want. But also keep in mind that executive producer Gareth Neame hasn't ruled out a "Downton" movie for the big screen.



SWEET CREAM SCONES

PG tested

These are so easy to make, and not just for tea  they make a wonderful breakfast, too. Serve scones with clotted cream, marmalade or lemon curd. I drizzled half my batch with melted chocolate just because.

1 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces

1 egg, at room temperature

Heavy cream, for brushing

Granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Blend sour cream, vanilla and baking soda together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a large baking sheet.

In large bowl, blend together flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar and salt. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Stir in sour-cream mixture and egg until just barely moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, kneading briefly. Pat dough out into 2 3/4-inch-thick rounds. Cut each round into 12 wedges and place them 2 to 3 inches apart on the greased baking sheet. Lightly brush with cream, then sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom.

Makes 24.

 "The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook" by Emily Ansara Baines (Adams Media)

THE COUNTESS' LEMON CURD

PG tested

A popular spread for bread and scones served at afternoon tea, lemon curd also makes a great filling for cakes and pastries. Don't worry if it's not completely smooth like pudding  the zest gives the curd a bit of texture.

4 unwaxed lemons, zest and juice

7 ounces sugar (about 1 cup)

7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes

3 eggs, plus 1 egg yolk

Combine lemon zest, juice, sugar and butter in a small pan set over simmering water. (Do not allow the mixture to touch the water.) Stir to help butter and sugar melt properly.

Lightly whisk eggs and yolk, then whisk them thoroughly into the mixture. As eggs cook, the mixture will thicken. When it is completely cooked through, you will be able to coat the back of a spoon, and then draw a clear line through it with your finger, 10 to 15 minutes.

Spoon into hot, sterilized jars. Cool thoroughly before putting on the lid. This will keep for up to 3 months in the refrigerator.

Makes about 10 ounces.

 "Tea at Downton: Afternoon Tea Recipes from the Unofficial Guide to Downton Abbey" by Elizabeth Fellow (CreateSpace)

ASPARAGUS TART

PG tested

Not everything served at afternoon tea has to be sweet. This simple-yet-elegant asparagus tart adds a savory flair to your spread. This recipe calls for one large pastry but you can make several smaller tarts if you prefer. I substituted Martha Stewart's recipe for pate brisee for the crust because it's fail-safe.

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) chilled butter, cut into chunks

1/4 to 1/2 cup iced water

1 bunch asparagus spears

4 eggs

1 1/4 cup light cream

4 tablespoons parmesan, finely grated

Salt and pepper

Pinch of grated nutmeg

1 to 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift flour into mixing bowl with salt and sugar. Crumble in butter and rub into flour to give crumb texture. Add iced water, a little bit at a time  you only need enough to bring the mixture into a ball of dough with your hands.

Dust worktop and a rolling pin with flour. Roll dough out thinly in a circle that is large enough to fill an 8-inch tart pan. Carefully lift dough circle into place and press it into the tin. Trim edges with a knife. Prick base all over with a fork, fill with dried beans or pie weights and bake in oven for 20 minutes.

Snap off hard part at end of asparagus spears and trim ends to neaten. Wash spears well and place in a pot of water that will hold them horizontally. Bring to boil, simmer for a few minutes until half-cooked and drain.

Remove tart from oven, remove beans or weights and return pastry to oven for a further 5 minutes. Set pastry shell aside while you prepare filling.

Beat eggs in bowl. Stir in cream and parmesan until well combined. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Dry asparagus spears with paper towels. Arrange spears in a fan in pastry shell, tips facing in. Carefully pour egg mixture around asparagus until tart shell is almost full. Sprinkle thyme leaves over top. Bake for about 40 minutes, until golden.

Serve tart hot, cut into wedges.

Serves 8.

 Adapted from "A Year in the Life of Downton Abbey: Seasonal Celebrations, Traditions and Recipes" by Jessica Fellowes (St. Martin's Press)

CLASSIC EGG SALAD AND CUCUMBER TEA SANDWICHES

PG tested

These finger sandwiches are a must at any English tea, and about as easy to make as a cup of tea.

For egg salad

6 large hardcooked eggs

4 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon mustard

[1/8] teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon kosher salt

20 slices soft white bread

For cucumber filling

8-ounce package of cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup mayonnaise

1 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced

1/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/2 teaspoon white pepper

1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

20 slices soft white bread

Make egg salad: Cut eggs into cubes. In medium bowl, mix together eggs, mayonnaise, mustard, cayenne pepper and salt.

Make cucumber filling: Combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, cucumber, garlic salt, pepper and dill.

Make sandwiches: Spread egg salad over 10 slices of bread. Cover with another slice. Remove crusts.

Spread cucumber mixture over 10 slices of bread. Cover with another slice. Remove crusts.

Place sandwiches on a large baking sheet and cover in plastic wrap; chill in refrigerator for 35 minutes. Use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes, or use a knife to quarter sandwiches.

Each filling makes 40 finger sandwiches.

 "The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook" by Emily Ansara Baines (Adams Media)

CHOCOLATE DIGESTIVE COOKIES

PG tested

A sweet treat that Brits believe would also help with digestion.

3/4 cup whole-wheat flour

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon rolled oats

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

6 tablespoons brown sugar

4 tablespoons whole milk

6 ounces high-quality bittersweet chocolate, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease medium to large baking sheets. Sift together whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl, then mix in oats. Set aside. In a medium-sized bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Add to dry mixture, then stir in milk until mixture forms a thick (and quite sticky) paste. Cover and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Dough will be sticky; wet your hands to combat stickiness. Roll out dough to approximately [1/8]-inch thickness. Using a biscuit or cookie cutter, cut into 2- to 21/2-inch rounds. Transfer to cookie sheets, impressing patterns on biscuits with a fork. Bake cookies for 20 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on a wire rack before coating with melted chocolate, then let cool again. Store in an airtight container.

Makes 2 dozen cookies.

 "The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook" by Emily Ansara Baines (Adams Media)
The FlowRider, a surfing machine, on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas. (Jay Clarke/Miami Herald/TNS)

SHARE Anthony Bernard, 10, from Quebec, flashes a smile before taking off on Twister, a water-park-worthy slide aboard the Carnival Breeze at the Port of Miami on Saturday, Jan. 5, 2012. (Marsha Halper/Miami Herald/TNS) Bartender Julio Cabrera demonstrates the new drinks exclusive to the Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship's "World Class Bar" on Tuesday, April 21, 2015 at the Port of Miami. (Al Diaz/Miami Herlad/TNS)

By Chabeli Herrera, Miami Herald (TNS)

MIAMI  Cruise lines are getting closer to perfecting the formula of what vacationers want: Take one part all-inclusive resort, add one part multi-destination stress-free vacation, float it at sea and you've got a trip consumers will be eager to book.

That's the thinking this year, as cruise lines refocus their Black Friday-esque "Wave" season and inject their early-year promotions with extras such as drink packages and free Internet, instead of the price discounts of years past.

"The cruise lines have really gotten it right more than ever before," said travel agent Ralph Santisteban, a CruiseOne franchise owner based in Kendall, Fla. "I've been in this business more than 20 years and I've never seen the cruise lines do anything that has the impact this does."

These "value-added" deals increase the perceived value of the cost of the cruise. For those who purchase a better cabin, for example, some cruise lines are including a choice of packages, such as free shore excursions, credit for specialty dining or onboard credit. They create a worry-free experience that vacationers are buying in droves this year, travel agents say.

"They are offering something that is a value for the consumer, draws in business for them and continues to make them profitable," Santisteban said. "Everybody is winning here."

In the past, discounts were more nominal, with offers for reduced deposits, for example, but not the "slew of deals" offered now, Santisteban said.

"It was more like a promotional season than a true discount season," he said. "They wouldn't actually be discounting heavily in advance."

Take a drink package on Norwegian Cruise Line: The unlimited beverage package  soft drinks, beers, spirits, cocktails and wine  costs $69 per cruiser per day. For a couple on a seven-night cruise, that is about $1,140 with tip, in addition to their cruise fare. But under Norwegian's "Free At Sea" promotion, travelers can choose to include a beverage package with the cost of a studio, inside, ocean view or balcony cabin. For about $1,900, that same couple can purchase their inside stateroom and their drink packages on an April western Caribbean cruise.

"Our absolute goal is to present a proposition to the customer where they are super excited about the product so that the last question they ask is, 'How much is it?'" said Andrew Stuart, president and chief operating officer of Doral, Fla.-based Norwegian Cruise Line.

The approach has proven successful for Norwegian, which reported that bookings were "in a very good position" going into 2016, Stuart said.

A customized experience, specifically, seems to be the value consumers are most attracted to, said Michelle Fee, president and CEO of home-based travel-agent network Cruise Planners-American Express Travel.

"People don't remember saving $50, but they remember a shore excursion that they took at a port of call. They remember, 'Oh my gosh, we had unlimited drinks, we didn't have to think about it,'" she said. "You don't remember five years from now what you paid, but you remember the experience you had."

While value-added packages are not new this year  one of Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.'s premium cruise lines, Celebrity Cruises, jump-started the concept in 2012  it's caught on with more fervor than ever before.

"It changed the industry and it took the industry a little while, seven to 12 months, and a year later you certainly saw that we started to see (an industry) shift to this," said Dondra Ritzenthaler, senior vice president of sales and support for Celebrity Cruises.

Now, almost every line has a value-added package, Ritzenthaler said. The strategy has translated to dollars for Celebrity, whose Wave season this year is off to a "very positive" start, she said.

The deals extend to river cruising as well, where Los Angeles-based luxury line Crystal Cruises has experienced booking success. Crystal, which is debuting its river cruises this summer, offers savings on ocean or yacht cruises when vacationers book a river cruise by Feb. 29.

The luxury line has achieved 90 percent of its revenue goal for the year thanks to a combination of Wave season promotions and other deals, said President and CEO Edie Rodriguez.

Part of that success is creating a greater incentive for travelers to book early, Rodriguez said.

Typically, cruise lines book nearly 40 percent of the year's reservations during Wave season  the first three months of the year. But some lines have offered their best sales starting in December  generally a low sales month due to the holidays  to entice consumers to plan their vacations early.

"We are seeing a substantial increase in cruise sales in December over the past two years," Santisteban said. "Some cruise lines offer in December and very early January things they are not going to offer again this year," such as value-added packages with more than one perk for interior cabins.

Value-added deals have fueled earlier bookings, giving cruise lines more security that they won't sail later in the year with empty cabins.

For lines, the results are stacking up. In December, Carnival Corporation announced it is already 50 percent booked on 2016 cruises  most in the first and second quarters of the year. Across its 10 brands, the company is "well ahead" of last year for the first three quarters of 2016  and at higher prices.

Royal Caribbean also reported a "solid" Wave season during its fourth-quarter earnings report this month.

For the first half of Wave season, it offered a combination low price/value deal  book one traveler, get the second traveler's fare half off plus onboard credit. The deal is the line's most successful promotion. The company offers the promotion during Wave season when consumers are looking to book with added flexibility, said Vicki Freed, senior vice president of sales at Royal Caribbean International.

The deal was so good that 59-year-old Mike Vidal booked his first vacation in a decade.

Vidal reserved a southern Caribbean April cruise for this year with his wife, Lyse, during last year's Wave season when Royal Caribbean had a similar buy one/get one half off offer.

"When we saw the pricing on this, I said, 'Jesus, at that price, yeah!'" Vidal said. "I'll jump on it for an eight-day cruise, that makes it more cost effective."

Vidal, who booked in February last year, benefited from Royal Caribbean's move away from last-minute deals. The Miami-based company finalized that move this month when it announced it would end flash sales 30 days prior to sail date, further incentivizing consumers to book early.

During a recent call with analysts, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Chairman and CEO Richard Fain said last-minute deals "cheapen" the company's brand and upset loyal customers who book cruises ahead of time.

And many do book early. According to a survey conducted at the end of 2015 by the Cruise Lines International Association, a cruise marketing group, travel agents say "passengers are booking further ahead than in the past, with the strongest growth seen in pre-booking nine to 12 months ahead."

The report's conclusion? "New ships, especially larger ships with all-inclusive pricing, seem to be having a positive impact on the demand for cruising."
A family portrait shows Dr. Teresa Sievers with husband Mark Sievers and children Josephine and Carmela. (Submitted photo)

By Kristine Gill of the Naples Daily News

There was a tense moment this summer when Dawn Tottenham visited her brother-in-law Mark Sievers in Bonita Springs.

"You know, the girls aren't convinced that you think I'm innocent," Sievers told Tottenham, referring to his daughters Josephine and Carmi, then 11 and 8.

"Mark, I don't," Tottenham said. She suspected Sievers had a hand in killing her sister Teresa Sievers in June, but knew she must maintain friendly relations if she hoped to see her nieces. "Right now you're Mark, Josephine and Carmi's dad, and you're family."

Sievers' arrest Friday on second-degree murder charges brought relief for Tottenham, 40, as both girls were taken into state custody. Prosecutors say Sievers promised to pay his childhood friend Curtis Wayne Wright Jr., and an accomplice, Jimmy Ray Rodgers, to kill his wife. Officials with the Florida Department of Children and Families told a Lee County judge Saturday that the girls are staying in Naples at least until Monday, when a hearing regarding temporary custody arrangements will be continued. It was unclear Saturday whose care the girls were in.

In the meantime, Lee County Circuit Judge John Duryea ordered Sievers, 47, be held on a $4.43 million bond  the same amount of money taken out in life insurance policies for Teresa Sievers, 46. It was a bond recommended by Assistant State Attorney Hamid Hunter.

"The court should be concerned that proceeds for the life insurance policies could potentially be used to post bond in this case," Hunter explained during Sievers' first appearance Saturday morning.

Sievers' attorney Lee Hollander argued that bond be set at $250,000. He said Sievers is not a flight risk and cannot afford to post 10 percent of the bond set by the judge, or $443,000, to get out of jail.

TIMELINE: Dr. Teresa Sievers killing case

"All I can say is the insurance companies particularly have not and will not be distributing any money on those insurance policies until, obviously, the issue is resolved," Hollander told the judge. "So that's not a realistic consideration."

Hollander plans to ask a judge for a lower bond before Sievers' next scheduled court appearance March 28.

Should he post bond, Sievers will be required to surrender his firearms and travel documents. He will not be permitted to leave the area, the judge said.

And the judge said he will look into the source of the bond money to make sure it did not come from insurance payouts related to his wife's death.

Hollander said he has not spoken to Sievers since his arrest Friday and would not comment on the accusations against him.

He said he assumes Sievers' daughters are doing well but has not made contact with them.

When asked what Sievers has been doing since his wife was found dead, Hollander said: "He's going through life trying to recover himself and take care of his two girls. That's all I can tell you."

Deputies surrounded Sievers' home on Jarvis Road Friday before arresting him on charges of second-degree murder. His daughters were taken into custody by state officials the same day.

His arrest came after Wright, 47, accepted a plea agreement for his role. Wright pleaded guilty to charges of second degree murder for a 25-year prison sentence. Part of Wright's plea deal requires that he provide "substantial assistance" to prosecutors.

Prosecutors say Wright traveled to Florida from Missouri in June to kill Teresa Sievers in her home. Prosecutors say he enlisted the help of a fellow former inmate, Rodgers, also of Missouri.

Rodgers was extradited to Florida last week to face charges in Lee County. He is now being held without bond, for his role in the crime.

Staying Strong

Tottenham said Sievers' arrest Friday, while a relief in many ways, has dealt another blow.

"It just confirms that the girls lost their dad as well as their mom," she said. "I just pray wherever they're placed, that they feel good and I'm glad they're together."

For Carmi's ninth birthday this month, Tottenham mailed a gift from her home in Long Island, New York. She wanted to keep things light, so she sent a spray for Carmi's blond hair  always tangled by the pool chlorine  and a book about mermaids.

She did the same on Christmas, after documents were released showing Sievers was accused of orchestrating his wife's homicide. Tottenham sent Josephine Sievers a purple dress, her mother's favorite color.

"I just wanted them to feel like kids," said Tottenham. "I didn't want them to be inundated with this kind of heavy reality."

During her visit last summer, Tottenham said Sievers was playful with the girls. When one of them punched him in the arm as a joke, Sievers would pretend it hurt.

Tottenham is again spreading the word about a fundraiser for the girls' college tuition. Since she launched the Web page eight months ago, donors have given more than $6,600.

Whether or not they fully grasp what has happened, the girls seemed determined to get through it, Tottenham said.

"I know that I'm strong and I know that her spirit's here," Josephine told Tottenham as the two hugged. "But I really miss my mama."

To donate, visit https://www.generosity.com/emergencies-fundraising/college-fund-for-josephine-carmi-sievers.

RELATED STORIES:
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By Arek Sarkissian of the Naples Daily News

TALLAHASSEE  The fate of some of the $5.5 million in requests for Collier County groups was uncertain Saturday as the Legislature spent the weekend negotiating the details of next year's $80 billion state budget.

Not all of the 10 requests written into the proposed House budget by Reps. Matt Hudson and Kathleen Passidomo, both of Naples, were accepted by the Senate. The differences in the spending plans between the two sides of the Legislature will be settled during a series of joint-chamber budget conferences, which should continue throughout the week.

Legislative leaders began conferences Friday night by agreeing to cut two priorities of Gov. Rick Scott, wiping out $250 million he requested in incentive money for Enterprise Florida and slashing his $1 billion tax-cut plan. There was no talk Saturday of bringing back the incentive money, and both chambers remained set on providing only $400 million in tax cuts.

"Given the $400 million cut we saw in general revenue, we consider this very generous," said House budget chief Richard Corcoran, R-Land O' Lakes.

Enterprise Florida President Bill Johnson sent an email Saturday to a lengthy list of local government and business leaders warning them about the incentive fund cut.

"With today's actions by legislative leaders, there is no longer any funding for incentives at Enterprise Florida," Johnson wrote in the email. "As a result, there are 277 projects Enterprise Florida Inc. is actively competing for that are effectively lost."

In response to Johnson's email, Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said the Senate tried to compromise with Scott and the House.

"Despite these efforts, within the Legislature there are strong philosophical differences regarding the efficacy of taxpayer-funded economic development programs," Gardiner said. "I will not allow progress on a balanced budget that will cut taxes, provide unprecedented per-student funding for K-12 education, and make critical investments in our health care system to be put on hold due to differing views on the creation of a $250 million pot for corporate incentives."

The requests from Hudson and Passidomo were a small chunk of the roughly $2 billion in projects filed by their House colleagues.

The most expensive Collier request  $2 million  was for the Southwest Florida Collier County Business Accelerator. The money would go toward business development projects in Naples and Immokalee. Gov. Scott vetoed the request last year.

The latest Senate budget included the $2 million, but the House budget did not.

"Those are business incubators and they're really useful," Passidomo said. "Let's hope we get them in there this year."

The next largest request was $600,000 toward the Hodges University Identity Fraud Institute, which was slashed to $50,000 by both legislative chambers as of Saturday.

Hodges University is based in Fort Myers and it has a campus in Naples.

"All we're hearing right now is about identity theft," Passidomo said. "And this is one of the only schools in the area with this type of program."

Passidomo also requested $450,000 to the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Education Center in Immokalee to study citrus greening disease.

"I've always had a soft spot in my heart for them and they aren't even in my district," Passidomo said, adding the money is also in the Senate budget.

Both Passidomo and Hudson requested $1 million for the Healthcare Network of Southwest Florida Golden Gate Clinic, which provides medical care to both the insured and uninsured. The money was not in the Senate budget.

Passidomo also requested $105,000 for the Collier County Veterans Treatment Court, which was not in the Senate budget.

Hudson's largest request related to Collier County was $649,111 for the Palm Beach Habilitation Center, which would provide money for a new roof and plumbing at its facility in Immokalee. The Senate budget matched Hudson's request and added an additional $225,000.

Hudson, who serves as the House Healthcare Appropriations Subcommittee chairman, also requested $450,000 for the Florida State University College of Medicine Immokalee Health Education site. The money also was in the Senate budget.

"The FSU College of Medicine, that place helps thousands of kids every month who live in Immokalee, Hendry County, all over that area," Hudson said. "The impact there is pretty important."

Hudson also requested $99,398 for the David Lawrence Mental Health Center, which also was in the Senate budget.

Hudson also requested $750,000 to renovate the Hendry County Fairgrounds and Rodeo Complex. There was $250,000 included in the House budget, but it was not matched by the Senate.

He also requested $500,000 to renovate the Hendry County Courthouse, but that was not found in the House budget.

"They definitely need the money," Hudson said. "Their building is not falling apart  it's sinking into the ground."
Auctioneer Scott Robertson holds cancer survivor Avery McCaskill, 6, during the fundraising auction during the Southwest Florida Wine and Food Fest at Miromar Lakes Beach and Golf Club on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. All proceeds from the event go to the Southwest Florida Children's Charities, Inc.. (Dorothy Edwards/Staff)

By Ryan Mills of the Naples Daily News

Avery McCaskill wasn't exactly sure how much money her painting of an owl raked in Saturday, but she knew one thing for sure  it was "a lot."

Avery, an adorable 6-year-old with curly brown hair, was the featured child artist at the 2016 Southwest Florida Wine & Food Fest. Her watercolor painting of a wise old owl brought in $150,000  30 bids of $5,000 each from around the room  for the Golisano Children's Hospital of Southwest Florida, a place she and her family got to know well after her leukemia diagnosis at age 3.

Wearing a blue polka dot dress, Avery attended the festival's auction with her mother, Sondra McCaskill, and her 9-year-old sister, Kaleah.

"I was not expecting this. This is such an incredible event," Sondra McCaskill said after the bidding. "It's such an upbeat crowd. They're so amazing."

Avery was diagnosed with leukemia on a Sunday afternoon three years ago, McCaskill said. Her parents noticed her strange behavior. She was dizzy and falling into things.

"I just knew something wasn't right," McCaskill said.

Her diagnosis came quickly after a trip to a Naples hospital, where they did blood work. The family's world stopped.

"They told us they would be transporting us. Immediately I'm thinking a million miles an hour, I'm thinking we're going to have a long way to go, Miami, Tampa," McCaskill said. Instead, they went to Golisano, which is part of the Health Park facility in south Lee County. "I honestly didn't know we had something so close."

Avery spent weeks at the hospital at first, and returned regularly for intense chemotherapy treatments, surgeries and checkups. She's been cancer-free since last April.

Having a children's hospital so close allowed McCaskill's husband to keep his job, and go home after long days of treatment.

The hospital's staff helped the family get through the illness. Doctors explained what was happening, nurses prepped Avery for treatments and child life specialists did fun activities with her to help distract her from all of the procedures.

"I've always been thankful for my life," McCaskill said, "and you know all the little cliches you hear come into play when something like this affects your life, just to take every moment. I'm honestly just thankful. I can't even say daily. I want to say every minute I'm thankful."

Hospital staff selected Avery to be this year's child artist, an annual tradition at the wine and food festival. Her painting will be donated to the hospital and hang alongside the work of other child artists from the last 10 years. Those paintings have brought in about $1 million over the years.

Auctioneer Scott Robertson held Avery in his arms as the paddles raised in the air and the bids came in. When the final tally was in, Avery held her own sign "Thank You."

Avery worked on her painting along with artist Ellen Sheppard. And why an owl, Avery?

"'Cause I like owls."
SHARE Make-a-Wish child Adalyn Addy Wallace, 3, of Leigh Acres, checks out her face painting after completing the Make-A-Wish Walk for Wishes 5K at FGCU in Fort Myers, FL on Saturday, February 27, 2016. Addy had a tumor removed from her right kidney this past fall. Fulfilling her wish, she and her family will be going to Disney World this June. (Photo by Gregg Pachkowski/Special to the Daily News) L-r: Jayden Martin, Michael Butts, Cheryl Green, Trystan Ervin, and Make-a-Wish child Thai-lyn Green pose for a group photo after completing the Make-A-Wish Walk for Wishes 5K at FGCU in Fort Myers, FL on Saturday, February 27, 2016. (Photo by Gregg Pachkowski/Special to the Daily News) Alex Azua, 17, left, looks back at his friend Tyler MacChi, 14, as he beats him to the finish line during the Make-A-Wish Walk for Wishes 5K at FGCU in Fort Myers, FL on Saturday, February 27, 2016. (Photo by Gregg Pachkowski/Special to the Daily News) Related Photos The 6th Annual Walk For Wishes 5K Walk/Run

By Laura Layden of the Naples Daily News

With a cane in hand, 85-year-old Phyllis Demeter heard plenty of cheers as she crossed the finish line.

She did it for Addy.

So did 46 others who were part of "Team Addy" at this year's Walk for Wishes 5K Walk-Run, held Saturday at Florida Gulf Coast University in south Lee County.

Three-year old Addy Wallace, also known as "Attitude," walked across the finish line too, jumping out of her wagon in a blue tutu to join her parents and others who were there to support her as she continues her battle with cancer. The backs of her team's T-shirts read: "Fight Like a Girl."

For much of the walk, Demeter, visiting from Erie, Pennsylvania, strolled along in a wheelchair, but she decided to put up a fight of her own at the end for Addy, walking the last 200 yards alongside her son John Demeter and his wife, Lori, who live in Fort Myers. The trio agreed it was a blast.

"I think it's awesome and I would do it again. Hands down," said John Demeter, 62.

They joined more than 1,200 others walking or running in support of Make-A-Wish Southern Florida, which serves critically ill children in 13 counties, including Collier and Lee. Make-A-Wish grants the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses and medical conditions to "enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy."

Addy, who lives in Lehigh Acres, was diagnosed with cancer of the kidney when she was 2 years old. After four more treatments, she'll get her wish in June, a week in Orlando visiting Disney World, where she'll be treated like a princess.

Addy's team raised almost $2,800 for Make-A-Wish this year.

This year's 5K had record attendance  and more than 30 Make-A-Wish families participated, the most ever for the local fundraiser. The event raised $95,000, which will be spent on kids in Collier, Lee, Glades and Hendry counties. That's enough to grant 19 more wishes.

"It's about money, but it's also about awareness. It's so important for awareness," said Tammy Lynn, director of west coast operations for Make-A-Wish Southern Florida.

Danielle Gister, 19, who has cerebral palsy, was the last to finish the walk, with her parents by her side. As she pushed her walker over the finish line, with an Austin Moon doll in hand, local cheerleaders from the competitive group Top Gun went wild with excitement. So did other onlookers. She brought tears to some of their eyes, with her oozing enthusiasm.

"She loves it," said her mom, Lindsey Gister, 60. "There is just not a lot for the kids to do here. Yeah, she gets tired, but she's motivated."

Danielle took her Make-A-Wish trip to Disney World three years ago. Her favorite part? The princesses, of course. Her mom raved about the experience, which she said wouldn't have been possible without Make-A-Wish.

"It was her first time and it was her last time. We have to work," she said, looking over at her husband.

It was the fourth time the family, who lives in North Fort Myers, has walked in the local event.

Also back this year was "Team Blake," walking for Blake Sutor, 8, who suffered a traumatic brain injury when he almost drowned in his family's aboveground pool in April 2010.

Blake took his trip to Disney World in November 2012. "I really feel like that was the glue that kept us together," said his mom, Trina Sutor, who lives in Fort Myers. "A lot of families separate when there's a tragedy."

"Team Blake" has been growing every year and hit 62 members this year, raising $6,060, enough to grant one wish, with a little money left over to go toward another one. The average cost of a wish is $5,000,

"It warms my heart because I know how much it meant to us," she said.

Blake, who continues to make progress, walked the last 100 feet this time.

"Eventually, our goal is for him to do the whole walk," said Trina Sutor. "But that's down the road."
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Martha Dykman, Naples

Voting for Barnett

This letter is in support of Bill Barnett for mayor of Naples.

I have lived in Naples for 31 years and have been active in local issues and politics. I have worked with and for both Mayor John Sorey and former mayor Barnett.

It worries me that three of six sitting council members support Barnett. Why?

The other two council members are running against Sorey for mayor  Barnett and Teresa Heitmann. Only one council member supports Sorey after his four-year term.

Sorey has taken the full-time paid position as executive director of The Naples Players. I feel the mayor of such a changing and vibrant city needs to be full-time; those two roles may also be conflicting.

Last summer, while the residents were away, the landscaping on Gulf Shore Boulevard North was destroyed and Sorey wrote a commentary in this newspaper defending and supporting this action and saying it would be the new template for the rest of the city.

Now, $500,000 is budgeted to mediate the problem; meanwhile, our neighborhood is told that there is no money in the budget for treating our canopy trees for the devastation of white fly disease and our trees are ugly and sick. We have to fund treatment ourselves in the city right of way.

Pet projects get all the staff and money while existing neighborhoods do not get taken care of as they use to be. Neighborhoods also are not being treated equally; the same rules and guidelines are changed for political reasons.

This is why I am voting for Bill Barnett.
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James Finnegan, Naples and Barrington, Ill.

Eternal consequences

In 1776, America's founders gathered in Philadelphia to draft our Declaration of Independence, followed 11 years later by our Constitution.

The Declaration's seminal line, "All men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with the unalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness," lists life as the first guarantee, as without life, all other rights mean nothing.

On Jan. 22, 1973, a day that will live in infamy, seven unelected judges decided the founders got "all this life stuff" wrong. Organizations such as Planned Parenthood began building an industry around abortion: the cowardly destruction of innocent and defenseless children. This "right," although nowhere found in the Constitution, allowed a mother to end her child's life, a life that for over 2,000 years she was the main protector of.

With the death of Justice Anton Scalia, and the growing unrest of citizens as to what abortion has unleashed on our country, the coming election for president takes on great importance. In the eight years President Barack Obama has served, he has universally earned recognition as the greatest presidential supporter of abortion in the history of our country.

Gallup polls since 2001 on the importance of abortion as a single voting issue have shown single-issue pro-life voters (like myself) outnumber single-issue pro-abortion voters. Post polling consistently has shown a plus 4 to 6 percent to candidates who articulate well their pro-life values, no small figure in an election expected to be close.

Someday we will all stand in front of our Lord to render account for our actions. If by our votes we allow the killing of his children to continue, we certainly will be judged accordingly. Yes, elections do have consequences, eternal ones.
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Peg Clark, Naples

Movie invitation

The organization Voice of the Faithful of Southwest Florida (VOTF) was born in a graduate diocesan ministry class. The subject was catholic social justice, and the students were anxious for the religious professor to introduce the scandal of priests' sexual abuse of children. It was the third class and not a word from the professor about the scandal. It was years later that we learned that the teacher had sworn, (with all other religious), to silence on the scandal.

One woman in the class spoke aloud and said that she was going to drop the class because she felt like a hypocrite. At that, a gentleman stood up and said he wanted to tell the class something that he only ever told his wife  when he was 10 years old, a priest kept him after the altar boy lesson.

Tears ran down his face. He had been taken to another room and the door was locked.

His story shook the entire class; everyone was crying. They were petrified and left the class one by one in silence. The next class, everyone formed a group, now in its 15th year. That was providential.

VOTF has a film that is being shown all across the nation. The film has potential to be mentioned in the Academy Awards. There is no fee to attend the film that will enlighten everyone. There will be a showing on March 7 from 1-4 p.m. There will be an open discussion debate after the film (Q&As).

The showing is at the Collier County library, 2385 Orange Blossom Drive. Questions: call 239-417-3077.

VOTF is the only group in our diocese that's been open to the victim for 15 years. Our door is always open. Please be our guest.
Welcome to the Narco News Archives

Narco News published original investigative journalism & analysis for 19 years (2000 - 2019) on the "war on drugs" from Latin America, and on social movements, community organizing, nonviolent resistance and election campaigns throughout the world.

In 2001, Narco News won the landmark New York Supreme Court case, Banco Nacional de Mexico vs. Al Giordano, Mario Menendez and Narco News; this case extended First Amendment rights to the Internet and journalists who publish on it.

The independent online newspaper did not accept advertising but cut a wide swath (Boston Globe), with "hard-hitting reporting" (Fairness & Accuracy in Media), that "broke a string of scoops" (The Guardian), that were "on the mark and well documented" (Washington Post).

"The new, independent journalists of the Internet, as personified by Al Giordano" (Electronic Frontier Foundation), who "actually makes things happen" (Gary Webb, 1955 - 2004), invented "the platinum standard in Authentic Journalism" (Barry Crimmins, 1953-2018).

You can read more of what the critics have said at www.narconews.com/mediacritics1.html.

Here, free to the public, you will find two decades of reports in seven languages, including major drug war scoops by Bill Conroy, the censored San Jose Mercury-News "Dark Alliance" series by Gary Webb, early viral videos from Narco News TV, translations to English of Latin American and other international news stories otherwise unreported in the United States, in-depth reporting on the Obama presidential campaign in 2007 and 2008 by Al Giordano, "the prophet of the Obama paradigm shift" (Vanity Fair), and original reporting by hundreds of journalists from almost every corner of the planet.

The nonprofit Fund for Authentic Journalism is currently rebuilding the Narco News site to fix broken links and graphics that too often on the Internet get disappeared forever as the technology of web platforms becomes regularly replaced and must be updated to preserve the history of early online journalism.

We beg your patience as we complete this kind of archeological dig and repair of these vital reports and stories.

Please consider supporting the preservation of real reporting through the nonprofit Fund for Authentic Journalism, via the donate links at our website: authenticjournalism.org.

If you have tech skills and can volunteer to help repair and update this important historical record, please contact Al Giordano at al@organizeandwin.com.

Thank you for your readership and participation in 19 years of journalism history  and for your support as we continue to support authentic journalism in the present and future.

The Fund for Authentic Journalism
For Email Newsletters you can trust
Actor-writer-producer-director-megatasker, prolific instagrammer and tweeter, James Franco, was back in his hometown Palo Alto Sunday to receive a Maverick Spirit Award at a Cinequest pre-festival event.

Franco, who was nominated for a best actor Oscar in 2011 for 127 Hours  and co-hosted the ceremony with Anne Hathaway  was presented the award during a Storytelling Reimagined Conclave at the Four Seasons Palo Alto.

"This means a lot, this is where I grew up," Franco said to applause from the crowd, which comprised mostly of fans and locals, including his teacher from Palo Alto High School, Esther Wojcicki. Franco, who graduated from high school 20 years ago and is working with Wojcicki on a film workshop for students from his alma mater, said the experience has humbled and inspired him. "They help me remember why I love doing ths," he said. "The kids are already there ... they are making all these videos with their cell phones, so why not help them a bit."

Franco, 37, joined Jaunt CEO Jens Christensen and Marty Cooper, the "father of the cellphone," to talk about storytelling through everyday life: from cell phone videos to social media to virtual reality.

"I'm always open to new kinds of technology in storytelling," Franco said, adding that he had had a "holy s__" moment when he was introduced to virtual reality for the first time.

Every year Cinequest picks Mavericks  visionaries in the worlds of Silicon Valley innovation and the film arts who are known for their bold, independent and creative approach to the silver screen. Former honorees include J.J. Abrams, Kevin Spacey, Harrison Ford, Neil Gaiman and Sir Ben Kinsley.

This year, Cinequests most prestigious accolade picked Renaissance Man Franco, American screen icon and Oscar winner Rita Moreno and independent film consultant/producer Robert Hawk.

Known for his breakthrough role in Freaks and Geeks, Franco  who has over 100 acting credits (including Milk, Pineapple Express and The Interview)  has added educator to his list of titles. Apart from teaching film at Palo Alto High School, he teaches classes at NYU, USC, and UCLA.

Franco lays waste to the phrase 'multi-tasking,' Franco's bio on Cinequest's website says.

Franco told Cinequest he never rests: Its an impossibility. I dont even like to sleep. I feel as if theres so much to do."

Cinequest opens March 1 with Eye in the Sky starring Helen Mirren and Alan Rickman.
More than 100 patrol cars lined the roads outside Inova Fairfax Hospital in Northern Virginia early Sunday morning to stand vigil and provide escort to the medical examiner for the body of a slain Prince William County police officer.

Prince William County PD

Prince William County police say Officer Ashley Guindon, 28, was shot and killed Saturday responding to a domestic violence call in Woodbridge, Virginia. A woman was also killed and two other officers were injured in the shooting.

It is a sad day for everyone in this room. A sad day for law enforcement, Prince William County police Chief Stephan Hudson said during a news conference Sunday. We extend our condolences to Ashleys mother and extended family.

Hudson said the woman killed in the domestic dispute was Crystal Hamilton, the wife of the alleged shooter, identified as 32-year-old Ronald Hamilton. He said she was apparently shot and killed before the officers arrived.

Hamilton is being held without bond in the Prince William County Adult Detention Center on charges that include murder of a law enforcement officer. He is an active duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Joint Staff Support Center at the Pentagon, according to Cindy Your, a Defense Information Systems Agency spokeswoman based at Fort Meade, Maryland.

The two injured officers were identified as Officer David McKeown, 33, and Officer Jesse Hempen, 31. They are currently being treated at INOVA Hospital, and Hudson said both have a long road ahead for their recovery.

Prince William County Police Department

According to Hudson, Guindon went through training with the department last year before leaving for personal reasons. She rejoined the department this year and had been sworn in as an officer on Friday. She was on her first shift Saturday when she was shot.

"We were struck by her passion to do this job," Hudson said. "She did share with us when we rehired her that she felt like she wanted to do this job. She couldn't get it out of her blood."

Hudson thanked the community and surrounding jurisdictions for their support. He said the Prince William County Police Department was in very deep mourning over the loss of Guindon.

According to a police press release from June 2015 when Guindon graduated from basic recruit school, she was a graduate of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.

She served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and has family in law enforcement, the press release said.

The principal of Merrimack High School said a moment of silence will be held in honor of Guindon, qho was a 2005 graduate of the high school.

Principal Ken Johnson said in a letter to the school board and staff that he had "sad and tragic news, the loss of a student."

The shooting happened around 5:30 p.m. in the 13000 block of Lashmere Court in Woodbridge, Virginia. Neighbors reported hearing several rapid gunshots ring out as young people played outside.

"We heard three to four gunshots, so we started running, and then when we got up here we saw all the cops," said one young witness, who asked not to be identified. "They told us to go inside."

"I can't believe this is my neighborhood," said neighbor Saher Jan. "I was just in front of that house. I just couldn't imagine that it happened right there. They seemed like nice people."

Prince William County Officer killed on her first day on the job. News4s Darcy Spencer reports.

Hudson said the officers were fired upon after responding to a domestic disturbance call. He said after other officers arrived, Hamilton surrendered to police.

The three officers who were shot were transported to INOVA Hospital. Hudson said Guindon passed away during treatment.

Officers found the body of Crystal Hamilton inside the home, Hudson said, adding that law enforcement officials also found an 11-year-old boy inside. He was unharmed.

As Guindon was sworn in on Friday, Prince William County police tweeted a message of welcome to her and another new officer. Featuring a photo of the two rookies in uniform, the tweet read, "Be safe!"

Welcome Officers Steven Kendall & Ashley Guindon who were sworn in today & begin their shifts this weekend.Be safe! pic.twitter.com/92c2YLjcQx  Prince William PD (@PWCPolice) February 26, 2016

On Sunday, the department tweeted a photo of Guidon's police cruiser embellished with bows and a wreath. The caption read: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. #RIPAshleyGuindon."

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God". #RIPAshleyGuindon pic.twitter.com/AyG7NmYDNt  Prince William PD (@PWCPolice) February 28, 2016

The death of Ashley Guindon was just the latest tragedy to strike the family. Her father, David, committed suicide upon returning from Iraq, where he served with the New Hampshire Air National Guard.



"He came home and took his own life," said Dorothy Guindon, Ashley's grandmother.



She said Ashley was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. The family later moved to Merrimack, New Hampshire.



"This is really a shock to us," Dorothy Guindon said. "Ashley was such a nice person."
At least 26 people were shot, 2 fatally, in shootings across Chicago this weekend beginning Friday afternoon.

The most recent fatal shooting occurred at 3:47 p.m. Saturday in the Gresham neighborhood on the citys South Side. Two people were in a vehicle in the 900 block of W. 85th St. when the offender or offenders approached on foot and fired shots. One man, later identified as 26-year-old Eric D. Henry, Jr., was shot in the head and pronounced dead on the scene, while a 24-year-old woman was shot in the jaw and leg. She was transported to Christ Hospital in serious condition.

The weekends shootings began at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, when a 35-year-old man was approached by another man in the 100 block of W. 95th St. in the Roseland neighborhood on Chicagos South Side. According to police, the offender produced a handgun and fired shots. The victim sustained a gunshot wound to the leg and was transported to Christ Hospital in stable condition.

Other shootings included the following incidents:

At 2:53 p.m. Friday, a 16-year-old boy became the first of six teenage shooting victims of the weekend thus far. He was standing on the corner of 1600 W. Cermak Rd in the Pilsen neighborhood when an unknown offender drove by and fired shots from a car. He was hit in the back and taken to Stroger Hospital by friends in critical condition.

At 4:30 p.m., a 24-year-old man was sitting outside a residence in the 8900 block of S. Morgan St. in Chicagos Gresham neighborhood when an offender approached on foot and fired shots. The victim suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and was taken to St. Bernard Hospital.

The first fatal shooting of the weekend occurred at 9:45 p.m. Friday night, when 30-year-old Shari Graham was shot and killed while being driven by a hired driver in the 3800 block of S. Princeton near U.S. Cellular Field. Another car pulled up and fired shots, one of which went through the trunk and struck her in the back. She was taken to Stroger Hospital where she was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m.

Shortly before 10 p.m., 3 people shot in the Lawndale neighborhood arrived at Mt. Sinai hospital after being shot. They were seated in a parked car in the 1100 block of S. Whipple when offenders approached on foot and fired shots. A 26-year-old man was shot in the head and was admitted in stable condition, a 21-year-old woman was shot in the chest and was in critical condition, and a 19-year-old woman who was shot in the mouth was in stable condition.

At 11:55 p.m. Friday night, a 36-year-old man was sitting in a parked car in the 8200 block of S. Manistee Ave in the South Chicago neighborhood when a man approached on foot and began shooting. He sustained a gunshot wound to the arm and is in stable condition.

At 12:30 a.m. Saturday morning, a 27-year-old woman was traveling in a vehicle in the 2900 block of W. Madison in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on Chicagos West Side when shots were fired from an occupant of another vehicle. She suffered a graze wound to the shoulder and refused transport to an area hospital.

Also in the East Garfield Park neighborhood, a 25-year-old man was driving in the 3600 block of W. Jackson around 6:15 a.m. when he heard shots and felt pain in his leg. He drove to Mt. Sinai Hospital and is in good condition.

A 41-year-old man was shot in the foot and a 48-year-old man was shot in the leg at around 1:30 p.m. in the 5700 block of S. Winchester Ave in the West Englewood neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. The two men were standing outside when a car pulled up and occupants fired shots. The 41-year-old was taken to Holy Cross Hospital in good condition, and the 48-year-old to Provident Hospital in serious condition.

An hour later, at 2:30 p.m., a 17-year-old boy was taken to Northwestern Hospital after he was shot in the groin in the 7300 block of S. Jeffery in the South Shore neighborhood.

At 3:54 p.m. in the 8300 block of S. Ada St. in the Gresham neighborhood, a 23-year-old man was walking on the street when he heard shots and felt pain. He self-transported to Advocate Christ and is in stable condition.

At 4:45 p.m. a 22-year-old man self-transported to Rush Medical Center in stable condition after sustaining a gunshot wound to the groin. He was on the 2400 block of S. Sacramento in Little Village on the citys Southwest Side.

In the 3700 block of W. 13th St. in the Lawndale neighborhood at 5:32 p.m., a 19-year-old woman heard shots and felt pain after a van drove past. She took herself to Mt. Sinai with a gunshot wound to the leg and was in good condition.

In the Cragin neighborhood on the Northwest Side, a 22-year-old man was walking on the sidewalk in the 4800 block of W. Barry at 8:59 p.m. when two men walked up and fired shots. The victim was shot in the lower left leg and taken to Community First Medical Center in stable condition.

Less than a half hour later at 9:23 p.m., a 17-year-old boy was shot in the South Austin neighborhood. He was sitting in the rear seat of a parked vehicle on the 5000 block of W Thomas when a green sedan drove past and an occupant fired shots. The boy was taken in stable condition to Mt. Sinai with gunshot wounds to the left thigh and right hand.

At 10:19 p.m. Saturday night in Englewood, on the 7300 block of S. Sangamon St, a 21-year-old man was walking on sidewalk when two men walked up and fired shots. He was taken in stable condition to Christ Medical Center with wounds to the buttocks and right arm.

A 21-year-old woman was standing on the sidewalk in the 2800 block of N. Oak Park Ave in the Montclare neighborhood on the citys Northwest Side when she heard shots and felt pain at 12:54 a.m. She was taken to Community First Medical Center in stable condition with a gunshot wound to her right foot.

At 1:37 a.m. Sunday in the 1200 block S. Springfield Ave in Lawndale, a 39-year-old man was sitting in the passenger seat of parked car when a man approached. The offender asked to sit in the backseat, then displayed a handgun. He shot the victim in the right hip. The victim was taken to Mt. Sinai in stable condition.

A 17-year-old boy was standing on the sidewalk in the 7900 block of S. East End in South Chicago at 2:20 a.m. A man approached on foot and fired shots from street. The teenager was taken to Northwestern in stable condition with a gunshot wound to the back of the head and back area.

At 3:58 a.m. Sunday, a 30-year-old man was sitting in the passenger seat of a car on the 9500 block of S. Lafayette in Longwood Manor when he heard shots and felt pain. He was driven to St. Bernard Hospital in stable condition with a wound to the right shoulder.

A 20-year-old man was shot in the groin in the 6700 block of S. Claremont Ave in the West Englewood neighborhood on the citys Southwest Side. The incident happened at 2:52 p.m. Sunday afternoon, and the victim was taken to Christ Medical Center in stable condition.

As of Sunday evening, no one was in custody as a result of these shootings as police continue to investigate.
A small plane carrying a family made an emergency landing on an Indiana interstate Saturday morning.



At approximately 11:30 a.m., Indiana State Police responded to a report of a plane landing on I-65 between the cities of Seymour and Crothersville, according to a news release.



The pilot, 44-year-old Aaron Wright of Carmel, was flying his family to Louisville, Kentucky when the 1967 Beechcraft Bonzana began to experience a mechanical issue, according to Indiana State Police. Wright attempted to head back to the Seymour airport, but realized the plane would not make it back.



Wright managed to land the plane on the southbound lanes of I-65 before coming to a stop in the grassy median, according to investigators. Wright, his wife, and his 13-year-old son were not injured.



Traffic in both directions of I-65 was slowed for about three hours during the investigation. The northbound lanes were shut down for an hour to remove the plane.



Indiana State Police, the Federal Aviation Administration, and National Transportation Safety Board are conducting an investigation of the incident, according to the report.



Seymour is located approximately 60 miles southeast of Indianapolis.
Police said three people were stabbed, and 12 were arrested, in separate incidents at a Ku Klux Klan gathering that turned violent in Anaheim on Saturday.

Police were still searching for one man believed to be involved in the melee late Saturday.

The stabbings broke out about 11 a.m. near the site of an planned afternoon rally at Pearson Park located in the 400 block of North Harbor Boulevard, according to Sgt. Daron Wyatt with the Anaheim Police Department.

Police had said Friday that the department was aware of a KKK "walking protest" planned at the park for 1:30 p.m. Saturday, and that the group had held similar rallies before in Orange County. "APD will be monitoring the situation for any violations of law," the department said on its Facebook page.

The attacks began when a group of Klansman pulled up in a vehicle near the corner of Cypress Street and Harbor Boulevard where a group of counter protesters had gathered, Wyatt said.

A Klansman stabbed a counter-protester in the chest with an eagle figure at the end of the flag, according to Wyatt. The protester was transported to a local hospital in critical condition.

About one block away, another protester was allegedly stabbed by a Klansman, who was later taken into custody. The protester's condition was unknown.

Counter-protesters stomped on Klan members, injuring them, Wyatt said.

Police said six Klan members and seven counter protesters were arrested following the brawl.

Ultimately, seven were booked, four were released and one detained was a juvenile.

Firefighters also treated another protester who suffered a minor stab wound.

Tyler Matias-Lopez, 16, was in the park with his family watching as the violence ensued.



"There was one guy that got kicked in the face. But there was around 10 people that just started hitting the guy," Matias-Lopez said.

According to the Anaheim police Facebook post, the KKK rallies typicaly involve literature being passed out  a process that is protected under the First Amendment.

"It is not uncommon for these groups to place their literature in yards and driveways in the surrounding area prior to or immediately following their gathering. This dissemination of literature is not illegal," the post says.

Editor's Note: Police initially told NBC4 that a KKK member was stabbed, but later said a counter-protester was the stabbing victim. This story has been updated.
East Windsor Police are asking for the public's help in locating a mother and her son that have been not been heard from since Saturday night.

Police say that Alexandria Smith and her one-year-old son Logan were last seen when she took a cab to Union Station in Hartford from the Mill Pond Village Apartment Complex in Broad Brook Saturday night.

Police say that she took the cab under a false name.

Police are concerned for Alexandria's welfare though they believe she left on her own accord. They say she left her apartment with no clothing for her and Logan and no money of transportation.

Family have told police that Alexandria does not know anyone in the area and may be suffering from depression.

Alexandria was scheduled to be in New York with her mother, but never arrived and her mother has not heard from her.

If anyone has any information on their whereabouts, they are asked to notify East Windsor Police at 860-292-8240


A woman and two western Pennsylvania cheese firms her family controls have pleaded guilty to mislabeling grated parmesan and romano cheese that contained only other cheeses and filler made from wood pulp.

A federal judge didn't immediately set a sentencing date for Michelle Myrter, 44, of Harmony, and her Slippery Rock companies, International Packing and Universal Cheese and Drying.

Under the plea, each company will forfeit $500,000 and Myrter's attorney has previously said she'll receive probation instead of up to one year in federal prison called for by the statute.

Myrter pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting the introduction of misbranded and adulterated food into interstate commerce. The section of the law relevant to her case holds a company official responsible whether they knew about the wrongdoing.

The Food and Drug Administration has said the cheese was sold through Target stores and 3,400 stores supplied by Associated Wholesale Grocers of Kansas City, Kansas, according to a report obtained from the agency Bloomberg News.

Despite that, FDA spokeswoman Lauren Sucher, told The Associated Press in an email on Friday that the agency doesn't "have distribution information (in terms of brands, where sold, etc.). That is the company's proprietary information."

"Consumers have a right to expect that products they purchase are what they purport to be," Sucher said in a statement. "In this case, products that were labeled as containing 100% Parmesan or 100% Romano cheese contained no Parmesan or Romano cheese."

Federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh would also not discuss where the cheese was sold.

The cheese labeled and shipped by the companies that pleaded guilty was made by family-owned Castle Cheese, which wasn't charged. Myrter is vice president of Castle and an officer in the other firms.

Stephen Stallings, a former federal prosecutor and Pittsburgh-based defense attorney for Myrter and the companies, didn't immediately comment after the pleas.

Myrter pleaded guilty on behalf of the companies to conspiracy to misbrand and adulterate the products and money laundering.

According to Bloomberg's story on the FDA report, Castle's Market Pantry brand or the Always Save and Best Choice branded parmesan cheeses were made with a combination of Swiss, mozzarella and white cheddar cheeses, along with cellulose, which is made with wood pulp. Up to 4 percent cellulose is allowed as a safe additive in such cheeses, according to standards set forth by the FDA.

The Market Pantry cheese was sold at Target stores and the other brands through Associated Wholesale Grocers, Bloomberg reported, citing the FDA.

But Target spokeswoman Joanna Hjelmeland said in an email Friday that "Castle Cheese has never been an authorized Target vendor. There are no Castle Cheese produced or packed Market Pantry parmesan cheese products on Target's shelves."

Associated Wholesale didn't immediately return calls and emails for comment Friday.

As part of its report, Bloomberg had several brands of grated cheese tested for cellulose, and several contained more than 4 percent.

That's prompted a federal class-action lawsuit in New York against Wal-Mart. The FDA found Wal-Mart's Great Value cheese had 7.8 percent filler, and the lawsuit contends it has as much as 10 percent. Wal-Mart has said it takes the allegations seriously and will investigate and respond to the lawsuit.
An Army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon was arrested on murder and other charges in the death of a police officer and his wife, authorities said Sunday.

[[370426551, L, 300,300]]



Ronald Hamilton, 32, is being held without bond in the Prince William County Adult Detention Center (ADC) in Manassas, Virginia, on charges that include murder of a law enforcement officer. He is accused of shooting and killing Officer Ashley Guindon after she responded to a domestic violence call at the Hamilton home Saturday evening. Two other officers were hospitalized with injuries.

Hamilton is also charged with first-degree murder, two counts of malicious assault and two counts of use of a firearm during a felony, according to ADS officer Brandon Carpenter.



He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning.

Hamilton is an active duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Joint Staff Support Center at the Pentagon, according to Cindy Your, a Defense Information Systems Agency spokeswoman based at Fort Meade, Maryland.

Prince William County police Chief Steve Hudson said the gunman's wife, identified as Crystal Hamilton, was shot and killed before officers arrived on the scene.



The shooting occurred Saturday evening at Hamilton's home in Woodbridge, where neighbors say he lived with his wife and their 11-year-old son.

The injured officers were identified as Jesse Hempen, 31, an eight-year veteran of department; and David McKeown, 33, a 10-year veteran. They are expected to recover, Hudson said. Details about their injuries were not released. [[370406701, C]]
The 31st Independent Film Spirit Awards provided a clear rebuke to the Oscars, bestowing awards on "Beasts of No Nation" co-stars Idris Elba and Abraham Attah and "Tangerine" star Mya Taylor, making her the first transgender actress to win at the annual awards.

The newsroom drama "Spotlight" was the big winner at the Spirit Awards on Saturday, the day before it will compete for best picture at the Academy Awards. It won a leading four awards, including best picture, best director for Tom McCarthy, best screenplay and the Robert Altman award for ensemble.

But this year's Spirit Awards, an annual dressed-down oceanside indie antidote to the Oscars was most remarkable for its wider diversity of nominees and winners. Neither Elba, Attah or Taylor were even nominated for Oscars. Each drew hearty applause.

"There is transgender talent," said Taylor, who played a Los Angeles sex worker in the iPhone-shot film. "There's very beautiful transgender talent. You better get out there and put it in your movie."

In recent years, the Spirits have overlapped considerably with the Oscars, including the last two top winners: "Birdman" and "12 Years a Slave." But this year, the Spirits  which honor films made for $20 million or less  widely deviated from their stuffier crosstown counterparts.

"Spotlight" was the only best picture nominee up for the Spirits' top award; the bigger budget Oscar favorites it's seen as vying with, "The Revenant" and "The Big Short," didn't qualify for the Spirits. And while the Oscars have been bested by criticism for a second straight year of all-white acting nominees, the Spirits boasted five nonwhite nominees out of 20  and three of them won.

"I'm so much prouder of being a producer than my performance," Elba said backstage about the Netflix release. "As a producer you face a lot of doors being closed in your face and in this case we did have a hard time making it but we got there in the end."

Kate McKinnon ("Saturday Night Live") and comedian Kumail Najiani hosted the ceremony, which was broadcast live on IFC. In their opening remarks, Najiani introduced them as a Pakistani American and a gay woman, "or to Hollywood, a straight woman and her IT guy."

The only Oscar acting favorite, Brie Larson, added another win for her performance in the captive drama "Room." Emma Donoghue, the novelist-turned-screenwriter, also won for best adapted screenplay for the film.

The foreign language favorite from Hungary, Laszlo Nemes' Holocaust drama "Son of Saul" took best international film. And the documentary front-runner, the Indonesian genocide film "Look of Silence" won best documentary.

Without the competition of "The Revenant" or "The Big Short," the wins for "Spotlight" likely don't suggest any better fortunes for the film at the Oscars. But McCarthy took the opportunity to celebrate the film's distinction as an independent film, made by indie distributor Open Road.

"Quite honestly, we need studios like this who are going to step up when the other studios won't," said McCarthy, who also shared in best screenplay with his cowriter, Josh Singer.

The Spirits, irreverent and breezy, marked a territory of its own, apart from the Oscars. Director Marielle Heller, who won best first feature for "Diary of a Teenage Girl," sounded aware that her film's success meant new attention, from bigger productions, for the movie's breakout star, Bel Powley. But Heller marked her claim on Powley. "I call dibs," she said.

AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr contributed to this report.
Living Gospel Equality Now: Loving in the Heart of God: Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests
A burglar in South Jersey who crept into a house while its residents slept over the weekend may have thought he was getting away without being detected.

But he thought wrong.

The family's surveillance cameras captured the man entering and leaving the house on Wyoming Drive in Toms River, police said. Toms River Police on Sunday released stills from the video, which show a clear picture of the burglar's face. In one shot, he has purses tucked under his arm and a hood pulled over his head as he leaves the house.

Police said the burglary happened just before 4:30 a.m. Saturday while the residents of the house, including children, were asleep. Now, they're asking the public's help to identify the crook caught on camera.

He's described as a white man possibly in his early to mid-20s who wore a zip-up Champion hooded sweatshirt, jeans and what appeared to be striped Adidas flip flops.

Tipsters should contact Det. James Carey at 732-349-0150 ext. 1292 or Det. Thomas DiMichele at ext. 1333.
A few weeks ago, my husband Eric Sadiwnyk got quite the surprise on our returning flight from Las Vegas. There aren't... Posted by Lisa Sadiwnyk on Friday, February 26, 2016

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Eric Sadiwnyk heard the news of his life on a flight back to his Pennsylvania home from Las Vegas a few weeks ago. While preparing for takeoff, the pilot made an announcement: Can I have your attention, please? We're about to do something special.

The pilot continued with a big surprise. "Well Eric, although you didnt strike it rich here in Las Vegas, you did hit the jackpot. Congratulationsyoure about to be a dad.

The entire plane erupted in applause, congratulations and calls for a speech.

I was shocked, I was excited, I had no idea what was going on, said Sadiwnyk, of Fairless Hills.

His wife, Lisa, began planning for the surprise in the days leading up to their trip.

You see all these videos on the Internet and YouTube, and we had been trying to get pregnant so I just wanted to plan something fun," she said. "I took a test a few days before we left- I got everything ready before the flight and printed the note for the pilot, just in case. I took the test on Monday before we left and then I knew!

Lisa stealthily planned the surprise when the couple arrived at the airport.

I was really nervous because I had known for two-and-a-half days without telling him," she said. "In the airport, I told him I was going to find some snacks and approached the first two American Airlines employees I could find. I asked if they were going to Philadelphiaand they were a little weary, which made sensebut once I told them what I wanted to do, they were more than happy to help. The flight attendant told me to hand her the paper when I got on the plane, pretending like it was trash, and she would give it to the pilot.

This is the couples first child and they were extremely excited to share the news with their families when they arrived home.

We gave our parents mugs with baby onesies inside and then showed them the video afterwards," Lisa said. "It's been torture keeping it a secret but now that our friends and family know and I'm now 10 weeks we decided to share!

Lisa wanted to share a message with all of the American Airlines employees who helped make this happen.

I just want to give everyone a huge thank you!" she said. "Its exciting news to share and I was trying to think what would be the best and most fun way to shareI dont get to surprise my husband very often. They made it an awesome experience and it was perfect.
A University of San Diego (USD) student who lost his eyesight in a hit-and-run crash has now gained many things: a canine companion, loyal friends and newfound confidence.

Michael Girard, an undergraduate student majoring in sociology at USD, was involved in a life-changing crash in the late 1990s. As he rode his motorcycle from California to New Mexico, Girard was struck by a car. The driver fled the scene, leaving him badly injured.

The next thing he knew, Girard was lying in a hospital bed. He soon learned the impact from the collision had caused him to completely lose his eyesight.

Nearly 20 years after the crash, Girard navigates the world using his other senses.

However, as a student on a college campus, being blind has been a bit of a challenge  and members of the universitys Sigma Pi fraternity could clearly see that.

For the past year-and-a-half, the frat has been working to raise funds to get a service dog for Girard through a project dubbed Operation Bow Wow.

With support from other Greek and student organizations across the campus, Sigma Pi was recently able to obtain a seeing-eye dog for Girard, a 19-month-old German Shepard named Eric.

Now, with Eric by his side, Girards life on campus has changed.

I have greater mobility; I have greater confidence in crossing the street. Because I was hit and run down, I still deal with some post-traumatic stress of wondering where the other side of the curb [is], Girard told NBC 7. I dont worry that Im going to be hit and run down again.

With the help of his canine companion, Girard said he also feels safer. And, with so many friends and fellow students by his side, hes also never felt more loved.



Im still overwhelmed by so many peoples outreach. The support has touched me in ways that I cant even begin to describe, Girard said. The kind support of the people from Greek life  that I find a new life with Greek life  and it can enable me to transform my very challenging life into a very remarkable life.



Operation Bow Wow was spearheaded by Sigma Pi member Jesse Nebres, who has become a good friend to Girard.



Nebres said he and his friends would often see Girard around campus, walking with his cane, and help guide him to class or the cafeteria.



The two got to talking and one day, Nebres asked Girard why he didnt have a service dog. Girard said hes on scholarship at USD, and while he qualifies for a service dog, he didnt have the means to pay for the costs that come with having a service companion, including medical care and food.



Nebres mobilized his frat brothers and Operation Bow Wow was hatched.



We thought itd be a good idea to try to make his life a little bit better. Hes been through a lot. Knowing that we could make a difference for him, to get him a guide dog that could be with him when students are not able to help him out, that was a cause everyone rallied around, Nebres told NBC 7.

It was incredible to see how many organizations knew Mike, and wanted to help get him that guide dog.



The word spread quickly, and through an online fundraising campaign, the fraternity was able to raise $10,000 to cover expenses for Girard to have a guide dog.



A member of a USD sorority reached out to her father, local veterinarian Dr. Sarbjit Singh of Animal Medical Hospital of Poway, who pledged to provide medical care for the service life of Girards dog.



Last month, Girard met Eric and theyve been inseparable ever since.



I was speechless when I finally saw Mike with his guide dog, said Nebres, smiling. Within a year-and-a-half, you can pet the results of this campaign.



Girard said he will forever be grateful to his friends at USD for banding together to help him.



Every time they guided him around the campus, Girard said the students helped him not feel so awkward.



Most of the fraternities helped me before I tried to help myself, Girard said. I have been so honored to be a recipient of so much service from people associated with Greek organizations.



Nebres said the desire to help others is part of frat life  even though its not always highlighted.



Its always been there  that fraternities are trying to make their communities better. [USD] Toreros really do take care of each other. You see it with alums  with everyone on campus.


Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is playing defense on at least one issue these days: his role in a now-defunct real estate seminar business called Trump University.

At a rally in Arkansas on Saturday, Trump took a break from his stump speech to downplay a class-action civil lawsuit pending against the business, which was founded by Trump and offered students instruction on real estate investments.

"It's a small deal, very small," Trump said of the suit, which could force him to take the stand this summer.

Trump specifically railed against the judge in the case, and at one point noted the judge's Hispanic ethnicity.

Trump claimed the case should have been thrown out years ago, "but because it was me and because there's a hostility toward me by the judge - tremendous hostility - beyond belief." He then noted, as an aside: "I believe he happens to be Spanish, which is fine. He's Hispanic  which is fine."

A message left for the judge, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, was not immediately returned. Curiel is a judge in the Southern District of California and based in San Diego.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, whose office has filed a separate civil $40 million complaint against Trump University in state court, accused Trump of "racial demagoguery." Schneiderman sued Trump University in 2013 alleging it committed fraud and fleeced 5,000 people out of millions of dollars.

"I will not engage in a debate about ongoing litigation," Schneiderman said in a statement issued after Trump made his comments. "But there is no place in this process for racial demagoguery directed at respected members of the judiciary."

Schneiderman noted that New York's state Supreme Court ruled that Trump University operated illegally in New York as an unlicensed educational institution.

Trump University emerged as a campaign issue at Thursday's GOP debate, raised by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

"There are people who borrowed $36,000 to go to Trump University, and they're suing now  $36,000 to go to a university that's a fake school," Rubio said. "And you know what they got? They got to take a picture with a cardboard cutout of Donald Trump."

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz jumped in, adding: "It's a fraud case. ... I want you to think about, if this man is the nominee, having the Republican nominee on the stand in court, being cross-examined about whether he committed fraud."

Schneiderman's suit alleges that Trump University falsely promoted itself as an educational institution even after the state education department warned it to stop. The complaint accuses Trump of falsely promising that Trump University students would receive intense training from experts hand-picked by Trump himself.

During breaks in the seminars, Schneiderman's complaint alleges, participants were urged to call their credit card companies and ask to increase their credit limits. Once the credit lines were secured, Trump University staff tried to persuade students to pay for additional services.

Separate from Schneiderman's complaint, Trump University students have sued. According to the California class-action complaint in front of Curiel, a one-year apprenticeship that Trump University students were promised ended after students paid for a three-day seminar. Attendees who were promised a personal photo with Trump received only the chance to take a photo with a cardboard cutout. And many instructors were bankrupt real estate investors.

Trump, at the rally, dismissed the cases as the work of "a sleazebag law firm" and suggested that Schneiderman's intervention was politically motivated.

"I could've settled this suit numerous times. Could settle it now. But I don't like settling suits," Trump said.
Police said three were arrested in Springfield, Massachusetts Friday night after surveillance revealed they were operating a drug dealing operation out of a Cedar Street home.

Investigators said they arrested several customers leaving the home Friday night, and ultimately raided the address. Inside, police said they recovered 606 bags of heroin, one 5-gram bag of pure heroin, 8 bags of marijuana and over $2,000 in cash.

Juan Carlos, 28, Crystal Dones, 28, and Victoria Ann Donnes, 30, were all arrested and face various drug distribution charges.

Donnes was also wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet when she was apprehended, police said.

All three are scheduled to appear in Springfield District Court on Monday.
Police are asking for the publics help to find a pickup truck driver whose unsecured cargo bounced out of the vehicle and killed another motorist on Route 195 West in Somerset, Massachusetts.

Investigators said the crash occurred around 10:15 a.m. between exits 3 and 4 on the highway, when a file cabinet flew off the bed of the truck and smashed into another car.

Philip Imprescia, 55, of Fall River, was killed at the scene.

Anyone who was in the area and saw a blue pick up truck with file cabinets near that area is asked to contact authorities at (508) 993-8373.
Police said one of the four people they caught breaking into a Bedford home Friday morning also had a notepad listing numerous addresses investigators believe are related to other area break-ins.

A witness called authorities after noticing an unfamiliar van parked in the driveway of a Fletcher Road home, along with several men attempting to pry open a window on the property.

At the scene, police arrested Yi Wei Ling, 34, unknown address, Ming Hua Wu, 50, of Quincy and Chengi Ni, 43, and Xue Tan Zheng, 21, both of Boston, on burglarious charges.

All are scheduled to be arraigned at Concord District Court Monday.

This investigation remains active and ongoing, Chief Bongiorno wrote in a statement. We are working with our law enforcement partners to determine whether these suspects are connected to other break-ins.

Anyone with information the suspects is asked to contact Bedford Police Detectives at (781) 275-1212.
Champaign, IL (61820)

Today

A few passing clouds. Low 52F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible..

Tonight

A few passing clouds. Low 52F. Winds S at 15 to 25 mph. Higher wind gusts possible.
Columnist

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).
Seandel makes love to depression

However, one of Edwards three images, Making Love to My Depression, has been short-listed and is in the running to win in the Open Enhanced category.

Edwards, 28, who lives in Aranguez, entered the competition on the urging of a persistent friend, but immediately put the competition out of his mind knowing there were over 230,000 entries from 186 countries.

Therefore, he said it was surreal when he received the news that one of his photos made the top ten. After the initial shock, he became convinced it was a joke, so he went onto the website to check the results and saw his name.

Im excited. Its a huge competition.

I submitted it because there was nothing for me to lose but I honestly did not think it would be short-listed. Its a huge honour, he said.

Making Love to My Depression will be Edwards first image on exhibit as he usually displays his work on social media sites Facebook, Flickr and Instagram.

According to Edwards, one of the reasons he shot the photo was because he believed that, generally, Caribbean people do not pay enough attention to mental health. He said people pay attention to the actions of a person, but not the cause of these actions which could include anxiety or depression.

He said he tried to build a narrative of depression with the image, which shows a man covered in powder and gasping for breath in the darkness. The image reflects a poem he wrote of the same name...

I was trapped in despair Couldnt breathe, couldnt move, couldnt feel anything but the bludgeoning of emotional agony This unrelenting all-consuming pain, embraced me...

And as it held me tightly, comfortably, familiar I struggled to find any other truth So IT became my truth My solace, my solitude And I kept making love to my depression.

Edwards noted that, from what he has seen of persons struggling with the illness, the image reflects how depression is a constant, internal struggle that could consume a person if they give up.

He said the powder represents a part of the struggle.

People see powder as light and airy, but it can easily cover a person completely and its not an easy thing to just shake it off, he explained.

He described his work as a bridge between reality and surrealism, conceptual photography where his photographs illustrate ideas. My thing is that I cant paint, I cant dance, or express myself with that kind of art so this is really my creative outlet, he said.

Edwards said he has always been interested in and had an eye for photography, and has been practising the art as a hobby for 12 years.

However, it was only in the past three to four years, at the urging of his mother, photographer Jenel Edwards, that he has been taking photographs consistently.

He began shooting landscapes in Trinidad and in New Jersey (United States) but soon made a change.

I realised, while landscapes were beautiful and they told a story, they did not tell my story and thats what I wanted to do, so I started doing conceptual photography.

Its a physical manifestation of whatever I envision, he said.

Edwards said for most of his photos he tries to make the process as organic as possible, using props, friends as models, and by paying attention to lighting and camera settings, however some digital work is usually necessary.

For example, he explained that for the photograph titled Possession, a woman performs a dance an abandoned house in Chaguaramas.

As she danced, two persons held the edges of the dress to give the flowing effect.

In post production, he removed the assistants, a window and a door, and raised the dancer off the floor.

Edwards said his inspiration occurs at random from dreams, songs, news items, and personal experiences when an image would pop up into his head.

He noted his more recent work focusses on persons of a darker complexion A lot of darker people are not socially taught how to appreciate their complexion.

This is one of the reasons I use a lot of juxtaposition of dark skin and the colour gold. It indicates that they are precious and valuable, he explained.

Edwards works full-time as an administrative assistant at a total rehabilitation clinic in Woodbrook, but sometimes works events as a freelance photographer.

He is the first photographer from Trinidad and Tobago to be recognised on the short-list of the Sony awards.

In his inscription for Depression, which includes his poem, posted on the World Photography Organisations website, Edwards wrote: This is the first shot I took several months ago that really curbed my aesthetic.

I decided to take a shot that reflected how I felt and Ive been back and forth on whether or not I should actually post it anywhere.

This shot was a turning point for me, a release, cathartic and it gave me confidence to pursue the other ideas and emotions whirling around in my head, to resume putting it on paper and bringing it to life in images...
Sex, drugs, violence

The Enterprise teenager confessed to school officials last week, that at the age of 13, she taught him how to smoke it and now three years later, he too is hooked on the herb. There are several photographs of mother and son together lighting up and smoking their spliff  - these photographs are now in the hands of the police officers as investigations continue into illegal activities of some students attending the Chaguanas North Secondary School.

Police in their investigations also discovered used condoms in classrooms on the compound.

The Central school shot into the headlines after reports of a hit to be carried out at the institution that is situated in the residential area of Lange Park, Chaguanas.

According to reports, two Fridays ago, classes at the school were cancelled after school officials learnt of a plan to infiltrate the school by gangsters, some of them were to be dressed in school uniform. Soldiers and police intervened in time to save what many said would have been a major catastrophe.

Last Monday there was also high level intervention from Education Minister Anthony Garcia, National Security Minister Edmund Dillon and officials of their ministries during a visit to the school. Certain measures have since been put in place, among them, increased police presence outside the school every day.

Colin is among 24 teenaged students, including girls, all from the troubled Enterprise, Chaguanas who have since been identified and deemed trouble-makers at Chaguanas North Secondary School. They are said to have their roots in gangs from their hometown Muslims and Rasta City who now head their own gangs at school. A total of ten students have since been sent on suspension, Sunday Newsday was told while another student has appeared in court charged with assault by threatening to inflict bodily harm on a female teacher. Officials told Sunday Newsday that there is a total breakdown of discipline at the school with those in authority fearing for their own lives. They are afraid of the students, many of whom are said to be violent and often threaten to kill teachers.

The school can get back on track, but the teachers must stand firm and maintain law and order in the classrooms, said a source close to the investigations now being conducted at the school.

This school is plagued with drugs, sex and violence - some of the male students are before the courts for various misdemeanours ranging from drug possession, robbery, theft - there are also many complaints from the girls about sexual harassment from their male peers. Following the February 19 scare at the school, Sunday Newsday was informed that several students were taken into a room and questioned, as those in authority tried to get to the root of the problem.

The source told Sunday Newsday: I can tell you first of all what we discovered was that the delinquent students cannot read and they are preparing for CXC, those giving trouble are Form Four and Five students. They are the ones who tax (demand money) the younger students mainly from lower Forms One and Two - if they dont pay they will be beat them. The youngsters, he went on to say, are taxed from as little as one dollar to as high as three dollars to use the toilet and even to reach the cafeteria.

A warrant was issued last Wednesday for a 15-year-old student of Enterprise who hit another student in the head with a metal chair and wounded him.

The matter was brought to the attention of the Education Minister, Garcia, during his visit to the school last Monday.

Sunday Newsday was also told of the prevalence of marijuana which is openly being sold at the school. Reports are that three students, who are said to be related to a well-known businessman in Central Trinidad, are running their drug blocks in the school. The source continued: They are selling marijuana for the drug man, they have a neat operation running at the school. Each student has their job to do, who is the lookout man, who collecting the money, who doing the pick-up and things like that. Sunday Newsday was told that marijuana is often thrown over the school fence for the students.

The large number of used condoms found inside abandoned classrooms tells the story of high sexual activity at the school.

There is high activity of sexual intercourse in the school, the source added, imagine one girl speaking of having sex with about 15 male students, something is wrong. The breakdown of moral and spiritual values of the students is not all to be blamed on the teachers.

Your first teacher is your parent, he said. Sunday Newsday was further told that while interviewing the students, officials learnt they had similar problems. They came from broken homes, they all lived in Enterprise and on morning many of them left home without having breakfast because there was none. Some of them dont even know their fathers as they are not in the picture at all. There were one or two students among the 24, the source said, who just wanted to be part of the crowd. One mother broke down crying since it was not the way she had raised her son and he had given in to peer pressure. But during the interaction with officials, the students had issues of their own which they said caused them to react in a certain way at school at times.

Some students, he said, complained of rampant racism by teachers forcing them to respond to how they were being treated.

There were also complaints about them not being given a fair hearing.

They believe they dont have a voice when the matter reaches the principals office and no one wants to hear their side of the story, related the source.

Teacher absenteeism and being fed-up of teachers who just walk into the classroom, put the work on the board and walk away, not teaching at all, were also added to the students long list of complaints.

Saying that the breakdown of discipline was evident, the source said many students have received suspensions for using scratch bombs, for taxing, for abusive and insulting language to teachers, wearing incorrect uniforms including footwear, their choice of hairstyles, and a host of other infractions.

Officers of the Chaguanas Police Station have been blamed for allowing the situation at the school to get out of hand, but not so said one senior officer speaking to Sunday Newsday.
Salvatori vendors: Marlene abandon us

They are one day closer to being put out of the site, that is bordered by Frederick and Henry Streets and Independence Square, unless they leave voluntarily and narrowly missed being removed yesterday by city corporation workers.

Vendor Steve Fletcher, also known as Black Hat, told Sunday Newsday McDonald was once their warlord in the past when previous city administrators said they had to move as the site, under the management of the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (Udecott), was to be developed into a modern multi-storey tower for the Energy Ministry. As an Opposition MP, they said, McDonald lobbied for them to get extensions at the site.

He noted that now that she was Housing Minister she has turned down all their visits and phone calls.

She not seeing nobody (sic), he said.

Asked how they will respond to the relocation, Fletcher said they are civilized people and expressed hope to hear from Rowley.

He said they were getting a better hearing from the previous Peoples Partnership administration compared to the current Government.

Fletcher said vendors know they had until tomorrow to leave and were surprised yesterday when they saw a vehicle pull up and men in overalls alight from it. He recalled the men told them they came to bar off  the site but he told them that they had wrong information.

Fletcher telephoned Mayor Kevon Valentine who attended immediately arriving subsequently with City Police. He complimented Valentine and the police noting they were not harsh in words or behaved ignorant but conducted themselves well.

Valentine, in a telephone interview, said he received the call about 9.30 am that corporation workers would have been present at the site to start boarding off the compound perimeter.

I made my way there and intervened, he noted. Valentine said there was some mix up in communication and work was actually to start this afternoon but stressed the site has to be returned to Udecott by tomorrow.

According to Udecotts website the projected high-rise tower will house the Ministry of Energy and Energy affairs and other state energy sector companies. The construction of the building will change the face of downtown Port of Spain and while providing office space for the nations public servants, Udecott noted.

Valentine said when he met with the vendors yesterday they were emotional and that was understandable.

He reported he told them it was a situation he inherited and the corporation would try to find a suitable location for the vendors.

He noted they did not discuss the Central Market, off the Beetham Highway, where the vendors are expected to be relocated and have expressed concern about unsanitary conditions and crime.

However, Fletcher said the ex-mayor, Raymond Tim Kee, told vendors of plans to locate them next to New City Mall on Independence Square but nothing happened.

He noted discussions about using part of the Brian Lara Promenade also have been scrapped.

Is either take the market or go, he lamented.

Fletcher claimed the market was the highest populated area for crime and there were four factions of youths warring. He noted the vendors, most of whom sell fruits, will also face competition from other vendors at Central Market.

Fletcher maintained vendors are willing to leave but questioned why they must go to the Central Market which the new mayor himself has described as unsanitary.

We is a cockroach? he asked.

Marlene Logie, another vendor, said officials cannot make promises to people and then break it.

We are human beings. They promise they would find somewhere for us to go, she added.

She questioned when they break down the stalls where the vendors would go with their goods. She noted that at her age no one would employ her.

Vendor Simone Sayers said provisions were being made for Charlotte Street vendors but not for Salvatori sellers. She also complained about problems getting a hearing from McDonald, reporting that on five occasions they sought to make appointments with her and left messages but have received no replies.

Sayers stressed they were not asking for houses but just for their livelihood.

Why vendors oppressed over and over? she asked.

Attempts to contact McDonald yesterday by telephone were unsuccessful.
Reema: Volunteer to help girls

Speaking on the occasion of The Girl Guides Associations World Thinking Day at St Augustine Secondary School, corner Warren and Gordon Streets, St Augustine, Carmona called on persons, especially former Girl Guides to volunteer with the association and be part of its outreach programmes.

I am reaching out to citizens from all sectors of our society, can you for one hour a week encourage a young girl to realise her potential and her ambition, can you join us for just one hour a week and empower a young girl to build confidence and self-esteem to keep her focussed and on track? she asked.

Carmona, the patron of the association, stated there had been recent cries for new national service organisations. However she suggested that instead, the country build on already established organisations that have traditionally gotten the job done. We are looking to create an environment of discipline and order for our young people to live in, one that is sustainable and the Girl Guides Movement is a solution staring us in our faces. The Girl Guide Movement in Trinidad and Tobago has always nurtured women of great stature in our society, she said.

She noted the $80,000 subvention received by the association was not enough to run it effectively.

With the addition of the current recession, she asked those leading the organisation to keep the faith even though they may have to engage in time-worn fundraising activities such as raffles, cake sales and bingo.

Also speaking on the 2016 World Thinking Days theme of Connect, Carmona noted that communication was not synonymous with connection, and with the more technological tools available to people, the more disconnected and unfeeling some become.

Connecting is about positive relationships, caring, interdependence, and eternal bonding. We all must connect to the better part of ourselves if we wish to truly make a difference in our society and our very lives, she said.

In Trinidad and Tobago we are simply not connecting as a people to what really matters - that materialism and material things are not the be all and end all of our existence, that kindness is a non-depreciative currency that you can use any and everywhere for the rest of your life, and that compassion we must invoke to all, especially to the weak, the helpless and the differently-abled, and most of all we must behave and treat each other with respect, regardless of our disagreements, differences and fears and often unfounded fears, she continued.

Also attending the event was Member of Parliament for Tunapuna, Esmond Forde, and former Deputy Principal of the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies, Professor Rhoda Reddock.

In addition to the opening speeches, the thousands of Girl Guides from across the country were treated to calypso performances by fellow Girl Guides as well as Brownies from Tobago.

Activities were also available to them, as well as products and information from the International Organization for Migration, The First People, and the Tobago and Victoria Central divisions of the Girl Guides.
MPs hand out mosquito nets

Accompanied by Education Minister Anthony Garcia and other officials, Cuffie visited several homes in the vicinity of the Las Lomas Government Primary School, which have taken a proactive role in seeking to minimise the threat of the virus in the community.

One long-time resident, Marcellina Ramlogan, said the village was overrun with mosquitoes.

We really need these nets.

The mosquito spray not even doing anything, like they get accustomed, she told Cuffie.

Some 80 nets were distributed to residents.

She said even though workers from the Insect Vector Division had sprayed the area, last month, the problem persisted.

When they spray in the morning, by the evening, the problem return. Earlier, in an address before the walk, Cuffie praised the work of the Pavement Promoters, a group established to prevent the spread of Zika in the community.

He also lauded the contribution of the school in creating greater awareness with the school population.

Cuffie, who is also the Minister of Communications, noted that his constituency, with the involvement of the Ministry of Health and the regional corporations, has taken an aggressive stance on the issue and encouraged residents to protect their homes from Zika.

The screening of houses is important. You have to do everything possible to get Zika out, he said, adding that the focus was to stop the breeding of the mosquitoes.

Cuffie said reports on residents who have failed to keep their homes free of stagnant water and debris can be made through the Environmental Management Authority or the regional corporation.

Garcia said the fight against Zika was a significant one.

All of us must be engaged and all of our resources must be in place so our people will not find themselves at the wrong end of the ladder, he said, urging residents to keep their surroundings clean.
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(Newser)  A police officer was fatally shot Saturday, a day after being sworn in, and two of her colleagues were wounded while responding to a reported argument at a northern Virginia home. A man identified as an Army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon has been charged, reports the AP. Officers received a call around 5:30pm Saturday in Woodbridge about a "verbal argument" at the home of Ronald Hamilton, said Sgt. Jonathan Perok of the Prince William County Police Department. The department announced on its Facebook page that Officer Ashley Guindon had died from the injuries she sustained in the shooting; a civilian woman was reportedly killed at the residence before police responded. Hamilton lived there with his wife and 10-year-old son. He's expected to be in court on Monday.

A picture of Guindon was posted to the department's Twitter page Friday with a tweet that read, "Welcome Officers Steven Kendall & Ashley Guindon who were sworn in today & begin their shifts this weekend. Be Safe!" Guindon had been a county police officer a few years ago and had returned to the force, Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, told the AP. Stewart also said there was a child in the house who was not harmed. Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Paul Ebert has authorized a capital murder charge, along with other counts, against the unidentified suspect. At Inova Fairfax Hospital, where the three officers were flown, more than 100 patrol cars lined the roads early Sunday to stand vigil and escort Guindon's body to the medical examiner. (Read more police shooting stories.)
(Newser)  A total of 36 people were killed at a coal mine in Russia's far north where a methane gas leak triggered three explosions that resulted in a raging fire and the collapse of the mine, officials said Sunday. The dead include five rescue workers and a miner who were killed early Sunday when the third explosion rocked the mine in Vorkuta, a town north of the Arctic Circle in the Komi region, emergency services said. The first two explosions struck late Thursday, killing four miners and trapping 26 others. Denis Paikin, technical director of mine operator Vorkutaugol, said Sunday that given the level of gas in the mine, the degree of destruction and the trajectory of the fire, which continued to rage, all of the missing miners were presumed dead.

At the time of the blast, 110 miners were underground and 80 were rescued. Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who visited the mine on Sunday, said federal investigators had drawn preliminary conclusions about the cause of the accident but were not yet ready to release their findings, Russian news agencies reported. (Read more mine accident stories.)
(Newser)  A male who authorities say was wielding a broomstick was shot and critically injured by Salt Lake City officers Saturday night, touching off several hours of unrest downtown as officers donned riot gear and blocked streets and bystanders threw rocks and bottles, the AP reports. The male shot by two Salt Lake City Police officers was in critical condition at a local hospital Sunday morning after being struck twice in the torso, according to Det. Ken Hansen with the Unified Police Department, which is investigating the shooting. Hansen did not have details about the male's identity or age, but said the shooting occurred when two Salt Lake City officers were called around 8pm to break up a fight near a downtown homeless shelter that sits next to a shopping mall and movie theater.

When the officers arrived, they found the male in the street, hitting another person with the broomstick, Hansen says. Officers tried to break up the fight, but the male with the broomstick tried to attack an officer and one or both of the police officers then shot the male, hitting him in the upper and lower torso, per Hansen. Selam Mohammad, 19, tells the Deseret News that he was with a 16-year-old friend from Kenya when fighting started and the friend grabbed a broomstick to break it up. Police "ran up with their guns pulled out" and told the friend to drop the stick, Mohammad says. "He barely even turned around, then boom, boom, boomand he just dropped," he adds. "My friend didnt do anything." Nearly 100 officers, some with riot shields, responded when rioting ensued, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. (Read more Salt Lake City stories.)
Nepal saw its second aviation tragedy in a week on Friday after a single-engine plane went down, killing 11 aboard.

According to The New York Times, the Air Kasthamandap plane was headed for Jumla district in the north-western Nepal. The plane crashed after it tried to make an emergency landing due to technical reasons. Eyewitnesses reportedly said that the plane steeply descended and crashed in a remote mountainous area of Kalikot district.

A blog post about the incident pointed out that passengers were injured after the crash but could have died later.

"He was in constant pain after the accident," one rescuer said about co-pilot Santosh Rana, according to the Nepali Times post. "We did all we could but couldn't save him. Maybe he could have been saved if we had reached the site of accident on time."

The pilot Dinesh Neupane reportedly told the passengers before crash that the pilots would ensure the safety of passengers even if it cost them their lives.

CNN reported that rescue workers retrieved bodies of the dead, nine passengers and two pilots. Friday's crash occurred about 100 miles away from another crash that occurred on Wednesday, killing 23. The crash was attributed to poor weather.

Wednesday's crash came about 20 minutes into the flight. Among those killed were a Kuwaiti and Chinese, USA Today reports. Officials did not blame the weather for Friday's crash.
After votes were cast Friday, Iran started the process of counting of tens of millions of ballots on Saturday. Almost 55 million citizens of the country's 80-million population were eligible to vote in back-to-back elections for the national parliament and the Assembly of Experts responsible for electing the next Supreme Leader of the theocratic state.

The highly contested elections pit reformists who prefer gradual opening to world and normal relations with the West against the hardliners who have been dominating Iran's political landscape with their anti-Western ideological narrative as stated in a Reuters report.

The elections are the first since Tehran's landmark nuclear agreement with the West which gradually lifted sanctions in exchange for Iran quitting its nuclear weapons program. The sanctions have long stifled the economy for more than a decade. Voter turnout was quite high which forced polling stations to extend voting time for nearly 6 hours. Also, 60% of the country's voters are under 30 years old.

"Whoever likes Iran and its dignity, greatness and glory should vote," remarked Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a hardliner who neutralizes any deemed excesses of the reformists in the government as quoted by BBC News.

Already, many pro-reform figures have been sidelined but some people hope that reforms will find its way through the parliament in a country struggling with high bad bank debt, increasing jobless rate, and the need for subsidy reforms.

"[The election] will either reinforce or atrophy the momentum that Rouhani has from the nuclear deal. That momentum could affect the tectonic plates of the Iranian political system over the medium term," observed Eurasia Group Chairman Cliff Kupchan as mentioned in a Washington Post report.
China's Xiaomi is rumored to launch its 2016 flagship Mi5 and could arrive on US soil with LTE bands offering support for major American telecom carriers like Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon. The report has been circulating in the Chinese smartphone maker's online forum although no confirmation from the company has been released yet.

According to a report by Techno Buffalo, Xiaomi's purported entry in the US market through the leading networks would make it a tough competitor in smartphone sector with its impressive specs such Snapdragon 820 processor, a fingerprint reader and a 3000mAh battery at an incredibly consumer-friendly price for as little as $306 with a high-end version for about $400.

Xiaomi's flagship Mi5 has been officially unveiled at the Mobile World Congress 2016 in Barcelona, Spain. It appears that Xiaomi has gotten out from the Chinese-made cheap and shoddy stereotype as tech buffs and analysts laid down their verdict.

"Overall I was fairly impressed with Xiaomi's new flagship device. The screen and design are definitely the highlights of the device. The Snapdragon 820 seems reasonable and represents a large improvement of Qualcomm's previous generation of SoCs. While there's still a lot more to test for the upcoming full review...I didn't find any outstanding faults with the Mi 5 so it looks like Xiaomi was able to pull off a quite outstanding device," observed Andrei Frumusanu of Anand Tech as quoted by Tech Times.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi is reportedly focusing on capturing a sizeable market share in India before setting its eyes for far-reaching global ambitions.

"With the new products coming up for Xiaomi, a lot of hard-work has gone in, both from the China teams and India teams. We bought the Mi Band to India last year, and yes it was immensely popular. Some even said that it was the number one fitness tracker in India," said Xiaomi India Chief Manu Jain in an exclusive interview with Indian Express.
Facebook Exec Mark Zuckerberg lashed out employees for defacing the "Black Lives Matter" slogan written on its freedom wall and replacing it with "All Lives Matter".

According to a leaked circular, Zuckerberg as well as Facebook's top leaders have been telling staff to veer away from a behavior that could trigger a socio-political backlash especially at a time when many black Americans have been unjustly treated by the police.

"I was already very disappointed by this disrespectful behavior before, but after my clear communication I now consider this malicious as well...This has been a deeply hurtful and tiresome experience for the black community and really the entire Facebook community, and we are now investigating the current incidents," Zuckerberg said in the memo sent to employees as quoted by Mercury News.

The social network's exec is launching a company-wide town hall to educate employees on the meaning and the reason behind the "Black Lives Matter" slogan.

"Black lives matter' doesn't mean other lives don't. It's simply asking that the black community also achieves the justice they deserve. We've never had rules around what people can write on our walls - we expect everybody to treat each other with respect. Regardless of the content or location, crossing out something means silencing speech," added Zuckerberg as reported by NPR.

Meanwhile, New York counter-terrorism force has deployed a security detail at Facebook's office following the release of a video showing the extremist group ISIS threatening Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter's Jack Dorsey as quoted by Buzzfeed News.
The first uterus transplant in the US has opened the gates to several ethical questions, including that of male pregnancy.

Business Insider quoted a healthcare professional saying male pregnancy was technically possible but would require complex restructuring of the pelvis. Drastic hormonal changes would also be needed to support pregnancy. The interest in the subject was fuelled by the first uterus transplant in the US from a deceased donor in a 26-year-old.

Sweden pioneered success of womb transplants and has reported pregnancies in women with donor uteruses. Live donors in Sweden also donate wombs to women opting for transplants. The US is restricting surgeries to cadaver donations. Additionally, uterus transplants will be made available only to women with uterine factor infertility, which includes removal through hysterectomy or irreversible damage to the womb preventing carrying a fetus, reports Health Day.

Transplanted uteruses are not permanent as the recipient given the need to take immune-suppression drugs to fight the body's rejection mechanism; after a pregnancy or two, a woman can have the transplanted uterus removed. Pregnancy for women with transplanted wombs is possible only through IVF as transplanted uterus is not connected to ovaries, according to Business Insider. Delivery is possible only through c-section as transplanted uteruses cannot take the stress of natural labor.

ABC News quoted women with a rare congenital condition called Mayer-Rokitansky-Kuster-Hauser who hailed the transplant. The condition causes girls to be born with underdeveloped or in some cases without reproductive organs.
Early results in Iran's parliamentary elections has indicated a general voters' sentiment favoring reformists and moderate conservatives over political hardliners who are known for their anti-Western rhetoric. If the gains will continue until all votes are counted, incumbent President Hassan Rouhani may stand a better chance of pushing his agenda with less obstacles in the parliament.

According to a report by CNBC, the reformists form an alliance with moderate conservatives and capitalize on earlier gains achieved by Rouhani after reaching a historic nuke agreement which partially lifted international economic sanctions in return for halting its nuclear program which Iran repeatedly insists as purely civilian without military applications.

Among the clerical contenders for Iran's 16-man-strong Assembly of Experts, partial results showed 14 leading candidates belonged to reformist-moderate list led by Rouhani and Rafsanjani with some consensus candidates supported by the hardliners. Only two known hardliners managed to slip through the top 16 as mentioned by ABC News.

In a Reuters tally, known reformists, moderates, and allied independents were leading in the vote count leading people to believe with stronger electoral mandate, Rouhani's reforms will be further legitimized.

"It seems the number of candidates who belong to the reformist and independent groups will be the majority in parliament and I am hopeful that the new parliament will be perfect for us," he told Reuters. In the Assembly of Experts our initial expectation was 15 to 20 percent but it seems it will be beyond that," said former adviser to former President Mohammad Khatami Saeed Leylaz as quoted by the Reuters.
If Britons decide to exit from the EU, UK would inevitably experience immense economic uncertainty including a global economic shock that may be consequentially disastrous for businesses according to British MEP David Lidington and several other prominent Tory statesmen.

In his six years of experience negotiating with EU on a number of issues, Lidington predicts a 10-year economic 'limbo' for the UK.

"Trade deals between the EU and other countries and bilateral trade deals of any type normally take six, seven, eight years and counting. Everything we take for granted about access to the single market ...would all be up in the air. It is massive. It is massive what is at risk. You would be in complete limbo and I think what that would do for the pound and for business confidence would be very serious indeed. It could last a decade," Lidington said as quoted by The Guardian.

Also, an overwhelming 90% of British economists questioned by the Center for Macroeconomics at the London School of Economics believe that Brexit would seriously devalue the sterling pound and affect UK's position in the global economy in an era when economies are increasingly integrated according to a recently published survey as mentioned in a report by Independent.

Meanwhile, as the G20 meeting in Shanghai ended, British Chancellor Exchequer George Osborne warned that the June 'Brexit' referendum is 'deadly serious' for the future of the UK which is strongly rejected by Euroskeptics.

"The British people will not take kindly to being told by the G20 what they should do. And the notion that the UK leaving the EU would cause an economic shock is absurd. Fifteen of the members of the G20 are outside the EU, and that hasn't caused an economic shock. Indeed, most of them are doing better than most of the members of the European Union," remarked former Chancellor Lord Lawson as quoted saying in a BBC News report.
Fairbanks, AK (99707)

Today

Cloudy with snow. Temps nearly steady in the low to mid 30s. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of snow 90%. Snowfall around one inch..

Tonight

Scattered snow showers during the evening. Then partly to mostly cloudy overnight. Low 26F. Winds light and variable. Chance of snow 40%.
Columbia:

Hillary Clinton cruised to a commanding victory over Bernie Sanders in South Carolina primary, drawing overwhelming support from the states black Democrats and putting her in a strong position as the race barrels toward crucial multi-state contests on Tuesday.

Clintons win provided an important boost for her campaign and a moment to wipe away bitter memories of her loss to Barack Obama in the South Carolina primary eight years ago.

To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you, Clinton wrote on Twitter. At a campaign victory party in Columbia, supporters broke into raucous cheers as the race was called in Clintons favour.

Sanders, expecting defeat yesterday, left the state even before voting was finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesdays delegate-rich contests. In a statement, Sanders vowed to fight on aggressively.

This campaign is just beginning, he said. Our grass-roots political revolution is growing state by state, and we wont stop now.

Black voters powered Clinton to victory, with 8 in 10 voting for her. The former secretary of state also won most women and voters aged 30 and older, according to early exit polls.

Clintons victory came at the end of a day that saw Republican candidates firing insults at each other at rallies in states voting on March 1, or Super Tuesday. Donald Trump, working to build an insurmountable lead, was campaigning in Arkansas with former rival Chris Christie and calling Florida Sen. Marco Rubio a light little nothing; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was asking parents in Atlanta if they would be pleased if their children spouted profanities like the brash billionaire, and Rubio was mocking Trump as a con artist with the worst spray tan in America.

Clinton made a stop in Alabama, a Super Tuesday state, yesterday before returning to Columbia, South Carolinas capital, for an evening victory party.

Sanders, expecting defeat yesterday, left South Carolina even before voting finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesdays delegate-rich contests. He drew 10,000 people to a rally in Austin, a liberal bastion in conservative Texas, the biggest March 1 prize.

While Sanders spent the end of the week outside of South Carolina, his campaign did invest heavily in the state. He had 200 paid staff on the ground and an aggressive television advertising campaign.

For all the Latest World News, Download News Nation Android and iOS Mobile Apps.
Nagpur:

In future, India and the US could jointly explore Mars and who knows an Indian astronaut could also head to the Red planet on a joint mission.



Indias maiden mission to the Red Planet, Mangalyaan, has opened the eyes of the world on ISROs capabilities at undertaking low cost, high value inter-planetary mission.



Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or JPL, a part of NASA and an institution better known for piloting most of the American planetary exploration efforts with rovers like Curiosity, says India and the US could jointly explore Mars and even invited India to send astronauts to the Red Planet.



Excerpts of an interview:



Q) The US is interested in going back to Mars, so is India. Will India and America look at a joint robotic mission to explore Mars?



A) We hope so that it will be the case in the future. At



NASA, we are just beginning to plan for next mission to Mars for the next decade, which is 2020-2030. In fact shortly, there is a meeting in Washington on possible collaborations for the next 5-6 mission to Mars and ISRO is invited for that meeting. This is in preparation for the ultimate human space flight to Mars. We clearly hope that India would be interested. Hopefully, India will be part of the consortium between US, Europe, France, Italy among others where all can capitalise on our capabilities to explore the solar system.



Q) A cooperative exploratory mission is what you are looking at?



A) Yes, that is right. With its accomplishment on the



Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) India is a great partner, India can be a full partner in the international endeavour for exploring Mars.



Q) In the long run, President Barack Obama has said America should send humans to Mars, so are you looking at a collaboration with India on that mission, since India also has a human space flight program?



A) NASA is starting to plan for the human expedition to



Mars, and NASA is looking at it as an international endeavour. NASA has invited international agencies to start thinking together on how to send humans to Mars and beyond. So clearly that is an area where there will be collaboration between India and the US considering the capability that India has, by showing that it can meaningfully contribute to international endeavours.



Q) What was NASAs role in Indias mission to Mars?



A) When India launched its mission to Mars, and I congratulate India on a superb mission by reaching the orbit or Mars in the very first attempt. JPL supported ISRO in the navigation and communication because of the antennas we have. Reaching the Mars orbit in first attempt was an amazing achievement and that too at such low cost. Now American scientists through its MAVEN mission and India through its Mars Orbiter Mission are sharing data.



Q) NASA is looking to mine an asteroid, is India likely to participate on that mission?



A) We are looking at a mission using electric propulsion, which is a major advancement in technology, to capture an asteroid and bring it back to lunar orbit so that astronauts can go and do more deeper exploration. NASA has opened the door for potential interest, be it from India or Europe. We are in a very early stage of planning so that is clearly an opportunity for more collaboration with India.



Q) Where are Indo-US relations in space heading?



A) I think they are heading for a very positive future, from five years ago the interest has now tremendously expanded. There is now good will both politically and scientifically, I am very optimistic about the future in space collaboration. Space is for everybody, the good will between two countries makes space a natural place to work together. The two can cooperate even in astronomy, India has a long history in astronomy. I visited the ancient observatory made by Indians (at Jantar Mantar) that is a few hundred years old that furthered knowledge and now we can do it together. India has a great tradition of learning.



Q) What else is in store for NASA and ISRO in the future?



A) We have a mission called NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission. This is a major mission that will be launched in 2020. Here we are really collaborating as equals, between India and the US. This mission will allow us to look at natural resources across the world, natural hazards like tectonic motion, climate impact and climate change. This is of direct day-to-day benefit for life both in USA and India. This came up as a collaboration among scientists but is now a full-fledged approved joint mission between both countries.



Q) How can you decipher things from space after a disaster strikes?



A) This is a RADAR mission, that has the capability to take a picture of the land, and then you come back a few days later and take another picture. In the meantime, if there was a change even down to a scale of a few centimeters we can detect it from space.



This gives you a picture of the motion that has occurred as result of an earthquake or mudslide. This will allow us to better understand the physics behind an earthquake. Potentially it will allow us to predict areas with large natural hazard.



This is of direct benefit be it for India or California where we see tectonic activity as well. The two main RADAR instruments are being developed by NASA and ISRO, the satellite bus will be Indian and it will be fabricated in India and then it will be launched using the Indian rocket the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle. This time we are truly collaborating as equals.

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New Delhi:

Water is as important as food is. From doctors to elderlies, they all advise to drink plenty of water as it helps to keep your body hydrated.

Not only water keeps the body alive but it is also necessary for doing our daily chores. But when we dont drink enough water, our body begins Here are some of the signs that may indicate you are just not having enough water.

Headaches

If you get headaches for no reason, dehydration could be one. One should drink at least 8-10 glasses of water a day to stay hydrated.

Skin turns dry

If your skin tends to get dry, dehydration could be one of the reasons. If you want soft and smooth skin, make it a point to drink plenty of water.

Feeling dizzy

If you feel dizzy all of a sudden, though it can be caused by different factors from medication to sleep deprivation but not having enough water is also a major one.

Your breath stinks

During dehydration, your breath starts stinking, it doesnt produce enough saliva. As it protects teeth from decaying and harmful bacteria. Drink plenty of water to avoid teeth problems.

Your muscles and joints hurt

Water lubricated the entire body, if you are not drinking enough water, it may cause pain in muscles sometimes.
New Delhi:

National Science Day is celebrated on February 28, every year. This day is celebrated to mark the everlasting contributions of Indian physicist Sir CV Raman.

It was on this day Sir CV Raman discovered the phenomenon of scattering of light in 1928 and also won a Nobel Prize in 1930 for it.

The relevance of this day lies in the fact that within a decade of his discovery, almost 2,000 research papers on this topic were written and published in reputed international journals.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also extended his greetings to the nation today. CV Ram was not only a great scientist but also a brilliant student besides this he was also exposed to music, Sanskrit, literature, swimming and sports.

He also once said, I feel very strongly about textbooks. I think the only crime worse than reading one is to write one.

He had worked from 1907 to 1933 at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata, West Bengal in India during which he had researched on many topics of the Physics from which the Raman Effect became his great success and discovery which has been marked in the Indian history.

It was National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) that urged the government of India to designate February 28 as National Science Day in India.

From 2013, The Raman Effect has also been designated as an International Historic Chemical Landmark by The American Chemical Society.

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New Delhi:

With posters of Rohith ka JNU plastered across the walls of the varsity, the students and teachers are eagerly waiting for the students union president Kanhaiya Kumar to be back on campus from Tihar jail where he is in custody in connection with a sedition case.



The varsity students including Kanhaiya himself were agitating demanding justice for Rohith Vemula, a Dalit research scholar, who committed suicide at Hyderabad Central University, when a row erupted over holding of an event against hanging of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru where anti-India slogans were allegedly raised.



The government recognised us as voices of dissent as we came in support of the students agitating at FTII and then we made death of Rohith Vemula a national issue. Kanhaiya himself was supposed to take part in a rally held last week for Rohith but those in power targeted him for the same reason, said JNU Students Unions vice president Shehla Rashid Shora.



His bail plea has been deferred again and again and custody extended. We are hoping for Comrade Kanhaiya to be back on campus and join our movement against branding of the university as a den of anti-nationals, she added.



Delhi High Court will hear Kanhaiyas bail plea tomorrow.



The administration block, where every evening the students gather to register their protest over the action against students and attend lectures on nationalism, still has posters of Rohith Ka JNU and hoardings of Justice for Rohith. It is the same venue where the students, who love being called comrades, had started an indefinite hunger strike demanding justice for Vemula.



According to Sucheta De, former President JNUSU, the row is not just about Kanhaiya but also other students who have got caught in this seditious politics.

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Murthal:

The startup community, which has started facing funds crunch of late, is looking to the Budget for an easy tax regime, relaxation in investment norms and further incentives for innovation.



The country is home to over 18,000 startups, making it the third largest in the world after the US and England.



iSpirt has represented to the finance ministry that a small basket of tax sops merely will not be effective for the existing system which is riddled with several bottlenecks, co-founder of iSpirt Foundation Sharad Sharma told PTI.



It has submitted a 36-agenda point to the finance ministry representing various hurdles that startup face today.



Investors in startups are also expecting rationalisation in capital gains tax and want this should be aligned with the current tax regime for investments in listed companies, he said.



Currently, startup investors pay a much higher tax on capital gains while taking a higher risk compared to publicly traded firms. We expect that capital gains tax for alternative investment funds and angel investors will be aligned to the current tax regime for investments made in listed shares, Indian Angel Network President Padmaja Ruparel said.



The apex body for the IT industry Nasscom has also voiced similar concerns.



Investments in early stage startups are high risks and there is a need to rationalise tax rates for investors, Nasscom 10,000 Startups Vice-President Rajat Tandon said.



Startups should be exempted from direct (announced in Startup Action plan, but has limited impact) and indirect taxes including MAT, which would reduce compliance burden and reduce cash outflows, he added.



While the Startup India Action Plan announced several favourable measures, Indian Angel Network co-founder Saurabh Srivastava said the investors are hoping that the Budget would introduce the necessary measures to take it forward.



These include more clarity on the income tax exemption for startups, defining and identifying startups, setting up a credit guarantee fund, compliance waivers, and creation of a Rs 10,000-crore fund for startups, he said.



To incentivise innovation, iSpirt has given two important recommendations. First, creating a favourable tax regime for IPR to enable startups to establish their base.



Second, it wants investments towards IPR creation to be treated at par with capex in manufacturing from a taxation perspective.
Bengaluru:

Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala will address members of both houses of the state legislature on February 29.



The legislature session will last till March 5, Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimappa told reporters here.



Expressing pain over missing out on an opportunity to hold the session for a total of 60 days for the last three years, he expressed the hope that the target would be met this year.



We had conducted 35, 55 and 58 days of sessions in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively.I am pained that we could not meet our expectations. However, I am hopeful this year we will meet the target, he said.



Though the government has brought in a legislation in 2005 of holding legislature session for a minimum of 60 days a year, it has not been possible for it to achieve the target for a long time.



The last time that the state witnessed a 60-day session was in 1982.



Thimappa also flayed members for abstaining from attending the session and urged them to utilise the opportunity to good use.



When I was the MLA I utilised the opportunity to attend the session to raise peoples problems on the floor of the house. If the elected members are not attending, then it amounts to betraying the people, he said.



Asked whether he would allow a motion over diamond studded Hublot watch controversy involving Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Thimappa said, I have to wait and see how things pan out.



Siddaramaiah faced opposition attack over his luxury watch but as a controversy erupted, he declared that the diamond studded watch, claimed to be worth Rs 70 lakh, would be declared as state asset and handed over to the government.



The controversy was stoked by JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy after which the Chief Minister revealed that the expensive watch was gifted to him by his close friend (NRI) Gopal Pillai Girish Chandra Verma who visited India last July.



Attacking the Siddaramaiah government, Thimappa alleged there was no transparency in the administration and the files were moving at a snails pace.



It really pains me that the files regarding a water project in my constituency has been moving at a snails pace. I hope the government expedites the process, he added.
Islamabad:

Pakistan and the US will tomorrow hold a ministerial-level strategic dialogue on key areas including economy, security and counterterrorism, amid strong opposition by India as well as US lawmakers on the proposed F-16 deal to Islamabad.

Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will lead the Pakistani delegation while Secretary of State John Kerry will lead the US side for the 6th round of the strategic dialogue to be held in Washington, Radio Pakistan reported today.

The six segments of the strategic dialogue include cooperation in economy and finance; energy; education, science and technology; law enforcement and counterterrorism; security, strategic stability and non-proliferation and defence.

It will be the third annual meeting since the present government has come to power. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs visit to the United States in October last year had given the necessary impetus to the dialogue mechanism, the report said.

The dialogue process began in 2010 but interrupted in 2011 when the US forces killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in a midnight raid. The process resumed in 2014 when Aziz and Kerry met in Washington in January.

The key meeting will take place soon after the US announced to sell eight F-16 fighter jets worth USD 700 million to Pakistan, despite objection from India and mounting opposition from influential American lawmakers.

Kerry has strongly defended the Obama Administrations decision, arguing that these fighter jets are a critical part of Pakistans fight against terrorists.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who is in Washington as part of the Pakistani delegation, has said the dialogue will provide an opportunity to operationalise key future making initiates between the two countries. He was speaking at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.

The Foreign Office had earlier said that the upcoming meeting will afford an important opportunity to take stock of the entire gamut of Pakistans bilateral relations with the US.

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New Delhi:

Mobile chat service provider WhatsApp has decided to end its services for the BlackBerry, Symbian and Windows Phone devices.

( Whatsapp, Android, Apple, BB10, BlackBerry, iOS, Symbian 40, Symbian 60, Windows Phone 7.1)

The decision has come in the wake of minimal market share of these operating systems. 99 per cent of the current market of smartphones is equipped by Android, iOS and Windows Phone 8 and above devices.

The information was revealed by WhatsApp in a blog post published a few days ago. The Facebook owned messaging company revealed that they will be withdrawing support for BlackBerry devices (BB10 included), Symbian 40, Symbian 60, Android 2.1 and 2.2 devices and Windows Phone 7.1 sometime this year.

They said that the decision was not an easy one to make and that the market has evolved. While other platforms will suffer, there is some respite for BB10 users as their devices are capable of running Android apps within the OS.

While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they dont offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our apps features in the future., say WhatsApp. Finally, they add that, This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp. If you use one of these affected mobile devices, we recommend upgrading to a newer Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone before the end of 2016 to continue using WhatsApp.
New Delhi :

Pitching for converting farmers challenges into opporunities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today urged all states to give priority to implementation of the roadmap for boosting the agriculture sector with a target of doubling the income of farmers by 2022.

Addressing a farmers rally here, he sought to hardsell the recently-launched Crop Insurance scheme, which he termed as a protective shield, and talked about various other initiatives including plans to launch e-platform for marketing of agriculture products in April as part of efforts to ensure welfare of the farming community.

Today, there are several challenges before the farmers... Is there no solution to these challenges? These can be converted into opportunities if you (farmers) help me and states implement the various schemes properly, Modi said.

Noting that the subject of agriculture is with states, he said the states where some work has been done in the farming sector have witnessed progress. But in the states having the approach of chalta hai (let it happen) and election time pe dekh lenge (will see at the time of elections), the fate of the farmers has been left to the God. After God, there is nobody to help them.

Underlining the vision of doubling the income of farmers by 2022, the 75th independence of the country, Modi said, From this land of Uttar Pradesh, I urge all the states to give priority to agriculture and then see the changes. The roadmap is there, you only have to implement it.

He said there is no criticisim of any state and there is no need for it but he only wants to urge them with the promise that the Centre is ready to work shoulder-to-shoulder with them in the implementation of schemes.

He said agriculture should be made employment-oriented to make it attractive to the new generation cultivators as he noted that agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors were the backbone of the countrys economy.
New Delhi :

A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against seven people by Murthal Police on Sunday after a victim allegedly filed gangrape complaint.

This has come as a breakthrough for Murthal Police which has so far denied happening of any such incident during the Jat protests in Haryana.

According to reports, nearly 30 goons had disrobed and sexually assaulted nearly 10 women who were travelling with their families to Delhi-NCR.

Some reports of eyewitnesses also came forward but on Sunday morning three truck drivers denied having witnessed any incident of alleged molestation or rape of women during the pro-quota Jat agitation at Murthal in Sonipat district.

Haryana police had formed a team of three women police officers --DIG Rajshree Singh, DSPs Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur to gather information concerning the alleged incident of sexual assault on some women near Murthal on the intervening night of February 22 and 23.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had also asked people to share information, if they have any, with the state police regarding the alleged incident.



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Washington:

Nikki Haley, South Carolinas Indian-American Governor, today described Donald Trumps behaviour as unacceptable and said the Republican front-runner is unlikely to defeat Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the November general elections.

Haley, who has endorsed Marco Rubio as presidential nominee asserted that the Florida Senator is the right person to defeat the Democratic presidential nominee and lead the country.

Rubio, who has emerged as the GOPs establishment candidate is campaigning in this important state of Virginia, hoping to make an impressive win in some of the 11 States where the Republican Partys primaries are scheduled to be held on Tuesday.

Donald Trump is everything we hear and teach our kids not to do in kindergarten. And we have seen this behaviour over and over again thats unacceptable. And I think what we saw from Marco is exactly what we tell our children also, if a bully hits you, you hit back, Haley told the ABC News in an interview Sunday morning.

I think he (Rubio) hit back and he showed thats hes willing to lead. Hes willing to fight. And hes going to have the passion to do it, Haley said, referring to the strong verbal dual unleashed by Rubio over the last few days against Trump.

And you look at all these issues, this is one more project that Donald Trump is doing. Trump University, Trump Vodka, Trump Airlines, Trump Mortgage all failed projects. This is one more project. And were really concerned about where thats going to be. And I think its right for Marco to bring those things out and to keep on bringing those out, she said.

Ramping up the ante against Trump, Rubio has described the New York billionaire as a cone artist and dangerous for the party.

What I will tell you is, Donald Trump cant be Hillary Clinton. His negatives are so high, his cap is at 35 per cent. It is impossible for him to win a general. And so thats why weve said Marco Rubio is the only one that can defeat Donald Trump. And Marco Rubio can beat Hillary Clinton and will win in November, Haley told the ABC News.

Haley who is rated very high across the nation and is seen as a potential vice presidential candidate asserted that Rubio is drawing a large number of supporters across the Super Tuesday States.

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The Nigerian Army has said that it has rescued 1,890 people who were being held by the Boko Haram insurgents.

The Nigerian Army has said that it has rescued 1,890 people who were being held by the Boko Haram insurgents.The Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, said in a statement on Friday that the captives were rescued at various locations in the North-East in the past two weeks.He said that the rescued people included 800 Nigerians who crossed over to Banki, Cameroon and were brought back to the country by troops of the 21 Brigade on Thursday.Usman said, Troops of the 121 Task Force rescued 45 persons comprising 17 women and 28 children during a joint operations with Cameroonian forces at Mararraba, Angwan Fada, Dale and Wizha Bokko Timit, Bokko Nasanu and Bokko Hidde up to Ngoshe.He said that 350 others including five Cameroonian girls were rescued in a joint operation by troops of 7 Division Garrison, 112 Battalion, Army Headquarters Support Group and Armed Forces Special Forces at Gajibo, Maula, Gamai, Gamare, Maiwa, Warsale, Tangli, Tushi, Sowa, Hasanari, Changuwa, Malamaja, and Marya in Dikwa and Mafa Local Government Areas.He added that a similar rescue operation by the troops of 7 Division Garrison, their counterparts of 112 Task Force Battalion, and Armed Forces Special Forces, on February 17, 2016, at Kwaptara, Mijigete, Garin Boka, Mosole, Ngubdori, Maasa, Dukje and Gulumba in Dikwa and Bama Local Government Areas resulted in the rescue of 195 Boko Harams captives.On February 23, 2016, troops of 21 Brigade in conjunction with troops of MNJTF on clearance operations at Kumshe general area, rescued 250 persons, mainly women and children held hostages by Boko Haram terrorists and brought back 800 refugees from Cameroon. On February 23, 2016, troops of 7 Division rescued 150 persons at Kodo, the statement read in part.According to him, the troops of the 21 Brigade also intercepted 3,000 Nigerian refugees who were crossing from Wambatche, Liman and Kodo Fata villages in Cameroon into Nigeria.He said that the soldiers had moved the refugees to Internally Displaced Persons camp at Bama on Friday.
Despite the bombings still being carried out in parts of the country by members of the Boko Haram sect, President Muhammadu Buhari on Sun...

Despite the bombings still being carried out in parts of the country by members of the Boko Haram sect, President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday said the sect is no longer in position to cause serious threat to his administrations development programmes.While admitting that the sects activities had led to loss of many lives and displacement of innocent people in the country, the President boasted that since his assumption of office in May 2015, Boko Haram has been systematically decimated.According to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President spoke at a bilateral meeting he had with the the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hammad Al-Thani, on Sunday.Buhari was also said to have talked on the situation in the Middle East and commended the role Qatar is playing in resolving the present Syrian crisis, the Palestinian cause and efforts in reconstructing Gaza.He said, The conflicts in Yemen and Syria with their attendant humanitarian crisis need genuine international effort to solve.Nigeria as a peace-loving country identifies with the State of Qatar in all her peace efforts in the world to end terrorist activities.Nigeria is a victim of terrorism. It is with heavy heart that I stand before you and say activities of Boko Haram have led to loss of many lives and displacement of innocent people in our dear nation.We, however, take pride to inform you that since our coming to power, Boko Haram has been systematically decimated and are in no position to cause serious threat to our development programmes.I wish to reiterate that Nigeria rejects violence and extremism in all their ramifications, and assure your Highness that we are with the State of Qatar in your efforts to fight terrorism and injustice in your region and in the world at large.Buhari also called for a lasting solution to the Israeli  Palestinian conflict , saying we in Nigeria, like the State of Qatar, favour a Two State solution, with the State of Palestine living side by side with the State of Israel.
President Muhammadu Buhari has requested the authorities of Saudi Arabia to come out with the outcome of their investigation into the sta...

President Muhammadu Buhari has requested the authorities of Saudi Arabia to come out with the outcome of their investigation into the stampede at Muna in 2015 during which 274 Nigerians were believed to have died.Buhari has also made a case for compensation for six Nigerians killed in the crane incident in the precincts of the Kaaba.According to a statement on Saturday by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, the President raised the issues during the talks he had with Saudi rulers during his one-week official visit to the country.Shehu said following the completion of talks with rulers of the Saudi Arabian Kingdom, Buhari directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Hajj Commission to sit down with the Saudis to negotiate improved terms and conditions for Nigerian pilgrims performing the Umrah and the annual Hajj.This, he said, followed the acceptance by the Saudi government to freely and openly discuss outstanding issues with Nigeria.President Buhari, among other things, requested the Saudis to conclude all issues with the Nigerian Hajj Commission, such as the undetermined outcome of their investigation into the stampede at Muna last year, where our officials believe that 274 Nigerian lives were lost.There is also the case of compensation for six Nigerians killed in the crane incident in the precincts of the Kaaba and 35 others from the stampede whose DNA profile is feared to be missing.President Buhari equally charged the Ministry and the NAHCON to seek a reduction of fees associated with the Umrah Visa, he said.Among the 17 issues tendered at the initial meeting between the officials of both countries, Shehu said Nigeria appreciated the increase offered for Umrah pilgrimage but asked that the 76,000 seats maintained for the Hajj be also increased.The meeting was said to have been led by Nigerias Minister of State, Foreign Affairs, Mrs. Fatima Abba Ibrahim and Chairman of NAHCON, Abdullahi Muhammed on the Nigerian side while the Saudi side was led by their Minister of Hajj Affairs, Dr.Bandar bin Muhammad al-Hajjar.The two countries are expected to follow up on all the issues in the coming weeks.
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an investigation into the clashes between herdsmen and indigenes of communities in Benue State. ...

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an investigation into the clashes between herdsmen and indigenes of communities in Benue State.The order was contained in a statement made available to journalists by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, today.Shehu said the President expressed deep shock at the latest incident that happened during the past week, which led to hundreds of deaths in four communities in Agatu Local Government Area of the state.He quoted Buhari as ordering security agencies to get to the root of the problem.We will conduct an investigation to know exactly what happened; the only way to bring an end to the violence once and for all is to look beyond one incident and ascertain exactly what factors are behind the conflicts, the President was quoted as saying.Buhari added that all Nigerians must learn to live together as one, in peace and unity.We are all one nation and one people. There should not be any reason why Nigerians of any group or tongue cannot now reside with one another wherever they find themselves after decades of living together, he said.The President further expressed his condolences to the government and people of Benue State, particularly the people of the Agatu communities, assuring them that the government would do everything possible to ensure that no such incident ever occurred in their midst again.Once the investigations are concluded, we will act immediately to address the root of the problem, he said.Reports had it that at least 145 persons had been killed in 25 villages in the local government area.The attacks on the communities by herdsmen which started on February 22, 2016, are said to be ongoing.The state governor, Samuel Ortom, had on Thursday lamented that the killings were getting out of hand.He said the situation, which had led to the death of many people and the destruction of several settlements, had deteriorated to the stage that he decided to come and brief the Presidency.Ortom spoke with State House correspondents after meeting Vice President Yemi Osinbajo behind closed doors at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.He confirmed that many people have been killed in the attacks while many other people from the affected areas have been turned to refugees.He said he could no longer sit back in the state and watch the ugly events unfold without seeking help from the Federal Government.
Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose Governor Nyesom on Saturday accused President Muhammadu Buhari of mapping ways towards making Niger...

Buhari coming out of the holiest and the most sacred place in Islam, The Inner Room Of Holy Kaabah In Makkah

Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose Governor Nyesom on Saturday accused President Muhammadu Buhari of mapping ways towards making Nigeria an Islamic nation.Fayose made the allegations while delivering a speech at the interdenominational thanksgiving held in Port-Harcourt to celebrate the victory of the Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike after the supreme court ruling. Governor Fayose, who referred to himself as Peter, the rock who cannot be harmed by anyone, announced to the crowd that he had a secret to reveal. He asked those present if he should reveal the big secret about the Buhari led, APC government. After the crowd yelled that he should reveal it, Fayose said:To underline an earlier boast that he could not be intimidated by the ruling party, Fayose further stated:To substantiate his claim about the Presidents plan to make Nigeria an Islamic nation, Fayose said:Fayose said. As a closing remark, the Ekiti State governor went on to declare and decree the return of a PDP-led government in 2019.
...

The All Progressives Congress on Friday dismissed a claim that the on-going anti-graft war was targeted at decimating the leadership of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party.The APC National Chairman, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, stated this in an interview with journalists in Abuja.The party was responding to a statement issued by the PDP on Wednesday.The PDP had alleged that its leaders were being targeted for harassment by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.The PDP statement, which was signed by its National Legal Adviser, Victor Kwon, said, Indeed, intelligence available to the party shows that the Federal Government, using its various agencies, is bent on destroying any opposition to the ruling party as all indications show that the government is more interested in humiliating the PDP than fighting corruption.But Odigie-Oyegun said members of the opposition party who were being questioned by the anti-graft body ought to address issues instead of trying to whip up sentiments.He queried the rationale behind the allegation against the APC since those being interrogated were being given the opportunity to clear their names.Specifically, Odigie-Oyegun ask, From whom did (Uche) Secondus collect the gift (of cars)? Was it from a corporate entity or from an individual?If a corporate entity decided to support a party or an individual that is corporate, that is private, that is totally subject to the individuals decisions, of course, to the limit in the constitution and what the Electoral Act provides.I think it is that straight forward. Look, I dont know how often we will repeat this, we have a major problem with corruption, it is what has crippled this nation and if you are cutting down a tree wherever its falls, so be it.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has released the former aide-de-camp to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Ojogbane Adegb...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has released the former aide-de-camp to ex-President Goodluck Jonathan, Col. Ojogbane Adegbe, to the Nigerian Army authorities.Adegbes release comes barely 48 hours after he sued the EFCC for N100m in damages for his unlawful detention.In the suit filed at the Federal High Court, his counsel, Ogwu Onoja (SAN), urged the court to declare that his clients arrest and continued detention by the EFCC since February 11 was unconstitutional and violated his right to personal liberty guaranteed by the 1999 Constitution.He urged the court to make an order directing the EFCC to immediately release the applicant from unlawful detention.Onoja argued that the arrest and detention of Adegbe by the EFCC violated his right to personal liberty and freedom of movement as guaranteed by Section 35 and 41 of the 1999 Constitution.The applicants counsel contended that the EFCCs action violated Articles 5, 6 and 12 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights.In its response, the EFCC said the ex-ADC was being held on the instructions of the Nigerian Army.The judge, Justice Yusuf Halilu, had fixed the ruling for March 1.Adegbe was on a promotional course in the United Kingdom before he was summoned to Nigeria by the army authorities and handed over to the EFCC on February 11.He is being held by the commission for his alleged role in the distribution of over N10bn to delegates to the presidential primary of the Peoples Democratic Party in December 2014, which produced Jonathan as the partys standard-bearer.When contacted on the telephone, the spokesperson for the EFCC, Mr. Wilson Uwujaren, promised to find out if Adegbe had been released.However, he had yet to do so as of press timeWhen a source contacted the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, he said he was not aware of the development.I am not aware, he said.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has traced $1.6m to a former Director, Finance and Accounting at the Nigerian Air Force, Ai...

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has traced $1.6m to a former Director, Finance and Accounting at the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore S.A. Yushau (retd.).Yushau was on February 17 moved to Lagos alongside the immediate past Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh (retd.), over a fresh investigation involving the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency.As part of efforts to ensure improved security in the Nigerian maritime sector, NIMASA on August 26, 2013, signed an agreement with the Air Force with a view to providing effective air surveillance and monitoring of the nations coastal area.Badeh, who was the Chief of Air Staff, signed on behalf of the Air Force while Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi, who was the Director-General of NIMASA, signed on behalf of the maritime agency.In furtherance to the MoU, N4.4bn (in dollars and naira) was reportedly transferred from the bank account of NIMASA to the air force. However, EFCC investigations revealed that the money was diverted to private accounts.Yushau, who was the Director of Finance and Accounts when the MoU was signed, was said to have diverted $1.6m which was transferred to the air force account by NIMASA shortly before his retirement.A top source at the EFCC told our correspondent on the condition of anonymity that out of the money, Yushau gave $800,000 to Badeh.He, however, said Badeh denied receiving the money.The source said, We traced about $1.6m to Yushau who was the Director of Finance and Accounts in 2013. In his statement, he said he gave $800,000 to Badeh while Badeh gave him permission to take another $800,000 as a retirement gift.He (Yushau) said he spent part of the money on building a house in his home state in the North but the building collapsed. He said he invested the remaining money in some businesses so we are trying to see if we can recover some of his assets.However, Badeh has denied the allegations and we are still holding him.The source said the anti-graft agency had traced about five properties in Abuja belonging to Badeh but added that the retired military officer had denied ownership of the properties.We have traced about five properties we believe were bought by Badeh through proxies but he has denied ownership of all the properties. Badeh is really giving us a tough time.Meanwhile, it was learnt that the EFCC was making frantic efforts to finalise investigations into the immediate past Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Adesola Amosu.It will be recalled that the commission on January 28 arrested Amosu alongside 11 officers for his alleged role in the $2.1bn arms scam.The EFCC subsequently obtained a holding charge giving it permission to hold Amosu and other officers for 30 days.The 30 days will lapse on Monday.The source said, We still have a lot of investigations to do and we are not sure if we will be able to arraign Amosu next week. If we cannot do that, we will approach a court to grant us an extension.The investigation on Amosu focused on how 10 contracts totalling $930,500,690 were awarded; the payment of N4,402,687,569.41 for unexecuted contracts; the procurement of two used Mi-24V helicopters instead of the recommended Mi-35M series at $136,944,000.00; and the excessive pricing of 36D6 Low Level Air Defence Radar at $33m instead of $6m per one.The EFCC has already seized some properties belonging to Amosu worth over N500m while N381m was recovered from a company owned by Amosus wife, Omolara.Efforts to get the reaction of the EFCC spokesperson, Wilson Uwujaren, did not succeed as calls to his mobile telephone did not go through.
Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has threatened to sue the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, for the release of a f...

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), has threatened to sue the Chief of Army Staff, Lt.-Gen. Tukur Buratai, for the release of a former Commander of the Multi National Joint Task Force, Brig.-Gen. Enitan Ransome Kuti, from military custody after completing a six-month prison term to which he was sentenced by a Special Court Martial on October 15, 2015.In his letter dated February 26, 2016, addressed to Buratai, Falana said Ransome-Kuti was unjustly sentenced to dismissal from the Nigerian Army and six-month imprisonment.Falana, who was Ransome-Kutis defence lawyer at the court martial, said his client had since his unjust conviction for war-related crimes remained in military detention, even when he ought to spend four calendar months in custody.He said Ransome-Kutis continued detention could not be justified under the Armed Forces Act and the Constitution.He stated that he might be compelled to approach the court for the enforcement of Ransome-Kutis fundamental right to person liberty guaranteed by section 35 of the Constitution and Article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act.He said, We are therefore compelled to request you to use your good offices to ensure that our client is released from unjust and illegal incarceration forthwith.Take notice that if you fail or refuse to accede to our request by ensuring the immediate release our client we shall not hesitate to seek redress in the Federal High Court with a view to securing the enforcement of his fundamental right to person liberty guaranteed by section 35 of the Constitution and article 6 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap A9) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.In his letter titled, Request for release of Brig-Gen. E.A Ransome-Kuti (N/8301) from custody after serving six-month prison term, Falana said he had made representation to the army authority with respect to the need for the findings of the court martial to be confirmed.He said Buratai flagrantly turned down the request for Ransome-Kutis release pending his appeal against the verdict of the court martial in flagrant violation of section 160 of the Armed Forces Act (Cap A20) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.His letter read in part, By letter dated 19 October 2015 we also requested the Authorities of the Nigerian Army to release our client from military custody pending the determination of the appeal which he intended to file against the unjust findings of the Special Court Martial which convicted him of war related crimes and sentenced him to six-month imprisonment and dismissal from the Nigerian Army.For reasons best known to you the request for our clients release pending appeal was turned down by your good self in flagrant violation of section 160 of the Armed Forces Act (Cap A20) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004.Thus, you caused our client to serve the six-month prison term without the confirmation of the findings of the Special Court Martial by the Army Council.As if that was not enough, you have ignored our demand for the release of our client since he completed the six-month prison term on February 15, 2016.In our letter dated February 12, 2016 on the subject matter, we had pointed out that our client ought to have spent 4 calendar months in custody by virtue of Regulations 54 and 55 of the Prisons Regulations made pursuant to the Prisons Act (CAP. P29) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 which provides that every convict is entitled to a remission of one third of the sentence imposed by a court.
The government of Saudi Arabia has expressed determination to expedite action to unravel the status of 35 Nigerian pilgrims who were dec...

The government of Saudi Arabia has expressed determination to expedite action to unravel the status of 35 Nigerian pilgrims who were declared missing after the stampede, which occurred in Mina, during the Hajj exercise held in 2015.Meanwhile, the quota of Nigeria for the 2016 Hajj remains 76,000 slots, pending the outcome of a committee set up by the Saudi government to review the allocation of slots to all countries once the Haram expansion project is concluded.A statement issued on Sunday evening by the Secretary to the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, Dr Bello Tambuwal, said these were the high points of the resolutions made during a ministerial meeting held in Jeddah between Nigeria and Saudi Arabia.The meeting, which started with discussions on the 2015 Hajj operations and preparations for 2016 Hajj exercise, was attended by the Saudi Arabian delegation led by its Minister of Hajj, Dr. Bandar Bn Muhammad Al Hajjar and Nigerias delegation led by Minister of State (Foreign Affairs), Hajia Khadija Bukar Ibrahim.Also, while the Saudi delegation comprised of representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Hajj, Interior and other agencies, the Nigerian delegation comprised of executive members of NAHCON led by its chairman and Chief Executive, Abdullahi Muktar Muhammad and Director-General, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, Capt. Muhtar Usman.While condoling Saudi Arabia on the twin tragedies that occurred on September 11 and 24 which claimed many lives including 280 Nigerians, the NAHCON chairman informed the meeting of the commissions plans to embark on nationwide enlightenment activities of pilgrims and its resolve to establish a Hajj Institute for professional training of Hajj managers in Nigeria.Tambuwal said, The Saudi delegation emphasized the need for proper enlightenment of pilgrims and promised to cooperate with the commission towards enhanced services to pilgrims. Similarly, the Saudi delegation promised to address Nigerias request to be moved closer to Jamaraat area and better tent facilities in Mina and Arafat.It also agreed to meet with the commission at a later time to discuss and find solutions to the high cost of Umrah and other challenges of the exercise. The meeting culminated with exchange of gifts between the Nigerian and Saudi delegations.It was gathered that NAHCON had, while submitting the report of the 2015 Hajj to the Federal Government, put the number of casualties involved in two tragic accidents at 280 while the status of those declared missing had yet to be ascertained.While receiving the report in his office, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir David Lawal, had commended the chairman of NAHCON, Abdullahi Muhammad, and its entire board for their exemplary performance in Saudi Arabia, especially, during the tragedies that occurred during the Hajj.Muhammad had described the 2015 Hajj as the most eventful in the history of Hajj operations in Nigeria, with pilgrims witnessing two tragic events: the crane incident at the Grand Mosque in Makkah on September 11, 2015 and the stampede recorded in Mina on September 24, 2015.Nigeria recorded a total of 280 deaths from both events, while 43 (he said then) are considered missing as their status is yet to be ascertained, he stated.He had condoled President Muhammadu Buhari, families of victims and indeed, Nigerians on the loss of lives, with an assurance that the report submitted contains observations and indeed, recommendations that will ensure more successes during future Hajj exercises.According to him, a total of 75,081 Nigerian pilgrims participated in the 2015 Hajj exercises adding that, both the outbound and inbound flights were concluded well ahead of schedule.
National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, said he has started reaching out to those who left the party f...

National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff, said he has started reaching out to those who left the party for the All Progressives Congress and other political parties.But he said he wont mention their names yet.The former governor of Borno State refused to say if he had also met with the President of the Senate, Sen. Bukola Saraki on whether the latter would return to the PDP or not.Sheriff, who spoke to our correspondent through his Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr. Inuwa Bwala in Abuja on Saturday, said the controversy that trailed his appointment was as a result of alleged panic in the camp of the ruling party.He said the APC leadership was aware of his capability to unite the members of the PDP and also bring back those who defected to the APC, hence the controversy on his appointment.Bwala said, We have started reaching out to those who left the PDP and we are discussing already.We are getting positive results from them, but we wont go to the pages of newspapers to announce their names.The APC and its leadership are aware that Sheriff has the ability to unite the members of the PDP and also bring back those who have left the party.This was why we had the initial controversy on the appointment. But now, we have thrown that behind us as we have resumed work fully.Meanwhile, a former Minister of National Planning under the regime of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Suleiman Abubakar, has scolded Governor Ayodele Fayose over his comments that President Muhammadu Buhari was turning Nigeria to an Islamic state.Fayose had alleged that the trip by President Buhari and five governors to Saudi Arabia was an attempt to transform Nigeria into an Islamic nation.The former minister described said that the statement should be seen as a misguided utterances and not a true reflection of the perceptions of most members of our party.He said in a statement that the statement was not only capable of heighten the centrifugal tendencies in our country,but could be counter-productive to the reform agenda been driven by some patriotic elements in our party.The mere visit by the President and some government functionaries is not enough to suggest an attempt to Islamise the nation.Any divisive statement from any leaders of our party is condemnable and not in the best interest of Nigeria.
Some Lagos landlords yesterday begged for the immediate execution of Lagos-based pastor and the General Overseer of the Christian Praying...

The landlords appealed to the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, to sign Rev. Kings death warrant to hasten the process.A five-man bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice Walter Onnoghen, in its unanimous judgement, had on Friday dismissed the appeal by the cleric challenging the verdict of the Lagos Division of the Court of Appeal, which had affirmed the conviction and the sentence passed on him by the Lagos High Court.Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, who read the lead judgement of the court, resolved all the 12 issues raised by Rev. King in his appeal against him and dismissed the entire appeal for lacking in merit.The judgement dealt a final blow on the last effort by Rev. King to free himself from the death sentence, which had been hanging around his neck for over nine years.A next door landlord in Ajao Estate where the church is based applauded the Supreme Court for the judgement, saying he expected it.The landlord, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, Now, we need the governor to quickly sign the papers, because if he does not, we are in trouble.The church members had been saying they would take over our houses and they had been threatening to deal with some of us. They ask us to just wait for his return and see what would happen.That was why immediately we heard the news of the judgement, we were happy. In fact, if I cannot talk for others, I can tell you that I am very happy. I am happy because it marks the end of a group constituting a nuisance to us.Another landlord, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said he wants Ambode to sign the death warrant as soon as possible.I hope the governor will not be afraid of signing it. He should do it on time.The truth is that the church has not impacted the community in any way. We are waiting for what will happen next after this.The Lagos State Government, in a statement on Friday through the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, said the judgement affirmed the seriousness of the state government in fighting crime.
The Presidency on Sunday disclosed that the Federal Government has commenced discussions on partnerships towards establishing a national ...

The Presidency on Sunday disclosed that the Federal Government has commenced discussions on partnerships towards establishing a national airline for the country.The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, disclosed this in a statement made available to journalists from Doha, Qatar where President Muhammadu Buhari is currently on an official visit.Adesina did not however disclose the details of the discussions and the level the government has reached.He however said that Nigerian authorities have reached an agreement with the State of Qatar which will soon translate into direct flights between major cities of both countries.H added that the two countries have also signed an agreement that will forestall double taxation and tax evasion.Adesina said the Bilateral Air Services Agreement and the other agreement were signed on Sunday in Doha on the sideline of Buharis state visit to Qatar.According to him, the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, signed the air services agreement on behalf of Nigeria while Qatars Minister of Transportation and Communications, Jassim Bin Saif Alsulaiti, signed on behalf the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hammad Al-Thani.The statement read in part, The agreement which was signed in the presence of both leaders is expected to operate on the principle of reciprocity by the designated airlines on behalf of the countries.The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, also signed the agreement for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes income with her Qatari counterpart, Ali Shareef Al Emadi.It is also expected that the agreement on bilateral air service will promote trade, commerce and tourism between the two countries just as Nigeria has also commenced discussions on partnerships towards establishing a national airline for Nigeria.The agreement on the avoidance of double taxation which had been negotiated since February 2015 will no doubt bring in more investments and businesses between Qatar and Nigeria.
The Nigerian Senate came under harsh criticisms by eminent Nigerians on Saturday for defying Nigerians, including President Muhammadu Bu...

The Nigerian Senate came under harsh criticisms by eminent Nigerians on Saturday for defying Nigerians, including President Muhammadu Buhari on the purchase of exotic vehicles.Eminent Nigerians including the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), Senator Femi Okurounmu and Dr. Junaid Mohammed, condemned the Senate for purchasing the vehicles.The contractor in charge of delivering the vehicles, Lanre Shittu Motors, on Saturday confirmed that it had delivered a lot of vehicles to the Senate.It was gathered that the Senate had taken delivery of the exotic vehicles and that the deliveries were done from Lagos and Abuja.The Group Executive Director, Lanre Shittu Motors, Mr. Taiwo Shittu, in an interview with one of our correspondents, stated that a lot of deliveries had been made to the Senate.When asked to confirm if the Senate had taken delivery of the vehicles from his company, Shittu replied, Yes, theyve taken a lot of deliveries but the deliveries are handled from the head office. Im in charge of commercials like trucks, equipment and buses for the company, but not deliveries that have to do with the cars.They are not taking delivery of commercial vehicles but they are taking passenger vehicles, although Toyota Hilux can be seen as a commercial vehicle. I can confirm to you that the Senate has taken delivery of some vehicles but I cant give you the accurate number presently.Many Nigerians, including Buhari and former President Olusegun Obasanjo had a few months ago urged the National Assembly to shelve the plan to buy N330m exotic vehicles.While advising the Senate, Buhari in his first media chat had said, I turned down a N400 million bill for cars for the presidency, because the vehicles I am using are good enough for the next 10 years.Also, prominent Yoruba leader, Okurounmu, on Saturday described the purchase of the vehicles as disgraceful.Okurounmu, who represented Ogun-Central senatorial district between 1999 and 2003, said the purchase of vehicles at a time when over 20 states could not pay salaries was callous.He said, If this is true, the action of the Senate is completely unpatriotic, callous and shows that they dont care about the welfare of the Nigerians that they are supposed to be representing and they are only there to look after their own interests. They are selfish.Also speaking, Sagay described the senators as a group of shameless people who are unfit to occupy public office.Sagay said their profligate lifestyle was capable of causing poor Nigerians to revolt against the government.He said, It shows that we are dealing with a group of people that are totally incorrigible in their love for material things at the expense of Nigerians. They have no limit and have no sense of shame or restraint. They will go all out and continue to live in luxury and obscenity until they can ground NigeriaThese people are unfit to hold public office. They are a disgrace to this country and somehow, if it was possible, I would want them to be shamed out of the National Assembly. They are unfit for that position and a disgrace to any civilised community.Lending his voice to the controversial acquisition of vehicles, a former Governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa, wondered where the Senate got the funds to purchase the vehicles since the 2016 budget had not yet been passed.Describing the incident as mindlessness, the former governor said the matter must be investigated by the relevant authorities.He said, Who authorised the purchase of the vehicles? The budget has not yet been approved so where did they get the money to buy the vehicles? Are they using the law which authorises the President to spend the equivalent of what was spent last year to buy the vehicles?Besides the mindlessness of such an act in the face of the economic crisis, why should lawmakers use their position to enrich themselves? Has the National Assembly allowed itself to be involved in illegality?
The Nigerian Labour Congress, Akwa Ibom State chapter, has given the state government a 21-day ultimatum to resolve all pending labour gr...

The Nigerian Labour Congress, Akwa Ibom State chapter, has given the state government a 21-day ultimatum to resolve all pending labour grievances or risk industrial action.The NLC described the government as being insensitive to the plights of civil servants in the state and accused it of blackmailing the organised labour and stifling its economy as measures to thwart industrial actions.The state executive council of all industrial unions, under the NLC, after its meeting on Friday in Uyo, accused the present administration of not recognising the existence of labour in the state.The state NLC Chairman, Mr. Etim Ukpong, said the meeting was necessitated by the state governments unwillingness to address the backlog of workers grievances in the state for over six years.He said, The state government fails to take into account the plight and lamentation of workers, especially in the public sector and their dependants despite constant pleas and demands of labour, especially the NLC.Rather than engage the leadership of organised labour collectively in dialogue and ensure a balance of interest, where the workers would not be short-changed, government has resorted to divide and rule tactics by trying to blackmail the labour movement, ignore the workers by hiding behind the economic leanness of the time.You would recall our persistent cries for the government to address workers plight such as payments of gratuities to local government retirees and workers living and dead since 2009, payment of leave grants to teachers, local government workers and workers in the parastatals, many of them dating back to 2012.harmonisation of retirees pensions in line with the law which stipulates upward review of pensions after five years, or whenever there was a new minimum wage in place.He listed other issues to include the release and implementation of promotions to civil servants, payment of promotion arrears, refund of 7.5 per cent deducted from workers salaries in the name of contributory pensions scheme, which was abrogated by the state House of Assembly two years ago, payment of salaries to teachers absorbed from taking over community schools since 2013, payment of salaries to civil servants, nurses, doctors, house officers and other health workers employed since 2014.The NLC, in a communique released at the end of the meeting, also canvassed the recovery of over N1bn owed Akwa Ibom State indigenes by the Federal Government, which was removed from ALSCON in Ikot Abasi, recovery of primary schools counterpart funding from the Federal Government, payment of arrears of four months salaries to local government workers in Ikot Ekpene, two months salaries to workers in Abak, and a month arrears to workers in Ikono, Ini and Uruefong Oruko local government areas.He said, As we speak, nurses working in local governments are being owed the same arrears. Teachers employed and sent to junior secondary schools under State Universal Basic Education Board must be paid. The Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs had rejected them and asked them to go to state secondary education board. As I speak, they have not got December salary.
Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, at the weekend embarked on a fence-mending mission with former ministers in the administration o...

Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, at the weekend embarked on a fence-mending mission with former ministers in the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to rescue the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).The forum of ex-minister has refused to recognise the new national chairman of the party, Ali Modu Sheriff, describing his emergence as unacceptable.Dickson appealed to the ex-ministers to bury the hatchet and work with Sheriff to move the PDP forward.Some of the ex-ministers at the meeting included former Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau; former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode; former Minister of Women Affairs, Chief (Mrs.) Josephine Anenih; former Minister of Power, Mohammed Wakil and former Minister of Special Duties and chairman of the forum, Kabiru Turaki.Seriake called for organisation of a transparent and credible National Congress in the next three months.The Congress, he said, should carry every interest group and foster unity in the party.He advised the former ministers against litigation and divisive inflammatory comments in the media over the emergence of Sheriff.The governor also called on the National Working Committee (NWC) to produce a timetable soonest that will lead to the conduct of a conclusive and transparent convention.He specifically urged them to align themselves with the position already taken by National Executive Council (NEC) in respect of the leadership issues affecting the party.Dickson, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Markson-Iworiso, was appreciated at the end of the consultative interactions.The statement said: The governor commended the former ministers for the inclusion of all members who served between 1999 till date, which has created a diverse blend of human assets which the party need especially now that the PDP is in opposition.Dickson urged them to join hands with other leaders and statutory organs of the party in the onerous task of re-building and re-positioning the party.|Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson, at the weekend embarked on a fence-mending mission with former ministers in the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to rescue the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).The forum of ex-minister has refused to recognise the new national chairman of the party, Ali Modu Sheriff, describing his emergence as unacceptable.Dickson appealed to the ex-ministers to bury the hatchet and work with Sheriff to move the PDP forward.Some of the ex-ministers at the meeting included former Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau; former Minister of Aviation, Femi Fani-Kayode; former Minister of Women Affairs, Chief (Mrs.) Josephine Anenih; former Minister of Power, Mohammed Wakil and former Minister of Special Duties and chairman of the forum, Kabiru Turaki.Seriake called for organisation of a transparent and credible National Congress in the next three months.The Congress, he said, should carry every interest group and foster unity in the party.He advised the former ministers against litigation and divisive inflammatory comments in the media over the emergence of Sheriff.The governor also called on the National Working Committee (NWC) to produce a timetable soonest that will lead to the conduct of a conclusive and transparent convention.He specifically urged them to align themselves with the position already taken by National Executive Council (NEC) in respect of the leadership issues affecting the party.Dickson, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Daniel Markson-Iworiso, was appreciated at the end of the consultative interactions.The statement said: The governor commended the former ministers for the inclusion of all members who served between 1999 till date, which has created a diverse blend of human assets which the party need especially now that the PDP is in opposition.Dickson urged them to join hands with other leaders and statutory organs of the party in the onerous task of re-building and re-positioning the party.
The Federal Government moved a notch higher in its anti-graft war last night with a confirmation that it was launching a comprehensive pr...

The Federal Government moved a notch higher in its anti-graft war last night with a confirmation that it was launching a comprehensive probe into the controversial Halliburton bribery case in which top Nigerian politicians received huge bribes in the region of N66 billion.The bribes were taken by top players in government between 1994 and 1998 from five major companies that were awarded $6 billion for the construction of gas trains in Bonny Island in Rivers State for the Nigerian Liquefied Gas Company, NLNG. Under the fresh probe being ordered by the Buhari administration and unlike in the past, the key players in the Nigerian Government who demanded and collected the huge sums of money and those who offered the bribes, are to be fished out and prosecuted.It was also learnt that the Federal Government is keen on determining if indeed the sum of $200 million said to have been paid by the five companies who were indicted over the scam, was indeed remitted into the purse of the government. The fresh enquiry will also ascertain why five senior Nigerian lawyers who negotiated with the indicted multinational firms to escape prosecution in Nigeria and paid the $200 million fines, collected close to $12 million as legal fees from the fines.
Contrary to the widely held impression that Ndigbo of the south east geopolitical zone were craving for secession from Nigeria, the peop...

Contrary to the widely held impression that Ndigbo of the south east geopolitical zone were craving for secession from Nigeria, the people have said they would remain in a united Nigeria. They posited that their fore-fathers fought for independence of Nigerian, stressing that their stake in the Nigerian project was higher just as they would not leave their house.The peoples resolve which was made known through the Youth Council of Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex socio-cultural body of all Igbos worldwide came on the heels of lingering protests for the realization of Biafra Republic and the detention of the Director of Radio Biafra, Mr. Nnamdi Kanu by the federal government.At a world press conference in Abuja on Friday, the Youth Council represented by its national president Mazi Okechukwu Isiguzoro and the Secretary General, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike amongst others appealed to president Mohammadu Buhari to consider the pleas of the people and release Kanu from detention to the elders of the land to further caution him.Giving reasons for the agitation, the Ohaneze leaders stated that the south east and south south had suffered political and infrastructural neglects, advising that the rehabilitation of moribund coal companies, dilapidated roads and job creation would take the minds of the people away from protests. Reading the speech jointly signed by them, the national president advocated referendum and dialogue as most legitimate ways universally acknowledged to achieve any desired objectives instead of protests.They revealed that in the spirit of oneness, they have reached out to Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Saad 111, Emir of Kano, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi and prominent Obas in the south west to further broker peace among the ethic nationalities. While cautioning Kanu against hate broadcast, Isiguzoro pledged that the development would be history once the detainee was released to the leaders of Ohaneze.He also warned the security agents against using live bullets and ammunitions to disperse protesters. He said: You will recall that for some months now, there have been raging protests in the south east and south south over the detention of the Director of Radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu. These protests have led to the death of some protesters in Anambra, Abia and other states. We are saddened by these avoidable deaths.We as the youth of Ndigbo will be shirking in our responsibility and duty if we fail to state our position, opinion and suggestions on the way forward to this burning issue. In the first place, we believe in a united Nigeria anchored on justice and equity. We believe that all problems and issue in Nigeria can be solved through dialogue and redoubtable discussion.We are conscious of the poverty and youth unemployment ravaging the country and the south east in particular. We are also aware of her infrastructural challenges and deficiencies in igboland. These may have contributed to the rage for a neo-Biafra as an escapee route. But it is our considered opinion that there is now an element of fame and fortune seeking in the while exercise.The euphoria and frenzy in the whole issue can be rechanneled to an insistence for equity, level playing field and justice for all Nigerians. Ndigbo have a lot of stake in Nigeria. In fact, they have the largest stake in Nigeria. Their forebears fought for the independence of Nigeria.In fact, Igbos are Nigerias landlord and a landlord cannot leave his house for tenants. Who is more Nigerian than Igbos who constitute the second largest group after the indigenous people of every state in Nigeria?How can we swim in Imo River rather than Atlantic Ocean?Do we realize that more than eighty percent of Igbo investments are outside Igbo land?However, we also hold the federal government responsible for not doing enough for our youths. If there is strong federal presence in the zone, our youths will see Biafra as an alternative and fortune and fame seekers will not capitalize on that to hoodwink our gullible youths. We therefore want to appeal to the federal government to release Nnamdi Kanu.However, he (Kanu) should not continue with hate or inciting broadcast from Radio Biafra if he is released. There is now a civilized way of even seeking for self determination and that is referendum. It is a better option that hate broadcast and protest. We call on security agents not to use force and live bullets in tackling the challenges in the south east and south South. Dialogue remains the best option.The Council did not also spare some Igbo leaders who they said were shortchanging the people of the south east at the Centre.What efforts have pro-Biafran protesters made to inquire how our political office holders spend the money that accrue to Igboland from the center? We believe most of our problems are caused by our political leaders who often pocket the money that accrue to our area, he said.Reminded that Nigerian constitution did not recognize referendum, the leaders urged the National Assembly to start the process of amending the constituent to accommodate it, pointing that they resorted to referendum having seen it was the most civilized way of resolving dispute such as secession.Referendum is a civilized way.Wether it is in our constitution or not, it is most reasonable way of approaching the issue. We urge the national assembly to accommodate referendum in the constitution, the Council said.
Most wanted.jpg

Raymond H. Webb and Tracy L. Martisofski (Submitted photos)

BRIDGETON -- The Cumberland County Sheriff's Office would like your help in finding two of their most-wanted fugitives.

Raymond H. Webb, 39, is being sought on one Superior Court of New Jersey Family Court warrant for failing to pay $28,354.07 in child support payments. Webb is described as a white male, 5-foot-8-inches tall, 165 pounds, with blue eyes and red hair. He has a tattoo on his right arm tribal band and a tattoo on his left arm of a star. His last known address was Osborne Avenue in Vineland.

Tracy L. Martisofski, 35, is being sought on one Superior Court of New Jersey Criminal Court warrant for failure to appear. Martisofski is described as a white female, 5-foot-9-inches tall, 150 pounds, with blue eyes and brown hair. She has a tattoo on her right wrist of stars and a tattoo on her left hand of a star. Her last known address was Battle Lane in Commercial Township.

Sheriff Robert A. Austino asks anyone who comes in contact with these individuals to call the police immediately. You should contact state or local police, or the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department TIP-LINE at 856-451-0625.

If you know the whereabouts of this individual, share this information anonymously by downloading the CCPOTIP App at the Android or iPhone Store and choosing Cumberland County Sheriff's Department, submitting an anonymous tip via text to 847411 with CCSONJ and your tip in the message line or going to the Cumberland County Prosecutor's Facebook page and clicking "submit a tip" and submitting a tip to the Cumberland County Sheriff's Department.

Citizens are reminded not to approach, confront, or detain these fugitives.

Don E. Woods may be reached at dwoods@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @donewoods1. Find the South Jersey Times on Facebook.
cory booker1.jpg

Senator Cory Booker (D- N.J.) has written an earnest and well-done memoir.

"United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good"



By Cory Booker



(Ballantine Books, $27, pp 223)

"All politics is local," was the late Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill's signature line.

"All politics is personal," could be Senator Cory Booker's.

New Jersey's junior senator proves that line on nearly every page in "United: Thoughts on Finding Common Ground and Advancing the Common Good"

He admits mistakes and successfully avoids tackling controversial political issues. From his dedication through the acknowledgements, Booker is intent on expressing gratitude and finding the personal link.

"We make a grave mistake when we assume this spirit of connectedness is automatic or inevitable. It is not a birthright. A united country is an enduring struggle. It takes collective work and individual sacrifice."



This is a memoir, though less personal than many others. He's extremely grateful to his family, blood and created, and the trailblazers who led his way. In an age where we know the mating habits of reality show celebrities, this can feel as if Booker is holding back.

That's not necessarily bad.

However someone may feel about Booker's politics, it's hard to discount his earnestness. Incidentally, this is not a review of his politics; I leave that to others. This is strictly a review of the book. And, it is a very well written.

Given that Booker is extraordinarily prolific on social media, I believe he wrote this himself. It has his voice.

Booker begins each chapter with an inspirational quote.

"It's not enough to be compassionate. You must act." - His holiness the Dali Lama.

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is face." - James Baldwin.

A heartfelt book, in which Senator Cory Booker expresses his gratitude, traces his ancestors and reveals what it has been like living in some of Newark's tougher neighborhoods.

Booker is inclusive, thanking various people along the way who have become part of his life. He begins by explaining how Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. researched Booker's genealogy for his PBS show. Gates' crew turned up evidence that Booker's great-grandfather was a white doctor. He learns about his ancestors, slaves, and their owners. What makes Booker different from so many people is he wonders what the slave owners thought as well as the slaves.

He outlines his life and how his parents, Carolyn and Cary Booker, were living in Washington, D.C., and working for IBM. When transferred to New Jersey, they tried to buy a house in Bergen County and were consistently steered away from houses they could afford. It was because they are black and it took activists and the threat of lawsuits to get them into their home in Harrington Park.

Booker takes his ancestors' fights to heart; he never seems bitter yet remains vigilant. When, as a young councilman he moved into the projects in Newark, this was no stunt. (I covered Chicago's then Mayor Jane Byrne move into Cabrini Green. That was a stunt.)

Here he writes about moving into Newark.

"As a young black man who at times felt misunderstood, prejudged or assaulted by biased notions and reflexive assumptions, I felt a kinship with a city that had endured the same. Yes, I felt at home in New Jersey's predominately white, more affluent suburbs. ... But there is something about Newark that is intrinsic to me. I was inspired by the city's resilience, its determination, its defiant attitude, its unshakeable belief in unappreciated beauty. I felt at home in Newark. Newark was a kindred spirit, a soul-mate city. Newark was family."



Booker, on the other hand, not only lives in dangerous neighborhoods, he befriends all, even opening his home to them. As mayor, his security detail is less than thrilled when he has down-on-their-luck people stay in extra rooms. No one could accuse Booker of indifference.

He wants to help everyone and eventually has an epiphany -- he cannot take on each case single-handedly. Admittedly, for a while it seemed as if Booker were a one-man police and firefighting force, a superhero in khakis.



"When I was first elected, I was a poor manager of myself. I often mistook the urgent for the important. I tried to meet the demands of the city personally, as opposed to focusing on building systems and a structure that would meet those demands more efficiently."

Subsisting on minimal sleep, he writes about going out on dangerous missions with the police. Here, he's with officers pursuing a man brandishing a knife. Booker decides to give chase.

When the police nabbed the perp, Booker writes: "With my last bit of rapidly diminishing bravado, I exclaimed, 'Not in our city! Not anymore!' People applauded.

"It was one of the more overblown and inaccurate statements I've ever made."



It's the last line, the self-realization that rings true. His detractors will undoubtedly find reasons to dismiss this book as they try to negate the man. And perhaps it is naive to try to separate the politics from the politician, but Booker is far more than that. He is, at heart, an activist who wants to fight for justice on a street level.

It will be fascinating to watch how he uses the power as a senator to achieve his goals. He ends the book "with so much at stake, we now, together, must write the next chapter in our American story."

Let's hope it's as compelling a read as this one is.
Royal Caribbean's Anthem of the Seas is cutting another trip short and heading back to Bayonne early, according to reports.

Royal Caribbean tweeted the plans yesterday that the ship is turning around to, "provide guests with a comfortable journey back home."

The reason given for the return is a norovirus outbreak and possible severe storm, according to the Associated Press.

#AnthemoftheSeas will head back to Cape Liberty immediately to avoid a severe storm & provide guests with a comfortable journey back home.  RCLcorp (@RCLcorp) February 27, 2016

An Associated Press staff member on board this ship told the news outlet that the ship's captain and cruise director made announcements about the norovirus illness, but it was not clear how many people were sick.

Anthem of the Seas, which was scheduled to sail to Florida earlier this month,

on Feb. 10 after getting caught in a severe storm off the coast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. 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.
Filipino voters were encouraged to be as educated as possible about the voting process, candidates at every level, and the important issues during a non-partisan event today aimed at getting out the Filipino vote.

The event also encouraged voters to get involved in elections back home in the Philippines.

The event, held at University Academy Charter School on West Side Avenue, was organized by the National Federation of Filipino American Associations, Fil-Am Vote and the Philippine-American Friendship Committee of Jersey City.

"Voter education is always critical, whether it's the elections here or in the Philippines," said Hudson County Freeholder Bill O'Dea as he addressed the crowd.

According to event organizers, there are more than 116,000 Filipino-Americans in New Jersey.

Local elections are possibly more important for Filipinos, according to Steven Raga, the New York State char for NaFFAA. Voting for critical issues can help support local communities.

"We want to make sure the restaurants and shops are all there 10 years from now," he said. "We want to protect our community."

George Helmy, state director for U.S. Senator Cory Booker and Jersey City native, echoed the idea that voting locally is just as important as in national elections.

"I thought it was great," he said of the event. "We are encouraged to see Filipino-Americans understand effecting change through one voice."

Voter awareness events are being held all over the country to galvanize Filipino voters, according to Raga, including a similar event two days ago in San Diego.

While some speakers focused on targeting millennial voters and using the hashtag #FilAmVote on social media, Raga said it's also important to target older Filipino voters who didn't always have that right under martial law.

"In 2016, that's not how the process works," he said. "They should be encouraged to get involved, too."

Alex Magallon of Jersey City is a member of the Philippine-American Friendship Committee. He said it's, "interesting to see what everyone is saying and how they're evaluating everyone's reaction," in today's political landscape.

While the event was non-partisan, Magallon said popular candidates like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders are appealing to regular people.

"As soon as the established parties see that, maybe they'll start listening to regular folks," he said.

Voters were encouraged to learn about the registration processes at the federal, state and local levels, and to know the voter's bill of rights. They were also warned to watch out for voter harassment, according to Harley Barrales of NaFFAA.

"Registration is only half the battle," he said. "Now you have to vote. Make it cool. Make it sexy, make it whatever you like. Just promote it and get it out there."

J.T. Mallonga, the national chair of NaFFAA, cited the section 203 of the Voting Rights Act that protects minority language citizens. He said that in counties where there are 10,000 or more registered Filipino-American voters, the county is mandated to appoint a coordinator for that group.

If the county does not comply, it can be sued according to the act, he said.

Mallonga said he is gathering data about Hudson County's "identifiable" Filipino-American voters but is not pursing a lawsuit at this time.

"The key thing is we need to register voters," said Eric Salcedo, the national field director of the Asian and Pacific Islander American Vote.

"There are other, more attainable options before we go that route (the lawsuit)," he said.
BAYONNE -- Planet Wings on Broadway held a festive ribbon-cutting today to celebrate its reopening under new management, throwing a party that featured chicken giveaways, free popcorn, face painting and balloons.

Joe Barbero, a culinary arts teacher at Bayonne High School, took ownership of the restaurant at 589 Broadway in partnership with his son, Chris Barbero, and longtime friend, Al Conti.

The 60-year-old Bayonne resident told The Jersey Journal it was Conti who suggested the idea back in August.

"We kept playing around with it and all, and we took over December 1," Barbero said, adding that the previous owners had been looking to sell the franchise.

In addition to the co-owners' friends and family, Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis and city council members attended the restaurant's ribbon-cutting.

Davis said that while Planet Wings isn't a new business on Broadway, the fact that it was successfully sold to new owners is still a good sign.

"You still have people who believe in Broadway and aren't afraid to open up a new store," he said. "I think people can see that Bayonne is changing for the better."

Joe and Chris Barbero also run Joseph's Deli and Catering at 561 Ave. A, which has been owned by their family since 1957.

The menu and online ordering options for Planet Wings can be found at www.planetwings.com. The phone number for the restaurant is 201-535-5511.

Discounts -- 10 percent off pick up or delivery and 15 percent off eating in -- are available for veterans on Mondays, teachers on Tuesdays, students on Wednesdays and senior citizens on Thursdays. Law enforcement, firemen, medical workers and active members of the military get discounts every day.

Jonathan Lin may be reached at jlin@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @jlin_jj. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
Livingston residents Bruce and Lynn Schonbraun recently pledged $5 million to Saint Barnabas Medical Center in support of the planned, five-story, 241,000-square-foot Cooperman Family Pavilion with an accompanying parking garage. "We recognize how important individual philanthropy is to health care and, more importantly, to our community hospital. Our hope is that other people will be inspired to join me and my family to invest in the one service that every single person will ultimately require," Bruce Schonbraun said.

Adam Henrique, Kyle Palmieri and Bobby Farnham of the New Jersey Devils recently stopped by Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville to visit patients, employees, physicians and visitors. This little fan smiles and shows off her autographed pucks from New Jersey Devils, from left, Farnham, Henrique and Palmieri.

In partnership with

the city of Jersey City, the Jersey City

Medical Center Emergency Medical Responder team created United Rescue, the first program in the nation to train volunteers as community-based emergency caregivers to respond to emergencies faster than the arrival of an ambulance. Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, center, joins members of the first class of proud United Rescue graduates.

Jennifer A. LaRosa, left, MD, FCCM, FCCP, Patient Safety and Quality Officer and Associate Director, Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Newark Beth Israel Medical Center (NBIMC) and Pratik Patel, MD, FCCP, Director of Interventional Pulmonology, Barnabas Health Lung Center at NBIMC, and Pulmonary Medical Fellowship Director, explained the dangers of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma in women and spoke about lung cancer at the American Lung Association's Women's Lung Health Breakfast, held recently in Newark.

For more news and features about healthy living, click here.
Area diners welcomed the grand re-eopening of Coltello Ristorante with open arms last weekend, as the popular eatery celebrated the beginning of a new era in Hamilton.

The award winning restaurant--which won the 2013 Open Table top 100 restaurant in the country in 2013 -- opened with the same culinary staff intact.

Coltello Ristorante's new home is adjacent to The Grove liquor store on Route 156 in Hamilton's Yardville neighborhood.

The return was facilitated by proprietor David Boyer, a patron who wanted to help bring it back after it lost its lease in the Chesterfield village of Crosswicks in 2014.

Returning to the fold is Executive Chef John Tavlaris, a 2004 graduate of Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School in Portsmouth, NH.

Coltello Ristorante recently re-opened at a new location in Hamilton.

Tavlaris -- who cut his teeth as a sous chef at places like Wolfgang Puck's Jai in La Jolla, Calif. -- is back to creating the dishes fans of the old restaurant crave, with some new tricks up his sleeve.

Seated at a table during a rare moment of downtime this past Sunday night, Tavlaris took stock of the dining room, many customers from the old crowd, with a smile.

"Tonight went really well," he said. "It's good to see a lot of people that I haven't seen in a while."

The Italian/Mediterranean Coltello dishes, made from fresh ingredients with a varied menu that included fish, poultry, veal and pasta, were a huge draw, Boyer said.

The former location was at times booked six weeks in advance for reservations for Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, Boyer said.

The new restaurant is spacious and can comfortably seat 85, with a fully stocked bar featuring craft beers from local breweries is also located in the rear of the restaurant.

Boyer said he took care to make sure the restaurant is also "kid friendly," and pays special attention to patrons with specific nut allergies.

Boyer has added another dimension for Tavlaris and his staff-which includes Sous Chef Marco Polizzi.

Unlike the old restaurant, Tavlaris is working with two kitchens, with one line working on appetizers and the other on the entrees. He also has "complete freedom" to create in the kitchen, Tavlaris said.

"I have so much more space," Tavlaris said. "This is next level."

Tavlaris is now joined by Paul Bieri, providing fresh baked bread, rolls and desserts. There is no dessert menu; the options are displayed on a tray for patrons to choose.

"We'll be changing the desserts all around," said Bieri, who brings 50 years of baking experience to the table, including stints in Germany, Paris and locally at Mastori's Diner in Bordentown.

So far, the most popular dishes ordered include the pork belly, fig jam pickled apples appetizer and the Grigstown Parm Chicken.

Also flying out of the kitchen-the pork chop served with sweet potatoes, broccoli and bourbon maple glaze. There are some new twists to the menu as well--lamb meatballs with Morrocan tomato sauce and Coriander is a family recipe, Boyer said.

The restaurant--which currently employs 32 people and is still hiring -- prides itself on cutting and preparing its own meat and sausages and incorporating local ingredients into the recipes. Boyer said a menu refresh is already in the works, as the choices will change "every three to five weeks."

Also on the agenda-Boyer is looking into doing a "dessert night," and is exploring the possibility of opening up the restaurant for lunch.

In March, the restaurant will host wine and beer tastings on Monday and Tuesday nights. The current hours are 5-10 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 5-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 4-10 p.m. Sunday.

Follow The Times of Trenton on Twitter @TimesofTrenton. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
HAMILTON -- The father of the motorist charged with slamming into a car on the New Jersey Turnpike Monday, killing a beloved teacher and his 5-year-old daughter, said his family's thoughts are with the crash victims.

"Our hearts are breaking for that family," Richard Hahn, father of 36-year-old Scott Hahn, said Friday.

Scott Hahn, 36, of Hamilton.

"Nothing I can say is going to make anything better, and I am at a total loss for words," a distraught Hahn said.

He declined to discuss any other part of the crash, or his son.

"All of our hearts are broken for this family," he said of the victims. "That's where our family's hearts are."

Scott Hahn, of Hamilton, is charged with two counts each of aggravated manslaughter and vehicular homicide in connection with the deaths of Tim O'Donnell, 48, and his 5-year-old daughter Bridget.

The O'Donnell's were heading home to Bayonne from County Prep High School in Jersey City, where O'Donnell was a popular teacher and Bridget attended a day care program.

Police have said Hahn rear-ended their car before the 14C toll plaza on the Hudson County Extension in Jersey City. The collision propelled O'Donnell's Chevrolet Malibu through the toll plaza and into oncoming eastbound traffic.

Scott Hahn admitted to police that he had taken 10 Adderall pills and hadn't slept for 26 hours before the crash, according to a criminal complaint.

Hahn's state-appointed attorney entered a plea of not guilty for him in court Wednesday, saying "This will turn out to be nothing more than an accident."

Hahn is an employee of Cracker Barrel at the Hamilton Marketplace on Route 130, a company spokeswoman said. An employee at the location said he hadn't been working there long and declined to make any other comments.

It's unclear why Scott Hahn was in north Jersey Monday.

Public records show that in addition to his Hamilton address, he has previous addresses in Jersey City from 2008 and 2009.

Hahn's mother, Diane Hahn, declined to comment for this story.

Scott Hahn attended Nottingham High School in Hamilton, and his Facebook page - where he goes by Scott-Michael Hahn - says he attended the Art Institute of Philadelphia.

Several of the photos on his page are depictions of his artwork, which he signed.

Scott Meltzer went to high school with Scott Hahn, and later worked with him at Pizzeria Uno in Hamilton.

He said hasn't been in touch with him in years and was stunned to see his mugshot on the New Jersey State Police news release posted on Facebook about the crash.

"He was a nice guy," Meltzer said. "He would bend over backwards for you"

"I feel bad for both families," Meltzer said.

Scott Hahn has a twin brother, Jeremy, and another brother, Joshua Hahn, who works for the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.

Josh Hahn was wounded in 2007 while a Mercer County Sheriff's officer during a shooting in which his father Richard Hahn was present.

The father and son, who was off duty, were running an errand when they spotted a domestic incident on a sidewalk and Josh Hahn identified himself as an officer and intervened.

While trying to subdue the situation, a gunman suddenly attacked Josh Hahn and shot him in the chest, nearly killing him. The suspect, Vasil "Billy" Heisler, was later caught and sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter@kevintshea. Find The Times of Trenton on Facebook.
TRENTON - A 25-year-old Trenton man was shot in both legs during a confrontation with a masked man in the city's East Ward, police said.

Lt. Stephen Varn said the victim was shot around 9:30 p.m. Saturday in the 200 block of Tyler Street by a gunman described only as wearing a mask and dark clothing. The gunman fled the scene.

Varn said Trenton police were first called Saturday night to a report of multiple shots being fired on Tyler Street.

He said another call came in shortly after the first reporting that the victim was at an address in the 255 block of Hamilton Avenue.

Varn said police found the victim with wounds to both his legs.

He said the victim reported to police that he saw a masked man on Tyler Street who pointed a handgun at him. "He then heard gun shots and realized he had been struck," Varn said.

Varn said the gunman fled the scene and the victim was able to get to Hamilton Avenue where police found him.

The victim was taken to Capital Health Regional Medical Center in Trenton where he was treated and released.

The city's joint Shooting Response Team is investigating the incident.

Lindsay Rittenhouse may be reached at lrittenhouse@njadvancemedia.com. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Virginia officer killed Saturday was sworn in only the day before
WASHINGTON (AP)  The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued a subpoena to Donald Trump. The nine-member panel sent a letter to the former president's lawyers on Friday, demanding his testimony under oath by mid-November and outlining a series of corresponding documents. The decision by lawmakers to exercise their subpoena power comes a week after the committee made its final case against the former president, who they say is the "central cause" of the multi-part effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. It remains unclear how Trump and his legal team will respond to the subpoena, if at all.
Today

Clear skies. Low 63F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 63F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.

Tomorrow

Except for a few afternoon clouds, mainly sunny. High 81F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
Today

Clear skies. Low 63F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.

Tonight

Clear skies. Low 63F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph.

Tomorrow

Sunshine and some clouds. High 81F. Winds SE at 5 to 10 mph.
Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for Sudbury and vicinity, saying that up to 15 cm of snow could fall tomorrow. A low pressure system will spread an area of snow into the region beginning tonight or early Sunday.

Environment Canada has issued a special weather statement for Sudbury and vicinity, saying that up to 15 cm of snow could fall tomorrow.A low pressure system will spread an area of snow into the region beginning tonight or early Sunday.Snowfall amounts in the 10 to 15 cm range will be likely by Sunday night when the snow tapers off.Motorists should be prepared for poor winter driving conditions due to accumulating snow and poor visibility in bursts of heavy snow.Please continue to monitor alerts and forecasts issued by Environment Canada. To report severe weather, send an email to storm.ontario@ec.gc.ca or tweet reports to #ONStorm.
Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for the Greater Sudbury area. Anywhere between 15 to 20 cm is expected. Snow will be heavy at times today and continue through this evening.

Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning for the Greater Sudbury area.Anywhere between 15 to 20 cm is expected. Snow will be heavy at times today and continue through this evening.Prepare for quickly changing and deteriorating travel conditions.Rapidly accumulating snow could make travel difficult over some locations. Visibility may be suddenly reduced at times in heavy snow.Snowfall warnings are issued when significant snowfall is expected.To report severe weather, send an email to storm.ontario@ec.gc.ca or tweet reports to #ONStorm.
The 2015 Bermuda Bowl final had a surreal atmosphere. One finalist, Sweden, was competing in the Bowl only because Germany, Israel and Monaco had withdrawn due to allegations of cheating against a pair from each of those countries.

The other finalist was Poland, whose presence was controversial since the credentials committee had rescinded, without explanation, the invitation of a Polish pair. Poland elected to play -- some felt they shouldn't have -- and brought in a substitute pair.

The match was a seesaw. Sweden took a lead, lost it, forged ahead again, and finally succumbed to a Polish rally to lose, 308 to 293.

With five deals left, Sweden still led. Then at one table in today's deal, South for Sweden played at four spades doubled. West led a heart, and the defense got a heart, a heart ruff, the ace of trumps and a diamond.

In the replay, North for Poland opened one club, East doubled and South jumped conventionally to three hearts as a "transfer." North accepted with three spades, and East doubled again. West must have thought his partner had good spades. Indeed, East had doubled one club for takeout. So West passed, and North made an overtrick for a decisive swing to Poland.

Official inquiries into the cheating allegations are ongoing. In my opinion, what we have seen is an evil but inevitable consequence of big-money sponsorship. When rich players are putting up millions to try to buy major titles, some people will abandon their moral sense and risk expulsion to try for a chunk of that money.

North dealer

E-W vulnerable

NORTH

S J 2

H K Q 10 6

D A 7 4

C J 9 8 7

WEST

S 9 7 6

H 7 2

D J 6 3

C Q 10 5 4 3

EAST

S A

H A 9 5

D K Q 9 8 5

C A K 6 2

SOUTH

S K Q 10 8 5 4 3

H J 8 4 3

D 10 2

C None

North East South West

1 D Dbl 4 S Pass

Pass Dbl All Pass

Opening lead -- H 7
GARY  Renowned portrait photographer Larry Lapidus and former New York Times and Chicago Tribune photographer Bob Palmieri will show nearly 100 of their photos at a new exhibit in the Miller section of Gary.

The Straight Shooters photo exhibition opens Friday at the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts, at 540 S. Lake St. It's free and it runs through March 20.

Here in the 21st century we all have a staggering array of tools for photographic depiction and manipulation. Cameras in our cellphones are terrifically well-suited to the depiction of people, places, objects and documents. Instagram-type presets can immediately transform the look to emphasize a particular mood," Lapidus and Palmieri said in a mission statement.

"The overall level of everyday photography has risen greatly over the last decade. However, certain earlier disciplines are in danger of being unintentionally relegated to the realm of quaint. This show will attempt to present one of these approaches with clarity and impact."

All the images in the show were captured on film.

"At its core, straight photography is about establishing an instant connection with the viewer based on an instant impression recorded by the photographer," they said.

Lapidus was a renowned New York City portrait photographer who moved to Chicago 25 years ago and then to Miller Beach five years ago. He's on the board of directors for the Miller Beach Arts & Creative District and started a documentary film series.

The photos in his display were taken on trips to France, Mexico and Italy in the 1980s.

All my photographs in this exhibit were shot on film, he said. All of the prints (except those shot in Italy) are traditional silver gelatin prints, processed in what is now called a wet darkroom.

Palmieri has freelanced for the New York Times and the Chicago Tribune, and worked for the Miami News Bureau. He's shot for albums, websites and brochures.

He'll display an eclectic array of images, including those of nature and celebrities. There's also environmental portraiture and classic-style street photography.

From a young age, I loved to look at photos. I wanted to make some of my own, he said. Also, I was on tour a lot with the American Boychoir in the 1960s and I wanted to preserve what I was seeing in some way.

An opening reception will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday with beer, wine, refreshments and American Song Book jazz interpretations by Rick Quarles.

The gallery is open from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.
To most people, the definition of looping is to form a rope or material, doubled against itself, leaving a hole in the middle. To the students, teachers and administrators at Portage High School, looping has a different meaning: student success through improved test scores.

Because of the innovative program and the increase in test scores, the Portage High School Looping Program has been recognized by the Indiana Department of Education as a School of Promising Practice in the area of English/language arts and math. The IDOE, in celebration of Indianas bicentennial, is honoring two hundred education or wrap around programs across the state.

The Portage High School Looping Program involves ninth and 10th grade students. The students are looped together for two years with the same students and teachers and then chosen for the Looping Program through a rubric and teacher evaluation. The students take Algebra I and II, along with English 9 and 10 during their two years in the program. Along with English/language arts and math, a differentiated lab class period is also taken where the students receive remediation or enrichment based on their need.

The program is student centered and allows the teachers to build strong relationships with their students. Also included is instruction from the Portage Township Schools core values. This additional instruction helps the students form bonds with teachers and each other to make them more comfortable and confident in the classroom.

The students also learn team-building and problem solving through the Challenge Education Program. All the Looping teachers work together to build common assessments and curriculum maps and work together with continuous data monitoring and collaboration.

What are the results of the Looping Program? According to the Indiana Department of Education, in 2010, Portage High School students ECA passing scores were 64.9 percent. As of 2015 the passing scores have increased almost 13 percent to 77.2 percent. This is a dramatic increase and it is just the beginning as we set our sights to continually improve.

Even with the successes of the Looping Program, it still continues to evolve. The teachers are constantly meeting together along with the administrators to improve instruction by looking at the data and sharing what works in their classrooms.

We also look at the best research in education to build that into our instruction. In this way, the program will remain updated with new and innovative ideas implemented.

Portage High School and Portage Township Schools are proud to have been honored by the Indiana Department of Education as one of its Schools of Promising Practice and will continue to strive to achieve the corporation's mission of educating, empowering and inspiring excellence.
It was June 3, 1989, when we loaded a moving truck and left our two-flat house in the Gage Park neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago. I was 9.

I remember looking out the back window as the house got smaller and eventually disappeared.

I didn't cry. There was no point because I knew my parents would realize their mistake and quickly bring our family back instead of to that cornfield state Indiana, miles away from friends and family.

It's 2016, and I'm still here, still living in the house we moved into in unincorporated St. John Township. This is home.

The Region is a beautiful mish-mosh of cultures and personalities. Some of my friends have roots that sink back to the founding days of Lake County, while others crossed the state line in a story nearly identical to mine.

We joke how Region rats are the red-headed stepchildren, shunned by the rest of the state and elbowed by Chicago. Instead of fighting our identity, we should embrace it.

We have urban areas and agriculture separated by a half hour drive, filled in with strip malls and casual restaurants indicative of suburbia. You can visit Michael Jackson's childhood home in Gary and drive to Fair Oaks Farm to see a calf born, all in one day. You can shop boutiques, buy local at the Hunt and Gather pop up market or hop the South Shore to play tourist in downtown Chicago.

I've thought about moving back to Chicago now that I'm grown, but it doesn't feel like home there any more. Around Thanksgiving, I was out near the old neighborhood, so I drove by our old house.

I stopped the car, snapped some pictures with my iPhone and headed home to the Region. This time, I didn't look back.
MIDLOTHIAN, Va.  Sheila Covert is worried about Donald Trump.

A loyal Republican voter from swing state Virginia, Covert calls the businessman "bombastic" and says there's "just no substance" in his boastful campaign rhetoric.

But if Trump does become the GOP presidential nominee?

"Well, I'd definitely vote for him," said Covert, an 81-year-old from the Richmond suburb of Powhatan. After a pause, she added, "But I hope and pray it doesn't come to that."

Covert is part of a legion of skeptical Republican voters across the United States coming to grips with the prospect that Trump, a candidate whose appeal they simply can't understand, may end up being their party's best chance for retaking the White House. The real estate mogul has scored three commanding primary victories in a row, including Tuesday in Nevada, and enters next week's delegate-rich Super Tuesday elections in strong position.

Interviews with about two dozen frequent Republican voters in Virginia  an important general election battleground and one of several states with a primary next week  reveal the complex mix of emotions Trump evokes within in his own party.

Among those who don't plan to vote for Trump in the primary, there's shock, confusion and anxiety over his candidacy. But there's also a grudging acceptance of the billionaire's political staying power and a feeling that despite his many flaws, he'd be better than another four years with a Democrat in the White House  particularly if that Democrat is Hillary Clinton.

"He says things you cannot imagine a president saying," said Michael Glunt, a 42-year-old landscaper from Midlothian. But if Trump faces off against Clinton in November, Glunt will cast his ballot for the GOP nominee.

"In this particular case, I would vote for him," Glunt said. "Hillary Clinton, I don't trust her. There's no trust."

The voters interviewed by The Associated Press represent a tiny sliver of the electorate. But their views illuminate the debate within both parties about how a Trump nomination would play out in November, particularly as that prospect becomes more real with each voting contest.

Democratic officials are betting that Trump's over-the-top rhetoric, particularly about women and immigrants, would turn off independents and some Republicans in battleground states like Virginia. Some anxious GOP leaders share that concern, contributing to the sudden rush of lawmakers and other party officials rallying around Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as an alternative.

Bill Ginther, a 69-year-old retiree from Midlothian, is among the Republicans so turned off by Trump they can hardly envision voting for him if he's the nominee. Ginther, who plans to vote for Rubio in Tuesday's primary, says he's "honestly shocked" that Trump has come as far as he has.

"I don't know if I could vote for him," Ginther said. "It would make it very difficult."

While some voters joke about moving to Canada if Trump becomes president, Nancy Bradner is looking at that possibility with some seriousness. A supporter of past GOP nominees including Mitt Romney and George W. Bush, she's now researching Canadian politics, as well as the country's health care system and housing market.

Bradner doesn't know if she'd really go through with a move north  "I can't leave my grandbabies," she said  but makes clear that "it would be an option."

"I just don't think I could be in the midst of it," Bradner said. "This is the first time in my 68 years that I have truly been scared of what is going to happen in this election."

A recent AP-GfK poll, however, suggests Ginther and Bradner may be in the minority. The survey showed far more Republicans than not say they'd vote for Trump in the general election, and 86 percent of Republican voters think he can win in November  giving him a 15 percentage point advantage over anyone else.

For Cumberland County resident Tina Shumaker, the prospect of voting for Trump is deeply unappealing. Her top concern in the election is national security, and she can't fathom Trump engaging in diplomacy or being able to keep the country safe.

But her concerns about him pale in comparison to her dislike of Clinton. And while Shumaker sees no good options in a general election contest between the two, the 66-year-old leaves no question about who would get her support.

"If it would have to come between him and Hillary, I'm afraid he'd get my vote," Shumaker said. "I hope it doesn't turn out that way. But it's beginning to look that way."
INDIANAPOLIS  Gov. Mike Pence regularly complains about the federal government usurping the power of states.

Now he must decide whether Indiana should deny Hoosiers, acting through their local governments, the authority to regulate businesses and the environment.

The Republican-controlled General Assembly last week voted to send the Republican governor House Bill 1053, barring local governments from enacting a ban or tax on plastic shopping bags; and Senate Bill 20, co-sponsored by state Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, prohibiting ordinances that require businesses provide workers their schedules in advance.

No Indiana community has a plastic-bag ban or limits on just-in-time scheduling practices.

But supporters of the measures want to be sure businesses aren't forced to follow different rules in different communities, even if it requires the state overriding the power of local governments.

Pence has yet to say whether he plans to sign or veto the proposals.

They were among some two dozen measures to advance to the governor's desk last week, including:

Spay/neuter  House Bill 1201, sponsored by state Rep. Linda Lawson, D-Hammond, state Sen. Jim Arnold, D-LaPorte, and Randolph, requires cats and dogs at public and private animal care facilities be spayed or neutered prior to being made available for adoption, starting in 2021.

"We are one step closer to saving the lives of thousands of animals across the state," said Lawson, who has worked seven years to end euthanasia of unwanted pets.

Corrections  House Bill 1102, sponsored by Lawson and Randolph, allows the Indiana Department of Correction to pay for mental health and addiction treatments for county jail inmates. It also encourages coordination between community corrections programs and state agencies to reduce recidivism.

Palliative care  Senate Bill 272, sponsored by state Reps. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, and Donna Harris, D-East Chicago, establishes the Palliative Care and Quality of Life Advisory Council within the State Department of Public Health to study and recommend policies for Hoosiers suffering serious illness.

Drugs  Senate Bill 290 increases recently reduced drug crime penalties by classifying any person caught with 28 grams of a controlled substance as a drug dealer, even if there is no other evidence the person is selling drugs.

Unclaimed veterans  Senate Bill 145 permits veteran service organizations to take possession and bury the remains of a military veteran who is unclaimed by family or friends one year after death. State Sens. Ed Charbonneau, R-Valparaiso, Arnold and Randolph are sponsors.

Contracts  Senate Bill 327 mandates local governments post on the state's transparency website any contract worth either $50,000 or 10 percent of its property tax levy.

After-school programs  Senate Bill 251, sponsored by state Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, creates the Out of School Time Learning Advisory Board to evaluate existing before- and after-school programs and recommend to the Legislature policies and funding levels needed to support the best programs.
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP  The Porter County Council agreed last week to contribute $317,197 in hospital sale interest money toward the reconstruction of the main runway at the Porter County Regional Airport.

While a large sum, the true value of the money is its linchpin role in securing the balance of the funding for the massive $11.3 million project.

The Federal Aviation Administration is contributing 90 percent of the money, the state is picking up 5 percent and the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority agreed to provide half of the remaining 5 percent as long as the county comes up with the other half, Porter County Municipal Airport Authority President Paul Chael told the council.

He stressed the money is not being used as an expansion, but rather to rebuild the runway already in place.

The east-west runway, which is the largest of the two at the site at the northeast corner of Ind. 49 and U.S. 30, was built in 1966 and has since undergone two renovations, Airport Director Kyle Kuebler said.

The times between the repairs is getting shorter, he said, and damage and wear now amounts to 200,000 linear feet of cracks, he said. At a length of 7,000 feet and width of 150 feet, the runway is larger than any at Chicago Midway International Airport.

"It's really a transportation asset for the county," he said.

The airport is used regularly by local businesses and gives the county and region access to an important mode of transportation, Kuebler said.

The County Council approved the funding, as requested, out of the interest generated on the money made from the 2007 sale of the county hospital. Final approval of the request will be taken up March 15 by the Porter County Board of Commissioners.

County Councilman Jim Biggs, R-1st, proposed taking the money from the county's share of the proceeds from the lease of the Indiana Toll Road.

He said the hospital interest money can be used for any use, but the Toll Road proceeds are limited in scope and this road-type work would qualify.

The runway is being rebuilt with a bituminous or blacktop material, Kuebler said.

Biggs agreed that coming up with the requested sum was worth securing the vast majority of the project cost elsewhere.

"It's kind of a no-brainer," he said.

The first phase of the runway project was completed last summer and involved rebuilding the intersection of the main runway and another smaller north-south runway, Kuebler said. That work required shutting down the airport for nine days.

The second and final phase is scheduled to begin in the spring and will close the main runway for 70 days, he said. That work will be followed by a separate project to wrap up work on taxiways.
CROWN POINT  Democratic candidates for Indiana governor and U.S. Senate need a massive vote this fall from a unified Lake County party.

John Buncich, the county Democratic Party chairman, said he wants to deliver that.

But first Buncich, who is also the Lake County sheriff, has to navigate his Democrats through a spring primary seething with an old-fashioned smear sheet and what appears to be a generation gap.

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., the prior county chairman, is chiding Buncich for what he perceives as a lack of party support for its younger stars. Among them are County Recorder Mike B. Brown, 32; County Surveyor Bill Emerson Jr., 34, Lake County Commissioner Mike Repay, 40, along with McDermott's wife, Marissa McDermott, 40. Marissa McDermott is running for Lake Circuit Court.

McDermott said the 70-year-old Buncich "picks and chooses who he supports. He goes out and talks to young people, saying he wants to get them involved in the party and in positions of power. But what he's doing in this cycle is opposing every young person on the ballot."

"That isn't good for the future of the party," McDermott said. "We have great young people, and he is opposing them in almost every single case."

The breakdown of candidates

Brown's re-election is being challenged by four other Democrats, including Gregory Sanchez, 55, whose wife works as a secretary for the sheriff.

Emerson was opposed by Andrew Sylwestrowicz, 75, until last week when the elections board removed Sylwestrowicz over a technical flaw in his candidate paperwork. Sylwestrowicz said last week he was falsely accused by McDermott allies of being put in the race by Buncich supporters.

Buncich denies throwing opponents at the other three.

"I don't have a horse in the ... Repay race. Bill Emerson is a personal friend of mine. That kid is strong, and we need him. I don't have a problem with Mike Brown. I don't have a problem with any of these people."

Marissa McDermott and Merrillville attorney Carrie Castro are challenging 67-year-old Circuit Court Judge George C. Paras.

Buncich said last week he does support Paras as the incumbent officeholder  as McDermott supported incumbents when McDermott was chairman  and as as a friend.

"I told (McDermott), if you want to have your wife run, go ahead, this is America."

McDermott said, "He says he supports Judge Paras over Marissa McDermott ... because he's 'known him forever.' That is not good for the party. If Marissa wins, I think that would be good for the party. If Mike Repay wins, I think that's good for the party. Bill Emerson, good for the party. Mike Brown for recorder, good for the party."

Buncich took over the party reins from McDermott less than two years ago.

"One day he loves me, the next he throws me out of the house," Buncich said of McDermott.

McDermott said Buncich needs control of the party.

"This didn't happen when I was chairman," he said.

The smear

The two are at odds over a paper flier bearing McDermott's photograph between two Confederate flags. It states McDermott hates Gary and questions why Gary voters should support his wife for judge.

It surfaced early last week when McDermott posted an image of it on Facebook and blamed its creation on supporters of Paras. Buncich issued a news release Friday calling for the FBI to investigate the flier.

"I want to get to the bottom of this. It's nothing but dirty politics trying to divide this county."

Buncich said nobody else can find the flier.

"He has the only one in existence. We've looked all over Gary; no flier," Buncich said.

McDermott said he was infuriated at any insinuation that he is somehow responsible for the flier. He said Friday more fliers were being posted around Gary's downtown Genesis Center with the same racist message, but now including a photo of his wife and a noose.

This latest flier is the product of Dwight Taylor, a Gary community activist, who attacked Thomas McDermott Jr. in spring 2008 when McDermott was supporting Hillary Clinton against Barrack Obama. Taylor said he isn't working for any politicians.

"I just feel that if his wife was elected judge, a black man wouldn't have a chance," Taylor said.

He added he had nothing to do with the earlier flier against McDermott.

Other candidates have declined to get in the middle of a Buncich-McDermott feud.

Brown said Buncich has never been close to him, but he doesn't see Sanchez as a Buncich proxy.

"Gregory Sanchez was my chief deputy for five weeks. It didn't work out, and I let him go. I think he's running against me out of revenge."

Sanchez said it was his decision to run.

"I'm the best qualified as a former county surveyor," he said.

Repay said he welcomes McDermott's support and believes Buncich's assurances that Buncich will remain neutral in the commissioner's race with four Democratic challengers, including County Councilwoman Christine Cid.
HIGHLAND  Vyto's Pharmacy is looking to open shop in the former site of Finkes Bar & Grill.

If the plan comes off the drawing board, the building at 8835 Kennedy Ave. will be razed and replaced with Vyto's.

Along with previous nightclubs, the Finke building once housed the Ken Ridge Bowling Lanes.

"They're proposing a two-story building and to demolish the old one," Redevelopment Director Cecile Petro said, adding this would represent a $1.3 million investment.

"Vyto's has an interest in the property right now," Building Commissioner Ken Mika said.

The pharmacy has not officially bought the site yet, but a sale might be right around the corner, he said.

The land includes an adjacent lot that housed American Auto Body at 8845 Kennedy Ave.

Vyto's has requested a public hearing with the Plan Commission for a subdivision to combine the two parcels, Mika said.

Petro said the proposal also includes a tax abatement request.

Vyto's will appear before the Economic Development Commission in hopes of a favorable recommendation to the Town Council for the abatement.

That will probably happen in March, she said.

In the meantime, Vyto's has been working with the town on drainage issues at the site, Petro said.

If the plan comes together, Vyto's would move from its downtown Highway Avenue location and make the new building its headquarters, Petro said.

Along with the pharmacy and headquarters, the new building would include a retail space for rent to an undetermined business, she noted.

"We're very happy that they are making an investment in town," Petro said.

In other business, Mika noted that Indiana Farmers Insurance is preparing to move into the former Southside Bantam site across from Finke's.

The building, 8836 Kennedy Ave., is going through an extensive remodeling for the business, which could be open by the end of March, he said.
WHITING  The City Council is hooking up with the School City of Whiting and the Whiting Public Library to save money by sharing services and supplies.

"We can share vendors and buy supplies for each other," Councilman Chris Sarvanidis, D-at-large, said.

He said buying items in larger volume can result in lower costs.

"We have a large gasoline filling station that we own, so we're buying gasoline in bulk," Sarvanidis said. "So we can let them get their gas there, which would be cheaper than getting it going to a regular gas station."

He said if the School City fills buses there it would not necessarily have to pay the civil city back in cash, but might provide maintenance services at City Hall.

"We always had an agreement with the city and the schools," Sarvanidis said. "Now bringing the library in, you know, we can look at things like lawn service."

The partnership agreement runs through 2020.

The City Council also approved on second reading an ordinance that would authorize the issuance and sale of environmental facilities revenue bonds in an amount not to exceed $200 million.

The bonds are to be used to finance the acquisition, construction and installation of environmental facilities at the BP Refinery in Whiting.

Because industries cannot issue municipal bonds, Whiting's involvement will help BP obtain more favorable financing.

"There's no obligation on our part, and they directly pay back the bonds," said Sarvanidis, who serves as council president and chairman of the ordinance committee.

The ordinance will be up for third and final reading by the council on Tuesday.

Final approval was given to a flood plain ordinance that was originally considered on Feb. 2.

The ordinance regulates Special Flood Hazard Areas and is required by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.

Whiting has no residential areas within an SFHA, but the site of a planned lakefront restaurant and a new boat club building would fall within the flood plain.
WESTVILLE  The Purdue University North Central Office of Continuing Education and Academic Outreach will offer a noncredit pre-licensing course to prepare participants to take the Indiana Home Inspector Examination and become licensed home inspectors in Indiana.

The program will meet at the Purdue University Calumet campus in Hammond.

Pre-licensing for Indiana Home Inspectors will meet 6 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays April 4 through May 26.

Registration is $1,350, which includes all required textbooks and course materials. Payment plans are available. The registration and final payment deadline is 4 p.m. March 21.

During this state-approved program, students will learn material both through intensive classroom instruction and through hands-on labs by performing live home inspections with the instructor. The course is designed to meet the guidelines for providing home inspection services in Indiana and is a requirement to apply for a Home Inspectors License in the state of Indiana.

Taught by a licensed Indiana home inspector with more than 20 years of experience in inspecting properties and nearly a decade of teaching experience, students will learn the intricacies of building structures and systems, as well as the investigative techniques needed to complete home and business inspections. Students will receive in-depth instruction on Indiana state law, report writing and marketing their own future home inspection business.

Call (219) 785-5748 or cboehlke@pnc.edu.
VALPARAISO  The Porter County Museum is inviting county residents to have a say in the museums future.

About a dozen Porter County residents shared memories and offered suggestions Saturday at The Next 100: Imagining the Future of the Porter County Museum at the Valparaiso branch of the Porter County Public Library.

The workshop is part of a series of meetings that will be held around the county in the next month.

Museum director Kevin Pazour, staff members Megan Telligman and Jake Just, and museum volunteers presided over an interactive presentation to evoke residents stories and memories of the past and wishes for the future.

We have to look back to where we come from to know why we are here today, said Pazour, in greeting the audience.

Pazour led the group in a brief history of the museum, which was established around the time of Porter Countys centennial in 1936.

With the ongoing renovation of the museums additional space at 16 Indiana Ave., Pazour and staff said they want to mold future exhibits and programs to satisfy residents needs and to continue to fashion the museum into a county-wide treasure.

What were most interested in are stories, Telligman said. Its part of our initiative to get out in the communities and hear your stories as we imagine exhibits and programs that will occupy our new space.

In small groups, residents shared their memories of growing up and living in Porter County and placed purple markers on a large map of the county designating their most significant places.

Pazour asked participants to end the session by writing their suggestions on how to best educate, enrich and inspire the community through museum exhibits, collections and stories.

Pazour said the museum, which holds about 25,000 artifacts and conducts 50 programs a year, has evolved in the past few years from a place that was more about objects and less about stories.

Now we have an opportunity to come in and do great things and bring the community back in, Pazour said.

Revealing interior floor plans for the Indiana Avenue building, Pazour said the museum, which hosts six permanent exhibits and two temporary exhibits on an ongoing basis, will continue to use its current building at 165 S. Franklin St.

We are not vacating our current building. Our building is our greatest artifact and we need to do all we can to preserve it, Pazour said. We are building a museum campus for the benefit of all of Porter County.

Pazour said the renovation is intended to restore the identity of what existed there 100 years ago, and exterior brick work recently was completed.

Stay tuned and keep a close eye on 16 Indiana Avenue, as many things are changing quickly, Pazour said. Were excited to find our next 100 years and how we can have an impact on Porter County.

Future workshops dates are Wednesday at the museum, Friday at the Kouts branch library, March 12, at the Westchester Public Library Service Center and March 16 at the Portage Library.
COLUMBIA, S.C.  Hillary Clinton sailed to a commanding victory over Bernie Sanders in Saturday's South Carolina primary, drawing overwhelming support from the state's black Democrats and putting her in strong position as the race barrels toward Super Tuesday's crucial contests.

Clinton's win provided an important boost for her campaign  and a moment to wipe away bitter memories of her loss to Barack Obama in South Carolina eight years ago.

"To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you," Clinton wrote on Twitter. At a campaign victory party in Columbia, supporters broke into raucous cheers as the race was called in Clinton's favor.

Sanders, expecting defeat on Saturday, left the state even before voting was finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesday's delegate-rich contests. In a statement, Sanders vowed to fight on aggressively.

"This campaign is just beginning," he said. "Our grass-roots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won't stop now."

Clinton's victory came at the end of a day that saw Republican candidates firing insults at each other from Super Tuesday states. Donald Trump, working to build an insurmountable lead, was campaigning in Arkansas with former rival Chris Christie and calling Marco Rubio a "light little nothing;" Ted Cruz was asking parents in Atlanta if they would be pleased if their children spouted profanities like the brash billionaire, and Rubio was mocking Trump as a "con artist" with "the worst spray tan in America."

Clinton allies quickly touted the breadth of her victory. Besides blacks, she won most women and voters aged 30 and older, according to early exit polls.

Sanders continued to do well with young voters, his most passionate supporters. He also carried those who identified themselves as independent and most white voters.

A self-described democratic socialist, Sanders has energized his supporters with impassioned calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and making tuition free at public colleges and universities. But the senator from Vermont, a state where about 1 percent of the population is black, lacks Clinton's deep ties to the African-American community.

While Sanders spent the end of the week outside of South Carolina, his campaign did invest heavily in the state. He had 200 paid staff on the ground and an aggressive television advertising campaign.

Exit polls showed 6 in 10 voters in the South Carolina primary were black. About 7 in 10 said they wanted the next president to continue Obama's policies, and only about 20 percent wanted a more liberal course of action, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.

Clinton's sweeping victory suggested South Carolina voters had put aside any lingering tensions from her heated 2008 contest with Obama. Former President Bill Clinton made statements during that campaign that were seen by some, including influential South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, as questioning the legitimacy of the black presidential contender.

Clinton's campaign hopes her strong showing in South Carolina foreshadows similar outcomes in states like Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia that vote Tuesday and have large minority populations.

Taken together, 865 Democratic delegates are up for grabs in the Super Tuesday contests in 11 states and American Samoa. Sanders is hoping to stay close to Clinton in the South while focusing most of his attention on states in the Midwest and Northeast, including his home state of Vermont.

Clinton's will pick up most of South Carolina's delegates, widening her overall lead in AP's count. With 53 delegates at stake, Clinton will receive at least 31. Sanders picked up at least 12.
Can it get any more embarrassing in East Chicago  or for Northwest Indiana?

Headlines seemed to test that premise earlier this month with the announcement Randall Artis, who had been working full time for the East Chicago city clerk, was being shown the door because of a felony conviction for essentially stealing from taxpayers.

That sounds like reasonable, good government, right? Artis' former boss, City Clerk Adrian Santos, said "Randall Artis was terminated because he cannot be trusted to handle the public's money. It's just that simple."

It seems simple enough. Someone with a felony conviction for stealing from taxpayers shouldn't be working in a position in which he could potentially do it again.

Only it's East Chicago, and anyone who's followed the ins and outs of that city for any period of time knows it's not "that simple," as Santos would have us believe.

Artis' conviction didn't happen in 2015 or 2016.

He pleaded guilty in 2005  more than 10 years ago  to a charge of theft in U.S. District Court, Hammond. You see, Artis was an East Chicago city councilman at the time, elected to preside over the public trust.

Artis was convicted, along with a number of city officials and vendors, in a corruption probe that became known as the sidewalks-for-votes scandal. The co-conspirators misappropriated more than $24 million to pave new sidewalks, curbs, private driveways, parking lots and even one resident's entire backyard to curry votes in the 1999 elections.

Even with that highly publicized, shameful mark on Artis resume, then City Clerk Mary Morris Leonard hired Artis in August 2015.

Artis told The Times earlier this month it was his "big break in life" landing the position, which admittedly pays a paltry $10,840 per year but comes with full benefits, including health insurance.

The problem is, Artis clearly didn't deserve this "big break," at least not at the benevolence of a city he already admitted to fleecing, taking advantage of and deviating from a sacred oath he took when sworn into office.

Second chances have their place in society, but not at the expense of those already victimized  in this case, the taxpayers.

Artis now claims his firing is political, contending Santos bent to the political whims of disgraced East Chicago political operative Robert "Bobby" Cantrell, who recently finished a 78-month federal sentence for his own felony conviction. A federal jury found Cantrell guilty of taking cash kickbacks from a contract between the North Township trustee's office, where Cantrell was an employee, and a counseling service, and then evading taxes on the profits.

If Cantrell is actually calling political shots again, that also would be an embarrassment to a city currently reeling from a sitting city councilman, Robert Battle, who is charged in an unrelated federal homicide and drug case.

Santos denies Cantrell had anything to do with the firing.

Regardless of the truth behind Artis' firing, nothing changes the embarrassment of a convicted felon, found guilty of stealing from taxpayers, was again rehired to serve those very same taxpayers.

On the unconscionable hiring side of this red-faced fiasco, East Chicago isn't alone. Throughout the years, convicted criminals, particularly ones whose crimes were against taxpayers, have found their way back onto municipal and county payrolls throughout Lake County.

Prior to being hired by East Chicago, Artis also worked part-time for Lake County Sheriff John Buncich and former Lake County Surveyor George Van Til, county records show. Both of those jobs also followed Artis' 2005 conviction.

It's all part of politics-as-usual in Lake County, in which political allegiances hold more sway over hiring than qualifications  in which the strength of political connections transcend criminal convictions.

Ask most private-sector employers  ones that don't have hiring arrangements with court probation departments  if they would knowingly hire felons, and the answer is likely to be no.

But we do it here in Lake County as a matter of course, and it's embarrassing.

Voters keep letting it happen, too. Until our voters faces glow red with either the scarlet hue of anger or the sheepish blush of embarrassment  and until those emotions translate into action at the polls  nothing will change.
One theme should rise to the top of the Indiana General Assembly's final leg of this legislative session: Don't play kick the can down the crumbling roads of Indiana.

The can is likely to get stuck in a pothole anyhow.

A crucial plan to provide a long-term, sustainable funding source for repairing and maintaining Hoosier highways and byways appears stranded in an Indianapolis committee, and it has nothing to do with the road-strangling blizzard the Region just experienced.

Late last week, we learned the author of that plan, Indiana House Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, took steps to keep it alive, moving the plan into a roads bill originally championed by Gov. Mike Pence.

The crucial difference between the two plans is that Pence's original proposal would have included borrowing money to tackle $1 billion in investments to our deteriorating roadways.

Soliday's plan, now part of the Pence bill, would free up more gas sales tax money for roads while adding an additional $1-per-pack cigarette tax to make up for Medicaid's portion of the sales tax, which would be flowing to roads.

Soliday said he made the change because he expects his original bill, House Bill 1001, will undergo "significant surgery" in a Senate committee Thursday, and he wanted to keep the House provisions alive.

"We need this in order for the process to work and to make sure we have all the pieces on the table," Soliday said. "This is one step in a process that will become more intense over the next seven to eight days."

The real question is why there is any question at all.

Our transportation infrastructure is among our state's most important assets, both for quality of life and commerce.

All too often, politicians cower from doing what is right because it will prompt the dreaded T-word  taxes.

Too frequently as a society, citizens balk at any tax increases.

While waste in government has given us plenty of examples of money not being spent wisely, there can be no wiser investment than the staple services we all use and upon which our society thrives or starves.

The Indiana Legislature needs to summon fortitude and pass the Soliday plan, regardless of the bill in which its language is contained. We can't borrow our way out of broken roads and the need for future transportation expansion if our state is to grow.

And avoiding the issue by playing kick the can isn't legislating. It's playing chicken with an eventual disaster lurking behind all neglected infrastructure.
In its sixth year of operation, Porter County's first charter school has grown to 502 students from its original 315.

Located in a renovated office building in a wooded area in Porter, Discovery Charter School's curriculum is environmentally focused, using Indiana Dunes State Park and the National Lakeshore as both laboratory and playground.

Porter County's second charter school, New Vistas High School in Portage, is in its fourth year of operation. New Vistas is a public alternative high school open to all NWI residents.

Authorized by Ball State University, New Vistas offers high school diplomas, all teachers are licensed and Anna Swope is principal. As of February, there were 190 students.

Growth spurt

Discovery Charter School is managed by Chicago-based American Quality Schools. However, Discovery Charter intends to end its contract with AQS in June and become self-managed.

The Indiana Department of Education has graded Discovery Charter an A for several years. The charter school is authorized by the Office of Charter Schools at Ball State University.

Discovery Charter School Principal Ernesto Martinez said self-management means they will bring most management responsibilities in-house including accounting, technology and the facility.

"We're still exploring what other responsibilities we will bring in-house," he said.

There are three classes each of kindergarten through fifth grade, and the remainder of grades have two classes each. He said about 12 percent of students are special needs students.

Because of the school's growth, Martinez said they have been using modular buildings to house some classrooms. The hope is to finalize contracts to expand the cafeteria, gym space and add eight new classrooms.

"We look at expanding our play-space mission and utilize our local space to facilitate learning," he said.

Martinez said he continues to "be impressed with all of the hard work our students, teachers and parents do to make our school successful."

'NEO on the Move'

In Portage, New Vistas High School is one of three programs offered through Neighbors Education Opportunities, or NEO.

The other programs operated by NEO are an adult education program that includes English as a second language and citizenship classes. It is the only site in Porter County where people can take the high school equivalency exam, formerly known as the GED.

NEO Director Rebecca Reiner said Portage had offered adult education for nearly 50 years.

"When Portage decided to close that program, New Vistas stepped into place. It's an alternative school. There are no age limitations," Reiner said.

She said 88 percent of the students are juniors and seniors.

"These are people who need more time or need alternative pathways to be successful in school. It might mean having a flexible schedule, smaller classrooms, an accelerated schedule or remediation."

Reiner said 76 percent of students in the high school are 18 or older; some are in their 30s or 40s. She said 55 percent of the students come from Porter County, 47 percent from Lake County.

Since New Vistas has opened, it has graduated about 1,200 students and serves about 850 students per year through all of its programs.

NEO and its programs are on Central Avenue as part of a lease agreement with Portage Township Schools. However, NEO is looking at relocating its programs to the former Camelot Bowl on U.S. 6. The deal is contingent upon financing, Reiner said.

"There will need to be renovations to the building. It will be a $4 million to $5 million investment," she said.

"The branding of our capital campaign in this new phase is called 'NEO on the Move,' and we have demonstrated our ability to be a viable piece of the educational landscape in Northwest Indiana," Reiner said. "With a committed staff, board and teachers, we are dedicated to the success of every student."
There's something special cooking on the Lower East Side  and people are lining up to get a taste.

"It's the best breakfast in New York," said Allon Mordel, who lined up early Sunday morning outside Clinton Street Baking Company.

He's talking about pancakes, the bread and butter of Clinton Street Baking Company. The breakfast staple becomes the focus in February, as chef Neil Kleinberg dishes out a new flavor each weekday.

And since this is a leap year, patrons have an extra opportunity to sink their teeth into the celebration. So how many does he whip up?

"Anywhere from 900 to 1,000 a day," Kleinberg said.

Kleinberg and his wife DeDe Lahman started the business in a much smaller space just a few months before 9/11.

"We had like 10 or 12 customers a day, we had a college kid serving over the counter," said Lahman.

In time, their reputation grew and after New York Magazine declared them the best pancakes in the city  the lines grew too. They recently expanded to the corner and can now seat nearly 100 pancake lovers at a time.

"We cut through this building and we expanded our kitchen and we hoped to cut down the line for customers and unfortunately people are still waiting but the wait instead of 2 hours is usually an hour," said Lahman.

Now if you don't want to wait for a seat, you can always try to make pancakes at home  preferably from scratch. So what's the formula for fluffy flapjacks?

"Don't mess with the pancake," Kleinberg said. "Once you flip it don't prod it, don't pat it, don't toy with it. Let it do its thing. Only turn them once."

He also folds egg whites into the batter, which he says helps them stay high and light. It's a recipe for success that attracts an international crowd, with folks on this line hailing from Japan, Australia, France and Italy.

"I read on the internet that it was great for his pancakes so when we planned our trip in New York we decide to come here," said Italian tourist Matilda Casella.

So how did the pancakes stack up?

"Maybe the best I've ever eaten," Casella said.

"They're nice and fluffy," said Australian tourist Lauren Young.

"I love well-made pancakes and sugar infused bacon  everything my doctor tells me I'm not supposed to eat," said one diner.

To satisfy the international appetite, the company has also opened locations in Tokyo, Singapore and Dubai.
Amanda Kathryn Grey and Stephen Francis Wolf were married Feb. 27 at the Cree Estate in Cathedral City, Calif. The Rev. Catherine Williams, a United Methodist minister, officiated.

The couple met at Northwestern, from which they each received an M.B.A.

The bride, 31, is a management consultant in New York with Bain and Company, working with technology and other clients. She graduated magna cum laude from Boston College.

She is the daughter of Elizabeth Grey Beresford of Huntington Beach, Calif., and Curtis L. Guss of Midland, Tex., and the stepdaughter of Ted Beresford. The brides father is the president of the P.E.D. Oil Corporation in Midland. Her mother retired as a sales representative in Costa Mesa, Calif., for IBM. The brides stepfather is president of the Tidalwave Finance Corporation in Santa Ana, Calif., which specializes in financing used cars.

The groom, 30, is a consultant to pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients at IMS Consulting Group in New York. He graduated from Bucknell. He served in the Army from 2007 to 2012, during which he fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, attaining the rank of captain.
First Lt. Erin Elizabeth Bevacqua and Ari Isaacman Astles were married Feb. 22 at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue in Washington. Rabbi Deborah Reichmann officiated at a ceremony that incorporated Jewish and Catholic wedding traditions.

Ms. Bevacqua (left), 31, is a first lieutenant in the Marine Corps, serving as an investigator for the Inspector General of the corps. She is stationed at the Naval Support Facility in Arlington, Va., and later this year she will deploy to the Middle East. She graduated from the University of Arizona and received a masters degree in management of nonprofit groups from Regis University in Denver.

She is a daughter of Helen M. Bevacqua and Joseph F. Bevacqua of Dana Point, Calif. Her father is a business and accounting consultant in Dana Point. Her mother retired as a middle-school teacher at St. Edward the Confessor Parish School, an elementary and middle school in Dana Point.

Ms. Astles, 30, is taking Ms. Bevacquas name. She is a growth-strategy editor specializing in audience development in the Washington bureau of The New York Times. She also contributes to and edits the Upshot, the Timess section focused on analysis and data visualizations about politics, policy and everyday life. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and received an M.B.A. from George Washington University.
Jennifer Beth Piro and Michael Golding Balkin were married Feb. 27 in Scarsdale, N.Y. The ceremony, at the Rowsley Estate, the headquarters of the Scarsdale Womans Club, was led by two friends of the couple who became Universal Life ministers for the event. Jessica H. Hirschey legally solemnized the couples New York City marriage certificate and led the couple in their exchange of rings; Jacob Condon led the couple in their vows.

The bride, 30, is taking her husbands name. She is a manager of events and corporate membership in Manhattan for the Morgan Library & Museum. She graduated summa cum laude from the University of Massachusetts and received an M.B.A. from Baruch College.

She is the daughter of Jeanne Piro and Michael J. Piro of Pelham, N.Y. The brides father is the chief information officer at Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn. Her mother teaches English as a second language, and coordinates that program at Public School 119 in the Bronx.

The groom, 32, is a service manager in Manhattan for B. R. Guest Hospitality, a company that owns bars and restaurants. He graduated from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I.
Lynne White and Joel Kenneth Schnell are to be married Feb. 28 at the Riverpark restaurant in Manhattan. Tony LeRoy, a Universal Life minister, is to officiate.

The bride, 63, is a real estate saleswoman for Fox Residential in Manhattan. From 2010 to 2015, she was a political commentator on a WNBC-TV news segment called Power Panel, and until 2005 was a morning news anchor for WPIX-TV in New York. She graduated from Simmons College in Boston.

She is the daughter of Herschel T. White of Montclair, N.J., and the late Janet M. White. The brides father, who is retired, worked in Linden, N.J., as a polymer chemist for Exxon. Her mother ran a special skills program at Hawthorne Avenue Elementary School in Newark.

The groom, 66, works in Manhattan as the executive vice president for merchandising and sales of Once Again Apparel, a maker of womens clothing. He graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Olivia Jonquil Merns, a daughter of Karen Benz Merns of Manhattan and the late Stephen A. Merns, was married Feb. 27 to Daniel Haines Berger, a son of Miriam J. Haines and Michael G. Berger of Manhattan. Rabbi Ethan H. Witkovsky led the ceremony at the Liberty Warehouse, an event space in Brooklyn.

The bride, 28, who is taking her husbands name, graduated from Trinity College in Hartford and is pursuing an M.B.A. at New York University.

Her mother is a supervising psychologist at Mount Sinai St. Lukes hospital in Manhattan. She is on the board of overseers of Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology at Yeshiva University in the Bronx. The brides father was a director and a merchandise manager in Secaucus, N.J., for Syms, the former retail chain of which the brides paternal grandfather, the late Sy Syms, was the founder.

Mr. Berger, 32, works in Manhattan as the marketing director for Triller, a company that developed an app enabling smartphone users to create their own music videos. He graduated from Yale and received a masters degree in urban planning from Columbia.
Earlier in the evening, multiple attendees complained about media outlets calling the race for Mrs. Clinton before all of the precincts reported their results. I dont know why people in South Carolina give up so fast, a campaign volunteer who had traveled from California said. The volunteer, a white man, noted that only the old black vote from rural counties had come in at that point, adding, Who cares? (He quickly appended, I dont want to sound racist or anything...)

Women at the watch party were the most openly angry about the results. As Mrs. Clinton delivered her victory speech, a middle-aged woman jokingly plugged her ears and said La la la! Another sarcastically sang All You Need Is Love  a dig at Mrs. Clintons repetition of the phrase love and kindness  and added, Shes playing to the hippie crowd! A younger woman took a more direct route and emphatically gestured at the screen with a symbol meant to indicate the opposite of love and kindness.

After Mrs. Clinton finished her speech, Symone Sanders, a spokeswoman for the Sanders campaign, stood up in front of the screen at Pearlz.

Today is not the end. Today is the beginning, she said, to cheers.

As 9 p.m. came and went, the Sanderss crowds insistence on having a good time took on an air of civil disobedience. Justin Bamberg, a state representative  who notably switched his support from Mrs. Clinton to Mr. Sanders  took the stage to thank the attendees.

Keep your head up, because we are not done yet, Mr. Bamberg said. Crank the music up!

Over the past week, as Mrs. Clinton and an army of surrogates barnstormed South Carolina, Mr. Sanders made sporadic visits to the state. He has already turned his attention toward Super Tuesday contests, holding rallies in Missouri, Oklahoma, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Texas and Minnesota, along with South Carolina. A rally at a raceway in Austin on Saturday drew more than 10,000 people, according to his campaign.

As the South Carolina primary neared, Mr. Sanders started openly managing expectations for this contest. At Claflin University in Orangeburg, S.C., on Friday, Mr. Sanders admitted that he and his campaign didnt know many people from South Carolina before he started running for president, but said he was proud of the ground he had gained.

At the same event, the rapper Killer Mike sharply criticized Mrs. Clinton for how she dealt with a protester at a fund-raiser on Thursday night. He compared Mrs. Clintons behavior to Mr. Sanderss reaction when two young women representing the Black Lives Matter movement interrupted one of his campaign events last year.
After winning South Carolinas Democratic primary eight years ago, Senator Barack Obama declared that after four great contests, we have the most votes, the most delegates, and have the broadest coalition for change. Tonight it is his former opponent, Hillary Clinton, who can now make the same claim.

She has won South Carolina in a rout, 73.5 percent to 26 percent, exceeding Mr. Obamas own 29-point victory in 2008. She did it the same way that Mr. Obama did: with overwhelming support from black voters, who favored Mrs. Clinton over Bernie Sanders by a stunning margin of 87 to 13, according to updated exit polls  a tally that would be larger than Mr. Obamas victory among black voters eight years earlier. Black voters represented 62 percent of the electorate, according to exit polls, even higher than in 2008.

The result positions Mrs. Clinton for a sweep of the South in a few days on Super Tuesday and puts the burden on Mr. Sanders to post decisive victories elsewhere. If he does not  and the polls, at least so far, are not encouraging  Mrs. Clinton seems likely to amass a significant and possibly irreversible lead.

For Mrs. Clinton, the path to the presidential nomination is straightforward: fight Mr. Sanders to a draw among the nonblack voters who dominate the partys contests in many Northern and Western states, and win by huge margins among black voters, who represent about a quarter of Democratic voters nationally. They represent the majority of Democrats in the South, which will play a crucial role on Super Tuesday.
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.  The National Park Service is looking at using sharpshooters, capture and other methods to reduce the number of bison that are roaming the far northern reaches of the Grand Canyon and damaging resources, officials said.

The massive animals can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, and park officials say they are destroying water sources, vegetation, soil and archaeological sites. Hunting is prohibited within park boundaries, but the agency has the authority to kill animals that harm resources, using park staff or volunteer hunters.

The Park Service announced in 2014 that it would work on a long-term plan to manage bison and do a more in-depth and lengthy environmental review. But Grand Canyon officials say they have changed course because immediate action is needed to control the growing bison population.

Park officials are asking the public for comment. Reduction of the animals could start this winter if everything goes as planned. Between 80 and 200 bison are sustainable, not the 400 to 600 now living on about 310 square miles, officials said.
It is a choir of two, singing for millions. She says their names, Morgan Freeman intones, and Hillary Clintons voice, clipped from the campaign trail, seems to blend in with his: Trayvon Martin, they both say. Shot to death, says Mrs. Clinton, as pictures of victims of police brutality, and their grieving mourners, flash on screen. Dontre Hamilton: Unarmed, she says. Sandra Bland did nothing wrong, she says. Mr. Freeman drives home the point: Mrs. Clinton makes their mothers fight for justice her own.

As we follow Mrs. Clinton to Flint, Mich., Mr. Freeman continues: She speaks for a city poisoned by indifference. Speaking from the pulpit of a black church there, she demands: We need action now.

Finally, photos show Mrs. Clinton alongside President Obama, looking on proudly by his side as he speaks, and meeting privately with him in the Oval Office, as Mr. Freeman assures viewers that she stands with the president against those who would undo his achievements  just like shes always stood with us.

Message

Mrs. Clinton as defender, protector and champion of African-Americans: children, families, cities, even a victimized president.
A few weeks after Senator Marco Rubio joined a bipartisan push for an immigration overhaul in 2013, he arrived alongside Senator Chuck Schumer at the executive dining room of News Corporations Manhattan headquarters for dinner.

Their mission was to persuade Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the media empire, and Roger Ailes, the chairman and chief executive of its Fox News division, to keep the networks on-air personalities from savaging the legislation and give it a fighting chance at survival.

Mr. Murdoch, an advocate of immigration reform, and Mr. Ailes, his top lieutenant and the most powerful man in conservative television, agreed at the Jan. 17, 2013, meeting to give the senators some breathing room.

But the media executives, highly attuned to the intensifying anger in the Republican grass roots, warned that the senators also needed to make their case to Rush Limbaugh, the king of conservative talk radio, who held enormous sway with the partys largely anti-immigrant base.
Five people were injured at a Ku Klux Klan rally in Southern California on Saturday when protesters attacked members of the white supremacist group, the police said, unleashing chaos on a popular park and leaving three people with stab wounds.

Clashes broke out as soon as members of the Klan arrived at Pearson Park in Anaheim, Calif., on Saturday, said Sgt. Daron Wyatt, a spokesman for the Anaheim Police Department. He said the group had planned to stage an anti-immigration rally with the theme white lives matter.

Immediately as the K.K.K. guys got out of their vehicle they were attacked by the counter-protesters, he said. That soon developed into several different fights between the two groups that were spread along the length of a city block.

A group of about 30 anti-Klan protesters spent part of the morning waiting at the park and were preparing to leave when six Klan supporters arrived, dressed in black and wearing Confederate battle flag patches sewn on their clothes, said Sergeant Wyatt.
BANGKOK  A prominent member of the governing coalition in Malaysia who has been removed from a top party job lashed back on Saturday with a strongly worded Facebook post saying he had seen proof that Prime Minister Najib Razak committed a crime in his dealings with the countrys sovereign wealth fund.

Muhyiddin Yassin, who was ousted as deputy prime minister last year and suspended on Friday as deputy president of the ruling party, called on Mr. Najib to step down over the dark episode of his financial dealings involving the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund, or 1MDB, whose advisory board is headed by the prime minister.

Mr. Najib has been embroiled in a scandal after the revelation last year that nearly $700 million landed in his personal bank account. He has said that the money was a donation from Saudi royalty and that he returned $620 million. The Saudi government has contradicted that account. It is unclear what happened to the remainder of the money. Mr. Najib has said he did nothing wrong.

There are also allegations that at least some of the money the prime minister received was diverted from the 1MDB fund through other companies. One alleged transfer was about $13 million through SRC International, a former subsidiary of 1MDB now owned by the Finance Ministry, which Mr. Najib controls. Mr. Najib has not commented on that transaction.
The cutbacks are the latest twist in a national climate policy that has been erratic for the better part of a decade. Experts say Australia is suffering more than most places from the effects of climate change  as well as from some of the worlds highest per-person emissions  but that its leaders seem unable to make up their minds about how to combat it.

After years of political wrangling, a left-leaning government managed to put in place laws that required large companies to pay for carbon emissions. But in 2013, Tony Abbott, then the leader of the conservative Liberal Party, won an election after promising voters he would scrap the tax. Now, the changes at the science agency are raising questions about whether Australia is trying to run away from understanding the basic facts of what is happening to the climate.

The 350 layoffs are to take place over two years. Officials have not specified which jobs will be cut, but members of the climate science team said they expected to lose 70 to 100 scientists, half to three-quarters of their number. The Oceans and Atmosphere division, which analyzes data from both Cape Grim and Argo, has been targeted for the deepest cuts.

Csiros chairman, David Thodey, insisted, in a response to the petition from scientists, that there would be no break in atmospheric measurements at Cape Grim as a result of these changes. Dr. Marshall, for his part, said the agency would continue our contribution to Argo, the global effort to track temperature and other conditions in the worlds oceans, a fundamental task for understanding how quickly the planet is changing.

But scientists who work for them sharply disagree.

Paul Fraser, who led the divisions greenhouse gas team, said that if the job cuts proceeded, they would have a severe impact on global programs. John Church, an agency expert on rising sea levels, said bluntly, You cannot lose 100 out of a team of 130, or even 70 from 130, and still maintain all the functions.
BLERA, Italy  For some of the 300 olive growers who toil here in the rolling hills of the Lazio region, making olive oil is a year-round labor of love.

The olives are hand-harvested early in the fall, when they are still green, and are whisked to a cooperative-run mill so they can be cold-pressed within 12 hours.

Nothing is added in the process, following precise standards that produce the extra-virgin olive oil that Italy vaunts as one of its most prized products, and most successful global exports.

We want people to buy the oil because it is a Colli Etruschi oil, which is famed for its quality, said Nicola Fazzi, the director of the Colli Etruschi cooperative, founded in 1965.
SANA, Yemen  A United States-backed Arab military coalition bombed a busy market north of Yemens capital early Saturday, killing at least 30 people, witnesses said.

The death toll was among the highest from a single bombing in recent months, and seemed likely to bolster calls for an international arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, which leads the coalition.

That coalition has been fighting for nearly a year to defeat a Yemeni rebel group known as the Houthis, and to restore the internationally recognized government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi. While the Saudis have struggled to achieve any of their combat goals, Yemen, the Arab worlds poorest country, has been dragged into an increasingly intractable and punishing civil conflict.

Forces allied with the coalition have gained control of parts of southern Yemen, including the city of Aden, but are facing a violent challenge from Sunni extremist groups that have gained strength during the war, including local branches of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State. Further north, the city of Taiz has been devastated by fighting between the Houthis, who have besieged the city and pounded it with artillery, and local fighters who have been joined by Qaeda militants.
Other times, the tours bring up raw memories for visitors who have arrived in the last three months. At a painted marble wall niche from a house in Damascus that dates to the 15th and 16th century and was inhabited by Samaritans, a community related to Judaism, some people want to cry, Ms. Nassreddine said. When they see the colors and the shapes, they get chills.

Ms. Nassreddine is not a refugee  she grew up in Damascus, a child of Syrian and Lebanese parents, and moved to Europe to study in 2010, before Syria fell into civil war. She is one of 19 guides  18 from Syria and one from Iraq  who are part of a program, called Multaka, or meeting point in Arabic, which began in December and is aimed at training refugees to become museum guides.

The program is largely financed by the German government, including the Culture Ministry, which answers directly to the office of the chancellor, Angela Merkel. It also draws on some private foundation funding. It offers two Arabic-language tours a week at each of four Berlin museums: The Islamic Art Museum and the Museum of the Ancient Near East (which are both inside the Pergamon); the German Historical Museum; and the Bode Museum, including its collection of Byzantine art.

Educators from the museums are training the guides, many of whom had good jobs and social standing in Syria. The nice thing is to give them something that gives them a purpose, said Stefan Weber, the director of the Islamic Art Museum. The program also serves to open up new public spaces for them and to help many other newcomers find a way to the museums, he added.
When Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon opened in 2000, it carried surprises: that Ang Lee, a director known for high-minded literary adaptations, could make such a vibrant and exciting martial-arts movie, and that a Chinese-language film could be a box-office hit in America.

The only surprise about Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, the thoroughly unexciting sequel that became available on Netflix on Friday, is that anyone thought it needed to be made. Directed by Yuen Wo Ping, the famous action choreographer who worked on the original Crouching Tiger, its a series of fights in search of a story.

The third Netflix original feature (after Beasts of No Nation and The Ridiculous 6), Sword of Destiny lifts what little plot it has from the earlier film. Once again the invincible sword known as Green Destiny must be protected from thieves. Once again the warrior Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) comes to the home of her friend Sir Te, this time for his funeral, and is joined there by an old flame. Once again a young woman trained by a deadly female fighter has a history with a sexy bandit.

The graceful and sly Ms. Yeoh is the only star to return from the original. The other central roles have been filled with performers less charismatic than their predecessors: Natasha Liu Bordizzo replaces Zhang Ziyi as the young woman, Harry Shum Jr. subs for Chang Chen as the bandit, and the stolid action star Donnie Yen steps in for the magnetic Chow Yun-Fat as Shu Liens platonic paramour.
Vice Medias march toward world domination of news and lifestyle coverage for the 18-to-34 demographic continues at 6 a.m. Monday with the introduction of Viceland, a new cable channel inhabiting the slot formerly occupied by H2 (in the 70 million homes where H2 had a slot). It further expands Vices already-substantial efforts in video programming, joining the companys highly popular online library and a documentary series, Vice, on HBO.

The channels desire to stand out  already signaled by the hiring of the very nonmainstream film director Spike Jonze as its creative director  can be seen in its first block of programming, 13 hours in which Viceland executives will reportedly be seen listening to voice mail solicited from potential viewers.

Viceland proper will begin on Tuesday night with the premieres of two of six original shows being inaugurated this week. Noisey and Weediquette bring the channel back into the cable comfort zone. They follow the template established by the online videos and HBO segments but shift away from foreign crisis zones and sensationalism (Interview With a Cannibal) toward subjects and production styles that would be at home on the Travel Channel, Bravo or MTV.
LONDON  He has been depicted as a snarling demagogue in France, equated with Donald Duck in Spain, and described as worse than Lord Voldemort in Britain.

In Europe, the birthplace of the Enlightenment, Donald Trump has been treated variously as a disturbing curiosity or an entertaining political show barker. His nearly every move and pronouncement has been reported from Paris to Berlin to Helsinki, even as commentators on both left and right have dismissed the notion of President Donald J. Trump as the stuff of fantasy, or, at worst, a momentary lapse of reason.

That is changing. With a series of wins in key Republican primary states, and with the billionaires expected strong showing when 12 states hold primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, the European media, like its American counterpart, is adjusting to the prospect of a seemingly unstoppable Trump juggernaut. The reaction is a mix of befuddlement, outrage and panic, along with admiration in some unlikely quarters.

And satire. The Spanish newspaper El Pais recently published an imaginary letter from the grave in which Philip II, a 16th-century Spanish king who ruled a vast empire, offers advice to Mr. Trump. Noting that his nation had also suffered from roguish subjects demanding free handouts, and Muslim terrorists masquerading as peaceful citizens, the king advises Mr. Trump to consider bringing back the Inquisition.
Clear Channel and its partners  AT&T Data Patterns, a unit of AT&T that collects location data from its subscribers; PlaceIQ, which uses location data collected from other apps to help determine consumer behavior; and Placed, which pays consumers for the right to track their movements and is able to link exposure to ads to in-store visits  all insist that they protect the privacy of consumers. All data is anonymous and aggregated, they say, meaning individual consumers cannot be identified.

Still, Mr. Stevens acknowledged that the companys new offering does sound a bit creepy.

But, he added, the company was using the same data that mobile advertisers have been using for years, and showing certain ads to a specific group of consumers was not a new idea. Its easy to forget that were just tapping into an existing data ecosystem, he said.

In many ways, billboards are still stuck in the old-media world, where companies tried to determine how many people saw billboards by counting the cars that drove by. But in recent years, billboard companies have made more of an effort to step into the digital age. Some billboards, for example, have been equipped with small cameras that collect information about the people walking by. Clear Channel Outdoors move is yet another attempt to modernize billboards and enable the kind of audience measurements that advertisers have come to expect.

Privacy advocates, however, have long raised questions about mobile device tracking, particularly as companies have melded this location information with consumers online behavior to form detailed audience profiles. Opponents contend that people often do not realize their location and behavior are being tracked, even if they have agreed at some point to allow companies to monitor them. And while nearly all of these companies claim that the data they collect is anonymous and aggregated  and that consumers can opt out of tracking at any time  privacy advocates are skeptical.

People have no idea that theyre being tracked and targeted, said Jeffrey Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. It is incredibly creepy, and its the most recent intrusion into our privacy.
MILAN  I just want to get bigger and bigger every time. Its for my fans, said the 38-old-year German designer Philipp Plein, the unapologetic king of nouveau riche bling. The subject was his shows.

Fashion is for the people. I am not like other designers who get all the press they want then start trying to be exclusive, he said. The fans buy my clothes; they have been supporting my business, and so they are the people who make these kinds of extravaganzas possible  they should be here. This is my way of thanking them while also presenting my vision.

To wit: Last September, the rock star Courtney Love belted out her greatest hits on a moving catwalk with a supporting band of robots. Previous shows have featured models on giant roller coasters, on exploding monster trucks and with Snoop Dogg. This time round, however, the event was held in a vast concrete bunker beneath the largest conference facility center in Europe.

Just after 9 p.m. on Saturday, row upon row of stony-faced editors, buyers and old Italian men with much younger pneumatic lady friends piled onto the 10 or so tiers of seating that took up one side of the venue. At the top of the structure was a long dining table for about 100 guests, laden with crystal and china, but off-limits to the general invitees.
Tonights nominees are more diverse than the cover of a brochure for a liberal arts college, the wonderfully oddball comedian Kate McKinnon, of Saturday Night Live, told the crowd boozing it up Saturday at the Independent Spirit Awards. She would later kiss the actor Paul Dano through a mouthful (her mouthful) of ham.

Ms. McKinnon and Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley) were hosts of the event, a chilled-out beachfront antidote to Oscar season held in Santa Monica under a huge tent, and not only were the nominees diverse, the nights big winners were too.

Abraham Attah, the teenager from Beasts of No Nation, won best actor (to a standing ovation), his co-star Idris Elba won best supporting actor, and Mya Taylor, the transgender star of Tangerine won best supporting actress.

It was as if the Independent Spirits, which manage to pull off an impish, scrappy vibe despite counting Bank of America and American Airlines among their sponsors, were gleefully sending rebuke after rebuke to the beleaguered Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and its #OscarsSoWhite ways.
Three people were killed and two were injured on Sunday in separate collisions across New York City in which pedestrians and a cyclist were hit by motorists who fled the scene, the police said. No arrests had been made, and each of the five episodes remained under investigation.

The crashes occurred after the number of fatal traffic collisions involving pedestrians in the city decreased in 2015 for the second year in a row, and after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in 2014 an ambitious effort called Vision Zero to eliminate traffic deaths in New York by 2024.

At least 19 pedestrians have been killed in 2016, according to police statistics. At least three cyclists have been fatally injured, according to data from the city, and more than 900 pedestrians have been injured in collisions this year.

Those figures were elevated on Sunday by the string of collisions that started in the Bronx, just before 1:30 a.m., the police said.
Antonio Sabato Jr. remembers unveiling the huge photograph on a billboard in Times Square in 1996  the 90-foot-tall image of him with a defiantly seductive look in his eyes and almost no clothes on, only black bikini briefs. He was Calvin Kleins newest underwear model, and the world took him for a 20-something heartthrob.

I was 6 at the time, Mr. Sabato said.

And on Monday, he will turn 11, because he was born on Feb. 29. So  officially, anyway  his birthday is a quadrennial thing, like presidential elections and the Summer Olympics.

I always treated it like it was a special birthday because you had to wait four years to get it, Mr. Sabato said over lunch on a recent afternoon. This was after a television appearance that drew a crowd on the sidewalk outside the studio after he posted on Twitter where he would be. People in the crowd remembered him from his roles on soap operas like General Hospital and The Bold and the Beautiful and his guest appearances on shows like Castle and Hot in Cleveland.

Mr. Sabato was wearing outerwear as well as, presumably, underwear  some questions went unasked at the lunch. But yes, he said, the shirt, the tie and the pinstripe suit were all Calvin Klein.
NEW DELHI  On the evening of Feb. 20 at around 8:40 p.m., while the graduate student Kanhaiya Kumar was locked up in Tihar Jail on sedition charges, his profile picture on Facebook was changed. The new photo, which showed a group of soldiers levering a flag-pole into a wasted hilltop, looked familiar except for one detail. In place of the Stars and Stripes flapping in the wind in Joe Rosenthals original 1945 shot of Iwo Jima, an Indian flag was flying full and proud.

It is likely that Mr. Kumars account was hacked, and that his picture was replaced to signal that subversive thinking will always be surmounted by nationalists, like that hilltop by the valiant warriors.

The same altered photo had recently been brandished on prime-time television by Sambit Patra, a spokesperson for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Look at our Indian soldiers! he had remonstrated. Indian soldiers, dying, but holding up the tricolor at the border. The government has been quick to use images as political ammunition, never mind their veracity.

The B.J.P. won its historic majority in 2014 thanks partly to its masterful handling of optics. Narendra Modi, who would become prime minister, often campaigned via hologram, even winning a place in the Guinness World Records for most simultaneous virtual appearances. But well into its second year in power, with TV media acting as enablers, an image-addicted B.J.P. risks losing both technical and ethical control over what it shows the country.
Jerusalem  The Israeli-Palestinian conflict in its post-1967 incarnation has been raging for nearly 49 years, with no solution in sight. Several Israeli prime ministers, including Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, made great efforts to reach a permanent agreement, only for the Palestinians to decline, while Ariel Sharons unilateral withdrawal from Gaza was met not by peace and quiet, but by rockets and terror tunnels. The terror wave of recent months, in which Israeli civilians have been victims of stabbings, shootings and car attacks, has further eroded the faith of Israeli moderates in the prospects of attaining peace.

All of this has served as an excuse for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make no substantial progress in working toward a two-state solution. Meanwhile, President Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority leader, is Mr. Netanyahus mirror image, also doing nothing.

A majority of Israelis see a two-state solution as the only feasible way to end the conflict and retain Israel as both a Jewish and a democratic state. But for good reason, a majority of Israelis also see this as unrealistic right now. The hatred and distrust between the two peoples, fueled by extremists on both sides and compounded by the reluctance of leaders in Jerusalem and Ramallah, has forced me to conclude that a breakthrough toward an agreement is not foreseeable.

The standstill threatens to lead to the formation of a binational, one-state reality with two warring nations perennially at each others throats. Such a situation would suit the Israeli far right, which wishes to annex the West Bank along with its inhabitants. It would also serve the interests of those Palestinians who seek the demise of the Jewish state. But the lack of progress will destroy the aspiration of the moderate majorities on both sides.
A powerful force driving Donald J. Trump and Senator Bernie Sanders in the presidential race is the frustration of grass-roots voters that politicians in Washington havent kept their promises.

Democrats, though still high on President Obama, are upset about an economic recovery that benefited Wall Street more than Main Street, top executives more than workers.

The anger is more palpable among Republican voters, who ushered in big congressional majorities for the party, expecting to end Mr. Obamas health care law, reduce the size of government, cut taxes and bolster national security. None of it happened.

With that track record of broken promises and with Mr. Trump emerging as the likely Republican presidential nominee, its good to look at his prominent promises and the critiques:

National security: Mr. Trump has pledged to be tough, to defeat the Islamic State by bombing oil fields, which he would then turn over to American companies. He would force Arabs to do the fighting against the Islamic State. He says he will get along very well with the Russian strongman Vladimir V. Putin, whom Mr. Trump has praised as a strong leader. He gets his foreign policy advice from watching television news programs, he says.
WASHINGTON  The first time President Obama sat down to pick a new Supreme Court justice, surprised aides discovered that he had gone beyond the briefing memos to read the leading candidates past judicial rulings. The president, a onetime constitutional law teacher, was in his element, a legal nerd, as one aide called him, putting theory into practice.

But if nothing else, the last seven years have made clear to Mr. Obama that the Supreme Court is anything but a nerdy, academic exercise. His current standoff with the Senate over replacing Justice Antonin Scalia culminates a profoundly consequential struggle over not just the law, but power, politics and his legacy.

During his two terms in the White House, the Supreme Court has given Mr. Obama fits, given him reprieves and now given him a new mission for his final year in office. He has publicly feuded with the court as few of his modern predecessors have. By one measure, he has enjoyed less success before the court than any president since World War II. But today his unexpected chance to remake the court depends on overcoming the formidable will of Senate Republicans.

Its fair to say hes had a more contentious relationship with the court than any president I can remember, at least since Nixon, said Curt Levey, a veteran of judicial nomination battles and executive director of the FreedomWorks Foundation, a conservative advocacy group. This is a fight to the death for control of the Supreme Court.
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan  When mujahedeen guerrillas captured this southern provincial capital in 1993, Gen. Abdul Jabar Qahraman was the Afghan government commander on the last flight out, surrendering the city.

In a resonant twist more than two decades later, Mr. Qahraman is again the face of the Afghan government here as an insurgency threatens to overrun his post.

This time, it is the Taliban at the city gates. The insurgents are firmly entrenched in a suburb of the provincial capital, Lashkar Gah, and separated from the seat of government by only the calm waters of the Helmand River. They control or contest at least 10 of the 14 districts in Helmand Province, Afghanistans largest in both size and opium production.

Mr. Qahraman came to Helmand last month as President Ashraf Ghanis representative, taking charge of efforts to hold the province against the Taliban. But insisting that military measures alone are not the governments best chance, the former general has also been trying to engage Taliban commanders in negotiations.
BEIJING  The microblog account of an outspoken property tycoon and critic of President Xi Jinping, which had nearly 38 million followers, was deleted by Chinas Internet control bureau on Sunday.

An official statement said that the tycoon, Ren Zhiqiang, had exerted a vile influence on the country by spreading illegal information on the website, which was on the Sina Weibo platform.

Mr. Ren, a member of the Communist Party, had recently posted statements questioning a new policy on news media control announced by Mr. Xi on Feb. 19. The president visited the three main party and state media organizations that day and said that all Chinese news media had to serve the party. No Chinese leader since Mao Zedong had suggested so explicitly that spreading official propaganda should be the medias top priority.

Mr. Ren said in his posts that the news media should serve the people, not the party. Those posts were quickly deleted, and a website managed by the propaganda unit of the Beijing municipal party committee then attacked Mr. Ren on Feb. 22, saying he was acting against the party.
MOSCOW  Descending into the smoking pit of a coal mine after methane explosions set off underground fires, six rescue workers were killed on Sunday in a failed attempt to reach 26 stranded miners in northern Russia.

On Sunday, Russias most senior federal disaster official declared the rescue operation over and all of the missing miners, who had been trapped by a cave-in, dead.

The circumstances in the affected part of the mine did not allow anyone to survive, Vladimir Puchkov, the minister of emergency situations, said in televised comments. In the underground space where the 26 miners were, there were high temperatures and no oxygen.

The bodies of four miners were recovered after the initial disaster on Thursday, when methane gas, a common hazard in coal seams, exploded in two locations about 2,560 feet underground in the Severny mine.
TEHRAN  A day after results in the capital showed a landslide victory for reformist and moderate allies of President Hassan Rouhani in Irans parliamentary elections, state television on Sunday reported a nationwide triumph for hard-liners.

The English-language news channel Press TV echoed forecasts by news organizations affiliated with the hard-liners, saying that their candidates had won decisively outside the major city centers.

But as final nationwide results had not been announced, it remained unclear how the hard-liners had done.

In Tehran, where results are official, the urban middle classes voted in large numbers for the combined list of reformers and moderates who support Mr. Rouhani. In other large cities, many reformists also won. While Irans eight biggest cities make up more than half the countrys population, they control only 57 of the 290 seats in Parliament.
JERUSALEM  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said on Sunday that he welcomed the efforts to achieve a long-term cease-fire in Syria but warned that Israel would continue to defend its own interests there.

Those interests, he said, included preventing the transfer of advanced weaponry from Syria to Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite organization, and blocking any Iranian-backed attacks against Israel from Syrian territory.

Anything that stops the terrible killing there is important especially from a humanitarian standpoint, Mr. Netanyahu said in remarks before his weekly cabinet meeting.

But it must be clear at the same time that any agreement in Syria must include a halt to Irans aggression toward Israel from Syrian territory, he added. We will not agree to the supply of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah from Syria and Lebanon. We will not agree to the creation of a second terror front on the Golan Heights. These are the red lines that we have set and they remain the red lines of the State of Israel.
Sex

Sex Male 39% of voters Hillary Clinton 68 % 68 Bernie Sanders 32 % 32 Female 61% of voters Hillary Clinton 79 79 Bernie Sanders 21 21

Age

Age 17-29 15% of voters Hillary Clinton 46 46 Bernie Sanders 54 54 30-44 20% of voters Hillary Clinton 75 75 Bernie Sanders 25 25 45-64 47% of voters Hillary Clinton 77 77 Bernie Sanders 22 22 65 and over 19% of voters Hillary Clinton 88 88 Bernie Sanders 11 11

Race and ethnicity

Race and ethnicity White 35% of voters Hillary Clinton 54 54 Bernie Sanders 46 46 Black 61% of voters Hillary Clinton 86 86 Bernie Sanders 14 14 Hispanic/Latino 2% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders  Asian 1% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders  Other 1% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders 

College degree

College degree College graduate 40% of voters Hillary Clinton 70 70 Bernie Sanders 30 30 No college degree 60% of voters Hillary Clinton 77 77 Bernie Sanders 23 23

Income

Income Under $30,000 33% of voters Hillary Clinton 81 81 Bernie Sanders 19 19 $30,000 - $49,999 28% of voters Hillary Clinton 71 71 Bernie Sanders 29 29 $50,000 - $99,999 24% of voters Hillary Clinton 66 66 Bernie Sanders 33 33 $100,000 - $199,999 13% of voters Hillary Clinton 70 70 Bernie Sanders 30 30 $200,000 or more 2% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders 

Urban, suburban, rural

Urban, suburban, rural City over 50,000 13% of voters Hillary Clinton 70 70 Bernie Sanders 30 30 Suburbs 27% of voters Hillary Clinton 70 70 Bernie Sanders 30 30 Small city and rural 60% of voters Hillary Clinton 77 77 Bernie Sanders 22 22

Political philosophy

Political philosophy Very liberal 23% of voters Hillary Clinton 70 70 Bernie Sanders 30 30 Somewhat liberal 30% of voters Hillary Clinton 70 70 Bernie Sanders 30 30 Moderate 35% of voters Hillary Clinton 78 78 Bernie Sanders 21 21 Conservative 11% of voters Hillary Clinton 72 72 Bernie Sanders 28 28

Party affiliation

Party affiliation Democrat 82% of voters Hillary Clinton 80 80 Bernie Sanders 20 20 Republican 3% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders  Independent or something else 16% of voters Hillary Clinton 46 46 Bernie Sanders 53 53

Voted in a Democratic presidential primary

Voted in a Democratic presidential primary Yes 85% of voters Hillary Clinton 82 82 Bernie Sanders 18 18 No 13% of voters Hillary Clinton 37 37 Bernie Sanders 63 63

How often do you attend religious services?

How often do you attend religious services? Weekly 54% of voters Hillary Clinton 86 86 Bernie Sanders 14 14 Occasionally 35% of voters Hillary Clinton 69 69 Bernie Sanders 30 30 Never 11% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders 

Sex by race

Sex by race White men 14% of voters Hillary Clinton 44 44 Bernie Sanders 56 56 White women 21% of voters Hillary Clinton 60 60 Bernie Sanders 40 40 Black men 24% of voters Hillary Clinton 82 82 Bernie Sanders 18 18 Black women 37% of voters Hillary Clinton 89 89 Bernie Sanders 11 11 Latino men 1% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders  Latino women 1% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders  All other races 2% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders 

Issue that matters most

Issue that matters most Health care 21% of voters Hillary Clinton 79 79 Bernie Sanders 21 21 Economy/jobs 44% of voters Hillary Clinton 75 75 Bernie Sanders 25 25 Terrorism 10% of voters Hillary Clinton 82 82 Bernie Sanders 17 17 Income inequality 21% of voters Hillary Clinton 63 63 Bernie Sanders 37 37

Should the next president's policies be:

Should the next president's policies be: Generally the same as President Obama's 74% of voters Hillary Clinton 81 81 Bernie Sanders 19 19 More liberal 16% of voters Hillary Clinton 45 45 Bernie Sanders 55 55 Less liberal 5% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders 

Whom would you trust to handle an international crisis?

Whom would you trust to handle an international crisis? Only Clinton 52% of voters Hillary Clinton 96 96 Bernie Sanders 4 Only Sanders 8% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders  Both of them 36% of voters Hillary Clinton 61 61 Bernie Sanders 38 38 Neither of them 2% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders 

How have race relations changed in the last few years?

How have race relations changed in the last few years? Gotten better 18% of voters Hillary Clinton 84 84 Bernie Sanders 16 16 Stayed about the same 38% of voters Hillary Clinton 77 77 Bernie Sanders 23 23 Gotten worse 43% of voters Hillary Clinton 71 71 Bernie Sanders 28 28

Whom would you trust to handle race relations?

Whom would you trust to handle race relations? Only Clinton 35% of voters Hillary Clinton 99 99 Bernie Sanders 1 Only Sanders 10% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders  Both of them 50% of voters Hillary Clinton 72 72 Bernie Sanders 27 27 Neither of them 4% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders 

How worried are you about the direction of the nation's economy?

How worried are you about the direction of the nation's economy? Very or somewhat worried 84% of voters Hillary Clinton 72 72 Bernie Sanders 28 28 Not too or not at all worried 15% of voters Hillary Clinton 76 76 Bernie Sanders 24 24

Perception of the U.S. economic system

Perception of the U.S. economic system Favors the wealthy 79% of voters Hillary Clinton 70 70 Bernie Sanders 30 30 Is fair to most Americans 19% of voters Hillary Clinton 85 85 Bernie Sanders 14 14

Gun household

Gun household Yes 41% of voters Hillary Clinton 66 66 Bernie Sanders 34 34 No 59% of voters Hillary Clinton 78 78 Bernie Sanders 21 21

Which is more important to you?

Which is more important to you? Reducing gun violence 81% of voters Hillary Clinton 75 75 Bernie Sanders 25 25 Protecting gun owners' rights 16% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders 

Which candidate would best handle Supreme Court nominations?

Which candidate would best handle Supreme Court nominations? Hillary Clinton 73% of voters Hillary Clinton 94 94 Bernie Sanders 6 Bernie Sanders 24% of voters Hillary Clinton 9 Bernie Sanders 91 91

Candidate quality that matters most

Candidate quality that matters most Can win in November 12% of voters Hillary Clinton 82 82 Bernie Sanders 18 18 Cares about people like me 31% of voters Hillary Clinton 68 68 Bernie Sanders 31 31 Honest and trustworthy 23% of voters Hillary Clinton 51 51 Bernie Sanders 49 49 Has the right experience 31% of voters Hillary Clinton 94 94 Bernie Sanders 6

Who do you think is honest and trustworthy?

Who do you think is honest and trustworthy? Only Clinton 29% of voters Hillary Clinton 97 97 Bernie Sanders 3 Only Sanders 17% of voters Hillary Clinton 8 Bernie Sanders 92 92 Both of them 46% of voters Hillary Clinton 80 80 Bernie Sanders 20 20 Neither of them 6% of voters Hillary Clinton  Bernie Sanders 

Decided whom to support
BAGHDAD (AP)  Militants attacked an outdoor market on Sunday in eastern Baghdad, killing at least 59 people and wounding nearly 100, officials said.

A bomb ripped through the crowded Mredi market in the Shiite district of Sadr City, a police officer said. Minutes later, a suicide bomber blew himself up amid the crowd that had gathered at the site of the first bombing, he added.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sad Main said the bombings killed 38 people and wounded another 62.

Multiple hospital officials later increased the casualty toll to 59 dead and 95 wounded. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

The attack was the deadliest in a wave of recent explosions that have targeted commercial areas in and outside Baghdad.

In the town of Mahmoudiya, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad, three shoppers were killed and 10 wounded in a bomb explosion, another police officer said. Four others were killed in a separate bomb attack in Baghdads southern Dora neighborhood, he added.

The Islamic State-affiliated Aamaq news agency later claimed responsibility for the Sadr City bombings. The militant Sunni Muslim group controls key areas in northern and western Iraq and regularly targets government forces, civilians and especially Shiites, who the IS regards as heretics.

The attacks came hours after security forces repelled an attack by IS militants on the capitals western suburb of Abu Ghraib, officials said.

Three suicide car bombers struck a security force barracks as gunmen opened fire, according to two police officers. At least 12 members of government and paramilitary security forces were killed and 35 wounded, they added. The clashes left a silo on fire, they said.

The commander of military operations in western Baghdad, Maj. Gen Saad Harbiya, said the situation is under control and a local curfew has been imposed.

Abu Ghraib, about 18 miles (29 kilometers) from downtown Baghdad, is the location of a prison of the same name where U.S. troops committed notorious abuses against Iraqi detainees following the 2003 invasion. Citing the unstable security situation in the surrounding area, Iraqi authorities closed the prison in April 2014.

It is halfway between Baghdad and Fallujah, which is controlled by the IS group. Security forces prevented IS from seizing Abu Ghraib when the extremists swept across northern and western Iraq in the summer of 2014.



Associated Press writers Murtada Faraj and Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.
YAOUNDE, Cameroon  Cameroon said it has joined Nigerian troops fighting Boko Haram extremists to free a Nigerian border town, liberating several hundred hostages in the process.

Gen. Jacob Kodji, commander of Cameroon troops, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Saturday that the hostages included young girls who were being trained as suicide bombers. The rescue took place in the Nigerian town of Kumshe, 9 miles from the border with Cameroon.

He said at least 100 fighters were killed and Cameroon lost three soldiers in the raids.

Cameroon and Nigerian soldiers have been carrying out raids together in the two countries since December as part of their bid to defeat the Islamic extremist group.
FORT WAYNE, Ind.  Police in Fort Wayne, Indiana, are investigating the deaths of three young Muslim Americans who were killed execution-style last week.

The three victims  23-year-old Mohamedtaha Omar, 20-year-old Adam Mekki and 17-year-old Muhannad Tairab  were discovered with multiple gunshot wounds inside a home that police labeled a party house, according to ABC affiliate WPTA-TV.

They were members of a diaspora community from Africas eastern Sahel region, according to Al Jazeera.

These young people were just starting out in their life, Fort Wayne Police Chief Garry Hamilton told WANE TV.

Police said the home was a place with little supervision, where young people in their teens and early 20s gathered for fun. The home was on the radar of Fort Wayne polices gang and violent crimes unit in recent weeks, but Hamilton told the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette that the victims did not have any known gang affiliations. The owners of the home live in Indianapolis, the paper reported.

A lot of people would come and go to the residence, Hamilton said. We talked to neighbors, and a lot of young people would come and go to this house.

Investigators said they believe the killings occurred within a one-hour window or so, between the time a group of people left the home and later returned to find the victims. Hamilton said it would be hard for one person to carry out three killings at once, leading investigators to suspect that more than one person was involved in the crime. Investigators have not released a motive for the killings.

Rusty York, the citys public safety director, told WPTA-TV that investigators do not think the killing was motivated by the victims religious affiliation.

Hopefully, you know, well be able to focus in on exactly what the reason was, but as I said before, no reason to believe this was any type of hate crime, or focused because of their religion or their nationality whatsoever, he said.

Hamilton told the Journal Gazette that he had been meeting since last week with the victims families as well as members of the citys African community. He told the paper that he asked for the FBIs assistance in case investigators find a link between the victims religion and their deaths.

During Omar and Tairabs funeral on Saturday, Hamilton urged the public to step forward with information about the crime, according to CNN.

I need someone to come and tell me what they know, he said. Please, Im asking for your help and your mercy to bring justice for these young men.
LITHIA SPRINGS, Ga.  Bobby Daniels was the neighborhood Mr. Fix-It, the guy you called in search of a hard-to-find tool, or when you werent quite sure how to patch the doorknob-sized hole in your drywall. Some summer days, neighbors say, youd glance out the window to see Daniels on his riding mower, cutting that grass you had let grow a bit too long.

But most often Daniels could be found under the awning of his rancher, methodically working on Mr. Brown, his cream and brown, early-90s-model GMC truck.

And that is where he was, four days before Christmas, when he got the call: His son Bias had gotten violent at a mobile-home park nearby. The teen was probably high on drugs, had a gun and had taken a security guard hostage.

Daniels, a CNN security guard retired from the military, dropped his tools, jumped in his car and beat police to the scene.

Minutes later, the popcorn crackle of gunfire pierced the air, and Daniels, 48, lay on the ground, mortally wounded by a local sheriffs deputy.

As was often the case in the 990 fatal police shootings in 2015, what exactly happened in those crucial moments before the trigger pull is in dispute.

There is agreement that when police responded to the scene and began to detain Bias Daniels, his gun was no longer in his hand and had been set down on the hood of the car. Then, he broke free and made a move for the weapon, and the stories diverge on what happened next.

Family members say Bobby leapt from his car and tried to knock the firearm away from his son. Police say the father and son both grabbed the gun, struggling over it, with the muzzle ending up pointed at a sheriffs deputy who opened fire.

Bobby Danielss dying act, his family insists, was an attempt by an innocent man to keep his 19-year-old son from doing something that could have gotten him, or the officers, killed. They want the officer charged with murder or manslaughter and the video of the shooting released.

Their calls for accountability come amid a national push toward policing reform; however, historical and legal precedents make it almost certain that the officer who killed Bobby Daniels will not face criminal charges.

Because the deputy saw a gun.

Officers are rarely charged with crimes for on-duty shootings. While no one keeps accurate historical data on police shootings, a Washington Post analysis of what has probably been more than 10,000 on-duty police shootings since 2005 identified just about 70 shootings for which an officer was charged  and only two of those shootings were cases in which a gun was recovered at the scene. Last year, the person who was killed had a gun in 569 fatal police shootings.

In 1989, the Supreme Court established the objective reasonableness standard for assessing a civilian claim that an officer used excessive force in making an arrest. In its decision in Graham v. Connor, the court established a precedent that, for example, an officer who shoots and kills someone did so because he or she perceived a lethal threat that another objectively reasonable officer would also perceive, that shooting is justified. The court also held that the judgment must embody an allowance for the fact that police officers are often forced to make split-second decisions about the amount of force necessary in a particular situation.

Policing experts, chiefs and training officers note that in a nation of more than 300 million guns, there is no threat more lethal to law enforcement than the presence of a firearm in the hand of a potential suspect.

Our use-of-force training is so wrapped in one issue: the fear of the gun, said Tom Manger, chief of police in Marylands Montgomery County, during a major gathering last month of policing experts in Washington, D.C. That permeates everything we do in terms of training and use of force.

Attorneys for Danielss family say he was still begging his son to put down the weapon when officers arrived. Eventually it was set on the hood of a car. But the boy made another desperate attempt to grab the weapon. His father jumped up as well. Then gunshots.

Rosa Brown, who has lived in the mobile-home park for six years, says she was sitting on her bed when she heard the screaming coming from outside her window. Put down the gun, put down the gun, was being yelled at a young man standing directly in front of her home. Then she heard the loud boom.

I ran straight to the space between my washer and dryer, Brown said, waving her arms in reenactment. This is a trailer  those bullets could have come right through the wall and killed me.

Bias took off running. The deputies chased him and caught up with him just around the block.

Back outside Browns trailer, the boys father lay sprawled on the cold gravel, blood pouring from the hole in his chest.

That night, with reporters beginning to gather, Sheriff Phil Miller stepped to the microphones and cameras.

The leader of a department of 237 sworn deputies, Miller made national headlines in late 2013 when he declared he was banning A&E from filming in his county after the cable network suspended embattled Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson. Last September, Miller hit the news again after purchasing In God We Trust bumper stickers for department vehicles.

He has handled four or five fatal police shootings since first being elected to office in 2001, in addition to several deaths in custody at a local prison supervised by his deputies.

His deputies that evening had answered the 178th service call in six months at the Arbor Village mobile-home park. A security guard told them he had been held hostage for 45 minutes by a young man with braided hair and a gun. As they spoke, Garrett Daniels, Bobbys nephew and Biass cousin, found the deputies and directed them to the ongoing incident.

When they arrived, the deputies found Bias, Bobby and the gun.

I think that he could have been trying to help the situation instead of hurting it, but when he pointed the gun at the officers, he was shot, Miller told reporters that night, later calling the slain man a suspect.

The account infuriated Danielss wife, Cynthia, and his four other children. Daniels had extensive training with firearms, which he also collected. Among his closest friends, his family insists, were police officers. There is no way, say the Daniels, who describe themselves as yes maam and no maam type people, that Bobby grabbed the gun and pointed it at an officer.

How do you defeat police-brutality cases? Its to get the general public not to care, said Chris Stewart, an Atlanta civil rights lawyer working with the Daniels family. The quickest way to do that is to have the person depicted as a thug, high on drugs or endangering a police officer.

The problem is that their usual narrative doesnt fit Bobby Daniels, he said.

Why, the family wants to know, was a man desperately trying to save his son described by the local sheriff to the media as a suspect?

Thats my fault, Miller said in an interview with The Post. Everybody wants us to get this information out to them as soon as possible. But the quicker you give out information, the less the likelihood of it being accurate.

More than two months after the shooting, another crucial question rests at the heart of the conflicting accounts: Did the Douglas County sheriffs deputies know who Bobby Daniels was when they opened fire?

Miller says Deputy James Barber, a military veteran who fired the fatal shot, had no way of knowing whether Daniels was there to help the officers or potentially hurt them.

Garrett Daniels said he told both deputies before he sent them to the scene that the father was there, trying to defuse the situation.

Finding their suspects gun on the car, Deputy Josh Skinner began to handcuff Bias Daniels, who then struggled, Miller said. Skinner tried to use a stun gun; then Bias broke free and made a dash for the weapon.

That is when, according to Millers account, Bobby Daniels leapt from his seat in his car and began struggling with his son over the gun. At some point in the struggle, Miller said, the weapon ended up pointed at Barber, who opened fire.

He is ordered to stay in the car and he refuses to, Miller said. There were four deputies there, and not one of them knew who Bobby Daniels was.

Local reaction to the shooting, just days before Christmas in a city where there are more church steeples than storefronts, was muted. There was coverage on some of the television channels and the big newspaper in Atlanta, but soon the storyseemed to die down.

There were no protests in Douglas County, a racially diverse stretch of Georgia that rests along Interstate 20, a dividing line between the black communities surrounding Atlanta and the white rural communities to the north. Local black residents shy away from the sweeping indictments made by minorities in many of the cities where there have been controversial police shootings.

Im really proud of the progress weve made, said Kimberly Alexander, who after founding the local NAACP chapter was elected to represent Douglas County in the statehouse. She praised Millers willingness to be forthcoming about the details of the shooting and said she hopes the incident will buoy discussions about getting body cameras for local deputies.

Of course, Im going to be concerned about a situation in which a man arrives on the scene to comfort his son and ends up being shot. Its disheartening and disturbing, Alexander said. But we also have to allow for the process to play out.

It just doesnt make sense, said Bobby Daniels Jr., the slain mans oldest son, who traveled back to Georgia from his home in Indianapolis to help his family sort out what had happened. The story, from the night of it, has been ever-changing.

Investigators with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is handling the probe, say there is some video of the shooting, captured by a surveillance camera installed at the mobile-home park.

Danielss children are eager to see the footage, which they hope will prove once and for all that their father died in an act of selfless heroism. On Friday, Danielss family held a news conference again urging authorities to release the video, but state investigators have yet to say when, if ever, the video will be released.

Miller, the sheriff, declined to comment on whether he has seen the video evidence. But he predicts his deputy will be cleared of wrongdoing by local prosecutors.

Its a very tragic story  one where all of the wrong things came together at the wrong time  and, as a result, a man lost his life, Miller said. It breaks our heart.

Daniels moved his family to a neighborhood just outside Douglasville about four years ago, in pursuit of a quieter life nestled just far enough from the city to have a little green space but not too deep into the Georgia plains.

I miss my boo, Cynthia Daniels said, as the family gathered at their home on what would have been Daniels 49th birthday. The folded American flag handed to her at the funeral rests in a living-room cabinet. I just want him to come back through that door.

They got married in 1996, pulling up to the courthouse to sign the marriage license in Danielss favorite project, Mr. Brown. Now the old truck sits in the driveway where Daniels left it two months ago, its paint chipped and fading.
New ventures

R.D. Olson Development and general contractor R.D. Olson Construction broke ground Tuesday for a 271-room, full-service Irvine Spectrum Marriott. Its is the companys first full-service hotel project in Irvine in more than a decade. The $120 million project will feature a rooftop lounge, full-service restaurant, fitness center and pool/spa. Construction is set to be complete in summer 2017.

Denver-based hotel management company Stonebridge Cos. opened its newest hotel, Homewood Suites by Hilton Aliso Viejo-Laguna Beach. The 129-suite hotel offers on-site laundry facilities, a 24-hour Pavilion Pantry market, a meeting space, a fitness center and a full bar. The hotel is at 110 Vantis Drive, Aliso Viejo.

On the move

Larry Sullivan, president of Irvine-based Passco Cos., was elected to the Alternative & Direct Investment Securities Associations board of directors for a two-year term. Passco specializes in the acquisition, development and management of multifamily and commercial properties throughout the U.S.

Irvine-based architecture and planning company Danielian Associates hired R. Dale Patton as director of residential design. Patton has more than 20 years of design experience in high-end production and luxury custom homes.

TenantBase in Irvine has appointed Max Morris as principal. In his new role, he will head all real estate activities for the company as it expands into the region. Morris previously worked as director of leasing and acquisitions for SunCoast Properties. The Southern California expansion follows TenantBases completion of a seed funding round and acceptance to EvoNexus, a technology incubator. The company also hired several advisory board members and Greg Hawkins as executive chairman. TenantBase has operations in Nashville, Tenn., and Irvine.

Real estate transactions, executive promotions and career milestones are compiled

and written by Angela Ratzlaff. Send items

to her at aratzlaff@ocregister.com.
JERUSALEM  A good argument can be made that the soul of Jewish Jerusalem is the old Mahane Yehuda market, known as the shuk. Now it will become the largest Jewish portrait gallery in the world.

The open-air food mart is a beautiful chaos of jostling capitalism five and a half days a week, but at night, it is dark and spooky. A good place to be a rat, or better, a cat. But in the past few years, the shuk has transformed itself into an improbable night-life hot spot, the narrow alleys and stalls taken over by dozens of micropubs, fish-and-chips joints and live music bars.

If there is a slice of hip in fusty Jewish Jerusalem, this is it.

Now a prolific street artist and his pal are adding the color.

There are about 360 metal shutters that roll down to protect the fruit, fish, bakery stalls at night. Solomon Souza has spray-painted portraits on 140. He has another few months to go and thinks he and other artists will do a couple hundred more.

Using spray cans he pulls out of grocery sacks, Souza has painted portraits of Jews, famous and obscure. There is the founding generation of Israel: David Ben-Gurion, featured upside down, and Golda Meir, Menachem Begin and Zeev Jabotinsky (but pointedly no Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat).

He has painted famous Jews, such as Albert Einstein, Steven Spielberg, and the medieval philosopher and astronomer Maimonides, and the less well-known, such as Gracia Mendes Nasi, the spice trader and perhaps the wealthiest Jewish woman in the Renaissance world, who helped resettle Jews in Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee in the sixteenth century, making her an early Zionist.

There is a portrait of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal correspondent executed in Pakistan by al-Qaida operatives in 2002, whose last words were My fathers Jewish, my mothers Jewish, Im Jewish . . . 

There is Bob Marley, too (Babylon, Zion, Rastafarians; it is a complicated connection, but it works. At night, too, the shuk smells like marijuana; it is not legal in Israel but is tolerated).

Souza is a 22-year-old transplant from London. Mostly self-taught, he can paint up to four shutters a night.

On a recent day, Souza and his crew walked from their nearby home over to the shuk, lugging cans of paint and video equipment.

At the Levi brothers falafel shop, they scrapped and cleaned the metal shutters as Souza asked his friends whom he should paint.

He did not have a plan, but he did have a smartphone. Someone suggested Lucy Aharish, a Muslim Arab Israeli and popular TV news anchor. Souza found a photo of Aharish he liked on Google Images, then put on his gas mask and went to work, a can of paint in his right hand, the phone photo in his left.

Souza will not paint a shutter unless shopkeepers give their permission. His artistic partner and the P.T. Barnum of the team, Berel Hahn, prowls the shuk during the day, cajoling venders to allow their shutters to be sprayed.

At first we got a bunch of requests to paint the shopkeepers favorite rabbis, so a lot of the early shutters are old men, which is fine, but our friends said, Hey, where are the women? Wheres everybody else?  said Hahn, 26, a transplant from Crown Heights in Brooklyn who wears a gold sequined yarmulke.

Souza painted many grandfathers of todays stall owners; other vendors tell the artist to paint whomever he likes. The pair ask not only for permission to paint, but also a donation. Many shop owners decline; some offer to buy the paint.

This is a labor of love, Hahn said. They want to open a nonprofit gallery in the market to sell T-shirts, coffee cups, posters and refrigerator magnets of the portraits.

Hahn said the vision is to paint everybody who helped the Jews get here, to support indigenous Jewish culture.

He said one day he had a vision. I saw the shuk exploding at night with color and history.

Merchants in the shuk by their very nature are hagglers. Theyre suspicious. They want to know whats the catch? Why are these guys painting shutters for free? They think maybe this artist will be famous and somebody is going to steal my shutters? That kind of thing, said Shuki Haidu, a tour guide and friend of the artist.

Some of the vendors wanted the art to serve as advertisement, which Souza and Hahn declined. A coffee shop wanted a painting of coffee. A mobile phone dealer wanted phones. So Souza painted Samson fighting the lion, and at the very bottom of the shutter, he drew a fallen cellphone.

Sara Hannah Ekaireb, 20, a New Yorker spending the year on a religious studies program in Jerusalem, said she comes to the shuk most evenings and enjoys seeing the how the project is taking shape.

Its fun to see snippets of Jewish history with this work, she said. Although I think there could be more women.

Her friend, Rachel Sneiderman, who moved to Israel from Delaware and will be joining the Israeli army in April, said the shuk is a super cool place to be.
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK  The trademark spat that is prompting the National Park Service to change the names of a handful of treasured sites at Yosemite, including the Ahwahnee Hotel and Curry Village, has taken a startling turn  to the parks gift shops.

Merchandise embossed with the name Yosemite National Park, from T-shirts to coffee mugs to pens, will be pulled from store shelves this week because of claims by the parks outgoing concessionaire that it owns the name for commercial purposes, according to the parks new operator, Aramark, which is based in Phildelphia.

Aramark officials, who on Tuesday take the reins of Yosemites many hotels, restaurants and shops from longtime management company Delaware North, plan to begin selling souvenir items with the name Yosemite instead of Yosemite National Park.

While the switch may be small, it follows the Park Services decision last month to rename five famed sites that Delaware North also claims rights to, and the move is likely to heighten public outrage over the unpopular changes.

No one should be able to steal the name of a national park, said Lisa Polm of Clovis, after being told by a reporter Friday at Yosemites Village Store that many products would soon be swapped out. This is terrible.

Polm was eyeing a bright pink tee with a rustic Yosemite National Park imprint. It was among dozens bearing the contested name in combination with other designs and passages like May the forest be with you and I made it to the top (of) Half Dome.

Much of the merchandise, like in most shops at the park, is discounted 50 percent through Monday to move the inventory.

Delaware North declined to speak with The Chronicle about the souvenirs, offering instead a general statement by email.

Our associates are preparing merchandise for the new concessioner as one would expect in a transition, wrote spokeswoman Lisa Cesaro.

The squabble over the park names goes back two years when the Park Service began soliciting bids for a new concessions contract. Delaware North, which has held the contract for 24 years, told the Park Service that it wanted $51 million for its intellectual property, including the names, if another concessionaire was selected.

Delaware Norths claim to the intellectual property is based on its initial 1993 agreement with the Park Service. The company was required to buy the assets of the previous concessionaire, which owned several visitor facilities, and then turn physical structures over to the Park Service and sell intangible property to any successor.

The contract, however, did not spell out the details of the intangible property, giving rise to the current issues.

Delaware North has since registered trademarks for several park names, including Yosemite National Park. That name was accepted on grounds that the company, by contract, was the exclusive purveyor of park products, according to legal documents. The trademark applies only to merchandising and does not affect the parks name.

In June, Delaware North lost its bid for the concessions contract to Aramark, a 15-year deal worth an estimated $2 billion.

The company has since sued the Park Service for not requiring the new operator to buy its intellectual property. The Park Service contends the value of the property is contingent on Delaware North having the contract and is now worth no more than $3.5 million.

To prevent further legal tangles, the Park Service announced last month that five sites trademarked by Delaware North will be renamed after the company departs on Monday.

The Ahwahnee Hotel will be changed to the Majestic Yosemite Hotel, Curry Village to Half Dome Village, Badger Pass Ski Area to Yosemite Ski and Snowboard Area, Wawona Hotel to Big Trees Lodge and Yosemite Lodge at the Falls to Yosemite Valley Lodge.

Chelsea Schultz, who was visiting Yosemite from Australia, said shed heard about the site names disappearing  its big talk in the park  but she wasnt aware that her newly purchased jacket is also likely to become history.

Its disappointing, she said, wearing her half-price Yosemite National Park coat and realizing it might soon be a collectors item.

Thats really a small concession, though, she added. Hopefully, theyll be able to use the name again.

Despite the trademark, Delaware North is not the only company selling merchandise with the Yosemite National Park label. A quick online search shows that several vendors offer such products, from the North Faces Yosemite National Park tri-blend tee for $25 to dozens of similar shirts from smaller Amazon sellers.

Its unclear whether Delaware North intends to act on cases of potential trademark infringement.
In a bustling emergency room in Orange, Dr. Seth Brindis doesnt have to take time from patients to send a secure message to a colleague or check a peer-reviewed study.

Hes armed at the hip with a dozen medical smartphone apps that include UpToDate, Figure 1 and pingmd. The apps enable Brindis to review the latest medical journals and share patient information with other doctors while complying with privacy laws.

It is much easier to access in the palm of my hand, said Brindis, the medical informatics director of the emergency department at the Childrens Hospital of Orange County. Im in the emergency room, and Im constantly moving, so its better for me.

Brindis recently used an app to follow the case of a young patient who was brought into the ER with severe facial wounds from a dog bite. He was able to track his patients progress after a visit to the plastic surgeon.

As an emergency doctor, I dont usually to see the follow up, he said.

Medicine is one of the latest industries undergoing a renaissance thanks to the widespread adoption of tech-enabled services created by small startups.

A BIG SHIFT FOR DOCTORS

There are thousands of healthcare-related apps on the iTunes store, with many aimed at patients and an increasing number engineered for physicians.

Among them are Figure 1, a Toronto-based startup that is essentially Instagram for medical professionals, and Isabel, a database filled with symptoms and possible diagnoses run by six people in Michigan.

Its changing this culture of medicine from the physician side, said Dr. Warren Wiechmann, who teaches emergency medicine at the UC Irvine School of Medicine. Its no longer youre expected to know everything. Here are tools to expand, or brush up on your knowledge base. I think thats a big shift for physicians.

Apps like Santa Monica-based Heal have revived doctor house calls. The website CrowdMed enables patients with unusual ailments to crowdsource a possible diagnosis. In turn, the impossible burden of being familiar with every illness known to man isnt placed on doctors, who can be more candid with patients about seeking another opinion.

Theres so much going on out there in terms of research and drug development. To really stay on top of the literature is nearly impossible, said Wiechmann who also serves as the medical schools associate dean of clinical science education and educational technology. If you really wanted to stay on top of literature in your field, you wouldnt be able to see patients. These apps are taking a decent stab at doing it. You dont wait for two years for a textbook to come out.

It was that obstacle for doctors that inspired Jason Maude to create Isabel Healthcare, an online portal and app in which users  clinicians and patients alike  can enter symptoms and get suggested causes. In 1999, Maudes then 3-year-old daughter Isabel nearly died when her toxic shock syndrome and flesh-eating bacteria almost went undiagnosed.

Doctors have a huge burden of memory on them, Maude said. How on Earth can they spot these slightly odd illnesses?

In 2000, he founded Isabel as a computer-based diagnostic tool for doctors. The company wasnt an instant hit because many hospitals didnt see misdiagnosis as a problem. In 2012, Isabel extended its product to patient use. Since then, some 150 hospitals in the U.S. and U.K. have integrated Isabel onto their websites for patient use.

What we found, was what we suspected, Maude said. Patients are a lot smarter than doctors think.

In turn, CrowdMed puts a bounty on a malady, aiming to help frustrated patients find an answer.

CrowdMeds website allows patients to tap into the collective knowledge of medical professionals worldwide. Users post a reward for the doctor, nurse, medical student or other medical detective who successfully suggests the appropriate diagnosis. A patient then brings these suggestions to their doctor.

Medical detectives can like a diagnosis they agree with or flag suggestions that seem inaccurate. A couple of flags can get a suggested diagnosis removed.

CrowdMed is a departure from the conventional doctor-patient relationship in more ways than one, said Dr. Greg Denari, a retired primary care physician and adviser to the San Francisco-based startup that has six full-time employees.

Traditionally, you go see your doctor as one person, and one person absorbs the stuff and decides whats going on, Denari said. Whats different with CrowdMed is you have a crowd.  One person may not know the answer, but in a crowd of people, one does. A physician may overlook a detail.

Part of what makes CrowdMed powerful, Denari said, is that those who weigh in arent afraid of being embarrassed or going against another physician as they might be in a hospital or doctors office.

There is more candor, and I think its the anonymity, Denari said. My only interest is really only helping the patient.

Theres a chat function where detectives can talk about potential root causes, but no conversations are behind closed doors. Other detectives and the patient can watch and weigh in.

In traditional medicine, at some point the patient sometimes gets cut out of the discussion, Denari said.

USE WITH CAUTION

These emerging healthcare platforms come with some pitfalls.

Experience in the field and app usage dont necessarily go hand-in-hand, said Wiechmann, and patients might not be able to distinguish between the more seasoned doctors and those whose only experience is in online cases. That can be especially problematic with unusual conditions.

Someone who just started has tons of time and is their highest user but it has no correlation to true expertise, said Wiechmann, the UCI doctor and professor. When you get one thousand of the same answer, its probably the same answer. But for the more esoteric, where you only have one response, can you really hang your hat on that response?

When launching Figure 1, Dr. Joshua Landy ran into other moral and legal quandaries inherent in launching a medical app. The app is filled with images of weird bone fractures, strange bumps and discolored skin, among others. In less time than it took to build and launch the app, attorneys weighed in on how to navigate patient privacy laws while still having a usable product.

To comply with privacy laws in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom, a moderator approves each photo uploaded to the site to ensure no identifying information is on display  from the obvious, like tattoos, to the more esoteric, such as a patients IP address. Before uploading a photo, metadata from the image is wiped clean, so when and where the image was captured cant be shared with other users. Patients also sign a consent form.

We dont want sensationalistic photos, nothing that makes fun of patients, Landy said. Our users are really good about their behavior.  These people are professionals. The language they use there is the same language they use at work.

At its best, Figure 1 taps into the collective knowledge of physicians worldwide, Landy said.

Still a practicing doctor, Landy recently snapped a close-up of a womans eyeball when it developed an odd film. Within minutes, he received input from an ophthalmologist and optometrist on Figure 1 who agreed on a possible cause. The top layer of her eye had dried out and needed aggressive lubrication and coverage.

Having a doctor who can say I dont know, let me ask half-a-million professionals in 190 countries and get back with you in five minutes is a pretty big shift in medicine, Landy said.

Contact the writer: lwilliams@ocregister.com, 714-796-2286
ROME  Australians who were raped and molested by Catholic priests when they were children are hoping to learn the truth about what a top Vatican cardinal knew about their attackers when he testifies Sunday night before an investigative commission at a Rome hotel.

Thanks in part to a crowd-funding campaign, about two dozen Australian sex abuse survivors and their companions travelled across the planet to be on hand when Cardinal George Pell testifies via video link before Australias Royal Commission. Its the third time that the Australian cardinal, Pope Francis top financial adviser, has testified about the sex abuse scandal, but the current round has generated intense international attention because it is taking place a short walk from the Vatican.

The commission, which is more than half-way through a 435 million Australian dollar ($300 million) government-authorized probe into how all Australian institutions dealt with abuse, agreed to let Pell testify from Rome because he was too ill to travel home. Two weeks ago, it also agreed to let victims be on hand to re-create the type of public hearing that Pell would be facing in Australia.

David Ridsdale, who was abused for four years by his uncle, the notorious pedophile Gerald Ridsdale, said he had done 17 press interviews before Pells testimony even began  and was grateful that the horror of what transpired in Ballarat was finally getting known outside of Australia.

The deeply Catholic town in Australias Victoria state has been devastated by a huge number of abuse victims, scores of whom have killed themselves in a cluster of abuse-related suicides unseen anywhere else.

David Ridsdale said Ballarats survivors merely want Pell to stand up and take responsibility on behalf of the church for what transpired in Pells own hometown.

Were here to seek the truth. Were here to heal our city, David Ridsdale said. We have the highest suicide rate among men in Australia. We have some of the worst drinking and violence problems. And it all stems from that abuse.

The commissions current hearings relate to Ballarat and how the Melbourne archdiocese responded to allegations of abuse, including when Pell served as a Melbourne auxiliary bishop.

Pell, who was born and raised in Ballarat, was ordained a priest there in 1966 and was a consultant to Ballarat Bishop Ronald Mulkearns, who moved Gerald Ridsdale between parishes for years.

During the opening address at a Royal Commission hearing in Ballarat last week, the lawyer assisting the commissioner said that as a consultant, Pell would have been responsible for giving advice to the bishop on the appointments of priests to parishes.

Pell has long denied allegations that he was involved in transferring Gerald Ridsdale  with whom he once lived at the Ballarat presbytery  and said he never tried to buy the silence of Ridsdales nephew, as he alleges. Pell said he had no suspicions that Gerald Ridsdale was a deviant: In fact, when Gerald Ridsdale was finally brought to justice, Pell accompanied him to court.

In a statement Sunday, Pell repeated his support for the Royal Commissions work, vowed to meet individually with victims who had travelled to Rome and said he hoped the coming days will eventually lead to healing for everyone.

He said he had tied a yellow ribbon on the fence in the Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens in a show of solidarity with the Loud Fence movement launched in Ballarat to support survivors of abuse.

Pell has defended his response to the abuse scandal while a bishop and later the archbishop of Melbourne, though he has expressed regret over encounters with victims seeking compensation, saying he and others in the church failed in their moral and pastoral responsibilities to them.

Anthony Foster testified at an earlier inquiry that when he and his wife sought compensation over the abuse their daughters suffered, Pell showed a sociopathic lack of empathy. Their eldest daughter was repeatedly raped by priest Kevin ODonnell and committed suicide. Her younger sister was raped by the same priest and began binge drinking. One day while intoxicated, she was struck by a car and is now severely disabled.

Foster, who successfully petitioned the Royal Commission to allow survivors to be present for Pells testimony, said it was astounding and empowering for victims that the commission was now sitting in judgment of Pell on a global stage.

I feel as though we havent just brought it to Rome. Weve brought it to the world, Foster said Sunday. This is to some extent showing the rest of the world how it can be done.

The Royal Commission, which the government launched in 2012, has no power to file criminal charges. But commissioners can note in their report whether they believe someone has broken the law and refer the matter to police and prosecutors.
Republicans in Congress, particularly in the Senate, have been outmaneuvered politically in every way thinkable by President Obama over the past seven years. With the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, Republicans yet again have found themselves in a remarkable quagmire with tremendous electoral consequences  and now concern rises that the GOP leadership is already poised to fumble once more by refusing to even meet with and consider nominees to the high court proposed by the president.

Just an hour after Scalias sudden passing Feb. 13, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced to the nation that Republicans would not consider any appointee to the high court from President Obama. The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice, he said. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president.

Reaffirming his position Tuesday, McConnell doubled down, stating, This nomination will be determined by whoever wins the presidency in the polls, adding that, during the current presidency, there will not be action taken. The majority leaders comments came after the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote a letter announcing that it would not hold hearings on any Supreme Court nominee until after our next president is sworn in.

Apparently devotion to the Constitution and the duties it bestows are easily brushed aside in times of perceived political crisis. In the case of the court, Republicans have chosen realpolitik over principle. But that calculation may very well lead to major defeats at the ballot box.

Even prior to Scalias death, GOP leaders knew that holding onto their majority in the Senate was tentative. Republicans control 54 of the 100 seats in the upper chamber, and, in 2016, there are about 10 Senate seats that could flip, eight of which are held by Republicans.

Democrats need to win five seats outright, or four seats and the White House, to take control away from the GOP, according to NPRs Susan Davis.

GOP Sens. Mark Kirk of Illinois and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin are viewed by Democrats to be the most vulnerable, while Florida, Ohio, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania fall into the next tier of likely pickups, according to Alexander Bolton, writing for The Hill. Missouri and North Carolina are also in play for Democrats to seize.

Republicans, on the other hand, see both Nevada and Colorado as opportunities to pick up seats. Nevada is viewed as the bigger opportunity because popular Republican Congressman Joe Heck is facing off against the former state attorney general Catherine Cortez Masto for the seat held by retiring Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid in a state where Republicans swept every statewide office in 2014.

All of the competitive Senate races this year are in states that lean Democratic or are swing states, though, making anything GOP leadership says all the more consequential this year. These GOP senators have worked hard to cultivate commonsense reputations back home, according to Davis. That strategy was on track until an iconic conservative Supreme Court justice died, injecting a flashpoint into the 2016 races that may pit Republicans between their partys base and the voters they need to win re-election.

Given the tentative nature of this particular election and all the various compounding factors  not the least of which is the potential for a controversial Republican presidential nominee  McConnell should have opted for another course.

By promising no action on any nominee presented by Obama, McConnell played right into the presidents consistent message that the GOP is obstructionist  the party of no.

McConnell and Republicans held all of the leverage in this particular circumstance, so why so antagonistically deny even considering or meeting with nominees? McConnell could have said, We are willing to consider any reasonable and appropriate nominee the president offers, putting pressure on the administration.

Instead, Republicans in the Senate are now on their heels. In fact, in a cunning political maneuver, the White House announced Tuesday that it had been vetting Nevadas Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, an incredibly popular moderate Hispanic governor in an important swing state, for the Supreme Court. How would it have impacted the election and further divided the party had Senate Republicans refused to grant Sandoval a confirmation hearing?

Sandoval, saving Republicans (at least for the time being) some embarrassment and division, on Thursday removed his name from consideration. I notified the White House that I do not wish to be considered at this time for possible nomination to the Supreme Court of the United States, he said.

But the battle is not over. President Obama will undoubtedly offer additional nominees and Republicans will be put on the spot to act. Republicans in vulnerable Senate seats will have to defend their partys decision while Democrats use it to raise money and energize their base for November.

Not all critics think McConnells approach is foolhardy. Michelle Cottle, writing for the Atlantic, suggests that his move demonstrates some political brilliance because despite the howls of outrage and charges of obstructionism this elicited from Democrats, not to mention a wave of media stories positing the heartburn it would cause Republican members up for re-election in not-so-red states, there was no way McConnell was going to reverse course. Because, whatever blowback his team may face for this particular episode of gridlock (and Democrats are determined to blow as hard as they can), it is still less politically fraught than allowing the confirmation train to leave the station and start down the tracks.

Cottle also believes it benefits Republicans in tough Senate fights because it allows McConnell to take most of the incoming fire, rather than the Senate candidates. If the confirmation process were allowed to grind on, senators could be squabbling over a nominee for months, with some of the more rabble-rousing presidential contenders adding to the chaos and trashing any lawmaker they deemed insufficiently tough on Obamas choice.

And to provide even more political cover, GOP senators have been referencing Vice President Joe Bidens remarks as a senator in 1992. He then urged the Judiciary Committee to seriously consider not scheduling confirmation hearings on the [Supreme Court] nomination until after the political campaign season is over.

Even still, most Americans believe that Obama should nominate Scalias replacement. Even a Fox News poll found that 62 percent of Americans thought it should be Obama who names the replacement, instead of his successor. But that wont happen. And Obama knew it wouldnt happen even before McConnell spoke words he never needed to utter.
GAZIANTEP, Turkey  Syrias hard-won truce began to fray Sunday, with Russian warplanes resuming airstrikes on towns and villages in the north and fresh reports of artillery fire across several front lines.

The violence came on only the second day of a planned two-week cessation of hostilities, dimming hopes that the calm that took hold Saturday will endure long enough to inject new impetus into a wider peace effort.

The Russian planes, based in northwestern Syria, struck six towns and villages in the provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Idlib early Sunday, according to monitoring and civil defense groups.

The strikes ended a 24-hour suspension announced by the Russian military on Saturday to coincide with the launch of the truce. They also appeared to signal a return to attacks that preceded the effort to end the fighting, in which Russia has helped bolster the fortunes of President Bashar al-Assad, a longtime ally.

Russias Defense Ministry offered no comment on the strikes, but it had warned Saturday that it reserved the right under the terms of the truce to continue hitting the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, terrorist groups that are battling the Assad regime.

Russian warplanes have in the past repeatedly struck towns loyal to more-moderate rebels, including those backed by the United States, while claiming that they were targeting the Islamic State or Jabhat al-Nusra, which is affiliated with al-Qaida.

The first half-dozen attacks on Sunday, carried out shortly after 6 a.m., awoke residents in four towns west of Aleppo that lie on the last rebel supply route into the city, according to the White Helmets civil defense group. Videos posted on YouTube showed damage to shops and houses.

Shortly after, bombs struck the town of Harb Nufsa in Hama. On Sunday afternoon, two strikes hit civilian areas of the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour, which is controlled by a coalition of fighters that includes Jabhat al-Nusra. A pregnant woman was killed and 12 people were injured, the White Helmets said.

The total number of strikes was nonetheless significantly lower than in the days preceding the truce, when Russia dropped hundreds of bombs over a wide area of rebel-held territory in an apparent attempt to score last-minute gains. Although artillery and small-arms fire by both sides were reported on a number of front lines, the intensity of the fighting appeared to have eased significantly.

On Sunday morning, Russias Defense Ministry said the truce appeared to be working.

On the whole, the ceasefire regime in Syria is being implemented, the ministry said in a statement, according to Russian news agencies.

A cease-fire coordination center set up at the Russian air base of Khmeimim, in northwestern Syrias Latakia province, accused the rebels of committing nine truce violations in the first 24 hours, singling out an attack by the Islamic State on the Kurdish-held town of Tal Abyad in the northeast as the most serious.

The head of the coordination center, Lt. Gen. Sergei Kurylenko, claimed in televised remarks that Turkey facilitated that attack and that the incursion was supported by artillery fire from Turkish territory. He said Russia had lodged a complaint with the U.S. cease-fire coordination center, based in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

Turkey denied the charge, according to military sources quoted by the website of the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.

The Islamic States incursion into Tal Abyad was the most serious by the militant group in northeastern Syria in more than eight months and was contained only after U.S. warplanes intervened. On Sunday, reports from Tal Abyad said militants were still holed up on the outskirts.
The level of government we most often encounter is local: the roads that are smooth or potholed, police that protect or brutalize and schools that instruct or dont. On Thursday, I attended a conference at Chapman University on Reimagining Local Government.

Organizer Fred Smoller, a Chapman associate professor of political science, for years has encouraged his students to become involved in making democracy work. In moderating the first panel, he said the federal and state governments, regardless of the federal election for president, will continue to be paralyzed and broke. Well have to solve our problems ourselves.

Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait touted his citys Million Acts of Kindness program to advance connectedness and emergency preparedness. In our wired but socially disconnected society, it encourages neighbors to get outside and know one another. That way, in an earthquake, When you neighbors house collapsed, youll know if its a family of five, not two needing to be rescued.

Peter Hong of Cal State Los Angeles said its hard for citizens to become involved in Los Angeles County because it has only five county supervisors. So the system relies on a lack of participation to function. The problem, stemming from county governments 19th century structure also besets Orange County, with five supervisors for more than 3 million people.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who supervises the states elections, called for more voter participation. Where people are involved, the quality of life is higher, he said. He touted a law soon to go into effect that automatically will register citizens to vote when they get or renew a drivers license (or ID card).

But I wonder if thats necessary when it takes five minutes to register to vote online. I asked him about potential voter fraud given the vulnerability of computer networks. The Internet isnt built necessarily for security, he conceded.

Sam Adams, former mayor of Portland, touted its fabled strategic planning and high quality of life. But I pointed out that Portlands median home price is $460,000; and in Orange County, where even greater state and local laws restrict property development, the price now is $630,000. I asked where the middle class was supposed to live. He replied that there was a need for more affordable housing and better-paying jobs.

The reality is that smart growth itself, as well as affordable housing mandates, restrict the market, driving prices higher and squeezing out the middle class.

Silicon Valley venture capitalist Tim Draper offered ideas from around the world. Estonia has instituted digital signatures for contracts and voting, which boosted the economy and election turnouts; and digital identities, which cut crime. Estonia has a virtual government, he said, which made him a virtual citizen. Communication is so good now, borders almost dont matter. This is the beginning of a new way of governing.

His idea to split Califronia into six states didnt make the ballot in 2014. But hes now thinking about a similar reform to turn the state into six supercounties.

Matt Leighninger of the Yankelovich Center for Public Judgment, described how the city of Jun, Spain, runs on Twitter, with 25 percent of town residents participating on such topics as street rights and European Union policy. The streetsweepers tweets made him a celebrity. What a great idea for Orange County cities!

The present system doesnt work for anybody, said Myron Orfield, director of the Institute on Metropolitan Opportunity at the University of Minnesota. Californias numerous land planning entities are competing with one another on land regulation and better would be consolidated. Maybe they would be the six Californias.

The conference churned out dozens more ideas. On the Chapman website, check out the white papers for the conference by these and other participants.
Re: Pope should stick to matters of faith [Letters, Feb. 22]: I read all three letters and, as a Roman Catholic, I agree in part with all three. I do take exception, however, to Paul Spencers last comment: Another faith full of hypocrites, referring I assume, to the Roman Catholic religion. I know many Catholics, myself included, who vehemently disagree with Pope Francis directives to open our borders and to unconditionally import Syrian refugees. Neither of those can be implemented while preserving national security. Contrary to the popes almost fairy-tale vision of welcoming all of our brethren, it is likely that more blood would be shed if we do not closely control immigration while insisting on the immigrants obeying our existing laws.

The Church has had questionable popes in the past, but prevailed. We believe that Christ founded the Church on St. Peter, and that his successors, the popes, are human and fallible. Ultimately, we believe, that this is Christs Church, not that of any one pope.

William B. Bingham

Fountain Valley

_____

The pope is a leader in the free world and is entitled to an opinion the same as other leaders express their opinions. Honestly, I dont agree with this particular statement myself, but I would not be disrespectful of his right to his opinion. I do believe the Holy Father, a connection that goes directly back to St. Peter in the succession of popes, was really trying to make a philosophical point that bridges help connect people and build understanding while fences isolate and keep us from knowing our neighbors (not one letter mentioned the bridges  only the fences).

While the bad gets a lot of press these days, few remember, or care to remember, that the Catholic Church is responsible for public education around the world. The natural sciences (and philosophical reflection upon them) have been an integral part of the Catholic intellectual tradition since the time of the Copernican revolution. Indeed, Catholic priests and clerics played a central role in the development of natural science. People leave churches for all sorts of reasons, Id recommend reading John 21 for a good reason to join the Church founded by Christ.

Mike Noggle

Irvine

_____

J. Gwinn in Pope just being Christian [Letters, Feb. 23] stated, If Jesus were alive today, hed be a liberal. Lets put that statement to the test. Jesus supported marriage between one man and one woman (Matthew 19:4-6). He supported but two genders: male and female (Matthew 19:4). He supported the disciples right to arm himself with a sword (Luke 22:36). He supported King David, who said life begins at conception (Psalm 139:13-16). He supported that nations are to have borders (Psalm 74:17; Acts 17:26). He supported building a wall to protect its citizens (Nehemiah 1-3). He supported foreigners in the land when assimilating into the culture of the land (Exodus 12:19; 20:10: Leviticus 17:10, 15; 18:26; 20:2-3; 24:16). He supported a nations requirements for citizenship (Exodus 12:48; Romans 9:4). He supported obeying the laws of the land even when it comes to immigration (Romans 13:1-7). He supported going to war against evil and to hate evil (Psalm 2; 5:4-6). He supported Paul, who said pay back what you owe  like our $18.5 trillion debt (Romans 13:8). He supported the concept that if able bodied people dont work they dont eat (2 Thessalonians 3:10). He supported Israels existence in the Middle East (Isaiah 11:10-12; Amos 9:14-15). He supported all of Jerusalem as belonging to Israel (Luke 21:24). He supported the whole Bible as the Word of God (Matthew 5:17-18; John 10:35; 17:17; Jude 3).

It seems to me these are good conservative principles that few liberals even care about.

Of course, we are told to care for the widow, the orphan, the fatherless and the stranger in the land (James 1:27; Leviticus 19:33-34; Deuteronomy 24:19-21). We are to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God(Micah 6:8). Thats the Jesus way and what evangelical conservatives believe.

Ron Keller

Huntington Beach

Pastor, and lecturer at Mariners Church in Irvine
GENEVA  Swiss voters have rejected a proposal to automatically expel foreigners who commit even low-level crimes, according to results, handing a setback to a popular nationalist party that had put forward the measure.

The initiative was rejected Sunday by 59 percent of voters, the government Web site showed. It was the most controversial of a number of national and local issues in the referendum, propelling voter turnout to top more than 62 percent  which the state broadcaster said was the highest turnout since 1992.

The outcome comes as a blow to the Swiss Peoples Party, which had campaigned for the plan, and was a turnaround from opinion polls last year.

The Swiss government had opposed the measure. Federal councilor Simonetta Sommaruga praised a push by advocacy groups to help rebuff the measure, telling RTS television that voters had sent the message: Human rights are important in our country: They should not be restricted.

Under the proposal, Swiss law would have been changed to make expulsion part of the sentence for any foreigner, whether for severe crimes like murder or low-level crimes such as threatening officials or giving false testimony  if committed twice in a ten-year span.

A broad coalition of political parties and legal experts had rejected the plan, saying it would effectively create a two-tier justice system that treats Switzerlands two million or so foreigners  about a quarter of the population  more harshly.

Public debate over the issue was unusually fierce by Swiss standards. The Peoples Partys campaign posters showed a white sheep atop a Swiss flag, kicking away a black sheep. Opponents of the measure released an electronic ad at train stations showing a tattered swastika next to a large No to the referendum.
For all the chaos and fluidity that has marked the race for the Republican nomination, theres one overarching theme that defines the whole: trust.

Each remaining candidate with double-digit support is, in his own way, running on a certain promise that he, not the others, is the man to trust for 2016. Donald Trump is promising that, however much he disrupts the once-predictable GOP, only he can be trusted to make America win again. Marco Rubio is insisting that hes the only candidate voters can count on to govern in full accordance with that familiar Republican brand. And Ted Cruz  whose opponents have begun to flat out call him a liar  is stumping with a very large and clever banner that blares the word TRUSTED, with its last three letters set off in a different color.

Each candidate has an at least superficially plausible argument that what hes saying about himself can be believed. Thats why theres still such a bitter fight for the nomination going into Super Tuesday. But theres something funny about running on trust this year, something that frustrates all the candidates pitches: uncertainty.

The election of 2016 is shaped dramatically by the vast uncertainty looming over Americas near-term future (and the worlds). Whereas elections throughout history have hinged on a clear and present danger or an opportunity to aim high, this year, no candidate can make a trustworthy claim about exactly whats going to happen at a macro level. Americans sense that another shoe is going to drop, but theres no consensus on what or where.

That means its really hard to tell in advance exactly how any of the GOP candidates would actually govern.

In part, thats a good thing. The world is in a period of extraordinary uncertainty; the party is divided; the nation is divided; any successful GOP president has got to be able to maneuver his way through that shadowy, shifting landscape. (The same goes for any Democrat who happens to win the White House.)

But for now, it also means that the trust issue functions differently this time around. Its not just a matter of believable promises. If pressed, most people would admit that even their favorite candidates promises are colored and qualified by the fact that theyll have to be governing on the fly.

Even more than trust in promises and personalities, this campaign is about finding the candidate who can be trusted to prevail without the luxury of running this ideological playbook or that politicking formula.

And, again, no figure in this race is a slam dunk on that count. Then again, each of them has the opportunity to seal the deal with enough voters on todays true trust issue.

Trump, who has rashly admitted that he can change his political commitments to suit the moment, can do more to play up the fact that dealmakers such as himself know the art and science of improvising their way to success.

Rubio can turn a liability into an asset by explaining that he has shifted positions swiftly over the course of his fast rise to leadership because he knows you cant be shackled to convention when Americas destiny is up in the air.

And Cruz can assert that his lawyerly mind best apprehends the value of exhaustive preparation, knowing that it readies you to handle for what you can never prepare for.

Whats more, each of these candidates can frame their response to the trust question in a way that speaks to the general election. Whatever the skills and abilities of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, they can both be plausibly portrayed as relatively more hidebound from an ideological perspective than the eventual Republican nominee.

Ironically enough, the deep and exposed fissures running through the GOP actually suggest that the partys eventual victor will be obliged to forge new and not-altogether predictable coalitions with political friends, adversaries and rivals. Democrats, much more in denial about how dramatic are their own internal divides, still seem to believe that they can govern without resorting to these kinds of pragmatic gymnastics.

So, then, back to the horse race. It stands to reason that if any of the leading Republican candidates manages to connect with voters on the true trust issue, that person will have an important advantage going into the thick of primary season  and, maybe, the brokered convention beyond.
On Saturday, Scott Stump, president and founder of the National Desert Storm War Memorial Association, could not commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Persian Gulf War in Washington. There was, after all, no official Defense Department event scheduled to mark the conflicts Feb. 28, 1991, cease-fire.

Instead, Stump, a former Marine who deployed to Saudi Arabia on Dec. 31, 1990, attended a formal event and lunch at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, at the request of Gen. Jonathan Vance, defense chief of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Thats right. Canada.

When we got the invitation to Canadas official, government-sanctioned 25th anniversary event, the thing hit us with a ton of bricks, said Stump, 49, who lives in North Carolina. You have a country that had 4,000 troops on the ground inviting an American like me to attend their commemoration, yet our country  which deployed over 600,000 troops  is not doing anything.

Lt. Col. Thomas Crosson, a Defense Department spokesman, confirmed that the Pentagon did not plan any 25th anniversary events to recognize the Persian Gulf War.

We certainly have not forgotten the efforts and sacrifices of those who served during the Gulf War, he said in a statement. He added that Stumps association  which gained preliminary approval to build a memorial near the Mall and boasts former president George H.W. Bush as its honorary board chairman  is the only group that has expressed grievances about the lack of any 25th anniversary events.

The Persian Gulf War, a U.S.-led effort to oust Saddam Husseins Iraqi forces from Kuwait, was a short war by modern standards. Combat lasted about a month-and-a-half, claiming close to 300 U.S. casualties. But the lack of any Pentagon-sponsored 25th anniversary event reinforces Stumps concern that Desert Storm veterans rarely merit the tributes heaped on other war veterans.

Five years ago, I started this organization when I realized my kids didnt know what Desert Storm was and people lumped it together with Operation Iraqi Freedom, relegating it to a footnote in history, Stump said. But if you have a war, shouldnt it be completed as quickly as possible? Ive had some people from other countries ask me, Whats the matter with your country that they dont want to talk about Americas victory? 

Although the Pentagon hasnt planned anything, some veterans organizations have scheduled their own commemorations.

On Saturday, the VII Corps Desert Storm Veterans Association was slated to conduct a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and hold a dinner at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington with guest speaker retired Gen. Martin Dempsey.

The U.S. Central Command in Florida, said spokesman Army Capt. Michael Meyer, was planning to send a color guard to an event Saturday at a veterans park in Tampa, featuring Brenda Schwarzkopf, widow of Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., commander of coalition forces during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm.

But Stump says the Defense Department should have planned one major commemoration that would have been open to all veterans, no matter to which service or unit they belonged.

Two months ago, the memorial association began asking the Defense Department if it had any plans to commemorate the anniversary. The Pentagon wrote back saying nothing was in the works and suggested that individual military services might hold their own ceremonies, according to emails provided by the memorial association.

But after Stump got invited to Saturdays event hosted by the Canadian Armed Forces, and a Newseum reception Thursday hosted by the ambassador of Kuwait, his organization pressed the Pentagon one more time. Fred Wellman, a board member of the memorial association, sent an email to the Pentagon on Feb. 19, flabbergasted.

Up until recently I dismissed the constant complaining by Gulf War veterans that they have been forgotten by the military but frankly at this point its hard to dismiss their complaints, wrote Wellman, a veteran of the Persian Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom. We are ignoring one of the greatest military victories in world history that was led by the U.S. because its just another anniversary? Nothing at Arlington? Nothing at the Pentagon? This cant seriously be the plan still is it?

A Pentagon official wrote him, saying he had shared Wellmans concerns with higher-ranking brass, and sent Wellman links to stories about the 25th anniversary on the websites of the Air Force, National Guard, and Stars and Stripes.

Stump said he was delighted to attend Canadas event on Saturday. And Canada was more than happy to honor the Persian Gulf Wars 25th anniversary. In fact, Saturdays event at the Canadian War Museum wasnt the only commemoration organized by the Canadian Armed Forces, said spokeswoman Maj. Indira Thackorie.

It was one of seven.
The Irish Sarcoidosis Support Network held its AGM on Thursday, November 28 at the Tullamore Court Hotel, Tullamore, Co Offaly.

The Irish Sarcoidosis Support Network held its AGM on Thursday, November 28 at the Tullamore Court Hotel, Tullamore, Co Offaly.

It was a fantastic turn out with people from all over Ireland attending. This was a great opportunity for everyone to come and review current developments and to discuss how the fight against Sarcoidosis has progressed.

This year ISARC was very honoured to welcome Professor.Dr.med.Ulrich Costabel Specialist for Pulmonology /Lungs from the Essen University Hospital, Germany. He is the recipient of several honours and awards, including the Sarcoidosis Research Prize presented by the German Sarcoidosis Association. He is also author of numerous scientific papers and chapters, and has edited several books.

Professor Costabel was awarded with the Irish World Sarcoidosis Person of the Year 2013 in recognition for his dedicated work in the area for allergology and for his continued research into the area of Sarcoidosis.

The meeting was also addressed by Professor.Seamas Donnelly Respiratory Consultant, St. Vincents University Hospital, Dublin and ISARCs Medical Advisor.
Gardai investigating the murder of Christy Daly at Bog Lane, Clara, Co. Offaly on December 29, have this morning (May 14) charged a 23 year old manwith the murder of Christy Daly. He is the third person to be charged in relation to the murder investigation.

Gardai investigating the murder of Christy Daly at Bog Lane, Clara, Co. Offaly on December 29, have this morning (May 14) charged a 23 year old manwith the murder of Christy Daly. He is the third person to be charged in relation to the murder investigation.

As a result of this extensive investigation, two further men aged 24 and 25 years were arrested in Dublin this morning and are currently detained at Tullamore Garda Station. This brings to eight the number of people arrested to date in relation to this investigation.

These arrests resulted from a targeted investigation into an organised crime gang trafficking drugs throughout the midlands and west of Ireland. An Garda Siochana stated that it is committed to pro-actively targeting groups and individual engaged in all forms of criminal activity.

Christy Daly was found shot to death on December 29. The Gardai conducted a major investigation in relation to the murder with significant local resources from the Laois/Offaly Garda Division, supported by Gardai from specialist units such the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation and The Emergency Response Unit, augmented by local detective units and Divisional Search Teams.

During the course of the investigation, 50 searches were carried out and 135 people have so far been interviewed. Inquiries in relation to this matter are continuing.
TULLAMORE Hospitals state-of-the-art dialysis unit which opened less than three years ago is now at full capacity and from 2012 will not be able to cope with all the patients likely to need the life-saving service.

TULLAMORE Hospitals state-of-the-art dialysis unit which opened less than three years ago is now at full capacity and from 2012 will not be able to cope with all the patients likely to need the life-saving service.

This was the startling news from consultant nephrologist Dr Eoin Bergin last Thursday night at the official launch of National Organ Donor Awareness Week.

Dr Bergin added that the Tullamore Dialysis Unit was the fastest growing unit in the country. It now has a capacity to treat 102 patients per week and at present is treating 92 and will reach full capacity by next year, he warned.

When the dialysis service commenced in 2005 it was treating 20 patients a week. Even now not all patients requiring dialysis get local treatment with 15 people travelling to other centres weekly for treatment. Year on year there has been an increase of ten patients every year, added Dr Bergin.

Jerome Burke, Chairman of the Offaly branch of the Irish Kidney Association, co-ordinators of Organ Donor Awareness week, welcomed members of staff at the Dialysis Unit, patients and their families, transplant patients and members of Tullamore, Edenderry and Birr Town Councils and Offaly County Council. He pointed out how important organ donor awareness was in view of the increased demand for transplant organs. He urged members of the public to consider the plight of very ill people relying on dialysis to stay alive.

Please, please carry an organ donor card and discuss with your family. The number of organ donations decreased in 2010 to the lowest level for years. Thankfully matters seem to be improving and so far this year 40 transplants have been performed.

Among the interesting statistics revealed by Jerome were the fact that 1709 patients are recieving dialysis in Ireland today. There were 98 Deceased Donor Kidney Transplants at Beaumont Hospital during 2010; 8 Pancreases were transplanted along with a Kidney in 2010; 23 people donated organs to family members; 38 liver Transplants performed and three heart transplants and four lung transplants were performed at the Mater Hospital.

Jerome himself had a double transplant in November 1999 when he received the gift of a kidney and pancreas. I consider it the most wonderful gift. I continue to live life to the full and every day I offer thanks to my donor and his family. They bestowed new life on me.

However, Jerome said he was acutely aware of the grief of donor families and their generosity at such a difficult time. Hence the need for people who wished to become donors to discuss the issue with their families when filling in a donor card. If you have discussed organ donation with your family it will make the whole process somewhat less painful. We are so thankful to donor families.

Organ Donor Awareness Week continues until next Saturday with information desks at locations such as the Bridge Centre, Tullamore.
LEXINGTON, Neb.  The old Longhorn Laundry is an unlikely place for a showdown over the First Amendment.

You could easily miss the nondescript concrete building on a quiet downtown corner of this old cow town.

But ever since a group of Somali workers from the local meatpacking plant spread out a sea of Persian rugs in the expansive former laundry and began holding Muslim prayer services five times a day, there has been controversy.

City officials maintain that mosque leaders are ignoring local zoning laws and thumbing their noses at requirements for building permits and fire-code inspections.

They insist that the flap is about a lack of parking, not a denial of religious freedom, and that it wasnt spurred by Islamophobia.

Were not against religion. Were just trying to plan and redevelop that part of our town, said Lexington City Manager Joe Pepplitsch. Its not a good idea to put a large facility for assembly there. Lets find an alternative.

But local Muslim leaders question why a community that has hosted waves of immigrants seems to be taking such a hard line against them. They had gathered for prayers in two smaller buildings for eight years before expanding into and later buying the larger laundry next door. They see plenty of empty parking stalls nearby at two city-owned lots.

Theyre just trying to push us out, said Mohamed Alinor, a 28-year-old Somali who works at the Tyson Foods plant.

The ACLU of Nebraska has stepped in on the side of the Muslims, warning that the city is violating their right to worship.

The battle is now in the hands of the U.S. Department of Justice, which launched an investigation.

City officials had posted notices on the doors of the old laundromat and had asked a local judge to order the mosque out of the building, but recently agreed to hold off on that lawsuit pending the federal probe.

Claude Berreckman, a Cozad attorney who is representing the mosque, says federal law  the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000  plainly states that communities cannot pass zoning ordinances that restrict freedom of religion.

We have a law thats fairly clear here, Berreckman said. To me, its a huge waste of taxpayer dollars to pursue a lawsuit.

***

Lexingtons long history with immigrants makes it an unusual place for what some see as a cultural clash. Ever since a meatpacking plant opened here in 1990, the central Nebraska community of 10,000 has been a magnet for Hispanics, Vietnamese and other immigrants seeking jobs and a better life.

The town, which is now 60 percent Hispanic, has long had a welcome center to help new arrivals get acclimated. Thirty-two languages are spoken at local schools.

Diversitys not a new issue for this community, said Barry McFarland, a former school administrator who now helps run a family-owned winery in Lexington.

African Muslims, mostly from war-torn Somalia, started arriving in the mid-2000s. Census estimates put the number of Somalis in Lexington at 769 in 2014  a 40 percent increase from 2000. Local Somalis and those who work with them say there actually may be 1,500 or more living in the community.

Across Nebraska, census estimates show 2,100 Somali-born residents clustered in Omaha and Lincoln, and near meatpacking plants in Grand Island and Madison, as well as Lexington. Iowa has seen a similar influx, with an estimated 20,000 Muslims now living in the state.

Iowa has another distinction: The oldest continuously operating mosque in the country is in Cedar Rapids.

The migration in Lexington is clearly visible. A handful of Somali-run businesses in the downtown area sit next to Hispanic and Asian stores and restaurants.

There are two mosques. One is next door to the town newspaper. The other, the Islamic Center of Lexington, was located in two small storefronts before expanding next door into the Longhorn Laundry space after it closed last year.

At the sprawling Tyson Foods facility on the south end of town, many of the plants 2,700 workers are Muslim. Their religion requires short prayers five times a day, and the plant has made accommodations for that, according to a corporate spokesman.

Naji Abdi, who works at Tyson and operates a restaurant a block from the new mosque, said Somalis moved here because the plant allows workers to take time out for prayers.

Now, we are part of Nebraska, he said.

But local residents and those from elsewhere who work with Somali refugees make it clear that this wave of immigrants to Lexington faces unique challenges.

The Somalis are a different color  black  and worship a religion foreign to this rural area. They are separated from the rest of society in a lot of ways: by language barriers, by long hours in the meatpacking plant, and by tenets of their religion that eschew smoking and drinking. Women are required to cover themselves and pray in a separate room in the mosque.

Theyre not going to be your drinking buddy, said Faiz Rab, who has worked with Somali refugees as the Omaha-based director of public relations for Lutheran Family Services. There are some compound challenges they have.

There have been cultural clashes before for Muslims in Nebraska. In 2008, dozens of workers at Grand Islands JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plant walked out in protest over a lack of accommodations for prayer times during Ramadan, the Muslim holy month. After the plant proposed a schedule shift, non-Muslims staged counterprotests over the special treatment. Eventually some 90 Muslim workers lost their jobs.

Nationally, a recent wave of Islamophobia has been prompted by atrocities committed by the Islamic State militant organization and the terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, according to Abdul Raheem Yaseer, assistant director of the Center for Afghanistan Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

In January, someone wrapped bacon around the handle of the front door of the Islamic Center of Omaha, the largest of four mosques in Omaha. (Muslims are prohibited from eating pork.) It was the fourth time in recent months that vandals had struck the center.

And Berreckman said hes received hate mail and nasty comments on social media because he took the Lexington mosques case.

Yaseer said that a call by presidential candidate Donald Trump to halt immigration by Muslims has also fueled the flames.

Its a label put on all Muslims now, Yaseer said, even though mainstream Muslims condemn the violence by a small group of extremists. The word Islam, he said, means peace.

Dont generalize, Yaseer said. Try to expand your understanding of what mainstream is and what extremism is. There are extremists in every faith.

At Teps Bar & Grill, which is next door to the mosque in Lexington, a table full of diners wearing cowboy hats and ball caps with livestock logos had little good to say about local Somalis. They described the Somalis as rude, wanting special treatment and hostile toward women.

A waitress said she was harassed by a Somali man when she was taking a cigarette break outside of the tavern. Shelby Holen-Forrester said the man shook his finger at her and scolded her, and made gestures indicating she should wear a covering on her head, as Muslim women do.

I dont need a head cover and I can smoke. Thats my right, said Holen-Forrester.

Abdi, who has served as a spokesman for the mosque, said that he was unaware of such harassment. He told a different story, of how mosque members once helped a drunken man get to a nearby convenience store so he could get some food and sober up.

Many local residents, Abdi said, misunderstand Somalis and their religion. Despite that, he said, the mosque and its members have not seen the anti-Islamic slurs and vandalism that have happened elsewhere in the United States.

The community, Lexington, I dont think they have that kind of hate, Abdi said.

The problem, he said, is with the city leadership.

The city recently revamped its zoning ordinances as part of an effort to revitalize downtown as a retail and service center, said Pepplitsch, the city manager. As in many communities along Interstate 80, companies and eateries have fled to locations near highway exits, leaving empty storefronts behind along the old brick streets.

To ensure enough parking for the downtown businesses that Lexington wants to attract, one of the zoning changes was to require that churches, nightclubs and other entities that attract large crowds of people obtain conditional use permits and provide off-street parking.

A few years ago, according to townspeople, a Hispanic church had occupied a downtown building for a while, consuming much of the on-street parking during church services.

So when the Islamic Center applied for its permit to use the old laundromat as a mosque, the city asked that it develop 139 stalls of off-street parking for the structure, which was rated to hold 400 people.

Mosque officials objected, saying their facility never holds more than 80 people and that they were being singled out. Berreckman, the mosques attorney, said theres plenty of parking available already at two public parking lots nearby.

Theres been no evidence presented that the mosque is disruptive to anyone, Berreckman said.

But Pepplitsch said that the city counted 80 vehicles associated with the mosque during a recent midday prayer service on a Friday  the biggest service of the week for Muslims, and the one that both men and women are required to attend  and it was a problem.

The city estimates that, at full occupancy, the mosques worshippers would take up two-thirds of the parking spots in public lots and on city streets within 300 feet of the building.

For us, thats not really fair, he said. This is an area wed like to see other things happen besides a mosque or church.

The owner of Teps, Kristie Teply, agreed. I dont think a downtown commercial area is the right place for them.

She said she also wondered whether having a mosque there might prevent someone from reopening a now-closed bar on a nearby street; there are state laws restricting taverns from locating near churches.

Pepplitsch said the city offered three different locations in Lexington for the mosque to relocate, including an abandoned lumberyard office just a few blocks away.

But Abdi said the mosque doesnt want to move. Its been located in the same area for eight years, and the location is convenient to other Somali businesses downtown. Its also easily reached by foot  which is how many of the men arrive for prayers.

One of the citys main complaints is that mosque officials have ignored city statutes by occupying the laundry before obtaining a permit, by not obtaining building permits for alterations and by not seeking out a fire inspection.

Its basically telling us we dont care about your codes, Pepplitsch said.

The mosque eventually did apply for a permit to occupy the laundry, but the city planning board unanimously recommended rejection of that permit. Lexington City Council members, before a packed meeting room, unanimously agreed in December.

Both sides say theyd like to work out something without going to court.

Pepplitsch, the city manager, said the city doesnt oppose the use of the laundry as a mosque if it wouldnt consume so much parking.

Berreckman, the mosques attorney, said his clients would like to avoid a lawsuit, but doesnt think the city is being fair.

One local minister, Pastor Rex Adams of Calvary Assembly of God Church, said that the citys parking requirements are also causing a headache for his church, located northwest of the downtown area. Paving a new parking lot is expensive, he said, so the church is looking at scheduling a second worship service.

Adams said he sees the mosque flap not as discriminatory but as part of the growing pains of incorporating a new and different culture in town.

Were trying to understand them, theyre trying to understand us, he said. It takes time. And also it takes some effort on both sides.

Contact the writer: 402-473-9584, paul.hammel@owh.com
Ripple effect: JNU crackdown and voices of dissent from northeast India

Feature

oi-Oneindia

By Maitreyee Boruah

The ongoing row at the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi has left an indelible mark on the collective psyche of the people of northeast India.

The northeast region is geographically far away from the mainland India with very little connectivity. However, the voices of dissent emanating from JNU and University of Hyderabad (UoH), Hyderabad, strike a chord with the people of the region.

The region has long witnessed a battle between the state forces (especially army) and its indigenous people. It has been ages since northeast region is demanding the withdrawal of Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from its soil.

Several activists, intellectuals and academicians from the region have expressed their solidarity with the students of JNU and UoH.

Jyotirmoy Talukdar, a poet and a freelance journalist from Assam in an open letter addressed to the JNU, writes, "This, then, does bring me to the small thing I want to go into here. As someone writing to you from a perennially circumferential, marginalized, contentious state and indeed, region, I must, on this concerned, distressed and disquieted night, write to you of concord, concurrence and camaraderie because we understand what you mean. Because we have suffered. Because Indian Army for us crores of people in the North Eastern Region is not what it is to Arnab Goswami and Sudhir Chaudhary. If we remember soldiers braving snow, we also remember them in not so brave acts in my state and my region for decades, as we do in Kunan Poshpora, as we do in the eyes of our mothers and sisters who cross the river to safety in other villages if they hear of these law-keepers visiting their own any hungry night."

"If protests done by you against the UGC discontinuing fellowships - which are anyway peanuts - braving the cold month after month in front of the Commission, if protests by all of you in front of Assam Bhawan against the rape of Karbi women by jawans or the dissatisfaction by you against the widely-discussed and debated trials of Yakub Memon or Afzal Guru or GN Saibaba amount to such reactions from the state, either the state is fascist or it is damn scared. But wait, they are the same thing, aren't they?" adds Talukdar in his letter titled, From Kashmir to North-East, speaking truth is sedition: a letter to JNU from Assam, published in IndiaResists.com.

IndiaResists.com is a free and open online platform for updates and perspectives on people's struggles and democratic movements in India. It's run by a group of independent researchers and activists. [Read the full letter here]

In another article, JNU Crackdown: India's northeast boils over it, published in IndiaResists.com, says, "The entire colossus of left and democratic forces in the Northeast are standing in solidarity with the students of JNU, who have been subjected to state sponsored violence by the RSS and its political wing ,BJP."

"Student activists from the Students' Federation of India, Jorhat, brought out a protest rally in solidarity with the students of JNU. The rally saw a huge upsurge of students who sang the songs of freedom and rallied against the killing of Rohith Vemula and the arrest of Kanhaiya Kumar, slogans like "Kitne Rohith Maroge, Ghar Ghar se Rohith Niklenge" and

"Go back Communal ABVP", rocked the streets of the heart of upper Assam that day," it adds.

The article written by Suddhabrata Deb Roy, a student activist and a writer, alleged that students of Assam University, Silchar, were attacked by ABVP members during a protest rally.

"When the SFI, yesterday, brought out a protest rally inside the campus standing in solidarity with JNU and against the curtailment of democratic rights inside the campus, the goons from ABVP, named in the FIR lodged by them as Manoj Das, attacked the rallying students, and tried to inflict serious injury to the activists. One activist was hit on the stomach while two more were seriously injured by the goons. Following the attack on the SFI, some activists from the AISA, immediately arrived on the scene and extended their support to the SFI activists against the ABVP goons," writes Roy.
Kerala's ex-health minister KK Shailaja under scanner over corruption in purchase of PPE kits

Congress, CPI-M grapple with leadership issues

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 28: Who will lead the Congress and the CPI-M in the coming assembly elections in Kerala? Both parties appear to be unsure.

Over the years, power has changed hands in the state between the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) headed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

The Left has two front-runners, both from the CPI-M.

One is the 92-year-old former chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan, the other is long-time rival, Pinarayi Vijayan, 71. The former is considered widely popular and the latter is seen a party strongman.

Vijayan has just ended a successful month-long tour of the state during which he covered all 140 assembly constituencies.

CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, whose closeness to Achuthanandan is well known, and party leader S. Ramachandran Pillai will take part in party leadership meetings here on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The CPI-M has to decide whether both Achuthanandan and Vijayan need to contest the elections and, if yes, who will lead the battle, party sources said.

Within the Congress, despite a full-term run by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, state Congress president V.M. Sudheeran and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala are expected to give Chandy a fair challenge.

Chandy, whose UDF has 72 seats in the 140-member Kerala assembly, surprised many when he became the first Congress chief minister after K. Karunakaran (1982-87) to complete the full five-year tenure.

While it has not been decided yet if Sudheeran should contest the election, Chennithala, who withdrew at the last minute in 2011, is certain to throw his hat into the ring this time.

If that happens, there may be more than one claimant for the post of chief minister - if the UDF comes on top again. Similarly, if both Vijayan and Achuthanandan contest, the CPI-M will also face a dilemma.

IANS
Rs 1,000 fine if found without wearing rear seat belt in Karnataka

'Kantara' impact: 'Daiva Narthakas' above 60 years of age to get Rs 2,000 monthly allowance

Late actor Puneeth Rajkumar to be conferred with 'Karnataka Ratna' award on Nov 1

Karnataka to strengthen ATS and up the number of prisons

News Flash: Venkaiah Naidu rebuts P Chidambaram

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Bengaluru, Feb 28: Kerala CM Oommen Chandy's car skidded off the road in Kottayam (Kerala) in early morning hours on Sunday, Feb 28. CM escaped unhurt.

Get all the latest national and international news updates of Sunday, Feb 28 here:

6.30 pm: Family members of Rohith Vemula meet PL Punia, Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Castes.

6.15 pm: According to media reports,those involved in anti-national sloganeering aren't being arrested because BJP wants to form Govt with PDP in J&K, says Delhi CM.

6.00 pm: Virat Kohli fined 30% of his match fee for showing dissent at umpire's decision during yesterday's IndvsPak match.

5.45 pm: Virat Kohli fined 30 per cent for breaching ICC Code of Conduct.

5.30 pm: Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gives final touch to Union Budge 2016.

5.25 pm: The Congress was always soft on terrorists and hard on nationalists, says Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu.

5.20 pm: Mr Chidambaram, you must know it is not the minorities who are insecure, it is the Congress party which is insecure, says Venkaiah Naidu.

5.15 pm: Madhya Pradesh was never known for agriculture but Shivraj Singh Chouhan ji changed things with new initiatives and schmes, says PM Modi.

4.15 pm: It is Narendra Modi Govt which is helping Tamil Nadu in every way: Prakash Javadekar after meeting DMDK's Vijayakanth.

4.08 pm: We had very good and meaningful discussion, says Union Minister Prakash Javadekar after meeting DMDK's Vijayakant.

3.58 pm: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to start cargo services on the Airport Express Metro Line on an experimental basis from next month.

3.48 pm: Man killed 14 members of his family in Thane, later committed suicide (In pic: sole survivor admitted in hospital).

3.40 pm: St Stephen's College bids adieu to controversial principal Valson Thampu.

3.28 pm: Chennai: Union Minister Prakash Javadekar reaches DMDK President Vijayakanth's residence, to discuss on alliance.

3.05 pm: I urge all farmers to take all benefits under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, says PM Modi.

We will not let run the film in the city at any cost: Shakuntala Bharti, Mayor Aligarh, on film Aligarh pic.twitter.com/VzZ9MKi9IU  ANI (@ANI_news) February 28, 2016

2:49 pm: Since our Govt has come to power, we have made efforts to bring in reforms in agriculture through science, says PM Modi.

2:30 pm: I wish to double the income of farmers by 2022 when India will celebrate 75 years of its Independence, says PM Modi.

2:11 pm: vehicles set on fire by protesters during Jat Reservation agitation in Haryana.

2:00 pm: PM Narendra Modi to address 'Kisaan rally' in Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) shortly.

1:45 pm: In the future, name of Aligarh will be associated with homosexuality, says Jasim Mohd, MBMC, on film 'Aligarh'.

1:30 pm: Why the film was titled Aligarh, is it a conspiracy to defame Aligarh?- Shakuntala Bharti, Mayor Aligarh, on ban on film Aligarh' in city.

1:15 pm: 23 Naxals surrender before police in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh.

1:10 pm: Why the film was titled Aligarh, is it a conspiracy to defame Aligarh?- Shakuntala Bharti, Mayor Aligarh, on ban on film Aligarh' in city.

1:00 pm: 11 arrests have been made so far by Sonipat (Haryana) Police in violence during Jat Reservation protests.

Bihar Police at the residence of Rajballabh Yadav who is accused of raping a minor, seize his property. pic.twitter.com/nM5bbYBn8F  ANI (@ANI_news) February 28, 2016

12:50 pm: We have sent a team there to record statement of the witness (Truck driver): Haryana Minister Anil Vij on reports of rapes in Murthal.

12:40 pm: Student Ashutosh accused in the sedition case, being questioned by Delhi Police.

12:30 pm: Bihar Police at the residence of Rajballabh Yadav who is accused of raping a minor, will forfeit his property.

12:25 pm: TN CM Jayalalithaa inaugurates finished schemes &projects worth Rs 180.41 cr, lays foundation stone for schemes & projects worth Rs193.26 cr.

12:16 pm: Dr. Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin along with a delegation from the Dawoodi Bohra community meet PM Narendra Modi in Delhi.

12:00 noon: Matter is being investigated by the police, says GS Meena,Additional commissioner, South MCD

11:46 am: 125 crore citizens are going to take my examination on Monday, Feb 29 as Union budget will be presented in Parliament tomorrow, says PM Modi on Mann Ki Baat.

11:45 am: Usually, we start calculating how much we will score soon after an examination is over. please do not do this: PM Modi on Mann Ki Baat.

11:30 am: I have seen two types of students appearing for exams, one who concentrate on strength and learning, says PM Modi.

11:20 am: I hope you will get inspiration from Sachin's message. Why compete with others? Why not compete with yourself?, says PM Modi on Mann Ki Baat.

11:00 am: I want you to listen Bharat Ratna Sachin Tendulkar's message here first, says PM Modi.

10:42 am: Cashier and a guard who were shot at by unidentified men at a toll plaza in Delhi's Badarpur area, succumbed to their injuries, say Police.

10:30 am: Bihar Police arrives at the residence of RJD MLA Rajballabh Yadav who is accused of raping a minor, to forfeit his property.

10:25 am: The culprits were arrested when the case came to light where girl immolated self in Mathura (Uttar Pradesh).

10:20 am: Girl dies during treatment after an attempt to immolate self few days back due to eve-teasing by two men in Mathura (Uttar Pradesh).

10:17 am: Kerala CM Oommen Chandy's car skidded off the road in Kottayam (Kerala) in early morning hours. CM escaped unhurt.

9:45 am: 2 people (cashier and a guard) shot at by unidentified men at a toll plaza in Delhi's Badarpur area. Injured admitted to hospital.

9:30 am: Preparations underway in Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) ahead of PM Narendra Modi's Kisaan rally.

9:00 am: There are 20-25 girls in this village and we all have decided to not marry. We want Govt to help us: Sarita.

8:30 am: My parents hardly make 30,000 a year as this area has been drought-hit since 2-3 years, says Savita,Majalgaon area resident.

8:00 am: Man who committed suicide after killing 14 members of his family in Kasarvadavali area of Thane (Maharashtra).

8:00 am: 20-25 women of a drought hit area in Beed (Maharashtra) have decided nt to marry this year due to weak financial condition of their families.

OneIndia News
Yazidi women, girls seek healing in Germany after IS 'hell'

India

oi-PTI

Geneva, Feb 28: One eight-year-old was repeatedly sold and raped, while another girl set herself on fire to make herself less attractive to her jihadist captors. These are only two of the more than 1,400 horror stories German doctor Jan Ilhan Kizilhan has heard first-hand from Yazidi women and girls once enslaved by Islamic State jihadists in Iraq.

"They have been through hell," he said in an interview in Geneva. Kizilhan heads a project that has brought 1,100 women and girls to Germany to help heal their deep physical and psychological wounds.

The project, run by German state Baden-Wurttemberg, first began flying in the traumatised victims from northern Iraq last April, and brought the last group over earlier this month. It was in 2014 that authorities in Baden-Wurttemberg decided to act.

At the time, IS jihadists were making a lightning advance in northern Iraq, massacring Yazidis in their villages, forcing tens of thousands to flee and kidnapping thousands of girls and women to force them into sexual slavery.

The United Nations has described the IS attack on the Yazidi minority as a possible genocide. "It is really an urgent situation," Kizilhan said, calling on other countries and states to follow Baden-Wurttemberg's example.

The southwest German state budgeted 95 million euros (USD 104 million) to the project and asked Kizilhan and his team to decide which of the victims could benefit most from the move. The doctor said another 1,200 Yazidi women and girls once held by IS would also benefit from similar programmes elsewhere - as would the estimated 3,800 believed to remain in captivity, if they make it out.

He explained that the women who managed to escape from IS found themselves back in their deeply conservative communities in northern Iraq with little to no access to psychological help to work through the unspeakable horrors they had experienced.

"These women really need specialised treatment. If we don't help them, who will?" he asked, speaking on the sidelines of an international conference of human rights defenders in Geneva.

Most of the girls and women in the programme were between 16 and 20, he said, adding that the oldest was in her 40s. The youngest was eight.

PTI
Democracy finally arrives at UN for secretary general's election

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

United Nations, Feb 27: After 70 years, democracy is finally arriving at the UN for the election of its next head. It will also be the first with women running for the top job.

Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's successor is to be chosen in a process that will be "historic and game-changing" with an open election campaign, General Assembly President Mogens Lykketoft announced Friday. It will replace the Security Council's secretive backroom deal-making of the past that India and many other countries have opposed.

This will be the first time that candidates will come before all the members of the UN for an American-style campaign Town Hall meeting where candidates face questions about their policies and plans, but do not directly interact with each other like in a debate.

Lykketoft said that three women are among the six running to succeed Ban, whose term ends this year. The emergence of women candidates is another historic development and it is almost certain that one of them would be elected as there has been tremendous pressure from civil society groups and international leaders to elect a woman. Irina Bokova, the Bulgarian head of Unesco, is widely thought to be the front-runner.

The Assembly will hold over three days in April a "dialogue" with the six candidates nominated by their governments and any others who announce their run by then, Lykketoft said. The meetings will be "open and transparent" and even civil society organisations will participate, he declared.

And, the Assembly will have a chance to evaluate them and influence the election instead of rubber-stamping a Security Council choice.

Lykketoft told reporters the organisation was now heading into the "unchartered territory that the General Assembly takes on itself with these informal talks" with the candidates.

Asked if this could mean that the Assembly can actually determine who the next secretary general will be, Lykketoft said that "this could be a game-changer if all the countries come together with one candidate" in the Assembly whom the Council accepts because of the overwhelming support for that person.

He also said that it would be possible for the Assembly to vote down every candidate proposed by the Council until the one it favored is proposed. But he added that this scenario was unlikely.

Answering a question whether a permanent member of the Council could veto the selection of a candidate, Lykketoft said that though this has been the tradition so far, "it is very questionable there is a veto power on a procedural issue" like this.

All the eight secretaries general in the UN's 70-year history have been men and although a system of regional rotation has been in place since the election of Myanmar's U Thant in 1961, no East European has held the job. Now it is a European's turn to follow Asia's Ban and East Europe is staking it claim, giving the women from the region an edge.

Besides Bokova, the other women nominated by their governments are Vesna Pusic, the first deputy prime minister of Croatia who also holds the foreign affairs portfolio, and Natalia Gherman, a former acting prime minister and deputy prime minister of Moldova.

The three men running for the job are Danilo Turk, the former president of Slovenia; Srgjan Kerim the former foreign minister of Macedonia, who has also been a president of the UN General Assembly, and Igor Lusic, the foreign minister of Montenegro, who was a former prime minister.

India has advocated an open selection process for the secretary general like the one adopted now and the Assembly having the choice of several candidates. Last April, India's then Permanent Representative Asoke Kumar Mukerji told a panel on reforming the election process that the Council should present a slate of candidates, rather than just one, to the general assembly, which should elect one of them by two-thirds of the votes.

Lykketoft noted this suggestion and another to limit the secretary general to a single term but longer than the present five years. A decision has yet to be made on these, he said.



IANS
Community

Its now easier than ever to connect and chat with others in your local area. You can connect with your community by asking general questions, give area updates and recommendations and even let your community know about local events that are taking place.
by  Graham Pierrepoint



As soon as GPS technology  complete with computerized voice  became a popular commodity in helping drivers find their way across unfamiliar territories and destinations, a gap in the market opened up for new voices to be installed and used by drivers who soon grew tired of hearing the same robotic monotone. Trends for humorous voices such as Darth Vader soon opened up, and across the years, there have been a number of celebrities who have lent their voices to several GPS manufacturers. However, until this week, one of Hollywoods most famous voices has evaded driving instruction software altogether  but at last, to the joy of millions everywhere, we will now be able to enjoy Morgan Freemans gloriously gravelly tones as we take to the road.

Freeman, most famous for roles in The Shawshank Redemption and Christopher Nolans Batman trilogy, has perhaps one of the movie worlds most recognisable and most imitated voices, and its thanks to Google GPS application Waze that motorists will now be able to listen to his comforting dialogue for a limited time. According to Slate, the option to download Freemans voice for your GPS comes via Waze as part of a clever promotion for his forthcoming cinematic thriller, London Has Fallen  the sequel to the well-received Olympus Has Fallen  and Freeman takes center stage as the Vice President of the USA as his superior is missing in action following colossal terrorist attacks upon the British capital.

The Freeman download will speak to the driver as if they are the President themselves  meaning that anyone looking for a little bit of a power trip before they head out to work or out on vacation in a new country will get a kick out of Wazes new addition. Its certainly an interesting way to promote the new movie, and while its not the first celebrity voice to be launched into the world of GPS, its clear that many will get a kick out of hearing the indomitable Freeman crooning through their GPS application. Itll certainly help to make journeys more interesting if nothing else!

London Has Fallen is due to be released on March 3, 2016, and alongside Freeman, Gerard Butler returns to help tackle the latest in terrorist attacks, this time with matters looking as if they are to go global. One News Page will have a review of the movie shortly after its release!
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All rights reserved.

One News is a registered trademark

of One News Page Ltd.
Air Niugini takes relief supplies to Fiji. Photo credit: Air Niugini Media

Over four tons of relief supplies bound for Fiji was airlifted on Friday, from Papua New Guinea to assist the country recuperate after the devastating aftermath of Category 5 Cyclone Winston.State-owned airliner, Air Niugini transported 4.5 tons of supplies that included 225 boxes containing mattresses, tents and plastic rolls, which were donated by Japan International Cooperation Agency, JICA in Singapore.Air Niugini uplifted the supplies from Singapore to Port Moresby yesterday and left the Jacksons International Airport today for Nadi, Fiji.Since cyclone Winston swept through Fiji over the weekend, 42 deaths have been recorded so far, while thousands of people are homeless and millions of dollars worth of damage done to properties and infrastructure.PX 084 departed Port Moresby at 10am Friday morning, via Solomon Islands and arrived at Nandi Airport just after 4pm.
Left: PNG PM Peter O'Neill meeting Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare on West Papua issue

Papua New Guinea PRIME Minister Peter ONeill is continuing dialogue with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on the issue of West Papua.As Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, and as current chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, I am maintaining ongoing dialogue with the Government of Indonesia and with President Joko Widodo, he said.We will continue this dialogue in a respectful manner with a focus on building mutual understanding in relation to the safety and security of our millions of Melanesian brothers and sisters across our border.He said this after a meeting with Solomon Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in Port Moresby where the issue was discussed.Sogavare is visiting in his capacity as the chairman of the Melanesian Spearhead Group. ONeill said PNG remained a strong supporter of the work of the MSG Secretariat located in Vanuatu.The work of MSG has to stay relevant for the people of the region, ONeill said.They also discussed the disaster in Fiji following Cyclone Winston.The disaster from the cyclone in Fiji was widespread, and the region expresses its sympathies for the unfortunate loss of life, he said.MSG, as well as the Pacific Islands Forum, and individual countries look to requests for assistance that will come from Fiji in the recovery phase of the disaster.For PNG, we will deliver any support direct to where it is needed, as has been the process with drought relief in PNG, instead of sending this through bureaucratic channels. The National / ONE PNG
Opalesque Industry Update - Devet Capital Investments was voted the AIF Factor 2016 winner during ABN AMRO Clearings 5th Amsterdam Investor Forum held today. The fund successfully pitched their investment strategy and convinced a group of over 250 delegates, comprising of investment managers, institutional investors, Hedge funds allocators, high net worth individuals and a jury panel consisting of four industry experts. It was a very close call and a special mention goes to Mint Tower who came narrowly in second place by 0.6%. I cannot believe this said Irene Perdomo, Principal & Founding Partner of Devet Capital Investments. We are so pleased that our market neutral commodity investment strategy convinced this professional audience. They really liked our track record of consistent positive risk adjusted returns, with controlled drawdowns, with a strict risk management approach. This is achieved through an efficient combination of machines for trade selection and human intervention for the risk management. We have had a great diversity of strategies presented to us this year again, and five impressive finalists said Gildas Le Treut, Global Head of Prime at ABN AMRO Clearing . I am especially pleased with the compelling and enthusiastic pitches delivered by the 5 five finalists. I would like to congratulate Devet Capital Investments for winning the AIF Factor. Their dynamism and the clarity of their presentation made a particular impression on the audience which led to a success in a very close race. AIF Factor - enabling Funds to explain their investment strategies The AIF Factor is a competition that enables a selection of funds - active or prospective, of any size, location, investment target or style - to explain their investment strategies to professional investors. Shortlisted for the final were: Serone Key Opportunities Fund of Serone Capital Management

Mint Tower Arbitrage Fund of Mint Tower Capital Management

Devet Capital of Devet Capital Investments

Abrax Merger Arbitrage of Puzzle Capital

Done Hedge Fund of Done Fund Management The 5th edition of the Amsterdam Investor Forum ABN AMRO Clearing held the event with the support of the ABN AMRO Private Bankings Alternatives & Funds team. In its previous editions the AIF has gained wide recognition as the leading alternative investment conference in the Netherlands and this year successful forum positively reinforced this. For the 2016 jubilee edition ABN AMRO Clearing welcomed a fine selection of leading industry professionals. The companies represented included: 100 Women in Hedge Funds, Abbey Capital, AIMA, Albourne Partners Limited, APG, Architas, BlackRock, Candriam Investors Group, Cantab Capital Partners, Cardano, CIAM, CME Group, Crabel Capital Management, Deloitte, Finisterre Capital, In Ink (London), ISAM, Lansdowne Partners, Laven Partners, LGT, Lyxor Asset Management, Maples and Calder, M&G, Mint Tower, Murano Systems Connect, Neuflize OBC Investissements, Parus Finance, Pictet Alternative Advisors, PRI, Privium Fund Management, RCMA, Robeco, Saemor, Schroders, Tages Group and Unigestion.
Opalesque Industry Update - City Financial, with portfolio manager Shahraab Ahmad, has advised the Directors of the Decca Fund, of which it is Investment Manager, to close the Fund to any further subscriptions for both existing and new investors. The Decca Strategy's assets under management have reached approximately US$500million. The Fund launched on 1 April 2015, and is managed by Shahraab Ahmad from City Financials London office. Goldman Sachs International acts as the Funds prime broker. City Financial Chief Executive Andrew Williams said: "City Financial is focused on ensuring the Decca Fund is run at a scale that takes into account market conditions, volatility, and other relevant risk considerations. We are pleased the Fund reached that scale in only 10 months, without recourse to any seeding arrangements." The Decca Strategy is City Financials most recent of six investment offerings. The firms assets under management are US$3.9bn as at 31 January 2016, with offices in London, New York, Geneva and Hong Kong.
Ironically, Canadians freely pursued this campaign against Israel under the slavishly pro-Israeli Harper government, and now are faced with the more liberal Liberal government passing a law condemning them. Supposedly the Liberals are doing this reluctantly, merely adding support to the Conservative motion. But Trudeau is actually carrying through on a rash election promise made while courting fencing-sitting Jewish voters, calling BDS "an example of the new form of anti-Semitism in the world."



Justin'is Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion disagreed with the law, but was forced to defend his boss. "There is no doubt," Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion declared in the House of Commons, that "most of the organizations and individuals supporting the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement are doing so in good faith." He denounced the Conservatives' opposition-day motion, which would "condemn any and all attempts by Canadian organizations, groups or individuals to promote the BDS movement, both here at home and abroad", as just more "politics of division." The Tories, Dion whined, are just "bullies" who want to turn the defence of Israel into a partisan issue. They'll portray anyone who votes against their motion as "dissidents." "It's not us who wrote this motion," Dion complained, "but we have to vote yes or no."



So what's wrong with a polite "No"? The campaign in Canada is widely supported, including by the United Church and the Quakers. In 2014, the Canadian Federation of Student's Ontario branch, representing 300,000 students, joined BDS unanimously. The latest campaign is in Trudeau's Montreal, where McGill BDS was formed in February 2016. McGill's Office of Investments shows that the University holds investments in at least four companies that profit from activities in the occupied territories (less than 1% of investments).



The Board of Governors' Committee to Advise on Matters of Social Responsibility forbids investment that causes "social injury", a classic reason for disinvestment in Israel. BDS is growing across the border and Europe too. In January, the United Methodist Church in the US divested from five Israeli banks implicated in Israel's illegal settlements, and French telecom giant, Orange, recently pulled out of Israel.

Then there is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which just filed a lawsuit against the Israeli government junket planned for this year's Oscar nominees. Musician Brian Eno summed up the irony of sending celebrities to Israel at a time of increased repression against Palestinians: "Visit Palestine! Enjoy a tear-gas filled weekend in an East Jerusalem ghetto!"



The movement has some of its strongest support from within Israel itself. In his acceptance speech in Berlin, Israeli film director, Udi Aloni, winner of the top audience at Berlin Film Festival for Junction 48, labelled the Israeli government "fascist" and urged Germany to cease its military support of the Jewish state, calling Israel a "democracy of white people". Must BDS protesters migrate to Israel to protest Israeli actions?



The BDS parliamentary motion (passed by 229 to 51) will have no legal impact, but it will have a chilling effect on free expression. A similar attempt last month by the Conservative government in Britain raised a loud protest and fizzled. A sad continuation of Harper's slavish support for the pariah state. Another law to be ignored.
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"In this book, Rob Kall is fueling a discussion that is long overdue, one that can perhaps shake us out of our current herd mentality, back to true community and intertwined purpose. His bottom-up discourse may serve to turn us all upside down just long enough to view our current politic from a different perspective."



Dr. Mari K. Swingle, author of i-Minds: How Cell Phones, Computers, Gaming, and Social Media are Changing Our Brains, Our Behavior, and the Evolution of Our Species
The American media only mentioned in passing that ISIS had taken over oil fields until Russia started bombing the (white Toyota) trucks transporting oil to Turkey for sale.

Similarly, until today, the American media has indulged in all-day, wall to wall coverage of the Donald Trump phenomenon: a billionaire businessman known for shady deals who galvanizes working class American voters. Today, CNN - the only major channel on news duty Sunday afternoons - had to unequivocally criticize Trump for alleging that he "knows nothing" about white supremacist, David Duke, former head of the Ku Klux Klan, who endorsed him.

(Note: The "Know Nothings" were members of the semi-secret American Party party. When a member was asked about its activities, he was supposed to reply, "I know nothing." Outsiders called them "Know-Nothings", and the name stuck. In 1855, it was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by German and Irish Catholic immigrants, whom they saw as hostile to republican values, and as being controlled by the Pope in Rome. Mainly active from 1854 to 1856, the movement strove to curb immigration and naturalization, but met with little success. Membership was limited to Protestant men.)

Like everything else that Donald Trump has done in the campaign, this slip-up (curiously preceded by "I disavow"), will probably not dent his support, nor is it likely, in the long run (which, in the news cycle is a few hours, at most days) to substantially alter the media's fawning coverage. Trump is such a 'good story', it matters not one whit whether or not he is good for America.

At four-thirty, I tweeted that Trump may have seized upon the Duke endorsement as a convenient way to end his campaign, then I remembered that yesterday a poll revealed that 20% of his supporters believe it was a mistake to free the slaves.

As for ISIS, like the Taliban whom we supported in order to spoil Russia's party in Afghanistan (which consisted mainly of efforts to liberate women and try to get some modern industry going, efforts that were condemnable because lead by 'communists') we support the latest Islamic avatar in covert ways because it is located on the right end or the political spectrum, pretending to 'know nothing' about the fact that it is a dictatorship more brutal than anything to have hit the front pages in decades, (Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot), having expeditiously replaced gas chambers with always ready-to-use head-choppers (as Donald calls them). Our case against ISIS is that it is a 'terrorist organization' that could in future take on the Homeland. We don't mind at all when it inflicts pain on a present enemy such as Bashar al-Assad, whom we want to dislodge from power, or even against the Iran-friendly Iraqi government that we put in place.

US power is a one-track system that seeks ever increasing control of greater parts of the world. It is not interested in 'doing good', or even in 'saving the planet' since there are a myriad of other planets out there, virtually guaranteeing that one of them with turn out able to support life. Until that planet is found and made ready for human habitation, expediency dictates that the few dispense their backing for whatever and whoever is likely to keep the many at bay.
Time is always of the essence so I will attempt to write a brief synopsis of why I am in this fight and the ideas I am pursuing. Last year I was making plans to move to Panama. I only receive $1,007 per month from Social Security Disability and I have to make decisions regarding food & medical care based on income every month. I am so broke now I have to find a job, even though my back is deteriorating more every month. My income in Panama is considered to be Middle-Class and I wanted to retire in peace without being told I was a "drag on the system." In short, I wanted to retire with dignity, not wondering if I had enough money for the month to barely cover costs.

Then, Bernie Sanders exploded upon the political scene, and I believed in him, his economics, empathy for people who did not fare as well as others, and his career-long commitment to fighting for the people. Most of all, I admired his abject refusal to accept Special Interest Money, which is and always has been a form of legalized bribery. As I vetted Bernie Sanders, I realized he was the real deal, not just another politician. I changed my plans and pledged to stay in the United States for the duration of the 2016 Presidential Elections and would work for the one and only real hope for America that we all cherish and hope to take back from the Plutocrats.

Now, @berniesanders "Revolution" has turned into an out and out war with the Plutocrats. They control the Mainstream News Media, which Media consolidation has allowed the 1% to shape every news broadcast we hear. Trump, Cruz, Rubio, and other Candidates make a gaffe and it is covered in-depth by our corrupt, corporate controlled Media. In fact, they have made a Circus out of this Election, and I believe it was planned and executed with the precision of a Navy Seal Team. When Hillary Clinton makes a gaffe, or her prior record is in question, the Media remains silent. We used to be able to rely upon Social Media to express our outrage and disdain of our "rigged system,' but last night all of that changed.

Twitter has turned out to be just as partisan as the Mainstream Media, if not worse. Last night the majority of Democrats received a slap in the face from Twitter none of us will forget. #WhichHillary was trending on Twitter and we were exposing every lie and misrepresentation she has made, including her partisan "Economic Democratic Economists." I have also discovered Twitter is censoring Hillary's Twitter feed.

We have had to endure Democratic Debates that were scheduled so as few people as possible would hear Senator Sanders' message of hope, and it was the DNC that colluded with Clinton to make it happen. Debbie Wassermann is a disgrace and her blatant partisanship for Hillary Clinton has resulted in a concerted effort by the DNC to also involve themselves in Election Fraud.

Last but not least, we have the conundrum of the "Super Delegates." Not counting Super Delegates, Bernie is in a virtual tie with Clinton. When we factor in the Super Delegates, Clinton has a commanding lead even though at present, Bernie Sanders has led Hillary in the actual vote count in every Caucus and Primary they have participated in. Whatever happened to "One man, one vote?" Corporate America is spending millions upon millions of dollars to defeat Bernie Sanders, and it will only get worse. If they had to, spending over a billion dollars would not be out of the question. Sanders is a threat to their way of life and their absolute hold on American politics.

I almost forgot; we cannot stress how egregious Citizens United has been to the election process in the United States. The entire dynamic of "fair and open elections" has been compromised, again bought by Lobbyists and the 1% who can even reach Supreme Court Justices in their never ending quest to acquire more wealth and power. Democracy, or what it left of it, is hanging on by a thread. The public has been complacent up until now, and now is our time to take back our country!

Most of you know I was planning on a Federal Civil Rights Action against the MSM. I thought that direction for the Action had become moot. However, recent developments have changed the dynamic in ways that should be unimaginable in our Democratic Republic. Now, more important than ever, we have to examine the totality of the situation. Recent developments in MSM and Twitter partisanship have become overwhelming. The DNC's decision to marginalize Sanders via terrible Debate Schedules is apparent to a Fifth Grader. The enormity of Citizen's United has made it impossible to have a "fair and open election."

How can anyone make a case that will meet the standard to proceed in the Federal Court System? It is not easy. However, nothing that benefits the common citizen "is easy" living in a Plutocracy. We have to fight tooth and nail for every inch we make, only to be set back three inches while we fought for the one. That can and should change. I believe the way to attack this egregious assault on the majority of the American people is to file a "Res Nova" action (Res Nova is a Novel or new issue). Granted, you have to look at the Constitution, the totality of the Civil Rights Infractions, and the fact that "we the people" no longer have a real voice in our own election process.

Let me be clear, "Res Nova" actions are rare, however, when presented with one, the Courts have to determine whether or not it meets the bar for further adjudication. There is no doubt such an action would be dismissed in my local Federal Court (Georgia). (There is an off-chance because it targets the DNC and Hillary Clinton, it would be cleared for an eventual hearing at SCOTUS. ) Seeking a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order) would help to fast-track the action for SCOTUS to review the case. The definition of a "fair and open elections" will need to be redefined. In support of my belief in Res Nova cases, I won in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the late 60's or early 70's on a Res Nova issue. Again, it requires an abstract understanding and interpretation of Federal Constitutional Law.

It is obvious that I have been researching and contemplating exactly how this action should be presented to the Court. This is not a whim or fantasy. With help from a Twitter group I have joined via invitation and the publication of a copy of the original filing in Federal Court on Op-Ed News, I am hopeful that we can raise the issue on a national basis. Any and all publicity we can garner is worth its weight in gold! One thing is sure, I have made a difference on @Twitter as evidenced by my Tweets being censored from @hillaryClinton's Twitter feed. None of the said Tweets have been vulgar, nor have they been anything other than facts about Clinton. In this case, to state the truth hurts is an understatement.

I have not revealed the entire strategy and philosophy of the proposed Federal Action. I believe it is prudent not to show too much of my hand in advance of filing the Action. All too often, those who file Lawsuits rely too much on precedent rather than taking into consideration the changing face of politics and several other areas that Social Media and Media Consolidation has wrought upon the citizens of this nation. This is no longer a Political Revolution. The Plutocrats have declared War on Free Speech, fair and open elections, and expect to buy this election as they have so many times before in America's history. To keep a Democracy that is dangling by the thinnest of threads, we must utilize every possible method of attempting to reclaim our country back from the 1% and Wall Street. Freedom is not Free, and it never has been!

My GoFundMe page did not generate much help. I believe it was my lack of details that resulted in such a dismal response ($212). I plan on opening another account to seek the financial help needed to prosecute this action with as much professionalism and legal moxie as possible. I wish I could keep on as I have working Twitter more than twelve hours per day, and doing legal research as well, but my income of $1,007 no longer pays the bills. I have to get a job to survive. I will still have time to file and follow-up on any and all motions which become necessary, not to mention the appeals. This will be a Class Action suit and will seek redress for everyone in the United States. I switched to working @Twitter because I have been having an issue with writing. I have climbed that mountain and believe that I have retrieved that old spirit, wit, and insight that is continually being demonstrated on this site.

I'd ask you to wish me luck. However, my entire life I have lived by the philosophy of a Sales Manager that hired me for my first job in Sales outlined in very few words to me. His name was Michal N. Lopes, and he stated: LUCK is spelled WORK! The harder you work, the luckier you get.

Thank you for reading this Op-Ed.
UPDATE: 33-year-old inmate found dead at Clark County Jail committed suicide, officials say

A male inmate was found dead Saturday morning at the Clark County Jail, authorities said.

Corrections officials found the inmate alone in his cell, unconscious and non-responsive, the Clark County Sheriff's Office announced. Deputies attempted CPR and called for emergency medical aid.

Vancouver fire officials responded, but the inmate was declared dead, authorities said. The cause of death appeared to be suicide.

The sheriff's office withheld the inmate's name and incarceration charge. Vancouver police detectives continue to investigate.

-- Luke Hammill

lhammill@oregonian.com

503-294-4029

@lucashammill
Stanford.JPG

A Stanford University student walks in front of Hoover Tower on the Stanford campus in Palo Alto. The school will eventually have 300 Knight-Hennessy scholars on campus at any given time, thanks to Phil Knight's $400 million gift this week.

(Paul Sakuma / AP)

Phil Knight gave $400 million to one of his favorite schools this week.

Psst, it's the one in California.

Yes, the rich got richer. Stanford University's endowment for the newly created Knight-Hennessy Scholars program is $750 million.

It's a big deal.

Meanwhile in Eugene, where Knight received his undergraduate degree, that school is in the midst of a $2 billion capital fundraising campaign. As of the end of January, the University of Oregon's campaign was nearly halfway to its goal -- with $918 million in donations.

That figure includes a $10 million contribution from another prominent billionaire alum.

OK, here are your links from the week:

The Oregonian: Phil Knight donates $400 million to Stanford for global scholarship program



The Oregonian: Oregon Promise applications soar about 12,000 with days to go before deadline

The Oregonian Editorial Board: A PSU payroll tax is no way to fix the funding challenge



Daily Barometer: Oregon State University, with enrollment growth, faces parking challenges

Vox: For the love of God, stop giving Stanford money

Education Next: What ordinary people know but elites won't admit about college readiness

The New York Times: Off-campus "ghetto party" condemned by Fairfield University

The Chronicle: How many campus protests will it take to finally diversify our campuses?

The Tennessean: Tennessee joins growing list of schools facing sexual assault lawsuits

***

Have a story I should read or a story idea for higher education in Oregonian? Share it in the comment section, or shoot me an email.



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen
Writers write. Painters paint. And Adult Fans of Lego build with the tiny multicolored bricks most people abandon before adolescence.

This perseverance lends itself to far-out creations too detailed for any instruction booklet. And the dreamed-up Lego worlds represented in hundreds of thousands of bricks Saturday at the 2016 Bricks Cascade Lego show in Portland were no exception.

Among the fantastical beasts and interstellar ships, a few familiar favorites from around the Portland area made their way into Lego form.

The Portland skyline. The Tilikum Crossing bridge. Even an eight-foot model of Multnomah Falls, which drew about as many selfie-seeking onlookers as the real thing.

But whether the pieces on display were based on fact or fiction, their artistry inspired gasps of delight from the hordes of kids and grownups who came to see the show.

Lego a little too low-brow for your taste? Consider this. A relatively modest-sized recreation of the "Star Wars" battle of Hoth took brothers Andy and Davey Olson about nine full days to complete. That's with two sets of hands - and twin hands at that.

"We think the same, being twins," said Andy, so their builds tend to go faster. While the brothers just start building and rely on their inherent shared vision, many other builders devote added time to designing their creations on paper first.

"It's definitely an art," Andy said, not simply a kids' toy. After all, children use watercolors and colored pencils, but those are still considered legitimate art tools.

"It's therapeutic. Sometimes after work, it's just nice to zone," Andy said.

That's not to say it's not serious business. Andy said more time goes into organizing bricks into types and colors than into building. And while the Olsons' table-sized battle scene is impressive, it only riles them up to go bigger next time.

There were few examples of that ethos at the show quite the Multnomah Falls model, which dwarfed all but a few others.

Erik Mattson built the behemoth after wowing crowds last year with an enormous Lego lighthouse, complete with ocean spray. Mattson said he's been working on the waterfall since just after last year's show ended.

"I've got a week or two to figure out what the next one's going to be," he said.

Bricks Cascade 2016 continues Sunday, Feb. 28, at the Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Admission is $9.

--Dillon Pilorget

503-294-5927
Photo by Amy Wang/Staff

Don't count on minimum-wage boost to make child care affordable: Editorial

Helping families afford child care has been offered up as a reason that Oregons minimum wage must be raised, the editorial board writes. But the dysfunctional economics behind child-care business models show that a boost could very well push prices higher or force some to shut down.

'Even charging families upwards of $13,000 a year per child, however, isn't making anyone rich,' the editorial states. 'With staffing amounting to such a high portion of a child-care center's costs, it's hard to see how increasing those costs will mean anything but higher prices to families.' Read the editorial here.

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Oregonian/OregonLive file photo

Kate Brown muzzles energy bill critics. So much for those inaugural promises: Editorial

Instead of encouraging utility regulators to share their concerns publicly over a complex proposal to overhaul energy policies, Gov. Kate Browns staff muzzled them, the editorial board writes. The actions belie the governors claims of her commitment to open government and transparency.

'The gubernatorial fingerprints on this process are not those of someone who seeks to promote transparency and trust in government,' the editorial states. 'They are the fingerprints of someone who sought, instead, to control the flow of pertinent information to the public at a time when such information might have presented problems for the backers of legislation that could drive up power costs without accomplishing anything meaningful for the environment.' Read the editorial here.

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Photo by Mike Zacchino/Staff

A PSU payroll tax is no way to fix the funding challenge: Editorial

Portland State Universitys proposal to tax metro-area businesses to raise money for student scholarships and other needs is a bad idea that undercuts public funding for all Oregons institutions of higher education, the editorial board writes.

'The drive for a PSU payroll tax represents an abdication of government when, after recruiting so many businesses to set up shop in Oregon, government selectively turns around with its hand out  no matter how compelling the argument that worthy university students should receive more aid, more teachers, more advisors, more support,' the editorial states. 'PSU's need is real. But it is, as well, at other Oregon's public universities struggling to contain rising tuitions.' Read the editorial here.

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Photo by Jody Stott/Staff

Portlanders can handle the truth about the arts tax: Editorial Agenda 2016

Portland City Commissioners are set to consider a provision that would make confidential the names of those who pay the highly-flawed, low-compliance arts tax, the editorial board writes. But the citys reasons are not persuasive and seem more self-serving than in the publics interest.

'The greatest beneficiaries of secrecy, in fact, aren't likely to be taxpayers (or non-taxpayers) at all, but, rather, city officials, tax revenue recipients and others who'd like controversy over the arts tax to go away,' the editorial states. 'Eliminating inconvenient anger is a terrible reason to hide information from the public.' Read the editorial here

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Oregonian/OregonLive file photo

Oregon's no-coal 'accounting scheme' and its phantom benefits: Editorial

A bill to phase out imports of energy from coal-fired plants will not do anything to reduce carbon emissions and could boost costs to ratepayers, the editorial board writes. Unfortunately, legislators have largely ignored the analysis from state regulators in favor of supporting a bill that gives the state meaningless bragging rights while achieving nothing.

'This is not a surprise,' the editorial states. 'Anyone who genuinely wanted to restructure energy policy to be effective, efficient and sustainable would not have sought to ram through these massive changes in a short session.' Read the editorial here.

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Photo by Dave Killen/Staff

Kate Brown doubles down on muzzling of no-coal plan critics: Editorial

Gov. Kate Browns office requested a retraction of a recent Oregonian/OregonLive editorial that criticized her for muzzling public utility commissioners from sharing their concerns about a no-coal proposal being championed by environmental groups and utilities, the editorial board writes. But the facts speak for themselves and the commission was clearly blocked from injecting a dose of reality into the development and pre-session discussion of the proposal.

'In effect, having held commissioners at arm's length for weeks, the governor's office cleared the field for the no-coal proposal during its all-important rollout by telling commissioners not to express their concerns publicly,' the editorial states. 'This occurred weeks before the Legislature commenced this year's abbreviated session, and it had the effect of giving the proposal's backers a running start at a point when concerns voiced by utility experts would have been very inconvenient.' Read the editorial here.

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Oregonian/OregonLive file photo

Arts tax proposal meets Dan Saltzman's timely skepticism: Editorial Agenda 2016

Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman makes the well-timed point that there is some public-shaming value that comes from keeping public the names of those who pay the citys arts tax public, the editorial board writes. And it coincidentally comes just as the state has released the names of the biggest tax scofflaws.

'So much for the notion that income tax information is protected universally within a magical bubble of privacy,' the editorial states. 'Failure to pay income taxes also can lead to the filing of tax liens against property, and these are a matter of public record. So, for that matter, are property taxes.' Read the editorial here.
'The worst bill for tax policy': Another bill is on its way from the Senate to the House which would continue to drain state education funds in the name of economic development. Senate Bill 1565 would permit localities to give away property taxes for businesses making industrial improvements or buying equipment costing at least $1 million and not more than $25 million. It does this even without a requirement for new jobs. Moreover, local officials, including school superintendents, fail to tell the legislators that 40 percent of that giveaway is money for their local schools. They feel free to do this because the state's school equalization formula will come to their rescue and make them whole. In effect, they are spending state tax dollars -- now estimated at $200 million a year -- to replace local school funds.

Tax Fairness Oregon calls this "the worst bill for tax policy this year." But if the state is going to continue to encourage these corporate welfare policies, it should at least protect education funds by not allowing local jurisdictions to give them away. Many states now do this by "carving out" the education portion of the tax abatements that communities can offer to attract business investment.

It is ironic that a policy intended to promote economic development would so drastically harm our schools. It is time for the Legislature to wake up to this travesty and act to prevent it.

Elsa A. Porter

Southwest Portland

Porter is a member of Tax Fairness Oregon.
Due to concerns regarding the recent water crisis in Flint, many Bay County residents are wondering if they or their children are at risk for lead poisoning from municipal water sources.

Bay Countys municipal water source has been drawn from sources in the Saginaw Bay for the former Bay City Municipal Water Treatment Plant, with a change to a Lake Huron raw water source on Aug. 31, 2015, with the opening of the new Bay Area Water Treatment Plant.

The water drawn from the lake to the water distribution system is much lower in corrosive properties than Flint River water, and the City of Bay City and, now the Bay County Department of Water and Sewer, have consistently utilized corrosion control measures to ensure that sources of lead (from existing service pipes or old lead solder) does not contaminate a homes water system, officials stated.

Although there are some existing lead service pipes in Bay County, required testing has demonstrated overall lead levels below EPA standards, officials stated.

Incidences of lead poisoning in children do occur in Bay County, but they are much more likely to be caused by decaying lead paint found in homes and residences, primarily in those built prior to 1978. Children may be exposed to lead during home renovation, from soil, toys, pottery and home remedies. Lead at toxic levels effects a childs nervous system impairing development.

Parents concerned about their childrens blood lead levels should contact their primary care provider to discuss if their child is at risk for lead exposure. If you are a recipient of WIC and Medicaid eligible, blood lead testing is offered through the Bay County Health Department for children ages 1 through 5 years. If you are interested in your child receiving a lead screening test, please call (989) 895-4002. If you do not have a primary care provider, and your child is not a recipient of WIC, an appointment may be made with the University Clinic at (989) 895-2035. A nurse will speak with you to determine if a test is necessary.

Residents concerned if their home is connected to a lead service line should contact their local municipality to determine if such a connection exists. In some cases, local municipalities may assist in collecting water samples, if they are deemed necessary.

Residents who would like to get their home water tested for lead can obtain kits from the Michigan Department of Environmental Qualitys Laboratory via the Bay County Health Department. These residents should be advised that, at a minimum, the price to have their water tested by the DEQ is at least $18, plus shipping and handling. Persons interested in getting their water tested are advised to call the Environmental Health Division at (989) 895-4006, ext.3.
Saginaw fire fighters will climb 71 stories at the Detroit Renaissance Center today for the American Lung Associations annual Fight for Air climb.

Known as the largest fundraiser climb in the country, it supports research, education, and patient programs which assist millions of Americans affected by asthma, COPD, lung cancer and similar diseases. These firefighters volunteered and will participate in this important fundraising event on their off-duty time.
These are the questions being asked of the Midland City Council and Housing Commission regarding a PILOT request for the resale of Bracken Woods Apartment Complex at 5301 Dublin Road in Midland. PILOT stands for Payment In Lieu Of Taxes and may also be referred to as tax-forgiveness, tax-exempt or tax-free. PILOT is a program whereby local city governments help finance large corporate capital investment firms that invest in state and federal low income rental housing projects in their city.

Bracken Woods is currently under an existing 35-year PILOT and for the past 20 years the owner, Boston Capital, failed to maintain the property. Boston Capital is now looking to sell, having maximized revenues over the past 20 years. There are 15 years remaining on this PILOT.

Last July, Lockwood Development located in Southfield applied for PILOT for the Bracken Woods Apartments, which consist of 104 rental units. Lockwood Development is brokering a deal to sell Bracken Woods to Cinnaire Corp. with a $3 million loan guaranteed by the Michigan Housing State Development Authority (MHSDA). This loan is contingent upon PILOT being granted. If approved, MHSDA will invest an additional $2.5 million to rehabilitate Bracken Woods. Cinnaire, a nonprofit corporate investor group, will contribute equity investment of $2.49 million into the project.

Formerly known as Great Lakes Capital Fund, Cinnaire changed its name to Cinnaire Corp. last fall. This would more accurately represent their partners (mainly a consortium of banks including Wolverine and Chemical Banks) in Michigan, Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Upstate New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

During his presentation to Midland City Council on Jan. 25, Assistant City Manager Dave Keenan stated that the demand for low income rental housing in Midland exceeds the supply. An important criteria, therefore, is to determine whether Lockwoods current PILOT proposal will provide adequate rental housing for those in the 30 percent Area Median Income (AMI). On a side note, we would like to know that if the demand for low income housing is so high why is there a 16 pecent vacancy rate at Bracken Woods? And in fact, at other PILOT projects in Midland?

Who represents the 30 percent AMI? They are local residents who may be working two jobs, struggling to make ends meet, and living from paycheck to paycheck. Some may be elderly living on a fixed income while others may be disabled, military veterans, and those on Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers.

In their initial PILOT request last July, Lockwood Development designated only two units for those in the 30 percent AMI and 10 units at 50 percent AMI out of a total of 104 rental units. The remaining 89 units would be grandfathered in at 60 percent AMI with a 6.5 percent annual fee to city of Midland. How does this even begin to meet the demand for low income housing? The PILOT was subsequently defeated by a 3/2 vote by council in August 2015.

On Jan. 25, Lockwood submitted a second PILOT request, this time offering 10 units out of 104 at 30 percent AMI. Over time, the remaining 94 units currently grandfathered in at 60 percent would be transitioned to 50 percent AMI. Former annual fee of 6.5 percent to Midland would be reduced to 4percent. Lockwood shaved 12 years off their initial request so instead of the former total of 57 years, the length of this PILOT would be 45 years altogether (20 years served + 15 years remaining + 10 years requested extension). Upon sale of Bracken Woods, the initial 20 years of PILOT would be dissolved and a new PILOT of 25 years put in place.

If the Bracken Woods PILOT is approved, heres what you can expect:

 The City of Midland stands to lose millions of dollars in property tax revenue

 Midland taxpayers will be forced to make up for the shortfall by paying higher taxes via increased millage for schools, municipal services including fire and public safety services.

 Most importantly, this PILOT is being presented under the guise of helping the working poor. In reality, designating 10 out of 104 units to 30 percent AMI will neither help nor adequately serve the needs of these folks. Instead, to add insult to injury, they will have to pay additional taxes, along with the rest of us, for the services outlined above.

Frankly, the only ones poised to profit from this partnership are Lockwood Development, Cinnaire and MHSDA. These multi-million dollar corporations have no vested interest in the Midland community, and certainly none for the working poor. This is about profit. For the record, we have no problem with investors making money. We do have a problem when that profit is made on the backs of Midland residents and the backs of the working poor whom these investors are purportedly trying to help.

We would like to know how MHSDA could, in good conscience, approve a multi-million dollar loan to Lockwood who initially allocated only two out of 104 units for the 30 percent AMI? Their current proposal, while slightly improved, is not much better at 10 out of 104 units designated to 30 percent AMI.

At the Jan. 25 meeting, councilwoman Diane Brown Wilhelm asked Rodney Lockwood Jr., president and CEO of Lockwood Development, how would they make the transition to ensure that they have the total number of 30 percent-50 percent AMI? What plan do they have for the 60 percent AMI tenants? How would they get through the transition? Is it when their lease expires? Would they have to find some place else to live because they no longer fit the criteria? How is it all going to work?

Mr. Lockwood responded: If someone is in a 60 percent income range and this program goes forward with producing incomes ranging above 50 percent, those folks can stay there as long as they want. When their lease is up, we will renew it. Their rents will go down to the maximum allowable (fee) projected, but no one will be kicked out ever. When they leave, then somebody comes in at the 50 percent level.

Councilman Steve Arnosky followed up by asking, If a tenant is making too much money, say someone is making $100,000 and theyre clearly over the median (income)  what happens then?

Mr. Lockwood: Theyve initially qualified at 60 percent median income. For a family of three, that would be $3,900. Now say they win the lottery or get a big promotion making $100,000 a year, they can still live there. Once you qualify for initial entry, making more money does not disqualify you. Thats an incentive of the federal program. The federal program does not want to discourage people not to try to do better.

From Mr. Lockwoods response and if we understand correctly, tenants whose incomes have significantly increased will be allowed to live at Bracken Woods regardless whether they are over the 30-50 percent AMI. In effect, they will continue to occupy rental housing which should rightfully be rented to those who most desperately need it, i.e. the 30-50 percent AMI group.

We are deeply concerned about the Bracken Woods PILOT for another reason. That is, if this PILOT is approved, it will set a precedent for 19 other existing PILOT projects in Midland to be perpetuated prior to or after their original agreement expires.

As mentioned earlier, Bracken Woods is under an existing 35-year PILOT and the owner, Boston Capital, failed to maintain the property over the past 20 years. They want to sell the property. This means they would be breaking their agreement. We all know that if a tenant breaks their lease prematurely, there is usually a penalty incurred. Unless provision is made in the original agreement allowing for early termination. So far as we understand, there was no such provision in the Bracken Woods agreement. Why then are there no repercussions for Boston Capital for breaking their 35-year PILOT agreement? Why are they not being held accountable?

The Midland Area Real Estate Investors Associations (MAREIA) position on this PILOT is that City Council could honor the existing 35-year PILOT which has already served 20 years with 15 years remaining  but no extension. We further recommend that Lockwood Development and Cinnaire Corp. should designate at least 25 percent or more of the 104 units to the 30 percent AMI group. This is supposed to be a reciprocal arrangement, so Lockwood Development, Cinnaire Corp. and MHSDA need to step up and serve the housing needs of those they claim to be helping.

There are 6,000 rentals in Midland and 521 of these units are subsidized by PILOT. MAREIA is largely a landlord association with members who operate a substantial amount of the 5,479 rental housing units for profit in Midland. MAREIA landlords and other local landlords pay 33 percent more in Midland property taxes on their investment, are held accountable to the city of Midland for maintaining their rentals in good condition or pay a penalty, even possibly lose their license to operate. Further, local landlords do not place a burden on Midland taxpayers.

MAREIA seeks to be a part of the solution and has been effectively serving the needs of the Midland community for many years  including those in the 30 percent-50 percent AMI. Please see the letter to the editor from MAREIA member, Floyd Andrick: bit.ly/1VJbGCA. This letter clearly illustrates that Mr. Andrick, as one local landlord, has done more for our community over the past 42 years in serving the 30-50 percent AMI (and still managed to make a profit) than Lockwood Development, Cinnaire and their out of state multi-million dollar investors propose to do for Midlands working poor over the next 25 years!

This PILOT must be examined thoroughly to determine whether the project will (a) meet the needs of the 30 percent-50 percent AMI and (b) protect Midland residents from being exploited by paying for what amounts to a $5 million dollar remodeling project.

We thank the City Council members for their thoroughness in scrutinizing this PILOT request and for their excellent questions which will be answered by the Housing Commission on March 2. We thank Midland city staff for their tireless work in compiling relevant data and an outstanding presentation on Jan. 25.

The Midland Housing Commission will review the PILOT proposal for Bracken Woods on Wednesday, March 2, at 2 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. Please plan to attend this meeting if you can. You can learn more about how the PILOT system works and how it will ultimately affect you.

Midland is an exceptionally caring community. You can make a difference in helping to ensure that the housing needs of low income households will be adequately served. You can help prevent Midland residents from being further exploited by out of state multimillion dollar corporations.

What can you do to help? Write letters to the editor at Midland Daily News, contact your City Council members and Housing Commissioners and express your views. Inquire about the possible ripple effect that could impact schools, students and teachers alike, including janitorial and food services. Attend Housing Commission and City Council meetings. MAREIA will do its part in keeping you updated by posting times and dates of upcoming meetings on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Midland-Area-Real-Estate-Investors-Association-MAREIA/319783788088804.

In closing, we leave you with this thought: Its your money. You should have a voice and a choice in how your money will be spent over the next 25 years.

AnnaMaria Morgan is president of the Midland Area Real Estate Investors Association (MAREIA).
The marriage of Hollywood superstars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have been admired by many people until the couple decided to separate in 2015. The "Dallas Buyers Club" actress talked about her failed relationship with the "Batman v Superman: A Dawn of Justice" actor and their three children.

"I didn't marry the big fat movie star; I married him," Garner told The Vanity Fair exclusively. "And I would go back and remake that decision. I ran down the beach to him, and I would again. You can't have these three babies and so much of what we had. He's the love of my life."

The 43-year-old actress also said that Ben Affleck is always the most brilliant, charismatic and generous person in any room. The "Alias" star also seemingly implied that the Batman actor is a complex person who made her feel very loved at times and the opposite at other times during their marriage.

Although Garner and Affleck are planning to divorce, they still plan on helping out each other in taking care of their three children. "The main thing is these kids -- and we're completely in line with what we hope for them," Garner shared.

Garner also revealed that she has been separated from Affleck months already when she heard about the "Argo" actor-director's romance with the family nanny. Because of all of her family troubles, Garner said that she went back to going to church, writing poetry and attending dance classes. She is also looking forward to moving on emotionally and regaining her sense of humor.

Jennifer Garner will appear this March on the Christian drama movie called "Miracles From Heaven", according to TODAY. IGN -- likewise reporting that Ben Affleck will appear this March as Batman a.k.a Bruce Wayne in the hotly anticipated DC Entertainment superhero movie "Batman v Superman: A Dawn of Justice". He is also currently starring in and directing the period crime drama "Live By Night".
Animals like ants, butterflies, bees, beetles and birds play a crucial role in increasing the world's food and industrial supply. Because of the process of pollination, these creatures help in the production of vegetables, fruits and flowering plants. In fact, almost three-quarters of the world's staple crop plants are generated with the help of these creatures.

Unfortunately, a recent report from experts and different governments around the globe address a threat which can affect the population of these animal pollinators. The problem suggests it could greatly affect the world's culture, human nutrition and even millions of livelihoods.

Representatives from almost one hundred national governments have attended a meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to address the issue. As reported by Phys, the meeting's focus was to detail how each of them could contribute to help combat the threat against these world's animal pollinators. "It is incredible to see international Governments coming together to discuss the problem of pollinators in this way," said Lynn Dicks, from Cambridge University's Department of Zoology.

The global meeting that was recently conducted was the first gathering that has focused on the world's small species. Their aim was to preserve these species of pollinators which contribute so much to every living organism present on earth.

"Without pollinators, many of us would not be able to enjoy chocolate, coffee and vanilla ice cream, or healthy foods like blueberries and Brazil nuts," said Dicks. "People's livelihoods and culture are intimately linked with pollinators around the world. All the major world religions have sacred passages that mention bees."

Meanwhile, experts warn people that one of the leading causes of the species' declining population especially in North America and Europe are their agricultural practices. In fact, according to the data posted in Market Business News, in Europe alone, bee's population has declined for about 37 percent and 31 percent for butterflies.
The original rumor targeting Apple's next product launch pointed to it being on March 15. Since then the launch date has changed along with several product details. Re/code reported today that the actual launch date will likely be sometime during the week of March 21 and not March 15; the new 4" iPhone will reportedly be branded the iPhone SE and not the "iPhone 5se"; and Apple will introduce a new 9.7" iPad Pro and not the iPad Air 3.

If Apple does indeed drop the 'iPad Air' branding to that of the 'iPad Pro,' then it stands to reason that the new iPad will likely support their new display which in turn supports working with Apple Pencil. This will allow more Apple customers to experience the Apple Pencil for taking handwritten notes, for doodling and/or for professional work. It's ideal for students in the classroom, lawyers in a courtroom or doctors and sales people for filing in forms and/or taking notes.

A little over a year ago, and months before Apple actually introduced the iPad Pro and their Apple Pencil accessory, Patently Apple covered one of Apple's smartpen inventions in a report titled "Apple Invents a Superheterodyne Pen Stimulus Receiver to Overcome the Classic Stylus Latency Problem." Today, Apple's marketing for the Apple Pencil states that "The lightning-fast responsiveness of Apple Pencil separates it from other creative tools. That's because its latency  the tiny delay between when you begin drawing and the time it appears on the screen  has been reduced to an almost imperceptible level." I've been wondering for months now if Apple had really delivered on this promise of no lag.







Apple delayed the shipment of the iPad Pro closer to Christmas, and when it arrived, not all stores had the Apple Pencil. So when I went to check it out last year I was unable to. Today I visited Best Buy to check out the Samsung Galaxy Note smartphone and Apple's iPad Pro. I was checking out the Samsung Note because of a feature that I discovered in a new Samsung patent application. I wanted to know if the patent was ahead of the product or the other way around.

While talking to the Samsung rep about the Samsung pen, the rep said he wished that Apple would make a Note-Like product that worked with their new Apple Pencil. He said Apple's pencil was simply superior. When I asked him why he thought that the Apple Pencil was so superior, he said straight out, because it virtually has no lag.

I was taken aback by his enthusiasm for the Apple Pencil and we joked about traditional digital pens that irritably lag, especially the one from Microsoft. I then zipped over to the Apple Store within Best Buy to try out the new Apple Pencil and was absolutely blown away. No lag. Did I say  no lag? Wow, for a doodler/note taker like myself, it was love at first doodle. Then the Apple rep showed me an app that would convert my handwritten notes to digital instantly. Finally a way to doodle, take notes and be able to save them for future reports.



At the end of the day, Apple is likely to introduce a new iPad Pro model in the 9.7" range next month allowing more Apple customers to experience the Apple Pencil. If you happen to be a doodler like myself, then you're going to absolutely love getting your hands on Apple's next-gen iPad Pro. In the meantime, check out the Apple Pencil with virtually no lag at an Apple Store near you. You'll be amazed at Apple's killer Pencil that puts those from Microsoft and Samsung to shame. While Apple was late to the party in offering a digital pencil for the iPad, they proved that waiting to deliver a product that 'just works' right was definitely worth the wait.



About Making Comments on our Site: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit any comments. Comments are reviewed daily from 4am to 6pm PST and sporadically over the weekend.
This is from a while ago, but as I was in India when it came out and Montana for most of the time since, I hope I can be forgiven for missing it. Its a short, pretty accurate introduction to Buddhism that might appeal to, say, college freshmen.

I especially appreciated the Buddhas early life as being described in terms of having the ultimate helicopter parents. Also useful was his use of a tablet gift to demonstrate the pervasive nature of suffering*. Either you

dont get it  and suffer

you get it, love it, and drop it and break the screen  and suffer

you get it, love it, dont drop it and it lasts a long time but eventually its no longer adequate or up to date. you suffer.

As he points out, it turns out that the mindfulness and meditation practices taught in Buddhism have been shown to be beneficial for dealing with a variety of lifes stresses. However, as he also rightly states, the principles upon which these practices are based are often contrary to the principles of contemporary society (e.g. consumerism/productivity): I mean, the American Dream isnt to learn how to be satisfied with what you have and seek happiness from within.

*Many translators have moved away from suffering for the Pali term dukkha, preferring the perhaps more accurate dissatisfactoriness which is long and clunky or stress.


MARK TWAINS ENLIGHTENMENT EXPERIENCE

A Meditation on Spirituality After Religions

James Ishmael Ford

28 February 2016

Pacific Unitarian Church

Rancho Palos Verdes, California

I love Mark Twain. I just love Mark Twain. In fact Jan and I have made Mark Twain pilgrimages twice in our lives. The first time was a tad more than twenty years ago when we lived in Wisconsin, and I served a suburban Milwaukee congregation. During the summer hiatus in our regular services, we took US 90 to La Crosse, and then turned south onto the Great River Road, which traces along the length of the Mississippi. We followed it as far as we had time, which turned out to be to Cairo, about the southern most part of Illinois. However, our main reason for the trip was to stop about two thirds of the way down the river at Hannibal, Samuel Clemens boyhood home.

It was resoundingly disappointing. All these years later what I recall most there is the statue of Huck and Tom that stands at the foot of Cardiff Hill. It shows the two boys walking along. We were told it represents Huck trying to slow Toms progression forward toward adulthood. I found that a past strange perspective, considering, well, everything about Samuel Clemens and what he thought and what he wrote about. In fact I have to admit the whole experience struck me as being slightly off. As Clemens didnt really have a lot of good things to say about the town in his lifetime, it occurred to me that maybe its only reasonable that down the years the good citizens of Hannibal came to be mostly about smiling at the tourists and taking their money.

The more interesting pilgrimage location for me was the Mark Twain house and museum in Hartford, which Jan, auntie, and I finally got to see a couple, maybe three years ago. Clemens lived there between 1874 and 1891, and wrote many of his most famous books there, including both the Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Unlike with our visit to Hannibal, with its air of naked tourist attraction not particularly mitigated by anything else, this was a horse of another color. Walking through the house, and standing in his study, looking down at the same grounds, more or less that he would have viewed over and over again, and then looking at his writing desk where his imagination roiled into some of the great tales to be spun from our American culture that I felt some electric charge, which seemed to me a connection between the man who was the great writer, his insights into the human condition, all of them, and, well, anyone willing to be open to the experience. And I was. I was.

There is so much one could address about him. What I want to reflect on here is Samuel Clemens spirituality. To start here is a little bouquet of Mark Twain observations about religion and its practitioners, starting with perhaps his most widely quoted, Faith is believing what you know aint so. Or, how about his observation about the Bible? He tells us it has noble poetry in it and some good morals and a wealth of obscenity, and upwards a thousand lies. Finally, as to practitioners of my trade he rather dryly noted, Ive never heard a sermon in which I could not find some good, though there have been some near misses.

In some ways this followed his general view of humanity. Here are two examples, again, first the most widely quoted. Man is the only animal that blushes. Or needs to. And, a personal favorite, A clear conscience is the sure sign of a bad memory. It is this, how shall we call it, perhaps jaundiced view about our human condition that I think most important to notice at the beginning of this reflection.

On the face of it, we have someone who has rejected religion. But, theres quite a lot more to it than the face of it. In fact, I think he represents the best of that category we now hear so much about, the spiritual but not religious, or, as Im coming to prefer to call it spirituality after religions. In that regard I was very much taken with an analysis of Clemens spirituality by Jeffrey Holland that I found while rummaging around the web.

One of the things I like about Dr Holland is his background. He is an educator with a doctorate in American Studies from Yale who became one of the Twelve Apostles of the Mormon church. Think cardinal to get a rough sense of his place within his religious tradition. Not, I have to admit a tradition I normally equate with a sophisticated analysis of the human spirit. But, Elder Holland shows us I am wrong, at least in making a blanket assertion.

Twain Elder Holland tells us, frequently called his religious life Presbyterianism, the faith of his mothers family, but that label became for him a kind of shoebox repository into which he shoved everything from the faith John Knox espoused to the most nebulous sort of Christian belief. Then the Elder adds in how this is so unlike (Twains) friend William Dean Howells, who worried a great deal about the differences between a Unitarian and a Universalist, Twain did not have a mind turned to fine theological distinctions. I certainly think that a fair read.

However, as the Elder continues, he did have a soul gripped by the Puritan fathers, a grip which relentlessly affected his moods and his metaphors. He named his house cats, rather apocalyptically, Famine, Pestilence, Satan, and Sin; he thought the height of confidence was a Christian with four aces; smugness was a friend waiting for a vacancy in the trinity; and so on ad infinitumor, for him, ad nauseum. Fear, punishment, conscience, duty, the hand of God, deaththese were the staples in his moral pantry.

And so, Elder Holland concludes, Twain, Samuel Clemens was A compulsive guilt seeker, who blamed himself for at least the deaths of a brother, a son, and a daughter, and he finally despised the human race because it included men like himself. As his closest minister-friend, Joseph Twitchell, once said, Sam Clemens was (vastly) too orthodox on the doctrine of total human depravity.

Or, as I would frame it, one could say that while Clemens left Calvinism early in his life, Calvinism never really left him. He tried the world, and maybe most of all, tried himself and found the whole thing wanting. But, we also might reasonably ask, he judged it against what? And buried within that I think we find the spiritual that continued to haunt him even as he walked away as best he could from organized religions.

Now, I found it fascinating, at least in the sense of the old joke that if you want to lose your faith make friends with a priest, that throughout his life, Sam Clemens had quite a surprising number of clergy friends. Apparently they were mostly liberal Congregtionalists, like Joseph Twitchell whom Elder Holland referred to, a dear friend for more than forty years.

Another very interesting minister friend was Moncure Conway. Originally a Methodist, he became a Unitarian minister, as well as a leading abolitionist in his day, before leaving for England where he moved ever more independent until becoming minister for a non-aligned non-traditionally theist ethical-humanist congregation. And dont forget, this is the mid late nineteenth century were talking about. It was actually in those later years that Twain met this remarkable clergyman. They became friends and life-long correspondents. In fact Clemens trusted him so much that Conway would become Clemens literary agent in Great Britain.

A few years ago Independent scholar Dwayne Eutsey delivered a wonderful sermon on Twain and Hinduism, at the UU Fellowship in Easton, Maryland, where he tells us how through Conway, Twain was introduced to Eastern and particularly Hindu thought. In fact two of Conways books both with sections on Hinduism were in Twains personal library. Between this and Twains own experience meeting yogis and other Eastern spiritual guides on his travels around the world, inspires Eutsey to suggest a deeper spirituality influencing Twain than has previously been noticed.

For me this is utterly fascinating. Having broken the strictures of a creedal faith, but in some genuine ways remaining a seeker after truth Sam Clemens was actually able to see hints of something profound in whatever tradition he encountered. And as a world traveler, he had a lot of opportunity.

So, perhaps Mr Eutsey is right suggesting that Twains spirituality was influenced by Hinduism in his later years. He certainly makes a good argument. But, more importantly, for me, in his sermon Eutsey also points to Clemens having a deep personal insight that may well have been informed by reading and conversations, but, more importantly which erupted out of Clemens heart as something more than an idea, however, good; but rather as an actual, physical experience. Think of a conversion, metanoia, kensho, think of an enlightenment experience.

And, this is the real point. Mark Twain was no doubt informed, if also repulsed by his childhood religion. Then cut loose from the formal affiliations, he was able to wander widely in the fields of the Lord, having deep friendships with liberal Christians and at least one Unitarian. But, also letting him encounter as equals practitioners of other traditions ranging from Judaism, to Islam, to Buddhism, to Hinduism as well as to see into the hearts of people who claimed no faith in particular.

And, what I find that did, was prime the pump. In this case that pump is the heart. He certainly saw the foibles and hypocrisies in organized religion and its practitioners, and even in those without any particular religion. He also caught hints of things of value along with those failures. Those things, if you will, against which he measured the failures. Along the way of his life filled as it was with joy and sorrow, success and failure, like all of ours, I would add, he found himself ready when life gifted him with something wondrous.

In his 1897 book Following the Equator, Clemens writes, In Sydney I had a large dream, and in the course of talking I told it to a missionary from India who was on his way to visit some relatives in New Zealand. I dreamed that the visible universe is the physical person of God; that the vast worlds that we see twinkling millions of miles apart in the fields of space are the blood corpuscles in His veins; and that we and the other creatures are the microbes that charge with multitudinous life the corpuscles. In short Twain is saying he dreamt, he felt from somewhere deep within that the universe is God and we are the life force of God. And notice not merely a dream, he called it his large dream.

Now the missionary then goes on to a discussion of comparative miracles, and, frankly, I lost interest in pursuing wherever the missionary hoped to go to, or Twain hoped to show us he went. The important point is the dream, the large dream. Ive had a version of it, myself. I bet you have, as well. Or, at the very least have had an intimation of it here and there. Im sure because it is the song the universe is constantly singing to us into our individual hearts. If we take this large dream together with Twains various allusions to a real God behind it all we find something. Think of the original spiritual but not religious. Think of Spinoza and Blake and all those who saw the divine in the ordinary suchness of life.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand

And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,

Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand

And Eternity in an hour.

All of a sudden instead of a neo-Calvinist certain of his sin but not sure about what hes sinning against, we have someone who sees us all as connected within the body of God, the primary experience of which all mystics have testified is love, and with that, of course, of course, comes a deep sense of responsibility to each other. Thats the large dream.

I think of Mark Twains large dream. It seems to me some feeling of love for all the parts was true in him, and seeped into everything he wrote, ironically, maybe, particularly within the harder words that came later. Seeing clear isnt, of course, seeing all is nice. Clemens saw the shortcomings, and the sins, his own, as well as others. Sin being those actions that deny the preciousness of the individual or our total reliance upon each other.

Here is what I think is the best of spirituality after religions. What Sam Clemens, what Mark Twain calls us to is a relentless facing into the world, to a deep authenticity. Did he come to have a neo-Hindu sensibility? Perhaps. I like to think maybe so. But that doesnt really matter. What he did come to that we can be sure of, is that we are all of us connected. And, with that for him, most important, that our actions count. This is the secret truth that makes religions true, and which informs any authentic spirituality.

What I believe is from that insight, from that large dream, of that real God and of ourselves as part of it, Sam Clemens called us all to an authentic life. There is no deeper calling for us as human beings. It is the way of authenticity in the face of so much that is false and self-serving. It is the song of hope in the face of hopelessness.

It is about the healing of our own hearts, and the healing of this world.

And Mark Twain, of all people, like a prophet of love calls us into that mystery and joy.

Something kind of wonderful.

So be it. Blessed be. And, amen.
Patna: A 22-year old student of government polytechnic college in Digha reportedly committed suicide early Saturday morning by jumping from a four-storied building under Pataliputra Colony police station in Patna.

Rukmini Mishra, after securing 80% in her third semester exams, a respectable score by most standards, decided to end her life by jumping from the terrace of the hostel she used to live in Indrapuri, police said.

The incident occurred sometime between 2:00 am and 5:00 am on Saturday, her two roommates said.

Her parents and roommates said that Rukmini was upset over her 80% marks as she was expecting to score much higher in the third semester exams.

Chandra Bhushan Mishra and Sunaina Mishra, the parents of Rukmini, said that the results came out on Friday after which she called home and told her parents about securing 80% in the exams. "She sounded frustrated with her score and we tried to mollify her but apparently that did not work," the father said.

The body was sent to the Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) for an autopsy after which it was handed over to the family members, Pataliputra station in-charge R K Dubey said.
Patna: Women of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) in Patna on Saturday held a day-long dharna outside the BJP office to protest the failure of the Bihar police in arresting Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) legislator Raj Ballabh Yadav who had been on the run for the past three weeks after being accused in the rape of a teenage girl in Nalanda district.

Other members of the three parties also joined the protest demanding the arrest of the absconding legislator who has since been expelled from the party.

Demanding immediate arrest of Yadav who, along with a woman who runs a prostitution ring in the region, allegedly raped a Class X girl in a house guarded by the legislator's personal bodyguards, the NDA ladies accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of protecting him saying Raj Ballabh Yadav was getting help from the highest office of the state government at the behest of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav.

"More than three weeks have passed since the heinous crime took place in the home district of the Chief Minister but the police are yet to find and arrest him. It is obvious that Yadav is being sheltered by Nitish Kumar at the direction of Lalu who is a close friend and associate of the absconding legislator. This is what we had warned the people of Bihar about and our fear has come true. Women are unsafe again in Bihar as no one dares to step outside the home after sunset," BJP leader Dr. Surajnandan Kushwaha said.

Renu Kushwaha, Renu Devi, Sukhda Pandey, Kiran Ghai, Usha Vidyarthi, Nivedita Singh, Nutan Singh, Asha Singh, Hem Lata Verma, Neelam Sahni, Neelam Sinha, Urmila Patel, Maya Srivastava were among many who sat on the dharna.

Meanwhile, the accused, from his hiding place, filed an anticipator bail petition with the Patna High Court on Friday after a lower court issued the order to attach Yadav's properties following his failure to surrender in the rape case.

Earlier a court in Biharsharif had rejected his anticipatory bail plea. Police have arrested Sulekha Devi, her daughter Chhoti, mother Radha Devi, and younger sister Tulsi Devi in connection with the rape of the teenage girl.

Former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, meanwhile, accused the Chief Minister of ordering the transfer of Nawada Superintendent of Police (SP) Vivekanand Mandal who had initially filed charges against Raj Ballabh Yadav. He also alleged that the police was being soft on Yadav's son and other RJD leaders in Nawada who, he said, knew the whereabouts of the legislator and yet were not assisting the police in securing his arrest.
Iran: Assembly of Experts election results show strong backing for moderates

02/28/16

Source: Radio Zamaneh

The final list of the Assembly of Experts representatives reveals that two hardliners from Tehran, Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi and Mohammad Yazdi, did not find their way into the fifth assembly.





Headline on front page of Iranian daily Arman: "Hashemi sitting on top"





Tehran sends 16 representatives to the assembly, and the third top conservative representative, Ahmad Jannati, was in 15th place; however, Yazdi and Mebah Yazdi were are 17th and 19th spots respectively.

Meanwhile, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Hassan Rohani topped the list of Tehran representatives with the highest number of votes, sending a strong message to the establishment that the people are backing moderates in government.

The Guardian Council, headed by Ahmad Jannati, had disqualified most of the reformists and moderates from running in the elections, and reformists had called on voters to support the remaining reformists and those closest to moderate policies.

Reformists hold all top positions in the Tehran parliamentary elections

The Ministry of the Interior published a list of the top 60 candidates in Tehran ridings. The top 30 candidates, including eight women, are all candidates endorsed by reformists and Rohani supporters. The top conservative candidate in Tehran Gholamali Haddad Adel fell to 31st place.



The last shot

(cartoon by Mohsen Zarifian, Ghanoon daily)





The spokesman for the Interior Ministry announced, however, that the results are not yet final.

The list of 16 representatives elected from Tehran for the Assembly of Experts also shows considerable support for reformists, with Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani and Hassan Rohani topping the list while two top conservative clerics, including current assembly head Mohammad Yazdi, were voted out of the next assembly.

Reformists are highlighting their public support with the symbol 30+16.

The Interior Ministry spokesman denied that the minister has travelled to Mashhad. Unofficial reports from Mashhad indicate that Karimi Ghodosi, the top conservative MP from the city, has not obtained the votes to return to Parliament, and his supporters are trying to challenge the results of the vote count.
The Brandstater Gallery at La Sierra University in Riverside just opened one of its largest shows ever, an exhibition of works by 31 artists called Women of the New Contemporary.

The show, running through Thursday, March 17, includes five murals outside the universitys Visual Art Center. The gallery inside displays paintings, prints, photographs and sculptures.

The curator, Laguna Beach gallery owner Torrey Cook, is featuring the works of American artists, half of them from Southern California and others from England and the Netherlands.

Heres a sampling of what youll see:

 Martha Rich of Philadephia shows a selection of her Speech Bubbles, wood painted with text that capture bits of conversation one might overhear.

 Deanna Templeton of Huntington Beach unveils photographic works, What She Said, drawn from a long-term project involving adolescent girls. Templeton juxtaposes her images with excerpts from her own teenage journals.

 Casey OConnell of Encinitas used 15 or 16 layers of acrylics and oil stain to create her murals.

 San Francisco artist Velia de Iuliis used house paint to create in four days a 30-foot-long mural filled with animals and plants on the front wall of the Visual Art Center. To prepare for her murals, she studied old explorer journals with scientific illustrations, classical masterpieces and websites listing endangered and rare flora and fauna.

She and seven of the artists arrived days or weeks before the Feb. 28 opening to create the murals. The artists stayed in campus dorm rooms, giving students the opportunity to meet and talk to them about their successful careers.

Contact the writer: llucas@pressenterprise.com, 951-368-9559
A few years ago when Lake Elsinore opted for a store-bought artificial Christmas tree as part of the citys holiday celebration, city staff heard about it from residents.

It was like 13 feet, maybe, said Lake Elsinore Senior Management Analyst Nicole Dailey. And Ill say, a disappointment to some.

In light of the recent news that Perris paid $57,000 for the new 32-foot artificial Christmas tree that stood outside City Hall during the most recent holiday season  a price some residents considered excessive, according to Councilman David Rabb  it is clear that there is a fine line city officials tread between presenting trees that elicit wows and those that prompt whoas.

Menifee City Manager Rob Johnson said that prior to using the 82-year-old California live oak tree in the Menifee Town Center site for its Christmas tree lighting ceremony, the city decorated less stately trees that stood outside of City Hall. Even then, the trees were provided to the city.

These things can get very pricey, said Johnson.

Part of the flap in Perris revolved around a procedural error  it was purchased without the approval of the City Council even through it exceeded the $30,000 signing authority limit of Perris City Manager Richard Belmudez. At Tuesdays meeting, Belmudez conceded a mistake had been made. Mayor Daryl Busch said that Belmudez had alerted council members after it was discovered.

Councilman Mark Yarbrough said the city received multiple bills for the tree and that the first one was below the $30,000 cap. It was not until another bill came to the city that the oversight was discovered.

Local government representatives contend such holiday events and decorations foster civic pride.

A review of the practices of other local cities indicate its not uncommon for holiday activities to run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

Some, like Riverside, do not hold city-sponsored events. The nationally recognized holiday lighting ceremony at Riversides Mission Inn is put on by the historic hotel.

Johnson said that Menifee classifies its tree lighting ceremony as a special event.

Snow is trucked in, musical groups are invited, and vendors are solicited. The Menifee Valley Chamber of Commerce partners with the city to put on the event.

Last year, the city spent over $20,000 on its ceremony, including two weeks of patrols by a private security service, said Johnson. He said that figure does not include police and fire services for the event or city staff costs.

Temecula has a 25-foot-high artificial tree erected near the fountain in front of City Hall.

City officials said the tree cost $36,000 and was paid for by the visitors and convention bureau, Visit Temecula Valley.

Others have coordinated less costly arrangements.

Dailey said Lake Elsinore initiated some changes after residents expressed their disappointment with the store-bought tree.

This past year, the city cut a deal with a temporary Christmas tree lot in town.

As part of the business permit, it provided the city a tree  up to a $1,000 value  which the public works department decorated for Lake Elsinores lighting ceremony.

That natural tree, Dailey said, stood a little under 20 feet tall.

San Jacinto has discontinued its city-sponsored tree lighting ceremony. But the Valley-Wide Recreation & Park District holds a ceremony using a 70-foot living pine tree at Valley-Wide Regional Park in San Jacinto.

Valley-Wide Special Projects Supervisor Gustavo Bermeo said the event, which includes refreshments, carolers, a movie and a visit from Santa Claus, draws between 500 and 700 people and costs about $800.

In addition to Perris lighting ceremony, the city holds a parade that ends with a celebration at City Hall and includes music, food, a petting zoo and Santa Claus on a fire engine.

The event stage is set up next to the Christmas tree, said Yarbrough.

Were focused trying to make it a really, really festive holiday, said Yarbrough.

And anybody thats been there, theyre just like, Wow, this is really nice.
Without proper controls, Californias marijuana industry could rival Big Tobacco as a threat to public health, warns an academic analysis of two ballot measures to legalize the drug.

The study published this month by researchers at UC San Francisco doesnt oppose legalization. But Rachel Barry and Stanton Glantz of the schools Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education express concern about the regulations proposed by the two initiatives seen as most likely to make the November ballot.

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 study read.

An Inland marijuana legalization activist dismissed the study as a scare tactic.

Any kind of researcher that puts something out thats negative on marijuana, everyone jumps on it, while ignoring studies showing marijuanas positive effects, Lanny Swerdlow said.

Activists hope this is the year California joins Oregon, Washington state, Alaska and Colorado in legalizing the recreational use of pot. Medicinal use already is allowed in the Golden State.

More than a dozen legalization ballot measures have been submitted to the California Secretary of State, but most arent expected to qualify. The front-runners are the Control, Regulate and Tax Adult Use of Marijuana Act, which is backed by billionaire and former Facebook president Sean Parker, and a measure introduced by the Coalition for Cannabis Policy Reform.

The Parker-backed measure might have the best chance to gather enough voter signatures to make the ballot. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom supports the measure, and pro-legalization activists are rallying around it.

Both measures regulate and tax marijuana usage. The Parker-backed measure would allow those 21 and older to buy pot, with retail sales taxed at a rate of 15 percent and the money going toward substance abuse treatment, drug abuse prevention and similar programs.

Penalties for driving while high would remain, and there would be prohibitions on where pot could be smoked and where it could be sold. Those who sell tobacco and alcohol would not be able to sell marijuana.

A state legislative analysis estimated the Parker-backed measure could generate as much as $1 billion in tax revenue.

PROFITS OVER HEALTH?

The UC San Francisco study, which was funded in part by a National Cancer Institute Grant, touches on what the authors describe as the negative effects of banning pot, including the imprisonment of thousands of nonviolent offenders, mainly African American men, and an underground market that fosters crime, violence and corruption.

But the front-runner measures are written primarily to create a new business and only include minimal protections that are unlikely to prevent public health harms caused by the burgeoning marijuana industry, the studys executive summary read.

For example, marijuana safety and testing standards would be based on voluntary, industry-established codes, not criteria set by independent public health agencies, the study found. The proposed warning label for marijuana products is insufficient, researchers argued.

The advertising and marketing restrictions in the initiatives will not prevent targeting underage persons (defined as under age 21) or other vulnerable populations, the study read.

The proposed marijuana licensing bodies are set up more to create a competitive pot marketplace, not protect public health, researchers said. And the proposed taxes may not cover the regulatory and public health costs of legal marijuana, they added.

Lawyers representing the Parker-backed measures organizers did not respond to a request for comment.

Barry and Glantz make the case for regulating marijuana more like tobacco instead of alcohol.

The goal of any marijuana regulatory framework should be to treat marijuana regulation like tobacco regulation, allowing sale and use to be legal, while simultaneously creating an environment where falling numbers of people are interested in buying and using it, the study concludes.

RED HERRING

John Berry, media coordinator for the Redlands Tea Party Patriots and an opponent of marijuana legalization, approves of the study.

I think overall I would have rather have seen a recommendation (to not legalize pot), he said. But I think this study clearly points out a lot of dangers that legalized marijuana would do.

Swerdlow, who founded the Brownie Mary Democratic Club, said the studys fears of a mega-marijuana industry are overblown.

If its done right, it will be something like the wine industry, he said. Some big (operators), yet thousands of small mom-and-pop businesses who bottle their own wine.

Right now we want people to have access to it, Swerdlow said. Right now they cant have access to it  (The study) is just a red herring.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9547 or jhorseman@pressenterprise.com
Police said a man who met a woman through a social media site became the victim of a carjacking, kidnapping and home-invasion robbery Saturday, Feb. 27.

Authorities say two male suspects were captured during an air and ground search in a Lake Hills neighborhood near Lake Mathews. The suspects names were not released.

Other than one suspect being bitten by a K9, no one was injured, according to Riverside police Lt. Carla Hardin.

Authorities were still investigating in the neighborhood Saturday night. The Riverside Police Department is handing the case, though Riverside County sheriffs deputies responded at first because the neighborhood is an unincorporated area.

Riverside police said Sunday morning that no additional information was available.

At some point Saturday, the victim met a woman at an address in the vicinity of Kansas Avenue and Seventh Street on Riversides Eastside. He drove the woman to a gas station close to her home, where two other men made the woman get out of the car.

They forced (the victim) at gunpoint to drive to his house, Hardin said. There, the men took property from the house and fled. The victim called 911.

The suspects were apprehended still in the neighborhood. Riverside police were brought into the case sometime after 6:30 p.m., Hardin said.

The victim believed the robbers were armed with an assault-style weapon, but when authorities found the weapon, it turned out to be a BB gun.

Officers from Corona Police Department and California Highway Patrol also assisted in the search for the suspects in the neighborhood.
Riverside city firefighters used an all-terrain vehicle to rescue a 40-year-old female hiker who sustained a possible ankle fracture on a hillside trail near Doty/Trust Park in the La Sierra neighborhood of Riverside on Saturday, Feb. 27, according to a Riverside Fire Department news release.

Firefighters received the report of a stranded hiker at 7:44 a.m. and determined she was about  mile up a hillside too steep for a vehicle to traverse, so they hiked up to treat the victim. The park is near the intersection of Campbell and Golden avenues.

Once rescuers brought the departments ATV to the scene, the patient was transported down the hill and taken by ambulance to a hospital.
A Washington State Patrol detective is seen through trees as he works the scene of a fatal shooting Friday, Feb. 26, 2016, near Belfair, Wash. A gunman who killed four people in rural Washington state called an officer he previously encountered to say he shot his family, leading to an hours long standoff at a home Friday that ended with his suicide, authorities said. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)
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FDA approves new indication for Novartis drug Afinitor for progressive, nonfunctional GI and lung neuroendocrine tumors (NET)

Details Category: Small Molecules Published on Sunday, 28 February 2016 13:20 Hits: 2328

In advanced progressive, nonfunctional NET, Afinitor is the first approved treatment for patients with lung NET and the first oral therapy for GI NET

Approval helps fulfill unmet need as progressive, nonfunctional gastrointestinal and lung NET are rare cancers with poor prognoses, limited treatment options[1],[2]

Afinitor is now approved in the US in the three most common types of advanced NET; regulatory filings for GI/lung indication are underway in countries worldwide[3]

BASEL, Switzerland I February 26, 2016 INovartis today announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Afinitor (everolimus) tablets for the treatment of adult patients with progressive, well-differentiated, nonfunctional neuroendocrine tumors (NET) of gastrointestinal (GI) or lung origin that are unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic. Afinitor received a priority review designation providing a shortened review period for drugs that treat serious conditions and offer a significant improvement in safety or effectiveness.

"Afinitor is the first treatment approved for progressive, nonfunctional NET of lung origin, and one of very few options available for progressive, nonfunctional GI NET, representing a shift in the treatment paradigm for these cancers," said Bruno Strigini, President, Novartis Oncology. "We are proud of our Afinitor development program, which has translated to meaningful benefits for patients with several different cancers and rare diseases."

Neuroendocrine tumors are a rare type of cancer that originate in neuroendocrine cells throughout the body, and are most often found in the GI tract, lungs or pancreas[1],[4]. NET can be defined as functional or nonfunctional. Functional NET are characterized by symptoms caused by the oversecretion of hormones and other substances. Nonfunctional NET may be characterized by symptoms caused by tumor growth, such as intestinal obstruction, pain and bleeding for GI NET, and asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia for lung NET[5],[6],[7],[8]. More than 70% of patients with NET have nonfunctional tumors[9]. At the time of diagnosis, 5%-44% (depending on site of tumor origin) of patients with NET in the GI tract and 28% of patients with lung NET have advanced disease, meaning the cancer has spread to other areas of the body, making it difficult to treat[1],[4]. Progression, or the continued growth or spread of the tumor, is typically associated with poor outcomes[10].

The approval of Afinitor was based on efficacy and safety data from a pivotal study (RADIANT-4) showing Afinitor reduced the risk of progression in patients with progressive, well-differentiated, nonfunctional NET of GI or lung origin by 52% (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.48; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.35-0.67; p<0.001) vs placebo. Additionally, the data showed Afinitor increased median progression-free survival (PFS) by 7.1 months: median PFS by central review was 11.0 months (95% CI, 9.2-13.3) in the Afinitor arm and 3.9 months (95% CI, 3.6-7.4) in the placebo arm[3].

In the pivotal trial, the most common treatment-related grade 3/4 adverse events (AEs) (>=5%) for Afinitor and placebo, respectively, were infections (11.0% vs 2.0%), diarrhea (9.0% vs 2.0%), stomatitis (9.0% vs 0.0%), fatigue (5.0% vs 1.0%) and hyperglycemia (5.0% vs 0.0%)[3].

Additional worldwide regulatory filings for this indication are underway, with a decision in the EU anticipated in 2016.

RADIANT-4 Study: Part of the largest clinical trial program in advanced NET

RADIANT-4 (RAD001 In Advanced Neuroendocrine Tumors) is a Phase III prospective, double-blind, randomized, parallel group, placebo-controlled, multicenter study. It examined the efficacy and safety of Afinitor plus best supportive care (BSC) vs placebo plus BSC in 302 patients with unresectable, progressive, well-differentiated, nonfunctional, locally advanced or metastatic NET of GI (excluding pancreatic) or lung origin. The major efficacy outcome measure of RADIANT-4 was PFS based on independent radiological assessment evaluated by Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors. Additional efficacy outcome measures were overall survival and best overall response rate (defined as complete response plus partial response)[3].

Patients were randomized 2:1 to receive daily Afinitor 10 mg or daily placebo orally. All patients received BSC during treatment, which excluded somatostatin analogues (SSAs). Patients had low or intermediate grade histology, no history or active symptoms of carcinoid syndrome, had documented disease progression within the previous 6 months and were required to have ceased treatment with SSAs for 4 weeks before study entry[3],[11].

The safety profile of Afinitor was consistent with what has been observed in previous studies of this drug. The most common treatment-related, all-grade AEs (incidence >=30%) were stomatitis (63%), infections (58%), diarrhea (41%), peripheral edema (39%), fatigue (37%) and rash (30%). Afinitor was discontinued for adverse reactions in 29% of patients and dose reduction or delay was required in 70% of Afinitor-treated patients[3].

About Afinitor (everolimus) tablets

Afinitor (everolimus) tablets is now approved by the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of adult patients with progressive, well-differentiated, nonfunctional neuroendocrine tumors (NET) of gastrointestinal (GI) or lung origin that are unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic. Additionally, Afinitor is approved in 99 countries, including the US and throughout the European Union, for locally advanced, metastatic or unresectable progressive NET of pancreatic origin. It is also approved in >120 countries including the US and European Union for advanced renal cell carcinoma following progression on or after vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-targeted therapy (in the US, specifically following sunitinib and sorafenib).

Afinitor is also approved in 102 countries including the US and European Union for advanced HR+/HER2- breast cancer in combination with exemestane, after prior endocrine therapy.

Everolimus is also available from Novartis for use in certain non-oncology patient populations under the brand names Afinitor or Votubia, Certican and Zortress and is exclusively licensed to Abbott and sublicensed to Boston Scientific for use in drug-eluting stents.

Indications vary by country and not all indications are available in every country. The safety and efficacy profile of everolimus has not yet been established outside the approved indications. Because of the uncertainty of clinical trials, there is no guarantee that everolimus will become commercially available for additional indications anywhere else in the world.

Important Safety Information about Afinitor (everolimus) tablets

Afinitor/Votubia can cause serious side effects including lung or breathing problems, infections (including sepsis), and kidney failure, which can lead to death. Patients taking concomitant angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors may be at an increased risk for angioedema. Mouth ulcers and mouth sores are common side effects. Afinitor/Votubia can affect blood cell counts, kidney and liver function, and blood sugar, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels. Afinitor/Votubia may cause fetal harm in pregnant women. Highly effective contraception is recommended for women of child-bearing potential while receiving Afinitor/Votubia and for up to eight weeks after ending treatment. Women taking Afinitor/Votubia should not breast feed. Fertility in women and men may be affected by treatment with Afinitor/Votubia.

The most common adverse drug reactions (incidence >=10 percent) are mouth ulcers, skin rash, feeling tired or weak, diarrhea, infections (including upper respiratory tract infection, sore throat and runny nose, sinusitis, middle ear infection and pneumonia), absence of menstrual periods, high levels of cholesterol, nausea, decreased appetite, low level of red blood cells, acne, abnormal taste, irregular menstrual periods, inflammation of lung tissue, swelling of extremities or other parts of the body, high level of blood sugar, itching, weight loss, nose bleeds, cough and headache. The most common grade 3-4 adverse drug reactions (incidence >=2 percent) are mouth ulcers, infections (including pneumonia), low level of red blood cells, absence of menstrual periods, high level of blood sugar, feeling tired or weak, diarrhea, low white blood cells, inflammation of lung tissue and spontaneous bleeding or bruising. Cases of hepatitis B reactivation, blood clots in the lung or legs, and pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia (PJP) have been reported. Abnormalities were observed in hematology and clinical chemistry laboratory tests.

Disclaimer

The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by words such as "underway," "anticipated," "yet," "will," "committed," "can," "may," or similar terms, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential new indications or labeling for Afinitor (everolimus), or regarding potential future revenues from Afinitor. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the current beliefs and expectations of management regarding future events, and are subject to significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that Afinitor will be submitted or approved for any additional indications or labeling in any market, or at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that Afinitor will be commercially successful in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding Afinitor could be affected by, among other things, the uncertainties inherent in research and development, including unexpected clinical trial results and additional analysis of existing clinical data; unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the company's ability to obtain or maintain proprietary intellectual property protection; general economic and industry conditions; global trends toward health care cost containment, including ongoing pricing pressures; unexpected safety issues; unexpected manufacturing or quality issues, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Novartis

Novartis provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, eye care and cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals. Novartis is the only global company with leading positions in these areas. In 2015, the Group achieved net sales of USD 49.4 billion, while R&D throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 8.9 billion (USD 8.7 billion excluding impairment and amortization charges). Novartis Group companies employ approximately 119,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are available in more than 180 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com.

Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at http://twitter.com/novartis.

References

[1] American Cancer Society. Gastrointestinal Carcinoid Tumors. Available at http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003102-pdf.pdf. Accessed February 2016.

[2] American Cancer Society. Lung Carcinoid Tumors. Available at http://www.cancer.org/acs/groups/cid/documents/webcontent/003117-pdf.pdf. Accessed February 2016.

[3] Afinitor (everolimus) Prescribing information. East Hanover, New Jersey, USA: Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; February 2016.

[4] Yao J, et al. One hundred years after "Carcinoid:" Epidemiology of and prognostic factors for neuroendocrine tumors in 35,825 cases in the United States. J Clin Oncol. 2008; 26: 3063-72.

[5] Oberg K, et al. Gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors. Annals of Oncology. 2010; 21: vii72-vii80.

[6] Modlin I, et al. Priorities for improving the management of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008; 100: 1282-1289.

[7] Modlin I, et al. Current status of gastrointestinal carcinoids. Gastroenterology. 2005; 128: 1717-1751.

[8] Wolin EM. Challenges in the diagnosis and management of well-differentiated neuroendocrine tumors of the lung (typical and atypical carcinoid): Current status and future considerations. The Oncologist. 2015; 20:1123-1131.

[9] Choti, M.A., et al. Prevalence of functional tumors in neuroendocrine carcinoma: An analysis from the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Neuroendocrine Tumors database. The North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS) Symposium. October 2012, San Diego, US.

[10] National Cancer Institute. "NCI Dictionary of Cancer Terms." Available at http://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms. Accessed February 2016.

[11] Yao J, et al. Everolimus for the treatment of advanced, non-functional neuroendocrine tumours of the lung or gastrointestinal tract (RADIANT-4): a randomised, placebo-controlled, phase 3 study. The Lancet. Available at http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)00817-X/fulltext. Accessed February 2016

SOURCE: Novartis


The Online Railbird Report: "Educa-p0ker" Returns After Being M.I.A. in February

February 27, 2016 Chad Holloway Executive Editor U.S.

We're less than two months into the year, and already there have been a couple game-changing developments in the world of online poker. The first came a couple weeks ago when the announcement was made that Full Tilt will merge with PokerStars this spring. Then, yesterday, PokerStars revealed they will finally launch in New Jersey on March 21, which you can read about here.

As for the high-stakes cash-game action, which is what the Online Railbird Report is all about, no one did better in the past week than "Chilax Chuck," who won $167,353 in 342 hands over 10 sessions. Likewise, both Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz (+$152,832 in 13 sessions/2,556 hands) and "omaha4rollz" (+$140,889 in 20 sessions/583 hands) both booked winning weeks.

That said, the big story this week was the return of Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano, who cleaned up in the month of January but was missing in action for most of February. Artinano won $84,824 in 1,360 hands over five sessions, which helped pad his lead on the 2016 yearly leaderboard.

On the other end of the spectrum, "TheFish77" was the week's biggest loser after dropping $178,349 in 2,557 hands over a dozen sessions. Others who finished in the red were "St1ckman" (-$158,267 in 20 sessions/1,233 hands), "pplo777" (-$117,433 in 7 sessions/1,254 hands), and "cumicon" (-$102,369 in 5 sessions/302 hands).

Thuritz Takes "TheFish77" for $158,100 at PLO Tables

On Thursday, Feb. 18, Sweden's Thuritz finished as the biggest winner of the day after taking $158,100 from "TheFish77" after eight and a half hours of $50/$100 pot-limit Omaha. According to HighStakesDB, the two played 2,343 hands, and the biggest of those went to Thuritz.

It happened when Thuritz ($21,700.60) raised to $300 on the button and "TheFish77" called to see the flop. "TheFish77" checked, Thuritz bet $450, and "TheFish77" check-raised to $1,988. A call was made, the peeled off on the turn, and "TheFish77" checked to Thuritz, who bet $4,150.

"TheFish77" check-raised to $17,064 and then called the little bit extra after Thuritz three-bet all in for $19,412.60 total.

"TheFish77":

Thuritz:

Both players had turned a straight, but unfortunately for "TheFish77" his opponent held a bigger one. The river failed to help "TheFish77," and he watched the $43,381.20 pot pushed to Thuritz.

"SHARMOOTA" and Sulsky Clean Up in Friday Action

On Friday, Feb. 19, "SHARMOOTA" finished as the day's biggest winner when he banked $108,600 at the $400/$800 8-game tables. Most of it came in the early morning hours when he won $76,500 off "Empire2000" and Elior "Crazy Elior" Sion. He then padded it with a $27,000 win against a group of players that included Alexander "joiso" Kostritsyn, Mike "gordo16" Gorodinsky, and Ben "Sauce123" Sulsky.

Speaking of Sulsky, he finished second on the daily leaderboard with $82,800 in profit, most of which came late in the day from the $50/$100 PLO tables. It was there the days biggest pot took place.

It happened with six players at the table when Sulsky ($44,525.23) opened for $470 under the gun. "amar11111" ($17,995.10) called from the hijack, "omaha4rollz" ($41,440.34) three-bet to $5,780, and Sami "LrsLzk" Kelopuro ($10,681.25) called from the button. Both blinds folded, the other two players called, and four players took a flop of .

Sulsky led out for $23,385, "amar11111" called off for $12,215.10, and "omaha4rollz" folded. Kelopuro called off his remaining $4,901.25 and the cards were turned up.

Sulsky:

"amar11111":

Kelopuro:

"amar11111" was technically ahead with kings, but both his opponents held big straight draws. The turn changed nothing, but the river did as it gave Sulsky a queen-high straight and the $52,841.45 pot.

Kuznetsov Cleans Up at 8-Game Tables

On Saturday, Feb. 20, HighStakesDB reports that Timofey "Trueteller" Kuznetsov finished as the day's biggest winner after profiting $158,000, nearly all of which came from more than 1,000 hands at the 8-Game tables, most of which was played at the $1,000/$2,000 stakes.

Fittingly, he won the biggest pot of the day, which came from a round of $250/$500 PLO. It happened at a six-handed table when action folded to Alex "BiatchPeople" Luneau ($48,534.95) in the small blind and he raised to $1,500. Kuznetsov ($54,884.70) pushed back with a three-bet to $4,500 from the big, Luneau called, and the flop fell .

Luneau checked, Kuznetsov bet $4,497.50, and Luneau check-raised to $22,487.50. The call was made and the appeared on the turn. Luneau shoved all in for $21,457.45, and Kuznetsov called to create a $97,069.90 pot.

Kuznetsov:

Luneau:

Kuznetsov had flopped a straight along with two pair, while Luneau held straight and flush draws. The river was a brick, and Kuznetsov's hand held to win him a near six-figure pot.

HighStakesDB also reports that Gorodinsky won $92,800 on Saturday, enough to make him the day's second-biggest winner, while Kostritsyn won $82,500 in 557 hands at the 8-Game tables.

Speaking of second biggest, "St1ckman" took down the second-biggest pot of the day. It happened at a six-handed $200/$400 PLO 6-Max table when "d2themfi" ($63,281.25) raised to $1,880 under the gun and both "St1ckman" ($39,920) and "cumicon" ($67,710) called from the hijack and cutoff respectively. "SHARMOOTA" ($63,058) came along from the button, "omaha4rollz" ($48,725) called from the big blind and five players took a flop of .

Two checks saw "St1ckman" fire out $10,075, "cumicon" folded, and "SHARMOOTA" raised to $40,300. The other two players folded and "St1ckman" called off his remaining $27,965.

"St1ckman":

"SHARMOOTA":

"SHARMOOTA" had flopped top two pair, but it was no good as "St1ckman" held top set. The turn left "SHARMOOTA" drawing dead, and he watched the $86,240 pot pushed to "St1ckman" after the was run out on the river.

Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano Returns with a Bang

According to HighStakesDB, Artinano won $833,000 at the no-limit hold'em tables back in January  enough to put him atop the 2016 yearly leaderboard where he remains  but the Spaniard disappeared from the virtual felt for most of February. That changed on Wednesday when he returned to action and promptly won $84,800 at the $100/$200 no-limit hold'em tables, which was enough to make him the day's biggest winner.

It came off Sulsky, who Artinano faced in a four-and-a-half match. In the biggest pot between the two, Artinano ($34,615.81) raised to $490 from the button and Sulsky ($2,637) three-bet to $2,637 from the big blind. Artinano made the call and then watched Sulsky fire out $3,457.76 on the flop. Artinano raised to $9,551.52, Sulsky called, and then both players checked the turn.

When the completed the board on the river, Sulsky bet $24,975.04 and Artinano called off his remaining $22,427.29. Sulsky showed the for a missed up-and-down straight draw, and then Artinano revealed the for a missed ace-high flush draw. Still, Artinano must have known it was good as he made a great call on the river to claim the $69,231.62 pot.

Biggest Winners/Losers from Feb. 18-24

Winners Profit Losers Loss "Chilax Chuck" $167,353 "TheFish77" $178,349 Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz $152,832 "St1ckman" $158,267 "omaha4rollz" $140,889 "pplo777" $117,433 "hhecklen" $113,021 "cumicon" $102,369 David "Deldar" Eldar $88,190 "M.O.P." $101,875 Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano $84,824 "amar11111" $92,708

Biggest Winners/Losers of 2016

Winners Profit Losers Loss Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano $920,870 Alex "Kanu7" Millar $564,117 "Cobus83" $213,377 Daniel "w00ki3z." Cates Mikael "ChaoRen160" Thuritz $155,005 "candela2005" $212,068 "hhecklen" $111,373 "40and7" $175,332 "dougiedan678" $100,398 "I_Mr_U_Bean" $173,210 "bazzzzzzz" $87,377 "Aron0621" $161,152

*Lead photo courtesy of globalpokerindex.com.

Data and hands obtained from HighStakesDB.com

Want to stay atop all the latest in the poker world? If so, make sure to get PokerNews updates on your social media outlets. Follow us on Twitter and find us on both Facebook and Google+!

Sharelines After being MIA in February, Andres "Educa-p0ker" Artinano returned to the virtual felt this week.

"Chilax Chuck" was week's biggest online winner after banking $167,353 in 342 hands over 10 sessions.

"TheFish77" was the week's biggest loser after dropping $178,349 in 2,557 hands over dozen sessions.
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Bernie Sanders congratulated Hillary Clinton, thanked his supporters, and vowed to fight on after losing the South Carolina Democratic primary.

In a statement, Sen. Sanders said:

I congratulate Secretary Clinton on her victory in South Carolina. I am very proud of the campaign we ran. I am grateful for the grassroots supporters who took on the political establishment and stood up for working families. I appreciate the many friendships that Jane and I have forged with people across South Carolina, where I was all but unknown when this campaign began 10 months ago. I will always be especially thankful for the courageous support of state Reps. Terry Alexander, Justin Bamberg, Joe Neal, Wendell Gilliard, Cesar McKnight, Robert Williams and former Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian. Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning. We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now its on to Super Tuesday. In just three days, Democrats in 11 states will pick 10 times more pledged delegates on one day than were selected in the four early states so far in this campaign. Our grassroots political revolution is growing state by state, and we wont stop now. When we come together, and dont let people like Donald Trump try to divide us, we can create an economy that works for all of us and not just the top 1 percent.

Super Tuesday is going to determine the length of the Democratic race. If Hillary Clinton has a big night on Tuesday, the Democratic nomination could be out of reach for Sen. Sanders. If Sanders has a good night and wins several states, the Democratic contest will continue.

The discouraging sign for the Sanders campaign is their inability to make gains with African-American voters in South Carolina. The Sanders campaign spent months working hard in the state to sway African-American voters, but Hillary Clinton has won at least 84% of South Carolina African-American voters.

Sanders will continue to fight because his bigger goal is a political revolution. The loss in South Carolina will not stop Sen. Sanders from talking about the issues that make the billionaires and Wall Street uncomfortable.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters)  Ketanji Brown Jackson, a federal trial judge in Washington, is being considered to fill the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court, the National Law Journal reported on Friday, citing a lawyer who was contacted as part of the vetting process.

The unidentified lawyer was contacted this week and was asked about Jacksons tenure on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in the context of her being a potential nominee for the Supreme Court, the Journal said.

The lawyer described the conversation, which lasted less than 30 minutes, as a preliminary inquiry, the Journal reported.

The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the Journal story.

President Barack Obama is expected to announce a nominee in the next several weeks to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died on Feb. 13.

Scalias death left the court with four liberals and four conservatives, and Republican leaders in the Senate have vowed to block anyone Obama nominates. The Senate must confirm the nominee.

Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval, a moderate Republican, took himself out of consideration for appointment to the Supreme Court this week after his name surfaced as a possible nominee.

If nominated and confirmed Jackson, 45, would be the first African-American woman on the Supreme Court.

She was confirmed to the federal district court in Washington in March 2013.

During her confirmation hearing, she received support from U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, who is related to her by marriage, the Journal reported. Jacksons husband, Patrick Jackson, is the twin brother of Ryans brother-in-law William Jackson.

Jackson served as a federal public defender in Washington and then at a law firm. In 2010, she was appointed to the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

(Writing by Eric Beech; Editing by Paul Tait)
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Hillary Clinton needed just three sentences to destroy Donald Trump during her South Carolina victory speech.

Video of Clinton victory speech:

https://youtu.be/W7gWvv6Wfaw

Clinton took down Trump by referencing his slogan. Former Sec. Clinton said, Despite what you hear, we dont need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great. But we do need to make America whole again, instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers.

Instead of running away from President Obama, like unsuccessful congressional Democrats did in 2010 and 2014, Clinton is going to run as the person who is going to build on what the president started. Clinton is running as the anti-Trump. In the fantasy that is the 2016 presidential primary, Obama has ruined America. Hillary Clinton is running as the candidate of reality, and a big part of that reality is the success that the country has enjoyed under President Obama.

Later in her speech, former Sec. Clinton again discussed building on the progress that has been made by President Obama. Clinton said, We can create those good jobs by building on the progress that weve made under President Obama. So lets make new investments in manufacturing, and small business, in scientific research, in clean energy. Enough clean energy to power every home in America.

The subtle shift in Clintons focus that was first noticed in her Nevada victory speech took a larger role after her win in South Carolina. Hillary Clinton is shaping a national appeal. The new twist is that she is crafting an argument against Trump.

Hillary Clinton is smartly running as the candidate who can build upon the last eight years. It was telling that Clinton only mentioned one Republican in her victory speech. Former Sec. Clinton sees Donald Trump as her eventual general election opponent, and she is already building the Democratic coalition that will turn out to beat Trump in November.

Republicans are already full of dread and doom over the possibility of nominating Donald Trump, but Hillary Clinton showed the GOP that it might be worse than they ever could have imagined by dismantling and disposing of Trump with just a few sentences in her South Carolina victory speech.

By the time Hillary Clinton is done, Trump may never know what hit him.
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In the left wing media and in social media both, Trump is frequently compared to Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, and with good reason. He talks the same talk: Hes loud, with simple solutions to complex problems, hes angry, he hates with a passion, sows fear among his followers, and lets face it, hes a bully who doesnt want to be questioned. Literally.

Add to these voices Anne Franks stepsister Eva Schloss, who said Trump is acting like another Hitler, and former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman  a Republican  also brought up Hitler in discussing Trumps proposed ban on Muslim immigration, saying If you go and look at your history and you read your history in the lead-up to the Second World War, this is the kind of rhetoric that allowed Hitler to move forward.

CNNs Sally Kohn also drew such comparisons and warned in December that people need to remember in this country, Adolf Hitler, when he first rose to power, was elected by 36 percent of the German voters.

Now Mexicos former president, Vicente Fox, president from 2000 to 2006, has joined the chorus, telling CNNs Anderson Cooper Friday that,

Today, hes going to take that nation (U.S.) back to the old days of conflict, war and everything. I mean, he reminds me of Hitler. Thats the way he started speaking.

Take a listen courtesy of CNN:









Having already exclaimed in a Fusion interview that Im not going to pay for that f***ing wall, Fox pointed out to Cooper that its not only Mexico: He has offended Mexico, Mexicans, (and) immigrants. He has offended the Pope. He has offended the Chinese. Hes offended everybody.

All true. Is it fair? Forbes columnist James Marshall Crotty argued in Huffington Post yesterday that comparing Trump to Hitler is the worst kind of hate speech. According to Crotty, not only do you lose the debate instantly, but comparisons to Hitler and the Holocaust are grossly irresponsible in that nobody can compare to Hitler and it insults the memory of the holocaust (tell that to Ann Franks stepsister).

It apparently doesnt matter that speech analysis shows the comparison to be apt.

Crotty is missing the point. I have often looked at the intersection of the hate speech of American conservatives and National Socialist rhetoric, and shown where one follows the other. If Republicans are repeating the Nazis, are we not supposed to make legitimate comparisons? Should we ignore it? Or as our society so often does, cloud the issue with invented euphemisms?

Crotty even appeals to Godwins Law, that As an online discussion continues, the probability of a reference or comparison to Hitler or Nazis approaches 1. There ought to be a law describing how long it takes for cries of Godwins Law to arise. Since I find myself a frequent offender, Ill call it Hrafnkells Law.

I am trained as a historian. I studied National Socialism and the rhetoric of the Nazi era while translating biweekly inserts in Goebbels Berlin newspaper called Heim und Welt (Home and World) focusing on the role of women in National Socialism. These are not just words to us who have studied the era.

Facts are facts, no matter how offensive they seem. If Trump sleeps with a book of Hitler speeches and then sounds like Hitler when he speaks, what are we to make of it? Yes, its fair. Trump doesnt have to say everything Hitler said to sound like Hitler. Bernie Sanders doesnt have to say everything Roosevelt said to sound like FDR.

Nobody, so far as I know, is saying Trump is Hitler  he hasnt killed millions of people after all. But neither had Hitler before he came Fuhrer. All we have to judge Trump by is his rhetoric, and we should not pretend he does not sound like somebody simply because that somebody is Hitler.

There are no exceptions to history. And thats all Godwins Law, when gratuitously applied, represents.

If you know your history you know conservatives have been sounding like Hitler for a while now. Republicans use the same sort of language the Nazis used of Jews, but now with regard to Muslims and gays and other undesirables of whom they do not approve.

Trump has the enthusiastic endorsement of the KKK and white supremacists of all stripes, including the Neo-Nazis of Stormfront. Theyre not backing him because he sounds like Franklin D. Roosevelt or Winston Churchill. And its Trump, after all, weve been told by an ex-wife Ivana, who slept with a book of Hitlers speeches by his bedside.

Noam Chomsky tells us that Trump is putting to use the same forces Hitler used in his rise to power, fear and a breakdown of society. I have long warned that conservatives lacked only a real leader, a charismatic figure to drive their extremism. Trump was not the figure any of us were looking for, but then neither in the 30s was it an unknown Austrian corporal.

Republicans would rather lose the election without Trump than win it with him, and thats great. We all appreciate the sacrifice. But its for all the wrong reasons. They havent learned a thing, that their brand is already in the toilet because Trump isnt breaking new ground here.

Hes merely picking up strands already in place. The Hitler thing is neither new nor unique to Trump. Then again, the whole Nazi thing was neither new nor unique to Hitler. He also picked up strands already in place, white supremacy not least among them.

Its absurd to expect people to apologize for making the comparison, but not expect Trump to apologize for sounding like Hitler, as though making the comparison is the problem.

Vincene Fox is right: Trump does remind us of Hitler, and appealing to Godwins Law doesnt change anything.
The Republican presidential primary went even lower when Ted Cruz accused Donald Trump of having mob ties during an interview on Meet The Press.

Video:



Transcript via Meet The Press:

CHUCK TODD:

So will you be happy if he just does summary pages? Will you be happy if he just does summary pages?

SEN. TED CRUZ:

Look, it would be a very positive step in the right direction. I would be thrilled, if he releases the whole thing, Im happy to release everything. Ive released, for five years, Ive released everything. We just matched what the opponents did for the last four years. But the critical point, Chuck, as Mitt Romney observed, the fact that Donald seems terrified to release his taxes suggests that theres a bombshell there.

And its natural to wonder, Well, what is it that hes hiding in his taxes? Maybe its that Donald Trump doesnt earn nearly as much as he has so loudly told everyone. Maybe hes not as rich as he says he is. Who knows, maybe its the case that Mitt Romney is richer than Donald Trump. He can answer that by releasing his taxes. On the other hand, maybe its the case that he has given large sums of money to left-wing groups like Planned Parenthood.

You know, he praises Planned Parenthood in the debates over and over again. Maybe hes been a big financial supporter of that. All of those questions Donald can put to rest. Or you know, maybe it is the case that Donald, there have been multiple media reports about Donalds business dealings with the mob, with the mafia. Maybe his taxes show those business dealings are a lot more extensive than has been reported. Regardless of what the bombshell is

CHUCK TODD:

Well, let me stop you. Wait a minute. Senator Cruz, let me stop you there. Thats openly speculative. Do you have any facts to support that Donald Trump has mob ties?

SEN. TED CRUZ:

Oh sure. ABC, CNN, multiple news reports have reported about his some dealings with, for example, S&A Construction, which was owned by Fat Tony Salerno, who is a mobster who is in jail. It is owned by two of the major New York crime families. And that has been reported in multiple media outlets. You know, youre going to have Donald on the show later today, you ought to ask him, Donald, have you written a check to Planned Parenthood? If so, how much and when?

I mean, thats the question that Donald ought to answer. We dont know what it is that hes hiding in those tax returns. But I can promise you this, if hes the nominee come September, October, every day on the news will be about those tax returns, about whatever the bombshell is. And Republican primary voters deserve to know before the nomination, not after. Because you better believe Hillary Clinton and the media are going to go to town on it. And the primary voters should be able to vet all of us.
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In general there are only two kinds of chocolate, the fake ones and the real ones. Chocolate connoisseurs can tell the difference and they know that when we talk of the real thing, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland come to mind. They are known as the worlds best chocolatiers.

The fake chocolates  highly commercialized have compound ingredients that include fats from vegetable oils and enhanced with artificial chocolate flavors to legally qualify as real chocolate. The real ones are made of cacao or cocoa beans. With the amount of choices and big variety of highly commercialized chocolates available nowadays, consider yourself lucky if you find a chocolate bar that contains at least a minimum percentage of cocoa butter that actually comes from cacao beans.

Dont look far. Local residents and tourists dont need to go far or go to Belgium where a 35-percent minimum level of pure cocoa are imposed to every chocolate made. Guam has the real thing. For almost two years now, leading retailers on island have been selling Guam Premium Chocolate, a European-inspired high quality chocolates made on Guamthanks to marketing specialist-turned-entrepreneur George C. Patterson.

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Patterson, president and sole proprietor of Patterson Enterprises, has built his own chocolate factory in the heart of Barrigada, where he invested more than $4 million in machineries made in Germany and Switzerland to concoct a world-class chocolate factory.

The marketing specialist, who brings Sun Care products like Banana Boat sunscreen and sun tan lotion, sandals and sunglasses, has ventured into the chocolate business not because hes got a sweet tooth but because chocolate fits the product description that will give tourists a sweet impression of Guam. Patterson seeks to promote Guam through the good quality of his products brand.

In 1996, Patterson learned that the No. 1 selling product among tourists was chocolate. So he started looking for a chocolate source in China. For years, he imported good chocolates made in China and packaged them with Guam label to cater to tourists. But when a piece of legislation was enacted requiring that only Guam-made products bear the Guam label, Patterson re-labeled the chocolates Hafa Adai. However, the Hafa Adai line did not exactly appeal to tourists. He realized that having Guam on the package is more attractive because it serves as a souvenir from the destination.

Patterson travelled to Europe and learned from chocolate experts the art and business of making chocolates  a creative and technical challenge that requires patience and perfectionism. A real chocolate is not made in a rush. Thats what makes our product different from highly commercialized chocolates. We dont shortcut the process. We observe the required time to produce the fine, smooth mold perfected with the right cooling period. Because we do not mass-produce, every piece is monitored and quality is guaranteed, Patterson said.

Patterson went to Belgium to find the right concoction of chocolate, exclusively formulated for his target market in the region. We own that special code for the formula of white chocolate, milk chocolate and dark chocolate and nobody can copy it. Every month ,we ship 20 tons of chocolates from Belgium. We ship it through Singapore and every time we need it, we ship it to Guam via Hong Kong. Before we are able to pick what is best for us, we do a lot of samplings of different varieties and we study which one is the popular among those who tried it, Patterson said.

Then Patterson brought the machines especially designed and made for more than six months in Germany and Switzerland. The machines made to mold a chocolate with macadamia nut were uniquely designed and were shipped to the Barrigada factory.

Chocolate experts from Germany, Belgium and Switzerland came to train Pattersons 20 employees on how to use the machines and taught them the techniques of perfecting chocolates. The training went for three weeks.

Inside the factory, you would see the sweet happy faces behind the masks of employees in the assembly line. Maybe its the aroma of the chocolate or its the thought that they are making something that brings joy to every bite.

Every month, the factory uses 20 tons of chocolates. At least 2,200 lbs. of melted chocolates go through the pipe each day. The factory has individual melting machines that simultaneously run for white, milk and dark chocolates. Once melted, the chocolate goes to the second tank, where it is tempered. On one side of the line, macadamia nuts from Hawaii filled the plastic molds positioned in a rotary movement at a calculated speed until they reach the depository station, where chocolate is poured into. Once poured, the tray of chocolates go through a 20-foot cooling tunnel and stay there for another 30 minutes.

After they cooled down, the chocolates are moved to an enrober (a coating machine), where another layer completes the last 10 percent chocolate coat. Chocolate biscuits are topped with another design. Once designed, the chocolates will be cooled again in another station. Before they reach the end of the line, the chocolates pass through a detector to make sure they are metal-free. If the metal detector flashes its light and produces a metal alert, all chocolates in the suspicious batch will be disposed and thrown away.

Each time the chocolate is heated, it gets a cooling time to stabilize to avoid white spots called blooming, Patterson explained.

When they are cleared, the chocolates are arranged in trays and placed in a cool storage for two days to complete the hardening process before they get packed and wrapped.

It takes a total of eight days to create a perfect box of chocolates, which according to Patterson are not observed by highly commercialized chocolate factories because of the huge demand. The Guam Premium Chocolates factory produces at least 7,200 boxes of chocolates a day and sells 84 different designs of boxes. Pattersons company sells brand names such as Made in Guam Chocolate, The Guam Premium Chocolate, The Guam Line, The Hafa Adai Line, The USA Line, The Island Princess that used to be produced in Hawaii and the Toasted Black Sesame Biscuit Covered in Milk & White Chocolate. The company provides a private label for ABC Stores and the Duty Free Shop Bon Voyage.

Pattersons chocolate brands are now the fastest selling at K-Mart, where more than 5,000 boxes are being sold every three days.

Even though the demand is growing, Patterson said he never shortcut the process and sacrifice the quality of his product. He always remembers his mentors advice to take pride in producing high quality chocolate.

Patterson is not just proud of having built the first real chocolate factory on Guam; he also takes pride in providing local employment and running a business with a formula that spells sweet success.

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It is hard to explain Donald Trumps refusal, on CNN this morning, to disavow the Ku Klux Klan. Jake Tapper gave Trump multiple opportunities to do so, but Trump could only respond by saying he didnt know anything about David Duke, who reportedly has endorsed him. Here is the video:

As Dan McLaughlin points out, Trumps claim to be unaware of David Duke is demonstrably false. But then, who ever expected honesty from Trump?

But if weve given up on honesty, how about a minimal level of competence? Is Trump really such a fool that he cant figure out its a bad idea to let the Democrats hang the Ku Klux Klan (formerly known as the militant arm of the Democratic Party) around his neck? He cant possibly be that stupid. Can he? Or is he a Democrat, deliberately engaged in an effort to bring down the Republican Party and make Hillary Clinton, who is otherwise unelectable, our president? At this point, it is hard to tell. The alternatives are about equally plausible.

Elsewhere in the Republican Party, there are signs of intelligence. Earlier today, a heckler showed up at a Marco Rubio rally. Marco responded by identifying him as the valedictorian of Trump University:

Humor offers a momentary relief from the air of depression that has settled over the GOP race.

PAUL ADDS: If Trump is an agent of the Democrats (reportedly he talked about running for president with Bill Clinton shortly before entering the race), we should call him Agent Orange, in honor of his spray tan.
As I read Ian Tuttles article about Trump University, two thoughts occurred to me. First, Marco Rubios description of Donald Trump as a con artist seems literally to be true. Second, why did it take so long for this matter forcefully to be raised in the campaign?

According to Tuttles account, Trump University was never a university. When the school was established in 2005, the New York State Education Department warned that it was in violation of state law for operating without a NYSED license. Trump ignored the warnings.

What was Trump University, if not a university? Several lawsuits allege that it was a scam.

How did the scam work? According to a lawsuit filed by the state of New York, it offered free seminars to induce prospective students to enroll in increasingly expensive ones, starting with the three-day $,1495 seminar and culminating in advanced seminars costing $35,000. The outfits confidential playbook shows that the focus of the seminars was on browbeating attendees into purchasing expensive Trump University course packages.

New York characterized this as bait and switch. But did Trumps operation make false representations in order to induce potential students to pay for seminars?

Lawsuits against Trump U allege several false representations. Students were promised that they would be mentored by handpicked real-estate experts, who would use Trumps own real-estate strategies.

However, according to New Yorks lawsuit, none of the instructors was handpicked by Trump (in a sense, I suppose any instructor is handpicked by someone), many of them came from fields having nothing to do with real-estate, and Trump never reviewed any of Trump Universitys curricula or programming materials. In fact, says New York, the materials were in large part developed by a third-party company that creates and develops materials for an array of motivational speakers and seminar and timeshare rental companies.

Prospective students allegedly were also promised that the three-day seminar would include access to private or hard money lenders and financing as well as a year-long apprenticeship support program. According to various Trump U students, these promises were not kept.

Then, there is this, as reported by the Weekly Standard:

At one seminar, attendees were told theyd get to have their picture taken with Trump. Instead, they ended up getting snapped with his cardboard cutout.

This vignette suggests that the success of the Trump U scam was due in large part to simple faith in Trump. One former student says that he and his wife paid more than $20,000 for nothing based on our belief in Donald Trump coupled with certain promises.

This sounds very much like Trumps presidential campaign. The tycoon seeks votes based on Americans belief in Donald Trump  after all, hes unbelievably rich and built a great company  coupled with the general promise that America will start winning again and specific promises that he almost certainly cannot keep (e.g., Mexico will pay for a wall).

Conventional wisdom holds that Trumps campaign is succeeding because of voter anger. Theres no doubt that a great many voters are, indeed, angry.

But Ted Cruz is running at least as angry as Donald Trump. What Trump has that Cruz doesnt is a huge personality, a world class brand, and an ability to sell snake oil. How far do you think a Cruz University would have gotten?

Blind faith, not anger, is driving the Trump phenomenon, it seems to me. And if that phenomenon carries the billionaire to the White House, the nations buyers remorse will likely equal or exceed that of the Trump U alumni who are suing him.
Not quite visible on social media like their counterparts in Nollywood, Kannywood actors and actresses have in the last year increased their presence on social media.

In a review of their online presence, PREMIUM TIMES found that Instagram is the platform of choice for many of the artiste where they post pictures about their events and new movies.

Instagram

1  Hadiza Gabon @adizatou

At the top of Instagram is Hadiza Gabon @adizatou who has about 180,000 followers.

Hadiza Gabon is talented actress who features mostly in comedy and action / drama films.

One of her popular roles was in the crime series film Basaja where she played an undercover agent.

Hadiza was also the lead actress in the hilarious Kannywood movie Indon Kauye.

2  Rahama Sadau @rahamasadau

The elegant Rahama Sadau @rahamasadau is the second most followed actress on Instagram. With 172,000 followers, she is closely behind Hadiza.

Some of her great movies are Halacci, Mai Farin jinni, and Ana Wata Ga wata.

3  Ali Nuhu @realalinuhu

Although he is arguably the most active actor in Kannywood on twitter and facebook; on Instagram, Ali Nuhu occupies the third position with about 148,000 followers.

A producer, actor and director, Ali is highly respected in Kannywood. He is popularly called Sarki meaning, the King.

4  Maryam Booth @officialmaryambooth

Maryam has more followers on Instagram than arguably more well known Kannywood actresses like Nafeesat Abdullahi, Aisha Tsamiya, and Halima Atete. She has about 140,000 followers.

5  Nafeesat Abdullahi @Nafeesat_official

Nafeesat Abdullahi is rated among the best Kannywood actresses.

The movie Dan Marayan Zaki is one of her most outstanding.

She has over 130,000 followers on Instagram.

6  Fati Washa @washafati

Fati Washa featured in prominent movies like Gidan Kitso and ZeeZee.

She has over 128,000 Instagram followers.

Other actors whose presence was noted on Instagram are Adam Zango @adam_a_zango with 107,000 followers and Halima Atete with 103,000 followers.

Twitter

Ali Nuhu is the only Kannywood celebrity to have been verified by twitter.

Rahama Sadau leads the female actresses on twitter with over 44 ,000 followers while Nafeesat Abdullahi has a followership of over 39,000.

Adam Zango (@PrinceZango) has over 18,000 followers while Sadiq Sani Sadiq has about 17,000.

Facebook

Apart from Ali Nuhu who is very active on facebook, other Kannywood celebrities hardly use the platform although many accounts exist in their names.

 Although the facebook is a great social media platform, there are accounts that bear our names that do not belong to us, an actor Nuhu Abdullahi told PREMIUM TIMES. So many of us do not give attention to Facebook because of that. We love and enjoy Instagram. It is simple, picture post and very interactive.

Abdullahi said many of them also want to be verified by twitter and are thus using the platform more.

It is hoped that the actors will improve on their presence on the social media so as to compete with other famous celebrities who are rocking the platforms.
The Nigerian government has come under a barrage of criticisms after its communications ministry confirmed Friday it had cut a secret N50 billion out-of-court settlement with MTN Nigeria in respect of a N780 billion fine imposed on the telecommunications company.

MTN Nigerias Chief Executive Officer, Ferdi Moolman, announced Wednesday that the company had withdrawn its lawsuit against the government over the hefty fine.

He said the company paid N50 billion to the government, as a step towards an amicable settlement of the matter.

The fine was imposed by the NCC in October 2015 after MTN failed to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered subscribers.

But, shortly after Mr. Moolmans announcement, the Director of Communications, NCC, Tony Ojobo, told PREMIUM TIMES that the management of the Commission was unaware of MTNs decision to withdraw its court case, and the payment of N50 billion to the Nigerian government.

We (NCC) are not privy to it (agreement to withdraw a case from court and pay N50 billion by MTN). We do not have any evidence of payment of any money to the Nigerian government.

There is no invoice to that effect. We have also not gotten any official information or confirmation that they have withdrawn their case in court, Mr. Ojobo said.

The spokesperson to the Minister of Communications, Victor Oluwadamilare, confirmed on Friday that the N50 billion was actually received by the ministry on behalf of the government as part of the fine MTN was paying.

I can confirm to you that MTN Nigeria has paid the sum of N50 billion to the federal government as part payment for the fine, Mr. Oluwadamilare said.

I am sure during the coming week, further negotiations would hold on the matter. MTN wants to negotiate with the federal government, he added.

The governments handling of case against MTN has drawn flak from Nigerians.

The general secretary, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Peter Ozo-Eson, described the development as awkward, sad and abnormal.

Its abnormal for government to bypass an agency charged by law with the responsibility of regulating the communications industry to deal directly with an operator. This is indeed awkward and sad, Mr. Oso-Ezon said.

It will definitely erode the authority and independence of the regulatory agency, he added.

The Lead director, Centre for Social Justice (CENSOJ), Eze Onyekpere, said going behind to negotiate with MTN and even collect N50 billion on behalf of the Federal government, whether for good faith or not, without consulting NCC is absolutely wrong.

The whole transaction was NCCs business as an autonomous institution that should work in accordance with the law, rules, regulations and procedures. Without a doubt, this is going to hinder the capacity of NCC to regulate the industry in future.

Now, operators like MTN would know it is possible to break the law and get away with the consequence, since there is someone in the Ministry that they would always run to, to intervene on their behalf.

The manager, governance, ActionAid Nigeria, Obo Effanga, said the whole transaction wreaks of laxity and lack of seriousness.

It shows the Nigerian government is not organised enough to coordinate a simple matter of enforcing it rules. It is wrong for the ministry to do anything without carrying the NCC all along.

Mr. Effanga said it was curious that it was MTN that issued the statement about its withdrawal of the case in court and payment of N50 billion to government.

Maybe that was an attempt to arm-twist and put government on the spot, he noted.

A UK-based engineer and public affairs commentator, Emeka Enechi, told PREMIUM TIMES that the conduct of the ministry left much to be desired.

Why should the ministry ride over the powers of an agency empowered by the constitution to regulate the industry and take a decision on behalf of the people? Mr. Enechi asked angrily.

Its the height of desperation by the ministry perhaps to cover up something

The presidency should probe not only the latest questionable agreement, by also the circumstances that led to the initial 25 per cent reduction in the fine, he added.

An Abuja-based lawyer and managing partner, Ukaegbu Ukaegbu & Co., George Ukaegbu, said the ministry over-reached itself by interfering and usurping NCCs powers under the law.

The law that sets up NCC made it an autonomous agency with a Board. While the ministry may be a parent, its role is limited to supervisory. The running of the Commission is that of the Board.

The ministry can make policy statements for the entire industry, but the implementation of those policies and enforcement of rules and regulation is that of the agencies, Mr. Ukaegbu explained.

Also, the manager, policy, ActionAid Nigeria, Tunde Aremu, said the Ministry overstepped its oversight function.

What the Ministry has done is to encourage companies that come into the Nigerian environment to do business to abuse the law with impunity.

MTN has been accused of not paying appropriate taxes to the Nigerian government, and even take away illegally to other economies huge profits it makes from the country.

Yet, it will not obey regulations. And the ministry is treating such unpatriotic behaviours with kid gloves. What the ministry has done is despicable and unpatriotic.
Nigeria has donated 15 cars and 100 motorcycles to the electoral commission of neighbouring Benin.

The Nigerian Ambassador to Benin Republic, Lawrence Obisakin, during the donation, lauded President Muhammadu Buharis efforts at asserting Nigerias leadership in Africa.

Mr. Obisakin said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Cotonou on the sidelines of the donation of 15 Hilux vehicles and 100 motorcycles to the Independent Electoral Commission of Benin by Nigeria.

The outgoing ambassador said the gesture would further strengthen the excellent bilateral relationship between the two countries.

I want to say bravo to President Muhammadu Buhari, the government and the people of Nigeria, and the diplomacy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

The diplomat said the donations were made despite the financial challenges facing Nigeria.

We know the economic conjuncture of Nigeria, However, our president, in his wisdom in spite of the economic difficulties, has been able to be sensitive to the dire need of Benin.

President Buhari, in his wisdom, has been able to find a way of helping a country that needs by far more assistance, he said.

Mr. Obisakin said the people of Benin were grateful and will continually show appreciation over Nigerias support.

You heard the Chairman of Benin Electoral Commission saying this is the most welcome gift that theyve ever received because the election is next week Sunday.

It is a presidential election and it promises to be very keen and very serious and they need the means because Benin is one of the least-developed countries.

So, Nigeria is lifting up Benin just like Europe, Germany and Britain, did to the Southern countries.

This goes to show that Nigeria is indeed a friendly nation, Nigeria is a country that is sensitive to the needs of others, he said.

The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bulus Lolo, also commended Mr. Buhari, saying he had given visibility to Nigerias contributions to African countries since his assumption of office.

As far as I know, we have supported several countries but visibility being given is only under the Buharis administration.

The quantum of support may even be more by previous governments, but they did not take the necessary step to make it public.

You can see that marked on these vehicles is an inscription: `Donated by the Federal Republic of Nigeria, that is an advertisement that you are making.

Clearly, wherever these vehicles go, everyone seeing them will know that they have come from the Government of Nigeria. We made donations in the past but we did not declare.

Mr. Lolo had earlier presented the items to Tiando Emmanuel, President, Commission Electorale Nationale Autonome of Benin toward the March 6 general elections in the country.

(NAN)
Some members of the House of Representatives have hit back at their colleagues who condemned Kabiru Marafa for allegedly desecrating the sanctity of the National Assembly.

Mr. Marafa, an All Progressives Congress Senator representing Zamfara Central, had asked his colleagues to remove Senate President Bukola Saraki, in view of the latters corruption trial at Code of Conduct Tribunal, or risk being recalled by Nigerians.

He also alleged that fifth columnists in the Senate were responsible for the 2016 budget controversy just after the Supreme Court ruling that upheld Mr. Sarakis trial.

He was referred to the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petitions which laid its report since last week, but without the accuseds defence.

However, Mr. Marafa remains adamant, saying he stood by all he said and that he was defending the integrity of the Senate.

But on Wednesday the matter escalated to House of Representatives, setting political camps in the legislative body against each other.

Eleven members of the House believed to be loyal to the Saraki-Dogara bi-cameral camp of the National Assembly, rose against Mr. Marafa, whose statements, they said, cast slur on the sanctity of the legislature.

It is indeed regrettable that eight months after the contest for leadership in the Senate ended, Marafa and his group have remained in electioneering mode, they said.

Mr. Marafa is the spokesperson of Unity Forum, the group that opposed the leadership of Mr. Saraki, preferring Ahmed Lawan instead.

On Sunday, 15 members of the House countered their colleagues, asking them to stay clear of Senates internal affairs.

In a statement, they said, it must be made clear to the legislators who are mostly new members that the two Houses of the National Assembly are Independent and Separate and by getting involved in the internal crisis of the Senate shows them to be busybodies and interlopers who know nothing about the running of a bicameral legislature.

We advise our colleagues to mind their own business and face the peoples work for which they were elected to do.

They expressed solidarity with Mr. Marafa and concurred that budget controversy was an agenda for political negotiation.

Since we are all entitled to our opinion, we agree with Senator Marafa that the budget distortions became a political tool in the hands of some legislators and their agenda was to use it for political negotiation.

They queried why their colleagues could not reply former President Olusegun Obasanjo after his letter to the National Assembly.

We wonder where these legislators were when former President made his own public opinion and tirade recently.

It is even more shocking that they were so quick to do the bidding of whoever their paymaster is that they moved even faster than the senate ethics committee set up to investigate the matter, they said.

The lawmakers who signed the statement are John Dyegh, Lawal Gumau, Ahmad Kaita, Agunsoye Rotimi, Ali Madaki, Aminu Malle, Nazir Daura , and Muhammed Soba.

Others are Ismail Gadaka, Abdulrahman Shuaibu, Sunday Adepoju, Adekunle Akinlade, Ajibola Famurewa, Abdulmahmud Gaiya and Musa Adar.

Like Mr. Marafa, they supported the partys position in the choice of National Assembly leaders and were loyal to Femi Gbajabiamila, who after losing the Speakership seat to Yakubu Dogara, emerged Majority Leader.
President Muhammadu Buhari has declared his total support for a two-state solution to the Israel- Palestine conflict.

The Nigerian President stated this during a meeting on Sunday with the Emir of Qatar, Tamim Bin Hammad Al-Thani, his spokesperson, Femi Adesina, said.

I want to assure you that we will stand side by side with you, until our brothers and sisters in Palestine achieve their desired objectives, he said.

Our support for various Security Council resolutions restoring and respecting 1967 boundaries with Jerusalem as capital of Palestine is firm and unshaken.

Mr. Buharis stance on the Israeli-Palestine conflict is similar with that of most countries of the world including the European Union, and Qatar is believed to be one of the major backers of Palestine including backing Hamas which governs Gaza. However Israel and the United States have repeatedly blocked any United Nations resolution mandating a two-state solution. The non-resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and lack of progress in resolving it is considered the greatest foreign policy failure of President Barack Obama of the U.S.

At the meeting in Qatar, the Nigerian President also declared as totally unacceptable, the huge drop in the price of crude which has seen international oil prices plummet from over $100 a barrel last year to about $30.

Read Mr. Adesinas full statement below:

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday in Doha emphasised the need for member states of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and non-OPEC members to cooperate and find a common ground to stabilise crude oil prices.

Speaking at a bilateral meeting with the Sheikh Tamim Bin Hammad Al-Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar, President Buhari described the current market situation in the industry, which has seen oil prices plummet by 70 per cent since mid-2014, as totally unacceptable.

As members of OPEC and Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), our relations in the areas of oil and gas, which our two nations heavily rely on, need to be enhanced and coordinated for the benefit of our people.

The current market situation in the oil industry is unsustainable and totally unacceptable.

We must cooperate both within and outside our respective organisations to find a common ground to stabilize the market, which will be beneficial to our nations, the President said on the second day of his state visit to Qatar.

The President used the occasion of his address to the Emir to commend the existing cordial bilateral relations between both countries and invited prospective Qatari investors to take advantage of the abundant opportunities in Nigeria and invest in the key areas of energy, agriculture, real estate development, banking and finance.

He assured prospective investors of government protection of their persons and investment, noting that in the course of his visit, the delegations from Nigeria and Qatar would formalise at least two bilateral agreements to boost economic cooperation between both countries.

President Buhari also weighed-in on the situation in the Middle East, commending the role Qatar is playing in resolving the present Syrian crisis, the Palestinian cause and efforts in reconstructing Gaza.

The conflicts in Yemen and Syria with their attendant humanitarian crisis need genuine international effort to solve. Nigeria as a peace loving country identifies with the State of Qatar in all her peace efforts in the world to end terrorist activities.

Nigeria is a victim of terrorism. It is with heavy heart that I stand before you and say activities of Boko Haram have led to loss of many lives and displacement of innocent people in our dear nation.

We, however, take pride to inform you that since our coming to power, Boko Haram has been systematically decimated and are in no position to cause serious threat to our development programs.

I wish to reiterate that Nigeria rejects violence and extremism in all their ramifications, and assure your Highness that we are with the State of Qatar in your efforts to fight terrorism and injustice in your region and in the world at large.

President Buhari also called for a lasting solution to the Israeli  Palestinian conflict , saying we in Nigeria, like the State of Qatar, favour a Two State solution, with the State of Palestine living side by side with the State of Israel.

I want to assure you that we will stand side by side with you, until our brothers and sisters in Palestine achieve their desired objectives.

Our support for various Security Council resolutions restoring and respecting 1967 boundaries with Jerusalem as capital of Palestine is firm and unshaken, he said.
The Majority Leader of the Ogun State House of Assembly, Adeyinka Mafe, has accused the state police command of trying to blackmail him with false allegations.

Mr. Mafe was recently accused by the Ogun Police spokesperson, Muyiwa Adejobi, of being under investigation in 15 different criminal cases.

The lawmaker dared the police on Sunday, saying he was ready for prosecution but alleged that he was being blackmailed for raising corruption allegations at a senior police officer in the command.

Mr. Mafe had on the Assembly floor on Tuesday alleged that the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Sagamu, John Mark, was extorting residents, He, therefore, called for probe of the senior police officer.

In its reaction to the lawmakers allegation, the police, through Mr. Adejobi, said Mr. Mafe had no moral justification to raise such issues as he has about 15 criminal and cult-related cases linked to him.

Mr. Adejobi also absolved the Sagamu DPO of any wrongdoing.

On Sunday, the lawmaker said he had about 50 petitions against Mr. Mark.

I dont want to sound like I alleged the DPO (did something wrong), he said. I have in my possession series of petitions from victims of extortion, criminal extortions I called them, because these are innocent people that would be arrested unlawfully and money would be demanded from them and until they pay those monies they wouldnt be allowed to go home.

He also hinted that the Assembly might summon the Ogun Commissioner of Police, Abdulmajid Ali, and Mr. Adejobi on the alleged criminal cases against him.

The majority leader queried the police command for waiting until he accused a senior police officer before it came up with allegations against him.

It baffles me that the PPRO and CP himself will wait until now that I am accusing one of the unprofessional policemen that I have ever met in my life, CSP John Mark, before coming out with this allegation of 15 criminal cases they claimed to be investigating.

I want to urge and challenge them to speed up the investigation, so that they can take me to court. I am a lawyer and I am ready to meet them in court. I am not shy about going to court. I will be very happy to defend myself if the need be but I want to assure you and the people of my constituency that the PPRO is just a shameless liar.

Hes just being aggrieved of some personal issue. If he puts equal amount of energy into investigating the DPO of Sagamu, like hes doing to attack my person, hes going to find out the issue and hes going to do a lot of service to the people of Sagamu.

As I speak, we have over 50 petitions and these people are ready to come out. In fact the Honourable from Sagamu constituency II was informing the Speaker that the DPO has a PoS machine with which he collects bribe and I am putting this on record quoting Hon. Soyebo because hes from Sagamu as myself and I think that is grievous.

The lawmaker expressed dismay that the Ogun Police, (whose leadership include the Commissioner of Police and the Public Relations Officer), who were at his (Mr. Mafes) birthday celebration a fortnight ago would associate with someone being investigated for criminal activities.
Nigeria and the Qatar on Sunday in Doha signed Bilateral Air Services Agreement, BASA, to pave way for direct flights between major cities of both countries.

Both countries also signed an agreement to avoid double taxation and tax evasion on the sideline of President Muhammadu Buharis state visit to Qatar.

The Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika, representing President Muhammadu Buhari, signed the air services agreement on behalf of the country while Qatars Minister of Transportation and Communications, Jassim Bin Saif Alsulaiti, signed on behalf the Emir of Qatar, Tamim Bin Hammad Al-Thani.

The agreement which was signed in the presence of both leaders is expected to operate on the principle of reciprocity by the designated airlines on behalf of the countries.

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, also signed the agreement for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes income with her Qatari counterpart, Ali Shareef Al Emadi.

It is also expected that the agreement on bilateral air service will promote trade, commerce and tourism between the two countries just as Nigeria has also commenced discussions on partnerships towards establishing a national airline for Nigeria.

The agreement on the avoidance of double taxation which had been negotiated since February 2015 will no doubt bring in more investments and businesses between Qatar and Nigeria.
The Senate President, Bukola Saraki, has said that the 8th Senate will collaborate with the Executive to ensure that the policies and programmes of the present administration aimed at reviving the economy are sustained on a long term.

Mr. Saraki, according to a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Sanni Onogu, in Abuja on Sunday, stated this when he received the national executive of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, NMGS, led by its President, Professor Olugbenga Okunola.

He said the Senate was on a mission to ensure that the country harnessed her non-oil resources and achieved full diversification of the economy.

Mr. Saraki said, For us in the 8th Senate we have said it that our focus is to continue to give support to those sectors of our economy that will provide employment, increase the earnings of government and the growth of the economy in general.

And if you are talking about the growth of the economy, you have to give particular consideration to the mining sector. And what do we need to do to get that done? I want to assure you that the message I will like you to take away is that the 8th Senate is ready to give all the support in ensuring that we truly begin to harness the hitherto the unexplored and neglected potentials that we have.

We have been talking about these potentials for a long time. It is time to talk about realising the potentials and translating them to economic power. how to bring. That is our own vision and mission.

We have all seen the downside of being a mono-product economy. We are all suffering from it now. When you see what is happening to our revenues, our foreign exchange inflows and particularly what is happening to even the foreign exchange rate due to our over dependence on crude oil.

The projection that it is going to be down for a couple of years means that any serious minded country needs to look at the options available. And some of the things we are seeing now is because there is a lot of speculation out there.

A lot of the speculators believe that we dont have the political will to see through some of the policies and programmes aimed at diversifying the economy and that is why you see a lot of them are betting against the Naira. That is why you see all of a sudden, the Naira is rebounding because they are beginning to see that it appears that this government is committed on its policy.

I want to assure you that we are committed. The political will is there. We are very determined to see that we diversify. All these things you are talking about are well known to a lot of us. The frustration has been that we have not been able to see it through. I want to assure you that this Senate is committed to ensure that we support the executive in sustaining these long term polices. This is important and that is where we must start from, he said.

Earlier, Mr. Okunola said the Society visited the Senate President to, among others, appreciate what the 8th Senate has been doing.

We have been talking about diversification of the nations economy over the years.I think as a society, as professionals, this is what we have been clamouring for over the years that we are sitting on buried riches and that the government is now saying that they want to take this serious gladdens us.

That is why we are here to appreciate this government for what they are doing and we are ready to offer our professional help  we are not talking in terms of financial reward  but this is one thing we want to offer our country, he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered an investigation into the clashes between herdsmen and indigenes of communities in Benue State.

President Buhari who expressed deep shock at the latest incident during the past week, which led to hundreds of deaths in four communities in Agatu, Benue State, ordered security agencies to get to the root causes of the problem.

We will conduct an investigation to know exactly what happened; the only way to bring an end to the violence once and for all is to look beyond one incident and ascertain exactly what factors are behind the conflicts, he said.

He added that all Nigerians must learn to live together as one, in peace and unity.

We are all one nation and one people, he said. There should not be any reason why Nigerians of any group or tongue cannot now reside with one another wherever they find themselves after decades of living together.

The President further expressed condolences to the government and people of Benue State, particularly the people of the Agatu communities, assuring them that the government would do everything possible to ensure that no such incident ever occurred in their midst again.

Once the investigations are concluded, we will act immediately to address the root of the problem, he said.
A Lagos High Court sitting in Igbosere, on Thursday, heard how Nadabo Energy Limited allegedly forged a letter of credit purportedly from Enterprise Bank to claim unearned subsidy for imported fuel.

Abdulrasheed Bawa, the investigating officer, made the disclosure while being led in evidence by prosecuting counsel, Seidu Atteh.

Nadabo Energy Limited is standing trial over a N761million unearned fuel subsidy claim.

At the resumed hearing of the matter on Thursday, Justice C. A. Balogun admitted as exhibit, a letter of credit for $17,205,000 purportedly issued on October 27, 2011 by Enterprise Bank Plc in favour of Ashland S.A Energy, a company where the product was allegedly purchased.

Mr. Bawa had told the court, at the last hearing of the case, how investigation by the EFCC uncovered a letter of credit for the sum of $17,205,000 in favour of Ashland S.A Energy. He stated that the discovery was triggered by some contradictions in the sense that, the bill for collection contradicted the letter of credit.

The defense counsel, Emefo Etudo, had objected the admissibility of the document, arguing that the letter was not addressed to the witness but a director in EFCC. However, Atteh pointed out that the document was relevant and since EFCC is a corporate body, any officer from the team that investigated the case, can give evidence in the matter.

Justice Balogun on Thursday upheld Attehs submissions and admitted the document as exhibit G.

Giving further evidence on Thursday, Mr. Bawa told the court that upon careful study of the response to exhibit G, which was received from Enterprise Bank, it was discovered that there are two letters of credit (LC) all purportedly issued by the bank, bearing the same reference number: SPG/DLC/11/0013. One letter of credit is for the importation of 4780 metric tons of Premium Motor Spirit, PMS, raised by Nadabo energy Limited in favour of Petrocam Trading (PTY) limited, while a letter of credit for the sum of $17,205,000 was raised on October 27, 2011 in favour of Ashland S.A Energy a company where the product was allegedly purchased. Another letter of credit was also purportedly raised by Nadabo Energy for importation of14000 (Fourteen thousand) Metric tons of PMS for Ashsland Limited.

He also told the court that Enterprise Bank confirmed that the second letter of credit purportedly issued by them in Favour of Ashsland Limited was forged and that the first letter of credit issued in favour of Petrocam Trading Limited was the genuine letter of credit issued to Nadabo Energy.

He further explained that, based on the disclosures by the bank, the EFCC wrote to the bank, asking for the shipping documents in respect of the genuine letter of credit, which were delivered to the Commission.

Justice Balogun adjourned the matter to 6 April, 2016 for continuation of trial.
The Nigerian government said on Sunday that about 23,846 ghost workers were being removed monthly from its payroll.

The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, said consequently about N2.293 billion was reduced from the total salary bill for the ministries, departments and agencies MDAs for February 2016 when compared to December 2015 when the BVN audit process commenced.

The minister said the ghost workers were uncovered in payrolls of various MDAs during the ongoing bank verification number (BVN)-based staff audit and enrolment to the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS).

The BVN is a unique number that identifies each banks customer for Know Your Customer (KYC) purposes.

The use of BVNs, rather than physical appearance of workers for biometric capture at the initial stage of verification, has significantly simplified and accelerated the progress of the payroll audit process and reduced the cost of implementation.

The BVN platform to audit and sanitise the salary payment system, ministry of finance sources said, has so far checked the details of about 312,000 civil servants currently enrolled on IPPIS, a development that has led to the discovery of a high level of irregularities in salary payment.

During the audit, names of some civil servants whose salaries were being processed were found to be inconsistent with those linked to the bank accounts into which salaries were paid.

Individuals in this category were therefore found to have either been receiving salaries from multiple sources in different MDAs, or were ghost workers.

The spokesperson to minister, Festus Akanbi, explained that the figure represented a percentage of the total number of ghost workers that have been receiving salary from the various MDAs.

Further investigation into other suspected cases of non-existent workers will continue in conjunction with operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Akanbi said.

He said the federal government was also pursuing the recovery of salary balances in bank accounts as well as any pension contributions in respect of the workers whose names have since been removed from the payrolls.

The removal of the affected names, the spokesperson said, were being undertaken in active collaboration with the concerned banks and the National Pension Commission (PENCOM).

Equally, the Ministry said the Military Pension Board has revised its due pension contributions payable on a monthly basis by N575million following its annual verification exercise for military retirees.

The Board said the exercise had cut down on the number of pensioners by 19,203 as a result of deaths since the last verification exercise in 2012.

To reduce personnel cost, which constitutes over 40 per cent of government total expenditure, the federal government has said it would not relent on efforts aimed at sustaining the periodic verification programme on a regular basis.

Part of that effort would to continue strengthening its payroll control systems, apart from plans to undertake periodic checks, using the computer-assisted audit techniques under its new Continuous Audit Programme.

This will ensure that all payments are accurate and valid, Mr. Akanbi said.

Requirements for new entrants into the Federal Civil Service have also been enhanced to prevent the introduction of fictitious employees in the payrolls in future, he said.

The ongoing exercise, which Mr. Akanbi explained was part of the cost-saving and anti-corruption agenda of the present administration, would be key to funding the deficit in the 2016 budget.

Savings from the exercise would ultimately help reduce the amount to be borrowed to finance the budget.

On recent calls by the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN) for members of the panel investigating cases of indicted civil servants to be drawn from both government and labour, the Minister said the request would be difficult to meet, as the investigations were of a criminal nature and therefore the responsibility of the appropriate investigative agencies.
The suspended Adamawa House of Assembly member, Abdulrahman Abubakar (APC-Mubi South), has apologised to his colleagues for his actions.

Mr. Abubakar, whose three months suspension had elapsed, was suspended for alleged improper dressing and criticising the Assemblys approval of some payment for the executive in 2015 budget.

The lawmaker, who dragged the Assembly to court over his suspension, said he accepted the courts ruling of no jurisdiction in good faith.

Mr. Abubakar, in a statement made available to News Agency of Nigeria in Yola on Sunday, said he had learnt his lesson and would never go against the Assembly again.

I, hereby, wish to formally tender my apology to the Speaker, Mr. Kabiru Mijinyawa, leadership and entire honourable members of Adamawa State House of Assembly.

My sincere unreserved apology goes to the Executive Governor of Adamawa state, Mohammadu Jibrilla, the leadership and members of our great party, the APC and my constituents for what happened.

I want to state categorically that I hold no grudge against anyone. I believe in the fact that the best teacher is ones last mistake.

I accepted my mistake and promised that such incident will not happen again, Mr. Abubakar said.

Meanwhile, the House Chief Whip and Chairman, House Committee on Information, Hassan Barguma, said that the Assembly would look at Mr. Abubakars apology and take a decision on whether to accept it or not.

(NAN)
The All Progressives Congress gubernatorial candidate in Rivers State during the 2015 elections, Peterside Dakuku, has blamed the government of Governor Nyesom Wike for the recent escalation of violence in the state accusing it of arming militants and cult gangs, and a lack of commitment to peace and other in the state.

There has been an upsurge of violent clashes between cult gangs, militant groups and armed robbery attacks in the state in recent weeks.

No fewer than 20 people were killed in February alone in Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area when cult groups suspected to enjoy the support of politicians invaded several communities in the area. Many of the bodies were decapitated. Others were left with machete and gunshot wounds.

Though Mr. Dakuku acknowledge that some of the clashes are as a result of the perennial mistrust of government and oil exploration companies by host communities, he however, stated that most of the recent clashes were politically motivated; and he places the blame on the doorstep of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the state.

In a statement on Sunday, he accused the Wike-led administration of arming the cult groups responsible for the violence in the run up to the 2015 election in its question to violently secure power.

He stated that groups have now become Frankenstein monsters the government can no longer control.

It is regrettable but true that in many communities in Rivers State today cult gangs hold sway. They control the social and economic souls of the people, including traditional structures which have been rendered impotent, he said.

The cult gangs were armed by politicians in the build up to 2015 general elections. Like Frankenstein monsters, they are now too powerful to those who armed them and had enjoyed pyrrhic benefits from their activities.

The situation has so degenerated that nobody, including those who created the monsters, feels safe anymore. The physical landscape of Rivers State communities is painted with boys armed to the teeth and walking about freely to the discomfort of citizens.

He accused the government of showing no commitment to restoring peace and order to the state. According to him the government, instead of exploring tactful resolution to the insecurity problem has adopted an unhelpful confrontational approach to solving the problem.

We are yet to feel the effect of any concrete action taken by Nyesom Wike- led Rivers State Government to stem this worsening insecurity. A town hall meeting which he held in Omoku on the urging of Rt. Hon. Andrew Uchendu degenerated into a display of power by way of suspending three Local Government Caretaker Committee chairmen and a strange order to security agents to kill suspected cultists, Mr Dakuku said.

The aloofness of the state government has actively promoted the view in the public space that it is behind the prevailing insecurity and free reign of criminals in the state. Nothing challenges a government more than to lose the moral right to fight criminality. When a government persistently fails in its primary duty of securing lives and property, and does not show that it is committed to fighting against those who threaten our peace, the despair of the citizenry can best be imagined.

Today the people of Rivers state are groaning under the unbearable weight of kidnapping, assassinations, armed robbery, political violence, gun running, harassment, and all forms of criminality. The general question is how long are we going to live like this?

Mr Dakuku said he feared that insecurity in the state may worsen as the March 19 legislative re-run draws close.

Already the APC candidate in the Rivers State South East Senatorial District re-run election, Magnus Abe, has accused Mr. Wike of planning to assassinate him. The Vanguard newspaper is reporting that Mr Abe said on a Silverbird Rhythm fm 93.7 on Saturday that there had been a meeting of militants in Ogoni on the behest of Mr. Wike to kill him.

There is an evil in Rivers State and I have chosen to speak against it. If anything happens to me, Nigerians, Rivers, Ogoni people and my family should hold Governor Nyesom Wike and his PDP people responsible because the threat against my life is too much, he reportedly said during the programme.
The Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has described as worrisome, the silence of President Mohammadu Buhari on the alleged killing of harmless Nigerians by Fulani herdsmen, saying; wanton murder of over 300 Agatu people of Benue State and the silence of the Federal Government on this genocide is a clear invitation to chaos.

The governor, who described activities of the Fulani herdsmen as inimical to the revival of agriculture in the country said; Farmlands costing billions of naira have been destroyed in States in the South-West, South-East and North-Central zones of the country. One wonders how Nigerians can go back to farming when those already in the farms are losing billions of naira worth of crops to destruction of their farmlands by the Fulani Herdsmen and the Federal Government is not doing anything about it.

In a release issued on Sunday by his Special Assistant on Public Communications and New Media, Lere Olayinka, Governor Fayose, who expressed his sympathy with the victims and their families, added that the Federal Government must stop playing ostrich to the menace of the Fulani herdsmen.

If in the last one week, over 300 Nigerians were allegedly killed, several villages razed, with farmlands destroyed by Fulani herdsmen and President Buhari is comfortable junketing from one country to the other, something is definitely wrong somewhere.

This is because in saner climes, no country will have over 300 of its citizens reportedly killed with thousands others displaced and the leader of such country will not rush home from wherever he is to take charge of the situation by himself, the governor said.

He said President Buhari must be reminded how he led a delegation of Arewa leaders to Ibadan on October 13, 2000, to confront the then Governor of Oyo State, Late Alhaji Lam Adesina over alleged killing of Fulani herdsmen in Saki, Oke Ogun Area of the state.

The Governor asked; If 16 years ago, President Buhari could be so concerned about the killing of Fulani Herdsmen in Oyo State such that he, as a private citizen led Arewa leaders to Ibadan to show their anger, why is the President silent now that Fulani Herdsmen are the ones allegedly killing people, raping women and destroying farmlands in Benue State in particular and other States in the country?

Is the President unmindful of the possibility of Nigerians seeing his silence as conspiracy?

Most importantly, what has Boko Haram caused Nigeria that the Fulani herdsmen are not also causing now?

While challenging the umbrella body of cattle breeders, the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) in particular and Northern leaders in general to wade into the persistent involvement of herdsmen in attack on communities, killing and raping of Nigerians, Governor Fayose said; Nigeria is still battling Boko Haram and the country cannot afford another regime of anarchy, which this persistent killing of Nigerians by the Fulani Herdsmen can cause.
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.




MANAMA, Bahrain, February 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

The 2016 Bahrain Bay Business Forum, a well-attended investor event, which brought together partners, associates and dignitaries involved with Bahrain Bay, a luxury waterfront development, was held at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay on Thursday, 25 January 2016. The gathering of top-level attendees provided a unique opportunity to meet new business partners and build closer relationships.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160228/338243 )



A joint venture between Arcapita and a Bahrain-based investment group, the $2.5 billion Bahrain Bay development, has attracted some of the best-known international brands to Bahrain. Many of the third party developers from Bahrain, the GCC and India were present for the 2016 Bahrain Bay Business Forum.

The Forum began with an address from the Chairman of Bahrain Bay and CEO of Arcapita, Atif Abdulmalik followed by a presentation from the CEO of Bahrain Bay, Gagan Suri. Speakers also included several prominent partners and associates, amongst whom were Mohamed Al Mutaweh, Chief Executive Officer & Board Member of Al Baraka Islamic Bank; Faisal Bin Faqeeh, the Chairman of Bin Faqeeh Real Estate Investment Group; Nayan Shah, the CEO and Managing Director of Mayfair Group; and Greg Pirkle, the General Manager of Four Seasons Hotel. Sharing their insights also were Jarmo Kotilaine, Chief Economist-Market Strategy & Intelligence at the EDB and Xavier Theillere, the Regional Director of Bahrain Bay Utilities.

The Forum provided a platform that strengthened high value networks and gave Bahrain Bay an opportunity to communicate its vision and update the guests on the progress of the development.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Atif Abdulmalik, Chairman of Bahrain Bay said, "Bahrain Bay revolves around creating a metropolis for 21st century living that will meet the needs of residents, businesses and visitors from all over the world. Despite the uncertain geopolitical climate and volatile economic climate, the positive activity at Bahrain Bay has set an encouraging momentum which is promising as we focus on achieving our vision, our future of becoming a true legacy for the Kingdom of Bahrain."

The Bahrain Bay Business Forum was also viewed as an excellent opportunity to showcase Bahrain, and to highlight its business friendly and progressive economy. The development stands well positioned as it offers enormous opportunities, impacts the lifestyle of citizens, and significantly influences the economy, while consolidating the Bahrain's status as a hub for business and investment opportunities in the region.

Gagan Suri, CEO, Bahrain Bay added, "We have been very successful in presenting a dynamic investment environment through the premium properties and the excellent facilities of Bahrain Bay. We are proud of the fact that Bahrain Bay has remained stable through the economic challenges of the last decade. We have a network of strong and trusted partners and investors with whom we have a unified vision. This forum will help in setting up crucial partnerships and provide information and support to potential international investors in the Kingdom."

Bahrain Bay has continued to maintain its reputation as one of the most robust and successful real estate projects in Bahrain. The past year has been one of growth and expansion, with over 86 percent of plots sold, the infrastructure complete and projects of third party developers nearing completion. Bahrain Bay continues to invite investor interest as the best address for business, hospitality and residential developments.

Attached Photos:

Part of the 2016 Bahrain Bay Business Forum.

ABOUT BAHRAIN BAY:

The $2.5 billion mixed-use luxury waterfront development is designed around vibrant neighbourhoods of residential, commercial and retail spaces, with easy access to Bahrain International Airport, the King Faisal Highway and strategically placed to cater to business as well as leisure travelers and residents. It also has a distinct advantage being built on the fringe of a thriving existing commercial and business district and just across the World Trade Centre.

Bahrain Bay is a joint venture between Arcapita and a Bahrain-based investment group. A public launch was held on 12th December 2006 under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, presided by the event's guest of honor His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Further details on Bahrain Bay can be found at http://www.bahrainbay.com

SOURCE Bahrain Bay
PHOENIX, Feb. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Restaurant Supply has been selected for the 2016 Phoenix Award in the Stores category by the Phoenix Award Program two years in a row!

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160226/338042LOGO

Under the leadership and vision of founder Scott Storry, Southwest Restaurant Supply has a solid history of service. Emphasis is placed on their commitment to helping each customer find the right products, at the best prices, for their needs. This strategy has proved successful in the short five years Southwest Restaurant Supply has been located at 2507 E McDowell Road, Phoenix, AZ.

Each year, the Phoenix Award Program identifies companies that we believe have achieved exceptional marketing success in their local community and business category. These are local companies that enhance the positive image of small business through service to their customers and our community. These exceptional companies help make the Phoenix area a great place to live, work and play.

Various sources of information were gathered and analyzed to choose the winners in each category. The 2016 Phoenix Award Program focuses on quality, not quantity. Winners are determined based on the information gathered both internally by the Phoenix Award Program and data provided by third parties.

About Phoenix Award Program

The Phoenix Award Program is an annual awards program honoring the achievements and accomplishments of local businesses throughout the Phoenix area. Recognition is given to those companies that have shown the ability to use their best practices and implemented programs to generate competitive advantages and long-term value.

The Phoenix Award Program was established to recognize the best of local businesses in our community. Our organization works exclusively with local business owners, trade groups, professional associations and other business advertising and marketing groups. Our mission is to recognize the small business community's contributions to the U.S. economy.

This content was issued through the press release distribution service at Newswire.com. For more info visit: http://www.newswire.com

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Chennai, Feb 23 : Superstar Rajinikanth on Monday underwent a routine health checkup in a private hospital here following his return from a hectic schedule of his upcoming Tamil film "Kabali" in Malaysia.

"He went to MIOT hospital with his daughter in the morning. They were allotted a special ward and following a routine health checkup, he was discharged in the evening," a source from the hospital told IANS.

The 65-year-old star has been advised complete rest for one week, the source added.

Rajinikanth will next join the sets of filmmaker Shankar's magnum opus "2.o", a sequel to Tamil blockbuster "Enthiran".

"2.o" marks the Tamil debut of Bollywood star Akshay Kumar.
Kolkata, Feb 23 : With children getting more and more isolated in terms of interactions with their surroundings, occurrences of childhood leukaemia could increase in India, according to a cancer expert.

"There is a clear co-relation between incidence of childhood leukaemia and prosperity. It is lower in India than in other countries but as we become more prosperous our incidences are rising," Vaskar Saha, professor of paediatric oncology, Children's Cancer Group, Institute of Cancer Sciences, University of Manchester, told IANS here.

Saha, an authority on the subject, is also the director of Tata Translational Cancer Research Centre (TTCRC) here. He was speaking at the life science symposium at the Presidency University organised in collaboration with the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance.

Elaborating on the connect between leukaemia in children and prosperity, Saha said kids who rarely come in contact with infections because of their predominantly indoor nature of activities, courtesy access to internet and gadgets, are more likely to get the blood cancer.

"There is some evidence to suggest that origins of leukaemia lie in an unusual response to normal infections. So if you have children who are more or less isolated and come rarely in contact with infections, they are more likely to get leukaemia.

"When we grew up we played on the streets... this generation of children do you ever see them play on the streets? Our environment, for all classes of families now,is getting channelised and children are getting isolated. Probably one of the reasons why you will start seeing more occurrence of childhood leukaemia," added Saha.
New York, Feb 25 : Examining shifting of fish stocks due to warming oceans, a new study suggests that these biophysical changes are also reallocating global wealth in unpredictable, and potentially destabilising, ways.

"We don't know how this will unfold, but we do know there will be price effects," said study lead author Eli Fenichel, assistant professor at Yale University in New Haven, US.

"It's as inevitable as the movement of these fish species," Fenichel noted.

The study appeared in the journal Nature Climate Change.

For the study, the researchers used fish migration data collected by study co-author Malin Pinsky, assistant professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey.

"We tend to think of climate change as just a problem of physics and biology," Pinsky said.

"But people react to climate change as well, and at the moment we do not have a good understanding for the impacts of human behaviour on natural resources affected by climate change," Pinsky noted.

To illustrate their case, the researchers modelled potential outcomes in two fictitious fishing communities (Northport and Southport) in the face of climate-driven shifts in fish populations.

Southport's fish stocks decline as the climate changes while Northport's stock increases - it is a scenario that reflects changes anticipated in areas such as the mid-Atlantic and the waters off New England in the eastern US.

According to their analysis, if fish quantities increase in a northern community, for instance, it will likely cause a devaluation of that resource locally, particularly if that community is not equipped to manage the resource efficiently.

"If the northern community is not a particularly good steward or manager, they are going to place a low value on that windfall they just inherited," Fenichel said.

"So the aggregate could go down," Fenichel noted.

"To be clear, the 'gainers' here are clearly better off," he said.

"They are just not more better off than the losers are worse off. The losers are losing much more than the gainers are gaining. And when that happens, it's not an efficient reallocation of wealth," Fenichel noted.

The analysis suggests that policy discussions around climate change should address how the physical changes will affect wealth reallocation, rather than allowing nature to redistribute this wealth in an unpredictable, "willy-nilly" manner.

"It also points to a greater need for the physical sciences and social sciences to be done in a coordinated fashion," Fenichel said.
Islamabad, Feb 26 : The Pakistani probe team has already arrived in India to probe the Pathankot airbase attack in Punjab, an official said.

Punjab counter-terrorism department chief Muhammad Tahir Rai, who heads the high-powered Joint Investigation Team (JIT), has reached India along with some other officials, The Nation quoted a senior official as saying on Thursday.

A JIT formed on the orders of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif formally started working last week, and its first meeting was convened in Lahore to discuss the case in detail, the report said.

The Punjab province home department on Thursday also re-notified the JIT, ordering the investigators to submit the interim probe report to the court within two weeks.

It was not clear if there was any change or the new notification retained the same members as that of the earlier JIT, which was constituted by the interior ministry in mid-January.

A provincial government official confirmed that Tahir Rai, who is additional inspector general of police, has arrived in India and this move is being kept secret on both sides of the border.

"What I can confirm is that Rai is in India right now. We can't tell how many officials accompany him," the official said on the request of anonymity.

The official did not comment on the day the team left for India to probe the attack and for how many days it would be there.

Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM), a Pakistani militant outfit, was responsible for the attack on the airbase in Pathankot town on January 2.

As many as seven security personnel were killed in the attack. The security forces also killed all six terrorists in over three days' operation.

New Delhi said the fate of 'comprehensive dialogue process' -- started by both the countries recently to improve India-Pakistan ties -- depended on Islamabad's action against the perpetrators of the attack.

Pakistan registered a case on the basis of leads provided by India and formed an investigation team comprising high-ranking officials of police and intelligence agencies.

The counter-terrorism department (CTD) of Pakistan's Punjab province on Thursday lodged a case against six "non-state actors" for plotting the attack.

Official sources in the Punjab home department said the JIT members during their visit to India would collect facts about the Pathankot attack.

However, no information was provided weather the investigators was allowed to visit the Indian airbase as earlier New Delhi denied the team access to the airbase.

One official said the team would also discuss modalities for carrying out joint investigations with their Indian counterparts.

"Although no timeframe has been given to complete the probe, it is expected that the team will complete the investigations within 15 days," another official said.

"If the probe remains incomplete after two weeks, the JIT may seek more time from the court since it is a matter of criminal procedure code."

Earlier, four suspects were detained in connection with the phone numbers mentioned in the first information report.

The investigators were examining the SIM registration and call data of the numbers. The mobile phone companies were asked to provide details of the persons using those phone numbers.
Imphal, Feb 26 : In a welcome development on Friday, the Naga Students' Federation (NSF) has lifted the two-day-old ban on the movement of vehicles of non-tribal Manipuris in all "Naga-inhabited areas".

This follows an official announcement that five police commandos who allegedly harassed some NSF members on February 14 have been suspended pending a departmental inquiry.

The police personnel allegedly detained the NSF members who were on their way to Ukhrul district to attend the seed sowing festival of the Nagas in Manipur. The NSF members were intercepted at Mantri Pukhri near Imphal.

Reliable sources told IANS that the union home ministry had instructed the Manipur government to initiate necessary steps against the police personnel.

On Thursday, Manipur's Home Minister Gaikhangam had informed the Assembly that the police commandos neither committed any excesses nor manhandled and detained the NSF members.

The minister implied that since nothing objectionable was done, the police commandos would not be pulled up.

If the NSF members had extended cooperation, the stand-off would not have taken place, he said.

Since the government refused to book the police commandos, the NSF "imposed" the ban from February 24 morning.

Additional Director General of Police C. Doungel sent a copy of the order suspending the police personnel to the NSF in Nagaland and urged it to call off the ban.

The ban was later lifted with the result that stranded trucks and buses could proceed towards Imphal effective Friday afternoon. The vehicle-documents which had been snatched from the drivers have been returned by the NSF activists.

The ban was condemned by all sections on the ground that it will stoke communal tension.

The All Manipur Students' Union, in a retaliatory move, banned the plying of buses from Nagaland in Imphal.

The ban caused the prices of commodities brought from Assam and other states to go up.
Imphal, Feb 28 : At least 20 MLAs of the ruling Congress party in Manipur have taken up cudgels casting aspersions against the dubious role of Home Minister Gaikhangam in suspending five police commandos to appease the Naga Students' Federation.

"We held an emergency meeting at my residence on Saturday night. We resolved to urge Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh to take up appropriate actions against Gaikhangam," N. Biren, an MLA, said on Sunday.

"We are demanding a special meeting of the Congress Legislature Party on Monday to discuss the issue," the MLA added.

The angry MLAs were in agreement on the growing suspicion that Gaikhangam has a hidden agenda in the U-turn he took in this issue.

The five police commandos who were on duty on February 14 at Mantri Pukhri near Imphal had flagged down the vehicles bringing the NSF delegates for the seed sowing festival in Ukhrul district.

The commandos were charged with harassing and snatching the mobile handsets of the delegates. Making a statement in the assembly, Gaikhangam said: "If the NSF delegates had extended cooperation nothing would have happened. They refused to get down from the vehicles. There was no beating or detention."

Demanding action against police, the NSF imposed ban on the movement of the vehicles owned by the non-tribal Manipuris in the "Naga inhabited areas" from February 23.

Police in Senapati district of Manipur have drawn flaks since they did nothing when the NSF activists came to the district to take law in their own hands.

The 20 Congress MLAs, the All Manipur Students' Union, other students' organisations and civil societies have orchestrated their demand to make an explanation as to why the police commandos were suspended on February 25 despite the home minister's statement that no excesses were committed.

Khomdram Ratan, convener in charge of Joint Committee on Inner Line Permit System said: "It is a shameful surreder to the NSF by the Manipur government. The NSF delegates had come to assist the Nagaland Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang who had spewed venom among the different communities here on the occasion of the festival.

Since Saturday night, Ibobi has been fire fighting in a bid to control the 20 MLAs.

Sources said that there is no much success since these MLAs are happy with the accolades they are getting from all sections of people.
New Delhi, Feb 28 : Like any other youngster, 20-year-old Mohammad Aamir Khan too had a conventional dream of the future. He was however picked up by the Delhi Police one night and was falsely accused of being a terrorist. It took 14 long years for Aamir to get acquitted of the charge - and has now co-written a book on his harrowing ordeal.

"It was a way of recording the growing communal divide in Delhi where Hindus and Muslims live in such proximity but never visit each other's homes. In part his story exemplified the situation all Muslim youths are facing; communalism and Islamophobia," says noted social activist, lawyer and writer Nandita Haksar, the co-author of "Framed as a Terrorist" (Speaking Tiger, pp 234, Rs.250).

"I was introduced to Aamir by his lawyer, N.D. Pancholi, who has been associated with the human rights movement for many decades. I had around a month of intense interaction with Aamir when he came to my house to tell his story," Haksar told IANS in an interview.

The book unravels how Aamir was wrongly framed, how he was brutally beaten up by the police inside different jails, how he was victimised and ill-treated for being a Muslim and denied basic rights during his incarceration.

"Aamir has been a witness, even while he was behind bars, to the rise of Hindu fascism and Muslim fundamentalism; he has seen the invisible wall rise up between the Hindu and Muslim communities. Despite this, Aamir continues to build bridges between communities. At least a part of the reason for Aamir's belief in the values of secularism and democracy is found in the history of Old Delhi, where he was born and where he grew up and lives even now," Haksar writes in the opening chapter, titled "The Context".

"At first his words sound like empty cliches - but when I look at his expression I can see that the words democracy and secularism have a profound meaning for him. They are the hope with which he lives and survives on a daily basis," she writes in the concluding paragraph of the afterword.

Haskar was interested in telling Aamir's story because he is from the same area where her ancestors also lived. This apart, he was also closely associated with the "Save Afzal Guru campaign" when the Supreme Court confirmed his death sentence for the 2001 attack on parliament. She has also written books like "Framing Geelani, Hanging Afzal: Patriotism in the Time of Terror" and "The Many Faces of Kashmiri Nationalism".

Being a lawyer herself, Haksar has an understanding of the way the Indian legal system works - and this reflects in her writing.

"This understanding is crucial if we are to use the law as a tool for enforcement of human rights and the courts as sites of struggles for people's rights," Haksar maintained.

There are several other cases like Aamir's. So, what goes wrong - the Indian Muslims who become victims, or is it the judiciary process that delays the delivery of justice or both?

"All poor people and many times rich people are also victims of the judicial process which fails to deliver. But Muslims are subjected to prejudices and biases which others are not. I believe the failure of the Indian legal system to deliver justice is caused by many factors, which includes the Bar, which has never intervened to improve the system. It is also the lack of political awareness among the civil society," Haksar contended.

She also felt that the increasing biases towards the Muslim community can be removed through massive public campaigns against communal prejudice, somewhat like the Swacch Bharat mission.

"Educational institutions have a big role to play but most of all, political parties need to address the problem," Haksar added.

Thus, for Haksar, Aamir's story had a far greater political significance than the story of just one victim of the system.

"It (the book) raises the issues relating to police reform, jail reform, rehabilitation of people wrongly accused and the role of police, doctors, magistrates, political parties and media in framing Aamir and many like him whose stories we have still not heard yet," Haksar maintained.

(Somrita Ghosh can be contacted at somrita.g@ians.in)
New Delhi, Feb 28 : You may not have heard of orthopedic surgeon Gavriil Abramovich Ilizarov from Siberia, who used external devices on patients to fix infected non-unions of bones in the 1950s.

But the Ilizarov technique has emerged in recent past as a preferred way among Indians to gain some extra height.

Although Ilizarov surgery is an effective way globally of lengthening the bones up to four to six inches, doctors advise not to go for this extremely slow and painful procedure just for the cosmetic purpose. The two bones that are involved in the elongation purposes are the femur (thigh bone) and tibia (lower leg bone). It can take between four to six months for the process to be completed.

In layman terms, the surgery involves strategically breaking the bone and then slowly separating the ends of the broken bone over a long period of time to gain extra height. This should be done under supervision of highly trained surgeons only, experts advise.

"It works on the principle of distraction osteogenesis, whereby slow and controlled distraction of bone at 1 mm per day generates new bone at the lengthening site of a bone. This is done using an external ring fixator or frame," said Dr (prof) Raju Vaishya, senior joint replacement surgeon at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals and president of the Arthritis Care Foundation.

"Ilizarov surgery is a boon for patients with severe compound fractures, for lengthening of bones and for deformity correction of bones and joints," Dr Vaishya told IANS.

Dr Dhananjay Gupta, senior consultant (orthopaedics) at Fortis Flt Lt Rajan Dhall Hospital in the capital, said use of this technique for cosmetic purpose was not recommended.

"As the body tries to heal the break by creating new bone, the fracture is extended yet again and the body creates even more bone in the gap during the process," added Subhash Shalya who is associated with Delhi-based Orthopedic Surgeon Bone Joint Care Foundation of India.

The fracture is extended by a tiny amount several times a day, up to a millimetre total each day, until the desired length is reached.

"The trick is to do it slow enough so that new bone continues to grow, but fast enough that it does not heal entirely," Shalya added.

According to the doctors, the apparatus used today for the procedure comprises fixators, which have rings, rods and wires to gradually distract the bone parts and keep them fixed at the desired length.

"The entire procedure is minimally invasive as it uses wires to fix the bones to the rings. It involves less tissue damage and ensures quick recovery. After the procedure, the Illizarov fixator is removed," said Shalya.

The procedure is followed by a lengthy rehabilitation period and extensive physiotherapy to allow the body to get accustomed to the new bone development.

Like any surgical procedure, there are some issues that may crop up if utmost care is not taken post-Illizarov surgery.

"Wires which are passing through soft tissue and bone may get infected and painful. Regular distraction should be done with clock-like precision as too fast or slow rate may jeopardise the outcome," advised Dr Gupta.

"Blood vessels or nerve may not stretch at the same rate and may result in loss of their function. Muscles may cause stiff joints; so this procedure must be done in the guidance of a very trained surgeon," he said.

According to Dr Sanjay Agarwala, head (orthopedics and traumatology) at Mumbai-based P.D. Hinduja National Hospital & Medical Research Centre, as in any operation, there are concurrent risks which are manageable.

"As it is a slow process, it needs perseverance and persistence both on the patient and doctors' part. The procedure has been in place for 30 years and fills a required niche in orthopedics," Dr Agarwala told IANS.

(Rupesh Dutta can be contacted at rupesh.d@ians.in and Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
Islamabad, Feb 28 : The Maritime Security Agency (MSA) has arrested 20 Indian fishermen for fishing in Pakistani waters, a media report said on Sunday.

"The Indian fishermen were arrested on Saturday by the MSA while they were fishing in Pakistani limits of the Arabian Sea," said an official at the Docks police station.

"Their four fishing boats have also been seized by the MSA. We are in the process of taking their custody from the MSA. They will be then produced in court," the police official said.

The fresh arrests were the second of their kind within a week. On February 20, MSA authorities arrested 88 Indian fishermen while they were fishing in Pakistani territorial limits of the sea, officials said.

Meanwhile, an official at the Fishermen's Cooperative Society said the release and exchange of arrested fishermen has been halted for the past many months as over 150 Indian fishermen were already in Pakistani prisons and more than 50 Pakistan fishermen were in Indian jails.
Kolkata, Feb 28 : Five people were killed when a speeding truck rammed into several shops in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district, police said on Sunday.

Three others were critically injured in the accident that happened on Basanti highway near Bhangar on Saturday night. "The truck driver is absconding," said a police officer.

Locals blamed the police for the accident.

"Though the area is accident prone, police never bother to control traffic here. There is hardly any traffic police presence. Even when they are present, they don't control the traffic," said a witness.
Islamabad, Feb 28 : A Pakistani anti-terrorism court remanded in custody three men suspected of involvement in the Pathankot airbase attack in India's Punjab state, media reports said.

Judge Bushra Zaman on Saturday granted six-day physical custody of the suspects to the counter-terrorism department (CTD) of Punjab province in Pakistan, Dawn online reported.

The suspects were arrested from a rented house over suspicion of facilitating the January 2 attack in Pathankot airbase, merely 55 km from Pakistan border.

Suspects Khalid Mahmood, Irshadul Haque and Muhammad Shoaib denied charges and were shifted to an undisclosed location for investigation.

The attack left seven Indian security personnel killed. All six terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, were also killed in the attack on the airbase.
New Delhi : What's the one assurance investors want before setting up manufacturing base in India? The ease of making workforce adjustments in line with changing market conditions. In this area, Indian labour laws are among the most restrictive.

The Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 has two provisions in the way of workforce adjustments. Chapter VB of the Act requires prior approval of the appropriate government before resorting to any layoff, retrenchment or closure in establishments employing 100 or more workers.

The draft Labour Code on Industrial Relations currently in circulation seeks to raise the threshold to establishments employing 300 or more workers, but it is still work in progress.

Another major contentious provision is Section 9A of the Act which mandates 21 days' notice before affecting any change in established conditions of service of any employee, including any change necessitated by "rationalization, standardization or improvement of plant or technique". This is anathema for investors, particularly in this age of fast changing technologies and manufacturing processes.

Contract labour is yet another major area of concern. Investors would surely want to know if engaging workers on temporary contracts would run afoul of the law. The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970, as the name suggests, is enforced to regulate the practice and abolish it in certain cases.

In other words, the practice is not prohibited. Engaging contract workers for temporary, intermittent or seasonal work is allowed but using them for work of perennial nature violates the letter and spirit of the law.

Why would investors want to engage workers on temporary contracts in the first place? To meet surges in demand for goods and services requiring urgent workforce adjustments. Immediate deployment of regular workers is not always feasible and pruning them alongside falling demand often meets legal obstacles. Moreover, regular workers are increasingly becoming less productive and more expensive.

The central government has yet to initiate any action in this area. Rajasthan has taken the early lead, raising the threshold for applicability of the law to cover industries or contractors engaging 40 or more contract workers, up from the original 20. Other state governments are expected to follow suit. The move has been welcomed by employers and criticized as anti-worker by trade unions.

But changing the applicability clause is like nibbling at the edges. Plunging into the core, the status of temporary workers must be redefined and extended beyond the present limit of 240 days in a year. That should take care of persistent demands by the traditional trade union movement for regularization of all contract workers.

On this aspect, the experiment by India's largest carmaker is innovative and instructive. In 2012, Maruti introduced a new category of directly recruited temporary workers, substantially reducing the role of intermediaries. It has appreciably narrowed the gap in emoluments and allowances between regular and contract workers, which is the main bone of contention.

Temporary workers get on-the-job training as apprentices and become eligible for regular appointment in due course. Maruti pays such workers a stipend for the period they must wait out for regular appointment. This also promotes a sense of belonging and solidarity with the company. It is the habit of institutions to give birth to loyalties. The policy has worked well and has brought industrial peace to what was a volatile workplace.

The big question is: How soon can the central government bring about meaningful changes in the existing laws to facilitate quick workforce adjustments?

For investors, this is the major sticking point. Can the government drive the labour reforms agenda through the legislative route and achieve desirable outcomes?

Given the present party alignments in the Rajya Sabha, this is like building castles in the air. Alternatively, can executive orders be employed to achieve the desired results? Some quick thinking is needed in this direction, followed by swift action.

As the reforms package unfolds, pragmatic solutions will have to be discovered to assure investors that their business interests would not suffer by mindless application of the law, while taking care to ensure that workers' interests are not compromised.

Labour reforms are critical to the "Make in India" campaign. Investors have been waiting with anticipation. Brand India cannot afford to disappoint.

(Abhik Ghosh, IAS (retd), was with the International Labour Organization (ILO) as a senior specialist in industrial relations and labour administration. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached at abhik.ghosh1@gmail.com)
Jodhpur, Feb 28 : Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Amaan and Ayaan mesmerised the audience with their soulful performance at the World Sacred Spirit Festival (WSSF) here.

Donning pink and red silk kurtas with cream hued churidars, Amaan and Ayaan, also accomplished sarod players, hit the stage first on Saturday night.

Later, they introduced their father and guru, Amjad Ali, who dedicated a raga to princess of Jodhpur Shivranjini. The sarod maestro had the crowd hooked at the first touch of the string.

After his performance, the sons joined Amjad Ali and matched their tunes with their father's rhythm and energy.

Maharaja Gaj Singh and Maharani Hemlata Rajye of Jodhpur felicitated Amjad Ali post his show.

They gave way to band Maati Baani. The band's folk songs and its vocalist Nirali Kartik's powerful voice had the crowd up on their feet.

Known for collaborating with talents like Rajasthani artiste Murabhai, Maati Baani gave a refreshing hour-long performance under the starry sky.

Impressing the crowd with their control on the lute, Stelios Patrakis Quartet from Greece made a fan out of all listeners sitting in Chokhela Bagh.

To liven up the massive sandstone Meherangarh Fort, artistes and groups like Teratali Bhajan Ramdeo, Madan Gopal Singh, and Driss Al Maloumi from Morocco charmed the visitors who had come from across the globe to savour the spiritual and soulful music festival.

The three-day fest ended with a soothing performance by master of robab, Daud Khan Sadozai on a sunny Sunday morning.

(The writer's trip is at the invitation of the Meherangarh Museum Trust. Kishori Sud can be contacted at kishori.s@ians.in)
New Delhi, Feb 28 : A doctor's initiative in harnessing technology has produced an application which can help locate a person trapped in debris in an earthquake or other disasters when communications fail.

Pradeep Bhardwaj, CEO of Six Sigma High Altitude Medical Services for Rescue, says his company has developed a software application which can be tracked through the mobile phone.

The concept is based on ham radio used by amateurs to communicate with one another. However, the application developed by Six Sigma, which can be downloaded to a mobile phone, is not for communication but for continuously sending out a signal which can be detected by special equipment.

"The application does not require mobile network or internet connection to communicate. This is based on satellite which will continuously transmit coded signals but which cannot be used to communicate," Bhardwaj to IANS.

The transmitted signals can be detected within a radius of 50 kilometres.

He said that keeping the security concerns in mind, the application had been designed in such a way that people tracking the signal can get information on its location with accuracy. Bhardwaj said the Telecommunications Ministry had already given them a licence to operate the system.

Six Sigma medical services have been recognised by the Central government, several state governments and countries like Nepal and China for its contribution in saving and counselling thousands of people during the Uttrakhand cloud-burst in 2013, Nepal earthquake in 2015 and China earthquakes, Bhardwaj said.

"The Real Time Location application is made keeping in mind the rescue operations in high altitude areas where mobile towers network or Internet fails being hit by a natural calamity. People or soldiers who get trapped in the debris or snow can easily be helped out using the application," Bhardwaj said.

Till now, Bhardwaj said, he and his team had saved more than 5,600 victims who were stuck in high altitudes.

The Six Sigma is also known for setting up a base camp at a height of 24,500 feet on Mount Everest during the Nepal earthquake, where they had played a major role in helping the Indian Army rescue people.

Bhardwaj said they would send a proposal on the application to the Health Ministry soon, urging it to get it installed in the cell phones of soldiers and people living in high altitude areas which are prone to earthquakes and landslides.

C.K. Misra, additional health Secretary in the ministry of health, told IANS: "This is a good initiative which will help people in high altitude areas. But, he said, the government would need to look into such applications."

Bhardwaj claimed the application could have helped track Indian soldiers caught in the avalanche recently in Siachen, had these been installed in their mobile phones.

(Rupesh Dutta can be contacted at rupesh.d@ians.in)
London, Feb 28 : One Direction band member Liam Payne is reportedly dating "The X Factor" judge Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, who is 10 years his senior.

The relationship is not just a fling because Payne is "madly in love" with her, and "this is the real deal", a source close to the pair was quoted as saying by The Sun, reports aceshowbiz.com.

"Cheryl and Liam are in a relationship. It was unexpected but they've both made each other incredibly happy," the insider said, while adding that Cheryl is "carefree and happy again".

According to the report, their romance bloomed in December last year.

Their matching tattoos could be taken as evidence. Last month, Payne inked black and white roses on his hand and it has the same design with the coloured roses on her buttocks.

She is in the middle of divorcing her husband Jean-Bernard Fernandez-Versini whom she married in July 2014 after dating for only three months. They split in August 2015 before his 35th birthday.

Earlier last month, she cited "unreasonable behaviour" as the reason of the split. Payne split from Sophia Smith, his girlfriend of two years, in November 2015.

Cheryl had been friends with Payne ever since she signed with One Direction's management company Modest.

"...there was never anything romantic between them in the past," the insider said.
Kabul, Feb 28 : At least 22 Taliban militants were killed over the past 24 hours in a fighting with the security personnel in Baghlan province of Afghanistan.

The battle occurred in Dand-e-Ghori district of the province, Xinhua quoted army spokesman Ahmad Jawed Salim as saying on Sunday.

"Up to 22 Taliban rebels have been killed and seven injured over the past 24 hours," Salim said.

The Taliban outfit has not yet commented.

Dand-e-Ghori and Dand-e-Shahabudin districts have been regarded as Taliban hotbeds in Baghlan and adjoining Kunduz and Samangan provinces from where the militants organise operations.

The Afghan government launched a major offensive in mid-January to evict militants and restore government control in both Dand-e-Ghori and Dand-e-Shahabudin districts.
New Delhi, Feb 28 : A low defence budget may have adverse implications on the country's security, a parliamentary panel has warned the government ahead of the budget for fiscal 2016-17 set to be presented in Lok Sabha on Monday.

The parliamentary standing committee on defence, headed by Major General B.C. Khanduri (retired), a former minister, has also questioned the finance ministry for delaying its response to a defence ministry letter suggesting a minimum percentage be fixed for defence expenditure compared to the total government expenditure.

"...it can be averred that the budget cuts leave the possibility of having adverse implications on the country's security. The committee, therefore, reiterate their earlier recommendation and desire that the ministry of defence take up the issue of providing adequate budgetary resources at the highest level, so that the modernization programme as well as other priorities are not hampered," said the panel's report, tabled in parliament on Friday.

"Further, the committee also feel dismayed to note that although the ministry of defence has reportedly conveyed the concern expressed by them to the ministry of finance on 14 January 2015, the response of the ministry of finance is still awaited," the report said.

The committee asked the defence ministry to provide the details of the communication with the finance ministry.

The committee had, in its recommendations, pointed out that although defence expenditure has been increasing over the years, the percentage increase since 2000-01 has not been consistent.

The defence expenditure increased by 26.29 percent in 2004-05 in comparison to the preceding year. Such an increase was only witnessed in 2008-09 and 2009-10, when the growth was 24.59 percent and 24.13 percent.

However, in 2010-11, there was a decline of 8.70 percent. Though there have been slight increases in subsequent years, these never touched the levels of 2004-05, 2008-09 and 2009-10. During 2011-12 and 2012-13, the increase was 10.90 percent and 6.36 percent.

In 2013-14, the growth was 12.05 percent, in 2014-15 it was 12.44 percent and in 2015-16 it was around 11 percent.

According to the report, the defence ministry told the committee that this growth was not sufficient for the projects and modernization of the three services.

The ministry's response to the committee however reveals that higher rate of growth during 2008-09 and 2009-10 was mainly due to the payment of arrears after implementing the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission.

The lower growth of later years, the ministry said, was because no arrears had to be paid.

"The years of high growth cited are unusual years and cannot form a basis for generalisation. Growth rates since 2011 have been generally healthier than in the pre-2007 period and every effort is made to ensure that sufficient funds are available to meet the most critical requirements of the services," the defence ministry said in a response to the committee.

The committee also pointed out that the although the defence budget is increasing every year in numerical terms but in comparison to overall budget, it has consistently been declining.

In 2009-10, with the defence expenditure at Rs. 1,41,781 crore, it was 13.84 percent of total expenditure, while in 2010-11, the allocation rose to Rs.1,47,377 crore but came down to 12.87 percent of the overall expenditure. In 2011-12, defence expenditure accounted for 13.10 percent of the total, got reduced to 12.89 percent in 2012-13 and to 12.76 percent in 2013-14, according to the panel.

The defence ministry, however, said that it had informed the finance ministry on January 14, 2015, of the committee's emphasis on the need for increasing the defence expenditure in proportion to total central government spending and fixing a minimum benchmark percentage for this.

The defence ministry said the finance ministry's response is awaited.

The defence ministry also said that a recommendation by the parliamentary panel earlier of fixing the defence budget at least at three percent of the GDP is also pending with the finance ministry.

The defence ministry has, however, assured the panel that budgetary constraints will not lead to shelving of any operational requirements.

"There is continuous monitoring of the progress of acquisition of projects and prioritization of the most urgent requirements. This is for helping in ensuring that the resources, which are limited, are devoted to the most critical projects. The ministry has also assured the committee that no operational requirement will be shelved for want of funds," the ministry said.

(Anjali Ojha can be contacted at anjali.o@ians.in)
Kochi, Feb 28 : Sima Marine India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Dubai-based Simatech Shipping, launched coastal container shipping service from Kochi connecting Mangalore in Karnataka, Goa and Mundra in Gujarat.

Simatech Shipping is one of the largest container feeder servicing companies in the world operating 54 ships with partners, including 15 of its own.

C.F. George, managing director of Simatech Shipping Dubai and Sima Marine India, said the company sees good growth potential in the India coastal segment which has been untapped for a long time now.

"We believe a consistent service with competitive rates can attract more coastal cargo movement which is now moving by road. Indian government is promoting container coastal movement by offering incentives," said George.

For the exclusive coastal service operations in the country, the Indian subsidiary has also acquired two 1,500-TEU container vessels, Sima Godavari and Sima Narmada, which have already started their operations now.

These ships are now sailing with Indian flag to work within the cabotage law.

As a strategic move, the company has also started a fully-equipped back office operation facility in Kochi.

"Soon, our new back office in Kochi will be in a position to support our entire global operations. All our ship planning and accounting operations will be done in Kochi," added George.
Zurich, Feb 28 : Tainted former FIFA president Sepp Blatter has warned his successor Gianni Infantino that the road ahead will be tough adding that friends will become increasingly difficult to come by in the corridors of power.

The 79-year-old also extended his support to the newly-elected president, saying that he is ready to offer his help, if required. Infantino was elected FIFA president here on Friday, replacing Blatter, who saw his reign come to an end amid allegations of corruption and is now serving a reduced six-year ban from the sport.

"I congratulate you but remember that this position you wanted will not be easy. Miracles will be expected. I had these expectations for the last 18 years at FIFA, which I served for 41 years," Blatter wrote in an open letter published by French newspaper Journal du Dimanche on Sunday.

"The miracles will be aided by the vote overwhelmingly taken for the reforms which I had also started. If by chance, you want an opinion or advice, do not hesitate. For now, stay calm. You have two months to implement the decisions taken."

Swiss Blatter said his compatriot Infantino will be allowed a period of grace but could face stormy waters if reforms are implemented slowly for the patience of federations and sponsors.

"Prepare yourself well but be vigilant. While everyone supports you and tells you nice words, know that once you are the president, friends become rare. At 6:01pm on Friday, when you were elected, a weight lifted from my shoulders," Blatter said.

"I now have fewer responsibilities and more time to take care of my life. I am no longer president. But I gladly accept the French system which says that, once we are president, we remain president forever!"
Mumbai, Feb 28 : Spin doctors from across the world will converge here for the Global PR Summit in April, being held perhaps for the first time in India.

The Global PR Summit, in association with the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI), has so far been held in 16 countries since its launch in 2010. Among some of its previous venues were Turkey, Russia, Qatar, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, and Oman. Over the years, 1,892 brands have sent delegates to the various summits with more than 6,100 attendees.

The Indian edition will focus on the latest trends and challenges in the ever changing global PR and marketing world with a special focus on reputation management in the social media era. The event will feature a presentation on the new rules of reputation management by Mary Jo Jacobi, one of the world's leading PR professionals and former VP Communications at BP America.

PRCI is a pan-India body of PR, media, advertising, HR professionals and mass communication teachers and students with chapters across 30 cities.

The India event thus offers a unique opportunity for communication professionals not only to network but to exchange thoughts and information, said veteran media professional B.N. Kumar, national president of PRCI.

"As PRCI has begun to spread its wings worldwide, the Global PR Summit offers us a great opportunity to work together to establish a World Communicators' Forum, cutting across geographical boundaries. We all have a lot of insight to gain from each other's experiences and work in the interest of societies around us. Let's go beyond networking and partying and contribute to the society in a meaningful way," Kumar said.

Kosta Petrov, chief experience officer of P World that owns the event brand, said: "We are very happy to bring the Global PR Summit to India as the nation has made giant strides in a cross-section of fields, including mass communication. We are equally happy to partner with PRCI which is focusing on creating knowledge platforms across the country. We eagerly look forward to meeting the great Indian PR professionals."

Speakers at the event include Thierry Nicolet, SVP (Global Press Relations), Schneider Electric; Aliza Knox, MD (Online Sales), Twitter APAC; Colleen Harris, former press secretary to Princes Charles, William and Harry and official spokesperson for Wiliam and Kate's Royal Wedding; Richard Stephenson, communications director, Civil Aviation Authority; Patricia Yates, director of Strategy and Communications, Visit Britain; and Jesse Ringham, Digital Communications Manager, Tate Museum.

M.B. Jayaram, chairman emeritus and chief mentor of PRCI, said: "PRCI has emerged as a truly pan-India PR professionals body with close to 30 chapters in as many cities. We look forward to gaining from the knowledge that will flow from the Global PR Summit."

Deepak Menon, Business Strategist associated with the Summit, said: "We are glad to note that PRCI has been holding its Conclaves. I am now excited to bring the Global PR Summit with its truly international perspective to India. Such a workshop offers the rare experience and insight into care-taking of top brands that directly influence consumer perception and in turn sales. This experience will be a win-win for all of us."
Ranchi, Feb 28 : Two Maoist guerrillas surrendered along with firearms in Jharkhand's Chatra district on Sunday, police said.

Communist Party of India (Maoist) guerrillas Mutur Yadav alias Munu Yadav, a sub-zonal commander, and area commander Sanjay Paswan surrendered at a function at the district headquarters in Chatra in the presence of Special Task Force Inspector General of Police Praveen Kumar and other senior police officials.

The surrendered Maoists were given Rs.50,000 each as per the surrender policy of the state police.

Mutur Yadav, a resident of Bigha village in Chatra district, joined the CPI-Maoist in 1998. Besides 15 cases registered against him in Chatra district, he also faces several criminal cases in Nawada and Auranagbad districts of Bihar.

Sanjay Paswan of Lipda village in Pratappur in Chatra district, joined the Maoists in 2008. More than half a dozen cases are registered against him at Huntergunj and Pratappur police stations in the district.
Kabul, Feb 28 : At least 130 Taliban rebels on Sunday gave up fighting, amid the group's desperate attempt to overrun Maimana city, the capital of Faryab province, a senior official said.

"We sincerely welcome our 130 brothers who renounced violence, handed over their weapons and joined the peace and reconciliation process today (Sunday)," Xinhua quoted the official as saying.

"The provincial government will spare no efforts to help the former insurgents to rejoin their families and provide them jobs to have regular income," the official added.

The surrendered militants were active in Khwaja Sabz Posh district of Faryab province over the past couple of years, the official asserted.

The official also called upon other Taliban fighters to follow the step and give up fighting to rebuild the war-torn country.

The surrendered militants also handed over dozens of assault rifles and ammunition to police.

Taliban surrender is reported amid the visit of Afghan first vice president Abdul Rashid Dostum to Faryab province and launching operations against militants in different districts.

Dostum also said on Saturday that 120 Taliban fighters including three commanders had been arrested and several villages liberated in Khawaja Sabz Posh district.

Surrendering and arresting more than 200 militants in two days, according to political observers, could be a major setback to the Taliban outfit in Faryab and adjoining areas.

Meantime, Taliban militants who have challenged the government forces in several districts of the province and have been attempting to overrun the provincial capital Maimana in an online statement without commenting on surrendering militants to government forces, have confirmed clash in Khawaja Sabz Posh neighbouring district Khawaja Musa.

Taliban outfit in the statement said the militants have destroyed a battle tank and killed six soldiers in Khawaja Musa district in the fighting, which continues in the district.
New York, Feb 28 : An exhibition of the works of the late Mumbai-based artist Nasreen Mohamedi is being launched at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or simply The Met, here on Tuesday, supported by Nita Ambani-led Reliance Foundation.

The exhibition, which will be open to public from March 18 to June 5, is part of The Met's new series of modern and contemporary programmes, hosted at the landmark building designed by Hungarian architect Marcel Breuer here.

Sheena Wagstaff, the chair of the Met's modern and contemporary division, apparently got Nita Ambani interested in the whole project. They are both slated to be here for the grand preview at Manhattan's Madison Avenue and 75th Street.

"One of our goals with The Met Breuer is to present thoughtful exhibitions that posit a broader meaning of modernism across vast geographies of art," Wagstaff said.

"The poignant story of Mohamedi, a relatively little-known but significant artist, reveals a highly-individual artistic quest, drawing on historic sources from across the world, alongside her evocative photography as an unexpected form of visual note-taking."

The Met said the exhibition is being made possible by Nita and Mukesh Ambani and the Reliance Foundation, adding that it is also being co-hosted by the Queen Sofia Museum of Spain and the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art.

"One of the most significant artists to emerge in post-Independence India, Nasreen Mohamedi (1937-1990) created a body of work that demonstrates a singular and sustained engagement with abstraction," the Met said.

What has come for praise is her minimalist practice, which not only adds a rich layer to the history of South Asian art, but also enrages the scope of the narratives into international modernism.

"The Met Breuer exhibition, the first museum retrospective of the artist's work in the US, is an important part of the Met's initiative to explore and present the global scope of modern and contemporary art," the Met said.

Mohamedi mainly worked with pencil and ink on paper, as also experimenting with organic forms, delicate grids, and dynamic and hard-edged lines -- drawing upon a range of aesthetic sensibilities.

Inspirations came from poetry of Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke and French philosopher-author Albert Camus, as also classical music and the modernist architecture of Le Corbusier's Chandigarh.

Mohamedi is also believed to have had an exposure to Western and Eastern philosophy, poetry and literature, which can be seen in her diaries that include quotes by Rumi, Ghalib, and Mohammad Iqbal.

Having traveled extensively from New York to Tokyo, she also had a cosmopolitan outlook that drew her equally to the 16th-century Mughal buildings of Fatehpur Sikri and the 20th-century modernist architecture of India.

"Spanning Mohamedi's entire career and bringing together over 130 paintings, drawings, photographs, and rarely-seen diaries, the exhibition traces the conceptual complexity and visual subtlety of the artist's oeuvre."
New Delhi : Title: Standing Guard - A Year in Opposition; Author: P. Chidambaram; Publisher: Rupa Publications; Pages: 206; Price: Rs.500 P. Chidambaram is perhaps unique in Indian politics in having held both the home and finance portfolios when the Congress ruled, which give his writing the authority of a practitioner of public policy, who as insider to government has the experience of implementing his convictions on good economics.

This - his second such book - is a collection of 51 essays, earlier published as a series of columns in the Indian Express, covering a wide range, from the 2015 Bihar elections, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill and union budgets, to the debates surrounding the Land Acquisition amendment ordinances, foreign policy and the alarming rise of intolerance in the country.

Displaying clarity of expression, command over data, mastery over detail and understanding of electoral politics, Chidambaram provides an agenda of debate, giving insight into the complex links between economics and politics from an insider's perspective, but expressed now as an outsider.

Speaking of the great discipline inculcated by writing these weekly "900-word" columns, at the launch here of the book, Chidamabaram said a period out of office was very valuable for a politician to rethink stated positions, as well as reflect on why so many policies fail to deliver.

"Only outside of government do youm realise the limitations of government, and as to how you can improve governance. After 60 years we still don't know how to make our laws and policies litigation proof," Chidambaram, a practising lawyer, told the audience that included former prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

A great example of Chidamaram's call for the return of compassion into politics is available from his time in government from his position on the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA).

"As home minister, I was convinced that AFSPA deserved to be repealed. Many senior officers of the CRPF and BSF agreed that they could discharge their responsibilities just as well without AFSPA," he writes.

"The Tripura chief minister has actually removed AFSPA. The state hasn't gone into the militants' hands," he said at the book launch.

On the pan-India Goods and Services Tax (GST), proposed by Chidambaram himself in the budget for 2005-06, he explains the current Congress position on the matter.

He writes: "Section 18 of the Bill imposes an additional tax of not more than 1 percent on goods in the course of inter-state trade that will be assigned to the states. This is a retrograde provision and negates the very character of GST. The Chief Economic Advisor Dr.Arvind Subramanian has criticised this provision."

It is reassuring to have someone like Chidambaram in the political opposition, standing guard, as he declared that he was "proud to be in opposition, but I am not an enemy of the government and ruling establishment" to what appeared to be a rejuvenated opposition from the many former union ministers in the audience and the likes of former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechuri and JD-U leader Pavan Verma.
Baghdad, Feb 28 : At least four people were killed and 13 others injured in a car bomb explosion in the capital of Baghdad on Sunday, the Interior Ministry said.

The incident occurred when a booby-trapped car was detonated at the crowded Mreidy Market in the predominantly Shia district of Sadr city, Xinhua cited the source as saying.

The powerful blast destroyed several nearby shops and many stalls and set fire to several civilian cars, the source said, adding the toll could rise further as many of the injured were in critical condition.

Iraq is currently witnessing a wave of violence since the IS terrorist group took control of PARTS OF Iraq's northern and western regions in June 2014.

Earlier, a UN report estimated more than 22,300 people were killed or injured in armed conflicts in Iraq in 2015.
Thiruvananthapuram, February 28 : Asianet News chief co-ordinating editor Sindhu Suryakumar has lodged a complaint with the City Police Commissioner after she received death threats over phone from anonymous callers.

The callers made death threats against the scribe, besides casting aspersions on her character.

Ms. Suryakumar received over a thousand such calls in two days following rumours on social media that she made derogatory remarks against goddess Durga during News Hour programme.

CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan cited the development as proof of attempts by the Sangh Parivar to muzzle the media.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, Kodiyeri charged the Sangh Parivar with making death threats against Sindhu Suryakumar following her objective analysis of the JNU row.

The Sangh Parivar had publicised her mobile, landline numbers and also her Facebook account, and had instigated others to unleash an attack on her, he wrote.

Sindhu, while hosting a debate on Sitaram Yechury and Union Minister Smriti Irani locking horns in Parliament over goddess Durga, had made references to Iranis invoking Durga in Parliament, Kodiyeri wrote.

The Sangh Parivar has given a spin to this and levelled baseless allegations against Sindhu that she demeaned Durga, he added.

This sent out a message that the Sangh Parivar would target any journalist who would not toe their line, the Facebook post said.

A section of journalists had concocted proof at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to portray students of JNU as anti-nationals, Kodiyeri wrote, adding that through the death threat to Asianet scribe, Sangh Parivar has made it clear they will make life hard for anyone willing to do objective journalism in Kerala.

This (death threat to Sindhu Suryakumar) is but another version of the hooliganism that Sanghis in black robes unleashed against students, teachers, and journalists at Patiala House courts complex, Kodiyeri opined.

He concluded his post demanding that the State police must apprehend and bring to justice at the earliest those who made the life threats.
New Delhi, Feb 28 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a three-nation visit on March 30 during which he will hold a bilateral summit with the EU in Brussels, attend the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, and become the first Indian prime minister to go to Saudi Arabia in six years.

Modi will visit Brussels on March 30 for the first India-European Union (EU) summit in four years.

EU Ambassador to India Tomasz Kozlowski said in a media interaction in December that India was an extremely important partner for the EU and the new economic and social agenda of the NDA government was specially attractive. He however had noted that that the relationship has not met both sides' expectations despite the potential.

With India being an important trading partner of the 28-nation politico-economic union, he said the EU was "really interested" in completing a free trade agreement with it.

Modi had met presidents of the European Commission and European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Antalya in Turkey in November last year.

After Belgium, Modi will be in Washington on March 31 to attend the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) amid much speculation that he will meet Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines.

The NSS is expected to be attended by the leaders of around 50 countries.

On his way back, Modi will stop in Riyadh - a visit which assumes significance in the face of the current regional situation and strained relations between the Gulf kingdom and Iran, another strategically important country for India.

Saudi Arabia is also home to nearly three million Indian expatriates, most of whom are blue collar workers.
Hyderabad, Feb 28 : Police in Telangana on Sunday held three accused including two juveniles for gangrape of a tribal girl, who was preparing for an exam to join the police force.

The shocking incident occurred in Telangana's Karimnagar district. According to police, the accused were batchmates of the girl and all were preparing for police recruitment examination.

While a youth and a juvenile committed the rape, another juvenile filmed the act on his mobile phone, police said.

G. Srinivas (22), and the two juveniles were all produced before a court, which sent them to judicial custody.

While Srinivas was sent to Karimnagar jail, the two juveniles were shifted to a remand home.

They have been booked under Nirbhaya Act, the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and the Information Technology Act.

Though the incident occurred near Veenavanka village in Karimnagar district on February 10, it came to light only three days ago after the victim told her parents.

The victim's relatives beat up the accused, who had to be admitted to a hospital in Warangal district. Police took them into custody after they were discharged from the hospital.

According to police, the crime was committed when the accused and the victim were returning home after watching a movie. Another girl accompanying the victim reportedly escaped after the accused took them to a nearby hillock.

Taking a serious note of the incident, the state government has asked police to take strong action against the accused.

Telangana Finance Minister E. Rajender, under whose constituency the incident occurred, said the guilty would not be spared.

TRS MP K. Kavitha said the accused were booked under three stringent legislations.
Kolkata, Feb 28 : Giving a formal call for a purported poll alliance with the CPI-M and other Left Front partners, the Congress' West Bengal unit on Sunday invited all democratic and secular forces to join hands "to preserve democratic values" and "establish the rule of law" in the state.

The call came in the form of a small four-line media release issued by state Congress chief president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury.

"On behalf of Pradesh Congress Committee, I am inviting all democratic and secular forces in Bengal to join together in order to preserve democratic values and establish the rule of law in West Bengal," it said.

State Congress spokesperson and general secretary Om Prakash Mishra made it clear that the call was directed at the Communist Party of India-Marxist and other Left Front partners as also all secular anti-Bharatiya Janata Party and anti-Trinamool Congress forces.

"We want a people's alliance. We want an anti-BJP and anti-Trinmool secular democratic alliance. Of course we want the CPI-M and other Left Front partners in this alliance.

"We also want the Janata Dal-United, Rashtriya Janata Dal and other forces which want to defeat the Trinamool Congress and rally together against the communal politics of the Bharatiya Janata Party," said Mishra.

"We had earlier announced there would be an alliance. Today we have given the formal and official approval on the alliance process."

Mishra said Chowdhury made the formal announcement on behalf o the state party and with the concurrence of the party's central leadership.

In an Left Front meeting on February 11, all constituents had given the stamp of approval on holding alliance talks with the Congress, but put the ball on the Congress court, saying it has to approach them first with the proposal.

On February 18, the CPI-M central committee virtually cleared the decks for its first ever tactical electoral tie up with the Congress in the state, by seeking the cooperation of all democratic forces to defeat the Trinamool in the coming assembly polls.
London, Feb 29 : Conservative ministers and senior backbenchers in the Parliament have threatened a "no confidence vote" if British Prime Minister David Cameron fails to stop the "blue on blue" attacks on fellow Conservatives Cameron may face a leadership challenge after the "in or out" European Union (EU) referendum unless he tones down his attacks on pro-Brexit London mayor Boris Johnson and other Eurosceptics, Xinhua cited a report in the Sunday Times on Sunday.

Under the Conservative Party's rules, a vote of no confidence can be called if 15 percent of its members of Parliament (MPs) request such a vote.

"Cameron's position will be untenable even if he wins the referendum if he carries on like this. There will be no problem getting 50 names," a senior backbench MP was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

The ruling Conservative Party is now openly split over Britain's future in the EU, with a number of heavyweight cabinet ministers, leading conservative politicians and more than 120 MPs joining the "out" campaign.

On Monday, Cameron criticised Johnson, the London mayor who has announced his support for Brexit, by suggesting that the mayor's decision was simply driven by his own ambition to become the next prime minister.

In a column for the Telegraph newspaper on Monday, Johnson admitted that Cameron "has done his very best" in renegotiating British membership in the EU, but insisted that the only one way to get the change Britain wants is to vote to leave.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to vote for real change in Britain's relations with Europe. This is the only opportunity we will ever have to show that we care about self-rule," he wrote.

"A vote to Remain will be taken in Brussels as a green light for more federalism, and for the erosion of democracy," he added.

Britain will hold a referendum on whether to remain in the EU on June 23.
Eastern North Carolina Employers & Superintendents Council STEM East members believe in reaching students earlier and exposing them to problem-project based curriculums related to regional career opportunities.

Dr. Steven Hill, Executive Director of the STEM East Network, reported today that the Pamlico County Schools System has elected to become the newest member of the Eastern North Carolina Employers & Superintendents Council. The Council serves as the primary advisor of the STEM East Network activities, partnerships and resource allocations.

STEM East aims to help students gain better insight and engage with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics - also known as Strategies That Engage Minds (STEM) education. The STEM East Network aligns innovative STEM education programs in Eastern North Carolina with employer interests supporting regional career pathways, adding more real-world relevancy to curriculums and supporting educators.

As stated by Dr. Hill, STEM East members believe in reaching students earlier and exposing them to problem-project based curriculums related to regional career opportunities.

Introducing STEM programs at the middle school age is crucial to employers. "We have a strong interest in the development of a STEM trained workforce, said STEM Employer, Mark Meno. In our engineering group alone, we employ over 620 engineers with hundreds more STEM-related positions in our specialized artisan workforce, from composite tooling to advanced manufacturing and machining to avionics equipment and more. It is through collaboration with local schools via outreach, providing access to our facilities and facilitating teachers in the presentation of STEM concepts in the classroom through hands-on experiences that allows us to meet our goal of "growing our own" local STEM workforce. Pamlico's proximity to Cherry Point and FRC-East make it one of our larger employee bases and the county school system joining the STEM East Network will allow us to continue to strengthen those ties."

"Pamlico County Schools is excited to join the STEM East network. Being a part of the council has already proven to be beneficial as we seek grant opportunities to assist with implementing STEM programs in our schools. The teachers and students are exited about the opportunities for hands-on experiences and more project based activities." Said Ms. Lisa Jackson, Pamlico Superintendent

The STEM East Network model has received national attention and is currently being replicated in western North Carolina. All parties believe that the collaborative approach of the Council is a true win-win-win for students, employers and the regional economy.
This was truly a team effort: police, fire, communications, public works, IT all the folks who were involved to put this project together in really great detail was based on all of us working together to make this project a reality.

Adolfson & Peterson Construction (AP) proudly participated in the grand opening of the new City of Aurora Police and Fire Safety Training Center (CAPSTC), a joint state-of-the-art training center. More than 200 people gathered for a ribbon cutting ceremony and to tour the new campus. Dedication speeches were made from Councilwoman Barb Cleland, City Manager Skip Noe, Fire Chief Garcia, Police Chief Nick Metz and Regional VP Tom Horsting with AP.

This 23-acre campus project includes four separate buildings: a 43,366-sf education and training building with office and conference areas; a new 7,000-sf, five-story drill tower structure; an on-site pump house; and a 3,500-sf class-A burn building.

The design-build team includes architect Studiotrope and engineer Elliott, LeBoeuf & McElwain. The campus now serves as a joint-training facility for City of Auroras Fire and Police Departments, what Councilwoman Barb Cleland described as a must-have for the City. These public safety entities are now able to train and operate together to be more effective as a team on the drill field when responding to emergency scenes. In addition, the site location is next to Arapahoe Countys driving track and sheriffs office for future collaborative training opportunities with other agencies.

The site will accommodate future growth plans including a 7,700-sf tactical/search/rescue structure; a 34,500-sf five-building tactical village; and a training site that will include vehicle extrication, trench simulation and haz-mat training.

City Manager George Skip Noe spoke to the collaboration efforts which brought project success. This was truly a team effort: police, fire, communications, public works, IT all the folks who were involved to put this project together in really great detail was based on all of us working together to make this project a reality.

Skip Noe continued by saying, This is an amazing, fully integrated training facility to make our community even safer. It enables us to be at that top level of response.

Aurora Police Chief Nick Metz commented on the positive effects the structure will have by saying, To have a facility our firefighters and police officers can walk into every day to feel proud and supported will only make their job even better to provide service to our community.

About AP

Adolfson & Peterson Construction is a U.S.-based, privately held firm that is consistently ranked among the top 50 construction managers and general contractors in the nation. Founded in 1946, the company has built longstanding commitments to the regions in which it operates and is known nationally for its innovative and collaborative approaches within the building industry. Adolfson & Peterson Construction serves the education, multifamily, healthcare, commercial, municipal and senior living market segments from its offices in Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Portland and Tacoma. For more information, visit http://www.a-p.com and follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
The American Board The events will cover the steps to earning an alternative teacher certification through the American Board, how to become a teacher in Idaho, and answer questions prospective teachers have about the program.

Idaho, like most states across the country, is facing a dramatic teacher shortage in the next five years, as baby-boomer teachers are set to retire and enrollment in teachers colleges is down. National non-profit the American Board will be hosting two information events in the Boise Public Library this March to introduce their program to those hoping to teach in Idaho, in an effort to fill this gap.

The American Board, also known as the American Board for the Certification of Teacher Excellence (ABCTE) has been operating in the state of Idaho since 2003. In that time, over 1,550 Idaho residents have navigated through the non-profits online program to become fully certified to teach in Idaho public schools. The American Board hopes to make more local citizens aware of the program.

The American Board assists career-changers that have a Bachelors degree in a subject besides education, or those that have an education degree but are not certified, to earn their teacher certification online. Students of the program have up to one-year to study the online coursework and learn how to teach their preferred subject area and how to manage a classroom. After completing two examinations at a local Pearson VUE testing center, students can then apply for teaching positions with the Idaho State Department of Education.

The average student of the American Board is a professional in their thirties or forties that is ready for a career change. Stay-at-home parents ready to re-join the workforce and recent college graduates are also frequently students of the program. Students have up to one year to complete the program, with the average students certifying in 7-9 months.

The American Board will be hosting two events for prospective teachers across the state on Saturday, March 19, at 11am and 1pm. The information events will be held at the main branch of the Boise Public Library on South Capitol Boulevard, in the William F. Haynes Memorial Auditorium. The auditorium can only seat 200, so attendees are encouraged to arrive early to secure a seat.

Attendees can register for the event online at http://www.abcte.org/abcte-events or call 1-877-669-2228 (Option 1).

The events will cover the steps to earning an alternative teacher certification through the American Board, how to become a teacher in Idaho, and answer questions prospective teachers have about the program. Attendees will also receive an exclusive discount off the cost of the program.

The American Board Spring Information Session:

Boise Public Library  William F. Haynes Memorial Auditorium

715 S. Capitol Boulevard

Boise, Idaho 83705

Sessions at 11am and 1pm (Choose One)

1-877-669-2228 (Option 1)
Finance ministers and central bankers of the Group of 20 rich and developing countries tried to reassure jittery financial markets that the global economy is healthy, though they acknowledged in a statement that they "need to do more" to boost growth.

The declaration following a two-day meeting promised "growth-friendly" tax and spending policies. The governments pledged to press ahead with previously promised reforms aimed at making their economies more efficient and productive.

"We agreed to use all tools  monetary, fiscal and structural  to boost growth," China's finance minister, Lou Jiwei, said at a news conference.

What each country does will be dictated by its circumstances, Lou said. He said some can afford stimulus while others where debt is high have to move faster on structural economic reforms.

Companies and investors were looking to the Shanghai meeting for reassurance and action. But leaders from the United States, China, Europe and elsewhere had tried to squelch expectations that it would produce specific growth plans.

Global growth is at its lowest in two years and forecasters say the danger of recession is rising. The International Monetary Fund cut this year's global growth forecast by 0.2 percentage points last month to 3.4 percent. It said another downgrade is likely in April.

The G-20 statement acknowledged that "vulnerabilities have risen" in the global economy against a backdrop that includes volatile capital flows, the European refugee crisis and the possibility of a British exit from the European Union. But it said that growth should continue at a "moderate pace" in advanced economies and "remains strong" in developing countries.

The governments promised to avoid "competitive devaluations" of their currencies to boost exports  a key concern of global markets following turmoil over China's yuan.

A surprise change in August in the mechanism Beijing uses to set its exchange rate prompted fears that the yuan might be weakened to support struggling Chinese exporters. Despite official denials, repeated Friday by Chinese central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan, those expectations have driven an outflow of capital that spiked to a record $135 billion in December.

"We will not target our exchange rates for competitive purposes," the G-20 statement said.

The Chinese hosts wanted the meeting to promote their campaign for a bigger voice in managing trade and finance. Instead, the communist government had to scramble to defend its reputation for competence following stock market and currency turmoil.

In a video message Friday to the meeting, China's top economic official, Premier Li Keqiang, said Beijing had the resources to combat downward pressure on growth that fell to a 25-year low of 7.3 percent last year.

"The Chinese economy has great potential, resilience and flexibility, and we will capitalize on such strengths," Li said.

A repeated theme from officials was that governments need to speed up economic reforms because multiple rounds of stimulus by central banks and treasuries used since the 2008 global crisis are no longer effective.

A previous G-20 meeting in Australia produced a list of some 800 promised reforms aimed at simplifying regulation and boosting trade, technology and job creation, but many have yet to be carried out.

On Friday, Germany's finance minister, Wolfgang Schauble, said his government would refuse to take part in any new joint stimulus in the event of falling global growth. He insisted governments had to embrace reforms instead.

Others at the meeting included U.S. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen, Mario Draghi of the European Central Bank and their counterparts from Europe, South Korea, India and South Africa.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew welcomed the agreement to avoid devaluations and urged governments to push ahead with reforms.

"We need to redouble our efforts to boost global demand, rather than relying on the United States as the consumer of last resort," Lew said.

British Treasury chief George Osborne said the statement's reference to unease over his country's possible departure from the EU emphasized its potential consequences. The pound has hit seven-year lows as jittery investors react to uncertainty about the June 23 referendum on whether to remain in the 28-country bloc.

The Shanghai meeting concluded that a possible vote to withdraw "is among the biggest economic dangers this year," Osborne said. "If that's their assessment of the impact on the world economy, imagine what it would do to the U.K."
Trump was asked Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" whether he rejected support from the former KKK Grand Dragon and other white supremacists after Duke told his radio followers this week that a vote against Trump was equivalent to "treason to your heritage."

"Well, just so you understand, I don't know anything about David Duke. OK?" Trump told host Jake Tapper. "I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists."

The comments sparked a wave of censures with just two days to go before 11 states hold GOP primaries involving about a quarter of the party's total nominating delegate count.

Trump was asked Friday by journalists how he felt about Duke's support. He said he didn't know anything about it and curtly said: "All right, I disavow, ok?"

Trump hasn't always claimed ignorance on Duke's history. In 2000, he wrote a New York Times op-ed explaining why he abandoned the possibility of running for president on the Reform Party ticket. He wrote of an "underside" and "fringe element" of the party, concluding, "I leave the Reform Party to David Duke, Pat Buchanan and Lenora Fulani. That is not company I wish to keep."

Campaigning in Virginia, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio pounced on Trump's latest position on Duke, shifting to a more serious tone after spending the weekend mocking his rival's hair and "the worst spray tan in America."

"We cannot be a party who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan," Rubio told thousands of supporters gathered in Leesburg, Virginia. "Not only is that wrong, it makes him unelectable. How are we going to grow the party if we nominate someone who doesn't repudiate the Ku Klux Klan?"

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also weighed in on Sunday, calling Trump's comments "Really sad."

"You're better than this," Cruz wrote. "We should all agree, racism is wrong, KKK is abhorrent."

Democrat Bernie Sanders also lashed out at his Republican rival on Twitter, writing: "America's first black president cannot and will not be succeeded by a hatemonger who refuses to condemn the KKK."

Trump also garnered backlash Sunday for recently retweeting a quote from Benito Mussolini, the 20th century fascist dictator of Italy, which reads: "It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep."

Trump told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, "I know who said it. But what difference does it make whether it's Mussolini or somebody else? It's certainly a very interesting quote."

The first-time candidate has long described his campaign as a "movement" of the "silent majority," a phrase borrowed from former President Richard Nixon's "Southern strategy" aimed at working-class white voters in the decade after the peak of the civil rights movement.

The latest shake up in the GOP race comes as attention shifts to the South, where the region will dominate on Super Tuesday  March 1  and the weeks beyond.

Trump holds commanding leads across the region, with the exception of Cruz's home state of Texas, a dynamic that puts tremendous pressure on Rubio and Cruz as they try to outlast each other and derail Trump.

The two first-term senators continue a personal and policy-based barrage against Trump, warning his nomination would be catastrophic for the party in November and beyond.

"We're about to lose the conservative movement to someone who's not a conservative and (lose) the party of Lincoln and Reagan to a con artist," Rubio said Sunday on Fox News.

Trump, for his part, relishes his position, mocking the Republican establishment and his flailing rivals. "It's amazing what's going on," he told NBC, calling his campaign a "movement."

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton, who received another burst of momentum Saturday after her lopsided victory in South Carolina, turned her attention to the Republican field on Sunday, all-but-ignoring rival Bernie Sanders during campaign events in Tennessee.

Starting her morning with stops at two Memphis churches, Clinton offered an implicit critique of Trump, issuing a call to unite the nation and asking worshippers to reject "the demagoguery, the prejudice, the paranoia."

Asked by actor Tony Goldwyn, who later campaigned with Clinton in Nashville, about her thoughts on Duke's support for Trump, Clinton described it, simply, as "pathetic."

Trump also rejected calls from Rubio  who he repeatedly referred to Sunday as "Little Marco"  and Cruz to release his tax returns, saying he can't share returns that are under IRS audit. The senators on Saturday released summary pages of several years' worth of their personal returns. Trump says he's already shared his personal financial details in separate disclosure forms.

Separately, Cruz warned the "Trump train" could become "unstoppable" if he rolls to big victories Tuesday. Cruz cast Trump as a carbon copy Clinton and suggested that not even Trump "knows what he would do" as president.

Tuesday, Cruz said, "is a battle to determine where conservatives go."

Still, Cruz confirmed to CNN's Jake Tapper that he "will support the Republican nominee, period, the end." Rubio has sidestepped questions about whether he could support Trump.
Draw, dance, cook, learn new language with BHC classes

A variety of community education classes are available through Black Hawk College.

Upcoming classes include:

 Anyone Can Draw a Still Life  Mondays, March 7-28, from 9-11 a.m. Cost is $38.

 Basic Chinese  Tuesdays and Thursdays, March 8-31, from 6-8 p.m. Cost is $135.

 Ballroom Dancing - Latin Style  Tuesdays, March 8 to April 12, from 7-8:30 p.m. Cost is $52 per couple.

 French II - Conversational (Part I)  Mondays and Wednesdays, March 9-28, from 6-8 p.m. Cost is $110.

 Inexpensive But Fancy Main Dishes  Thursday, March 10 from 6:30-8:15 p.m. Cost is $35.

Class locations vary. For details, visit www.bhc.edu/communityed.

To register, call 309-796-8223.

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Take daytime computer classes in EM, RI

Black Hawk College offers daytime computer classes in East Moline and Rock Island.

Upcoming classes at the BHC Adult Learning Center in Rock Island include:

Office/Windows Help (Office 2010/Windows 7)  Monday, March 7 from 10:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Cost is $15.

Access Part 1 (Office 2010)  Wednesday, March 9 from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Cost is $90.

Coming up at the colleges Outreach Center in East Moline is:

OneDrive  Tuesday, March 8 from 8:30-11 a.m. Cost is $40.

To register, call 309-796-8223.

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Quality engineer exam prep starts March 7

Prepare for the ASQ Certified Quality Engineer (CQE) certification examination with the Certified Quality Engineer course at Black Hawk College.

The class will meet from 6-9 p.m. Mondays, March 7 to May 23, at the colleges Outreach Center in East Moline.

The $750 course fee includes all materials.

To register, call 309-796-8223.

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Restaurant, food service workers get training at BHC

Black Hawk College provides Food Handler Training for restaurant and food service workers.

In Illinois, all food handlers must receive basic safe food handling principles training within 30 days of employment.

The next Food Handler Training will be Tuesday, March 8 from 3-5:30 p.m. at the colleges Outreach Center in East Moline. Cost is $28.

To register, call 309-796-8223.

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Explore Irish traditions, history March 16

Spend the day before St. Patricks Day learning about Irish traditions.

Join Black Hawk College on Wednesday, March 16 for a Lifelong Learner Lunch on Irish Traditions We Celebrate and the History Behind Them.

The lunch and program will be at 11:30 a.m. Cost is $23. The registration deadline is Wednesday, March 9.

To register, call 309-796-8223.

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Free class for family, friends of adults with mental illness

Black Hawk College is offering a free course for family members and friends of individuals diagnosed with mental illness.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Family-to-Family course will cover symptoms and treatments of mental illness, brain biology, coping skills, self-care, advocacy strategies and more.

The class will be Tuesdays, March 8 to May 24, from 6-8:30 p.m. at the colleges Outreach Center in East Moline. The registration deadline is Friday, March 4.

For more information, visit www.bhc.edu/communityhealth. To register, call 309-796-8223.
ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL  Lt. Col. Jim Carmichael, a U.S. Army Reserve Officer, was inducted into the Ordnance Order of Samuel Sharpe during a Feb. 19 ceremony.

It is a real honor and privilege for me to bestow the Samuel Sharpe Award to you, said Brig. Gen. Steven E. Farmen, commanding general, Joint Munitions Command. It is one of the highest awards in the Ordnance Corps.

"I want to thank you, Jim, for all the great work that youve done, and everything you did to earn this," Brig. Gen. Farmen said. "Obviously, you made a huge difference providing ammo to our warfighters.

The Ordnance Order of Samuel Sharpe is a prestigious recognition presented to individuals who have provided selfless contributions to the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps. Introduced in May 1994 by the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps Association, the Order of Samuel Sharpe honors ordnance personnel, nominated by their peers, who have demonstrated integrity, moral character and professional competence during their federal careers. It also honors those who have gone above and beyond in providing quality ammunition to the all military services.

The award was created in honor of Samuel Sharpe, a member of the Council of 13 freemen of the original 13 American colonies. On April 17, 1629, he was appointed the Master Gunner of Ordnance by the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his knowledge, expertise and professionalism.

I am humbled and honored to become a recognized Samuel Sharpe recipient, said Lt. Col. Carmichael. My efforts to provide a ready and reliable ammunition company during a time of conflict was my goal. This would have never been possible without a dedicated unit commitment to readiness. I wish to thank 1st Sgt. Michael Junk, the warrant officers, the soldiers and their families, and the full-time staff of the 221st (Ordnance Company).

Lt. Col. Carmichael was honored for his efforts when he served as the 221st Ordnance Company (Ammo) commander in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He contributed to the establishment of an Ordnance Ammunition Modular Company with a total authorized strength of 216 U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers, capable of deploying and providing a daily lift of 5320 shorts tons of ammunition support.

These skills were demonstrated during the units deployment to Iraq where Lt. Col. Carmichael assisted in the design and construction of a new Ammunition Supply Point in Bagram.

The production-based training program he implemented in partnership with Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center and Crane Army Ammunition Activity in Crane, Ind., provided tactically and technically proficient soldiers. The unit consistently exceeded ammunition handling and classification production goals and saved the government millions of dollars. Its soldiers became the only ammunition depot certified inspectors within the Army Reserve.

Lt. Col. Carmichael, a native of Franklin, Ind., currently serves in the U.S. Army Reserve as Battalion Commander for the 407th Civil Affairs Battalion, Arden Hills, Minn. He has more than 23 years of combined service within the National Guard and Army Reserve. He and his wife, Gail, live in Davenport.

He also works full time as a Department of the Army Civilian within the Army Sustainment Commands Installation Logistics Directorate, located on Rock Island Arsenal. As a logistic management specialist, Lt. Col. Carmichael provides program support for 76 Installation Logistics Directorate locations worldwide. In his current civilian position, he is program manager and team leader for bulk petroleum, supply service activities and as the hazardous material manager.
ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL  She was a lifelong nurse, not a politician. But others thought she would make a great mayor of Clinton, Iowa.

LeMetta Wynn said people prodded her to run for mayor. Her first bid was unsuccessful. But she persisted and eventually was elected Iowas first female African-American mayor in November 1995 and Iowas second black mayor.

She went on to win two more elections, serving as Clintons mayor until 2007.

I didn't really know anything about government," she told attendees of the Feb. 16 African American/Black History Month observance activities in Heritage Hall.

The mother of 10 children -- nine daughters and one son -- was a registered nurse for 30 years. Originally from Galena, Ms. Wynn also came from a big family -- four older brothers and four older sisters.

They all thought the world of the baby in the family, she said, drawing laughter from the crowd.

The theme of this years RIA observance, sponsored by the U.S. Army Sustainment Command, was Hallowed Grounds: Sites of African American Memories.

The purpose of Black History Month was stated in a program for the event: During African American History Month, we celebrate these formative leaders and sites of the civil rights movement, as well as innumerable others who have contributed immeasurably to the tapestry of America, helping shape our nation and the world. African American History Month is a time to reflect on our nations history and progress, and recommit to advancing equal opportunity for all.

Ms. Wynn also served on the Clinton School Board for 12 years, including three years as its president. Although the mayoral position is officially considered part time, Ms. Wynn said I never got to be (a part-time mayor) because there was too much going on.

She credited many people who assisted her during her campaigns and the Clinton City Council for their support during her tenure as mayor.

I had their help, she said. I had their good wishes.

Col. Fredrick Hannah, director, Installation Logistics, ASC, told Ms. Wynn she truly illustrates African-American history and exemplifies such characteristics as faith, loyalty, commitment, dedication and unity.

Other activities during the observance included an a cappella performance of the national anthem and "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" by ASCs Everline Barnard and Jereen Phillips-Harden; a video titled Now I Get It: Black History Month; a reading of the presidential proclamation by Sgt. 1st Class Michelle Ferguson, ASC; an invocation by Chaplain (Lt. Col.) Jeffrey Botsford, ASC; and an appreciation plaque presentation to Ms. Wynn from Rock Island Arsenal command teams.
Glen Evans

Age: 46

Address:1120 8th Ave. Rock Island

Family: Daughter Shaneeka Evans, 26, sons Glen Evans,11, and Jeremiah Evans, 6

Party: Democratic

Education: Rock Island-Milan schools

Occupation: Ordained Minister, Laborers Union Local 309

Political experience: Elected auditor of Laborers Local 309; past Democratic precinct committeeman

Website: Glen Evans Illinois State Representative72nd@facebook.com

Name: Jeff Jacobs

Age: 32

Address: P.O. Box 471, Moline

Family: Parents, Randy and Alice Jacobs. two older brothers, six nieces and nephews and a

dog named Abe

Party: Democratic

Education: Degree in accounting from Drake University, law degree from Chicago-Kent College

of Law

Occupation: Partner at the Moline law firm of Bozeman, Neighbour, Patton & Noe LLP

Political experience: Field organizer for John Kerry's Presidential Campaign, internship for

Senator Dick Durbin, campaign adviser for Rep. Pat Verschoore

Michael W. Halpin

Age: 36

Address: 2100 20 1/2 Avenue, Rock Island

Family: Married to MaryAnn Halpin (Floyd) for 10 years. Children: Natalie (4) and Will (2)

Party: Democratic

Education: B.A. in Political Science from Roger Williams University (2001); J.D. from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2008)

Occupation: Attorney and Partner at McCarthy, Callas & Feeney, P.C.; Public Guardian and Public Administrator of Rock Island County

Political experience: Former aide to Congressman Lane Evans, Precinct Committeeman, former treasurer for the Rock Island County Democrats.

Katelyn (Kate) Hotle

Age: 28

Address: 556 30th St., Rock Island

Family: Bob & Sandy Hotle (parents), Dorothy Hotle (grandma), brothers Corey (wife Laura) and kids Audrey and Lucas Hotle and Joe Hotle all of Rock Island; brother Tim (wife Jocelyn) Hotle and kids Alexis and Elijah of Albuquerque, N.M. and brother Zach (wife Irit) and kids Evan and Olivia Hotle of Highland Park, IL.

Education: Rock Island High School 2006; B.A in Public Policy, DePaul University 2010

Occupation: Government Relations Manager, Mediacom

Political Experience: Elected in 2013 as 5th Ward Alderman on the Rock Island City Council; leadership service on local and state committees including Illinois Municipal League policy committee, QC Chamber Business Advocacy Council,

Why are you running for office?

Evans: To give the voters a candidate that wants to take their issues and concerns in the room to be their voice.

Halpin: I'm running for office to ensure that working families, seniors, and veterans continue to have a voice in state government. While working for Congressman Evans, I also learned the value of constituent service. It is our duty to assist citizens with their daily interaction with state agencies. I'm also running to fulfill that duty.

Hotle: I am running because the challenging times facing our state require bold leadership from someone not afraid to lose an election by doing the right thing. I want to put my experience in policy, my vision, and passion for making a difference to work for the people of this district to help restore Illinois. My approach offers a better style of politics, one focused on building bridges and not creating more partisan divides

Jacobs: Im running for office because I love Rock Island County and I want to make sure the place I grew up and call home allows for the same and better opportunities for the next generation. I want to protect the middle class families I see struggling. I want to make sure the 72nd keeps the good jobs it has, and attracts great jobs in the future.

Im running for office because we are at a critical time in the history of Illinois. We have massive problems with the budget, and a Governor who is intent on looking out for millionaires and billionaires. We need someone who will go to Springfield and work pragmatically for solutions but who looks at every situation from the vantage point of what is going to help the middle class? I am that candidate.

Im running for office because I believe that weve had great representation over these last 12-years with Rep. Verschoore. I truly believe he was working for us, and I think we need someone who will continue to work for the working people of the 72nd. I am that candidate.

I know just how generous, thoughtful, and caring the people in this District are. They deserve the best representation they can get - someone who is only beholden to them, and not to donors in Springfield or Chicago. Id be honored if they chose me.

Do you support the introduction of the so-called millionaire's tax for education, which was backed by 60 percent of voters in 2014?

Evans: Yes

Halpin: I support the millionaire's tax. Our schools need greater resources to help students succeed, get into good colleges, and secure good-paying jobs. This proposal would raise $1 billion for schools annually. It would also lessen pressure for local district to try to raise property taxes.

Hotle: Yes. I do believe though that we need a more comprehensive, sustainable and long term plan to support education. Past revenue generators were promised to be used for education and then those promises were not upheld. There is no more important tool to combating poverty and social injustices and building a strong economy than education. It must be a priority and we must uphold our promises.

Jacobs: Absolutely. Illinois needs a lot of work to be as great as it can be. We need to improve our schools to be competitive. Our infrastructure needs to be improved for safety and quality of life. We need to honor our commitments to teachers. This takes resources. Who should bear the burden of these costs, the bedrock of any prosperous society? Its obvious that the burden should be levied against those who benefit the most from an educated population and infrastructure, millionaires and billionaires. Its time that those who are taking the most from our society - which they acquired through access to great roads, an educated population, safety through a superb police force - pay that wealth forward, so the next generation in the 72nd can have great infrastructure, an educated population, and prosperity.

Do you agree with Gov. Rauner's proposal to allow local governments to opt out of prevailing wage and collective bargaining requirements?

Evans: No

Halpin: I strongly oppose efforts by Republican Governor Bruce Rauner to impose so-called "right to work zones." Such laws hurt working people and weaken the ability of workers to collectively bargain the terms and conditions of their employment.

Hotle: No and no. These are important rights and assurances to protecting fair wages and a strong middle class.

Jacobs: No. This is but one of many attempts by Governor Rauner to make the rich in the Illinois richer on the backs of hard working folks in the middle class. Anyone who is willing to work hard deserves to be paid a living wage. Workers who have banded together to bargain for fair treatment and fair wages deserve the opportunity to join together for these purposes. Lord knows the millionaires and billionaires join together for exactly the opposite purpose. We live in the greatest country on Earth, in the finest state in the Union, there is no reason that those willing to work should live in poverty, and that workers should be deprived of their opportunity to demand safe conditions, decent pay, and dignity.

With marijuana now legalized for medical use in Illinois, is it time for the state to go further and legalize the drug for recreational use?

Evans: No

Halpin: For too long, marijuana laws have been enforced disproportionately against minorities, when the rate of marijuana use is consistent regardless of race. In addition, too many nonviolent offenders are burdening our correctional system at a time when our state can least afford it. I support lessening penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana, and will work with law enforcement to prioritize addressing the increase in methamphetamine and heroin use, which poses a far greater danger to our citizens.

Hotle: The medical marijuana program in Illinois still has issues to be worked out to ensure it is properly helping those in need. Allowing marijuana for recreational use will require an efficient program with well managed government oversight which, I don't feel confident we are equipped to handle right now. I do think it is something Illinois should consider in the future after we first work to stabilize our finances.

Jacobs: Im open to the idea if that is what my constituents want. But the thousands of people Ive met in this District seem to be focused on other things, education, property tax reform, the budget, good jobs - things that I will focus on if elected.

What specifically can be done to improve the Illinois economy, particularly in a border area like the Quad-Cities?

Evans: I would say that I agree with congresswoman Cheri Bustos about the needs: 1. Improving and expanding education and workforce development opportunities; 2. Maintaining and upgrading local infrastructure; 3. Fostering an entrepreneurial environment where new and existing businesses

Halpin: Our local economy is hurt most by the lack of budget and certainty. Governor Rauner must negotiate the budget in good faith, without preconditions, such as busting unions and limiting the rights of injured workers. With a budget in place, business can begin to plan appropriately. We can complete the I-74 bridge and bring Amtrak to Moline. Our community has a great workforce. The current budget crisis is holding us back.

Hotle: Restoring confidence in our government systems is critical to a strong IL QC economy. Outside of that, I would place focus on our College corridor between the Western Riverfront Campus and Augustana College. Create a partnership between government, education and Illinois employers to form a corridor with incentives for College students to live, work and eventually transition in to post collegiate careers. For example, the employers on the Arsenal offer a program which pays for student loans in exchange for a commitment of years of work and Renaissance Rock Island currently has a live/work program. We should use these starting points to build a learn, live and work program to attract and retain young talent which is the key to growing our economy.

Jacobs: For too long the 72nd has seen a steady stream of good families, hard workers, and smart kids who grew up on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities cross the river and build lives in Iowa. They do this for two of the most basic reasons  education and taxes. I will do my best to make the Illinois side competitive for these families, because Im proud of community we have, and I know that by lowering our property taxes and seeking more educational funding from the State, we can improve our schools and make living on the Illinois side make financial sense.

I will make sure that Western Illinois University gets the attention and funding it deserves, building on its reputation to become a regional leader, churning out great students which will help keep Deere and other local businesses happy to stay in Illinois.

One example of how we can grow Rock Island County and become competitive with Iowa is by passing the Illinois Historical Tax Credit. There have been over 20 developments in Davenport alone that have utilized the Iowa Historical Tax Credit - this will spur growth, provide for good paying jobs and bring in revenue to our municipalities and Rock Island County.

Do you believe civil forfeiture laws in Illinois need to be reexamined and possibly reformed?

Evans: Yes

Halpin: Yes. The government is not entitled to seize the property of innocent people, facing no criminal charges, when the property was used without their knowledge. I support common sense reform that make the process challenging a forfeiture both transparent, fair, and within the bounds of the Constitution.

Hotle: Yes, we have seen local examples of how the current law can be harmful to citizens. Most recently effecting an elderly woman in Moline that spent months trying to get her vehicle back and struggled to navigate the legal system without an attorney which she could not afford. We need to ensure a balanced approach is taken to protect citizens from undue harm while not obstructing our law enforcement officers from protecting our communities.

Jacobs: Yes, and this is an issue that I care deeply about, and have been advocating for this entire primary season.

While we are lucky in this area to have good and ethical law enforcement officers, citizens in a free society need to have safeguards so that property is not taken without adequate due process. Horror stories abound about people - never convicted of a crime - that have had their cars, trucks, tools, and other valuable possessions taken away and kept.

We can reform civil forfeiture by (1) instituting a civilian review board, (2) changing the incentives that law enforcement has to make seizures (i.e., the proceeds go to a general fund, not law enforcement directly), and (3) providing transparent reporting to the people about the amount seized, the nature of the seizures, and where the proceeds went.

Government is intended to protect its citizens. This means we need to support law enforcement in making our streets safe, but also that we need a fair and transparent approach to civil forfeiture.

Is it time for the establishment of an independent redistricting commission in Illinois?

Evans: Yes

Halpin: I am open to redistricting proposals. However, any proposal must meet a high bar of preserving adequate representation for both urban and rural communities and protect the rights of minorities to elect candidates of their choosing.

Hotle: Yes, I support independent redistricting. The first step is to at least allow voters to have their say which has been prevented in Illinois. Voters deserve to be a part of the process.

Jacobs: I am in support of reforming the way our districts are drawn - we must ensure that it complies with the Illinois State Constitution and the United States Constitution. No state in the Union has been able to truly keep the politics away from redistricting. The one that has come closest, Iowa, is a small state with an extremely homogeneous population and few population centers. In addition, this proposal masquerades under a good government reform, but is in fact a partisan attack intended to provide for more Republican seats in Illinois. As we saw in the 2012 national election, Democratic House Candidates received over 1 million more votes than Republican House Candidates, yet Republicans kept a huge lead in the House. An independent redistricting commission would only ensure that Republican gerrymandering on a national level becomes even more unrepresentative - a truly dangerous development for our democracy. As President Obama has stated we must look at this much more as a federal issue.

Do you support term limits for leadership positions in the General Assembly?

Evans: Yes

Halpin: Every legislator is subject to term limits set by the will of the voters. If a legislator no longer represents the people, the people will vote against that candidate. Voters here in Rock Island County have done just that on many occasions. Term limits only increase the power of unelected lobbyists, who answer only to their clients.

Hotle: Yes, I support term limits for leadership and I believe term limits for all legislators should be voted on by the public.

Jacobs: Yes. I do not support term limits for elected officials, because I trust voters. I trust voters to make an informed opinion and to throw out the crooks and the bums, and keep the good ones. The General Assembly is different. The nature of power that the leadership has over its members is significant - they can bury you in committees that are unrelated to your district, or fund an enthusiastic primary challenge, among other, more nefarious pressure points. In this way, it is difficult for the rank-and-file to challenge leadership. By instituting term limits the fall in line tactics are less acute, which makes it simpler to stand up to out-of-touch leadership.
Brandi McGuire

Age: 42

Address:1161 16th St., Milan

Family: Husband of 21 years, Colin. Children Savannah, Kennedy, Garrett and Kellsey

Party: Republican

Education: Attended Black Hawk

Occupation: Director and certified Illinois driver training instructor at Skiles' Driving School

Political experience: None

Jordan Thoms

Age: 33

Address: Rock Island

Family: Wife Amy, children Madison, Zachary, William and Matthew

Party: Republican

Education: Attended Augustana College

Occupation: Marketing

Political experience: None

Why are you running for office?

McGuire: I am running for office so that no other person in District 72 gets bullied and unheard again like what happened to my family. The citizens voices deserve to be heard and represented in Springfield. I will be a strong advocate for a fair system and a level playing field for all. I will tirelessly advocate for those most vulnerable, especially our young students, working families, seniors, veterans, and those with disabilities.

Thoms: I was born and raised in Rock Island County, and it was a good place to grow up. When I became a father myself, I knew I wanted my kids to be raised with the same Rock Island County values I was. Unfortunately, Illinois has changed a lot since I was a kid and it has affected Rock Island County.

Im not a politician, Im a family man and concerned citizen who wants a better future for my family and for yours. Im running to get rid of career politicians, push for balanced state budgets, and a property tax freeze. Im running because Rock Island County needs a State Representative, not a politician.

Do you support the introduction of the so-called millionaire's tax for education, which was backed by 60 percent of voters in 2014?

McGuire: I oppose new tax increases. I believe we need structural and concrete, education reform first and foremost. We need to fix the education system for our children. I believe that if we tax the wealthy and business owners more, they will leave the state, taking jobs, resources, and their business knowledge and experience with them. We can't just throw tax dollars at education and declare it fixed.

Thoms: First and foremost we need to pass reforms and dedicated funding streams to the programs that are the most important, like education and those that help the elderly. Until this is accomplished I am not interested in talking about any tax increases.

Do you agree with Gov. Rauner's proposal to allow local governments to opt out of prevailing wage and collective bargaining requirements?

McGuire: Our state has almost 7,000 units of local government. I believe the closer the government is to the people it serves, the better the chances for responsible and effective government. Why not give real decision-making authority to locally elected officials who will be closest to the problems they are supposed to fix.

Thoms: For right now, I do not believe collective bargaining should be our focus. We have a state without a budget, a failing education funding system and a legislature full of political insiders who are more worried about their political future than the state and their constituents. Lets focus on those issues for now.

With marijuana now legalized for medical use in Illinois, is it time for the state to go further and legalize the drug for recreational use?

McGuire: I am opposed to the legalization of marijuana for recreational use.

Thoms: We still need to see how the medical marijuana program works for both law enforcement and the medical community before anyone should be looking at expansion.

What specifically can be done to improve the Illinois economy, particularly in a border area like the Quad-Cities?

McGuire: We must create a fair and competitive business climate in Illinois. We need to reduce the regulations, fees, taxes, and bureaucratic requirements on existing and new businesses.

Thoms: We need to make sure that there is parity between labor laws and the business environment with our border states. Regionally, that effort could be different so we need to work with local job creators to help us create the right environment.

Do you believe civil forfeiture laws in Illinois need to be re-examined and possibly reformed?

McGuire: The manner in which civil forfeiture laws in Illinois are abused is a prime example of big, overreaching, and intrusive government bullying it's citizens. The system currently casts a wide net on those accused, reaping benefits to the justice system at the expense of the taxpayers. Yes, these laws need to be re-examined and reformed.

Thoms: Illinois civil forfeiture laws were intended to help the law enforcement community stop drug trafficking and gang violence. Too often you hear of local law enforcement taking advantage of the law and abusing their ability to take property. I would like to see an in depth study done on how the law is abused and recommendations on how to fix the problem. That may be reform or throwing the law out entirely.

Is it time for the establishment of an independent redistricting commission in Illinois?

McGuire: I support the establishment of an independent redistricting commission in Illinois.

Thoms: I think we need to take politics out of the redistricting in Illinois. I am all for finding a solution to the problem and an independent commission just may be that solution.

Do you support term limits for leadership positions in the General Assembly?

McGuire: I support term limits for leadership positions in the Illinois General Assembly.

Thoms: Absolutely. Politicians need to be accountable to local voters not special interests. I also support term limits for all legislators and will limit myself to four terms in office.
"No lawyer would ever allow you to release a tax return while you're being audited," the front-runner to be the Republican presidential nominee said in an interview Saturday on the Fox News Channel. "As soon as the audits are finished, I have no problem. There is no bombshell whatsoever."

Tax experts say that explanation has them scratching their heads  emboldening Trump critics who argue that the celebrity businessman-turned-candidate's personal finances remain unexamined.

The odds of being randomly audited every year for a decade is vanishingly small  and Trump's statement that "four or five" years of his tax returns are actively being audited raised even more questions.

The IRS's normal statute of limitations for an audit is three years  though that time frame is extended in instances of substantial underreporting and there is no time limit on reviews in the event of fraud.

The Trump campaign did not respond to questions from the AP about why the IRS would be auditing his tax returns past the normal three-year period.

At the campaign event Friday where he won the endorsement of former rival Chris Christie, Trump ignored questions from a reporter on why he would keep private earlier returns not at risk of audit.

Candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio have pledged to release their own returns  an invariably unpleasant rite of passage for every major party nominee since 1976. When that time comes, Trump will stand alone among the major Republican candidates in having not yet produced them.

Despite Trump's claims to the contrary, the last Republican nominee  Mitt Romney  had long since released two years of tax returns by this time in the 2012 cycle.

Romney has speculated that a "bombshell" is lurking in Trump's returns  perhaps indications of trouble in his business empire. Trump scoffed at Romney's suggestion.

Cruz, who normally boasts of his plans to dismantle the IRS, said "the voters need to know" if the government is homing in on possible wrongdoing.

Given the complex matrix of partnerships and business structures disclosed on Trump's filings with the Federal Election Commission, the scope of information available through Trump's personal tax returns is difficult to predict.

But the nature of Trump's charitable endeavors, his effective tax rate and the underlying profitability of his business operations would all likely loom large. Similar questions dogged Romney until late in the general election, suggesting that the focus on Trump's taxes may not quickly abate.

"If you are not prepared for this level of scrutiny of your financial affairs, you should rethink your vocational choice," said Joseph Thorndike, a tax historian and contributing editor to Tax Analysts, an accounting trade publication. "This one doesn't go away."

If Trump has been audited for a dozen years straight, he certainly would be right to think the process isn't random. According to statistics published by the IRS, between 2005 and 2013, audit rates for earners bringing in more than $1 million ranged between 5 percent and 12 percent a year.

"I've been audited for many years. It's very unfair. The IRS always audits, eventually I settle it out," he said in the broadcast interview Saturday. "I have friends that are very rich, they don't even know what I'm talking about. They've never been audited."

But regular audits wouldn't necessarily be a sign of anything more than the complexity of Trump's tax returns, Thorndike said. "No one claims it's a lottery."

There is no way to independently verify if Trump is in fact the subject of numerous active audits. But Thorndike said tax attorneys he's spoken with are generally sympathetic to the desire not to make tax returns public while they're being audited.

"If the returns are out there, then no one can hide  the taxpayer can't hide, and the authorities can't hide," Thorndike said.
The Republican proposed a 20 percent trim for the 2016-2017 fiscal year in his budget blueprint this month  a drop from a 30 percent cut he proposed last year. But the number is largely theoretical, since Rauner and Democratic leaders still haven't agreed on a budget for the current fiscal year, which means the campuses haven't received any money in months.

It'd be one of the largest pools of long-term funding available to cut if the state doesn't raise revenues, and the situation leaves public universities scrambling to cover costs.

Even the flagship University of Illinois, which has more resources than other campuses, is pleading for some kind of certainty going forward. In a letter to Rauner earlier this month, President Timothy Killeen pitched the idea of a multi-year budget for the university and highlighted all the sacrifices the school has already made.

"Those are high numbers," Killeen said in an interview with The Associated Press, referring to the latest proposed cuts. "And we don't believe they properly reflect the important role that higher education, public higher education, plays in the state of Illinois."

Here are questions and answers about the degree to which state money affects nine universities and almost 50 community colleges, and how they wound up at the heart of the budget impasse:

Q: Why is higher education such a big topic in the budget stalemate?

A: Even though Rauner and the General Assembly never agreed on a budget, Illinois has been court-ordered to fund many state services anyway, pushing the state further into debt. That's not the case with higher education.

At $1.9 billion last fiscal year, the money going to state universities, community colleges and financial aid is among the more prominent spending categories.

The money also directly affects tens of thousands of families, as more than half a million people are enrolled in the public universities and community colleges.

Rauner often says he is an advocate of higher education and sees its value to the state, but also says Illinois can't spend money it does not have.

Q: Is the lack of funding causing real problems?

A: Yes. Eastern Illinois University recently laid off almost 200 employees, and Western Illinois said Friday it is laying off 100.

Chicago State University told all 900 employees they could be laid off, though no action is expected for at least 60 days. The school also called off spring break and moved up the end of the school year to try to stretch its money, but it'll still run out of money at the end of March.

Schools also have been covering the expense of state grants for lower-income students in the absence of that money, but many community colleges say they can no longer afford the expense.

And Killeen says the situation has made top University of Illinois faculty a prime target for recruitment by out-of-state schools. Requests for increased pay and benefits to try to keep them have doubled over the past year, he said.

Q: How reliant are the schools on state money?

A: It depends on the school. About 11 percent of last year's budget for the University of Illinois' three campuses came from the state. But with a budget of $5.6 billion, that's still more than $600 million, and about 80 percent of that covers salaries.

Chicago State, which caters to a low-income, predominantly black population on the city's South Side, gets about 30 percent of its operating budget from the state. Most of the rest of its money comes from tuition, with little in the way alternate sources such as alumni donations that at other schools make sup millions of dollars a year. School officials say the campus will run out of money in March.

By contrast, the U of I said in January that it has cash reserves to cover well over $600 million in salaries and grants for lower-income students, and plans to continue covering those costs on its own for the foreseeable future.

Community colleges' reliance on state funding varies, too, but many get about 10 percent of their budgets. However, they also receive money from local taxes that public universities do not.

Q: How will it impact tuition?

A: Tuition is the revenue source schools have the most control over and increasing it is the easiest way to raise more money. A number of community colleges have voted in recent weeks to sharply raise tuition, by 10 percent or more in some cases.

But public universities In Illinois and across the country already have significantly raised tuition over the past decade  partly a response to diminished support from state governments.

With the cost of four years on campus now topping $100,000 at the University of Illinois campus at Champaign-Urbana, it is reluctant to ask parents and students for more and decided to keep tuition flat next school year, a second straight year without increases.
MOSCOW (AP)  Chanting "Russia will be free," about 30,000 people marched across Moscow on Saturday in memory of the slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in a strong outpouring of emotion on the anniversary of his killing. Some carried signs saying "I am not afraid."

The march was the largest opposition gathering since a similar number turned out to mourn Nemtsov two days after he was shot late at night as he and a companion walked across a bridge near the Kremlin. The brutality so close to the center of Russian power both frightened and angered supporters of the beleaguered opposition.

Nemtsov, who had been a deputy prime minister during Boris Yeltsin's presidency, was a charismatic figure and a vehement critic of President Vladimir Putin.

"He was the embodiment of freedom and courage. He was a model for me," said marcher Kamala Igamberdiyeva, a 26-year-old accountant. "We still have a chance if the opposition shows wisdom and unites."

City authorities denied march organizers permission to hold a procession to the bridge where Nemtsov was killed, but approved another route in central Moscow. For hours after the march, thousands also visited the bridge, filing past in a steady stream and laying flowers at the makeshift memorial.

U.S. Ambassador John Tefft laid a wreath at the bridge, saying he came to express hope that "some of the dreams that Boris Nemtsov had will come true in Russia." The ambassadors of European Union countries planned to pay their respects at the bridge on Sunday.

"I don't have a clear understanding of what this will lead to, but I really want there to be a civil society so that people can express their opinions," said Daria Skrylova, a 32-year-old history teacher who came to the bridge bearing 10 white roses.

In Putin's decade-and-a-half in power, Russian opposition groups have come under severe pressure, criticized by officials and state-controlled media as pawns of the West. Permission for their rallies is frequently denied.

"Our key demand today is democratic reform in Russia that will make political killings impossible and ensure peaceful government transition when it needs to be changed," said opposition activist Ilya Yashin. "We want to make Russia the country that Nemtsov was fighting for and the one he gave his life for."

One woman came to Moscow's rally with a large suitcase because she was flying back to Cheboksary, a city on the Volga River, later Saturday.

"I wanted to come to a place where other people thought the same way as I do," said Irina, a 48-year-old director of a small company, who would not give her last name for fear of incurring problems for her business. She said opposition rallies in her hometown typically attract no more than a hundred people.

Rallies in memory of Nemtsov were held in dozens of Russian cities, including in St. Petersburg, where a couple thousand people turned out. But most were small.

In Voronezh, just a few dozen people took to the streets and unknown young men attacked the protesters with green dye and flour. In Nizhny Novgorod, the capital of the region where Nemtsov served as governor in the 1990s, several hundred people participated, including the mayor.

Many opposition supporters say even if Putin had no direct hand in Nemtsov's killing, he bears responsibility for encouraging a truculent authoritarianism.

"Nemtsov's death was the result of the atmosphere of hatred in our country," said 78-year-old demonstrator Pavel Movshovich.

Nemtsov's fellow opposition leaders are now focused on the September election to Russia's parliament, which now serves largely as a rubber stamp for the Kremlin.

"We are continuing what we started with Boris Nemtsov last year: changing the political course of our country, changing the country through elections," said Mikhail Kasyanov, who was the prime minister during Putin's first term before joining the opposition. "We're preparing to turn Putin's imitation of elections into proper fair elections."

Five suspects have been arrested in Nemtsov's killing, all of them Chechens. The suspected triggerman served as an officer in the security forces of the Moscow-backed Chechen leader, Ramzan Kadyrov.

The official probe has failed to identify those who ordered the killing, and Russian opposition activists have criticized the Kremlin for failing to track down the mastermind. Earlier this week, Yashin released a report accusing Kadyrov of involvement in Nemtsov's killing and demanded his resignation.

Kadyrov, whose term expires in April, has rejected the accusations. At the same time, he tried to secure his position by acting obedient.

"The nation's leadership needs to find another person so that my name isn't used against my people," he said Saturday in televised remarks. "My time has passed."

Putin has relied on Kadyrov to stabilize Chechnya after two separatist wars, making him effectively immune from federal controls. Kadyrov's unparalleled privileges and defiant ways have earned him numerous enemies in Russia's law enforcement agencies, whose leaders have pushed for his dismissal.
Project 25, P25 Radio Notes and summary or tutorial of the basics of P25 radio also known as Project 25, or APCO-25 - a digital land mobile radio system used mainly in North America.

Private / Land Mobile Radio Includes:

LMR / PMR basics MPT1327 TETRA P25 DMR dPMR NXDN

Project 25, also known by its short name P25 or APCO-25 is a digital radio system used for land mobile applications, especially by the federal, state or province and local public safety agencies. P25 radio is most widely used in North America and can often be thought of as being equivalent to TETRA radio, although it does not interoperate with it.

Project 25, APCO-25 or P25 radio is a set of standards that defines the radio system.

P25 radio, APCO & TIA

Project 25, P25 radio has been defined under the auspices of APCO - Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials. APCO International is an organization of public safety communications professionals. It aims to serve the needs of public safety communications users and hence provide for the welfare of the general public as a whole. APCO provides expertise, professional development, technical assistance, advocacy and outreach.

APCO promotes many projects. These are given project numbers, and hence the project to develop a standard for digital radio communications for the emergency services was given a project number - Project 25. The name Project 25 or P25 radio has remained with the technology.

The standards themselves are held under the auspices of the TIA, Telecommunications Industry Association.

The Project 25, P25 standard was established in October 1989 when APCO2, NASTD3, NCS4, NTIA5 , and NSA6 collaborated in the creation of the APCO-NASTD-Fed Project 25 which is now known as Project 25. The system is now widely used in North America.

What is Project 25, P25 radio

Project 25, or P25 radio is a standard that defines a form of interoperable digital two-way wireless communications products. The P25 radio system was developed in North America with state, local and federal representatives and Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) governance.

The P25 radio standards are administered by the TIA (Mobile and Personal Private Radio Standards Committee TR-8).

P25 radio technology uses digital techniques for the transmission of voice and data.

The P25 radio technology is being developed in two phases:

P25 Phase 1: The phase 1 Project 25 radios can operate in 12.5 kHz analogue, digital, or a mixed mode format. The Phase 1 radios use a form of modulation known as Continuous 4 level FM, C4FM.



Phase 1 P25 compliant systems are backward compatible and interoperable with legacy FM systems. In addition to this, the P25 standards provide an open interface to the RF Sub-System to facilitate interlinking of different vendors' systems.

The phase 1 Project 25 radios can operate in 12.5 kHz analogue, digital, or a mixed mode format. The Phase 1 radios use a form of modulation known as Continuous 4 level FM, C4FM. Phase 1 P25 compliant systems are backward compatible and interoperable with legacy FM systems. In addition to this, the P25 standards provide an open interface to the RF Sub-System to facilitate interlinking of different vendors' systems. P25 Phase 2 : Phase 2 P25 radio systems are based around a 6.25 kHz channel bandwidth> within this they achieve one voice channel or a minimum 4800 bps data channel. P25 Phase 2 uses FDMA - frequency division multiple access and the modulation format is CQPSK. An alternative 2 slot TDMA solution is currently under development. Phase 2 implementation achieves the goal of improved spectrum utilization. Also being stressed are such features as interoperability with legacy equipment, interfacing between repeaters and other sub-systems, roaming capacity and spectral efficiency/channel reuse.

Phase 2 P25 radio systems are based around a 6.25 kHz channel bandwidth> within this they achieve one voice channel or a minimum 4800 bps data channel. P25 Phase 2 uses FDMA - frequency division multiple access and the modulation format is CQPSK. An alternative 2 slot TDMA solution is currently under development. Phase 2 implementation achieves the goal of improved spectrum utilization. Also being stressed are such features as interoperability with legacy equipment, interfacing between repeaters and other sub-systems, roaming capacity and spectral efficiency/channel reuse. P25 Phase 3: With the growing need for high speed data in many areas, Phase 3 of the P25 radio standards will address this requirement. Additional features are aimed at providing functionality for a new aeronautical and terrestrial wireless digital wideband/broadband public safety radio standard that can be used to transmit and receive voice, video and high-speed data in wide-area, multiple-agency networks.

P25 modulation

Different forms of modulation of the RF carrier are used between Phase 1 and Phase 2 of P25. These different forms of modulation help enable the system to meet the different requirements between these two phases.C4FM is used for Phase 1 and CQPSK is used for Phase 2.

C4FM: C4FM is form of frequency modulation where the carrier is shifted in frequency at a particular rate to a particular location around a centre frequency - there are four positions, hence the name. This allows for each of the 4 "states" to represent a binary number. Each state is a known as a "Symbol" which contains two bits of information.



C4FM modulation may be viewed as a type of Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying, DQPSK. Each symbol is shifted in phase by 45 from the previous symbol. Although the phase and hence the frequency is modulated for C4FM, the amplitude of the carrier is constant, generating a constant envelope frequency modulated waveform. This is of particular interest in preserving battery power. For constant envelope modulation schemes are able to use non-linear power amplifiers which are more efficient, converting more power to usable RF energy for a given DC input. This means that for a given RF power output less input power - hence battery supply is needed, enabling a battery to be smaller or last for longer.

C4FM is form of frequency modulation where the carrier is shifted in frequency at a particular rate to a particular location around a centre frequency - there are four positions, hence the name. This allows for each of the 4 "states" to represent a binary number. Each state is a known as a "Symbol" which contains two bits of information. C4FM modulation may be viewed as a type of Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying, DQPSK. Each symbol is shifted in phase by 45 from the previous symbol. Although the phase and hence the frequency is modulated for C4FM, the amplitude of the carrier is constant, generating a constant envelope frequency modulated waveform. This is of particular interest in preserving battery power. For constant envelope modulation schemes are able to use non-linear power amplifiers which are more efficient, converting more power to usable RF energy for a given DC input. This means that for a given RF power output less input power - hence battery supply is needed, enabling a battery to be smaller or last for longer. CQPSK: CQPSK modulates the phase and simultaneously modulates the carrier amplitude to minimize the width of the emitted spectrum which generates an amplitude modulated waveform.

The data rate for the modulated carrier is 4800 symbols per sec, and each symbol conveys two bits of information as detailed in the table below.

Information

(Binary data) Symbol C4FM Deviation CQPSK Phase Change 01 +3 +1800 Hz +135 00 +1 +600Hz > +45 10 -1 -600Hz -45 11 -3 -1800Hz -135

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
Tony Kendall took over as Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Radio Network in September last year. With just on six months in the chair, we caught up with Tony for our CEO Round Table.

In part 1 we talk about his media career, what made him set his sights on a CEO position with ARN and how has his transition from print to radio been? We discuss revenue and the mix of agency versus local for ARN, how does he think advertising will shift in the future? And we talk On-Air talent, with the first full year of all three networks going head to head in drive can that amount of investment continue?

Blair: Where did your media journey start?

Tony: I guess about 26 years ago now, as the Melbourne Sales Representative for the Sunday Telegraph Newspaper looking after the Melbourne based clients and agencies selling on to the Sunday Telegraph in NSW. It seems a long time ago.

Blair: And where did you jump to then from there?

Tony: I stayed at news for the better part of 23 years and that saw me get into national sales roles, and then I eventually moved to Sydney as the National Sales Director, and then to New York as the Senior Vice President of Sales for the New York Post for a year, then back to Australia and CEO of the Magazine Division for a year and then heading up all of sales looking after some 2.2 billion dollars revenue at News some years ago when their numbers were significantly higher than they are today.

Blair: The old print business has shifted just a little in recent years hey.

Tony: Just a touch.

Blair: So the jump to ARN as CEO, what encouraged you to join and take that role on?

Tony: It was a fantastic opportunity from my personal point of view having done newspapers, magazines and digital, having another media experience in my career was something I was very keen to do.

Certainly also moving into a media that I think has had obviously a wonderful couple of years but also still has great potential, and particularly great potential to expand beyond just radio. So those were the big draw cards and obviously when the role came up I was delighted to be able to win the job.

Blair: Transition from obviously a print media background to radio, how has that been?

Tony: Ive been asked that quite a bit actually, but you know some of the core principles are the same in terms of most of the biggest advertisers on radio and certainly agencies we did business with are exactly the same so all of the relationships Ive had with clients and agencies over the years transitioned quite nicely.

You know, again I think some of the core principles of any media around making sure youve got the right talent whether thats an editor or on-air talent. The right talent delivers the right audience and the right audience then you can commercialize, so some of those core learnings are pretty similar across both markets. Sure theres a lot of radio jargon and the like that Ive got up to speed with but I think just about every media business is defined by talent, audience and people and thats no different.

Blair: What is the biggest lesson youve learned so far in your media career?

Tony: I think its pretty much just that. You know this is a people business and you know if you can, and I have learnt this very much at news and certainly here that the investment you make in content is the first and foremost thing, so invest in the right content. And its about understanding what people want and delivering that content to the broadest possible audience. And then once youve done that, having smart people around the business who can commercialize that audience.

Blair: Weve seen the evolution obviously of the KIIS Network in particular, and the Pure Gold Network as well. How important is a single national brand for advertisers these days?

Tony: This is an easy one, I think key agencies particularly are so busy, clients are demanding more, and more and more of their agencies in terms of the plethora of different media they have to consider to get a media campaign away.

So ease of doing business in itself a clear unique selling preposition so clients and agencies want to know that they can buy a single brand around the country, get a pretty consistent delivery of what that audience looks like and what those ratings are going to deliver. And that ease of doing business is probably fundamentally the most important thing behind national brands.

Blair: Where do you see the trend of advertising spending dollars going in the years to come?

Tony: Thats a bit of a crystal ball question isnt it, I think we will see a flattening out of the digital growth that weve had to date, particularly in digital display. I think some of that digital display money is going to begin to migrate more into social channels. I think free to air television will see some of its share lost again into probably social channels. I think outdoor and radio future looks pretty strong in terms of continued growth in those two medias because they deliver a consistent audience. And I think youll see prints decline and start to slow based on, you know I think enough has been taken out of that medium to suggest that the way that the money that is spent there is probably about right.

Blair: You talked about agencies dealing with a single brand, how does the mix of local revenue versus agency pan out for ARN overall?

Tony: Our direct revenue is probably in the low 30s as a percentage of our total revenue. Its still a vitally important. You know if your revenues arent where you need them to be in a given month or a given week; you can turn the dial up on the direct team and get a result pretty quickly. So that mix, sort of in the low thirties is about right for us at the moment.

Blair: Theres talk about the disruption in the media space, how important is talent on radio given the countless choices today of alternates  there is a heap of music only choice. Whats your position with talent?

Tony: I think its less about talent and more about content to be honest. I think listening to music on a streaming device is a fantastic way to listen to music, but the fact of the matter is people want to listen to radio for a variety of things and musics one small piece of that. So whether its local traffic, local weather, local sport, local news, and then there is the relationship they have with their talent, so yeah talents part of it but I think thats the main reason we havent seen a drop in particularly breakfast and drive in terms of audience loss because its not why people turn the radio on.

I mean as I said musics a part of it but just as big a parts the local content, part of its the advertising and certainly a big part of it is people want to have a relationship with someone at the other end of the radio line.

Blair: A fair chunk of revenue comes out of breakfast as we know, this year will be the first year that all of the networks have, you know some have poured big dollars obviously into securing talent. Do you think all three major networks can continue with expensive talent driven drive shows in the years tocome?

Tony: I do on the basis that I think, you know Drives probably been undersold and theres no question that there are just as many people going home in their car as there was getting to work in the morning, and certainly Breakfast has always been seen as a better time for advertising messages to hit the airwaves but I think were seeing more and more from the research that were doing that Drive plays a key role in how people really feel on their way home and gives them time to re-energize before they start their home life after a day at work I think, you know it gets back to the original point, to if youve got great talent youll get great audience and youll be able to commercialize that. So I dont see anyone pulling back on investment in Drive.

In part two of CEO Roundtable with ARNs Tony Kendall, we talk about The Thinker Girls and their approach at night. ARN have made aggressive moves with iHeartradio but what are their plans with their digital strategy overall? Whats Tonys thoughts on the Media Law Reforms and we talk KIIS Melbourne and what are his ambitions are for the market with ARN.
realclearworld Newsletters: Europe Memo

Great Britain's date with European destiny is set.

On June 23, Britons finally will head to the polls to advise their government on whether they believe Prime Minister David Cameron's deal with Brussels to reform the country's membership in the European Union satisfies them, or whether they believe the United Kingdom should leave the EU altogether. Thus a question that emerged out of an intra-Tory squabble will culminate in a decision that could define British (and European) politics for a generation. And as Britain sails through permanent campaign mode, with the second existential referendum in three years sandwiching a general election and a dramatic contest for leadership of a major party, the hope is that by this summer, the United Kingdom might have some clarity on the future shape of its politics and its foreign relationships -- and on the shape of the country itself.

The issues that would define the Brexit campaign had, until last week, remained somewhat muddled. That was deliberate in part. Amid a lackluster official start to the campaign last fall, an analyst at the Centre for European Reform told me that the Remain campaign was holding its fire for the time being -- a tactical decision emanating from the very top that makes better sense now as the rhetorical silence has been shattered.

It was London Mayor Boris Johnson who broke the calm, announcing he would campaign for Leave. And in the days since, as the British pound took a steep fall and the City of London Corporation took a big step toward breaking neutrality to support continued EU membership, we have seen the prime minister move into action. He lashed into Johnson (though indirectly) on the floor of the House of Commons, hit the campaign trail to speak to voters directly, and in general spoke like a man who knows that -- however adequate or less a national leader -- he stands to leave a greater legacy, for better or for worse, than most European leaders can contemplate.

The pro-Europe case is simple and blunt, and the Economist runs it through effectively in an editorial this week. Summarized, it reads as such: All of the freedom of maneuver you think you'll gain, you'll actually lose; Europe would hold huge leverage in any negotiation with an isolated Albion; and Britain's loss of clout within what remains a very powerful supranational club, in the reality of the 21st century, easily voids any ephemeral gains in sovereignty. Oh, and Scotland might leave.

The details of the Remain argument are much better established than they are yet disseminated, and it will be interesting to track their reception by the electorate in the coming weeks and months -- especially as the Leave side is no longer led by a lightning rod such as Nigel Farage, who draws at least as much antipathy as he does support, but instead is fronted by Johnson, whose ability to win election is beyond all doubt. Polling has been split so far, and in talking to people in the United Kingdom, their ambivalence is striking. Brexit is no fringe view, it has some currency across the broad wash of British society, and voters will want to be convinced. In a fast-changing Europe, the question over the next four months is whether it will be arguments or events that do most of the convincing.

As the Brexit campaign picks up, here are three things to watch:

PARTY POLITICS: Following electoral collapse in the 2015 general election, a shocked Labour Party turned its back to the future in electing the far-left Jeremy Corbyn as its leader. While Labour has been left fighting itself, the Conservatives have reacted with glee at the prospect of dominating Britain's first-past-the-post electoral system for the foreseeable future. But many a political observer steadfastly warned that a Brexit storm would eventually fall upon the Tories. As James Forsyth of the Spectator wrote this week:

"[W]hatever happens elsewhere, the Conservative party cannot avoid the defining question: should a Tory want Britain to leave the European Union or stay in it? As William Hague has said, the party could have ten or perhaps even 15 years of power ahead, if the party can avoid tearing itself apart over Europe. As matters stand today, that's a very big if.'"

Beneath the rough-and-tumble between Johnson and Cameron glide the tally of numbers backing and opposing Brexit. Conservative Home has been tracking them, and as of Feb. 26, counted 158 Conservative lawmakers for Remain, and 124 for Leave.

For all the Tory troubles, Corbyn's leadership hardly presages a Labour lift over Brexit. Corbyn's support of the European Union has been listless and halfhearted thus far, and Labour List's Maya Goodfellow describes the results on Labour benches:

"There are undoubtedly problems to overcome. While the Tories fight it out, there needs to be a broad agreement among pro-EU Labour politicians. Certain ex-Labour ministers emerging from the woodwork to make their views known on the EU, and use the opportunity to have a pop at Jeremy Corbyn, aren't helping shift this debate into the realms of sensible. They are, rather short-sightedly, using the debate for their own means while assuming that all Labour supporters are enthusiastically for the EU."

REFERENDUM FEVER IN THE EU: "If Britain leaves, or is afforded special treatment, why shouldn't we do the same?"

As has been pointed out elsewhere, the danger for the European Union now is that this is the question electorates throughout the Union will be asking. The Netherlands has already scheduled a referendum on an EU trade deal with Ukraine, and that poll is a stand-in for popular sentiment toward the European Union. Now, a leading pollster finds the Dutch would in fact like their own referendum on EU membership. This week, Hungary said it will hold a referendum on EU migration policy. Expect referenda and rumors of referenda to become a prominent part of the European political landscape.

UNDERSTANDING THE LISBON TREATY: Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, as EUObserver puts it, offers member states a "vague map towards the exit door" of the European Union. Said article, says Cameron, will be invoked if the British people vote Leave on June 23. EUObs:

"There would be no catharsis for advocates of the Leave' campaign as the process allows for up to two years of negotiation, after which the EU would present the UK with a deal.

"We should be clear that this process is not an invitation to re-join. It is a process for leaving,' Cameron said.

"As Article 50 has never been used before, there is no clear framework of how those negotiations would work."

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond underscored that a vote to Leave would trigger an irreversible process:

"Hammond says the government will regard itself as bound by the result of the referendum, even though it is technically only an advisory referendum.

"Hammond says there will be no second referendum. Leave means leave,' he says. If Britain votes to leave, that will trigger the article 50 process leading to Britain leaving the EU."

Still, whatever process Article 50 triggers is a process that has never been implemented. The European Union has survived almost a decade of crisis by playing loose with its own rules repeatedly, and considering the importance accorded by both sides to keeping the Union whole, there's no telling how the process might play out in the event of a Leave vote. In the meantime, there will be a minute dissection of the vagaries of EU law in the coming months.

FEEDBACK

Questions, comments, contributions? Feel free to send us an email, or reach out on Twitter @joelweickgenant.

And be sure to check for all of the latest news and analysis on Europe at RealClearWorld.com.
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Tuesdays Republican and Democratic primaries were aptly dubbed the SEC primaries since seven southern states are participating. The loose tie-in with the Southeastern Conference got us thinking: Which remaining presidential candidates match with the SECs colorful coaches?

Below are our choices:
Downtown Redding hasn't had a fully operational brewery since the days of Kennett-Diamond near the turn of the century.

That's about to change.

Woody's Brewing Co. is putting the finishing touches on a 10-barrel system that will allow it to make its ales, stouts and lagers at its Oregon Street brewpub. Brewmaster Patrick Wlodarczyk, who lives in Reno, has been making Woody's beers at Lassen Ale Works in Susanville for the past year.

While Wlodarczyk is quick to give Lassen Ale Works a shout out for its hospitality in allowing Woody's to temporarily brew there, he is happy that his days of lugging finished kegs between Redding and Susanville are numbered.

"It's exciting," he said. "Kegging and hauling is a lot of work."

Woody's opened near the corner of Oregon and Shasta Street, next to Oregon Street Antique Mall, in January 2015. It's one of two downtown brewpubs. Wildcard Brewing Co. opened its Tied House in the White Building on Pine Street in December. Wildcard brews at its headquarters on Crossroads Drive near Big League Dreams in east Redding.

Kennett-Diamond on California Street closed in fall 2001 after a two-year run. Before that was Redding Brewing Co., which went out of business in 1990.

Woody's is run by the family team of Andrew Wlodarczyk, his father, Scott, and Scott's brother, Patrick. Andrew is the number's guy, Scott the marketer and Patrick the creative force behind Woody's styles of beer.

And the variety at Woody's will grow substantially when they flip the switch, which could happen within two weeks, on their brewery. The pub house will go from seven beers on tap to nearly 18.

"That will be huge," Scott said.

"Pat's got so many recipes  so many great beers he's perfected," Andrew said. "People haven't gotten to try them yet just because we don't have enough taps."

Behind the bar are two large windows, which will give customers a view of the four bright tanks, where Woody's beers will clarify and age after its primary fermentation. The tanks will be outfitted with spigots that will be hooked up to the bar taps.

"So you can get fresh beer," Scott said.

The brewing system is coming from San Diego, an area that is no stranger to craft brewing with names like Ballast Point and Stone.

There are plans for distributing Woody's beers to retail outlets, but that is in the future.

"We are enjoying getting this system up, seeing what our capacity is and then we will go from there," Scott said.

It's an exciting time for Redding's craft brew industry.

CAFE PARADISO FOR SALE

Three years after opening Cafe Paradisio on Yuba Street in downtown Redding, Steven and Barbara Berger have the business up for sale.

"We have basically decided to retire from the business," Barbara told me last week. "It's something most people understand, that the restaurant business, when you are in it, it's your whole life."

The Bergers are asking $150,000 for the restaurant. They lease the building, so it's not for sale.

"We will continue the business as usual. We are just hoping the right person comes along as soon as possible, but we are not planning to close at all," Barbara said.

Cafe Paradisio not only serves dinner, but offers a late-night menu Thursday through Saturday. The menu is served 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. and includes fare such as an assorted cheese plate, fried egg sandwich and meatball sub.

They started the "Late Night Cafe" with the notion that there are not a lot of places to go after hours for a bite to eat in Redding. They envisioned the menu a complement to Riverfront Playhouse shows, once the theater group opens its downtown venue at Placer and Pine streets, and events at the Cascade Theatre.

"We are hopeful that the downtown, that the new life of downtown, will continue," Barbara said, noting the recent arrival of Wildcard's Tied House in the White Building, and plans to demolish the former Dicker's building and build a combination retail-residential, four-story building in its place.

"All of those things are all part of the reason why this place, if somebody wants to continue, could continue to develop," Barbara said of Cafe Paradisio.

For the record, the new owners would not have to keep the Cafe Paradisio name.

"The owners of the building are aware that we are selling the business and are willing to work with the new (restaurant) owners," Barbara said.

Stay tuned.

GO TO WHISKEYTOWN

If you've lived in the North State long enough, you have discovered the wonder of Whiskeytown Lake. The reservoir west of Redding is the quieter, more family-friendly sister of Lake Shasta.

The San Francisco Chronicle gave Whiskeytown big endorsement last week when it named it among the "20 places you should visit in California in 2016.

Here is what the Chronicle said:

"Lake Shasta is gorgeous, but you'll find few beaches where kids can splash around on its shores. Whiskeytown, seven miles outside of Redding, is better for families with sandy beaches, shallow swimming lagoons, and easy hiking trails."

Other places to make the list were Yosemite (of course), Six Flags Vallejo, Ventura, Paso Robles and Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen.

BULLISH ON BETHEL

Redding Realtor and sometime-radio-host Ron Largent wasn't bashful about what he thinks of Bethel Church's planned expansion north of Highway 299 in northeast Redding.

At last week's Planning Commission meeting, where Bethel's plans were part of a scoping session, Largent told the audience that the mega-church is an economic force and the two-auditorium campus would help pump more dollars into the community.

Essentially, Redding can ill-afford to deny Bethel's expansion, Largent opined.

"I don't think there has been a larger economic impact the last few years than Bethel," Largent said, noting that Redding has momentum. Don't derail it.

Moreover, Largent said, Redding's housing market would not have stabilized without Bethel.

You certainly won't get an argument from Palomar Builders, whose Highland Park subdivision near Bethel's existing campus has had more than its share of church members buying new homes there.

Reporter David Benda can be reached at 225-8219 or david.benda@redding.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidBenda_RS.
The world of employee benefits has changed dramatically. Employers have compliance issues that have expanded to the degree that it's a real challenge to keep up.

In our work, we have witnessed an influx of vendors that see insurance commissions as a revenue source to be acquired. Those of us that have spent almost 40 years in this business have seen all manner of business models that work to take business away from other broker/consultants.

Some property and casualty firms go in with the simplistic approach: "Wouldn't it be easier to have all of your insurance in one place"? That may sound good until the client finds that the level of service really isn't the same. These shops simply deliver the renewal and refer the client to the insurance company website to handle enrollments and deletions. They rarely improve the clients' position or even recommend changes in the benefits package. They are there only to collect the commissions. There is really no consultation. They simply get a change of broker letter and that's usually the last the client see of them.

I remember one of my clients who fell victim to the out of area "expert." The rep from Sacramento wowed them with promises of all they would do for them. After all, they were a bigger firm and could provide much greater resources.

Two years later, the client called me and asked, "Would you consider taking us back"? They simply did not provide the service that you do." Of course, we took them back. They were one of our favorite groups.

The recent investigations of Zenefits by several insurance departments has exposed issues that of great concern to the employee benefits community. There are accusations across the states that this company has been using unlicensed individuals to sell their benefits. CEO Parker Conrad resigned, possibly in response to some of the investigations.

Their marketing also promised to provide employers with an online human resource management platform "for free." Some employers didn't realize they were firing their existing broker when they accessed the "free platform." They didn't realize they would simply have a referral to the existing 800 numbers for the insurer, rather than real service.

The value of an insurance license, as well as the required continuing education cannot be overstated. Membership in professional associations such as National Association of Health Underwriters and the International Foundation of Employee Benefits are, in my opinion, important criteria to establish credibility. Of course, just paying the dues isn't enough.

It's my opinion that employee benefits requires a consultative approach, as well as an investment in the long-term success of the client.

Providing other resources to benefit the client and using electronic platforms are also important. Our office has recently implemented an online benefits portal for our clients, at no cost to the client. We believe in true value added service. We provide access to HR technical resources, again at no cost to the client.

We also practice "hands-on" service because we are acutely aware of the problems at the insurance companies. We don't simply tell our clients to go online and enroll their new hires. We handle those enrollments, we follow up to be sure they are enrolled and/or terminated. Too many agencies wash their hands of that service. Our office understands that our job is to make the client's life easier, not add to their workload.

As a small-business owner, I look to work with professionals that show an interest in me and my staff. I want them to care about my account and not dismiss it because it's not their largest client. I was quite disappointed when I called my local property insurance firm at renewal last year. I inquired if I had the "best deal." I was told, "We don't even market your coverage unless the increase is 20 percent or greater." We have quite a bit of business with this company and they simply didn't seem to care. Of course, we are in the process of moving our multiple contracts away from this company.

We provide the same commitment to a 10 life group as an 800 life group. We have that luxury as a boutique firm. We can choose our clients and provide the service they deserve.

Large organizations are often looking to satisfy only the bottom line  grow the business revenue and little more. I am not convinced that benefits consultants or brokers are going the way of travel agents. This is simply too complicated a business to handle without consultation.

All information in this column is provided "to the best of my knowledge" subject to final regulation by the respective agencies. Submit your questions to info@insuranceredding.com to be answered in the paper. Margaret R. Beck is a licensed insurance broker. She can be reached at 225-8583.
Our daughter, her husband, their tiny little house cat and their huge-but-extremely lovable black Labrador, who tips the scale at 100 pounds, more or slightly less, all teamed up to invite us down to their cozy Chico home recently for a scrumptious home-cooked dinner, as well as to discuss the possibility of our moving ourselves and our cluttered array of precious stuff down to a new life in the city of Chico.

Of course, this sort of move has been mentioned at random moments in the past, but with limited interest from Fran and me. It's not that we don't see the value in living closer to our children, but our hearts reside in Redding. It's been said that we're both almost older than dirt and Redding has been our home since way before the two of us even met.

If you total both of our ages today, our time on Earth amounts to somewhere in the neighborhood of 156 years. Most of my years have been spent in Shasta County, while Fran has moved around some from her childhood home in Humboldt County to roughing it coldly at times in the backwoods and gold mining camps of a blossoming Alaska, as well as a fascinating stint while working for the Alaska State Troopers.

Furthermore, Mom's twin sister and her husband spent many years living in Chico, where I have joyful childhood memories of times spent with Uncle Wally and Auntie Boo (as a toddler, I had trouble pronouncing "Buena," so Boo filled the gap) before their deaths in the mid-1950s. I was young then, not yet out of high school, but both the happiness and heartache of those days will linger with me for all the days of my life.

In those early days, digital photography might have been a matter of research, but film and the magic of darkrooms were still the only games in town for a hungry young photographer. I can't forget that in those early years I spent some precious time working with Gary Engell and his staff, plus swapping tales with fellow shooters that gathered at Crown Camera in the heart of Redding.

I graduated from college in 1966, taught elementary school in Oak Run for one year and then received an invitation from Uncle Sam inviting me to serve two years with the Army. That was followed by my acceptance to become a student for one year in a private school of photography in the hectic heart of downtown Sacramento.

Life changed drastically when word hinted of an opening for a staff photographer at the Record Searchlight. As I waited for my interview in the lobby, Paul Bodenhammer walked by, wishing me a good morning. That was the last time I saw him. He died a few days later. Jerry Teague hired me and I lived happily for the next 20 years as a Redding press photographer for the Record Searchlight.

As for my mention of a new life in Chico, the answer still avoids both Fran and me. We have long talks, often deep into the night, but no conclusion has come forth. My college years at Chico State were happy years, but they were long years ago. Chico has changed a lot, as cities tend to do. We're not firmly opposed to living there, but we're thinking it might be a little too soon. We're still very happy living as we do in Redding. However, we're not spring chickens any longer and we admit that changes may be needed in the not too distant future, but not right now. We chatted with our cats about it and they totally agreed.

Tom Dunlap grew up in Shasta County, attending Redding schools and Chico State University. A former R-S photographer, he lives in Redding with his wife, Fran, and three pesky cats. You can reach him at tomscolumn@digitalpath.net.
James Koenig addresses the court Friday in Shasta County Superior Court during sentencing. A Shasta County jury convicted Koenig earlier this month on 35 felony counts, including securities fraud, as well as two counts of first-degree burglary.

SHARE Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight James Koenig appears today in Shasta County Superior Court for sentencing. A Shasta County jury convicted Koenig earlier this month on 35 felony counts, including securities fraud, as well as two counts of first-degree burglary. Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight James Koenig appears today in Shasta County Superior Court for sentencing. A Shasta County jury convicted Koenig earlier this month on 35 felony counts, including securities fraud, as well as two counts of first-degree burglary. Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight James Koenig appears today in Shasta County Superior Court for sentencing. A Shasta County jury convicted Koenig earlier this month on 35 felony counts, including securities fraud, as well as two counts of first-degree burglary. Andreas Fuhrmann/Record Searchlight James Koenig appears today in Shasta County Superior Court for sentencing. A Shasta County jury convicted Koenig earlier this month on 35 felony counts, including securities fraud, as well as two counts of first-degree burglary.

By Sean Longoria of the Redding Record Searchlight

A 60-year-old Redding man convicted of swindling scores of investors out of an estimated $250 million through a complex Ponzi scheme was sentenced to 42 years, 8 months in prison today during a daylong sentencing hearing at Shasta County Superior Court.

James Stanely Koenig, who at least twice broke into tears during the hearing, must serve about 36 years, 3 months in prison ? or 85 percent of his total sentence ? before he's eligible for parole.

"I know this sticks in your craw Mr. Koenig because you believe in your heart of hearts you are innocent," Judge Bradley Boeckman said after reading Koenig's sentence. "But I take a different view and, more importantly, the jury took a different view."

A Shasta County jury convicted Koenig in May of 35 felony counts, including securities fraud, as well as two counts of first-degree burglary.

Today's hearing saw Senior Deputy Public Defender Mike Horan unsuccessfully argue for a new trial.

Boeckman also denied a request from Horan to drop some of the charges against his client.

Two of Koenig's victims, Andrew Fine and Lynn Raadik, spoke at the hearing, describing their losses and subsequent struggles after falling for the Ponzi scheme.

"My personal savings and 401k from decades of hard work, well over seven figures, were destroyed," said Fine, a Bay Area resident.

Raadik shared similar sentiments, noting a lifetime of savings for her and her family are now gone. Fine wasn't shy about sharing his feelings for Koenig.

"I believe, like (Gary) Armitage, Mr. Koenig is a shameful, repulsive excuse for a human being," he said.

State Deputy Attorney General Robert Morgester limited the victim statements to two. He said calling more victims especially those not specifically named as such, could jeopardize any restitution in the case.

Koenig was arrested in 2009 with two others, Gary Armitage and James Guidi, after a 17-month state investigation that focused on the Ponzi scheme that hoodwinked investors, many of them senior citizens.

Koenig owned Asset Real Estate and Investment Co. (AREI), a now-insolvent property acquisition firm. He also owned Oakdale Heights Management Corp., a firm that managed two dozen senior living centers that AREI had purchased in nearly a half-dozen states.

But AREI was a financial failure by May 2007, unable to pay creditors and investors and closed that next month.

Koenig's family and friends, including wife Faydra, also spoke today, pleading for Boeckman to show mercy.

Her husband, she said, wasn't the person prosecutors and the media portrayed him to be. She, and others, noted James Koenig had always given money to charities and those in need.

"I guarantee you no matter what befell any member of our family, Jim would be there," she said.

James Koenig also spoke at length, mostly pinning the blame for the loss to investors on Armitage. Armitage and Guidi both took plea deals in the case.

"I did not conspire ? regardless of what the state says ? I did not conspire with Gary Armitage," he said. "I don't believe there is a person in this room, in fact I know there's not a person in this room, who can say I did."

Koenig said he would have taken the 10-year prison deal offered to him if he could change things. He also said he'd always tried to fix things and return money to investors.

"I thought I was Steve Jobs. I thought I could come back and save all of this, save all your money," he said before apologizing.

But Caroline Chen, a prosecutor with the state Attorney General's Office, refuted his claims and said "the fraud continues" shortly after Koenig finished.

"He denies all culpability and if given the chance he would happily do it again," she said. "All throughout these letters he submits to the court, there is not once sentence where he owns up to what he's done."

Morgester said he's researching victim restitution and will present a proposal to the court within 60 days. Horan will have another 60 days to respond before the matter is scheduled for hearing.

Boeckman also waived public defender fees for Koenig and reduced other restitution to a few thousand dollars instead of the more than $10,000 that could have been imposed.

Boeckman said he'd rather see the money go to victims.
SHARE Robert Edward Cook Date of birth: Aug. 5, 1994 Vitals: 6 feet; 185 pounds; brown hair, brown eyes Charge: Termination of probation Dana Chantal Seidler (a.k.a. Stanley) Date of birth: Feb. 5, 1985 Vitals: 5 feet 5 inches; 120 pounds; brown hair, green eyes Charge: Termination of probation Casey Alexander Laws Date of birth: Sept. 29, 1989 Vitals: 6 feet; 180 pounds; black hair, brown eyes Charge: Shoplifting Brendin Troy Martin Date of birth: Dec. 15, 1993 Vitals: 5 feet 6 inches; 135 pounds; brown hair, brown eyes Charge: Use of a deadly weapon

By Staff Reports

Shasta's Most Wanted, featured in the Record Searchlight in cooperation with local law enforcement agencies, targets people who have failed to show up in court for sentencing after being convicted of crimes.

As of Friday, a total of 555 arrests have been made through the Most Wanted program since it began September 2013.

Authorities say they have seen an increase in criminals failing to appear in court since the onset of Assembly Bill 109.

Also known as prison realignment, the state program shifted certain state prison inmates to county supervision.

Redding Police Chief Robert Paoletti said court appearances have been going up since the rollout of the program.

Five new people are added each week. Those caught will be held until at least their next court appearances. Shasta County Secret Witness is offering a reward of up to $250 for information leading to an arrest.

Anyone with information is asked to call 245-6540 or 243-2319.

The feature appears Sundays in the Record Searchlight's Northern California section and on Redding.com.
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Mattress sale to aid sober grad night

The Enterprise High School Sober Grad Night Committee is sponsoring a mattress fundraiser March 5-6 to benefit the 2016 Sober Grad Night.

The fundraiser is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days in the school's north gymnasium.

A variety of mattress sets from national brand name sources will be available to try out, and trained personnel will be on hand to answer questions and help in the selection process.

In addition to new mattress sets, mattress covers, bed frames and pillows also will be available for purchase. All of the purchases will be delivered in the Redding area at no extra cost.

Cash, local checks, major credit cards, as well as Visa or MasterCard debit cards, will be accepted.

Airport lease on Red Bluff agenda

Red Bluff's City Council will consider whether to approve a new operator of the Red Bluff Municipal Airport at its meeting Tuesday.

Cardan Aircraft Services Inc. is asking council members to transfer their part of a fixed-base operator lease to Gary Walker, who has a long history with the airport, according to the agenda.

The five-year lease began in January 2015.

Council members also will consider whether to freeze two sworn officer positions and use the money, generated by a public safety sales tax, for three community service officers instead.

Sworn officers carry guns and badges and can respond to all manner of calls, while CSOs can only go to nonemergency calls in which there is little to no chance of violence. Those calls make up about 40 to 50 percent of calls to the Police Department.

The new positions would cost about $7,000 more than the price of having two additional police officers, or $165,853, Police Chief Kyle Sanders said in his agenda report.

The proposal also would allow the CSOs to be present throughout the week.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the council chambers, 555 Washington St.

Shasta Lake to weigh water, lighting costs

The Shasta Lake City Council will consider Tuesday whether to approve a contract to make streetlight improvements on Shasta Dam Boulevard and purchase water from the McConnell Foundation.

City staff members are negotiating a purchase of 925 acre-feet of water at $250 per acre-foot from the McConnell Foundation. They are asking the council to approve the sale.

The city also is looking at spending $120,000 for streetlights to aid a sidewalk improvement project the California Department of Transportation is planning for Shasta Dam Boulevard. The sidewalk and curb work is grant-funded, according to the agenda documents.
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By Jenny Espino of the Redding Record Searchlight

A report by Redding housing officials indicates the city's cost to house a chronically homeless person under a one-year pilot program for five housing units is $13,900 apiece.

The figure is built on a "worst-case scenario," in which the tenant pays no rent and the city has to front the cost for furniture, utilities and security deposit at a one-bedroom unit.

Still to be determined are the costs for case management and supportive services, which are delivered by Shasta County, nonprofits and private organizations.

Those details, including the city's possibility of creating the housing first pilot program, will all be part of a discussion Tuesday when the City Council meets.

"I hope our City Council moves forward with the concept of moving forward," said Councilwoman Kristen Schreder, who has been leading the push for a plan that moves people living on the streets into housing. "The minute we approve the concept, we can then start to work out the bugs."

The council also at that meeting will talk about downtown revitalization and representation on water issues. To that end, members are expected to authorize staff to apply for a $20 million grant crucial to tear down the former Dicker's department store building and make way for a mixed-use development project that has the potential to change the face of the downtown.

They also will consider a plan for the city to join the Sacramento River Settlement Contractors, a new organization aimed at advocating for the interests and protecting the water rights of the settlement contractors.

The housing first pilot that the council will discuss is in response to a challenge thrown down by Lloyd Pendleton, the housing guru who led Utah's reduction on chronic homelessness. He set a July 1 deadline for the city and county to each house five people.

"This is kind of a first step," Deputy City Manager Greg Clark said of the framework put together by staff. His report to the council spells out housing first and attaches the planning steps that Schreder has proposed to get 10 people into homes by the summer date.

Under the housing first model, chronically homeless people are put into housing with few strings attached. They pay minimal rent, but they're not required to have a job, be clean and sober or participate in programs to stay in the housing.

Whether the Shasta County Board of Supervisors plans to respond to Pendleton's call is unclear.

County Executive Officer Larry Lees did not immediately return a call for comment.

Clark pegs the combined rent for five units at $39,500, or about $658 monthly for each in a year. The rent could be covered through rental assistance vouchers.

But the Housing Choice Voucher program has its limitations. It won't be able to reach a segment of the chronically homeless population, who are good candidates for supportive housing but may be held back by criminal backgrounds or alcohol and drug abuse.

Chronic homelessness refers to people who either have experienced long-term or repeated bouts of homelessness. In Shasta County, nearly half of people living on the streets have been identified as chronically homeless. The national average in a community is between 10 percent and 12 percent.

"We might need to work with other alternatives," Schreder said.

Clark's report estimated the costs to make the dwellings habitable and pay down security deposits at $30,000. That figure would change if an individual or organization contributes toward those costs, he said.

Schreder's timeline proposes creating an implementation team that includes participation from the city, county, nonprofit and housing providers, businesses, law enforcement, health care and churches.

It also would create a coordination committee that would identify eligible candidates for housing and case management.

Starting small is important to figure out what works and where the gaps are before going large scale, she said.

An analysis showing how much it costs taxpayers to do nothing on homelessness will be released in April. Schreder said that report may help illustrate how housing the homeless can also be good policy for the city.

"Every study that I have seen prepared from Los Angeles to San Diego to central Florida, Salt Lake City, Denver, Santa Clara," she said, "has shown that you save money."

If you go

What: Redding City Council meeting

When: 6 p.m., Tuesday

Where: Redding City Hall, 777 Cypress Ave.

About the meeting: The council will consider appropriation of $2 million to make room at Redding Electric Utilitys headquarters for Corporation Yard and Power Plant staff.

It will act on a preliminary grant application and non-binding letter of intent with K2 Land and Investments related to the former Dickers department store building, proposal to bring PenAir flight service and membership to the Sacramento River Settlement Contractors.
Graphic showing how an e-cigarette works. Seattle Times 2016

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By JoNel Aleccia, The Seattle Times

SEATTLE  The way his lawyer tells it, 24-year-old Daniel Pickett was driving down a small-town street in Central Washington last December when the electronic cigarette he was holding made a funny noise.

He noticed a static-y sound, said Robert Sealby, of Wenatchee, who plans to represent Pickett in an eventual lawsuit. Literally, half a second later, it vented, or exploded. It just really tore the heck out of his hand and arm.

Pickett, of Cashmere, was rushed to a local hospital but had to be sent by air ambulance to Seattle. Five surgeries later, including skin grafts from his forearm and elbow, and Sealby said its still not clear whether the young man, who worked as a waiter, will regain use of his right hand.

Burn and trauma experts at Harborview Medical Center say Pickett is one of four young people since October treated for gruesome injuries caused by exploding e-cigarettes.

National fire experts say the Harborview cases are part of a small but disturbing trend linked to battery failures in the popular devices often touted as a safer substitute for tobacco cigarettes.

I realized that this was something that was happening more frequently than we had previously recognized, said Dr. Elisha Brownson, the Harborview trauma and burn critical-care fellow whos tracking the problem.

I just think that if people really knew this could explode in your face, they would consider twice putting a device like this to their mouth.

A U.S. Fire Administration report found 25 injuries in the U.S. caused by e-cigarette explosions between 2009 and 2014. No federal agency regularly tracks such data, but the reports have continued to roll in, noted the agencys Lawrence McKenna Jr.

Its a growing problem in a country where e-cigarettes have become a $2.2 billion industry and use is climbing exponentially among adults and teens, according to federal statistics.

Nearly 13 percent of U.S. adults have tried e-cigarettes at least once and nearly 4 percent are regular users, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found. Among high school students, current use nearly tripled between 2013 and 2014, to more than 13 percent of the teens, the agency reported.

Users are known as vapers because they inhale and exhale the vapor produced by heating nicotine-laced flavored liquid with the devices.

Advocates contend e-cigarettes are safer than traditional products because they dont burn, which produces the toxins in regular smoke. A 2014 analysis of more than a dozen studies found no increased health risk in smokers who used e-cigarettes for two years compared with smokers who didnt use the devices. But the report also concluded there wasnt enough evidence compiled yet for a definitive answer about efficacy and safety.

Still, reports of blast injuries remain rare and usually involve use of the wrong type of battery charger, fire officials and an industry trade group said.

When charged and used under proper conditions, vapor products pose no more of a fire risk than cellphones and laptops that use similar lithium-ion batteries, Gregory Conley of the American Vaping Association said in an email. However, when vapor products are subjected to extreme conditions or used with unwrapped or damaged batteries, shorts can occur.

(EDITORS: BEGIN OPTIONAL TRIM)

Zach McLain, owner of Future Vapor in Seattles Capitol Hill neighborhood, said he sells only devices with internal governors that dont allow the batteries to overheat. Older devices with improperly used batteries have been linked to problems, he added.

We have not heard of any injuries concerning the thousands of customers that we have helped to discover vapor products as an alternative to smoking cigarettes, McLain said.

(END OPTIONAL TRIM)



Its not clear that Pickett and the three other Harborview victims could have done anything to prevent their injuries. The other patients treated at the burn center were holding the devices to their lips when the e-cigarettes exploded. The blasts caused such severe injuries that Brownsons voice grew tight as she described them.

They had not only burns to the face, but significant oral and tissue damage, she said.

In October, a 24-year-old man lost his eight front teeth, top and bottom, to the blast, plus oral surgery later to remove four more. He suffered cuts to his lips and gums, plus burns to his right eye.

In November, a 24-year-old woman suffered tears to her nose and upper lip when an e-cigarette explosion ripped out her nose ring. Such wounds are difficult to repair and could result in permanent scarring, Brownson said.

This month, a 25-year-old man working in an e-cigarette shop suffered second-degree burns to his face and right hand when a device blew up.

None of those injured wanted to discuss the explosions or their injuries. Pickett agreed only to allow his lawyer to describe the case.

The incidents raise new questions about the devices, which are sold by nearly 500 brands and with nearly 8,000 flavors, a 2014 study found.

Previous controversy has centered on whether the devices actually help smokers stop or cut down on the use of traditional cigarettes and on reports of poisonings in young children who accidentally ingest the nicotine-laced vaping liquid, or juice. Scientists in Portland have reported finding poisons such as formaldehyde in e-cigarette vapor.

But the recent injury reports, including four cases at a Colorado burn center this year, train new attention on the tiny lithium-ion batteries that fuel the devices.

Unlike other electronic consumer devices, e-cigarettes may be particularly vulnerable to battery failure, the fire administration explained. About 80 percent of the incidents reported occurred when the batteries were being charged.

When the battery seal (at the end of the battery) ruptures, the pressure within the e-cigarette cylinder builds quickly and instantly ruptures, usually at the end, the U.S. Fire Administration report said. As a result of the battery and container failure, one or the other, or both, can be propelled across the room like a bullet or small rocket.

The vast majority of e-cigarettes are not regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration, though new rules to expand the agencies oversight are being reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget. The batteries used in the devices arent regulated at all, the fire administration noted.

That makes enforcing safety regulations impossible, leaving users surprisingly vulnerable, said Sealby, Picketts lawyer.

(EDITORS: STORY CAN END HERE)

The landscape is so complicated, its difficult to know whom to sue for compensation for his clients injuries. Should it be the smoke shop that sold the device? The battery maker, Samsung?

In the meantime, Pickett has moved back to his parents home to recover and, he hopes, regain the use of his hand.

Its just too bad. Hes 24 years old, a good-looking kid, Sealby said. I didnt have any idea these things could do this.



2016 The Seattle Times

Visit The Seattle Times at www.seattletimes.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Boy's leg almost severed on Knott's Berry Farm ride

By Ryan Sabalow

A 2009 roller coaster accident that nearly severed the leg of a Weaverville boy at a Southern California theme park would likely have been prevented if the company had actually inspected the ride's fraying cables, state investigators say.

On Sept. 16, 2009, 12-year-old Kyle Wheeler sat next to his father, Russell Wheeler, on Knott's Berry Farm's Xcelerator ride along with seven other people.

The 60-second ride hydraulically launches riders 205 feet. They hit a top speed of 82 mph in 2.3 seconds, according to a Department of Industrial Relations accident report.

Soon after the ride started its uphill climb, a cable snapped, slicing through the front of the roller coaster, which was designed to look like a race car.

"The mother and the grandma are standing at the bottom of the ride, looking up," said the family's Redding attorney, Art Morgan. "It's like the space shuttle going up in the air and it explodes."

The wire sliced through Kyle's left calf, and he spent a couple of days in the hospital, Morgan said.

Several others on the ride suffered minor cuts and scrapes.

Video of the ride was posted on YouTube just a few days after the accident.

The footage from the roller coaster's camera shows Kyle and his father grinning as they begin the climb, then an explosion of debris just seconds later.

Their grins turn into panic as they struggle to remove their seat restraints after the car rolled backward into the start gate.

According to Department of Industrial Relations inspectors, the accident could have been prevented.

Morgan, who received an advance copy this week, provided the report to the Record Searchlight before it was released to the public.

Investigators say in the report that safety officials at Knott's Berry Farm had no idea that the cables were supposed to be inspected once a month since Intamen, the company that manufactured the ride, hadn't provided the theme park with updated safety briefings.

The report says that had a 'safety alert' notification been received by Knott's Berry Farm about the monthly inspection recommendations, it would have "most likely prevented the accident from occurring."

Instead, the owners of the Buena Park amusement park thought they had to inspect the cables only every six months per the manufacturer's initial recommendation.

The report says they failed to do that.

Instead of inspecting the cables, the company officials told inspectors that they opted to take the cheaper route, and replace them after six months, the report says.

Yet at the time of the accident, the cables had been in use for 201 days, almost a month longer the six-month limit, the report said.

The cables were covered with "gross amounts of fatigue breaks."

Morgan said he suspects the firm was pushing the limit trying wait until after the busy summer season before replacing the cables.

Knott's Berry Farm officials declined to comment.

The ride has since been repaired.

Morgan said Kyle, who's now 13, has fully recovered, but he'll need surgery later in life to remove scar tissue. All told, Kyles injuries will cost more than $60,000, Morgan said.

Morgan said he hasn't taken legal action, since he's been waiting for the report to come out.

He said he'll demand a sum from the theme park before filing suit.
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Parker Pollock, Mount Shasta

In addition to apologizing to the students at Williams High School, the U-Prep principal needs to apologize to the soon-to-be graduating U-Prep seniors intent upon being accepted for fall admission to elite private universities. No one knows how many applications will be degraded by private university admissions officials now that U-Prep's image has to bear this shame.

At the very least, the school officials involved should make every attempt to move concerned students to another high school before it's too late to eliminate the phrase "U-Prep" from their high school transcripts.

This is the saddest letter I have ever submitted.
At least 15 people have been wounded, one fatally, in shootings since Saturday afternoon on the South, West and Northwest sides, according to Chicago police.



In the 900 block of West 85th Street in the Gresham neighborhood, around 3:45 p.m. Saturday, two people were shot, one fatally, said Officer Thomas Sweeney, a police spokesman. A 26-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman were in a vehicle when unknown suspects approached and opened fire on the vehicle, police said.



The man, identified as Eric D. Henry Jr. of the 300 block of Luella Avenue in Calumet City, was shot in the head and pronounced dead on the scene at 4:11 p.m., according to police and the Cook County medical examiner's office. The woman was shot in the jaw and leg, police said. She was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in serious condition, police said. The man's death was at least the city's 102nd homicide so far this year, according to data compiled by the Tribune.

Most recently, a 30-year-old man showed up at St. Bernard Hospital & Health Care Center after he was wounded in a shooting around 3:55 a.m. Sunday in the Longwood Manor neighborhood, said Officer Hector Alfaro, a Chicago police spokesman. The man was sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle in the 9500 block of South Lafayette Avenue when he heard gunshots and realized he was struck in the right shoulder, Alfaro said. The man was driven to the St. Bernard Hospital & Health Care Center, where his condition stabilized, Alfaro said.

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About 2:20 a.m., a 17-year-old boy was wounded in a shooting in the South Chicago neighborhood on the South Side, Alfaro said. The teen was walking on a sidewalk in the 7900 block of South East End Avenue when a male attacker walked up to him and fired shots, Alfaro said. The teen was shot in the back of the head and his back. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition stabilized, Alfaro said.

About 1:35 a.m., a 39-year-old man was wounded in a shooting in the Lawndale neighborhood on the West Side, Alfaro said. The man was sitting in the passenger seat of a parked vehicle in the 1200 block of South Springfield Avenue when a male attacker walked up to the car and asked if he could sit in the back. The attacker got inside the vehicle then pulled out a gun and fired shots, striking the man in the right hip, Alfaro said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition stabilized, Alfaro said.

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About 12:55 a.m., a 21-year-old woman was hurt in a shooting in the Montclare neighborhood on the Northwest Side, Alfaro said. The woman was standing on a sidewalk in the 2800 block of North Oak Park Avenue when she heard gunshots and realized she had been struck, Alfaro said. She was hit in the right foot and was taken to Community First Medical Center, where her condition stabilized, Alfaro said.

About 10:20 p.m., a 21-year-old man was shot in the Englewood neighborhood on the South side, Alfaro said. He was in the 7300 block of South Sangamon Street when two male attackers walked up to him and fired shots, Alfaro said. The man was shot in the buttocks and the right arm, Alfaro said. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center, where his condition had stabilized, Alfaro said.

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About 9:20 p.m., a 17-year-old boy was wounded in a shooting in the South Austin neighborhood on the West Side, Alfaro said. The boy was sitting in the rear seat of a parked vehicle in the 5000 block of West Thomas Street when someone in a green sedan fired shots, Alfaro said. The boy was shot in the left thigh and right hand. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where his condition had stabilized, Alfaro said.

About 9 p.m. a 22-year-old man was wounded in the Cragin neighborhood, Alfaro said. The man was walking on the sidewalk in the 4800 block of West Barry Avenue when two males walked up to him and fired shots. He was shot in the lower left leg and taken to Community First Medical Center, where his condition stabilized, Alfaro said.

Around 5:30 p.m., a 19-year-old female was wounded in a shooting in the Lawndale neighborhood, Sweeney said. She was standing with a group of people in the 3700 block of West 13th Street when a black or dark van drove past and someone inside fired shots. The woman was shot in the left thigh, and she managed to get to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was listed in good condition, Alfaro said.

At 4:45 p.m., a 22-year-old man was wounded in a shooting in the Little Village neighborhood, police said. The man was in the 3000 block of South Harding Avenue when he was shot in the left leg, Alfaro said. The man managed to get to Rush University Medical Center, where his condition had stabilized, Alfaro said. The man was being uncooperative with police, Alfaro said.

In the 8300 block of South Justine Street in the Gresham neighborhood at 3:54 p.m., a 24-year-old man was injured in another shooting, Sweeney said. He was shot in the wrist and went to Advocate Christ Medical Center, Sweeney said. He was walking on the street when he heard shots, felt pain and asked a friend to drive him to Christ Hospital, police said.

About 2:30 p.m., a 17-year-old boy was wounded in a shooting in the South Shore neighborhood on the Far South Side, Alfaro said. The teen was standing outside in the 7300 block of South Jeffery Boulevard when a green or blue vehicle drove by and someone inside fired shots, Alfaro said. He was struck in the scrotum and was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition stabilized, Alfaro said.

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Earlier, a 41-year-old man and a 48-year-old man were injured in a shooting in the 5700 block of South Winchester Avenue in the West Englewood neighborhood about 1:30 p.m., Sweeney said. The younger man was shot in the foot and was taken to Holy Cross Hospital. The older man was shot in the leg and went to Provident Hospital and was later transferred to Stroger Hospital in serious condition. They were on the street when a vehicle drove by and someone inside shot them before fleeing, Sweeney said.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Communist Part of India-Marxist General Secretary Sitaram Yechury are among nine persons who have been booked on sedition charges in connection with the JNU row, police said on Sunday.

An FIR has been registered against Rahul, Kejriwal, Yechury, Congress leaders Anand Sharma and Ajay Maken, Communist Party of India leader D Raja, Janata Dal-United Spokesperson KC Tyagi, Jawaharlal Nehru University Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar and JNU research scholar Umar Khalid on the order of a court here, based on a complaint filed by lawyer Janardhan Goud.

"It is a court-referred matter. Following the court's directive, a case under section 124A of the IPC (sedition) has been registered against nine persons, including Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal, Sitaram Yechury, JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar and others," Saroornagar Police Station Inspector S Lingaiah said today.

The court has posted the matter for hearing on March 4.

In his petition, Goud said Rahul and other leaders, despite being aware that Delhi Police had registered a case against Kanhaiya on charge of sedition had visited JNU campus and knowingly supported them and hence it "amounted to sedition".

Kanhaiya and Khalid, who have earlier been arrested in Delhi on sedition charge, have also been booked here on the same charge.

Goud had filed a complaint in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate in Hyderabad on Thursday, seeking its direction to police for registration of a case against Kanhaiya and Khalid for allegedly raising anti-India and pro-Afzal Guru slogans on JNU campus and others.

In his petition, Goud said he has every right to question those who are indulging in "anti-national activities and also those who are encouraging anti-nationals in the name of solidarity for those who are facing criminal charges under section 124(A) of IPC."
Police attached the property of absconding RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav, who is facing rape charges involving a minor. M I Khan/ Rediff.com reports from Patna.

Police on Sunday attached property of absconding Rajballabh Yadav, a MLA of the ruling Rashtriya Janata Dal who is accused of raping a minor girl and failed to surrender in the court.

A day after Nalanda district court allowed police to go ahead to attach property of Yadav, police have attached his property of his house at his native village English Pathra in Nawada district.

Police have also seized lantern election symbol of the RJD from Yadavs house during attachment of property.

Yadav has been absconding since Feb 9 but four of his accomplices have been arrested.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday announced in the state legislative assembly that a speedy trial would be conducted of ruling RJD MLA Rajballabh Yadav, accused for allegedly raping a minor girl and absconding.

Speedy trial would be conducted of the accused MLA, Nitish Kumar announced and refuted charges of the Bharatiya Janata Party led opposition of patronising him.

There is no question of patronizing any one, how powerful he or she may be. The state government had already taken action in this case and arrested a woman, who was also involved in it, he said.

Nitish Kumar said that absconding MLA have to surrender or would be arrested. How far he would evade his arrest? He has to face the rule of law, he said.

Early this month the RJD of the ruling Grand Alliance suspended its MLA Rajballabh Yadav for allegedly raping a minor girl.

The girl from Nalanda district filed an FIR against Yadav, the legislator from Nawada, for her rape.

Police said the charges against Yadav were found to be true during their preliminary investigation.

According to the police complaint filed by the girl, on February 6, a woman named Sulekha Devi took her to an undisclosed location in Nalanda and forced her to have liquor, after which she was raped by a man, later identified as Yadav.

After she was raped, the girl said the woman gave her Rs 30,000.

She then went home and spoke about the incident to her parents who approached police.

Last month ruling Janata Dal-United Suspended its MLA Sarfaraz Alam for allegedly misbehaving and abusing a Delhi-based couple on board Rajdhani Express.Alam waa also arrested in the case and later released on bail.
HRD Minister Smriti Irani is likely to be the target of Opposition attack this week in Parliament where Rahul Gandhi will lead the Congress charge against the government on Tuesday while participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address.

After the Budget Session began on a note of confrontation last week, the second week of the session is also unlikely to transact legislative business, barring essential financial exercise like the Union Budget, as the government and opposition are again set to lock horns on issues like the JNU row and Dalit scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide.

While Monday is likely to be a relatively calm day in both the Houses on account of the Budget, Tuesday will test the governments' floor management.

Escalating the battle, major opposition parties have decided to press for a privilege motion against Irani over her remarks in Parliament on Vemula's suicide.

Accusing Irani of "wilfully misleading" Parliament, Congress, Communist Party of India-Marxist and Janata Dal-United have planned to bring a privilege motion against her in both the Houses.

Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad in Srinagar said Irani's statement inside the Parliament over Rohith Vemula case had many contradictions and was a "fit case" for a privilege motion as she had "mislead" the nation.

CPI-M leader Mohammed Salim will on Monday give a notice for bringing privilege motion against Irani in Lok Sabha, while JD-U MP K C Tyagi and nominated member in Upper House K T S Tulsi will give a similar notice in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Alleging that the HRD minister has "not only been economical with truth but has also wilfully misled Parliament" on the unfortunate suicide of Vemula", Congress general secretary Mukul Wasnik said the party planned to bring privilege motion against her soon.

They have cited the outburst of Radhika, Rohith's mother, against Irani and accused the BJP of being anti-Dalit.

Radhika had attacked the HRD minister, questioning on what basis did she declare Rohith to be "anti-national".

Wasnik said it was believed that the HRD minister would try to "heal" Rohith's family but instead Irani has "rubbed salt" into their wounds.

In a sharp riposte to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'Satyamev Jayate' tweet following Smriti Irani's speech in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Saturday requested him to hear the version of the mother of Vemula, the Dalit scholar who committed suicide in Hyderabad.

On Saturday, Vemula's mother Radhika and his brother met political leaders including Sonia Gandhi, Sitaram Yechury and K C Tyagi, seeking their support for enactment of a Rohith Act against caste discrimination in educational institutions.

They were accompanied by the leaders of HyderabadUniversity's Joint Action Committee for Social Justice.

On the JNU row, opposition parties had on Friday sought an apology from Irani for reading out in Rajya Sabha "objectionable" comments made outside against a Hindu goddess.
Native Texan novelist James Lee Burke is a popular mystery writer with 34 novels and two collections of short stories.

Burke, who now makes his home in Montana and Louisiana, is best known for the 20 novels featuring Louisiana deputy sheriff Dave Robicheaux, but he also has published another 10 novels revolving around five generations of the Hackberry Holland family. Most of those novels are set in Texas.

The latest in the Holland series is "House of the Rising Sun" (Simon & Schuster, $27.99 hardcover).

The story begins in 1916 with hard-living, 6-foot-8 ex-Texas Ranger Hackberry Holland fighting for his life in Mexico while searching for his estranged son, Army Capt. Ishmael Holland, who commands a cavalry unit of black soldiers. Hackberry leaves Mexico without his son but in possession of a stolen religious artifact that will haunt him in the years to come.

The tale then flashes back to 1891 and the birth of Ishmael and the events that led to their estrangement.

It picks back up in 1918 with Ishmael and his troops fighting in the deadly second battle of the Marne in World War I. The novel eventually makes its way to San Antonio, where Holland  still hoping to reunite with his son  must confront his murderous, coldblooded adversary, Arnold Beckman, who is obsessed with Holland's stolen artifact rumored to date back to Jesus Christ himself.

Along the way we meet the three influential women in Holland's life  including Ishmael's mother  and the roles they play in his grisly life story.

Burke's novels are not for the faint of heart. But if you like a riveting tale, featuring a flawed character with a strong sense of justice, "House of the Rising Sun" packs plenty of action into its 430 pages.

Texas History: Richard McCaslin, who chairs the history department at the University of North Texas, has written a compact paperback account of "Washington on the Brazos: Cradle of the Texas Republic" (Texas State Historical Association, $15.95).

If you're looking for a new book in conjunction with Texas Independence Day (March 2) or Texas History Month, here is a quick read about a significant landmark in Texas history.

"Washington on the Brazos" is the 24th book in the TSHA's popular history series of short, approachable, affordable paperbacks.

Hoot and Holler: The fourth children's book by San Angelo author Linda Hermes in her Hoot and Holler series is "A Day at the Fort."

This story features the two Army mules seeing what adventures they can find  and trouble they can get into  at old Fort Concho in the 1800s.

Hermes said she plans to write two more Hoot and Holler books to complete the series.

Glenn Dromgoole writes about Texas books and authors. Contact him at g.dromgoole@suddenlink.net.
Coach Valentine's legacy honored with park rededication Friday

Under new policies adopted in December by the city's parks board, the name change will stand for at least 50 years.
COLORADO CITY  One black Labrador mix barked for attention in its kennel.

A couple of gates over, another black Lab mix with a little longer hair and a white patch on its chest looked at animal control officer Rustine Lendermon with longing eyes.

The third dog  probably a Rhodesian Ridgeback mix less than a year old  worked frantically against her kennel's chain-link fence to lick Lendermon's fingers.

As Lendermon stroked the pup's nose, she offered words of comfort in a sweet voice.

The three strays picked up near Interstate 20 were temporarily sheltered at the office of one of the local veterinarians. Because Lendermon could not find their owners, the dogs' fates eventually were out of her hands, because Colorado City does not have an animal shelter.

A fundraising drive by Lendermon and animal control supervisor Donna Overton hopes to remedy the situation. They have set up a bank account to accept donations for an animal shelter and also raised some funds through a now closed online GoFundMe campaign.

The goal is to raise $35,000 for a facility with indoor and outdoor pens, an adoption area and space to exercise the dogs. There are a handful of possible locations in the city that could be converted into a shelter, Overton said.

"We have some good goals in place. I'm a goals person. But I want attainable goals," Overton said.

Currently, Colorado City houses dogs for a few days at a local vet's kennels for $10 a day, Overton said. If the owner cannot be located quickly, such as the three strays found along the interstate, the animals are transferred to the city of Snyder Animal Shelter, 30 miles to the north.

The interagency partnership with Snyder started four or five years ago. The cost is $2.50 a day per animal at the Snyder shelter.

The relationship has worked out well, but an animal shelter in Colorado City would enable Overton, Lendermon and local volunteers to handle abandoned animals closer to home, Overton said.

"They (Snyder) built that shelter for their citizens, for their needs," Overton said.

The most pressing reason for the new shelter is a need for more space to temporarily house animals before they can be reunited with owners or re-homed.

In 2015, of the about 200 animals picked up by Colorado City Animal Control, 50 were transported to Snyder, 76 housed at the local vet and 55 returned to owners, Lendermon said. To reunite strays with their owners or re-home the animals, the animal control officers work with the local newspaper and radio station and post information on Facebook and the animal control website, Overton said.

For the fiscal year that ended September 2015, the Snyder Animal Shelter took in 1,082 animals, said Snyder Police Chief Terry Luecke. The shelter has 30 to 35 kennels, counting portable crates for small animals.

"There's times, especially in the spring and fall, when the shelter is pretty full," Luecke said.

More strays than space has been an issue occasionally.

"I have run into the problem of them being full or our vet being full, and then what do I do?" Lendermon said.

The answer is not welcome.

About 19 animals had to be euthanized last year, Lendermon said.

"It's hard to kill a puppy. They just want to run up and lick you. It's hard to kill an older dog. They just look at you with those eyes," Overton said.

But she believes Colorado City has the financial resources and community partners that would enable the city to effectively run a shelter. The money spent on transporting and housing animals at other facilities could be channeled into the new facility.

"I think I have a lot of people willing to assist," Overton said.

A local grocery store has offered to donate one bag of food a month, plus damaged bags. One lady who runs a thrift store donates old blankets for the animals. A rancher recently contributed several small animal pens.

"One man calls me regularly. 'Do you need dog food? Do you need cat food?," Lendermon said.

The animal shelter also would benefit the two-footed residents of the city. It could serve as a place where people could perform court-mandated community service to pay off fines and inmates could do work, Overton said.

And, Overton and Lendermon are confident people would volunteer at the shelter to exercise the animals and help in finding them new homes.

"I've had people tell me, 'Rustine, we'll help volunteer when it gets open,'" Lendermon said.

The animal control officers already work with a group called Second Chance Dog Rescue and a cat rescue out of Odessa.

Second Chance volunteers foster and re-home unwanted dogs, promote adoptions on their Facebook page and host adoption events in the area, including as far away as Lubbock. They average about 450 to 500 intakes a year from Snyder, Colorado City and Sweetwater, said Second Chance member Nicole Goebel of Snyder.

Despite not having an animal shelter, the city of Colorado City (population 4,125) handles a lot of its own animal control issues.

"We're one of the few towns that still patrols for animals. A lot of towns just go out on calls," said Overton, who also handles other office duties at the Colorado City Police Department. She also is president of the Texas Animal Control Association.

Lendermon drives a truck outfitted with two small and two large kennels, patrolling not only Colorado City but also Westbrook 10 miles to the west, and all of Mitchell County. She also responds to calls about strays and sets traps for cats, dogs, raccoons, skunks and other critters.

They also sometimes help pet owners solve a crisis, such as patching a hole in a fence to keep a dog from escaping. And, they have been known to drop off a bag of dog food when a pet owner is unable to feed the animal.

"If we had our own shelter, we could work with people more," Overton said.

Having an animal shelter also would enable the city to coordinate a spay and neutering program, which will help reduce the number of unwanted animals, Overton said.

"I just believe it would open doors," she said.

For More Information

To Learn About The Fundraising Drive For An Animal Shelter In Colorado City, Contact City Of Colorado City Animal Control At 325-728-5294.
Jeff Salmon and Margaret Hoogstra learned a valuable lesson last year when they suggested that a statewide magazine dedicated to heritage tourism would be a good way for the state's tourism trails to raise money.

The other people attending the meeting of tourism leaders liked the idea so much, they suggested that Salmon and Hoogstra get right on it. The meeting was held about a year ago, and the new magazine, Authentic Texas, will debut Tuesday.

Salmon is executive director of Frontier Texas in Abilene, and Hoogstra holds the same title with The Texas Forts Trail, with headquarters in Abilene. The Forts Trails is one of the 10 regional tourism trails in the state. Even if Salmon and Hoogstra were the "trailblazers" for the new magazine, they are giving credit to others for pitching in when it came time to do the actual work.

"It's been very gratifying," Hoogstra said, "to have everybody step up to the plate."

The magazine, a full-color, slick publication, will be published quarterly. It will be available for free at tourist locations around the state such as historical museums and sites, visitor bureaus and official state welcome centers.

An electronic version will be available at www.authentictexas.comfivedays after the publication of each issue. The inaugural issue can be downloaded beginning March 5.

The new magazine is published by Texas Heritage Trails LLC, a collaboration of five of the 10 tourism trails. The other five trails chose not to be included in the limited liability corporation, Salmon said, but stories from those trails will be included in the magazine.

"We made a point to make sure we're covering all of the state," he said.

The first issue, not surprisingly, features a number of attractions and people from the Texas Forts Trail. Most of the cover shows a photo of smiling cowboy cooking master Tom Perini, with a heading, "100 percent certified prime Texas." The Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup also is mentioned on the cover.

Abilene's Outlaws & Legends Music Fest, the Western Heritage Classic, and the official state longhorn herd at Fort Griffin also get mentions inside.

The idea for the magazine grew out of a need to replace the $75,000 that each of the 10 tourism trails used to receive from the state. People in the tourism industry began worrying in 2012, Salmon said, that the state Legislature would cut funding.

As a hedge against losing that money, the limited liability corporation was created in 2012, with eight trails involved. Three have since dropped out, Salmon said. When the funding did end in 2015, Salmon suggested using the corporation funds to create the magazine.

Salmon came up with an outline of the magazine and set the process in motion. A network of historians, tourism officials and others will provide most of the content. Ramser Media, headed by Stewart Ramser, of Alpine, was contracted to handle advertising, editing, and graphic design.

Salmon and Hoogstra aren't concerned about being just one more Texas magazine on the market. The Texas Department of Transportation publishes Texas Highways, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department publishes a magazine and the Texas Historical Commission publishes a small quarterly magazine, The Medallion.

The new magazine got the blessings of the other state publications, Hoogstra said, because its focus is different from those. It will be larger than most, with a minimum of 96 pages, and will focus on people and places tied directly to heritage tourism, not solely on travel, history or outdoor recreation.

"Ours addresses a niche," Hoogstra said, "for Texans who are interested in connecting with their heritage."
Jody Addy entered her classroom one March day in 2007 with important information for her students. She was about to take a spur-of-the-moment, two-month break from helping them learn. She had to take care of herself, she told them.

The sudden departure would affect each of their individual pursuits of knowledge.

Addy had just learned of her diagnosis of Ductal Carcinoma in Situ. Breast Cancer. She was scheduled for surgery, a double mastectomy, the next day. She decided the best thing to do was face her students and let them ask the questions.

This wasn't just any class, though. These were convicts serving lengthy sentences in the maximum security Robertson Unit prison just north of Abilene in Jones County. These men, some of whom were mere weeks away from testing for a general equivalency diploma, immediately started firing questions at her. And expressing their concerns.

'You have to know your boundaries with them,' she said. 'Immediately they were connecting with me on that level. Some of them had family members with cancer. Some of them had questions. But they handled all of the information very well. They were concerned.'

Addy today is a teacher in the unit's Windham School District, a statewide program that provides education options for prisoners that range from literacy to career-specific training. With a teaching degree emphasis in English, Addy focuses her attention on literacy yet finds herself teaching all subjects en route to creating success stories.

These students, with their problems and needs, are why she has spent each workday the past 21 years walking through more than a dozen security fences to get to her office  and again when she leaves  and enduring security provisions most airports don't require.

'You have to be very realistic of where you are,' Addy said. 'These people have done some terrible things in the past. But it doesn't have to jeopardize their future. We give them the tools they need so they're less likely to repeat that catastrophic behavior.'

Finding the answers

In her classroom earlier this year, Addy's overhead projector displayed a math word problem for her current crop of students. She paced the floor as U2's 'I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For' played through computer speakers and she explained to them the purpose of asking such a confusing question.

As the problem is written, the student is asked to find the total number of grass seed bags needed to cover an entire plot of land if a structure also exists in this fictional place. It's complex math with two different ways of coming to the final answer, she explained. But she quickly informed them that the 10-point question only gives one point for correctly identifying the number of bags.

The rest, she reminded them, comes from knowing the operations needed to get there and showing the steps in practice. She let them work in groups and they spent five to six minutes searching for the answers.

While the problems are capable of being solved by anyone with any high school math experience, even those out of practice, the information for some of these students was not easily learned.

'I'm not used to being intimidated by things,' Luther Tolbert, a 28-year-old inmate, said. '(Addy)'s got a way of simplifying it. She makes it kind of different. Most people shy away from challenges. But she shows you (that) you can conquer it. She makes it possible.'

It's all part of her plan to achieve what Addy describes as the perfect day on the job. Her goal is to see students such as Tolbert succeed. To do so, she sometimes needs to let them work with each other, sharing their knowledge, not just interact with her or with the other teachers.

She envisions sitting down with a student, maybe in the Robertson Unit's library, and reviewing concepts they're studying for the big test. Another inmate comes in and sits down, maybe thinking differently about a problem, and shares his insight with the two of them.

This action, she said, accomplishes two of her goals: It allows the two prisoners to work and learn from each other and, hopefully, it plants in both the seeds to becoming lifelong learners in the world once they're out of prison.

Addy's work throughout her career culminated last year with a trip to Austin, where she accepted the Windham School District's Lane Murray Excellence in Teaching Award. That's an annual recognition of a top teacher across the many prisons in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Keith Morgan, principal of the Windham campus at the Robertson Unit, said Addy's role extends past the normal job description of a teacher.

'This is a high school equivalency class,' he said. 'In any high school, the teachers are teaching one subject for the most part. But (Addy) has to teach every discipline and on a high school equivalency level. And she does a superb job.

'She's teaching math right now, but in 15 minutes she could be teaching writing skills. So her lesson planning is all over the place.'

Addy isn't just doing just what Morgan called 'superb job.' She's also teaching a lot more than typical high school educators. While most state teacher contracts have a 187-day year, which includes professional development opportunities and conferences, Addy is in the classroom 220 days each year.

The prison system allows her to take a three-week break in the summer. Other than that, she's teaching students and preparing them to take their GED exams.

Once they complete their diploma requirements, the school holds a graduation ceremony for the success stories, she said. Their family, if they're still in touch with the inmate, are invited to the prison and are allowed to celebrate with the graduate. Addy believes this opportunity is an important step to rehabilitating the men in her program.

'(Prison) is also a burden to their families,' she said. 'There's a huge void that's created. It's loss of income, loss of support. If we can get him functional and back out there, that actually helps everyone involved. They're filling the gap that existed when they were in (prison).'

The next graduation ceremony is in April.

Inspiration from unlikely sources

According to the Windham School District website, www.windhamschooldistrict.org, the typical student working in the program had dropped out of school in ninth or 10th grade, functions at about the sixth-grade level in terms of reading and math levels, has below-average intelligence and displays signs of low self-esteem and a difficulty controlling anger.

Windham exists to reduce recidivism  re-entering prison for a new crime after initial release  and increase the chances of success post-incarceration in other education or employment ventures.

Windham's statistics, posted online in an annual report from the last school year, say that about 70,311 offenders statewide were released from prison, with almost two-thirds of them participating in some form of education through the school district. Of those offenders who left their respective correctional facilities, more than 13,000 succeeded in earning their high school equivalency diploma, while 35 earned a full high school diploma through a partnership with the Mullin Independent School District.

Partnering Windham with Mullin allows for two schools in Texas, Pecan Ridge High School in San Saba and Cedar Mountain High School in Gatesville, to offer prisoners who can recover high school credits the opportunity to do so and earn a full degree.

'Our job is the successful completion of igh school credits and state testing requirements leading to a high school diploma,' according to a statement about the partnership on the Mullin ISD website. 'We hope to open doors for our students that they might serve our communities upon release.'

In Addy's literacy program, and those like it across the state's prisons, about 20,600 students used the program last year, with more than 7,700 reaching the requirements for completion, according to Windham.

So the job isn't for just anyone, Morgan said. Addy found her calling more than 20 years ago during a tour of the Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville while in college. She stopped at a showcase of the history of Windham school program. It was next to a display of shanks, of all things. It's an irony, she said, not lost to her.

'Weapons. But next to it was the display for Windham,' she said. 'I didn't really consider it, but there was a man at the museum. He told me, 'It's one of the best jobs you can have.''

Also ironic is that Addy is from Huntsville, home of the Texas State Penitentiary  the state's oldest prison, opened in 1849.

After receiving her degree, she traveled the world. She eventually found herself relocating to Abilene and in need of a job. She remembered the Windham display.

The worst day and its inspiring hope

Every day, Addy places her pink breast cancer band on her wrist as a reminder of the diagnosis and struggle she endured in 2007.

Learning of her diagnosis was one of the most terrifying experiences she's ever had, even after spending as many years working by herself with more than 20 convicted felons at a time.

Finding out for sure, though, wasn't terrifying so much as it was numbing, she said. She can smile and chuckle now, but at the time, she was completely lost.

'The whole world falls out from under you,' Addy said, remembering answering her phone while shopping at Sam's Club that evening. 'I looked at my cart and it was like nothing mattered anymore. I just walked out of the store. At that point I couldn't feel anything. I just left a full cart in the aisle. I'm surprised I didn't leave my purse.'

For how bad it got, though, Addy kept a strong mind. Through surgery and recovery, she was patient and resilient in the face of great adversity.

It's these qualities she said she hopes to instill in her students. As a teacher, it's up to her to model the way. Those rough times only serve to help her do her job in the end.

'I believe that teaching in this environment is a calling,' she said. 'When I accepted this call, I accepted the responsibilities of modeling real life for my students. The celebrations of triumphs are always paved with the patience, resilience and hard work it takes to get back up when life gets tough. To teach is to model the human capacity to learn and grow so we can navigate what lies ahead and use it to rise above. I want my students to be equipped to sail their ships  academically, vocationally, behaviorally  and never look back.'

Twitter: @TimothyChippARN
Texas is recovering from one of the worst droughts in state history thanks to record rainfall last year.

But the impact of sustained drought doesn't just affect water levels. One biologist in Abilene is investigating how changes in climate affect the ecosystem of reservoirs in West Central Texas.

On a recent Saturday morning, McMurry University Assistant Professor Dr. Terrence Boyle and his student, Brianna Littlefield, skimmed across Hubbard Creek Lake by motorboat. Their lake trip included stops at 10 sites on the water where Boyle left modified minnow traps to collect all kinds of organisms from their habitat below the surface.

The motor rumbled to a stop as he pulled up to shore at site No. 1. Wearing waders, he sloshed around following GPS coordinates to find the trap nestled on the lake bottom. It was hoisted up then the contents were poured out on a tray in the boat.

Thud. Thud. Thud. Small rocks tumbled out of the trap, Boyle pushed them around and pointed to tiny wiggling dots on the tray.

'That's actually a copepod,' Boyle said as he bent over the tray with Littlefield. 'See the little bity thing that's moving right here. Copepods are one of the most common food sources for larval fish.'

Boyle is working on his research project titled, 'Macrobenthic Surveys of 12 Big Country Reservoirs.' His goal is to establish a baseline data set for plankton, periphyton and macrobenthic organisms found in local reservoirs. Or as Boyle puts it  he studies the ecology of 'all the little critters without a backbone.' His research also records changes in the ecology of each lake over time, and in West Texas, that means through periods of drought.

'That's one of the big questions as far as across the board that we don't really understand  what is the impact of the drought?' Boyle said.

Texans know what it means to survive a farming season during a drought, and they are familiar with water restrictions for watering lawns.

'But we don't understand is what effect did it actually have in these lakes,' Boyle said.

People often assume that if some water remains in a lake, despite drops in the level, then the fish are OK and everything is normal. But Boyle said the drought might be affecting a lot of the insect larvae in lakes because a loss of water is a loss of habitat.

Texas is currently drought free according to Texas climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, but Boyle's research is a four-year-project, during which he'll be able to compile a significant amount of information about area lakes. He revisits each lake every three months to collect from the traps and record differences in life between seasons.

While he's not alone in collecting samples from the reservoirs, he is the only person focusing on biological data. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality analyzes surface water to check for quality and the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department collects surface water to investigate fish kills.

Boyle's work, however, is focused entirely on how the life present responds to changes in the habitat. His project also provides plenty of opportunities for biology students to take part and gain experience.

Brianna Littlefield, his work partner that day, is an aspiring marine biologist. This project is offering a chance for her to get out in the field and practice some of the work she'll do later in her career. Adam Liuzza is another student who has spent time collecting the traps and analyzing their contents.

'I always liked doing fieldwork and this was my first chance to actually do some hands on,' Liuzza said.

He wants to be an inland fisheries biologist in his home state of Louisianna.

'Now we are actually applying what we learned in the classroom to the field, seeing firsthand and getting a feel for what we have to do to get all the scientific data to record a project,' Liuzza said.

In addition to fieldwork, bringing students into the project prepares them for the lab work they'll face in their careers. Boyle said a lot of the time people will prefer the fieldwork over the lab work or vice versa.

'What I find is that I like both,' Boyle said. 'Out here I get the chance to get dirty, I get the chance to play as a kid would and find and collect all those things. In the lab I get to do the more nuanced inspections of what I'm looking at and studying.'

Boyle is also watching out for the white-fingered mud crab, which is no bigger than a quarter. He's looking for reasons why the crab is found in one lake but not a neighboring lake only 12 miles away. And he's keeping an eye out for zebra mussels  a new exotic species making an appearance in Texas.

When it comes down to it though, Boyle really doesn't mind what he pulls up from a trap or finds under a microscope, for him just being engaged with nature is enough motivation to keep up the time-consuming research.

'A lot of people look at West Texas and think it's ugly but we're sitting on the middle of this lake and it's gorgeous,' Boyle said. 'It's a beautiful morning, you got to see the beauty around you and this allows me to do that.'
Fear is among our strongest motivators and is, at its core, a survival instinct millions of years in the making.

And while fear can indeed provide an awareness essential to survival, it can also be reactionary and crippling.

Consequently, fear-mongering is common in political communication. Just take stock in the rhetoric coming out of the numerous debates and campaign advertisements related to the upcoming presidential election.

One of the most disturbing uses of fear is playing out as candidates and elected officials prey on the reactionary fears that many Americans have about immigrants, particularly immigrants in the country illegally.

The potency of these messages lies within arguably our greatest human fear, the fear of the unknown, which unfortunately often turns into hate.

Donald Trump, for example, has called immigrants murderers and rapists, promised to build a wall around the United States, and called on the country to block the entry of all foreign Muslims. These reactionary rants fan the flames of the fear dominant in how many of us think and act.

Trump is not alone in using tough talk on immigrants to purportedly provide the security followers seek. Seemingly every Republican candidate has a hard line immigration policy that plays on fear.

This tactic is not limited to the presidential campaign trail either. In a recent trip to the Southwest, I took note of the many state-level campaign ads using the same ill-informed, fear-mongering, tough talk on immigrants.

Not to be outdone, fear-peddlers in Washington too have introduced legislation in Congress aimed at eliminating funding for, of all things, law enforcement of state and local governments that have been deemed sanctuaries for immigrants.

The congressional effort in fact preys on two fears at once: the fear of immigrants and the fears immigrants themselves have: deportation, the splitting up of families, the decimation of livelihoods and more.

Immigrants are humans too. For many, whether here through official or unofficial channels, their journey to the United States was born out of a desire for survival and a search for security and hope.

Every waking moment, sleepless nights included, immigrants living illegally in the United States are balancing their thoughts between achieving their dreams and avoiding their worst fears.

So-called sanctuary cities or states are not havens of lawlessness, as opponents would have you believe. These jurisdictions simply do not put the time-consuming business of profiling and immigration status checks at the top of their law enforcement priorities, leaving more time for fighting and preventing more critical criminal matters.

Immigrants living in these jurisdictions illegally are thus provided a tiny bit of breathing room and a chance to put more emphasis on their hopes rather than their fears.

For this humane and frankly prudent criminal justice practice, the merchants of fear in Congress want to strip cities or states of money intended to bolster homeland security activities.

We are not even talking about that much money. The funds in question represent less than half of 1 percent of the overall budgets in the largest jurisdictions. Instead, the whole exercise is nothing more than a legislative version of a Trump rant.

Congress should reject this alarmist approach to governance and focus more on creating opportunity and hope for everyone living in the United States, citizenship status aside.
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After reading John Eubank's letter to the editor (Reporter-News, Feb. 2), my initial reaction was that it was an April Fool's joke but, sadly, it was not April 1.

John (and everyone he knew and talked to) was amused by and disgusted with Police Chief Stan Standridge's response to crime statistics released by the FBI. First of all, regrettably, the chief's interview could not be aired in its entirety, which resulted in some disconnect. Before jumping to conclusions and issuing a public condemnation, did he make any effort to talk with Chief Standridge to understand his remarks? I didn't think so.

Chief Standridge can tell you the facts, but he can't understand them for you.

Yes, violent crimes have increased in Abilene. I would have preferred if the writer had channeled his energy toward engendering a spirit of cooperation between the Abilene Police Department and the people of Abilene and Taylor County. Cooperation is defined as a situation in which people work together to accomplish a common goal. In this case, the goal is to decrease violent crimes.

A solution to crime concerns us all. You can help law enforcement by taking steps to keep yourself from becoming a victim by reporting suspicious activities and helping identify wanted fugitives. People need to be crime smart as they are clearly the first line of defense against property crimes.

Chief Standridge takes his job seriously and shoulders the responsibility for this increase in crime. His statement that, "The 2015 crime statistics are a shared report card for the community and its police," refers to the fact that residents can and should be more diligent in reporting criminal activity. One way to do this is through the Crime Stopper Program, whose mission is to carry out a community offensive against crime through law enforcement, the media and citizen involvement. The community is encouraged to report information, anonymously, about criminal activities. Rewards are offered for information that helps law enforcement solve current and unsolved crimes. Individuals can clearly impact auto thefts simply by locking their cars and property thefts by putting serial numbers on their property.

Chief Standridge said, "Our goal is to serve those we protect. We believe in working with the people we serve to build a community of the highest quality for present and future generations." Every day, the Abilene Reporter-News publishes stories such as "Two suspects arrested for fraud and drug charges," "Abilene police recover thousands of dollars in stolen property and arrest three" and the list goes on. We should show respect and admiration for the indispensable, dangerous and often thankless job performed by our public servants.

In 2015, nationwide, 129 law enforcement officers were killed in the line of duty. Heroes all! Yet, there are those who prefer to criticize. We are each part of the whole. There is no separation. What you do to another, you do to yourself. It is more appropriate to let them know how much we appreciate their service to our community and stop maligning and demeaning those who are sworn to protect and serve us all, including John.

Mr. Eubank's comments should be a wake-up call for all of us  a call to be constructive, not destructive; to be uplifting, not demeaning; to be positive, not indifferent; to not find fault and tear down, but help to heal; and most of all to be thankful for the fine law enforcement officers and our exemplary chief of police, who cares for our town and cares for you.

This can be summed up in the chief's statement, "Abilene is our home, and we are thankful for the opportunity to serve and protect this community. If we work together, we can make a difference. Perhaps, that difference starts with all of us realizing that solutions to crime are not strictly police business; it is everyone's business."

Walter Meller lives in Abilene.
It's the final countdown.

No, the microwave timer is not about to go off. But 3, 2, 1 and it's election day Tuesday.

Super Tuesday almost is upon us. Early voting ended Friday with almost 9,500 votes cast.

Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. You can vote at any of the 20 voting centers in Taylor County, including the Taylor County Plaza.

Two weeks ago, the Reporter-News and its Community Advisory Board presented their recommendations in six contested races. You are on your own for president. Good luck with that.

Here is a review of how we saw these half-dozen races:

U.S. Congress, 19th District: Before we could publish our piece, one of the nine candidates  Don Parrish  dropped out. Still, it's an eight-person field with seven from Lubbock or close by and one candidate from the east end of this 29-county district. Longtime U.S. Rep. Randy Neugebauer is not seeking re-election. The winner will be a newcomer to this level of politics.

Our view was that the race comes down to two candidates, retired Air Force officer Michael Bob Starr, of Abilene, and former Texas Tech University administrator Jodey Arrington. We like Arrington enough to have endorsed him in a special election for a vacated Texas Senate seat in 2014. Arrington finished a distant second to Charles Perry in a six-candidate race.

Starr retired early to run for this post. His military experience would provide a strong voice for Dyess Air Force Base and veterans in this district. Though not as polished a candidate as Arrington, who has Washington, D.C., work experience, Starr is be the best choice considering how many candidates tout defense and protection of our borders as a perhaps the key election issue. Allegations against both by candidate Glen Robertson, the mayor of Lubbock, are unfounded.

Texas Senate, District 24. While her opponents now and then have stuck with the main issues facing residents of this long, north-south district, state Rep. Susan King brings experience, savvy and the respect of her colleagues. This was an easy choice, with Reed Williams the second best pick in this six-candidate race to represent 17 diverse counties.

* Texas House, District 71. We could not settle on a candidate but narrowed the five-person field to two: Hamlin's Isaac Castro and Abilene's Stan Lambert. It would be easy to look more closely at the big-city candidate but this is a three-county district, with Jones and Nolan residents sometimes facing issues different from those in Taylor County.

Castro is an almost lifelong area resident, save for getting his law degree in Austin. He is a self-made success story and has worked toward running for this office again after losing handily to King in 2014.

Lambert brings business acumen to the table and also has deep district roots, graduating from high school and college in Abilene.

Both candidates have been mayors and both offer school board experience, Lambert having served the Abilene ISD since 2006, the year King moved on to Austin.

Castro continues to lean on his anti-abortion and 2nd Amendment stances while Lambert is relying on name recognition. We're not sure which of the two would be most effective in Austin or serving the entire district, but these are the best choices.

District attorney. As unsure as we are in the House race, we are sure that either James Hicks or Joel Wilks would be an effective DA. Both are veteran prosecutors, though how they arrived at this election varies  Wilks was hired here young and has held various roles in the office of DA James Eidson (who's running unopposed for district court judge) while Hicks was hired by Eidson as an experience prosecutor. We favored Wilks for knowing this community more fully and his ideas for greater efficiency, training and new ways of administering justice  especially for youth and women  in Taylor County.

Court at Law No. 2. We chose the youngest candidate in a three-person field. Some argue there is no substitute for experience, and candidates Harriett Haag and Kevin Willhelm have nearly 50 years between them. But Erica Hall has packed a lot into a shorter career, including serving as court master (a judge's role). We believe her energy would lead to fresh ideas coming to fruition.

Commissioner, Precinct 3. The top candidates, in our view, in this four-man field are no-nonsense Lt. Brad Birchum of the Sheriff's Office and Gary Young, whose volunteer firefighter experience and dedication are noteworthy. In their own ways, each candidate is qualified but Birchum's directness, longtime county service (30 years) and preparation (he attended all but one Commissioners Court meeting last year, he said) would bring a new dynamic to the court.

Regardless of which candidate you would chose in each race, please vote if you have not.
Sunday is expected to be sunny with a high close to 75 and a clear nightly low near 44 with wind gusts as high as 30 mph.

This week the highs may peak anywhere from the high 60s to the 70s while the nights should stay in the 40s and 50s.

Your seven day forecast:

Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 75. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 10 to 20 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph.

Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 44. North northeast wind 5 to 10 mph.

Monday: Sunny, with a high near 79. East wind 5 to 15 mph becoming south in the afternoon.

Monday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 55. South wind 10 to 15 mph becoming west after midnight.

Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 68. Breezy, with a west wind 10 to 20 mph becoming northeast in the afternoon.

Tuesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 42. Northeast wind 5 to 15 mph becoming south after midnight.

Wednesday: Sunny, with a high near 76. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph.

Wednesday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 50. Breezy, with a south southwest wind 15 to 20 mph becoming northwest after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph.

Thursday: Sunny, with a high near 70. Breezy.

Thursday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 40.

Friday: Sunny, with a high near 72.

Friday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 49.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 73.
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By Scott Kirk, Special to the Reporter-News

Hector Guerrero, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in San Angelo, got a chance to work with the front line of defense in weather warning at a Skywarn spotter training class Saturday morning at Abilene Christian University.

Guerrero, the warning coordinator with the NWS in San Angelo, spoke to the group of around 100 volunteers and media about how to spot storms and relay that information to the meteorologists at the NWS.

Bill Shaw, the Skywarn Coordinator for Taylor County, said the work done on the ground is vital in helping meteorologists who are monitoring weather on radar.

"What they are seeing on radar is just one piece of the puzzle," said Shaw. "They need the ground truth. They can't tell (on radar) what the temperature of the wind is or how hard the wind is blowing. Sometimes, these weather things happen so quickly and it's five or 10 minutes before the meteorologists know about it. It's (the reports on radar) not done in real time."

Guerrero urged the spotters to disseminate two pieces of information to people  the first was to have some method of getting weather information and the second was to know safe places to go during a storm.

Guerrero suggested having a weather radio or app or signing up with Code Red, a service offered by the City of Abilene and other cities that alerts people to dangerous weather.

"At least I have a chance to get to safety," said Guerrero about having access to weather alerts.

As far as finding shelter from tornadoes and other dangerous weather, Guerrero recommended either below or above ground shelters or find the innermost room of the house and get low and protect the head. He said people should stay away from windows and large rooms. If a person is stuck in a car during a tornado, he or she should buckle the seat belt and lower the body.

Guerrero said that tornadoes are divided into three categories  weak, strong and violet. Fortunately, he said, weak tornadoes  which are described as lasting less than 10 minutes with winds under 110 miles per hour  account for 69 percent of all tornadoes, but only five percent of tornado-related deaths. Strong tornadoes  characterized by wind speeds between 110-167 MPH, a life span of 20 minutes and travel 15 miles of more  account for 29 percent of tornadoes and 25 percent of deaths.

The most dangerous tornadoes, violent tornadoes, make up just two percent of all tornadoes but 70 percent of tornado-related deaths. They last more than an hour, travel 50 miles or more and can have winds between 168-234 miles per hour.

Guerrero said that tornadoes develop during severe thunderstorms, which require moisture and lift, which occur when the boundary of a front meets a dry line. He said the place to look for tornadoes is in the interface between the warm air and the moisture.

He said the two most dangerous thunderstorms are in the squall line, a line of thunderstorms moving rapidly in which the biggest threat is straight wind, and in supercell thunderstorms, rotating storms with updraft which produce hail, tornadoes and flash flooding. He told the spotters that the best place to look for tornadoes was about 5-10 miles from the southeast edge of the storm. He also said to watch its movement, particularly its speed, closely.

"Don't rely solely on radar because of the lag time," said Guerrero. "It can be on you in a hurry."

Guerrero said that spotters are particularly vital in reporting landspouts, which are tornadoes that are not developed in a thunderstorm. He said that meteorologists can't detect landspouts on radar.

"We don't even know if they're there," Guerrero said.
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Two suicide bombings in Afghanistan that killed at least 28 people on February 27 have thrown the prospects of peace talks between Kabul and the Taliban in doubt.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani says his government will not hold peace talks with any militant faction that kills innocent Afghan civilians and that Afghan forces will step up their fight against terrorists.

Ghani's statement came after a suicide bomber in the eastern province of Kunar killed at least 13 people on February 27.

Hours later, a suicide bombing claimed by the Taliban killed at least 15 people near the Afghan Defense Ministry in Kabul.

Officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the United States, and China have been pressing for a resumption of peace talks with the Taliban in Islamabad as soon as the first week of March.

It remains unclear whether the Taliban, struggling to contain deep internal divisions, will take part.

Based on reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan, Reuters, BBC, AP, and AFP


Some 500 people rallied in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, on February 28 to demand that the government scrap a new regulation, which protesters say imposes an unfair burden on small private businesses.

The unsanctioned rally was the largest protest in recent years in Belarus, where the authoritarian government has shown little tolerance for dissent.

Police, however, did not interfere and the demonstration ended peacefully.

The regulation, introduced this year, stipulates that small private businesses should obtain certificates guaranteeing the quality of their products.

Business owners complain the certificates are expensive and take weeks to obtain.

The Associated Press quoted Minsk businessman Ales Makayev as saying "why do these certificates cost 5 euros in Europe and in Belarus we need to pay $200 or $100 and spend 20 days to get them?"

The regulation appears to be part of government efforts to increase budget revenues amid an economic crisis in Belarus.

The country's economy contracted 4 percent last year and the currency has fallen 40 percent since the beginning of 2015.

Minsk to ask International Monetary Fund for a loan of $3 billion.

Based on reporting by AP
A Georgian opposition leader and former cabinet minister underwent surgery for a second time on February 28, just 48 hours after he was beaten and shot while visiting a Tbilisi cemetery.

A Georgian opposition leader and former cabinet minister underwent surgery on February 28, just 48 hours after he was beaten and shot while visiting a Tbilisi cemetery.

Aleksi Petriashvili, leader of the Free Democrat party, was targeted by an unspecified number of attackers on February 26.

The 45-year-old Petriashvili, who served as minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration from 2012 to 2014, said the gunmen insulted him before their attack.

Petriashvili was minister for European integration until he resigned in late 2014 to protest the removal of his colleague Irakli Alasania as defense minister.

Petriashvili's wife, Ekaterine Mishveladze, said he suffered three gunshot wounds  one in each leg and one in his stomach.

She described the attack as a failed assassination attempt.

Georgia's Rustavi-2 TV channel reports that the attack was witnessed by former deputy Health Minister Kakha Sakandelidze, who was visiting the cemetery together with Petriashvili.

Georgia's Interior Ministry has opened a criminal investigation into the shooting.

With reporting by AP, Reuters, Interfax, TASS, and Rustavi-2


A large part of Moldova's military equipment dates back to Soviet times and is in urgent need of replacement, Defense Minister Anatolie Nosatii told RFE/RL, adding that the money allocated by the government for defense amounts to a small sum but is still important for its badly underfunded and underequipped army.

Moldova, one of Europe's poorest countries, was part of the Soviet Union until 1991, when it declared independence. It has a long border with Ukraine and has been hosting hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees since the start of Moscow's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has some 1,500 troops in Moldova's Moscow-backed separatist region of Transdniester, a sliver of land sandwiched between Moldova proper and Ukraine.

"Some 90 percent [of our military equipment] is of Soviet origin and dates back to the 1960s to the 1980s.... You cannot modernize a ZIL-131 [military truck] or an antiaircraft system made in the 1970s," Nosatii said.

The pro-European government of President Maia Sandu accelerated its EU bid after Russia invaded Ukraine and in June was given candidate status alongside Ukraine.

Moldova's armed forces consists of 6,500 professional personnel, while 2,000 conscripts are being recruited annually for compulsory military service. The military also employs 2,000 civilians as auxiliary personnel.

Nosatii told RFE/RL that the 0.5 percent of the gross domestic product allocated for defense by the government -- roughly $25.5 million -- while small, is still very important for the implementation of modernization projects.

Nosatii also spoke about the equipment shortages that the Moldovan military faces because of insufficient funding.

The Defense Ministry covers only partially the contents of the so-called "emergency backpack" that contract soldiers, who account for the bulk of Moldova's armed forces, must have at the ready for unexpected situations, Nosatii said.

Nosatii, who was appointed in August last year as defense minister in Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilita's reformist government, told RFE/RL that his ministry's current priority is to provide every member of the armed forces with one of these individual first-aid medical kits.

Moldova has been cooperating with foreign partners, including NATO, in its efforts to supply the first-aid kits to its military personnel, Nosatii said.

Besides the first-aid kit, the emergency backpack must also include personal items such as underwear, socks, gloves, a woolly hat, food, and a flashlight, Nosatii said, adding that the state can only partially cover the cost of such equipment.

"For example," Nosatii told RFE/RL, "if the state provides four T-shirts [for daily usage] but the backpack has to cover seven days of deployment, the remainder of three or more T-shirts must be bought by the soldier."

Nosatii said that supplying Moldova's small military with equipment has been a permanent underlying problem but that the ministry has obtained aid from Moldova's external partners.

"You can't demand that a soldier perform his duties when he doesn't have what he needs, when he's cold, lacks military equipment, or is forced to buy it himself," Nosatii said.

Military equipment donated by Moldova's Western partners this year consists of protective gear such as helmets, flak jackets, and waterproof and winter clothing.

Earlier this month, German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht visited Moldova and said Berlin is prepared to provide drones and other military equipment to Chisinau.

Lambrecht also said the German Army is ready to provide military training to Moldova.

She said Berlin also realizes the importance of supporting Moldova in the wake of energy shortages stemming from the war in Ukraine.
The succession question in Iran has come to the fore recently with the election of a new Assembly of Experts, the 88-member chamber of (male) theologians who pick and nominally oversee the work of the country's supreme leader. Speculation mounted about potential successors to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei after the 76-year-old ayatollah underwent prostate surgery in 2014, and rumors about his health continue to circulate.

But ex-President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani put the topic front and center when he spoke publicly in December about succession. Rafsanjani, an influential former confidant of the Islamic republic's iconic founder Ruhollah Khomeini whose name has come up as a potential successor to Khamenei, said a group of clerics was examining qualified potential prospects who could become Iran's next supreme leader.

Most analysts agree that it's difficult to predict political developments in Iran if Khamenei dies or becomes incapacitated. Some suggest Iran might experience a period of political turmoil and increased factional infighting, while others, such as analyst and former State Department official Ray Takeyh, believe that Iranian authorities would quickly name a replacement "to project the impression of continuity and strength."

There are also differing views about the actual role the Assembly of Experts is likely to play in choosing Iran's third supreme leader (after Khomeini and Khamenei).

Amid the debates, a number of Iranian political figures have been touted as possible Khamenei successors.

Here are some of them:

Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi

This former head of Iran's powerful judiciary and current Guardians Council and Assembly of Experts member is a senior conservative cleric who teaches Islamic jurisprudence in the Shi'ite holy city of Qom. He's been tipped as a top contender for supreme leader due in part to his strong religious credentials and the perception that he hasn't particularly antagonized any factions within the Islamic republic.

Shahrudi, 67, was born in the Iraqi city of Najaf to an Iranian family. His website claims he was jailed by then-Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's regime in 1974 and tortured. He moved to Iran after the 1979 revolution that ended the Pahlavi monarchy and led to the creation of the Islamic republic.

After Shahrudi took up the leadership of the judiciary, he spoke of the need for judicial reforms -- and he implicitly criticized his predecessor in the post, current Assembly of Experts Chairman Mohammad Yazdi* -- but critics say Shahrudi failed to bring substantial changes to the powerful institution, which has been a tool of state repression. During his 1999-2009 tenure as judiciary chief, scores of journalists and activists were jailed and publications were shut down. Shahrudi reportedly ordered a moratorium on executions by stoning in 2002, but a number of stoning sentences were said to have been issued and carried out despite the order.

Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

This pragmatic 82-year-old cleric is among the founding figures of Iran's Islamic republic. Rafsanjani, who is nicknamed "The Shark" for his lack of a beard and perceived political shrewdness, was Iran's president from 1989 to 1997. His presidency was marked by attempts to move Iran toward greater pragmatism on foreign policy and ease social and cultural restrictions slightly at home.

During his presidency, a number of dissidents and intellectuals inside and outside Iran were either killed or disappeared. Rafsanjani was accused of being among state officials who ordered those and other killings. Those who made the accusations included journalist Akbar Ganji, another former postrevolutionary Iranian president at a German terrorism trial, and an Argentine investigator into the deadly bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994. He has never publicly commented on the slayings or the accusations against him.

Rafsanjani is regarded by some as a rival to current Supreme Leader Khamenei, who was appointed as the country's top authority in 1989 by Rafsanjani and a number of other clerics.

Hard-liners have occasionally sought to marginalize Rafsanjani, who publicly expressed support for the opposition movement in 2009. In 2011, Rafsanjani lost his post as chairman in a vote by the Assembly of Experts to Yazdi (see above). Rafsanjani has appeared to be ascendant since self-styled moderate Hassan Rohani's rise to the presidency in 2013.

Sadegh Larijani

The current head of Iran's powerful judiciary is believed to be close to Supreme Leader Khamenei, who appointed him to that post in 2009. Nearly a decade earlier, in 2001, Khamenei had made Larijani one of the youngest jurists in the powerful Guardians Council that has consistently opposed reforms. According to Washington-based Iran analyst (and former RFE/RL Radio Farda broadcaster) Mehdi Khalaji, Larijani has close ties to Iran's military and intelligence agencies.

Larijani was born in the Iraqi city of Najaf and moved to Iran after the 1979 revolution. Two of his brothers, including current parliamentary speaker Ali Larijani, hold important political posts.

Under Larijani's watch atop the judiciary, the number of executions, including public hangings, has significantly increased. Larijani has repeatedly dismissed international criticism of Iran's human rights record as baseless interference. Larijani has claimed that "many of the issues raised on the pretext of human rights, including opposing the death penalty, are in fact in opposition to Islam, because qisas" -- or retaliatory law -- "is clearly stipulated in the Quran."

Hassan Rohani

Iran's self-styled moderate president appeared to enjoy soaring popularity after he engineered a nuclear deal with world powers to lift international sanctions in July.

The 67-year-old theologian is regarded as a skillful maneuverer and lobbyist of different centers of powers in the Islamic republic and the international arena, earning him the nickname "Diplomatic Sheikh." He has served in a number of key posts over the past 37 years, including secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council from 1989 to 2005.

Rohani was elected as Iran's president in June 2013 with the slogan "moderation and prudence." Many people are thought to have voted for him to block hard-line candidates favored by Supreme Leader Khamenei.

Rohani has so far failed to fulfill campaign promises to give Iranians more rights, but supporters argue that since his election, state repression has slightly eased and cultural freedom increased. Rohani's pledge to release opposition figures who have been under house arrest since February 2011 has also not materialized.

Hassan Khomeini

This 43-year-old cleric and grandson of the founder of Iran's Islamic republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, is a mid-ranking, relative moderate who teaches theology in his birthplace of Qom. He has come under pressure by hard-liners over his ties to the reformists.

Khomeini recently made headlines by announcing his decision to run for the Assembly of Experts amid speculation that former Presidents Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami had encouraged him to stand. But vetters at the Guardians Council torpedoed his candidacy. Saying there was no justification for his disqualification, Khomeini said he had decided to run "out of duty and concern for the future of the revolution and the Islamic establishment."

Fazel Meybodi, a reformist cleric in Qom, has described Khomeini as "a moderate person, handsome, charismatic, articulate, and open-minded."

Mojtaba Khamenei

This 46-year-old cleric is one of Supreme Leader Khamenei's six children. Rumors about him as a possible successor to his father made him a target of chants by opposition activists protesting the 2009 reelection of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

Little is known about the younger Khamenei, although he was rumored to have been orchestrating the brutal crackdown that followed the disputed 2009 vote. He makes rare appearances at his father's speeches and at state demonstrations marking anniversaries of the 1979 revolution.

The younger Khamenei's father-in-law, former parliamentary speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel, once called him a pious and modest man whose views are fully in line with his father's and who "fulfills his duty" when asked by the supreme leader. Haddad Adel also said "rumors" swirling around Mojtaba Khamenei reflect efforts to create distance between the supreme leader and the people.



Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi

This 82-year-old ayatollah and current Assembly of Experts* member, nicknamed "Ayatollah Crocodile" by detractors, is arguably one of Iran's most radical clerics. He was an ardent supporter of former hard-line President Ahmadinejad, calling his election "a miracle." But after Ahmadinejad appeared to fall out of official favor, Mesbah turned critic. He has been a fierce opponent of reforms, suggesting in a 1998 speech that "accepting Islam is not compatible with democracy."

More recently, Mesbah Yazdi said that "cultural infiltration" is the biggest threat Iran will face. In the run-up to these elections, he was quoted as saying that "the enemies want to influence our thinking and weaken our beliefs."

*Both Mohammad Yazdi and Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi are seeking re-election to the Assembly of Experts. Latest preliminary results indicate that both men have lost their seats.
Final results from Irans February 26 elections show that Iranian President Hassan Rohani and his reformist allies won 15 out of Tehrans 16 seats in the Assembly of Experts, a powerful 88-member assembly tasked with choosing Irans next supreme leader.

Two prominent hard-line clerics, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi and Ayatollah Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, lost their seats on the assembly.

Reformists also won all 30 of Tehrans contested seats in the countrys 290-seat parliament.

Millions cast their ballots on February 26 to elect the 290-seat parliament as well as members of the 88-strong assembly, which consists of mostly elder and senior clerics.

Elsewhere in the country, the parliamentary results appeared to be split between moderates, hard-liners, and independent candidates.

Reports suggested as many as 50 seats had no clear winner and could require a second round runoff vote in April or May.

Rohani's ally, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, is leading the race for the Assembly of Experts in the Iranian capital. Rohani is currently in the third position. Tehran will send 16 candidates to the assembly.

The hard-line cleric Ahmad Jannati, who chairs the powerful Guardians Council, was in 15th position.

INFOGRAPHIC: How Iran Is Ruled (click to proceed)



The vote was the first in Iran since the lifting of international sanctions under a landmark nuclear deal reached by Tehran and world powers last year.

Reformists had urged voters to cast ballots for a coalition of pro-reform and relatively moderate candidates -- the so-called List Of Hope -- to prevent the reelection of hard-liners and ultra-conservative clerics.

The moderates' gains come despite the disqualification of thousands of candidates, including prominent reformist figures, by hard-liners on the Guardians Council.

Reformist and moderate newspapers welcomed the reformist win in Tehran.

"Decisive Win For The List of Hope In Tehran," the Shargh daily wrote on its front page, which carried a picture of Rohani and Rafsanjani.

Prominent Iranian economist Saeed Laylaz, who served as an adviser to former reformist President Mohammad Khatami, told the BBC that the gains by the moderates were beyond their expectations.

In Tehran, it is marvelous," Laylaz said.

He added: In the whole country, it is beyond our initial expectation because we didnt suppose that we will be in a majority together with independent candidates."

Ali Alizadeh, a London-based Iranian analyst, told RFE/RL's Radio Farda that Rohani's political position is likely to be strengthened as the result of the vote.

However, he added that the hard-liners have not been defeated.

"These elections are likely to give, to some extent, more power to Rohani and tie the hands of the hard-liners," Alizadeh said in a telephone interview. "But the forces known as hard-liners have not been eliminated from the parliament."

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised the "wise and determined" Iranian nation for its high participation in the twin votes.

In a statement released on February 28, Khamenei said those elected to the parliament and the Assembly of Experts, and other Iranian officials, should prioritize Irans national interests over "their personal and factional demands."

He also said that they should stand "bravely" against "foreign meddling."

I hope the next parliament will act responsibly toward people and God," Khamenei said in the statement posted on his website.

The head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Sadegh Amoli Larijani, praised peoples "responsible" participation in the vote while accusing reformists of working with Westerners to prevent hard-liners from being reelected to the Assembly of Experts.

In a statement issued on February 27, Larijani claimed reformists had coordinated with "American and English media outlets" to prevent what he called some senior servants of the people from entering the assembly.

"Is this type of coordination with foreigners in order to push out these figures from the Assembly of Experts in the interests of the establishment?" he said in a statement.

The powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) also praised the "high turnout" in the elections, claiming that it demonstrated the commitment of Iranians to "revolutionary and Islamic values."

"There is no doubt that the election winners will do their best to protect Iran's dignity, power, and independence; resolve the main issues for society and the people; and defeat the [United States] by their awareness and wisdom," the IRGC said in a statement published by the hard-line Fars news agency.

Iran's Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said on February 27 that over 60 percent of eligible voters, about 35 million Iranians, had cast their ballots in the elections.

With reporting by Radio Farda, Reuters, BBC, AP,IRNA, Fars, ISNA, and Shargh


A twin suicide bombing has killed at least 59 people and wounded nearly 100 in a crowded outdoor market in Baghdad, Iraqi officials said.

Police said a bomb ripped through the Mredi market in the Shi'ite district of Sadr City on February 28.

Minutes later, a suicide bomber blew himself up amid the crowd that had gathered at the site of the first bombing.

The Islamic State (IS) extremist group claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The bombing came hours an attack by IS militants on Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib, officials said.

Police said the IS assault started in the early morning when three suicide car bombers struck a security force barracks as gunmen opened fire.

At least 12 government and paramilitary soldiers were killed and 35 others wounded, police said.

Abu Ghraib, the location of a prison where U.S. troops committed abuses against detainees after the 2003 invasion, is about five kilometers west of Baghdad International Airport.

Based on reporting by AP, Reuters, and AFP


Iraqi security forces were battling on February 28 against Islamic State militants in Baghdad's western suburb of Abu Ghraib in what officials described as the largest attack near the Iraqi capital in months.

Police said the IS assault started in the early morning hours when three suicide car bombers rammed their explosives-laden vehicles into barracks used by security forces in Abu Ghraib.

IS gunmen followed up the suicide attacks with a ground assault, killing at least 12 government and paramilitary soldiers and wounding at least 22.

The Reuters news agency reports that, after the initial attack was repelled, the militants seized positions at a nearby grain silo and a cemetery.

The Iraqi commander of military operations in western Baghdad, Major General Saad Harbiya, said a daytime curfew was imposed in the area.

Abu Ghraib, the location of a prison where U.S. troops committed abuses against detainees after the 2003 invasion, is about five kilometers west of Baghdad International Airport.

Meanwhile, police said at least 24 people were killed and more than 60 wounded in eastern Baghdad on February 28 when two bombs went off at a crowded market in the mainly Shi'ite Muslim district of Sadr City.

The IS extremist group said its militants had carried out the suicide attacks, saying more such assaults would follow.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP






The life of social activists in Moldova today is fraught with paradoxes.

Few know this better than 42-year-old Oleg Brega, who has become a local celebrity in recent years for his in-your-face videos showing Moldova as it is, warts and all: politicians and their lavish lifestyles, cops explaining why cars with government plates can park wherever they like, long lines of people waiting outside a church for holy water from a tank connected by a frayed hose to an ordinary spigot.



His career is a reflection of Moldova's relatively new freedom to protest and to publish, although these freedoms are putting increasing pressure on the liberal governments that, albeit unevenly, allow them.



"These days many Moldovans participate in protests, sometimes without even announcing them in advance to the authorities," Brega tells RFE/RL's Moldovan Service. "This was impossible when the communists were in power. That means a lot. That is progress."



"But this is also all that we have got," he adds.



Brega began his life as a social activist in 2001 after a Communist Party victory in dubious elections sparked mass protests. He hosted a short-lived radio call-in program in which ordinary Moldovans could air their grievances. The authorities shut him down.



In 2009, after another round of questionable elections, popular protests drove the Communist Party from power. Since then, various coalitions of pro-European integration parties have ruled the impoverished country. But a string of embarrassing corruption scandals and a widely perceived failure to improve the lives of ordinary citizens have left many disenchanted.



"Everybody is disappointed now because their expectations of the new regime were too high," Brega says. "But I had reservations even back then. I was skeptical. I knew that politicians defecting from the Communist Party wouldn't behave differently."



"And my worst fears came true," he adds. "The new rulers stole from us -- and more ruthlessly than the communists did."

Still Idealistic



Now Brega runs the Curaj TV website and YouTube channel, producing dozens of short videos each month, some of which gather hundreds of thousands of views.

However, as discontent with the pro-European parties grows, so does support for the pro-Russian parties waiting in the wings, including the Socialist Party headed by former Communist Party member Igor Dodon. Recent turmoil in parliament has repeatedly rocked the pro-European coalition and brought the country to the brink of early elections.

Asked whether he worries that his exposes could end up bringing authoritarian forces to power and derailing Moldova's Westward trajectory, Brega remains fundamentally idealistic.

"I am not afraid of early elections," he says. "And I'm not afraid to be in opposition to any government. If I survived eight years of communist government, I can survive anything. Democracy has never damaged any society, and elections are a way of getting more people involved."

So almost every day Brega straps on his helmet-mounted video camera and gets on his bike to create another video for Curaj TV.

Fellow Moldovan activist Angela Frolov, who campaigns for the rights of sexual minorities, is sure that Brega is playing an important role by showing her country "as it really is."

"He is very controversial in what he does," she says. "He doesn't leave anyone indifferent. Some people love him and others cannot stand him. But my personal opinion is we need more Moldovans like him. Definitely."

'Absurdist Protests'

Brega worries about the apathy of the deeply conservative Moldovan public and the lack of substantial response to his activities.He and his fellow activists try to counter this by following the lead of some Russian and Belarusian protesters by carrying out "absurdist protests." Although these actions have shock value and gain superficial attention, they run the risk of further marginalizing the activists and distracting from the seriousness of their concerns.

Moreover, he says, increasingly the authorities are resorting to communist-like tactics such as charging protesters with "hooliganism." That is what is happening now to Anatol Matasaru, an ally of Brega's and regular contributor to the Curaj website. In late January, he sat with his pants down on a toilet in front of the National Anticorruption Center next to a pile of artificial feces while holding a sign that read simply,

WATCH: Moldova's Potty Protester Anatol Matasaru

But Brega says he intends to keep trying to make his voice heard and plans to continue his political career as well, despite failed campaigns for parliament and mayor of Chisinau in the last couple of years.



"Since [the protests of] 2009, I haven't considered emigrating," he says. "But if things here were to get much worse, the way they are in Russia, then If we get an authoritarian regime here, a dictatorship like they have now in Russia, then I won't be able to resist for long."

RFE/RL correspondent Robert Coalson contributed to this story
Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry says 26 miners missing underground in Russia's Far East since a February 25 explosion at the Severnaya mine are dead -- raising the total death toll in the tragedy to 36.

The ministry made the announcement on February 28 just hours after an explosion at the mine near the city of Vorkutsk killed six rescuers.

Four miners were killed and nine were wounded when methane gas in the mine exploded on February 25.

The second explosion that killed six rescue workers has also been blamed on a build-up of methane gas inside the mine.

Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov said on February 28 that rescue operations were being halted because high temperatures and the lack of oxygen in the damaged part of the mine would "not allow anyone to survive."

Puchkov also said no contact had been made with any of the missing miners since the first explosion on February 25.

On February 28, authorities in Russia's Republic of Komi announced a three-day mourning period to pay tribute to the victims of the tragedy.

The six rescue workers who were killed are to be honored with posthumous state medals.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, BBC, TASS, and Interfax
Monitors in Syria say several air strikes struck targets in northwestern and central parts of the country on February 28, but a truce between government troops and moderate opposition forces appeared to be broadly intact on its second day.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says its monitors reported air strikes by either Syrian or Russian warplanes at six towns in Aleppo Province and one village in the province of Hama.

The observatorys director, Rami Abulrahman, said it was not clear whether the air strikes hit areas covered by the truce.

Russia's monitoring center in Syria registered what it said were nine cease-fire violations since on February 27, but it said the truce was holding "in general."

Meanwhile, Russian military officials said they contacted a U.S.-operated coordination center in Jordan's capital, Amman, on February 28 for clarification about what the Kremlin says were artillery attacks on Syrian territory from Turkey.

The truce does not include territory held by Islamic State militants or the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Nusra Front.

Together, those militant extremist groups control about half of the territory in Syria.

The Russian center in Syria says U.S. officials have sent a list of 69 armed opposition groups which have agreed to the terms of the cease-fire.

The Russian center also said it has received declarations of agreement with the truce from 17 armed groups that are members of Syria's "moderate" opposition.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, meanwhile, said it is raising concerns with international powers about what it says are violations of the conditions of the truce by Russian and Syrian government forces.

A spokesman for Syrias main opposition umbrella group said on February 28 that the High Negotiations Committee has asked U.S. officials for information about how the monitoring of the truce works but has yet to receive an answer.

The spokesman,Monzer Makhous, said the opposition will continue to back the truce -- despite what he said were 15 violations by government forces and their allies on February 27.

United Nations monitors reported only isolated fire during the first day of the truce.

UN diplomats said they hope the truce will provide a window for humanitarian aid to reach Syrian civilians who have been trapped for months in areas that are besieged by Syrian government forces.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said, that if the truce holds, he plans to start a second round of peace talks on March 7.

With reporting by Reuters, AP, TASS, and Interfax
Tajik media are reporting that a woman known to be the second wife of a fugitive Tajik colonel, Gulmurod Halimov, has left for Syria along with the couple's four young children.

The relatives of Humairo Mirova confirmed on February 28 that she left Tajikistan earlier this month but insisted that they were unaware of her whereabouts.

According to the family, Mirova told them she was going on vacation and asked them not to try to contact her until she calls them herself.

There were no official comments on Mirova's case. However, her brother, Shohnazar Mirov, said he was kept in police custody for a week after Mirova's departure.

Mirov said authorities questioned him on his sister's whereabouts.

Mirova, 40, worked as a spokesperson for the State Customs Service, but her employer said she has been on a maternity leave since the summer of 2015.

Tajik media reported that Mirova became Halimov's second wife 10 years ago.

Halimov, the former commander of the Interior Ministry's special forces, known as OMON, disappeared in April 2015.

Halimov later appeared on a video to confirm that he had defected to the Islamic State militant group in Syria.

Tajik authorities say they were continuing efforts to capture Halimov. They also say he has been seriously injured twice since leaving the country.


When Southern Democrats dreamed up Super Tuesday in the 1980s, they hoped to reinvigorate the party in the South by giving it clout in choosing the partys presidential nominee.

Or as then-Tennessee Democratic Chairman Dick Lodge memorably put it in 1986: When your dog bites you four or five times, its time to get a new dog. Weve been bitten and its time for the South to get a new dog.

Two years earlier conservative Southerners, long fed up with Democrats presidential picks, not only rejected Walter Mondale and helped re-elect Ronald Reagan but also voted for Republicans for Congress.

Even the new dog couldnt bring those voters back. Theyve been voting Republican ever since.

Today, officials in both parties worry about the down-ballot consequences if insurgents Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders actually become their parties nominees.

Both parties are pinning their hopes on Super Tuesday, March 1, when more delegates will be chosen than on any other day during the primary season. Voters in a dozen states  including Virginia  will cast ballots.

Big question: Will Super Tuesday help choose a widely acceptable nominee  or prolong the agony for the party establishment?

In 2008, Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama kept fighting after Super Tuesdays 22 contests were inconclusive.

Today though, Clinton holds a commanding lead over Sanders in polls in Virginia and other Super Tuesday Southern states, where black voters dominate.

Among Republicans, Ted Cruz, who won the Iowa GOP caucuses, says Super Tuesday will be the most important night of this campaign. Rivals Marco Rubio and John Kasich also hope to break out and put the brakes on Trump.

Trump Fever, however, seems to be spreading. The billionaire businessmans margin of victory widened from New Hampshire to South Carolina to Nevada. In Nevada, Trump won 46 percent of the vote, about the same as Rubio and Cruz combined. Kasich and Ben Carson together didnt reach 10 percent.

Super Tuesday was also more snooze than shock in 2012. President Obama was running unopposed for re-election in most states, so all the action was on the Republican side.

Mitt Romney hoped to sweep Super Tuesday states and force his rivals from the GOP race. Romney captured 40 percent of the popular vote and about half the delegates  a performance seen as underwhelming and predictable, much like the candidate himself.

Georgia went for Newt Gingrich and Alabama and Tennessee supported Rick Santorum, who also won North Dakota and Oklahoma and came within a whisker of beating Romney in Ohio. Neither Gingrich nor Santorum was able to qualify for the ballot in Virginia, where Romney won.

With No Knockout Punch, a Bruising Battle Plods On, read a headline in The New York Times the day after Super Tuesday.

This time around, Trump  endorsed by Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University and son of the late televangelist  has surprised the establishment by winning support from white evangelical voters, who dominate the Southern GOP.

In Alabama and Tennessee, for example, more than 70 percent of GOP primary voters are white evangelical Christians, an analysis by Geoffrey Skelley of the University of Virginia Center for Politics found.

In Tennessee, record numbers of Republican voters have turned out for early primary voting, which could bode well for Trump, although thats uncertain as there have been no recent polls. Cruz and Rubio are also courting evangelicals.

In Virginia, while about 40 percent of the Republican primary vote is evangelical, 58 percent of voters are college educated, says U.Va.s Skelley, who suggests Northern Virginia voters could blunt Trump, and Rubio could benefit. Trump led in a Christopher Newport University poll of likely Republican primary voters in Virginia in mid-February.

The richest delegate states on Super Tuesday are Texas and Georgia, where Trump is strong. He and Cruz were neck and neck in the latest polls, released Thursday, while earlier Cruz had led handily in his home state. Trump leads by double digits in Georgia and Alabama, according to the polls.

Trump appears to have momentum, and the South is poised to solidify him as the GOP frontrunner. How ironic if Super Tuesday, which was intended to give Southern conservatives a moderating influence on presidential choices, made Trump unstoppable.

If that happens, the parties may want to get a new dog.
The Richmond Region is an incredible place to call home. The list of accolades for our community is growing every day. The world is noticing us and we should be proud. But to continue our progress, we must continue to strive to take that next step.

The challenges we face are not new, nor are they surprising. Combating poverty, attracting new businesses, solving our education disparities, building and filling the talent pipeline, and creating safe neighborhoods are among the many areas where we focus time and money to improve our community. Though we certainly see progress being made, how can we truly measure our success?

Many regions throughout the country have begun measuring and tracking past and current trends to assist community leaders in future decision-making. These indicators assess what the community cares about and track whether it is moving in the right direction. They provide reliable information that enables funders and policy makers to make data-driven investments in the community. But mostly, these indicators help us answer key questions. Are we there yet? Is our effort working?

***

In our community, individual organizations have created indicators to track distinct sectors of the region. Weve seen dashboards and report cards for issue areas like education, health, and the environment. These valuable tools have been essential in uniting organizations, prioritizing work, driving investments, and assessing and adapting programs.

While this is an important step forward, individual indicators dont have the capability to connect across broader focus areas. We know, for example, that when talking about workforce preparation, its essential to look at skill deficiencies, transit, and childcare accessibility. And when working to improve our schools, its impossible to take out the effects of poverty and health on the family. The Richmond Region needs a way to unite these metrics together to identify and address challenges that span multiple sectors.

Last year, a partnership among the myriad of data-tracking entities in the region evolved to make headway on this challenge. Facilitated by the Capital Region Collaborative (CRC) and funded by a handful of generous foundations in our community, these regional data partners are sharing data with each other  and with the public.

On Friday, the CRC released the 2016 Snapshot: A Shared Vision for Our Region. The Snapshot highlights baseline indicators in each of eight priority areas that help us capture the current state of our region, compare ourselves to similar communities, and measure progress over time. It represents the most up-to-date information from subject-matter experts in a variety of issue areas and draws on best-practice examples from communities across the country. Most importantly, its grounded in the belief that informed decision-making and collaboration  across our region and different sectors  is essential to realizing RVAs full potential.

***

The Snapshot was released on the heels of a final report from Richmonds Future, which shares an in-depth look at trends across the region and recommended paths to move forward. Throughout the report, which was published in last Sundays Times-Dispatch, the reader is challenged to think of where our region could be if we tackle these issues together. The Snapshot is part of the next step, but the CRC and its data-sharing partners are going further.

To help leaders understand our communitys strengths and challenges and to enable the people to move our community forward, we need to provide reliable data on an ongoing and up-to-date basis. So, we are developing a website to provide interactive ways to engage with the data and examine them at a more detailed, neighborhood level. Each year, we will release an updated report and use it to better understand if the policies and programs were putting in place are having an impact.

In addition, the CRC is mobilizing action teams for each priority area who will use these community indicators, as well as feedback from the community and specific examples of success to develop and implement a strategy to achieve our regions shared vision.

We invite you to visit the CRC website at capitalregioncollaborative.com to review the Snapshot document. The website also provides information on how to get involved.

It can be easy to dismiss data  to see it as something talked about periodically and then put on a shelf to collect dust. But in thriving regions across the country, indicator projects are being used not just to inform, but as a springboard for action.

Ultimately, the indicators are about much more than numbers. They tell the story of our community, from children growing up in challenged neighborhoods, to friends rafting down the James River, to parents struggling with mental health issues, to young people choosing where to start their career. This is our collective story  we must each be part of telling it. You are why data matters.
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by Tom Held

People in Wisconsin seem to have developed a cartoonish, and dangerous, approach toward driving. One that screams, Out of my way, Im a motorist.

Its an attitude that kills people, in cars, on bikes and on foot.

Fifty-five people were killed while walking in Wisconsin in 2015, a 22% increase from the previous year.

The number of people killed while riding a bicycle went from four to 15. All died after being hit by motor vehicles.

Those numbers may appear small considering the millions of people who walk and bike safely, but we cant ignore an uptick in fatalities that bigone that spread grief across the state, from urban streets to rural roads. People were killed while walking in 22 Wisconsin counties last year, and every victim was a person, with family, friends, and a future.

As part of its mission, the Wisconsin Bike Fed is intensifying its work to make streets safer for all users. Its a needed effort.

Instead of putting safety first, we seem to accept 55 deaths of people on foot as the cost of being part of a mobile society, and shrug as if the fatal collisions were unavoidable accidents.

These crashes are avoidable if only people would follow the rules of the road and focus on sharing the road with more vulnerable users.

The message shared by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Wisconsin Bike Fed through the Share and Be Aware program is the law and represents common sense. Slow down. Look for others. Yield to your neighbor.

Wisconsin statutes require people driving motor vehicles to yield to people walking in crosswalks. That applies in any crosswalk, marked or not. Under the law, the natural extension of the sidewalk across the street is a crosswalk, even without painted lines.

We ignore that law all too often.

More than 40 people were killed in crosswalks by motorists who failed to yield in 2011, 2012 and 2013, according to an analysis of crash reports by Robert Schneider, an assistant professor and traffic safety researcher at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. That number represented nearly 30% of the people 152 killed while walking in that three-year span.

Schneider also found that driver errors accounted for 65% of deaths in crosswalks at intersections.

The idea that most pedestrian fatalities are caused by people dashing into the street simply doesnt match the facts. We drive too fast and ignore the law, and make it dangerous and intimidating for people to engage in the most normal of activity: walking.

Its important for people to walk, says Larry Corsi, Pedestrian/Bicycle Safety Program Manager, Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Its better for business, better for health.

Corsi works in the DOT Bureau of Transportation Safety and oversees the efforts to make Wisconsin streets safer. That included coordination of High Visibility Enforcement actions by police in Milwaukee and La Crosse to remind motorists to yield to people walking.

During one such action, police issued 64 failure-to-yield warnings to motorists in the Marquette University area in one afternoon.

Unlike many of our problems in Wisconsin, this one is easy to solve and shouldnt cost a dime. Slow down and yield to your neighbor.

For more direct action, meet with Connect 53212 and other walk/bike advocates at Company Brewing on Tuesday, March 15th at 5:30PM. We will discuss ways to make Harambee and Riverwest more walk/bike friendly by brainstorming fun rides and advocating for better infrastructure.
By late summer of 1752, the English calendar was seriously out of date.

For centuries England had refused to acknowledge a simple solar fact: a year is actually longer than 365 days. Almost six hours longer. The earth takes 365.242 days (give or take) to complete a trip around the sun. Those extra hours added up over time and royally messed up the calendar.

Ancient Egyptians had realized this annual discrepancy thousands of years earlier and had developed calendars to deal with it. By the first century B.C., astronomers of Roman emperor Julius Caesar created the Julian calendar, which added an extra day every four years to account for the difference.

The calendar was further revised under Pope Gregory XIII in 1582. The Gregorian calendar kept the extra day every four years, except in years that ended in 00  unless those years were divisible by the number 400. For example, the year 1900 would not have an extra day, but the year 2000 would have (because 2000 is divisible by 400).

It sounds complicated, but the Gregorian calendar was a simple improvement over the Julian, and most of the world adopted it.

Most of the world, that is, except Protestant England, which did not desire to follow the astronomical advice of the Catholic pope. However, this resistance meant that that the English were not accounting for those extra six hours every year. By September 1752 the English calendar was off by 11 days.

Parliament finally accepted the Gregorian calendar and ordered the country to get with the times. To correct its calendar discrepancy, England and its colonies, including America, had to completely skip the dates Sept. 3 through 13. Its as if those 11 days never happened.

Some people resisted the change and a few politicians made the calendar an election issue. Workers worried that they would lose nearly two weeks of pay due to the change. Generally, though, natives and colonists accepted the new calendar.

Thats when Leap Year came to America.

Weird, funny and strange Leap Year news stories

Maybe its in repentance for obligatorily skipping those 10 days or just because the Earths year is a little wacky, but funny and strange things tend to happen on Leap Years. Here are some weird news from Leap Years past.

2012

In Northfleet, Kent, England, Roy Day was the subject of complaint by his neighbors because he owned 20 homing pigeons. The city council notified Day that the pigeons were not only loud and smelly but that they were a health problem and that he needed to get rid of them. The only obstacle being that these pigeons are homing pigeons, which leads one to ask: how do you re-home homing pigeons?

The Scottish village of Glenelg, which is located on the western coast of the country, picked a sister city that wasnt located in another country or even on the planet Earth. Instead, the community adopted Glenelg, a NASA-named location on Mars as their somewhat extraterrestrial link.

Tokyos zoo, Inokashira Park, had 30 squirrels escape after a typhoon wrecked their enclosure. Yet, 38 squirrels were recaptured and re-inhabited to the zoo. Zoo officials reported that they could have miscounted how many squirrels escaped, that the squirrels could have reproduced while on the loose or that some wild squirrels were picked up by mistake. It seems the former is more likely, though; as all the squirrels were microchipped.

Russian children in the Rostov region brought an exciting object to show and tell at school: a five-month-old lion cub. The cub, named Barsik, escaped from a car while he was being transported to a zoo in Dagestan.

2008

Oxford compiled a list of the most irritating phrases. The list, which was compiled for a book called Damp Squid, cited at the end of the day, fairly unique and I personally as some of the most loathsome phrases in the English language.

Broderick Lloyd Laswell, an accused killer from Arkansas, sued the county, claiming that it was starving him to death during his eight months behind bars awaiting trial. Laswell dropped from 413 pounds to 308 and cited that the lack of physical activity should have made him gain weight not lose it, and therefore he was being starved to death. The suit was later dropped.

Historical leap days

Some pretty notable things happened on past Leap Days. Here are just some of them:

1504  Christopher Columbus used his knowledge of a coming lunar eclipse to trick native chiefs into thinking that God would punish them for not gifting him with provisions. When the moon turned red and then back to normal, the chiefs panicked and gave Columbus what he asked for.

1692  The first warrants were issued in the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts.

1864  The Kilpatrick-Dahlgren raid failed, a military move that would have freed 15,000 Union Soldiers.

1892  St. Petersburg, Florida is incorporated into the United States.

1940  Hattie McDaniel becomes the first African American to win an Academy Award for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind.

1944  Admiralty Island is invaded in Operation Brewer led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

1960  An earthquake in Morocco kills more than 3,000 people and nearly destroys Agadir.

Leap Year facts and legends

According to the tradition of the Leap Year proposal, women are expected to propose marriage to their beaus.

Two historical ladies are credited with the the traditions origin. Some say that St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick that women had to wait too long for their suitors to propose to them. So, in the fifth century, St. Patrick designated Feb. 29 as the time in which gender roles would be reversed.

However, another legend credits Queen Margaret of Scotland with creating a law that fined men for turning down a womans proposal. Skeptics point out that at the time of the laws creation, Margaret was 5 years old and living in Norway. The tradition didnt become commonplace until the 19th century.

In Greece, it is bad luck to get married in a Leap Year.

People born on Feb. 29 are called leaplings or leapers. Some famous leapers are English poet John Byrom, singer Dinah Shore, motivational speaker Tony Robbins and the rapper Ja Rule.

Anthony, Texas has named itself the Leap Year Capital of the World. In February 1988, neighbors Mary Ann Brown and Birdie Lewis, both leaplings, approached the towns Chamber of Commerce and proposed a festival for all of those born on Leap Day. The town has held the celebration ever since.

There is no official food dish assigned to celebrate Leap Day, but some eat frogs legs in commemoration.

Feb. 29 is also Rare Disease Day.

Astrologers believe those leaplings born on Leap Day have unusual talents, like being able to burp the alphabet or paint like Picasso.

Before Julius Caesar proposed the Leap Year, people observed a 355-day calendar with an extra 22-day month every two years.

Sosigenes was the Greek astronomer who conceived the Leap Day solution for the Julian calendar.

February is a short month because Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus ego got in the way. When Julius Caesar was in power, February had 30 days, but Augustus was unhappy that his month, August, only had 29 days, whereas the month named for Julius Caesar, July, had 31. So Augustus took from February to boost August.

The modern Iranian calendar is a solar calendar with a unique Leap Year in which eight days are inserted every 33 years.

Ralph Berrier Jr. can be reached at ralph.berrier@roanoke.com or 981-3338.

Alexis Helms can be reached at alexis.helms@roanoke.com or 981-3138.
Like politics and misery, wine makes for strange bedfellows, odd companions and strong allegiances, albeit far more fun.

Stephen Barnard and Al Schornberg leaned against the counter in the Keswick Vineyards tasting room, sipping their award-winning cabernet franc while gently poking fun at each other and the world.

Born generations, continents and cultures apart, native South African Barnard, 39, and 66-year-old former Michigan tech industry mogul Schornberg are joined at the vineyard. Their love of wine craft has forged both partnership and friendship that pays off in casks, cases and bottles.

Last week, the relationship won their Keswick Vineyards the state wine industrys coveted Governors Cup award, naming its 2014 Cabernet Franc Estate Reserve as the states best wine for 2016.

Its the second cup for Schornbergs winery and the third win for Barnard as a winemaker. Its also the third victory for the vineyards grapes as Barnards win at another winery was made with Keswick fruit.

Its great to win awards, and were happy when others win awards, too, Barnard said, a sly smile curling across his face. But were happier when we win all of the awards.

Its great to win our second cup, but were not a dynasty, Schornberg added with a laugh.

Not yet, Barnard replied with a smile.

The outgoing Schornberg and more introspective Barnard share a semi-dry sense of humor, a friendly banter, a love of wine and an intense sense of purpose.

Both inadvertently came to winemaking, choosing what they loved even if it didnt make much sense to others.

Barnard didnt grow up with wine. His farmer parents and siblings dont drink it. He did, however, and a gig in the tasting room of an established winery in Capetown, South Africa, led to a career a half-world away.

Wine has a funny way of bringing diverse people together. When people sit and relax and talk over wine, it has an impact all of its own, Barnard said. Conversation without wine is just gossip.

Barnard later took a job in that winerys cellar, studied viticulture and then made red wine at another Cape Town winery before a need to travel led him to Ohio State Universitys viniculture program.

I love wine, I love making wine and I want to make good wine, Barnard said. I think it would be very difficult to make something that was good if you didnt like it. If you dont like rap music, I dont think youd make a very good rap record.

In 2002, Schornberg hired Barnard as an intern despite the fact that Schornberg is a University of Michigan fan; his wife, Cindy, attended Michigan State University; and the rivalry between the three Big 10 schools is intense.

[Local winemaker] Michael Shaps was our consultant at the time and he found Stephen. He said, He comes from Ohio State. I said, No! No way, Schornberg said, laughing. We finally let him in anyway and hes been great, even if he did marry my daughter Kat.

I figured Id get out of school and spend some time maybe in California or somewhere to get experience and then head back to South Africa, Barnard admitted. I never expected to fall in love with the area or with someone who lives here.

For Schornberg, owning a winery was a daydream to which he retreated while growing his firm, Anatec, into a national technological company. While waiting to make a sales pitch or meet with executives, hed retreat to a happy place beneath an olive tree with a glass of his own estate vino.

In 1994 the Schornbergs were in a small plane that bounced off a mountain in Canadas Northwest Territory. Passengers had to use the cabin doors to help steer the damaged craft back to the airport.

Upon landing, they adjourned to a local bar to reconsider their lives directions. It turned out that Schornberg really wanted to make wine, so he sold the company and bought the property in Keswick.

You know, its not just about making wine. Its about drinking wine, discussing it, critiquing it and thinking about what you want to create for people, Schornberg explained as he intently leaned forward over the counter. Everyone in the winery sits down to taste the wines and discuss them and talk about what we want them to be.

You want the wine to reflect the soil, the weather, the land and the winery. No one should be able to recognize a wine as a Stephen Barnard wine, but a Keswick wine, Barnard said, also growing serious.

But if another winemaker came along and tried to make exactly the wine that Stephen makes, I dont believe it would work, Schornberg countered. Its the winemaker who takes the grape through that process to the end result that you have in mind.

You dont really make wine, youre a steward. You try to get the best the grape has to offer through the process, Barnard said. Your customers expect some consistency in your wines, but there often is very little consistency between the harvests. Thats why you blend small barrels with large barrels, new oak with old oak and try to reach that goal.

You can have the vines and the yeast and the barrels and the tanks and everything that you need, but you have to know what to do with them, Schornberg continued. Stephen and the vineyard and the wines are kind of synergistic. He has a real passion for the grapes and the wine.

The object is to get it perfect, which is something you cant do, Barnard acknowledged. These wines we just made  all of them  theyre great, but theyre still not the best we can do.

That, Schornberg said with a smile and tip of his wine goblet toward Barnard, is yet to come.
Lt. Col. Robert Friend tinkered with model planes and studied military aircraft years before he knew he would become one of the first African-American pilots for the U.S. Army, he told a crowd at the George C. Marshall Foundation at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington on Saturday afternoon.

Strangely enough, my favorites were the German airplanes, Friend said.

The 96-year-old veteran, who is also the only surviving member of the 332nd Fighter Group of Tuskegee Airmen, answered questions and recounted tales for an audience of more than 100 people as part of a series of events exploring Marshalls legacy.

Marshall, a 1901 VMI graduate who served as Army chief of staff during World War II, expanded the Army from about 180,000 members to 8 million through an unpopular peace time draft, said Rick Drake, communications and development director for the foundation. Part of that expansion was finding or creating programs for minorities and women, such as the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American men to become military aviators.

When the Army officials first began training African-American pilots at Moton Field and Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama in the early 1940s, the Army was still racially segregated. Although Friend spoke highly of the advantages the pilot program afforded him, he said he wished officials had decided to desegregate the military during his service.

You can definitely do the right thing the wrong way. I think thats what happened to us, Friend said. We were still segregated.

That juxtaposition between a groundbreaking program and societal discrimination can be hard to explain given the societal changes that have occurred since his time in service, Friend said.

Its a difficult thing to talk about something that a lot of people are too young to know about, he said.

During Saturdays event, Friend regaled the audience with stories about the 142 combat missions he served in Europe as a redtail  a nickname earned by the 332nd Fighter Group because of the red paint adorning the end of their aircraft.

Those pilots often escorted heavy bombers on missions through European countries, tasks Friend credits his aircraft team with helping him accomplish.

You could not do without the other 10 guys that took care of that airplane, Friend said. I was lucky that the people worked on my plane, that an issue was never tied to lack of proficiency on their part.

When an audience member whose father had also served as Tuskegee Airman asked Friend why the redtail moniker had been chosen, Friend laughed.

Thats a good question, Friend said. But it has no significance whatsoever.

After leaving the Army, Friend joined the Air Force and worked in a number of capacities, including director of the Foreign Technology Program. His stint as director of the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Program in the Air Force also drew chuckles when an audience member asked Friend whats contained in Area 51.

Yeah, I can tell you, [UFOs are] real, he said jokingly.
Vincent Indelicato Sr. of Vinton, entered into Heaven in the early morning hours of Wednesday, February 24, 2016. Vince worked as an educator at Preston Park Elementary, where he loved making the teachers and students laugh every day.Vince is survived by his wife of 47 years, Marlys; his sons, Vincent Jr., and Lucas; his daughter Nia; his daughters-in-law, Shannan and Michelle; and his grandson, Giuseppe. He is also survived by his mother; and three brothers; as well as numerous nephews; and nieces.A memorial service will be held at St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Vinton on Saturday, March 5, 2016 at 2 p.m. Memorials may be made to St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Vinton or to Preston Park Elementary in Roanoke. Friends may send their condolences to the family by visiting www.simpsonfuneral.com. Arrangements handled by Simpson Funeral Home and Crematory, 540-366-0707.
Jeanette Goetz Swanson, of Roanoke, Va., passed away on Thursday, February 25, 2016. She is the last of her immediate family to survive.Jeanette was born in Racine, Wis., and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1948. She married James Swanson in 1951 and resided in the Chicago area with their five children, James, Marc, Joan, Kristan and Bruce. In 1974, the family moved to Beckley, W.Va.Surviving are four children; nine grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.A Memorial Service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 19, 2016, at Oakey's South Chapel with the Rev. Wanda Childs officiating. Online condolences may be made at www.oakeys.com."As long as I lived my life happily, then those around me can benefit and learn to love life as I have."
On Tuesday, Virginia Republicans will head to the polls to select our partys nominee for President. The Supreme Court vacancy should remind conservatives of the tremendous stakes in this election. Thats why Ill be voting for Marco Rubio, a unique, generational leader with a conservative vision for our future that will grow the Republican Party and win this November.

Marco Rubio understands that growing our economy  and small businesses  is the best way to create jobs and restore prosperity. He will undo the job-killing regulatory excesses of the Obama Administration to unleash the productivity and innovative spirit of Americans.

Marco will repeal ObamaCare. He led the successful fight against the Obama Administrations $2.5 billion bailout of insurance companies. He understands we need a market-driven system to make healthcare more affordable for our families, not one that bails out insurance companies.

No candidate running for president has a better understanding of our national security challenges and opportunities than Marco Rubio. Hell rebuild our military and restore Americas leadership on the world stage.

Marco Rubio has said he would rather lose the election than be wrong on the issue of life. For me, that commitment is crucial. He knows the importance of family and that being a parent is the most important job any of us will ever have. And, he understands the struggles working families face because hes experienced them.

Marco Rubio will unite the Republican Party and our country. This Tuesday, please join me in voting for Marco Rubio for President.

DELEGATE KATHY BYRON

LYNCHBURG
The sixth International Diamond Week in Israel took part in the rough trading hall of the Israel Diamond Exchange (IDE) from February 14 to 18, with hundreds of Israeli diamond dealers and buyers from overseas taking part. The latest edition of the buyers' week, which is held twice a year, was noticeably quieter than previous shows.

"It's no surprise," said one Israeli diamantaire. "It's more or less as we expected. We did not think there were going to be big amounts of trading. It really reflects the state of the business globally. Everyone is very cautious and there is no stocking of goods. We know people will only buy what they need for immediate needs."

Acknowledging the range of problems facing the industry, IDE President Yoram Dvash opened the event by calling on members of the trade from across the globe to come up with innovative thinking. We are all in the same boat. I call on everyone to think outside the box. This is what we do in the Israel Diamond Exchange and this is what we must all do in our private diamond businesses."

Israel Diamond Manufacturers Association President Kobi Korn said: The IDE has made much effort and great investment to continue the tradition of the International Diamond Week in Israel. 2015 was not a good year for the diamond business. 2016 has started with signs of improvement."





































Does that mean the show will continue? That remains to be seen, said one well-connected diamond industry figure. "The show has been held for the past several years and was already well in the planning stage when Yoram was elected so there was no alternative but to continue with it," he said. "It's possible that a different approach will be taken in the future."

The Diamond Week was officially opened by guest of honor CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri. He later signed a Statement of Purpose with Dvash and Israel Diamond Institute Chairman Shmuel Schnitzer for the establishment of the Israel Diamond Jewelry initiative. "I was very pleased to be able to offer the assistance of CIBJO. We will do all we can to help with this initiative, said Cavalieri. "I see this move as a natural step for the Israeli diamond industry. Israel has demonstrated for the past decades a significant level of quality  not just in diamonds, but also in the manufacture of diamond jewelry.

Panel Debates Diamond Marketing

The first day also featured a panel discussion on how to market diamonds. The participants were British jewelry designer Stephen Webster, Diamond Producers Association Chief Executive Officer Jean-Marc Lieberherr, Chairman of the World Diamond Mark Foundation Alex Popov, and Executive Director of the World Diamond Council Patricia Syvrud. IDE President Dvash said the panel debate was being held because the industry had to stop, think and discuss the situation in the diamond market, and to try and forecast trends and changes for the future.

Syvrud spoke about the role of the World Diamond Council and the benefit it brings to the industry. We will work together to address what this industry needs to do to move itself forward. We want to be a proactive voice sharing the good that the diamond industry does."

Meanwhile, Lieberherr provided a detailed background of the DPA, explaining how the association was established and what it hopes to offer the diamond and jewelry trade. He said the DPA's aim was to "make sure that we keep the diamond dream alive and to keep it as vivid as possible. De Beers used to hold an important role in this aspect and one of the objectives of the DPA is to fill that gap, said Lieberherr.

Lieberherr told the audience about research that the DPA has carried out in the United States on the millennials and marketing diamonds. Many of these young people have never been exposed to diamond marketing. One of the things we observed from this research is that they reject the notion of convention. We need to connect to the younger generation on the emotional level. We need to translate to them the special qualities of the diamond. All the successful diamond brands have established the emotional connection," concluded Lieberherr.

Stephen Webster said creativity has been at the heart of his business success. "I've been a jeweler for 40 years, but it is only in the past 20 years that my business has blossomed. My clientele has largely been women buying jewelry for themselves."

Meanwhile, Popov said the WDM was a "catalyst". The WDM is seeking "to get people to think a little bit differently. We are trying to get people to do new things and things they haven't done before."

As with previous editions of the Diamond Week, the show featured a Diamond Technology Zone which was opened by Israeli Nobel Prize winner Professor Dan Shechtman. The zone featured a range of Israeli technology firms.

IDE Signs Agreement with Jewellery Manufacturers Association of Hong Kong

Dvash and Adam Lau, the President of the Jewellery Manufacturers Association of Hong Kong (HKJMA), signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at strengthening cooperation between the IDE and HKJMA.

"Acknowledging the importance for both sides of the diamond and jewelry industries, and the desire to cooperate on the basis of reciprocity and an understanding of the needs of their members, we share the desire to strengthen the relations between the parties and transactions between members: we have agreed to cooperate in mutual activities in China and Southeast Asia, to hold periodic consultations in order to raise issues of common interest to both parties, in order to strengthen the commercial relationship between the parties," the agreement said.

GIA President and CEO Opens New Israel Laboratory

Among the major events of the week was the official opening by GIA President and CEO, Susan Jacques, of the organization's new premises in Ramat Gan. The GIA has a very simple mission  to ensure public trust in gems and jewelry," she told the audience at the official opening ceremony. "We look forward to bringing more educational services to the Israeli diamond industry in the coming period." And commenting on the situation in the global diamond market, she commented: "I believe that the industry has bottomed out and we will once again soar to great heights."

IDE Vice President Yehezkel (Hezi) Blum told Jacques and GIA Executive Vice President and Chief Research and Laboratory Officer Tom Moses who also attended: We were very, very happy when the GIA opened a branch in Israel in 2011. Now, four years later, the GIA has decided to set up a large state of the art laboratory here. Its a great advantage for us. I look forward to cooperation with you.

Meanwhile, Moses, talking about the new laboratory, said: We are very proud of the commitment we have made to the Israeli diamond trade. GIA is delighted to be here, and Im really excited to see the growth at the GIA here. When I started at the GIA, there were less than 100 employees worldwide. Now the GIA in Israel alone has more than 100 employees. Since we have expanded we will be introducing more services in order to fulfill all the needs of the Israeli diamond industry. We look forward to providing these services to you in the future, he added.

Concluding the event and the Diamond Week, Blum awarded Jacques with The IDE's League of Honour certificate for her "dedication to transparency and professionalism in the field of gemology, and her contribution to the international diamond industry".

Conclusion

Does the International Diamond Week still have value? The answer seems to be, for the present, strongly affirmative. Even if large amounts of trading and transactions were not carried out, the event has a highly positive public relations effect. It brings diamantaires, not just from abroad, together with their Israeli counterparts. There are also many cases where Israelis from the IDE and often from the same building carry out trade with each other thanks to the event.

At a time of difficult challenges due to economic slowdown and uncertainty, the industry needs the opportunity to come together and raise its morale. As one exhibitor commented: "For the most part, unfortunately, we work from our offices nowadays. It can be rather depressing when you are trying to make sales in your office and not getting far. So, to get out of the office and meet people and exchange opinions is a great morale-booster."

By our Israel correspondent Abraham Dayan




Religious police monitors social networking sites actively in Saudi Arabia. One of their search revealed well over 600 messages posted on Twitter by the accused man who was later brought in front of a Saudi Arabian court in Riyadh. The man, who will remain anonymous, admitted in court that he is an atheist. Furthermore, he explained that he only posted messages that reflected his own beliefs, which he has a right to express.

In the messages which were brought in court to be analysed, the atheist also accused all prophets of lying and explained how their teaching fueled wars and different hostilities throughout time. Two years ago under the rule of the late King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia introduced new laws under which atheists were seem and prosecuted as terrorists. His sentence was thus expected. He received 10 years in jail, a fine of 20,000 riyals ($5318) and a punishment of 2000 lashes only for expressing his personal views publicly.
Aggression bombards Saada districts with rockets, artillery





SAADA, Feb. 28 (Saba)  The Saudi aggression pounded on Sunday some districts of Saada province with tens of rockets and artillery shells, a security official said.



The official explained to Saba that the Saudi Apache helicopters bombed al-Qama and al-Makhroq areas with more than 30 missiles, in addition to the artillery bombing on the two areas, which led to large destruction in citizens houses and property.



He added that the aggression missiles and artillery shells targeted scattered areas in the districts of Sheda, Razeh and al-Malaheidh, as well as a series of air raids on citizens houses and farms and public roads.



The official condemned the Saudi enemy barbarism and its continuation in its aggression and blockade on Yemen.



BA

Saba

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[29/February/2016]
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
Bloody Sunday: Syrian Opposition Celebrates Terrorist Attack in Sayyidah Zaynab Area of Damascus

Syrian media reports that more than 300 have died in 20 separate blasts.



Destruction in Homs

Photo courtesy: voanews.com



(DAMASCUS, Syria) - Damascus witnessed yet another bloody day this week as four blasts hit al-Tin Street near the Sayyidah Zaynab shrine, a Damascus southern district.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights  a group close to radical rebels finally had to report the killing of 62 and wounding scores of Syrian civilians in Sundays suicide attacks.

In the war-scarred city of Homs, two car bombings ripped through al-Zahra neighborhood, resulting in a great number of deaths among innocent civilians. Syrian media put the death toll and causalities over 300.

In this regard, ISIS internet activists hailed Sunday attacks as a divine victory, promising further deadly strikes and calling for the murder of all pro-government infidels. Elsewhere, in the rebel-held city of al-Raqqah, ISIS members had distributed sweets in the city in the aftermath of the terrorist operations and forced residents to give interviews in support of the heinous attacks.

Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya news channels implicitly praised Sundays terrorist attacks by unusually allocating news coverage and broadcasting ISIS statement claiming responsibly for the Damascus terror attack. During Syrias five-year crisis, Qatari and Saudi-owned news channels sought to vilify pro-government sympathizers and play down the atrocities committed against them.

Earlier, Ahmed Zidan, Al Jazeeras correspondent who earned the epithet al-Qaeda spokesman, extolled ISIS terrorists when a deadly suicide attack struck Beiruts residential area of Borj al-Barajneh.

_________________________________________
Jordan's Addiction Crisis: 16% of Jordanian Students Suffer From Severe Drug Addiction

Dangerous drugs being abused include cocaine, ecstasy, and sedatives.



Courtesy:YouTube



(AMMAN) - Addressing Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour, 18 Jordanian MPs called for immediate measures to reduce Jordans staggering crisis of alcohol and drug abuse among young students.

A field survey carried out recently among 37,000 University of Jordan students, revealed that 16% of participants are dangerously addicted to narcotics.

Parliament members are being urged to make a passionate plea to government officials to re-examine policies, cooperate with civil society organizations and ultimately curb the drug abuse epidemic on school and university campuses in this Arab nation of nine million.

As the Jordanian National Centre for Human Rights (JNCHR) issues a fearsome report on increasing drug-related cases, the Jordanian media warned also about the snowball effect of drug addiction, which particularly endangers school students.

A shocking study disclosed how the consumption of cocaine, ecstasy, sedatives and marijuana have become rife among female students. No comment about alcohol.

Jordanian civil rights activists blame the lack of hope in society and government as the root cause of turning to drugs among Jordanian youth.

Widespread economic corruption, nepotism, ethnic discrimination, increasing unemployment and career immigration, put big question marks on the effectiveness of Jordan's higher education system and other state agencies.

According to opposition parties, the Jordanian government must shoulder grave responsibilities as the country encounters this alarming phenomenon of juvenile drug abuse.

_________________________________________
Obituary William Maynard Greene 2-26-16

May 1, 1941  February 21, 2016

Bill was born May 1, 1941 to Milton T. & Catherine M. (Markulin) Greene of Los Angeles, CA.

With the passing of his mother in 1945, he moved to Northport, MI with his father and there lived with his grandmother (Katherine Greene) until his father remarried to Viola Bissell Hovey in 1949. Bill attended Northport public schools until his parents moved to Traverse City, MI in 1951. Bill attended Traverse City Public Schools, graduating from Central High School in 1959.

Bill served in the US Army (E-5) from April 1960 to July 1963 as a dental technician. He was assigned to the US Army in Muenchweiler, Germany. Bill was appointed as the acting First Sergeant of his unit, the 124th Medical Detachment (DS), during his 2-year tenure in Germany.

Subsequent to his honorable discharge from the service in Europe, Bill purchased a brand new Volkswagen 1500. He was joined by a fellow ex-soldier (Matt Huusko) as they began traveling for the next several months throughout Southern Europe, across North Africa to Egypt.

After enjoying many sites (i.e. the pyramids of Giza) and many adventures on that segment of their travels, Bill and his friend sailed from Egypt to Greece. After touring the sites of ancient Greece, they began the last segments of the trips by returning to Germany. Bill reported to Bremerhaven, Germany where he and his car put aboard ship and sailed to the United States.

Bill began his college career in 1963 at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC), graduating with an Associate of Arts Degree. After graduating from NMC, Bill worked for one year as a patrolman for the City of Traverse City Police Department. He then completed his undergraduate studies (BA) at Michigan State University in 1968. Bill was accepted to the Georgia State University graduate program in Hospital Administration, graduating with a MHA degree in 1970.

Bill then began his nearly forty-year career in healthcare management. During his career he served as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Saint Josephs Hospital and Nursing Home in Hillsboro, WI and CEO of Memorial Hospital of Iowa County, which was created after Bill directed the merger of two existing community hospitals in Dodgeville, WI. In 1968 Bill was appointed as a Vice President of the Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine (KCOM) and Administrator of College Hospitals and Clinics.

Bill again directed the merger of two hospitals to create a 200+ bed teaching hospital for KCOM. Bill went on to be the Vice President of Traverse City Osteopathic Hospital (1985), CEO of Selby General Hospital, Marietta, OH (1989), CEO of Santa Paula Memorial Hospital, Santa Paula, CA (1996) and finally the CEO of Catalina Island Medical Center, Avalon, CA (2001), where he retired from in 2007.

On August 5, 1990 he married Patricia (Trish) Shelander. They traveled extensively throughout the U.S. A large part of those travels were related to Bills career, including hospital inspections for the American Osteopathic Association and business meetings related to Bills professional employment as a healthcare manager.

Bill obtained his private pilots license in 1971 (a life long dream). Bill purchased a Cessna 172 in 1972, which he flew for the next 43 years, flying from the Canadian Border to Florida, and from West Virginia to California, and many other trips along the way, accumulating nearly 2000 hours of flying time. This was his major hobby, which he used for both business and pleasure. Bill also had a more than passing interest in personal computers.

Survivors include his wife, Trish of Santa Paula, CA; daughter Kate Schmidt of Traverse City, MI; daughter Christine Hutchings of Ypsilanti, MI; daughter Pamela Russell of Brighton, CO; son Michael Kloberdans of Brighton, CO; daughter Susan Witmer of Leadville, CO; daughter Jill Bowe of Thornton, CO; half-brother Howard Greene of Traverse City, MI; stepbrother Clarence Hovey of Michigan City, IN.

He was preceded in death by his parents.

Arrangements for Bill are under the care of the JOSEPH P. REARDON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICE, 757 East Main Street, Ventura.

Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal.

Memorial Services are pending.

IM FREE

Dont grieve for me,

for now Im free;

Im following the path

God laid for me.

I took his hand when

I heard him call;

I turned my back

and left it all.

I could not stay another day,

To laugh, to love,

to work or play.

Tasks left undone

must stay that way;

I found that place

at the close of day.

If my parting has left a void,

Then fill it with remembered joy.

A friendship shared,

a laugh, a kiss;

Ah yes, these things,

I too, will miss.

Be not burdened

with times of sorrow;

I wish you the

sunshine of tomorrow.

My lifes been full,

I savored much;

Good friends, good times,

a loved ones touch.

Perhaps my time

seemed all to brief;

Dont lengthen it now with undo grief.

Lift up your heart and share with me;

God wanted me now,

He set me free
Press Release

February 28, 2016 Sen. Marcos urges government to act fast in helping people displaced

by Lanao del Sur clashes Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr. today urged the national government to act fast in providing immediate assistance to the people of Lanao del Sur displaced by the clashes between government forces and Islamic militants. Marcos was alarmed by reports that since the fighting erupted over a week ago reports said some 20,000 civilians have been displaced from Butig town, where the stronghold of the militants were located, and nearby areas in the province. About 7,800 were already in several evacuation areas. "The national government should act fast to help the provincial government in ensuring all these evacuees are properly taken care of. If the clashes are prolonged the Lanao del Sur government may find its resources inadequate to support a swelling number of evacuees," Marcos said. Marcos also said the military must take the necessary precautions to avoid civilian casualties in their offensive against the militants. Meanwhile, the senator also urged the military commanders to comply with the mechanisms in the peace agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front--which has forces just outside Butig town--to prevent any possible misencounter between its troops and the government . The military has credited the MILF for assisting civilians fleeing from the Butig clash. But there was also a report that some of its forces were involved in an ambush of military troops out to resupply the group running after the militants. "Both the military and MILF leadership should exercise the necessary restraint to avoid misencounter as our troops conduct their legitimate operation against the terrorist elements," Marcos said. Marcos earlier stressed that while Congress has failed to pass the proposed law for Bangsamoro autonomous region that would embody the government's peace pact with the MILF, the two sides must continue their pursuit for peace. There were apprehensions raised earlier that the collapse of the peace deal could embolden hardline militants who want to resume a violent separatist uprising against the government. "I am glad to note that the MILF leadership has affirmed their commitment in the pursuit of the peace process. We must not stop until we find peace in Muslim Mindanao," Marcos stressed.
Bongbong Marcos is in the heart of Solid North--Sen. Cynthia Villar

Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos Jr. today expressed gratitude to fellow Nacionalista Senator Cynthia Villar for saying positive things about him during his recent sortie in Pangasinan.

Marcos and Villar were both invited as guest speakers at the team building of the faculty and staff of the Pangasinan State University-San Carlos campus in Balungao town over the weekend.

During the talk, Villar said although she could not endorse Marcos' candidacy because the Nacionalista Party (NP) has three vice presidential candidates in the coming elections, she thought there was no need to do so especially in the Solid North provinces because they were clearly behind Marcos.

"Pero alam ko po naman sa Solid North hindi na kailangang ikampanya pa si Senator Marcos. I think nasa puso nyo ang pagboto kay Senator Marcos; yung nasa puso hindi nawawala yun e, hindi na kailangang sabihin pa," said Villar.

Marcos is running on a platform of national unity with the Solid North serving its showcase. He said that eventually he want to forge a "Solid Philippines".

For his part, Marcos said he is grateful for the positive words coming from Villar considering she or their party could not openly endorse a candidacy of the vice presidency.

Fellow Nacionalista Senators Antonio Trillanes and Allan Peter Cayetano are also vying for the vice presidency.

"I am grateful for Senator Villar's kind words. I hope that we could push our message of unity all throughout the country because if we remain fragmented, we would not be able to move forward as a nation and give our people the service that they deserve," he said.
Press Release

February 28, 2016 Recto hopeful DICT bill will be signed into law "sa tamang panahon" The principal sponsor of the bill creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) remains optimistic that President Aquino will sign the measure into law "sa tamang panahon." "I think the Palace is searching for the best day for a signing ceremony. It's a matter of scheduling. Or they may want it signed before he gives a major speech so he can announce it there for maximum impact," Recto said. "What I learned in government is that statecraft also involves stagecraft. Siguro pinag-iisipan ng Office of the President na maganda kung mapipirmahan itong DICT sa isang pagtitipon na akma sa topic," Recto said. "It can even be signed in a coffee shop where BPO workers congregate. That would be a good backdrop. This is a YOLO - You Only Legislate Once - kind of a good bill," he said. Both houses of Congress passed their own version of the DICT bill last year, with minor differences. To avoid convening a bicameral conference, the Senate, before it adjourned for the campaign season last month, conveyed to the House its decision to accept the House version. Recto said that to attract Malacanang support, the DICT bill Congress had approved provides for a lean bureaucracy with smallbut smart workforce. "In fact, there will be savings in the merger of the offices. Para makatipid, we limited the number of undersecretaries, to cite an example, and the creation of regional offices was not made mandatory. This will not burn a huge hole in the taxpayer's pocket," Recto said. Despite its "small budget footprint", the proposed DICT will be a "powerful main server" which would spur ICT ( information and communications technology) development, institutionalize e-government, and manage the country's ICT environment," Recto said. Recto said another pressing concern which makes the activation of a DICT urgent is the need to firewall the country from cyberattacks. "Countries we are not so friendly with may target us and criminals will always want to hack their way to our financial system," Recto said. Under the proposed DICT, the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordination Center will be attached to the department, the senator explained. The DICT will formulate the National Cybersecurity Plan and form the National Computer Emergency Response Team, "our IT Special Action Forces," Recto said. "We live in an era when terrorists don't have to blast bank doors to do mayhem; but simply unleash a virus that could shred or suck out financial data. An enemy with a missile is as dangerous as one with malware," he said. Recto said Broadband has become the third utility, after power and water, "therefore we need an agency that will address ICT infrastructure, ICT affordability, ICT usage - three areas we score low." Despite having one of the slowest Internet speed in the world, the Philippines hosts one of the largest number of cellphone and Internet users in the world. "ICT is also the third biggest source of dollars after electronics and OFW remittances. It is a growth driver. Every 10 percentage points increase in broadband penetration is said to boost the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 1 percent," he said. Income from outsourcing - the BPOs, the call centers, the back offices, medical transcription, game development, creative process outsourcing, to name a few - is projected to reach $25 billion or 8 percent of GDP this year. Among the powers and functions of the DICT is the "identification and prioritization of all e-government systems and applications." On the education front, Recto said the DICT will formulate policies and initiatives to develop and promote ICT in education. On the public sector side, Recto said a government which spends P3 trillion a year "needs a DICT to get more bang out of the buck, and prevent bribe from being squeezed out of the peso." "We are now living in the electronic republic, where views of the sovereign are advocated online, and services must be rendered to them on the same platform. Permits, licenses, land titles should now be electronically-applied for, processed and issued," Recto said. "The DICT is also mandated to beef up consumer protection policies to protect consumers against lousy service, and at the same time ensure business users' right to privacy," he added. The DICT, Recto said, would also be tasked to encourage the growth of the ICT industry, by promoting investment opportunities for ICT firms, as well as by creating local and international partnerships to speed up industry growth and competitiveness. The DICT would be created by merging existing ICT-related agencies under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC).
LEESBURG, Va.  Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump is drawing criticism for refusing to denounce an implicit endorsement from form Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, with Marco Rubio using the matter to hammer the billionaire businessman ahead of the Super Tuesday primaries.

Trump was asked Sunday on CNNs State of the Union whether he rejected support from the former KKK grand dragon and other white supremacists after Duke told his radio followers last week that a vote against Trump was equivalent to treason to your heritage.

Well, just so you understand, I dont know anything about David Duke. OK? Trump told host Jake Tapper. I dont know anything about what youre even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists.

The comments sparked a wave of censures with just two days to go before 11 states hold GOP primaries involving about a quarter of the partys total nominating delegate count.

Trump was asked Friday by journalists how he felt about Dukes support. He said he didnt know anything about it and curtly said: All right, I disavow, OK?

Trump hasnt always claimed ignorance on Dukes history. In 2000, he wrote a New York Times opinion piece explaining why he abandoned the possibility of running for president on the Reform Party ticket. He wrote of an underside and fringe element of the party, concluding, I leave the Reform Party to David Duke, Pat Buchanan and Lenora Fulani. That is not company I wish to keep.

Campaigning in Virginia, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida pounced on Trump about Duke, shifting to a more serious tone after spending the weekend mocking his rivals hair and the worst spray tan in America.

We cannot be a party who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan, Rubio told thousands of supporters gathered in Leesburg, Va. Not only is that wrong, it makes him unelectable.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also weighed in Sunday, calling Trumps comments really sad.

Youre better than this, Cruz wrote. We should all agree, racism is wrong, KKK is abhorrent.

Democrat Bernie Sanders also lashed out at his Republican rival on Twitter, writing: Americas first black president cannot and will not be succeeded by a hatemonger who refuses to condemn the KKK.

Trump also garnered backlash Sunday for recently re-tweeting a quote from Benito Mussolini, the 20th century fascist dictator of Italy, which reads: It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.

Trump told NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday, I know who said it. But what difference does it make whether its Mussolini or somebody else? Its certainly a very interesting quote.

The first-time candidate has long described his campaign as a movement of the silent majority, a phrase borrowed from former President Richard Nixons Southern strategy aimed at working-class white voters in the decade after the peak of the civil rights movement.
NEW YORK  Sen. Chuck Schumer wants to require the Federal Aviation Administration to establish seat-size standards for commercial airlines, which he says now force passengers to sit on planes like sardines.

The New York Democrat said airlines have been gradually reducing legroom and seat width.

One of the most vexing things when you travel on an airplane is theres almost no legroom on your standard flight, Schumer said. Theres been constant shrinkage by the airlines.

He said he will add an amendment to the FAA Reauthorization Bill that is pending before Congress that would require the agency to set the seat-size guidelines. Schumer formally announced the proposal at a news conference Sunday.

Schumer said seat pitch, the distance between a point on an airline seat and the same spot on the seat in front of it, has dropped from 35 inches in the 1970s to a current average of closer to 31 inches, and seat width has gone from 18.5 inches to about 16.5 inches. He argues regulations are needed to stop airlines from cutting those numbers even more.

Theyre like sardines, Schumer said of passengers. Its no secret that airlines are looking for more ways to cut costs, but they shouldnt be cutting inches of legroom and seat width in the process. ... Its time for the FAA to step up and stop this deep-seated problem from continuing.

Currently, there are no federal limits on how close an airlines row of seats can be or how wide an airlines seat must be.

Schumer pointed to a practice used by some airlines in which passengers are charged more money for seats with extra legroom. He said that exemplifies the problem.

Its just plain unfair that a person gets charged for extra inches that were once standard, he said.

The FAA Reauthorization Bill is considered must-pass legislation, Schumer said. Congress typically renews the FAAs authorization every four to six years, using the bill as an opportunity to address a wide range of aviation issues. A vote is expected in March.

A spokesman for the FAA said agency officials look forward to reviewing Schumers proposal.

Airlines for America, an industry trade group representing an array of U.S. airlines, said it believes the governments role is to determine a seat size that is safe, but opposes the proposed regulation.

We believe the government should not regulate, but instead market forces, which reflect consumer decisions and competition should determine what is offered, spokeswoman Jean Medina said. As with any commercial product or service, customers vote every day with their wallet.
WOODBRIDGE, Va.  An Army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon was arrested on murder and other charges in the death of a police officer and another person, authorities said Sunday.

Ronald Williams Hamilton, 32, is being held without bond in the Prince William County Adult Detention Center on charges that include murder of a law enforcement officer. He is accused of fatally shooting Officer Ashley Guindon after she answered a domestic violence call at the Hamilton home Saturday evening. Two other officers were hospitalized with injuries.

Hamilton is an active duty Army staff sergeant assigned to the Joint Staff Support Center at the Pentagon, according to Cindy Your, a Defense Information Systems Agency spokeswoman based at Fort Meade, Md.

Guindon, 28, had gone through training with the department last year before leaving for personal reasons. She rejoined the department this year, and Saturday was her first day on patrol, according to Police Chief Stephan Hudson.

Guindon was a former Marine Corps reservist and had a masters degree in forensic science, according to Hudson. She held a bachelors degree in aeronautics with minors in psychology, homeland security and aviation safety from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla.

A picture of Guindon was posted to the departments Twitter page on Friday with a tweet that read, Welcome Officers Steven Kendall & Ashley Guindon who were sworn in today & begin their shifts this weekend. Be Safe!

Hudson said Hamilton and his wife, Crystal, were arguing at their home in Woodbridge and she called 911. Crystal Hamilton, 29, was fatally shot by her husband before police arrived, Hudson said. The officers were shot shortly after their arrival, and when additional officers arrived, Hamilton surrendered.

Police said their 11-year-old son was at home at the time of the shootings. He is now being cared for by relatives.

The injured officers were identified as Jesse Hempen, 31, an eight-year veteran of department, and David McKeown, 33, a 10-year veteran. They are expected to recover.

Guindon was born in Springfield, Mass. The family later moved to Merrimack, N.H., according to her grandmother.

This is really a shock to us, Dorothy Guindon said. Ashley was such a nice person.

Officer Brandon Carpenter at the countys adult detention center said Hamilton is being held without bond on charges that include murder of a law enforcement officer, first-degree murder charge, two counts of malicious assault and two counts of use of a firearm during a felony.
Regarding Tents of homeless coming down in S.F. (Feb. 25): Most Third World countries have figured out where to house their homeless population  theyre called shantytowns. Too uncivilized for us, of course  we build homeless shelters. Only problem  the numbers. As The Chronicle reported, there are an estimated 3,000 people living permanently on the streets of San Francisco. The latest round of shelter building and expansion will house about 250 of them; shelters in operation now are full most nights, and many have waiting lists. So people stuck on the streets have to sleep somewhere, but where is somewhere?

The vacant space under freeway overpasses seems to be a very viable option to many homeless people, but not any longer it seems. Too bad, in my opinion. If the city had been willing to acknowledge the realities of life for the poorest of the poor in San Francisco, they could have ameliorated the situation on Division Street by building a structure with restrooms, showers and laundry facilities, hiring willing and able residents of the encampment to keep them clean, and bringing in containers for the trash. Residents would be allowed to live in tents, even build temporary structures under a relaxed building code.

As such encampments are established, I think people now sleeping in alleys would tend to migrate to them, thus alleviating the distress of their well-housed neighbors. And if the city chose to embark upon a robust building program of homeless shelters and permanent housing affordable for people of modest means, these tents and shantytowns might tend to fade away.

Richard Orlando, Oakland

Where to build

The high-speed rail is going the wrong direction. Rather than traveling between San Jose and Bakersfield, it should go from San Jose to Sacramento. Despite what the proponents claim, very few Silicon Valley tech workers live in Madera. The Interstate 80 corridor is usually crowded, however, and the high-speed rail could be an instant success, not to mention going to the capital could sway the states lawmakers. More importantly, the train should not go to San Francisco. Creating a dogleg along the Peninsula to a dead end in downtown San Francisco would be expensive, dangerous and unnecessary.

Instead, it should skirt the Bay Area along the East Bay, connecting with BART, which should complete a loop around the bay, connecting Millbrae to San Jose. That would be the most cost-effective and doable strategy to improve regional transportation and connect to the high-speed rail.

Tim Donnelly, San Francisco

Hackers dream

If the FBI has its way in having Apple develop software to help them break into the cell phone belonging to the San Bernardino killer, the next step will be the theft of this software for sale to hackers and/or terrorists. Add to this list corporations and countries out to steal intellectual assets and, yes, those countries that would like, at some point, to bring the U.S. to an electronic halt or completely destroy the U.S. infrastructure. FBI, why go there?

Larry Dorshkind, Redwood City

Sensitive data

In regard to creating a back door into Apple products, they defend their decision with the old adage that just because we can do something doesnt mean we should. I agree, but Apple should have remembered that when they chose to create a system to handle sensitive personal information. Can anyone fail to believe that, ultimately, that systems security will be broken by another Edward Snowden with access to one of the desktop supercomputers of the future?

Larry Morris, Sacramento

Mans best friend

Regarding Putting a leash on recreation (Editorial, Feb. 25): I am dismayed by The Chronicles editorial, which does not sympathize with the many dog owners who would like to recreate with their beloved pets in the city. We are not a wilderness area. There are hundreds of miles of protected California seashore where no dogs are allowed, yet they want to restrict our local beaches.

As a resident who has walked my dog on Baker Beach, I am disheartened that there is no off-leash area designated. The contiguous beach, China Beach, provides a no-dog experience. There are no snowy plovers on Baker. The dog owners are good stewards of the beach and clean up all the filthy trash that humans dump. What made San Francisco great was being outdoors with our best friends.

Deborah Hatch, San Francisco

Bewildering idea

OK, heres what I get out of Christine Rosakranses piece, Callous programmer shows our tinman needs a heart (Feb. 26), after reading it over and over. Something or someone called a brogrammer designs technology that uses code and algorithms that dictate low self-esteem, decreased empathy and increased narcissism. This same entity would sweep the homeless out of sight. The alternative is to design for empathy. The grandeur of these concepts is breathtaking but utterly bewildering.

Mark Isaacs, Oakland

Casino boss

Donald Trump looks and behaves like an unhinged casino boss. Now that Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey has endorsed him, we can look forward to the cringe-worthy spectacle of the casino boss and his bouncer teamed up, bullying their way through the primary season. There will be no personal insult to the other Republican and Democratic candidates that is too low for these two tactless blowhards. Any substance that may be gleaned from future debates is hopelessly lost with Trumps boorish behavior. It is a shame that no matter who the debate moderators are, none of them seems to have the ability to control the stage.

Deborah McMicking, San Francisco

Balance of power

If Sen. Mitch McConnell refuses to allow a vote on any nominee put forward by President Obama to fill the vacant seat on the Supreme Court, he will be determining the outcome of every case that results in a 4-4 split decision and allows lower court rulings to stand. In 2000, five members of the Supreme Court selected a president. Now, in 2016, a single senator is threatening to control the outcome of many politically charged issues being decided by that same court. So much for our cherished balance of powers.

Ben Bayol, San Francisco

Rent all units

A couple of years ago, during the Occupy Oakland demonstrations, I wrote a letter to the editor suggesting that residents offer their homes to the protesters as residents did during the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Home tents (Letters, Feb. 26) applied a similar suggestion to address the problem of homelessness in San Francisco. A solution came to me that offers real housing by leveraging available rentals in the city.

For considerably less money than is currently spent, San Francisco could rent all the Airbnb and similar available units and use them to house the homeless. Affordable housing advocates would be happy (no need for additional building with concerns for market-rate housing), people in need of additional income that rent out spare rooms would be happy with guaranteed occupancy, and the homeless would have well-furnished and maintained places to stay.

Stephen Gelman, Moraga
A Sonoma County Sheriff's helicopter helped rescue a group of people off the coast of Goat Rock State Beach near Jenner Friday afternoon.



At 3:04 p.m., the sheriff's department responded to a report that several people had been swept out into rough surf, according to sheriff's officials.



Deputies learned that a group of family members were walking along the beach's edge when a large wave struck them, causing them to be swept out into the rough surf.



One family member who was not swept out entered the ocean to attempt to rescue the victims, however, that person became distressed too, sheriff's officials said.



A State Parks lifeguard entered the surf, swam to the distressed family and stabilized them until the helicopter arrived.



One of the family members was able to return back to the shore without help.



Using a 100-foot rescue rope, the helicopter crew, with the help of the lifeguard, was able to secure each victim to a horse-caller rescue device and bring each safely back to shore, according to sheriff's officials.



The family members were taken to a hospital.



On Friday, the Coast Guard issued a high surf warning for the coastline along Sonoma County to Monterey County, saying that hazardous conditions increased the risk of being washed into the sea by waves.



If caught in a rip current, swimmers should swim parallel to the coast to escape the current before swimming for the shore. Swimmers should also swim near a lifeguard, Coast Guard officials said.












With both the Senate and the House in GOP hands and a Supreme Court spot likely at stake, Democrats worry that businessman Donald Trump, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio will get a chance to make good on their increasingly heated conservative rhetoric.

Ive never seen anything like this, said Leslie Katz, a former San Francisco supervisor. Usually the fringe candidates fall off, but now these are all fringe candidates. I never thought there would be a time when Jeb Bush was the moderate.

Theres nothing new about taking shots at the other side during a party convention, but California Democrats took it to a new level this weekend.

Im appalled by what I see and hear from the GOP presidential candidates, said Dave Jones, the state insurance commissioner and a 2018 candidate for attorney general. Just when I think they have gone beyond the bounds of decency, they say something even further past the bounds.

There is no doubt Democrats see Trump as a human get-out-the-vote machine, especially for Latinos. Almost every speaker at the San Jose convention Saturday and Sunday, which included many of the states top elected Democrats and union leaders, mentioned Trump, usually in context with his hard line on immigration or his mantra calling for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Were California, state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, told the audience in Spanish on Saturday: We dont build walls here  we tear them down.

Gov. Jerry Brown slammed Trump at a dinner Saturday night and Vice President Joe Biden argued during his featured speech that the Republican presidential hopefuls have created a poisonous political atmosphere with their talk of building walls and barring Muslims from entering the country

We cant let this go because our politics is pulling this country apart, he said.

Theres a lot of anger

The prospect of a conservative Republican in the White House might not be all bad for the state. Having Trump on the November ballot would be a political winner for California Democrats, said John Burton, the partys outgoing chairman.

I wouldnt want to be a Republican running, Burton said. If Trump is on the top of the ticket, I think it increases our chance to pick up seats across the board.

That doesnt mean Trump  and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side  hasnt tapped into an important vein of concern this presidential year, Burton added.

Theres a lot of anger in this country, and rightfully so, he said. If youre not mad at the way things are going in this country, either youre very wealthy or youre just ignorant of whats going on.

A Trump presidential run in the fall could boost Californias Democratic fortunes for years, said Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmentalist and philanthropist. Hes about to launch  and pay for  a huge voter registration drive in California to sign up some of its 7 million eligible and unregistered residents.

If you look at who isnt registered in California, there are a hell of a lot of unregistered Latinos and there are a hell of a lot of unregistered Millennials, Steyer said. Right now, (Trump) turns off more than half of all Americans, some of them, like me, really violently.

Its not just Trump who worries California Democrats. Both Rubio and Cruz, who are trailing Trump in the polls, have raised concerns of their own during the GOP presidential campaign. And the enthusiastic support those Republicans are collecting all across the nation is even more worrisome for Democrats.

Something about this election has brought out the worst in people, said Attorney General Kamala Harris, who is running for U.S. Senate. Im very concerned that the Republican campaign has taken on an us versus them flavor.

Scott Wiener, a San Francisco supervisor in a race with fellow Supervisor Jane Kim for state Senate, said the situation would be humorous if it werent so scary.

As leaders, we have a responsibility not to demagogue, he said. You can always as a candidate tap into the worst of human nature, appealing to racism, homophobia and xenophobia.

Seeing that on the Republican side, he said, makes us want to work harder as Democrats.

Uniting against Republicans

There were supporters of both Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, in evidence at the convention, marching through the halls, waving signs and cheering their candidates, who were busy campaigning in other parts of the country.

But while the Democratic primary fight now is raucous, hot and heavy, party leaders are confident everyone will come together against whomever the Republicans put up in November.

The bitter, high-profile GOP debates, with their mean-spirited attacks and hectoring, are actually good news for the Democrats, said Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Los Angeles, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House.

I certainly would say that Trump has given us enough material to just put up (in ads) just what Republicans have said about him, Becerra said.

John Wildermuth and Joe Garofoli are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com, jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth, @joegarofoli
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With some of their longtime top officeholders either termed out, retiring or struggling to hold onto power, California Democrats got a peek at their next generation of leaders Saturday at the state partys annual convention in San Jose.

While Democrats hold every statewide office in California and a tight grip on the majority in the Legislature, the decision of Sen. Barbara Boxer not to seek re-election this year and the terming out of Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018 has set off a mad scramble to slide into those spots.

State Attorney General Kamala Harris won the party endorsement Saturday night over Orange County Rep. Loretta Sanchez, collecting 78 percent of the delegates votes. While the two will face off in the June 7 primary, there could be a November rematch if theyre the top two finishers.

While politicians fought for their jobs, grassroots activists and Saturdays keynote speaker, Vice President Joe Biden, urged them not to forget those still reeling from nations 2008 financial meltdown.

While pitching her Senate campaign, Harris noted how she helped negotiate a settlement with five big banks to get $20 billion for California homeowners hurt by the financial crisis of 2008.

But how many bankers went to jail over that? asked Ellis Goldberg, president of the Tri-Valley Democratic Club.

Youre right, and I think we should talk to the United States Department of Justice about that, Harris said.

In a 55-minute stem-winder, Biden pounded progressive themes, saying the concentration of wealth is not only unfair, it fundamentally damages growth. Its within our power to rebalance the inequities.

Echoing similar themes was billionaire Tom Steyer  as the former San Francisco hedge fund manager turned environmentalist/philanthropist was introduced Friday night. Steyer is launching a campaign to register some of the 7 million Californians who are eligible to vote but havent done so. We have to awaken our sleeping progressive giant: the millions of Californians who are on our side but dont vote, he told convention-goers.

Hes also co-chairing a ballot measure that would raise taxes on tobacco products and funnel the proceeds to cancer treatment and research. And in early spring, the commission on economic inequality hes funding is expected to come out with its first report. For those counting at home, thats two ways Steyer is staying in the public eye without being on the ballot, even though he declined to say if he was running for governor in two years.

Another prominent California Democrat was far less circumspect when asked about his political plans. State Controller John Chiang said he is very interested in joining what looks to be an increasingly crowded field for governor in 2018.

Im pretty close to doing it, said Chiang, who already has $3.2 million in his re-election bank account that could be moved to a run for governor.

Speaking of likely 2018 gubernatorial candidates, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa dropped a couple of big hints when addressing the Chicano/Latino caucus Friday night, saying hes spent several weeks on a listening tour of California, which is political speak for Im running for something.

Over the last couple of years, people have asked, Whats next? I dont have any announcements tonight, he said. But I can tell you that I have a lot of service left in me.

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, another candidate for governor, had a good excuse for not attending the weekend convention: His wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, gave birth to their fourth child, Dutch William Siebel Newsom, on Friday. Newsom addressed the convention via a video.

Joe Garofoli is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli
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San Jose Rep. Mike Honda won the California Democratic Partys endorsement for his re-election bid Saturday, despite loud complaints from his challenger.

During his speech before delegates voted Saturday night, Ro Khanna, who was beaten by Honda two years ago, predicted he would lose the endorsement battle, saying the voting process was rigged in Hondas favor. He promised he would reform the process if elected.

This is not democracy, Khanna said.

Obama opts not to endorse

Honda, who got well over the 50 percent plus one needed for the partys backing, was unhappy with the complaints.

There are a lot of allegations (Khanna) has put out there over time, Honda said. It gets pretty tiring.

There were also dirty tricks at work before the endorsement hearing. Unsigned flyers were placed on each delegates chair, describing Khanna as a Republican puppet and comparing him to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Vice President Dick Cheney and others. Hondas campaign denied any involvement with the ads.

Hondas endorsement was a welcome ray of light in what otherwise has been a grim, dark cloud over his re-election effort. Early fundraising problems, an ongoing congressional ethics investigation and decaying support have all made the campaign a whole lot tougher than it was supposed to be for someone in an ultra-safe Democrat district who has held political office for the past 35 years.

Honda, 74, received more bad news last week when President Obama, who gave him an early endorsement two years ago, declined to do the same this time around.

I can confirm the president will not be endorsing in this race, Luis Miranda, communications director for the Democratic National Committee, said in an email Thursday.

The president typically doesnt endorse in contested Democratic primaries and so far this year has only given his support to Texas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson. But that didnt stop him from backing Honda early in 2014, and the Khanna campaign is already touting the switch as a sign of Hondas weakness.

The president withdrawing his past endorsement is the most glaring example in an ever-growing exodus of Democrats leaving Congressman Honda in the wake of his ethics scandal, Hari Sevugan, a spokesman for Khanna, said in a statement.

With the state partys endorsement now in hand, Honda said Saturday he would reach out to Obama to again ask for his endorsement.

Khanna builds support

A congressional report released last year suggested that Hondas congressional aides had been improperly involved with his re-election campaign, a charge Honda denies. The House Committee on Ethics has not issued a ruling on the complaint.

For Khanna, a 39-year-old attorney and businessman, the current campaign is a continuation of his tight 2014 battle with Honda, which he lost 52 percent to 48 percent.

Within months of his defeat, he was raising money for a rematch, hoping to learn from the mistakes he made in his first run.

Unlike his last campaign, where Khanna counted on his ties with the Silicon Valley tech world to carry him to victory, he has spent more time talking with city officials in the district, learning about local problems and building support from people without electrical engineering degrees or stock options from startups.

But after that close race in 2014, there was no chance Honda would take Khanna lightly. Honda, who spent his early years in a U.S. Japanese internment camp, has raised his political profile dramatically in the past two years, talking about what hes done for the district and the community during his years in office.

Joe Garofoli and John Wildermuth are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com, jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli, @jfwildermuth
BEIRUT  Warplanes carried out air attacks Sunday on several parts of northern Syria as a top opposition official warned that continued violations of a fragile cease-fire could jeopardize a planned resumption of U.N.-brokered peace talks.

The acts of violence came as Russia said a northern town held by a predominantly Kurdish militia came under fire from the Turkish side of the border.

Sundays air raids came on the second day of a cease-fire brokered by Russia and the U.S., the most ambitious effort yet to curb the violence of the countrys five-year civil war. The truce has been holding since it went into effect at midnight Friday despite accusations by both sides of violations.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the air strikes hit the villages of Daret Azzeh and Qobtan al-Jabal in Aleppo province. The group did not say whether the warplanes were Russian or Syrian, but the Local Coordination Committees said the warplanes were Russian.

The Observatory and the LCC also reported air raids on the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour, saying a woman was killed and 12 others were wounded.

It was not immediately clear if the warplanes struck areas controlled by al Qaedas branch in Syria, known as the Nusra Front. Both the Nusra Front and the Islamic State group are excluded from the truce.

Meanwhile, Syrias state news agency said militants fired shells into government-held areas in the coastal province of Latakia from their bases near the Turkish border. The agency reported that the shelling killed and wounded a number of people, without giving further details.

Opposition activists and state media also reported clashes between troops and members of the Islamic State group mostly in the northern province of Aleppo. Still, both sides have said they will continue to abide by the truce.

Riad Hijab, who heads the High Negotiations Committee, an umbrella for opposition and rebel factions, said in a statement Sunday directed to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon that Russian, Iranian and government forces have not stopped hostilities since the truce went into effect.

The repeated violations by the regime and its allies have killed 29 and wounded dozens, Hijab said, adding that the opposition is abiding by the cease-fire and warning that resuming the negotiations process in such circumstances would be difficult.

The U.N. special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has called for a new round of indirect peace talks in Geneva on March 7, after the first round of talks collapsed this month.
Diligent Corp, the governance software app developer under a takeover offer, posted a 14 percent decline in annual profit as it ramped up spending on marketing and research and development.

The New York-based, NZX-listed company reported net profit after minorities of US$7.8 million, or 6 cents per share, in calendar 2015, down from US$8.6 million, or 7 cents a year earlier, it said in a statement. Revenue climbed 20 percent to US$99.3 million as the company lifted net client agreements by 30 percent to 3,900. The company also had 80 customers signed up to its D&O add-on product and has made its new Teams service available on a limited basis.

Diligent increased spending on sales and marketing 59 percent to US$22 million in the year while R&D costs climbed 36 percent to US$13.1 million.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell 12 percent to US$15.8 million, missing Forsyth Barr analyst Blair Galpin's estimate for ebitda of US$18.3 million on revenue of US$98.7 million. The ebitda figure includes stock-based compensation, which more than doubled in the year to US$7.8 million. On Diligent's preferred adjusted ebitda measure, earnings were flat at US$24.3 million.

The company is currently facing a takeover offer from US venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners, which is offering US$4.93 a share, a 31 percent premium to Diligent's trading price before the bid emerged. As a company incorporated in Delaware, the deal requires a simple majority of common shareholders and also needs 60 percent approval by preference shareholders and other regulatory approvals.

Diligent canned a planned analyst briefing on the earnings because of the takeover offer, which it expects to complete in the second quarter of this year.

The shares last traded at $7.08 on the NZX, a discount to the offer price, which at the current exchange rate equates to $7.43 a share.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- On the day when Leonardo DiCaprio may go home with his first Oscar for the film "The Revenant," Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan visited St. Ann's R.C. Church on Sunday for the second time in as many years to a similar crowd as last year's centennial celebration.

"I'm arriving for the Academy Awards today," Dolan said.

Dolan was joined on the altar by St. Ann's pastor Joy Mampilly, along with other priests from Staten Island.

"Your eminence, always your visit is a shot in the arm," Mampilly said. "And ever since we heard you would be celebrating [the] Eucharist with us, we were walking two feet taller."

So why is Dolan back again?

During his homily, he pointed out to Mampilly the new flooring seen in the Dongan Hills church. He segued this into saying he came to visit to thank and continue to encourage both St. Ann's and St. Theresa's parishes for its parishioners' generosity in the yet to be announced "Renew and Rebuild" capital campaign.

He mentioned that the two churches are off to "great starts."

The push being made is self-explanatory. It's to simply raise money for a chosen dozen parishes in the archdiocese in order to help renovate itself.

"Not only because it's a way to thank God," Dolan said, "because you're a parish and because the archdiocese needs it. But you're going to be a light, a good example to the other parishes. We're going to be able to say to the other parishes, 'You think this is tough? Staten Island parishes did it.'"

Aside from promoting "Renew and Rebuild," Dolan's overall homily message to tie-in was to not only receive a second chance but to give back as well.

"We too are called to give mercy to others, like God gives us a second chance, we give them one," he said. "That's where stewardship comes in. There's a lot of ways to give back to God: our prayer, time, talent. But one of the more tangible ways to give back to him is by the gift of sacrifice of our money."
photojoiner (6).jpg

Celebrate Leap Year by learning about frogs and creating an origami one at the Greenbelt Nature Center. Here, Vincent Spagnuolo, 6, of Grasmere makes an origami frog during Japanese Culture Day "The Grattitude of the Crane" at SIABC in Stapleton. (Staten Island Advance/Bill Lyons)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.

-- Learning something about nature and the world around us is part of all of Sunday's events -- birds, frogs or the history of a small park.

Celebrate Leap Year

First, learn about the amazing amphibians of the Greenbelt, then create an awesome origami frog to take home. Meet at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 28, in the Greenbelt Nature Center, 700 Rockland Ave. The cost is $5.

Photo: Vincent Spagnuolo, 6, of Grasmere makes an origami frog during Japanese Culture Day "The Grattitude of the Crane" at SIABC in Stapleton. (Staten Island Advance/Bill Lyons)

Bird with Friends

Young birders and enthusiastic "bird people" will learn about how birds behave

Take a walk around Silver Lake Park to find ducks, gulls and other birds with Howie Fischer, an expert birder. (Courtesy of Mike Adamo)

migrate. Howie Fischer, a retired intermediate school science teacher, will emphasize bird identification.

The walk will be in Silver Lake Park, an excellent city park to find waterfowl -- ducks, grebes, coots -- and gulls. The walk will be around the entire reservoir and "scope" the water to find wintering birds.

Meet at 9 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 28. Park near the Forest Avenue entrance to the park (Havenwood Road and Silver Lake Park Road).

All participants should bring binoculars and wear comfortable walking shoes. Bring a beverage and a snack. Rain or snow will cancel any trip. For information, contact Howie Fischer at 718-981-4002 or cotingas@aol.com. This is a Friends of Blue Heron Park event.

Explore the trails and history of Goodhue Park. (Staten Island Advance)

Historic Goodhue Park

Have you gone to camp at Goodhue or gone swimming in its pool? Explore the trails and delve into its history with Urban Park Rangers. Meet Sunday, Feb. 28 at Clinton and Prospect avenues at 1 p.m.
Alicia Vikander set the tone on the Oscars red carpet Sunday as she walked early in a pale yellow custom Louis Vuitton gown, her hair flowing down her back.

The Swedish actress has become an "it" girl for glam and didn't disappoint this time around in the strapless princess gown with a balloon hem that was higher in the front. Like her hemline, her hair was also high-low, fastened into a half-bun that showed off her chandelier earrings.

"I love the color," she said from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

Brie Larson, another of the new "it" carpet ladies, wore a blue ruffled Gucci with a silvery belt and columns of loose ruffles.

"We've got the super high glamour sequin moments and then superbly sweet ruffles," said Avril Graham, executive fashion and beauty editor for Harper's Bazaar.

Among the sweet moments for Graham was Vikander in her girly yellow, and among her bombshell moments: Margot Robbie in "va voom gold chic."

Graham attributed the success of Robbie's tight, long-sleeve look to her "natural Aussie beauty" and understated hair and makeup.

Marchesa and Lorraine Schwartz were the carpet's annual bombshell Sofia Vergara's best friends. She wore a deep blue strapless from Marchesa and Schwartz diamond earrings that burst like fireworks, her hair swept back, further showing off her tight-waisted look.

Mindy Kaling was in a sleek black crepe gown from Elizabeth Kennedy with a huge violet-blue silk sash that tied at the back and fell in a train to the ground.

Other looks: Olivia Wilde in a sexy, low-cut blush; Priyanka Chopra in a strapless white Zuhair Murad Couture; Andra Day in a light, one-shoulder yellow; Sophie Turner in oh-so-slight mint green. They were just a few of many who chose soft shades.

"I felt very princessy today," Chopra said of her form-hugging, mermaid-cut dress in silk tulle adorned with climbing flowers.

Wilde wore Valentino Haute Couture cut to the waist and highly dependent on sticky tape to keep everything up top in place. She paired it with a dainty choker.

"It's pretty fun," she said of the look that gave off an apron vibe.

And then there was Whoopi Goldberg. She was bold in black. She said her look was modeled on a gown that Bette Davis wore in "All About Eve."

Several celebs went with shorter hemlines, just above the ankle, including Daisy Ridley in a sparkly silver look that had dainty sheer bits at the waist and hem.

Representing her native Ireland, Saoirse Ronan chose all-around sequins in emerald from Calvin Klein. The gown hugged her body just right, her drop Chopard earrings mismatched -- one in white pearls and the other emeralds. Another bright spot: Olivia Munn in orangey red. It's a shade similar to but not quite a match for the low-cut red look worn by Charlize Theron, a long necklace dangling down her bare chest and her hair swept back to one side.

Turner's side-slit Galvan for Opening Ceremony was part of an "ethically made" project called Red Carpet Green Dress. The initiative was spearheaded by James and Suzy Amis Cameron and had another participant on the carpet, Lily Cole.

"Everything here is all sustainable," Turner said.

It's not possible, meanwhile, that Rooney Mara's hair could have been any tighter. There was a tiny knot on top and it was braided close to her skull, her lips a deep red. Her dress, Givenchy Haute Couture, was long-sleeved, which is somewhat unusual, and had a diamond-shape cutout at the chest, along with a fairly modest slit. It also had buttons and busy pointed ruffles, all in embroidered gray tulle.

Lady Gaga chose a white caped-pants look and Naomi Watts shimmered in sea tones. Kate Winslet also evoked the sea in Ralph Lauren Collection custom liquid black silk lame. It was strapless with asymmetric draped detailing. Cate Blanchett's seafoam Armani Prive gown with loose floral appliques and a short train was the favorite of InStyle's fashion news director, Eric Wilson.

"There was so much individuality, so much whimsy to the look," he said. "I just thought it was so unexpected and and pretty."

The evening's fluffy confection? Heidi Klum in Marchesa. It was also pale, shades of lilac and violet, and swallowed her up in folds, Grecian style.

Who stuck out among the guys?

Abraham Attah, the 14-year-old from Ghana who appeared in "Beasts of No Nation." He rocked a tuxedo with a pair of Tom's slip-ons in black. The slip-ons were custom-made but the company plans to distribute 10,000 pairs of shoes to Ghana in Attah's honor.

Of his big evening, Attah said: "Yeah, it's pretty crazy."

-- Story by the Associated Press
A ghost bike was dedicated Saturday to Stanley Marshall, a bicyclist who was fatally struck by a car on Richmond Road near Andrews Avenue.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- More than two dozen friends and family members of a 59-year-old man who was fatally struck by a car while biking along Richmond Road earlier the month paid tribute to him Saturday during a "ghost bike" dedication ceremony.

Stanley Marshall of Richmond was fatally injured Feb. 16 when a 2013 Honda CRV struck his bicycle, knocking him to the ground, according to police. The vehicle then proceeded to run over him, police said.

Marshall suffered a broken pelvis and internal injuries in the incident, according to police. He was rushed in critical condition to Staten Island University Hospital in Ocean Breeze, where he died.

On Saturday morning, Marshall's friends and family were joined by members of Staten Island Transportation Alternatives and the Staten Island Bicycle Association to dedicate a ghost bike on Richmond Road near Andrews Avenue where the accident occurred. A ghost bike is a bicycle that is painted white and left as a memorial to a deceased cyclist.

Lisa Martini, 52, of Clarence Place in Oakwood, has been charged with vehicular manslaughter and operating a motor vehicle while ability impaired in connection with Marshall's death. She has pleaded not guilty.
nws rma

At 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 31, an individual used someone else's debit card information to withdraw an undetermined amount of money from an ATM machine at the Citibank branch located at 577 Bay St., according to a written statement from the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner for Public Information. The NYPD distributed a photo taken from a surveillance camera at the bank branch showing a person wanted for questioning in connection with the incident.

(Photo courtesy of DCPI)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Police seek the public's help in identifying a person wanted for questioning in connection with a grand larceny in Stapleton.

At 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 31, an individual used someone else's debit card information to withdraw an undetermined amount of money from an ATM machine at the Citibank branch located at 577 Bay St., according to a written statement from the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner for Public Information.

The individual did not have the victim's permission to make the withdrawal, police said.

The NYPD distributed a photo taken from a surveillance camera at the bank branch showing a person wanted for questioning in connection with the incident.

Police are asking anyone with information about the person to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hot line at 800-577-TIPS (8477); visit nypdcrimestoppers.com or send text tips to CRIMES (274637), then enter TIP577.

Police say all calls are strictly confidential.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Criminal charges have been dropped against an off-duty NYPD officer and his wife who were arrested last month after a dispute allegedly turned physical, prosecutors said.

Mehmet Kanbur and his spouse, Belkiz Kanbur, both 36, assaulted one another at around 10 a.m. on Jan. 30 and were arrested later that evening, an NYPD spokeswoman said, according to an Advance report.

Police would not disclose where the alleged dispute occurred, except to say it happened within the confines of the North Shore's 120th Precinct.

Police could not provide information on where the couple lives, but public records indicate the Kanburs reside in New Springville.

Police also could not provide the precinct where Mehmet Kanbur is assigned.

According to online state court records, both Kanburs were subsequently arraigned in Criminal Court on charges of misdemeanor assault, criminal obstruction of breathing, and child endangerment.

Cops could not say whether a child was involved in the alleged dispute or had witnessed it.

Prosecutors said the cases against the complainants were dismissed Wednesday in Criminal Court. No further details were available because the court file is sealed.
nazario.jpg

Police activity on Forest Avenue near Decker Avenue across from Walgreens early Friday morning, April 3, 2015, where Tony Nazario stole hundreds of packs of cigarettes, said prosecutors. Police were searching the parking lot with flashlights and an ambulance from FDNY showed up at the scene. (Staten Island Advance/Bill Lyons)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Those were some costly smokes.

A New Jersey man is on the hook for $10,000 in restitution and six months behind bars for breaking into a Walgreens in Port Richmond Center last year and swiping hundreds of packs of cigarettes, said prosecutors.

Tony Nazario, 29, of Old Bridge, pleaded guilty Friday in state Supreme Court, St. George, to third-degree burglary.

Nazario was busted around 12:05 a.m. on April 3, 2015, a few hours after he broke into the store at 1579 Forest Ave., said authorities.

Nazario stole 300 packs of cigarettes, plus 19 cartons of smokes, a box of tissues, wet wipes, some lint rollers and razor blades, according to police.

Nazario reportedly fell and broke his leg as he attempted to flee police, but was nabbed, according to the New York Post.

Besides restitution and a jail term, Nazario will be sentenced April 29 to five years' probation, said prosecutors.

He remains free on $5,000 bond, online state court records show.

"He took full responsibility for his own actions, and he was punished accordingly," said Matthew Santamauro, Nazario's lawyer.

In a statement, District Attorney Michael E. McMahon's office said, "With this top-count plea, the defendant is now a convicted felon who has been held accountable for his criminal actions and will pay back restitution in the amount of $10,000."
SIEDC West Shore Light Rail

West Shore Light Rail Phase II Study Highway Alignment Credit: SIEDC

We're not quite sure what, exactly, the leaders of the Staten Island Economic Development Corp. were going for when they threatened to abandon the group's long-running campaign to get a light-rail line on the West Shore if they can't get if funding for a study of the project funded by the end of September.

But we certainly do understand their frustration. Indeed, all Staten Islanders share it.

SIEDC board members Ralph Branca, Stanley Friedman and Robert Moore recently wrote a long letter to a host of elected officials, transportation officials and planners complaining that their quest has been repeatedly ignored and rejected through the years, even as other projects are announced with much fanfare.

The proverbial straw that broke the camel's back was Mayor Bill de Blasio's breathless trumpeting of a plan to build a $2.5-billion streetcar line linking the Brooklyn and Queens waterfront.

"A decade of struggle in a world where state and city agencies and transportation groups don't care about a population center of nearly half a million is just too much to bear," the trio wrote. "Our disappointment is not in the fact that Brooklyn is getting a light rail and that Staten Island is not even getting study money. It's that all of the excuses used by city, state and federal agencies and authorities to shoot down the West Shore Light Rail were ignored when proposing the Brooklyn system."

The planned 16-mile Brooklyn Queens Connector -- called the BQX -- is designed to meet the demands of new housing and job growth along the East River waterfront whose neighborhoods are largely bypassed by the existing subway system and where existing transportation infrastructure is already overburdened.

The galling thing, from a Staten Islander's point of view, is that this BQX idea seemed to spring up out of nowhere, without benefit of lengthy and costly studies. It appears that it's just going to happen because the full weight of the de Blasio administration is behind it.

'Equity'?

"This is about equity and innovation," the mayor enthused. "We are mapping brand new transit that will knit neighborhoods together and open up real opportunities for our people."

Equity? Isn't that nice? But what about us, Mr. Mayor?

Contrast that heady talk with what has happened with proposals for projects on Staten Island, where backers can't even get preliminary studies funded, let alone secure full funding for the projects themselves. So it took the better part of two decades to coax the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to agree to put up a mere $5 million for environmental and design work for a North Shore Bus Rapid Transit line, despite the imminent opening of the New York Wheel, Empire Outlets and other projects.

And the West Shore light-rail proposal, which has been championed by the SIEDC and borough elected officials for just as long, can't even get a sniff in terms of funding. Apparently, Staten Island transportation needs aren't even on the mayor's radar.

Messrs. Branca, Friedman and Moore wrote,"We have heard for years that there was 'No money to fund the West Shore Light Rail.' Obviously, someone in City Hall found a creative way to make it happen. We have been told that 'The route is too long, maybe you should phase it in.' The Brooklyn proposal is the exact same distance as the West Shore Light Rail. We have been instructed time and time again that 'No agency wants to sponsor, nor do they understand how to build light rail.' Well, someone must be interested and have the knowledge ... when Brooklyn and Queens ask for it."

Double standard

In response to complaints about this clear double standard, the mayor's spokesman smugly noted, "From funding new Staten Island Ferries, to investing in the borough's roads, to planning better transit on the North Shore, we are putting real resources and energy into improving the borough's commutes."

We hate to seem ungrateful, but replacing older ferries and fixing roads are part of the city's job -- things that would have to be done no matter who was mayor.

As for "planning better transit on the North Shore," this administration hasn't done a blessed thing; the BRT study is being done with MTA money. And the mayor's half-baked proposal to have a fast ferry to Stapleton, of all places, sometime in the future as part of a sweeping fast-ferry network serving all five boroughs doesn't cut it either.

But Staten Islanders are supposed to be happy for the pat on the head by condescending city officials and go away quietly so the administration can focus on furthering big expensive projects for the "important" boroughs.

Oh, did we mention that developers and other businesses that own land along the proposed BQX line stand to make a ton of money? Or that at least 10 have contributed to the mayor's re-election campaign or to the Campaign for One New York, a nonprofit that promotes the mayor's "progressive" agenda?

The SIEDC leaders concluded, "We are saying what thousands of Staten Islanders say on their daily commute -- ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!" If SIEDC does not receive funding and support by September 30, 2016, we will abandon our light-rail efforts."

As we said, we understand their frustration, but if they think this administration is going to be alarmed in the least by the threat, they should think again.
2016 SkS Weekly Digest #9

Posted on 28 February 2016 by John Hartz

SkS Highlights... El Nino News... Toon of the Week... Quote of the Week... He Said What?... SkS Spotlights... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... 97 Hours of Consensus...

SkS Highlights

Earth is warming 50x faster than when it comes out of an ice age by Dana Nuccitelli garnered the most comments of the articles posted on SkS during the past week. Fossil fuel funded report denies the expert global warming consensus by John Abraham attracted the second highest number. Both articles were written for the Climate Consensus - the 97% blog hosted by the Guardian newspaper.

El Nino News

A new NASA visualization shows the 2015 El Nino unfolding in the Pacific Ocean, as sea surface temperatures create different patterns than seen in the 1997-1998 El Nino. Computer models are just one tool that NASA scientists are using to study this large El Nino event, and compare it to other events in the past.

NASA sees a different kind of El Nino by Kate Ramsayer, Phys.org, Feb 25, 2016

Toon of the Week

Quote of the Week

"Tar sands are a climate killer and the Obama Administration was right to block Keystone XL," said Colin Roche, extractives campaigner for Friends of the Earth Europe. "Trade policy should not be a backdoor for corporations to challenge or dissuade measures to tackle climate change. It's time to drop investor-state dispute mechanisms in any form, stop harmful trade deals and start taking necessary action to stop climate destruction."

Opposing Corporate Coup, Campaigners Block Trade Talk Doors by Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, Feb 22, 2016

He Said What?

As Donald Trump continued to gain momentum in his bid for the White House, Republican officials, donors, and members of Congress declined on Wednesday to join forces against him.

Weve heard this kind of alarmism before, a senior Republican senator told Slate, responding to warnings that a Trump nomination would doom the Republican Party. Remember global warming? Gases, temperatures, the sky is falling? Its all speculation. Ill believe this Trump wave when I see it.

An Inconvenient Trump by William Saletan, Slate, Feb 24, 2016

SkS Spotlights

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is the intergovernmental body which assesses the state of biodiversity and of the ecosystem services it provides to society, in response to requests from decision makers. IPBES is placed under the auspices of four United Nations entities: UNEP, UNESCO, FAO and UNDP and administered by UNEP. Its secretariat is hosted by the German government and located on the UN campus, in Bonn, Germany. One thousand scientists from all over the world currently contribute to the work of IPBES on a voluntary basis. They are nominated by their government or an organisation, and selected by the MEP. Peer review forms a key component of the work of IPBES to ensure that a range of views is reflected in its work, and that the work is complete to the highest scientific standards.

The mission of IPBES is to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development.

Coming Soon on SkS

Climate scientists laugh as anti-climate think tank GWPF forgets about physics (Dana)

(Dana) Mapped: The sensitivity of the worlds ecosystems to climate (Robert McSweeney)

(Robert McSweeney) Guest post (John Abraham)

(John Abraham) Centuries of Melting Already Locked in for Polar Ice, Scientists Say (Phil Mckenna)

(Phil Mckenna) Will Fossil Fuel Prices Fully Recover? (Riduna)

(Riduna) 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #10 (John Hartz)

(John Hartz) 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #10 (John Hartz)

Poster of the Week

SkS Week in Review

97 Hours of Consensus: James McCarthy

James McCarthy's bio page

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One survivor heading to Rome is Andrew Collins, who was repeatedly raped as a child in Ballarat by priests and religious brothers and has suffered depression and post-traumatic stress ever since. He told the commission that he tried to kill himself four times, in part because his staunchly Catholic family effectively disowned him after he went public with his tales of abuse.
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"The New York Times link to me yesterday [...] generated one-fifth of the traffic I normally get from a link from Small Dead Animals." Kathy Shaidle

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I got links from the Weekly Standard, Hot Air and Instapundit yesterday - but SDA was running at least equal to those in visitors clicking through to my blog. Jeff Dobbs

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Gay Equality Rights


Discouraging kids from beating up others for being different is surely the low-hanging fruit of tolerance. After him not picking it last week, Turnbull seems more frenemy than friend. We've been here before. Julia Gillard blocked marriage equality, despite her own non-traditional take on the institution. Once out of power, she changed her tune. Kevin Rudd, from whom the United Nations must be saved, opposed marriage equality when he could've passed it in his first spell as PM, and supported it only when he couldn't, in his second. If the political consequences of scrapping the plebiscite were too hefty for Turnbull, at least he could have properly called out Queensland MP George Christensen's odious comparison of an effective anti-bullying program to grooming by paedophiles. He could have blocked the determination of the hateful right to destroy it. But he didn't. He caved, and told everyone to use nicer language.

This comes at a time when a queue of prominent straight men complain the voices of those against marriage equality are silenced. ABC political editor Chris Uhlmann termed it "offending the new ruling hegemony", declaring that he would stand with the right of the minority to disagree with changing marriage laws. Former ABC chairman Maurice Newman complained about much the same thing. On Saturday, we read that John Howard feels this same pain of oppressed speech, a view so oppressed it was on the front page of The Australian. "There is nothing homophobic about supporting traditional marriage," he told the nation, after beating overwhelming odds to have his voice heard. "Everybody did in the Parliament in 2004." Which is true, if "everyone" means "not everyone". When the Senate excluded same-sex couples, the vote was 38-6. Most agreed to enshrine discrimination with Howard's law, but not all. He continued: "You ought to be able to have sensible discussion on these sorts of things," suggesting we are not having one, and as long as Cory Bernardi is involved in it, I suppose he's right.

"And you should be able to express a view on these things," he said, despite months of evidence from the likes of Bernardi proving many people are managing it just fine. "But there is a sense in which people are so frightened of being accused of being discriminatory or intolerant that they don't speak the commonsense view." Howard is talented at appropriating language: after years of being considered slippery with the truth, he called and won an election he declared to be about trust. Now, he seeks to take "commonsense" for opponents of marriage equality, despite their view being neither very common nor containing much sense. The free speech argument Howard adopts is a straw man, a distraction. It's the last resort of those losing an argument. We have no reason, few facts, but we demand the right to be heard! The rights of the straights-only marriage crowd are under no threat. Their freedoms are not curtailed; they forget that it is those of same-sex couples that remain legally constrained.

These supposedly cowed opponents of equality cry oppression yet receive more attention than anyone else. Minority views get more attention than those with majority support, a reality that Andrew Bolt and his ilk trade on. The opinion pages of conservative media rely on contrarians to build readership, and anti-equality advocates are primary beneficiaries. Oblivious to this contradiction, they routinely cite as conclusive evidence one silly complaint to Tasmania's anti-discrimination commissioner about the Catholic Church's Don't Mess With Marriage booklet (which introduced to school children the term "throuple"). Yet as stupid as that unresolved complaint is  and stupid, it is  the effect has hardly been to silence critics of equality. Howard was on the front page. The Australian Christian Lobby is quoted ad nauseam. Bernardi and Christiansen know they are guaranteed a national run each time they say something about it. Speaking of which, the next time you hear Bernardi accuse equality advocates of "social engineering", remember he is attempting to engineer a society without gay weddings and apparently with bullied gay teens.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has launched a strident defence of regional media organisations, expressing strong opposition to a mooted watering down of media ownership laws.

The ACT government has made a submission to the federal government's inquiry into broadcasting, online content and live production to regional and rural Australia, with Mr Barr saying the power and significance of local media content could not be underestimated.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr says recent commentary of proposed media reforms has raised some concerning prospects. Credit:Rohan Thomson

"Local production of all types of media, with strong and diverse local content, is an important mechanism for community identity and cohesion," he said.

"The capacity for a diverse range of voices to speak into and out from their communities is also a linchpin of our modern democracy."
The wonderful thing about investigating multinational tax avoidance is that, despite the corporate spin and obfuscation, there is a hard number that you can always hang your hat on.

No matter the highfalutin excuses from slick PR types and the rhetoricians of the corporate tax lobby for why such paltry tax is paid; no matter the illimitable complexity of tax laws and financial engineering, this precious number displays how much tax has been paid to the Australian Tax Office each year  cash.

The claim against MasterCard would be the UK's biggest and one of the first filed under the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Credit:Jim Rice

It can be found in the cash-flow statement of a company's annual financial statements  unless the company has a special exemption from the regulator from having to disclose. Or unless the name of the company is Westfield Corporation, which bizarrely counterveils accounting standards by grouping income tax with withholding tax. And it can be found about six lines down from "operating cash-flow", and it usually says "tax paid".

So it is that once you have trawled the database, stumbled upon the relevant entity and paid ASIC the requisite fees, you will find, for instance, that global credit card giant MasterCard last paid $4.3 million in tax to the Tax Office. That was for the year to December 2014. This is lower than the year before, when it somehow got $429,650 back from the taxman, which is nice work if you can get it.
What on earth was Bill Shorten thinking when he allowed his party to oppose a sensible reform of Senate voting? The answer is short-term self-interest.

After the last election there was no end of comment on why the Senate system needed reform. The election of several minor-party candidates who secured a minuscule portion of the primary vote led to an outcry.

It seemed just about everyone recognised the stupidity of the situation. It made our system look crazy. People who had no realistic expectation of being elected ended up representing their state in the Senate for six years. It's also a fair bet, because of how the voting system works, that the people who elected them never actually intended to do so.

How can that be said? Easily. About 97 per cent of people vote for the party or group of their choice "above the line" on the Senate ballot paper. That's where the major changes of these proposed reforms are concentrated. (Below the line voting, where you mark your preference by all the candidates, will stay as an option.)
In a democracy, voters should determine who is elected to Parliament. The Senate electoral system fails this test. Design flaws mean that people can elect candidates they do not support. This follows from the "above the line" voting system used for the Senate. Once a person has selected the party of their choice, they lose control of their vote. Preferences are not allocated by the voter, but as directed by the party.

People can avoid this, but only by following the alternate "below the line" voting system, in which every candidate must be ranked. This is so difficult and time-consuming that almost no one casts a ballot in this way. At the 2013 election for NSW Senate representatives, the below the line voting system required electors to rank 110 candidates.

The combined effect of the above and below the line voting systems is to place enormous power in the hands of party officials. They can seek electoral advantage by entering into backroom deals with other parties. This can involve the transfer of a voter's preferences across political lines. For example, a person voting 1 for Labor may elect someone from the Family First Party, or a person seeking to allow development in national parks may end up electing a climate change activist.

This is not a new problem. The system has operated since 1984, but little has been made of it because it suited the interests of the major parties. This changed at the 2013 election when it became clear that smaller parties could exploit the system.
WestConnex is Australia's most expensive toll road project. It's now $16.8 billion  a 68 per cent increase on the original estimate of $10 billion only four years ago.

It's nearly triple the combined cost of recent motorways built in Sydney  the M4, M5, Harbour Tunnel, M2 and Eastern Distributor would cost $6.1 billion in total in today's dollars.

The size of the WestConnex interchange at St Peters has angered many residents.

Additional stages of WestConnex under development could see the total cost reach more than $30 billion. This makes it one of the most expensive road projects ever undertaken in the world.

A project of this scale, funded by taxpayers, should be subject to rigorous assessment and a high level of quality assurance. However, both the NSW Auditor-General and Infrastructure Australia have criticised the governance, quality assurance and business case of this project.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's approval rating has taken a hit. Credit:Andrew Meares "The company's management has proven repeatedly that it can effectively monitor and manage those risks," it said. "This is an incredibly complex project unlike any infrastructure build anywhere in the world." Communications Minister Mitch Fifield also rejected any suggestion of tardiness. "The Coalition government has taken a business-like approach to managing the NBN project. After two terms of government, Labor had upgraded broadband to just 1 in 50 premises in Australia," he said. "By the end of this year, the NBN will have upgraded 1 in 4 premises and by the end of 2018 it will have extended to 3 in 4 premises.

"Our changes to the roll-out will see the project finished six to eight years sooner than reverting to Labor's approach, and at around $30 billion less cost." Under the heading "Commercial in Confidence: Scale the Deployment Program", the report outlines a plethora of faults, including that delays in power approvals and construction are being caused by electricity companies which account for 38,537 premises or 59 per cent of overall slippages against the target. Another 30 per cent of delays are down to material shortages and a further 11 per cent are attributed to completion reviews. "Construction completions currently sits at 29K against the corporate budget of 94K," the report states. "Gap-to-target has increased from 49,183 to 65,268 at week ending February 12.

"Construction completions gap can be attributed to 3 main issues: power, supply, and completions under review." Also noted in the report is a rise in the cost per connection of design and construction, which has now reached $1366, compared with the target price of $1114 - a 23 per cent increase. The NBN Co was the subject of a major political contest at the last election, with Mr Turnbull insisting Labor's FTTP (fibre-to-the-premises) model was needlessly extravagant and unaffordable at a projected off-budget price of $44.9 billion. Instead, he proposed the more modest mixed technology FTTN roll-out which, rather than connecting up each house or business, would connect in many cases to the old Telstra network in each street, and rely on the existing copper wire connections for the final hook up to each premises. It was originally intended to cost $29.5 billion according to the Abbott government, but costs have increased considerably since 2013 and it is getting close to twice that price tag.

Yet the NBN Co's own documents show that for all that money, it remains bedevilled with problems from the slow design approvals by power utility companies (FTTP did not require electrical supply but FTTN does) and as a result of material and supply problems. Even expertise in dealing with the copper network is scarce. While the Coalition's pared-back version of the NBN was intended to deliver the system quicker and more cheaply, the company's snapshot suggests some of the design factors of FTTN are causing the bottleneck. "Despite Design Commencements remaining above budget, all other significant milestones of FTTN continue to remain behind target," the report states. Labor's model had proposed connection directly to 93 per cent the premises using fibre-optic cables all the way, compared with the Coalition's version in which just 20 per cent would get the all-fibre version, with the remainder serviced with the fixed-line copper network from the street node, as well as hybrid fibre-coaxial technology. The NBN has been the battleground of some of the most furious politicking since Labor embarked on the project on its election in 2007.
Cardinal George Pell is likely to be grilled on when he first learned of child sexual abuse allegations against Catholic clergy when he fronts the sex abuse royal commission this week.

Cardinal Pell, one of the church's strongest defenders against public criticism over its handling of the abuse scandal, will be cross-examined by commissioners for the first time on Monday about his early career as a priest in Ballarat and later as auxiliary bishop in Melbourne.

George Pell has been excused from appearing in person at the royal commission.

He has previously been questioned on this period by MPs at a Victorian parliamentary inquiry. Cardinal Pell has always denied having known children were abused in Ballarat when he was there.
Taxpayers will fork out nearly $376 million for a new state-of-the-art public service office building in Canberra while continuing to pay rent for acres of empty office space around the capital.

The true cost of the Finance Department's lease on its new offices at 1 Canberra Avenue has been revealed and, according to the government's contracting website AusTender, it's more than $156 million greater than previously disclosed.

Department Secretary Jane Halton may join her workforce and shell out cash for parking. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

The department is the one tasked with getting the federal government's empty office space problem under control, with 34,000 desks sitting idle in public service buildings around Australia and 17,000 in the national capital.
Most people support surrogacy for medical reasons, such as a woman being born without a uterus, but fewer believe it should be available to older women, or those simply wishing to avoid pregnancy. Most people thought surrogacy should be available to men whose partners had died, but had frozen embryos in storage.

There is pressure on the government to legalise commercial surrogacy, with more than half the survey respondents with a view on the issue saying the existing ban on compensated surrogacy is unjustified. Altruistic surrogacy is the only kind now allowed in Australia.

But Professor Tremellen and Mr Everingham cautioned that even if commercial surrogacy was legalised here, some Australians will continue to travel overseas for surrogacy, because it is cheaper in some countries.

Those who support commercial surrogacy in Australia are most likely to say that the actual sum should be determined by negotiation between the surrogate and commissioning parents, with no fixed maximum. The submission suggested capping payment at $56,000 (the average full-time pre-tax wage for the duration of pregnancy) "to avoid excessive monetary incentivisation, and stop the wealthy from dominating the market for available surrogates".

People thought surrogates should be paid more if they suffered a major complication that resulted in a chronic health issue after the baby was born, if there was a major complication during pregnancy or birth that required more than a week off work, or if the surrogate was carrying twins.
When his mother was killed in a car crash in Hobart on January 22, the clock started ticking for baby Caleb.

It was 1.10am, and Sarah Paino was driving through an intersection when her car was hit by a stolen SUV allegedly driven at speed by a 15-year-old who had three underage passengers on board.

Daniel Stirling, Sarah Paino and their son Jordan. Credit:Sunday Night

The 24-year-old, who was 32 weeks pregnant, had just dropped off her partner Daniel Stirling to his job at a bakery and was driving home with their two-year-old son Jordan in the back seat when the car crashed into her driver's side door.

She died at the scene. When rescuers arrived, they immediately noticed she was pregnant.
A man accused of kidnapping and torturing a drug associate at a warehouse on the NSW South Coast early last month allegedly carried out two other violent kidnappings in the month, including one in which he apparently forced a victim to perform a sex act on another man to be released.

Police have arrested and charged Mark Reihana, 22, with a string of offences, alleging in documents before the court that he was behind the violent, degrading acts that occurred during the kidnappings.

The documents, tendered in separate bail applications made by various co-accused, say Mr Reihana had "recently moved to the Illawarra from the greater western Sydney region" and became involved with "the local criminal elements, particularly those associated with the distribution of illicit drugs".

Police allege a drug associate fell victim to Mr Reihana's wrath on January 3, resulting in him being tortured with drills, hammers, a gun and a metal hook for three days in Oak Flats, a suburb of Shellharbour.

On January 20, Mr Reihana allegedly bound another drug associate in a Wollongong flat and bashed him with a rubber mallet and small bat, while asking him, "Where's the money?"
Liverpool council will this week mount its third attempt to fire its chief executive, a push that has turned ugly and led to claims of threats and intimidation.

The move to sack council's chief executive, Carl Wulff, is notionally about asbestos-contaminated soil in a council storage facility. But it is also flashpoint in a much deeper and long-running power struggle between two Liberal members of the council.

A second attempt to sack Mr Wulff at a council meeting last week seemingly had the support of a majority of councillors but a vote was averted after mayor Ned Mannoun shut down a move to debate the issue confidentially and later ejected the sponsor of the motion.

Opponents claim that is an illegal use of the mayor's power. But the complaints go further.
An elderly pilot killed in a Blue Mountains plane crash was a veteran flying instructor who had survived nine emergency landings including one in the same type of ultralight he died piloting.

Rodney Victor Hay, 80, was killed when the Jabiru plane he was flying crashed in bushland about 150 metres east of Katoomba Airfield on Saturday.

The grandfather was thought to have taken off about noon to conduct circuits of the airfield and was reported missing by a family friend about 5.30pm, police said.
Australia's first social enterprise beer is ready for dispatch after having raised over $60,000 in pre-orders with 50 per cent of its profits set to directly support the reef.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was one of the first to taste the brew when he visited the Bargara Brewing Company in Bundaberg last week, commenting, "How can you not smile when you're having a Great Barrier Beer?"

James Grugeon with Queensland environment minister Stephen Miles.

The Good Beer Co has partnered with the Australian Marine Conservation Society who will ensure funds raised by the sale of the Great Barrier Beer are used carefully.

Society director Darren Kindleysides said the reef was at a tipping point and its future was at a crossroads so work needed to be done now to protect it for future generations.
"Projects Attacking Congestion will include upgrades to Telegraph Road, Wynnum Road, Waterworks Road, the Inner City Bypass, Kingsford Smith Drive, Progress Road and Paradise Road," he said.

If re-elected on 19 March, Cr Quirk plans to spend $1.3 billion on new road projects, mostly in the suburbs, to ease gridlock. Within the city, Team Quirk is relying on its Brisbane Metro system to win votes.

"We will deliver projects attacking congestion with an upgrade to Murphy Road in Aspley, Juliette Street in Annerley, Old Cleveland Road at Carindale, Green Camp Road at Wakerley and a new Player Road connection in Upper Mount Gravatt.

"Team Quirk will also build smoother suburban streets and invest $16 million into more than 50 suburban road projects, for small scale, high-impact improvements such as road widening, turning lane extensions and minor intersection upgrades."

Cr Quirk said the council had invested $2.16 billion in the Brisbane road network over the past four years and said it showed with traffic volumes increasing by 5.5 per cent since 2012 but travel times improving.

Public transport has been the key battle ground between the two major parties this election campaign, with Labor promising to investigate bringing light rail back to the city, with the LNP pledging an underground rubber-tyred metro service built in Brisbane, linking Woolloongabba and Herston.

Both parties have ridiculed the other's ideas.
An elderly male lost more than a third of his blood after a ride-on lawnmower rolled on him north of Brisbane.

The man in his 80s was slipping in and out of consciousness as paramedics tried to treat him for serious cuts to his right leg from the blades on Saturday morning.

A man in his 80s was taken to hopsital after a ride-on mower rolled on him as he mowed on a slope.

Queensland Ambulance Service medical director Stephen Rashford said the man had been riding the mower along a hillside at a Wamuran property when it rolled, trapping his leg underneath.

"He had good first aid from people on scene and then the paramedics essentially stopped the bleeding," he said.
Business owners in Dandenong's industrial heartland are reeling after being told of plans to remove a level crossing by permanently shutting a road that is used by tens of thousands of vehicles a day.

The crossing, at Abbotts Road, was the scene of a deadly high-speed smash between a Cranbourne-bound train and a truck in November 2012, for which the truck driver is serving a five-year jail term for culpable driving.

Angry business owners Darcie and Trish Bull at the Abbotts Road level crossing in Dandenong South. Credit:Mathew Lynn

Abbotts Road runs through the sprawling Dandenong South industrial precinct and is used by 23,000 vehicles a day, linking distribution centres for big businesses including Bunnings and Aldi to the freeways.

Business owners who attended a local briefing with the Level Crossing Removal Authority last week were told the Andrews government's preferred way to remove the Abbotts Road level crossing is to simply close the busy arterial at either side of the boom gates, turning it into a dead-end road.
Tehran: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani earned an emphatic vote of confidence and reformist partners secured surprise gains in parliament in early results from elections that could accelerate the Islamic Republic's emergence from years of isolation.

While gains by moderates and reformists in Friday's polls were most evident in the capital, Tehran, the sheer scale of the advances there suggests a legislature more friendly to Dr Rouhani has emerged as a distinct possibility.

A loosening of control by the anti-Western hardliners who currently dominate the 290-seat parliament could strengthen his hand to open Iran further to foreign trade and investment following last year's breakthrough nuclear deal.
PHILIPSBURG:---On the evening of Friday February 26, 2016, The Minister of Health, Emil Lee was notified that a group of students involved in the Leeward Islands Debate had become ill. Minister Lee immediately notified the inspection department and CPS (collective preventative services). Dr. Virginia Asin and Maria Henry were immediately mobilized by CPS.

Dr. Asin and Maria Henry immediately went to the SMMC to assess the situation. Patients, mostly consisting of debate students were suffering from vomiting. The SMMC had the situation under control. Students were treated and discharged.

Dr. Asin then proceeded to Maho to assess the situation. Students were being treated for dehydration and no new cases were identified. Protocols were established for the hotel which included having persons with vomiting and diarrhea to remain in their rooms, notify guests and staff to adhere to proper hygiene procedures, and have the hotel execute extra cleaning and disinfection procedures.

CPS staff worked until late in the night to ensure that everything at SMMC and Maho were under control.

On Saturday February 27, 2016, a joint VSA team from CPS and the inspectorate consisting of Maria Henry, Likia Pickerio, Laniol Tromp, Swinda Richardson, Nirmala Vlaun

met at Maho to conduct interviews and inspections. In order to get a first hand assessment and update of the situation, Minister Lee joined the team. According to Minister Lee, "The team from the Ministry of health has my full support and confidence. They are approaching this situation objectively and professionally. And just for the record, at no time were inspections or investigations halted or obstructed. I am, as usual, extremely proud of team VSA and the staff of the SMMC!"

According to preliminary report, the inspectorate checked the kitchens and found that "As far as hygiene and food handling in the kitchen at Maho are concerned, the Food Inspectors observed that the kitchens are in proper hygiene condition."

Until the test at SLS are complete and the final investigation report is completed (estimated to be complete the end of this week), "the team could not rule out food as a source for the gasteroenteritis.." However, the preliminary conclusion is that "based on the assessment of two involved physicians (Dr. Asin and Dr. Deketh) is that there is a gasteroenteritis virus involved, most probably Noro-virus."

In the mean time, a number of recommendations were made to Maho to establish protocols to eliminate the spread of virus. Minister Lee emphasized, "while the Ministry of health certainly has a control and regulatory function, the Ministry also has an educational role. The Ministry should also be seen as a resource for the community to call on when it has a problem and needs advice on how to manage problems. We encourage the community to reach out for guidance and assistance whenever necessary. We are here to create a health and safe environment for the residents and visitors of St Maarten."

On a closing note....Minister Lee commented, "Despite difficult circumstance, the debates continue. That is truly a testament to the resilience and determination of the youth of the Caribbean. This bodes well for the future of the Caribbean. Congratulations to all participants!"
Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Donald Trump

The extraordinary move puts the panel, which the former president has repeatedly criticized as political, into a legal confrontation with Trump.
What you need to know about Powerball and the $580 million jackpot
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.
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The malware attack this month at a Los Angeles hospital sounded like something at once commonplace and futuristic.

A team of hackers broke into the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Centers computer system, as happens all too often when criminals go in search of personal information to be used in a fraud scheme. But this case involved seizing control of the institutions computers, preventing workers from communicating on its devices and not releasing the system until a $17,000 ransom was paid  in bitcoin.

The breach, which temporarily forced the hospital to return to pen-and-paper record-keeping, is the first of many to come, according to a local entrepreneur. Matthew Smith, of Stamford, says his company, SecLingua, is poised to prevent them.

This is just the beginning, Smith said. Cyber security is going to have to grow with the changing demands in the industry. In the past, security has tended to be an afterthought.

SecLinguas technology works on any medical device, either implanted in newly manufactured equipment or retrofitted in existing products. It offers security and an audit trail on all communications, and the technology it uses is a familiar one that has proven successful around the world.

The company has worldwide rights to apply the Pitney Bowes Secure Evidencing Platform that is used in that companys postage meters and protects against electronic and software-based attacks  as well as safeguarding billions of dollars in postal transactions around the world. Stamford-based Pitney Bowes provided seed funding for SecLingua, which remains an independent company.

And as the health-care industry is notoriously slow to adapt  some doctors offices only switched to electronic record keeping last year to comply with a federal mandate  Smith said the need for security will only increase. Theres no question you will see more stories like this, he said.

Keeping track

The technology from SecLingua promises confidentiality; integrity, meaning the data has not been altered; and authenticity, which proves that the information comes from a trusted source.

Smith said patients and providers often make assumptions about security from network-connected devices like MRIs that are unfounded. At the same time, providers need to preserve user access and privileges, validate each user every time new access is required and be aware that breaches can lead to millions of dollars in fines. All that makes coordinating security across potentially millions of connections a difficult task.

Pitney Bowes technology offers a solution.

Brian Romansky, a member of SecLinguas business development committee and director of new business opportunities at Pitney Bowes, said the medical industry is a natural fit for Pitney Bowes technology. Other systems provide a firewall, but once something is inside, that security isnt there, he said. This provides point-to-point security.

Al Bartosic, a member of SecLinguas board of directors, said the industry is just now understanding its needs on security. Health care is in its infancy on security, he said. The industry is constantly playing catch-up.

The need for better protection applies to patients as well as businesses, he said. Your data is everywhere, Bartosic said.

In action

SecLingua started three and a half years ago and has already made inroads in local facilities even as it looks to expand nationally.

Jim Bergers, administrator of Lord Chamberlain Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Stratford, said his facility is making use of the technology on several floors and looking to expand further, adding that the benefits go beyond security.

It provides an audit trail, which has clinical value, he said. It proves that we provided the care we said we did.

With staff turnover and changes in protocols, proving what care was given years earlier can be difficult even as it is often required during audits. This saves a huge amount of revenue just by having those records easily available, Bergers said.

With security needs changing rapidly, Lord Chamberlain is trying to keep abreast of new technologies, and SecLingua helps them do that, Bergers said.

Wed rather be pioneers than try to figure it out later, he said.

Smith, who has experience with a variety of medical companies including several startups, was previously managing director of investments at Connecticut Innovations in Rocky Hill. He said that as laws mandating security  including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, from 1996, and the Affordable Care Act from 2010  setting those standards has been left to the industry.

As it works to abide by those developing standards, SecLingua makes money a number of ways, including by charging a one-time fee for the chips and an annual service charge for the monitoring service. Pricing can also come on a per-use basis based on the value of the equipment.

For now, Smith said, the company is doing well with implementation at about 15 state nursing homes, but is awaiting the first major order that would take the company to another level.

SecLingua today has two full-time employees, with Pitney Bowes a minority shareholder and providing the companys Waterview Drive office space. But Smith envisions much bigger things for his company. Were going to need a lot more space, he said, gesturing to an empty building in the same development.

hbailey@ctpost.com; 203-330-6233; @hughsbailey
The Zoning Board will continue its public hearing on the Southfield Avenue boatyard on Monday.

The developer, Building and Land Technology, is expected to respond to a series of concerns the board submitted to its attorneys earlier this month.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the fourth floor cafeteria of the Stamford Government Center, 888 Washington Blvd.

ktorres@scni.com

Marina fees, transportation center redevelopment on agenda

The Board of Representatives will hold several committee meetings this week.

The Parks and Recreation Committee will meet Monday for a public hearing on the non-resident marina fees charged by the city. The proposed new rule would set the same fees for non-resident taxpayers as those for city residents. A surcharge of 150 percent will apply to all other non-residents.

The hearing will kick off at 6:30 p.m. in the Republican Caucus Room on the fourth floor of the Stamford Government Center, 888 Washington Blvd.

The Fiscal Committee will meet the same night to review requests to move $1.5 million left from a Toquam Elementary project for a Stamford High School renovation. The committee will also discuss Mayor David Martins requests to use contingency funds to cover several shortfalls, including for police overtime.

That meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the Democratic Caucus Room in the fourth floor of the Government Center.

The Land Use-Urban Redevelopment Committee will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Republican Caucus Room to discuss several items, among them text amendments that would establish requirements for university dormitory housing in the city.

The State and Commerce Committee will meet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday. Among the items on the agenda will be an update on the proposed state redevelopment of the Stamford Transportation Center. The meeting will be held in the Democratic Caucus Room.

The Housing/Community Development/Social Services Committee will meet at 9 a.m. Saturday with the mayor to to reconcile subcommittees recommendations for CDBG (Community Development Block Grants) Year 41 funding requests, according to its agenda. The meeting will be held in the Democratic Caucus Room.

ktorres@scni.com

Commission to discuss Pacific Street firehouse

The Historic Preservation Advisory Commission will meet Tuesday.

The commission is expected to receive an update on the Hoyt-Barnum House move and the renovations at the former Sacred Heart Academy property on Strawberry Hill Avenue. Among the new issues it plans to discuss is the future of the Pacific Street firehouse.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the safety training room on the sixth floor of the Government Center.

ktorres@scni.com

Water main replacement, teachers accused of sex abuse on BOE agenda

The Board of Education will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Among the items to be discussed is the replacement of the water main to Turn of River Middle School, and the board's proposed policy to ban negotiated settlements with teachers accused of sexual abuse.

The board has also proposed three items for discussion in closed session  the district's security plan, an update on the district's legal representation, and a discussion of pending litigation.

The meeting will be held on the fifth floor of the Stamford Government Center, 888 Washington Blvd.

ESimko-Bednarski@scni.com

Judiciary Committee to meet at UConn-Stamford

The State Judiciary Committee will meet in Stamford at 1 p.m. Wednesday to discuss several bills, including a proposed statewide ban on negotiated settlements with teachers suspected of abuse. The meeting is open to the public, and will be held in the auditorium of the University of Connecticut's Stamford campus, 1 University Place.

ESimko-Bednarski@scni.com
Newsva | Instagram

Sure, those #nofilter images of your tropical vacation are cool, but they cant beat a selfie with His Holiness at the Apostolic Palace.

Googles Eric Schmidt had his 15 minutes with the Holy See, and now Instagrams founder and CEO Kevin Systrom had the opportunity for some face time with Pope Francis when the two met Friday to discuss the power of images. Systrom illustrated his point by bringing a book of 10 images from the photo sharing platform, Time reports.The book included pictures from the earthquake in Nepal, the protests in Baltimore and the refugee crisis in the Middle East.
Theres an elephant in the room in Hartford. Republicans insist its not them.

Senate Minority Leader Len Fasano sometimes sounded like a Democrat Monday as he outlined the Republicans urban agenda. After 75 minutes of talking to the Hearst Connecticut Newspapers editorial board about justice reforms and welfare benefits, he lobbed a political grenade as talk drifted to the state budget.

Republicans are tired of putting in the hours to present an alternative budget, only to be ignored by the majority Democrats, he explained. So this time, they wont bother.

We have done a budget for seven years in a row. And every time we do a budget, we never get in a room. No matter what our budget says or does, they find something they dont like and they blow it up, said Fasano, who represents North Haven, East Haven, Wallingford and Durham. They dont take any of our ideas. We put out 100 ideas. They find one they dont like and say oh, forget it. 

Even Gov. Dannel P. Malloy calls the charming Fasano a good guy. But Fasano is clearly weary of playing Bill Murrays role in the Hartford version of Groundhog Day, and cant resist snark. He used phrases such as These guys are delusional. Even he seemed surprised when they are cowards spilled over his lips. Then he repeated it.

Theyre cowards. They dont really believe what they believe in.

As his words became more charged, Fasanos voice remained steady. When he envisioned a scenario of Republicans actually participating in budget talks, he started tapping the table with his index finger in what sounded like Morse code.

If they want to get together and have budget negotiations, well be in that room in a heartbeat and say heres what you do, but its going to be under our terms.

Were going to start with structural changes. Thats the first thing 

Tap, tap, tap.

If they dont want to start (with structural change), fool me once shame on me, fool me twice, its not gonna happen.

The taps sped up, then faded as he confessed to getting on his soapbox in calling for a spending cap and accountability in contracts, pensions and overtime.

In his own meeting with Hearst editors Wednesday, Malloy responded to Fasanos comments by saying he wished the Republicans had avoided pitching their budget last spring, Because if they had reached that conclusion we would have had my budget and not the one we ended up with.

I asked the governor if its healthy to trim an alternative from the process.

Its very healthy if they dont recreate that mess, he fired back.

If Fasano likes my budget, is he going to vote for it? Malloy asked. (The Republicans) havent voted for a budget in . . . a very long time.

As Republican Sen. Scott Frantz drove back to Greenwich from the Capitol the next day, I asked what he thought about skipping a GOP budget.

Whatever hard work we put into an alternative budget is laughed out of the room, Frantz said.

Frantz called the month of work that goes into an alternative document  representing some thousand hours of staff time  excruciating. As Frantz discussed pension problems and the ominous state economy, I recalled his past warnings of pending economic doom. He was apparently thinking the same thing.

This is my eighth year singing the same tune, he said.

Then he belted out a few of his favorite choruses: that Connecticuts wealthiest are fleeing the states oppressive taxes for Florida; that the day is coming when the states bond rating will take a lethal blow.

On some of these points, Malloy sings a counter melody. People simply move to warmer climes when they age, he said, referencing his own mothers decision years ago. When it comes to the urgency of Connecticuts crisis, Frantz and Malloy harmonize. I never anticipated a day when a Republican Party leader would sound like a Democrat and Malloy would sound like Frantz. Frantz heard echoes of a different Republican while Malloy was delivering his state of the state address a few weeks ago.

(He) sounded like Ronald Reagan up there, Frantz said. Senate Republicans were up front on their feet clapping. It seemed like he had finally come to the realization we are in serious trouble in the state. It is that dire.

Fasano isnt the only Republican to use they to reference Democrats. Dems do the same thing when talking about minority Republicans. When the governor summons the pronoun, he uses it to chastise both parties for failing to create fiscally workable solutions.

They pitch fantasy cuts. The Democrats pitch cuts that arent really cuts and the Republicans say you should find the money elsewhere, he said.

Malloy busted out an impersonation of members of the GOP: We want cuts, but we dont want that cut, we want cuts, but pull it out of thin air.

Its hard not to sense surrender in a decision to skip a GOP budget. Voters deserve better from both parties. State Rep. William Tong, a Malloy ally who represents Stamford and Darien, dismissed accusations that Republicans are ignored, and opted to interpret Fasanos response to mean the parties are landing on common ground. Republicans have a large role to play in the process, he insisted.

Fasano was clear in his motives, but Malloy offered an alternative read as well: I think what you heard Len saying is hed rather I do the hard work.

The governor expressed fear there is a paralysis among legislators in the face of Connecticuts death throes. He also suggested there is hope lawmakers are finally reaching a state of acceptance, along the lines of Elisabeth Kubler-Rosss five stages of grief.

Perhaps acceptance can be reached. Lawmakers have certainly expressed denial, anger and depression about Connecticut. Bargaining remains elusive.

The problem with this outlook, of course, is that the patient still dies.

John Breunig is editorial page editor of The Advocate and Greenwich Time. John.breunig@scni.com; 203-964-2281; twitter.com/johnbreunig.
T he Irish actor who played foul-mouthed Father Jack in the much-loved sitcom Father Ted has died.

Frank Kelly, 77, spent 60 years on screen and stage but was best-known for his role as the hard-drinking priest.

His death was announced on the 18th anniversary of the death of his Father Ted co-star Dermot Morgan, who died from a heart attack aged 45.

Series writer Graham Linehan tweeted: "Just hearing from various sources that Frank Kelly has passed away.

"Terribly sad news. Thanks for everything."

Kelly revealed last November that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, although he said he would continue to work.

As well as appearing on the Channel 4 sitcom, he had more recent roles in Emmerdale and Mrs Brown's Boys D'Movie.

But he is best known for his role playing the irreverent and foul-mouthed priest Father Jack in a comedy which lampooned Irish Catholicism and proved a massive hit with viewers.

Morgan's son Don tweeted about the coincidence of the date of his co-star's death.

"Isn't life just weird? Frank Kelly going on Dad's anniversary."

The programme about three priests and their housekeeper living on the fictional Craggy Island, somewhere off Ireland's west coast, attracted huge audiences in Ireland, Britain and abroad.

It aired over three series between 1995 and 1998 and won a string of Bafta awards.

Father Jack Hackett was an alcoholic and at times violent clergyman who made no attempt to mask his contempt for his fellow priests.

One of his defining quotes was "Drink! Feck! Arse! Girls!"

Father Ted Crilly, Father Dougal McGuire and Mrs Doyle were shown to be generally tolerant of his drunken antics.
F ive people have been seriously injured after jumping from windows and climbing down drainpipes to escape a huge house fire in south London.

Residents were forced to leap to safety after the inferno broke out in Northlands Street, close to Kings College Hospital in Denmark Hill, shortly before 4.30am on Sunday.

Two men jumped from a second floor flat in the converted terrace and suffered serious pelvic, spinal and leg injuries, the London Fire Brigade said.

Another man who was also on the second floor was injured after fleeing down a drainpipe.

Two men and a woman also climbed out of a first-floor window and another man suffered smoke inhalation and burns to his hands and feet after fleeing on foot.

Of the seven people who fled, five were said to be seriously injured by a spokesman for Scotland Yard. They were being treated in hospital where they were all said to be stable.

A further 28 people were evacuated from nearby homes.

Police said the fire was being treated as arson and a man in his 40s has been arrested.

The fire brigade said 100 per cent of the ground floor was ablaze and 50 per cent of the first and second floors.

Six fire engines were called to the scene and fire crews battled for more than four hours before the blaze was brought under control at about 8.50am.
A police dog handler today told how his canine companion jumped from a car to assist him as he tried to arrest an allegedly armed suspect.

German shepherd PD Eva barked as she rushed towards the man while the two police officers were attempting to detain him.

Her handler Pc Dave Walters said: Without her the consequences could have been devastating.

The 37-year-old police officer of 10 years and his partner Pc Dave Cookson were on patrol in Brent on January 5. Shortly before 4pm they encountered a suspicious vehicle, which they approached to investigate.

After the driver stopped, Pc Walters put PD Eva in the back seats of his car but wound down the window before shutting the door.

I was searching outside while Pc Cookson was taking a look at the interior of the vehicle, he said.

We were trying to handcuff the guy. Seeing us struggle, PD Eva dived from the car completely uncommanded and charged at the suspect.

Companions: Pc Dave Walters with PD Eva / Pc Dave Walters

She jumped at his chest and threw the man off balance, which Pc Walters said gave the officers the chance to detain him. A knife was later said to have been discovered at the scene.

The reason we were able to arrest him was because of Eva.

Were lucky that Eva leaped from the car.

Without her the consequences could have been devastating.

The three-year-old German shepherd joined the Met at eight weeks old and has been in active service for 18 months.

According to Pc Walters her actions were a textbook example of what police dogs are taught to do in such circumstances.

He added: Its nice to know shes got my protection at the forefront of her mind.

A 28-year-old man was arrested in connection with the incident on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A drugs and possession of an offensive weapon. He has been bailed to return to a police station on March 4.
A man was reportedly stabbed in a mass brawl close to a car boot sale in west London.

Police said they were called to a large fight between people armed with knives and other weapons in Staines Road, Hounslow, at about 7am on Sunday.

The fight reportedly broke out after a man was hit by a van close to the entrance of Hounslow Heath car boot sale, which is in Staines Road.

Scotland Yard said the group believed to be involved in the fight had left before officers arrived on the scene.

Staines Road was sealed off and the market was shut down by police as they searched the area. The road remained closed at about 12.45pm.

One man was in hospital with a stab wound and another serious arm injury, police said. The pedestrian was being treated for leg injuries.

Three men have been arrested on suspicion of violent disorder.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A London PA used her companys credit card to spend over 250,000, including a 17,000 shopping spree at budget store Costco.

Jean Tugwete, 41, falsified statements to hide spending on flights, a 9,000 convertible Peugeot 307 and televisions.

She also spent 16,000 at House of Fraser, 17,000 at Costco and 4,500 on a corner sofa at DFS.

After her colleagues became suspicious, she was arrested at Heathrow airport as she returned from a family trip to Kenya.

Detectives from the City of London Police Fraud Squad found Tugwete, from Colchester, had been using companys credit card for three years, defrauding them of 264,274 between April 2012 and last February, while based at their London HQ.

Police discovered Tugwete had been amending the statements, disguising the transactions as plausible business expenses on things like hotel stays, train fares or conference facilities.

She was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison at the Old Bailey on Friday after admitting fraud by false representation and false accounting.

Detective Sergeant Simon Russen, from the City of London Polices Fraud Squad said: Tugwete completely abused her position of trust within the company for her personal gain.

She thought that she could get away with stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds, but she was caught and now she faces a lengthy time behind bars for what she has done.
A central London nightclub was evacuated after reports of gun being fired in the early hours of Sunday.

Revellers were cleared from the The V Club after police received a report of a shot fired at the venue in Farringdon Road at about 3.40am on Sunday, Scotland Yard said.

Officers sealed off the road for about an hour as they searched the area.

However, the Met said no evidence of a gunshot was found and nobody had any injuries.

A Met spokesman added that the club had been due to close 20 minutes later at 4am.

The nightclub has been approached for a comment.
P rotests have broken out in Salt Lake City after a 16-year-old boy was allegedly shot by police while carrying a broomstick.

Local media reported the shooting happened at around 8.15pm last night near a homeless shelter in the Utah capital.

In a tweet yesterday evening, Salt Lake City police said officers were on their way to an unrelated call when they were told of an assault taking place nearby.

Detective Greg Wilking told the Salt Lake Tribune that "shots were fired", with the force later saying one officer, and possibly a second one, were involved in the shooting.

Witness Selam Mohammad, a friend of the boy, told the paper the alleged victim was holding part of a broomstick when police confronted him.

He said police told him to put down the broomstick once and then "started shooting him as soon as he turned around."

Mr Mohammad claimed the boy was hit in the chest and stomach and then taken to hospital.

City police were helped by officers from three other departments as onlookers threw rocks at officers and yelled obscenities, the Tribune said.

The Unified Police Department has launched an investigation into the shooting.
N urse Pauline Cafferkey has been discharged from a London hospital where she was being treated for the third time since contracting Ebola.

The Scottish 40-year-old was flown to the Royal Free Hospital last week due to a complication related to her previous infection.

A spokesman for the Royal Free confirmed she had been discharged today and that she was not infectious.

He added: The Ebola virus can only be transmitted by direct contact with the blood or bodily fluids of an infected person while they are symptomatic.

Ms Cafferkey was originally infected with the virus while working at the Save the Children treatment centre in Kerry Town, Sierra Leone, in December 2014.

She spent almost a month in an isolation unit at the Royal Free Hospital and was released after making a full recovery.

However, she fell ill again in October last year and was again treated at the Royal Free for meningitis caused by Ebola.
W ithout a soul in sight, this is London at its most deserted.

These incredible images by photographer Genaro Bardy show some of the capitals most iconic locations when completely free from cars and people.

The eerie scenes around landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and Tower Bridge may appear to be the results of a crafty Photoshop editing session.

But they were actually captured in the flesh by Mr Bardy as he spent an entire night wandering the city at the quietest time of year  the early hours of Christmas morning.

Deserted: Christmas decorations hang over Regent Street / Genaro Bardy

He had the streets of central London virtually to himself as he walked for more than 12 miles taking long-exposure photos from 11pm on Christmas Eve until 6.30am the next day.

The French snapper, 39, told the Standard: "It was pretty magical. For most of the night there were some people or cars, but between 4.30am and 6am, when I was around Trafalgar Square and Regent Street, I was really alone.

"Its an incredible feeling to be alone like that in central London."

The collection is dubbed Desert in London and is the second in a series, after he photographed his home city of Paris at the same time the previous year.

He added: "I dont have a family to celebrate Christmas with and before I used to just watch TV, so I'm happy to do this now.

Favourite shot: Genaro Bardy was very happy with this photo of Northumberland Avenue / Genaro Bardy

"It's my way of celebrating Christmas doing something that I love."

Mr Bardy came up with the idea after taking pictures of New York's empty streets during a curfew when Hurricane Irene hit in 2011.

His long exposure technique brings vibrant colours to the late-night photos but makes it especially difficult to secure each shot.

The camera's shutter is open for about half a minute during which no cars or people can intrude, or it will spoil the photo.

While these pictures of London were taken over a single night, he spent a week in the city scouting locations and preparing his shots beforehand.

Barren: Leicester Square is usually bustling with crowds / Genaro Bardy

Then on Christmas Eve 2015 he wrapped up warm, packed food and drink supplies, and embarked on his long and lonely night.

Mr Bardy said he completed the project on foot because he couldn't work a Boris bike.

Fortunately, after a wet week beforehand it did not rain on the night, although Mr Bardy insists he would have toughed it out whatever the weather.

He said he was very happy with the results, particularly the photos of Tower Bridge and Nothumberland Avenue, one of the least well-known locations in the collection.

"I love this shot, I couldnt say why exactly," he said.

The photographer went professional two years ago after a career in communications and events. He takes travel photographs for a living, but this is a personal project funded in part by donations to a Kickstarter campaign.

After photographing Paris and London at Christmas, he hopes to go back to New York to continue the project during Thanksgiving, with Tokyo and Mumbai among other possible destinations.

Mr Bardy is set to exhibit his work at the Photographes du Monde gallery in Paris in mid-April.

The Kickstarter campaign is supporting his plans for a further exhibition in London and to publish books of the photos.

Click here to find out more.
A n east London borough is the most eurosceptic part of the country, according to analysis by pollsters YouGov.

The company has crunched data from its profiles of 80,000 British people ahead of the EU referendum and has reached the conclusion that support for the Out camp is highest in Havering.

In contrast, the boroughs of Lambeth, Camden, Southwark, Hackney and Brent are all in the top 10 areas of Britain for Europhiles, the analysis claimed.

YouGov made its calculations based on the average net support for leaving the EU in each region it had enough profile data for.

Top 10 Eurosceptic areas 1. Havering 2. Peterborough 3. Bracknell Forest 4. Blackpool 5. Blackburn with Darwen 6. Southend on Sea 7. Warrington 8. South Tyneside 9. Sandwell 10. Cumbria

Last month, Havering council became the first local authority in the country to vote to leave the EU, during a symbolic debate at its town hall.

In a statement on its website, YouGov said: The euroscepticism of various areas partly correlates with lower income but euroscepticism also has strongholds in the more wealthy, Tory shires.

TODO: define component type apester

YouGov, which has put together an interactive map of its findings, said support for remaining in the EU is almost always concentrated in smaller, urban areas.

The EU referendum will be held on Thursday, June 23.
A major train south east London train line into Charing Cross was blocked this evening after a man was hit by a train.

Police and paramedics were called to Mottingham rail station at 6.12pm after reports a person had been hit by a Sidcup to Charing Cross service.

A spokesman for the British Transport Police said: Medics from the London Ambulance Service also attended and the male was medically treated at the scene prior to being taken to a local hospital.

Police were unable to confirm the mans condition but said the incident was under investigation.

Southeastern trains between London Charing Cross and Sidcup were either cancelled or terminated at Hither Green following the incident.


F acebooks new dislike button will trigger a wave of bullying on social media, model Cara Delevingne has warned.

The social media giants creator Mark Zuckerburg has hinted the site is planning on introducing the dislike button alongside its thumbs-up like option.

But Miss Delevingne, who has 27.5 million followers on Instagram, 4.9 million on Twitter, and 3.6 million on Facebook, said she had serious concerns

She told the Sunday Times Style magazine: "If you can go around disliking someone's pictures, that is going to set off a whole new wave of bullying.

TODO: define component type apester

"These companies are making so much money, they just want the new thing.

"If it's something that is going to cause people harm, I really think we should steer against that. 'Like' away - but if you have a bad thought about someone, keep it to yourself."

The "dislike" button is one of the most requested additions Facebook users have asked for over many years.
A man in India murdered 14 members of his family with a butchers knife, including seven children, before killing himself, police say.

Accountant Hasnin Warekar, 35, reportedly laced his family's food with sedatives before slitting their throats in the early hours of Sunday in Thane, on the outskirts of Mumbai.

Neighbours were alerted by the screams of his 21-year-old sister, who was the sole survivor of the horrific attack.

A Thane police spokesman said: The attacker, Hasnin Anwar Warekar, hung himself after slitting the throats of all other family members including his parents.

He added: We still haven't been able to speak with the attacker's 21-year-old sister, the lone survivor of the attack, who is in deep trauma at a city hospital.

Warekar is believed to have carried out the murders shortly after midnight after a family gathering on Saturday evening.

Police said his motive was unclear, although local media claimed a family dispute over property was behind the attacks.

Ashutosh Dumbre, joint commissioner of Thane police, told the Indian Express newspaper: Prima facie evidence suggests that the accused bolted all the doors of the house and murdered his family while they were asleep with a knife that we found near his body.

The bodies have been sent to a Thane hospital for post-mortem examinations.
TORRINGTON, Wyoming -- The big news, though no real surprise, at the annual Goshen Irrigation District meeting was the announcement that there will be a full irrigation season. According to GID Board Chairman, Bob Coxbill, the Bureau of Reclamation office in Mills, Wyo., expects the North Platte River reservoir system will provide 1.6 million acre feet for the 2016 season, well above the 1.1 a-f necessary to meet needs of Wyoming irrigators.

They tell us that even with no runoff, well still have a good supply, Coxbill said, following a discussion on the lack of snow in the Rocky Mountains this winter. He noted that there are still two months in which to accumulate a large snowpack.

There has been some concern about the years irrigation supply since the 2016 snow report has been declining. According to the NRCS Snow Surveys, the snow water equivalent on the North Platte has fallen from 99 percent on Feb. 8, to 92 on Feb. 22. The Lower Platte was 98 percent compared to 116 percent on Feb. 8.

Another good news item was the financial situation for the Stoney Gate renovation on the dam at Guernsey Reservoir. Coxbill said the district has assessed itself more than it is likely to owe as its share of the upgrade. He explained that the Wyoming Water Development Corporation will pick up about two-thirds of the costs levied on Wyoming districts.

To help insure that GID could meet its financial obligation for the project, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation had also signed a 1 percent loan contract in case the local district would come up short.

All irrigation districts, Wyoming and Nebraska, that get water from the North Platte River project, are sharing the cost of the gate repairs. The repairs are necessary to keep the 89 year old facility operating safely. Coxbill said some Nebraska districts are assessing about $30/acre to meet their obligations, while GID has levied a $10/acre fee. The WWDC money makes up the difference, he said.

Coxbill is concerned that the federal pressure on Wyoming coal mines will have a negative impact on water projects. The coal industry pays hefty taxes that help support agencies such as the WWDC, and federal mandates on clean power are shutting down mines.

Wrapping up the evening, Brad Helzer, the lead man on the GID work crew, was recognized for his 33 years of service to the District. He received a jacket and plaque upon his retirement.
Nebraska Extension and Beef Quality Assurance will be offering a BQA Certification and Veterinary Feed Directive Informational Meeting for beef producers March 10 in Kimball, in addition to several other Nebraska locations. The Kimball meeting will take place from 7-9 p.m. at the fairgrounds, in the 4-H Building at 415 South High School St.

Rob Eirich, Nebraska BQA director, and local Nebraska Extension Beef Educators will present BQA Best Management Practices, Animal Health Stewardship and the new Veterinary Feed Directive. Beef cattle producers are committed to producing a quality, wholesome and safe beef product for consumers. These meetings will update producers on implementing BQA practices and help prepare them for the VFD Regulations beginning January 2017.

All producers are invited to attend these free meetings. The meetings will also be a Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Certification for those producers needing certification or recertification. There is a $20 fee for those wanting to become BQA certified/recertified, which is good for a two year time period.

Additional meetings and locations are also being planned throughout Nebraska. Date, times and locations will be advertised.

For more information contact your local Nebraska Extension Beef Educator or Rob Eirich, Nebraska Director of Beef Quality Assurance at 308-632-1230 or reirich2@unl.edu.

other Nebraska locations.
Last week, President Obama sent Congress his proposal to close the terrorist detention center at Guantanamo Bay, which would move radical Islamist terrorists from Guantanamo Bay to South Carolina or other locations on U.S. soil.

Unfortunately, we shouldn't be surprised by President Obama's plan. This is a president who has never acknowledged the threat of radical Islamist terrorists. His policies regarding Iran, Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan, and Syria illustrate either inept understanding of the intentions of Americas adversaries, or worse, a very misguided view of evil and how it should be addressed.

President Obama has released Guantanamo detainees who have returned to their terrorist organizations to continue jihad. In fact, on the very day he proposed his plan to Congress, a former Guantanamo detainee was arrested in Spain for plotting terrorist attacks. Could there be a more stark contrast of the reality of the threats we face and the naivete of President Obamas approach to these threats?

Although the former detainees name has been withheld and we therefore cant know under which administration he was released, the lesson is the same - prisoners at Guantanamo Bay should stay at Guantanamo Bay.

Terrorists held at Guantanamo Bay are not common criminals who violate federal law. Rather, they are enemy combatants who committed acts of war against the United States.

Moreover, the United States has provided these terrorists cable TV, culturally appropriate meals, excellent medical treatment, and a host of additional privileges. We are providing exceptional comfort to jihadists committed to our destruction.

Transferring Guantanamo detainees to U.S. soil is already against the law, but to ensure the terrorists at Guantanamo stay there, I am co-sponsor of the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay Protection Act (H.R. 654), which would block President Obama from modifying or terminating the Guantanamo Bay lease agreement with the government of Cuba without Congressional approval.

As chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, keeping Americans safe will always be one of my top priorities. Moving these terrorists to South Carolina or elsewhere in the United States would achieve the opposite effect. President Obamas proposal only further demonstrates his soft, apologetic approach to these extremists, seeming to believe America is at fault for the terrorists acts of evil.

Last week in Washington

This week I voted in favor of the Sportsmens Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act (H.R. 2406), to eliminate restrictions on hunters, anglers, and recreational shooters using federal lands. The bill also included important 2nd Amendment protections. H.R. 2406 passed with a bipartisan majority.

On Thursday, I hosted a special U.S. Capitol reception in honor of Pastor Saeed Abedini, recently freed from Iran after being imprisoned for his Christian faith for more than three years. At the reception, Pastor Abedini personally thanked more than two dozen members of Congress who have worked with me since 2013 on efforts to secure Pastor Abedinis freedom.

On Friday, I was honored to meet with 150 students from Davidson Elementary in front of the Capitol building to answer questions and take pictures. If your school is planning a trip up to D.C., please reach out to my office at 202-225-1976 to arrange a similar educational opportunity for your students!
Hold onto your wallets. St. Louis. The convention consultants are back in town.

Their latest pitch is that we need to invest between $300 million and $500 million to upgrade and expand Americas Center. Chicago-based Johnson Consulting tells the Convention and Visitors Commission that it needs a bigger ballroom and a 50 percent increase in total meeting space. Renovations may even involve demolishing all or part of the domed stadium where the St. Louis Rams used to play.

The consultants say a major upgrade could buy us a 37 percent increase in convention business. If we do nothing, were doomed to a 14 percent decline.

If this sounds familiar, its because a different consultant made a similar argument back in 2000. If only we had a large headquarters hotel on Washington Avenue, a report said, St. Louis could expect an 85 percent increase in convention bookings within five years.

The surge in business didnt materialize, and in fact the convention center generates fewer room-nights for area hotels now (an average of 351,660 between 2011 and 2014) than it did in 1999 (434,486). The heavily subsidized headquarters hotel, now the Marriott Grand, went into foreclosure in 2009 and saddled bondholders with a big loss.

Are the new projections any more credible than the old ones? Heywood Sanders, a professor of public administration at the University of Texas San Antonio, has his doubts.

Sanders has a copy of a study done in the late 1980s, when St. Louis was contemplating adding the stadium that became the Edward Jones Dome. Like the 2000 study, it contemplated a big increase in convention attendance that never happened.

The problem was that other cities didnt stand still.

This business is overbuilt, says Sanders, who wrote a 2014 book called Convention Center Follies about the meeting-space race. You are competing in a national market in which every one of your competitors can do and is doing the same thing.

As the latest study points out, competing cities have continued to leapfrog St. Louis convention facilities. Nashville, Tenn., built a convention center in 2013. Denver expanded in 2004, Columbus, Ohio, in 2010, Indianapolis in 2011.

The Dome, built in 1995, is the newest part of Americas Center. Johnson Consulting says the complex is aging and in need of substantial capital improvements. New meeting halls elsewhere, it says, are snaring conventions that have outgrown St. Louis.

That part of the study rings true for Gary Andreas, a hotel analyst at H&H Financial in Chesterfield.

If St. Louis doesnt do something, they are going to sink down the food chain, he said. The pie out there isnt growing by leaps and bounds.

The convention business shrank during the recession and has begun growing modestly, but not fast enough to justify the building boom.

Sanders calculates that convention space nationwide has grown by 37 percent in the last 15 years. Even Las Vegas, he said, has had flat attendance despite doubling its convention hall in 2002.

So whats St. Louis to do? For starters, Sanders advises, be skeptical of the consultants projections. The story never changes, he says. Just build some more and youll get an increase in business. Why should we take it at face value in the face of this history of poor forecasting?

The aging Americas Center may indeed be due for some upgrades. A decision to spend $500 million, though, should be based on more than an optimistic consultants report.
Tony Messenger Tony Messenger is the metro columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow Tony Messenger 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

On Thursday, Michael Sandknop was happy.

Not the sort of happy that comes with winning two bucks on a lottery scratcher or finding a quarter in the couch cushion, but the kind of happy that rises up out of the gut and escapes in yelps of joy.

Sandknop is unemployed and has been that way since he was fired more than two years ago from his contract job working for the Missouri National Guards public affairs office. He lives in a run-down trailer tucked away in a neighborhood in the woods in Arnold. Hes lost his fiancee and his professional reputation. Hes been turned away by attorneys and reporters, who listened to his sad tale but told him that without the alleged Army Inspector General report that clears his name, there was nothing they could do.

On Thursday, Sandknop got a redacted version of that report.

It was attached to a letter signed by U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. The report vindicates Sandknop. The letter from the two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee demands answers from the Department of Defense.

Victory is sweet.

I was elated, Sandknop told me, when he received the letter and the report. My hell was coming to an end and theirs is just beginning.

Sandknop is still fighting for a full, unredacted version of the report. The Post-Dispatch has also filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the report. It has not been produced by either the National Guard Bureau nor the Department of Defense.

The investigation is the one referred to in a letter Sandknop received more than a year ago and that I reported on in December. It was spurred by Sandknops complaint to an inspector general in the Missouri Guard several days before he was fired. Sandknop was hired through a contractor  Maryland-based BPSI  to produce a monthly half-hour video program for the Guard. A retired Army Reservist, Sandknop had performed such video work for the military at a high level in both Kuwait and Iraq. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his video work in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Theres a lot left to guesswork in the heavily redacted version of the investigation that Sandknop now has, sent to him by McCaskills office. But this much is clear:

Sandknop should not have been fired. And even if there was some as-of-yet unrevealed justification for his firing, he was not offered the proper redress required in his contract. His rights were violated. The report faults his former supervisor, Maj. Tammy Spicer, a longtime veteran of the Missouri Guard, saying that directing the removal of the contract employees was negligent, and a direct reflection of the work environment and failure of the leadership of both Spicer and another officer. In the report, Spicer and the other officers names are redacted, but its clear from Sandknops emails and other records that Spicer is the supervisor in question. The report also refers to her as she; all of Sandknops other bosses were men.

The report allegedly makes several recommendations to the Guard, but those are all redacted.

A few months after Sandknop was fired, Spicer left her longtime employment in the Missouri Guard to take a job in Florida working for the Immigration and Customs Service. She is now in the Florida National Guard and has been promoted to lieutenant colonel.

She has refused to answer Post-Dispatch questions related to Sandknops complaint.

So what now for Sandknop?

I want to be made whole, he said. Im not sure what form that takes. The Guard had a moral and legal obligation to discipline their officers and uphold my rights. They made no effort to do either, and spent a lot of effort covering it all up.

Unfortunately for Sandknop, McCaskills office isnt sure what remedy he has because officially, the contractor fired him (at the Guards request) and BPSI is no longer in business. Sandknop is pressing a defamation lawsuit against Gov. Jay Nixon and the Missouri Guards Adjutant General, Stephen Danner, but hes doing so without legal representation and that avenue for justice remains a long shot.

The best chance for some form of justice may well be the ongoing investigation by the Senate Judiciary Committee. As the McCaskill-Grassley letter indicates, that committee is concerned that the Department of Defense has been mishandling whistleblower complaints from contractors.

The DODs own records indicate it might have a problem.

Between 2013 and 2015 there were 295 whistleblower complaints from military contractors complaining about reprisal similar to what Sandknop endured.

Only one of those complaints has been found to be substantiated.

Further, a 2012 General Accounting Office report took the DOD to task for failing to properly track action taken to undo the reprisal damage done to whistleblowers.

Michael Sandknop is now Exhibit A in the Senate Judiciary Committees ongoing whistleblower investigation. His story has been validated. Justice awaits.
When a country like Syria steadily disintegrates amid more than four years of unrestrained daily bloodshed, its easy for outsiders attention to wane. One days horrific car bombings and atrocities start to look just like those from the day before. Readers in St. Louis and across the country can be forgiven if it seems like one big, unsolvable mess.

But its worth paying attention to efforts by Secretary of State John Kerry to channel the fighting in a new direction through a partial cease-fire accord. Be forewarned, this accord, which went into effect on Saturday, is almost certain to be violated by its signatories. It could collapse altogether, given the depressing trajectory of previously unsuccessful peace efforts.

So what makes this one different? First of all, it was brokered by both the United States and Russia, two governments whose military support to opposing sides in the war has fueled the fighting. Russia insists that Syrian President Bashar Assad be allowed to retain dictatorial rule. Washington has demanded that Assad step down unconditionally.

The two sides appear to have set that disagreement aside for now, which has enabled Russia and Assads government to sign on to a limited cease-fire arrangement.

Another huge step forward is the agreement by Western-allied rebels and Assads government to stop attacking each other. The only combatant groups left out of the accord are the Islamic State and the Nusra Front, which is allied with al-Qaida.

Instead of wasting their energies fighting each other, the signatories to this agreement now can turn their guns on the real enemy: the Muslim radicals whose kidnappings and mass killings have wrought upheaval and imposed the harshest form of Islamic rule in the parts of Syria and Iraq under their control.

Americans must care because of the destabilizing effects the war is having elsewhere, including the refugee crisis in Europe. U.S. ground troops and air support are being drawn increasingly into this fight, and the Pentagon says more U.S. support could be needed. American airstrikes and ground troops also are helping fend off advances by Islamic State and allied radical groups in Libya and Nigeria.

Its a choice between containing brush fires or yielding to a conflagration that threatens the entire Muslim world.

Persistent Iraqi and U.S. efforts have uprooted Islamic State fighters from strongholds in key Iraqi cities outside Baghdad. Islamic State continues to control the northern oil capital of Mosul.

But reports from Iraq and Syria indicate that Islamic State administrators are having trouble paying bills. Government workers and fighters under the groups control are going unpaid. Budgets are being sliced back.

The goal must be to disrupt the Islamic States operations and put fighters on a defensive footing. The Syrian cease-fire accord is one more crucial step toward reaching this bigger objective.
The problem with North Korean officials fleeing to China has gotten worse in an embarrassingly obvious way. In January 2016 rumors began to surface in northeast China of a small team (it turned out to be three people) of North Korean secret police trying to discreetly find and bring back three senior North Korean officials who had fled to China. Actually, one of the three was working in China when he disappeared. Apparently the North Korean government wanted to keep this incident quiet but the three men the agents sought were known to some of the Koreans and Chinese questioned and that was eventually made the investigation too interesting to keep quiet about. It was also noticed that the three agents seemed increasingly desperate as time went by with no results. That was probably because North Korea, in fear of secret policemen defecting to China, only sends those who have something to lose (like wife, parents, children) back in North Korea. Moreover these agents are often told that failure is not an option. This has led to some agents fabricating evidence to satisfy their bosses back home. If that led to innocents being punished, so what. Getting away with that sort of things is what secret police do. China cooperates with all this as it has done for decades.

In mid-2015 China allowed North Korea to expand the use of North Korea secret police in China as long as these agents spoke fluent Chinese and wore Chinese police uniforms and tried to act Chinese. By the end of 2015 there were believed to be over a hundred of these agents in China looking for North Korean illegally in China. When such people are found Chinese police must be called in to make the arrests and then send the escapees back to North Korea for punishment. The North Korean agents are also expected to report anything of interest (to local police or intelligence) to China and to behave themselves. In return these North Korean agents are allowed to go anywhere in China, which allows the agents to pursue North Koreans travelling south to get to an South Korean embassy in Southeast Asia when enables the one to ask for asylum and be moved to South Korea.

Apparently the three defecting North Korean officials have still not been found. The three were probably involved in some corrupt deal that was in danger of being found out. For senior officials the punishment for this sort of thing is death. Another possibility is that China is only cooperating here in the hopes of being contacted by the defectors with an offer of much insider information in return for protection. If such a deal were made it would be done so quietly.

Another response to the disappearance of senior officials are new rules requiring senior officials (about 200 people) to report their locations on an hourly basis and submit reports on daily activities. The secret police monitor this data for suspicious behavior and act accordingly. Suspicious activities include corruption, defecting, working for foreigners or plotting to overthrow the government. Not reporting on these activities by other officials is also an offense. In addition all government officials must now have approval from the secret police before speaking with any foreigner. Violating this rule will be punished with loss of employment or worse (imprisonment or execution).

Over the last few years loyalty has become an obsession with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. But his secret police report that disloyalty continues to increase at all levels. The government has ordered more loyalty lectures for all North Koreans but secret police informants note that these additional mandatory lectures make people angry and decrease loyalty to the government. The recent atomic bomb and long range missile tests were meant to increase pride in North Korea and loyalty to the government. That did not happen and most North Koreans are more concerned about getting more food and fuel (for warmth, transportation and electrical power). What most North Koreans really want the government cant deliver. And the threat of new economic sanctions means less food and fuel.

China Changes Sides

A major worry for North Korea recently China agreeing increase economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea. This includes no more sales of aviation fuel. Other petroleum products will be sold. China stopped gifts of oil back in 2013. China is also reducing some North Korean imports, like coal. North Korea also gets half its food imports from China. There is also the threat of interfering with smugglers getting forbidden goods into North Korea. This includes large quantities of luxury goods to keep senior officials loyal and the Kim clan comfortable. North Korea will now be looking for illegal aviation fuel as well. While Russian smugglers can supply whatever China blocks, it costs more and takes longer to route smuggled goods through Russia. In part this is because Russia is also under a growing list of sanctions. Then again this makes Russia more willing to tolerate smuggling into North Korea.

China is also cracking down on North Korean use of Chinese banks. China has long tolerated North Korea using Chinese banks to avoid a growing list of international sanctions. In northeast China, where a lot of this illegal banking takes place, North Korean bank accounts are being emptied. Some of the cash is being switched to accounts owned by locals who have no obvious connection to North Korea. But a lot of the cash is staying cash and despite the risk of theft or getting caught by the Chinese police, North Korea is preparing to use cash transactions despite China now enforcing banking sanctions.

The fact that China is openly agreeing to actually enforce more sanctions has long been a worst-case scenario for North Korea. China long refused to back the strict UN sanctions on North Korea believing it could persuade North Korea to behave and fix its economy and foreign relations. The United States has been increasingly public in its criticism of the Chinese approach. Since 2015 China has, with little fanfare, been agreeing with the Americans. This included more public criticism, via state controlled media, of the North Korean leadership. China quietly cracked down on some of the illegal trade with North Korea resulting in overall trade declining 15 percent in 2015. That did not seem to have any impact on North Korean behavior. Then in late 2015 China announced that if North Korea continued work on its nuclear and ballistic weapons programs North Korea could no longer depend on support from China if North Korea got involved in a war. To emphasize that point China quietly increased cargo checks and border security on the North Korean border with an emphasis on stopping the North Korean smuggling of weapons and technology that is normally tolerated. North Korea may be able to ignore Chinese criticism but they cannot ignore the special kinds of economic pain China can inflict. So far in 2016 North Korea has responded with another nuclear test and another long range ballistic missile test. There are limits to what can be done. China could cut off all trade, which would cause a major economic crisis in North Korea and China would have to clean up the mess if there were a political collapse in North Korea. Chinese trade is essential for North Korea. While that trade only amounts to about five billion dollars a year, it is over 80 percent of North Korean foreign trade.

North Korea apparently fears that the only option the Chinese have left is to take over North Korea via a coup or outright invasion. Both options are expensive, embarrassing and risky. China and North Korea are both socialist police states and they go way back as allies. It would be embarrassing to the Chinese government to take over its socialist brother and that will be avoided until the North Korean nukes become a more immediate threat to China. The Chinese also advise Americans, and Westerners in general, to take into account that with China now unfriendly, North Korea has no useful foreign allies. There are countries like Iran and Cuba but there are not very useful. North Korea is still obsessed with the United States and China long believed that when the North Korean leadership got desperate enough they would be willing to do a real (enforceable) nuclear disarmament deal with America. Unfortunately China now seems to side with the U.S. and is seeking a unilateral solution.

South Korean Suspicions

As a side effect of the North Korean mess the United States has changed its attitude towards South Korean missiles defense, now saying there is no need to hurry the deployment of THAAD to South Korea. Because of the latest North Korean nuclear and ballistic missile tests South Korea sped up its efforts to obtain and put into service the American THAAD anti-missile system. China, Russia and North Korea have long opposed THAAD. South Korea wants THAAD for protection from North Korean missile attack and always resisted Chinese objections, even when China hinted that failure to drop THAAD might result in less trade with China. That was a signal to South Korean voters to carefully consider the cost of defying China. The Chinese will not come right out and say it but they object mainly because THAAD would also make South Korea less vulnerable to intimidation by Chinese ballistic missiles. South Korean voters understand that so the economic threats are having less impact that China expected. South Korean public opinion polls show voters are even more enthusiastic about the high tech and very expensive (over $100 million per launcher and associated equipment) THAAD system now that North Korea has launched another ballistic missile. Chinese leaders, as South Korea has long feared, made a deal with the Americans to back sanctions in return for delay or cancellation of the THAAD sale to South Korea. The Americans have denied this and China has openly said it still objects to THAAD but agrees that South Korea has the right to do what it considers best to defend itself against North Korea. South Koreans wont feel better about this until THAAD arrives and is operational. That will still take a few years, without any new delays.

Much to the relief of China and disappointment in Russia American military commanders in the Pacific have gone on record that the United States considers North Korea, not China, the biggest military threat in the region. Russia comes second overall but China is second in the Pacific. China considers the United States a more immediate threat than North Korea which, no matter what it does, is still a miniscule military threat to China. Other nations bordering the South China Sea are more concerned about the Chinese threat and look to the United States for help.

February 24, 2016: China and the United States agreed on new sanctions against North Korea. This agreement was the result of meetings and negotiations that began shortly after the January 6th North Korean nuclear test. In the past China has made a show of reluctantly going along with more sanctions on North Korea but this time China is making it clear that it is behind the latest round of sanctions and responsible for suggesting some of them. The message to North Korea is that China will not look the other way on any of these new sanctions, or most of the existing ones either.

February 17, 2016: Off the west coast a South Korean patrol boat fired warning shots at a North Korean patrol boat that had crossed the maritime boundary between the two countries. The North Korean boat quickly turned around and crossed back into North Korean waters. The North Korean government complained but that was all.

February 13, 2016: The U.S., Japan and South Korea agreed to expand the scope of the year old Trilateral Information Sharing Agreement. Just creating this deal took over a decade of effort. The agreement exists to better counter North Korean aggression. Creating, and expanding, this agreement was long believed impossible because of long-standing political obstacles to greater Japanese and South Korean cooperation. Despite the threat both countries faced from North Korea (and China) such cooperation has been impossible to achieve. Until 2014 South Korea turned down all Japanese proposals that both nations coordinate military policy against common enemies China and North Korea. Such cooperation is still very unpopular in South Korea because of continued anger over 40 years of brutal Japanese occupation early in the 20th century. This the Japanese consider self-destructive as it wallows in the past at the expense of dealing with current and future threats. Yet Japan continues to ignore the fact that its post-World War II policy (documented in decrypted Japanese diplomatic messages sent out right after the Japanese surrender in August 15, 1945) of claiming to be a victim in World War II and guilty only of trying to liberate all Asians from Western oppression is the obstacle. That Japan as victim view was never very popular with Japans neighbors, who saw Japan as no better (and often a lot worse) than Western imperialists. To the countries of East Asia Japan compounds these historical sins by continuing to insist that Japan is innocent of any wrongdoing. This made it difficult to unite to deal with threats from North Korea and China, but eventually both Japanese and South Koreans agreed to cooperate to protect their common interests.

February 12, 2016: Japan is imposing new sanctions on North Korea, including limiting money transfers (to $870) between Japan and North Korea. Japan will also ban all North Koreans from entering Japan. Exceptions can be made but they have to be negotiated. North Korean vessels can no longer dock at any Japanese port nor can any ships that have been to North Korea.

February 11, 2016: South Korea ordered South Korean firms to cease operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) because of the recent atomic bomb and long range missile tests. South Korea supplies the electricity and water to KIC and those were shut off today. South Korea noted that the North Korean government took 80 percent of the wages (about $150 a month) of North Koreans working at KIC and that money helped make possible continued work on nuclear weapons and long range missiles. Since 2005 the North Korea government has made at least half a billion dollars from the KIC. North Korea responded to the closing by seizing all South Korean property there. KIC was financed and run by over a hundred South Korean firms employing (at the closing) 50,000 North Koreans and about a thousand South Koreas. This closure appears final and the South Korean firms will lose half a billion dollars in equipment and facilities and about $200 million in inventories. The property and inventory now belongs to the North Korean government which is selling it off for whatever it can get. Resuming production at KIC is difficult because there is already a severe electricity shortage in North Korea and water supplies depend on electrical power. Over 100,000 North Koreans are now out of work (KIC staff plus local businesses). Despite the high government tax on their pay KIC workers were making more than the average North Korean and, more importantly, had dependable electricity and water supplies. There was also free medical care and all sorts of other fringe benefits. Thats all gone now and the North Koreans affected blame their government, not South Korea, for the loss. This is a major disappointment to the North Korean government, which now has lost $72 million a year in foreign currency plus the loyalty of several hundred thousand North Koreans who benefitted, directly or indirectly, from the KIC.

Similar tensions caused a five month closing in 2013. This cost the South Korean firms running KIC about a billion dollars and when KIC reopened it was running at only half its pre-closure rate. Many of the firms there have shut down completely. North Korea was demanding more money from the South Korean firms at Kaesong and caused more companies to leave. North Korea closed the facility to punish South Korea for trying to get the North Koreans to halt their nuclear weapons program. The northern leaders soon discovered that the foreign currency generated by Kaesong was sorely missed. Few of the senior people in North Korea know much about accounting or how the world economy works, but the cash shortage created by the Kaesong shutdown got their attention. This was seen as an opportunity by China who soon convinced the northern leadership to make up with South Korea and get Kaesong operating again. China also pointed out that Chinese firms in North Korea (especially mining operations) are major suppliers of foreign currency and that China could shut these down if North Korea does not become more cooperative.

February 10, 2016: 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.

February 3, 2016: General Ri Yong Gil, chief of staff of the North Korean army, was arrested yesterday at a major conference. He was later executed for corruption and conspiring against the government. His successor was announced several weeks later without any mention of his predecessor. This is normal up north in situations like this. There were reports in 2015 that Ri was one of the veteran generals complaining about the appointment of inexperienced (in military matters) civilians to general rank mainly because these men were considered more loyal to the Kim dynasty.
NASHVILLE, Tenn., Feb. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Meritor (NYSE: MTOR) is introducing a lighter weight, more efficient carrier platform designed for Class 6 and 7 applications at the Technology & Maintenance Council (TMC) 2016 Annual Meeting & Transportation Technology Exhibition. It will be available for OEM production starting in the second quarter of this year.

"With its power-dense design, the 13X is built to meet or exceed customer expectations for performance and durability," said Karl Mayer, director, Product Strategy, Axles, North America for Meritor. "While the 14X platform has served us well in these markets, we've listened to our OEM customers' requests for an axle that is lighter, more efficient and tailored to meet the needs of medium-duty applications."

Engineered for a variety of medium-duty applications, including pick-up and delivery, beverage, utility, school bus, construction and ambulance, the single, rear-drive 13X utilizes the best technologies of Meritor's proven 14X platform. Because the 13X includes the same housing, yokes and seals as the 14X, the new axle system will be familiar to fleet technicians.

Available in a wide variety of ratios from 3.90 to 6.50 and with gross axle weight ratings (GAWR) between 17,000 and 21,000 pounds, the 13X can be configured for most Class 6 and 7 specific applications and fleet needs. The 13X is offered with standard differentials and is compatible with air drum or hydraulic disc brakes as well as parking brakes. For limited application options that the 13X will not address, including ratios or driver-controlled differential locks (DCDL), the 14X single-axle platform will continue to be available.

About Meritor

Meritor, Inc. is a leading global supplier of drivetrain, mobility, braking and aftermarket solutions for commercial vehicle and industrial markets. With more than a 100-year legacy of providing innovative products that offer superior performance, efficiency and reliability, the company serves commercial truck, trailer, off-highway, defense, specialty and aftermarket customers around the world. Meritor is based in Troy, Mich., United States, and is made up of approximately 8,400 diverse employees who apply their knowledge and skills in manufacturing facilities, engineering centers, joint ventures, distribution centers and global offices in 18 countries. Meritor common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol MTOR. For important information, visit the company's website at www.meritor.com.

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110330/DE73783LOGO

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/meritor-announces-13x-drive-axle-for-medium-duty-class-6-and-7-applications-300227408.html

SOURCE Meritor, Inc.
DAYTON, Ohio, Feb. 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Does breaking news elect the president?

In a presidential election year, it's inevitable that big stories will have an impact on trending candidate talking points: think natural disasters, political standoffs in Congress, oil prices. When news breaks, candidates respond. Reporters also take the initiative to compare candidates' positions during breaking news events. These observations lead one to wonder: When it comes to trending topics, does reaction to mainstream media determine campaign talking points, or do the candidates and their defining Platforms prevail?

Recent LexisNexis Newsdesk data demonstrates trends in media-covered topics related to the seven current candidates. Here's a look:

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160226/338096

Four of the top eight campaign issues are relatively similar during the last three months of the campaign. Health care, energy & oil, and taxes dominate the political arena, covered in broadcast, print, online news, and talked about in social media, forums and comments on news articles. Immigration shows up fourth in the list of most-covered issues.

To sort out what peaks relate to breaking news, let's see what has affected these trends.

Most prominently during 2015, terrorism landed the top spot and then waned as time passed after the Paris attacks.

When President Obama signed his gun control measures executive action in January, this was a big chance for candidates to express their views on gun control.

Next, focus switched to health care as the House passed measures to repeal parts of the Affordable Care Act.

Last we can see a boost in immigration coverage after Pope Francis recently called out Donald Trump for his determination to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.

These things considered, do other trends emerge in the last hundred days? Breaking this data down into the separate parties can help us see more:

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160226/338098

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160226/338097

Different trends for sure. If we look past breaking news topics, Democratic candidates' coverage shows peaks in taxes and health care that don't appear in the Republican's graph. Looking at the Republican candidates' coverage, trends in immigration and energy & oil seem to appear. Both instances are fairly consistent with traditional party-line platforms.

And aside from the recent bump in immigration coverage, it does appear as though candidates spoke equally about those top 8 topics between February 8th and February 15th, a week when no debates were held (which are newsworthy events indeed). As the tight race progresses through primaries and caucuses, candidates may be looking for more ways to set themselves apart from the competition, and focusing on these lesser-covered issues gives undecided voters the chance to see minute differences that could guide their decisions on Election Day.

What's your take? Is all of this evidence that the candidates control their media coverage and the topics they find most important? Or does this data show that candidates are simply in reactive mode as they try to fight for their party's respective nominations?

Tweet us at @LexisNexisBiz and let us know. Find more insights on the intersection of media and the presidential election on the LexisNexis Biz Blog.

Data and information powered by LexisNexis Newsdesk.

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/the-big-influence-behind-candidate-talking-points-300227283.html

SOURCE LexisNexis
Migrants walk along Hungary's border fence on the Serbian side of the border near Morahalom, Hungary, February 22, 2016. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh

By Gergely Szakacs

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary's justice minister accused the EU on Friday of overstepping its mandate by seeking to impose migrant resettlement quotas on member states and said Budapest could hold its planned referendum on the issue in 150 days at the earliest.

Hungary has been at odds with the European Commission and some fellow EU countries over how to handle the influx of large numbers of migrants into the bloc. Prime Minister Viktor Orban proposed the referendum on Wednesday to see whether Hungarians accepted the quotas, which his right-wing government opposes.

"Our view is that the EU has no authority to order the mandatory settlement of people in any given country. The EU has no such jurisdiction," Justice Minister Laszlo Trocsanyi told a news conference.

Hungary believes the EU proposal represents a "creeping curtailment" of power, he said, adding that the referendum could be held at the earliest in 150 days' time and at the latest within 250 days, subject to a legal process.

To be valid, the vote will require at least half of Hungary's eligible voters to cast their ballot.

Trocsanyi said Hungary, which has clashed with EU authorities in the past over laws affecting the courts, the media and the central bank, was interested in a strong European Union consisting of strong, sovereign nation states.

He defended Hungary's planned vote on the grounds that Ireland, the Netherlands and Britain have held or will hold national referendums on EU-related matters.

But the EU Commission warned on Thursday that Hungary's referendum plan may clash with an agreed EU-wide strategy to handle the refugee crisis.

The United Nations refugee agency, which has criticized Hungary's handling of the migrant crisis in the past, expressed concern about Orban's referendum move.

"The announcement is a blow to efforts in implementing a common European approach to deal with the refugee crisis, based on cooperation, solidarity and responsibility sharing," it said in a statement.

"Asking the public to turn its back on the victims of extremism, war and persecution contradicts decisions jointly agreed upon by European Member States in 2015 and furthermore goes against the very values Europe was founded upon."

(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Gareth Jones)
By Sam Wilkin and Andrew Torchia

DUBAI (Reuters) - Gains by reformist candidates in Iranian elections open the way for changes to economic policy that will boost foreign investment and trade with the West, businessmen and analysts said on Sunday.

Friday's vote ended more than a decade of conservative domination of the legislature and the Assembly of Experts, a body that oversees the Islamic republic's supreme leader.

The outgoing parliament, filled with hardliners suspicious of detente with the West, had acted as a brake on President Hassan Rouhani's plans to strengthen the private sector, tackle corruption and welcome foreign investors.

Rouhani, the architect of last year's nuclear deal with world powers, is now expected to find it easier to push legislative reforms making the economy more attractive to foreign firms.

"In economic affairs the next parliament will be much better than the current parliament," said Saeed Leylaz, an economist who served as advisor to reformist former president Mohammad Khatami.

Iran faces deep problems including corruption, a shortage of investment and a lack of productivity, but "all these problems can be solved through liberalizing the economy," he said.

Iranian investment banker Ramin Rabii said he expected the new parliament to address issues crucial to the business sector such as updating the country's commercial code, modernizing labor laws and improving stock market regulation.

"If you have a parliament that is friendlier to the executive branch, things tend to move forward more easily," said Rabii, chief executive of investment group Turquoise Partners.

"When business-related regulations need to be passed, or joint venture agreements are signed with foreign partners and are scrutinized by parliament - it all goes more smoothly."

One early result of the elections could be to allow the government to offer new oil and gas contracts to foreign firms, a cornerstone of its plans to raise energy production after international sanctions on Tehran were lifted last month.

Iran had been scheduled to unveil the new contracts to international oil firms at a conference in London on Feb. 22-24. The conference was canceled earlier this month; oil executives blamed political feuding before the elections.

It is not clear if the election result could affect Iran's willingness to agree in talks with OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers on a proposed output freeze to prop up crude prices. But by giving the Rouhani administration a popular endorsement, the result appears likely to leave the administration with more domestic political freedom to sign a deal if it chooses.

Early election results on Sunday showed moderates and reformists dominating both elections in Tehran, and making significant gains elsewhere in the country. Full results are expected to be released in coming days.

REFORMS

The elections do not leave the Rouhani administration with a completely free hand on economic policy. Many powers will remain in the hands of conservatives; the Guardian Council, an unelected clerical body, has the power to vet all laws, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last word on all important matters of state.

Rouhani is in any case expected to move cautiously in politically sensitive areas such as freeing up the labor market, where highly restrictive rules, the legacy of Iran's revolutionary past, make it hard to lay off workers.

Nevertheless, analysts said the administration would face comparatively few restrictions on economic reforms, as hardliners concentrated their diminished political capital on defending social and cultural conservatism.

The election may have established that Rouhani's strongest mandate for change is in the economic sphere. Many pro-Rouhani voters interviewed by Reuters cited economic reform as one of their main reasons for supporting the president.

Beyond any specific reforms, Rouhani appears to have won an endorsement of the idea of opening Iran's economy to the outside world.

Before the elections, he faced sharp criticism from members of parliament for deals such as Iran's January agreement to buy 118 Airbus (NYSE: AIR) jets worth $27 billion at list prices, and a venture between Iran Khodro and France's Peugeot to build cars. That criticism is expected to diminish.

"We are going to see a more favorable attitude toward trade and commercial partnerships with the West, including with American companies," said Mehrdad Emadi, senior economist at the Betamatrix consultancy in London.

(Additional reporting by Samia Nakhoul in Tehran and Rania El Gamal in Dubai; editing by Anna Willard)
Meg Whitman, Chief Executive Officer of Hewlett-Packard gives an interview to CNBC on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange November 2, 2015. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

By Jonathan Allen

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Meg Whitman, the head of technology firm Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE: HPE), said on Sunday that Donald Trump was "unfit" for the U.S. presidency, and criticized New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, whose failed presidential bid she supported, for endorsing him.

But, later in the day, Trump picked up another high-profile endorsement, from U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, a leading conservative.

Trump's insurgent campaign has riven the Republican Party, with party leaders openly discussing how to thwart the will of the tens of thousands of members who have voted for Trump, helping him comfortably win in three of the four states that have so far held nominating contests.

Party leaders are nervous that Trump, a billionaire real-estate developer from New York City who deviates from some of the central tenets of Republican conservatism, may alienate voters if he is their candidate in the Nov. 8 general election. He has proposed banning Muslims from entering the United States and declined a journalist's invitation on Sunday to condemn the Ku Klux Klan, the violent white-supremacist group.

Christie, who scrapped his own presidential bid earlier this month, became the most prominent Republican figure to break ranks with party leadership by endorsing Trump on Friday ahead of this week's "Super Tuesday" contests, when voters in 11 states go to the polls.

Whitman, who was a co-chairwoman of the national finance committee of Christie's campaign, said in a statement to reporters that Trump would take the country on "a dangerous journey" and that Christie was aware of this.

"Chris Christie's endorsement of Donald Trump is an astonishing display of political opportunism. Donald Trump is unfit to be president", said the statement from Whitman, who is chief executive and president of Hewlett Packard Enterprise and chairman of HP Inc (NYSE: HPQ).

She called on Christie's donors not to follow him to Trump, who has predominantly funded his campaign with personal loans. Representatives of Christie and Trump did not respond to requests for comment.

Earlier on Sunday, Trump was asked repeatedly if he would unequivocally condemn the Klan and other support from white supremacists.

"I don't know anything about what you're even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists," Trump told CNN's Jake Tapper after being asked about his endorsement by David Duke, a former Klan leader. "If you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them and certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong."

Previously, Trump had seemed less uncertain about his views on Duke. "David Duke endorsed me?" he said in a response to a reporter. "Alright. I disavow. OK?"

His latest backer, Senator Sessions, has had to defend his own controversial comments about the Klan in the past. In 1986, he admitted during an unsuccessful confirmation hearing to become a federal judge that he had said he thought the Klan was "OK" until he came to believe that some members smoked marijuana. He explained that these remarks were a joke and has since called the Klan "destestable."

In a separate interview on Sunday, Trump also defended posting on his Twitter account a quote sometimes attributed to Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. He told NBC News he did not realize that the quote - "It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep" - was associated Mussolini but said it did not matter because it was a good aphorism all the same.

Many party leaders hope U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida will somehow overtake Trump before the party's nominating convention in July, despite Rubio's not having won any states and lagging behind in Trump in opinion polls.

In recent days, Rubio has taken to adopting Trump's habit of using adolescent insults to denigrate his rival, suggesting on Friday that Trump urinated in his trousers during last week's televised debate.

Rubio and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, the only Republican to yet beat Trump in a primary election, both criticized Trump's reticence to speak ill of the Klan on Sunday.

"We cannot be a party that nominates someone who refused to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan," Rubio told a crowd of voters in Purcellville, Virginia, MSNBC reported.

(Additional reporting by Alana Wise in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
Ataahua, Kerry Morgan's dog, keeps escaping and returning to the spot she last saw her owner.

The night her owner went missing Ataahua the dog escaped her home to sit in the spot where she last saw him.

Everyday Hamilton man Kerry Morgan, 53, would walk Ataahua, "beautiful" in Maori, along the banks of the Waikato River in Hamilton.

But on Friday they had their last walk together around 2pm.

CHRISTEL YARDLEY/FAIRFAX NZ Police search for missing man Kerry Morgan, 53, on Saturday on the Waikato River in Hamilton.

Later that night Ataahua was found sitting on the banks of the river near Morgan's shoes and hat - but he was nowhere to be seen.

READ MORE: Missing Hamilton man's clothes and dog found near Waikato River

Police launched a search, which included the dive squad, but he has not yet been found.

On Sunday Morgan's daughter, Lorraine Cook, gathered with other family members at the Hamilton East house her father shared with her mother.



Cook said four-year-old Ataahua, who Morgan got as a puppy, kept escaping the house to go and sit at the river.



"When we were told my dad had gone missing my brother and sister were here at the house, waiting for news from police, before we all turned up.

"They let Ataahua out of the house to go toilet. At about 11pm that night they had to go looking for her,.

"One of the cops and my brother found her down by the river again in the same place, just sitting there. It was like she was waiting for him to come back.

"She keeps trying to run down there - It's sad to watch her. She looks sad."

Cook described her father as a quiet man who always put his family first.

"He was always there for us, him and mum. A quiet fella, but was a really understanding guy when it came to us and his grandchildren."

Morgan had five children and a large number of grandchildren - too many to count.

"Even our cousins he treated like his kids. We are a really tight family so for this to happen is really devastating."

She said her father wasn't sick or taking medication and his disappearance was out of character.

"It's out of character for him to hop into the water because he couldn't swim," she said.

"The longest he can stay away from the house and the dog is about an hour and that's it. Ataahua and dad are tight, they were always together."

Cook said her mum was struggling with the disappearance and as the days went on their hopes were slowly dwindling.

"It's been three days since he went missing. It's hard, you know. It's hard because you can't do anything but wait. That's the hardest part."

A police search of the river over the weekend failed to locate Morgan, Waikato District Command Centre Senior Sergeant Robbie Hermann said.

"Morgan takes his dog for a walk along the river path most days, and he often stops at an area about 100 metres north of the Wellington St beach and sometimes sits in the shallows of the river while his dog has a swim in the river.

"A hat and pair of shoes belonging to Mr Morgan, along with his dog, were found next to the river [on Friday evening] which would indicate he's potentially gone into the river."

Anyone with information should ring the Hamilton station on (07) 858 6200.
The scene of a fatal crash in which Laura Jessop, 19, died. Both Jessop and Eamonn Woods were thrown from the car and Woods later denied being the driver.

Defendants are getting off driving charges involving death or injury  simply by denying they were the driver.

Among those to use the defence was a Wairarapa man whose 19-year-old girlfriend, Laura Jessop, died in a fatal smash.

Auckland lawyer Stuart Blake says the use of the "identity defence" is widespread and increasing, and his first instruction to a client involved in a fatal crash is always: don't say whether you were at the wheel.

"In court, I'll never concede my client was the driver because one, they're entitled to remain silent and the onus is on the police to prove everything, and two, if [police] can't prove they're the driver, my client deserves the benefit of that," he said.

Fellow Auckland barrister Gary Gotlieb said there was a possible knock-on or copy-cat effect when a high-profile defendant was not convicted because it could not be proved they were driving, leading others to try raise the defence.

READ MORE:

* Driver took his own life after best mates died in crash

* Father struggles with dismissal of charge over Wairarapa crash that killed his daughter

* Sophia Nash, a beautiful car crash  and how she escaped alive

* Sentences review call over Norman Harris, 18, who moved body to shift blame

Identity-related dangerous driving cases that have hit the headlines in recent years include those that never even reach court - sometimes for tragic reasons, such as the deaths of three Kiwis in Australia last week.

Southlander Kadin Wallace, 24, is understood to have committed suicide on the night of February 19 after the ute he was driving rolled south of Perth, killing his friends Dylan Sherriff and Jeremy Vergeer.

In other cases the identity defence fails, such as when Tararua teen Norman Harris tried to dodge blame for killing his 16-year-old passenger Cheyenne Ihaka in a head-on crash near Eketahuna in 2014.

Harris moved his friend's body into the driver's seat, then told police he had been asleep in the back.

But his ruse was uncovered, and he is serving home detention.

Whether you were the driver or not, stating that you weren't may mean the issue is never put to the test.

In Masterton, Eamonn Woods was acquitted in September of killing girlfriend Laura Jessop, 19, in a single-car crash near the Wairarapa town in 2014.

Both were thrown from the car in the accident, to which there were no witnesses.

Woods claimed Jessop was driving, and a judge dismissed the charge, saying police had not conclusively ruled out that possibility.

Laura Jessop's mother Carolyn Jessop said Woods' defence was his business.

"Whether he was the driver or not, he has to live with losing a mate."

And she says she's accepted she'll never know who was behind the wheel.

"The only people who know that are Laura and Eamonn."

In Auckland, property developer Jonathan King obtained a permanent stay of proceedings after he was charged with dangerous driving and driving drunk following a 2012 crash.

Asked about the charges in January, King's lawyer Alistair Haskett said the charges were "mere allegations."

"There was never a likelihood of police establishing any of the allegations against Mr King, including the allegation that he was driving or that he was over the legal alcohol limit."

Model and socialite Sophia Nash was the other occupant in the car - she was not charged.

King's lawyer Alistair Haskett wouldn't discuss the specifics of the case, but said he often found that even if an admission had been made, police may not have followed proper procedure.

"Even where you get a driver who has admitted liability or has admitted driving, often you're in a position to challenge the admissibility of the statement."

"It's a question... of whether the individual officer has taken shortcuts, or been a bit gung-ho in terms of how they approach an investigation."

Blake said one reason the defence works is that police prosecutors and investigators lack resources to prove beyond reasonable doubt who was driving.

"I do have a bit of sympathy for police because their resources are so stretched - I can tell by the quality of the preparation of their cases."

The Police Prosecutions Services' Inspector Steve King says how those charged choose to defend their case is a matter for them and their legal counsel.

"Police, through the Crown, presents the best evidence available, and it is ultimately for the court to decide the outcome based on this."

Police claim in charges involving an accident causing death, a "successful prosecution outcome" is secured more than 80 percent of the time.

But Masterton police prosecutor Jodie Lawrence - who was not involved in the Woods case - said she had definitely seen a general increase in people not admitting guilt.

"The value of life isn't what it used to be...they'll put prosecutors to the test, because they know how to play the system."

Police Association president Greg O'Connor was not aware it was an increasing problem, but added the "variability" of judges sometimes made successful prosecutions more difficult.

"It's the same problem with fleeing drivers. Everyone says why don't you get them afterwards? Well, very difficult to prove it, and who's got the time, basically."

* A previous version of this article wrongly attributed the introductory paragraph to a defence lawyer.
A garage was destroyed in an overnight fire that threatened to spread into a Christchurch house.

Fire crews from Christchurch city and Addington were called to the fire in Hargest Cr, Sydenham, about 9pm Sunday after a member of the public called 111.

Fire Service southern communications shift manager Riwai Grace said the garage, which was attached to the home, was well ablaze when firefighters arrived.

He said the fire caused "a little bit of damage" to the house. Firefighters spent more than three hours at the scene.

Meanwhile, a fire investigator will determine the cause of a large overnight house fire on the West Coast.

Firefighters from Westport, Granity and Waimangaroa were alerted to the "well involved" house in Palmerston St, Westport, about 11.10pm Sunday.

Fire Service southern communications shift manager Riwai Grace said crews initially thought someone was inside the burning building, but they quickly determined it was empty.

Firefighters spent about an hour at the scene. It was taped off and guarded overnight.

Grace said a fire investigator would try to determine the cause and origin of the fire on Monday morning.
It will be a grey day with the odd shower for Christchurch, ending a streak of stunning weather for the region.

The city is chasing a high of 18 degrees Celsius. Cloud will increase throughout the day with a few showers setting in just before midday, according to MetService.

Conditions will be similar in Ashburton and Timaru, which are aiming for 18C and 19C, respectively, cutting off a run of fine weather that has seen temperatures exceed 30C several times during the past week.

In the south, Stewart Island and coastal Southland was set to get severe southwest gales on Monday morning.

Those will move further north to coastal parts of Clutha and Dunedin where people could expect fierce winds from 8am.

The rain should fade away in Dunedin, with a high of 20C expected.

Early morning showers will clear to make way for a fine day on the West Coast.

Greymouth and Hokitika are expected to reach 18C, while Westport is forecast to reach 21C.

The hot weather should return to Christchurch towards the end of the week, with highs of 26C forecast for Thursday, 27C for Friday, 30C for Saturday and 31C for Sunday.
The owner of an American pit bull terrier-cross dog who bit him in the hip, then attacked his partner's arm, has agreed to the animal's destruction.

Matthew James Robertson, 23, had originally opposed the dog, called Ceazer, being destroyed as he was very attached to him and had owned him for two-and-a-half years.

On September 17, the dog attacked Robertson and took a chunk out of his buttock, so he shut him in the lounge of his house.

The dog escaped and went into the front yard, where he attacked Robertson's partner in a two to three minute attack.

Robertson removed the dog's locked jaw from her arm, and in court on Monday said that if he had not done that she would have lost her arm.

She has an option of undergoing plastic surgery for the puncture wounds on her arm, he said.

The dog has been in Christchurch City Council's animal shelter since October 2015.

Christchurch District Court Judge Stephen O'Driscoll said the law was clear that upon conviction of the owner there must be an order for destruction of the dog, unless there were exceptional reasons for the attack.

He sentenced Robertson to 80 hours community work, and to pay reparation for the cost of looking after the dog of $1008 to the Christchurch City Council.
Some of fun, plenty of sun add in a lot of different families and you had the perfect recipe for the Natures Fresh Simple Sunday Fun-day at Omanu Beach today.

The family fun day was one of a series of events to be held around the country. Todays event provided Kiwi families and friends with a fun-filled day of free outdoor activities, games and enjoyment.
Taurangas Shane Southby will lose his locks and his Tom Jones look in March when he shaves his head for the Child Cancer Foundation Funrazor Shave Your Lid For a Brave Kid.

The event at Mount Main Beach on Saturday, March 12, encourages men and women to shave their heads to raise funds for Child Cancer Foundation.
Foreign Minister Murray McCully will visit Fiji today to discuss the response to Tropical Cyclone Winston with the Fiji Government and look at how New Zealand can support recovery efforts.

The damage to property, and loss of life caused by Cyclone Winston in parts of Fiji is almost unprecedented in the Pacific, Mr McCully says.

Our total contribution to the relief effort now stands at $3.2 million and NZDF assets and personnel are helping to deliver supplies and repair damage to critical infrastructure.

While in Fiji I will meet with New Zealand response staff and hold meetings with the Fiji Government to gain an understanding of what the longerterm needs in Fiji might be, Mr McCully says.

Source: Office of Murray McCully.
More than 4000 tourists disembarked at Mount Maunganui for a day in the Bay today from cruise ships Diamond Princess and Golden Princess.

The ships are similar size and both carry about 2600 passengers and 1100 crew. They are both 290m long but the diamond princess is a metre and a half wider and cost an extra $50 million to build at $500 million.
Little did Jeanne Drake know that when she opened her door one day back in 1945, the man standing on the doorstep would go on to be her husband of 70 years.

Jeanne and Hardie Drake celebrated their platinum anniversary by renewing their vows surrounded by family and friends during a special ceremony held in Pyes Pa in the weekend.
Jeremiah A. Garnett.JPG

Jeremiah A. Garnett

(New York State Police)

UPDATE: State police identified the 6-week-old baby who died Saturday as Benjamin Jones. Jeremiah A. Garnett was charged with second-degree murder.

Garnett was ordered held at the Jefferson County jail without bail.

PHILADELPHIA, N.Y. -- A 23-year-old man accused of throwing an infant he was babysitting will face additional charges because the baby died.

Jeremiah A. Garnett was expected to be arraigned Saturday night in Philadelphia Village Court on a murder charge, The Watertown Daily Times reported.

Garnett was already facing assault and endangering the welfare of a child charges.

State police responded to 23 Main St., Apt. 3, in Philadelphia around 1:30 a.m. Thursday for a report that a 6-week-old boy who had stopped breathing and was bleeding from his nose. Garnett was watching the baby while the boy's mother was at work. He is not the child's father.

Emergency personnel began performing CPR on the infant.

The baby was rushed to Samaritan Medical Center in Watertown, where doctors determined he had suffered head trauma and was in cardiac arrest. The infant was later taken to Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse.

He had been in critical condition with a brain injury, but died before 4 p.m. Saturday, WWNY TV 7 reported.

Garnett was already being held at the Jefferson County jail on $50,000 bail.
Ryan Lawrence of Syracuse poses for a snapshot with his daughter Maddox Lawrence in an undated photo. An Amber Alert was issued for Maddox on Sunday, Feb. 21, 2016 when she disappeared with her father, Ryan Lawrence.

By Marnie Eisenstadt, Patrick Lohmann and John O'Brien

Syracuse, N.Y. -- When Ryan Lawrence did the morning pastry deliveries for

all the Freedom of Espresso stores around Syracuse, baby Maddox went with him.

He'd never leave her in the car, said Anna Dobbs, the chain's owner.

Instead, he'd carry her with one arm and the boxes of sweets with the other. Then he'd put her back in her car seat, and dad and daughter would drive on to the next store as the sun rose.

On other days, Ryan Lawrence and his wife, Morgan, were driving Maddox to New York City to get treatment for a deadly cancer growing in her eye.

A year later, Ryan Lawrence is charged with killing that same child he worked so hard to help save. The horrific crime seized Central New York's attention for days.

On Feb. 20, Ryan Lawrence and Maddox dropped off Morgan Lawrence at Destiny USA for her job in a clothing boutique. Morgan Lawrence expected the two to come back for her after 10 p.m. in the family car.

But that never happened.

Instead, Ryan Lawrence left the car for his wife with the keys in it. At their home in Syracuse's Valley neighborhood, she found a note indicating he might harm himself and their baby. Police issued an Amber Alert the next morning, Feb. 21, and began searching the Inner Harbor of Syracuse and Baldwinsville, Ryan Lawrence's hometown.

For more than two days, highway signs, phones and televisions flashed the alert. Media outlets described the child's clothing: a white shirt with brown puppies and a pink collar. A gray hat with pom poms. A pink coat with a blue interior.

But Maddox Mary Lawrence was already dead. She was killed sometime after she and her father dropped her mother at the mall for work that Saturday afternoon. Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick said Ryan Lawrence, 24, killed the child at Tinker Falls in Cortland County.

Ryan and Maddox Lawrence in a photo taken recently.

What could have made a man who appeared to be a doting

father kill his own child and then walk around, for two days, as police

searched for her?

A picture is emerging of a young couple under pressure. They struggled financially, relying on a series of cobbled-together, low-wage jobs. At the same time, Maddox was fighting cancer that required the young family to go to New York City weekly for treatments.

"They were two young kids struggling," Dobbs said.

And there are hints that at some point Ryan Lawrence's struggle had started to become a source of trouble. When state police issued the Amber Alert, they described him as emotionally unstable with a history of mental illness.

On Friday, Syracuse.com learned that Syracuse police had been called to deal with Lawrence more than once at least a year ago. State police spokesman Beau Duffy said details about those encounters alerted state police to his history of possible mental health issues.

Ryan Lawrence was never arrested as a result of those incidents, and Syracuse police provided no more information about them.

The message Ryan left for Morgan indicated that he was suffering from some kind of "mental impairment" when he wrote it, said Syracuse police Sgt. Richard Helterline.

And District Attorney William Fitzpatrick offered this possible explanation: Ryan Lawrence was jealous of the attention Maddox was receiving.

Ryan Lawrence and Morgan Forster met while working at the mall. They both worked on and off at a tea store and Morgan worked at two clothing stores.

Morgan became pregnant with Maddox while she and Ryan were dating, friends said. The couple married.

They lived in a rented home and shared a single car. They were always together, Dobbs said. "He and Momo were inseparable," she said, using Morgan's nickname.

They shared a love of the outdoors. Morgan Lawrence's Facebook page says she does nature photography. Ryan Lawrence loved hiking and camping, Dobbs said.

Ryan and Morgan Lawrence were both in the middle of the pack in high school and seemed to have a wandering path when they graduated.

Ryan Lawrence graduated from C.W. Baker High School in 2009. The year before was his first encounter with the pain of cancer. His mother, Mary Lawrence, died in 2008 from kidney cancer. Ryan was the baby of the family.

Ryan Lawrence went on to take two semesters at Monroe Community College in 2009 and 2010, but dropped out, according to the Democrat and Chronicle. He took two more classes at Onondaga Community College in 2011. In addition to working at the mall, Ryan Lawrence also worked at Pastabilities restaurant, Syracuse Food Co-Op and the circulation department of The Post-Standard.

Morgan graduated from Liverpool High School in 2011. She sang second alto in the school choir. After graduation, she worked a series of retail jobs.

Before Maddox's first birthday, the couple noticed that one of her wide brown eyes was turning darker. It was cancer in the baby's retina. For months, both parents drove the little girl to New York City, where she underwent hours-long chemotherapy treatments targeted directly at the tumor.

"She was born healthy and full of energy ... such a happy baby girl, yet you wouldn't think it because she makes little monster noises," wrote Shaylyn Leonard, Ryan's sister, on the fundraiser page she set up to help with medical expenses.

At the time, Maddox had undergone four of eight treatments at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. There, she sat for intense chemotherapy that targeted the tumor in her eye and the blood vessels feeding it. The treatments lasted as long as six hours, Leonard wrote.

Leonard asked family and friends to help with the expenses.

"With your donation you can ease some high stress and give Maddox a better shot at kicking this tumor!" Maddox's aunt wrote.

While Maddox was sick, Morgan Lawrence worked as a barista at the Freedom of Espresso store in Armory Square. Jeff Meyer, who works nearby, got his coffee from "Mo" nearly every day for a year. The two became friends.

Morgan talked about Maddox and her illness. "She was doing everything in her power to make sure that little baby would survive," Meyer said.

He said Morgan Lawrence was stressed out about the baby's illness, along with unspecific personal problems.

Meyer said he met Ryan Lawrence a few times in the coffee shop. Lawrence would come in with Maddox, who was usually in a baby carrier. He and the baby would usually sit by themselves while Morgan served customers.

Meyer, who runs the Salt City Horror Fest, set up Morgan to shoot pictures of the festival last year. Meyer said after that, Morgan Lawrence no longer appeared interested in photography and stopped working at the coffee shop.

"It seemed sudden and strange," Meyer said.

On Feb. 20, Morgan Lawrence was working at Francesca's, a boutique at Destiny USA. Ryan Lawrence and Maddox dropped her off for her shift around 4 p.m. She expected them to pick her back up around 10 p.m.

Instead, Ryan Lawrence drove Maddox down Interstate 81 to Tinker Falls, a secluded waterfall that is popular in warmer months. It's likely the young family who liked to hike and lived nearby on Syracuse's south edge had been there before.

Somewhere in the park that surrounds the falls, Ryan Lawrence killed the toddler whose life he fought to save just a year earlier, said Fitzpatrick, the district attorney.

Then he drove, with her body in the car, to the Inner Harbor near where her mother was working. There, Ryan Lawrence dumped his daughter's body in the water, authorities believe.

The police put out an Amber Alert for Ryan and Maddox Lawrence the next morning, Feb. 21. Later that day, Morgan Lawrence made a plea through the media.

She looked out at a sea of television cameras and squinted into the light, holding the sides of the podium as if it was holding her up. The 23-year-old's parents stood a few feet away, flanked by police officers.

"If you're listening, please just bring Maddox home. Maddox I love you, honey," Lawrence said through tears. "Ryan, please, just please call. We just want to know that the both of you are safe."

With that, Maddox was everyone's baby. As police searched from Syracuse to Baldwinsville, people around Central New York took to Facebook and news sites, offering to help search and praying for Maddox's safe return.

As the temperatures dipped into the low 20s on Feb. 22, Ryan Lawrence wandered into the Thrifty Shopper on Downer Street, where he had shopped before. He wore a wig, hat, bandana and sunglasses, said Pamalia Towndrow, who was working there.

A former employee, who happened to be in the store, recognized Lawrence despite his disguise. She followed him out of the store and called 911. Police later picked him up. By that time, Maddox had been dead for nearly two days.

When Lawrence was picked up by police, he had camping gear in his backpack and a book on how to avoid capture, sources told Syracuse.com. He smelled like campfire smoke, Towndrow said.

Syracuse detectives questioned Lawrence for hours, in the end convincing him to help with the search.

As the public watched in virtual real time on their computers and phones, the man who seemed like a devoted father helped point police to where he dumped her body.

Maddox Mary Lawrence was pulled from the water shortly after noon Feb. 23, nearly three days after she was killed.

Since then, questions and grief have grown together for people who knew the young Lawrence family and the thousands of people who never met them, but prayed that Maddox would be found alive.

Ryan Lawrence's family said Friday they were heartbroken over the loss of Maddox, who was a ray of sunshine in their lives.

In the statement provided to Syracuse.com by Ryan's sister, Charissa Lawrence, they had a message for Ryan's wife: "We want Morgan to know that we simply can't articulate how much pain we feel for you, and our love for you is unwavering."

Ryan Lawrence's family is grappling to reconcile the loving, young father they knew with the man police say killed his daughter.

"What we saw of Ryan is that he loved Maddox immensely and so we are struggling to make sense out of this tragedy," they wrote. "But we are not successful and know that we will never be."



Statement from the family of Ryan Lawrence to The Post-Standard/Syracuse.com:



"The Lawrence family would like to express their extreme heartbreak and despair over the loss of this beautiful baby who was our granddaughter, niece, and precious ray of sunshine in all of our lives.



What we saw of Ryan is that he loved Maddox immensely and so we are struggling to make sense out of this tragedy but we are not successful and know that we will never be.



We want Morgan to know that we simply can't begin to articulate how much pain we feel for you, and our love for you is unwavering."

Marnie Eisenstadt writes about life and culture in Central New York. Contact her anytime: email | twitter | 315-470-2246.
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Groton police car crash on Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016 near the intersection of East Cortland and William Streets in Groton.

(provided photo)

Groton, NY - A Groton police officer was taken to a hospital Sunday afternoon after the officer's patrol car crashed into a pole at the intersection of East Cortland and William Streets in the village, a dispatcher for the Tompkins County 911 center said.

The crash occurred at about 2:57 p.m. The officer was taken from the scene by Groton Ambulance to the Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca, the dispatcher said. The dispatcher did not know what, if any, injuries the officer received in the crash.

The village has a small police department with three vehicles, including one marked car. It is staffed by with a lieutenant, a desk officer, one full-time and 13 part-time police officers, according to the department's website.

The Groton police were assisted at the scene by the Tompkins County Sheriff's deputies, as well as the Groton Fire Department. The village's electrical department was dispatched to take care of the pole.
2016-02-18-mjg-Consensus5.JPG

Members of the group 40 Below listen at a Feb. 18, 2016 forum at the Tech Garden to discuss the Consensus report. The under-40 demographic appears to be the one group open to the idea of government consolidation, says the writer. "They want a future.''

(Michael Greenlar | mgreenlar@syracuse.com)

Stephen Kimatian, of Syracuse, is a former television executive and previously was a candidate for mayor. He is a regular guest columnist for Syracuse.com and The Post-Standard.

With typical bombast, the pugilistic side of Gov. Andrew Cuomo was ringside Syracuse last week when he threatened to withhold a $500 million grant if Syracuse did not adopt the suggestions of the Consensus Commission. If there was ever any thought that the Consensus project was not being driven from the top down, he dispelled that for sure. Apparently the fix was in from the start.

The governor brashly uses his executive power to cower political adversaries to do his bidding. But last I checked the governor works for the people. The opposite form of governance is called a dictatorship. If the governor wants Consensus from Syracuse, what about Buffalo? They voted it down. Is he going to withhold the Buffalo billion? Or maybe we should get a billion, too? And what is it about the governor and modernization? Is there a modernization title being given out and no one told us about it?

If the purpose of consolidation is that we would be better able to grow our economy, then the governor should look to Albany government first. The primary reason why the Syracuse economy is at a disadvantage is not lack of modernization but because of the failed economic policies of the state. Do we need to remind the governor that, according to the Tax Foundation, New York has the 49th worst business environment? That Chief Executive Magazine ranks New York 49th because of "high taxes and stringent regulations"? Or that the U.S. Small Business Survey gives New York an "F Rating" for the ease of doing business? Gimmick programs like START-UP NY, catering to restricted sites and companies, just don't cut it.

In his tirade, the governor admonished Syracuse and Onondaga County political leaders to "learn from other communities." The same could be said of the governor. Does he see how other states have streamlined their business environment and grown their economy? All New York has to do is be competitive with other states and businesses would flock here.

Some folk in Onondaga County say they like things the way they are. Some in the city of Syracuse are equally opposed for different reasons. It's telling that the one group most positive about wanting changes is the 40-under demographic. They want a future -- and we owe it to them to seriously consider Consensus.

The governor lashes out at us for not going along with him. But how about our own political leadership? The people are supposed to agree on some tough changes to relationships that have been in place for over 200 years when we have a county executive and a mayor sparring over nonsensical legal issues? If Consensus were as important as Cuomo claims, then Joanie Mahoney and Stephanie Miner would be shaking hands and, in a singular example of consolidation, they would stand center ring and announce a merger of the Onondaga County and Syracuse industrial development agencies.

The Consensus Commission laid out the facts and set up the challenge. We all know the story by now: We have a thousand layers of government, a million fire districts and a zillion service providers. And we need to streamline. OK, we get that. But, as much as Consensus has held several forums, it still feels like a top-down approach. There have been more questions than answers.

As stated in the Onondaga Citizen's League consolidation report of 2005: "For any plan of governmental consolidation to succeed, it must have grass roots support." Without preconditions and just armed with the facts, let's have a go at coming up with the best delivery of local municipal services and governance in the United States. It can be our own unique design, unlike any other city.

What we should do is engage town supervisors, department heads of the city and those directly in charge of line operations to come up with responses to the Consensus issues. If there are 57 fire districts, mostly volunteer, then what are the consequences of merger? How many districts should there be? Should they stay voluntary? How much equipment is needed? Why? There should be an opportunity for an across-the-table negotiated dialogue. And at the table we should have citizens younger than 40 represented.

Here is the split decision we face: Either we think through the merits of the Consensus issues and honestly evaluate the pros and cons, or we turn our back on the future. I am betting the people of this region do care, but they just don't want the answers or the timeline jammed down their throats. In the 20th century, Syracuse inventions revolutionized the world. We need to rekindle that creativity for the 21st century. To do that we need a community that is structurally agile, modern and fit for the fight. This is not about Consensus. It's about the best future for our community.
Donald Trump -- who else? -- dominates our collection of the week's editorial cartoons. Trump had a good week, with a feisty performance in Thursday's debate and a primary romp in Nevada.

With every win, Trump's path to the nomination -- once thought improbable -- comes closer to reality. Cartoonists David Horsey, Jack Ohman, Tom Toles, Walt Handelsman, Scott Stantis, Dan Wasserman, Drew Sheneman, Darrin Bell, Signe Wilkinson and Dana Summers took aim at the candidate and his Republican establishment antagonists.

Establishment favorite Jeb Bush dropped out of the presidential race, inspiring witty cartoons by Sheneman and Chan Lowe.

Apple Inc. intensified its opposition to the federal government's request that it help unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino terrorists.



Also last week, President Barack Obama sent to Congress a plan to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The plan was deemed dead on arrival.

Cartoonists also made reference to the controversy over a nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court and gun violence in America.
Andrew Cuomo

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivers his State of the State and budget address Jan. 13 in Albany.

(Mike Groll / AP)

Some Upstate New Yorkers are quick to complain about Gov. Andrew Cuomo's stances on gun control, minimum wage, fracking, teacher evaluations, taxes ... we could go on. But even critics must admit no other governor in recent memory has paid as much attention to, or directed more investment to, Upstate New York.

Cuomo is right when he says Albany has long neglected Upstate. Despite our size advantage in square miles, we are outnumbered in every other category -- population, wealth, jobs and political representation - by Downstate New York. By their sheer numbers, New Yorkers from the metropolitan area and Long Island dominate the state Legislature and have long led both chambers. Cities like Syracuse, Utica, Rochester and Buffalo have languished.

The Upstate-Downstate divide becomes most evident in budget negotiations -- for example, when money for Downstate mass transit is balanced by money for Upstate roads and bridges. Using windfalls from bank settlements, the governor has directed $1.5 billion to the Upstate Revitalization Initiative ($500 million of it to Central New York), $1 billion to Buffalo and hundreds of millions more to other Upstate regions.

As the April 1 budget deadline approaches, Cuomo is about to begin budget negotiations with legislative leaders. Anticipating pushback on his Upstate agenda, the governor reminds Upstate New Yorkers that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease.''

Last week, Cuomo urged this editorial board, and others from across Upstate New York, to make some noise in support of that agenda. Over the coming days and weeks, we'll take a deeper look at the governor's proposals for infrastructure investments (including roads, water infrastructure and broadband); his plan to freeze and/or eliminate Thruway tolls; education funding; his proposal to phase in a $15-an-hour minimum wage Upstate; and other topics that may arise in budget negotiations.

We also will engage our region's key legislators in discussions about their priorities for Upstate New York, and how they intend to fight for them in Albany.

There is a place for you in this discussion, too. Learning more, forming an opinion and urging your representatives (and even Cuomo) to act are appropriate actions in a democracy.

For all their similarities, cities and regions in Upstate New York rarely band together to advocate for their common interests. More often - as in the Upstate Revitalization Initiative -- they compete for Albany's attention and funding. Would an alliance of Upstate legislators that crosses district and party lines even out the power imbalance between Upstate and Downstate?

Despite our political and cultural differences, the fact remains Upstate needs Downstate more than the other way around. We don't have to agree with every item on Cuomo's Upstate agenda to say this: We're glad he's putting his thumb on Upstate's side of the scale.
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton notched her third victory in the four early-voting states with a resounding win in South Carolina over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The win gave her momentum heading into Super Tuesday, where more than a dozen states and territories get their turn to vote.

Here are five takeaways from the primary.

1. Donald Trump is on the Democrats' minds.

"We don't need to make America great again," Clinton said in her victory speech Saturday night in a clear reference to Trump's campaign slogan. "America never stopped being great. But we do need to make America whole again."

She also referenced the billionaire businessman's call for a wall along the southern border with Mexico.

"Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers," Clinton said. "We need to show that we really are all in this together."

In a statement congratulating Clinton after the polls closed, Sanders also turned his attention to the Republican frontrunner.

"When we come together, and don't let people like Donald Trump try to divide us, we can create an economy that works for all of us and not just the top 1 percent," Sanders said.

2. Bernie is on Hillary's mind.

"It's important that Wall Street never threaten Main Street again," Clinton said, bringing out Sanders' favorite punching bag. "No bank could be too big to fail and no executive too powerful to jail."

Then Clinton went to her own favorite criticism of Sanders.

"America isn't a single issue country," she said. "We need more than a plan for the biggest banks."

3. Maybe Clinton can duplicate the Obama coalition.

President Barack Obama pulled record numbers of blacks to the polls that more than offset his lack of support among white voters. For example, while 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney received the support of 59 percent of whites, Obama was backed by 93 percent of blacks, according to network exit polls.

In the 2008 South Carolina Democratic primary, Obama, then bidding to become the first black president, had the support of 78 percent of black voters. This time around, Clinton received 86 percent.

4. South Carolina provides a road map to Super Tuesday.

South Carolina's demographics are similar to those of southern states that will vote on Tuesday. If Clinton polls similar numbers in states like Texas and Georgia, she will open up such a large delegate lead over Sanders that the race of the nomination will be effectively over.

5. Sanders isn't going away any time soon.

Nor does he have to. He entered February with $14.7 million in the bank and has a large pool of small donors he can continue to tap.

"This campaign is just beginning," Sanders said in his statement. "In just three days, Democrats in 11 states will pick 10 times more pledged delegates on one day than were selected in the four early states so far in this campaign. Our grassroots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won't stop now."

Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant.
LOS ANGELES -- Three people were stabbed Saturday, one critically, after a small group of Ku Klux Klanmembers staging an anti-immigrant rally in Southern California clashed with a larger gathering of counter-protesters, police said.

The violence erupted shortly after noon in Anaheim's Pearson Park, about 3 miles from Disneyland. The KKK had advertised plans for the rally and about 30 anti-Klan protesters showed up beforehand, said Anaheim Police Sgt. Daron Wyatt said. When the Klan members arrived they were attacked as they exited their cars, he said.

One Klansman stabbed a counter-protester with the decorative end of a flag pole, Wyatt said. That stabbing set off a vicious brawl in which Klan members and protesters fought across an entire city block.

One Anaheim police sergeant saw a Klan member with a knife in his hand and a counter-protester bleeding nearby, Wyatt said. The sergeant took the KKK member into custody. Meanwhile, counter-protesters stomped on two KKK members, he said.

Wyatt said police were present when the violence erupted but did not say how many officers were deployed.

Brian Levin, director of California State University, San Bernardino's Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, witnessed the violence and told the Los Angeles Times he saw no police when it started.

Chris Barker, who identified himself as the "imperial wizard" of the Loyal White Knights of the KKK, said his members were holding a peaceful anti-immigration demonstration and acted in self-defense.

"If we're attacked we will attack back," said Barker, who did not attend the rally and spoke by phone from North Carolina. The organization lists Pelham, N.C., as its headquarters.

In total, 13 people were detained; six Klan members in connection with three stabbings and seven counter-protesters suspected of assaulting KKK members. All the injured were male. None was immediately identified.

The KKK has a long history in Anaheim. In the 1920s some Klansmen held elected office in the city, which was overwhelmingly white but now has a majority of Hispanics among its roughly 350,000 residents.

In January 2015, packets containing fliers condemning Martin Luther King Jr. and supporting the Ku Klux Klanwere left in the driveways of about 40 homes in Santa Ana, about 8 miles south of Anaheim. The fliers opened with the heading "On Martin Luther King Day, you are celebrating a communist pervert." The bottom of the fliers stated they came from the "Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan."

Nationwide, the number of active KKK groups increased to 190 in 2015 after falling in 2013 and 2014, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups.
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By Lamaur Stancil of TCPalm

FORT PIERCE  A Toyota carrying four teenagers and an adult overturned early Friday, according to a crash report released Monday by Fort Pierce police.

The car, driven by 16-year-old William Ninesling of Jensen Beach, crashed in the 1600 block of Delaware Avenue at 1:26 a.m. Friday, police said. He and a passenger, Tiffanie Collins, 16, of Vero Beach, were hospitalized with incapacitating injuries at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center & Heart Institute in Fort Pierce. The parents told hospital officials not to release information on the condition of the teens, a Lawnwood spokeswoman said Monday.

The investigation into the crash is continuing, according to the report, as officers work to determine whether alcohol was a factor.

Ninesling was traveling east on Delaware when he failed to turn at a safe speed and crossed the median, according to the crash report. He had been traveling at 55 mph in a 40-mph zone, the report states. Ninesling attempted to drive back to the eastbound lane but lost control of the Toyota, which spun around and landed on the driver's side, police said.

One passenger, 18-year-old Austin Griffin of Fort Pierce, was ejected from the car, the report states, while Collins was partly ejected. Two other passengers, Logan Scott and Timothy Anderson, both 17 and of Fort Pierce, pulled Collins away from the car when a resident who heard the crash arrived to help, police said. Anderson and Scott fled the scene afterward, according to the report.

"You got this," the teens told the man as they put the girl into his arms, according to the report. "We need to go."

Scott and Anderson were found a block away from the crash scene and treated for non-incapacitating injuries, police said.

Firefighters from the St. Lucie County Fire District extricated Ninesling from the car, police said.

There were no witnesses to the crash, police said. None of the car's occupants were wearing seat belts, police said.
FORT LAUDERDALE  Florida law enforcement have found a 2-month-old girl kidnapped from her home and located a 'person of interest' they had sought on Florida's Turnpike near Fort Pierce.

Broward County sheriff's spokeswoman Joy Oglesby says Taraji Kemp was found safe Saturday in Orlando, 17 hours after she was taken.

The Florida Highway Patrol made a traffic stop that led to 24-year-old Stephanie Augustin being detained, FHP Sgt. Mark Wysocky said.

Authorities interviewed Augustin after the traffic stop. No charges have been filed.

Taraji and her mother were asleep at a Fort Lauderdale home at about 11 p.m. Friday when intruders invaded and took the girl.

Officials said at least one of the intruders had a gun.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Staff writer Lamaur Stancil contributed to this report.
LEAH VOSS/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, chair of the local government affairs subcommittee, leads the first meeting during the 2016 Florida legislative session on Jan. 13 in Tallahassee.

Lord only knows what goes on behind the scenes of the Florida Legislature. On stage, though, it can be an Oscar-worthy charade.

The past couple of months I've watched meticulously dressed men and women politely listen to fellow legislators, average Joes and lobbyists in beautiful meeting rooms at the Capitol. The topic: a bill from Rep. Debbie Mayfield, R-Vero Beach, seeking more accountability from the Florida Municipal Power Agency.

Many legislators were shocked by problems the state auditor general found last year with the agency, a consortium of municipal power providers including Vero Beach and Fort Pierce. Many thought state oversight was needed. Others didn't.

The bill was declared dead Thursday when it became apparent Senate and House committees would not have time to pass the proposal.

The reality is Mayfield's final attempt, as a term-limited representative, to hold the agency accountable was relatively weak. The only significant things in the bill: requiring cities to appoint elected officials to the agency's board of directors; requiring the agency to let cities know the specific value of their investments with the agency.

Valuation is important because cities, such as Vero Beach and Green Cove Springs, have tried unsuccessfully to end contracts with the agency and get cheaper power elsewhere. The cities have said the agency would not provide them with an amount they could pay to exit the contracts.

In the Legislature this winter, the agency claimed providing such numbers is too complicated. On Thursday, though, the agency sent us a number for Vero Beach ($46.1 million), and I was told to expect more detail later this week.

So maybe Mayfield's efforts will have some positive effect. We'll find out soon.

Regardless, I can't help but think the fix was in for her legislation. After all, the agency's lobbyist was former House Speaker Dean Cannon, less than four years removed from office. Cannon, a master orator and attorney, still has friends in high places.

Take, for example, Sen. Denise Grimsley, R-Sebring, chair of the committee that handles utilities. She was House appropriations chair under Cannon. Grimsley, whose committee could have heard Mayfield's Senate companion bill weeks ago, heard it only Tuesday  too late in the session for it to get to the Senate floor. Of course the bill passed, 7-1. Even Grimsley voted in favor.

What a charade.

Mayfield's bill was passed by two House committees, where several members were shocked to hear how the power agency is governed: Four of its five governing board members are employees at cities of their utility authorities; the other is the mayor of Newberry.

Watching legislators' comments at the three committees, the bill should have been full steam ahead. The reality: Legislative power is held by committee chairmen such as Grimsley.

Mayfield, County Attorney Dylan Reingold, Commissioner Tim Zorc and citizen Glenn Heran, along with allies from Green Cove Springs and their lobbyists, were outmaneuvered by Cannon and his cronies  ironically paid for by power agency ratepayers.

While most of these folks were paid for the dozens or hundreds of hours they spent just on this legislation, traveling to Tallahassee, preparing for speeches, researching issues, Heran was not. He's just a Vero Beach CPA who has been trying to save city ratepayers a collective $20 million a year since 2008. He estimates that's how much Vero Beach ratepayers would save if the city sold to Florida Power & Light Co.

Heran's consolation: At least legislators and others know more about how the power agency operates. Maybe real reform can occur next year.

What sticks with me, though, is how ex-legislators influence former colleagues. Take former Senate President Ken Pruitt, now St. Lucie County's property appraiser. His firm, The P5 Group, received more than $950,000 in 2013 to lobby state legislative and executive branches, TCPalm reported.

Then there's John Thrasher, now Florida State University's president. He lobbied after his 1999-2000 House speakership, increasing his net worth in eight years from $512,000 to $7.5 million before being elected to the Senate, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

That's what happens when politics, self and money are put ahead of people.

Bills should fail on their own merits. Legislators should be accountable for their votes. Bills shouldn't die the way Mayfield's did.

This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/laurencereisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman.
On Friday, March 4th at 7 p.m., one of the most celebrated university choral groups will give a spirited concert at the First Baptist Church of Vero Beach during their 12-stop Spring Break Tour of Florida.

Cornerstone University of Grand Rapids, Michigan supports a Division of Music which is 'committed to providing a rigorous musical education experience for our students' who stay in private local homes each night as they travel.

Comments from concert guests indicate a 'high quality of performance' and 'the concert was magical. The students just shine.' Many said that beyond the beautiful musical experience, they had been filled spiritually and felt the presence of God.

Dr. Michael Carter, Minister of Music at First Baptist, has high praise for Cornerstone and invites all to this free concert. 'This chorale will reach into your heart with their gift of music and ministry. Please join us for a powerful experience on March 4th.'

First Baptist Church is located at 2206 16th Avenue (across from the Main Library) in Vero Beach. It is handicap accessible. For information, call the church office at 772-567-4341 or www.cornerstone.edu/academics/undergrad/divisions/music.
After watching Samsung and LG unveil their latest flagship smartphones, HTC is feeling very confident about its upcoming HTC One M10.

All eyes were on Samsung and LG at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, as both companies revealed their 2016 flagship smartphones. Samsung delivered the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, which put much of its focus on addressing the biggest criticisms it faced when it unveiled the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge at last year's show.

The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge were the beginning of a new design philosophy at Samsung, which matched its largest rival, Apple in delivering flagship smartphones built from premium materials like metal and glass. The Galaxy S6 Edge stole the show at MWC 2015 and was awarded top honors for "Best New Handset, Tablet, or Device."

While Samsung was highly praised for its new design elements, it was also highly criticized for abandoning key features it offered in previous Galaxy S flagship smartphones in its quest to compete with Apple, which include microSD expansion, removable battery, and waterproof case. The company was able to bring back two of those features, microSD expansion and IP68 certified dust and water resistant casing for the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, in addition to high end specs like Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 820 processor, 4 GB of RAM, and 12-megapixel rear camera with dual-pixel sensors.

LG matched Samsung in the specs and design departments with the LG G5 by including a metal and glass design but is also betting on standing apart from its rival by maintaining a user replaceable battery and packing in 16-megapixel and 8-megapixel cameras on the rear of the device, in addition to an 8-megapixel front-facing shooter.

The Samsung Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, and LG G5 have scored early high marks in the camera department but former smartphone king, HTC doesn't seem too impressed and is confident that its upcoming HTC One M10 will topple the Galaxy S7, S7 Edge and LG G5.

"We can confidently say that HTC will have a very, very compelling camera experience. We're making this comment after we've seen what's going on in the market," said HTC CFO Chialin Chang in an interview with CNET.

While HTC wouldn't mention the HTC One M10 by name, it's been widely reported that the smartphone would address camera complaints from last year's flagship HTC One M9 by using an improved 12-megapixel UltraPixel camera on the rear of the device.

Recent reports have also suggested that HTC may try to undercut the starting price of the Samsung Galaxy S7 and LG G5, which both include 32 GB of internal storage, by offering consumers a less expensive 16 GB option HTC One M10. Potential HTC One M10 owners shouldn't worry about the low internal storage, as the smartphone will feature a microSD expansion slot to further increase its space.

HTC is rumored to make the HTC One M10 official at an event in April. As always, we'll keep you posted on any new details regarding the smartphone as they become available.

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Apple is filing a request to dismiss the court order that requires the company to lend the FBI a hand in breaking into the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino shooters, saying that it's a violation of the Constitution.

Using the All Writs Act of 1789, the authorities are pressuring Apple to comply with their demands, which involves creating a backdoor to bypass the iPhone's security measures and putting all other owners of a similar device at risk. Apple CEO Tim Cook says it would set a "dangerous precedent" should the company give in.

According to Apple, forcing the company to cooperate by using the All Writs Act is a misapplication of the 227-year-old law.

"Apple strongly supports, and will continue to support, the efforts of law enforcement in pursuing justice against terrorists and other criminals  just as it has in this case and others. But the unprecedented order requested by the government finds no support in law and would violate the Constitution," Apple says (PDF).

However, FBI Director James Comey says that the tool the investigators want Apple to build is going to be used on only one iPhone, noting that they don't want to "break anyone's encryption" or "set a master key loose on the land."

Apple already explained the consequences of building a security-breaking tool, noting that it could fall into the wrong hands and that "there is no way to guarantee such control" despite the authorities' statement.

"The government suggests this tool could only be used once, on one phone. But that's simply not true. Once created, the technique could be used over and over again, on any number of devices," Cook says.

Apple is right in this case, as numerous officials have publicly expressed their intentions to take advantage of the software to unlock other devices that were acquired from other similar incidents.

In the same vein, Apple is also looking into using its First Amendment rights to oppose the government's use  or misuse, as Apple claims  of the All Writs Act.

The Department of Justice suggests that it's only a simple and isolated task.

"Compliance with the order would not require inordinate effort. Modifying an operating system  which is essentially writing software code in a discrete and limited manner  is not an unreasonable burden for a company that writes software code as part of its regular business," the DOJ says.

The FBI is demanding Apple's cooperation because the iPhone is designed to be impossible to unlock by third parties and even the company itself, thus the request to develop a whole new iOS just for this purpose.

The iPhone is programmed to automatically erase any data after 10 incorrect entries of the passcode. It also imposes a delay between each entry and rejects electronic input and requires manual input.

If the government wins, then every investigative body even from overseas will approach Apple to give them the same treatment whenever a similar incident occurs, and they will no doubt cite this case to force the company into providing a backdoor.

In related news, Apple has some pretty powerful supporters against the government, as Amazon, Facebook, Google and Microsoft are going to stand with the Cupertino brand in court.

Considering these details, Apple is likely going to come out on top over the FBI, but it's definitely going to be a tough journey for the company.

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A United States Appeals Court has overturned Friday a $120 million verdict versus Samsung. The court has ruled that the South Korea-based company did not infringe Apple's patents.

Reuters reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington said that Samsung had not infringed the "quick links" patent owned by Apple. The court likewise said that the two other patents on the slide-to-unlock and auto-correct functionalities of iPhone were not valid. On top of that, the court said that Apple was responsible for infringing a Samsung patent.

The three judges of the Federal Circuit all disagreed with the findings of the lower court in opposition to Samsung. The Federal Circuit is the top court of the United States focusing on legal battles related to patents.

The ruling of the Federal Circuit goes against the decision made by a federal court in San Jose, California back in 2014. The court ordered Samsung to pay $119.6 million for using patented technology of Apple without the latter's authorization.

Samsung says in its official statement that the court's decision is a "win for consumer choice and puts competition where it belongs  in the marketplace, not in the courtroom."

It adds that the decision is proof that Samsung did not infringe "any of Apple's patents."

Apple's spokeswoman, however, refused to provide a comment regarding the court's decision when asked by Reuters.

In December last year, Samsung was also directed to pay Apple $548.2 million. Samsung, however, has made an appeal to the Supreme Court. The appeal originated from another patent case, in which Samsung was again found to have infringed on patents belonging to Apple.

Bradley Hulbert, a patent lawyer who is based in Chicago, believes that the court's decision implies that Apple "is not invincible and that alternative operating systems are here to stay."

Michael Carrier, a professor at Rutgers Law School, told Reuters that the decision of the Appeals Court demonstrates that the patent wars are not worth it.

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Anonymous reveal personal details of a Miami police officer who doxed an innocent woman

TruthSec, a small hacking group claiming to be a part of the online hacktivist group, Anonymous, came out in support of an innocent woman who was doxed by a Miami police officer, by releasing his private information online through social media.

Last month, a Miami resident, Claudia Castillo noticed a cop speeding down the freeway. Without any hesitation, she went in pursuit of the cop and asked him to slow down. The cop apologized for his actions, but the incident was recorded and released to the US media via CBS.

By the looks of it, Mr. Fonticella, the cop who apologized had no issues with Castillo. However, few days after the incident went public, Javier Ortiz, an another Miami police officer and the local leader of the Miami FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) union published Castillos contact info, including telephone and email. Ortiz invited his followers to feel free to call her and also posted pictures that allegedly showed her drinking while boating. Castillo reported to having received death threats post this incident.

https://youtu.be/ODa0PyYqM0g

The information was released via Ortizs Facebook account, and later the cop continued to Castillo via Twitter. The post was later removed by Facebook for violating the sites terms of service.

All this commotion had caught the attention of TruthSec. In direct response to the incident, TruthSec posted Ortizs personal information such as Ortizs home address, phone number, email address and, weirdly enough, his astrological sign (Sagittarius!) through Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. The group also released information about a local real estate agent they say is Ortizs girlfriend, as well as information about her relatives.

The hacktivists also urged people to call Ortiz, just like he urged his followers to harass Castillo, who did complain about threats she received via telephone and email soon after Ortizs Facebook post.

When the Miami New Times called Ortiz to know about the incident, his voicemail box was full. But in an email to them, he said that he is not being harassed much at all after the posts, adding that some of the information published isnt accurate.

https://youtu.be/1R37WUlXDOQ

The information is all wrong and Im not even in a relationship, Ortiz wrote. I hope that the people at the false addresses that theyre publishing arent being harassed.

In the end, there is a twist in the tale as both Castillo and Fonticella have had a history of bad driving. Things are not looking good for Fonticella as he is under investigation by the Internal Affairs Department following Castillos video. At the end of the day, it was TruthSec who gained popularity through the incident.

Doxing is becoming one of the easiest ways for hackers and other miscreants to get revenge in a widespread and public manner. Last week, someone posted 4,000 confidential records of police officers, lawyers and judges in Palm Beach County, a leak that is being blamed on Russian computer hackers.
Enable Pirate language in Facebook and see what the new Facebook reactions look like

The social networking giant, Facebook on February 25 introduced five new expressions of love, haha, wow, sad, and angry to its Like button, which users can click while responding to a post. However, the Verge reported that this new system translates the reactions to make them comprehensible to all its billions of users, including those who speak English (pirate). The company took the step of translating the reactions as they are aware that most of its users outside USA are not affluent with the English language.

In order to trigger the Pirate Reactions, users can simply change their language to English (Pirate) via settings. Once the setting is changed, then the reactions will get updated to shiver me timbers instead of a regular wow. On the top of your page, where Facebook usually asks users to update status Pirate mode will ask you to update your pludnerin. Event updates will be featured as looming grog fests and your home page transforms into home port.

Similarly, other reactions will also change when user selects the Pirate mode love becoming warms my cockles, haha turning into yo ho ho, angry to avast and sad to a slightly depressing feelin like takin a walk on the plank with a bottle o rum.

The California-based company has introduced the new expressions to study what most of the users want to see.

If someone uses a reaction, we will infer they want to see more of that type of post. In the beginning, it wont matter if someone likes, wows or sads a post. Over time we hope to learn how the different reactions should be weighted differently by News Feed to do a better job of showing everyone the stories they most want to see, Facebook said.

The addition of these new emojis will keep things interesting for all users. However, it still does not satisfy those individuals who have been desperately longing for a Dislike button. It could be possible that Facebook is taking its time before such a feature is introduced or wishes to stay clear of such a feature, considering how it can be used to spread negativity. Whether or not the dislike feature would make its way on Facebook, only time will tell. Till then, the users need to be content with pirate emojis through reactions.
Other than an Apple backdoor hack, FBI could use 3 other hacks on killers iPhone

According to hardware-security experts, there are at least three ways the FBI could try to remove information from the phone of San Bernardino killer Syed Rizwan Farook without asking Apple for assistance.

While neither of them are easy, as they are all time consuming and expensive, and at least two of them have the danger of physically damaging the phone and everything on it. However, one is commonly used by companies that reverse-engineer computer chips in search of patent infringements, as they are possible.

Julia Elvidge, president of Chipworks, a Canadian company that does patent analytics and forensics said that given the resources its almost always technically possible to reverse-engineer a product.

THREE HACKS

The first method uses tiny changes in radio frequency and power consumption as a phone is powered on and off. This helps in guessing the passcode.

The second method rearranges the phones counter so that after each attempt to unlock it, the security features internal counter is turned back to 1, tricking the phone into believing multiple attempts to unlock it have not been made.

However, the third method, which is the most aggressive, involves taking apart the chip where the cryptographic keys are stored so they can be read with an electronic scanning microscope.

Experts say that all are much easier said than done. Paul Kocher, president of Cryptography Research, a division of security firm Rambus which works on security for semiconductors, chips and IP products said that the main restrictions are their cost and time, and if you mess up, you destroy the chip.

COURT FIGHT

If courts ultimately makes the decision in favour of Apple wherein it is not required to create a back door or in other words a new operating system to get around a security feature in recent iPhones that automatically wipes out the data on the device if someone tries to hack its ID passcode, then law enforcement in such cases could find these alternatives necessary.

In a case that the FBI is playing out in public as well as the legal system, disputes that it has no other alternative to obtain information on the iPhone 5C used by Farook.

Apple has said such software would be too dangerous to create and that the presence of such software would pose a great threat of attack on the customers. In an open letter to customers, Apple said that it has made Apple engineers available to advise the FBI and offered our best ideas on a number of investigative options at their disposal, while choosing to not comment on other methods.

All the alternatives concentrate on breaching the physical phone, which is a risky method that nevertheless has been used in multiple cases. Elvidge said, for example, Chipworks helped the Canadian Transportation Safety Board read a chip from the flight control computer recovered from Swiss Air 111 crash.

Kocher said that the complete first step would be to go on eBay and buy dozens of the exact same phone to practice on, as the work is so accurate and difficult. This would let security workers to improve their methods before actually starting work on Farooks phone.

DELAYERING

The most physically challenging method is the chip attack. It involves getting to the layer where the cryptographic key is stored by actually shredding down the computer chips within the phone.

The first step is to find the key where it is stored. This could be done by going through the configuration on similar phones, perhaps by wiping them off in the process, recommends Kocher. Or the FBI may get in touch with other national security agencies that possibly have this expertise.

Another option would be to check for patent infringement by talking with companies that expertise in reverse-engineering chips. In general, these companies would mostly know where to look on an iPhone 5C for the codes, said Sergei Skorobogatov, a senior researcher and expert on hardware security analysis at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.

Once a chip was chosen, it would then in a procedure called de-processing be removed from the phone and polished down, micrometer by micrometer layer. The device that carries out the process is called a lapping machine.

Skorobogatov said that as the layers of silicon are detached, the chips transistors, as many as ten layers of them, are disclosed.

The transistors would then be read with a scanning electron microscope once in sight. At times, at this juncture possible to basically view which transistors are burned on or off, then use software to rebuild the binary data those on and offs signify, to locate the key, Skorobogatov said.

Or the circuitry itself could be altered using a focused ion beam to either persuade the chip to go into test mode or get it to dump its memory, giving up any codes that might be on it, Elvidge said.

This form of data extraction has been done by Skorobogatov himself.

Some time ago we helped one of E.U. government agencies develop a way for accessing on-chip data. They needed that for a car theft investigation but the car manufacturer refused to cooperate, he said.

Even though his team at Cambridge couldnt remove the actual data as they didnt have permission to do so, we performed the security research and provided full training for their engineers so that they could repeat the technique themselves.

FBI DOCUMENTS

It is not known if the FBI has tried any of these alternate techniques. The agency has refused to provide detailed information to the public on what measures the examiners have taken, short of demanding Apples assistance.

Last week, court documents supporting the Justice Departments request were filed, Christopher Pluhar, an FBI computer forensic examiner who is involved in the investigation, said only that he had explored other means of obtaining this information with employees of Apple and with technical experts at the FBI, and we have been unable to identify any other methods feasible for gaining access to the currently inaccessible data stored within thedevice.

The FBI would not basically want to take the chips apart to find code keys stored on them some argue, as it would also wipe off the proof. Stanley Goldman, a law professor and expert on criminal evidence at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles said that there is no legal reason to discard a method of data recovery since it would culminate in the destruction of the chip, as long as it did not harm the data on the chip.

It happens all the time when blood or DNA samples are destroyed during testing. There are tons of cases out there in which the government has been forced to use up evidence, Goldman said.

Given that theres a simpler way to get the information from Apple that wouldnt be putting the national security at risk, in such a scenario, a stronger argument would be that any recovery method, however small, has the capability of putting an end to all the data on the chip is too dangerous to the governments case, said Goldman.
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Haiti's diplomat Rodrigue welcomed the imposition of sanctions, although he stressed that more measures are needed to restore security in his country. | Read More
PEMANDU to begin labs for 'Big Fast Results'

Hyderabad, Feb 28 (INN): Moving forward with an aim to transform Andhra Pradesh into a high-income economy in an inclusive and sustainable manner,Malaysia's Performance Management and Delivery Unit (PEMANDU) will begin the 6-week lab sessions from 29th February. Chief Secretary S. P. Tucker will inaugurate the first lab session at MarriChanna Reddy Human Resource Development Institute, Jubilee Hills.



The pre-lab sessions conducted during January brought out key issues in the pre-primary, primary and the secondary levels in the education sector. Issues pertaining to MSME manufacturing units, Women SHGs, organised sector and the unorganised sector were also highlighted. Based on those key findings, the lab sessions aim to analyse, discuss and debate and bring out deliverable outcomes which can be implemented at the policy level.



Each week of the labs will discuss topics in areas of performance management, project delivery and monitoring related to public programmes, education and retail services. The first week aims to map out issues and problems and the next three weeks will focus on the problem solving and developing solutions. The key fourth and fifth week will bring out implementable solutions and plans.



The lab-sessions will be attended by officials from the education department, MSME manufacturing units and Women SHGs along with the stakeholders of the sectors. Invitation has also been sent to the private sector, NGOs and unorganised sector to participate in the labs.



Officials of Malaysia and Andhra Pradesh State Development Planning Society signed aMoA in December 2015 to assist the AP government in achieving speedy growth and development.



Andhra Pradesh's partnership with PEMANDU will emphasize on appropriate governance and institutional mechanisms in tune with contemporary needs and aspirations of the people that will help the state to achieve the goal of being the best state in the country by 2029 and the best destination in the world by 2050.









News Posted: 28 February, 2016








ANZ Banking Group has partnered with Sydney-based Honcho to fast-track customer small business registrations, as new boss Shayne Elliott drives the bank to work more closely with technology start-ups.

ANZ's managing director of corporate and commercial banking, Mark Hand, says ANZ is open to investing equity into fintech start-ups. It could establish a referral relationship with an online business lender, similar to the arrangement Westpac has with Prospa and Commonwealth Bank of Australia has with OnDeck.

"We have taken the opportunity to move decisively and adapt to the changing environment by building a simpler, better capitalised and more balanced bank.": ANZ chief executive Shayne Elliott. Credit:Josh Robenstone

After Mr Elliott said he wanted his legacy to be defined by digital banking and criticised ANZ's siloed approach to technological innovation in an interview with BOSS magazine earlier this month, Mr Hand said the senior management team at ANZ has decided the bank needs to work more closely with outsiders.

"It was obvious quite quickly we are not the right people to build some of this capability," he told Fairfax Media on Friday. "There are people out there far more agile, and it has become obvious to us we need to learn how to partner with organisations that can help us bring some capability to table for our customers and potential customers."
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has countered Labor's taunts that he is a prime minister without an agenda, saying the Coalition is "taking time" to consider its tax policy.

The tax battle will take centre stage again this week, with the opposition signalling its intention to pursue Mr Turnbull's perceived policy paralysis in Parliament.

On Sunday, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said that, after 904 days of Coalition government, the best Mr Turnbull could come with was a "plan to have a plan".

But Mr Turnbull, who spoke at length to former prime minister John Howard about negative gearing over the weekend, said his government was taking the time that the ALP did not to consider all the consequences of tinkering with the tax mix, particularly in relation to property, the nation's single biggest asset class.
The capacity of Victoria's desalination plant could be expanded by 50 billion litres a year if Melbourne's water storages continue to experience big falls recorded in recent years.

Melbourne is using 416 billion litres of water a year - the highest consumption in a decade.

A risk management framework developed by Melbourne's water businesses shows the city is entering the "action" zone that includes an order of water from the desalination plant and "augmentation decisions to maintain water security".

The risk management chart is one of the tools water companies use to provide advice to the state government on water supply security.
In an ideal world, we would not need to spend a red cent defending our country, on protecting its people, its commercial interests or its future prospects. But the real world is moving in the opposite direction. Nations are arming up, and the threats posed by powerful and ambitious states, by rogue states, non-states, terrorists and criminal enterprises cannot be ignored.

The latest Defence white paper describes the landscape of potential risks for Australia. It outlines practical moves and multibillion-dollar investments to modernise Defence's capability with new equipment and support services, and to ensure it is ready for the next decade.

None of what it suggests is inflammatory or genuinely contentious, although there is room to quibble. The long-term expenditure goal  an annual budget allocation for Defence equivalent to 2 per cent of gross domestic product by 2020-21  is an arbitrary figure, in our view. The priority should not be the size of the spending, but the ingenuity behind it.

As well, matters involving Defence expenditure tend to get hijacked by political imperatives, and it looks to be no different this time. With as much as $50 billion to be spent on 12 new submarines, and the Turnbull government preparing for an election later this year, the call is out to keep as much of that spending in Australia, specifically in South Australia. A jobs and industry policy has been stapled to a Defence strategy, when the real issue should be whether Australia is getting the best and most effective equipment and the most efficient return for its money.

One of the paper's key points is that Defence's capability plans (what it needs) have become "disconnected" from its strategy and budgetary resources. A lack of investment over the past decade has led, for example, to a "serious degradation" of IT and communications systems to the extent that not only have some been rendered obsolete, but Defence's daily operations, its interactions with foreign allies and partners, and its external communications are "inhibited". That is patently unacceptable and potentially dangerous for any Defence force.
The artist Yoko Ono, the widow of the late former Beatle John Lennon, has been released from a New York City hospital after being treated for the flu.

Her representative Elliott Mintz told the Associated Press on Saturday she has been discharged. On Friday, Mintz denied US media reports that Ono, 83, had suffered a possible stroke or heart attack, and said he understood she would be released from the hospital on Saturday.

Ono had called her doctor, who said her symptoms sounded like the flu, and advised her to go to the hospital as a precaution, Mintz said. He did not know if she admitted herself or was taken by ambulance.

Her career as an artist has spanned more than five decades. Last year, the Museum of Modern Art in New York marked her achievements with an exhibition of her early works showing how her ideas influenced the development of art in the city in the 1960s.
The campaign raised more than $200,000 and there is still more funding to come. The proceeds from comedian Tim Minchin's song, Come Home (Cardinal Pell), which reached No.1 on the Australian iTunes chart, have yet to be counted. Abuse victim Peter Blekniron holds his daughter while shaking the hand of fellow survivor Tim Lane before he leaves Ballarat. Credit: Nicole Oliver For a few survivors, including Gordon "Bushman Hilly" Hill, it is their first trip overseas. Mr Hill was an orphan at St Joseph's Home at Sebastopol between 1943 and 1959. He was raped and beaten by priests almost daily during his childhood. His body is rippled with the physical scars of his past. "We were the drones of St Joey's," Mr Hill said. "We didn't go to school. Instead, we did all the work around the orphanage. We didn't know our full names and we were just given a number. My number was 29 because that was my locker number." Abuse survivors Tony Warldey, Andrew Collins, Peter Blenkiron and Paul Auchettl in Rome. Credit:Melissa Cunningham

For Mr Hill this journey is about acknowledgement of the church's harrowing history of abuse of children. "I want them to acknowledge what they did to us as kids," he said. Cardinal Pell at the Vatican. Credit:AP Tony Wardley was abused from the age of six at three different schools in Ballarat in the late 1960s and early 1970s. "We wouldn't be here if it was just any old priest [presenting evidence]," Mr Wardley said. "George Pell has the power set the truth free, but he also has the power to change the future."

Two cousins abused at the hands of their uncle, paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale, will also front Cardinal Pell on Monday. David Ridsdale told the royal commission last year that in 1993, after disclosing to Cardinal Pell the sexual abuse he had suffered, the senior Catholic asked what it would take to keep him quiet. Cardinal Pell has denied claims he tried to bribe Mr Ridsdale. Cardinal Pell notoriously supported his uncle during his first court appearance for child sex crimes in 1993. Mr Ridsdale said the men had been floored by the groundswell of support. "The last 10 days have been the most extraordinary of my life," Mr Ridsdale said.

"The support is something I could have never imagined. The strength in numbers has seen a shift in the imbalance of power victims have faced with the church all their lives. We feel like people are finally listening to us." His cousin Dominic Ridsdale, who only recently went public about his abuse, said the group was in Rome to protect future generations of children. "As kids, our voices were never heard and we've been left crippled by this," he said. "We're not angry, we just want the truth and we want the world to take action so it never happens again. Children are our most precious and vulnerable people; they must have a voice." Peter Blenkiron was sexually abused by paedophile Christian Brother Edward Dowlan at St Patrick's College when he was 11.

He said it was time for the Catholic clergy to stop the denial. "It's time for change on so many levels, for all institutions that have a culture which has enabled these horrific crimes to take place," Mr Blenkiron said. Mr Blenkiron said he could still hear the echoes of the cheers from the hundreds of people who waved the bus load of survivors off from their home town in Ballarat. "There were so many people that had looks in their eyes ... they were people who have lost people they love who have died as a result of being abused," he said. "They were people who had been through it themselves. I can still hear the echoes of their voices in Rome saying, 'No more.' This journey is about stopping the premature deaths and putting in systems to keep future children safe, always, in all ways."
It's easy to see why so many year 12 students focus on achieving a rank of 90-plus. Schools love to publicise their results on their websites in newspaper advertisements, and on posters at tram stops and bus tops.

This is one of hundreds of questions posted each year on student forums, such as boredofstudies.org, about the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank. Students want tips on how to get over 90 and how their study scores can translate into a high ATAR.

Access all areas: ATAR is a number and a rank but very few courses require 90-plus. Credit:Matt Davidson

"Hey guys...So..Is it easy getting an ATAR above 90, even just 91?"

Many private and some government schools like to crow about how many of their students achieve an ATAR of 99 and above, and how many got scores of 90 and above.

A year 12 student on another forum wrote: "Selective school mentality: Under 95 ATAR, you are crap."

So much seems to ride on ATARs of 90 and above that students as well as their parents are almost conditioned to think that a high ranking is a sign of complete success.

The reality is that most students arrive at university with an ATAR of less than 90. It is a rank, and therefore only some students will get 90 and above. The ATAR shows a student's achievement in relation to other students.

It's also not a complete sign of "success". The ATAR may indicate whether students have had intensive tutoring, how well their school is resourced and how much family support they receive.
An Australian couple who used a surrogate in California to carry twins for them a decade ago told the inquiry their children were aware of this arrangement, and understood the reasons why. "It never was, nor never has been, a defining or really relevant aspect of the relationship we all have." The couple liken surrogacy to the way they pay people to babysit their children now. "We paid our surrogate to babysit our children before they were born," the parents are quoted in a submission to the inquiry. "Our surrogate termed herself 'their oven' and our children say 'we grew in our surrogate's stomach as mum's was broken'." But one person who was conceived by donor insemination in the early 1970s told the inquiry that surrogacy was similar to donor conception and adoption in that "a biological connection is severed". This person said they had been negatively affected by being donor conceived and warned there would be children born from surrogacy arrangements whose emotional and physical wellbeing would suffer as a result of their life being commoditised.

"I know that money exchanged hands ... when the sperm was obtained to conceive me," they wrote. "It disgusts me that my conception could be treated in this way, and that money was involved in order for me to exist. People are not for sale, but in this case I was." Survivors of adoption said children born via surrogacy, donor conceived or adopted shared deep feelings of abandonment, identity and genetic bewilderment and "being born specifically to be given away". "The consequences of being adopted for many are that they feel that they were traded as a powerless commodity, and can result in low self-esteem and a sense of rejection and worthlessness," Jo Fraser, secretary of the Association of Relinquishing Mothers, wrote in her submission. "Imagine how much this is exacerbated if the relinquishment, or trading, of the child is premeditated and carefully planned in fine detail?" But the former surrogate said surrogacy was not the same thing as adoption. "Surrogacy is the coming together of a team to produce something extraordinary," she writes. "Children born of surrogacy don't yearn for their 'birth mothers'.

"This has been shown by interviews with children born of surrogacy who have grown to be independent, well adjusted children who appreciate how they came to be and whose story of birth doesn't define who they are." Surrogacy experts including judges, lawyers, academics, and parent advocates, are calling on the Federal Government to make Australia's surrogacy laws consistent across all states and territories. Church groups want all forms of surrogacy outlawed in Australia, arguing it is unjust to children and exploitative of women who act as surrogates. Many submissions to the inquiry, including that from the Australian Association of Social Workers, warned that international commercial surrogacy can create problems for children later in life when they want to know about their cultural heritage and identity. Some surrogacy advocates believe surrogates here should be paid for carrying someone else's baby, as they are in certain overseas jurisdictions. They want the Government to introduce a regulated domestic compensated surrogacy system, which provides for thorough screening of all parties involved, a cap on payments, and enables any child born via surrogacy to access details of the arrangement when they turn 18. There are also calls for Medicare to cover assisted reproductive treatment for surrogacy arrangements, where there is a medical reason preventing a woman from carrying a baby to term.

Voices outside the womb Surrogate "That moment when a child is handed over to their true intended parents is an electric and natural moment. You are not 'giving up' a child. The child you have grown and birthed is simply being united with their real family." Same sex parents of four children born via commercial surrogacy arrangements in California "Each of our surrogates told us that they did not regard themselves as giving away a child of their own  they were bringing into the world a child that would otherwise never have existed. They breathed life into the dreams of an infertile couple, and created a human life from those dreams."

Heterosexual parents of twins born via commercial surrogacy arrangement in Mumbai because embryos never implanted in the woman's uterus "The drive to have children is overpowering. We looked into every possible way we could have children. The only way was international commercial surrogacy and we did it." Heterosexual parents of two children born via altruistic surrogacy in Australia after they lost a daughter at birth "We had 'Tummy Mummies' help 'bake our babies'. They both looked at it as babysitting for the nine months . . . One day [our children] will be old enough to understand the lengths we went to create our family, but for now they know they have 'Tummy Mummies' and that is their normal. We are very open about their creation and will continue to be." Donor conceived person
Placing Sydney's entire bus network in the hands of private operators could result in almost $500 million in savings over five years, a report commissioned by a transport lobby group estimates.

A renewed push from the Tourism and Transport Forum for private firms to expand their reach comes weeks after the acting Auditor-General found the privatisation of Sydney's ferries was justified, pointing to about $100 million in savings since 2012.

State-owned Sydney Buses carries the majority of the city's passengers. Credit:Brendan Esposito

In releasing the latest report, the forum's chief executive, Margy Osmond, said it made the case clear that private operators should be given the opportunity to competitively bid for the four contracts held by government-owned Sydney Buses.

"Our analysis indicates that there is the potential for up to half a billion dollars in savings over five years if Sydney Buses was run by a private operator," she said.
Former Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie has ruled out a tilt for Canberra, confirming his "determination" to see the LNP win the next state election.

Mr Bleijie had been approached by Queensland LNP figures and asked to consider running for pre-selection in the seat of Fisher, with Mal Brough confirming his decision to step down late last week.

Jarrod Bleijie has confirmed he will stay on as a Queensland state MP Credit:Glenn Hunt

But following the LNP State Council, Mr Bleijie announced he would be staying on as the member for Kawana.

"My priority is to the electorate of Kawana, my priority is to the people of Queensland to make sure that this do-nothing, say-nothing, know-nothing Annastacia Palaszczuk Government is not returned at the next election," he said.
A bottle shop attendant south of Brisbane has been hospitalised after a terrifying assault left him with a broken leg.

Police said the 26-year-old man was punched several times before his attacker stole two bottles of alcohol from the shelf of a Logan drive-through bottle shop on Chambers Flat Road.

A man wanted over an attack on a bottle shop worker in Logan was wearing wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with ???Modern Legend??? written on the back, black shorts, white shoes and a black bandana. Credit:QPS Media

They said the man, who was yet to be identified, walked into the drive-through about 10.15pm on Saturday before going behind the counter and assaulting the worker.

The Queenslander Tavern staffer was taken to hospital for treatment on a broken leg and a suspected broken nose.
Brisbane City Council states on its website that "statistics from the [west Brisbane] Moggill Koala Hospital show that 80 percent of koalas attacked by dogs die from their injuries" however dog owners in Brisbane were not required to restrain their dogs at night.

"Owners of properties greater than 2000m2 in these koala areas must ensure their dogs are denned or restrained at night or kept in a proper enclosure at all times if the amendment is adopted" said the council's website in mid-February.

Redland City Council introduced "koala safe areas" in 2007 but wants to expand them in 2016. Credit:Penny Stephens

Redland City Council introduced "koala safe areas" in 2007 but hopes to expand those areas in 2016.

A Queensland council has proposed stricter laws for dog owners in an effort to protect koala populations.

Other councils across southeast Queensland including Ipswich, Gold Coast, Logan, Sunshine Coast and Moreton Bay suggested dog owners keep dogs restrained at night but had not introduced laws on the matter.

Redland City Council mayor Karen Williams said the only negative feedback she had received on current laws was from owners of "guard dogs" who did not want to tie their dogs up at night or bring them inside.

She said koalas often needed to pass through residential backyards at night where they faced risks of dog attack.

The five proposed "koala safe area" expansions included parts of Capalaba, Birkdale, Thorneside and Thornlands as well as all three towns on northern Stradbroke Island (Point Lookout, Amity Point and Dunwich).

The proposal was open for feedback until March 15.
Lord mayor Robert Doyle is being offered a campaign donation of hundreds of thousands of dollars by one of his fellow councillors in return for the deputy lord mayor nomination at Town Hall elections.

Ken Ong, the council's chair of planning, recently increased his sizeable wealth by selling a major stake in a chain of childcare centres he owns with his wife for at least $9 million.

Lord mayor Robert Doyle controls five of the 11 positions at Town Hall.

Cr Ong, a Liberal Party member like Cr Doyle, has told the lord mayor he wants to run as his deputy at elections in October.

In return for the position, Cr Ong said he was willing to offer a large campaign donation - with party members and Town Hall sources saying about $200,000 had been discussed.
Do you need to wear a cape when performing a citizen's arrest?

Sensible shoes are more of a priority, and capes are a hazard. Imagine if you were chasing through a circling door. Someone's going to end up strangled and what began as a simple good guy chasing down a naughty guy ends in more tears than necessary.

It turns out anyone can make a citizen's arrest.

So jeans and sneakers and a citizenship certificate is all I need?

Technically, you don't have to be a citizen. The most important thing is to have a good reason to take the law into your own hands. The practice of citizen's arrest dates back to medieval England when sheriffs encouraged ordinary people to help bring law breakers into custody.
A neo-Nazi group is again bombarding Perth homes with anti-Islamic propaganda following a letterbox blitzkrieg earlier in the month to recruit new members.

WAtoday revealed the Perth chapter of Aryan Nations Australia had been dropping flyers in High Wycombe, Maylands, Belmont and Girrawheen in an attempt to beef up its membership.

The neo-Nazi newsletter that popped up in letterbox at a Forrestfield home over the weekend.

The issue was highlighted on social media site Reddit and alarmed Kalamunda Shire president Andrew Waddell, who was at the time unaware of the letter drop.

"I personally haven't seen the flyers, but anything that promotes hate speech and violence is not welcome," he said.
A convoy of humanitarian aid waits in Damascus before making its way into the government besieged rebel-held towns of Madaya, al-Zabadani and al-Moadhamiya. Credit:AP "Meanwhile, the UN is delivering billions of dollars of aid to regime-controlled areas. By allowing the regime to veto aid to civilians in areas outside its control, you have allowed the UN to become a political tool of the war." By some counts, the regime turned down as many as nine of every 10 UN requests for permission to dispatch humanitarian convoys to besieged or "hard to reach" communities in Syria during 2015. And Syrian aid agencies claim that the UN estimate of the civilian numbers under siege  about 400,000  underestimates the real figure by about half. This undated photo was one of the images that brought attention to the plight of Madaya's citizens. All major parties to the conflict stand accused of using the tactic of siege and starvation, but the regime does it much more than others  by the count of aid workers, in early February 49 communities were besieged by the regime; one by Islamic State; and two by other Islamist rebel fighters.

Writing in Foreign Affairs, the American public health expert and critical care paediatrician Annie Sparrow accuses Damascus of continually obstructing relief  "asserting sovereignty at the diplomatic level while targeting doctors, hospitals, ambulances and convoys on the ground. Not only does the government deny humanitarian workers access to suffering populations, it denies that it is denying access." A convoy containing food, medical items, blankets and other materials being delivered in January. Credit:Uncredited In almost every one of our towns, we haven't seen a single loaf of bread in over a year. Letter from Syrian humanitarian workers to UN official. Sparrow, an assistant professor at Mount Sinai Hospital's school of medicine in New York, analyses successive drafts of the UN's 2016 Humanitarian Response Plan for Syria to argue that the UN has surrendered its neutrality and lost sight of humanitarian principles; and instead, gives greater priority to its relationship with a government intent on violating them. In the city of Deir al-Zor, she writes, OCHA needed regime permission for humanitarian access to a population of about 200,000 who were under siege by IS, but the government rarely grants permission.

On Wednesday, OCHA claimed a breakthrough with a successful airdrop of 21 tonnes of aid into Deir al-Zor  but it was not clear if the cargo had been collected by staff of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, as intended by OCHA; by regime forces who still control the airport; or by the IS fighters laying siege to the city. Sparrow makes the point that Madaya is less than an hour's drive from Damascus but between July 1, 2015, and January 12, 2016, OCHA could arrange just a single convoy to it, which carried food aid that had passed its use-by date. The 175,000 civilians of Duma, just 16 kilometres from the Four Seasons Hotel where senior OCHA officials were based in Damascus, had been under siege for more than three years  but had last received a humanitarian delivery about six months ago. Sparrow writes: "Between January 1 and August 31, 2015, UN agencies reached an average of 4 per cent of the civilians in besieged areas [about 16,500 people] each month with health assistance; 0.6 per cent [roughly 2500 people] with food; and less that 0.1 per cent [fewer than 500 people] with non-food items such as tents, blankets and soap." Explaining that when OCHA finished drafting the 2016 Humanitarian Response Plan, it was then taken to the "Syrian government, which revised the narrative, the budget and the programming", Sparrow says that OCHA acquiesced and edited the document accordingly, presenting a sanitised document on December 7, 2015, with a letter in which it claimed "the document's credibility and integrity had been preserved".

"The revisions resulted in the removal of all references to conflict and hostilities," she writes. "According to the final [document], there is no war in Syria, only a crisis and insecurity; which, incidentally, is not the government's fault. "Once the Syrian government was finished [editing], there were no longer any civilians under siege or even besieged areas, only [a reference to] 'locations listed under UN Security Council Resolutions 2139, 2165 and 2191'. This is an interesting turn of phrase, given that all these resolutions specifically state that the deliberate starvation of civilians by siege is a war crime under international law." Replying to the Syrian aid workers' letter, OCHA chief O'Brien says: "I can assure you that the UN is neither too close to any party nor acting in such a way to encourage the use of siege tactics. It is our duty to act impartially, neutrally and independently, and to have contact with all parties to negotiate unimpeded and safe access to those who are vulnerable and in need, regardless of how or why their need arises." Recalling repeated UN calls for an end to the sieges and the death of more 80 of their humanitarian worker colleagues, O'Brien reminded them of the precariousness of their own daily existences  a warning that could politely be described as redundant. "[We] have taken serious and repeated risks to reach people in need, in some cases coming under direct fire from parties to the conflict or suffering the ultimate price, selflessly serving others  this has not and will not deter [us] from [our] mission."
So far, so good: thats the prognosis for the interim profit-reporting season as it heads into the final stretch. More than half of companies have beaten market expectations and, collectively, suggested the bears got too excited earlier this year.

Here are three recent profit results or earnings upgrades that caught my attention:

1. Silver Chef

The hospitality equipment financier beat market expectations for the first half of FY16. Revenue rose 21 per cent to $100 million over the same period last year, and net profit leapt 45 per cent to $10.3 million. Silver Chef jumped 10 per cent on the result.

The growth is somewhat tempered by accounting changes that have made profit comparisons harder at Silver Chef. But it was still a cracking result. The asset base of the GoGetta business, which rents equipment to industries outside of hospitality, grew by 36 per cent and should provide good earnings momentum in the next 12 months.

The hospitality asset base grew 15 per cent, which was ahead of the companys expectations. Silver Chef has a good mix: the more mature hospitality financing business that is still growing at double-digit rates, and the faster-growing GoGetta business that is acquiring assets.

The main risk is rising funding costs: Silver Chef locks in pricing with customers and has mostly variable funding costs. But significant margin deterioration from higher funding costs in the next few years seems unlikely given expected interest-rate settings.

Silver Chef expects continued strong growth in the GoGetta lending book as it builds market share in the transportation and light commercial sectors. It is also seeing encouraging growth in the hospitality sector and potential to grow faster than the industry average as it takes market share.

Two broking firms that cover Silver Chef have a hold recommendation and three have a hold. A median price target of $9, based on this small consensus, suggests the company is fully valued at the current price of $9.40. Macquarie Equities Research has a 12-month target of $10.11 and upgraded its recommendation this week to outperform. Stick with the bulls on this one.

Chart 1: Silver Chef

Source: The Bull

2. Austal

The ship builder was smashed late last year after announcing schedule and margin pressure on the Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), of which Austal is the prime contractor. On some broker estimates, the lower margins were worth around $10 million in lost earnings.

Austal, featured in this column in April 2015, had rallied from $1.84 then to a 52-week high of $2.86. The LCS margin shock saw the stock plunge to 98 cents before recovering to $1.29.

The extent of the sell-off looks overdone given Austals long-term prospects. It reported underlying earnings of $41.8 million for the first half of FY16, down 9 per cent on the same period last year. US shipbuilding margins of 5.5 per cent met market expectations.

Although disappointing, the margin news does not affect Austals long-term prospects, which were outlined in my April column for The Bull. I wrote: Austal products are creating higher interest in the US and internationally. Winning contracts from the US Navy takes great skill and once secured, typically leads to significant recurring work in maintenance and vessel upgrades.

The prospect of recurring, annuity-style maintenance work appeals, as does Austals potential to secure a second Navy as a client in coming years.

Three broking firms that cover Austal have a buy recommendation and the median price target is $2. Never read too much into a small consensus of analyst forecasts, but there is enough to suggest the market has over-reacted to Austals bad news given the latest interim profit result.

As an occasionally volatile small-cap stock, Austal suits experienced investors who can tolerate higher risk and hold it for 3-5 years, depending on price.

Chart 2: Austal

Source: The Bull

3. Nufarm

The producer and distributor of crop-protection products soared from a 52-week low of $6.20 to a high of $8.86 as the market re-rated its turnaround prospects. Then it fell to $6.81 this year amid the market sell-off and as profit-takers moved in.

Pleasingly, Nufarm upgraded it earnings guidance this week as part of a portfolio review: it expects underlying earnings (EBIT) growth of 8-13 per cent after previously expecting a flat outcome  a good result given challenges in its key market of Brazil. The shares jumped almost 5 per cent on the news. More will be known when Nufarm releases its full half-year results on March 23.

I like the look of Nufarm. It is always a good sign when companies outperform in tough market conditions, for it shows management is capable of growing profits in up and down markets and positioning the business for stronger growth when headwinds turn into tailwinds.

Significant corporate restructuring over the past few years has made Nufarm leaner, more agile and focused. It is clearly a well-run business.

Nufarm has a challenging outlook as the slowdown in emerging-market economies weighs on demand for its crop-protection products in the short term. But the long-term story of a rising global population and boom in middle-class consumption in emerging markets is strongly intact.

Crop-protection products that boost food productivity will be in stronger demand and Nufarm looks superbly positioned to supply them over the coming decade.

Chart 3: Nufarm

Source: The Bull

>> BACK TO THE NEWSLETTER: Click here to read other articles from this weeks newsletter

Tony Featherstone is a former managing editor of BRW and Shares magazines. This column does not imply any stock recommendations or offer financial advice. Readers should do further research of their own or talk to their adviser before acting on themes in this article. All prices and analysis at February 25, 2016.


Jonathon Feil, Morgans

BUY RECOMMENDATIONS

Sundance Energy Australia (SEA)

Company shares have been under pressure following considerable weakness in the oil and gas space. The company is taking prudent steps in the current oil price environment to reduce costs, with all-in costs of between $US10.50 to $US12.50 a barrel. The price fall looks like an over-reaction, as funds have been forced to sell in response to market capitalisation falling below $50 million.

Australian Vintage (AVG)

I believe the shift away from bulk wine sales to branded wine sales, debt reductions, the recent free trade agreements with China and the success of Treasury Wine Estates will be positive for AVGs share price. The key thing is the continuing execution of its transformational strategy like that of TWE.

HOLD RECOMMENDATIONS

Lucapa Diamond Company (LOM)

The stock enjoyed a healthy rise recently on the back of a 404 carat diamond find. At this stage, weve been happy to take some profit on the news because the stock has a tendency to settle as investors await further discoveries. We will eagerly await further discoveries at mining blocks 6 and 8 and continuing success in chasing substantial pipe networks.

Brambles (BXB)

Overall, a solid result, but more for the upgraded guidance than the result itself. Underlying EBIT growth of 10 per cent to US$474 million was in line with expectations. The pallets business division exceeded expectations, but investors must be mindful of the currency benefit.

SELL RECOMMENDATIONS

Aurizon Holdings (AZJ)

First half 2016 underlying EBIT was down 17 per cent on the prior corresponding period. The rail freight operator may not meet its margin target this year and we believe future targets are unlikely to be achieved. We believe the business outlook is cloudy, so were happy to be a seller.

Ansell (ANN)

This rubber gloves and condom company has enjoyed a nice 20 per cent bounce since posting below consensus results. Fiscal year 2016 guidance was downgraded by about 10 per cent. We conclude lower profit is due to weaker emerging markets and variations in short term operations.



Warwick Grigor, Far East Capital

BUY RECOMMENDATIONS

Beadell Resources (BDR)

A new board and management team has been appointed to address an extended period of underperformance. The market has welcomed the new team, and the rising gold price is a good backdrop for a classic turnaround scenario. A strong breakout from the downtrend provides the final tick. Better times ahead for this Brazilian gold producer.

Red River Resources (RVR)

Zinc is enjoying a favourable demand and supply equation, so it makes sense to have a zinc play. RVR looks a standout due to minimal capital expenditure of $18 million  plus working capital  required to bring the Thalanga zinc project back on stream, rather than spend more than $100 million on a new plant. It will take six months to recommission with sufficient resources for a five year life, but first it needs to secure finance. Theres great exploration potential due to extensive land holdings over the Mt Windsor Belt. New technology enables exploration beneath the surface for the first time.

HOLD RECOMMENDATIONS

Orinoco Gold (OGX)

Development of the high grade Cascavel gold mine is continuing. A specialist mining fund is doing due diligence, with a view to making a substantial investment. Irrespective of this possibility, we should see good gold production soon. I own shares and options in the company.

Lucapa Diamond Company (LOM)

LOM recently unearthed a 404 carat diamond  a rare find. Diamond production has continued to yield impressive and high value stones. This has implications for the quality of the kimberlite pipe, which is undergoing confirmation drilling. Its been a long journey, but we believe a re-rating is imminent. Keep holding to potentially maximise value. I own shares and options in the company.

SELL RECOMMENDATIONS

Australian Pacific Coal (AQC)

Nathan Tinkler recently resigned as managing director. The company has done a deal with the Dartbrook coal mine in the Hunter Valley. In my view, the thermal coal market has a very uncertain future. With a market capitalisation of more than $70 million, its difficult to see value.

Paringa Resources (PNL)

PNL has performed well in a hostile coal environment. While this is a credit to non-executive chairman Ian Middlemas, it flies in the face of coal sector dynamics. The Obama Administration is committed to blocking thermal coal power station developments, providing yet another headwind for the company. Its too early to be calling a turnaround, so the stock should be avoided for now.



Matthew Litchfield, PhillipCapital

BUY RECOMMENDATIONS

Ramsay Health Care (RHC)

A recent price correction leaves the private hospital operator at attractive entry prices. Ramsay enjoys a dominant position in private hospitals, offering growth yet defensive earnings. Favorable trends, such as an ageing population, also provide a tailwind.

G8 Education (GEM)

According to G8s recent report, net profit after tax increased 68 per cent to $88.6 million for the 12 months to December 2015. The final dividend was 6 cents. This is a positive result for the childcare provider and we see further opportunities for it to make well priced acquisitions into the future.

HOLD RECOMMENDATIONS

Brambles (BXB)

Recently posted a solid half year report and our investment outlook remains positive. The highlight for us is the growing momentum in the US, which contributed to a 17.2 per cent return on capital. BXB is also looking to expand into big data by embedding sensors, which can track deliveries and provide valuable data in real time. This should be positive, but the price is close to our fair valuation.

Transurban (TCL)

The toll road owner and operator reported strong half year results earlier in February. Dividends are also attractive. The share price has risen after a recent market pullback. Retain this infrastructure stock.

SELL RECOMMENDATIONS

Medibank Private (MPL)

Half year net profit after tax rose more than 50 per cent to $227 million. Its been a good defensive stock since its IPO in November 2014. However, investors looking for more capital appreciation may wish to reduce MPL holdings by switching to growth stocks.

Incitec Pivot (IPL)

The commercial explosives market faces headwinds due to lower commodity prices. Consequently, this stock has underperformed the market so far in 2016. The stock is overvalued at these levels, according to our research. It may be a good time to look at other sectors.

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Please note that TheBull.com.au simply publishes broker recommendations on this page. The publication of these recommendations does not in any way constitute a recommendation on the part of TheBull.com.au. You should seek professional advice before making any investment decisions.
Hillary Clinton moved one step closer to closing the door on Sen. Bernie Sanderss insurgent presidential campaign Saturday night with a massive 53-point win over Sanders in the South Carolina Democratic primary, 76 percent to 23 percent.

Clinton owed much of her victory Saturday to minority voters in South Carolina, where she won African Americans by 68 points, 84 percent to 16 percent, including 96 percent of African-American voters over 65 who went for the former Secretary of State almost unanimously.

At her victory party in Columbia, S.C., Clinton told supporters, You sent a message that when we stand together there is no barrier too big to break, she said. Tomorrow this campaign goes national. We are not taking anything, and were not taking anyone, for granted.

Perhaps sensing the blowout coming for him, Sanders had moved on to Texas Saturday morning by the time South Carolina voting began. Shortly after the polls closed, the Sanders campaign released a written statement declaring that the race is only just beginning, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. Our grassroots political revolution is growing state by state, and we wont stop now, Sanders said.

Saturday marked a major reversal of fortunes for Clinton, who lost the South Carolina primary to Barack Obama by a two-to-one margin in 2008 and lost this years New Hampshire primary to Sanders by 20 points just three weeks ago.

The Clinton campaign now hopes to use the South Carolina showing to propel Clinton to even larger victories in Super Tuesday states like Georgia, Alabama, and Texas, which are not only rich in delegates, but also have diverse electorates that look less like mostly-white Iowa and New Hampshire and more like the one in South Carolina, where African Americans made up a majority of Democratic primary voters.

Knowing she could change the message to the Sanders campaign from Im winning to Youre dead, Clinton never stopped campaigning in South Carolina, despite polls that showed her anywhere from 20 to 50 points ahead of Sanders there. When she wasnt in the Palmetto State, Clinton was in other Super Tuesday states, like Georgia, where she now stands to run up the score against Sanders, as well as the number of delegates shell collect in the proportional allocation system Democrats adopted for 2016.

At a rally Friday at Atlantas City Hall, Clinton described her leadership as a way to continue the legacy of Barack Obama, who remains overwhelmingly popular with Democrats in Georgia. I want to build on and secure the progress President Obama has made and take it even further, Clinton told supporters there.

That sounded good to Triana Arnold-James, an Army veteran and the current Mrs. Georgia, who stood at the Clinton rally complete with pageant sash and tiara. Arnold-James pointed to the GOP debate the night before as evidence that Clinton is the woman for the job of president. I just saw Rubio and Cruz attacking Trump, who I call Hashtag Angry White Man, she said. And that convinced me that we need to keep moving forward instead of going backward. And I believe Hillary will take us forward.

In her speech, Clinton also made a direct appeal to issues traditionally important to the African-American community, particularly those in the South, like civil rights, voting rights, and combatting gun violence.

But Clinton's work remains unfinished when it comes to uniting African Americans behind her, particularly young black voters who have mobilized behind the Black Lives Matter movement and say they still haven't heard enough from Clinton to convince them shes committed to their cause. Even at her rally in Atlanta, it was clear the Clinton campaign is struggling to receive and respond to the message.

When Ashonda Husbands, an 18-year-old student at Georgia State University, wrote Black Lives Matter on the back of a Ready 4 Hillary poster the campaign gave her on the way into the event, she said a uniformed officer removed her from the rally before Clinton spoke. Her friend, Meagan Mwanda, who is also a student ay Georgia State, wrote, I am not a super-predator on a piece of typing paper and was also taken out. Both young women said they were surprised and disappointed.

This is an issue Im concerned about and want to have a clear understanding of how the candidates feel about it, Husbands said. I think its pretty clear.

But even Husbands and Mwanda said theyd still consider voting for Clinton and on Saturday, Clintons hold on the Democratic nomination began to look so secure her message had moved noticeably from primary to general election voters.

Despite what you hear, we dont need to make America great again, she said, referring to the the slogan of the Donald Trump campaign that she could be facing in November. America has never stopped being great.
A month ago I was being introduced for the public presentation of my neuroscience PhD defense. My mentor, Giulio Tononi, noted that it is remarkable now that there are places, including his own lab, where a young scientist can now pursue a career studying consciousness.

After all, for nearly a century, scientific work on consciousness was considered too strange, too weird, too philosophical, to be real science. It used to be that to study consciousness as a scientist you needed the level of immunity afforded not only by tenure, but also a Nobel Prize.

Indeed, the contemporary field was inaugurated in 1990 by Francis Crick (Nobel-Prize-winning co-discoverer of DNA) and Christof Koch. Together, they published the paper Toward a Neurobiological Theory of Consciousness, which argued that the time was ripe to scientifically investigate consciousness. In a genius move of diplomacy, they redirected the goal of the investigation to be merely a description of the neural correlates of consciousness (or NCC). Leave aside philosophical positions, they advocated, and concentrated on finding what neural events correlate to consciousness.

After 25 years its finally verging on mainstream. When I attended the annual conference in 2010 for the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness (the ASSC) it had barely 300 attendants. Last July it was held in Paris and it had doubled in size to over 600 people, so that at the end of the conference there were enough drunken scientists to take over a significant portion of a bank of the Seine and confuse the tourists with talk of consciousness as the sun set.

The fruits of the field are plenty. For instance, there is now an agreed-upon definition of consciousness: its the experiential world of sensations and thoughts you wake up to in the morning, and its what disappears when you fall into a deep dreamless sleep. That is, consciousness as used in the literature now does not mean meta-cognition or self-consciousness or language use or rationality or any of the things its been conflated with in the past.

Like many fields, it begins with this working definition and then becomes more precise as it goes along. This communal reference is just one instance of the fields greatest achievement, which is the development of a useful shared argot between scientists and philosophers. Scientists who work on consciousness now know what qualia means (the quality of experience, such as the redness of red) and can often recite a host of philosophical thought experiments, and philosophers of mind now know the difference between fMRI and EEG and can discuss details of experimental design.

However, there has been less progress in finding a single neural correlate for consciousness. This is not just because of the coarseness of our still-primitive neuroimaging techniques, but also the challenge of interpreting neural activity.

One problem is that consciousness may not be localized to any particular area, and much of the contemporary methodological tools of neuroscience have an implicit design for studying localization. Additionally, no matter how many theoretical sandbags you stack up to try to protect your supposedly philosophically-neutral endeavor, theoretical and foundational questions about consciousness always seem to seep back in through the cracks, reminding us that there is an ocean out there and we are still on the shore.

For instance, the big issue at the latest ASSC conference was how to measure the neural correlates of consciousness separately from the neural correlates of reportability. Until now, researchers have generally relied on a participants immediate introspection to track if the participant was aware of a change in his or her perception. If the Necker cube is facing toward you, click the right mouse button. If it flips to be facing away from you, click the left. The problem is that every time we probe consciousness we are forcing a report from someone, so then how can we tell the difference between report and consciousness?

In quantum physics the very act of observation changes the phenomenon that is observedin consciousness research, the very act of reporting the phenomenon may change its neural signature. Or, farther out along the same track of thought, consider that we are aware of much more than we can report at any one time. This fact, given its academic name by the philosopher Ned Block, is referred to as phenomenological consciousness overflows consciousness. So while we are constantly immersed in a lush world of sensations that contain information about locations, color, meaning, motion, and so on down a very long list, we can only briefly pick out and summarize small parts of it at any one time. Our cups runneth over.

Its often these types of abstract knots that cause eliminativists (perhaps the most notable being the philosopher Dan Dennett) to throw up their hands and declare that consciousness simply must be an illusion. But on further inspection most eliminativist claims end up eating their own tails: after all, an illusion is when something appears different than the reality, but in the domain of consciousness the appearance is the reality. Without going to such extremes and embracing such a counter-intuitive conclusion that shuts down the research entirely, theres been the rise of a new scientific approach to consciousness.

Bees, octopuses, the artificial neural networks driving around cars nowthese are all systems, some biological, some engineered, which we dont actually know are conscious or not. Is there anything its like to be a self-driving car? Imagine a conscious-o-meter that you could point at each of those things and it would tell you both the level and content of consciousness.

At the cutting edge of consciousness research people are asking: how would such a hypothetical conscious-o-meter make its decision? This is the search for a mathematical measure of consciousness (or MMC). The field is built on the hope that, like the rest of nature, the book of consciousness is written in the language of mathematics.

For example, consider that in the search for the NCC, the original hypothesis for the correlates was cortical neurons oscillating around the 40-70 Hertz frequency (what neuroscientists call the gamma band). It was given by Francis Crick and Christof Koch in their 1990 paper and purposefully acted as a simplistic but useful starting point. The analogous hypothesis in the search for a MMC is that if a system passes a certain level of complexity it becomes conscious. Thats almost certainly not true (just like the 40-70 Hz oscillations almost certainly isnt true) but its a definable starting point. The proposed measures grow in sophistication from there, drawing from computational complexity theory, information theory, and the latest in causal analysis.

Whats so new about this latest line of research is its focus on formalism, which is why physicists, like Max Tegmark, and computer scientists, like Scott Aaronson, are participating in the field. Formalism also helps clear up the hand-wavy notions of information or processing or representation that get thrown around when talking about consciousness, and often fool people into thinking that they have some obvious answer to its mystery.

Ultimately, the search for a MMC proceeds by asking: what properties should a mathematical measure of consciousness actually capture? A good method is to start with the properties of our own experience and note that it has certain properties, such as always being unified (you are one person experiencing one subjective world). These are good properties for a MMC to be sensitive to.

Its this reasoning that led to the development of what is arguably the leading measure of the field, called Integrated Information Theory (or IIT). Originally conceived by neuroscientist Giulio Tononi around the turn of the millennium, it has since been updated several times to take into account theoretical and mathematical advances. During my time as a PhD I was part of the team of theorists, led by Tononi, that developed its latest incarnation. In its updated form, IIT says that its not actually the information (as traditionally conceived) in a system that matters, but rather whether the systems causal structure reflects essential properties of consciousness.

For example, does the system form a causal structure that is highly integrated? This could account for the fact that consciousness is always a unified experience. Do the parts of the system all have distinct causal roles, and act in combination to produce effects? This might account for how our experiences, while being unified, are at the same time composed of all different sorts of sensations and thoughts bound together.

Note that were not just talking about brains here. Rather, the mathematical correlates of consciousness are purposefully substrate-neutral. Theres no magical fairy dust in neurons that grants them consciousness, and, since many of the proposed measures could be just as easily be applied to systems that are not the brain (such as computers or communication networks) it suggests that consciousness may not be confined solely to the biological domain.

Historically, consciousness has been a subject of recurrent debate, first rising explicitly as a subject of scientific study under Wilhelm Wundt and his students in the late 1800s. Originally, it was thought of as a major part of the field of psychology that was being founded at the same time. Wundt and his followers relied heavily on their own and participants introspection to try to ask questions like: what is the simplest sensation? It was precisely this reliance on report that behaviorism critiqued so viciously, so devastatingly, that the entire approach was forgotten and the eliminativists ruled all through the next century.

At the latest ASSC I saw the same historical line of argument rear its head like an unkillable gorgon, and even in the midst of scientific posters and Paris I became afraid that history will repeat itself, that consciousness research will again become considered too problematic, report too small a window, introspection too untrustworthy, the methodological issues too open to attack.

But this latest interest in formalism and the MCC avoids the problematic emphasis on empirically probing consciousness. Rather it takes consciousness as a natural phenomenon begging to be described, a property or process inherent to certain types of complex systems. Perhaps by having something that Wundt and his followers didnt have we can avoid the same fate.

Of course, maybe this is always the view from the top of the wheel, but to me it sure feels like its different this time.
It was the Saturday before the Iowa Caucus in 2011, and Chris Christie stood with Mitt and Ann Romney at a rally in a grocery store parking lot in West Des Moines, shaking hands with voters in the 26-degree chill.

Christie joked that, if people didnt support Romney come caucus night, I will be backJersey style, people.

When they were finished, Mitt headed to New Hampshire for the night to host a dinner for his supporters while Ann and Christie remained in Iowa to campaign. Ann boarded the campaign bus, but Christie didnt join her.

Instead, he left to catch a private plane. He wouldnt have had it any other way.

We wanted Chris Christie and Ann to do a bus tour, except Christie wouldnt ride on the bus longer than half an hour, one former high level Romney aide told The Daily Beast, because hes a prima donna.

Christies endorsement of Donald Trump sent shockwaves through the political class on Friday, leaving members of the establishment frustrated by the perceived defection of one of their own. But to hear former Romney aides tell it, other campaigns should just be glad Trump has taken Christie off of their hands.

When you receive Christies blessing, they say, it comes at a cost despite its dubious value.

In 2011, Christie was a big get for the Romney campaign.

This was before any scandal with a gate-suffix had attached itself to his reputation, when he was just a popular governor from a blue state whose star wasnt so much rising as it was launching, both in the Republican Party and the national media.

He was beloved not just by fellow Northeasterners who shared his acid-tongued humor, but by people in the heartlandmost importantly for his purposes, Iowa voters.

As he mulled getting into the presidential race himself, he became a familiar face around the state. He frequently jetted off from New Jersey to attend fundraisers and meet with the people who could potentially, one day, become Christie caucus voters. On May 31, seven Iowa businessmen flew to Drumthwacket, the governors mansion in Princeton, to try to convince him to run.

In the end, of course, he declined their pleas. He chose to wait in the wings and back Romney.

There were a group of supporters out there that had tried to push him into the race, and he was very, very well liked out there and so we had a lot of opportunity to try to use him because Mitt was in New Hampshire all the time, the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak candidly, said.

As things started to look more promising in Iowa, in November and December, really, we were just trying to cover as much ground as we could. And we didnt have these huge surrogates that would make a difference  we had Mitt, we had Ann, and Chris Christie.

At this point in the campaign even Ann, the candidates spouse, was flying commercial and rolling in the blue and white Romney bus.

But not Christie.

Every time we wanted Christie for something it was Well, we need a plane, and we need to bring eight people with us, 10 people with us, it was never him and an aide, the aide said. It was this huge entourage that had to go with him all the time.

A second former Romney staffer described Christies hangers-on as a personality cult that surround him.

He and his staff thought so highly of themselvesChristie was by far the most arrogant, self-absorbed surrogate of the entire campaign, the aide said.

The Romney campaign was struggling financially in the run-up to Iowa. While they were shelling out $30,000 to $50,000 to ferry Christie and friends around in a personal air-chariot, top staffers were taking pay cuts in order to keep the ground game running.

Christie insiders rejected the Romney aides claims. They stressed that the governor campaigned harder for Romney than anyone and went wherever they asked him to, they said he even traveled by bus if they requested it. One Christie aide said, they usually provided a plane so he could travel to more places and also get back to New Jersey because of his gubernatorial duties, but when asked if the planes were offered to or requested by Christie, the aide said only, I know Romney offered a plane when an RNC plane [the] gov was traveling on broke down.

From the tone of the responses from others in Christies orbit, it seems the governor isnt the only Trump fan.

Are you really writing the same tired untrue story thats already been written? Mike Duhaime, a longtime adviser to Christie, said. If so, heres my comment: No one worked harder for Mitt Romney than Chris Christie. It is a shame some disgruntled former staff are still looking to anonymously peddle complete untruths in order to somehow scapegoat Mitts loss.

Bill Palatucci, a close friend and adviser to Christie, refused to answer specific questions about the governors traveldespite the fact that Romney aides said he accompanied Christie on the road. Sounds like something youd write, Palatucci said when asked for comment.

In Christies world, tales of his taste for the high life are old news, and its true. His extravagant lifestyle has been well-documented, as is the fact that he usually finds someone else to bankroll it for him.

As the United States Attorney, Christie frequently went over budget by staying in 5-star hotels, like the Four Seasons in Washington, D.C., and taking private limos. As governor, his behavior has been much the same. In 2012, billionaire casino magnate and GOP heavyweight Sheldon Adelson lent him his private jet for a trade mission to Israel, according to an exhaustive 2015 New York Times report. King Abdullah of Jordan footed the $30,000 bill for the weekend at a luxury hotel Christie tacked onto the end of the trip, according to the Times. While there, he partied with Bono, at three parties, two at the kings residence, the other a Champagne reception in the desert. Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, frequently flies Christie to games. Between 2010 and 2012, the governor expensed $82,000 to entertain guests with food and alcohol at New York Giants and Jets games, according to a watchdog group. Christie is a friend of Woody Johnson, the Jets owner, and has flown in his private plane, too.

Unlike in billionaire land, campaigns have a budgetone that Christie seemed to have no problem straining for the pleasure of his company.

We sort of caved into his needs because we just needed him, the high level aide said. It got to the point that, by the end, we wouldnt use him, because the effort you had to go tohe would throw a conniption fit if the food wasnt right or the plane wasnt right.

The aide added, we didnt use him with any kind of regularity because he was just too much trouble.

And when Christie would catch onto the campaigns reluctance to deploy him, several Romney aides said, he would personally call Romney to vent.

He got the hint he directly called Mitt to complain that he was not being used as a surrogate, one aide said.

But it wasnt just Christies high pricetag that made him a burden. He also seemed to have a talent for kicking the campaign when it was down.

In some ways the friction between Christie and the Romney campaign is well known  many still blame Christie for contributing to Romneys loss with his effusive praise of President Obama for his handling of Hurricane Sandy. Then there was Christies convention speech  which barely mentioned Romneys name.

In September of 2012, heading into the first debate, the Romney campaign was attempting to recover after a video was published, by Mother Jones, that showed Romney in a private meeting with donors, saying that 47 percent of the populace would never vote for him because they are victims who think the government should care for them and provide them with health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.

Things looked grim, and staffers began readying their resumes.

Our only hope to have any life put back in the campaign was that first debate performance, the aide told The Daily Beast.

The campaign decided to set expectations low. During a call, surrogates were directed to do the sameespecially Christie, who was scheduled to appear on all five Sunday shows (a media blitz known as the full Ginsberg, in DC-speak) for the campaign.

Instead, Christie hyped Romney. The aide said, He goes on the Sunday shows and hes like Mitt is gonna knock this thing out of the park, and I turned to the person next to me and said he is trying to deliberately finish us off. (The fact that Obama would completely bomb that debate and Mitt would shine was a happy coincidence.)

Luckily for Christie, Trump is very, very rich and can provide for him the lifestyle he enjoys. And for air travel, he wont have to settle for just any old charter.

Christie can choose from Trumps fleet of aircrafts, including two helicopters, a small private jet and a large, commercial-sized Boeing 757-200 that is outfitted with a dining room, two bedrooms, a shower and 24-carat gold plated seat belts.

He deserves it.
For nearly two thousand years, mainstream Christians have been awaiting Jesus return, but to some small fringe groups theyre way behind the curve. Jesus, they say, is already here. Not in some fluffy, Footprints-style hes-with-us-in-our-communities-hearts-and-WWJD-bracelets kind of way, but in a real flesh-and-blood human being who walks the earth guiding our lives and trying to get into our pocketbooks and possibly also our pants.

From the very beginning, the Apostles thought that the second coming of Christ, the Parousia, was imminent. When they find Jesus tomb empty in the Gospel of Mark, Jesus female followers are told that he has gone ahead of them to Galilee. There seems to have been widespread expectation among the first generations of Christians that Jesus would be back any day now.

At various points since then, mainstream Christian denominations have claimed that Jesus has appeared to peopleto the original Apostles, to Paul, to Mary Magdalene, to some fellows traveling to Emmaus, you get the picture. In Mormon theology, Jesus is even believed to have appeared to inhabitants of the Americas after his resurrection.
After the ISIS-orchestrated bloodbath in Paris last November, CBS News informed the three Democratic presidential candidates that a forthcoming debate it was hosting would be shifting focus from domestic to foreign policy.

It seemed like an uncontroversial decision. But it was enough to send Bernie Sanderss campaign into paroxysms of panic. During a conference call with debate organizers, one Sanders surrogate launched into a heated and bizarre protest, complaining that CBS was trying to change the terms of the debateon the day of the debate, according to a Yahoo News source.

Still, the clamor from Bernies camp wasnt that bizarre. Bernie understands that the frisson Sanderistas audiences experience isnt activated by conversations about the Iran nuclear deal. No, Sanders disciples are slain in the spirit by repeated-ad-infinitum sermons about billionaires twisting mustaches, adjusting monocles, and jealously guarding their rigged system. It was this message that vaulted Sanders from the mayors office to Congress and into the Senate. But foreign-policy questions, The New York Times noted, had a habit of pushing him out of his comfort zone.

So here we are: The candidate accused of not caring about foreign policy was the same politico who, years ago, was routinely accused of preferring foreign affairs to the tedium of negotiating overtime pay with the local firefighters union. Indeed, after he was elected mayor of Burlington, Vermont, Sanders turned the town into a fantasy foreign-policy camp. In his 1997 memoir, Outsider in the House, he asked, how many cities of 40,000 [like Burlington] have a foreign policy? Well, we did.

What were the policies and ideas that animated his small-town internationalism? In a recent interview with CNNs Chris Cuomo, Sanders was asked about a comment he made in 1974 calling for the CIAs abolition. He qualified, hedged, and offered a potted history of CIA meddling in the affairs of sovereign countries, all while arguing half-heartedly that his views had long-since evolved toward pragmatism.

If CNN can ambush Sanders by reaching back to 1974 and his not-entirely-unreasonable criticism of the CIA, perhaps another enterprising television journalist will ask the candidate-of-consistency one of the following questions:

 Do you think that American foreign policy gives people cancer?

 Do you think a state of warbe it against the Vietnamese communists, Nicaraguan anti-communists, or al Qaedas Islamistsjustifies the curtailment of press freedoms?

 Do you stand by your qualified-but-fulsome praise of the totalitarian regime in Cuba? Do you stand by your unqualified-and-fulsome praise of the totalitarian Sandinista regime in Nicaragua?

 Do you believe that bread lines are a sign of economic health?

 Do you think the Reagan administration was engaged in the funding and commissioning of terrorism?

A weird palette of questions, sure, but when Sanders was mayor of Burlington, he answered yes to all of them. Hidden on spools of microfilm, buried in muffled and grainy videos of press conferences and public appearances, Mayor Sanders enumerated detailedand radicalforeign-policy positions and explained his brand of socialism. (If you find foreign-policy debates tedious, feel free to ask Sanders if he still believes that the basic truth of politics is primarily class struggle; that democracy means public ownership of the major means of production; or that both the Democratic and Republican parties represent the ruling class.)

In the 1980s, any Bernie Sanders event or interview inevitably wended toward a denunciation of Washingtons Central America policy, typically punctuated with a full-throated defense of the dictatorship in Nicaragua. As one sympathetic biographer wrote in 1991, Sanders probably has done more than any other elected politician in the country to actively support the Sandinistas and their revolution. Reflecting on a Potemkin tour of revolutionary Nicaragua he took in 1985, Sanders marveled that he was, believe it or not, the highest ranking American official to attend a parade celebrating the Sandinista seizure of power.

Its quite easy to believe, actually, when one wonders what elected American official would knowingly join a group of largely unelected officials of various fraternal Soviet dictatorships while, just a few feet away, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega bellows into a microphone that the United States is governed by a criminal band of terrorists.

None of this bothered Sanders, though, because he largely shared Ortegas worldview. While opposition to Reagans policy in Central Americaincluding indefensible decisions like the mining of Managua harborwas common amongst mainstream Democrats, it was rare to find outright support for the Soviet-funded, Cuban-trained Sandinistas. Indeed, Congresss vote to cut off administration funding of the anti-Sandinista Contra guerrillas precipitated the Iran-Contra scandal.

But despite its aversion to elections, brutal suppression of dissent, hideous mistreatment of indigenous Nicaraguans, and rejection of basic democratic norms, Sanders thought Managuas Marxist-Leninist clique had much to teach Burlington: Vermont could set an example to the rest of the nation similar to the type of example Nicaragua is setting for the rest of Latin America.

The lesson Sanders saw in Nicaragua could have been plagiarized from an editorial in Barricada, the oafish Sandinista propaganda organ. Is [the Sandinistas] crime that they have built new health clinics, schools, and distributed land to the peasants? Is their crime that they have given equal rights to women? Or that they are moving forward to wipe out illiteracy? No, their crime in Mr. Reagans eyes and the eyes of the corporations and billionaires that determine American foreign policy is that they have refused to be a puppet and banana republic to American corporate interests.

But Sanders was mistaking aspirational Sandinista propaganda for quantifiable Sandinista achievement. None of it was true, but it overlaid nicely on top of his own political views. Sanderss almost evangelical belief in the revolution led him from extreme credulity to occasional fits of extreme paranoia.

For instance, in 1987 Sanders hosted Sandinista politician Nora Astorga in Burlington, a woman notorious for a Mata Hari-like guerilla operation that successfully lured Gen. Reynaldo Perez-Vega, a high-ranking figure in the Somoza dictatorship, to her apartment with promises of sex. Perez-Vegas body was later recovered wrapped in a Sandinista flag, his throat slit by his kidnappers. When Astorga died in 1988 from cervical cancer, Sanders took the occasion to publicly praise Astorga as a very, very beautiful woman and a very vital and beautiful woman, positing that American foreign policy might have given her cancer. I have my own feelings about what causes cancer, and the psychosomatic aspects of cancer, he said. One wonders if the war didnt claim another victim; a person who couldnt deal with the tremendous grief and suffering in her own country.

(Sanders often lurched toward conspiracy theory to make banal historical events conform to an ideological narrative. He argued that Ronald Reagan was as Manchurian president created by millionaires who run corporations: Some millionaires in California said Ron, we want you to work for us. We want you to become governor. They sat around a table. A dozen millionaires. They made him governor. And then they made him president. And he did his job effectively for those corporations.)

The conflict in Nicaragua exacerbated Sanderss more extreme positions. He asked a group of University of Vermont students to consider how we deal with Nicaragua, which is in many ways Vietnam, except its worse. Its more gross. His answer was to raise money and civilian materiel for the revolution, establish a sister city program in Nicaragua, and act as a mouthpiece for the Sandinista government.

The local Vermont journalist corps, with whom Sanders had an extraordinarily contentious relationship, occasionally questioned Sanders on Nicaraguas increasingly dictatorial drift.

In 1985 Sanders traveled to New York City to meet with Ortega just weeks after Nicaragua imposed a state of emergency that resulted in mass arrests of regime critics and the shuttering of opposition newspapers and magazines. While liberal critics of Reagans Nicaraguan policy rounded on the Sandinistas (talk-show host Phil Donahue told Ortega that his actions looked fascist), Sanders refused to condemn the decision. He was not an expert in Nicaragua and not a Nicaraguan, he said during a press conference. Am I aware enough of all the details of what is going on in Nicaragua to say you have reacted too strongly? I dont know But of course he did know, later saying that the Sandinistas brutal crackdown makes sense to me.

What made sense to Sanders was the Sandinistas war against La Prensa, a daily newspaper whose vigorous opposition to the Somoza dictatorship quickly transformed into vigorous opposition of the dictatorship that replaced it. When challenged on the Sandinistas incessant censorship, Sanders had a disturbing stock answer: Nicaragua was at war with counterrevolutionary forces, funded by the United States, and wartime occasionally necessitated undemocratic measures. (The Sandinista state censor Nelba Blandon offered a more succinct answer: They [La Prensa] accused us of suppressing freedom of expression. This was a lie and we could not let them publish it.)

To underscore his point, Sanders would usually indulge in counterfactual whataboutism: If we look at our own history, I would ask American citizens to go back to World War II. Does anyone seriously think that President Roosevelt or the United States government [would have] allowed the American Nazi Party the right to demonstrate, or to get on radio and to say this is the way you should go about killing American citizens? (Its perhaps worth pointing out that La Prensa never printed tutorials on how to kill Nicaraguans. And its also worth pointing out that in 1991, Sanders complained of the massive censorship of dissent, criticism, debate by the United States government during the Gulf War.)

Or how about the Reagan counterfactual: What would President Reagan do if buildings were being bombed? If hospitals were being bombed? If people in our own country were being killed? Do you think President Reagan would say, of course we want the people who are killing our children to get up on radio and explain to the citizens of the country how they are going to kill more of our people?

Or perhaps Abraham Lincoln can convince you: How many of you remember what happened in the American Civil War and Abraham Lincolns feeling about how you have to fight that war? And how much tolerance there was in this country, during that war, for people who were not sympathetic to the Union cause?

While Freedom House and Amnesty International agitated on behalf of La Prensa, Sanders was making excuses for the government that censored its articles, prevented it from buying newsprint, harassed its staffers, and arrested its journalists. The point is, he argued, in American history the opposition press talking about how you could kill your own people and overthrow your own government was never allowedNever allowed to exist.

The Burlington Free Press mocked Sanders for playing the role of internationalista dupe and lampooned him for expressing, after just a brief, government-guided tour of Nicaragua, such approval of the Sandinistas on the basis of what was at best a cursory inspection, an instinct that says more about his naivete in the foreign policy field than anything else.

Sanders countered that he was free to quiz real Nicaraguans on their political allegiances, but they laughed when he asked which party they backed because of course they are with the government. When asked about the food shortages provoked by the Sandinistas voodoo economic policy, Sanders claimed that bread lines were a sign of a healthy economy, suggesting an equitable distribution of wealth: Its funny, sometimes American journalists talk about how bad a country is, that people are lining up for food. That is a good thing! In other countries people dont line up for food: the rich get the food and the poor starve to death. When asked about Nicaraguas notoriously brutal treatment of the Miskito Indians, the Free Press noted that Sanders attempted to cut off the line of questioning. (Ted Kennedy called the Sandinistas crimes against the indigenous Miskitos unconscionable, intolerable, and disturbing, commenting that they were relocated at gunpoint to forced-labor camps which resemble concentration camps.)

Through the Mayors Council on the Arts, Sanders tried to bring some revolutionary third-worldism to Vermont when he funded cable-access television that showed films from Cuba [and] daily television fare from Nicaragua. At a press conference, Sanders highlighted the grants that allowed the importation of films produced in Nicaragua, that appear on Nicaraguan [state] television, on Channel 15. We have films from Cuba on Channel 15.

Ah, yes, let us not forget the democratic socialist Shangri-La in Havana. In 1989 Sanders traveled to Cuba on a trip organized by the Center for Cuban Studies, a pro-Castro group based in New York, hoping to come away with a balanced picture of the communist dictatorship. The late, legendary Vermont journalist Peter Freyne sighed that Sanders came back singing the praises of Fidel Castro.

I think there is tremendous ignorance in this country as to what is going on in Cuba, Sanders told The Burlington Free Press before he left. Its a country with deficiencies, he acknowledged, but one that has made enormous progress in improving the lives of poor people and working people. When he returned to Burlington, Sanders excitedly reported that Cuba had solved some very important problems like hunger and homelessness. I did not see a hungry child. I did not see any homeless people, he told the Free Press. Cuba today not only has free healthcare but very high quality healthcare.

Sanders had a hunch that Cubans actually appreciated living in a one-party state. The people we met had an almost religious affection for [Fidel Castro]. The revolution there is far deep and more profound than I understood it to be. It really is a revolution in terms of values. It was a conclusion he had come to long before visiting the country. Years earlier Sanders said something similar during a press conference: You know, not to say Fidel Castro and Cuba are perfectthey are certainly notbut just because Ronald Reagan dislikes these people does not mean to say the people in these nations feel the same.

There is, of course, a mechanism to measure the levels of popular content amongst the campesinos. Perhaps its too much to expect a democratic socialist to be familiar with the free election, a democratic nicety the Cuban government hasnt availed itself of during its almost 60 years in power.

But Sanders has long been attracted to socialist countries that eschewed democracy. He recalled being very excited when Fidel Castro made a revolution in Cuba in 1959. It just seemed right and appropriate that poor people were rising up against a lot of ugly rich people. In an interview with The Progressive, almost 30 years later, Sanders was still expressing admiration for the Cuban dictatorship: And what about Cuba? Its not a perfect society, I grant, but there arent children there going hungry. Its been more successful than almost any other developing country in providing health care for its people. And the Cuban revolution is only 30 years old. It may get even better.

During his tenure as mayor, Burlington established sister-city programs in Nicaragua and the Soviet Union, and triedand failedto create one in Cuba.

By the 1980s, certain elements of the radical left were still defending the honor of the Cuban revolution. But few had kind words for the Soviet Union, with most political pilgrims having long since wandered to Cuba, Vietnam, China, and Cambodia. And Sanders too was routinely critical of the Kremlin, criticizing the invasion of Afghanistan and acknowledging the lack of freedom in the Soviet Union, while still managing a bit of socialist fraternity, praising Moscow for constructing the cleanest, most effective mass transit system I have ever seen in my lifeyou wait 15 seconds in rush hour between trains. He was impressed by the state-run youth programs which go far beyond what we do for young people in this country.

Sanders has long claimed to be a democratic socialistthe type of lefty who loves Sweden, but is offended by the totalitarian socialism that dominated during the Cold Warbut he has long employed the tepid language of imperfection when discussing the criminal failures of undemocratic socialism. Totalitarians with unfriendly politics are correctly met with derision and thundering demands for extradition and prosecution. So Sanders succinctly described the Chilean murderer, torturer, and destroyer of democracy Augusto Pinochet as a mass murderer, torturer, and destroyer of democracy. And Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos is rightly tagged as a crook and murderer.

Perhaps at this point I dont need to point out that Fidel Castro is likewise a crook and a murderer. Or that Sandinista strongman Daniel Ortega, while achieving none of the milestones Bernie Sanders once claimed he had achieved, stole enormous amounts of money from the Nicaraguan people and was, to name just one example, behind the infamous bombing at La Penca which killed seven people (including three journalists).

So to my fellow journalists: the next one of you who gets caught in one of Sanderss riffs about the CIAs involvement in the overthrow of Iranian leader Mohammed Mossadegh, ask him one of my questions. Ask him how consistent he has been on foreign policy. And help him answer a question posed by a Burlington Free Press journalist in 1985, who wondered if his useful idiot trip to Nicaragua would come back to haunt him in a future race.

The answer is probably. But Ill be damned if I know how.
Mulholland? Sure, you say. I know that name. Isnt it a twisty street somewhere in Los Angeles, and wasnt Mulholland Drive the title of an eerie film by David Lynch? And didnt Roman Polanski and Robert Townes movie Chinatown have a character with the sound-alike name of Hollis Mulwray, the L.A. city water engineer who is murdered for refusing to forget the mysterious collapse of something called the Vanderlip Dam and threatening to expose John Hustons sinister water grab?

In fact, there was a real William Mulholland and his life was the kind Americans admire and mythologize, including humble beginnings, hard work, and mostly self-taught expertise, leading to an unprecedented engineering achievement that launched and sustained the rise of Americas second-largest city, and ending with a fatal disaster considered the worst in 20th-century U.S. history. (When I wrote my new book, Floodpath: The Deadliest Man-Made Disaster of 20th Century America and the Making of Los Angeles, there was no question but that Mulholland would be the narratives driving force.)

Born in Ireland in 1855, young Willie Mulholland ran away to sea when he was 15, and in 1877 followed his sense of adventure to Los Angeles, a frontier town with a welcoming climate and a population of a little more than 11,000. The year before, the once isolated Mexican pueblo gained easier access to the rest of the United States with the arrival of the transcontinental railway.

In 1878, at age 22, Mulholland started his lifes work as a ditch digger for the citys privately managed water distribution system, which was linked to the shallow Los Angeles River. In the years that followed, the Irish immigrants no-nonsense attitude and management skills led him to the leadership of a new city-owned water department in 1902. By then, the population of the sunny City of the Angels had boomed to more than 102,000, nearly 10 times what it was when Mulholland rode into town. If the trend continued, it was clear L.A.s thirst would overwhelm the undependable Los Angeles River. In 1904, anticipating this dire forecast, former mayor Fred Eaton came up with an audacious scheme to import water from the Owens Valley, located more than 200 miles away beneath the snow-covered Eastern Sierra.

Enlisting the secret support of local political and business leaders, without letting Owens Valley farmers and ranchers, or even Angelenos, know what he was up to, Eaton bought the land and water rights needed for an unprecedented 233-mile-long aqueduct, which could use gravity alone to carry a man-made river south. Before plans were public, anticipating a real estate bonanza, insider businessmen led by Harrison Gray Otis, owner of the Los Angeles Times, quietly bought property options in the San Fernando Valley, where the aqueduct was expected to end. Funding for the project came from East Coast investors, and William Mulholland enthusiastically accepted the challenges of design, construction and getting the job doneon time and on or under budget. It would be the longest liquid pipeline in the worldat the time a job compared to the building of the Panama Canal.

When L.A.s secret was revealed, Owens Valley residents were furious to learn theyd been hornswoggled. They were even angrier when Teddy Roosevelts Progressive federal government sided with Los Angeles, considering the issue a case of allocating natural resources to provide the greatest good for the greatest number. When the water arrived on Nov. 5, 1913, improbable Los Angeles was poised to become an important American city.

To 20th century Progressives, William Mulholland, nicknamed the Chief, was a dream come truea model public servant and get-it-done engineer, selflessly dedicated to defending and expanding the future of the city of Los Angeles, and apparently above politics. Once, when the Chief was asked to run for mayor, his demurral was characteristic: Id rather give birth to a porcupine backward.

Angelenos may have been charmed, but Owens Valley activists saw Mulholland as a threat to their survival. The result was a rural vs. urban conflict known as Californias Little Civil War. When lawsuits proved too slow, valley activists turned to direct actionrepeatedly blasting Mulhollands aqueduct with dynamite.

Although more determined than ever, the Chief was caught in a three-way crossfire. Angry Owens Valley residents charged that big city L.A. and the federal government had colluded to invade their private property and steal their water. In Los Angeles he was confronted by the citys small socialist-leaning political left, suspicious of aqueduct-related real estate profiteering by L.A.s business oligarchy. At the same time, from the right, Mulholland was targeted by free-enterprise capitalists staunchly opposed to publically owned utility systems like L.A.s municipal Department of Water and Power, soon to be the largest in the United States.

These clashes came to a head during the 20s, another period of unprecedented growth for Los Angeles. Fixated on tomorrow, Mulholland eyed the resources of the Colorado River as he launched an ambitious program to build new dams and reservoirs to store Owens Valley water closer to Los Angeles. Completed in 1926, the largest, the 208-foot-tall arched concrete St. Francis Dam, located in isolated San Francisquito Canyon 50 miles north of Los Angeles, impounded 12.4 billion gallons. City-owned power generating plants above and below the reservoir, driven by falling aqueduct water, supplied 90 percent of L.A.s electricity.

On the morning of March 12, 1928, Mulholland and his assistant, Harvey Van Norman, were called to examine a leak in the St. Francis Dam. Leaks were not uncommon, but watchman Tony Harnischfeger thought the escaping water looked muddy, an alarming sign that the dams foundation could be failing. When Mulholland took a close look, with nearly 50 years of experience, the water appeared clear. Van Norman agreed. They concluded the leak became muddy when it mixed with construction debris. Shortly after noon, the water department bosses returned to Los Angeles. Less than 12 hours later, shortly before midnight, the St. Francis Dam suddenly shuddered, heaved, and cracked apart, releasing a flood that surged west through small agricultural towns and farmland, destroying nearly 500 lives before reaching the Pacific Ocean 54 miles away.

The failure of the St. Francis Dam is the second-greatest disaster in California history, after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, and a 20th century counterpart to the 1889 Johnstown Flood. But unlike these far better known catastrophes, the tragedy wasnt caused by an act of god earthquake or torrential rainstorm. In the aftermath, Californias Little Civil War was transformed by harrowing life-and-death struggles to survive, urgent investigations, a technological detective story, and an intense courtroom drama that changed the course of dam building in California, America, and even around the world.

Although William Mulholland never publically accepted official explanations of the collapse based on a faulty foundation, and possibly suspected a dynamite attack, he took full blame. The only ones I envy about this thing are those who are dead, he said. By the time the Chief died in 1935, his reputation was overshadowed by disgrace. The American West wasnt wild anymore, and in Mulhollands lifelong race against the future, hed been outrun by social, political, economic, and engineering changes he was unprepared or unwilling to acknowledge.

It wasnt long before the St. Francis Dam disaster was mostly forgotten, buried by L.A.s prompt restitution and eagerness to ignore loose ends, along with a national enthusiasm for a new era of transformative hydroelectric projects, including Hoover Dam.

Despite 88 years of obscurity, far from outdated news, the lessons of William Mulhollands successes and the failure of the St. Francis Dam are more relevant than ever in a 21st century era of climate change, international challenges to water resources, and an ignored and failing American infrastructure. Even in todays age of computer assisted design, dams can fail and people die, not only from faulty design, but as a result of ignored or postponed maintenance after decades of holding back tons of water. A 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers Report Card for Americas infrastructure gave dams a grade of D+ and more than 4,400 were judged susceptible to failure. So far no one seems interested in responding to this ticking time bomb.

In Robert Townes Chinatown screenplay, when private eye Jake Gittess investigation hits a dead end, hes warned hell never understand. Forget it, Jake. Its Chinatown. Too often, the history of Los Angeles, reduced to Tinsel Town and surfboard stereotypes, gets the same dismissive treatment, but the life of William Mulholland and the tragedy of the St. Francis Dam are reminders that overlooked lessons from L.A.s past deserve exploration informed by facts, not film noir fictions. As unprepared Angelenos or visitors often discover, the curves of Mulholland Drive can be treacherous.

Jon Wilkman is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. His television series Moguls and Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood was named one of the years top ten programs by the New York Daily News and the Wall Street Journal, and nominated for three Emmy Awards, including writing. Wilkman also is the author, with his late wife, Nancy, of two books about Los Angeles. He is now at work on a documentary on the St. Francis Dam disaster. Please visit his website wilkman.com.
 Katherine F. Imperial of Bryan and Samuel W. Thomasson of Hearne were named to the honor roll for the 2015 fall semester at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. To qualify for the honor roll, a student must be enrolled in at least 16 credit hours of academic work and must achieve a semester grade point average of 3.85 or better. Both are graduates of Brazos Christian School in Bryan.

 Justin Matthew Rowe of Bryan was named to the dean's honor roll at Texas A&M University, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, for the fall 2015 semester, earning a 4.0 grade-point average.

 Chase Bledsoe of College Station has joined the McMurry War Hawk Bass Club at McMurry University in Abilene. The team was founded in 2012 with the goal of helping those who want to learn more about fishing. The team participates in sanctioned collegiate bass tournaments.

 Marilee Rodgers of College Station was named to the dean's list for the fall 2015 term at William Woods University in Fulton, Missouri. To be named to the dean's list, a student must have earned a minimum 3.6 semester and cumulative grade-point average.
While Zika virus cases have been confirmed in some Texas counties, Brazos County has not had a report of the illness -- and local health officials hope to keep it that way.

The Brazos County Health Department met with representatives from the City of Bryan, City of College Station, area hospitals -- Baylor Scott and White, CHI St. Joseph Hospital and College Station Medical Center -- and various health agencies, including The Prenatal Clinic in Bryan on Feb. 15 to discuss environmental and medical concerns regarding the virus.

Since the health department began informing the community of precautionary measures, Julie Anderson, a family nurse practitioner with the health department's Community Health Services, said there has been a "heightened awareness" in the area.

"There has been an uptick of samples requested to be sent to the state lab," she said. "Both patients and clinicians are concerned of the situation."

Transmitted through the Aedes mosquito species, Zika began spreading last year throughout South and Central America and has affected more than a million people, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said.

The Zika virus can be transmitted to humans by infected mosquitos and since the virus resides in bodily fluids, it can also spread person to person through sexual activity. Symptoms resemble the flu, including fever, a rash, body aches and conjunctivitis -- the reddening of the eye due to infection.

The Zika virus has been confirmed in Tarrant, Bexar, Dallas and Harris counties. Health officials say those cases were contracted by people who were infected in another country and diagnosed when they returned home. One person in Dallas caught the virus through sexual activity.

While most people with the virus overcome it without complications, pregnant women are the most at-risk, as it has been linked to birth defects that affect brain development, Brenda Keep, a nurse practitioner at The Prenatal Clinic, said.

"It's important to understand that pregnant women are not at higher risk for Zika," she said. "It's the outcome for the pregnant women that are detrimental. They are not at a higher risk than you or I; it can just cause damage to the baby, so that's the risk."

The Prenatal Clinic, a nonprofit clinic that serves more than 500 low-income pregnant women in the Brazos Valley each year, has already gotten a jump-start on educating its patients on the virus, Lynn Yeager, the executive director of the clinic, said.

"We are educating our patients and trying to make sure that we are specific in that you should be aware of it, but you don't have to run around with your hair on fire," she said. "The last thing we want is everyone running around in a panic. Pregnant women don't need any more stress. We just want well-informed, well-educated patients."

Keep said many of their patients have family within the infected areas -- Brazil, Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador -- but are advised to limit their travel outside of the United States or avoid intimate contact with those who have.

The women are given educational fliers in English and Spanish that advise them to wear protective clothing, use insect repellent with DEET and mosquito-proof their home by keeping doors closed and eliminating standing water.

Keep said there are many unknowns regarding the virus, including its link to birth defects in developing fetuses.

"The only thing really that the medical profession can do is what we're doing now." she said. "Tell them how to protect themselves, warn them of the signs and symptoms and if you have those signs and symptoms, make sure you come in and see your health provider."

For more information about the Zika virus and local prevention, visit brazoshealth.org.
March's Silver Taps ceremony, which is set for Tuesday, will be in honor of Rebecca Lee Vignali, a sophomore who died in her dorm room in early February.

Vignali, an 18-year-old from Lockhart, was found dead in her dorm room in Hart Hall on Feb. 2. Her obituary describes her as a loving person active in the community and dedicated to her Christian faith, as well as creative pursuits in art and music. She was a wildlife and fisheries science major at Texas A&M and wanted to work with animals.

Silver Taps begins at 10:20 p.m. on the first Tuesday of the month when a student has died the previous month. It honors graduate or undergraduate students who died while enrolled at the school.

Friends of Vignali are welcomed by the university to gather at the plaza in front of the Academic Building to honor her memory through the long-standing tradition.

Police have not released the cause of Vignali's death, though there was no foul play involved, according to Lt. Allan Baron of the University Police Department.
Beavers can also restore habitats without the need for a bulldozer or planning permission. On the Bamff estate on Tayside, we found that grazing by beavers trebled the number of wetland plants over a nine-year period.

Where raised water levels saturated a meadow thanks to damming of ditches, the number of plant species increased by 49% and the multitude of habitats created increased the total diversity of aquatic invertebrates by almost 30%.

Indeed the benefits were even further reaching. We found that the beaver dams also acted as a sink for agricultural pollutants, and may also help to reduce the risk of flooding. Individually these findings are not that surprising, though it is unusual to demonstrate them all in parallel.

Beavers, people and fish have co-existed for thousands of years

So it's a no-brainer? While the Scottish public are broadly supportive of reintroducing these dog-sized, rather retiring herbivores, farmers, foresters and some anglers are less keen. Beavers get accused of damaging farm crops and commercial plantations through feeding, tree-felling, blocking streams, causing floods, undermining flood embankments and clogging up fish-spawning gravels.

These concerns are often legitimate and locally significant, and need to be addressed. Yet there are tried and tested ways of mitigating beaver impacts borrowed from the US and Germany that have already been trialled in Scotland, including live-trapping, electric fencing and so-called 'beaver deceivers' for managing pond levels.

At the same time, beavers have been wrongly held responsible for some high-profile flooding incidents and there remains a widely held but entirely mistaken belief among some anglers that they eat fish. In fact, the most recent analysis in Scotland suggests that beavers generally have a positive impact on the likes of trout.

The reality is that beavers, people and fish have co-existed for thousands of years. There is no reason why in principle this should not continue, even if beavers change the landscape and the landscape itself has changed in their absence.

The successful reintroduction and effective management of beavers in central Europe testifies to their adaptability. Beavers bring multiple environmental benefits and the risk of local but manageable disruption shouldn't eclipse these.

Bigger than beavers - what kind of country do we want?



In some senses the 'beaver question' is a metaphor for the much bigger question of what sort of environment we want in Britain in future. Beavers are potentially at the vanguard of a wider movement called rewilding - transforming landscapes through everything from less intensive farming to reintroducing keystone species.

Saying yes to beavers doesn't mean opening the floodgates to all supposedly desirable species from bison to lynx, but it recognises that we can cope with changing how we run our land, and that the alternatives might be better. On the other hand, saying no to beavers would shut the door on any bigger ambitions, perhaps for decades.

This is also not about going back to the Stone Age - indeed taking land out of production might require more intensive farming elsewhere to address concerns about food security. Instead of imposing rewilding, we must seek the cooperation of landowners.

We might incentivise this with subsidies to recognise the ecosystem services that species like beavers provide, while compensating inconvenienced landowners. And as well as mitigating against the impacts that reintroduced creatures can cause, we'll need to think more about the wider risk of further divorcing people from nature by creating wilderness areas.

But be all that as it may, the positives greatly outweigh the negatives. When it comes to conservation, we have lacked ambition for too long. Saying yes to reintroducing beavers is the sort of bold and forward-looking move that would resurrect the UK's conservation credentials.

Nigel Willby is Reader in Freshwater Ecology, University of Stirling.

Alan Law is Post-doctoral Researcher, University of Stirling.

More articles about beavers on The Ecologist.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
This month the fate of a Russian jewel will be decided in a small town in Western Siberia.

The town is Beloyarsky and the jewel is the Numto Nature Preserve.

The oil company Surgutneftegas already extracts oil from the park but now they want access to one of its most vulnerable areas: the wetlands, where industrial development is currently prohibited.

Founded in 1997 to help protect the fragile Siberian Uvaly ecosystem, Numto Park also has significance for Indigenous peoples of northern Russia. It is here, on the border of Yamal and Khanty-Mansy region, where two ancient Taiga cultures come together.

For generations, the Nenets and the Khanty people have bred reindeer, fished, picked berries and gathered. They travel hundreds of kilometers to come together and conduct sacred rituals at lake Numto. 'Num' holds a special place in Indigenous mythology and is often equated with the sky itself. Lake Numto means heavenly lake.

The Heavenly Lake of Numto is threatened by an oil company Surgutneftegas; oil operations would wreck local communities and spell disaster for its wildlife and ecosystems.

The Russian scientific community has recommended that the Numto wetlands be listed by Ramsar as an internationally important waterfowl habitat. Among the rare and endangered birds who live here or pass through on their annual migration is the striking Siberian white crane or snow crane.

'They have come to kill us!'

We witnessed the impact of oil drilling in Numto when we visited as part of a Greenpeace Russia documentary team. As we toured the camping grounds of Indigenous peoples and met residents of village Numto on the lake shore, park ranger Natalia Vello tried to explain the pain felt by local people:

"I once met a young boy. When he saw the oil facilities being built near his home, he said, 'They've come to kill us'. I began to ask myself, why does he say that? Because it's hard for him to bear. I was shocked myself when I saw the dear, sacred sites, where we used to pitch our tents to visit our ancestors, being destroyed."

In an attempt to preserve her homeland, Natalia has written a memo to the employees of Surgutneftegas who work in the Numto Park. The memo contains information about the unique characteristics of this land and its inhabitants and lays out the rules and codes of conduct that employees of the oil companies on the park territory should abide by.

Natalia regularly visits the drilling facilities to get her message across: "I explain everything carefully and give them time [to fix things]."
On Wednesday the 24th February, it ruled against India's National Solar mission, which aims to rapidly increase the country's renewable energy and bring energy to millions of people by generating 100 gigawatts of solar energy annually by 2022.

The reason? A small portion of the program would have actively supported the creation of local renewable energy jobs.

This is hard to believe given the director of the WTO, Roberto Azevedo, recently said "The challenge is not to stop trading but to ensure that trade is an ally in the fight against climate change." Yet with this decision the WTO is effectively driving a financial bulldozer through India's homegrown solar panel factories.

The ink is barely dry on the already weak UN Paris Climate agreement, but clearly trade still trumps real action on climate change. This is in spite of a report by Friends of the Earth International which found that transferring the world's energy to 100% renewables, could be possible within 15 years.

The case was thrown out because India wanted to support its own people

In 2013 the United States initiated a case in the WTO against India's Solar Mission, because the government-funded program included what they believed to be a 'discriminatory' domestic content clause, requiring that a paltry 10 % of the solar cells be produced nationally.

India tried to defend their case by arguing it was part of their commitment to UN sustainable development initiatives and international climate agreements. Yet this cry fell on deaf ears.

The WTO found strongly against India's National Solar Mission, and is now trying to reach a settlement with the US. India may now have to adjust its solar mission to comply with WTO trade rules or risk sanctions. The local renewable energy industry is obviously worried about the effect of this ruling.

Yet for the ideological corporate traders this is a win for the 'efficient green economy'. US Trade Representative Michael Froman stated, "This is an important outcome, not just as it applies to this case, but for the message it sends to other countries considering discriminatory 'localization' policies."
Here are ideas for what you can, and should, plant in the fall
Application for student loan forgiveness plan is available: Here's what to know
"You often hear Hollywood is out of touch with regular people," said Chris Rock to an uncomfortable audience as he hosted the 2005 Oscars. To make matters worse, Rock, who also hosts tonight's Academy Awards, then showed clips of interviews with African-American moviegoers. Had they seen the white-dominated nominees for Best Picture: "Sideways"? "Finding Neverland"? "Million Dollar Baby"? "Aviator"? No, no, no and no. (On the YouTube clip viewed, Rock doesn't mention also-nominated "Ray," the biopic about black entertainer Ray Charles.)

Well, what films had they seen and liked? Answer: "Alien vs. Predator," "Saw," "Chronicles of Riddick," "White Chicks." Aside from the whiffs of condescension -- implied was interviewees preferred dopey flicks to more "serious" ones the so-called survey was a slap in the face of that year's hopefuls which included nominations of five African-American actors and two wins: Jamie Foxx for "Ray" and Morgan Freeman for "Million Dollar Baby."

What Chris Rock will say tonight is almost sure to be further knocks on perceived film industry racism (a strange criticism of a mostly liberal trade) or, more accurately, the makeup of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences itself.

Academy membership is by invitation and is good for life. A 2012 Los Angeles Times survey found that Caucasians made up 94 percent of the membership, males 77 percent, with the median age at 62. Hollywood Reporter quotes Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is African-American, as saying she is "both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. . . . The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership."

Some luminaries, undeterred, are angry to the point of boycotting the ceremony because not one black actor or black picture was nominated this year. No well-regarded "Straight Outta Compton," no "Creed" or its star Michael B. Jordan, no Idris Elba in "Beasts of No Nation."

In an interview for Hollywood Reporter, director Steven Spielberg, while lamenting the exclusion of "Compton" and Elba, did remind everyone of wins by Lupita Nyong'o and her film "12 Years a Slave" in 2014. "I don't believe that there is inherent or dormant racism because of the white Academy voters," he said.

Charlotte Rampling, a Best Actress Oscar nominee for her devastating, sensitive, performance in "45 Years," probably put the kibosh on her chances of winning when asked on French radio about the "Oscarsowhite" movement. She called the boycott "racist to whites" and added, "One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list."

Meanwhile, the discussion heats up. Should we blame purposeful snubs or the lack of membership diversity for the all-white nominations? Are omissions merely the result of what nominators found worthy? Is one answer more films by and with black artists?

Looking to the future, should there be categories for Black Films? White Films? Or just Films? Are we headed for a quota system: so many works of this or that ethnicity, this or that gender identification, this or that sexual preference, this or that political persuasion, this or that disability?

Our British cousins found themselves in the same pickle this year. In a Daily Telegraph interview, Amanda Perry, chief executive of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), said, "Not enough films are being made with diverse talent in front of the camera . . . I want the awards to be as diverse as they possibly can be. But people can only vote on what they've seen."

Enduring a "Baftablackout" protest, the Academy chose "The Revenant" as Best Picture, its star Leonardo DiCaprio as Best Actor and Brie Larson as Best Actress for "Room." Chances are DiCaprio and Larson will also be the Oscar pick, but could either "Spotlight" or "The Big Short" take home the top prize? "The Revenant" is a safer bet since it's tough only on powerless animals, unlike the targets of "The Big Short" (Wall Street) and "Spotlight" (the Catholic Church).

BAFTA's Best Supporting Actress, Kate Winslet (for "Steve Jobs"), will likely be replaced by Alicia Vikander (for "Ex Machina" but also terrific in "The Danish Girl") and Sylvester Stallone, a sentimental favorite (for "Creed"), over the Brit choice of Mark Rylance (for "Bridge of Spies").

In this corner, our favorite film of the year was not even nominated, which proves something we'd rather not explore. That was "Love and Mercy," the story of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. Featuring memorable acting by Paul Dano, John Cusack, Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti, this unconventional work (for starters, Dano and Cusack both play Wilson) was prescient about the price, sacrifice and corrosion many must endure in the hopes of making it.

Not only a remarkable achievement, "Love and Mercy" deals with a topic artists in extremis that homes in exactly on the people being celebrated tonight, as well as those left out by design or chance.

 The 88th Academy Awards are tonight, 7 pm, on ABC Channels 7 and 8.
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WASHINGTON -- Not long after Defense Secretary Ash Carter prodded his cyber commanders to be more aggressive in the fight against Islamic State, the U.S. ramped up its offensive cyberattacks on the militant group.

According to several U.S. officials, the attacks are targeting the group's abilities to use social media and the Internet to recruit fighters and inspire followers, U.S. officials told The Associated Press.

U.S. officials confirmed that operations launched out of Fort Meade, Maryland, where the U.S. Cyber Command is based, have focused on disrupting the group's online activities. The officials said the effort is getting underway as operators try a range of attacks to see what works and what doesn't. They declined to discuss details, other than to say that the attacks include efforts to prevent the group from distributing propaganda, videos or other types of recruiting and messaging on social media sites such as Twitter, and across the Internet in general.

Other attacks could include attempts to stop insurgents from conducting financial or logistical transactions online.

The surge of computer-based military operations by U.S. Cyber Command began shortly after Carter met with commanders at Fort Meade last month.

Several U.S. officials spoke about the cyber campaign on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly. Much of the effort is classified.

Carter mentioned the operations briefly Thursday, telling a House Appropriations subcommittee only that Cyber Command is beginning to conduct operations against the Islamic State group. He declined to say more in a public setting.

The more aggressive attacks come after months of pressure from Carter, who has been frustrated with the belief that the Pentagon -- and particularly Cyber Command -- was losing the war in the cyber domain.

Late last year Carter told cyber commanders they had 30 days to bring him options for how the military could use its cyberwarfare capabilities against the group's deadly insurgency across Iraq and Syria, and spreading to Libya and Afghanistan. Officials said he told commanders that beefing up cyberwarfare against the Islamic State group was a test for them, and that they should have both the capability and the will to wage the online war.

But the military cyber fight is limited by concerns within the intelligence agencies that blocking the group's Internet access could hurt intelligence gathering.

Officials said Carter told commanders that he the U.S. to be able to impact Islamic State operations without diminishing the indications or warnings U.S. intelligence officers can glean about what the group is doing.

On Jan. 27, Carter and Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, went to Fort Meade for an update.

Officials familiar with Carter's meetings said the secretary was frustrated that as Cyber Command has grown and developed over the past several years, it was still focused on the cyberthreats from nations, such as Iran, Russia and China, rather than building a force to block the communications and propaganda campaigns of Internet-savvy insurgents.

"He was right to say they could be more forward leaning about what they could possibly do against ISIS," said James Lewis, a cybersecurity expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "You could disrupt their support networks, their business networks, their propaganda and recruitment networks."

However, Lewis added, the U.S. needs to be careful about disrupting the Internet to insure that attacks don't also affect civilian networks or systems needed for critical infrastructure and other public necessities.

U.S. officials have long been stymied by militants' ability to use the Internet as a vehicle for inspiring so-called lone wolf attackers in Western nations, radicalized after reading propaganda easily available online.

"Why should they be able to communicate? Why should they be using the Internet?" Carter said during testimony before the defense appropriations subcommittee. "The Internet shouldn't be used for that purpose."

He added that the U.S. can conduct cyber operations under the legal authorities associated with the ongoing war against the Islamic State group.

The U.S. has also struggled to defeat high-tech encryption techniques used by Islamic State and other groups to communicate. Experts have been working to find ways to defeat those programs.

Cyber Command is relatively new. Created in 2009, it did not begin operating until October 2010.

Early on, its key focus was on defending military networks, which are probed and attacked millions of times a day. But defense leaders also argued at length over the emerging issues surrounding cyberwarfare and how it should be incorporated.

The Pentagon is building 133 cyber teams by 2018, including 27 that are designed for combat and will work with regional commands to support warfighting operations. There will be 68 teams assigned to defend Defense Department networks and systems, 13 that would respond to major cyberattacks against the U.S. and 25 support teams.
NORWALK -- A Bronx man who allegedly attempted to purchase cell phones by using fraudulent IDs and credit cards at Best Buy on Friday was charged by Norwalk police with larceny, criminal impersonation, and credit card forgery.

Police said that the man presented what appeared to be a fake Connecticut ID to the cashier. The manager at Best Buy has cited numerous attempted purchases of cell phones in the same manner and called for the police.
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NEW HAVEN (AP) -- The city of New Haven is taking steps to reduce vagrancy on the Green, a 16-acre park in use since the 1600s that has gained a reputation as a place for after-dark drug deals at the doorstep of Yale University.

A police official tasked with addressing infractions in the area has been running a pilot program that allows people caught drinking in public, panhandling or littering to pay a fine or help clean up the Green.

At a community meeting this month, Sgt. Roy Davis also raised the idea of closing the Green at night like other city parks, but he says that is unlikely to happen given that it would be a first in the park's history. The Green, while maintained by the city, is privately owned by a committee of proprietors that dates to colonial times.

The park has served over the centuries as a militia parade grounds, a cemetery and a traditional town green. Work on a major overhaul of the park is expected to begin within weeks.

Recently, issues with public intoxication and other qualify of life infractions have become more visible, Davis said.

"We're looking at other ways to keep the Green safe for everybody during this time of night, that's all," he said.

One idea that stands a better chance than closing the Green at night, Davis said, is ramping up police enforcement with "New York City-style officers on corners to assist with everybody's safety."

The pilot program, known as Project Green Thumb, gives people cited for violations such as public intoxication the option of avoiding a fine through community service, such as picking up litter.

Work is expected to begin soon on a $4 million project to enhance the Green. The first stage including new lighting and irrigation systems is expected to begin once the weather improves, according to Laurence Grotheer, a spokesman for the mayor.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Mexico City  Sun, February 28, 2016

Former Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Saturday joined his predecessor in office in unloading on Donald Trump, calling the Republican front-runner's campaign racist and saying his discourse on immigration is fueling anti-American sentiment around the world.

Calderon, a conservative who was president of Mexico from 2006 to 2012, even said he thought Trump was trying to exploit the same social feelings and resentments as did Adolf Hitler.

"I think his logic of exalting white supremacy isn't even acting against immigration ' Donald Trump is the descendant of migrants ' it is acting and speaking against immigrants who have a different skin color than him, which is frankly racist and is a bit like the exploitation of raw nerves that Hitler did in his day," Calderon told reporters after a meeting of the National Action Party, or PAN, in Mexico City.

Calderon's comments parallel those made earlier by former President Vicente Fox, who preceded Calderon in office and also belonged to the PAN party.

In interviews with Univision and Mexican media, Fox called Trump "crazy," a "false prophet" and an embarrassment to his party. When asked about Trump's assertion that he was going to get Mexico to pay for his proposed border wall, Fox used an explicative to make his point the country would never do so.

Trump said Fox ought to be "ashamed of himself" for his vulgarity and demanded an apology.

Trump has angered many Mexicans for his campaign rhetoric denigrating some immigrants as "rapists" who bring crime and drugs to the United States. Threats of mass deportations of Mexicans and other migrants illegally in the country, along with his promise to build a wall separating the nations, have added to the bad feelings.

Calderon said Trump's discourse is "sowing hate" against the United States around the world and this is not is Washington's interest.

During a visit to Mexico's capital, Vice President Joe Biden apologized for the inflammatory rhetoric about Mexico in the US presidential campaign.

"Some of the rhetoric coming from some of the presidential candidates on the other team are I think dangerous, damaging and incredibly ill-advised," Biden said on Thursday. "But here's what I'm here to tell you: They do not, they do not, they do not represent the view of the vast majority of the American people."
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Linkedin Julie Pace & Lisa Lerer (The Jakarta Post) Columbia, South Carolina  Sun, February 28, 2016

Hillary Clinton cruised to a commanding victory over Bernie Sanders in Saturday's South Carolina primary, drawing overwhelming support from the state's black Democrats and putting her in a strong position as the race barrels toward crucial multi-state contests on Tuesday.

Clinton's win provided an important boost for her campaign ' and a moment to wipe away bitter memories of her loss to Barack Obama in the South Carolina primary eight years ago.

"To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you," Clinton wrote on Twitter. At a campaign victory party in Columbia, supporters broke into raucous cheers as the race was called in Clinton's favor.

Sanders, expecting defeat on Saturday, left the state even before voting was finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesday's delegate-rich contests. In a statement, Sanders vowed to fight on aggressively.

"This campaign is just beginning," he said. "Our grass-roots political revolution is growing state by state, and we won't stop now."

Black voters powered Clinton to victory, with 8 in 10 voting for her. The former secretary of state also won most women and voters aged 30 and older, according to early exit polls.

Clinton's victory came at the end of a day that saw Republican candidates firing insults at each other at rallies in states voting on March 1, or Super Tuesday. Donald Trump, working to build an insurmountable lead, was campaigning in Arkansas with former rival New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and calling Florida Sen. Marco Rubio a "light little nothing." Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was asking parents in Atlanta if they would be pleased if their children spouted profanities like the brash billionaire. And Rubio was mocking Trump as a "con artist" with "the worst spray tan in America."

Clinton made a stop in Alabama, a Super Tuesday state, on Saturday before returning to Columbia, South Carolina's capital, for an evening victory party.

Sanders, expecting defeat on Saturday, left South Carolina even before voting finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesday's delegate-rich contests. He drew 10,000 people to a rally in Austin, a liberal bastion in conservative Texas, the biggest March 1 prize.

While Sanders spent the end of the week outside of South Carolina, his campaign did invest heavily in the state. He had 200 paid staff on the ground and an aggressive television advertising campaign.

Sanders has energized young people and liberals with his impassioned calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and making tuition free at public colleges and universities. But the senator from Vermont, a state where about 1 percent of the population is black, lacks Clinton's deep ties to the African-American community.

Exit polls showed 6 in 10 voters in Saturday's South Carolina primary were black. About 7 in 10 said they wanted the next president to continue Obama's policies, and only about 20 percent wanted a more liberal course of action, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.

Clinton's sweeping victory suggested South Carolina voters had put aside any lingering tensions from her heated 2008 contest with Obama. Former President Bill Clinton made statements during that campaign that were seen by some as questioning the legitimacy of the black presidential contender.

This time around, Bill Clinton was well-received as he traveled the state on her behalf. She focused on issues with particular resonance in the black community, including gun violence, and held an emotional event with black mothers whose children died in shootings.

Clinton's second White House bid lurched to an uneven start, with a narrow victory over Sanders in Iowa and a crushing loss to the senator in New Hampshire. She pulled off a 5-point win over Sanders in last week's Nevada caucuses, a crucial victory that helped stem Sanders' momentum.

Clinton's campaign hopes her strong showing in South Carolina foreshadows similar outcomes in states like Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia that vote Tuesday and have large minority populations.

Taken together, 865 Democratic delegates are up for grabs in the Super Tuesday contests in 11 states and American Samoa.

Because Democrats apportion delegates proportionally, Sanders is simply hoping to stay close to Clinton in the South. But he's focusing most of his attention on states in the Midwest and Northeast, including his home state of Vermont.

On the Republican side, voters will cast ballots in 11 states, with 595 delegates at stake on Super Tuesday. (rin)

Associated Press writer Catherine Lucey in Austin, Texas, and Ken Thomas in Washington contributed to this report.
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Linkedin Bambang Muryanto (The Jakarta Post) Yogyakarta  Sun, February 28, 2016

Al Fatah Islamic School for transgender people in Yogyakarta has ceased all activity and its owners and students are keeping a low profile after the school was shut down by local authorities amid protests from a local hard-line group.

Al Fatah, located in a house owned by the leader of the school, Shinta Ratri. was calm and quiet when journalists visited the school in Jagalan, Kotagede subdistrict, on Saturday.

Several transwomen shut themselves in their rooms as journalists approached.

Shinta also refused to talk to the press about the shutting down of the Islamic school, which was established elsewhere in 2008 and moved to Jagalan in 2014.

She wanted to take a break, she said, and had no plans to re-establish the school at another location.

"I am still tired and I want to calm myself first. Life goes on, and I also need to earn money," the former makeup artist told thejakartapost.com through a text message.

Authorities decided to close down Shinta's school after a local meeting on Wednesday.

The authorities claimed that Al Fatah was a public nuisance, with motorcycles blocking the road whenever the school held events and activities. There were also reports of noisy karaoke nights and alcohol consumption at the school.

The meeting was urged by the Yogyakarta Islamic Jihadi Front (FJI), a group that opposes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people.

Banguntapan subdistrict chief Jati Bayu Broto said the decision was taken in the public interest.

Aditia Arief Firmanto from the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute, representing Shinta, meanwhile insisted the latter had not closed the instution out of fear of the FJI.

"Shutting down the school is a violation of human rights. These students are being denied the right to a religious education," Adita said on Saturday.

The legal aid institute also deeply regretted the failure on the part of the Banguntapan Police to address a broadcast message allegedly sent by the FJI threatening to seal Al Fatah on Feb. 19, distressing and frightening Shinta and her students.

"[The Banguntapan Police] said they had no cyber division, and could only use Article 335 of the Criminal Code to track down the sender," Adita said.

Meanwhile, Banguntapan Police chief Comr. Suharno denied that his force had refused to respond to the reports, but had suggested that the complainants report instead to the Bantul Police or Yogyakarta Police, both of which have cyber divisions.

Al Fatah teacher Abdul Muhaimin said he would continue to fight for the school's right to exist and educate, noting that activities were limited to reciting the Koran, learning how to pray and celebrating Islamic holidays, and did not extend to anything that might disturb the peace and order of the neighborhood.

"Why do we need permission for a Koran recital? Parking issues can be managed. It is of the upmost importance that we do not let this problem interrupt the students' right to learn their religion," said Muhaimin, who is also the headteacher of the Nurul Umahat Islamic Boarding School in Kotagede.

The Sharia and Law School of Nahdlatul Ulama Islamic University in Esparza has cooperated with Al Fatah since 2014, aiming to improve the quality of the transwomen's life.

Separately, FJI leader Darohman said the group would allow Al Fatah to operate again under the condition that the transwomen repented and returned to being men.

"If they do not change, their prayers will not be accepted," he said. (rin)
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Linkedin Yuliasri Perdani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, February 28, 2016

In spite of its mediocre costumes and visual effects, Jagoan Instan (Instant Hero) provides an interesting glimpse into what kind of life a superhero might have in Indonesia.

In the new movie Jagoan Instan (Instant Hero), there is no genetically engineered monster or chemical weapons threatening the city.



Instead, the biggest enemy of this new Indonesian superhero is a group of unscrupulous businesspeople who orchestrate illegal logging.



The danger is less sinister than in the average Marvel superhero flick, but that doesn't mean Jagoan Instan is tedious. The film wittily develops a realistic idea of what kind of superhero the country should have.



The hero is Bumi (played by comic Kemal Palevi), a young man living in a poor Jakarta neighborhood. Bumi is struggling to pay the medical bills of his ill father. Things get worse when his pretty girlfriend, Pertiwi (Anisa Rahma), ends their relationship to be with the rich but unattractive Romeo (played by handsome TV star Kevin Julio, uglified with false buck teeth).



Bumi's pathetic character takes an interesting turn when his uncle, Slamet Gunadi (Dede Yusuf), offers him the chance to become a superhero.



Slamet is a retired superhero who is not recognized by the public, simply because no comic artist has made a comic series about him.



Given Dede's sturdy looks and past career as an action star, it is somehow not hard to imagine him as a former superhero.



Aided by a box of powerful serum from his American superhero friends, Slamet turns Bumi into superhero, with the moniker Jagoan Instan.





The name, Jagoan Instan, reflects the nature of Bumi's superpower. One serum injection instantly gives him extraordinary strength and the ability to fly, lasting for 24 hours.



Bumi's first mission is to stop the country's deforestation. Donning his red costume, Jagoan Instan fights illegal loggers in the forest and nabs corrupt lawyers and judges in court.



In a funny scene, Jagoan Instan intercepts the handing of bribe money between a group of business executives and a group of politicians. He takes two boxes of apples and pours them over the table.



'So these are Malang apples and these are Washington apples,' says Jagoan Instan, revealing piles of US dollars and rupiah banknotes hidden among the apples, a reference to an infamous bribery case involving former lawmaker Angelina Sondakh.



His investigation leads Bumi to confront Ratu Gelondongan (Meriam Bellina), an eccentric businesswoman who leads the illegal logging.



Noted scriptwriter Musfar Yasin, (Get Married and Naga Bonar 2) delicately splashes ample local references throughout the movie.



In the opening scene, Slamet asked the favors of three American superheroes to handle the floods in Jakarta, a caterpillar outbreak in farms across Java and forest fires.



The film also touches on the wide wealth gap between rich and poor Indonesians.



Bumi confiscates billions of rupiah in bribes, but receives a daily stipend of only Rp 200,000 (US$ 14) for his service as superhero. The money can barely cover the medical bills of his father. In the circumstances, it becomes challenging for Bumi to keep his hands off the dirty cash.



Jagoan Instan is filled with plenty of flying scenes, which appear to be generated with drone imagery, slings and CGI. It fails to produce realistic imagery, but it's not disappointing either. Although the visual effect isn't awfully smooth, it's amusing to see Bumi flies around and sit near the golden flames of the National Monument (Monas) in Jakarta.

As the hero, Jagoan Instan does not appear in shiny, body-hugging costume, nor has he a muscular body. This may be intentional on director Fajar Bustomi's part, figuring a realistic image of a superhero coming from an underprivileged upbringing.



Bumi's first costume is a random mix of Superman-inspired garments coupled with batik cape and belt.



'It was made by the tailor near my house,' Bumi answers when Ratu Gelondongan questions his ugly costume.



As Bumi, comic Kemal demonstrates his dramatic side, while occasionally throwing aside a hilarious joke.



The appearance of Youtubers Jovial da Lopez and Andovi da Lopez as Romeo's hardcore punk sidekicks may cheer up teenage viewers. But the real refreshing performance here is presented by puppet master Ki Manteb Soedharsono.



He stars as Mbah Parto, the spiritual guardian of a mountain in Java who is saved by Jagoan Instan moments before the mountain erupts. He is calm and wise, yet does not hesitate to scold Jagoan Instan in Javanese ' one of the funniest moments in the movie.



Jagoan Instan still has a long, long way to go to match the adrenaline-pumping action of Hollywood superheroes movies, but it is a commendable effort to revive the public's interest in local heroes.





Indonesia had its own superhero fever moment some time ago, when the live-action comic series Gundala Putra Petir (Gundala, Son of Thunder) hit theaters in 1981. Just last year, Garuda Superhero tried to revive audiences' thirst for a new Indonesian superhero, but the film was widely criticized for its excessive use of CGI.



The film, now in theaters, is not the end of Jagoan Instan's journey. As the final scene suggests, Bumi still has a task to defeat his nemesis ' perhaps we can look forward to a second helping of Jagoan Instan.



' Photos Courtesy of Starvision

________________________________

Jagoan Instan

(Starvision, 96 minutes)



Directed by Fajar Bustomi

Cast: Kemal Palevi, Kevin Julio, Anisa Rahma, Dede Yusuf, Meriam Bellina, Alexa Key, Jovial da Lopez, Andovi da Lopez, Ki Manteb Soedharsono and Daan Aria.
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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, February 28, 2016

Thousands of officers from the Jakarta Police and the Indonesian Military (TNI) will secure the official shutdown of Kalijodo, Jakarta's red-light district in North Jakarta.

"We will prevent any security disturbances, including possible friction and traffic congestion," Jakarta Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Muhammad Iqbal said on Sunday.

Jakarta Police will also alter traffic routes surrounding Kalijodo on Monday.

The city administration issued its third and final warning to the local residents of Kalijodo on Sunday, telling them to empty their homes. Officers will start tearing down buildings on Monday.

The first warning was issued last week, pushing the residents to move away from Kalijodo.

Jakarta Police chief Ins. Gen. Tito Karnavian was scheduled to monitor the officers on Monday, Iqbal added.

Separately, North Jakarta Mayor Rustam Efendi expressed his willingness to close down Kalijodo.

"We have prepared 10 pieces of heavy equipment needed for the clean out," Rustam told thejakartapost.com on Sunday.

The eviction will be carried out within three days and the cleaning and removal of the ruins will be completed within a week.

Rustam said there were still four families residing in Kalijodo and added that subdistrict and village chiefs were working to persuade them to leave the area.

"We hope that no families remain in Kalijodo tomorrow," he said.

The Bethel Church of Indonesia in Kalijodo held its last service on Sunday prior to the Kalijodo shutdown on Monday.

Church leader Timotheus Sutomo delivered a sermon to around 60 members.

"We don't want to end up here. We believe that God gives us a new page," he said as reported by Antara news agency.

The church operated for 48 years and served Protestants in the Kalijodo area. (rin)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post  Sun, February 28, 2016

The city's graves are filling up, and more than a few people die every day. A team from The Jakarta Post recently visited cemeteries across Greater Jakarta, meeting mourners rich and poor, as well as organizations providing funeral services, to see how the capital and its surroundings meet the needs of the deceased and their grieving families. The following contributed to this report: Moses Parlindungan, Ivany A. Arbi, Viriya P. Singgih, Winny Tang, Winda A. Charmila, M. Reza Zafiruddin, Fachrul Sidiq, Radhitya Diva Putra and Sepsha D. Restiananingsih.



San Diego Hills Memorial Park in Karawang, West Java, was busy one day with two simultaneous funerals. In the Christian section, a family gathered under white tents to bury a husband and father.



Around 50 people sat on folding chairs beside the coffin of the 43-year-old, who had died, relatives said, of cancer. The ceremony proceeded with hymns, the reminiscences of loved ones and prayers for the deceased, before proceeding to the burial.



Down the hill in the Buddhist section, another group of white tents sheltered mourners dressed in white for the burial of mother, grandmother and great grandmother Kheng Tjin Kwai, 82.



Almost 40 people knelt before the altar set in front of the grave. A Buddhist monk led the ritual, while a grief counselor assisted mourners in following the prayers, the burning of joss paper effigies and other traditions.



Three mourners said Kheng's descendants ' who included both Buddhists and Christians ' wanted to honor her ancient Chinese beliefs and traditions.



A day before, at the Tegal Alur II Cemetery in West Jakarta, which primarily serves Muslims, a man sat across from a flower kiosk, where mourners can buy petals and other burial items.



Hajair, a gravedigger who digs resting places for the unidentified dead, said he had just finished preparing a final resting place for his cousin, Titin Sumarni, 41, a teacher.



Titin's mother, Rokyah, said her daughter had, shortly before dying, fulfilled the teaching requirements for a Bachelor's degree.



'We never thought that God would call her so soon,' she said.



Nobody in the family, including Titin's husband, Erpin, was prepared to face the challenges of burying someone in Jakarta without assistance.



'As it turned out, our community chief assisted us by arranging for chairs and tents for guests at our home, and for the hearse to bring the body to the cemetery,' Erpin explained.





Dying in Jakarta is a complicated process, even with the bureaucratic reforms introduced in the 2007 bylaw on cemeteries. Yet all of the above families found someone willing and able to assist them in their time of grief.



The difference in levels of service for the dead, as for the living, depends on social status, wealth, religion, land availability and access to information about regulations, services and costs.



Land scarcity presents a challenge to the Jakarta administration, as the capital's already large population continues to grow, with 27,375 people dying annually.



The bureaucracy of death requires relatives of the deceased to present the following documents: death certificate from a medical facility, the deceased's identity and family card, ID of the family member in charge of burial, a subdistrict reference letter to funeral authorities and proof of payment from Bank DKI. All of this is required just for a burial plot.



According to Tegal Alur Cemetery administrator H. Suaeb, funerals no longer entail illegal fees solicited at cemeteries, though people often give tips to the gravediggers and groundskeepers.



Religion and tradition further complicate the funeral process.



Kasman Sukandar, a grief consultant from Anugrah Jasa, said he had been providing advice to mourners since the 1990s.



'Even people of the same religion may practice different rituals, depending on what ethnic group or traditions they have inherited,' he said.



Jakarta Cathedral parish priest, Stefanus Bratakartana SJ, explained that some Catholics of Chinese descent might not adhere to church rituals. 'If a Chinese family wants to cremate their relative, it is up to them,' he said.



Confucians, Buddhists and sometimes Protestants from various ethnicities may also opt for cremation. Only Muslims of all ethnic backgrounds refuse to cremate their dead, insisting on burial within 24 hours.



Pastor Ainul Nurul said that in the Protestant tradition, the focus was on how to comfort the grieving family. Prayer services 'can be held at any time that is convenient for the family and friends', she said.



Buddhists and Confucians generally hold processions before burial, which may mean the dead are not buried immediately.



In Hinduism, the rituals following cleansing and shrouding occur simultaneously with the preparation of the body for burial and possible later cremation.



Nevertheless, nobody dying in Jakarta needs to worry about having someone there to lay them to rest. If the government does not help you, the community will, and commercial services are always available.



Under the cemeteries bylaw, all burial costs are borne by the municipality. The only charges imposed are burial plot rents, ranging from nothing to Rp 100,000 for three years.



In Jakarta, each subdistrict has a One-stop Integrated Service Center, which assists with various permits ' including access to burial plots.





When someone dies, his or her loved ones receive a death certificate to take to their community or neighborhood chiefs, who then gives them a referral letter for the one-stop center determining their payment status based on family income. If the deceased is unidentified or has no next of kin, he or she is buried in Tegal Alur Cemetery. For families of the deceased categorized as poor, burial plots are free.



If the family is considered able to pay, the rental fee for a burial plot depends on their level of income. The one-stop center then provides a letter to Bank DKI, which calculates the rental cost and provides three receipts, one each for the family, the cemetery and the one-stop center. Once proof of payment has been established, the deceased can be buried.



What the government does not do, the community ' religious organizations, foundations, freelance counselors, neighbors, etc. ' can.



The Pesantren Islam Al-Azhar Foundation, through its funeral process unit founded in 1992, assists with transportation, cleansing and shrouding of the deceased for fees between Rp 1.5 million and Rp 3 million for non-members. For members, who pay a monthly fee of

Rp 5,000 each, all services are free.



Religious organizations also offer services ' counseling, prayer recital, cleansing and cosmetic procedures, coffin procurement, hearses, grave-keeping and administrative assistance.



The business sector also provides funeral-related goods and services for anyone requiring them at costs ranging from affordable on a small budget to extremely expensive.



The Cilincing Crematorium provides coffins and cremations for as little as Rp 3.3 million, or less if the bereaved can provide proof of poverty.



For those with deeper pockets, Heaven Funeral Home and Crematorium in Gedong Panjang provides coffins, funeral service space, cremation and administrative service for total fees ranging from around Rp 40 million to Rp 103 million.



The Cikini Funeral Home provides preburial and precremation services, covering cleansing, embalming, make-up, coffins and funeral service space. Total fees can reach Rp 43 million.



Richer families can also take a luxurious route to laying their loved ones to rest.



Lestari Memorial Park in Karawang, West Java, offers burial plots ranging from Rp 58 million to Rp 10 billion, as well as cremation services ranging from cremation alone at Rp 5.5 million, to cremation and the scattering of ashes at Rp 8 million.



This cemetery complex also provides a columbarium for the storage of crematory urns or boxes.



San Diego Hills Memorial Park and Funeral Homes, meanwhile, offers burial plots ranging from Rp 26.7 million to Rp 10.1 billion. This 500-hectare funeral and burial complex in Karawang also provides chapels, Islamic prayer rooms, other funeral service spaces and a multipurpose building.



With such a range of facilities and services, it is no longer necessary to fear the age-old adage: 'Don't die in Jakarta.'

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Linkedin Sandy Cohen (The Jakarta Post) Los Angeles  Sun, February 28, 2016

Jared Leto presented an Oscar to Margot Robbie. Patricia Arquette gave one to Morgan Freeman. Chris Evans tried to claim a golden guy for himself. Kevin Hart, meanwhile, took a quick call while standing on the Oscar stage.

Saturday is rehearsal day for the superstar presenters appearing on Sunday's Academy Awards, and a parade of celebrities came through the Dolby Theatre to practice reading their lines and hitting their marks.

The ever-confident Hart ' who told the person on the other end of the phone line, "I'm doing this and I'm out" ' said he expected his rehearsal to be a "piece of ca-za-ke."

"Where am I sitting?" he asked no one in particular. "I was about to say all the black people should be in the first row."

The comedian arrived wearing track pants and sneakers, which worked out well as he had to move quickly when a large stage element came crashing down after he finished his lines.

"That's what rehearsals are for," he said as a dozen stagehands worked to put the fallen piece upright. "All right, guys. My part was great, though!"

Arquette improvised as she read the nominees in the category she's presenting, describing one as "very foxy" and awarding the prop Oscar to Freeman, who is not nominated.

"It's a total upset victory!" she said with a giggle.

When Whoopi Goldberg returned to the Oscar stage, she addressed the audience of rehearsal actors.

"You guys are sitting (here) all day? Good God," said Goldberg, who has hosted the show four times. "But it's kind of neat, right? I like it, too."

Leto and Robbie laughed through their rehearsal. First, Leto read the actress' name when he opened the winners' envelope, then he intentionally fumbled the prop Oscar (in this case, a plain plastic water bottle) and dropped it on the floor.

Cate Blanchett was the most scrupulous in her rehearsal, running through her presentation several times.

"Is it here? Did I stop in my spot? Ish?" she asked the stage manager, adding, "You can always re-cast."

Other stars rehearsing Saturday included Emily Blunt, Kerry Washington, Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Sofia Vergara, Eddie Redmayne, John Legend, Common, Benicio del Toro and Russell Crowe.

A look at the star-studded Oscar rehearsals:

Seat spotting

For many of the stars rehearsing Saturday, finding their seats inside the Dolby Theatre is among the most exciting elements. Celebrity seats are marked with photo placards during rehearsals.

"I know that guy!" Evans declared when he spotted his face card from the stage.

"(Jason) Sudeikis has got a good seat. How'd he get that seat?" Tina Fey asked Steve Carell about their "Saturday Night Live" colleague during rehearsals. Sudeikis is attending the show with fiancAe Olivia Wilde, who is a presenter.

"We're in the second row," Carell pointed out.

"Not too bad," Fey replied.

Shoe situation

While the men rehearsing Saturday wore sneakers or other casual shoes, most of the women tried out the towering high heels they plan to wear during the show.

Cate Blanchett paired giant silver platforms with her black jumpsuit. Sarah Silverman, who arrived in sneakers, camouflage pants and a ball cap, remembered just as she was rehearsing her lines that she'd meant to wear her show-day shoes: tall black stilettos.

Jennifer Garner was dressed down, except for her sparkly black shoes.

"Aren't they pretty?" she asked rhetorically. "They have to be to go with this beautiful (stage) design."

The stage is dressed in a glam, 1970s-inspired theme incorporating thousands of Swarovski crystals.

The Oscars air Sunday on ABC.
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Linkedin Agnes Anya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, February 28, 2016

In the latest of several such incidents in the past three months, the Jakarta Police have failed to uphold their impartiality by refusing to protect a small group of people who planned to organize a festival of leftist thinking in Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM), Cikini, Central Jakarta.



The festival themed the Belok Kiri (Turn Left) Festival, was initially set to be held in the TIM cultural center from Feb. 27 to March 5 to accommodate history enthusiasts, who wanted to share thoughts about leftist history in Indonesia.



However, on Friday TIM management, the Jakarta Arts Center (PKJ), had a change of heart and decided to withdraw its permission for the event following opposition from various mass organizations, such as Jakarta's Indonesia Islam Youth Movement, the Jakarta Activist Front and Duta Legal Aid Institute.



On Saturday, the police deployed around 200 personnel to disperse the festival's committee members, who were about to hold a press conference to deliver their response to the on-going opposition, following a demonstration staged by around 50 members of the mass organizations.



As a result, the committee eventually held the press conference using a loud hailer in the parking lot of the cultural center, as well as canceling a discussion and a book launch, which had been scheduled for Saturday afternoon.



'We will fight back against the opposition by using an intellectual approach, instead of the physical approach that these mass organizations use,' said one of the committee members, Dytha Caturani on Saturday.



Dytha further denied allegations by the mass organizations, who claimed that the festival was held to 'hail left-wing ideology in Indonesia'.



'We, instead, want to raise critical thinking among the people regarding our history, which has been manipulated by the New Order regime for its political interests,' Dytha said.



The committee insisted on proceeding with their plans as they went on to open the event at the office of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute in Central Jakarta.



They also continued with the series of events by means of several improvisations to the schedule, which can be found on their Twitter account @BelokKiri_Fest.



Separately, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Mohammad Iqbal said the police had to stop the event because the committee had not informed the police.



Moreover, he added, a brawl could potentially break out between the organizers and the mass organizations if the committee insisted on proceeding without permission from the police. Therefore, the police had to step in.



The Belok Kiri Festival is not the first gathering to have been dispersed by the police as a result of pressure from hard-line organizations.



Earlier this month, the police bowed to the Islam Defenders Front (FPI) by shutting down a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) group's closed workshop at the Cemara Hotel in Menteng, Central Jakarta.



In December, the police canceled a discussion and the reading of a drama script about the 1965 communist purge after the FPI blocked the events, which they said 'harmed nationalism'.



In November, the police decided not to give the go-ahead for a discussion on terrorism set to be held by the Association of Journalists for Diversity (Sejuk) after the FPI expressed its objection to the event's poster depicting the Islamic State movement's flag next to the FPI's official logo.

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Linkedin Apriadi Gunawan and Jon Afrizal (The Jakarta Post) Medan/Jambi  Sun, February 28, 2016

Sumatran elephant populations have been continuing to decrease mainly due to illegal hunting, which uses various methods to kill the protected giant mammal, from poisoning to electrocution.



'Recently, we found many elephants dead from poisoning and electrocution. The illegal hunters consider those ways not too risky,' Doni Gunaryadi of the Indonesia Elephant Conservation Forum (FKGI) told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.



Doni said almost every month an elephant was found dead in Sumatra due to illegal hunting that takes place in eight of the island's nine provinces.



He said that today there was no elephant hunting in West Sumatra because there had been no elephants in the province since 2007 when their habitat in Kota Panjang was used for the construction of a hydro power plant.



According to the FKGI's data, the elephant population across Sumatra is estimated to have reached 2,400 in 2007, but had decreased to 1,700 elephants in 2014.



Doni said there had been an increase in illegal hunting recently due to high prices being paid for the animal's tusks.



For a super quality tusk, he said, the price could reach tens of millions of rupiah per kilogram while the price of a small tusk could reach millions of rupiah per kilogram.



He said tusks of Sumatran elephants were sold in and outside of Sumatra, reaching Bali and East Nusa Tenggara where foreign buyers were waiting. 'The buyers are mostly foreigners. They love Sumatran elephant tusks because they're beautifully shaped and strong,' he said.



Besides illegal hunting, Doni said, the decreasing population of the elephants was also caused by the expansion of plantations, including massive palm-oil plantations.



He said the elephants that lost their habitats entered residential areas to seek food and were getting into trouble with villagers.



'Conflicts between elephants and residents are happening, especially in Riau, Jambi and Aceh. In those three regions, the mortality rate of elephants is dozens every year,' he said.



FKGI chairman Krismanko Padang said police were currently detaining two illegal hunters for killing two elephants in Tebo regency in Jambi recently. Police are also searching for the hunters' accomplices.



Krismanko said the hunters, who were arrested in Riau, would be charged under the Conservation Law for crimes that carried a maximum punishment of five years in prison and a fine of Rp 100 million (US$7,100).



On Jan. 21 the Pangkalan Kerinci District Court in Riau sentenced four men to two-and-a-half years in prison each for hunting and killing elephants in Tesso Nilo National Park (TNTN) in Pelalawan regency. The court also fined them Rp 20 million each.
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Linkedin Safrin La Batu (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, February 28, 2016

The smell of durian might be unpleasant for many people, some too repulsed to touch its flesh, let alone eat it. But for the durian obsessed, the pungent smell and the gooey flesh make way for the perfect taste, and they are willing to travel a long distance to hunt for the 'king of fruit'.



Jakarta, also known as the Big Durian, launched the Durian Fair 2016 on Saturday, the first event of its kind, in Blok M Square shopping mall in South Jakarta. Durian enthusiasts from all around Greater Jakarta packed out the event, which will run for the coming week.



Thirty-year-old Ita, who came along with her older sister from Tangerang in Banten, attentively sorted out which durians she wanted to buy from the piles on show at the fair. She seemed to have a knack for distinguishing the best durians from the rest.



'The one that is ripened on the tree is normally a good durian. So, I look for the one with a natural stem end. Overripe durian is also not good, so I choose the ones with a weaker smell,' she told The Jakarta Post.



'I came here because I find many durians sold by vendors on roadsides are not good.'



Visitors to the fair can visit any of the 20 stands, which offer durians from regions around the country such as Banyumas and Mijen in Central Java, Bogor in West Java and Pandeglang in Banten.



Each stand charges different prices depending on the type and size of each durian. For example at the Rancamaya stand a big durian is sold for Rp 200,000 (US$14.90) while a small one is Rp 100,000. Meanwhile, aother stand sells 1 kilogram of durian for Rp 70,000.



Agus, 60, who came along with his wife and two daughters from Jatinegara in East Jakarta, said the prices were high but the quality was better than what he normally bought from roadside vendors.



'The taste is sweeter, the flesh is thicker and the seeds are smaller,' he said while sharing a durian with his wife and daughters.



Besides selling durians, the fair also sells various products made from durian such as dodol (a fudge-like sweet), ice-cream, durian soup, pancakes and juice. Also available are durian seeds, grafted durian trees and fertilizer.



During the opening on Saturday, the fair held a durian competition between all the stands. Sirouf, a type of durian from Banjarnegara in Central Java, came out in first place of the competition, and its seller received Rp 4 million in prize money. Meanwhile, gondang durians, also from Banjarnegara, took second place, followed by pajar from Pandeglang. The owners of the second- and third-placed durians received Rp 3 million and Rp 2 million, respectively.



'Sirouf durian has a yellow, sweet and tender flesh. There's a slightly bitter aftertaste. That's what makes a perfect durian. The flesh is also thick,' explained Mohamad Reza Tirtawinata, head of the judging panel.



South Jakarta Deputy Mayor Irmansyah, who officially opened the fair, said he hoped the fair would introduce Indonesian durians not only on the local stage but also internationally.



'Our durians are far more delicious [than durians from overseas]. We should keep promoting them,' he said in his speech.



'Indeed, the home of durians is here [Indonesia].'



Several types of imported durians, such as monthong and musang king, have long been considered the best quality durians in Indonesia, meaning they price above local durians.



Mohammad Reza said that some types of durian from Indonesia could actually be on par with the quality of imported durians.



'The problem is that, normally, durians in Indonesia have only been grown by traditional farmers, with traditional facilities on small farms. Meanwhile, in countries such as Thailand and Malaysia, durians are grown by businesses on big farms,' he explained.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post  Sun, February 28, 2016

One major characteristic of a good leader is the ability to grasp the aspirations of his or her people and realize them. And this quality, more or less, is possessed by President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo.



The President took two bold decisions in the past week in response to the general public's aspirations or common interests in regard to the current state of affairs of the nation.



First was his decision to comply with the general public's concern about the threat to the anticorruption campaign in the country. In a closed-door meeting at the State Palace, President Jokowi convinced House of Representatives leaders to delay indefinitely the deliberation of the revisions to the 2002 Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Law.



'I think we need more time to strengthen the plan and to disseminate more information about it to members of the public,' the President said in a press conference after the meeting on Monday.



The government had earlier agreed to work on revisions to the KPK Law with the House on the condition that the revisions strengthen the antigraft agency.



Both sides had also agreed that revisions would be limited to four points: the establishment of a supervisory body, the commission's wiretapping authority, a mechanism for terminating an investigation and the power to hire independent investigators.



The plan went south when the House factions, led by the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), proposed scrapping the agency's wiretapping authority while enabling investigation termination for corruption cases.



The House's inconsistency in supporting the KPK has drawn strong public criticism, with the government facing questions about its anticorruption commitment if it continues supporting the lawmakers' initiative. The government's recent bowing to the proposal to allow the KPK to terminate investigations was regarded as a move to enable the future trading of cases involving high-ranking officials and politicians.



The second bold decision of the President was his readiness to support the Indonesian Military (TNI) by promising to allocate more funds to the TNI if the economy improves this year. Apparently responding to the TNI's request for a continuation of government financing for its modernization programs, Jokowi said on Tuesday he would allocate as much as 1.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) to the defense budget, or about Rp 250 trillion (US$18.66 billion), if economic growth exceeded 6 percent.



The President said the TNI budget was currently set at about 1.1 percent of the country's GDP. In comparison, the average military budget between 2005 and 2014 was 0.82 percent of the country's GDP, while the average between 2000 and 2004 was 0.78 percent.



Aiming to reduce imports by developing the domestic defense industry, Jokowi also ordered that any future plans must involve the use of Indonesia-made military products.



Jokowi expressed an aggressive plan for military spending in his election campaign in 2014, vowing in front of hundreds of retired military and police generals that it would be raised if economic growth stood at over 7 percent.



At that time, he unveiled his programs on defense and security issues, which included the modernization of military equipment and increasing the number of military and police personnel.



In his pledge, Jokowi also said that he would gradually increase the defense budget from $7.2 billion in 2014 to $20 billion in 2019 and that he intended to procure new jet fighters, radar equipment and military transportation aircraft, as well as improve border security.



The President seemed to be unnerved by the economic slowdown last year as well as by a number of accidents, particularly those involving relatively new military equipment within the past year. The latest accident was the fatal crash earlier this month of a Brazil-made Super Tucano aircraft in a densely populated area of Malang in East Java during a test flight, killing the pilot, an onboard technician and two people on the ground.



During Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, TNI chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo presented an example of development programs that should be begun, including the development of Air Force bases outside Java and naval posts on border islands, as well as improved equipment and capacity in eastern Indonesia. The TNI is also seeking to improve cyber units and military intelligence units.



One thing was missing, however, from the President's commitment to helping ensure continuing military modernization and development programs. As part of the procurement of replacements for ageing equipment and those items destroyed in accidents, there should also be a commitment to transparent procurement systems and transparent investigations into any accidents involving military equipment.



The TNI surely knows best what military equipment and weaponry are needed to protect and safeguard the country's unity and territorial integrity.



However, as all these procurements are financed by the state budget, some 80 percent of which comes from contributions by the people through tax payments, the public deserves to know how their money is spent, including whether or not it goes into the coffers of crooked officials.



' Imanuddin Razak
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Linkedin Kornelius Purba (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Sun, February 28, 2016

'If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?' Pope Francis responded when a journalist asked him about gay priests in the Catholic Church in 2013.



His statement was a revolutionary change of position compared with his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, who was very much opposed to prelates with this sexual orientation, even though the church was not lacking in such men.



Don't worry, I won't preach about religious teachings here. This is not just about wrong or right. This is just the reality of life. For you perhaps such an orientation should be condemned because it is totally unacceptable by universally acceptable norms. Or perhaps you are more tolerant of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community ' because it is simply an undeniable fact of life.



Regardless of your position on this issue, why don't you try to see it from another side?



Personally, I always stick to my own 'It could happen to you or your family' credo in regard to the LGBT issue. 'Never make fun of transgender people,' I always told my three kids. The arguments are not theological at all, but rather 'what if one day your own children faced the same orientation and difficulty?'



As a father or mother, it is natural to expect your son or daughter to introduce you to their girlfriend or boyfriend, respectively. We expect them to be heterosexual, right? But what if your beloved son or daughter brought home a same-sex partner? Would you kick them out of your house and declare they were no longer your child? Or, would you hug them no matter how painful the fact for you?



I still vividly remember when my two sons talked about their gay friends many years ago. Of how their parents were deeply saddened by the situation because their neighbors were gossiping about them.



My wife said she fully understood the parents' situation. It was an embarrassment. No mother wants to confront such a situation.



'We would continue to love you as much as we do now even if you were gay,' my wife and I told our sons one day. They laughed. Perhaps they were still too young to understand it at that time.



We can easily condemn or make fun of LGBT people. There are so many reasons and excuses to force them to 'repent' and return to the 'right path'. Perhaps you have never realized that your children, nephew, niece, grandchildren, your brother and sister are trying to hide their true identity because the social punishment is too severe for them to bear.



What would you say if your beloved boy came to you and tearfully confessed: 'Dad I am gay'? Or your daughter whispers to you, 'Mom, I am a lesbian'? Perhaps it would be a kind of doomsday for you. You have the right to declare your position to them. But have you ever imagined that actually they don't want to be like that? Perhaps parents also need to look at the mirror and ask ourselves: 'Am I to blame for my kid's misery?'



These days the nation is preoccupied with moral issues such as pornography and the LGBT community. There is an overwhelming consensus that Indonesia is in a state emergency with these two social 'diseases'. We are at war against them because our nation does not want the repetition of 'Sodom and Gomorrah' because of our sins.



The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) recently issued stern instructions for TV stations to stop airing any sinful scenes. In compliance with the warning, when a TV station broadcast the Puteri Indonesia beauty pageant, it pixilated contestants wearing the traditional kebaya costume.



Whether we realize it or not, we have made the LGBT and pornography issues our common enemies. In social media, like Facebook and Twitter, calls for a total war against the two phenomena are steadily rising. As if having eliminated the LGBT community and pornography from Indonesia, we will all go to heaven. We pretend not to know that we actually face a much more devastating threat.



Again, I have no intention of arguing one way or the other, I just wonder why we are so indifferent, if not extremely permissive and ignorant, about a much more devastating danger ' rampant corruption.



We are consistently on the list of most corrupt nations in the world. Don't you agree that graft is more deadly than LGBT people and pornography? Corruption is a crime against humanity and the perpetrators deserve the most severe punishment from our courts.



All major political parties ' excluding the Gerindra Party and the Democratic Party ' have united to emasculate the highly trusted Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The parties represent mega corruptors who feel uncomfortable with the existence of the much-feared antigraft agency. The National Police and the Attorney General's Office are much softer on corruption. Even the government, or at least influential members of the Cabinet, is very willing to weaken the KPK.



We get very noisy about pornography, prostitution, adultery, the LGBT community and petty crimes such as gambling. But why are we so very quiet on corruption or gross human rights violations? To be honest, I don't know how to answer this question.



Just try to guess: Perhaps, because many Indonesians share my 'it could happen to you' belief!

________________________________



The writer is the senior managing editor of The Jakarta Post.
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Phuket Opinion: Wheres your support for Phuket FC?

PHUKET: When stepping up as Phuket FC president at the end of 2015, MaAnn Samran made his vision clear: to rebuild not only a club, but also a culture. Having been relegated, this meant a fresh start and opportunity to pursue said goals in Division Two (D2).

opinion

By The Phuket News

Sunday 28 February 2016, 09:00AM

The term 'support' needs a little more redefining for Phuket FC. Photo: The Phuket News / file

However, this past month the club was thrown into a state of confusion when some Thai Premier League clubs were unable to qualify to play in the coming season. This had a kick-on affect to League One (D1) and D2. The result being a possibility that Phuket could regain their place in D1, from where they had just been relegated.

MaAnn has made it clear that his preference is to start afresh and play in D2. The reasons: firstly the team he has put together, in just the past month, is not ready to play in D1. Secondly, the required budget to compete in D1 is way beyond the clubs reach.

The prospect of returning to D1 has received mixed reactions, causing quite a stir and even divide among fans; so much that it was even rumoured that someone was prepared to form a second club, Phuket City FC.

Many of the increasing number of armchair warriors have taken to the fanclubs Facebook page to vent their anger and frustration, adamant the club should go to D1, that it would be that much harder to get promoted if the club remains in D2.

As for all those so-called supporters of Phuket FC who refuse to accept reason that D2 provides a more sustainable opportunity to rebuild the club, and instead insist on expressing anger and a lack of understanding.

D1 or D2, the bottom line is budget. MaAnn understands this and in a bid to help raise funds recently organised a concert featuring two very Thai popular bands, the cheapest ticket being only B300.

The Phuket News, as media sponsor and also as supporters of the club, attended the concert and attends every home match, and will continue to back the club through thick and thin, whether on the local, regional, national or international stage.

Yet were baffled at the relatively low turn-out the club drew to its opening friendly matches and fund-raising efforts. If you consider yourself a supporter of Phuket FC, then show your support, unconditionally. We hope to see you at Surakul Stadium this season more!
Gov. Noem will host veterans fundraiser instead of going to SDPB debate

While Rep. Jamie Smith and Libertarian Tracey Quint will be attending the South Dakota Public Broadcasting gubernatorial debate, Gov. Kristi Noem will be hosting a fundraiser for veterans.
Leonardo DiCaprio has been nominated four times for an Oscar for his acting, but hes never deserved to win as much as he does for his fifth attempt with The Revenant.

Hes touted to finally win Best Actor on Sunday for his role as a vengeful and bear-ravaged fur trapper in Alejandro G. Inarritus wilderness survival saga. Its also his best and most awards-worthy performance to date. Heres why.

Hes grown into the role

As good an actor as Leonardo DiCaprio is, and hes really good, he often seems just a little too young or fresh-cheeked to completely deliver a character. Witness his regrettable casting as creepy FBI boss J. Edgar Hoover in Clint Eastwoods J. Edgar or as the malevolent plantation slave owner in Quentin Tarantinos Django Unchained. For The Revenant, hes about the same age as Hugh Glass, the intrepid frontiersman he plays. More than that, though, hes acquired the grizzled face and stance of a man who knows pain but refuses to be defeated by it, much like Glass must have been. DiCaprio even wears that gnarly beard well, but dont believe the PR baloney that it had fleas in it for extra credibility. This time, Leonardo didnt need any help to be real.

He rises to meet the frame

Think of most of DiCaprios roles, or indeed of any actors, and how often the camera must meet the person or just the face of the person. The talent is the star, of course. The Revenant reversed the equation with its extreme outdoor shoot in remote and frozen corners of Canada, the U.S. and Argentina. It made the landscape the star, requiring the talent to rise to the challenge of a camera seeking to look wider, not narrower. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki added another wrinkle by shooting only during the gold-hued magic hours just before night descends. Yet another constraint was the lack of dialogue for much of the picture, especially in the early going, making it almost a silent movie. A confident DiCaprio slipped into the frame, not vice versa.

He really wants it, but not too much

Show your cries, win Oscars prize. In the cynical calculations of Academy Awards campaigning, its assumed that the more an actor suffers onscreen, the more he or she is likely to get an Oscar, or at least a nomination. The maxim is proven right more often than not: Matthew McConaughey lost 40 pounds for Dallas Buyers Club; Charlize Theron gained 30 pounds and deglammed herself for Monster. Both took home the gold. DiCaprio endured many hardships making The Revenant, among them the winter chill, the bear attack (mostly CGI), the horse-corpse bed and the raw bison liver snack. Leo gamely took them all on, knowing full well that his genuine pain could mean Oscar gain. But he crucially resisted the urge to overact, a hard thing to do when youre climbing into a dead horse. He really wants an Oscar, but he also really wants to earn one by acting, not hamming for pity votes.

What do you think?

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A gross breach of trust

Inside the courthouse, the 28-year-old complainant curled up in the fetal position on a bench. She licked the leg of her fathers pants. She tried to remove her shirt. She pretended to sleep.

Autistic and with the verbal abilities of a 5-year-old, she was buckling under the pressure of a routine visit to a Toronto court to meet the prosecutor prior to the sexual assault trial of a man accused of molesting her. As the 2015 trial for the man  a caregiver in her government-funded group home  drew closer, she would hyperventilate and lash out physically. She refused to eat, dropping 10 pounds from her 110-pound frame.

The womans family knew that while there would be no case without her description of what happened in her bedroom, they also knew she wouldnt be able to testify about it in a courtroom. They did not believe their daughter could endure a rigorous cross-examination. So they sought to ensure she never had to set foot in the courthouse again.

The case is an example, experts say, of a system that made rare accommodations for a sexual assault complainant who was unable to testify for herself.

Last month, following his conviction for sexual assault, a judge sentenced the caregiver, Valentine Ngoddy of Toronto, to 13 months in jail plus three years probation.

This was a gross breach of trust on the part of the defendant, wrote Justice Carole Brewer in her Jan. 14 decision on his sentence. The complainant is exceptionally vulnerable. Mr. Ngoddy knew this and took advantage of her condition.

In place of the woman testifying, the following were submitted to the court: a conversation she had with a daytime support worker; videotaped police interviews; and accounts of the assault the woman wrote in childlike cursive, one of which was on the back of a weekly menu plan.

This story, based on court documents and interviews with the womans family, is about how the case has unfolded so far.

Ngoddy, a 55-year-old trained engineer, maintains his innocence. He testified at the trial in September that he never saw the woman the night she claims he molested her. He is appealing his conviction.

The right to question ones accuser is a fundamental right in criminal law. Mr. Ngoddy was unable to do so in this case, said his appeal lawyer, Marianne Salih, adding, There is a real danger of wrongful convictions in such cases.

The womans family has retained law firm Torkin Manes to pursue a lawsuit against the agency that supplied Ngoddy to her group home, Dorvict Home and Health Care Services. After the guilty verdict in October, the woman talked about killing herself and asked her mother to hide the knives in the house, her family says.

Dorvicts human resources manager, Valerie Duffy, said she could not comment: This matter is now in civil litigation.

The government-funded group home where the assault took place is run by the GTA-area Reena agency.

We deeply regret that this incident occurred, said Reena CEO and president Bryan Keshen in a statement, adding the agency has policies, procedures and training in place to address abuse.

The assault

In January 2014, the woman, whom the Star is not naming to protect her identity, was living in the group home with four other male residents, who also had developmental disabilities. Ngoddy was the sole caregiver on duty that night and had been working roughly two nights a week for a year, court documents say.

At four feet ten inches tall, she is very much a little girl, said her mother. You think about her that night . . . theres no one to help her because hes the only one there.

The womans room at the home locked from the outside to protect her privacy, but could be opened from the inside.

On Jan. 14, after shed gone to bed, Ngoddy entered her room and molested her, the judge concluded after weighing the evidence at trial.

Why did . . . Mike, kiss my breasts, touch my vagina and put his penis on my body? the womans daytime support worker told court the woman spontaneously told her the day after the assault while the pair were in the washroom together. (The support worker also told court shed seen the woman call Ngoddy Mike a day earlier.)

Police were called. And in two nearly hour-long videotaped interviews taken at a local station in what police call a soft interview room with a couch and armchairs, Toronto police detectives questioned the woman about her encounter with Valentine Ngoddy. Both videos were submitted to the court.

Valentine touched me, she says in the second interview, conducted two weeks after the assault.

And where did he touch you? asks the detective.

In the back area, and in the front and in my crotch, vagina and in my bum hole, and in my bum and in my legs, and in my feet and in my arm and on my back and my hip, and the spine, and on the boobs and kissed them, she responds.

In the days after the assault another of the womans daytime support workers encouraged her to write her feelings down. As a result, two letters, written in childlike cursive, were also submitted at trial.

In one letter, which was written on the back of a weekly menu plan from the group home, the woman writes that she was touched on several different days of the week.

Monday night touched a person in the tummy, vagina, boobs and kissed them, she wrote.

Tuesday night his penis out.

Seeking justice

In the months after the routine visit to meet the prosecutor prior to trial, the prosecutor in the case, along with criminal lawyer David Butt, who was hired by the family, prepared to argue to have the initial conversation the woman had about the assault in the washroom with her daytime support worker submitted as evidence so she wouldnt have to testify. Hearsay evidence like this is usually not admissible in court when a witness is available.

When the odds are stacked against you, sometimes you have to work hard to have people heard, said Butt, who has counselled many sexual assault complainants. He was given standing in court to make arguments on the familys behalf.

The family also hired an expert psychologist to examine the woman and testify about her condition.

A special hearing was held during the course of the trial.

Toronto behavioural psychologist Dr. Bruce Linder testified that the woman, in addition to autism, had been diagnosed with severe anxiety, obsessive compulsive and bipolar disorders, and had behavioural problems. Linder told the hearing that he could not envision any circumstances, any whatsoever in which she could come back into court and testify without substantial behavioural escalations.

While the womans IQ is very low and she is limited verbally, she does have the ability to recall visual information, particularly if it was emotionally relevant to her, Linder said in the hearing. Like many autistic people, she can develop a preoccupation with an incident and relive it over and over again. Linder concluded that if the woman felt comfortable and was relaxed, she might be able to tell a consistent albeit fragmented story.

Dr. Linders evidence compellingly describes the devastating effects of the court visit on (the woman) and the probability of similar effects were she to testify in the case, Justice Brewer wrote in her extremely rare decision that allowed the hearsay conversation to be entered as evidence. The judge essentially concluded the negative impact on the woman outweighed Ngoddys right to face his accuser at trial. Brewer also found the information the woman blurted out to her daytime support worker could be reliable because it was spontaneously uttered to a person she trusted.

I was very touched by the close attention the judge paid to (my daughters) realities, said the womans father at Ngoddys sentencing last month. He added that he feels the case is an exception rather than the norm in a criminal justice system not designed to accommodate people with developmental disabilities. He has paid Butt $50,000 for his expertise in helping the family navigate the criminal justice system and said he understands not everyone has those means.

The trial continued in September without the woman. Ngoddys defence lawyer, Daniel Etoh, put his client on the stand. Ngoddy testified that he had not seen the woman the night she claimed he had molested her and that she had never called him Mike. He said that while he checked on the other residents every hour he did not have a key to her room, which was locked. He would have called for support if he needed access.

(The womans daytime support worker testified that a key to her room was available to staff. She also said that after the assault the woman frequently talked about the touching and asked: Why did he do it?)

While the videotaped police interviews and written accounts werent used as evidence, lawyer Etoh was able to use them to point to inconsistencies in the womans story. For example, the woman at one point told police the assault happened on New Years. The extent of the touching also expanded from the initial utterance to her daytime support worker to include almost every part of her body in the second police interview and the letters she wrote.

In explaining why she found Ngoddy guilty in October, Justice Brewer wrote that it makes no sense that there wouldnt be a key to the womans room available in the case of a fire or other emergency. Similarly, it was implausible that the others were checked during the night but the woman was not.

Brewer also wrote she believed that the womans developmental challenges and her tendency to obsess over events explained the inconsistencies in her account.

Valentine abused me very bad and touched me in bad parts. It makes myself angry. He needs to jail, reads a victim impact statement she wrote that was submitted to the court, along with several victim impact statements from family members and her support workers.

Ngoddy is now out on bail while he appeals his conviction. Salih, his appeal lawyer, plans to argue the judge failed to consider the frailties in the womans evidence, didnt give sufficient reasons for not believing Ngoddys evidence and erred in using the evidence of the womans behaviour after the court visit as corroboration that it occurred, according to court documents.

Ngoddy is due back in court on March 4.

Higher standards

The family has questions about whether the assault could have been prevented. For example, were there prior complaints against Ngoddy that either of the agencies involved knew about? (Neither agency would answer this and other questions from the Star).

A letter from the familys civil attorney to Dorvict and Reena, says the family intends to sue Dorvict (the agency that provided Ngoddy to the group home run by Reena) for the devastating impact of the assault on the woman, which has exacerbated her pre-existing difficulties.

The letter goes on to say that the family trusts the womans care in the group home will continue uninterrupted to avoid further emotional damage.

In a statement, the provinces Ministry of Community and Social Services, which funds Reena and 369 other agencies in Ontario that work with roughly 42,000 people with developmental disabilities, said staff working in group homes must have a vulnerable-sector check (an enhanced criminal record check that would also include past pardons for a sexual offence), reference checks and be trained on preventing and reporting abuse.

The ministry also said there are no minimum educational requirements for staff and that it is fine to have one staff working at a time.

Agencies are instead required to develop a plan for each person in their care that addresses goals, needs and preferences.

For example, adults with developmental disabilities who are very independent in their support needs may prefer fewer developmental service workers in their homes, the ministry statement said.

Miranda Ferrier, president of the Ontario Personal Support Workers Association, said this case is indicative of a big-time lack of oversight of those who work with some of societies most vulnerable people. (Ngoddy failed the final placement of his nursing degree so he did not graduate. He was trained as a civil engineer in Nigeria before immigrating to Canada in 2001. He recently got his real estate licence, court documents show.)

Ferrier would like to see government legislation that mandates a minimum educational requirement for staff, like a developmental services degree or a personal support worker diploma.

There needs to be a level of professionalization, she said, acknowledging it wouldnt necessarily stop abuse, but would add an extra level of training and scrutiny.

While having one caregiver working at a time costs less, it also makes it easier for abuse to happen, she added.

A 1991 Toronto study found up to 40 per cent of women with disabilities have been sexually assaulted or abused in some way. Last year, the 370 government-funded agencies filed 31 reports related to suspected, alleged or witnessed sexual abuse of people with disabilities. The reports are filed regardless of where the assault took place or whom the allegations are against.

A ministry spokesperson said that they are aware police laid charges in three of those cases. The ministry does not track the outcome of the charges.

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As Zerit Teclehaimanot watches the news and hears about Canadas generous welcome of 25,000 Syrian refugees he cant help but feel torn.

He is proud of his adopted homeland and the open arms it has extended to the Syrians. But he knows only too well that many refugees from other parts of the world dont have such easy access to Canada.

Teclehaimanot, himself an Eritrean refugee who came here in 2012, had hoped to sponsor four Eritreans to come to Canada. But his efforts have been partially stymied because of limits set up in 2012 on the numbers of refugees who can come to Canada aside from the 25,000 Syrian refugees the Liberal government has welcomed since coming to power in October.

So far, he has only been successful in sponsoring one Eritrean, an old friend who was in detention in Israel because his temporary permit expired but is now free until his application is processed. But he anticipates a long wait before that happens. As for the other three cases, which involve relatives, they have all fallen by the wayside because of the restrictions imposed under the Harper government.

Meanwhile, he sees the speedy processing of Syrian refugees to Canada and wonders why other refugees cant be treated in the same manner and have their applications dealt with as quickly.

With the Canadian government . . . the response theyre giving to humanitarian things (such as the situation with Syrian refugees) is unbelievable, says Teclehaimanot, a 39-year-old settlement worker at Community Action Resource Centre in Toronto. Its amazing, but its not fair, he said. Our people are crossing the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea in large numbers. Many of them passed away in the sea. Why are they taking a lot of risk? Because the international community is not taking an initiative to help them.

In Teclehaimanots eyes, Canada quite simply isnt stepping up enough. Giving attention to only one group is not fair, he said.

However, a spokesperson for the Department of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada denies it is giving preferential treatment to one group of refugees over another. The Government of Canada remains committed to upholding its humanitarian tradition to resettle refugees and offer protection to those in need, said Remi Lariviere. IRCC continues to work as effectively as possible to resettle refugees given operational and security limitations.

Close to 59.5 million people worldwide are currently displaced by war and conflict, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Some would like to make their way to Canada and have family and sponsors here eager to help out. But its not that easy.

The problem for Teclehaimanot and others who would like to sponsor refugees who arent from Syria stems from a number of changes in immigration department procedures. A cap imposed on Canadian visa offices in Nairobi, Cairo, Pretoria, Dar es Salaam and Islamabad by Ottawa in 2011 has limited the number of refugees who can come to Canada, said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council for Refugees.

Similarly, she said, a cap on sponsorship agreement holders and the number of refugees they can sponsor also limits the flow of refugees to Canada.

Those restrictions, coupled with a backlog of 27,959 privately sponsored refugees, deep financial cuts to the department instituted by the former Conservative government and long processing times of up to 70 months for refugees from some countries, have made it difficult for those from many other regions.

Immigration spokesperson Lariviere said it would be inappropriate to comment on the issue of caps  either on Canadian visa offices or for sponsorship agreement holders  before the 2016 Immigration Levels Plan has been tabled in the House of Commons. That announcement is expected in coming weeks.

Teclehaimanots experience isnt unusual. Every month, Canadians who want to sponsor family or friends in other parts of the world are turned away or told they have to wait.

We have people here waiting year after year, said Azaria Wolday, manager of the private sponsorship program for Northwood Neighbourhood Community Services. We have at least 300 families in our books. We are not putting any more people on our waiting list.

Last year, as many as 800 people approached Northwood about sponsoring Ethiopian, Eritrean, Sudanese and Afghan refugees. Wolday had to say no to most.

With that in mind he believes the federal government should take the lessons learned from dealing with Syrian refugees and apply them to other groups. It is a matter of political will, he said.

Similarly, at the refugee office for the Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, organizers have turned away requests for sponsorship of refugees from Africa since September. There simply is no room to bring them in.

Until 2011 we didnt have any caps. In one year we backed 700 sponsorships. Next year we only did 200 because of the allocation given to us, said Dr. Martin Mark, director of the Office for Refugees at the Archdiocese of Toronto.

When we talk about refugees, half of the worlds refugee population in need of resettlement is in Africa, said Mark. We should have a significant number of spots for sub-Saharan Africans.

To show the inequity, Mark says his organization was allowed 200 refugee spots through the Canadian visa office in Nairobi  but that covered refugee applications from not just Kenya but several other African countries.

He says his office has 200 African refugee submissions ready to go if spots become available. In contrast, he has unlimited spots for Syrians thanks to the governments Syrian refugee program, he said.

He also believes processing of other refugee applications is slowing down because officers are concentrating on Syrian refugees.

Its all tantamount to a kind of refugee roulette, with the winners coming from places like Syria and others being ignored or placed on a very long waiting list, said Teclehaimanot. All applicants, all sponsors are complaining about the backlog, he said. The government knows there is a backlog. They need to spend money. They need to invest.

Amanuel Adhanom, 38, a Toronto waiter and former refugee from Eritrea, has been trying to help four relatives come to Canada, two of whom are stuck in immigration detention in Israel. The organizations have no spots, he says in frustration. The Syrians are coming now. We are happy. They suffer, but Eritreans are also suffering. What happened in Syria is the same as Eritrea. . . The government of Canada should support them, too.

Freshta Doorani, 29, originally from Afghanistan, faces a similar situation. Desperate to sponsor her brother and his family to come to Canada, the GTA resident has had no luck. She took her case to a sponsorship agreement holder, only to be told it cant help because it doesnt have any more spots for refugees.

Afghanistan people are still suffering, she said as she breaks down into tears.

The Canadian Council for Refugees, while highly supportive of the Syrian refugee program, agrees and would like to see equity in the sponsorship of refugees. Even if you are lucky enough to make it through the caps and a spot is found for you to be privately sponsored, it can take as long as five years to get here because of processing delays, Dench said.

Africans have had to wait for an extremely long time, said Dench. And the Syrians, even before this program came in, they were processing them much more quickly. So there has been a lack of equity. All of the focus on the Syrians and special measures and much faster processing kind of accentuates the concerns over the long processing times for other groups, said Dench. It increases the sense of injustice.

Even the processing of government-sponsored refugees, particularly from Africa, remains unbearably slow, added Dench. She would like to see Ottawa reduce wait times for refugees from regions such as Africa by devoting more resources to the processing of applications and eliminate restrictive rules limiting which refugees can be sponsored, by removing caps on privately sponsored refugees both globally and regionally.

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BY THE NUMBERS

25,000: Syrian refugees Canada promised to take in by Feb. 29.

24,092: Syrian refugees arrived since Nov. 4.

12,412: Applications in progress

4,102: Applications finalized where refugees have not yet arrived.

253: Communities across Canada welcoming Syrian refugees, excluding Quebec.

Source: Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada as of Feb. 25

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Being the first woman in her position always seemed to be just part of the job for Constance Glube.

Hailed by colleagues as a trailblazer in a male-dominated profession, the retired chief justice of Nova Scotia, who died Feb. 15 in Halifax at 84, leaves a double legacy. She was a respected jurist who left her mark on the Canadian justice system, and a woman who inspired subsequent generations of women to seek positions of power.

Glube is being remembered for her fairness  she admitted to agonizing over the tougher decisions, especially in custody cases and sentencing  and for what the Courts of Nova Scotia website describes as her steadfast dedication to overcoming the gender, ethnic, and religious barriers of her era.

Her story is one of a lifelong commitment to the principle of equal opportunity in her community and in her chosen profession, the website says.

Glubes law career spanned 48 years. During her 27 years as a judge, she had a hand in many of Nova Scotias front-page legal stories  including the Donald Marshall wrongful imprisonment case and the Westray mine inquiry.

Glube herself was no stranger to social injustice, having been born to a Jewish family in Ottawa in 1931 and studied at Montreals McGill University  a school notorious for imposing strict quotas on Jewish students during that era. After graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in 1952, she went on to law school at Dalhousie University.

She was called to the Nova Scotia bar in 1956, and took a job with firm Kitz Matheson. This led to a partnership with Fitzgerald and Glube, and by 1969 she was working as a lawyer for the city of Halifax. The first of her major firsts came in 1974, when she was appointed to the top administrative position at Halifax City Hall  the first female city manager in Canada.

But then prime minister Pierre Trudeau lured her back to the law in 1977, appointing her as the first female judge on the Nova Scotia Supreme Court. A few years later she was promoted to chief justice, becoming the first woman to head a Canadian provincial court.

The appointment was a milestone for women in the legal profession.

Bertha Wilson, the first female justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, once said that being the first woman to do anything meant that no other woman had to be the first, said Pierrette Sevigny, retired judge of the Quebec Superior Court. Constance Glubes appointment opened many possibilities for female judges; if a woman could be the chief justice, any appointment thereafter would not be such an event.

Glubes accomplishments and pioneering spirit attracted accolades throughout her career. In 1997, she received the recently established Frances Fish Women Lawyers Achievement Award, named in honour of the first female graduate of Dalhousie and the first woman to practise law in Nova Scotia, back in 1918.

When inducted as an officer of the Order of Canada in 2006, Glube was praised for her integrity, fairness and sound judgment, as well as for making the courts more efficient and accessible.

And in 2009, the Nova Scotia branch of the Canadian Bar Association established the Constance R. Glube CBA Spirit Award, which recognizes efforts to advance the profiles and achievements of women in the legal profession.

This is perhaps the most fitting legacy for Glube, who was described last week as an unfailing source of support, encouragement, and mentorship for women in law by Nova Scotia Barristers Society president Jill Perry.

Justice Glube was a feminist hero, Perry said.

Three noteworthy cases

1988 : Glube was one of several judges who presided over the long and controversial Donald Marshall case. The Nova Scotia Mikmaq man was wrongfully convicted of murder and imprisoned for 11 years. She won praise for her ruling against government ministers who sought immunity from testifying in the case.

1992: After a methane explosion killed 26 miners in the Westray coal mine in Plymouth, N.S., the province launched an inquiry into the mines safety. When lawyers representing Westray moved to delay the inquiry  claiming it was unconstitutional in that it might jeopardize its employees right to a fair trial should they ever face criminal charges  Glube agreed and ruled in favour of Westray. Her decision was overruled on appeal; the inquiry was allowed to proceed  but only after all criminal charges had gone through the courts, thus ensuring a fair trial for the defendants.

2002: Glube overturned a ruling against lawyers Anne Derrick and Burnley Jones, who had been sued for defamation by police officer Carol Campbell-Waugh. They claimed the officer had strip-searched three 12-year-old black girls. Glube sided with the girls, encouraging those deliberately violated by officials of state agencies to cry out loud and long against their transgressors in the public forum, and in the case of children and others less capable of articulation of the issues, to have their advocates cry out on their behalf.

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When he was chosen as Canadas official artist for the Gulf War, veteran Ted Zuber had second thoughts. He had served in the Korean War with the Royal Canadian Regiment. I thought Good god, Im not going to go back to that. Im not that stupid.

He almost called it off before the difference of the operation dawned on him: Im not going over there to kill people. Im going as an artist. Somehow I felt perfectly protected behind a paint brush.

He was in his late 50s when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait 25 years ago and says he must have been the oldest bugger in the Gulf.

Dressed in a uniform, with the word artist on each shoulder, he surveyed the scenes in the bustling Canadian outposts in the Middle East, his paints and easel at the ready.

People would come up and say, What the hell are you doing?

So hed explain, and watch as troops grew an inch when they realized the Canadian government had sent him there to record their lives for posterity. It was Canadas first war in nearly four decades.

They were really proud that Canada had thought enough of what they were doing to have it portrayed by a war artist, he says.

Long Day at Doha

During his first days, Zuber was in a public affairs trailer at the base in Doha, Qatar, and asked the staff when he would get his Tilley hat. Youre not going to get one  youre not posted here permanently, they said. Zuber walked across the compound and asked the man in charge of supplies, who denied him until he offered a sketch. When I made someones sketch they were proud as hell, because that meant that their drawing would last forever in the archives of the Canadian War Museum. He learned his pencil had power, and wielded it expertly, sketching the chief cook at the Doha base. Every time I showed up, she had a steak for me.

TOPP High

The threat of chemical warfare loomed in the Persian Gulf. Saddam Hussein was rumoured to have the worlds largest stockpile of nerve and mustard gas. Zubers first experience with a Scud missile attack was on the base at Doha. Inside the concrete bunker, the yellow light of a battery lamp bounced off the goggles of the chemical suits, looking like a horror movie ... One guy yelled at me because I hadnt properly zipped up the top of my suit ... Youll see this fellow on the left zipping up his suit. Thats me. After they were cleared to leave, Zuber took off his chemical suit and struggled to breathe. A doctor examined him and told him it was an anxiety attack. She said, Your body has a memory, and the shellfire you went through in Korea all those years ago, your body remembers all that. Zuber went through 11 Scud attacks. After a while you didnt even bother putting your suit on, you get so nonchalant about these things.

Pit Stop to Target

Zuber went up with a Canadian air-to-air refueller that served as a circling gas station for coalition fighters on their way into Iraq. The Boeing flew in a 25-kilometre radius for hours, 7,500 metres above the Kuwait border, waiting for planes to approach for refuelling. This one particular aircraft on the left side of our aircraft was having difficulty, he couldnt seem to get hooked in, he recalls. Zuber asked the Canadians if they could guide the approaching aircraft by radio: Were not going to speak to anybody because the enemy could zero in, one replied, and that would be the end of us. The Canadian controllers hand grasped the window. He was unconsciously reaching out, if you will, to help that pilot out there. I thought, theres my painting.

0500 Al Qaysumah

After the ground war began, an Iraqi prisoner of war was brought to the Canadian field hospital by British soldiers who had found him in a burned out bunker, semi-conscious and filled with shrapnel. Zuber was moved by the medical teams insistence on saving the mans right arm. In Canada, it would have been amputated. In that part of the world, you have to eat with the right hand and you use left hand for cleansing yourself, he says. If for some reason you lose the right hand, you are really an outcast. After the war, Zuber tried to find the man to give him a copy of the painting. He eventually learned the man died three days after the operation.

Rendezvous

The Canadian navy had three ships in the gulf, and their role evolved as the war progressed. After the air war began, Canada took the lead in organizing logistics and deliveries so coalition war ships could stay on station in the gulf. Zuber lived on board HMCS Protecteur for a week, and went with a crew in a Sea King helicopter to make a delivery to another ship. On the return flight, the crew circled for mines: a destroyed mine meant a bottle of champagne on the ship. They moved in closer and made a sad discovery. It was a bloody black plastic bag of garbage, Zuber says. Being an old soldier  I said, Look, you guys, if you want a witness, Ill swear that was a mine, and they looked at me like I was a deceitful old bugger, he remembers. I was quite taken with their sincerity and honesty.

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A coin flip saved Steve Rudanieckis life.

Three years ago, he was down to his final months and out of treatment options after a 10-year fight with late-stage chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Then Rudaniecki was offered a Hail Mary  a spot in a clinical trial at Hamiltons Juravinski Cancer Centre.

Even though his swollen lymph nodes had become protruding lumps and bumps across his body, his first reaction was a resounding no.

Im nobodys guinea pig. Screw that, Rudaniecki, now 63, thought at the time.

But then my wife and I argued about it, we cried and talked about it and I said, OK, Ill try it.

The trial was for a promising new drug called ibrutinib  part of a class of drugs known as small molecule therapies, or targeted therapies, so named because they are small enough that they can slip through the membrane of a cancer cell and disrupt the machinery inside it.

Patients in the trial were to receive two types of chemotherapy called bendamustine and rituximab, which are normally used to kill the cancer.

Then came the medical equivalent of a coin flip.

More on thestar.com:

Cancer researchers testing new weapon in battle against disease  the body itself

Half the patients in the trial received the new drug ibrutinib in capsule form, three times a day. Half received a look-alike placebo three times a day. Neither the patients nor their doctors knew which was which.

It didnt take Rudaniecki long to guess which side of the trial he was on. Almost immediately, the lumps and bumps started to disappear.

In fact, the results for ibrutinib were so remarkable that the worldwide trial was halted prematurely and all patients receiving the placebo were put on the drug.

Later, he received a call from his cancer doctors office. The trial results had been unlocked and Rudaniecki, as he long suspected, was officially told he had been receiving ibrutinib and not the placebo.

She asked me What do you think you were on? and she was chuckling, he recalls. When you see the results from what I looked like two years ago  I looked like the elephant man  to where I am today, you dont have to be a rocket scientist.

On a wall in Rudanieckis house is a framed copy of a Hamilton Spectator story about him from November 2013.

If I was getting the placebo, that very well could have been a memorial on the wall, Rudaniecki says.

Keeping Steve Rudaniecki alive is not cheap, however.

Ibrutinib, marketed as Imbruvica by its manufacturer, Janssen Inc., was approved for use by Health Canada late last year.

The cost per capsule is believed to be somewhere around $100.

Rudaniecki takes three capsules every day and will do so for the rest of his life or until the drug stops working.

Thats about $9,000 a month, or nearly $110,000 per year.

In Rudanieckis case, taxpayers are off the hook for the astonishing cost. As part of his agreement to participate in the clinical trial, Janssen Inc. provides Rudaniecki with the capsules free of charge.

Thats a lot of coin to be putting out, Rudaniecki says.

Is prolonging life money well spent?

Is it possible to put a price tag on the value of life?

If so, how much is a year of life worth? A month? A day?

We now face an unexpected paradox: our ability to treat cancer is outpacing our collective ability to pay for treatment.

As therapies become more sophisticated and the cancerous targets become more specific, costs are skyrocketing for prolonging life  sometimes just weeks over what used to be possible.

Of the 12 new cancer drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2012, 11 were priced above $100,000 U.S. per patient annually.

Only three were found to improve patient survival rates and, of those, two increased survival by less than two months on average.

In just one decade, from 2005 to 2015, the cost of intravenous cancer drugs covered by the Ontario government has tripled, from $112 million a year to $322 million.

Some recent examples:

Ipilimumab, marketed as Yervoy, is approved to treat late-stage melanoma, a particularly deadly cancer. The cost for four doses administered over 12 weeks: $120,000 (U.S.). The overall survival benefit? Just 3.7 months on average, not much longer than the length of the treatment.

Theres nivolumab, marketed as Opdivo and approved for use to treat late-stage melanoma.

The cost per year for an average patient weighing 70 kilograms: $157,000 (U.S.). The average amount of time before the disease began to worsen for those taking it? Less than six months in one recent clinical trial.

Now theres a clinical trial combining ipilimumab and nivolumab for the treatment of advanced melanoma.

The cost is reported to be about $415,000 (Canadian) for the average patient.

Looking at the list prices that are coming for these products, it really does start to raise some serious questions around system sustainability, not just for Ontario or Canada but around the world, says Scott Gavura, director of provincial drug reimbursement programs at Cancer Care Ontario.

And the sustainability problem is only going to get worse. Cancer is primarily a disease of the elderly, and Canadas population is both growing and aging as baby boomers push past retirement age. The number of people diagnosed with cancer is expected to grow by 40 per cent in the next 15 years.

Sustainability, along with fair and affordable access to new treatments, are important concerns, according to a spokesperson for Innovative Medicines Canada, an umbrella organization representing more than 50 of the countrys pharmaceutical companies.

With the explosion of innovative oncology treatments, theres no question theyre providing immense value to patients and to the health-care system, said Glenn Monteith, the associations vice-president of innovation and health system. This is a challenge that were all facing, and the alternative is we dont have medicines available and none of us want that.

Christopher Longo is a McMaster University business professor specializing in health policy and one of 13 people  and the only economist  on the Ontario Steering Committee for Cancer Drugs, which provides advice to the provincial Health Ministry.

When we have a limited amount of funds, we have to say, OK, where are we going to use them? he says. If I spend $100,000 on this to get a month of life, I cant use that in all these other scenarios where I could gain a lot more than a month of life.

In a thoughtful academic article titled How Much Is Life Worth, American cancer researchers Tito Fojo and Christine Grady take direct aim at the high costs of new treatments, particularly those offering minimal improvements in survival.

What counts as a benefit in cancer treatment? How much should cost factor into deliberations? Who should decide? ask the two U.S. National Cancer Institute researchers. As oncologists, we cannot go on without answering these questions.

In some sense, every life is of infinite value, and we naturally avoid confronting the tension between not wanting to put a value on a life and having limited resources. But the spiralling cost of cancer care in particular makes this dilemma inescapable.

They looked at one new drug called cetuximab, which was being tested in a certain type of lung cancer.

In the trial, overall survival improved by just 1.2 months on average. The cost for an extra 1.2 months of survival? About $80,000 (U.S.).

If we allow a survival advantage of 1.2 months to be worth $80,000, and by extrapolation survival of one year to be valued at $800,000, we would need $440 billion annually  an amount nearly 100 times the budget of the National Cancer Institute  to extend by one year the life of the 550,000 Americans who die of cancer annually.

And no one would be cured.

Whats driving up drug costs

Fear factor

A cancer diagnosis still carries a considerable fear factor because of the randomness of the disease. Despite improvements in survival, cancer continues to be seen as a killer, spurring a search for a cure at great cost. I think its the fact that we can all get it  whereas with a lot of other conditions we might feel were not susceptible, says Stephen Birch, a McMaster University health economics expert who has studied pharmaceutical cost-effectiveness strategies. What we know about cancer is relatively little and that just feeds that fear frenzy.

Time pressure

Unlike some other diseases, the nature of cancer usually means a need for immediate treatment. This is a life-and-death situation in many cases, and people are willing to pay significant amounts of money to extend the lives of their loved ones, says Christopher Longo, a McMaster professor specializing in health policy and management. Treatments are also more sophisticated and expensive to produce, with new immunotherapy drugs easily costing $100,000 per patient per year. Has it put pressure on the health care system? asks Longo. Yes.

Changing markets

With cancer, no one has found a silver bullet that can eradicate the disease. Quite the opposite, in fact. Treatments for cancer are becoming more specialized. As the pharmaceutical companies become much more focused in terms of who these drugs treat, they shrink their markets, says Longo. So when they shrink their markets, in order to recoup their investment the price tag ends up being higher. Its also much more difficult to do the trials as a consequence. The normal supply and demand factors also apply. Cancer is a disease primarily of the elderly and theres a large population bulge headed for senior citizenry.

U.S. sets high price

The intersection between regulatory frameworks and the marketing strategy of the pharmaceutical industry plays a role. The challenge is that pharmaceutical companies are very strategic, Longo said. They look at the world market, they look at which countries reference other countries for pricing, and then they basically arrange their launch sequence to get the highest global price. The U.S. market is one of the highest-priced markets, so in general the U.S. gets approved first because that sets the price. Complicating matters, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is not allowed to take price into consideration when approving a new cancer drug.

Negotiating power

Canadas proximity to the U.S. limits price negotiations. In Canada, the Patented Medicines Prices Review Board regulates the amount that can be charged by pharmaceutical companies. For guidance, the board looks at the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Italy for price referencing. In practice, though, theres a limit to the amount of gradient tolerated in drug prices across North America, because the U.S. is wary of cross-border shopping. Were sitting next to an elephant that doesnt seem to want to talk about cost, says Dr. Bill Evans, former head of Hamiltons Juravinski Cancer Centre.

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Tony Trigiani believes the naysayers havent done enough research. That if they only made an effort to understand his project, they would stop ridiculing the 24-metre statue of a cloaked woman with her arms extended toward the sea, and see the beauty in his vision.

Trigiani, the Toronto businessman behind the Mother Canada war memorial that until recently was slated to be built on Cape Bretons Cabot Trail, is not giving up on that vision. Not even after Parks Canadas recent decision to withdraw its support from the project, which means Trigiani no longer has permission to build on the land in Green Cove, N.S., that he selected four years ago. The news, for Trigiani, was most unwelcome.

Where do you want me to start? he said a few days after the announcement that derailed his dream.

This was our third phone conversation in a few months. Each time we spoke, Trigiani resisted being interviewed for a profile. He wanted the focus to be on the memorial, not on him. Because people could either like me or hate me, he said. But each time, as the project seemed increasingly unlikely to move forward, Trigiani unloaded his frustrations and challenged the critics who were calling his statue monstrous, grotesque and giga-kitsch. He seemed genuinely hurt by the backlash.

Trigiani said unequivocally that he would not consider an alternative location, but that doesnt mean he intends to scrap the project. Rather, he isnt giving up on Green Cove.

Were not rolling over, he told me.

In cancelling the project, Parks Canada said too many key elements remain outstanding, including a final design plan and funds available to Trigianis Never Forgotten National Memorial Foundation, which had set a fundraising goal of $25 million to support the development.

Trigiani criticized the federal agency for backing up from an obligation and said shifting to a private location outside the national park is out of the question because it would mean admitting defeat and abandoning his supporters in Ingonish, the community nearest to the uninhabited Green Cove vista Trigiani became enamoured with in 2011.

Personally I have no interest in any other location except that one, because thats the one that inspired me, he said defiantly.

He wouldnt elaborate on any plans. The foundation, he said, would soon release a statement.

That Trigiani still has his sights on Green Cove is a testament to his determination and stubbornness  characteristics that appear to have served him well in the business world, but may have compromised his well-intentioned goal. Those who worked closely with him during Mother Canadas early days wonder if things could have been different had Trigiani not become so singularly focused on his beloved eight-storey statue, despite warnings that the towering figure could overshadow his dream and sink the project.

Giant statue as lightning rod

Tony Patrick Trigiani, 68, was born in the village of Roseto Valfortore in southern Italy in 1947. His father immigrated to Canada a few years after the Second World War, and 2-year-old Tony came over with his mother a year later. He was raised in Toronto with two younger siblings.

At 19, Trigiani began working full time in the meat packing industry to support his mother and sisters after his father died. By 36, he was running his own business. He is now the president of Norstar Corp., a national food packaging company based in Etobicoke.

Trigiani lives in a Mississauga home he purchased for $1.3 million a decade ago, and owns a second property in Huron County. He has used his wealth for good purpose, donating to the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto and the Juno Beach Memorial in France, and shipping goods to hospitals and orphanages in Africa.

His latest philanthropic mission began on a trip to Italy in 2009, when he happened upon the Moro River Canadian War Cemetery and stopped to pay his respects. The burial ground is set on the Adriatic coast, where rows of headstones mark the graves of 1,375 Canadian soldiers killed in the Second World War.

Trigiani was moved by one marker in particular: that of Pte. Ted Truskoski, 17, killed on April 19, 1944, in the Battle of Ortona, 65 years to the day before Trigiani stood at his grave. He later learned Truskoski is one of more than 100,000 Canadian soldiers and peacekeepers buried overseas, which inspired him to create a national memorial honouring those who never made it home.

In 2013, Parks Canada announced its support for the Mother Canada memorial and granted Trigianis foundation the authority to build in Green Cove, located within the Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

The project had big-name backers, including retired military officers, cabinet ministers and journalists such as CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge, who would withdraw after the memorial became a major news story. It also enjoyed support from local communities near Green Cove, where many residents hoped it would bring tourists and jobs to an area with a 25-per-cent unemployment rate. But it didnt take long for the backlash to begin.

Critics objected to the privately backed projects proposed location in a national park, which they argued was against Parks Canadas mandate. They disapproved of the closed-door cabinet decision that approved the land use. They argued the design was out of step with the raw beauty of the coastline and could be detrimental to the environment.

They were suspicious of the claim that no public funds would be spent, and incensed after learning Parks Canada had granted the foundation $100,000 to build a website and conduct research.

Much of the negative commentary that emerged, however, was focused on the design and size of the statue, which was to be roughly eight storeys tall. Mother Canada statue is hubristic, ugly and just plain wrong, read one national newspaper headline.

The statue was derided as outsized, monstrous, offensively tasteless, grotesque, a brutal megalith, giga-kitsch and Dollywood. A searing national newspaper editorial said the bigger-is-better approach to art is best left to Stalinist tyrants, theme-park entrepreneurs and insecure municipalities hoping to waylay bored drive-by tourists.

The memorial even became a Twitter meme, with doctored photos featuring the statue towering over alternative locations such as the oilsands and Banff National Park.

Everyone wanted to know who designed the statue, but it remained unclear. The Never Forgotten National Memorial Foundation provided careful answers, explaining that a rendering artist was hired to draw an image based on the Canada Bereft monument at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France.

But it turns out there was an unseen player guiding the drawing of Mother Canada, and he was not a designer.

The architects perspective

If not for the size and scope of the statue, would the backlash have been as vicious?

Patrick Morello, a Toronto landscape architect who worked with Trigiani in Mother Canadas early days, doesnt think so. His company, LANDinc, was hired by the foundation in 2011 to assist with site selection, concept development and project management.

Morello believed in Trigianis dream of a national memorial honouring soldiers and peacekeepers buried overseas, and he still does. But he says there was never supposed to be a giant statue. The original concept was modest and reflective. It was meant to be a platform that extended to the sea  experiential and interpretive, in the manner of modern memorials, rather than larger-than-life and sentimental.

The firm didnt object when Trigiani first insisted on a statue, though Morello and his colleague Walter Kehm, a landscape architect who has studied war memorials around the world, tried to steer him toward something abstract. But the relationship began to unravel as the statue, under Trigianis direction, grew bigger and bigger.

Morello said no designer or artist was consulted when the statue was drawn. It was Tonys vision, and a rendering technician  a layperson  trying to interpret what Tony wanted. There was never a sculptor involved. The outcome reflected the lack of professional design, Morello said. It didnt look nice. It didnt look warm.

Trigiani was so involved in the illustration that his tweak requests became comical, Morello said. Trigiani asked for a thumb adjustment when he thought her hand looked strange and a new veil when he believed her head covering looked like a hijab.

Trigiani wouldnt comment on anything Morello said, except to chastise him for speaking out. Very unprofessional, very opportunist, very childish, Trigiani told me, before saying that if it had been up to Morello the memorial would have been Madonna under a street light. (Madonna the singer, he clarified.)

Morello also revealed that Green Cove was not on the original list of three Cape Breton locations  selected by Trigiani with help from advisers  that LANDinc evaluated for the project site. It was added later, when Trigianis preferred site, a few minutes by car from Green Cove, was deemed unfeasible.

When Green Cove joined the proposed location list, it came second in LANDincs ranking system, after the Fortress of Louisbourg, a national historic site 170 kilometres southeast of Ingonish. Louisbourg was more practical, but Trigiani preferred the beauty and isolation of Green Cove, so he had LANDinc create a second ranking system with high priority aesthetic designations, Morello said. He was determined to make Green Cove work.

LANDinc urged Trigiani to hold a design competition, invest in a business case to support the location and engage with local groups that may have concerns about the project. When they tried to press their concerns, Trigiani said they were wasting time on non-essential issues. Morello recognizes that Trigiani was in a tough place. He needed research to attract donors, but he needed funds to conduct research. However, LANDinc felt it was crucial the foundation not go public with its vision until the issues were resolved. Trigiani disagreed. If he didnt like what you were saying, he would dismiss you, Morello said.

Trigiani was trying to raise $25 million to fund the initial phase of the memorial development. The foundation hasnt commented on how successful its fundraising efforts were, but Morello said Trigiani invested a lot of his own money in the project.

Morello and colleagues made the decision to share their story after the federal government asked the firm to provide documents late last year in response to an access-to-information request, which was the first time Morello realized the public was in the dark about how the memorial came to be. Its a difficult position for us to be in, Morello said of speaking about a former client.

LANDincs involvement with the foundation ended in 2012, a few months after they officially expressed concerns in a memo sent to Trigiani and Parks Canada, which warned that it would be risky to go public with the statue portrayed as a resolved design element. The architects recommended replacing the drawn figure with an outline, and holding a design competition.

Figure statues are often polarizing objects that can become lightning rods for public criticism, LANDinc warned. Criticism that can gain steam and even sink a project.

What hurts the most

Trigiani has a wheezy laugh and a tendency to explain his own jokes, lest anyone be insulted by his teasing. He sometimes speaks in stream-of-consciousness bursts, starting new thoughts in the middle of old ones and offering the occasional head-scratching analogy.

When I first spoke to him in late August, seven weeks before the federal election that would remove the political backers of his project from office, he was friendly, polite and apologetic for refusing to meet for an interview. He said goodbye repeatedly each time we spoke, but only hung up on me once.

What hurts the most, he told me in the first call, is people think Im gonna get rich selling Mother Canada underwear.

This was after a string of news stories about the foundation filing for trademark protection on Mother Canada-branded souvenirs, including underwear. Trigiani said he had no plans to make or profit from Mother Canada merch; the patent was meant to prevent others from doing so.

He didnt want to talk because of the approaching election. I tried again a few months later, as the Liberals weighed how to proceed on Mother Canada. Trigiani was hopeful, but still upset with coverage.

Now artistically, do you have better taste than I do? he asked.

Well, taste is subjective, I said.

Exactly, he said. So for a newspaper to say its a monstrosity . . .

He was talking about a Globe and Mail editorial. To this day, he continued, I have not heard one positive remark from a number of papers.

I asked if he wished hed held a design competition.

How much money do you have to spend? he countered.

If we are able to get the permission to build, he continued, and if we have the funds then a lot of things can be addressed. But what comes first, the chicken or the egg?

I wanted to say that the design competition usually comes before the design, but he didnt let me finish.

Trigiani knew I was born in Cape Breton, and he encouraged me to consider the economic benefits he claimed the project would bring to struggling communities.

Do you realize what this would do, not just for Cape Breton but for the Maritimes? he said.  Cause nobody gets parachuted in and rocket-shipped out. They will work their way through  Why do supermarkets put the eggs and milk at the furthest part of the store?

I could tell he believed in his heart the memorial would bring prosperity. But the foundation never produced evidence to bolster the claim of a tourism and employment boom many locals pinned their hopes on.

This is not Disneyland

In our final call, three days after the Parks Canada announcement, Trigiani was in shock.

People dont realize that this is not Disneyland  this is a national memorial. This is about 120,000 individuals, or close to it, that are buried overseas. This is not Mickey Mouse.

At least two newspapers had invoked Disney while slamming Mother Canada. I asked Trigiani if he worried that his vision didnt come across as intended to the public.

Why should I be worried? he said. You can only do so much  You cant force people to be reasonable. Everybody has skewed ideas and unfortunately were easily manipulated now. Unfortunately I feel a lot of us are like the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, we dont have a heart and are looking for one.

If the public reaction has been negative, I said, could the fault be in how it was presented?

You just discussed how many fairies dance on the head of a pin, he said.

There are people who believe its a dignified memorial. But a large and vocal group are in Camp Disneyland. Trigiani blamed journalists, arguing they hadnt looked at the foundations elaborate presentation packages and instead singled in on one item. The giant statue. Why is it giant? he asked, when the word came up. Its two metres higher than the fiddle in Sydney Harbour. I havent heard anybody setting themselves on fire because of the fiddle.

Convinced that critics didnt see his vision, he wouldnt accept that maybe they just didnt like it.

Contrary to popular belief Im not in the business of doing national memorials, he said. I sell bags to put chickens in. And why dont you respect that and everybody else? At this point maybe I got in further than I would have thought.

The foundation had said in a statement that Mother Canada was a victim of politics. Trigiani told me he believed it was a victim of environmentalists. In another statement a few days after our final call, the foundation said it remains committed to a national memorial and hopes to work with the government on how best we can still move ahead together with this project at Green Cove.

Before Trigiani ended our chat, he urged me, again, to look beyond the imposing figure. Just give a little bit of understanding  See if people can get away from their fixation on a statue and look at the overall beauty in the layering in the message.

He sounded sad. I tried to ask if there is anything he would have done differently, but he hung up.

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As a provincial coroner and past palliative care physician, Dr. David Ouchterlony has seen suffering and death up close, experiences that have occasionally led to brief moments of sadness. But Ouchterlony describes such emotions as trivial compared to the dread he feels when thoughts about climate change linger, as they often do. He worries almost obsessively about a future he wont see. How will younger generations be affected? Why are we failing to act on the threat?

I was completely blind to it, and then five years ago it just hit me, Ouchterlony, 74, said. I went through this stage of losing sleep, thinking about my grandchild, wondering what I could do.

He described the feeling as an absence of hope characterized by despair and, at times, exhausting guilt. Some researchers have called it a pre-traumatic stress disorder that, in some, is feeding anxiety and depressive thoughts.

Ouchterlony isnt alone. Signs of mental distress related to climate change have appeared in vulnerable populations, from drought-stricken prairie farmers to isolated aboriginal communities and the scientists who crunch climate data.

Our fast-changing climate has long been identified as a threat to physical health, but more psychologists are warning that the mental health impacts and the economic toll they take are real, likely to spread and need closer study.

We may not currently be thinking about how heavy the toll on our psyche will be, but, before long, we will know only too well, warned a 2012 report from the U.S. National Wildlife Federation.

It predicted that cases of mental and social disorders will rise steeply as the signs of climate change become clearer and more frequent, and as more people are directly affected by heat waves, drought and other extreme events that put pressure on clean water resources, food prices and public infrastructure.

These will include depressive and anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorders, substance abuse, suicides and widespread outbreaks of violence, predicted the report. It singled out children, the poor, the elderly and those with existing mental health problems as those likely to be hardest hit.

At roughly 150 million people, these groups represent about one half of the American public, it calculated. In addition, the mental health profession is not even close to being prepared and the report warned the existing problem is likely being underestimated because most research is based on self-reporting.

People may, indeed, suffer from anxiety about climate change but not know it. They will have a vague unease about what is happening around them, the changes they see in nature, the weather events and the fact that records are being broken month after month. But they wont be sufficiently aware of the source, and furthermore, we all conflate and layer one anxiety upon another.

Jennie Ferrara, an American expat living in Copenhagen, began having episodes of climate-related anxiety and depression shortly after the first of her two children were born.

Life comes with all sorts of stresses, but this one really broke the camels back for me, said Ferrara, who as a therapeutic exercise started the blog Confessions of a Climate Worrier in 2011. Im convinced hordes of people are filing their mental malaise under divorce, the economy, or whatever, when its actually the slow drip of climate reality.

The drips show up daily on social and mainstream media. We now know that 2015 was the hottest year on record. In the past few months alone, we have heard about snow in Saudi Arabia in January, back-to-back late-season cyclones in the Arabian Peninsula, a 500-year drought in California, the hottest ever Christmas Eve in Toronto and end-of-year temperatures in the North Pole that were warmer than parts of California  all extremely rare or unprecedented events being filed in our subconscious.

Behind the scenes, the 122,000-member American Psychological Association (APA) is taking the issue seriously. It set up a task force in 2008 to survey the limited research. A comprehensive report followed, leading to a member resolution in 2011 to recognize the current and anticipated psychosocial impacts of climate change. It also encouraged more awareness of this nascent field of study.

I see parallels to the fears we went through in the 1950s about the world ending because of atomic war. There was this general dread among people, and this fear of annihilation, said University of Victoria psychology professor Robert Gifford, who calls himself the token Canadian on the APA task force.

In Canada, the issue has barely landed on the radar. Karen Cohen, chief executive of the Canadian Psychological Association, said the organization had no plans at present to develop a position. Last year, the Mental Health Commission of Canada released a major report detailing 55 indicators that will be used to track mental illness and well-being among Canadians. There was no mention of climate change.

I dont know why the Canadian Psychology Association hasnt been more active, said Gifford, who speculates that most in the profession likely see it as a fringe issue. We should do more.

The climate casualties

Climate change can seem a distant threat, but not to these people:

Wounded on the front lines

Australian Joe Duggan began asking climate scientists in 2014 how they felt being on the front lines of climate science. The responses showed a level of emotion and concern the public never sees: It makes me feel sick, read one. I feel exasperation and despair in equal measure, says another. Scientists wrote of being nervous, worried, anxious and depressed by what they know. Duggan posted the letters on the website Is This How You Feel? and has been receiving submissions ever since. These people write complex research papers, unpacking every aspect of climate change, analyzing it thoroughly and clinically, Duggan writes. But theyre not robots. These scientists are mothers, fathers, grandparents, daughters. They are real people. And theyre concerned.

A sleeping giant

Environmentalists also struggle. Many describe an epidemic of depression in their profession that can lead to broken marriages, mental breakdown and even suicide. Ive become aware of it with a lot of the young people I work with, said Glen Murray, Ontarios minister of environment and climate change.

Lawyer David Boyd describes it as sleeping giant of a problem. He wrote The Optimistic Environmentalist to counter the relentless bad news by highlighting the real progress. For me, writing this was a voyage of recovery.

After the storm  Calgarys historic flood

Calgary real-estate agent Emma May remembers June 19, 2013, as the day her community was under water. Were still seeing the impacts  the divorces, the stress placed on families, some with PTSD, says May. There are kids in families who dont want to live near the river ever again. Some cry when it begins to rain.

Distress Centre Calgary, which provides 24-hour crisis support, says that since the 2013 flood call volumes have risen 30 per cent, including an increase in calls related to suicide ideation and domestic violence. The emotional and mental well-being of those affected by the flood needs to be addressed and is likely to need support well into the future, according to the centre.

No one can argue our weather isnt getting more severe, says Catherine Bell, a board member with the centre. We need to absolutely be doing something on all fronts as it relates to climate change and mental health.

More frequent, more extreme

Increased flooding  more frequent and more extreme  is probably the most visible impact of climate change, at least for city dwellers. We saw it in South Carolina last October and in the United Kingdom in December. A report in the British medical journal The Lancet last June estimated we are four times more likely to be exposed to extreme rainfall later this century compared to 1990 levels.

A July 2015 study from Rutgers University and NYU found that the emergence of mould in waterlogged houses after Hurricane Sandy was significantly associated with the rate of mental health distress. It also found that children living in hurricane-damaged homes were four times more likely to feel depressed and twice as likely to develop sleeping disorders. It caught public health officials off guard.

The already vulnerable

New immigrants, small children, the elderly and disabled and sufferers of existing mental health conditions, particularly those living in poverty, are more prone to experience psychological distress from the impacts of climate change, according to the American Psychological Association.

They are also more likely to live in low-income housing without air conditioning and in communities with poor infrastructure and access to services, making them vulnerable to flooding, heat waves and storms. Indirectly, rising food prices as a result of climate-related disruptions will put pressure on struggling low- and fixed-income households. There are clear relationships between environmental risk, poverty and vulnerability, wrote psychologists Thomas Doherty and Susan Clayton in a 2011 article in American Psychologist. Paradoxically, the people that face the highest risk of impacts are the least well-prepared.

More on thestar.com:

A coroners journey from palliative care to climate despair

For normally stoic farmers, the stress of climate change can be too much to bear

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Guantanamo Bay is often portrayed as exceptional, a piece of hell located off American shores and outside American law. A place where humans could notoriously be tortured and abused because the rules usually constraining such violence were purposefully suspended.

Certainly, there are many aspects of justice at Guantanamo that lie far beyond the pale: most egregiously, the prolonged indefinite detention of hundreds of men held without charge, the vast majority of whom were innocent. For many, Guantanamo Bay epitomizes all the problems with a war on terror that places some people outside the law, supposedly to save the rest of us from them.

However, Guantanamo Bay is not as exceptional as we might like to imagine. Physical and psychological abuse are not restricted to spaces expelled from the normal American legal system. American prison brutality did not begin at Guantanamo, and will not end with its long-promised closure.

On the contrary  in September 2015, Human Rights Watch warned that President Barack Obamas plan to transfer Guantanamo detainees to super-maximum security prisons within the U.S. could actually worsen their conditions of detention. Supermax conditions often include prolonged isolation that can lead to prisoners experiencing depression, despair, anxiety, rage, claustrophobia, hallucinations, problems with impulse control, and/or an impaired ability to think, concentrate, or remember, according to a letter to Obama from HRWs Executive Director Kenneth Roth. Inmates have described life in a supermax as akin to living in a tomb.

Suicide rates skyrocket in the living death of solitary confinement. In 2004, for example, 73 per cent of all suicides in California prisons occurred in isolation units, which comprised less than 10 per cent of the states total prison population. Laura Rovner, a law professor at the University of Denver, has represented 10 prisoners at a Colorado supermax known as the Alcatraz of the Rockies. She reported that one of her clients befriended a wasp that happened to fly in his cell. The prisoner fed it and talked to it. Rovner described the prison as a place that strips away your humanity.

Amnesty International has characterized prolonged isolated detention in the U.S. prison system as a form of cruel and inhumane treatment in violation of international law. Indeed, as Amnesty has noted, the U.S. stands virtually alone in the world in incarcerating thousands of prisoners in long-term or indefinite solitary confinement.

One prisoner held in prolonged solitary confinement is Mahdi Hashi, a former British citizen imprisoned at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan on terrorism charges. For over three years, and long before his guilty plea in May 2015, Hashi has been confined to a small cell for 23 hours a day  without any natural light, without any physical contact with other humans. Counter-terrorism expert Arun Kundnani has dubbed the MCC the Guantanamo in New York youre not allowed to know about. In fact, at least one detainee has described Guantanamo as a more pleasant and more relaxed environment in some ways than the MCC; at Guantanamo, for example, prisoners were permitted to gather communally.

And certain techniques of physical violence commonly associated with the torture cells of Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib are also practiced in the prison cells of the United States. U.S. inmates have been beaten with fists and batons, raped, stomped on, kicked, shot, stunned with electronic devices, doused with chemical sprays, attacked and dragged with dogs, choked, and slammed face-first onto concrete floors by the officers tasked with guarding them. At Pelican Bay State Prison in California, inmates had their skin peeled off after being bathed in boiling water. At Dooly State Prison in Georgia, a guard forced an inmate to tap-dance naked before giving him a body cavity search. Prisoners have suffered broken jaws, smashed ribs, perforated eardrums, missing teeth, and second-degree burns. Some have died.

Guards of war on terror detention camps have frequently gained their training in brutality from the domestic American prison system. For instance, Charles Graner, infamous for his role as ringleader in the torture scandal at Abu Ghraib, previously worked as a guard at the maximum-security State Correctional Institute-Greene in Pennsylvania  the scene of a major prisoner abuse expose in 1998.

Reports of prisoner abuse during the prosecution of the war on terror must be understood against the backdrop of this constant drumbeat of domestic prisoner abuse stories, writes Yale law professor James Forman Jr. We have allowed this sort of degradation and humiliation to become normal, acceptable, even inevitable.

The naturalization of extreme violence and humiliation in the American prison system perhaps explains why Guantanamo has been allowed to survive for so many years. When Amnesty International sought to raise consciousness about the abusive living conditions at Guantanamo Bay by constructing a mock Guantanamo cell in Washington, D.C., many spectators reacted with indifference. Kind of what I expected, said one 20-year-old man. I shrug my shoulders.

Guantanamo should be dismantled  but this will not restore humanity to a prison system that has never possessed it.

Dr. Monia Mazigh is National Coordinator of the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group. Azeezah Kanji is a graduate of University of Torontos Faculty of Law.

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This Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016 photo provided by the U.S. Air Force shows an unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The unarmed missile roared out of its underground bunker on the California coastline and soared over the Pacific, inscribing the signature of American power amid growing worry about North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons capable of reaching U.S. soil.(Staff Sgt. Jim Araos/U.S. Air Force via AP)
Hillary Clinton sailed to a commanding victory over Bernie Sanders in Saturdays South Carolina primary, drawing overwhelming support from the states black Democrats and putting her in strong position as the race barrels toward Super Tuesdays crucial contests.

Clintons win provided an important boost for her campaign  and a moment to wipe away bitter memories of her loss to Barack Obama in South Carolina eight years ago.

To South Carolina, to the volunteers at the heart of our campaign, to the supporters who power it: thank you, Clinton wrote on Twitter. At a campaign victory party in Columbia, supporters broke into raucous cheers as the race was called in Clintons favor.

Black voters powered Clinton to victory, with 8 in 10 voting for her. The former secretary of state also won most women and voters aged 30 and older, according to early exit polls.

Clintons victory came at the end of a day that saw Republican candidates firing insults at each other from Super Tuesday states. Donald Trump, working to build an insurmountable lead, was campaigning in Arkansas with former rival Chris Christie and calling Marco Rubio a light little nothing; Ted Cruz was asking parents in Atlanta if they would be pleased if their children spouted profanities like the brash billionaire, and Rubio was mocking Trump as a con artist with the worst spray tan in America.

Sanders, expecting defeat on Saturday, left South Carolina even before voting finished and turned his attention to some of the states that vote in next Tuesdays delegate-rich contests. He drew 10,000 people to a rally in Austin, a liberal bastion in conservative Texas, the biggest March 1 prize.

He told the crowd at a Formula One racetrack, If all of you come out to vote and you bring your friends and your neighbors and your co-workers, we are going to win here in Texas.

While Sanders spent the end of the week outside of South Carolina, his campaign did invest heavily in the state. He had 200 paid staff on the ground and an aggressive television advertising campaign.

A self-described democratic socialist, Sanders has energized young people and liberals with his impassioned calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and making tuition free at public colleges and universities. But the senator from Vermont, a state where about 1 percent of the population is black, lacks Clintons deep ties to the African-American community.

Exit polls showed 6 in 10 voters in the South Carolina primary were black. About 7 in 10 said they wanted the next president to continue Obamas policies, and only about 20 percent wanted a more liberal course of action, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.

Clintons sweeping victory suggested South Carolina voters had put aside any lingering tensions from her heated 2008 contest with Obama. Former President Bill Clinton made statements during that campaign that were seen by some, including influential South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, as questioning the legitimacy of the black presidential contender.

This time around, Clyburn endorsed Clinton, and her husband was well-received as he traveled the state on her behalf. She focused on issues with particular resonance in the black community, including gun violence, and held an emotional event with black mothers whose children died in shootings.

Clintons second White House bid lurched to an uneven start, with a narrow victory over Sanders in Iowa and a crushing loss to the senator in New Hampshire. She pulled off a 5-point win over Sanders in last weeks Nevada caucus, a crucial victory that helped stem Sanders momentum.

Clintons campaign hopes her strong showing in South Carolina foreshadows similar outcomes in states like Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia that vote Tuesday and have large minority populations.

Taken together, 865 Democratic delegates are up for grabs in the Super Tuesday contests in 11 states and American Samoa.

Because Democrats apportion delegates proportionally, Sanders is simply hoping to stay close to Clinton in the South. But hes focusing most of his attention on states in the Midwest and Northeast, including his home state of Vermont.

Sanders, a fierce opponent of super PACs and high-dollar campaign fundraising, has built a massive network of small donors and has the money to stay in the race deep into the spring. Still, Clintons campaign sees a chance to build enough of a delegate lead to put the race out of reach during the sprint through March.

Going into South Carolina, Clinton had just a one-delegate edge over Sanders. However, she also has a massive lead among superdelegates, the Democratic Party leaders who can vote for the candidate of their choice at this summers national convention, regardless of how their states vote.

(AP)
The spokesmans office of Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital on motzei Shabbos reports the man who was critically injured in the Thursday night axe terror attack in Maale Adumim remains in very serious condition. The patient, Tzvika ben Batya, remains in a medically induced coma on a respirator in a neurological ICU following extensive neurosurgery.

Shai police report on motzei Shabbos that following the attack, Palestinian workers will be barred from entering the city until Thursday, 23 Adar-I with the exclusion of essential workers.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Hillary Clinton resoundingly reclaimed her standing as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination with a lopsided victory in South Carolina, a win over Bernie Sanders that doubles as a strong send off toward Super Tuesday.

For Sanders, the roughly 50-point defeat crystalized his weakness with black voters, a crucial segment of the Democratic electorate. If he loses blacks by similar margins in the Southern states that vote Tuesday, Clinton would likely take a delegate lead difficult for the Vermont senator to overcome.

As Clinton relished the most sweeping victory of her political career, her focus was already on Super Tuesday  and the general election.

Despite what you hear, we dont need to make America great again, Clinton said at a rally Saturday night, alluding to Republican front-runner Donald Trump and his campaign slogan. America has never stopped being great, Clinton declared.

Like Clinton, Trump has won three of the four early voting contests. Hes cleared the field of nearly all his rivals, but is engaged in an increasingly bitter contest with Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, two senators scrambling to stop the billionaire from running away with the GOP nomination.

The Republican candidates fired insults at each other Saturday. Cruz asked parents if they would be pleased if their children spouted profanities in the manner of the brash billionaire, while Rubio mocked Trump as a con artist with the worst spray tan in America.

For Clinton, South Carolina was a moment to wipe away bitter memories of her loss to Barack Obama there eight years ago. She won the support of nearly 9 in 10 black voters, crucial Democratic backers who had abandoned her for Obama in 2008.

Sanders, expecting defeat on Saturday, left the state before voting finished and turned his attention to states outside the South that vote in next Tuesdays delegate-rich contests. He didnt mention the results of the South Carolina vote once in a nearly hour-long speech in Minnesota late Saturday night, but in a statement, vowed to fight on aggressively.

This campaign is just beginning, he said. Our grass-roots political revolution is growing state by state, and we wont stop now.

Clinton allies quickly touted the breadth of her victory. Along with blacks, she won most women and voters aged 30 and older, according to early exit polls.

Sanders continued to do well with young voters, his most passionate supporters. He also carried those who identified themselves as independent and most white voters.

A self-described democratic socialist, Sanders has energized his supporters with impassioned calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and making tuition free at public colleges and universities. But the senator from Vermont, a state where about 1 percent of the population is black, lacks Clintons deep ties to the African-American community.

While Sanders spent the end of the week outside of South Carolina, his campaign did invest heavily in the state. He had 200 paid staff on the ground and an aggressive television advertising campaign.

Exit polls showed 6 in 10 voters in the South Carolina primary were black. About 7 in 10 said they wanted the next president to continue Obamas policies, and only about 20 percent wanted a more liberal course of action, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.

Clintons second White House bid lurched to an uneven start, with a narrow victory over Sanders in Iowa and a crushing loss to the senator in New Hampshire. She pulled off a five-point win over Sanders in last weeks Nevada caucus, a crucial victory that helped stem Sanders momentum.

Clintons campaign hopes her strong showing in South Carolina foreshadows similar outcomes in states such as Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee and Virginia that vote Tuesday and have large minority populations.

Taken together, 865 Democratic delegates are up for grabs in the Super Tuesday contests in 11 states and American Samoa. Sanders aims to stay close to Clinton in the South while focusing most of his attention on states in the Midwest and Northeast, including his home state of Vermont.

Sanders has built a massive network of small donors and has the money to stay in the race deep into the spring. Still, Clintons campaign sees a chance to build enough of a delegate lead to put the race out of reach during the sprint through March.

Clinton picked up most of South Carolinas 53 delegates, winning 39 to Sanders 14.

Going into South Carolina, Clinton had a one-delegate edge over Sanders. However, she has a substantial lead among superdelegates, the Democratic Party leaders who can vote for the candidate of their choice at this summers national convention, regardless of how their states vote.

(AP)
Three Gazans infiltrated into Israel from southern Gaza on Shabbos, entering in the Eshkol Regional Council. All three were wearing IDF coats and one even had Israel Air Force ranks on the epaulets of the garment.

According to statements from senior military officials to Walla News, they are not ruling out the possibility that the three were sent by the Hamas military wing to test the alertness and response of the IDF along the border.

Residents of area communities were instructed to remain in their homes as an alert was sounded. Bchasdei Hashem the unarmed infiltrators were apprehended and taken into custody without incident.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A number of religious IDF soldiers, known as beinishim (   bnei yeshivot) have been instructed by commanders to shave after an officer in the adjutancy decided they do not look the way he feels the army should appear. It was explained to some that Even the IDF Chief Rabbi is clean shaven, to which a father, Eliyahu Chen responded this is irrelevant.

Mr. Chen spoke with Kol Chai Radio on Sunday morning 19 Adar-I explaining he served in the military for 25 years, always with a beard as a member of the dati leumi community. He questions What motivation will my son have to serve and fight after this. What angers me is they are not doing anything to the chareidi soldiers so why my son and others in the dati leumi tzibur? Mr. Chen explained he has learned that an officer in the adjutancy feels the bearded soldiers look like Hamas and therefore objects to signing off on their beards.

To date, a soldier entering the army declares he is shomer Shabbos and the rabbi of his unit would sign off on the form along with a commander and he was not required to shave.

Since January 2016 the regulation changed, requiring a signature from a colonel in the adjutancy in addition to a unit rabbi and officer. Eliyahu explains the rabbi and officer signed off for his son, who has been serving with a beard, and now, suddenly, he was instructed that upon returning Sunday from Shabbos at home to be clean shaven. He will not however, preferring to go to jail. Eliyahu added he voted for Bennett (Bayit Yehudi) in the last elections and it appears this does not help. He feels the chareidi soldiers are not being bothered for military officials fear the wrath of the chareidi parties so they are limiting their new policy to dati leumi soldiers.

Eliyahu calls on all IDF Rabbinate officers and soldiers serving in the unit to please step down from their positions, including IDF Chief Rabbi Brig.-Gen. Rafi Peretz, for clearly they are not doing their jobs.

Kol Chai added that only two requests to keep a beard among 36 were approved by the adjutancy officer. The overwhelming number of these requests were for religious reasons.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) terrorist Omar Naif Zayed was convicted of murdering yeshiva talmid Eliyahu Amadi in 1986 in the Old City of Yerushalayim. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Four years into his sentence he began a hunger strike and 40 days into the strike, he was transferred into a mental hospital in Beit Lechem. He fled from that facility in May 1990 and traveled to neighboring Arab nations until reaching Bulgaria, where he got married and had three children.

Last week, he was found wounded and dying in the yard of the Palestinian Embassy in Sofia, with a finger of blame pointed at Israel. Jerusalem has denies any connection to the incident. Officials reported he was injured in his upper torso and died in the yard of the Palestinian Embassy before paramedics arrived.

While local police said the death occurred in the diplomatic facility, Bulgarian Prosecutor General Sotir Tsatsaro said the body was found outside in a parking area. Palestinian Ambassador Ahmed al-Madbuh blames Israel, and Israel Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said the this isnt an Israeli matter.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Rabbi Yoshiyahu Pinto Shlita, who is serving a one-year prison term in the Nitzan Prison in Ramle has decided to halt chemotherapy treatments due to his weakened condition.

It is reported the rabbi is transported by the prison service to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem. Attorney Avi Chimi, who represents the rabbi explains as a result of the treatments the rabbi has lost eight kilograms (17.5 lbs.) and he is now extremely weak. Chimi explains these treatments are difficult enough for anyone having to go through them but for someone who no longer has his family around him, it is that much more difficult.

Chimi explains due to the ravs medical condition, the difficulty of the treatments and the difficult conditions to which he is subjected to, he has decided to halt the treatments.

Israel Prison Authority officials state the rabbi receives treatments at times.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
[PHOTOS IN EXTENDED ARTICLE]

A delegation of some 50 lay leaders of Agudath Israel of America converged on the nations capital earlier this week to mark the 55th anniversary of the late president of Agudath Israel Rabbi Moshe Sherers historic congressional testimony regarding government assistance to religious school communities.

Rabbi Sherers testimony was considered so significant at the time that it was featured on page 1 of the New York Times. And, with the benefit of more than half-a-century of historical hindsight, it marked the beginning of a new level of government advocacy for yeshiva day schools and other needs of the Orthodox Jewish community.

Through the years, Agudath Israel has built on the foundation established by Rabbi Sherers testimony  founding the first full time Orthodox Jewish Washington Office in 1987, developing a national network of regional advocacy offices across the United States, spearheading advocacy efforts that have resulted in many millions of dollars flowing annually to the yeshiva community.

While the focus of this years Agudath Israel National Leadership Mission to Washington was on education, the group also had the opportunity to share concerns on a range of pressing issues: the security of Israel, BDS, the alarming rise in global anti-Semitism, homeland security, religious freedom and social services for the needy.

The Mission commenced with dinner Tuesday evening in the stately Mansfield Room in the Capitol building. The dinner was headlined by four prominent elected officials: Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Joni Ernst (R-IA), and Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-UT).

In welcoming remarks, Agudath Israel Board Chairman, Shlomo Werdiger, explained why Agudath Israel leaders came to Washington from across the country: Rabbi Sherer taught us how important it is to be proactive in fighting to protect our rights and to access the government benefits we so desperately need. That means engaging our elected officials directly face-to-face, and impressing upon them the justice of our cause.

A highlight of the dinner was a series of presentations by Agudath Israels regional directors, each one outlining recent legislative accomplishments in states across the country. The presentations, moderated by Rabbi A.D. Motzen, Agudath Israels National Director of State Relations, were made by Rabbis Moshe Matz (Florida), Ariel Sadwin (Maryland), Yitz Frank (Ohio), Avi Schnall (NJ) and Shlomo Soroka (Illinois).

On Wednesday, the Agudath Israel delegates, who came from a dozen states around the country including Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Ohio, and Pennsylvania, broadened the conversations, meeting with key Representatives and Senators of both parties, as well as with prominent White House officials.

The day started with a breakfast reception on the House side of Capitol Hill, at which the Agudath Israel delegation met with Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD), second ranking Democrat in Congress; and, in order of appearance, Representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA); Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ); Todd Rokita (R-IN); Jerry Nadler (D-NY); Lee Zeldin (R-NY); and Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY).

The Mission continued with a session in the White House, at which the group engaged with senior policy officials regarding the benefits available to nonpublic school students under the new federal education law, homeland security grants for religious schools and organizations, and how to deal with the resistance in certain communities to the growth and expansion of Orthodox Jewish populations.

Following the White House session, the Agudath Israel delegation went to the Russell Senate Building for what may have been the highlight of the Mission, a lunch meeting with a bipartisan group of seven Senators: Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-PA); Chris Murphy (D-CT); Mark Kirk (R-IL); Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY); Orrin Hatch (R-UT); Ben Cardin (D-MD); and Charles Schumer (D-NY).

Senator Schumer, the final speaker of the day, warmly recalled his longstanding relationship with Rabbi Sherer, and congratulated Agudath Israel for continuing to build on its late presidents legacy in the years following his passing.

Perhaps the most important message, repeated by many of the members of Congress, was how crucial such visits are for decision makers. Nothing can replace face-to-face interactions with informed community representatives. One after another, Senators and Representatives echoed that sentiment and reiterated that their door is open to continue the dialogue.

The Mission was chaired by Agudath Israels chairman of the board, Shlomo Werdiger. The individual sessions were chaired by Rabbi Abba Cohen, Agudath Israels Washington Director and Vice President for Federal Affairs; Rabbi A.D. Motzen, Agudath Israels National Director of State Relations; and Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, Agudath Israels Executive Vice President.

Photo credits Shmuel and Dov Lenchevsky:

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
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Hugo Dixon is chairman and editor-in-chief of InFacts, a journalistic enterprise making the case for Britain to stay in the EU.

We may not like bankers, but the City of London is our most important industry.

Financial services account for nearly 10 per cent of our economy and 11 per cent of tax revenue. So it matters whether the City thrives if we quit the European Union.

Alex Brummer, the Daily Mails City Editor, made an eloquent case for how the City would survive if we left the EU. But he understated how much our financial services industry would be damaged and overstated the amount of regulation wed jettison.

Trade: Hugo Dixon says that, even though the EU is struggling economically, it would be foolish to diminish our access to this market

Brummer also failed to mention that, if we stay, we could lead a new golden age for European finance now that Brussels is embracing market-based finance.

Lord Hill, Britains EU commissioner, is creating a capital markets union which will be hugely beneficial for the City. We might not be able to tap it if we quit. Indeed, without our impetus, it might not even come into existence.

Brummer is correct that we would survive if we quit the EU. But we would not thrive as much as if we remain.

Look, first, at the overall economy. Nearly half of our trade is with the EU. Even though the bloc is struggling economically, it would be foolish to diminish our access to this market. Theres no reason why, if we stay, we cant trade with European countries and those further afield (many of which, including Russia and China, are also struggling).

Now look at finance. The City isnt just important for the jobs and taxes it generates. Lawyers, accountants and consultants all service finance. Bankers spend their bonuses on art, restaurants, schools, doctors, taxis and so forth. The City sits at the apex of a lot of other jobs.

The City: Dixon says the UK's financial services industry would be damaged if it were to leave the EU

The Leave camp hasnt spelled out what it wants if we quit. But there are two main options.

In one, we keep full access to the EUs single market, like Norway. But wed still have to follow all its rules and we wouldnt even get a vote.

For those who pretend to care about sovereignty, thats clearly a step backwards. It could also damage the City, as Brussels would determine our financial regulations which wed meekly have to adopt.

Despite all the noise about how we get outvoted in the EU, the only significant financial issue where weve lost out is on a rule that caps bankers bonuses to twice their salary. Although this is a foolish regulation, many British people like it.

Opinions: Daily Mails City Editor Alex Brummer acknowledges that the City would lose its passport, but he doesnt think its too serious

Could it really be in our interest to hand over the keys to our most valuable industry to the EU?

There is, of course, no continental financial centre to rival London. But you can bet that Frankfurt, Paris and Dublin would salivate at the possibility of attracting slices of our industry. They may already be developing plans to do just that.

The other option is that we quit the single market as well as the EU. But this would amount to jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

UK-based firms would no longer have a passport allowing them to provide services in the other 27 countries. Firms wanting to do business in the EU would then have to relocate there by setting up subsidiaries.

Although Brummer acknowledges that the City would lose its passport, he doesnt think its too serious. He says wed lose only a fraction of our investment banking jobs, mentioning that Goldman Sachs says it would relocate a third of its 6,000 jobs across the Channel. A third is, indeed, a fraction, but it is quite a large one.
We round up the Sunday newspaper share tips. This week, Midas tips Laird as a buy, the Sunday Times says Direct Line is a hold, and the Sunday Telegraph tells its readers to avoid wealth managers.

MAIL ON SUNDAY

Forecasters have been predicting a slowdown in the smartphone market for months and at the beginning of this year, Apple chief executive Tim Cook admitted that he expects iPhone sales to fall in the three months to March. If true, this would be the first decline since the phone was launched nearly nine years ago.

Such predictions do little for Laird, the British electronics company whose single biggest customer is Apple. Over the past year, its shares have slipped back from a peak of 400p to 332p today, but the fall is overdone and the stock should bounce back.

Laird chief executive David Lockwood unveils 2015 results later this week and some of the Citys more thoughtful analysts expect the company to deliver a near 9 per cent increase in revenues to 631 million, a 14.5 per cent rise in profits to 72.4 million and a 5 per cent hike in the dividend to 12.5p.

A number of reasons lie behind the groups resilience. First, Laird is not just about smartphones. The business makes materials that protect electronic components from heat and electromagnetic interference, so that gadgets such as iPhones do not burn users or give them electric shocks. Apple and Samsung are big customers, but they are not the only ones.

Laird also provides materials used in the roll-out of 4G and 5G telecoms networks and it works with a range of industries, such as vehicle manufacturers, medical equipment makers and consumer goods firms.

Midas verdict: Slowing iPhone sales and concerns about economic prospects globally have hit Laird shares, but the company is well positioned to take advantage of the growth in smart car technology and broader demand for internet connectivity everywhere. Buy now and be patient.

>>>Read the full Midas column

SUNDAY TIMES

Direct Line is down with the kids. Last week, Britains biggest motor insurer launched an online ad campaign with a 22-year-old vlogger. Alfie Deyes is the purveyor of the aptly named Pointless Blog, where he and his friends eat bugs and face off in #toteshilars competitions like the Try Not to Laugh Challenge.

You will guess that the war for customers is as fierce as ever in the insurance industry. Premiums have been falling for nearly a decade amid fierce competition. Last week RSA revealed that for every 1 of premium income, it pays out 98.5p.

Several companies have given up, opting to price themselves out of the market after concluding that competing wasnt worth the effort.

In that context, a square company such as Direct Line cackhandedly courting the youth makes a bit more sense. For what its worth, young Alfie is a YouTube sensation with 4.5m followers  many of them in the key 17 to 19-year-old range. This age group accounts for less than 2% of UK drivers but 12% of serious crashes. So Direct Line has given Alfie free driving lessons and a telematics kit to track how he does. Im sure teens will be ditching Direct Lines lame competitors in droves.

At 12.5 times future earnings, the stock is fully valued  even with its bloomin amazin marketing wheeze. Hold.

SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

When it comes to wealth managers, Questor says avoid. 1. One size doesn't fit all. Like investors, wealth managers come in many forms. Some focus solely on individuals, while others will also play the markets on behalf of large institutions with cash piles.

Hargreaves Lansdown is one of the biggest. Rivals such as St Jamess Place and Brewin Dolphin are focused on the mass affluent who have larger nest eggs and a desire for a fuller advice. The unlisted Nutmeg plans to undercut the traditional managers with robo-advice and simpler portfolios.

2. Online shifts. Many of the established wealth managers have legacy businesses  a small insurance offshoot in the case of St Jamess Place, ties to a larger South African firm for Old Mutual, or a recently sold stockbroking arm at Charles Stanley. This can make the task of changing direction to compete with new and nimble online players more difficult.

3. Stock market shocks. Wealth managers of all stripes have found it tough in a period of volatile global stock markets. With the FTSE 100 down nearly 4pc so far this year, very few companies are issuing new shares, leaving managers sorely missing the commission that comes with selling a blockbuster new offer.
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By Philip Newman

A 20-year-old purported member of the MS 13 gang has pleaded guilty to attempted murder and other charges in the June 2014 shooting of two teenagers whom he believed to be members of a rival gang, the Queens district attorney said.

The defendant has admitted to approaching two teenagers and firing a gun at them, said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. Both victims were wounded in the gunplay but fortunately survived. This kind of random, senseless violence has no place in a civilized society.

The defendant will be sentenced next month.

Francisco Lopez of Jamaica appeared Tuesday before Queens Supreme Court Justice Robert Kohm and pleaded guilty to attempted murder, assault and criminal possession of a weapon, according to the DA.

Sentencing was scheduled for March 16, at which time the judge indicated he would sentence Lopez to 10 years on the attempted murder, assault and weapon counts.

All of the prison time will run concurrently and Lopez will also be sentenced to five years of post-release supervision.

Brown said that according to the charges, Hector Torres, 17, was standing outside his Jamaica residence with Jeremias Otero, 16, and another person at 9:15 p.m. June 8, 2014 when Lopez and other unidentified persons walked toward them and said Yo, you Kings? before firing a total of six shots from a silver revolver.

Torres was shot four times in his right arm and Otero once at the top of his head, the DA said. Both were taken to a Queens hospital, where Torres spent about two weeks during which time he underwent several surgeries for a ruptured artery and other injuries. Otero required five staples to close his wound.
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By Philip Newman

It was 2010 and the financially desperate Metropolitan Transportation Authority was so broke that it had to curtail dozens of bus lines and shut down two subway lines. Now the MTA has said that the W train may live again.

Transit authorities said they may hold a public hearing this spring on the proposed W train restoration.

The proposal would allow the Q train to begin serving the Second Avenue subway between 63rd Street and 96th Street.

The MTA said adding the W line to the system would provide more choices to Queens and Manhattan straphangers who use the Broadway N, Q and R lines, as well as allow transit authorities to prepare for a seamless transition and connection of service between those lines and the Second Avenue subway.

The proposed service changes would return the W to Astoria, where it would operate local service into Manhattan and terminate at Whitehall Street. The line would effectively replace Q service in Queens. The Q would temporarily stop at 57th Street/7th Avenue but continue to 96th Street upon completion of the Second Avenue subway. N trains would run express in Manhattan from 34th Street/Herald Square to Canal Street, a change from its current local service. on weekdays. R service would remain unchanged.

The W line would be restored to weekday service making all local stops from Astoria/Ditmars Boulevard to Whitehall Street via the Broadway line. There would be no service on weekends or late night.
By Dr. Ira Helfand

A United Nations meeting in Geneva this week could have enormous implications for United States national security, but it is being ignored by most of the media and by Americas political leaders. It deserves serious attention.

A new policy-making body called the Open Ended Working Group will consider ways to break the current impasse in efforts to reduce the danger of nuclear war. The group expects to make formal recommendations to the UN this fall. The initiative is especially important given recent studies on the catastrophic effects that would follow even a limited use of nuclear weapons.

The group was established by an overwhelming majority at the UN. The U.S. and all of the other nuclear weapons states voted against and are boycotting the meeting. Why?

Robert Wood, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Conference on Disarmament, recently defended the American decision in a tweet: agenda ignores security dimension of nuclear weapons. Only practical and realistic efforts will lead to a world w/o nukes. His claim would have more weight if the United States were pursuing practical and realistic efforts instead of planning to spend $1 trillion over the next three decades to maintain its nuclear arsenal indefinitely.





The real reason for the boycott is that this meeting will explore ways to make the nine nuclear weapons states, which include Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom, live up to their obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970, which requires them to negotiate the abolition of their nuclear arsenals. It very well may recommend negotiation of a new treaty that will effectively ban nuclear weapons, defining their possession as a violation of international law.

Based on the medical evidence, the nonnuclear weapons states are right to call for the elimination of these weapons.

Over the last three years, a series of major global conferences have explored the medical consequences of nuclear war. The new scientific data presented at these meeting have demonstrated the unacceptable, existential threat to humanity posed by nuclear arsenals.

Representatives of the International Red Cross have testified that the worlds leading disaster relief organization can do nothing significant to mitigate the consequences of even a single nuclear explosion, let alone a nuclear war.

Climate scientists and medical experts have presented new data showing that even a very limited nuclear war would cause catastrophic effects worldwide. The fires caused by as few as 100 small nuclear weapons, less than one-half of one percent of the worlds nuclear arsenals, directed against urban targets, would cause global climate disruption. The resulting decline in food production would trigger a nuclear famine across the planet and put up to two billion people at risk. A famine on this scale would be unprecedented in human history. While it would not mean the extinction of our species, it would almost certainly mean the end of modern civilization.

A limited war between India and Pakistan, using less than half of their current arsenals, could cause that kind of famine, as could the use of the nuclear warheads on a single US Trident submarine. The US has 14 of them and an arsenal of nuclear bombers and land-based missiles as well.

A full-scale war between the US and Russia using all of these weapons would cause a nuclear winter, with ice-age conditions across the planet persisting for a decade or more. The collapse of food production under these circumstances would lead to the death of the vast majority of the human race. It might cause our extinction as a species.

The US and Russia are now engaged in a new game of nuclear chicken in Europe and the Middle East, with the ever-present danger that one side or the other will miscalculate, or that an accident will trigger a nuclear exchange. There have been at least five occasions since 1979 when either Moscow or Washington prepared to launch a nuclear war, in the mistaken belief that they were already under attack.





The determination to hold on to these weapons stems from a deeply held belief that they somehow make a nation more secure. For most of human history, having more powerful weapons did protect us. But as Albert Einstein observed at the beginning of the nuclear era, the splitting of the atom changed everything, except the way we think and thus we head for unprecedented disaster.

If the use of even a tiny fraction of our nuclear arsenal will cause a global holocaust that engulfs us as well as the rest of humanity, how can these weapons be seen as agents of our security? They are suicide bombs. By possessing them, we are a nation of suicide bombers.

Nuclear weapons, the evidence, is now clear, are the greatest threat to our national security. We need to make their elimination our highest national security priority. The U.S. should start by joining the working group in Geneva and, as the next step toward that goal, working for a treaty to ban nuclear weapons.

The views expressed in this article are the author\s own and do not necessarily reflect The Times Of Earth\s editorial policy.
October Fun Calendar: Plenty to do this month in Beaver County
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Every American knows the price of oil has dropped  a lot.

This fact seems to have depressed a lot of Texans. Many in the Middle East, Russia, Venezuela and other parts of the world are also feeling the pain. Yet, the drop in energy prices has most everyone else celebrating.

Over the next few weeks, I'll take a look at the subject. No, I'm not going to predict when the price of oil will reach triple digits again (though we will talk about it). Rather I want us to look at the good, the bad and the mostly unpredictable nature of this beast.

Just given the fact that oil sells for less than a quarter of what it did just a few years ago should tell you something dramatic happened. One would expect that given such a dramatic move we'd see some dramatic effect in the economy. Yet, back when oil was sitting at $120 a barrel, I think that "muddling along" was a good description of the economy. Now that oil is around or under $30, it seems the "muddling along" is still valid.

What happened? Or, more to the point, what didn't happen? First, a disclaimer: I have no expertise in oil, nor am I an economist. There's a lot to this story, and I'll be skipping a lot of the specifics to try and make it a bit easier to follow.

If you remember, when oil was selling at an ungodly price, many economies of the world were going strong  especially China. They were gobbling up just about all the commodities of the world. They needed oil, copper, cement, timber and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Just because they needed more and more didn't mean that other countries needed less. So companies and countries began bidding up the limited supplies that were available. It didn't hurt that the Middle East was in turmoil and Iran was under sanction. Prices soared. And Rick Perry could brag about the economic miracle that was Texas.

Funny thing about prices going up  it tends to have two effects. Those who are the buyers look for ways to use less of whatever is costing more. That might be by finding a substitute or ways to economize. Sellers want to meet the high demand by producing more product. And seeing the profits others are making, new suppliers enter the field.

Governments of the world required cars to get more miles per gallon. Fleets of vehicles were shifted to electric or natural gas. Carpooling became popular again. And folks traded their SUVs for subcompact cars.

Fracking had been around for a while, but it became a household word. Whether the prices stopped rising altogether or even started going down really depended on how the forces that were causing the rising prices fared against the forces trying to cause prices to decline.

Next week we'll cover what happened.
Contributed photo Mary Beth Chapman, wife of Christian musician Steven Curtis Chapman and co-founder of Show Hope orphan advocacy ministry, will speak in Wichita Falls March 7 at the Inheritance Adoptions banquet.

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By Sarah Johnson

Inheritance Adoptions welcomes Mary Beth Chapman to its annual fundraiser at 6:30 p.m. March 7 at the Multi-Purpose Events Center.

Chapman is a New York Times best-selling author, speaker and the wife of award-winning recording artist Steven Curtis Chapman. She is also the president of Show Hope, an internationally recognized voice for orphan advocacy, which she founded with her husband. The organization has helped provide "forever homes" for more than 5,000 orphans from more than 50 countries through adoption aid grants.

Chapman will bring her daughter, Emily Chapman Richards, as a special guest. Richards is also passionate about vulnerable children and serves on the Show Hope staff.

Inheritance Adoptions is a Christian-based child-placing agency. The staff ministers to both pregnant women in crisis and loving couples who want to grow their families. Services to birthparents are free and include counseling, information on having a healthy pregnancy, and transportation to doctor's appointments. Inheritance Adoptions also provides shelter, food and clothing when necessary.

"The funds from the event go to helping women improve their life from poverty, homelessness and unemployment," Leslie Howard, executive director of Inheritance Adoptions, said. "And it helps children be placed in stable, loving, two-parent homes."

Tickets are $40. For more information, call 322-3678.

Books and more

The Friends of Burkburnett Library will offer its annual used book sale March 3-5 at the Burkburnett Community Center, at Kramer Road and Davey Drive. Hours of the sale are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. March 3 and 4 and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 5. Shoppers will find gently used hardback and paperback books, audio books, DVDs, CDs, puzzles and games. A silent auction will take place as well.

The Friends of Burkburnett Library is an all-volunteer nonprofit group. All proceeds from the sale will support and enhance programs and facilities at the Burkburnett Library.

For more information, call the library at 569-2991.

Practice prevention

Put prevention into practice at the 16th annual Community Health Fair March 3 in the Don Flatt Gym at D.L. Ligon Coliseum on the Midwestern State University campus. With the theme "Put Prevention into Practice," the health fair will feature free health screenings and activities that teach health promotion and disease and injury prevention for people of all ages. Hours are from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Although the fair is a screening session for various health conditions, it is also the culmination of a semester of hard work by students at MSU's Gunn College of Health Sciences and Human Services, and a chance to educate the public that affordable health care begins with prevention.

Free screenings include blood glucose, oxygen saturation, body mass index, hearing, height and weight, vision, HIV, STDs, lung cancer, and blood pressure readings. Educational information will be available about Alzheimer's disease, breast cancer, diabetes, hypertension, testicular cancer, asthma and allergies, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions. Other material related to breast and testicular self-exams, reading food labels, portion control, choking prevention, preventing spread of diseases, drunken driving simulation, fire safety, exercise, vaping/e-cigarettes, assault/rape prevention, stress reduction, dental/oral care, and more will be available.

"The fair brings the community to the campus, and it teaches students to communicate with the public," Betty Bowles, assistant professor of nursing at MSU's Wilson School of Nursing, said. "This works with our goal of moving toward prevention and getting people to work for a healthier lifestyle, rather than treatment."

Social work, psychology, dental hygiene, radiologic sciences and respiratory therapy students also are involved with screenings and exhibits on living healthy. Community members will have the opportunity to give back at the fair by donating blood and registering as tissue and organ donors.

For more information, call Bowles at 397-4048.

Love and cookies

Support the U.S. Armed Forces and your local Girl Scout troops by making a donation to Project Troop to Troop. All you have to do is tell a Girl Scout that you want to send cookies to the troops.

Project Troop to Troop is a Girl Scouts of Texas Oklahoma Plains council-wide service initiative that encourages members of the community to buy packages of Girl Scout cookies to donate to the U.S. Armed Forces. For many troops stationed across the nation and overseas, nothing says home like a box of Girl Scout Cookies.

For more information, call 817-735-5340.

Movie time

Don't miss the movie "White," which will be shown at 6 p.m. Feb. 29 at the Kemp at the Forum, 2120 Speedway. The showing is part of the Flix at the Forum series.

Midwestern State University professor and film scholar Dr. Brinton Tench Coxe will lead a discussion on the movie.

Admission is free. For more information, call the forum at 766-3347.
The local Civil Air Patrol squadron hosted an open house Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, at Kickapoo Airport. CAP is celebrating its 75th anniversary and is an all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary and the newest member of the Air Forces Total Force which includes the Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserve, the Air Forced retired military and civlian emplyees and the regular Air Force.

SHARE This Cessna 172 is the main aircraft used by the local Civil Air Patrol squadron. CAP is celebrating its 75th anniversary and is an all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary and the newest member of the Air Forces Total Force which includes the Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserve, the Air Forced retired military and civlian emplyees and the regular Air Force. photos by Lauren Roberts/Times Record News Jonah Seigler explains how to search for a airplanes black box to Henry Krusekopf during the local Civil Air Patrol squadron open house Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, at Kickapoo Airport. CAP is celebrating its 75th anniversary and is an all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary and the newest member of the Air Forces Total Force which includes the Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserve, the Air Forced retired military and civlian emplyees and the regular Air Force. Kris Atabaki during the local Civil Air Patrol squadron open house Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, at Kickapoo Airport. CAP is celebrating its 75th anniversary and is an all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary and the newest member of the Air Forces Total Force which includes the Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserve, the Air Forced retired military and civlian emplyees and the regular Air Force. Lauren Roberts/Times Record News Jonah Seigler during the local Civil Air Patrol squadron open house Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016, at Kickapoo Airport. CAP is celebrating its 75th anniversary and is an all-volunteer U.S. Air Force auxiliary and the newest member of the Air Force's Total Force which includes the Air National Guard, the Air Force Reserve, the Air Forced retired military and civlian emplyees and the regular Air Force.

By Lauren Roberts, lauren.roberts@timesrecordnews.com

The local Civil Air Patrol invited members of the community out to Kickapoo Airport Saturday morning for an open house as part of it's 75th Anniversary. CAP was founded by citizens to help bolster the nation's defense on Dec. 1, 1941, one week before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Congress designated CAP as an Air Force Auxiliary on May 26, 1948 with three primary missions  emergency services, cadet programs and aerospace education.

Jonah Seigler, a student at Hirschi High School, is in his third year as a cadet in CAP and is thinking about enlisting in the Air Force. Seigler said he learned about CAP from a friend that was involved with the program and started attending meetings.

"I had went a couple days and we did some leadership activities and we had built some mono rockets. That interested me because of the aerospace aspect and helping with the emergency services."

CAP's cadet programs start accepting members at age 12 until 20 with programs focusing in leadership, aerospace, fitness and character development.

Seigler said, "I think that this will make me a better leader. I've improved so much more from where I was before to how I am now. It's quite amazing what I can help with and put some of this stuff together."

CAP adult members are known as Senior Members who support the cadet program, emergency services, ground team and other roles.

J.J. Humphreys said, "I went to the air show up at Sheppard back in 2003-04 and ran across the CAP booth set up and picked up the brochure. I was interested in aviation at the time and I was actually working on my private license at the time."

Along with providing services for the federal government as the civilian auxiliary of the U.S. Sir Force and for local communities as a nonprofit CAP also serves as a strategic partner of the Air Force as a member of its Total Force.

Humphreys said, "We've always been an asset for the Air Force. We work hand and hand." Humphreys said that CAP members will fly the training route that Sheppard Air Force Base pilots fly to ensure that the flight path will be clear and safe.

Kris Atabaki said, "A lot of our operations for student training every single year and low level training which is very tactical all for the war fighter of tomorrow...CAP plays a direct role in supporting that mission. We wouldn't be able to get stuff done as cheaply and as efficiently if it wasn't for CAP.

CAP holds its weekly meeting at the Texas National Guard Armory on Armory Road Thursdays from 7-9 p.m.
SHARE Photo courtesy David Gautreaux is seeking the living relatives of Thomas Isaac Jr. so he can return this Purple Heart award to the family. Photo courtesy David Gautreaux is seeking the living relatives of Thomas Isaac Jr. so he can return this Purple Heart award to the family.

By Christopher Collins of the Times Record News

It sat in a dusty shoebox at a flea market in Gretna, Louisiana, until thrifty shopper David Gautreaux bought the box and all its contents for $6 in the 1980s.

It sat even longer before Gautreaux finally opened the box more than 20 years after purchasing it. But inside, the 79-year-old former Marine found treasure: a Purple Heart awarded to a young Army enlistee killed in the Korean War.

The name engraved on the medal was Thomas Isaac Jr., a 19-year-old soldier killed in South Korea on Feb. 11, 1951. Isaac is buried in Wichita Falls' Riverside Cemetery, records show.

The Purple Heart is awarded to members of the military who are wounded or killed in action. Just shy of 120,000 were issued in connection with military efforts in the Korean War.

Now Gautreaux says he wants to do "the Christian thing" and return the award to Isaac's family. But he has a problem  he doesn't know any of Isaac's relatives and he doesn't know how to find them.

"I could just see this guy lying there, alive one minute, dead the next," Gautreaux said. "I'd just like to get (the medal) back into the hands of the family."

A cursory review of Isaac's family history shows his father was Thomas E. Isaac and his mother's maiden name was Lillie Pearl Crowson. At some point she married Bill Edward Davis, the soldier's stepfather.

A deeper review of Isaac's family history shows that he had a brother named Jack Isaac and step-siblings named Billy, Jimmy and Dora Davis. Jack Isaac appears to have lived in Montague County. He died in 2000 at age 67.

Isaac may have relatives in Burkburnett with the last name Davis.

Gautreaux said he's hit a brick wall on his search for Isaac's living relatives.

"The closest I got  I called 411 and I asked them for the number for the Isaac family. They gave me the number for the family in Wichita Falls," Gautreaux said. "The phone just made weird noises until it went to an answering machine. I think it had been disconnected or something."

Gautreaux has had success in returning military items to family members before  recently he reunited a family with a long-deceased relatives' dogtags from World War I. After some digging, he was able to give back to them a valuable keepsake.

"I was thinking, I did this one deal, so now why I don't pursue the medal?" he said. "I'd like to give them some closure."

Readers with information on the whereabouts of Thomas Isaac Jr.'s living relatives are encouraged to call staff writer Christopher Collins at 940-763-7533. Emails can be sent to christopher.collins@timesrecordnews.com.
Lauren Roberts/Times Record News Police investigate a single-vehicle crash that happened at 11:05 p.m. Friday, Feb 26, 2016, on Henry S. Grace Freeway between Midwestern Parkway and the Windthorst Road exit. Two people were killed and two others were injured.

SHARE Lauren Roberts/Times Record News Police investigate a single-vehicle crash that happened at 11:05 p.m. Friday, Feb 26, 2016, on Henry S. Grace Freeway between Midwestern Parkway and the Windthorst Road exit. Two people were killed and two others were injured.

By Patrick Johnston, patrick.johnston@timesrecordnews.com

Two people are dead and two others injured after a single-car wreck on the Henry S. Grace Freeway late Friday night.

According to a Wichita Falls police news release:

Around 11:05 p.m., a white 2000 Ford Expedition was traveling northbound on the Henry S. Grace Freeway at a high rate of speed. Witnesses estimated the vehicle to be traveling between 80-100 mph.

The vehicle spun out of control just north of the Windthorst Road exit and struck the right guardrail. The vehicle then hit the concrete pillars under the southbound U.S. 287 overpass and caught fire shortly after the accident. The fire was quickly put out.

Two passengers  Raylesha Sedberry Haddock, 56, and Michael Dewayne Haddock, 38  were ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene.

The driver, Bobby Haddock, 55, and his wife, Crystal, 35, were transported to the hospital. Their injuries and conditions are unknown at this time.

The Crash Unit and ID techs responded to the scene and the hospital. The deceased were sent to the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas.

WFPD said information will be released as it becomes available and the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Times Record News file photo Hundreds of people enjoy the Wichita Falls Circle Trail each year with more than 17 miles of paved path for walking, jogging and biking.

SHARE Times Record News file photo Parks and Recreation Director Jack Murphy shows off a map of the Circle Trail on one of Wichita Falls new signs. Only three sections of the trail remain to be completed. Once it is complete, there will be 25 miles of connected trail surrounding the city. Council approved a policy allowing a business to connect to the path to enhance recreational appeal to the trail. Times Record News file photo Bikers, walkers and runners flock to the Wichita Falls Circle, which will have 25 miles of connected trails when complete. Parks and Recreation Director Jack Murphy said there are about 17 miles of completed trails right now and only three areas left to construct.

By Claire Kowalick of the Times Record News

Nearly 30 years in the making, Wichita Falls' circle trail is nearing completion.

Easy access to businesses near the circle trail is a service the city approved to improve the experience for trekkers and bikers and generate interest in this long-term recreational project.

The first portion of the city's concrete trail system was built in 1987, in the Lucy Park area.

Since that time, an additional 14 miles of trails have been constructed for a total of more than 18 miles of path for biking and pedestrian use.

Two sections of trail opened in 2012  along Barnett from Johnson to Lake Road and along Seymour Highway from the Burlington Northern Santa Re Railroad to the Wichita Bluff nature Area. A portion of trail from the bluff parking lot down to Loop 11 is under construction.

The city is under negotiations for three or four parcels of land between Loop 11 and Lucy Park and they are talking with BNSF to allow the trail.

As funding allows, the next section likely to be completed is the remaining mile and a half from Loop 11 to Lucy Park, then a portion along the shores of Lake Wichita and finally a stretch that runs along part of the BNSF Railway on the city's west side.

The complete project will result in a city-encompassing concrete path, 24 miles long.

"There is more interest now than ever because the end is in sight," Parks & Recreation Director Jack Murphy said, who foresees wrapping up the trail in two or three years.

The existing circle trail was accomplished through about 14 grants at a cost of around $10 million. Texas Department of Transportation grants are funding the current construction work between Wichita Bluff and Loop 11.

Murphy said about 79 percent of the funding for the project has come from outside sources like the TxDOT grants and federal funds. The remaining 21 percent of the project is funded by the city.

On June 22, the City Council approved a resolution permitting construction of connections between businesses and the trail, to be built and maintained by the business.

So far only one business, Endurance House on Taft, has requested a trail connector.

A few other businesses are already conveniently located along the trail, including two Sonics, on Seymour Highway and Loop 11, and the Eskimo Hut on Seymour Highway.

"The trail offers the most benefit to the public for the least amount of city dollars," Murphy said. He said the trail allows all residents free access to recreational activities that can benefit them emotionally, physically and mentally.

"Visitors can have a variety of experiences along the trail from walking through the woods to possibly a trail crossing open water on Lake Wichita," he said.

Even when the last concrete is poured, Murphy said, the project won't be complete.

Amenities like rest-rooms at least every mile, more benches, water fountains, shelters and trail spurs to neighborhoods will add to the visitor experience and aid easy access to the trail.
The biggest vote getter in County Tipperary has been acused of stabbing his party and his cousin in the back to claim the Chair of the Thurles Templemore Municipal District having voted against his own party.

The biggest vote getter in County Tipperary has been acused of stabbing his party and his cousin in the back to claim the Chair of the Thurles Templemore Municipal District having voted against his own party.

Cll Michael Smith, who grabbed 2,568 first preference votes in the local election and was one of four Fianna Fail candidates elected in the District, was accused of smashing a signed pact with Fine Gael to claim the Chair against party colleague and cousin John Hogan who had been put forward by Fianna Fail for the position.

The unprecedented move by Cllr Smith arose after he had been proposed for the position by Cllr Micheal Lowry and subsequently received the support of Cllrs Willie Kennedy, Jim Ryan, David Doran and Micheal Lowry.

Cllr John Hogan had been put forward by Cllr Seamus Hanafin and garnered support from Cllrs Jackie Cahill, Joe Bourke, Hanafin and himself.

This meant that Cllr Smith, who was the last to vote due to the poll being taken in alphabetical order, was left with either voting for himself to take the chair, thereby breaking the pact, or voting for Cllr Hogan for the position as he was expected to do by the party. Cllr Smith voted for himself resulting in a most unsatisfactory beginning for the Municipal District.

Worse still, a head to head resulted in the position for the second place on the Thurles Swimming Pool Board. Cllr Seamus Hanafin received the majority vote, but Cllr David Doran (Sinn Fein) and Cllr Jackie Cahill (Fianna Fail) ended up with five votes apiece. Cllr Smith looked to pull the names from a hat to decide who would take the position, but when this was not agreed, Cllr Smith then ended up with the casting vote and he opted for Sinn Feins Councillor Doran, rather than his party colleague, Cllr Cahill.

The Fianna Fail/Fine Gael pact is broken by you Cllr Smith a week after it was agreed, and its all as a result of greed. You have stabbed your party colleagues and your second cousin in the back for thirty pieces of silver,Cllr Hogan said.

Each one was put forward in a democratic manner and I do not take kindly to the remarks of stabbing in the back. At the end of the day, all of us should work together, Cllr Smith answered.

Who is us? Obviously not your Fianna Fail colleagues, Cllr Hogan replied

There was huge tension in the council chamber following the unprecedented move by Cllr Smith, whose position within Fianna Fail now comes sharply into focus. And, the angry exchanges within the chamber, some of which could not be printed for legal reasons, suggest that the five year term of the District will be anything but harmonious. Cllr Smith was due to receive the position of Chairman in year three of the term, as well as the Chairman of the Tipperary County Council in year two. All of this is now up in the air and he could well find himself isolated within his party.

Cllr Smith and Cllr Hogan were elected to the Board of Roscrea Swimming Pool after Cllr Joe Bourke, who had also been nominated, withdrew his name.

Councillor Jackie Cahill was elected Vice Chairman of the Municipal District having been proposed by Cllr Jim Ryan and seconded by Cllr David Doran.
Maybe some of the tension of recent meals can be attributed to the way we have been dining for the last seven months: cramped, sealed in by...
[February 27, 2016] Sonitor Technologies To Announce Launch of SenseAlert, SenseSafe and SmartTag Temperature Tags, Enabling Three New Sonitor RTLS Applications At 2016 HIMSS Conference

LAS VEGAS, Feb. 27, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Sonitor Technologies, Inc., a global leader in indoor positioning technologies, announced today the expansion of its industry-leading Sonitor Sense RTLS open integration platform. SenseAlert, SenseSafe, and SmartTag Temperature Tags incorporate Sonitor's proprietary SmartZoning ultrasound positioning technology, with Wi-Fi and LF technologies. These new advances respond to ensuring the safety of increasing patient populations at memory care facilities, the rising rate of workplace violence, and the need for temperature monitoring over a range of applications in healthcare and other industries. Sonitor will demonstrate these new solutions at Booth 8016 during the HIMSS 2016 in Las Vegas. SmartZoning

Sonitor's SmartZoning technology delivers the most flexible, accurate, and reliable indoor positioning data available on the market for room, bay, and chair level tracking and location accuracy, and for creating chokepoints. SmartZoning technology leverages the power of Sense QuadLTs to essentially 'frame' discrete areas and create virtual walls on-demand, and easily and reliably deliver high definition, distinct zones within an existing space and/or create chokepoints for access monitoring. It also leverages SmartTags which are embedded with the logic to know their location and communicate instantaneously over Wi-Fi networks when their positions change, giving customers the accuracy they need to confidently do more with less. SenseAlert

SenseAlert technology provides a discreet, flexible solution for helping solve potentially dangerous situations like patient wandering and unauthorized access to sensitive areas of the facility. Powered by the state-of-the-art, power-efficient SenseAlert QuadLT+ with both ultrasound and LF, this system delivers 'on-demand' zone coverage and accurate, reliable chokepoints at exits and entrances. The QuadLT+ is designed with optional vandal-proof covers to meet international IKlO standards for ruggedness and impact and will also allow for more direct transmission of the ultrasound signal helping extend the battery life of the devices by reducing signal attenuation. When coupled with Sonitor's SenseAlert SmartTag and SenseAlert Tamper resstant band, this real-time indoor positioning system can help locate individuals who have wandered or individuals entering unauthorized areas by immediately and accurately pinpointing their exact location. This provides customers the confidence they need to discreetly protect sensitive areas and keep patients safe without compromising freedom of movement. (http://sonitor.com/application-safety.html)



SenseSafe

SenseSafe technology is specifically designed for duress and safety applications. If a staff member or clinician is facing assault or other threatening situations, they can quickly and discreetly press a button on their tag to immediately provide their exact location, enabling a timely response from other staff or emergency responders. In addition, the Sense QuadLTs (location transmitters), are designed with optional vandal-proof covers to meet international IKlO standards for ruggedness and impact and will also allow for more direct transmission of the ultrasound signal helping extend the battery life of the devices by reducing signal attenuation. Sonitor's SenseSafe duress technology solution addresses staff safety concerns, reduces emergency response times, prevents injuries, and performs these actions discreetly, confidently keeping safe all that matters. (http://sonitor.com/application-safety.html) Temperature SmartTag

The Temperature SmartTag series supports temperature monitoring over a wide range of applications including monitoring of pharmacies, clinical labs, and blood bank storage areas. The tags can be configured to report temperature measurements at regular intervals. They are equipped with either an internal sensor or an external probe containing the sensor providing the flexibility to confidently monitor and control their environment for the best results. (http://www.sonitor.com/application-environmental-monitoring.html)

"With these latest additions, Sonitor Technologies continues to expand its industry leading indoor positioning portfolio addressing the critical needs of our customers." said Anne Bugge, President and CEO of Sonitor Technologies, Inc. "The pace at which RTLS is advancing and being rapidly adopted across markets and applications is remarkable and the Sonitor team is very proud to lead the way. The expansion of our Sonitor Sense platform with these enhanced capabilities delivers even greater operational and clinical impact across more departments and markets providing further impetus for hospitals and other industries to expand or explore RTLS implementation in their facilities." About Sonitor Technologies, Inc. (www.sonitor.com)

Sonitor Technologies' tiered resolution Real Time Location Systems (RTLS), with patented High Definition Ultrasound capabilities, are specifically developed and designed for indoor positioning in complex environments. Sonitor has developed the healthcare industry's most advanced open integration RTLS platform, Sonitor Sense, a wireless system which supports a wide range of applications to make hospital operations more efficient. Sonitor is selected by world-class partners to build industry-leading solutions for global deployment. Contact:

Dan Conley

Beacon Communications

312-593-8461

[email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sonitor-technologies-to-announce-launch-of-sensealert-sensesafe-and-smarttag-temperature-tags-enabling-three-new-sonitor-rtls-applications-at-2016-himss-conference-300227383.html SOURCE Sonitor Technologies, Inc.

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[February 27, 2016] Synechron Unveils New Brand Identity, Signaling Global Brand Transformation

DUBAI, UAE, February 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Synechron, one of the fastest-growing digital, business consulting & technology services firms, unveiled its new brand identity, representing the significant steps the firm has taken to increase the depth and breadth of its services. The rebranding signifies the evolution of the company and its vision for the future as it aims for $1 billion of revenue by the year 2020. Along with the brand modernization, Synechron has launched a new website that communicates the firm's new 'Power of 3' strategy and value proposition: Digital, Business Consulting and Technology. Within this strategy, the company will offer its clients a 360 degree business approach, including digital transformation services, business consulting and best-in-class technology services. The brand modernization marks a key milestone and this move is in congruence with Synechron's strategic acquisitions made in 2015, wherein it welcomed to its family specialist firms in the digital and the business consulting space. Driving it further in the last quarter, Synechron opened a first-of-its-kind digital innovation center. The Synechron Digital Innovation Center (SDIC) is an innovation hub for clients committed to investing in digital transformation, translating those assets into greater potential business success for the future. The firms acquired in 2015 were: usable, a US-based boutique UI/UX design firm, strengthening and expanding Synechron's digital design and user interface/user experience capabilities.

Crossbridge, a specialist financial services consulting firm based in London , to expand Synechron's offerings in business and IT transformation, regulatory services, data and financial crime.

, to expand Synechron's offerings in business and IT transformation, regulatory services, data and financial crime. Team Trade, a Paris -based firm specializing in software integration and business consulting to enhance Synechron's consulting and systems integration expertise as well as grow its footprint in the European market.





"Synechron has grown from a startup to an established niche firm over the last 15 years," said Faisal Husain, Synechron's Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. "We have been fortunate to work with a brilliant set of clients as well as employees, the two foremost factors in our success. We now have our sights set on becoming a $1 billion firm by the end of the decade. An ambitious goal, for sure, but we are well positioned and have already begun bringing in new clients under the 'Power of 3' strategy. We have the best talent in the industry, world-class infrastructure and newly acquired firms which add depth to our value proposition and reinforce our expertise as well as leadership teams. The launch of our new brand identity kicks off an era of corporate evolution wherein our strategy to build three distinct but complimentary service lines -- Digital, Business Consulting and Technology -- allows us to pursue untapped market opportunities." The launch of this new brand identity is aimed at further strengthening the ambition and commitment towards the top-tier clients which Synechron has served over the years.

About Synechron Synechron, one of the fastest-growing digital, business consulting & technology services providers for the financial services industry is a $350-million firm based in New York. Since inception in 2001, Synechron has been on a steep growth trajectory. With 5,000+ professionals operating in 16 countries across the world, it has presence across US, Australia, Canada, UK, Japan, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Singapore, UAE, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Italy, France, and Development Centers in India. For more details, visit us at http://www.synechron.com SOURCE Synechron

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Brice Stewart filed the suit on Sept. 11. In it, he says he was removed from the sheriffs office in retaliation for announcing his plan to run for sheriff in 2016.





"I made it very clear that I was going to run because basically I'm tired of it. I'm tired of it happening to me. I don't want it to happen to anyone in the future, Stewart said.





In July, he was removed from his job at the sheriffs office in Lee's Summit and told he would be working in downtown Kansas City. Stewart says the move would force him to pay additional taxes, extend his drive time and cause him to be late to his part-time job. Stewart said, "I have a family and I'm trying to support them and it would just be a financial hardship on me to have to go downtown." He says this is not the first time he has been targeted by county officials.

######

THE VERY FEW VOTERS WHO KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE UNDERSTAND MANY RECENT FAILINGS WHICH COULD CONVINCE VOTERS TO FIND ANOTHER OPTION FOR LEADERSHIP!!!

The political turmoil which has surrounded Jackson County might soon play a factor in an important upcoming election as recent scandal plaguing the Sheriff's office has now met with challenger.Brice Stewart ran for Exec last time around, now he hasBackground on Brice Stewart . . .Deets:Now, Mr. Stewart doesn't have any significant funding or any endorsements. . .Sure, it's unlikely that an outsider candidate will convince the last remaining voters to change their habits but the fact is that there's a Democratic candidate alternative to the status quo.You decide . . .
Another look at talking points for the upcoming election . . . GOP candidates blast handling of Mizzou, Ferguson protests
CITY HALL REFUSES TO LISTEN TO ANY OTHER ALTERNATIVE THAN THE SINGLE-TERMINAL OPTION . . . CRAWFORD ARCHITECTS CAN'T EVEN SCHEDULE A PRESENTATION TO EXPLAIN THEIR PLAN TO RENOVATE THE AIRPORT!!!

Sadly, the Aviation Department and most of Kansas City's elite have already decided on a single-terminal plan for a new airport and the only real work that remains is convincing the voting public who has already had a negative reaction toward the project and worked to put the plan public vote despite the best efforts of City Hall.But here's another way that the local ruling class are rigging this important civic decision . . .Here's how bad it is . . .A council committee led by a member of Team SlyVery much like a, this local biz was rejected without so much as a meeting.Again,Even better, after the, Crawford Architects offered aNot so long ago, Mayor Sly James said he wanted to foster an "adult" conversation on the airport that was mostly an excuse for a rigged series of boring public meetings wherein a great many political cronies did whatever they were told . . .Now, the City Hall effort is beyond the point of even pretending to listen to the public. What's disappointing is thatbut some council-members and the mayor's office are more inclined to write a blank check for the new terminal sight unseen.Local small biz dismissed without consideration is just another sign that the current Administration has their minds made up and now refuses to listen to any other option than the single-terminal that's a sketchy project according to most residents in Kansas City
Germany's finance minister called for a European solution to the migrant crisis on Saturday, amid fresh criticism at home over repeated unsuccessful attempts to share the burden of the problem across the region

In a veiled reference to the division among EU countries, Schaeuble told the G20 meeting in Shanghai that Greece had not been shown "excessive" solidarity.

Germany's finance minister called for a European solution to the migrant crisis on Saturday, amid fresh criticism at home over repeated unsuccessful attempts to share the burden of the problem across the region.

Wolfgang Schaeuble was addressing the "exceptionally difficult situation" facing Greece, where a bottleneck of migrants has built up, adding to the country's problems as it tackles its precarious financial situation.

But Schaeuble faces not only dissent in Europe but also deep divisions within Germany as to how to deal with the problem.

Politicians from the German state of Bavaria, which borders with Austria, criticised Berlin's policy and called for the introduction of similar limits to Austria.

Daily limit

"There is no reason to criticise Austria for taking only 80 refugees per day," Bavaria's interior minister Joachim Herrmann told newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeinen Sonntagszeitung.

"Quite the opposite, Germany should introduce a daily limit based on an cap of 200,000 refugees each year."

Austria, the last stop on the way to Germany for hundreds of thousands of migrants, recently imposed restrictions on its borders, setting it off a domino effect limiting the flow of people and leaving hundreds stranded in Greece.

Reflecting on Greece's difficulties, Schaeuble said: "That is why we are fighting with others in the European Commission so that we can we can master this European task."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing the biggest test of her decade in office as she struggles to secure a Europe-wide plan for dealing with the flood of migrants. Many want Germany to close its borders instead.

Source: Reuters

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
The German Chancellor intends to increase the pressure on its European partners so that they show more solidarity towards Greece and at the same time produce more tangible results in the upcoming Refugees Summit on March 7

Berlin examines easing of austerity for Greece to offset refugee pressure, Deutsche Welle reports

According to the "German Journalist Network" (Redaktions Netzwerk Deutschland) Chancellor Angela Merkel examines changing her management strategy due to the irresistible pressure exerted by the refugee crisis, both on Greece and Germany.

Greece can therefore look forward to enhanced European solidarity, for example, during the upcoming Eurogroup deliberations as long as it steps up its efforts to secure EU's external borders.

On her part, the German Chancellor intends to increase the pressure on its European partners so that they show more solidarity towards Greece and at the same time produce more tangible results in the upcoming Refugees Summit on March 7.

Schaeuble: No imminent risk of bankruptcy

In this spirit, after the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central banks in Shanghai, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble stated that despite the "extremely difficult situation" Greece "faces no imminent risk of bankruptcy."

"I know the financing needs of Greece," said Mr. Schaeuble adding that Greece should focus on respecting the agreements reached in the European support program while being under pressure because of the refugee crisis.

"This does not make things easier", the German minister admitted clarifying that, "Greece has received great solidarity from Germany but smaller from other EU member countries. For this reason we struggle, primarily through the European Commission to make ends meet with this European challenge. This is naturally in the best interests of Greece."

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
UAEs investments in Kazakhstan have crossed Dh2 billion ($545 million), said Kairat Lama Sharif, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to the Emirates, adding that trade exchange recorded $135 million by the end of 2015.



Lama Sharif unveiled that Kazakhstan is willing to extend the validity of the UAE visitors stay to 30 days, instead of the regular 15-day permit. This is in addition to the fact that UAE nationals are exempted from visa to Kazakhstan since July 2014.



This was revealed on the sidelines of a delegation visit headed by Lama Sharif to Dawood Al Shezawi, founder and president of Annual Investment Meeting (AIM), one of the worlds leading Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) - focused platform.



AIM Higher Organising Committee, in collaboration with the Embassy of Kazakhstan to the UAE, presented to around 70 of Kazakhstani businessmen and investors details about 14 additional investment activities to be added during the recent sixth edition of AIM, running from April 11 to 13 at Dubai World Trade Centre.



Lama Sharif assured their eagerness to facilitate Kazakhstani delegations to attend AIM annually, pointing out that the Kazakhstani participation in AIM will be of broader scale. Lama Sharif revealed that the city of Almaty, the largest city and financial centre in Kazakhstan, is seeking to establish bilateral relations with Dubai Municipality to help businessmen in Kazakhstan to activate economic relations with Emirati investors.



Lama Sharif said Kazakhstan sees great importance in UAE presence in Expo Astana 2017, which will be held in the capital Astana from June 10 to September 10, 2017.



The expo's official theme Future Energy will be on focus, so we see the UAE as an essential participant in this event, in the sense that the country will be hosting the World Expo 2020. The UAE is home to the Irena  the International Renewable Energy Agency regional headquarters, and has prominent projects in this domain. In addition, Astana city will host the Astana Expo-2017 in conjunction with the opening of the Abu Dhabi Plaza, a development that is expected to be the tallest building in Central Asia, added Lama Sharif.



Al Shezawi called for larger Kazakhstani presence in the forthcoming global event. He stressed on the importance of Kazakhstan to participate in AIM this year by doing a Country Presentation, pointing out that Kazakhstan has recorded strong presence over the past years and provided many promising investment opportunities in the FDI sector.



We look forward to further collaboration, and share the same vision in building diversified, sustainable and knowledge-based economies, he added.



More than 15,000 attendees from over 140 countries will take part in the 6th edition of AIM. According to Al Shezawi, participating in AIM will enhance opportunities for investors and companies from Kazakhstan to strengthen their presence in the UAE, the region and the world, and will enable Kazakh companies to establish new partnerships and expand its business in global markets through Dubai.



He added that AIM is the first event of its kind in the Middle East region in terms of presenting wide number of investment opportunities in a single platform. It plays a dominant role in promoting investment in emerging markets and fast-growing economies. He pointed out that the AIM works to stimulate FDIs across the world markets, contribute to strengthening the countries' economies, and establish partnerships in various sectors and fields.



The event also witnessed participation of a delegation from the city of Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, seeking to establish bilateral relations with the UAE in sectors such as energy, oil, real estate, infrastructure, telecommunications, transportation and logistics.



The Business Matching, which was also attended by businessmen from the UAE, saw series of presentations related to AIM 2016. Various aspects and investment opportunities in both countries were highlighted.  TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Arabia's central bank plans to launch an "affordable mortgage" programme to finance residential real estate purchases by Saudi citizens, it said in a statement on Sunday.



The central bank said it had completed coordination with the ministries of housing and finance to develop the scheme. It did not specify when the programme would start or give details of its size or eligibility requirements.



Under the scheme, home buyers would be responsible for an advance payment of 15 percent of the property's value. Commercial banks would supply a further 70 percent, as well as an additional 15 percent that would be guaranteed by the Ministry of Finance.



Saudi authorities have taken steps to boost home ownership in recent months, including the central bank's decision in December to license a national home finance company, Bidaya.



A shortage of affordable housing has been a common social and economic grievance among the burgeoning population of young Saudis. - Reuters
The $2.5-billion Bahrain Bay development in Manama is drawing increased investor interest following the completion of key aspects of the project, a forum heard.

The past year has been one of growth and expansion, with over 86 percent of plots sold, the infrastructure complete and projects of third party developers nearing completion, officials said at the Bahrain Bay Business Forum.

The development stands well positioned as it offers enormous opportunities to investors as it consolidates Bahrains status as a hub for business and investment opportunities in the region, the forum heard.

The forum, a well-attended investor event, which brought together partners, associates and dignitaries involved with Bahrain Bay, a luxury waterfront development, was held at the Four Seasons Hotel on Thursday (January 25).

A joint venture between Arcapita and a Bahrain-based investment group, the Bahrain Bay development has attracted some of the best-known international brands to Bahrain. Many of the third party developers from Bahrain, the GCC and India were present for the forum.

The forum began with an address from Bahrain Bay chairman and Arcapita CEO Atif Abdulmalik, followed by a presentation from Bahrain Bay CEO Gagan Suri. Speakers also included several prominent partners and associates, amongst whom were Mohamed Al Mutaweh, CEO and board member of Al Baraka Islamic Bank; Faisal Bin Faqeeh, chairman of Bin Faqeeh Real Estate Investment Group; Nayan Shah, the CEO and managing director of Mayfair Group; and Greg Pirkle, general Manager of Four Seasons Hotel. Sharing their insights also were Jarmo Kotilaine, chief economist, market strategy and intelligence at the EDB, and Xavier Theillere, regional director of Bahrain Bay Utilities.

The forum provided a platform that strengthened high value networks and gave Bahrain Bay an opportunity to communicate its vision and update the guests on the progress of the development.

Abdulmalik said: Bahrain Bay revolves around creating a metropolis for 21st century living that will meet the needs of residents, businesses and visitors from all over the world. Despite the uncertain geopolitical climate and volatile economic climate, the positive activity at Bahrain Bay has set an encouraging momentum which is promising as we focus on achieving our vision, our future of becoming a true legacy for the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The forum was also viewed as an excellent opportunity to showcase Bahrain, and to highlight its business friendly economy.

Suri added: We have been very successful in presenting a dynamic investment environment through the premium properties and the excellent facilities of Bahrain Bay. We are proud of the fact that Bahrain Bay has remained stable through the economic challenges of the last decade. We have a network of strong and trusted partners and investors with whom we have a unified vision. This forum will help in setting up crucial partnerships and provide information and support to potential international investors in the kingdom.  TradeArabia News Service
Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC) will join hands with Qatar Petroleum (QP) to set up a solar power company with a capacity of 1,000 megawatt, a report said.



The joint venture between the companies will have an initial capital of about QR1.82 billion ($500 million), added the Peninsula Qatar report.



The company has cleared legal hurdles and has been approved by authorities, said a senior official of QEWC, Qatars main producer of utilities services.



Managing director of QEWC Fahad Hamad Al Mohanadi said that the project has been decided based on the fact that producing solar power is cheaper than buying gas from international market.



He added that they carried out a detailed study that proved the economic viability of the project, and will soon begin the process of establishing the company.



Following the establishment of the company by a partnership between QEWC (60 per cent) and QP (40 per cent), international firms will be invited to compete for 40 per cent stake in a way followed by QEWC for its past projects, added the report.
As Hollywood gears up for the grand 88th Academy Awards ceremony tonight, the Kingdom of Jordan has once again played a key role providing the backdrop for three key Oscar contenders in two categories.



Jordan, the famed Middle Eastern monarchy located on the east bank of the Jordan River, boasts a diversity of locations and a strong production infrastructure that have lured top film and television productions for decades.



Oscar has often honoured classic movies shot in Jordan with its top awards, including giving prizes to "Lawrence of Arabia," "Indiana Jones and the Lost Crusade," "The Hurt Locker" and "Zero Dark Thirty," sais a statement from The Royal Film Commission - Jordan.



At this year's glittery ceremony, "The Martian" contends for Best Picture and in six other categories, after director Ridley Scott chose Jordan's Unesco World Heritage site of Wadi Rum as a stand in for the red planet, it stated.



Best Foreign Film contender "Theeb" (Jordan's own nominated entry), director Naji Abu Nowar's Bafta award-winning coming-of-age story set amidst World War I was also shot in Wadi Rum, creating a completely different representation of that spectacular sandstone valley.



And "A War," Denmark's Best Foreign Film nominee, used other striking locations in Jordan to tell its more modern story of conflict, as it follows Danish soldiers fighting during the recent war in Afghanistan, it stated.



There are good reasons that filmmakers as well as television crews from around the world often choose Jordan - a veritable modern promised land of opportunity -- as the place to work their creative magic, said

a top official.



"The Royal Film Commission - Jordan provides both local and international productions with comprehensive services, ranging from scouting and suggesting spectacular locations (both wildly natural and sophisticatedly urban ones) to offering a modern infrastructure, skilled crews, financial benefits, tax incentives (including exemptions of the 16-per cent sales tax, customs duties and the withholding tax on foreign crews), no- or low-cost permitting fees and an always secure environment in this country that is universally acknowledged as the safest county in both the Middle East and the entire Arab world," explained George David, its managing director.



And all these advantages are found in a place where English is widely spoken, the weather is generally moderate and unique, unspoiled ancient historical and multi-religious sites offer a breathtaking choice of visual possibilities, he stated.



Is it any wonder that the world's best filmmakers, including Ridley Scott (who shot both "The Martian" and "Prometheus" here) and Kathryn Bigelow (who made two Oscar-winning movies, "The Hurt Locker" and "Zero Dark Thirty," in Jordan), have returned time after time to make films in this welcoming country?, he added.



In fact, Jordan's Royal Film Commission goes far and beyond just being welcoming to both foreign and domestic projects; the organization is dedicated to consistently helping top-notch productions create unforgettable stories and images while keeping costs well in check, observed David.



It's a continuing success story that has led to the country being nicknamed the "Hollywood of the Middle East," with "X-Men: Apocalypse" (slated for release worldwide in May 2016) as the next American blockbuster that used Jordan as a backdrop for the action, he added.-TradeArabia News Service
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani earned a vote of confidence and reformist partners secured surprise gains in parliament in early results from elections that could accelerate the Islamic Republic's emergence from years of isolation.



While gains by moderates and reformists in Friday's polls were most evident in the capital, Tehran, the sheer scale of the advances there suggests a legislature more friendly to the pragmatist Rouhani has emerged as a distinct possibility.



A loosening of control by the anti-Western hardliners who currently dominate the 290-seat parliament could strengthen his hand to open Iran further to foreign trade and investment following last year's breakthrough nuclear deal.



"The people showed their power once again and gave more credibility and strength to their elected government," Rouhani said, adding he would work with anyone who won election to build a future for the industrialised, oil-exporting country.



The polls were seen by analysts as a potential turning point for Iran, where nearly 60 per cent of its 80 million population is under 30 and eager to engage with the world following the lifting of most sanctions.



Millions crowded polling stations on Friday to vote for parliament and the Assembly of Experts, which selects the country's highest authority, the supreme leader. Both bodies have been in the hands of hardliners for years.



Supporters of Rouhani, who promoted the nuclear deal, were pitted against hardliners close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who are wary of detente with Western countries.



ACUMEN



Rouhani and key ally and former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani were leading the race for the Assembly of Experts with most votes counted, and appeared to be sure of winning seats, early results released on Saturday showed.



Until now, the contest for this seat of clerical power was an unremarkable event, but not this time. Because of Khamenei's health and age, 76, the new assembly members who serve eight-year terms are likely to choose his successor. The next leader could well be among those elected this week.



Rafsanjani is among the founders of the Islamic Republic and was its president from 1989-1997. Nearly always at the centre of Iran's intricate webs of power, the arch-fixer is famous for his pragmatism and political acumen.



Two prominent hardliners were on course to be elected with lesser scores in the experts assembly race: Ahmad Jannati was in 11th place and the assembly's current chairman, Mohammad Yazdi, was 15th. Arch-conservative Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi appeared unlikely to win a seat, according to partial results.



The results were initially announced as final in an official statement. A later statement said the results were partial and a final tally would be announced in due course.



INFLUENCE



A Reuters tally, based on official results published so far, suggested the pro-Rouhani camp and allied independents were leading in the parliamentary vote. Some moderate conservatives, including current speaker Ali Larijani, support Rouhani.



A breakdown of the results had independents on 44, reformists on 79, and hardliners on 106, the tally showed. A number of seats will be decided in run-offs in late April because no candidate won the required 25 per cent of votes cast. Eight of the initial winners were women.



Analyst say the large number of independents may be significant as they could cooperate across ideological lines with Rouhani's government.



Whatever the outcome, Iran's political system places much power in the hands of the conservative Islamic establishment including the Guardian Council, which vets all laws passed by parliament.  Reuters
Guns mostly fell silent in Syria and Russian air raids stopped on Saturday, the first day of a cessation of hostilities that the United Nations has described as the best hope for peace in five years of civil war.



Under the US-Russian accord accepted by President Bashar al-Assad's government and many of his foes, fighting should cease so aid can reach civilians and talks can open to end a war that has killed more than 250,000 people and made 11 million homeless.



Russia, which says it intends to continue strikes against areas held by Islamist fighters that are not covered by the truce, said it would suspend all flights over Syria for the first day to ensure no wrong targets were hit by mistake.



The truce seemed largely to be holding, though rebels reported what they described as occasional government violations, and one commander warned that unchecked, the breaches could lead to the agreement's collapse.



Jaish al-Nasr, a group affiliated to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) which has backed the truce, said government forces had fired mortars, rockets and machine guns in Hama province and that warplanes had been constantly present in the sky.



"Compared to the previous days it is nothing, but we consider that they broke the truce," Mohamed Rasheed, head of the group's media office, told Reuters.



Another FSA-affiliated group, Alwiyat Seif al Sham, said two of its fighters had been killed and four more wounded when government tanks shelled them in rural areas west of Damascus.



A Syrian military source denied the army was violating the truce agreement. State media described rocket attacks near Damascus and several deadly attacks by Islamic State. But overall the level of violence was far reduced.



"Let's pray that this works because frankly this is the best opportunity we can imagine the Syrian people has had for the last five years in order to see something better and hopefully something related to peace," U.N. Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said at a midnight news conference in Geneva.



"I think that the feeling that we have today is that the situation is very different but of course every day has to be monitored," he said.



The agreement is the first of its kind to be attempted in four years and, if it holds, would be the most successful truce of the war so far.



De Mistura said he intends to restart peace talks on March 7, provided the halt in fighting largely holds.



But there are weak spots in a fragile deal which has not been directly signed by the Syrian warring parties and is less binding than a formal ceasefire.



Importantly, it does not cover powerful jihadist groups such as Islamic State and the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's branch in Syria. Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb in Hama province. Nusra has called for redoubled attacks.



Moscow and Damascus say they will continue to fight them, and other rebels say they fear this stance may be used to justify attacks against them too.



"THERE IS CALM"



A rebel fighter said government forces briefly fired artillery at a village in Aleppo province, which he said was under the control of the Levant Front, another FSA group. But he said the frontline was quieter than before.



"There is calm. Yesterday at this time there were fierce battles. It is certainly strange, but the people are almost certain that the regime will breach the truce on the grounds of hitting Nusra. There is the sound of helicopters from the early morning," he told Reuters earlier on Saturday.



Fighting raged across much of western Syria right up until the cessation came into effect but there was calm in many parts of the country shortly after midnight, the Observatory said.



"In Damascus and its countryside ... for the first time in years, calm prevails," Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said. "In Latakia, calm, and at the Hmeimim air base there is no plane activity," he said, referring to the Latakia base where Russia's warplanes operate.



After years in which any action by the United Nations Security Council was blocked by Moscow, Russia's intervention has opened a path for multilateral diplomacy while undermining the long-standing Western demand that Assad leave power.



The Security Council unanimously demanded late on Friday that all parties to the conflict comply with terms of the plan.



U.N.-backed peace talks, the first in two years and the first to include delegations from Damascus and the rebels, collapsed earlier this month before they began, with the rebels saying they could not negotiate while they were being bombed.



The government, backed by Russian air strikes, has dramatically advanced in recent weeks, moving close to encircling Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the war, and threatening to seal the Turkish border that has served as the main lifeline for rebel-held areas.  Reuters
India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Saudi Arabia from April 2 as part of a three-nation trip that begins on March 30.



He will first visit Belgium for India-EU Summit and then travel to Washington for the Nuclear Security Summit from March 31 before his two-day bilateral visit to Saudi Arabia, said an Indian Express report.



In Saudi Arabia, he will hold talks with the Saudi leadership on key regional and bilateral issues, including trade and energy.



His visit, which comes nearly six years after last Indian Prime Ministerial visit to Riyadh, assumes significance given the current regional situation and strained ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, another strategically important country for India, said the report.



Apart from being Indias largest supplier of crude oil, accounting for almost one fifth of its need, it is also Indias fourth largest trading partner. Saudi Arabia also has the largest Indian diaspora.
Qatar's Nebras Power has agreed to acquire a 35.5 per cent stake held by French utility giant Engie in Indonesia's largest independent power producer PT Paiton Energy, Qatar News Agency has reported.

With a 2 gigawatt (GW) capacity, PT Paiton is the largest independent power producer in Indonesia, the report said.



Engie currently has a 40.5 per cent stake, with the remainder held by Japan's Mitsui, Tokyo Electric Power, and Indonesia's PT Batu Hitam, according to Engie's website.



Nebras's acquisition would offer the Qatari firm access to the Indonesian energy market, the report said.



Nebras Power is an infrastructure investment firm, 60 per cent owned by Qatar Electricity and Water Company, with the remainder split between Qatar Petroleum and Qatar Holding.  Reuters
Ooredoo Oman has signed an exclusive one-year distribution deal with China-based Xiaomi, the third largest smartphone maker in the world.



Under the terms of the agreement, Ooredoo will be the first mobile provider in the country to offer Xiaomi handsets.



Starting from March 10 Ooredoo customers will be able to purchase four of Xiaomis best-selling and flagship products including the Redmi 2E, Redmi 2 Note, Mi 4i, and Mi 4i Note Pro. The devices will range from RO50 ($130) to RO200 in price.



Johan Buse, chief commercial officer at Ooredoo, said: At Ooredoo, we aim to bring the latest devices to our customers and with Xiaomi, we have found a partner that puts the latest technology at their fingertips at fantastic value for money. With handsets designed to be feature-rich and affordable, Xiaomi has proven to be more than capable of standing alongside iPhone and Samsung devices as a market-leading lifestyle brand.



Ooredoo will be introducing the new devices in multiple phases, with the Xiaomi hero devices expected to be launched in Q1 of 2016. The exclusive handsets will be available for purchase from any of Ooredoos 40 stores across the Sultanate.  TradeArabia News Service
The Saudi Aramco Travel Fair is off to a great start with more than 50 hospitality exhibitors supporting Aramco travel needs in the region including HMH - Hospitality Management Holdings, which is promoting the group's key properties at the event.

Starting from today (February 28) until March 3, the popular show is being held at Saudi Aramco's worldwide headquarters in Dhahran.

Laurent A. Voivenel, CEO of HMH - Hospitality Management Holdings, said: "We are delighted to participate in the Saudi Aramco Travel Fair that offers us an excellent opportunity to showcase our products to the company's employees and their families. Saudi Arabia is one of our top feeder markets and events such as these allow us to further tap into the market while consolidating our current position. Being an alcohol-free chain of hotels we are the ideal choice for Saudi travellers especially families looking for a safe environment. With the Spring Break round the corner it is the perfect time for us to introduce our special offers tailored to meet the requirements of this special segment.

On show at the Saudi Aramco Travel Fair will be Coral Dubai Deira Hotel, Coral Al Khobar Hotel, Coral Jubail Hotel, Coral Al Ahsa Hotel, Corp Amman Hotel and Coral Beirut Al Hamra Hotel. Saudi Aramco is the state-owned oil company of Saudi Arabia and the world's top exporter of crude oil and natural gas liquids having the world's largest proven crude oil reserves and daily oil production.  TradeArabia News Service
Shanghai, February 28

The New Development Bank set up by BRICS countries aims to lend up to $2 billion this year starting in about two months and the multilateral lenders first loan to India could be for a green solar energy project, its president K.V. Kamath said.

For this year, if we can approve one-and-a-half to two billion dollars I will be happy. We are six months into setting up the bank. We do not want to take steps which are too fast, Kamath said.

While the bank is in the process of finalising its set of loans to green projects from each of the BRICS countriesBrazil, Russia, India, China and South AfricaIndias first loan could be for a solar project, the eminent banker hinted.

The projects we are looking at are all green projects.

They are primarily in solar. A variety of initiatives were placed before us by the government, he said.

Kamath, 68, said the bank is also looking for water projects and thereafter road projects to fund. The bank will release the first set of loans by April this year.

These are primary steps for us. We will understand what is the larger context that is playing out in India and follow that strategy. We have no pre-set mind, he said.

About how NDB can back the Make in India campaign, he said our key role is of a catalyst. Multilateral bank can not meet the entire development effort. It is how you innovate and add value and bring together markets and other players in the baking in system make a difference, Kamath said.

We will work with the country and what they think is priority, he said, adding that the signals suggest that the members states are articulating green projects.

We are happy to work along on green (projects), he said.

The NDB became fully-operational yesterday after it signed an agreement with China to place its headquarters in Shanghai, according the bank a legal status under Chinese regulations.

Established with an initial subscribed capital of USD 50 billion, the NDB has a total paid-in capital of USD 10 billion. Its founding members have already brought-in a capital of USD 1 billion as initial contribution.

Reserver Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan, who witnessed the signing of the headquarters agreement, termed the bank a worthwhile venture by the five-member bloc.

It is a co-operative effort between all the BRICS countries. Let us see how it develops. Lots of hopes embedded in it for greater cooperation among BRICS countries, he said.

Rajan was in Shanghai to attend the meeting of G20 finance ministers and central bank governors.

India, expected to grow at 7 or 7.5 per cent this year, is the only BRICS member that posted a better economic growth than other members, including China.  PTI
Maj Gen Ashok Mehta (Retd)

Nepalese Prime Minister KP Sharma Olis self-congratulatory declaration during his visit to New Delhi last week was that his main mission was to remove misunderstandings (presumably over the Constitution).

No misunderstanding exists he asserted at the end of the visit. For India though the glass is still half empty. The two major as issues of citizenship and demarcation of boundaries are to be settled over the next three months by a political commission chaired by Foreign Minister Kamal Thapa. Despite initial grandstanding, Oli opted to visit India (before going to China). Though high on optics, the visit produced no substantive new agreements. These must await settlement of residual constitutional issues. More than 50 persons, mostly Madhesis, lost their lives during the five-month long trade and transit blockade that severely hurt the people and resulted in a rampant black market. This misunderstanding is by far the most serious bilateral incident in recent memory, causing an unprecedented anti-India sentiment, some stoked, but mostly spontaneous.

As Oli blinked first, one Nepali columnist called it a victory for India. Clearly it was a failure of diplomacy. Constitutional inequities for Madhesis were resolvable through negotiations. There was no need for any of the defiance and trading of harsh words at the UN Human Rights Council at Geneva. Nepal invoking its strategic autonomy was a legitimate reaction to Indias belated and heavy-handed intervention on behalf of the Madhesis in full public glare.

Both sides made mistakes: Kathmandu bulldozed the constitution ignoring Madhesi concerns. It even withdrew the rights granted to them in the interim constitution. New Delhi indelicately demanded the historical wrongs against the Madhesis be corrected. Given the open border, the unrest was inimical to Indias security interests. Nepals geostrategic location perched between two Asian giants makes it a natural avenue from the north to the strategic heartland of the Indo-Gangetic Plains.

Unlike in 1989/90, this blockade evoked a strong sense of nationalism and independence among Nepalis especially in the Kathmandu valley. India was blamed for the shortages in cooking gas, fuels and other consumer goods. People were assured by the government that alternative sources of supply would be found, notably from China, which proved to be a big disappointment. Barring a few days of petroleum products supply, little else came from the North. The usual China card could not be played as the Khasa trading route has been out of commission since the earthquake.

The Indian establishment feels that its intervention, though late, was justified. It had a clear aim: empowering Madhesis at an affordable cost. We are on the right side of history, the anti-India feeling will dissipate and people will soon forget about it feels one policy maker. This is the crucial X factor. How badly damaged are India-Nepal relations and how deeply scarred are Nepali sentiments towards India?

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj reminded the Nepali delegation accompanying Oli of Prime Minister Narendra Modis hearts-and-minds capturing speech in their Parliament in August 2014. She said that no Indian Prime Minister had visited Nepal for 17 years till Mr Modi and added that she was instrumental in reviving the Joint Ministerial Commission after 23 years. Applying balm to the troubled upshot of the blockade, without mentioning it, she pointed out that India does not take a Big Brother attitude but one of an Elder Brother.

Swaraj seemed to have realised that the stand-off was fetching diminishing returns. Kamal Thapas three visits to New Delhi did not see any concrete steps for meeting the two major Madeshi demands.Only after Oli expressed a sense of urgency to visit India was he coaxed into getting the House to pass amendments by a two thirds majority. The passage of the amendments was the open sesame to lifting the blockade and his red carpet welcome in India. This was reinforced by the appointment of a political commission under Thapa to address residual constitutional issues especially demarcation of boundaries.

A visit that did not attract much attention was that of Nepal Army Chief, Gen Rajendra Chhetri. He arrived two weeks before his Prime Minister even as the blockade was in place and constitutional amendments still in the pipeline. Indian Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh and Gen Chhetri, besides being friends, are honorary Generals in each others armies, a tradition that took root four decades ago and is the bedrock of special relations between the two armies though Kathmandu views the use of this term as politically incorrect. The two Army Chiefs played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in fast-tracking the constitutional amendments and lifting the blockade.

As the families of 40,000 Gorkha soldiers and more than 1 lakh ex-servicemen in Nepal were also affected, early lifting of the blockade was necessary. During the economic blockade in 1989-90 (officially the Trade and Transit Treaty had lapsed and not renewed except for keeping open two transit points) then Army Chief, Gen VN Sharma informed Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of his concern for families of Gorkha soldiers. Similar concerns were expressed in 1986 during the Gorkhaland movement in the Darjeeling hills.

Nepal was afflicted by a decade-long civil war followed by a decade of political instability culminating in a terrible earthquake which triggered the resolve to complete the constitution but without the necessary consensus. A stagnating economy plummeted due to the madness of the blockade. Though India will be in a wait and watch mode till the Thapa Commission submits its report, it must facilitate Nepals economic development and prosperity. New actors and scenarios are emerging on the political landscape. These require New Delhi to jolt itself out of old mindsets. Rebuilding trust and friendship between the two states and people is vital for Indias Neighbourhood First policy. And Nepal is certainly among the first.

The writer was commissioned in Gorkha Rifles and was the GOC, Indian Peace Keeping Force, Sri Lanka.
Tribune News Service

Rohtak, February 27

Newly appointed Rohtak Range Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sanjay Kumar has admitted lapses on the part of the police during the Jat agitation for reservation.

He, however, denied lack of coordination among the district administration, police, Army and paramilitary forces.

Kumar told the media here today investigations were on and legal action would be taken against police officers found involved in the incidents of violence or guilty of negligence or dereliction of duty. The police are making efforts to check the recurrence of such happenings.

In all, 347 FIRs have been registered in connection with the incidents of arson, loot and violence, and nearly 70 persons have been arrested, the IGP said.

A commission, he said, had been constituted to probe into incidents of violence, and immediate action would be taken against erring officers.

The IGP said a notice had been served on former Chief Minister Bhupinder Hoodas political adviser Virender and Capt Man Singh Dalal to join the investigation. The investigation is progress to get to the bottom of alleged rapes in Murthal. Reports from Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) are expected in two or three days, he said.

Kumar added a manpower audit within the Police Department had been initiated and personnel involved in non-policing activities would be shifted to action and officials posted at a particular place for long would be transferred.

To a query, Rohtak Superintendent of Police (SP) Shashank Anand, present at the press meet, conceded a police station and certain police posts were damaged during the agitation, and some police weapons and wireless sets were reported missing or looted by protesters.

Police lodge FIRs against hundreds of agitators

Yamunanagar: After one week of the Jat agitation, the district police lodged five FIRs against hundreds of agitators at the Radaur, Chhachhrauli, Bilaspur and Jagadhri police stations last night.

Punjabi mahasabha seeks govts dismissal

Chandigarh: The Rashtriya Punjabi Mahasabha today submitted a memorandum to the Governor demanding dismissal of the state government for its failure to protect life and property during the Jat agitation. Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Ashok Mehta and Surinder Juneja, president and secretary of the mahasabha, respectively, alleged the Punjabi community was specially targeted by the arsonists. TNS

Warm send-off to Army in Kaithal

Kaithal: The Army unit (in pic, right) led by Col Amit Awasthi (CO) which had been in Kaithal district since February 20 following the breakout of violence during the Jat quota stir , was given a warm send-off on Friday. Slogans like "Bharat Mata ki Jai" were raised outside the local PWD rest house as Colonel Awasthi and his troops departed. Col Awasthi said the Army had succeeded in its mission of instilling a sense of security among people. TNS

DLSA to provide free legal aid to victims

Bhiwani: The District Legal Service Authority (DLSA) has announced to provide free legal aid to persons who suffered any damage or harm in the arson, loot and vandalism during the Jat reservation stir in the district in getting compensation or any legal assistance for it. CJM-cum-secretary, DLSA, Swati Sehgal said it had been reported that establishments were looted, torched and women were molested by frenzied mobs across the state. TNS

Confiscate arsonists properties: Residents

Sirsa: Members of various communities on Saturday took out a peace march, opposed compensation of Rs 10 lakh and a job to the next of kin of arsonists killed in police firing and demanded immediate compensation to those whose properties have been burnt in the Jat agitation. Residents demanded immediate arrest of arsonists and confiscation of their movable and immovable properties for recovering the loss caused by them. TNS

Police give wrong number of officer

Chandigarh: A resident of Indore has been receiving telephone calls since yesterday after the Haryana Police listed his number for receiving information concerning the alleged Murthal rapes. When the number given on Friday by Haryana Police DGP YP Singhal as that of DIG Rajshree Singh, who's heading the three-member women police officer's team, was dialed, it turned out that it belonged to an Indore resident. The person retorted that it was not DIG's number and he was being called repeatedly since Friday. "I have lodged a complaint with the local police," the resident said. TNS
Samaan Lateef

Tribune News Service

Srinagar February 28

The Chenab Valley Power Projects (CVPP) is yet to award any of the three proposed projects for construction despite spending over Rs 60 crore on salaries and other office expenditures in the past five years.

The CVPP even cancelled the tenders last week, invited in 2011 for the construction of the 1000 MW Pakal Dul hydroelectric power project on Marusadar, a tributary of the Chenab in Kishtwar district.

A CVPP official said in the past five years, the company had spent over Rs 60 crore on office expenditures while there was no progress on execution of the power projects - the main objective for which the CVPP was established on June 13, 2011.

A Mumbai-based Patel Engineering Limited (PEL) in consortium with Limak Holding of Turkey and state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited had emerged as the lowest bidder for the Pakal Dul in February 2015.

The Patel Engineering-led consortium had quoted the lowest price of Rs 8,904 crore in the bidding process in which four companies had participated.

However, sources said the Chenab Valley Power Projects had communicated to the PEL that its tender had been cancelled for quoting prices in excess of Rs 400 crore.

The request for proposal for the project was floated in 2011 and has taken nearly three years for the CVPP to close in on the top bidders for the Pakal Dul, he said.

Officials blamed the management of the CVPP for the delay in execution of the power projects.

The construction cost has doubled in the past five years and they cannot expect the PEL to work on the rates of 2011, he said.

The Pakal Dul was to be completed in 66 months, officials said. It may take more time now, he said.

The idea behind establishing the CVPP has been sabotaged and it has become a money-minting place, he alleged.

The Chenab Valley Power Projects was floated as a joint venture of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, J&K State Power Development Corporation and the Power Trading Corporation of India Limited for execution of three hydroelectric projects, Pakal Dul, Kiru and Kwar, with an aggregate capacity of 2220 MW at the Chenab basin in Kishtwar.

Of the total power generated from the projects, the state share will be 62 per cent.

Officials said the Chenab Valley Power Projects was mandated to execute the projects on build, own, operate and maintain basis.

The state government has exempted the Pakal Dul from work contract tax, entry tax and waived free power and water user charges for 10 years from the completion of the project.

Official said the Pakal Dul would help reduce the power shortage in the northern region and partly utilise storage provisions of the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan.

CVPP chairman Mohammad Yousuf Khan attributed the delay in execution of the power projects to the failure of the previous PDP-BJP government in appointing the director for the Chenab Valley Power Projects in the past one year.

The file to appoint the director for the CVPP had gone to former Power Minister Nirmal Singh. He didnt take any decision, Khan said.

However, after the Governors rule was imposed in the state, the issue was taken up with Governor NN Vohra.

Khan said Vohra appointed the Power Secretary as the director of the CVPP. Fresh tenders will be issued in the next three weeks. We expect the cost to come down by at least 10 per cent for the Pakal Dul from the new bidder, he said.
Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 27

I wish to see my wife Jassis killers punished. I want to ask her mother, who ordered the killing, if love is such a heinous crime that one has to pay for it with ones life. These words of Sukhwinder Singh alias Mithu comes to ones mind, with a Canadian court today setting aside the extradition order of Jassis mother and maternal uncle, both accused of planning Jassis murder.

The British Columbia Appeal Court rejected the extradition on grounds that they may not receive a fair trial in India. In its judgment released yesterday, the court said in the light of India's human rights record, it was not reasonable to accept India's assurances over the future health and safety of the accused. It said the jails in Punjab were unhealthy.

Canada-born Jassi was killed for marrying against the wishes of her family in June 2000. She was 25.

The Punjab Police and the state's Jail Department have expressed shock at the grounds of the rejection. Swaran Singh, then ASI who investigated the case, said he was surprised at the judgment. We have an open and shut case against Jassis mother Malkit Kaur Sidhu and her maternal uncle Surjit Singh Badesha.They ordered the killing as Sukhwinder Singh was from a weaker community, socially and economically, he said.

RK Meena, Additional DGP, Jails, said 119 foreigners were lodged in Indian jails, including three from Canada. "Canadian officers have visited Punjab jails several times.They have never complained of abuse or unhealthy conditions. Neither have the Canadian citizens lodged in the jails complained of inhuman conditions," he said.

Sukhwinder Singh could not be contacted for comment. Reports in the Canadian media said the court had observed that the accused were in their mid-sixties and may face violence during police interrogation.

Judge Ian Donald was quoted as saying, In my view, there is a valid basis for concern that the applicants will be subjected to violence, torture and/or neglect if surrendered. He said Canada's Law Minister had accepted assurances from India that the health and safety of the accused would be protected, "but the applicants cant be sent to India until assurances that are meaningful and likely to be effective.

He said while Jassis mother had been admitted to hospital twice during the extradition proceedings, Badesha suffered from age-related illnesses. Jassi and Sukhwinder, who fell in love in 1994, married secretly in 1999. They were attacked by four men. Sukhwinder was beaten up and his ring finger severed. Jassi was killed.

As many as 119 foreigners are lodged in Indian jails, including three from Canada. Canadian officers have visited Punjab jails several times.They have never complained of abuse or unhealthy conditions. Neither have the Canadian citizens lodged in the jails complained of inhuman conditions. - RK Meena, Additional DGP, jails
New Delhi, February 28

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Saudi Arabia as part of his three-nation trip from March 30 during which he will also visit Washington to attend Nuclear Security Summit, where his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif is also scheduled to be present.

Starting his visit with Belgium on March 30 for India-EU Summit, Modi will travel to Washington for NSS from March 31 before his two-day bilateral visit from April 2 to Saudi Arabia, one of the most powerful Arab countries, where he will hold talks with the Saudi leadership on key regional and bilateral issues, including trade and energy.

His visit, which comes nearly six years after last Prime Ministerial visit to Riyadh, assumes significance given the current regional situation and strained ties between SA and Iran, another strategically important country for India.

Apart from being India's largest supplier of crude oil, accounting for almost one fifth of its need, it is also India's fourth largest trading partner. Saudi Arabia has the largest Indian diaspora.

The Prime Minister's visit to SA will be preceded by a trip to Washington for NSS, which will be attended by leaders from nearly 50 countries, including Pakistan's Sharif.

While officials are tight-lipped about a possible interaction between Modi and Sharif on the sidelines of the event, experts feel that given both the leaders have held impromptu meetings in the recent past -- be it in Paris or Lahore -- it will be difficult for them to avoid each other completely.

This would be the first time after Modi's unannounced and brief visit to Lahore on December 25 that the two leaders will be at the same place.

Since then, the Pathankot terror attack has happened which has delayed the Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary-level talks, scheduled to take place in early January after the two countries announced resumption of comprehensive talks during External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj's visit to Islamabad in December last.

In Belgium, the Prime Minister will be attending the India-EU Summit after a gap of four years. The last Summit had taken place in 2012.

India-EU ties witnessed some strain after the 28-member bloc had not responded to India's proposal for a brief visit by Modi to Brussels, the EU headquarters, during his trip to France, Germany and Canada in April last year. This had prompted New Delhi to give a cold shoulder to the EU's efforts to finalise Modi's visit last November when he travelled to the UK.

Efforts were also on to work out issues and announce resumption of stalled India-EU free trade talks during Modi's visit.

Top officials of India and the EU met last week in Brussels to review the stalled negotiations with an aim to assessing where both sides stand and how they could go forward with the proposed pact, officially dubbed as Bilateral Trade and Investment agreement. The last round of trade talks happened in May 2013.

In August 2015, India deferred the talks on the FTA after the EU imposed ban on 700 products, clinically tested by GVK Biosciences.  PTI
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 27

More witnesses have mustered the courage to speak about the horror on NH-1 near Murthal in the wee hours of February 22 with four of them telling the media that they had seen women, their clothes torn, being dragged out of their vehicles and taken to nearby fields by armed goons.

Police personnel have now been deployed at the Ghannaur-Murthal stretch where the women were allegedly raped. Chief Minister ML Khattar told mediapersons today that he was considering setting up a special team comprising women officer to look into the allegations.

Meanwhile, the three-member team headed by DIG Rajshree today visited the "crime site". One of the members said they had been receiving obnoxious calls after their phone numbers were made public yesterday.

An eyewitness said not had he seen women being molested, but infants being roughed up too. They said the goons, some riding motorcycles, chased and attacked the terrified women as they cried out for help. But there was no policeman to rescue them. "Calls on 100 went unattended, he alleged. Truck driver Yadvendra, a resident of Fatehgarh Sahib, said,

I was stranded near Apollo School on NH-1 on February 22. I saw youths smashing windowpanes and setting vehicles ablaze. He said he was robbed of his bag containing Rs 6,500. As I ran towards the fields to save myself, I saw several goons molesting women, he said.

Trick driver Niranjan of Pathankot, who was also stranded near Apollo School, said: I saw hooligans torching vehicles. Some youths asked stranded women to escape to nearby villages. This was a trap. I did not see women being raped, but their shrieks said it all.

Sukhwinder Singh, whose vehicle was torched, said: It was near Pipli Khera village (near Ghannaur) that women were molested and their children dragged away.

Satbir Satti of Adampur, who was on his way to Delhi on February 22, said he saw two women (he later learnt they were NRIs) running helter and skelter without slippers and dupattas as a mob chased them. Satti, whose Ertiga car was set ablaze, said: While one woman was from Calgary, the other was from Edmonton. I heard people saying they had seen hooligans dragging women to nearby fields.

Satti's neighbours said he had narrated the horrific incident to them on his return from Delhi on February 25. "My aunt, whom I was to drop at the airport, is yet to come to terms with what she saw that day. She too had to hide herself in a dhaba," he said.

(Inputs by Parveen Arora, BS Malik and Deepkamal Kaur)
Thane, February 28

In a macabre incident, a 35-year-old man allegedly killed 14 of his family members, including his parents, wife and children among whom were two infants, by slitting their throats after sedating them and then committed suicide early today, police said.

Seven children, the youngest being his three month-old daughter, six women and the father of the accused, lay dead in a pool of blood.

The body of the man, Hasnen Anwar Warekar, was found hanging with a knife in his hand at his family's ground plus one-storey house in the Kasarvadawali area here, they said, adding that one of the family members, who survived the gruesome incident, has been admitted to hospital.

Thane's Joint Commissioner of Police Ashutosh Dhumbre said Hasnen had called his three sisters and their children from Koparkhairne in Navi Mumbai and Mahapoli near Bhiwandi for a 'get-together', which he used to host frequently.

Hasnen, a commerce graduate who used to prepare Income Tax-related documents with a CA firm in Navi Mumbai, is suspected to have offered them drinks laced with sedatives following which he slit their throats.

According to police, Hasnen offered prayers at around 3 am at a mosque near his house. After returning home, he slit the throats of his family members one-by-one and then committed suicide by hanging himself

At around 5-5.30 am, the lone survivor of the incident, Hasnel's 22-year-old sister, Subiya Sojef Burmal, shouted for help from the window of the house, following which the neighbours gathered there and broke-open the window grill and pulled out the injured woman and admitted her to hospital.

They also alerted the police.

"Hasnen slit the upper part of this sister's throat, she survived the attack and screamed for help. The survivor's in-laws, who were in the neighbouring house, heard her cries and tried opening the door, but it was locked from inside. The in-laws broke open the grill of a window on the ground floor and entered the house. It was then that the police were alerted of the incident," Dhumbre said.

The 14 bodies with throats slit were found lying at the ground and first floor and blood was seen everywhere in the house owned by the accuseds family where they had been living for the last 10 years, police said.

Besides, Hasnen's body was found hanging from the ceiling with a knife dangling in his right hand, they said.

Dhumbre said the Hasnen's mobile phone and laptop have been seized to get clues regarding the murders.

"Prima facie evidence suggests that the accused bolted all the doors of the house and murdered his family while they were asleep with a knife. The accused hung himself after killing his family. There were three rooms in the house, while he was in a room with his wife and two daughters on the first floor, his parents and sisters were in separate rooms on the ground floor," Dhumbre said.

While property dispute was suspected to be the reason behind the murders, the police officer said at this stage the motive could not be stated with certainty. He said blood samples, viscera and food samples collected from the house will be sent for forensic testing.

The bodies, meanwhile, have been sent for post-mortem to Thane Civil Hospital, police said.

In a related development, a news channel cameraman covering the incident at Civil Hospital, where the bodies were taken, collapsed and died of heart attack, doctors said.

The deceased have been identified as - Zabin Hasnen Warekar (28, wife of Hasnen), Mushadshera Hasnen Warekar (06), Umera Hasnen Warekar (3 months) (both his daughters), Anwar Warekar (55 - father), Azgadi Anwar Warekar (50 - mother), Rabina Shaukat Khan (35), Batul Anwar Warekar (30), Maria Irfan Fakki (28) (all three sisters).

The deceased also include children of the three sisters - Anas Shaukat Khan (12), Sabiya Shaukat Khan (16), Ali Hasan Shaukat Khan (05), Umer Irfan Fakki (7), Yusuf Irfan Fakki (4) and Asriya Sojef Burmal (5 months), they said.

The top brass of district police, including Thane Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh, visited the spot.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone-1), Thane, Sachin Patil told reporters that offences under Sections 302 and 309 of the IPC were registered with Kasarvadawali police in connection with the incident.

Police said that statement of the lone survivor, who is being treated at hospital for a wound in her neck, would be recorded when she is a proper state of mind and health.

Thane District Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde visited the Civil Hospital to take stock of the situation.

Thane Civil Surgeon Dr BC Kempi Patil carried out post-mortem of bodies and some were also sent to the civic-run Chhatrapati Shivaji Hospital to speed up the autopsy process.

A close relative of the deceased, Liyakat Dhole, said the family was well-respected and the accused's father was a trustee of a durgah. He also said the family had a huge property including a company, which was later sold-off.

Hasnen's close friend Jamir Patel, who had studied with him, said, "I did not expect him to do such a grave act. Something is wrong somewhere. I cannot digest that he has done such an act."

Police also said they were trying to ascertain claims by Hasnen's neighbours that he had made an unsuccessful attempt to poison to death his family members some years back.

One of the relatives said the family members were soon planning to go to Ajmer on a pilgrimage.

Some neighbours also claimed that he was well-versed with the procedure of 'kurbani' (religious ritual of sacrificing an animal), and that is why he meticulously slit the throats of family members.

Meanwhile, news channel cameraman Ratan Bhowmik, who was covering the incident at the Civil Hospital, collapsed all off a sudden and died of heart stroke, doctors at the hospital said.  PTI
New Delhi, February 28

The Syrian civil war is a disease and groups like ISIS are its symptoms, according to Iranian-American political scientist Majid Rafizadeh, who says the best option to tackle it is UN sending a coalition of forces under its R2P law to take control of Syria and stop the bloodshed.

He argues that the underlying reason behind the emergence of ISIS and other radical groups is the Syrian conflict and prior foreign intervention which tipped the balance of power in the region.

Without tackling the disease, the symptoms will not be alleviated. Currently, it seems too late to act. But the best option is to deploy the UN law of R2P, The Responsibility to Protect, in which the UN will send a coalition of forces to take control of Syria and stop the bloodshed, the Harvard University scholar, who has recently come out with a book titled, A God Who Hates Women, told PTI.

He says unfortunately the gap between Russia and US in the UN Security Council is too deep to bridge although a cease-fire brokered by these two countries brought relative calm to parts of Syria for the first time in years yesterday.

According to Rafizadeh, there are four concentric circles of tensions which are happening simultaneously in case of the Syrian or other Middle Eastern conflicts.

The first is domestic tension, where thousands of rebels groups are fighting each other and the government. Neither side is surrendering anytime soon. The second one is the regional cold war between Iran, Hezbollah, other Shiite groups on one side supporting Assad, and Arab countries in the Gulf supporting the opposition, on the other side.

The third is the international stalemate between US, Western countries on the one hand, and Russia and China on the other hand. The fourth which make the Syrian conflict unique is the emergence of global armed groups, global Jihadist groups, such the Islamic States. All these circles are interacting with each other in Syria.

A God Who Hates Women, published by Fingerprint, is a real-life account based on the life of Rafizadehs mother, Amira and provides a valuable insight into the kinds of oppression that women face in war-torn countries.

Once he came to the US, many journalists, politicians, scholars and people whom he met encouraged him to write a book about his life story once they got to know him.

In addition, my experience in life and my academic background (the courses I took several years ago in my PhD or masters programs, about human rights and feminism) led me in this direction, he says.

Rafizadeh is originally from the Islamic Republic of Iran and Syria, recently moved to the US and became a US citizen.

He is also a policy analyst, public speaker, best-selling author, business advisor and leading expert and commentator on US foreign policy and Middle East.

The title of his book illustrates the intersection between religion, male-dominated societies, and womens rights.

I have been asked about the word God. The word God refers to the religion of Islam, its legal codes regarding women, and Muslim men who use this God to justify their violence against women. In the book, I explain that how words of God in Quran clearly provide the platform (powerful platform with specific legal code) for men to subjugate and dehumanise women, he says.

Asked how his childhood experiences shaped his future in politics and human rights advocacy, he says, seeing how people were being abused and harassed on a daily basis shaped how he looks at the world. Also, growing up in both the Persian and Arab world gave him a unique perspective about the social, political and cultural landscapes of both Arab and Persian, Sunni and Shia, and Muslim and non-Muslims communities.

As you know, there are some deep-rooted tensions between Arabs and Persian. A marriage between an Arab and Persian is very rare. So, I think I was lucky enough to have an Iranian and Syrian parents and grew up in both societies and saw the differences first hand, he says.

On problems he faced being an Iranian-Syrian, he says the first thing that comes to his mind is being subject to constant racism with the level of racism in Iran much higher than that of Arabs.

The second thing was racism in Europe before I came to the US and became a US citizen. Before becoming naturalised, I was not allowed to get on the plane, by mostly German officers (as well as sometimes security forces from Arab countries), although I had a valid visa and I was travelling to speak at or work for some of the most significant and largest institutions in the world such as the UN, ICRC, and the Diplomatic Academic of Vienna.

I would get back home humiliated and had to get another ticket or had to have my visa reissued if it had expired, he recalls.

Also being an Iranian-Syrian made it much harder to go through the process of naturalisation in the US, he says, adding another problem was that he was not fully accepted by the society in Iran, because he was half Arab and in Arab countries because he was half Iranian.

He also says that torture employed by authoritarian political structures has united the people although there is almost no freedom of speech, press, assembly, and civil liberties, but nevertheless, people have found ways to connect with each other.

On the key differences between life in Syria and Iran, he says Iranians are more reserved in saying what is exactly in their mind compared with Syrians or Arabs in general.

Secondly, as an American ambassador to Iran told me, and I found this to be very accurate, is that Iranians hardly trust each other. They are more likely to trust the Westerners than their fellow Iranians. This is in contrast to Jewish communities, for example, where they extend a helping hand to others.

Iranians are more organised, educated, and calculating than Syrians. They have plans for other 30 years for their lives and children. They are very ambitious and competitive. Also Iranians always talk about politics and criticise the government but in Syria, no one dared to even say the name of the President, he says, adding I was once detained and arrested for just pointing to the picture of the President in the street.

Rafizadeh feels that based on the platform that they have, writers can have the power of shaping the opinion of hundreds, thousands and millions of people.

They can eitherraise awareness, tell the truth and mobilise people to take action for social justice, or they can unfortunately take people to the wrong direction if they have an agenda. But, truth will always prevail, he says.

Rafizadehs next book, which he has just finished, is his life story, a memoir, which focuses on his life transformation rather than his mothers.

In this book I illustrate my religious transformation in the Middle East; how I left and denounced the religion of Islam and became an infidel according to Islam and devout Muslims. It is called The Renegade: a memoir of struggle, enlightenment and hope.

He is also writing a book about the Syrian conflict and a novel about Irans nuclear program and the third world war- the nuclear war.  PTI
Toronto, February 27

A Canadian court has stopped the extradition of a woman and her brother to India to face trial for the honour killing of her daughter over concerns that they may not get justice in the country.

Malkit Sidhu and her brother Surjit Badesha, accused in the slaying of Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, have been granted a judicial review by the British Columbia Appeal Court of the extradition order on grounds that they may not receive a fair trial in India, CBC news reported.

In its judgment released yesterday, the court said that, in the light of India's human rights record, it was not reasonable to accept India's assurances over the future health and safety of the accused.

Canadian-born Jaswinder Sidhu was found dead, her throat slit, in Punjab in 2000. She was 25.

Her mother Malkit, 65, and uncle Surjit, 70, were arrested in 2012, suspected of a so-called "honour killing".

They are accused of killing Jaswinder after she married Mithu Sidhu, a rickshaw driver she had met in India a few years earlier.

Her family did not approve of the match.

Jaswinder and her husband were attacked as they rode a scooter in a village near Sangrur, Punjab, in June 2000. Her husband was severely beaten and left for dead while she was kidnapped and later killed. Her body was left in a canal.

Investigations in India confirmed that the murder was an honour killing plotted by Jaswinder's mother Malkit and her uncle Surjit while the duo were in Canada.

Former justice minister Peter MacKay ordered their surrender to face charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, conditional on assurances from India that they would not face the death penalty, that their health and safety would be protected in custody, and they would get consular access.

In January 2015, MacKay wrote to the accused's counsel, saying he had received assurances from India, and that he considered them satisfactory.

That decision was then appealed.  PTI
Neeraj Bagga & Gurbaxpuri

Tribune News Service

Amritsar/Tarn Taran, Feb 27

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal today visited the Majha region on the third day of his state tour. He faced protests by Akali workers and members of some organisations at several places.

A section of the residents of Maqboolpura under the banner of Vishaw Valmiki Kaumi Ekta Dharam Samaj supported by the ruling parties staged a protest near Kejriwal's rally venue.

Earlier in the morning, the city residents woke up to anti-AAP posters put up on main roads in the holy city. These posters alleged that Kejriwal failed to deliver promises made to the people of Delhi.

Unfazed by such incidents, the Delhi CM continued to highlight two biggest ills afflicting the state  drug addiction and farm crisis.

He addressed gatherings at several places and openly accused Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majitha of being hand in glove with the drug mafia, besides holding "lopsided" policies of the state responsible for the agrarian crisis.

He interacted with several families affected by drug menace and farmer suicides in Amritsar and Tarn Taran. After listening to at least 20 families of Maqboolpura area in the holy city, he waged a scathing attack on the ruling SAD-BJP coalition for rampant drug addiction in the state. He alleged that the politician-police nexus was patronising drug dealers.

He said AAP workers had been assigned the work to accumulate information on the extent of drug menace in the state. He said if voted to power, they would put all drug traders and their patrons behind bars. Besides, a policy would be formulated to wean away youth from the clutches of drugs and rehabilitate them, he said.

Kejriwal asked Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal to give priority to resolve the grievances of people otherwise it would be tough for the SAD-BJP leaders to save their security deposit in the 2017 Assembly elections.

He lambasted the Akali-BJP government for cribbing over the lack of assistance from the Centre saying even the Delhi government did not enjoy Centre's support, but it had no dearth of funds for development works.

Before arriving in the holy city, Kejriwal visited Tarn Taran district. Despite protests, he addressed people and interacted with families of farmers who lost their earning members to debt.

He addressed party workers at Patti town, Harike, Pahuwind and Sursingh villages and interacted with the farmer families.

The Delhi CM faced an unpleasant moment at Harike village when a farmer in whose field the party had installed its stage dismantled the pandal, prompting Kejriwal to address the party workers from the road.

At historic Pahuwind village, SAD workers shouted slogans against him. The Delhi CM alleged all protests were organised at the behest of ruling SAD-BJP government.

Kot-ise-Khan: Local Akali Dal workers showed black flags to Kejriwal at Kot-ise-Khan town in Moga district today.

The workers shouted slogans, asking Kejriwal to go back. Ashwani Kumar Pintu, president of Kot-ise-Khan nagar panchayat, led the protest. Pintu is a confidant of Agriculture Minister Jathedar Tota Singh.

Pintu alleged Kejriwal was trying to disturb the hard-earned peace in the state. He said Kejriwal should not visit Punjab, when he is unable to resolve the problems of Delhi residents.
Preeti Verma Lal

Azulejo. To say this Portuguese word, youll have to twist your tongue and keep j silent. It is not so simple, though. The Spanish pronounce it ah-soo-le-haw, the Portuguese, ah-zoo-le-zhoo. Do not blame the word. For it borrows from three languages (Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic). The word origin is a mish-mash, not this art of painting on ceramic tiles which originated in the 15th century Portugal and travelled to India when the Portuguese settled in Goa.

So, azulejos are painted ceramic tiles? No. These are hand-painted. These incredibly beautiful tiles are created over hours  clay and water mixed into a dough, spread on a tray, cut to size, dried and fired in a kiln. It is, then, glazed with powdered glass.

When the tile is ready, drawings are transferred from a tracing paper by sprinkling the perforations with powdered charcoal. Or, drawn straight on the tile and painted. The paint used in azulejos is made of glass powder and oxides and does not fade with time. Dinnerware paint is different; the oxide colours of azulejos are toxic. Poisonous, actually. The tile with finished painting is fired again at 1,050 C to fuse the glaze, definitively setting the painting. It is, then, soaked in water. And lo! The arty azulejos are ready.

In India, these tiles are made only in Goa. Interestingly, during the Portuguese reign, there were no Goan azulejos artists. These were imported from Portugal. The Portuguese came with the azulejos; the Portuguese went back with azulejos. Their departure almost killed the art  and market  of hand-painted tiles in India.

Then, the art returned to Goa. With Orlando de Noronha, a man with a five-year degree in commercial art from Goa Art College. Orlando went to Lisbon (Portugal) to hone his guitar skills and returned home after two years with a bagful of azulejos. That excess baggage was to change Orlandos fate and with him, the fate of Goan azulejos. In the beginning, he was hesitant about azulejos as his mainstay but one opportunity led to another and gradually Goa woke up to the forgotten art. In his studio in Panjim, the walls are cluttered with azulejos with Mario Mirandas famous cartoons. Orlando has been doing Mirandas drawings on tiles for nearly a decade which have found takers across the world.

Mirandas caricatures sure are the favourite azulejo design but these are not the only one. The common motifs include Goan fisherwoman, toddy tappers, ferries, boats, kunbi dance, bhatkar, churches, taverns, rural life, among others.

Azulejos, which were almost forgotten, are now everywhere in Goa. Artists have embraced the art and buyers/patrons are loosening their purse-strings. Walk around Goa and azulejos almost seem like a part of the Goan landscape. In railways stations and shops. In homes and hotels. As murals and nameplates. As wall decor and sidewalks. As style and as statement. Each azulejo tells a story. A Goan story.
Tribune Team

Caught in the maelstrom of complete lawlessness, a localized incident on Feb 19 in Bhiwani, Haryana, gives you an idea of the mindlessness: A college girl walking to her home in the evening was prevented by stick-wielding youths. She called up her friends and there was a minor clash. The girl escaped in the melee. Later, everyone said the girl was a Rajput. A few hours later men from 'OBC Brigade' arrived and tried to disperse the warring sides and asked the Jat agitators to lift the road blockade. What happened next was unprecedented: it was Jat vs Rajput, OBCs and others with Punjabis getting caught in the crossfire. District policemen, sources said, were deployed elsewhere, so none came. Soon, it was nothing short of a full-scale caste war.

The situation in Rohtak, the parliamentary constituency of Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda, was explosive: Several residents said they themselves worked the phones to the Prime Minister's Office, but the officials "concerned" expressed their inability to do anything. As violent mobs went on the rampage, no help was forthcoming. Recalls VK Juneja, owner of Silver Bells School on the Gohana Road: "On February 19, my school watchman called up saying a mob was about to set the school building afire. I immediately called up the local police and fire-station officials, but they plainly expressed their helplessness. The school building was ransacked and burnt."

Then on Feb 22, almost a day after the Army was deployed in parts of Hisar, despite curfew, an armed mob arrived in tractor trailers and motorcycles and looted houses located in the fields of Dhani Pal village. At least 20 houses were ransacked and burnt down. Policemen and an Army column failed to control the mob. Harphool, whose house was torched, said the rioters took away jewelry and cash. "The security forces were thinly spread out in the fields. We kept shouting for help, but no one came." A day later, the body of a youth, Mintu, was found when security forces conducted a flag march.

Off the record, top government sources said something akin to 'politics of silence' prevailed in the government, paralyzing law-enforcement. "For the Punjabi community in Sonepat, Rohtak, Gohana and Karnal, the violence resembled the Partition horror. "It will take years before inter-caste trust is restored," said a government officer in Panipat.

What could have been a controllable rural upsurge soon mushroomed into a caste conflagration: 30 people were killed (official count), hundreds injured, women assaulted, and property worth thousands of crores perished across the state. Worse, the inter-caste bond was allowed to be damaged.

In the run-up to the reservation agitation, even when khaps and other Jat leaders were bitterly complaining against government "betrayal" and warning of an aggressive agitation, the state machinery, it'd seem, was at best sleeping, or worst, pretending to be talking.

Here's a surgical analysis of worst affected districts and the response, or the lack of it, from the authorities, especially the police.

Administration gives in

Rohtak, Feb 20: A curfew was imposed on February 19 and the Army was called out. Jat protesters had dug up roads blocking access to the city. Army troops were airdropped to the Rohtak Police Lines. The troops carried 'Army' banners as they marched along with BSF and state police personnel. Yet the violence didn't stop. This was the seventh day since NH 10 passing through Sampla was blocked.. When residents met Deputy Commissioner DK Behera a day before, his officials had told them quietly: "Don't depend on sarkari help, you are on your own." Says Sanjay Khurana, a community leader based at Patel Nagar: "After the district authorities expressed their helplessness, we formed groups of armed youths to keep a watch round the clock." He says hordes of violent youths tried to enter their locality several times, but were met with equally belligerent response. Several shots were fired in the air to scare away the mob and keep us safe," he said.

The mayhem was in addition to the fear among thousands of people stranded on roads in and around Rohtak. Armed youth continued to vandalize public property as well as showrooms, shops, hotels and restaurants.

"The people's trust in the state machinery could have been saved to some extent had the police personnel and administrative officials stepped in. It was free-for-all," said Lovely Mittal, a local resident. So bad was the situation that the police posts were abandoned and police stations locked by the very personnel. The result was all too clear: total anarchy in Rohtak and nearby Kalanaur and Meham.

"Shockingly, for four-five days neither any MLA, nor did any community leader bother to approach the agitators for calm," said a resident, Dinesh Kumar.

Several prominent businessmen and industrialists are now weighing moving their operations/units to some other state.

The educated and well-meaning members of the Jat community regret the large-scale devastation but intelligentsia sees it from a different perspective. "Economic frustration resulting from agrarian crisis has been vented out as caste frenzy. Law-enforcement agencies have failed the people," says Dr Ravi Mohan, a leading medical practitioner. Dr Rajender Sharma, a Professor of Political Science at Maharishi Dayanand University thinks that in a democratic set-up, the shift of power should be accepted by the established political elites, including the members of the dominant communities.

For Phool Kanwar, a former Air Force official, the cracks in communal harmony is the most unfortunate part. And for Vijay Balhara, Principal of Model School in Sector 4, destruction happened in minutes, but construction would take a long time. "The damaged buildings will get reconstructed, but the social fabric that has been destroyed will take a very long time to repair," says Sandhya, a schoolteacher.

Left to fend for themselves

Jhajjar: Locals blame the police inaction, saying policemen bothered more about the safety of their officers while common man was left to fend for himself. "No policeman was present in any of the police posts," said a resident. "The police have lost the faith of people," said Om Prakash, another resident. Over 15 houses at Chhawani Colony, 20 business establishments, new buildings of PWD rest house, BDPO, Red Cross and Excise offices, Railway Station, Police station, Bank of Patiala, Chhotu Ram Dharamshala and over 50 roadways buses, government vehicles, private cars and two wheelers were set on fire in a town that aspires to be an industrial hub of the state.

Most shops are still closed in all main markets. Residents in each colony take up thikri pehra (night patrolling) in self-defence in the absence of any worthwhile police help that suddenly vanished for four-five days since Feb 20.

"How can you blame the police alone when the Army was also deployed? Arson and violence took place in the presence of army personnel who were mute spectators in the absence of orders," said a police officer, claiming that the police did not receive any order to resort to firing to disperse the mobs.

Om Prakash Dhankar, a leader of Dhankar Khap, said "We want to financially help families who lost their loved ones. The violence is the direct result of government ignoring the Jat community even as BJP's Rajkumar Saini made inflammatory statements."

"The police were nowhere to be seen when people were being thrashed and killed by hooligans," said Ram Niwas Saini, a resident of Chhawani Colony where two men were killed and 20 others were injured when protesters attacked their houses. Said TV mechanic Anil Kumar whose shop was torched: "It was horrible. Let no suffer the way I have."

Warnings ignored

Hisar: Feb 21, just when violence seemed ebbing in other areas of the state, caste clashes broke out in parts of the district. Jats hailing from Sisay village clashed with Gurjars and Sainis in adjoining villages of Sainipura, Dhani Pal and Jaggabara in the Hansi region. Senior Superintendent of Police Ashwin Shenvi said it was a free-for-all. "The area is wide, where houses are thinly spread out. So, we didn't have a particular area to defend. Even then, we managed to prevent clashes," he said.

It all began from the district's Mayyar village, the centre of Jat agitation in 2010-13. This time again, the All India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS) announced it'd resume the stir with a sit-in on the railway tracks. On Feb 12, AIJASS boss Hawa Singh Sangwan, addressing around 1,000 of his supporters, seemed undecided about how to reignite the stir. A group of 10 persons went into a huddle near him and announced: March to the railway tracks. "The government didn't respond to our 3pm deadline. We had no option. Let the 'OBC Brigade' of Rajkumar Saini dare remove us from the tracks," the Jats sounded the battle cry. Yet things were in a flux.

Sangwan finally withdrew the stir after an assurance from state agriculture minister OP Dhankar on Feb 13. But a group of the Samiti was disappointed and refused to clear the blockade. The next day, this group too lifted the blockade. But some of them went to Sampla in Rohtak, the birthplace of legendary Jat leader Sir Chhotu Ram, where an indefinite dharna began.

Meanwhile, sensing the buildup in the Rohtak region, the Yashpal Malik group, too, started a dharna on the railway tracks between Mayyar and Ramyana village in the district from February 17. The agitation thus split between the moderates and extremists.

Loud & clear

Bhiwani: Om Prakash Mann, state president of All India Jat Mahasabha and a khap spokesperson makes it plain: the community is a victim in Bhiwani district. "The Jat Dharamsala was vandalized and torched. At least 10 private properties of community members, including one belonging to me, were attacked by Rajputs," he said.

The Rajputs guarding a community centre attacked during violent situation, have a different story to tell. One of them claiming to be an ex-sarpanch said that the Jat agitation was a facade in the garb of disturbing law and order situation to malign the image of a non-Jat Chief Minister. The Rajputs as well as other caste members blame the police for inaction.

Such is the caste divide that persons who are now coming forward to lodge complaints are questioning the caste of investigation officers or the SHOs concerned. A senior police officer admitted that there was a complete failure of the system in which even policemen had to run away. "Police posts at several places were burned down by goons who wanted to destroy their criminal records," said an officer.

Superintendent of Police Pratiksha Godara said the force could not dispatch reinforcements to rural areas as all the roads were blocked. "We had inputs that what happened in Rohtak on Feb 19 could be replicated in Bhiwani. So I and the Deputy Commissioner set up a control room to assess the situation," she said.

She said many individuals settled their personal scores taking advantage of the volatile situation. Deputy Commissioner Pankaj said they were told not to order firing until it was absolutely necessary, and that too, after permission from higher authorities. As the events unfolded, it'd seem no permission to open fire was sought.

'Heavily outnumbered'

Jind: Former additional director general of police, Haryana, BK Sinha says the police force in the present agitation largely remained confined to their safe offices as its movement was restricted by agitating mobs blockading the roads. How else would you explain the burning down of around seven railway stations and a police post? However, the question is when the mobs were chopping over 5,000 fully grown trees to use them as obstacles, what was the forest department or the police doing? Senior police officers said since villagers didn't allow policemen to move ahead, they had to take interior routes, which delayed the response, enabling mobs to loot and plunder.

The district forest office deploys only one guard at every 10km. Officers said they were helpless when they were heavily outnumbered by agitators.

Jind Deputy Commissioner Vinay Singh and Superintendent of Police , Abhishek Jorwal said ultimately it was people's support that brought some semblance of order.

Sunit Dhawan in Rohtak, Ravinder Saini in Jhajjar, Deepender Deswal in Hisar, Sat Singh in Bhiwani and N Kalia in Jind. Coordination & anchoring: Prashant Saxena
Islamabad, February 28

Pakistan and the US will tomorrow hold a ministerial-level strategic dialogue on key areas including economy, security and counterterrorism, amid strong opposition by India as well as US lawmakers on the proposed F-16 deal to Islamabad.

Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will lead the Pakistani delegation while Secretary of State John Kerry will lead the US side for the 6th round of the strategic dialogue to be held in Washington, Radio Pakistan reported today.

The six segments of the strategic dialogue include cooperation in economy and finance; energy; education, science and technology; law enforcement and counterterrorism; security, strategic stability and non-proliferation and defence.

It will be the third annual meeting since the present government has come to power. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs visit to the United States in October last year had given the necessary impetus to the dialogue mechanism, the report said.

The dialogue process began in 2010 but interrupted in 2011 when the US forces killed al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad in a midnight raid. The process resumed in 2014 when Aziz and Kerry met in Washington in January.

The key meeting will take place soon after the US announced to sell eight F-16 fighter jets worth $700 million to Pakistan, despite objection from India and mounting opposition from influential American lawmakers. Kerry has argued that these fighter jets are a critical part of Pakistans fight against terrorists.  PTI
Moscow, February 28

The death toll in Russias worst mining disaster in recent history climbed to 36 today as officials said 26 missing workers could not have survived and another six, most of them rescuers, had been killed in a new explosion.

Four miners were killed on Thursday when a methane explosion ripped through the Severnaya mine in Arctic Russia at a depth of 748 metres. According to the expert technical council, 26 (missing) people who were in the mine had no chances of surviving, Tatyana Bushkova, a spokeswoman for the mines operator Vorkutaugol, told AFP today.

The rescue operation has been halted, she added in an emailed statement. A fresh methane explosion at the mine in the small hours today killed five rescue workers and a miner, Anton Kovalishin, a spokesman for the emergencies ministry in the Komi region where the mine is located, told AFP.

The pit is located in the city of Vorkuta in the Komi region, which used to host one of the most feared Soviet-era Gulag labour camps. Vorkutaugol is operated by Severstal, the Russian steelmaker controlled by billionaire Alexey Mordashov.  AFP
Columbia, February 28

Hillary Clinton today crushed Bernie Sanders in the crucial Democratic primary in South Carolina, restoring her position as partys undisputed frontrunner as the race for the White House barrels toward key multi-state contests billed as the Super Tuesday showdown.

Clinton crushed Sanders by almost 50 percentage points, drawing huge support from the black voters who had abandoned her here eight years ago for Barack Obama. She won the support of nearly 9 in 10 of the minority African-American voters.

The victory is her strongest yet in the 2016 primary contest after she narrowly won the Iowa caucuses and was crushed by Sanders in the New Hampshire primary. She won the Nevada caucuses earlier this week by five percentage points.

Todays win gives Clinton, 68, a decisive advantage ahead of the Super Tuesday showdown, when the Democratic Partys primary would be held in 11 states.

Tomorrow, this campaign goes national. We are going to compete for every vote in every state, we are not taking anything and not taking anyone for granted, said the former secretary of state in a victory speech at a raucous rally.

With almost all counting done, Clinton bagged a massive 73.5 per cent votes as against just 26 per cent by Sanders.

Political pundits believe the massive support she received from black voters could carry over to other states next week including Alabama, Texas and Georgia. According to an MSNBC exit poll, Clinton won 87 per cent of the black votes.

She has assiduously cultivated black voters and campaigned alongside

black surrogates, and visited the African-American churches and the historically black colleges.

After the win, Clinton offered a vision for America based on love and kindness in stark contrast to the sometimes divisive campaign led by Republican frontrunner Donald Trump.

I know it sometimes seems a little odd for someone running for president these days and in this time to say we need more love and kindness in America, she said. But I am telling you from the bottom of my heart, we do. In a pointed dig at him, she said: Despite what you hear, we dont need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great. But we do need to make America whole again.

Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers. We need to show, by everything we do, that we really are in this together, Clinton said.  PTI

Trump blames India for stealing jobs
Trader Joes opened to a swarm of people Friday morning and those crowds persisted throughout the weekend, despite the fact that the specialty grocer cant sell one of its better known products.

The Two Buck Chuck bottle of wine.

You wont find any alcohol in the 9,000-square-foot store at 3702 S. Peoria Ave. because Oklahoma liquor laws forbid the sale of wine anywhere but a licensed package store or a winery. The other national brand about to arrive in Tulsa, Costco, is taking a different track when it opens April 21: a separate store on site for alcohol sales.

Oklahoma retailers and residents have long railed against what some describe as the states archaic liquor laws and theres been a lot of legislative noise in recent weeks about changing them. At least two petitions have been submitted to the Attorney Generals office and at least two bills are being considered in the legislature.

Two retailers with a heavy Tulsa presence  QuikTrip and Reasors  say they are supportive of legislation that would allow them to sell wine and strong beer.

Said QT spokesman and lobbyist Mike Thornbrugh: Its kind of ludicrous that we cant (sell wine and strong beer).

He noted how it restricts consumer access to products and it stymies the craft beer industrys growth.

Jeff Reasor of Reasors said modernization would grow the companys sales.

Sales would go up not only by the value of the beer and wine but would also go up incrementally on other items within the store that associate with beer and wine, he said. He gave steaks, seafood and cheese as examples.

Both Thornbrugh and Reasor said there were too many moving parts with current proposals to comment on any particular one.

Change is in the air

Local package store owners arent so sure about some aspects of modernization. Tina Parkhill is the owner of Parkhills Liquors and Wine South, 10018 S. Memorial Drive, which will be a stones throw away from Costco and its separate liquor store.

It will change the dynamic of our business, she said. Well probably lose sales.

She said her beer and wine sales would probably be hurt most and that would make her have to increase the prices on liquor, which would harm the consumer.

Parkhill added some of the proposed changes would harm her business and tilt the competitive playing field in the other direction. She doesnt have the purchasing power of the national or even local retail brands.

Clearly, I cant compete with a Wal-Mart, a Target, a Costco or a QuikTrip, she said.

There are dozens of liquor stores in Tulsa and hundreds statewide that are individually owned. Its illegal for a person to own more than one.

Bryan Kerr, head of the Retail Liquor Association of Oklahoma, the main lobbyist group for the package stores, said one proposal, Senate Joint Resolution 68, would overlay the Texas model onto Oklahoma, which would be disastrous for hundreds of small businesses.

Oklahoma, he said, has one liquor store for every 5,800 people compared to one store for every 11,000 people in Texas. Changing the law would bring Oklahomas ratio closer to its southern neighbor.

Closing that many stores would cost 1,500 people their jobs, he estimated, arguing that the large retailers wouldnt increase hiring or make any changes besides throwing up a couple of extra shelves.

His group submitted its own petition and version of modernization this week.

Parkhill said small businesses like her keep more money in Oklahoma than Wal-Mart, Costco or Target.

Im not against big business ... , she said. Im rooting for the locally owned business.

Change might be tough to stop.

Thornbrugh said the states large retailers are negotiating to find a solution that benefits everyone.

We would all prefer a legislative fix, he said. He added, however, that voters should get the chance to say yes or no at the end of the day.

He said the will of the public is for modernization.

This is one of the issues that every party affiliation favors modernization, Thornbrugh said. It doesnt matter where you reside. People are in favor of modernization.

He said the polling hes seen shows support in high 60s low 70s.

They havent even started campaigning yet, he said.

When you get all of us behind it, its gonna be tough to stop.
In an email to her staff last week, Tulsa Public Schools Superintendent Deborah Gist outlined several possible scenarios that could be implemented next year to deal with an estimated $7 million to $20 million shortfall in the districts budget.

Gist later said the email was intended to start a conversation about the possibilities and illustrate the magnitude of the cuts. Some scenarios, like cutting the school week to four days, were not being seriously considered, she said.

Below is more information on some of the areas Gist outlined in her email, and the actual impact of each scenario.

Central office: Gist said a 5 percent reduction in administrative staffing would yield a savings of about $820,000. A 15 percent reduction could net a savings of about $2.4 million.

In an interview with the Tulsa World, Gist said that there is a perception that simply cutting bureaucrats out of the central office will take care of budget difficulties.

But at TPS, administrative costs  at about $16.4 million  represent only 3.5 percent of the districts budget. That percentage is below what the state allows, Gist said.

Gist said the district is not top-heavy, and that administrative reductions that have already been made over the years are affecting customer service, as will the additional cuts.

The central office staff in the scenario Gist refers to in her email include those at the Education Service Center, as well as administrative staff at Wilson Teaching and Learning and the Enrollment Center.

Fine arts and athletics: The potential savings Gist identified from the possible reduction or elimination of fine arts and athletics programs for students represented only the people costs, said district spokesman Chris Payne.

Gist said $8.1 million could be saved in fine arts, and Payne said that represents the total pay for 174 full-time teachers of music, art and dance, at an average salary of $46,621. The possible savings Gist spoke of does not include the cost of supplies and materials.

As for the $2.3 million Gist said could be cut by eliminating athletics, Payne said, The reason it is so low is because most of the coaching staff are teachers in other subject areas who are paid a small stipend to coach. The $2.3 million includes coaching stipends and the annual cost of (District) Athletic Director Gil Clouds office. This figure does not include each coachs teacher pay.

Heath Miller, music teacher and band director at Memorial High School, serves as TPS district chairman of high school bands.

He said his first reaction to the news was to burst out laughing.

It just seems so ridiculous to me that this is something we are even talking about. I say that not just from a selfish concern for my job. To take something that is as important to developing a student as music is almost impossible for me to wrap my head around, Miller said.

On Thursday morning, Millers first-hour concert band students confronted him with questions and their own outrage about the TPS headline.

One of my students who is a senior said, The only reason Ive even stayed in school has been band. Im sure there are at least a dozen kids in every high school who would tell you the only reason they have stuck with it and worked hard in class is they have to be ready to go for that football game, that basketball game, that volleyball game, a band concert or cheerleading camp.

Miller said in all six years he has worked at TPS, every graduating senior who has auditioned for a college music scholarship has received one.

Im talking students who are at TU, OU, OSU, UCO, out of state at Texas Christian and North Texas  all of them are getting scholarships for music so they can afford to go to college. Why would we take away that opportunity? Miller said.

Increased class sizes: Though the superintendent said increasing class sizes would be a terrible option to consider, she explained that an increase of one to four students per class could provide a savings of $2.6 million to $9.6 million.

Class sizes can vary from school site to site and even quite widely within a single school, but teaching positions are allocated to each TPS site with set ratios. For the current academic year, those were one teacher for every 22-25 students at elementary schools, one for every 25-26 students at middle schools and junior highs and one for every 29 students at high schools.

Miller is equally dubious about the prospect of class size increases because he and the schools choir teacher already have music elective classes with 40-45 students apiece.

Its not even an interesting elective to be in, but theres 45 kids there in music appreciation because what else are they going to do? These arent classes high schoolers want to take  theyve already cut everything else. They dont have another choice.

In Merrie Wolfs geometry class at Memorial High School, she has 33 students. The kinds of increases Gist speaks about could mean shed end up with 37 students.

In a 55-minute class, I dont have the time to even say, Hi, how are you? and get to know my kids, she said.

She said with class sizes so large already, it is impossible to build relationships with kids, the relationships that are needed to help them both academically and emotionally.

School is not just about meeting students academic needs, its also about meeting the social and emotional needs of your students, she said.

The kids, theyre not cookie cutters, she added. You cant standardize a child  youre dealing with a human being.

Campus security: The superintendent said that arguably, the need for campus security has never been higher but that the elimination of the campus police and security services would save $3.5 million.

The district currently has 24 campus police officers and 27 security officers, with seven current vacancies.

Wolf said district officials are crazy if they think they can cut campus security and not have Columbine happen.

Payne said that comparing the last two years for which data are available shows that there has been a decrease in substance-related incidents, bullying incidents and fighting incidents at the secondary level, as well as a decrease in suspensions for these incidents.

We do believe that having a campus police department has contributed positively to the number of incidents coming down in our schools, and in helping to provide a safer learning environment for our students and staff, he said.

Transportation: Gist said TPS may have to consider reducing or eliminating transportation, noting that limiting transportation services to only special-education students, for whom transportation is required, would net the district about $8 million per year.

This cut would affect more than 7,000 students.

For most of our families, that would be a tremendous hardship, Gist said in her email. It could mean increased absenteeism of our students as well.
In a career spanning over 25 years Camilla Ah Kin has played more than her share of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean characters.

So much so that when the first got the call to audition as matriarch Mariam Habib on Nines Here Come the Habibs! she was ready to turn it down, sight unseen.

It had a similar effect on may as it did on nay-sayers before theyd seen an episode and started the petitions, she tells TV Tonight.

I kind of went Nah, probably not. But then I asked for scripts, which is always my first port of call. So I read the first 2 episodes, and also Jungle were co-producers and I was a big fan of The Moodys.

I hadnt read roles that required a Lebanese background like this one, ever. Ive turned down my fair share of stories that I feel like I have already told, with Middle Eastern backgrounds that start to become repetitive.

I was told Youre going to be doing the ethnic roles.

Ah Kin has performed with Bell Shakespeare, The Stables, Sydney Theatre Company and recently Holding the Man. Yet during her training at the WA Academy of Performing Arts, she was given stern advice.

When I graduated I was told Youre going to be doing the ethnic roles. I dont know whether that was a good or bad thing, but it did mean you become a specialist, she says.

Whole series have gone by me because of my ethnicity.

Or I would have to wait for refugee stories, but it does mean they end up being the broken ones, the sad ones, because thats where we are with that story.

But the Habibs was warm-hearted and funny and with enough politics to hold my interest. and it was in a commercial arena.

So it is a wonderful contrast.

The Nine comedy hasnt been without its share of controversy as well as politics. Before airing there were petitions calling for it to be abandoned. Now three episodes on, the show is already Nines brightest new star on the schedule.

The whole controversy about stereotypes ended up being a bit of a furphy. Once people came to it they said, Actually thats not whats happening at all. If anybody is having a joke made of them its the ONeills although thats not the case all of the time because we do it to ourselves as well, she notes.

A very reasonable amount of improvisation got in.

Laughing at yourself is, of course, an intrinsically Australian quality. Ah Kin says the Lebanese community is embracing the show with each passing week.

I got out of a cab and you kind of forget youre on national television. The driver said, Excuse me are you Mrs. Habib? and I said, Yeah I am! she recalls.

He said We love it, we love it!

A lot of the Lebanese community Ive spoken to are really excited about it, so I want to say the negativity has become a minority, really.

A Lebanese girl in the Actors Equity office said Youre exactly like my aunty! which is great. So I like that our family is like people that they know. The really old-fashioned telltale measure of any television show is when people are talking about around the photocopier or watercooler and they have been.

I had no idea the Lemonade song would take hold. It was something the boys did spontaneously in the shoot. That was encouraged, to play something out, and a very reasonable amount of improvisation got in.

I think its a ringtone you can buy now!

The danger is you get a camel by committee

Greenlighting a TV sitcom was also a bold bet by Nine, the first on a commercial network in decades. As Ah Kin explains, the marriage of a boutique production company, in Jungle, with a broad commercial network is a rarity. But it has struck an alchemy on screen that is making others take notice.

The danger is you get a camel by committee, as something that is not recognisable to any of the contributing parties. But I think this has landed somewhere really good, that serves all of those masters. A lot of that is due to the director, Darren Ashton, who has done an extraordinary job, she notes.

It might be the first comedy Nine has done without a laugh track she says without checking!

With three more episodes to run in the current season, Ah Kin is looking ahead and hoping Nines gamble has paid off enough to renew it for a second season.

Were all waiting with bated breath! she laughs.

You will probably know before me! Its entirely dependent on what the viewers do. But the writers are loaded with stories.

Were just at the beginning.

Here Come the Habibs! airs 8:30pm Tuesday on Nine.
The directors of buzz-worthy documentary Making a Murderer are considering more of the Steven Avery saga.

The 10-part Netflix series revolved around questions about the judicial process behind Steven Averys 2005 conviction for the murder of photographer Teresa Halbach, as well as the related convictions of his nephew Brendan Dassey.

Directors Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos have spoken to Averys new lawyer, Kathleen Zellner, about the prospect of filming and have continued to record their conversations with Avery.

From our perspective this story is obviously not over, Ricciardi said. Its real life and (Averys and Brendan Dasseys) cases are both still pending. We have no idea when the magistrate will make a decision in Brendans case. We do know that two potential outcomes are that the judge could order Brendans release or he could order a new trial. So we are on the edge of seats about that.

To the extent that there are significant developments, we would like to continue documenting this (case).

Both Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos will be in Australia for talks next month.

Source: Variety
Ian Thorpe will host a new 3 part documentary series for the ABC, The Bully Project, featuring kids aged 14-18.

The series, which partners with ReachOut Australia, is based on a Dutch format and will be filmed in Queensland where legislation permits using hidden cameras.

More than a quarter of school children in Australia claim to have been bullied on a regular basis, which is unacceptable. Im passionate about shining a light on this issue. If you live in Queensland, and you or your child is being bullied or know someone who is, we want to hear from you. Go to stopbullying.tv to find out more, he said.

I have some personal experience around the issue of bullying so I want to share my insights to help Australian kids.

ABC Director of Television Richard Finlayson said: The statistics are shocking. The ABC is committed to being the home of important national conversations and I expect The Bully Project and the ABCs season of programming will act as a catalyst for this issue. We are working closely with our production partners to ensure the highest duty of care to all participants, while lifting the lid on whats actually taking place among young people today.

ABC TV has teamed up with KEO Australia and Lune Media to tackle a significant problem for our young people. Based on a tested and successful Dutch format by SkyHigh TV, now in its second season, the series adopts the controversial but eye-opening approach of arming those being bullied with hidden cameras to capture their experience firsthand, which has resulted in positive outcomes for participants.

The production will film in Queensland this year, where surveillance device legislation permits a format of this nature. Detailed protocols outlining the high level duty of care and involvement of skilled practitioners have been agreed by the ABC and KEO ahead of undertaking the project to ensure the welfare of all participants.

Lune Media Managing Director Leonie Lowe said: We believe that The Bully Project will generate comment, debate and ultimately help effect a change in public attitude. It will bring to light an issue that is widely known about but rarely understood, while at all times protecting the rights and welfare of all those involved.
 Bertrand Escolin,  Bordeaux agglomeration, restructuration majeure pour la station depuration , Le Moniteur, no 5579, 29 octobre 2010, p. On peut notamment mentionner la communaute de Recife au Bresil (premiere communaute en Amerique latine), celle dAmsterdam, ou lon peut visiter la synagogue portugaise dAmsterdam, celle de Bordeaux (cimetiere des juifs portugais), celle de Rhode Island (premiere synagogue dAmerique du Nord  Synagogue Touro, a Newport), celle de Montreal avec la plus ancienne synagogue du Canada, Shearith Israel, mais egalement celle de Londres (synagogue de Bevis Marks) egalement connue sous le nom de : Congregation of Spanish and Portuguese Jews (plus ancienne synagogue du Royaume-Uni), Hambourg, Livourne (Granas), Curacao, etc. Golf : Championnat Kraft Nabisco : lAmericaine Morgan Pressel devient la plus jeune joueuse a avoir remporte un titre majeur. Il prend part au mouvement artistique La Jeune Peinture et recoit en 1963 le prix Othon Friez pour ses gravures executees en France.

Lio, chanteuse et actrice (Belgique et France). A cet Euro 1992, le Danemark a ainsi elimine les trois grands favoris de la competition (Allemagne, France et Pays-Bas) qui en etaient egalement les trois derniers vainqueurs. Les pays ayant la plus grande communaute portugaise, dans lordre decroissant dimportance demographique, sont le Bresil, les Etats-Unis et la France. En plus des 10 720 000 Portugais vivant au Portugal, on en compte environ 72 millions de plus dans le monde, de premiere generation ou luso-descendants, faisant un total de plus de 82 millions de portugais dans le monde entier. Dapres le recensement de 2001, la paroisse civile compte 476 habitants. Dapres les historiens, cest dans un palais de Moledo, quInes de Castro aurait vecu. La diaspora portugaise est la population portugaise et de descendance portugaise dans le monde. Chaque ile est gouvernee comme une entite distincte jusquen 1753. En 1951, les iles deviennent provinces doutre-mer du Portugal. Cet article est une ebauche concernant le Portugal et les sciences humaines et sociales. Elle est evaluee a plus de 82 millions dont 10 720 000 residents au Portugal. Generalement, ils ont pour point commun davoir une forme de blason bleu, barre parfois dune ligne jaune, sur lequel est ecrit le nom du club ( CA BOCA JUNIORS , ou plus recemment  CABJ ).

A ce jour, seul Otto Rehhagel a plus entraine que lui dans le championnat allemand. Grujic simpose comme un titulaire regulier durant la saison 2015-2016, qui le voit prendre part a 29 rencontres en championnat, dont 27 comme titulaire, pour six buts marques et sept passes decisives delivrees, contribuant activement a la victoire du club en championnat au terme de lexercice. Cyclisme, Amstel Gold Race : victoire de lAllemand Stefan Schumacher. Parmi les regions concernees, on peut notamment citer : Goa et Diu en Inde, Sri Lanka, Malacca en Malaisie, Phuket en Thailande, Macao en Chine. Le gouverneur de Macao etait responsable du controle interne de la colonie. Le Grand Prix a ete cree principalement pour promouvoir les voyages internationaux dans le cadre des competitions de Diplomatie et a ce titre tous les tournois ont le meme poids du point de vue du classement general independamment du nombre de participants. 15/08/09 : Gabriel Campillo (19-2, 6 KO), champion WBA poids mi lourds, conserve son titre en battant aux points Beibut Shumenov (8-1, 6 KO).

Resultat de lectures des uvres geographiques ou cosmographiques, tres en vogue en son temps, classiques (Ptolemee, Strabon, Pline, Pomponius Mela  dou il tire une partie de son titre (De Situ Orbis)-), et modernes (Alfraganus, Sacrobosco, Vincent de Beauvais), ce livre est tonifie, rehausse, par une meditation personnelle, et par une connaissance directe, qui a chaque pas permet a Pacheco de critiquer ou rejeter des affirmations danciens auteurs :  Chez  Duarte Pacheco  ecrit Joaquim Bensaude, dans Lastronomie nautique au Portugal a lepoque des grandes decouvertes, maillot flamengo 2022 p. Puerto Pizarro est la porte dentree du sanctuaire national des mangroves. Composee que dune localite unique, la paroisse a donc Moledo pour chef-lieu et est represente par le president de la paroisse, Alexandre Manuel de Jesus Mauricio (PS). Corner concede par Andrew Weber. Corner concede par Bill Hamid. Dans la meme periode, il y eut un processus dexpansion imperiale et de colonisation, au peuplement des iles de lAtlantique, par la colonisation du Bresil (ou la plupart de la population a des ancetres portugais) et la propagation dans dautres parties de lEmpire qui faisait partie des communautes dorigine portugaise, culturels et academiques.

Pour plus de details sur survetement bordeaux visitez notre page daccueil.
I am happy to announce the official launch of UBUNTU Party Australia.Well done Branwen Morgan for getting the UBUNTU Party Australia website launched today - I honour you for your commitment and persistence in getting this completed and off the ground.Please join Branwen on the UBUNTU Planet Global Connector now to start interacting and sharing in Australia and other UBUNTU members around the world. http://aus.ubuntuplanet.org/ Branwen can be contacted on ubuntupartyaustralia@gmail.com This is the start of a new era of awakening consciousness and empowerment for the people, who are becoming free by working together in communities to end the enslavement by the global banking system. Together we are strong, locally, nationally & internationally. For the people, by the people.The next step is to create a core group of Australians to work with Branwen to keep growing and sharing the UBUNTU philosophy and to take the necessary steps to register the UBUNTU Party Australia. We have however discussed the strategy to get as many independents to stand in the Australian elections as a Collective of Independents - united by the UBUNTU Party philosophy and plan of action. A quicker and less painful way to participate without the red tape of registering a Party. More to come - please interact with Branwen on this.
South Africa needs to pay 5 billion rand to Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. next week. This is the final payment for the bailout provided by Eskom for funding the state-owned power utility.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said that there will be a delay in the last payment for Eskom until the utility carry out further cot-cutting, enhanced maintenance and administer its capital-expenditure program. The investment was pledged in 2014 as a rescue package for the firm which is having difficulty to fund new plants while suffering from disintegration of its getting old operations that result in frequent power outage last year, according to Sunday Times.

According to Independent Online, Brian Molefe, Eskom chief executive, is frustrated to learn that the Treasury withheld the 5 billion rand from the 23 billion rand designated to the power utility. He argued that Eskom had complied with the cash injection's conditions and accused the Treasury of not answering to its explanations. He said that Eskom needs that 5 billion rand.

In an effort to alleviate Eskom's financial restrictions, a capital injection of 23 billion rand for Eskom was announced in 2014 by the former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene. The budget was accepted in 2015 and the said bailout will be paid in three installments. In June 2015, payment will be 10 billion rand, December 2015 is another 10 billion rand and by 2016/2017 would be the remaining 3 billion rand.

"Treasury is working on a process to have the 5 billion rand transferred next week," Phumza Macanda, a Treasury spokeswoman, said in a text message, as reported by Bloomberg.

The South African government also utilized proceeds from the sell-off of its 13.9% stake in Vodacom to fund the allocation. On Wednesday however, the Treasury claimed that it has paid 15 billion rand in total, instead of 20 billion rand.

Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan said that it the remaining payment of 5 billion rand to Eskom will be delayed which made Eskom very frustrated since they need the money. However, Treasury spokeswoman Phumza Macanda said that they are already working on the process to get the money transferred by next week.
Mercedes-Benz, the German automobile manufacturer, has been compelled to bring back the flexibility and dexterity of human workers to its assembly line. The robots are unable to keep pace with the complexity of key customized options for the company's S-Class Saloon.

The 101-year-old Sindelfingen plant produces 400,000 vehicles a year from 1,500 tons of steel a day. The dizzying number of options, especially for the S-Class cars, demands adaptability and flexibility. In these two qualitative features, humans outperform robots, now a day, reports The Guardian.

Robots are unable to deal with the degree of individualization and number of variables. Mercedes is trying to save money and safeguarding its future through employing more people, reports Mashable quoting Markus Schaefer, head of production for the German automaker.
Venezuela has announced late Wednesday planning to move fast signing a new mining joint venture for $5 billion with Washington based Canadian Gold Reserves Inc. Nelson Merentes, President of the Venezuelan central bank expects to initiate extracting the precious metal within six months.

Under the venture agreement, the government will enjoy a 55% to 60% stake while Gold Reserves and partners will control 40% to 45%. The Gold Reserves partners are from US, Germany and Canada and the consortium is expected to incorporate within a month, reports Bloomberg quoting Merentes while covering his interview on Friday.

Gold Reserve has claimed $750 million including interest for the expropriation of its assets during Hugo Chavez rule in 2008. The government has been reported to fight in a number of related cases in the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
Didi Kuaidi, Uber's major rival in China is raising $1 billion filling its treasure chest to get more ready for competition and venture into new businesses. It is going to be a tougher competition between the two ride-hailing services as Uber company already invested $ 1 billion last year.

According to CNNMoney, an Uber spokeswoman claimed that the company is presently operating in more than 40 cities in China and plans to expansion of up to 100 by the end of 2016. Despite the $1 billion loss and strong competition for market share, Uber has big hopes in China as competition increases.

Didi Kuaidi is overwhelmingly investing on new additional drivers and offers competitive fare prices as it targets to keep up with Uber Technologies Inc. in China. Last year, Uber has already spent $1 billion and has plans to spend another comparable sum this year. Uber lost $1.7 billion in last year's first three quarters, where most investment went to Asian expansion. CEO Travis Kalanick said that the company generates revenue in the U.S., according to a blog in Betakit, a Canadian technology, as reported by Bloomberg.

Once the provision of funds for Didi Kuaidi closes, it would value its rival Uber at more than $20 billion. There has been oversubscription of the round and Didi Kuaidi is still negotiating terms with the investors. To face Uber, Didi Kuaidi teamed up with Lyft Inc. in the U.S. and Ola in India. Investor's last valued Uber at $62.5 billion where the company raised more than $10 billion in five years since it began its operation.

The new fundraising was supported by Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings where a additional $3 billion round was completed last September. Didi Kuaidi has the biggest market share in China with the car-hailing apps, according to Fortune.

It's a battle again between Didi Kuaidi and Uber as both ride-hailing services company invest large sum of money backed by other giant companies such as Alibaba and Tencent Holdings. Merging with other companies expand the business and raise more funds to improve services and additional workforce.
JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Diana Rejon, a sixth-grader at R.J. Frank Academy of Marine Science & Engineering, accepts a trophy for winning the speech contest Saturday at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Oxnard.

SHARE JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Sarah Evans from Emilie Ritchen Elementary School watches other students make their speeches in Saturdays contest at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Oxnard. She gave a speech on Harriet Tubman. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR Diana Rejon, a sixth-grader at R.J. Frank Academy of Marine Science & Engineering, represents Maya Angelou on Saturday at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Oxnard. JUAN CARLO/THE STAR The crowd watches students give speeches in Saturdays contest at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Oxnard.

By Claudia Boyd-Barrett, Special to The Star

Some of the most revered names in African-American history made an appearance Saturday at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School in Oxnard.

Abolitionist Harriet Tubman, civil rights activist Rosa Parks and women's rights champion Sojourner Truth were among several personalities brought to life by fifth- and sixth-graders participating in Oxnard's African-American Speech Exposition.

The annual event, organized by a local chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, brought together students from 19 Oxnard schools to compete for trophies and an opportunity to present their speech at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day program in the city next January.

Students also represented modern-day African-American icons, including Oprah Winfrey, President Barack Obama, and poet, author and civil-rights activist Maya Angelou. Some of the students dressed up and spoke as the personalities themselves. Others talked about them in the third person.

"Can you imagine a little 6-year-old being told: 'I'm going to kill you. I'm going to poison you'?" Jennifer Marcial, 11, asked the audience as she spoke about Ruby Bridges, the first African-American child to attend an all-white public elementary school in the South. "All of you, close your eyes and imagine being Ruby and hearing the awful things people told her every day."

Jennifer, a sixth-grader from Cesar E. Chavez Elementary, said she was inspired by Bridges' life story. She said she wrote her speech in a week and had been practicing it every night.

"She inspired me because she was brave," Jennifer said. "I learned to not give up and to not let people's words bring you down."

Now in its 34th year, the exposition is designed to make students more aware of the important contributions African-Americans have made to society, event Chairwoman Mitzi Ivey said. At the same time, the children hone their speaking, writing and research skills, she said.

Students select an African-American person or event to speak about for no more than four minutes. To enter the exposition, the student first must win a competition among peers at their school.

"I'm always impressed," Ivey said. "I see why they won, why they're representing their school  because they're the best of the best."

The overall winner Saturday was sixth-grader Diana Rejon from R.J. Frank Academy of Marine Science & Engineering. Rejon also won the competition last year when she represented Mae C. Jemison, the first African-American female astronaut.

Rejon spoke this year as Angelou. Dressed in a flowing white outfit and speaking with exuberance and passion, Rejon talked about the hardships faced by Angelou early in life and how she overcame them. The 11-year-old said she worked on her speech for about three weeks and was delighted to win for a second year in a row.

"I just wanted to do my best," she said. "I feel very happy. It makes me feel I can accomplish more stuff."

Reyanna Ortega from Juan L. Soria School won second place for her speech representing Rosa Parks. Jade Tran, a fifth-grader from Brekke Elementary School, came in third for her speech on American ballet dancer Misty Copeland.

"I liked how she made it through all of her struggles and how she made all of her accomplishments," Jade said of Copeland. "I liked how she dances."
ROB VARELA/THE STAR Jane Laut stands during a break on the first day of her trial last month.

SHARE

By Marjorie Hernandez of the Ventura County Star

The murder trial of Jane Laut, accused of shooting husband Dave Laut on Aug. 27, 2009, at their Oxnard home, continued in its fifth week in Ventura County Superior Court. The Star will be providing weekly recaps of the trial, as well as live updates at www.vcstar.com/laut-trial.

MONDAY

Defense attorney Ron Bamieh called Katherine Emerick to the stand. Emerick is a clinical psychologist who has treated Jane Laut for the past six years. Emerick said she diagnosed Laut with complex post-traumatic stress disorder, or battered woman syndrome. Laut also suffered depression, dependent personality disorder and avoidant personality disorder, Emerick said.

Emerick said Laut told her about various instances of sexual abuse. In one instance, Emerick said, Dave Laut told her to "play" Russian roulette with one of their guns. When Jane refused, Emerick said Dave forced Jane to perform oral sex on him. Emerick said Laut discussed what took place the night she shot her husband in 2009.

During cross-examination, Senior Deputy District Attorney Rameen Minoui repeatedly asked Emerick whether she was still acting in her professional capacity and has a personal bias for Laut. Emerick said she was biased, but added, "My bias would not cause me to lie or commit perjury. My professional opinion is separate from my bias."

TUESDAY

Emerick returned to the stand. On cross-examination, Emerick said she "trusted" Prosecutor Rameen Minoui's math when he told her she has billed Jane Laut about $40,000 for therapy sessions and trial preparation.

Emerick said she diagnosed Laut with battered woman syndrome after that first meeting. She said she made her initial diagnosis after Laut recounted events that took place the night Laut shot her husband Dave. When asked by Minoui if she provided defense attorney Bamieh an outline of her notes in preparation for her testimony, Emerick said she did so to "help (Bamieh) facilitate my testimony in an orderly fashion."

Defense attorney Bamieh called Laut to the stand. Laut said she met Dave at a mutual friend's party in June 1977. They dated for three years. Laut said one of the first incidents of physical abuse happened when they were living in Goleta. Dave was preparing to travel for a month of training. She said Dave became angry when she forgot to buy him some toiletries. Laut said her husband pushed her head to the wall and hit her in the face and head. When asked by Bamieh why she didn't leave him, Jane Laut said she was embarrassed and ashamed to tell her family about the abuse.

WEDNESDAY

On Laut's second day on the stand she testified in detail about various sexual abuses she allegedly suffered under her husband. In one instance, Laut said Dave made her play Russian roulette and then raped and beat her.

Bamieh called Robert Zapeda, a former Santa Barbara police officer, to the stand. Zapeda read out loud a report he wrote on March 4, 1985. In that report, Zapeda testified Jane Laut said she was beat up by someone in a business area of Santa Barbara. The report also said Laut told police the suspect was the same person who had beaten her two years prior. In his report, Zapeda wrote he drove Laut around Santa Barbara in an attempt to locate the suspect. Zapeda also wrote the case was "deemed inactive" because there were no leads.

Laut returned to the stand and said she remembers speaking to Zapeda when she went to the Santa Barbara Police Station to make the report. She said she made up the beating and mugging incidents and it was actually Dave who had beaten her both times.

For about two hours on the stand, Laut recounted in detail the events that led up to the shooting, shots that were fired during her struggle with Dave on the ground at the north side yard and how she hid the gun in a grandfather clock and called police and reported prowlers.

THURSDAY

Laut is back on the stand and Bamieh asked her about her husband's benefits from the California State Teachers' Retirement System, which Dave belonged to. Laut said she did provide various documents to CalSTRS after Dave's death. Laut was her husband's beneficiary. She also said she later called CalSTRS to tell them she was the prime suspect in her husband's death and told them to send the money to her son instead. Bamieh asked Laut about a $10,500 deposit in her bank account. Laut said that deposit was payment she received after her brother bought Dave's truck.

Bamieh asked Laut why she shot her husband. She said Dave had the gun in his hand and threatened to kill her, their two dogs and their son Michael, then 10. During cross examination, Minoui asked Laut if she said anything as she and Dave struggled and shots were fired. Laut said no. Minoui asked why she didn't scream for help and yell out to her next-door neighbors.

"The moment you are fighting for your life ... and said you were in fear for your life ... you didn't scream for help in any way," Minoui asked.

"I don't think I did," Laut answered.

During cross-examination, Minoui asked Laut whether or not she used Dave's bronze medal to pay her attorneys. Bamieh objected to the question. During a discussion with the jury not present, Bamieh asked the court for a mistrial on the grounds of prosecutorial misconduct and said Minoui was lying. Minoui said Dave Laut's family filed a police report that Bamieh had been in possession of the bronze medal. Minoui said Laut used the medal and title to the sale of the house on Raft Lane for her defense. Worley asked Minoui how his claim against Bamieh is related to the case "other to impugn the integrity of Mr. Bamieh, which obviously is misconduct." Worley said he understood the prosecution's theory of financial gain as a motive for murder, but cautioned Minoui not to bring up how Laut paid for her defense and said that would be "off-limits." He also denied Bamieh's motion for a mistrial and found the misconduct did not rise to a prejudice.

FRIDAY

Laut was back on the stand and Minoui continued his cross-examination. Laut said she had used the single-action Ruger revolver less than five times before the night she shot her husband.

Minoui asked Laut specific details about each gunshot. Before the second shot went off, she said Dave had the gun in his right hand and she had her hand over his. She said her left leg was pinned beneath Dave's leg and she was pushing the gun away from her face. The gun was then turned on Dave's face when it went off, she said.

Minoui played the 911 call Laut made after the shooting. In the call, Laut is saying she heard shots and her husband was outside in the side yard. She also told police she saw shadows in front of Dave before she ran back into the house and heard gunshots.

Minoui questioned Lauty about the second and third gunshots. Laut said she doesn't remember pulling back the hammer or the trigger of the single-shot Ruger revolver. She said she did remember her husband pointed the gun at her face as they struggled in their side yard and after she thought the first shot was fired. When asked by Minoui where her hands were during the third shot, she said she didn't remember. She said she did remember that she felt her husband's hairs on her right hand. Minoui asked Laut if it was possible that she cocked the hammer of the gun and shot her husband in the head and in the back as they were at the north side yard.

"I'm not saying it's impossible. ... I'm not saying it's possible," she said. "I'm saying I don't know."

Minoui will continue to cross-examine Laut at 9 a.m. Monday.
JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Conor Devlin, with Troop 799, helps with a rough sort of donated goods Saturday in Thousand Oaks during the Scouting for Food drive.

SHARE JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Boy Scouts in the Conejo Valley and volunteers perform a rough sort of donated goods Saturday at the east end of The Oaks mall parking lot in Thousand Oaks. JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Boy Scouts from the Conejo Valley and volunteers perform a rough sort of donated goods Saturday at the east end of The Oaks mall parking lot in Thousand Oaks. JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Aidan McDonald, with Troop 799, helps unload donated goods Saturday at the east end of The Oaks mall parking lot in Thousand Oaks. JOSEPH A. GARCIA/THE STAR Xander Fedoroff, representing Troop 787, packs donated goods into a truck during Saturdays effort.

By Staff Reports

Boy Scouts across Ventura County finished off a food drive Saturday, delivering 62,529 nonperishable food items to local food banks and charity groups, said Andrea McClellan, Conejo Valley district executive for the local council of the Boy Scouts of America.

The haul will keep local food banks full for a long time, McClellan said.

More than 1,000 Boy Scouts from four districts in the county placed empty grocery bags on doorsteps across the county last weekend, then went back Saturday and picked up the ones homeowners had filled. The boys delivered the bags to several drop-off spots, where the bags were weighed and delivered to locations where the county's neediest families can get food.
ROB VARELA/THE STAR Volunteer Katie Faulkner (left) laughs with Chris Reinhart, of Ventura, as she collects signatures for the SOAR ballot initiative outside Green Thumb Nursery in Ventura on Wednesday.

SHARE ROB VARELA/THE STAR Volunteer Kate Faulkner collects signatures for the SOAR renewal initiative outside Green Thumb Nursery in Ventura on Wednesday. ROB VARELA/THE STAR Volunteer Kate Faulkner (right) gets Sharon and Jim Sullivan, of Oxnard, to sign her petition, as she collects signatures for the SOAR renewal initiative outside Green Thumb Nursery in Ventura on Wednesday. ROB VARELA/THE STAR Volunteer Kate Faulkner (left) gets Dorothy King, of Fillmore, to sign her petition as she collects signatures for the SOAR renewal initiative outside Green Thumb Nursery in Ventura on Wednesday. ROB VARELA/THE STAR Volunteer Kate Faulkner talks to a reporter as she collects signatures to get the renewal measure for SOAR on the ballot, outside the Green Thumb in Ventura on Wednesday.

By Wendy Leung of the Ventura County Star

The Save Open-space and Agricultural Resources, or SOAR, ballot initiative is about land use, urban boundaries and preservation of agricultural land.

They're not simple issues to distill in a 15-second elevator pitch.

But SOAR volunteers are getting the hang of it. They've been practicing everywhere from a Conejo Valley trailhead to a Ventura farmers market.

In Camarillo, volunteers are stationed at the library, and they also go knocking on doors.

For the past month, open-space advocates have been gathering signatures to put a voter initiative renewing SOAR on the November ballot. Organizers say they need to collect 84,000 signatures across the county by late spring.

The original SOAR laws were passed in the mid-1990s for Ventura County and eight cities. The series of initiatives govern how open space and agricultural land is developed. Instead of allowing the county Board of Supervisors or local city councils to decide whether such land is rezoned for development, SOAR requires that land use changes be approved by voters.

If organizers get enough valid signatures, voters in November will decide whether to renew these open-space laws through 2050.

On a recent afternoon, volunteer Kate Faulkner explained all of that to shoppers on their way to buy seedlings and soil at Green Thumb Nursery in Ventura.

"We want to make sure zoning ag land is a public process," Faulkner explained to a passer-by. "Are you a registered voter?"

Catherine Drettler of Ojai is a voter who has lived in Ventura County all her life, but she had never heard of SOAR.

"I agree with what you're doing," Drettler tells Faulkner. "Open space and ag resources are very much a concern of mine."

Faulkner and the estimated 300 volunteers across the county get a wide range of responses when they approach strangers to discuss the threat of urban sprawl.

Some disagree and move on. Some simply move on in a hurry.

One person said he had already signed but asked if he could sign again.

The answer was no.

Faulkner says she's found conflicting opinions within the agricultural community.

"Farmers have said, 'I'm a farmer, of course I support SOAR,' and I've heard, 'I'm a farmer, of course I don't support SOAR,' " she said.

County Supervisor Steve Bennett, a lead organizer, said explaining SOAR to voters in 2016 is much easier compared to the 1990s when advocates were introducing the laws for the first time. SOAR has been around and many people have heard of it.

But today's voters are more wary of signature gatherers, especially those who are paid according to the number of names they collect.

"The difference is, 20 years of paid petition gatherers have jaded more people," Bennett said. "They're quicker to go the other way. But as soon as they find out you're a volunteer, it helps."

Another challenge is an alternative ballot initiative pushed by the Ventura County Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business.

The group, which opposes many aspects of SOAR, is pushing to get a counter initiative on the November ballot that will allow water infrastructure and food processing facilities to be built on agricultural land. The proposal would sunset in 2036.

Some voters have started to ask SOAR organizers about the competing measure, wanting to know more about the differences.

Thousand Oaks Councilwoman Claudia Bill-de la Pena said it's possible voters will think the SOAR initiative is the same as the one endorsed by the Coalition of Labor, Agriculture and Business.

"There probably will be confusion," she said.

But the majority of the people she meets while gathering signatures at trailheads and supermarkets are familiar with SOAR.

"It is surprising how many people take open space for granted," Bill-de la Pena said. "They don't realize it's protected by an open-space initiative."
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A legal flap over Gov. Jerry Brown's communications with the Public Utilities Commission is escalating  and now involves one of Brown's oldest friends.

On Monday, state appellate court Justice J. Anthony Kline blocked a lower court's order that 65 emails be released.

Mike Aguirre, a San Diego attorney challenging the PUC's controversial settlement of the 2013 San Onofre nuclear power plant closure, complained that Kline acted before giving him a chance to respond and shouldn't have taken the case, given his friendship with Brown.

The deal places 70 percent of the $4.7 billion closure cost on utility ratepayers. Aguirre seeks to overturn the decision and wants to know if Brown, who appoints PUC members, was personally involved.

Kline was a Yale Law School classmate of Brown's in the 1960s, and the two were roommates when both were law clerks. Kline was Brown's legal affairs secretary in the 1970s, and Brown later named him to the appellate court.

"A close personal friend of Jerry Brown gave protection to the governor without even giving us a hearing," Aguirre said.

San Francisco Superior Court Judge Ernest Goldsmith ruled this month that the emails should be released, rejecting the PUC's argument that its decisions could be challenged only in the appellate courts.

Goldsmith declared that "withholding recordings involving allegedly secret ex parte deals between CPUC officials and utility companies in violation of the Public Records Act is not a regulatory function of the CPUC."

The San Onofre settlement was worked out in private by company officials and PUC members, including former president Michael Peevey and most famously during a meeting in a hotel in Poland.

Last Friday, PUC lawyers filed an appeal of Goldsmith's order, reiterating the commission's position that Goldsmith lacked jurisdiction.

On Monday, Kline, the presiding justice of the 1st District Court of Appeal, granted a stay of Goldsmith's order, but Aguirre alleges that Kline acted before he and other attorneys had been told of the appeal and is now demanding that Kline recuse himself.

"A reasonable doubt as to the judge's ability to be impartial is acutely present here in light of the fact that the judge issued a stay and agreed to hear the case without allowing the real party in interest to oppose the stay," Aguirre's recusal demand says.

The San Onofre settlement, coupled with other events, eventually forced Peevey to step down. The PUC later fined Southern California Edison, San Onofre's majority owner, $17 million for taking part in the private negotiations.

The case spawned several bills to prevent cases from being settled privately. Brown, however, vetoed the measures.

Brown's spokesman declined to comment Tuesday on the case's new wrinkle, other than to note that the PUC insists the emails at issue had nothing to do with San Onofre.

However, it whets one's curiosity about what the emails do contain.

Dan Walters writes for the Sacramento Bee. Email him at dwalters@sacbee.com.
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"Hell," said Alabama's Democratic Gov. George Wallace before roiling the 1968 presidential race, "we got too much dignity in government now, what we need is some meanness ." Twelve elections later, Wallace's wish is approaching fulfillment as Republicans contemplate nominating someone who would run to Hillary Clinton's left. Donald Trump, unencumbered by any ballast of convictions, would court Bernie Sanders' disaffected voters with promises to enrich rather than reform the welfare state's entitlement menu  Trump already says, "I am going to take care of everybody"  and to make America great again by having it cower behind trade barriers. If elected, Trump presumably would seek re-election, so there would be no conservative choice for president until at least 2024.

The Democratic Party once had to defend itself against a populist demagogue. During the 1932 campaign, while lunching at Hyde Park with his aide Rexford Tugwell, Franklin Roosevelt took a telephone call from Sen. Huey Long, who as governor had made Louisiana into America's closest approximation of a police state. When the call ended, FDR told Tugwell:

"That's the second-most dangerous man in this country. Huey's a whiz on the radio. He screams at people and they love it."

Who, Tugwell asked, is the most dangerous? FDR, recalling Gen. Douglas MacArthur's violent dispersal of aggrieved military veterans in Washington in July 1932, answered:

"You saw how he strutted down Pennsylvania Avenue. You saw that picture of him in the Times after the troops chased all those vets out with tear gas and burned their shelters. Did you ever see anyone more self-satisfied? There's a potential Mussolini for you."

Trump, who was a big-government liberal Democrat until he recently discovered he was a conservative Republican, has the upturned jutted jaw, the celebration of "energy" and the flirtation with violence and torture that characterized the Italian who was a radical socialist until he decided he was a fascist. Trump, however, is as American as Huey Long.

MacArthur said all military disasters could be explained by two words: "Too late." Too late to discern a danger, too late to prepare for it. The Trumpkins' love affair with their hero is too hot not to cool down  unless his opponents quickly act on this fact: His supporters like him, not what pass for his "ideas," so the way to stop him is to show him to be unlikable.

Clinton's opposition researchers must be delirious with delight about what they already have to work with. The 2012 Obama campaign had to resort to tendentiousness to present Mitt Romney's impeccable business practices as proof that he was a villain. Read what a conscientious conservative, Ian Tuttle of National Review Online, is finding in Trump's already public record (www.nationalreview.com/author/ian-tuttle). Then imagine what fun Democrats will have with Trump's career of crony capitalism lubricated, he boasts, by renting politicians.

Trump's Republican opponents are running out of days, places and people to stop him. Candidates, voters and other daydream believers rail against the "establishment," waiting for this corpse to resurrect itself. But it died 50 years ago, on April 24, 1966, when its house organ, the New York Herald-Tribune, expired. The establishment had been comatose since Barry Goldwater brushed aside its feebly arrogant attempt to derail his nomination at the 1964 convention. Today, the conservative movement should pool its sufficient resources to help Marco Rubio defeat Trump in winner-take-all Florida, where Rubio should spend all of his days and dimes between now and March 15. And to support John Kasich in Ohio. And Trump should be bombarded with questions like these:

What are you hiding by refusing to give the public the aesthetic pleasure of examining what you call your "beautiful" tax returns? Will you at least jot down on a piece of paper your gross income in each of the last three years? And your adjusted gross income on your personal tax returns in the last three years? And how much you paid in federal personal income taxes in those years? And how much each of your companies paid? Will you release the last five years of your personal financial statements  these are already prepared  that banks would have required you to submit annually in connection with the loans you list on the liabilities page of your financial disclosure report?

Trump probably hopes to secure the nomination before releasing pertinent information about his career that supposedly is his qualification for Lincoln's chair. Perhaps, like Cole Porter, he knows when a love affair is too hot not to cool down.

George Will's email address is georgewill@washpost.com. He writes for The Washington Post Writers Group.
The ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat, Vientiane, Laos, February 26-27, 2016: Photo: VGP

This is the first in a series of meetings that Laos will host as the Chair of ASEAN this year.

The regional foreign ministers discussed ways to implement the 2025 ASEAN Vision and the three Blueprints, especially the Political-Security Community Blueprint, the priorities initiated by Laos for 2016, and ways to further enhance external relations and central role of the bloc.

The foreign ministers agreed on the need to identify priority fields and measures in the short, middle and long terms, develop a specific roadmap, and enhance national and regional supervision and coordination mechanisms to ensure the progress and quality of implementing the Vision and the Blueprints.

The ministers agreed to focus on accelerating ASEAN cooperation and connectivity in all the three pillars, consolidate ASEAN solidarity and unity, promote the leading role of ASEAN in maintaining peace and security in the region, beefing up dialogues and cooperation to strengthen trust and understanding among countries.

They also agreed to further enhance ASEAN capacity to timely and effectively cope with emerging challenges.

Regarding external relations, regional countries agreed to continue fostering the relations between ASEAN and its partners in a practical manner, encouraging partners to make constructive contributions to the common issues in the region and support the ASEAN Community building process.

The ministers also touched upon a wide range of regional and international issues, including the East Sea issue.

They showed their deep concerns over the recent complicated happenings in the East Sea, especially reclamation activities which have eroded trust, intensified tensions, threatened peace, security and stability in the region.

The ministers stressed the importance of maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, pursuing non-militarization, exercising refrain and settling disputes through peaceful measures in accordance with international law, including the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, making real progress in the implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea and working toward the conclusion of a Code of Conduct in the East Sea.

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy PM, FM Pham Binh Minh voiced strong support for Laos initiatives and committed to continuing close coordination with the host and other ASEAN members.

He called on ASEAN members to give priority to maintaining peace and stability in the region in the context of increasingly complicated security environment in the region by accelerating measures on trust building, preventive diplomacy, developing rules and standards in order to prevent potential conflicts, and improving ASEANs capacity in handling crises and emergencies.

Regarding the East Sea issue, Deputy PM, FM Minh underlined the importance of upholding ASEAN solidarity and common voice over the complicated developments in the region, especially in the East Sea.

On the sidelines of the retreat, Deputy PM, FM Minh had a bilateral meeting with his Lao counterpart Thongloun Sisoulith.
Military authorities in southern Afghanistan have detained and disarmed a group of 30 police officers, including an acting district police chief, for suspected links with Taliban insurgents, officials confirmed on Sunday.

The police chief of the restive Helmand province, Abdul Rahaman Sarjang, told reporters in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah that Afghan troops detained the police personnel with the help of American military advisers in the Sangin district.

Sarjang said the operation sparked a brief clash that killed one police officer. He added that Sangins acting police chief Mohammad Nabi and other detainees are currently under investigation.

Afghan media has quoted unnamed army officials as saying that U.S. advisers suspected Nabi and other detainees were providing weapons and ammunition to the Taliban and were eventually planning to defect to the insurgents.

The U.S. military has not yet commented.

The United States has recently deployed several hundred more troops to Helmand to help Afghan forces halt insurgent advances in the poppy-producing, largest province of Afghanistan, a traditional Taliban heartland.

Afghan troops in recent days have abandoned several outposts in hotly contested districts of Helmand, though senior army commanders have cited tactical and logistic reasons for the controversial move.
The International Organization for Migration said it is scaling up the repatriation of African migrants suffering abuse and exploitation in Libya, mainly at the hands of the police and the militias.

Over the past few months, the International Organization for Migration reports it has repatriated thousands of Africans from Libya, mainly to Burkina Faso, Gambia and Senegal.

In its latest operation a few days ago, IOM returned 117 migrants to Burkina Faso, including five women and two children.

IOM spokesman Itayi Viriri said the migrants told stories of horrific treatment by militias and blatant exploitation at their places of employment. He said many young men spoke about working for weeks on end for no pay.

We do have examples of young men who were working in construction who, every time they got paid, they were raided  their accommodation was raided by militias who took whatever money they had. There was no one to then go and try and get redress or try and get these obvious crimes investigated," Viriri said.

Vulnerable population

A recent United Nations report found migrants in Libya are vulnerable to exploitation and human rights violations by authorities, armed groups and smugglers.

It said many migrants have been subjected to long periods of arbitrary detention, to torture, forced labor, extortion and other forms of abuse.

Viriri told VOA that IOM has received testimony from African migrants of being beaten up and threatened with other forms of inhumane treatment.

A few cases where people were abducted with the expectation that ransom would be paid. So, here we have one young man who said if they are arrested in Libya or taken in by these militias, they are expected to pay the equivalent of $700, he said.

Viriri said most of the migrants evacuated from Libya over the past year were new arrivals. He said they came to IOM voluntarily asking for help to return home because they found their situation to be untenable.
Two huge explosions Sunday rocked the center of the Somali town of Baidoa, 245 kilometers west of Mogadishu, killing at least 30 people and injuring at least 40, authorities said.

The first blast was caused by a car filled with explosives that was detonated in a busy street near Baidoa Hotel and other business centers. Minutes later a suicide bomber detonated explosives in a busy restaurant.

Among the dead is Nur Malaq, Deputy Minister for Disarmament for the Southwest Regional Administration.

Militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the blasts.

The blasts come just two days after two massive explosions claimed by al-Shabab killed 25 people in the capital Mogadishu and wounded nearly 60 others.

Al-Shabab, which has links to Al-Qaida, carries out frequent attacks in Somalia, often targeting government officials and African Union troops.

The Islamist militant group controlled most of southern Somalia as recently as 2010 but was pushed into the countryside by AU and Somali government forces.
Ireland's ruling coalition was ousted by voters angry at the country's uneven recovery, results indicated Saturday, leaving Prime Minister Enda Kenny facing the unpalatable prospect of trying to secure a deal with his biggest rival.

His government appeared to be the latest victim of European voters' growing antipathy to mainstream politics, hit by a backlash against years of austerity and a perception that Ireland's poor are not benefiting from the fastest economic growth in Europe.

Exit polls suggested the only viable option may be a problematic alliance of old rivals Fianna Fail and Kenny's Fine Gael  although even their combined support was set to fall below 50 percent of the vote for the first time.

If neither side is able to form a government, however, fresh elections would have to be called.

"The government of Fine Gael and Labor cannot be returned," Kenny told journalists late Saturday. "I've a duty and a responsibility to work with the decision that the people have made to provide the country with a stable government, and that I intend to do fully and completely."

The center-right Fine Gael captured 26 percent of first preference votes when 38 of 40 constituencies were counted. That was far below the 36 percent it won five years ago and the 30 percent opinion poll rating it had at the start of campaigning.

Labor out of the mix

Current coalition partner Labor was in line to win just 7 percent of the ballot, which spending minister Brendan Howlin said meant they were out of the equation for the next government.

Fianna Fail was set to rise to 25 percent.

"It was certainly worse than my worst fears," said Health Minister Leo Varadkar, a senior member of Fine Gael. He said there was very little support for a Fine Gael-Fianna Fail coalition, but he refused to rule it out.

However, Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin hinted that he would first try to form a government with other groups.

"We'll be putting a mandate before the Dail [parliament] on March 10 and seeking the support of others in the first instance, and there'll be a large group of TDs [members of parliament] elected outside of Fine Gael and Sinn Fein," Martin told national broadcaster RTE. "We're committed to ensuring the country gets a good government, but it's going to take time."

Analysts said a coalition of Fine Gael and Fianna Fail  heirs to opposing sides in a civil war almost a century ago  was the only option.

"Either we could have another election now and do away with the count, or we'll let them muddle around for a month or so and maybe they can think the unthinkable," said Michael Marsh, a professor of politics at Trinity College Dublin.

Possible 'nightmare'

While the parties have few policy differences, one minister described the prospect as a "nightmare" during the campaign.

Others fear it would allow left-wing Sinn Fein, the former political arm of the Irish Republican Army, which polled at 15 to 16 percent, to establish itself as the main opposition party.

Fine Gael strategist Mark Mortell said Kenny would "hold off making phone calls" until early next week but that there was a very high risk of a second election this year.

The first of 157 seats was declared early in the afternoon; the final winners potentially won't be decided until early next week.

Framed as a debate over how to distribute the profits of accelerating economic growth, Kenny's campaign to "keep the recovery going" rang hollow with many voters yet to feel any benefit after years of spending cuts and tax rises.

"There's total disillusionment with party politics. The independents and the smaller parties seem to be almost like the last hope for the country," said John McKeever, a voter in Dublin. "It's not a recovery for a good 30 to 40 percent of the country. It's a rich man's recovery."

Major transformation

The exit polls suggested a major transformation had occurred in the party system as a result, just weeks before the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising, the most dramatic chapter of Ireland's struggle for independence from Britain.

Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, which have swapped power since the state's foundation, and Labor, the junior partner in many governments, were shunned in favor of independent candidates, smaller parties and the rising Sinn Fein.

At the start of the last parliament in 2011, the three parties held 80 percent of the seats.

"We're seeing a collapse of the two-and-a-half party system," said Paul Murphy, a member of one of the likely beneficiaries, the left-wing Anti Austerity Alliance and People Before Profit group.

The results echo recent elections in Portugal and Spain, where anger at austerity, perceptions of rising inequality and mistrust of established political elites left parliaments fragmented and parties struggling to form governments.
Irish voters, tired of austerity measures, have apparently dealt a blow to the existing coalition government of Prime Minister Enda Kenny.

"Clearly the government of Fine Gael and Labor are not going to be returned to office," said Kenny, the leader of the center-right Fine Gael party, which had formed a ruling alliance with Labor.

"Democracy can be very exciting, but it's merciless," the prime minister said.

Voters at the polls Saturday turned to an array of independent and anti-austerity parties, leaving Ireland facing the prospect of protracted negotiations as political leaders try to build enough support to form a new governing coalition. Ireland is still counting votes with the final results expected Monday.

One possibility facing the politicians is a coalition between bitter rivals Fine Gael and Fianna Fail whose differences date back to a civil war almost a century ago.

"The option that screams out the most is a Fine Gael-Fianna Fail coalition," says Adrian Kavanagh, a University of Maynooth lecturer. "If neither party can agree a common ground, then we're into a period of uncertainty."

A Fine-Fail alliance would still need support from another party.

One thing both parties, which are the two largest groups in parliament, have agreed on is that there is no possibility of forming an alliance with Sinn Fein, citing its links to the Irish Republican Army.

Sinn Fein is the third-largest parliamentary group.

A new election could be held if the politicians cannot form a coalition.
Kurdish officials are working with the U.S.-led coalition to verify if Islamic State militants hit Kurdish peshmerga fighters with chemical weapons in the northern area of Sinjar.

Dozens of peshmerga as well as civilians reported suffering from nausea and vomiting after homemade IS rockets hit the area.

The Kurdistan Region Security Council said on its Twitter feed that it was investigating the February 25 attack.

If confirmed, according to the Kurdish authority it would be the eighth chemical weapon attack on its forces.

U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress in early February that the extremist group had used chemical agents in both Iraq and Syria.

CIA Director John Brennan later confirmed that IS had the ability to manufacture both chlorine and mustard gas.

A source at the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons told Reuters earlier in the month that lab tests showed Kurdish fighters had been exposed to mustard gas last year.
Spotlight, the story of the Boston Globe newspaper's investigation of the sexual abuse of children by Catholic priests, won the best picture award at the Independent Spirit Awards in California Saturday.

The annual awards show recognizes the best films made for under $20 million by independent producers and studios unaffiliated with bigger, more established  and wealthier  Hollywood studios.

Spotlight, which won best picture at the Academy Awards ceremony, also won Spirit awards for best director, best screenplay, best editing and a special prize for best ensemble cast.

The acting winners at Saturday's Spirit awards provided a stark contrast to the Academy Award's all-white list of acting nominees.

Ghanaian newcomer Abraham Attah won the best actor award as a child soldier for Beasts of No Nation, while co-star Idris Elba, a British-born actor of Ghanaian descent, was named best supporting actor as an army commander.

The biggest cheers went to actress Mya Taylor, who became the first transgender actress to win a Spirit award for her supporting role as a sex worker in Tangerine.

"There's very beautiful transgender talent," Taylor told the audience in her acceptance speech. "You better get out there and put them in your movie."

Brie Lawson, the only Spirit acting nominee also nominated for an Oscar this year, won the best picture trophy for her performance as a kidnap victim in Room.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on those elected to parliament and the important Assembly of Experts to act in the interests of Iran and stand against the influence of outsiders.

Final results from Saturday's election are expected Monday or Tuesday, but unofficial tallies show reformists and moderates winning all 30 parliamentary seats in the capital, Tehran, in what would be a resounding vote of confidence for President Hassan Rouhani. Hardliners were poised to lose considerable ground in the 290-seat legislature, but were winning areas outside of major cities.

Iran is emerging from years of international sanctions imposed because of allegations it was working to develop nuclear weapons.

The state-run IRNA news agency quoted Khamenei saying development is the country's top goal.

"Nominal development without independence or national dignity is not accepted," he said.

'Time to open a new chapter'

IRNA quoted Rouhani saying Saturday the election has given the government more credibility and clout.

"The competition is over. It's time to open a new chapter in Iran's economic development based on domestic abilities and international opportunities," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

The president made last year's nuclear agreement with a group of world powers a key objective of his administration and the outcome could be interpreted as a comment on the level of support for his policies.

The final results may also provide the first clue as to whether key Western proponents of the deal will receive what they hoped for: a more open, moderate Iran.

Rouhani and former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani also are leading the race for membership in the Assembly of Experts. The influential body monitors the work of Supreme Leader Khamenei, who has final say on Iran's foreign policy, and could choose the next supreme leader.

Photo Gallery: Iranians Vote in Parliamentary Elections Voters in Iran are choosing members to the parliament Friday in the first national election since last year's historic nuclear agreement that lifted some international sanctions in exchange for Iran curbing its nuclear activities. Share on Facebook

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Election test of nuclear deal

The vote was the first election since the country's nuclear deal with world powers took effect.

The final results may provide the first clue as to whether key Western proponents of the deal will receive what they hoped for: a more open, moderate Iran.

The outcome could be interpreted as a comment on the level of support for the policies of Rouhani, who is up for re-election next year. Rouhani has made the nuclear agreement a key objective of his administration.

Large turnout

Newspapers reported a huge turnout at the polls Friday, including many young voters.

Polls remained open much later than scheduled, in some cases. State television showed long lines both in Tehran and in polling places around the country.

About 55 million Iranians were registered to cast ballots for members of the conservative dominated 290-seat parliament as well as the 88-member Assembly of Experts.
The Somali president and leaders of countries contributing to the African Union force in Somalia (AMISOM) are calling for the immediate resumption of military operations against the al-Shabab militant group.

The call came during a one day summit in Djibouti by the heads of states to reassess military strategy against al-Shabab.

Commence immediately the offensive operations, take back the initiative and attack the enemy and their positions, and movement and destroy their logistical and training centers, the Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told the leaders. Create an agile and mobile task forces that can easily maneuver and pursue the enemy and use hybrid warfare as needed to destroy them. 

In recent months al-Shabab has launched high profile attacks against AMISOM and Somali government military bases, killing scores of soldiers.

The President of Djibouti Ismael Omar Guelleh who is hosting the summit says AMISOM and Somalia's National Army SNA have been faced with specular attacks by al-Shabab. He said its time to recognize the results of the attacks and respond by reinvigorating the AMISOM and SNS military operations.

We need to reverse the situation now, restore our confidence and morale and retake the initiative back from the terrorists , attack the enemy and disrupt and deplete its capability to move around, says President Mohamud.

AMISOM will be ten years old next year and the President of Somalia says time has come to focus on building a strong Somali force to take over the security from the AU peacekeepers.

After 10 years we are very much hopeful that AMISOM will be in a position to hand over the security of Somalia gradually. Therefore we recommend in the remaining two years in 2016 and 2017 for the success of the Somali political process as well as for building a Somali National Army that can take over the responsibility of the security, he said.

Regional experts and some Somali officials have expressed concern about AMISOM's withdrawal from a number of towns after al-Shabab raids on three bases.

In an interview with VOA Somali the head of AMISOM Francisco Caetano Madeira insisted that the troop movement is just readjustments and repositioning to attain a tactical advantage.

Madeira said the new AMISOM strategy is to be enemy threat-focused and not terrain-focused.
Three people were stabbed and 13 people arrested when members of a white separatist group clashed with a larger group of counter-demonstrators outside of Los Angeles Saturday, police said.

The violence occurred in the city of Anaheim, near the famed Disneyland theme park.

A police spokesman said several protesters had arrived ahead of time to protest a planned anti-immigration rally by a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.

When the Klansmen arrived to begin their rally, they were surrounded by the counter-demonstrators and attacked.

All three stabbing victims were counter-demonstrators, one of them stabbed by a Klansman with the sharp end of a flagpole. Two Klansmen were stomped on by several of the protesters.

The police spokesman said six Klan members and seven protesters were arrested, and all face charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

The Ku Klux Klan was founded in the southern U.S. state of Tennessee in 1866, one year after the anti-slavery Union army defeated the army of the slave-holding Confederate states -- which broke away from the rest of the U.S. -- to bring an end to the Civil War.

Initially aimed at terrorizing newly freed African-American slaves, the KKK's ranks grew through the later part of the 19th century and first half of the 20th century as it fought against racial integration across the United States.

Klansmen were once the dominant political force in Anaheim, holding four of five City Council seats before a recall effort led to their ouster in 1924.
The electoral commission of Uganda is prepared to meet the legal challenges opposition presidential and parliamentary candidates plan to launch this week following the outcome of the February 18 general election, says Jotham Taremwa, spokesman for the electoral commission.

Main opposition leader of the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) Kizza Besigye and independent candidate Patrick Amama Mbabazi dispute the results of the poll. They have signaled they would be going to court, citing voter irregularities and rigging they said led to incumbent President Yoweri Musevenis victory.

Ugandas electoral law says challenges can be filed up to 10 days after results are announced.

The chairman of the electoral commission, Badru Kiggundu, declared Museveni winner of the presidential vote with 60.07 percent of the total vote cast, while Besigye came in second with 35.37 percent. Kiggundu insists the general election is credible, despite reports by some local and international poll observers who said the poll was held in intimidating circumstances and was neither free nor fair.

FDC chairman Mugisha Muntu told VOA initial evidence shows some of the poll results were manipulated. He says results on the declaration forms signed by all party representatives, which show the results at the polling stations, were different from those the electoral commission announced.Taremwa disagreed.

Generally, everybody agrees the elections were a success.Everybody seems to be headed to the court in case they are not happy with the outcome. As a commission, we will continue to interact with our stakeholders to get an assessment of how we conducted our elections with a view of working out another strategic plan for the next five years as well as the roadmap.So, for us, its a work in progress, said Taremwa.

We did a wonderful job as a commission, we dont know why they are not agreeing to the results, but well they can petition [the] court and we are ready to meet them in court.

Taremwa said the international poll observers were wrong in their assessment of the presidential and parliamentary elections.

Opposition groups also accused the electoral commission of bias after voting in areas where they were strong - including the capital, Kampala - started about seven hours later than in other areas where the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) had a strong following. They said the assessment of the internal poll monitors echoed their concerns about the elections.

Some of the international observers didnt have some good time to do some research, conduct interviews with key stakeholders. They came in towards the end of the process and some of them were really not were versed in the political dynamics in the country. They came and just passed a judgment that really fell short of the correct reading of the political processes of Uganda ...We are really not bothered, said Taremwa.

The European Union urged the electoral commission to publish all the election results from the 28,010 polling stations across the country. Opposition supporters say publishing the results could reveal how the elections were manipulated in favor of Museveni and his ruling National Resistance Movement party.

Taremwa rejected the accusations as without merit.

You can get on your computer or laptop and open to our electoral commission website and access all the results from each of the polling stations.They are there, they are accessible and we have also given them soft copies of the results.So, we have already done what they are asking, he said.
A police officer in the eastern U.S. state of Virginia was shot and killed Saturday afternoon during her first full day in uniform.

Officer Ashley Guindon and two other officers with the Prince William County police force were responding to a domestic disturbance call in a community located nearly 50 kilometers southwest of Washington when they were shot.

The trio were taken to a hospital where Guindon later died of her injuries. Prosecutor Paul Ebert reported the other two officers were in "OK" condition.

Guindon, who had spent several years serving in the U.S. Marines, was just sworn in as a police officer Friday.

The department posted a picture of Guindon and another newly sworn-in officer with a message that ended with "Be safe!"

Prince William police said the suspect, identified as Ronald Hamilton, a 32-year-old Army staff sergeant assigned to the Pentagon, killed his wife and then ambushed the police officers with rifle shots as they approached his residence.

Ebert said he would pursue a capital murder conviction against Hamilton.
Hillary Clinton easily won the U.S. Democratic presidential primary in South Carolina on Saturday, cementing her status as front-runner in her party's race and delivering a key defeat to Bernie Sanders ahead of the crucial Super Tuesday nominating contests.

Clinton won the backing of almost three-fourths of Democrats who went to the polls in the first Southern state to vote during the presidential candidate nominating season.

The result was never really in doubt. The only question was whether Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, could narrow what was nearly a 30-percentage-point deficit in recent opinion polls.

The Sanders campaign quickly released a statement from the candidate congratulating Clinton on her victory.

"Tomorrow, this campaign goes national," Clinton told cheering supporters at a primary evening rally here.

Clinton has now won or tied in three of the first four contests in the Democratic nominee selection process and has significant leads in opinion polls in many of the states set to vote next Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters at a Minnesota airport, Sanders said, "In politics on a given night, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Tonight we lost.'' Before addressing a rally in Rochester, Minnesota, where voters will decide between the two Tuesday, Sanders spoke of 11 contests in three days: "We intend to win many, many of them.''

The South Carolina victory was notable in that it suggests Clintons popularity remains strong among minorities, said Jim Guth, a political science professor at Furman University in Greenville.

It certainly means she has solidified her pre-existing support, especially among African-Americans, who are a very large part of the primary constituency here, Guth said.

Sanders looks ahead

Sanders had all but given up on winning South Carolina and focused instead on states voting Tuesday.

"Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning. We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina," Sanders said in his written statement Saturday evening. "Now it's on to Super Tuesday."

Nearly a quarter of the Democratic delegates will be up for grabs in the Super Tuesday voting on March 1. Voters in 11 states will pick delegates for each of the two political party nominating conventions, making Tuesday the most important day for Republicans as well as Democrats.

In her victory speech, Clinton took on front-running Republican Donald Trump, who has said he will make America "great again."

"America has never stopped being great,'' Clinton said, adding that the country needed to be made "whole again."

Speaking earlier Saturday to a large crowd in Austin, Texas, Sanders also spoke of the Republican billionaire businessman.

We will defeat Trump, Sanders said. The American people do not want a president who insults Mexicans, Muslims, women, African-Americans, veterans, and basically anyone who isnt just like him.

Sanders, who draws the bulk of his support from younger voters and whites, now faces an uphill battle, after losing two consecutive states to Clinton.

He has to do more than break even when it comes to winning delegates from this point on, and that seems unlikely, especially if he cant increase the size of his electoral constituency," Guth said.

Low turnout

One bright spot for Sanders was the relatively small number of voters who showed up at polling places Saturday in South Carolina, raising the question of whether Clinton can energize her core supporters.

One of those voters was Columbia resident Evelyn Boyd, who cast a ballot for Clinton.

She stands up for the rights of the people. She is not afraid of the foreign governments, because she has worked with them, Boyd said.

Edward Suhy, a waiter and bartender who lives in Columbia, supported Sanders.

He seems to actually care about people, and I think he has got a really good heart. I am just sick of the status quo every single year, Suhy said.

Despite the low turnout, Clintons campaign has reason to be optimistic, according to David Woodard, who teaches political science at Clemson University.

I think most everybody will forget all that when she finally has a big win like this in a Southern state, Woodard said. I think that all adds up for her.

Woodard, who is also a Republican political consultant, said Clinton would like to soon focus on her likely Republican opponent in the general election.

I think shed rather face Trump, and I think she might, said Woodard. I think [Florida Senator Marco] Rubio is a more formidable opponent, but I also think he has a harder way to get there.

Republican race intensifies

Rubio and Trump spent Saturday exchanging fierce personal insults, underscoring the extent to which the Republican race has turned into a political street fight.

At a rally in Atlanta, Georgia, Rubio mocked Trump, saying the ex-reality television star has the worst spray tan in America.

Donald Trump likes to sue people. He should sue whoever did that to his face, Rubio said, drawing laughs from the crowd.

Trump held a rally in Arkansas with Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor who dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Trump this week.

The New York businessman repeatedly belittled Rubio, saying he has a fresh mouth and is a light little nothing.

Hes a very nasty guy, Trump said of Rubio. I actually thought [Texas Senator] Ted Cruz was a liar, but Rubio is worse.

Trump is leading the polls in almost all of the 11 states set to vote Tuesday. A major victory in those states would mean he is all but certain to gather enough delegates to clinch the nomination, although Cruz leads among Republicans in his home state of Texas, the largest prize on Super Tuesday.

WATCH: South Carolina Democrats Discuss Presidential Preferences
Controversial former war veterans leader Jabulani Sibanda says President Mugabe is struggling to keep Zanu PF intact.

He said it is not surprising that some factions  one calling itself Team Lacoste allegedly led by Emmerson Mnangagwa and the other Generation 40 backing First Lady Grace Mugabe to succeed her husband - are fighting for the control of the party.

Sibanda noted that there is nothing that these factions are fighting for as Zanu PF is now in tatters.

There is nothing to grab ... There is nothing to grab, now its a disappointing issue to be a president or to be in the presidency of Zanu PF or the governing party. I dont see them (factions) changing their attitudes or their modus operandi in a short space of time. I dont see that. So, there is nothing to inherit there (in Zanu PF).

Sibanda, who was expelled from the ruling party after he claimed that First Lady Grace Mugabe had staged a bedroom coup, said Team Lacoste and Generation 40 are hopeless groups of people.

He had no kind words to Generation 40. I wonder if there is somebody who is 40 among that generation or there was somebody who was 40 three years ago and remained 40 two years ago, remained 40 last year, remains 40 today and will be 40 next year its impossible. So, that organization represents something that is unknown to Zanu PF, unknown to our culture, unknown to our country.

So, these two the Lacoste  The Lacoste is something that we dont know, its foreign  that is a fashion or style. We dont know what it is. But whatever these two things are what they have managed to do is to drop the living standards in our country where people are unemployed, where tribalism works so much that people are now divided on tribal lines and if you go to our hospitals there is no medicine.

Sibanda further said there is no way that the two factions will heed President Mugabes calls for unity in the party.

Mr. Mugabe made the call after war veterans said to be backing Mnangagwa were forcibly dispersed from the streets in Harare by the police recently.

Sibanda said the war veterans wont heed the president calls for unity.
Russia has called for an extraordinary meeting of the Advisory Commission of the "Open Skies" Treaty about repeated breaches by Turkey.

Since 2002, 34 states of NATO and the former Soviet space have achieved "understanding and mutual trust." Unarmed surveillance flights are allowed on the entire territory of these state parties on the double conditions of 72 hours advance notice and, if necessary, equipment checks by the monitored state before the flyover.

 The overview of the site that houses the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system, in southern Turkey, has been banned since February 2013, supposedly because the system, which operates in automatic mode, could be accidentally triggered by an aircraft on an observation flight. Moreover, these missiles were officially folded by NATO in August 2015.

 In December 2015, Turkey banned Russian observation aircraft from flying over much of its territory along the Syrian border, on the pretext of conducting military operations, and abstained to justify these restrictions, contrary to the provisions of the Treaty.

 On January 26, 2016, Russia notified all States parties to the Treaty of its intention to conduct an observation flight over the Turkish territory from February 1 to 5, 2016. The following day, Turkey acknowledged this notification and indicated its willingness to endorse this observation flight and related requests from Russia. There was no mention or preconditions or restrictions.

At a briefing that followed the arrival of the mission at the entry point, Turkey announced that part of its territory located along the border with Syria was a dangerous sector of airspace.

This dangerous sector of the airspace had not been reported by Turkey, contrary to the provisions of Annex I to the Treaty.

At the request of Turkey, the Russian mission amended its altitude observation flight, whose itinerary included the observation of areas along the Syrian border (extending over 770 km, a distance of between 20 and 60 km from the border) and airfields on which are NATO member states aircraft.

However, despite this amendment, Turkey did not allow the observation flight, citing instructions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and thereby demonstrating that from the beginning, it did not intend to comply with the Treaty.

Russia is accused by some NATO states of "applying the Treaty selectively". In this respect, Moscow recalled that in 2014, at the height of the conflict in south-eastern Ukraine, it had allowed States parties to have free access to the border areas of Ukraine to ensure that there was no excessive buildup of armed forces and Russian military equipment.
The New York Times has evoked the possibility of restoration of the monarchy in Libya to bring the country out of the current chaos. [1]

In 2011, the original NATO plan called for bringing King Mohammed el-Senussi to power (photo). Washington had also chosen as the flag of the "revolution" that of former King Idris, historic collaborator with the Anglo-Saxons against the Arab nationalist movements. This project was supported by Cyrenaica, but violently rejected by Tripolitania and Fezzan.

Installed in power in Benghazi by the British Army, King Idriss was the emir of the Senussi order, a Sufi born in Saudi Arabia and very close to Wahhabism.
"We have nuclear bombs": this is what was said on February 19 on Russia Today by the Saudi political analyst, Daham al-Anzi, de facto spokesman for Riyadh. He repeated it on another Arab channel. Saudi Arabia had already declared [1] its intention to acquire nuclear weapons from Pakistan (not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty), of whom it finances 60% of the military nuclear program. Now, through al-Anzi, the Saudis have indicated that they started buying them two years ago. Of course, for Riyadh, this is to confront the "Iranian threat" in Yemen, Iraq and Syria, where "the Russians aid Assad." That is to say, where Russia supports the Syrian government to free the country from Daesh (Islamic state) and other terrorist groups, financed and armed by Saudi Arabia as part of the US / NATO strategy.

Riyadh has over 250 fighter-bombers with dual conventional and nuclear capability, provided by the US and by the European powers. Since 2012, Saudi Arabia is part of the "Nato Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency," the NATO agency that manages European Eurofighter and Tornado fighters, of which Riyadh bought from Britain twice the number of that of the whole Royal Air Force. In the same context, enter the imminent 8 billion EUR maxi contract - thanks to Minister Roberta Pinotti, efficient sales representative for the supply of weapons  to supply Kuwait (ally of Saudi Arabia) with 28 Eurofighter fighter Typhoons, built by a consortium including Finmeccanica with British, German and Spanish industries. This is the largest order ever obtained by Finmeccanica whose coffers will absorb half the 8 billion. Guaranteed with 4 billion in funding by a pool of banks, including Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, and the group Sace Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.

And thus accelerates the conversion of military Finmeccanica, with outstanding results for those who enrich themselves with war: in 2015 Finmeccanica share value grew by 67%. Right in the face of the "Arms Trade Treaty" ratified by parliament in 2013, which states that "no State Party shall knowingly authorize the transfer of arms if the weapons could be used for attacks against civilian targets or subjects, or for other war crimes. " Faced with the denunciation that the weapons provided by Italy are used by Saudi and Kuwaiti air forces for the massacre of civilians in Yemen, Minister Pinotti replies: "Let us not transform the states that are our allies in the battle against Daesh into enemies. This would be a very serious mistake. "

This would be especially a "mistake" to allow it to be known who are our "allies" Saudi and Kuwaiti: absolute monarchies, where power is concentrated in the hands of the ruler and his family circle, where parties and trade unions are banned; where immigrant workers (10 million in Saudi Arabia, about half of the labor force; 2 million to 2.9 million people in Kuwait) live in conditions of exploitation and slavery, where those who call for the most basic human rights are hanged or beheaded.

In these hands, "democratic" Italy places bombers capable of carrying nuclear bombs, knowing that Saudi Arabia already has them and that they can also be used by Kuwait.

At the "International Humanitarian Law Conference," minister Pinotti, after stressing the importance of "respecting the norms of international law," concluded that "Italy is a immensely credible and respected country."
So, Kimmy Gibbler got to do the lift from Dirty Dancing and every single mom watching the show was incredibly jealous that it wasnt her and every one of her children was like, Mom, why are you crying and why wont anyone put Kimmy Gibbler in a corner? and then Mom started crying even more and said, I am a failure as a parent, my children do not understand Dirty Dancing references.

After that, since she was already on Netflix, she searched Dirty Dancing and they do not have Dirty Dancing. So she tried Hulu and realized they dont have the movie, just some weird reality show based on the movie. Then she searched Amazon, where she bought herself a nice new face cream to calm herself down and ordered the DVD with her Prime subscription for $3.99 and cried a little bit harder because Dirty Dancing is, apparently, now only worth $4 with free two-day delivery. But tomorrow she will force her children to watch Dirty Dancing and that, ladies and gentlemen, is how Kimmy Gibbler is making the world a better place.

Before we get to the dancing, we have to talk about girls night. Stephanie and Kimmy Gibbler decide theyre going to take D.J. out for a night on the town because she hasnt spent any time with anyone other than children or dogs in about, oh, one episode. When theyre all dressed up and ready to go out, Kimmy Gibbler tells Stephanie that she is on fleek. No one should ever address Stephanie Tanner with slang. Please only talk to her using proper language learned in either a Lululemon or a Starbucks at a strip mall. Everything else just seems off fleek.

The three girls want to be the She-Wolf Pack which is possibly the worst cute name for a group of girls ever, especially since it forces them to do the What Does the Fox Say? dance after they say it. (It also just made me stream Shakiras best song, so thanks for that, FH.)

Then, the three women go to the worlds saddest nightclub. Its the kind of sad sitcom nightclub that weve seen a million times. When I would see this kind of place as a kid, I would think to myself, Brian, you will never ever go to a nightclub. That looks boring and silly. Its so bright in there and you cant hear the music and theres only like 20 people in this enormous space and theyre all extras who dance badly. Who would want to hang out in a place like this? The Peach Pit After Dark, maybe, but certainly not San Franciscos Euphoria. Remember when Brandon and Emily Valentine took U4EA at a rave and that rave seemed really awesome? Id go to one of those some day, but certainly not a lame nightclub. Cut to Brian, age 22, doing ketamine in the bathroom at a rave party and staying out until six in the morning. That is why his brain works like this now and you get to read it. Sorry?

Anyway, that U4EA nightclub was dumber than Sarah Palin at a spelling bee. Seriously, who would want to hang out in that lame VIP section by themselves, completely divorced from the rest of the club? It is also 9:30 on a Friday night, which is the worst time to go to a nightclub. I dont know how they roll in SF, but you shouldnt really arrive anywhere with a velvet rope before midnight. But at least there were some hot guys there. Oh wait, its Val and Max from Dancing with the Stars. Theyre that hot? And they take their shirts off all the time? Damn. No wonder why its still everyones moms favorite show.

D.J., Stephanie, and Kimmy Gibbler are at the club and Val and Max Chmerkovskiy (which not even I could spell at a spelling bee) want to get it on with D.J. and Stephanie but then Kimmy Gibbler feels all left out. And I dont know why Max wants D.J. so bad. She is obviously the Charlotte of this group. Any man on the prowl at a nightclub would know that Kimmy Gibbler is going to put out way faster than D.J. will. And Stephanie is a hedonist who makes sex jokes in front of her eight-year-old nephew, so we know how she rolls.

Oh, did I mention that Stephanies good friend Macy Gray is there? Yes, she is. Its so 80s sitcom to have a random C-list celebrity appear, and then have one of the characters be all like, Oh, youre Macy Gray, and the audience cheers like they really care. That is exactly what happened here and for one brief shining moment, Macy Gray had the 1,843th-most popular Wikipedia page. Macy Gray is perhaps the worst actress I have ever seen on my life, sort of like Meg Tilly on too much Klonopin. It was just so sad and awful, but I did enjoy when she and Stephanie dueted on Time of Your Life.

Theres this one joke that Macy Gray does, where she says, What am I even doing here? I have a Grammy. It just reminded me that Fuller House is the only show I have ever watched that seems to do meta-humor wrong. I dont know if its just too cheesy to pull it off or what, but every time the show tries to make a callback to the original show or explain how life works outside of the Werthers Original universe these characters inhabit, it just falls flat. Its just like when D.J. tells Max that Dancing with the Stars is her favorite show. We know that she came in third on the show in 2014, and thats supposed to be like a joke or a sly wink or something? Whatever, her cha-cha is still pretty clean. (Can I say that about a family show?)

Alright, theyre all at the club and Kimmy Gibblers ex-husband Fernando is there. Hes trying to woo her so they get back together, but hes also there with some other chippie so Kimmy is not having that Gibbler. Theres a dance contest and Kimmy Gibbler tells us that she and Fernando always used to win and she doesnt want him winning it with his new child bride. So, D.J. and Kimmy decide to do their fourth-grade Dirty Dancing routine. Mal and Vax (I cant keep them straight, sorry) decided to dance together too, and they almost kissed, and I got this funny feeling all over my body like I just ate 19 Cadbury Creme Eggs and was hallucinating a naked Ryan Reynolds in my living room.

Of course, Kimmy Gibbler and D.J. win and then they have to talk to Macy Gray, and we all want to die, right? Right.

Back at home, Joey, who has his hand up a beaver once again, shows up to take care of the kids. He makes them give up their iPhones and iPads and iKindles and whatever else the kids use these days. (iSnapchats? Is that a thing?) Instead, he has the kids beat each other up with Silly String, Nerf guns, and Super Soakers and they all bond and its amazing and everyone got slimed and they didnt even have to say I dont know. Joey only did, like, three impersonations so it wasnt even that bad, but the less that we say about Joey the better. Its not like he has anything to do with Dirty Dancing.
The Waco Community Band will present a free concert, titled American Military Music: Marches, Overtures and Tributes, at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Ball Performing Arts Center on the McLennan Community College campus.

For more information, visit www.Waco CommunityBand.org.

Waco Rotary Club

The Waco Rotary Club will meet at noon Monday at the Lions Den, 1716 N. 42nd St.

Ashley Cruseturner, professor of American history at McLennan Community College, will present a program titled What It Takes: The Making of a President, 2016-Style.

Lunch will be catered by Georges.

Cost is $10.

For more information, call 776-2115.

Cummings fundraiser

A benefit for Clint Cummings, who is battling cancer, will be held from 2 to 10 p.m. Sunday at Infamous Ink, 933 Lake Air Drive.

The event will include food, live music, auctions, raffles, art, a bounce house and more.

Proceeds will be used to help cover medical bills for Cummings.

For more information, call 757-1903.

Fuzzy Friends benefit

A Fuzzy Friends Rescue fundraiser will be from 5 to 11 p.m. Monday at Raising Canes Chicken restaurants, 4212 Franklin Ave. and 1501 Hewitt Drive.

The restaurant will donate 15 percent of its sales to FFR, dine in or drive-thru.

Customers must mention FFR to receive the donation, which will benefit FFRs spay-and-neuter program.

HWF bulb sale

Historic Waco Foundations Earle-Napier-Kinnard House is accepting orders for its annual caladium bulb fundraiser.

Cost is $12 for 10 No. 1 size bulbs (red, white or pink).

Bulbs will be available April 16 for pickup.

To place an order, call 741-0452 or 848-4177.

Dyslexia talk

Education Service Center Region 12 and Baylor University will hold a community forum, Understanding Dyslexia: A Scientific Approach to Reading & Reading Disabilities, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at ESC Region 12, 2101 W. Loop 340.

Jack M. Fletcher, department chair for the University of Houston department of psychology and principal investigator for the Texas Center for Learning Disabilities, will present the program.

For more information, call Diana Dirk at 297-1148 or email ddirk@esc12.net.

Submit items for Briefly in printed or typed form to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco 76702-2588; fax to 757-0302; or email to goingson@wacotrib.com at least one week before an event.
The Gatesville Volunteer Fire Department replaced an older slip-on unit with a new diesel-powered model thanks to a grant through Texas A&M Forest Service.

The new slip-on unit has already been put into service, Gatesville VFD Fire Chief Billy Vaden said. There is a lot of vegetation right now and the winds are drying things out. We are glad to have a reliable piece of equipment to combat the grass fires.

The slip-on unit has a Kubota motor, 500-gallon tank and a 200-foot hose reel. It is designed to provide stationary operation, or pump-and-roll, and is especially effective in handling off-road wildland fires.

The department has been serving its community since 1884.

The new slip-on unit will help the fire department fight wildfires both in the city and on mutual aid responses, said Texas A&M Forest Service regional fire coordinator Mitchell LaMonte. The department is the closest available resource to North Fort Hood.

This year Texas A&M Forest Service will award approximately $24.3 million in grants to volunteer fire departments for the purchase of equipment and training.

To learn more about this program, go online to www.texasfd.com.

-----

Texas A&M Forest Service photo

Holding an oversized check from the Texas A&M Forest Service are Gatesville Volunteer Fire Department firefighter Nick Ware (from left), Lt. Lee Walters, Deputy Chief Robert Featherston, Fire Chief Billy Vaden, Capt. Bobby Buster and firefighter Steven Beaty.
The son and daughter of a Waco woman who was shot and killed in September have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against their stepfather, who is charged with murder in the womans death.

Mitchell Davidson and Mallory Davidson, the adult children of Rebecca Penix, are seeking more than $1 million in their lawsuit against Michael Penix, who remains in the McLennan County Jail charged with shooting his wife four times in the head at their home on Gunnison Drive.

Dallas attorney Jeff Kershaw filed an amended petition in 414th State District Court last week because he said the family has concerns that Michael Penix is using community assets to fund his legal defense.

We do not believe that is appropriate, Kershaw said.

The lawsuit alleges that because of Penixs actions, the children have suffered damages, including loss of love, affection, companionship and emotional support from their mother.

2015 shooting

Penix, 52, a former Waco credit union marketing director, told Waco police dispatchers that he shot his 52-year-old wife after she woke him up and started arguing with him, according to records filed in the case.

Waco police Detective Mike Alston wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit that Penix was administering light chest compressions on his wife with one hand after police forced their way into the locked front door of the couples residence at 1217 Gunnison Drive about 2 a.m. Sept. 13, 2015.

Rebecca Penixs body was lying on the floor of the master bedroom, with the revolver on the bed. Police found five fired shell casings in the cylinder of the gun, the affidavit says.

Penix called 911 and identified himself as Mike Penix, according to the affidavit. Penix told the dispatcher that he was asleep and his wife woke him up, started arguing with him and kept on arguing with him, the document states. Michael Penix said that he had a gun and he shot her.

An autopsy showed Rebecca Penix suffered four gunshot wounds to the head.
More McLennan County residents voted early than in the 2012 or 2014 primary elections as voters seek to pick a side in the highly contested sheriffs race, among other local and national measures on the ballot.

Early voting came to an end Friday night, drawing 14,615 ballots out of the 127,950 registered voters in the county. Of those, 12,054 voted Republican and 2,561 voted Democrat.

The March 2014 primary election drew 6,025 early voters, and in May 2012, the last primary election with presidential contests, 10,211 residents cast their ballot early.

Registered voters can cast their ballot from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at any of the countys vote centers.

If a runoff is needed, it will be May 24.

Besides the three Republicans vying for the head law enforcement seat, residents will elect two county commissioners, a county GOP chairman, the state representative for District 12 and the U.S. representative for District 17, among other statewide races.

Ralph Patterson is running against U.S. Rep. Bill Flores, R-Bryan, in the Republican primary and had to resign from his post as party chairman. Patterson and Flores are vying for the District 17 seat, along with Grosebeck businessman Kaleb Sims, 38, who works in a metal fabrication and machining business founded by his father and uncle. The winner will face Democrat Bill Matta, a McLennan Community College English instructor, in November 2016. District 17 includes Waco.

Pattersons resignation opened the door for a new chairperson of the county GOP. Jeb Leutwyler, 63, the county GOP vice chairman, who moved into the interim chairmans slot, is vying for the seat against Waco attorney Jon Ker, 68.

Sheriffs race

With no Democrat in the race, McLennan County residents could choose the next sheriff Tuesday.

After one term in office, incumbent Parnell McNamara faces two challengers  one hes seen before. Voters will pick between McNamara, 69, of Waco, Waco police Sgt. Patrick Swanton, 54, of China Spring, and Pastor Willie Tompkins, 66, of Robinson.

McNamara said hes been encouraged by voters on the campaign trail who have supported the work hes done as sheriff. He said hes looking forward to a good victory.

McNamara has considerably outspent his opponents campaigning and has attracted high-dollar donations.

From July 1, 2015 through Feb. 20, McNamara received $125,320 in political contributions and spent $111,973, according to his reports. Hes been endorsed by the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, the largest law enforcement association in Texas; the Sheriffs Law Enforcement Association of McLennan County; the Waco Association of Realtors; Waco Good- Fellas; the Bellmead Police Officers Association; and Ted Nugent.

McNamara has campaigned on accomplishments while in office, including increased patrols and arrests. He said hes also proud of establishing an Organized Crime Unit and a Fugitive Apprehension and Special Task Unit and has touted the departments bomb squads efforts in assisting surrounding counties. McNamara said hes proud of the work done through the Criminal Investigation Division, which resulted in 139 arrests over the past year in four prostitution and child predator stings.

Swanton has referenced some of those same examples in saying he would make a better sheriff.

Swanton, team leader of the Hostage Negotiation Unit, has said the sheriffs role is about more than throwing people behind bars. Swanton has said a sheriff should excel at leadership, moving the department forward and focusing on employee training and retention.

Swanton, who was endorsed by the Waco Police Association, has said one of his first acts in office would be to move deputies back into the unincorporated areas of the county to keep residents without a city police department safe. He said he also wants to assign a deputy to the local U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force.

Swanton has touted his leadership abilities, varied experiences and personal law enforcement track record throughout the campaign. Swanton served the Waco Police Department in patrol, as a SWAT officer, as a DARE and Crime Prevention officer, spokesman, sergeant and as supervisor of the Hostage Negotiation Unit.

From July 17, 2015 through Feb. 20, Swanton received $49,024 in political contributions and spent $42,188, according to his latest report.

Tompkins, who has said several times he only needs the peoples endorsement, received $2,148 in political contributions and spent $1,660, according to his reports.

This is Tompkins second attempt at gaining the sheriffs seat. He ran in 2012 as a Democrat against McNamara and received 29 percent of the vote.

Law enforcement just hasnt done its job in the wake of Twin Peaks and people dying in the jail and the sheriff getting sued, he said. If the people got the message and vote their conscience, I have a good shot at (being elected).

Tompkins said he has more than 17 years of experience in law enforcement in McLennan County, including nine years as a Waco police officer, seven years as chief investigator for the McLennan County District Attorneys Office and as chief of the McLennan Community College Police Department.

Tompkins has said a sheriff should be more involved in the community, and the office needs to undergo more sensitivity training. He said he would also like to start a program for youth.

Tompkins said people have stolen his campaign signs during this process, taking one out of his sisters yard.

Commissioner races

Residents also will elect two county commissioners Tuesday, one for Precinct 1 and the other for Precinct 3.

Cory Priest 49, of Lorena, has challenged incumbent Commissioner Kelly Snell for the Precinct 1 seat, which includes parts of Waco, Beverly Hills, Robinson, Golinda, Lorena, Bruceville-Eddy and Moody.

Snell, owner of Texas Electrical Energy Savers Inc., is seeking a third term, while Priest, owner of Priest Cattle Co., is vying for his first chance to serve. Both candidates are running as Republicans.

Snell, 57, of Robinson, raised $14,345 and spent $14,878, according to his reports. Snell also received $1,500 from the Texas Association of Realtors. Snell was first elected in 2009 after defeating three-term incumbent Wendall Crunk in the 2008 Republican primary.

Since July 1, Priest, who also owns real estate and is co-owner of a construction company in Waco, has received $5,338 in political contributions and spent $11,407, according to his reports.

Priest has said hes a true conservative and that Snell has outspent Republican commissioners on the court by more than $4 million in the past four years on road maintenance. He has said he will fight to decrease spending and improve accountability and transparency.

Snell has said that with the second-largest precinct he naturally has a larger budget and spends that money taking care of the roads. Hes said he is the most conservative member of the court, voting against items, including granting the county treasurer a more than $15,000 raise at the beginning of this fiscal year when the treasurer asked only for a $1,800 raise.

While the Precinct 1 race has focused mainly on conservatism, the Precinct 3 race has had its own issues.

Ben Matus, who is running for the Precinct 3 seat against Commissioner Will Jones, listed a $1,000 campaign contribution from a corporation on his last campaign finance report. Matus said the listing was an error, one he planned to fix, and should have stated the donation came from the companys owner.

Corporation officials could face third-degree felony charges and civil penalties if a corporation donates to a candidate, and candidates could face the same if they knowingly accept the contribution.

In the beginning of the race, Matus posted on his website that Jones had twice offered to pay him the price of his filling fee to drop out of the race. Jones confirmed he made the offer, but said it was a business transaction, not a bribe.

Outside of that issue, Jones, 44, of Waco, said, its been a fairly quiet race.

Jones defeated Democrat Brian Scott in November 2012 in the race to replace retired Commissioner Joe Mashek. Jones said hes excited for Tuesday to arrive and has received a lot of positive feedback on the campaign trail. He said he wants to continue to work to protect taxpayers as he has done during the last three years.

Jones said he also wants to continue moving forward with big-ticket projects facing the county, including road work and meeting ADA requirements in county-owned buildings. He will help ensure these projects are carried out in a way that limits the impact on the taxpayers.

From July 1 through Feb. 20, Jones raised $28,405 in political contributions and spent $20,277, according to his reports.

Matus received $1,350 in political contributions and spent $9,465.57 from Jan. 22 through Feb. 20, according to his reports.

Matus, 63, of West, has been an auto-repair instructor at Texas State Technical College for the past 29 years.

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McLennan County voting centers

Registered voters can cast their Election Day ballots at any of the vote centers listed below from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Axtell School Athletic Meeting Room, 312 W. Seley, Axtell

Bellmead Civic Center, 3900 Parrish St., Bellmead

Brazos Meadows Baptist Church, 625 S. Hewitt Drive, Hewitt

Bruceville-Eddy ISD Special Events Center, 1 Eagle Drive, Bruceville-Eddy

Calvary Baptist Church, 1001 N. 18th A St., Waco

Central Christian Church, 4901 Lake Shore Drive, Waco

Cesar Chavez Middle School, 700 S. 15th St., Waco

Chalk Bluff Baptist Church, 5993 Gholson Road

China Spring Intermediate School, 4001 Flat Rock Road

Crawford High School, 200 Pirate Drive, Crawford

Fellowship Bible Church, 5200 Speegleville Road

First Assembly of God Church, 6701 Bosque Blvd., Waco

G.W. Carver Middle School, 1601 J. J. Flewellen Road, Waco

Hewitt First Baptist Church, 301 S. First St., Hewitt

H.G. Isbill Junior High, 305 S. Van Buren St., McGregor

Lacy Lakeview Civic Center, 503 E. Craven Ave.

Lorena City Hall, 107-A S. Frontage Road, Lorena

Mart Community Center, 804 E. Bowie Ave., Mart

MCC Conference Center, 4601 N. 19th St., Waco

MHMR Center for Development Services, 3420 W. Waco Drive, Waco

Moody First United Methodist Church, 500 Sixth St., Moody

Riesel ISD Administration Building, 600 E. Frederick St., Riesel

Robinson Community Center, 106 W. Lyndale Ave., Robinson

South Waco Library, 2737 S. 18th St., Waco

Speegleville Baptist Church, 469 Speegle Road, Speegleville

Tennyson Middle School, 6100 Tennyson Drive, Waco

University High School, 3201 S. New Road, Waco

Waco Convention Center, 100 Washington Ave., Waco

Waco High School Richfield Performing Arts Center, 2020 N. 42nd St., Waco

Waco Multi-Purpose Community Center, 1020 Elm Ave., Waco

West Community Center, 200 Tokio Road, West

Woodway First Baptist Church, 13000 Woodway Drive, Woodway
Ten tractor-trailers worth of Baptist history have moved into an unassuming building in downtown Waco, along with a collection of sculptures and the pulpit of the renowned 18th-century evangelist George Whitefield.

The building at 209 N. Eighth St. is the new home of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Historical Collection, which is moving from Dallas to Waco through an agreement with Baylor University.

Baylor officials see it as a boon for researchers, who will be able to study the official Texas Baptist archives just a few minutes drive from the libraries of the worlds biggest Baptist university.

I think the advantage for scholars is that its all in one city, said Kathy Hillman, director of Baptist Collections at Baylor Libraries and past president of the convention. Theres much more ease of going between the two. The collections are very complementary of each other, and this will make it very easy to cooperate.

As part of the agreement, Baylor has agreed to spend $2 million to relocate the collection and to digitize key documents, which will eventually be available online for free. Baylor libraries will begin by digitizing all the conferences yearbooks dating back to the conventions inception in 1886, as well as documents from Baptist organizations predating the institution. Hillman said the documents provide a window into the lives and beliefs of early Texans, including one 1880s tract railing against the evils of dancing, theater and roller-skating.

Alan Lefever, director of the BGCT Historical Collection, said he has about 6,000 boxes of material, including personal papers of old Baptist preachers and missionaries and histories of Texas churches. On a tour of the building, he pointed out a collection of paintings, 10 genuine Remington sculptures of horses and cowboys, and the folding pulpit of Whitefield, the seminal figure of the First Great Awakening.

The Waco facility will have a staff of four and will be open to researchers by appointment.

Lefever said the move will allow the collection to spread out, with more than twice the space it had at the old Baptist Building in North Dallas.

Baylor has really stepped up and made this a state-of-the-art building, he said.

The building is owned by Specialty Properties, whose owners, Clifton and Gordon Robinson, of Waco, are preparing to donate it. The Robinsons oversaw the renovation of the 11,000-square-foot building, including new climate control, elevators, restrooms and roof, charging Baylor only for the costs of labor and materials.

Its virtually a brand-new building, Gordon Robinson said.

Clifton Robinson is a Baylor regent, and his family has donated major buildings to the university in the past, including Clifton Robinson Tower and the old General Tire plant, now the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative.

The two-story building on North Eighth Street was constructed in 1951 and served for years as the home of American Bankers Insurance Co., which Clifton Robinson bought in 1979. From the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s it served as the Downtown Higher Education Center, a satellite of McLennan Community College and other institutions. It has sat empty since then and was on the market until recently for $400,000.

The move of the archives to Waco stems from the BGCT boards 2014 decision to sell the four-story Baptist Building to Baylors Louise Herrington School of Nursing. The convention wasnt filling up the 100,000-square-foot building, which it had built in 1988. Meanwhile, the nursing school was growing and desperately needed space, Hillman said.

Baylor wins by having more nurses, she said.

Moving around

The BGCT Historical Collection was housed at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth from the 1930s until 1998, when it moved to the Baptist Building. Southwestern was an outgrowth of BGCT-affiliated Baylor University, but it has long been a Southern Baptist Convention seminary. The two conventions moved apart over theological disputes in the late 1990s.

Lefever said the Historical Collection lost academic ties when it moved from Southwestern, so hes glad to see the new relationship with Baylor.

This move is really good for us, because it puts us close to not just a major university but the major Baptist university, Lefever said.

Lefever himself is a 1984 Baylor alumnus and has commuted for years to teach at Truett Seminary, so hes glad to finally live here.

Since the 2014 agreement with Baylor, the BGCT has moved its headquarters to leased space in North Dallas, with satellite offices moving to other Texas cities.

Baylor agreed to find space for the archives and also pledged to bankroll the cost of hosting the next four BGCT annual conferences in Waco, starting this November.

The Waco facility also got the bronze statue that had greeted visitors to the Dallas headquarters, depicting Jesus washing the feet of Peter, but the nursing school decided to have a similar statue made to replace it.

The facility on North Eighth Street also has a video conference room that can be a meeting place for Baptists statewide, or used by Central Texas churches to participate in distant conferences remotely.

We really want this to be a hub for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, Lefever said.
Troys Horace Fowler has survived the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl and World War II. Hes also outlived his nine siblings, the last of whom passed away in 2015.

Fowler, 95, was 4 when his family moved to Texas from Oklahoma in 1925, traveling wherever his father, a farmer, could rent land. During the Dust Bowl, his family lived in Colorado City where they often had to stay inside until the storms subsided. His mother would cover the food with a sheet, but it didnt help much.

There was still sand in the food, Fowler said. You could feel the grit in your teeth.

Fowler never finished school, leaving before he was 16 to find whatever work he could to help out his father with extra money to support the family.

On Feb. 25, 1942, he volunteered for the U.S. Army at Dodd Field in San Antonio (he figured he would have been drafted anyway). He was assigned to 7th Division Infantry, H Co., 184th Infantry as a No. 1 machine gunner, but he didnt put that training to use until he reached the island of Okinawa. Until then, he served as a rifleman with a .30-caliber M1.

He went through basic training at Camp Hahn in Riverside, California, then went straight to Kiska in the Aleutian Islands of Alaska to dislodge the Japanese, but he said they landed unopposed, as the enemy had fled before the arrival of U.S. troops.

They left notes on the doors, Well come back and kill you American dogs,  Fowler said.

The 7th moved on to Hawaii for additional training before heading for the South Pacific. Its objective was Kwajalein, a small, 2-mile long coral atoll in the Marshall Islands. Fowler said it took about two days and nights for U.S. forces to take the islet, cutting short the time troops wouldve spent in foxholes.

Fowler was carrying his M1. He said the Japanese numbered about 8,000 (compared with approximately 40,000 Americans); they refused to surrender, many choosing suicide instead.

Sudden, intense action

Even though brief, it was a fierce battle, at least for Fowler. We could hear bullets whizzing everywhere. We tried to stay down in the foxhole as long as we possibly could, he said. I wasnt prepared for it, but I got used to it.

After taking Kwajalein, the 7th returned to Hawaii to prepare for the invasion of the Philippines, namely Leyte Island. Fowler said the Japanese were stubborn and it took about nine months; although losses were few in his company, those who were wounded were never seen again after they had been taken away from the battlefield. You always wondered, he said.

Bizarre combat injury

The troops went straight to Okinawa and landed on April 1, 1945. The Last Battle turned out to be Fowlers final as well. It was where he earned a Bronze Star. The U.S. encountered no resistance. He said they were dropped off about two miles from Naha, where the Japanese were waiting for an expected attack. It was four days before U.S. troops encountered the enemy.

Fowler said as the U.S. continued to move up its

assault, the soldiers saw tombs on a hill with open doors and jars filled with ashes of the dead. Some of these structures were used to stash ammunition and provide cover for enemy soldiers. He found this out when some Japanese unleashed a barrage of machine gun fire and then ran into a tomb for more ammunition.

Fowler volunteered to man the Browning machine gun, a .30-caliber, belt-fed, water-cooled, recoil-operated gun. After the Japanese entered the tomb, he fired about 150 rounds inside, knocking out the enemy gun. It was his sixth day on Okinawa.

He was spelled at midnight and went to sleep in his foxhole. At 3 a.m., a horse saddled with ammunition had broken loose from the Japanese battlement and came running, eventually falling into Fowlers foxhole. The horse stepped on his stomach and head, broke one arm and the back of a hand.

He was moved back from the fighting and transferred the next day to Guam. It was while he was there that President Franklin D. Roosevelt died. Later, Fowler was transferred to Saipan for rehabilitation. While convalescing, the U.S. dropped the atomic bombs over Japan. The war was suddenly over.

Fowler was honorably discharged after three years, eight months and seven days of service.

He went on to marry twice, but outlived both wives. He worked in civil service at Fort Hood before retiring in 1981 after working many years as a carpenter. In retirement, hes a member of Hewitt VFW and has also served as a candy man at special events, complete with a candy cane outfit, bucket, cane and glasses.

Although he received a Bronze Star, Purple Heart and the Philippines Presidential Unit Citation, among other medals, he doesnt consider himself a hero.

The heroes didnt get to come back, he said.

Voices of Valor, which features stories about Central Texas veterans, runs on Sundays. To suggest a story about a Central Texas veteran, please email voicesofvalor@wacotrib.com.
While many around the country question Americas education system, few in our own community take the time to consider whether the standards by which we assess the quality of education show up in a specific institutions culture, mission and long-term vision. Consider McLennan Community College.

How many in our community know that since 2012 MCC has hosted Election Night watch parties? Theyre having one this Tuesday. Its an informal affair where faculty, students and the public gather to discuss the meaning of live election results. The idea, initiated by Andria Ramon, spirited government department chair, has the full support of Gilbert Montemayor, division chair. It provides a terrific opportunity for intellectual engagement, scholarship and insightful commentaries from government department faculty. More importantly, it provides students a much-needed opportunity to be part of our nations ongoing political discussion.

But this event holds far deeper meaning. Its a reflection of MCCs commitment to broaden students intellectual horizons, providing a learning environment where ideas are respectfully challenged, where the focus is on how ideas and thoughts are expressed and articulated. Its one more way in which MCC serves as a launching pad that prepares our next generation of leaders.

The great diversity at MCC prepares students to successfully function in an increasingly diverse world while offering pathways to academic credentials. Simply put, MCC is one powerful engine of our communitys economic and intellectual development.

I understand how frustrated some educators are when it comes to educational systems that focus heavily on test scores while ignoring deeper insights about the complex world around us. And I would think we all want our children to have an education that contributes to the greater good, not only locally and nationally but also globally.

To highlight MCCs flexibility in allowing faculty to be creative in the classroom while staying focused on academia, I submit for consideration a challenge I issued in my very first lecture at MCC. I call it A Tour Around the World. I take 15 minutes before every lesson to ask my students about events taking place locally, nationally and globally. This can be provocative.

The purpose is to evaluate how much students know about current events. Like any other MCC instructor, I seek to stimulate my students thinking, broaden their horizons in the here and now, challenge their assumptions and inspire their desire to engage and express opinions. I want to develop, improve and hone their critical thinking skills and ability to express complex ideas and concepts.

At first, this exercise was not well received. Students were intimidated, lacked knowledge and felt embarrassed not knowing what was going on in the world about them. What made it even more embarrassing was the fact they were enrolled in a federal government course, yet had no idea what was taking place in Washington, D.C.

However, after a couple of more lectures, savvy students started to check the news before class. Consequently, they engaged me and one another more frequently and raised key events from far corners of the globe. I observed a real eagerness among students as to who would be first to report on some major event or even some pivotal minor ones. The success of this played a pivotal role in maintaining my students engagement throughout the lecture and course.

Last month I received an e-mail from a former student from the fall semester of 2015: I hope you had a blessed holiday, Dr. O. I want to thank you again for telling me to keep an open mind and giving me a better outlook on whats going on around me. Ive been keeping up with whats going on in the world. Thats one thing I miss about your class. You are one of the realest professors and everyone deserves to be taught by you. I hope to see you around this semester. I hope you and your family are doing well, my friend.

Those in our community who think MCC is just another community college need to think again. Those horizons being broadened suggest much, much more is in play.

David Oualaalou, known as Dr. O to his students, is a global affairs analyst, blogger, author and professor. Tuesdays election night party runs from 7 till 8:30 at Michaelis Academic Center, Room 111, at McLennan Community College. The public is invited to join in the discussion.
Political elections are as much about those doing the electing as it is about those eventually elected. If each vote represents what a voter believes and hopes for, then the person elected is really a magnification of the desires voters happen to have.

This is why national elections are so fascinating. Every four years, Americans collectively paint and present to the world a picture that communicates their aspirations and fears. It is a picture that enables us to see the character of a nation.

When I first moved from Canada to the United States 30 years ago, I was told repeatedly that America is a Christian nation. It isnt simply that America has many self-professing Christians living within its borders. The identity of America as a whole, its history and its destiny, are somehow tied to Christianity.

Political leaders feel the need to appear Christian, say Christian-sounding things, show up at Christian institutions, and end their speeches with God bless America! American money proclaims In God we trust. What could be more Christian than that?

The current election cycle is demonstrating (again) that the rhetoric and mythology of a uniquely Christian America should come to an end. Why? Because the votes dont lie.

Though voters may speak piously and rather vaguely about Christian values and ideals, polls and election results communicate clearly that this is a nation consumed by fear, anger and suspicion, none of which are Christian virtues.

If voters were serious about presenting to the world a picture of a Christian America, they would need to be painting with the colors of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, fidelity, gentleness and self-control, because these are the colors that, as the Apostle Paul said (in Galatians 5), witness to Jesus Christ and the power of God at work in their lives.

Of course, Americans and their leaders will continue to speak in the name of God, even profess grand things about God, as they make their case for American Exceptionalism and the righteousness of the American Way. But from a scriptural point of view, it is all rubbish. What matters is not what you say but how you live. And from a Christian point of view, nothing matters more than living a life that is inspired by Gods love for everyone.

In Matthews gospel (chapter 25) readers are taken to the time when God judges all the nations of the world. It is a rather terrifying scene because many of the people present are convinced that they are the legitimate inheritors of the Kingdom of God.

But God is not fooled. God asks: Did you feed the hungry, offer drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit those in prison?

How will America fare in this time of judgment when we admit as evidence the millions of Americans (many of them children and the elderly) who do not have enough good food to eat, or the millions of Americans who have to drink water polluted with lead and industrial/agricultural pollutants?

What about the refugees and immigrants who are being refused at our borders and made to feel unwelcome in our land, or the homeless (many of them ill) who do not have a home and proper protection from the elements, or the prison inmates (many of them African American) who are treated like the garbage of society?

God is asking the nations about their public policy, not their verbal piety, because the true test of Christianity has only ever been the test of love.

Imagine a political leader saying, If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-2).

Love or noise? Love or nothing? Christianity hinges on how people choose between them. If Americans were serious about being a Christian country, they would call forth and elect leaders who are patient and kind, and never boastful or rude. They would demand a political process much less characterized by vitriol and noise.

In calling for an end to the rhetoric of a Christian America, I am not calling for an end to Christianity in America. The violence and hate, and the greed and the lack of sympathy, indicate that now is precisely the time for a sustained infusion of Gods love in our political deliberation.

But for that love to be genuinely Christian, and not a projection of our own fear, anxiety or arrogance, citizens are going to have to separate once and for all the false identification of American and Christian ideals. They may overlap from time to time, but they are not the same.

Norman Wirzba is a professor of theology at Duke Divinity School and author most recently of Way of Love: Recovering the Heart of Christianity.
When the plague descended on Thebes, Oedipus sent his brother-in-law to the Delphic oracle to discover the cause. Little did he realize that the crime for which Thebes was being punished was his own. Todays Republican Party is our Oedipus. A plague has descended on the party in the form of the most successful demagogue-charlatan in the history of U.S. politics. The party searches desperately for the cause and the remedy without realizing that, like Oedipus, it is the party itself that brought on this plague. The partys own political crimes are being punished in a bit of cosmic justice fit for a Greek tragedy.

Lets be clear: Trump is no fluke. He is, rather, the partys creation, its Frankenstein monster, brought to life by the party, fed by the party and now made strong enough to destroy its maker. Was it not the partys wild obstructionism  the repeated threats to shut down the government over policy and legislative disagreements; the persistent call for nullification of Supreme Court decisions; the insistence that compromise was betrayal; the internal coups against party leaders who refused to join the general demolition  that taught Republican voters that government, institutions, political traditions, party leadership and even parties themselves were things to be overthrown, evaded, ignored, insulted, laughed at? Was it not Sen. Ted Cruz, among many others, who set this tone and thereby cleared the way for someone even more irreverent, so that now, in a most unenjoyable irony, Cruz, along with the rest of the party, must fall to the purer version of himself, a less ideologically encumbered anarcho-revolutionary?

Then there was the partys accommodation to and exploitation of the bigotry in its ranks. No, the majority of Republicans are not bigots. But they have certainly been enablers. Who began the attack on immigrants  legal and illegal  long before Trump arrived on the scene and made it his premier issue? Who was it who frightened Mitt Romney into selling his soul in 2012, talking of self-deportation to get himself right with the partys anti-immigrant forces? Who was it who opposed any plausible means of dealing with the genuine problem of illegal immigration, forcing Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., to cower, abandon his principles  and his own immigration legislation  lest he be driven from the presidential race before it had even begun? It was not Trump. It was not even party yahoos. It was Republican Party pundits and intellectuals, trying to harness populist passions and perhaps deal a blow to any legislation for which President Obama might possibly claim even partial credit. What did Trump do but pick up where they left off, tapping the well-primed gusher of popular anger, xenophobia and, yes, bigotry that the party had already unleashed?

Then there was the Obama hatred, a racially tinged derangement syndrome that made any charge plausible and any opposition justified. Has the president done a poor job in many respects? Have his foreign policies, in particular, contributed to the fraying of the liberal world order that the United States created after World War II? Yes, and for these failures he has deserved criticism and principled opposition. But Republican and conservative criticism has taken an unusually dark and paranoid form. Instead of recommending plausible alternative strategies for the crisis in the Middle East, many Republicans have fallen back on a mindless Islamophobia, with suspicious intimations about the presidents personal allegiances.

Thus Obama is not only wrong but also anti-American, un-American, non-American, and his policies  though barely distinguishable from those of previous liberal Democrats  are somehow representative of something subversive. How surprising was it that a man who began his recent political career by questioning Obamas eligibility for office could leap to the front of the pack, willing to communicate with followers by means of the dog-whistle disdain for political correctness?

We are supposed to believe Trumps legion of angry people are angry about wage stagnation. No, they are angry about all the things Republicans have told them to be angry about these past 7 years, and it has been Trumps good fortune to be the guy to sweep them up and become their standard-bearer. He is the Napoleon who has harvested the fruit of the Revolution.

There has been much second-guessing lately. Why didnt party leaders stand up and try to stop Trump earlier while there was still time? But how could they have? Trump was feeding off forces in the party they had helped nurture and that they hoped to ride into power. Some of those Republican leaders and pundits now calling for a counterrevolution against Trump were not so long ago welcoming his contribution to the debate. The politicians running against him and now facing oblivion were loath to attack him before because they feared alienating his supporters. Instead, they attacked one another, clawing at each others faces as they one by one slipped over the cliff. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie got his last deadly lick in just before he plummeted  at Trump? No, at Rubio. Jeb Bush spent millions upon millions in his hopeless race, but against whom? Not Trump.

The Republicans creation will soon be let loose on the land, leaving to others the job the party failed to carry out. For this former Republican, and perhaps for others, the only choice will be to vote for Hillary Clinton. The party cannot be saved, but the country still can be.

Robert Kagan is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He served in the State Department from 1984 to 1988 for President Reagan.
A Trib editorial board member going through paperwork at home Thursday night was distracted by his wifes uncontrolled laughter down the hall. Was she watching a Chris Rock standup gig on TV? Possibly a Seinfeld rerun? Maybe the airing of a classic Marx Brothers picture?

Hardly. It was another rambunctious, come-out-swinging Republican debate featuring five men who would be our next president, their behavior more consistent with a high school brawl than a mannered, thoughtful debating society. Forget any notion about the stately formalities of, say, the Lincoln-Douglas debates. At one point during the debate just three hours down the road from us in Houston, the Republican presidential frontrunner called the rival to his immediate right a choke artist, the one to his left a liar.

Listen, this has been fun with Donald in the race, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz told CNN afterward of Donald Trump, the man who minutes earlier labeled him not only a liar but a basket case before an audience that included former President George H.W. Bush, honored shortly before the fracas erupted. Its like going to a circus  you got your acrobats and clowns and dancing bears. But the stakes are serious.

We find few occasions to agree with Cruz, but he nails it in his description of the Republican presidential debates, particularly the last few. Its like big-time wrestling with viewers tuning in to see whos going to pick up a folding chair and bring it down on whose head. And while any politician can turn nasty when under electoral pressure, much of the present election cycles meanness has been driven by Trump, a master of in-your-face, below-the-belt insults and searing mockery.

Thursdays debate offered two seminal, worrisome moments that any discriminating voter should carefully consider. First, Trump immediately insulted conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt before the latter could even ask a legitimate question about Trumps failure to live up to his promise to release his tax returns  something that might well show how Trump has benefited from enormous tax breaks. A day later, irritated at reporting concerning Trumps financial dealings, Trump vowed as president to change the nations libel laws to make it easier to sue news organizations.

Vows to restrict our First Amendment freedoms conjure certain monsters in world history who, once they began whittling away at individual liberties with public indifference or even approval, took this as a cue to restrict yet other freedoms. And given Trumps wide swings in public policy stances and his temper, that should be a fear of anyone who cherishes the Bill of Rights and any of its sacred provisions.

Which raises a second gnawing concern, cited by both of Trumps key Republican rivals, Cruz and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio: Trumps business dealings. A couple of local voters on Friday told us that they liked Trump because he was his own man, demonstrated entrepreneural zeal and has not been living on taxpayer-paid salaries as Rubio and Cruz have. But if Trumps tax returns show he has benefited greatly through major tax breaks and tax incentives  which often mean other working stiffs make up the difference  that could create serious fissures in Trumps image as a self-made man.

Rubio raised viable concerns at Thursdays debate that rate intense scrutiny by the voters and transparency by Trump, including allegations about his use of illegal immigrants or foreign workers here on short-term visas (rather than American workers) in his business endeavors  claims wildly inconsistent with his vow to ship out some 12 million immigrants living illegally in America and create U.S. jobs. Just as any politicians background is ever ripe for public scrutiny, so it should be for any businessman when he runs for high office.
PRESS RELEASE  The Museum of Flights recently-restored Boeing 727 prototype will make its first flight in 25 years on March 2  weather permitting  at about 10:30 a.m.; the flight will also be the airplanes last flight ever. There will be a pre-takeoff ceremony for the event at the Future of Flight at Paine Field, Everett, Wash. and a welcoming ceremony after its arrival at the Museum.

Fifteen years in the making, the bittersweet final flight from Paine Field to Boeing Field will last less than 15 minutes. Upon landing it will taxi directly into the Museums parking area, and the engines will be shut down for the last time. Next, the flight will be celebrated next to the plane and inside of the Museum. The 727 will be open to the public for the remainder of the day. The 727 will also be open to the public the weekend following its arrival. Tours of the plane are free with admission to the Museum (tours inside of the plane are subject to weather closures).

The 727s brief trip from Everett to Seattle will be flown under a special flight permit, with only essential flight crew onboard during the flight: pilot Tim Powell, co-pilot Mike Scott, flight engineer Ralph Pascale, and safety officer Bob Bogash. Powell, Scott and Pascale fly 727s on a regular basis; airline and corporate pilot Powell has over 10,000 hours at the controls of various 727s. Bogash is the Museums 727 project manager.

Image: The Museum of Flight Boeing 727 prototype on Feb. 24, 2016. Ted Huetter/The Musuem of Flight, Seattle.

FLIGHT DAY SCHEDULE



March 2 (DATE SUBJECT TO CHANGE IN CASE OF INCLEMENT WEATHER)

There will be a pre-takeoff ceremony at the Future of Flight at Paine Field, and a welcoming ceremony at the Museum. The 727 will be staged, and on view at Future of Flight on the morning of the flight.

9 a.m.

Doors open to events at the Museum of Flight, and Future of Flight

10 to 10:25 a.m.



Preflight ceremony at Future of Flight

10:25 a.m.



Aircraft started and positioned for takeoff.

10:30 a.m.



Aircraft departure

10:45 a.m.



Aircraft arrival at Boeing Field

The plane will taxi under a water arch created by the Boeing Fire Dept. just before it enters the Museums East Parking lot; after final engine shut-down, crew is greeted by former United Airlines flight attendants and Museum staff. In keeping with aviation tradition for final flights, the crew will write their signatures in the aircrafts wheel well. That done, the crew will continue into the Museums Side Gallery for a brief ceremony open to Museum visitors.

The guests at the welcoming ceremony will include dozens, perhaps hundreds of retired Boeing and United Airlines employees, including flight attendants, pilots, engineers and others with direct ties to the Boeing 727 as a test plane and airliner.

11:45 a.m.



Aircraft open for VIP tours.

12:30 p.m.



Aircraft open for public tours (free with admission the Museum).

March 5-6 Weekend Airplane Open to Public

The weekend following the arrival, March 5-6, the plane will be open for public tours, free with admission to the Museum. Interior tours are available only if it does not rain on that day.

The 727 will be on temporary display in the Museums Airpark through the summer. It will be moved for permanent display in the Aviation Pavilion in the fall.

This unique jet has not been airborne since it was donated to the Museum by United Air Lines in 1991, and has been under restoration ever since by volunteer crews at the Museums Restoration Center and Reserve Collection at Paine Field, Everett, Wash.

Regular updates on the final preparations can be found on the Museums Facebook, Twitter and Instagram social media outlets:

History of the Boeing 727 Prototype

The Museums three-engine, Boeing 727-100, N7001U, first flew on February 9, 1963. Until the 777 in the 1990s, it was the only type of Boeing commercial jet with no dedicated prototype-the first airplane was not kept as a flight test airplane, but was delivered to the kickoff customer airline and went into regular service. It was the first of 1832 Boeing 727 Trijets built at Boeings Renton plant. The airplane was delivered to United Air Lines on Oct. 6, 1964, and remained with the company for its entire service life. During its 27-year career the Trijet accumulated 64,495 hours, made 48,060 landings, and flew an estimated three million passengers. United paid $4.4 million for the airplane, which in-turn generated revenues of more than $300 million.

In 1984, the Museum of Flights Chairman of the Aircraft Acquisition Committee, Bob Bogash, approached then-United top managers Ed Carlson and Dick Ferris, and asked for the 727 upon its retirement. United agreed. On Jan 23, 1988 the airplane was present during an official Museum ceremony a few years before it was retired. On Jan. 13, 1991, the airplane-repainted in its original United colors-flew revenue trip 838 SFO  SEA, and was then ferried to Boeing Field for a final acceptance ceremony at the Museum. It made one last flight to the Museums Paine Field Restoration Center. Bogash, a Boeing Company veteran of 30 years, became the 727 restoration project manager.

United removed many of the major parts on the airplane, to use as spares for its remaining fleet of 727s. The Museum was left with a significant challenge with its goal to restore the airplane to airworthy condition. After a few idle years the restoration began in earnest, and grew significantly with the donation of two more 727s for parts. On March 6, 2004, Federal Express donated a 727-100 airplane to the Museum, and in September 2005, Clay Lacey donated a 727-200.
It staggers anyones sense of time and space. I am compelled to read about it over and over and over again after I get home from my May 2015 raft trip down the Colorado River. It takes quite a bit of Wait. What? before I can even begin to wrap my mind around its significance. It is the Grand Canyon Supergroup, gently tilted and isolated remnant wedges of the oldest limestones, sandstones, siltstones, mudstones, and basalts found in Grand Canyon. We are talking about sedimentary rocks that are more than a billion years old.

Finding the Grand Canyon Supergroup (click on any pic to enlargenate

One story ends as another begins. Around 1,300 million years ago in northwestern Arizona, lofty mountains reaching high into the sky entered the next phase of the relentless geologic cycle of deposition, uplift, and erosion. Over the next 45 million years, these igneous and metamorphic rocks (now called the Granite Gorge Metamorphic Suite, but you may know them as the Vishnu Schist and Zoroaster Granite) would be weathered, eroded and planed flat to near sea level. As the western continent subsided, new sediments were deposited on top of this planed surface. Radiometric dating and studies of paleomagnetic pole positions suggest that this new deposition started about 1,255 million years ago and lasted for 250 million years. These are the sediments of the lower, older Unkar Group of the Grand Canyon Supergroup.

The Supergroup consists of nine different formations divided into two subgroups. From oldest to youngest, these are the Unkar Group (five formations) the Nankoweap Formation, the Chuar Group (two formations), and the Sixtymile Formation. Just downstream from the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado, the Unkar is impressively exposed at river level in eastern Grand Canyon. Tonight, we sleep within its layers.

Time, time, time, see whats become of me

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Collision in the East, Rifting in the West

Meanwhile, continents were colliding and assembling into the supercontinent Rodinia. Along a belt of landscape between Texas and New York, the Grenville orogeny was the collisional suture zone between an ancient North American eastern coastline and other unknown land masses, either continental or island arc. Along this band of colliding landscapes, mountains were thrust upward and the crust was compressed. The relentless tectonic activity that ensued over the next 200 million years was powerful enough to affect the continent as far away as the Grand Canyon region.

A tilted Supergroup block  its all the Butte Faults fault

While crustal contraction and mountain building persisted in the east, much of the rest of the continental interior was trying to rift apart. Deposited primarily in a shallow water basin at or near sea level, the Unkar Group in Grand Canyon may record a history of the contraction and extension caused by these crustal stresses of the Grenville orogeny far away in Texas.

The beautiful Butte Fault  be sure to enlargenate

The Grenville orogeny was the culmination of the formation of Rodinia. The supercontinent began to split apart about 750 million years ago as Australia and Antarctica pulled away, or rifted, from the western edge of North America. Extensional or normal faulting occurs during rifting or stretching of the crust, and this is what happened in the Grand Canyon region. As Australia and Antarctica (and possibly China) went byebye and sailed off into the western horizon, the crust of western North America stretched. Normal faults split the Grand Canyon region and offset adjacent blocks of crust nearly two vertical miles. It was the movement along these normal faults that tilted the blocks of rocks of the Grand Canyon Supergroup. Mountain blocks were tilted upward like so many toppled dominoes and separated by downdropped basins. This configuration of tilted rocks is common in areas of crustal extension and occurs today in the Basin and Range Province of Nevada.

The Butte Fault and tilted rocks of the Unkar Group

The Butte Fault system is a prominent structure in eastern Grand Canyon. Studies show that the Butte Fault is a normal fault that underwent more than 10,000 feet of westside down displacement at the end of the Proterozoic, during the break up of Rodinia. The isolated, remnant wedges of Grand Canyon Supergroup rocks are preserved due to their existence as tilted, faultbound blocks. The Butte Fault system undoubtedly played an important role in the tilting and preservation of these Supergroup rocks.

Interlayered sandstones and mudstones of the Dox Formation,

part of the Unkar Group

Dox Formation, somewhere around river mile 66

By 545 million years ago tectonism had quieted. With the exception of scattered hills of Shinumo Quartzite and Zoroaster Granite, the Basin and Rangelike mountains had been weathered and eroded to a beveled flatness. [embedded content]

I spot a snazzy step fold in the Dox Formation. These interbedded sandstones and mudstones tell a story of changes in an ancient sea level around 1,100 million years ago.

Seeing this step fold, I nearly fell out of the boat from too much excitement

According to my map, this prominent peak is Comanche Point.

We slowly motor through the Dox

All ashore thats going ashore! Our campsite is nestled within the East Kaibab monocline, a continuation of the Butte Fault that extends northward across the Utah border.

Putting in for the night along the East Kaibab monocline, beneath

the Cardenas Lava and Dox Formation

From my journal:

By the time we reach camp #3 (just upstream from Tanner Rapids, about river mile 68.5), we had gone by the Sacred Hopi Salt Mines, past the Great Unconformity, and traveled into the Dox Formation of Precambrian age. The wind is fierce but the rain has stopped and the sky is clearing. I am exhausted from the wind and rain and so take a long time setting up my tent. Kriss tent nearly blows away so I give her a couple of extra stakes. She also guys it down with some rocks.

Dinner is Mexican and hot tea. Others stay up around a warm campfire but Kris and I retire to our tents at dark. The wind is diminished. I can hear the constant roar of nearby Tanner Rapids  tonights lullaby.

Tomorrow promises to be a nonstop, wild rapids ride, one after another and BIG! Apparently, we havent seen anything yet.





Nest for the night

The brownish Cardenas Lava only outcrops in eastern Grand Canyon

Spectacular doesnt even begin to describe this place.**********************************

References:

Beus, S., 2003, Grand Canyon Supergroup, in Beus, S. and Morales, M., eds., Grand Canyon Geology, 2nd edition, Oxford University PressBlakey, R. and Ranney, W., 2008, Ancient Landscapes of the Colorado Plateau, Grand Canyon AssociationCollier, M., 1980, An Introduction to Grand Canyon Geology, Grand Canyon Natural History AssociationStevens, L., 2013, The Colorado River in Grand Canyon  River Map & Guide, Grand Canyon Wildlands Council

And, last but not least, Simon & Garfunkel, 1966, A Hazy Shade of Winter
Australia's biggest milk processor, Murray Goulburn, has confirmed it will miss the profit forecast from its prospectus, sending units in its listed trust tumbling as much as 13.6 per cent.

The co-operative, which listed its non-voting trust on the ASX last July, expects to generate full-year net profit of about $63 million. This compares with its prospectus forecast of $89 million, and previous warnings to investors that its net profit would be between $66 million and $86 million if global dairy prices didn't recover as expected.

Murray Goulburn managing director Gary Helou: "There's no doubt that prices would be a lot lower than they are had it not been for the dairy food strategy." Credit:Jason South

The outlook is likely to limit price rises for farmers this season, as Murray Goulburn maintains its opening price of $5.60 a kilogram milk solids.

But the co-operative's managing director, Gary Helou, said profitability and the farm gate price would be much lower if it had not begun to shift its reliance from dairy commodities to higher value-added products, such as branded cheeses and beverages, four years ago.
Illustration: Reg Lynch Making some progress Amid all the staggering bigotry that still exists towards gays, as witnessed by the hysterical response to the Safe Schools program  a straightforward program designed to stop the bullying of gay kids  came a sign of just how much Australia has progressed on the whole issue. Last week the Tele published a photo of our greatest Olympian, Ian Thorpe, kissing his new boyfriend on the lips. Ten years ago, people would have fainted. This time, hardly anyone blinked, no-one cared. I don't think even Fred Nile could be bothered uttering a word of protest at its publication, at least not that I have seen. How the truck became unstuck When I was a little boy I cherished the story told me by my father  whose 100th Birthday 150 extended FitzSimii will celebrate today on our family farm, which holds his grave, thanks for asking  about the truck that got caught beneath a railway overpass. Neither tractors, nor tow-trucks could shift it, until a shy little boy my age whispered something to the police chief, and within two minutes it was free. What did he whisper?

... and the bus that didn't Of course, he whispered his suggestion that they let the tyres down. Which brings us to the Montague Street underpass in South Melbourne, which, as you might have seen this week, suffered another bus-crash, shearing off the top of a bus, carrying 15 delegates to a tourism conference. This underpass catches, on average, three trucks and buses, a WEEK. So, as a shy little boy now grown, can I ask? Why don't they, 100 metres before the bridge, put some hanging chains the height of the underpass. Problem solved, surely? Thank you, thank all! JOKE OF THE WEEK A bloke goes to the circus and is impressed. After the show he speaks to the manager and asks for a job. "Alright, what can you do?" the manager asks.

"I can do great bird impressions," the bloke replies. "Pssh, a lot of people can do that." "Oh well, never mind," the bloke says, and flies away. THEY SAID IT "It indoctrinates kids with a Marxist agenda of cultural relativism . . ."

An un-named Coalition MP  but I'll bet it rhymes with "Tory Turn-Hardy"  to the joint-partyroom on Safe Schools program, which is designed simply to protect gay kids from being bullied. "Luckily, hopefully, they all ducked their heads and closed their eyes to keep themselves out of trouble." Andrew O'Connell, Melbourne MFB Incident Controller, about the 15 people attending a tourism conference whose bus crashed into a low bridge. No one was badly hurt. "The government should stop tinkering with superannuation. Not even think about it. And Barnaby Joyce, as the new deputy prime minister, should stop thinking out loud." Journalist Madonna King, on The Drum, about the floated idea that superannuation shouldn't be compulsory for low income earners.

"When I was giving my statement in the police station afterwards, the officer suggested someone might nominate me for a bravery award, but it just felt good to help, because this poor man that got pushed, he was about 60 and he was pushing his 90-year-old mother in a wheelchair at the time." Shayne Hunt, 19 years old and about 50kg, who crash-tackled a robber in Nowra when he was running away from attacking two people. Once she had him on the ground, other people held him until the police arrived while she picked up his wallet and phone so he could be identified if he got away again. "To encourage a guy to wear a dress would just be setting him up for bullying." Wendy Francis, spokesperson for the Australian Christian Lobby, which is condemning the announcement this week from Newtown High School of the Performing Arts that its uniform policy is being changed to allow students to wear boys or girls uniforms regardless of their gender. "Hang on in there."

Advice from Andrew Mackenzie, CEO of BHP Billiton, to investors as the company announced a half-year $7.8 billion loss. "We won with highly educated. We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated." Donald Trump, after winning the Nevada Republican Primary. "The plan we're putting forward today isn't just about closing the facility at Guantanamo. It's not just about dealing with the current group of detainees, which is a complex piece of business because of the manner in which they were originally apprehended and what happened. This is about closing a chapter in our history. Keeping this facility open is contrary to our values. It undermines our standing in the world. It is viewed as a stain on our broader record of upholding the highest standards of rule of law." American president Barack Obama calling for the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility after delivering his plan to Congress to achieve a goal that has long eluded his presidency.

"They [the ALP] have got a policy that will increase the cost of housing for all Australians, for those people who own a home and for those people who would like to get into the housing market through their negative gearing policy." Assistant Treasurer Kelly O'Dwyer on morning television, going off-track and managing to contradict Malcolm Turnbull. "The point I was making is that under Labor's policy there will be increased demand for new property, pushing up prices for new property. It is clear from Labor's ill-considered policy that existing house prices will decline." Kelly O'Dwyer later, back-pedalling as fast as she could. "In 1978, The Sydney Morning Herald reported the names, addresses and professions of people arrested during public protests to advance gay rights. The paper at the time was following the custom and practice of the day. We acknowledge and apologise for the hurt and suffering that reporting caused. It would never happen today."
Good public policy is best shaped by the dispassionate analysis of what in practice has worked, or not. Policy based on common assumptions and popular sentiments can become a recipe for mistaken prescriptions and misguided interventions.

Nowhere is this divorce between rhetoric and reality more evident than in the formulation of global drug policies, where too often emotions and ideology rather than evidence have prevailed.

Initial trends show that where cannabis has been legalised, there has been no explosion in drug use or drug-related crime. Credit:Getty Images

This year, between April 19 and 21, the United Nations General Assembly will hold a special session on drugs and the world will have a chance to change course. As we approach that event, we need to ask ourselves if we are on the right policy path. More specifically, how do we deal with what the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has called the "unintended consequences" of the policies of the past 50 years, which have helped, among other things, to create a vast, international criminal market in drugs that fuels violence, corruption and instability?

Globally, the "war on drugs" has not succeeded. Some estimate that enforcing global prohibition costs at least $US100 billion ($139 billion) a year, but as many as 300 million people now use drugs worldwide, contributing to a global illicit market with a turnover of $US330 billion a year, one of the largest commodity markets in the world.
The sister of Australian actor Samuel Johnson has publicly dressed him down him for failing to consult her before announcing his retirement to focus on their charity.

The star of TV mini-series Molly revealed on Thursday he intended to give up his 25-year career via the Facebook page of his breast cancer fundraising charity, Love Your Sister.

Johnson, 38, has raised $2.3 million for cancer research with his Canberra-based sister Connie, who was diagnosed with terminal breast cancer when she was 33.
Members of Australia's reconnaisance and assessment team prepare to disembark a RAAF C-17A Globemaster aircraft at the Nausori International Airport in Fiji. In short, the military will be called on more often to respond to instability or natural disasters. Michael Thomas, a retired army major who has been advocating Australia join the US and other allies in paying greater heed to global warming, sees a shift in urgency compared with the Rudd government's 2009 version. Soldiers from 8th/9th RAR, and engineers from 2nd CER, clear the train line that runs through Grantham, Queensland, after flooding in 2011. Credit:Petty Officer Damian Pawlenko "Whereas the 2009 defence white paper stated the likely strategic consequences of climate change would not be felt until after 2030, this [paper] notes that climate change will be one of the key drivers that will shape the strategic environment 'to 2035'," Thomas says.

"This implies that climate change is not a far-off threat for tomorrow's generals. It is here to be dealt with today." Sailors on the flight deck of the HMAS Canberra during the Royal Australian Navy exercises off Jervis Bay last November. Credit:Kate Geraghty Climate change is not a far-off threat for tomorrow's generals. It is here to be dealt with today Michael Thomas, retired Australian Army major Bipartisan view The Gillard government's white paper in 2013 also identified the climate as a national security threat but this year's version is notable because it brings a bipartisan consensus for the first time.

"[I]t would probably not have happened under [former PM Tony] Abbott's leadership," Thomas says. "So credit [is] due to Malcolm Turnbull." That view of a political shift under Turnbull is also shared from afar. David Titley, a retired rear admiral of the US Navy who combines his scientific training as an oceanographer with his military rank to nudge the Pentagon to take climate change seriously, visited Australia's Defence Force Academy last October and detected the altered posture first-hand. "The thing that struck me was ... how much under the previous leadership, the defence bureaucracy had been intimidated into 'do not touch this issue'," Titley says. "You could see with the new PM, at least you could have that discussion." As with the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review  "the 100,000-foot" overview of the US military's threats and capabilities  having climate change identified in the defence white paper as a challenge "is a very good step in the right direction", he says.

It gives policymakers or defence planners being grilled by politicians or their chiefs some cover, allowing them to point back to the paper when asked why Australia is spending more time or resources on the issue. Titley should know. He has testified before both sides of the polarised US political divide, including the mostly climate change-denying Republican leadership such as hard-right Texan presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz. Extreme extremes Titley sees parallels between the views of some Australian conservatives and those of the Texas Republicans, who typically dismiss the recent spate of record drought, heat and massive floods as merely a natural consequence of their highly variable climate. "Their view is" 'The rest of the country says it's extreme, we say it's Texas'," Mr Titley says. "At some point, though, everyone has a breaking point  but we're not sure where it is."

Australia's recent equivalents were probably the extreme heat prior and during Victoria's 2009 Black Saturday bushfires or the Queensland floods in 2011. Record national heat in 2013 was also backed up by a very hot 2014 and a record hot final three months to end 2015. Odd weather activity abounds even if the underlying climate signal may be hard to gauge. Australia this summer has had its second latest start to a tropical cyclone season in the past half century of reliable records, producing a relatively dry wet season across the north, while the south of the country faces a long and active fire season well into autumn. Sydney will post a February with just one day with a below average maximum temperature on current forecasts  the previous record low was five. The streak of 23 days above 26 degrees has eclipsed the previous record of 19 such days, and may run at least another week. Extreme weather events are among the climate challenges for Australia's military not just because of the extra demand anticipated for their services but also since many bases are exposed to impacts.

Creeping change But even the creeping background warming can't be ignored if it alters the ability of the military to train or operate. Extra heat affects troops' health while ill-planned live-fire exercises can have huge consequences  witness the State Mine fire during the searing spring of 2013 that started at an army range, destroying about 50,000 hectares and threatening Blue Mountains towns. Thomas says rising sea-levels are another encroaching risk the military has rightly identified, given naval facilities in particular typically hug the coast. What he finds hard to square with the military's increased concern about the matter is why another arm of the government  the CSIRO  is preparing to axe its world-renowned sea-level research team.
Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, said that with three quarters of the search completed he remained optimistic the aircraft with 239 people on board, including six Australians, would be found.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. So far the only piece of wreckage recovered has been a flaperon that washed ashore on France's Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean in July 2015.

The man leading the search for missing plane MH370, speaking ahead of the second anniversary of its disappearance next week, says there is an area only half the size of Tasmania left to search. The anniversary closes the door on new legal action against the airline.

"We are still confident that we will find the aircraft between now and the completion of searching the search area of 120,000 square kilometres," he said. "The more we search, the more likely the aircraft is to be in the area we are still looking at.

John and Kaylene Mann lost relatives on both Malaysia Airlines flights MH17 and MH370. Credit:Glenn Hunt

"The only level of uncertainty is the behaviour of the aircraft at the very end of its flight. The weight of the evidence indicates that there were no control inputs to the aircraft at the end of its flight and that's the basis on which we have calculated the search area.

"Occasionally I will lie awake at night thinking about whether we have got everything right. Normally at some point I will say to myself there's not much I can do about this at 3am in the morning.

"We are not at the stage where we are throwing in the towel by any means. But governments have put a limit on the search they are willing for us to undertake."
Blair James and Shaun Wilson teamed up in 2009 with an idea to develop an affordable natural looking tanning product to sell to increasingly sun-conscious consumers.

A state government ban on tanning salons in Victoria was driving fake tan sales but the major retail products were all based on caramel dyes and the end result was an overcooked orange.

Bondi Sands owners Blair James and Shaun Wilson with Victoria's Secret model Shanina Shaik. Credit:Brendon Thorne

After more than two years of finessing their formula, Bondi Sands launched its first three products in the Priceline retail chain in 2012.

Fast forward three years and Bondi Sands sales have grown by 400 per cent to be the best-selling tanning line in Australia. The brand is on sale through more than 1400 stores in Britain and it's broken into the huge US beauty sector, estimated to be ten times the size of Australia's market.
A 15-year-old who attempted suicide after being terrorised at school for two years and beaten with a skateboard says he was bullied for being gay and told to "kill yourself, faggot".

Nathan Whitmore claims his school failed to protect him and he is planning legal action against the Victorian Education Department, arguing that his pleas for help were ignored for two years.

The 15-year-old has also gathered 3500 signatures on a Change.org petition calling on the state Education Minister James Merlino to ensure long-term counselling is funded for victims of school bullying.

Nathan's mother has spent $4000 on psychological support for her son, who spent several days in hospital after repeated attempts to take his own life.
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.He blogs as an advocacy to help the country in making itself known as a prime tourist destination to help highlight that it is really more fun in the Philippines.Follow him @ Wazzup
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Musk may lay off 75% of Twitter staff after purchase
By West Kentucky Star Staff Feb. 27, 2016 | 04:58 PM | PADUCAH, KY

A Paducah man was found dead on the back patio of a McCracken County home Saturday afternoon.

According to the McCracken County Sheriff's Department, deputies were called to the 3400 block of West Lovelaceville-Florence Station Road at 12:15 pm. Deputies say Stephen Sikes told them that when he came home, he noticed Floyd Nebletts vehicle parked in Sikes' driveway. Sikes told deputies that he knew Neblett had to be in the area, and began looking for him.

Sikes said when he checked the back side of his residence, he found Neblett on the back porch, deceased.

Sikes stated that he had left his residence on Friday around 3:00 pm, and a neighbor said he had seen Nebletts vehicle in Sikes' driveway around 6:00 pm Friday night. Sikes did not return home until just a few minutes before he dialed 911.

Deputies say Neblett knew Sikes and where Sikes lived.

At this time, foul play is not suspected.

PREVIOUS STORY: Paducah police are asking for help in locating an elderly man.

Floyd Ray Neblett was reported missing on Thursday from his residence on Kinkead Street in Paducah.

Neblett is described as a white male, 6' 00", 181 pounds with gray hair cut above the ear. He was last seen wearing a purple long sleeve pullover, jeans and leather shoes. Neblett has dementia, diabetes, a thyroid condition and blood pressure issues.

A 2005 Chevy Impala with Kentucky plates 207-MZN was also reported missing.

If you see Neblett or the vehicle he may be in, please call Paducah police at 270-444-8550.
Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 28/02/2016 (2427 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Earlier this month, a Free Press article cited the Top 10 restaurants in Winnipeg according to the Culture Trip  an international blog billed as the best of culture, art, food and travel.

The rundown listed many of the usual suspects such as 529 Wellington, Fusion Grill and Resto Gare. But one pick  the Neighbourhood Bookstore and Cafe, which was lauded for its eclectic selection of books and excellent coffee  left a few people scratching their heads, including the Wolseley-area hubs owner.

This is a complete surprise (because) were not really a restaurant, Bill Fugler said, when he was informed his laid-back locale made the culinary cut.

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Bill Fugler owns the Neighbourhood Book Store & Cafe.

Its wonderful to get the attention, but we make a small batch of sandwiches and onigiri in the morning, along with a pot of soup, (and) if its still in stock, you can get it. The rest of (our) food comes from local bakeries such as Tall Grass (Prairie Bread Company), Jonnies (Sticky Buns) and De Lucas.

Id hate to disappoint people who want a restaurant experience, (but) we dont have the staff or the equipment to do that. We dont even have a stove or microwave.

Fugler was born and raised in Montreal. He was an instructor at John Abbott College when he accepted a position as writer-in-residence at the St. Norbert Arts Centre in 1992. He planned on returning to Quebec when his term was up, but Winnipeg won him over, one paddle stroke at a time.

I was living in a co-op on Wellington Crescent, on this beautiful space right on the river, he said. We had canoes attached to the house that we could use whenever we wanted to. Id be out paddling in the centre of a city in this park-like atmosphere thinking, This is incredible. It really made me fall in love with the city.

By 2005, Fugler was a married father of two, living in a home on Arlington Street, south of Portage Avenue. One afternoon, he was out for a stroll when he spotted a sign in the window of a mothballed laundromat at 898 Westminster Ave. that read, Thanks for 16 years of business. If you forgot your pants, give us a call.

Well put two or three people together, theyll begin chatting and realize theyve lived on the same block for years and have never met Bill Fugler

Fugler, who was teaching ESL courses at the time, got in touch with the proprietor and asked him what he was planning to do with the building. The fellow said he didnt have a clue because there was zero interest in the space. Fuglers next question was, How much?

I wasnt even thinking about starting my own business  it was completely on a whim, said Fugler, who purchased the property the next day after talking it over with his wife (now his ex). But a bookstore was something Id wanted to own since I was a kid, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

Fugler decided on a bookstore/coffee shop hybrid a couple of weeks later, while he was taking a break from renovations. Perched on a chair in what is now his patio area, he watched the flow of foot traffic along Westminster, noticing how often people ran into somebody they knew and proceeded to stand on the sidewalk for 30 minutes or so, immersed in conversation. His part of town doesnt really need another bookstore. It already had Prairie Sky Books down the street, he thought to himself. What it did need, he figured, was a comfortable place where people could idly hang out and catch up with their friends and neighbours.

The changeover took about a year. While his then-wife planned the menu  Shes an amazing cook, and it was great she got so much appreciation here for her cooking  Fugler, already an avid reader, went on a book-buying spree, hitting garage sales and flea markets all over the city. He laughed when he recalled how he would cart dozens of boxes home, only to be told by his wife, Get those books out of the porch. So hed haul them to the store, where his contractor would say, Get those books out of the office.

The Neighbourhood Bookstore & Cafe opened in September 2006. Because seating is limited  and because customers tend to camp  Fugler instituted an edict early on stating, Good neighbours share tables.

The Wolseley location was formerly a laundromat. Owner Bill Fugler says he bought the property on a whim.

Lets put it this way, he said. If youve been sitting here working on your computer nursing a single cup of coffee for a couple of hours, thats OK. But if we need the space, were going to join you up with somebody else whos doing the same thing. Whats funny is how many new friendships have started that way. Well put two or three people together, theyll begin chatting and realize theyve lived on the same block for years and have never met.

Even if you havent set foot inside the Neighbourhood, you might recognize it. The cafe has guest-starred on the television series Sunnyside. It also served as the backdrop for a Romi Mayes video  Devil on My Shoulder  and has been featured in a number of movies, including Path of Souls, starring Adam Beach. Winnipeg writer Sue Sorensen mentions the joint five times in her 2011 work, A Large Harmonium.

I wasnt even aware how often I used the cafe as a setting until you asked its even more omnipresent than I realized, said Sorensen, an associate professor of English at Canadian Mennonite University. The Neighbourhood is a very Winnipeg place for me. Its relaxed and real and comfortable (and) not part of a chain. In my novel, conversations between friends are really important, and I wanted to foreground how the best conversations happen: naturally, unpretentiously and in person.

To have a proper conversation you need to look at someone, and the Neighbourhood is full of people talking with and actually looking at their friends. So simple, but so amazingly important.

For the first few years, Fugler divided his time between teaching and running the cafe. But after falling asleep in class one too many times  students would be giving speeches, and hed be nodding off at his desk because of late nights at the cafe  he decided to close the book on his academic career and manage the biz full time.

TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS The Neighbourhood Bookstore & Cafe opened in September 2006.

The thing is, you dont do this to get rich, he said. You do it because you love doing it, which I definitely do. I see myself doing this forever, really.

david.sanderson@freepress.mb.ca

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Fugler says about 80 per cent of his business is from cafe sales.
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 27/02/2016 (2428 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MONTREAL  The 25,000th Syrian refugee landed in Canada Saturday night marking the end of the first phase of the Liberals massive resettlement program.

They were part of a plane load of refugees who touched down in Montreal.

In the coming days, the group will spread to eight different provinces joining those whove arrived in Canada since the Liberals launched their Syrian refugee plan in November.

The Liberals had first made a commitment to resettle that many Syrian refugees in Canada almost a year ago while in opposition.

During the election campaign, they pledged to bring that many people to Canada by the end the year, but that target was pushed back to the end of this month once they took office.

Of the 25,000 who have now arrived, more than half will have their costs covered by the government in their first year with the rest supported by private groups or a mix of the two.

The Liberals have promised to resettle 25,000 government assisted refugees in total and say they will meet that goal by the end of 2016.
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This article was published 28/02/2016 (2427 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO  A Canadian media outlet squares off against the government Monday in a legal battle that pits media freedoms against the ability of police to investigate terrorism offences.

Vice Media and its journalist Ben Makuch want Ontario Superior Court to quash an order that they hand over material related to their interviews with a suspected terrorist to the RCMP.

Courts should be wary of allowing the state to conscript journalists as investigative arms of the police, Vice and Makuch state in their factum.

Farah Mohamed Shirdon is shown in an RCMP handout photo. A Canadian media outlet squares off against the government Monday in a legal battle that pits media freedoms against the ability of police to investigate terrorism offences.Vice Media and its journalist Ben Makuch want Ontario Superior Court to quash an order that they hand over material related to their interviews with Shirdon. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Alberta RCMP

If media outlets are permitted to become investigative arms of the police through the use of production orders, the medias important role and credibility will be undermined, as well as its ability to gather information.

A year ago, Ontario court Judge Jack Nadelle ordered the online news outlet to hand over materials that Makuch used to produce three articles in 2014 about Farah Shirdon, of Calgary, including that he had left Canada to fight for Islamic State. The stories were based on conversations Makuch had with Shirdon via an online instant messaging app called Kik Messenger.

Police said they needed the information to gather possible further evidence against the Canadian. Nadelle ordered Vice to turn over unedited copies of records of communications with Shirdon and any notes related to how they had communicated with him.

The Toronto-born Shirdon, 22, a nephew of a former prime minister of Somalia, has made threats publicly against Canada and the U.S.

In October 2014, Makuch cited Shirdon as saying from Iraq: Canadians at home shall face the brunt of the retaliation. If you are in this crusader alliance against Islam and Muslims you shall see your streets filled with blood.

Last September, RCMP charged Shirdon in absentia with several offences, including leaving Canada to participate in the activity of a terrorist group, taking part in the activity of a terrorist group, and threatening the U.S. and Canada.

All members of the public, including the media, have an interest in seeing that these crimes are investigated and prosecuted, the government says in its court submissions.

In requesting the court uphold the production order against Vice, the government argues RCMP were mindful of the medias special role in society but freedom of the media must be balanced against the strong public interest in prosecuting terrorist offences.

Journalistic sources are not protected by a class privilege, the government says. Journalists cannot give a source a total assurance of confidentiality.

Vice and Makuch will also be asking the court for access to the sealed supporting documentation RCMP used to get the order.

The government, however, argues that making the information public could jeopardize an ongoing national-security investigation or hurt innocent third parties. As a result, it says it is now willing to release only part of the material.

In asking the court to quash the production order, Vice argues RCMP have already charged Shirdon with various terrorism offences, a sign authorities believe they have enough evidence against him without the requested documents.

Vice also says all the information relevant to the charges is contained in the articles Makuch wrote. Forcing him to turn over the underlying materials amounts to a fishing expedition that could create a chilling effect in which sources of important information for journalists would dry up.

The case resembles an ongoing battle in the United States, where the FBI is trying to get Apple to hack the iPhone of a gunman in the San Bernardino, Calif., shooting in December that left 14 dead and 22 wounded.
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This article was published 28/02/2016 (2427 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER  The RCMP spent just over $900,000 in overtime pay over the course of a five-month undercover operation that led to the arrests of two terrorism suspects in British Columbia.

Documents obtained by The Canadian Press through a freedom-of-information request show the Mounties paid at least 200 people, mostly police officers, $911,090.54 for overtime work during the investigation, which was code named Project Souvenir.

The operation culminated in the arrests of common-law spouses John Nuttall and Amanda Korody on July 1, 2013. They were found guilty last summer of plotting to blow up the B.C. legislature on that Canada Day.

John Nuttall and Amanda Korody are shown in a still image taken from RCMP undercover video. The RCMP spent just over $900,000 in overtime pay over the course of a five-month undercover operation that led to the arrests of two terrorism suspects in British Columbia. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-RCMP

Their convictions have not been entered while defence lawyers argue in B.C. Supreme Court that the couple were manipulated by police into planting homemade pressure-cooker bombs on the legislature grounds.

Defence counsel has described Nuttall and Korody as poor, methadone-dependent former drug addicts, while the Crown has said they embraced a radicalized form of Islam and were ready to kill and maim innocent people.

The court heard earlier that the operation involved more than 240 police officers, most of whom worked behind the scenes. Many were involved sporadically in the investigation.

The bulk of the projects overtime expenses, $519,039.55, went to 100 constables involved in the case, while 30 corporals were paid $128,369.76 and 24 sergeants received $69,494.65. Records show the Vancouver Police Department was given $92,397, though its unclear how that money was divided.

The overall cost of the operation was not provided. Without a breakdown of the number of work hours and officer ranks, its difficult to estimate the overall cost, given that remuneration ranges from a starting salary of $48,000 a year for constables to $107,000 for staff-sergeants and beyond.

A protracted investigation involving a core number of police officers is bound to lead to an enormous bill, said Rob Gordon, a criminologist at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C.

Here, the concern very much is that all of this money may have been wasted because police may have overstepped an ethical mark  about encouraging people to do things, Gordon said, referring to the question of whether the couple were entrapped.

If theyre encouraging them, what was the purpose? The answer to that is, well, to get a conviction: to show that theyre doing something about terrorism issues.

Thats a cynical view, he added.

There are more undercover operations happening today than 10 years ago, Gordon noted, adding that the government is coming under pressure to be proactive about terrorism and that pressure is being passed on to police agencies.

A 2014 report from Human Rights Watch focusing on the United States and titled Illusion of Justice highlighted the risk of terrorism stings to vulnerable people and to those seeking spiritual guidance.

Nuttall and Korodys lawyers have raised both of these concerns in defence of their clients.

The RCMP declined comment on its anti-terrorism operations. Spokeswoman Julie Gagnon said in an email the Mounties were not in a position to offer any information when asked about the frequency, cost and effectiveness of these operations in Canada.

Prof. Craig Forcese, who teaches law at the University of Ottawa, said in an email that while the use of stings is likely on an upswing in Canada, the infrequency of prosecutions makes it difficult to analyze trends.

In an excerpt from his book False Security, co-authored with the University of Torontos Kent Roach, Forcese warns about the danger of spending finite law-enforcement resources on nabbing the people most vulnerable to stings.

Those persons will not always be the most intelligent, most determined and most dangerous potential terrorists, he wrote.

Put another way: directing scarce resources at low-hanging fruit may mean fewer resources are available for more complicated, and potentially more important, anti-terror investigations.

Money invested in elaborate undercover operations can come at the expense of basic policing services, said ex-Mountie Rob Creasser, head of the Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada.

Creasser described the RCMPs ongoing resource-shifting exercise as a shell game.

Were robbing Peter to pay Paul, he said. Its like, which hole in the dike is bigger right now and wed better plug it and hope the other ones dont get too big at the same time.

Justice does have a cost.

 Follow @gwomand on Twitter
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Manitoba Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari denies there is a rift between the federal and provincial wings of her party.

Bokhari, reacting to a Free Press report Friday, said its absolutely false a divide exists, and she invited reporters to attend the Liberals annual general meeting March 4 to 5 to see for themselves.

A Free Press column, quoting anonymous sources, said there is not a lot of enthusiasm for Bokhari among some federal Liberals. Some Grits say they dont think she has what it takes to win the April 19 general election.

Mike Deal / Winnipeg Free Press Manitoba Liberal Leader Rana Bokhari

They say her choice of former Conservative operative Mike Brown as her communications director has also alienated some within the party. This has prevented the sharing of lists of supporters, volunteers and donors between the federal and provincial wings, they allege.

Bokhari noted the sources quoted in the column were hiding behind the veil of anonymity. She rejected the notion the NDP, as some allege, have a better chance of beating the Progressive Conservatives. The NDP dont have a chance of being an alternative to the Tories, she said.

Bokhari noted the federal and provincial wings of the Liberal party share an office on Broadway, and the AGM early next month is a joint affair.

I know that (provincial) candidates are getting help from MPs, she said.

Its not like were so divided. Were in the same office. Were in the same building. We have the same volunteers.

While there is no commitment yet from Justin Trudeau to visit Manitoba during the provincial election campaign, Bokhari said that is not surprising due to his heavy schedule as prime minister. But she expressed confidence the PM will do everything he can to come and help.

Bokhari defended her relationship with her federal counterparts Friday after a news conference, at which she promised, if elected, to create a $200 tax credit for those who create a living will. Specifically, the help would go to those wishing to create a health-care directive for family members and health-care providers about preferred treatment options should they become incapacitated.

This really is one of the most stressful times for family, and as a result they may be unable to come to grips with what their loved one really wants, Bokhari said.

By creating a living will or personal health-care directive you take the decisions into your own hands. We believe Manitobans want this, and we feel a modest tax credit will make that decision easier and more affordable.

 Larry Kusch
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IT may be Ready, Aye, Ready for some Winnipeggers after this weekend.

Its the motto of the Royal Canadian Navy, and the naval branch of the Canadian Forces held a job fair at HMCS Chippawa for a few hours Saturday afternoon. Dozens of people went in the first hour to find out about opportunities in both the navy and the reserve.

Kareen Rak, holding her four-year-old son Alexander, said she is a permanent resident and not a Canadian citizen yet, but as soon as she gets her citizenship she is looking at joining either the navy or the air force.

PHOTOS BY JASON HALSTEAD / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Naval Reservist Leading Seaman Corey Cooke (right) shows a machine gun to Bekalu Erkabu at the HMCS Chippawa job fair Saturday.

Rak, who came from the Philippines, said she would like to make a career in one of the services, but not just because it would be a job.

I know Im not born in Canada, but Im getting older, and I want to leave something behind. I want to say that I served Canada, that I have given back, she said.

I havent been to an open house at the air force yet, but the navy is interesting.

Nearby, Bekalu Erkabu, originally from Ethiopia, was also getting more information about the opportunities available in the navy.

Its my interest, said Erkabu, shortly after holding a firearm used by the navy.

Im trying to find out about it. Maybe this might be the future after I become a citizen.

Petty Officer First Class Leonard Lajoie, Manitobas navy recruiter, said in the first hour of the job fair about 70 people went through the indoor and outdoor exhibits and spoke with serving members of the navy and reserve.

Weve had eight people apply, so thats great, Lajoie said.

Last year we had a total of 100 people go through and 20 people apply, so we are ahead of last year so far.

Lajoie said the main qualifications are to be between the ages of 16 and 55, have a Grade 10 education or higher and be a Canadian citizen.

Naval Reservist Able Seaman Kristian Sinclair (right) shows a Morse code light to Satpal Singh.

He said a major benefit of the reserve is it will reimburse tuition up to $2,000 per year over four years, up to $8,000. There is no obligation to serve afterwards.

He said more women have been joining the reserve in recent decades, so between 40 per cent to 45 per cent of the reserve members at HMCS Chippawa are women.

Leading Seaman Sydney Huyghe said she joined the reserve three years ago, mainly to get the education subsidy.

I love this job so much, she said. It is the best decision I have ever made.

I joined at 17, and I am now switching over to the regular force where, hopefully, I will be posted to the East Coast or the West Coast. I love working with all the different age groups, and you meet people from all over Canada.

Lajoie said the navy accepts recruits year-round and not just during the job fair. He said you can go to www.forces.ca for more information.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
WASHINGTON (AP)  President Barack Obama says his unglamorous first job scooping ice cream taught him valuable lessons about responsibility and hard work.

He wants the same experience for other teenagers, particularly those without resources, and is launching a summer opportunities project to help young people land a first job that can teach them similar lessons and help send them down the right path.

The private sector, all levels of government, community groups and schools have pledged to help teenagers get their first jobs this summer.

Scooping ice cream is tougher than it looks, Obama said Thursday in an essay on the LinkedIn professional networking site. Rows and rows of rock-hard ice cream can be brutal on the wrists. ... I was less interested in what the job meant for my future and more concerned about what it meant for my jump shot.

The job at a Baskin-Robbins in Honolulu wasnt exactly glamorous, but it taught me some valuable lessons, Obama wrote. Responsibility. Hard work. Balancing a job with friends, family and school.

LinkedIn has pledged to connect millions of small- and medium-sized business leaders with organizations that help young people. The Department of Labor and the Corporation for National and Community Service together have committed $35 million to the effort.

Cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle and Charlotte, North Carolina, have promised to help thousands of teenagers. The spending plan Obama sent Congress this month for the 2017 budget year includes $6 billion, nearly double the previous years request, to help more than 1 million young people get their first job.

Congress did not act on Obamas request last year for $3 billion for youth employment programs. Lawmakers swiftly rejected Obamas $.4.1 trillion spending proposal for the 2017 budget cycle as soon as he submitted it on Feb. 9.

Obama said landing that first job is already difficult, but even harder for the 1 in 7 Americans between the ages of 16 and 24 who arent in school or are unemployed. The new summer jobs initiative seeks to further the goals of Obamas My Brothers Keeper program to help boys and young men of color.

As unglamorous as scooping ice cream was, Obama said it gave him a chance to contribute to his community.

And while I may have lost my taste for ice cream after one too many free scoops, Ill never forget that job, or the people who gave me that opportunity, and how they helped me get to where I am today, he said.
The annual Chow Mein Dinner will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, March 5 at Grace Presbyterian Church, 222 E. Broadway in Winona.

A dinner of chow mein, rice, noodles, relishes, rolls, fortune cookies, cake and beverages will be available for $8 for adults. A childrens portion or hot dog meal will be available for $4.

Tickets are available from church members, at the church office or at the door the night of the dinner. Take outs are available by calling 507-452-4608.

This year, 10 percent of the funds raised will go to Semcac Dining of Winona.
Winona Countys political parties are getting ready for Tuesdays caucuses, with both expecting higher-than-normal turnouts because of contested presidential nominations on both sides of the aisle.

Minnesota is part of Super Tuesday, when 11 states will hold caucuses or primaries to select presidential candidates and talk about other pressing political issues.

Both of Winonas caucuses begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday. For the Republicans, the caucus will be held at Winona Middle School, for the Democrats at the Winona Senior High School.

Lynae Hahn, Winona County Republican Party chair, said that they are expecting record attendance or 600 to 700 people, three times higher than 2008's turnout.

Factoring into that, Hahn said, is the media coverage of the presidential candidates' as they move toward nomination, which keeps more people aware of the caucus in general.

I think the variety of candidates contributes, Hahn said, too. She cited a political climate that many Republicans are unhappy with as motivating to come and voice their opinion.

College-age voters and recent graduates are expected to attend in higher numbers again, Hahn said, similar to two years ago when they had a very high turnout of college students.

They are still continuing to be involved, Hahn said.

Neither the Republican nor the DFL caucuses require being a registered voter in the party, but both do require signing in. In the case of the Republican Party, it is pledge-like document saying that you have voted Republican in the past or if not, intend to.

At the DFL caucus, signing confirms that you live in the precinct and also agree to the party goals.

Bill Harris, chair of the Winona County DFL, said they're stocking up on ballot papers, too.

We are expecting it to be larger than normal, Harris said, approaching levels of 2008."

That, Harris said, was the largest turnout they ever saw and the state DFLs predictions indicate 70 to 80 percent of that years attendance.

Harris also contributed it to the level of competition and interest in the nomination.

Both party chairs said that reaching out to younger voters, and in general spreading information about the caucus to those who may not know, or be confused about the process, is one of their top priorities.

The caucuses will also be choosing delegates to go to the regional and state conventions.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (TNS)  Hillary Clinton won a decisive victory Saturday in the South Carolina Democratic primary  a win that should propel her on a path to the presidential nomination that eluded her in 2008.

New organizations declared Clinton the winner of the Souths first primary immediately after S.C. polls closed at 7 p.m. She was beating Bernie Sanders by about 50 percentage points, a margin twice as much as pre-primary polls.

As victory in South Carolina showed itself to be out of reach, Sanders focused his efforts on Super Tuesday states. He visited Rochester, Minn., Saturday night, drawing a massive crowd of supporters to the Mayo Civic Center. Minnesota is one of 12 states and provinces holding Democratic contests March 1.

The Sanders campaign hopes to recover some momentum on Super Tuesday after Saturdays decisive defeat. Sanders was outmatched in South Carolina, where being a self-proclaimed democratic socialist failed to win over voters in the centrist state. His pledge to fix a rigged economic system and to provide free college were met more with skepticism than enthusiasm.

I was a Bernie (supporter) all the way up to about a week ago and ended up going with Hillary just for her understanding of policy, her foreign policy stance, her experience in government and just the possibility she could actually be able to get her agenda through, said Kimberly Branham, a 52-year-old administrative assistant from Columbia.

Despite efforts to woo black pastors, college students and lawmakers, the Sanders camp knew it was going to lose South Carolina.

I wouldnt focus on the margin, a Sanders campaign pollster said last week, because its not going to be that close.

With an insurmountable deficit, Sanders spent much less time than Clinton in South Carolina last week. He campaigned Wednesday, Thursday and part of Friday in Midwestern states that hold primaries next month, including some that cast votes on Tuesday.

Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning, Sanders said in a statement released by the campaign Saturday. We won a decisive victory in New Hampshire. She won a decisive victory in South Carolina. Now its on to Super Tuesday.

River Valley Media Group staff contributed to this report.
Despite a few recent polls that suggest most Americans dont really care about the Oscars, I think we secretly do. It may not seem hip to have an opinion about who gets to thank the academy and a hundred thousand minor acquaintances before the music drowns them out, but I am one of the Americans who does care. This is not surprising, because I have never aspired to hipness. That possibility was squelched in the fourth grade with my coke bottle glasses and pocket-sized calorie counter.

But I dont believe Ill be alone this weekend, watching gorgeous women walk the red carpet in their gowns, handsome men strut by in elegant black tie and Bruce Jenner do a great impression of Caitlyn Jenner. The Oscars are the gold standard of awards shows.

Its nice to leave our drab and cluttered lives for the 10 hours it takes to watch the entire program.

At the beginning, the whole affair was pretty low-key, involving just a dinner and a couple of microphones. As the years progressed, however, it became the equivalent of a coronation, only it happened every year and our royalty was a lot better looking than Englands.

There were a few controversies here and there. One year, George C. Scott boycotted the whole affair even though the academy had chosen him to receive the best actor award. Another year, Marlon Brando sent a Native American activist to pick up his Oscar for The Godfather, thereby proving that Italians and red whine go together really well (and if my editor lets that sentence go through, I will be thanking a lot more than the academy).

One year, there was even a streaker. Those of you who are under the age of 40 probably have no idea what that is, but there was a fad in the early 70s where people would run by in their birthday suits and flash you indiscriminately. This time, the undistinguished fellow barged onto the stage behind David Niven, who had the genius comeback: Isnt it fascinating to think that probably the only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings? Tina Fey hasnt written anything funnier in her entire career, and it only took Niven three seconds.

But recently, the Academy Awards have been pretty quiet, leaving the craziness and the noteworthy controversies to the Grammys, where Kanye West has spent the last few years calling everyone except his white wife  shes part Armenian  and her family racist.

Which is a nice segue into the point of this column. Now that we have resolved the problem with the Native Americans, crotchety old men and nudists, there is only one thing left for the Oscars to confront: racism. Of course, they have given it the nice, high-minded label of lack of diversity, but we all know that theyre not talking about integrating conservatives into the mix of presenters and nominees. The only type of diversity the complainers seem concerned about is the kind that is only, and you will pardon the expression, skin deep. There has been a violent backlash against the fact that none of the 20 main acting nominees are black. There has been a slight nod to the fact that very few other minorities were included in the acting categories, but the overall anger has been focused on the fact that there would be no shot at a black best actor, actress, supporting actor or supporting actress.

The stupid hashtag #oscarssowhite has became ubiquitous, almost as trendy as #blacklivesmatter. It became all the rage to say that you were going to boycott the Oscars because your husband wasnt nominated for an award. A lot of members of the Hollywood elite fell in line and took politically correct umbrage at the fact that minority actors and actresses were snubbed. They accused the voting members of the academy of being stupid enough to actually believe ethnicity was irrelevant when measuring excellence. They complained about how rude it was for mainstream society to ignore the achievements of minorities in the industry, thereby forcing them to finance their own shows like the BET Awards and Miss Black America, where ethnicity is irrelevant (oh, wait  ).

And when some white actors tried to explain that this preoccupation with color was counter-productive  people like the notoriously racist Meryl Streep, Michael Caine, and Charlotte Rampling, who waited more than 50 years for her first nomination  they were called the sort of names that would make even Spike Lee blush.

As someone who works with immigrants, I get the importance of diversity. Latino, Arab, Asian, African  they are all wonderful spices added to the Cream of Wheat mix, rescuing our melting pot from being a bland and easily digestible stew. But the idea that we owe people anything more than an opportunity is as offensive as telling someone their color was more important than their skill.

Fortunately, there are some people who do get it. At a recent awards ceremony, Jamie Foxx, who won a best actor Oscar for Ray, said this: I was with Sidney Poitier just a couple of weeks ago, and in 1963 all he asked for was an opportunity to act. Thats all we have to do: opportunity. If you turn the camera on and say OK, win an award, action well all have taken 10 steps back. Its all about the art. Who cares about anything else?
President Obama vowed as he took office seven years ago to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison, whose use for the holding of terrorist suspects arrested abroad long ago proved counterproductive. Thanks to congressional opposition, he has not fulfilled the pledge. On Tuesday, the president offered one more plan for doing so, only to be swiftly rebuffed by Republicans.

Though the proposal was flawed, he deserves more of a hearing. As Obama rightly argued, this festering legacy of the George W. Bush administrations response to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, should not be passed on to the next president.

This administration bears some responsibility for Guantanamos continuing role as a warehouse for prisoners who were captured in the early 2000s, mostly in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and held ever since. Since 2009, the Pentagon has moved only in fits and starts to review the cases of those held and to arrange the transfer of those freed for release. Obama has nevertheless managed to reduce the population from 238 to 91, of whom 10 are on trial in military commissions and 35 have been cleared for release to other countries.

The Pentagon plan submitted to Congress calls for the transfer of those who cannot be safely released to other countries  about 60 prisoners  to a location, most likely a federal prison, in the United States. The military commission trials, including of several of the prime authors of the 9/11 attacks, would continue. But as Obama pointed out, the proceedings have resulted in years of litigation without a resolution. He said the administration would soon propose reforms to the commissions requiring congressional action.

Part of the resistance to closing Guantanamo comes from Republicans who insist that it would be too dangerous to hold al-Qaida militants anywhere in the United States. This is unserious: Federal supermax prisons already securely house a number of dangerous terrorists, both foreign and domestic. The Obama administration has made a practice of transferring al-Qaida suspects to the federal court system for prosecution, with good results. A legal study attached to the Pentagon report largely dismisses concerns that militants could eventually be released inside the United States.

A more serious objection comes from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the Armed Services Committee chairman, who has favored closing Guantanamo. He says the Pentagon plan punts on crucial specifics about how present and future terrorist detainees would be held.

Though it studied more than a dozen potential domestic facilities, the administration did not settle on a recommended site; nor did its report  which was mandated by Congress  specify what would be required to modify a domestic prison to hold war prisoners. What would happen to the major al-Qaida figures now on trial was not spelled out. And the plan does not provide for terrorist operatives who might be captured in the future and held under the laws of war.

McCain said his committee will closely scrutinize and hold hearings on Obamas proposal. That provides an opening for the administration to work with those in Congress who favor closing Guantanamo to develop a more detailed plan.

Its not enough for the president to give speeches about shutting down the prison; he must offer specifics, and follow through on Capitol Hill.
Reported cases of influenza in Louisiana have doubled in the month of February after being relatively tame this flu season -- doctor's recommend flu shots.

Despite reports that the flu vaccine year this year is far more effective than last years, new reports have indicated that the number of flu cases has more than doubles since the week of Feb. 7th.

According to the Louisiana Advocate, the flu season in the state had remained mercifully quiet up until earlier this month, when more than 1,000 new flu cases were reported in New Orleans alone. The data includes cases of both influenza Type A and Type B.

While the data was noticed and reported by Columbia University in New York, Louisiana doctors noted the increase as well. One physician in New Orleans reports that he has received 15-20 calls in the past two weeks alone, a stark contrast to the 1-2 calls he typically gets in this time of year.

Dr. Frank Welch, an influenza expert with the Louisiana state Department of Health and Hospitals, suspected this years flu season to begin a bit slower due to the warmer winter weather. Warm weather typically translates to less flu cases.

The sudden increase in flu cases might be the result of New Orleans recent Mardi Gras celebration.

When you have a happening like Mardi Gras, you really have a lot of people in close contact with one another, said Dr. Brobson Lutz, another New Orleans doctor. When people are out hollering and coughing on each other, its really a perfect storm for influenza.

Dr. Lutz recommends everybody to get a flu shot, as he believes that, every year, too few people do.
Cemetery (illustration)

By: Mahesh Sarin

(Scroll down for video) A young girl lost her life while playing with her friends, who decided to imitate a real funeral.

Police in Kenya, said that the incident was a tragic accident.

The two-year-old girl was living with her grandparents in Kakamega, while her mother was in another city for work.

The two-year-old girl went out to play with other children, who are between two and 7 years old.

The children decided to make a mock funeral. They dug a grave and put the 2-year-old inside. They then added water and covered the grave with dirt.

According to investigators, the children then sang traditional funeral songs. When the children removed the dirt to free the child, they realized that she was dead.

They pulled her out and dumped her body in a banana field. When the girl failed to return home, her grandparents asked for help.

Her body was recovered. However, the 7-year-old boy is still missing. Police believe that he fled the village out of fear.

Community leaders said that after giving the girl a proper burial, they will they will hold a cleansing ritual for the children involved in her death.
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
Andrew Willson

By: Tanya Malhotra

A married teacher was arrested on a charge of indecent assault after having sex with a 14-year-old student, police in the United Kingdom said.

Now, 48-year-old Andrew Willson of Lancs, has been sentenced to serve 20 months in prison after being convicted of five counts of indecent assault.

The Burnley Crown Court was told that Wilson, was a popular drama teacher with a number of students, especially girls. The victim was selected for leading roles thanks to the relationship with the teacher.

Wilson and the girl spent a lot of time together both inside and outside the school. The court was also told that the victim was always cheerful and loved the attention she was getting from her teacher.

In one incident, the two smeared each other with chocolate spread and licked it off each otheras naked bodies for several hours.

They also had a habit of walking around the house naked.

Wilson made sure that the girl got back to school on time so she can get home with the school bus. This was done so that her parents donat find out about the sexual relationship.

After the news about the sexual relationship was made public, Wilson lost his job, reputation and marriage.
Credit cards (illustration)

By: Feng Qian

A man who loves buying lottery tickets, was arrested on a charge of access device fraud after allegedly making $100,000 in purchases using a company credit card to feed his addiction, police in Pennsylvania said.

Cumberland Township police said that they have arrested 32-year-old Brian Roy Kozy, after admitting to getting carried away and using his employers credit card to purchase thousands of lottery tickets.

Kozy was charged with one felony count of access device fraud.

He was booked into jail, and his bail was set at $125,000.

According to the police investigation, Kozy worked as a truck driver for 1st Choice Energy of New Philadelphia, Ohio. When Kozy was fired, his supervisor went to pick up the truck along with the keys and a cellphone.

The company later realized that their credit card was missing.

When the company checked the records of the credit card, they saw $118,074 in purchases. Truck drivers were allowed to use the company credit card only to buy antifreeze or other items needed for the truck.

Kozy used the company credit card to buy lottery tickets at Circle K. He bought up to $500 worth of lottery tickets at a time.

When a Circle K employee became suspicious, Kozy was banned from buying at the store. He then went to buy gift cards with the company credit card at another location.

Kozy told police that he did not realize that he had spent more than $100,000 with the company credit card as he got carried away with his addiction to lottery tickets.
Students Highlight Safety Concerns With Plaid Candidate

This article is old - Published: Sunday, Feb 28th, 2016

Concerns over student safety were among the key subjects raised in a recent meeting between Plaid Cymrus Assembly candidate for Wrexham and student leaders at Wrexhams Glyndwr University.

Students Guild president Marc Caldecott and other members of the universitys student guild met with Councillor Carrie Harper to discuss their manifesto, which covered a range of issues from tuition fees to health matters.

But among the local concerns at the top of their agenda was the fears for student safety in particular along the Crispin Lane area. The road behind the Racecourse Ground has been the scene of late-night vandalism and one stabbing in recent years.

More recently a number of student cars fell victim to vandalism, with the rear and side windows smashed in the early hours of the morning.

Carrie Harper said: Having faced similar concerns as a Caia Park councillor, Im well aware that these are not easy issues to solve and several local bodies such as community councils, the police and the Country Borough council need to work together in order to ensure improvements. Its also true to say that as weve seen cuts to youth services and support for vulnerable people, anti-social behaviour issues have increased.

As a community council in Caia Park, we have provided funding for additional street lighting and mobile CCTV cameras in order to help target hotspots for anti social behaviour which have been effective. The police have also increased patrols in areas known to be problematic following joint working at a community council level, which have also made a difference.

I suggested the Students Guild also contact Rhosddu Community Council to see what resources may be available and to encourage joint working between the community council, County Borough, University and the police to better tackle some of the current problems.

The candidate and students also discussed health matters, which were very high on the list of concerns, particularly services for mental health and sexual health. Cllr Harper said: A Plaid Cymru government will invest an extra 900 million into the Welsh NHS which will fund an additional 1000 doctors and 5000 nurses, as well as building three new cancer diagnostic centres, one of which will be in north Wales.

These additional resources are critical in terms of meeting the needs of Welsh patients across the board and in particular to address important basic needs such as a lack of GPs, reducing A&E waiting times and improving early diagnosis. They will of course also ensure more specialists in mental health as well as other areas.

A lack of long-term planning in terms of workforce recruitment has left Wales with one of the lowest numbers of doctors per head of population in the EU, that needs to change and quickly.

Another key issue of concern was of course tuition fee support. Plaid Cymru has recently announced a Learning Bond pledge, which will see the majority of student debt written off for graduates who choose to live and work in Wales.

Cllr Harper added: The current Welsh Government policy effectively subsidises English Universities to the tune of 90m a year through tuition fee support, at a time when Welsh Universities are facing budget cuts. This is money thats needed here in order to maintain high standards at Welsh Universities and is not a situation we see as sustainable in the longer term. The Learning bond will address this issue, as well as providing a higher level of debt reduction in the longer term for Welsh graduates based in Wales.

We hope that this new incentive, along with safeguarding existing support such as the Education Maintenance Allowance and the Welsh Government Learning Grant, will encourage our students not only to study in Wales but also to live and work here following graduation. This is essential in ensuring that their vital skills are not lost to the Welsh economy in the future.

Speaking after the visit, Marc Caldecott, Students Guild President added: As Students, we have set out this manifesto to local candidates in the hope that they will commit to investing in the student experience here in Wrexham. Glyndwr Students Union believe that the National Assembly elections represent a huge opportunity for political parties to put forward a strong and compelling case for students to get out and participate positively  and to demonstrate they are investing in future generations to study, work and live in Wrexham.

While we recognise the difficult economic conditions we face, we ask that all parties use these elections to make a clear offer for students and make a bold investment in the experience of students in Wrexham.

As we anticipate the findings of the on-going Diamond review to be published after the Assembly elections, students are left uncertain of the future of Student funding in Wales and the Union seek assurances from political parties that they can offer a fair deal for students.

In addition, and amongst a number of issues within the manifesto, one issue was re  occurring when surveying students. With the number of anti-social crimes taking place in the town centre of Wrexham, we want local candidates to commit to ensuring student safety on the streets of Wrexham.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Florida legislators are moving quickly to bridge their differences on a roughly $80 billion state budget.

Legislators met in the Capitol over the weekend to work out spending on key areas such as education, transportation and health care.

Legislative leaders Friday reached a broad budget deal regarding tax cuts and overall spending. Now budget committees are working on individual items.

House Republicans on Saturday offered a school funding proposal that would trim local property taxes charged by school districts. Senate Republicans have been critical of a proposal by Gov. Rick Scott to rely on local tax hikes to boost school funding.

Legislators also agreed on road construction spending in the coming year plus a long list of local projects. Some of those projects were vetoed last year
Jars of marijuana buds marketed by rapper Snopp Dogg are shown in one of the LivWell marijuana chain's outlets in Denver in December. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The Brigham Young University International Folk Dance Ensemble performs at the International Folkloric Festival Ciudad de Burgos in Burgos, Spain July 17, 2015. The ensemble will perform Friday, March 4, 2016 at the Capitol Theatre in Yakima, Wash. (Photo by Mark A. Philbrick/BYU)
The Israel Museum's executive committee has made the surprising decision not to make President Reuven Rivlin an honorary fellow, after an intercession by a close confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Rivlin was to follow in the footsteps of previous presidents, such as Ezer Weitzman and Shimon Peres, who were awarded the title during their terms in office. But Yitzhak Molcho, a member of the executive committee and the Netanyahu family's lawyer, opposed the initiative, stating that Rivlin refused to help the Israel Museum in the past.

Molcho surprised the members of the executive committe. Dont think that I have something personal against Rivlin - weve been friends since childhood, we're from the same neighborhood," he said. "But Rivlin didnt help; therefore, this is not the time to award him the honorary degree.

President Reuven Rivlin (Photo: Eli Mendelbaum)

Executive committee members who attended the meeting said they believe Molcho opposed the initiative in light of the strained relationship between the president and the prime minister. Molcho, they said, might be concerned to incur the wrath of the Prime Minister's Residence and be seen as a Rivlin supporter.

Netanyahu invested a considerable amount of effort into stopping Rivlin from becoming president, and has tried to curb him since he was elected.

Joseph Ciechanover, one of the executive committee members, told Molcho that assuming youre right, assuming that in the past he didnt assist us. Its even better that we embrace him  so that perhaps we can recruit him to the museum's aid in the future.

However, Molcho stuck to his guns and closed the meeting.

Yitzhak Molcho

It was a surreal moment, said one of those present. I was in shock.

Another member of the executive committee rejected Molchos accusation that Rivlin refused to help the museum, saying Rivlin and his wife Nehama have been contributing money to the museum from their personal funds for years, long before he was appointed president.

He went on to say that They've granted every request we've made. Molcho is not concerned with the museum's best interest of the museum - he is only afraid of the response he will get from the Prime Ministers Residence.

A statement on behalf of Molcho said: The report is false, and therefore doesnt warrant a response.
Shin Bet and IDF troops arrested Saadi Ali Abu Hamed, 21, from the village al-Eizariya early Sunday, on suspicion he perpetrated the ax attack at the Ma'ale Adumim mall last week.

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One of the terrorist's relatives called police late last night and turned him in. Police forces say it was because of the immense pressure security forces put on the area with roadblocks and random security checks.

Security fotage captures attack

X

The Shin Bet said Abu Hamed, who managed to escape the scene but left his bloody ax behind, has tied himself to the attack, in which 48-years-old Tzvika Cohen, an Israeli security guard, was critically wounded.

Similar to many of the other terrorists who perpetrated attacks in recent months, Abu Hamed has no affiliation to any terror organizations and was not involved in previous security-related crimes.

Scene of the attack (Photo: Medabrim Tikshoret)

His victim, Cohen, is still in very serious condition, and he is hospitalized at the neurosurgery intensive-care unit at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem's Ein Karem. He is anesthetized and on respirator and still fighting for his life.

This is the second time terror strikes the Cohen family. In 2000, Yitzhak's older brother Rahamim was stabbed 11 times by a terrorist who got on the taxi he was driving on the way to Jerusalem. Rahamim survived the attack.
Even though Israel neither confirmed nor denied it, Zionist Union MK Omer Bar-Lev slipped up on Saturday, saying the IDF was indeed behind the assassination of Hezbollah terrorist Samir Kuntar

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During a cultural event in Be'er Sheva, Bar-Lev was asked about the topic, and when one of the other attendees declared the assassination "a great success for Israel," Bar-Lev responded with "True, definitely."

Samir Kuntar (Photo: EPA)

The MK then went on to say that "Israel has a long-term memory. As a young IDF officer I was called to the scene of that attack in Nahariya, where the terrorist tried to bargain for the hostages, and killed the members of the Haran family. So I have long-term memory as well, and this is definitely a message for (Hezbollah leader) Nasrallah."

Later on, Bar-Lev asked to "leave it at that."

After his comments made headlines, Bar-Lev issued a clarification: "When I was asked whether this was an Israeli operation, I said I would not get into (discussing) operational activities. Every assassination and every terrorist killed is a welcomed act, and it doesn't matter whether we had a hand in it or not."

MK Omer Bar-Lev (Photo: Yaron Brener)

In 1979, when Kuntar was 16 years old, he infiltrated Israel on a rubber boat from Lebanon along with three other terrorists from the Palestine Liberation Front. The four came ashore in Nahariya, shot dead police officer Eliyahu Shahar and broke into the apartment of the Haran family. There, they took Danny Haran and his four-year-old daughter Einat hostage, while mother Smadar hid in a crawl space with two-year-old daughter Yael.

Father Danny and daughter Einat were taken ashore, where a firefight ensued between the terrorists and police officers who arrived at the scene. Kuntar shot Danny Haran to death, and then cruelly smashed Einat's skull with the butt of his rifle, murdering her as well.

Two-year-old Yael was accidentally smothered to death while her mother was trying to stop her from crying and revealing their hiding place.

Another police officer was killed, along with two of Kuntar's cell members, in the gunfire that ensued.

Kuntar was jailed for almost 30 years, for which he was known in Lebanon as "The Dean of Lebanese Prisoners" for being the longest-held prisoner in Israel, and was freed in a prisoner exchange between Israel and Hezbollah in 2008, in return for the bodies of IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.

He was then killed in an airstrike on his hiding place in Syria in late December.
"A falafel ball along with a fact?" Ariel, 20, a Jewish student at University College London (UCL), asked Ali, who is from Bahrain. When Ali took Ariel up on his offer, Ariel told him about Israel's varied population, the Arab judges in Israel's courts and minority rights in the Holy Land.

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"I had no idea that Israel was a country that has religious freedom and gay rights," said Ali afterwards, while waving goodbye to Ariel. "Until today, I heard of Israel mostly in connection with apartheid and the murder of Palestinians  and he made me think a little differently."

Jewish students at Unilege London's pro-Israel stand (Photo: Yaniv Halili)

The last week has been especially difficult for those who are pro-Israel in the United Kingdom, as pro-Palestinian organizations announced "Apartheid Week", a week that is full of anti-Israel activities and harsh vilification. UK campuses have also hosted speaks who call on thousands of students to support a boycott of Israel. To counter this, Jewish students set up stands in support of Israel throughout campuses and handed out public diplomacy pamphlets.

"Its not an easy matter defending Israel," recounted Ariel, who studies economy at UCL. "We do with a sense of a great mission, as well as because we are fed up with being attacked."

Ariel set up the pro-Israel stand along with Joseph Stool, a 22-year-old Jewish student at nearby Kings College. "We are studying at very anti-Israel universities," Joseph explains. "On one of the buildings at UCL, a Palestinian flag hangs permanently because the local student council identifies with the Palestinians."

Pro-Israel activist debating with passers-by at United College London (Photo: Yaniv Halili)

Joseph says thatthere are more than a few anti-Israeli professors at his university and that "20 of them recently signed a petition calling for an academic boycott of Israel."

Ariel and Joseph set up the stand at the very entrance of the university "so that no one would miss us," laughed Joseph. Other activists working with them hand out pamphlets, and one of them even hung an Israeli flag on his shirt, stopped professors who teach there and started debating the issue with them. Other students passing by stopped, tasted some falafel and listened to information on womens' rights and the LGBT community in Israel. One of them recounted that a week earlier he had heard from a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement activist that "since women are denied rights in Israel, the army forces them to serve in its ranks. Now I understand that this is not true."

There are others who are less than impressed by what the pro-Israel activists have to say, such as the students who pass by singing anti-Israel songs. One student even called Ariel and his fellow activists "child-killers". But the screams and insults don't discourage those at the pro-Israel stand. "We are determined to show everyone that Israel is a peace-loving nation," said Joseph. "They have become very extremist here and only want to spread hatred. We are here to change the situation."

Victory for Israel vs. BDS in Spain

Meanwhile. Israel scored a victory against the BDS movement in Spain when the city of Aviles announced Saturday that it was cancelling its decision to officially support the BDS movement, following a Spanish pro-Israel organization called ACOM, with the help of the International Legal Forum (ILF), initiated a lawsuit claiming that the BDS movement in principal is against Spanish law.

Over 25 Spanish municipalities have adopted the BDS movement's position as official policy. ACOM turned, in December 2015, to the ILF for assistance in dealing with the problem, and among other actions, a lawsuit was filed against the city of Aviles. The latter told the court last week that it requested to annul its decision regarding the boycott.

Aviles' announcement to the court stated that "Aviles' legal counsel considers the BDS movement to be illegal as it threatens peoples right not to be discriminated against.

The ILF said that this precedent will serve as a deterrent in Spain and in Europe regarding municipalities adopting policies that boycott and delegitimize Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the cessation of hostilities in neighboring Syria but hinted on Sunday it could still launch attacks there if it saw a threat.

"We welcome the efforts to achieve a stable, long-term and real ceasefire in Syria. Anything that stops the terrible slaughter there is important, first and foremost from a humanitarian standpoint," he told his cabinet.

"But at the same time it is important that it be clear: Any arrangement in Syria has to include a cessation of Iranian belligerence toward Israel from Syrian territory," he added.

Israel has also said it has returned fire when shot at across the Golan Heights frontier, where it worries Hezbollah is active.

"We will not agree to the supply of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah, from Syria to Lebanon. We will not agree to the creation of a second terrorist front on the Golan," Netanyahu said. "These are the red lines that we set out and they remain the red lines of the State of Israel."
Preliminary results published Sunday, and with most of the votes counted, indicate that Iranian reformists will win all 30 parliamentary seats in Teheran, with both former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and current President Hassan Rohani declaring victory. The reformists also grabbed the top ten seats in the Council of Experts.

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It is not easy to count close to 70 million ballots in two separate votes. 33 million voters -- 60 percent of those eligible -- voted for the Assembly of Experts, whose 88 members are expected to decide who will be the next supreme ruler of Iran after Ali Khamenei. It is also not easy to decipher the handwritten names of the 290 MPs, designed to be a rubber stamp for the Revolutionary Guards and the security and intelligence establishments.

Following the screening of the candidates list, and the removal of the prominent "reformists" led by the grandson of Islamic Revolution architect Ayatollah Khomeini, who joined the other camp, the remaining contestants are complete unknowns. "It's just like buying a green watermelon in the market," quipped reformist analyst Said Lilzad from Tehran. "Until you cut it open at home, you do not know if you made a good purchase or were fooled."

Young Iranian women lining up at polling stations (Photo: AP)

For the Iranian voter, these elections were dramatic: on paper, for the first time since the nuclear deal was signed, tens of millions of eligible voters -- two thirds of whom are under 30 -- were asked to decide what Iran will look like after the removal of economic sanctions and the cancellation of the international boycott. In practice, the Iranian authorities know how to count and organize the votes in their favor, and how to achieve a result that will ensure their survival. But the apparent reformist victory is impressive and promising.

For the reformist faction, the elections were meant to send a message to the West that Iran wants to join the world that kicked it aside over its nuclear program and the violent conduct of the Revolutionary Guards. Young people who tried with all their force to revive the Green Movement are the tool, the bringers of good tidings.

The ayatollah regime, for its part, does not care if the anyone exposes the plight of tens of millions of unemployed and educated people looking for work, young women who would like to remove their chadors, or LGBTers dreaming of not being hanged in city squares.

The reformist camp in Iran dreams of lowering Iran from its number three spot on the list of countries with the most executions in the world, with an average of a hanging every two days. And is for the government to with ordinary citizen its billions, the booty expected to result from trade agreements, oil deals, new factories and everything that is to come with the release of assets and the cancellation of sanctions against Iran.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (Photo: AFP)

Let's put it bluntly: the conservative camp deserves a tip of the hat for the nuclear deal, for President Rohani's warm presentation, and the wide smiles that Foreign Minister Zarif beamed every time he visited Geneva and met with US Secretary of State Kerry. The great achievement of the nuclear agreement belongs to the conservatives led by Khamenei. The second camp, peace-seeking moderate reformists who lit a menorah in Tehran's synagogue, is only a tool in the hands of the government in order to achieve its objectives.

Whoever thinks that an increase, even dramatic, of the number of voters for reformists will ensure an immediate revolution in Iran, must remember that the reformist President Rohani, who was elected thanks to the young, answers to the conservative government establishment more than he does to his voters. The establishment does not intend to give up the pleasures of power.

Even if reformist Ali Larijani keeps his place as chairman of the Parliament of Iran and Rouhani secures a second term as president, the conservative camp will know how to retain its power and status.

Just before the opening of the polling stations, a sweet illusion took hold, when Hassan Karroubi -- the son of Mehdi Karroubi, the leader of the youthful and reform-seeking Green Movement -- announced that his father, under house arrest with Hossein Mousavi, will vote this time. According to his explanation, a mobile polling station will stop at the entrance of his father's house and allow the Green Movement's leaders to vote.

The government did not interfere with the younger Karrabi from spreading the good news, which encouraged thousands of young people to decide not to boycott the elections. Long lines were seen at the polling stations n Monday morning. And the mobile station? On its way to hospitals, military camps and government institutions, it skipped, of course, the house of arrestee Mehdi Karroubi.
CAIRO - Egyptian lawmaker Tawfiq Okasha was attacked in parliament on Sunday, with one colleague hurling a shoe at him and others demanding he be suspended after he invited the Israeli ambassador for dinner.

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Egypt was the first of a handful of Arab countries to recognize Israel with a United States-sponsored 1979 peace accord, but Egyptian attitudes to the country's neighbor remain icy.

Israel has an ambassador stationed in Cairo but Egyptian officials make a point of keeping their distance and the embassy has been the focal point of protests in the past.

Chaos at the Egyptian parliament over Tawfiq Okasha

X

Okasha, a television presenter and lawmaker known for courting controversy, hosted the Israeli ambassador Haim Koren for dinner at his home in the northeastern Dakahlia province last week. He made the invitation live on his television show.

The move sparked outrage in the media and in Egypt's parliament, sworn in last month, with several lawmakers demanding Okasha be dismissed from parliament and one colleague, Kamal Ahmed, hurling his shoe during the session in a fit of anger.

Chaos at the Egyptian parliament over Okasha.

The speaker threw both Ahmed and Okasha out of the session, which was adjourned for 10 minutes, according to the parliament website and the MENA news agency.

Over 100 parliament members have also signed a statement seen by Reuters rejecting normalization of ties with Israel and demanding an investigation into Okasha's actions.

Okasha told local media before the opening of Sunday's session that he had done nothing wrong since Egypt enjoys full diplomatic relations with Israel.

Koren confirmed to Reuters that he and his staff had a three-hour dinner meeting at the Egyptian lawmaker's home on Wednesday evening.

Koren in Okasha's home.

"He proposed the meeting, at which he raised ideas of us helping Egypt in the areas of water, agriculture and education - to try to set up a number of schools with Israeli training," Koren told Reuters by telephone.

"I offered to work on putting this together, and that we meet again. I will soon be inviting him over to our place. He showed great courage. He knew he would be attacked, and nonetheless he stood firm on his convictions."
Israel recently requested from the Merkavim factory 71 bullet resistant vehicles for a total amount of NIS 106 million, due to the continued wave of terrorism in the West Bank and renewed shooting attacks. This is the largest transaction for the purchase of bullet-resistant buses ever in Israel.

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Mars Defender model buses were requested by Egged and all other transportation companies of the regional councils in the West Bank, where the Defense Ministry participates in financing the cost for the extra protection. The price of each armored bus stands at NIS 1.5 million  almost twice than the price of a regular bus.

Aftermath of 2015 bus shooting in Jerusalem (Photo: AFP)

Some buses will replace the old armored buses that have become obsolete, while also increasing the number of armored buses and the frequency of travel on high-risk routes in the region around Jerusalem, the Binyamin communities, Hebron, and Gush Etzion. The low frequency of buses is one of the factors for extensive hitchhiking in the West Bank, which increases the risk of kidnappings. Following the abduction and murder of three boys -- the late Gil-Ad Shaer, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrah -- in June 2014, Transportation Minister Israel Katz decided to integrate armored buses in the bus routes of the local councils to transport students, but this was a temporary measure to close the gaps.

The armored bus was developed in Israel based on a Volvo chassis with a double rear axis in order to support the weight of armor. The outer shell, roof and floor were built according to military specifications and are protected by steel, while the windows are made of bullet-resistant glass. The protection can block 7.62 mm caliber armor-piercing bullets, grenades and explosive charges. A special defensive system for the wheels and tires allow the bus to continue traveling away from the point of attack. Two emergency doors are easily opened, allowing for a quick getaway from the bus under attack.

Each bus contains 53 seats. In the past 20 years Merkavim has produced 400 bullet-resistant buses, including 150 of the current model.

Thousands of tons of cement to Gaza

Meanwhile, the Tax Authority has revealed an affair involving the import of 5,500 tons of cement to the Gaza Strip, apparently partially intended for building tunnels. The Magistrates Court in Rishon Lezion ordered over the weekend the arrest and release on bail of three parties involved in the transaction. Among the three are a senior executive in the concrete manufacturing company, a customs broker, and contractor from northern Israel whose company transferred the concrete to the PAs territories.

According to the arrest warrants, the Mashav company, which deals in concrete, was responsible for the sale of cement to the the Palestinian Authority. Authorities suspect that Mashav made an agreement with a Palestinian Authority to important concrete from Turkey and transfer it to the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Authority on Sunday said direct financial assistance by Iran to the families of Palestinians killed in a five-month wave of violence would be unacceptable.

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Tehran announced last week assistance would be offered to families of Palestinians killed in the wave of violence that erupted in October, but the PA says such aid must follow official channels.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Photo: AP)

Palestinian presidency spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina, cited by local media, said bypassing the authority in handing out such funds would constitute illegal interference in internal Palestinian affairs. Iran should "send this money through official channels to the (PA's) Martyrs and Prisoners Foundation rather than relying on informal and circuitous routes," Abu Rudeina said. Iran's ambassador to Lebanon, Mohammad Fathali, said Wednesday that Tehran would offer $7,000 to the families of each Palestinian killed in what he called the "Jerusalem intifada".

Iran will also give $30,000 to Palestinian families whose homes have been destroyed by Israel because a member is accused of carrying out an anti-Israeli attack, he told a news conference in Beirut. The money pledged is in addition to the monthly aid paid since 1987 by an Iranian institution to families of Palestinians killed, he said.

Palestinian economists have questioned whether Iran would be capable of distributing the aid to the families directly via banks since it could be considered "terrorism financing".

The day after Iran's announcement, Israel denounced the decision, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying it showed Tehran was "continuing to aid terrorism".
An image released Sunday appears to show an Israeli-made drone flying over Syria. Israel Air Industries (IAI) sold the same model of drones to Russia, which may explain the aircrafts presence in the country. Thus, in a stroke of irony, an Israeli drone is helping the Assad regime and its allies, Iran and Hezbollah, to maintain its rule and beat the rebels.

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Syrian social media accounts claimed that the Israeli drone was sold by Russia to Assads army, but the photo and information were not published in official media outlets, so the accuracy of this claim is unclear. The medium-sized drone was designed for reconnaissance and intelligence-gathering missions at ranges of dozens t hundreds of kilometers.

The image seen online purportedly showing an Israeli-made drone in Syria

On the second day of a ceasefire in Syria, a tense quiet has settled over much of the country. But there have already been multiple reports that the fragile ceasefire has been broken. Russian monitors claimed that 9 violations had occurred within 24 hours.

An IAI drone alleged to be the same model seen in the image (Photo: Israel Aerospace Industries)

Russian air forces attacked six cities in the Aleppo area on Sunday morning and Arabic-language Sky News reported that Syrian opposition groups intended to file a complaint at the United Nations over the airstrikes, which reportedly killed 11 civilians. Russia also struck Homss northern suburb.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a Sunday morning government meeting that he welcomed attempts to reach a ceasefire in Syria. Anything that stops the horrible destruction is important, but first and foremost any settlement must include an end t Irans aggressiveness towards Israel from Syrian territory. The prime minister added that we will not allow the transfer of weapons to Hezbollah and we will not allow the creation of a terrorist front in the Golan Heights. These were the red lines we set and they remain Israels red lines.
Senior German officials have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of distorting German Chancellor Angela Merkel's positions on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, newspaper Die Welt reported on Sunday. The report emphasized that German officials "were surprised by what he said."

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Two weeks ago, Netanyahu and Merkel met in Berlin to discuss a number of issues. At the conclusion of their meeting, the two leaders held a press conference, in which Merkel commented on the two-state solution.

"The EU and Germany are aware of the terror threat Israel faces," said Merkel. "But we believe that advancing the peace process based on the two-state solution is important. We believe that progress towards coexistence, based on the two-state solution, is possible. Of course, this is not the time for a comprehensive solution, but progress and improvements in specific areas can be achieved."

Photo :Amos Ben Gershom,/GPO

She added that Berlin "will be ready to aid progress on different economic projects that will help the two-state solution."

After his return from Germany, Netanyahu said that the chancellor had reformed her positions and that her words represent "a more realistic approach to the situation in our region and between us and the Palestinians." He commented further: "I remember when I made these statements a year ago and everyone came out against me. Today, I hear the same statements from world leaders including Obama and the German chancellor, who understand what practically can be done at the moment."

Merkel's Bureau was very surprised by Netanyahu's statements because there was no actual change in her position on the Palestinian issue and that she had emphasized this in her discussion with Netanyahu.

Roderich Kiesewetter, a parliamentarian from Merkel's party, accused Netanyahu distorting the Chancellor's words: "He cannot use his visit to his best friend in the EU to misrepresent the German position." Kiesewetter wrote on his Twitter account: "We continue to support the two-state solution as the way to resolve the conflict."

Another senior official in Merkel's party said: "This harmed Israeli-German relations."

Members of Merkel's coalition added to the criticism against Netanyahu. A Social Democratic party spokesperson said: "The position of coalition parties is clear: The only solution to the conflict is the two-state solution."
Enrollment if we did nothing through 2020

I started my analysis by looking at where we would be with enrollment if we did nothing from now through 2020. Then I made the problem worse by pushing the sixth grade back to all elementary schools, which was how Arlington ran schools through I believe 1989.It is how many communities, such as Acton-Boxborough, Brookline (which goes through eighth) and Pembroke, continue to run their districts (see tab 3 in DESE School Data spreadsheet, linked at end of this column).

Putting the sixth grade back to the elementary utilizes the space in the Peirce and Stratton, which would then come close to capacity, but creates shortfalls in the other five schools. The greatest shortfall would then be in the eastern half of town, with Hardy (-7), Thompson (-9) and Bishop (-6), with available space determined by page 3 here >>

If we put the Gibbs back online as a K-6 school and assume it would have 24 classrooms per the September HMFH study, the School Committee could then redistrict the three schools in the eastern half of town to relieve that problem in its entirety, with a small Mugar firewall, or the School Committee could shift the SLC into Gibbs, creating space in Brackett, Dallin or Stratton, or the School Committee could spread the "empty" classrooms across the four schools.

This leaves a problem with the Brackett (-2) and Dallin (-2). The interesting thing here is that the Ottoson Middle School resides in the Brackett/Dallin buffer zone, where these kids would go for seventh and eight grade anyway, so the solution could be that these kids go to Ottoson for sixth, keeping them in their neighborhood and limiting the number of transitions. As shown in tab two, this would keep the school under its capacity of 1,050 as the new projected capacity would be 1,018 in 2020.

Other district confugurations

As you probably already know, Massachusetts school districts do many things to bridge their enrollment issues. Below I pulled a sampling of what goes on in Massachusetts from the DESE report I have on tab 3:

Acton-Boxborough has six grade K-6 schools, one 7-8 school, and one high school.

Barnstable High starts in 8th grade. The middle school is 6-7.

Belmont has four K-4, one 5-8, one 9-12.

Boston Latin School starts in 7th grade.

Brookline has no middle schools. All schools are K-8, then BHS is 9-12.

Duxbury has townwide schools, K-2, 3-5, 6-8, 9-12.

Needham has five grade K-5 elementary schools, a 6th grade school, a 7-8 school, and a 9-12 high school.

Shrewsbury has a very interesting format. Most kids go to a townwide kindergarten (236/355), followed by four schools serving 1-4, one 5-6 school, one 7-8 school, and one 9-12 high school.

Somerville has five K-8 schools, one per-K / K school, one K-6 school, and one 9-12 high school.

Westborough has three K-3 elementary, one 4-6, one 7-8, one 9-12.

Upside re future construction

One upside to this plan is it puts us in better position if we need to construct more elementary school space in the future, because we can pick the elementary school to add onto, since we would have eight schools dispersed more evenly across the town, versus the current arrangement of only two schools east of Pleasant Street.

In December, when I was working through how we would repopulate a Gibbs Middle School (see spreadsheet No. 3 at the end of this column), I started to realize that you couldn't do it all at once, because you wouldn't want to rip apart already established cohorts.

This lead to the logical choice of populating the school by taking the fifth and sixth graders from Thompson and Hardy in year one, adding the fourth grade in year two (when they become fifth graders), then letting that group of three grades hold in year three as sixth, seventh and eighth.

The advantage to this approach is that it stopped the need for a Thompson or Hardy addition for two years, while allowing for a multiyear rebuild of the school.

If Gibbs were K-6

If Gibbs were a K-6 school, you would presumably need to work a similar strategy, populating it first as a fifth-/sixth-grade middle school for East Arlington only (Thompson, Hardy, probably sixth grade from Bishop) but also insert a kindergarten cohort, possible even a first-grade cohort depending on how the 2017-2018 school year was established, and allow for the school to naturally build over multiple years.

Several years down the road when you reach the inflection point of Gibbs increasing and Thompson/Hardy/Bishop decreasing, those schools hold their fifth grade one year and then their sixth grade the next.

If we wanted to get creative, we could assume that the $350,000 to $400,000 were going to spend on modular classrooms in 2017-2018 for Thompson is inevitable, invested capital, and use that money to induce the Arlington Center for the Arts and Kelliher to leave Gibbs by next Sept. 1, withe hope of finding them a replacement space.

At that point, we would focus on a phased remodel, where we take control of and have ready, eight of the 24 Gibbs classrooms by September 2017 (plus the gym and cafeteria), and our control grows proportionally each year as we renovate sections of the building.

Utilizing Available Space Before Building New Space

The following analysis is a memo on a 6-8 theme that Carman sent to various Task Force members in late 2015.

For purposes of this analysis I focused on the following data points:

- The school departments current district map.

- Appendix C and D from the HMFH Architects, Inc. space report, which details the space in each building for school year 2014-2015.

- The school facility use analysis provided by school administration to the Enrollment Task Force.

- The updated McKibbon numbers that I used to understand class size requirements.

As we all know, most of the projected growth over the next 10 years is in East Arlington in two abutting districts - Thompson and Hardy. At the same time, most of the free classroom capacity is in northwest Arlington in the Peirce and Stratton, two districts that abut and are projecting minimal growth in population and required classrooms over the next 10 years per the revised McKibbon projection. The remaining three elementary districts  Bishop, Brackett and Dallin appear to be on the edge of capacity but not tipping over. This causes an odd geographic problem that needs to be managed before any new space is built.

Solidifying the Five Elementary Schools that are not in East Arlington

The updated 10 year McKibbon projections show enrollment growth at Bishop, but no significant growth in the other four non-East Arlington schools. This means that the town can take steps to reinforce these five schools to ensure that they dont run over capacity.

Prior to the Enrollment Task Force beginning its work, school administration had considered moving the SLC program at Brackett to Peirce, which would have served to free up two classrooms in Brackett. This remains an important shift because Brackett buffers two near capacity districts  Dallin and Bishop, while Peirce buffers near capacity Dallin, and Stratton which has excess space. Having two districts with capacity that buffer each other is not good policy.

After the Bracketts Structured Learning Center is moved to Peirce, the buffer zones for the five non-East Arlington schools need to be expanded. We should now have enough available classrooms between Brackett, Stratton and Peirce to manage any actual enrollments that occur above forecast in those five schools.

Solving the Enrollment Challenge in East Arlington

The Enrollment Task Force has spent a significant amount of time discussing population growth in East Arlington, but has not asked anyone to determine WHY the school age population in East Arlington is growing so quickly. It seems critically important to understand why enrollment is growing quickly in East Arlington versus just taking for granted that it is. Understanding why the population is growing quickly will help bring about the correct answer.

DONT FORGET THE HARDY. Almost the entire discussion of school enrollment has focused on Thompson, when the Hardy appears to be on a similar trend with cohorts of 80 students replacing smaller cohorts. The difference appears to be that the Hardy is a slightly larger building and their growth pattern is trailing the Thompson, but if projections prove correct the Hardy will need additional space on the same magnitude as Thompson.

DONT FORGET THE OTTOSON. Though it has yet to be proven, we are told that the Ottoson is at capacity and we will need to add modular classrooms beginning in September 2017.

WHAT ABOUT THE GIBBS? A working assumption is that the Gibbs should be reclaimed for use as a town-wide single grade classroom, i.e. 5th and be put online in full in September 2018. Having had time to listen to the discussion while gathering and analyzing data, I think this is the wrong decision. If we focused on taking back this school in phases and reopening it as the Gibbs Middle School, which is what I believe you would do for a new middle school (versus breaking up a cohort), we can address our pressing needs now while delaying others to obtain more data.

The following chart shows the classroom needs of Thompson and Hardy over the next five years, when both level off in their enrollment growth per the revised McKibbon report.

2015-2016 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 Classroom Needs Through Peak Enrollment Thompson 20 22 23 24 24 Hardy 19 21 22 23 24 Difference Between Available Classrooms and Need Thompson -1 -3 -4 -5 -5 Hardy 2 0 -1 -2 -3

Assuming that we could control 8 of the 24 Gibbs classrooms this coming fall (September 2016) and our control grows proportionally each year as we renovate sections of the building, we would be able to delay a Thompson, Hardy and Ottoson addition for multiple years as we populated the new Gibbs Middle School:

Current Grade

(2015-2016) 2016-2017 2017-2018 2018-2019 2019-2020 2020-2021 Thompson 4th Grade 49 49 49 49 Thompson 3rd Grade 81 81 81 81 81 Thompson 2nd Grade 73 73 73 73 Thompson 1st Grade 81 81 81 Hardy 4th Grade 71 71 71 Hardy 3rd Grade 71 71 71 71 Hardy 2nd Grade 67 67 67 Hardy 1st Grade 81 130 345 493 493 454 Yellow shading means elementary school grade (4th or 5th)

The advantage to this approach is it would give us the opportunity to gather more information on Mugar and the cause of the growth, while spending money on a sustainable asset. I also think its politically palatable as students in the transition would be getting four or five years at the Gibbs. As a child my elementary school was renovated and we went to the Middle School for 5th grade, along with the 4th graders. It was a positive to be in our future Middle School for an extra year. Of course, the big challenge is could we do the renovations around the existing school so as not to displace them during the three year project.

If we could make this work (somehow), we would be able to delay a decision on the Hardy and Thompson for two years, gathering information the whole time. The Ottoson matter would presumably be settled.

This viewpoint reflects the opinion of the author, Dean Carman. It was published Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016.

What do you think? Your opinions about this plan are welcome at the comment window at the bottom of this page.
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.
Patna: Gangsters in Bihar are taking full advantage of the latest advancements in the digital era, as per a media report.

According to a report in Mail Today, an extortionists' gang operating in Darbhanga sent a selfie of their kingpin and other members, brandishing sophisticated weapons so that they could scare their victims while demanding ransom.

The report said that weapons such as carbines, pistols and bombs was sent to a school teacher, Shyam Kumar Rai, who resides in Navtolia village, through WhatsApp.

Rai also a phone call from gangster Naveen Singh who asked him to cough up Rs 5 lakh.

To drive home his point, Singh forwarded a few selfies of himself and his gangster boss Raju Dhakal.

They were carrying a pistol, bomb and carbine in their hands in the photos.

Shyam then registered a police complaint in the matter and the Darbhanga police is said to have arrested Naveen along with his driver Sukhdev Rai.

The mobile phone used to send the pictures was also seized.
Murthal: Haryana Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Rajshree Singh on Sunday night met an eyewitness relating to a recent incident of an alleged mass gang-rape which took place here in Sonipath district on the intervening night of 22-23 February, at a time when the entire Delhi-NCR was paralysed due to the Jat quota stir.

The development comes shortly after Haryana government released an interim assistance of Rs 1.12 crore to those whose properties were damaged in agitation.

In a separate incident, most likely a domestic violence case, a woman today lodged a complaint of gang-rape against her brother-in-law and six others at the Murthal police station in Haryana .

Following the complaint, the Haryana Police registered an FIR against the seven persons, however, no arrest has been made so far.

Three truck drivers had yesterday claimed that they witnessed women being dragged and molested by Jat agitators in Murthal, even as a team of women police officers visited the site of the alleged crime.

Speaking to mediapersons, the three men Sukhwinder Singh, Niranjan and Naresh Kumar claimed that the agitators torched their trucks in Murthal, over 50 km from Delhi, and assaulted them following which they hid in the bushes to save themselves.

They also alleged that they saw the attackers "dragging women out of vehicles, tearing their clothers and molesting them" before taking the victims towards the fields.

Singh further alleged that "policemen in plain clothes" were putting pressure on them to remain silent about the incident.

The state police had on Friday announced the formation of an all-women inquiry committee to look into the matter.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Wednesday took suo moto notice of media reports that some women, who were commuting on the Delhi-Ambala highway (NH-1), were stripped and raped by rioters during the violent Jat agitation for job quota.

(With Agency inputs)
Chandigarh: Three truck drivers today denied having witnessed any incident of alleged molestation or rape of women during the pro-quota Jat agitation at Murthal in Sonipat district, Haryana police said on Sunday.

"Three truck drivers have denied that they had seen molestation or rape of women (at Murthal)," Haryana Police, DIG, Rajshree Singh said today.

Truck drivers Sukhwinder, Abdul Wahid and Yadwinder have, however, said that their trucks were burnt by agitators.

A team of three women police officers --DIG Rajshree Singh, DSPs Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur was formed by Haryana government "to gather information concerning the alleged incident of sexual assault on some women near Murthal on the intervening night of February 22 and 23."

DIG said instructions have been issued that as and when any complainant comes forward an FIR must be registered.

Yesterday, women police officers had visited the site at village Hassanpur near Murthal in Sonipat district on Delhi-Ambala National Highway to gather first hand information about the alleged incident.

Meanwhile, Sonepat SP Abhishek Garg said three witnesses to the incident as reported by a section of media were also "verified at various levels" and they had said that no incident of sexual assault or rape took place at Murthal, over 50 km from Delhi.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had yesterday asked people to share information, if they have any, with the state police regarding the alleged incident.


Delhi: P Chidambaram had personally overseen changes in the Centre's affidavit in the Ishrat Jahan case in 2009, as per a media report.

GK Pillai, home secretary at the time, was quoted by The Times of India as saying that, Chidambaram, who was the home minister then, had seen to it that any references to Ishrat's Lashkar-e-Taiba links was dropped.

Pillai also said that Chidambaram had recalled the file from the joint secretary a month after the original affidavit was filed in the apex court.

The former home secretary added that Javed Shaikh and the two Pakistanis killed in the encounter were LeT operatives. He also said that even Ishrat knew that "something was wrong".

"Ishrat and Javed stayed as a couple at hotels/lodges in UP and even Ahmedabad. She was clearly a cover for him as well as well as others of the module," Pillai said.

The original affidavit described Ishrat and her slain aides as LeT operatives.

Said to be filed by the home ministry in Supreme Court in August 2009, it had objected to a CBI probe into the encounter.

"Mr Chidambaram, who was then the home minister, had asked for the file from the joint secretary, saying that the affidavit needed to be reworked. Only after the affidavit was revised, as directed by the minister, did the file come to me," Pillai told TOI.

In the second affidavit filed in September 2009, as per the report, the home ministry had said the IB inputs did not proof the terror links of those killed.

"All such inputs do not constitute proof... The Centre is in no way concerned with any police action nor does it condone or endorse any unjustified or excessive action," said the affidavit.

"If on a proper consideration of the facts it is found that an independent inquiry and investigation has to be carried by CBI or otherwise, the Union of India would have no objection to such a course and would abide by such orders which the court may deem fit to pass," it added as per the Daily.

Meanwhile, seeking to turn the heat on Congress, BJP today demanded a thorough probe into the alleged change of affidavits during the UPA rule in the Ishrat case and charged Chidambaram with saving the accused.

"Former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram is caught in a separate (issue), what I believe is going to be a scandal. As the former home secretary has revealed, Ishrat Jehan's name and connection with LeT were deliberately removed from the government report. On behalf of the party, I hope and wish there is a formal inquiry which fully establishes the truth. I feel there should be a thorough probe as to what really had happened and the truth should come out," BJP spokesperson MJ Akbar told reporters, as per PTI.

Training his guns on Chidambaram, he charged him with "saving" the terrorists, and said, he was trying to "save" Afzal Guru, Parliament attack convict already hanged, even today.

"What game are you playing? What fire are you playing with? Are you not with the country that gave you everything? Don't you have any sympathy with the country that gave you everything, the country of which you have remained home minister and finance minister?" Akbar asked while referring to Pillai's remarks.

Questioned about the timing of Pillai's remarks on Ishrat case and if he was siding with BJP, Akbar said "Pillai is not supporting us, he is only supporting the truth. As a home secretary, he was in the know of everything and an eyewitness. He said the LeT connection of Ishrat was removed from the affidavit."

On Pillai's decision to speak out now, the BJP leader said "The point is, nobody knew what he knew. This is a decision that Mr Pillai made for himself. We can't control why and how he chose to do so. The fact of the matter is why are we being deflected from the reality. The point is, what he (Pillai) is saying, is it a truth or not."

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: A low defence budget may have adverse implications on the country`s security, a parliamentary panel has warned the government ahead of the budget for fiscal 2016-17 set to be presented in Lok Sabha on Monday.

The parliamentary standing committee on defence, headed by Major General BC Khanduri (retired), a former minister, has also questioned the finance ministry for delaying its response to a defence ministry letter suggesting a minimum percentage be fixed for defence expenditure compared to the total government expenditure.

"...it can be averred that the budget cuts leave the possibility of having adverse implications on the country`s security. The committee, therefore, reiterate their earlier recommendation and desire that the ministry of defence take up the issue of providing adequate budgetary resources at the highest level, so that the modernization programme as well as other priorities are not hampered," said the panel`s report, tabled in parliament on Friday.

"Further, the committee also feel dismayed to note that although the ministry of defence has reportedly conveyed the concern expressed by them to the ministry of finance on 14 January 2015, the response of the ministry of finance is still awaited," the report said.

The committee asked the defence ministry to provide the details of the communication with the finance ministry.

The committee had, in its recommendations, pointed out that although defence expenditure has been increasing over the years, the percentage increase since 2000-01 has not been consistent.

The defence expenditure increased by 26.29 percent in 2004-05 in comparison to the preceding year. Such an increase was only witnessed in 2008-09 and 2009-10, when the growth was 24.59 percent and 24.13 percent.

However, in 2010-11, there was a decline of 8.70 percent. Though there have been slight increases in subsequent years, these never touched the levels of 2004-05, 2008-09 and 2009-10. During 2011-12 and 2012-13, the increase was 10.90 percent and 6.36 percent.

In 2013-14, the growth was 12.05 percent, in 2014-15 it was 12.44 percent and in 2015-16 it was around 11 percent.

According to the report, the defence ministry told the committee that this growth was not sufficient for the projects and modernization of the three services.

The ministry`s response to the committee however reveals that higher rate of growth during 2008-09 and 2009-10 was mainly due to the payment of arrears after implementing the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission .

The lower growth of later years, the ministry said, was because no arrears had to be paid.

"The years of high growth cited are unusual years and cannot form a basis for generalisation. Growth rates since 2011 have been generally healthier than in the pre-2007 period and every effort is made to ensure that sufficient funds are available to meet the most critical requirements of the services," the defence ministry said in a response to the committee.

The committee also pointed out that the although the defence budget is increasing every year in numerical terms but in comparison to overall budget, it has consistently been declining.

In 2009-10, with the defence expenditure at Rs. 1,41,781 crore, it was 13.84 percent of total expenditure, while in 2010-11, the allocation rose to Rs.1,47,377 crore but came down to 12.87 percent of the overall expenditure. In 2011-12, defence expenditure accounted for 13.10 percent of the total, got reduced to 12.89 percent in 2012-13 and to 12.76 percent in 2013-14, according to the panel.

The defence ministry, however, said that it had informed the finance ministry on January 14, 2015, of the committee`s emphasis on the need for increasing the defence expenditure in proportion to total central government spending and fixing a minimum benchmark percentage for this.

The defence ministry said the finance ministry`s response is awaited.

The defence ministry also said that a recommendation by the parliamentary panel earlier of fixing the defence budget at least at three percent of the GDP is also pending with the finance ministry.

The defence ministry has, however, assured the panel that budgetary constraints will not lead to shelving of any operational requirements.

"There is continuous monitoring of the progress of acquisition of projects and prioritization of the most urgent requirements. This is for helping in ensuring that the resources, which are limited, are devoted to the most critical projects. The ministry has also assured the committee that no operational requirement will be shelved for want of funds," the ministry said.
New Delhi: Alluding to the presentation of the 2016-17 general budget, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday observed that he too was to appear for an exam and exhorted students appearing in the coming board examinations to maintain a positive approach.

Cricket great Sachin Tendulkar -- who along with chess ace Vishwanathan Anand, religious preacher Morari Bapu and renowned scientist CNR Rao were the guest speakers on Modi's 17th edition of 'Mann Ki Baat' aired on All India Radio on Sunday -- also exhorted youngsters to maintain a positive approach.

While Anand advised students to stay calm, Rao told them never to give up.

However, the prime minister maintained silence on the controversies surrounding the Jawaharlal Nehru University row and Hyderabad University research scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide, besides other issues that have led to uproar in parliament.

"I have to appear for an exam tomorrow (Monday). The 1.25 billion Indians will be taking my exam," Modi said.

"You must have noticed that I am healthy, confident... tomorrow, I will give my exam, and your exams will start the day after. If we succeed, the country will succeed," he said.

Modi advised students appearing in the board exams to remain positive, and not to come under pressure of expectations of others.

"Do not get burdened under the expectations of others. Set your own targets. Why should we compete with others? Why not compete with oneself? Break your own previous record."

Tendulkar said: "Positive thoughts will be followed by positive results."

"I would say that you must set a target for yourself and do not come under the pressure of someone else's expectations. Work hard, but set a realistic achievable target for yourself," the batting legend said.

Vishwanathan Anand said the problems of board exams were much like the challenges one faced later in life.

"Exams are very much like problems you face later in life... the most important thing is to stay calm. It is very much like a game of chess," the five-time World Chess champion said.

"If you stay calm and you are well nourished and have slept well, then you will find that your brain recalls the right answer at the right moment. So stay calm. It is very important not to put too much pressure on yourself," he said.

Scientist Rao reminded the students of many opportunities available in the country.

"Decide what you want to do in life and don't give it up," he said.

Preacher Morari Bapu, in his message, urged students to concentrate on their exams, and accept the results as and how they come.

Modi also suggested to the students to leave enough time in hand so that they do not have to rush to reach the exam centre.

He also emphasised on the need for sound sleep.

The Class 12 exams of the Central Board of Secondary Education are scheduled to begin on March 1 and of Class 10 on March 2.
New Delhi: Appealing the people to come out with any information on Murthal gangrapes , Haryana Police on Friday released three mobile numbers belonging to the members of the three-member probe team.

But the cops were left red-faced when they realised that instead of the team head DIG Dr Rajshree Singh they have publicised a wrong number. The number which was released, belongs to a man in Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

According to a report in the Times of India, the police meant to give the number of DIG Dr Rajshree Singh (9729995000). Instead, they mistakenly gave out the number of Rohit Rojaskar from Indore.

On Friday, the Haryana Public Relation department has issued numbers of all three women officers, part of the investigation team.

Haryana chief secretary (home) PK Das dismissed the error as typo and said it will be fixed soon. The contact numbers of two other members of the team  Bharti Dabas (8053882302) and Surinder Kaur (9729990760)  are correct, said Das.

Fed up with frequent calls about update on Murthal gangrapes case, Rohit Rojaskar told that he is receiving calls from all over the world. Callers are inquiring about updates in the case. It is irritating.

Following the media reports about the gangrapes at Murthal in Sonipat district during Jat agitation in Haryana, the state government has constituted a three-members team to probe the allegations.

Apart from some witnesses with vague statements, no victim has approached the police so far.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a three-nation visit on March 30 during which he will hold a bilateral summit with the EU in Brussels, attend the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, and become the first Indian prime minister to go to Saudi Arabia in six years.

Modi will visit Brussels on March 30 for the first India-European Union (EU) summit in four years.

EU Ambassador to India Tomasz Kozlowski said in a media interaction in December that India was an extremely important partner for the EU and the new economic and social agenda of the NDA government was specially attractive. He however had noted that that the relationship has not met both sides' expectations despite the potential.

With India being an important trading partner of the 28-nation politico-economic union, he said the EU was "really interested" in completing a free trade agreement with it.

Modi had met presidents of the European Commission and European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Antalya in Turkey in November last year.

After Belgium, Modi will be in Washington on March 31 to attend the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) amid much speculation that he will meet Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines.

The NSS is expected to be attended by the leaders of around 50 countries.

On his way back, Modi will stop in Riyadh - a visit which assumes significance in the face of the current regional situation and strained relations between the Gulf kingdom and Iran, another strategically important country for India.

Saudi Arabia is also home to nearly three million Indian expatriates, most of whom are blue collar workers.
Delhi: Even as the Congress on Sunday alleged that Smriti Irani's statement inside Parliament over Rohith Vemula case had many contradictions and was a 'fit case' for a privilege motion as she had 'mislead' the nation, Oxford researcher Sarmila Bose said that the HRD Minister had misrepresented her work in the speech.

Bose, who is senior research associate at the Centre for International Studies, Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Oxford, has accused Irani of misrepresenting the contents of her book on Bangladesh during a debate in Parliament.

Following is the content of Bose's objections as published in Scroll.in.

On February 24, 2016, in the Lower House of the Indian parliament, Smriti Irani, Indias Minister of Human Resource Development, named me and my book Dead Reckoning: Memories of the 1971 Bangladesh War, during her fiery response on the issue of freedom of speech. The ministers introduction of me was most kind, and her remarks raise important issues about how to study the past and what happens when freedom of thought and expression, whether by scholars, journalists or students on university campuses, collide with notions of "nationalism".

Unfortunately, what Minister Irani attributed to my book is incorrect. She claimed I wrote that the Bangladesh liberation war was a fallacy. Whether Indias intervention by means of invasion in Pakistans self-destructive crisis was a fallacy or not is an important question, but not one addressed in my book. The book is not about India. It is an investigation, based on extensive field research, of what happened in particular incidents of violence during a little over a year of conflict in what was then East Pakistan. Irani is also mistaken in claiming that I wrote that the Pakistan army never did anything to the Bangladeshis that Indira Gandhi went to support. The book is something of a catalogue of horrors: describing the atrocities committed by the Pakistan army to crush a movement for "azaadi" in one of their provinces, as well as those committed by Bangladeshi nationalists against non-Bengalis in the name of Bengali nationalism.

Irani was referring to my book in the context of students of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi being arrested and accused of being anti-national. She quoted, with disapproval, slogans allegedly raised by the students in support of "azaadi" for Kashmir, and against the Indian state and the Indian army. She did so while rousingly raising the slogan Bharat mata ki jai in parliament. The whole point of democracy is to accommodate different perspectives in a deliberative setting. It is essential for students to have a questioning mind, to challenge authority and to grapple with conflicting values and points of view. India is best served by knowing what really happened in any historical or contemporary event, including unpalatable facts and conflicting versions of what happened. Muzzling scholarship, journalism or student activism in the name of nationalism, religion, political ideology or any other excuse, violates the values of freedom and democracy, and hurts India.

I realise the minister is busy and perhaps did not have the time to read my book, but whoever briefed her on me is probably unreliable on other matters as well. Quite apart from misrepresenting my work, was it right or fair to try to use me to attack my brother, an opposition MP, who made a speech the day before? Irani thought he should present my book to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. That is a very good idea, as long as they take the trouble to read the book of course, before opining on it. However, it is far more important for the people of India to have access to a wide range of evidence-based publications and the freedom to engage in debate on difficult issues, including the dark side of "nationalism".

Meanwhile, Congress general secretary and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad told reporters in Srinagar today, "The family (of Rohith) also said police as well as the doctor were present there.... The doctor contradicted her (the minister), the police contradicted her and his mother contradicted her. So, obviously, there will be a privilege motion. Everything is recorded on both sides. So this is a fit case for privilege (motion)", as per PTI.

And in a sharp riposte to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his 'Satyamev Jayate' tweet following Irani's speech in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi had on Saturday requested him to hear the version of the mother of Vemula, the Dalit scholar who committed suicide in Hyderabad.

CPI-M leader Mohammed Salim will on Monday give a notice for bringing privilege motion against Irani in Lok Sabha, while JD(U) MP KC Tyagi and nominated member in Upper House KTS Tulsi will give a similar notice in Rajya Sabha on Monday.

(With Agency inputs)
Pallava Bagla

New Delhi: In future, India and the US could jointly explore Mars and who knows an Indian astronaut could also head to the Red planet on a joint mission.

India's maiden mission to the Red Planet, Mangalyaan, has opened the eyes of the world on ISRO's capabilities at undertaking low cost, high value inter-planetary mission.

Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or JPL, a part of NASA and an institution better known for piloting most of the American planetary exploration efforts with rovers like Curiosity, says India and the US could jointly explore Mars and even invited India to send astronauts to the Red Planet.

Excerpts of an interview:

Q) The US is interested in going back to Mars, so is India. Will India and America look at a joint robotic mission to explore Mars?

A) We hope so that it will be the case in the future. At NASA, we are just beginning to plan for next mission to Mars for the next decade, which is 2020-2030. In fact shortly, there is a meeting in Washington on possible collaborations for the next 5-6 mission to Mars and ISRO is invited for that meeting. This is in preparation for the ultimate human space flight to Mars. We clearly hope that India would be interested. Hopefully, India will be part of the consortium between US, Europe, France, Italy among others where all can capitalise on our capabilities to explore the solar system.

Q) A cooperative exploratory mission is what you are looking at?

A) Yes, that is right. With its accomplishment on the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) India is a great partner, India can be a full partner in the international endeavour for exploring Mars.

Q) In the long run, President Barack Obama has said America should send humans to Mars, so are you looking at a collaboration with India on that mission, since India also has a human space flight program?

A) NASA is starting to plan for the human expedition to Mars, and NASA is looking at it as an international endeavour. NASA has invited international agencies to start thinking together on how to send humans to Mars and beyond. So clearly that is an area where there will be collaboration between India and the US considering the capability that India has, by showing that it can meaningfully contribute to international endeavours.

Q) What was NASA's role in India's mission to Mars?

A) When India launched its mission to Mars, and I congratulate India on a superb mission by reaching the orbit or Mars in the very first attempt. JPL supported ISRO in the navigation and communication because of the antennas we have. Reaching the Mars orbit in first attempt was an amazing achievement and that too at such low cost. Now American scientists through its MAVEN mission and India through its Mars Orbiter Mission are sharing data.

Q) NASA is looking to mine an asteroid, is India likely

to participate on that mission?

A) We are looking at a mission using electric propulsion, which is a major advancement in technology, to capture an asteroid and bring it back to lunar orbit so that astronauts can go and do more deeper exploration. NASA has opened the door for potential interest, be it from India or Europe. We are in a very early stage of planning so that is clearly an opportunity for more collaboration with India.

Q) Where are Indo-US relations in space heading?

A) I think they are heading for a very positive future, from five years ago the interest has now tremendously expanded. There is now good will both politically and scientifically, I am very optimistic about the future in space collaboration. Space is for everybody, the good will between two countries makes space a natural place to work together. The two can cooperate even in astronomy, India has a long history in astronomy. I visited the ancient observatory made by Indians (at Jantar Mantar) that is a few hundred years old that furthered knowledge and now we can do it together. India has a great tradition of learning.

Q) What else is in store for NASA and ISRO in the future?

A) We have a mission called NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission. This is a major mission that will be launched in 2020. Here we are really collaborating as equals, between India and the US. This mission will allow us to look at natural resources across the world, natural hazards like tectonic motion, climate impact and climate change. This is of direct day-to-day benefit for life both in USA and India. This came up as a collaboration among scientists but is now a full-fledged approved joint mission between both countries.

Q) How can you decipher things from space after a disaster strikes?

A) This is a RADAR mission, that has the capability to take a picture of the land, and then you come back a few days later and take another picture. In the meantime, if there was a change even down to a scale of a few centimeters we can detect it from space.

This gives you a picture of the motion that has occurred as result of an earthquake or mudslide. This will allow us to better understand the physics behind an earthquake. Potentially it will allow us to predict areas with large natural hazard.

This is of direct benefit be it for India or California where we see tectonic activity as well. The two main RADAR instruments are being developed by NASA and ISRO, the satellite bus will be Indian and it will be fabricated in India and then it will be launched using the Indian rocket the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle. This time we are truly collaborating as equals.
Attica: Greece on Sunday said the number of refugees and migrants on its soil could more than triple next month, reaching as many as 70,000, as a cap on border crossings by Balkan countries left them "trapped" in the country.

"We estimate that in our country the number of those trapped will be from 50,000-70,000 people next month", Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas said.

"Today, there are 22,000 refugees and migrants", he added in an interview with Mega Channel TV.

Some 6,500 people were stuck at the Idomeni camp on Greece`s northern border with Macedonia on Sunday as Macedonian border officials let only 300 refugees and migrants pass the day before.

Dozens of refugees staged a protest on the rail tracks near Idomeni on Sunday, an AFP photographer said.

The build-up at the 1,500-people capacity camp began in earnest last week after Macedonia began refusing entry to Afghans and imposed stricter document controls on Syrians and Iraqis.

The bottleneck is expected to get worse after EU members Slovenia and Croatia, as well as Serbia and Macedonia, imposed a limit of 580 migrants entering their borders each day.

Those measures came on the heels of a clampdown by Austria, which lies farther up the migrant trail that extends from the Balkans to Germany and Scandinavia.

Austria introduced a daily cap of 80 asylum-seekers and said it would only admit 3,200 migrants transiting the country.

As a result, the tighter controls have had a big knock-on effect in Greece, where migrants have been arriving en masse from neighbouring Turkey.

Thousands, including many children, are now stranded there as the European Union struggles with the continent`s worst migration crisis since the end of World War II. Mouzalas said he expected the influx of refugees and migrants to slow when the information about closed borders spread in Turkey, where millions of people fleeing the war in Syria have taken refuge.

"I believe that the influx will diminish when the news that the Idomeni border crossing is closed will be propagated. We are preparing an information campaign which will be broadcast in Turkey", the migration minister said.

He added that this campaign as well as NATO`s presence in the Aegean Sea, which is helping to police Greek waters, was expected to reduce arrivals by 70 percent.

On Saturday, Mouzalas told Sto Kokkino radio that Greece intends to create provisional camps across the country to accommodate up to 3,000 people each, but "preferably 1,000 people, in order to cover their basic needs for a little while."

In a bid to regulate the flow of refugees until the border situation is resolved, Greek authorities are trying to house them on the Aegean islands where migrants` arrivals, despite the good weather conditions, have decreased, Greek authorities say.

Despite the ongoing refugee drama only one in five Greek people had a clear idea of the number of refugees and migrants reaching Greece`s soil, according to a new poll conducted for Dianeosis think tank and published in To Vima Newspaper on Sunday.

For those asked, the main responsibility for the crisis lies with the EU (21 percent) but also with the war and the social crisis in the Arab world (21 percent).

The survey also found that 92 percent believed the EU had failed to support Greece sufficiently, and 60 percent believed it was important for the country not to exit Europe`s passport-free Schengen zone.

More than two-thirds of respondents voiced sympathy for the refugees but just over half said they would "rather not" see them settle in Greece.
London: The Islamic State (IS) group has launched a chemical warfare in Iraq, targeting the Kurds in the north of the country.

Several rockets believed to contain choking agent chlorine were fired at the Kurdish targets, the express.co.uk reported.

It further said that Kurdish authorities are probing the suspected chemical attack by ISIS against fighters in northwestern Iraq this week.

Dozens of Kurdish fighters and civilians were treated for nausea and vomiting after homemade rockets were fired at them in the Sinjar, it said.

The US-led coalition is helping with the investigation, the report quoted the Kurdistan Region Security Council as saying.

Chlorine, a choking agent, was first used as a chemical weapon during the First World War. It was banned under the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention.

The Kurds had earlier claimed that they have evidence that ISIS has used chlorine against them on a number of occasions.
Kabul: A day after Taliban attacked a bus of the Afghan Defence Ministry in Kabul, the toll has risen to 15 while 31 others were injured, the ministry said on Sunday.

Those killed in Saturday`s attack included 11 personnel from the ministry and four passersby, Xinhua reported.

The injured included 26 military workers and five civilians, the ministry said.

The following is the listing of major attacks in Afghanistan since January 1, 2016.

On February 27, about 13 persons were killed and 40 others injured after a suicide bomber attacked a pro-government local leader, Khan Jan, in Kunar province. Khan died in the attack.

On February 22, a Taliban suicide attacker killed 13 people, including six Afghan Local Police (ALP) officers, and injured 11 in Parwan province.

On February 17, three civilians were killed and 12 injured by an improvised explosive device (IED) attack in Faryab province.

On February 11, five ALP officers were killed following a insider attack in Kunduz province.

On February 10, two police officers launched an insider attack, killing five policemen and injuring six officers in Kandahar province. One attacker was killed in shootout.

On February 8, six civilians were killed and nine injured in a suicide bombing in Paktika province.

On February 8, three military officers were killed and 18 injured when a suicide attacker struck an army bus in Balkh province.

On February 1, at least 20 people, mostly police officers, were and 29 others were wounded when a suicide bomber detonated his explosive jacket at the gate of Civil Order Police station in western Kabul.

On January 30, a police chief and an intelligence director were killed in an IED attack in the Dangam district of Kunar.

On January 26, Zubair Khaksar, a local Journalist and cultural advisor to governor of Nangarhar, was killed in a targeted killing.

On January 26, some nine police were killed in an insider attack in Uruzgan province.

On January 20, up to seven media workers and a policeman were killed and 24 injured as a suicide car bombing struck a bus carrying employees of a local TV channel in Kabul.

On January 17, a suicide attack struck a guesthouse of a local leader Malik Usman Shinwari in Nangarhar, killing 12 civilians and injuring 13 others. Shinwari was among the injured.

On January 13, seven security forces and two civilians were killed and 11 injured after three gunmen attacked a building near Pakistani consulate in Nangarhar.

On January 4, one suicide bomber was killed after his car bomb went off along a main road near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. The target remained unknown.

On January 4, three civilians were killed and 38 others, including two foreign soldiers and five policemen, injured after a suicide truck bomb hit Camp Baron, a heavily protected residential compound of foreign civilian contractors near Kabul airport.

On January 3, gunmen seized a building near Indian Consulate office in Balkh, killing one security force soldier and injuring nine others. The gunmen were killed after one-day clash with security forces.

On January 1, three civilians were killed and 18 injured after a suicide car bomb targeted a local French restaurant in the Qala-e-Fatullah Khan area of Kabul.
Moscow: The Russian military on Sunday said armed groups had attacked a Syrian town from Turkish territory, adding it had demanded an explanation from the United States.

"Overnight from February 27 to 28 the Russian centre for the reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria received information about an attack from Turkish territory on the Syrian town of Tal Abyad by armed units using large-scale artillery," said the chief of the centre, Lieutenant General Sergei Kuralenko.

"This was subsequently verified and confirmed through several channels including representatives of the Syrian Democratic Forces," Kuralenko was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies from the Hmeimim airbase.

The Syrian Democratic Forces is a US-backed Kurdish-Arab alliance.

"The Russian centre has turned for an explanation to the Amman-based US centre for reconciliation," Kuralenko added, stressing that Turkey was a member of a US-led coalition.

No other details were provided by the Russian side.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the Kurdish forces and their Arab allies successfully pushed back a fierce IS offensive by last night with backing from the US-led coalition.

In a statement published late yesterday, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) accused a group of "IS mercenaries" of launching an attack on Tal Abyad from Raqa to the south and from Turkish territory to the north late Friday.

They said they were able to repel the attack but that clashes were ongoing.

A ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washington took effect from 2200 GMT Friday and was largely holding today.

There was no immediate confirmation of the Russian report from Turkey.

Turkey said earlier the ceasefire deal was not binding for Ankara if its national security was threatened.
Beirut: Syria's main opposition grouping recorded 15 violations by government troops and allied forces on the first day of a landmark truce, a spokesman told reporters on Sunday.

"There were 15 violations by the regime forces on day one of the ceasefire, including two attacks by (Lebanese militant group) Hezbollah in Zabadani" west of Damascus, said Salem al-Meslet, spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee.

Speaking by telephone from Riyadh, Meslet said the HNC would be lodging a formal letter of complaint with UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the foreign ministers of the International Syria Support Group.

The UN-backed deal came into effect yesterday, with battle zones across the country going largely quiet despite some accusations of breaches.

The HNC announced earlier that 97 opposition factions had agreed to respect the truce, for two weeks initially.

Meslet said none of those groups had responded to the violations yesterday.

"For the opposition forces there, nobody reacted because the decision is to remain quiet and I believe they will stick to the truce."

Meslet said the deal was "the first step in the right direction" to bring an end to the bloody conflict in Syria.

"The thing is, it is positive for us to see people relieved... We have violations here and there, but in general it is a lot better than before and people are comfortable," Meslet said.

"That is our main objective -- for our people there to be safe from this fear that has been there for five years now."
Damascus: Syria's fragile ceasefire entered a second day on Sunday with battlezones still largely quiet for the first time in five years, despite sporadic incidents including several air strikes.

The truce, brokered by Washington and Moscow, is seen as a crucial step towards ending a conflict that has claimed 270,000 lives and displaced more than half the population.

The convoluted patchwork of territorial control in Syria, wrapped up in a brutal civil war since 2011, has complicated efforts to implement the deal.

Warplanes, believed to be either Syrian or Russian, bombed seven villages today in the northern province of Aleppo and Hama in the centre, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

It was unclear if the raids hit areas covered by the ceasefire, which excludes territory held by the Islamic State jihadist group and al Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.

According to Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman, only one of the villages, Kafr Hamra in Aleppo province, is controlled by Al-Nusra and the others are in the hands of non-jihadist rebels.

Elsewhere the situation remained mostly calm, according to AFP reporters.

In Aleppo, Syria's second city, residents took to the streets to do their shopping after a night without any sound of fighting or air strikes, a correspondent said.

"There's something strange in this silence. We used to go to sleep and wake up with the sound of raids and artillery," said Abu Omar, 45, who runs a bakery in rebel-held east Aleppo.

A task force set up to monitor the deal described it yesterday as largely successful on the first day.

"The United Nations, the United States and Russia have made a positive assessment of the first hours of the cessation of hostilities," a Western diplomat said after a meeting of the International Syria Support Group in Geneva.

The UN reported "some incidents" in apparent violation of the truce, but "they have been defused", he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's office said he and US Secretary of State John Kerry had "hailed" the ceasefire in a phone call, and discussed ways of improving cooperation between their militaries.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has said peace talks will resume on March 7 if the ceasefire prevails and more aid is delivered - a key sticking point in negotiations.
Istanbul: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said he has "no respect" for a decision by the Constitutional Court to order the release of two Turkish journalists held in jail for three months on charges of revealing state secrets.

"I am not in a position to agree with this decision. I am saying this very clearly: I don`t concur with the decision and I have no respect for it," Erdogan told reporters before leaving on a trip to Africa.

"This issue is not remotely linked freedom of expression. It`s a spying case," he said.

The Cumhuriyet newspaper`s editor-in-chief Can Dundar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul walked out of jail in Istanbul early Friday after the Constitutional Court ruled that their rights had been violated in their case.

They had been detained since November over a report alleging that Erdogan`s government tried to deliver arms to Islamist rebels in Syria.

But the pair, who were kept in jail for over 90 days, are still set to stand trial on the charges on March 25, with prosecutors demanding multiple life terms.

"As Tayyip Erdogan, I believe in defending freedom of expression until the end," said Erdogan.

"But I do not believe in using freedom of expression... as a mask to attack to the country. Because this is espionage."

Dundar and Gul have been formally charged with obtaining and revealing state secrets "for espionage purposes" and seeking to "violently" overthrow the Turkish government as well as aiding an "armed terrorist organisation."

Erdogan added: "For me there cannot be limitless media freedom. There is no absolute freedom for the media in any country in the world."

The newspaper report had sparked a furore in Turkey, fuelling speculation about the government`s role in the Syrian conflict and its alleged dealings with Islamist rebels in Syria.

sjw/ri
Baghdad: Militants attacked an outdoor market today in eastern Baghdad, killing at least 38 people and wounding dozens, officials said.

A bomb ripped through the crowded Mredi market in the Shiite district of Sadr City, a police officer said. Minutes later, a suicide bomber blew himself up amid the crowd that had gathered at the site of the first bombing, he added.

Interior Ministry spokesman Sad Main said the bombings killed 38 people and wounded another 62.

The attack was the deadliest in a wave of recent explosions that have targeted commercial areas in and outside Baghdad.

In the town of Mahmoudiya, about 30 kilometers south of Baghdad, three shoppers were killed and 10 wounded in a bomb explosion, another police officer said. Four others were killed in a separate bomb attack in Baghdad's southern Dora neighborhood, he added.

The Islamic State-affiliated Aamaq news agency later claimed responsibility for the Sadr City bombings. The militant Sunni Muslim group controls key areas in northern and western Iraq and regularly targets government forces, civilians and especially Shiites, who the IS regards as heretics.

The attacks came hours after security forces repelled an attack by IS militants on the capital's western suburb of Abu Ghraib, officials said.

Three suicide car bombers struck a security force barracks as gunmen opened fire, according to two police officers. At least 12 members of government and paramilitary security forces were killed and 35 wounded, they added. The clashes left a silo on fire, they said.

The commander of military operations in western Baghdad, Maj. Gen Saad Harbiya, said the situation is "under control" and a local curfew has been imposed.

Medical official confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

Abu Ghraib, about 18 miles from downtown Baghdad, is the location of a prison of the same name where US troops committed notorious abuses against Iraqi detainees following the 2003 invasion.

Citing the unstable security situation in the surrounding area, Iraqi authorities closed the prison in April 2014.

NNNN
Melbourne, Australia, Feb 29, 2016 - (ABN Newswire) - Cash Converters International Ltd (ASX:CCV.AX - News) today announced a major change in strategy following a comprehensive review across all businesses. The company will focus on building on its brand and network strengths in Australia, and significantly reduce its operations in the United Kingdom.

Highlights

- Major change in strategy following a comprehensive six month review

- Future strategic focus on sustainable growth and profits delivered through industry leading customer service and satisfaction

- Increased investment to build on brand and network strengths in Australia

- Return to master franchisor role in the United Kingdom; sale of corporate stores and loan book

- Higher half-year net profit of $15.9 million (HY 14: $5.3 million loss)

- Return to dividend with 2.0 (two) cents interim payment

- Revenue up 5.8 per cent to $198.6 million (HY14: $187.7 million)

- Strong performance across all channels in Australia

- Online personal loans principal advanced up 42.5 per cent to $44.6 million (HY14: $31.3 million)

- New financing and transactional banking arrangements to underpin strategy and growth

- Productive engagement with Government agencies on review of small credit legislation

Cash Converters also announced a net profit of $15.9 million for the half-year ending 31 December 2015. This was a substantial improvement on the $5.3 million loss for the December 2014 half. It followed a 5.8 per cent lift in revenue to $198.6 million and a strong performance across all channels in Australia.

Managing Director Peter Cumins said: "Our new strategy is to build on our clear brand and network strengths in Australia where we are the industry leader. We believe we have the best prospect of sustainable growth and profits there.

"Our latest financial results confirm our strength in Australia across retail and financial services. Despite an encouraging improvement by our businesses in the United Kingdom they still have major structural and sectoral issues our new strategy will address," he said.

Story continues

New Strategy

Cash Converters began a comprehensive review six months ago aimed at developing a new strategy to deliver sustainable growth and profits. Going forward, the focus will be on businesses with returns well above their cost of capital and leadership in customer service and satisfaction.

Australia already has industry leading market share, brand recognition and customer satisfaction. The company will increase investment to build on these strengths. It will expand its national network continuing the successful mix of corporate and franchise stores. It will also increase capabilities to cater for the rapid growth in online lending demand.

The company will broaden its current lending product range with the introduction of medium amount credit contract loans. These are government regulated and with loan periods of up to two years for amounts up to $5000.

In the United Kingdom Cash Converters will 'go back to the basics' and return to its original role as a master franchisor. It is currently negotiating to sell its corporate stores to franchisees within its network and will also divest the UK personal loan book. Once these sales are completed it will focus on servicing the needs of its franchisee network throughout the United Kingdom.

In Australia, Carboodle will cease operations with the current lease book wound down. The business will look to transition to a new secured motor lending business, Green Light Auto Finance. This will operate as a low overhead, capital 'light' business supported by a funding platform from a third party.

The company has a 25 per cent interest in Cash Converters New Zealand and plans to use that as a platform for future growth in that market.

The company expects to take into its full year 2016 financial results charges related to changes in the United Kingdom and Carboodle businesses. At the date of this report, Cash Converters is in the process of assessing the likely impact of these changes on the 2016 full year financial results, and further clarity will arise as the plans are implemented over the remainder of the current financial year. Based on current estimates the likely financial impact of the strategic changes noted above is not expected to be greater than $35 million before tax, including both cash and non-cash items. Further clarity on this will be provided as the restructuring is implemented.

In commenting on the new strategy, Peter Cumins said customer service was a key objective. "We aim to be the industry leader in customer service and satisfaction through ongoing investment in upgraded products, services and staff capabilities.

"If our industry is to be fully accepted by government and community as an integral part of the financial services sector, we need to ensure we continually deliver high quality products and services while maintaining the highest compliance standards.

"We also need to ensure our businesses consistently deliver returns above their cost of capital. Getting the balance right between these two objectives will be our strategic priority," he said.

Half Year Results

The net profit for the half year was $15.9 million compared with a loss of $5.3 million for the previous corresponding period.

The higher profit followed a 5.8 per cent rise in revenue from $187.7 million to $198.6. The main drivers of the revenue growth were retail sales up $11.4 million, pawn interest up $1.4 million and financial services commission up $1.5 million.

On a divisional basis normalised EBITDA (underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortisation and impairment) was up 15.1 per cent to $37.3 million.

Strong performance in Australia and improvement in the United Kingdom

On a geographic basis normalised EBITDA was up 11.0 per cent to $38.3 million in Australia. The United Kingdom improved following a concerted effort to reduce costs and increase corporate store earnings. The business recorded an EBITDA loss of $1.1 million compared with a loss of $2.3 million in the previous corresponding period. International EBITDA was $211,942 compared with $295,727 previously.

Australia performed well across all channels. Corporate stores EBITDA was up 2.9 per cent to $10.5 million. The personal loan book was steady at $115.8 million with online growth being strong. Online personal loans were up 42.5 per cent to $44.6 million and online cash advances up 62.1 per cent to $8.2 million.

The Australian cash advance product EBITDA was up 15.7 per cent to $6.2 million.

Replacement of Banking Services

Cash Converters recently announced a new loan securitisation facility with the Fortress Investment Group that re-finances the existing banking facility on market competitive terms. The Fortress facility is for five years with an initial three year loan period and an option for a two year extension.

Cash Converters has also signed a five year agreement with a service provider to replace its existing transactional banking facilities. The transition is expected to be complete by July 2016.

Government review

The Australian Government announced in August 2015 a review of small amount credit contract laws. Cash Converters has been actively engaged in the review process and has lodged submissions as well as meeting with government representatives, agencies and the review panel. The review recommendations are due by the end of February 2016.

Dividend

The directors of the company recommend that an interim dividend of 2.0 (two) cents per share be paid on 29 April 2016 to those shareholders on the register at the close of business on 15 April 2016.

The company's Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) will apply to this dividend, providing shareholders with the option to reinvest all or part of the their eligible dividend at a discount of 2.5% of the price established by the 5 day volume weighted average price (VWAP) up to and including the record date.

Outlook

In commenting on the outlook for the company and its industry sector, Peter Cumins said the signs are positive.

"We will now focus on markets where we already have a strong position, good growth prospects and relatively predictable operating and regulatory environments. In Australia we believe we can use our market and brand leadership to not only improve our financial performance, but also assist in the necessary reshaping of short-term lending into a reputable and credible segment within the overall financial services sector.

"Recent government data shows the short-term lending market in Australia is growing and the range of consumers accessing these products is broadening. This is driving demand for online and more sophisticated lending products.

"Cash Converters is well positioned to meet this demand and respond to industry changes," he said.

Further information

Further information about Cash Converters new strategy and financial results is available in the two Investor Slide Packs (Building on our Strengths and Investor Presentation for the Half-Year ending 31 December 2015) lodged with this release. These packs are available at: www.cashconverters.com

Conference call details

Date: Monday 29 February 2016

Time: 9.00am AWST; 12.00 pm AEST

National Toll Free Number: 1800 280 741

Overseas Toll Free Number: +61 3 8687 7788

Participants are requested to dial in 5-10 minutes prior to the start time.

To register your attendance, please email general.enquiries@cashconverters.com

To view the half year report, please visit:

http://media.abnnewswire.net/media/en/docs/ASX-CCV-754442.pdf



About Cash Converters International Ltd:

Cash Converters International (ASX:CCV.AX - News) is a franchised retail network listed on the ASX. It specialises in the sale of second-hand goods. The Cash Converters group employs modern retailing practices, professional management techniques and high ethical standards to the management of its stores throughout the chain which appeal to a wide cross section of the community. As a result, Cash Converters has been able to position its outlets as credible retail merchandise stores, resulting in a profitable market for the group.

Contact:

Ralph Groom Company Secretary Cash Converters International Ltd T: +61 8 9221 9111 WWW: www.cashconverters.com

Source:

Cash Converters International Ltd

Copyright (C) 2016 ABN Newswire. All rights reserved.
In Anaheim, California, three people were stabbed, one critically, and several others were arrested when a Ku Klux Klan rally erupted in violence.

The Los Angeles Times reports that a "small group of people" claiming to represent the KKK put out the word this week they would hold a rally at Anaheim's Pearson Park at 1:30 p.m. today, Saturday. By 11 a.m. today, several dozen protesters showed up at the park to confront the racists.

About an hour later, several men in black garb with Confederate flag patches arrived and were escorted by police around the edge of the park. Violence erupted and some of the counter-protesters could be seen kicking a man whose shirt read "Grand Dragon." At some point, a counter-protester collapsed on the ground bleeding, crying that he had been stabbed. A Klansman in handcuffs could be heard telling a police officer that he "stabbed him in self-defense." Several other people were also handcuffed. Witnesses said the Klansmen used the point of a flagpole as a weapon while fighting with counter-protesters.

And this part of the LA Times report is amazing:

Brian Levin, the director of CSU San Bernardino's Center for the study of hate and extremism, said he was standing next to the man in the Grand Dragon shirt when a crowd of protesters swarmed the Klansmen carrying weapons. A brawl broke out and one of the Klansmen was knocked to the ground and kicked, and whose arm Levin said he later saw bleeding. Levin said he pushed the Klan leader away as the violence continued and a protester was stabbed. Levin said he asked the man, "How do you feel that a Jewish guy just saved your life?" "Thank you," the man replied, according to Levin.

In related news, The KKK's longtime figurehead this week endorsed Donald Trump for president. As we've reported here previously, Donald Trump's father was probably a KKK supporter or member. Fred Trump, Sr., was reported by the New York Times to have been a participant at a KKK rally in New York in 1927 in which police officers were injured.

Backstory on today's white supremacist shitshow in Anaheim, at the Los Angeles Times: "Planned KKK rally today in Anaheim brings condemnation: 'It's really sad'"

The KKK has a long history in Southern California, as this Associated Press account of today's violence reminds us. Openly self-identified Klansmen held elected office in the Anaheim city government in the 1920s.

In January 2015, packets containing fliers condemning Martin Luther King, Jr. and supporting the Ku Klux Klan were left in the driveways of about 40 homes in Santa Ana, about 8 miles south of Anaheim. The baggies contained a KKK business card, rock and candy. The fliers opened with the heading, "On Martin Luther King Day, you are celebrating a communist pervert." The bottom of the fliers state they came from the "Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan."
Rumble

This video shows the incredible behaviour of a caring mother elephant on high alert, quickly stopping her adorable baby which was curiously straying away from her towards a vehicle full of safari tourists. Going on safari in the Kruger National Park is a life changing experience. Driving around multiple tarred roads, slowly scanning a massive area of wilderness is all part of the thrill. You never know what will be around the next corner or what animal will suddenly appear from the bush onto the road. Its an exciting experience and one of the must-see animals for most tourists are elephants. Not only are they the largest land mammals on our planet and fairly intimidating, elephants are also one of the most intelligent and emotionally intelligent animals that roam this planet. Seeing these giants in the wild is always a sight to remember. The video shows an incredible moment filmed in the Kruger National Park when a safari vehicle full of tourists found a large elephant cow and her adorable calf next to the road. The safari vehicle stopped and it looked like the mother elephant and her baby wanted to cross the road. The baby elephant was the cutest thing alive in the wild right at that moment. While the elephant cow remained focussed on crossing the road, her baby took notice of the safari vehicle and curiously started straying away from its mother towards the vehicle. The caring mother elephant immediately went into high alert and quickly took her trunk and stopped her baby from going any closer to the safari vehicle. The mother elephant gently used her trunk to guide her baby back and into the right direction. It was incredible to see how quickly the elephant cow became protective over her baby. The elephant calf listened to its mother and in a well-behaved manner, walking on the opposite side of its mother, continued to focus and follow its mother as it should. This is crucial for the survival of the calf in the wild. The gestation period of an elephant is twenty-two months, so it is very understandable that an elephant calf is seen as a huge investment and there will always be a mother around, ready to protect her calf from any potential danger. Even though the tourists were not a direct threat, the mother elephant knows all to well that there are humans that still pose a danger for them in the wild. The mother of such a small calf is definitely not something to mess with at all and its best never to get too close to a mother and her calf.
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox has had a few choice words for US presidential candidate Donald Trump, prompting the brash billionaire to demand an apology.

Speaking on US television network Fusion, Mr Fox blasted the Republican frontrunners campaign pledge to build a wall along the US Southern border and his promise to make Mexico pay for it.

I am not going to pay for that f****** wall, Mr Fox told the network. He should pay for it. Hes got the money.

Mr Trump then used his Twitter account to decry the use of the F word.

He must apologize! Trump tweeted. If I did that there would be a uproar!

Mr Fox went on to call Mr Trump crazy and egocentric during his interview with presenter Jorge Ramos, who himself is no stranger to encounters with the property tycoon .

The former president also expressed concern about Mr Trump acquiring 46% of the Hispanic vote on his way to victory in the Nevada caucus earlier this week.

He said: Id like to know who those Hispanics are because they again, theyre followers of a false prophet.

Mr Fox urged Hispanics and Latinos to open your eyes, and said Mr Trumps policies are not rooted in Republican values.

Mr Trump sparked outrage in the summer after he accused the Mexican government of allowing rapists and drug-runners to enter the US illegally.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nietos administration has referred to Mr Trumps remarks as prejudiced and absurd.

On Thursday, US Vice President Joe Biden told Mexican officials in Mexico City that campaign rhetoric against immigrants was dangerous and disturbing.

He said such views did not represent the vast majority of Americans.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, continues to hold a wide margin of support among Republican voters.

His win in Nevada was his third victory in a row, giving him solid momentum heading into the Super Tuesday contests on 1 March.
By Ginger Gibson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Making a final push toward the crucial Super Tuesday vote, Super PACs backing Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz bought $2.4 million in advertising supporting him in eight states, the groups told Reuters. The ads purchased by Keep The Promise and its various offshoots include radio, television and online and are the latest effort by supporters of Cruz, a U.S. senator of Texas, to dislodge Donald Trump from the front-runner position in Tuesday's critical 11-state Republican nominating contests. Should Trump sweep the contests, it could make stopping his path to the Republican nomination impossible. The outside groups supporting the presidential candidates have already spent more than $5.5 million on advertising in Super Tuesday states, according to analysis by Reuters of the spending reports filed with Federal Election Commission as of Friday morning. Super PACs are permitted to raise unlimited amounts of money from individuals and corporations, but are prohibited from coordinating with the campaigns they are supporting. Most of the Super PACs have been used to fund expensive advertising budgets, while the campaigns themselves are responsible for staff and ground organization. Cruz's backers are hopeful the ads will pull him ahead of Trump. Cruz is locked in a tight battle in his home state of Texas, where 155 delegates to be sent to the Republican National Convention are at stake, out of almost 600 delegates total in the states voting on Super Tuesday. "On Super Tuesday, voters can both send a message to Washington AND send a serious, proven conservative to the White House by voting for Cruz," said Kellyanne Conway, president of Keep the Promise I, one of the groups backing Cruz. The groups spent $393,500 on radio ads in seven states. They also purchased more than $990,0000 in television ads that will run in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma - the most crucial states for Cruz to narrow the margins with Trump. The groups also spent $1 million on digital ads in eight states, including Minnesota, where so far none of the outside groups have bought advertising. (Reporting by Ginger Gibson; Editing by Leslie Adler)
Ireland's Prime Minister has vowed to remain in office despite the coalition government suffering huge losses in the general election.

Enda Kenny said his Fine Gael party would seek new allies with the sole aim of creating "as stable a government" as possible.

With several coalition combinations on the table, Mr Kenny refused to be drawn on the prospect of a pact with traditional adversaries Fianna Fail.

In the first round of results, Fine Gael attracted 25.5% of first-preference votes, down 10.6% from the last election in 2011.

Support for its junior coalition partner Labour was also down - from 12.8% five years ago to 6.6%.

Fianna Fail - which faced political ruin in 2011 after leading the country to the brink of bankruptcy - mounted an unexpectedly strong comeback.

It took 24.3% of first-preference votes and appeared poised to double its share of parliamentary seats.

Sinn Fein won 13.8% of the vote, making it the third largest party. There were also big gains for half a dozen other small parties and independents.

Commenting on the backlash, Mr Kenny said: "Democracy can be very exciting but it's merciless."

:: Can Ireland's Ancient Rivals Bury The Hatchet?

With many rounds of ballot counting left under Ireland's complex system of proportional representation, the winners of the 158 parliamentary seats are not expected to be declared until Monday.

If Fine Gael and Fianna Fail cannot forge an alliance, they may try to form a rainbow coalition with the smaller parties and independents.

Fianna Fail chief Micheal Martin said voters wanted a new government, so he intended to nominate himself as Prime Minister when the new parliament convenes on 10 March.

"We're committed to doing our best by the country and ensuring that the country gets a good government," he said.

"But it will take time."

Mr Martin said any successful coalition talks will have to be "very much focused on the issues and on policies, and not just on numbers".

Both his party and Fine Gael have ruled out including Sinn Fein in the next government.
By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - Quality problems prompted two of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's top lawyers to urge that Flint be moved back to the Detroit water system just months after a decision to draw water supply from the Flint River, according to emails released on Friday. Several critics have called for Snyder to resign over concerns about the state's poor handling of the crisis, and the governor said Friday he felt regret every day. Flint switched its water supply from Detroit to the Flint River in April 2014 in a bid to cut costs when the city was under a state-appointed emergency manager. While the city switched its water source back to Detroit in October 2015, corrosive water from the river had already leached lead from city pipes, posing a serious threat to public health. Snyder's aides discussed Flint's water quality problems as early as autumn 2014, with one calling the situation "downright scary," about a year before the switch back to the Detroit system was finally made. The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News earlier reported about the emails, which were released by the governor's office. "That's where I'm kicking myself every day," Snyder said after signing a $30 million supplemental bill to reimburse Flint residents for their water bills. "I wish I would have asked more questions." Snyder, scheduled to testify to Congress on March 17, has repeatedly apologized for the state's poor handling of the crisis. Liberal group Progress Michigan again called for Snyder to resign, citing the emails. There's no reasonable person who can believe at this point that every top adviser to Rick Snyder knew that there was an issue, but Snyder knew nothing," said executive director Lonnie Scott, who also called for Snyder's resignation. Valerie Brader, Snyder's senior policy adviser, addressed problems over the quality of Flint River water in an email to the governor's chief of staff, Dennis Muchmore, and others on Oct. 14, 2014. She argued Flint should be returned to the Detroit water system, citing bacterial contamination and reduced quality that prompted General Motors to switch away from the river due to rusted car parts. Michael Godola, then the governor's legal counsel, responded, calling the Flint River as a water source "downright scary." On Friday, State Representative Sheldon Neeley of Flint asked Attorney General Bill Schuette for his legal opinion on whether an official withholding information that leads to death or harm can be charged criminally.
By Ben Klayman DETROIT (Reuters) - Quality problems prompted two of Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's top lawyers to urge that Flint be moved back to the Detroit water system just months after a decision to draw water supply from the Flint River, according to emails released on Friday. Several critics have called for Snyder to resign over concerns about the state's poor handling of the crisis, and the governor said Friday he felt regret every day. Flint switched its water supply from Detroit to the Flint River in April 2014 in a bid to cut costs when the city was under a state-appointed emergency manager. While the city switched its water source back to Detroit in October 2015, corrosive water from the river had already leached lead from city pipes, posing a serious threat to public health. Snyder's aides discussed Flint's water quality problems as early as autumn 2014, with one calling the situation "downright scary," about a year before the switch back to the Detroit system was finally made. The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News earlier reported about the emails, which were released by the governor's office. "That's where I'm kicking myself every day," Snyder said after signing a $30 million supplemental bill to reimburse Flint residents for their water bills. "I wish I would have asked more questions." Snyder, scheduled to testify to Congress on March 17, has repeatedly apologized for the state's poor handling of the crisis. Liberal group Progress Michigan again called for Snyder to resign, citing the emails. There's no reasonable person who can believe at this point that every top adviser to Rick Snyder knew that there was an issue, but Snyder knew nothing," said executive director Lonnie Scott, who also called for Snyder's resignation. Valerie Brader, Snyder's senior policy adviser, addressed problems over the quality of Flint River water in an email to the governor's chief of staff, Dennis Muchmore, and others on Oct. 14, 2014. She argued Flint should be returned to the Detroit water system, citing bacterial contamination and reduced quality that prompted General Motors to switch away from the river due to rusted car parts. Michael Godola, then the governor's legal counsel, responded, calling the Flint River as a water source "downright scary." On Friday, State Representative Sheldon Neeley of Flint asked Attorney General Bill Schuette for his legal opinion on whether an official withholding information that leads to death or harm can be charged criminally. (Editing by Bernadette Baum and Matthew Lewis)
"What the Canadian government has done in terms of support for Neil  making the statement and having ministers speak out on his behalf  is extremely helpful here in Jakarta and allows the embassy to move fully forward and engage at the highest levels with all the diplomatic tools that they have to find a speedy and just resolution," she said in an interview with CBC News.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Dion said Thursday the government "is deeply dismayed and shocked" by an Indonesian Supreme Court decision to overturn Bantleman's acquittal and add another year to his sentence, on allegations that he sexually abused three children at a private school in Jakarta.

It was the strongest show of public support the government has extended since Bantleman was arrested in 2014.

Tracy Bantleman told CBC News she would like to thank Dion for making the statement.

In 2014, Bantleman, 46, and Tjiong, an Indonesian teaching assistant, were convicted on charges of abusing kindergarten students at the Jakarta Intercultural School (JIS), where the children of many expatriates, diplomats and wealthy Indonesians are enrolled.

Boy's tests came back negative

He said the results, suggesting the boy may have been exposed to the herpes virus, were not reliable and would never stand up in a Canadian court.

"It's using a test that's not reliable," Dr. Sumon Chakrabarti said.

The fifth estate said the woman, who sparked the investigation at the school agreed to get one more independent test done in Europe.

She said she urged him to remain strong and calm as he was ordered to return to Cipinang Prison, the same prison in eastern Jakarta where Tjiong was incarcerated on Thursday.
By Serena Maria Daniels DETROIT (Reuters) - Two former Michigan representatives forced out of the state legislature last fall for a scheme to cover up their extramarital affair face felony charges of misconduct and related counts, officials said on Friday. Todd Courser, who resigned from his seat in Lapeer County, was charged with three counts of misconduct while in office, each of which carries a five year prison term, as well as a perjury charge, which has a 15-year sentence, according to the Michigan attorney general's office. Cindy Gamrat, who was removed from her Allegan County seat, faces two charges of misconduct while in office. Warrants have been served for both former lawmakers. "We are demonstrating to the citizens of Michigan that no one is above the law, not even those who walk in the hall of power," Attorney General Bill Schuette told reporters. Schuette's office and Michigan State Police launched an investigation into the two disgraced lawmakers last fall. Schuette said on Friday that Courser and Gamrat both lied to investigators, and that Courser asked his staff to send out false emails to cover up the extramarital affair. Courser had devised a plan to distribute an email falsely claiming he had sex with a male prostitute, according to the Detroit News. That claim, Courser said, would have blunted the political impact of an actual affair if it had come out. He was charged with perjury for allegedly lying while giving testimony to a House committee, Schuette's office said. Both won seats in 2014 as Tea Party conservatives and devout Christians. They tried to regain their seats last year, but lost in the Republican primary. Courser and Gamrat were not immediately available for comment on Friday. (Reporting by Serena Maria Daniels; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Phil Berlowitz)
A group of people who helped at the scene of a highway crash in Ecuador in 2015 have kept in touch, including a Saskatoon nurse who recalls the event  and the unique circumstances involved  with vivid detail.

"It was probably the most unbelievable thing I have ever come across," Della Magnusson said, talking about the experience.

Magnusson was on vacation in Ecuador visiting the country as part of a tour.

On Feb. 23, 2015, their bus was the first to come upon the scene of a crash where an army truck had slammed into a car.

Without hesitation, people on the bus, including Magnusson, went to provide first aid.

She said what was remarkable was that there were several other medical professionals on the tour: two other nurses, a doctor and a pharmacist.

"We were just lucky to have everybody together on the bus like that," Magnusson said. "We just went to work."

She even had her stethoscope with her.

"I don't go anywhere without it," she said.

Five people in the car (a four-year-old girl, two young men, a grandmother and the male driver) were alive but had suffered serious broken bones and cuts and it was difficult to get them free of the wreck.

Magnusson said everyone pitched in, including the tour operator, who provided translation help. When the girl was extricated from the car, another bystander quickly got her into a vehicle to take her to a hospital.

Ambulance arrives

Even after an ambulance arrived, Magnusson and the others continued to work, donning gloves, administering pain medications and helping to stabilize the crash victims.

"Once we got a bag and the things that we needed ... I just went from one person to the next, getting their IVs into them," she said.

After loading a patient, Magnusson remembered, she had to remind the ambulance driver to not take off with her still onboard.

"We can't leave," she remembered saying. "We're on a tour."

She said the crash scene, once the patients were safely taken away, looked very serious. She later learned that all the injured people were going to be OK, although they were facing long recoveries from multiple fractures.

Story continues

"Everybody was alive. Everybody was doing well," she said. Magnusson added she has not had a recent update on the people in the car, but has kept in touch with the tour operator and hopes to learn more.

She has also kept in contact with the other people on the bus (there were 28 altogether). Today, they all marvel at how they were in "the right place, at the right time [and were] the right people" to help out, she said.

"It was the most amazing thing," Magnusson said. "We came together as a team and we did this incredible work, pulling these people out of this vehicle and giving them medical care ... all the pieces fell together. It was just unreal."

She said they are considering a reunion of sorts, possibly in Ecuador, adding the experience bonded them in a special way.
As of August 26th, 2021 Yahoo India will no longer be publishing content. Your Yahoo Account Mail and Search experiences will not be affected in any way and will operate as usual. We thank you for your support and readership. For more information on Yahoo India, please visit the FAQ
By Fatos Bytyci PRISTINA (Reuters) - Opposition lawmakers released teargas in Kosovo's parliament and protesters outside threw petrol bombs in an unsuccessful attempt to stop Hashim Thaci, who they say gave too much power to ethnic Serbs, from being elected president. Twenty one officers were injured in the streets of Pristina during Friday's session when police used teargas and water cannons to disperse protesters. Thaci, now 47, helped to clinch an EU-brokered agreement in 2015 that gives a small Serb minority more power over local government decisions and raises the possibility of financing from Belgrade. With 71 votes in a 120-seat parliament, he will be Kosovo's fourth president and serve five years in the largely ceremonial role. Four hours into Friday's session, led by Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), opposition lawmakers threw three tear gas canisters in the chamber, prompting the speaker, Kadri Veseli, to eject 11 MPs. An hour later tear gas was thrown again but the vote was passed despite a delay. Opposition parties have been protesting for four months against the deal with Serbia and have staged street protests, repeatedly thrown tear gas in parliament, clashed with police and last month set a government building on fire. Police in full riot gear backed by armored vehicles used tear gas and water cannons to disperse several hundred demonstrators. Protesters shouted, "Hashim, Hashim we want you in jail!" and "Hashim, the traitor!" "I will always work to serve the country, all its citizens and respect the constitution," Thaci told the parliament after the vote. Born and raised in the hardline region of Drenica, Thaci led the guerrilla insurgency against Serbian forces in 1998-99. He served as Kosovo's prime minister when it declared independence in 2008. But in a 2011 Council of Europe report he was identified as a leader of a group that had committed war crimes against Serbs and had harvested organs from Serbs captured in the 1998-99 Kosovo war. Thaci has denied the accusations. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, almost a decade after NATO air strikes drove out Serbian security forces accused of killing and expelling ethnic Albanian civilians during a counter-insurgency war. Many Kosovo Albanians believe last year's accord with Serbia could erode that hard-won sovereignty, though its status is unclear after a Kosovo constitutional court ruling in December that parts of it breach the country's laws. "Our protests will not stop, they will get bigger," Visar Ymeri, leader of the biggest opposition party Vetevendosje, told a press conference. (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Ivana Sekularac and Ruth Pitchford)
(In this Feb 26 story, corrects source of study to World Wildlife Fund in Mexico in second paragraph.) By Jon Herskovitz AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - North America's monarch butterflies are on a rebound and the number of the plucky orange and black creatures, which gather in Mexico before flying north to Canada, could soon stand at around 150 million, a new survey showed on Friday. The survey from the World Wildlife Fund in Mexico is the second this month to show the numbers on the mend, but the population is still well below a high in the 1 billion range two decades ago. The monarch's recent comeback is due to favorable weather and the planting of more milkweed, an important plant to keep numbers up on its migration route, the survey said. "Today's news provides a hopeful indication that we are helping them head in the right direction and curbing the loss of this magnificent butterfly. But we must be careful not to declare victory too soon," said Sylvia Fallon, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. The study looked at areas where the butterflies congregate when they spend the winter in Mexico's Oyamel forest. They have suffered mightily over the years from the expansion of farmland, sprawling housing developments and the clear-cutting of natural landscapes along their migration path, experts say. Monarchs lay eggs only on milkweed plants, which grow wild throughout the United States. But the milkweed, on which their larvae feed, can cause stomach problems for cattle that eat it, so ranchers and farmers destroy it, researchers said. The butterflies congregate in Mexico and then go through several generations as they fly north on their long migration to Canada. Their plight has become an international issue. In February 2014, the United States, Mexico and Canada agreed to set up a joint task force to protect the butterflies. While an estimated 1 billion monarchs migrated in 1996, only about 35 million made the trip in 2013, according to Marcus Kronforst, a professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago who has studied monarchs. (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Tom Brown)
Tehran (AFP) - Iran's moderate President Hassan Rouhani won strong public backing and his reformist allies made stunning gains in parliamentary elections, partial results showed Sunday, reducing the potential for opponents to block domestic reform plans.

The reformists scored a unanimous victory in Tehran, taking all 30 seats at the expense of conservatives, including several hardline critics of the landmark nuclear deal between Rouhani's government and world powers.

The declaration for the capital came with more than 90 percent of votes counted, but the outcome from Friday's polling was mixed elsewhere.

Conservatives retained a strong grip in other cities and provinces, meaning that no one political faction was likely to secure majority control of parliament.

An AFP tally of results from 206 of the remaining 260 seats had the main conservative list winning 61, the List of Hope alliance between pro-Rouhani reformists and moderates 43, and independents 51.

Among the independents, 25 have ties to conservatives, 16 are close to reformists and 10 have no known affiliation. A further 51 seats had no clear winner and will require a second round of voting in April or May.

Although Rouhani secured the nuclear agreement last July, ending a 13-year standoff with the West, and sanctions were lifted last month he has so far been unable to deliver even limited social, cultural or political change at home.

Support from reformists in the next parliament should make that easier, but the resurgent group is also likely to pressure the president for change and concrete progress on long-avoided difficult issues such as demands to free political prisoners.

In comments posted on Twitter beside a picture of smiling voters, young and old, Rouhani hailed the results of the first polls since the nuclear deal as a vote of confidence in the government.

- 'A new atmosphere' -

"With your skilful voting you've created a new atmosphere. In respect, I stand up before you, great nation, who are the pride of the history of the land of Iran," he wrote on Twitter.

Story continues

The wins for reformists and losses for hardliners represent "a reaction against radicals" from the electorate, Amir Mohebbian, an analyst with close links to the government and conservatives, told AFP.

"But mistakes by the conservatives who supported radicals during the campaign were also to blame," he said.

The Tehran landslide was a stunning comeback for reformists, long sidelined after the disputed re-election in 2009 of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which was followed by bloody street protests in which dozens were killed.

Reformists said that ballot was rigged and their two defeated candidates, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, have been under house arrest since 2011. Many of their supporters were locked up.

The head of the pro-Rouhani coalition, Mohammad Reza Aref, a former vice president, was in first place in Tehran, with 1,403,608 votes.

Ali Motahari, an outspoken conservative MP who has spoken out against the house arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi, switched sides and joined the slate headed by Aref for this election. He was in second spot with 1,258,640 votes.

There was also good news for Rouhani and his key ally Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in the second election Iranians voted in on Friday, for the powerful Assembly of Experts, 88 clerics who monitor the work of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Two of three ayatollahs that the pro-Rouhani list had urged voters to reject -- Ahmad Jannati, Mohammad Yazdi and Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi -- were set to lose their seats, according to initial results.

- Top clerics may lose out -

Only Jannati, who chairs the conservative-dominated Guardian Council which must confirm the results of both elections, was safe, though he was well down the field in 15th place, just one spot within the 16 seats reserved for Tehran.

Yazdi, the current chair of the assembly, was in 17th position and Mesbah-Yazdi, a figure famously hostile to reformists, 19th.

Elected to an eight-year term, assembly members would pick Khamenei's successor should the 76-year-old die on their watch.

Rouhani and Rafsanjani, a former two-term president, held third and first places.

Rafsanjani has strongly supported Rouhani's diplomatic engagement on the nuclear talks, which included direct negotiations with the United States, the Islamic republic's bete noire since the 1979 revolution in Tehran.

Turnout in the election was solid at around 60 percent, slightly less than the 64 percent of 2012.

Khamenei acknowledged the participation late Sunday. "The future parliament has heavy duties," he said.

"The country's progress is the primary goal."

Final results are expected Monday or Tuesday, but even after all votes are counted by interior ministry officials, the Guardian Council's verification is not expected for several days.
Asian consumers determined to improve their lifestyle are boosting the fortunes of Australian producers of premium baby milk formula, vitamins and honey, as the region's burgeoning middle class jumps on the health food bandwagon.

With their expanding wallets, middle class consumers are fueling a sharp increase in sales of high-quality products from Down Under, sending the profits and share prices of health foods companies -- particularly producers of infant milk formula -- into unprecedented territory.

They are led by Chinese consumers fearful of lax food safety standards at home, where cost-cutting by producers have resulted in deaths and health scares.

"You've had almost three decades of incredible GDP growth (in China) and that has brought a huge amount of spending power to the Chinese consumer," IG Markets' analyst Angus Nicholson told AFP.

"And given the fact that there has been some questions around -- particularly food, health and medical products -- in China, there has been an increase in demand for foreign, top quality brands."

The growth is being described as a shift from "mining to dining" as Australia transitions away from supplying China with key metals such as iron ore and coal towards feeding Asia's consumption boom.

While much of the focus has been on soft commodities like beef and dairy, smaller Australian-listed firms that produce infant milk powder, vitamin supplements and honey are also benefiting from the increased appetite.

Supplements maker Blackmores last year had the Australian stock market's highest share price, jumping 534.03 percent to Aus$217.98.

Its net profit for the six months to end-December soared 160 percent compared to the previous period, driven by sales to Chinese consumers, which made up 40 percent of revenue.

Bellamy's Australia, whose organic baby milk powder is nicknamed "white gold", saw its share price leap more than 700 percent last year as its net profit spiked by 325 percent in the second half. Rival formula producer a2 Milk Company is also enjoying strong demand.

Story continues

A firm tapping into the growing Asian craze for honey is Australia's largest producer Capilano, which recorded a 52.9 percent surge in 2015 second half net profit.

Brands like Bellamy's and a2 are seen as trustworthy by the Chinese as they are sold in Australia's dominant supermarket chains Coles and Woolworths, Benjamin Sun of digital marketing consultancy ThinkChina said.

"What they are thinking is if the milk powder is being drunk by Australian babies, it should safe for Chinese babies," Sun told AFP.

But the baby powders' popularity has overwhelmed the two supermarket giants, which have imposed two or four-tin limits for each purchase. Even souvenir shops that usually stock stuffed toys and sheep skins now make room for formula, propolis and royal jelly supplements -- honey products believed to boost health -- as well as manuka honey.

- 'One kid with six pockets' -

The empty racks are the result of a burgeoning grey market where purchasing agents known as "daigou" help Chinese customers secure products in Australia and ship them to China, raking in a tidy profit in the process.

There are between 5,000-10,000 daigou -- who can range from entrepreneurs to international students -- in Australia, Sun estimated, adding they could make an average of Aus$100,000 (US$71,600) each year.

Likewise, shipping firms charging some Aus$5 per kilogram are easily found in suburbs such as Sydney's Burwood and Hurstville, which are popular with Chinese.

The daigou market their services through popular messaging app WeChat, with some establishing stores on Alibaba's consumer-to-consumer platform Taobao.

Although buying via diagou could see items marked-up by 100 percent, Chinese customers seem happy to pay up, partly due to the now-relaxed one-child policy, which was introduced some three decades ago.

"People who were born in the 1980s now have a baby, so what's happening now is not an only child but also an only grandchild," Sun said.

"That's the whole family including the grandparents supporting the one kid. That's why we call them one kid with six pockets."

Peter Barraket, who heads up "Mr Vitamins", a chain of supplements outlets in Sydney, said he noticed Chinese customers' behaviour change over the past two years, with shoppers becoming more organised and brand aware.

He is now planning to grow the business by shipping directly to China.

A flagship store on Alibaba's business-to-consumer platform Tmall Global is being considered, although Barraket is careful not to market too heavily while stock levels remain low.

"We've only got enough to cater for our current demand," Barraket, Blackmores' former chief financial officer, told AFP.

"I'm actually trying to do a deal with a manufacturer (for baby powder) because once we start to advertise, we want to make sure we've got stock."

grk/mp/fa/eb
Hillary Clinton scored a resounding victory against Bernie Sanders in Saturday's Democratic primary in South Carolina, seizing momentum ahead of the most important day of the nomination race: next week's "Super Tuesday" showdown. Four weeks into the White House primaries, the former secretary of state earned her first decisive win of the campaign, after a nail-biter victory in Iowa, a thumping loss to Sanders in New Hampshire, and then a five-point win in Nevada. South Carolina was the first southern state to vote for a 2016 Democratic nominee, before the race broadens to 11 contests across the country. "Tomorrow this campaign goes national," Clinton said to a loud roar as she thanked supporters in Columbia, South Carolina, where she emerged with a clearer path to the nomination. "We are going to compete for every vote in every state. We are not taking anything, and we are not taking anyone, for granted." US networks called the race for Clinton immediately after polls closed in the Palmetto State, where the majority of Democratic voters are African-American, a voting bloc that she and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have successfully courted for decades. Clinton also looked beyond her battle with Sanders, tweaking the man many now see as the likely Republican nominee: Donald Trump, whose campaign slogan is "Make America Great Again." "Despite what you hear, we don't need to make America great again. America has never stopped being great," she said, reading off a teleprompter. "But we do need to make America whole again," she added, laying out an argument against the divisive rhetoric favored by Trump, who has antagonized immigrants, Muslims and campaign rivals. "I know it sometimes seems a little odd for someone running for president these days and in this time to say we need more love and kindness in America," she added. "But I am telling you from the bottom of my heart, we do." - Redemption - With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton stood at 73.5 percent compared to 26 percent for Sanders. The comprehensive victory marks a moment of redemption for Clinton who in 2008 lost badly in the state to Barack Obama -- his win here serving as a turning point for his ultimately victorious campaign. Exit polls in South Carolina showed African-Americans -- who represented 61 percent of all Democratic voters in the primary -- backed Clinton by a stunning 86 percent, more than had supported Obama eight years prior. Clinton assiduously courted black voters, in part by praising Obama and promising to build on his legacy. She also campaigned alongside black surrogates, and visited African-American churches and historically black colleges. South Carolina marked a "great test" for the coming votes in other southern states and showed that Clinton "can get a broad base of support of all demographics," her communications director Jennifer Palmieri told reporters, as the candidate shook hands and posed for selfies with supporters. "This was significant. We were not expecting that decisive a victory," Palmieri added. - 'Just beginning' - Sanders a self-described democratic socialist seeking to launch a "political revolution" in America, was already looking past South Carolina. Early Saturday he headed to Texas, where he addressed a crowd of 10,000 people, and then Minnesota, two states in play next Tuesday when the Vermont senator needs to keep his head above water if he wants to challenge Clinton deeper into the nomination race. Sanders swiftly offered Clinton his congratulations, but also insisted he was in it for the long haul. "Let me be clear on one thing tonight. This campaign is just beginning," he said in a statement after results came in. Speaking at a rally in Rochester, Minnesota, Sanders made no mention of his loss in South Carolina, instead touching on familiar campaign themes. "When you have billionaires and Wall Street and corporate America pouring hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars into the political process, that is not democracy, that is oligarchy," he told the crowd. As the Democrats voted, the Republican race churned on as Trump traded barbs with rival Marco Rubio, who in recent days has launched a fierce assault on the billionaire real estate mogul. "I want to save the (Republican) party from a con artist," Rubio, seen by many as the man best-positioned to topple Trump, said at a stop in Kennesaw, Georgia. Rubio accosted Trump for "flying around on hair force one," and having "the worst spray tan in America." Trump pushed back Saturday, blasting Rubio as a "lightweight" and a "liar." "The Republican Establishment has been pushing for lightweight Senator Marco Rubio to say anything to 'hit' Trump," the billionaire posted on Twitter Sunday. - 'Super Tuesday' - Among Democrats, Clinton leads in the national delegate count at this early stage, having now won three of the first four nomination contests. Gloria Major, a grandmother and campaign volunteer who supported Clinton in 2008, was among the ecstatic crowd listening to her victory speech in Columbia. "She has been in battles, she is one woman that can lead this country," Major, who is black, told AFP. "For years she has had our best interest at heart." The 11 states that hold Democratic nominating contests Tuesday will send a whopping 18 percent of the delegates to July's nominating convention in Philadelphia. Clinton is ahead in most, but Sanders has the edge in Massachusetts and his home turf of Vermont.
By Amanda Becker DENMARK, South Carolina (Reuters) - Betty Odom-Bell, a 47-year-old entrepreneur, took a financial risk last year when she opened a restaurant in Denmark, a small town in the middle of a deeply depressed part of rural South Carolina. So when Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton visited Denmark earlier this month promising to transform the region into a "Corridor of Opportunity," Odom-Bell felt reassured. "Its almost like were a forgotten town," she said, describing her surprise at Clinton's visit to the town of 3,500. "With her, theres a connection. I dont have that with Bernie," she said, referring to Clinton rival Bernie Sanders. Clinton is poised to win big over the U.S. senator from Vermont in South Carolina's primary contest on Saturday, in part because of her outsized support among the state's rural black poor - a bloc that Sanders has struggled to impress. Interviews with residents in Bamberg and Allendale counties show her appeal is not just about the differences in her social policies, or her widespread name recognition. It also results from her up-close campaigning style. Over the past several weeks, she has stumped in parts of the state that are off the beaten-path, reinforcing connections with audiences that stretch back decades, and peppering her speeches with the names of local leaders. Sanders in contrast, has focused his visits on South Carolina's big cities and universities, rallying large audiences with his self-styled Democratic socialist platform, while relying heavily on surrogates to do his work elsewhere. Plans offered by Sanders to address wealth inequality and improve access to education and healthcare have attracted interest, but many complain they do not feel they know him well enough to vote for him. "Both of them are good candidates, but Im leaning Hillary," said Marion Roberts, a 65-year-old retiree having coffee at a fast food restaurant on Allendales main street, where many storefronts are shuttered. "Sanders talks good, but I know more about her." Allendale Countys 10,000 residents are nearly three-fourths black, and its unemployment rate, at about 9 percent, is nearly double the national average. About a third of the county's population lives below the poverty line, making it fertile ground for candidates shopping progressive social policies. SOUTHERN FIREWALL Clintons campaign has said South Carolina will act as an early "firewall" against Sanders, who beat her in New Hampshire's primary and posted strong showings in Iowa and Nevada, but is expected to do worse as the race shifts south. Nationwide, Sanders has built on his popularity with young and liberal voters to narrow the race to a statistical dead heat. But Clinton still holds a massive 40 percentage point advantage among black Democrats, according to Reuters/Ipsos polling. Clintons advantage results in part from her husband Bill Clinton's outreach to black voters during his presidency. Some voters also like that Hillary Clinton has promised to build on President Barack Obamas agenda. Allendale City Mayor Ronnie Jackson, for example, says he is backing Clinton in part because Allendale, a town of about 3,800, depends on money under an Obama administration stimulus program for impoverished communities. He hopes Clinton would continue the support. "Thats the only way we can survive, he said. But he also points to differences in the way she and Sanders have campaigned. Sanders supporters have contacted him repeatedly by phone, he said, but he saw Clinton in the flesh at Denmark town hall on Feb. 12, just half an hour away. Over the summer, Clinton also hosted a listening session for local leaders, many from rural areas, and she recently won the endorsement of U.S. congressman Jim Clyburn, the only South Carolina Democrat in the House of Representatives. Sanders, meanwhile, has touted his college civil rights activism, met with black civil rights leaders and hosted an event at a historically black college. Some of those efforts have shown signs of success among young blacks. [nL8N15R00Z] But his campaigning in rural areas has been mainly by proxy - including a visit on Monday to Allendale by campaigners organized by National Nurses United. Sanders himself moved on to other states in the run up to Saturday's primary, while Clinton continued to campaign daily there. James Fitts, an 80-year-old Allendale resident, said he likes Clinton's approach. "Shes been in it a long time." (Editing by Richard Valdmanis and Steve Orlofsky)
Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp won a key by-election on Monday, with one young activist who advocates independence from China also taking tens of thousands of votes in closely-watched polls at a time of rising political tension. While it was a candidate from one of the established pro-democracy parties who won the election, the results showed growing support for the more radical "localist" movement, which advocates far greater autonomy from Beijing amid rising concerns over Chinese interference. The movement grew out of the failure of pro-democracy rallies in 2014 to win concessions on political reform and advocates more radical tactics to force change. Student Edward Leung, 24, one of the leaders of localist group Hong Kong Indigenous, took more than 66,000 votes in the election held Sunday in New Territories East -- far more than observers expected. That secured him third place behind pro-Beijing candidate Holden Chow in second and Alvin Yeung of the established pro-democracy Civic Party who won the seat. Yeung took 160,880 votes to Chow's 150,329 in the by-election, triggered when a prominent pro-democracy politician stood down. The seat in the mainly middle-class constituency in the north of Hong Kong is traditionally a democratic stronghold. Leung's slice of the vote was an indication of widening sympathy for localists, some of whom were involved in clashes with police earlier this month which left more than 100 injured. Leung is currently facing a rioting charge for his involvement. He said his group must be taken more seriously after the election result. "In the past, the government, political parties, mainstream media have billed us as rioters. Now we have a mandate from 66,000 voters," Leung said. Winning candidate Yeung has distanced himself from Leung's radicalism, but said the result should make the government sit up and listen. "The number of votes obtained by myself and Edward Leung is not trivial. It is reflecting a serious governance issue," he said. Hong Kong was handed back to China by former colonial power Britain in 1997 and its freedoms are protected by a 50-year agreement. But there is growing concern those freedoms are under threat as China seeks to stamp its authority on the semi-autonomous territory. Political analyst Willy Lam said the pro-democracy camp must have been "very reassured" by the Civic Party's win in the face of the failure of the pro-democracy rallies. But he added it was the localist movement that was gathering momentum. "Hong Kong Indigenous garnered a lot more votes than people expected," said Lam. "The fact they did so well shows these nativist 'Hong Kong first' sentiments have grown amongst young people," he added. Lam said it could pave the way for more localist wins at legislative elections in September, in which student leader Joshua Wong's pro-democracy campaign group Scholarism will also stand for office. The pro-Beijing camp casts democracy campaigners as a threat to stability and prosperity in Hong Kong. Beijing has dismissed localists as "separatists" -- a label they do not shy away from.
By Samia Nakhoul TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and reformist partners won a big vote of confidence in elections that could speed up Iran's emergence from isolation, and a key ally told long dominant hardliners to accept that voters wanted them to step aside. The polls for parliament and a leadership body were seen by analysts as a potential turning point for Iran, where nearly 60 percent of its 80 million population is under 30 and eager to engage with the world following the lifting of most sanctions. While advances by moderates and independents in Friday's polls were most evident in the capital, the scale of the gains in Tehran suggests a legislature more friendly to the pragmatist Rouhani is distinctly possible. Top Rouhani ally Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a shrewd political fixer and veteran pro-reform figure, issued a solemn message on Twitter that no one could resist the people's will. "No one is able to resist against the will of the majority of the people and whoever the people don't want has to step aside," the message said, referring to the contest for the 290-seat parliament and 88-member Assembly of Experts. A loosening of control by the anti-Western hardliners who currently dominate both bodies could strengthen Rouhani's hand to open Iran further to foreign trade and investment following last year's breakthrough nuclear deal. A reformist-backed list of candidates aligned with Rouhani was on course to win all 30 parliamentary seats in Tehran, initial results released on Sunday showed. Top conservative candidate Gholamali Haddad Adel was set to lose his seat, preliminary results showed. "The people showed their power once again and gave more credibility and strength to their elected government," Rouhani said, adding he would work with anyone who won election to build a future for the industrialised, oil-exporting country. In the first substantive comment from the hardline camp, the Revolutionary Guards Corps, a powerful paramilitary organisation close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the large turnout showed voters supported the ruling system. While the Guards' statement praised the contest and implicitly accepted the results, the organisation set out the kind of anti-U.S. stance it would like to see. "The election winners will do their best to protect Iran's dignity, power and independence; resolve the main issues for society and the people; and defeat the global arrogance by their awareness and wisdom," it said, referring to the United States. Principlists, otherwise known as hardliners, hold 65 percent of the outgoing parliament and the rest is divided between reformists and independents who traditionally support Rouhani. "It is a very big victory," said analyst Saeed Leylaz, a former adviser to former reformist President Mohammad Khatami. "It is very good news for President Rouhani. We will have a very rational parliament, a less factional parliament, a more expert and technocrat parliament." Foad Izadi, an assistant professor at the Faculty of World Studies in Tehran University said the reformists' strong showing was prompted by Rouhani's success in reaching a nuclear agreement between Iran and international powers, the removal of most of the sanctions that had strangled the country's economy over the past decade and restoration of relations with the West. Tens of millions crowded polling stations on Friday to vote for parliament and the experts assembly, which selects the country's highest authority, the supreme leader. Supporters of Rouhani, who promoted the nuclear deal, were pitted against hardliners close to Khamenei, who are wary of detente with Western countries. ACUMEN Rouhani and Rafsanjani led the race for the experts assembly with most votes counted, and appeared to be sure of winning seats, early results released on Saturday showed. The contest may prove crucial. Because of Khameneis health and age, 76, the new assembly members who serve eight-year terms are likely to choose his successor. The next leader could well be among those elected this week. Rafsanjani is among the founders of the Islamic Republic and a former president. Often at the centre of Iran's intricate webs of power, he is famous for his pragmatism and political acumen. In backing such a dealmaker, the reformists hoped that in alliance with moderate conservatives and independents they would be able to block the three main ultra-conservative leaders - Ahmad Jannati, Mohammad Yazdi and Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi - from emerging as Khameneis successor. Early results suggested some of that goal was met. Just one prominent hardliner was on course to be elected in the experts assembly race in Tehran -- Jannati, in 15th place out of the 16 seats reserved for the capital's candidates. The assembly's current chairman, Mohammad Yazdi, on 17th, and the arch-conservative Mesbah-Yazdi, on 19th, appeared unlikely to win a seat, according to partial results. Mesbah-Yazdi is a fierce critic of reformists and has even advocated violence against its supporters. INFLUENCE A Reuters tally, based on official results published so far, suggested the pro-Rouhani camp and allied independents were leading in the parliamentary vote. Some moderate conservatives, including current speaker Ali Larijani, support Rouhani. "We should respect different opinions and accept that a different era in the country would require different forces," said Larijani. "The media should reflect the election turnout as a unifying factor, rather than focusing on the results that might cause infighting between this and that faction." Reformists had nearly 25 percent, independents 21 and principlists 36, according to calculations based on final results, excluding Tehran where results remain preliminary. Eighteen percent of candidates will have to go to run-offs in late April because nobody won the required 25 percent of votes cast. Over a dozen of the initial winners were women. Analysts say the large number of independents may be significant as they could cooperate across ideological lines with Rouhani's government. But whatever the outcome, Iran's political system places much power in the hands of the conservative Islamic establishment including the Guardian Council, which vets all laws passed by parliament. (Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, Sam Wilkin and Parisa Hafezi; Editing by William Maclean and Anna Willard)
Swiss voters on Sunday rejected a proposal to automatically deport foreign criminals for even minor offences, referendum results showed. The poll came at a time when many European countries are hardening their attitudes to migrants after more than a million arrived on the continent's shores last year. Under Swiss law, voters can change a law by popular ballot. To be passed it must be approved by a majority of cantons as well as a majority of electors. According to the final results Sunday evening, the proposal to "automatically deport foreign criminals" was rejected by 58.9 percent of voters. In a referendum six years ago, more than half of Swiss voters backed strengthening rules to automatically expel foreign nationals convicted of violent or sexual crimes. The populist right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) -- which has accused parliament of dragging its feet on writing the text into law and watering it down when it did so last March -- proposed tougher rules which were put to the people in Sunday's referendum. Known for its virulent campaigns against immigration, the European Union and Islam, the SVP had called for "real deportation of criminal foreigners". But the initiative faced stiff opposition, including from the government, parliament and all the other major political parties, which said it circumvented fundamental rules of democracy. - Tough rules - If passed, the proposal would have dramatically increased the number of offences that can get foreign nationals automatically kicked out of Switzerland, including misdemeanours usually punishable with short prison sentences or fines. It would also have removed a judge's right to refrain from deportation in cases where it would cause the foreign national "serious personal hardship". More than 50,000 people including hundreds of celebrities signed a petition against the proposal. According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, the number of people who could have been expelled from the country under the proposed draft would have shot up from 500 to 10,200. SVP's campaign initially garnered strong support, but appeared to have lost steam among voters. Opponents had warned that if the text passed, people born to foreign parents in Switzerland risked being deported to countries they have never lived in, just for petty offences. "This initiative would have been contrary to the rule of law, as it would have muzzled the judges. That's why we mobilised in this campaign," said Cristina Gaggini, who leads a Swiss organisation representing several businesses. - 2010 changes sufficient - In the 2010 plebiscite, the Swiss agreed to automatically deport foreigners found guilty of murder, rape and other serious sexual offences, violent crimes like robbery, drug trafficking and abusing social aid. That proposal was approved by 52.9 percent of those voting. Parliament last year approved changes to the penal code, but also determined that judges should have the right to avoid automatic deportation in certain cases. The initiative under scrutiny on Sunday would have widened the list of offences that trigger automatic deportation. Any foreigner found guilty of two lower-level infractions -- including fighting, money laundering, giving false testimony and indecent exposure -- in the space of 10 years would have been expelled. According to the Federal Statistics Office, an average of 500 people were deported in 2014. Were the penal code changes approved last year in force, that figure would have been 3,900. And on the basis of the measures proposed by the SVP, it would have risen to 10,200. The Swiss were also voting on a range of other issues on Sunday, including the proposed construction of a new road tunnel under the Gottard pass in the central Swiss Alps.
By Samia Nakhoul TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and reformist partners won a big vote of confidence in elections that could speed up Iran's emergence from isolation, and a key ally told long dominant hardliners to accept that voters wanted them to step aside. The polls for parliament and a leadership body were seen by analysts as a potential turning point for Iran, where nearly 60 percent of its 80 million population is under 30 and eager to engage with the world following the lifting of most sanctions. While advances by moderates and independents in Friday's polls were most evident in the capital, the scale of the gains in Tehran suggests a legislature more friendly to the pragmatist Rouhani is now a distinct possibility. Top Rouhani ally Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a shrewd political fixer and veteran pro-reform figure, urged hardliners not to stand in the way. "No one is able to resist against the will of the majority of the people and whoever the people don't want has to step aside," he said in a message on Twitter, referring to the contest for the 290-seat parliament and 88-member Assembly of Experts. A loosening of control by the anti-Western hardliners who currently dominate both bodies could strengthen Rouhani's hand to open Iran further to foreign trade and investment following last year's breakthrough nuclear deal. In his first comments since the elections, Iran's deeply anti-Western Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised the high turnout but made no direct comment on the results. However in a statement he appeared to set out the values he would like to see in the newly elected bodies, suggesting they should not be influenced by the West. "Advancement doesnt mean getting absorbed by global arrogance", he said, using a term for the United States. A more toughly worded comment came from hardline judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Emoli Larijani, who accused reformists of working with "American and English media outlets" to block hardliners from winning seats the experts assembly. "Is this type of coordination with foreigners in order to push out these figures from the Assembly of Experts in the interests of the regime?" he said in a statement. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a powerful hardline paramilitary organisation close to Khamenei, issued a statement praising the turnout and implicitly accepting the results, but it too described the anti-U.S. stance it would like to see. "The election winners will do their best to protect Iran's dignity, power and independence; resolve the main issues for society and the people; and defeat the global arrogance by their awareness and wisdom," it said, referring to the United States. A reformist-backed list of candidates aligned with Rouhani was on course to win all 30 parliamentary seats in Tehran, initial results released on Sunday showed. Top conservative candidate Gholamali Haddad Adel was set to lose his seat, preliminary results showed. "The people showed their power once again and gave more credibility and strength to their elected government," Rouhani said, adding he would work with anyone who won election to build a future for the industrialised, oil-exporting country. Principalists, otherwise known as hardliners, hold 65 percent of the outgoing parliament and the rest is divided between reformists and independents who traditionally support Rouhani. "It is a very big victory," said analyst Saeed Leylaz who was an adviser to former reformist President Mohammad Khatami. "It is very good news for President Rouhani. We will have a very rational parliament, a less factional parliament, a more expert and technocrat parliament." Tens of millions crowded polling stations on Friday to vote for parliament and the experts assembly, which selects the country's highest authority, the supreme leader. Supporters of Rouhani, who promoted the nuclear deal, were pitted against hardliners close to Khamenei, who are wary of detente with Western countries. ACUMEN Rouhani and Rafsanjani led the race for the experts assembly with most votes counted, and appeared to be sure of winning seats, early results released on Saturday showed. The contest may prove crucial. Because of Khameneis health and age, 76, the new assembly members who serve eight-year terms are likely to choose his successor. The next leader could well be among those elected this week. Rafsanjani is among the founders of the Islamic Republic and a former president. Often at the centre of Iran's intricate webs of power, he is famous for his pragmatism and political acumen. In backing such a dealmaker, the reformists hoped that in alliance with moderate conservatives and independents they would be able to block the three main ultra-conservative leaders - Ahmad Jannati, Mohammad Yazdi and Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi - from emerging as Khameneis successor. Early results suggested some of that goal was met. Just one prominent hardliner was on course to be elected in the experts assembly race in Tehran -- Jannati, in 15th place out of the 16 seats reserved for the capital's candidates. The assembly's current chairman, Mohammad Yazdi, in 17th, and the arch-conservative Mesbah-Yazdi, in 19th, appeared unlikely to win a seat, according to partial results. Mesbah-Yazdi is a fierce critic of reformists and has even advocated violence against its supporters. INFLUENCE A Reuters tally, based on official results published so far, suggested the pro-Rouhani camp and allied independents were leading in the parliamentary vote. Some moderate conservatives, including current speaker Ali Larijani, support Rouhani. Reformists had nearly 25 percent, independents 21 and principalists 36, according to calculations based on final results, excluding Tehran where results remain preliminary. Eighteen percent of candidates will have to go to run-offs in late April because nobody won the required 25 percent of votes cast. Over a dozen of the initial winners were women. Analysts say the large number of independents may be significant as they could cooperate across ideological lines with Rouhani's government. But whatever the outcome, Iran's political system places much power in the hands of the conservative Islamic establishment including the Guardian Council, which vets all laws passed by parliament. (Additional reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, Sam Wilkin and Parisa Hafezi; Editing by William Maclean and Anna Willard)
ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker met in Rome on Friday to try to mend recently tense relations, keeping any lingering differences under wraps at a news conference afterwards. Italy and the Commission have clashed in recent months on areas from bank rescues to fiscal policy and immigration, with Renzi repeatedly attacking Brussels and Juncker admitting his "bitterness" with the Italian's behaviour. After the encounter the two leaders exchanged compliments and stressed what they had in common, while carefully avoiding going into detail regarding their dispute over Italy's budget. "There are more points of agreement than those of partial disagreement, which have sometimes been dealt with clumsily by both sides," Juncker told reporters. Italy's approach to dealing with migrants from Africa and the Middle East has been "exemplary", he said, while "on financial matters the positions of Commission and the Italian government are not so far apart." The Commission has said Italy's 2016 budget risks breaking the EU's fiscal rules after Renzi hiked previous targets for the budget deficit and the debt. It will give a definitive verdict by May and is likely to ask for adjustments. Juncker rebutted an image of the Commission as being obsessed with budget rigour, as it has often been portrayed by Renzi in his demands for more "flexibility" in EU fiscal rules. "The Commission is not a commission of bureaucrats in favour of silly and blind austerity," Juncker said, a remark which Renzi offered his own interpretation of. "Jean-Claude said austerity policies are stupid. I agree," he said. However, Renzi also stressed that Italy was committed to bringing down its public debt - the highest in the euro zone after Greece's as a percentage of national output - and would respect the Commission's decisions on its budget. "On the subject of fiscal room for manoeuvre our reference point from a technical point of view is the Commission .... we will use whatever flexibility it gives us," he said. Shortly after the news conference the Commission issued a report on EU countries' challenges and reform efforts, in which it warned that Italy's structural economic weaknesses and low growth were hurting the EU's recovery and growth potential. (http://ec.europa.eu/europe2020/pdf/csr2016/cr2016_italy_en.pdf) (Reporting by Gavin Jones; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
By Emma Farge DAKAR (Reuters) - The United States has offered to send a special operations mission to Nigeria to help the West African country fight Islamist militant group Boko Haram, the United States Africa Command (USAFRICOM) said on Friday. African armies routed the militant group from much of its self-proclaimed caliphate in northeastern Nigeria last year. But its fighters have since regrouped and intensified their attacks in the Lake Chad Basin, threatening regional security, despite the creation of a 9,000-strong African multinational task force to counter it. "At the request of the Nigerian government, the SOCAFRICA (Special Operations Command Africa) component of USAFRICOM conducted a preliminary assessment regarding the feasibility of resuming a limited advise-and-assist mission alongside select Nigerian units," USAFRICOM said in a statement. The statement added that the proposals envisaged a "platoon-sized" team, typically meaning a group of between 12-30 troops. The proposals are pending approval from various government departments and military officials. The New York Times earlier reported that the advisers would be based in Maiduguri, a city in Nigeria's northeast that last month was targeted by Boko Haram suicide bombers. In recent months, the United States has been expanding its support for African governments as they fight a growing Islamist insurgency in North and West Africa. It is near a new security deal with Senegal, and has increased the number of elite special operations forces in Africa to about 1,200. Washington said in October it was sending 300 U.S. military personnel to Cameroon to operate surveillance drones. Cameroon's army said on Friday it killed 92 Boko Haram members during a military operation. A Nigerian presidential source confirmed that the United States had proposed additional military assistance against Boko Haram, without giving details. Boko Haram gained global notoriety for kidnapping more than 200 schoolgirls in Nigeria in 2014 and is thought to have killed over 15,000 people, making it the most lethal militant group in the world by some estimates. It pledged allegiance to ultra-hardline group ISIS in 2015, raising fears that the two may start collaborating more closely. "There is an urgent need to prevent Boko Haram from regenerating and possibly coming back more virulent, destructive, and globally connected than before," Jennifer Cooke, Africa Program Director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee this week. Its Chairman Ed Royce welcomed the proposals, adding that the U.S. "can provide the high-level guidance that is crucially missing in the fight against Boko Haram." (Additional reporting by Felix Onuah in Abuja and Warren Strobel in Washington; editing by Ralph Boulton)
We look behind an ICAC prosecution of music teachers and find bad practices at the tax-exempt Tom Lee Music Foundation, which requires its teachers to exclusively push products for Tom Lee Music Company.

Tom Lee Music practices not fair play



On Friday, 26-Feb-2016 the ICAC announced that two music teachers have been charged with allegedly accepting commissions for referring students to buy musical instruments from a supplier. At the time of the alleged offences, Lai Kam Kit, aged 37, and Tse On Kei, aged 30, worked for Tom Lee Music Foundation Ltd (TLMF). Lai taught harp and violin, while Tse taught violin.

The ICAC says:

"Apart from teaching music courses, teachers of TLMF were required to work as consultants to promote, market and sell to their students musical instruments and related products of Tom Lee Music Co. Ltd., an affiliated company of TLMF. Teachers were not allowed to promote or sell musical instruments to students of TLMF and their parents for other suppliers."

The two allegedly accepted commissions from another supplier, Chairman Instruments Trading Ltd. Lai allegedly accepted $7,663 for a harp sale, and Tse allegedly accepted $1,637 for a violin sale. It is unclear whether they would have received a commission if they had sold instruments for Tom Lee Music Co Ltd (TLMC) as required.

Now, what the ICAC media release does not mention is that TLMF is a company "limited by guarantee". It is supposedly run for charitable purposes and since 19-Jan-1978 it has an exemption from profits tax under Section 88 of the Inland Revenue Ordinance. It has 18 music centers across the HKSAR. Yet now it appears that the music school works to promote the commercial interests of Tom Lee Music Co. Ltd, which is a for-profit company, on an exclusive basis.

As TLMF is limited by guarantee (without share capital), its accounts are available at the Companies Registry. To save you the expense of the pay-wall, we've put a copy of their latest accounts, for 2014, online. TLMF had revenue of HK$71.2m in 2014, down from $78.9m a year earlier, and booked a small loss in both years. In note 17 we see that TLMF received a commission of just $69,648 in 2014 "from a member of the Company" (presumably TLMC) for selling music books, but apparently no commission for selling instruments.

TLMF paid $1,014,688 for "goods" from a member of the Company "on a cost plus basis", but in the revenue in note 4, sales of music books were only $791,497. TLMF also paid advertising expenses of $911,034 to a member of the Company "on a cost basis". If these were stand-alone adverts for the school, then it could have contracted directly with the publications, so it seems possible that these adverts were also promoting TLMC. Unfortunately, the accounts of for-profit companies like TLMC are not required to be filed, so unless they publish them voluntarily, we won't know how lucrative that business is or isn't.

The ICAC case raises three questions:

Should employees or contractors of a tax-exempt charitable foundation be required to exclusively promote the commercial interests of a related for-profit company? We think not. Under the Competition Ordinance, is it appropriate that what is one of the largest music schools in HK should be "requiring" its teachers to "promote, market and sell to their students" the instruments and brands sold by a related entity which is also one of the largest musical instrument retailers? This "bundling" may be an abuse of their "substantial degree of market power" under the Second Conduct Rule of the new Competition Ordinance. It is true that the parents and students are always free to buy their instruments elsewhere, but teachers are obviously under contract to push TLMC's products, even if they secretly think that other products and brands available from other retailers are better, or even if a child doesn't actually need a new instrument to play better. We urge the Competition Commission to investigate. Are parents and students made aware of this lock-in when teachers give their recommendations for new instruments? So beware, parents and students - your Tom Lee teacher is "not allowed" to promote instruments from other suppliers and is "required" to "promote, market and sell" instruments of TLMC.

In Webb-site's view, that's not fair play. Tom Lee Music, which has a 63-year history in HK, should review its practices.

 Webb-site.com, 2016

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A snapshot of supermarkets in Scotland has shown that most retailers are supporting British producers but Tesco and Asda still have some way to go, say farming leaders.

The pork shelf watch, carried out by pig producers in nine different supermarket chains and 20 stores, comes at a time when Scottish prices have plunged to an eight year low.

Prices have dropped steadily from a record high in November 2013.

The SPP deadweight pig price was 112.3p/kg in the week ending 20 February, compared with 134.0p/kg in the same week last year, and in the past year are down 20-25p/kg deadweight, representing a decrease of about 17%.

They found Tesco and Asda were both offering significant quantities of European pork over British and Scottish produce.

See also: UK v Denmark: How pig producers compare

In the Irvine, North Ayrshire, Tesco store, out of a total of 81 packs of fresh pork, 58 were British or Scottish, but 23 were of EU origin.

In Asdas Huntly, Aberdeenshire, store, 20 out of 65 fresh pork packs were British, seven were German, 25 were German/Polish, five were French and eight were Dutch.

Products were also commingled in these stores, meaning it was difficult for consumers to identify and support domestically produced pork when located alongside imported meat.

However, producers found Aldi and Lidl to be the strongest supporter of domestic fresh pork with the vast majority originating from Scotland.

Strong support for the domestic pig industry was also seen in Marks & Spencer and Waitrose where 100% of fresh pork and bacon was British.

UK-only displays of pork were also evident in the Sainsburys, Morrisons and Co-operative Food stores visited.

Kevin Gilbert, NFU Scotland pigs working group chairman, said farmers were working hard in challenging conditions and producing to the highest welfare and quality standards but it was vital the produced was valued across the supply chain.

We know that consumers want to buy locally produced sustainable food and the continued commingling of produce makes it difficult for them to identify pork which originates here, in Scotland.

Mr Gilbert added that retailers could do more to sell British bacon.

While the Dutch and Danish lead the bacon offering in the majority of our retailers, the good work being done in Waitrose and Marks & Spencer shows that a stronger commitment to home-produced bacon is easily achievable.
Farm output and competitiveness will rise after the government unveils its 25-year plan for the sector, Defra secretary Liz Truss has claimed.

British agriculture was being energised by new talent, innovation and science  and the government, said Ms Truss.

The plan would build on new opportunities that were emerging as international markets opened up and consumers change their tastes, she said.

See also: Patience wears thin over Defra plan for farming

The government was further helping farmers by reducing the burden of regulation and investing more in building resilience against the twin threats of flood and disease.

Action in all these areas and confidence in the future are at the heart of the 25-year plan for food and farming we will be publishing shortly, said Ms Truss.

It will detail how we will attract even more skilled people to the industry, build the British brand and increase exports.

And it will give farmers the tools to improve productivity and competitiveness so the future is sustainable, profitable and world-leading.

It will detail how we will attract even more skilled people to the industry, build the British brand and increase exports

Liz Truss, Defra secretary

Developing the skills the industry needed would be central to the plan, Ms Truss told the NFUs annual conference in Birmingham last Tuesday (23 February).

One of our manifesto commitments is to treble the number of apprenticeships by 2020. The Food and Drink Federation have already committed to this target.

I hope the farming industry will follow suit.

The government has come under criticism in recent weeks for the amount of time it is taking to publish the 25-year strategy for food and farming.

Initially, it was expected that the plan would be launched before Christmas. Now the government says it will be published later this spring.

NFU president Meurig Raymond said Ms Truss must ensure the plan addressed the fundamental issues of agricultural productivity and competitiveness.

We are calling on the government to provide the tools our sector needs to overcome the challenges and ensure they thrive, he said.

A culture change was needed in the way food and farming was valued, he added.
For far too long, our political leaders have failed to represent Oaklands true values. It is time for the Oakland Left to unite, recruit our own candidates and build political power to achieve meaningful change.

At our last meeting we announced the formation of a new coalition with members including the Anti Police-Terror Project, the Oakland Education Association, the Coalition for Police Accountability, the Green Party, Socialist Alternative Bay Area, Community READY Corps, the National Union of Healthcare Workers, the Community Democracy Project, Oakland Tenants Union, Oakland Livable Wage Assembly and more. We also discussed support for three ballot initiatives - a package on real rent control with other tenant protections, the creation of a civilian police commission with real authority to regulate and disicpline OPD, and a workers rights bill that includes fair scheduling and a $20 minimum wage by 2020.

Oakland Alliance seeks to unite the progressive movement in Oakland behind a slate of candidates who will challenge the institutional power structure that has failed to represent the interests of the people over the powerful. Come and connect with dozens of organizations interested in building long-term political power and holding our elected officials accountable to the needs of their constituents.
Hypocrisy at its greatest! Pritam Singh, president of the board of directors for Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, has captive dolphins and sells various seafood at his resorts, while at the same time Sea Shepherd solicits donations for their dolphin-defence and anti-captivity campaigns!

While non-profit activist organizations tend to come under a lot of public scrutiny for various reasons  most criticisms are usually petty, minor, and inaccurate. Some criticisms, on the other hand, can completely change the public perception of the entire organization. Recently, news spread like wildfire about Greenpeaces recent support for the seal fur industry. Organizations and people around the world were shocked by this news to the point of dropping all support for Greenpeace. This has been one of the largest news stories regarding Greenpeace in years.Shepherd has also been in the news lately so I decided to visit their website and see what they are really about. Initially I was impressed with all that they seem to be doing for animals. While seeing Pamela Anderson on their board of directors was a bit of a shock, that was nothing compared to what I discovered soon after. The president of their board of directors, Pritam Singh, takes proud ownership of various companies, some of which have captive dolphins and offer fishing charters, not to mention sell all sorts of seafood. This makes the recent news about Greenpeace seem less atrocious in comparison, as Sea Shepherd has active campaigns seeking to protect dolphins from captivity and slaughter. Sea Shepherd solicits donations to pay for these campaigns  so not sure if you can get any more hypocritical than that  asking people to donate money to protect dolphins while at the same time profiting from their exploitation!At first, I thought this was some sort of mistake  that either I was mixing up this person with someone else, or that maybe the Sea Shepherd website had been hacked or something. After all, there has been no news of this that I could find on social media outlets. Though after a few minutes of simple Googling, I found that this is no mistake. This person, Pritam Singh, Sea Shepherds president has been connected with Sea Shepherd for some time, and is in fact responsible for captive dolphins, the fishing charters and even sells various seafood, meat, and wool clothing at the hotels he owns. For an organization that prides itself on saving and protecting marine wildlife, as well as promoting a vegan lifestyle, this is a blatant contradiction, and ultimately a slap in the face to all the supporters of the organization who may not be aware of this. Upon further searching on the web, I found more and more negative publicity surrounding this Pritam Singh, who was born Paul LaBombard. It turns out, that not only does he have these captive dolphins and supports the seafood industry, but he has also turned a large number of the Key West and Florida locals against him because of his unethical business practices. Its rather hard to believe that this is the President of Sea Shepherd!Upon further research, it turns out that he has been the subject of criminal investigations for racketeering, has been accused of corrupt business practices several times over, and even claims to have been enlightened after reading a book whose author is a known pedophile! The more I looked online, the more I found he has left a wake of damage in his path that he somehow manages to keep from catching up with him. Maybe his money plays a role in this. Perhaps he has financially influenced Mr. Watson to get on his good side to help keep his own status quo intact or perhaps he has manipulated Watson the same way he seems to have manipulated many locals and institutions in Key West. Either way, this is not good PR for Sea Shepherd and I would urge donors and supporters of Sea Shepherd to think twice before contributing to this organization.You can see Sea Shepherds current board of directors here: http://www.seashepherd.org/who-we-are/board-of-directors.html Some interesting info on Mr. Singh and his relationship with Mr. Watson and Sea Shepherd here: http://brianoconnor.typepad.com/animal_crackers/2005/10/sea_shepherd_co.html A list of the current dolphins in captivity at Dolphin Connection / Village at Hawks Cay: http://www.ceta-base.org/captive/cetacean/dolphin-connection.html Mr. Singhs website that lists the above mentioned Village at Hawk's Cay: http://www.pritamsingh.net/entrepreneur/resort-management On this page, you can simply click "The Village at Hawks Cay" to be taken to the booking site for Mr. Singh's hotels, which has multiple captive dolphin programs listed there: http://www.keyscaribbean.com/adventure/attractions.php A website exposing Singh that has since been removed, though archive.org still retains a single snapshot of it here:For fear of Sea Shepherd and Mr. Singh removing information from their websites, I have refrained from contacting them for comments yet until after this article is published and made public. I plan to forward this information to various news outlets, as I feel it is the right of the public to know the truth about the organizations they are supporting.
To the American Public, Members of Congress, and Presidential Candidates Hillary Clinton, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Bernie Sanders:To end the buying and selling of elections, overturning Citizens United will not be enough! We need a new constitutional convention, one truly representative of the people, for a new constitution to end the power of elites. Congress, show you are truly of the people! Presidential candidates, show you serve the people and not the big donors! Support Al Carroll's A Proposed New Constitution at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/614023 How would you change the constitution if it were up to you? How should we as a nation change the constitution? Even asking the question gets angry and outraged responses. This is so even though parts of it are poorly thought out, anti-democratic, and have done tremendous damage to the nation.For Americas constitution is a sacred cow. Some cows should not be worshiped. Some should be slaughtered. That is not true of all of the US Constitution, but America would be better off if some parts of it became hamburger.There is, among those on both the political left and right, what can only be called widespread constitution worship. Most on both sides hold up the constitution the way a vampire hunter in the movies holds up a cross to ward off vampires. Everyone from the most stoned pot smokers to gun toting militia groups calls on the constitution as support for causes, beliefs, and attitudes they hold dear.This constitution worship is every bit as blindly enthusiastic as it is unknowing of the actual history of the constitution, and how and why it was adopted. The founders themselves did not think much of the constitution. Jefferson wanted a new constitution every twenty years. Other founders disagreed, largely because they were not sure the constitution would last twenty years. For the founders, it was a pragmatic, even temporary, measure, not holy or intended to be permanent. America is great not because of the constitution, but in spite of it, and especially in spite of the founders.If it were up to the American public, the following solutions would have become law many decades, even half a century or more, before today:1. Abolishing the Electoral College.2. Ending the buying of elections.3. Limiting election campaigns to three months, and having election day be a national holiday.4. Ending wars quickly in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Each war continued over half a decade after the American public wanted to get out. Unless under direct attack, the nation must vote to declare war before troops can be sent.5. Reforming the office of vice president, widely regarded with contempt by most, and producing candidates that even most voters of the same party as the presidential candidate did not want. Nominate and elect the vice president separately.6. Ending corporate welfare and other wasteful spending. Public aid only goes to those in need, and corporate power must be limited.7. Ending most foreign military aid, and support for tyrants and dictators around the world.8. Limiting the power of the Supreme Court.9. Ending the political monopoly of wealthy elites. Publicly funded elections only.10. Guaranteeing privacy from government intrusion.Each of these proposals have widespread bipartisan support and are hugely popular across the political spectrum by great majorities. But none of these proposals have majority support among elected political elites, economic elites, or the leadership of either party.The constitution itself is the biggest barrier to solving these problems. Not one of these problems have been, or ever could have been, quickly solved, precisely because the constitution makes it difficult. Most of these problems require a constitutional amendment, something made deliberately long and difficult by the founders. A few of these could be solved temporarily by ordinary laws, which could then be easily overturned next election.So why not go to the root of these problems? Why not a new constitution? Al Carroll's A Proposed New Constitution at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/614023 Fifteen proposals for a new constitution and constitutional convention that will end the power of the 1%, guarantee voting rights, limit corporate power, guarantee privacy, and end American colonialism and wars far sooner. Ending Citizens United, or passing just one amendment will not be enough. Protests or voting will not be enough. A new constitution of, by, and for the people, NOW!The constitution itself is clearly at the root of many of our worst problems in American society today. Support the call for a new constitutional convention!Petitions:
A mass mobilisation brought tens of thousands of Nantais and people from across France together on two roads in Bretagne, the 4 lane Nantes-Vannes and Nantes-Rennes, to oppose the construction of the Notre-Dame-Des-Landes (NDDL) new airport project by construction company Vinci 30 km north of Nantes.

The project is widely seen as climaticide and not compatible with France's commitment to the #COP21 Paris Agreement on climate change. It is hard to justify a new airport near Nantes when the runways are far from capacity. But Perhaps the passenger terminal of the existing airport may need an upgrade.

Nantes is also only 2h 15mins by the high speed TGV train from Paris.

French President Francois Hollande announced on February 11 a regional referendum would be held later this years to settle whether the project would proceed or not. Plans for the airport construction have existed for some 50 years. The airport is strongly supported by Bruno Retailleau, President of the Regional Council of Pays-de-la-Loire, controlled by the right wing Republican Party and the far right Front Nationale.

Related stories: 5000 rally in Rennes against #NDDL #ZAD evictions and airport construction | Judge orders farmer evictions, but without fines against #NDDL airport opponents | 20,000 people protest #NDDL airport construction as a climate crime near #Nantes

Tractors and cyclists blocked Nantes-Rennes National Road 137 on Saturday before joining the main protest on the 4 lane dual carriageway Nantes-Vannes national road 165.

Farmer and Greens Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Jose Bove articulated the contradiction of climate action arising from COP21 in Paris in December and building a new airport. He also questioned the necessity of putting the issue to a regional referendum, announced by Presidente Hollande on 11 February.

"Mobilization was never seen like this in Notre-Dame-es-Landes", welcomed Dominique Fresneau, co-chair of the ACIPA, one of the main opponents of the airport construction.

Lorelei Limousin from the Climate Action Network highlighteds the hypocrisy in proceeding with this project as being incompatible with the Paris Agreement.

"The Paris agreement, which we committed to contain global warming well below 2 degrees C at the end of the century, has now become a reality," she says. "In this context, a new airport is not consistent and would encourage strong airline greenhouse gas emissions. Especially in a country that already has more than 140 airports - More than Britain and Germany combined." Limousin said.

The statement/petition by 350.org states eloquently the case for abandonment of the NDDL airport project. This is an except:

"The commitment in the Paris agreement is not compatible with the construction of an airport at Notre Dame des Landes nearly 2,000 hectares of farmland and natural areas (inhabited by many protected species), which would generate extra emissions from aviation, concreting of one of the largest wetlands in the country, and the destruction of peasant farms.

"Conversely, preserving the rich and fertile farmland biodiversity of Notre Dame des Landes would be a sign of the maturity of a country ready to embark on a new path of energy and ecological transition, including current generations as future generations so desperately need. Abandon this project also would preserve not only the local ecosystem: abandon a project of gas emitter of greenhouse also helps preserve our future."

"For over 40 years, the project of Notre Dame des Landes airport arouses strong opposition from farmers and cooperative and farmers, environmental protection associations,inhabitants of the region, trade unionists, and many people across France. On site, opposition to the airport project has created rich experiences in teaching in the field of agro-ecology, permaculture, lightweight housing, etc.

"The quality of the studies that led to the authorization of the airport is itself questionable, even its usefulness is questionable, as are the expenses that its construction involves. The abandonment of this project, launched fifty years ago and now exceeded, is the only coherent and pragmatic position for the future of our climate - it is indeed in the terms of the Paris agreement that relevance of this project must be considered.

Dominique Lebreton, a co-ordination spokeperson for the protest said, "This event is important to show our determination and political show that we are the most numerous," alluding to the referendum announced by the president. "We have the duty to preserve these lands and the peasants to produce food for tomorrow", he said reported by Nordnet.

Regional Referendum announced by Pres. Hollande

President Hollande announced a referendum on the issue on National television on February 11, 2016 to resolve the issue one way or another.

If its yes, and the residents want the airport, then everyone will have to accept that decision, Hollande declared during a primetime television interview with France 2 and TF1. If its no  we all know that it is a project that has been spearheaded by the government, the government will have to assume the consequences." reported France24.

Although October has been mentioned to hold the referendum, it is still not clear exactly who will participate: whether it will include Loire-Atlantique Department or Pays de la Loire Department or Brittany as a whole.

Farmers of the ZAD are still fighting eviction by construction company Vinci. One of the activities of the day was the erection of a lookout tower to provide some advanced warning when construction trucks might move in to mobilize the local community in direct opposition to eviction and construction.

A Discussion on crowd numbers

Early Estimates of numbers at the rally varied widely with the Prefecture and police saying 10,000 to 15,000 were present at 1pm.

The organisers said that 50,000 to 60,000 were present. Some commentators said as many as 70,000 or 80,000 may have been present on the Nantes-Vannes 4 lane (dual carriageway) road, covering a distance of up to 6 kilometres.

It was announced at the rally that there was 6 kilometers of pedestrian traffic jam on 4 lanes, more than 60,000 demonstrators against #NDDL!

JS Herpin, Regional Secretary of the EELV (Greens List) for Orleans, estimated 70 various vehicles, 60 tractors, 2000 cyclists and between 50,000 and 60,000 marchers on foot.

David Cormand, Councilor and Chief Metropolitan adviser for Normandy Rouen Metropole and National Secretary of EELV (European Greens List) gave an early estimate of 80,000 people..

Ronan Dantec, an EELV (Greens) Senator for Loire-Atlantique district 44, vice president of the Sustainable Development Committee of the Senate, Councilor of Nantes city, and climate spokesman for the United Cities and Local Government association (UCLG) gave an early crowd estimate of between 50,000 and 100,000 people attending.

Certainly many of the photographs show a huge crowd that probably numbered several tens of thousands.

Many of those commenting like Chris444 or Ronan Ennis in support of the low prefecture estimates were twitter accounts with few followers and relatively newly created. Essentially they were trolling the protest, obfuscating the issue favouring staunch supporter for the airport project, right wing Republican Senator Bruno Retailleau and Construction Company Vinci.

Solidarity

There were support actions in other cities as well. 250 people in Lyon drew attention to the climate impact of the NDDL airport project. They denounced the project as climaticide, as hypocrisy given the successful Paris agreement on climate change that French diplomacy was able to achieve in December 2015.

In Chambery 8000 gathered in solidarity with #NDDL protest. Lille also rallied in support of NDDL protest.

In London 3 members of the Heathrow13 held a vigil outside Vinci's London offices. Members of the Heathrow 13 also joined the NDDL protest in France. The Heathrow 13 protesters where found guilty of aggravated trespass at Heathrow airport protesting a third runway, and were sentenced to 6 week suspended sentences for a 12 month period + community service + fines.

There was also Solidarity from afar including a protest outside the French consulate in Turkey.

Nobel winning climatologist supports anti-NDDL campaign

On Friday Nobel prize winning (2007) French climatologist Jean Jouzel reiterated his support for the anti-airport movement.

Jean Jouzel also signed the petition calling to "relinquish building the airport of Notre-Dame-des-Landes" and to "respect the commitments made at the COP21" with the text of the declaration organised by NGO 350.org.

Nearly 20 000 people, including a dozen personalities have signed the petition, including the writer Virginie Despentes, Green MEP Jose Bove, former ministers Delphine Batho, Aurelie Filipetti, Cecile Duflot Corinne Lepage, the director of the documentary "Tomorrow," Cyril Dion, the writer Erri de Luca, and the Canadian journalist and climate activist Naomi Klein.

You can add your own name to the statement/petition at 350.org in solidarity with French anti-airport #NDDL activists.
Mo d Amour Begins Journey to Oaks in Busher: Under a perfectly timed ground-saving trip from jockey Chris DeCarlo, King of Prussia Stables Mo d Amour bested six 3-year-old fillies to earn 50 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points in capturing the 37th running of the $125,000 Busher on Saturday at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Breaking from post position 5, DeCarlo was able to guide the Todd Pletcher-trained filly and daughter of Uncle Mo away from Dreams to Reality, who veered out at the start, and comfortably settle her in third position along the rail into the first turn behind Whistling Straits, who set fractions of 24.78 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 49.51 for the half.

As the field hit the top of the stretch, Whistling Straits began to weaken and Mo dAmour tipped out from the rail and engaged 6-5 post time favorite Katniss the Victor. She edged past the favorite and held off a strong late charge from Dreams to Reality, who moved from four-wide in the stretch to earn the victory by two lengths. She completed the 1 1/16 miles in a final time of 1:47.37.

I thought I was going to be closer than I was, said DeCarlo. I broke and we got jostled a little bit and two [horses] were in front of me that I really didnt expect and there was an opportunity for me to get to the fence, so thats what I did. They said she waits on horses, so I tried to wait as long as I could. I really waited until about the 3/16th pole before I really set her down and when she ran by, she kind of kicked on. She did idle a little bit, but I had plenty in the tank.

Returning $10 for a $2 win wager, the victory, her third from five lifetime starts, gave Mod Amour her first career stakes win and boosted her career earnings to $147,940 for owners King of Prussia Stable.

I thought it worked out perfect, said Byron Hughes, assistant to Pletcher. Chris did a good job getting her to the rail when the opportunity was present at the first turn and saved ground. Coming home he got her out just in time and it was nice. She seems to be maturing with the added experience from every race. I still think she got a little green when she got the lead kind of waiting but hopefully she can get better.

Ed Stanco, principal owner of King of Prussia Stable, who previously made a successful and winning Kentucky Oaks journey through New York with Princess of Sylmar in 2013, was cautiously optimistic on Mo d Amour being able to complete the same journey.

Well see. Its all up to Todd and how the horse trains, said Stanco. We have a long way to go before that. This was a nice performance.

Following Dreams to Reality were Katniss the Victor, Flora Dora, Lost Raven, Whistling Straights and Arch Or Nothing.

Source: NYRA


Undefeated Mohaymen Continues Winning Ways in Fountain of Youth: Shadwell Stables Mohaymen continued his impressive march toward the Triple Crown late Saturday afternoon, keeping his perfect record intact by defeating previously unbeaten Zulu and Awesome Banner in the $400,000 Xpressbet.com Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park.

The 70th running of the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth capped a spectacular day of racing that featured eight stakes, six of them graded, on a 13-race program and included victories by Cathryn Sophia in the $200,000 Davona Dale (G2), Catch a Glimpse in the $150,000 Herecomesthebride (G3), X Y Jet in the $100,000 Gulfstream Park Sprint (G3) and Converge in the $150,000 Palm Beach (G3).

Sent off as the 2-5 favorite in a field of six 3-year-olds, Mohaymen ($2.80) avoided some early jostling on the first turn while racing on the outside, caught lightly raced Zulu approaching the stretch and drew off to win by 2  lengths in 1:42.84 over a fast main track.

Zulu, making his stakes debut in his third lifetime start, was a clear second four lengths ahead of Fellowship. Awesome Speed, Awesome Banner and 131-l long shot Golden Ray completed the order of finish.

You just never know, winning trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. Awesome Banner and Zulu were undefeated, but we faced them and we won and everything is great. There will be other ones going forward. Were going to have to face a lot of them.

Mohaymen has faced and defeated all challengers thus far, improving his record to 5-0 with his fourth consecutive graded stakes victory. He won the Nashua (G2) and Remsen (G2) to cap a juvenile season that saw him named a finalist for champion 2-year-old male, and kicked off his sophomore campaign with a 3 -length score in the Lambholm South Holy Bull (G2) Jan. 30 at Gulfstream.

Its special. Its more nerve-wracking each race because were four-for-four going into today and you never know whats going to happen going forward. Hes obviously a very talented colt. We just hope we dont have any mishaps in a race like a horse bumping into him or something like that, McLaughlin said. Hes a special colt, very smart. You can see hes not even blowing when hes coming back. He just does things different.

Breaking from outside post six under regular rider Junior Alvarado, Mohaymen found himself wider than anticipated when Golden Ray bore out on the clubhouse turn and forced Awesome Speed out as well, causing Alvarado to steer clear of trouble. They sat fifth behind pacesetting Awesome Banner through a quarter-mile in 23.52 seconds, but had moved up to third after a half in 47.07.

Alvarado kept Mohaymen in a clear path on the outside of Zulu, who tracked Awesome Banner before taking over the top spot after running six furlongs in 1:11.02. Mohaymen ranged up to launch his bid rounding the far turn and assumed the lead without resistance at the head of the stretch before sprinting clear.

It wasnt what I wanted [going into the first turn] but Thank God he ran his race, Alvarado said. I was a little wide, there was a little bumping and I didnt want to strangle him ant take him back right away and give it easily to the other horses, but he settled nice for me. By the five-eighths pole he started to get into a nice rhythm, that gear, and he started pulling on me, asking for the next step. I just let him cruise around and he was doing it very nicely. I didnt want to hold him back. He helps me all the time so I didnt want to go against him.

Trainer Todd Pletcher was pleased with the performance of Zulu, racing for the first time around two turns after winning his previous two starts at Gulfstream including a 9 -length allowance victory at seven furlongs Jan. 15.

I thought he ran super, he said. He put in a formidable effort against a very good horse. I was proud of his effort. He was second-best today.

McLaughlin said the next target for Mohaymen will be the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) April 2 at Gulfstream, where he is expected to meet similarly undefeated Nyquist, the California-based champion 2-year-old male of 2015.

Were going to take one race at a time and we are looking at the Florida Derby in five weeks, he said. Hes a very talented horse and he keeps winning. Were all happy. Thats all we can do.

Fountain of Youth 2016 Replay

Source: Gulfstream Park
Philadelphia, PA When Lucas was thirteen he was prescribed When Lucas was thirteen he was prescribed Risperdal to treat autism, but the antipsychotic drug was only approved for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults. About a year or so after taking the drug, I got breast lumps and breast-like features, he says. Im now 20 years old and only recently heard about this side effect. My mum saw the commercial on TV.

This injury has caused such an extreme amount of ridicule and pain that I am still experiencing years after the surgery, he said.

Lucas (not his real name) doesnt know if he has a case because he hasnt yet spoken with an attorney. He recently learned about the statute of limitations, so Lucas is hesitant to seek legal help, believing he doesnt have much chance of filing a Risperdal lawsuit.Marty (not his real name) has similar concerns. In an e-mail to LawyersandSettlements.com, he explained that in the early 90s he was prescribed Risperdal. Marty claims the drug caused a growth in the chest area that he had surgically removed in 2001.Marty didnt know that Risperdal could have caused the growth - gynecomastia - until mid-2014, when he read in his local newspaper that Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Pharmaceuticals had agreed to settle such claims, and they settled one lawsuit in his city for $1.75 million.When Marty linked Risperdal with his growth, he sought legal representation from several firms, which all ended up declining him due to the statute of limitations. But he is still hopeful. I read some online blogs that said the statute of limitations can be extended based on many different factors such as the fact that I am attempting to take action within two years of me learning about Johnson & Johnsons fault, he wrote by e-mail. I am hoping a firm can reach out to J&J on my behalf, requesting an out-of-court settlement, or that I can obtain a jury trial in front of my peers where I feel they will have compassion and find in my favor.Marty is correct in that statutes can be reduced or extended under certain circumstances depending on whether the cause of action involves a contract, personal injury, libel, fraud, or other claim. As well, there are certain issues that stop the statutes clock, such as recovered memory by sexual abuse victims. And there is Tolling the Statute.A statute is tolled when one of the parties lacks the legal capacity to do an act at the time the action takes place. A child or a person with a mental illness is regarded as being incapable of initiating a legal action on his or her own behalf. Therefore, the time limit will be tolled until some fixed time after the disability has been removed. For example, once a child reaches the age of majority, the counting of time will be resumed.In the Risperdal lawsuits in Philadephia before Judge Arnold New, J&J said the cases should be dismissed because they were filed after the statute of limitations had expired. But there have been some cases when the courts had to reconsider time limits. If someone with a mental illness does not know the cause of the injury (such as Risperdal gynecomastia), the statute of limitations can be suspended until he or she discovers that the injury was caused by the defendants conduct.Writing forSteve Cid points out that, in the case of Risperdal, one of the side effects of the drug is weight gain. The attorneys may argue that it was impossible for a doctor to diagnose gynecomastia in the presence of pronounced weight gain.As of December 2015, more than 1,600 cases await trial in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas.
- Ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo's son has been involved in a ghastly motor accident

- The accident is said to have occurred while on his way from Osun state

- The ex-president's son is said to have attended his stepmother's 75th birthday

- A family source says Obj's son and others involved in the crash have been rushed to the teaching hospital in Ibadan

Emerging reports suggest that Ex-President Obasanjos son, Oba, was involved in a ghastly auto crash on Sunday, February 28.

According to Sahara Reporters, Oba was on his way from Ilesha in Osun state where he had gone to attend the 75th birthday party ceremony of his stepmother, Mabel.

Oba Obasanjo

An eyewitness said the car he was driving is now a write-off with occupants including Oba sustaining critical injuries.

A family source told newsmen that Oba and others injured in the accident have been taken to the University teaching Hospital in Ibadan, Oyo state for treatment

READ ALSO: Nigerian helicopter on a routine flight from Lagos crashed

Meanwhile, no fewer than five people lost their lives on Thursday, February 25, following a fatal crash at Akoda junction, Ede, along Gbongan/Osogbo road.

Witnesses say a truck on top speed on its way to Osogbo, suddenly lost control and ran over some people believed to be road-side traders.

According to Tribune Online, five other people sustained various degrees of injures following the accidents, while others scampered to safety.

Residents of Akoda area said the number of casualties could have been more than five, but the timely arrival of ambulance and treatment of others who sustained injuries saved some people from losing their lives.

The Head of Operation, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Osun Sector Command, Mr Rufus Adewumi, confirmed the crash.

Adewumi said the auto crash was caused by over-speeding that could not be managed when the vehicle involved lost control.

He disclosed that two male adults, one female adult and two children (male and female), were the major victims as at press time.

Adewumi added that four people were injured while one person who was trapped in the crash, escaped unhurt.

Source: Legit.ng
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So far ISIL (Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant) has been kept away from oil facilities and major cities by local militias. While ISIL currently controls only a few towns along the coast they are expanding wherever they find little resistance. Thus over 500 kilometers of the 1,800 kilometers long coast is now under ISIL control or threat. ISIL has about 6,000 fighters in those places. That force is growing because of local and foreign recruits. A large number of Libyans (several percent of some four million people left in the country) who still believe Islamic terrorism will fix all the problems in Libya and that ISIL is the best practitioner of this savage and ultimately futile strategy. Nearly all older Libyans realize ISIL is a dead (and deadly) end but many teenagers are still believers. These pro-ISIL teenagers are often found at the many mosques in the country run by radicalized clergy. In some areas the radical clergy have been arrested or killed and radical mosques turned into moderate ones or destroyed if conversion was difficult. Islam is still important for most Libyans but there is a growing intolerance of the more radical forms. So many of the most radical Libyans are flocking to Sirte and other places under ISIL control. In addition it appears that ISIL is directing many of its new recruits to Libya instead of Syria.

Officially ISIL describes their Libyan operation as just another province in their Islamic state. But in fact Libya is the largest concentration of ISIL personnel outside of the 20,000 in Syria and Iraq. Libya is also where an unusual number of key ISIL personnel (leaders, tech experts, trainers) are showing up. The reality is that ISIL is establishing another relatively secure base in Libya, one that could serve as a backup headquarters if the core of the current caliphate in Iraq and Syria is lost. ISIL also has franchises in nine other countries but none as strong and secure as Libya.

ISIL is trying to seize oil fields and export terminals so that it can try and raise cash by smuggling oil out. Actually doing that has proved very difficult but ISIL needs the money. ISIL, as a whole, is suffering from a severe cash shortage. ISIL personnel in Syria and Iraq report pay cuts of up to 50 percent and many are not getting paid on time. The reason for that is increasing air attacks on revenue producing operations (mainly oil pumping and smuggling) in Syria. In 2014 ISIL seized huge (over a billion dollars) amounts of cash and access to many salable items like antiquities and slaves. This helped ISIL operate and expand. The many nations fighting ISIL soon figured that out and went after those sources of income. By the end of 2015 ISIL was feeling the effects and the Libyan operation was ordered to pay its own way. In Libya this is being done via theft, extortion and smuggling (mainly of illegal migrants into Europe). Obviously one way to limit ISIL growth in Libya is to attack the income producing activities. That is difficult because a lot of the smuggling is protected from attack by the presence of the illegal migrants. On land ISIL is also using human shields to gain some protection from the growing number of Western air attacks. The human shields wont work if Arab warplanes get involved. So far that seems unlikely as Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria have all refused to attack any targets in Libya and instead reinforce their border security and internal counter-terrorist operations. This has worked for these nations so far and they dont want to get involved in a neighbors civil war. The neighbors do not oppose other nations (especially Western) from bombing Islamic terrorists in Libya. These Arab nations will assist in preventing ISIL from smuggling any captured oil out of Libya. ISIL has made it clear that it will continue trying to capture Libyan oil fields and export ports intact and use them. Preventing that is something everyone (including most Libyans) can agree on.

Despite the growing importance of Libya ISIL still considers Syria its primary concern. About two-thirds of ISIL resources are devoted to the war in Syria, the rest to Iraq. ISIL is losing everywhere but shows every sign of fighting to the end. ISIL has been losing territory (mainly in Iraq) and personnel. Its personnel strength in Iraq and Syria has declined about 20 percent (to some 20,000 members) since early 2015. The losses in Iraq and Syria are from casualties, desertions and fewer foreign volunteers. Many of those missing foreign volunteers intended to join in Syria but instead were told to head for Libya.

Military commanders in the forces loyal to the Tobruk government have admitted that French, British and American special operations troops are operating in Libya. These admissions are later officially denied but it is no secret that some Western special operations forces have shown up in eastern Libya, especially around Benghazi. France and Britain admitted they have some forces in Libya and the U.S. admitted that its special operations forces have been in Libya for specific missions but did not stay like the French and British operators. Apparently the British forces have been there since late 2015 and the French began showing up in January 2016.

A majority (51 percent) of the members of the parliament (in Tobruk) said they would vote to approve the new unity deal (Government of National Accord or GNA) arranged by the UN. But a vote on that was not held because many of the pro-unity members say they have received death threats from parliament members who oppose the deal. Greed, corruption and factionalism has been key in preventing the formation of a national government or dealing with the growth of Islamic terrorism (and calls for turning Libya into a religious dictatorship). If the parliament does vote to approve the GNA the rival government in Tripoli (dominated by Islamic conservatives) must also approve the deal. Many Western and Arab nations are willing to intervene militarily against ISIL in Libya but only once the GNA is approved and the new national government formed. So far not enough Libyans have united to get the GNA approved. Meanwhile many Libyan leaders are well aware that ISIL will continue to exist and expand in Libya unless there is a powerful offensive to clear them out. That requires a united Libya and some foreign assistance. None of that will be available without the GNA.

It is feared that Libya will go through the same process Somalia did; several decades of chaos before the factions decide to cooperate. That process is not unique to Libya and Somalia but most of the rest of the world has already passed through the phase of social development. What makes Libya a special case is that it has the largest oil reserves in Africa. Thats $5 trillion worth in the form of 77 billion barrels of oil plus the equivalent of ten percent more in the form of natural gas. Analysts at the National Oil Company calculate that Libya has lost $68 billion in oil income since 2011. Currently only about 400,000 barrels a day is being refined for local use or exported. That is a quarter of what production was in 2011. Without increasing oil production Libyans face widespread starvation within a year or two (as cash reserves are exhausted).

Italy admitted it has allowed American UAVs to operate from an Italian air base since late 2014 but has restricted those UAVs to surveillance missions and even those must be only for defensive purposes. Many Italians oppose any use of force against Islamic terrorists in Libya, especially if that involves U.S. aircraft operating from Italian bases. All this is a common attitude in West Europe but it strongest in Italy. The Americans continue trying to get Italy to allow armed UAVs to operate from Italy for operations against ISIL in Libya. The stronger ISIL gets in Libya the more likely Italy will allow armed UAV missions against ISIL in Libya, but in a case by case basis.

February 25, 2016: The UN released a report detailing the war crimes it knows have taken place so far in Libya. This includes numerous instances of murder (of prisoners or assassination of opponents), rape and torture. No group was innocent but the Islamic terrorist organizations were the worst offenders.

February 24, 2016: Local forces finally succeeded in driving ISIL out of Sabratha, a coastal city 66 kilometers west of Tripoli and about the same size as Sirte. ISIL has controlled parts of Sabratha since mid-2015 but no one has controlled all of Sabratha since 2011. There has been constant fighting, especially with ISIL. The various local militias in Sabratha united, got reinforcements from other militias in Tripoli and began a coordinated surprise attack on ISIL positions yesterday. The militias are now hunting for any stray ISIL members who did not flee. This offensive took advantage of the destruction (by a U.S. air strike) of a major ISIL base in the city on the 19th. Pro-Tobruk forces are also succeeding in pushing newly formed ISIL groups out of the eastern city of Benghazi. This success in Sabratha and Benghazi shows that Libyans can defeat ISIL. In Benghazi some of the army commanders credited French assistance for the recent successes against ISIL.

February 19, 2016: American F-15Es operating from an airbase in Britain used smart bombs to destroy an ISIL training camp outside the coastal town of Sabratha. The main objective of this dawn attack was to kill ISIL leader Nureddine Chuchane, who is believed responsible for organizing two terror attacks in Tunisia during 2015. One of those attacks killed 30 British tourists and that did a lot of damage to Tunisias tourism industry. This attack was made possible by Tunisia and Britain, as both nations wanted Chuchane dead. It appears that Chuchane did die in the attack, along with more than 40 other ISIL members and recent recruits. Serbia later said that two of their diplomats, being held for ransom by ISIL (after being kidnapped in Tripoli last November), were also killed by the air strike. The United States examined the Serbian evidence and denied the claim.
Fish & Game are slamming a Government consultation document on freshwater, warning it will weaken environmental protections already in place.

Theyve also labelled the Next steps for fresh water: Consultation document as a smokescreen which they believe undermines the Resource Management Act and water conservation orders.

Released on Friday, the document puts forward 23 initiatives to improve New Zealands freshwater quality.

Fish & Game chief executive Bryce Johnson says the document is a win for agriculture and a defeat for the environment.

This document is all about furthering water-based development at the expense of the environment. There is no solid reference to recreation, food gathering or making rivers swimmable, says Bryan.

Two initiatives specifically in Fish & Games crosshairs are national regulations to stop stock accessing waterways, and amending the Resource Management Act in regards to water conservation orders.

Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith says national regulations are needed to prevent stock accessing waterways because regional councils make their own rules  but most have not done so.

These proposed regulations set a clear timetable starting with all dairy and pig farms by July 2017, and progressively including dairy support, beef and deer farms relative to steepness of country by 2030.

But Bryan feels these time frames are completely out of step with public sentiment, saying the recent outcry over cattle in Lake Taylor in Canterbury demonstrates Kiwis thinking on this issue.

Cattle dont have to be fenced out of water until 2030. Dairy cattle arent completely excluded from our waters until 2025. This will just create a water pollution legacy for future generations.

The present plan is nothing more than continuing the environmental subsidy to farmers by leaving taxpayers and ratepayers to pick up the hefty bill to clean up agricultures mess.

Hes also shocked the Government is looking to amend the RMA to allow the Environment Minister to delay water conservation orders applications if they conflict with regional planning processes.

The document states that because orders are not well integrated into regional planning it creates duplication of effort.

We propose to amend the RMA toensure WCOs are better integrated into regional planning processes, the document reads.

We also propose to allow councils to recommend to the Minister for the Environment that [an order] be created over a water body that they have identified as having outstanding values during regional planning.

Bryan says water conservation orders are the equivalent of National Park status for waterways, but the Government wants to change the law to make them subservient to regional planning processes.

The very process the orders were created to sit above. This proposal would be the beginning of the end for water conservation orders, completely reversing the hierarchy of the present law, says Bryan.

Public submissions on the Next step on freshwater: Consultation Document are now open and close April 22.

To view the consultation document or to make a submission visit the Ministry for the Environment website at: www.mfe.govt.nz/node/21620


A 14-year-old breastfeeds her 3-month-old son in Bangui, Central African Republic. She says she was raped and made pregnant by a U.N. peacekeeper from Burundi. (Jane Hahn/For The Washington Post)

The neighborhood is a patchwork of low-slung buildings scorched and looted at the height of the civil war, a place where the United Nations was supposed to come to the rescue. But in a number of homes, women and girls are raising babies they say are the children of U.N. troops who abused or exploited them.

Peacekeeper babies, the United Nations calls such infants.

A horrible thing, says an elfin 14-year-old girl, who describes how a Burundian soldier dragged her into his barracks and raped her, leaving her pregnant with the baby boy she now cradles uncomfortably.

The allegations come amid one of the biggest scandals to plague the United Nations in years. Since the U.N. peacekeeping mission here began in 2014, its employees have been formally accused of sexually abusing or exploiting 42 local civilians, most of them underage girls.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called sexual abuse by peacekeepers a cancer in our system. In August, the top U.N. official here was fired for failing to take enough action on abuse cases. Nearly 1,000 troops whose units have been tied to abuses have been expelled, or will be soon. Among them is the entire contingent from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

But the victims appear to be more numerous than the United Nations has reported so far. In a corner of the capital city known as Castors, near the U.N. headquarters in the country, The Washington Post interviewed seven women and girls who described contact with peacekeepers that violated U.N. regulations against sexual exploitation and abuse. Five of them said they exchanged sex for food or money  sometimes as little as $4  while their country was rocked by civil war and families were going hungry. Only two had reported their cases to the United Nations.

Five of the seven interviewed by The Post said they had borne the children of their abusers. The 14-year-old mother said she was assaulted by a Burundian soldier, but the United Nations recorded her case not as rape but as transactional sex, in which acts are exchanged for money or food.

Sometimes when Im alone with my baby, I think about killing him, the teen said, holding the little boy. He reminds me of the man who raped me.

The accounts by the women and girls could not be independently verified. But their stories are consistent with other accounts of abuse in the Central African Republic collected by independent groups and the United Nations.

The Post does not identify minors who are alleged victims of sexual abuse or exploitation.

The U.N. system responsible for handling and prosecuting such cases has been widely criticized as dysfunctional, even after scandals involving peacekeepers in other parts of the world. Only one criminal charge has been filed in relation to any of the 42 cases of sexual abuse or exploitation that have been officially registered in the Central African Republic, according to U.N. officials.

U.N. officials did file a report on the 14-year-old mothers case, and a U.N. spokeswoman, Ismini Palla, said the organization was monitoring the case of the girl closely. But nine months after the girl reported the alleged rape, investigators have not reported any results. U.N. officials had no comment on why they had classified the case as exploitation rather than assault.



Annie, 29, holds her 2-month-old son, who she says was fathered by a peacekeeper from Gabon. (Jane Hahn/For The Washington Post)

A young woman sits at home with her 1-year-old daughter. She says that when she was 17, a U.N. peacekeeper from the Congo Republic coerced her into having sex for money and food, leaving her pregnant. (Jane Hahn/For The Washington Post)



A 14-year-old girl says that last year she was raped by a peacekeeper from Burundi and became pregnant. She left school and is caring for her son full time with her familys help. (Jane Hahn/For The Washington Post)

Rosine Mengue, 18, holds her 1-year-old son. She says she was 16 when a Moroccan peacekeeper coerced her into sex for money, paying her a total of $8 for two visits and making her pregnant. (Jane Hahn/For The Washington Post)

The sexual abuse scandal is the latest horrific development in a war already marked by extreme brutality. The conflict began in late 2013 when mostly Muslim rebels overthrew the government in this Christian-majority country, setting off a cycle of revenge killings that in Bangui fell largely along religious lines. About 6,000 people have been killed. The U.N. mission, a 12,000-member organization that includes troops from 46 countries and is known as MINUSCA, was established to provide security and protect civilians.

In recent months, numerous allegations have emerged of peacekeeper abuse of vulnerable residents. Human Rights Watch issued a report this month documenting the cases of eight women and girls allegedly raped or sexually exploited by U.N. peacekeepers in late 2015 in the central city of Bambari. Amnesty International said last August that it had obtained evidence of a U.N. peacekeepers rape of a 12-year-old girl in the capital.

U.N. officials recognize that they are grappling with a serious breakdown in their peacekeeping forces. This month, they said they were investigating the cases of four girls who were allegedly exploited or abused at a camp for internally displaced persons in central Ouaka prefecture. In January, they said that at least four peacekeepers had allegedly paid girls as little as 50 cents for sex at a camp in Bangui. Parfait Onanga-Anyanga, the newly appointed head of the U.N. mission, said he fears that the cases discovered so far may be the tip of the iceberg.

Were going to be flooded by paternity claims, he said in an interview.

Mission was quickly tainted

It is not the first deployment in which U.N. forces have been accused of sexual abuse. In Bosnia in the 1990s, peacekeepers were accused of soliciting sex from women who had been trafficked and virtually enslaved in local brothels. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the early 2000s, more than 150 allegations of abuse and exploitation were registered against peacekeepers, and U.N. investigators found that many of the alleged victims were orphans. U.N. missions in Kosovo, Haiti, Liberia and other places also have been tarnished by such allegations.

The United Nations has conducted internal investigations and revamped training programs. But the complaints continue to roll in.

Perhaps no mission in recent U.N. history has been as quickly tainted by abuse allegations as the one in the Central African Republic, which is expected to cost $814 million this year. The first cluster of sexual abuse cases appeared within months of the missions September 2014 launch.

Even before the U.N. mission officially began, French troops were accused of sexually abusing a number of local children. In a report issued last year, a United Nations-appointed review panel sharply criticized U.N. officials in the Central African Republic as failing to take action or report the cases after uncovering them.

The welfare of the victims and the accountability of the perpetrators appeared to be an afterthought, if considered at all, the report said.

U.N. bases in the Central African Republic are now plastered with posters that list the rules that troops are already supposed to know.

Sex with anyone under the age of 18 is prohibited.

Exchanging money, goods or employment for sex is prohibited.

Zero tolerance for sexual exploitation.

But the Castors neighborhood is a shocking illustration of how brazen the peacekeepers became. Residents say that troops skulked around the neighborhood looking for girls during the day and sneaked out at night to meet them in rented rooms or abandoned houses, or to take them into the barracks. Moroccan troops broke holes in the perimeter wall of their bases, witnesses said, so that they could leave undetected.

There are so many girls here who slept with [peacekeepers], said Thierry Karpandgei, a resident. You can see their babies all over here.

Most of the alleged cases of abuse and exploitation occurred at the peak of the conflict, in 2014 and 2015, when the fighting pushed residents to the edge of survival.

There was no way to get food or money at the time, and they promised to help us if we slept with them, said Rosine Mengue, who explained that she received the equivalent of $4 in each of two encounters with a peacekeeper. She was 16 at the time. She spent the money on cassava leaves, which fed her family for two days. Mengue, who is now 18, told The Washington Post it could use her full name.

Like the rest of the women, Mengue never heard from the man after she became pregnant, she said. He went back to Morocco. She dropped out of school and is raising her son in her familys home, surrounded by charred palm trees and the ruins of half-destroyed buildings.

We dont have enough food for everyone, her mother said.

U.N. officials have said that peacekeeping contingents from about 10 countries have been implicated in the sex-abuse scandal.

Most of the women interviewed by The Post said they did not report their cases to the United Nations because they felt ashamed and did not think the organization would be able to help them. One of the women did approach the United Nations seeking financial assistance for her baby after his father returned to the Congo Republic. But U.N. officials say she did not specify that she had received money from the peacekeeper  as she later told The Post  so the case was not recorded as involving exploitation. Such an act would have violated U.N. rules for peacekeepers on sexual relationships.



Children cross a dilapidated bridge outside a peacekeeper base near Castors in Bangui, Central African Republic. (Jane Hahn/For The Washington Post)

A sense of impunity

Castors is along the road from the sprawling U.N. headquarters, where Onanga-Anyanga, 55, a veteran U.N. official from Gabon, is scrambling to solve the problem. In an interview this month, he sat in front of a sheet of paper that said in bold print: Talking points  Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. When he looked up, he spoke angrily.

We inherited troops that we cannot call troops. I realized that what was sent here was trash, he said.

There are a range of explanations for the rampant abuse, including the poor training and discipline of many battalions, which are dispatched here for years-long rotations, said U.N. officials and analysts. Some troops were sent in 2013 as part of an African Union operation and then were re-hatted as U.N. peacekeepers with little or no additional instruction.

We cant just put a blue helmet on them and assume their mind-set will change overnight, Onanga-Anyanga said.

U.N. officials here have tried to encourage the reporting of sexual abuse by setting up a hotline for victims and buying radio ads in which they are encouraged to come forward. Victims of abuse whose cases are documented are eligible for medical and psychological help and possibly other assistance. But many women are still unaware of how to register complaints.

Even as the United Nations has tried to improve training on sexual abuse, there have been mistakes. Many of the new lessons, for example, are taught only in English and French, and some troops lack fluency in either language, said one U.N. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the issue.

Perhaps most problematic is that the United Nations leaves the adjudication of sexual abuse allegations to the troops countries of origin. But those nations investigations are often weak, U.N. officials said. That has contributed to a sense of impunity, according to U.N. officials and outside experts.

For peacekeepers in the Central African Republic, the message is clear: You can rape or abuse women and girls, and you can get away with it, said Lewis Mudge, an Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. Until troop-contributing countries bring peacekeepers accused of these crimes to justice, we can expect more of these cases in the future.



A young girl walks through the Castors neighborhood in Bangui. (Jane Hahn/For The Washington Post)

You just feel used

The 14-year-old mother still watches the troops drive near her faded-yellow home, where broken beer bottles are glued on top of the outside wall to keep trespassers out. She and other residents said they first saw the peacekeepers as a sign of security, proof that the world hadnt forgotten about them.

But when the soldiers began arriving in 2014, there was still a massive food shortage. Some peacekeepers recognized their leverage over a city of starving women and girls.

Two teenage girls recalled approaching a base of Moroccan peacekeepers to beg for food. Neither had ever had sex, they said in a recent interview, but they agreed to sleep with the soldiers after the men suggested they would give the girls water, food and money. The older girl, then 16, said she met one man in a vacant house. The younger girl, then 15, said she met another soldier next to a base. Both girls said they regretted what they had done almost immediately.

You just feel used, said the younger girl.

The 14-year-old said that when she went to a U.N. base last year to ask for food, a Burundian soldier gently beckoned to her from his barracks, calling, Come here.

Then, she said, he pulled her into a room full of empty beds. He ripped off her clothes.

The teenager and her aunt said that three months later, they told two U.N. employees what had happened. The pregnant girl was then taken to a hospital run by Doctors Without Borders, the medical group said. But aid workers who followed the girls case over the next few weeks said they were dismayed at how little help she received from the United Nations.

There was absolutely no immediate or concrete measure of assistance available to this girl, said Ondine Ripka, an international legal adviser with Doctors Without Borders.

A UNICEF spokesman, John Budd, said the organization does not comment on aid provided to individuals. The 14-year-old mother said she had not received any psychological counseling or financial assistance.

In a 2005 internal report recognizing the problem of peacekeeper babies, U.N. officials wrote that there is a need to try to ensure that fathers, who can be identified, perhaps through blood or DNA testing, bear some financial responsibility for their actions.

But it is often difficult to identify offenders who have returned to their home countries, U.N. officials say. Even if victims know the names of their abusers, armies in many nations have proved uncooperative in pursuing DNA tests, U.N. officials say.

The teenage mothers case was referred to the Burundian military, which appointed an investigator, according to U.N. officials, but no results have so far been reported. That country has been consumed in civil strife in recent months, and experts said it was unlikely the military would follow through on an investigation.

That leaves girls like the 14-year-old to raise their babies on almost nothing, as the war rages on. Earlier this month, she sat outside her home, five rooms where more than 20 relatives sleep. Nearby, a man sold liquor from a plastic table. A white U.N. surveillance blimp flew overhead. Two hundred yards away, a group of Burundian troops was on patrol.

The teenager handed her baby to her mother, who looked at the ground. She fears that her daughter has been ruined by the abuse.

If someone destroys what you love, what do you do? the mother said.



U.N. peacekeepers from Burundi speak to women and girls walking near their base Feb. 15 in the Castors neighborhood in Bangui. Some of the troops sent in to safeguard the population have been accused of committing abuses. (Jane Hahn/For The Washington Post)

The hospital at the center of a Muslim-Christian war in Africa

The Central African Republics complex war, explained in the journey of a baby girl

Tens of thousands of Muslims flee Christian militias in Central African Republic
Dear Amy: I am an alcoholic in remission. I am not recovering  I have a disease that I fight daily.

For almost 17 years I have not had alcohol in any form. Also on the no-no list are painkillers. You cannot imagine how this has been.

This is my sore spot: I have family and friends who bemoaned my drinking for the first half-century of my life. These people have never  and I mean never  hosted an alcohol-free event.

It doesnt matter what it is: funeral, wedding, barbecue, birthday party, Christmas, Thanksgiving, whatever. They have never honored me, or my journey, by saying, Hey, we arent going to allow any drinking at this event  just for you.

I have requested that they do so, and they have flat-out said no.

There are times that I can actually ignore the booze. But there are times when the walls start to close in and I panic because the mere smell of a deep red wine makes me lose all reasoning and all I want to do is flee (or have a drink). So, I flee. Then I sit in the car and cry.

I want to still be part of the crowd, to laugh, to joke and eat good food. I want to enjoy the camaraderie of the group energy, but I cant. I always have to be on guard. Thats so unfair and just once and a while it would be nice not to worry about it when Im around Normies. Is that too much to ask?

Sober

Sober: First let me express my admiration for 17 years of one-day-at-a-time. It might be a good idea to find a local sober/recovery group where you can check in and share your story, strategies and frustrations.

It is unfortunate that your family and friends dont support your sobriety more fully. Either they simply have no idea of the magnitude of the challenge for you or they are being blatantly disrespectful of your reasonable request to attend an alcohol-free event occasionally. My instinct is that alcohol is an important part of your familys culture.

However  guess what? Just as they couldnt prevent you from a half-century of drinking, you cannot prevent them from continuing to drink. Its the age-old Serenity Prayer challenge  to cope with those things (and people) you cannot change.

I hope you have at least one friend who is willing to host alcohol-free dinners and parties along with you so that you can enjoy food and fellowship without the constant worry that you will relapse.

Dear Amy: There is an email discussion group in our community that my wife is a member of. My wife and I each have our own desk with our own computers. At her request, I always turn on my wifes computer in the morning before she gets up.

Ive been reading my wifes email, scanning the group message subject lines, to see if there was anything interesting enough to read.

My wife got up early one morning and saw me doing this. She didnt know I had a habit of reading her emails in the morning.

She is now angry with me. She says she feels Ive crossed the line and invaded her privacy. I feel that Im not invading her privacy because the only emails I look at are from the community discussion group. Am I off base?

S in California

S in California: I agree with your wife. If you think of email as postal mail, then any letter that is addressed to both you and your wife could be opened and read by either of you. Any email addressed to your wife and sent to her computer should be considered her property. If you want to learn what the members of your community discussion group are communicating about, then it is very easy for you to get yourself on the listserv.

Dear Amy: At a Loss wondered why her addict dad faded away from the family. You do not seem to know much about addiction. Sadly Im also an addicted parent. The main reason I chose to fade away was because it became very hard to deal with a spouse and kids and still try to get my life on track.

It took almost three years to get sober. Kids, unfortunately, were neglected. But there isnt a day gone by where I dont wish to be able to turn back the clock and be a better dad to my children.

Sober Now

Sober Now: Thank you for your insight.

Write to Amy Dickinson at askamy@tribune.com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.
MSNBC has parted ways with host Melissa Harris-Perry after she complained about preemptions of her weekend program and implied that there was a racial aspect to the cable-news networks treatment, insiders at MSNBC said.

Harris-Perry refused to appear on her program Saturday morning, telling her co-workers in an email that she felt worthless to the NBC-owned network. I will not be used as a tool for their purposes, wrote Harris-Perry, who is African American. I am not a token, mammy or little brown bobble head. I am not owned by [NBC executives] or MSNBC. I love our show. I want it back.

The rebuke, which became public when it was obtained by the New York Times, has triggered discussions involving the network, Harris-Perry and her representatives about the terms of her departure, said people at MSNBC, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because Harris-Perrys departure has not been formally announced.

The flap with Harris-Perry, who did not respond to a request for comment, follows a strategic transformation of MSNBC that has swept up several of its minority program hosts. Specifically, the network  which typically finishes far behind Fox News and CNN in cable-news ratings  has been trying to emphasize breaking-news coverage during daytime hours while maintaining a slate of liberal hosts during prime-time hours at night. Like its competitors, it has emphasized breaking campaign coverage, which lately has bumped Harris-Perry from her regular spot.

The network earlier faced some outcry on social media over its irregular preemptions of Jose Diaz-Balart, who hosts a two-hour bloc from 9 to 11 a.m. weekdays. Diaz-Balarts disappearance from the air prompted a hashtag  #MasJose  and a petition to encourage MSNBC to feature him on the air more often.

1 of 9 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  9 famous broadcasters who were fired or suspended and why View Photos From Melissa Harris-Perry to Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder. Caption From Melissa Harris-Perry to Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder. Melissa Harris-Perry MSNBC parted ways with host Melissa Harris-Perry after she complained about preemptions of her weekend program and implied that there was a racial aspect to the cable-news networks treatment Donald Traill/Invision/AP Wait 1 second to continue.

Diaz-Balarts hosting duties are also in question at the network. Scenarios under review include extending the Morning Joe program into Diaz-Balarts slot or creating a new program hosted by one of Morning Joes regular personalities. Diaz-Balart, who also anchors for NBC-owned Telemundo, is based in Miami, which complicates his role anchoring weekday coverage for New York-based MSNBC. He will continue anchoring NBC Nightly News on Saturdays.

All of the changes carry a potential perception risk that MSNBC  known as the most liberal among the three leading cable-news networks  is diminishing the contributions of its minority personalities, network officials acknowledge. In addition to the issues with Harris-Perry and Diaz-Balart, the networks new emphasis on news during the day has led to the demotion of two African American hosts: the Rev. Al Sharpton and Joy Reid, both of whom have been moved from daily shows to lower-profile weekend slots. (Reid assumed Harris-Perrys hosting duties on Saturday.)

At the same time, the network brought back Brian Williams to be its leading daytime news anchor. Williams was suspended by NBC and ultimately lost his job as the anchor of NBCs Nightly News with Brian Williams last year after he exaggerated the details of his reporting exploits in a series of media appearances.

In a statement, MSNBC spokesman Mark Kornblau said: We are proud of the diverse backgrounds and viewpoints of our journalists, opinion hosts and analysts. We will gladly put that up against everyone else in the news business.

MSNBCs pivot to more news reporting, especially campaign coverage, has lately resulted in improved ratings. So far this year, its weekday ratings among all viewers have grown 57 percent over the same period in 2015, compared with a 38 percent gain for CNN and 20 percent for Fox News, the cable-news leader, according to MSNBC. Among viewers aged 25 to 54, a key bloc for advertisers, MSNBC is up 76 percent, compared with 25 percent for CNN and 19 percent for Fox.

MSNBC executives said that they were surprised by Harris-Perrys blast on Friday and that it may have stemmed from her perception  incorrect at the time, but now a reality  that her weekend program was about to be canceled. Shes a brilliant, intelligent but challenging and unpredictable personality, one executive said. There was no plan to cancel her.

He added, Its highly unlikely she will continue at MSNBC. Her email is destructive to our relationship.

This executive disputed Harris-Perrys assertion that MSNBC executives had not communicated with her, although he said Harris-Perry has never met Andrew Lack, the NBC News chairman who was rehired by the network last year after the controversy over Williams. The decision to preempt Harris-Perrys program for election-news coverage over the past several months was made by Phil Griffin, MSNBCs president.

Harris-Perry, a professor at Wake Forest University, joined MSNBC four years ago at a time when the network was attempting to graft its opinionated evening programs onto its daytime schedule. While such evening hosts as Chris Matthews, Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow have proven relatively popular, the liberal-talk format was unsuccessful during the lighter-viewed daytime hours.

In her email to her colleagues, Harris-Perry wrote, Here is the reality: Our show was taken  without comment or discussion or notice  in the midst of an election season. After four years of building an audience, developing a brand and developing trust with our viewers, we were effectively and utterly silenced.

In a follow-up phone interview with the Times, Harris-Perry softened the racial aspects of her criticism, saying: I dont know if there is a personal racial component. I dont think anyone is doing something mean to me because Im a black person.
Jim Horn is the most vocal critic of our nations (and the Districts) largest nonprofit charter school network, KIPP. Among journalists, I am KIPPs most enthusiastic supporter.

That makes me an odd judge of Horns new book on KIPP and schools like it, Work Hard, Be Hard: Journeys Through No Excuses Teaching. But I think he deserves attention as a hard-working scholar and talented writer who brings together, from several sources, concerns about the rapid growth of charter schools similar to KIPP.

I wish the book were not so one-sided. In the great tradition of American polemics, Horn is entitled to his strongly anti-KIPP view. But he never satisfactorily explains how a charter network, if it is as harmful to teachers and children as he says, could attract nearly 70,000 students to 183 campuses in 20 states and the District.

Support for KIPPs exceptional principal training, teacher creativity and additional learning time is so strong among parents, researchers, politicians, funders, the media and young educators that arguments on the other side often go unheard. Horn examines the thorniest issues, such as the dependence of KIPP-like charters on wealthy foundations and government grants, whose money they use in addition to their per-pupil allotment of tax dollars.

The independently run public charters are usually outside the reach of elected school boards and teacher unions. Some critics say they are out of sync with democratic values and push children too hard. Horn, a professor of educational leadership at Cambridge College in Massachusetts, offers research and personal accounts in his 252-page book, published by Rowman & Littlefield.

The books most original contributions are long excerpts from interviews with 23 former KIPP teachers and two former teachers from other schools based on the no excuses model of demanding lessons and strong discipline. I feel like there are a lot of really good teachers who did leave and it wasnt because they were bad teachers; it was just because they couldnt deal with the pressure and the hours and the stress that is kind of put upon people, one interviewee said.

A teacher who got a job in a wealthy community after leaving KIPP said, I felt like I was almost coming out of, I dont feel totally right saying this, but I guess I can, in a minor way, understand how military might feel coming home.

One teacher reported that her KIPP school hid the worst-behaved students in the basement when visitors came by. Such accounts are disturbing if true, but that is difficult to discern. Horn has withheld not only teachers names but where and when they taught. He told me one of the former teachers quoted has gone public.

I have criticized KIPP, particularly the early excesses of founders Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg, but Horns description of the KIPP environment as grim and punitive is as wrong as wrong can be. Horn has yet to visit a KIPP school. I have been in 42 of them, including the basements. Nowhere have I seen children more engaged in their work, more encouraged to speak and write, and happier with the music and games entwined in the teaching.

Horn says the white enthusiasm for KIPP harks back to the Hampton Model of industrial education that came to embody a systematic method to indoctrinate and pacify the freed black population after the Civil War. Having been refused access to KIPP Memphis two years ago, he asked me for help. A KIPP spokesman told me the schools staff had rejected the request because Horn had suggested in one piece that KIPP schools were like concentration camps.

KIPP teachers welcome into their classrooms students who have said worse things about them. KIPP schools have the power to invite Horn if they want to. Why not give it a try? The vibrant creativity of KIPP teachers refutes his dark perspective, and the visit may persuade him to interview at least some of the many people who love those schools.
From left to right, Maryland 8th Distirct Congressional candidates Jawando, Joel Rubin and Kathleen Matthews, speaking to the Rockville/Midcounty Democratic Breakfast Club in January. (Kate Patterson/For The Washington Post)

One candidate makes more than a quarter of a million dollars a year as a law professor. Another carries $165,000 in student loan debt. Then theres the contender whos really rich.

Disclosure statements filed by candidates for Marylands 8th Congressional District seat reflect the wealth of Montgomery County, home to the bulk of the districts voters, where median household income is just under $100,000 a year. The statements also offer glimpses into other financial circumstances, including challenges posed by debt.

Democrat Kathleen Matthews is by far the wealthiest of the nine candidates  seven of them Democrats and two of them Republicans  who so far have reports on file with the House of Representatives. Matthews, a former WJLA anchor, and her husband, Chris, host of MSNBCs Hardball, reported at least $22.5 million in cash and securities.

[Matthews, Trone face stiff questions from Leisure World Democrats]

Matthews, 62, reported a $1.4 million salary in 2014, her last full year as Marriott Internationals chief global communications and public affairs officer. The disclosure statement does not include her husbands earnings from NBC Universal, MSNBCs parent company. While some 8th District candidates listed spousal income, the Matthews campaign cited House Ethics Committee rules requiring only that the source and type of income, not the amount, be reported.

Among joint assets, the Matthewses listed between $1 million and $5 million in Marriott International stock, plus and stock options valued in the same range. They reported a Marriott deferred compensation fund worth $250,000 to $500,000.

The report also discloses holdings of between $250,000 and $500,000 in Blackstreet Capital, a Bethesda private equity firm that purchases financially distressed small and mid-size companies for attempted turnarounds.

The Matthewses list no liabilities. A campaign spokesman said they have retired the mortgage on their Chevy Chase Village home, which City-Data says is assessed at $2 million.

Matthews is expected to be surpassed as the wealthiest candidate when another Democrat, David Trone, submits his report.

Trone, co-owner of Total Wine & More, a national chain of big-box liquor stores, entered the race just before the Feb. 3 filing deadline and is not required to disclose financial information until one month before the April 26 primary. Trone, who according to his opponents estimates has already spent more than $3 million on his campaign, plans an almost completely self-funded effort.

Trones communications director, Mary Werden, said the campaign intends to report ahead of the legal deadline and make it public as soon as it is complete.

State Sen. Jamie B. Raskin (D) reported $350,000 in 2014 income, including $268,000 from his position as a professor of constitutional law at American Universitys Washington College of Law. Thats more than twice the median base pay for tenured law faculty in the Washington region, according to the Society of American Law Teachers.

Raskin, 53, a former academic dean who has taught at AU for 25 years, said he has substantial administrative responsibilities, including direction of the Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project, which sends law students to teach in public high schools.

He also was paid a $40,000 legislative salary; $30,000 from People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy organization for which he writes reports and essays; and $11,000 in publishing royalties.

Raskin also listed a 401(k), valued at $250,000 to $500,000, that belongs to his wife, Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin. They rent out a basement apartment in their home on Holly Avenue in Takoma Park. Raskin listed no liabilities.

[Maryland Congressional race: incumbency vs. gender vs. business success]

Del. Kumar P. Barve, 57, reported income of $81,749 in 2014, the sum of his legislative salary and a part-time position as chief financial officer at a Rockville environmental cleanup firm. His wife, Maureen Quinn, earned $147,000 as a member of the Maryland Workers Compensation Commission and adjunct professor of business law at the University of Maryland University College.

Among their assets are two mutual funds valued at between $100,000 and $250,000 and four others worth $50,000 to $100,000. Liabilities are two mortgages totaling at least $300,000 on an Annapolis home. The couple rents an apartment in Rockville Town Center.

Del. Ana Sol-Gutierrez reported her legislative salary and $15,000 to $50,000 in rental income from a Connecticut Avenue apartment once occupied by her parents. Gutierrez, 74, a retired systems engineer who held senior positions at Loral, Computer Sciences Corp. and other firms, has three mutual funds and a Citibank account valued at between $50,000 and $100,000.

Her lone listed liability is an equity line of credit, worth between $100,000 and $250,000, on the apartment.

Former White House aide Will Jawando and his wife, Michelle, owe $165,000 in law school loans from Sallie Mae and the Department of Education. Jawando, 33, earned $60,000 in the first half of 2015 with the Raben Group, a strategic communications firm; his wife earned $65,000 during the same period as a vice president at the Center for American Progress. The couple, who live in Silver Spring, hold two mortgages totaling at least $300,000 on rental property in the Brookland section of the District.

Joel Rubins post as deputy assistant secretary of state for House affairs paid $143,000 annually before he resigned last June. He earned an additional $63,000 from Washington Strategy Group, a foreign policy consulting firm. Rubin, 44, owns rental property in Adams Morgan that generates income of $15,000 to $50,000.

David Anderson, a vice president at the Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars, earned $180,000 in 2014. Liabilities include balances of between $10,000 and $15,000 on six credit cards. Anderson said he was a bit over-leveraged because of a series of unanticipated family medical expenses.

Two Republicans have filed.

Aryeh Shudofsky, 35, earned $54,000 in 2014 and $103,000 in 2015 as a consultant to CRTV, or Conservative Review TV, a political media company.

Liz Matory reported income of $7,200 in 2015 from the Maryland Environmental Service, a independent state agency, and from the unsuccessful D.C. Council campaign of Marion Christopher Barry, son of the late former mayor. She also listed student loan debt of between $100,000 and $250,000. Matory, 35, is a principal at CNXIS Consulting, an organizational consulting firm.

Democrat Dan Bolling and Republicans Dan Cox, Jeffrey Jones and Shelly Skolnick have yet to reach the $5,000 threshold in spending or fundraising that triggers the reporting requirement.
Senior citizens are among the most consistent voters in Marylands 4th Congressional District, so when it comes time to choose a candidate, the fate and future of Social Security is usually one of the first topics they raise.

At a forum in southern Prince Georges County on Saturday, an audience of about 50  mostly senior citizens and retirees  heard the first question from 90-year-old moderator Elsie Conway: What would the candidates do to protect their benefits?

Republican candidate Robert Broadus said the entitlement was unconstitutional. Green Party candidate Kamesha Clark is focused on youth. And for the Democrats on the stage, there was near-accord in the belief that Social Security must be protected, but specifics about the actions each would take was less clear.

Thats my trust fund. Thats my money. My concern is what are you all going to do when you get to that seat? asked a spirited Ruth Benjamin, 73, of Upper Marlboro. The retiree seemed to echo the anxiety in the room over the programs long-term viability.

What is your plan? she asked. Im entitled to that money, because I put it there.

The Democrats deviated little in their response to Benjamins questions. All agreed that they must strongly oppose Republican proposals to privatize Social Security, that lifting the eligibility age is untenable and that the government should raise the cap on taxable earnings.

Former Prince Georges County states attorney Glenn F. Ivey (D), who turned 55 on Saturday, vowed to protect the death benefits that a disproportionate number of African American families and other minorities depend on when a loved one dies.

On privatization, he said the country saw what happened when you start gambling with peoples retirement on the stock market. We cant take that risk with seniors, Ivey said.

Ivey also supports lifting the payroll tax cap on people earning more than $250,000  an idea advanced by President Obama and Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), a Democratic presidential candidate.

Former Maryland lieutenant governor Anthony G. Brown (D) said if raising the income cap isnt enough to make Social Security solvent, he might look at means-testing  a solution favored by some Republican presidential candidates  which could reduce benefits for those whose income exceeds certain thresholds.

Right now, I dont want a means test, Brown said. I want to start by raising the cap.

Del. Joseline Pena-Melnyk

(D-Prince Georges) favors keeping the eligibility age at 65 and raising income caps, but the former prosecutor also wants to devote more resources to fraud investigations.

Her chief critic, retired Army Lt. Col. Warren Christopher (D), added that he would like to create more jobs for people so they can pay into Social Security. Later, Christopher railed against the career politicians on the stage, targeting his anti-establishment rhetoric and most pointed remarks at Pena-Melnyk.

Without mentioning her by name, Christopher, who has so far been the candidate most willing to be critical of his primary rivals, responded to a question about redistricting reform in Maryland saying: I also think you should live in the district in which you are running.

Pena-Melnyks College Park home is right outside the lines of the 4th District. She defended herself by saying that as delegate, she has represented constituents in Prince Georges and Anne Arundel counties, who live in the district, for the past nine years.

The question is, Do I know the district?  she said. Would I help this district in the manner it deserves?

There is no requirement for a congressional candidate to live in the district for which they are seeking office.

Pena-Melnyk placed one of the few visible campaign signs outside the Harmony Hall Regional Center, where the forum took place in Fort Washington. Among the top fundraisers in the race, she is the least-known in southern Prince Georges County.

Other questions at the forum concerned community and police relations, constituent services and contracting opportunities for small businesses. For community activist Earl ONeal, the answers from Democrats such as Brown sound the same as he did when he ran for governor.

But ONeal said he was impressed with political newcomer Christopher, who seemed to tap into the anger and frustration of seniors present at the forum.

Benjamin also was impressed with Christopher. All of them profess to have interest in seniors, said Benjamin, who lives in a senior-housing complex that Christopher visited recently. He often starts his stump speech talking about how he was raised by his grandmother and understands senior issues intimately.

He talks about our needs and the increase in rent for people on fixed incomes. He speaks to me, Benjamin said.
Pat Fletcher, center, and fellow residents of Village Green Mutual Homes in Landover, Md., outside the Hyattsville District Court, where they were protesting water bills from their co-op. (Astrid Riecken/For The Washington Post)

A Prince Georges County woman who was threatened with eviction after refusing to pay her water bills as a form of protest will not have to leave her Landover townhome anytime soon.

A Prince Georges County District Court judge ruled earlier this month that Pat Fletcher had not breached her lease at the Village Green Mutual Homes cooperative by refusing to pay the water bills, which she and several other co-op members say are excessive.

Judge Gregory C. Powell said Fletchers landlords could return to court and again seek an eviction if they file a failure to pay rent action, which would uphold more of Fletchers rights as a tenant and allow her to argue her case.

Fletcher, 65, is the leader of a large group of co-op members who say they have long been overcharged for water in an elaborate and unfair billing arrangement set up by their corporations board and former property manager.

[Residents protesting water bills face eviction in low-income co-op ]

Prince Georges County government officials are investigating the allegations, and a preliminary probe by a county auditor found evidence that residents paid nearly $300,000 in excessive charges in one year.

Village Green attorney Bernard A. Cook has said that the water bills are accurate and the billing system was approved by the co-op membership.

Up to 15 residents are facing eviction cases, but county attorneys have asked the court to halt those proceedings until investigators have completed their probe.

At a Feb. 17 hearing, Powell said there were no grounds for a finding of breach of lease, the most extreme action a landlord can take against a tenant in district court.

Landlords who file these actions typically do so if a tenant is a danger or nuisance to the property or has substantially violated the lease by committing a crime or something similar, experts say. Tenants have few options for fighting breach of lease charges and, if the charges are upheld, they face near-immediate eviction.

A failure to pay rent action, however, would allow Fletcher to explain her reasons for not paying her water bills and give Village Green a chance to argue that she should be forced to leave. It could also make Village Green vulnerable to demands to release records it has been reluctant to give up.

Cook did not respond to requests for comment this week.

Josephia Rouse, Fletchers attorney, said they are prepared to offer a strong defense if Village Green continues to pursue the ouster of Fletcher or her neighbors.

People were living in fear that they would be put out, said Fletcher, who has lived in the complex for decades. But now me and others feel vindicated.
THE REGION

Eight tornadoes, five deaths in storms

The number of confirmed tornadoes that struck Virginia last week is now eight, according to the latest National Weather Service surveys.

Five people were killed across Virginia and Maryland on Wednesday, and many others were injured. The fifth death was one reported Friday by Frederick, Md., city police.

Frederick police said they think that Santos Garcia, 49, of Frederick drowned accidentally while taking shelter in a drainage tunnel connected to a creek in the Willowdale Park area.

The eight tornadoes were an unusually large number for Virginia in February. Over a recent 20-year period, the state averaged about 18 tornadoes a year, and the average for February was none. The largest number was in September, with an average of four a year.

The strongest two of Wednesdays six confirmed twisters had a maximum intensity estimated at EF-3 on a scale from EF-0, the weakest, to EF-5, the strongest. One  in the Tappahannock area of Virginias Essex County, about 80 miles southeast of Washington  reached a peak of winds estimated at 140 mph.

The other EF-3 was in Appomattox County.

 Martin Weil

THE DISTRICT

Man is sentenced in cousins killing

A District man was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison for fatally shooting his cousin last summer after a confrontation that included an argument over a missing ring.

In December, Roosevelt Robinson, 67, pleaded guilty in D.C. Superior Court to fatally shooting Loretta Carswell, 63, on Aug. 21 outside her home in the 3700 block of 18th Street NE.

Prosecutors say the two cousins had a strained relationship and that Robinson often accused Carswell of having his ring because many of his belongings were in her home. On Aug. 21, when he again confronted her, she insisted that she had no idea what he was talking about.

In an interview with detectives, Robinson said he told Carswell, Girl, you know I should kill you for doing what you did, prosecutors said. Carswell responded: You can go ahead and kill me if you want to. I done told you I dont have your ring. Robinson then shot her in the forehead.

 Keith L. Alexander

VIRGINIA

Arrest made in Fairfax on rape charge

A suspect was arrested Friday night in connection with a Feb. 20 burglary and sexual assault in the Mount Vernon area of Fairfax County, police said.

They said a woman in her 50s was awakened about 3 a.m. in a home near Richmond Highway by an intruder who attacked her.

Edwin Ponce Martinez, 22, of no fixed address, was arrested near Lockheed Boulevard and charged with rape and burglary, the police said.

 Martin Weil
Sunday, Feb. 28

Bird Walk The guided tour will include a variety of habitats. Bring binoculars and cameras. 8 a.m. Merrimac Farm Stone House Visitor Center, North Parking Lot, 15014 Deepwood Lane, Nokesville. 703-499-4954. alliance@pwconserve.org. Free.

Dale City winter farmers market 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Dale City farmers market, Dale Boulevard, Dale City. 703-670-7112, Ext. 227 (Betty Finney). Free.

Lucasville School open house In celebration of African American Heritage Month, the one-room school house will be open to visitors., 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Lucasville School, 10516 Godwin Dr., Manassas. 703-365-7895. Free.

Walking Tour of Manassas A tour and discussion of land-use planning in downtown Manassas followed by drinks and appetizers at a coffee shop. 1-2:30 p.m. Manassas Visitors Center, 9431 West St., Manassas. 703-499-4954. Free; reservations required.

Bingo Proceeds support local veterans. Doors open at noon Sunday with games beginning at 2 p.m. Doors open at 5:15 p.m. Mondays with games beginning at 7:15 p.m. Woodbridge American Legion, 3640 Friendly Post Lane, Woodbridge. 703-494-4304. $15 minimum.

Ladybug Girl and Bumblebee Boy: The Musical A play based on the best-selling picture books by David Soman and Jacky Davis. 2 and 4 p.m., Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Cir., Manassas. 888-945-2468. hyltoncenter.org. $15; children, $5.

Catherine Cole: Drawing and Printmaking With a touch a whimsy, Coles printmaking pieces focus on figurative imagery. Through March 17, Center for the Arts, 9419 Battle St., Manassas. 703-330-2787. center-for-the-arts.org. Free.

Monday, Feb. 29

AARP income-tax preparation help Mondays 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursdays noon-8 p.m. Saturdays 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Bull Run Regional Library, 8051 Ashton Ave., Manassas. 703-792-4530. Free.

Job search network group Plus discussion of various topics related to the search process. 1-3 p.m. House of Mercy, 8170 Flannery Ct., Manassas. 703-659-1636. Free.

Bingo Proceeds support Dale City Knights of Columbus activities and charities. Doors open at 6 p.m. with games beginning at 7:30 p.m. VFW Post 1503, 14631 Minnieville Rd., Dale City. 703-491-2378. $9 minimum.

Prince William Community Band Rehearsal, for musicians 19 and older, no auditions necessary. 7:30 p.m. Saunders Middle School, 13557 Spriggs Rd., Manassas. 703-791-4119. pwcb.org. Free.

Tuesday, March 1

AARP income-tax preparation help Tuesdays and Thursdays 11 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Chinn Park Regional Library, 13065 Chinn Park Dr., Woodbridge. 703-792-4800. Free.

Virginia family law session The law firms Domestic Relations Practice Group answers questions. Noon-1 p.m. through March 29, Compton & Duling, 12701 Marblestone Dr., Suite 350, Woodbridge. kny@comptonduling.com. 703-583-6060. comptonduling.com. Free; registration required.

Manassas Art Guild exhibit Mixed media, watercolors and quilling by member artists, including Maureen Guillot, Herald Grandstaff and Laura Lavarnway. Through March 11, Manassas City Hall, 9027 Center St., Manassas. 703-257-8200. Free.

Wednesday, March 2

Creating Davis Ford Road Park talk Former supervisor Mike May (Occoquan District); Martin Jeter, president of MidCounty Civic Association; and Ann Stampf, former president of Occoquan Forest Owners Association discuss and share stories of the park. Dinner in Old Town Manassas will precede the event, with the location to be determined. Sponsored by the Prince William Conservation Alliance. 7:30 p.m. Bull Run Unitarian Universalist Church, 9350 Main St., Manassas. 703-499-4954. Free; reservations required.

Lake Ridge Toastmasters Club Members 18 and older develop their public speaking and leadership skills. 7:30-9:15 p.m. Tall Oaks Community Center, 12298 Cotton Mill Dr., Lake Ridge. 703-491-3020. contact-8913@toastmastersclubs.org. lakeridge.toastmastersclubs.org. $34-$64 membership fee.

Thursday, March 3

Woodbridge Toastmasters Club An open-house meeting. Learn effective communication and leadership skills. 7:30 p.m. Ebenezer Baptist Church, 13020 Telegraph Rd., Woodbridge. 703-898-7171. woodbridge.toastmastersclubs.org. $68 membership fee.

Friday, March 4

American Legion dinner The public is invited to dinner with a different special every week. Proceeds support local veterans and the community. 5:30-7:30 p.m. Woodbridge American Legion, 3640 Friendly Post Lane, Woodbridge. 703-494-4304. vapost364.org. $5-$15.

Impressions Osbourn High Schools student art show features mixed media, sculpture and drawings. Through April 17. Manassas Museum, 9101 Prince William St., Manassas. 703-368-1873. manassasmuseum.org. Free.

To Be Sold Works of 19th-century artist Eyre Crow examine the story of enslaved African Americans sold into forced migration. This exhibit is from the Library of Virginia with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through April 17. Manassas Museum, 9101 Prince William St., Manassas. 703-368-1873. manassasmuseum.org. Free.

Saturday, March 5

Pain and Mercy in Virginias Civil War Hospitals bus tour Learn the history behind the PBS drama Mercy Street, with stories of wounded soldiers and hospital staff members in Virginia. The tour begins at Ben Lomond Historic Site and travels to Alexandria. Lunch is included. 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Ben Lomond Historic Site, 10321 Sudley Manor Dr., Manassas. 703-367-7872. pwcgov.org/historicsites. $80; reservations required.

Manassas winter farmers market 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Parking Lot B, West Street (next to the train station visitors center), Manassas. 703-361-6599. visitmanassas.org.

Home buyer seminar Presented by local real estate broker Bob Hummer. 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Strayer University, 13385 Minnieville Rd., Woodbridge. 703-878-4866. military-realestate.com. Free.

Haymarket indoor farmers market 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Indoor Winter Farmers Market, 14600 Washington St., Haymarket. 571-494-0897. frontierkitchen.org. Free.

Montclair Library open house Explore the new community library and meet staff members. The event includes a childrens scavenger hunt and punch and cookies. 1-4 p.m. Montclair Community Library, 5049 Waterway Dr., Dumfries. Free.

Manassas Symphony Orchestra From the British Isles features music from British composers including Edward Elgar and Vaughan Williams. 7:30 p.m. Hylton Performing Arts Center, 10960 George Mason Cir., Manassas. 703-993-7759. hyltoncenter.org. $20; seniors and educators, $16; students, free.
Santae A. Tribble, right, seen with his son Santae Tribble Jr. in 2011, served 28 years in prison for a crime he didnt commit due to a flawed hair analysis by the FBI. (Mark Gail/The Washington Post)

A D.C. Superior Court judge has ordered the District government to pay $13.2 million to Santae A. Tribble, who was jailed for 28 years after being wrongfully convicted of killing a Southeast Washington taxi driver in 1978.

The award Friday brings to $39 million the damages amount the city has been ordered or agreed to pay over the past year to three District men wrongly imprisoned for decades.

They were convicted at trial through exaggerated claims about the reliability of FBI forensic hair matches, a pattern uncovered by the D.C. Public Defender Service and featured in a series of articles in The Washington Post.

[FBI admits flaws in hair analysis over decades]

Tribble, 55, was exonerated in 2012 after DNA testing revealed that he could not have contributed hairs found in a stocking near the scene of the crime, in which the attacker reportedly wore a stocking mask. At trial, an FBI examiner testified that the hairs microscopically matched Tribbles, and prosecutors suggested to the jury that it would be a 1 in 10 million coincidence if the hairs came from someone else. The jury convicted him in January 1980.

Tribble and his son walk in the block 3100 of Massachusetts Avenue SE, where the elder Tribble was arrested and wrongfully convicted at age 17. (Mark Gail/The Washington Post)

Tribbles case and the others helped trigger a federal review that in April disclosed that FBI examiners systematically overstated testimony in nearly all hair match cases against criminal defendants for two decades before 2000.

Based on that finding, the Justice Department on Wednesday announced that it will look at trial transcripts from cases involving other FBI Laboratory units for similar testimonial overstatement.

[Justice Dept. to expand review of FBI forensic techniques beyond hair unit]

Tribbles journey of injustice subjected [him] to all the horror, degradation, and threats to personal security and privacy inherent in prison life, each heightened by his youth, actual innocence, and life sentence, D.C. Superior Court Judge John M. Mott wrote in a 48-page opinion Friday.

Mr. Tribbles ordeal did not merely deprive him of his liberty in a constitutional sense  it ruined his life, leaving him broken in body and spirit and, quite literally, dying, Mott wrote. The judges opinion cited Tribbles imprisonment at age 17 and attributed his severe depression, heroin addiction, HIV and hepatitis to his incarceration.

Mott awarded Tribble compensatory damages of $400,000 for each year jailed; $956,000 in lost wages; $412,000 in medical expenses; and $100,000 for each year since his release and through 2019.

By 2019, medical experts testified, Tribble is expected to die from his advanced diseases.

Tribble, who lives in the Washington area near his son, grandson and brother, was unavailable for comment, his attorneys said. Motts opinion stated that Tribble is destitute and suffers from liver failure and cognitive impairment, among other ailments.

Nick Brustin, whose firm represented Tribble, said in a statement Friday that Tribble continues to suffer after enduring so much and remains angry, but today is an important day for him and his family.

Sandra K. Levick, chief of the D.C. Public Defender Services special litigation division whose work exonerated Tribble, said: This is bittersweet. As Judge Mott eloquently writes, Mr. Tribble and his loved ones suffered so much. He more than earned this award.

Robert Marus, a spokesman for D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D), declined to comment, including whether the city would appeal, saying, We are just beginning to review the decision.

In court filings, attorneys for the District acknowledged Tribbles terrible loss in a tragic case. Federal prosecutors did not oppose Tribbles 2012 exoneration.

[Santae Tribble cleared in 1978 murder based on DNA hair test]

Racines office argued, however, that Tribbles claims under the D.C. Unjust Imprisonment Act should be disallowed or offset because of nearly $1.4 million in damages that Tribble received from the U.S. government and argued against portions of his claims for wages, medical costs and damages.

Mott wrote that Tribble repeatedly was held in solitary confinement for stretches as long as nine months and described a 1999 prison transfer in which Tribble was tasered, tear-gassed, and, at one point, held in four-point restraints and strapped to a concrete bed for four to five days, where he was forced to urinate and defecate on himself, all while in severe physical pain.

Court-ordered DNA testing obtained by the public defender service confirmed that none of the 13 hairs retrieved from the crime scene stocking shared Tribbles genetic profile or that of his alleged accomplice. Rather, the DNA testing found, the hairs came from three other human sources, except for one  which came from a dog  facts that FBI-trained examiners disputed or missed.

The daughter of John McCormick, the slain cabdriver, supported an exoneration for Tribble. Tribbles is the third multimillion-dollar payout of its kind facing the District.

The District reached a $16.65 million settlement with Donald E. Gates, 64, after a D.C. federal jury found problems with hair match testimony and also that police had framed him for a 1981 rape and murder of a college student in Rock Creek Park. In the other similar case, a Superior Court judge ordered the city to pay $9.2 million to Kirk L. Odom, 53, wrongfully convicted of raping a woman in her Capitol Hill apartment in 1981. The city is appealing Odoms award.

[District to pay $16.65 million to wrongly imprisoned man, attorneys say]

The Gates settlement alone exceeds what the city paid for all legal judgments and settlements in 2013, according to records released by the D.C. Office of Risk Management. From 2010 to 2014, the District settlement fund paid out $15 million to $33 million a year.

Mott noted that although current D.C. Council members have proposed capping damages in wrongful imprisonment cases, the law imposes no limits but requires a judge, not a jury, to decide fair compensation. The District in Tribbles case asked the court to take into account the citys financial exposure.

Mott wrote that when the D.C. Council passed the Unjust Imprisonment Act, members made clear that they sought to provide for a narrow class of claimants  there have been three since it took effect in 1980  grounded upon the principle of fundamental fairness . . . [calling] upon the District government to assume responsibility for the unjustified deprivation of a persons liberty.

[Kirk L.Odom, exonerated, tells court of rapes, suicide attempts in prison]

The courts sole responsibility in this matter was to determine an amount of damages that will make Mr. Tribble whole, Mott wrote.
Army sergeant Ronald Williams Hamilton could face the death penalty after fatally shooting his wife and an Prince William County officer on Feb. 27, during a domestic dispute. (Ashleigh Joplin/The Washington Post)

Army sergeant Ronald Williams Hamilton could face the death penalty after fatally shooting his wife and an Prince William County officer on Feb. 27, during a domestic dispute. (Ashleigh Joplin/The Washington Post)

The Prince William County Police Department swore in Officer Ashley M. Guindon on Friday, tweeting a photo of her and another new recruit and including a message: Be safe!

Twenty-four hours later, on her first day on the street, Guindon, 28, was one of three officers called to respond to a domestic-violence incident in Woodbridge, Va.

As they approached the front door of the single-family home on a quiet residential street, Ronald Williams Hamilton, 32, an Army staff sergeant stationed at the Pentagon, started shooting, officials said. Police do not yet know why. But all three officers were shot.

Guindons wounds were fatal.

The other officers were expected to recover but remained hospitalized Sunday.

Ronald Williams Hamilton, 32, of Woodbridge is charged with with multiple counts of murder and malicious wounding. (Prince William County Police)

Police said Hamiltons wife, Crystal Hamilton, 29, called 911, but he shot and killed her before officers arrived. The couples 11-year-old son was home during the altercation and fled at some point, police said. He was not injured.

Guindons death drew an outpouring of sympathy from law enforcement professionals across the nation.

Guindon was remembered as someone who put service above self, as her former professor Chris Bonner put it. She was described as passionate about police work, determined to succeed and intelligent. She was a Marine Corps Reserve veteran.

Its the worst nightmare that could happen to any police officer and her family, said Bonner, who is a former FBI special agent. After 28 years in law enforcement, Ive been to too many cop funerals. We all stand there stoically with a look of strength. Inside we are dying and weeping. Thats the kind of emotion Im going through right now.

Prince William County prosecutor Paul Ebert said at a news conference Sunday that he will probably pursue the death penalty against Hamilton, who is facing six charges including capital murder of a police officer, first-degree murder and two counts of malicious wounding of a police officer. Hamilton is being held without bond at the county jail and is scheduled to make his first court appearance Monday.

Prince William police identified the wounded officers as Jesse Hempen, 31, and David McKeown,33, eight- and 10-year veterans of the force. They did not disclose the nature of their injuries.

The incident began shortly before 5:40 p.m. Saturday, when the officers responded to a house in the 13000 block of Lashmere Court in Woodbridge. Prince William Police Chief Stephan M. Hudson said Hamilton and his wife had been involved in a day-long verbal altercation that escalated physically.





Hamilton allegedly opened fire as the officers made their way to front door.

Hudson said police were still investigating whether Hamilton shot from inside or outside the home and the position of the officers when they were struck by bullets. Its also unclear how many shots were fired or whether officers fired.

Police said additional officers arrived on the scene and surrounded the house. Hamilton surrendered without further incident and Hudson said they found his wifes body inside.

The wounded officers were flown to Fairfax Inova Hospital, where Hudson said Guindon died.

At some point during the incident, Zacarius Harris, 18, a neighbor, said he saw Hamiltons son running away from the house, wearing a T-shirt and basketball shorts. He was looking back at the house as he ran down the street. The boy ended up at a neighbors.

He ran so fast I cant even imagine how scared he must have been, Harris said.

It broke my heart, he said.

Police said the boy is now in the care of family. One neighbor who heard the gunfire said she didnt think it was shots because the neighborhood is normally so quiet.

The alleged gunmans father, Ronald Whaley Hamilton, a retired major with the Charleston Police Department in South Carolina, said in a brief interview with The Washington Post that he and his family learned about the shooting Saturday night and are shocked.

He said he does not know any details about the shooting, but said his son had a very good upbringing. The elder Hamilton said his son joined the Army at age 18 and worked in information technology.

We are grieving the same as all the people in Prince William County, as well as the law enforcement community across the United States, Hamilton said. Ronald has always been a calm person and a very friendly person. He had a bright future with the Army and military. We express our thoughts and condolences to everyone who is affected.

Hamilton described his daughter-in-law as a kind, humble, energetic and wonderful person who worked with wounded soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. He said that she and his son met after high school in South Carolina.

Ebert said officers recovered two guns from the scene, a high-powered rifle and a .45-caliber handgun. Ebert did not know if one or both were used in the shooting, but he said they were not U.S. military weapons.

Ebert and police said they could not comment on whether there had been previous calls to the Hamilton home. Officer Jonathan Perok, a Prince William police spokesman, said the initial 911 call came in as a domestic dispute. There were no reports of shots fired.

Guindon was a graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Fla., with a bachelors degree in aeronautics. She served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve and had relatives in law enforcement. None returned calls for comment.

It also was not the first tragedy her family had suffered while in uniform. Guindons father, an Air National Guardsman, committed suicide in 2004, one day after returning from a tour in Iraq.

Bonner, the assistant professor at Embry-Riddle, said he had hundreds of students since Guindon, but he still remembered her distinctly. She was punctual, attentive and always participated in class. She lingered afterward to ask questions and often visited with him to discuss her career, all while juggling her service in the Marine Corps Reserve.

She was a professors dream, Bonner said.

Guindon graduated from the school in 2010 and took graduate classes at George Washington University, according to officials there.

Hudson said Guindon entered the academy for Prince William police in January 2015 and graduated in June. She left the academy before coming back this year.

She couldnt get it out of her blood, Hudson said. She clearly had a passion to serve others.

Guindons cruiser was draped in black bunting and parked at county police headquarters Sunday. People dropped off flowers and other tokens.

She was only the second county police officer to die in a malicious attack in the history of the department.

During a vigil Sunday night, more than 500 people packed the Sean Connaughton Plaza for the ceremony honoring Guindon.

A giant American flag hung over the plaza, draped from two fire department ladders.

Officers and grieving Prince William residents took the vigil as an opportunity to reflect on Guindons life.

Were here first and foremost to honor and remember Ashley, to praise her life and her service and her sacrifice, the police chief said. It was in her blood. She felt passion for doing it.

Hudson described the moments before the confrontation at the Hamilton home.

When the subject who was later arrested tried to force the door closed and shut them out of the home, they fought to protect what ended up being his wife, Hudson said. The subject then suddenly opened fire.

He addressed officers and emergency personnel who may have felt demoralized after what happened.

I say, dont lose heart, he said. We sometimes have the very unenviable task of dealing with true evil . . . we must never shy from these tasks.

Guindon was a member of the Class of 2005 at Merrimack High School in Merrimack, N.H., a suburb between Manchester and Nashua.

Kenneth W. Johnson, who has been the schools principal for 14 years, said Guindon personified the best that the school had to offer. He said she was a member of a uniquely talented class and one that has suffered more than its share of loss: six members of the class are known to have died, including one during senior year. That pain brought everyone closer, Johnson said. Their theme was Forever Young.

Guindon, who had been a cheerleader at least for a time, had lost her father the year before. Her yearbook inscription was dedicated to her mother and departed father, and it made for difficult reading, Johnson said.

Mom, thanks for everything, Guindon wrote, according to Johnson. Itll be a long road but we can manage, and it will only make us stronger. . . . As I take flight, it only makes me closer to you, Daddy.

And then her quote: Live for something rather than die for nothing.

This is just particularly devastating. And its really hard for me personally to comprehend someone whos given her life to service who loses her life on the first day, Johnson said. Its too much.

One of Crystal Hamiltons best friends, Shayna Colunga, said Hamiltons husband was sometimes jealous of the men his wife assisted at the Wounded Warrior Regiment in Bethesda.

He was just jealous. She had said he didnt like her working where she did because she was around a lot of men, Colunga said. He would just tell her that he wanted her to quit her job and that he didnt want her to work. She was so beautiful. She dressed to the nines and loved her high heels. She didnt need makeup.

Colunga said she is unaware of what specifically precipitated the couples fight Saturday and that the woman never expressed fears about Ronald Hamilton physically harming her.

She said Hamilton kept his .45-caliber weapon in his car, but didnt know where he stored the assault weapon. Crystal Hamilton knew that her husband had weapons but didnt mind. Colunga said he attended a gun show in Dulles earlier this month but didnt buy anything.

The couple, she said, celebrated their sons 11th birthday Wednesday.

Sunday afternoon, friends erected a memorial for Crystal Hamilton outside her home. Bright flowers, candles and a teddy bear framed a posterboard of photos, all taken by the victim.

Colunga said Crystal Hamilton shared a special bond with her son. Theyd all planned on going to Red Lobster to celebrate his birthday, but their plans were interrupted by Wednesdays severe weather.

That was her munchkin. She called him her munchkin, her best friend, Colunga said.

Hawla Donley, another friend, said Crystal Hamilton had been getting over a cold, so she checked in with her Saturday morning. Donley wanted to make sure her friend was still up for a girls night out, planned for the evening.

Hamiltons text back read:

Im not 100% but Im alive and will make it, followed by a smile emoji.

Fredrick Kunkle, Lynh Bui and researcher Jennifer Jenkins contributed to this report.
March roars in like a lion full of planetary events: Venus illuminates the heavens before dawn and a bright Jupiter hangs out all night.

To start March, Venus rises before dawn around 5:40 a.m. in the east-southeastern sky low on the horizon. This ebullient planet hangs in the constellation Capricornus with a negative-3.9 magnitude (very bright). If you walk the dog early March 7, catch an elderly, waning crescent moon meeting Venus before sunrise. By mid-March, our bright neighboring planet rises around 6:30 a.m.  just ahead of the sun.

That evening, the big and boisterous Jupiter takes command like a greaser teen hanging out at Mels burger drive-in. The huge planet reaches opposition March 8. Think of opposition as you would a full moon, but its a full Jupiter. Its a very bright negative-2.5-magnitude object. The gassy planet rises in the east at 5:56 p.m. March 8, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory, crosses the meridian 22 minutes after midnight and sets at 6:43 a.m. After the daylight saving time change, Jupiter rises at 6:24 p.m. in mid-March. The fat, gibbous moon greets Jupiter on March 21.

Mars and Saturn arrive later in the night. Mars rises in the east-southeast about 12:15 a.m. now, loitering in the constellation Libra, at zero magnitude (not very bright). While the giant, ringed Saturn rises about 1:40 a.m. now, snuggled between the constellations Ophiuchus and Scorpius, also at zero magnitude.

Spring ahead: On Sunday, March 13 at 2 a.m., turn your clocks forward one hour as we move to daylight saving time. Well retreat to standard time during the first weekend in November. Speaking of spring, it officially starts March 20 early in the morning, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.

When the total solar eclipse occurs March 8, the sun will be on the other side of world  focused on Indonesia and the South Pacific Ocean. To watch the eclipse from here, go online and see it live on Slooh.com; you can tune in starting at 6 p.m.

Two weeks after the total solar eclipse, the western United States can witness a feeble penumbral lunar eclipse March 23. At the height of this weak eclipse, the moon darkens slightly. To an unsuspecting eye, it looks like a normal full moon. The deepest part of this eclipse occurs at 4:48 a.m. PDT, according to NASA.

For details, visit eclipse expert Fred Espenaks websites, including: EclipseWise.com, AstroPixels.com and MrEclipse.com  a site dedicated to eclipse photography.

Down to Earth events:

March 5  Astronomer Brian Hicks talks about exoplanets  planets that are beyond our solar system  at the University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. 8 p.m. See the night sky through telescopes afterward, weather permitting. www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse .

March 7  Stars Tonight, at the David M. Brown Planetarium, 1426 N. Quincy St., Arlington. 7:30 p.m. General, $5; children/elderly $3.

friendsoftheplanetarium.org.

March 12  Explore Women in Aviation and Space Day at the National Air and Space Museums Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, 14390 Air and Space Museum Pkwy., Chantilly, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Free admission. Parking, $15. airandspace.si.edu .

March 12  Cosmic Crashes: The Many Facets of Neutron Star Collisions, a talk by NASA research scientist Eleonora Troja at the regular meeting of the National Capital Astronomers, University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. 7:30 p.m.

capitalastronomers.org .

March 13  Mark Kochte, mission analyst at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, discusses the New Horizons mission at the Northern Virginia Astronomy Club, 163 Research Hall, George Mason University. 7 p.m. novac.com .

March 20  The Vernal Equinox: The First Day of Spring, a presentation at the Montgomery College planetarium, Takoma Park, 7 p.m. montgomerycollege.edu/departments/planet .

March 20  Active Galactic Nuclei: Shining a Light on Supermassive Black Holes and Galaxy Evolution, a talk by astronomer Taro Shimizu at the University of Maryland Observatory, College Park. 8 p.m. Gaze at the heavens afterward, weather permitting. www.astro.umd.edu/openhouse .

March 31  Building Stars, Planets and the Ingredients for Life in Space, the John N. Bahcall Lecture by Ewine F. van Dishoeck of the Leiden Observatory, Netherlands. She examines the discovery of planets around stars other than our sun, 8 p.m. at the Airbus Imax Theater, Udvar-Hazy Center, Chantilly. airandspace.si.edu. Free tickets: airandspace.si.edu/events/tickets .
Police officers investigate the scene near Pearson Park in Anaheim, Calif., after three counter-protesters were stabbed while clashing with Ku Klux Klan members staging a rally. (Ringo Chiu/AFP/Getty Images)

CALIFORNIA

Three people stabbed at KKK gathering

Three people were stabbed Saturday, one critically, after a small group of Ku Klux Klan members staging an anti-immigrant rally in Southern California clashed with a larger gathering of counter-protesters, police said.

The violence erupted shortly after noon in Anaheims Pearson Park, about 3 miles from Disneyland. The KKK had advertised plans for the rally, and about 30 anti-Klan protesters showed up beforehand, Anaheim Police Sgt. Daron Wyatt said. When the Klan members arrived they were attacked as they exited their cars, he said.

One Klansman stabbed a counter-protester with the decorative end of a flag pole, Wyatt said. That stabbing set off a vicious brawl in which Klan members and protesters fought across an entire city block.

Wyatt said police were present when the violence erupted.

Anaheim police had notified the public about the planned KKK protest Friday and said they would be monitoring the situation for any violations of law. The department also said that although the groups signs and fliers might be controversial, they are protected by the First Amendment.

 Associated Press

Pythons captured in Florida: The 106 Burmese pythons captured over a month-long hunt wont help control Floridas invasive snake population, but wildlife officials said Saturday that doesnt matter as much as the awareness they bring to the states environmental concerns. Thousands of pythons, far from their natural habitat in Southeast Asia, are thought to be stalking Florida wildlife in the beleaguered Everglades.

Hacker breaks into computer system at California school: The University of California at Berkeley said a hacker broke into a computer system holding the financial data of 80,000 students, alumni and current and former employees. The university said Friday that although there is no evidence that any information has been stolen, it has notified potential victims of the breach so they can watch for signs of possible misuse of their personal data. Berkeley was in the middle of patching a security flaw in the financial management system when the intrusion occurred in December. The FBI was notified and the flaw has been patched.

 Associated Press
Stranded refugees and migrants protest in front of the wire fence that separates the Greek side from the Macedonian one at the northern Greek border station of Idomeni, Saturday. (Petros Giannakouris/AP)

MACEDONIA

Borders reopened

to migrants in Greece

Macedonia reopened its border to Iraqi and Syrian asylum seekers Saturday, hours after migrants protested peacefully on the Greek side of the border, demanding passage on their way to central Europe.

Macedonian authorities said the number let in could reach 350. A similar number of migrants, who had entered Macedonia earlier last week, boarded a train in Gevgelija on Saturday, heading to Macedonias border with Serbia.

Macedonia has effectively shut down the border to all migrants since late Thursday, enraging the Greek government. Macedonia has repeatedly said it has slowed down or shut down migrant flows only in response to bottlenecks farther up along the Balkans migrant route.

In two separate protests Saturday, about 450 refugees gathered close to the fence marking the Greece-Macedonia border, carrying placards reading Open the border and shouting the same slogan.

 Associated Press

BOLIVIA

Presidents former mistress arrested

The former lover of Bolivian President Evo Morales has been arrested as part of a probe into alleged influence-trafficking involving hundreds of millions of dollars in government contracts.

In 2013, Gabriela Zapata became general manager for Bolivia of China CAMC Engineering , which has seven contracts with the state, all but one no-bid, that are worth more than $500 million. Opposition politicians accuse Morales of influence-trafficking through the Chinese firm, a claim he denies.

The bombshell revelation this month of Moraless past relationship with Zapata upended the final stretch of a referendum campaign aimed at allowing the president to seek re-election when his term ends in 2020.

Morales acknowledged the relationship during the campaign and said that the two had a child together in 2007 but that the infant later died. Zapatas aunt, however, said Saturday that the child was still alive.

Zapata, 29, declined to speak when she was arrested Friday.

 Associated Press

Hundreds of hostages of Boko Haram are freed in raid: Cameroonian and Nigerian forces have freed several hundred hostages in a border town held by Boko Haram, including young girls who were being trained as suicide bombers, the commander of Cameroonian forces said Saturday. Soldiers also killed about 100 militants while liberating the Nigerian town of Kumshe, about nine miles from the Cameroon border.

Spain claims to break up human-smuggling ring: More than 100 people were arrested and 150 forged passports seized when Spanish police, acting in collaboration with British, French and Italian forces, broke up an alleged people-smuggling organization that illegally brought large numbers of Chinese nationals into Britain, Ireland, France and Italy. Police were alerted to the gangs operations in 2013, when growing numbers of Chinese nationals with false documents were stopped at Spanish airports.

Saudi-led airstrikes reportedly kill dozens in Yemen: Airstrikes targeting Shiite rebels killed at least 30 people, mostly civilians, when they hit a market area outside the capital, Sanaa, on Saturday, Yemeni security officials said.

Congo clears way for dozens to be adopted: Francois Balumuene, Congos ambassador to the United States, said that 82 children soon will join their adoptive parents abroad in the latest cases to be cleared by the government after more than two years of waiting. The Congolese government halted international adoptions in 2013, saying the nations adoption system was beset by corruption.

 From news services
Real estate mogul Donald Trumps chief rivals for the Republican nomination made an urgent push Saturday to characterize him as a dishonest candidate who has fooled Republican voters with promises he cannot keep.

But with polls showing Trump increasingly poised to secure major victories in the March 1 Super Tuesday primaries, it remains to be seen whether their escalating rhetoric will make a difference before voters cast their ballots in two days.

I believe there are Americans today that are being fooled by this guy. I really do, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) told voters in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday. Whats at stake is the Republican movement. I am not going to stand by and watch the conservative movement be taken over by someone who is not a conservative.

The senator has hurled unusually personal attacks at Trump in recent days regarding the billionaires motivations, his demeanor and even his age. Rubio has been particularly intent on undermining Trumps business record, characterizing him as an entitled heir whose success was based on his familys connections and money.

I very rarely try to attack other Republicans because I dont like it; I think the Democrats love when we do that. I think they cheer when we do that, Rubio said, defending his recent shift in strategy. But weve come to a point now where we have no choice but to talk about these differences.

1 of 61 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Marco Rubios rise to prominence View Photos The U.S. senator from Florida is vying for the Republican presidential nomination. Caption The U.S. senator from Florida is vying for the Republican presidential nomination. March 5, 2016 Sen. Marco Rubio speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. Amanda Voisard/For the Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), speaking in Atlanta on Saturday at the Liberty Plaza, told supporters that Tuesday is the most important day in this entire cycle. At stake, he said, is whether the Republican Party will be able to fend off Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the fall. If we nominate Donald, he said, we end up electing Hillary as president.

Cruz, at a rally in Little Rock put on by a super PAC supporting him, cited a lawsuit that accused Trump of knowingly hiring undocumented immigrants to work on Trump Tower. Trump lost the lawsuit, appealed and it was ultimately settled.

He put his name on it, Cruz said of Trump Tower. Maybe it should say underneath: Built by illegal immigrants. 

But Trumps conservative credentials have been bolstered by a series of high-profile endorsements. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie joined Trump in Bentonville, Ark., on Saturday, one day after throwing his support behind the billionaire. The Trump campaign announced Saturday that former Arizona governor Jan Brewer, a Republican firebrand who rose to national prominence because of her hard-line stance on immigration reform, had also endorsed him.

Those endorsements could be the first of many by such Republican leaders.

Trump fought back against those attacks in Bentonville, where he and Christie took turns criticizing Rubio. Trump called him little Rubio, a total lightweight, and mocked his physical appearance.

I watched this lightweight Rubio, total lightweight, little mouth on him, bing, bing, bing,  Trump said, parodying Rubios attacks. The last thing I am is a con man.

Count the swipes Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Donald Trump took at each other the day after they butted heads at the Houston CNN/Telemundo debate. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

As Trump spoke, a man in the crowd shouted: Rubios a liar!

The pro-Rubio Conservative Solutions PAC has poured millions of dollars into attacking Trump in the days before Tuesdays voting.

He thinks were fools, says one ad from the group. Trump uses sleazy bankruptcy laws to avoid paying workers. He bans disabled veterans from his high-rise. He even tried to use eminent domain to kick a widow from her home.

Trump faced sustained air attacks backed by millions of dollars in South Carolina but emerged unscathed with a double-digit victory. But as the target on his back grows, a national advertising effort across multiple states could wear away at his populist support.

Trumps critics acknowledge that the 11th-hour attacks from Rubio and others may come too late to make a difference Tuesday.

But that is not to say they are in vain. Trumps detractors hope that sustained attacks against his business record and character will stymie his momentum ahead of the March 15 primary contests, many of which award delegates on a winner-take-all basis.

Katie Packer, a former deputy campaign manager for Mitt Romney who leads an anti-Trump super PAC, said that she thinks Rubio has a clear path forward if candidates such as Ohio Gov. John Kasich drop out of the race.

All of the suggestions that Trump cant be stopped comes from this suggestion that hes impenetrable, Packer said. We have no idea if hes impenetrable because nobody has ever tried to take him down.

None of us are going to be surprised when Trump does well on Super Tuesday, she added. This stuff takes a little time to sink in.

Katie Zezima in Little Rock, Dave Weigel in Birmingham, Ala., and Jenna Johnson in Bentonville, Ark., contributed to this report.
Hillary Clinton easily defeated her rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, in the Democratic primary here Saturday, the first broad test of whether the strong challenge from Clintons political left has eroded crucial support among African American voters.

With the victory in South Carolina, Clinton can claim a powerful advantage among black voters who could determine the outcome in a half-dozen Southern states that vote next.

For Clinton, this was the first comfortable victory of a Democratic primary season that just a year ago was supposed to be comfortable from end to end, with Clinton waltzing through as a front-runner.

Instead, Sanders  the senator from Vermont who calls himself a democratic socialist and has electrified young voters and white liberals  beat Clinton handily in New Hampshire and came unexpectedly close to beating her in Iowa and Nevada.

The victory in South Carolina will give Clinton momentum as the contest heads toward Super Tuesday, where she and Sanders will compete in 11 states.

Hillary Clinton won the South Carolina Democratic primary on Feb. 27. Here's how. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

A slightly hoarse Clinton came out to cheers of Hillary! Hillary! in a room full of jubilant supporters in Columbia.

Today, you sent a message: In America, when we stand together, there is no barrier too big to break, Clinton said. Acknowledging that South Carolina was the end of the one-state-at-a-time early phase of this campaign, she exclaimed: Tomorrow, this campaign goes national!

Exit polls reported by ABC News showed that Clintons advantage with black voters was, indeed, decisive: Black voters accounted for about 6 in 10 of Saturdays Democratic electorate, and an overwhelming 8 in 10 of those black voters supported Clinton.

That would set a record. The previous record was 55 percent, set in 2008 as then-Sen. Barack Obama campaigned  against Clinton herself  to become his partys first African American nominee.

Minutes after the polls closed, Clinton changed her Twitter profile picture to a poster-style drawing of her with the words Thank You South Carolina.

Sanders was in the air when the race was called for Clinton, flying from one campaign stop in Texas to another in Minnesota.

In politics, on a given night, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Tonight we lost, Sanders told reporters after getting off his chartered jet in Rochester, Minn., where he was staging an evening rally. I congratulate Secretary Clinton on her very strong victory. Tuesday, over 800 delegates are at stake, and we intend to win many, many of them.

1 of 27 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  What it looked like on the ground for the South Carolina Democratic primary View Photos Hillary Clinton sailed to a commanding victory over Bernie Sanders in the South Carolina primary, drawing overwhelming support from the states black Democrats. Caption Hillary Clinton sailed to a convincing victory over Bernie Sanders in the South Carolina primary, drawing overwhelming support from the states black Democrats. Feb. 27, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton waves to supporters in Columbia after winning the South Carolina primary. Melina Mara/The Washington Post Wait 1 second to continue.

He did not take questions before getting in his car.

Sanders has won only one of the four initial contests, where candidates typically focus the greatest attention and resources. But he has captured young voters in astonishing numbers and is raising more money than Clinton, ensuring that he will remain in the race  and remain a threat to the front-runner.

Sanders was already looking ahead to states that vote on March 1, Super Tuesday. His campaign has said it has a good shot of winning five of the 11 Democratic state contests that day.

He spent much of the last few days before Saturdays vote campaigning in Super Tuesday states, and although he began the day in South Carolina, he left in the morning and never returned.

[With loss looming in S.C., Sanders addresses 10,000 fans in Texas]

Clinton spent most of the last week in South Carolina, leaving only for brief stops in Super Tuesday states including Texas and Georgia.

A thousand miles from South Carolina in Austin on Saturday, more than 10,000 adoring Sanders supporters showed up and cheered his every sentence at an outdoor rally. He had plenty to say about elections  just not the one taking place Saturday.

He recounted his near tie in the Iowa caucuses, his big win in the New Hampshire primary and his come-from-behind five-percentage-point loss in Nevada.

And now we come to Super Tuesday! Sanders said, skipping over South Carolinas place on the calendar.

Sanders could not make much headway against Clintons long ties and enduring loyalty among many black voters here. He had hoped to do well enough to claim he had dented Clintons firewall of Southern states, which Clinton allies have claimed would put an end to Sanderss early momentum from liberal, majority-white states.

But unlike in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, Clintons once-impressive double-digit lead over Sanders never faltered much in South Carolina. With nearly all precincts reporting, Clinton was beating him by nearly 50 percentage points  by far the largest margin for any victory so far this year.

Clinton sent surrogates including Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.)  the top-ranking black Democrat in the House  to polling places to make one last pitch. In many places, it seemed that the voters didnt need it: Black voters, especially, praised her long experience in Washington.

Weve made a lot of progress in the last eight years, and Hillary is the best person out there to continue the progress, said Al Tucker, a 67-year-old African American in Columbia, the state capital. You look at South Carolina, and were at the bottom in anything you can think of: education, poverty. I think Hillary would be good because shes going to look out for us.

A majority of black voters this time said they saw Clinton as trustworthy and honest  a marked change from New Hampshire, where she lost badly amid voter concerns about her honesty.

[To understand Clintons appeal in S.C., meet Bernice Scott]

The same exit polls showed that Sanders had vastly beaten Clinton among white voters younger than 45, but there were many fewer of these voters in the South Carolina primary than in other early states. Additionally, according to ABC News, Clinton dominated in a demographic that Sanders had hoped to win in this state: black voters younger than 45. Clinton won that group by 3 to 1. Clinton won by a narrow margin whites who were 45 and older, and she won nearly all of the vote among blacks 45 and older, according to ABC News.

In recent weeks, Clinton has largely shifted her focus away from the Republican race toward the threat that Sanders poses to her in the Democratic primary season. But on Saturday, Clinton reiterated her criticism of the rhetoric of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, particularly toward Muslim Americans.

During a stop in Birmingham, Ala., the former secretary of state took an implicit swipe at Trump.

When you run for president, its not just Americans who pay attention. And when you are president the entire world listens to every word you say. Markets rise and fall, Clinton said. You do have to be careful about what you say and how you say it.

Exit polls reported by ABC News also showed that a large majority of Democratic voters, fully 7 in 10, wanted the next president to continue Obamas policies, rather than pursue a more liberal agenda. Sanders has called for a political revolution that would enact sweeping liberal policies  including universal, government-run health insurance  beyond what Obama has put in place.

Sanders began showing up in the state in 2014, long before he announced a run for president, said South Carolina Democratic Party Chairman Jaime Harrison. He ended up with about 200 staff and 11 offices in the state, and his campaign spent roughly $1.7 million on television and radio advertising in the state.

Clinton relied on decades of relationships between her family and black leaders here. Supporters at her rallies and other public events last week were largely older African Americans. Many of those same supporters had spurned Clinton in 2008 to support then-rival Obama.

Some of those South Carolina voters had a falling out with the Clintons, who were accused of using racially tinged rhetoric to disparage Obamas candidacy eight years ago. But both Hillary and former president Bill Clinton were redeemed with stalwart black support this time around.

Among those supporters was Bernice Scott, 71, who was up early Saturday morning, heading to the small towns around Richland County, where she has lived for nearly 50 years, to help get out the vote for Clinton. As one of the first African Americans to serve on the county council, Scott is well-known and well-respected, a leader of a network of grass-roots activists known as the Reckoning Crew.

Because if you dont do right, you will have to reckon with us, Scott said.

And we are a force to be reckoned with, adds her friend and fellow crew member, Jackie Brown.

Phillip reported from Columbia, Birmingham, Ala., and Charleston. Wagner reported from Columbia, Austin, Grand Prairie, Tex., and Rochester, Minn. Gearan reported from Washington. David A. Fahrenthold and Vanessa Williams in Washington and Hannah Jeffrey in Columbia contributed to this report.
Hillary Clinton is seen aboard the campaign bus in Cleveland on the third day of a bus tour through Pennsylvania and Ohio.

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

The former secretary of state, senator and first lady is the Democratic nominee for president.

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton visits key states in her quest to become the Democratic nominee for president.

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton visits key states in her quest to become the Democratic nominee for president.

At Hillary Clintons campaign office here, supporter and actress America Ferrera listened tearfully as a handful of young Latinos who had been brought to the United States as children spoke of living in constant fear of deportation.

African American and Latino surrogates have blanketed the state. Former president Bill Clinton has made frequent visits to Texas to support his wife, including a stop to kick off the states two-week early voting period in border towns including Laredo. And the candidate has locked down nearly universal support from state and local political leaders, which is a key advantage in Texass more rural communities.

After her landslide victory Saturday over Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont in South Carolinas Democratic primary, Clinton is trying to assume a sheen of inevitability as her partys presumptive nominee. And no state is better suited to help her do that than Texas, the largest of 11 states that will hold Democratic nominating contests this week, on Super Tuesday. Here, she is looking for another sizable victory over Sanders  this time, to prove her ability to win big among not just African American voters also but Latinos and whites.

With 222 delegates at stake, Texas could significantly boost her overall delegate count  even without the party officials who have pledged to support her as superdelegates. It would make Sanderss path to the nomination nearly nonexistent.

The fact is that Texas is going to be ground zero, said state Rep. Cesar Blanco, a Clinton supporter who represents El Paso. Shes got roots here. She did a lot of voter registration in south Texas at a young age. Latinos understand that and know that and remember that.

Clinton has long been expected to do well among Texass African American voters. In South Carolina, she led Sanders among black voters by more than 70 percentage points in preliminary exit polls reported by CNN. That number was larger than her 54-point margin among black caucus-goers in Nevada last week  and also larger than President Obamas 59-point win over Clinton with black voters in the 2008 South Carolina primary.

[To understand Clintons appeal in S.C., meet Bernice Scott]

Less certain is whether she will do well among Latinos or whites. Sanders claimed a narrow victory among Latino voters in Nevada based on entrance polling  although the Clinton campaign has disputed that. Sanders has polled ahead of Clinton in states with larger white populations  but in South Carolina on Saturday, Clinton defeated him even among whites.

The Clinton campaign sees an opportunity to win all demographics in Texas, which she won against Obama in 2008 largely on her strength among Latinos and, to a lesser degree, whites.

To do so, she hopes to turn on its head the conventional political wisdom that turnout helps Sanders. Her campaign has moved belatedly but aggressively to activate long-standing relationships with minority communities in the hopes that elevated turnout among those groups will deliver a sizable margin of victory.

She has called upon loyalties dating back to the early 1970s, when young Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham knocked on doors registering voters for the presidential campaign of Sen. George McGovern (S.D.) in poor, heavily Latino parts of the state.

Both Clintons have visited Texas a considerable number of times, on the counsel of longtime friends and political allies who sounded the alarm in January that the campaign needed to move quickly to counter the inroads Sanders was attempting to make in the state, particularly among Latinos.

Here is what we know about who is expected to do well when 13 states head to the polls on Tuesday, March 1. (Julio Negron,Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

Sanders continues to draw passionate support from the states more liberal enclaves, notably Austin. While his campaign claims that he is still contesting the minority vote in Texas, the candidate has focused his time on areas where the liberal, white vote is most concentrated.

On Saturday, he returned to Texas for the first time since July to rally a combined crowd of more than 17,000 in the Austin and Dallas areas. Both rallies were predominantly white, with sprinklings of younger Latinos and African Americans.

[Clintons landslide victory in S.C. spells trouble for Sanders on Super Tuesday]

The increasingly hostile rhetoric of Republican candidates on immigration could well help boost minority turnout  and help Clinton, said former Texas gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Wendy Davis.

The prediction is that if the turnout does increase it will primarily come from historically disengaged voters such as our Latino voters, said Davis, who has endorsed Clinton. Its going to create a motivating reason for people to come out and make sure that shes our nominee, believing that she is the candidate best positioned to secure the nomination.

Increasingly, as Sanderss path in Texas appears to be narrowing geographically and demographically, the campaigns expectations in Texas are similarly contracting. Over the past week, the Sanders campaign has claimed that he can win five of Tuesdays 11 states  and Texas is not among them.

This has been our expectation across the country: We want to do as well as possible, said Sanders spokeswoman Rania Batrice. The overall approach has been that were going to do as much as we can to bring out as many people as possible.

Sanderss campaign outreach in Texas  which once dwarfed Clintons  has been eclipsed.

Months ago, Sanders boasted a rare organizational head start on Clinton  deploying paid staff and opening offices in the state beginning in November. Since then, the campaign has opened seven offices across the state and has more than two dozen paid staffers on the ground.

It wasnt until late January that the Clinton campaign headquarters in New York City began doing the same.

They were working very hard, but they were getting no support from Brooklyn, because Brooklyns strategy was: We contest and win Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, then we start working on other states, said Garry Mauro, who was chairman of Bill Clintons 1992 campaign in Texas and is a longtime friend and confidant of the Clintons. It was very disheartening for some of our super volunteers to see Sanders people with organized volunteers and organizers on the ground actually holding meetings.

It wasnt totally silent, but Im sure glad that period of the campaign is over, Mauro said.

The Sanders campaign has launched its own efforts to reach out to Latinos, focusing on younger voters who are amenable to Sanderss message of free college tuition at public universities and countering economic inequality.

Something that were seeing in Texas is something that we saw in Nevada: It was an energy that were seeing with young Latinos, said Cesar Antonio Vargas, an immigration reform activist who signed on with the Sanders campaign and has been traveling across Texas and other Super Tuesday states to recruit Latino support. They are the social media generation. They have a politicians record in a two-minute video on Facebook.

Theyre informing the community, their parents and grandparents, he added.

A recent Washington Post-Univision poll showed Sanders doing well nationally with younger Hispanics, but all other groups overwhelmingly support Clinton.

Theres nothing written in stone that says that Latinos wont vote for Bernie Sanders, particularly young Latinos that are in college, said Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. But hes got to reach them and they have to know hes there and they have to got to get to the polls.

Texass Hispanic voters  and Democrats in general  are notorious for not showing up to vote in large numbers. And younger voters in general have proven to be an unreliable constituency for Sanders in other states  including South Carolina, where exit polls showed that they did not turn out in elevated numbers.

Hispanics always threaten to vote and never vote, said Charles Soechting, former chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, who has endorsed Sanders.

Inside Sanderss Houston campaign office, nestled in a tree-lined neighborhood, more than a dozen volunteers dialed away, on the hunt for potential voters.

Im calling mostly 33-year-olds who dont answer their phones, noted Greg Hunt, 55, who had been diligently working the phones for Sanders for hours.

On the other side of the room, Noe De La Garza left a half-dozen messages  some from an English-language script that he had hastily translated into Spanish.

The policies of Bernie will do a lot more to help Latinos here, he said.

As Super Tuesday approaches, the Sanders campaign has no ads specifically on Texas airwaves, a key voter outreach tool in a state where voters are far-flung. Clinton, on the other hand, has blanketed television and radio in a dozen markets across the state  including border towns  focusing on Latino communities.

The absence has also been felt by voters such as San Antonio resident Laura Lopez and her husband, Manuel, both of whom looked favorably on Sanderss candidacy early on but have since settled on Clinton.

I havent seen him, said Laura Lopez, 42. I havent seen him coming here.

I really havent heard anybody talking about him, Manuel Lopez, 37, chimed in. I dont know that hes actually been to Texas.

Sanderss latest visit may also have been too little too late. He arrived a day after early voting in the state closed.

John Wagner in Austin contributed to this report.
March 5, 2016 Sen. Marco Rubio speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. Amanda Voisard/For the Washington Post

The U.S. senator from Florida is vying for the Republican presidential nomination.

The U.S. senator from Florida is vying for the Republican presidential nomination.

The U.S. senator from Florida is vying for the Republican presidential nomination.

Two Republican presidential candidates  Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Ted Cruz of Texas  released summary pages of their tax returns from the last several years Saturday evening, an effort to raise pressure on billionaire Donald Trump to do the same just days before Super Tuesday in the Republican presidential nominating battle.

Rubio and his wife, Jeanette, made $2.29 million from 2010 to 2014 and paid $526,092 in taxes, according to the information released late Saturday afternoon. Cruzs campaign reported several hours later that the senator from Texas and his wife, Heidi, earned $5.05 million over the last four years and paid $1.45 million in taxes.

Both candidates released only the first two pages of returns for the years 2010 to 2014, which provide summary information but drew criticism immediately from Democratic partisans who cited the decision of Hillary Clinton and other presidential candidates to release multiple years of full tax returns. Without the full returns, key details about Cruzs and Rubios family financial dealings  such as precise sources of income, deductions and amounts donated to charity  were not revealed.

Late Saturday, Cruz told reporters that he released a summary because Rubio had only released two pages. He said hes made charitable contributions, though the campaign isnt going to release any more tax information at the moment.

If Marco wants to release the complete things for the recent years Im happy to do so as well and I would certainly encourage Donald Trump to do it, but we just did it to match what the other candidates are doing, Cruz said.

Sen. Marco Rubio, who's running for president in 2016, is known for his stances on immigration and tax reform. Here is the Florida Republican's take on Obamacare, the Islamic State and more, in his own words. (Julie Percha/The Washington Post)

The Rubios reported $335,561 in income and $78,917 in taxes in 2014, the most recent year released. For the same period, the Cruzes reported $1.2 million in income and paying $389,124 in taxes.

Both men receive the standard salary of about $174,000 as a U.S. senator, and both have had considerable outside income.

Rubios wife has been a paid adviser to the charitable foundation of Norman Braman, a Florida auto dealer and major Rubio donor. Cruzs wife works for the Goldman Sachs investment firm.

Since Rubio joined the Senate in 2010, his family income has ranged from a low of $183,872 in 2010 to a high of $929,439 in 2012, according to the couple. A major part of Rubios increase in revenue comes from book deals.

The Cruzes family income ranged from a low of $970,000 in 2013 to a high of $1.7 million in 2011. During that period he paid an effective tax rate of between 28.4 percent and 32.2 percent, according to an accompanying summary issued by the campaign Saturday night.

The two senators, vying to be the GOP alternative to front-runner Trump, had promised to release their recent tax returns in comments during Thursday nights Republican presidential debate in Houston.

Each had released earlier returns during their respective Senate races but had put off making public returns from recent years.

Count the swipes Republican presidential candidates Marco Rubio and Donald Trump took at each other the day after they butted heads at the Houston CNN/Telemundo debate. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)

[Rubio and Trump now at war for the GOPs future]

The release of the partial returns Saturday is a move to force Trump to do the same with his tax returns, as Rubio has rolled out a feisty new strategy of insulting and attacking the Republican front-runner. At Thursdays debate, Trump responded by jabbing Rubio over his management of his personal finances, including personal charges he put on a Republican Party credit card in Florida.

Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee who had taken heat for delaying the release of his own returns during the nominating process four years ago, elevated the issue this week with a string of tweets baiting Trump on taxes, suggesting Trump may be hiding a bombshell in his returns.

[Mitt Romney believes theres a bombshell in Donald Trumps taxes]

At the debate, Trump responded that he could not release his taxes because he is being audited by the IRS, claiming that hes been audited routinely by the government every year for the past 12 years.

I want to release my tax returns but I cant release it while Im under an audit, Trump said at the debate.

[Donald Trump claims he cant release his tax returns while being audited. This tax attorney agrees.]

In a CNN interview after the debate, Trump said that he has been targeted by the IRS because hes a strong Christian.

[Donald Trump says IRS audits could be tied to being a strong Christian]

That idea was rejected by John Koskinen, the commissioner of the IRS, in an interview taped by C-SPAN on Friday. Koskinen also said it would be rare for the IRS to conduct annual audits, absent finding problems with past returns.

Trumps rivals have sensed an opening with his refusal and his unique excuse for the lack of transparency. At the debate, Cruz shot back that an IRS audit only underscores the need for Trump to release the records.

If he has said something that was false and that an audit is going to find was fraudulent, the voters need to know, Cruz said.

[An urgent Cruz, trying to catch up to Trump, calls March 1 the most important day in GOP race] As he released his own returns Saturday night, Cruz added more fuel to his previous comments, saying in a press release that Trumps reluctance to release taxes may result from a desire to hide some activities. For example, he suggested Trump might not want to reveal a lower income than he has led voters to believe -- or perhaps donations to groups out of favor with the Republican right, such as Planned Parenthood. In a brief exchange Saturday, he said given the serious questions that have been raised about Donald Trumps business dealings, the primary voters are owed the opportunity to vet the candidates.

Rubio had promised at the debate that there would be nothing really that interesting in his returns.

Still, he has faced questions about his personal finances in the past.

He entered the Florida legislature in 2000 making $72,000 a year as a land use attorney, an income that had ballooned to more than $400,000 a year by the time he stepped down as speaker of the Florida House of Representatives in 2008.

While a state official, he also came under fire for his use of a Republican Party credit card, and he repaid the state $2,400 after acknowledging he had several times received state reimbursement for travel expenses that he had also billed to the party. More recently, a personal financial disclosure form filed at the start of his candidacy showed that he had cashed out some of his retirement savings. He said he needed access to cash as he began his presidential run, including money to buy a refrigerator.

Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Christina Freundlich rapped Rubio on Saturday evening for releasing only the first two pages of his returns.

Marco Rubios release today shows he doesnt believe in transparency and has something to hide, she said in a statement.

Alex Conant, a spokesman for Rubio, said the release was consistent with what Rubio made public when he was running for the Senate and the release made by Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), but he did not rule out releasing more information in coming days.

Presidential candidates are required by law to file a personal financial disclosure form with the Federal Election Commission. Those forms, however, require only that the value of assets and income be disclosed in broad ranges. Tax returns provide precise information about a candidates income as well as other financial details.

Clinton has released tax returns dating to 1977, including last year, making public her records from 2007 through 2014.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump documented the changes he made to his 757 jet in a 2011 video on his YouTube channel. (Donald Trump/YouTube)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump documented the changes he made to his 757 jet in a 2011 video on his YouTube channel. (Donald Trump/YouTube)

As a few thousand people waited for Donald Trump to arrive for a campaign rally in an airplane hangar in northwest Arkansas on Saturday afternoon, the theme song from the 1997 movie Air Force One began to play.

In the cloudless blue sky, the billionaire businessmans jet appeared. It swooped past the hangar and disappeared as hundreds of phones recorded the spectacle.

Oh, my God, there it is  wow! a middle-aged woman said, as she recorded a video she would later post on Facebook. A 66-year-old retiree wearing a camouflage-style campaign hat burst into tears at the sight and declared the plane more impressive than Air Force One. Two women wondered what Trump was saying onboard and if he even knew which state he was in on his whirlwind tour. Here we go, a dad said to his young son, who was sitting atop his shoulders. A young couple debated whether the lettering spelling TRUMP was gold leaf or just paint.

Given that personal wealth has dogged so many presidential candidates eager to connect with voters, a personal Boeing 757 jet is the sort of thing many politicians would hide as soon as they launched a White House bid  or would never own in the first place.

What does Trump do? He flaunts his immense wealth and rolls up in Trump Force One at campaign rallies at small airports in eastern Iowa, the Phoenix suburbs and remote Arkansas. In a campaign so dominated by the businessmans personality and featuring few supporting characters, Trumps jet has quietly taken an outsize role.

1 of 45 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Trump captures the nations attention on the campaign trail View Photos The Republican presidential candidate focuses on Super Tuesday state primaries after a win in Nevada. Caption Businessman Donald Trump officially became the Republican nominee at the partys convention in Cleveland. Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Trump Doral golf course in Miami. Carlo Allegri/Reuters Wait 1 second to continue.

The plane is Trumps gold-plated flying office and home, allowing him to commute from New York to early-voting states while his rivals have to travel in recreational vehicles, on commercial flights or, if they can afford it, chartered planes. Its his traveling reception hall, a luxurious place where he invites reporters for impromptu news conferences, potential endorsers hes trying to woo and, on a whim, Iowa children who wanted to explore.

The plane is opulent and over-the-top  and very, well, very Trump. It symbolizes his campaign promise to make the country rich again.

Early in life, the plane was far less richly appointed, joining the fleet of a low-cost Danish airline company in 1991. Three years later, it briefly moved to a company based in Mexico City, but soon after it was purchased by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The two spent more than 15 years together  until 2011, when Trump took possession and spent heavily on lavish renovations that are documented in a 31/ 2 -minute video posted on YouTube.

Hi, Im Amanda Miller, and Im standing inside Mr. Trumps luxurious, new 757, said Trumps receptionist, who was made famous by his reality game show, The Apprentice. Im here to give you an inside look into traveling Trump-style.

The plane can accommodate 43 passengers, fly for 16 hours and can go more than 500 miles per hour, thanks to Rolls-Royce engines. Onboard: a wood-paneled galley, first-class sleeper area with oversize light-colored leather seats, dining area, main lounge with a 57-inch television screen and sound system of a top Hollywood screening room, VIP area, guest bedroom with a full-size bed and Mr. Trumps bedroom, which is decorated with yards and yards of gold silk.

Youll notice the seat belts, as well as everything else, are 24-karat gold-plated, Miller says, as the camera zooms in for a look. The Trump family crest is also featured throughout the plane.

As Trump Force One landed Saturday in Arkansas and rolled up to the hangar, Brenda Cowden shook her head and said: Look at that. Look at it.

Cowden first saw the plane in the sky a couple of months ago in Dallas. She was visiting, and he was in town for a rally.

I was on the freeway, so I pulled over and shot a photo of the plane as it went over, said Cowden, a retiree who lives in Greenwood, Ark., and plans to vote for Trump on Super Tuesday because she said he will improve the quality of life for veterans like her husband. I trust him.

The door of the plane opened. Trump appeared, along with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), who endorsed Trump on Friday and, therefore, was allowed to travel with the Republican front-runner for a day  the same honor bestowed upon former Alaska governor Sarah Palin (R) and Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. last month ahead of the Iowa caucuses. (Falwell marveled that Trump served Wendys burgers on board.)

The two men waved, descended a staircase and spoke to the crowd for more than an hour. Few could see either man on the stage, but most could see the plane  black and white with a bold red stripe and a windswept T on the tail.

Its the only thing I could see, said Jordan Baker, 27, of Rogers, Ark., who posed for a photo with the jet after the rally rather than trying to elbow her way through the crowd for the chance to shake Trumps hand.

Trump will often speak at length about his beloved jet, especially when its standing behind him, like a silently supportive life partner. He says its one of his only campaign expenses  unlike his rivals who have spent tens of millions of dollars on television ads, internal polling, fundraising and consultants. Trumps campaign reimburses his airline company, TAG Air, for use of the plane. Reports filed with the Federal Election Commission in 2015 show that the campaign paid TAG Air $2 million last year and another $537,436 in January.

Do you like the plane? Trump said to cheers. Made in the United States. Boeing. Made in the United States.

The plane lingered on the runway for more than four hours. Long after the rally ended, Trump reboarded and invited a few local reporters onboard  warning them to not scratch his expensive woodwork. Late in the afternoon, the plane rolled away, headed to a rally at a hangar in Tennessee.

Anu Narayanswamy contributed to this report.
Ireland could be on course for a historic coalition between two longtime political foes  the Fine Gael and Fianna Fail parties  as the first official election results were announced Saturday.

Counting continued Saturday, but a comprehensive exit poll and partial official results from Fridays election suggest that the governing Fine Gael of Prime Minister Enda Kenny and the main opposition Fianna Fail offer the most obvious combination to create a stable new government.

The two parties, which trace their origins to opposite sides of the 1922-1923 civil war that followed Irelands independence from Britain, have never shared power. But analysts say Fine Gael is headed toward keeping fewer than 50 of the 158 total seats in Irelands parliament, while Fianna Fail could win more than 40, making the best choice on paper to forge a majority.

Meanwhile, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams is leading his nationalist party to its best-ever result, a solid third-place finish, and calls its involvement in a future Irish government just a question of time.

Leading Irish lawmakers are warning that a Fianna Fail-Fine Gael coalition government would be fraught with difficulty. Agriculture and Defense Minister Simon Coveney, a leading Fine Gael member, said it would be difficult to form a coalition with two parties of similar size that are competing with each other in many ways.

A parliamentary majority requires at least 79 lawmakers, although stable Irish governments typically require a larger cushion of support.

Former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern, considered a great coalition negotiator, says he thinks Irish lawmakers face an unusually long, grueling process to form their next government.

Fianna Fail chief Micheal Martin, whose party suffered its worst defeat in 2011 after taking Ireland to the brink of bankruptcy, said he believed Irish voters want a change in government. But when asked whether that could mean a Fine Gael-Fianna Fail partnership, he demurred.

Were committed to doing our best by the country and ensuring that the country gets a good government, Martin said. But it will take time.

Martin said any successful coalition negotiation has to be very much focused on the issues and on policies, and not just on numbers.

Martin said he intended to nominate himself, not Kenny, to be elected prime minister when the new parliament convenes March 10. But he did not rule out coalition talks with Kenny.

Fianna Fails Willie ODea, a lawmaker from Limerick and a former Irish defense minister, warned that bringing Irelands two traditional heavyweight political parties together would leave the main opposition as Sinn Fein, the political ally of the Irish Republican Army. He says that would make Sinn Fein a more dangerous foe.

Id be extremely nervous about putting Sinn Fein in pole position in the opposition, ODea said.

Adams says he expects his party to double its seats in parliament from the 14 it won in 2011. But he says its too early to say whether Sinn Fein could gain a slice of power in Irelands next coalition government. He called Sinn Feins rise another step in the realignment of politics on this island.

If the two traditional enemies cannot negotiate a pact, Fine Gael or Fianna Fail could seek support from a dizzying array of small parties and independents likely to be elected as results continue to trickle in.

The exit poll for Irish state broadcaster RTE said Fine Gael received 24.8 percent of first-preference votes, Fianna Fail 21.1 percent and Sinn Fein 16 percent. Kennys partner in his five-year-old coalition government, the union-dominated Labour Party, faced the loss of most of its seats with just 7.1 percent voter support.

The poll involved face-to-face surveys of 4,283 people who had just voted in all 40 constituencies. It had an unusually precise margin of error of 1.5 percentage points.

The results from Fridays election could take days to compile because Ireland uses a complex system of proportional representation designed to ensure that smaller parties and independents win seats. Voters are permitted to rate candidates in order of preference, and this means electoral officials must tabulate results in several laborious rounds.

 Associated Press

Read more:

Today's coverage from Post correspondents around the world
Iraqis gather at the scene of a bomb attack in Baghdad's Sadr city on Sunday. A twin bomb attack killed at least 28 people and wounded dozens of others at a popular market. (Ahmed Ali/European Pressphoto Agency)

Islamic State militants killed dozens of people in two major attacks on Baghdad on Sunday, bombing a market and assaulting security forces on the citys outskirts in a demonstration of the groups ability to disrupt the Iraqi capital even as it loses ground.

Six car bombs were used in the early-morning attack on Abu Ghraib, a neighborhood on the citys western edge where the militants seized a grain silo, Iraqs Ministry of Defense said. Later in the day, a double suicide bombing hit a market in the largely Shiite district of Sadr City, killing at least 28 people, according to Iraqi media.

[How the war in Iraq is haunting the 2016 presidential contest]

The Abu Ghraib assault marked the most significant attack on the area in more than a year and came despite an ongoing operation by Iraqi security forces to push back militants from the citys western edge.

Still, the Islamic State has lost 30 percent of its territory in the country since its 2014 peak, and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Sunday night said the group is lashing out because it is under pressure.

A soldier walks at the site of suicide blasts in Baghdad's Sadr city on Sunday. (Wissm Al-Okili/Reuters)

The bombing in Sadr City, following another on Thursday that hit a Shiite mosque in the Baghdad neighborhood of Shoula, increases the resolve and determination of Iraqi security forces, Abadi said.

In Sadr City, a frequent target for bombings, residents used vegetable carts to transport the wounded from the scene, video footage showed. Many of the dead were children, according to the Defense Ministry.

[From afar, Iraqis ponder U.S. elections: No more Bushes, please]

In response to the bombing in the neighborhood named after his father, the prominent cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called on fighters with his militia, formerly the Mahdi Army but now known as the Peace Brigades, to be on standby to defend the capital.

I call on the government to be alert to the threat posed to Baghdad, rather than being busy collecting money, he said.

Sadr has been reasserting himself politically in recent weeks, holding a huge rally in the capital last week calling for reforms.

Islamic State militants managed to hold the grain silo on the edge of Abu Ghraib for hours before Iraqs elite counterterrorism forces were called in. Maj. Gen. Saad Harbiya, a commander with Baghdad Operations Command, said most of the attackers were foreigners, with 20 besieged in the silo at one point in the afternoon.

Iraqi men clean up after a bombing claimed by the Islamic State group near a market in the Sadr City area of northern Baghdad on Sunday. (Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Getty Images)

[Islamic State faces new trouble in Fallujah as Sunni tribesmen revolt]

He said security forces suffered a simple number of casualties, declining to give a figure. Seventeen members of the Iraqi security forces were killed, according to Reuters. The Islamic State claimed responsibility for both attacks in statements distributed on social media.

The Abu Ghraib neighborhood is home to the notorious prison of the same name. Leaked photos of the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners there by American soldiers during the early years of the war in Iraq caused a worldwide scandal.
In a prosecution that has drawn criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups, two U.S. citizens held in the United Arab Emirates on charges of supporting terrorist groups hope to prove their confessions were coerced by torture when their trial resumes Monday.

Kamal Eldarat, a real estate developer, and his son, Mohamed, who operates a string of Subway sandwich shops, were arrested 17 months ago in the small, oil-rich country where they have lived for two decades.

Amal Eldarat says her father and brother, who are also Libyan nationals, were held incommunicado for months, beaten and subjected to electric shocks and mock executions in a remote desert prison. She said the two men then signed confessions that they are acquainted with Libyans whom the UAE considers linked to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. But she said they are guilty of nothing more than returning to their homeland in the heady days after Libyan dictator Moammar Gaddafi was killed in 2011, to celebrate and bring humanitarian aid.

Though the UAE says the Eldarats have been accorded due process, their prosecution has been condemned by human rights groups and the United Nations, whose special rapporteur on torture has called for their unconditional release.

The UAE also has been rebuked by the State Department, although in measured tones. U.S. consular officials have been allowed to visit the men only sporadically.

Kamal Eldarat poses with his youngest daughter, Isra, in this family vacation photo taken three weeks before he was detained in 2014. (Photo provided)

The State Department has issued one statement about the Eldarats, noting the accusations of mistreatment, and said U.S. officials have raised these allegations with senior leaders of the UAE government, and have requested that local authorities provide them access to medical care and appropriate treatment while in prison.

After months of silence, the Eldarat family has started to speak publicly about the plight of the two men. If they are found guilty, no appeal is allowed under Emirati law.

Amal Eldarat said that her brother, Mohamed, 34, has lost hearing in one ear and that her father, 59, has lost weight and hair, and is stooped from chronic back pain exacerbated by his treatment in prison.

Its not my dad, she said of the last time she saw him. Hes gone.

For the United States, the Eldarat case presents an uncomfortable dilemma. The UAE is one of Washingtons closest allies in the region. It has joined the military campaign against the Islamic State in Syria and is one of the 17 countries in the International Syria Support Group, which is trying to broker peace talks to end Syrias civil war.

Scholars of the Persian Gulf countries say the UAE has grown more aggressive against alleged Islamist extremism in the years since the Arab Spring of 2011. In 2014, shortly after the Eldarats were arrested, the UAE compiled a list of more than 80 groups it said were terrorists, including some organizations that operate freely in the United States and Europe.

Critics say the government has also cracked down on residents who are peacefully advocating democratic reform. The State Departments most recent Human Rights Report, for 2014, cited limitations on civil liberties, including arrests for Internet postings and commentary, arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detentions and brutality from police officers and prison guards.

Mohamed Eldarat and his sister Isra in a photograph provided by the family. (Photo provided)

This case epitomizes the benefits and challenges we have with our gulf allies, said Lori Plotkin Boghardt, a gulf analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

On the one hand, they are very aggressive when it comes to clamping down on terrorists inside their countries because they believe its in their own interests, and our strategic interests meet, she said. On the other hand, theres a values disconnect between us and the gulf states. We view people pressing political reform as making a positive contribution to our own society and the societies of our gulf allies. Our gulf allies dont view it that way.

Human rights activists say Washington has been overly cautious in its criticism.

The Obama administration, like prior administrations before it, has a long-standing track record of prioritizing geopolitical relations over individual freedoms, said Sunjeev Bery, Middle East advocacy director for Amnesty International USA. This particular case suggests there is a risk the United States may prioritize its relations with the UAE government at a potential risk to the human rights of American citizens.

Niles Cole, a spokesman for consular affairs in the State Department, said U.S. officials are limited in the help they can offer citizens arrested overseas. They can protest mistreatment and insist they get medical care and a fair trial, as well as consular visits, he said.

Weve repeatedly raised concerns because of health issues, Cole said. Theyve occasionally seen medical professionals, and received some treatments, but not those prescribed. Were very concerned. We continue to press officials to get them access to appropriate medical care. Thats whats within the limits of our legal authority.

Cole said embassy officials were not given permission to visit the Eldarats until last October, more than a year after their arrest. They have visited them since, but not frequently or as often as requested, he said. Embassy officials also have attended the two previous court sessions and will attend future hearings.

The Eldarats were among 10 Libyan businessmen arrested in the days after UAE and Egyptian planes launched airstrikes against Islamist militias fighting in Libyas civil war. Several were later released and deported.

When the Eldarats were charged on Jan. 18, more than 16 months after their arrest, they were accused of helping two of the militias, Libya Dawn and the February 17 Martyrs Brigade. The UAE contends they are affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a designated terrorist group on the UAE list. Neither Libya Dawn nor the February 17 brigade, which was once hired to protect the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, are designated terrorist groups by the United States or the United Nations.

Amal Eldarat said her father and brother had nothing to do with either militia. She traced UAE suspicions to a trip the two men made to Libya in 2011.

Kamal Eldarat fled his home town of Misurata during Gaddafis reign and settled in California in the 1980s, later moving to the UAE. But he and his son returned to Libya after Gaddafi was killed and the country was embroiled in civil war. She said they brought food, clothes and satellite phones.

This is all anti-Arab Spring, she said of the charges against her relatives, adding that she wants the State Department to be more forceful in coming to their defense. Im not asking for special treatment. Im just asking for my dad and brother to have their basic rights.
Smoke is seen across from the Turkish border during clashes in the Syrian city of Tal Abyad on Saturday, in what Russia deemed a violation of the truce by rebels. (AFP/Getty Images)

 Syrias hard-won truce began to fray Sunday, with Russian warplanes resuming airstrikes on towns and villages in the north and fresh reports of artillery fire across several front lines.

The violence came on only the second day of a planned two-week cessation of hostilities, dimming hopes that the calm that took hold Saturday will endure long enough to inject new impetus into a wider peace effort.

The Russian planes, based in northwestern Syria, struck six towns and villages in the provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Idlib early Sunday, according to monitoring and civil defense groups.

The strikes ended a 24-hour suspension announced by the Russian military on Saturday to coincide with the launch of the truce. They also appeared to signal a return to attacks that preceded the effort to end the fighting, in which Russia has helped bolster the fortunes of President Bashar al-Assad, a longtime ally.

[Vladimir Putin finds much to celebrate about Russias role in Syria truce]

A women rests near rubble on the ground in Darat Izza, a town in the Aleppo province of Syria on Sunday. Russian planes struck six towns and provinces early Sunday. (Ammar Abdullah/Reuters)

Russias Defense Ministry offered no comment on the strikes, but it had warned Saturday that it reserved the right under the terms of the truce to continue hitting the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, terrorist groups that are battling the Assad regime.

Russian warplanes have in the past repeatedly struck towns loyal to more-moderate rebels, including those backed by the United States, while claiming that they were targeting the Islamic State or Jabhat al-Nusra, which is affiliated with al-Qaeda.

The first half-dozen attacks on Sunday, carried out shortly after 6 a.m., awoke residents in four towns west of Aleppo that lie on the last rebel supply route into the city, according to the White Helmets civil defense group. Videos posted on YouTube showed damage to shops and houses.

Shortly after, bombs struck the town of Harb Nufsa in Hama. On Sunday afternoon, two strikes hit civilian areas of the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour, which is controlled by a coalition of fighters that includes Jabhat al-Nusra. A pregnant woman was killed and 12 people were injured, the White Helmets said.

The total number of strikes was nonetheless significantly lower than in the days preceding the truce, when Russia dropped hundreds of bombs over a wide area of rebel-held territory in an apparent attempt to score last-minute gains. Although artillery and small-arms fire by both sides were reported on a number of front lines, the intensity of the fighting appeared to have eased significantly.

[Why Russia is in Syria]

On Sunday morning, Russias Defense Ministry said the truce appeared to be working.

Residents stand near a damaged car in the town of Darat Izza, located in Syrias Aleppo province on Sunday. Russian warplanes struck six towns and villages in the provinces of Aleppo, Hama and Idlib early Sunday. (Ammar Abdullah/Reuters)

On the whole, the ceasefire regime in Syria is being implemented, the ministry said in a statement, according to Russian news agencies.

A cease-fire coordination center set up at the Russian air base of Khmeimim, in northwestern Syrias Latakia province, accused the rebels of committing nine truce violations in the first 24 hours, singling out an attack by the Islamic State on the Kurdish-held town of Tal Abyad in the northeast as the most serious.

The head of the coordination center, Lt. Gen. Sergei Kurylenko, claimed in televised remarks that Turkey facilitated that attack and that the incursion was supported by artillery fire from Turkish territory. He said Russia had lodged a complaint with the U.S. cease-fire coordination center, based in the Jordanian capital, Amman.

Turkey denied the charge, according to military sources quoted by the website of the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet.

The Islamic States incursion into Tal Abyad was the most serious by the militant group in northeastern Syria in more than eight months and was contained only after U.S. warplanes intervened. On Sunday, reports from Tal Abyad said militants were still holed up on the outskirts.

Zakaria Zakaria contributed to this report.

Read more:

After four months, Russias campaign in Syria is proving successful for Moscow

The secret pact between Russia and Syria that gives Moscow carte blanche

How the rivalry between Russians and Turks shaped the world
Appreciation Democratic presidential candidate former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton greets supporters at an event on Saturday in Columbia, S.C. (Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

COLUMBIA, S.C.  Hillary Clinton trounced her rival Bernie Sanders in South Carolina on Saturday, her second decisive win in a week as she heads into Super Tuesday.



Tomorrow, this campaign goes national, Clinton said to a fired-up crowd at the volleyball court in the University of South Carolina.

Her speech was largely aimed at GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, as if she were already the nominee making a general election pitch. We dont need to make America great again. America never stopped being great, she said. Instead of building walls, we need to be tearing down barriers.



She quoted Scripture and asked for more love and kindness, in an effort to distinguish herself from Trump.

The win dims Sanders prospects but at the same time makes it even more urgent for Clinton to appeal to his supporters, a passionate part of the Democratic base she can ill-afford to alienate before the general election.



Clinton campaigned hard in the state, drawing large, mostly African-American crowds to town halls and rallies across South Carolina. (ABC exit polling showed that Clinton won 84 percent of the black vote.) She stressed her personal commitment to the state, which she first visited as a young lawyer fighting against a system that sent juveniles to adult jails, and slammed Sanders on gun control in particular. She campaigned with African-American mothers whose children were killed by police or as a result of gun violence, and made reforming the criminal justice system and ending systemic racism a centerpiece of her stump speech. (Read more by Liz Goodwin/Yahoo News)

See more politics-related slideshows on Yahoo Politics
COLUMBIA, S.C.  Hillary Clinton began her campaign to win South Carolina years ago.

African-American voters carried Clinton to an overwhelming victory over Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, in the states Democratic presidential primary. African-Americans typically make up the majority of South Carolinas Democratic electorate and, according to CNNs exit polling, Clinton won with the support of 84 percent of the states black community.

Her husband, Bill Clinton, was famously dubbed Americas first black president because of his background, behavior and the admiration he earned from some in the African-American community during his time in office. But fond memories of Bill and the 1990s arent what cemented Hillary Clintons edge with black voters in South Carolina. Clinton managed to build a base in the Palmetto State through a years-long, under-the-radar operation to stay in touch and gather support from African-American leaders in the state she lost to Barack Obama in 2008.

Sanders, on the other hand, struggled to gain traction with black voters in South Carolina, hampered by the very thing that has lifted him elsewhere: his position as an outsider and newcomer on the states political scene. Attempts at outreach came late and were described by some local African-American leaders as ham-fisted.

The Clinton campaigns South Carolina ground operation launched on the day she announced her presidential bid last April. At the time, she was the clear frontrunner and had the fundraising to match. That early edge let Clinton hire experienced local staff and set up shop in South Carolina, long before Sanders was seen as anything more than a long-shot challenger with little national profile.

We were in this state first. The day we launched this campaign, we had staff in the state, said Marlon Marshall, Clintons director of states and political engagement.

But Clintons presence in South Carolina began long before that day. Bill Clinton won the Palmetto State primaries in 1992 and 1996, which allowed Hillary Clinton to build relationships in the state and get to know its politics and leading personages. In fact, Clintons ties in the state predate her husbands presidential bid. Clay Middleton, a native South Carolinian who served as state director of Clintons campaign, noted she first came into the state during the 1970s, while working as a young lawyer with the Childrens Defense Fund. And as first lady of Arkansas, Clinton co-chaired a task force on infant mortality with former South Carolina Gov. Richard Riley.

Story continues

Slideshow: Clinton wins big in South Carolina >>>



Shes been working in and with South Carolinians since the 70s, but every decade since then, shes been in and out of the state working with people, Middleton said. She has deep roots here, and it has blossomed over the years.

But all that support seemingly vanished in 2008, when Clinton faced off against Obama, the first African-American major-party presidential primary frontrunner. Rev. Joseph Darby, vice president of the Charleston branch of the NAACP, attributed Clintons loss that year to the simple fact that voters had  and wanted to take  the chance to elect the first black president.

Before that possibility came, Hillary was actually doing quite well, Darby explained. She had nailed down a good number of endorsements.

Nevertheless, even after being beaten by Obama in South Carolina, Clinton never retreated from South Carolina, Darby said.

I dont think Hillarys ever been off the ground except for the little while when there was a tiff after the 08 primary. She has stayed in touch with the community. She started laying groundwork for this run, oh, probably three or four years ago. Shes had people circulating.  Shes talked to the right folks, Darby said, adding, I dont think South Carolina ever entirely left the Clintons. It might have parked them in the corner for one election, but theyve maintained good relationships.

In contrast, a source said the Sanders campaign did not begin to establish a large presence in the state until last September.

Hillary Clinton in a group prayer led by the Rev. Isaac Holt, left, at the Royal Baptist Church Family Life Center in North Charleston, S.C., on Thursday, along with state Sen. Marlon Kimpson, second from right, and state Sen. Margie Bright Matthews. (Photo: Gerald Herbert/AP)

Sanders allies acknowledged he didnt have the support of South Carolinas older African-American church leaders and established groups. The rapper Killer Mike, whose music mixes political messages and hard-driving hip-hop beats, campaigned for Sanders in the state and sought to draw the support of a younger African-American audience. Killer Mike made the case that Sanders message echoes that of Martin Luther King Jr.  even if the idols of Kings movement are with Clinton.

For me, the policy that Dr. King was about at the time of his death, the Poor Peoples Campaign, workers rights, civil and social justice for all people, are best accomplished with the Sanders campaign, Killer Mike said. If you take the idols themselves out of the equation and only leave the policies and principles that they taught for the last 50 years, Id not see how any rational black person could vote for anyone but Bernie Sanders.

But in South Carolina, many black voters clearly resisted Sanders political revolution. While Sanders promise to take on the political establishment has helped fuel his challenge to Clinton in other parts of the country, that outsider status may have actually hurt him in South Carolinas African-American community.

JA Moore is a 30-year-old African-American South Carolina native who serves as vice chair of the Charleston County Democratic Party. As of Wednesday, Moore said he had not decided how he will vote in the primary. But in Charleston, where he moved a little over a decade ago, Moore says he is still viewed as an outsider.

Me not being from Charleston, they call me a come ya, and people that are from here, they call them a been ya, Moore said, using phrases from the local Geechee dialect. I think a lot of times people look at Secretary Clinton as someone thats been here before. Theyve seen her, they recognize her, they have a certain level of comfort with her because they know her.  I think with Sen. Sanders, hes a come ya.

Addressing recent racial wounds in the state, only some of which have made national news, has been a tricky thing for insider and outsider candidate alike. In April of last year, a black man named Walter Scott was shot in the back and killed as he ran from a white police officer in North Charleston. Footage of the shooting energized the Black Lives Matter movement in South Carolina. Then, two months later, white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine people at Mother Emanuel, a historic African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston.

These incidents have had a transformative effect on South Carolinas political landscape, said Moore, whose sister was killed in the church shooting.

Were going to be forever affected by Emanuel and forever affected by the tragedy of Walter Scott as well, Moore said, adding: Friends of mine have called me throughout the country and said, JA, why arent people here in Charleston, why arent they doing what happened in Baltimore or in Ferguson? Why arent people looting the streets and burning things down? Why does it seem to be the African-American community is so subdued in Charleston?

Moore said theres no question Charlestons black population is upset.

Were angry. Were frustrated. Were devastated because of this tragedy, Moore said. I want to make sure thats clear. Were angry, but  were looking for substantive change and substantive actions to happen because of it.

Along with the issues of racism and police brutality that have made headlines, local African-American leaders who spoke with Yahoo News listed a slew of things the community in South Carolina is concerned about: poor quality of schools, rural communities that lack access to clean drinking water, poverty and high incarceration rates.

Clinton and Sanders had to navigate this fraught landscape as they sought to win the states black vote. And both of them have stumbled as they tried to connect with a community where the list of grievances is long and emotions are running high.

Heading into the South Carolina primary, the two Democratic candidates both made targeted pitches designed to address the specific concerns of African-American voters.

In recent weeks, Clinton has begun discussing the need to comprehensively address systemic racism by toppling economic and institutional barriers. Clinton has also campaigned with African-American mothers who lost their children to incidents of alleged police brutality and racial profiling and has promised to take on these issues. Her campaign has said some of the new elements of Clintons platform came after months of conversations with these so-called Mothers of the Movement.

Clinton appears at a campaign event at the Central Baptist Church in Columbia, S.C., on Tuesday with mothers of victims of gun violence. From left: Lucia McBath, mother of Jordan Davis; Maria Hamilton, mother of Dontre Hamilton; and Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin. At right is former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. (Photo: Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Bakari Sellers, a Democratic former member of the state Legislature who mounted an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 2014, noted that Clinton didnt have these messages as part of her platform in 2008. Sellers, who is a Clinton supporter, praised her for turning to black women as she crafted her outreach to the community and predicted it would help her win the primary.

One of the problems [in 2008] was that she didnt go to where  her heart aligned and  the heart of the African-American community, which are African-American women, Sellers said. African-American women  participate at higher rates, they register at higher rates, and they drive the political discourse in our community now. And Hillary Clinton [is reaching out to these women now], and that is why shes going to be very successful on Saturday.

Despite Clintons tailored pitch, she did not manage to win over all of South Carolinas African-American activist community. On Wednesday evening, local Black Lives Matter activists bought $500 tickets to a campaign fundraiser in order to confront Clinton about a comment she made during the 1996 presidential primary describing some juvenile criminals as super predators who needed to be brought to heel. Ashley Williams, the activist who took the stage at the fundraiser, was removed by Secret Service, but Clinton subsequently apologized for her remark and said she shouldnt have used those words and wouldnt use them today.

The protest was an extension of continuing criticism Clinton has faced for her role in pushing for her husbands 1994 crime bill that many activists see as a major contributor to high incarceration rates in the black community. Clinton has disavowed much of that crime law.

Sellers said it was good to see activists hold Clinton accountable. However, he also noted Sanders voted for the crime law as a member of the House of Representatives and expressed hope that Black Lives Matter allies would raise the issue.

Im sure they will take that to Bernie Sanders as well and question him on why, Sellers said.

Like Clinton, Sanders has tried to specifically address the needs of African-American voters in his platform. Sanders has increasingly highlighted criminal justice reform and police brutality in his speeches.

Hes  saying that the policy of fair pay affects black people, the policy of ending the drug war affects black people, the policy of ending mandatory minimums on our federal sentencing guidelines affects black people, said Killer Mike.

The rapper also praised how Sanders reacted when he was interrupted by Black Lives Matter protesters last August, by comparison with Clintons handling of the protest on Wednesday.

When Black Lives Matter took the stage with Sen. Sanders, he shook their hands, he smiled, he stepped to the side, he listened, he said. Clinton, instead had the Secret Service escort that young woman out.

Sanders and his campaign also highlighted his youthful activism in the civil rights movement. Earlier this month, pictures were unearthed showing Sanders being arrested at a 1963 civil rights protest in Chicago.

But Sanders past activism wasnt enough to win voters in South Carolina, said Sellers, whose father, Cleveland Sellers, helped lead the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Your talking point to the black community cant be, you know, I marched with Dr. King.  Thats cool. My dad made cheese sandwiches at the March on Washington. What else? Tell me more, Sellers said. Like, you have a picture of getting arrested. I thank you so much for your efforts in Chicago, but I mean, all Ive got to do is go down the street to find a civil rights hero in South Carolina.

Sanders has also faced criticism for his relentless focus on income inequality and regulating Wall Street, which some charge neglects the effects of racism on creating inequality.

Minister Kirsten John Foy, the northeast regional director at the National Action Network, said this is partly why some of the activists who attended Rev. Al Sharptons breakfast with Sanders in New York on Feb. 10 were only partially impressed.

The economic piece of it is great. We love it. We think its right on the money, Foy said of Sanders message.

However, when it came to racial issues, Foy said Sanders lacked specifics. He also claimed some of the NAN leadership felt Sanders was insufficiently pro-gun control, a criticism leveled by the Clinton campaign.

I think he has gone out of his way to show that hes sensitive to our political needs, and that was what I think was impressive about the meeting. But theres still like gaps in his connectivity, Foy said.

While Foy said while some of the NAN leadership backs Sanders, he and others support Clinton. Because the group is divided, Sharpton has elected to remain neutral and refrain from endorsing in the Democratic primary.

Hes willing to say all the right things like, Im going to end institutional racism. But how do you do that? You dont just do that with an economic message, Foy said of Sanders. You have to speak to the various disparities and what youre going to do about them. And I think Hillary has a better handle on that piece.

In addition to problems with his message, in South Carolina, the Sanders campaign seems to have had issues with the delivery of that message.

A source told Yahoo News that an influential member of the state Legislature received several direct appeals from Clinton asking for an endorsement. They were taken aback when the Sanders campaign reached out and the call came from the senators wife rather than Sanders himself.

Darby, the vice president of the NAACPs Charleston branch, said hes seen a clumsiness in Sanders approach to the leadership in South Carolinas black community.

Let me put this very carefully, Darby began, Sometimes my good and well-meaning liberal brothers and sisters get the feeling that they know whats good for black folk.  They dont try to reach out. They dont try to check in and affirm, Do you really think that this is good for you too? What do you think of our plans?  Ive picked up little whiffs of that in the Sanders campaign, and I dont think its served them well.  You have to meet people on their terms.

Darby said the only contacts he received from the Sanders campaign came from people who were white and out of state.

Nobody really local reached out to me. These were folks that were brought  into South Carolina from the campaign.  This was not African-American outreach. This was white outreach, Darby said.

Clinton greets supporters after a town hall meeting on Thursday at Cumberland United Methodist Church in Florence, S.C. (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

Dot Scott, the president of the NAACPs Charleston branch, was similarly critical of Sanders team. Scott, who admitted being family friends with Clintons South Carolina state director, said she only had one contact with the Sanders campaign, and it went sour.

Like many South Carolinians, Scott has received calls at home from phone bankers. She said one of these entreaties from the Sanders campaign led her to go off on a 10-minute tirade and demand an apology.

One of my experiences that I think I wont forget for a long time is a call that I got from the Sanders campaign. This person that called asked me was I voting for Sen. Sanders. I said no. I was voting for Secretary Clinton. The phone went silent for a little bit, Scott recounted. You could hear this person struggling to come up with what theyre going to say next.  They call that a real pregnant pause, nine months worth of pregnant pause. And he finally came back and he says to me, You know, Senator Sanders is for welfare.

This did not provoke a positive reaction from Scott.

I lost it. So youre going to assume either from my voice or from my selection that the most important thing that Sen. Sanders is going to be working on that would interest me is more welfare? Scott said. I went on to read him the riot act. Listen, Im not only a college graduate; Ive got a masters. My daughter is a college graduate. I have never had one ounce of welfare before. I aint never lived in public housing. None of those things.

According to Scott, the Sanders supporter who called her didnt know what to say.

By the time he hung up, it was ten minutes later, she said. I got one of the managers to call me back and apologize.

Scott made it clear she does not believe that is something Sanders would tell them to say and added that the call probably came from a volunteer or low-ranking staffer. Still, she said it is the only contact she has had with the Sanders campaign, while Clintons team has made much more substantive outreach.

The NAACP is a nonpartisan organization, so Scott said she does not attend political events and did not want to make any public endorsement. Still, Scott claimed she regularly received personal invitations to Clinton campaign events and has not had one iota of similar contact from Sanders.

I have gotten every invitation from someone when Clinton has been here, Scott said. Im on that invite list. The Sanders folks, no.

Sanders insurgency in the earlier primary states has been fueled by the support of young voters. Both Killer Mike and Ben Jealous, the former NAACP president and CEO who is now also a Sanders campaign surrogate, said they believed Sanders message was resonating better with young black voters than with their elders.

When you look at black people under 30, you see them turning to Bernie disproportionately across the country, Jealous said.

At the end of the day, the Clintons are a lot like Coca-Cola. Theyre a Southern brand. We all know they taste good, but its worth asking yourself: Is that brand really good for you?  Fighting a powerful brand that happens to be the most powerful dynasty in American politics is always an uphill battle, he said.

A recent NBC News poll showed Clinton was actually doing better than Sanders among South Carolinas younger black population.

For his part, Killer Mike said he understands why older blacks have gravitated toward Clinton. But he cant comprehend why the youth arent getting on board with Sanders.

If we cant win our grandmothers over, thats fine, because their leaders and their icons have told them to go another way, Killer Mike explained. But if youre young, if youre sensible, if youre an African-American, thats currently in the fight for freedom, justice and liberation, I dont understand why his policies will not connect.

Darby, the Charleston NAACP leader, suggested Sanders message could have reached black voters in South Carolina if he had had more time. However, at this point, he argued Clintons experience and operation in the state were simply too strong to compete with.

I think Bernie Sanders has done a good job of trying to come up to speed, and I think given a little bit more time, he might actually get there, Darby explained. But the Clintons have the time and the longevity.  Shes a known quantity.  She knows how to do the retail politics of South Carolina. She knows how to do the retail politics of the black church, and so shes presented herself well.
Donald Trump initially refused to condemn comments made by former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke, who told listeners of his radio show that voting against the Republican frontrunner would be the equivalent of treason to your heritage.

Just so you understand, I dont know anything about David Duke, Trump told Jake Tapper on CNNs State of the Union Sunday. I dont know anything about what youre even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists. So, I dont know  did he endorse me, or whats going on? You know, I know nothing about David Duke, I know nothing about white supremacists. And so youre asking me a question Im supposed to be talking about people I know nothing about.

The Anti-Defamation League had called on the real estate mogul to disavow the support from Duke and other white supremacist groups. But Trump refused to repudiate them.

I have to look at the group. I mean, I dont know what group youre talking about, Trump said. You wouldnt want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. Id have to look. If you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them and certainly I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong. But you may have groups in there that are totally fine  it would be very unfair. So give me a list of the groups and Ill let you know.

Im just talking about David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan here, Tapper said.

Honestly, I dont know David Duke, Trump replied. I dont believe Ive ever met him. Im pretty sure I didnt meet him. And I just dont know anything about him.

But on Friday at a press conference announcing he had the endorsement of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Trump didnt sound like he didnt know anything about Duke.



Story continues

I didnt even know he endorsed me, Trump said when he was asked about Dukes public support. David Duke endorsed me? OK. I disavow, OK?

Voting against Donald Trump at this point is really treason to your heritage, Duke said on his radio show Thursday. Im not saying I endorse everything about Trump, in fact I havent formally endorsed him. But I do support his candidacy, and I support voting for him as a strategic action. I hope he does everything we hope he will do.

In 2000, Trump, who had flirted with the idea of a third-party run with the Reform Partys presidential nomination, called Duke a Klansman and Pat Buchanan a neo-Nazi.

This is not company I wish to keep, Trump said in statement that was recently surfaced by BuzzFeed.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called Trumps refusal to disavow Duke on Sunday sad.





Really sad. @realDonaldTrump youre better than this. We should all agree, racism is wrong, KKK is abhorrent. https://t.co/dn2D74c5dl  Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 28, 2016



Florida Sen. Marco Rubio said it makes Trump unelectable.

We cannot be a party that nominates someone who refuses to condemn white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan, Rubio said at a rally in Virginia Sunday. Not only is that wrong, it makes him unelectable. How are we going to grow our party with a nominee that refuses to condemn the Ku Klux Klan? Dont tell me he doesnt know who the Ku Klux Klan is. This is serious.

Trump subsequently tweeted his disavowment.





As I stated at the press conference on Friday regarding David Duke- I disavow. pic.twitter.com/OIXFKPUlz2  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 28, 2016



Last week, South Carolina Conservative Action Council, a group dedicated to defense of the proudly Confederate South, rallied at the State House in support of Trumps bid for the Republican presidential nomination.

His campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment from Yahoo News asking whether it accepts the SCCACs endorsement and why such groups are drawn to Trump.

Trump points as he speaks to supporters during a campaign stop in Millington, Tenn., on Saturday. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht/Reuters)

According to a Economist/YouGov national poll conducted in January, nearly 20 percent of Trumps supporters say they do not approve of the Emancipation Proclamation, Abraham Lincolns executive order that freed the slaves in the Southern states during the Civil War.

The same survey found that a third of Trumps supporters believe that Japanese-American internment during World War II was a good idea.

And according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted earlier this month, a third of Trumps supporters in South Carolina say they would support barring gays and lesbians from entering the country.
Business / Companies

by Africa Moyo

ZIMBABWE is widely expected to meet prerequisites for re-admission into the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) by the end of the year, it has been learnt.This will help the country secure a market that offers protection against price movements.It is widely believed that the LBMA, which was established in 1987, sets the benchmark for gold and silver metal bars across the world.In particular, the LBMA Good Delivery List is used by many precious metals exchanges around the world to identify refiners whose gold and silver bars are accepted in their own markets.Zimbabwe dropped out of the Association in 2008 after production of the yellow metal slumped to 3,5 tonnes, which is far less than the stipulated 10 tonnes. The country's sole buyer of the metal, Fidelity Printers and Refiners (FPR), an arm of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ), has been selling its stocks to Rand Refiners of South Africa where it is levied 0,3 percent of total earnings.Last week, FPR's chief executive officer Mr Fradreck Kunaka said the country will meet one of the major conditions for re-admission by the end of the year."For us to be re-accredited, one of the major requirements is refining 10 tonnes of gold for three consecutive years."It appears they (LBMA) were thinking we are under sanctions. We have been refining the 10 tonnes of gold and the three years lapse this year," said Mr Kunaka.Local gold production has been progressively increasing from 14 tonnes in 2013 to 18 tonnes in 2015.The country managed to rake in $685 million in exports from last year's haul.This year, the targeted output is 24 tonnes, which is three tonnes shy of the record 27 tonnes produced in 1999.Experts have also been pushing Government to consider joining the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) or the Shanghai Gold Exchange but their relatively "restrictive" requirements are considered prohibitive.DMCC was established in 2002 as a strategic initiative of the Dubai government with a mandate to provide the physical, market and financial infrastructure required to set up and operate a thriving commodities marketplace.At the moment, the DMCC is recognised as the largest free zone in the United Arab Emirates with over 10 000 registered companies under license.On the other hand, the Shanghai Gold Exchange is a membership-based and self-regulatory legal entity that was established by the People's Bank of China upon the approval of the state council and registered with the State Administration for Industry and Commerce. It resumed operations on October 30, 2002 and as at November 2015, the Shanghai Gold Exchange counted 246 members globally, 183 domestic and 63 international members.It also has 10 000 institutional and over 8,3 million individual clients.Mr Kunaka noted that inquiries have been made with a view of joining either the DMCC or the Shanghai Gold Exchange."Yes, we have looked at the requirements of the Dubai market and we have also inquired about the Shanghai market but their requirements are not as flexible as those of the LBMA."With the Shanghai market, we are required to register the company in China while the DMCC has to inspect a member country's sources of gold every year. More importantly, when the DMCC team visits for inspections, the costs for the team accrue to the refiner and we feel that the costs are too high."This is different from the LBMA which does the same inspections once in three years. We believe that the LBMA would be better for us to join," explained Mr Kunaka.Government has been constantly reviewing gold royalties, plugging leakages at border posts and conducting thorough on-site inspections at all gold producers around the country in order to improve deliveries.
Business / Economy

by Dumisani Nsingo

CHINA has agreed to train locals in diamond cutting and polishing, with the first batch of 25 students leaving for the Asian country next month, as part of Government's quest to value add the mineral as espoused in the country's economic blue print  Zim Asset.The deal was brokered by the Zimbabwe School of Mines (ZSM) working with Foshan City Shunde District Zheng Jingyi Vocational Technology School and Harvest Way Diamond and Jewellery Private Limited (Ltd) all from China.The three partners on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Bulawayo which will see the selected students being trained in cutting and diamond polishing in China.The signing of the tripartite agreement follows President Mugabe's state visit to China last year where he managed to tour Foshan City Shunde District Zheng Jingyi Vocational Technology School and held talks with the institution's officials to consider training Zimbabwean students in diamond cutting and polishing.Speaking at the signing ceremony, ZSM chief executive officer Mr Dzingirai Tusai said the first group of 25 students selected from various parts of the country was expected to leave for China in March for a one year training course while the second batch would follow after three months."The group that is going to be trained in China is going to do On the Job Training. We actually inspected the equipment that is going to be used in training the Zimbabwean students, which is of course all new. There are partners in China who are actually looking at putting up a factory in Zimbabwe where the students that will be coming back will have exposure."The students will undergo skills training in China and those that will succeed will be further trained to become supervisors or tutors. We are looking at setting up gemology centres in various parts of the country. This will be the first team to be able to evaluate our diamonds and above all we are expecting this group to be the first to run their own businesses being able to beneficiate gems in the country," Mr Tusai said.The recruitment of students was done directly by the Chinese company, Harvest Way Diamond and Jewellery Private Ltd."The Harvest Way project responds to the Zim Asset Agenda in that we are attempting to achieve a sustainable beneficiating programme for the diamond industry through our partnership with the ZSM and the Zheng Jingyi Vocational Technology School."The project gives every youth an opportunity to take part in the diamond industry. We have recruited the most brilliant students across all the provinces. These students form the core seed for the industry. The successful students will return to Zimbabwe and work for Harvest Way in its factories. We hope that other companies will follow our example so that together we can make Zimbabwe the diamond hub of the world," said Harvest Way Diamond and Jewellery Private Ltd managing director Dr Edwin Gwenzi.Harvest Way Diamond and Jewellery Private Ltd chairman Mr Mannix Shek said Zimbabwe was a "young market" with the potential for growth and as such his company was looking forward to embark on various projects to stimulate the country's economy."I can safely say this is the start of the project. We have a series of projects planned for this country. We aim to create a sustainable business environment together with the Government and its people, however, to achieve this we have to work in harmony like chop sticks. This means that we both have to work together to make things happen," he said.Speaking at the same occasion Mines and Mining Development Permanent Secretary Professor Francis Gudyanga said Zimbabwe with an estimated 25 to 30 percent of the world's diamonds stands to immensely benefit from beneficiation and adding value to the mineral than trading on it in its raw state."There have been lies that have been peddled that all the alluvial diamonds have run out but the truth is that they are still there and in the next few months we will be able to reveal that. The exploration which has been done by De Beers for about 50 years has also proved that there are kimberlites in some parts of Matabeleland North and South provinces," he said.Kimberlite is an igneous rock best known for sometimes containing diamonds.The latest development comes at a time when the Government has also moved to ensure that diamonds fall under its control.Last week Government announced it has given diamond mining companies operating in Marange a 90-day ultimatum to wind up operations after they refused to co-operate in the formation of a consolidated mining company.There are six miners in Marange, including Anjin Investments, Diamond Mining Company, Jinan, Kusena, Marange Resources and Mbada Diamonds.This means Government will have total control over the mining of diamonds in the area.
Entertainment / Celebrity

by Joel Tsvakwi

RENOWNED poet-cum-musician Albert Nyathi will soon embark on a nationwide tour to conduct auditions for his much hyped multilingual album and documentary, which seeks to curb Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in Zimbabwe.In a statement issued to Sunday Life, Nyathi who also is a women's rights activist, said that Gender-based Violence needed to be dealt with effectively."This project seeks to curb Gender-Based Violence by packaging gender sensitive and non-sexist songs in a 20-track album, which shall be accompanied by a documentary," said Nyathi.Gender disparity between men and women is a major obstacle in achieving gender equity in Zimbabwe and Nyathi is convinced that his project can be a solution."The major objective of the project is to advance gender equality among Zimbabweans through arts and culture interactions that enable knowledge enhancement."The initiative thrives to increase the number of arts productions especially music with positive messages among boys and girls and also augment the level of reporting on the cases of Gender-Based Violence in Zimbabwe communities," Nyathi said.The music CD will also have a documentary film based on the crafting of the CD. Nyathi's project will be launched in Binga."In Binga, we will be scouting for musicians that can sing in Tonga, as we want the disc to be multilingual. Other languages included are Kalanga, Xhosa, Chewa, Sotho, ChiVenda, Shangani," said Nyathi.
News / International

by Staff Reporter

Rogue senior Zanu-PF officials who fancy themselves political gurus are using youths to push their factional agendas and the ruling party will not tolerate such behaviour, President Mugabe has said.The Head of State and Government and Zanu-PF President and First Secretary was addressing tens of thousands of people at Great Zimbabwe Monument yesterday, where the multitudes had converged for the 21st February Movement celebrations that marked his 92nd birthday.President Mugabe said various factors  including illegal Western sanctions on Zimbabwe - had resulted in unemployment, closure of companies and lack of finance for youth programmes.That situation was now being taken advantage of by both Zanu-PF officials and external elements to bribe youths so that they engage in destructive factionalist activities."The British and Americans, in their cunning ways, as usual, have also utilised such opportunity to offer huge sums of money to individuals both within and outside the party so as to cause factionalism, which has greatly affected the youth, especially as of the recent past," he said."Factionalism, factionalism, and I repeat, factionalism has no space in our party Zanu-PF. We should be united and use proper channels to solve our differences."The genesis of factionalism seems to be coming from senior members of the party, the so called political gurus who are using the youth in pursuit of their evil interests, taking advantage of the challenges affecting the youth today."I must say even us the leaders we are at times behind these youth. We have got to understand that as we destroy the culture of respect amongst ourselves, we are destroying the unity of our nation and oneness that we need for our people to continue to work together."Hatizvide, nyaya yezvigaro hakuwanikwe nomutowo iwowo, hakuwanikwe nekutukana pakati pedu. There is only one way, just one way, which is Zanu way to any position or positions in the party."It is the way of the people, you must be chosen by the people and the people must see you and judge you from your work, from what you do, what you say, how you act, how you interact."Are you a well-behaved person? Are you a hard worker? What record have you mumusangano to deserve this position or that position?"President Mugabe said there was need for harmony between youths and war veterans."I'm sure the youth want to work together with the war veterans and find one direction. We want principles and discipline on both sides, the youth and war veterans," he said."Hapana zvekuti ndisu chete, aiwa zvenyu zvekuti ndisu chete hatidi. The war was fought for us all so now together we must find our way to the problems that we face together, but you (youths) have a lot to learn from the war veterans because they are experienced."Vava vakuru, vakarwa hondo, but I don't want them to be bullied, izvo kwete.President Mugabe said he will accord the youth all the support they need."Party yanga yakuda kurasika. Saka if the youth is lost we are lost, even if the women are lost, we are lost."So the wings need to be strong and there should be unity. This issue of insulting each other, we say down with it."We should be united. What has gone wrong? The people showed that they are rallying behind us in 2013."
News / National

by Staff Reporter

President Mugabe has expressed anger at the rate at which some elements in Zanu-PF are criticising the First Lady, Grace Mugabe.He was speaking at Great Zimbabwe Monument in Masvingo at his 92nd birthday party.He threatened to discipline and/or expel people criticising his wife who has been going around the country laying into Mugabe's perceived enemies."I want to start by thanking, a lot our children in the Youth League of the party led by Cde Pupurai Togarapi for this programme, which is a programme of respect, respect they are giving me and also the general leadership," said the President."We have had your pleas, that is Togarepi and his fellow youth, and the dedication they have pledged to us to safeguard the identity of the youth league."The identity of the members of the youth league saying they do not support certain behaviours that we are seeing today that are not in tandem with respect, some acts that are wayward from our traditions."As we are here at the Great Zimbabwe, this is the foundation of the Munhumutapa Empire. So this is a place that gave us a new life, we fought thinking of the way of living that was being done by our elders here."They were united and made sure their leadership spread to other areas far beyond the Limpopo."Even at Khami, you find almost the same ruins that you see here. They could not have been built by people who were not united or strong or who did not have direction."No, that could not have happened with people fighting. So there ethos, which are the ethos that we inherited from our forefathers."Speaking in Shona, he went on to imply that the youth who critisise their elders were smoking marijuana or simply drunk.He decried the criticism that Grace Mugabe has received from some quarters adding: "So we got to a level where we asked are the youth league seeing it or hearing it, but I was happy to hear Togarepi saying we will discipline such elements or expel them from the party because we do not want such people."We cannot lead such misguided youth, no. The youth have got to be well disciplined, well behaved and respectful."
News / National

by staff reporter

AS Government pulls the plug on private diamond miners operating at Chiadzwa diamond mining fields in Marange, Manicaland, damning statistics indicate that the rough diamonds only managed to earn the country more than US$2,5 billion in the 10 year period from 2006.However, the bulk of the revenues  US$2,2 billion  were generated after the commercialisation of the diamonds fields in 2011, especially in the period following the Administration Decision on Zimbabwe adopted by the Kinshasha plenary of the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) on November 1, 2011 that allowed rough diamond exports from Marange.Official figures from the KPCS indicate that Zimbabwe managed to produce 8,4 million carats in 2010 and 8,5 million carats in 2011 and exported gems worth US$320 million and US$422,9 million respectively during the period.Production peaked in 2012 when 12,1 million carats were produced, generating US$741 million in the export revenues.But diamond output has been declining since then.In 2013, only 9,6 million carats were produced and sold for US$448,6 million.Again, exports slumped to US$470 million in 2014.Treasury reported in the 2016 National Budget that the country was able to make US$19,6 million from the export of unsorted diamonds in the January to October period last year, while industrial diamonds weighed in with US$137,6 million.In total, both industrial and unsorted diamonds fetched US$157,2 million.There has been concern by Government that the bulk of the funds are not finding their way to the fiscus.In the 2016 National Budget, Finance and Economic Development Minister Mr Patrick Chinamasa noted that the country was ironically getting more from diamond mining in the period when the sector was informal than in the current era where operations are formal."The diamond industry has potential to uplift our population, especially as we fully exploit the diamonds value chain. . ."Indeed, there was greater economic impact from diamonds during times of uncontrolled alluvial panning than what is being realised following introduction of formal diamond mining arrangements. . ."Mr Speaker Sir, the way forward in our diamond sector is consolidation, plugging leakages through enhanced oversight, transparency and accountability," said Mr Chinamasa.Mining companies such as Anjin were also reportedly withholding key financial information.By contrast, Botswana, which is considered to be the world's second-biggest diamond producer by volume, gained more than US$16,7 billion  more than Zimbabwe's GDP (gross domestic product)  in revenues in the four-year period to 2014.It is widely claimed that Zimbabwe holds 25 percent of the world's reserves of opencast extractable diamonds.Falling revenues have prompted Government to re-organise the sector, and on Monday last week, the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development ordered the six mining companies operating in Chiadzwa  Mbada, Anjin, Jinan, DMC, Gyname, Kusena  to shut their operations as their operating licences had expired.Government intends to consolidate all diamond mining activity under the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), a state entity.Part of the new efforts to get the maximum possible value for the precious stone includes adding value to them.Ten diamond cutting and polishing centres have since been licenced to add value to locally produced diamonds while Aurex, a subsidiary of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) which manufactures jewellery, has acquired cutting and polishing machinery from India.Companies were already sinkingAs much as the decision to close the diamond mining companies has generated controversy, information gathered suggests that there were doubts on whether some of the mining companies could continue as going concerns.A report by the Auditor-General for the financial year ended December 31, 2014 showed that Marange Resources, an arm of the Zimbabwe Diamond Mining Company (ZMDC), recordeda loss of $1,5 million in 2014.It was, however, an improvement from a loss of $30,5 million in 2013.Most tellingly, the company's liabilities exceeded current assets by US$75 million.Similarly, Mbada Diamonds, a joint venture business between Marange Resources and New Reclamation Group of South Africa, posted a net loss of US$50 million in 2013 from a profit of US$50 million in 2012.Startlingly, in 2013 its liabilities exceeded assets by US$90 million.In essence, the companies were technically insolvent.The Auditor-General also observed that Anjin  a joint venture between Government and China's Anhui Foreign Economic Construction Group  was withholding some of the company's finances, making it difficult for the authorities to make an assessment of the miner.At Kusena Diamonds, the minutes on board and management meetings "held during the year (2013) were not being maintained in the minute book and were not signed as evidence".There are reports that creditors are pursuing the struggling businesses.Controversial from the beginningThe most notable case involved the prosecution of some ZMDC officials on allegations of fraudulently entering into joint venture mining deals.In particular, ZMDC's board selection committee that was made up of the then chairperson Ms Gloria Mawarire; Mark Tsomondo, who was a member of the technical committee; Mr Dominic Mubaiwa, then chief executive officer; and Mr Tichaona Muhonde, ZMDC company secretary to the board, were arrested in November 2010.Investigations mainly centered on the controversial award of mining deals to Core Mining and Minerals Resources, which resultantly formed Canadile, a joint venture business with ZMDC, and New Reclamation Group of South Africa, a joint venture partner in Mbada Diamonds.It is alleged that the board selection committee met with the two investors in South Africa between August 4 and August 6, 2010.Core Mining apparently misrepresented that it was a subsidiary of Channel Islands-headquartered diversified natural resources company BSG Resources Ltd when in fact it was owned by Mr Lovemore Kurotwi.Mr Kurotwi was subsequently arrested.The case is still pending before the High Court.While the select committee was not satisfied with Core Mining's presentation, they went ahead and formed the joint venture business.The company did not have the resources to plough into the business and struggled to raise funds to finance operations after it was given an operating licence.Despite the purported guarantee of a $2 billion fund from BSGR, Core Mining turned to the local market, borrowing funds from institutions such as Agribank.Some of the funds were also generated from the mining activities, which was contrary to the spirit of the agreement.It naturally affected production and output.Mbada Diamonds' case is however different.The only anomaly was that the business was not involved in mining and did not have any experience in business whatsoever.Notwithstanding that it had a solid financial footing, it did not have a strategy.Its previous operations at Ziscosteel were also questionable.ZMDC granted the business a licence nevertheless.It all had the adverse effect of affecting production in the long run.Failure to show the moneyMost critically, the Auditor-General's report observed that some of the companies failed to follow through on their funding committments to the joint venture projects.For example, by the end of December 31, 2013; Mbada had invested $48 million into the business, which is $52 million short of the agreed amount.Jinan has sunk in $135 million of the $200 million required, while DMC had injected $41 million against an agreed amount of $100 million.However, DMC managing director Mr Ramzi Malik told The Sunday Mail Business last week that the investor has to date contributed $42 million against the $50 million that is required."We stopped mining immediately (after the announcement and) this means we have to send everyone home and there is no revenue for the company and we can't meet our obligations. . ."Right now, the foreign shareholder is doing consultations and soon they will meet with local shareholders and agree or disagree on the way forward."What we produced since we started mining is in million of carats and that is not a small job."The investor brought US$42 million out of the US$50 million that was required for the duration of the mining activities. So we still had time to engage the Government and see how we could pay the balance."In terms of financial statements, we submitted audited financial statements to the Government, this shows that we complied with all requirements."To be honest with you, there is no kimberlitic diamonds on our concession areas. We did geological work, which should be done before exploration," he said.An official from Mbada Diamonds who preferred anonymity as he is not authorised to speak to the Press indicated that they had also submitted comprehensive financial statements to Government."It is Government policy so it is difficult to comment. But I am not sure why we were ordered to close because we were the only ones that published comprehensive financial results. We used to provide taxes to Government."Obviously we are unable to continue contributing the same amount of taxes because grades have come down together with prices."Yes, we did exploration. We actually have a very big exploration department," noted the official.It is not clear how the affected mining houses will liquidate their debts.Government had to resort to closing the mining companies after some of them resisted the move to consolidate them under the ZCDC.
News / National

by Levi Mukarati

President Mugabe has expressed concern at the rate at which unruly Zanu-PF elements are abusing First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe.He was speaking at Great Zimbabwe Monument in Masvingo yesterday at the 30th edition of the 21st February Movement celebrations, which marked his 92nd birthday."I want to start by thanking, a lot our children in the Youth League of the party led by Pupurai Togarapi for this programme, which is a programme of respect, respect they are giving me and also the general leadership," said the President."We have had your pleas, that is Togarepi and his fellow youth, and the dedication they have pledged to us to safeguard the identity of the youth league."The identity of the members of the youth league saying they do not support certain behaviours that we are seeing today that are not in tandem with respect, some acts that are wayward from our traditions."As we are here at the Great Zimbabwe, this is the foundation of the Munhumutapa Empire. So this is a place that gave us a new life, we fought thinking of the way of living that was being done by our elders here."They were united and made sure their leadership spread to other areas far beyond the Limpopo.''Even at Khami, you find almost the same ruins that you see here. They could not have been built by people who were not united or strong or who did not have direction."No, that could not have happened with people fighting. So there ethos, which are the ethos that we inherited from our forefathers."Ukaona vana vadiki, hameno kuti vanenge vaputa mbanje here kana vadhakwa, vakutsoropodza madzibaba kusvikira mukutsoropodza vakuru vemusangano zvinotonyadza."Matsoropodzero ari kuitwa Mai Mugabe, mudzimai waPresident zvichiiswa kunana Al-jazeera, zvichiswa muma records, zvichitoimbwa, kuitira ani?"Vavengi vanga vava nani vaisvika pakati pedu, nekuti mwana wazvarwa chaizvo-izvo pana baba namai anosimba kutaura izvozvo? Hazvitaurwe."So we got to a level where we asked are the youth league seeing it or hearing it, but I was happy to hear Togarepi saying we will discipline such elements or expel them from the party because we do not want such people."We cannot lead such misguided youth, no. The youth have got to be well disciplined, well behaved and respectful."
Opinion / Columnist

The National Electoral Reform Agenda NERA crafted by Morgan Tsvangirai's party MDC-T is fake and dead after partners realised that it was ann Mdct stupid strategy to built a dubious coalition and promote the tattered Tsvangirai image.Opposition political parties in Zimbabwe are have dumped Morgan Tsvangirai and his NERA who are too desperate for funding and political support.Recent pictures of Morgan Tsvangirai in the company of sexy girls are of great concern to his remaining few supporters who are still dreaming of the Buhera boy ruling Zimbabwe and for sure those shall remain and end as dreams.I am dreaming of a Zimbabwe under Morgan Tsvangirai though I have supported this guy since 1999 until today.Morgan Tsvangirai seem to be adamant and foolish in terms of ethical behaviour and will never learn.The so called NERA fronted by one fool Anzelem Magaya a political pastor caught in the web of stupidity thinking that the people do not know or see the dirty tricks of tryng to fundraise for Tsvangirai.We are very much aware of the trips Morgan Tsvangirai made to SADC and some embassies and the responses he got.The involvement of the Zimbabwe congress of trade unions zctu in this dirty arrangement make some of us very worried.It is now very clear that the fools at the helm of the ZCTU are part and parcel of Tsvangirai and company and they should expect confrontation by the workers.The ZCTU has sold us to the Morgan Tsvangirai faction of the MDC which is not acceptable at all.The international donor community bakrolling the Zimbabwe congress of trade unions should seek answers from the partisan trade union leaders who are currently abusing the labour space for selfish political interests.The political parties in Zimbabwe have abandoned NERA because of various reasons which Morgan Tsvangirai failed to explain.Zimbabweans are not behind NERA or the Zctu because of such moves meant to mislead the nation into believing that mdct is king yet it has fallen from grace.Those funding NERA thinking that it is inclusive and has support of the people should wake up and start smelling the coffee.I advise Morgan Tsvangirai to either think of an inclusive process and abandon his big brother jacket.Mr Morgan Tsvangirai's NERA is doomed and none of us Zimbabweans are in support of this biased and tricky project.Donors should fund MDC-T and NERA at their own risk.
Opinion / Columnist

THE most trending news in Christian circles in recent weeks, apart from "miracles", has been the rate at which men of cloth are divorcing and remarrying.Questions abound as to whether or not pastors and prophets can ditch their loved ones for new wives  who are usually members of their churches.Last week, the controversial leader of Kingdom Embassy Prophet Passion Java made headlines for marrying one of his congregants, Lily Tsegayi, who is based in the United States barely three months after ending his marriage to wife of four years Prophetess Yasmin.The new Mrs Java is said to be financially sound and was one of the financiers of Prophet Java's television station, Kingdom TV.It will also be interesting to see if she too suddenly becomes a "prophetess" because of the marriage.Prophet Java's re-marriage came hard on the heels of another shocking divorce between Family of God founder Prophet Andrew Wutawunashe and his wife, Rumbidzai.After severing ties with his wife of many years, Prophet Wutawunashe married a congregant last month.Prophet Wutawunashe said he and his wife had been seperated for a decade and the union was officially ended in January 2016."The purpose of this message is that you may know some important truth about my life which to the present date I thought best to keep private, for the sake of the work God has been doing in you and other people's lives through me."It's now imperative that you know that my marriage is coming to an official end after 10 years of separation, but without recrimination," he said.Not so long ago, Anglican Church St Andrew's Parish priest Father Tendai Mandirahwe accused of wrecking a congregant's 18-year marriage.Some lurid text messages, allegedly between the man of cloth to married woman Sinikiwe Nyati, have already been splashed on social and mainstream media. The messages allegedly showed a flourishing intimate relationship between the two.Not to be outdone is Chris Embassy Church founder Pastor Chris Oyakhilome, whose wife Anita Ebhodaghe successfully filed for divorce in 2014.The divorce was formally announced last week in a statement by Attwaters Jameson Hill, lawyers for Anita.Part of the statement reads, "We have been requested by Anita Oyakhilome to confirm that on the 8th February 2016 a decree absolute was pronounced in the High Court of Justice Principal Registry of the Family Division dissolving her marriage to Christian Onehirokpeana Oyakhilome."Anita Oyakhilome would like to confirm that she is no longer involved in or part of Christ Embassy AKA Believers LoveWorld INC."International acclaimed Tele-evangelist Pastor Benny Hinn of the US made headlines when he divorced his wife, Suzanne, and then remarried her.Harare-based theologian Mr Innocent Sibanda says church leaders can divorce."Romans 3 verse 23 says we are all sinners' right from a prophet down to a toddler in the church, we all need the blood of Jesus Christ for salvation."The only thing that differentiates us is the fact that these leaders were called by God hence they should live exemplary."Mr Sibanda urges Christians to make Christ their role model, adding that some people who claim to be spiritual leaders are not called by God but are sent by Satan to deceive.Conflicts in marriages, Mr Sibanda says, exist but many church leaders have not divorced out of sheer fright of scandal."While others are papering over the cracks in their marriages in accordance with God's word in Malachi 2:16, others are destroying the marriage fabric," he said.Mr Sibanda says pastors, evangelists and prophets can fall to the temptation of adultery in violation of God's Seventh Commandment (Exodus 20:14) which says, "Thou shall not commit adultery."Retired Seventh-day Adventist pastor Admire Mabhena says, "Because none of the created order was sufficient to meet man's need for companionship, God took out of Adam's ribs that bone of man's bone and flesh of man's flesh to create the one called woman."The intimate relationship between the two was meant to last until they were parted by death," says United Kingdom-based Pr Mabhena.He says when a man and a woman are joined in holy matrimony, the two become one in spirit, soul and body."All of Adam's hopes and fears, love and lust, faith and phobias, strengths and dysfunctions are, in a moment in time, fused to the same in his Eve."That is why divorce is always a great tragedy. It is not only the ripping apart of the fabric of two lives once intricately woven together, but it also is the dissolving of the relationship that- next to one's relationship with God- was intended to be the most intimate. God hates divorce because it damages His creation at its deepest emotional and spiritual core."He goes on: "It is unfortunate that in our society and in our churches, men and women are becoming one and then ripping that one into two at an increasing rate. Some of our Christian leaders, our spiritual directors for one reason or another, are doing that also."It is not just church leaders, though.Ordinary people are divorcing at an alarming rate with the High Court clogged with hundreds of divorce applications. Perhaps the pastors and prophets are mirroring the society in which they live.feedback desirekuda@gmail.com
Opinion / Columnist

We are nearing the month March with loads of social events, among many other important events; we shall be celebrating the international women's year. We reflect our successes and failures in our respective countries. In Germany where I reside, the focus is on women and children who found warmth and comfort in German hands having left their beloved countries: Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan with a very painful heart. Reasons why they had to flee; there is war. The common basic needs all human beings yearn for is safety of their beloved families and above all, civil life, human acceptances irrespective of religion, gender and culture differences. Those are basic human needs enshrined in the UN for Human rights.In Zimbabwe the reasons of exodus to South Africa, UK, Canada, USA or New Zealand to some, to squat and squalor are different too. The freedom of religion is in abundance in Zimbabwe. There is a church at every corner of the street shouting: Jehovah mufudzi wangu, ujehovah ngumelusi wami! The women in Zimbabwe have serious and heart-breaking challenges in their lives. It is the poverty smelling at every corner of the country, in rural areas it is worse. It is poverty that mostly compels us to leave and go somewhere; it is this "somewhere" we always think, it is better, somewhere and not at home.Our girl-children have no future perspective to look forward to, so they are compelled to leave and go somewhere. Zimbabwe is not safe for our toddlers, girls, young women, mothers and grandmothers, are in danger of gender-based violence. If rape occurs at the rate of every 90 minutes, it says a lot about safety of our land Zimbabwe, it is indeed a national security issue.Food insecurities mostly in rural areas are very serious. The El Nino is on record for the past two consecutive years. Most areas of Matabeleland are reporting famine and desperation in terms of food shortages. It may rain now, but the farming season has passed, another failed harvest this year. Again food shortages are a national security issue too.The past year, we have witnessed several women reported killed by their spouses. Savage beatings of women, wives, mothers and grand-mothers are the order of the day curiously in every societal ladders of the establishment and even in higher social mobility sections of the country. We have read with utter disgust how our Prosecutor General Tomana interpreted the law to acquit his fellow friend, could be a paedophile, if found guilty, Munyaradzi Kereke, ironically a law maker in Zimbabwe's good parliament. In civilized countries Prosecutor General is supposed to have resigned from his post long, long back.Self-induced abortions or non-clinical ones painfully kill hundreds of our young women in Zimbabwe because abortion is illegal in Zimbabwean hospitals. Rape is so wide spread, how many young girls are forced to still keep pregnancies through rape because getting abortion in the hospital through rape is an uphill task? How many child-infanticides do we read in social media, girls have no means to maintain fatherless babies born in most devious and excruciation circumstances? Babies are dumped in Blair toilets, in wild animals infested bushes, in rivers, strangled immediately after birth, not because of cruelty on the part of the woman, but shear desperation on the part of the girl, poverty.In all our challenges and adversities in Zimbabwe, what stands out is gender based violence. The disproportionate beatings and killings of women have even touched the vein-running of our Bulawayo eminent artist: Mnumzana Albert Nyathi. Hardly 24 hours, was I penning a note to Mnumzana Patson Dzamara appreciating him for his sensitivity regarding women? His article was telling the Legislator Maziwisa to refrain from using denigrating language to describe women. I read again in the Bulawayo 24 of the February 28th about Mnumzana Albert Nyathi finding answers through art to fight gender-based violence. I smiled and beamed. Some Zimbabwean men are gender sensitive indeed! They are on our side in our fight against gender-based violence.One can sincerely conclude with equal truth that there is a section of men in our society who are gender sensitive, they respect their women and sisters and mothers and daughters. We welcome this and we are proud to see prominent people like Mnumzana Nyathi going further, taking those initiatives to educate our communities against gender violence. Be it drama or plays, that kind of art sends strong messages to the societies to think and retract their violent behaviours towards women and children.Sociologists, psychologist political scientist and lawyers etc. are found wanting in finding out through thorough and comprehensive research works, the root causes of high levels, unprecedented and disproportionate abuse of women and girl-children in our societies today. It could be possible that the level of poverty has ravaged societal values and principles we all held as Africans: Ubuntu. Ubuntu bungaphi lapho if a man of 50 years can enjoy sexual intercourse with a child of eight, a baby of two years, a girl of 11 years without any guilt as long as it's not his biological child. Even biological fathers and grandfathers have been caught sexually abusing their underage grandchildren. Everybody will agree with me that it's not in our culture to engage sexually with toddlers. But why is it done?It is worse still for those women who bring in with them girl-children in their second attempt to get married. It's those wicked step-fathers that will use the wife by the night and abuse the step-child by the day equally as he will be the provider of the household. If it's not in the main-line grammar with the cultural thinking, where does this sexual abuse of minors come from, by the very people they are looked up to as guardians and providers? Is there an end to this abuse? Do these men who abuse the babies' toddlers, girls and young women know the long term consequences of sexual abuse? Ignorantly they don't know.One of our great successes is the need to deliberate a Women's Manifesto this year 2016. We wish that women of all social sections of the Zimbabwe will embrace the need to produce a document, a Women's Manifesto. We shall learn to put aside our political, religious, ethnic differences and work together as one in putting the document together. For the first time women will work together and manage to give themselves time to speak with one voice, a voice that will give answers to our social challenges facing us as women. It will be topics on gender-violence that will find more attention to issues regarding women in Zimbabwe in the women's manifesto. The document will emphasize on women-empowerment that will indeed alleviate poverty and reduce violence in our societies. In some cases, people are less violent if their stomachs are full. An empty stomach nurtures violence and feeds on violence until a human being is reduced to an animal. Fight or flight!On behalf of all women in Zimbabwe, I wish to thank Mnumzana Albert Nyathi for the great work he has taken, to effect change in the stereotype thinking of men that regard women as mere objects of sex and objects sentenced to hard labour in homes. Because gender violence is so multi-faceted, some men will argue and say, "I don't beat my wife and my daughters; it is their non-physical, mostly economic deprivation, emotional violence in the form of insults, sexual advances at work places, deprivation of health facilities, and many other aspects of abuse on women that are equally termed as gender-based violence. The most vulnerable niche is the women with physical and mental challenges, who cannot manage to fight back any abuse against them.Mnumzana Nyathi is using his talent to educate the society of its poverty induced ills- gender-based violence against. Music, drama and even debates will go a long way in sensitising our men folk and thereby saving our girls, toddlers' young women and mothers from gender-based violence. There is indeed light at the end of the dark tunnel. Mnumzana Albert Nyathi and Mnumzana Dzamara I salute you. You really stand out as men among men! God Bless you!U gogo omncaneChirikadzi
Since education makes a person more likely to leave your region, how do you justify your investment in human capital?
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What if someone were to apply the computer-controlled logistics system of an Amazon.com type business with robotic manufacturing? At Amazon, parts are stocked and retrieved robotically, inventories are updated, parts ordered, payments made, payments received, all with a minimum of human intervention. Humans manage the system, the system does the grunt work. Everything that can be automated is.

Combine that with robotic assembly, robotic inspection, robotic test, robotic packaging and shipping, and it seems one could easily compete with China for manufacturing a product like an iPhone. If something seems obvious yet does not occur, then one has not accounted for some key thing.

From my perspective, the key engine of economic growth is manufacturing; taking raw or less valuable material, applying know-how and capability, and creating something with greater net worth than the sum of its raw material worth. It is the foundation of wealth creation. And wealth creation is the foundation of a healthy economy, a high standard of living, social stability and opportunity.

Are we so tangled up in taxes and EPA and OSHA regulations we simply cannot manufacture anything competitively in the United States any longer, even with robots? If so, what is the solution, realistically? Is it possible to reform the regulatory state or does it need to be discarded, starting fresh? Can the tax system be fixed or should it burned and rebuilt? What is required to get manufacturing back on track in the United States?
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Ten people have gone missing after two ships collided on the Yellow Sea on Saturday morning, local authorities said.

A merchant ship collided with a fishing boat about 40 nautical miles south off the Chaolian Island, Qingdao City of east China's Shandong Province.

The fishing boat sank following the accident, according to the Qingdao government. The Qingdao Maritime Search and Rescue Center received the report at around 12:50 a.m..

Rescuers are searching for the missing, and an investigation is under way.
Tony Norfield and his book The City

Tony Norfield worked for ten years as the executive director and global head of foreign exchange for a major European bank. He has just published The City (The City - London and the global power of finance, by Tony Norfield, is published by Verso Books), a book on British imperialism and global finance in the 21st century.

Norfield's insights into the nature of capitalism's modern financial systems emphasize that finance and production are increasingly inseparable - "they are close partners in exploitation." He rejects any categorical division between "bad" finance and "good" productive capital - as this misreads the nature of imperialism and its financial centers.

Britain is second only to the U.S. in the global significance of its financial sector and in areas like foreign currency trading it leads. Britain has the second largest stock of foreign direct investment (FDI) - nearly $2trn - equivalent to 30 percent of U.K. GDP. Of the top 500 global companies, the U.K. was second only to the U.S. with 34 companies. The U.K. has six financial institutions in the top 50, compared to the U.S. with ten. And U.K. bank assets are four times U.K. GDP, the highest ratio in the world after Switzerland and Luxembourg.

London has advantages as a financial center: its time zone, the English language, and supportive professional services. This contrasts to the relative weakness of U.S. money markets and banks.

After 1945 Britain's financial sector retained its global status at the same time as its manufacturing base diminished. The Eurodollar market in the 1960s and the "Big Bang" of the 1980s, when U.S. banks and foreign banks were allowed to operate without restriction, preserved London's pre-eminence.

For Norfield, financial privilege is a form of economic power. It enables wealthy countries to draw on resources and value created elsewhere in the world. A small number of such imperialist countries dominate world markets through multi-national corporations engaged in production, service provision and finance.

Today 147 companies exercise "networked control" over world trade. And European and U.S. companies continue to dominate through global finance and corporate power. Indeed: the Asian "production miracle" of the last 30 years barely dents this power.

In the modern world economy, finance is intertwined with productive capital. So corporations in nation states often reap huge revenue from income abroad. Such revenue from abroad is worth $3bln a day to U.S. corporations - more than the annual GDP of Switzerland.

Norfield weaves facts about modern imperialism together with a Marxist analysis of the role of finance capital. He points out that banks appear to make money beget money - a progress "completely independent of capitalist production."

However, he says that money dealing and commercial banking are not simply "parasitic" as they act as essential lubricants to the wheels of capitalist production. But interest-bearing capital (money to make money) is parasitic as it reduces the profits of productive capital. And imperialism is globalized interest-bearing capital.

Karl Marx associated the idea of making money out of money with his term "fictitious capital:" a claim on the value-creating assets of companies and their future earnings.

Fictitious capital is a key feature of modern capitalism and imperialism, and many sectors of the economy are based on fictitious capital. In addition the nation state plays a key role in supporting and expanding monopoly capital and imperialist power.

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The Royal Palace

When people mention the Kingdom of Cambodia, theres usually one thing that springs to mind: the city of Siam Reap. Its widely recognized as the top tourist destination in Cambodia with its world famous Psahchas (old market) and, of course, the world renowned and all inspiring Angor Wat Temple, the largest religious temple in the world which dates back to the twelfth century. It truly is Cambodias Crown Jewel! But what else does Cambodia have to offer todays tourists?

More and more worldwide tourists are visiting the capital city of Phonm Penh, and the sun drenched, white and golden beaches of Sihanoukville as Cambodia opens a new chapter in ecotourism.

Phnom Penh is a lively metropolis and was once known as the "Pearl of Asia." With its wide boulevard avenues and French architectural buildings and villas, one can only envisage what it must have looked like during the French colonial era. However, whilst wandering around the citys bustling streets and overcrowded pavements, the distinct aromas of Asian cuisine, mingling with strong black coffee, still left me with a sense of colonial ambiance and feeling for the city.

Eventually, I came across the magnificent and iconic Royal Palace. It was built during the1860s and is the official residence of the king of Cambodia. The Palace, ideally situated beside the mighty Mekong River, is a mass of soaring temples and Buddhist shrines, and was splendidly designed using Cambodian architecture. Walking around these temples and shrines, you will see many Buddhists monks wearing their colorful saffron and orange robes. Before long, one can actually begin to experience the serenity of this stately Palace.

From here, one can leisurely stroll down the tree palmed river front and frequent many of the contemporary coffee shops, bars and restaurants that offer an assortment of western and Asian fare.

After eating alfresco on a balmy sultry evening, there can be nothing better than watching a glorious sunset over the Mekong River as the sun slowly disappears behind the horizon.

Finally, at the end of your day, what can be more exciting then riding back to your hotel in one of Cambodias famous tuk tuk taxis? You can go anywhere in the city for around 5 US dollars. Believe me, riding in a tuk tuk really is a great experience. Weaving in and out of the traffic can be a bit scary, but at the same time, it gives you a true understanding and perspective of the buzz and energy of the city! Of course, for the less adventurous, you can just hail a street taxi.

After several days of the hustle and bustle of city life, try taking a 3 hour drive (bus or taxi) to the coastal peninsula in Sihanoukville province, situated in the Gulf of Thailand. Here you will find Cambodias finest beach resorts and isolated tropical islands.

Otres Beach 2, one of many, is a beach paradise. Clean and white sandy beaches that are lined with fruit berry spindle trees seem to stretch for miles, and the shallow and glistening blue waters are a joy for safe swimming. It really is a paradise for any beach lover.

Accommodation varies from beach bungalows to five star resorts. All the beach resorts have idyllic beach bars where you can eat local food or western food. There is also a varied range of activities on the beach including kayaking, windsurfing and boat trips to the numerous islands close by. If you like to party, then Ochheuteal beach is about 5km down the coast. Here you will find a more exhilarating experience with pubs, bars and live music.

In conclusion, there is so much more to do and see in the Kingdom of Cambodia!

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A local public prosecutor in Algeria on Sunday said an Algerian was taken into custody as a suspect of the terrorist attacks hitting Paris on November 2015.

The prosecutor said the suspect was summoned by the judge of the Court of Akbou in the province of Bejaia, 250 km eastern Algiers.

The man, residing in Belgium, was suspected of belonging to the terrorist group involved in the Paris bombing, the prosecutor said, avoiding to provide more details, including the identity of the suspect, until the end of the investigation.

French Interior Minister Bernard Kaznov had told reporters that Paris attacks, which killed 132 people and injured 349 others, were planned in Belgium.
DEAR AMY: I am an alcoholic in remission. I am not recovering  I have a disease that I fight daily.

For almost 17 years, I have not had alcohol in any form. Also on the no-no list are painkillers. You cannot imagine how this has been.

This is my sore spot: I have family and friends who bemoaned my drinking for the first half-century of my life. These people have never  and I mean never  hosted an alcohol-free event.

It doesnt matter what it is: funeral, wedding, barbecue, birthday party, Christmas, Thanksgiving, whatever. They have never honored me, or my journey, by saying, Hey, we arent going to allow any drinking at this event  just for you.

I have requested that they do so, and they have flat-out said no.

There are times that I can actually ignore the booze. But there are times when the walls start to close in and I panic because the mere smell of a deep red wine makes me lose all reasoning, and all I want to do is flee (or have a drink). So  I flee. Then I sit in the car and cry.

I want to still be part of the crowd, to laugh, to joke and eat good food. I want to enjoy the camaraderie of the group energy, but I cant. I always have to be on guard. Thats so unfair and just once and a while it would be nice not to worry about it when Im around Normies. Is that too much to ask?  Sober

DEAR SOBER: First let me express my admiration for 17 years of one-day-at-a-time. It might be a good idea to find a local sober/recovery group where you can check in and share your story, strategies and frustrations.

It is unfortunate that your family and friends dont support your sobriety more fully. Either they simply have no idea of the magnitude of the challenge for you, or they are being blatantly disrespectful of your reasonable request to attend an alcohol-free event occasionally. My instinct is that alcohol is an important part of your familys culture.

However, guess what? Just as they couldnt prevent you from a half-century of drinking, you cannot prevent them from continuing to drink. Its the age-old Serenity Prayer challenge  to cope with those things (and people) you cannot change.

I hope you have at least one friend who is willing to host alcohol-free dinners and parties along with you so that you can enjoy food and fellowship without the constant worry that you will relapse.

DEAR AMY: There is an email discussion group in our community that my wife is a member of. My wife and I each have our own desk with our own computers. At her request, I always turn on my wifes computer in the morning before she gets up.

Ive been reading my wifes email, scanning the group message subject lines, to see if there was anything interesting enough to read.

My wife got up early one morning and saw me doing this. She didnt know I had a habit of reading her emails in the morning.

She is now angry with me. She says she feels Ive crossed the line and invaded her privacy. I feel that Im not invading her privacy because the only emails I look at are from the community discussion group. Am I off base?  S in California

DEAR S: I agree with your wife. If you think of email as postal mail, then any letter that is addressed to both you and your wife could be opened and read by either of you. Any email addressed to your wife and sent to her computer should be considered her property. If you want to learn what the members of your community discussion group are communicating about, then it is very easy for you to get yourself on the listserv.

DEAR AMY: At a Loss wondered why her addict dad faded away from the family. You do not seem to know much about addiction. Sadly Im also an addicted parent. The main reason I chose to fade away was because it became very hard to deal with a spouse and kids and still try to get my life on track.

It took almost three years to get sober. Kids, unfortunately, were neglected. But there isnt a day gone by where I dont wish to be able to turn back the clock and be a better dad to my children.  Sober Now

DEAR SOBER: Thank you for your insight.
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Random thoughts from a Brit in the North West. Sometimes serious, sometimes not. Quite often curmudgeonly.
Immigrants came to America from many European countries in the 1800s. When they arrived, each ethnic group wished to live with their own people. In our area, the Germans settled by Humphrey, the Swedes by Stromsburg and the Poles by Tarnov, Krakow and Duncan.

Because of the constant wars in Europe, there was a great distrust between the different nationalities. The immigrants spoke their native languages, making communicating between them difficult. The parents also wanted their sons and daughters to marry their own kind. They wished to keep their European customs and religions, so they built their own churches and schools.

In the U.S., all children were required to go to school. Because the immigrants spoke their own languages, some students going to public school didnt know English. This made it very difficult for the teacher. As the students learned English, they spoke English at home, helping their parents to learn some English.

Fights between the different ethnic groups were common, because of the hatred they had for each other in Europe. Im not sure why it was such a terrible insult, but if a Pole was called a Polander, a fight would be brewing. For their own protection, the different ethnic groups formed gangs.

My dad and uncles were in the Forman-Drozd gang in the early 1900s. The Formans were the sons of Martin and Mary Forman. The Drozds were the sons of Gustav and Anna Drozd. They were first cousins and the best of friends. The families lived within a half-mile of each other, 1 mile north of Gardner, a train and RFD (Rural Free Delivery) mail station, located 3 miles east of Silver Creek on the Monroe road.

My mom said these men were bullies and would start a fight for any reason. The brawls were frequent at dances, gatherings and in bars. Liquor was usually a contributing factor. I was told that another gang caught a Forman-Drozd gang member alone and beat him so badly it caused permanent damage.

My mom hated the fighting and was glad that as the men married and grew older and wiser, there was less fighting. The two families eventually got in a fight between themselves, which caused a permanent breakup of the gang. This rift lasted a long time.

The men ended up doing a variety of things. Mike Forman farmed near Gardner. Leo Forman homesteaded in Montana. John Forman was a foreman for the railroad in Grand Island. Walter Forman farmed in Platte County. Alex Drozd was a farmer and carpenter in the Genoa area. Charlie Drozd lived in Genoa and was also a carpenter. Tony Drozd was a farmer in the Gruetli area, and Frank Drozd owned a tavern in Sioux City, Iowa.

During World War II as Hitler was invading and occupying one country after another, there was again some animosity toward the Germans in the U.S. The American Germans had nothing to do with Hitlers madness and brutality. American sons of all ethnic groups were being drafted into the service to fight the evil that was being done in Europe.

As the decades rolled by, the distrust between the nationalities eventually waned. They became friendly and began to intermarry. The gangs disappeared and today we are all Americans.




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.
Resources for all concerned with culture of authoritarianism in society, banalisation of communalism, (also chauvinism, parochialism and identity politics) rise of the far right in India (and with occasional information on other countries of South Asia and beyond)
Via TheCable.ng: 8 die of Lassa fever in Plateau in 3 months.

Kunden Deyin, the commissioner for health in Plateau, says the state has recorded eight deaths, 13 confirmed cases and 50 suspected cases of Lassa fever from December 2015 till date.

Deyin said this in Jos on Sunday and added that the state had commenced aggressive sensitisation and awareness campaigns in Jos-Bukuru metropolis and in the 17 local government areas.

He said that the campaigns aimed to enlighten the people on how to prevent the disease and ensure that the menace was nipped in the bud.

Lassa fever is transmitted through the urine and excreta of a rat that serves as a reservoir for the Lassa virus and this rodent is usually attracted to dirty and flirty environments, he said.

The ministry, through its sensitisation campaign, is making an effort to educate the populace on the importance of keeping a clean environment and on the need to ensure that all foods are stored in rodent-proof containers.

Deyin urged residents of Jos to refrain from drying food stuff, as rats could excrete on them.

We embarked on this social mobilisation because we believe that prevention is better than cure, he said.

Deyin also said that the ministry was in liaison with traditional and religious leaders on the need to sensitise their wards and congregations on the importance of promoting good community and personal hygiene.

He said this was the surest means of discouraging rodents from entering their houses.

Deyin said the ministry had trained 54 laboratory scientists from the 17 local government areas to ensure that basic precaution methods were practised and 20 morticians on how to decontaminate corpses.

He also said that the ministry had procured drugs, Personal Protective Equipment and other materials to ensure that standard precaution methods were observed.
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He has been cited by Rush Limbaugh, quoted in the New York Times, featured at Real Clear Politics and Lucianne.com and interviewed on radio, TV and in social media.





Inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Hall of Fame, for many years he served as a Lecturer in Corporate Communication at Penn State University. A former President of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) he has lectured at Rowan University, Temple University, The College of New Jersey and Arcadia University. He has conducted workshops on public relations for thousands of participants throughout the nation and has taught countless others the art of public speaking. He has also advised numerous lawyers, judges, public officials and political candidates.





Cirucci is a prolific writer and his op-ed pieces have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier-Post and other publications.



A native of Camden NJ, Cirucci is a former President of the Philadelphia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Cirucci served as Associate Executive Director of the Philadelphia Bar Association for nearly 30 years. He served as Chair of Penn State University's Professional Advisory Board for the Corporate Communication major at Penn State Abington and on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Judicial Selection Commission.



He received his MA degree from Rowan University and his BA from Villanova University. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rowan's public relations program and received the E. A. "Wally" Richter Leadership Award, the highest honor from the National Association of Bar Executives' Communications Section. He has also been honored by numerous other local, state and national groups.









Cirucci's passions include politics, the popular culture, books and authors, art, communication, music, theatre, movies, dining and travel. In his hometown of Camden, Cirucci taught fifth grade at the Ulysses Wiggins Elementary School named for the founder of the Camden NAACP. There he was one of the first teachers in the country to teach African-American history to inner city students. He later served as editor of a local weekly newspaper, as Assistant to the Township Manager of Cherry Hill Township and as Associate Director of Communications at the New Jersey State Bar Association.

He's Dan Cirucci, the founder and editor-in chief of the Dan Cirucci Blog, Matt Rooney's sidekick on Save Jersey's videocasts and one of the most widely honored public relations professionals in his field. He's also been a public relations consultant to numerous organizations and individuals and hosted The Advocates on RVN-TV.
Justice Minister Michael Keenan's approval required for AFP to assist with possible death penalty case in Indonesia





Indonesia has guaranteed that an Australian permanent resident charged with murdering her friend with cyanide-laced coffee will not face the death penalty





Justice Minister Michael Keenan has now agreed to the Australian Federal Police assisting with the case of 27-year-old Jessica Kumala Wongso, who allegedly poisoned her friend Wayan Mirna Salihin at an upmarket cafe in Central Jakarta in January.





The allegations have transfixed Indonesia.





Indonesian police sought assistance from the AFP because the 2 women had studied together at Billy Blue College of Design in Sydney and Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.





Jakarta police chief Tito Karnavian last week flew to Australia where he met with Mr Keenan, who was required by law to personally sign off on the request.





A spokeswoman for Mr Keenan told Fairfax Media the minister agreed Australia would provide assistance in the investigation of the alleged murder in accordance with Australian law.





"The Indonesian government has given an assurance to the Australian government that the death penalty will not be sought nor carried out in relation to the alleged offending," she said.





Jakarta CID chief Krishna Murti told Fairfax Media the approval came after the Indonesian Attorney-General's Office guaranteed it would not seek the death penalty.





"Please note that the death penalty is the maximum sentence, it's reserved for extraordinary crimes only," he said. "After the guarantee, approval was given and now we have started cooperating with the AFP."





Under AFP guidelines on international police assistance in death penalty situations, ministerial approval is required if a person has been detained, arrested, charged or convicted of an offence that carries the death penalty.





The AFP faced criticism for handing over information to Indonesian authorities about the Bali 9, which led to their arrests for heroin smuggling in 2005. The coordinators of the Bali 9, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed in Indonesia last year.





New guidelines for the AFP's role in cases involving the death penalty were introduced in 2009 after a federal court exonerated the AFP from acting unlawfully in the Bali 9 case but argued new protocols were needed.





Chief detective Krishna said police were investigating the interaction between Ms Wongso and Ms Salihin and their interactions with other people: "The case is now progressing and we are getting a flow of information in."





Jessica Wongso

He said Ms Wongso, who worked for NSW Ambulance until late last year, was a permanent resident of Australia. "Therefore we stopped her from travelling back to Australia (in January). It would've been difficult if we had to extradite her back."





Ms Wongso and Ms Salihin met at Olivier Cafe in Grand Indonesia Shopping Mall on January 6.





Ms Salihin took a sip of the Vietnamese iced coffee, which Ms Wongso had reportedly ordered for her. She began to suffer convulsions and foam at the mouth and died on the way to the hospital.





A pretrial motion at which Ms Wongso's lawyer argued there was insufficient evidence to justify her ongoing detention is currently before the Central Jakarta District Court.





The court's ruling is expected to be handed down before March 2.





Source: Sydney Morning Herald, February 27, 2016




Vedanta quoted the highest bid of 12.55 percent of the Indian Bureau of Mines price of 74,712 rupees a troy ounce

New Delhi: Vedanta Ltd has won India's first-ever auction of a gold mine, a state government official said, as the nation opens up the sector to private companies to curb overseas purchases of the metal that cost it $36 billion last year.

Vedanta, a unit of London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc, beat three other bidders in the auction of the Baghmara mine in Chhattisgarh, the head of the state's Directorate of Geology and Mining, Reena Kangale, told Reuters on Saturday.

The company quoted the highest bid of 12.55 percent of the Indian Bureau of mines price of 74,712 rupees ($1,087) a troy ounce, Kangale said, adding she expected mining for potential reserves of about 2,700 kilograms to begin in two years.A troy ounce is equivalent of 31.10 grams.

In a statement, Vedanta said the block measuring 6.08 square kilometres required extensive exploration and that the process will commence in "due course".

India's insatiable appetite for gold has already prompted the government to raise import duties and launch a scheme aimed at mobilising a pool of over 20,000 tonnes of the metal lying idle in homes and temples.

Still the government has failed to curb imports by the world's second-biggest consumer, where gold is regarded as the highest form of gift for gods and humans alike.

The absence of local production has scuppered efforts further.Federal Mines Secretary Balvinder Kumar last week told Reuters the government planned to auction at least three gold mines in 2016.
USFDA had taken action against companies like Sun Pharma last year and earlier Ranbaxy among other Indian drug companies.

Ahmedabad: The USFDA on Saturday said its quality checks are part of surveillance system and the number of inspections of has increased in India in view of rising exports of generic drugs from the country.

"Level of exports of generic drugs has grown up dramatically in recent years and correspondingly we have inspected more. When the exports from here grow up there will be more checks because obviously checks are part of approval process," Dy. Commissioner for Global Regulatory Operations and Policy USFDA Howard Sklamberg told reporters here.

"They (checks) are part of what we call surveillance system. And when we find something, we take appropriate action," he said.

The United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) members are here to participate in the three-day World Spices Congress held by Spices Board of India.

In response to a question on action against big Indian generic pharma companies, Sklamberg said, "We apply same standards of inspecting at all levels like between the licensed drug manufacturing companies and generic drug manufacturing companies. The standards are same across all geographies".

The USFDA had taken action against companies like Sun Pharma last year and earlier Ranbaxy among other Indian drug companies.

Speaking about food exports from India to the US, he said that the highest exports is of sea food, then comes spices and the third is rice.

"We have introduced a new act called Food Safety Modernisation Act, and under it instead of just working on regulatory aspects, we work at all level with stakeholders like food manufacturers to exporters who export to the US," he added.

According to Sklamberg, they are here to explain this to the delegates of World Spices Congress as Indian spices export to the US is substantially.

USFDA team members had also met Gujarat State Food and Drug Administration yesterday to know about how it functions.
Mumbai: The day Sanjay Dutt returned home, we saw a crazy fan frenzy go down outside his house in Mumbai. For Sanjays fans, friends and family, it was time for celebration.

Sanjay, who returned back home after serving his sentence, was warmly welcomed by a huge crowd of fans. Amidst the crowd was a auto driver named Sandeep Bacche, who might just be one of Sanjays biggest fans. Apart from having inked the actors face on his arm, the guy ditched foot wears ever since the actor was sent to jail.

Yes, Sanjay this fan never wore shoes or chappals until the actor walked out of the jail. With a hope to catch a glimpse of Sanjay, Sandeep stood outside the actors house the day of his return. However, due to huge gathering of fans and media, Sanjay couldnt meet his fans. But a generous person that the actor is, Sanjay arranged a special meeting at his house to meet his biggest fan.

On Sunday, Sanjay Dutt met his fan Sandeep Bacche outside his residence. The actor and his fan met and greeted each other. It was a dream come true moment for Sandeep, who welcomed Sanjay home with warm hug and gifts.
Ever since it was announced that Akshay Kumar would play the antagonist in Rajinikanth-starrer 2.O, a sequel to Robo, it created a lot of buzz as this is the first time the actor would be starring in a South film.

The latest development, we hear, is that Akshay had reached Chennai on Saturday to shoot for his part in the film.

We hope that the actor gives us a sneak peek of his character by sharing a couple of photos from the sets.

The movie also stars Amy Jackson opposite Rajini. Meanwhile, apart from 2.O, Rajinikanth has two more movies in his kitty.
KOCHI: Noted young film director Rajesh Pillai, 42, died in a private hospital here on Saturday due to liver-related complications. Mr Pillai was admitted to hospital in a critical condition on Friday and he died round at 11.30 a.m. on Saturday.

Doctors said he had been suffering from non-alcoholic liver cirrhosis for a long-time.

Noted young film director Rajesh Pillai, 42, died in a private hospital here on Saturday due to liver-related complications. Mr Pillai was admitted to hospital in a critical condition on Friday and he died round at 11.30 a.m. on Saturday.

Doctors who treated Mr. Pillai said that he had been suffering from non-alcoholic liver cirrhosis for a long-time. His condition worsened after contracting pneumonia. Doctors had advised him to undergo a liver transplant long ago, sources said.

Mammotty comes out from the hospital after paying last respects to Rajesh Pillai in Kochi on Saturday. (Photo: DC)

Friends and well-wishers of Mr. Pilliai said that he had ignored the health warnings as he was busy with the completion of his latest film 'Vettah' starring Kunchacko Boban and Manju Warrier. Ironically, Mr. Pillai was admitted to hospital in a critical condition the day the movie was released across the state.

The cremation of Mr. Pillai will be held at Ravipuram crematorium in Kochi at 10.30 a.m. on Sunday. Mr. Pillai turned an independent director with the 2005 film 'Hridaythil Sookshikkan'.

He stayed away from the industry for nearly six years before coming up with his second film 'Traffic' hailed by critics as path-breaking in the history of Malayalam films. 'Traffic,' one of the first in the new-generation Malayalam films, was followed by 'Mili' and 'Vettah.'

The Hindi version of 'Traffic' was also directed by Mr. Pillai. He is the son of Dr. K. Raman Pillai, former head of the department of political science, University of Kerala. He is survived by wife Megha.
Benoy Behl, noted filmmaker and photographer, was in Hyderabad for an exhibition at Salar Jung museum. In a candid chat, he spoke about art, life and the influence of Indian mythology abroad.

We have forgotten the science of life and must learn about the way of living, from a country like Japan, he said, Ganesha is a popular deity in many parts of Asia. When there was a financial crisis in the Islamic Republic of Indonesia, they printed Ganesha symbol on their currency notes to come out of their turbulent economic situation. Garuda is the name of the official airline of the Islamic Republic of Indonesia. The name Garuda was given by then President Sukarno  who quoted a poem of Dutch poet Noto Soeroto to explain the meaning: I am Garuda, Vishnoes bird which spread its wings high above your archipelago.

It is all about the way that the deities are within each one of us. We all are endowed with a sense of goodness. This is the science of life that we need to take forward. People in Japan hardly talk about an issue to any person, unless they are sure that the person has some or equal knowledge on that particular subject. There is so much respect for elders in Japan and a keen interest to listen to the views of everyone.

The aesthetic experience of art is getting lost in our country. It is very important for the citizens of India to inculcate this taste and make their life richer, he said.

Talking about his upcoming projects, he said, I have made a documentary on yoga which brings out the connection between mind, body and soul. I am also working on a film titled The Ramayana.
The mangroves in Thailands Koh Klang region are nestled in natures bounty. This is an ecosystem of biodiversity that the Muslim communities in the area preserve and conserve with lessons from nature.

Sitting silently amidst the welcome ebb and flow of the River Krabi, hidden from the mainland like a secret meant to be preserved, Koh Klang is a hub of biodiversity and a peek into a life off the beaten path.

The welcoming Muslim fishing communities live in a time untouched (thankfully) by todays mayhem and own small shacks attached to their homestead on wooden stilts, with their own live fishing farms, fresh with marine life.

Its a part of Thailand that explores untouched coves, wildlife and adventure activities along the grooves of the Andaman Sea.

Theres fruit de la mer that is sumptuous and was by far the best meal we have had in Thailand: The family-run shack we stopped after taking a boat ride that passed silently lush mangroves Baan Ma Ying, was named after the mother of the house who dishes out the best  all prepared in the clean home kitchen by her daughter-in-law, who even gave us a recipe, their version of Tom Yum that was spice and tang personified with the welcome crunch of bamboo shoots. Pepper crabs, butter garlic octopus, steamed Thai fish, clams, squid, prawns, salad, fried rice in Thai style, and the thirst quenching drink of sugarcane juice.

The tastebuds satiated, the family, most of whom also run kayaking activities along the mangroves took us on a journey to the mouth of the river, where we perched precariously on kayaks, huffed and puffed on the gentle waters, doing a pretty impressive job of getting to the mouth... till we realised that with all our energies spent, we still had to get back! Luckily our kayaks also had an expert oarsman who jumped right in when our paddle resolve wanned.

We did close to a kilometer, and it was adventure at its best, our muscles say so too. One can spot Pacific Reef Egrets, Chinese Pond Herons, Common Sandpipers, White-breasted Waterhens, Common Redshanks and Rufus-necked Stints. Its also a breeding ground for marine life, especially the mud crabs. A lazy water buffalo basks in the waters. Preservation is key and the government, we learnt, does regular drives to teach the community to preserve this area.

The friendly families open up their hearts and homes. We even threw large fish to the hungry snapping sharks. Many of these families have migrated from Malaysia and live in such harmony, a lesson the world can learn from.

This fishing community help conserve marine life and the extensive mangrove forest. Living by the ocean in tandem with it, they also grow Sangyod (or Sang Yot) rice. And if you recognise those long tail boats or the traditional Hua Tong, this is where they originated and are now a symbol of Southern Thailand and Krabi.

The Batik best

The Batik industry in Thailand is indigenous by nature, and can be seen on the bright, printed shirts and wraparounds that many Thais brandish proudly. And stepping into a workshop to see how this Indian craft came to Thailand is in itself a surprise.

There is evidence of such prints found in the Far East, Middle East, Central Asia and India over 2,000 years ago. Whats most interesting is that these may have developed independently, without influence from trade though a more likely explanation is that Batik came from Asia through the caravan route.

Batik is also seen in China as early as the Sui Dynasty (AD 581-618). Indias Ajanta caves have engravings resembling the batiks prints. It makes one marvel at how history and craft spread far and wide.

Indonesias island of Java is where batik has reached the greatest peak of accomplishment. The word itself comes from the Javanese word Batik, that comes from the word amba (to write) and titik (dot). Or it may have been derived from a hypothetical Proto-Austronesian beCik or to tattoo.

We took a peek at the workshop as the master craftsman went on to print a silk scarf we even got lessons, though quite predictably, our print was a blurb of no proportions.

The tea mixer

Many tourists miss this particular legendary tea man who serves the famous Thai tea, iced or piping hot, making it with a flourish of a dervish, going round and round, pouring it from high up, its an experience of splash and splutter, so step away as you observe.

This is a Thailand that goes away from the beaten track, bringing you close to the heart of the community, its a way of life, giving you a peek of the rich culture. It is a Thailand that you must experience. A cup of iced tea in hand.

The writer was invited to Thailands hinterlands of Koh Klang by Tourism Authority of Thailand and Air Asia.
Bengaluru: Five youths, four hailing from Kerala and one from Nepal, were assaulted by a gang of five local people, who allegedly termed them as outsiders and attacked them with a bamboo stick. The incident was reported in Byrappa Layout in Bhoopasandra in Sanjaynagar police station limits late on Friday night.

Mervin Michael Joy, 22, who hails from Kottayam, sustained injuries in the attack and received nine sutures in the head. He is a sixth semester BBM student at a private college in Bhoopasandra. Along with him, his friends, Jebin, Kamsehwar, Masood, and Mohammed Hashir were beaten up. Kameshwar hails from Nepal. All of them are college students, except Hashir, who runs a paying guest accommodation.

The incident happened when Joy, Jebin, Kameshwar and Masood had gone to hotel close to the place they stayed. When they came out of the hotel, around 12 in the midnight, Joy found some youth had deflated his bike tyre. When he questioned the youth, he was reportedly told that they were doing it as the police had told them to do so.

When Joy, questioned which police, there was no appropriate answer and the youth along with his associates picked up an argument with Joy and his friends.

Passersby gathered and pacified both the groups, after which Joy left with his friends, pushing his bike. By the time they reached their home, a gang of five youths followed them and surrounded them near their house. They allegedly attacked them with a bamboo stick and pelted stones at them. Meanwhile, Hashir, who was informed about the incident, came near Joys house and he was also slapped by one of the miscreants. Narrating the incident, Hashir told Deccan Chronicle that the assailants kept on asking Are you from Kerala. There was no issue at all for them to fight with us. They told us we are outsiders and asked why we were here? For no reason, we were beaten up. We tried to talk to them and know what was their problem, but they were in no mood to listen and came charging at us.

After they left, I asked the friends to take Joy to hospital as he was bleeding in his head. After sometime, we went to Sanjaynagar police station to file a complaint, but the police was not willing to take the compliant. They told us that they would send a Hoysala patrolling vehicle to the spot, but we were not satisfied. It was only after we approached the staff at Bowring Hospital police out post, where we had gone to get Joy treated, a complaint was registered. They informed Sanjaynagar police, who then took up the case, Hashir alleged.

The Sanjayanagar police, who are investigating the case, have reportedly picked up two youth in connection with the incident.

One of them has been identified as Kiran and search is on for other accused, sources said.

We didnt refuse to register Plaint: DCP

When contacted DCP (North) T.R. Suresh said that the police did not refuse to register complaint. In fact, the staff at Sanjayanagar police asked them to go to Bowring Hospital and avail treatment. There was no delay in registering the complaint, he said, adding that two youths were detained and were being interrogated.
On February 5, the woman dropped an email to the DCW and informed the Commission about the incident. (Representational image)

New Delhi: A 19-year-old German national was allegedly sexually assaulted by an unidentified autorickshaw driver in December last year in central Delhi.

The incident had taken place in Prasad Nagar area two months ago when the German girl, who works for an NGO in Maharashtra, had come to Delhi with a male friend.

Both were staying at a hotel in Patel Nagar, said the police. While the Delhi Commission For Women, on whose direction an FIR was lodged, maintained that victim was assaulted twice in the same night, the police said that she has alleged being attacked only once. According to the police, on December 14 night, the Gerrman woman was walking in a lane near Patel Nagar.

German victim bit molestors tongue

The German tourist said she lost her way and sought help for directions. An autorickshaw driver offered her lift and later allegedly sexually assaulted her after taking the vehicle to a secluded spot. The accused then fled the scene and the woman came back to the hotel on foot. She did not report the incident to anyone, not even to her friend, and in a day or two both left Delhi, the police said.

On February 5, the woman dropped an email to the DCW and informed the Commission about the incident. She later came to Delhi on February 9 and the next day the commission counselled her and guided her in lodging a police complaint. On February 24, DCW chief Swati Maliwal issued a notice to DCP (central) and an FIR was registered.

According to DCW, however, on December 14 night, after being sexually assaulted once by the autorickshaw driver, the woman managed to escape and run to another street where she was intercepted by the accused again  then with a group of men sitting inside the vehicle who ran towards her, and started molesting her when she bit the tongue of one of them causing him to yell  leading to enough commotion for them to get afraid lest someone hear them, and run away, the complaint said.
Sonipat: Days after allegations of rape and molestation by Jat quota agitators near Haryana's Murthal, a woman on Sunday came forward and registered a case of gangrape against seven people, including her brother-in-law, in connection with the incident.



"An FIR has been lodged against seven persons in connection with a gangrape on the basis of a complaint filed by a Narela-based woman today," Haryana Police, DIG, Rajshree Singh told reporters.



She said the victim had alleged she was raped on the intervening night of February 22-23 and the perpetrators included her brother-in-law. The complainant said she knew all of them.

Read: Murthal gangrapes probe: Conflicting witness accounts deepen mystery



The officer, who heads a three-member team of women police officers constituted by the Haryana government to go into alleged incidents of rape and molestation of several women by Jat protesters, however, said a "family dispute" could be the reason behind the woman filing the complaint.



The officer said the victim was not sure about the exact scene of the crime but claimed she was raped in a building near Murthal when she was on way to Narela in Delhi from Haridwar on a van.

Read: Truck drivers deny seeing alleged rape of women at Murthal

The woman, however, said her 15-year-old daughter, who was accompanying her was not raped but her clothes were torn.



The DIG said the woman had called her up on Saturday and her statement was recorded Sunday.



Singh said most of the complaints she was receiving were from men who claimed their vehicles had been damaged by the agitators.



Earlier, some locals, including truck drivers, had claimed they had seen women being dragged to the fields by the protesters. TV channels showed footage of garments worn by women strewn in some places.



Some village heads had, however, trashed their claims and described it as an attempt to defame the people of the area.



Earlier in the day, three truck drivers had denied having witnessed any incident of sexual assault or rape even as Chief Minister M L Khattar said the guilty shall not go unpunished.

Having suffered massive financial loss during the agitation for inclusion of Jats in the Other Backward Classes list, the business community in worst-hit Rohtak demanded tax relief and electricity bill waiver.

A team of three women police officers  Rajshree Singh and DSPs Bharti Dabas and Surinder Kaur was formed by Haryana government to probe alleged incidents of sexual assault on some women near Murthal on the night intervening February 22 and 23. The state government is taking action on the news report about rape of some women during the protest. A SIT comprising three senior women police officers has been constituted. One can give any related information or evidence to the team over the telephone or through letter or online, Mr Khattar said.
To scare Rai even further, Gangster Naveen Singh sent him a few selfies carrying guns, armed with rifles and bombs. (Photo: Twitter)

Bihar: In a bid to scare their targets, a gang of extortionists in Bihar's Darbhanga region invented a new way to demand ransom from a school teacher by sending a selfie of their members armed with rifles on Whatsapp, according to a report in India Today.

The incident was reported by Shyam Kumar Rai, a resident of Navtolia village who received a threat call from a gangster demanding Rs 5 lakh ransom. To scare Rai even further, Gangster Naveen Singh sent him a few selfies carrying guns, armed with rifles and bombs.

Scared for his life, Rai filed an FIR with the nearest police station. Upon receiving his complaint, police formed a special team who then tracked Naveen's mobile phone and nabbed him while he was trying to flee Navtolia.

Naveen has been wanted in several cases and has been detained.
New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley hit out at the opposition for politicising the JNU row while addressing the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. Jaitley asked if hate speech can be referred to free speech in reference to the alleged anti-national slogans that were raised by students in the University.

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday said that there cannot be only one ideology in a democratic country like India while rejecting opposition's charge over the Jawaharlal Nehru University row in the Rajya Sabha.

#LIVE: JNU is not a sovereign territory. If Indian penal code is being violated, police is in its right to enter: @arunjaitley in RS  Deccan Chronicle (@DeccanChronicle) February 25, 2016

"Can there ever be an argument in a democracy like ours that there can be only one ideology, obviously not. Does the right to free speech give me the right to break the country to pieces? Let us forget the idea of India. It is the territory of India that is being attacked today," Jaitley said in Rajya Sabha.

Rejecting the allegations made by the opposition that the government was cracking down on students because it didn't agree with their views, Jaitley said, "some amount of radical romancing also takes place in universities, will we give respectability to people whose ideology is to break nation?"

"Vandalism is condemnable (on Patiala House Court issue) but sedition is free speech?" asks Jaitley.

The finance minister said associating Dr. Ambedkar with separatists like Afzal is sacrilege.

"We all know what Afzal Guru represented. You cannot put posters of Dr Ambedkar on the occasion of celebrating Yakub Memon. It is extremely unfortunate that some people takes steps before contemplating the same. And your party did the same on this (JNU) issue," he added.

"JNU is not a sovereign territory that police cannot enter. If Indian penal code is being violated, police is in its right to enter," he said.
New Delhi: Congress and BJP in Punjab on Saturday mounted a sharp attack on Delhi Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, who is touring Punjab with an eye on the 2017 assembly poll, saying he is "chasing an illusive dream of ruling" the state instead of serving Delhiites who are facing severe water crisis.

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh said Kejriwal is trying to "sell false dreams" in Punjab instead of standing with his people and address their pressing problems.

State BJP chief Kamal Sharma termed Kejriwal as 'Natwarlal' of politics who is "befooling everyone".

'Natwarlal' is the character of a con man in a popular Hindi cinema.

"This mufflerman bureaucrat-turned-politician has created anarchy in Delhi. Now, he is hell bent upon replicating the same in Punjab. But the people of Punjab are very intelligent and would not allow him to succeed in his designs," the BJP president said in a statement.

Singh said there has been no supply of water in most parts of Delhi for the past 10 days due to the Jat stir in Haryana but Kejriwal is "loitering around" in Punjab. The characteristic of Kejriwal is either to put the blame on someone else or run away from the situation, he claimed.

Besides, the Congress leader said, "why his heart did not bleed for thousands of Punjabis who were selectively targeted in violence and their properties damaged in Haryana?" "Leave aside visiting them and offering them any assurance, you didn't even bother to issue a word of consolation for them and not even to those women who were allegedly molested and raped," Singh said in a statement.

He said Kejriwal's promise of job to family members of Bhim Taank of Abohar whose limbs were chopped off by some goons was made with an eye on the 2017 assembly poll.

Singh asked why Kejriwal did not bother to visit the Pathankot terror attack victim from Ambala, Gursewak Singh, while he did so in the case of two others in Pathankot and gave them cash relief.

Advising Kejriwal to better focus on Delhi "than loitering around in Punjab", Singh cautioned him against losing even Delhi in this "misplaced excitement".

"People neither forgive nor forget. So better beware against taking them for granted as they can throw you out anytime and the situation is building fast towards that end as you have badly failed their expectations in Delhi," he told Kejriwal, adding "leave Punjab to Punjabis as they know their job pretty well".
Bengaluru: A 13-year-old student ended his life by hanging after his parents allegedly chided him for scoring poor marks in internal tests.

The incident was reported in BCC Layout in Gangondanahalli in Chandra Layout police station limits on Friday night.

The deceased, Satish, was studying in the sixth standard in Vidyasagar school near his house. He was the son of Kumar, a car driver, and Kariyamma. Police said that the couple used to go for work at a hotel near their house every evening.

They had left house around 8 pm and returned by 10.30 pm, to find Satish hanging from the ceiling. Kumar brought his son down and rushed him to a nearby hospital. The doctor referred the boy to Vani Vilas Hospital, where the doctors declared him brought dead.

In his statement to the police, Kumar has said that Satish was not studying well and had scored poor marks in the internal tests. School teachers had also informed the parents about this and they were reportedly scolding him to study well. Even on Friday evening, Kumar had scold Satish and asked him to study well. Upset over this, the boy has taken the extreme step, the police added. An unnatural death case is registered in Chandra Layout police station in this connection.
Chennai: The Kancheepuram police on Saturday detained Dhanalakshmi, 22, a BBA student in the UK and daughter of Sridhar Dhanapalan, 43, who is facing 43 cases including seven murders, but settled in Dubai.

Yes, Dhanalakshmi was detained for questioning to know the whereabouts of her father. She was let off later, said a senior police officer when contacted.

She was to board the 9.45 am Dubai-bound flight going via Colombo when security agencies detained her.

Sources indicated that it was a police strategy to put pressure on Sridhar to return to India and face the cases. Sources also said the police questioned her since Friday evening. She was questioned on Friday evening and also detained at the airport for questioning again.

Sridhars younger daughter is studying in Kancheepuram while his son who was studying in Coimbatore had joined his father in Dubai after the police allegedly started harassing him.

Police believe that Sridhar was involved in a good number of land grabbing cases and local police had opted to turn a blind eye on his activities for certain period which helped him to spread his network and build multi-crore real estate empire in Kancheepuram, the same place where he started his illegal activities as an illicit arrack seller decades ago.

Sridhar went to Dubai in 2013, when he was released from prison after finishing six months jail term in one case. Since then he had not returned to India. He now supplies diesel for generators at construction sites in Dubai.

According to a senior police officer, Kancheepuram police questioned Dhanalakshmi and recorded her statements. Police believe the woman could have been operating on behalf of her father and she was allegedly trying to finish a Rs 10 crore land deal during her visit to her home town.

On Friday evening, the police questioned her for more than two hours after her car was intercepted near Ranipet, while she was going to Vellore. She told police she was rushing to Dubai because her mother was not well.
Bengaluru: In an inhuman act, a drunk man allegedly stoned to death a three-month-old dog in Sheshadripuram police station limits. A police complaint has been registered in connection with the incident and the police are yet to question the culprit.

Appu, a 21-year-old youth and the owner of the dog, Nancy, has filed the complaint against his neighbour Palani, accusing him of pelting stones at the dog and causing her death.

Appu, a resident of Sheshadripuram, has stated in his complaint that Palani attacked Nancy with stone on Thursday night and she succumbed to injuries by Friday afternoon. Based on his complaint a post-mortem was conducted on the dog.

After hearing about the incident, animal activist Vijay Nishanth met Appu, who wanted action to be initiated against Palani.

Nishanth took him to the police station and helped him in the legal aspects related to the case. Appus family members were depressed after losing Nancy, and they wanted that culprit to be punished and taught a lesson. So I advised them on the legal aspects and asked them to file a police complaint, Mr. Nishanth told Deccan Chronicle.

The Sheshadripuram police have registered a case under Section 429 (mischief by killing any animal which value above Rs 50) of the IPC. Preliminary investigations have revealed that the accused has allegedly caused trouble to several dogs in the locality. We will summon him and question him in this regard. However, it is a bailable offence, an official said.
BJP senior L. Ganesan flayed Left parties for displaying holier than thou attitude and dared them to explain why the JNU agitation was deliberately chosen on the anniversary of execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.

Speaking on various issues, he says, the JNU row will not affect the partys poll prospects in Tamil Nadu. We have not closed our doors to our allies of 2014 Lok Sabha election whom we want to continue with uswe are also open to new parties joining NDA, he says.



Excerpts of the interview to Siva Prasanna Kumar.

Q: The four-party led Peoples Welfare Front (PWF) is demanding BJP national secretary H. Raja to retract his controversial remarks on JNU stir and CPI leader D. Rajas daughter. Will the PWF agitation affect BJPs poll prospects?

A: Most unlikely. D. Rajas daughter did participate in the agitation. Why did they deliberately choose the day of hanging of Afzal Guru to agitate? Is he above nation? For BJP and also for everyone in the country, nation comes first.



Q: Is there any justification in CPI (M) General secretary Prakash Karat demanding scrapping of sedition clause in IPC?

A: It is the court that should decide and not Communists. Investigation into alleged anti-national slogans raised on JNU campus is on.

Q: You seem to have favoured an alliance with AIADMK. Will this be advantageous to BJP?

A: There is no point in aligning with DMK because Congress is with it. There is no question of entering into a poll pact with PWF in which left parties are constituents. So, if there is any other political party that remains neutral, it is the AIADMK.

This doesnt mean we dont want other parties that had been with us in the past. We want all parties which had been our allies during 2014 Lok Sabha elections to remain in our NDA and face the Assembly election together.

Q: What will be the BJPs major poll plank in the Assembly poll?

A: A committee under H. Raja is in the process of preparing the manifesto. We want to project BJP as capable of providing a corruption-free government. This has been proved by the over 20-months able administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Q: What is your view on the Hindu Munnanis DVD on the alleged Jihadi killings in Tamil Nadu?

A: I was not present at the launch of the DVD but I can say the killings of Hindu leaders have been going on for over two decades. Our (leader) Jana Krishnamurthy was brutally attacked while returning from a public meeting. Both DMK and AIADMK have been in power. The culprits have not been punished so far.



Q: Will you contest in this Assembly election?

A: I am not contesting this time. I have conveyed this to my party leaders.
However, there have been contradictory reports from the government. It is neither confirming nor denying that the children have died from malnutrition. (Representational image)

Jaipur: Malnutrition is said to have claimed the lives of 25 children in Rajasthan in the last two-and-half-months. Nearly half of them are from Barmer alone. According to reports, 16 more children in Barmer are in a critical condition.

These deaths have occurred in 13 districts on the high priority list for need of health services. What is also shocking is that the children died during the community-based management of acute malnutrition programme (CMAMP).

Under this programme, which was launched on December 21 and ended on February 16, the state government screened 2,40,000 children in 1,489 villages of 41 blocks in 13 high focus districts, and identified over 9,500 children.

However, there have been contradictory reports from the government. It is neither confirming nor denying that the children have died from malnutrition.

Health minister Raj-endra Rathore said the number of malnutrition deaths was negligible. According to him, nearly 97 per cent children have recovered under the programme, which means he didnt rule out that malnutrition deaths occur.

During the CMAMP programme, in the last six months, the ratio of death among acutely malnourished children was just 0.25 per cent. In these cases the possibility of deaths is 21 per cent, he said on Saturday. But about the reports of 25 deaths, he said majority of them were due to other reasons.

On the other hand, managing director of state health mission Navin Jain outright rejected the malnutrition deaths.

Meanwhile, the district collector Sudhir Sharma in Barmer said that prima facie malnutrition is said to be the cause of deaths of these children. But, on the record they have been found to be suffering from other illness as well.

Between December 20, 2015, and February 15, five children  all girls  in Barmers Chouhtan district, four in Balotra and two in Siwana died of severe acute malnutrition.
President Pranab Mukherjee hands over a tablet to a representative of Student Police Cadets at ULCC limited economic zone in Kozhikode on Saturday. (Photo: Venugopal)

Kozhikode: President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday hailed the achievements of Kerala in e-governance and hoped that the state would become a fully digital society by 2020.

Declaring Kerala as the first digital state at Cyberpark here, he said the digital literacy campaign initiated by the state would enable digital empowerment of citizens of all walks of life. The initiative will cover three million people in the age group of 30-60, he said.

President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday hailed the achievements of Kerala in e-governance and hoped that the state would become a fully digital society by 2020. Declaring Kerala as the first digital state at Cyberpark here, he said the digital literacy campaign initiated by the state would enable digital empowerment of citizens of all walks of life.

It will help the people to use internet to avail of government and private services in a secure manner. The initiative will cover three million people in the age group of 30-60. Kerala is on track to become a fully digital society by 2020, he said.

He also lauded the e-services provided through more than 600 e-governance applications covering all government departments and its availability on mobile platform.

About 30,000 e-certificates are being delivered daily by the revenue department alone. With a broadband connectivity in every grama panchayat, Kerala has emerged as a truly digital state, he remarked.

After inaugurating the UL Cyberpark, the President said that the first phase of the cyberpark would provide jobs to 5,000 professionals and indirect employment to over 20,000.

Inaugurating the gender park, Mr Mukherjee said the park would test and replicate new interventions in the field of women empowerment.

The President also inaugurated Kanivu, the care and compassionate programme of Social Justice Department. Governor Justice P. Sathasivam presided. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Ministers P.K. Kunhalikutty, M.K. Muneer, MP M.K. Raghavan and Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society (ULCCS) chairman Rameshan Paleri were also present.
NIZAMABAD: TRS MLC Bhupati Reddy and his supporters gathered around party MLA B. Govardhan and began questioning him about the missing picture. The MLA then attacked the MLC and his follower in public.

Mr Kumar Reddy, the TRS activist who was slapped, lodged a complaint against the MLA, and was admitted to the Government General Hospital in Nizamabad.

Dr Bhupati Reddy lodged a complaint against Nizamabad Rural circle inspector Muni Naik for taking sides and not preventing the attack on the TRS activist.

Nizamabad rural police registered a case against Dr Bhupati Reddy for attacking a police officer. Inspector Muni Naik lodged a complaint stating that the MLC had threatened him.

Asked about the incident, Mr Govadhan said he had not slapped anyone. The police had intervened to avert a clash as Dr Bhupati Reddys followers were creating nuisance, he said.

Dr Bhupati Reddy said Mr Govardhan had behaved like an illiterate and attacked an activist who working with the TRS since its inception.

Instead of averting a clash, police officers tried to protect the legislator, he alleged. He said the MLA had not slapped him, but both of them jostled.

There is simmering tension between the two. Mr Govardhan, a two-time Congress MLA, joined the TRS ahead of the 2014 elections and was given the ticket from Nizamabad Rural. Dr Bhupati Reddy, elected MLC for the first time, was incharge of the constituency.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi sought to allay the exam fears of students by saying that the Union Budget to be presented on Monday is a big examination for him that he needs to pass.

I have an exam tomorrow, he said as he tried to motivate students. He even roped in icons like Sachin Tendulkar and Vishwanathan Anand.

Mr Modi, who admitted to feeling tension sometimes, said he was full of confidence ahead of his examination by 125 crore people, a trait which he wanted students to emulate when they appear for their examinations for Class X and XII starting Tuesday.

In his monthly radio programme Mann Ki Baat, he emphasised that students should appear for the exams with a positive approach having free and calm mind without any anxiety. He also asked parents not to put pressure on them.

In this context, he cited his example in the context of presentation of Budget which all the countrymen closely monitor and analyse.

Friends, your exams are starting. I too have exam tomorrow. The countrys 125 crore people are going to take my examination, the Prime Minister said, while pointing out that Budget is being presented tomorrow.

But you must have seen how healthy I am feeling, how full of confidence I am. Let my exams take place tomorrow and yours day after and may all of us succeed so that the nation succeeds... Move ahead with a free mind, without any tension of success or failure, he said in his 35-minute programme. The PM also urged students to use yoga to calm down.
NEW DELHI: JNU Students Union president Kanhaiya Kumar, who is lodged in a secluded cell in Tihar facing sedition charges, has written to the National Human Rights Commission that attack on him by a group of lawyers at the Patiala House courts complex had unnerved him and he fears serious threat not only to his life, but also to his family in Bihar.

Fearing threat to his life, the jail authorities have already provided him unprecedented security cover in Tihar.

In his five-page handwritten statement to the NHRC, a copy of which has been accessed by this newspaper, Mr Kumar has given a detailed account on how he was arrested from the JNU campus without being given any prior information or served any summons or warrant by the Delhi police.

He said, on the police request, he had given in writing that the situation in the country was deteriorating and he had full faith in Indias unity and Constitution. The same statement was issued later in the form of an appeal by the police.

Mr Kumar said when he was brought to the Patiala House courts, the police personnel were talking amongst themselves and the way arrangements had been made constantly increased his fear.
New Delhi: Struggling to stay in the race, the BJP in West Bengal is all set to make nationalism its main poll plank and subtly play the religion card by raising the Durga controversy in the Assembly elections in the state.

BJP national secretary and West Bengal co-in-charge Siddharth Nath Singh, speaking to this newspaper, made it clear that nationalism will be our main poll plank in Bengal. Echoing that sentiment, senior state BJP leader Shishir Bajoria, who switched allegiance from the Left to the saffron party, said: While I was with the Left, I always had a serious difference with them over nationalism.

While making nationalism its key plank, the BJP is also planning to deftly play the religion card by raising the Durga controversy to woo Bengali voters. Mr Singh said that during last years Durga Puja, the Mamata Banerjee government had delayed immersions as it clashed with the Muharram procession. This is nothing but appeasement, Mr Singh said.

He also felt that projecting Goddess Durga as a sex symbol by the Leftists has hurt the sentiments of Bengal.

When reminded there were regions in Bengal, including Purulia, where a section of the community worships Mahisashur, Mr Bajoria suddenly refused to be drawn into the controversy. I do not want to comment on anybodys faith, he said.

The BJP, that had initially zoomed up the Bengal charts after its stunning Lok Sabha electoral triumph in 2014, has now slipped down the ladder. The party has been accused of trying to polarise votebanks by playing the communal card. Mr Singh recently tried to paint Trinamul Congress pro-Muslim by alleging that Mamata Banerjee thinks only about 28 per cent voters. The Muslim population in West Bengal is roughly around 30 per cent.

The RSS has incidentally also been pushing for extreme nationalism. Its mouthpiece Organiser, in its latest issue, published an article saying: Anti-national elements have been crossing the thin line between dissent and treason. To save the academic credentials of the institution (JNU), such toxic elements have to be dumped. The Bengal BJP is all set to toe the line, targeting Jadavpur University vice-chancellor Suranjan Das for not taking action against those students who had raised anti-India slogans.

The BJP has decided to aggressively pursue contentious planks as its electoral prospects look grim, with the CPI(M) and the Congress all set to join hands to counter

Trinamul. Speaking to this correspondent from Kolkata, Congress leader and former PCC chief Somen Mitra said: People in West Bengal want the Congress and Left to join hands against Trinamul. Despite maintaining a 17 per cent of voteshare, the proposed CPI(M)-Congress alliance against Trinamul has sent alarm bells ringing for the lotus brigade. With the development issue fading, the saffron party has no option but to push for nationalism and play the religion card.
New Delhi: The Central Information Commission has directed the Home Ministry to disclose action taken against the officials of intelligence agencies who had cleared the names of actor Saif Ali Khan (2010) and businessman Arun Firodia (2012) for Padma awards.

Acting on a plea of activist Subhash Agrawal who had alleged that due diligence was not taken while clearing their names for the coveted awards, CIC quoted previous order of the Commission which had said once awards have been finalised there is larger public interest in disclosing information about it. Agrawal had sought to know "complete information on action taken against the ones concerned in intelligence agencies for clearing names of Arun Firodia and Saif Ali Khan for Padma awards without proper investigation".

He had also asked about steps taken to disclose names of members of the Awards Committee for Padma awards making specific recommendations. Information Commissioner Sudhir Bhargava also directed the Ministry to make public if PMO and some public authority concerned received objections against some of Padma awardees including also for year 2014 besides complete records and file notings on the action taken on it.

Bhargava further directed disclosure of names of those having made recommendations for Padma awards 2015 and if such information has been put on the website as assured by MHA in an earlier communication. "The Commission with regards to point nos. 21 and 22 of the RTI application observes that providing the name of persons making recommendations for Padma awards 2015 and also number of recommendations received from each State/ ministries would make the process transparent and will be in the interest of the public as people would become aware as to who is recommending whose name for the prestigious awards," he said.
Belagavi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi would like to give new shape to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), launched by the last UPA government, to help save water in all villages across the country.

Addressing a farmers' rally to sensitise them to the Centres Fasal Bima Yojana on Saturday here, Mr Modi said the scheme should not be restricted to merely digging of pits, but help in creation of assets.

We are bringing pressure on the states to give top priority to works related to water conservation under MNREGS. The money allocated should be spent on building canals, check dams and other such work to help save water, he said, arguing that had successive governments given importance to water management since Independence, farmers would not be forced to commit suicide today.

They are capable of producing gold from the soil if they receive adequate water.We recently launched a project called Pradhan Manthri Krishi Sinchai Yojana worth Rs 50,000 crore to give more water to farmers The project also involves linking of rivers, Mr Modi recalled, noting that countries which did not have water sources had been able to improve their agricultural output merely by improving their water management.

Israel is one such country. It has been able to grow quality produce and get good yield even by using less water,' he pointed out, calling for more use of drip irrigation, sprinklers and micro irrigation to improve agriculture in India as well.

The Prime Minister also appealed to the youth in Karnataka, particularly from IT-savvy Bengaluru to come out with new technology to help farmers grow more on their fields.

Is it possible for youth to come out with an instrument which can be used to test the quality of agricultural land? I invite the youth to launch such a project as it can help farmers get better yield without use of fertilisers, which have been turning the soil infertile,'' he said.

Moving on to the issue of corruption, Mr Modi said when he took over as Prime Minister it was all the people were talking about in the country. But since I took charge, even our rivals have not been able to level any allegation of corruption against my government, he maintained.

Blaze near venue sparks tension

Tension was palpable outside the venue of a farmers rally addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as fire gutted heaps of hay about 150 metres from the dais in this border city on Saturday.

Thick smoke billowed from a spot close to Angadi Institute of Technology when Mr Modi was addressing farmers on Fasal Bima Yojana. Several fire engines rushed to the spot to bring the fire under control.

Many people who came to attend the rally had parked their vehicles close to the spot where fire broke out. The cause for such a blaze is being investigated by local police officers.
New Delhi: In future, India and the US could jointly explore Mars and who knows an Indian astronaut could also head to the Red planet on a joint mission.

India's maiden mission to the Red Planet, Mangalyaan, has opened the eyes of the world on ISRO's capabilities at undertaking low cost, high value inter-planetary mission.

Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory or JPL, a part of NASA and an institution better known for piloting most of the American planetary exploration efforts with rovers like Curiosity, says India and the US could jointly explore Mars and even invited India to send astronauts to the Red Planet.

Excerpts from the interview with Chales Elachi:

Q) The US is interested in going back to Mars, so is India. Will India and America look at a joint robotic mission to explore Mars?

A) We hope so that it will be the case in the future. At NASA, we are just beginning to plan for next mission to Mars for the next decade, which is 2020-2030. In fact shortly, there is a meeting in Washington on possible collaborations for the next 5-6 mission to Mars and ISRO is invited for that meeting. This is in preparation for the ultimate human space flight to Mars. We clearly hope that India would be interested. Hopefully, India will be part of the consortium between US, Europe, France, Italy among others where all can capitalise on our capabilities to explore the solar system.

Q) A cooperative exploratory mission is what you are looking at?

A) Yes, that is right. With its accomplishment on the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) India is a great partner, India can be a full partner in the international endeavour for exploring Mars.

Q) In the long run, President Barack Obama has said America should send humans to Mars, so are you looking at a collaboration with India on that mission, since India also has a human space flight program?

A) NASA is starting to plan for the human expedition to Mars, and NASA is looking at it as an international endeavour.

NASA has invited international agencies to start thinking together on how to send humans to Mars and beyond. So clearly that is an area where there will be collaboration between India and the US considering the capability that India has, by showing that it can meaningfully contribute to international endeavours.

Q) What was NASA's role in India's mission to Mars?

A) When India launched its mission to Mars, and I congratulate India on a superb mission by reaching the orbit or Mars in the very first attempt. JPL supported ISRO in the navigation and communication because of the antennas we have.

Reaching the Mars orbit in first attempt was an amazing achievement and that too at such low cost. Now American scientists through its MAVEN mission and India through its Mars Orbiter Mission are sharing data.

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Project Loon utilises big balloons floating at a height of 20 km above the earth surface for transmission of Internet services.

New Delhi: Government has asked Google to select a telecom operator as partner for testing the balloon-based Internet technology, Loon Project, in the country.

"Google wants to test the Loon Project in expensive and scarce spectrum bands. It has been asked to partner with any telecom operator that can meet its requirement and then approach the government for testing Loon," an official source told PTI.

The official said that if Google wishes to conduct a test with BSNL, it can carry out the experiment in the spectrum held by the state-owned company.

"This approach should resolve the spectrum band sought by Google as well as security, to some extent," the official added.

An e-mail sent to Google went unanswered. In India, Google has approached the government to set up the Loon project that has the potential to replace mobile towers as it can directly transmit signal on 4G mobile phones.

The Telecom Ministry has formed a panel under IT secretary and asked BSNL to look at providing necessary support for the experiment. Meetings in this regard were held in October-November.

The project hit a roadblock after Google sought to conduct test in 700 Mhz or 800 Mhz band instead of 2500Mhz band that BSNL holds. The 700 Mhz band is the most expensive and efficient spectrum for telecom services and is yet to be allocated to any service provider.

Telecom regulator Trai has suggested including this spectrum in upcoming auction at a minimum price of Rs 11,485 crore per Mhz and a company will require to buy a minimum of 5 Mhz.

Google, under its Project Loon, is using big balloons floating at a height of 20 km above the earth surface for transmission of Internet services.

It has already tested this technology in New Zealand, California (the US) and Brazil. As per Google, each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area of about 40 km in diameter using a wireless communication technology called LTE, or 4G.

Google uses solar panel and wind to power electronic equipment in the balloon throughout the day.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
Whatsapp will discontinue its services for older operating systems by 2017.

Mumbai: Facebook-owned messaging platform Whatsapp recently announced that it would discontinue its services for older operating systems by the end of 2016.

Whatsapp, which turned seven years old earlier this week, said in a blog post that it will stop supporting aged operating systems such as Nokia S40, Nokia Symbian S60, Android 2.1 and 2.2, and Windows Phone 7.1.

When the company started off in 2009, the mobile operating systems offered by Google, Microsoft, and Applewhich account for 99.5 per cent sales todaywere present on less than 25 per cent of the handsets.

Moreover, about 70 per cent of smartphones sold during that time had either Blackberry or Nokia based operating systems.

The company has decided to lay greater emphasis on security features and add more ways for seamless communication. However, older operating systems and smartphones do not offer the tools required for future integrations planned by Whatsapp.

While these mobile devices have been an important part of our story, they don't offer the kind of capabilities we need to expand our app's features in the future, the blog said.

This was a tough decision for us to make, but the right one in order to give people better ways to keep in touch with friends, family, and loved ones using WhatsApp, it added.

Click on Deccan Chronicle Technology and Science for the latest news and reviews. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter.
International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde speaks during a news conference at the IMF in Washington. (Photo: AP)

Tunis: Tunisia should adjust its development model to counter economic slowdown and build "inclusive growth", the International Monetary Fund's country representative said, ahead of an expected line of IMF credit.

The authorities have failed to redress the economy since the uprising five years ago that ousted longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Tunisia's economic growth slowed to 0.8 percent last year from 2.3 percent in 2014, and unemployment nationwide stands at 15 percent.

In January, a wave of protests spread to several cities including Tunis in some of the worst social unrest since the 2011 revolt.

"This trend needs to be reversed... The idea would be to build the base for inclusive growth and revise Tunisia's development model," Robert Blotevogel told AFP.

An IMF delegation is in Tunisia to discuss a new aid package at least equal to a $1.7 billion credit line granted in 2013.

Blotevogel said the government and the IMF had agreed on "the goal for big reforms and the diagnosis" of the situation, and were now "mostly focusing on the timeline for implementation".

The IMF's board is expected to approve the new line of credit to be over four years at the request of Tunis on April 22, he said.

"Expected growth for 2016 does not correspond to the aspirations of the Tunisian people. It will not be strong enough to reduce unemployment", he said.

He said he expected 2016 to be a "stabilisation year", explaining that the agriculture sector was expected to perform less well than in 2015.

Olive oil and date exports gave the economy a boost in 2015, the finance minister said in October.

Tourism hit by attacks

In tourism, "initial signs... do not lead to believe that there will be any great recovery" this year, Blotevogel added.

Tunisia lost more than a third of its vital tourism revenues in 2015, after attacks claimed by the Islamic State group that killed 59 foreign tourists.

Blotevogel said Tunisia should adjust its budget to relaunch the economy and ensure growth can "reach the most vulnerable and also the disadvantaged regions".

"We are facing a problem in the composition of the budget," he said, adding that the civil service was "a great drain on state expenses" and "a great challenge for Tunisia's economy".

Tunisia's last line of credit from the IMF in 2013 which was over two years with a seven-month extension came as support for the political transition after the 2011 uprising.

The package was implemented in "very difficult conditions", Blotevogel said, citing slow growth in the European Union, Tunisia's largest trade partner, and the crisis in neighbouring Libya.

The democratic transition "took longer than expected" and was "accompanied by social unrest... then by the security aspect whose importance increased with the terrorist attacks in 2015".

An IS-claimed attack on the National Bardo Museum in Tunis in March last year killed 21 tourists and a policeman, while another killed 38 tourists at a beach resort near Sousse in July.

A suicide bombing on a bus in Tunis in November, also claimed by IS, killed 12 presidential guards.

Tunisia showed a "certain resilience because the greater macro-economic balances were maintained," Blotevogel said.

The authorities also "made considerable progress in several fields including the financial sector" with the restructuring of public banks.

But the country still faces "a number of challenges, weaknesses", he said.
Detective J.D Duran, right, and Anaheim Police Department forensics officerJeannette Torres investigate the scene in Anaheim, Calif., Saturday, Feb.27, 2016, after a small group of Ku Klux Klan members staging an anti-immigrant rally clashed with a larger gathering of counter-protesters. (Photo: AP)

Los Angeles: Three people have been stabbed, one of them critically, and 13 others arrested in California when a Ku Klux Klan (KKK) rally erupted into clashes with counter- protesters, witnesses and police said.

Around midday, half a dozen members of the white hate group arrived at the protest site in Anaheim where they were swarmed by protesters, who attacked them with at least one wooden plank, witness Brian Levin told AFP.

Preliminarily, it appears six KKK people arrived and were immediately attacked by counter-protesters, which led to a counter-protester being stabbed, local police spokesman Sergeant Daron Wyatt said on Saturday.

The initial clash spawned several separate fights, Wyatt added, noting that the three stabbing victims were all counter-protesters, while another two KKK members were stomped by the crowd.

Of those arrested, six were KKK members and seven were from the rival demonstration, Wyatt said. All were men, except for one woman in each group.

The counter-protesters smashed the side window of the Klan SUV and the front windshield, said Levin, who heads the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University in San Bernardino.

At that point, the crowd got extremely violent.

Some of the protesters started kicking a man wearing a shirt that read Grand Dragon, said Levin, describing the KKK members wounds as ranging from minor to significant.

He was kicked when he was down on the ground, he said.

Levin said he had attended the rally as an observer, but ended up standing in between the Klansmen and the crowd of angry protesters to try to stem the violence.
"Six people died, five of them rescuers," said Anton Kovalishin, a spokesman for the emergencies ministry in the Komi region where the Severnaya mine is located. (Photo: Google Maps)

Moscow: The death toll in Russia's worst mining disaster in recent history climbed to 36 on Sunday as officials said 26 missing workers could not have survived and another six, most of them rescuers, had been killed in a new explosion.

On Thursday, four miners were killed when a methane explosion ripped through the Severnaya mine in Arctic Russia at a depth of 748 metres (2,450 feet).

"According to the expert technical council, 26 (missing) people who were in the mine had no chances of surviving," Tatyana Bushkova, a spokeswoman for the mine's operator Vorkutaugol, said on Sunday.

"The rescue operation has been halted," she added in an emailed statement.

A fresh methane explosion at the mine in the small hours of Sunday killed five rescue workers and a miner, Anton Kovalishin, a spokesman for the emergencies ministry in the Komi region where the mine is located, said.

The pit is located in the city of Vorkuta in the Komi region, which used to host one of the most feared Soviet-era Gulag labour camps.

Vorkutaugol is operated by Severstal, the Russian steelmaker controlled by billionaire Alexey Mordashov.

Authorities launched a massive search operation involving hundreds of rescue workers who had been trying to track down the missing despite almost zero visibility, smoke, gas-polluted air and rubble.

Both the company and the authorities had until now refused to declare the missing dead even though rescuers appear to have failed to make contact with them over the past few days.

But the latest explosion forced officials to admit that no-one could have survived.

"Unfortunately, we are forced to acknowledge that all the conditions at that section of the mine would not allow a person to survive," Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said for his part in comments broadcast by LifeNews television channel.

Bushkova said a fire was still burning at the mine and the company was considering whether to flood the pit or pump inert gas into it.

'Risk of new explosions'

Seventy-seven people were in the mine during the rescue operation when the latest explosion hit, the emergencies ministry said.

Of these, 71 were rescued and brought to the surface. Eleven of them were injured.

"According to experts, there is a high risk of new explosions," the ministry said.

Sunday, Monday and Tuesday have been declared days of mourning in the region.

Earlier this week President Vladimir Putin tasked the government with setting up a special panel to inquire into the accident.

The Investigative Committee has opened a criminal probe into any violation of safety rules and dispatched investigators and forensic experts to the scene.

Mine accidents are fairly common in Russia and other former Soviet countries, where much of the infrastructure has not been modernised since the Communist era.

The explosion at the Severnaya mine took place despite the fact that the company has over the past years invested heavily into safety, Vorkutaugol said.

In 2010, 91 people both miners and rescuers died after a methane explosion at the Raspadskaya mine in the Siberian region of Kemerovo.

In 2007, 110 people died at the Ulyanovskaya mine, also in Kemerovo, the country's worst mining accident since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Paris: French far-right patriarch Jean-Marie Le Pen, kicked out of his own party for xenophobic and anti-Semitic comments, has given controversial US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump the thumbs up.

"If I was American I would vote for Donald Trump... may God protect him," tweeted the fiery 87-year-old founder of the National Front, now led by his daughter Marine.

Le Pen was booted out of the party after a bitter feud with his daughter over his continued inflammatory, racist and xenophobic comments while she tries to polish the FN's image to lure voters.

Last year he rehashed familiar comments about Nazi gas chambers being a "detail" of history and said France should get along with Russia to save the "white world".

He has also in the past declared the races are not equal and said in 2014 that Ebola could clear up Europe's immigration problem "in three months".

While the elder Le Pen remains a thorn in the side of the National Front, the party has -- much like Trump -- won increasing support from voters disaffected with the traditional ruling class.

The party drew a record number of votes in December regional polls but failed to win a single region.

Trump's unlikely juggernaut in the US presidential primaries on the back of comments tinged by racism and veering towards demagoguery, has stunned observers and shaken the American political establishment to its core.

Le Pen's endorsement comes after former Mexican president Felipe Calderon compared the real estate mogul to Adolf Hitler and said he was "frankly racist".
Iranian women show their identification, as they queue in a polling station in Tehran. (Photo: AP)

Tehran: The first results from Iran's parliamentary election on Saturday showed a split of seats among conservatives, reformists and independent candidates, media reports said, after turnout of around 60 percent.

Coming just a month after sanctions were lifted under Iran's nuclear deal with world powers, the outcome of Friday's vote is being seen as a de-facto referendum on President Hassan Rouhani.

A political moderate, Rouhani is hoping his alliance with reformists, called The List of Hope, can curtail conservative dominance of parliament, improving his chances of passing social and political reforms.

Early results, published by the semi-official ISNA news agency quoting electoral officials, suggested no one faction would win a majority.

Out of 27 constituencies less than 10 percent of the total eight went to conservatives, four to reformists and eight to independents, with others set to go to a second round because no candidate won 25 percent of the vote.

The high number of independent winners could suggest a partial shift away from Iran's sharply factional politics towards the middle ground.

If that trend continues when more seats are declared it may be because voters reacted to the high number of reformist candidates who were not allowed to compete in the elections, a reform-minded analyst said.

"They may have been more inclined to vote for people they know rather than for candidates strictly identified as conservatives or something else on a list," Saeed Laylaz said.

33 million voted

Based on unconfirmed reports, he predicted a strong showing for the List of Hope, comprising moderates and reformists.

"What is for sure is that there will be less conservatives from the hard right in the next parliament. It won't be easy for them," Laylaz said.

Around 60 percent of voters cast ballots 33 million out of 55 million eligible voters the interior ministry said. Polling stations were kept open late Friday to allow millions of latecomers to participate.

As well as electing 290 MPs the electorate was voting for a new Assembly of Experts a powerful 88-member committee that monitors the work of the country's ultimate authority, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

There were no results for the Assembly of Experts election by Saturday afternoon.

While lawmakers serve for four years members of the assembly are given twice as long. If Khamenei, who is 76, were to die during the next assembly's term they would appoint his successor.

Final results of both elections must be confirmed by the conservative-dominated Guardian Council charged with monitoring the vote and are not expected for several days.

Khamenei was among the first to vote on Friday and he urged the entire electorate to follow suit, saying casting a ballot is "both a duty and a right".

Economic woes remain

Participation in parliamentary elections four years ago was 64 percent nationwide and 48 percent in Tehran.

If turnout proves no higher than in 2012 but the parliamentary election produces a radically different result it could be because different parts of the electorate voted this time around.

Many moderate voters stayed away in 2012 in protest at the re-election three years earlier of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. If they voted on Friday it would probably be to Rouhani's advantage.

Known as the "diplomat sheikh" because of his clerical credentials and willingness to negotiate, the president was the driving force behind the nuclear deal, which he delivered despite political pressure at home.

The agreement with powers led by the United States, the Islamic republic's bete noire, raised hopes of recovery in Iran. But although the economy exited a deep recession in 2014-2015, growth has stagnated in the past year.

The run-up to polling day was largely overshadowed by controversies over who was allowed to stand. Thousands of candidates were excluded.

Reformists said they were worst hit, with the barring of their most prominent faces leaving them with untested hopefuls.

A total of 4,844 candidates, about 10 percent of whom are women, stood in the parliamentary election. Only 159 clerics a fifth of the applicants before vetting were vying for the Assembly of Experts.
Staffan de Mistura, UN special envoy for Syria, is displayed on a video screen via video conference from Geneva, as the United Nations Security Council votes to support a resolution endorsing a cease-fire in Syria. (Photo: AP)

Beirut: Guns mostly fell silent in Syria and Russian air raids stopped on Saturday, the first day of a cessation of hostilities that the United Nations has described as the best hope for peace in five years of civil war.

Under the US-Russian accord accepted by President Bashar al-Assad's government and many of his foes, fighting should cease so aid can reach civilians and talks can open to end a war that has killed more than 250,000 people and made 11 million homeless.

Russia, which says it intends to continue strikes against areas held by Islamist fighters that are not covered by the truce, said it would suspend all flights over Syria for the first day to ensure no wrong targets were hit by mistake.

The truce seemed largely to be holding, though rebels reported what they described as occasional government violations, and one commander warned that unchecked, the breaches could lead to the agreement's collapse.

Jaish al-Nasr, a group affiliated to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) which has backed the truce, said government forces had fired mortars, rockets and machine guns in Hama province and that warplanes had been constantly present in the sky. "Compared to the previous days it is nothing, but we consider that they broke the truce," Mohamed Rasheed, head of the group's media office, told Reuters.

Another FSA-affiliated group, Alwiyat Seif al Sham, said two of its fighters had been killed and four more wounded when government tanks shelled them in rural areas west of Damascus. A Syrian military source denied the army was violating the truce agreement. State media described rocket attacks near Damascus and several deadly attacks by Islamic State. But overall the level of violence was far reduced.

"Let's pray that this works because frankly this is the best opportunity we can imagine the Syrian people has had for the last five years in order to see something better and hopefully something related to peace," UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said at a midnight news conference in Geneva. "I think that the feeling that we have today is that the situation is very different but of course every day has to be monitored," he said.

The agreement is the first of its kind to be attempted in four years and, if it holds, would be the most successful truce of the war so far. De Mistura said he intends to restart peace talks on March 7, provided the halt in fighting largely holds. But there are weak spots in a fragile deal which has not been directly signed by the Syrian warring parties and is less binding than a formal ceasefire.

Importantly, it does not cover powerful jihadist groups such as Islamic State and the Nusra Front, al Qaeda's branch in Syria. Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide car bomb in Hama province. Nusra has called for redoubled attacks. Moscow and Damascus say they will continue to fight them, and other rebels say they fear this stance may be used to justify attacks against them too.

The truce is the culmination of new diplomatic efforts that reflect a battlefield dramatically changed since Russia joined the war in September with air strikes to prop up Assad. Moscow's intervention effectively destroyed the hope his enemies have maintained for five years encouraged by Arab and Western states to topple him by force.

Reports of violence

Like several other rebel figures contacted by Reuters, Fares Bayoush, head of the Fursan al-Haqq rebel group which fights under the FSA banner, said front lines were far quieter. But he added that violations were taking place and if continued could lead to the "collapse of the agreement".

In early reports of violence, a Syrian rebel group in the northwest said three of its fighters had been killed while repelling an attack from government ground forces a few hours after the plan came into effect. Syria's state media said at least six people were killed and several wounded in two suicide bomb attacks east of Hama city, including the car bomb claimed by Islamic State. Three children were killed and 12 wounded in an unspecified Islamic State attack in Joura neighoburhood in Deir al-Zor province.

Fadi Ahmad, spokesman for the FSA First Coastal Division in Latakia province said government helicopters had dropped eight "barrel bombs" on the area in the early afternoon. Assad's opponents have long accused the government of using such bombs oil drums packed with explosives to cause indiscriminate damage in rebel-held areas, which Damascus denies.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said government forces dropped five barrel bombs on the village on Najiya in Idlib province. The village is controlled by several groups including Nusra Front.

Nusra Front fighters pulled out of residential areas in several towns they run in Idlib province on Saturday to avoid being blamed by local people for civilian casualties if the areas are bombed by Russia, residents and rebel sources said.

The Syrian Kurdish YPG militia said Islamic State fighters had attacked Tel Abyad, a town near the Turkish border, prompting air strikes by the US-led coalition to try to drive them back.

Russia's Defence Ministry said it would suspend air strikes in a "green zone" defined as those parts of Syria held by groups that have accepted the cessation of hostilities and make no flights at all on Saturday. "Given the entry into force of the UN Security Council resolution that supports the Russian-American agreements on a ceasefire, and to avoid any possible mistakes when carrying out strikes, Russian military planes, including long-range aviation, are not carrying out any flights over Syrian territory on Feb. 27," the ministry said.

Sergei Rudskoi, a lieutenant-general in the Russian air force, told a news briefing that Moscow had sent the United States a list of 6,111 fighters who had agreed to the ceasefire deal and 74 populated areas which should not be bombed.

There is calm

A rebel fighter said government forces briefly fired artillery at a village in Aleppo province, which he said was under the control of the Levant Front, another FSA group. But he said the frontline was quieter than before.

"There is calm. Yesterday at this time there were fierce battles. It is certainly strange, but the people are almost certain that the regime will breach the truce on the grounds of hitting Nusra. There is the sound of helicopters from the early morning," he told Reuters earlier on Saturday. Fighting raged across much of western Syria right up until the cessation came into effect but there was calm in many parts of the country shortly after midnight, the Observatory said.

"In Damascus and its countryside ... for the first time in years, calm prevails," Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said. "In Latakia, calm, and at the Hmeimim air base there is no plane activity," he said, referring to the Latakia base where Russia's warplanes operate.

After years in which any action by the United Nations Security Council was blocked by Moscow, Russia's intervention has opened a path for multilateral diplomacy while undermining the long-standing Western demand that Assad leave power. The Security Council unanimously demanded late on Friday that all parties to the conflict comply with terms of the plan.

UN-backed peace talks, the first in two years and the first to include delegations from Damascus and the rebels, collapsed earlier this month before they began, with the rebels saying they could not negotiate while they were being bombed.

The government, backed by Russian air strikes, has dramatically advanced in recent weeks, moving close to encircling Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the war, and threatening to seal the Turkish border that has served as the main lifeline for rebel-held areas.
There were 15 violations by the regime forces on day one of the ceasefire, including two attacks by (Lebanese militant group) Hezbollah in Zabadani. In image, Syrians walk past a market as truce is declared (Representational image: PTI)

Beirut: Syria's main opposition grouping recorded 15 violations by government troops and allied forces on the first day of a landmark truce, a spokesman told reporters on Sunday.

"There were 15 violations by the regime forces on day one of the ceasefire, including two attacks by (Lebanese militant group) Hezbollah in Zabadani" west of Damascus, said Salem al-Meslet, spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee.

Speaking by telephone from Riyadh, Meslet said the HNC would be lodging a formal letter of complaint with UN special envoy Staffan de Mistura, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the foreign ministers of the International Syria Support Group.

The UN-backed deal came into effect on Saturday, with battle zones across the country going largely quiet despite some accusations of breaches.

The HNC announced earlier that 97 opposition factions had agreed to respect the truce, for two weeks initially.

Meslet said none of those groups had responded to the violations on Saturday.

"For the opposition forces there, nobody reacted because the decision is to remain quiet and I believe they will stick to the truce."

Meslet said the deal was "the first step in the right direction" to bring an end to the bloody conflict in Syria.

"The thing is, it is positive for us to see people relieved... We have violations here and there, but in general it is a lot better than before and people are comfortable," Meslet said.

"That is our main objective -- for our people there to be safe from this fear that has been there for five years now."